tion that deep. I am a worm, and no man." And remember that it was God the Father, who said, "Thou worm, Jacob."

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Be humble before God, and exalt not yourself. Be as courageous as you please before men; fear them not. You never will be of much account as long as you are afraid of men. But always be humble when you come before God. Don't stand before him and magnify yourself. Don't stand before him and say, See, how tall I am!" God help us to possess the mind of Jesus, to suffer, to put self out of sight, to try to help others, to count not our lives and our property dear unto us, in order that satisfaction may come, the joy beyond the grave and in the bright, unclouded home of God. To give special direction to the spirit of self-sacrifice, do allow me yet once more to remind you that the satisfaction of Jesus, the gladness that is to compensate for his sadness is the salvation of the heathen nations. For that his soul travailed in anguish. For their redemption he poured out his soul unto death. You are now his representatives and witnesses on earth. To you he commits the execution of his will.

Why, then, are our hearts so cold to foreign missions? Why our prayers so few and faint? Why our contributions so small and infrequent? "Say not before the angels it was an error." If you have not pledged, make a free-will offering in this behalf. Are you about to leave God's altar barren

of offerings? Will you, dare you, how can you say no to this appeal? Stop, stand, think! Now, look up to heaven where Jesus waits and watches, and ask this question: "Lord Jesus, are you yet satisfied? Is your gladness complete?"

IX

GOD'S HELP IN THE HOUR OF TRIAL

"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I will keep thee in the hour of trial that cometh upon the whole world."-Rev. 3: 10.

F

IRST, just a little bit of history. When
Alexander the Great led the armies of

united Greece from Europe over into Asia, the first country that he subjugated was Asia Minor, and there were established in time certain Greek colonies or cities, which preserved the Greek civilization for many hundreds of years. The principal of these were Ephesus, Smyrna, Thyatira, Pergamos, Sardis, Laodicea and Philadelphia, and the last of these was Philadelphia. I mean to say that it was the smallest of the cities. It was remote from the sea. It was up in the mountains. It had not the large commerce of the other places. And yet concerning this city of Philadelphia and its faith the great historians of the world have written much.

About the time that our Lord was passing from childhood into manhood this city was destroyed by an earthquake, an account of which you will find in the "Annals" of Tacitus, and in the "Georgics,"

by Virgil, you will find a reference to it, on account of its vine-growing power. It was a volcanic soil in the mountains, and earthquakes there were very frequent. Volcanic soil generally is good for vinegrowing, and the coins of that city generally had on them on one side either Bacchus, the god of wine, or a bacchant, one worshiping Bacchus.

In that most marvelous book, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," by the infidel Gibbon, in the sixty-fourth chapter of his history, is a very marvelous tribute to the prophecies in John's book of Revelation concerning these seven cities of Asia. I will merely refer to the substance of the statement in Gibbon, and not attempt to quote it verbally. He says that when Ephesus fell the church lost its first golden candlestick, as prophesied by John, and Laodicea followed, and to-day the remains of its circus and its three theaters cannot be traced. As to Pergamos and Thyatira, they speedily fell before the Saracen rising in the sixth century under Mahomet, and the mosque succeeded the church of Jesus Christ. Smyrna, while still extant, is supported by foreign population and trade. I quote from Gibbon: "Philadelphia alone was saved, either by prophecy or by its own courage." That is what Gibbon says with reference to this church of Philadelphia. The Saracen power, the Mohammedan power, rising in the sixth century, culminated in the fourteenth century.

Since that time it has been waning. While all

the other places in Asia Minor speedily fell before the Turkish power, this little town of Philadelphia, in the mountains, in that hour of trial of which this gospel here speaks, defended itself in a war of eighty years. You remember the tribute that the historians give to the Dutch republic because in a war of eighty years it successfully resisted the power of Spain. But here was just a town, a town in the mountains, whose importance grew out of the fact that it was vine-producing and held the way to all of the valleys of Asia Minor. It resisted the power of the Turk in a war that lasted until men grew old and died and children grew up and grew old and died, and when they finally surrendered it was with this condition, that they were to be allowed forever the liberty of religious worship. These are the facts of history. One of the early fathers writes a letter to the church at Philadelphia, and we have in that letter some account of the progress of this church.

Now, our text says: "I know thy works. Thou hast a little strength "-not a little strength. "Thou hast a little strength. I set before thee an open door. And I will write upon thee the name of my God, the name of the heavenly city, and my new name, because thou didst keep my word, and because thou hast kept the word of my patience I will keep thee in the trial that is to come upon the whole world." The passages of Scripture which I read to you as an introduction to this service are