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           Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871
      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
     __________________________________________________________________

                                 Life In Christ

   A Sermon

   (No. 968)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, January 1st, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Because I live, ye shall live also."--John 14:19.

   THIS world saw our Lord Jesus for a very little time, but now it seeth
   him no more. It only saw him with the outward eye and after a carnal
   sort, so that when the clouds received him and concealed him from
   bodily vision, this spiritually blind world lost sight of him
   altogether. Here and there, however, among the crowds of the sightless
   there were a few chosen men who had received spiritual sight; Christ
   had been light to them, he had opened their blind eyes, and they had
   seen him as the world had not seen him. In a high and full sense they
   could say, "We have seen the Lord," for they had in some degree
   perceived his Godhead, discerned his mission, and learned his spiritual
   presence of its object, those persons who had seen Jesus spiritually,
   saw him after he had gone out of the world unto the Father. We who have
   the same sight still see him. Read carefully the words of the verse
   before us: "Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye
   see me." It is a distinguishing mark of a true follower of Jesus that
   he sees his Lord and Master when he is not to be seen by the bodily
   eye; he sees him intelligently and spiritually; he knows his Lord,
   discerns his character, apprehends him by faith, gazes upon him with
   admiration as our first sight of Christ brought us into spiritual life,
   for we looked unto him and were saved, so it is by the continuance of
   this spiritual sight of Christ that our spiritual life is consciously
   maintained. We lived by looking, we live still by looking. Faith is
   still the medium by which life comes to us from the life-giving Lord.
   It is not only upon the first day of the Christian's life that he must
   needs look to Jesus only, but every day of that life, even until the
   last, his motto must be, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
   of our faith." The world sees him no more, for it never saw him aright;
   but ye have seen him and lived, and now, through continuing still to
   see him, you remain in life. Let us ever remember the intimate
   connection between faith and spiritual life. Faith is the life-look. we
   must never think that we live by works, by feelings, or by ceremonies.
   "The just shall live by faith." We dare not preach to the ungodly
   sinner a way of obtaining life by the works of the law, neither dare we
   hold up to the most advanced believer a way of sustaining life by legal
   means. We should in such a case expect to hear the apostle's
   expostulation, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye
   now made perfect by the flesh?" Our glorifying is that our life is not
   dependent on ourselves, but is safe in our Lord, as saith the apostle,
   "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
   liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
   faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
   Because he lives, we live, and shall live for ever. God grant that our
   eye may ever be clear towards Jesus, our life. May we have no
   confidence but in our Redeemer; may our eyes be fixed upon him, that no
   other object may in any measure or degree shut out our view of him as
   our all in all.

   The text contains in it very much of weighty truth, far more than we
   shall be able to bring forth from it this morning. First, we see in it
   a life; secondly, that life preserved; and thirdly, the reason for the
   preservation of that life: "Because I live, ye shall live also."

   I. First, we have LIFE here spoken of.

   We must not confound this with existence. It were indeed to reduce a
   very rich text to a poverty-stricken sentence if we read it, "Because I
   exist, ye shall exist also." We could not say of such a use of words
   that the water of ordinary speech was turned to wine, but rather that
   the wine was turned to water. Before the disciples believed in Jesus
   they existed, and altogether apart from him as their spiritual life
   their existence would have been continued; it was something far other
   and higher than immortal existence which our Lord was here dealing
   with.

   Life, what is it? We know practically, but we cannot tell in words. We
   know it, however, to be a mystery of different degrees. As all flesh is
   not the same flesh, so all life is not the same life. There is the life
   of the vegetable, the cedar of Lebanon, the hyssop on the wall. There
   is a considerable advance when we come to animal life--the eagle or the
   ox. Animal life moves in quite a different world from that in which the
   plant vegetates--sensation, appetite, instinct, are things to which
   plants are dead, though they may possess some imitation of them, for
   one life mimics another. Animal life rises far above the experience and
   apprehension of the flower of the field. Then there is mental life,
   which we all of us possess, which introduces us into quite another
   realm from that which is inhabited by the mere beast. To judge, to
   foresee, to imagine, to invent, to perform moral acts, are not these
   new functions which the ox hath not? Now, let it be clear to you, that
   far above mental life there is another form of life of which the mere
   carnal man can form no more idea than the plant of the animal, or the
   animal of the poet. The carnal mind knoweth not spiritual things,
   because it has no spiritual capacities. As the beast cannot comprehend
   the pursuits of the philosopher, so the man who is but a natural man
   cannot comprehend the experience of the spiritually minded. Thus saith
   the Scripture: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
   of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
   because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
   judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." There is in
   believers a life which is not to be found in other men--nobler, diviner
   for education cannot raise the natural man into it, neither can
   refinement reach it; for at its best, "that which is born of the flesh
   is flesh," and to all must the humbling truth be spoken, "Ye must be
   born again."

   It is to be remarked concerning our life in Christ, that it is the
   removal of the penalty which fell upon our race for Adam's sin. "In the
   day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was the Lord's
   threatening to our first parent, who was the representative of the
   race. He did eat of the fruit, and since God is true, and his word
   never fails, we may be sure of this, that in that selfsame day Adam
   died. It is true that he did not cease to exist, but that is quite
   another thing from dying. The threatening was not that he should
   ultimately die, but "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
   die;" and it is beyond all doubt that the Lord kept his word to the
   letter. If the first threatening was not carried out we might take
   liberty to trifle with all others. Rest assured, then, that the threat
   was on the spot fulfilled. The spiritual life departed from Adam; he
   was no longer at one with God, no more able to live and breathe in the
   same sphere as the Lord. He fell from his first estate; he had need if
   he should enter into spiritual life to be born again, even as you and I
   must be. As he hides himself from his Maker, and uttersvain excuses
   before his God, you see that he is dead to the life of God, dead in
   trespasses and sins. We also, being heirs of wrath even as others, are
   through the fall dead, dead in trespasses and sins; and if ever we are
   to possess spiritual life, it must be said of us, "And you hath he
   quickened." We must be as "those that are alive from the dead." The
   world is the valley of dry bones, and grace raises the chosen into
   newness of life. The fall brought universal death, in the deep
   spiritual sense of that word, over all mankind; and Jesus delivers us
   from the consequences of the fall by implanting in us a spiritual life.
   By no other means can this death be removed: "He that believeth on the
   Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not
   see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." The work of
   regeneration, in which the new life is implanted, effectually restores
   the ruin of the fall, for we are born again, "not of corruptible seed,
   but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for
   ever." But you remind me that still sin remains in us after we have
   received the divine life. I know it does, and it is called "the body of
   this death;" and this it is which rages within, between the power of
   the death in the first Adam, and the power of the life in the second
   Adam; but the heavenly life will ultimately overcome the deadly energy
   of sin. Even to-day our inner life groans after deliverance, but with
   its groan of "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
   body of this death?" it mingles the thankful song, "I thank God through
   Jesus Christ our Lord."

   This life is of a purely spiritual kind. We find analogies and
   resemblances of it in the common mental life, but they are only
   analogies, the spiritual life is far and high above the carnal life,
   and altogether out of sight of the fleshly mind. Scarce are there words
   in which it can be described. To know this life you must have it; it
   must pulsate within your own bosom, for no explanations of others can
   tell you what this life is; it is one of the secrets of the Lord. It
   would not be possible for us with the greatest skill to communicate to
   a horse any conception of what imagination is; neither could we by the
   most diligent use of words, communicate to carnal minds what it is to
   be joined unto the Lord so as to be one spirit. One thing we know of
   it, namely, that the spiritual life is intimately connected with the
   indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul. When he comes we are "born
   again from above," "born of the Spirit." While he works in us mightily
   our life is active and powerful if he withdraws his active operations
   our new life becomes faint and sickly. Christ is our life, but he works
   in us through his Holy Spirit, who dwelleth in us evermore.

   Further, we know that this life very much consists in union with God.
   "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is
   life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
   is not subject to the law of God, neither again can be. So then they
   that are in the flesh cannot please God." Death as to the body consists
   in the body being separated from the soul; the death of the soul lies
   mainly in the soul's being separated form its God. For the soul to be
   in union with God is the soul's highest life; in his presence it
   unfolds itself like an opening flower; away from him it pines, and
   loses all its beauty and excellence, till it is as a thing destroyed.
   Let the soul obey God, let it be holy, pure, gracious, then is it
   happy, an truly living; but a soul saundered from God is a soul
   blasted, killed, destroyed; it exists in a dreadful death; all its true
   peace, dignity, and glory, are gone; it is a hideous ruin, the mere
   corpse of manhood. The new life brings us near to God, makes us think
   of him, makes us love him, and ultimately makes us like him. My
   brethren, it is in proportion as you get near to God that you enter
   into the full enjoyment of life--that life which Jesus Christ gives
   you, and which Jesus Christ preserves in you. "In his favour is life."
   Psalm 30:5. "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life." Prov. 14:27.
   To turn to God is "repentance unto life." To forget God is for a man to
   be "dead whilst he liveth." To believe the witness of God is to possess
   the faith which overcometh the world. "He that believeth on the Son of
   God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made
   him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his
   Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
   and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he
   that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

   This life within the soul bears fruit on earth in righteousness and
   true holiness. It blooms with sweetest of flowers of fellowship with
   God below, and it is made perfect in the presence of God in heaven. The
   life of glorified spirits above is but the life of justified men here
   below; it is the same life, only it is delivered from encumbrances, and
   has come to the fullness of its strength. The life of heaven is in
   every believer even now. The moment a sinner believes in Jesus he
   receives from God that selfsame life which shall look down serenely
   upon the conflagration of earth, and the passing away of those lower
   skies. Blessed is that man who hath everlasting life, who is made a
   partaker of the divine nature, who is born again from above, who is
   born of God by a seed which remaineth in him, for he is the man upon
   whom the second death hath no power, who shall enjoy life eternal when
   the wicked go away into everlasting punishment.

   Thus much concerning this life. We have now to ask each of you whether
   you have received it. Have you been born, not of blood, nor of the will
   of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God? Was there a time with
   you when you passed from death unto life, or are you abiding in death?
   Have you the witness in yourself that you have been operated upon by a
   divinely spiritual power? Is there something in you which was not once
   there, not a faculty developed by education, but a life implanted by
   God himself? Do you feel an inward craving unknown to carnal minds, a
   longing desire which this world could neither excite nor gratify? Is
   there a strange sighing for a land as yet unseen, of which it is a
   native, and for which it yearns? Do you walk among the sons of men as a
   being of another race, not of the world, even as Christ was not of the
   world? Can you say, with the favoured apostle, "We know that the Son of
   God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him
   that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus
   Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." Oh! then, thank God
   for this, and thank God yet more that you have an infallible guarantee
   for this, and thank God yet more that you have an infallible guarantee
   that your life shall be continued and perfected, for so saith the text,
   "Because I live, ye shall live also."

   II. Our second head treats of LIFE PRESERVED. "Because I life, ye shall
   live also." There stands the promise, " Ye shall live also. This
   heavenly life of yours which ye have received shall be preserved to
   you.

   Concerning this sentence, let me draw your attention, first of all, to
   its fullness: "Ye shall live." I think I see in that much more than
   lies upon the surface. Whatever is meant by living shall be ours. All
   the degree of life which is secured in the covenant of grace, believers
   shall have. Moreover, all your new nature shall live, shall thoroughly
   live, shall eternally live. By this word it is secured that the eternal
   life implanted at regeneration shall never die out. As our Lord said so
   shall it be. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
   shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him
   a well of water springing up into everlasting life." We may not view
   this precious word as referring to all the essential spiritual graces
   which make up the new man? Not even, in part, shall the new man die.
   "Ye shall live," applies to all the parts of our new-born nature. If
   there be any believer here who has not lived to the full extent he
   might have done, let him lay hold upon this promise; and seeing that it
   secures the preservation of all his new nature, let him have courage to
   seek a higher degree of health. "I am come," saith Christ, "that ye
   might have life, and have it more abundantly." There is no reason,
   Christian, why your love to Jesus should not become flaming, ardent,
   conquering; for it lives, and ever must live. As to your faith, it also
   has immortal vitality in it, and even though it be just now weak, and
   staggering, lift up the hands that hang down and confirm the feeble
   knees, for your faith shall not die out. Here in your Lord's promise
   the abiding nature of the vital faculties of your spirit is guaranteed.
   There is no stint in the fullness of Christian life. Beneath the skies
   I would labour to attain it, but herein is my joy , that it shall be
   most surely mine, for this word is faithful and true. As surely as I
   have this day eternal life by reason of faith in Christ Jesus, so
   surely shall I reach its fullness when Christ who is my life shall
   appear. Even here on earth I have the permit to seek for the fullest
   development of this life; nay I have a precept in this promise bidding
   me to seek after it. "Ye shall live," means that the new life shall not
   be destroyed--no, not as to any of its essentials. All the members of
   the spiritual man shall be safe; we may say of it as of the Lord
   himself, "Not a bone of him shall be broken." The shield of Christ's
   own life covers all the faculties of our spiritual nature. We shall not
   enter into life halt or maimed; but he will present us faultless before
   the presence of his glory, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
   thing, much less nay dead limbs or decayed faculties. It is a grand
   promise, and covers the spiritual nature as with the wings of God, so
   that we may apply to it the words of David, in the ninety-first Psalm:
   "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from
   the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and
   under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and
   buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the
   arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in
   darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand
   shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it
   shall not come nigh thee."

   The text secures that the death-penalty of the law shall never fall
   upon believers. The quickened man shall never fall back into the old
   death from which he has escaped; He shall not be numbered with the
   dead, and condemned either in this life or the next. Never shall the
   spiritually living become dead again in sin. As Jesus being raised form
   the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him; even so
   sin shall not have dominion over us again. Once, through the offense of
   one, death reigned in us; but now having received abundance of grace
   and of the gift of righteousness, we shall reign in life by one, Christ
   Jesus. Rom. 5:17. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
   God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
   saved by his life." Rom. 5:10.

   We are united to Christ this day by bands of spiritual life which
   neither things present nor things to come can separate. Our union to
   Jesus is eternal. It may be assailed; but it shall never be destroyed.
   The old body of this death may for awhile prevail, and like Herod it
   may seek the young child's life, but it cannot die. Who shall condemn
   to death that which is not under the law? Who shall slay that which
   abides under the shadow of the Almighty? Even as sin reigned unto
   death, even so must grace reign unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our
   Lord.

   Remark carefully the continuance insisted upon in this verse.
   Continuance is indeed the main element of this promise--"Ye shall
   live." It means certainly that during our abode in this body we shall
   live. We shall not be again reduced to our death-state during our
   sojourn here. Ten thousand attempts will be made to bring us under
   dominion to the law of sin and death, but this one word baffles all.
   Your soul may be so assailed that it shall seem as if you could not
   keep your hold on Christ, but Christ shall keep his hold on you. The
   incorruptible seed may be crushed, bruised, buried, but the life within
   it shall not extinguished, it shall yet arise. "Ye shall live." When ye
   see all around you ten thousand elements of death, think ye believers,
   how grand is this word, "Ye shall live." No falling from grace for you,
   no being cast out of the covenant, no being driven from the Father's
   house and left to perish. "Ye shall live."

   Nor is this all, for when the natural death comes, which indeed to us
   is no longer death, our inner life shall suffer no hurt whatsoever; it
   will not even be suspended for a moment. It is not a thing which can be
   touched by death. The shafts of the last enemy can have no more effect
   upon the spiritual, than a javelin upon a cloud. Even in the very
   crisis, when the soul is separated from the body, no damage shall be
   done to the spiritual nature. And in the awful future, when the
   judgment comes, when the thrones are set, and the multitudes are
   gathered, and to the right the righteous, and to the left the wicked,
   let what may of terror and of horror come frothy, the begotten of God
   shall live. Onward through eternity, whatever may be the changes which
   yet are to be disclosed, nothing shall affect our God-given life. Like
   the life of God himself--eternal, and ever-blessed, it shall continue.
   Should all things else be swept away, the righteous must live on; I
   mean not merely that they shall exist, but they shall live in all the
   fullness of that far-reaching, much-comprehending word "life." Bearing
   the nature of God as far as the creature can participate in it, the
   begotten from the dead shall prove the sureness of the promise, "Ye
   shall live."

