to-day from trusting in intellect, in sagacity, in culture, and in mental
refinement, than from almost anything else. The Spirit of the world comes
in, and men seek by their wisdom, and by their knowledge, to help the
Gospel, and they rob it of its crucifixion mark. Christ directed Paul to go
and preach the Gospel of the cross, but to do it not with wisdom of words.
The curse of sin is on all that is of nature. If there be a minister who
has delighted in preaching, who has done his very best, who has given his
very best in the way of talent and of thought, and who asks, "Must that
go down into the grave?" I say, "Yes, my brother, the whole man must be
crucified." And so with the heart's affection. What is more beautiful than
the love of a child to his mother? In that lovely nature there is something
unsanctified, and it must be given up to die. God will raise it from the
dead and give it back again, sanctified and made alive unto God. So I might
go through the whole of our life. People often say to me: "But has God made
all things so beautiful, and is it not right that we should enjoy them? Are
not His gifts all good?" I answer, yes, but remember what it says; they are
good, if sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. The curse of sin is on
them; the blight of sin is on everything most beautiful, and it takes much
of God's Word, and much of prayer to sanctify them. It is very hard to give
up a thing to the death, and it is hardest of all to give up my life to the
death, and I never will until I have learned that everything about that
life is stamped by sin, and let it go down into the death as the only way
to have it quickened and sanctified.

The penitent thief confessed his sin, and that he deserved death. Then,
next, he had faith in the almighty power of Christ. A wonderful faith. It
has no parallel in the Bible. There hangs the cursed malefactor with Jesus
of Nazareth, and he dares speak, and say: "I am dying here, under the just
curse of my sins, but I believe Thou canst take me into Thy heart, and
remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." Oh, that we might learn to
believe in the almighty power of Christ! That man believed that Christ was
a King, and had a Kingdom, and that He would take him up in His arms, and
in His heart, and remember him when He came into His Kingdom. He believed
that, and believing that, he died. Brother, you and I need to take time to
come to a much larger and deeper faith in the power