brought them to Jesus, the preachers rebuked ihem ; but when
Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said, "Suffer the
little children to come unto me, and forbid Lhem not, for of
Dr. Kufus C. Burleson. 645
sucli is the kingdom of heaven." Oh if the 300,000 Baptists
of Texas, white and colored, would follow the example of our
blessed Savior, Texas would soon become what her name in
the Aztec language means, "A paradise." But while our
Savior was thus going about and doing good he said the "Foxes
have holes, and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man hath
not where to lay his head." And while he is teaching these
heavenly doctrines of joy and salvation, satan stirred up the
hearts of wicked men to say, "He hath a devil, and casteth out
devils by Beelzebub, away with him, he is not fit to live."
All because his spotless life and heavenly teaching exposed
their sinful hearts and wicked practices.
Let us now behold the Lamb of God as he offers up his
life in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary.
This wonderful offering of the Lamb of God was in immediate
connection with the Passover feast of the Jews. When the
Lord sent the Angel of Death to destroy the first bom of
every family in Egypt, he commanded Moses to instruct every
family in Egypt to kill a spotless lamb and sprinkle the door
posts with its blood, and the angel of death would pass over
every house, on which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled.
The Jews had observed that ordinance for 1500 years, com-
memorating the saving of the Jewish families by the sprink-
ling of the blood of the lamb. This passover feast also pointed
forward to the time when the blood of the true Lamb of God
should be poured out to sprinkle and cleanse every human
heart from sin. The Savior observed that solemn feast, point-
ing to his own death. And while eating this passover supper
Avith his twelve apostles, he said with grief, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, one of you shall betray me, and it were better
for him if he had never been born." And they began to say
"Lord is it I ?" And Jesus said, "It is he to whom T shall
give the sop when I have dipped it." And having dipped it,
he gave it to Judas Iscariot, who had already covenanted with
the Jews to betray him. And Judas said with brazen impud-
ence, "Lord, is it I?" And Judas having received the sop
went out immediately. After eating the passover supper, and
after Judas had gone out, the blessed Savior instituted the
Lord's Supper. Which should, through all the coming ages,
646 The Life and "Writings of
point back to the death of the Lamb of God. He took bread
and blessed and break it, and gave it to his disciples, saying :
"Take, eat, this is mj body; and He took the cup and gave
thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this
is my blood of the ISTew Testament, which is shed for the re-
mission of sins." And when they had sung a hymn they went
out into Gethseinane, wheie Jesus often resorted with his dis-
ciples. And Jesus, bearing the sins of the whole world, said :
"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death." "Watch
ye here, while I go and pray yonder." And he went d little
farther and fell on his face, saying : "Oh, my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt." And he cometh to his disciples and findeth
them asleep. He went away a second time and prayed, "Oh,
my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I
drink it, thy will be done." And being in an agony, he prayed
more earnestly and his sweat as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground.
Oh, my hearers, let us by faith behold the Lamb of God
as pressed down to earth with a mountain load of our sins,
and hear him say, as the drops of blood are falling, "This blood
is for thy ransom paid, I die that thou mayest live."
Skeptics have sneeringly asked why Socrates could drink
the fatal hemlock, and die so calmly without ti tear or groan,
yet Jesus the Son of God fell to the ground and shed great
drops of blood. Yet alas, alas, in their blindness they do not
see that Jesus was bearing sins and the sins of the whole world.
For the "Lord had laid upon him the iniquity of us all, and the
sins of the whole world." Oh, sinner, it was your sins and
my sins, that pressed the innocent Lamb of God to the earth.
And if he had not taken away our sins they would sink us
down to a gulf of dark despair, and through all ages we
would cry for a drop of water to cool our parched tongues.
And behold the Lamp of God in our stead wearing a cror.n
of thorns, that we might wear a star gemmed crown of glory.