   Let me further call to your notice that the fact here stated is
   univeral, in application to all spiritual life. The promise is, "Ye
   shall live," that is to say, every child of God shall live. Every one
   who sees Christ, as the world sees him not, is living and shall live. I
   can understand such a promised given to eminent saints who live near to
   God, but my soul would prostrate herself before the throne in reverent
   loving wonder when she hears this word spoken to the very least and
   meanest of the saints, "Ye shall live." Thou art not exempted, thou
   whose faith is but as a smoking flax, thou shalt live. The Lord bestows
   security upon the least of his people as well as upon the greatest. It
   is plain that the reason given for the preservation of the new life is
   as applicable to one saint as another. If it had been said, "Because
   your faith is strong, ye shall live" then weak faith would have
   perished; but when it is written, "Because I live," the argument is as
   powerful in the one case as in the other. Take it home to thyself, my
   brother, however heavy thy heart, or dim thy bone, Jesus lives, and you
   shall live.

   Remark yet again that this text is exceeding broad. Mark its breadth
   and see how it meets everything to the contrary, and overturns all the
   hopes of the adversary. "Ye shall live." Then the inbred corruption
   which rides within us shall not stifle the new creature. Chained as the
   spirit seem to be to the loathsome and corrupt body of this death, it
   shall live in spite of its hideous companionship. Though besetting sins
   may be as arrows, and fleshly lusts like drawn swords, yet grace shall
   not be slain. Neither the fever of hasty passion, nor the palsy of
   timorousness, nor the leprosy of covetousness, nor any other disease of
   sin, shall so break forth in the old nature as to destroy the new. Nor
   shall outward circumstances overthrow the inner life. "For he shall
   give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." They
   shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a
   stone. If providence should cast you into a godless family, where you
   dwell as in a sepulcher, and the air you breathe is laden with the
   miasma of death, yet shall you live. Evil example shall not poison your
   spirit, you shall drink this deadly thing and it shall not hurt you,
   you shall be kept from giving way to evil. You shall not be decoyed by
   fair temptation, you shall not be cowed by fierce persecution: mightier
   is he that is in you than he which is in the world. Satan will attack
   you, and his weapons are deadly, but you shall foil him at all points.
   To you is it given to tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and
   the dragon shall you trample under foot. If God should allow you for
   awhile to be sorely tried, as he did his servant Job, and if the devil
   should have all the world to help him in his attempt to destroy your
   spiritual life, yet even on the dunghill of poverty, and in the
   wretchedness of sickness, your spirit shall still maintain its holy
   life, and you shall prove it so by blessing and magnifying God,
   notwithstanding all. We little dream what may be reserved for us; we
   may have to climb steeps of prosperity, slippery and dangerous, but we
   shall live; we may be called to sink into the dark waters of adversity,
   all God's waves and billows may go over us, but we shall live. WE may
   traverse persilent swamps of error, or burning dewerts of unbelief, but
   the divine life shall live amid the domains of death. Let the future be
   bright or black, we need not wish to turn the page; that which we prize
   best, namely, our spiritual life, is hid with Christ in God, beyond the
   reach of harm, and we shall live. If old age shall be our portion, and
   our crown shall be delayed till we have fought a long and weary battle,
   yet nevertheless we shall live; or if sudden death should cut short the
   time of our trial here, yet we shall have lived in the fullness of that
   word.

   III. Our third point is, THE REASON FOR THE SECURITY OF THE SPIRITUAL
   LIFE.

   The reason assigned is this, "Because I live, ye shall live also."
   Christ has life essentially as God. Christ, as man, having fulfilled
   his life-work, having offered full atonement for human sin, dieth no
   more, death hath no more dominion over him. His life is communicated to
   us, and becomes the guarantee to us that we shall live also.

   Observe, first, that this is the sole reason of the believer's
   spiritual life. "Because I live, ye shall live also." The means by
   which the soul is pardoned is found in the precious blood of Jesus; the
   cause of its obtaining spiritual life at first is found in Christ's
   finished work; and the only reason why the Christian continues still to
   live after he is quickened, lies in Jesus Christ, who liveth and was
   dead and is alive for evermore. When I first come to Christ, I know I
   must find all in him, for I feel I have nothing of my own; but all my
   life long I am to acknowledge the same absolute dependence; I am still
   to look for everything to him. " I am the vine, ye are the branches: he
   that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
   for without me, yet can do nothing." the temptation is after we have
   looked to Jesus and found life there, to fancy that in future time we
   are to sustain ourselves in spiritual existence by some means within
   ourselves, or by supplies extra and apart from Christ. But it must not
   be so; all for the future as well as all for the past is wrapped up in
   the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. Because he died, ye are
   pardoned; because he lives, ye live; all your life still lies in him
   who is the way, the truth, and the life. Does not the Christian's life
   depend upon his prayerfulness? Could he be a Christian if he ceased to
   pray? We reply, the Christian's spiritual health depends upon his
   prayerfulness, but that prayerfulness depends on something else. The
   reason why the hands of the clock move may be found first in a certain
   wheel which operates upon them, but if you go to the primary cause of
   all, you reach the main-spring, or the weight, which is the source of
   all the motion. Many secondary causes tend to sustain spiritual life;
   but the primary cause, the first and foremost, is because Jesus Christ
   lives. "All my fresh springs are in thee." While Jesus lives, he sends
   the Spirit; the Spirit being sent, we pray; our payer becomes the
   evidence of our spiritual life. "But are not good works essential to
   the maintenance of the spiritual life?" Certainly, if there be no good
   works, we have no evidence of spiritual life. In its season the tree
   must bring forth its fruit and its leaves; if there be no outward sign
   we suspect that there is no motion of the sap within. Still, to the
   tree the fruit is not the cause of life, but the result of it, and to
   the life of the Christian, good works bear the same relationship, they
   are its outgrowth, not its root. If then my spiritual life is low, what
   am I to look to? I am not to look to my prayers, I am not to find
   comfort in my works. I may from these discover how declining I am; but
   if I want my life to be renovated, I must fly to the fountain of my
   life, even Jesus, for there, and there only, shall I find restoration.
   Do let us recollect this, that we are not saved because of anything
   that we are, or anything that we do; and that we do not remain saved
   because of anything we are or can be. A man is saved because Christ
   died for him he continues saved because Christ lives for him. The sole
   reason why the spiritual life abides is because Jesus lives. This is to
   get upon a rock, above the fogs which cover all things down below. If
   my life rests on something within me, then to-day I live, and to-morrow
   I die; but if my spiritual life rests in Christ, then in my darkest
   frames-ay, and when sin has most raged against my spirit- still I live
   in the ever-living One, whose life never changes.

   Secondly, it is a sufficient cause for my life. "Because I live, ye
   shall live also." It must be enough to make believers live that Christ
   lives; for first, Christ's life is a proof that his work has
   accomplished the absolution of his people from their sins. He would
   have been in the tomb to this hour had he not made a complete
   satisfaction for their sins, but his rising again from the dead is the
   testimony of God that he has accepted the atonement of his dear Son;
   his resurrection is our full acquittal. Then if the living Christ be
   our acquittal, how can God condemn us to die for sins which he has by
   the fact of Christ's resurrection declared to be for ever blotted out?
   If Jesus lives, how can we die? Shall there be two deaths for one sin,
   the death of Christ and the death of those for whom he died? God forbid
   that there should be any such injustice with the Most High. The very
   fact that Jesus lives, proves that our sin has been atoned for, that we
   are absolved, and therefore cannot die.

   Jesus is the representative of those for whom he is the federal head.
   Shall the representative live, and yet those represented die? How shall
   the living represent the dead? But in his life I see my own life, for
   as Levi was in the loins of Abraham, so is every saint in the loins of
   Christ, and the life of Christ is representatively the life of all his
   people.

   Moreover, he is the surety for his people, under bonds and pledges to
   bring his redeemed safely home. His own declaration is, "I give unto my
   sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
   pluck them out of my hands." Will he break his covenant bonds? Shall
   his suretyship be cast to the winds? It cannot be. The fact that if any
   of his people for whom he died, to whom he has given spiritual life,
   should after all die, Christ would be disappointed of his intent, which
   supposition involves the grossest blasphemy. What so many shall he have
   for his reward? The purchase-price shall not be given in vain; a
   redemption so marvelous as that which he has presented upon the tree,
   shall never in any degree become a failure. His life, which proves his
   labour to be over, guarantees to people. Know ye not, my brethren, that
   if one of those to whom Christ has given spiritual life should after
   all fall from it and die, it would argue either that he had a want of
   power to keep them, or a want of will to do so. Shall we conceive him
   to be devoid of power? Then how he is mighty God? Is he devoid of will
   to keep his people- is that conceivable? Cast out the traitorous
   thought! He must be as willing as he is able, and as able as he is
   willing. While he was in this world, he kept his people; having loved
   his own, he loved them to the end; he is "the same yesterday, to-day,
   and for ever," he will not suffer one of these little ones to perish.

   Recollect, and this perhaps will cheer you most of all, that all who
   have spiritual life are one with Christ Jesus. Jesus is the head of the
   mystical body, they are the members. Suppose one of the members of the
   mystical body of Christ should die, then from that moment, with
   reverence be it spoken, Christ is not a complete Christ. What were the
   head without the body? A most ghastly sight. What were the head with
   only a part of the members? Certainly not perfect. There must be every
   member present to make a complete body. Therefore we gather that you,
   brother, though you think yourself the meanest part of the body, are
   nevertheless, essential to its perfection; and you, sister, though you
   fancy yourself to be one of the uncomely portions of the body, yet you
   must be there, or else the body cannot be perfect, and Christ cannot be
   a complete Christ. From him, the head, the life streams into all the
   members and while that head lives as a perfect head of a perfect body,
   all members must live also. As we have often said, as long as a man's
   head is above water you cannot drown his limbs; as long as our head is
   above the reach of spiritual death we also are the same-no weapons can
   hurt, no poison can destroy, not all hell's fires could burn, nor all
   earth's floods could drown, the spiritual life within us: it must be
   safe because it is indissolubly one with Jesus Christ the Lord. What
   comfort, then, lies in this, the sole but sufficient reason for the
   eternal maintenance of the new-born life within us, is this, "Because I
   live, ye shall live also."

   And be it remembered, that this reason is an abiding reason--"Because I
   live, ye shall live also"--a reason which has as much force at one time
   as another. From causes variable the effects are variable; but
   remaining causes produce permanent effects. Now Jesus always lives.
   Yesterday, dear brother you were exalted in fellowship with him, and
   stood upon the mountain top; then your heart was glad, and your spirit
   rejoiced, and you could say, "I live in Christ." To-day darkness has
   intervened, you do not feel the motions of the inner life as you did
   yesterday, but do not therefore conclude that the life is not there.
   What is to be your sign; what is to be the rainbow of the covenant to
   you? Why, that Jesus lives. Do you doubt that he lives? You dare not.
   You trust him, doubt not then that you live, for your life is as sure
   as his. Believe also that you shall live, for that also is as sure as
   the fact that he lives. God gave to Noah, a token that he would not
   destroy the earth-it was the rainbow: but then the rainbow is not often
   seen; there are peculiar circumstances before the bow is placed in the
   cloud. You, brother, you have a token of God's covenant given you in
   the text which can always be seen, neither sun nor shower are needful
   to its appearance. The living Christ is the token that you live too.
   God gave to David the token of the sun and the moon; he said if the
   ordinances of day and night should be changed, then would he cast off
   the seed of David. But there are times when neither sun nor moon
   appear, but your token is plain when these are hidden. Christ at all
   times lives. When you are lowest, when you cannot pray, when you can
   hardly groan, when you do not seem to have spiritual life enough even
   to heave a desire, still if you cling to Jesus this life is as surely
   in you as there is life in Christ himself at the right hand of the
   Father.

   And lastly, it is a most instructive cause. It instructs us in many
   ways: let us hint at three. It instructs us to admire the condescension
   of Christ. Look at the two pronouns, "ye" and "I"; shall they ever come
   into contact? yes, here they stand in close connection with each other.
   "I"--the I AM the Infinite; "ye" the creatures of an hour; yet I, the
   Infinite, come into union with you, the finite; I the Eternal, take up
   you the fleeting, and I make you live because I live. What? Is there
   such a bond between me and Christ? Is there such a link between his
   life and mine? Blessed be his name! Adored be his infinite
   condescension!

   It demands of us next abundance of gratitude. Apart from Christ we are
   dead in trespasses and sins; look at the depth of our degradation! But
   in Christ we live, live with his own life. Look at the height of our
   exaltation, and let our thankfulness be proportioned to this infinity
   of mercy. Measure if you can from the lowest hell to the highest
   heaven, and so great let your thankfulness be to him who has lifted you
   from death to life.

   Let the last lesson be see the all-importance of close communion with
   Jesus. Union with Christ makes you live; keep up your enjoyment of that
   union, that you may clearly perceive and enjoy your life. Begin this
   year with the prayer, "Nearer to thee, my Lord, nearer to thee." Think
   much of the spiritual life and less of this poor carnal life, which
   will be soon be over. Go to the source of life for an increase of
   spiritual life. Go to Jesus. Think of him more than you have done, pray
   to him more; use his name more believingly in your supplications. Serve
   him better, and seek to grow up into his likeness in all things. Make
   an advance this year. Life is a growing thing. Your life only grows by
   getting nearer to Christ; therefore, get under the beams of the Sun of
   the Righteousness. Time brings you nearer to him, you will soon be
   where he is in heaven; let grace bring you nearer also. You taste more
   of his love as fresh mercies come, give him more of your love, more of
   your fellowship. Abide in him, and may his word abide in you henceforth
   and for ever, and all shall be to his glory. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Colossians 3.

   * This text has been sent us by a venerable clergyman of the Church of
   England, who has for many years selected a new year's text for us, and
   others of his friends. In the calm enjoyment of divine consolations,
   such as this verse affords, may his last days pass away in tranquility
   and rejoicing.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                   Rest, Rest

   A Sermon

   (No. 969)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, January 8th, 1871, by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
   you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
   lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is
   easy, and my burden is light."--Matthew 11:28-30.

   WE have oft repeated those memorable words, and they have brought us
   much comfort; but it is possible that we may never have looked deeply
   into them, so as to have seen the fulness of their meaning. The works
   of man will seldom bear close inspection. You shall take a needle which
   is highly polished, which appears to be without the slightest
   inequality upon its surface, and you shall put it under a microscope,
   and it will look like a rough bar of iron; but you shall select what
   you will from nature, the bark or the leaf of a tree, or the wing or
   the foot of an insect, and you shall discover no flaw, magnify it as
   much as you will, and gaze upon it as long as you please. So take the
   words of man. The first time you hear them they will strike you; you
   may hear them again and still admire their sentiment, but you shall
   soon weary of their repetition, and call them hackneyed and
   over-estimated. The words of Jesus are not so, they never lose their
   dew, they never become threadbare. You may ring the changes upon his
   words, and never exhaust their music: you may consider them by day and
   by night, but familiarity shall not breed contempt. You shall beat them
   in the mortar of contemplation, with the pestle of criticism, and their
   perfume shall but become the more apparent. Dissect, investigate, and
   weigh the Master's teaching word by word, and each syllable will repay
   you. When loitering upon the Island of Liddo, off Venice, and listening
   to the sound of the city's bells, I thought the music charming as it
   floated across the lagune; but when I returned to the city, and sat
   down in the centre of the music, in the very midst of all the bells,
   the sweetness changed to a horrible clash, the charming sounds were
   transformed into a maddening din; not the slightest melody could I
   detect in any one bell, while harmony in the whole company of
   noisemakers was out of the question. Distance had lent enchantment to
   the sound. The words of poets and eloquent writers may, as a whole, and
   heard from afar, sound charmingly enough; but how few of them bear a
   near and minute investigation! Their belfry rings passably, but one
   would soon weary of each separate bell. It is never so with the divine
   words of Jesus. You hear them ringing from afar and they are sweetness
   itself. When as a sinner, you roamed at midnight like a traveller lost
   on the wilds, how sweetly did they call you home! But now you have
   reached the house of mercy, you sit and listen to each distinct note of
   love's perfect peal, and wonderingly feel that even angelic harps
   cannot excel it.

