Sylvanus Stall

Suggestion:—Objects: A small cobble stone and a larger one, to represent the heart of a child and the heart of an adult, and a pin with which to prick the stone and prick the hand.

Now the Bible represents the natural heart as being wicked. We are told in the Bible that our hearts have no feeling; that God loves us, and yet that we do not appreciate it; that God bestows upon us our daily food, and that He clothes us, and blesses us with every good, and has provided for us mansions in the skies, and that He desires to give us everlasting salvation. He loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, and yet with the natural heart no one ever loves God, or appreciates anything that He has done for us. And so God desires, as He tells us in the Bible, to take away, out of our flesh this heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh, so that we may appreciate and love Him in return for all that He has done for us.

The heart is spoken of in the Bible as the seat of the affections, and therefore it is that God desires us to have a new heart, a changed heart, a heart that can love Him. The Bible says that each one is to keep his heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. We are told also that "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."

Many years ago in England there was a man by the name of John Bunyan. I suppose you have all heard of his wonderful book entitled the "Pilgrim's Progress." I hope that many of you have read it. All of you should read it, if you have not yet done so. Get your mother or father to read it for you, if you cannot read it yourself.

This man Bunyan also wrote a book entitled the "Holy War." In this book he represents the human soul or the human heart as a city, and calls it the "City of Mansoul." This city has various gates, and at all these gates the enemy is trying to gain admission into the city, so that he may capture it. It is, indeed, a very apt illustration of the human heart. Do you know that your heart is like a city, and that Satan is trying to capture and to get possession of it? Indeed, he may already have possession of it. And when God by His grace shall come and cast out Satan and all his evil companions, they will come back and try to get into the city again. They will come to the various gates of the city; for your heart has various avenues of approach, which may be called gates. There is eye-gate. Satan comes and he appeals to you and tries to get into your heart through the eye. Bad pictures that are posted upon the bulletin boards along our streets, and wicked things upon which you and I ought not to look—worthless papers, bad books—these Satan desires to have us look upon, and in that way get evil thoughts into our minds and wicked purposes into our hearts, so that he can once more get possession of our hearts.

Then he comes to ear-gate, and tries to get into our hearts through our ears. There are wicked songs, and bad stories, and wicked words that men pour into our ears, even when we walk along the streets. And so Satan tries to get into our hearts through ear-gate, and he tries to get into our hearts through what I will call mouth-gate. He tempts our appetite, and would have us eat things which would injure us, or to drink that which would harm us. And so he tries to get a boy to smoke, or to drink, if at first only beer, or something else, until at last Satan makes a drunkard of him. So Satan would get into the heart through mouth-gate. And when he cannot get into the heart through mouth-gate, or any other way, he oftentimes approaches mouth-gate by way of nose-gate. By the smell of something that is pleasant he tempts the appetite, and thus would lead us astray.

And then he would also approach our hearts through the sense of feeling. There are many wicked things that Satan tempts people to do in order to give them pleasure, and so he seeks to get into their hearts, and to get entire control of them, and in that way to get God out of their hearts.

The best thing that you and I can do, is to accept of God's invitation, where He says, "My son, give me thine heart." I trust that you will give your heart earnestly and fully to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will take away this heart of stone out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. He will keep your heart securely for you, if you will only give it fully to Him.

Questions.—Does the stone have any feeling? Are our natural hearts like a stone? Can a human heart that is insensible like a stone be conscious of God's love? Who offers to give us a heart that will be conscious of God's love? Who wrote the book picturing the human heart like a city? Who is trying to capture this city? Through what gates does Satan try to enter? How does he try to get into Eye-Gate? How does he try to get into Ear-Gate? How does he try to get into Mouth-Gate? Can you tell any other methods that he tries? To whom had we better surrender the city of our soul? If we commit the city of our soul to God, will He protect and defend it? Is there any other way of safety?