CHAPTER XVI.

LAZARUS, THE SOUL WINNER.

We have come to the last chapter, and in this chapter we want to talk about winning souls. The old prophet said, He that winneth souls is wise. And again we read, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever. Again the blessed Christ said, I will make you fishers of men. At another time He said to them, Henceforth ye shall catch men. Again He said to them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. We could go on and pile up many Scriptures, but there is no use of it.
The text for this chapter is John 12:10, 11: “But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.” The reader will notice that the first time we saw Laarus [sic] he was a sick man, but the last glimpse that we had of him he was a soul winner. Notice, it says that many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus because of Lazarus; we don’t know how many, but we do know that a great multitude did believe. It is a very strange thing when we think of where the Lord goes to get his preachers. How natural it was in the prophet when he went to the house of Jesse to anoint a king for the Lord. Jesse and the prophet both looked on the fine looking young men and one by one they passed before the prophet but the Spirit said, He is the one, and when all of the fine looking ones had passed and no one had been chosen, the prophet asked, Is this all of your sons? Well, Jesse said, all but one stripling who is out with a herd of sheep. The Lord had found a great preacher out with a herd of sheep once before that, and so Jesse had the lad brought and he proved to be the one. He turned out to be the sweet singer of Israel, and afterwards wrote the Twenty-third Psalm, which has brought joy and gladness to the hearts of thousands of the Lord’s little ones.
To look at Lazarus as we have seen him in the different stages of death he looks like everything on earth but a revivalist; but look at the great crowd who believed on Jesus because of Lazarus, and you will be fully persuaded in your mind that he was one of the greatest witnesses Jesus ever put on the witness stand. All Lazarus had to do was to go and tell his experience, and he stopped the mouth of all gainsayers.
Christ said one day to His disciples that I will give you a mouth and a wisdom which all of your adversaries shall not be able to resist or to gainsay. Without a doubt Lazarus had this mouth and this wisdom, for he had come from the bottom and he was on top, and the Jews knew that Lazarus was no sleight of hand performance for they had been there to the funeral and they saw Lazarus go down into the tomb a dead man. They staid there with his heart-broken sisters for the full four days and after Lazarus had been dead four days Jesus, the very one that the Jews did not like, came to town and declared Himself to be the resurrection and the life; they were right there when the Son of God called Lazarus out of the tomb. Now look at that dead man in the tomb all covered with putrefaction and just think of that man as a great revivalist. Who on earth would think of such a thing.
You will bear me witness that when Jesus went to town there was not a man in town that had any thought on earth that Lazarus would ever be a preacher. Why, man, he was dead and bound and in the tomb; he was already putrified and the tomb was already sealed up. Even his own nearest friends had lost all hope and so it is to-day, but when the Lord comes to town, and before we hardly know it, He has the fellow out of the tomb; the next thing we know he has all of the strings off of him; the next thing we know he is feasting with his Lord; the next thing we know he is persecuted, and the next thing we know he is a great soul winner, attracting more attention than any man in the field. The devil has mud on his horns and the smoke is flying. The devil is making an awful howl and the chief priest says it will never do to allow this fellow to go on in this way. He is out of the natural order. O, yes, my brother, he is out of the natural order. He is out of the tomb instead of being out of the university. He is a Christ-made man, a heaven-born man, a Spirit-filled man and as he feasted with his Lord, the wise looked wise and scratched their heads and said, He is a great disturber of the peace of our Zion. But the revival is on, the altars are full, the saints are shouting for joy, the face of Lazarus is all lit up with the glory of God, he is all out and out for God and the calls are coming in from all points of the compass.
