__________________________________________________________________ Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 14: 1868 Creator(s): Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (1834-1892) CCEL Subjects: All; Sermons; LC Call no: BV42 LC Subjects: Practical theology Worship (Public and Private) Including the church year, Christian symbols, liturgy, prayer, hymnology Times and Seasons. The church year __________________________________________________________________ Creation's Groans and the Saints' Sighs A Sermon (No. 788) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 5TH, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, . "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."--Romans 8:22-23. MY venerable friend, who, on the first Sabbath of the year, always sends me a text to preach from, has on this occasion selected one which it is very far from easy to handle. The more I have read it, the more certainly have I come to the conclusion that this is one of the things in Paul's epistles to which Peter referred when he said, "Wherein are some things hard to be understood." However, dear friends, we have often found that the nuts which are hardest to crack have the sweetest kernels, and when the bone seems as if it could never be broken, the richest marrow has been found within. So it may by possibility be this morning; so it will be if the Spirit of God shall be our instructor, and fulfil his gracious promise to "lead us into all truth." The whole creation is fair and beautiful even in its present condition. I have no sort of sympathy with those who cannot enjoy the beauties of nature. Climbing the lofty Alps, or wandering through the charming valley, skimming the blue sea, or traversing the verdant forest, we have felt that this world, however desecrated by sin, was evidently built to be a temple of God, and the grandeur and the glory of it plainly declare that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." Like the marvellous structures of Palmyra of Baalbek, in the far off east, the earth in ruins reveals a magnificence which betokens a royal founder, and an extraordinary purpose. Creation glows with a thousand beauties, even in its present fallen condition; yet clearly enough it is not as when it came from the Maker's hand--the slime of the serpent is on it all--this is not the world which God pronounced to be "very good." We hear of tornadoes, of earthquakes, of tempests, of volcanoes, of avalanches, and of the sea which devoureth its thousands: there is sorrow on the sea, and there is misery on the land; and into the highest palaces as well as the poorest cottages, death, the insatiable, is shooting his arrows, while his quiver is still full to bursting with future woes. It is a sad, sad world. The curse has fallen on it since the fall, and thorns and thistles it bringeth forth, not from its soil alone, but from all that comes of it. Earth wears upon her brow, like Cain of old, the brand of transgression. Sad would it be to our thoughts if it were always to be so. If there were no future to this world as well as to ourselves, we might be glad to escape from it, counting it to be nothing better than a huge penal colony, from which it would be a thousand mercies for both body and soul to be emancipated. At this present time, the groaning and travailing which are general throughout creation, are deeply felt among the sons of men. The dreariest thing you can read is the newspaper. I heard of one who sat up at the end of last year to groan last year out; it was ill done, but in truth it was a year of groaning, and the present one opens amid turbulence and distress. We heard of abundant harvests, but we soon discovered that they were all a dream, and that there would be scant in the worker's cottage. And now, what with strifes between men and masters, which are banishing trade from England, and what with political convulsions, which unhinge everything, the vessel of the state is drifting fast to the shallows. May God in mercy put his hand to the helm of the ship, and steer her safely. There is a general wail among nations and peoples. You can hear it in the streets of the city. The Lord reigneth, or we might lament right bitterly. The apostle tells us that not only is there a groan from creation, but this is shared in by God's people. We shall notice in our text, first, whereunto the saints have already attained; secondly, wherein we are deficient; and thirdly, what is the state of mind of the saints in regard to the whole of the matter. I. WHEREUNTO THE SAINTS HAVE ATTAINED. We were once an undistinguished part of the creation, subject to the same curse as the rest of the world, "heirs of wrath, even as others." But distinguishing grace has made a difference where no difference naturally was; we are now no longer treated as criminals condemned, but as children and heirs of God. We have received a divine life, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, having "escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." The Spirit of God has come unto us so that our "bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost." God dwelleth in us, and we are one with Christ. We have at this present moment in us certain priceless things which distinguish us as believers in Christ from all the rest of God's creatures. "We have," says the text, not "we hope and trust sometimes we have," nor yet "possibly we may have," but "we have, we know we have, we are sure we have." Believing in Jesus, we speak confidently, we have unspeakable blessings given to us by the Father of spirits. Not we shall have, but we have. True, many things are yet in the future, but even at this present moment, we have obtained an inheritance; we have already in our possession a heritage divine which is the beginning of our eternal portion. This is called "the first-fruits of the Spirit," by which I understand the first works of the Spirit in our souls. Brethren, we have repentance, that gem of the first water. We have faith, that priceless, precious jewel. We have hope, which sparkles, a hope most sure and steadfast. We have love, which sweetens all the rest. We have that work of the Spirit within our souls which always comes before admittance into glory. We are already made "new creatures in Christ Jesus," by the effectual working of the mighty lower of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the first-fruit because it comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life which we have, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first gifts, the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. We have this. It is called "first-fruits," again, because the first-fruits were always the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, they were to him so many proofs that the harvest was already come. He looked forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the sheaves, and when the harvest home should be shouted at the door of the barn. So, brethren, when God gives us "Faith, hope, charity--these three," when he gives us "whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report," as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the coming glory. If you have the Spirit of God in your soul, you may rejoice over it as the pledge and token of the fulness of bliss and perfection "which God hath prepared for them that love him." It is called "first-fruits," again, because these were always holy to the Lord. The first ears of corn were offered to the Most High, and surely our new nature, with all its powers, must be regarded by us as a consecrated thing. The new life which God has given to us is not ours that we should ascribe its excellence to our own merit: the new nature is Christ's peculiarly; as it is Christ's image and Christ's creation, so it is for Christ's glory alone. That secret we must keep separate from all earthly things; that treasure which he has committed to us we must watch both night and day against those profane intruders who would defile the consecrated ground. We would stand upon our watch-tower and cry aloud to the Strong for strength, that the adversary may be repelled, that the sacred castle of our heart may be for the habitation of Jesus, and Jesus alone. We have a sacred secret which belongs to Jesus, as the first-fruits belong to Jehovah. Brethren, the work of the Spirit is called "first-fruits," because the first-fruits were not the harvest. No Jew was ever content with the first-fruits. He was content with them for what they were, but the first-fruits enlarged his desires for the harvest. If he had taken the first-fruits home, and said, "I have all I want," and had rested satisfied month after month, he would have given proof of madness, for the first-fruit does but whet the appetite--does but stir up the desire it never was meant to satisfy. So, when we get the first works of the Spirit of God, we are not to say, "I have attained, I am already perfect, there is nothing further for me to do, or to desire." Nay, my brethren, all that the most advanced of God's people know as yet, should but excite in them an insatiable thirst after more. My brother with great experience, my sister with enlarged acquaintance with Christ, ye have not yet known the harvest, you have only reaped the first handful of corn. Open your mouth wide, and God will fill it! Enlarge thine expectations--seek great things from the God of heaven--and he will give them to thee; but by no means fold thine arms in sloth, and sit down upon the bed of carnal security. Forget the steps thou hast already trodden, and reach forward towards that which is before, looking unto Jesus. Even this first point of what the saint has attained will help us to understand why it is that he groans. Did I not say that we have not received the whole of our portion, and that what we have received is to the whole no more than one handful of wheat is to the whole harvest, a very gracious pledge, but nothing more? Therefore it is that we groan. Having received something, we desire more. Having reaped handfuls, we long for sheaves. For this very reason, that we are saved, we groan for something beyond. Did you hear that groan just now? It is a traveller lost in the deep snow on the mountain pass. No one has come to rescue him, and indeed he has fallen into a place from which escape is impossible. The snow is numbing his limbs, and his soul is breathed out with many a groan. Keep that groan in your ear, for I want you to hear another. The traveller has reached the hospice. He has been charitably received, he has been warmed at the fire, he has received abundant provision, he is warmly clothed. There is no fear of tempest, that grand old hospice has outstood many a thundering storm. The man is perfectly safe, and quite content, so far as that goes, and exceedingly grateful to think that he has been rescued; but yet I hear him groan because he has a wife and children down in yonder plain, and the snow is lying too deep for travelling, and the wind is howling, and the blinding snow flakes are falling so thickly that he cannot pursue his journey. Ask him whether he is happy and content. He says, "Yes, I am happy and grateful. I have been saved from the snow. I do not wish for anything more than I have here, I am perfectly satisfied, so far as this goes, but I long to look upon my household, and to be once more in my own sweet home, and until I reach it, I shall not cease to groan." Now, the first groan which you heard was deep and dreadful, as though it were fetched from the abyss of hell; that is the groan of the ungodly man as he perishes, and leaves all his dear delights; but the second groan is so softened and sweetened, that it is rather the note of desire than of distress. Such is the groan of the believer, who, though rescued and brought into the hospice of divine mercy, is longing to see his Father's face without a veil between, and to be united with the happy family on the other side the Jordan, where they rejoice for evermore. When the soldiers of Godfrey of Bouillon came in sight of Jerusalem, it is said they shouted for joy at the sight of the holy city. For that very reason they began to groan. Ask ye why? It was because they longed to enter it. Having once looked upon the city of David, they longed to carry the holy city by storm, to overthrow the crescent, and place the cross in its place. He who has never seen the New Jerusalem, has never clapped his hands with holy ecstasy, he has never sighed with the unutterable longing which is expressed in words like these-- "O my sweet home, Jerusalem, Would God I were in thee! Would God my woes were at an end, Thy joys that I might see!" Take another picture to illustrate that the obtaining of something makes us groan after more. An exile, far away from his native country, has been long forgotten, but on a sudden a vessel brings him the pardon of his monarch, and presents from his friends who have called him to remembrance. As he turns over each of these love-tokens, and as he reads the words of his reconciled prince, he asks "When will the vessel sail to take me back to my native shore?" If the vessel tarries, he groans over the delay; and if the voyage be tedious, and adverse winds blow back the barque from the white cliffs of Albion, his thirst for his own sweet land compels him to groan. So it is with your children when they look forward to their holidays; they are not unhappy or dissatisfied with the school, but yet they long to be at home. Do not you recollect how, in your schoolboy days, you used to make a little almanack with a square for every day, and how you always crossed off the day as soon as ever it began, as though you would try and make the distance from your joy as short as possible? You groaned for it, not with the unhappy groan that marks one who is to perish, but with the groan of one who, having tasted of the sweets of home, is not content until again he shall be indulged with the fulness of them. So, you see, beloved, that because we have the "first-fruits of the Spirit," for that very reason, if for no other, we cannot help but groan for that blissful period which is called "the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." II. Our second point rises before us--WHEREIN ARE BELIEVERS DEFICIENT? We are deficient in those things for which we groan and wait. And these appear to be four at least. The first is, that this body of ours is not delivered. Brethren, as soon as a man believes in Christ, he is no longer under the curse of the law. As to his spirit, sin hath no more dominion over him, and the law hath no further claims against him. His soul is translated from death unto life, but the body, this poor flesh and blood, doth it not remain as before? Not in one sense, for the members of our body, which were instruments of unrighteousness, become by sanctification, the instruments of righteousness unto the glory of God; and the body which was once a workshop for Satan, becomes a temple for the Holy Ghost, wherein he dwells; but we are all perfectly aware that the grace of God makes no change in the body in other respects. It is just as subject to sickness as before, pain thrills quite as sharply through the heart of the saint as the sinner, and he who lives near to God, is no more likely to enjoy bodily health than he who lives at a distance from him. The greatest piety cannot preserve a man from growing old, and although in grace, he may be "like a young cedar, fresh and green," yet the body will have its grey hairs, and the strong man will be brought to totter on the staff. The body is still subject to the evils which Paul mentions, when he says of it that it is subject to corruption, to dishonour, to weakness, and is still a natural body. Nor is this little, for the body has a depressing effect upon the soul. A man may be full of faith and joy spiritually, but I will defy him under some forms of disease to feel as he would. The soul is like an eagle, to which the body acts as a chain, which prevents its mounting. Moreover, the appetites of the body have a natural affinity to that which is sinful. The natural desires of the human frame are not in themselves sinful, but through the degeneracy of our nature, they very readily lead us into sin, and through the corruption which is in us, even the natural desires of the body become a very great source of temptation. The body is redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, it is redeemed by price, but it has not as yet been redeemed by power. It still lingers in the realm of bondage, and is not brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Now this is the cause of our groaning and mourning, for the soul is so married to the body that when it is itself delivered from condemnation, it sighs to think that its poor friend, the body, should still be under the yoke. If you were a free man, and had married a wife, a slave, you could not feel perfectly content, but the more you enjoyed the sweets of freedom yourself, the more would you pine that she should still he in slavery. So is it with the Spirit, it is free from corruption and death; but the poor body is still under the bondage of corruption, and therefore the soul groans until the body itself shall be set free. Will it ever be set free? O my beloved, do not ask the question. This is the Christian's brightest hope. Many believers make a mistake when they long to die and long for heaven. Those things may be desirable, but they are not the ultimatum of the saints. The saints in heaven are perfectly free from sin, and, so far as they are capable of it, they are perfectly happy; but a disembodied spirit never can be perfect until it is reunited to its body. God made man not pure spirit, but body and spirit, and the spirit alone will never be content until it sees its corporeal frame raised to its own condition of holiness and glory. Think not that our longings here below are not shared in by the saints in heaven. They do not groan, so far as any pain can be, but they long with greater intensity than you and I long, for the "adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." People have said there is no faith in heaven, and no hope; they know not what they say--in heaven it is that faith and hope have their fullest swing and their brightest sphere, for glorified saints believe in God's promise, and hope for the resurrection of the body. The apostle tells us that "they without us cannot be made perfect;" that is, until our bodies are raised, theirs cannot be raised, until we get our adoption day, neither can they get theirs. The Spirit saith Come, and the bride saith Come--not the bride on earth only, but the bride in heaven saith the same, bidding the happy day speed on when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For it is true, beloved, the bodies that have mouldered into dust will rise again, the fabric which has been destroyed by the worm shall start into a nobler being, and you and I, though the worm devour this body, shall in our flesh behold our God. "These eyes shall see him in that day, The God that died for me; And all my rising bones shall say, 'Lord, who is like to thee?'" Thus we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity of spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of the fall; we long to put off corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and to wrap ourselves in incorruption, in immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the Lord Jesus Christ will bestow upon all his people. You can understand in this sense why it is that we groan, for if this body really is still, though redeemed, a captive, and if it is one day to be completely free, and to rise to amazing glory, well may those who believe in this precious doctrine groan after it as they wait for it. But, again, there is another point in which the saint is deficient as yet, namely, in the manifestation of our adoption. You observe the text speaks of waiting for the adoption; and another text further back, explains what that means, waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. In this world, saints are God's children, but you cannot see that they are so, except by certain moral characteristics. That man is God's child, but though he is a prince of the blood royal, his garments are those of toil, the smock frock or the fustian jacket. Yonder woman is one of the daughters of the King, but see how pale she is, what furrows are upon her brow! Many of the daughters of pleasure are far more fair than she! How is this? The adoption is not manifested yet, the children are not yet openly declared. Among the Romans a man might adopt a child, and that child might be treated as his for a long time; but there was a second adoption in public, when the child was brought before the constituted authorities, and in the presence of spectators its ordinary garments which it had worn before were taken off, and the father who took it to be his child put on garments suitable to the condition of life in which it was to live. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." We have not yet the royal robes which become the princes of the blood; we are wearing in this flesh and blood just what we wore as the sons of Adam; but we know that when he shall appear who is the "first born among many brethren," we shall be like him; that is, God will dress us all as he dresses his eldest son--"We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Cannot you imagine that a child taken from the lowest ranks of society, who is adopted by a Roman senator, will be saying to himself, "I wish the day were come when I shall be publicly revealed as the child of my new father. Then, I shall leave off these plebeian garments, and be robed as becomes my senatorial rank." Happy in what he has received, for that very reason he groans to get the fulness of what is promised him. So it is with us to-day. We are waiting till we shall put on our proper garments, and shall be manifested as the children of God. Ye are young princes, and ye have not been crowned yet. Ye are young brides, and the marriage day is not come, and by the love your spouse bears you, you are led to long and to sigh for the marriage day. Your very happiness makes you groan; your joy, like a swollen spring, longs to leap up like some Iceland Geyser, climbing to the skies, and it heaves and groans within the bowels of your spirit for want of space and room by which to manifest itself to men. There is a third thing in which we are deficient, namely, liberty, the glorious liberty of the children of God. The whole creation is said to be groaning for its share in that freedom. You and I are also groaning for it. Brethren, we are free! "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." But our liberty is incomplete. When Napoleon was on the island of St. Helena, he was watched by many guards, but after many complaints, he enjoyed comparative liberty, and walked alone. Yet, what liberty was it? Liberty to walk round the rock of St. Helena, nothing more. You and I are free, but what is our liberty? As to our spirits, we have liberty to soar into the third heaven, and sit in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus; but as for our bodies, we can only roam about this narrow cell of earth, and feel that it is not the place for us. Napoleon had been used to gilded halls, and all the pomp and glory of imperial state, and it was hard to be reduced to a handful of servants. Just so, we are kings--we are of the blood imperial; but we have not our proper state and becoming dignities--we have not our royalties here. We go to our lowly homes; we meet with our brethren and sisters here in their earth-built temples; and we are content, so far as these things go, still, how can kings be content till they mount their thrones? How can a heavenly one be content till he ascends to the heavenlies? How shall a celestial spirit be satisfied until it sees celestial things? How shall the heir of God be content till he rests on his Father's bosom, and is filled with all the fulness of God? I wish you now to observe that we are linked with the creation. Adam in this world was in liberty, perfect liberty; nothing confined him; paradise was exactly fitted to be his seat. There were no wild beasts to rend him, no rough winds to cause him injury, no blighting heats to bring him harm; but in this present world everything is contrary to us. Evidently we are exotics here. Ungodly men prosper well enough in this world, they root themselves, and spread themselves like green bay trees: it is their native soil; but the Christian needs the hothouse of grace to keep himself alive at all--and out in the world he is like some strange foreign bird, native of a warm and sultry clime, that being let loose here under our wintry skies is ready to perish. Now, God will one day change our bodies and make them fit for our souls, and then he will change this world itself. I must not speculate, for I know nothing about it; but it is no speculation to say that we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness; and that there will come a time when the lion shall eat straw like an ox, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. We expect to see this world that is now so full of sin as to be an Aceldama, a field of blood, turned into a paradise, a garden of God. We believe that the tabernacle of God will be among men, that he will dwell among them, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. We expect to see the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven from God. In this very place, where sin has triumphed, we expect that grace will much more abound. Perhaps after those great fires of which Peter speaks when he says, "The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat," earth will be renewed in more than pristine loveliness. Perhaps since matter may not be annihilated, and probably cannot be, but will be as immortal as spirit, this very world will become the place of an eternal jubilee, from which perpetual hallelujahs shall go up to the throne of God. If such be the bright hope that cheers us, we may well groan for its realisation, crying out, "O long-expected day, begin; Dawn on these realms of woe and sin." I shall not enlarge further, except to say that our glory is not yet revealed, and that is another subject of sighing. "The glorious liberty" may be translated, "The liberty of glory." Brethren, we are like warriors fighting for the victory; we share not as yet in the shout of them that triumph. Even up in heaven they have not their full reward. When a Roman general came home from the wars, he entered Rome by stealth, and slept at night, and tarried by day, perhaps for a week or two, among his friends. He went through the streets, and people whispered, "That is the general, the valiant one," but he was not publicly acknowledged. But, on a certain set day, the gates were thrown wide open, and the general, victorious from the wars in Africa or Asia, with his snow-white horses bearing the trophies of his many battles, rode through the streets, which were strewn with roses, while the music sounded, and the multitudes, with glad acclaim, accompanied him to the Capitol. That was his triumphant entry. Those in heaven, have, as it were, stolen there. They are blessed, but they have not had their public entrance. They are waiting till their Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel, and the voice of God; then shall their bodies rise, then shall the world be judged; then shall the righteous be divided from the wicked; and then, upstreaming in marvellous procession, leading captivity captive for the last time, the Prince at their head, the whole of the blood-washed host, wearing their white robes, and bearing their palms of victory, shall march up to their crowns and to their thrones, to reign for ever and ever! After this consummation the believing heart is panting, groaning, and sighing. Now, I think I hear somebody say, "you see these godly people who profess to be so happy and so safe, they still groan, and they are obliged to confess it." Yes, that is quite true, and it would be a great mercy for you if you knew how to groan in the same way. If you were half as happy as a groaning saint is, you might be content to groan on for ever. I showed you, just now, the difference between a groan and a groan. I will shew you yet again. Go into yonder house. Listen at that door on the left, there is a deep, hollow, awful groan. Go to the next house, and hear another groan. It seems to be, so far as we can judge, much more painful than the first, and has an anguish in it of the severest sort. How are we to judge between them? We will come again in a few days: as we are entering the first house we see weeping faces and flowing tears, a coffin, and a hearse. Ah, it was the groan of death! We will go into the next. Ah, what is this? Here is a smiling cherub, a father with a gladsome face: if you may venture to look at the mother, see how her face smiles for joy that a man is born into the world to cheer a happy and rejoicing family. There is all the difference between the groan of death and the groan of life. Now, the apostle sets the whole matter before us when he said, "The whole creation groaneth," and you know what comes after that, "travaileth." There is a result to come of it of the best kind. We are panting, longing after something greater, better, nobler, and it is coming. It is not the pain of death we feel, but the pain of life. We are thankful to have such a groaning. The other night, just before Christmas, two men who were working very late, were groaning in two very different ways, one of them saying, "Ah, there's a poor Christmas day in store for me, my house is full of misery." He had been a drunkard, a spendthrift, and had not a penny to bless himself with, and his house had become a little hell; he was groaning at the thought of going home to such a scene of quarrelling and distress. Now, his fellow workman, who worked beside of him, as it was getting very late, wished himself at home, and therefore groaned. A shopmate asked, "What's the matter?" "Oh, I want to get home to my dear wife and children. I have such a happy house, I do not like to be out of it." The other might have said, "Ah, you pretend to be a happy man, and here you are groaning." "Yes," he could say, "and a blessed thing it would be for you if you had the same thing to groan after that I have." So the Christian has a good Father, a blessed, eternal home, and groans to get to it; but, ah! there is more joy even in the groan of a Christian after heaven, than in all the mirth and merriment, and dancing, and lewdness of the ungodly when their mirth is at its greatest height. We are like the dove that flutters, and is weary, but thank God, we have an ark to go to. We are like Israel in the wilderness, and are footsore, but blessed be God, we are on the way to Canaan. We are like Jacob looking at the wagons, and the more we look at the wagons, the more we long to see Joseph's face; but our groaning after Jesus is a blessed groan, for "Tis heaven on earth, tis heaven above, To see his face, and taste his love." III. Now I shall conclude with WHAT OUR STATE OF MIND IS. A Christian's experience is like a rainbow, made up of drops of the griefs of earth, and beams of the bliss of heaven. It is a checkered scene, a garment of many colours. He is sometimes in the light and sometimes in the dark. The text says, "we groan." I have told you what that groan is, I need not explain it further. But it is added, "We groan within ourselves." It is not the hypocrite's groan, when he goes mourning everywhere, wanting to make people believe that he is a saint because he is wretched. We groan within ourselves. Our sighs are sacred things; these griefs and sighs are too hallowed for us to tell abroad in the streets. We keep our longings to our Lord, and to our Lord alone. We groan within ourselves. It appears from the text that this groaning is universal among the saints: there are no exceptions; to a greater or less extent we all feel it. He that is most endowed with worldly goods, and he who has the fewest; he that is blessed in health, and he who is racked with sickness; we all have in our measure an earnest inward groaning towards the redemption of our body. Then the apostle says we are "waiting," by which I understand that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah or Elijah, when they said, "Let me die," nor are we to sit still and look for the end of the day because we are tired of work; nor are we to become impatient, and wish to escape from our present pains and sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to groan after perfection, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to himself. In the next verse we are described as hoping. We are saved by hope. The believer continues to hope for the time when death and sin shall no more annoy his body; when, as his soul has been purified, so shall his body be, and his prayer shall be heard, that the Lord would sanctify him wholly, body, soul, and spirit. Now, beloved, the practical use to which I put this, I am afraid somewhat discursive, discourse of this morning is just this. Here is a test for us all. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth, they worship Mammon. Some groan continually under the troubles of life; they are merely impatient--there is no virtue in that. Some men groan because of their great losses or sufferings; well, this may be nothing but a rebellious smarting under the rod, and if so, no blessing will come of it. But the man that yearns after more holiness, the man that sighs after God, the man that groans after perfection, the man that is discontented with his sinful self, the man that feels he cannot be easy till he is made like Christ, that is the man who is blessed indeed. May God help you, and help me, to groan all our days with that kind of groaning. I have said before, there is heaven in it, and though the word sounds like sorrow, there is a depth of joy concealed within, "Lord, let me weep for nought but sin, And after none but thee; And then I would, O that I might, A constant weeper be." I do not know a more beautiful sight to be seen on earth than a man who has served his Lord many years, and who, having grown grey in service, feels that, in the order of nature, he must soon be called home. He is rejoicing in the first-fruits of the Spirit which he has obtained, but he is panting after the full harvest of the Spirit which is guaranteed to him. I think I see him sitting on a jutting crag by the edge of Jordan, listening to the harpers on the other side, and waiting till the pitcher shall be broken at the cistern, and the wheel at the fountain, and the spirit shall depart to God that made it. A wife waiting for her husband's footsteps; a child waiting in the darkness of the night till its mother comes to give it the evening's kiss, are portraits of our waiting. It is a pleasant and precious thing so to wait and so to hope. I fear that some of you, seeing ye have never come and put your trust in Christ, will have to say, when your time comes to die, what Wolsey is said to have declared, with only one word of alteration:-- "O Cromwell, Cromwell! Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served the world, he would not, in mine age, Have left me naked to mine enemies." Oh, before those days fully come, quit the service of the master who never can reward you except with death! Cast your arms around the cross of Christ, and give up your heart to God, and then, come what may, I am persuaded that "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." While you shall for awhile sigh for more of heaven, you shall soon come to the abodes of blessedness where sighing and sorrow shall flee away. The Lord bless this assembly, for Christ's sake. AMEN. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Romans 8. __________________________________________________________________ Lingerers Hastened A Sermon (No. 789) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 12, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [1]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city." Genesis 19:16. EVEN as Lot lingered in Sodom, awakened sinners are apt to tarry long in their sin and unbelief. Some few are suddenly brought to Christ, and, like Saul of Tarsus, within a few hours enjoy complete Gospel liberty. But many others are unwise children and tarry long in the place of danger, loitering where they ought to hasten and wasting time which they should diligently redeem. It is angelic work to quicken those who linger. The angels who descended to earth in the disguise of wayfarers did not disdain to be employed in such a gracious office, and, if you and I would be like angels, we must do as they did--take procrastinating sinners by the hand and endeavor to compel them to escape--constraining them to flee from the wrath to come. It is a sign of God's great mercy to any soul when it has an anxious friend to quicken its pace heavenward and Christ-ward. So the text tells us, "The Lord being merciful unto him." Let no unconverted person think it an annoyance to be rebuked for his sin or to be frequently exhorted to lay hold on eternal life. It is a great loving-kindness from the Father of mercies to be beset by the persevering earnestness of believing friends. Look upon it in that light, O young man, over whom a mother yearns anxiously, for, if God's longsuffering in bearing with you should lead you to repentance, much more should this kindness in sending you a compassionate friend constrain you to yield your heart to Him. Bless God every day for kind-hearted relatives who labor to guide you to the Lord Jesus! You cannot have a greater blessing. I thought, this morning, that perhaps the Lord might make me to some of you the angel of mercy by enabling me to lead you out of the Sodom of your sins and to conduct you into a state of present salvation. Oh, how I long for this with eagerness of desire! Happy shall I be if I may win your souls, and, while you will rejoice in the mercy given, I shall rejoice exceedingly in being the instrument of it by the power of the Spirit. First, I shall address a few words, this morning, to God's messengers, and then, secondly, to those who linger. I. First, I have to speak TO GOD'S MESSENGERS. I hope they are very numerous in this Church. Every Believer should be an ambassador from Heaven. "As my Father has sent Me," said the Well-Beloved, "even so send I you." You are sent, my Brethren, to gather together the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and, like your Master, to seek and to save that which is lost. I speak solemnly to you who have wept over Jerusalem and who are prying your true love to souls by your exertions for them. And I remind you, in the first place, that it is a glorious work to seek to save men and that for its sake you should be witting to put up with the greatest possible inconveniences. The angels never hesitated when they were bid to go to Sodom. They descended without demur and went about their work without delay. Although the report of Sodom's detestable iniquity had gone up to Heaven and the Lord would bear no longer with that filthy city, yet, from the purity of Heaven, the angels did not hesitate to descend to behold the infamy of Sodom. Where God sent them they failed not to go. Note how the chapter before us begins. I have thought it might be applied to the holy laborers in the dark lanes, and courts, and houses of infamy in this city. "There came two angels to Sodom at even." What? Angels? Did angels come to Sodom? To Sodom, and yet angels? Yes, and none the less angelic because they came to Sodom, but all the more so, because in unquestioning obedience to their Master's high behests they sought out the elect one and his family, to deliver him and his from impending destruction. However near to Christ you may be, however much your character may be like that of your Lord, you who are called to such service, must never say, "I cannot talk to these people--they are so depraved and debased. I cannot enter that haunt of sin to tell of Jesus. I sicken at the thought! Its associations are altogether too revolting to my feelings." But, because you are there wanted, men of God, you must there be found! To whom should the physician go but to the sick, and where can the distributor of the alms of mercy find such a fitting sphere as among those whose spiritual destitution is extreme? Be you angels of mercy each one of you and God speed you in your soul-saving work. As you have received Christ Jesus into your hearts, so imitate Him in your lives. Let the woman that is a sinner receive your kindness, for Jesus looked on her with mercy. Let the man who has been most mad with wickedness be sought after, for Jesus healed demoniacs. Let no type of sin, however terrible, be thought by you to be beneath your pity, or beyond your labor. Seek out those who have wandered farthest and snatch from the flame the firebrands which are already smoking in it! Note again--I still speak to those who are messengers of God to men's souls--when you go to lost souls, you must, as these angels did, let them plainly see their condition and their danger. "Up," they said, "for God will destroy this place." If you really long to save men's souls, you must tell them a great deal of disagreeable Truths of God. The preaching of the wrath of God has come to be sneered at nowadays, and even good people are half ashamed of it. A mushy sentimentality about love and goodness has hushed, in a great measure, plain Gospel expostulations and warnings. But, my Brothers, if we expect souls to be saved we must declare unflinchingly, with all affectionate fidelity, the terrors of the Lord. "Well," said the Scotch lad when he listened to the minister who told his congregation that there was no Hell, or at any rate only a temporary punishment. "Well," said he, "I need not come and hear this man any longer, for if it is as he says, it is all right, and religion is of no consequence. And if it is not as he says, then I must not hear him again, because he will deceive me." "Therefore," says the Apostle, "Knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men." Let not modern squeamishness prevent plain speaking concerning everlasting torment. Are we to be more gentle than the Apostles? Shall we be wiser than the inspired preachers of the Word of God? Until we feel our minds overshadowed with the dread thought of the sinner's doom we are not in a fit frame for preaching to the unconverted. We shall never persuade men if we are afraid to speak of the judgment and the condemnation of the unrighteous. There was none so infinitely gracious as our Lord Jesus Christ, yet no preacher ever uttered more faithful words of thunder than He did. It was He who spoke of the place "where their worm dies not and their fire is not quenched." It was He who said, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." It was He who spoke the parable concerning that man in Hell who longed for a drop of water to cool his tongue. We mast be as plain as Christ was--as downright in honesty to the souls of men--or we may be called to account for our treachery at the last. If we flatter our fellows into fond dreams as to the littleness of future punishment, they will eternally detest us for so deluding them--and in the world of woe they will invoke perpetual curses upon us for having prophesied smooth things, and having withheld from them the Truth of God. When we have affectionately and plainly told the sinner that the wages of his sin will be death and that woe will come upon him because of his unbelief, we must go farther, and must, in the name of our Lord Jesus, exhort the guilty one to escape from the deserved destruction. Observe that these angels, though they understood that God had elected Lot to be saved, did not omit a single exhortation or leave the work to itself, as though it were to be done by predestination apart from instrumentality. They said, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters which are here, lest you be consumed." How impressive is each admonition! What force and eagerness of love gleams in each entreaty! "Escape for your life! Look not behind you! Neither stay you in all the plain! Escape to the mountain lest you be consumed." Every word is quick and powerful, decisive and to the point. Souls need much earnest expostulation and affectionate exhortation to constrain them to escape from their own ruin. Were they wise, the bare information of their danger would be enough and the prospect of a happy escape would be sufficient. But they, as they are utterly unwise, as you and I know--for we were once such as they are--they must he urged, persuaded and entreated to look to the Crucified that they may be saved! We would never have come to Christ unless Divine constraint had been laid upon us, and neither will they. That constraint usually comes by instrumentality--let us seek to be such instruments. If it had not been for earnest voices that spoke to us and earnest teachers that beckoned us to come to the Cross, we would never have come. Let us, therefore, repay the debt we owe to the Church of God and seek as much as lies in us to do unto others as God in His mercy has done unto us. I beseech you, my Brothers, be active to persuade men with all your powers of reasoning and argument, salting the whole with tears of affection. Do not let any doctrinal notions stand in the way of the freest persuading when you are dealing with the minds of men, for sound doctrine is perfectly reconcilable therewith. I remember great complaint being made against a sermon of mine, [2]"Compel Them to Come In," in which I spoke with much tenderness for souls. That sermon was said to be Arminian and unsound. Brethren, it is a small matter to be judged of men's judgment, for my Master set His seal on that message. I never preached a sermon by which so many souls were won to God, as our Church meetings can testify! And all over the world, where the sermon has been scattered, sinners have been saved through its instrumentality, and, therefore, if it is vile to exhort sinners, I purpose to be viler still! I am as firm a Believer in the Doctrines of Grace as any man living, and a true Calvinist after the order of John Calvin himself--but if it is thought an evil thing to bid the sinner lay hold on eternal life--I will be yet more evil in this respect! And I will herein imitate my Lord and His Apostles, who, though they taught that salvation is of Divine Grace, and Grace alone, feared not to speak to men as rational beings and responsible agents, and bid them, "strive to enter in at the strait gate," and, "labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life." Beloved Friends, cling to the great Truth of electing love and Divine Sovereignty, but let not this bind you in fetters when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, you become fishers of men. Learn, still further, from the case before us that where words suffice not, as they frequently will not, you must adopt other modes of pressure. The angel took them by the hand. I have much faith under God in close dealings with men. Personal entreaties, by the power of the Holy Spirit, do wonders! To grasp a man's hand while you speak with him may be wise and helpful, for sometimes if you can get one by the hand and show your anxiety by pleading with him, God will bless it. It is well to cast your words, as men drop pebbles into a well, right down into the depth of the soul, quietly, solemnly, when the man is alone. Often is such a means effectual where the preacher with his sermon has labored in vain. If you cannot win men by words, you must say to yourself, "what can I do?" and go to the Lord with the same enquiry. By the pertinacity of your earnestness you must trouble them into thoughtfulness. As by continual coming the woman wearied the unjust judge, so you do by your continual anxiety and perseverance, weary them in their sins till they will happily give you a little heed in order, if possible, to be rid of you, if for nothing else! If you cannot reach them because they will not read the Bible, yet you can thrust a good book in their way which may say to them what you cannot say. You can write them a letter, short but earnest, and tell them how you feel. You can continue in prayer for them. You can stir up the arm of God and beseech the Most High to come to the rescue. There have been cases in which, when everything else has failed, a tear, the tear of disappointed love, has done the work. I think it was Mr. Knill who, one day, when distributing tracts among the soldiers, was met by a man who cursed him and said to his fellow soldiers, "Make a ring round him, and I will stop his tract distributing once and for all," and then he uttered such fearful oaths and curses that Mr. Knill, who could not escape, burst into a flood of tears. Years afterwards, when he was preaching in the streets, a member of the British Grenadier Guards came up, and said, "Mr. Knill, do you know me?" "No, I do not," he said, "I don't know that I ever saw you." "Do you remember the soldier who said, 'Make a ring round him and stop his tract distributing,' and do you remember what you did?" "No, I do not." "Why, you broke into tears and when I got home those tears melted my heart, for I saw you were so in earnest that I felt ashamed of myself. And now I preach, myself, that same Jesus whom once I despised." Oh that you might have such a strong love for perishing sinners that you will put up with their rebuffs and rebukes, and say to them, "Strike me if you will, but hear me! Ridicule me, but still I will plead with you! Cast me under your feet as though I were the offscouring of all things, but at any rate, I will not let you perish if it is in my power to warn you of your danger." I thought, as I read my text, that it gave us a striking example of doing all we can. Lot and his wife, and the two daughters--well, that was four--the angels had only four hands, so they did all that they could. There was a hand for each. You notice the text expressly says they took hold of the hand of Lot, and the hand of his wife, and the hand of his two daughters. There were no more persons, and no more helping hands, so that there was just enough instrumentality, but there was not a hand to spare! I wish there were in this Church no idle hands, but that each Believer had both hands occupied in leading souls to Jesus Christ! I do not know what more I can do. I wish I knew. If there were any possibility of getting at some of you, to bring you to Christ, I would not leave a stone unturned! But I am afraid all our members cannot truthfully say as much as that. Some few can, and I rejoice therein most heartily. I am afraid some of you, although saved yourselves, do but very little for my Lord and Master. And while this great city is perishing, and tens of thousands are going down into the place where our prayers cannot reach them, and where our tears can be of no help, you let them go as though it were of no consequence! You utter no lamentations and make no efforts on their behalf! Let the text rebuke you, my fellow laborers, and God give you Grace to be more earnest in the future. Observe, also, that as those angels set us an example in using all their power, so they also encourage us to perseverance, for they ceased not to exhort till they had brought Lot out of danger. We must never pause in our efforts for any man till he is either saved or the funeral bell has tolled for him. Even if the last hour is come and the object of your solicitude is stretched upon the couch which is evidently meant to be his deathbed, still pursue his soul to the very brink of Hell. Up to the very gates of perdition hope should track the rebel. When once that iron gate is shut, it is all over with our efforts, but, meanwhile, until then we may entertain hope for any man! You and I have read nowhere concerning such-and-such a man that God will have no mercy on him! We have scanned the rolls of God's decree and cannot act upon what is not revealed! We have rejoiced to learn that our own names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and yet we were by nature as vile as any. Then who shall say that any are too vile? The Lord may have made the worst of men the objects of His electing love. We know that some entered the vineyard at the 11th hour, and why not these? It is a pity that it should have come to the last hour, but still, until the sun goes down the Master of the vineyard calls laborers into His service. I pray you, Brothers and Sisters, faint not in your holy work! Every now and then a lethargy creeps over the Christian Church and a degree of weariness steals over our own souls, but let us arise from such a state. We say, "O Lord, how long? How long?" We think we shall see but little good result of our labor, and we are ready to cast away our confidence and cease from perseverance. Up, Brethren, up! The devil wearies not! The powers of darkness rest not day nor night! The temptations of this city never know a pause! The dens of infamy and the halls of vice are always enclosing their prey! The lion is lurking everywhere--how, then, dare we be idle? Oh you that know the power of the inner life and have tasted that the Lord is gracious, stand fast in what you have received and press onward towards more exalted holiness. "Be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." I will say no more to these messengers of God except this, that we ought to remember that we are the messengers of God's mercy to the sons of men. The text tells us, "The Lord being merciful unto him." The angels had not come to Lot of themselves--they were the embodiment and outward display of God's mercy. Christians in the world should view themselves as manifestations of God's mercy to sinners, instruments of Divine Grace, servants of the Holy Spirit. Now mercy is a nimble attribute. Justice lingers, it is shod with lead, but the feet of mercy are winged. Mercy delights to perform its office. So should it be with us a delight to do good to men. God can save men without instruments, but He very seldom does it. His usual rule is to work by means. Oh that the mercy of God would work mightily by us! Let us remember, as we mingle with society, that God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. If angels were sent upon this ministry, surely they would be incessantly active! They would fly with all their might from place to place to do the Lord's will! Shall we who are honored in this be less active than they? As much as lies in us, let us redeem the time because the days are evil. Let us be instant in season and out of season, let us sow beside all waters, and let it be our earnest endeavor to make full proof of our service, whatever that service may be, that at last it may be said, "Well done, you good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things." I cannot speak with you as I would, but I feel in my own heart a most solemn earnestness to have all the members of this Church engaged in soul-saving work. Beloved, we shall never rebut the attacks of Popery, nor stop the advance of Puseyism, nor answer the quibbles of infidelity except by the personal holiness and individual consecration of our Church members. In the days immediately before the Reformation, and at the time of the Reformation, God's Gospel grew mightily and prevailed because the believers in the Gospel were noticed among their neighbors for the holiness of their lives--they were the most harmless, upright, and generous of men, so that when they were persecuted, their simple neighbors said to one another--"The priests let the lascivious and the debauched escape, but the good, and the honest, and the holy are taken to the stake, or cast into prison." That was an argument against Popery, of which men's minds perceived the power! And, moreover, it was because every converted person sought to bring in others that the Gospel spread. It was thus in the first Apostolic fervor. Every man was a missionary, every woman was an evangelist, and so the kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit could not but grow! I want you to conquer this city of London! I want you to subdue this United Kingdom! I labor in prayer to God that this Church may be the little handful of corn, the fruit of which shall shake like Lebanon! Not this Church alone, but all others, too--but as I have specially to deal with you, I want you to be distinguished for your zeal and perseverance in the cause of Christ. It seems to me that if you were what you should be, there is no reason why this dead mass of London should not be made to heave with the power of vital godliness. Little knots of you might form Churches in the localities in which you are living. These would soon increase in membership and be new centers of usefulness. Some are called to emigrate. We have always considerable streams going from us--some into the country towns of England, some to Australia and New Zealand and others to the United States--if we were all full of holiness, how might we be like fire brands to set the world on a blaze with the sacred flame of love to Jesus our Lord! I must now leave my Brethren to address myself to the lingering ones of whom there is a goodly number now present, lingering at the gates of Sodom, unsaved and in danger of destruction. II. TO YOU, O LINGERERS, I NOW SPEAK, hoping to be the means, by God's Grace, of driving you out of this lingering. I shall begin--O you that are halting between two opinions--by asking you, Why do you linger? Lot, I think, loitered because he had much property in and around the city. Probably his flocks and herds were all pastured in the well-watered plain of Sodom. Do you linger because you will lose your gains--because your trade, being an evil one, must be renounced--or because, by following the laws of Christ, you will become a loser in your transactions? My Friend, whatever you lose, lose not your soul! "Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, will he give for his life," and the day will come when you will look upon your gold and silver and all your estate as worthless in comparison with your soul! Be not foolish, and let not fleeting gain, so soon to disappear, cause you to throw away eternal gain. Perhaps Lot's wife lingered out of natural affection because she had daughters, and perhaps sons, who were determined not to leave the city. It seems to me very likely that Lot had other daughters beside the two who fled with him, for we are told in the early part of the chapter that those daughters who were with him in the house were not married, and yet this chapter speaks of sons-in-law. Though this is not certain, yet it is most probable that there were other daughters married to the sons-in-law who mocked. Certainly those mentioned who escaped were not married at the time. Did Lot's wife look back because of these daughters whom she could not bear to leave, or was she doting upon those jovial women who had often come gossiping to her house, and at whose house she had been entertained with vicious company? My Hearers, is that your case? You would rather lose all earthly friends than lose the best of friends! You would rather be cast out of the circle of society than be cast out of the circle of the glorified spirits! You will find no woman, however enchanting, and no man upon earth, however admirable, to be at all worth the losing of your soul in order to the winning of their company and their esteem. Cut the bond if it binds you to ruin! Out with the knife and cut off that right arm, or pluck out that right eye sooner than perish in Hell fire! As to Lot's daughters, I know not why they lingered, but, perhaps there were some very dear to them in the city. Some of you young people may have companions who are ungodly, and you are afraid to come away from them. Perhaps the dread of their laugh terrifies you. Oh, but it were better to be laughed at and go to Heaven than to be applauded and cast into the pit! You may be laughed into Hell, but you cannot be laughed out of it again. You may cast away your soul to escape ridicule, but by no possibility shall ridicule ever give you back the priceless treasure you have lost. I do beseech you, as men who would be wise, and as men who can judge, consider what there can be in this world that can recompense you for the loss of the Divine favor, and for being cast away forever and forever from all hope and joy! Why do you linger? If it is for love of sinful company, you linger like madmen! Oh that your madness may be cured in time! Do you reply that you do not believe in the danger? Then I am, indeed, sorry for you, for the danger is none the less sure. When men die, they do not die like dogs--they live hereafter. There is a resurrection and a judgment. There is a day appointed in which God will judge the world by the Man, Christ Jesus, who will sit upon the Great White Throne to divide the nations, as the shepherd divided the sheep from the goats. Your doubting it will not make your doom less certain or less severe--believe it! God has revealed it, your conscience justifies it! The most hardened unbelievers have, in the hour of death, as a general rule, given their assent to it, and so, I doubt not, will you! Tremble, you that forget God, for His own words are, "The wicked shall be cast into Hell, with all the nations that forget God." Do you linger because you doubt the way of escape? I hope it is not because you do not understand it! If you have attended this House of Prayer I am certain that you do understand it as far as the letter of it, if the Gospel can be understood, for I have put it into the most plain words a hundred times, that, "Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved." That is, whoever trusts in what Christ is, and what Christ has done, shall not perish but have everlasting life! Do you mistrust this way of escape? Oh that you would have faith in it, for some of us have tried it! Thousands now on earth, and tens of thousands in the skies have rested upon Christ alone for their salvation and they have rejoiced in life and in death in finding that there was no condemnation to them! Do not doubt it--it is your only hope! Or perhaps you think that you do not need it. But it is a foolish thought. However excellent you may have been, you must be saved on the same footing as the very worst. This Book contains only one Gospel. It declares that there is only one door to Heaven. We are told over and over again, that, "no other foundation can man lay than that is laid." Soul, the Lord Jesus is your only hope! If you do not accept Him, there awaits you nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation! Reject Christ and you reject your soul's only hope! You cast yourself away! You willfully destroy yourself when you reject the Gospel of God's dear Son. It is possible that the reason why you linger is that you indulge some favorite sin. I shall not attempt to guess at what it is. Perhaps it is a secret but shameful lust. You cannot indulge known sin and yet enter Heaven. Well Soul, God says to you this morning, "Will you have your sins and go to Hell, or will you give them up and trust in Christ and be saved?" That alternative is put before you. May you have Divine Grace to make the right choice. But your sin must be given up. I am not here to flatter you and tell you that you can cheat in business, or indulge in lasciviousness, or live in the neglect of the House of God, or be a drunkard and yet enter unto Heaven. You cannot have eternal life and yet fondle these things in your bosom. You cannot be perfect, but you must be willing to be so, and anxious to be so. No sin nurtured in the heart can be compatible within salvation--you must wish to sweep them all away in the Holy Spirit's strength. You must do it, too, as God shall help you, or else if you cling to sin, you cling to destruction. Oh, but what sins can be so sweet as to be worth giving up the harps of angels, and worth the endurance of-- "The flames which no abatement know, Though briny tears forever flow"? Perhaps, I have not touched the right reason for your lingering. You, perhaps, are subject to an idleness of spirit, a natural inaction and lethargy. I think in most cases this is the root of the matter. You are not bestirred about soul affairs--you are too idle to come to decision. But, Sirs, you must come to it or die! This stupefying and drugging your conscience, and these excuses and procrastination's will not do--you must come to a decision one way or the other, sooner or later--so why not now? Why, men, you are active enough in business! Are you not pushing your trade and moving Heaven and earth, and rightly enough, to pick up a living for yourselves and your families? And are your souls of such small account and esteem that you can afford to play over them and trifle? Oh, Sirs, have you lost your wits? Has your reason gone out to grass that you think your immortal and eternal interests to be of so little value that you can sleep over the mouth of Hell? Shake yourselves, I pray you, lest you be shaken by the rough hand of death and lift up your eyes, as the Savior said the rich man did, "in Hell being in torment." Lift up those sluggard eyes now! If ever you were in earnest in your studies or about your business, be in earnest now, I beseech you, about your souls! Prove that you are not fools, but that you have some wits and reason left. I fear that in some cases--though I know not of many in this place--I fear that this whole matter is despised. I often wonder over some of you. You acknowledge the Truth of the Bible. You acknowledge all that is revealed there, and yet you do not repent! I am astonished at you! I can understand the man who says, "I do not believe it." His remaining unconverted, though a dreadful thing, is a consistent thing. There is this to be said for him--he does not absolutely make himself out to be a fool. But you who say you believe in the Bible and admit that there is a Hell? You who believe that there is salvation, and that this may be had by trusting in Christ and yet do not trust Him--what shall I say to you--what shall I say of you? I will say this--I would sooner you give up all pretense than waver and halt, and parley with the Truth of God to the quenching of the Spirit and the hardening of your consciences! I am half inclined to say with stern Elijah, "If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him." If religion is a lie, do not pretend to believe it! Say so and be honest--and take the consequences. But, if it is true, act upon it. If there is a Hell, fly from it! If there is a Heaven, obtain it! If there is a City of Refuge, reach it! If there is a Christ, believe in Him! If He is an impostor, come not here, but reject Him utterly! But, if He is the Savior of sinners, bow down before Him now, I beseech you, lest this be the withering accusation at the last--that you were inconsistent even on your own admissions and that you went to Hell--not simply as sinners, but as fools going willingly to the gallows, knowing where they were going and yet walking on as bullocks to the slaughter! Well, I have put the question, Why do you linger? Now I want to say two or three words to you, and they shall be to this effect--With what shall we hasten you? These few considerations, hurriedly offered, I hope will not be forgotten. Time is short. Young people do not believe this, but you who have reached 30 or 40 know it. You know how the weeks spin round, how the years fly like wheels that whiz in their hot haste. You know this and feel it, and yet you let these years run on and on. Why do you linger when time flies faster than a thunderbolt and lingers not? Moreover, life is uncertain. Some of you know this by painful experience. You have recently lost friends. Sound and in strong health, they have been struck down. Others of you have been accustomed to attend the deathbed, or you often see the hearse go by the windows. Or you are sick and you carry death in your heart. Why do you linger? I feel as if I must stop awhile and weep over your insanity! O Friends, if you knew when you were to die, it would be but wise to lay hold on Christ now! But, since you do not know but what in this very house you may become corpses, will you run the risks of Hell and eternal wrath? I pray you do not do so for your own sake, for it is your business more than mine. For your own sakes be wise and linger no longer! If this will not quicken you, let me tell you that if you were now to believe in Christ you would be no loser. Present salvation would be present happiness. Trusting in Christ at this moment would give you--I speak from experience--a joy which nothing in the world can rival! Beside that, you are now, at this moment, in danger. Have you never read such texts as these, "He that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God"? "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked"? "God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, He will whet His sword; He has bent His bow, and made it ready"? Do not think I speak these terrible things because I like to speak them. No, but because I would have you saved! I cannot bear to think of your being lost, though you can! I cannot bear to think that I should have looked into the faces of some of you so many months, and even years, and yet should have to appear a swift witness against you in the day of judgment! Shall I not be compelled to say, "These people did know the Gospel, and did in a measure feel its power, but they said, 'Not now, not now. When I have a more convenient season, I will send for you.'" And it is so simple! It is but to believe and live, to trust and to be saved. O that now Christ would cast the weight of His love into the scale that you might once and for all give up yourself for Him! There is one terrible reflection which I cannot help mentioning, namely, that with some of you it ought to be an alarming fact that the means of Grace are losing effect. You used to feel them much more than you do now. Why, when you first came to the Surrey Music Hall, or to the Tabernacle, if the preacher seemed at all in earnest, you wept! Sometimes you could not sleep at night because of the alarm that was caused you! But I may ring the alarm bell now, again and again before it will awaken you! To you my voice has lost its striking note. You are used to the sound of my entreaties. Oh that I could awaken you! May I sleep in the grave before I become a mere machine to lull you into slumber! I do strive to get variety in my ministry because I know that without it I cannot get your attention and reach your hearts. Ah, thoughtless Hearer, you had better go somewhere else! There may be a chance of somebody else getting at your heart, but I am afraid I shall not. If you do not repent under my ministry, go somewhere else! Do not lose the chance that perhaps there may be somebody else who will be more plain and more earnest with you than I am--and do not let it be the sad case that you shall sit here till you shall nod yourselves unto destruction, slumbering under the sound of the Gospel and then sinking into perdition, hopelessly and without excuse. This is the last reflection I shall offer you. Within a few short months, or say within a few short years at the very outside, you will know one of two things--you will know either the terrors of Hell or the glories of Heaven. Now, which shall it be? All this hinges upon your believing or not believing in the Lord Jesus. If you believe, your portion shall be with the white-robed throng whose life is bliss, whose existence is immortality! If you believe, all the splendors of Heaven shall be yours with Christ in whom you have trusted. But if you believe not, as truly as God is God, and that this Book is true--and if you deny God and this Book, then I must deal with you another time--if these things are not a fable, then you, even you, a child of a godly mother--even you, a hearer at the Tabernacle--you must be bound up with bundles of sinners to be burned! You must hear the voice, "Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire in Hell, prepared for the devil and his angels." And in that day, in that day, do me at least this one act of justice--acknowledge that I did warn you of it, that I did seek to stop you if I could--even to laying violent hands upon you, if possible, to turn you from your evil ways! But oh, it must not be so! I cannot bear it! I cannot close without having said to you what God Himself has said, "Turn you, turn you; why will you die, O house of Israel." "Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Come unto Christ, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." God bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ King's Gardens A Sermon (No. 790) Delivered on Lord's-Day Evening, December 29 , 1867, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the [3]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "The king's garden." Nehemiah 3:15. THERE have been many very famous king's gardens, such as those "hanging gardens" in Nineveh, in which Sardanapalus delighted himself, and that remarkable garden of Cyrus in which he took such great interest, because, as he said, every tree and every plant in it had been both planted and tended by his own royal hand. Imagination might bid you wander among the beauties of the celebrated villas and gardens of the Roman emperors, or make you linger amid the roses and lilies of the voluptuous gardens of the Persian caliphs but we have nobler work in hand. I call you to come with me to orchards of pomegranates, to beds of spices, camphor with spikenard, calamus and cinnamon, myrrh and aloes, and trees of frankincense. I am not about to speak of the gardens of any earthly monarch, for we can find far fairer flowers and rarer fruits in the gardens of the King of kings, the resorts of His Son, the Prince Immanuel. There are six of these "king's gardens" to which I shall conduct you, but we shall not have time to tarry in more than one of them. I. The first of these king's gardens was THE GARDEN OF PARADISE, which was situated in the midst of Eden. You will read of it in the book of Genesis. It was doubtless a fairer place than we have ever seen and much more marvelous for beauty than we can imagine. It was full of all manner of delights--a fruitful spot in which the man who was set to keep it would have no need to toil, but would find it a happy and refreshing exercise to train the luxurious plants. No sweat was ever seen upon his happy brow, for he cultivated a virgin soil. Abundance of luscious fruits ministered to his necessities. He could stretch himself upon soft couches of moss and no inclement weather disturbed his repose. No winter's wind scattered the leaves of Eden! No summer's heat burned up its flowers! There were sweet alternations of day and night, but the day brought no sorrow and the night no danger. The beasts were there, yet not as beasts of prey, but as the obedient servants of that happy man whom God had made to have dominion over all the works of His hands. In the midst of the garden grew that mysterious Tree of Life, of which we know so little, literally, but of which, I trust, we know much in its spiritual meaning, for we have fed upon its fruits and have been healed by its leaves. Hard by it stood the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, placed there as the test of obedience. Adam's mind was equally balanced--it had no bias to evil--and God left him to the freedom of his will, giving this as the test of his loyalty, that, if obedient, he would never touch the fruit of that one tree. Why need he? There were tens of thousands of trees, all of which bowed down their branches with abundant fruit for his hunger or his luxury. Why need he desire that solitary tree which God had fenced and hedged about? But, in an evil hour, at the serpent's base suggestion--we know not how soon after his creation--he put forth his hand and plucked from the forbidden tree! The mere plucking of the fruit seems little to the thoughtless, but the breaking of the Maker's Law was a great offense to Heaven, for it was man's throwing down the glove of battle against his Creator, and breaking his allegiance to his Lord and Master. This was great, great in itself and in its mischievous effects, for Adam fell that day, and he was driven out of Eden to till the thankless, thorn-bearing soil. And you and I fell in him and were banished with him. We were in his loins. He was "the father of us all," and on us he has brought the curse of toil, and in us all he has sown the seeds of iniquity! Let it never be forgotten that in connection with the garden of Eden we are not now a pure and sinless race, and cannot be by nature, however civilized we may become. Men are born no longer with balanced minds, but a heavy weight of original sin in the scale. We are averse to that which is good. The bias of the mind of man, when he is born into the world, is towards that which is evil and we as naturally go astray as the serpent naturally learns to hiss, or the wolf to tear and to devour. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, beware of thinking too little of the Fall. Slight thoughts upon the Fall are at the root of false theologies. The mischief that has been worked in us is not a trifling matter, but a thing to be trembled at. Only the Divine hand can reclaim us. The house of manhood has been shaken to its foundations--each timber is decayed--leprosy is in the tottering wall. Man must be made new by the same creating hand that first made him, or he never can be a dwelling place fit for God. Let those who boast of their natural goodness look to the garden of Eden and be ashamed of their pride--and then examine their own actions by the glass of God's most holy Law--and be confounded that they should dream of purity! How can he be pure that is born of woman? "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? Not one." As our mothers were sinful, such are we and such will our children be. As long as men are brought into the world by natural generation we shall be "born in sin and shaped in iniquity." And if we are to be accepted by God we must be born again and made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Alas, then, alas, for that first king's garden! The flowers are gone and the birds have ceased to sing! The winter's winds howl through it and the summer's sun scorches it! The beasts of prey are there. Perhaps the very site of it, which is now unknown, may be a den of dragons, an habitation for the pelican of the wilderness and the bittern of desolation! Fit image, if it is so, of our natural estate, for we were altogether given up to desolation and destruction unless One mighty to save has espoused our cause and undertaken our redemption. II. The second king's garden to which I will introduce you is very different from the first, but it yields more fragrant spices and healthier herbs by far. It is THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE--the garden of the olive press, in which the Lord Jesus Christ was the olive, and God's anger against sin was the press. Take off your shoes, for the place where you stand is holy ground! 'Tis night. Yonder are 12 men walking and talking sweetly as they walk. Observe One, a mysterious, majestic Person, who is evidently superior to the rest. It is the Son of Man. Hush! It is the Son of God, and as He talks you can hear words like these, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. Abide in Me and I in you." We will conceal ourselves behind that group of olive trees and will see what is to happen here. This is the place where that mysterious Son of God was often to be found with His disciples. Just as God walked in the first garden in Eden, so the Son of God walked in the second garden. And as God in the first garden communed with man, so of the second garden it is written Jesus oftentimes resorted there with His disciples. Look, He has dismissed eight of them. He has told them to wait yonder and on He goes with only three--Peter, and James, and John--the chosen out of the 11--and speaking to them, and bidding them watch, He leaves them, and is all alone. Let us draw as near as we may. We see the Son of God in prayer, and as He prays His earnestness gathers strength. He is striving with an unseen enemy--struggling like a man who would overcome an adversary, wrestling so vigorously that He sweats--but it is a strange sweat! "His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground." He is beginning to drink the cup of Jehovah's wrath which was due to our sins--a cup which we could not have emptied even through eternity, though every drop of it had been a Hell. Christ is downing the wrath-cup, and as He trembles under the fiery influence of the draught of worse than wormwood and gall, He cries, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." But He recovers Himself and His prayer is, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." Backwards and forwards you see Him go like a man distracted. Three times He looks to the disciples for comfort, but they are slumbering. And then again He returns to His God and casts Himself upon His face, with strong crying and tears, pouring out His soul in blood before high Heaven--such is the anguish of His tortured heart! Behold here the beginning of our redemption. Jesus then began to suffer in our place, atoning for our iniquity. The mischief of Eden fell upon Gethsemane. The mist of sin rose up in the garden of Paradise, and as it rose it gathered and collected into a black tremendous storm cloud, and then it burst, with flashes of lightning and with claps of thunder, upon the great Shepherd of the sheep, that we, who deserved to be overwhelmed by the tempest, might find fair weather in the rest which remains for the people of God. Perhaps no sight that was ever beheld of men or angels, except the Crucifixion, was more tremendous than the agony of Gethsemane! It must have been a terrible spectacle to have seen martyrs in the fire, or men and women devoured by lions and bears in the Roman amphitheatre, but then to the Christian's eyes there was a pleasure mingled with these ghastly sights, for God sustained His faithful ones. They clapped their hands amidst the fire! They sang when the wild beasts were leaping upon them! Such holy joy beamed from their countenances that their Brethren were comforted rather than distressed, and saints wished to be there with them that they might die as they died and win the martyr's crown! But, when you look at Christ in the garden, you miss the help which the martyrs had. God forsakes Him! He must tread the winepress alone, and of the people there must be none with Him. Yes, and yet, dark as that night was--the darkest night that ever fell upon this world--it was the mother of that Gospel light of finished redemption which now enlightens the Gentiles and brings glory unto Israel! Let us leave the King's garden, then, with feelings of deep repentance that we should have made Jesus suffer so, and yet with holy gladness to think that thus has He redeemed us from the ruins of the Fall. III. I claim a moment's thought for the GARDEN OF THE BURIAL AND THE RESURRECTION. In Joseph's garden, in the new tomb, the Beloved of our souls slept for awhile and then arose to His Glory-life. Detained of death He could not be, for He was no longer a lawful Captive. He had finished His work and earned His reward, and therefore the imprisoning stone was rolled away. He is not here, for He is risen! The seal is broken, the watchmen are dispersed, the stone is removed, the Captive is free! What comfort is here, for, as Jesus rose, so all His slumbering saints shall likewise leave the tomb. His Resurrection is the resurrection of all the saints. Wait but awhile and the tomb shall be no longer the treasury of death. So surely as the Lord came forth from the sepulcher to glory and immortality, all His saints are justified and clean. None can accuse us now that the Lord has risen, indeed, no more to die. His one offering has perfected forever all the chosen ones and His glorious uprising is the guarantee of their acceptance. Faith delights in the garden where Magdalene found her unknown, yet well-known, Lord, and where angels kept watch and ward over the couch, which the immortal Sufferer had relinquished. Henceforth it is to us a King's garden, abounding with pleasant fruits and fragrant flowers. IV. And now I desire to take you to a fourth king's garden. You will not have far to go. Put your hand on your bosom and your finger will be on the latch of its door. It is THE GARDEN OF THE HUMAN HEART. The heart is a little garden--little, apparently, but yet so extensive that it is all but infinite--for who can tell the limit of the heart of man? How far-darting the imaginations and the affections of the soul of man may be? Now, this little-great thing, the human heart, is meant to be a garden for God. Did I say it was a garden? It should be so, but alas, by nature it scarcely deserves the name, for I perceive it to be all overgrown with weeds--thistle and briar, deadly nightshade, and nettles, and I know not what besides--spring up everywhere. I see trees, but they drop with poison, like the deadly upas, whose drip is death. There are no luscious fruits, but instead the grapes of Gomorrah and apples of Sodom. This loathsome den of festering evils is what should have been God's garden, but it is a tangled wilderness of all manner of noxious things! Thorns, also, and thistles does it bring forth. What must be done to this neglected garden? What heavenly horticulture can be used upon it to reclaim it from its desert state? God, the great Farmer, must come and turn it over after His own fashion. The rough plow of conviction must be dragged through it. The spade of trouble must break up the surface and smash to pieces the clods, and kill the weeds. And fire must burn up the rubbish. Has that ever been done in the garden of your heart, dear Hearer? Have you ever had your soul plowed and cross-plowed and harrowed with sorrow till you were driven well-near to despair? Have you seen your sweet sins killed so that you could not take pleasure in them any longer, but desired to be clean rid of them? That must be done if the garden is to be reclaimed and made worthy of the Divine Owner. Then when the soil is broken up and the clods are turned there must be seed sown, and the planting of slips from the Tree of Life and seeds from the nurseries of Heaven--seeds that shall turn to flowers which shall be full of sweet perfume, acceptable to Christ. The seeds of faith, love, hope, patience, perseverance, and zeal must be carefully cast into prepared soil by the Holy Spirit's hand, and fostered by the same kindly care. Before the heart can be called a garden fit for the King of kings, these must bud, and blossom, and yield their fruits. When I regard attentively that garden which was so lately covered over with weeds, but which is now sown and planted, I perceive that the plants grow not well unless the soil is drained. There must be always drained out of us much superfluity of naughtiness and excess of carnal confidence or our heart will be a cold swamp--a worthless plant-killing bog. Affliction drains us. We do not like to have our money or our friends taken from us, and yet the love of these might ruin us for all fruit-bearing if God did not remove them. Besides the draining, there must also be constant hoeing, and raking and digging. After a garden is made, the beds are never left long alone. The gardener must have his eye upon them or they run to riot. If they were left to themselves, they would soon breed weeds again and return to the old confusion--so the hoe must be constantly kept going if the garden is to he clean. So with the garden of the heart--cleansing and pruning must be done every day and God must do it through ourselves, and we must do it by constant self-examination and repentance, striving in the power of the Holy Spirit to keep ourselves free from the sins which do so easily beset us. I find that the weeds grow fast enough in my soul, and keep me in full employment to check their growth. Cowper talks about-- "The dear hour which brought me to Your foot, And cut up all my follies by the root." Surely, good Cowper must have made a mistake! I know mine were never cut up by the roots. When they have been cut down, the root soon sprouts again! They will be cut up by the root one day, as I believe and hope, but till then I must be incessantly watchful. The roots are still there. Alas, alas, alas, that it should be so! O Lord Jesus, help us, or we shall be overgrown with our besetting sins. Corruption still remains even in the heart of the regenerate, and the garden of the King of kings is often overgrown with weeds. But for God it is still a garden--a garden for Jesus to walk in, and there are happy times when He deigns to sit down in the arbor of our souls! What a royal garden our poor heart then becomes! It may be the body is covered with poor garments. It may be our whole outward man is very sick and faint, but still our manhood is a King's garden when Christ is within and we are kings and priests unto our God as Jesus holds fellowship with us! The angels come into that garden, too, and when the air is still and the noise of outside cares is hushed, we have often enjoyed a little Heaven within our heart, the beginning of the Heaven to which we hope soon to go! Dear Hearer, do you know what we mean by paradise within, glory beaming in the heart, Heaven in the soul? Jesus can teach you this. The heart is a King's garden, Beloved. Jesus bought it with His precious blood, and He has now, by His Grace, come into it and claimed it to be His own. My Friend, if He has not come to you yet, I hope He will. If you have not given your heart to Him, I hope you may be led to do so by His gracious Spirit. But, if your heart is His, oh, keep it for your Beloved! Do not give the keys to anyone else! The love of husband, wife and child--each of these is to have its proper place--but the heart's core is the King's garden. Mark you, it is not the husband's garden, nor the wife's garden, nor the child's garden--the dearest idols we have known must not be set up there--it is the King's garden! I hope you will say tonight, before you go to rest, "O king, come into my garden, and eat my pleasant fruit! Awake, O heavenly wind, and blow upon the garden of my soul, and let all the plants of my new nature give forth their sweetness that my Beloved may be charmed with my company, and that I may be filled with His sweet love." V. However, I want you to spend most of your time in a fifth garden, and that is THE GARDEN OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH--our garden, and yet the King's garden--planted and flourishing in this place. Follow me in each word of the text. What is it? A garden. The Church of God is a garden. Many thoughts are gathered in that one metaphor like bees in a hive. It is called a garden in the book of Solomon's Song, so I know that we are not wrong in using the illustration. But what does a garden mean? In the first place it implies separation. A garden is not the open waste, the shrubs, or the common. It is not a wilderness. It is walled around--it is hedged in. Ah, Christian, when you join the Church, remember you, too, become by profession hedged in for King Jesus! I earnestly desire to see the wall of separation between the Church and the world made broader and stronger. Believe me, nothing gives me more sorrow than when I hear of Church members saying, "Well, there is no harm in this. There is no harm in that," and getting as near to the world as possible. It does not matter what you may think of it, but I am certain that Divine Grace is at low ebb in your soul when you even raise the question of how far you may go in worldly conformity. We are to avoid the very appearance of evil, and especially just at this festive season of the year, this Christmas, when so many of you are having your parties, your children's sports, and all that kind of thing. I would have you doubly jealous, do remember, Church members, that you are to be Christians always, if Christians at all. We do not grant dispensations to sin, as the Roman Catholics did in Luther's day. You are always to wear your uniforms as Christian soldiers and never, at any time, say, "Well, I shall do this just now--it is only once a year. I shall do as the world does--I cannot be out of fashion." You must be either out of the fashion, or out of the true Church--remember that, because the place for Christ's Church is altogether out of fashion. You are called to go forth outside the camp, bearing His reproach. If you want to be in the camp, you cannot be Christ's disciple, for the love of the world is enmity to Christ. You must be a separated one or be lost. If you want to be the common, you cannot be the garden! And if you are willing and anxious to be the garden, why, then, do not attempt to be the common. Keep the hedges up. Keep the gates well bolted--king's gardens must not be left open to thieves and robbers. Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The King's garden is a separated place--keep it so. The King's garden is a place of order. You do not, when you go into your garden, find the flowers all put in any which way--the wise gardener arranges them according to their tints and hues so that in the midst of summer the garden shall look like a rainbow that has been broken to pieces and let down upon the earth--delightful to gaze upon. All the walks are even, the beds are in proportion, and the plants well arranged, just as they should be. Such should the Christian Church be--pastor, deacons, elders, members--all in their proper places. We are not a load of bricks, but a house. The Church is not a mere heap, but it is to be a palace built for God, a temple in which He manifests Himself. Let us all try to maintain order in the household of Christ, and above all things hate discord and confusion. Let us be men who know how to keep rank, maintaining a decent order and regularity in all things. We seek not the order which consists in all sleeping in their places, like corpses in the catacombs, but we desire the order which finds all working in their places for the common cause of the Lord Jesus. May we never become a disorderly, disunited, irregular Church. May there be order in the garden preserved by the power of love and Divine Grace. A garden is a place of beauty. Such should the Christian Church be. You gather together the fairest flowers from all lands and put them in your garden. And if you see no beauties in the streets, you expect to see them in the florist's beds. So, if there is no holiness, no love, no zeal, no prayerfulness outside in the world, yet we should see these things in the Church! We are not to take the world to be our guide, but we are to excel it. We must do more than others. The Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of even the Scribes and Pharisees or they could not enter the kingdom. And the genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in his life than the best moralist because Christ's garden ought to have the best flowers in all the world! Even the best is poor compared with what Christ's deserves--let us not put Him off with withered and dying plants. The rarest, richest, choicest lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus calls His own. The king's garden is a place of growth, too. I do not suppose the florist would think that soil fit to be a garden in which his plants would not grow. It would be a dead loss to him if the slips remained slips and if the buds never turned to flowers. So in the Church of God. We are not introduced into fellowship to be always the same, always little children and babes in Grace. We should grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Prayer Meeting should be a school of practical education for our Beloved young members, a place for the young nestlings to try their callous wings. When they try to pray, at first they may almost break down, perhaps, but if they will not give way to a foolish timidity, they will soon get over it and find themselves useful--not merely in public prayer, but in a thousand works of usefulness besides. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Gardener and the Holy Spirit the dew from above. Again, a garden is a place of retirement. When a man is in his garden he does not expect to see all his customers walking down between the beds to do business with him. "No," he says, "I am walking in my garden, and I expect to be alone." So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve the Church to be a place in which He can manifest Himself to us as He does not unto the world. Oh I wish that Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more shut up for Christ! I am afraid we often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with much serving so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary had, and do not sit at His feet as we ought to do. The Lord grant us Grace to keep our hearts as closed gardens for Christ to walk in. This, then, is a poor description of what the Church is. And now, very briefly, whose is it? The Church is a garden, but it is the King's garden. The Church is not mine, nor yours, but the King's. It is the King's garden because He chose it for Himself-- "We are a garden walled around, Chosen, and made peculiar ground. A little spot enclosed by Grace Out of the world's wide wilderness." We are the King's because He bought us--Naboth said he would not give up his vineyard because he inherited it. So does Christ inherit us by an indefeasible title. We are His heritage and He has so dearly bought us with His own blood that He will never give us up, blessed be His name! We are His because He has conquered us. He won us in fair fight and now we acknowledge the validity of His title-deeds, and confess, every one of us, as the members of His church, that we are His, and that He is ours. What a nobility this gives to Christ's Church! I have sometimes heard people talk disparagingly of Church meetings--there may be but few persons present--some of those may be young members and some may be very old. Yet I have been much grieved when I have heard people despise such a Church meeting for Christ would not despise it! Let such beware. Whenever the Church meets, either as a whole or representatively, there is a solemn dignity cast about that assembly which is not to be found in a parliament of kings and princes. Yes, I will say it--if Louis Napoleon could call a senate of all the potentates in this world in Paris and hold a congress there--the whole of them put together would not be worth the snap of a finger compared with half-a-dozen godly old women who meet together in the name of Christ as a Church, in obedience to the Lord's command! God would not be there with the potentates--what cares He for them? But He would be with the most poor and despised of His people who meet together as a Church in Jesus Christ's name. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," is more glorious than ermine, or purple, or crown! Constitute a Church in the name of Christ and meet together as such, and there is no assembly upon the face of the earth that can be compared with it! Even the assembly of the firstborn in Heaven is but a branch of the grand whole of which the assemblies of the Church on earth make up an essential part. The Church is the King's garden. I am going to ask, now, if the Church is a garden, what does it need? One thing it certainly requires is labor. You cannot keep a garden in proper order without work. We want more laborers in this Church, especially of one sort. We want some who will be planters. I had a letter last week from a young woman. I do not know who she is. I do not know where she sits. It may be in the top gallery, it is quite as likely to be in the second--perhaps more likely--and in the arena quite as likely again. She says that she has been here for two years and that she has been very anxious about her soul, and she has often wished that somebody would speak to her but nobody has done so. Now, if I knew where she sat, I should say to the friends who sit there that I am ashamed of them! As I do not know where she sits, will those of you who love Christ, but who have not been in the habit of looking after others, be so kind as to be ashamed of yourselves, because there is somebody or other to be blamed in this business! If you love Jesus at all, I cannot understand how you can let a person come to this Tabernacle for two years and not speak to them! Somebody has been negligent, very negligent! Whoever it may be, let him see to it! I do not say you can speak upon the best things the first time you see them, though you might try to do that at any rate--but how can you have been silent for two years? How can this be? You have been here twice every Sunday and that young woman has been here twice. Well, there are 200 times--200 opportunities that you have lost! Two hundred times that you have let that poor soul go away burdened without speaking to her! I need laborers very badly, real hard-working soul-winners! I need planters who can get the young slips and put them where they will grow! I need helpers who will gather up the young lambs, just as they are born, and carry them in their bosom a little while. We need spiritual nurses who will give comfort to the broken-hearted and pour in the oil of consolation into the wounds of poor trembling sinners! In every Church there ought to be some to watch over those who are planted. When we receive members we ought to look after them! And as one person cannot do it thoroughly--as even the elders and deacons are hardly numerous enough for so great a work--it should be the aim and duty of all the experienced Christians in the Church to fondly tend the younger ones. I believe that many of you do this, and I am very thankful to zealous friends who are not in office in the Church who do a great deal in visiting the sick and watching over the younger members. Only I want all of you to do it! Oh, if everybody were duly anxious about keeping this garden in order, how beautifully trimmed all the borders would be and how few weeds should we find springing up in the beds! May I ask you, members of the Church, are you doing your duty by the King's garden? You are yourselves His own chosen ones, and He has worked for you so that you have no need to work to save yourselves. But still, you must not be idle, for your Lord has said to you, "Go, work today in My vineyard." Are you doing it? I thank you if you are. If you are not, blame yourselves. There should be a little band in every Church to collect the stragglers. Our vines will grow out of order if they can, but we must deal wisely with them and fasten them up in their places. We must be on the alert when we see backsliding begin. How much can be done by old Christians in trying to stop backsliding among the young! I believe that half the cases that have gone badly might have been stopped by a little judicious forethought. I say again, what can we, who are the officers of this Church, do with so many? Why, we number more than 3,500 in Church fellowship. But if you will look after each other, and seek wherever you see a little decline or a little coldness, to bring the Brother back, the King's garden will be well cared for. The King's garden needs laborers--may you all labor, and its needs in this respect will be met. Sometimes we need, Brothers and Sisters, to burn up the rubbish and sweep up the leaves. In the best Church there will always be some falling leaves. Somebody gets out at the elbow with another Brother. We are not any of us perfect, even though we get on far more than reasonably well with one another as a Church. I never saw any Church that was really so well knit together in Christian love as we are--but there are always a few leaves about, and not a little dust to be put in the corner and burned. May I ask a Brother, whenever he sees any mischief, to sweep it up and say nothing about it? Whenever you find that such-and-such a Brother is going a little amiss, talk to him about it quietly. Do not spread it all over the Church and cause jealousies and suspicions. Pick up the leaf and destroy it. When a Brother member has offended you so that you feel vexed, forgive him, for I dare say you will need forgiveness before many days are over. We have none of us, perhaps, the sweetest of tempers, but if we do have the sweetest, the way to prove it is by forgiving those who have not. If every one would seek to make peace there never could be any great accumulation of discord in the King's garden to annoy Him. And when He came walking in He would find it all beautiful and in good order, and all the flowers blooming delightfully--and He would find His delights with the sons of men. Now, I have said that the Church needs laborers, but, dear Friends, it needs something else! It needs new plants. I wish I might find some tonight. Our King finds plants for His garden outside the wall. He takes the wild olive branches and grafts them into the good olive, and then the sap changes the nature. A new thing, that! It is not thus in our gardens at home, but wonders are worked in the garden of the King! He transplants weeds from the dunghill and makes them to grow as lilies in the midst of his fair garden. Will you be such a plant? May the Master's love constrain you to desire to be such a one, and, if you desire it, you shall have it! Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are His! Rest alone upon Him and you are a plant of His right-hand planting, and shall never be rooted up. God grant that you may blossom to the skies. But, dear Friends, all the laborers and all the new plants would not be what the Church requires if she had not something else--for every garden needs rain, and every garden needs sunshine. This Church, if it had ever so many laborers, could never prosper without the dew of the Holy Spirit and the sunshine of the Divine favor. We have had these blessings to a very great extent. We must pray that we may have more. I should like to know of some of you how long it is since you have been to a Prayer Meeting. Shall I stop and let you count? Well, you have not been just lately because it is Christmas time. Very well, I did not expect to see you. And if I had expected, I should have been disappointed. But it was not Christmas time last October, and yet you were not here then! Some of you very seldom come at all. If you are lawfully detained at home, I would never ask you to come, or upbraid you for minding your home duties. You have no right to leave legitimate business that ought to be done to come here. But I am certain that some of you are idle and might come if you liked. I pray the Lord to send you a horsewhip in the shape of trouble in your conscience till you do come, for it very much weakens us all in our prayers when our numbers decline! And whenever people come to despise weeknight services--be sure of it--farewell to the vital power of godliness, for weeknight services are very, very much the stamp of the man. Any hypocrite will come on a Sunday, but a man does need to take some interest in religious services to be found mingling with the people of God in prayer. Am I to believe that some of you do not care whether souls are saved or not? Am I to believe that some of you, our Church members, have no care whether our ministry is blessed or not? Am I to believe that you continue members of a Church in which you take no interest? Am I to believe that it is nothing to you whether Christ is crowned or despised? I will not believe it! And yet your absence from the meetings for prayer tends to make me fear that it must be so. I beg you correct yourselves in this matter, and as the King's garden needs rain and sunshine and we cannot expect to have it without prayer, let us not forget the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Oh, for more prayer! More to pray! And for those who do pray, to pray with more fervor and more constancy in supplication! One favor I would ask. If you cannot come to the Prayer Meetings--and many of you, I know, cannot, and I do not speak to you blaming you-- but do pray in the family, do pray in the closet for us. Do not let us become poor in prayer. It is a bad thing to become poor in money because we need it for a thousand causes, and cannot get on without it. But we can do without money better than we can do without prayer! We must have your prayers. I had almost said, if you do not give us your daily prayers give up your membership, for it is no good to yourselves and cannot be of any use to us. The very least thing that a Church member can do is to plead with God that the blessing may descend. It is the King's garden, and will you not pray for it? It is the King's own garden in which He loves to walk and which He has purchased with His blood--shall not your prayers go up that His Church may flourish, and that His kingdom may come? And now, lastly, on this point. This King's garden, what does it produce? If there had been time, I meant to have waited while you answered the question as to how much you produced. Sometimes in our garden we have a tree which is so loaded with fruit that we have to put props under it to keep the branches from trembling. There are one or two in this Church of that sort, who bear much fruit for God, and are so weak in body that their very fruitfulness of zeal and earnestness seems as though it would break them. I pray God that with His gracious promise He may prop them up. I am afraid that this is not the picture of most of us. You say to the gardener sometimes, "Will there be any fruit on that tree this season? It is time that it should show." He looks, and looks, and looks again, and at last the good man says, "I think I can see one little one up at time top, Sir, but I do not know whether it will come to much." That, I am afraid, is the photograph of many professors. There is fruit, or else they would not be saved ones, but it is "a little one." "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples." May your prayer be not for fruit only, but for much fruit, and may God send it! Remember, if there is any fruit at all, it all belongs to the King. If a soul is saved, He shall have the glory of it. If there is any advance made in the great cause of Truth and righteousness, the crown shall be put upon His head. The keepers of the vineyard shall have their hundreds, but the King Himself shall have His 10,000s time 10,000s, for He deserves it all. VI. And now, dear Friends, before I send you away, there is one more garden I must mention, but the time is so far past that I shall not keep you to say much about it. It is the GARDEN OF THE PARADISE ABOVE. I shall let God's Word speak to you about that garden, and then have done. "And he showed in a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life, which bore 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign forever and ever." In that garden of the Paradise above may we all be found at the last. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Arrows of the Bow Broken in Zion A Sermon (No. 791) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 19, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [4]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "There broke He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." Psalm 76:3. THE writer of this song of triumph gloried as a patriot in the defeat of his country's foes--he did better, he triumphed as a believer in Jehovah in the victories which were worked by the power of the Lord his God! I have sometimes wished that we English Christians blended in ourselves a little more of the two characters of patriots and Believers. I am persuaded that if our poets had been holy and devout men, and at the same time bold patriots, like David, they would not have lacked subjects for the most glorious national hymns. The events of English history are no less stirring than the annals of Judah and Israel. What a theme for a master singer would be the defeat of the proud Spanish Armada, or the frustration of Rome's knavish tricks on November the Fifth, or the gallant fights of Oliver and his valiant Ironsides, or the landing of William III and the overthrow of the hopes of the enemies of the Gospel! Our national minstrelsy has never been so devout as it should be and we are poor in holy national songs as compared to the Hebrews. May the taste of coming ages improve in this respect. Let us, in the events which occur in our own tune, see the hand of God--and if we cannot write psalms and hymns, yet at any rate let us feel the spirit of glowing thanksgiving to that God who has bid the ocean gird our native isle and thus protected her with a better guard than gates of brass or triple steel! Blessed be the Lord our God, Who, till now, has held the shield of Omnipotence over this land and made it the citadel of liberty, the refuge of the oppressed, and the stronghold of the Gospel of Christ. We will not, however, detain you with such subjects, but invite you to more spiritual considerations. Our Salem is the peaceful Church or God, and our Zion is the abode of Gospel worship where the general assembly of the first-born unite in holy joy. The Psalmists of Israel, when they rehearsed the Lord's mighty acts in the midst of His people, spoke of the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. And we who believe in Jesus can join with the song of Moses the song of the Lamb, while we behold the overthrow of sin, death and Hell by our all-glorious Champion, and cry with all our hearts and voices, "Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea." Israel chanted her paean of victory over the accursed Canaanites whom Joshua slew with great slaughter. They were firmly established in their own country. They dwelt in cities which were walled up to the heavens and they rushed forth to war, riding in chariots of iron with sharp scythes upon their axles, and spearmen darting their javelins afar. Their warriors were swift and valiant and their numbers like the sand of the sea. But, behold, their boasted armies dissolved at the advance of Joshua as the hoar frost melts in the sun! Hittites and Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites fell before the sword of the Lord and Israel magnified Jehovah who "smote great kings, and slew famous kings, and gave their land for an heritage, even an heritage unto Israel His servant: for His mercy endures forever." We also have a better Canaan in prospect and more terrible enemies have been subdued by Jesus, the Captain of our salvation--let us not be slow to praise the name of the Lord! No Jew could forget the victories achieved under the leadership of David over the Philistines. They had giants among them and their ranks were filled with veterans--men of war from their youth up--yet the sling and the stone brought down the champion, and the troops of God were made valiant in battle, turning to flight the armies of the aliens! Give unto the Lord, O you mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name, for even thus has Jesus vanquished evil and given His servants Grace to conquer through His blood. This Psalm commemorates the grand defeat of Sennacherib. No swords or spears were used--the Lord sent an angel who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and all the leaders and captains in the camp--so that the proud Assyrian returned with shame to his own land. This victory was the subject of many a holy song in Judah's happy land. But the everlasting defeat of the accuser of the Brethren by the angel of the Covenant of Grace should waken yet more thrilling music in the choirs of the Church of the living God. All the wonders recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord are eclipsed in the Gospel annals, for they are but the destruction of men's bodies, the temporary deliverance of cities and of nations from the oppression of war. But the Gospel tells of eternal redemption. As spiritual affairs far exceed material interests, so the spiritual victories of God in the midst of His Church are far more resplendent than His triumphs against His foes on behalf of Israel. May the Holy Spirit quicken us, raise our courage, strengthen our faith and confirm our confidence in Him while we think upon what God has done and is doing in the midst of His Church. "There broke He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." Right valiantly has the Lord worked for us and in us, and He will also do great things by us. I. First, he has fought victoriously FOR US. Our God has worked great spiritual victories for us by which all the ingenious weapons of our many adversaries have been snapped. Let me remind you, Beloved, in the first place, of what the Lord our God did in the day of our redemption by the sufferings of Christ. Let us celebrate the triumphs of Cavalry! The Lord of angels descended from Heaven and left the glories of His Father's Throne to take upon Himself the form of a servant and to be made in the likeness of man. Throughout the whole of His life of humiliation He was attacked by the enemy, but He was victorious at every point. Hell strived to empty out all its quivers upon Him and the sword of Satanic malice sought with its keenest edge to wound Him, but never was He staggered or so much as scarred. He quenched every fiery dart and repelled every barbed arrow. The prince of this world watched Him with jealous eyes and scanned Him from head to foot but found no place for the entrances of sin--nothing within His soul upon which evil could gain a footing. Jesus was unconquerable to show us that in the power of Divine Grace manhood may overcome the sword of evil and break the arrows of temptation. At last the fullness of time ushered in that dreadful night when all the powers of darkness met and collected all their infernal might for one last tremendous charge--buckler, and sword, and arrow and every weapon of offense and defense were wielded by the leaguered hosts of Hell--but all in vain. Our Champion was hard put to it. He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was led away like a malefactor, tried and condemned. The Lord Jehovah made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all, but in all, and over all He was more than conqueror! You never can forget, for it is written upon the fleshy tablets of your grateful hearts, how His enemies dragged Him to the Mount of Crucifixion. How they fastened Him to the accursed tree, lifted Him up all bleeding and suffering, exposed Him to the glare of the sun, dashed the Cross into its place dislocating all His bones! How they sat around and stared upon Him and mocked His miseries! But in all this He remained invincible! These griefs, which were outward and conspicuous to our eyes, were but a small part of His agonies--the inward strife, the internal conflict, the soul-desertion and depression were far heavier. Sin's utmost weight, the fury of vengeance, the curse of the Law, the sword of Justice, the malice of Satan, the bitterness of death--all these He knew and more. And yet, single-handed, He sustained the fight and earned the crown! That glorious cry, "It is finished," was the deathblow of all the adversaries of His people, the breaking of "the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." I think I see before me the hero of Golgotha using His Cross as an anvil and His woes as a hammer. He is dashing to shivers bundle after bundle of our sins, those poisoned "arrows of the bow." He is trampling on every charge, and destroying every accusation. What glorious blows the mighty Breaker gives! How the weapons fly to fragments, beaten small as the dust of the threshing floor! Behold, I see Him drawing from its sheath of hellish workmanship the dread sword of hellish power! See He snaps it across His knee as a man breaks dry and brittle firewood, and casts it into the fire. Like David, he cries, "He teaches My hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by My arms." "I have pursued My enemies, and destroyed them, and turned not again until I had consumed them. And I have consumed them and wounded them that they could not arise: yes, they are fallen under My feet...Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth; I did stamp them as the mire of the street." Beloved, no sin of a Believer can now be an arrow to mortally wound him. No condemnation can now be a sword to kill him, for the punishment of our sin was borne by Christ. A full atonement has been made for all our iniquities by our blessed Substitute and Surety. Who now accuses? Who now condemns? Christ has died, yes, rather has risen again! Let Hell, if it can, find a single arrow to shoot against the Beloved of the Lord! They are all broken, not one of them is left. Christ has emptied the quivers of Hell, has quenched every fiery dart and broken off the head of every arrow of wrath! The ground is strewn with the splinters and relics of the weapons of Hell's warfare--which are only visible to us to remind us of our former danger, and of our great deliverance. Sin has no more dominion over us! Jesus has made an end of it, and put it away forever. O you enemy, destruction has come to a perpetual end! Let us talk of all the wondrous works of the Lord and you who make mention of His name keep not silent. When our Lord, after a short sojourn in the grave, rose again on the third day, His resurrection effectually crushed all the remaining hopes of Hell. So long as He was in the tomb, it might seem as though His people were in jeopardy. But when He "rose again for our justification," our security was no longer in doubt! In His death He paid the debt. In His resurrection He obtained the receipt, and exhibited the precious writing to Heaven, and earth, and Hell, by nailing the handwriting of ordinances to His Cross. The rising of Christ from the grave is to us the warrant of our final perseverance. Has He not Himself said, "Because I live, you shall live also"? It is to us the pledge of our resurrection, for as the Head has arisen, so all the members of the body must arise. Had Jesus seen corruption, had the grave still held His body in vile durance, our hope would have been but slender. But now that Jesus lives, and death has no more dominion over Him, we rejoice that by one sacrifice He has perfected forever them that are set apart. Our risen Lord shines forth in transcendent majesty beside the empty tomb, surrounded by the broken swords and bucklers of His people-- "Shout, you seraphs! Gabriel, raise Fame's eternal trump of praise! Let the earth's remotest bound Hear the joy-inspiring sound Hallelujah. Lives again our glorious King! 