   We will, this morning, if we can, conduct you into the inner chambers
   of out text, place its words under the microscope, and peer into the
   recesses of each sentence. We only wish our microscope were of a
   greater magnifying power, and our ability to expound the text more
   complete; for there are mines of instruction here. Superficially read,
   this royal promise has cheered and encouraged tens of thousands, but
   there is a wealth in it which the diligent digger and miner shall alone
   discover. Its shallows are cool and refreshing for the lambs, but in
   its depths are pearls for which we hope to dive.

   Our first head, this morning, is rest: "Come unto me, all ye that labor
   and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The second head is
   rest: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
   in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

   I. Let us begin at the beginning with the first REST, and here we will
   make divisions only for the sake of bringing out the sense more
   clearly.

   1. Observe the person invited to receive this first rest: "Come unto
   me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden." The word "all" first
   demands attention: "All ye that labor." There was need for the
   insertion of that wide word. Had not the Saviour said a little before,
   "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
   hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to
   babes?" Some one who had been listening to the Saviour, might have
   said, "The Father, then, has determined to whom he will reveal the
   Christ; there is a number chosen, according to the Father's good
   pleasure, to whom the gospel is revealed; while from another company it
   is hidden!" The too hasty inference, which it seems natural for man to
   draw from the doctrine is, "Then there is no invitation for me; there
   is no hope for me; I need not listen to the gospel's warnings and
   invitations." So the Saviour, as if to answer that discouraging notion,
   words his invitation thus, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
   heavy laden." Let it not be supposed that election excludes any of you
   from the invitation of mercy; all of you who labor, are bidden to come.
   Whatever the great doctrine of predestination may involve, rest assured
   that it by no means narrows or diminishes the extent of gospel
   invitations. The good news is to be preached to "every creature" under
   heaven, and in this particular passage it is addressed to all the
   laboring and heavy laden.

   The description of the person invited is very full. It describes him
   both actively and passively. "All ye that labor"--there is the activity
   of men bearing the yoke, and ready to labor after salvation; "heavy
   laden"--there is the passive form of their religious condition, they
   sustain a burden, and are pressed down, and sorely wearied by the load
   they bear. There are to be found many who are actively engaged in
   seeking salvation; they believe that if they obey the precepts of the
   law they will be saved, and they are endeavoring to the utmost to do
   them; they have been told that the performance of certain rites and
   ceremonies will also save them, they are performing those with great
   care; the yoke is on their shoulders, and they are laboring diligently.
   Some are laboring in prayer, some are laboring in sacraments, others in
   self-denials and mortifications, but as a class they are awakened to
   feel the need of salvation, and they are intensely laboring to save
   themselves. It is to these the Saviour addresses his loving admonition:
   in effect he tells them, "This is not the way to rest, your
   self-imposed labors will end in disappointment; cease your wearisome
   exertions, and believe in me, for I will at once give you rest--the
   rest which my labors have earned for believers." Very speedily those
   who are active in self-righteously working for salvation fall into the
   passive state, and become burdened; their labor of itself becomes a
   burden to them. Besides the burden of their self-righteous labor, there
   comes upon them the awful, tremendous, crushing burden of past sin, and
   a sense of the wrath of God which is due to that sin. A soul which has
   to bear the load of its own sin, and the load of divine wrath, is
   indeed heavily laden. Atlas with the world upon his back had a light
   load compared with a sinner upon whom mountains of sin and wrath are
   piled. Such persons frequently are burdened, in addition, by fears and
   apprehensions; some of them correct, others of them baseless, but
   anyhow the burden daily grows. Their active labors do not diminish
   their passive sufferings. The acute anguish of their souls will often
   be increased in proportion as their endeavors are increased; and while
   they hope at first that if they labor industriously they will gradually
   diminish the mass of their sin, it happens that their labor adds to
   their weariness beneath its pressure; they feel a weight of
   disappointment, because their labor has not brought them rest; and a
   burden of despair, because they fear that deliverance will never come.
   Now these are the persons whom the Saviour calls to himself--those who
   are actively seeking salvation, those who are passively bearing the
   weight of sin and of divine wrath.

   It is implied, too, that these are undeserving of rest, for it is said,
   "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." A gift is not of merit but of
   grace; wages and reward are for those who earn, but a gift is a matter
   of charity. O you who feel your unworthiness this morning, who have
   been seeking salvation earnestly, and suffering the weight of sin,
   Jesus will freely give to you what you cannot earn or purchase, he will
   give it as an act of his own free, rich, sovereign mercy; and he is
   prepared, if you come to him, to give it to you now, for so has he
   promised, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I
   will give you rest."

   2. Notice next, the precept here laid down: "Come." It is not "Learn,"
   it is not "Take my yoke"--that is in the next verse, and is intended
   for the next stage of experience-but in the beginning the word of the
   Lord is, "Come unto me," "Come." A simple word, but very full of
   meaning. To come is to leave one thing and to advance to another. Come,
   then, ye laboring and heavy laden, leave your legal labors, leave your
   self-reliant efforts, leave your sins, leave your presumptions, leave
   all in which you hitherto have trusted, and come to Jesus, that is,
   think of, advance towards, rely upon the Saviour. Let your
   contemplations think of him who bore the load of human sin upon the
   cross of Calvary, where he was made sin for us. Let your minds consider
   him who from his cross hurled the enormous mass of his people's
   transgressions into a bottomless sepulchre, where it was buried
   forever. Think of Jesus, the divinely-appointed substitute and
   sacrifice for guilty man. Then, seeing that he is God's own Son, let
   faith follow your contemplation; rely upon him, trust in him as having
   suffered in your stead, look to him for the payment of the debt which
   is due from you to the wrath of God. This is to come to Jesus.
   Repentance and faith make up this "Come"--the repentance which leaves
   that place where you now stand, the faith which comes into reliance
   upon Jesus.

   Observe, that the command to "Come" is put in the present tense, and in
   the Greek it is intensely present. It might be rendered something like
   this: "Hither to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden!" It is a
   "Come" which means not "Come to-morrow or next year," but "Now, at
   once." Advance, ye slaves, flee from your task-master now! Weary ones
   recline on the promise now, and take your rest! Come now! By an act of
   instantaneous faith which will bring instantaneous peace, come and rely
   upon Jesus, and he will now give you rest. Rest shall at once follow
   the exercise of faith. Perform the act of faith now. O may the eternal
   Spirit lead some laboring heavy laden soul to come to Jesus, and to
   come at this precise moment!

   It is "Come unto me." Notice that. The Christ in his personality is to
   be trusted in. Not "Come to John, and hear him say, "Repent, for the
   kingdom of heaven is at hand,'" for no rest is there. John commands a
   preparation for the rest, but he has no rest to give to the soul. Come
   not to the Pharisees, who will instruct you in tradition, and in the
   jots and tittles of the law; but go past these to Jesus, the man, the
   God, the mediator, the Redeemer, the propitiation for human guilt. If
   you want rest come to Christ in Gethsemane, to Christ on Calvary, to
   Christ risen, to Christ ascended. If you want rest, O weary souls, ye
   can find it nowhere until ye come and lay your burdens down at his dear
   pierced feet, and find life in looking alone to him. There is the
   precept then. Observe it is nothing but that one word, "Come." It is
   not "Do;" it is not even "Learn." It is not, "Take up my yoke," that
   will follow after, but must never be forced out of its proper place. To
   obtain the first rest, the rest which is a matter of gift--all that is
   asked of you is that you come to have it. Now, the least thing that
   charity itself can ask when it gives away its alms, is that men come
   for it. Come ye needy, come and welcome; come and take the rest ye
   need. Jesus saith to you, "Come and take what I freely give." Without
   money come, without merit come, without preparation come. It is just,
   come, come now; come as you are, come with your burden, come with your
   yoke, though the yoke be the yoke of the devil, and the burden be the
   burden of sin, yet come as you are, and the promise shall be fulfilled
   to you, "I will give you rest."

   3. Notice next the promise spoken, "I will give you rest." "I will
   give." It is a rest that is a gift; not a rest found in our experience
   by degrees, but given at once. As I shall have to show you, the next
   verse speaks of the rest that is found, wrought out, and discovered;
   but this is a rest given. We come to Jesus; we put out the empty hand
   of faith, and rest is given us at once most freely. We possess it at
   once, and it is ours forever. It is a present rest, rest now; not rest
   after death; not rest after a time of probation and growth and
   advancement; but it is rest given when we come to Jesus, given there
   and then. And it is perfect rest too; for it is not said, nor is it
   implied, that the rest is incomplete. We do not read, "I will give you
   partial rest," but "rest," as much as if there were no other form of
   it. It is perfect and complete in itself. In the blood and
   righteousness of Jesus our peace is perfect.

   I shall not stay except to ask you now, brethren and sisters, whether
   you know the meaning of this given rest. Have you come to Jesus and has
   he given you perfect and present rest? If so, I know your eye will
   catch joyously those two little words, "And I," and I would bid you
   lovingly remember the promiser who speaks. Jesus promises and Jesus
   performs. Did not all your rest, when first your sin was forgiven, come
   from him? The load was gone, but who took it? The yoke was removed, but
   who lifted it from off the shoulder? Do you not give to Jesus, this
   day, the glory of all your rest from the burden of guilt? Do you not
   praise his name with all your souls? Yes, I know you do. And you know
   how that rest came to you. It was by his substitution and your faith in
   that substitution. Your sin was not pardoned by a violation of divine
   justice; justice was satisfied in Jesus; he gave you rest. The fact
   that he has made full atonement is the rest of your spirit this
   morning. I know that deep down in your consciences, the calm which
   blesses you springs from a belief in your Lord's vicarious sacrifice.
   He bore the unrest that you might have the rest, and you receive rest
   this day as a free gift from him. You have done now with servile toils
   and hopeless burdens, you have entered into rest through believing; but
   all the rest and deliverance still comes to you as a gift from his dear
   hands, who purchased with a price this blessing for your souls. I
   earnestly wish that many who have never felt that rest, would come and
   have it; it is all they have to do to obtain it--to come for it; just
   where they now are, if God enables them to exercise a simple act of
   faith in Jesus, he will give them rest from all their past sins, from
   all their efforts to save themselves, a rest which shall be to his
   glory and to their joy.

   II. We must now advance to our second head--REST.

   It looks rather strange that after having received rest, the next verse
   should begin: "Take my yoke upon you." "Ah! I had been set free from
   laboring, am I to be a laborer again?" Yes, yes, take my yoke and
   begin. "And my burden is light." "Burden? Why, I was heavy laden just
   now, am I to carry another burden?" Yes. A yoke--actively and a
   burden--passively, I am to bear both of these. "But I found rest by
   getting rid of my yoke and my burden!" And you are to find a further
   rest by wearing a new yoke, and bearing a new burden. Your yoke galled,
   but Christ's yoke is easy; your burden was heavy, but Christ's burden
   is light. Before we enter into this matter more fully, let us
   illustrate it. How certain it is that a yoke is essential to produce
   rest, and without it rest is unknown! Spain found rest by getting rid
   of that wretched monarch Isabella; an iron yoke was her dominion upon
   the nation's neck, crushing every aspiration after progress by an
   intolerable tyranny. Up rose the nation, shook off its yoke, and threw
   aside its burden, and it had rest in a certain sense, rest from evil.
   But Spain has not fully rested yet, and it seems that she will never
   find permanent rest till she has voluntarily taken up another yoke, and
   found for herself another burden. In a word, she must have a strong,
   settled, recognized government, and then only will her distractions
   cease. This is just a picture of the human soul. It is under the
   dominion of Satan, it wears his awful yoke, and works for him; it bears
   his accursed burden, and groans under it; Jesus sets it free--but has
   it, therefore, a perfect rest? Yes, a rest from, but not a rest in.
   What is wanted now is a new government; the soul must have a sovereign,
   a ruling principle, a master-motive; and when Jesus has taken that
   position, rest is come. This further rest is what is spoken of in the
   second verse. Let me give you another symbol. A little stream flowed
   through a manufacturing town; an unhappy little stream it was, for it
   was forced to turn huge wheels and heavy machinery, and it wound its
   miserable way through factories where it was dyed black and blue, until
   it became a foul and filthy ditch, and loathed itself. It felt the
   tyranny which polluted its very existence. Now, there came a deliverer
   who looked upon the streamlet and said, "I will set thee free and give
   thee rest." So he stopped up the water-course, and said, "abide in thy
   place, thou shalt no more flow where thou art enslaved and defiled." In
   a very few days the brooklet found that it had but exchanged one evil
   for another. Its waters were stagnating, they were gathering into a
   great pool, and desiring to find a channel. It was in its very nature
   to flow on, and it foamed and swelled, and pressed against the dam
   which stayed it. Every hour it grew more inwardly restless, it
   threatened to break the barrier, and it made all who saw its angry
   looks tremble for the mischief it would do ere long. It never found
   rest until it was permitted to pursue an active course along a channel
   which had been prepared for it among the meadows and the corn fields.
   Then, when it watered the plains and made glad the villages, it was a
   happy streamlet, perfectly at rest. So our souls are made for activity,
   and when we are set free from the activities of our self-righteousness
   and the slavery of our sin we must do something, and we shall never
   rest until we find that something to do. Hence in the text you will be
   pleased to see that there is something said about a yoke, which is the
   ensign of working, and something about a burden, which is the emblem of
   enduring. It is in man's mortal nature that he must do or endure, or
   else his spirit will stagnate and be far from rest.

   1. We will consider this second rest, and notice that it is rest after
   rest. "I will give you rest" comes before "Ye shall find rest." It is
   the rest of a man who is already at rest, the repose of a man who has
   received a given rest, and now discovers the found rest. It is the rest
   of a learner--"Learn of me, and ye shall find rest." It is not so much
   the rest of one who was aforetime laboring and heavy laden, as of one
   who is to-day learning at the Saviour's feet. It is the rest of a
   seeker evidently, for finding usually implies a search. Having been
   pardoned and saved, the saved man in the course of his experience
   discovers more and more reason for peace; he is learning, and seeking,
   and he finds. The rest is evidently lighted upon, however, as a thing
   unknown, which becomes the subject of discovery. The man had a rest
   from his burden; now he finds a rest, in Christ, which exceeds what he
   asked or even thought.

   I have looked at this rest after rest as being a treasure concealed in
   a precious box. The Lord Jesus gives to his people a priceless casket,
   called the gift of rest; it is set with brilliants and inlaid with
   gems, and the substance thereof is of wrought gold; whosoever possesses
   it feels and knows that his warfare is accomplished and his sin is
   pardoned. After awhile the happy owner begins to examine his treasure.
   It is all his own, but he has not yet seen it all, for one day he
   detects a secret drawer, he touches a hidden spring, and lo! Before him
   lies a priceless Koh-i-noor surpassing all the rest. It had been given
   him it is certain, but he had not seen it at first, and therefore he
   finds it. Jesus Christ gives us in the gift of himself all the rest we
   can ever enjoy, even heaven's rest lies in him; but after we have
   received him we have to learn his value, and find out by the teaching
   of his Spirit the fulness of the rest which he bestows.