The chief priest consulted that Lazarus might be put to death also, and they met, just as I have known them to do, and wrote out a long document in which they said, Be it resolved, whereas, we the undersigned have nothing to do with the meetings that are now being held in the city. I have seen wagon loads of just such as the above, and while the dear brethren were taking no stock in the holiness meeting, I want you to see that the holiness meeting did not take any stock in them. We know that real Bible holiness is the hope of the church, and when a man gets to the place that he will have nothing to do with holiness he is on awfully dangerous ground at the very best construction you can put on him and his conduct. We have a holy God and a holy Christ, the Holy Ghost and the Holy Bible, and a holy church was started by our heavenly Father. The holy apostles were left in charge of it and the object of a holy church is to make men holy. We have the holy angels to watch over us while we live holy lives, and then we are to go to a holy heaven, and live with the holy saints forever and ever. Amen and amen.
It is not hard for a holy man to have revivals of religion anywhere on earth he goes; in fact, the revival is on when he takes charge of the church. I will give you a case that came under my own observation. There were two men in the same conference and there was but little difference in their ages. There was no difference in their preaching ability, so far as we could see. If there was, the one that refused to preach holiness had the advantage of the other. They took two churches at the same time and were only about fifty miles apart. There was no difference in the strength of the two churches––just about the same. One man had the experience of holiness and preached it and the other did not, but fought it; the one that preached it, in the four years, had from two to three big revivals each year. The other fellow did not have a revival in the four years. The one that was all out for God and full salvation added to the church in the four years about 400 members and the fellow that fought holiness added one member to his church roll in four years. The one member he got was converted under my preaching up town in an old storehouse meeting, and if the brother had a soul saved in the four years nobody ever heard of it. He was a nice man and was not a sinner; he seemed to have some religion, and was a good preacher. In many respects he was a fine man, and was a friend of mine, but he spent much time in proving to the poor hungry multitudes that they could not be sanctified. At a glance we see that he was not a soul winner. He was not like Lazarus. You can read between the lines that many of the Gentiles did not believe on Jesus because of this man, but we see that many of the Jews did believe on Jesus because of Lazarus.
One of the greatest gifts on earth is the gift of soul winning. How it fills my heart to hear a man or a woman preach the gospel and fill the altar; to see the penitents weep their way to the altar, pray through, strike fire, and get up with a shine on their faces and tell the glad story of pardoning love; and at the same altar service I love to see a number of seekers for the blessing of sanctification; to see them get up with the glory of God all over their souls, and listen to their testimony as they try to tell between their sobs and shouts, what the Lord has done for them. Oh, it is beautiful!
I know it almost tickled Lazarus to death just to listen to the testimonies of the people around the town of Bethany. The high priest was mad and Lazarus was glad, but the revival was on; a revival of old time power is too big for the chief priest or anybody else to stop. A soul winner in a great revival is about the happiest mortal on earth and cares about as little for the growls of the chief priest as any other mortal above ground.
I see three things in the great holiness revival that I would call three gets: You have to get the blessing or get out of the way or you will get run over. Well, remember that many of the Jews believed on Jesus because of Lazarus.

