you ever know anybody to be saved by
that kind of thing, did you ever convert anybody by them?" "I never
aimed at that kind of conversion; I meant to get men to heaven by
culture--by refinement." "Well," said I, "If I didn't preach those
texts, and only preached culture, the whole thing would be a sham." "And
it is a sham to me," was his reply. I tell you the moment a man breaks
away from this doctrine of blood, religion becomes a sham, because the
whole teaching of this book is of one story, and this is, that Christ
came into the world and died for our sins.

The Fettered Bird Freed.

A friend in Ireland once met a little Irish boy who had caught a
sparrow. The poor little bird was trembling in his hand, and seemed very
anxious to escape. The gentleman begged the boy to let it go, as the
bird could not do him any good; but the boy said he would not; for he
had chased it three hours before he could catch it. He tried to reason
it out with the boy, but in vain. At last he offered to buy the bird;
the boy agreed to the price, and it was paid. Then the gentleman took
the poor little thing and held it out on his hand. The boy had been
holding it very fast, for the boy was stronger than the bird, just as
Satan is stronger than we, and there it sat for a time, scarcely able to
realize the fact that it had got liberty; but in a little while it flew
away, chirping, as if to say to the gentleman, "Thank you! thank you!
you have redeemed me." That is what redemption is--buying back and
setting free. So Christ came back to break the fetters of sin, to open
the prison doors and set the sinner free. This is the good news, the
gospel of Christ--"Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ."

GOLD.

-- The most solemn truth in the gospel is that the only thing Christ
left down here is His blood.

-- A man who covers up the cross, though he may be an intellectual man,
and draw large crowds, will have no life there, and his church will
be but a gilded sepulcher.

-- There is either of two things we must do. One is to send back the
message to heaven that we don't want the blood of Christ to cleanse
us of our sin, or else accept it.

-- Into every house where the blood was not sprinkled, the destroying
angel came. But wherever the blood was on door-post and lintel,
whether they had worked much, or whether they had worked none, God
passed t