And he wears a mock robe of royalty that we may wear a
spotless robe of white for evermore. And he hangs on the
bloody cross, that we may sit on resplendent thrones. For
behold the Lamb of God as he bears his cross laden with the
sins of the world up Calvary's summit. He faints and falls
Djr. Rufus C. Bukleson. 647
to the ground. And behold the Lamb of God as he is nailed
to the cross. Oh, my hearers, see his precious blood as it
flows from his head, crowned with thorns, and his hands and
feet, pierced with nails, and his loving heart, piei:ced with the
cruel spear. All for you and for me. Let us go and stand
^vith his weeping mother and loving disciples by his cross, and
hear his trembling, dying lips say : "This blood is for thy
ransom paid; I die that thou mayest live." Behold while the
Lamb of God is thus offering his soul a -sacrifice to take away
sin, heaven and earth and angels sympathize with their dying
Lord. The earth trembles and quakes. The rocks open their
dumb mouths and rebuke the madness and crime of men.
The graves open their mouths and the sainted dead come forth.
The sun refuses to look on the awful scene and hides his face
and leaves the world in darkness at mid-day for three hours.
Sixty thousand angels gather round the throne of God, ready
to rush down and sink this world to hell, and on wings of love
bear their Lord and Master back to his throne of glory. But
after hanging three dreadful hours in agony, the Lamb of
God cried aloud, with a voice that shakes earth and hell, and
echoes amid all the shining ranks of angels, "It is finished, it
is finished." The atonement of the sin of the world is fin-
ished. ."O Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
And while his soul ascends to paradise his body enters the
grave. And there grapples with death for three days and
three nights. When, behold, we hear him shout, "Oh, death,
where is thy sting; oh, grave, where is thy victory?" And he
trampled on the power of death and comes forth a glorious
conqueror. And now behold the Lamb of God as in triumph
he walks the earth. And for forty days he mingles with the
rejoicing disciples and instructs them fully as to their duties
and the future glorious triumphs of the gospel, in banishing
sin and Satan from the earth.
And, finally, behold the Lamb of God as surrounded by
the apostles and the five hundred disciples he Kscends Mount
Olivet, and, standing on that heaven towering summit, says :
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost; and lo I am with you alway, even unto the end
of the world."
648 The Life axd Writings of
And now behold him as in a chariot of fire, escorted by
millions of angels and redeemed spirits, he ascends above suns,
moons and stars as conqueror over death, hell iind the grave
to heaven and glory, and takes his seat on the mediatorial
throne to intercede for sinners and pour down blessings on the
church, till sin shall be taken away from this world.
!Jsrow, oh, my unconverted friend, hear him as he hits on
the throne of mercy, saying : "Father, behold the prints of
the nails in my hands and the spear thrust in my side, and
forgive that young man, forgive that young lady, forgive that
prayerless father, and that prayerless mother." And he \vill
continue these intercessions till sin is taken from the world
and this world becomes a paradise. Let us now behold the
Lamb of God, as crowned with glory he sits upon the media-
torial throne and guides his church or army on earth in taking
away sin and driving Satan from this planet. His first grand
act of mercy is on the day of Pentecost to pour out his Holy
Spirit on his church assembled in prayer. He thus enabled
his preachers to tell the story of the cross in seventeen different
languages, and three thousand were added to the church in
one day. Very soon we hear that five thousand men are con-
verted on seeing the miracles and hearing the sermons of Peter
and John in one day. In less than one year w^e hear the
scribes and Pharisees Saying in despair, "Ye have filled Jeru-
salem with your doctrine." Soon we hear that Symaria has
received the word of salvation. And we see the learned
young Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus to arrest and
carry all Christian men and women down to Jerusalem, by
the power of Jesus falling to the groimd and hearing a voice
saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me?" And the
bloody persecutor, converted by the blood of Jesus, says,
•'•'Lord, what will thou have me to do?" And after his con-
version and baptism he becomes a powerful preacher of the
glorious gospel, before the priests, philosophers and kings of
the earth. And we hear the allies of Satan crying: "Lo,
these men that have turned the world upside down, have come
hither also." And we hear the despairing idolaters raising
the vain cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." And the
glorious army of Jesus marched victoriously on. Amid racks,
De. Kufus C. Burleson. 649
torches and dungeons till Jerusalem, stained with a Saviour's
blood, and the blood of the early martyrs, lies prostrate in
ruins, and the heathen temples, as if smitten by an invisible
hand, are deserted, and priests and gods ilee from their falling
shrines. And the religion of Jesus ascends the throne of the
Caesars. And Constantine placed the cross beside the Koman
Eagle on the banners of the Roman armies. But, alas, in spite
of all the warnings of Paul in his epistles, and John's Revela-
tion from the Isle of Patmos, Satan, using ambitious men and
nominal Christian preachers, succeeds in forming a union of
Christianity and heathenism. This unholy union was con-
summated in 607 A. D. by the bloody Emperor Phocas and
Pope Boniface. And all the power of the Romaij empire was
exerted to maintain this amalgamation of heathenism and
Christianity under the name of the Holy Catholic Church.