CHAPTER XV.

LAZARUS PERSECUTED.

The reader will notice that while Lazarus was at the feast that the chief priest laid a plot to put him to death. It is a very dangerous thing yet, in some localities, to feast with the Lord. One thing that carnality can’t stand, is to see a holy man or woman really enjoy the presence of the blessed Holy Ghost. I have seen opposers just broil with anger while the true children of God were feasting with the Lord; and so we notice that it was not the the sinner, the saloon keeper, the gambler, the fighter, the dancer, the Sabbath desecrater, the man in the chain gang, the man just out on bond, nor the common people, for they heard him gladly; not the common preacher even, but just stop and take the second look. It was the chief priest, and what did this man want to do? Why, man, he went so far as to lay a plot to put Lazarus to death.
Well, what on earth was that man Lazarus doing? Just stop and look at him and see what he is doing. Behold he is feasting with his Lord. Look out there, man, don’t you shout too loud; don’t break the limbs off of that tree; don’t throw down your old coat for the Master to ride on; you will get in an awful fix there. You must understand, old boy, that you are not in a political meeting. The Democrats or the Republicans can shout as loud as they please. The meeting that you see is not a week of Elks. When the Elks come to town, they can bring harlots, or they can bring whiskey or beer right into a prohibition town and nobody says a word, but the meeting that we refer to is a meeting of a different kind. At this meeting we are to give the God of heaven all the glory, praises and honor, for Thou art worthy, O Lord God, of honor and power and glory forever and ever. But see the frown on the face of the chief priest. See how sullen he looks. You would imagine that some awful crime had been committed and the visitors in the conference room look on and wonder what this man has done. To their surprise they find out that the man has gone to a holiness camp meeting and heard of full salvation and that he went forward and fell in the straw and was wholly sanctified; for the last few months he has been feasting with his Lord. Just look, you can see two or three men in little groups all over the conference floor and they seem to be uneasy and they tiptoe and whisper one to another; while all of this is going on you can see Lazarus sitting down over there in the corner with a smile on his face and the crowd seems to be wondering what is to become of him. There he sits with full salvation hung up all over his face and he is the only easy man in the conference. Not a wave of trouble rolls across his peaceful breast, and he says,

How well I remember in sorrow’s dark night,
The lamp of His word shed its beautiful light;
More grace He has given and burdens removed,
And over and over His goodness I proved.
Shall I turn back into the world?
Oh, no, not I, not I.”