'Where, O death, is now your sting?' Once He died our souls to save; 'Where's your victory, boasting grave?'" Yet further, when, after 40 days our Lord ascended from us to take possession of the purchased possession in our name, and to prepare a place for us at the right hand of the Father--in that day He again gave to Hell such a defeat as it shall never be able to recover. Had Jesus Christ remained still upon the earth, it had been thought that Heaven was still shut to Believers and we might have entertained a fear that between us and the celestial gate there would be such hordes of enemies that we should never be able to hew a pathway to our rest. But Jesus has completely cleared the king's highway to Glory for all His saints, and they traverse in safety the road to the celestial gate! As the watchmen fled from the grave's month when the living Lord arose, and as the stone was rolled away from the sepulcher, so all the fiends that might have kept us out of Heaven have fled also, and every barrier to our entrance to the celestial reward is effectually removed. See the Incarnate God returning to His Throne! Your imaginations can conceive the splendor of His triumphal entrance when all the angels hailed Him with glad acclaim and disembodied spirits who had long ago been redeemed by the foresight of His death met Him with their congratulations and the Paternal Deity said, "Well done" and bade Him take His reward at His right hand. Ah, then He led captivity captive and made a show of His enemies openly! Then He finally broke the "arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle," and gave to His people a conformation of the assurance that it shall never be possible to keep so much as one of them out of the eternal rest since their Covenant Head has taken possession on their behalf--to hold it safely for each one until "the adoption to wit the redemption of our body." Nor is the story quite ended yet. Jesus is now exalted far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named. But the enemy of our souls, though defeated, continues maliciously to attempt our destruction. Satan's head is bruised but still he lives and continues perpetually to assault the saints of God. We seldom stand before the angel without Satan comes forward as our accuser. The accuser of the Brethren unceasingly clamors against the saints, but here is our joy--whatever may be the arrows of Satan's bow, whatever sword he may wield against us--there He stands, our great Captain, our Shield and the Lord's Anointed! And as fast as the arrows of accusation are shot, He breaks them! And as often as the sword is drawn, He turns aside its edge! Courage, Christian! Your foes may be unceasing in their attacks, but Jesus Christ is unfailing in your protection! For Zion's sake He does not hold His peace and for Jerusalem's sake He does not rest. His intercession comes up perpetually before the eternal Throne--and the constant presentation of His Omnipotent merit evermore preserves the tempted, succors the needy, and upholds those that are ready to fall. Let us be of good cheer, for there, in the New Jerusalem to which our laboring souls aspire, the intercession of Jesus breaks "the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." Nor does it end there, for here below our exalted Lord is master over all events! Providence is ruled and guided by the Man whose head was surrounded with the crown of thorns-- "Lo! In His hands the sovereign keys Of Heaven, and death, and Hell." To this hour the adversaries of the Truth of God seek the overthrow of the Church of God. We may be sometimes idle, but they are always diligent. "The enemy goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." He assails the people of God in successive ages from different points of the compass with cunning and fury, and we should have poor hope--we who are like a few lambs in the midst of wolves--if it were not that our Master is present by His eternal Spirit and rules all things by His Providential government! He can make those wheels which are so high that they are terrible, to revolve that the greatest enemies of the Church shall be cut off or shall be converted! And He can raise up from the dunghill men that shall be princes in the midst of Israel, to be defenders of the Truth and shepherds to His people. He can cause to be born in a humble cottage in the woods a Luther who shall shake off the fetters from the nations! He can bring forth from the wildest village of France a Calvin whose words shall be as nails fastened by the master of assemblies! And He can raise a flaming Knox and nourish his fiery spirit in Geneva till Scotland needs him--or raise up in the quiet parsonage of Lutterworth a Wickliffe to shine as the morning star of the Reformation in England. God is never short of men! He never has to worry Himself of means! He knows no difficulties or dilemmas. If His Church needed it, He could, tomorrow, make emperors relent of their sins and doff their crowns to become ministers of the Word, and constrain the most violent persecutors of the Church to crouch at her feet and lick the dust. Let us be confident in the reigning power of our ever loving Savior! Let us be reassured by the history of the Church in the past, and expect to see Divine interpositions in our own day. Fear not, for still it shall be said of Zion, "There broke He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." For His redeemed ones it is most evident that the Lord Jesus is more than conqueror, not only putting adverse darts aside, but breaking them. He not merely averts the violence of the sword, but He breaks that sword, tearing the buckler from the enemy and leaving him defenseless-- stripping him of all his arms, both of offense and defense--that his defeat may be total and irretrievable. "Arms and the man, I sing," said the great Roman poet. A nobler theme, by far, would be, "Arms and the Son of God." II. May we have help from on high while we now ask you to consider the victories which Jesus Christ has won in us. Brethren, we who are members of the Church of Christ have been subdued by Sovereign Grace. Whereas once we were enemies, we are now reconciled unto God by the death of His Son. Now, if we could each tell his story of conversion the children of God would be ready to burst out with one simultaneous shout of joy as they perceived that in the midst of His Church, the Lord, in the hearts of His people, has broken the arrows of the bow! Let me take you back to the time of your conversion. Some of us were very stout-hearted. We knew the Truth of God but we did not love it. We understood the Gospel and we abhorred it. We were often entreated to consider the welfare of our souls, but we cared for the frivolities of the moment and we let the realities of eternity slip by. We were thundered at by the Law! We were gently wooed by the Gospel. The tears of a mother, united with the earnest warnings of a teacher, and the admonitions of a pastor--all these were powerless upon our slumbering conscience. Some of us went to great lengths of rebellion and hardened ourselves more and more until it seemed impossible for us to do enough against the Lord our God. When we talk of great and vile sinners it brings tears to our eyes as we remember that such were some of us, but we have been washed. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, the bringing in of great sinners is, indeed, a glory to Christ--and the salvation of great moralists is not a secondary victory, for perhaps of the two it is more difficult to subdue the righteous self than the sinful self of men. To have made those who have been kept pure outwardly to feel their inward impurity, and to bewail it is a triumph great and masterly! Rejoice when the harlot bows before the Savior with breaking heart! Be glad when Saul of Tarsus yields his persecuting heart to the Savior's scepter! But equally adore the majesty of love when the young man who has kept all these commandments from his youth up seeks the one thing which he lacks and trusts his heart with Jesus Christ without delay! When we shall get to Heaven we will astonish the angels with what we shall have to tell--the depths of sin out of which we have been delivered--the fiery lusts from which we have been rescued--the stiff necks that have been made to bow, and the unyielding knees that have been compelled to bend! Glory be unto God! I cannot help saying so again, Glory be to God! As I look around this place and think of some of you in whom God's great and wondrous arm has been revealed in redeeming you from all your iniquities, I dare make it my boast that here the Lord has broken "the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle!" Since conversion, dear Friends, how often has the great Conqueror been obliged to interpose on our behalf to save us from our rebellious lusts? I do not know how you find it, but it strikes me that conflict is the principal feature of the Christian life this side Heaven. We know what communion is. We are no strangers to the banqueting house where the banner of love is waving. But still, to contest every inch of ground on the road to immortality, to wrestle hard with sins, and doubts and fears is our average experience. We do get beyond this sometimes, but not for long. We have soon to come back again, either to fight with the lions, or Apollyon, or to climb the Hill Difficulty, or to traverse the Valley of the Shadow of Death, or to pass through Vanity Fair, or to endure the sleepy influences of the enchanted ground, or to be in Doubting Castle! It is not an easy path to Heaven--it is warfare from beginning to end. There are times with us when we are so sorely beset with temptations that our feet have almost gone, our steps have well near slipped. We had long before this fallen, to our shame and confusion, if another arm than ours had not held us up. Oh, what strong temptations some of us have endured! Those of us who have passionate, fiery, strong, willful natures have to fight frequently against suggestions which we would scarcely whisper in the ear of those we love the best. We have overcome as yet. We have been upheld till now. But who could have held us up but the Lord Himself? Our temptations occasionally are plied so craftily and are so exactly fitted to the situation, so precisely adapted to the state of our bodily health, or the condition of our outward business that it is a wonder that we have not yielded. Yes, and we have almost yielded, as we must mournfully acknowledge, and then Apollyon has hissed at us from between his teeth: "You have been unfaithful to your Lord already in your heart. You know you have gone back in your soul and broken your covenant. How can you hope to be accepted at the last? Go back to the world at once, for you are playing the hypocrite, you know you are," says he, "for your heart is deceitful. Go back, therefore, in your outward life." Though we have been able still to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and have kept the weapon of All Prayer in our hand, yet we have been almost overcome, and have narrowly escaped. We have to bless God that we have escaped like a bird out of the snare of the fowler, but only escaped as by the skin of our teeth. We have not broken the arrows of the bow. We have not been able to break the sword of the enemy--but Christ has done it, blessed be His name! We have fled to the foot of His Cross. We have looked up and seen the streams of His precious blood. We have cowered down beneath the shadow of the Atonement and we have come away strong to fight with our corruptions and to overcome our besetting sins. Further than this, those who know anything of the inner life, if their inward struggles are at all like mine, will frequently have to contend with doubts and fears, suspicions and forebodings. Glory be to God, it is not always so. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." My Brothers and Sisters, we often walk in darkness and see no light. Many of God's people are harassed with questions as to their interest in Christ, or are afflicted with deep depression of spirit. And when it is so, if we try to comfort them, what a task it is! I have tried all the promises of the Bible which I could remember upon some of the sorely troubled ones. I have reminded them of the Person of Christ, and His consequent power. The suffering of Christ and His consequent ability to cleanse from sin. And frequently I have had this answer, "When God shuts up, who can deliver?" and I have been made to feel, as a pastor, very often, that I could not quench the fiery darts of the enemy for other people--that I could not break the sword of the enemy for others--or even for myself! What a sweet relief it is to be assured that Jesus can break the arrows of the bow, subdue our doubts, and cause His people with reviving courage to say, "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, for when I fall I shall rise again!" I have seen many excellent Believers whose lives have been examples to us all, who, nevertheless, have said, "If you knew what was in my heart, you would not speak to me as a Christian. Oh, how great are my sins! I feel that I live at a great distance from God. I am of little or no service to His Church. When I am in trouble, I do not act like a Believer and cast my burden upon the Lord, but I bear it till my soul is sorely burdened." Then I have read to them such a Psalm as the one which follows our text, where David says, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. You hold my eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Does His promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?" I have always found such souls get relief when they have come to Christ just as they did at first--and if they have said, "I am afraid I never did come," they have soon rejoiced in the light of His countenance when they have been able to add, "But if I never came, I will now"-- "Just as I am--though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fights within, and fears without, O Lamb of God, I come." To creep to the foot of the Cross feeling as if the earth would open and swallow you up, and yet resolved that if you perish, you will perish with your arms about the Atonement, resting on the expiatory Sacrifice--this is the sure way to comfort. Tried one, you cannot perish beneath the Cross! You must be safe there! Standing there, you shall understand that there Jesus breaks "the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." To leave this subject for a moment, I would notice that all which is yet to come in the inner life is secured by our Lord Jesus Christ. As up till now we have not been mortally wounded, nor have cast away our confidence altogether, so shall it be to the close. No doubt other conflicts will arise--the past seems to warrant our prophesying that the future will not be calm and peaceful--the hours of old age and consequent debility are stealing on apace. The days of sickness, and all the depression of spirit which sickness usually brings are drawing near. Last of all, and most terrible to some, the solemn article of death approaches, and speak of it as we may, death is terrible to a living man. The river of death is cold and chill, and for a man to plunge into it boldly will need more than ordinary courage. But let us not sit down and deplore our future ills, nor petulantly wish to avoid life's trials--we cannot if we could--let us set our face steadfastly towards Jerusalem and go onward, persuaded that every foe in advance is already defeated! Christ Jesus leads the way! No enemy has been able to stand against Him and none shall stand against us all the days of His life! Death has lost its sting since Jesus died. "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." I wish that I had the power to speak of these things as they deserve, but I leave them with you as topics for your thankfulness. O my Brothers and Sisters, how we ought to praise and bless God for what He has worked in us from the first day until now! A dear friend said just before service, "I am very grateful, and what is more, if I am not grateful, I ought to be, for I owe so much." Oh, if ever I get to Heaven, I will sing the loudest of any there for I am sure I shall owe more to God than any of you! The responsibilities of my office overwhelm me. When I sit and think of the many, many, many who call me by the name of pastor, and the tens of thousands that read the word which I preach every week, I am overwhelmed! If I shall at the close of life be able to say as George Fox, the Quaker, said after his last sermon, "I am clear! I am clear!"--I would give all the world if I had it, to know that I shall be able to say that--for this is my one and sole desire, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, but being wrapped about with the fair white linen of His. If safe at last, I shall have to praise Him who has delivered me from a thousand temptations, and kept my feet safe in slippery places. I know that to each one of you your place seems as peculiar as mine does to me. I do not doubt but what I am as much fitted for mine as you are for yours, and therefore I believe that your condition has its peculiar dangers, and I doubt not you receive peculiar helps and special deliverances. Defraud not my Master of your gratitude! Give Him your hearts. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar, for God is our God which has showed us light! Let what He has done for us bind us to Him, and encourage us to hope in Him. "You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice." III. And now, lastly, as this has been done for us, and in us, it will be done BY US. The Church of God is God's battle-ax and weapons of war in fighting His battles for truth and righteousness. And, up till now history shows that none have been able to stand against God in the midst of His people. If I could give you a brief epitome of Church history, I should be glad to do so, but there is not time this morning, and will not be, I fear, at any of our services today. But it is a fact, that along the whole spiritual battle the victory has been to God's people. At first the enemy attacked the Church with persecution. Those rough and barbarous weapons of war were used which were to be found in the Coliseum with its wild beasts and cruel men, or in the axe, the stake, and the rack. Men have grown somewhat wiser now, but in those days men and devils sought to destroy the testimony of our God by the destruction of the saints. And what was the result? O Persecution, where are your trophies? The virgin daughter of Zion has shaken her head at you and laughed you to scorn! The Church, like a good ship beaten by the waves, has cut through every billow and has been hastened on her way by the storm. Washed and cleansed and purged by opposition, the more the Church has been opposed the more brightly glorious has she shone forth! God was in the midst of her and helped her. He helped her and that right early. Our pulse beats fast, and our blood grows hot when we read of the persecutions of old pagan Rome. And when we turn to the story of the Reformation, and see the hunted ones among the Alps, the Huguenots driven out of France--our own Lollards and the Covenanters of Scotland--we feel proud to belong to such a race of men! We glory in their lineage and are amazed that the policy of persecution should so long have been continued by shrewd, sharp-witted men, when it ought to have been clear to them that in every case in which they persecuted the Church of God, it multiplied the more exceedingly! God has, indeed, broken "the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle," by sustaining His people in times of persecution. The Church has also been assailed with deadly errors. There is scarcely a doctrine of our holy faith which has not been denied. Every age produces a new crop of heretics and infidels. Just as the current of the times may run, so does the stream of infidelity change its direction. We have lived long enough, some of us, to see three or four species of atheists and deists rise and die--for they are short lived--an ephemeral generation. We have seen the Church attacked by weapons borrowed from geology, ethnology, and anatomy. And then from the schools of criticism fierce warriors have issued, but she survives all her antagonists. She has been assailed from almost every quarter, but the fears that tarry in the Church today are blown to the wind tomorrow! Yes, the Church has been enriched by the attacks, for her divines have set to work to study the points that were dubious, to strengthen the walls that seemed a little weak, and so her towers have been strengthened and her bulwarks consolidated. To disprove the Word of God and to overthrow Christianity is still the fond dream of wicked men, and therefore we may expect yet worse attacks. There are looming in the future, even now, fresh clouds of skeptical theory, but as certainly as God has blown away these things like chaff before the wind in times gone by, so will He in the days that are yet to come. It is in the Church itself that the victory is generally won. I am inclined to believe that the writers against different heresies, when they have done their best, have done comparatively little with the masses--and that our learned men, when they assail new forms of skepticism, however successful they may be with the few--do but very little with the many. The true place of victory is not in the scholar's study, nor in the classroom of the university, but in the Church itself. If you want to answer the infidel, live a holy life! If you desire to stop the skeptic, let your faith bring forth patience, your patience experience, your experience hope that makes not ashamed. Zeal for the Truth of God as it is in Jesus, earnest prayer for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom and industrious effort for the spread of the Truth will be much more victorious over the insinuations of evil men than the most cogent arguments that reason can devise. There, on the deathbed of the consumptive girl with scarcely strength enough to speak, she bears witness that Christ is precious and His love a sweet savor in her departing moments--THERE our precious Jesus breaks the arrows of the bow! There, in the working man's cottage which was once the haunt of drunkenness and the den of vice and the abode of misery--but which has now become a little paradise where the children are trained for Heaven, where father and mother are knit together in love--THERE the Grace of God breaks the shield, and the sword, and the battle! There where the weeping sinner finds peace. Where the troubled merchant wins rest to his spirit. Where the tempted young man overcomes the temptation and stands fast in the day of trial--THERE it is where suffering is endured with patience, where labor is performed with perseverance, where the command is obeyed with holiness and sin is resisted with steadfastness! THERE it is that the Gospel of Jesus breaks the "arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle." My dear Friends, let nothing ever daunt us as a Church. God has given us some signal triumphs in the conversion of remarkable sinners--let nothing, therefore, ever hinder us in seeking the conversion of men. Some of you I know are industrious every day in seeking to turn men to Christ. Do not give up the most hardened cases where you get nothing but a sneer, or even where the door is slammed in your face! Do not be cast down at rebuffs or blasphemies--those who are most opposed frequently yield first. It is harder work to deal with those who say, "Yes, yes, yes," but who forget what we say--it is more hopeless work to deal with them than with those who turn against us and seek to tear us apart. In God's name push on, you soldiers of the Cross! The darkest alley may be made light! The back courts of London may become the courts of King Jesus! The house that is now a den of infamy may be purged, and be made to have a Church within its walls! Be confident, in the energy of the eternal Spirit, that He can subdue the hardened heart! Be steadfast in the exercise of minister and continue to preach the Gospel, for it is by preaching through the Holy Spirit that men shall be saved! Brothers and Sisters, we anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ! We are looking forward to the time when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and to the bats--when Romanism shall be exploded and the crescent of Mohammed shall never again wave to cast its baleful rays upon nations. We expect the time when every sail that whitens the deep shall bear the herald of the Cross! When kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed! I know that some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel that is breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We are to pluck, they say, the elect from off her, and the world itself is to be destroyed and cast away as an unclean thing. We are of another mind and look for something more glorifying to God than this desponding theory. We know that the world and all that is in it is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth. But we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that-- "Jesus shallreign wherever the sun Both his successive journeys run." We are not discouraged by the length of His delays. We are not disheartened by the period which He allots to the Church in which to strive and struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, to be always the devil's stronghold. Brethren, Christ came here to take the lion by the beard and to rend him, and to deliver this world entirely and altogether from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. It shall be so, for Jesus cannot lose His reward! We expect to see the mountain of the Lord arise--it has arisen now--it is no mean hill already. But we expect to see it rise higher, and higher, and higher till it shall be exalted upon the top of the hills--above all the highest peaks of earth--and nations shall flow unto it. The handful of corn upon the top of the mountains shall yet shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. What a shout shall that be when men and angels shall join together to cry, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" What a satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord Jesus! In closing, let me solemnly remark how unhappy are those who are on the side of evil! It is a losing side and it is a side where to lose is to lose forever. Be reconciled unto God! This is the Gospel message. "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, while His wrath is kindled but a little." Lastly, how happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with Him doing their little in His name and by His strength! Thrice happy, my Brothers and Sisters, are we to have the honor of winning souls! Let us seek to get more of such honor! Let us be insatiable to promote Christ's Gospel! Let us be ambitious to the highest bent of our minds to extend the Redeemer's kingdom! And God do so to you, and more also, as you shall seek to do unto Him, and unto the sons of men for their good evermore. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Mary Magdalene A Sermon (No. 792) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 26, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [5]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.'" Mark 16:9. EXPERIMENTAL preaching, when truthful, is almost always profitable. As the spouse of old desired to see the footsteps of the flock, so souls in distress are always happy to observe the proofs that others have trod that same pathway before. It may be, and I trust it shall be, that while we are speaking upon the life of Magdalene and showing how the Lord was pleased to lead her up from the depths of mental distress to the heights of spiritual joy, some who may be in like circumstances may be led to hope that for them, also, there may be deliverance. And others who have already received like favors may have their grateful recollections refreshed, and may be made to bless the Lord who brought them up out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and has now set their feet upon a rock. We shall begin with Mary of Magdalene here. God began with her in a way of effectual Grace. I. Mary Magdalene furnishes us, in the first place, with A MELANCHOLY INSTANCE OF SATANIC POWER. She does not appear to have been a great sinner. It is scarcely possible, and certainly very improbable., that she could have been a transgressor in the sense in which the term "Magdalene" is generally understood. Custom has attached the title of Magdalene to those who have forfeited their good name by open sins against the Seventh Commandment. Mistaken though it is, let the name always remain as the sole treasure of fallen women, for, if we can give them one honorable designation to act as a shield, pray let them have it, for the world is cold enough and scornful enough towards such offenders. It is worth while, however, to declare for the honor of Mary Magdalene, that she was no Magdalene in the modern sense. It could scarcely have been so. She was probably a raving demoniac, therefore not at all likely to fall into the sins of the flesh. We are never told of her that she was a great sinner, in fact not a word is said against her personal character. We are simply informed that she was possessed with seven devils, which is an affliction rather than a crime. I do not deny that sin may have prepared her for the Satanic possession and was, no doubt, also occasioned by it, but she is not brought before us in Scripture as a transgressor, nor is she the representative of great offenders, but rather the type of a class of persons who for years are sorely vexed in heart, greatly depressed in spirit, heavily burdened with despondency, bound with chains of melancholy, subject to distracting forebodings, to alarms of coming wrath and to a despair insuperable. Mary Magdalene represents those who have come under the tormenting and distracting power of Satan, and whose lamp of joy is quenched in tenfold night. They are imprisoned not so much in the dens of sin as in the dungeons of sorrow--not so criminal as they are wretched--nor so depraved as they are desolate. We do not, with any certainty, understand the precise nature of being possessed with the devil. Holy Scripture has not been pleased to acquaint us with the philosophy of possessions, but we know what the outward symptoms were. Persons possessed with devils were unhappy. They found the gloom of the sepulcher to be their most congenial resort. They were unsocial and solitary. If they were permitted, they broke away from all those dear associations of the family circle which give half the charms to life--they delighted to wander in dry places, seeking rest and finding none--they were pictures of misery, images of woe. Such was the seven times unhappy Magdalene, for into her there had entered a complete band of devils. She was overwhelmed with seven seas of agony, loaded with seven manacles of despair, encircled with seven walls of fire! Neither day nor night afforded her rest. Her brain was on fire and her soul foamed like a boiling caldron. Miserable soul! No dove of hope brought the olive branch of peace to her forlorn spirit. She sat in the darkness and saw no light--her dwelling was in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Among all the women of Magdala there was none more wretched than she, the unhappy victim of restless and malicious demons. Those who were possessed with these evil spirits were defiled thereby, as well as made unhappy--for a heart cannot become a kennel for the hounds of Hell without being rendered filthy and polluted. I suppose that in addition to the natural corruptions which would be in Mary as well us in ourselves, there would be more than human nimbleness to evil, a vivacity, an outspokenness about all her sinful propensities which only the indwelling fiend could give. Satan being within would be sure to stir up the coals of impure thoughts and evil desires, so that the fire of sin would burn vehemently. Her inner self may have been sorely troubled with such excess of wickedness, but she was without power to dampen the furnace of her mind. She would be incessantly assaulted by unearthly profanities and hideous suggestions-- not as with us, proceeding from the devil without, who is a dreaded antagonist--but from seven devils within who had entrenched themselves upon a dreadful vantage ground. She was in that sense, no doubt, greatly polluted, although it would be difficult to say how far she was accountable for it, on account of the dislodgment of her reason. In addition to the unhappiness and the defilement occasioned by Satanic possession, these persons were frequently dangerous to others and to themselves. Sometimes, we read, they were cast into the fire, and others into water. Some cut themselves with knives or sharp stones. Others tore their garments in pieces, and even when bound in chains--according to the old-fashioned method of controlling lunatics--they burst their bonds. Such persons must have been very undesirable inhabitants of any house, however remote their chamber. It must frequently have been necessary to confine them apart, for in their madness they were not to be trusted. As is often the case, those who had been nearest and dearest to them became the first objects of their enmity. To give a spiritual turn to the subject, let me remark that it is one of the most dreadful things about some of those who are plunged in unbelief, that the mischief of their misery is not confined to themselves but extends to their families and connections. Their example drips like the upas tree, with poison. They are like the clouds, that gathered over Sodom, full of fiery hail. They bring sadness and sorrow wherever their influence is felt. The man who has laid in beds of spices spreads perfume on all sides. But the man who is familiar with horrors, like one fresh from the morgue, bears all the seeds of death about him in the gloom and melancholy which he spreads abroad. To sum up much in a few words, there is no doubt that Mary Magdalene would have been considered by us to be demented--she was, practically, a maniac. Reason was unshipped and Satan stood at the helm instead of reason. And the poor ship was hurried here and there under the guidance of demons. What a dreadful state to be in! And yet, dear Friends, though actual Satanic possession is unknown among us now, we have seen several cases extremely like it, and we know at this hour some who baffle altogether all attempts to comfort them, and make us feel that only the Good Physician can give them rest. I remember a man of excellent character, well beloved by his family and esteemed by his neighbors, who was for 20 years enveloped in unutterable gloom. He ceased to attend the House of God, because, he said it was of no use. And although always ready to help in every good word and work, yet he had an abiding conviction upon him that, personally, he had no part nor lot in this matter and never could have. The more you talked to him, the worse he became. Even prayer seemed but to excite him to more fearful despondency. In the Providence of God I was called to preach the Word in his neighborhood. He was induced to attend, and, by God's gracious power, under the sermon he obtained a joyful liberty! After 20 years of anguish and unrest, he ended his weary roaming at the foot of the Cross, to the amazement of his neighbors, the joy of his household, and the glory of God! Nor did his peace of mind subside, for until the Lord gave him a happy admission into eternal rest, he remained a vigorous Believer, trusting and not being afraid. Others are around us for whom we earnestly pray that they, also, may be brought out of prison to praise the name of the Lord. Magdalene's case was a perfectly helpless one. Men could do nothing for her. All the surgery and medicine in the world would have been wasted upon her singular malady. Had it been any form of physical disease or purely mental derangement, help might have been attainable, but who is a match for the crafty and cruel fiends of the pit? No drugs can lull them to sleep, no knife can tear them from the soul. The loving friend and the skillful adviser stood equally powerless, nonplussed, bewildered, dismayed. Mary was in a hopeless condition. There was nothing known by any, even the wise men of the East, of any method by which seven evil spirits could be dislodged. However expensive the remedy, her relatives would have resorted to it. But who can cope with devils? Doubtless all who knew her thought that death would be a great relief to her, and would relieve her family of wearisome anxiety and fear. Although willing to help, they could not aid in the slightest degree and had the hourly sorrow of seeing her endure an agony which they could not alleviate. Magdalene was the victim of Satanic influence in a most fearful form--sevenfold were the spirits which possessed her! And there are men and women nowadays who are tempted by the great enemy of souls to a most awful degree. Some of us have endured temporary seasons of frightful depression which have qualified us to sympathize with those who are more constantly lashed by the fury of the infernal powers. We, too, have had our horror of great darkness. We have groaned with David, "I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. . .I am feeble and sorely broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. My heart pants, my strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me." We have been, though only for a few days or hours at a time, reduced to such an utter prostration of heart that our soul chose strangling rather than life, for the sorrows of death compassed us, and the pains of Hell got hold upon us--we found trouble and sorrow. Believe me, Brothers and Sisters, this is no child's play, but a thing to turn the hair gray, and plow the furrows of the brow. It is no trivial sorrow to lament with the weeping Prophet, "Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold, and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. From above has He sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: He has spread a net for my feet, He has turned me back: He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hands: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: He has made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up." It is a melancholy fact that some persons continue for months and years to drink this cup of trembling. John Bunyan's case is to the point, for he floundered in the Slough of Despond as long as any of the pilgrims whom he has so graphically described. In his instance, those succeeding shadows, those variations of unbelief, those recurring glooms all arose from the same fruitful source of ill--Satan was afraid that he was about to lose a bond slave, and therefore aroused himself to prevent his captive's escape. Like the city of Mansoul when besieged by the troops of Immanuel, when Diabolus was loath to leave, the Evil One barricades the doors and strengthens the walls so that there may be no entrance for the Word of Truth. Moreover, as we are told in the Revelation, the devil has great wrath when he knows that his time is short, and he takes care, like a bad tenant, to do all the mischief he can before he is ejected. I may be addressing some such persons here, or in after days my words may meet the eye of poor tortured souls. O that they might find rest! It is painful in the extreme to meet with such unhappy minds--they are the great difficulty of a pastor's work--so great, indeed, is the difficulty, that workers with little faith are ready to give up the task and to leave the matter as impracticable. We have known those who have felt that they could pray no longer for their inconsolable friends. Verily, Beloved, we must not yield to so heartless a suggestion! As we said the other Sabbath morning, [Sermon #789, Vol. 14, Lingerers Hastened, preached January 12, 1868] until the gate of Hell is shut upon a man, we must not cease to pray for him! And if we see him hugging the very doorposts of damnation, we must go to the Mercy Seat and beseech the arm of Grace to pluck him from his dangerous position. While there is life there is hope, and, although the soul is almost smothered with despair, we must not despair for it, but rather arouse ourselves to awaken the almighty arm. The case of the Magdalene is a mirror in which many souls wrung with anguish may see themselves. II. Secondly, Mary Magdalene became A GLORIOUS TROPHY OF DIVINE GRACE. She is described in the text as, "Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils." Sovereign Grace is resplendent in Mary's history. In the first place, because this cure was unsought by her. Others who were sick sought the healing hand of Jesus, but no person possessed of an evil spirit ever did or ever could cry for deliverance to the Son of David. Their friends might bring them, but they never came of themselves. The evil spirit drives men as far as possible away from Christ and clamors against Jesus as a tormentor. It never guides men into the pathway of the merciful Savior. Even thus is it with us all and especially with desponding souls. If we are saved, it is not because we have the first motions of desire towards Christ, but because eternal love casts its cords around us and draws us towards the Lord Jesus. There may be disputes about this as matter of doctrine, but I do not believe it can be questioned as a fact in experience. All Believers unite in the song-- "Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God." We all feel that, if we are converted, the power which turned us is from above-- "'Tis not that I did choose You, For, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse You, But You ha ve chosen me. You from the sin that stained me Washed me and set me free, And to this end ordained me, That I should live to You." If we have repented, our repentance was not a plant indigenous to the barren soil of our corrupt hearts--the seed of it was sown within by a gracious hand! If we have believed in Jesus, our faith was not fashioned on our own anvil but bestowed upon us from the armory of God! Faith is as much the gift of God as salvation itself. Brothers and Sisters, we cannot, in our own cases, do otherwise than ascribe all the glory to Sovereign Grace. "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." "I am found of them that sought Me not." No sinner is beforehand with God, but God's preventive Grace outruns the sinner's first desire. Yes, Divine Grace comes to dead souls when as yet they are not capable of a right emotion. Mary's case, as it illustrates this principle, may help us to see clearly the great love with which Jesus loved us, even when we were dead in sins. Poor trembling soul, Jesus can come to you if you cannot come to Him. Even if your miseries have shut you up, they cannot shut Him out. Your extremity is God's opportunity, therefore be of good cheer! It is most likely that Mary resisted the healing hand, for so it was with other demoniacs: "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God?" The devil was no sooner aware of Christ's Presence than he began to cry out against his Conqueror. If it were not so with Mary, it certainly is so with us, and especially with the subjects of despair! How we resisted conscience! We used what means we could to strangle it so that its cries might not alarm us. How we labored to quench the Holy Spirit! We had no heart to leave the ways of flesh-pleasing lust--we held to our iniquities as the leech to the flesh. We were willing to run all risks of Hell, and lose the glories of Heaven. We chose our delusions and hugged our destructions--we were in darkness and we loved darkness rather than light--because our deeds were evil. Our corrupt heart was enmity against God and was not reconciled to him, neither, indeed, could it be. Strange to say, despair is often voluntary and men resolve to remain in it, being as fond of the position as the poor wretch who after years of confinement found liberty to be a pain. Like David's fool, we abhor all manner of meat, though dying for lack of it. We blow out the candles lest we should see the light, and we contend with the mercy which comes to our rescue. Great Lord, what a madman a sinner is! How irrational are those who pine in despondency and yet thrust hope away with both their hands! It is a hard task for the surgeon when his patient tears open the veins which he labors to bind up. His skill must be great if he can heal a patient who struggles in his arms and refuses his affectionate care. Brethren, since, in a measure, we have all acted thus, let us admire the dear patience and precious love which bore with our ill manners and would not let us die! How shall we magnify, sufficiently, effectual Grace which without violating the freedom of our will, led our captivity captive, making us willing in the day of His power? Let the highest and sweetest notes of all believing psalmody be to Omnipotent Grace which worked in us according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at is own right hand! Glory be to God, though a legion of devils possessed the heart, the power of Jesus is able to cast them out of him, yes, and to set aside the present mad unwillingness which makes the sinner despise his own mercy and hasten to his own ruin. Those possessed with devils were healed by a word from Jesus! Beloved, if we have been saved, the instrument which the Holy Spirit used was the Word, either read in private or heard from the lips of God's minister. "He sent His Word and healed them." The Word is the living and incorruptible Seed. The ordinance of preaching can scarcely be too much prized for "it has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" "For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish, foolishness. But unto us which are saved it is the power of God." You who are desponding, I pray you, do not forsake the gathering of yourselves together! Although despair may hang about you, still resort to the place where the Word is dispensed, and before long, like that daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound for 18 years, who yet went up to the synagogue, you shall, like she was, be made whole! While the Word of God is within your reach, there may yet be a love-word for you, even for you. While earnest lips are telling about the love of Jesus, wait with the hope that as the small rain drops upon the tender herb, Divine Grace may drop lovingly upon you. "Faith comes by hearing." Why may it not come to you? The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come in His temple--He may tarry, but to every sincere seeker His coming is sure. She was healed instantaneously, for the cures of our Lord were always such. He said, "Come out of her," to the unclean spirit, and out came the spirit without delay, so that in a single moment, poor demoniac Mary was made to sit at Jesus' feet in peace, and in her right mind. My Brothers and Sisters, what a change it must have been for her! Her soul had been like the lake of Galilee when lashed with a storm--but Christ had said, "Peace, be still," and now there was a great calm! She had been ready to tear herself and hurt others, but now she was obedient to the Master's command and ministered to Him with joy! She drank in the Words of Truth and told them out to others. Defiling influences were cast out of her and she sought after holiness. Had you met her after her cure you would not have known her to be the same woman. Those disheveled locks no longer remained to betoken the maniac, and those straining eyes and that tortured brow, and all the air and mien of a distraught one--all these were changed. She was admitted into society as a reasonable being. She was taken into the family circle us a welcome member--Jesus became her teacher, and His Apostles her friends. What a miracle of love! Let us entertain hope for our friends in their worst estate, that the same may happen to them. Perhaps God may permit some of His people to fall into this desperate condition that He may exhibit illustrious instances of what conversion can do. In Heaven there is joy over a sinner's repentance--angels do not rejoice in extraordinary conversions merely, but "over one sinner that repents." Still, as far us you and I are concerned, when we sit at Church meetings and hear of cases of conversion, the more remarkable ones give us greatest joy. When we hear of a sinner brought to Christ, or of another being comforted who had been in dreadful depression of spirit, we are all filled with wonder and delight! It sheds a luster over the Lord's work and acts like a tonic to our spirits. It refreshes the doubting ones, and those who have become dispirited in service, take courage and say, "We shall never doubt again, for after such an instance us this, we must believe that all things are possible with God." I think the Lord suffers these Magdalenes to be here and there discovered that they may be proof to all the world that He can do whatever He wills and that none are beyond His power. Do I address one who is in such a state? I cannot pass on without the hope that such a troubled mind may speedily look to Jesus. Friend, He can heal you! I know the devil within you says, "You are cast out forever," but Satan is the father of lies, therefore care not for his suggestions. Did you notice how the text declares that Jesus cast out the seven devils? The evil ones did not go out themselves! Magdalene did not drive them out, but Jesus cast them out with force and power. The Evil One is strong, but Christ is stronger than he, and drives him out speedily when he comes to claim dominion. "Ah," you say, "if He ever gets the devil out of me, I will praise Him." That's the very reason why I think He will do it, in order that He may win your heart, and make you, as long as you live, to wonder, and adore, and admire. III. After she had thus obtained her healing, she became AN ARDENT FOLLOWER OF CHRIST. We are informed by Mark and by Luke that Mary Magdalene and other holy women followed Jesus into Galilee upon His memorable preaching tour. And when He came up from Galilee to Jerusalem, we find Mary still at the head of that blessed company. I suppose that she had no family, most probably no children, and that her relatives may have come to feel as if she was not one of them at all, through her having been so long possessed. She probably possessed some small property which yielded her sufficient income for her needs. When she was restored, her friends, though exceedingly glad to hear it, might feel as if she had never been one of the family and therefore did not wish her to return to them, especially when she had become a Christian. Everything leads us to suppose that she had no one near who claimed her personal care, and having a little income she resolved to devote her life to listening to the Man who had delivered her from her terrible disease. A wise resolve! Happy was she to be allowed to hear His gracious Words and see His mighty deeds. She not only listened to Him, but she followed Him. Whoever might turn away, the Magdalene was always close at His side. Through floods and flames, if He was pleased to lead, she had resolved to go. In addition to this, we are told that she ministered unto Him of her substance. That bag which Judas carried would always have been empty had it not been for this woman of Magdala, and for the wife of Herod's steward (and perhaps Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus). But these generous hearts, knowing that the laborer is worthy of his hire, were glad to contribute of their temporal goods to Him who so greatly enriched them in spiritual things. So Magdalene gave herself, her ears, her feet, her heart, her substance, her all to Jesus. It was not an unusual thing in the Jewish nation for great rabbis to be followed both by men and women in their tours of instruction throughout the country, so that she was not outraging the customs of her people. No doubt our Lord would have said to Mary, "Go home to your friends," if duty required her there, but as she had no other duties to demand her attention, she was allowed to give up all her time to sacred study and to hallowed service. Now, it is not desirable that you or I should leave our kindred and forsake our vocations, but we can, nevertheless, abide with Jesus as closely as the Magdalene. If we have been delivered from great sin or from great despair, should we not say in our souls, "Now, from this day I will be the constant student of Jesus Christ's teaching. The Gospel has done so much for me that I will seek to know all of it that can be known this side of the grave. I will pry into its mysteries, press into its spiritualities, and learn its precepts. And while I am a learner I will also be a follower. Where Christ is I will go. His example shall be Law to me. I will pray to have His Spirit. I will ask to be conformed to His image, and what the Master was, that shall the servant be. "I will give to Him of my substance. If I can, I will give much, but if I have not much, I will give in fair proportion. I will make a system of offering to God--He shall have a set portion of all my income, and that I will put aside so that when there is a call for it, I shall not imagine that I am giving from my own purse, but I will give my Lord's money, which has already been consecrated. Then I shall not feel us if I were giving, but as if I were only a steward, handing out what belonged to Christ before"? Where persons love little, do little, and give little, we may shrewdly suspect that they have never had much affliction of heart for their sins and that they think they owe but very little to Divine Grace. He who has received much, if his heart is right, is sure to give much to the Lord, and to say-- "And if I might make some reserve, And duty did not call, I love my God with zeal so great That I would give Him all." Behold and admire the difference between the poor demoniac and the faithful follower of Christ--the woman possessed with seven devils--and now the honorable Christian woman ministering unto the Lord of angels! What cannot Grace do? No doubt Mary of Magdala had to suffer much in thus following Christ, for all the disciples had to partake in Christ's Cross. They were all thought to be madmen and fools in taking up with the Man of Nazareth, but we never read that Mary shrank. "From that time many went back, and walked no more with Him," but Magdalene was true. Again we read, "Many were offended at Him because of this saying." But we find not that the woman of Magdala was offended! She held to her Lord in holy faith. She knew the Shepherd's voice, and she followed Him where ever He might be pleased to lead. Happy are those who from their earliest days have been led to see their indebtedness to Christ and are now resolved to cleave to Him, to serve Him with heart, and soul, and strength--to sit at His feet to catch His words, and then to go abroad and practice what they have learned! I wish we could all attain to a high state of spirituality, that we were more strict in our obedience, more close in our communion, more consecrated in our actions. Perhaps it is because we think we have had little forgiven, or owe but little that we are such little doers and little lovers. O Holy Spirit, out of the great sinners of this wicked city, out of the midst of horrible blasphemers, or out of the midst of those who are far gone in horrible despair, call men and women who shall become enthusiasts, flaming with vehement devotion to the Lord! IV. Magdalene appears to us farther on in Scripture as a FAITHFUL ADHERENT TO HER MASTER UNDER TRIAL. It was a dark day for the disciples when Christ was crucified amid mocking and jeering enemies. We are told by Mark that Magdalene and Mary, the wife of Cleophas, stood afar off and watched our Lord. But we are informed by John that, among others, there stood at the foot of the Cross, Mary Magdalene. I suppose that at the first, when our Lord was nailed to the tree, the disciples could not get into the inner ring. The priests and the Jews were so mad and the Roman soldiers were so rough that a woman, however brave, might not venture there. Therefore, as they could not do what they would, they did what they could--they stood at a distance and sobbed and sighed until their eyes were red and their hearts were swollen with anguish at the sad sight of Him whom they loved, mocked and despised, and shamefully put to death. But by-and-by the crowd grew tired of their cruel amusement, and suddenly there was a darkness over all the land-- and it may be that then these timid doves mustered courage and flew to the foot of the tree. They may have passed unnoticed through the soldiers and the crowd, and stood at His feet. And though they could not help Him on the Cross, yet they could rally round His Cross. If they must not feel the nails and bleed us He did, yet their hearts were bleeding and the nails went through their souls. Where was Peter? Where was James? Philip and Andrew, and Nathanael, where were they? I do not know, but I know where Magdalene was--she was at the tree of doom there, hard by her Lord--glad to confess a persecuted Christ! Here is the test of true love. To follow Christ in peaceful times is easy, but to follow hard after Him when He is despised and rejected of men--here is the pinch. Ah, some of you young people profess to be Christians when you are with Christian people, but will you bear it when your companions sneer at you as a cant and a hypocrite? Can you follow your Lord? Can you follow your Lord when the many turn aside? Can you witness that He has the Living Word, and none upon earth beside? Can you stand for Him when you have to suffer loss and reproach and when His name is the drunkard's song and the fool's proverb? If you can, then blessed be the Divine Grace that has taught you to practice so hard a lesson! If there are any who can do this readily, surely they are such as once passed through the deepest waters of soul trouble! We find Mary, lastly, at the sepulcher, viewing the place where the body was laid, and how it was laid. And they spent the evening till the Sabbath hour approached in preparing the spices. Then they rested, like devout women, upon the seventh day. It was deep love that made the Magdalene follow the corpse of the Well-Beloved right to the tomb. Of that lifeless body every limb was dear to her. He had worked so great a thing in her that she could not but feel her heart melt at the thought of His corpse being treated with disrespect. She must see whether they laid it tenderly, whether they put it into its rest with gentleness and honor. She was first at the sepulcher, and was the first to whom Christ appeared! She was faithful to the end. She won the commendation of those of whom it is said, "He that endures to the end the same shall be saved." Be it yours and mine, my Brothers and Sisters, to cling to the Truth, even though, like Elijah, we have to say, "I, only I, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." To keep to a dead cause and an expiring Church. To cling to Christ when His cause is rolled in the mire. To be ready to be drowned with Christ, to sink with Christ, and rise with Christ--this is genuine affection. This was the Magdalene's love, and let it be ours! Another sorrow afflicted her after the death of her Lord--it was the fact that the Lord was lost to her. She would have had some melancholy satisfaction if she could have found His body, but in the morning she came to the tomb and found it empty. The Beloved body was gone! She wept as one utterly inconsolable. Angels spoke to her, but what were angels to her--she wanted Him! They would have cheered her, but she turned her back--she cared for nothing but her Lord. Those who can worship angels have not Magdalene's spirit, for she turned her back on them. For Christ she sighed. She must have Him or die! You and I may expect times when Jesus will be hidden from us. If we love Him much, we shall weep till we see Him again! They who can rejoice when Christ is absent have little of His love in their hearts, for where the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are not at the full, there ought to be a winter in the soul. We should sigh and cry till our Lord withdraws the veil, crying out in our hearts, "O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat! It is a fine point in Magdalene that she knew how to persevere. She continued to wait and to watch, and while John and Peter had gone home and could be satisfied without seeing Christ, she could not--she must see her Lord. The whole earth could not compose her mind, nor Heaven's angels give her comfort till she saw Him whom her soul loved. O Heart, are you thus hungering and thirsting after Him? You shall be well satisfied! Meanwhile, count it a great honor to hunger and thirst, for you would not do so if you had not loved Him and received much at His hands. V. I must conduct you one step further. This woman became ONE OF THE MOST FAVORED BEHOLDERS OF CHRIST, for while she sighed and wept, Jesus revealed Himself to her! And after this manner was the revelation--He called her by her name, "Mary." It has always been thought to be a high distinction when God has called a man by his name. When he spoke and said, "Moses, Moses," then it was a sign that Moses had found favor in His sight. When Jesus said, "Mary," I can imagine that the word brought up all her history before her mind--her demoniac days, when her distracted mind was tossed on fiery billows--her happy days, when she sat at her Master's feet and caught His blessed words. The times when she had seen His miracles and wondered. When she had given Him of her substance and been too glad to minister unto Him. If we love Jesus much, and cannot be content without Him, we, too, may expect to hear Him in the secret of our soul calling us by our name. He will say, "I have called you by your name: you are Mine." Then Mary Magdalene had such a manifestation of Christ's glory as no other woman ever had. It has been beautifully remarked by one of our dear Brethren in the ministry, that that expression, "Touch Me not," shows to us that Mary had gone farther in communion than most of us ever think of going, because she had drawn as near to Jesus as she might be allowed to go. Jesus said, "Touch Me not." You and I need not be afraid of His saying that to us--we do not make it necessary. We are at such a distance that He had need to say, "Come near, and nearer still." But as for Mary, her heart was so knit to Christ that she approached so near to Him in love, that the Lord knew she could not bear any more, and that her higher joys must be reserved for a higher sphere. And therefore He bade her pause. Besides, He would have her know that He was her Lord and Master as well as her Friend. Affection must not degenerate into familiarity--Jesus must be reverenced as well as loved. Very different was His dealing with Thomas. He commands him to touch. Thomas is such a weak thing. He needs that help, but Mary does not need it. Her heart is knit to Him--it leaps for joy, and Jesus, having given her as much joy as she could stand, stays her hand. Surely she was like good Mr. Walsh who said, when he was full of the Lord's Presence, "Stop, Lord! Remember I am an earthen vessel, and if You give me more I small die, therefore stay Your loving hand." So was it in the case of Mary. She had very near, and dear, and close communion with her Master because she had followed Him and kept close to Him all the days of her life. VI. Lastly, Mary became AN HONORED MESSENGER OF CHRIST TO THE APOSTLES. I feel it no small privilege to be the means of bearing God's message to this congregation. It pleases me when I know that many gray-headed Believers, who know far more of experimental Truth than I can be supposed to know, have nevertheless been comforted by the message which my Master has sent to them by me. But what an honor to have a message to the Apostles! Oh, the power of Divine Grace! Mary, once a demoniac, becomes a preacher to preachers! I dub her Doctor of Divinity, indeed, for she has to instruct these mightiest of messengers in the faith! Note the message. Did ever man preach a better sermon than this woman preached? Had ever minister a more weighty text than this Magdalene had to handle--"I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God"? Angels told of the incarnation, but Magdalene told of the ascension. She must be made to do, alone, what a company of angels had been made to do before--to proclaim another step in the Savior's pathway to redemption! My dear Friends, you who are so low and distressed this morning, does not this history of Magdalene make you feel like Mercy in the "Pilgrim's Progress" who laughed in her sleep? Christiana said, "Why did you laugh?" She replied, "Because of my dream." Does not it make your heart leap to think that you--you, a poor distracted wretch on the very brink of Hell, may yet see Jesus over and above what others ever see of Him--and may be able to tell angels, and principalities, and powers what you have tasted and handled of the good Word of God? Surely this should breathe hope into you! If you have known my Master, any of you, and have been saved by Him, continue to keep close to Him. If you lose His company, sigh after it, but when you find Him again, make it your delightful business to tell His Brothers and Sisters that He has returned to you, and make their hearts glad as the Lord Jesus has made yours! I shall leave the matter in the hands of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord raise many a Mary Magdalene in the midst of this Church, for His name's sake. Amen. Rev. Moody Stuart, to whose book, entitled, "The Three Marys," we refer our readers. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--John 20:1-18. __________________________________________________________________ Nearer and Dearer A sermon (No. 793) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, February 2, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON at the [6]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that want about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick of love." Song of Solomon 5:2-8. THE most healthy state for a Christian is that of unbroken and intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. From such a state of heart he should never decline. "Abide in Me, and I in you," is the loving precept of our ever loving Lord. But, alas, my Brethren, as in this world our bodies are subject to many sicknesses, so our souls, also, by reason of the body of this death with which we are encompassed, are often sorely afflicted with sin, sickness, and an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Lord. We are not what we might be. We are not what we should be. We are not what we shall be. We are not what we wish to be. I fear that many of us are not walking in the light of God's countenance, are not resting with our heads upon the Savior's bosom, nor sitting with Mary at the Master's feet. We dwell in Kedar rather than Zion, and sojourn in Mesech rather than Jerusalem. Spiritual sickness is very common in the Church of God, and the root of the mischief lies in distance from Jesus-- following Christ afar off--and yielding to a drowsy temperament. Away from Jesus, away from joy. Without the sun the flowers pine. Without Jesus our hearts faint. My object, this morning, is to put myself into the hands of the Holy Spirit that He may now come, and, like a physician, prescribe for you, if any of you in your hearts have become like the spouse in this part of the Song, that you may as fully imitate her in that which is good as in that which is blameworthy. If you do not soon find your Beloved to your soul's joy, may you at least, like the spouse, declare that you are "sick of love," and continue to follow His track until you overtake Him. I. Commencing where the text begins, we observe that the spouse confesses A VERY COMMON SIN. She cries, "I sleep." She had no right to be asleep, for her beloved knew no rest. He was standing outside in the cold street, with his head wet with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night. Why should she be at ease? He was anxiously seeking her, how was it that she could be so cruel as to yield to slumber? It is a most unseasonable thing, my Brothers and Sisters, for any of us to be indolent and indifferent, for we profess to have gone forth to meet the Bridegroom, and it is shameful for us to sleep because He tarries for a little while. The world is perishing. We are sent into the world instrumentally to be its saviors--how dishonorable that with such necessities for activity and with such noble ends to be served by industry--we should fold our arms and delight ourselves in indolence! Nothing can be more inexcusable than for us to sleep, seeing that we are not of the night nor of darkness. If we had been the children of the night it might seem according to our nature for us to be sluggards. But we have avowed that the light of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shone into our eyes--let us not, therefore, sleep as others do --but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night. And since the night is past to us, it is highly indecent and improper that we should still continue to toss upon the bed of sloth. No time for slumber, it seems to me, can be more unseasonable to the Christian than the present one, for the world is reeking with wickedness, and superstitions like the frogs of Egypt are covering the land. Everyone who is but so much as half awake can see the enemy industriously sowing tares among the wheat! Shall the watchmen of Zion continue to slumber on their watchtowers when the foe is undermining the bulwarks? Shall the shepherds sleep when the wolf has broken into the fold? Shall the seamen sleep when the gale is furiously driving the vessel upon the rocks? So far as our own hearts are concerned we have no private reasons for slumbering, for our daily cares require watchfulness. The temptations which assail us every hour demand of us that we should stand with our loins girt--our abounding enemies all warn us that our danger is extreme unless we are always fully equipped in our celestial armor. If we must sleep, let it be in a less dangerous position than these hostile lands through which we march today. There will be rest enough on the other side of Jordan where the drawn sword is exchanged for the well-tuned harp. But to be careless now is to sleep in the midst of a bloody conflict, to dream upon the verge of a precipice, and to sport in the jaws of death! From our beds let the Master's voice arouse us, for He cries aloud, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Do you not find, my Brethren, that almost unconsciously to yourselves a spirit of indifference steals over you? You do not give up private prayer, but alas, it becomes a mere mechanical operation. You do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but still your bodily presence is all that is given and you derive no refreshment from the unspiritual exercise. Have you not sat at the Lord's Table spiritually asleep? Has not the heavenly Watcher detected your soul nodding when the sacred emblems have been spread before you, or even in your mouth? Have you not been content with the bare symbols, which are barrenness, while the spiritual essence, which is marrow and fatness, you have not tasted? I find from the very fact that I am always engaged in the Master's service from the early morning till far into the night, that I become dull and carnal. I become cumbered with much serving so that I have to question the vitality of my religion because its freshness and vigor flag. It is grievous to go on like a clock which is wound up, not because you rejoice in the work, but because you must. My soul shudders at the thought of routine religion, formal service, dead devotion, mechanical godliness! What a mercy to reach the fresh springs, to feel a daily renewed youth, an anointing with fresh oil! For this I pine and pant. One gets driving on in the dark, as coachmen sometimes do when they are asleep on the box--dangerous work, this! I know that I am safe in Christ, but I would gladly suffer anything rather than become habitually of a slumbering heart. Better smart under the long whip of affliction, or feel the stings of conscience, or even the darts of the devil than lie down in carnal security's lap to be shorn of one's locks by the Philistines! Yet I fear this has been my case. I do not know how far my confession may be echoed by my Brothers today, but I am shrewdly suspicious that the more wakeful you are, the more heartily will you acknowledge a terrible tendency in the other direction. Again let me remind you that to sleep now is an evil thing, dangerous to yourselves, a cruel thing to others, an ungrateful act towards Christ and dishonorable to His cause. Shall such a King be served by lie-a-bed soldiers? Shall His midnight pleadings be repaid by our daylight sleepiness? Shall an agony of bloody sweat be recompensed by heavy eyelids and yawning mouths? Away, forever away, O you who are redeemed by the Well-Beloved, with this detestable slumber, of which I fear you must honestly confess yourselves to have been guilty! II. The song before us reminds us of A HOPEFUL SIGN. "My heart wakes." What a riddle the Believer is! He is asleep, and yet he is awake! His true self, the I, the veritable Ego of the man is asleep--but yet his heart, his truest self, his affections are awake. The Believer is a standing paradox. He cannot even understand himself. The wakefulness of the heart, does it not mean just this? "I sleep, but I am not content to be asleep"? The true Believer is not satisfied to slumber. Time was when if he could have pacified his conscience, he would have been extremely thankful, however deadly might have been the drug which caused the slumber. But now the man starts, shivers, tosses to and fro in his sleep, is tired by his rest, dreams horribly, and cries to be awakened. The saved man cannot be happy in a false and rotten peace. The Divine life within struggles against the monstrous serpent of sin which tries to twist its folds of sleep around it. No renewed heart can enjoy perfect rest while conscious of being an idler in the vineyard, and a loiterer in the race. Backsliding Believer, does your heart wake? If so, you will know it, for it will smite you, it will upbraid you and demand of you whom you are, that you should thus behave yourself! Elect of God, and yet asleep while Jesus is dishonored? Redeemed by blood, and yet misspending time which belongs to your Redeemer? Married to Christ, and yet absent from your Husband and content without a smile from His dear face? How can it be? Be ashamed and be confounded, and never show your face anymore, for this is ingratitude of the deepest dye! It is a hopeful sign when a man can conscientiously say as much as the spouse in this case, but remember it is not much to say. Do not pride yourself upon it. Be ashamed that you should be asleep at all. Do not congratulate yourself that your heart is awake. Be thankful that infinite love affords you Divine Grace enough to keep your heart alive, but be ashamed that you have no more when more may be had and should be had. Mere longings and moans are so small a work of Grace that they should alarm rather than console. It will be a foul temptation of Satan it you are led to say, "I am content to sleep so long as my heart does but wake." Firm resolves of amendment are necessary but something more than resolves. Alas, I have need to add these few words because the most of our resolutions vanish into thin air. We get as far as this, "I am not quite content to be in such a lukewarm state of mind, and I will therefore, by-and-by, endeavor to arouse myself and renounce this downy bed of sloth." This is not much to say, for it is no more than we ought to do. It is all the less, because we so seldom keep the vow, but like the disturbed sluggard we turn over to the other side and mutter sullenly, "A little more folding of the hands to sleep." I fear that there are thousands of God's children who are enough awake to know that they are asleep, convinced enough of their wrong to know that they are wrong, and to hope that they will one day be better, but alas, they continue in the same unhallowed condition! May I invite every Believer to make a strict examination of his own spiritual state. My Brother, you may be sleeping through great worldly prosperity, for nothing tends to slumber more surely than a gentle rocking in the cradle of luxury. On the other hand you may be sleeping because of overwhelming sorrow, even as the 11 fell asleep when our Lord was in the garden. Some make a downy pillow of their wealth, but others fall asleep in their poverty like Jacob with a stone for his pillow. To be surrounded with constant worldly occupation, to be oppressed with many cares in business--this is to pass through the enchanted ground. And happy is the man who has Grace enough to overcome the influence of his position. Now, if your heart is today sufficiently awake to tell you that you are not living as near to God as you were some years ago--that you have not the love to Him you once had and that your warmth and zeal for Christ has departed from you--I beseech you hear the voice of Jesus Christ: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." "Repent and do your first works." Turn unto your Savior now, that this very day before the sun goes down you may rejoicingly exclaim, "I have found Him whom my soul loves! I will hold Him, and will not let Him go." III. The third thing in the text is A LOVING CALL. Asleep as the spouse was, she knew her husband's voice, for this is an abiding mark of God's people. "My sheep hear My voice." A half sleeping saint still has spiritual discernment enough to know when Jesus speaks. At first the Beloved simply knocked. His object was to enter into fellowship with His Church, to reveal Himself to her, to unveil His beauties, to solace her with His Presence. And such is the object of our blessed Lord this morning in bringing us to this House. I hope this sermon will be a knock--I trust my discourse may give many knocks at the door of every backsliding Believer here. Jesus cries, "Open to Me! Open to Me!" Will you not admit your Savior? You love Him. He gave Himself for you, He pleads for you! Let Him into your soul, commune with Him this morning. When you turn to read His Word, every promise is a knock. He says, "Come and enjoy this promise with Me, for it is yes and amen in Me." Every threat is a knock. Every precept is a knock. In outward Providences every benefit which we receive through our Mediator's intercession is a gentle knock from His pierced hands, saying, "Take this mercy, but open to Me! It comes to you through Me! Open to Me!" Every affliction is a knock at our door. That wasting sickness, that broken bone, that consumptive daughter, that rebellious child, that burning house, that shipwrecked vessel and dishonored bill--all these are Christ's knockings, saying, "These things are not your joys, these worldly things can afford no rest for the soles of your feet. Open to Me, open to Me! These idols I am breaking, these joys I am removing. Open to Me, and find in Me a solace for all your woes." Knocking, alas, seems to be of little use to us. We are so stubborn and so ungenerous towards our heavenly Bridegroom, that He, the Crucified, the immortal Lover of our souls may stand and knock, and knock, and knock again, and the preacher and adversity may be His double hammer, but yet the door of the heart will not yield. Then the bridegroom tried his voice. If knocking would not do, he would speak in plain and plaintive words, "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled." The Lord Jesus Christ has a sweet way of making the Word come home to the conscience. I mean not, now, that effectual and irresistible power of which we shall speak by-and-by, but that lesser force which the heart may resist, but which renders it very guilty for so doing. Some of you who are the Lord's people have heard soft and sweet whispers in your heart, saying, "You are saved. Now, My Beloved, live in the light of salvation. You are a member of My mystical body, draw near and enjoy fellowship with Me, such as a member ought to have with its Head." Do you not see the Lord Jesus beckoning to you with a gentle finger, and saying, "Come with Me oftener into the closet of secret prayer. Get oftener alone to muse on things Divine. Acquire the habit of walking with Me in your business. Abide in Me, and I in you"? Do not these admonitions visit you like angels' whispers, and have you not too often resisted them? Have you not been thoughtful for them for the moment, and recorded them in your diary, and then forgotten them and lived as frigidly as you had done before, though the Sun of Righteousness was waiting to arise upon you with healing beneath His wings? Now, Beloved, observe the appeals which the beloved here makes. He says, "Open to me," and his plea is the love the spouse has to him, or professes to have--the love he has to her, and the relationship which exists between them. "Open to me, my sister." Next akin to me, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, born of the same mother, for Jesus is "the Seed of the woman," even as we are. One with us in our humanity, He takes each human heart that believes to be His mother, and sister and brother. "Open to Me, My sister." If you are so nearly related to Jesus, why do you act so coldly towards Him? If, indeed, He is your closest kinsman, how is it that you live so far remote, and come not to visit Him, neither open the doors of your heart to entertain Him? "My dove," my gentle one, my favorite, my innocent. Oh, if you are, indeed, His dove, how can you rest away from the dovecote? How can you be satisfied without your Mate? One turtledove pines without the other, how is it you do not pine to have fellowship with the dear Husband of your soul? "My Love," Jesus calls us what we profess to be! We say we love Him. Yes, and unless we have been dreadfully deceived, we do love Him. It brings the tears to my eyes to think that I should so often be indifferent to Him, and yet I can say it as before Him, "You know all things, You know that I love You." Brothers and Sisters, if we love Him, let us crave His Presence in our souls! How miserable must it be to live as some do day after day without a real soul-stirring Heaven-moving prayer! Are there not some who continue week after week without searching the Word and without rejoicing in the Lord? Oh, wretched life of banishment from bliss! Dear Hearer, can you be satisfied to go forth into the world and to be so occupied with it that you never have a desire towards Heaven? If so, mourn over such backsliding, since it exiles you from your best Beloved's bosom! The bridegroom adds another title, "my undefiled." There is a spiritual chastity which every Believer must maintain. Our heart belongs to no one but Christ. All other lovers must be gone. He fills the throne. He has bought us--no other paid a part of the price--He shall have us altogether. He has taken us into personal union with Himself--of His mystical body we make up a part. We ought, therefore, to hold ourselves as chaste virgins unto Christ, undefiled with the pollutions of the flesh and the rivalries of earthly loves. To the undefiled, Jesus says, "Open to Me." Oh, I am ashamed, this morning, to be preaching from such a text! Ashamed of myself most of all, that I should need to have such a text applied to my own soul! Why, Beloved, if Christ deigns to enter into such a poor miserable cottage as our nature is, ought we not to entertain the King with the best we have, and feel that the first seat at our table is all too poor and too mean for Him? What if in the midst of this dark night our Beloved comes to us who profess to love Him? Shall He have to knock and speak and plead by every sweet and endearing title, and yet shall we refuse to arise and give Him the fellowship He craves? Did you notice that powerful argument with which the heavenly Lover closed His cry? He said, "My head is filled with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night." Ah, sorrowful remembrances, for those drops were not the ordinary dew that fall upon the houseless traveler's unprotected head! His head was wet with scarlet dew, and His locks with crimson drops of a tenfold night of God's desertion, when He "sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." My Heart, how vile you are, for you shut out the Crucified! Behold the Man crowned with thorns and scourged, with traces of the spit of the soldiers-- can you close the door on Him? Will you despise the "despised and rejected of men"? Will you grieve the "Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief"? Do you forget that He suffered all this for you, for you, when you deserve nothing at His hands? After all this will you give Him no recompense, not even the poor return of admission to your loving communing? I am afraid some of you Believers think it a very small thing to live a day or two without fellowship with God in prayer. Probably you have fallen into such a sleepy state that you can read your Bible without enjoyment, and yet you do not feel it to be any very remarkable thing that it is so. You come to and fro to the Tabernacle and listen to the Gospel, and it does not come home to you with the power it once had--and yet you do not feel at all alarmed about it. My Master does not treat your state of mind with the same indifference that you do, for it causes Him pain, and though as Mediator His expiatory griefs are finished once and for all, yet He has anguish, still, over your indifference and coldness of heart. These sorrows are the drops that bedew His head--these are the dewdrops that hang about His raven locks. O will you grieve Him? Will you open all His wounds and crucify Him afresh? Will you put Him to open shame? Doors of the heart, fly open! Though rusted upon your hinges, open at the coming of the sorrowful Lover who was smitten of God and afflicted! Surely the argument of His grief should prevail instantly with every honest heart! He whose head is wet with dew, and His locks with the drops of the night must not be kept standing in the street--it behooves us that He is entertained with our warmest love! It is imperative that He is housed at once. IV. Yet the spouse hastened not to open the door, and I am afraid the like delay may be charged upon some of us. Our shame deepens as we pursue our theme and think how well our own character is photographed here by the wise man, for notice, in the fourth place, that after the knocking and the pleading, the spouse made A MOST UNGENEROUS EXCUSE. She sat like a queen and knew no sorrow. She had put off her garments and washed her feet as travelers do in the East before they go to rest. She was taking her ease in full security and therefore she said to her beloved, "I have put off my tunic, I cannot robe myself again. As for my feet, I have washed them, and to tread the floor to open the door would defile them. Therefore, I pray you have me excused." A bad excuse was, in this case, far worse than none, because it was making one sin an apology for another. Why did she put off her coat? The bridegroom had not come--she should have stood with her loins girt about and her lamp trimmed. Why had she washed her feet? It was right to do so if the emblem had indicated purity, but it indicated carnal ease. She had left holy labor for carnal rest. Why did she do these things? She thus makes her wicked slumber and inaction to be an excuse for barring out her husband. My dear Brothers and Sisters, there is a temptation which is very cunning on the part of Satan, and perhaps he will exercise that upon some of you this morning. While I have been preaching, you have said, "Well, that is just like me. The text fully opens up my experience." And then the devil will say, "Be satisfied! You see you are in the same condition as the spouse was, therefore it is all right." Oh, damnable temptation! What can be more vile than this, that because another has sinned against the Beloved, I am to be content to sin in the same way? Perhaps you will turn this sad course of conduct in the ancient spouse into an excuse for your own negligence. Shall I English the excuse she made? It is this--"O Lord, I know that if I am to enter into much fellowship with You, I must pray very differently from what I have done of late. But it is too much trouble! I cannot stir myself to energy so great. My time is so taken up with my business! I am so constantly engaged that I could not afford even a quarter of an hour for retirement. I have to cut my prayers short." Is this, in part, the miserable excuse? Shall I go on? Shall I expose more of this dishonorable apology? It is this--"I do not want to begin an examination of myself. It may reveal so many unpleasant truths. I sleep, and it is very comfortable to sleep. I do not want to be driven out of my comforts. Perhaps if I were to live nearer to Christ I should have to give up some of the things which I so much enjoy. I have become conformed to the world of late. I am very fond of having Mr. So-and-So to spend an hour with me in the evening and his talk is anything but that which my Master would approve of but I cannot give him up. I have taken to read religious novels. I could not expect to have the Lord Jesus Christ's company when I am poring over such trash as that, but still I prefer it to my Bible. I would sooner read a fool's tale than I would read of Jesus' love." How ashamed I feel this morning, to have to put into words like these, the sins of some of you! But my words are literal truth. Do not many of you live as if you had a name to live, and were dead? Jesus Christ comes and knocks this morning, and reminds you that the happiest life is living near to Him! That the holiest, purest, sweetest hours you ever had were those in which you threw yourselves upon Him and gave up all beside. He reminds you of your better days. O do not, I pray you, offer Him frivolous and vexatious excuses. O despise not your Lord who died for you--in whose name you live and with whom you hope to reign forever--who is to wrap you about with glory in the day of His appearing! Let it not be said that He is pushed into a corner and His love despised while the vile painted-faced world takes up the love of your life! It should not be so! It is baseness itself on our part when it is so. Still as a wonder of wonders, although shamefully and cruelly treated, the beloved husband did not go away. We are told that he "put his hand by the hole of the door," and then the heart of his spouse was moved for him. In the Eastern door there is generally a place near the lock into which a man may put his hand, and there is a pin inside which, if removed, unfastens the door. Each one of these locks is different from another, so that no one usually understands how to open the door except the master. So the Master in this case did not actually open the door--you notice the spouse did that, but he pulled out the pin, so that she could see his hand--she could see that the doer was not fast closed now he had removed the bar. "My Beloved put his hand by the hole of the door." Does not this picture THE WORK OF EFFECTUAL GRACE, when the Truth of God does not appeal to the ear alone, but comes to the heart? When it is no longer a thing thought on and discussed and forgotten, but an arrow which has penetrated into the reins, and sticks fast in the loins to our wounding--and ultimately to our spiritual healing? No hand is like Christ's hand! When He puts His hand to the work it is well done. He "put in His hand"--not His hand on me to smite me, but His hand in me to comfort me, to sanctify me. He put in His hand, and straightway His beloved began to pity Him, and to lament her unkindness. She thought, as she looked at that hand pierced with the nail mark, "O Jesus, have I no love for You? Have You done all this for me, and have I been a transparent hypocrite after all, and locked You out when I ought to have admitted You? I have used no other friend so badly. I should have been ashamed to have thought of such conduct even to a foe. But You! O You who have done more for me than mother, brother, husband, friend could have done! To You I have been an ingrate most base and willful." Her heart was moved with repentance. Her eyes gushed with tears and she rose to let him in. As she arose she first buckled on her garments, and then she searched for the alabaster box of precious ointment that she might anoint his weary feet and dewy locks. No sooner did she reach the door, than notice the love of God to her! Her "hands dropped with myrrh, and her fingers with sweet smelling myrrh." Here is the Holy Spirit come to help our infirmities. She begins to pray and the Holy Spirit helps her! She begins already to enjoy the sweetness, not of communion, but of the very desire after communion. For, Beloved, when our tears begin to flow because we are far from Christ, those holy drops have myrrh in them. When we begin to pray for Divine Grace there is a blessedness even about our yearning, and longing, and sighs, and panting, and pining! Our fingers drop with sweet smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. A function from the Holy One descends upon the soul when it is earnestly seeking for its Beloved. But that ought never to satisfy us! Behold another temptation of the devil--he will say to you, "On this very morning you felt some sweetness in hearing about Christ. Your hands have evidently dropped with myrrh upon the handles of the lock." Yes, but still it is not the myrrh that will content the loving heart, it is Christ she wants! And if not only hands, but lips and feet and her whole frame had dropped with myrrh, this would never have contented her until she could get the Lord Himself. I pray you, Beloved, if the life of Jesus is in you of a truth, rest not satisfied with all the Graces and the promises and the doctrines and the gifts of the Spirit of God, but seek after this most excellent gift--to know Christ, and to be found in Him--to say of Him, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me," And, yet more, "His left hand is under my head, and His right hand does embrace me." It was that effectually putting in of the hand that moved her. O Lord, grant the like unto us! VI. But now, in the sixth place, observe THE DESERVED CHASTISEMENT which the bridegroom inflicted. When her spouse was willing to commune, she was not. And now that she is willing, and even anxious, what happens? I wish to describe this to you because some of you may have felt it, and others of you who never have, but have preserved your intimacy with Christ up till now, may be warned by it. The newly awakened one went to the door and opened it to her beloved, for though he was gone, she did not doubt of her love, nor of his love to her. "I opened to my beloved, but," says the Hebrew, "He had gone, he had gone." The voice of lamentation, the reduplicated cry of one that is in bitter distress! There must have been a sad relief about it to her sinful heart, for she must have felt afraid to look her dear one in the face after such heartless conduct. But sad as it would have been to face him, it was infinitely sadder to say, "He is gone, he is gone." Now she begins to use the means of Grace in order to find Him. "I sought Him," she said, "and I found Him not. I went up to the House of God. The sermon was sweet, but it was not sweet to me, for He was not there. I went to the communion table, and the ordinance was a feast of fat things to others, but not to me, for He was not there! I sought Him, but I could not find Him." Then she betook herself to prayer. She had neglected that before, but now she supplicated in real earnest, "I called Him. I said to Him, Come, my Beloved, my heart wakes for You. Jesus, reveal Yourself to me as You do not to the world"-- "I thirst, I faint, I die to prove The sweetness of redeeming love, Your love, O Christ, to me." Her prayers were many. She kept them up by day and by night. "I called Him, but He gave me no answer." She was not a lost soul--do not think that! Christ loved her just us much, then, as before, no, loved her a great deal more. If there can be any change in Christ's love, He must have much more approved of her when she was seeking Him in sorrow than when she was reclining upon the conch and neglecting Him. But He was gone, and all her calling could not bring Him back. What did she do? Why, she went to His ministers--she went to those who were the watchmen of the night, and what did they say to her? Did they cheer her? Perhaps they had never passed through her experience. Perhaps they were mere hirelings. However it might be, they struck her. Sometimes the truthful preaching of the Gospel will smite a child of God when he gets out of his walk with God, and it is right it should be so. But they did more than strike, they "wounded" her until she began to bleed from the wounds given by the very men whom she hoped would have comforted her. "Surely," she might have said, "you know where the city's King is, for you are the city's guards!" But she received no comfort. When a poor soul in this case flies to an unsympathizing minister, he will say, "Well, you say you have lost the Presence of Christ, you should bestir yourself to find it." "Yes," says the spouse, "I rose up and opened to Him." "You should use the means." "But I have used the means. I sought Him, but I found Him not." "You should pray." "I did pray. I called Him, but He gave me no answer." "Well then," perhaps they will add, "you should wait patiently for Him." "Oh, but," she says, "I cannot, I must have Him now! I am sick of love." And then perhaps the minister will be sharp, and say, "I fear you are not a child of God." Now what is that? Why, that is taking away the veil from the mourning seeker! That is plucking away the ensign of sincerity from the benighted seeker! No woman went into the streets of Jerusalem without her veil, unless she was of the baser sort, and the watchmen seemed to say to this woman, "You are of ill name, or you would not be here at this time of night crying out for one you have lost." Oh, cruel work to pull off her veil and expose her, when she was already wretched enough! Sometimes a sharp sentence from a true minister may set a poor soul in the stocks who ought rather to have been comforted. I hope these hands will never pull away the veil from any of you poor mourning lovers of Christ. Far rather would these lips tell Him when I speak with Him that you are sick of love! But it cannot be helped at all times, for when we are dealing with the hypocrite, the tender child of God thinks we mean him. And when we are speaking against the formalist, as we must do, the genuine Believer writes bitter things against himself. When the fan is in our hand, and we are seeking thoroughly to purge the floor, it sometimes happens that some of the lighter wheat gets blown a little away with the chaff, and so distress is brought to weak but real children of God. If so, remember it is not our fault, for we would not grieve you--it is your fault for having lost your Beloved, for if you had not lost Him, you would not have been saying, "Tell me where I shall find Him!" You would have been rejoicing in Him, and no watchmen would have struck you, and no keepers of the walls would have taken away your veil from you, for Jesus would have been your Protector and your Friend. VII. Now, to close. As the poor spouse did not, then, find Christ, but was repulsed in all ways, she adopted A LAST EXPEDIENT. She knew that there were some who had daily fellowship with the King--daughters of Jerusalem who often saw him, and therefore she sent a message by them, "If you see my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love." Enlist your brother saints to pray for you! Go with them to their gatherings for prayer. Their company will not satisfy you without Jesus, but their company may help you find Jesus. Follow the footsteps of the flock, and you may, by-and-by discover the Shepherd. And what a message it is to send to Christ! Do not send it by other people's lips only, send it by your own! Tell Him, "I am sick of love." This is, of all things, the most painful, and the most happy thing in all the world. This is a sickness that I should like to die of, but I should like to feel it in rather a different shape from this. There are two love-sicknesses in Solomon's Song. The one is when the spouse longs for the presence of her lord, and the second is when she gets that presence--then he is so glorious to her, that she is ready to die with excessive joy, and she exclaims, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love." If you cannot get the second, remember that the first is the clear way to it. Resolve in your heart, my Brothers and Sisters, that you never will be happy till you win the face of Christ! Settle it in your soul that there shall be no end to your cries and tears till you can say with all your heart, "My Beloved is near to me. I can speak to Him. I am in the enjoyment of His love." If you can be content without it you shall go without it, but if you must have it you shall have it. If your hunger will break through stone walls to reach your Lord, no stone walls shall keep Him from you. If you are insatiable after Christ, He will feed you with Himself. If you bid goodbye to all the dainties of the world and all its sweet draughts and its delicacies, and must have Christ, and Christ alone, then no hungering soul shall long be kept without Him. He must come to you. There are cords that draw Him to you at this hour. His love draws you to Him, but your love draws Him close to you. Be not afraid. Your soul shall be like the chariots of Amminadab--perhaps even this morning--and you shall go your way rejoicing! The Lord grant it may be so for His love's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Jesus and the Lambs A Sermon (No. 794) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, February 9, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON at the [7]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.'" Isaiah 40:11. IN the chapter before us our Savior is described as Jehovah God. He is spoken of as clothed with irresistible power: "He shall come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him," but, as if to soften a glory far too bright for the weak eyes of the trembling, the Prophet introduces the delightful words of the text: "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." Here is Divinity! Not Jehovah, the Man of War, but Jehovah the Shepherd of Israel! Here is the fire of Deity, but its gentle, warming influence is felt and the consuming force is veiled. Greatness in league with gentleness, and power linked with affection now pass before us. Loving-kindness and tender mercy are drawn in their golden chariot by the noble steeds of Omnipotence and Wisdom. Heroes who have been most distinguished for fury in the fight have been tender of heart as little children-- sharp were their swords to the foe--but gentle their hands towards the weak. It is the index of a noble nature that it can be majestic as a lion in the midst of the fray and roar like a young lion on the scene of conflict--and yet have a dove's eye and a maiden's heart. Such is our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the conquering Captain of salvation but He is meek and lowly of heart. This morning, in considering the text, we have a special eye to these who are the weaklings among us. Our desire is, as an under-shepherd, to administer consolation to those who are distressed in spirit and feeble in mind, hoping that while we speak, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, may speak effectually to them. I. Our first consideration, this morning, will be the enquiry, WHO ARE THE LAMBS WHICH OUR BLESSED LORD IS SAID TO GATHER AND TO CARRY IN HIS BOSOM? In a certain sense we may affirm that all His people are lambs. In so far as they exhibit the Christian spirit, they are lamb-like. Jesus sends them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. They are a little flock, a guileless people. Just as the lamb was clean and acceptable to God, so is every Christian. As the lamb might be presented in sacrifice, so does every Believer present his body as a living sacrifice unto God. As the lamb was the symbol of innocence, so should the Believer be holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. And as the lamb fights not, and has no weapon of offense, so the Believer is no brawler, striker, or man of strife. Wars and fighting he hates, and follows peace with all men. When he is fully conformed to his Master's will he resists not evil, but is patient, turning the other cheek when he is struck. He knows that vengeance is God's prerogative and therefore is slow to retort upon a railing adversary, remembering that Michael the archangel only replied to the adversary, "The Lord rebuke you." A lamb is so guileless and unsuspicious that it licks the butcher's hand and those who seek to destroy it find it easy work. So have the saints been killed all the daylong--they are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, and the accusation of James is true--"You have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you." Those who are of a meek and lamb-like spirit are precisely such as become lovers of the gentle Prophet of Nazareth. Like attracts its like. He is meek and lowly in heart and therefore those who are like He is, come to Him. The power of His Gospel, wherever it is exerted, produces men of such character. Those who came to Christ when He was upon earth may have been boisterous enough in their natural dispositions, but after they had received the baptism of His Spirit, they were an inoffensive race. They proclaimed the Gospel with boldness and for their Master they were very valiant, but they rose not in arms against Caesar. They headed no rebellions. They were not competitors in the race for power. They shed no blood even to win their liberties. They were examples of suffering, affliction and of patience--they were ready to live or to die for the truth, but that truth was love to God and man. Self pride, greed, wrath as works of the old nature they sought to mortify, and it was their daily desire to do good unto all men as they had opportunity. Jesus will always gather such lambs. The world hates them and scatters them! The world ridicules and despises them but Jesus makes them His bosom friends. The world of old hounded them to death--made them pine in the damps of the catacombs of Rome, or perish among the snows of the Alps--but their glorified Lord gathered them by tens of thousands from the prison, the amphitheater, the stake, the bloody scaffold--and in His blessed bosom they rest in congenial company forever! As the Lord's lambs they are glorified with the Lamb of God. Still, this is not the precise meaning of the text. The word "lamb" frequently signifies the young, and our Lord Jesus Christ graciously receives many young persons into His bosom. The ancient teachers of the Jewish Law invited no children to gather around them. I suppose there was not a Rabbi in all Jerusalem who would have desired a child to listen to him, and if it had been said of anyone of the Sanhedrim, "that man teaches so as to be understood by a child," he would have thought himself insulted by such a description. But not so our Master! He always had children among His audience--they are often mentioned. In the enumeration of those whom He miraculously fed, we read, "beside women and children." His triumphant entry into Jerusalem included among the most conspicuous of the jubilant throng those children who were heard crying, "Hosanna," in the temple. When Jesus took a little child and set him in the midst, He had not to go far for the living illustration, for the little children were always near "the holy Child Jesus," the great Child-Man. Our Lord Jesus was so guileless, so gentle, He wore His heart so manifestly upon His sleeve, that though a man in all things masculine and dignified, the childlike nature was eminently conspicuous in Him and attracted the little ones to itself. We shall never forget the voice of the blessed Savior, the Lord of angels, as He cries, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven." Some in our day mistrust youthful piety, but our Savior lends no countenance to such suspicions. Some cautiously whisper, "Let the pious youth be tried awhile before we believe in his religion. Let him be tempted--let him bear the frosts of the world--perhaps the blossoms will drop away and disappoint us." Such was not my Master's way. Cautious, no doubt He was prudent beyond all human wisdom, but yet ever full of love and generousness, and therefore we find Him receiving children, as He has received us, into His kingdom--into the best place in His kingdom--into His loving bosom. Ah, dear Children, since you are not too young to die and to be judged for your idle words and disobedient actions, it is a delightful thing for you that you are not too young to believe in Jesus, nor too young to be saved by His Grace! Dear Children, I would have you completely saved today, for your tender age is no hindrance to you being forgiven and justified. If you have trusted the great Savior, I tenderly invite you to declare your faith in the Lord Jesus, and to come forward and be joined to the Church of Jesus. If, indeed, you are converted, we dare not refuse you! I hope the Church of Jesus will no more think of refusing you than would our Lord Himself. Were Jesus here this morning, He would say, "Suffer the little ones to come unto Me," and I hope you will be led by the Holy Spirit to come at His call. Only let your youthful hearts be given to Jesus, let your confidence be fixed alone upon what He suffered for sinners upon the Cross of Calvary, and you need not be afraid. There is the same Christ for you as for the gray heads. The promises are as much yours as your fathers' and the comforts of the Holy Spirit shall flow as sweetly into the little vessels of your hearts as into the hearts of those who have known the Savior these 50 years. Hear the words of the Good Shepherd, "I love them that love Me, and they that seek Me early shall find Me." But, again, by lambs we may quite as properly understand young converts--those who begin to have religious impressions--those who but of late have repented of sin and been driven from all confidence in their own good works. They are not yet established in the faith. They only know, perhaps, one or two great doctrines. They are very far from being able to teach others. They need to sit at the feet of Jesus rather than to serve Him in activities requiring talent and knowledge. Their faith is very apt to waver. Poor things, if they are assailed by arguments they are soon perplexed, and though they cling to the Truth of God, yet it is a hard struggle for them. They cannot give a reason for the hope that is in them, though they are not deficient in meekness and fear. Our Lord Jesus Christ never discarded a single follower on account of his being juvenile in the faith. Far from it! He has been pleased, in His infinite tenderness, to look especially after these. A young man came to Him who was not then converted--probably never was--and yet though the good work in him was so immature that it may have been compared to the morning cloud and the morning dew which pass away, yet our Savior, looking upon him, loved him! For He delights to see the hopeful token, however slender. He quenches not the smoking flax, and breaks not the bruised reed. He did not repulse the self-righteous youth. He was ignorant of the very first principle of the Gospel, namely, justification by faith and not by works, yet, since he desired to do right and was evidently sincere, our Lord Jesus Christ further instructed Him. I earnestly pray Christians to imitate my Master in this. Where you see anything of Christ, encourage it. You may observe much that you lament, but, I pray you, do not kill the child because its face is black. Do not cut down the trees because in spring they have no fruit upon them. Be thankful that they make a show of buds which may come to fruit by-and-by. It is not policy in the Christian Church to be severe upon those who are in any measure inclined towards Christ! It is inhumanity, it is worse cruelty than the sea monsters, for even they draw out the breasts to their young--but some men seem determined to crush all the hopes of the babes in Divine Grace. Because they grow not at once to the full stature of men, therefore they say, "Away with them! They are not fit to be received into the Church of Christ." My dear Friends, if there are any of you weak and doubtful, just struggling into life, who have only for the last few days known anything at all concerning the love of Christ. If there are in you any good thing towards the Lord God of Israel--a desire, an earnest longing, or a little faith--my Master will not be unkind to you, for "He gathers the lambs in His arm, and carries them in His bosom." Furthermore, we feel sure that we shall not strain the text if we say that the lambs in the flock are those who are naturally of a weak, timid and trembling disposition. There are many persons who, if they were kept constantly in the hothouse of Christian encouragement, would still feel themselves frostbitten, for their minds are naturally heavy and forlorn. If they make music at all, they dwell evermore upon the bass and keep not their harps long from the willows. When the promise comes with power to their souls and they enjoy a few bright sunshiny days, they are very happy in their own quiet way, like the man in the valley of humiliation, singing, "He that is down need fear no fall." But they never climb the mountains of joy, or lift up their voice with exultation! They have a humble hope and a gracious reliance and they are often, in practical Christianity, among the best in the Church. And yet, alas for them, their days of mirth are few! Like the elder brother in the parable, their father has never given them a kid that they may make merry with their friends. Now such persons make but poor company, and yet every Christian ought to seek their society, for there is something to be learned from them. And, moreover, their needs demand our sympathetic attention. Do not think that Jesus seeks out the strong saints to be His companions to the neglect of the little ones. Ah, no! "He shall gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom." Once more, the lambs are those who know but little of the things of God. This class is not so much desponding as ignorant--ignorant after a world of teaching! When we meet with persons who do not understand the Doctrines of Grace, after we have done our best to instruct them, we must not feel vexed with them. Reflect that our Master said to Philip, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip?" He was a much better teacher than we shall ever be, and therefore if He was gentle with His dull scholars, we must not be harsh. Some Believers, after years of scriptural teaching, get nothing into their heads except a mass of confusion. They are in a fog, poor souls--they mean right enough--but they do not know how to put their meaning in order. Oftentimes you will find our friends confounding things that differ, mingling justification with sanctification, or the fruits of the Spirit with the foundation of their confidence. This is the result of an uneducated understanding. Such persons are to be pitied because they become very readily the victims of designing men who lead them into error. But they are not to be shunned! They are not to be scolded! They are not to be denounced! Proud men may do so, for they are short-tempered, but the large-hearted Son of God declares that to them He will act as a shepherd and will gather them in His arms. If Thomas will not learn by any other means, Jesus will condescend to his childish foibles and let him put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into the wounded side. As a nurse is tender with her children, and as a good schoolmaster will teach his child the same thing 20 times if he has not learnt it at the 19th lesson, so Jesus will do! Jesus will add precept upon precept--here a little and there a little--that we may be nurtured and nourished in the faith once delivered to the saints. To whichever class any of you may belong, let my text be sweet to your taste and may the Holy Spirit cheer you by it. II. But we must now pass on. How DOES JESUS SHOW THIS SPECIAL CARE FOR THE WEAK ONES? He does this, according to the text, in two ways. First, by gathering them. At the season of the year when the little lambs are born it is interesting to observe the shepherd's careful watch. When he finds the little ones in the cold frost, almost ready to die, how tender he is! Why, the shepherd's kitchen fireside is, for a time, the lamb's own nursery! Wife and children are put aside for awhile, and the warm place is all given up to the little lambs! There they lie in the warmth till they have strength enough to return to their mothers! So when a man is spiritually born unto God--he is frequently so desponding, his faith is so weak, and he is altogether so ready to die--that he needs the tender mercy from on high to visit him. There may be one here who has been converted to God during the last week but no kind Christian knows of it. Nobody has spoken to him to gather him up. Lonely one, be not dismayed, Jesus will come to you! He will be a present help in this, your hour of trouble. Now that you are like a new lit candle which is easily blown out, He will shield you from the breath of evil. When the flock is on the march, it will happen, unless the shepherd is very watchful, that the lambs will lag behind. Those great Syrian flocks which feed in the plains of Palestine have to be driven many miles because the grass is scant, and the flocks are numerous. And in long journeys the lambs drop one by one for weariness, and then the shepherds carry them. So it is in the progress of the great Christian Church. Persecuted often, always more or less molested by the outside world, there are some who lag--they cannot keep up the pace--the spiritual warfare is too severe for them. They love their Lord. They would, if they could, be among the foremost. But, through the cares of this world, through weakness of mind, through a lack of spiritual vigor they become lame and are ready to perish. Such faint hearts are the peculiar care of their tender Lord. At other times the lambs do worse than this. They are of a skittish nature, and feeling the natural vigor of new-born life they are not content to keep within bounds as the older sheep do. They betake themselves to wandering so that at the close of the day the lambs cost the shepherd much trouble. "Where are those lambs?" he says. "Where are they? The sheep are right enough, but where are the lambs?" What will the good man do? Leave them, and say, "They have worn out my patience"? No--he will gather them. So are there many immature Christians whose minds are hung loosely, and are unstable as water. What a trouble some of you are to those who love you! When you rise to a little faith, you sink into unbelief before the next day! You shift your opinions as often as the moon changes, and are of one mind never longer than a week. You follow everybody who chooses to put up his finger to beckon you away. You leave the good old paths to seek other pastures. Sometimes you are with the so-called Brethren. The next day the Church of England. Next, the Dissenters, and, perhaps, if the Roman Catholics were to try you, you would be ready to go with them in the hope of finding comfort. It is the nature of the lambs that they should do so. But will the Good Shepherd be angry with you and cast you off? Not at all, for Jesus gathers the lambs, and when He puts His great loving arm over them, they cannot wander any more! When His love constrains them and they come to the full enjoyment of His Gospel Truth, then they are content to remain near His blessed Person. When the text says, "He gathers the lambs," does it mean that Jesus gathers poor tremblers to His precious blood, and washes them and gives them peace? Does it mean that He gathers them to His precious Truth and illuminates their minds, and instructs their understanding? Is it not meant He gathers them to Himself and unites them to His glorious Person, making them members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones? Oh, this is a delightful gathering! His Word cannot do it alone. His ministers cannot do it, but His arm can! The power and energy of the Holy Spirit, which is like the right arm of the Good Shepherd, gathers together these weakest and most wandering ones and puts them safe into the blessed pavilion of His bosom! But the text says after He gathers them, He carries them in His bosom. That is, first of all, the safest place, for the wolf cannot get them there. Furious and impertinent as Hell always is, yet who can hope to take His bosom treasure away from Jesus? You weak ones, how secure you are in Him, though so exposed to danger in yourselves! The bosom--why that is the most tender place--where we should put a poor creature that had a broken bone and could not bear to be roughly touched. The bosom, that is the easiest place. It makes one wish to always be a lamb, if one could always ride in that chariot! Delightful is the weakness which casts us upon such gracious strength. "He carries the lambs in His bosom." Why, that is the most honorable place. We would not put into our bosom that which was despised! We should not think of carrying there anything which was not choice and dear and exceedingly precious. So, you weak ones, though you think yourself to be less than nothing, and are nothing in yourself, yet you shall have all the security which the heart of Deity can give you! You shall have all the comfort that the love of Christ can pour upon you! All the honor and dignity which nearness, and fellowship, and dearness of love can bestow upon a poor mortal, you shall have! Rejoice, you lambs, that you have such a Shepherd to carry you near His heart! To enlarge upon this, let me observe that our Lord shows His care for the lambs in His teachings which are very simple, mostly in parables, full of winning illustrations, but always plain. The Gospel is a poor man's Gospel. You need not be a Plato, or a Socrates to understand it. The peasant is as readily saved as the philosopher. He that has but a small amount of brains may understand that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and that whoever believes in Him is not condemned. If Christ had not cared for the weak ones, He would not have come with so plain a message, for He comprehends all mysteries and knows the deep things of God. Moreover, He is pleased to reveal His teachings gradually. He did not tell His disciples all the Truths of God at once because they were not able to bear it. He led them from one Truth to another. He brings forth milk before He offers strong meat. Some of you weak ones are very stupid. You want to begin with the hard Truths first. You long to comprehend election before you understand that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. But you should not do so, for our Lord would have you begin with these lessons, "I am a sinner. Christ stood in the sinner's place. I trust Him, I am saved." After you have learned this first alphabet of the Gospel you shall learn the rest. It is a token of the Lord's love to the weak that He does not hang our salvation upon our understanding mysteries! He does not rest our ground of confidence upon our orthodoxy, or our knowledge of the more sublime Truths of God, but if we know the power of His precious blood--whether we understand His electing love or not--we are saved! It is well to learn all that we can, but here is a fair display of Christ's love--that if we do but trust in Him, although we may be much in the dark--we are nevertheless secure. The Lord's gentleness to the lambs is shown in this, that His experimental teachings are all by degrees, too. He does not teach the young beginner all the depravity of his heart which he will have to feel in after life. He does not allow the young convert to be molested by Satanic insinuations as he may be when he becomes stronger. Nor does He usually suffer temporal trouble to befall so heavily on those who are but fledglings in the nest. He always suits the trial to the strength, and the burden to the back. I am quite certain if my Master had allotted me some of my present trials 15 years ago, I should have been ready to despair, and yet at the present I am supplied with strength enough to bear them, though I have none to spare. Blessed be the Lord Jesus for His kind consideration of our many infirmities. He never overdrives His lambs. Though a certain form of experience is very useful, yet He does not send it to us while by reason of backwardness in Grace we are unable to bear it. The Divine gentleness of our Master has been shown in the solemn curses with which He effectually guarded the little ones. Observe how sharp they are! "But whoso shall offend one of those little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." To offend is to put a stumbling block in the way. How solemn is that warning, "Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones!" He must have loved them or He would not have set such a hedge of fire around them. How many of the promises are made on purpose for the weak? I encourage you to make your own study of them, and so I shall not repeat them this morning. The precious Word of God will show you how the gracious Word is framed to the peculiar condition of distress and weakness under which the lambs are suffering. The Holy Spirit, with Divine art, brings home to the heart promises which had never else appeared to be so full of Grace. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ's tenderness to His people is further shown in this, that what He requires of them is easy. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light." He does not command the babes to preach. He does not send the weak Believers to the forefront of the battle, as David did Uriah, that they may be slain. He gives them no other burden than this--that they will trust Him and give Him all their heart. A yoke so easy! He shows His gentleness, moreover, in that He accepts the least service that these little ones may offer. A faint prayer, a sigh, a tear--He will receive all these as much as the most eloquent pleadings of an Elijah. The broken alabaster box and the ointment poured out shall be received though they come from one who has no former character with which to back the gift. And the two mites that make a farthing shall not be disowned. The best work sincerely done out of love to Jesus--in dependence upon Him--He accepts most cheerfully, and thus shows to us His real tenderness for the lambs. He has bid His ministers to be careful of the little ones. "Feed My lambs," He said to Peter, because He would have all His ministers do so. Those shall find themselves winning their Master's frown who despise the weaklings, but those shall have a smile from His face who, with tender care, shall nurture them. Jesus, my Lord, speaks to the desponding and timid ones this morning, and He cries-- "trust Me, and fear not; your life is secure; My wisdom is perfect, supreme is My power; In love I correct you, your soul to refine, To make you at length in My likeness to shine. The foolish, the fearful, the weak are My care, The helpless, the homeless, I hear their sad prayer: From all their afflictions My glory shall spring, And the deeper their sorrows, the louder they'll sing." I have thus shown to you, as well as I am able, the tender heart of my Lord towards the lambs. III. In the third place, let us answer this question, WHY THIS CARE OF CHRIST TOWARDS THE LAMBS OF THE FLOCK? They need Him and He loves them is the answer, and therefore shall they receive according to their necessities. But why is He so particularly anxious to succor them? Surely if He lost a lamb or two, it would be no loss among so many! And if one of the feeble minds should perish it would be no great consequence when a multitude that no man can number shall be saved! The answer is plain--the weak are as much redeemed by the blood of Christ as the strong. When the redemption money was paid by the Jews, it was said, "The rich shall give no more, and the poor shall give no less because every man's soul is of equal value before the eternal God." The meanest child of God has been as truly bought with the blood of Christ and cost the Lord as much to buy him as the brightest of Apostles, or the boldest of confessors. A man will not lose a thing which cost him his blood. The soul of a beggar, if it were put into the scale, would outweigh ten thousand worlds--and when that beggar's soul has been redeemed by the wounds of Jesus, depend upon it--Jesus Christ will not lose it. In the newborn child of God there are peculiar beauties which are not so apparent in others. It is a matter of taste, I suppose, which is the more beautiful, the lamb or the sheep. But I think the most of us would select the lamb. There is a charm in young creatures, and so there are traits of character in weak and young Believers which are extremely delightful. You miss in after-life the first love of the beginner in the heavenly pilgrimage. True, there are other and more substantial beauties, but the first blushes and smiles are gone. Have you not, when you have grown older, wished that you possessed the same tenderness of conscience which you had at first, that you had felt the same simplicity of faith? Have you not desired to enjoy that same intense delight in the service of God's House which you enjoyed during the first few months after your new birth? You have other Graces now. You have virtues more useful in the battle of life, but yet there were beauties, then, which Jesus Christ admired and which He would not suffer to be soiled. Jesus has such care for the weak ones, because they will become strong one day. All great Graces were once little Graces. All great faith must have once been little faith. It is always first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. Mountain-moving faith was once a trembling thing. Kill the lambs? Then where will the sheep be? Slaughter the innocents? Then where shall Bethlehem find her men? Destroy the children? Then from where shall the warriors come who march in ranks to the battle? Jesus sees the weak ones not as they are, but as they are to be! He discerns the complete man in the babe of Grace. Moreover, my Brothers and Sisters, our Lord Jesus Christ's suretyship engagements require that He should preserve the weakest as well as the strongest. God will require at Christ's hand every one of the elect. "Yours they were, and You gave them to Me," said our Lord. He is to present them faultless before His Presence with exceedingly great joy. Just as Laban required every sheep from Jacob's hand, or else Jacob must bear the loss forever, so will God require at our Shepherd's hand every sheep, or He must forever dishonor His suretyship engagement. But it shall never be! He will be true to His Word, and say, "Of all that You have given Me have I lost none." When a secretary delivers up his accounts, he is very pleased if it can be said by the auditors, "We have found them correct to a single farthing." But suppose he had said, "Well, there are slight errors, for I never took notice of the pence, I thought them such trifles that if I looked to the pounds it was quite enough." What would be thought of him? Who would trust him? It is the type of an honest man that he is correct to a farthing. If Jesus should bring to eternal glory all who are great in Grace, but neglect the weakest it would dishonor His great name! His honor is pledged to preserve the very weakest of the flock-- "Shepherd of the chosen number, They are safe whom You do keep. Other shepherds faint and slumber, And forget to watch the sheep. Watchful Shepherd! You do wake while others sleep." Besides His suretyship engagements, there are His promises. He has declared that whoever believes in Him shall never perish but have everlasting life. That promise is not to the strong only, but to the weak also. He has said, "None shall pluck them out of My hand." Now, He does not say, "None shall pluck the great ones, but may pluck the little ones." No, "None shall pluck them," that is, any of them! They are all saved, and all equally saved, because their safety does not depend upon their growth or their vigor--it depends on the strength of His arm and the infallibility of His purpose. The sick and sorrowful inhabitants of Jerusalem are secured by the munitions of Divine strength and the bastions of everlasting love as much shelter the little child in the streets as the men that go forth to war! We may be quite sure the tender Savior will take care of the lambs because compassion argues that if any should be watched it should be these. Cast away His people because they are timid, and trembling and fearful? God forbid! Yonder is a mother who has a numerous family of children. My dear Mother, may I argue with you? If you must neglect one of your children, shall I tell you which it should be? It should be that one which is lame in the feet and has always been so sickly. Why, I think I see the mother looking at me angrily--"Stop," she says, "such shameful talk! That very one I look after with the most anxiety. If I did neglect one, it would be the big boy, grown up, and able to take care of himself, but that poor little dear! I could not forsake him, I carry him in my bosom from morning to night. If there is one that I am most tender over, it is just that very one." The instincts of our nature tell us that. The beatings of Jesus' heart are towards the trembling ones. When should a man forget or forsake his spouse? Never under any conceivable circumstances, but certainly not when she is sick or sorrowful! Shall he sue in the Divorce Court against her because she is afflicted and full of pains and griefs? Is she to be cast out of doors because her spirits are broken? Only villainy, alone, could dictate such an argument, and rest assured, Beloved, such an argument should have no tolerance with the Well-Beloved! If you are in Jesus Christ rest assured that His love will not desert you. It would be a very deplorable thing for every Believer in the whole world if it were announced that the least Believer should perish. If it should be proclaimed by sound of trumpet by some angelic messenger that the Good Shepherd intended to cast off one of the least of His flock, though it were but one, I do not know what conclusion you would draw from it, my dear Hearer, but mine would be this, "Then He will cast off me." I should feel at once that all the grounds of my security were gone--that I might be the castaway. Even if but one, why not I? Would not you feel the same, and where would any of us have any room for comfort? After the one announcement, so contrary to the promise, we might expect another, because in weakness, or in ignorance--if anything in the lamb-like nature is to destroy one of us--then of course, the next, and the next, and the next, and the next may perish. If a man has many creditors, and he says, "I will not pay this one," we all think perhaps he will not pay the next, and the next, and the next. And if God does not keep His promise to the very least, then not to the one next above the least, and so on to none at all. In fact, the whole blood-bought Church of God may go to perdition if but one goes there! And if the most wandering and backsliding shall be cast into Hell, then the whole will go. If the ship goes down enough to drown one man on board, she would drown the whole company. There is no safety for any of the ship's company unless there is safety for all on board. So, heir of Heaven, looking at the consequences that would come from the ruin of the least, believe firmly that the Keeper of Israel will gather you with His arm and carry you in His bosom. IV. We shall conclude when we have made a PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. What then? Why, first of all, let us gather the lambs for Christ. I am persuaded there are many who are not in Church fellowship who ought to be, but who, perhaps, will never come forward unless they receive an encouraging word from some of their Christian friends. It is of the first importance that they should be gathered to Christ--He has done that for them. It is in the next degree important that they should be gathered into His Church. May I, therefore, ask all of you who owe anything to my Lord to make some kind of acknowledgment of your debt by looking after those who need a helping hand? The Lord, speaking of His people says, "I taught Israel to go, taking him by the arms." You know what that means--you have done that with your children when you taught them to walk--holding them up by the arms. Do the same for your Master's little ones! Teach some of these beginners to go, holding them up by encouragements. Did not someone do as much for you once? Do you not remember a kind friend who cheered and instructed you? Return your obligation to the Christian Church by doing the same. I earnestly pray to see, during the next few months, a very large ingathering into our Church of such as shall be saved. We do not want those who are unconverted to be added to the Church--there is a step before that--they must first give themselves to Christ. And we do want as many as really belong to our Lord and Master to come into the fellowship of the faithful and to share in the privileges of the Church of God. Next, let us learn from the text to carry in our bosoms those who are gathered. We have gathered many together into the Church, but that is not all we must do--that is only the beginning of what riper Christians should count it to be their office to do towards the young. Every young Christian is presented to the Christian Church just as Moses was presented to his mother by Pharaoh's daughter, with this commission, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." It is not possible that two pastors, or 20 pastors, should be able to visit and instruct all the members of such a Church as this, and the lack must be supplied by you, my Brothers, who have known the Lord these years, and by you, my Sisters, who have become matrons in our Jerusalem. May I entreat you, by the love of Him who gave Himself for you, by all the tenderness of the heart of Christ--if there are any consolations of the Spirit--seek out your fellow members who may be weak in faith and downcast in mind, and speak comfortably unto them! Tell them that their warfare is accomplished, that their sin is pardoned. Point them to the Lord Jesus! Unveil His beauties to them! Make them, as far as you can, to comprehend with all the saints what are the heights and depths, that they may grow in Divine Grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I trust that this sermon may minister comfort to mourners. But as for those who believe not in Christ at all, I can administer to them no comfort except by reminding them of this one fact--that it is not too late for them to trust in Jesus, and if they do so--however long they may have delayed, the door is not closed. May they enter before the Master of the House has risen up and shut the door. __________________________________________________________________ Joshua's Vision A Sermon (No. 795) Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, February 16, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON at the [8]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. Portion of Scripture read before Sermon--Joshua 6:10-27. "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, thathe lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a Man over against him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, Are You for us, or for our adversaries? And He said, No, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto Him, What says my Lord unto His servant? And the Captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose your shoe from off your foot; for the place whereon you stand is holy. And Joshua did so." Joshua 5:13-15. The Lord divided the Jordan that His people might pass through dry-shod. This miracle greatly dispirited the Canaanites, and so prepared the way for an easy triumph for the invading Israelites. You would have naturally expected that the Lord would have bid His people avail themselves immediately of this terror to strike a heavy blow at once, and press on with might and main before the enemy could take a breath and so sweep the land clear of the adversaries in a single campaign. But it was not so. Instead of immediate activity, the children of Israel pitched their tents at Gilgal and there tarried for a considerable season. For God is in no hurry. His purposes can be accomplished without haste, and though He would have us redeem the time because our days are evil, yet in His eternity He can afford to wait and by His wisdom He so orders His delays that they prove to be far better than our hurries. Why were the people to delay? That they might be obedient to commands which had been forgotten. In the desert, for many reasons, circumcision and the Passover had been neglected. They were not visited with any chastisement on account of this neglect, for the Lord considered their position and condition, and winked at their error. But before He would use them He would have them fully obedient to His will. It cannot be expected that God should tolerate disobedient servants, and therefore they must stay awhile, till they had been attentive to the two great precepts of the Mosaic Covenant. Dear Friends, let us pause and ask ourselves, as Believers, whether we have been in all respects conscientiously attentive to our Master's commands. If not, we may not expect Him to send a blessing to the Church or to the world through us, until first of all we have yielded our willing obedience to that which He has prescribed for us. Are any of you living in the neglect of a known part of the Divine will? Are you undesirous of knowing some portions of God's will, and therefore willfully blind to them? My dear Brother, you are cutting the Achilles' tendon of your strength? You can never overthrow your enemies like Samson while your locks are thus shorn. You cannot expect that God should send you forth to conquer and to bring to Him renown when you have not as yet conquered your own personal indolence and disobedience! He that is unfaithful in that which is least will be unfaithful in that which is greater. If you have not kept the Master's saying in the little vineyard of your personal history, how much less shall you be able to do it if He should entrust you with a greater field of service! Here, then, is the reason for Israel's delay, and it is a reason why at the commencement of our special services [month-long services and Prayer Meetings for conversion of souls] we should make diligent search for neglected duties, and promptly fulfill them. The two precepts which had been overlooked were very suggestive. The one was circumcision. Every man throughout the whole camp of Israel must be circumcised before God would begin to speak about Jericho. Not a word about the walls falling flat to the ground. Not a syllable concerning compassing the accursed city seven days, until, first of all, the reproach of Egypt had been put away and His people had received the token of the Covenant. We are told in the New Testament that Christians must partake in a circumcision without hands, not of the flesh, but of the spirit. "He is not a Jew which is one outwardly...but he is a Jew which is one inwardly." In the Colossians the Apostle tells us that the true circumcision is the putting away of the body of death by the circumcision of Christ, by which I understand that the Christian must purge himself, in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Christ, of every fleshly defilement, of every sinful thought, of every wrong ambition, of every carnal desire. If he is to be used by his Master it is imperative that this be done, and be done at once, in the name of the Most High. "Be you clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." God will not fight His battles by the uncircumcised! He will have His people clean from the sin that does so easily beset them, or else He will not use them. Stop, then, my Brethren, and let me beseech you to search your own hearts and see what there may be within that might render you unfit to be blessed. If I, as God's minister, have no conversions, I dare not attribute the fact to Divine Sovereignty. It may be so, but I am always afraid to make Divine Sovereignty the scapegoat for my iniquities. I rather think that if God withholds the blessing, there is a cause--and may not the cause be in myself, that I do not live as near to God as I should--or am indulging in something which His holy eyes cannot look upon? I speak to you who are Church members. If in the Sunday school. If in your tract distribution. Or if in any other work you are doing you do not win souls to God, cry unto Him, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Sin blocks up the channel of mercy--the stream is strong enough, but you restrain its flow--your sins separate between you and your God. And, therefore, I beseech each one of you, if you are the Lord's, shake yourselves from the dust, sanctify a fast unto the Most High and come before Him with supplication. Sit before Him in sackcloth and ashes, in the silent dejection of your abashed spirits, and confess before Him all your sins. Arise, pour out your hearts like water before the Lord! Acknowledge your sins and offenses, and then, being purged from these by the water and the blood which flowed from the riven side of Jesus, you may arise to service and expect to be made a blessing. But circumcision was not enough, they must also keep the Passover. This, it appears they had only celebrated twice, once in Egypt, and once at the foot of Sinai. But they were now to begin a Passover which was to be kept every year without cessation. Brothers and Sisters, you know the meaning the Passover has to us--it represents feeding upon Christ. He is the Paschal Lamb. We must put away the old leaven of sin and we must come with pure hearts to feed upon our Lord. You will never be able to fight the Canaanites till you have fed on Christ. A spiritual man who tries to live without feeding upon Jesus soon becomes weak. He who has but slight communion with Christ, he who day after day has no sight of the King in His beauty, who is never taken to the banqueting house, and sees not the love banner waving over his head is not likely to be a hero. If you do not eat the bread of Heaven, how can you do the work of Heaven? The farmer that labors must be first partaker of the fruits. And if we would labor for God with success, we must first of all feed upon the Christ of God, and gather strength from Him. "Son of man," said the voice from Heaven to the Prophet, "eat this roll." He must first eat it, and then speak concerning what he has handled and tasted. We must enjoy true religion in our own souls before we can be fit exponents of it to others. How shall you be heralds of a message which has never been spoken into your inner ear by the voice of the Lord? How can you expect to bring others to life when your own soul is all but dead? How shall you scatter the live coals of eternal Grace when the flame upon the hearth of your heart has almost expired? Brethren, let us keep the feast! Let us draw near unto our Lord Jesus with pure hearts! Let us renew our first faith and early love, taking the great Son of God to be once more the ground of our hope, the source of our joy, the object of our desires! Let us come near, yes, nearer and nearer still to Him, pressing to His embrace--so shall we be prepared to brave the conflict and earn the victory. After the ordinances had been kept, you will suppose that at once the trumpet sounded for an assault, and the valiant men of Israel, with their scaling ladders, and their battering rams, gathered round the devoted city to attack and carry it by storm. Patience! Patience! You are always in a hurry, but God is not. Joshua himself, that bold, brave spirit is in some haste, and therefore he goes forth by night, meditating and patrolling. And as he is meditating upon God, and gazing every now and then at that huge city, and wondering where would be the best point of attack, and how it would be captured, he is astonished by the appearance of a stately personage who bears a sword in His hand. Brave Joshua, unconscious of anything like fear, advances at once to the apparent interloper and demands of Him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" He little guessed in what august Presence he was standing until a majestic voice said, "No, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Then Joshua, discerning the Divinity of the celestial Warrior bowed and worshiped and humbly inquired what he should do. And then after he had been instructed, he rose and went according to the Lord's directions to the capture of the city of palm trees. The children of Israel may be likened to yonder gallant vessel, prepared for a long voyage. All the cargo is on board that is needed. All the stores are there, and every man in his place. In all respects, the good ship is fully equipped, but why does she linger? Why do not the sailors weigh the anchor? If you ask the man at the helm, he will tell you, "We are waiting for the captain." A good and sufficient reason, indeed, for till the captain has come on board it is idle for the vessel to put out to sea. So here Israel had been circumcised, and the blessed feast of the Paschal Lamb had been celebrated, but still they must not go to the conflict until the Captain Himself had arrived. And here, to Joshua's joy, the Angel of the Presence of the Most High appeared to claim the presidency of the war and lead forth the hosts of God to certain victory! Brethren, this is precisely the condition of this Church at the present moment! We have endeavored, I think, to draw near unto God and to abide in His love. We have sought to purge ourselves from sin, and to be holy even as He is holy. But still this will not suffice--we need the Divine Presence, and we are now bid to pause awhile and to seek it, prayerfully--that in its matchless power we may go forward successfully. I. I shall ask your earnest attention, this morning, to two or three brief rules for our present solemn engagements. First, realize the fact of the Divine Presence. Jesus Himself comes to this holy war. Joshua saw a man clad in armor, equipped for war. Cannot the eyes of your faith see the same? There He stands, Jesus, God over all, blessed forever, yet a Man. Most surely God, but with equal certainty bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He is in the midst of His Church. He walks among the golden candlesticks. His promise is, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." I do not wish to talk, but I desire rather that you should exercise your own minds, your faith, your spiritual powers, and vividly believe that Jesus is here--so believe it, that your inner eye beholds what you believe. The Son of Man is here, as surely here as He was with the disciples at the lake when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid on them, and bread! He is here to talk with us by His Spirit as He did to Peter and to the rest of the disciples on that memorable day. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is where His people meet together. Joshua saw Him with His sword in His hand. O that Christ might come in our midst with the sword of the Spirit in His hand! Might He come to effect deeds of love but yet deeds of power! That He might come with His two-edged sword to smite our sins, to cut to the heart His adversaries, to slay their unbelief, to lay their iniquities dead before Him! The sword is drawn, not in the scabbard, as alas, it has been so long in many churches, but made bare for present active use. It is in His Hand, not in the minister's hand, not even in an angel's hand, but the sword drawn is in His hand. Oh, what power there is in the Gospel when Jesus holds the hilt! And what gashes it makes into hearts that were hard as stone, when Jesus cuts right and left at the hearts and consciences of men! Brothers and Sisters, seek this Presence, and seeking it, believe it. And when you hear the Gospel preached, or when you meet together for prayer, think you see in the center of the assembly the Champion of Israel with uplifted sword, prepared to do great exploits, as in days of old. The glorious Man whom Joshua saw, was on his side. The day shall come when the ungodly shall see this Man with his sword drawn. But in answer to their question, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" they shall find Him to be the fiercest of their foes! In the midst of His Church Christ carries a sword only for the purposes of love to it. Oh, how blessed it will be if you can know that out of His mouth there goes a two-edged sword, like unto a flame of fire! And to know that if you dare to bring your heart near to that sword, that it may cut and kill in you everything obnoxious to the Divine will! And then bring your children and kinsfolk and those that sit in these pews side by side with you, and say, "O Master, let Your sword of fire go through them according to Your Word--'I kill and make alive, I wound and I heal'--O kill, that they may live! O wound, that they may be healed"-- "Your arrows sharply pierce the heart Of foemen of the King, And under Your dominion's rule The people down do bring. O you that are the Mighty One, Your sword gird on Your thigh, Even with Your glory excellent, And with Your majesty." The Divine Presence, then, is what we desire, and if we have it, Brethren, faith at once is encouraged. It was enough for the army of Cromwell to know that he was there, the ever victorious, the irresistible, to lead on his Ironsides to the fray. Many a time the presence of an old Roman general was equal to another legion--as soon as the cohorts perceived that he was come whose eagle eye watched every motion of the enemy, and whose practiced hand led his battalions upon the most salient points of attack--each man's blood leaped within him and he grasped his sword and rushed forward, secure of success. My Brethren, our King is in the midst of us, and our faith should be in active exercise. "The shout of a King is in the midst of us," it is said, for where the King is there the people shout for joy and because of confidence of victory. The preacher may preach, but what is that? But if the King is there, then it is preaching in very deed. The congregations may have met, and they may have gone again. "The panoramic view which has dissolved," you say. Ah, so it may seem to you, but if the Spirit of God was there, all that as been done will abide, and remain even to that day of judgment, when the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. "Nothing but a simple girl sitting down to talk to a few little children about their souls." Just so, but if the Lord is there, what awe gathers round that spot! If the King Himself sits in that class, what deeds are done that shall make the angels of Heaven sing anew for joy! "Nothing but a humble man, unlettered, earnest, but not eloquent, standing in the corner of a street addressing a few hundred people. His talk will soon be forgotten." Precisely so, but if the King is there it shall never be forgotten! The footprints of every true servant of the Lord shall not be in the sand, but in the enduring brass--the record of which shall outlast the wreck of matter! When the King is with us, faith is confident because God girds faith as with a golden girdle, and from head to foot clothes her with a panoply of armor and puts a sword into her hand which is all-destroying, and with which she cuts through coats of mail. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" When the King is with His people, then Hope is greatly encouraged, for says she, "Who can stand against the Lord of Hosts?" There must be conversions! It is no longer a question of trust and expectation, but of absolute certainty when Jesus is at the preaching! My Brethren, if by earnest prayer we shall really bring the King into our midst today, as I am persuaded we shall--and if we keep Him here, holding Him by our entreaties, and by our tears, which are the golden chains that bind Christ to His people--then we need not think that there shall be good done, nor hope so, but it must be so! It shall be so, for where Christ is, there is the manifestation of the Omnipotence of Deity and the hardest of hearts feel its influence! Where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed, for oh, of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the Presence of Jesus! A glimpse of Him will overcome us so that we shall be almost ready to say, "Turn away Your eyes from me, for they have overcome me." Oh, but a smell of the aloes, and the myrrh, and the cassia which drop from His perfumed garments! But a smell of these, I say, and the sick and the faint among us shall grow strong! Oh, but a moment's leaning of the head upon that gracious bosom and a reception of His divine love into our poor cold hearts, and we shall be cold no longer, but shall glow like seraphs, being made equal to every labor, and capable of every suffering! Then shall the Spirit of the Lord be upon us, and our old men shall see visions, and our young men shall dream dreams--and upon the servants and the handmaidens will God pour out His Spirit! If we do but know that Jesus is here, every power will be developed and every Grace will be strengthened--and we shall cast ourselves into the Lord's battle with heart, and soul, and strength! There is not a single part of our inner man which will not be bettered by the Presence of Christ! Therefore is this to be desired above all things. Brethren, suppose that Christ is here, this morning--His Presence will be most clearly ascertained by those who are most like He is. Joshua was favored with this sight because he alone had eyes that could bear it. I do not read that even Caleb saw this Man with His sword drawn. Only Joshua saw Him, because Joshua was the most spiritual and the most active. If you desire to see Christ you must grow to be like He is, and labor to serve Him with heart, and soul, and strength. Christ comes not in the visions of the night to those who toss upon the bed of indolence. He reveals Himself in the night watches to those who learn to watch and war. Bring yourselves, by the power of the Spirit, into union with Christ's desires, and motives, and plans of action, and you are likely to see Him. I would that all of you were Joshuas, but if not, if but some shall perceive Him, we shall still receive a blessing! I am sure this Presence of Christ will be needed by us all. All of you who love Jesus intend to do Him service during this next month, and indeed, I hope as long as you live. Now, there is nothing good which you can do without Christ. "Without Me you can do nothing," is a great and undoubted fact. If you meet to pray, you shall not pray acceptably unless He is with you. If you teach, or preach, or whatever you do, however small the labor, you shall accomplish nothing unless it is through His power, and through His manifested Presence with you. Go not to warfare at your own charges but wait upon your Master, tarrying at Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. But, Brethren, Jesus Christ's Presence may be had. Do not despond and say that in the olden times the Master revealed Himself but He will not do so now. He will, He will, He will! His promise is as good as ever. He delights to be with us even as with our fathers. If He does not come it is because we hinder Him--we are not straitened in Him, but straitened in our own heart. Let me persuade you that all the great things which were done at Pentecost can be done again, in this Tabernacle! Let me persuade you that all the wondrous conversions which were worked in any of the ages of the Church may be repeated at this hour! Do not say that Luther, or Calvin, or Whitfield, or Wesley were great men and therefore around them great things gathered! My brethren, the weakest of men may be more honored than the greatest, if God so wills it. Our weakness, lack of learning, lack of eloquence, and what not--I look upon these as advantages rather than not--for if we were eminent, we might, perhaps, claim some of the glory. But if we are "less than nothing and vanity," then is there a clear stage for the Divine operations! And why should we not so see in this place such a revival as shall shake all England and stir the dry bones in the Valley of Vision at this day as they never were stirred since Apostolic times? We have but to expect it, to believe it, to pray for it, to work for it, and we shall have it! God's clouds still pour down the water floods as plenteously as when Elisha went up to the top of Carmel. The Lord thunders mightily against His enemies at this day, as when He went forth with His people in the days of yore. Think not that the Almighty has ceased to do marvels--the Lord of Hosts is still the King eternal, immortal, and invisible--with an arm which does wonders. You have still only to plead the power of the precious blood and the meritorious death of Christ to see wonders in this year of Divine Grace which shall even eclipse any that your fathers saw, or heard of in the old time before them! May God grant to each Believer among us the vision of the God-like Man with the sword drawn in His hand, and then may we go forth in the strength which He alone confers. II. In the second place, understand the Lord's position in the midst of His people. "As Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." What a relief this must have been for Joshua. Perhaps he thought himself the captain--but now the responsibility was taken from him--he was to be the lieutenant, but the King Himself would marshal His hosts! I feel it no small relief to my own mind to feel that though I have been at your head these 14 years, leading you on in God's name to Christian service, yet I am not your Captain, but there is a greater One, the Presence Angel of the Most High, the Lord Jesus--He is in our midst as Commander-in-Chief. Though my responsibilities are heavy, yet the leadership is not with me. He is a leader and commander for the people. Brothers and Sisters, wherever Christ is, we must remember that He is Commander-in-Chief to us all. We must never tolerate in the Church any great man to domineer over us. We must have no one to be Lord and Master except Jesus. Christ is the Field-Marshal, the Captain of our salvation! And if you are a member of the Church of God, you must admit this, not as a general fact only, but as a fact particularly in your case. Christ is your Master. You are not to say, "I prefer this or that doctrine." What have you to do with likes or dislikes? Believe what He tells you. You are not to say, "I prefer a certain form of worship." What have you to do with preferences? Worship as the Master bids you. Alas, for the day when whims and tastes and fancies come into the Christian Church to lead the people. All this Puseyism which we hear so much outcry about is simply the putting up of taste into the place of simple obedience to Christ. If we would but just keep close to Christ's Word we should be right enough. I pray each Believer here to remember that he is in no respect his own master in the things of God, but that Christ is Commander-in-Chief. "Is it of any use to send missionaries to India?" said someone to the Duke of Wellington. "What are your marching orders?" said the Duke. "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Those are our marching orders. We have nothing to do with whether they are prudent orders or not. They are sure to be good if they come from Him! Our duty is to do as our Commander bids us to do. Every word of Christ, if we would see Him do wonders in our midst, must be obeyed! Not the great precepts only, but the little ones, too. It behooves Christians to have done with that cant about non-essentials. My Brethren, every command of Christ is essential to us as servants! Not essential to our salvation--we are saved--that is not the question for us to raise. But being saved, and being servants of Christ, every command which comes from the great Captain is essential for every soldier to keep. It matters not though it is simply a ceremony, yet still we have no right to alter it. What would the court-martial say to any of the private soldiers, who, having received an order from a captain, should say, "Well, I did not consider it to be exceedingly important?" "Drum him out of the regiment, Sir, there is an end to all discipline in the army when soldiers criticize their orders." So is it with Christ's Law. We have no right to say, for instance about Believers' baptism, "Well, it is a non-essential." Who told you so? If Jesus commands it, obey it! And if it is the Lord's Law, make haste and delay not to keep the Master's statute. I single out that one precept, but there are many others which are, perhaps, of greater importance, if we are allowed to say greater or less about anything which Christ has bid us do. My Brothers and Sisters, let us seek, now, to put our minds into the hands of the Holy Spirit to be taught what the great Captain's will is. And when we know it, let our souls bend under it, as the willow bends in the breath of the wind, and as the boat upon the sea is driven to and fro in the gale. Down with you, Self, down with you! Carnal judgment and foolish reason, lie still! Let the Word of God be paramount within the soul, all opposition being hushed! Brethren, if we do not act with the Captain, disappointment will be sure to follow. The Lord had issued orders that none of the tribes should take of the accursed spoil of Jericho. Achan did so. I have often wondered that only Achan did it, but that one Achan brought defeat upon Israel at the gates of Ai. I wonder how many Achans there are here this morning. I should feel myself very much at ease if I thought there were only one, but I am afraid that there are many who have the accursed thing hidden within them--the love of money, or wrong ways of doing business, or unforgiving tempers--or an envious spirit towards their fellow Christians. Now, if the possession of these bad things by one will stop the blessing, we are in a very evil plight--but he is in a worse plight, by far, who is the occasion of the evil. Where are you, Achan? God will find you out even if we do not! He will bring us all by our tribes, by our families, by our households, and then man by man--and woe unto the son of Carmi if he is taken! Brethren, the violation of the Law of the Captain may bring defeat upon the whole company. And where the law is not obstinately and willfully violated, yet its neglect will cause much trouble. They were commanded to make no covenant with the Canaanites, but in a thoughtless hour, the Gibeonites came like persons from a far country. The Israelites believed their deceitful story and made a covenant with them--and this became a trouble to Israel long afterwards. If as a Church we forget the Law of Christ, even though we do not contemptuously break it, if we ignorantly forget it we may expect no small amount of evil to flow from it. Do not tolerate the idea that God punishes His people for sin in the sense of punitive justice. But always hold it for certain that the Lord chastises His people for sin as a father chastises his children, and that the great Head of the Church will not suffer His Laws to be broken with impunity by His own people. I wish I could speak to you with the earnestness which I feel boiling up within my soul. I would, my Brothers and Sisters, that we should keep our Master's commands in every jot and tittle, depending upon His Presence, feeling Him to be here, not daring in His Presence to offend, but yielding up to Him the reins of government in all respects that we might then have His blessing. I want that we should all keep to the Word of God, minding each precept as far as we understand it. I want, moreover, that we should be attentive to that mind of Christ which is often expressed by the Holy Spirit in Divine monitions in our minds, that the Law of the Book may be with us, and the Law of the Spirit within us. If we are obedient to both these, we shall be prepared, like Joshua, to advance to the war. III. Thirdly, and very briefly. Our third rule is worship Him who is present with us. Joshua, it is said, fell on his face to the earth. Worship is the highest elevation of the spirit, and yet the lowliest prostration of the soul. If Christ is here, Brothers and Sisters, when you reach your homes get a little time of quiet and worship. And when you come up again, this evening--in your songs and prayers truly worship the ever present God--bow down in the lowliest reverence of your subdued spirit as though you were actually in Heaven. If you have no wings with which to veil your face, still cover it with shame. If you have no crown to cast, yet such talent as you have, lay it all down reverentially before Him. Worship the Son of God! Then, when you have so done, give up yourself to His command. Say to Him, "What says my Lord unto His servant?" I wish you could spend this afternoon, those of you who are not actively engaged, in trying to get an answer to this question: "What says my Lord unto His servant? What is there for me to learn, for me to feel, for me to do? And as I would help my Brethren during this month, Lord, what part of the work am I to take?" When you have done this, dear Friends, I want you to imitate Joshua in the third things, namely, take off your shoes from your feet. Joshua, perhaps, had not felt what a solemn thing it was to fight for God, to fight as God's executioner against condemned men. Therefore he must take his shoes off. We never can expect a blessing if we go about God's work flippantly. I shudder when I see any sitting at the Lord's Table who can indulge in light remarks or in wandering thoughts on so solemn an occasion. What have you to do here, not having on a wedding garment? There are some of us whose besetting sin is levity of spirit. Cheerfulness we are to cultivate, but we must beware lest levity become a cankerworm to our Graces. Brethren, this next month must be a holy month unto us. I ask our young and our old friends, alike, to seek a quiet and sober spirit. To seek to save souls from going down to the pit is no pastime. To talk of Jesus is no trifle. We do not meet to pray in sport. We do not gather together in supplication as a mere matter of form. Angels are in our midst observing us. The King Himself is here! How would you behave if you actually saw Jesus with your eyes? If I were to vacate this pulpit and the Crucified One stood here, stretching out His pierced hands and looking down upon you with the mild radiance of His sovereign love--how would you feel? Ask to feel just so, for He is here. Faith can perceive Him. Ask to feel just so at this present moment, and so to go out to your work this afternoon and all the remaining days of your life, as a servant of God who is standing in the Presence of his Lord upon holy ground, and cannot, therefore, afford to trifle since he has solemn work to do and means to do it in his Master's name. IV. To conclude, let us now, even before we separate, advance to action according to the Master's command. Unconverted men and women, you are in our Jericho--we wish to conquer you for Christ. Our desire is to win you to Jesus for your own good and for His glory. Now, what are we to do with you? Joshua was bid to go round the city seven times. We would preach to you the Gospel of Christ, not seven times, but 70 times seven. They were to blow the rams' horns. The rams' horn was most mean as to matter, most dull as to sound and the least showy as to appearance. So, we say with the rough sound of our ram's horn that unless you repent, you must perish! Sin must be punished. Sin is upon you, and God must punish you. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of His Law can fail, and this is one part of His Law, "The soul that sins, it shall die." You have sinned, you are always sinning, and die you must. Some of you are going from bad to worse. If you do not live in outward sin, yet the sins of thought and heart will condemn you. You will die before long and when you die the Lord will cast you into the place which He has prepared for the devil and his angels. Be not deceived, there may be but a step between you and death--or if your life is prolonged for a little season, yet how soon will it be over. Eternity! Eternity! How dread to you if you plunge into it unprepared, to face an angry Judge--no righteousness of Christ to plead, and no blood in which to wash your guilty soul! You are standing, some of you, between the jaws of perdition. The Gospel has been preached to you and you have neglected it. You have been brought up by godly parents and you have despised their admonitions. Therefore wrath will come upon you to the uttermost. As sure as you live you shall be driven from Jehovah's Presence into the place where hope cannot follow you and where mercy will never seek you. We must sound this ram's horn! We only pray that God may bless our warning voice to you. After the rams' horns came the ark, which the priests carried round and round the city. That ark was the type of Christ. We beg to bring Christ before you, you unconverted ones. Jesus Christ came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. God smote Him instead of us. He took the sins of His people and God punished Him for our sins instead of punishing us. Christ is the great Substitute for sin. If you trust Him you shall live. If you will take Him this day to be your Savior, and to be your Master and your Lord, you shall never perish, for God has pledged His word for it, that if you believe in Him you shall be saved. that you would look to Christ, and live! Your good works are nothing, your tears and prayers all go for nothing as to merit, but if you look to Jesus hanging from yonder Cross, you shall live! If you will trust yourself with Him who is now at the right hand of the eternal Father, crowned with many crowns, sooner shall Heaven's high throne be shaken than your soul be suffered to perish! Only believe in Jesus, and you shall live, for this is the Gospel, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes not shall be damned." We seek not to mince matters with you--damned you will be unless you trust Christ! Damned you never shall be if you will come and cast yourself before Him. "Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and you perish by the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little." Suppose that in the visions of the night, this night, when you are on your bed you should suddenly see in your chamber the Man with a sword drawn in His hand! You would not need to ask the question, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" for your own conscience would soon tell you. Suppose you should hear a solemn voice declare, "The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and you are not saved." "Because I have called and you refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded...I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes." Suppose you saw that sword uplifted and about to strike you? Would you not start in your dream, and your face be covered with a clammy sweat, feeling horrors indescribable? Yet such is your case today and unless you repent such will be your case eternally. I bless God that now our Lord Jesus has no sword drawn in His hand, but He comes to you with open hands, and says, "Come unto Me all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." With tears He invites you to come to Him, persuades you to come. O why do you tarry? Why do you turn your backs upon your own mercy, and seal your own death warrant? God grant that you may come to Jesus, and before He grasps that sharp destroying sword. Lastly, Brethren, we are not only to sound the ram's horn of warning, and to bear round and round the sinner's conscience the ark of Christ's Grace, but all the host must engage in the work. Did you notice that the whole of the people were to compass the city! It would not fall otherwise. And they were to shout, too, at the last. I want you, my fellow members, to unite in our earnest efforts to win souls for Christ. I have a right to claim it, and now I entreat you to fulfill the claim. You profess to have been bought with the Lord's blood, and to be His disciples. I ask you all, if you are sincere in your professions, come with us round about this Jericho, every one of you! If you cannot all come up to the public Prayer Meetings, yet send us your hearts--pray for sinners, plead for the unconverted--give the eternal Leader no rest till He is pleased to use His great power for their conversion! I am almost inclined to fall on my knees to ask you Church members to rally round us at this hour. If you owe your conversion to me, under God, as many of you do, I charge you by every filial tie you feel, desert me not just now! If you have ever been comforted, as I know some of you have. If I have ever been God's voice to your souls, I beseech you return to me this kindness by drawing very near to God in prayer for the souls of others! For your own children's souls be very earnest. For the souls of your servants, and kinsfolk, and neighbors, wrestle with God even unto tears! And if you will not do it, I had almost said I had sooner you were not with us. If you will not pray--if you will not join in the common supplication--why do you cumber us? O Meroz, take care lest you be accused if you come not up to the help of the Lord--to the help of the Lord against the mighty! But you will come. God will be with us, and show us His bare right hand resplendent in our midst, and unto Him shall be the praise forever and ever. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Joshua's Obedience A Sermon (No. 796) Delivered by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [9]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper where ever you go." Joshua 1:7. JOSHUA was very highly favored in the matter of promises. The promises given him by God were broadly comprehensive and exceedingly encouraging. But Joshua was not, therefore, to say within himself, "These covenant engagements will surely be fulfilled and I may therefore sit still and do nothing." On the contrary, because God had decreed that the land should be conquered, Joshua was to be diligent to lead the people onward to battle. He was not to use the promise as a couch upon which his indolence might luxuriate, but as a girdle wherewith to gird up his loins for future activity. As a spur to energy let us always regard the gracious promises of our God. We should sin against Him most ungratefully and detestably were we to say within ourselves, "God will not desert His people, therefore let us venture into sin." And we are almost equally wicked if we whisper in our minds, "God will assuredly fulfill His own decrees and give the souls of His redeemed as a reward to His Son Jesus--therefore let us do nothing and refrain altogether from zealous Christian service." This is not proper language for true children. This is the talk of the indolently ignorant or of mere pretenders who do but mock God while they pretend to reverence His decrees. By the oath, by the promise, by the Covenant and by the blood which seals it, we are exhorted continually to be at work for Christ, since we are saved in order that we may serve Him in the power of the Holy Spirit, with heart, and soul and strength. Joshua was especially exhorted to continue in the path of obedience. He was the captain, but there was a great Commander-in-Chief who gave him his marching orders. Joshua was not left to his own fallible judgment, or fickle fancy--he was to do according to all that was written in the Book of the Law. So is it with us who are Believers. We are not under the Law, but under Grace--yet there is still a Gospel rule which we are bound to follow, and the Law in the hand of Christ is a delightful rule of life to the Believer. We are not to follow, in the service of God, our own fancies. We are not allowed to frame regulations according to our own conceptions, but our direction is, "whatever HE says unto you, do it." His servants shall serve Him. His sheep follow His footsteps. His disciples obey their Lord. His soldiers fulfill His pleasure: "By their fruits you shall know them." If we are not obedient unto Christ we may rest assured that we have not the spirit of Christ, and are none of His. I. In speaking upon the obedience which was enjoined upon Joshua. I would remind you that OBEDIENCE IS THE HIGHEST PRACTICAL COURAGE. Read the text, "Only be you strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you." You supposed when you heard the words, "Only be you strong and very courageous," that some great exploit was to be performed, and the supposition was correct, for all exploits are comprehended in that one declaration, "That you may observe to do according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you." The highest exploit of the Christian life is to obey Christ. This is such an exploit, my Brethren, as shall never be performed by any man unless he has learned the rule of faith, has been led to rest upon Christ and to advance upon the path of obedience in a strength which is not his own, but which he has received from the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The world counts obedience to be a mean-spirited thing, and speaks of rebellion as freedom. We have heard men say, "I will be my own master. I shall follow my own will." To be a free thinker and a free liver seems to be the worldling's glory, and yet if the world could but have sense enough to convict itself of folly, upon indisputable proof being afforded it, it were not difficult to prove that a reviler of the obedient is a fool. Take the world's own martial rule. Who is accounted to be the boldest and the best soldier but the man who is most thoroughly obedient to the captain's command? There is a story told of the old French wars which has been repeated hundreds of times. A sentinel is set to keep a certain position and at nightfall, as he is pacing to and fro, the emperor himself comes by. He does not know the password. Straightway the soldier stops him. "You cannot pass," he says. "But I must pass," says the emperor. "No," replies the man, "if you were the little corporal in gray himself you should not go by," by which, of course, he meant the emperor! Thus the autocrat, himself, was held in check by order. The vigilant soldier was afterwards handsomely rewarded and all the world said that he was a brave fellow. Now, from that instance, and there are hundreds of such which are always told with approbation, we learn that obedience to superior commands, carried out at all hazards, is one of the highest proofs of courage that a man can possibly give. To this, the world, itself, gives its assent. Then surely it is not a mean and sneaking thing for a man to be obedient to Him who is the Commander-in-Chief of the universe, the King of kings, and Lord of lords! He who would do the right and the true thing in cold blood, in the teeth of ridicule, is a bolder man than he who flings himself before the cannon's mouth for fame! Yes, and let me add, to persist in scrupulous obedience throughout life may need more courage than even the martyr evinces when once and for all he gives himself to burn at the stake! In Joshua's case full obedience to the Divine command involved innumerable difficulties. The command to him was that he should conquer the whole of the land for the favored tribes, and to the best of his ability he did it. But he had to besiege cities which were walled up to the heavens, and to fight with monarchs whose warriors came to battle in chariots of iron armed with scythes! The first conflicts were something terrible. If he had not been a bold and able soldier, he would have put up his sword and desisted from the strife. But the spirit of obedience sustained him. Though you and I have no Hivites and Jebusites to kill, no cities to pull down, no chariots of iron to encounter, yet we shall find it no easy thing to keep to the path of Christian consistency. Count well the cost, you who have just enlisted under my Lord's banner--you shall not find it to be child's play to "follow the Lamb where ever He goes." To put on the pilgrim's dress of white linen and then carelessly to bespatter it with unholiness, and soon to profess repentance, only to fall again, and bemire it in the dirt, and then time after time to wash it, or say you have washed it-- this is easy enough. Fits and starts of godliness many have who end their lives in despair. The Christianity of some people costs them little cross-bearing, much less any "resisting unto blood, striving against sin." A merely nominal profession is easy enough to make and to maintain after the manner of the times. But to be a Christian, indeed, through and through--to eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life, to live the life of God on earth--this is the work, this is the difficulty! You will need to have the strength of Samson, and something more, to pluck up the gates which block up your onward road--a Divine strength must be yours if you are to keep the crown of the causeway against all comers. Moreover, Joshua had not only difficulties to meet with, but he made a great many enemies through his obedience. This was naturally so. As soon as it was known that Jericho had been taken, that Ai had been carried by assault, we read of first one confederation of kings, and then of another--their object being to destroy the power of Joshua, since these kings well knew that he would crush them if they did not crush him. Now the Christian man is in a like plight. He will be sure to make enemies. It will be one of his objects to make none, but, on the other hand, if to do the right, and to believe the true, and to carry out the honest should make him lose every earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in Heaven will be yet more friendly and reveal Himself to him more graciously than ever. O you who have taken up His Cross, don't you know what your Master said? "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." Christ is the great Peacemaker, but before peace He brings war. Where the light comes, the darkness must retire. Where truth is, the lie must flee, or, if it abides, there must be a stern conflict, for the truth cannot, and will not, lower its standard, and the lie must be trod under foot. If you follow Christ, you shall have all the dogs of the world yelping at your heels! If you mince matters, and hold with the hare and run with the hounds, you may be a Christian and a worldling, too, after a sort. But if you would live so as to stand the test of the last tribunal, depend upon it--the world will not speak well of you. He who has the friendship of the world will find that he is an enemy to God. But if you are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent your unflinching fidelity since it is a testimony against their iniquities. Fearless of all consequences, you must do the right! You will need the courage of a lion unhesitatingly to pursue a course which shall turn your best friend into your fiercest foe, but for the love of Jesus you must do it! For the truth's sake to hazard reputation and affection is such a deed that to do it constantly you will need a degree of moral principle which only the Spirit of God can work in you. Yet turn not your back like a coward, but play the man! And again, Joshua, in his obedience, needed much courage because he had undertaken a task which involved, if he carried it out, long years of perseverance. After he had captured one city, he must go on to attack the next fortress. The days were not long enough for his battles. He bids the sun stand still and the moon is stayed--and even when that long day has passed, yet the morning sees him sword in hand still. Joshua was like one of those old knights who slept in their armor. He was always fighting. His sword must have been well hacked, and often must his armor have been blood red. He had before him a lifelong enterprise! Such is the life of the Christian--a warfare from beginning to end. As soon as you are washed in Christ's blood and clothed in His righteousness, you must begin to hew your way through a lane of enemies right up to the eternal throne! Every foot of the way will be disputed. Not an inch will Satan yield to you. You must continue daily to fight. "He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved." Not the beginner who commences in his own strength, and soon comes to an end, but he who, girt about with Divine Grace--with the Spirit of God within him--determines to hold on till he has smitten the last foe, and never leaves the battlefield till he has heard the word, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" Let the man who says that the Christian's life is mean and devoid of manliness, let him go and learn wisdom before he speaks, for of all men the persevering Believer is the most manly. You who boast of yourself, of your courage in sinning, you yield to the foe. You are a cringing cur! You turn tail upon the enemy--you court the friendship of the world--you have not courage enough to dare to do the right and the true! You have passed under the yoke of Satan and your own passions--and to conceal your own cowardice--you are base enough to call the brave Christian a coward. Away with you for adding lying to your other vices! Oftentimes, if we follow Christ, we shall need to be brave, indeed, in facing the world's customs. You will find it so, young man, in a mercantile house. You will find it so, husband, even in connection with your own wife and children if they are unsaved. Children have found this so in school. Traders find it so in the marketplace. He that would be a true Christian had need wear a stout heart. There is a story told of Dr. Adam Clarke which shows the courage which the youthful Christian sometimes needs. When he was in a shop in the town of Colerain, they were preparing for the annual fair and some rolls of cloth were being measured. One of them was too short, and the master said, "Come, Adam, you take that end, and I will take the other, and we will soon pull it, and stretch it till it is long enough." But Adam had no hands to do it with, and no ears to hear his master's dishonest order--and at last he flatly refused, whereupon the master said, "You will never make a tradesman. You are good for nothing here. You had better go home, and take to something else." Now that thing may not be done now, for men do not generally cheat in that open downright kind of way nowadays, but they cheat after more roguish fashions. The records of the bankruptcy court will tell you what I mean. Bankruptcies, one after another of the same person, are doubled-distilled thieving, generally--not old-fashioned thieving like that which once brought men to prison and to the gallows--but something worse than highway robbery and burglary! The genuine Christian will, every now and then, have to put his foot down and say, "No, I cannot, and I will not be mixed up with such a thing as that." And he will have to say this to his master, to his father, to his friend whose respect he desires to gain, and who may be of the greatest possible assistance to him in life. But if it is your duty, my dear Brother and Sister, thus to do the right, do it if the skies fall! Do it if poverty should stare you in the face! Do it if you should be turned into the streets tomorrow! You shall never be a loser by God in the long run, and if you have to suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are you! Count yourselves to be happy that you have the privilege of making any sacrifice for the sake of conscience, for in these days we have not the power to honor God as they did who went to prison, and to the rack, and to the stake. Let us not, therefore, cast aside other opportunities which are given to us of showing how much we love the Lord, and how faithfully we desire to serve Him. Be very courageous to do what the Lord Jesus bids you in all things, and let men judge you to be an idiot if they will--you shall be one of the Lord's champions, a true Knight of the Cross. II. Secondly, I learn from the text that THE EXACTNESS OF OBEDIENCE IS THE ESSENCE OF OBEDIENCE. "That you may observe to do according to all the Law which Moses, My servant commanded you: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left." The world says, "We must not be too precise." Hypocritical world! The world means that it would be glad to get rid of God's Law altogether! But as it scarcely dares to say that point-blank, it cants with the most sickening of all cant, "We must not be too particular, or too nice." As one said to an old Puritan once, "Many people have rent their consciences in halves--could not you just make a little nick in yours?" "No," he said, "I cannot, for my conscience belongs to God." "We must live, you know," said a money-loving shopkeeper, as his excuse for doing what he could not otherwise defend. "Yes, but we must die," was the reply, "and therefore we must do no such thing." There is no particular necessity for any of us living. We are probably better dead if we cannot live without doing wrong. The very essence of obedience, I have said, lies in exactness. Probably your child, if sometimes disobedient, would still, as a general rule, do what you told him. It would be in the little things that thoroughgoing and commendable obedience would appear. Let the world judge of this for itself. Here is an honest man. Do people say of him, "He is such an honest man that he would not steal a horse"? No, that would not prove him to be very honest. But they say, "He would not even take a pin that did not belong to him." That is the world's own description of honesty, and surely when it comes to obedience to God it ought to be the same! Here is a merchant, and he boasts, "I have a clerk who is such a good accountant that you would not find a mistake of a single penny in six months' reckoning." It would not have meant much if he had said, "You would not find a mistake of 10,000 pounds in six months' reckoning." And yet if a man stands to little things, and is minute and particular, worldlings charge him with being too stringent, too strict, too strait-laced and I know not what besides! While all the time, according to their own showing, the essence of honesty and of correctness is exactness in little things. If I profess to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucial test will not be in great actions, but in little ones. My dear Brethren, I wish the Christian Church really thought this. There is so much in many Churches of trifling with words--I mean by people professing to believe what is not believed--putting another meaning upon words than what is the plain natural sense which is nothing better, I conceive, than lying in the sight of God. I know, too, members of Churches who say, "I do not approve of a great deal that is in our creed," and yet they remain members of such a Church! I do not understand it! I cannot comprehend how a man can bear to partake in the doings of any Church, whatever that Church may be, when he knows those doings to be wrong--making it a part of his religion to do wrong-- winking at and shutting his eyes to what his own conscience tells him is not according to the will of God. If I thought that in any of our proceedings in this place we did not do according to God's mind, I would humbly desire to alter at once. And I do pray that we, as a Church--whenever we err, or in anything may not have acted according to Scripture--I pray that we may be willing to bring ourselves to holy Scripture, and to be always schooling our minds to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we may do His will in all things. The Church may be wrong in a great many points, and yet be accepted before God because the conscience of the Church may not be enlightened. But what I plead for is that so far as our conscience is enlightened, we are bound to act up to it and that we have no right to do anything about which we cannot be sure that we are right, and no right to be uniting ourselves to any body of professors who are not carrying out the Lord's commands and Laws in all things so far as we can judge. Not in some things, but in all things we are to be observant of the Divine will. Is there any ordinance of Christ which some of you have never attended to? Have you attended to Baptism and the Lord's Supper? I charge you, before the living God, see to it as you value your own peace of mind. "He that knows his master's will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." I am not now speaking of the discipline of the Law-- the Christian is not under that--I am speaking, however, of the discipline of Christ's own House, over which Christ is the Master, and this is the Law of Christ's House--if we will not be obedient we shall not abide in the comfortable enjoyment of His love but we shall be chastened, and scourged, and smitten until we become willing to yield ourselves up to the Lord's mind. Through thick and thin, through fair and foul, through poverty or wealth, through shame or honor, Christian, cling close to your Master! Be among those virgin-souls, who-- "Where ever the Lamb does lead, From His footsteps never depart." Those are the men who shall be honored of Heaven, who have peace with God unspeakable within their souls today, and shall have the brightest crowns of immortality upon their brows tomorrow. The exactness of obedience is the very essence of obedience. Let us keep to it, then. III. But now, thirdly, THE PATH OF OBEDIENCE IS GENERALLY A MIDDLE PATH. "Turn not from it, to the right hand or to the left." There is sure to be a right hand. There is sure to be a left hand, and both are probably wrong. There will be extremes on either side. I believe that this is true in 10,000 things in ordinary life, and also true in spiritual things in very many respects. The path of truth in doctrine is generally a middle one. There are certain tremendous Truths of God, such as Divine Sovereignty, the doctrine of Election, Covenant transactions, and so forth. And some men cast such a loving eye upon these Truths that they desire to be, and are, quite blind to all other Truths besides. These great and precious doctrines take up the whole field of their vision while another and equally valuable part of God's Word is either left unread, or else twisted round into some supposed reconciliation with the first-named Truths. Then, again, there are others who think much of man. They have deep sympathy with the human race. They see man's sin and ruin, and they are much charmed with the mercy of God and the invitations of the Gospel which are given to sinners. They become so entranced with these Truths in connection with the responsibility of man, and man's free agency, that they will see nothing else! They declare all other doctrines, except these, to be delusions! If they admit the doctrines of Grace to be true, they think them valueless--but they generally consider them to be untrue altogether. It seems to me that the path of Truth is to believe them both--to hold firmly that salvation is by Divine Grace, and to hold with equal firmness that the ruin of any man is wholly and entirely his own fault. We must maintain the Sovereignty of God and hold the responsibility of man also--to believe in the free agency of both God and man--neither to dishonor God by making Him a lackey to His creatures' will, nor, on the other hand, to rid man of all responsibility by making him to be a mere log or a machine. Take all that is in the Bible, dear Friends, to be true! Never be afraid of any text that is written by the sacred pen. Dear Brothers and Sisters, when you turn the pages over, I hope you never feel as if you wish that any verse could be altered. I trust you never desire that any text might be amended so as to read a little more Calvinistic, or a little more like the teaching of Arminius. Always stand to it that your creed must bend to the Bible, and not the Bible to your creed--and dare to be a little inconsistent with yourselves, if need be, sooner than be inconsistent with God's revealed Truth. You will find the path of duty then, I think, to be neither to the right hand nor to the left. So I think it is in another respect, in which the tendency is to one of two extremes. Some people say of ministers, "These are God's priests. They can distribute grace to us." Others cry out, "No, they do not, and cannot! We are all equally able to dispense the truth. We need none to instruct us! We are all of us to be pastors, or rather, to be sheepish enough to think we are." Now, there, I think, the safe path lies between the two. The minister is no priest, but still, God does enable some men, by His Spirit, to teach others. He does raise up pastors after His own heart. We will magnify the office, but we will not magnify it too much. We will not suffer any to speak against it, for we believe it to be a God-sent gift. On the other hand, we will not slavishly prostrate ourselves before any man, however gifted he may be. You will notice, in connection with the ordinances of God's House, one extreme about sacraments is that they are channels of Divine Grace. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are saving ordinances, according to certain ignorant people. The opposite extreme is to leave ordinances alone altogether, and to say there is nothing in them and that it is of no use to attend to them. Surely the proper thing is to believe that, as acts of obedience, they are acceptable to God. And as signs and tokens of great spiritual Truths, they are instructive and edifying to the saints and therefore not to be neglected. In this matter, I would have you "turn neither to the right hand nor to the left." So, too, I think it should be in our general conduct. With regard, for instance, to our words, the course of speech generally is, on the one hand to say too much, or on the other hand to say too little--to be silent when the wicked are before us, or else to be rash with our lips and betray a good cause through our rashness in defending it. There is a time to speak, and there is a time to be silent, and he that judges well will mark his opportunities and take the middle course. He will neither be garrulous with advice that is not required, nor will he be cowardly and dumb when he ought to bear testimony for his Master. The same holds good with regard to zeal. We have some abroad nowadays whose heads are very hot. They will be doing this, and that, and I know not what beside--all in the twinkling of an eye! They talk as if they would turn the world upside down, while it is their own brains that need first to be turned into a right condition. They foment revivals, but not revivals such as we should approve of--their revivals are blown up like bladders with mere human excitement and playing upon men's passions--and this brings true zeal into contempt. Theirs is a fire which burns down the house instead of burning in the grate and warming the household! But shall we, therefore, not be zealous? God forbid! Shall we fall into the opposite extreme of those who fold their arms and say, "Why make this noise? God will do His own work. Things will go well enough, let us be quiet, let us sleep as do others"? Brethren, there is a middle course of true, sensible, prudent zeal--adhering to the Truth of God and never believing that people can be converted by lies, however earnestly bawled into their ears--walking within the bounds of God's Truth, and being persuaded that the best seed to sow is that which God puts into the basket of His Word--that sinners are not to be saved by rash statements nor by extravagant declamation--but that they are brought to Christ as they were of old--by the simple telling out of the story of the Cross affectionately, and by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven. Here, again, "turn neither to the right hand nor to the left." Brethren, this is a point we must take care to observe in the matter of our confidences. Neither to the right hand nor to the left must the Christian turn with regard to the reliance of his soul or in the matter of his eternal salvation. "None but Jesus" must be the constant watchword of our spirit. Some will call us in this direction, and some in that. The wrecker's beacons would entice us upon the rocks in a thousand directions, but let us steer by the sun or by the polestar, and not trust to the treacherous guides of human fancy. Keep close to this, that "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ the righteous." Rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus and put all your reliance upon Him as crucified, risen, and pleading for His people! Settle it in your hearts that you are not to be led away from Jesus-- "Should all the forms that men devise, Assault my faith with treacherous art, I'd call them vanity and lies, And bind the Gospel to my heart." So in the matter of faith itself, let us keep the middle place. Let us not be as some are--presumptuous and refusing to examine themselves, declaring that they must be right. Let us remember that-- "He who never doubted of his state, He may--perhaps he may too late." Let us not fall, on the other side, into constant doubting, imagining that we never can be fully assured, but must always be raising the question-- "'Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought; Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His, or am I not?" Let us ask God to guide us into the middle path, in which we can say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day." Let us pray for Grace to be careful, watchful, prayerful as much as if our salvation depended upon our own vigilance--relying upon the sure promise and the immutable oath, knowing that we stand in Christ, and not in ourselves--and are kept by the mighty God of Jacob, and not by any power of our own. This middle path, in which we turn not to the right hand of presumption, nor to the left hand of unbelief, is the path which God would have us tread. This rule, too, for I might continue to apply it in scores of ways, will also hold good with you in your daily life in the matter of your general cheerfulness or otherwise. Some people never smile. Dear souls! They pull the blinds down on Sunday. They are sorry that the flowers are so beautiful and think that they ought to have been whitewashed. They almost believe that if the garden beds were of a little more serious color, it would be advisable. I have known some, and some whom I very greatly respect, talk in this way. One good Brother, whose shoelace I am not worthy to unloose, said, on one occasion, that when he went up the Rhine, he never looked at the rocks, or the old castles, or the flowing river--he was too taken up with other things! Why, to me nature is a looking-glass in which I see the face of God! I delight to gaze abroad, and-- "Look through nature up to nature's God." But that was all unholiness to him. I confess I do not understand that kind of thing. I have no sympathy with those who look upon this material world us though it were a very wicked place, and as if there were here no trace whatever of the Divine hand and no proofs of the Divine wisdom, nor manifestations of the Divine care. I think we may delight ourselves in the works of God and find much pleasure in them and get much advanced towards God Himself by considering His works. That to which I have thus referred is one extreme. There are others who are all froth and levity, who profess to be Christians, and yet cannot live without the same amusements as worldlings. They must be now at this party, and then at that. They are never comfortable unless they are making jokes and following after all the levities and frivolities of the world. Ah, the first is a pardonable weakness in which there is much that is commendable. But this is a detestable one of which I can say nothing that is good. The Christian, I think, should steer between the two. He should be cheerful, but not frivolous. He should be sustained and happy, under all circumstances have a friendly and a kindly word for all. He should be a man among men as the Savior was, willing to sit at the banquet and to feast and rejoice with those that rejoice. But still he should be heavenly-minded in it all, feeling that a joy in which he cannot have Christ with him is no joy, and that places of amusement where he cannot take his Lord with him are no places of amusement but scenes of misery to him. He should be constantly cheerful, happy, and rejoicing, and yet at the same time he should have a deep solemnity of spirit which removes far from him everything that is sacrilegiously light and trifling. By the same rule arrange your business. Some men in business act in such a way that from morning till night they can think of nothing but business. I have had to mourn over some Christians who, when they have had enough, did not know it--when they were doing as much as they could do with health to their souls, and had no more need of gain--yet they must launch out into something else that would take away all opportunities of serving God's cause--and all time for reflection and thought--and would thus bring barrenness and leanness into their souls. Others we have to complain of who do not work enough at their callings. They are at a sermon when they ought to be behind the counter, or they are enjoying a Prayer Meeting when they ought to be mending their husbands' stockings. They go out preaching in the villages when they had better be earning money to pay their creditors. There are extremes, but the true Christian is diligent in business, and is also fervent in spirit, seeking to combine the two. The Believer should be like one of old, "a just man and devout," not having one duty smeared with the blood of another duty. Having a due proportion of all the Divine Graces, he seeks in his life to follow out his calling as a man, as a parent, as a member of the Church, or whatever else he may be. IV. Now we shall close, and our last remark is that THE PATH OF RIGHT IS THE PATH OF TRUE PROSPERITY. Observe the last paragraph of the text: "That you may prosper where ever you go." Let no man be deceived with the idea that if he carries out the right, by God's Grace, he will prosper in this world as the consequence. It is very likely that, for a time at least, his conscientiousness will stand in the way of his prosperity! God does not invariably make the doing of the right to be the means of pecuniary gain to us. On the contrary, it frequently happens that for a time men are great losers by their obedience to Christ. But the Scripture always speaks to us of the long run--it sums up the whole of life--there it promises true riches! If you would prosper, keep close to the Word of God, and to your conscience, and you shall have the best prosperity. You will not see it in a week, nor a month, nor a year, but you shall enjoy it before long. Hundreds have I seen, and I speak within bounds when I speak of that number, who in different times of dilemma have waited upon me and asked my advice as to what they should do. Now, Brothers and Sisters, I have almost always noticed that those persons who temporize, or attempt to find a policy of going between and doing as little wrong as possible, but still just a little, always blunder out of one ditch into another! And their whole life is a life of compromises, of sins, and of miseries. If they do get to Heaven they go there slipshod, and with thorns piercing their feet all the way. But I have noticed others who have come right straight out and torn away the cords which entangled them, and have said, "I will do the right, if I die for it." And though they have had to suffer (I could mention some cases where they have suffered for years, very much to the sorrow of him who gave them the advice upon which they acted, not because he regretted giving them the advice, but regretted that they had to suffer), yet always there has been a turn somewhere or other, and by-and-by they have had to say, "I thank God after all, notwithstanding all my crosses and losses, that I was led to be faithful to my convictions, for I am a happier man, if not a richer man." In some cases they have absolutely been richer men, for, after all, even in this world, "honesty is the best policy." It is a very low way of looking at it, but right and righteousness do, in the end--in the long run--get the respect and the esteem of men. The thief, though he takes a short way to get rich, yet takes such a dangerous way that it does not pay. But he who walks straight along the narrow road shall find it to be the shortest way to the best kind of prosperity, both in this world and in that which is to come. If not, Beloved, if we get no outward prosperity here, I trust you and I, if we love Christ and are filled with His Spirit, can do without it. If we must be poor, it will soon be over, and in Heaven there shall be no poverty! If we must fight in order to maintain our conscience, remember we did not expect to come into this world that we might-- "Be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease." If it must come to this, that we must suffer hunger and even nakedness itself, we shall not be worse off than the Apostles--better men than we. We shall not be brought lower than the martyrs--with whose names we are not worthy to have ours coupled. Let us, then, run all risks for Christ! He is no soldier who cannot die for his country. He is no Christian who cannot lose his life for Christ. We must be willing to give up all things rather than sell the Truth of God or sell the right. And if we come to this, we shall have such courage within our spirits, such a quiet consciousness of the Presence of God the Holy Spirit, and such sweet smiles from the once suffering, but now reigning Savior that we shall have to bless God all our days for these light afflictions which are but for a moment--which shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory! I may not have spoken much to the comfort of God's people, but I shall be glad if I have said only half a word that may tend to nurture in the midst of our Church earnest obedience, practical piety, real positive godliness carried out in ordinary life. We have plenty of doctrine, plenty of thinking, plenty of talking, but oh, for more holy acting! It is sickening to see the inconsistencies of some professors. It is enough, indeed, to make the world ridicule the Church to see how many profess to follow Christ, and then keep any rule rather than God's rule, and obey anybody sooner than the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and Sisters, let us pray to God that our hearts may be sincere in the Lord's ways, and that we may be guided by His Spirit even to the end. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORESERMON--Joshua 1. __________________________________________________________________ Spots in Our Feats of Charity A Sermon (No. 797) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, February 23, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [10]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear." Jude 1:12. WHEN the Church of God is extending her bounds rapidly, it is of the utmost importance that the growth should be real and permanent. If the walls of Zion are being built quickly, the master builders should keep an anxious eye upon the workmanship lest the stones should be put together with untempered mortar and the whole erection should, by-and-by, come to the ground. We desire not to grow up in a night, as the gourd, lest we also perish in a night. Our Lord Jesus, who is the great Shepherd of the sheep, sends to His Churches, at times when they are most prospering, sad reminders of human frailty by which He warns them to, "take heed that they be not deceived; but see to it that they make sure work, and build substantially, with gold, silver, and precious stones, and not with wood, and hay, and stubble." It is a very doleful season for the Church of God when everything is asleep, but there are dangers connected even with activity. When a man is under the intense excitement of earnest endeavor for Christ, it is possible that much within him may be spurious--a mere fungus growth forced out by heat--and hence it is deeply necessary, as Jude says, to write unto the saints and to speak unto Believers concerning this thing, that they be sound, true, real, sincere and approved in the sight of God. Jude tells us in the text, and indeed in his whole Epistle, that many who make a high profession are not what they profess to be, and that in the Church of God, in her best estate, many are clouds without rain, trees without fruit and wandering stars reserved for eternal darkness. I. To come to the text at once, we have to remark from it that WE MUST EXPECT TO FIND UNGODLY MEN IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. They ought not to be there--the Church is bound to use her most earnest endeavors to keep them out--and, being in and being discovered, she should not be slow to cast them forth. She should put away wicked members and endeavor to preserve her purity! But for all that there will never be a perfect Church this side of the grave. They are without fault in the Canaan above, but a mixed multitude always will be mingled with the tribes of Israel while we are in this wilderness. We may look for this, in the first place, because it has always been so. If even in the Paradise of God among perfect beings, sin intruded, how much more in our imperfect assemblies Where every man's heart is naturally deceitful? The very first human family had a Cain in it who, on the day of solemn sacrifice, came to God's altar although he was of that Wicked One, and slew his brother. When, after a solemn judgment, the earth had been purged, and a little Church of only eight members was gathered in the ark, there was among them one of whom the Patriarch said, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be." Ham was in the ark an ungodly reprobate, though surrounded by saints! When the Lord had been pleased, according to the election of Divine Grace, to take Abraham from among mankind and set apart both him and his household, we read of Ishmael who mocked Isaac. In Isaac's family we hear of profane Esau. However few may be the chosen, there is sure to be some connected with them who are with them, but not of them. The people who were eminently typical of the Church of Christ, I mean Israel in the wilderness, were polluted in the same manner--no matter how strict might be its regulations, and how earnest might be its leader--yet the rebellious murmured, the mixed multitude fell a lusting, and Korah, Dathan and Abiram were a root of bitterness. I need not take you through all the history of the Lord's people down to the coming of Christ, but wherever you may put your finger you will be certain to discover the tares mingling with the wheat, and the serpent's seed nestling in the bosom of the elect household. As for the days since the coming of our Master, this fact is painfully conspicuous! Our Lord had but 12 disciples who were near to Him, and yet He said, "I have chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil." The name of Judas will go down to eternity stamped with the curse, "It were better for that man that he had never been born." Afterwards, when Jesus had ascended and the Spirit of God had been given--when the Church had all things in common and was in her first love-- yet we read of Ananias and Sapphira who hypocritically pretended to have given their substance when they had kept back much of it--and upon them the stern voice of Peter pronounced sentence of immediate death. So early were the liar and the hypocrite found within the gates of Zion that pristine purity could not utterly exclude the unworthy. Look again at the Church in Samaria. The preaching of Philip had stirred the city, and a pretender to magic who had deluded the people professed to become, himself, a Believer. He believed, it is said, and was baptized--but his heart was not right in the sight of God--his faith was not the faith of God's elect. How solemn were the words of Peter to him, "You have neither part nor lot in this matter...For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity!" The execrable name of Simon Magus is another proof that the Church of Christ, in her most zealous state, cannot expect to be clear of the basest of men. Our own observation and the history of any branch of the Lord's Church will go to show the same thing. It is said that the emperor Frederick III once heard a courtier declare that he desired to go to a place where he should find no hypocrites. "Then," said his majesty, "You had need to go beyond the frozen ocean where there are no men. And if you should reach the place, there might be one hypocrite there, then." It would be difficult to find any association of persons in which there are no unworthy individuals. And among those companies which are most select, you may frequently discover the worst of men. Further, this might be expected to be so because of the many inducements which exist to tempt unscrupulous men to assume the Christian name. Few inducements, I grant you, existed when the stake, the axe, or death in the amphitheater were the only reward for following the Lord Jesus! But many inducements are there nowadays--when to be a Christian is to be respected--when the Christian profession introduces you into good society, secures you trust and credit in your business, and procures customers for your shop. When religion is altogether a most comfortable and respectable thing it is no wonder that knaves adopt it. Persecution has not ceased--there are Christians who have to endure much of it-- but, on the other hand, many make a good thing of their profession, and some cunning rogues have proved that they could not have adopted a better trick for succeeding in life than taking up the garb of piety. Do you wonder, therefore, if persons should be found who thrust themselves upon sacred ground and brave all consequences of future punishment? See yonder eagle how it mounts. Does it care for the ethereal blue, or aspire to commune with the stars of Heaven? Not a whit--such airy considerations have no weight with the ravenous bird! And yet you will not wonder that it soars aloft when you remember that it thus obtains a broader range of vision, and so becomes the more able to provide for its nest. It mounts towards Heaven but it keeps its eye evermore upon the outlook for its prey. No celestial impulse is needed, its love of blood suffices to bear it aloft. It soars only that it may flash downwards with fell swoop upon the object of its desires. Wonder not that men with the hearts of devils yet mount like angels--there is a reason which explains it all! That wild ass would not bray if there were no fodder. Men would be less in a hurry to avow their pretended faith if there were no advantages to be gained! The rower in the boat sits with his back to the shore but is all the while pulling towards it. Many tug the oar towards the world which they pretend to have renounced. How many are like that famous painting of the olden time in which the artist depicted what seemed at a distance a holy friar with his hands crossed in devotion, and a book before him, looking like a saint, indeed--but when you came close to the venerable impostor, you found that his hands, though clasped, enclosed a lemon--and instead of a book, there was a punch bowl into which he was squeezing the juice! Many an inn has an angel on the sign and a devil for the landlord! Fair without is often foul within. To seem to be answers men's purposes so well that it is little marvel if pretenders swarm like the flies in Egypt's plague! Moreover, Brethren, we might have reckoned that there would be ungracious men mingled with the people of God, since it is clear to every thoughtful man that this must be one of the craftiest designs of Satan. In what way can Satan so seriously damage the Church of God as by thrusting unworthy persons into it? While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat--because the tares would take away the nourishment from the wheat and help to choke it--and prevent it from yielding so rich a harvest. The Greeks, outside the walls of Troy, were unable to storm the city but after a long war they succeeded by using the stratagem of the wooden horse. Putting some few Greeks within the hollow monster, they pretended to flee and left the horse to be dragged within the gates of Troy by the infatuated Trojans. In the dead of night out came these traitor Greeks and opened the gates to their friends outside. Satan knows right well that one devil in the Church can do far more than a thousand devils outside her bounds. He understands that all the blasphemers, and atheists, and free-thinkers, and so on that ever assailed the bastions of the Church of God could not do one tithe as much mischief to her as those who pretend to be followers of the bleeding Lamb, but in secret are crucifying the Lord afresh and putting Him to an open shame. If there are any here of this sort, and I fear there are, I do beseech you look to yourselves--you are cat's paws for the Evil One, mean tools of the fallen spirit--blush to be so degraded! How sad to be a miserable skulker in the service of the Prince of Darkness! Better, surely, if honor is what you seek, to fight for Satan openly and avowedly--wearing the black plume and the diabolical uniform--than to be a base, cowardly assassin, sneaking into the ranks of the godly to stab them in the dark. None but pirates sail under false colors and the yard-arm is the best place for them. O you snakes in the grass! You serpents who insinuate yourselves so craftily! How shall you escape the damnation of Hell? That foul fiend who now employs you upon his secret service laughs in his sleeve as he foresees the triple bands of flame with which you will be bound forever! O that you could repent and turn from your base and crooked ways, for otherwise your end will be terrible and your doom eternal. Further, my dear Brothers and Sisters, it is a very sad reflection that we may always expect to find ungodly men in the Church of God, for numbers come there, at first, through inadvertence. I will excuse many, in some respects, for being found numbered with God's people though unconverted--I excuse them to some degree--for I believe that they were honest when at first they were added to the Church. They were never saved, of course--but they thought they were. Never having had a true sense of sin, they nevertheless experienced some alarms and they set down those alarms for repentance. Although they have never truly believed in the Lord Jesus, they have felt a degree of peace and have come to look upon this treacherous calm as the result of true faith. They have never really received a new heart, still, there is a measure of reformation--and they mistake the outward for the inward. They were excited by the earnestness of God's people, and under a thrilling sermon they were made to feel as they had not felt before! And straightaway, the wish being father to the thought--they concluded they had passed from death unto life while they still remained dead in trespasses and sin. At first a few fears may have passed their minds, but by degrees, finding these fears uncomfortable, and Satan determining to blind their eyes and sear their consciences as with a hot iron, they at last made no further enquiries, but went straightaway onward to ruin with their eyes closed-- believing that they were on the road to Glory. It is said that a certain player had acted the part of Richard III so admirably, and had thrown his whole soul into it so thoroughly that he imbibed the idea that he was actually a king. He became so extravagant in his living, and withal so haughty in his behavior that he brought himself first to contempt, and next to beggary. Doubtless there are many who at first were mere actors who at last have grown into the conceit that the part which they have merely acted is a reality, and so they have continued to strut with all the pride of Pharisees till God has plucked the mask from off their wicked faces, and set them up to be butts for the arrows of eternal contempt. Oh, beware lest that should be our lot, lest, inadvertently to ourselves at the first, being mistaken, we should at last become miserable dupes and deceivers of others! We might naturally expect to find hypocrites, formalists, and unconverted persons in the Church of God because human nature is bad enough for anything and everything. If there is an evil which is detestable beyond all others--for that very reason will men run to it. Nothing can be more mean than hypocrisy, nothing more base than to assume a character which is not properly your own, nothing more horrible than apostasy from plighted vows and promises! But for that very reason, he who knows the heart of man to be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked might expect to find men rioting in such evil. There is no water so deep but fish will swim in it! There is no pond so foul but frogs will live in it! There is no mire so filthy but swine will wallow in it and no sin so damnable but man will commit it! Men will even seek out ways and means of making themselves more and more proficient in the most evil of vices, each one being with his fellow. The world is getting mightily accomplished in falsehood and has learned to deceive in the most dexterous manner-- and while professors of the art of hypocrisy are so numerous--there is no hope of the trade dying out. I expect to see great offenders, for I am told by Inspired penmen that evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse. I expect as the ages roll on to see good men grow better, and bad men grow viler--for each age is in advance of its predecessor. If in these last ages there should arise monsters of iniquity exceeding Nero and Caligula in infamy, we must not be astonished, for long practice of sin makes men proficient therein. The earth is ripening, and men's characters are rotting to the uttermost degree of corruption. This is the age of villainy, the chosen era of shams, lies, and hypocrisies--and we must expect to see more and more of the boiling over of the sink of iniquity which lies in human nature. Be not startled, if in these last days there should be seen whole herds of wolves in sheep's clothing--deceivers and defamers of the Church--for even so have we been warned by the voice of God. II. In the second place, UNGODLY MEN DO SERIOUS MISCHIEF IN THE CHURCH OF GOD. We are told in the text that they are spots in our agape, or feasts of love. It is a solemn reflection that they defile the Church before God--they are spots upon her face--they mar her beauty in the eyes of her heavenly Friend. When the Lord looks upon His Church in Christ, of course she is always fair, but when He looks upon her in herself, the defilements which came upon her through the ungodly provoke Him and He is led to send chastisements upon her and, for awhile, to withdraw the converting power of His Spirit and the comforting power of His promises. Dear Friends, we can little tell how much of evil may be brought upon any community by wicked persons in the midst of it. And we little know how much good may be kept back from the general body of the Church of God by those ungodly professors who are living in uncleanness and yet pretend to have fellowship with God. They are spots upon the Church's sacrifice. According to the Jewish law, no beast could be offered to God which was blemished. What an awful thing it is when a wicked man becomes a Church member, and in public, as he prays in the name of the Church, offers to God an unclean hypocritical prayer! What a filthy prayer that must be which comes from the lips of the man who is the slave of vice and yet dares stand up in the public sanctuary to lead the devotions of others! Can God bear such infamy? Must not the whole service be polluted thereby? Such a man at the Lord's Table? How he profanes the sacred feast! Such a man preaching, for there have been many such! How he dishonors the name of minister! Such a man passing round the sacramental cup! What despite to the precious blood! Why, I wonder, when I think of it, that such solemn feasts--since they have been so far as such persons were concerned, deliberate mockeries--have not brought down the thunderbolts of God upon those who were engaged in them! It is an awful thing to have such loathsome sacrifices laid upon our altar in our name--truly, we knew not of the offenders' guilt--our sin was therefore a sin of ignorance. May the Lord have mercy upon us. When Joshua led his troops to Ai they were defeated--not for lack of courage, nor for want of wit, nor for lack of armed men for the fight--they were put to the rout before their adversaries for no other reason than because Achan was in the camp and had hidden in his tent the goodly Babylonian garment and the wedge of gold. Think me not severe if I speak with indignation of any who have turned aside unto crooked paths after standing high among the Lord's people-- from my soul I pity such, I bewail them in my inmost heart--but yet for Christ's sake, and His people's sake, I feel towards them concerning their iniquity as Joshua did when he spared not the sentence, but adjudged the offender to his doom. Even though confession was made, yet every true-hearted Israelite cast a stone at the man who had made Israel naked before her enemies, saying, "Why have you troubled us? The Lord shall trouble you this day." The Church must be purified and cleansed, for our Lord's fan is in His hands and He will thoroughly purge His floor. He who winks at sin becomes a partaker in it. God would have us put away the unclean thing from the midst of us, lest we be utterly polluted and become an abomination in His sight. O you professors who are not living as you should live, you who are practicing secret sin, you members of the Church who, unknown to us, are wallowing in evil, I do beseech you go forth from among us of your own accord before the Lord launches out His plagues upon you! Get away from us lest double judgment fall upon you! As for us, when your case is clear, we dare not excuse you! We hate even the garment spotted with the flesh, and much more those filthy dreamers who wrap their lusts about them as a robe. If you have any reason left, you will surely prefer, if lost at all, to perish without incurring the double vengeance which awaits deceivers. Repent and forsake your iniquities that your sins may be blotted out! But if you will not do this, at least cease to dishonor the Church of God by your false professions. Furthermore, the ungodly in the Christian Church do her mischief in the next respect because they defile her in the eyes of the world, "These are spots in your feasts of charity." They defile the Christian Church in the judgment of onlookers. The world is always glad to find a stick to beat the Church with. It so thoroughly hates professors of godliness that it only wants a chance to spring upon them as a lion upon his prey. So soon as one professor goes aside, men say, "Ah, just so! That is one herring out of the barrel--they are all alike." And yet if a man gets a bad shilling he does not conclude that all shillings are bad! Men know that the existence of hypocrites does not prove that all Christians are such. They frequently say so, but they know better! You need not be in any hurry to answer them--they know that they lie in their throats when they declare all Christians to be deceivers--for they must know that there are hundreds who are not such--whose lives are pure and holy--and in every way according to their professions. They know that if they were to treat any body of men in the same way as they treat the Church, they could not stand the test. Have there been no thieves in the House of Commons? Are the members of our legislature, therefore, all rogues? Doubtless some of them have no honesty to spare--but are there no honorable men? Was there ever a club in all the world without disreputable persons in it? Was there ever any association of men that might not be condemned, if the fool's rule was followed, of condemning the wheat because of the chaff? When with all our might and power we purge ourselves of deceivers as soon as we detect them, what more can we do? If our rule and practice is to separate the unholy so soon as we unmask them, what more can virtue itself desire? I ask any man, however much he may hate Christianity, what more can the Church do than watch her members with all diligence and excommunicate the wicked when discovered? It is a foul piece of meanness on the part of the world that they should allege the faults of a few false professors against the whole Church--it is a piece of miserable meanness of which the world ought to be ashamed! Nevertheless, so it is, "Ha! Ha!" they say, "So would we have it! So would we have it!" The daughter of Philistia rejoices and the uncircumcised triumphs when Jesus is betrayed by His friend and sold by His traitorous disciple. O deceitful professor, will not the Lord be avenged upon you for this? Is it nothing to make Jesus' name the drunkard's song? Nothing to make the enemy blaspheme? O hardened man, tremble, for this shall not go unpunished! I must add here that this defilement falls upon ourselves, too. We cannot mix with deceitful and wicked men without feeling conscious that we have been in contact with pitch and have been defiled thereby. Who sits with a leper without danger of contagion? To talk over the sin of a false professor is injurious to the mind. We cannot deal with the sin of a Brother, even in the way of discipline, without a degree of evil to our own hearts. I believe the reading of newspaper reports of criminal trials is as instructive a school for iniquity as any the devil himself could have invented--and to go into details with the person before your eyes is even more so. When we read or hear of sin, whether we are conscious or not of the effect, there is always a defilement left upon the mind. The Church of God, being conscious of the contagion which a sinner leaves in the camp, should daily sanctify herself. Let us proclaim a daily repentance for the unknown sin among us. We are all as one body as soon as we join the Christian Church, and in some sense the sin of one is the common fault of the whole. Leaven in one chamber is leaven in the house. The plague in one house is the plague in the city. We must not say, "Oh, I cannot help the fault of such a one." He is one with us! We must all be humbled before God when there is anything wrong in the case of anyone, for he is one of the family. Was he not a member of the same body? Is not the whole body concerned in the sickness or sin of the meanest member? There should be a daily walking near to God, a daily seeking of mercy, a daily humbling, a daily coming to the precious blood of Jesus for restoring Grace so the defilement may be removed and the spots in our feasts of charity may be purged. III. I come, thirdly, to a very important point. THE UNGODLY IN THE CHURCH OF GOD ARE GENERALLY VERY MUCH AT THEIR EASE THERE. This head, I trust, may greatly comfort some who are afraid of sin by showing them that they are not hypocrites, "Feeding themselves without fear." These men have no right to come to the love feasts, have no business whatever in the communion of God's people--but there they are--without the slightest fear. They have no fear as to whether they are saved or not. They do not trouble their heads to examine--they take it for granted. They say, "Oh well, we are as good as other people!" and so they carelessly dismiss all self-examination. They have no fear about the present--they take all for granted and let well enough alone. If accused of sin, they stand up and deny it, lying in the face of God's people without the slightest blush. They have no fear concerning the future, although running themselves into present difficulty and insuring to themselves eternal damnation. They have no bands, either, in life or death. They are unconscious of fear. They look the happiest of people, wearing a perennial smile and looking the image of peace. I have seen the genuine child of God afraid lest he should not be truly regenerate, trembling and alarmed, conscious of his present imperfections, bemoaning them, often trembling because of temptations in the future and afraid lest he might fall. He may be fearful of death and alarmed lest, after all, he should be a castaway. Yet this trembler has been the genuine coin of God's realm about whom none were anxious but himself--while the base counterfeit has said, "Oh yes! I believe, I know I do. I am sure I am saved," while in his private life he is going from bad to worse, plunging himself into the sloughs of sin. My dear Friends, seek after full assurance of faith, but do, do, do abhor anything like presumption. If your lives are not what they ought to be, I beseech you do not be too confident! "By their fruits you shall know them." If there are any of you living in sin, I do not care what doctrines you have received, or what experience you may boast--I am afraid for you if you are not afraid for yourselves! I entreat you, do not lull your souls into peace while your lives are ungodly, for it will be, "Peace, peace, where there is no peace." You cannot be perfect, I grant, and salvation is not by works, but by Divine Grace--but at the same time, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Do I cut any of you sharply? I mean to! I only wish I could cut deeper, but my fear is that those who are the best will feel it the most. I know they will, and those who need it most will say, "I am glad the preacher is faithful, but his censures do not apply to me." Remember Cowper's words-- "He that never doubted of his state, He may perhaps he may too late." Needless and Too-Bold fell into the ditch. He who is too sure with a carnal security that is not based upon the promise nor rested upon Christ will, sooner or later, find himself compelled to make his bed in Hell. I do wonder, when I look at the text, that these people should feed themselves without fear at the feasts of charity. I suppose this may allude to the love feasts, but also to the Lord's Supper. How an ungodly man can drink the wine which typifies the blood of Christ when he is all the while crucifying Christ, I cannot understand. I cannot comprehend how he can break bread at the Lord's Table when he is spending his life with harlots, or gaining money by dishonesty. But sin is an incomprehensible thing. Oh, the depths of human sin! My dear Friends, if any of you are exhibiting this hardness of heart, pray God that you may be forgiven! But I almost fear you never will, for if there is a sin unto death, surely it must be such a sin as this--when a man can come to the solemn feasts of God's House without fear--while he knows that his heart is rotten, and, as Bunyan says, only fit to be tinder for the devil's tinderbox. I shall leave that point when I have read to you from "Pilgrim's Progress" a passage which struck me yesterday as portraying the deceiver's doom. "Now, when they had passed by a little way, they entered into a very dark lane where they met a man whom seven devils had bound with seven strong cords, and were carrying him back to the door that they saw in the side of the hill. Now good Christian began to tremble, and so did Hopeful, his companion, yet, as the devils led away the man, Christian looked to see if he knew him, and he thought it might be one Turn-Away that dwelt in the town of Apostasy. But he did not perfectly see his face, for he did hang his head like a thief that is found. But being gone past, Hopeful looked after him, and espied on his back a paper with this inscription, 'WANTON PROFESSOR AND DAMNABLE APOSTATE.' " God grant that paper may never be put upon our backs, but by preserving Grace may we be preserved to the last. IV. I shall now conclude with the fourth point by asking this question--since it is clear that ungodly men are suffered to tarry for awhile in the Church of God, WHAT IS GOD'S INTENTION THEREIN? What is the lesson which He hereby delivers to you and to me this morning? That is our principal business--we have little to do with others--our business is with ourselves. The first lesson is this--God reminds every one of us of what we might have been but for His distinguishing Grace. Judas sells Christ, and his only reward is a halter to hang himself with. Why might not I have been Judas? Ananias dies with a lie in his throat--why might not I have been that unhappy man? Ask that question, Christian! Is there any bitterness in your heart beyond the heart of Judas? Are you better than Ananias by nature? Is there any goodness in your constitution which would have kept you from their sin had you been left as they were? Judas was an Apostle, mark you-- a preacher, a miracle-worker--he dipped his hand with Jesus in the dish, and yet he sold Him--and why not you? Let not Self-Righteousness whisper, "Ah I never could have done so." How do you know that? Simon Peter said he never would forsake his Master, but before long, with cursing and oaths, he had denied Him. "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall." What another man has done I may do! There are no depths of wickedness into which I might not have plunged had not preventing Grace stayed my course. In the second place, the Lord bids us make sure work for eternity. If we know that fair houses have fallen down, let us build upon a good foundation. If the wind has swept away rotten boughs, let us see to it that we are quickened with the vital sap. If the knife has already removed sundry dead branches, be it our prayer that we may be found fruit-bearing boughs, vitally united to Christ. When I think of those whom I have known who have turned aside in years past in my ministry, I feel concerned to say to myself, "have I really repented, or was it all a sham? Am I now resting upon the Rock of Ages, or have I a fictitious confidence, a delusive trust? Am I really right with God? Do I love Him? Am I serving Him, or am I, after all, fascinated by some gigantic imposture which is leading me astray to serve myself? My Brethren, I beseech you--dig deep for eternity! Either make it sure, or have nothing to do with it. The paint and the tinsel are worth nothing! The masquerading and the pageantry of a mere profession will all be scattered to the winds in the great Day of Wrath. Get gold, not gilt! Get the real metal, not the imitation, lest at the last, when you shall most need comfort, you shall find yourselves drowned in despair! Surely that is God's voice to us. Hear it! Learn its teaching! Practice it thoroughly! In the next place, should not the departures from the faith of some professors put us on our guard against our own special temptations? I do not know how you are, each one of you, employed in life. But I know this--that there is a precipice near every man's foot, and a snare in every man's path. You may not fall into the temptation which besets me, and I may never fall into that which besets you--but there is a lure for every bird, a bait for every fish. I would have you specially take heed of those things in regard to which you have ventured to the very edge. There are some things which are allowable up to a point--beware of going beyond the point. Yes, and beware of often going close to it, for the temptation is to go a little farther. Edged tools, long handled, wound at last. Beware of extraordinary temptations! Watch against them! A child would generally stand on his feet in a gust of wind if he knew it was coming--but when the wind happens to come round a corner furiously, he may be taken off his feet. Mind you are well ballasted by prayer every morning before your vessel puts out to sea--or carrying the quantity of sail you do--you may be blown over upon the waves to your perpetual shipwreck. Watch constantly against those things which are thought not to be temptations. The most poisonous serpents are found where the sweetest flowers grow, and when Cleopatra would have an asp to poison herself, it was brought in a basket of fair flowers. Beware of arrows shot from a golden bow, or by a woman's hand. "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation." I feel as if I could go round among you, and take everyone by the hand, and say, "My Brother and my Sister, will you also go away?" Oh, if you would answer, "No, we will follow the Lamb Wherever He goes," then I would reply in my Master's words, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Further--the lessons are many, but I will be brief upon each one--should not this make us pray more for one another? When a member of the Church under my care has sinned, I have asked myself, "Did I always pray for that man?" That is a question for you, also. Do you know of some Sister in Christ who has dishonored the faith? You have known perhaps the temptation--did you ever pray for her--pointedly for her? Did you warn her affectionately of her danger? I am afraid the answer would have to be, "I am afraid I have not." But are we clear of sin in such a case? Are our consciences quite void of offense? Should not all the mischief in the Christian Church say to us, "Pray for one another, and by all means hold each other up"? Aid the tempted, remembering yourself also, lest you also be tempted. Whenever the enemy smites down one of the troops the other soldiers should fill up the gap and stand together determined that the foe shall not kill another. Let every difficulty that comes to us only fuse us more completely into one--bring us into more compact squares and firmer battalions--determined that the enemy shall not get the advantage over us, after all. Brethren, pray for one another! Your heavenly Father bids you do so. Whenever any of the ungodly are found in the Church, she should labor with all her might to be avenged on the powers of darkness by filling up the place of the ungodly with those who are really converted. I have often had my blood boil with sacred indignation within me when I have seen the finger of Satan hindering any of the works I have undertaken for God. Sometimes I have thought a Church would be established in such a locality, and something has turned up of an evil kind which has put it out of the question. I have vowed in my soul, "Ah, Satan, I will get even with you for that--there shall be two churches somewhere else--you shall not gain an inch by driving me back in my Master's cause. I will take care that you shall gain nothing of me by all your opposition." Let the ungodly world laugh, and for its sneers we will smite it under the fifth rib with the sword of the Truth of God. Let the enemy sneer, and for that we will discharge more arrows of God's Word! We will pray more vehemently and labor more diligently for the extension of the Lord's kingdom. The tactics of war should dictate this. The children of this generation do so--and let them not be wiser than the children of light. Lastly, dear Friends, should not this make us long for Heaven? Whenever you at any time are vexed by hypocrites and apostates, should you not at once sigh for the perfect Church and the sweet fellowship of Heaven where none can fall, and none deceive?