This. unholy union became the bloodiest persecuting power the
world ever knew. But John on the Isle of Patmos predicted
that this unholy union should last only 1,260 years, wnen the
temporal power of the Pope was crushed by the victorious ar-
mies of Victor Emanuel. And soon all the mighty bulwarks
of Satan will pass away, and prepare the way for the millen-
nium. But during all the days of the reign of the Man of
Sin, or the church of Rome, the true church of Jesus lias
been accomplishing a glorious work. And by long years of
persecution is more fully prepared for the conquests of the
whole world. But many doubting, timid Christians often ask
what are the evidences that the Lamb of God will take away
all sin and drive Satan from this planet. We answer, first of
all, the never failing promises of God. Second, the marvel-
ous progress of Christianity in the last hundred years. Time
allows us to mention only a few of these marks of progress.
In 179 — the Christian world was wrapped in profound sleep
in regard to the last great command of our Saviour, ^'Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
Till a devout Christian shoemaker, William Carey, reading
of the burning of wives on the grave of their dead husbands,
and the horrors of heathenism as practiced in British India,
was stirred in all the depths of his soul to carry the gospel to
the lost heathen. At first he was ridiculed, and when he
650 The Life akd Writings of
arose in a Baptist association to urge the duty of carrying the
gospel to the heathen, he was declared "out of order.'- But
now India is flooded with the glorious light of the gospel;
women and children are sacrificed no more on burning altars.
And soon India will rank among the first of Christian nations.
In 1823, the year I was born, there was not a Sabbath school
on this continent west of the Alleghany Mountains, when
Mr. Felix Grundy and James Thomas, a Baptist deacon, es-
tablished a little Sunday-school in South Nashville. In 1826
there was not a Sabbath-school in Texas, and Thomas J. Pil-
grim founded the first Sunday-school, in a live oak grove near
San Felipe. 'Now there are over three million Sunday-school
children in the Mississippi Valley. In 1848 there were but
1,900 Baptists in Texas. ITow there are 213,000 white and
83,000 colored Baptists. And there never was a time when
the whole Christian world was becoming so aroused as to
their duty in driving heathenism, sin and Satan from this
planet. And while our blessed Savious told his disciples,
"It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, the
Father hath put in his own hands." Yet there are many
signs of the times leading us to hope and to believe that the
day is near at hand, which John predicted, "an angel should
come down from heaven, having a key to the great bottomless
pit, and a chain in his hands, and should lay hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and
bind him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and he shall deceive the nations of the earth no more,
till the thousand years are fulfilled." And "a nation shall
be born to God in a day." And Millennial light and glory
shall girdle the whole earth ; then there shall not be a gambling
house, a saloon, a theater, a race ground, a heathen temple or a
Mohammedan Mosque on this planet. Then there shall be
no divisions among Christians. But all shall be united under
the same banner. "One Lord, one faith, and one baptism."