As he remembered the day that he was converted and how that he passed from death unto life, how the Lord called him out of the tomb of despair and spoke peace to his troubled soul and that his name was written in the Lamb’s book of life, and that he was adopted into the heavenly family, a thrill of joy goes through his soul and he praises God for the knowledge of sins forgiven. Then he remembers the day that he put himself on the altar––soul, mind, and body for time and eternity, and how the fire from the skies went through his heart. He knew by the witness of his own breast that he was sanctified through and through and the glory rolls up and down in his heart. He is feasting with his Lord in the truest sense.
Now the chief priest is ready. Ready to do what? To locate this man. Well, what has he done? He got sanctified. What else did he do? He shouted and praised God with a loud voice. And what else did he do? He told the people everywhere he went that they could get the blessing of Scriptural holiness. Well, did he do anything else? Yes, he had revivals all over his work and built a new church or two, added a large list of new members to the roll of his church and brought up his conference collecteions [sic] in full; but he did preach holiness as straight as a gun barrel. He is to be located on the charge of inefficiency. You see he got the strings all off and went to feasting with his Lord, and that is a dangerous thing to do. Why didn’t he let holiness alone? If he had joined the lodge it would have been all right, but instead of that he went to a holiness revival and got the fulness of the blessing and went to feasting with his Lord, and trouble broke out before Lazarus got away from the supper table.
How much like our day is this fact before us. Reader, just let you mind run back over the past twenty years and just think of all the plots that have been laid and planned to keep holiness out of the churches in the United States of America. I heard a pastor one time my own self in trying to keep any of his members from testifying to the experience of sanctification, tell them that in the testimony meeting he did not want them to testify to anything that they themselves had, but to testify on something else. You say that was not hard. Well, I know it wasn’t, but the thing I am after is this, there was the pastor of the flock plotting to keep holiness out of his church, and to do just what the chief priest did to Lazarus. The chief priest laid a plot and God saw it and was not well pleased with it. The hope of any church on earth is the holiness that is in it and not the worldliness that is in it.
I believe there is enough holiness in any church to leaven the whole lump if the leaven was allowed to work. If the holiness revival that was started under that mighty man of God, John S. Inskip, could have run on without a break, it would have swept the United States before now. Every time that it has been hindered from taking the country the chief priest was on hand, and I don’t mean that it was always a bishop or an elder. I have known other churches to have a revival started and those in authority would rise up and stamp it out and stop the fire and keep their members from seeking and obtaining the greatest thing in the world, which is the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
Now, reader, Lazarus a free man is a beautiful type of the wholly sanctified man, and the persecution that broke out at the feast is nothing uncommon, for the rulers in all ages, so far as I have ever been able to find out, have been on the opposite side of deep spirituality. As a general thing a man is not big enough to stand the prestige of an office and keep up spirituality at the same time. No doubt that was the trouble with the chief priest. He might have started out well, been kind to the men under him, but day by day his love and kindness go and he becomes very hard, and finally reaches the point where he is going to have his own way if he has to take the heads off of men. The case in hand will prove it to be true, for as far as we can see, Lazarus had done nothing to the chief priest, but Lazarus had been raised from the dead, and so has the justified man; Lazarus had been set free, and so has the sanctified man; while Lazarus was feasting with this Lord the plan was laid to dispose of him, and so it was of me, if the reader will pardon me for referring to myself.
We have said in this chapter before that one thing that old carnality can’t stand is religious joy; the old man can stand all of the average church work and he is real friendly to a cold, dead formality, and will even help support a great popular revival and give freely of his means to carry on such a work, but just let the saints go to rejoicing, and the same trouble that the chief priest had in his heart will rise up to-day and demand of you and if you don’t stop you are at least liable to get into trouble with him. There are no doubts in my mind but that there are in the United States many thousands of good people who don’t know just what to do. They love their church and live right in the church, yet have but little church fellowship and they feel that they are in the way. If they rejoice in the Lord there is a very critical eye on them and they don’t know just whether to give up and quiet down or go ahead and take the consequences. I am of the opinion that Lazarus went ahead, from what followed, for the next time we see him he was a great soul winner. If he had gone back on the Lord we never would have heard of a revival from him; but thank the Lord he stood true and God was with him and the world has not quite talking about him yet.
I am to-day in love with the Lord and all mankind, and it is remarkable how the Lord has walked with me and led my by His hand. What He will for the one He will do for all, and so far as I know every man will have a part in the trials and misrepresentations, and just as true as Lazarus had his trials to meet we have ours. If they don’t come from one source they will come from another. It doesn’t hinder the spiritual progress of the church for the devil to make an attack on us but when we as the people of God rise up in our own ranks and put on the breaks [sic] and clog the wheels of Zion, then the harm is done, and then a gulf stream of worldliness will break in on us, and it is a fact if we don’t grow we will die; if we don’t keep hot we will freee [sic]; if we don’t keep going we will stagnate. We are like the bicycle, the faster we run the straighter we stand; the slower we go the worse we wobble, and when we stop we fall.
The hope of the world is that the church may rise up in her God-given power and get the man out of the tomb. We must rescue the perishing; the hope of the church is that as a church we may go down before the Lord and get every string taken off and be set free and then go to the feast with the Master. It makes my heart rejoice when I read that Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Reader, let’s not let anything in the world stop us. It is a fact that the chief priest did not kill him for we see him after the feast in a great revival and many believed.

