in the same words:  “Lord, it is good to be here!” But not all know the truth; and we ask, Why is it so?  In answering this question several things have to be kept in mind.  Some—­but very few in our land—­are not in reach of the preached Word, are not instructed so as to be able to read it, and are so situated socially as to hear nothing of the Gospel.  Some are born deaf, who can neither hear nor read.  Some are born idiots who are incapable of understanding.  With such ignorance is no sin.  But what shall we say of the great army of unbelievers who, in the very blaze of gospel light, shut their eyes and, like the Gergesenes, beseech the Lord to depart out of their borders.  These “love darkness rather than light; and they will not come to the light.”  This answers the question, “Why do not all know the truth?” They will not abide in his words.  They will not do the truth:  “For he that doeth the truth cometh to the light.”  We now turn to the

THIRD PROMISE.—­“And the truth shall make you free.”  This is the most precious promise of all.  It is just what the truth will do for every one who knows the truth and obeys it in his life.  It will make him free.  Like the Jews, some may say, “We have never been in bondage.  We are free now, and how can you say, The truth shall make us free?” The Lord may answer you on that.  The Jews claimed the same freedom that you claim.  They said:  “We be Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to any man.”  But Jesus answered:  “Verily, verily I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.”  You decide now for yourself whether you are a bondservant or a free man.  Do you commit sin in the love of it?  Do you willingly transgress God’s holy law contained in the Ten Commandments?  If so, Jesus says you are a bondservant of sin.  Paul says the same in these words:  “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, whether of sin unto death; or of obedience unto righteousness.”

Again:  You are commanded to repent and believe the Gospel.  You are commanded to be baptized, confessing your sins.  Have you complied with these plain precepts of Holy Truth?  If not, the seal of bondage is still upon you, and every day you live in sin stamps that seal deeper and yet deeper upon your heart.  But there is balm in Gilead for you if you will accept it; and there is a physician there for you, if you will but let him administer the remedy.  That balm is the heavenly, holy, healing Word of the Lord, and that Physician is the Lord himself.  Do you ask how you are to take it?  Take it in faith, “for he that believeth is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

“And the truth shall make you free.”  Thousands on earth and millions in glory bear testimony to the truth in these words.  A living, loving belief in the words of Jesus; a faith that works from love and purifies the heart is the only power that will break the yoke of sin.  This faith God is ever ready, through his Holy Spirit, to help you to have.  Of yourself you can do nothing; but the very last words Jesus uttered on earth were these, “Lo!  I am with you to the end of the world.”