-- "O heavenly Jerusalem, Of everlasting hills, Thrice blessed are the people You store in your walls. You are the golden mansion, Where saints forever sing, The seat of God's own chosen, The palace of the King. There God forever sits, Himself of all the crown; The Lamb the light that shines, And never goes down. Nothing to this seat approaches Their sweet peace to molest; They sing their God forever, Nor day nor night they rest." They are without fault before the Throne! There shall be no more curses in the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it. We shall not suspect a Brother there! We shall not bemoan a failure there! We shall not fear backsliding there, for the saints are all complete in Jesus--all conformed to the image of their Master--and they shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. I have not spoken to you one-half as solemnly as my own heart has felt, but I do commend to you the serious considerations I have brought under your notice, and ask you in the name of the Lord Jesus who has suffered enough without being made to suffer in the house of His friends, by His wounds, by His blood, by all His grief and death throes--do not crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame--but glorify Him in your lives, your words and acts, and so may the Lord do unto you of His great mercy. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Special Protracted Prayer A Sermon (No. 798) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 1, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [11]Metropolitan Tabernacle Newington. "And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12. IF any man of woman born might have lived without prayer it was surely the Lord Jesus Christ. To us poor weak erring mortals, prayer is an absolute necessity. But it does not at first sight seem to be so to Him who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." In some parts of prayer our Lord Jesus Christ could take no share. As for instance in that most important department, namely, personal confession of sin, He could take no portion. There were no slips in His outward life. There were no declensions in His inward heart. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" is a very suitable prayer for Him to teach us, but He could not use it Himself. Nor had He any need to pray against inward corruptions, seeing He was born without them. We wrestle hard each day with original sin, but Jesus knew no such adversaries. It is as much as we can do, with all the weapons of our holy war, to keep down the foes of our own household, but our Lord had no sinful nature to subdue. The inner life is a daily struggle with some of us, so that Paul's exclamation, "O wretched man that I am!" is exceedingly familiar to our lips. But our Lord said truly of Himself, "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me." Moreover, our Lord had not to seek some of the things which are exceedingly needful to His disciples. One desire which I trust is ever present with us, is for growth in Divine Grace and for advancement in the Divine life--but our Lord was always perfect in holiness and love. I see not how there could have been any advancement in purity in Him--He was always the spotless lily of innocence, incomparable, faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Our Lord had no need to make self-examination each night. When He retired for prayer there would be no need to scan the actions of the day or to detect shortcomings and flaws. There would be no necessity to investigate secret motives to see whether He might not have been actuated by sinister principles. The deep wellsprings of His being were not of earth, but altogether Divine. When He bowed His knee in the morning He had no need to pray to be protected from sin during the day. He went forth to His daily labor without the infirmities which we bear within us, and was free from the tendencies to evil which we bear about us. Tempted He was in all points as we are, but the arrows which wound us glanced harmlessly from Him. Yet mark carefully, although our glorious Master did not require to pray in some of those respects in which it is most needful to us, yet never was there a man who was more abundant in prayer and in supplication, nor One in whom prayer was exercised with so much vehemence and importunity! He was the greatest of preachers, but His prayers made even a deeper impression on His disciples than His sermons--for they did not say, "Lord, teach us to preach,," but they did exclaim, "Lord, teach us to pray." They felt that He was Master of that heavenly art, and at His feet they desired to sit that they might learn how to move Heaven and earth with sacred wrestling. Brethren, since our sinless Lord was this mighty in prayer, does not His example say to us, with a voice irresistibly persuasive, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation"? You are to be conformed to the image of Christ--be conformed in this respect--that you are men of prayer. You desire to know the secret of His power with men--seek to obtain His power with God. You wish to obtain the blessings which were so copiously bestowed upon Him--seek them where He sought them--find them where He found them. If you would adorn His doctrine and increase His kingdom, use the weapon of all-prayer which insures victory to all who use it as the Captain did! Our Lord Jesus Christ was most constant in His perpetual devotions. Devout men are used to set apart times for extraordinary supplication. Yet a man who does not pray regularly, is but a hypocrite when he pretends to pray specially. Who would care to live in a miser's house who starved you all the year round, except that now and then on a feast day he fed you daintily? We must not be miserly in prayer, neglecting it regularly and only abounding in it on particular occasions when ostentation, rather than sincerity, may influence us. But even he who keeps a bounteous table sometimes spreads a more luxurious feast than at other times--and even so must we, if we habitually live near to God--select our extraordinary seasons in which the soul shall have her fill of fellowship. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the text before us, has set us an example of extraordinary devotion, supplying us with all the details and minutiae of the exercise. Notice the place which He selected for it. He sought the solitude of a mountain. He was so popular that He could not hope in any city or village to be free from innumerable followers. He was so great a benefactor that He could never be without sick folk entreating healing at His hands. He knew no leisure, no, not so much as to eat bread, and therefore, to obtain a little respite He sought the hollow of some lofty hill where foot of man could not profane His loneliness. If you would draw near to God in an extraordinary manner, you must take care to be entirely undisturbed. I know not how it is, but if ever one desires to approach very near to God there is sure to be a knock at the door, or some matter of urgent business, or some untoward circumstance to tempt us from our knees. Is it so, that Satan knows how soul-fattening retirement and devotion are, and therefore, if he can by any method stir up friend or foe to call us out of our closets he will surely do so? Here our Lord was beyond call--the mountain was better than a closet with bolted doors. Far off was the din of the city and the noise of those who clamored with their merchandise. Neither the shout of triumph nor the wail of sorrow could reach Him there. Beloved Friends, carefully seek, if you can, a perfect solitude, but if not, reach as near to it as you can and as much as possible keep out the sound and thought of the outer world. Did not our Lord resort to the mountain in order that He might be able to pray aloud? I cannot speak for others, but I often find it very helpful to myself to be able to speak aloud in private prayer. I do not doubt but that very spiritual minds can pray for a great length of time without the motion of the lips, but I think the most of us would often find it a spur and assistance if we could give utterance to our cries and sighs, no one being present to hear. We know that our Lord was accustomed to use strong cries and tears, and these it would not have been desirable for a human ear to listen to. In fact, His natural modesty would have put Him under a restraint. He therefore sought mountains far away, that He might, in His Father's Presence, and in the presence of no one else, pour out His entire soul--groaning, struggling, wrestling, or rejoicing--as His spirit might be moved at the time. Did He not also seek the mountain to avoid ostentation? If we pray to be seen of men we shall have our reward, and a pitiful reward it will be--we shall have the admiration of shallow fools and nothing more. If our object in prayer is to obtain blessings from God we must present our prayers unspoiled by human observation. Get alone with your God if you would move His arm. If you fast, appear not unto men to fast. If you plead personally with God, tell none of it. Take care that this is a secret between God and your own soul--then shall your Father reward you openly. But if you gad about like a Pharisee and sound your trumpet in the corner of the streets, you shall go where the Pharisee has gone--where hypocrites feel forever the wrath of God! Jesus, therefore, to prevent interruption, to give Himself the opportunity of pouring out His whole soul, and to avoid ostentation, sought the mountain. What a grand oratory for the Son of God! What walls would have been so suitable? What room would have worthily housed so mighty an Intercessor? The Son of God most fittingly entered God's own glorious temple of Nature when He would commune with Heaven. Those giant hills and the long shadows cast by the moonlight were alone worthy to be His companions. No pomp of gorgeous ceremony can possibly have equaled the glory of Nature's midnight on the wild mountain's side where the stars, like the eyes of God, looked down upon the Worshipper, and the winds seemed as though they would bear the burden of His sighs and tears upon their willing wings. Samson, in the temple of the Philistines, moving the giant pillars, is a mere dwarf compared with Jesus of Nazareth moving Heaven and earth, as He bows Himself alone in the great temple of Jehovah! For purposes of extraordinary devotion, the time selected by our Master is also a lesson to us. He chose the silent hours of night. Now it may so happen that if we literally imitated Him we might altogether miss our way, for, no doubt, He chose the night because it was most convenient, congenial and in every way appropriate. To some of us the night might be most inappropriate and unsuitable. If so, we must by no means select it, but must follow our Lord in the spirit rather than in the letter. We should give to heavenly things, that part of the day in which we can be most quiet--those hours which we can most fairly allot to it without despoiling our other duties of their proper proportion of time. By day our Savior was preaching--He could not cease from preaching even to spend the day in prayer. By day the multitude needed healing--our Lord would not suspend His benevolent work for His private communions. We are to take care never to present one duty to God stained with the blood of another--but to balance and proportion our different forms of service so that our life-work may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Usually, however, night will be the favored season for wrestling Jacobs. When every man had gone to his own home to rest, the Man of Nazareth had a right to seek His solace where best He could, and if sleep refreshed others, and prayer more fully refreshed Him, then by all means let Him pray. Against this not a dog shall move his tongue. Set apart, for remarkably protracted intercession, seasons which answer to this description, when the time is your own--not your master's. Your own--not your families. Not pilfered from family devotion. Not abstracted from the public assembly or Sunday school. Set apart the time of quiet, when all around you is in repose--the time congenial to solemnity, and the awe of a spirit hushed into reverent subjection, yet uplifted to rapt devotion. Such time, with many, may be the night. With others it may be the day. Let sanctified common sense be your direction. Again, our Lord sets us a good example in the matter of extraordinary seasons of devotion in the protracted character of His prayer. He continued all night in prayer. I do not think that we are bound to pray long as a general rule. I am afraid, however, there is no great need to make the remark, for most of Christians are short enough, if not far too short in private worship. By the aid of the Holy Spirit it is possible to throw, by holy energy and sacred zeal, as much prayer into a few minutes as into many hours, for prevalent prayer is not measured by God by the yard or by the hour. Force is its standard rather than length. When the whole soul groans itself out in half-a-dozen sentences there may be more real devotion in them than in hours of mere wire drawing and word spinning. True prayer is the soul's mounting up to God, and if it can ride upon a cherub or the wings of the wind, so much the better. But, in extraordinary seasons, when the soul is thoroughly worked up to an eminent intensity of devotion, it is well to continue it for a protracted season. We know not that our Lord was vocally praying all the time, He may have paused to contemplate. He may have surveyed the whole compass of the field over which His prayer should extend, meditating upon the Character of His God, recapitulating the precious promises, remembering the needs of His people, and thus arming Himself with arguments with which to return to wrestle and prevail. How very few of us have ever spent a whole night in prayer, and yet what gifts we might have had for such asking! We little know what a night of prayer would do for us--its effect we can scarcely calculate. One night alone in prayer might make us new men--changed from poverty of soul to spiritual wealth--from trembling to triumph! We have an example of it in the life of Jacob. Previously the crafty shuffler--always bargaining and calculating, unlovely in almost every respect--yet one night in prayer turned the supplanter into a prevailing prince and robed him with celestial grandeur! From that night he lives on the sacred page as one of the nobility of Heaven. Could not we, at least now and then, in these weary earthbound years, hedge about a single night for such enriching traffic with the skies? What? Have we no sacred ambition? Are we deaf to the yearnings of Divine love? Yet, my Brothers and Sisters, for wealth and for science, men will cheerfully quit their warm couches! Cannot we do it now and then for the love of God and the good of souls? Where is our zeal, our gratitude, our sincerity? I am ashamed while I thus upbraid both myself and you. May we often tarry at Jabbok, and cry with Jacob, as he grasped the Angel-- "With You all night I mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of day." Surely, Brothers and Sisters, if we have given whole days to folly, we can afford a space for heavenly wisdom! Time was when we gave whole nights to chambering and wantonness, to dancing and the world's revelry--we did not tire, then-- we were chiding the sun that he rose so soon, and wishing the hours would lag awhile that we might delight in wilder merriment, and perhaps deeper sin. Oh, why should we weary in heavenly employments? Why do we grow weary when asked to watch with our Lord? Up, sluggish Heart, Jesus calls you! Rise and go forth to meet the heavenly Friend in the place where He manifests Himself! Jesus has further instructed us in the art of special devotion by the manner of His prayer. Notice He continued all night in prayer to God--to God! How much of our prayer is not prayer to God at all! It is nominally so, but it is really a muttering to the wind, a talking to the air--for the Presence of God is not realized by the mind. "He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Do you know what it is, mentally, to lay hold upon the great Unseen One, and to talk with Him as really as you talk to a friend whose hand you grip? How heavenly to speak right down into God's ear, to pour your heart directly into God's heart, feeling that you live in Him as the fish live in the sea, and that your every thought and word are discerned by Him! It is true pleading when the Lord is present to you, and you realize His Presence and speak under the power and influence of His Divine overshadowing. That is to pray, indeed, but to continue all night in such a frame of mind is wonderful to me, for I must confess, and I suppose it is your confession, too, that if for awhile I get near to God in prayer, yet distracting thoughts will intrude-- the ravenous birds will come down upon the sacrifice--the noise of archers will disturb the songs at the place of drawing of water. How soon do we forget that we are speaking to God and go on mechanically pumping up our desires, perhaps honestly uttering them, but forgetting to Whom they are addressed! Oh, were He not a gracious God, the imperfection of our prayers would prevent so much as one of them ever reaching His ear! But He knows our frailty and takes our prayers, not as what they are, but as what we mean them to be! And beholding them in Jesus Christ He accepts both us and them in the Beloved. Let us learn from our Master to make our prayers distinctly and directly appeals to God. That gunner will do no service to the army who takes no aim, but is content so long as he does but fire. That vessel makes an unprofitable voyage which is not steered for a port, but is satisfied to sail here and there. We must direct our prayers to God, and maintain soul-fellowship with Him or our devotion will become a nullity, a name for a thing which is not. The Ethiopic translation reads, "in prayer with God." Truly this is the highest order of prayer, and though the translation may be indefensible, the meaning is correct enough, for Jesus was eminently with God all night. To pray with God--do you know what that is? To be the echo of Jehovah's voice! To desire the Lord's desires and long with His longings! This is a gracious condition to be in, when the heart is a tablet for the Lord to write upon, a coal blazing with celestial fire, a leaf driven with the heavenly wind! Oh, to be absorbed in the Divine will, having one's whole mind swallowed up in the mind of God! This for a whole night would be blessed--this forever bliss itself. Note too, that some have translated the passage, "in the prayer of God." This is probably an incorrect translation, though Dr. Gill appears to endorse it, and it brings out a precious meaning. The most eminent things were in the Hebrew language ascribed to God, so that by it would be meant the noblest prayer, the most intense prayer, the most vehement prayer--a prayer in which the whole man gathers up his full strength and spends it in an agony before the Eternal Throne. Oh, to pray like that! The great, deep, vehement prayer of God! Brothers and Sisters, I am afraid that as a rule in our Prayer Meetings, we are much too decorous, and even in our private prayers feel too much the power of formality. Oh, how I delight to listen to a Brother who talks to God simply and from his heart! And I must confess I have no small liking to those rare old-fashioned Methodist prayers which are now quite out of date. Our Methodist friends, for the most part, are getting too fine and respectable nowadays--too genteel to allow of prayers such as once made the walls to ring again. O for a revival of those glorious violent prayers which flew like hot shot against the battlements of Heaven! O for more moving of the posts of the doors in vehemence--more thundering at the gates of mercy! I would sooner attend a prayer meeting where there were groans and cries all over the place, and cries and shouts of "Hallelujah!" than be in your polite assemblies where everything is dull as death and decorous as the whitewashed sepulcher. O for more of the prayer of God--the whole body, soul and spirit working together--the whole man being aroused and stirred up to the highest pitch of intensity to wrestle with the Most High! Such, I have no doubt, was the prayer of Jesus on the cold mountain's side. Once more, we may learn from Jesus our Lord the occasion for special devotion. At the time when our Master continued all night in prayer He had been upbraided by the Pharisees. He fulfilled the resolve of the man after God's own heart. "Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in Your precepts." So David did, and so did David's Lord. The best answer to the slanderers of the ungodly is to be more constant in communion with God! Now, has it been so with any of you? Have you been persecuted or despised? Have you passed through any unusual form of trial? Then celebrate an unusual season of prayer! This is the alarm bell which God rings. Hasten to Him for refuge. See to it that in this, your time of trouble, you betake yourself to the Mercy Seat with greater diligence. Another reason is also noticed in the context. Christ had said to His disciples, "Pray you, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." What He told them to do He would be sure to do, Himself. He was just about to choose 12 Apostles, and before that solemn act of ordination was performed He sought power for them from the Most High. Who can tell what blessings were vouchsafed to the 12 in answer to that midnight intercession? If Satan fell like lightning from Heaven, Jesus' prayer did it rather than the Apostles' preaching. So, Christian man, if you enter upon a new enterprise, or engage in something that is weightier and more extensive than what you have done before, select a night or a day and set it apart for special communion with the Most High. If you are to pray, you must work--but if you are to work, you must also pray. If your prayer without your work will be hypocrisy, your work without your prayer will be presumption--so see to it that you are especially in supplication when especially in service. Balance your praying and working, and when you have reached the full tale of the one, do not diminish any of the other. To any man here who asks me, "When should I give myself especially to a protracted season of prayer?" I would answer those occasions will frequently occur. You should certainly do this when about to join the Church. The day of your public profession of faith should be altogether a consecrated day. I remember rising before the sun to seek my Master's Presence on the day when I was buried with Him in Baptism. It seemed to me a solemn ordinance not to be lightly undertaken, or flippantly carried out--a duty which, if done at all, should be performed in the most solemn and earnest manner. What is Baptism without fellowship with Christ? To be buried in Baptism, but not with Him, what is it? I would say to you young people who are joining the Church now, mind you do not do it thoughtlessly, but in coming forward to enlist in the army of Christ, set apart a special season for self-examination and prayer. When you arrive at any great change of life do the same. Do not enter upon marriage, or upon emigration, or upon starting in business without having sought a benediction from your Father who is in Heaven. Any of these things may involve years of pain, or years of happiness to you--seek, therefore, to have the smile of God upon what you are about to do. Should you not also make your times of peculiar trial to be also times of special prayer? Wait upon God now that the child is dying. Wrestle with Him as David did about the child of Bathsheba. Draw near to God with fasting and prayer for a life that is specially dear to you if, perhaps, it may be preserved. And when the axe of death falls and the tree beneath which you found shelter is cut down, then again, before the grave is closed and the visitation is forgotten, draw near to God with sevenfold earnestness. And if you have been studying the Word of God, and cannot master a passage of Scripture--if some truth of Revelation staggers you--now, again, is a time to set yourself like Daniel by prayer and supplication to find out what is the meaning of the Lord in the Book of His prophecy. Indeed, such occasions will often occur to you who are spiritual, and I charge you by the living God, if you would be rich in Divine Grace, if you would make great advances in the Divine life--if you would be eminent in the service of your Master--attend to these occasions. Get an hour alone, an hour, yes--two hours a day if you can--and go not away from the Master's Presence till your face is made to shine as once the face of Moses did when he had been long upon the mount alone with God. And now, having thus brought out the example of Christ as well as I can, I want to make an application of the subject to this Church which at this juncture has set apart a long season for special devotion. My words shall be few, but I earnestly desire that God may make them weighty to each member of this Church. A Church, in order to have a blessing upon its special times of prayer, must abound in constant prayer at other times. I do not believe in spasmodic efforts for revival. There should be special occasions, but these should be the outgrowths of ordinary, active, healthy vigor! To neglect prayer all the year round, and then to celebrate a special week--is it much better than hypocrisy? To forsake the regular Prayer Meetings, but to come in crowds to a special one--what is this? Does it not betray superficiality or the effervescence of mere excitement? The Church ought always to pray! Prayer is to her what salt and bread are to our tables. No matter what the meal, we must have salt and bread there. And no matter what the Church's engagements, she must have her regular constancy of prayer. I think that in London our Churches err in not having morning and evening prayer daily in every case where the Church is large enough to maintain it. I am glad that our zealous Brethren have here for some years maintained that constant prayer. I am thankful that in this Church I cannot find much fault with you for non-attendance at the Prayer Meetings. There are some of you who never come, and I suppose you are such poor things that you are not of much good whether you come or stay away. But on the whole the most of the people who fear God in this place are abundant in their attendance at the means of Divine Grace--not to be blamed in any measure whatever for forsaking the assembling of themselves together--for they do draw near to God most regularly. And such Prayer Meetings have we every Monday as I fear are not to be found anywhere else. But we must see to it that we keep this up, and moreover, those who are lax and lagging behind must ask forgiveness of their heavenly Father, and endeavor henceforth to be more instant in supplication. If, Brothers and Sisters, men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more should Christian men! Jesus has sent His Church into the world on the same errand upon which He Himself came, and that includes intercession. What if I say that the Church is the world's priest? Creation is dumb, but the Church is to find a mouth for it. Ungodly men are dumb of heart and will, but we who have the will and the power to intercede dare not be silent. It is the Church's privilege to pray. The door of Divine Grace is always open for her petitions and they never return empty-handed. The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God constantly invites her! Will she refuse the privilege which angels might envy her? Is not the Church the bride of Christ? May she not go in unto her King at any time, at every time? Shall she allow the precious privilege to be unused? The Church ever has need for prayer. There are always some in her midst who are declining, and frequently those who are falling into open sin. There are the lambs to be prayed for that they may be carried in Christ's bosom. There are the strong to be prayed for lest they grow presumptuous, and the weak lest they become despairing. In such a Church as this is, if we kept up Prayer Meetings 24 hours in the day, 365 days in the year, we might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without the sick and the poor? Are we ever without the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without those who are seeking the conversion of their relatives, the reclaiming of backsliders, or the salvation of the depraved? No, with such congregations constantly gathering, with such a densely peopled neighborhood--with three million sinners around us, the most part of them lying dead in trespasses and sins! With such a country beginning to be benighted in superstition--over whom the darkness of Romanism is certainly gathering! In a world full of idols, full of cruelties, full of devilries--if the Church does not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the command of her loving Lord and Covenant Head? Let this Church, then, be constant in supplication! There should be frequent Prayer Meetings-- these Prayer Meetings should be constantly attended by all. Every man should make it a point of duty to come as often as possible to the place where prayer is to be made. I wish that all throughout this country the prayers of God's Churches were more earnest and constant. It might make a man weep tears of blood to think that in our Dissenting Churches in so many cases the Prayer Meetings are so shamefully attended. I could indicate places that I know of, situated not many miles from where we now stand, where there are sometimes so few in attendance that there are scarcely praying men enough to keep up variety in the Prayer Meeting! I know towns where the Prayer Meeting is put off during the summer months--as if the devil would take off during the summer! I know of agricultural districts where they always put off prayer during the harvest, and I make some kind of excuse for them because the fruits of the earth must be gathered in--but I cannot understand large congregations where the Prayer Meeting and lecture are amalgamated because there will not be enough persons coming out to make two decent services in the week. And then they say that God does not bless the Word! How can He bless the Word? They say "Our conversions are not so numerous as they were," and they wonder how it is that we at the Tabernacle have so large an increase month by month! Do you wonder, Brothers and Sisters, that they have not a blessing when they do not seek it? Do you wonder that we have it when we seek it? That is but a natural law of God's own government, that if men will not pray, neither shall they have--and if men will pray, and pray vehemently--God will deny them nothing! He opens wide His hands and says, "Ask what you will, and it shall be given to you." I wish our denomination of Baptists, and other denominations of Christians were greater believers in prayer, for this mischief of Ritualism and Rationalism which is coming upon us--this curse which is withering our nation--this blight and mildew which are devouring the vineyard of the Lord has all come upon us because public prayer has almost ceased in the land as to its constancy, vehemence, and importunity! The Lord recover us from this sin! But let the Church be as diligent in prayer as she may on regular occasions, she ought still to have her special seasons. A thing which is regular and constant is sure to tire, so a little novelty is lawful. A little specialty may often tend to revive those who, otherwise, would be given to slumber. The Church should have her special praying times because she has her special needs. There are times when spiritual epidemics fall upon Churches and congregations. Sometimes it is the disease of pride, luxury, worldliness. At other times there are many falling into overt sin. Sometimes a vile form of vice will break out in the very midst of the Church of God! At other times it is a heresy, or a doctrine carried to excess, or ill will, or a lack of brotherly love, or a general lethargy. At such special times of trial a Church should have her extraordinary Prayer Meetings. When she is engaging in new enterprises and is about to break up new ground she needs fresh strength, and she should seek it. Let her call her members together, and with heart and soul let them commend the work to God. There should be special seasons of prayer because the Holy Spirit prompts us to it. "I believe in the Holy Spirit," is a sentence of the Creed, but how few really believe it? We seem to fancy that we have no motions of the Holy Spirit now among godly men as before. But I protest before the living God that such is not the case! The Holy Spirit at this day moves in those who are conversant with Him and who are content to regard His gracious monitions. And He prompts us to special fellowship. We speak what we know! We declare what we have tasted and handled! The Holy Spirit, at certain times, prompts us to come together with peculiar earnestness and special desires. And then, if this suffices not, God has been pleased to set His seal to special seasons of prayer--therefore they ought to be held. There have been more ingatherings, I was about to say, under special efforts of a month than under ordinary efforts of 11 months. I am sure that, last year, we saw very clearly God's blessing upon us during the month of February. All the year round--my dear Brothers, the deacons and elders can bear me out in it--there were always cases coming forward who said, "We were decided for Christ during the February meetings." God has always blessed the ministry here. I say it not to boast, but to the glory to God! I do not know of any sermon preached here without conversions. But yet those times of special meeting--those solemn assemblies--have always been a hundred-fold blessed of God, so that we have good reason to say we will continue them with renewed zeal because the Lord is with them. Now, Brothers and Sisters, I must have just a word with you upon another matter, namely, that it should be our endeavor to bring power into these special meetings. They are lawful. They are necessary. Let us make them profitable. The way to do so is to draw near to God as Christ did! When He prayed it was a Son talking to His Father--the Son of God talking with the Father God--and unbosoming His heart in close communion. Come up tomorrow, my Brethren, as sons of God to your Father! Speak to Him as to One who is very near akin to you. There will be no lack of power if such is the case. Jesus drew near to God in His prayer as a priest, the High Priest making intercession for the people. You are all priests and kings unto God if you believe in Christ. Come with your breastplates on tomorrow! Come that you may intercede before the Throne of God pleading the merit of the precious blood. There will be no flagging if every man puts on his priestly miter. Jesus came before God with a burning zeal for His Father's glory. He could say, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." Burn and blaze, my Brethren, with love to God! Wait upon Him this afternoon--let that be a special private season of prayer--and ask Him to teach you how to love Him, show you how to reverence Him and fire you with an intense ambition to spread abroad the savor of His name! Jesus Christ drew near to God in prayer with a wondrous love to the souls of men. Those tears of His were not for Himself, but for others! Those sighs and cries were not for His own pangs, but for the sorrows and the sins of men! Try to feel as Christ did. Get a tender heart, an awakened conscience, quickened sympathies--and then if you come up to the House of God, the Prayer Meetings cannot be dull. Seek to be bathed in the blood of Christ! Go, my Brothers and Sisters, to the wounds of Christ and get life! Get blood for your prayers! Sit down at Golgotha and gaze upon your dying Lord, and hear Him say, "I have loved you, and given Myself for you." Then rise up with this resolve in your soul-- "Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my loss," and go forward determined in His strength that nothing shall be lacking on your part to win for Him a kingdom, to gain for Him the hearts of the sons of men! If such shall be your state of mind, I am quite sure there will be power with God in prayer. In closing, I shall say to you, we, above all the Churches of this country, have a special need and a special encouragement to make our prayers things of power. For, in the first place, my Brothers and Sisters, what a multitude we are now! I often wish, though I beg to be pardoned of the Lord for it, that I had never occupied the position that I now fill because of its solemn responsibilities. I tell you, when I feel them, they crush me to the ground and I can only manage to sustain my spirits by endeavoring to cast them upon the Lord. Why, 3,700 of you in Church fellowship, or thereabouts--what can I do? Somebody complains that this sick one is not visited, or that that sinning one is not rebuked. How can I do it? How can one man, how can 20 men, how can a hundred men do the work? God knows I would, if I could, cut myself in pieces, that every piece might be active in His service. But how can we rule and minister fully in such a Church as this? God has supplied my lack of service very wonderfully. Still, there are things that make my heart ache day and night, as well as other matters that make my soul leap for joy. O pray for this great Church! Where our power utterly fails us, let us implore the Divine power to come in, that all may be kept right. We have need to pray, for some have fallen. We have to confess it with a blush that crimsons our cheek--some have fallen shamefully. O pray that others may not fall, and that the good men among us may be upheld by the power of God through faith unto salvation! Think, my Brethren, of the agencies which we are employing. If we do not pray for these they will be so much wasted effort! Every week the sermons preached here are scattered by tens of thousands all over the globe--not in this language only, but in all the languages of Christendom are they read! Pray that God's blessing may rest upon the Word which He has blessed before. Our sons, our young ministers whom this Church has trained at her feet, are now to be counted by hundreds--scattered all over this country and elsewhere. Intercede for them! Forget not your own sons--turn not your hearts away from your own children whom God has sent forth to be heralds of the Cross! In your Sunday schools, in your tract distributions, in your city missions, in your street preaching, in your offering of spiritual literature, in your orphanage--everywhere--seek to glorify Christ! Do not, I beseech you, forget the one thing needful in all this. Do not be foolish builders who will buy marble and precious stones at great cost, and then forget to lay the cornerstone securely. If it is worth while to serve God, it is worth while to pray that the service may be blessed! Why all this labor and cost? It is but offering to the Lord that which He cannot accept--unless by prayer you sanctify the whole. I think I see you as a Church standing by the side of your altar with the victims slain. The wood placed in order but there is, as yet, still lacking the fire from on high. O intercede, you Elijahs--men of like passions with us, but yet earnest men, upon whose hearts God has written prayer--intercede mightily! Intercede till at last the fire shall come down from Heaven to consume the sacrifice and to make all go up like a pillar of smoke unto the Most High! I cannot speak unto you as I would. The earnestness of my heart prevents my lips uttering what I feel, but if there are any bonds of love between us--above all, if there are any bonds of love between us and Christ--by His precious blood, by His death-sweat, by His holy life, and by His agonizing death I do beseech you to strive together with us in your prayers that the Spirit of God may rest upon us, and to God shall be the glory. Amen and Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Jesus, the Example of Holy Praise A Sermon (No. 799) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 8, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [12]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "I will declare Your name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise You. You that fear the Lord, praise Him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel." Psalm22:22,23. WE greatly esteem the dying words of good men, but what must be the value of their departing thoughts! If we could pass beyond the gate of speech and see the secret things which are transacted in the silent chambers of their souls at the moment of departure, we might greatly value the revelation, for there are thoughts which the tongue could not and must not utter, and there are deep searchings of heart which are not to be expressed by syllables and sentences. If, by some means we could read the inmost death-thoughts of holy men, we might be privileged, indeed. Now, in the Psalm before us, and in the words of our text, we have the last thoughts of our Lord and Master, and they beautifully illustrate the fact that He was governed by one ruling passion--that ruling passion most strong in death was the glory of God. When but a Child, He said, "Know you not that I must be about My Father's business?" Throughout His work-life He could say, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." "It is My meat and My drink to do the will of Him that sent Me." And now, at last, as He expires with His hands and His feet nailed, and His body and soul in extreme anguish, the one thought is that God may be glorified! In that last happy interval, before He actually gave up His soul into His Father's hands, His thoughts rushed forward and found a blessed place of rest in the prospect that, as the result of His death, all the kindreds of the nations would worship before the Lord, and that by a chosen Seed the Most High should be honored. O for the same concentration of all our powers upon one thing, and that one thing--the glory of God! Would God that we could say with one of old, "This one thing I do," and that this one thing might be the chief end of our being--the glorifying of our Creator, our Redeemer, the liege Lord of our hearts! My object, this morning, is to excite in you the spirit of adoring gratitude. I thought that as last Sabbath we spoke of Christ as the example of protracted prayer, it might seem seasonable at the end of a week of so much mercy to exhibit Him to you as the example of grateful praise and to ask you as a great congregation to follow Him as your Leader in the delightful exercise of magnifying the name of Jehovah-- "Far away are gloom and sadness; Spirits with seraphic fire, Tongues with hymns, and hearts with gladness, Higher sound the chords and higher." I shall ask your attention, in considering these verses, first, to our Lord's example: "I will declare Your name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise You." And, secondly, I shall invite you to observe our Lord's exhortation: "You that fear the Lord, praise Him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all you the seed of Israel." I. We begin with OUR LORD'S EXAMPLE. The praise which our Jesus as our Exemplar renders unto the Eternal Father is twofold. First, the praise of declaration, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren." Secondly, the more direct and immediate thanksgiving, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise You." 1. The first form of the praise which our blessed Mediator renders unto the eternal Father is that of declaring God's name. This, my dear Friends, you know He did in His teaching. Something of God had been revealed to men before. God had spoken to Noah and Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and especially to His servant Moses--He had been pleased to reveal Himself in different types and ceremonies and ordinances. He was known as Elohim, Shaddai and Jehovah, but never until Christ came did men begin to say, "Our Father which are in Heaven." This was the loving word by which the Well-Beloved declared His Father's name unto His brethren. The sterner attributes of God had been revealed amidst the thunders of Sinai, the waves of the Red Sea, the smoke of Sodom and the fury of the deluge. The sublimities of the Most High had been seen, and wondered at by the Prophets who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But the full radiance of a Father's love was never seen until it was beheld beaming through the Savior's face. "He that has seen Me," said Christ, "has seen the Father." But until they had seen Him they had not seen God as the Father. "No man can come unto the Father," says Jesus, "Except by Me." And as no man can come affectionately in the outgoings of his heart or fiducially in the motions of his faith, so neither can any man come to God in the enlightenment of understanding except by Christ, the Son. He who understands Christianity has a far better idea of God than he who only comprehends Judaism. Read the Old Testament through and you shall value every sentence, and prize it above fine gold--but still you shall feel unrest and dissatisfaction--for the vision is veiled and the light is dim. Turn, then, to the New Testament and you discern that in Jesus of Nazareth dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily! Then the noontide of knowledge is around you. Then the vision is open and distinct. Jesus is the express image of His Father, and seeing Him you have seen God manifest in the flesh! This sight of God you will assuredly obtain if you are one of the Brethren to whom, through the Spirit, Jesus Christ in His teaching declares the name of the Father. Our Lord, however, declared the Father more, perhaps, by His acts than by His words, for the life of Christ is a discovery of all the attributes of God in action. If you want to know the gentleness of God, you perceive Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them. If you would know His condescension, behold the loving Redeemer taking little children into His arms and blessing them. If you would know whether God is just, hear the words of a Savior as He denounces sin--and observe His own life--for He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Would you know the mercy of God as well as His justice? Then see it manifested in the ten thousand miracles of the Savior's hands, and in the constant sympathy of the Redeemer's heart. I cannot stay to bring out all the incidents in the Redeemer's life, nor even to give you a brief sketch of it, but suffice it to say that the life of Christ is a perpetual unrolling of the great mystery of the Divine attributes, and you may rest assured that what Jesus is, that the Father is. You need not start back from the Father, as though He were something strange and unrevealed, for you have seen the Father if you have seen Christ. And if you have studied well and drunk deep into the spirit of the history of the Man of Sorrows, you understand, as well as you need to, the Character of God over all, blessed forever. Our Lord made the grandest declaration of the Godhead in His death-- "Here His whole name appears complete, Nor wit can guess, nor reason trace, Which of the letters best is writ-- The power, the wisdom, or the Grace." There at Calvary, where He suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God, we see the Godhead resplendent in noonday majesty, albeit that to the natural eye it seems to be eclipsed in midnight gloom. Would you see stern justice such as the Judge of all the earth perpetually exhibits (for shall not He do right)? Would you see the justice that will not spare the guilty, which smites at sin with determined enmity and will not endure it? Then behold the hands and feet, and side of the Redeemer welling up with crimson blood! Behold His heart broken as with an iron rod, dashed to shivers as though it were a potter's vessel! Hearken to His cries. Mark the lines of grief that mar His face. Behold the turmoil, the confusion, the whirlwinds of anguish which seethe like a boiling caldron within the soul of the Redeemer! Here is the vengeance of God revealed to men so that they may see it and not die--may behold it and weep--but not with the tears of despair! At the same time, if you would see the Grace of God, where shall you discover it as you will in the death of Jesus? God's bounty gleams in the light, flashes in the rain and sparkles in the dew. It blossoms in the flowers that paint the meadows, and it ripens in the golden sheaves of autumn. All God's works are full of goodness and truth! Even on the sea itself are the steps of the beneficent Creator--but all this does not meet the case of guilty, condemned man. Therefore, to the eye of him who has learned to weep for sin, Nature does not reveal the goodness of God in any such a light as that which gleams from the Cross. Best of all is God seen as He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." "For God commends His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Your thoughtful minds will readily discover every one of the great qualities of Deity in our dying Lord. You have only to linger long enough amidst the wondrous scenes of Gethsemane, and Gabbatha, and Golgotha to observe how power and wisdom, Grace and vengeance, strangely join-- "Piercing His Son with sharpest smart, To make the purchased blessing mine." Beloved, in the midst of the Brethren a dying Savior declares the name of the Lord and thus magnifies the Lord as no other can. None of the harps of angels, nor the fiery, flaming sonnets of cherubs can glorify God as did the wounds and pangs of the great Substitute when He died to make His Father's Grace and justice known. Our Lord continued to declare God's name among His Brethren when He rose from the dead. He did so literally. Among the very first words He said were, "Go to My Brethren," and His message was, "I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God." His life on earth after His resurrection was brief, but it was very rich and instructive, and in itself a showing forth of Divine faithfulness. He further revealed the faithfulness and glory of God when He ascended on high, leading captivity captive. It must have been an august day when the Son of God actually passed the pearly gates to remain within the walls of Heaven enthroned until His second advent! How must the spirits ofjust men made perfect have risen from their seats of bliss to gaze on Him! They had not seen a risen one before. Two had passed into Heaven without death, but none had entered into Glory as risen from the dead. He was the first instance of immortal resurrection, "the First Fruits of them that slept." How angels adored Him! How holy beings wondered at Him while-- "The God shone gracious through the Man, And shed sweet glories on them all!" Celestial spirits saw the Lord that day as they had never seen before! They had worshipped God, but the excessive splendor of absolute Deity had forbidden the sacred familiarity with which they hailed the Lord in flesh arrayed. They were never so near Jehovah before, for in Christ the Godhead veiled its thrilling splendors, and wore the aspect of a fatherhood and brotherhood most near and dear. Enough was seen of Glory, as much as finite beings could bear, but still the whole was so sweetly shrouded in humanity that God was declared in a new and more delightful manner--such as made Heaven ring with newborn joy! What if I say that I think a part of the occupation of Christ in Heaven is to declare to perfect spirits what He suffered, how God sustained Him? To reveal to them the Covenant and all its solemn bonds--how the Lord ordained it, how He made it firm by Suretyship, and based it upon eternal settlements--so that everlasting mercy might flow from it? What if it is not true that there is no preaching in Heaven? What if Christ is the Preacher there, speaking as never man spoke and forever instructing His saints that they may make known unto principalities and powers yet more fully the manifold wisdom of God as revealed both in Him and in them--in them the members, and in Him the Head? I think, if it is so, it is a sweet fulfillment of this dying vow of our blessed Master, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren." But, Brothers and Sisters, it is certain that at this hour our Lord Jesus Christ continues to fulfill the vow by the spreading of His Gospel on earth. Do not tell me that the Gospel declares God, but that Jesus does not! I would remind you that the Gospel does not declare God apart from the Presence of Jesus Christ with the Gospel. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world," is the Gospel's true life and power. Take Christ's Presence away and all the doctrines, and the precepts, and the invitations of the Gospel would not declare God to this blind-eyed generation--this hard-hearted multitude! But where Jesus is by His Spirit, there is the Word the Father declares. And, my Brethren, this great process will go on. All through the present dispensation Christ will declare God to the sons of men--especially to the elect sons of men, to His own Brothers and Sisters. Then shall come the latter days of which we know so little, but of which we hope so much. Then, in that august period there will be a declaration, no doubt, of God in noonday light, for it shall be said, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell among them." Of that age of light Jesus shall be the sun! The great Revealer of Deity shall still be the Son of Mary, the Man of Nazareth, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace! We shall, each one of us, tell abroad the savor of His name till He shall come. And then we shall have no need to say one to another, "Know the Lord," for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest--and know the Lord for this reason, because they know Christ, and have seen Jehovah in the Person of Jesus Christ His Son. I cannot leave this passage without bidding you treasure up that precious word of our Master, "I will declare Your name unto My brethren"-- "Our next of kin, our Brother now, Is He to whom the angels bow. They join with us topraise His name, But we the nearest interest claim." "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." "For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." The Savior's Brethren are to know God in Christ. You who are one with Jesus--you who have been adopted into the same family--have been regenerated and quickened with His life. You who are joined together by an indissoluble union, you are to see the Lord. I said an indissoluble union, for a wife may be divorced, but there is no divorce of Brethren. I never heard of any law, human or Divine, that could ever "unbrother" a man! That cannot be done--if a man is my brother, he is and shall be my brother when Heaven and earth shall pass away. Am I Jesus' brother? Then I am joint heir with Him. I share in all He has and all that God bestows upon Him. His Father is My Father. His God is My God. Feast, my Brethren, on this dainty meat, and go your way in the strength of it to bear the trials of earth with more than patience! The example of our Lord, under this first head, I must hint at and leave. It is this--if the Lord Jesus Christ declares God, especially to His own Brethren, be it your business and mine, in order to praise Jehovah, to tell what we know of the excellence and surpassing glories of our God! And especially let us do it to our kinsfolk, our household, our neighbors, and, since all men are in a sense our brethren, let us speak of Jesus wherever our lot is cast. My Brothers and Sisters, I wish we talked more of our God-- "But ah! how faint our praises rise! Sure 'tis the wonder of the skies, That we, who share His richest love, So cold and unconcerned should prove." How many times this week have you praised the dear Redeemer to your friends? Have you done it once? I do it often officially--but I wish I did it more often spontaneously and personally--to those with whom I may commune by the way. You have doubtless murmured this week, or spoken against your neighbors, or spread abroad some small amount of scandal, or, it may be, you have talked frothily and with levity. It is even possible that impurity has been in your speech--even a Christian's language is not always so pure as it should be. Oh, if we saved our breath to praise God with, how much wiser! If our mouths were filled with the Lord's praise and with His honor all the day, how much holier! If we would but speak of what Jesus has done for us, what good we might accomplish! Why, every man speaks of what he loves! Men can hardly hold their tongues about their inventions and their delights. Speak well, O you faithful, of the Lord's name! I pray you, be not dumb concerning One who deserves so well of you! Make this the resolve of this Sabbath morning, "I will declare Your name unto my Brethren." 2. Our Master's second form of praise in the text is of a more direct kind--"In the midst of the congregation will I praise You." Is it a piece of imagination, or does the text really mean this, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, adores and worships the eternal God in Heaven, and is, in fact, the great Leader of the devotions of the skies? Shall I err if I say that they all bow when He as Priest adores the Lord, and all lift up the voice at the lifting up of His sacred psalmody? Is He the chief Musician of the sky, the Master of the sacred choir? Does He beat time for all the hallelujahs of the universe? I think so. I think He means just that in these words: "In the midst of the congregation will I praise You." As God, He is praised forever--far above all worshipping--He is Himself forever worshipped! But as Man, the Head of redeemed humanity, the ever-living Priest of the Most High God, I believe that He praises Jehovah in Heaven. Surely it is the office of the Head to speak and to represent the holy joys and devout aspirations of the whole body which He represents. In the midst of the congregations of earth, too, is not Jesus Christ the sweetest of all singers? I like to think that when we pray on earth our prayers are not alone, but our great High Priest is there to offer our petitions with His own. When we sing on earth it is the same. Is not Jesus Christ in the midst of the congregation--gathering up all the notes which come from sincere lips--to put them into the golden censer, and to make them rise as precious incense before the Throne of the infinite majesty? So then, He is the great singer rather than we! He is the chief player on our stringed instruments, the great master of true music! The worship of earth comes up to God through Him, and He, He is the accepted channel of all the praise of all the redeemed universe! I am anticipating the day--I hope we are all longing for it--when the dead shall rise and the sea and land shall give up the treasured bodies of the saints. Then glorified spirits shall descend to enliven their renovated frames, and we who are alive and remain shall be changed and made immortal, and the King Himself shall be revealed! Then shall be trod under our feet all the ashes of our enemies! Satan, bound, shall be held beneath the foot of Michael, the great archangel, and victory shall be on the side of truth and righteousness. What a "Hallelujah" that will be which shall peal from land and sea and from islands of the far-off main--"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" Who will lead that song? Who shall be the first to praise God in that day of triumph? Who first shall wave the palm of victory? Who but He who was first in the fight and first in the victory? Who but He who trod the winepress alone and stained His garments with the blood of His enemies? Who but He that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Surely He it is who in the midst of the exulting host, once militant and then triumphant, shall magnify and adore Jehovah's name forever and forever! Has He not Himself said it, "My praise shall be of You in the great congregation"? What does that expression mean which is so hard to be understood, "Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father"? What does that dark saying mean, "And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son of God also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be All in All"? Whatever they may mean, they seem to teach us the mediatorial crown and government are temporary and intended only to last until all rule, authority and power are put down by Jesus--and the rule of God shall be universally acknowledged. Jesus cannot renounce His Godhead. But His mediatorial sovereignty will be yielded up to Him from whom it came--and that last solemn act in which He shall hand back to His Father the all-subduing scepter will be a praising of God to a most wonderful extent beyond human conception! We wait and watch for it, and we shall behold it in the time appointed. Beloved Friends, we also have in this second part an example--let us endeavor to praise our God in a direct manner. We ought to spend at least a little time every day in adoring contemplation. Our private devotions are scarcely complete if they consist altogether of prayer. Should there not be praise? If possible, during each day, sing a hymn. Perhaps you are not in a position to sing it aloud--or very loud, at any rate--but I would hum it if I were you. Many of you working men find time enough to sing a silly song--why cannot you find space for the praise of God? Every day let us praise Him when the eyelids of the morning first are opened, and when the curtains of the night are drawn. Yes, and at midnight--if we wake at that solemn hour--let the heart put fire to the sacred incense and present it unto the Lord that lives forever and ever. In the midst of the congregation, also, whenever we come up to God's House, let us take care that our praise is not merely lip language, but that of the heart! Let us all sing, and so sing that God Himself shall hear. We want more than the sweet sounds which die upon mortal ears--we want the deep melodies which spring from the heart--and which enter into the ears of the immortal God. Imitate Jesus, then, in this twofold praise, the declaring of God, and the giving of direct praise to Him. II. My time almost fails me, and I have need of much of it, for now I come to the second head, OUR LORD'S EXHORTATION. Follow me earnestly, my dear Brothers and Sisters, and then follow me practically, also. The exhortations of the second verse are given to those who fear God, who have respect to Him, who tremble to offend Him, who carry with them the consciousness of His Presence into their daily lives and who act towards Him as obedient children towards a father. The exhortation is further addressed to the seed of Jacob, to those in covenant with God, to those who have despised the pottage and chosen the birthright, to those who, if they have had to sleep with a stone for their pillow, have, nevertheless, seen Heaven opened and enjoyed a revelation of God. It is addressed to those who know what prevalence in prayer means, to those who, in all their trouble, have yet found that all these things are not against them, but work their everlasting good, for Jesus is yet alive and they shall see Him before they die. It is, moreover, directed to the seed of Israel--to those who once were in Egypt in spiritual bondage, who have been brought out of slavery, who are being guided through the wilderness, fed with Heaven's manna and made to drink of the living Rock. It is directed to those who worship the one God and Him only, and put away their idols and desire to be found always obedient to the Master's will. Now, to them it is said, first, "Praise Him." Praise Him vocally. I wish that in every congregation every child of God would take pains to praise God with his mouth as well as with his heart. Do you know, I have noticed one thing--I have jotted this down in the diary of my recollection--that you always sing best when you are most spiritual! Last Monday night the singing was very much better than it was on Sabbath evening. You kept better time and better tune, not because the tune was any easier, but because you had come up to worship God with more solemnity than usual--and therefore there was no slovenly singing such as pains my ear and heart sometimes. Why, some of you care so little to give the Lord your best music, that you fall half a note behind the rest! Others of you are singing quite a false note, and a few make no sound of any kind! I hate to enter a place of worship where half-a-dozen sing to the praise and glory of themselves, and the rest stand and listen. I like that good old plan of everybody singing--singing their best-- singing carefully and heartily. If you cannot sing artistically, never mind, you will be right enough if you sing from the heart and pay attention to it--and do not drawl out like a musical machine that has been set and runs on mechanically. With a little care the heart brings the art, and the heart desiring to praise will, by-and-by, train the voice to time and tune. I would have our service of song to be of the best. I care not for the fineries of music and the prettiness of chants and anthems. As for instrumental music, I fear that it often destroys the singing of the congregation and detracts from the spirituality and simplicity of worship. If I could crowd a house 20 times as big as this by the fine music which some Churches delight in, God forbid I should touch it! Let us have the best and most orderly harmony we can make--let Believers come with their hearts in the best humor and their voices in the best tune--and let them take care that there be no slovenliness and discord in the public worship of the Most High. Take care to praise God also mentally. The grandest praise that floats up to the Throne of God is that which rises from silent contemplation and reverent thought. Sit down and think of the greatness of God-- His love, His power, His faithfulness, His sovereignty--and as your mind bows prostrate before His majesty you will have praised Him, though not a sound shall have come from you! Praise God, also, by your actions. Your sacrifice to Him of your property--your offering to Him, week by week, of your substance. This is true praise and far less likely to be hypocritical than the mere thanksgiving of words. "You that fear the Lord, praise Him." The text adds, "Glorify Him, you seed of Jacob"--another form of the same thing. Glorify God--that is, let others know of His glory. Let them know of it from what you say, but specially let them know of it from what you are. Glorify God in your business, in your recreations, in your shops and in your households. In whatever you eat and drink, glorify the Lord! In the most common actions of life wear the vestments of your sacred calling and act as a royal priesthood serving the Most High. Glorify your Creator and Redeemer! Glorify Him by endeavoring to spread abroad the Gospel which glorifies Him. Magnify Christ by explaining to men how by believing they shall find peace in Him. Glorify God by yourself--boldly relying on His Word in the teeth of afflicting Providence and over the head of all suspicions and mistrust. Nothing can glorify God more than an Abrahamic faith which staggers not at the promise through unbelief. O you wrestling seed of Jacob, see to it that you fall not off in the matter of glorifying your God! Lastly, the text says, "Fear Him," as if this were one of the highest methods of praise. Walk in His sight. Constantly keep the Lord before you. Let Him be at your right hand. Sin not, for in so doing you dishonor Him. Suffer rather than sin. Choose the burning fiery furnace rather than bow down before the golden image. Be willing to be despised sooner than God should be despised. Be content to bear the cross, rather than Jesus should be crucified afresh. Be sooner put to shame, than Jesus should be put to shame. Thus you will truly praise and magnify the name of the Most High. I must close by a few remarks which are meant to assist you to carry out the spirit and teaching of this sermon. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, this morning I felt, before I came to this place, very much in the spirit of adoring gratitude. I cannot communicate that to you, but the Spirit of God can. And the thoughts that helped me to praise God were something like these--let me give them to you as applied to yourselves--glorify and praise God for He has saved you-- has saved you from Hell--saved you for Heaven. Oh, how much is comprehended in the fact that you are saved! Think of the election which ordained you to salvation! Think of the Covenant which secured salvation to you! Think of the Incarnation by which God came to you, and the precious blood by which you now have been made near to God! Hurry not over those thoughts though I must shorten my words. Linger at each one of these sacred fountains and drink--and when you have seen what salvation involves in the past--think of what it means in the future. You shall be preserved to the end! You shall be educated in the school of Divine Grace! You shall be admitted into the home of the blessed in the land of the hereafter. You shall have a resurrection most glorious, and an immortality most illustrious! When days and years are passed, a crown shall adorn your brow, a harp of joy shall fill your hand. All this is yours, Believer--and will you not praise Him? Make any one of them stand right out, as real to you personally, and I think you will say, "Should I refuse to sing, surely the very stones would speak." Your God has done more than this for you. You are not barely saved, like a drowning man just dragged to the bank--you have had more given you than you ever lost! You have been a gainer by Adam's fall! You might almost say, as one of the fathers did, O beata culpa, "O happy fault," which put me into the position to be so richly endowed as now I am! Had you stood in Adam, you had never been able to call Jesus, "Brother," for there had been no need for Him to become Incarnate! You had never been washed in the precious blood, for then it had no need to be shed! Jesus has restored that to you which He took not away. He has not merely lifted you from the dunghill to set you among men, but to set you among princes, even the princes of His people. Think of the bright roll of promises, of the rich treasure of Covenant provision, of all that you have already had and all that Christ has guaranteed to you of honor, and glory, and immortality--and will you not in the midst of the congregation praise the Lord? Brothers and Sisters, some of us have had special cause for praising God in the fact that we have seen many saved during the last three weeks, and among them those dear to us. Mothers, can you hear the fact without joy? Your children saved! Brothers, your sisters saved! Fathers, your sons and daughters saved! How many has God brought in during the last few weeks? And you Sunday school teachers who have been the instruments of this--you conductors of our classes who have been honored of God to be spiritual parents! You elders and deacons who have helped us so nobly, and who have now to share the joy of the pastor's heart in these conversions--will you not bless God? "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Your name be praise." But oh, we cannot be silent! Not one tongue shall be silent! We will all magnify and bless the Most High! Brothers and Sisters, if these do not suffice to make us praise Him, I would say think of God's own glorious Self! Think of Father, Son, and Spirit--and what the triune Jehovah is in His own Person and attributes--and if you do not praise Him, oh, how far must you have backslidden! Remember the host who now adore Him! When we bless Him, we stand not alone--angels and archangels are at our right hand--cherubim and seraphim are in the same choir! The notes of redeemed men go not up alone--they are united to, and swollen by the unceasing flood of praise which flows from the hierarchy of angels! Think, Beloved, of how you will soon praise Him! How, before many days and weeks are passed, many of us will be with the glorious throng! This last week three of our number have been translated to the skies--more links to Heaven--fewer bonds to earth. They have gone before us. We had almost said, "Would God it were our lot instead of theirs!" They have seen, now, what eye has not seen, and heard what ear has never heard--and their spirits have drunk in what they could not otherwise have conceived! We shall soon be there! Meanwhile, let each one of us sing-- "I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise: Oh, for some heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies! There you that love my Savior sit, There I would gladly have a place Among your thrones, or at your feet, So I might see His face." __________________________________________________________________ The Centurion's Faith and Humility A Sermon (No. 800) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 15, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [13]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him, Lord, trouble not Yourself: for Iam not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Why neither thought I myself worthy to come unto You: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For Ialso am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it." Luke 7:6-8. THE greatest light may enter into the darkest places. We may find the choicest flowers blooming where we least expected them. Here was a Gentile, a Roman soldier--a soldier clothed with absolute power--and yet a tender master, a considerate citizen, a lover of God! Let no man, therefore, be despised because of his calling, and let not the proverb, "Can any good come out of Nazareth?" be ever heard from the wise man's lips. The best of pearls have been found in the darkest caves of the ocean. Why should it not be so, still, that God should have even in Sardis a few that have not defiled their garments--who shall walk with Christ in white--for they are worthy. Let no man think that because of his position in society he cannot excel in virtue. It is not the place which is to blame, but the man. If your heart is right, the situation may be difficult but the difficulty is to be overcome! Yes, and out of that difficulty shall arise an excellence which you had not otherwise known. Say not in your heart, "I am a soldier, and the barracks cannot minister to piety--therefore I may live as I wish because I cannot live as I should." Say not, "I am a working man in the midst of those who blaspheme, and therefore it were vain for me to talk of holiness and piety." No, rather remember that in such a case it is your duty specially not only to talk of these precious things, but to wear them about you as your daily ornament! Where should the lamp be placed but in the room which else were dark? Rest assured your calling and your position shall be no excuse for your sin if you continue in it. Neither shall your condition be any apology for the absence of integrity and virtue if these are not found in you. Concerning the centurion, we may remark that perhaps we had never heard of him though he loved his servant. Perhaps we had never read his name, though he tenderly nursed his slave. Perhaps he had found no place in the record of Inspiration, though he loved the Jewish nation and built them a synagogue--nor had we read the story of his life, though he had become a proselyte to the Jewish faith. The one thing which gives him a place in these sacred pages is this--he was a believer in the Messiah--he was such a believer in the Son of God that Jesus said concerning him, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." There is the vital point. There, my Hearer, is the notable matter which shall enroll you among the blessed! If you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life! But if you believe not in Him, your outward excellencies, however admirable, shall avail you little. The faith of the centurion is described both in the eighth chapter of Matthew, and in the chapter before us as being of the highest kind. But the remarkable point in it is that it was coupled with the very deepest humility. The same man who said, "Say in a word, and my servant shall be healed," also said, "I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof." In bringing before you this noble soldier's example, these are two pivots upon which the discourse shall turn. I shall direct you to this double star shining with so mild a radiance in the sky of Scripture. This man's deep humility was not injurious to the strength of his faith, and his gigantic faith was by no means hostile to his deep humiliation. I. To begin, then, THE HUMILITY OF THE CENTURION WAS NOT AT ALL INJURIOUS TO THE STRENGTH OF HIS FAITH. Observe his humble expressions--he avowed that he was not worthy to come to Jesus. "Neither," said he, "thought I myself worthy to come unto You." And then he further felt that he was not worthy that Jesus should come to him. "I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof." Was this self-abasement occasioned by the remembrance that he was a Gentile? That may have contributed to it. Was it because he was penitent on account of sundry rough and boisterous deeds which had stained his soldier life? It may be so. Was it not far rather because he had had a deep insight into his own heart and had learned to see sin in its true colors? And therefore he who was worthy, according to the statement of the Jews, was most unworthy in his own apprehension. You may have noticed in the biography of some eminent men how badly they speak of themselves. Southey, in his "Life of Bunyan," seems at a difficulty to understand how Bunyan could have used such depreciating language concerning his own character. For it is true, according to all we know of his biography, that he was not, except in the case of profane swearing, at all so bad as the most of the villagers. Indeed, there were some virtues in the man which were worthy of all commendation. Southey attributes it to a morbid state of mind, but we rather ascribe it to a return of spiritual health! Had the excellent poet seen himself in the same heavenly light as that in which Bunyan saw himself, he would have discovered that Bunyan did not exaggerate but was simply stating, as far as he could, a truth which utterly surpassed his powers of utterance. The great light which shone around Saul of Tarsus was the outward type of that inner light above the brightness of the sun which flashes into a regenerate soul and reveals the horrible character of the sin which dwells within. Believe me, when you hear Christians making abject confessions, it is not that they are worse than others, but that they see themselves in a clearer light than others. And this centurion's unworthiness was not because he had been more vicious than other men--on the contrary, he had evidently been much more virtuous than the common run of mankind--but it was because he saw what others did not see, and felt what others had not felt. Deep as was this man's contrition, overwhelming as was his sense of utter worthlessness, he did not doubt for a moment either the power or the willingness of Christ. As for the question of willingness, it does not come under remark at all! The leper had said, "If You will," but the centurion was so clear about Christ's willingness to relieve suffering humanity that it does not occur to him to mention it. He has long ago settled that matter--and now takes it for granted as a very axiom in the knowledge of Jesus--for such a One as He must be willing to do all the good which is asked of Him. Nor is he at all dubious about our Lord's power. The palsy which afflicted the servant was a remarkably grievous one--but it did not at all stagger the centurion. He felt not only that Jesus could heal it--could heal it at once, could heal it completely--but that He could heal it without moving a step from the place where He stood. Let but the word be uttered and in an instant his servant shall be healed! O glorious Humiliation, how low you stoop! O noble Faith, how high you soar! Brothers and Sisters, if we can imitate this noble character in both respects--in the depth of his foundation and in the height of his pinnacle--how near to the model of the temple of God shall we be built up! Empty, indeed, he was, having nothing of his own. Not worthy to receive, much less indulging a thought of giving anything to Christ, and yet confident that all things are possible with the Master and that He both can and will do according to our faith--and that in a manner gloriously unveiling His kingly power. My dear Friends, especially you who are under concern of soul, you feel unworthy--that is not a mistaken feeling--you are so! You are much distressed by reason of this unworthiness, but if you knew more of it you might be more distressed still, for the apprehension which you already have of your sinfulness, although it is very painful, does not at all reach to the full extent of it. You are much more sinful than you think you are. You are much more unworthy than you yet know yourself to be. Instead of attempting a foolish and wicked soothing of your dark thoughts, and saying, "you have morbid ideas of yourself, you ought not so to speak," I rather pray you to believe that yours is an utterly hopeless case apart from Christ--that in your spiritual nature the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. I want you not to film the horrible ulcer of your depravity with specious hopes and professions. I desire you not to look upon this disease as though it were but skin deep--it lies in the source and fountain of your life--and poisons your heart! The flames of Hell must assuredly wrap themselves about you unless Christ interposes to save you. You have no merit of any kind or sort--nor will you ever have any. And more, you have no power to escape from your lost condition unaided by the Savior's hand. Without Christ you can do nothing, for you are abjectly poor, hopelessly bankrupt and you cannot by the utmost diligence make yourself any other than you are! No words that I can utter can exaggerate your deplorable condition, and no feelings which you can ever experience can represent your real state in colors too alarming. You are not worthy that Christ should come to you! You are not worthy to draw near to Christ! But, and here is a glorious contrast--never let this for a single moment interfere with your full belief that He who is God but who took our nature--that He who suffered in our stead upon the Cross--that He who now rules in the highest heavens is able to do for you, and willing to do for you, exceeding abundantly above what you ask or even think! Your inability does not prevent the working of His power! Your unworthiness cannot put fetters to His bounty or limits to His Grace. You may be an ill-deserving sinner but that is no reason why He should not pardon you! You may be, in your own apprehension, and truthfully so, the most unworthy that He ever stooped to bless! Yet that is no reason why He should not condescend to press you to His bosom--to accept and to save you! I wish that as the first Truth of God has impressed itself deeply upon you, the second Truth may with equal force take up the possession of your heart, that Jesus Christ is "able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him"--and He is as willing as He is able! Your emptiness does not affect His fullness! Your weakness does not alter His power! Your inability does not diminish His Omnipotence! Your vileness does not restrain the heart of His love which freely moves towards the very vilest of the vile! By some means Satan almost always manages it this way--that when we get a little hope it is generally a self-grounded hope--a vain idea that we are getting better in ourselves. It is a mischievous conceit--proud flesh which hinders the cure and which the Surgeon must cut out--it is no sign of healing, it prevents healing. On the other hand, if we obtain a deep sense of sin, the Evil One manages to put his hoof in there and to insinuate that Jesus is not able to save such as we are. That is a great falsehood, for who shall say what the limit of Christ's power is? But if these two things could but meet together--a thorough sense of sin and an immovable belief in the power of Christ to grapple with sin and to overcome it--surely the kingdom of Heaven would then have come near unto us in power and in truth! And then it would be again said, "I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel." Now, you troubled hearts, I have this word for you, and then I shall pass on to another point. Your sense of your unworthiness, if it is properly used, should drive you to Christ. You are unworthy, but Jesus died for the unworthy! Jesus did not die for those who profess to be by nature good and deserving, for the whole have no need of a physician. It is written, "In due time Christ died for the ungodly." "Who gave Himself for our"--what? "Excellencies and virtues?" No--"who gave Himself for our sins, according to the Scriptures." We read that He "suffered, the Just for the"--for the "just?" By no means, "the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God." Gospel pharmacy is for the sick! Gospel bread is for the hungry! Gospel fountains are open to the unclean! Gospel water is given to the thirsty! You who need not shall not have--but you who need it may freely come. Let your huge and painful needs impel you to fly to Jesus! Let the vast cravings of your insatiable spirit compel you to come to Him in whom all fullness dwells! Your unworthiness should act as a wing to bear you to Christ, the sinner's Savior. It should also have this effect upon you--it should prevent your raising those scruples and making those demands which are such a hindrance to some persons finding peace. The proud spirit says, "I must have signs and wonders, or I will not believe. I must feel deep convictions and horrible tremors--or I must quake because of dreams or threatening texts applied to me with awful power." Ah, but, unworthy one, if you are truly humbled, you will not dare to ask for these! You will have done with demands and stipulations! You will cry, "Lord, give me but a word! Speak but a word of promise, and it shall be enough for me. Do but say to me, 'Your sins are forgiven you.' Give me but half a text! Give me one kind assuring word to sink my fears against, and I will believe it and rest upon it." Thus your sense of unworthiness should lead you to a simple faith in Jesus and prevent your demanding those manifestations which the foolish so eagerly and impudently require. Beloved, it has come to this--you are so unworthy that you are shut out of every hope but Christ! All other doors are fast nailed against you. If there is anything to be done for salvation, you cannot do it. If there is any fitness needed, you have it not. Christ comes to you and tells you that there is no fitness needed for coming to Him, but that if you will but trust Him He will save you! I think I hear you say, "Then, my Lord, since it has come to this-- 'I can but perish if I go; I am resolved to try For if I stay away, I know I must forever die.' And so, sink or swim, upon Your precious Atonement, I cast my guilty soul persuaded that You are able to save even such a one as I am. And I am so thoroughly persuaded of the goodness of Your heart that I know You will not cast away a poor trembler who comes to You and takes You to be his only ground of trust." II. I shall want you, for a moment, to attend while we shift the text to the other quarter. THE CENTURION'S GREAT FAITH WAS NOT AT ALL HOSTILE TO HIS HUMILITY. His faith was extraordinary. It ought not to be extraordinary. We ought all of us to believe as well in Christ as this soldier did. Observe the form it took--he said to himself, "I am a subordinate officer, under authority. I am not the Commander-in-Chief, I am merely the commander of a troop of a hundred men, and yet over those hundred men I exert unlimited control. I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes. I say to the other, 'Come,' and he comes. "And my servant, my poor sick servant (his tender heart comes back to him, and he puts him into the illustration), I say to him, 'Do this,' and he does it at once. I am simply a petty officer, under authority myself; but yet such is the influence of discipline that there are no questions raised, no deliberations tolerated. No soldier turns round and tells me that I have set him too difficult a task. No one, out of all the troops, ever dares to say to me, 'I shall not do it.' " The power of discipline among the legions of Rome was exceedingly great. The commander had but to say, "Do it," and it was done, though thousands bled and died. "Now," argued the centurion, "This glorious man is the Son of God. He is not a subordinate--He is the Commander-in-Chief. If He gives the word, His will most surely must be done. Fevers and paralysis, good influences and bad, they must all be under His control--He can, therefore, heal my servant in a moment. Who can resist the great Caesar of Heaven and earth?" That was, I believe, the centurion's idea. Jesus has therefore but to will it, and to the utmost bounds of the earth those influences which are under His control will at once set to work to perform His will. The centurion pictured himself as sitting down in the house and effecting his desires without rising, by merely issuing an order. And his faith placed the Lord Jesus in the same position. "You need not come to my dwelling. You can stand here and if You will but say it, the cure will be worked at once." He did in his heart enthrone the Lord Jesus as a Captain over all the forces of the world, as the general issue of Heaven and earth--as, in fact, the Caesar--the imperial Governor of all the forces of the universe. It was graciously thought. It was poetically embodied. It was nobly spoken. It was gloriously believed--but it was the truth and nothing more than the truth--for universal dominion is really, today, in the power of Jesus. If He were a true Caesar before He died, while He was despised and rejected of men, much more now that He has trod through the winepress and stained His vesture with the blood of His vanquished enemies! Much more now that He has led captivity captive and sits enthroned by filial right at the right hand of God, even the Father! Much more now that God has sworn that He will put all things under His feet, and that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in Heaven, and things on earth and things that are under the earth! Much more, I say, can He now work according to His good pleasure. He has today but to speak and it is done--to command, and it shall stand fast. Beloved, see whether this truth bears us as on eagle's wings. Caesar has but to say, "Absolute," and his guilty subject is acquitted. Caesar has but to speak, and a province is conquered, an army routed. Stormy seas are navigated at Caesar's bidding--mountains are tunneled, the whole world shall be girded with military roads--Caesar is absolute and his will is law. So on earth, but so much more in Heaven. Let the imperial Caesar of Heaven but say, "I forgive," and the devils of Hell cannot accuse you. Let Him say, "I will help you," and who shall oppose? If Emmanuel is for you, who shall be against you? Let Him speak and the bonds of sinful habit must fall off, and the darkness in which your soul has long been immersed must give place to instantaneous light. He reigns as King, Lord over all! Let His name be blessed forever! Let each one of us, by our faith, give Him the honor that is due unto His name. All hail! great Emperor, once slain, but now forever Lord of Heaven and earth! Here is one point to which I remind you--this man's faith did not for a moment interfere with his thorough personal humiliation. Interfere with it? My Brethren, it was the source of it! It was the very foundation on which it rested. Don't you see, the higher his thoughts of Christ, the more unworthy he felt himself to be of the kind attentions of so good and great a Personage? If he had thought less of Jesus, he would not have said, "I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof." There was, of course, a sight of himself to humble him, but the far more wondrous vision of the glory of the Lord Jesus was the true root and parent of his self-abasement. Because Christ was so great he felt himself to be unworthy either to meet Him or entertain Him. Observe, my Brothers and Sisters, his faith acted upon his humility by making him content with a word from Christ. His faith said, "A word is enough--it will work the cure." And then his humility said, "Ah, how unworthy I am even of so little a thing as a word. If a word will work a miracle, it is so great and powerful a thing that it is more than I deserve. Therefore," said he, "I will not ask for more. I will not ask for footsteps when a sound will suffice. I will not clamor for His Presence when His wish can restore my servant to health." His believing that a word was enough made him humbly decline to pray for more--so that his confidence in Christ, instead of interfering with his sense of unworthiness--aided its manifestation. Brothers and Sisters, never think for a moment, as many foolish persons do, that strong faith in the Lord is necessarily pride--it is the reverse. It is one of the worst forms of pride to question the promise of God. When a man says, "Christ has promised to save those who trust Him. I have trusted Him, therefore I am saved. I know I am. I am sure of it, because God says so and I do not need any better evidence," that assurance is humility in action. But if a man says, "God has said that those who trust Him shall be saved. I do trust Him, but still I do not know that I am saved," why, you do as much as say you do not know whether God is a liar or not! And what more impertinent, what more proudly insulting thing than that? I know it is a most common thing to say, "It seems so presumptuous to say I know I am saved." I think it far more presumptuous to doubt, when God speaks positively, and to mistrust where the promise is plain! God says, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." If you believe and are baptized, if God is true, you shall be saved--you are saved! There is no hoping about it--it is so. Let God be true and every man a liar--and far off from these lips the insinuation of a doubt that perhaps God can be false to His promise and may break His word. If you question anything, question whether you trust Christ! But that settled, the question is ended. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God. If you rest alone on Him, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you. Take God at His word as your child takes you at your word. It is not too much for God to ask--you ask it of your child. Though you are a poor fallible creature, you would not have your child mistrust you. Shall you be believed, and not your God? Shall your little one be expected to confide in you, though you are evil, and will not you believe the voice of your heavenly Parent to be the very Truth of God, and rest upon it? Ah, do so, I beseech you, and the more you do it, the more you will feel your unworthiness to do so! It astounds me to think that I shall be saved! It amazes me to think I shall be washed from my every sin in the precious blood of Christ--that I shall be set upon a rock and a new song shall be put into my mouth. It astounds me, and as I think of it, I say, "How unworthy I am of such favors! I am less than the least of all the benefits which You have bestowed upon me." Your faith will not murder your humility. Your humility will not stab at your faith--the two will go hand in hand to Heaven like a brave brother and a fair sister--the one bold as a lion--the other meek as a dove. The one rejoicing in Jesus--the other blushing at self. Blessed pair, gladly would I entertain you in my heart all the days of my pilgrimage on earth! I have thus, as best I could, brought before you the example of the centurion with a few incidental lessons. Now for the APPLICATION, with as much earnestness and brevity as we can summon. The application shall be to three sorts of people. First, we speak to distressed minds deeply conscious of their unworthiness. Jesus Christ is able and willing to save you this very morning! What is the form of your distress? Is it that your sins are great? Believe, I charge you, and may God the Holy Spirit help you--believe that all your sins Christ can pardon now! Do you see Him upon yonder Cross? He is Divine, but how He bleeds! He is Divine, but how He groans! He smarts! He dies! Do you believe that any sin is too great for those sufferings to put away? Do you think the Son of God offered an inadequate Atonement? An Atonement of which you can say there is a limit to its efficacy beyond which it cannot operate for the salvation of Believers, so that after all, sin is greater than the sacrifice, and the filth is more full of defilement than the blood is of purification? O crucify not Christ afresh by doubting the power of the eternal God! My Brothers and Sisters, when in the stillness of the starry night we look up to the orbs of Heaven and remember the marvelous truths which astronomy has revealed to us of the magnificence, the inconceivable majesty of creation--if we then reflect that the infinite God who made all these became Man for us, and that as Man He was fastened to the transverse wood and bled to death for us--why, it will appear to us that if all the stars were crowded with inhabitants and all those inhabitants had, everyone, been rebellious against God and had steeped themselves up to the very throat in scarlet crimes, there must be efficacy enough in the blood of such a One as God Himself Incarnate to take all their sins away! For this great miracle of miracles--God Himself paying honor to His own justice by suffering a substitutionary death--is an exhibition of infinite severity and love which far down eternity must appear so glorious as utterly to swallow up the remembrance of creature sin and to put it altogether out of sight! Yes, Sinner, believe that this moment the sins of 50 years can drop from off you, yes, of 70 or 80 years--that in an instant, you who are as black as Hell can be pure as Heaven if Jesus says the word! If you believe in Him it is done--for to trust Him is to be clean. Perhaps, however, your difficulty is to get rid of a hardness of heart. You feel that you cannot repent--but cannot Jesus make you repent by His Spirit? Do you hesitate about that question? See the world a few months ago hard bound with frost, but how daffodil and crocus, and snowdrop have come up above that once frozen soil. See how snow and ice have gone and the genial sun shines! God does it readily with the soft breath of the south wind and the kind sunbeams, and He can do the same in the spiritual world for you. Believe He can, and ask Him now to do it, and you shall find that the rock of ice shall thaw--that huge horrible devilish iceberg of a heart of yours shall begin to drip with showers of crystal penitence which God shall accept through His dear Son. But, perhaps, it is some bad habit which gives you trouble. You have been long in it and can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? You cannot get rid of it! I know you cannot! It is a desperate evil. It drags you downward like the hands of demons pulling you from the surface of life's stream down into its black and horrid depths of death and defilement. Ah, I know your dreads and despairs, but Man, I ask you, cannot Jesus deliver? He has the key of your heart and He can turn it so that all its wheels shall revolve otherwise than now. He who shakes the earth with earthquakes, who sweeps the seas with tornados, can send a heart-quake and a storm of strong repentance, and tear up your old habits by the roots! He whose every act is wonderful can surely do what He will within this, the little world of your soul, since in the great world outside He rules as He pleases. Believe in His power and ask Him to prove it. He has but to say, in a word, and this matter of present distress shall be taken away. Still I hear you say, "I cannot." A horrible inability hangs over you. But it is not what you can do or cannot do-- these have nothing to do with it--it is what Jesus can do! Can there be anything too hard for the Lord? Can the Eternal Spirit ever be defeated when He wills to conquer in a man? Can He who "bears the earth's huge pillars up, and spreads the heavens abroad," who once was crucified, but who now ever lives--can He fail? Put your care into His hands, poor unable wretch, and ask Him to do for you what you cannot do for yourself--and according to your faith so shall it be unto you. A second application of our subject shall be made to the patient workers who are ready to faint. I know that in this house there are many who incessantly plead with God for their unconverted relatives and neighbors that they may be saved. You have pleaded long for your husband, or your son, or your daughter--but they have gone yet further into sin. Instead of answers to prayer, it seems as though Heaven laughed at your importunity. Take heed of one thing--do not suffer unbelief to make you think that the object of your care cannot be saved! While there is life there is hope. Yes, though they add drunkenness to lust, and blasphemy to drunkenness, and hardness of heart and impenitence to blasphemy, Jesus has but to say the word and they shall be turned, every one, from his evil way. Under the use of the means of Divine Grace it may be done, or even without the means it may be done. There have been men at work, or at their amusements--all in their wickedness--who have had impressions which have made them new men when it was least expected such a thing would occur! And those who have been the ringleaders in Satan's rebellious crew have frequently become the boldest captains in the army of Christ! There is no room for doubt as to the possibility of the salvation of anybody when Jesus gives the word of command. You are unchristian when you shut out the harlot from hope--when you exclude the thief from repentance or when you even despair of the murderer--for the big heart of God is greater than all your hearts put together! And the great thoughts of the loving Father are not as your thoughts when they climb the highest, neither are His ways your ways when they are at their utmost liberality. Oh, if your friend, your child, your wife, your husband, is a very devil incarnate--or if there are seven devils, or a legion of devils within him, while Christ lives never mutter the word, "despair"--for He can cast out the legion of evil spirits and impart His Holy Spirit instead! Therefore have faith. You are unworthy to receive the blessing, but have faith in Him who is so able to bestow it. Many of you are going to your classes this afternoon. Others of you will be engaged this evening in preaching the Gospel, and you are getting very faint-hearted because you do not see the success you so much desire. Well, perhaps it is good for you to feel how little you can do apart from Divine ministrations. May this humiliation of soul continue--but do not let it degenerate into a distrust of Him. If Christ were dead and buried, and had never risen, it were a horrible case for us poor preachers! But while Christ lives endowed with the residue of the eternal Spirit which He freely gives, we ought not so much as fear, much less despair. May the Church of God pluck up heart and feel that with a living Christ in the midst of her armies, victory shall before long wait upon her banners. The last application I shall make is the same as the second, only on a wider scale. There are many who are like watchers who have grown weary. We have heard that Christ comes--the great coming Man--and the Lord knows right well that there is pressing need for someone to come, for this poor old machine of a world creaks dreadfully and seems as though it were so laden with the sheaves of human sin that its axles would snap. God's infinite longsuffering has kept a crazy world from utter dissolution by a thousand helps and stays, but it is poor work, and seems to get worse and worse. Our state is rotten at the very core, both in business and politics. No man seems to succeed so well as he who has dispensed with his conscience and laughs at principles. All things are come to that point that there is need for some deliverer to come or else I do not know where we shall all go. And He will come, so the promise stands, and to those who wait for Him, His coming shall be as the beams of the day-star proclaiming the dawn. He is coming and at His coming there shall be a glorious time, a millennium, a period of light, and truth, and joy, and holiness, and peace! We are watching and waiting for it. But we say, "Ah, it is hopeless to think of converting the world! How is the Truth to be preached? Where are the tongues to speak it? How few proclaim it boldly! Where are the men to carry Christ's Cross to the utmost bounds of the globe and conquer nations for Him?" Ah, say not in your heart, "the former days were better than now." Write not a book of lamentation and say, "The Prophets, where are they? And the Apostles have gone and all the mighty confessors who lived and died for Christ have disappeared." At the lifting of His finger the Lord can raise up a thousand Jonahs for every city throughout the land! A thousand bold Isaiahs to declare His glory. He has but to bid it and companies of Apostles and armies of martyrs shall start up from the quiet nooks of old England's villages, or shall pour forth from the workshops of her cities. He can do wonders when He wills it! The worst plight of the Church is but the time when her flood has ebbed in order that it may return in the fullness of its strength! Have confidence, for even should the instruments fail and the ministry become a dead and effete thing, yet His coming shall accomplish His purposes. And when He appears, the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Jesus is not under authority. He has soldiers under Him and He has but to say to this spirit or to that, "Go," or "Come," and His will shall be done. He has but to quicken His Church by is Holy Spirit, and say, "Do this," and the impossible task shall be accomplished. What seems beyond all human skill or mortal hope shall be worked, and worked at once! When He says, "Do," it shall be done, and His name shall be praised! O for more faith and more self-abasement-- twin angels to abide in this assembly evermore! Go forth with us to battle and return with us from the victory! O Lord, the lover of humility, and the Author of faith, give us to be steeped in both for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Woman Which Was a Sinner A Sermon (No. 801) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 22, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [14]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment." Luke 7:37-38. THIS is the woman who has been confused with Mary Magdalene. How the error originated, it would not be easy to imagine, but error it certainly is. There is not the slightest shadow of evidence that this woman, who was a sinner, had even the remotest connection with her out of whom Jesus cast seven devils. In delivering you a sermon a few Sabbaths ago, upon the life of Mary of Magdala, [#792, Mary Magdalene, January 26, 1868] I think I showed you that it was hardly possible, and most improbable that she could have been a sinner in the sense here intended. And now I venture to affirm that there is as much evidence to prove that the woman in the narrative now before us, was the Queen of Sheba, or the mother of Sisera, as that she was Mary Magdalene--there is not a figment or fraction of evidence to be found! The fact is, there is no connection between the two. Further, the sinner before us is not Mary of Bethany, with whom so many have identified her. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, did anoint our Savior, but this is a previous anointing, by quite a different person, and the two narratives are altogether distinct. There is a great likeness, certainly, between the two. The principal persons were both women, full of ardent love to Christ. They both anointed the Lord with ointment--the name of Simon is connected with both, and they both wiped the Savior's feet with their hair. But it ought not to astonish you that there were two persons whose intense affection thus displayed itself--the astonishment should rather be that there were not 200 who did so, for the anointing of the feet of an honored friend was by no means so uncommon a token of respect among the Orientals as to be an unprecedented marvel. Loved as Jesus deserved to be, the marvel is that He was not more often visited with these generous tokens of human love. It is a pity to fuse two occasions into one, as though we grudged a double unction to the Anointed of the Lord. That both events should happen in the houses of persons named Simon is not at all remarkable--remember that the one was Simon the Pharisee, and the other Simon the leper--and that Simon is one of the most common of Jewish names. In our day a thing having happened in the house of a "John," and another thing like it in the house of another "John," would not be remarkable since Johns are exceedingly common among us, as were Simons in the days of our Lord. But that the two, or perhaps I should say three, anointings (for I am inclined to think there were three) are not the same is evident from the following reasons: they differ in time. Our Lord lived at least six months after His anointing by this woman, and if you follow the narrative you read in the very next chapter, "And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the Twelve were with Him." But when Mary anointed Him at Bethany, He said, "She did it for My burial," and our Lord was then within a very few days of His Crucifixion. The anointing by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, took place at Bethany (Matthew 26:6), but this occurred in Galilee, which is quite another quarter. Moreover, the fact itself was really a very different one, for although both women anoint Christ with ointment, yet there was a peculiar preciousness and power of perfume about the spikenard of the wealthier Mary which is not mentioned in the ointment of this woman of a lower position in life. Mary, according to John (John 12:3), poured out a whole pound of the costly nard, but such is not said of the humble offering of the woman that was a sinner. Matthew tells us that a woman poured the ointment on His head, but this poor penitent is only said to have anointed His feet. Tears are not mentioned in connection with Mary by either Matthew, Mark, or John, while they make a conspicuous feature in the love of the gracious mourner now before us. After the transaction there was an objection raised in both cases, but mark the great difference! In this case, Simon the Pharisee objected because she, being a sinner, was allowed to have such familiarity with the Lord. In the other case no such objection was raised to the person, but Judas Iscariot objected to her having been so profuse and extravagant in the abundance and costliness of the anointing, and murmured, saying that this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. If you confuse these two occurrences, you not only make an flagrant mistake, but you lose a precious lesson. This case now before us is the offering of a poor returning wanderer, who, under a deep sense of gratitude, brings the best she has to her Lord and is accepted by His Divine Grace. In the case of Mary of Bethany, it was an advanced saint--one who had sat at Jesus' feet and heard of Him, and had before chosen the good part which should not be taken away from her--and she brings a costly tribute as the offering of her deep, sincere affection which had grown and deepened by the receipt of many favors from His loving hand. The advanced Believer is more bold than the new convert. She anoints His head when the other only anoints His feet, but she is not less loving, for if there are fewer tears, there is a more costly spikenard. Jesus defended the penitent, and bade her go in peace. But in Mary's case there was no need to say, "Your sins are forgiven," for she already possessed that priceless gift! Our Lord, instead of merely defending, warmly eulogized her love, and declared, "Wherever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman has done, be told for a memorial of her." Thus much will suffice to show you that "the woman which was a sinner" is neither to be confused with Mary of Magdala on the one hand, or Mary of Bethany on the other. Let us learn to read our Bibles with our eyes open--to study them as men do the works of great artists--studying each figure and even each sweet variety of light and shade. But too long have we been controverting on the threshold of the text! Let us now lift the latch. Lo, on the table I see two savory dishes, let us feed thereon. Here are two silver bells, let us ring them! Their first note is Grace, and the second tone is Love. I. GRACE, the most costly of spikenard--this story literally drips with it--like those Oriental trees which bleed perfume, or as the spouse when she rose up to open to her Beloved, and her hands dropped with myrrh, and her fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. Grace, that gentle dew of Heaven, is here plenteously distilled and falls like small rain upon the tender herb. Grace--Sovereign, Distinguishing, Omnipotent--is exceedingly magnified in this narrative. Lo, I see it exalted upon a glorious high throne, with the king's daughter waiting as an honorable woman among its courtiers! 1. First, Grace is here glorified in its object. She was "a sinner"--a sinner not in the flippant, unmeaning, everyday sense of the term--but a sinner in the blacker, filthier, and more obnoxious sense. She had forsaken the guide of her youth and forgotten the Covenant of her God. She had sinned against the laws of purity and had made herself as a defiled thing. She had fallen into that deep ditch concerning which it is written, "The abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein." According to our Lord's parable, she was in comparison with the Pharisee as a 500-pence sinner, while the Pharisee was but as fifty. She was one of the scarlet sinners that we read of in Scripture--she sinned and made others to sin. Hers were offenses which provoke the Lord to jealousy and stir up His wrath. Yet, oh, miracle of miracles! she was an object of Distinguishing Grace, ordained unto eternal life! Why was this? On what legal grounds was she selected? For what merit was she chosen? Was this an extraordinary and out-of-the-way instance? By no means, dear Friends, for the Grace of God has frequently chosen the lowest of the low, and the vilest of the vile. Recollect how, in the pedigree of our Lord, you find the name of the shameless Tamar, the harlot Rahab, and the unfaithful Bathsheba, as if to indicate that the Savior of sinners would enter into near relationship with the most degraded and fallen of our race! This is, in fact, one of the dearest titles of our Lord, though it was hissed at Him from the lips of contempt, "A friend of publicans and sinners." This is Jesus' Character of which He is not ashamed: "This man receives sinners and eats with them." Free Grace has made no distinction among men on account of merit, whether false or real, if real there is. The Law has concluded us all in unbelief, and then the abounding Grace of God, looking upon us all as equally cast away and ruined both by Adam's Fall and by our own personal transgression, has predestinated and called whomever it would. Do you not hear from the Throne of Mercy the echoes of that Sovereign proclamation, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion"? Grace has pitched upon the most unlikely cases in order to show itself to be Grace! It has found a dwelling place for itself in the most unworthy heart--that its freeness might be the better seen. Do I address one who has greatly fallen? Let this thought comfort you, if your heart bewails your sin--let this give you hope of mercy--that in the election of Grace some of the grossest blasphemers, persecutors, thieves, fornicators and drunkards have been included--and in consequence thereof they have been forgiven, renewed, and made to live sober, righteous, and godly lives! Such as these have obtained mercy so that in them, first, God might show forth all longsuffering as a comfort and encouragement to others to cry unto the Lord for mercy. Grace reigns right majestically in the case before us, in that this particular sinner should be chosen. To choose a sinner was something, but to choose this one individual was even more astonishing! No doubt, she did in spirit ask herself, "Why me, Lord? Why me?" Had she been here this morning, she would sing as heartily as any of us-- "Oh, gift of gifts! Oh, Grace of faith! My God, how can it be That You, who has discerning love, Should give that gift to me? How many hearts You might have had More innocent than mine! How many souls more worthy far Of that pure touch of Yours! Ah, Grace! Into unlikeliest hearts It is Your boast to come; The glory of Your light to find In darkest spots a home." At yonder table sits Simon the Pharisee, a good respectable body, as he thinks himself to be, and yet no Divine choice has fallen upon him--while this poor harlot is elected by Distinguishing Grace! How can we account for this? Many there were in the city like to herself, some worse, some better--but Grace had marked her as its own. Oh strange, yet admirable Sovereignty! Now, it is possible that you may not be much taken with the glory of Grace in selecting her, but I will ask you whether you are not delighted with the Grace which separated you to be the Lord's? O Brothers and Sisters, when once a man discovers that God has chosen him--when he feels that Grace has broken his heart, has brought him to Christ and has covered him with a perfect righteousness--then he breaks out in wondering exclamations, "How could You have chosen me? What am I, and what is my father's house, that I should be taken into such royal favor?" The more a Believer looks within, the more he discovers reasons for Divine wrath and the less he believes in his own personal merit. How is the heart of a true Believer filled with adoring gratitude that ever the Lord's boundless love should have been pleased to settle and fix itself upon him! This is not so much for me to discourse upon as it is for your private meditations. I earnestly commend to you that precious thought, that Jehovah loved you from before the foundations of the world and chose you when He might have left you--chose you when He passed over thousands of the great and the noble, the wise, and the learned. The doctrine is not a dogma to be fought over, as dogs over a bone, but to be rejoiced in and turned to practical account as an incentive to reverent wonder and affectionate gratitude. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound, and the "woman which was a sinner," is now before us a weeping penitent. The sinner "of the city," a public sinner, is now openly a follower of the Holy One! 2. Grace is greatly magnified in its fruits. Who would have thought that a woman who had yielded her members to be servants of unrighteousness, to her shame and confusion, should have now become--what if I call her a maid of honor to the King of kings?--one of Christ's most favored servitors? She offered hospitalities to Jesus which the Pharisee omitted, and offered them in an infinitely better spirit and style than the Pharisee could have done if he had tried! Let us remark that the Grace of God brought this woman in a way of Providence to listen to the Savior's discourses. In a former part of this chapter it appears He had been preaching the Gospel, and more especially preaching it to the poor. Perhaps she stood in the street attracted by the crowd, and, as she listened to our Savior's talk, it seemed to hold her fast. She had never heard a man speak after that fashion and when He spoke of abounding mercy, and the willingness of God to accept as many as would come to Him, then the tears began to follow each other down her cheeks. And when she listened again to that meek and lowly Preacher and heard Him tell of the Father in Heaven who would receive prodigals and press them to His loving bosom, then her heart was fairly broken. She relinquished her evil traffic--she became a new woman, desirous of better things--anxious to be freed from sin. But she was greatly agitated in her heart with the question--could she, would she be really forgiven? Would such pardoning love as she had heard of reach even to her? She hoped so, and was in a measure comforted. Her faith grew, and with it an ardent love. The Spirit of God still worked with her till she enjoyed a feeble hope, a gleam of confidence! She believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, that He had appeared on earth to forgive sins and she rested on Him for the forgiveness of her sins and longed for an opportunity to do Him homage, and if possible to win a word direct from His mouth. The Lord of Mercy came to the city where she lived. "Now," she thought, "here is my opportunity. That blessed Prophet has come! The Man who spoke as never man spoke is near me and I have already derived such benefit from Him that I love Him better than all besides--I love Him as my own soul. I will steal into the house of the Pharisee that I may feast my eyes with the sight of Him." Now when she came to the door the Savior was reclining at His meat, according to the Oriental custom, and His feet were towards the door--for the Pharisee had but little respect for Christ and had not given Him the best and innermost place at the feast. But there He lay with His uncovered feet towards the door. And the woman, almost unperceived, came close to Him. And, as she looked and saw that the Pharisee had refused Him the ordinary courtesy of washing His feet, and that they were all stained and travel-worn with His long journeys of love, she began to weep, and the tears fell in such plenteous showers that they even washed His feet. Here was holy water of a true sort. The crystal of penitence falling in drops, each one as precious as a diamond! Never were feet bedewed with a more precious water than those penitent eyes showered forth. Then, unbinding those luxurious tresses which had been for her the devil's nets in which to entangle souls, she wiped the sacred feet with them. Surely she thought that her chief adornment, the crown and glory of her womanhood, was all too worthless a thing to do service to the lowest and meanest part of the Son of God. That which once was her vanity now was humbled and yet exalted to the lowest office--she made her eyes a pitcher and her locks a towel. "Never," says Bishop Hall, "was any hair so preferred as this! How I envy those locks that were graced with the touch of those sacred feet." There a sweet temptation overtook her, "I will even kiss those feet, I will humbly pay reverence to those blessed limbs." She spoke not a word, but how eloquent were her actions! Better, even, than Psalms and hymns were these acts of devotion! Then she thought of that alabaster box containing perfumed oil with which, like most Eastern women, she was likely to anoint herself for the pleasure of the smell and for the increase of her beauty. And now, opening it, she pours out the costliest thing she has upon His blessed feet. Not a word, I say, came from her! And, Brothers and Sisters, we would prefer a single speechless lover of Jesus who acted as she did, to 10,000 noisy talkers who have no gifts, no heart, no tears! As for the Master, He remained quietly acquiescent, saying nothing, but all the while drinking in her love and letting His poor weary heart find sweet solace in the gratitude of one who once was a sinner, but who was to be such no more. Grace, my Brethren, deserves our praise, since it does so much for its object. Grace does not choose a man and leave him as he is. My Brothers and Sisters, men rail at Grace, sometimes, as though it were opposed to morality--whereas it is the great source and cause of all complete morality--indeed, there is no real holiness in the sight of God except that which Grace creates, and which Grace sustains. This woman, apart from Grace, had remained black and defiled, still, to her dying day--but the Grace of God worked a wondrous transformation, removing the impudence of her face, the flattery from her lips, the finery from her dress and the lust from her heart. Eyes which were full of adultery were now founts of repentance! Her lips which were doors of lascivious speech, now yielded holy kisses--the profligate was a penitent, the castaway a new creature. All the actions which are attributed to this woman illustrate the transforming power of Divine Grace. She exhibited the deepest repentance. She wept abundantly. She wept out of no mere sentimentalism, but at the remembrance of her many crimes. She wept for sorrow and for shame as she thought over her early childhood, and how she had slighted a mother's training, how she had listened to the tempter's voice and hurried on from bad to worse. Every part of her life story would rise before her as a painfully vivid dream. The sight of those blessed feet helped her to remember the dangerous paths into which she had wandered. The sluices of grief were drawn up and her soul flowed out in tears. O blessed Spirit of Grace, we adore You as we see the rock smitten and the waters gushing. "He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow." Note the woman's humility. She had once possessed a brazen face and knew no bashfulness, but now she stands behind the Savior. She did not push herself in before His face--she was content to have the meanest standing-place. If she might not venture to anoint His head, yet, if she might do service to His feet, she blushed as she accepted the honor. Those who truly serve the Lord Jesus have a holy bashfulness, a shrinking sense of their own unworthiness and are content to fulfill the very lowest office in His household. That is no service for Christ when you would need ride the king's horse, and wear the king's garment and have it said, "This is the man whom the king delights to honor." That is serving yourself rather than Christ when you covet the chief place in the synagogue, and would have men call you Rabbi. But that is real service when you can care for the poor. When you can condescend to men of low estate and become a teacher of the ignorant and an instructor of babes. He serves well who works behind his master's back, unknown and unperceived--toiling in the dark, unreported, unapplauded, and happy to have it so. See, Beloved, how in a woman who was once so shameless, Grace plants and makes to flourish the fair and modest flower of true humility! Yet was the woman courageous, for she must have needed much courage to enter into a Pharisee's house. The look of a Pharisee to this woman must have been enough to freeze summer into howling winter. Those Pharisees had an insufferable contempt of everybody who was not of their own clique--who did not fast twice a week, and tithe their mint, anise, and cumin. They said, by every gesture, "Stand by, I am holier than you." To a person of infamous character the pompous Pharisee would be doubly contemptuous, and a woman conscious of unworthiness would be sorely wounded by his manners. Besides, at a feast her tears would be much out of place, and therefore she would be the more rudely rebuked. But how fearless she was! And how bravely she held her tongue when Simon railed! What will not men and women do when Divine Grace moves them to love, and love prompts them to courage? Yes, into the very jaws of Hell the Grace of God would make a Believer dare to enter if God commanded him. There is no mountain too high for a believing foot to scale, and no furnace too hot for a believing heart to bear. Let Rome and its amphitheatres, Piedmont and its snow, France and its galleys, Smithfield and its stakes, the Netherlands and their rivers of blood--let them all speak of what Divine Grace can do when once it reigns in the heart--what heroes it can make of the very weakest and most timid of God's children where it rules supreme! I have said that in every part of this woman's action Grace is honored, and it is so more especially in this respect, that what she did was practical. Hers was not pretense, but real and expensive service. The religion of some professors stops short at their substance--it costs them nothing, and, I fear, is worth nothing. They appear before the Lord empty. They buy no sweet cane with money, neither does the Lord receive the fat of their sacrifices. I must confess myself utterly at a loss to understand the piety of some people! I thank God I am not bound to understand it, and that I am not sent into the world to be a judge of my fellow creatures--but I do greatly wonder at the religion of many. There are to be found, and I have found them, persons whose love to Christ is of such a sort that they give to His cause the larger proportion of their substance, and do so gladly, thinking it a privilege! Yes, I know some who pinch themselves--some of the poor and needy who stint themselves that they may give to Christ! Such are doubtless blessed in the deed. I do not understand those men who have thousands upon thousands of pounds, perhaps hundreds of thousands, and profess to love Christ, but dole out their gifts to Jesus in miserable fragments. I must leave them to their Master, to be judged at the last, but I confess I do not understand them or admire them. If I did love Christ at all, I would love Him so that I would give Him all I could, and if I did not do that, I think I would say, "He is not worth it, and I will not be a sham professor." It is rank hypocrisy to profess love and then to act a miserly part. Let those who are guilty of it settle the account between God and their own souls. This woman's alabaster box was given freely, and if she had had more to give she would have given it after the spirit of that other woman, that memorable widow, who had two mites which made a farthing--which were all her living--but she gave it all out of love to God. Grace reigns, indeed, with high control when it leads men who naturally would be selfish to practice liberality in the cause of the Redeemer. Let these gleanings suffice--the vintage of the fruits of Grace is too great for us to gather it all this morning. 3. I would have you remark, in the third place, that Grace is seen by attentive eyes in our Lord's acceptance of what this chosen vessel had to bring. Jesus knew her sin. The Pharisee wondered that Jesus did not shrink from contact with her. You and I may wonder, too. We sometimes feel it a task to have to commune with persons of a certain character even when they profess to repent--our Lord's sensitiveness of the guilt of sin was much keener than ours, yet He rested still upon the couch and quietly accepted what she brought--He permitted her the fond familiarity of kissing His feet again and again and to bedew them with her tears--He permitted all that, I say, and accepted all that, and herein made His Grace to shine most brightly. Oh, that Jesus should ever accept anything of me! That He should be willing to accept my tears, willing to receive my prayers and my praises! We cheerfully accept a little flower from a child, but then the flower is beautiful and we are not far above the child. But Jesus accepts from us that which is in its nature impure, and upbraids us not! O Grace, how condescending you are! See, Believer, Jesus has heard your prayers and answered them! He has blessed your labors, given you souls as your reward, and at this moment that which is in your heart to do for Him He receives, and He raises no objection, but takes what you bring to Him--takes it with joy! O Grace, you are Grace, indeed, when the offerings of unworthy ones become dear unto Jesus' heart. 4. Further, Divine Grace is displayed in this narrative when you see our Lord Jesus Christ become the defender of the penitent. Everywhere Grace is the object of human mockery. Men snap at it like evening wolves. Some attack it at the fountain head--they cannot endure the doctrine of election. Some professors almost foam at the mouth at the very mention of the word "predestination." They cannot bear it, and yet it is God's Truth! Let them say what they will, and there shall it stand. Let them kick against the pricks if they dare. "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." Would to God men would give up their rebellious questions and bow before the King of kings! On this occasion, Simon quibbled at Grace in that a sinful woman should be allowed to approach the Lord--he would have put her in quarantine at the least--if not in prison. Some object to Grace in its perpetuity--they struggle against persevering Grace. But others, like this Simon, struggle against the bounty of Grace. How could such a woman as she was be permitted to draw so near to Christ? Certain captious spirits will demand, "How should Jesus give to such unworthy ones such acceptance, such manifestations of Himself, such privileges?" Our Lord took upon Himself to defend her, and therefore she might well afford to hold her tongue. So shall it be with you. If Satan accuses you and your enemies, with loud-mouthed accusations cry out against you, you have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who will certainly plead your cause and clear you! Jesus, by His defensive parable shows that He was justified in letting the woman approach, because great love prompted her. There was no sin in her approach, but much to commend, since her motive was excellent, and the motive is the true measure of a deed. She felt intense love and gratitude towards the Person who had forgiven her. Therefore her acts were not to be forbidden, but commended. He justifies her and incidentally justifies Himself. Had He not done well in having won a sinner's heart to penitence and love? Was not election justified in having chosen one to such holy devotedness and fervency? At the Last Great Day the Lord will justify His Grace before the eyes of the whole universe, for He will allow the Grace-worked virtues of His chosen ones to be unveiled--and all eyes shall see that Grace reigns through righteousness! Then shall they forever be silenced who accused the Grace of God of leading to licentiousness, for they shall see that in every case free forgiveness led to gratitude, and gratitude to holiness. The chosen shall be made choice men. Grace chose them notwithstanding all their deformities--and when it has cast about them a supernal beauty--they shall be the wonder and admiration of the universe, evidently made to be the noblest and best of mankind. Show me where Divine Grace ever created sin! You cannot, but lo, in what a manner has Grace created holiness! It is not ashamed to let its chosen sheep appear before the great dividing Shepherd's throne, for of them all it shall be said, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink." Grace does not smuggle men into Heaven, but brings them up to Heaven's requirements through the Spirit and the blood! 5. Once more, my Brethren, the Grace of God is seen in this narrative in the bestowal of yet richer favors. Great Grace saved her, rich Grace encouraged her, unbounded Grace gave her a Divine assurance of forgiveness. It was proved that she was forgiven, for she loved much, but she had never received the full assurance of it. She was a hopeful penitent rather than a confirmed Believer. But the Master said, "Your sins are forgiven you." From that moment full assurance of faith must have occupied her soul. And then He gave her that choice benediction, "Go in peace," by which the peace of God which passes all understanding henceforth kept her mind--so that even when she had to go out of this world into the unknown realm, she heard in the midst of Jordan's billows, the Divine sentence--"Go in peace." Ah, Beloved, you know not what Grace can do for you! God is not stinted in His Grace. If He has lifted you up out of the miry clay, He can do more--He can set your feet upon a rock! If on the rock you already stand, He can do more--He can put a new song into your mouth! And if already you lift the joyous hymn, He can do more yet--He can establish your goings! You do not yet know the exceeding bounty of your own heavenly Father! Unfathomable is His goodness! Arise and enjoy it! Behold the whole land is before you, from Dan unto Beersheba--all the provisions of the Covenant of Grace belong to you. Have but faith and you shall yet comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Here, then, was Grace in its object, Grace in its fruit, Grace in the acceptance of that fruit, Grace in the defense which Jesus made of the gracious one and Grace in the blessings bestowed upon her. May Grace deal thus bountifully with us. II. We have but two or three moments left for what requires far more space, namely, LOVE. The word blossoms with roses and suggests the voice of the turtledoves and the singing of birds. Our time, however, binds us to a narrow path which we must not leave, although the beds of lilies on either hand invite us. Love--its source--it bubbles up as a pure rill from the wellhead of Divine Grace. She loved much, but it was because much had been forgiven. There is no such thing as mere natural love to God. The only true love which can burn in the human breast towards the Lord is that which the Holy Spirit, Himself, kindles. If you truly love the God who made you and redeemed you, you may be well assured that you are His child, for none but His children have any love to Him. Its secondary cause is faith. The 50th verse tells us, "Your faith has saved you." Our souls do not begin with loving Christ, but the first lesson is to trust Him. Many penitents attempt this difficult task--they aspire to reach the top of the stairs without treading the steps. They want to be at the pinnacle of the temple before they have crossed the threshold. First, trust Christ for the pardon of your sin--when you have done this, your sins are forgiven--and then love shall flash to your heart as the result of gratitude for what the Redeemer has done for you. Grace is the source of love, but faith is the agent by which love is brought to us. The food of love is a sense of sin, and a grateful sense of forgiveness. If you and I felt more deeply the guilt of our past lives we should love Jesus Christ better. If we have but a clearer sense that our sins deserve the deepest Hell--that Christ suffered what we ought to have suffered in order to redeem us from our iniquities--we should not be such cold-hearted creatures as we are. We are perfectly monstrous in our lack of love to Christ, but the true secret of it is a forgetfulness of our ruined and lost natural estate, and a forgetfulness of the sufferings by which we have been redeemed from that condition! O, that our love might feed itself this day and find a renewal of its strength in remembering what Sovereign Grace has done! Love in the narrative before us shines in the fact that the service the woman rendered to our Lord was perfectly voluntary. No one suggested it, much less pressed it upon her. It takes the gloss off our service when we need to be dragged to it, or pushed forward by some energetic pleader. Brethren, the anointing was impromptu with her! Christ was there and it was at her own suggestion that she anointed His feet. Mary of Bethany had not then set the example-- the woman who was a sinner was an original in her service. In these days we have many inventors and discoverers for our temporal use and service--why should we not have inventors for Jesus who will bring out new projects of usefulness? We are, most of us, content to travel in the old rut, but if we had more love to Jesus we should be more eccentric and should have a degree of freshness about our service which at present is all too rare. Lord, give us the love which can lead the way! Her service to Jesus was personal. She did it all herself, and all to Him. Do you notice how many times the pronoun occurs in our text? "She stood at His feet behind Him weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment." She served Christ Himself. It was neither service to Peter, nor James, nor John, nor yet to the poor or sick of the city, but to the Master Himself! And, depend upon it, when our love is in active exercise, our piety will be immediately towards Christ--we shall sing to Him, pray to Him, teach for Him, preach for Him, live to HIM! Forgetfulness of the Personality of Christ takes away the very vitality of our religion. How much better will you teach, this afternoon, in your Sunday school class, if you teach your children for Christ! How much better will you go forth this evening to tell others the way of salvation, if you go to do it for His sake! Then you court no man's smile--you fear no man's frown. It is enough for you that you have done it for the Master, and if the Master accepts it, you have the reward in that very fact! The woman's service showed her love in that it was fervent. There was so much affection in it--nothing conventional--no following chilly propriety, no hesitating enquiry for precedents. Why did she kiss His feet? Was it not a superfluity? What was the good of it? Did it not look sentimental, affected, sensuous, indelicate? Little did she care how it looked--she knew what she meant! She could not do otherwise! Her whole soul went out in love--she acted naturally as her heart dictated. And, Brothers and Sisters, she acted well. O for more of this guileless piety which hurls decorum and regulation to the winds! Ah, throw your souls into the service of Christ! Let your heart burn in His Presence, and let all your soul belong to Jesus! Serve not your Master as though you were half asleep! Do not work with drooping hands and half-closed eyes, but wake up the whole of your powers and passions! For such love as He has shown you, give the most awakened and quickened love in return. O for more of this love! If I might only pray one prayer this morning, I think it should be that the flaming torch of the love of Jesus should be brought into every one of our hearts, and that all our passions should be set ablaze with love to Him. One thought more and I am done. This woman's love is a lesson to us in the opportunity which she seized. She was evidently but just pardoned--she was rather a weeper than one who had learned to rejoice--and yet for all that, she would serve Him at the first dawn of her spiritual life. Now, you young converts, no longer say, "We will do something for Christ in a few years' time when we have made our calling and election sure. We will wait till we have grown in Grace, and then try to do what we can." No, no! As soon as you are washed bring your offering to Jesus. The very day of your conversion enlist in His army, for speedy obedience is beautiful. Perhaps if this woman had lingered she had never anointed the Lord at all--but in the hot flush of her first love, she did well to perform at once this zealous, fervent act. Young converts maintain, by God's Grace, the warmth of the blood which circulates in the Church's veins. Old Churches generally become diseased Churches when they cease to grow. I do not know a Church in all England without conversions which is at all in a happy spiritual state. The fact is, the fresh comers stir us all up by their fervor, their simplicity, their childlike confidence. Now, beloved Ones, we encourage you to show this. For our sakes, for your own sakes, for Christ's sake, do not hesitate--if there is anything you can do, though you are uneducated in the Divine school--do it. Though there may be a dozen blunders in the method, yet do it, for Christ will accept it! The Pharisee may quibble--well, perhaps it may keep his tongue from other mischief--let him--you can bear it, Christ will defend you, Jesus will accept you! And as a reward for doing what you can, He may be pleased to give you Divine Grace to do more, and may breathe over you a full assurance of faith, which, had you been idle, you might not for years have attained. And He may give you a peace of conscience in serving Him which, had you sat still, might never have come to you at all. I beseech all of you who love Jesus, do not hide the light you have under a bushel, but come out and show it! If you have but a little faith, use it! If you have only a grain of faith, turn it to account. Put the one talent out at interest and use it for the Master at once, and the Lord bless you in such a work by increasing your faith and love, and making you to be as this woman was--a highly favored servant of this blessed Master. May the Lord give every one of you His blessing, for Jesus' sake. __________________________________________________________________ Good Earnests of Great Success A Sermon (No. 802) Delivered on Lord's-Day Evening, January 12th, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."--Acts 6:7. CERTAIN things preceded this prosperity--the counterpart of which I verily believe we have experienced among ourselves. There had been a little trouble in the church; some had thought one thing, some had thought another. There appeared to have been a just cause for complaint. The apostles, conciliatory in their temper, and earnest in their endeavour to keep the church together, as all true ministers should be, proposed the election of seven men who should distribute the contributions impartially among the poor. This was agreed to and acted upon by the entire assembly, and straightway the multitude of them that believed were of one heart, and of one soul. Well might great grace rest upon them all, for they loved each other with a pure heart fervently. Such unanimity, as a rule, I consider essential to church prosperity. If there be divisions amongst you, and one shall say, "I am for this," and another, "I am for that," how can you expect that the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of peace, should be present with you, and working among you? But when we are knit together in brotherly affection, the Lord commandeth the blessing, even life for evermore. Where brotherly love continues, and saints walk in holy unity, the witness they bear is powerful, and the increase they gather is palpable. So I felt when I met with the brethren last Thursday night. The attendance at the church meeting was very numerous, and the unanimity that prevailed not only gratified me, but I must confess astounded me too. I think all of us who know anything of the history of churches, especially those of a democratic order, where we recognize the rights of every member, understand how easy it is for thoughts to diverge, for counsels to vary, and for excellent brethren conscientiously to disagree. A breach once made has a tendency to widen, and a rent, unless speedily repaired, may tear a church to pieces. But not so much as a single word was spoken, nor do I know that so much as a single thought crossed the breast of any one that evening, contrary to the general current of unanimous opinion with which you elected my brother to take upon himself the office proposed to assist me in my work. I felt as if I could only weep my joy. I knew of no words by which I could express it, because I looked not only at the unity itself, but regarding it as one of the qualifications for future prosperity, I thought within myself, "Surely God will bless us; surely he will bless us yet more abundantly than aforetime." Moreover, my dear brethren and sisters in Christ, you know that some two or three years ago, Baptist churches of London scarcely knew each other. There might have been some secret love between them, but certainly there was no manifest display of it. But now for two years we have been associated together to the number of eighty or ninety; in fact, there are now nearly a hundred of the churches among whom union has been cemented. We have been enabled to do some service for the Master by this incorporation, but whatever service we may have done or may not have done, this certainly has been the result of our meeting with each other, that the churches have come to feel themselves to be a whole, they keep rank, they walk together as a phalanx, desire to be faithful to Christ, and to bear each others' burdens. If anyone had told me, three or four years ago, that I should live to see, as I did last year, this house filled with the representatives of our Baptist churches met together to pray, I should have said, "If the Lord will open windows in heaven, may such a thing be!" But it has been, and by God's grace it will be yet again, and we shall clasp hands next Tuesday, and go on for another campaign against the common enemy, united as one man, first to Christ, and then to one another. May we not look upon this as a sign that God is intending to bless all our churches, to pour us out a blessing such as we shall not have room enough to receive? The Lord send prosperity. Amen, say we, amen from our hearts. And amen we hope all God's saints will say. May the blessing speedily be sent. Since we have the first matter I am hopeful. But many will urge discouragements. "How is it likely," says one, "that we can hope to make an impression upon the present age? What means have we but the simple gospel of Jesus Christ?" We are certainly not among the wealthy, and we count not amongst us the great ones of the land. Our membership has always been, and still is, among the poor. How shall we expect to tell upon so huge a city as this, or to exert any influence upon so great a country; and, above all, how shall we make any impress upon the population of the whole globe? My dear brethren, we are weak, but we are not weaker than the first disciples of Christ. Neither were they learned, nor were they the wealthy of the earth: fishermen, the most of them, by no means men of cultivated ability--their tramp was that of a legion that went forth to conquer as well as to fight. Wherever they went and wielded the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, their enemies were put to confusion. It is true they died in the conflict. Some of them were slain by the sword, and others of them were rent in sunder by wild beasts; but in all these things they were more than conquerors through him that loved him. The primitive church did tell upon its age, and left a seed behind which the whole earth could not destroy; and so shall we by God's grace if we are equally set upon it, equally filled with the divine life, equally resolved by any means and by all means to spread abroad the savour of Jesus Christ's name: our weakness shall be our strength, for God shall make it to be the platform upon which the omnipotence of his grace shall be displayed. Keep together, brethren, keep close to Christ; close up your ranks. Heed the battle cry; hold fast the faith; quit yourselves like men in the conflict, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. Only may the King himself lead us onward to the fray, and we shall not fear the result. Having thus looked at the precedents of that prosperity enjoyed by the church at Jerusalem, we shall, this evening, with deep earnestness, ask your attention to the means by which a like prosperity may be procured for such churches as do not enjoy it now; secondly, we shall have a word or two upon the results of such prosperity; and then, thirdly, upon the alternative which is before every church, either to obtain such prosperity or else to mourn over grievous evils. I. WHAT ARE THE MEANS BY WHICH THIS PROSPERITY MAY BE PROCURED? If we pant to see the Word of God increase, multitudes added to the disciples, and a great company of those who are least likely to be saved brought in, there must be an adequate instrumentality. Nothing can avail without the operation of the Holy Spirit and the smile from heaven. Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, and God giveth the increase. We must never begin our catalogue of outward means without referring to that blessed and mysterious potentate who abides in the church, and without whom nothing is good, nothing efficient, nothing successful. "Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, With all thy quickening powers." This should be our first prayer whenever we attempt to serve God, for if not, we begin with pride, and can little hope to succeed by prowess. If we go the warfare at our own charges we must not marvel if we return stained with defeat. O Spirit of the living God, if it were not for thy power we could not make the attempt, but when we rely upon thee we go forward in confidence. As for the ostensible means, would any church prosper, there must be much plain preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been struck lately in looking through the history of the Reformation, and of the times before the Reformation, with the remarkable downrightness of the testimony of the early preachers. If you look at the life of Farren you find him not preaching about the gospel, but preaching the gospel. So it was with John Calvin. He is looked upon now, of course, a theologian only, but he was really one of the greatest of gospel preachers. When Calvin opened the Book and took a text, you might be sure that he was about to preach "Through grace are ye saved, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." And it was the same with Luther. Luther's preaching was just the ringing of a big bell, the note of which was always, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and live! It is not of works, lest any man should boast, but by faith are ye saved, and by faith alone." They spake this, and they spake it again; neither did they couch the doctrine in difficult words, but they laboured with all their might, so to speak, that the ploughman at the plough-tail should understand, and that the fish-wife should comprehend the truth. They did not aim at lofty periods and flowing eloquence; of rhetoric they had a most contemptible opinion, but they just dashed right on with this one truth, "He that believeth hath everlasting life;" "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And, my brethren, if we are to see the church of God really restored to her pristine glory, we must have back this plain, simple, gospel-preaching. I do believe that the hiding of the cross beneath the veil of fine language and learned dissertation is half the cause of the spiritual destitution of our country. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. I would sooner say these few words and then cease my testimony, than utter the most splendid oration that ever streamed from the lips of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but not have declared the gospel of Christ. We must keep to this. This must be the hammer that we bring down upon the anvil of the human heart again, and again, and again. God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord! God forbid that we should know anything among men save Jesus Christ and him crucified! Look to him--not to the priest, not to your good works, not to your prayers, not to your church-goings or your chapel- goings, but to Christ Jesus exalted. Look to him in faith, and God is willing to forgive you, able to forgive you, to receive you, to make you his children, and for ever to glorify you with himself. We must have much more of this plain preaching, and not only plain preaching but plain teaching. Sunday School teachers, you must teach this same gospel. I know you do, but full many Sunday School teachers do not. A certain denomination has made the confession that after having had their schoolrooms crowded with children, they do not know that any of those children have afterwards come to be attendants at the places of worship. Miserable confession! Miserable teachers must they be! And have we not known teachers who believed in the doctrines of grace, and upstairs in the chapel they would have fought earnestly for them, but downstairs in the schoolroom they have twaddled to the little children in this kind of way--"Be good boys and girls; keep the Sabbath; do not buy sweets on a Sunday; mind your fathers and your mothers; be good, and you will go to heaven"!--which is not true, and is not the gospel; for the same gospel is for little children as for grown-up men--not "Do this and live," which is after the law that was given by Moses, but "Believe and live," which is according to the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ. Teachers must inculcate the gospel if they are to see the salvation of their classes, the gospel, the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel, for without this no great thing will be done. And if we would see the gospel spread abroad in London as once it did in Geneva, as once, under John Knox, it did in Scotland, as it did in Luther's day throughout Germany, we must have much holy living to back it all up. After we have done the sermon, people say, "How about the people that attend there? What about the church members, are they upright? Are they such people as you can trust? What about their homes? Do they make good husbands? Are they good servants? Are they kind masters?" People will be sure to enquire this, and if the report of our character be bad, it is all over with our testimony. The doctor may advertise, but if the patients are not cured, he is not likely to establish himself as being well-skilled in his art; and the preacher may preach, but if his people do not love the gospel, they kick down with their feet what he builds up with his hands. As I told you this morning, the followers of the early Reformers were distinguished by the sanctity of their lives. When they were about to hunt out the Waldenses, the French king, who had some of them in his dominions, sent a priest to see what they were like, and he, honest man as he was, came back to the king, and said, "As far as I could find, they seem to be much better Christians than we are. I am afraid they are heretics, but really they are so chaste, so honest, so upright, and so truly pious, that, though I hate heresy--I hope your majesty does not suspect me on that account--yet I would that all Catholics were as good as they are." Now, this was what made the gospel victorious in those days-- the stern integrity of those who received it, and thus it will be still. It cannot be otherwise. But if you become worldly, if you members of this church are just the same as other men who have no grace and make no pretensions, what is the good of your profession? You are liars before God unless you live above the common life of the rest of mankind. Oh! to get back to the simplicity of Christian manners! I cannot go into particulars, and ordain that this you shall do and that you shall avoid, but you know very well what the simplicity is, and were it carried out there is a great deal that is now practised amongst professors that would have at once to be given up. As the books were burned when Paul preached, so there would be a great deal to be burned in the Christian church if we had the Spirit of God in all his power to bring us back to the old simplicity of the Christian faith. And why not? If you put the sword into the scabbard, you cannot kill with it; you must pull it out, and let it glitter in all its naked sharpness. If you put the sword of the gospel into the scabbard of worldly conformity, as some of you do, you cannot expect that there will be any power in it. Draw it away from your worldly company, and your pernicious customs, and then shall you see that it still has power to kill and to make alive. There must, then, be holy living as well as plain testimony. Yet all this would not suffice, if the church is to be multiplied and many are to be saved, unless we add individual, personal exertion. I am so full with one theme today, that if I plough in the same furrow this evening as I did this morning I cannot help it, for I am anxious to make that furrow very deep and broad. I believe that no Christian church can have prosperity if only a part of the members are active for the conversion of souls. Why, sirs, it had got to be a thought among Christians that we ministers were to do all the work of bringing souls to Christ, and that you were to sit still and enjoy the sermon, and perhaps criticise it and pull it to pieces. But this was not orthodox; according to Christ's law, every Christian is to be a minister in his own sphere; every member of the church is to be active in spreading the faith which was delivered not to the ministers, but delivered to the saints, to every one of them, that they might maintain it and spread it according to the gift which the Spirit has given them. Shall I venture a parable? A certain band of men, like knights, had been exceedingly victorious in all their conflicts. They were men of valour and of indomitable courage; they had carried everything before them, and subdued province after province for their king. But on a sudden they said in the council-chamber, "We have at our head a most valiant warrior, one whose arm is stout enough to smite down fifty of his adversaries; would it not be better if, with a few such as he to go out to the fight, the mere men-at-arms, who make up the ordinary ranks, were to stop at home? We should be much more at our ease; our horses would not so often be covered with foam, nor our armour be bruised in returning from the fray, and no doubt great things would be done." Now, the foremost champions, with fear and trembling, undertook the task and went to the conflict, and they fought well, no one could doubt it; to the best of their ability they unhorsed their foe and they did great exploits. But still, from the very hour in which that scheme was planned and carried out, no city was taken, no province was conquered, and they met together and said, "How is this? Our former prestige is forgotten; our ranks are broken; our pennons are trailed in the dust; what is the cause of it?" When out spoke the champion, and said, "Of course it is so! How did you think that some twelve or fifteen of us could do the work of all the thousands? When you all went to the fight, and every man took his share, we dashed upon the foe like an avalanche, and crushed him beneath our tramp; but now that you stay at home and put us, but a handful, to do all the work, how can you expect that great things should be done?" So each man resolved to put on his helmet and his armour once again, and go to the battle, and so victory returned. I speak to you tonight, I, one of the rank of God's servants, and I say, my brethren, if we are to have the victory you must be every one of you in the fight. We must not spare a single one, neither man nor woman, old nor young, rich nor poor, but you must each fight for the Lord Jesus according to your ability, that his kingdom may come, and that his will may be done upon earth even as it is in heaven. We shall see great things when you all agree to this and put it in practice. Combined with this there must be much earnest prayer. The prayer of faith! have we not held it in high esteem, have we not made some considerable proof of it in this place? We hope to have more faith--a great increase both of volume and power. Nothing is impossible to the man who knows how to overcome heaven by wrestling intercession. When we have seen one, two, or ten, or twenty penitents converted, and when we have sometimes been heartily thankful that a hundred have been added to this church in a month, ought we ever to have been satisfied? Should we not have felt that the prayer which was blessed to the conversion of a hundred, had it been more earnest, might, in the divine purpose, have been answered with the conversion of a thousand? Why not? I do not know why London should not be shaken from end to end with gospel truth before this day twelve months. You will say, "We have not enough ministers." But God can make them. I tell you, sirs, he can find ministers for his truth--ay, if he willed it, among the very offscourings of the earth. He can take the worst of men, the vilest of the vile, and change their hearts, and make them preach the truth if he pleases. We are not to look to what we have. The witness of the senses only confuses those who would walk by faith. See what he did for the church in the case of Saul of Tarsus. He just went up to the devil's army, and took out a ringleader, and said to him, "Now, sir, you preach the gospel which once you despised." And who preached it better? Why, I should not wonder if ere long in answer to prayer we see the Ritualistic clergy preaching the gospel! Who can tell--the Romish priests may yet do it, and repeat the tale of Luther and Melancthon. Were not Luther, and Melancthon, and Calvin, and their comrades, brought out of Papal darkness to show light unto the people? We have heard with our ears, why may we not see with our eyes, the mighty works of God? The Lord can find his men where we know nothing about them. "Of these stones," said the Baptist, as he pointed to the banks of the Jordan, "Of these stones God can raise up children unto Abraham;" and as he could then, so he can now. Let us not despair. If we will but pray for it, our heavenly Father will deny his children nothing. Come, do but come, in simplicity of heart, and according to your faith shall it be done unto you. Would you see the church greatly increase, and the kingdom come to the throne of the Son of David? then we must all get more intense glowing spiritual life. Do you understand me. There are two persons yonder. They are both alive, but one of them lies in bed. He wakes, but he says, with the sluggard-- "You have woke me too soon, I must slumber again," and when he gets up he gazes round with vacant wonder and strange bewilderment. He has no energy, he is listless, and we say of him, "What a lifeless creature he is!" "He is living, but with how little vitality! Now, you see another man. His sleep is short; he wakes soon; he is out to his business; takes down the shutters; he is standing behind the counter waiting upon this customer and that; he is all active; he is here, there, and everywhere, nothing is neglected; his eyes are wide open, his brain is active, his hands are busy, his limbs are all nimble. Well, what a different man that is! you are glad to get this second man to be your servant; he is worth ten times the wages of the first. There is life in them both, but what a difference there is between them! The one is eagerly living, the other is drawling out an insipid existence. And how many Christians there are of this sort! They wander in on a Sunday morning, sit down, get their hymn book, listen to the prayer without joining in it, hear the sermon, but might almost as well not have heard it, go home, get through the Sunday, go into business. With them there is never any secret prayer for the conversion of men, no trying to talk to children, or servants, or friends, about Christ, no zeal, no holy jealousy, no flaming love, no generosity, no consecrating of the substance to God's cause! This is too faithful a picture of a vast number of professing Christians. Would it were not so. On the other hand, we see another kind of man--one that is renewed in the spirit of his mind; though he has to be in the world, his main thoughts are how he can use the world to promote the glory of Christ. If he goes into business, he wants to make money that he may have wherewith to give bountifully for the spread of the gospel. If he meets with friends, he tries to thrust a word in edgeways for his Master; and whenever he gets an opportunity, he will speak, or write, but he will be aiming to do something for him who has bought him with his precious blood. Why, I could pick out, if it were right to mention names, some here who are all alive, till their bodies seem to be scarcely strong enough for the real vitality and energy of their souls. Oh! these are the cream of the church, the pick and choice of the flock, the men who are true men, and the women who are the true daughters of Jerusalem. The Lord multiply the number of such; yea, may he make every one of us to be such, for I am afraid that we all of us need quickening. I know I do myself. It is a long time since I preached a sermon that I was satisfied with. I scarcely recollect ever having done so. You do not know, for you cannot hear my groanings when I go home, Sunday after Sunday, and wish that I could learn to preach somehow or other; wish that I could discover the way to touch your hearts and your consciences, for I seem to myself to be just like the fire when it wants stirring; the coals have got black when I want them to flame forth. If I could but say in the pulpit what I feel in my study, or if I could but get out of my mouth what I have tried to get into my own soul, then I should preach indeed, and move your souls, I think. Yet perhaps God will use our weakness, and we may use it with ourselves, to stir us up to greater strength. You know the difference between slow motion and rapidity. If there were a cannon ball rolled slowly down these aisles, it might not hurt anybody; it might be very large, very huge, but it might be so rolled along that you might not rise from your seats in fear. But if somebody would give me a rifle, and ever so small a ball, I reckon that if the ball flew along the Tabernacle, some of you might find it very difficult to stand in its way. It is the force that does the thing. So, it is not the great man who is loaded with learning that will achieve work for God; it is the man, who, however small his ability, is filled with force and fire, and who rushes forward in the energy which heaven has given him, that will accomplish the work--the man who has the most intense spiritual life, who has real vitality at its highest point of tension, and living, while he lives, with all the force of his nature for the glory of God. Put these three or four things together, and I think you have the means of prosperity. II. Time flies, and therefore while I briefly hint, I must leave you largely to meditate, THE RESULTS WHICH FLOW FROM THIS PROSPERITY--souls are saved. John Owen said that if you had to preach to a whole nation for twelve months, in order to win one soul, it would be good wages, for a soul is so priceless, that to redeem it from going down to the pit would be worth the expenditure of all human strength. Richard Knill once said, that if there were only one unconverted person in the wilds of Siberia, and that God had ordained that every Christian in the world must go and talk to that one person before he would be converted, it would be an exceedingly little thing for us all to do, to go all the way there through the cold, and frost, and snow, to win that one soul. And he was right, and I may well stir you up to energy when the result will be the conversion of souls. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is glorified. Who would not wish to live, or even to die, for this? "Let him be crowned with majesty, Who bowed his head in death, And let his praise be sounded high, By all things that have breath." If you have not forgotten what he suffered for you, dear friends, do you not wish to see him crowned with many crowns? He wore the crown of thorns for you, would not you wish to see the fruit of his soul's travail, the removal of the curse, the extension of his kingdom, the honour of his fame, the growing enthusiasm of his subjects--to make his excellency apparent, and his praise more and more famous to the very end of time? I know you would, and therefore I ask you to strive together with us in your prayers and your efforts, that the number of his disciples may be multiplied greatly. Moreover, the result will be to build up the church itself, for there is no good done in the name of Jesus which does not redound to the satisfaction of his bride. If you do good to another, you are taking the shortest way to do good to your own soul. As those who promote sanitary measures for the benefit of the neighbourhood are thereby favouring the conditions of their own health, so the promulgation of saving knowledge throughout the world is augmenting the peace and the welfare of our own hearts, and of all who are already saved. Truly, I believe, that some persons are never comfortable in religion, because they are selfish in it. If they began to live with some object, their constant distress of mind would soon be rolled away. May God, therefore, stir us up, that the whole church may thereby be blessed. III. But I must now come to the point with which I proposed to finish, namely, THE ALTERNATIVE WHICH I THINK STANDS BEFORE THIS CHURCH AND EVERY OTHER CHURCH. Either we must get a high state of prosperity, or else we shall lack what is to be dreaded to the very uttermost. How many churches there are which have proved the truth of what I am now going to say! They have not tried to increase; they have not cared about conversions, and very soon there has been murmuring. One did not like the minister; another did not like the deacons; a third objected to a brother that was introduced; and all this, perhaps, was quietly hushed up because they were too respectable to come to an open disturbance, but still there it was--the fire in the embers; and thus it kept on till, by-and-by, they come to one of two things, either lethargy or else division. They settled down as quiet and sober religious people. The minister was not excited; not he! The people could not be stirred. The boast was that there were so many carriages on a Sunday outside the chapel. Some trusted in chariots and some in horses, but there was nothing about conversion. Why, I know churches whose baptismal pool would have been green by now if the water had been standing in it, so few have there been added to their number. And yet they are not at all dissatisfied. "No," the good deacon says, "you know our pew-rents keep up very well; we have not a seat to let in the gallery!" "Ah!" and says the minister, "And while we have the most respectable people in the town come among us, we do not approve of these revivalists down the back street who are trying to catch those poor sinners; at least, if they want them, they may have them, for we do not want them." That is the style in which some of these people talk. If they do not say it in words, they think it in their hearts. Well, and when a church does get into that dreadful state, it becomes noxious as a very dunghill. And when there is very little spiritual animation there soon comes to be the ferment of very great division. Somebody or other cannot bear this. Some young and fervent spirit speaks out about it, and the minister does not like it, the deacons do not like it, and they try to put him down. Then half-a-dozen more of the members think that he is right, and the life that is in the church wakes up. The trumpet is sounded, and there is a troop led off to establish a healthy organization somewhere else, and the old corpus is left to rot as it may, and to decay as many churches do. Now, were I a prophet, I might tell you what should come to pass in latter days; but speaking as a monitor, rather than as a seer, I should not wonder but I could almost tell what you will come to by-and-by. In my day may it never, never be. You will get to be very respectable over at the Tabernacle; after I die you will have an organ, I dare say, and you will get a fine parson to deliver the most polished discourses to you, and where you will then drift I can readily guess. The Lord have mercy upon you, and save you from it. This is the tendency, however, of every church, it matters not what it is. Where the most honest, simple, faithful preachers have been, the people have got to be too great for the gospel, and too proud to receive the truth in the love of it. May it never happen in our days, however, and if earnest prayer can prevent it, may it never happen so long as the world stands, but till Christ comes may you be an honest, truth- loving people, striving together for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and never departing from the earnest simplicity of the faith. But unless we keep up the earnest spirit amongst us, we shall very soon degenerate into the ordinary dead-alive Christianity, which is only half as good as nothing at all, because it gives men a name to live when they are dead. The picture I have drawn may seem to you too highly-coloured, but I assure you that I have seen such things. I am not old, but I have lived long enough to see churches go in this way; ay, and churches too, that were once warm-hearted. I have seen young members who were once earnest grow cold. I have seen old members who were once content to worship with the humble ones, get a little up in the world. Then "of course" they must go to church! I have seen congregations broken to pieces, and churches split up, and the bottom of it all has been because the vital godliness has been drained out of the system; the love of God has not remained in the heart, for when the rich man has the love of God in his heart, he delights to see the multitude gathered together; he is glad to do his part, and help in all he can. And the learned man, if the preaching does not always suit him, yet he is glad to think that the unlearned have a preacher whom they can understand. Whoever the man may be, or however great and famous, if he loves Christ he is satisfied with the simple truth. "Give me that," says he, "and that is enough. I can get my fine thinking and my fine reading in the weekdays if I want it; but on the Sabbath let me hear of Jesus; let me hear the story of the cross; let me see sinners led to Calvary--it is all I want, and I am well content if I have this." Are there not many here tonight who are unconverted? They will wonder perhaps what I am making all this stir about. Let me address myself personally to you. O ye unconverted women, it is about you that we are concerned. And you, ye unconverted men, it is about you that we are anxious; we are seeking after you. Why, for our own sakes, if there were none to be saved, we might be content to hear far different doctrine from this. The doctrines of grace are sweet in our ears, and our souls would be well enough fed by them. But because we want to see you saved we have to talk with you, and attend to these practical matters since we want to see you brought to Christ. Now look at the text, and it may give you some comfort if you are willing to lay hold on Christ. Do you notice, it is said that "a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith"? Now, these priests were they that conspired to crucify Christ. They were once the bigoted enemies of the gospel, but they became obedient to the faith. Why should not you, then? I know the devil tells you that you have been too great a sinner. That cannot be. Perhaps he reminds you that you have been a scoffer, or have lived in immorality, or have been self-righteous, which is as heinous a sin as any other. Ah! well, but the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. A young woman wrote to me the other day-- I do not know who she is, but she said, "I cannot tell anybody, but I have done so-and-so, a dreadful sin indeed, if my mother knew it it would break her heart." I do not know here, and therefore her mother will never know it from me, but she says, "Can I be saved?" Young woman, you can! She says that she is worse than Magda-lene, for Magdalene did not know Christ when she was a sinner, but she did know the gospel, and yet sinned. Oh! well, if you are worse than Magdalene, Christ will be glorified in saving such a one as you are. Only come with all your sin about you, and throw yourself at his feet. Trust him! Trust him! Do him the honour to believe that he can save even such an abominable sinner as you have been. Though you have gone to the utmost extremity of human guilt, and looked over the gulf of endless misery, yet still believe him; trust him, and he will be as good as ever you can think him to be; for when you think your highest thoughts of him, he is higher than your highest thoughts, and can save even to the uttermost. The priests were obedient to the faith; why not you? They believed in Christ, saw the fold, entered in, and were saved; why should not you be like them? Did you notice how it is described? They were obedient to the faith." Then it seems that the gospel is all summed up in that word "faith." To be obedient to the faith; to believe that Jesus is the Son of God; to trust him because he has suffered in your stead; to believe that the divine justice is satisfied with the death of Christ, and to rely upon that satisfaction which Christ has rendered, that is to be saved, to be obedient to the faith. We sang at the Lord's Table, this morning, that sweet verse which really is the quintessence of the gospel, and therefore I will repeat it to you, though you already know it so well:-- "Nothing in my hand I bring: Simply to thy cross I cling; Naked, come to thee for dress; Helpless, look to thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Saviour, or I die." Yes, just as you are come and depend upon the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. And this is what the stir is all about, we cannot bear that you should drift down to destruction, we cannot bear that there should be cataracts of souls leaping down the eternal gulf. We cannot endure that Satan should gloat his malicious soul with the prey of tens of thousands of mankind. We cannot bear that Christ should stand neglected, that his cross should be despised, that his blood should be trampled on. O come to him! He will not reject you. Him that cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out. Breathe a silent prayer to him now. Cast your soul upon him, sink or swim. "Venture on him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude, None but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good." But he can do it. Rely on him, and eternal life is yours. Brethren and sisters, as we are in the New Year now, and have only reached the second Sabbath in it, let us begin and sweep out of the house the old leaven of ease and self-indulgences and lukewarmness, and let it be our cry before we go to our beds tonight, that the Lord would make us to be real living Christians, make us flames of fire from this time forth truly to serve him who served us even to the death. You will never get to be too warm. I am persuaded you will not be too zealous. I only wish I could get into such a devout enthusiasm myself as that of the apostle Paul when constrained by the love of Christ, he said, "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God." When we have done all, we are unprofitable servants. How much more unprofitable when we have done so little! The Lord quicken this church. The February meetings are coming on, when we shall be specially and earnestly seeking the ingathering of souls. Believers, you who are mighty with God in secret, pray for these February meetings, that the month may be a holy month to us, the best month we have ever had, that more may be gathered into the church than ever have been in our times. Make that a point of prayer, and prove God now whether he will not hear you, and you shall find he will to your soul's comfort. Amen. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Acts 6 and 7:54-60. __________________________________________________________________ Israel's God and God's Israel A Sermon (No. 803) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 29, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [15]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the Hea ven in your help, and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also His heavens shall drop down dew." Deuteronomy 33:26-28. MOSES lived to be 120 years of age, and his life was divided into three periods of 40 years. The first 40 he spent as the son of Pharaoh's daughter in the Courts of Egypt. The second in the wilderness, at the foot of Horeb, as a shepherd, and the third 40 he reigned as king in Jeshurun, leading the Lord's people from Egypt to the borders of the promised land. Observe how each of these periods terminated. The time of his apprenticeship in Egypt concluded with his refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, his avowal of brotherhood with the afflicted Israelites, his attempt to avenge their wrongs and his consequent flight from Egypt, because of the king. Brethren, it is to be desired that thus our original connection with the world may once and for all be snapped--we are not of it though we are in it--and may Divine Grace so work in us that, like Moses, we may count the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, and, therefore, may flee from all worldly conformity, resolving to come out from among the ungodly, not touching the unclean thing, but separating ourselves, cost what it may, from the world which lies in the Wicked One. It will be well for us, if that which divides us from the world shall be as clear, sharp, definite and impassable as that which cut off Moses from Egypt. The second part of Moses' life was spent in the solitudes of Horeb and was concluded by a manifestation of God and a commission for service. He saw Jehovah in the burning bush--the bush burned with fire, but was not consumed--and he was bid to deliver the Lord's message to Pharaoh. Yes, and our times of quiet meditation are good for nothing if they do not end and culminate in bright discoveries of God and a call to heavenly labor. It is of little avail to be in the wilderness unless God is seen there. Meditation and retirement shall be but as barren fields unless they yield to us the harvest of communion with the Invisible and give us sheaves of blessing for our Brethren! You bookworms, you solitary students and men of meditation, think of this and pray that your meditations may so end likewise. The third part of his life closed with the song which is now before us. The last 40 years were crowded with events and full of trials. He was greatly vexed with the unholy spirit of the people, yet, in meekness and patience he endured with them and was tender as a nurse with her child. He led the people like a flock out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm in the midst of miracles and wonders. And, then, afterwards, for 40 years he conducted them as they went winding about through the wild desert. A great man, indeed, was Moses in what he saw, and did, and said and suffered. His life was spent in unmeasured toil. From the day when he first went in unto Pharaoh till he climbed the steeps of Nebo, he must have been, night and day, incessantly engaged, and yet he finished his life-work with a song! Even thus let it be our prayer, that we, bearing the burden and heat of the day, may hear in our souls the voice, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter you into the joy of your Lord." And then may we, in our departing hours, pour out a stream of praise unto our God, blessing and magnifying the Most High who has worked our works in us, and made us, unworthy as we are, to be instruments fit for His use. We shall now consider these words which compose the last stanzas of the song of Moses. May the Holy Spirit remarkably assist me because I am, this morning, so unusually unfit for ministering among you that the weakness of the creature will be painfully manifest. Both brain and voice are choked up, but the Holy One of Israel helps our infirmities! I. Observe, in the first place, that Moses' song MAGNIFIES ISRAEL'S GOD. He declares, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the Heaven in your help, and in His excellency on the sky." The Lord is the great joy and the delightful portion of His people. In nothing were the tribes of Israel so favored as in having the true God to be their God. This was the great glory and the peculiar privilege of the chosen people--that the only living and Most High Jehovah had manifested Himself unto them and to their fathers--had taken them to be His people, and given Himself to be their God. Truly, when Moses looked upon the gods of Egypt, a country so superstitious that the satirist wrote of them, "O happy nation, whose gods grow in their own gardens"--when he heard the wild mythology of their idolatry, he might well have said, "There is none among them all that is like unto the God of Jeshurun." Perhaps Moses had seen those vast catacombs of idolized animals which Egyptian discoverers have lately opened--where the crocodiles, cats, and birds which had been worshipped in life--were afterwards carefully consigned. Wise as Egypt professed to be, she preserved her dead gods in myriads. Dead gods! Hear it and be amazed at the folly of humanity! Truly, the fancies of the most civilized nations have invented no deity comparable for a moment to the living God who made the heavens and the earth! The plagues of Egypt, as we have often been told, were all aimed against the gods of Egypt and there was not a single deity adored by Egyptians that could stand against the Most High God. The river which they adored became loathsome to them when it was turned into blood and yielded frogs in such abundance that the land stank. Their sacred insects swarmed till the very dust was full of horrible life and the land was corrupted. Vain were their soothsayers and their idols, for Jehovah laughed them to scorn! Not only was Pharaoh put to the worst before Jehovah, but Egypt's gods were humbled. When all the chivalry of Egypt came to the Red Sea and descended into the space which God had cleared to make a highway for His people-- when the bounding billows leaped upon them, covered as they were with the emblems of their false deities, and bearing standards inscribed with idolatrous signs--there was a triumph over all the idol gods as well as over their votaries. Moses saw this, and therefore sang, "Who is like unto You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Moses was often grieved when he saw the people of Israel going back in their thoughts to the foul idolatrous house of bondage, when he knew that they were ready at any time to make the image of Isis, the golden calf, and bow before it. He mourned that they harbored the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of their god, Remphan. He must have felt a holy horror that these images of mere demons, these pieces of gilded wood and carved stone should ever be objects of Israel's adoration. For what had they done? What could they do? They had eyes, but they could not see. They had hands, but they could not handle--feet, but they could not move! But the God of Jeshurun made the heavens and then, before their eyes, made the heavens to drop with manna! He made the earth, and for their supply made the flinty rocks to flow with rivers! He it was who went before His people with a pillar of fire and cloud, made them victorious over all their enemies and promised to bring them into the promised land. "Well," said the man who had seen all this, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun." Brothers and Sisters, there is no fear that you or I shall worship any false god literally as Israel so basely did, yet there is still need to say, "Flee idolatry." Among all the comforts which you now enjoy, and in which there is always the tendency for you to find idols, there is none like the God of Jeshurun! Your home, the place of your love, must always be dear to you. Your relatives and the children of God's gift must always be the fond objects of your affection--but remember John's words, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." None of your dearest and most cherished loves are at all worthy to sit upon the throne of your heart--far down in the scale must they be placed when the God who gave them to you is brought into comparison. That broad bosom of your beloved husband beats fondly and faithfully--but when death lays it low, as before long it must--how wretched will be your condition if you have not an everlasting Comforter upon whose breast to lean! Those dear little sparkling eyes which are like stars in the Heaven of your social joy--if these are the gods of your idolatry, how wretched will you be when their brightness is dim, and the mother's joy is moldering back to dust! Happy is he who has an everlasting joy and an undying comfort--and there is none in this respect like unto the God of Jeshurun. There would be fewer broken hearts if hearts were more completely the Lord's. We should have no rebellious spirits if, when we had our joys, we used them lawfully and did not too much build our hopes upon them. All beneath the moon will wane. Everything on these shores ebbs and flows like the sea. Everything beneath the sun will be eclipsed. You will not find in time that which is only to be discovered in eternity, namely, an immutable and unfailing source of comfort. "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun." Let me remind you that this is the case with all the objects of human pursuit. Some have lived for wealth, but when they have gained it they have been disappointed with the result. Though they have heaped gold in the bag, and added house to house, and field to field, yet their aching spirit has craved still for food--for gold can no more feed a soul than dust can satisfy the hunger of the body. Some have followed the star of ambition--they would be famous and make unto themselves a name like the great men that are in the earth. And when they have gained the bubble reputation, they have wept to find that, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Even the best of earthly joys pall upon the appetites of those who attain them. Christian, stand to your God. Be it your life to live for Him that made you, to live in Him that bought you, to live with Him that chose you, to live like Him who lived and died for you. You shall find that such an object of life will satisfy all the powers and passions of your soul, for to this end your soul was formed and suited. You shall run in this race without weariness, and walk without fainting--and if you get the prize, it is one that shall not wither in your hand like the ivy wreath of Greece, or like the laurel crown of Rome. It will not decay upon your brow--for you shall win a crown of life that fades not away. Moses, in the particular words here used, seems to intimate that there is none like the God of Jeshurun as the ground of our confidence. Now, you who have trusted in God, remember there is room for you to trust Him still more--and the more you shall confide in Him, the more emphatically will you declare, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun." If we rely upon men we put trust in fickleness itself! Brethren, my own public life enables me to speak very plainly and positively here. If we trust in men, even the very best of men, either they may deceive us or else, good enough though their intentions may be, they will not be able to bear us up in times of great and serious difficulty. If we depend upon the generosity of our fellow men in carrying on the Lord's work--especially if we depend upon committees and upon the usual machinery which is so popular nowadays--we shall very often have to cry, "Woe is me!" But if we trust in God, there may be famine over all the world but there shall be corn in Egypt for the Lord's people! And if every society that depends upon its subscribers goes to rack and ruin, we who depend upon the everlasting God will stand fast and firm! There are two kinds of policy adopted by the Christian Church nowadays--the one is to trust in man, and the other to trust in the living God--and I daily notice that where man is trusted to more and more, there comes the withering and the fading of the leaf. But where God is relied upon, that work becomes like a tree planted by the rivers of water, the leaf whereof does not wither and which brings forth its fruit in its season. And whatever it does is prosperous. If I had to address any Christian minister today, I would say to him, "Let the very first point of all your Christian policy be to trust in the Lord, for cursed is he that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm; but blessed is he that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." I say the same to every one of you, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ--place your reliance upon the Most High! Get a good leverage upon the Rock of Ages, for when you are firmly fixed there you may lift a world of difficulties and remove a mountain of troubles. Oh, to be clean delivered from every confidence which is not derived from the Covenant God of Israel! Brethren, however sharp the strokes that bring us down to this, they are blessed strokes! However bitter may be the medicines that rinse our mouths and put them out of taste with worldly confidences--I say, however bitter they are--they are all the healthier and the Lord be thanked for them! When we drink from the pure fountain at the fountainhead and turn from the stagnant puddles of the broken cisterns, cleaving to our God, and to our God alone, we are then growing in Divine Grace, and only then. That Moses meant this, I think is clear, from the words he uses, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, which rides upon the Heaven in your help [to help you], and in His excellency on the sky." Men can come to our help, but they travel slowly, creeping along the earth. Lo, our God comes riding on the heavens! They who travel on the earth may be stopped by enemies, they certainly will be hindered. But He that rides upon the heavens cannot be stayed nor even delayed. When Jehovah's excellency comes flying upon the sky on the wings of the wind, how gloriously are displayed the swiftness, the certainty, and the all-sufficiency of delivering Grace. God has ways to help us that we dream not of. "Your way, O God, is in the sea." He has a way in the tempest, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. Jehovah has made for Himself a highway, a chariot road along the heavens, that His purposes of love may never be hindered. If we will but trust in God, invisible spirits shall fight for us! The great wheels of Providence shall revolve for our good, and God the Eternal, Himself, dressed in robes of war like a valiant champion, shall come forth to join us in our quarrel! Fall back upon yourselves, lean upon your fellow creatures, trust upon earth-born confidences and you fall upon a rotten foundation that shall give way beneath you! But rest upon your God and upon your God, alone, and the stars in Heaven shall fight for you! Yes, the stars in their courses and things present and things to come, and heights, and depths, and all the creatures subservient to the will of the Omnipotent Creator shall work together for good to you, seeing that you love God and are depending upon His power. Thus, and thus sweetly, does Israel's Prophet sing of Israel's God. II. The second note of the song is ISRAEL'S SAFETY. "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Two sentences, with a little variation of expression, containing essentially the same sense. God is first said to be the refuge of His people, that is, when they have strength enough to fly to Him He protects them. But it is delightfully added, "underneath are the everlasting arms," that is, when they have not strength enough to flee to Him, but faint where they stand, there are His arms ready to bear them up in their utmost extremity. First, God is the refuge of His people--and He is this, let me remind you--always and under all difficulties. If it should rain today on your journey home, you will be glad of a little shelter beneath some friendly doorway. It would not have killed you, certainly, if you had not found the refuge, but still it was comfortable to be protected. Now remember that your God is not only a shelter from the avenging tempest at the last, but from the little present trials of the day. Do we not lose very much of comfort by our forgetting that God is as willing to help us in our minor sorrows as in our major griefs? He is your refuge, dear Friend, from a little loss, a little pain, a little grief--tell Him all. As a father thinks nothing little that belongs to his well-loved child, so will your heavenly Father think no grief too little for His notice. He who guides a sparrow and counts the hairs of your head will be a refuge for you in your daily griefs. But suppose a storm of thunder and lightning should come on today, and a perfect hurricane should blow--then some neighbor's house would be a shelter which you would value more--and so your God is a refuge to you when your heavier griefs come on. Do not, I pray you, think that anything in Providence can be too hard for God, or that your position ever can be beyond the reach of His delivering arm. If you have lost all, so long as you have not lost Him, your losses shall turn out to be gains. If your friends and children should sicken and die, yet you are not alone so long as the ever-living Father is with you. It is a blessed thing to learn habitually to make use of God. There is no benefit in having a friend if we do not use him by making application to him. There are some friends who would love us all the less if we were often to avail ourselves of their friendship, but our God is such that He would have us draw upon Him. He delights to give--it is His pleasure to assist those who trust Him. Come, make your needs, your burdens known. Hesitate not, stand not away with an unholy bashfulness, but with a childlike boldness approach your heavenly Father and tell Him what your griefs may be, be they little or be they great-- for the Lord is a refuge for us, a sure refuge, an open refuge, a constant refuge--a refuge at this very moment if we have but Divine Grace to fly to him. Moses, I believe, in this passage alluded to one remarkable privilege of the children of Israel in the wilderness. All day long the cloudy pillar covered them. I do not think of it as being simply a column of smoke arising from the center of the Tabernacle--it was such, but besides that it covered the whole camp as a vast canopy or pavilion--so that in the great and terrible wilderness they fainted not under the burning heat of the sun. This pillar of cloud interposed a friendly shade so that they passed through the wilderness beneath the wings of God! At night their encampment would have been like a great city wrapped in darkness, but the pillar of fire supplied to them a light far superior to that which glows in London or in Paris through the art of man--that great flaming pillar lit up every tent and habitation so that in point of fact there was no night there. They were always sheltered by God both by day and by night. If they strayed away from the camp for a little time in the heat of the sun, they had only to come flying back and there that emblem of the present God became their shelter! Or at night, if they wandered for awhile, that vast blazing lamp conducted them back again to their place of rest. So it is with us. In nights of trouble and grief, the fire of Divine comfort glows within us--the precious promises are round about us and we rejoice in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. And when by day we travel over this burning wilderness to the rest appointed, God interposes perpetually the sweet presence of His love to screen us from the sharper sorrows of the world that we may still, while walking onward to Heaven, behold the shield of Heaven uplifted above our heads. Dwell, for only one second upon that word, "The eternal God is your refuge." Brethren, God is not only our refuge, but He is such as the eternal God! I do not understand, my dear Brethren, how some of the very best of men are satisfied to believe that God will forsake His people. I thank God I cannot receive their teaching. I believe that He is my refuge today and He was my refuge in the days of my youth--and when this hair is gray He will be my refuge, still. Yes, and when the sun of time has set beneath the horizon, never to rise again, and eternity is ushered in, the same refuge will remain to all His believing people! "The eternal God is your refuge." What are you doing, my Brother, over there? What are you doing? You found God to be your refuge years ago when you were in great distress, and you are in some fresh trouble today, and you fancy God will not help you. He is the eternal God, man! If He had changed, if He had died, you might be in despair. But since He is eternal and immutable, surely He will do for you today what He did for you then. Cast your present burden upon Him who helped you in the burdens past. "The eternal God is your refuge." It is all very well for me to stand here and talk about this, but the sweetness lies in getting under the refuge! It is of no use to know, when you are climbing the storm-beaten Alps, that there is a refuge on the hill-side against the storm unless you get into it. Beloved Believer, get into your God this morning! I will tell you what I have often had to do. I have had perplexities in the work which grows out of the Church, and I have mused over them and puzzled my brain till I could see no way of escape. And at last I have come to this conclusion-- "It is beyond me altogether. Gracious God, take it in Your hands." I have put it upon the shelf and have resolved I would never think of it again--if God did not see to it, I would not. I gave up the case to Him, and I have often found that then the matter has been cleared up directly. Whereas, while I was fretting and worrying like a drowning man, I struggled myself deeper and deeper into the water--but when I laid quite still I could float and help came. Do so with your troubles. When you have done the little you can do, then say, "This is evidently a thing beyond my power. What is the use of my straining at it? I am told God will appear for me in the time of my extremity, and so He shall. I will have nothing to do with it." "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." The second sentence is, "Underneath are the everlasting arms." This seems to anticipate that the child of God may be in such a condition that he cannot run into the refuge, but falls down in a fainting fit. And where does he fall? Into Hell? Ah, no, he is redeemed, and Hell can never enclose a redeemed soul! Where does he fall, then? Fall to the hard, unsympathizing earth, to lie without help till he is strong enough to recover himself? Not at all! Even when he falls, he falls into the everlasting arms! I will mention some times when a Christian needs these arms peculiarly. These are when he is in a state of great elevation of mind. Sometimes God takes His servants and puts them on the pinnacle of the temple. Satan does it sometimes--God does it too--puts His servants up on the very pinnacle where they are so full of joy that they scarcely know how to contain themselves! "Whether in the body or out of the body they cannot tell." Well, now, suppose they should fall! It is so easy for a man, when full of ecstasy and ravishment, to make a false step and slip. Ah, but in such moments, "underneath are the everlasting arms." They are safe enough! As safe as though they were in the valley of humiliation, for underneath are the arms of God. Sometimes He puts a man in such a position in service--there must be leaders in the Lord's Church, captains and mighty men of war--and the Lord sometimes calls a man and says to him, "Now, be Moses to this people." Such positions are fraught with temptation--and is God's servant in greater danger than an ordinary Christian? Yes, he is, if left to himself--but he will not be left to himself, for God does not treat His captains as David treated Uriah, and put them in the forefront of the battle, to leave them, that they may be slain by the enemy. No, if our God calls a man to tread the high places of the field, that man shall say with Habakkuk, "He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places." "Underneath are the everlasting arms." Another period of great need is after extraordinary exaltations and enjoyments when it often happens that God's servants are greatly depressed. I suppose some Brethren neither have much elevation or depression. I could almost wish to share their peaceful life, for I am much tossed up and down, and although my joy is greater than the most of men, my depression of spirit is such as few can have any idea of. This week has been in some respects the crowning week of my life, but it closed with a horror of great darkness of which I will say no more than this. I bless God that at my worst, underneath me I found the everlasting arms! What a grand day that was for Elijah when he saw the fire come down upon his bullock, in answer to his prayer, and he cried in holy wrath, "Take the prophets of Baal, let not one escape." I think I see the grim pleasure in the Prophet's face as he saw them taken to the brook and slain. Behold his exhilaration as he binds up his loins and runs before Ahab's chariot, keeping pace with the monarch's horses with an agility in which soul and body joined. And then, what happens a day or two afterwards? In the wilderness, all alone, he has fled from a woman's face, and you hear him cry, "Let me die, I am no better than my fathers." Yes, the man who never was to die at all, prayed that he might die! Just so, high exaltations involve deep depressions. But what was under Elijah when he fell down in that fainting fit under the juniper tree? Why, underneath were the everlasting arms! So shall it be with you who are called thus to fall into the depths of depression--the eternal arms shall be lower than you are! Brethren, there are many such occasions in which the spirit sinks sometimes through a sense of sin, through disappointments, through desertions of friends, through beholding the decay of the Lord's work, through a lack of success in our ministry, or a thousand other mischiefs which may all cast us low. Yes, as low as Jonah, who went, he says, to the bottoms of the mountains. But when Jonah went to the lowest, underneath him were the everlasting arms! And when the earth, with her bars, was about him forever, and the weeds were wrapped about his head he came up again--because still lower than he was the hand of God--the everlasting arms were underneath him still. There is blessed comfort when we come to die. I remember being at the funeral of one of our Brothers, and a dear friend in Christ offered prayer in which there was a sentence which struck me, "O Lord," he said, "You have laid our friend low, but we thank You that he cannot go any lower, for underneath him are the everlasting arms." Yes, underneath the bodies of the saints are the everlasting arms of God! They cannot sink to Hell--they must rise again at the sound of the archangel's trumpet! Think, next time you go to the grave with your dear one--you will fancy that you are putting the body into the cold earth to leave it there--but if you will think that there are God's arms at the bottom of that grave, you will drop your child into them, oh, so gently! You will put father and mother, yes, and the dearest one you have, softly and happily down into the Father's arms, believing that He will raise them up again after a little sleep upon His bosom. You see here, then, the safety of God's people. God is such a help to them that they shall not faint--or fainting, shall only fall into His arms. III. The second half of the verse tells us of ISRAEL'S FUTURE. "And He shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say, Destroy them." You have seen a man in our streets with a telescope through which you may see Venus, or Saturn, or Jupiter. Now, if that gentleman, instead of revealing the stars, could fix up a telescope and undertake that everybody who looked through it should see his future life, I will be bound to say he would make his fortune very speedily for there is a great desire among us all to know something of the future! Yet we need not be so anxious, for the great outlines of the future are very well known already. We have it on the best authority that in the future as in the past, we shall meet with difficulties and contend with enemies. My text, like the telescope, reveals to those who trust in God what will become of their difficulties and we see that they are to be overcome. God will work, and you will work. He shall thrust out your enemies, and He shall say to you, "Destroy them." What may be our future lot, as I have said, we do not know--save that the Holy Spirit testifies that in every place--bonds, and adversities, and struggles, and trials certainly await us. We shall not have an easy path to Heaven. As it has not been, so shall it not be, but onward--till we lay aside this body--we must contend for very life in spiritual things. How precious it is to see that God has promised to thrust out the enemy from before us! This He does sometimes by Providence. Providence often removes enemies that would have been more than a match for us. When the children of Israel came to the promised land they found that the population had been thinned--God had sent the hornet before them. It was a land, as the spies said, that did eat up the inhabitants thereof--God had sent a hornet and a pestilence to clear off the hosts of Canaan. You do not know, Brothers and Sisters, how strangely God, by a very evident Providence, clears away temptations from before you--temptations which you might not have been strong enough to resist. You may be losing today something which will cause you grief for the present, which, if you had kept it, would have been your destruction in three years to come. The hornet has come and driven away your present comfort--really taking away from you a future curse. Now, whatever your enemies or your difficulties may be, God is on your side and He will thrust them all away before you. It is a grand thing to go straight on in the path of duty, believing that God will clear the road. Like the priests, when they came to the edge of Jordan and saw the billows rolling up, yet on they went--and not so much as one of them was touched by the waves--as they put down their feet the waters receded! Oh, it must have been grand to be the first man in that march--to see the waters flow away before your feet! So shall it be with you! The water shall come up to where you are, yet it shall not touch you--you shall find it disappear as you, by faith, advance. If you are called to march through floods and flames, they shall not hurt you, but shall work your lasting good and expedite you on your journey towards the promised inheritance. God has promised, then, by His Providence to thrust out your enemies. He will also do it by His Grace. His Holy Spirit will give you Divine power by which every uprising sin shall be put down. If all the devils in Hell should tempt you at one time, and all the lusts of the flesh should rise against you in one moment, and all the pride of life should assail you at the same instant--yet the eternal God, the Comforter--would be able to put them all back and to deliver you, and to put a new song into your mouth as He gave you deliverance! Therefore, go on, Brothers and Sisters, even through the valley of the shadow of death--for God will thrust aside your foes and make a pathway for you. But not without your fighting will you win the victory, for He will say, "Destroy them." You are not to be taken to Heaven as though you were a corpse carried there on a litter--you are to struggle according to the struggling of the Spirit within you. You shall work because He works in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure. Sins too hard for you today shall be destroyed tomorrow. You shall not merely escape from them, but you shall kill them! There are the eggs of the old serpent within your heart, and they continue to be hatched one after another--but you shall one day drive out the old dragon and all his hellish crew! Your heart shall be pure and holy--as pure as Heaven, and as holy as Christ Himself! Thus much, then, with regard to God's people in the future--you and I can take comfort from the precious promise here contained. IV. And now, lastly. Moses sang of ISRAEL'S BLESSEDNESS. Israel is to be blessed in three ways: First, "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone." Brothers and Sisters, notwithstanding all our fights and our struggles by virtue of our salvation in Jesus, "We which have believed do enter into the rest," for Jesus is our peace and our rest. Now see our privilege--we dwell alone. We have no alliance with the world. We stay not in Egypt--we rest not upon Assyria. God alone is our comfort and our confidence and we dwell in safety. Dwelling with God in communion--having with Him one object, one affection, one desire--we dwell apart from the rest of mankind, coming out daily more and more from them, and desiring to be nearer and nearer to Christ and further and further from men. Here we dwell safely! There is nowhere safe except when alone with God, but always safe then. I would roll this precious morsel under my tongue, "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone." Like a sparrow, weak and defenseless and on the housetop alone, but still in safety. Hunted by Satan, molested by inward corruptions, tempted by the world, slandered by cruel tongues--but in the bosom of Jesus Christ like a dove, alone, always secure! Perish? That you shall not! Be destroyed by the adversary? It must not be! In time and in eternity God's honor is pledged for your salvation! Earth's old pillars may bow, but the promises of God must stand fast! Safe you are, and safe you shall be when the world is on a blaze. What a mine of comfort in two or three words! "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone." It does not promise that you shall dwell in wealth, nor in fame, nor in respectability, nor even in moderate comfort--but you shall "dwell in safety alone." You may have to lie upon the sick bed, bedridden year after year. You may be exiled from your native country. You may be among the poorest and most despised of mankind, but you shall surely dwell in safety! Where God guarantees safety, there safety is. All the princes of this world cannot make that man safe against whom God aims His arrow, but all the devils in Hell cannot wound that man over whom the everlasting shield is uplifted to keep him secure--"He shall dwell in safety alone." Come, Brothers and Sisters, let us take our harps from the willows and begin a tune of quiet joy, for we are safe! Ah, poor world, you know nothing about this. The legalist, standing upon Sinai's mountain, has done much--but he has more to do. He knows he is not safe--he is to be saved by his own good works, he says, and he never thinks that his good works have come to a sufficiency--therefore he is never safe. But we are safe, sinners as we are, for our righteousness is finished--it is the righteousness of Jesus! Our standing is secure for we are accepted in the Beloved. Blessed safety! This is what old Rome could never promise! Serve her faithfully, and she offers you but a place in "purgatory" as your reward! But we who have believed, have Christ today, and are safe today, and safe forever-- "More happy, but not more secure Are the glorified spirits in Heaven.'" Oh, it is blessed, going to sleep with this satisfaction, "If I never wake in this world, I shall wake in Heaven." And it is blessed, living in this world, on land and on sea, in the midst of storm or of plague, when one is sure that neither life nor death shall affect our safety. Having confided in God, as He manifests Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, our everlasting safety is secured by the promised oath, the Covenant of the everlasting God. The next blessing which is given to Israel is abundant provision. "The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine." God's people are to be supplied from a fountain, and around that fountain there shall always be a superabundance of corn for their necessities, and of wine for their comfort and their luxury. Those who come to God receive no stinted allowance--they are gentlemen commoners upon the bounty of God. There is a daily portion allotted to them and it is measured on a princely scale, equal to the dignity of the new birth. We drink from an ever-overflowing fountain. Other men get a little stock of grace, and goodness, and comfort, as they think, and they are pleased. But these things dry up and are gone! But the Believer has no personal dependence whatever. He has everything in Christ--Christ is his fullness, and it pleases the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell! The Believer comes to Jesus as to a fountain always bubbling up with waters fresh and sweet. The Believer's provision is of all kinds, to meet his necessities and to meet his more luxurious desires. Brethren, we are not only saved from Hell--that is like the corn, but we are made meet for Heaven-- that is the wine. We are not merely saved day by day from our besetting sins--that is as the corn, but we are made to have enjoyments, high enjoyments, fellowship with Jesus, the sitting in the heavenly places with Him--this is the wine. Believe me, Brothers and Sisters, all that your souls can need, when your desires are stretched to the utmost, you will find in Christ Jesus! If you have learned to trust Him, you may make your capacities of intellect as large as those of a Locke or Sir Isaac Newton--you may have a mind which knows no limit, which, like the horse-leech, cries, "Give, give!" It may be as expansive as the all-embracing sky, but in your God you shall find all and more than all, for you shall be in your God as the fish that is in the sea, the bounds of which it cannot find, the limit of which it cannot learn--you shall be satiated, filled, satisfied with a superabundance from Him whose name is God All-Sufficient. Nor shall you merely have enough for your needs--your joys shall be high, bright, ecstatic! There shall be wine as well as corn. Believe me, we have our dancing days, our times of sacred merriment--there are seasons with us when we would not envy the angels the mirth they have--when our Jesus, the Bridegroom, puts the fasting days away and gives us to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory! Oh, to know Him, to see Him, to feast upon Him is Heaven below! The fountain of Jacob, then, is upon a land of corn and wine to us. Lastly, God's people are furnished with another unspeakable blessing, namely, celestial unction. "Also His heavens shall drop down dew." How we need this! How dry we get, how dull, how dead, unless the Lord visits us! The Oriental knew the value of dew. When he saw the green pastures turn brown and at last dry up till they were nothing but dust and powder, how he sought for the shower and the dew! And when it came, how thankful he was! When that dew of the Holy Spirit is gone from us, what dead prayers, what miserable songs, what wearisome preaching, what wretched hearing! Oh, there is death everywhere when the Holy Spirit is denied us! But we need not be without Him, for He is in the promise-- "His Heaven shall drop down dew." The words read as if there were much dew, superabundance of moisture. So, indeed, we may have the Holy Spirit most copiously if we have but faith enough to believe it and earnestness enough to seek it. Would God we had such a down-dropping of dew today! If it has not come this morning, as I fear it has not, may it yet descend on your classes and on your private meditations this afternoon! May you be favored with it this evening! O God, what are our services without Your Holy Spirit? It were better for us to be dumb than to speak without the Spirit of God! What is all the work the Church attempts without Your power, most blessed Holy Spirit? When we have You, then all is well--and You are promised--therefore come and glorify Yourself and glorify the Lord Jesus. Amen and Amen! __________________________________________________________________ Apostolic Exhortation A Sermon (No. 804) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 5th, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, . "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."--Acts 3:19. AFTER the notable miracle of healing the lame man, when the wondering people clustered round about Peter and John, they were not at all at a loss for a subject upon which to address them. Those holy men were brimful of the gospel, and therefore they had but to run over spontaneously, speaking of that topic which laid nearest to their hearts. To the Christian minister it should never be difficult to speak of Christ; and in whatever position he may be placed, he should never have to ask himself, "What is an appropriate subject for this people?" for the gospel is always in season, always appropriate, and if it be but spoken from the heart, it will be sure to work its way. Turning to the assembled multitude, Peter began at once to preach to them the gospel without a single second's hesitation. Oh! blessed readiness of a soul on fire with the Spirit, Lord, grant it to us evermore. Observe how earnestly Peter turns aside their attention from himself and his brother John to the Lord Jesus Christ. "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" The object of the Christian minister should always be to withdraw attention from himself to his subject, so that it should not be said, "How well he spake!" but, "Upon what weighty matters he treated!" They are priests of Baal, who, with their gaudy dresses, and their pretensions to a mysterious power, would have you look to themselves as the channels of grace, as though by their priestcraft, if not by their holiness, they could work miracles; but they are true messengers of God who continually say, "Look not on us as though we could do anything: the whole power to bless you lies in Jesus Christ, and in the gospel of his salvation." It is noteworthy that Peter, in addressing this crowd, came at once to the very essence and bowels of his message. He did not beat the bush; he did not shoot his arrow far afield, but he hit the very centre of the target. He preached not merely the gospel of good news, but Christ, the person of Christ; Christ crucified--crucified by them, Christ risen, Christ glorified of his Father. Depend upon it, this is the very strength of the Christian ministry, when it is saturated with the name and person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take Christ away, and you ungospelise the gospel, you do but pour out husks such as swine do eat, while the precious kernel is removed, seeing you have taken away the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there was ever an occasion when a preacher of the gospel might have forgotten to speak of Christ, it was surely the occasion on which Peter spake so boldly of him. For, might it not have been said, "Talk not of Jesus; they have just now haled him to the death: the people are mad against him; preach the truth, but do not mention his name; deliver his doctrine, but withhold the mention of his person, for you will excite them to madness; you will put your own life in jeopardy; you will scarcely do good while they are so prejudiced, and you may do much mischief"? But, instead of this, let them rage as they would, Peter would tell them about Jesus Christ, and about nothing else but Jesus Christ. He knew this to be the power of God unto salvation, and he would not flinch from it; so to them, even to them, he delivered the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a pungency as well as a simplicity scarcely to be rivalled. Notice how he puts it: "Ye" have slain him; "ye" have crucified him; "ye" have preferred a murderer. He is not afraid of being personal; he does not shirk the touching of men's consciences; he rather thrusts his hand into their hearts and make them feel their sin; he labours to open a window into the darkness of their spirits, to let the light of the Holy Ghost shine into their soul. Even thus, my brethren, when we preach the gospel, must we do: affectionately but graciously must we deal with men. Far hence be all trimming and mincing of matters. Accursed let him be that takes away from the gospel of Jesus Christ that he may win popular applause, or who bates his breath and smoothes his tongue that he may please the unholy throng. Such a man may have for a moment the approbation of fools, but, as the Lord his God liveth, he shall be set as a target for the arrows of vengeance in the day when the Lord cometh to judge the nations. Peter, then, boldly and earnestly preached the gospel--preached the Christ of the gospel--preached it personally and directly at the crowd who were gathered around him. Nor did Peter fail, when he had enunciated the gospel, to make the personal application by prescribing its peculiar commands. Grown up among us is a school of men who say that they rightly preach the gospel to sinners when they merely deliver statements of what the gospel is, and of the result of dying unsaved, but they grow furious and talk of unsoundness if any venture to say to the sinner, "Believe," or "Repent." To this school Peter did not belong--into their secret he had never come, and with their assembly, were he alive now, he would not be joined. For, having first told his hearers of Christ, of his life and death and resurrection, he then proceeds to plunge the sword, as it were, up to the very hilt in their consciences by saying, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." There, I say, in that promiscuous crowd, gathered together by curiosity, attracted by the miracle which he had wrought, Peter felt no hesitation, and asked no question; he preached the same gospel as he would have preached to us today if he were here, and preached it in the most fervent and earnest style, preached the angles and the corners of it, and then preached the practical part of it, addressing himself with heart, and soul, and energy, to every one in that crowd, and saying, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Now there are four remarks which will make up the discourse of this morning, when they are enlarged. I. And the first is this, that THE APOSTLE BADE MEN REPENT AND BE CONVERTED. Of this our text is proof enough without our going afield for other instances. Repent signifies, in its literal meaning, to change one's mind. It has been translated, "after-wit," or "after-wisdom;" it is the man's finding out that he was wrong, and rectifying his judgment. But although that be the meaning of the root, the word has come in scriptural use to mean a great deal more. Perhaps there is no better definition of repentance than that which is given in our little children's hymnbook-- "Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before, And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more." Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, a resolution to forsake it. It is, in fact, a change of mind of a very deep and practical character, which makes the man love what once he hated, and hate what once he loved. Conversion, if translated, means a turning round, a turning from, and a turning to--a turning from sin, a turning to holiness--a turning from carelessness to thought, from the world to heaven, from self to Jesus--a complete turning. The word here used, though translated in the English, "Repent and be converted," is not so in the Greek; it is really, "Repent and convert," or, rather, "Repent and turn." It is an active verb, just as the other was. "Repent and turn." When the demoniac had the devils cast out of him--I may compare that to repentance; but when he put on his garments, and was no longer naked and filthy, but was said to be clothed and in his right mind, I may compare that to conversion. When the prodigal was feeding his swine, and on a sudden began to consider and to come to himself, that was repentance. When he set out and left the far country, and went to his father's house, that was conversion. Repentance is a part of conversion. It is, perhaps, I may say, the gate or door of it. It is that Jordan through which we pass when we turn from the desert of sin to seek the Canaan of conversion. Regeneration is the implanting of a new nature, and one of the earliest signs of that is, a faith in Christ, and a repentance of sin, and a consequent conversion from that which is evil to that which is good. The apostle Peter, addressing the crowd, said to them, "Change your minds; be sorry for what you have done; forsake your old ways; be turned; become new men." That was his message as I have now put it into other words. Now, brethren, it has been said, and said most truly, that repentance and conversion are the work of the Holy Spirit of God. You do not need that I should stop to prove that doctrine. We have preached it to you a thousand times, and we are prepared to prove that if anything be taught in Scripture, that is. There never was any genuine repentance in this world which was not the work of the Holy Spirit. For this purpose our Lord Jesus has gone on high: "He is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins." All true conversion is the work of the Holy Ghost. You may rightly pray in the words of the prophet, "Turn thou us, and we shall be turned;" for until God turn us, turn we never shall; and unless he convert us, our conversion is but a mistake. Hear it as a gospel summons-- "True belief and true repentance, Every grace which brings us nigh; Without money Come to Jesus Christ and buy." "And yet," say you, "and yet the apostle Peter actually says to us, Repent, and be converted!' That is, you tell us with one breath that these things are the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then with the next breath you read the text, Repent, and be converted.'" Ay, I do, I do, and thank God I have learned to do so. But you will say, "How reconcile you these two things?" I answer, it is no part of my commission to reconcile my Master's words: my commission is to preach the truth as I find it--to deliver it to you fresh from his hand. I not only believe these things to be agreeable to one another, but I think I see wherein they do agree, but I utterly despair of making the most of what is written in Scripture, and to accept it all, whether we can see the agreement of the two sets of truths or no--to accept them both because they are both revealed. With that hand I hold as firmly as any man living, that repentance and conversion are the work of the Holy Spirit, but I would sooner lose this hand, and both, than I would give up preaching that it is the duty of men to repent and to believe, and the duty of Christian ministers to say to them, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." If men will not receive truth till they understand it, there are many things which they never will receive. Ay, there are many facts, common facts in nature, which nobody would deny but a fool, which yet must be denied if we will not believe them till we understand them. There is a fish fresh taken from the sea: you take it to the cook to serve it on the table. You eat salt with it, do you? What for? You will have it dried and salted, but what for? Did not it always live in the salt sea? Why then is it not salt? It is as fresh as though it had lived in the purling brooks of the upland country--not a particle of salt about it--yet it has lived wholly in the salt sea! Do you understand that? No, you cannot. But there it is, a fresh fish in a salt sea! And yonder are an ox and a sheep, and they are eating in the same meadow, feeding precisely on the same food, and the grass in one case turns to beef, in the other case to mutton, and on one animal there is hair and on the other wool. How is that? Do you understand it? So there may be two great truths in Scripture, which are both truths, and yet all the wise men in the world might be confounded to bring those two truths together. I do not understand, I must confess, why Moses was told to cut down a tree and put it in the bitter waters of Marah; I cannot see any connection between a tree and the water, so that the tree should make it sweet, but yet I do believe that when Moses put the tree into the water the bitterness of Marah departed, and the stream was sweet. I do not know why it is that Elisha, when he went to Jericho, and found the water nauseous, said "Bring me a cruse of salt;" I do not know why his putting the salt into the stream should make it sweet--it looks to me as if it would operate the other way; but I believe the miracle, namely, that the salt was put in, and that it was sweetened. So I do not understand how it is that my bidding impenitent sinners to repent should in any way be likely to make them do so, but I know it does--I see it every day. I do not know why a poor weak creature saying to his fellow men, "Believe," should lead them to believe, but it does so, and the Holy Spirit blesses it, and they do believe and are saved; and if we cannot see how, if we see the fact, we will be content and bless God for it. Perhaps you may be aware that an attempt has been made by ingenious expositors to get rid of the force of this text. Some of our Hyper-Calvinist friends, who are so earnest against anything like exhortations and invitations, have tried by some means to disembowel this text if they could, to take something out and put something else in; they have said that the repentance to which men are here exhorted is but an outward repentance. But how is it so, when it is added, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out"? Does a merely outward repentance bring with it the blotting out of sin? Assuredly not. The repentance to which men are here exhorted is a repentance which brings with it complete pardon--"that your sins may be blotted out." And, moreover, it seems to me to be a shocking thing to suppose that Peter and John went about preaching up a hollow, outward repentance, which would not save men. My brethren who make that remark would themselves be ashamed to preach up outward repentance. I am sure they would think they were not ministers of God at all if they preached up any merely outward virtue. It shows to what shifts they must be driven when they twist the Scriptures so horribly with so little reason. Brethren, it was a soul-saving repentance, and nothing less than that, which Peter commanded of these men. Now, let us come to the point. We tell men to repent and believe, not because we rely on any power in them to do so, for we know them to be dead in trespasses and sins; not because we depend upon any power in our earnestness or in our speech to make them do so, for we understand that our preaching is less than nothing apart from God; but because the gospel is the mysterious engine by which God converts the hearts of men, and we find that, if we speak in faith, God the Holy Ghost operates with us, and while we bid the dry bones live, the Spirit makes them live--while we tell the lame man to stand on his feet, the mysterious energy makes his ankle-bones to receive strength--while we tell the impotent man to stretch out his hand, a divine power goes with the command, and the hand is stretched out and the man is restored. The power lies not in the sinner, not in the preacher, but in the Holy Spirit, which works effectually with the gospel by divine decree, so that where the truth is preached the elect of God are quickened by it, souls are saved, and God is glorified. Go on, my dear brethren, preaching the gospel boldly, and be not afraid of the result, for, however little may be your strength, and though your eloquence may be as nought, yet God has promised to make his gospel the power to save, and so it shall be down to the world's end. See then, ye that are unsaved, before I leave this point, see what it is we are bound to require of you this morning. It is, that ye repent and be converted. We are not satisfied with having your ear, nor your eyes; we are not content with having you gathered in the house of worship--it is all in vain that you have come here, except you repent and be converted. We are not come to tell you that you must reform a little, and mend your ways in some degree: except you put your trust in Christ, forsake your old way of life, and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, you must perish. This--nothing short of this--is the gospel requirement. No church-going, no chapel-going, will save you; no bowing of the knee, no outward form of worship, no pretensions and professions to godliness- ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and if ye do not this, neither shall your sins be blotted out. Thus much, then, on the first point: the apostle commanded men to repent and be converted. II. In the second place, THERE WAS GOOD REASON FOR THIS COMMAND. The text says, "Repent ye therefore." The apostle was logical: he had a reason for his exhortation. It was not mere declamation, but sound reasoning. "Repent ye therefore." What, then, was the argument? Why, first, because you, like the Jews, have put Jesus Christ to death. This was literally true of the people to whom he spake: they had had a share in Christ's execution. And this is spiritually true of you to whom I speak this morning. Every sin in the essence of it is a killing of God. Do you comprehend me? Every time you do what God would not have you do, you do in effect, so far as you can, put God out of his throne, and disown the authority which belongs to his Godhead; you do in intent, so far as you can, kill God. That is the drift of sin--sin is a God-killing thing. Every violation of law is treason in its essence--it is rebellion against the lawgiver. When our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree by sinners, sin only did then literally and openly what all sin really does in a spiritual sense. Do you understand me? Those offendings of yours which you have thought so little of, have been really a stabbing at the Deity. Will you not repent, if it be so? While you thought your sins to be mere trifles, light things to be laughed at, you would not repent; but now I have shown you (and I think your conscience will bear me out) that every sin is really an attempt to thrust God out of the world, that every sin is saying, "Let there be no God." Oh! then there is cause enough to repent of it. Come hither and reason with me, thou who hast broken God's law. Suppose the principle of thy disobedience were carried out to the full, would not all laws be disregarded, and moral government subverted? And why not, since what one may do another has clearly the same right to do? What, then, if the authority of God should be no more owned in the universe--where should we all be? What a hell above ground would this world become! What a moral chaos and den of beasts! Do you not see what a mischievous thing, then, your iniquity has been? Repent and turn from it. If you can really believe this morning that though you did not nail Christ to the cross, nor plait the crown of thorns and put it on his head, nor stand and mock him there, yet that every sin is a real crucifixion of Christ, and a mockery of Christ, and a slaughter of Christ. Then, truly, there is abundant reason why you should repent and turn from it. The apostle also used another argument, namely, that he whom they had slain was a most blessed person--one so blessed that God the Father had exalted him. Jesus Christ came not into this world with any selfish motive, but entirely out of philanthropy, full of love to men; and yet men put him to death! Now, every sin is an insult against the good and kind God. God does not deserve that we should rebel against him. If he were a great tyrant domineering over us, putting us to misery, there might be some excuse for our sin, but when he acts like a tender father to us, supplying our wants day by day, and forgiving our offenses, it is a shame, a cruel shame, that we should live in daily revolt against him. You who have not believed in Christ, have mighty cause for repenting that you have not believed in him, seeing he is so good and kind. What hurt has he ever done you that you should curse at him? What injury has Jesus done to any one of you that you should despise him? You deny his Deity, perhaps; or, at any rate, you despise the great salvation which he came into this world to work out. Does he deserve this of you? Prince of life and glory, King of angels, the adored of seraphs, art thou despised of men for whom thy blood was shed? Oh, what an accursed thing, then, sin must be, since it treats so badly so kind and blessed a person! This ought to make us melt, this should make us shed the drops of pity and of grief; we ought, indeed, to turn from our idle and evil ways when against Jesus we have so offended. Moreover, Peter used another plea, that while they had rejected the blessed Christ they had chosen a murderer. Sinner, thou hast despised Christ, and what is it thou hast chosen? Has it been the drunkard's cup? Oh, what a bestial thing to prefer to Christ! Or has it been thy lust? What a devilish thing to set in the place of Christ! Man, what have thy sins done to thee that thou shouldst prefer them to Jesus? Have you lived in them for years? then what wages have you had? what profit have you had? Tell me now, you that have gone the farthest in sin, tell me now, are you satisfied with the service? Would you wish to go over again the days you have lived, and to reap in your own bodies the fruit of your misdeeds? Nay, but you serve a hard master; a murderer from the beginning is that devil to whom you surrender your lives. Oh, then, this is a thing to be repented of--that you have cast Christ away, but have chosen a murderer. "Not this man," say you, "but Barabbas." You will take this murderous world, this killing sin, but the blessed Saviour, you let him go. Is not there good argument here for repentance and conversion? Surely there is. Peter clenches his reasoning with another argument, bringing down, if I may so say, the big hammer this time upon the head of the nail. It is this, that the Lord Christ, whom you have hitherto despised, is able to do great things for you. "His name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know." Christ then, by faith in him, is able to do for you all that you want. If you will trust Jesus today, all your iniquities shall be blotted out; the past shall not be remembered; the present shall be rendered safe, and the future blessed. If thou trustest in Christ, there is no sin which he will not forgive thee, no evil habit the power of which he will not break, no foul propensity the weight of which he cannot remove. Believing in him, he can make thee blessed beyond a dream. And is not this cause for repentance, that thou shouldst have slighted one who can do thee so much good? With hands loaded with love he stands outside the door of your heart. Is not this good reason for opening the door and letting the heavenly stranger in, when he can bless you to such a vast extent of benediction? What, will you reject your own mercies? Will you despise the heaven which shall be yours if you will have my Master? Will you choose the doom from which none but he can rescue you, and let go the glory to which none but he can admit you? When I think of the usefulness of Christ to perishing sinners, there is indeed abundant cause for repentance that you should not have closed with him long ago, and accepted him to be your all in all. Thus you see the apostle argued with them by that word "Therefore." There was one other plea which he used, which I would employ this morning. He said, "Brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it." As if he would say, "Now that ye have more light, repent of what you did in the dark." So might I say to some here present. You had not heard the gospel, you did not know that sin was so bad a thing, you did not understand that Jesus Christ was able to save to the uttermost them that came unto God by him. Well, now you do understand it. The times of your ignorance God winks at, but now, "commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Greater light brings greater responsibility. Do not go back to your sin, lest it become tenfold sin to you; for if you do in the light what once you did in the darkness, he who winked at you when you knew no better, may lift his hand, and swear that you shall never enter into his rest, because you sinned presumptuously, and did despite to the Spirit of his grace. I charge every unconverted man here to mind what he is at in future. If he did not know that Jesus was able to save him before, he knows it now; if he was in the dark till this morning, he is not in the dark any longer. "Now ye have no cloak for your sin." Therefore, because the cloak is pulled away, and you sin against the light, I say as Peter did, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." III. But now, our third remark shall be given with brevity, and it is this, THAT WITHOUT REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION, SIN CANNOT BE PARDONED. The expression used in the text, "blotted out," in the original may be better explained in this way. Many Oriental merchants kept their accounts on little tablets of wax. On these tablets of wax, they indented marks which recorded the debts, and when these debts were paid, they took the blunt end of the stylus or pencil, and just flattened down the wax, and the account entirely disappeared. That was the form of "blotting out" in those days. Now, he that repents and is pardoned, is, through the precious blood of Christ, so entirely forgiven, that there is no record of his sin left. It is as though the stylus had levelled the marks in the wax, and there was no record left. What a beautiful picture of the forgiveness of sin! It is all gone, not a trace left. If we blot out an account from our books, there is the blot: the record is gone, but there is the blot; but on the wax tablet there was no blot--it was all gone, and the wax was smooth. So is it with the sin of God's people when removed by Jesus' blood, it is all gone and gone for ever. But rest assured it cannot be removed except there be repentance and conversion as the result of faith in Jesus. This must be so, for this is most seemly. Would you expect a great king to forgive an erring courtier unless the offender first confessed his fault? Where is the honour and dignity of the throne of God, if men are to be pardoned while as yet they will not confess their sin? In the next place, it would not be moral; it would be pulling up the very sluices of immorality to tell men that they could be pardoned while they went on in their sins and loved them. What, a thief pardoned and continue to thieve! A harlot forgiven and remain unchaste! The drunkard forgiven and yet delight in his tankards! Truly, then, the gospel would be the servant of unrighteousness, and against us who preach it morality should make a law. But it is not so, impenitent sinners shall be damned, let them boast what they will about grace. My hearer, thou must hate thy sin, or God will hate thee. Thou must turn or burn. Thou canst not have thy sins and go to heaven. Which shall it be? Wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven, or hold thy sins and go to hell? Which shall it be, for it must be one or the other; there must be a divorce between us and sin, or there cannot be a marriage between us and Christ. Does not conscience tell us this? There is not a conscience here that will say to a man, "You can hope to be saved and yet live as you list." Some have said this--I query if any have believed it. No, no, no, blind as conscience is, and though its voice be often very feeble, yet there is enough of sight about conscience to see that continuance in sin and pardon cannot consist, and that there must be a forsaking of iniquity if there is to be a forgiving of it. But, my hearer, whether your conscience shall say so or not, God says it; "He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy," but there is no promise for the unrepenting. God declares that he that repents shall be forgiven. "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word;" but for haughty Pharaoh, who says, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?" there is nothing but eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord. He who goeth on in his iniquity and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Ah! I have no pardons to preach to you who settle your minds to continue in sin, no gentle notes of love at all, nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation. But ah! if you loathe your sins, if God's Holy Spirit has made you hate your past lives, if you are anxious to be made new men in Christ Jesus, I have nothing but notes of love for you. Believe in Jesus, cast yourself on him, for he has said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The door is shut and fast bolted to every man who will keep his sin, but it is wide open even to the biggest sinner out of hell, if he will but leave his sin and lay hold of Jesus and put his trust in him. IV. The last remark is this--REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION WILL BE REGARDED AS PECULIARLY PRECIOUS IN THE FUTURE, for my text says, "That your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." A very difficult passage indeed. Its meaning is scarcely known. Three or four meanings have been attached to it. In the first place, I think it means this--he that repents and is converted, shall enjoy the blotting out of sin in that season of sweet peace which always follows pardon. After a man has been thoroughly broken down on account of sin, God deals with him very tenderly. Amongst the very happiest parts of human life are the hours immediately after conversion. You know how we sing-- "Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord?" When the broken bone begins to heal, David puts it, "Thou makest the bones which thou hast broken to rejoice." When the prisoner first gets out of prison, when the fetters for the first time clank music as they fall broken to the ground! when the sick man leaves the sick chamber of his convictions to breathe the air of liberty, and to feel the health of a pardoned sinner! Oh, if you did but know what a bliss it is to be forgiven, you would never stay away from Christ! But you do not know, and cannot tell how sweet it is to be washed in the precious blood, and wrapped about with the fair white linen, and to have the kiss of the heavenly Father on your cheek! O "repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." Perhaps these "times of refreshing" may also relate to times of revival in the Christian church. The only way in which you, dear friends, can share in the refreshment of a revival, is by your own repenting and being converted. A revival is a great refreshment to the church. I pray that a mighty wave may sweep over Great Britain, for much we need it. But of what use is a revival to an unpardoned sinner? It is like the soft south wind blowing upon a corpse--it can bring no genial warmth therewith. If you repent, and be converted, then, amidst the general joy of the revival, you shall have this joy, that your sins have been blotted out. What a mournful cry is that, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!" I think I hear that cry from some in the Tabernacle this morning. Oh, that blessed month of February and the beginning of March! It was to us like a harvest and a summer. What prayers, what tears, what cries! How full this house was to pray! How all day long from before the daystar shone til long after sunset we continued in prayer! But you are not saved, some of you. The harvest and the summer is ended, and you are not saved. Ah! I have been praying to God that you may yet be saved now. I am unable to achieve a purpose which has been hot upon my heart--to go and preach to a greater congregation in the Agricultural Hall during the next month: I find myself restrained by the Master's hand. Ill-health has returned to me, and most probably there are months of weariness and pain awaiting me; but I have prayed that if I may not cast the net in the greater place, I may have the more of you here. We cannot have a larger congregation, but I would fain have more conversions. It is hard preaching, it is dull working, unless there be results. We must have conversions. As that woman of old said, "Give me children or I die," so is it with the preacher: he must have sinners saved, or he prays to die. Dear hearer, if these times of refreshing may come, our prayer is that you may repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and so may partake to the full in the priceless blessings of the season. Once more, the text means, according to the context, the second advent. Jesus is yet to come a second time, and like a mighty shower flooding a desert shall his coming be. His church shall revive and be refreshed; she shall once again lift up her head from her lethargy, and her body from her sepulchre. But woe unto you who are not saved when Christ cometh, for the day of the Lord will be darkness and not light to you. When Christ cometh to the unconverted, "the day shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble." "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi." Oh, if ye repent and be converted, ye shall stand fully absolved in the day of his coming, when heaven and earth do reel, when the solid rock begins to melt, and the stars, like fig-leaves withered, fall from the tree, when the trumpet sounds exceeding loud and long, "Awake, ye dead and come to judgment," when the grand assize is sitting, and the Judge shall be there--the Judge of quick and dead, to separate the righteous from the wicked. The Lord have mercy upon you in that day; and so he shall if his grace shall make you obedient to the words of our text, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Acts 3. __________________________________________________________________ Resurrection With Christ A Sermon (No. 805) Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 12, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [16]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by Grace you are saved)." Ephesians 2:4, 5. THERE have been conferences of late of all sorts of people upon all kinds of subjects, but what a remarkable thing a conference would be if it were possible for persons who have been raised from the dead! If you could somehow or other get together the daughter of the Shunammite, the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow at the gates of Nain, Lazarus, and Eutychus, what strange communing they might have one with another! What singular enquiries they might make, and what remarkable disclosures might they present to us! The thing is not possible, and yet a better and more remarkable assembly may be readily gathered on the same conditions, and more important information may be obtained from the confessions of its members. This morning we have a conference of that very character gathered in this house, for many of us were dead in trespasses and sins, even as others--but we hope that through Divine energy we have been quickened from that spiritual death, and are now living to praise God! It will be well for us to talk together, to review the past, to rejoice in the present, to look forward to the future. "You has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." And as you sit together, an assembly of men and women possessed of resurrection life, you are a more notable conclave than if merely your bodies and not your spirits had been quickened! The first part of this morning's discourse will be occupied with a solemnity in which we shall take you into the morgue. Secondly, we shall spend awhile in reviewing a miracle, and we shall observe dead men living. We shall then turn aside to observe a sympathy indicated in the text, and we shall close with a song, for the text reads somewhat like music--it is full of thankfulness, and thankfulness is the essence of true song. It is full of holy and adoring wonder! It is evermore true poetry even though expressed in prose. I. Celebrate, first, a great SOLEMNITY and descend into the morgue of our poor humanity. According to the teaching of sacred Scripture, men are dead, spiritually dead. Certain vain men would make it out that men are only a little disordered and bruised by the Fall--wounded in a few delicate members but not mortally injured. However, the Word of God is very explicit upon the matter and declares our race to be not wounded, not merely hurt, but slain outright and left as dead in trespasses and sin. There are those who fancy that fallen human nature is only in a sort of swoon or fainting fit--and only needs a process of reviving to set it right. You have only, by education and by other manipulations, to set its life-floods in motion and to excite within it some degree of action--and then life will speedily be developed. There is much good in every man, they say, and you have only to bring it out by training and example. This fiction is exactly opposite to the teaching of sacred Scripture! Within these truthful pages we read of no fainting fit, no temporary paralysis--DEATH is the name for nature's condition--and quickening is its great necessity. Man is not partly dead, like the half-drowned mariner in whom some spark of life may yet remain if it be but fondly tendered, and wisely nurtured. There is not a spark of spiritual life left in man--manhood is to all spiritual things an absolute corpse. "In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die," said God to our first parents, and die they did--a spiritual death--and all their children alike by nature lie in this spiritual death. It is not a sham death, or a metaphorical one, but a real, absolute, spiritual death. Yet it will be said, "Are they not alive?" Truly so, but not spiritually. There are grades of life. You come first upon the vegetable life--but the vegetable is a dead thing as to the vitality of the animal. Above the animal life rises the mental life, a vastly superior life. The creature, which is only an animal, is dead to either the joys or the sorrows of mental life. Then, high above the mental, as much as the mental is above the animal, rises what Scripture calls the spiritual life-- the life in Christ Jesus. All men have more or less of the mental life, and it is well that they should cultivate it--get as much as they can of it. It is well that they should put it to the best uses, and make it subserve the highest ends. Man, even looked upon as merely living mentally, is not to be despised or trifled with. But still, the mental life cannot of itself rise to the spiritual life--it cannot penetrate beyond that mystical wall which separates forever the mere life of mind from the life of that new principle, the Spirit, which is the offspring of God and is the living and incorruptible seed which He casts into the soul. If you could conceive a man in all respects like yourselves with this one difference--that his soul had died out of him--that he only possessed his animal faculties and had no intellectual faculties, so that he could breathe and walk, sleep and eat, and drink, and make a noise, but all mental power was gone--you would then speak of him as being entirely dead to mental pursuits. He might be a most vigorous and well-developed animal, but his manhood would be dead. It would be of no use explaining a proposition to him, or working out a problem on the black board for his instruction, or offering him even the simplest school book--for if he had no mind to receive, how could you impart? Now, spiritually, this is the condition of every unregenerate man. It is of no use whatever, apart from the Spirit of God, to hope to make the man understand spiritual things for they are spiritually discerned, says the Apostle. The carnal mind cannot understand the things which are of God--when best trained it has no glimmering of the inward sense of spiritual things. It stumbles over the letter and loses the real meaning, not from lack of mental capacity, but from the absence of spiritual life. O sons of men, if you would know God, "You must be born again." "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." He cannot understand it, he cannot know it. The carnal man cannot understand the things which are of God, which are eternal and invisible, any more than an ox can understand astronomy, or a fish can admire the classics. Not in a moral sense, nor a mental sense, but in a spiritual sense, poor humanity is dead, and so the Word of God again and again most positively describes it. Step with me, then, into the sepulcher, and what do you observe of yonder bodies which are slumbering there? They are quite unconscious. Whatever goes on around them, neither occasions them joy nor causes them grief. The dead in their graves may be marched over by triumphant armies, but they shout not with them that triumph. Or, friends they have left behind may sit there and water the grass upon the green mound with their tears, but no responsive sigh comes from the gloomy cavern of the tomb. It is thus with men spiritually dead--they are unaffected by spiritual things. A dying Savior, whose groans might move the very stones and make the rocks dissolve--the spiritually dead can hear all--and be unmoved. Even the all-present Spirit is undiscerned by them, and His power unrecognized. Angels, holy men, godly exercises, devout aspirations--all these are beyond and above their world. The pangs of Hell do not alarm them and the joys of Heaven do not entice them. They hear, after a sort, mentally, but the spirit-ear is fast shut up and they do not hear. They are unconscious of all things which are of a spiritual character-- they have eyes but they see not, and ears, but they hear not. You can interest them in the facts of geology, or the discoveries of art, but you cannot win their hearts to spiritual emotions and pursuits because they are as unaware of their meaning as an oyster or snail is unacquainted with the disestablishment of the Irish Church. Carnal men blunder over the first words of spiritual knowledge as Nicodemus did who, when he was told that he must be born again, began to enquire, "How can a man be born again when he is old?" or, like the woman of Samaria, who, when she was told of living water, could not understand the spiritual Truth, and exclaimed in wonder, "You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep--from where, then, have You that living water?" Men are spiritually unconscious of spiritual Truth, and so far dead to it. Observe that corpse--you may strike it, you may bruise it, but it will not cry out. You may pile burdens upon it, but it is not weary. You may shut it up in darkness, but it feels not the gloom. So the unconverted man is laden with the load of his sin but he is not weary of it. He is shut up in the prison of God's justice, but he pants not for liberty. He is under the curse of God, as it is written, "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them," but that curse causes no commotion in his spirit because he is dead! Well may some of you be peaceful, because you are not aware of the terrors which surround you. A man totally deaf is not startled by thunder! If totally blind, he is not alarmed by the flashes of lightning! He fears not the tempest which he does not discern! Even thus is it with you who are at ease in your sins--you cannot discern the danger of your sin, you do not perceive the terror that rises out of it--else let me tell you there would be no sleep to those wanton eyes, no rest to those giddy spirits! You would cry out in grief the very moment you received life, nor would you rest till delivered from those evils which NOW ensure for you a sure damnation. Oh, were you but alive, you would never be quiet till you were saved from the wrath to come! Man remains unconscious of spiritual things and unmoved by them because, in a spiritual sense, he is dead. Invite yonder corpse to assist you in the most necessary works of philanthropy. The pestilence is abroad--ask the buried one to kneel with you and invoke the power of Heaven to recall the direful messenger. Or, if he prefers it, ask him to assist you in purifying the air and attending to sanitary arrangements. You ask in vain, however necessary or simple the act, he cannot help you in it. And in spiritual things, it is even so with the graceless. The carnal man can put himself into the posture of prayer, but he cannot pray. He can open his mouth and make sweet sounds in earth-born music, but to true praise he is an utter stranger. Even repentance, that soft and gentle Grace which ought to be natural to the sinful is quite beyond his reach. How shall he repent of a sin, the weight of which he cannot feel? How shall he pray for a blessing, the value of which he has no power to perceive? How shall he praise a God in whom he feels no interest, and in whose existence he takes no delight? I say that to all spiritual things the man is quite as unable as the dead are unable to the natural works and services of daily life. "And yet," says one, "we heard you last Lord's Day tell these dead people to repent and be converted." I know you did and you shall hear me yet again do the like. But why do I speak to the dead thus, and tell them to perform actions which they cannot do? Because my Master bids me, and as I obey my Master's errand, a power goes forth with the Word spoken and the dead awake in their sleep! They wake through the quickening power of the Holy Spirit--and they who naturally cannot repent and believe--do repent and believe in Jesus and escape from their former sins and live! But, believe me, it is no power of theirs which makes them thus awake from their death-sleep, and no power of mine which arrests the guilty, slumbering conscience--it is a Divine power which God has yoked with the Word which He has given forth when it is fully and faithfully preached. Therefore have we exercised ourselves in our daily calling of bidding dead men live--because life comes at the Divine bidding. But dead they are, most thoroughly so, and the longer we live the more we feel it to be so! And the more closely we review our own condition before conversion, and the more studiously we look into our own condition even now, the more fully do we know that man is dead in sin, and life is a gift, a gift from Heaven--a gift of undeserved love and Sovereign Grace--so that the living must every one of them praise God and not themselves. One of the saddest reflections about poor dead human nature is what it will be. Death in itself, though a solemn matter, is not so dreadful as that which comes of it. Many a time when that dear corpse has first been forsaken of the soul, those who have lost a dear one have been glad to imprint that cold brow with kisses. The countenance has looked even more lovely than in life! And when friends have taken the last glimpse, there has been nothing revolting, but much that was attractive. Our dead ones have smiled like sleeping angels, even when we were about to commit them to the grave. Ah, but we cannot shake from us a wretched sense of what is sure to be revealed before long. It is only a matter of time before corruption must set in, and it must bring with it its daughter putridity, and by-and-by, the whole must be so noxious that if you had kept it above ground so long, you would vehemently cry with Abraham, "Bury my dead out of my sight!" for the natural and inevitable result of death is corruption. So it is with us all. Some are manifestly corrupt--ah, how soon! While yet they are youths we see them plunging into infamous vice. They are corrupt in the tongue with lying words and lascivious speaking. They are corrupt in the eyes with wanton glances--corrupt, certainly at heart, and then corrupt thoroughly in life. There are many about us in the streets every day, the stink of whose corruption compels us to put them out of society, for we are very decent. Even those who are dead, themselves, are very scrupulous not to associate with those who are too far gone in corruption. The dead bury their dead and roll the stone and put away the debauched and dissolute. We do not ask the rotten sinners into our households because they might corrupt us too fast. And we flatter ourselves that we are so much superior, whereas they are only a stage or two ahead in a race which all unregenerate men are running. This corruption, though not developed in all to the same extent visibly, will be plain enough at the last in another world. When God finds us dead, He will cast us out where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. What will be the development of an unregenerate character in Hell, I cannot tell, but I am certain it will be something which my imagination dares not now attempt to depict, for all the restraints of this life which have kept men decent and moral will be gone when they come into the next world of sin! And as Heaven is to be the perfection of the saint's holiness, so Hell will be the perfection of the sinner's loathsomeness--and there will he discover, and others will discover--what sin is when it comes to its worst. "When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." And this, dear Hearer, do we solemnly remind you will be your portion forever and ever, unless God is pleased to quicken you. Unless you are made to live together with Christ, you will be in this world dead, perhaps in this world corrupt, but certainly so in the next world where all the dreadful influences of sin will be developed and discovered to the very fullest--and you shall be cast away from the Presence of God and the glory of His power. There can be no death in Heaven, neither can corruption inherit incorruption. And if you have not been renewed in the spirit of your mind--within those pearly gates you can never have your portion. And where the light of Heaven shines in perpetual noonday your lot can never be cast. Weigh these thoughts, I pray you. If they are not according to this Book, reject them! But as they most certainly are, refuse them at your own peril. But rather, let them take possession of your careful spirit and lead you to seek and find eternal life in Christ Jesus the Lord. II. We now change the subject for something more pleasant, and observe A MIRACLE, or dead men made alive! The great object of the Gospel of Christ is to create men anew in Christ Jesus. It aims at resurrection and accomplishes it. The Gospel did not come into this world merely to restrain the passions or educate the principles of men, but to infuse into them a new life which, as fallen men, they did not possess. I saw yesterday what seemed to me a picture of those preachers whose sole end and aim is the moralizing of their hearers, but who have not learned the need of supernatural life. Not very far from the shore were a dozen or more boats at sea dragging for two dead bodies. They were using their lines and grappling irons, and what with hard rowing and industrious sailing, were doing their best most commendably to fish up the lost ones from the pitiless sea. I do not know if they were successful, but if so, what further could they do with them but decently to commit them to their mother earth? The process of education and everything else, apart from the Holy Spirit, is a dragging for dead men--to lay them out decently, side by side, in the order and decency of death-- but nothing more can man do for man. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has a far other and higher task. It does not deny the value of the moralist's efforts, or decry the results of education, but it asks what more can you do--and the response is, "Nothing." There it bids the bearers of the bier stand away and make room for Jesus, at whose voice the dead arise. The preacher of the Gospel cannot be satisfied with what is done in drawing men out of the sea of outward sin--he longs to see the lost life restored--he desires to have breathed into them a new and superior life to what they have possessed before. Go your way, Education, do your best, you are useful in your sphere! Go your way, teacher of morality, do your best, you, too, are useful in your own manner. But if it comes to what man really needs for eternity, you, all put together, are of little worth--the Gospel, and the Gospel alone, answers men's requirements--man must be regenerated, quickened, made anew--have fresh breath from Heaven breathed into him or the work of saving him is not begun. The text tells us that God has done this for His people, for those who trust in Him. Let us observe the dry bones as they stir and stand before the Lord. And observing, let us praise the Lord that according to His great love with which He loved us, He has quickened us together with Christ. In this idea of quickening, there is a mystery. What is that invisible something which quickens a man? Who can unveil the secret? Who can track life to its hidden fountain? Brother, you are a living child of God--what made you live? You know that it was by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the language of the text, you trace it to God. You believe your new life to be of Divine implantation. You are a believer in the supernatural. You believe that God has visited you as He has not visited other men, and has breathed into you life. You believe rightly, but you cannot explain it. We know not of the wind, from where it comes or where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. He that should sit down deliberately and attempt to explain regeneration, and the source of it, might sit there till he grew into a marble statue before he would accomplish the task. The Holy Spirit enters into us, and we who were dead before to spiritual things, begin to live by His power and indwelling. He is the great Worker, but how the Holy Spirit works is a secret that must be reserved for God Himself. We need not wish to understand the mode--it is enough for us if we partake of the result. It is a great mystery, then, but while it is a mystery it is a great reality. We know and do testify, and we have a right to be believed, for we trust we have not forfeited our characters. We know and testify that we are now possessors of a life which we knew nothing of some years ago--that we have come to exist in a new world--and that the appearance of all things outside of us is totally changed from what it used to be. "Old things have passed away, behold all things are become new." I bear witness that I am this day the subject of sorrows which were no sorrows to me before I knew the Lord, and that I am uplifted with joys which I should have laughed at the very thought of if anyone had whispered the name of them in my ears before the Divine life had quickened me. This is the witness of hundreds of us, and although others disbelieve us, they have no right to deny our consciousness because they have not partaken of the same. If they have never tried it, what should they know about it? If there should be an assembly of blind men, and one of them should have his eyes opened and begin to talk of what he saw, I can imagine the blind ones all saying, "What a fool that man is! There are no such things." "Here I have lived in this world 70 years," says one, "and I never saw that thing which he calls a color, and I do not believe in his absurd nonsense about scarlet and violet, and black and white! It is all foolery." Another wiseacre declares, "I have been up and down the world, and all over it for 40 years, and I declare I never had the remotest conception of blue or green, nor had my father before me. He was a right good soul and always stood up for the grand old darkness. Give me," says he, "a good stick and a sensible dog, and all your nonsensical notions about stars, and suns, and moons, I leave to fools who like them." The blind man has not come into the world of light and color, and the unregenerate man has not come into that world of spirit, and hence neither of them is capable of judging correctly. I sat one day, at a public dinner, opposite a gentleman of the gourmand species who seemed a man of vast erudition as to wines, spirits and all the viands of the table. He judged and criticized at such a rate that I thought he ought to have been employed by our provision merchants as Taster in General! He had finely developed lips and he smacked them frequently. His palate was in a flue-critical condition. He was also as proficient in the quantity as in the quality, and disposed of meats and drinks in a most wholesale manner. His retreating forehead, empurpled nose and protruding lips made him, while eating at least, more like an animal than a man. At last, hearing a little conversation around him upon religious matters, he opened his small eyes and his great mouth, and delivered himself of this sage utterance, "I have lived 60 years in this world and I never felt or believed in anything spiritual in all my life." The speech was a needless diversion of his energies from the roast duck. We did not want him to tell us that. I, for one, was quite clear about it before he spoke. If the cat under the table had suddenly jumped on a chair and said the same thing, I should have attached as much importance to the utterance of the one as to the declaration of the other. And so, by one sin in one man and another in another man, they betray their spiritual death. Until a man has received the Divine life, his remarks thereon, even if he is an archbishop, go for nothing. He knows nothing about it according to his own testimony--then why should he go on to try to beat down with sneers and sarcasms those who solemnly avow that they have such a life, and that this life has become real to them--so real that the mental life is made to sink into a subordinate condition compared with the spiritual life which reigns within the soul? This life brings with it the exercise of renewed faculties. The man who begins to live unto God has powers now which he never had before--the power to really pray, the power to heartily praise, the power to actually commune with God, the power to see God, to talk with God--the power to receive tidings from the invisible world and the power to send messages up through the veil which hides the unseen up to the very Throne of God! Now the man, instead of asking, "Is there a God?" feels that there is not a place where God is not! He sees God in everything! He hears Him in the wind, discerns Him in every creature that surrounds him. Now the man, instead of dreading God and betaking himself to some outward form, ceremony, or other outward way of pushing God further off, puts away his ceremonies, casts away the beggarly elements which once might have pleased him and draws near to his God in spirit, and speaks with him. "Father," he says, and God owns the kindred. I wish we all possessed this life, and I pray if we have it not that God may send it to us. If we have it not, the testimony of the Word of God is that we are dead when most we seem to be alive. I shall not, however, keep you longer upon this quickening except to say that you may easily image to yourself the inward experience of a man who receives new life from the dead. You may conceive it by the following picture. Suppose a man to have been dead and to have been buried like others in some great necropolis, some city of the dead, in the catacombs. An angel visits him and by mercy's touch he lives! Now, can you conceive that man's first emotion when he begins to breathe? There he is in the coffin--he feels stifled, pent up. He had been there 20 years, but he never felt inconvenienced until now. He was easy enough, in his narrow cell, if ease can be where life is not. The moment he lives he feels a horrible sense of suffocation--life will not endure to be so hideously compressed--and he begins to struggle for release. He lifts with all his might that dreadful coffin lid! What a relief when the decaying plank yields to his pressure! So the ungodly man is content enough in his sin--his Sabbath-breaking, his covetousness, his worldliness--but the moment God quickens him his sin is as a sepulcher to the living! He feels unutterably wretched. He is not in a congenial position and he struggles to escape. Often at the first effort the great black lid of blasphemy flies off, never to be replaced. Satan thought it was screwed down fast enough, and so it was for a dead man, but life makes short work of it and many other iniquities follow. But to return to our resurrection in the vault--the man gasps a minute and feels refreshed with such air as the catacomb affords him. But soon he has a sense of clammy damp about him and feels faint and ready to expire. So the renewed man at first feels little but his inability and groans after power. He cries, "I want to repent. I want to believe in Jesus. I want to be saved." Poor wretch! He never felt that before--of course he did not--he was dead! Now he is alive and therefore he longs for the tokens, signs, fruits, and refreshments of life. Do you not see our poor friend who has newly risen? He has slipped down from that niche in the wall where they laid him, and finding himself in a dark vault, he rubs his eyes to know whether he really is alive, or whether it is all a dream! It is such a new thing, and as by the little glimmering of light that comes in he detects hundreds of others lying in the last sleep, and he says to himself, "Great God! What a horrible place for a living man to be in! Can I be alive?" He begins to wander about, searching for a door by which he may escape. He loathes those winding-sheets in which they wrapped him. He begins stripping them off. They are damp and mildewed--they do not suit a living man. Soon he cries out for help--perhaps there is some passerby who may hear him and he may be delivered from his confinement. So a man, who has been renewed by Divine Grace, when he partly discovers where he is, cries out, "This is no place for me!" That giddy ballroom--why, it was well enough for one who knew no better. That ale-bench was suitable for an unregenerate soul--but what can an heir of Heaven do in such places? Lord, deliver me! Give me light and liberty! Bring my soul out of prison that I may live and praise Your name. The man pines for liberty, and if, at last he stumbles to the door of the vault and reaches the open air, I think he drinks deep draughts of the blessed oxygen! How glad he is to look upon the green fields and the fresh flowers! You do not imagine that he will wish to return to the vaults again, do you? He will utterly forsake those gloomy abodes! He shudders at the remembrance of the past and would not, for all the world, undergo again what he has once passed through. He is tenderly affected at every remembrance of the past and is especially fearful lest there should be others like himself, newly quickened, who may need a Brother's hand to set them at liberty. He loathes the place where once he slept so quietly. So the converted man dreads the thought of going back to the joys which once so thoroughly fascinated him. "No," he says, "they are no joys to me. They were joys well enough for my old state of existence, but now, having entered into a new life, a new world, they are more joys to me than the spade and shroud are joys to a living man, and I can only think of them with grief, and of my deliverance with gratitude. III. I must pass on very briefly to the third point. The text indicates a SYMPATHY--"He has quickened us together with Christ." What does that mean? It means that the life which lives in a saved man is the same life which dwells in Christ! To put it simply--when Elisha had been buried for some years, we read that they threw a dead man into the tomb where the bones of Elisha were, and no sooner did the corpse touch the Prophet's bones than it lived at once! Yonder is the Cross of Christ, and no sooner does the soul touch the crucified Savior than it lives at once, for the Father has given to Him to have life in Himself, and life to communicate to others. Whoever trusts Christ has touched Him, and by touching Him he has received the virtue of eternal life! To trust in the Savior of the world is to be quickened through Him. We are quickened together with Christ in three senses--first, representatively. Christ represents us before the Eternal Throne. He is the second Adam to His people. So long as the first Adam lived the race lived, and so long as the second Adam lives, the race represented by Him lives before God. Christ is accepted, Believers are accepted. Christ is justified, the saints are justified. Christ lives, and the saints enjoy a life which is hid with Christ in God. Next we live by union with Christ. So long as the head is alive the members have life. Unless a member can be severed from the head and the body maimed, it must live so long as there is life in the head. So long as Jesus lives, every soul that is vitally united to Him, and is a member of His body, lives according to our Lord's own word, "Because I live you shall live also." Poor Martha was much surprised that Christ should raise her brother from the dead, but He said, as if to surprise her still more, "Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" This is one of the things we are to believe--that when we have received the spiritual life it is in union with the life of Christ--and consequently can never die! Because Christ lives, our life must abide in us forever. Then we also live together with Christ as to likeness. We are quickened together with Christ, that is, in the same manner. Now Christ's quickening was in this wise--He was dead through the Law, but the Law has no more dominion over Him now that He lives again. So you, Christian, you are cursed by the old Law of Sinai, but it has no power to curse you now, for you are risen in Christ. You are not under the Law--its terrors and threats have nothing to do with you. Of our Lord it is written, "In that He lives," it is said, "He lives unto God." Christ's life is a life unto God! Such is yours. You are not, therefore, to live unto the flesh or to mind the things of it--but God, who gave you life, is to be the great Object of your life. In Him you live, and for Him you live. Moreover, it is said, "Christ, being raised from the dead dies no more. Death has no more dominion over Him." In that same way the Christian lives. He shall never go back to his spiritual death--having once received Divine life, he shall never lose it. God plays not fast and loose with His chosen. He does not save today, and damn tomorrow. He does not quicken us with the inward life and then leave us to perish. Divine Grace is a living, incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever. "The water that I shall give him," says Jesus, "shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." Glory be to God, then, you who live by faith in Christ live an immortal life, a life dedicated to God, a life of deliverance from the bondage of the Law! Rejoice in it, and give your God all the praise! IV. And this brings us to the last word, which was A SONG. We have not time to sing it--we will just write the score before your eyes and ask you to sing it at your leisure--your hearts making melody to God. Brothers and Sisters, if you have, indeed, been thus made alive as others are not, you have first of all, in the language of the text, to praise the great love of God, great beyond all precedent! It was love which made Him breathe into Adam the breath of life and make poor clay to walk and speak. But it is far greater love which makes Him now, after the Fall has defiled us, renew us with a second and yet higher life. He might have made new creatures by millions out of nothing. He had but to speak and angels would have thronged the air, or, beings like ourselves, only pure and unfallen, would have been multiplied by myriads upon the greensward. If He had left us to sink to Hell as fallen angels had done before us, who could have impugned His justice? But His great love would not let Him leave His elect to perish. He loved His people and therefore He would cause them to be born again. His great love with which He loved us defied death, and Hell, and sin! Dwell on the theme, you who have partaken of this love! He loved us--the most unworthy--who had no right to such love! There was nothing in us to love and yet He loved us--loved us when we were dead! Here His great love seems to swell and rise to mountainous dimensions--love to miserable sinners, love to loathsome sinners--love to the dead and to the corrupt! Oh, heights and depths of Sovereign Grace! Where are the notes which can sufficiently sound forth your praise? Sing, O you redeemed, of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in sins! And cease not to praise God as you think of the riches of His mercy, for we are told that He is rich in mercy, rich in His Nature as to mercy, rich in His Covenant as to treasured mercy, rich in the Person of His dear Son as to purchased mercy, rich in Providential mercy--but richest of all in the mercy which saves the soul. Friends, explore the mines of Jehovah's wealth if you can. Take the key and open the granaries of your God and see the stores of love which He has laid up for you. Strike your sweetest notes to the praise of God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love with which He has loved us! And let the last note and the highest and the loudest of your song be that with which the text concludes, "By Grace are you saved." O never stammer there! Brothers and Sisters, whatever you do--hold or do not hold--never be slow to say this, "If saved at all, I am saved by Grace--Grace in contradistinction to human merit, for I have no merit. Grace in contradistinction to my own free will, for my own free will would have led me further and further from God. Preventing Grace brought me near to Him." Do bless and magnify the Grace of God, and as you owe all to it, cry, "Perish each thought of pride!" Consecrate yourself entirely to the God to whom you owe everything! Desire to help to spread the savor of that Divine Grace which has brought such good things to you. Vow, in the name of the quickening Spirit, that He who has made you live by faith shall, from this day till you enter into Heaven, have the best of your thoughts, and your words, and your actions--for you are not your own--you have been quickened from the dead and you must live in newness of life. The Lord bless you, dear Friends. If you have never spiritually lived, may He give you Grace to believe in Jesus this morning, and then you are alive from the dead. And if you are alive already, may He quicken you yet more and more by His eternal Spirit till He brings you to the land of the living on the other side of the Jordan. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ A Young Man's Vision Delivered on Thursday evening, April 16, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [17]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, Being the Annual Sermon of the Young Men's Association in Aid of the Baptist Missionary Society. "Your young men shall see visions.'" Acts 2:17. MANY visions have led to the most disastrous results. When Napoleon had a vision of a universal monarchy over which he should preside, with the French eagle for his ensign, he drenched the lands in blood. Many visions have been wretchedly delusive. Men have dreamed of finding the fairy pleasure in the dark forest of sin. Carnal joys have danced before their eyes as temptingly as the mirage in the desert, and they have pursued the phantom forms to their misery in this world and to their eternal ruin in the next. Mistaking license for liberty, and madness for mirth, they have dreamed themselves into Hell! Many dreams have sucked the life-blood out of men as vampires do. Men have passed from stern reality into dreamland and while seemingly awake, have continued like sleepwalkers to do all things in their sleep. Many pass all their days in one perpetual daydream--speculating, building castles in the air, thinking of what they would do--and vowing how they would behave themselves. With fine capacities they have driveled away existence! As their theory of life was born of smoke, so the result of their lives has been a cloud. The luxurious indolence of mere resolve, the useless tossing of regrets--these have been all their sluggard life. But for all this, good and grand visions are not unknown--visions which came from the excellent glory. Visions which, when young or old men have seen them, have filled them with wisdom, Divine Grace and holiness. Visions which have worked with such effect upon their minds that they have been lifted up above the level of the sons of men and made sons of God, co-workers with the Eternal! Such visions are given to men whose eyes have been illumined by the Holy Spirit--visions which have come of that eye-salve which only the Holy Spirit can apply. Visions which are not bestowed on carnal men nor unveiled to the impure in heart. Visions reserved for the men elect of God who are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and made meet to be partakers of the witness of God and the testimony of His Son. All Divine things, when they first come to men from the Lord, are as visions because man is so little prepared to believe God's thoughts and ways that he cannot think them to be real. They appear to us to be too great, too good to be real. We look at them rather as things to be desired and wished for, than as things that may be actually ours. It must be so while Jehovah's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts. It must be so, that even Divine mercy should at first be a burden to the Prophet who has its message to deliver, and that the eternal promise should be a vision to the Seer who first receives it. We are so gross and carnal, even when most clarified and made fit to receive Divine impressions, God's spiritual messages and directions to us must usually at the first float dimly before the sense, and only in after thoughts become solid and clear. We must take care that we do not neglect heavenly monitions through fear of being considered visionary. We must not be staggered even by the dread of being styled fanatical, or out of our minds--for to stifle a thought from God is no mean sin. How much of good in this world would have been lost if good men had quenched the first half-fashioned thoughts which have flitted before them! I mean, for instance, had Martin Luther taken the advice of his teacher when he said to him, "Go your way, silly monk! Go to your cell and pray God, and if it be His will He will reform the abuses of this Church, but what have you to do with it?" Supposing the agitated monk had administered an opiate to his soul, what then? Doubtless the Gospel to Luther at the first was dim enough, and the idea of reform most vague and indistinct--but had he closed his heart to his vision, how long might not the Romish darkness have brooded over the multitudes of Europe? And George Fox, that most eminent of dreamers who dreamed more and more vividly than any other man! Where had been all the testimonies for a spiritual religion? Where all the holy influences for benevolence, for peace, for anti-slavery, for I know not what besides which have streamed upon this world through the agency of the Society of Friends, if the wild Quaker had been content to let his impressions come and go and be forgotten? These things, which nowadays are ordinary Christian doctrines, were considered in his day to be but the prattle of fanatics, even as the reforms which some of us shall live to see are denounced as revolutionary, or ridiculed as Utopian. O young men, if you have received a thought which dashes ahead of your times, hold to it and work at it till it comes to something! If you have dreamed a dream from the Lord, turn it over and over again till you are quite sure it is not steam from a heated brain, or smoke from Hell--and when it is clear to your own heart that it is fire from off God's altar-- then work and pray and wait your time. Perhaps it may take 50 years to work that thought out, or what is worse, you may never live to see it realized, but what of that? You may have to leave that thought sown in the dust, but the thought will not die. It may produce a harvest when you are with the angels! Do not, I pray you, because the thing happens to seem new, or too enthusiastic, or too far ahead, be snubbed into putting it into a corner. But take care of it and nurture it--and if it is not of God, a little experience will disabuse you of it, let us hope. But if it is of the Lord, you will grow in your attachment to it and by-and-by God will find an opportunity for you to make it practical. The great Father of spirits does, in fact, say to you when He puts a great design into your keeping, as Pharaoh's daughter said to Jochebed, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages." And though the Moses that you nurse may not deliver Israel in your lifetime, yet shall you have your wages if you nurse the thought for God. Many suggestions which come from God to men are not so much visions to them as they are to the outside world. And need we wonder at this? Why, men of science and art have to endure the same ordeal! Stephenson declares that he will make a machine which will run, without horse-power, at the rate of 12 miles an hour--and how the Tory benches of the House of Commons, loaded then, as now, with stupidity, roared at the man as a born fool! How was it proved to a demonstration that if the engine began to work, the wheels might revolve, but the engine never would move an inch! Or if it moved at a great speed, the passengers would not he able to breathe! Yet Stephenson lived to see his dream fulfilled and we have lived to see it a much more wonderful power still. Now, if men of science can endure this, and if we members of the Baptist Mission remember still the roars of laughter which were launched by Sydney Smith against "the inspired cobbler," when he talked about the conquest of India for the Lord Jesus Christ, we may well be prepared, when we obtain an inspiration from God, to put up with a world of scorn, opposition and contempt for a little time, and to say, " Never mind, there is a day coming that shall reverse the hasty judgment of this world. You sons of darkness are not a fair jury to sit upon questions of light. You blind men who know not God, nor the glory of His power are not qualified to mount the bench and sit in judgment upon thoughts which flash from the eternal mind. You may give your judgment, but the Lord shall reverse it, and time, which is always with the Truth of God, will before long turn the laugh in another direction. With this rather too long preface about dreaming, I will now confess that, after my own fashion, I, too, have seen a vision. And though you should say of me in days to come, "Behold, this dreamer comes," yet, as he that has a dream is bid to tell his dream, so I tell mine. My dream is this--I have seen in vision, missionary spirit in England, now so given to slumber, marvelously quickened, awakened and revived! I have seen--the wish was father to the sight--I have seen the ardor of our first missionary days return to us! I have seen young men eager for the mission field, and old men and fathers sitting in united council to correct mistakes, to devise new methods, or to strengthen the old ones, so that by any means the great chariot of Christ might roll onwards and that His victories might be more rapid. I thought that I saw, from one end of England to the other, the Christian Church stirred with a deep sense of her duty to the heathen Christian ministers full of pangs and sorrows on account of dying myriads. I thought that I saw Christian men and women universally contributing liberally of their substance, while men fitted for the work pushed forward at the call of the great Lord of the harvest to toil in the great harvest field. I have seen such a vision. By God's Grace, we shall see it a fact! Would to God that the captivity of our Zion might be turned--then should we be like they that dream! Then should our mouth be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing while the heathen would cry, "The Lord has done great things for them." First, this evening, I shall try to justify my vision and show that it is by no means unreasonable. Secondly, I shall, in a few words, elaborate the vision or give the details of it. And then, in the third place, as time may suit us, I shall endeavor to promote its realization. I. First, LET US JUSTIFY OUR VISION. We have dreamed that the missionary spirit was suddenly revived among us, that missions were pushed on with greater ardor and that God vouchsafed to them a far greater blessing than He has done of late. There have been more incoherent dreams than that in this world, and for this reason--first, that which we have dreamed of is evidently needed. Brethren, we are not among those who are prepared to croak and complain at the very first difficulty that may arise in a great enterprise, but no man can look upon our own Baptist Mission--and I suppose we are not much worse than others--without feeling that there is a pretty general flagging in missionary interest. And albeit that the funds may not much have fallen off, yet the annual recurrence of a debt, which is far from being welcome, together with other matters goes to show that missionary zeal needs rekindling. This results partly from the fact that the novelty of the thing has worn off--the work having now been on the anvil for 50 years and more--and partly because we have had few very startling incidents of late to evoke a display of enthusiasm. That the missionary fire exists is certain, for when the recent events in Jamaica acted, as it were, as a refreshing breeze, the embers glowed and flamed anew. It is there, certainly, for the heart of the Church is alive. It is there, but it is slumbering. You who remember the thundering voice of William Knibb and the great meetings which would be gathered when some such Brethren returned home to tell what God had done among the heathen, must feel that you have fallen upon dull, uninteresting days in mission life. It is as when the thing is flat and stale, and when men have reached the dregs of the wine and the new wine is not in the cluster. Well, then, if it is so, let it be remembered that missionary zeal ought not to flag--if there is any one point in which the Christian Church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions to the heathens. If there is anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is in the matter of sending the Gospel to a dying world. How can we expect, in such an enterprise, with difficulties to our poor weakness so insuperable, that we shall ever succeed if any of our strength is left unused? With all we have we are weak enough, but if we send but part of the army to the battle--if we exert but half of our strength--how can we expect that the blessing of God shall rest upon us? Depend upon it, that the flagging of zeal at home acts like a canker abroad! When the heart of Christianity in England does not throb vigorously, every single limb of the missionary body feels the decline, and there is not a missionary anywhere, from the snows of Labrador to the burning heats of Africa, who is not enervated and injured when the Christian public at home begin to weary in well doing. It needs then, it imperatively needs, that our vision should be made a fact. We may be excused our vision because it is very possible that it may be realized. It is not a thing too hard to look for. It was far harder work, surely, to have established the mission than it will be most thoroughly and earnestly to revive it! If we will but enquire into what may have been the causes of any decline that exists, we shall not find them, I think, to be very deep, nor to be difficult of remedy. They are but superficial, and a little loving earnestness will soon remove them. Brethren, as a denomination we are beginning to cluster more closely around our standard. We have been up to now somewhat scattered over the field--isolated, divided--and therefore weak. But now we feel that our strength must lie, under God, in our unity, and our ranks are classing each man to his Brother. We feel the fire of sacred love burning in our hearts, and as we come together and begin to talk of the difficulties before us in a fraternal spirit, they will all vanish! Lovingly correcting errors, carefully removing excrescences and boldly advancing, the stone shall be rolled away from the sepulcher before we reach it, for if not in God's name and by His strength, we will never roll it away ourselves. And if there has been a flagging, this very meeting, in which there are young and ardent spirits, shall help to supply the material with which to kindle a fire which shall nevermore grow dim. More than that--it is not only possible that our dream may become a reality, but it is very probable--for so it always has been. If ever God's Church has declined for a little while, unexpectedly there has been yielded a season of refreshing from the Presence of the Lord. We know not what God has in store. He is great at surprises! His best wine last amazes us all. When the devil is most secure upon his throne, then God springs a mine and blows his empire into atoms. Just when the wise virgins and the foolish alike have allowed their lamps to burn low, then is the cry heard, "Behold, the bridegroom comes!" and those virgins arise and trim their lamps. So will it be among us. I am hopeful that, in answer to earnest prayer, God will speedily send among us a general intensity of desire for the glory of Christ, accompanied by broken hearts and weeping eyes for the perishing heathen, and a solemn resolve that, in Jehovah's strength we will spare no pains and neglect no efforts by which we may make the Gospel known unto the ends of the earth! Yes, a thorough renovation of the missionary society, a resurrection of the mission spirit, and an arousing of our Churches is delightfully probable--it were wretched, indeed, if it were not so. One thing more we will say upon this topic, namely, that such a renewal is solemnly required of us. What are our personal obligations to the Crucified? What owe we not to the Gospel which has delivered us from an eternity of woe and has guaranteed to us an everlasting career of blessedness? This night, redeemed, regenerated, adopted, justified, sanctified, with your feet upon the rock, a song in your mouth, and your goings established--will you not feel it to be a call from Heaven that you should be in earnest to gather in the Lord's chosen out of all nations that dwell upon the face of the earth? Did our Savior slumber in His life-work? Was He tardy in His service for our redemption? Then might we grow lax? But if, setting His face to Jerusalem, He panted for the baptism in which He was to be baptized, and was straitened until it was accomplished, then He claims of us, according to our measure, the same steadfastness of resolve and perseverance of purpose, and sacrifice of self! I charge you, young men, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be not slow to spend and be spent for Him. All is too little--shall we give Him less than all? Fervent services are too poor--shall we be lukewarm? Descend, O heavenly fire, and now inflame us, for less than Your flames cannot enable us to live as live we should! I will not tarry upon this point. You have already forgiven me my dream. II. LET US PROCEED TO ELABORATE THE VISION. I was asked principally to address young men this evening. I am a young man myself, and therefore if I utter anything exceedingly visionary, you will observe its justification in the text, "Your young men shall see visions." My dream seemed to take this shape: In order that missionary work should be reformed, revived and carried on with energy and with hope of success, it seemed necessary that especially among our young members there should be a revival of intense and earnest prayer, and anxious sympathy with the missionary work. The power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret it if they can be mighty in prayer. The true strength of the Church lies there. This is the sinew which moves the arm of Omnipotence. If a man can but pray, he can do anything! He that knows how to overcome the Lord in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal. There is nothing, Man, which you cannot accomplish if you can but prevail with God in prayer!. Now, I will not say that we ought to have our Prayer Meetings for missionary objects more largely attended-- everybody knows this--but does everybody try to attend? But I will say this, which is more likely to be forgotten--that it were well if we had settled private seasons of devotion, each of us, especially to intercede with God for the conversion of the heathen. It will be a notable day when the young men of this society say, "Not only will we attend the Prayer Meetings for this object, but we will, each one, as before the Lord, make it a matter of conscience that there shall be at least one hour in the week sacredly hedged around and spent in private prayer for the missionary work." Beneath the banyan tree you will not stand surrounded by black faces to tell of Krishnu's Christ--but in your own little room, by the old armchair you will as surely be bringing down showers of blessings upon the heathen by importunate entreaties. Here our old men and our matrons, as well as our young men and maidens, may unite. If it is so, that the entire Church shall send up one impassioned, continuous, prevalent cry to God, "O Lord, make bare Your arm for Christ and for His Truth!" verily, verily, I say unto you He shall avenge you speedily though He bear long with you! Your prayers shall come up unto the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth and He will reveal the glory of His power! Next, if our young men who see visions will follow up their prayers with practical effort, then we shall see in our Churches a larger and more efficient staff of collectors and contributors. We should then find men who would give of their substance as a matter of principle, give themselves, or in other fair proportion so that the kingdom of Christ should never have an empty treasury. I speak to some who sit often in this place who need not to have a word said to them by way of stirring them up to liberality, for I can glory in them in this respect, that they do beyond all that I could expect! But I wish that the same spirit of giving were paramount throughout all the Church that men would give, not because they are asked, nor by way of emulation or compulsion, but because God has given to them, and they recognize their stewardship. A few men in a Church may often move the whole to liberality. The example of a few and those few, perhaps, not the richest, may be contagious to the whole mass. And a few earnest young people, especially, may often push right and left with their proverbial enthusiasm till they have stirred the inert mass and constrained the whole body to be liberal to the cause of Jesus Christ! Up till now my dream has been reasonable, you will say. I will now be more visionary. If we were all praying for missions, and all giving for their support, it might be very well asked of us, "What do you do more than others?" for what Romanist is there who is not zealous for the spread of his religion? What heathen is there who does not give quite as much as any of us give, yes, and a great deal more than we give, to his superstitions? But, supposing next to this, that there should be a number of young men here who know each other very well--young men who have been trained in the same sanctuary, nurtured in the same Church--who should meet together tomorrow, or at such other time as shall be convenient, and say to one another, "Now, we are in business, we have just commenced in life, and God is prospering us, more or less. We are taking wives to ourselves. Our children are coming around us. But still, we trust we are never going to permit ourselves to be swallowed up in a mere worldly way of living--now, what ought we to do for missions?" And suppose the enquiry should be put, "Is there one among us who could devote himself to go and teach the heathen for us? As we, most of us, may not have the ability, or do not feel called to the work, is there one out of 12 of us young men who have grown up side by side in the Sunday school who has the ability and who feels called to go? Let us make it a matter of prayer, and when the Holy Spirit says, 'Separate So-and-So to the work,' then we, the other 11 who remain, will do this--we will say to him, 'Now, Brother, you cannot stay at home to make your fortune or to earn a competence. You are now giving yourself up to a very arduous and earnest enterprise, and we will support you. We know you--we have confidence in you. You go down into the pit--we will hold the rope. Go forth in connection with our own denominational society, but we will bear the expense year by year among ourselves! "Have you faith enough to go trusting that the Lord will provide? Then, we will have faith enough, and generosity enough to say that your needs shall be to our care. You preach for Christ--we will make money for Christ. When you open the Bible for Christ, we will be taking down the shop shutters for Christ. And while you are unfolding the banner of Christ's love, we will be unfolding the calicos, or selling the groceries. And we pledge ourselves always to set aside your portion, because, as our Brother, you are doing our work." I wish we had such godly clubs as these--holy confederacies of earnest young men who thus would love their Missionary, feel for him, hear from him continually--and undertake to supply his support. Why, on such a plan as that, I should think they would give 50 times, 100 times as much as ever they are likely to give to an impersonal society, or to a man whose name they only know, but whose face they never saw! I wonder whether I shall ever live to see a club of that kind? I wonder whether such a club will ever spring up in the midst of this Church, or any of the Churches in London? If it shall be so, I shall be glad to have seen a vision of it! Further, I have dreamed, also, that there would spring up in our Churches a very large number of young men who would count it to be the very highest ambition of their lives to give themselves up to the work of Jesus Christ abroad, and who, seeing that in London and throughout England men may hear the Gospel if they will, while many of the heathen cannot hear it, like or no, would feel it to be their duty to serve Christ in the foreign field. And I have wondered whether we should have these noble fellows coming by the score, and saying, "Here am I, send me." Then I have considered whether God would pour out enough of the missionary spirit upon these men to make them say, "Well, the missionary society is in debt and cannot take us--it has enough men to support already--it is doing a good work enough. "I will not interfere with it. I do not want to be a burden to any Brethren. Will you send me out and let me exercise my faith in God, only having this for my comfort--that you will stand at my back and give me what you can, while I will only draw upon you for what I cannot get for myself? I wonder whether we shall see 50 or 100 missionaries within the next year or two leaving our shores, whose passage has been paid and who will land in some foreign country with just enough about them to keep them till the language has been learned, and who will then, in confidence in God, set about working to support themselves? I set Paul before you, young men. When he preached the Gospel at the first, he was a tent-maker and he earned his own living. Are there no occupations in these days by which a man may earn his living and yet preach the Gospel? It is not the best thing to do--the best thing is for a man to give all his time to his ministry. But if you cannot have the best, you must have the second best. Are there not to be found physicians who, in China and in India, would not only procure a subsistence, but much more, and might proclaim the Gospel at the same time? Thank God there is such a thing as a medical mission! Thank God that the profession of medicine has not been behind in sending heroes to the field! But are there no other occupations? Young men, are there no clerkships to be had in India? I find men going out there by scores to make their fortunes, and ruin their constitutions. And I see young women going out to get married to Indian settlers almost on speculation. Have we no young men and women who will go across the sea and find their way round the Cape of Good Hope to preach the Gospel, intending to use their commercial pursuits as a means of introduction and support? Surely it must be so! I know that at this present moment there are hundreds of Christian men living along the coasts of South America, especially of the Brazils and the Argentine Republic, where skilled artisans, engineers, and such like are in constant request by the government. And I have often hoped to hear that some of these men were originating Christian missions. I have often wondered why more has not been done of that kind. We hear of our young Brethren going forth to Morocco, to Algiers, to Turkey and Egypt--they are in demand in almost every part of the earth--for the young men of England are the very pick and prime of humanity! The various trades which are connected with machinery are scarcely to be taught except by their means. What about their faith if they do not become evangelists? O young men and women, what grand opportunities must open up before some of you! I am sure they must, and if you did but set your hearts to it with a full resolve that you would not live the dead-and-alive life of most of us, but would distinguish yourselves in Christ's service, what might you not achieve! If there were a will, there would be a way--and if there were a fixed purpose, God would send the means! And He who quickened you to such a degree of spiritual life that you could not rest unless you were telling the Gospel to the ungodly would not let His Providence so obstruct His Grace as to shut the door in your face when you were willing to be serviceable to His cause. "That is a dream," says one! Well, may some of you dream it, and in the midst of the dream may there rise up before you a face which, as it shall by degrees settle and become clear, and you shall discern its features, shall be wonderfully like your own--and as you wake may you have to say, "Here am I, Lord, send me, for where You would have me go, there will I go to proclaim the name and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ." Oh when shall I see once again the missionary going from door to door, determined, according to his Master's command, that whatever things they set before him he will eat, believing that the laborer is worthy of his hire, and that he is to expect to find his hire among those to whom he preaches the Gospel? When shall I see once again the missionary believing that the acceptance of hospitality is the master-key of missions, and that the eating of the strangers' salt is the nearest way to put before them the Bread of Life and the reception of hospitable courtesy the very stepping-stone towards the giving out of the precious Gospel? May we live to see this! We shall, by God's Grace, if His Spirit visits us. III. Lastly, and but very briefly--what shall we do to assist THE REALIZATION OF THIS VISION? We can all do something if we love the Lord and that something will be eminently a blessing to ourselves. If ever we are to see the missionary spirit brought to its very highest and most perfect condition, it must be by each individual's own personal piety mounting to the very highest degree of elevation. Why, we are not half saints--we seem, many of us, to forget what sainthood means! We are content to be just saved, like the drowning man dragged to shore just alive, and that is all. O that we were not satisfied with this, but that our love to Christ were flaming! Our hope in Jesus Christ bright and clear! Our faith in God firm and unstaggering! O that we served Christ, not at a snail's pace, but within the utmost energy of the best conditioned manhood! O that we loved Christ and worked for Christ up to the last ounce at which the engine could be driven! O that we could but just for once see what manhood could do when God was in it! O that some of us were raised up to be as Brainerd, living, dying, through love to Christ! O that we were men who were conquered by Divine love, led in fetters as slaves to the blessed captivity of love to the souls of men! May it grow into a passion with you, Men and Women, to snatch fire-brands from the flame! You will never be very useful until it is so. If holy work is a mere diversion for your leisure moments, you will do nothing. You must make a trade of it, a solemn occupation of it. It must be your calling, your meat, and your drink to do the will of Him that sent you. When the Christian Church glows in this fashion it will swell with an intense heat like a volcano whose tremendous furnaces cannot be contained within itself, but its sides begin to move and bulge--and then after a rumbling and a heaving--a mighty sheet of fire shoots right up to Heaven and afterwards streams of flaming lava run from its red lips down, burning their way along the plain beneath. Oh, to get such a fire for God's cause into the heart of the Christian Church till she began to heave and throb with unquenchable emotion! Then a mighty sheet of the fire-prayer should go up towards Heaven, and afterwards the burning lava of her all-conquering zeal should flow over all lands till all nations should enquire, "What is this new thing in the earth, and what is this modern miracle, and what is this Cross of Christ for which men live and die?" I would say, as subsidiary to this great thing--which is the main matter tonight--that young men and young women would do well to feed the flame of their zeal with greater information as to the condition of the world in reference to our mission-work. I wish that those who supply us with our periodical missionary literature had an idea of the great difficulty there is in keeping awake while reading it. I should be glad if they could, by any means, put a small allowance of salt into it, or serve it up in a more tempting form. I do not plead for making it into light literature, far from it! But if our editors could give us something that would tempt the literary or the spiritual palate, it would be well. But, young men, you are not dependent upon periodical literature--I almost regret that there is such a thing--there are solid books to be read. There are libraries teeming with the works of missionaries--their travels, their adventures. You can read of the history of heathen nations--their desolations, their needs, their crimes, their idolatries, their infamies. There is a great literature for you. You may not have time to get through it all, but if you read some of it I think you will feel a great accession to your zeal. When you have gained such information, which may be as fuel to the fire, I pray you keep yourselves right in this matter by constant, energetic efforts in connection with works at home. Those who do not serve God at home are of no use anywhere. It is all very well to talk about what you would do if you could speak to the Hindus. Nonsense! What do you do when you are in the streets of Whitechapel? You will be of no use whatever in Calcutta unless you are of use in Poplar or Bermondsey! The human mind is the same everywhere. Its sins may take another form, but there are just the same difficulties in one place as in another. It is all very well for you to turn a sort of Don Quixote in imagination, and dream of what you would do if you went out upon a spiritual crusade as a heavenly knight-errant, tilting against windmills. Just try your hand at the conversion of that young man who sits next to you in the pew! See what you can do for Jesus Christ in the shop! See whether you can serve your Master in that little Bible class of which you are a member. Rest assured that no missionary ardor really burns in the breast of that man who does not love the souls of those who live in the same house and dwell in the same neighborhood! Give me that man for a missionary of whom it is said that when he took a lodging in a house, all the other inhabitants were brought to God within six months! Or he was a son, and his father was unconverted, but he gave the Lord no rest till he saw his parent saved! Or he was a tradesman, and while he was pushing his business earnestly, he always found time to be an evangelist! That is the man who will maintain missionary fervor alive at home, and that is the man who will help to promote missionary effort abroad. Brothers and Sisters, here are the practical points--have a higher degree of piety, a wider and more extensive knowledge, and a more practical zeal in God's work near to your hand. But oh, do make sure that you are saved yourselves! Do make sure that you yourselves know the Christ whom you profess to teach! That missionary-box, what is it but an infamous sham if you put into it your offering but withhold your heart? You talk about missionary collecting, missionary meetings, lectures to the young, and I know not what, when you yourself are a stranger to the power of vital godliness! No, my dear Friends--begin at home! May the Lord begin with you. O young men, young women, are you yet unsaved? Then instead of your pitying the heathen, the heathen may well pity you! How might a heathen with a tender heart stand here and say, "If that Bible is true. If that Gospel which you talk of has really come from God. If Christ is the Savior. If there is no salvation but of Him, then how I pity you who have heard about it and yet have rejected it! How I pity you, because your own Savior, whom you profess to serve, out of His own mouth of love has said it--that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day ofjudgment than for you!" Oh, then, let it be tonight that you give your heart to God! And when you have given your heart to Him, then think of the matter of which I have spoken. God grant that my vision may become a fact. May you help to make it so, and Christ shall have the glory. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Good News for Loyal Subjects Delivered on Sunday Morning, April 19, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON at the [18]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "He must reign." 1 Corinthians 15:25. "MUST" is for the king, and concerning King Jesus there is a Divine necessity that He must reign. He was once the King of misery--in that kingdom He reigned supreme. That crown of thorns is preeminent in the sorrows which it signifies. O King of grief and tears and death, who shall rival You? Today He is the King of glory, enthroned far above all principalities and powers! He is so glorious that when seraphs are asked, "Who is the King of glory?" they mention no other name but His! He is the King once dishonored but now exalted in the highest Heaven. Of Him the text says not only that He must live, though that is a precious truth, for while He lives we shall live, also! Nor merely does it say that He shall enjoy a degree of reverence, though it is delightful to us to think of His being honored in any heart and being had in reverence by even a handful of men. But it is said, "He must reign'" Not a place, but the chief place shall be His. Not bare existence, but preeminence. Not honor, but superlative glory. He must reign! No seat but the Throne shall become Him. No ornaments but those of royalty shall befit Him--"He must reign." He must reign because He is God. "The Lord reigns" must ever stand a Truth. Jehovah exists eternally, infinite in power and wisdom. Who but He should be King of kings and Lord of lords? And since the Man of Nazareth is the Everlasting Father, since of His generation there was no beginning, and none can count the number of His years, He must reign from the very fact of His essential Deity. He must reign as Man--for the Lord has made a Covenant with David that the scepter should not depart from him, that of his seed there should sit upon the throne of Israel forever a King to rule in righteousness, and Jesus of Nazareth is that King! Israel has no other monarch, neither have they sought after any other king. As a nation they have been broken and scattered and peeled. And as a united people they cannot be gathered under any other headship than that of the house of David, of which Jesus Christ is the lineal and rightful descendant, and who claims and keeps the scepter in His own hand. He must reign also as the Mediator, the Intercessor, the Interposer, the Interpreter, one of a thousand. "He must reign." Behold, at this time the sovereignty of the world is committed to His keeping. He is the Headship of His Church, the Originator of Providence. His is the ruling of Heaven, and earth, and Hell, as the mediatorial Monarch. And until that time when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even our Father, He must reign, for so has God appointed and settled Him to be a King and a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. What a sweet comfort it is to think that none can snatch the government from the hand of Jesus, for, "the government shall be upon His shoulder." None can drive Christ from the Headship of the Church, nor the Headship of Providence for the Church. He must be at the helm, none shall remove Him. Both as God and Man, and as the Mediator of the New Covenant, according to the express words of our text, "He must reign." There seemed to me to be so sweet a thought wrapped up in these three words--so precious, so full of all manner of delights--that if the Holy Spirit did but enable us to enjoy it, we should not lack today for wines on the lees, well refined, and fat things, yes, fat things full of marrow! I shall endeavor, as I may be helped, first, at some length to discuss the reasons for this "must." Then, secondly, to draw out encouragement from it. And, thirdly, to dwell upon its admonitions. I. First, "He must reign." WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR THIS "MUST"? The answer shall be sevenfold. The Lamb, as seen by John, had seven horns of power, and here are seven reasons why He should possess the Throne forever. 1. First, because His empire in itself is such as to ensure perpetuity. There have been many empires in this world of which men said, for the time, that they must exist--and they supposed that if they were overthrown, the very pillars of the earth would be removed. Yet in due time they grew gray with years and were swept away as worn out things, and it was a joy for the nations when the hoary abominations were consumed. The most colossal empires have melted like visions of the night, and the most substantial creations of human power have passed away like the fleeting dew of the morning. But, "He must reign." He must reign, first of all, because His reign over human mind is based upon the Truth of God. There have been various dynasties of thought--at one time Plato reigned supreme over thoughtful minds. Then Aristotle held a long and rigid rule--he so ruled and governed the entire universe of mind that even the Christian religion was continually infected and tainted by his philosophical speculations. But another philosophy found out his weakness and supplanted him, to be in its turn subverted by the next. As men grow more enlightened, or the human mind passes through another phase of change, men say to their once-revered rabbis and honored teachers, "Stand out of the way! A new light has arisen! We have come to a new point of thought, and we have done with you." Things which were accounted sure and wise in years gone by are now ridiculed by us as the height of folly. And why? Because these systems of philosophy and thought have not been based upon the Truth of God. There has been a worm in the center of the fair apple of knowledge. There has been a flaw in the foundations of the great master-builder--they have built upon sand, and their edifices have tumbled to irretrievable ruin. But the Truth, which Jesus taught from the mountaintop, reads as if it were delivered but yesterday! Christianity is as suitable to the 19th century as to the first. It has the dew of its youth upon it. As Solomon's Song says of Christ, His locks are bushy and black as a raven to show His youth and vigor. So may I say of the Gospel--it is still as young and vigorous--as full of masculine energy as ever it was! We who preach it fear not for the result--give us a fair stage and no favor, and the Samson of Divine Truth, its locks still unshorn--will yet remove the pillars of the temple of error, and bring ruin to the powers of Hell. Jesus must reign as the royal Teacher because all He teaches is based upon the surest Truth. Our Lord's dominion over human hearts, too, is absolutely sure, because it is based upon love. To illustrate what I mean, I need only remind you of the life of the great Napoleon. He founded an empire--an empire which has not always been justly estimated--for perhaps unwittingly Napoleon was a grand advancer of human liberty, since he first taught the old kings that the pretense of Divine right could not keep crowns upon unpopular heads, and that young men from the ranks might yet mount a throne. He produced a code of laws, which, for simplicity of justice, has never been surpassed. Still, he relied too much upon coercion and the sword--his enormous armies were his bulwark and security. Strong battalions were the cornerstone of his empire, and though for awhile he stood firm, and armies advancing against him were only like so many waves dashing against the rocks of his tremendous power--yet, after all his many wars, he was overthrown and he was said to have uttered in St. Helena that memorable speech--"My empire has passed away. I founded it upon the sword, and it is gone. Jesus Christ established an empire upon love, and it will last forever." So it will last. When all that kings and princes can do with state-craft, and with power, shall have dissolved as hoar frost in the sun, Christ's kingdom must stand because it is based upon the law of love. His Person is the incarnation of love. His teachings are the doctrines of love. His precepts are the rule of love. His Spirit is the creator of love. His whole religion is saturated with love--and because of this His kingdom cannot be moved! Once more, the empire of Jesus must exist because it is the one great remedy which this sad woe-begone world requires. Though men know it not, this is the only balm for earth's poor bleeding wounds. Earth cries out every now and then like a sleeper in delirium. She cries out for the coming man, and eyes everywhere are watching! Men scarcely know why--they look for a man who shall right the wrong of mankind and commence on a glorious era--that good time coming for which men have looked so long. Jesus is the coming Man--He alone is the daystar from on high who shall visit us with light and healing--and replace our darkness with an everlasting morning! The world is like the troubled sea that cannot rest, tossed to and fro, and there is but one foot which can tread its waves, and but one voice which can say, "Peace, be still." The world's joy lies now in the tomb. It has been dead four days already, and by this time it stinks and the poor world does not know that there is only one voice that can bring back earth's paradise, give a resurrection to her buried mirth. Jesus of Nazareth it is who is the true Liberator of captive nations, "To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the valley of the shadow of death." The world will never rest till it rests in Christ! It groans and travails in pain together until now, scarcely knowing what it wants. But to us it is given to know that earth needs her Lord to reign over her, and He shall bring her joy and peace. The agonizing groans of earth demand the sovereignty of Jesus and therefore we believe that He must reign, for God will yet give His creature what it needs. Our Lord's dominion is, in itself, so securely founded upon Truth and love, and is so demanded by a bleeding world, that "He must reign." 2. Secondly, He must reign because His Father decrees it. How delightful it is to think of the eternal purposes concerning our Lord! Our God did not make this world without a plan, nor does He rule it without a scheme. Whatever Jehovah decrees, stands fast and firm, for these are His words, "Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?" Whatever the eternal mind resolves upon is certain to be fulfilled! Though men should strive against it, and devils should rise with infernal rage, yet, if Jehovah decrees it, who shall stand against the eternal will? Go, Fool, who thinks to stand against God, and dash yourself upon the bosses of His buckler and be broken in pieces! Or run upon the point of His glittering spear to your own destruction, for, against the Eternal, who shall stand? His thunder in the heavens, though it is but the whisper of His voice, makes the nations tremble! The going forth of His might in nature, though it is the hiding of His power, makes all the inhabitants of the earth shake. Who shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, "What are You doing?" The eternal purpose of God has ordained that Jesus Christ shall reign eternally! He must reign from the river even to the ends of the earth. Up till now God has maintained the Throne of His Son. Read the second Psalm and see: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion." Yes, the Divine determination, the Everlasting Covenant, and the immutable promises of Covenant Grace all unite in the resolve that Christ shall reign, and therefore well says the text, "He must reign." 3. But in the third place, Divine justice demands it. Jesus Christ must reign. Beloved, you cannot imagine for a moment that He who judges all the earth will be unjust, and unjust to His own Son! Our Lord came into this world to bleed and die that He might have a reward for His pains. And the Father covenanted with Him: "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days." "I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong." The Father promised that He should be a leader and a commander of the people, and determined, as the result of His humiliation, that He should mount to a superior Throne as the Son of Man and the Son of God. Shall God belie His word? Begone, blasphemous thought! Shall God defraud the Only-Begotten? Down, suggestion of the pit! Shall Jesus die in vain? Shall He pour out His soul unto death, and shall there be no crown for Him? Shall the promised diadem be withheld? Beloved, we know it cannot be so! As we stand at the foot of the Cross we feel that every pang He suffered guaranteed to Him that He should be King of kings, and Lord of lords. Oh, it were, indeed, sad for us to imagine that yonder wondrous work of His in redemption should remain unrewarded with the promised crown! It were vain for us to trust in the Redemption, for we might be as well deluded in it as He if there were no honor brought to Him for all that He endured for us. Courage, Brothers and Sisters, there can be no doubt about it--since immutable justice demands it, Jesus "must reign." 4. The fourth reason is found in this, that Christ's reigning is inwrought into the order of Providence. A few months ago snow was on the ground. The frost was sharp, the winds were cold, the trees were bare--but it was in the order of Providence that there should be a spring. And though the seasons grew colder and the dreary months passed on and not a snowdrop peeped up from under the soil, nor a golden crocus opened its cup, yet God had purposed it--the spring must come. Walk in your gardens today when all the fruit trees are opening their blossoms and pouring forth their perfumes in the air, and the birds are at the highest point of song, and you will think, "Yes, it has surely come. Spring smiles on us, after all." The cold blustering winds and the cold dark nights could not prevent it! The vernal blossoms are on every bough. Here is spring, and in its right hand it holds a faithful promise of the coming summer. We cannot say that in any one day in all these last months spring seemed to make any great advance. You cannot put your finger upon a certain day or hour, and say, "Now the weather is manifestly turning." But the sweet days of bud and blossom have been introduced with a beautiful gentleness and growth. Even when the days lengthened we saw no great progress, for the cold strengthened--and if we enjoyed a mild day, there came a biting night of frost. But, surely and steadily the veins of the trees were filled with the life-blood of sap, and the buds first swelled and then revealed their glories! Mother earth yielded to the roots of plants and trees fresh vigor, and helped them to put on their green array--and now we look for the beauties of summer and the golden sheaves of autumn with sure and certain hope. So Christ's reigning is woven into the warp and woof of Providence, and though He has long been lifted on high and has not yet drawn all men unto Him, it is coming--and if we have faith we may almost see it. His kingdom is coming! The time of the singing of the birds is drawing near! There have been dark times, but the light has arisen! There have been times of shameful lukewarmness, but, now and then a live coal has been sent from off the altar to touch the lip of some favored seer whose power has turned the tide of the Church's zeal once more. Rest assured that nothing can possibly resist the kingdom of Jesus Christ--His kingdom shall come! He shall have dominion and His foes shall bow. He shall come in His own proper Person and shall sit upon David's throne. Though the wheels of Providence are so high that they are terrible, they are all full of eyes, and every eye looks to Christ. "Upon one stone shall be seven eyes," yes, all the eyes of Providence look upon Jesus our Cornerstone, and in the Divine economy, "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose," and chiefly for the glory of Him who loved God best of all, and was first chosen in the Divine decree. That Jesus shall reign is the end, aim, and design of Providence. How I rejoice to believe that if we serve God the very stones of the field are in league with us, and the beasts of the field are at peace with us! And as it was said by Deborah in her memorable song, "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera," so all created things are allies of the righteous cause and adversaries of evil. The marches of years, the advance of months, and the arrangements of days all fight like armed men the wrong, and march side by side with the armies of the Lord of hosts--sworn to do battle for Jesus and His Throne--for, "He must reign." 5. I must not tarry long on any one point, and, therefore, our fifth argument for Jesus' kingdom is that the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church to promote this glorious end. At the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out--then the whole Church was baptized with a sacred influence--and ever since then the Holy Spirit has never been withdrawn from the Christian Church. "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever." We often unbelievingly pray for the Holy Spirit as if He were not still with us--as if He were not perpetually resident among the sons of men. He is here, always here--always dwelling in the Christian Church. Now consider who the Holy Spirit is--He is the blessed God Himself--one Person of the glorious Trinity in unity, and He is therefore the possessor of infinite power. In the world of mind He can work according to His own will, and can convince men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He can soften the most hardened! He can turn to kindness the most cruel, and lead into light the most darkened. There are none beyond the range of the operation of the Holy Spirit, and none who shall be able finally to resist His influence when He puts forth the fullness of His might, for who can stop Omnipotence? Now, Brethren, the possession of the Holy Spirit is the Church's treasury. Here is her battle-ax, and here her weapons of war. Do you speak of the tower of David where a thousand bucklers did hang, all shields of mighty men? The possession of the Holy Spirit secures a far greater power than all the bucklers of mighty men could be! Solomon speaks of the Church's bed, and says that around it were fourscore men, each man with his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. But the Holy Spirit is a greater protection than the ablest bodyguard of warriors! His dove-like wings perpetually brood over the Lord's chosen and guard them from every ill, according to the promise, "I, the Lord, do keep it, I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." Ho, you who preach Christ in the street, or teach Him in the school, do not become discouraged under difficulties when you remember that you are workers together with God, and that with you, when you speak the truth for Jesus, there goes forth an irresistible power from the Holy Spirit Himself which none shall be able to gainsay or to resist! This is the Church's power--let her seek more of it, and, possessing it--let her rest assured that the purpose for which she has been raised up will be accomplished, for Jesus Christ must and shall reign if the Spirit of God is at work to ensure His Sovereignty. 6. Sixthly, our Lord Jesus Christ must reign because He is naturally the Chief of the human race. When all Israel were gathered together to choose a king, they selected Saul who was in stature head and shoulders taller than the rest. They would have the strongest soldier to lead the van. But if my Lord and Master were to come into this world--if men's eyes were but opened, and their senses were but trained to right perception--they would no sooner put eyes on Him than they would say, "He is the chief among 10,000 and the altogether lovely: let Him wear the crown." Remember that in this present state the good often go to the wall, and the most worthy are the least esteemed--but in the long run it is a rule of God's government that the best shall be uppermost. And when the last great rectification shall come, you will find that those who were really lowest in character will be lowest in perdition, and those who were highest in their service of God shall be highest in esteem among the sons of men. Jesus Christ must take the highest place, because He is highest and there is none to rival Him-- "No creature can with Him compare Among the sons of men, Fairer He is than all the fair That fill the heavenly train." Once but get a clear, spiritual glimpse of Him and you will acknowledge His surpassing superiority-- "Soon as faith the Lord can see, Bleeding on the Cross for me, Quick my idols all depart, Jesus gets and fills my heart." O stone-blind eyes, if you could but see Him, how you would be fixed on Him in one long fascinated gaze! O blind world, if you had Grace enough to see but half the beauties of Christ, how you would cease your rebellion and fall down to worship the matchless Prince! But the blindness and obduracy of humankind make men enemies to their best Friend and make them see no beauty where there is all beauty, and no perfection wherever perfection dwells. As well might men say that there is no light from the sun as declare that there is no loveliness in Him! As well might they say that there is no salt in the sea as that there is no sweetness in Christ, for He is altogether lovely! All preciousness, at its very highest degrees, is found commingled in His gracious Character. Let Him be King, then! He must reign! It is impossible that yonder black prince, that fiend of Hell, that traitor, that enemy of the human race should always reign! Down with him! Down with him as they did in the town of Mansoul when they broke the images of Diabolus, casting them to the ground. It is not possible that the devil should always be king over God's creatures. Let Immanuel be exalted, and let His loyal subjects bow before Him and rejoice in His crown and scepter. He must reign, then, because of the excellence of His Character. 7. And lastly upon this point, He must reign because the power to reign belongs to Him. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." "He has all power given unto Him in Heaven and in earth." "Go you, therefore," says He, "and teach all nations." Jesus Christ is no puny pretender to the Throne, nor a rightful owner without power to win His own, but as His cause is good His arm is strong. The power of Immanuel is equal to His right--He must, therefore, reign! What a vision that is of Christ on the white horse, riding forth conquering and to conquer, and all His saints following Him in the same triumphant style, His sword going out of His mouth, the preaching of the eternal Gospel being still the power of God unto salvation! This is what He is doing now--this is what He shall do till He comes with His iron rod to break the nations in pieces, like a potter's vessel, and dash His enemies to pieces. He has the power to reign, a power of love which He puts into the Gospel which, by-and-by, He will exchange for the power of vengeance, when He takes the Throne and sits there to judge the nations according to their works. What a total overthrow the powers of darkness will sustain! They will not have a thought with which to comfort themselves. When the last great battle shall come and the campaign between Christ and the Prince of Evil shall be over, there will not remain a handful of spoil in the hand of the enemy--not one old banner or tattered flag belonging to the Lord's hosts to hang up in the hall. "They will be beaten," as the text puts it, "like the chaff on the summer's threshing floor." "And you shall winnow them," says the Prophet, "and the wind shall carry them away." The black horse went down to the sea of almighty love with his rider and began to drink up that sea, but he could not do it. He snorted, and drank, and drank again of the brine which sickened his very soul, but malice urged him on, and so he drank again, and waded breast-deep into the ocean. Nor stayed he in his fury, but plunged farther and farther, till he was drowned in the inexhaustible depths. I think I see the black carcass submerged far down in the abyss--death and Hell drowned in the sea of almighty love and power, and the kingdom of Jesus rolling like a mighty stream over all those who were determined upon His destruction. Glory be unto God! We fight and victory flies to congratulate our banner. Ours is no desperate warfare, but a royal crusade in which every soldier is even now a priest and a king, and is on the way to the banqueting halls where men feast with God, and Jesus forever and ever wears the fadeless diadem. II. Time allows but a few words upon THE ENCOURAGEMENT to be gathered from the "must" which lies in the soul of the text. 1. The first encouragement is that if He must reign, then all our enemies shall be subdued. This text occurs in that memorable chapter concerning the resurrection and it especially points to death. "He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet." "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Now, beloved Believer, you are called to fight daily with sin and here is your consolation--Jesus must reign! The Christ in you must bruise Satan under your feet! His Atonement has forever destroyed the damning power of your sins. Christ reigns supreme on the milk-white Throne of mercy as the pardoning God. Even so Jesus must reign over the active power of sin within your heart, for His death is the double death of sin. He has pierced its heart and nailed its hands and feet--it shall not have dominion over you. Jesus, the King of kings, must hold His court in the castle yard of your heart, and all your powers and passions must do Him cheerful homage. Most sweet Prince, You shall wear Your royal robes in the coronation chamber of my affections! You shall reign over my quick imperious temper! He shall put His foot on the neck of my pride and shall command my every thought and wish. Where I cannot rule, Jesus can! Rebellious lusts acknowledge the spell of the Cross and indwelling sin falls like Dagon before that ark. Jesus has made us kings and priests that we may reign over the triple monarchy of our nature--spirit, soul, and body--and that by our self-conquest He may be undisputed sovereign of the Isle of Man. O you who are contending with your corruptions, push on in the war for He must reign! Corruption is very strong, but Christ is stronger, and Divine Grace must reign through righteousness unto eternal life--through Jesus Christ our Lord. I think I hear you groaning, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Hearken to the answer! It rings like a sweet Sabbath bell, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." You may die with Jesus but you shall certainly rise with Him, for He will leave none of His members in the grave of their corruptions. This Joshua will slay all the Canaanites! He will drive out the old dragon from his throne with all his hellish crew and your entire manhood shall be a fair temple for the Holy Spirit's indwelling! As long as we live in this world, and when we live again in the coming world, Jesus shall be the Well-Beloved Monarch of our hearts! This ought to put away all fears of death, for Christ must reign, must reign over death! When the last enemy appears in view it shall only be an opportunity for new triumphs, when the Lord of life shall reveal Himself with renewed splendor. Imagine not that death shall ever reign over Christ! Ah no, in your departing moments you shall have most extraordinary Grace--so that with joyful heart your lips shall sing, "O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?" When your body shall have molded to ashes, Christ must reign, and every precious particle of that dust shall be attracted to its fellow--bone shall come to bone, and the flesh shall come upon the whole--and you shall live! Though worms destroy that body, yet in your flesh shall you see God. And so in your resurrection Jesus Christ shall reign! What a lamp is shining in the vaults of death! The day breaks upon all our darkness when we see that He must reign! The next cool cup of encouragement springing from this well is this--our efforts are, after all, not in vain. If Christ must reign, then every soldier who fights for Christ is contributing to the victory, and everyone who in any way advances the cause is working with sure and great results. You have not wasted those many silent prayers and those bitter tears. Those feeble efforts of yours which were so imperfect that you could scarcely hope them to be successful are all cooperating to produce a victory the shouts of which shall be heard all down the ages! You may but lay a single stone of the heavenly temple, but if it is done for Christ, it is a stone which will stand the fire and your share of the building will remain to the last, while many a great one who has built a mass of wood, and hay, and stubble shall see his labors all consumed in the day that tries every man's work. O my fellow Soldiers, as we rest in this bivouac today waiting till another fight begins, let us be of good courage and the Lord shall strengthen our hearts! Wait, I say, on the Lord, for the Lord is on our side! Our foes are tall as Goliath, and mighty as Pharaoh, and proud as Nebuchadnezzar--but in the name of God will we destroy them! In the name of Jesus we will again say Jehovah-Nissi, and setting up the banner we follow our Captain whose vesture is dipped in blood. He rides forth conquering and to conquer, and we follow Him to absolute victory! It is but a little before we shall hear the shout, "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." One sweet drop of comfort may be pressed from this text, "He must reign"--I must confess the sweetest comfort I have ever tasted. I know not why it is, but if I sink in spirit (and I do full often) I very seldom get any cordial anywhere except from this one thing--that Christ must reign. "There," I have said in my soul, "then what becomes of me is of no consequence at all! If He will only take me into the royal galley and chain me down to the oar, and let me tug and pull till I have no more life left, I will be satisfied if I may but row my Lord towards His Throne and have but the smallest share in making Him great and glorious in the eyes of men and angels." What cares my heart for herself if she may but see Jesus set on high? It is a Heaven to me to think that Christ is in Heaven, and another Heaven to believe that He will reign among men! If Christ is glorious, it is all the Heaven I ask for! If He shall be King of kings, and Lord of lords, let me be nothing! If He shall but reign, and every tongue shall call Him blessed, it shall be bliss to me to know it! And if I may be but as one of the withered roses which lie in the path of His triumph, it shall be my paradise! Comrade in arms, as you and I in this ditch lie bleeding on the skirts of the battle, it is sweet to hear the shouts of victory! This is better than wine, better than healing, better than life! See yonder He rides with His crown upon His helmet! There He rides on His white horse in the very front of the fray! Can you not hear Him as He cries, "Onward!" and the enemy flees, and His forces march on to victory? You and I may lie down and die--what matters it, for the cause is safe--Jesus is King! Rest assured that Christ's victory is ours and He will no more forget us than a woman will cease to think of the son of her womb. Oh, to put our heart into Christ's heart! To wish His wishes and to love His loves! This is to enjoy peace like a river, and bliss like the waves of the sea. Blessed thought for you who love Him! Treasure it. "He must reign." How this ought to inspire all of you who grow downhearted about the cause of Christ. Some of my friends are frightened with that everlasting bugbear of Roman Catholicism. According to some we are going back to Rome, every mother's son of us, and old England is to be a rank popish country. Many in these days are fine hands at painting ugly pictures and believing them to be realities. But I believe my text, namely, that Jesus must reign. Therefore I do not fear the Pope or the devil. All the driveling priests of Rome with their Jesuitical tricks, shall find their master, for Hell itself cannot shake that decree, "He must reign." "Jesuits," you say, "are creeping in unawares." I know it! But behold, we shall tread upon the lion and the dragon--yes, the young lion and the dragon shall we trample under our feet. Do you not believe in the Gospel as the power of God? Do you imagine that an unrighteous and unscriptural church establishment is needed as a bulwark to the Gospel? Shall rotten wood defend the steel? Nonsense! Blow the establishment to a thousand pieces with the big guns of Justice and then the Gospel will hold its own with all the greater ease. The Gospel is quite able to take care of itself without your hierarchies, and tithes, and royal headships--you encumber the Church with your bulwarks of wood, and hay, and stubble! You clog our David with the royal armor. My Lord Jesus Christ can do well enough in Ireland without Caesar or his pennies. He needs you not to drain wealth from those who serve another Lord in order to uphold His cause. He hates your robberies which you call burnt-offerings. He always has taken care of Himself and His ministers and will continue to do so. The ark of God of old was never captured till it was defended with carnal weapons, and even then, as soon as it was left alone it rescued itself. When there was not a soldier to take care of it--when it was imprisoned in the temple of Dagon--Dagon fell, and Philistia was humbled. And so in England and Ireland, State alliance is bringing the Gospel into jeopardy, but if that alliance can be broken which is the worst of ills, then the Gospel in its grandeur of unaided might will confound all adversaries. Never be afraid--it does not become a Christian to fear--it is unmanly, unchristian, to talk as if Christ's cause were going to be trampled out like a spark under our feet! It cannot be! As enduring as the earth itself, and more eternal--as far as everlasting as the Throne of God are the Cross and honor and dignity of Christ. Let us feel this, for He must reign, and anticipated changes, instead of preventing Him from reigning, will help Him to reign more universally. And the shaking off of old abuses, instead of being an injury to the Cross of Christ, will give its glories ampler space, for He must reign, let men say what they will. III. Once more, and I have done. There is an ADMONITION in the text, "He must reign." My Hearer, has He ever reigned in your heart? Where are you, my Hearer? For I want you now. I must get you by the ear. "Jesus must reign." What have you to say to this? You have been opposing Him, have you? You are kicking against the pricks with naked feet--you are stumbling upon this stone and you will be broken--and if the stone shall take to rolling down, like a massive rock, on you, it will grind you to powder. Persecutor, beware! You have gone upon a very very desperate errand. You are like a crawling worm that is fighting with the fire--you wiggle already in the heat of it--but if you continue long, what can you expect? You are like stubble contending with the fire-brand, or like chaff wrestling with the whirlwind. What can you do? O Man, sheathe that sword! Take counsel while you are in the way, "whether you can, with 10,000 meet him that comes against you with twenty thousand." "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little." Another thought, if Jesus Christ must reign, then you who have never submitted yourselves to Him to accept Him as your Monarch will find His reign as terrible as it is sure. He will reign over you, either by your own consent, or without it! He will either reign over you with that glorious glittering silver scepter of mercy in His hand, or He will rule over you with the heavy iron rod with which He will break you in pieces. Now, which is it to be? One or the other. His blood must be on you--either it must be on you to accuse and condemn you, as the Jews found it when they said, "His blood be on us, and on our children"--or else it shall be on you to cleanse, to pardon, to save. Which shall it be? This morning, in the name of God I do entreat you answer this question for your own good! Does Jesus reign over you this morning, or not? Oh, if He never should reign over you in this life, then, when you die you shall find that you cannot escape from His power! He will reign over you while you are a prisoner, manacled in fetters of iron in the place of everlasting misery! He will reign over you, and you will be compelled to confess it, too, as you bite your iron bands and weep, and gnash your teeth in anger and in shame! He will reign over you absolutely, for you will not be able to lift a finger to contend against Him in the day when He comes to judge the quick and the dead-- "You sinners, seek His Grace, Whose wrath you cannot bear! Fly to the shelter of His Cross, And find salvation there." May eternal mercy bring you, now, like loyal subjects, to bow before Jesus! May you be granted saving Grace to give yourselves up to Him, trusting in Him, and in Him alone. That is the matter--to confide simply in Him is life eternal! There is the whole sum and substance of godliness. Then shall it be your joy to know and feel that "He must reign." The Lord bless you, and make you a blessing, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Bringing the King Back Delivered on Sunday Evening, April 19, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [19]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Now therefore why speak you not a word of bringing the king back?" 2 Samuel 19:10. THIS morning we were indulged with the Master's blessing while considering one of the most delightful subjects that can ever occupy the minds of God's creatures this side of Heaven [Sermon #807, Good News for Loyal Subjects.] It was a celestial song, fitter for angels' harps than sinners' tongues. We sang the triumphs of the once rejected but now exalted Son of Man. We lingered lovingly over the guarantees of His sure and blessed kingdom, and fed with delight upon that short, sweet sentence, "He must reign." We tried to show that the Throne of our Lord Christ is settled on a firm foundation, and that His ultimate and undisputed sovereignty over all things in Heaven and earth and Hell is a matter of Divine decree and will be asserted by the Divine power in due time. We laid the sheaf upon the threshing floor this morning--let us beat out the precious grain this evening. We showed you the pearl, now let us make it a golden setting of practical holiness! The Son of David is assuredly King, and you know it. "Now therefore why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" Israel had revolted, and set up Absalom against his father--but when the rebel bands had been scattered and Absalom had been slain, the people thought of their old love--they remembered the days when David was the terror of the Philistines and the champion of Israel! Their hearts smote them for their ingratitude to their valiant deliverer, and they said one to the other, "Now therefore why speak you not a word of bringing the king back?" There are three sorts of people in this great throng, to each of whom this text might well be addressed. May none of my three arrows miss the mark! I shall endeavor to speak pointedly, and may the Holy Spirit make an effectual application of each word. May I but win a throne for Jesus in any one heart, and my joy shall be full! I. First, my Brothers and Sisters, MANY AMONG US HAVE LOST THE COMFORTABLE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Some have long dwelt in the cold shade of suspended fellowship. Others, for a shorter period, have passed through the cloud. But, surely, the shortest period is all too long--and those who have lost fellowship must be anxiously pining after its restoration. Now to such as these, who see no longer the bright and morning star, we say, "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" My sorrowing Brother, you have been mourning much concerning your present condition. Sitting down, perhaps, this very afternoon and taking stock of your spiritual estate, you have felt yourself to be in an almost bankrupt condition and you have written bitter things against yourself. Your barometer has been going down, down, down, for the last month or two--from rain to much rain and stormy. It now appears as if it never would ascend again. Upon a review of the past you observe that your prayers have not been so constant nor so fervent as they used to be. In reading the Word, the promises have not been laid home to your heart as once they were, and in attending the means of Grace, you have not so often said with Jacob, "Surely God was in this place." You are getting now into a sad condition and all because your eyes have not lately seen the King in His beauty, neither has He brought you into His banqueting house, nor waved over you the banner of His love. You have been turning this forlorn plight over and over and over in your mind, and you have been anxiously searching for the cause of all this withering of your spirit. You can see that the cause does not lie in Him but in yourself. You perceive that your David has not forsaken you, but that you have forsaken Him, and set up some fair but false Absalom in His place. He who delivered you has been forgotten, and he who deceived you has been followed. Smooth-spoken sin has made you a traitor to your liege Lord. The luxuriant tresses of Absalom were nets to catch the shallow men of Israel, and Satan has taken care to find suitable snares for you. You know this, and you mourn it, and the temptation is to continue morbidly meditating upon the sin and its cause and consequences until despair burns its horrible brand into the spirit. My business tonight is to remind you that all your lamentation over your folly will not of itself remove the disease. Your remedy does not lie within you, but beyond and above yourself! It is a good thing to discover where the mischief lies and to lament it, yet the real cure for it does not lie in lamentation--it lies in seeking, again, the face of your Lord! "Now therefore why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" The royal hand brings health and cure--healing is to be found nowhere else in earth or Heaven. Go, then, to Jehovah-Rophi, the healing Lord! Oh, if you do but get Him back, your sorrow and sighing will flee away! Though everything else should be dark and doleful, His Presence is enough, by itself alone, to make a gala day in the heart!-- "Midst darkest shades if He appears, My dawning is begun; He is my soul's bright morning star, And He my rising sun." If your soul has been nipped with the frosts of a long and dreary winter. If the Sun of Righteousness does but manifest His meridian splendor, your summer will return at once! Let the King come and all His court will follow--all the Graces display themselves where the Lord of Grace is revealed. One word, then, to you who are under backslidings and declensions--play not with side issues and secondary remedies--but go straightforward to the root of the matter! Turn your whole soul to your absent Master, and make this your one business--to bring the King back to His palace and throne in your heart. Ah, I can well imagine what lies Satan will tell you! He will insinuate that you are no child of God, for if you were your love would never grow so cold. He will whisper accusingly that never was any of the whole family of God so lifeless, so graceless as you are. He will say to you, "Your religion is a sham. Your enjoyment is a delusion! You never were born again--you felt a little excitement and you thought you were converted, but you were not. Your repentance was not deep enough. Your faith is not the faith of God's elect." He will tear up, one after another, all your comfortable experiences even as the wild boar out of the wood rends up the vines, till he will reduce your soul to a howling wilderness of doubt and fear. How can you best meet this roaring lion? Will you try by your own wit to answer this accuser of the Brethren? Will you try to prove your experience to be right and his insinuations to be false? If you are wise, you will attempt nothing of the kind, for at that sport Satan can play better than you--and as fast as you set up your evidences he will knock them down again. There is a surer and safer method, and when I see you forgetting it, I enquire in the words of the text, "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" Why not tell the case to Jesus? That is the true answer to the adversary--answer him by your Advocate! If you can regain the comfortable Presence of Jesus, your evidences will all be seen in His light. Satan himself will not be able to disturb the conviction of your mind that you are a child of God when your Lord again kisses you with the kisses of His lips, and you drink of His love which is better than wine. I can readily conceive that your legal tendencies will suggest to you, "Now, having fallen into this condition, seeing that it is very doubtful whether you are saved or not, you should labor after salvation by being more zealous and more devout." Thus may you hear the voice of a deluding spirit, gendering unto bondage, crying out, "You must attend to religious observances and ordinances! You must mortify the flesh in this direction, and deny yourself in that, and then, by degrees, you will come back to your old comfort and peace of mind." This all might be very good advice if it were not thrust into an improper place and made to be a foundation for renewed confidence. To thrust out declension by a legal spirit is for Satan to cast out Satan, which cannot be! God will not have His child's face washed in the scalding water of the Law. Let the child of God beware of being brought into legal servitude in which he will find himself wearily working for life and slavishly toiling for salvation--for then he will be a mere slave and will be ready to die in the wilderness like Hagar and her cast out son--instead of enjoying the liberty of the child of the promise who dwells forever in the Father's house. Always beware, dear Friends, of any instruction or direction which would withdraw you from the Cross as the sole and simple ground of your comfort. Duties, I trust, you will never neglect. Services and ordinances, I trust, will always be very precious to you. But, when you have lost your comfort, you might as well search for fire beneath the ice as look for comfort in duties. And you might certainly as well turn over the dunghill and look for a diamond as search within yourself for jewels of consolation. "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" for if you bring King Jesus back He will be made of God unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption--you shall find in Him all you need. As Charles Wesley puts it so sweetly in the hymn-- "You, O Christ, are all I want; More than all in You I find." If you would obtain all good things in one, seek to win Christ and to be found in Him. Desponding one, your whole business lies with Jesus. You have nothing to do today with attainments and experiences--it is not even desirable to practice self-examinations while you are in despondency--these are to be attended to by-and-by--but just now, while the present stress of weather lasts, your one cry must be-- "Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to Your bosom fly." While your boat is tossed about at sea, it is very likely that she needs a new copper bottom, or the deck requires holystoning, or the rigging is out of repair, or the sails need overhauling, or 50 other things may be necessary. But if the wind is blowing great guns and the vessel is drifting towards those white-crested breakers--the first business of the mariner is to make for the haven at once to avoid the hurricane. When he is all snug in port, he can attend to hull and rigging, and all the odds and ends besides. So with you, child of God--one thing you must do--and I beseech you do it. Do not be looking to this, or to that, or to the other out of a thousand things that may be amiss--steer straight for the Cross of Christ which is the haven for distressed spirits! Fly at once to the wounds of Jesus, as the dove flies to her nest in the cleft of the rock. May the Eternal Spirit give you joy and peace through believing. "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" Perhaps you reply, "We speak not a word of this because we are afraid that the King may have forgotten us." Oh, cruel thought, concerning so kind a Friend! Hear His own words, "I am God. I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." Your Lord forgotten you?! Ah, you know what you deserve, but He will not treat you as your sins demand. Shall Christ forget His people for whom He shed His blood? He has said, "I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands." How can He forget what is written there? You have played the harlot and gone away from your first Husband, but He says, "Return, return, you backsliding children, for I am married unto you." You may forget the nuptial tie which binds you to your Lord, but He neither forgets nor doubts it, but plainly affirms, "I have espoused you unto Myself in faithfulness." And He declares that He hates putting away. Though we believe not, He abides faithful. But you say, "How shall I return to Him? I feel ashamed to come to Him yet again." And well you may! But the best color you can wear upon your face, when you enter His Presence, will be that crimson of holy shame. Remember that bad as you are, you are not now worse than when you first came to Him. You were then without a spark of Divine Grace, or love, or holiness. You were once an enemy, dead in trespasses and sins, but His great love loved you even then. You may well be ashamed, I say, and yet I entreat you let not this shame keep you from coming just as you are to Him. Ho, you negligent Believers, you lax professors, you lukewarm ones, Christ has not cast you away! This is His message to you-- let me give it to you--it was first delivered to the Church at Laodicea when it had declined into the same state as your own, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." He is not gone! He waits at your door, and knocks at it, longing to enter. "If any man open to Me, I will enter in and sup with him, and he with Me." This is the cure for your lukewarmness, and this cure awaits you now, for Jesus Christ is in this very House of Prayer knocking at the gate of your heart! O let Him enter, and in a moment all that you have bewailed of coldness and of lethargy will disappear at His return. "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" I hope the answer to that question is not that you have forgotten Him. Forgotten the man of Gethsemane, crimsoned with His own blood for you? Forgotten Him whose hands were pierced for you? Forgotten Him who bore the crown of thorns, and bowed His head, and gave up the ghost for you? Forgotten that faithful Lover who ever since He ascended above the stars has never ceased to intercede for you, and such as you? Oh, shame, indeed! But you have not quite forgotten Him, I know you have not. Perhaps, however, you have grown so dead in spirit that you hardly care about His company. What shall I say to you? Shall I remind you of-- "Those peaceful hours you once enjoyed, How sweet their memory still"? I bear my testimony tonight that there is no joy to be found in all this world like that of sweet communion with Christ! I would barter all else there is of Heaven for that! Indeed, that is Heaven! As for the harps of gold, and the streets like unto clear glass, and the songs of seraphs, and the shouts of the redeemed--one could very well give all these up, counting them as a drop in a bucket--if we might forever live in fellowship and communion with Jesus. When it is our great privilege to press close to our Lord, and to feel that He loves us and that we love Him, and to lean our head upon His bosom--then it is glory this side of Jordan! Do you not long for it? Have you forgotten the garden of nuts and the beds of spices? O willful, wayward heart, have you forgotten the banqueting house, and the day when you came up from the wilderness leaning on your Beloved? You said then, "I will never forget You." Then your heart warbled to itself in words like these-- "O my Soul, forget no more The Friend who all your misery bore. Let every idol be forget, But, O my Soul, forget Him not." And now what are you doing to be so negligent of your Beloved? O fickle heart, are you not ashamed at your inconstancy! Content without your Lord? A spouse content without her husband? A child happy away from its father's face and under its father's frown? Chide your hearts, my Brothers and my Sisters, if you know any joy apart from Jesus! I would gladly provoke you to a sacred jealousy. I would fill you with an insatiable hunger and thirst for your Beloved. I would not merely exhort you to speak a word to bring Him back, but I would persuade you to send up an incessant cry-- "When will You come unto me, Lord? O come, my Lord, most dear! Come near, come nearer, nearer still, I'm blest when You are near." Remember, the heavenly Lover will come. He forgives the past--He is ready to come to you now. Come to Him, dear Brother, just as you did at first. Fall flat on your face before His dear Cross, and then look up to His streaming wounds, and say, "Jesus, I rest in You." Give yourselves up to Him afresh. It is a good thing to renew your youth by renewing your fellowship. See at this season how the year has put on its new mantle of green! Mark how all animal and vegetable nature has been refreshed! Will you not renew your youth like the eagle? Will you not begin again? I trust you will, and if so, the true way to revive is to speak a word concerning bringing the King back. II. Secondly, and briefly. MANY PROFESSORS DO VERY LITTLE TO BRING CHRIST BACK TO HIS KINGDOM IN THE WORLD--and to these we have a message. I do not think that, on the whole, anybody could fairly describe us as being a lazy Church. But there never was a hive of bees without there being at times a few drones to be turned out. And if, when I am speaking tonight to the drones, any of you should feel that my rebuke comes rather sharply home, I am sure I shall be delighted--for it is my sincere desire to be personal. There are a number of Christians whose whole Christianity seems to lie in attending two services each Sunday, but do nothing for Jesus. Some of them think one attendance at worship quite enough for the Sabbath--they are such very easily satisfied people that one meal in a week satisfies their spiritual appetite. It is an improvement, certainly, when we see others regular in coming twice, and some who drop in on weeknights to the lecture. But there are numbers who never attend the Prayer Meeting and so deny the Lord Jesus even the cheap love-token of their prayers. Well, perhaps He is no great loser, for those who do not come to the Prayer Meeting are not the best of Church members, but a great deal the worst, as a rule. I speak not of those who are debarred lawfully--servants, or even masters whose business detains them--but there are persons who might come if they would, but forsake the assembling of themselves together. These miss the blessing, and deserve to do so, seeing that they deny the Lord even the poor aid of their prayers. How many there are who do nothing for our King! They are not Sunday school teachers. They are not street preachers. They do not take a tract district. They are not subscribers, at least to any great extent, to anything! They have no object that is dear to them in connection with the Church. They are very glad to see all the work go on well--like a man on the top of the coach, they enjoy the riding--but they have no care to draw an ounce, no inclination to assist in any respect. Now, to such I say, if you are, indeed, Christians, "Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back?" Have you no desire whatever that Jesus Christ should reign among the sons of men? If you, as a Christian man, have a right to be idle, every man has a right to be the same! And then where would be the exertions of the Christian Church, and, humanly speaking, where would be anything like the extension of Messiah's kingdom? God works by instruments, and those instruments are men and women who are themselves saved, and who, being saved, are set to fulfill the loving duty of telling out the plan of salvation to others! And so you have tied up your tongue, and given up all idea of being of any service to the Church of God? My dear Brother, my dear Sister, were you never, then, redeemed by blood? "Yes," you say, "I hope so." Why, then, you are not your own! On your own showing you are bought with a price, and how can you, then, live as though you were your own? My dear Brother, my dear Sister, do you owe Christ nothing? "Oh!" you tell me, "I owe him everything." Then, I beseech you, do not live as one who is devoid of gratitude! Selfishness in religion is detestable--that selfishness which makes us think--"Well, if we get to Heaven, that is all we need. We shall not worry ourselves about the concerns of the Church, nor take upon ourselves any labor in connection with the Master's vineyard." Ah, but if your Master had said so! Ah, but if your precious Redeemer had said, "Heaven is glorious, and I cannot have more honor than I possess already! I will not go to earth to toil and suffer to redeem the sons of men!" then might you have had an excuse and an example in your selfishness and sloth! But since He loved not Himself, but gave Himself to suffer, bleed, and die--my Brothers and Sisters--I do entreat you be instant in season and out of season for your Master, that He may be glorified in you! "Oh, I could not do much," says one. Then do what you can! No one flower makes a garden, but altogether the fair blossoms of spring create a paradise of beauty. Let all the Lord's flowers contribute in their proportion to the beauty of the garden of the Lord. "But I am so unused to it." Then, my Brother, that is a very powerful reason why you should do twice as much, so as to make up for your past idleness. "Oh, but I am afraid nothing would come of it." What has that to do with you? God has promised a blessing and if the blessing should not come in your day, yet, if you have done what the Master bade you, you will not be blamed for lack of success. "Sir," asks another, "will you give me some work to do?" No, I will not, for if you are good for anything you will find it for yourself. In such a place as London, for people to go to their minister to know what they are to do seems to me to be the height of absurdity! What work can you do? Put your hand out and begin, for there is plenty within reach. Your own unconverted child, whose face you kiss tonight, is to be the first object of your labors. Begin to educate your family of Christ, and pray for the salvation of your own households. What spheres you may find in the neighborhoods in which you dwell! They swarm with immortal souls and abound in sin! The fields are white unto the harvest. Some of you may not be able to work by using your tongue, then use your purses--use whatever gift God has given you--only do it! Never let it be said that you do not "speak a word of bringing the King back." Oh, when the King comes to His own, how happy shall they be who fought His battles! I think I see Him riding through the streets of this glad world with great acclaim! The angels are in mighty squadrons--ten thousand times ten thousand ranged on either side--and all men are bowing before Him, scattering His path with roses, and crying, "Hosanna, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!" Oh, it will be such satisfaction, then, to feel, "I helped to bring that chariot forth! I helped to subdue the kingdom unto Him!" But where will you go--where will you hide your heads--you who have done nothing at all for Him? You cannot, you dare not in your consciences share in the splendor of His triumph because you took no part in the rigor of His campaigns--you cannot participate in His crown because you did not share in His Cross! III. Thirdly, and lastly. There is a large class here, I fear, a sadly large class WHO ARE REBELLIOUS SUBJECTS OF THIS KING. Oh, how I wish they would say a word, if it were only such a word as the poor publican said, "God be merciful to me a sinner," for such a word as that would bring the King into their hearts. O you who do not love Christ listen to me a minute! You are God's creatures. God has a right to your services. It is God's power that keeps the breath in your nostrils--you are, therefore, obliged to God for your very existence! You would not like it if your child never expressed its obligations to you--why do you not admit your obligations to your Father? "The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib," but you do not know and you have lived all these years without considering. Is it not unjust? Does not conscience tell you that you do wrong to rebel against the God that made you? Christ is your lawful King and you are a rebel against Him tonight. He is so good a King. He is no tyrant! His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and yet you will not have Him. If He were a despot, and made you wretched, I could excuse your revolt--but Immanuel is all love, and they that serve Him are happy. why, then, do you revolt more and more, and go astray and break His blessed bands, and resists His sweet love? Let me reason with you. You are God's, and you confess it. He supplies you with life, and you acknowledge it. He is a good God and you will not deny it. O why, then, do you not seek to make Him your King? Why do you not yield yourselves up to Him? Why do you not give your hearts to His service and be His forever? Perhaps you have been like Shimei, who cursed king David, and you are afraid that Jesus will never forgive you. But David forgave Shimei, and Jesus is ready to forgive you! He delights in mercy! 1 do believe that the harps of Heaven never give to Christ such happiness as He has when He forgives the ungodly, and says, "Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace." Then it is that He performs the darling action of His life, that which is nearest and dearest to His soul. Oh it is you who are hard to confess! It is not Christ who is hard to forgive! It is your own heart that is hard towards Him, not His heart that is hard towards you! He is ready to receive you, young woman, now! He is ready to receive you, gray-headed offender, and to receive you now! "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Never has He cast out any, and never will He! Come and try Him! O that you would come and try Him now! Why speak you not a word of bringing Him back, when He is so willing to come back and to forget the past, and to abide with you forever? Perhaps you say, "I would gladly have Jesus Christ in my heart to save me. I would gladly trust Him and be His, but how am I to get Him back?" There is nothing for you to do whatever-- "All the doing was completed, Long, long ago." You have only to accept what Christ has finished. If you will but trust Christ, you are His. Now see, I cast myself with all my weight, and lean upon this rail, not fearing that I shall fall. Do just so with Christ. Lean wholly on Him! If you do so, Heaven and earth may pass away, but His promise to you shall never pass away or fail! Why speak you not a word of bringing the King back again? Hasten to your chamber. Kneel by that bedside and confess your sins. Tell Him that you have lived all these years a stranger to Him. Tell Him that you have often choked conscience, and stifled the admonitions of His Spirit. Ask Him to forgive you, for you bemoan your offenses, and then look to Him and see all the bitter griefs and horrid pangs which He endured upon the bloody tree, and say, "I do believe that there is merit enough in what Jesus suffered to put away my sin. It needs not that I should die, for Jesus died in the sinner's place as a full vindication of Divine justice, and on His Atonement I fix my trust." I trust that some of you may speak a word to bring the King back. Oh, I have watched some of you with a tender interest--now hoping and then fearing! O when shall the case be decided and the question settled forever? I sometimes think I know a great deal about you. As I stand in this watchtower and look down, there is a curious kind of telegraphing that goes on between me and some of you--for I have looked at you, and you have looked at me--and I have read the signals which your eyes have given me! I know that you have been almost persuaded, but you cannot decide for the Lord and His service. With some of you it is fear that keeps you back. You still think it too good to be true that such great offenders as you are should be forgiven. Jesus is a great God and a great Savior--O great Sinner, He is just the Redeemer that can save you! Come, then, and rely upon Him. Others of you are held back by temptations from evil friends. You get outside the Tabernacle and somebody meets you who chats and laughs away all impressions. Others of you, in the week, go into bad society and the devil ensnares you. O that the snare might be broken and that you might escape! By the sweet persuasions of the Holy Spirit I beseech you, decide for Christ tonight! May His eternal Spirit constrain you to open your heart's doors to Jesus, and your heart being once given to Him, your state is divinely secure-- "I know that safe with Him remains, Protected by His power, What I've committed to His hands Till the decisive hour. Then will He own my worthless name Before His Father's face, And in the New Jerusalem Appoint my soul a place." __________________________________________________________________ The Approachableness of Jesus A Sermon (No. 809) Delivered on Sunday Evening, May 3rd, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the [20]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him."--Luke 15:1. THE MOST DEPRAVED and despised classes of society formed an inner ring of hearers around our Lord. I gather from this that he was a most approachable person, that he was not of repulsive manners, but that he courted human confidence and was willing that men should commune with him. Upon that one thought I shall enlarge, this evening, and may the Holy Spirit make it a loadstone to draw many hearts to Jesus. Eastern monarchs affected great seclusion, and were wont to surround themselves with impassable barriers of state. It was very difficult for even their most loyal subjects to approach them. You remember the case of Esther, who, though the monarch was her husband, yet went with her life in her hand when she ventured to present herself before the king Ahasuerus, for there was a commandment that none should come unto the king except they were called, at peril of their lives. It is not so with the King of kings. His court is far more splendid; his person is far more worshipful; but you may draw near to him at all times without let or hindrance. He hath set no men-at-arms around his palace gate. The door of his house of mercy is set wide open. Over the lintel of his palace gate is written, "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Even in our own days great men are not readily to be come at. There are so many back stairs to be climbed before you can reach the official who might have helped you, so many subalterns to be parleyed with, and servants to be passed by, that there is no coming at your object. The good men may be affable enough themselves, but they remind us of the old Russian fable of the hospitable householder in a village, who was willing enough to help all the poor who came to his door, but he kept so many big dogs loose in his yard that nobody was able to get up to the threshold, and therefore his personal affability was of no service to the wanderers. It is not so with our Master. Though he is greater than the greatest, and higher than the highest, he has been pleased to put out of the way everything which might keep the sinner from entering into his halls of gracious entertainment. From his lips we hear no threatenings against intrusion, but hundreds of invitations to the nearest and dearest intimacy. Jesus is to be approached, not now and then, but at all times, and not by some favored few, but by all in whose hearts his Holy Spirit has enkindled the desire to enter into his secret presence. The philosophical teachers of our Lord's day affected very great seclusion. They considered their teachings to be so profound and eclectic that they were not to be uttered in the hearing of the common multitude. "Far hence, ye profane," was their scornful motto. Like Simon Stylites, they stood upon a lofty pillar of their fancied self-conceit, and dropped down now and then a stray thought upon the vulgar herd beneath, but they did not condescend to talk familiarly with them, considering it to be a dishonor to their philosophy to communicate it to the multitude. One of the greatest philosophers wrote over his door, "Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter here;" but our Lord, compared with whom all the wise men are but fools, who is, in fact, the wisdom of God, never drove away a sinner because of his ignorance, never refused a seeker because he was not yet initiated, and had not any thirsty spirit to be chased away from the crystal spring of truth divine. His every word was a diamond, and his lips dropped pearls, but he was never more at home than when speaking to the common people, and teaching them concerning the kingdom of God. You may thus contrast and compare our Lord's gentle manners with those of kings, and nobles, and sages, but you shall find none to equal him in condescending tenderness. To this attractive quality of our Lord I intend, this evening, as God shall help me, to ask your earnest attention. First, let us prove it; secondly, illustrate it; and, thirdly, enforce or improve it. I. First, let us PROVE THE APPROACHABLENESS OF CHRIST, though it really needs no proof, for it is a fact which lies upon the surface of his life. 1. You may see it conspicuously in his offices. Those offices are too many for us to take them all tonight. We will just cull a handful; say three. Our Lord Jesus is said to be the Mediator between God and man. Now, observe, that the office of mediator implies at once that he should be approachable. A daysman, as Job says, is one who can put his hand upon both; but if Jesus will not familiarly put his hand on man, certainly he is no daysman between God and man. A mediator is not a mediator of one--he must be akin to both the parties between whom he mediates. If Jesus Christ shall be a perfect mediator between God and man, he must be able to come to God so near that God shall call him his fellow, and then he must approach to man so closely that he shall not be ashamed to call him brother. This is precisely the case with our Lord. Do think of this, you who are afraid of Jesus. He is a mediator, and as a mediator you may come to him. Jacob's ladder reached from earth to heaven, but if he had cut away half-a-dozen of the bottom rounds, what would have been the good of it? Who could ascend by it into the hill of the Lord? Jesus Christ is the great conjunction between earth and heaven, but if he will not touch the poor mortal man who comes to him, why then, of what service is he to the sons of men? You do need a mediator between your soul and God; you must not think of coming to God without a mediator; but you do not want any mediator between yourselves and Christ. There is a preparation for coming to God--you must not come to God without a perfect righteousness; but you may come to Jesus without any preparation, and without any righteousness, because as mediator he has in himself all the righteousness and fitness that you require, and is ready to bestow them upon you. You may come boldly to him even now; he waits to reconcile you unto God by his blood. Another of his offices is that of priest. That word "priest" has come to smell very badly nowadays; but, for all that, it is a very sweet word as we find it in Holy Scripture. The word "priest" does not mean a gaudily-dressed pretender, who stands apart from other worshippers within the gate, two steps higher than the rest of the people, who professes to have power to dispense pardon for human sin, and I know not what beside. The true priest was truly the brother of all the people. There was no man in the whole camp so brotherly as Aaron. So much were Aaron and the priests who succeeded him the first points of contact with men, on God's behalf, that when a leper had become too unclean for anybody else to draw near to him, the last man who touched him was the priest. The house might be leprous, but he talked with him, and examined him, the last of Israel's tribes who might be familiar with the wretched outcast; and if afterwards that diseased man was cured, the first person who touched him must be a priest. "Go, show thyself to the priest," was the command, to every recovering leper; and until the priest had entered into fellowship with him, and had given him a certificate of health, he could not be received into the Jewish camp. The priest was the true brother of the people, chosen from among themselves, at all times to be approached; living in their midst, in the very center of the camp, ready to make intercession for the sinful and the sorrowful. So is it with our Lord. I read just now, in your hearing, that he can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and that he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Surely, you will never doubt that if Jesus perfectly sustains the office of priest, as he certainly does, he must be the most approachable of beings, approachable by the poor sinner, who has given himself up to despair, whom only a sacrifice can save; approachable by the foul harlot who is put outside the camp, whom only the blood can cleanse; approachable by the miserable thief who has to suffer the punishment of his crimes, whom only the great High Priest can absolve. No other man may care to touch you, O trembling outcast, but Jesus will. You may be separated from all of human kind, justly and righteously, by your iniquities, but you are not separated from that great friend of sinners who at this very time is willing that publicans and sinners should draw near unto him. As a third office let me mention that the Lord Jesus is our Savior; but I see not how he can be a Savior unless he can be approached by those who need to be saved. The priest and the Levite passed by on the other side when the bleeding man lay in the road to Jericho; they were not saviors, therefore, and could not be, but he was the savior who came to know where the man was, stooped over him, and took wine and oil and poured them into the gaping fissures of his wounds, and lifted him up with tender love and set him on his own beast, and led him to the inn. He was the true savior; and, O sinner, Jesus Christ will come just where you are, and your wounds of sin, even though they are putrid, shall not drive him away from you. His love shall overcome the nauseating offensiveness of your iniquity, for he is able and willing to save such as you are. I might mention many other of the offices of Christ, but these three will suffice. Certainly if the Spirit blesses them, you will be led to see that Jesus is not hard to reach. 2. Consider a few of his names and titles. Frequently Jesus is called the "Lamb." Blessed name! I do not suppose there is any one here who was ever afraid of a lamb; that little girl yonder, if she saw a lamb, would not be frightened. Every child seems almost instinctively to long to put its hand on the head of a lamb. O that you might come and put your hand on the head of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. "Oh see how Jesus trusts himself Unto our childish love, As though by his free ways with us Our earnestness to prove! His sacred name a common word On earth he loves to hear; There is no majesty in him Which love may not come near." Again, you find him called a Shepherd: no one is afraid of a shepherd. If you were travelling in the East, and you saw Bedouins or Turkish soldiery in the distance, you might be alarmed; but if some one said, "Oh, it is only a few shepherds," you would not be afraid of them. The sheep are not at all timid when near the shepherd. O poor wandering sheep, you, perhaps, have come to be afraid of Christ, but there is no reason why you should be, for this heavenly Shepherd says, "I will seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." "See Israel's gentle Shepherd stands With all engaging charms." Timid, foolish, and wandering though you may be, there is nothing in the good Shepherd to drive you away from him, but everything to entice you to come to him. Then, again, he is called our Brother, and one always feels that he may approach his brother. I have no thought of trouble or distress which I would hesitate to communicate to my brother here, for he is so good and kind. I do not think I could be in any trouble which I should not expect him to do his best to help me out of. I never feel that there is any distance between him and me, nor do you, I hope, feel so with regard to your brothers. Even so, is it with this Brother born for adversity. Believer, how is it that you are sometimes so backward and so cold towards Jesus? Christ is approachable. "The light of love is round his feet, His paths are never dim; And he comes nigh to us when we Dare not come nigh to him." You need not think that your troubles are too trifling to bring to him; he has an open ear for the little daily vexations of life. Brethren, you can come to the good elder Brother at all hours; and when he blames you for coming, let me know. He is called, too, a Friend; but he would be a very unfriendly friend who could not be approached by those he professed to love. If my friend puts a hedge around himself, and holds himself so very dignified that I may not speak with him, I would rather be without his friendship; but if he be a genuine friend, and I stand at his door knocking, he will say, "Come in, and welcome; what can I do for you?" Such a friend is Jesus Christ. He is to be met with by all needy, seeking hearts. 3. There is room enough for enlargement here, but I have no time to say more, therefore I will give you another plea. Recollect his person. The person of our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims this truth with a trumpet voice. I say his person, because he is man, born of woman, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ is God, but if he were God only, you might well stand at a distance, and shudder at the splendor of his majesty. But he is man as well as God, and so it comes to pass, as Dr. Watts puts it-- "Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort find; The holy, just, and sacred Three Are terrors to my mind. But if Immanuel's face appear, My hope, my joy begins; His name forbids my slavish fear, His grace removes my sins." When I see Christ in the manger where the horned ox fed, or hanging on a woman's breast, or obedient to his parents, or "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," a poor man without a place whereon to lay his head, then I feel that I can freely come to him. Think of him as being precisely such as you are, in all and everything except sin, and then you will never have a thought that he will chide you for drawing near, or drive you away when you venture to supplicate him. But I want especially to say to you that if you could but see my Master's person as he was when here on earth, you would have henceforth and for ever the thought that you might not come to him expelled from your mind. I know not what may have been his beauties, or what may have been the appearance of his lovely countenance, but of this I am persuaded, that if he could but come here tonight, and I could vacate this platform for him whose shoe-latchet I am not worthy to unloose, you who groan under a sense of unworthiness would not run away. If Moses stood here with his flaming countenance, you would shade your eyes, and ask that if you must look upon him he might wear a veil; but if Christ were here, oh! how you longing seeking ones would gaze upon him! There would be no drooping of the eyelids, no covering of the face, no alarm, no anguish--his face is too sweet for that. And if the Master should walk down the aisles, the most timid of you would long to touch the hem of his garment and to kiss the floor whereon he had set his feet. I know you would not fear to look into that face. And then that voice, how would you be charmed, you poor trembling seekers, if you heard him say, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;" you would discover such meekness and lowliness in him, that you would not think of starting back. Oh! if your eyes could but see him, I feel persuaded that, graciously drawn by his charms, your hearts would hasten to him. Well, believer, come to him, come to him; come close to him. Come with your troubles and tell him all about them. Come with your sins and ask to have them washed away anew. "Let us be simple with him, then, Not backward, stiff, or cold, As though our Bethlehem could be What Sinai was of old." And you, poor trembling sinner, come to him; come to him now, for he has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Oh! if your eyes were opened to behold him, you would perceive that the glory of his person lies not in the splendor which repels, but in the majesty which divinely attracts. 4. If this suffice not, let me here remind you of the language of Christ, He proclaims his approachability in such words as these, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Ye horny-handed sons of toil, ye smiths and carpenters, ye ploughers and diggers, come unto me, yea, come all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And again, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." He invites men to come; he pleads with them to come; and when they will not come he gently upbraids them with such words as these, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." And, again, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." It is not "I would not," but "ye would not." Why, the whole of Scripture in its invitations, may be said to be the language of Christ, and therein you find loving, pleading words of this kind, "Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." All our blessed Lord's sermons were so many loving calls to poor aching hearts to come and find what they needed in him. I pray that the Holy Spirit may give an effectual call to many of you tonight. It would glad the heart of the Redeemer in the skies if you would come to him for salvation, for you may come, since there is no barrier between you and the Savior of men. What is it keeps you back? I repeat it with tears, what is it keeps you back? The old proverb truly saith that "actions speak louder than words," and therefore let us review the general ways and manners of the Redeemer. You may gather that he is the most approachable of persons from the actions of his life. He was always very busy, and busy about the most important of matters, and yet he never shut the door in the face of any applicant. Her Majesty's cabinet have to discuss most important political matters just now, but compared with the work which filled the Savior's hands and heart, their discussions are mere trifles. Our Master might well have claimed seclusion, but he did not. He sought it but he found none, save only at midnight, when he watched and prayed. No sort of appeal for audience did Jesus frown upon. There were certain mothers in the land, poor simple-minded women, and they took it into their heads one day that they would like to have the Master's hands put upon the heads of their little ones. So they came, bringing their boys and girls, but some of the disciples said, "The Master must not be disturbed by children; go ye your ways, and take your children back." But what said he? How different from his followers! he rebuked their harshness, and said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." You see he is a child's friend. Dear young people, think of that. Jesus does not drive you away, but though he is so great and glorious that all the angels of God worship him, yet he stoops to hear the prayers and praises of little children. Seek him now, for those who seek him early shall find him. Let me tell you another story. There was a woman in the city who was a sinner. You know the meaning, the dark sad meaning of that title in her case; I need not explain that. Poor soul! Her sin had caused her to be despised and shunned by everyone, but she had been forgiven, and in gratitude she poured the precious ointment on her beloved Savior's feet, and then wiped them with the hairs of her head; and when the Pharisee Simon would have had her rebuked, the loving Master said, "She loves much because she has had much forgiven." He is approachable by all, then, even by the worst; even the harlot need not fear to draw near to him--his touch can make her pure. I have noted one thing in Christ's life, and noted it with delight. Our Lord was always preaching, and he often grew weary, as we do, and therefore he wanted a little retirement, but the multitude came breaking in upon his solitude, following him on foot when he had sailed away to escape them; this was troublesome, and to us it would have been irritating, yet he never uttered an angry, fretful syllable. There was no rest for him, because of the eager crowd; but did he ever say, "How these people tease me; how they worry me"? No, never; his big heart made him forget himself. He was approachable to all at all hours; even his meals were disturbed, but he was gentle towards those thoughtless intruders. Not once was he harsh and repulsive. His whole life proves the truth of the prophecy, "The bruised reed he will not break, and the smoking flax he will not quench." He graciously receives the weak and the feeble ones who come to him, and sends none empty away. 6. But, if you want the crowning argument, look yonder. The man who has lived a life of service, at last dies a felon's death! Look upon his head girt with the crown of thorns! Mark well his cheeks whence they have plucked off the hair! See the spittle from those scornful mouths, staining his marred countenance! Mark the crimson rivers which are flowing from his back where they have scourged him! See his hands and his feet which are pierced with the nails, and from which ensanguined rills are flowing! Look to that face so full of anguish, listen to his cry, "I thirst, I thirst;" and as you see him there expiring, can you think that he will spurn the seeker? As you see him turn his head and say to the dying thief by his side, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," you dare not belie him so much as to deem that you may not come to him. You will outrage your reason if you start back from Jesus crucified. The cross of Christ should be the hope, the anchorage of faith. You may come, sinner, black, vile, hellish sinner, you may come and have life even as the dying thief had it when he said, "Lord, remember me." "There is life in a look at the crucified One." Surely, you need not be afraid to come to him who went to Calvary for sinners. Why linger? Why hesitate? Why those blushes, sobs, and tears? "Why art thou afraid to come, And tell him all thy case? He will not pronounce thy doom, Nor frown thee from thy face. Wilt thou fear Immanuel? Or dread the Lamb of God, Who, to save thy soul from hell, Has shed his precious blood?" Did I hear a whisper, did anybody say that Christ is now in heaven, and that he may have changed? Ah, groundless insinuation! Do you know what he is doing in heaven at this moment? He is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. What a help that is to those who are coming to him! This repentance is the greatest want of coming sinners, and he from the skies supplies it. Moreover, "he ever liveth to make intercession for us." His occupation in the skies is to plead for those sinners whom he redeemed with his blood, and hence he is able to save them unto the uttermost. Since he is the intercessor for souls, there is no reason why you should start back, but every reason why you should boldly come to the throne of the heavenly grace, because you have a High Priest who is passed into the heavens. "Compell'd by bleeding love, Ye wandering sheep draw near; Christ calls you from above-- His charming accents hear! Let whosoever will now come, In mercy's breast there still is room." Here I leave this part of the subject. Some of you little know how heavily this sermon is hanging on my mind. I preach my very soul to you this day. I wish I knew how to preach so as to win some of you for my Lord, this evening; I should be glad to go even to the school of affliction if I might learn to preach more successfully. But I can do no more. May the Eternal Spirit, in answer to the prayers of his people, which I hope are going up now, be pleased to make you feel the sweet attractions of the cross of Christ, and may you come to him, so that it may be said again tonight, "Then drew near unto him publicans and sinners." II. I now shall proceed, with as great brevity as I can command, TO ILLUSTRATE THIS GREAT TRUTH. I illustrate it, in the first place, by the way which Christ opens up for sinners to himself. What is the way for a sinner to come to Christ? It is simply this--the sinner, feeling his need of a Savior, trusts himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. This was the perplexity of my boyhood, but it is so simple now. When I was told to go to Christ, I thought "Yes, if I knew where he was, I would go to him--no matter how I wearied myself, I would trudge on till I found him." I never could understand how I could get to Christ till I understood that it is a mental coming, a spiritual coming, a coming with the mind. The coming to Jesus which saves the soul is a simple reliance upon him, and if, tonight, being sensible of your guilt, you will rely upon the atoning blood of Jesus, you have come to him, and you are saved. Is he not, then, approachable indeed, if there is so simple a way of coming? No good works, ceremonies, or experiences are demanded, a childlike faith is the royal road to Jesus. This truth is further illustrated by the help which he gives to coming sinners, in order to bring them near to himself. He it is who first makes them coming sinners. It is his Eternal Spirit who draws them unto himself. They would not come to him of themselves, they are without desires towards him, but it is his work to cast secret silken cords around their hearts, which he draws with his strong hand, and brings them near to himself. Depend upon it, he will never refuse those whom he himself draws by his Spirit. Rest assured he will never shut the door in the face of any soul that comes to feed at the gospel banquet, moved to approach by the power of his love. He said once, "Compel them to come in," but he never said, "Shut the door in their faces and bolt them out." I might further illustrate this to the children of God, by reminding you of the way in which you now commune with your Lord. How easy it is for you to reach his ear and his heart! A prayer, a sigh, a tear, a groan, will admit you into the King's chambers. You may be in a very sad frame of mind, but when you come to him, how soon he makes your soul like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Dark may be your midnight, but as soon as you draw nigh to him your night is over. "He giveth liberally, and upbraideth not." While he acts thus with you, the sinner may very well believe that he will receive him too. The approachableness of Christ may also be seen in the fact of his receiving the poor offerings of his people. The very holiest deeds which you and I can do for Christ are poor and faulty at the best. As I sat studying at my table last night, there was before me a little withered flower--a sprig of wall-flower--which has been lying for some weeks on my table. It comes from a very, very poor child of God, many miles away, who gets a blessing from reading my sermons, and she has nothing in the world besides to give me, but she sends me this flower, and I value it because it is a token of Christian affection and gratitude. So is it with our Master. The very best sermons that we preach, and the largest contributions we give to his treasury, are only just like that poor little withered wall-flower; but the Master puts our service in his bosom, and keeps it there, and thinks much of it because he loves us. Does not that prove how generous, how condescending, how tender he must be? Believe him to be so, ye fearful souls, and come to him. The ordinances wear upon their forefront the impress of an ever approachable Savior. Baptism in outward type sets forth our fellowship with him in his death, burial, and resurrection--what can be nearer than this? The Lord's Supper in visible symbol invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood: this reveals to us most clearly how welcome we are to the most intimate intercourse with Jesus. The heaven of heavens shall afford us yet another illustration. There are tens of thousands now in the skies who came to Jesus just as they were, in all the filth and deshabille of the lost estate, and he received every one of them into his heart of love and arms of power. There are many thousands on earth, there are some thousands now in this Tabernacle, who can testify that they have found Jesus to be a very tender and generous friend. Now, if he has received us, why should he not receive you? Be encouraged to believe that inasmuch as he has received others he has open arms for you also. Let me joyfully remind you that Jesus never has rejected a seeking sinner. There is not to be found in all the kingdoms of the universe a single instance of a sincere seeker after Christ being cast away, and there never shall be, for he hath not said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye my face in vain," but he has said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Beloved, if there had been a single soul cast away we should have known of it by now. It is eighteen hundred and sixty-eight years now, and if a solitary penitent had been rejected, we should have heard of it before now, for I will tell you of one who would have spread it abroad, and that is the devil. If he could get a single instance of a soul who had repented and trusted Christ, but found that Christ would have nothing to do with him, it would be a standing scandal against the cross which Satan would delight to publish. I know, poor sinners, what the devil will tell you when you are coming to Christ--he will describe Jesus as a hard master, but do you tell him he is a liar from the beginning, and a murderer, and that he is trying to murder your soul by making you swallow his poisonous lies. III. In the third place, we come TO ENFORCE THIS TRUTH; or, as the old Puritans used to say, improve it. The first enforcement I give is this: let those of us who are working for the Master in soul-winning, try to be like Christ in this matter, and not be, as some are apt to be, proud, stuck-up, distant, or formal. Oh, dear, dear! the lofty ministerial airs that one has seen assumed by men who ought to have been meek and lowly. What a grand set of men some of the preachers of the past age thought themselves to be! I trust those who played the archbishop have nearly all gone to heaven, but a few linger among us who use little grace and much starch. The grand divines never shook hands with anybody, except, indeed, with the deacons, and a little knot of evidently superior persons. Amongst Dissenters it was almost as bad as it is in most church congregations, where you feel that the good man, by his manner, is always saying, "I hope you know who I am, Sir; I am the rector of the parish." Now, all that kind of stuck-upishness is altogether wrong. No man can do good in that way; and no good at all comes of assuming superiority and distance. The best teacher for boys is the man who can make himself a boy; and the best teacher for girls is the woman who can make herself a girl among girls. I often regret that I have so large a congregation; you will say, "Why?" Why, when I had a smaller congregation at Park Street, there were too many even then, but I did get a shake of the hand sometimes; but now there are so many of you that I scarcely know you, good memory as I have, and I seldom have the pleasure of shaking hands with you--I wish I did. If there is anybody in the wide world whose good I wish to promote, it is yours; therefore I wish to be at home with you: and if ever I should affect the airs of a great man, and set myself above you all, and separate myself by proud manners from your sympathy, I hope the Lord will take me down and make me right again. We may expect souls to be saved when we do as Christ did, namely, get publicans and sinners to draw near to us. Now, that is a practical point which, though you have smiled about it, will not I hope be forgotten by you. There is this to be said to you who are unconverted--if Jesus Christ be so approachable, oh! how I wish, how I wish that you would approach him. There are no bolts upon his doors, no barred iron gates to pass, no big dogs to keep you back. If Christ be so approachable by all needy ones, then needy one, come, and welcome. Come just now! What is it keeps you back? You think that you do not feel your need enough, or that you are not fit to come--both of which suspicions are self-righteousness in different shapes. O that you did know but your need of Jesus, in order to be able even to do so much as feel your need. You are a poor, miserable bankrupt before God, and Christ alone can enrich you. Do not talk of fitness; there is no such thing:-- "All the fitness he requireth, Is to feel your need of him: This he gives you; 'Tis the Spirit's rising beam." Come, then. There is such mercy to be had; there is such a hell to be escaped from; there is such a heaven to be opened for you; delay not, but believe at once. Come, come, come! "Come, and welcome; Come, and welcome, sinner, come!" I stand at mercy's door tonight, and say to every passerby, in the name of the Master, "My oxen and fatlings are killed; come, come, come to the supper!" O that you would come this very night! Some of us are coming to the Lord's Table to celebrate his love because we have first come to himself. I do not ask you who are not saved to come to that table--you ought not to come; you must first come to Jesus, and then you may come to this ordinance. Meanwhile, the best thing you can do is to come to Christ, and let me ask you to remember this, that in proportion as Christ is accessible, so your guilt will be increased if you do not come to him. If it be easy to come to him, what excuse can there be for you if you refuse to accept him? I have tried to tell you what the way of salvation is. If I knew how to use better language, or even coarser language, if that would suit you, it should be alike to me if I might but touch your consciences, break your hearts, and bring you to Christ. But I protest before you that if you will not come to my Master, I can do no more. I shall be clear of your blood at the last, and in the day of judgment your ruin must be upon your own heads. But let it not be so. Jesus bids you come. O you needy ones, let your need impel you to come at once, that you may find eternal life in him. The last word is--if Jesus be such a Savior as we have described him, let saints and sinners join to praise him. How marvelous that our dear Lord should be so condescending to us unworthy ones as to come all the way from heaven to earth for us! Oh, matchless love that made him stoop to grief and death! Oh, unspeakable condescension, to come thus to poor sinners' hearts, bearing mercies in both his hands, and freely giving them to undeserving rebels! For this unspeakable grace let us praise him! You who are coming to his table, draw near with praises in your mouths. Come praising the condescending love in which you have participated, and which has saved you from eternal death. Even you who sit as spectators, I do trust will have you your mind filled with grateful thoughts. "Jesus sits on Zion's hill He receives poor sinners still. Blessed be his name, world without end! PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Hebrews 4:14-16 and 5. __________________________________________________________________ The Faithfulness of Jesus A Sermon (No. 810) Delivered on Sunday Morning, May 10th, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the [21]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."--John 13:1. WE SHALL CONSIDER these words first in their evident relation to the apostles, and those who were the companions of Jesus during his sojourn on earth, and afterwards we shall take them in their broader signification, as relating to all the Lord's own whom he loves and will love even to the end. "Having loved his own." Those four words are a brief but complete summary of the Savior's conduct towards his disciples. He always loved them. There was never a single action or word which was contrary to the rule of love. He loved them with a love of pity when he saw them in their lost estate, and he called them out of it to be his disciples; touched with a feeling of their infirmities he loved them with a tender and prudent affection, and sought to train and educate them, that after his departure they might be good soldiers of his cross; he loved them with a love of complacency as he walked and talked with them and found solace in their company. Even when he rebuked them he loved them. He subjected them to many trials: for his sake they renounced all that they had; they shared his daily cross-bearing and hourly persecution, but love reigned supreme and undiminished and it all. On Tabor or in Gethsemane he loved his own; alone or in the crowd his heart was true to them; in life and in death his affection failed not. He "loved his own which were in the world." It is a multum in parvo, a condensed life of Christ, a miniature of Jesus the Lover of souls. As you read the wonderful story of the four evangelists, you see how true it is that Jesus loved his own: let me cast in by way of interjection, this sentence, that when you come to read your own life's story in the light of the New Jerusalem, you will find it to be true also concerning your Lord and yourself. If you are indeed the Lord's own, he at all times deals lovingly with you, and never acts in unkindness or wrath. "He may chasten and correct, But he never can neglect; May in faithfulness reprove, But he ne'er can cease to love." Our Savior's faithfulness towards the chosen band whom he had elected into his fellowship was most remarkable. He had selected persons who must have been but poor companions for one of so gigantic a mind and so large a heart. He must have been greatly shocked at their worldliness. They groveled in the dust when he mounted to the stars. He was thinking of the baptism wherewith he was to he baptized, and he was straitened until it was accomplished, but they were disputing which among them should he the greatest. He was ready to deny himself that he might do his Father's will, and meanwhile they were asking to sit on his right hand and on his left hand in his kingdom. They often misunderstood him because of the carnality of their mind; and when he warned them of an evil leaven, they thought of the loaves, which they had forgotten. Earth-worms are miserable company for angels, moles but unhappy company for eagles, yet love made our great Master endure the society of his ignorant and carnal followers. They were but babes in Christ, and possessed but slight illumination, and yet for all that, he who knew all things and is the wisdom of God, condescended to call them his mother, and sister, and brother. Worse than the fact of their natural worldliness perhaps, was the apparent impossibility of lifting them out of that low condition; for though never man spake as he spake, how little did they understand! and though he took them aside and said to them, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God," yet after many and plain teachings he was compelled to say to one of the best of them, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" They were dull scholars. There is no teacher here who could have had patience with such heavy intellects, but our Lord and Master's love remained evermore at flood-tide, notwithstanding their incorrigible stupidity. His love was stronger than their unbelief and ignorance. My brethren, when we love a person, we expect to have some little sympathy from him in the great design and aim of our life. I suppose it would he difficult to maintain any deep affection towards persons who had no sort of communion with us in our all-absorbing passion; and yet it was so, that our Lord loved disciples who could not be brought to enter at all into the spirit which ruled and governed him. They would have taken him and forced upon him a crown, while he sought only for a cross. They imagined and desired for him the worldly splendor of a terrestrial throne; but he foresaw the reality of glory in sweat of blood and cruel death. Our Lord was all for self-denial, employing himself and acting as the Servant of servants. They could not comprehend the rule of self-sacrifice which governed his actions, nor could they see what he aimed at. Had they dared, they would rather have thwarted than assisted him in his self-sacrificing mission. They were fools and slow of heart to understand, even though again he plainly told them of his decease. When he set his face steadfastly towards Jesusalem, humanly speaking he needed friends to have aided and abetted him in his high resolve, but he found no help in them. When, in that dark, that dreadful night, he bowed in prayer, and sweat the bloody sweat, he went backward and forward thrice, as if seeking a little sympathy from men so dearly loved; but he had to complain of them, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" Still, having loved them, neither their worldliness nor their stupidity, nor their want of sympathy with him could prevent him from loving them unto the end. Many waters could not quench his love, neither could the floods drown it. The Redeemer's love was made to endure even sterner strains than these. On one or two occasions certain of them were even guilty of impertinence. It was no small trial to the Savior's affection when Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Peter rebuking his Master! Surely thy Lord will have done with thee, thou son of Jonas! The Lord turned him about and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" but after using that strong expression to rebuke a temptation which was evidently Satanic, his affection to Peter remained unabated. That was a stern trial, too, when at a later period than our text, "all the disciples forsook him and fled;" when not even the loving John remained constant to his Master in the hour of betrayal; when one, the boldest of them, with oaths and cursing said, "I know not the man." Carrying the text beyond its original position, we may say that over the head of all infirmities, ignorances, selfishnesses, desertions, and denials, Jesus Christ, who had loved his own that were in the world, loved them to the end. It was not possible for them, with all their follies, failings, and sins, to break through the magic circle of his affection; he had hedged them in once for all, bad bound them to himself with bonds firmer than brass, and stronger than triple steel, and neither could the temptations of hell, nor the suggestions of their own corruption's, tear them from his heart. The attachments of Jesus were abiding; fickleness and instability could never be charged on him. Others love for a little while and then grow cold; they profess eternal attachment and yet forsake; they admire and esteem us till a slight misunderstanding snaps every bond of friendship; but our Lord was the mirror of constancy, the pattern of fidelity, the paragon of unchanging love. As Jonathan clave to David, even so did Jesus cleave to his people. The proofs which our Lord gave of his love to his people were very many, and for a little while we will ponder them: they will all go to prove that he loved his people, even to perfection, as the text may be read. Observe how our Master, having chosen to himself a people, proved his love by his continual companionship. He sought no other company than theirs among the sons of men. There were minds far deeper in philosophic lore, but he communed not with them; there were the great and mighty of this world, but our Savior did not court them; he was content to dwell among his own people; he had made his choice and to that choice he kept--fishermen and peasants were his bosom friends. You would not expect a master to find rest in the society of his scholars; you do not expect men of mind and mark affectionately to consort with those who are far beneath them in attainments; and yet herein was love, that Jesus, passing by angels, and kings, and sages, chose for his companions unlettered men and women. Those fishermen of Galilee were his companions at all times; and only when he withdrew himself into the silent Mount, and the shadows of midnight, did he remove the link of companionship from them, and then only that he might make intercession for them with the eternal God. Yes, it was a deep proof of the unlimited love of Jesus, a sure sign of its going to the end and verge of possibilities, that he abode so long in affectionate fellowship with so poor, so illiterate, so earthbound a company of men. He proved his love by being always ready to instruct them on all points. His teachings were very simple, because he loved them so well. The epistles of Paul are, in some respects, far deeper than the teachings of Jesus; for instance, Paul more explicitly lays down the doctrine of justification by faith, of total depravity, of election, and kindred truths. And why? Observe the humility and loving-kindness of the Master. He knew infinitely more than Paul, for he is essential wisdom, but he was pleased, because their weak eyes were not able at that time to bear the full blaze of light, to leave the fuller manifestation of gospel mysteries until the Spirit had been given, and then he raised up his servant Paul to write under his guidance the deep things of God. His love to his disciples is shown as clearly in what he kept back from them as in what he revealed to them. How loving it was on the part of the great Teacher to dwell so often upon the simpler truths, and the more practical precepts; it was as though a senior wrangler of the university should sit down in the family and teach boys and girls their alphabet day after day, or spend all his time in teaching village urchins simple addition and subtraction. A man who is thoroughly acquainted with the highest branches of knowledge finds it a terrible drudgery to go over and over the first principles--and yet this very thing our Lord did, and made no trouble of it; he, by the space of three years, taught the simplicities of the faith, and thus indisputably proved his condescending love to perfection towards his own which were in the world. How willing he always was, all his life long, to render any kind of assistance to his followers! Whensoever they were in trouble, he was their willing and able friend. When the sea roared and was tempestuous, and he slept for awhile hard by the helm, they had but to wake him, and he rebuked the sea, and straightway the winds and waves were still. When Peter's wife's mother was sick of a fever, he did but enter the house and speak the word, and the fever left her; and when one of his dearest friends had passed beyond ordinary bounds of hope, and was not only dead, but had been four days buried, yet he loved even to that far-reaching end, and proved that he was the resurrection and the life by effectually crying, "Lazarus, come forth." Everywhere, at all times, he was at the beck and call of his disciples, whom he truly called his friends. They might freely express their desires--if these were right, they were granted; and if they were wrong, they were reproved with such gentleness that a refusal was better than a grant. The Master displayed his love to his disciples throughout his life by the way in which he sought to comfort them when he foresaw that they would be cast down; especially was this true at the period before his passion--when one would have thought he might have sought for comfort, he was busy distributing it. Those choice words which have flown like a dove into many a mourner's window bearing the olive branch of peace, were the fond utterances of a thoughtful heart. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions." Many such bottles of oil and wine did he apply to the wounds of his disciples. He would not have them suffer any kind of spiritual turmoil. "In the world ye shall have tribulation" said he, "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." His peace he distributed right liberally, and left it as his last legacy: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you." In the private life of every one of those chosen men, there must have been incidents of matchless tenderness; but they are not recorded, because if all were written which Jesus did, even the world itself would not contain the things, which should have been written. Enough is written to let us see that no tenderness of mothers, or care of friends, could match the ever, generous forethought of the Friend of man. That he loved his disciples to the end is seen further in the fact that he constantly pleaded for them when he poured out his strong cryings and tears. He watched them with an eye that was quick to perceive their perils, and before they knew their danger, he had already provided a refuge from it. Ere the poison was injected by the old serpent, the antidote was at hand. "Satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat:" the temptation had not reached the stage of actual fact, it was only a desire on Satan's part, but the Lord outran the enemy with his intercessions, and so saved poor Peter from the sieve. The High Priest, chosen from among men, pleaded in his midnight wrestlings for all his people, mentioning their names one by one before the Majesty of heaven, and so averting evils which otherwise had destroyed them. Surely those sacred pleadings brought down upon the apostolic band those matchless blessings which qualified them in after years to be the spiritual fathers of the church and the heralds of salvation to nations. Who doubts the love of such an Intercessor? The text affords us one other illustration, for Jesus took the towel and washed his disciples' feet. This is, no doubt, marked out by our text as a clear proof of boundless love, in that he humbled himself, made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and fulfilled a menial's office. But yet, beloved, all these things put together do not amount to so overwhelming a proof of abounding love as the fact that, after having lived out his love, the Lord Jesus then died to exhibit it yet more. From Gethsemane to Golgotha, along the blood--he sprinkled road, you see proof that having loved his own he loved them to the end. Not all the pains of death could shake his firm affection to his own. They may bind his hands, but his heart is not restrained from love; they may scourge him, but they cannot drive out of him his affection to his beloved; they may slanderously revile him, but they cannot compel him to say a word against his people; they may nail him to the accursed tree, and they may bid him come down from the cross, and they will believe on him, but they cannot tempt him to forsake his work of love; he must press forward for his people's sake until he can say, "It is finished." Oh! that tragedy upon Calvary was a going to the end indeed, when, having yielded up comfort, reputation, liberty, he gave up even his last rag of covering, and then resigned his breath. Standing, as it were, at the world's end, at the grave's mouth, and at hell's door, the cross of Jesus reveals love to the utmost end, and is a grand display of the immutability and invincibility of the affection of the heart of Jesus. I need not detain you longer on the text as it related to his people when he was here in the flesh, for I shall want your earnest attention for but a short time while, by the power of the Holy Ghost, I would set forth this precious truth as it relates to all his people, to all his saints. We read that our Lord "Came unto his own, and his own received him not;" and here in this case we read, " Having loved his own." Now, the words are different in the original. In the first case it is a neuter noun--"He came to his own (things)"; but in this instance it is a masculine--"Having loved his own (persons)." Now, a man may part with his own things; he may sell his own house, or cattle, or merchandise; he may give away his own money; but a man cannot part with his own when it relates to persons; he cannot part with his own child, his own wife, his own father, or his own brother. We hold indisputable property in our own relatives; this is real property with an emphasis, our own freehold, our entail, our perpetual possession. The Lord Jesus has just such a property in his own people--they are his brethren, forever near of kin to him. Now of these "own" persons. We read that our Lord, "Having loved his own that were in the world, loved them to the end." The text opens three windows for us, with three outlooks upon the past, the present, and the future. 1. And first, as to the past; let us with holy contemplation review it. He has loved his own people from of old. A most blessed fact! He has loved them eternally. There never was a time when he did not love them. His love is positively dateless: before the heavens and earth were made, and the stars were first touched with the torch of flame, Jesus had received his people from his Father, and written their names on his heart. This everlasting love has a speciality about it. Our Lord has a general love of benevolence towards all his creatures, for "God is love;" but he has a special place in his heart for his own peculiar ones. There is a discriminating and distinguishing power about that love that is spoken of in the text, for it is not said, "Having loved all men," but "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." Jesus, before all the world, set the crown of his peculiar love upon those whom he foreordained unto his glory. This love of his is infinite. Jesus does not love his own with a little of his love, nor regard them with some small degree of affection, but he says, "As the Father hath loved me, even so have I loved you," and the Father's love to the Son is inconceivably great, since they are one in essence, ineffably one. The Father cannot but love the Son infinitely, neither doth the Son ever love his people less than with all his heart. It is an affection which no angelic mind could measure, inconceivable, unknown. Jesus loved his people with a foresight of what they would be. Love is blind, they say, but not the Savior's love. He knew that "his own" would fall in Adam; he knew that as they lived personally each one would become a sinner; he understood that they would be hard to reclaim and difficult to retain, even after they had been reclaimed; he saw every sin that they would commit in the glass of the future, for from his prescient eye nothing can be hidden. And yet he loved his own over the head of all their sins, and their revoltings, and their shortcomings. Hence we see that he bears towards them an affection which cannot be changed, for nothing can occur which he has not foreseen, nothing therefore which has not already been taken into calculation in the matter of his choice. No new circumstance can shed unexpected light upon the case. No startling and unforeseen event can become an argument for a change. Hence Jesus' love is full of immutability. There are no ups and downs in the love of Christ towards his people. On their highest Tabors he loves them, but equally as well in their Gethsemanes. When they wander like lost sheep his great love goes after them, and when they come back with broken hearts his great love restores them. By day, by night, in sickness, in sorrow, in poverty, in famine, in prison, in the hour of death, that silver stream of love ripples at their side, never stayed, never diminished. Forever is the sea of divine grace at its flood; this sun never sets; this fountain never pauses. The love of Christ is more than a passion. You and I are moved by passion, but the Son of God is not so. As man, he may be, but as God, he has no passion. Hence the love of Christ towards his people is a settled principle--self-created and self-sustained; not subject to changes like terrestrial things, but firm and stable, built on a rock. Glory be to God, there was something in the very nature of Christ which made him love us, something in the very character of that blessed divine Person which constrained him to manifest affection towards his people: it was nothing from without, that mighty love was born from within. Here again we come back to the same precious truth, that hence that love cannot be destroyed, because the source from which it comes is eternal, and is found within himself. The love of Jesus Christ in the past has been attested by many deeds of love. That he loved us he proved by the fact that he stood surety for us when the covenant was made, and entered into stipulations on our behalf that he would fulfill the broken law, and that he would offer satisfaction to the justice of God, which had been provoked. In the fullness of time he took upon himself our nature. What higher proof of love than that? In that nature he lived a life of blameless service, in that nature he died a death in which all the weight of divine vengeance for sin was compressed into a few hours of bodily and spiritual anguish. Now that he lives exalted in the highest heaven, he is still his people's servant, interceding for them, representing them at the right hand of God, preparing a place for them, and by his mighty Spirit fetching them out from the mass of mankind, and preparing them for the place which he has prepared for them in glory. All these proofs show indeed, my dear brethren and sisters, how in the past Jesus Christ has loved his people. Grasp it, I pray you, now, for a minute, grasp it! realize it by putting out the hand of individual faith, and saying, "He loved me in those hoary ages; he loved me ere time began to be counted, and days and years were first mapped out; he loved me ere he had made a star or given light to the sun; he loved me, yes, me in particular, me with a speciality, me as much as any of those on whom his heart is set." Dost thou believe in him this morning? Say, poor sinner, dost thou cast thyself upon him, and take him to be thine only trust and confidence? Then thou mayst take the text with full assurance as being thine--having loved his own, he loved you, even you. I always feel, when I speak upon this topic, as if I would rather sit down and be silent than speak, because it is not so much a theme for speech as for meditation. Expressive silence must sing this hymn in your soul's ears. Jesus did not merely think of you, and pity you, but loved you and betrothed you unto himself for ever. That an angel should love an emmet would be a remarkable stoop, but that Jesus should love you is a miracle of miracles, a wonder which never could be excelled. Let each one adoringly bless the name of the Lord, who doeth great wonders. 2. The second window looks out upon the present. The text saith, "Having loved his own which were in the world." It does not seem to strike one as an extraordinary thing that Jesus should love his own who are in heaven. See them yonder, white robed and fair to look upon, with melodious voices, without fault, before the eternal throne. Well may Jesus love them, for there is much beauty in them; his grace has made them lovable; but to love his own which are in the world is quite another and stranger thing, and yet it is the blessed fact to which the text calls attention. May you now by faith feed upon it--Jesus Christ loved those who were in the world when he was here, and he now loves his own who are in the world to-day. You are in the world, and, as you all too surely feel, temptations have shown you that you are not yet in heaven; you have sighed for a lodge in some vast wilderness, that you might cease from the troublers of earth, for what with the evil language which you hear, the corrupt practices which come under your notice, the temptations that are thrust in your own way, and the persecutions and the cruel mockings with which you are tried, you feel that this is a wretched world to live in. Now mark, Jesus loves his own who are in the world. You working men that have to work with so many bad fellows, you tradesmen who have to go in among many who shock you, you good work girls, who meet with so many tempters, if you are his, he loves his own which are in the world. "Behold," saith he, "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." Now, if the shepherd sends forth the sheep into the midst of wolves, you may rest assured that if he takes his eye off any sheep he will not remove it from them; he will have a peculiar regard, a watchful affection, for those who are exposed to peculiar perils through the sinfulness of the generation among whom they dwell. He loves his own which are in the world. "Oh!" says one, "I would not mind if it were only temptations, and trials, and persecutions, but oh! I find I am in the world by the fact that I sin myself. If I could but keep my own nature clean, all would he well; but, alas! I fall. My angry temper betrays me; proud thoughts are indulged, vanities lodge with me. I have to come groaning up to the house of God this morning, and feel half ashamed to sit with the Lord's people, for I am less than the least of them all." This is the result of your being in the world, for so long as you are in this world, you will have to wrestle hard with the old nature and its inbred sins. Well, but Jesus loves his own which are in the world. He sees your imperfection, he knows what you have to struggle with, he understands well enough the uprisings of your nature, and he loves you notwithstanding all. "Ah!" says another, "I have come hither to-day, burdened with a very heavy trouble. The partner of my life is sick at home and near to death." "Alas!" cries another, "my dear child is dying, and I found it hard to tear myself away from the bedside." "Worse still," moans another, "I have a living cross to carry, one of my sons is breaking my heart." "Ah!" exclaims a fourth, "I have a bill to meet to-morrow, and I do not know how it will be done. I fear I shall be ruined." All these things go to show that we are yet in the world of sorrow. As the sparks fly upward, so were we born to trouble--why do we count it a strange thing? But Jesus loves his own which are in this dolorous world: this is the balm of our grief's, and I call upon you to hold to it, and not let the devil delude you into the idea that the Lord does not love you because affliction happens to you as it does to other men. Of course it must so happen so long as you are in the world. How can you expect exemption? Would you have a glass case made for you to keep you snug away from all the frosts and winds of this world? Would you have your heavenly Father indulge you with all the sweet things of this life, and spoil you for the life to come? Would you strike the root in this world and never be transplanted to the heavenly Eden? Do you wish to have your rest and portion in this life? Oh! no; you could riot wish for that. Well, then, take what God sends to you, receive evil as well as good from Jehovah's hand, as Job aforetime did; but never let it be the thought of your heart that Jesus does not love you because you are subjected to evils which are necessary to the place in which, for wise reasons, he suffers you for a little to remain. He prizes his gold as much while it is in the furnace as when it is drawn forth. Believe in his love now. Do as Rutherford did: he tells us that when banished by his enemies, and shut up as it were in the world's dark cellar, he began to feel about him for the wine bottles (for God keeps his choice wines in the vaults of sorrow), and he soon found the wine of heavenly consolation, wines on the lees, well refined, and drank freely and was refreshed; so do you. When you are brought low, believe that there is always a comfort near. When you have much of this world's prosperity you may suspect some danger near. After a profound calm comes the terrible tempest. Whenever you are overwhelmed with great trouble, you may rest assured that choicest blessings are on the road to you. Jesus Christ will make your consolations to abound in proportion as your tribulations abound; if one scale be heavy, the other shall balance it. While you are in the world, you shall be cheered with tokens of the Bridegroom's regard. 3. The third window of the text looks out to the future. Having loved his own he "loved them unto the end." He will love his people to the utmost end of their unloveliness. Their sinfulness cannot travel so far but what his love will travel beyond it; their unbelief even shall not be extended to so great a length but what his faithfulness shall still be wider and broader than their unfaithfulness. He never will suffer one of his chosen to fall into such deadly sin, or to go so far in it that he cannot yet outstrip all the strides, which his iniquities may have taken. If our sins be mountains, his love shall be like Noah's flood, and the tops of the mountains shall be covered, and not so much as a sin shall be found against us. He will love his own to the end, that is, to the end of all their needs. Deep as their helpless miseries are shall be the extent of his grace. If their need of pardon abound, the blood shall be more able to pardon than their sins shall be able to defile. They may need more than this world can hold, and all that heaven can give, but Jesus will go to the end of all their necessities, and even beyond them, for he is "able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him." He will love them to the end of their lives; so long as they live here his love shall be with them; and as there shall be no end of their existence hereafter, he will continue still the same fondness to them. And what if I say he will love them to the end of his own life, if such thing were allowable? Until the eternal God shall die, his love shall never depart from any one of his beloved. Unless the heart of Jesus shall cease to beat, and the eternal Savior shall expire in death, that heart shall never fail in affection towards his people, nor shall his love ever depart from them. Oh! how charming it is to reflect that to the end Jesus loves, because you cannot raise any objection, or think of any difficulty, but what the text meets. If you go ever so far, still it is evident that when you are there you are not beyond the end, and Jesus' love will and must go up to the end, and that is as far as either the sin or the sorrow, the needs or the difficulties of his people can possibly go. The word translated end in the Greek frequently signifies to perfection--he loved them to perfection. Oh, the perfectness of the love of Jesus Christ. All that his love can do he will do for his people. None shall be able to say that he has omitted anything, which was good for them. "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Out of all their wants and necessities there shall not be one left unsupplied, but from the first dawn of grace in them, even to the last, the perfection of Jesus' love shall be manifested. What shall we say to all this in closing the sermon this morning? We shall only say this, if Jesus Christ thus loves to the end, how ought we to persevere in our love to him. Sometimes, dear brethren, we become warmed up, and we do a great deal very zealously, but soon, too soon, we grow cold again. It is one of my temptations, and I suppose it is yours, to begin to flag, to cease from one's earnestness, to say, "Well, the thing can go on pretty well without my being quite so fast and zealous." The true way of living for Christ is to live always at the highest possible rate of force. Zealous, not now and then, but always, in a good thing for Christ. Sometimes you are very generous, prayerful, and earnest in looking after souls, why not always so? Suppose Jesus were sometimes loving to you, sometimes thoughtful of you; and imagine that there were intervals of forgetfulness on his part, as there are in your case, what a sorry matter it would be for us! Let us repent that we have been so spasmodic in our affection to him, and let us pray him that his Spirit may dwell in us, that he himself may abide with us, that we may be every day, as we are sometimes, "always abounding in the work of the Lord," steadfast, unmoveable. Beloved, I would have you always winning souls, always adorning the doctrine of God your Savior by holiness, always much in prayer, always in communion. Would God we were so! The constant faithfulness of our Lord should lead us to this. The second practical remark will be, if these things be so, that Christ loves his own to the end, let us not indulge the wicked thought that he will forsake us. It is impossible that Jesus should leave a soul that hangs upon him. You may be brought very low, but still underneath you shall be the everlasting arms. You may feel as if you were crushed by the wheels of providence, your spirit may sink nearly into despair, but neither "things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord." Give not way to the fainting-fit of unbelief; believe in Christ, and not in your own feelings; believe in his promise and not in your own frames. What matters it whether it is day or night with you, whether it is winter or summer? Christ Jesus is the same, and he has said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Resort to your unfailing Friend; lean on the arm whose sinews cannot crack; cast your weight on the shoulders, which cannot grow weary. Play the man, and be of good courage, for the honor of the gospel; for if the gospel does not cheer us in time of trouble, what is the good of it? If it will not buoy us up when the floods are out, where is the service of it? But, my brethren and sisters, it will. We are not of those who have to deal with a vacillating Redeemer, who casts away his people for their sins, and rejects them for their backslidings, who loves his own to-day and hates them to-morrow--a Christ in whom I have no confidence, and in whose existence I do not believe; but we have to deal with one who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, one who never did flinch from his purpose, nor turn from his decree; and having to deal with such a one, let us not dishonor his name by wavering, and doubting, and fearing. Cast yourselves on the Lord, ye mourners, and rejoice in him; lean yourselves upon him, ye burdened ones, and take up your psalm of praise this morning, and go on your way rejoicing. The last practical remark is, what a misery it must be to be without such a Savior! I scarcely know of any two words more sorrowful than these two--"without Christ;" and yet those words are applicable, I fear, to many in this congregation; you have no heavenly Friend into whose ear to whisper your sorrow; you have no faithful Brother, or mighty Savior, to help you in your time of need. Your sins are upon you; your iniquities are written in the book of God, graven as with an iron pen, and written with the point of the diamond. The day of death will soon come, and you will have no one to help you over Jordan's swelling billows. You will stand before the tremendous throne, where the voice shall be as thunder, and the eyes of the Judge like lightning, and you shall have no advocate to plead your cause, no Redeemer to take your soul beneath his sheltering wing. There is still hope, for Jesus is the friend of sinners still. Come unto him, ye weary; hasten to him, ye laboring and heavy laden; for he shuts out none--he welcomes all who come to him, with broken hearts and downcast eyes, seeking pardon through his precious blood. O that you would come to him this morning! Ere another day shall pass away, may you have ended your career of rebellion, and commenced a course of obedience. Then will you sing with us of everlasting love; then will you rejoice with us in immutable grace; then shall our God be your God, and our heaven shall be your heaven. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Acts 3. __________________________________________________________________ Unto You, Young Men A Sermon (No. 811) Delivered on Wednesday Evening, May 13, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at Westminster Chapel. Being the Annual Sermon to Young Men in Connection with the London Missionary Society. "I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the Wicked One." 1 John 2:14. JOHN abounded in charity, but with the utmost stretch of it he could not have written to all young men in this style, for, alas, all young men are not strong, nor does the Word of God abide in them all, nor have they all overcome the Wicked One. Strong in muscle they may be, like Samson, but like Samson they are weak in moral principle and before long are found in the lap of a sinful Delilah to their own destruction. What multitudes of young men there are in London who, instead of being spiritually strong, are weakness itself--bending like the willow in every gale, drifting down the stream like dead fish--having neither the wish nor the ability to stem the torrent of temptation! These weak young men who are entrapped in every snare, taken with every bait, are the objects of our earnest anxiety. But to them we can address no Epistles entreating their aid in holy work, or cheering them with sacred consolations. It is painful to reflect that in the vast mass of ripening manhood the Word of God does not abide. Tens of thousands of them do not even hear it! They look upon the Sabbath as a day of amusement and to religious exercises as a slavery. Thousands more attend to the Word only after the fashion of the old proverb, "In at one ear and out at the other." They see their natural face in the glass of the Word, but they go their way and straightaway forget what manner of men they are. They are young men of good judgment, too, in worldly things and yet so foolish as to esteem eternal things as mere trifles! They play with immortality and value the joys of an hour of sin at a higher price than unending bliss. Assuredly in this land there are multitudes of young men who have not overcome the Wicked One. No, they never thought of doing so for they are hand in glove with him--they are among his best allies. Shame that it should be so, that when Satan seeks recruits for his army, he should straightaway send his recruiting sergeant for these fine young fellows. They ought to serve a better master but they are all too willing to give up at once the strength of their youth and the force of their character to the service of a deceiver--overcome the Wicked One, indeed! In many young men he reigns supreme and they are led captive by him at his will--wickedly insinuating all the while that they are the milksops and the fools who dare to do right and scorn to fling away their souls for the sake of temporary pleasures. Now, there may be in this place tonight some of these young men who are not strong, in whom the Word of God does not abide, and who have not overcome the Wicked One. Let conscience seek out such and when they are fully revealed and discovered to themselves, let them deliberately take stock of their position in the light of death and judgment--and may they, by God's Grace, be made to pause awhile and then to decide that it will be a wiser course of action to repent before God, to believe in Jesus and to give themselves up to Him who can make them strong, and put the living seed of His Word into their hearts and enable them to overcome the Wicked One! But I address myself to many, I trust, this evening, who are such as John described and who can give praise to distinguishing Grace that they are such, for they feel that had they been left to themselves they would have possessed no strength and would not have held the living Truth of God within their hearts. O for a shout of sacred joy from everyone who has been redeemed from his estate of bondage, brought up out of the wilderness and led into the Canaan of salvation! O for something better than shouts of praise--namely, holy lives, devoted actions, constant consecration from those who thus have been strengthened and quickened, and made victors over sin! Two or three things we shall speak about tonight. First, our text describes the model young man. Secondly, we infer from it that such model men have within them qualifications for usefulness. John wrote to these young men because they were so-and-so, and so-and-so. I shall ask some here to serve God for the same reason, because those parts which make the model man are just such as will qualify them to serve God! And, in the third and last place, I shall try to urge the conscription upon many here, hoping that many will be written down as God's warriors from this good hour. I. First, then, we have before us THE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MODEL YOUNG MAN. Nothing is said about his learning--he may be a model of everything that is spiritually good though his education may have been neglected. Nothing is said about his wealth, his position in society, or his personal appearance--without anything to boast of in relation to any of these things he may yet be in the advance guard of Christ's soldiers. 1. What is spoken in the text has to do only with spiritual qualifications, and it deals with three points. First, this young man is strong. The strength here meant is not that which is the result of his being in his youth--not a mere natural vigor, but a spiritual strength--a strength which comes from the Lord of Hosts. The strength here meant is a strength which is the result of the indwelling of the Spirit within the man--a strength which brings out and consecrates the natural energy and makes the young man with his vigor to be vigorous in the right direction. "I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong." Now, the spiritually strong man may be described in this way--he is one who is very decided for Christ. He is not half-hearted, halting between two opinions. There is nothing about him now, as there once might have been, of questioning or hesitation. He is for Christ. Whoever may be for the false, he is for the true. Whoever may side with the unjust, he is for the honest. Whoever may adopt crooked policies, he is for straightforward principles. He has made up his mind to it, that he is Christ's, and therefore he does not tolerate within his soul anything like a question on that matter. He is decided, not only in his service for Christ, but in his opinions. He knows what he knows. He holds firmly what he holds. He is a strong man in the Truth of God. You cannot pull him by the ear this way today and that way tomorrow. He does not depend upon his religious teacher for his religious thought--he does his own thinking with his Bible before him. By the Grace of God he has grown strong by feeding on an heavenly diet. He is a man with his feet firmly planted on a rock. You may meet with weak professors almost everywhere and you may, by specious arguments, entice them to almost everything. But the young man who is strong will listen to what you have to say and weigh it in the scales of judgment--but when once weighed and found wanting--he will reject it without hesitation. He at once rejects the wrong and cleaves to that which is right, for God has made him strong in integrity of heart. While thus strong in decision, he is also strong in the matter of establishment. He once believed the Truths of God because he was so taught, but now he begins to search to the roots of them and to find out the arguments which support them. He has proven, if not all things, yet enough to hold fast that which is good. He has become established by some little experience, for, though a young man, experience may come to him and, indeed, it does come to some young men without the lapse of many years. The experience of a single night has taught a man more than the experience of years, and the experience of a single day, a bitter sorrow, or ardent labor, has been more valuable than the mere lapse of a score of ordinary years of prosperity and joy. What little experience the man has had, and what little observation he has been able to make have joined together to confirm what he believes, and now, though he does not care to be always arguing--in fact, he has passed beyond that stage. Though he does not care to be always testing and trying things--he has advanced farther than that--yet he is prepared, when objections are advanced, to meet them in a spirit of meekness. And he is prepared to instruct the ignorant and those who are out of the way. He is strong in establishment, as well as in decision. Nor is this all, he has become strong, through the Divine Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a vigor diffused throughout his whole spiritual constitution. A very large proportion of the members of our Churches are, I trust, alive, but you have to try them by various experiments to know whether there is any life in them. They are like persons just fished up from the water--in order to discover whether they are alive you place a mirror before their mouth and watch for a little dampness upon it--you kneel down and try to detect the faint sound of breathing-- "'Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought." This is the miserable cry of many. There may be life in them, but it is life in a fainting fit or sound sleep! But the vigorous Christian is far different from this! He does not ask whether he is alive or not--he knows he is by that which he is enabled to do--by the strength of his life! He knows he is by that which he feels palpitating within--by the aspirations that glow within his soul! Yes, and even by the griefs and pains which make him bow his head. He knows that he lives! Others in our Churches do something for Christ and know that they are alive, but their whole spiritual system is relaxed. If they take up the hammer and work for God, they strike such feeble blows that the nails do not know it! If they take the spade in their hand to dig in the Master's vineyard, the weeds laugh them to scorn! They are so exceedingly feeble, and generally so changeable, so fond of new work and of running after this and that, that they are of little or no real service to the Church. But the strong man in Christ Jesus is one who, if he fights, dashes to pieces the helmet of his foe. And if he wields the sling and the stone, he takes care that the stone shall be sent with force enough to go through Goliath's skull. He is a man who, if he prays, makes the gates of Heaven shake and the vaults of Heaven ring. He is a man who, when he pleads with sinners, pleads all over--hands and face, and every muscle revealing his earnestness. He cannot drag on in a dead and alive life. He feels that if religion is worth anything it is worth everything, and he throws his whole being into it--body, soul, and spirit--ardently and to the utmost pitch of energy being given up to the Master's cause. Meanwhile he is not only strong in actual service, but he is strong in what he cannot do. Some of the most acceptable things which are recorded in Heaven are the things which are in our hearts, but which cannot come to our hands for lack of power. It is a great thing, Brothers, to always have some work before you which makes you stand on your tiptoes to reach it--and to be continually reaching up till at last you attain it--and then to reach for something still beyond you! I like the thought of David sitting down before the Lord and meditating about that house of cedar which he was not permitted to build. The strong young man will have many schemes crossing his brain and while he is in his youth he will not be able to realize them. But they will flit before him so often that at last he will pluck up courage, and as he grows in years and possibilities, he will at last make real that which once was but a dream. Do not be ashamed, my dear young Friends, you who have scarcely left your father's roof--do not be ashamed, sometimes, to have a few right thorough daydreams! Do not be ashamed to indulge in thoughts of what you would do if you could! I say this provided that you are now doing all you can and this day consecrating to God all you have. Go to Him and ask Him to enable you to do more in your future life--and plan and work for that future life! Have a strength of purpose, and it may be God will give you strength of opportunity! And if He does not, yet it shall be well that it was in your heart. I may say, too, even in the presence of the honored fathers who surround the pulpit, we sadly need a generation of stronger men in our Churches. We will not decry the blessings which God has given us already. I do not believe that any age was better than this, all things considered--but this is the time when we need our young men to be strong to all the intents of strength. Battles are coming in which they will need to stand with firm feet. There will be strifes in which they will not be of the slightest value if they cannot brave the conflict in the very front, or fight where fly showers of fiery arrows and hot bolts of Hell. Rest assured these are not silken days, nor times to make us dream that we have won the victory! Our fathers, where are they? They are looking down upon us from their thrones, but what do they see? Do they see us wearing the crown and waving the palm branch? If so, they see us lunatics, indeed, for that were a madman's sport. But rather they see us sharpening our swords afresh, and buckling on our panoply anew to fight the same fight which they fought under other circumstances. The young blood of the Church, under God, is our great hope in the conflict for King Jesus! The young men of the Church must be, in the next 20 years, the very soul and vigor of it, and therefore, may God raise up among us a goodly seed, a race of heroes swifter than eagles for zeal, and stronger than lions for faith! 2. The text gives a further description of the model Christian young man in the words, "And the Word of God abides in you." Her Majesty was on the south side of the water today, but she does not abide there. All the pomp and sunshine of her presence have vanished, and Westminster Bridge and Stangate are as they were before. The Word of God sometimes comes with right royal pomp into the minds of young men--they are affected by it for a time and they rejoice in it--but, alas, that blessed Word soon departs and they are none the better for that which they have heard. Multitudes are still stony ground hearers--they receive the Word with joy but they have no root--and by-and-by they all wither away. The model young man in the text is not of this kind. The Word of God abides in him, by which I understand that he is one who understands the Word, for it must get into him before it can abide in him, and it can only enter by the door of the understanding. He understands the Word and then, by having an affection for the Word, he shuts that door and entertains the Truth of God. Men who understand the Gospel are not quite so common as we sometimes suppose. I am not certain whether the giving up of the use of the Westminster Assembly's Catechism was a very wise thing. That grand old epitome of doctrine conveys to those who are taught it intelligently, a most solid basis upon which afterwards the Truth may be built. A considerable number of our Church members do not understand the Truth which they profess to have received. I believe this is more or less true of all denominations and that the pastors need to adopt measures, by classes or otherwise, which, under the Holy Spirit's blessing, might build up our youth in our most holy faith. The model young man is thus taught. He understands the Truth so far as it is a matter of intellect. He grapples it to himself as with hooks of steel by intense affection, and then he lives it out with all his soul. While he holds the Word of God as a doctrine, it holds him as a living indwelling force. The Word of God abides in him, that is, he is constantly feeling its effects. It abides in him, "a well of water springing up unto everlasting life"--a sacred fire consuming his sins and comforting his spirit. It abides in him--a heavenly messenger revealing to him the freshness of celestial Truth, uplifting him from earthly desires--and preparing him for the mansions in the skies. The Gospel permeates his nature. It is inter-twisted into his very self. You would more readily destroy him than make him apostatize!-- "The cords that bind around his heart Tortures and riches might tear off; But they could never, never part The hold he has on Christ his Lord." The Word of God has become God's resident lieutenant, dwelling in his spirit, reigning like a sovereign over his entire soul. It abides within him as an incorruptible seed which death itself cannot kill. This is the blessed young man, indeed! God has blessed him, and who shall reverse the benediction? 