CHAPTER XIV.

LAZARUS AT THE FEAST.

Now, reader, I want you to see Lazarus feasting with his Lord. That is the subject of this chapter. After Lazarus was resurrected and got the strings off of him the next thing that we see of him is at the feast. He is feasting with His Lord and Master, and it is a fact, no man ever feasts with his Lord until he is wholly sanctified. How natural it is to see a man feasting with his lord after he gets all the strings off. You will notice that Lazarus never feasted with his Lord as long as there was a string on him, and neither do we. We must be powerfully converted and then most gloriously sanctified to feast with the Lord.
There is much connected with a feast, and the real object of a feast is to get full. I know that the linen is generally the best that can be secured in a great feast and the china is something lovely; the waiters are the best, and the food is the most appetizing that can be secured or the best that the market can afford. Just think of a black walnut table and the finest linen, the most lovely china and silver knives and forks, the most lovely teapots and well dressed waiters, and the governor of the feast giving orders and the waiters flying in every direction, but not one thing on the table to eat. Don’t you think that the feast would be a flat failure? Why, of course it would, because that which goes in to make up a feast was left out, and that was the food. Don’t you see that the object of a feast is to get full? The very word feast carries with it the idea of something good and plenty of it.
We see Lazarus at the feast. We read that Martha served but Lazarus was one of them who sat at the table with Him; there is no way to describe the joy and peace that comes to the life of a wholly sanctified man. About the best way to describe it is in the text, just simply feasting with your Lord, and it is called the fulness of joy. Why is it called the fulness of joy? Because it fills the man with foy [sic] and a filled man is a full man; it is also called the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ; there is the same idea of being full, or the idea of a feast.
We read that Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost, that Barnabas was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and that when the day of Pentecost had fully come the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost. All this carries with it the idea of being full, and so we just look around and see Lazarus feasting with his Lord. Bless his holy name, it is His plan and purpose for every one of His children to come to the feast.
On one occasion the Master said to His disciples to go out and invite the hungry multitudes to come to the feast, for all things are now ready. The business of the church is to take away the stone and get Lazarus out of the tomb, get him wholly sanctified, get all of the strings off of him and get him to feasting with his Lord. Who can tell the good that would come to this world if the church would go down before God and get the experience of Scriptural holiness, and truly go to feasting with her Lord.
Now, reader, it might not be out of place to just let your mind run back over the life of Lazarus for a few minutes and see what progress he has made. The first time that we saw him, he was a sick man; the second time we saw him, he was a dead man; the third time we saw him, he was a bound man; the fourth time we saw him he was an entombed man; the fifth time we saw him, he was a putrified man; the sixth time we saw him, he was a resurrected man; the seventh time we saw him, he was resurrected but he was still bound; the eighth time we saw him, he was a free man–every string was off of him, and he was as free as heaven; and the ninth time we saw him, he was feasting with his Lord. Now, reader, just look and see what wonderful progress this man has made all the way from the tomb to seat at the table with Jesus. What a work there is for the church to do if she was up to the place where the Lord could use her. If she would go to work and get the strings all off and get to the place where she could feast with her Lord there would be plenty of sad souls looking on who would be ready to surrender and call on the Lord for mercy if they could just see the church feasting with her Lord one time.
Now in a kind way I want to just call your attention to a church that I was in not long ago. It was a beautiful red pressed brick that cost nearly $75,000 and they had run for thirteen years and had not seen a single soul brought to God. Now don’t you see that they had not taken away the stone? Don’t you see that it was impossible for the Lord to get Lazarus out of the tomb? Don’t you see that there was no chance on earth for that church to ever have a spiritual feast? Don’t you see that Lazarus had to be called out of the tomb, and don’t you see also that Lazarus had to not only be called out of the tomb, but he had to have the strings all taken off of him before he could go to the feast? Therefore the church had stood there all these long years without seeing a soul brought to Christ.
To show you that church members are bound by the strings of this world I was in a nice town in the month of October, 1908, and there was a nice church in the beautiful city with 588 members on the roll. One night while I was in the town the prayer meeting was held and there were eleven persons present; the next night there was a church entertainment and according to the report of the town paper, there were 1,100 out. Now there was feasting, but not with the Lord. The feast of Lazarus was a type of the spiritual life that he received when he got the strings off of him; and the hope of the church is to get to the place where she will have 1,100 out to pray, sing, shout, and testify for the Lord, and let the world know that we are free and happy, that we are going through with Jesus, and that it is a much greater feast to serve the Lord than it is to serve the devil. It is a well known fact that sin can never produce happiness and the devil has no happy men and women. and those who serve him are unhappy, miserable, sad, and in despair and without hope; nothing but death, sorrow, hell and damnation looks them in the face; that is the reason so many of them are committing suicide and ending their own lives–they are deceived by the devil and led by him captive at his will. But not so with the man who walks with God.
To be called out of the tomb of sin, of despair, of despondency and the tomb of death, and to stand in the presence of the Lord with spiritual life and to know for your own self that you are out of the tomb, and that new life has entered into you is blessed. Not only that, but have got all of the strings of this old world off of you, and are heaven-born, heaven-bound, heaven-filled and the glory of God is burning on the altar of your soul; that you are now ready to go to singing the lovely little song, I am feasting with my Lord, I am feasting. I am feasting on the living word. Day by day I have a new supply, I am feasting, I am feasting with my Lord, redeemed by His blood, forgiven by His blood, and sanctified by His blood, and kept by the power of God through faith unto the end; that is, the end of our probation. We are kept here, but in heaven we will not be tempted by sin and the devil. Glory to God forever!