   Now, I say to you who are saved, you who have looked to Jesus Christ,
   whether you looked this morning or twenty years ago, have you found out
   all that there is in the gift which Christ has given you? Have you
   found out the secret drawer yet? He has given you rest, but have you
   found the innermost rest which he works in your hearts? It is yours,
   for it is included in the one gift; but it is not yours enjoyed,
   understood, and triumphed in as yet unless you have found it, for the
   rest here meant is a rest after rest, a spiritual, experienced rest,
   which comes only to those who find it by experience.

   2. Further observe that the rest in this second part of our text is a
   rest in service. It is coupled with a yoke, for activity--"Take my
   yoke;" it is connected with a burden, for endurance--"My burden is
   light." He who is a Christian will not find rest in being idle. There
   is no unrest greater than that of the sluggard. If you would rest take
   Christ's yoke, be actively engaged in his service. As the bullock has
   the yoke put upon its neck and then begins to draw, so have the yoke of
   Christ put on your neck and commence to obey him. The rest of heaven is
   not the rest of sleep; they serve him day and night in his temple. They
   are always resting, and yet, in another sense, they rest not day nor
   night. Holy activity in heaven is perfect rest. True rest to the mind
   of the child of God is rest on the wing, rest in motion, rest in
   service, not rest with the yoke off, but with the yoke on. We are to
   enter upon this service voluntarily; we are to take his yoke upon us
   voluntarily. You observe, it does not say, "Bear my yoke when it is
   laid upon you, but take it." Do not need to be told by the minister,
   "My dear brother, such-and-such a work you are bound to do," but take
   up the yoke of your own accord. Do not merely submit to be the Lord's
   servant, but seek his service. Ask, "What can I do?" Be desirous to do
   it' voluntarily, cheerfully, do all that lieth in you for the extension
   of his kingdom who has given you rest, and you shall find that the rest
   of your soul shall lie in your doing all you can for Jesus. Every
   active Christian will tell you he is never happier than when he has
   much to do; and, on the whole, if he communes with Jesus, never more at
   rest than when he has least leisure. Look not for your rest in the mere
   enjoyments and excitements of religion, but find your rest in wearing a
   yoke which you love, and which, for that reason, is easy to your neck.

   But, my dear brother, you must also be willing to bear Christ's burden.
   Now the burden of Christ is his cross, which every Christian must take
   up. Expect to be reproached, expect to meet with some degree of the
   scandal of the cross, for the offence of it never ceases. Persecution
   and reproach are a blessed burden; when your soul loves Jesus it is a
   light thing to suffer for him, and therefore never, by any cowardly
   retirement or refusal to profess your faith, evade your share of this
   honorable load. Woe unto those who say, "I will never be a martyr." No
   rest is sweeter than the martyr's rest. Woe unto those who say, "We
   will go to heaven by night along a secret road, and so avoid the shame
   of the cross." The rest of the Christian is found not in cowardice but
   in courage; it lies not in providing for ease but in the brave
   endurance of suffering for the truth. The restful spirit counts the
   reproach of Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of
   Egypt; he falls in love with the cross, and counts the burden light,
   and so finds rest in service, and rest in suffering. Note that well.

   3. The rest before us is rest through learning. Does a friend say, "I
   do not see how I am ever to get rest in working, and rest in
   suffering?" My dear brother, you never will except you go to school,
   and you must go to school to Christ. "Learn of me," saith he, "for I am
   meek and lowly in heart." Now, in order to learn of Christ it is
   implied that we lay aside all prejudices of the past. These things much
   prevent our finding peace. Have you any preconceived notions of what
   religion should be? Have you fashioned on your own anvil ideas of what
   the doctrines of the gospel ought to be? Throw them all away; learn of
   Jesus, and unlearn your own thoughts.

   Then, when you are willing to learn, please to note what is to be
   learned. In order to get perfect rest of mind you have to learn of
   Jesus not only the doctrines which he teaches, but a great deal more
   than that. To go to school to be orthodox is a good enough thing, but
   the orthodoxy which brings rest is an orthodoxy of the spirit. Observe
   the text, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." What? For I am wise
   and learned, and can teach you? No; you are to learn from his example
   to be "meek and lowly in heart," and in learning that you will "find
   rest unto your souls." To catch the spirit of Jesus is the road to
   rest. To believe what he teaches me is something, to acknowledge him as
   my religious leader and as my Lord is much, but to strive to be
   conformed to his character, not merely in its external developments but
   in its interior spirit, this is the grammar of rest. Learn to be like
   the meek and lowly-hearted One, and ye shall find rest.

   He tells us the two points in which we are to learn of him. First, he
   is meek, then he says he is lowly in heart. Take the work "meek" first.
   I think that refers to the yoke-bearing, the active labor. If I
   actively labor for Christ I can only find rest in the labor by
   possessing the meek spirit of my Lord; for if I go forth to labor for
   Christ without a meek spirit, I shall very soon find that there is no
   rest in it, for the yoke will gall my shoulder. Somebody will begin
   objecting that I do not perform my work according to his liking. If I
   am not meek I shall find my proud spirit rising at once, and shall be
   for defending myself; I shall be irritated, or I shall be discouraged
   and inclined to do no more, because I am not appreciated as I should
   be. A meek spirit is not apt to be angry, and does not soon take
   offence, therefore if others find fault, the meek spirit goes working
   on, and is not offended; it will not hear the sharp word, nor reply to
   the severe criticism. If the meek spirit be grieved by some cutting
   censure and suffers for a moment, it is always ready to forgive and
   blot out the past, and go on again. The meek spirit in working only
   seeks to do good to others; it denies itself; it never expected to be
   well treated; it did not aim at being honored; it never sought itself,
   but purposed only to do good to others. The meek spirit bowed its
   shoulder to the yoke, and expected to have to continue bowing in order
   to keep the yoke in the right place for labor. It did not look to be
   exalted by yoke-bearing; it is fully contented if it can exalt Christ
   and do good to his chosen ones. Remember how meek and lowly Jesus was
   in all his service, and how calmly, therefore, he bore with those who
   opposed him? The Samaritans would not receive him, and therefore John,
   who felt the yoke a little galling to his unaccustomed shoulder, cried,
   "Master, call fire from heaven." Poor John! But Christ bore the yoke of
   service so well because of his meek spirit that he would do nothing of
   the kind. If one village would not receive him he passed on to another,
   and so labored on. Your labor will become very easy if your spirits are
   very meek. It is the proud spirit that gets tired of doing good if it
   finds its labors not appreciated; but the brave, meek spirit, finds the
   yoke to be easy. "Consider him who endured such contradictions of
   sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds." If
   ye learn his meekness his yoke will be pleasant to your shoulder, and
   you will never wish to have it removed.

   Then, as to the passive part of our rest-lesson, note the text, "I am
   lowly in heart." We shall all have to bear something for the truth's
   sake so long as we are here. The reproach is a part of the gospel. The
   rod is a blessing of the covenant. The lowly heart finds the burden
   very light because it acquiesces in the divine will. The lowly heart
   says, "Not my will but thine be done; let God be glorified in me, it
   shall be all I ask. Rich, poor, sick, or in health, it is all the same
   to me. If God the great One has the glory, what matters where such a
   little one as I am may be placed?" The lowly spirit does not seek after
   great things for itself, it learns in whatsoever state it is therewith
   to be content. If it be poor, "Never mind," says the lowly one, "I
   never aspired to be rich; among the great ones of this earth I never
   desired to shine." If it be denied honor, the humble spirit says, "I
   never asked for earthly glory, I seek not mine own honor but his that
   sent me. Why should I be honored, a poor worm like me? If nobody speaks
   a good word of me, if I get Christ to say, "Well done, good and
   faithful servant," that is enough. And if the lowly-hearted have little
   wordly pleasure, he says, "This is not my place for pleasure, I deserve
   eternal pain, and if I do not have pleasures here I shall have them
   hereafter. I am well content to abide my time." Our blessed Lord was
   always of that lowly spirit. He did not strive, nor cry, nor cause his
   voice to be heard in the streets. The baubles of empire had no charm
   for him. Had fame offered to sound her trumpet for none but him he
   would have cared not one whit for the offer. The kingdoms of this world
   and the glory thereof were offered him, and he repelled the tempter. He
   was gentle, unobtrusive, self-denying; hence he treated his burden of
   poverty and shame as a light thing. "He endured the cross, despising
   the shame." If we once learn Christ's spirit we shall find rest unto
   our souls.

   4. But we must pass on to notice, that it is very evident that the rest
   which we are to find is a rest which grows entirely out of our spirits
   being conformed to the spirit of Christ. "Learn of me, and ye shall
   find rest." It is then a spiritual rest altogether independent of
   circumstances. It is a vain idea of ours, to suppose that if our
   circumstances were altered we should be more at rest. My brother, if
   you cannot rest in poverty, neither would you in riches; if you cannot
   rest in the midst of persecution, neither would you in the midst of
   honor. It is the spirit within that gives the rest, that rest has
   little to do with any thing without. Men have sat on thrones and have
   found them uneasy places, while others on the rack have declared that
   they were at rest. The spirit is the spring of rest, as for the outward
   surroundings they are of small account. Let but your mind be like the
   mind of Christ, and you shall find rest unto your souls: a deep rest, a
   growing rest, a rest found out more and more, an abiding rest, not only
   which you have found, but which you shall go on to find. Justification
   gave you rest from the burden of sin, sanctification will give you rest
   from molesting cares; and in proportion as it becomes perfect, and you
   are like your Saviour, your rest shall become more like that of heaven.

   I desire one other thing to be called to your mind before I turn to the
   practical use of the text, and that is that here, as in the former
   rest, we are led to adore and admire the blessed person of our Lord.
   Observe the words, "For I." Oh! it all comes from him still, the second
   rest as much as the first, the casket and the treasure in the secret
   drawer. It all hinges there, "For I am." In describing the second rest
   there is more said concerning him than in the first. In the first part
   of our text it only says, "I will give you rest;" but in the second
   part his character is more fully explained--"For I am meek and lowly in
   heart;" as if to show that as believers grow in grace, and enjoy more
   rest, they see more of Jesus and know more of him. All they know when
   sin is pardoned is that he gives it, perhaps they hardly know how; but
   afterwards when they come to rest in him in sweet fellowship, they know
   more of his personal attributes, and their rest for that very reason
   becomes more deep and perfect.

   Come we now to the practical use of all this. Read the chapter before
   us and find the clue. First, my dear brethren, if you find rest to your
   souls you will not be moved by the judgment of men. The children in the
   market-place were the type of our Lord's generation, who railed both at
   John the Baptist and at our Lord. The generation which now is follows
   the same course, men are sure to cavil at our service. Never mind; take
   Christ's yoke on you, live to serve him; take Christ's burden, make it
   a point to bear all things for his sake, and you will not be affected
   either by praise or censure, for you will find rest to your souls in
   surrendering yourself to the Father's will. If you learn of Jesus you
   will have rest from the fear of men. I recollect, before I came to
   London, being at a prayer-meeting where a very quaint brother prayed
   for me that I might be delivered from the "bleating of the sheep." I
   understood it after awhile, he meant that I might live above the fear
   of man, that when such a person said "How much we have been edified
   today," I might not be puffed up; or if another said, "How dull the
   discourse was to-day," I might not be depressed. You will be delivered
   from "the bleating of the sheep" when you have the spirit of the Good
   Shepherd.

   Next you will be delivered from fretfulness at want of success. "Then
   began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were
   done, because they repented not." He had wrought his mighty works, and
   preached the gospel, and they did not repent. Was Jesus discouraged?
   Was he, as we sometimes are, ready to quit the work? No; his heart
   rested even then. If we come to Jesus, and take his yoke and burden, we
   too shall find rest, though Israel be not gathered.

   Then, too, our Lord denounced judgments upon those who repented not. He
   told them that those who had heard the gospel and rejected it would
   find it more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
   than for them. There are some who quarrel with the judgments of God,
   and declare that they cannot bear to think of the condemnation of the
   impenitent. Is not this because they do not bear the burden of the
   Lord, but are self-willed? The saints are described in the book of
   Revelation as singing "Hallelujah" while the smoke of Babylon goeth up
   for ever and ever. We shall never receive with humble faith the
   judgment of God in its terror until we take Christ's yoke, and are
   lowly in heart. When we are like Jesus we shall not feel that the
   punishment is too much for the sin, but we shall sympathize with the
   justice of God, and say "Amen" to it. When the mind is lowly it never
   ventures to sit in judgment upon God, but rests in the conviction that
   the Judge of all must do right. It is not even anxious to make
   apologies and smooth down the fact, for it feels, it is not mine to
   justify him, he can justify himself.

   So, again, with regard to the divine sovereignty. Notice the rest of
   the Saviour's mind upon that matter: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
   heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
   prudent." Learning of Jesus we too shall rest in reference to divine
   decrees; we shall rejoice in whatever the Lord determines;
   predestination will not cast a gloom over us, but we shall thank God
   for all he ordains.

   What a blessed rest! As we open it up, does not its compass and depth
   surprise you? How sweet to lie passive in his hands, reconciled to
   every mystery, content with every dispensation, honored by every
   service satisfied in God!

   Now, I do not know whether I am right, but it struck me, when
   considering this text from various points, that probably our Saviour
   meant to convey an idea of deeper fellowship than we have yet
   considered. Did not he mean this--that he carried a yoke on his
   shoulder, which he calls, "my yoke?" When bullocks are yoked, there are
   generally two. I have watched them in Northern Italy, and noticed that
   when two are yoked together, and they are perfectly agreed, the yoke is
   always easy to both of them. If one were determined to lie down and the
   other to stand up, the yoke would be very uncomfortable; but when they
   are both of one mind you will see them look at each other with those
   large, lustrous, brown eyes of theirs so lovingly, and with a look they
   read each other's minds, so that when one wants to lie down, down they
   go, or when one wishes to go forward, forward they both go, keeping
   step. In this way the yoke is easy. Now I think the Saviour says to us,
   "I am bearing one end of the yoke on my shoulder; come, my disciple,
   place your neck under the other side of it, and then learn of me. Keep
   step with me, be as I am, do as I do. I am meek and lowly in heart;
   your heart must be like mine, and then we will work together in blessed
   fellowship, and you will find that working with me is a happy thing;
   for my yoke is easy to me, and will be to you. Come, then, true
   yoke-fellow, come and be yoked with me, take my yoke upon you, and
   learn of me." If that be the meaning of the text, and perhaps it is, it
   invites us to a fellowship most near and honorable. If it be not the
   meaning of the text, it is at any rate a position to be sought after,
   to be laborers together with Christ, bearing the same yoke. Such be our
   lot. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Matthew 11.
     __________________________________________________________________

                             The Lost Silver Piece

   A Sermon

   (No. 970)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, January 15th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece,
   doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till
   she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and
   her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the
   piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the
   presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."--Luke
   15:8-10.

   THIS CHAPTER IS FULL OF GRACE and truth. Its three consecutive parables
   have been thought to be merely a repetition of the same doctrine under
   different metaphors, and if that were so, the truth which it teaches is
   so important that it could not be rehearsed too often in our hearing.
   Moreover, it is one which we are apt to forget, and it is well to have
   it again and again impressed upon our minds. The truth here taught is
   just this--that mercy stretches forth her hand to misery, that grace
   receives men as sinners, that it deals with demerit, unworthiness, and
   worthlessness; that those who think themselves righteous are not the
   objects of divine compassion, but the unrighteous, the guilty, and the
   undeserving, are the proper subjects for the infinite mercy of God; in
   a word, that salvation is not of merit but of grace. This truth I say
   is most important, for it encourages penitents to return to their
   Father; but it is very apt to be forgotten, for even those who are
   saved by grace too often fall into the spirit of the elder brother, and
   speak as if, after all, their salvation depended on the works of the
   law.