My dear hearers, I trust the Millennial era will begin
early in the twentieth century and many of you will live to
see the dawning of Millennial day. Oh, then, in God's name,
I implore you, to prepare for this glorious era. But after the
Millennial reign of a thousand years, Satan shall be looked out
Dr. Kufus C. Burleson. 651
of his prison for a little season, and will go out again to de-
ceive the nations of the earth. But finally behold the Lamb
of God as he comes again to the earth to take away sin and
Satan and purge the earth with fire. He will come, not as
a babe in Bethlehem, or as a Saviour, to suffer for the sins of
the world. A mighty archangel as his messenger shall come
down from heaven, and placing one foot upon the land and
the other on the sea, shall swear, "That time shall be no more."
Then a great white throne shall be erected, from whose face
the heavens being on fire shall flee away. And the mighty
men of earth, the ISTeros, the Csesars, the Bonapartes, shall
cry, rocks and mountains fall on us and hide us from the face
of him that sitteth on the throne. But the sea and the grave
and hell shall give up the dead in them, and they shall all
stand before the great white throne, and the books will be
opened, and they shall be judged out of those things that are
written in the books according to their works. And sin eind
death and hell shall be cast into the lake of ftre, and whoso-
ever was not found written in the Book of Life shall be cast
into the lake or fire. And this earth, as Peter tells us, "shall
be purged with fire, and the last vestige of sin shall be taken
away, and earth shall be made a part of heaven itself. And
shall be a home for the saints of God.
My dear hearers, let me imploringly ask you to-day, is
your name Avritten in that Lamb's Book of Life ? If not, re-
member that with sin and Satan you must be taken away from
this earth, and dwell eternally with Satan in the lake of fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels. But will you by faith
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world," and say, "Here, Lord, I give myself to thee, body and
soul, for time and for eternity."
DEACOlvrSHIP.
DEDICATED TO THE DEACONS OF TEXAS.
They that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase" to
them selves a good degree and great boldness in the faith. I
Tim. 3:13.
Scripture Lesson, Acts 6:1-7; I Tim. 3:8-15.
Paul was not only a great scholar and philosopher, but
an inspired apostle, and had been "caught up to the third
652 The Life and AVRITI^'GS of
heavens, and saw things now lawful (or possible) for man to
utter." And he gives this text to impress upon his son Tim-
othy and Christians in all ages the importance of the deacon's
office. Yet it is a mournful fact that tliis office is little un-
derstood and greatly perverted by many professing Christians
in all denominations.
Indeed, it appears to have been a special and great device
of Satan, the enemy of the human family, to pervert and ob-
scure this great office. And yet it is clearly defined and re-
corded in the Holy Scriptures. The great majority of pro-
fessing Christians have perverted the office of deacon and
made it the first grade or degree of the priesthood. And even
the Baptists who understand it theoretically have a very lim-
ited and obscure "vdew of its power and importance. That
Baptists should make this mistake is more remarkable, as they
take the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice. And,
besides this, all Baptist history demonstrates that wherever
Baptists have been eminently successful, there have been vnse
and devout deacons. Deacon Wm. Kiffin, eminent as a
banker and a deacon, laid the foundation of the glorious suc-
cess of the Baptist cause in London. Kiffin became a lay
preacher, but did his great work as a deacon. Deacon Kiffin
years before prepared the way for a Spurgeon. If there had
been no Deacon Kiffin there would have been no Spurgeon.
Richmond, Virginia, would never have become the grand Bap-
tist city it is but for the power and influence of Deacons
James and William Crane. A faithful and pious deacon,
Hedman Lincon, prepared the way for the glorious Baptist
success in Boston, where the very name of Baptist had been
loathed and despised. Deacon John D. Bockefeller has made
Chicago a grand Baptist city and given that oity the greatest
Baptist college in the world. Deacon Colgate has made the
Baptist cause in the city and State of JSTew York a power never
known before. And Deacon Levering, of Baltimore, has
made the Baptist cause a power never known before in that
great Catholic city. By the aid of Deacon Levering the
grand orator and divine, Richard Fuller, was enabled to lay
a broad and grand foundation of Baptist success in that city,
supposed to belong exclusively to the Catholics.