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SECOND COMMAND.

Now reader, we have come to the second command of the Savior. We have seen the first command and also the first call, but now we want to look at the second command. What was it? We will see for ourselves.
Listen to the words of Jesus as He said “Loose him, and let him go.” This is the second command of the Master. The first command was, Take ye away the stone, and the second is Loose him, and let him go. You can see the importance of this second command. How important it is that we get all of the strings off of us.
We see in these two commands the two works of grace. Notice, the first was to take away the stone; that had to be done before Christ could call Lazarus out of the tomb. After the stone was removed we hear Christ say, Lazarus, come forth, and behold we see a living man before us, and to our surprise he is still bound, hand and foot, and the napkin is still over his mouth. Now we hear Christ say to the church, “Loose him, and let him go.” This brings out the twofold mission of the church in the world. We are to get sinners converted and we are to get believers into the experience of sanctification. Everything on earth that we are to do is hinged on the fact that we get all of the strings off of us. No man is at his best for God or man until he is wholly sanctified, and of course if no man is at his best for God, how could he be at his best for himself, or the church of which he is a member. Therefore, I offer you this thought: If a church that is unsanctified is left for a year or two without a pastor it will die and you may go back in a year or two and not find a thing of the church left. Well, why is that? Because a church with its hands and feet tied and a napkin over its mouth can’t feed itself and if they don’t have a pastor to look after them they will die; but it is not so with a holiness man. I have seen men and woman all over America, who had been without a pastor all the way from one year to maybe a half dozen years, and they would be standing as true as steel, with the glory still in their souls.
Well, why is it that a sanctified man can live better than the unsanctified? It is because the sanctified man has got all of the strings off and can feed himself. That is the reason. Look at Lazarus bound hand and foot and even his mouth tied. How in the world would you expect him to feed himself? Don’t you see that if he doesn’t get help he will die, and now how long would a card-playing, dancing church live without a pastor? You can see that they are as completely bound as Lazarus was, and therefore they can’t feed themselves. How thankful I am that we can have every cord broken and have perfect freedom, and because we are free we don’t advocate the idea that holiness people don’t need a pastor and don’t enjoy one, for they do. To go to church and enjoy a message they beat any people that it has ever been my privilege to meet. They enjoy the message as no other people on earth can, from the fact that they have the use of their hands and feet. They can walk in the ways of the Lord and can clap their hands for joy; the napkin is off of their mouths and now they can praise God with a loud voice. Therefore, they are world beaters when it comes to enjoying a religious service.
The crowd that is bound by the things of the world never seems to really enjoy a religious service, and as the people with all of the strings off leap and praise God, and clap their hands, the bound crowd looks on with perfect amazement. In fact they don’t see a thing in the world to praise God for. While the holiness crowd is just tearing up the ground the other folks look on and wonder why these folks are so awfully excited, when there is really nothing to shout about. But don’t you see that they have been called out of the tomb of spiritual death, and don’t you see that they have got every string off of them? It is no wonder to me that they shout. It is a wonder that they ever keep still.
So the Master said, Loose him, and let him go. Yonder stands a bound man, but look again and yonder stands a free man,–not only out of the tomb, but out of the strings. I have seen people so completely bound by the opinious [sic] of folks that it almost fit them like a garment; and I have seen big strong men so bound by the man-fearing spirit that they were almost miserable and had but little religious joy for fear they wold offend somebody up town who did not believe in making a noise. Well, folks, if such a fellow had been there the day that Christ and His disciples came into Jerusalem and if they had seen the disciples leaping and praising God and breaking down the limbs of the trees and throwing down their coats and whooping to the top of their voices, such a fellow would have had a convulsion right on the spot. Men don’t have to have much religion to give God a good deal of glory and the more they have the more glory they are going to give their Lord. One of the greatest commands that ever fell from the lips of the Son of God was, Loose him and let him go, and for the past ages the church has heard His voice as He called out to His ministering servants, Loose him, and let him go.
Again, there is in the bosom of every man a longing to be perfectly free, and no man is a free man who has the carnal mind in his heart, for the carnal mind is in fact the cords that bind men. When the carnal mind is gone and the old man is destroyed then brother you are a free man, and not till then. I don’t care what you may have or may not have, you are not a free man until old carnality is gone.
I heard a young man say the other day, O Lord, crucify the old man and then back up the hearse and haul off old carnality, and I said, Well, glory, that is a new one on me, but it is a good one and I will remember it.
As long as the roots of bitterness or the carnal mind or the old man or the body of sin are allowed to remain there cannot be perfect freedom in the religious life; but thank God, Christ says in a loud voice, Loose him and let him go. Every string can be removed and the child of God can be made as free as heaven, and we can walk through this old world as clean as if we were in heaven. Of course the devil doesn’t die when we get the strings off and thank the Lord we don’t either, in the sense of being dead to what the devil is doing; we are alive and we catch on to what he is up to and we are ready to meet his assaults. With all of the strings off and Christ enthroned in the soul we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Now, reader, when you come to think about it, the most beautiful thing that you ever saw was a Christian without a thing in the way of their Christian work. Take a man or a woman who is all given up to God and delivered from the man-fearing spirit, who is delivered from the people, who is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and filled with all the fulness of God, who knows how to love God and lost humanity, how to pray and bring things to pass, you look at them and admire them because of their freedom and deliverance. You would not have the same respect for them if they were all tied up with the world. But a free man is the ideal of all men, and what makes men free? Nothing but to be delivered from all sin and filled with all the fulness of God. That means out of the tomb and all of the strings off.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CALL OF THE MASTER.