   But, my dear friends, the three parables recorded in this chapter are
   not repetitions; they all declare the same main truth, but each one
   reveals a different phase of it. The three parables are three sides of
   a vast pyramid of gospel doctrine, but there is a distinct inscription
   upon each. Not only in the similitude, but also in the teaching covered
   by the similitude, there is variety, progress, enlargement,
   discrimination. We have only need to read attentively to discover that
   in this trinity of parables, we have at once unity of essential truth
   and distinctness of description. Each one of the parables is needful to
   the other, and when combined they present us with a far more complete
   exposition of their doctrine than could have been conveyed by any one
   of them. Note for a moment the first of the three which brings before
   us a shepherd seeking a lost sheep. To whom does this refer? Who is the
   shepherd of Israel? Who brings again that which has gone astray? Do we
   not clearly discern the ever glorious and blessed Chief Shepherd of the
   sheep, who lays down his life that he may save them? Beyond a question,
   we see in the first parable the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
   second parable is most fitly placed where it is. It, I doubt not,
   represents the work of the Holy Spirit, working, through the church,
   for the lost but precious souls of men. The church is that woman who
   sweeps her house to find the lost piece of money, and in her the Spirit
   works his purposes of love. How the work of the Holy Spirit follows the
   work of Christ. As here we first see the shepherd seeking the lost
   sheep, and then read of the woman seeking the lost piece of money, so
   the great Shepherd redeems, and then the Holy Spirit restores the soul.
   You will perceive that each parable is thoroughly understood in its
   minute details when so interpreted. The shepherd seeks a sheep which
   has wilfully gone astray, and so far the element of sin is present; the
   lost piece of money does not bring up that idea, nor was it needful
   that it should, since the parable does not deal with the pardon of sin
   as the first does. The sheep, on the other hand, though stupid is not
   altogether senseless and dead, but the piece of money is altogether
   unconscious and powerless, and therefore all the fitter emblem of man
   as the Holy Ghost begins to deal with him, dead in trespasses and sins.
   The third parable evidently represents the divine Father in his
   abundant love receiving the lost child who comes back to him. The third
   parable would be likely to be misunderstood without the first and the
   second. We have sometimes heard it said--here is the prodigal received
   as soon as he comes back, no mention being made of a Savior who seeks
   and saves him. Is it possible to teach all truths in one single
   parable? Does not the first one speak of the shepherd seeking the lost
   sheep? Why need repeat what had been said before? It has also been said
   that the prodigal returned of his own free will, for there is no hint
   of the operation of a superior power upon his heart, it seems as if he
   himself spontaneously says, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." The
   answer is, that the Holy Spirit's work had been clearly described in
   the second parable, and needed not to be introduced again. If you put
   the three pictures in a line, they represent the whole compass of
   salvation, but each one apart sets forth the work in reference to one
   or other of the divine persons of the blessed Trinity. The shepherd,
   with much pain and self-sacrifice, seeks the reckless, wandering sheep;
   the woman diligently searches for the insensible but lost piece of
   money; the father receives the returning prodigal. What God has joined
   together, let no man put asunder. The three life-sketches are one, and
   one truth is taught in the whole three, yet each one is distinct from
   the other, and by itself instructive.

   May we be taught of God while we try to discover the mind of the Spirit
   in this parable, which, as we believe, represents the work of the Holy
   Spirit in and through the church. The church is evermore represented as
   a woman, either the chaste bride of Christ, or the shameless courtesan
   of Babylon; as for good a woman sweeps the house, so for evil a woman
   takes the leaven and hides it in the meal till all is leavened. Towards
   Christ a wife and towards men a mother, the church is most fitly set
   forth as a woman. A woman with a house under her control is the full
   idea of the text, her husband away and herself in charge of the
   treasure: just such is the condition of the church since the departure
   of the Lord Jesus to the Father.

   To bring each part of the text under inspection we shall notice man in
   three conditions--lost, sought, found.

   I. First, the parable treats of man, the object of divine mercy, as
   lost.

   Notice, first, the treasure was lost in the dust. The woman had lost
   her piece of silver, and in order to find it she had to sweep for it,
   which proves that it had fallen into a dusty place, fallen to the
   earth, where it might be hidden and concealed amid rubbish and dirt.
   Every man of Adam born is as a piece of silver lost, fallen,
   dishonored, and some are buried amid foulness and dust. If we should
   drop many pieces of money they would fall into different positions; one
   of thorn might fall into actual mire, and be lost there; another might
   fall upon a carpet, a cloth, or a clean, well-polished floor, and be
   lest there. If you have lost your money, it is equally lost into
   whatever place it may have fallen. So all men are alike lost, but they
   have not all fallen into the like condition of apparent defilement. One
   man from the surroundings of his childhood and the influences of
   education, has never indulged in the coarser and more brutalising
   vices; he has never keen a blasphemer, perhaps never openly even a
   Sabbath-breaker, yet he may be lost for all that. Another, on the other
   hand, has fallen into great excess of riot; he is familiar with
   wantonness and chambering, and all manner of evil; he is lost, he is
   lost with an emphasis: but the more decorous sinner is lost also. There
   may be some here this morning (and we wish always to apply the truth as
   we go on), who are lost in the very worst of corruption: I would to God
   that they would take hope and learn from the parable before us, that
   the church of God and the Spirit of God are seeking after them, and
   they may be among the found ones yet. Since, on the other hand, there
   are many here who have not dropped into such unclean places, I would
   affectionately remind them that they are nevertheless lost, and they
   need as much to be sought for by the Spirit of God as if they were
   among the vilest of the vile. To save the moral needs divine grace as
   certainly as to save the immoral. If you be lost, my dear hearer, it
   will be small avail to you that you perished respectably, and were
   accursed in decent company: if you lack but one thing, yet if the
   deficiency be fatal, it will be but a poor consolation that you had
   only one lack. If one leak sent the vessel to the bottom; it was no
   comfort to the crew that their ship only leaked in one place. One
   disease may kill a man; he may be sound everywhere else, but it will be
   a sorry comfort to him to know that he might have lived long had but
   that one organ been sound. If, dear hearer, thou shouldst have no sin
   whatever save only an evil heart of unbelief, if all thy external life
   should be lovely and amiable, yet if that one fatal sin be in thee,
   thou canst draw small consolation from all else that is good about
   thee. Thou art lost by nature, and thou must be found by grace, whoever
   thou mayst be.

   In this parable that which was lost was altogether ignorant of its
   being lost. The silver coin was not a living thing, and therefore had
   no consciousness of its being lost or sought after. The piece of money
   lost was quite as content to be on the floor or in the dust, as it was
   to be in the purse of its owner amongst its like. It knew nothing about
   its being lost, and could not know. And it is just so with the sinner
   who is spiritually dead in sin, he is unconscious of his state, nor can
   we make him understand the danger and terror of his condition. When he
   feels that he is lost, there is already some work of grace in him. When
   the sinner knows that he is lost, he is no longer content with his
   condition, but begins to cry out for mercy, which is evidence that the
   finding work has already began. The unconverted sinner will confess
   that he is lost because he knows the statement to be scriptural, and
   therefore out of compliment to God's word he admits it to be true; but
   he has no idea of what is meant by it, else would he either deny it
   with proud indignation, or he would bestir himself to pray that he
   might be restored to the place from which he has fallen, and be
   numbered with Christ's precious property. O my hearers, this it is that
   makes the Spirit of God so needful in all our preachings, and every
   other soul-saving exercise, because we have to deal with insensible
   souls. The man who puts the fire-escape against the window of a burning
   house, may readily enough rescue those who are aware of their danger,
   and who rush to the front and help him, or at least are submissive to
   him in his work of delivering them; but if a man were insane, if he
   played with the flames, if he were idiotic and thought that some grand
   illumination were going on, and knew nothing of the danger but was only
   "glamoured by the glare," then would it be hard work for the rescuer.
   Even thus it is with sinners. They know not, though they profess to
   know, that sin is hell, that to be an alien from God is to be condemned
   already, to live in sin is to be dead while you live. The insensibility
   of the piece of money fairly pictures the utter indifference of souls
   unquickened by divine grace.

   The silver piece was lost but not forgotten. The woman knew that she
   had ten pieces of silver originally; she counted them over carefully,
   for they were all her little store, and she found only nine, but she
   well remembered that one more was hers and ought to be in her hand.
   This is our hope for the Lord's lost ones, they are lost but not
   forgotten, the heart of the Savior remembers them, and prays for them.
   O soul, I trust you are one whom Jesus calls his own, if so he
   remembers the pangs which he endured in redeeming you, and he
   recollects the Father's love which was reflected on you from old
   eternity, when the Father gave you into the hands of his beloved Son.
   You are not forgotten of the Holy Spirit who seeks you for the Savior.
   This is the minister's hope, that there is a people whom the Lord
   remembers and whom he never will forget, though they forget him.
   Strangers to him, far-off, ignorant, callous, careless, dead, yet the
   everlasting heart in heaven throbs towards them with love; and the mind
   of the Spirit, working on earth, is directed to them. These, who were
   numbered and reckoned up of old are still in the inventory of the
   divine memory; and though lost they are earnestly remembered still. In
   some sense this is true of every sinner here. You are lost, but that
   you are remembered is evident, for I am sent to-day to preach the
   gospel of Jesus to you. God has thoughts of love concerning you, and
   bids you turn unto him and live. Have respect, I pray you, to the word
   of his salvation.

   Next, the piece of silver was lost but still claimed. Observe that the
   woman called the money, "my piece which was lost." When she lost its
   possession she did not lose her right to it; it did not become somebody
   else's when it slipped out of her hand and fell upon the floor. Those
   for whom Christ hath died, whom he hath peculiarly redeemed, are not
   Satan's even when they are dead in sin. They may come under the devil's
   usurped dominion, but the monster shall be chased from his throne.
   Christ has received them of old of the Father, and he has bought them
   with his precious blood, and he will have them; he will chase away the
   intruder and claim his own. Thus saith the Lord, "Your covenant with
   death is disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand." Ye
   have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without
   money. Jesus shall have his own, and none shall pluck them from his
   hold; he will defend his claim against all comers.

   Further, observe that the lost piece of money was not only remembered
   and claimed, but it was also valued. In these three parables the value
   of the lost article steadily rises. This is not very clear at first
   sight, because it may be said that a sheep is of more value than a
   piece of money; but notice that the shepherd only lost one sheep out of
   a hundred, but the woman lost one piece out of ten, and the father one
   son out of two. Now, it is not the value of the thing in itself which
   is here set forth, for the soul of a man, as absolutely valued in
   comparison with the infinite God, is of small esteem; but because of
   his love it is of great value to him. The one piece of money to the
   woman was a tenth part of all she had, and it was very valuable in her
   esteem. To the Lord of love a lost soul is very precious: it is not
   because of its intrinsic value, but it has a relative value which God
   sets at a high rate. The Holy Spirit values souls, and therefore the
   church prizes them too. The church sometimes says to herself, "We have
   but few conversions, few members; many are called, but few chosen." She
   counts over her few converts, her few members, and one soul is to her
   all the more precious because of the few there are who in these times
   are in the treasury of Christ, stamped with the image of the great
   Being, and made of the precious genuine silver of God's own grace. O
   dear friend, you think yourself of small value, you who are conscious
   that you have sinned, but the church does not think you of small value,
   and the Holy Spirit does not despise you. He sets a high price upon
   you, and so do his people. We value your souls, we only wish we knew
   how to save them; we would spare no expense or pains if we might but be
   the means of finding you, and bringing you once more into the great
   Owner's hand.

   The piece of money was lost, but it was not lost hopelessly. The woman
   had hopes of recovering it, and therefore she did not despair, but set
   to work at once. It is a dreadful thing to think of those souls which
   are lost hopelessly. Their state reminds me of a paragraph I have cut
   from this week's newspaper:--"The fishing smack Veto, of Grimshy, S.
   Cousins, master, arrived in port from the Dogger Bank on Saturday
   night. The master reports that on the previous Wednesday, when about
   two hundred miles from Spurn, he sighted to the leeward what at first
   appeared to be a small schooner in distress, but on bearing down to her
   found her to be a full-sized lifeboat, upwards of twenty feet long, and
   full of water up to her corks. There was no name on the boat, which had
   evidently belonged to some large ship or steamer. It was painted white
   both inside and out, with a brown streak round the rim. When alongside,
   on closer examination, three dead sailors were perceived lying aft,
   huddled together, and a fourth athwart in the bow, with his head
   hanging over the rowlocks. They seemed from their dress and general
   appearance to be foreigners, but the bodies had been frightfully;
   washed about,' and were in a state of decomposition, and had evidently
   been dead some weeks. The water-logged waif drifted on with its ghastly
   cargo, and the horrible sight so shocked the crew of the Veto that
   afterwards they were almost too unnerved to attend to their trawling,
   and the smack, in consequence, returned to port with a comparatively
   small catch, and sooner than expected." Do you wonder at the men
   sickening in the presence of this mystery of the sea? I shudder as I
   think I see that Charon-like boat floating on and on; mercy need not
   follow it, she can confer no boon; love need not seek it, no deed of
   hers can save. My soul sees, as in a vision, souls hopelessly lost,
   drifting on the waves of eternity, beyond all hope or help. Alas! Alas!
   Millions of our race are now in that condition. Upon them has passed
   the second death, and powerless are we all to save them. Towards them
   even the gospel has no aspect of hope. Our joy is that we have to deal
   to-day with lost souls who are not yet hopelessly lost. They are dead
   in sin, but there is a quickening power which can make them live. O
   mariner of the sea of life, fisher of men upon this stormy sea, those
   castaways whom you meet with are accessible to your efforts of
   compassion, they can be rescued from the pitiless deeps; your mission
   is not a hopeless one. I rejoice over the ungodly man here to-day that
   he is not in torment, not in hell, he is not among those whose worm
   dieth not and whose fire is not quenched. I congratulate the Christian
   church too, that her piece of money has not fallen where she cannot
   find it. I rejoice that the fallen around us are not past hope; yea,
   though they dwell in the worst dens of London, though they be thieves
   and harlots, they are not beyond the reach of mercy. Up, O church of
   God, while possibilities of mercy remain! Gird up your loins, be
   soul-winners, and resolve by the grace of God that every hour of hope
   shall be well employed by you.

   One other point is worthy of notice. The piece of silver was lost, but
   it was lost in the house, and the woman knew it to be so. If she had
   lost it in the streets, the probabilities are she would not have looked
   for it again, for other hands might have closed over it. If she had
   lost it in a river, or dropped it in the sea, she might very fairly
   have concluded that it was gone for ever, but evidently she was sure
   that she had lost it in the house. Is it not a consolation to know that
   those here, who are lost, are still in the house? They are still under
   the means of grace, within the sphere of the church's operations,
   within the habitation of which she is the mistress, and where the Holy
   Spirit works. What thankfulness there ought to be in your minds that
   you are not lost as heathens, nor lost amid Romish or Mohammedan
   superstition, but lost where the gospel is faithfully and plainly
   preached to you; where you are lovingly told, that whosoever believeth
   in Christ Jesus is not condemned. Lost, but lost where the church's
   business is to look after you, where it is the Spirit's work to seek
   and to find you.

   This is the condition of the lost soul, depicted as a lost piece of
   silver.