3. Thirdly, the text adds, "And you have overcome the Wicked One." This is said of the young man. He is but a young man in Grace. He has not reached the point of fatherhood in Christ, but for all that he has overcome the Wicked One! It strikes me that Christianity use to be spoken of as a more effective thing than it is now. When people pray they seldom speak positively about what religion has done for them. I have often heard a Brother say, "The Lord has done great things for us: and we desire to be glad." Why, dear Brother, if the Lord has done great things for you, you are glad! I have known that text, "The love of Christ constrains us," preached from as if it said that the love of Christ ought to constrain us, which is very true, but it is not the truth of the text! It does constrain us! It does rule in the soul! We often speak of wrestling with Satan, struggling and striving to overcome--but the text speaks of a victory already achieved, and too, by young men! We dishonor God and make people think little of the Gospel when we put in those pretended humbling terms which are only used to let people see how exceedingly humble we are. We are so mock-modest as to refuse to acknowledge the power of Divine Grace in our own souls! As a man I would speak diffidently about anything that I do myself, but of anything that God has done in me, or for me, or by me. I shall not speak with bated breath, but affirm it and rejoice in it that God may be glorified. There are men here who have overcome the devil and they have overcome him in many shapes. There are many pictures of the devil about but I am afraid there are none of them accurate, for he assumes different shapes in different places. He is a chameleon--always affected by the light in which he happens to be--a Proteus, assuming every shape so that it may but help his purpose. Some young men have overcome that blue devil which keeps men despairing, doubting, trembling, and fearing. You once were subject to him. You could not, you said, believe in Christ. You were afraid you never should be saved. You wrote bitter things against yourself. Ah, but you have cast him out, now, by a simple faith in Jesus! You know whom you have believed and you are persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have committed unto Him. You have overcome that devil and though he does try to come back, and when your business is a little troublesome, or the liver may not be acting properly, he endeavors to insinuate himself. Yet, by God's Grace, he shall never fasten on the old chains again! Then there is that dust-eating devil of whom we can never speak too badly--the yellow devil of the mammon of unrighteousness--the love of gold and silver. He is the dreaded god of London, rolling over this city as if it were all his own! I think I see him as a dragon on the top of the Church steeple, chuckling at the inscription over the Royal Exchange--"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof," and laughing because he knows better, for he reckons it all belongs to him! Even as of old he said to Christ, "All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me." What tricks are done nowadays in business for the love of gold! In fact, we know, some of us who are not business men, but who, nevertheless, are not blind, that dishonest marks and dishonest measures have become so systematic that their effect is lost and the thing itself is almost as honest as if it were honest. It is the fact that men have become so accustomed to say that twice three make seven that their neighbors all say, "Exactly so, and we will pay you for the goods after the same reckoning!" But the genuine Christian, the man who is strong and has the Word of God abiding in him, scorns all this. He hears others say, "We must live," but he replies, "Yes, but we must die." He determines that he will not throw away his soul in order to grasp wealth, and that if it is not possible to become a merchant prince without the violation of the code of honor and of Christ's Law, then he will be content to be poor. O young Man, if you have come to this you have overcome the Wicked One, indeed! I am afraid there are some here with gray heads who have hardly ventured on the fight. Alas, for them! Another form of the Wicked One we must speak of but softly, but oh, how hard to be overcome by the young man. I mean Madam Wanton, that fair but foul--that smiling but murderous fiend of Hell by whom so many are deluded! Solomon spoke, "of the strange woman," but the strong Christian in whom the Word of God abides passes by her door and shuts his ear to her siren song. He flees youthful lusts which war against the soul! He reserves both his body and his soul for his Lord who has redeemed him by His precious blood. Young Man, if you are strong and have overcome the Wicked One, you have overcome, I trust, that Lucifer of pride, and it is your endeavor to walk humbly with your God! You have given up all idea of merit. You cannot boast nor exalt yourself, but you bow humbly at the foot of the Cross, adoring Him who has saved you from the wrath to come. You have given up, also, I trust, young Man, all subjection to the great red dragon offashion who draws with his tail even the very stars of Heaven! There are some who would think it far worse to be considered unfashionable than to be thought unchristian. To be unchristian would be but such a common accusation that they might submit to it--but to be unfashionable would be horrible, indeed! Young men in London get to be affected by this. If the young men in the house are going to such-and-such an entertainment--they all read a certain class of books--if they are dissipated and skeptical, then the temptation is to chime in with them! Only the man who is strong, and has the Word of God abiding in him will overcome the Wicked One by doing the right, alone--"Faithful among the faithless found." II. Thus I have described a model Christian young man. Let us further observe that THESE THINGS WHICH CONSTITUTE WHAT HE IS ARE HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR USEFULNESS. Ofcourse certain talents are necessary for certain positions, but it is a rule without exception that every child of God may be useful in the Divine family. God has not one single servant for whom He has not appointed a service. Now, observe, my Friends, to whom I am now addressing myself--you are strong! That granted, then this very strength which you now have will enable you to do mission work for God, and the Graces which have been worked in you, through Christ Jesus--faith, love, courage, patience--are your fitness for sacred labor. If you are to be a minister you may need to acquire a measure of learning. If you are to be a missionary you will need a peculiar training, but you can get these! God will give you strength to obtain them and the spiritual strength will go very far to help you. Meanwhile, for other work all the strength you require is that which you already possess. There are persons in the world who will not let us speak a word to the unconverted because, they say, and say very truly, that unconverted men are dead in sin and therefore we are not to tell them to live because they have no power to live. They forget that we have the power in the quickening Word and Spirit of God, and that as we speak the Word for God, power goes with it! Now, there is among us too much of this forgetfulness of the fact that we actually have power from on high. In prayer we are always praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which is very proper--but remember, we have the Holy Spirit--the Spirit is here! He is not always manifest but He is given to His Church to abide in every one of His people. And if we would but believe in His Presence we should feel it more. They who preach most successfully will tell you that one cause of it is that they expect to be successful. They do not preach hoping that perhaps one or two may be saved, but knowing that they will be, because the Word of God is the power of God unto salvation! They believe in the Holy Spirit and they who do so see the Holy Spirit. But they who only waveringly hope in the Holy Spirit discern Him not--according to their faith so is it unto them. Believe, my Brother, that you have within you, as a Believer, the power which is necessary for reforming that house of business of yours which is now so godless, into a House of Prayer! Believe it, and begin to work like those who do believe it! Believe that those who pass you in the morning, my young artisan Friend, may be and shall be converted by you and by God, if you speak to them out of your heart. Go up to them as one who knows that God is working with him! They will be awed by your manner and if they reject your message they will feel it go hard with their consciences. "I write unto you, young men, for you are strong." We beg you to use that strength in winning souls for Christ! Remember that this very strength which brings a blessing to yourself will benefit another. That very faith which brought you to Christ is all you need to bring others to Christ! "He, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Your sins are forgiven you." You shall find that in which you are weak spiritually within, you will be powerless spiritually without for Christian service--and in as far as you are strong within for your personal communion with the Lord Jesus, to that extent shall you be strong without for the work of your Lord. Arise, you strong young men! Arise, you who saw the face of Christ this morning in your closets! Arise, you who have waited upon Him in prayer during the day! Arise, you that delight in His Word--arise, and shake yourselves from the dust! Be active in the might which God has given you to serve Him while yet you may. As the angel said to Gideon, so say I to you--young Man, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor." And yet, again, "Go in this your strength." If the young man enquires for tools and weapons with which to serve his Master, we refer him to the next point in the text, "The Word of God abides in you." Now, my dear Brother, if you desire to teach others, you have not to ask what the lesson shall be for it abides in you! Do you need a text that will impress the careless? What impressed you? You cannot have a better! You desire to speak a word in season from the Word of God which shall be likely to comfort the disconsolate? What has comforted your own soul? You cannot have a better guide! You have within your own experience a tutor which cannot fail you, and you have also an encouragement that cannot be taken from you. The Word of God within you will well up like a spring and Truth and Grace will pour forth from you in rivers! I have heard our Lord likened to a man carrying a water pot, and as He carried it upon His shoulder the water fell dropping, dropping, dropping so that everyone could track the water-bearer. So should all His people be, carrying such a fullness of Divine Grace that everyone should know where they have been by that which they have left behind! He who has lain in the beds of spices will perfume the air through which he walks. One who, like Asher, has dipped his foot in oil, will leave his footprints behind him. When the living and incorruptible seed remains within, the Divine instincts of the new nature will guide you to the wisest methods of activity. You will do the right thing under the inward impulse rather than the written Law and your personal salvation will be your prime qualification for seeking out others of your Master's flock. Once again, "you have overcome the Wicked One." The man who has once given Satan a slap in the face need not be afraid of men. If you have often stood foot to foot with a violent temptation, and, after wrestling, have overcome it, you can laugh to scorn all the puny adversaries who assail you. It will breed manliness within the young man and make him a truly muscular Christian to have been practiced in inward conflicts. You have overcome Satan by the power of Divine Grace--why, then, there is hope that in the Sunday school class which you have to teach--in the hearts of those boys and girls, Satan may again be conquered! There is hope for that drunken man you have been talking with lately--why should not he overcome the Wicked One? You were once weak enough, but Divine Grace has made you strong--what Grace has done for you it can do for another! "After I was saved myself" said one, "I never despaired of any other." So should the fact that you have been enabled to achieve a conquest in a very terrible strife comfort you with regard to all other cases! Go into the back slums--they are not far off. Penetrate the dark lanes and alleys. You have overcome the Wicked One! You cannot meet with anything worse than he whom you have already vanquished. Let the majesty of Grace in your souls be to you a solace and a stimulus--and never say anything is too hard for you to do who have already met Apollyon face to face and put him to the rout! III. The wording of the text suggested to me TO FORCE THE CONSCRIPTION. "I have written unto you, young men." In the French wars, certain young men, unhappily, found their names written down in the conscription and were marched to the wars. Now, in a war from which none of us desire to escape, I hope there are young men here tonight whose names are written down--heavenly conscripts--who are summoned tonight, more fully than ever before in their lives, to go forth to the battle of the Lord of Hosts! I invite every young man here who is already converted to God to dedicate himself to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. It is not a matter that I can talk you into, nor, indeed, would I try it, but I would ask you to sit still a moment and consider with yourselves this--"I am a believer in Christ. I have been lately to the sacramental table. I profess to have been chosen of God, to have been redeemed with precious blood, to have been separated from the rest of mankind to be destined for an immortality most brilliant. Am I living as becomes a redeemed one?" Passing your hand over your brow thoughtfully, you will come to the conclusion, probably, "I am not. I am serving God, I trust, in a way, but not with all my heart, and soul, and strength as I should. How about my time? Do I devote as much of that as I can to sacred work? How about my talent? Does that display itself most in the Literary Association or in the Sunday school? Are my oratorical abilities most developed in the debating room or in preaching at the street corner? Am I giving to Christ the prime and choice, and vigor of my life? If I am not, I ought to do so. I ought, I feel I ought to be altogether Christ's. Not that I should leave my business, but I must make my business Christ's business, and so conduct it, and so to distribute of its results as to prove that I am Christ's steward, working in the world for Him, and not for self." Dear Friends, if this night you shall not so much vow as pray that from this time there shall not be a drop of blood in your body, nor a hair on your head, nor a penny in your purse, nor a word on your tongue, nor a thought in your heart but what shall be altogether the Lord's, I shall be glad enough. It will be well if you take a step further as conscripts. You "holy-work folk"--as they used to call those who dwelt around the cathedral at Durham and were exempt from all service to the baron because they served the Church--I want you now to think of some particular walk and department in which as young men and young women you can devote yourselves wholly to Christ. Generalities in religion are always to be avoided, more especially generalities in service. If a man waits upon you for a situation, and you say to him, "What are you?" if he replies, "I am a painter, or a carpenter," you can find him work, perhaps, but if he says, "Oh, I can do anything," you understand that he can do nothing! So it is with a sort of spiritual jobber who professes to be able to do anything in the Church but who really does nothing. I want my conscript Brethren tonight to consider what they are going to do, and I beg them to consider it with such deliberation that when once they have come to a conclusion, they will not need to change it, for changes involve losses. What can you do? What is your calling? Ragged schools? Sunday schools? Street preaching? Tract distribution? Here is a choice for you--which do you select? Waste no time, but say, "This is my calling, and by God's Grace I will give myself up to it, meaning to do it as well as any man ever did do it--if possible, better--meaning if I take to the Ragged school, to be a thoroughly good teacher of those little Arabs. If I take to the Sunday school, intending to make myself as efficient in the class as ever teacher could be." It shall be no small blessing to the Churches whom you represent if such a resolve is made. And if the conscripts are found tonight of such a sort, I would enquire next, whether there may not be young men here who can give themselves up to the Christian ministry, which is a step farther. There are many men who ought to be employed in the Christian ministry who stand back. You need not expect that you will gain earthly wealth by it. If you have any notion of that sort, I pray you keep to your breaking of stones--that will pay you better. If you have any idea that you will find the ministry an easy life, I entreat you to try the treadmill--for that would be an amusement compared with the life of the genuine Christian minister--in London, at least. But if you feel an intense earnestness to win souls, and if you have succeeded in speaking on other subjects and can get some attention, think whether you cannot devote yourself to the work. Ah, young man, if I cast an ambitious thought into your mind I mean it only for my Master's glory! If the Lord should say tonight, "Separate me Saul and Barnabas to this work." If He should call out some fine noble young fellow who might have given himself up, perhaps, to the pursuits of commerce, but who now will dedicate himself to the service of the Christian ministry, it would be well! Take care you keep not back whom God would have! Then, further, I have to ask may there not be here some young man who will become a conscript for missionary service abroad? "I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the Wicked One." You are the men we need. Dr. Mullens and Mr. Robinson will be glad to hear of you. I might, tonight, read a sort of proclamation such as I see sometimes issued by Her Majesty--"Wanted, young men." We give no description about the inches, either in girth or the height, but we do give this description--"Wanted, young men who are strong and in whom the Word of God abides, and who have overcome the Wicked One." You who are weak had better stop at home in the Christian nursery a little while. You in whom the Word of God does not as yet abide had need to stay till you are taught what are the elements of the faith. You who have not overcome the Wicked One had better flesh your maiden swords in home fields of conflict. You are not the men who are wanted. But you who are strong enough to do and to dare for Jesus--you who are spiritually-minded enough to have overcome the monster of evil within yourselves--you are the men to fight Satan abroad in his strongholds of heathendom, and Popery, and Mohammedanism! You, the choice men of the Church--you are the men whom the Missionary Society requires! Think of it tonight before you go to sleep, and if the Lord inclines you, come forward and say, "Here am I. Send me." Once again. If this is impossible, and I suppose it may be to the most of us, then may we not get up a conscription tonight of young men who will resolve to help at home those who have the courage to go abroad? You have nobly done, as young men, in endeavoring to raise a large sum for the work. You are an example to every Christian denomination in that respect. But do not let the project fall short of its full completion! And when it is completed take care that you do it again, for it is good to be zealous always in a good thing! We should forget the things that are behind and press forward to that which is before. It will be a great thing when all Christian merchants do what some are doing, namely, give of their substance to the cause of Christ in due proportion. It is a blessed thing for a young man to begin business with the rule that he will give the Lord at least his tenth. That habit of weekly storing for Christ and then giving to Christ out of his own bag instead of giving from your own purse is a most blessed one! Cultivate it, you young tradesmen who have just set up in business for yourselves--and you good wives help your husbands to do it. You young men who are clerks and have regular incomes, make that a regular part of your weekly business and let some share of the consecrated spoil go to the Lord's foreign field. At the same time, never let your subscriptions to this or that act as an exoneration from personal service--give yourselves to Christ--your whole selves in the highest state of vigor! Your whole selves constantly, intelligently, without admixture of sinister motives. May God send His blessing, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Deep-Seated Character of Sin A Sermon (No. 812) Delivered on Sunday Morning, May 17, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [22]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars." Jeremiah 17:1. IN traveling in the East, inscriptions upon the rocks are often met with, which have remained almost as sharp and clear as when they were first cut by the engraver's tool. Some of these owe their indelible character to the hardness of the rocks upon which they have been engraved. They must have been written, to use the expressive language before us, "with a pen of iron," and engraved as "with the point of a diamond." When such writing had been once achieved, those who had achieved their purpose might have said with Pilate, "What I have written I have written," for there it stood, and there it stands. The Prophet declares that the sin of Judah was as indelibly cut into their nature as the rock writings in the stone. Their hearts were as hard as rock and sin was inscribed thereon deeply and plainly--as though written with some iron instrument. Their spirits were just as senseless and hardened as stone itself, and their iniquity appeared as if engraved with the point of a diamond. What was said of Judah, may, with equal truthfulness be said of the whole human race. Circumstances here do not alter cases. Put men where you will, whether they belong to Judah or to the uncircumcised nations, as face in water answers to face, so the heart of man to man--each man is like his fellow--the hardness of Judah's heart is repeated in the stubbornness of barbarian and Roman, Greek and Scythian. It is seen, indeed, in us--to deal with ourselves is our main business this morning. I. We shall commence by answering the question, WHAT IS SIN? We are always hearing about it. It is constantly dunned into our ears by the preacher. We cannot turn over a page of Holy Writ without meeting with it. What is sin? How few people have obtained a right idea of sin! How much smaller is the number who express the idea clearly! If you ask the Pharisee of old what sin was--"Well," he would say, "it is eating without washing your hands. It is drinking wine without having first of all strained out the gnats, for those insects are unclean, and if you should swallow any of them they will render you defiled." His repentance dealt with his having touched a Gentile, or having come on the wind side of a Publican. Many in these days have the same notion, but with a variation. We have read of a Spanish bandit, who, when he confessed before his father-confessor, complained that one sin hung with peculiar weight upon his soul that was of peculiar atrocity. He had stabbed a man on a Friday, and a few drops of the blood of the wound had fallen on his lips, by which he had broken the precepts of "Holy Church," in having tasted animal food on a fast day. The murder did not seem to arouse in his conscience any feeling of remorse at all--not one atom--he would have done the same tomorrow. But an accidental violation of the canons of "Mother Church" excited all his fears! I read only last night in the newspaper an account of a visit paid by a strict high churchman to a little meeting of Plymouth Brethren and I was amused with the guilt that evidently rested on the writer's conscience in having been found in such an assembly. He tells us, in the first place, that he was not quite well enough to sit out the usual long service in the Church. And in the second place that he had been to a celebration of the "Eucharist" in the morning, and, therefore, he thought that for once he might be pardoned for indulging his curiosity. His mind was, however, evidently burdened with the weight of his heinous sin. There are men in England to whom it would be one of the highest crimes and misdemeanors to worship God with the most holy of His servants so long as they did not meet within walls which had been superstitiously consecrated. Singular, indeed, are the ideas which many men have of transgression! But such is not God's view of sin. Half of those things which mere ecclesiastics condemn are not sins at all. To break the commandments of men may be virtuous! To kick against the conventionalities of a man-made Church may be an evidence of enlightenment! To refuse homage to a proud hierarchy may be a bounden duty! The chains of custom, the fetters of fashion, the manacles of priest craft are to be scorned by all who claim the right of manhood. To break them in sunder is no sin. Sin is a want of conformity to the will of God! Sin is disobedience to God's command! Sin is a forgetfulness of the obligations of the relation which exist between the creature and the Creator. This is the very essence of sin. Injustice to my fellow creature is truly sin, but its essence lies in the fact that it is sin against God who constituted the relation which I have violated. It is surprising, when we talk with persons who profess that they have forsaken their sins, how very seldom they will give you a distinctly spiritual definition of sin. I believe they understand it in their hearts, but their understandings come short of the desired point. Ask them the question, "What sin has most troubled you?" Or, "What in your sin most distressed you?" You will be amazed at their replies! Seldom enough will they answer that sin is obnoxious to them because it is an offense against God--rather they will light on some one offense, and indicate that as the weight which lies heaviest. One very sincere young man told me that nothing had previously pricked his conscience until he upset an oil can in the warehouse where he was working, and in foolish fear of his master, denied that he had done so. He felt that he had told a lie and was so overwhelmed with a sense of his meanness that he felt thoroughly degraded, and was led to search his heart and to make the discovery of the corruption of his nature. It did not appear to have occurred to him up till that moment that he had been living wrongly in living without God, or that he was acting meanly in his ungrateful neglect of his Maker to whom he owed his hearty service. Sin, through all those years, only meant to him mean things towards his fellow mortals! By God's Grace he now knows how ill it is to rebel against his God. This last week an esteemed Brother minister was telling me that in speaking to a man who professed to have been converted, he asked him which sin remained as a load upon his mind. "Well," said the man, "I have to see after cows and I have often beaten the cows very badly." "What do you do now?" "Oh, I coax them instead of beating them." Now, I have no doubt that in his peculiar calling, cruelty to animals would be most strikingly laid upon his conscience, but the pastor had to say to him, "Yes, quite so. But the great sin in your fault is that the cows are God's creatures, and that He is angry if we treat His creatures unmercifully." The guilt lies in all our offenses in our disobedience to the good Lord who has a claim to be served by us with all our heart, and soul, and strength. Conscience readily enough tells us we are wrong if we defraud our fellow men, but if we rob God, how feebly does the moral sense upbraid us! If we were ungrateful to our parents or friends we should feel that we had done a grievous wrong--but we confess that we are ungrateful to God--and yet our shame is not so deep as a true sense of wrong would produce. If we were disloyal to our country and rebellious against its laws, we should feel it to be a great crime--but some of us remain in disloyalty to the King of kings, and in disobedience to the best Laws that were ever framed--and yet our spiritual treason does not strike us with horror! David touched the center of the matter when he said, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight." Sin is a lack of conformity to the will of God. It is a breach either in imagination, or desire, or word, or action of the Divine Law. It is, to repeat the words I have used before, a forgetfulness of the true relation which exists between a creature and the Creator. It is but right that He who made us should have our service. It is a great and intolerable wrong that, being created by God, we yet refuse to yield to His will. It is right that He who is so good to us should have our love--it is sin that, living upon God's goodness we do not return to Him our heart's affection. It is right that, being sustained by Divine beneficence from day to day we should give to Him constant thankfulness, but, being so sustained, we do not thank Him--herein lies the very soul of sin. Let it be remembered that tens of thousands of persons in this so-called Christian land live in utter neglect of God. If there were no God, it would not in any way affect the lives of most men--they live precisely as if there were none. "God is not in all their thoughts." They never pause over an action, and ask, "Will God be angry with this?" They are never moved to the performance of virtue by the reflection that God will approve it. There is no God to them, though the table is loaded with the bounties of His Providence. There is to them no God even though the sick chamber is made to feel the terror of His rod. There is no God to them though they walk in all the fields of Nature and behold evidences of Deity on every side--no God though they might see His finger in every event of their lives. They live like brutes in this respect and alas, many of them die the same--without God, without hope--earth grubbers buried in the earth. Multitudes of men who are occasionally stirred with the thought of God, yet, nevertheless, as often as they can, forget Him. They cannot quite be without reflections upon the existence of the Deity and their own relation to Him, but still it is so unpleasant a thought and so contrary to the general set of their nature that they shake it off as much as possible, and plunge into the frivolities and dissipation's of pleasure, or into the stormy seas of care and trouble in business--into anything so that they may be able to be clear of the undesirable remembrance of their Maker. If they hear a peculiarly earnest sermon they resolve to remember their Creator, but then they have resolved before and they find it as easy to forget now as then. Sometimes an arrow from the Eternal One sticks in their loins, and oh, what crafts and arts are practiced to get that arrow out! How they would, if they could, escape from conviction and continue light-hearted and frivolous in forgetfulness of their God, His Law, His justice and the coming Throne before which all the creatures shall be summoned! Yes, and even when men are compelled to think of God, yet, for all that, they go on sinning! They think of Him and yet violate His commands! They acknowledge His Presence and yet do despite to His love. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, it is a strange thing! It shows what a monster, what a diabolical miracle sin is, that God should be around us all the day long and yet before His very face we should dare to say and think, and do that which is contrary to His will although a word could crush us as the moth is crushed! Although His will could sink us into the profoundest Hell! What words shall denounce the arrogance and impudence of sin? Who shall sufficiently condemn an evil which defies Jehovah to His face and hurls defiance at the thundering God? This it is which makes sin so much sin--that it is not sin against God's creatures, an indirect thing--but it is high treason against the Majesty of God Himself. It is a defiance of Him to His face, a stabbing of the Godhead so far as man can do it, to the very heart. This is sin. Now, in the light of this Truth of God, pausing just a minute, let me ask the Believer to humble himself very greatly on account of sin. That I have not loved my God with all my heart. That I have not trusted Him with all my confidence. That I have not given Him the glory due unto His name. That I have not acted as a creature should do, much less as a new creature is bound to do--that, receiving priceless mercies, I have made so small a return--let me confess this in dust and ashes and then bless the name of the Atoner who, by His precious blood, has put even this away so that it shall not be mentioned against us any more forever. Let me invite the unconverted to reflect upon their state in the light of this Truth. If sin consisted only in dishonesty, in lying, in swearing, in drunkenness--many of you might plead not guilty--and it might go well with you. But if the sin which will bring upon you the punishment of Hell is a neglect of God, a lack of love to Him--then where are you? You who, with the Pharisee, could say, "Lord, I thank You that I am not as other men," where are you? Why, this shows you that your heart may be vile and filthy and you, yourself, may be condemned while your outward conduct may be very commendable, and all who know you may be praising you for your consistency! Let this Truth of God, then, shine right into your souls, and as you see it to be a Truth and see yourself exposed by it, remember-- "There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins." Fly to it, and make this the unceasing prayer of your heart, "Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Blot it out for Jesus' sake." II. In the second place, the question, HOW IS THE FIXEDNESS OF SIN WHICH IS DECLARED IN THE TEXT PROVEN? The Prophet tells us that man's sinfulness is as much fixed in him as an inscription carved with an iron pen in granite. How is this fixedness proven? It is proven in two ways in the text, namely, that it is engraved upon the tablets of their heart, and secondly, upon the horns of their altar. It clearly proves how deeply evil is fixed in man, when we reflect that sin is in the very heart of man. Man loves sin. Sin is not an accident to man--a ditch into which he falls because he cannot help it--but sin is the subject of man's deliberate preference. Man selects evil and rejects good. If a man, for awhile, falls into a habit and yet that habit yields him no satisfaction, you may very readily break him of it. But when a man finds his habit to be pleasant to his nature and even dear to him, you may rest assured that you are not likely to turn him from it. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. When a sin becomes intertwisted with the roots of the affections, you cannot uproot it. When the leprosy eats deep into the heart of humanity, who can expel it? It becomes, therefore, a hopeless case so far as human power is concerned. Since sin reigns and rules in man's affections, it is deeply ingrained, indeed. My unconverted Hearer, the sin of forgetting God is in your heart, you know it is. You do not like to think of Him. It is not your desire to be obedient to Him. Your pleasure lies in quite another direction. You know very well that when you take up the Bible in the evening and begin to read it, it is a dreadfully dry book. You have no interest in it. And when you go to a place of worship you find no pleasure in it. Your heart does not go after God's praise--you are like the mouse which crept into the Church and, finding hymn books very dry nibbling, was glad to get away again. The larder suited her better and so it does you. The music hall, the ballroom, and the theater are more to your taste because there you will not be worried with the things of God. God, holiness, Heaven, Hell, eternity and the Atonement--why these things are old and cheerless sounds to you! You have heard them many, many times but they ring no music into your ears--they rather beat like muffled drums in a funeral march! As soon expect a stream to flow uphill as look for a natural heart seeking after God! If it were right in this place to talk of certain sins, there are many that would blush and hide their face and say, "I pray that I may never fall into them," and yet they close not their ears when the evil is recited, but listen with evident interest! When we read police reports and divorce reports, we should be deeply pained and made to shudder, were it not that our evil heart of unbelief is hardened towards evil. Everybody knows that the light literature of the day, which is pretty freely spiced with shameful sin, goes down readily and second and third editions are called for. Your very decent and moral people like a precious mouthful of scandal or uncleanness to give a flavor to their reading. Yes, there is a love of sin in the heart, a love of everything that is contrary to God! And there is a forgetfulness, a distaste, even a hatred to thoughts concerning the great Father of spirits! Oh, if you loved God you would not live without prayer as some of you do! If you loved God you would not repeat forms of prayer as some of you do! If you loved God you would talk to your Father without your book! My child never reads a book to me when he wants anything, but he comes with his mouth and his heart ready at once, without any teaching from his brother, to ask me for what he needs. If you loved God, you would not live day by day without speaking of Him, without meditating upon His glorious works, and without seeking after fellowship and communion with Him! But, inasmuch as you love Him not Who is so worthy and Who by such gentle ways woos your love, who shall deny that your lack of love to God is deeply engraved in the very center of your heart, and cut into your nature, itself? The second proof the Prophet gives of the fixedness of human sin is that it was written on the horns of their altars. When people are bad, at their best they must be very bad, and such were the men of Judah. They sinned in their very religion. These people sinned by setting up idols and departing from Jehovah--we sin in quite another way. When you get the unconverted man to be religious--which is a very easy thing--what form does the religion take? Frequently he prefers that which most gratifies his taste, his ears, or his sight. Yes, of course he does not object to a religion which is produced and assisted by painted windows, praising machines, elegant tailoring and fine music! Men's carnal appetites are pleased with these things, and it is gratifying to human nature to discover that such things may be called religion. The fact is that there is no more true religion in fine music than in discord, and no more genuine worship in a cathedral than in a hovel. Men might as well look at vestments, and windows, and carvings in the artificers' shops where they are made--and there would be quite as much devotion as in looking at them in the place where they are fixed! Others think if their ears are pleased with listening to an eloquent discourse they are worshipping God. He who can speak well is, to them, as one who makes a goodly sound on a pleasant instrument. Their religion is to admire elocution, but there is no religion in that! There can be no more Divine Grace in listening to an eloquent minister than in listening to an eloquent parliamentary orator. If your heart is touched, that is the worship of God! If your heart is drawn to God, that is the service of God--but if it is the mere ringing of the words, and the falling of the periods, and the cadence of the voice that you regard, why, Sirs, you do not worship God, and on the very horns of your altars are your sins! You are bringing a delight of your own sensuous faculties and putting that in the place of true faith and love, and then saying to your soul, "I have pleased God," whereas you have only pleased yourself. When men become serious in religion, and look somewhat to the inward, they then defile the Lord's altar by relying upon their own righteousness. Nothing is more pleasing to human nature than the attempt to do something by which it may merit salvation at the hand of God. God thunders out, "By the works of the Law there shall no flesh living be justified," and in the teeth of that, millions of men say, "We will be justified by the works of the Law"! So, coming to God with the pretense of worshipping Him, they offer Him that which He abhors and give the lie to Him in all His solemn declarations. If God says that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified, and man declares, "But I will be so justified," he makes God a liar--whether he knows it or not his sin has that within it. Man is much like a silkworm--he is a spinner and weaver by nature. A robe of righteousness is worked out for him but he will not have it--he will spin for himself--and like the silkworm, he spins, and spins, and he only spins himself a shroud. All the righteousness that a sinner can make will only be a shroud in which to wrap up his soul, his destroyed soul--for God will cast him away who relies upon the works of the Law. In other ways men stain the horns of their altars. Some do it by carelessness. Some of you who come here are filled with vain thoughts. I thank God that I have not to complain of inattentive audiences, but still, how often during prayer your hearts are anywhere but at the Throne of God? And when the sacred song is rising up to the Majesty of Heaven your lips are moving, but your hearts are not praising God! Ah, my Friends, if secret things were testified abroad how many times it would be seen that the horns of your altar have been stained by irreverence and carelessness! Those lips must be depraved, indeed, which even in prayer and praise still continue to sin! The horns of our altars are defiled by hypocrisy. Into our Churches there will come men who, like Demas and Judas intrude themselves, uncalled, sitting at the Master's Table. They are baptized into His name and yet for all that are hollow and rotten, deceivers and deceived. You may have seen two fencers practicing their art and noticed how they seem to be seeking each other's death--how they strike and thrust as though they were earnestly contending for life--but after the show is over they sit down and shake hands and are good friends. Often so it is in your prayers and confessions--you will acknowledge your sins and profess to hate them--and make resolutions against them--but it is all outward show-fencing, not real fighting! And when the fencing is over, the soul shakes hands with its old enemy and returns to its former ways of sin. Oh, this foul hypocrisy is a staining of the horns of the altar with a vengeance! But I shall not detain you longer. The fact is clear that men do this and the inference is also logical that if men love sin in their hearts, and if even in their religion they still perpetrate sin, then it must be deeply engraved in them as with the point of a diamond. III. Thirdly and briefly, WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THIS? How did sin get such a firm footing in humanity? How is it that the Evil One has so stormed the city of Mansoul as to entrench himself in the impregnable castle of the heart, and bid the black banner float thereon? The answer is, first, we must never forget the Fall. Certain theologians ignore the Fall--but for all that it remains the saddest and the second greatest event in human history. We are fallen. We are none of us today as God made us. "God made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions." Our first parent was the perfect man but he polluted the fountain of life, and, "Behold," as David said, "we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity." In sin do our mothers conceive us. The human judgment is out of balance--it uses false weights and false measures. "It puts darkness for light and light for darkness." The human will is no longer supple, as it should be to the Divine will--our neck is naturally as an iron sinew and will not bow to Jehovah's golden scepter. Our affections, also, are twisted away from their right bent. Whereas we ought to have been seeking after Jesus and casting out the tendrils of our affections towards Him, we cling to anything but the right and climb upon anything but the true. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." Human nature is like a magnificent temple all in ruins. Where there ought to be shouts of sacred joy and rising paeans of incessant praise, you can hear the howling of the dragon and the hooting of the owl. Magnificence is there, but for all that the ruin is complete. This accounts for the depth and fixedness of sin in us--that it is a matter of birth. Original sin, let it be denied and explained away as it may, remains a great Truth of God and there are problems in human history which never can be explained without the belief in it. Indeed, every man is in himself such a problem that if you deny his original depravity you miss the key to his life--but if you believe that doctrine you may then understand what manhood is--and you are on the right track towards getting to find out how manhood can be made better and holier. In addition, however, to our natural depravity, there comes in, in the second place, our habits of sin. Well may sin be deeply engraved in the man who has for 20, 40, 50, or perhaps 70 years, continued in his iniquity. Put the wool into the scarlet dye, and if it lie there but a week the color will be so ingrained in the fabric that you cannot get it out. But if you keep it there for so many years, how shall you possibly be able to bleach it? Man has continued in sin, therefore the Prophet says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? If so, then he that is accustomed to do evil may learn to do well." Use is second nature. Nature originally is bad, but the use comes in as a second mischief and makes us doubly inclinable towards evil. You must remember, in addition to this, that sin is a most clinging and defiling thing. Who does not know that if a man sins once it is much easier to sin that way the next time? No, that he is much more inclinable towards that sin? This is conspicuous in certain sins of the flesh which we all condemn. Let any person once have given way, and it becomes an awful struggle--a struggle in which the major part are defeated altogether when they attempt it--to break loose from their bands of lasciviousness. I mention that one sin because its power to return upon us is so conspicuous, but it is an illustration of the same thing in every other sin. If you fall into covetousness, you will find it very hard to be generous. And if you continue to be grinding and grasping, generosity will become an impossibility. The muscles of the arm, if you never exert them except in one fashion, will become set so that you cannot move them--like the Indian Fakir who held his arm aloft so long that he could not take it down again. Man, continuing in sin, becomes fixed in its habit. Only the other day we read of a great millionaire in New York who was once weak enough to resolve to give a beggar a penny. He had grown old in covetousness and he stopped himself just as he was about to bestow the gift, saying, "I should like to give you the penny, but you see I should have to lose the interest of it forever, and I could not afford that." Habit grows upon a man. Everybody knows that when he has been making money, if he indulges the propensity to acquire, it will become a perfectly tyrannical master ruling his entire being. Therefore the reason why sin being in the nature, and secondly, coming upon us in the use and the habit, and thirdly, being in itself a thing which naturally clings to us and gets a dominance over us, it is written within us as with the point of a diamond. I may add that the Prince of the power of the air, the Evil Spirit, takes care, so far as he can, to add to all this. He chimes in with every suggestion of fallen nature. If we say "One," he is always ready to say, "Two." If we want a lie to help us in any of our plans, he will be at our beck and call at once. He knows when to use the bellows when he sees that the fire is beginning to burn. He will never let the tinder lie idle for lack of sparks, nor the ground lie waste for lack of the seeds of thorns and thistles. He has an aptitude for dealing with human nature for his own purposes, and so is never far away when a sin is to be produced. When we begin to fasten a nail, he is ready to drive it home and clinch it, too, so that the sin of Judah may be written as with an iron pen and engraved as with the point of a diamond. Up to now, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I have had to enlarge upon a very dreary statement. What I have said I feel persuaded is true, but I feel no satisfaction in speaking it. I have declared what I believe to be the Truth of God as it is in Jesus, but it is a burden to have to state these things. Let no man imagine that we are the inventors of these doleful doctrines. If they are not true, they certainly are among the most miserable of human conceptions. But if they are true, it is among the most honest things that man can do to tell people plainly of them, that they may be prepared against them. But we will not so finish--we will advance to a more cheering topic. IV. Our fourth point will be, WHAT IS THE CURE FOR ALL THIS? Sin thus stamped into us, thus ingrained into our nature--can it ever be removed? It must be, or we cannot enter Heaven, for there shall by no means enter within those pearly gates anything that defiles! None but the perfect can enter into the land of the perfect, where the thrice-holy God is the center of a perfectly holy company! We must be cleansed and purified, but how can it be done? It can only be done by a supernatural process. You cannot do it yourself. The dead in the grave can sooner raise themselves than you, who are accustomed to do evil, can learn to do good! Even those who are saved by Divine Grace will tell you that they can do nothing without the Spirit of God, much less can you who are dead in sin. If the vessel that is well rigged and manned cannot move upon the waters without the breath of Heaven, much less can the unformed timber which lies in the merchant's yard make itself into a ship and then cross the seas! If the living Christian needs Divine assistance, much more do you. You have destroyed yourselves, but your help is not in yourselves. In God your help is to be found. Your only help--to make short matter of it--lies in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became the Son of Man that He might lift the sons of men up from their natural degradation and ruin! How does Jesus Christ, then, take away these deeply-inscribed lines of sin from human nature? I answer, He does it first in this way--if our heart is like granite and sin is written on it, Christ's ready method is to take that heart away! "A new heart also will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you." Has it ever struck you what a wonderful thing it is for God to promise to give man a new heart? If you get a tree and saw a branch or two off, you may regret that the branches are gone but a new branch may come. And though you may grow a new branch on the tree, you could not obtain a new heart for it. When once the tree gets thoroughly rotten in the center you must give it up as hopeless--you cannot put new sap into it. But here God promises by the hand of His Son that He will give us new hearts--hearts in which there shall be no sin! Hearts which shall have no tendency towards evil, but which shall be pure hearts--hearts in every part renewed and filled with Divine love--perfect and right, and pure and good--a copy of His own heart! The Lord Jesus Christ has for many now present worked this miracle! He has given them the new heart and though the old heart is still there, contending and fighting, yet the new heart will get the victory. We have now new loves, new hates--the name of God is now the sweetest bell that ever rings! The thought of God's Law is marrow and fatness to us. A sense of God's love is like honey dropping from the honeycomb. Now, the thought of Hell, solemn as it is, does not alarm us! The thought of Heaven is bright and lustrous, and cheers us in traversing this wilderness. Now, to muse upon eternity and the fact that we shall see the Lord forever, face to face, is our daily delight! We are not what we ought to be, nor what we want to be, but still our leanings and inclinations are towards better things. The new heart has its helm turned in an opposite direction from that in which the old heart was steering. We are sailing under a new flag now--we have enlisted under a new Prince and by God's Grace we shall conquer--and we shall enter into the joy of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is a part of the Covenant of Grace and a part of His Gospel that Jesus can give to us hearts in which there shall not be this tendency to sin, and so the deep-seated sinfulness of our nature shall be overcome. Next to that, inasmuch as the guiltiness of sin is as permanent as sin itself, Jesus Christ is able to take our guilt away. His dying upon the Cross is the means by which the filthiest sinner out of Hell can be made white as the angels of God, and that, too, in a single instant! You understand the doctrine of the Atonement, but let me sound it in your ears again. Sin is a thing which God must punish--the eternal laws of the universe demand that there shall never be an offense committed against the rules of God which shall escape without a penalty. The penalty of sin is death and God has never seen fit to mitigate this--its justice makes it perpetual. The Lord has been pleased to open a way of mercy by sending His only begotten Son into this world as our Substitute. He became Man and He suffered for His people what they ought to have suffered. He endured at the hand of God what all the redeemed ought to have endured. Now, God, at this day, never pardons a sin without having first punished it--punished it on Christ for us. God never punishes the man for whom Christ died, but all besides must bear their iniquity. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ died for you and God cannot put two to death for one offense, nor can He ask for payment twice for one debt--you are therefore free. Christ paid the debts of all His people and obtained their full discharge when He rose again from the dead. And now every soul that believes in Him is clear at the bar of Divine Justice, because it is written, "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died." "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin." See then, my Brothers and Sisters, Jesus Christ can take away the deeply-engraved inscription of our sin and can remove the horrible stains of our iniquity--justly remove them through what He has suffered on our behalf! The Holy Spirit also comes in--the new nature being given and sin being forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us--as a Prince in His palace, as a God in His temple. Oh, wondrous mystery, that God should dwell in a human heart! He who fills Heaven and earth--whom all worlds cannot comprehend! He, before whom angels bow with veiled faces, deigns to make Himself a habitation within the body of the man that trusts in Him! If you are now relying alone on Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit is in you this morning, and, being there, He controls your passions--passions which otherwise would master you. He rules your will, a stubborn thing, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke! He guides your affections, wandering things, like wild asses of the desert not to be tamed. He sits, this day, within your soul as God's lieutenant in the kingdom of your humanity--ruling, preventing, directing--and making you meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Do I hear any say, "Then, I would to God that I may experience the Divine process--the new nature given which is regeneration--the washing away of sin which constitutes pardon and justification, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which insures final perseverance and complete sanctification. Oh, how can I have these precious things"? You may have them, whoever you may be, by simply believing in Jesus. Does it seem too simple? Try, and you will find it effectual. The most potent remedies for disease are not always the most elaborate--the simplest may often be the most effectual. I tell you, you who gad about after your ceremonies, and repentance, and tears--you will never get in all these that which you can have by simply coming to Jesus and trusting in Him! Now have done with your own doings! Cast yourself on Him who has done everything for you! Spin no more, but take the raiment already woven! Work no more, but take the ransom already paid! Strive no more in your own energy after the works of the Law, but take the great accomplished work which Jesus Christ has performed! Believe and live! These are the words which God emblazons across the brow of Truth--which I would gladly write across the brow of Heaven itself--which I would gladly have thunder out of every wave, whispered by every gale, and spoken by every breath of air!--BELIEVE AND LIVE!--Trust Christ and live! The remedy will meet the disease--this heavenly chisel will cut out the diamond-worked inscription! This hammer which Christ wields will dash to pieces the granite upon which the pen of iron has written your sin. Trust in the Lord to save you and you shall yet be made as Adam was at the first--in the image of God! And you shall stand before the Eternal Throne, among the white- robed, pure as they! You shall stand among the celestials as heavenly as they, and near to God, even made a partaker of the Divine Nature, "having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." God bless you, for Christ's sake! __________________________________________________________________ The Privileged Man A Sermon (No. 813) Delivered on Sunday Morning, May 31, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [23]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with badgers 'skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk. I adorned you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom. And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty for it was perfect through your comeliness, which I had put upon you, says the Lord God." Ezekiel 16:9-14. THE root of Israel's nation was originally a lone man whose family and dependants formed a small Bedouin tribe wandering throughout the plains of Canaan. God separated and selected Abraham, who was in no way distinct from others in his parentage, and declared that in him and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. When the tribe had somewhat multiplied, God found them in Egypt, a herd of slaves helplessly crushed beneath the foot of Pharaoh. They were sorely burdened with labors for which they received no reward. They were without spirit to resent the oppressions of their taskmasters and without power to succeed had the energy been there. Yet God brought them out of Egypt. He led them through the wilderness, chased out powerful nations before them, settled them in the most fertile country and there multiplied them at such an extraordinary rate, and enriched and endowed them with such power that the little kingdom of Israel became famous among the nations of the earth! And in the days of Solomon its scepter was respected far and wide. The nations of the earth stood still and wondered how so small a monarchy had come to be so exceedingly rich and great. It was entirely through the favor of Jehovah that these great blessings had been received. He had a favor to Abraham's race. He revealed Himself to them and not to others. He chose them to be His people and made them the custodians of His Law. His worship was kept up among them and while they were faithful to Him they were a happy and a prosperous people whose renown went forth to Tarshish and the isles--and the excellence of whose laws and government was respected and admired even by such distant nations as those which were governed by the queen of the South. The beauty of the nation consisted entirely in what God had done for it--its comeliness was a comeliness which Jehovah had put upon it. It was a nation wealthy, intelligent, free and upon the whole, pure and happy so long as it remained faithful to its God. Our business, this morning, is not with that nation, but ourselves. Our meditations, to be profitable, must be personal. Vainly do we blame departed nations--usefully may we judge ourselves. Children of God, I shall address myself to you. God has done great things for us of which we are glad. All that God did for His Israel was but a type and shadow of what He has done for His own beloved and redeemed ones whom He has distinguished beyond all men that dwell upon the face of the earth. I shall ask you, O you sons of God, to contemplate the bounties of the Lord towards His people. And then, secondly, for a short time to draw reflections from your contemplations. I. Let us, each man for himself, sitting in this house before the Lord, REVIEW THE LORD'S LOVING KINDNESS and contemplate the amazing bounties which have come to us from the blessed fount of His Grace. To help your meditations, let me remind you where you were when Divine loving kindness pitched upon you effectually and you knew its power experimentally in your own consciences. You were, as others are, lovers of sin, having no desires towards righteousness and salvation. You had sinned and you continued in sin and found delight in sin. You were defiled, depraved, condemned and ready to perish. Like the infant whom Ezekiel has described--you lay cast out and forsaken, polluted in your own blood. You had no power to cleanse yourself, neither were there to be found any friends through whom cleansing might possibly come to you. You were both loathsome and helpless. As the loathsomeness necessarily would have involved your eternal ruin, so your helplessness took away from you all hope of eternal safety. Some of you had plunged into open sin. Others who had been kept from that yet had a den of unclean birds within their hearts. Our past lives will not do to look at--our state before conversion is something to be blushed over--we should repent of it in dust and ashes. And yet the eye of Jehovah had fixed itself upon us from before the foundations of the world! And when He saw us ruined, first by Adam's Fall, and afterwards by our own practical iniquity, He did not take away that eye of regard nor did His heart change towards us. He loved us, loved us still, loved us when there was nothing in us to love--nothing to evoke His complacency, nothing even that could call forth His benevolence--for our sin was such a counter power against our misery that if our misery might have made Jehovah pity us, our sin must have made Him hate us! His love was utterly causeless by anything within us, but it sprang up spontaneously from the mysterious wellhead of His infinite goodness. Blessed be God, that when we were lost, and lost forever, Sovereign mercy interposed! Let us consider the list of the favors received in the order in which we find them set forth in the text. According to the Prophet, one of the first gifts of the Divine favor is washing. "Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you." Now, remember, you who have been immersed in the-- "Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins" remember when you were washed, and thoroughly washed, and sing aloud-- "'Tis from the mercy of our God That all our hopes begin; 'Tis by the water and the blood Our souls are washed from sin." "But," says the Apostle, and what a blessed "but" it is, and what a weight of meaning there is in it, "But you are washed." He had been giving a very fearful description of what some of the saints had been, "Such were some of you," and then he puts this in at the end of it, "But you are washed," as if the being washed had taken away whatever defilement might have been there. Remember, Beloved, when you were first washed? Recall the hour when, believing in Jesus Christ, you felt in a moment that you were saved? What bliss was crowded into that hour! Your acceptance in the Beloved was sealed upon your heart by the Holy Spirit! You enjoyed a peace with God which passed all understanding-- the result of pardoned sin! Remember that day of blessing, and be grateful! But I want you to remember that you are washed this morning. You are now in the sight of God as a Believer without a spot, for "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." Do not look upon your cleansing as a thing of the past, to be forgotten! You are at this present moment "clean every whit" in the sight of God through Jesus' blood! There is no sin in God's book recorded against the Believer. "Who is he that condemns, now that Christ has died?" Oh, perfect justification! How shall I prize you enough? Oh, perfect pardon! What shall I compare with you? These two things put together are enough to make a Heaven upon earth even to the most disconsolate and afflicted of the sons of men. "Then washed I you with water." In this respect we may say that we have been washed twice--first with the blood by which the guilt of sin is removed--and then by the energetic power of the Holy Spirit. We have been washed from the impurity and power of sin so that we are clean in a double sense before God. And here is the beauty of it, it is done thoroughly, "Yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you." Your depravity is not gone, your old nature is not removed--it shall be before long--but your old guilt is completely gone and your present criminality is utterly blotted out-- "In your Surety you are free, His dear hands were pierced for you; With His spotless vesture on, Holy as the Holy One. Oh, the heights and depths of Grace! Shining with meridian blaze; Here the sacred records show Sinners black, but comely, too." The sins of 20 years ago are drowned beneath the billows of the Red Sea of Jesus' atoning blood! The sins of yesterday have shared the same fate, and the sins of today the same. "I thoroughly washed your blood from you." Now, Believer, let not the devil rob you, this morning, of a sense of your complete cleansing. Remember what you were, but at the same time remember you are not now what you once were. "Old things have passed away. All things have become new." Jesus Christ has said, "I have blotted out your sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your iniquities." I say Jesus has said it, said it to you by His Holy Spirit bearing witness in your heart. Come afresh to the Cross and look up, and as you see those dear wounds, sweet fountains of immaculate perfection, rejoice that it is written, "Yes, I washed you with water, I thoroughly purged your blood from you." The next mercy is anointing. Observe in the text, "I anointed you with oil." So soon as a man is cleansed he becomes fit for the Lord's service. One of the first instincts of a forgiven sinner is to become a servant in the house of his pardoning God. Listen to David in the 51st Psalm: "Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You." Forgiven himself, he desires to be a preacher to others. But before we can serve God we must be anointed to the service. God will have no unanointed priest in His temple. His Holy Spirit is the anointing which He bestows upon every one of the pardoned. Not to me as the preacher, alone, is this anointing given, though I desire to have it more and more for your sakes, but for every one of you is this unction appointed. "You have an anointing from the Holy One." Your eyes are anointed with eye salve that you may see and discern the mystery of fellowship with God. Your hands have been anointed that you may be laborers together with God and you have been anointed in heart, in body, soul, and spirit that your entire man, filled with the indwelling Deity, may be consecrated to noblest ends! I pray God to give His children to feel this anointing more and more. We believe in no priest-craft, no setting apart of any set of men who are to minister in holy things as substitutes for their brethren--but all you who are saints are alike kings and priests unto God. Though by nature sinners who would have been in Hell but for Divine Grace, you are now made priests to God today to minister before His Throne. There, amidst the fires of Gehennam, would have been your everlasting portion, but there, within the veil where the Glory which excels reveals its radiance, is your proper position today by the rights which Sovereign Grace has bestowed upon you. "I washed you with water and I anointed you with oil." Dear Brothers in Christ, I want you to realize these privileges now. As I said about cleansing so, yes, I say again--do not let Satan make you think it to be a myth or that it does not belong to you at this precise instant of time. The reality and present character of Divine blessings is a point never to be forgotten. Today you are justified. You are altogether without a blot in God's sight as He sees you in His dear Son. You are without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing as you stand in Jesus. And then at this hour you are anointed to priesthood by the Holy Spirit. Let not Satan tell you that you are not so called and qualified, for as a child of God you are, indeed, a partaker of the Holy Spirit. Go to your knees in prayer as an anointed priest. Go to your Sunday school this afternoon, or street preaching, or whatever else may be your form of ministry--go to it as having an unction from God, an anointing to do the work which the Lord has appointed you to do. In the double blessedness of cleansing as a washed sinner and qualification as an anointed one, rejoice in the Lord your God! But, my dear Brethren, our heavenly Father stops nowhere when He once begins to lavish forth His mercy! He abounds in His loving kindnesses, and therefore I ask your attention to the next covenant mercy--He clothes His people. The Holy Spirit in this passage seems to have exhausted human imagery in order to set forth the sumptuous apparel in which God has been pleased to clothe His people. Four modes of description are used. First, it is said, "I clothed you also with embroidered work." This was the work which was worked by the needles of the well-skilled women of Israel--most delicate and cunning work. Garments intended for glory and beauty, such as the priests' vestments, were made by dexterous fingers long accustomed to the needle. Now, when I read that God clothes His people with embroidered work, it teaches me that the righteousness with which God covers His people is a work of labor, of skill, of care, of thought--not merely labor (though our Lord Jesus Christ labored well, a very Hercules was He in toil), not rough labor, thoughtless, and unskilled--not the labor of the hammer, but of the needle in a fair and well-trained hand. The wisdom of our God was exercised about the way of justifying a sinner! Great thoughts of Jehovah went out about the methods of making unrighteous ones righteous, and causing the unjust to become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Each stitch of embroidery demands its thought. Each motion of the needle is a matter of care and anxiety. So in every part of the Covenant of Grace, Divine thoughts were abundantly exercised. See how resplendently God's attributes are all seen in the way of justification! In the robe with which Christ has covered us it is impossible to say which of the Divine attributes are most to be seen. There is His justice, for all that the Law demands it receives in the sacrifice of Jesus. His mercy is equally manifest, for He passes by transgression, iniquity, and sin. There is His power sustaining the Savior, while, at the same time He smites Him. There is His wrath boiling forth against iniquity, and His love resplendent like a fair jewel in the midst of it all. It is an embroidered work. Stitch within stitch, with many a cunning twist and wise device and dainty piece of curious work. Angels have looked at it and they never saw such embroidered work before! And you and I regard it and we glory that it is matchless! In Heaven as we shall examine it, thread by thread and stitch by stitch, we shall burst forth into fresh songs of adoring praise and say, "Indeed, most gracious God, You have clothed us with embroidered work! What sumptuous apparel! What skill! What wisdom! What power! What Grace are blended in the robe of righteousness with which God has covered His people! Child of God, you are wearing it today, and if Jacob puts on Joseph a garment of many colors because he loved him better than his brothers, stand up and think what a garment your heavenly Father has put on you because He loves you so much! A garment of embroidered work has He put upon you this day because He loves you more than angels, and more than archangels--for unto none of these did He ever say-- "'Yes, I clothed you with embroidered work.' How far the heavenly robe exceeds, What earthly princes wear! These ornaments, how bright they shine! How white the garments are! Strangely, my Soul, are you arrayed By the great Sacred Three! In sweetest harmony of praise Let all your powers agree." Then comes the next thought, "and shod you with badgers' skin." It would be impossible, at this remote period, to guess what animal is referred to here--certainly not the animal we call a badger, but some creature found, I suppose, abundantly in the wilderness. It probably had spotted skin, which skin was afterwards dyed a deep purple and used for leather. Badgers' skins were used, whatever they were, for the covering of the ark and tabernacle in the wilderness. I suppose the leather made of these skins to have been the softest, best, and most durable to be found, and that the meaning of the passage is just this--"I shod you with the best that was to be had." We know that the Jewish women were accustomed to wear shoes made with very delicate leather dyed with a deep purple color. This, of course, was for daintiness and luxury and it is mentioned to show the great riches of the Jewish people, and the luxuries with which God had endowed them. I use the term spiritually thus, today, and bid you mark the riches of the Lord's people. Moreover, behold the durability of that righteousness which God has given to us. We have to pass through a wilderness of briers and thorns and our shoes are fit for it. Our Jesus has not given us an embroidered robe for show only, but He has provided us garments which will bear the wear and toil of the pilgrimage to the skies. He has shod us right well. Sometimes He tells us that our shoes shall be as iron and brass and that as our days are, so shall our strength be. Paul tells us of the preparation of the Gospel of peace with which our feet are to be shod, and now here, the text says, "I shod you with badgers' skin." Believer, you have the best Grace, the best righteousness, the best assistance that you can possibly imagine in order to bring you safely to the right hand of God at the last! Jesus' righteousness is such that, let you tread the desert through, up to the remotest age, still that righteousness shall not be worn out for it is an everlasting righteousness-- "This spotless robe the same appears When ruined nature sinks in years. Nor age can change its glorious hue, The robe of Christ is ever new." The figure, then, changes again. The text says, "I girded you about with fine linen." May I stop a moment and say to every Believer to try to feel, now by the exercise of faith, that you have this embroidered robe upon you at this moment and that these shoes are on your feet at this instant. Believe in the gifts which the Covenant of Grace secures you, and in Jesus Christ who is made of God unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. But to return to the word itself, "I girded you with fine linen." That is to set forth the purity of the righteousness which God gives to us-- linen, white and fair--fine linen, the best and most expensive fabric such as was worn by the priests alone. Child of God, you have on at this very moment, in the sight of God, the righteousness which is of God by faith and this is so pure that God Himself sees no spot in it! It is so precious that if Heaven and earth were sold, such a dress as you wear could not be bought with the price. You are this day arrayed as a priest--you are a priest to offer prayer and praise, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Now, do not forget this, or treat it as if I were talking mere poetry or fiction. It is so. I speak a sober fact most true and sure to faith. You do at this moment wear the priestly apparel, for you are made of God a priest and a king. Then the last figure is, "I covered you with silk." One scarcely knows what the Prophet here refers to, as silk does not appear to have been used in his time, but something as near to our modern silk, I suppose, as possible. And this was a royal fabric, soft and delicate, but rarely seen and only found in imperial courts. "I covered you with silk." This may represent the splendor of the saints when they appear in the robes of Christ. An angel, I suppose, must be a glorious sight. But though you would be dazzled at the sight of an angel, you would not be half so much surprised as an angel would at the sight of you as you stand arrayed in the righteousness of Christ! I have never read that God is admired in the angels, but I do read that Jesus Christ is to be admired in all them that believe. The glory of the Believer is to be such that even angels, who have been used to supernal splendor, shall be amazed as they look upon the redeemed when covered with the righteousness of Christ! If you but spell this word Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness! If you are but to be robed about with the merit of the Redeemer, then I tell you that Heaven shall have no courtier before God's Throne more sumptuously arrayed than you!-- "With your Savior's garment on, You are holy as the Holy One" Thus in the four expressions which indicate skill and care, durability and use, purity and priesthood, delicacy and royalty we have wrapped up a mass of most precious thought--may our minds be on the alert for the working out of the thought! How grateful ought we to be to our good God for such distinguished love! But this is not all. He who washes us, anoints us, and clothes us then adorns us. Observe how the Holy Spirit, again, seems to labor for expression to set out the ornaments which God has put upon His people, which ornaments, I suppose, represent the Graces of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit in the regenerate man. I will not detain you an unnecessary minute over them, but ask you to look at each one with your Bibles open. "I put bracelets upon your hands." The Believer being saved becomes a worker, and when he works with the bracelets of faith and love upon his hands, how fair a worker he becomes! And, Christian, you have this honor. You work for God, trusting in God. You work for God, loving God--having no motive to constrain you but that of disinterested affection. You have these bracelets upon your hands. "And a chain on your neck." And what is this but the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit? That neck which once would not bend--a stiff neck, a rebellions neck with a proud obstinate iron sinew--bows itself before the Lord and wears the easy yoke of Christ. Blessed are they to whom God has given this golden chain made of many links of humble gratitude--a meek and quiet spirit! This, also, has God given to the Believer. If you have lost it, bemoan yourself--but certainly it is one of His gifts and, as one of His Beloved, He has bestowed it upon you. Then He speaks of a jewel upon the forehead, or as some read it, "the nose-jewel," for it was common with the Eastern women to wear a large golden ring or bow in the nose. Or the text may refer to a jewel which dangled from the hair upon the brow. Now every Believer has this when he is in his right state--this forehead jewel of an open confession of his Lord--this forehead jewel of a holy boldness, a conscience that gives an answer for itself, meekly, but yet without fear of men. Every Believer has that dauntless courage which could beard the lion in its den for Christ--could rush through perils and through toils for Jesus--this forehead jewel God has been given to some of us, at any rate. May we always wear it. This is one of the brightest ornaments of Christians before men. When it is compared with the other ornaments it is one of the noblest that a Christian spirit can wear. Nor is the list exhausted. "I put earrings in your ears." And there are no earrings more precious than these two which I will let you see. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." That is the best earring to wear in all the world, "My sheep hear My voice." God has given His people the earring of discernment, "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." The other is the earring of affection, by which, hearing the voice of Jesus, they know His voice and at once arise and with cheerfulness follow Him. Yes, these are the ornaments of the Christian! And then it is added, "And I put a beautiful crown upon your head." God will not stop halfway. His people shall wear the best of the best and all of the best. He will adorn their feet with shoes of badgers' skin and He will crown their head with a diadem of beauty. Now, heir of salvation, you are this day one of God's princes! You may be very poor. You may feel very low spirited. You may have all sorts of troubles to fight with, but you are down in the red roll of the princes of the blood--you belong to Heaven's true aristocracy! Be you who you may, if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ you are not knighted, nor made a baron, or a peer, but you are actually taken into the royal family itself! You are a king, and you shall reign with Jesus Christ forever and ever! "To him that overcomes will I give to sit upon My throne, even as I have overcome and am set down with My Father upon His Throne." See your dignity, Christian. I say nothing to make you proud, but I would say much to make you glad in the Lord and to make you rejoice in the mercies which He has given you! There is nothing which you could wish for, when in your spiritual senses, which you do not already possess. All your capacious powers can wish is given you in the Covenant of Grace. If imagination should take her utmost stretch and fly upon the wings of the morning to the uttermost ends of all conception, yet could she not compass nor dream of what God has prepared for them that love Him! Only the Spirit can reveal to you these depths of mercy, these treasures of loving kindness, these mountains of mercy, these hills of frankincense! You are rich to all the intents of bliss! You are rich to the full measure of Heaven and earth for all that that Covenant can give is yours today by "Promises which are yes, and amen, in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us." I am a poor speaker on such a theme as this, and though I have tried to entice you so far as I can into this river of Divine goodness, I have only led you up to your ankles. God's Spirit could take you far deeper, for all the mercies you have received are only just the beginnings of what are coming! Well did we sing just now-- "Glory to God for all the Grace I have not tasted yet." That is the larger part of the Grace--the Grace to come. The present is good, oh, how good! But the future is better, ah, how much better! Beyond the river there comes the best of all. Our wine does not grow weaker towards the end of the feast--He has kept the best wine until the last. And, oh, what will it be to drink at the table of the King Eternal, draughts of His blessed love, in the place where sin and trouble shall never come to intervene and break our peace? O Brothers and Sisters, wait awhile--your day shall come and your enemies shall be beneath your feet, and Satan shall be trampled there--and you-- "Far from a world of grief and sin With God eternally shut in," shall know what God has done, and forever has intended to do for His beloved ones! II. Thus have I, as well as I could, set before you food for contemplation. Now, I want to DRAW TWO OR THREE REFLECTIONS FROM THIS and we will have done. The first is this--sitting down before the Lord in quiet this afternoon, reading this passage, turning over sentence by sentence, I think the emotion of the soul would express itself in words like these--"And what am I? And what is my father's house that You have brought me here? And why this to me? Why me, Lord? Me?" Depreciate Divine mercies and you will not marvel that you receive them--appreciate them at their proper estimate and you will wonder and weep, and wonder and love, and wonder and adore that ever such an unworthy thing as you should be so singularly favored! I will not linger over the reflection--that is for your closet rather than for my pulpit. But the next one is this--What a wretched return have we made to God for these amazing benefits bestowed! There are some parts of the earth where the soil is so fruitful, that to quote the language of a certain writer, you have but to tickle it with the hoe and it laughs with plenty. But there are other soils where you must plow and plow, and plow, and fertilize and use all arts to get but handfuls, after all. Surely these last soils are very like ourselves. God has done great things for us and we have done little things for God. I took up on the Alp side a glistening stone one day and I noticed that the whole heap of stones which had been broken up for mending the roads was like the one which I took up--and in it there were sparkling pieces of gold! Everyone could see that there was gold in the stone and we asked the geologist if it were not so. Yes, all the stones with which they mend the road had gold in them! Well, but why not extract the gold? Because it was in such miserably small quantities that it would never have paid for the extraction. Really, this is very much like ourselves. If there are some good thing in us, it is in such small quantities and seems to be imbedded in such hard quartz, that God's great machinery of Divine Grace seems to be a waste of power, if I may so speak, when we compare the results in us with the effort which God puts forth towards us. I know there is no waste and in the end He will show that the means were only commensurate with the result. But so far as we now go, and can see of it, think of Christ sweating the great sweat of blood! Think of Him afterwards going up and yielding Himself to die the death on the Cross--the Incarnate God dying for the sins of men! And the result of it is--what? A member of a Church, a wealthy man, who, when there is a collection, gives a four-penny piece. Did you ever see such a step from the sublime to the ridiculous as that? And yet it is so. Yes, and then take the best--the best of us. You smile because I put it in that shape, but conceive God Himself coming here on earth, bleeding and dying, and the most earnest man is the result. There is still a fall, a wretched, miserable fall from what God did down to what the most earnest of us can do for Him! This is a thing to be bemoaned and to be grieved over! For such is the debt we owe to God that if we spend all the strength we have morning, noon and night, and wear ourselves out in the Master's service--and had 50 such lives to give and ended them all at the stake--yet still the sacrifice were as nothing compared to what is due to the infinite majesty of the love of God! I lead you to a reflection which is more sad than this, and that reflection is, How base, then, in the light of this amazing mercy does our sin appear! I have read of one who was extremely poor and who was helped by a Christian man--helped again and again, and yet when the officers were out searching after the Protestant Christian, the man, to betray him for the sake of the reward, was the neighbor who had constantly eaten at his table and who had been helped by his charity! This was brutal, that he who was so much under obligation should yet become a traitor! And yet it was only a neighbor. Your case is worse, Believer, for you are a friend and more--you profess to be a child of God, to be in union with Christ--and yet have you been a traitor to Jesus! O sweet Lord of my heart, and monarch of my soul, with precious blood You have sealed me as Your own. And fool that I am, that I should cast my eyes on other beauties, beauties did I call them?--other shams, other painted Jezebels! Wretch that I am to wander thus in search of vain delights, to seek after earthly joys, to set my soul on earthly loves and let my Lord and Savior go! O you virgin souls that follow the Lamb wherever He goes, may you never wander from your spiritual chastity as some of us have done. O you whose delights are with Him still, who in the garden of nuts and among the beds of spices have beheld His face and seen those eyes which are like the fishponds of Heshbon by the walls of Bath-rabbim--you that have been enchanted with His Presence--cling to His garment! Keep His company and let no enchantment of the world induce you to desert Him! But we, O what shall we do? Though like Peter we have denied Him, yet like Peter we can say, "You know all things, You know that I love You." Jesus, believe not our words, but believe our actions this morning. Look not askance upon us because of our ill manners! Forget the past and clasp us to Your breast anew. Into Your precious blood cast the multitude of our offenses and forgive us freely and graciously. Once again let the flames of Your love flash into our hearts till our hearts, also, grow warm, and then never, never let them become chilled again! Let us be fastened to the Cross, bound with cords even to the horns of the altar that we may be Yours in full fellowship, sweet service and growing conformity all the days of our life! Now, Beloved, the practical result, if what I have said is carried out, will be most blessed. But to push it home I would ask, what is there that any of us can do this morning for Christ? Since we have received so much, what can we give in return this morning? It shall be that some of you will say, "He shall have the sweet cane which I have bought with money, and the fat of my sacrifices. If I cannot speak for Him, I will give to Him. I will let Him see that I love Him, for like the holy women, I will minister unto Him of my substance." Others of you will say, "I cannot do that, but I will speak a good word for Him this day. I will go to the school, or to the street, or to the Prayer Meeting, or to the Bible class and I will try to speak to someone about his soul. If I may but paint my Master in lovely hues so that one heart shall be enchanted with Him, I hope He will accept what I shall try to do." Now make that a resolution, that this day something shall be done by you for Christ. And another will say, "Alas! I cannot speak, I shall have no opportunity, but I will get me to my chamber and I will there speak with God on Christ's behalf, and I will not let Him go except He bless me, and the Church, and all the cause and kingdom of my Lord." Ah, Beloved, Christ will take of you anything that comes from your heart, whatever the gift may be! However feeble, and weak, and insignificant it may seem to others, it shall be rich and comely to Him if it comes from your heart. You owe all to Him. What will you render to Him? What will you do more than others? Do it not to earn anything, or seek a reward, but because He has loved you--love Him and serve Him in return! God give you to give the ready answer and the acceptable answer, and may He accept it, for Jesus' sake. I wish, this morning, you all had a share in these mercies. Some of you have not. The mercy is that the door is not shut. "Whoever believes on the Son of God has everlasting life." Trust Jesus, and you shall be saved!-- "Come naked, and adorn your souls In robes prepared by God, Worked by the labors of His Son, And dyed in His own blood. Great God, the treasures of Your love Are everlasting mines, Deep as our helpless miseries are, And boundless as our sins. The happy gates of Gospel Grace Stand open night and day, Lord, we are come to seek supplies, And drive our needs away." __________________________________________________________________ Life by Faith A Sermon (No. 814) Delivered on Sunday Morning, June 7, 1868, by C. H. SPURGEON, at the [24]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "The just shall live by faith." Galatians 3:11. THE Apostle quotes from the Old Testament, from the second chapter of Habakkuk, at the fourth verse, and thus confirms one Inspired statement by another. Even the just are not justified by their own righteousness, but live by faith. It follows, then, most conclusively, that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God. If the best of men find no justification coming to them through their personal virtues but stand accepted only by faith, how much more such imperfect beings, such frequent sinners as ourselves? Men who are saved by faith become just. The operation of faith upon the human heart is to produce love, and through love, obedience, and obedience to the Divine Law is but another name for morality, or, what is the diviner form of it, holiness! And wherever this holiness exists we may make sure that the holiness is not the cause of spiritual life and safety, but faith is still the wellspring of all. You saw, a few weeks ago, the hawthorn covered with a delicious luxuriance of snow-white flowers, loading the air with fragrance. Now no one among the admiring gazers supposed that those sweet May blossoms caused the hawthorn to live. After awhile you noticed the horse chestnut adorned with its enchanting pyramids of flowers, but none among you foolishly supposed that the horse chestnut was sustained and created by its bloom--you rightly conceived these forms of beauty to be the products of life and not the cause of it. You have here, in nature's emblems, the true doctrine of the inner life. Holiness is the flower of the new nature. It is inexpressibly lovely and infinitely desirable--no, it must be produced in its season or we may justly doubt the genuineness of a man's profession--but the fair Graces of holiness do not save, or give spiritual life, or maintain it-- these are rills from the fount, and not the fountain itself. The most athletic man in the world does not live by being athletic, but is athletic because he lives and has been trained to a perfection of animal vigor. The most enterprising merchant holds his personal property not on account of his character or merit, but because of his civil rights as a citizen. A man may cultivate his land up to the highest point of production, but his right to his land does not depend upon the mode of culture, but rather upon his title deeds. So the Christian man should aim after the highest degree of spiritual culture and of heavenly perfection, and yet his salvation, as to its justness and security, depends not on his attainments, but rests upon his faith in a crucified Redeemer, as it is written in the text, "The just shall live by faith." Faith is the fruitful root, the inward channel of sap, the great life-Grace in every branch of the vine. In considering the text, this morning, we shall use it, perhaps somewhat apart from the connection in which it stands, and yet not apart from the mind of the Spirit, nor apart from the intention of the Apostle, if not here, yet in other places. I. In the first place, IN THE PUREST SPIRITUAL SENSE IT IS TRUE THAT THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. It is through faith that a man becomes just, for otherwise, before the Law of God he is convicted of being unjust--being justified by faith he is enrolled among the just ones. It is through faith that he is at first quickened and breathes the air of Heaven, for naturally he was dead in trespasses and sins. Faith is the first sure sign of the spiritual life within the human breast. He repents of sin and looks to Jesus because he believes the testimony of God's Son--and he believes that testimony because he has received a new life. He depends upon the atoning blood of Jesus because his heart has received the power to do so by the Holy Spirit's gift of spiritual life. Ever afterwards you shall judge of the vigor of the man's inner life by the state of his faith--if his faith grows exceedingly, then his life, also, is increasing in power. If his faith diminishes, then depend upon it, the vital spark burns low. Let faith ebb out and the life-floods are ebbing too. Let faith roll in with a mighty sweep, in a floodtide of full assurance, then the secret life-floods within the man are rising and filling the man with sacred energy. Were it possible for faith to die, the spirit-life must die, too. And it is very much because faith is imperishable that the new life is incorruptible. You shall find men only live before God as they believe in God and rest in the merit of His dear Son. And in proportion as they do this you shall find they live in closer fellowship with Heaven. Great saints must be great Believers--Little-Faith never can be a matured saint. Observe that this truth proves itself in all the characteristics of spiritual life. The nobility of the inner life--who has not noticed it? A man whose life is hid with Christ in God is one of the aristocrats of this world. He who knows nothing of the inner life is but little above a mere animal, and is by no means comparable to the sons of God--to whom is given the royal priesthood, the saintly inheritance. In proportion as the spiritual life is developed the man grows in dignity, becoming more like the Prince of Glory, yet the very root and source of the dignity of the holy life lies in faith. Take an instance. The life of Abraham is remarkable for its placid nobility. The man appears at no time to be disturbed. Surrounded by robber bands he dwells in his tent as quietly as in a walled city. Abraham walked with God and does not seem to have quickened or slackened his pace. He maintained a serene, obedient walk, never hastening through fear, nor loitering through sloth. He kept sweet company with his God--and what a noble life was his! The father of the faithful was second to no character in history! He was a kingly man, yes, a conqueror of kings and greater than they. How calm is his usual life! Lot, following his carnal prudence, is robbed in Sodom and at last loses all--Abraham following his faith abides as a pilgrim, and is safe. Lot is carried away captive out of a city, but Abraham remains securely in a tent, because he cast himself on God. When does Abraham fail? When does that mighty eagle suddenly drop as with wounded wing? It is when the arrow of unbelief has pierced him--he begins to tremble for Sarah, his wife. She is fair--perhaps the Philistine king will take her from him. Then, in an unbelieving moment, he says, "She is my sister." Ah, Abraham, where is your nobility now? The man who so calmly and confidently walked with God while he believed, degrades himself to utter the thing that is not, and so falls to the common level of falsehood. Even so will you. So shall each of us--strong or weak, noble or fallen--according to our faith. Walking confidently with God and leaning upon the everlasting arm you shall be as a celestial prince surrounded by ministering spirits. Your life shall be happy and holy, and glorious before the Lord! But the moment you distrust your God you will be tempted to follow degrading methods of evil policy and you will pierce yourself through with many sorrows. As the dignity, so the energy of the spiritual life depends upon faith. Spiritual life, when sound, is exceedingly energetic. It can do all things. Take the Apostles, as an instance, and see how over sea and land, under persecutions and sufferings they nevertheless pressed forward in the Holy War and declared Christ throughout all nations. Wherever the spiritual life fairly pervades man, it is a force which cannot be bound, fettered, or kept under--it is a holy fury, a sacred fire in the bones. Rules, and customs, and proprieties it snaps as fire snaps bonds of tinder. But its energy depends upon God the Holy Spirit--entirely upon the existence and power offaith. Let a man be troubled with doubts as to the religion which he has espoused, or concerning his own interest in the privileges which that religion bestows and you will soon find that all the energy of his spiritual life is gone--he will have little more than a name to live--practically he will be powerless. Take Abraham again. Abraham finds that certain kings from the east have pounced upon the cities of the plain. He cares very little for Sodom or Gomorrah, but among the prisoners his nephew, Lot, has been carried away. Now he has a great affection for his kinsman and resolves to do his duty and rescue him. Without stopping to enquire whether his little band was sufficient, he relies entirely upon the Lord his God--and with his servants and neighbors hastens after the spoilers, nothing doubting, but expecting aid from the Most High God. That day did Jehovah, who raised up the righteous man from the east, give his enemies to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow--and the Patriarch returned from the slaughter of the kings laden with the spoil. He could not but fight while he believed. It was impossible for him to sit still and yet believe in God! But if he had not believed, then had he said, "The matter must go by default. It is a sorrowful misfortune, but my nephew, Lot, must hear it--perhaps God's Providence will interpose for him." Faith believes in Providence, but she is full of activity and her activity, excited by reliance upon Providence leads like wheel within a wheel to the fulfillment of the Providential decree. My Brethren, it is necessary for us to believe much in God or we shall do but little for Him. Believe that God is with you and you will have an insatiable ambition to extend the Savior's kingdom! Believe in the power of the Truth of God, and in the power of the Holy Spirit who goes with the Truth, and you will not be content with the paltry schemes of modern Christendom--you will glow and burn with a seraph's ardor, longing and desiring even to do more than you can do--and practically carrying out with your utmost ability what your heart desires for the glory of the Lord! Further, it is quite certain that all the joy of the spiritual life depends upon faith. You all know that the moment your faith ceases to hang simply upon Jesus, or even if it suffers a little check, your joy evaporates. Joy is a welcome angel but it will not tarry where faith does not entertain it. Spiritual joy is a bird of paradise which will build its nest only among the boughs of faith. Faith must pipe, or joy will not dance. Unbelieving Jacob finds his days few and evil but believing Abraham dies an old man and full of years. If you would anoint your head and wash your face--and put away the ashes and the sackcloth--you must trust more firmly in the faithfulness of the Lord your God. Doubts and fears never could strike so much as a spark with which to light the smallest candle to cheer a Christian. But simple trust in Jesus makes the sun to rise in his strength with healing beneath his wings--even upon those that sit in the valley of the shadow of death. In proportion as you lean on Christ-- in that proportion shall life's burden grow light, Heaven's joys grow real, and your whole being more elevated! I might thus continue to mention each point in the secret life, but I rather choose to proceed in order to observe only that all our growth in the spiritual life depends upon our faith. True life must grow in its season. You can tell the difference between two stakes which are driven into the ground--the one may happen to have life in it, and if so, before long it sprouts--while the dead one is unchanged. So with the Christian. If he is living he will grow. He must make advances. It is not possible for the Christian to sit still and remain in the same state month after month. If he is to increase in spiritual riches he must of necessity exert a constant and increasing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter cannot walk the waters except he believes--doubting does not help him--it sinks him. I fear that some of my Brothers and Sisters try to grow in spiritual life by adopting methods which are not of faith. Some think that they will set themselves rules of self-denial or extra devotion--these plans are lawful but they are not in themselves effective--for vows may be observed mechanically, and rules obeyed formally and yet the heart may be drifting away yet further from the Lord. Yes, these vows and rules may be a means of deluding us into the vain belief that all is well, whereas we are nearing spiritual shipwreck. I have found in my own spiritual life that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit. The habit of regular morning and evening prayer is one which is indispensable to a Believer's life, but the prescribing of the length of prayer and the constrained remembrance of so many persons and subjects may gender unto bondage and strangle prayer rather than assist it. To say I will humble myself at such a time, and rejoice at such another season is nearly as much an affectation as when the preacher wrote in the margin of his sermon, "cry here," "smile here." Why, if the man preached his sermon rightly he would be sure to cry in the right place, and to smile at a suitable moment! And when the spiritual life is sound, it produces prayer at the right time--and humiliation of soul and sacred joy spring forth spontaneously--apart from rules and vows. The kind of religion which makes itself to order by the almanac and turns out its emotions like bricks from a machine--weeping on Good Friday and rejoicing two days afterwards, measuring its motions by the moon-- is too artificial to be worthy of your imitation! The liberty of the spiritual life is a grand thing and where that liberty is maintained constantly, and the energy is kept up, you will need much faith for the fading of faith will be the withering of devotion, liberty will degenerate into license and the energy of your life will drivel into confidence in yourself. Let who will, bind himself with rules and regulations in order to (as he may think) advance himself in Divine Grace--be it ours, like Abraham, to believe God and it shall be counted us for righteousness--and like Paul to run the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Faith enriches the soil of the heart. Faith fills our treasuries with the choicest gold and loads our tables with the daintiest food for our souls. By faith we shall do valiantly, stopping lions' mouths and quenching violent flames. Faith in Jesus, the Savior, faith in the heavenly Father, faith in the Holy Spirit--this we must have or we perish like foam upon the waters. As the other side of all this, let me notice that some Christians appear to try to live by experience. If they feel happy today they say they are saved. But if they feel unhappy tomorrow they conclude that they are lost. If they feel at one moment a deep and profound calm overspreading their spirits, then are they greatly elevated. But if the winds blow and the waves beat high, then they suppose that they are none of the Lord's people. Ah, miserable state of suspense! To live by feeling is a dying life! You know not where you are, nor what you are if your feelings are to be the barometer of your spiritual condition. Beloved, a simple faith in Christ will enable you to remain calm even when your feelings are the reverse of happy--to remain confident when your emotions are far from ecstatic. If, indeed, we are saved by Jesus Christ, then the foundation of our salvation does not lie within us but in that crucified Man who now reigns in Glory! When He changes, ah, then what changes must occur to us! But since He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why need we be so soon removed from our steadfastness? Believe in Jesus, dear Heart, when you can not find a spark of Divine Grace within yourself! Cast yourself as a sinner into the Savior's arms when you can not think a good thought, nor uplift a good desire! When your soul feels like a barren wilderness that yields not so much as one green blade of hope, or joy, or love--still look up to the great Farmer who can turn the desert into a garden! Have confident faith in Jesus at all times, for if you believe in Him you are saved and cannot be condemned! However good or bad your state, this shall not affect the question--you believe, therefore you shall be saved! Give up living from hand to mouth in that poor miserable way of frames and feelings, and wait only upon the Lord from whom comes your salvation. Many professors are even worse--they try to live by experiments. I am afraid a great many among Dissenters are of that kind. They must have a revival meeting once a week at least! If they do not get a grand display quite so often, they begin to fall dreadfully back and crave an exciting meeting, as drunkards long for spirits. It is a poor spiritual life which hangs on eloquent sermons and such like stimulants! These may be good things and comforting things--be thankful for them--but I pray you, do not let your spiritual life depend upon them! It is very much as though a man should, according to Scriptural language, feed on the wind and snuff up the east wind--for your faith is not to stand in the wisdom of man, nor in the excellency of human speech, nor in the earnestness of your fellow Christians--but in your simple faith in Him who is, and was, and is to come, who is the Savior of sinners! A genuine faith in Christ will enable you to live happily even if you are denied the means of Divine Grace. A genuine faith in Christ will make you rejoice on board ship, keep Sabbath on a sick bed, and make your dwelling a temple even if yours is but a log hut in the far West, or a shanty in the bush of Australia. Only have faith, and you need not look to these excitements any more than the mountains look to the summer's sun for their stability. Shall I need further to say, by way of caution, that I am afraid many professors live anyway? I know not how otherwise to describe it! They have not enough caution to look at their inward experience. They have not enough vigor to care about excitement, but they live a kind of listless, dreamy, comatose life. I mean some of you. You believe that you were saved years ago. You united yourselves to a Christian Church and were baptized, and you conclude that all is right. You have written your conversion in your spiritual trade-books as a good asset--you consider it as a very clear thing. I am afraid it is rather doubtful, still you think it sure. Since that time you have kept up the habit of prayer. You have been honest. You have subscribed to Church funds, have done your duty outwardly as a Christian--but there has been very little vitality in your godliness--it has been surface work, skin-deep consistency. You have not been grievously exercised about sin. You have not been bowed under the weight of inward corruption--neither have you been, on the other hand, exhilarated by a sense of Divine love and a delightful recognition of your interest in it. You have gone on dreamily, as I have heard of soldiers marching when they were asleep. O for a thunderbolt to wake you, for this is dangerous living! Of all modes of living, if you are a Christian, this is one of the most perilous! And if you are not a Christian, it is one of the most seductive--for while the outward sinner may be got at by the preaching of the Gospel, you are almost beyond the reach of Gospel ministry--because you will not admit that warnings are meant for you. You wrap yourselves up and say, "It is well with me," while you are really naked, and poor, and miserable in the sight of God. Oh, if you could but get back to live by faith! II. Secondly, "the just shall live by faith"--this means that FAITH IS OPERATIVE IN OUR DAILY LIFE. It is operative in many ways, but three observations will suffice. Faith is the great sustaining energy with the just man under all his trials, difficulties, sufferings, or labors. It is a notion with some that true religion is meant to be kept shut up in Churches and Chapels as a proper thing for Sundays, which ought to be attended to, since a man is not respectable if he does not take a pew somewhere, even if he does not need sit in it, or, sitting in it, pays no more attention to the word preached than to a ballad singer in the street. There is a decent show of religion which people, as a rule, must keep up or they cannot be received into polite society. But the idea of bringing religion down to the breakfast table, introducing it to the drawing-room, taking it into the kitchen, keeping it on hand in the shop, in the workshop, or the corn exchange, carrying it out to sea in your vessel--this is thought by some to be sheer fanaticism! And yet if there is anything taught by the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is just this--that religion is a matter of common, everyday life--and no man understands the Christian religion at all unless he has fully accepted it as not a thing for Sundays and for certain places and certain times, but for all places and all times, and all conditions and all forms of life. An active, operative faith is by the Holy Spirit implanted in the Christian and it is sent to him on purpose to sustain him under trial. I shall put this to some of you as a test by which you may try whether you have obtained the faith of God's elect. You have lost a large sum of money--well, are you distracted and bewildered? Do you almost lose your senses? Do you murmur against God? Then I ask you what are you better than the man who has no religion at all? Are you not an unbeliever? If you believed that all things work together for your good, would you be so rebellious? Yet that is God's own declaration! Now is the time when your faith in God should enable you to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." What do you more than others unless you can thus speak with submission and resignation--yes, even with cheerfulness? Where is your new nature if you cannot say, "It is the Lord, let Him do as seems good to Him"? By this shall you test whether you have faith or not. Or it may be you have lost a darling child and that loss has cut you to the very quick. You are scarcely able to reconcile yourself at present to it. Yet I trust you do not so repine as to accuse your God of cruelty, but I trust your faith helps you to say, "I shall go to him, though he shall not return to me. I would not have it other than my heavenly Father has determined." Here will be a crucible for your faith! Those two instances may serve as specimens. In all positions of life a real faith is to the Believer like the hair of Samson in which his great strength lies. It is his Moses' rod dividing seas of difficulty, his Elijah's chariot in which he mounts above the earth! So, too, in difficult labors, for instance, in labors for Christ's cause, a man who feels it his duty to do good in his neighborhood yet may say, "I do not know what I can do. I am afraid to commence so great a matter, for I feel so unfit, and so feeble." My dear Friend, if it is your duty to do it, your not being able to do it cannot excuse you because you have only to go and tell your heavenly Father of your weakness and ask for strength, and He will give it liberally. Some of us who can now speak with ease were once very diffident in public. Those preachers who are now most useful were poor stammer's before their gifts were developed. And those who are our best teachers and most successful soul-winners were not always so. But they had faith and they pressed forward, and God helped them. Now, if your religion is not worth an old song you will not persevere in holy work. But if it is real and true you will press forward through all difficulties, feeling it to be an essential of your very existence that you should promote the Redeemer's cause. I would quite as soon not be, as live to be a useless thing. Better, far, to fatten the fields with one's corpse than to lie rotting above ground in idleness. To be a soldier in Immanuel's ranks, and never fight, never carry a burden, nor uphold a banner, nor hurl a dart--yes, better that the dogs should eat my worthless carrion than that such should be the case! Feeling this, then, you will press forward with the little power you have and new power will come upon you--and so you will prove that your faith is sincere because it comes to your support in the ordinary work of Christian life. Under all difficulties and labors, then, the just shall live by faith. Furthermore, faith in ordinary life has an effect upon the dispensations of Divine Providence. It is a riddle which we cannot explain how everything is eternally fixed by Divine purpose, and yet the prayer of faith moves the arm of God. Though the enigma cannot be explained, the fact is not to be denied. My Brothers and Sisters, I may be thought fanatical, but it is my firm belief that in ordinary matters, such as the obtaining of your living, the education of your children, the ruling of your household--you are to depend upon God as much as in the grand matter of the salvation of your soul! The hairs of your head are all numbered--go to God, then, about your trifles. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father--cast upon the Lord your minor trials. Never think that anything is too little for your heavenly Father's love to think upon. He who rides upon the whirlwind walks in the garden at evening in the cool breath of the zephyr! He who shakes the avalanche from its Alp also makes the sere leaf to twinkle as it falls from the aspen! He whose eternal power directs the spheres in their everlasting marches guides each grain of dust which is blown from the summer's threshing floor! Confide in Him for the little as well as for the great and you shall not find Him to fail you. Is He God of the hills only, and not the God of the valleys? "Are we to we expect miracles, then?" says one. No, but we expect the same results as are compassed by miracles. I have sometimes thought that for God to interpose by a miracle to accomplish a purpose is a somewhat clumsy method, if I may be allowed such a word. But for Him to accomplish the very same thing without interfering with the wheels of His Providence seems to me the more thoroughly God-like method. If I were hungry today and God had promised to feed me, it would be as much a fulfillment of His promise if my friend here brought my food unexpectedly as if the ravens brought it! And the bringing of it by ordinary means would all the better prove that God was there--not interrupting the machinery of Providence--but making it to educe the end which He designed. God will not turn stones into bread for you, but perhaps He will give you stones to break and you will thus earn your bread. God may not rain manna out of Heaven and yet every shower of rain falling upon your garden brings you bread. It will be the better for you to earn your food than to have it brought by ravens, or better that Christian charity should make you its care than that an inexhaustible barrel and cruse should be placed in your cupboard. Anyhow, your bread shall be given you and your water shall be sure. My witness is, and I speak it for the honor of God, that God is a good provider! I have been cast upon the Providence of God ever since I left my father's house, and in all cases He has been my Shepherd, and I have known no lack. My first income as a Christian minister was small enough in all conscience, never exceeding 40 pounds, yet I was as rich then as I am now, for I had enough! And I had no more cares, no, not half as many, then, as I have now! And when I breathed my prayer to God then, as I do now, for all things temporal and spiritual, I found Him ready to answer me at every pinch-- and pinches I have had full many. Many a monetary trial since then have I had in connection with the college work which depends for funds upon the Lord's moving His people to liberality. My faith has been often tried, but God has always been faithful and sent supplies in hours of need. If any should tell me that prayer to God was a mere piece of excitement and that the idea of God's answering human cries is absurd, I should laugh the statement to scorn, for my experience is not that of one or two singular instances--but that of hundreds of cases in which the Lord's interposition for the necessities of His work has been as manifest as if He had rent the clouds and thrust forth His own naked arm and bounteous hand to supply the needs of His servant. This, my testimony, is but the echo of the witness of the Lord's people everywhere. When they look back they will tell you that God is good to Israel and that when they have walked by faith they have never found that God has failed them. The Red Sea of trouble has been divided! The waters have stood upright as a heap, and the depths have been congealed in the heart of the sea! As for their doubts and their difficulties, like the Egyptians the depths have covered them, there has not been one of them left. And standing on the further shore to look back upon the past, the redeemed of the Lord have shouted aloud, "Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously," for faith has conquered all their difficulties and brought supplies for all their needs. Do not let me be misunderstood, however. Faith is never to be regarded as a premium for idleness. If I sit down and fold my arms, and say, "The Lord will provide," He will most likely provide me a summons to the County Court and a place in the parish workhouse. God has never given any promise to idle people that He will provide for them, and therefore they have no right to believe that He will. To trust in God to make up for our laziness is not faith, but wicked presumption. Neither does the power of faith afford ground for fanaticism. I have no right to say, "I should like to have so-and-so, and I will ask for it, and shall have it." God has never promised to give to us everything which our whimsies may select. If we really want any good thing we may plead the promise, "No good thing will I uphold from them that walk uprightly," but we must never dream that God will pander to our fooleries. The God of Wisdom will not be part and parcel with our mere whims. Nor is faith to be a substitute for prudence and economy. I have known some who have, to a great degree, abstained from energetic action because they feared to interfere with the Lord! This fear never perplexes me. My faith never leads me to believe that God will do for me what I can do for myself. I do not believe that the Lord works needlessly. Up to the highest pitch that my own prudence, and strength and judgment can carry me, I am to go depending upon Divine guidance. Then I stop, for I can go no further--and I plead with my Father thus--"Now, Lord, the promise reaches further than this. It is Your business to make up th