The stone has been removed and now listen to the call of the blessed Christ, “Lazarus, come forth.” and he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot, with a napkin about his mouth. Reader, Lazarus as a resurrected man is one of the most beautiful types of the blessing of regeneration that can be found in the Bible. Lazarus proves that our holy religion is not man-made and proves it to be supernatural. Don’t you see that Lazarus was beyond turning a new leaf? Don’t you see that he was beyond a little human enthusiasm? Don’t you see that he was beyond signing a card? Don’t you see that it would have been impossible for him to have ever gotten out of the tomb? Don’t you see that he was beyond the help of man? Even man, in all of his glory, was unable to do one thing in the world for Lazarus, for he was dead, bound, entombed, and putrified, and the tomb was sealed up and he on the inside. Ho, man, it will take a God to ever get you out of that tomb. Now Lazarus stands before us a living man, which is a type of the new birth. We saw him dead and now we see him a living man, and it is no sleight of hand performance, for it is a well known fact that he was dead and now he is alive. There he stands in the presence of the Christ.
But there is another fact that I want you to see and it is this, that while Lazarus is alive and represents the new birth, he also brings out another fact in the experience of every regenerated man. While he has life he is still bound and he has the strings on him yet. We see him a living man and he stands in the presence of the Master, and there is shouting ground and rejoicing enough for us to shout over for the next thousand years. While that is true and we all see it, at the same time he has the cords on him also, and we have seen Christians all over the land as completely bound by the opinions of other folks as Lazarus was with strings. Reader, just think of the twentieth century church and take one look at it and you will see a Lazarus standing before you completely bound. Look at the present and you will see men and women bound by a man-fearing spirit, bound by the opinions of the other fellow, bound by the cords of worldliness, bound by the awful secret oaths of their lodges, and it is not an uncommon thing for men and women to dance and play cards and run after the circus, theater, and all kinds of worldliness.
Now, I want you to see that when Lazarus got out of the tomb there was something else that he needed. Then take a look at the average church member and in all kindness and honesty you are forced to say that the church member needs the strings taken off of him as bad as Lazarus did. Lazarus was alive, but he was bound. The regenerated man is alive, but he is bound. Nevertheless, while we stand and look at the Christians we wonder why they don’t walk in the light as He is in the light; but then we remember that their feet are still bound, fo rhis [sic] feet were bound. We wonder why they don’t clap their hands, and then we remember their hands are still tied. Then we wonder why they don’t shout, and behold we look and see that the napkin is still over their mouths. We know that a man can’t do much with a napkin over his mouth. When will the church get all of the strings off and get to the place where she can walk, leap, rejoice, praise God and clap her hands, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
We see that the resurrected Lazarus is a type of the new birth but we see that the bound Lazarus is a type of the unsanctified Christian. It is life and strings and life and strings; a living man but a bound man; a living church but a bound church; a man next to helplessness and a church next to helplessness. I know that some good people will say, Well now, Bro. Robinson, if Lazarus still had the strings on him, his conversion was not complete, and they will say that conversion is a perfect work or it is a failure one or the other. You will notice this fact, that the resurrection of Lazarus was a perfect resurrection, and also that Lazarus had perfect life, but he still had the cords on him.
You will also notice that the new birth of a Christian is a perfect birth, and that the new convert has perfect life, but Lazarus, like it, still has the strings on; so you see a perfect birth and new life in the new convert, but at times there will be cords of anger or cords of pride, or there will be cords of jealousy, or cords of the man-fearing spirit, or a craving for the things of the world, which is out of harmony with the blessed, sweet will of God. We see all of those things almost every day of our lives, as we go up and down in this country, and I have seen them by the thousands tumble into the altar and pray through and get all of the strings broken; that is the only hope of the church to-day. I am glad to see the man out of the tomb, but I am so anxious to see him get every string taken off. I would love to live in this country just a few years when every Christian in the United States had every cord broken and was as free and happy as a bird that cleaves the sky. How many Christians have been called on to pray and at once begged to be excused, and there was no excuse on earth that they could offer, only they were bound hand and foot and still had a napkin about their mouth.
I know a lot of Christian folks who never say a word of all the Lord has done for them. Their voice is never heard. They go to church on Sunday if the weather will permit, but if it rains or is too hot they sit at home all day and the Sunday papers of course afford their litertrue [sic]. Not one of them ever thinks of being a witness for the Lord.
Now, reader, I am going to show you one of the most pitiful things in the whole land. Well, you ask, What is it? It is a Christian all bound by the things of the world until they are perfectly helpless and almost lifeless and just about hopeless. To see a sinner bound by the cords of this world is sad enough, but to see a Christian all tied up until he is a slave of the devil is one of the saddest things I ever looked at and as you look at Lazarus you see so many confessing Christians. Brother, there is no mistake about it, we are not deceived, we are not preaching heresy, it is an awful fact. Lazarus is a bound man; although he has life, and is in the presence of the Lord a bound man.
Not twenty-four hours ago a young man told me that his elder did not want him to preach on holiness for fear that he would dishearten the young converts. Now reader, do you suppose that it would have disheartened Lazarus for somebody to have told him that he could get all of those strings off of his feet and hands, and that he could get that napkin off of his mouth? How an elder can make up his mind to the awful fact that his members are better off with hands, feet and mouth bound, is a mystery to both God and man; and, I might say, to angels. Oh, the deadness in the average church; how helpless they are no man can tell. Think of a church with 565 members and only 15 of that number can be counted on at the prayer meeting, and only five out of the fifteen that are willing to work in the altar, and try to get sinners converted. Man, do you tell me that they are not bound? Do you tell me that they are happy and free, and do you tell me that they don’t need another work of grace? Why man, just look at the multiplied numbers of the leading church members who are as worldly as the sinners of your town, and you can’t look at them and tell any difference in them and the sinners.