   II. Secondly, we shall notice the soul under another condition, we
   shall view it as sought.

   By whom was the piece of silver sought? It was sought by its owner
   personally. Notice, she who lost the money lit a candle and swept the
   house, and sought diligently till she found it. So, brethren, I have
   said that the woman represents the Holy Spirit, or rather the church in
   which the Holy Spirit dwells. Now, there will never be a soul found
   till the Holy Spirit seeks after it. He is the great soul finder. The
   heart will continue in the dark until he comes with his illuminating
   power. He is the owner, he possesses it, and he alone can effectually
   seek after it. The God to whom the soul belongs must seek the soul. But
   he does it by his church, for souls belong to the church too; they are
   sons and daughters of the chosen mother, they are her citizens and
   treasures. For this reason the church must personally seek after souls.
   She cannot delegate her work to anybody. The woman did not pay a
   servant to sweep the house, but she swept it herself. Her eyes were
   much better than a servant's eyes, for the servant's eyes would only
   lock after somebody else's money, and perhaps would not see it; but the
   mistress would look after her own money, and she would be certain to
   light upon it if it were anywhere within sight. When the church of God
   solemnly feels, "It is our work to look after sinners, we must not
   delegate it even to the minister, or to the City-missionary, or the
   Biblewoman, but the church as a church must look after the souls of
   sinners," then I believe souls will be found and saved. When the church
   recognizes that these lost souls belong to her, she will be likely to
   find them. It will be a happy day when every church of God is actively
   at work for the salvation of sinners. It has been the curse of
   Christendom that she has ventured to delegate her sacred duties to men
   called priests, or that she has set apart certain persons to be called
   the religious who are to do works of mercy and charity and of
   evangelization. We are, every one of us who are Christ's, bound to do
   our own share; nay, we should deem it a privilege of which we will not
   be deprived, personally to serve God, personally to sweep the house and
   search after the lost spiritual treasures. The church herself, in the
   power of the indwelling Spirit of God, must seek lost souls.

   Note that this seeking became a matter of chief concern with the woman.
   I do not know what other business she had to do, but I do know that she
   put it all by to find the piece of money. There was the corn to be
   ground for the morning meal, perhaps that was done, at any rate, if not
   so, she left it unprepared. There was a garment to be mended, or water
   to be drawn, or the fire to be kindled, or the friends and neighbors to
   be conversed with--never mind, the mistress forgets everything else,
   she has lost her piece of money, and she must find it at once. So with
   the church of God, her chief concern should be to seek the perishing
   sons of men. To bring souls to know Jesus, and to be saved in him with
   a great salvation should be the church's great longing and concern. She
   has other things to do. She has her own edification to consider, she
   has other matters to be attended to in their place, but this first,
   this evermore and always first. The woman evidently said, "The money is
   lost, I must find that first." The loss of her piece of silver was so
   serious a matter that if she sat down to her mending, her hands would
   miss their nimbleness, or if any other household work demanded her
   attention, it would be an irksome task to her, for she was thinking of
   that piece of coin. If her friend came and talked with her, she would
   say to herself, "I wish she were gone, for I want to be looking after
   my lost money." I wish the church of God had such an engrossing love
   for poor sinners that she would feel everything to be an impertinence
   which hindered her from soul-saving. We have every now and then, as a
   church, a little to do with politics, and a little to do with finance,
   for we are still in the world, but I love to see in all churches
   everything kept in the background, compared with soul-saving work. This
   must be first and foremost. Educate the people--yes, certainly; we take
   an interest in everything which will do good to our fellow citizens,
   for we are men as well as Christians; but first and foremost our
   business is to win souls, to bring men to Jesus, to hunt up those who
   bear heaven's image, though lost and fallen. This is what we must be
   devoted to, this is the main and chief concern of believers, the very
   reason for the existence of a church; if she regard it not, she forgets
   her highest end.

   Now note, that the woman having thus set her heart to find her money,
   she used the most fit and proper means to accomplish her end. First,
   she lit a candle. So doth the Holy Spirit in the church. In Eastern
   dwellings it would be necessary, if you lost a piece of money and
   wanted to find it, to light a candle at any time; for in our Savior's
   day glass was not used, and the windows of houses were only little
   slits in the side of the wall, and the rooms were very dark. Almost all
   the Oriental houses are very dark to this day, and if anything be
   dropped as small as a piece of silver, it must be looked for with a
   candle even at high noon. Now, the sphere in which the church moves
   here on earth is a dim twilight of mental ignorance, and moral
   darkness, and in order to find a lost soul, light must be brought to
   bear upon it. The Holy Spirit uses the light of the gospel; he
   convinces men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. The
   woman lit a candle, and even thus the Holy Spirit lights up some chosen
   man whom he makes to be a light in the world. He calls to himself
   whomsoever he wills, and makes him a lamp to shine upon the people.
   Such a man will have to be consumed in his calling, like a candle he
   will be burnt up in light-giving. Earnest zeal, and laborious
   self-sacrifice, will eat him up. So may this church, and every church
   of God, be continually using up her anointed men and women, who shall
   be as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, to find
   out lost souls.

   But she was not content with her candle, she fetched her broom, she
   swept the house. If she could not find the silver as things were in the
   house, she brought the broom to bear upon the accumulated dust. Oh, how
   a Christian church, when it is moved by the Holy Spirit, cleanses
   herself and purges all her work! "Perhaps," saith she, "some of our
   members are inconsistent, and so men are hardened in sin; these
   offenders must be put away. The tone of religion is low--that may be
   hindering the conversion of souls, it must be raised. Perhaps our
   statements of truth, and our ways of proclaiming it, are not the most
   likely to command attention, we must amend them; we must use the best
   possible methods, we must in fact sweep the whole house." I delight to
   see an earnest house-sweeping by confession of sin at a prayer meeting,
   or by a searching discourse, a house-sweeping when every one is earnest
   to reform himself, and to get nearer to God himself by a revival of his
   own personal piety. This is one of the means by which the church is
   enabled to find the hidden ones. Besides this, all the neighborhood
   round the church (for the house is the sphere in which the church
   moves), must be ransacked, stirred, turned over, in a word "swept." A
   church that is really in earnest after souls will endeavor to penetrate
   the gloom of poverty and stir the heaps of profligacy. She will hunt
   high and hunt low if by any means she may rescue from destruction the
   precious thing upon which her heart is set.

   Carefully note that this seeking after the lost piece of silver with
   fitting instruments, the broom and the candle, was attended with no
   small stir. She swept the house--there was dust for her eyes; if any
   neighbors were in the house there was dust for them. You cannot sweep a
   house without causing some confusion and temporary discomfort. We
   sometimes hear persons complain of certain Christians for making too
   much ado about religion. The complaint shows that something is being
   done, and in all probability some success being achieved. Those people
   who have no interest in the lost silver are annoyed at the dust; it is
   getting down their throats, and they cough at it; never mind, good
   woman, sweep again, and make them grumble more. Another will say, "I do
   not approve of religious excitement, I am for quiet and orderly modes
   of procedure." I dare say that this good woman's neighbor, when she
   came in to make a call, exclaimed in disgust, "Why, mistress, there is
   not a chair to sit down upon in comfort, and you are so taken up about
   this lost money that you scarce give me an answer. Why, you are wasting
   candle at a great rate, and seem quite in a fever." "Well," the good
   woman would answer, "but I must find my piece of silver, and in order
   to seek it out I can bear a little dust myself, and so must you if you
   wish to stop here while I am searching." An earnest church will be sure
   to experience a degree of excitement when it is soul-hunting, and very
   cautious, very fastidious, very critical people will find fault. Never
   mind them, my brethren, sweep on and let them talk on. Never mind
   making a dust if you find the money. If souls be saved irregularities
   and singularities are as the small dust of the balance. If men be
   brought to Jesus, care nothing what cavillers say. Sweep on, sweep on,
   even though men exclaim, "They that turn the world upside down are come
   hither also." Though confusion and stir, and even persecution be the
   present result, yet if the finding of an immortal soul be the ultimate
   effect, you will be well repaid for it.

   It is to be remarked, also, that in the seeking of this piece of silver
   the coin was sought in a most engrossing manner. For a time nothing was
   thought of but the lost silver. Here is a candle: the good woman does
   not read by the light of it, nor mend her garments; no, but the
   candle-light is all spent on that piece of money. All its light is
   consecrated to the search. Here is a broom: there is other work for the
   broom to do, but for the present it sweeps for the silver and for
   nothing else. Here are two bright eyes in the good woman's head: ay,
   but they look for nothing but the lost money; she does not care what
   else may be in the house or out of it--her money she cares for, and
   that she must find; and here she is with candle, broom, strength,
   eyesight, faculties of mind, and limbs of body, all employed in
   searching for the lost treasure. It is just so when the Holy Ghost
   works in a church, the preacher, like a candle, yields his light, but
   it is all with the view of finding out the sinner and letting him see
   his lost estate. Whether it be the broom of the law or the light of the
   gospel, all is meant for the sinner. All the Holy Spirit's wisdom is
   engaged to find the sinner, and all the living church's talent and
   substance and power are put forth if by any means the sinner may be
   saved. It is a fair picture, may I see it daily. How earnestly souls
   are sought for when the Spirit of God is truly in his church!

   One other thought only. This woman sought for her piece of silver
   continuously--"till she found it." May you and I, as parts of the
   church of God, look after wandering souls till we find them. We say
   they discourage us. No doubt that piece of silver did discourage the
   woman who sought it. We complain that men do not appear inclined to
   religion. Did the piece of money lend the housewife any help? Was it
   any assistance to her? She did the seeking, she did it all. And the
   Holy Ghost through you, my brother, seeks the salvation of the sinner,
   not expecting the sinner to help him, for the sinner is averse to being
   found. What, were you repulsed the other day by one whose spiritual
   good you longed for? Go again! Were your invitations laughed at? Invite
   again! Did you become the subject of ridicule through your earnest
   entreaties? Entreat again! Those are not always the least likely to be
   saved who at first repel our efforts. A harsh reception is sometimes
   only an intimation that the heart recognises the power of the truth,
   though it does not desire at present to yield to it. Persevere,
   brother, till you find the soul you seek. You who spend so much effort
   in your Sunday-school class, use still your candle, enlighten the
   child's mind still, sweep the house till you find what you seek; never
   give up the child till it is brought to Christ. You, in your senior
   class, dealing with that young man or young woman, cease not from your
   private prayers and from your personal admonitions, till that heart
   belongs to Jesus. You who can preach in the streets, or visit the
   lodging-houses, or go from door to door with tracts, I charge you all,
   for you can all do something, never give up the pursuit of sinners
   until they are safely lodged in Jesus' hands. We must have them saved!
   With all the intense perseverance of the woman who turned everything
   upside down, and counted all things but loss that she might but find
   her treasure, so may we also, the Spirit of God working in us, upset
   everything of rule and conventionality, and form and difficulty, if we
   may but by any means save some, and bring out of the dust those who
   bear the King's image, and are dear to the King's heart.

   III. Time has fled, alas! too swiftly, and so I must close with the
   third point, which is the piece of silver FOUND.

   Found! In the first place, this was the woman's ultimatum, and nothing
   short of it. She never stopped until the coin was found. So it is the
   Holy Spirit's design, not that the sinner should be brought into a
   hopeful state, but that he should be actually saved: and this is the
   church's great concern, not that people be made hearers, not that they
   be made orthodox professors, but that they be really changed and
   renewed, regenerated and born again.

   The woman herself found the piece of money. It did not turn up by
   accident, nor did some neighbor step in and find it. The Spirit of God
   himself finds sinners, and the church of God herself as a rule is the
   instrument of their recovery. Dear brethren, a few years ago there was
   a kind of slur cast upon the visible church, by many enthusiastic but
   mistaken persons, who dreamed that the time was come for doing away
   with organised effort, for irregular agencies outside of the visible
   church were to do all the work. Certain remarkable men sprang up whose
   ferocious censures almost amounted to attacks upon the recognised
   churches. Their efforts were apart from the regular ministry, and in
   some cases ostentatiously in opposition to it. It was as much their aim
   to pull down the existing church as to bring in converts. I ask any man
   who has fairly watched these efforts, what they have come to? I never
   condemned them, nor will I; but I do venture to say to-day in the light
   of their history, that they have not superseded regular church work and
   never will. The masses were to be aroused, but where are the boasted
   results? What has become of many of these much-vaunted works? Those who
   have worked in connection with a church of God have achieved permanent
   usefulness; those who acted as separatist agencies, though they blazed
   for awhile before the public eye and filled the corners of the
   newspapers with spiritual puffery, are now either altogether or almost
   extinct. Where are the victories which were to be won by these
   freebooters? Echo answers, Where? We have to fall back on the old
   disciplined troops. God means to bless the church still, and it is
   through the church that he will continue to send a benediction upon the
   sons of men. I am glad to hear of anybody preaching the gospel if
   Christ is preached I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. I
   remember the Master's words, "Forbid them not! He that is not against
   us is for us." Still the mass of conversions will come through the
   church, and by her regular organised efforts. The woman who lights the
   candle and sweeps the house, to whom the silver belongs, will herself
   find it.

   Now notice when she had found it what she did, she rejoiced. The
   greater her trouble in searching, the higher her joy in finding. What
   joy there is in the church of God when sinners are converted! We have
   our high holidays, we have our mirthful days downstairs in the lecture
   hall, when we hear of souls turned from the paths of the destroyer--and
   in the vestries behind, your pastors and elders often experience such
   joy as only heaven can equal, when we have heard the stories of souls
   emancipated from the slavery of sin, and led into the perfect liberty
   which Jesus gives. The church rejoices.

   Next, she calls her friends and neighbors to share her joy. I am afraid
   we do not treat our friends and neighbors with quite enough respect, or
   remember to invite them to our joys. Who are they? I think the angels
   are here meant; not only the angels in heaven, but those who are
   watching here below. Note well, that when the shepherd took home the
   sheep, it is written, "There shall be joy in heaven over one sinner
   that repenteth;" but it does not mention heaven here, nor speak of the
   future, but it is written, "There is joy in the presence of the angels
   of God." Now, the church is on earth, and the Holy Spirit is on earth,
   at work; when there is a soul saved, the angels down below, who keep
   watch and ward around the faithful, and so are our friends and
   neighbors, rejoice with us. Know ye not that angels are present in our
   assemblies? for this reason the apostle tells us that the woman hath
   her head covered in the assembly. He saith, "Because of the angels, for
   they love order and decorum." The angels are wherever the saints are,
   beholding our orders and rejoicing in our joy. When we see conversions
   we may bid them rejoice too, and they will praise God with us. I do not
   suppose the rejoicing ends there; for as angels are always ascending
   and descending upon the Son of Man, they soon convey the tidings to the
   hosts above, and heaven rejoices over one repenting sinner.

   The joy is a present joy; it is a joy in the house, in the church in
   her own sphere; it is the joy of her neighbors who are round about her
   here below. All other joy seems swallowed up in this: as every other
   occupation was suspended to find the lost silver, so every other joy is
   hushed when the precious thing is found. The church of God has a
   thousand joys--the joy of her saints ascending to the skies, the joy of
   her saints ripening for glory, the joy of such as contend with sin and
   overcome it, and grow in grace and receive the promise; but the chief
   Joy in the church, which swallows all others, as Aaron's rod swallowed
   up the other rods, is the joy over the lost soul which, after much
   sweeping and searching, is found at last.

   The practical lesson to the unconverted is just this. Dear friend, see
   what value is set upon you. You think that nobody cares for you--why,
   heaven and earth care for you! You say, "I am as nothing, a castaway,
   and I am utterly worthless." No, you are not worthless to the blessed
   Spirit, nor worthless to the church of God--she longs for you.

   See, again, how false that suspicion of yours is that you will not be
   welcome if you come to Christ. Welcome! welcome! why, the church is
   searching for you; the Spirit of God is searching for you. Do not talk
   of welcome, you will be a great deal more than welcome. Oh, how glad
   will Christ be, and the Spirit be, and the church be, to receive you!
   Ah! but you complain that you have done nothing to make you fit for
   mercy. Talk not so, what had the lost piece of money done? What could
   it do? It was lost and helpless. They who sought it did all; he who
   seeks you will do all for you. O poor soul, since Christ now bids thee
   come, come! If his Spirit draws thee, yield it Since the promise now
   speaks, "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," accept the promise. Believe in Jesus.
   God bless you and save you, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 126 and Luke 15.
     __________________________________________________________________

                               The Open Fountain

   A Sermon

   (No. 971)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, January 22nd, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and
   to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
   uncleanness."--Zechariah 13:1.