Dk. Rufus 0. Burleson. 653
Deacons Thomas and John HoUis, father and son, added
great strength and glory to the missionary vind educational
work, not only in London, but they endowed the HoUis pro-
fessorship in Harvard University. This was the first profes-
sorship ever endowed in America, and these noble deacons
stipulated that the professorship should be filled by none but
orthodox Christians. They endowed ten scholarships, five of
whom were to be Baptists. Dr. Temple, a pious deacon, laid
the foundation of the Baptist cause in Chicago by securing
and supporting liberally the first preacher ever sent to the city
of Chicago. Truly, they that "use the office of the deacon
well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness
in the faith."
And what is true of our great cities is equally true in
our villages and country churches. During my ministry of
over half a hundred years in Texas, wherever I have found
faithful Baptist deacons there I have found the Baptist, cause
prospering. The office of deacon is based upon plain common
sense, wisdom and experience in all the great affairs of life.
N'o government and no organization, whether religious, po-
litical, educational or domestic, can ever succeed unless there
is a well regulated and efficient system of finances. And our
Heavenly Father in love and wisdom appointed the office of
deacon to provide and wisely direct the finances of the busi-
ness department of his church. And we should remember
that God has pronounced a fearful curse on every man and
every church that "takes from or adds to" that office, which
he has so closely defined and recorded in the Holy Bible —
Let us then prayerfully and earnestly consider —
First, what is the office of deacon.
Second, the importance of the deacon.
Third, how can the office of deacon be "used well."
1. In regard to the office of deacon, lot us remember
that the grand maxim of interpretation of all law is this, "the
reason of the law is the interpretation of the law." Let us,
therefore, note carefully what was the reason for establishing
the deacon's office. The Holy Bible, in Acts 6 :l-8, clearly
defines what was the occasion and reason for establishing the
deacon's office.
G54 The Life axd Writings of
"And in those days, when the number of disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against
the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the
daily ministration.
"Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples
unto them and said, 'It is not reason that we should leave the
word of God, and serve tables.'
"Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among ye seven men
of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom ye
may appoint over this business.
"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to
the ministry of the word.
"And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they
chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and ISTicanor, and Timon, and Par-
menas, and Nicolas a proselite of Antioch.
"Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had
prayed, they laid their hands on them.
"And the word of God increased; and the number of the
disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great com-
pany of the priests were obedient to the faith.
"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great won-
ders and miracles among the people." Acts o :l-8.
We see, then, the great reason for establishing the office
of deacon was to enable the preachers to "give themselves
continually to prayer and the ministry of the word." For
this reason seven deacons were selected by the church and
solemnly ordained by the apostles to look after the widows
and orphans and every secular interest of the church. We see
the reason here given for establishing the office of deacon
clearly shows deacons were never intended to be preachers.
As their office was to relieve the preachers from every care,
even the charities of the church. How unwise it is to sup-
pose they were preachers, ordained to enable other preachers
"to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word."
But it has been said that Stephen the evangelist, one of the
seven deacons, became a celebrated preacher. But tin's has
frequently occurred in all ages of the world. lAen who were
first ordained deacons afterwards felt a burning desire to save
Dr. Rufus C. Bukleson. 655
souls, and heard the solemn sound ringing in their ears, "woe
is me if I preach not the gospel/' and became ordained preach-
ers. Two dear friends of mine, Bro. John M. Cummings, of
Alabama, and Jas. M. Maxey, of Texas, were first ordained
deacons, but afterwards felt it their duty to preach the gospel,
and were ordained and became eminent preachers. How un-
wise it Avould be for future generations reading the history of
these illustrious men to conclude that the Baptists of Ala-
bama and Texas regarded the office of deacon r.s the first de-
gree of the ministry.
2. Let us consider the importance of the deacon's of-
fice. We have a striking illustration of the importance of the
deacon's office in the church at Jerusalem, for inmiediately
after the ordaining of the seven deacons to look after the chari-
ties of the churches, "the "Word of God increased and the
number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a
great number of the priests became obedient to the faith,"
And, as we have stated, in all the cities of the world, and
in every village and neighborhood, where there are faithful
deacons providing tenderly for the vsddows and orphans and
strangers and all the financial interests of the church, there re-
ligion prospers and souls are converted to God. It is an