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST COMMAND.

Now, reader, we have come to a very interesting fact in the history of this remarkable man. We now have the first command from the blessed Savior. It was given to the church. You will remember that the woman in the old Book most always represents the church, and we now listen to the first command. What was it? Well, just stop a minute and listen, and you will hear just what it was: “Take away the stone.” If every church in the land would obey and take away the stone there would be such a revival break out, as has never been heard of since the day of pentecost.
We can look at anything that hinders a revival and it will take the place of the stone at the grave of Lazarus; one card playing Christian can prevent and keep a revival out of a church for a whole year. A few of these kind altogether may keep a revival out for several years. But here is the Master at the grave and the tears are still on His cheeks. His voice rings out loud and clear, Take ye away the stone; but oh my, the church has got to the place where she doesn’t believe in revivals and she begins to make some sort of an excuse and proceeds to tell the Master the condition of the community. Listen at the awful description of the man. Lord, by this time he stinketh.
Now reader, you have the condition of every sinner in the land until he is regenerated; but thank the Lord the Master has given His command and right in the face of the unbelievers He stands by the tomb and says, Take away the stone. Listen to His words to Martha when she was just about without a particle of faith. He said to her, Did I not say unto thee if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God? She believed and obeyed the Master and the stone of difficulty was removed and behold there was great joy in that city, for the revival broke out, and it always will when the church obeys the command of the Master. When we see what took place there just by obedience it looks like every church in the land would go to work at once to get all of the hindrances out of the way, for it will be impossible for the revival to break out while these things are in the way.
Every card playing and every dancing, theater going church member is a great stone that the devil has rolled in the way of an old time revival, and until we rise up and obey the Master’s command we will never see a revival in the church that is bound by worldliness. It is impossible. If you will look for just a minute you will see that it would have been impossible for Lazarus to have ever been raised from the dead. So it is with your own son. He is dead and bound and entombed and putrified; the tomb is sealed up and a great stone is rolled against the mouth of the grave. The Master stands without and says to us, Take away the stone; remove all of the difficulties; get ready, look up, and expect a revival; throw every doubt away, pull up unbelief by the roots and throw it over the fence; put all the faith that you have on the throne; muster all of the courage possible, and look the world in the face and tell them to come to the old-fashioned revival, for it is on. Expect the altars to be full from the first service, for the Mester [sic] is in town and He is at the grave of Lazarus and has given the command, Take away the stone, for the revival is on just now and somebody will be converted in the first service. That always takes place when the church obeys the Master and removes all the stones.
Now we want to move to the next step in this man’s life, or history and see what took place when the stone was removed. It will be worth while to look at the next stage of Lazarus.

CHAPTER X.

CHRIST AT THE GRAVE.

Now, for a little while we want to look at Christ at the grave of Lazarus weeping over him. This is one of the most touching incidents in the life of the blessed Son of God. It brings out the heart and tenderness and love of the blessed Christ as no other incident that is recorded. We see Him at another time weeping over the city of Jerusalem, and as we hear Him say, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stones them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thee together as a hen doth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not; therefore your house is left unto you desolate. And as He behold the city He wept over it, but at the same time it seems that when He saw the broken-hearted sisters, the criticizing Jews, the doubting of the sisters of Lazarus, and knowing that they had given up all hope and that Lazarus was not a ghastly corpse in the tomb, His poor heart almost broke and he stood and wept with Mary and Martha. He said to Martha, Your brother shall rise again; and Martha said, I know that he shall rise again in the last day. She could not grasp the thought that Lazarus would rise that day.
It seems that it is much easier to have faith for the future than to have faith for the present. Martha had no trouble in believing that Lazarus would be raised at some future time, but to bring it right down to the present moment, she doubted it, and I have met with so many mothers who thought that at some future time their son would be saved and they seemed to rest in perfect ease about it. At the same time they had no faith on earth for their son at the present time, and he was just as dead and hopeless as Lazarus.
The devil comes up and helps people to have a future faith. He says, Oh well, it will all come out right in the end; go and have a good time and don’t bother yourself about it. The Lord will bring it all out just right,–but he doesn’t tell them that while they are going on and living without a burden for the lost that he has them in his hand and that they are just as hopeless as Lazarus. Just as truly as the blessed Son of God wept over Lazarus He is weeping over every sinner on earth to-day; and just as truly as Lazarus was dead and bound and in the tomb and putrified, every sinner in the land to-day is in the same condition morally; and just as truly as Lazarus was in a hopeless condition every sinner is in the same condition. The very fact that Christ wept over Lazarus shows us that He was interested in him, and if He was interested in Lazarus He is in every sinner in all this broad land of ours. If Lazarus was not a hopeless case then there is hope of every sinner in the land, for there is no man that could be more corrupt morally than Lazarus was physically. He was just as bad off as a fellow ever gets, and we will see pretty soon that there was hope of him. It is not any easier for the Master to raise a fellow from the dead that has only been dead one day than it is to raise one that has been dead four days. The same life-giving word that it takes to raise a man that has been dead one day would raise him if he had been dead ten years, and we see that when it comes to the salvation of a man’s soul that the same act of divine grace that it takes to forgive a twelve-year-old boy will save his father. One word from the Master will settle all questions. Glory to His name.