   WE DO NOT GRUDGE to the seed of Israel after the flesh the first
   application of this very precious promise. There will be a day when
   those who have so long refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messias
   shall discern the marks of his mission, and shall mourn that they have
   pierced him. When the tribes of Israel shall lament their sin with holy
   earnestness, there shall be no mourning to exceed it, they shall weep
   even as in the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo, when
   the wellbeloved Josiah was slain. Discovering that their nation
   rejected the Son of God, when they crucified Jesus of Nazareth their
   deeply religious spirit shall be filled with the utmost bitterness of
   repentance, and each man and each woman shall cry for pardon to the
   Lord of mercy. Then, close upon the heels of the weeping shall come the
   full and complete forgiveness; the transgression of the tribes shall be
   put away in one day; they shall perceive that the very side which they
   pierced has yielded a fountain to cleanse them from their sin; joyfully
   shall they behold on Calvary the brazen serpent lifted up for their
   healing, the Paschal Lamb slain for their redemption, the sin-offering
   sacrificed in their stead. What a blessed day will that be when "all
   Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion
   the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." O that you
   and I might live to see that happy era when all the Jewish race shall
   behold their Messiahs; for then shall the fullness of the Gentiles be
   gathered in. Our history is wrapped up with theirs. "Through their fall
   salvation is come unto the Gentiles. Now if the fall of them be the
   riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the
   Gentiles; how much more their fullness?"

   "Wake, harp of Zion, wake again,

   Upon thine ancient hill,

   On Jordan's long deserted plain,

   By Kedron's lowly rill.

   The hymn shall yet in Zion swell

   That sounds Messiah's praise,

   And thy loved name, Immanuel!

   As once in ancient days.

   For Israel yet shall own her King,

   For her salvation waits,

   And hill and dale shall sweetly sing

   With praise in all her gates."

   Having said thus much, however, we shall now take our text as belonging
   to ourselves in common with Israel, for in the gospel no promise is now
   set about with a hedge, and reserved for any race peculiarly; there is
   now "neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
   neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." This
   promise is our joy at this hour. O that I might be able so to speak of
   it that many anxious hearts might now see its meaning and appropriate
   its blessedness!

   In order to explain the text we shall dwell upon three notes; if these
   three be clearly sounded we shall understand the passage--a
   fountain--opened--still open.

   I. A FOUNTAIN.

   What is this fountain which is said to be opened, and when and how was
   it opened? It is a fountain opened to the house of David, and the
   inhabitants of, for sin and for uncleanness. We observe, therefore,
   that the blessing here spoken of deals with the greatest evils to which
   mankind is subject--sin and uncleanness. We have all fallen; we have
   all proved our fall by our sinful practice. Sin has separated us from
   God and brought upon us the divine wrath; uncleanness, which is a
   tendency still to sin, a defilement of our nature, prevents our
   returning to our heavenly Father, and entering into renewed fellowship
   with aim. This great evil in its double form is, according to the text,
   distinctly recognized by God; it is not winked at, it is not treated as
   a trifle that may remain, and yet man may be beloved of God and be
   happy; no, but the evil being there, preparation is made for its
   removal. The text says, not that the filthiness is concealed, that the
   transgression is excused, but that there is a fountain opened for the
   effectual removal of sin and uncleanness. In the gospel God never
   trifles with human sin. We proclaim full, free, immediate forgiveness
   to the very chief of sinners, but it is not in a way which makes men
   think that sin is trivial in God's esteem, for there is coupled with
   the declaration of pardon a description of the way in which God by the
   sacrifice of his Son renders it possible for him to be merciful without
   being unjust. In the substitution of Christ Jesus we see justice and
   mercy peacefully embracing, and conferring double honor upon each
   other. I repeat the word, the uncleanness is not concealed, the sin is
   not winked at, but there is a fountain prepared for the purging away of
   the defilement, and it is opened to the house of David, for the great
   and mighty, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem--the poor, common
   people of every class. Hear this, ye who feel yourselves sinners, God
   has provided means for delivering you from your sins.

   The text recalls to your notice the double nature of the evil of sin,
   and the character of the provision which meets the double evil. The
   fountain is opened for sin, that refers, no doubt, to the guilt of sin,
   to sin as offending God and deserving punishment. There is a fountain
   opened in the atonement, by which the offense rendered to God's honor
   and dignity is put away. What if we have sinned, yet the Lord has
   punished that sin in the person of his own Son, he has thus fulfilled
   his threatening, and proven the truth of his word. In Jesus Christ,
   therefore, the guilt of those for whom he was a substitute is put away
   consistently with the righteousness of the great Lawgiver. God is just
   and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. But this would
   not be enough; there is a second mischief, namely, that our nature has
   become unclean and consequently estranged from God. Through our natural
   corruption and the effect of our past sin, we are diseased morally and
   spiritually, our mind is in itself biassed towards evil and averse from
   good. God does not pardon sin and leave the sinner as he was in other
   respects, but wherever forgiveness of the guilt is bestowed a renewal
   of the nature is wrought; the fountain opened for pardon is also opened
   for purification. The washing which takes away the offense before
   heaven removes also the love of offending. Herein is double joy, for
   does not every true penitent feel that mere pardon would be a poor boon
   to him if it allowed him to continue in sin? My God, deliver me from
   sin itself, for this is the great burden of my soul. Oh, could I have
   the past forgiven, and yet live an enemy to my God, enslaved by evil
   and a stranger to holiness--then were I still accursed! What if God
   ceases to punish wickedness, yet sin in itself is a curse; to love the
   wrong is the beginning of hell. Blessed be the Lord, when he opened the
   fountain to cleanse his sinful people, he made it "of sin the double
   cure," that it might at the same time cleanse us from its guilt and
   power. For our double need there is, according to the text, one only
   supply; no mention is made of two fountains, neither are there two
   methods for the putting away of sin. But the one method is divine, God
   himself has devised, ordained, and prepared it. Wouldst thou have sin
   forgiven thee? Wash, for there is a fountain opened. Wouldst thou have
   sin eradicated from thy nature, and thy heart made pure? Wash, for
   heaven declares that the fountain is opened for this also. Imagine not
   that God has proposed an ineffectual means of purgation. His
   arrangements are never failures. Man may through his poverty provide a
   feast which is so bare as to mock the hunger of those invited; his
   starveling hospitality may be an insult to the greatness of human
   necessity; but it is never so with God. For his banquet of mercy oxen
   and fatlings are killed, milk and wine run in rivers, fat things full
   of marrow are heaped up; no stint is found at Jehovah's board. When God
   appoints a supply for any need, we may be assured that it is a real and
   sufficient provision. O penitent souls, rest assured that in Jesus'
   sacrifice there is an effectual provision for the forgiveness of sin,
   and an infallible means for the purging of your nature from its
   tendency to sin. God in the covenant of grace provides no seeming,
   superficial semblance, but in very deed he satisfies the longing soul O
   men and women, there is provided for your sin and your uncleanness that
   which exactly meets your need.

   According to the verse before us this provision is inexhaustible. There
   is a fountain opened; not a cistern nor a reservoir, but a fountain. A
   fountain continues still to bubble up, and is as full after fifty years
   as at the first; and even so the provision and the mercy of God for the
   forgiveness and the justification of our souls continually flows and
   overflows. There is a supply so large that when thousands of the sons
   of Adam come they find that there is enough for their demands, and as
   new generations continue still to come all along the centuries, they
   shall find that the supply has not in any degree been diminished. For
   the sin of Adam and Abel the atonement was sufficient, but it shall be
   equally so for the last repenting sinner. David saw the cleansing
   flood, and washed away his crimson sins, but he left the fountain
   undefiled, and it is as effectual for you and for me as it was for him.
   For sinners in the last days the fountain is as full, as cleansing, and
   as free, as for sinners in the first ages of the world.

   Thus I have testified to you that for the great necessity of men in
   this double form, there is a divinely appointed and inexhaustible
   supply, and it is intended for high and low, rich and poor, for the
   royal and the ragged, the prince and the pauper.

   When was this fountain opened? When was this divine and inexhaustible
   supply revealed to men? The answer may be given thus. The fountain was
   opened for sin and for uncleanness when the Lord Jesus died. God, the
   everlasting Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and in fullness of
   time the weight of human sin was laid on him. In order to put that sin
   away he must die, for death was the penalty for guilt; up to the cross
   he went through agonies unspeakable, and at the last he yielded up his
   soul; and when he did so sin was put away, and the fountain for the
   cleansing of sin was effectually opened. When the soldier with the
   spear pierced his side, and forthwith there came forth blood and water,
   then was it proven that this was he who came not with water only, but
   by water and by blood, a Savior who takes away the offense of sin as
   touching God, and the defilement of sin in human nature.

   Furthermore, the fountain may be said to be opened to each one of us
   when the gospel is preached to us. "In that day there shall be a
   fountain opened," means secondarily, that whenever the gospel of Jesus
   Christ is fully and faithfully preached, then the cleansing efficacy of
   the atonement of Jesus which aforetime was as a sealed fountain, is
   opened to those who hear. And best of all, according to the connection
   of the text, this fountain is opened in the day when men repent of sin.
   Doth it not say that they shall mourn each family apart, and their
   wives apart, and in that day shall there be a fountain opened! The
   sinner does not find a Savior until he bewails his sin; when he sees
   his own filthiness then it is that the way to have that filthiness
   removed is made clear to him. God is always willing to forgive, but we
   are not always willing to be forgiven. The fountain is experimentally
   opened to each one of us when we spiritually discern it, believe in it,
   and are made partners of its cleansing power. Years ago a German prince
   who was entertained by the French Government, was taken to the galleys
   of Toulon, where a number of men were held as convicts on account of
   their crimes. The commandant decreed that in honor of the prince's
   visit, some prisoner whom he might choose should be set at liberty. The
   prince went round amongst the prisoners, and talked with them, they all
   knowing that he had the power to liberate some one of them. He found
   that according to their talk they were nearly all innocent, and had
   been condemned by mistake, or by flagrant injustice. He passed them all
   by, and spoke with one who talked in another style. He was guilty upon
   his own confession. "I certainly," said he, "have no reason to complain
   of my hard work in the galleys, for if I had my due I should have been
   put to death for my crimes." He went on to acknowledge with much
   humility the former evils of his life, and the justice of his sentence.
   The prince set him free, and said, "This is the only man in the whole
   of this place who is fit to be pardoned; he has a sense of his
   transgressions, he may be trusted in society." So too, the pardoning
   mercy of God passes by those who say each one in their souls, "I am not
   guilty, I have not been more sinful than other people, I see nothing
   very remarkable in my case, and if I were sent to hell the sentence
   would be too severe." Although there is a fountain for sin and
   uncleanness by Jesus Christ, it is not opened personally to your
   experience, you cannot see it, do not appreciate it, and will not
   participate in its benefits unless you know yourself to be a sinner;
   but if there be here one really guilty, one who feels his sin to be
   deserving the wrath of God, then this day I have authority from the
   Most High to say to him, there is a fountain opened for sin and
   uncleanness. You mourn your sin, you confess your guilt, you wish you
   could mourn it more, you feel yourself undeserving and unworthy--then
   you are the man to whom the mercy of heaven is this day freely
   proclaimed. Jesus has come forth on purpose to bind up the
   broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of
   the prison to them that are bound. The time for the actual opening of
   the cleansing fountain to us is the time when the heart confesses its
   guilt, and desires pardon of the Most High. Dear friend, has this time
   come to you? I pray you as you love your soul consider your ways,
   acknowledge your transgressions, and rest not till the blood of
   atonement has made you clear from guilt. Need the subject be pressed
   upon you? Surely your own reason should lead you to be anxious upon a
   matter so vital to your soul's eternal interests. How sad it will be if
   there be a fountain and yet you die unwashed! If there be a Savior, and
   you perish for ever, what wretchedness it will be!

   II. My chief business, this morning, is to sound forth the second note
   of my text--it is a fountain OPEN.

   The means by which sin and sinfulness can be put away are at this
   moment accessible to the sons of men. The atonement is not a fountain
   hid and concealed, and closed and barred and bolted, it is a fountain
   open. The doctrine I have to teach is very simple and plain; there is
   no room here for oratory and elocution, and polished periods; it is the
   plainest gospel doctrine in the world, and yet I am very, very happy to
   have to speak it to you, for I do trust God may bless it to many, that
   they may find the pardon of their sin, and the removal of their
   uncleanness. I would sooner tell you the good news from heaven in
   broken accents than anything else with the tongue of an angel.

   The fountain which God has provided is open at this day. Now what is
   meant by this? It means partly that the gospel is so preached that you
   can understand it; the gospel at this day is not concealed in Latin, as
   it was before the days of Luther, it is not wrapped up in types and
   shadows, as it was in the old dispensation; the gospel is preached in
   many places in this country as plainly as words could deliver it, so
   plainly that he that runs may read it. I will tell it to you again. God
   must punish sin, but he has laid the punishment on Christ, and
   whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus is forgiven. Why do not men accept
   the Savior? Why do they not come and trust him? for when they trust him
   they are saved at once. Ah! my hearers, if any of you do not wash from
   your uncleanness it is not because you do not know how; if our gospel
   be hid it is not our fault, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom
   the God of this world hath blinded their eyes. God is our witness, we
   have never sought after excellency of speech, nor the gaudiness or
   elegance of language, but as of simplicity, we have set before your
   souls this fact that Jesus Christ is the substitute for sinners, and
   that you must simply trust in him and you shall be saved. At your own
   peril be it if you reject the gospel; but if you do so, at least bear
   us this witness, that we have set forth Christ visibly crucified among
   you, not hanging up veils of human speculation of our own spinning, or
   curtains embroidered with curious devices of logic and theology, or of
   ceremony and ritual. We have cried aloud in plain words--

   "There is life in a look at the Crucified One."

   We have bidden you look to Jesus, and have told you, in God's name,
   that as you look to the Crucified you shall find eternal life. Blessed
   are the people that know the joyful sound; more blessed still if they
   yield obedience thereto.

   In the next place, it is meant that the provision made in Jesus is
   accessible to you all, and there is no barrier on account of
   uncircumcision or natural descent. When first Peter began to preach the
   gospel, if he had heard that there was a Gentile in the congregation I
   am afraid he would have put in a question as to whether a Gentile could
   be saved; it took some time to bring Peter's mind round to the belief
   that to the Gentiles also the gospel was to be preached. Paul seemed
   far more readily to imbibe that idea; but now to me, a Gentile
   preaching to you Gentiles, this difficulty does not arise, but how
   thankful we ought to be that it does not! "Is he the God of the Jews
   only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles
   also." Our Lord Jesus, by his death, has rent the veil, and pulled down
   every wall of separation, so that the same Messiah who was sent to the
   seed of Abraham after the flesh is sent to us also who were sinners of
   the Gentiles, but who become of the seed of Abraham when we believe in
   Christ, for Abraham was the "father of the faithful." The fountain is
   open then in the removal of the barrier which divided the natural
   Israel from the rest of mankind.

   So, too, at this day, when we read that the provision made for the
   removal of sin and sinfulness is open, we learn that it is personally
   approachable by us. Certain fanatics in our day will have it that grace
   comes to us through priests; there is the fountain, but you must not
   touch a drop of the purifying stream yourself; that venerable gentleman
   in white, or black, or blue, or scarlet, or violet, as the day of the
   month or the change of the moon may be, must stand at the fountain head
   and catch the water as it flows, and then after he has practiced upon
   it sundry manipulations you may drink from his hand, but you who are
   unordained must not go to the fountain for yourselves. Ah, my brethren,
   but we know better than to make gods of men, or saviours of sinners
   like ourselves. We dispense with priests, for we know that the fountain
   of salvation is open for us to come personally, and directly, and
   without any intervention. There is one Mediator between God and man,
   the Man Christ Jesus, but no other mediator is there. One of our
   colporteurs, some years ago abroad, was selling his Testaments, when
   the cure of a parish said to him, "Your books say a very great deal
   about pardon, but I do not see much in them about confession." The
   colporteur was about to reply, when a public notary, who was present,
   taking up the Testament, said to the priest, "Ah, my dear sir, what you
   say is very true, the New Testament does not say much about confession
   to priests; do you not remember that Jesus Christ saved the dying thief
   without the help of a priest, and that St. Stephen, when he was stoned
   was not shriven by a confessor, but entered glory without a priest!"
   "Ah," said the cur,--"but the rules of the church were very different
   in those days from what they are now." Full surely they were! We will
   go back however to the primitive times, and as the dying thief said,
   "Lord, remember me," so will we turn our eyes to that once crucified
   Savior, sitting in the highest heaven, and breathe the selfsame prayer,
   "Lord, remember me:" and as Stephen looked up directly into heaven, and
   found peace even amidst that stony shower, so on our dying bed, our
   glance shall be to the Christ in the open heaven; and we shall find
   rest in our last hours. Blessed be God, the doctrine of justification
   by faith is now so openly declared that priestcraft cannot hold us
   captives. The nations no longer need to crouch at the feet of shaveling
   impostors. Now that there is a fountain open, we can say, "Begone, ye
   priests, the whole herd of you, to whichever church ye belong; we who
   have believed are truly priests every one of us, and ye are mere
   pretenders. We have done with you; a plague and curse to humanity have
   ye been too long, and the gospel ends your detestable trade.

   The text yet further signifies that the fountain is not marred by any
   amount of sin which we have already committed. If there be a fountain
   opened on purpose to remove filth, that man must be insane who shall
   say that his need of washing is a barrier to prevent his using it.
   Shall I stand outside the bath and say, "I am prevented from bathing
   because I am filthy"? everyone detects at once my illogical talk. If
   the fountain is open for sin, then sin is a qualification for washing
   in it. If Christ be a Savior for sinners, then no man may say that on
   the ground of sin Jesus cannot be his Savior; rather might he say, "The
   more truly I am a sinner the more surely is Christ Jesus suited to me."
   The exceeding heinousness of my sin, though I had been guilty of
   adultery, of murder, of crimes innumerable, cannot be a preventative to
   my being washed in the fount of atonement, because on account of my sin
   that fountain is provided, on purpose to put it away that cleansing
   flood was poured forth. Yet it ever is of the nature of sin, when the
   soul begins to know the bitterness of it, to make us fear that sin is a
   disqualification for mercy, and a reason why we should not believe in
   Christ Jesus the great propitiation for sin. O sinner, do not believe
   that sin unfits thee for a Savior, but believe that the Redeemer is
   come on purpose to save such as thou art. Some little time ago an
   earnest lady seeking the good of others, met with a poor girl some
   twenty years of age, who had most fearfully fallen and become a gross
   sinner, though still so young. She talked with her frequently, and at
   last saw in her tokens of repentance, but the poor girl's complaint
   was, "I can never be restored, I am so bad, nobody would ever take
   notice of me." "Have you not a mother?" "No," said the girl, "she died
   years ago." "Have you not a father?" "Yes, but I have not heard of him
   for years." "Does he know where you are?" "No, I do not want he
   should." "Do not you think he would receive you back into his house?"
   "No, that I know he would not, I could not expect him to do so; if I
   were in his place I would not receive such a one as I am." "Have you
   ever written to him since you have gone astray?" "No, I have kept out
   of the way of everybody that knew me; I do not want anybody to know
   what I am." "Have you tried your father whether he will receive you?"
   "No, I knew it was no good, pray do not mention it." "But," said the
   good sister, "who can tell? I think I will try and see if your father
   will receive you now that you are truly penitent for the past." "Oh,
   yes, I hate the sin, but my father would not receive me, it is of no
   use to ask him." "Well," said the visitor, "I will try;" and so she
   wrote a note to the father, giving him the daughter's address, telling
   him about her repentance, and entreating that she might be forgiven.
   What do you suppose was the reply? The next post brought the penitent
   girl a letter, on the envelope of which was written in large letters,
   "IMMEDIATE;" and when she opened it--well, I cannot tell you all her
   father said, but it just came to this, "Come and welcome, I am ready to
   forgive you; I have been praying night and day that you might be
   restored to me." Now, just what that father was to his poor lost girl,
   in tenderness and readiness to forgive, God is to sinners; if there be
   any unwillingness it is not on his part, it is all in their hearts, for
   the answer to every prayer for mercy is, God is ready, nay, he waiteth
   to be gracious, his heart yearneth over his erring ones. "How shall I
   give thee up?" saith he; "How shall I make thee as Adam how shall I set
   thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are
   kindled together. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God,
   and not man." Our guilt therefore is no legitimate reason why we should
   not avail ourselves of the provisions of grace.

   Neither is there any effectual barrier in the consideration of our
   inward sinfulness. If you say, "I could not be a Christian, I have such
   a bad disposition, I could not become holy it is impossible." This is
   true so far as you are concerned, but things impossible with men are
   possible with God. There is a fountain open for this very reason that
   this uncleanness of yours might be put away. Christ's blood will prove
   more than a match for the evil of your heart; his Spirit can renew you,
   make you a new creature, and from this day forward the things you hated
   you shall love, and the evil things you have delighted in shall become
   detestable to you. Is it not written, "Behold, I make all things new"?

   The fountain of cleansing is not sealed by any demands in the gospel
   requiring one to prepare yourself for it before you come. The fountain
   is open, and if you are filthy, you are welcome to come to it. All that
   is asked of you is that you believe in Jesus; this he gives you, it is
   his own work in you. You must also repent and hate the sin which you
   have committed; this also he works in you, causing you by his Spirit to
   loathe the sin which aforetime you delighted in. Had there been a sort
   of purgatorial preparation, had there been a kind of quarantine through
   which the sinner had to pass before he could be renewed and forgiven,
   then were not the fountain completely open; but between you, a sinner,
   and acceptation before God, there need not be even a step of delay;
   believe now, and by believing you shall obtain the perfect pardon and
   the renewal of your soul.

   Nor is there any other real barrier to shut up the fountain from the
   sinner. Some will say, "Perhaps I am not elected." My friend, read the
   text, the fountain is open; open for all ranks, "the house of David and
   the inhabitants of Jerusalem." The doctrine of election, true as it is,
   does not make my text a falsehood, or close the fount of grace upon any
   seeking soul. Can you think of any other doctrine? Does any other truth
   discourage you? Whatever it is I need only quote the text in order to
   answer your suspicion: The fountain is open for sin and for
   uncleanness, who dares say it is shut? If any theologian should say so,
   methinks I would push him into the fountain to make way for the sinner
   to come. There cannot be anything in theology, nor in nature, nor in
   heaven, nor earth, nor hell, which can shut what God declares to be
   open. If thou wiliest to be saved, if thou comest to Christ believing
   in him, there is nothing to shut up the fountain of life or prevent
   thee from being cleansed and healed. If there be any shutting and
   forbidding it is thy heart that is closed, and thy pride which forbids.
   No difficulties remain save only difficulties of thine own creating,
   there is none with God. There is a fountain opened by him for sin and
   for uncleanness, and thou hast enough of both, therefore come with them
   even as thou art. "I believe in the forgiveness of sins;" dost thou? It
   is an old doctrine of the Christian church--dost thou believe it?
   Methinks I hear thee say, "I believe in the forgiveness of everybody's
   sin but mine own." Brother, I believe in the forgiveness of thy sins.
   There was a time when it would not have troubled me to believe for
   thee, but it troubled me to believe for myself; now, can I believe for
   myself and for thee also. If thou desires forgiveness, take it; if thou
   desires a new heart and a right spirit, Jesus will give them to thee;
   the fountain is open, and none shall dare to deny access to the anxious
   heart. Jesus says, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast
   out." Would God that some were drawn of the Holy Spirit to come to-day
   and partake of the mercy which is so richly provided and so freely
   presented.

   III. We have a rich consolation in the last point. The fountain is OPEN
   STILL.

   The text says the fountain is opened, and I do not upon the closest
   inspection discover that it declares that it was afterwards shut; I
   find no intimation that the opening was for an occasion only; on the
   contrary, the opening is left as a fact accomplished. What a blessing
   is this to every child of God here; the fountain is still open for sin
   and uncleanness! What a comfort it is to that young man who but lately
   believed. Some little time after conversion there usually comes a
   period of surprising discoveries. The heart has believed in Jesus and
   found rest, and it has deluded itself into the idea that it is now so
   clean delivered from sin that it will never fall into it any more; but
   on a sudden it is tempted, it is overtaken in a fault, and then the
   devil cries, "You! Why, you are not saved, you are not a believer, see
   where you are now." Many remind me of a little girl who I trust was
   converted to God she in her simplicity quoted that sweet little hymn to
   her teacher, and said, "Teacher, I laid my sins on Jesus,' and now I
   love him so much that I never mean to do any more sins to lay on him."
   That is just what we thought when we were first pardoned; we did not
   quite say so, but we thought so. "All the past? Yes, that is all on
   him; now for the love we bear his name we will never sin again." So we
   thought; but, alas! we soon found that we were in the body still. When
   sin is seen to be still within us, how sweetly does the text ring out,
   like a silver bell, glad tidings of great joy--there is a fountain
   opened! You went at first to Jesus, young believer, go again. The
   fountain is not shut; you have washed in it once, it is not closed nor
   dried up, wash again; the same Christ you wanted when you first
   believed is there now as ready and willing as ever. His blood is
   equally efficacious, go, thou surprised one, and wash again:--

   "This fountain from guilt not only makes pure,

   And gives, soon as felt, infallible cure;

   But if guilt removed return, and remain,

   Its power may be proved again and again."

   It will happen as we grow older and make progress in the Christian
   life, that we shall discover every day some fresh degree of defilement
   acquired by our pilgrimage through a sinful world. Do you ever go to
   rest a single night without feeling that you have been in many places
   during the day, and that there is fresh dust upon the garment, new soil
   upon the feet? Ah! bethink thee every night there is a fountain opened.
   To-day's sins can be as easily put away as yesterday's sins; and
   to-day's sinfulness, which I feel unconquerable for the moment, can be
   conquered still. I can go to Christ again and say, "Let thy blood kill
   this sin of mine, and soften my heart into tenderness and holiness once
   more." The fountain is still open, and no man can shut it.

   I know that you in business, coming into contact with the world, must
   sometimes encounter some very trying circumstances. When perhaps you
   thought all would be plain sailing you meet with terrible storms.
   Though minded to live in peace, you fall into a sort of wrestling match
   with ungodly men; you are obliged to stand up for your own, and you try
   to do so with moderation of temper, yet your spirit becomes ruffled;
   and you have to say afterwards, when undergoing self-examination, "I do
   not know that I did exactly what I ought to have done; besides, my
   quiet walk with Christ has been broken by this strife with the sons of
   men; woe is me that I dwell in Mesech and tabernacle in the tents of
   Kedar." Beloved, there is a fountain open, go again by simple faith and
   look to Jesus once again and you will find fresh pardon, and the grace
   which restores the heart to its repose in Jesus. Your inner life will
   be again refreshed as you wash in the life-restoring fount prepared for
   you.

   If you are at all like me you will at times feel your inner life to be
   sadly declining. I am ashamed to confess it, but even when I seek to
   live nearest to God, I feel an evil heart of unbelief struggling within
   me. There may come times when you will anxiously enquire, "Can I be a
   child of God at all? I cannot arouse my feelings towards God, my
   passions will not stir; even in holy duties I lack the living power;
   there is the wood, but where is the fire for the burnt offering? I
   would fain be zealous, earnest, intense, fervent, but I am sluggish, a
   very dolt in the Master's cause." At such times we are apt to say, "I
   must try to make myself somewhat better than this by some means, before
   I dare again to hope in God;" and then we go off to our own selves and
   our own works, and we sink in the deep mire where there is no standing.
   It is a happy thing if at such moments we turn again to Christ, end
   say, "O my Master, unworthy as I am to be thy follower, though vilest
   of all those those names are written on thy roll, yet I do believe in
   thee still. To thy cross I will cling, I will never let go my hope, for
   thou hast come to save sinners even such as I am, and on thee I will
   continue to trust. "My dear brethren, you will find that while this
   restores your peace, it at the same time excites you to seek after
   higher degrees of holiness. It is the idea of the worldling that if sin
   be pardoned so easily men will live in it, but it is not so; to the
   spiritual mind the great love displayed in the pardon of sin is the
   very highest motive for overcoming every unhallowed propensity. A sense
   of blood-bought pardon seals the death-warrant of the most favored sin.
   Ever shall we find our safest mode of battling with sin to be a new
   resort to the cross. Happy is it for us that the blood cleanseth from
   all sin; that is, it continues to do so every day. I should die in
   despair if it were not for this truth, that there is a fountain open
   still.

   Some of us may have a long time to live possibly, but we shall never
   outlive that open fountain. Others may die soon, but, dear brother, in
   the last moment your eye may glance at the open fountain, and if the
   sins of all your life should rise before you, if in grim procession
   your transgressions should pass before your eyes each one accusing you,
   you may fly to the open fountain and they will disappear; and if the
   old Adam should rise even at the last, and some strong corruption
   should seek to prevail, there is the fountain open which will purge
   away the corruption of the flesh, and work in you the new nature yet
   more mightily, and preserve you to the Lord's eternal kingdom and
   glory.

   I desire to close this sermon, all too poverty-stricken, with this
   thought. See here what our work is as a church. We have not to provide
   an atonement for the sinners round about us, but we have to point them
   to the fountain which is already opened. I want every one of you church
   members to be always telling others of the way of salvation. "It is so
   simple," you say; well, then you have no excuse if you do not tell it.
   Make your neighbors know the way of salvation, din it into their ears,
   constrain them to know it, so that if they die it shall not be for want
   of knowing the way of life.

   I want to remind you as a church of one most important fact. Here is
   our preparation for the season of revival which I hope God is about to
   give us. The fountain open for the sinner is also open for the child of
   God. Let us all wash again. Have you grown cold? Come and get your
   spiritual life revived. Do any of you fear that you are becoming
   worldly and carnal? Come to Jesus, for where you first found life there
   you shall find it more abundantly. Come and wash again. I desire as
   your pastor to receive another baptism in the sacred atoning flood, and
   then to come and preach to you in its heavenly power. I pray God, that
   my dear brethren, the deacons and elders, may each one individually
   apart confess his sin, and apart receive the washing. And then I want
   every member, every Sunday-school teacher, and every worker, to prepare
   to serve God by receiving another of these blessed cleansings. In the
   old tabernacle there was a laver, and the priests washed their feet and
   their hands in it, which had to be filled up every now and then,
   because it was exhausted or foul; now we have not a brazen laver, but
   we have a fountain which never can be dried, and never becomes defiled.
   If you wash your feet in a little pool, the water is muddy directly,
   but if you wash in a running stream, as I have often done when climbing
   the Alps, or in a living fountain, you may wash, hundreds of you, and
   the water bears all defilement away and is just as bright as if it had
   never been touched by your feet. So there is here for all the church
   members a blessed flowing fountain; come and wash, I beseech you, even
   now.

   I pray God backsliders may come hither, that those who have gone
   farther astray than in heart, and have wandered into outward actions of
   rebellion, may come to the fountain which is still open, and be
   cleansed anew. What sin it will be on our part if we neglect what God
   has provided! Though we have often come before, let us come again. I
   should like to suggest that this afternoon we each of us should spend a
   season alone, and pray for a renewed application of that blood which
   speaketh better things than that of Abel. The Master, after the last
   Supper, took a towel and girded himself, and went round with a basin
   and washed all his disciples' feet, and when he had done it said, "And
   ye are clean every whit." That is what I want him to do to all the
   members of this my beloved church now. You cannot serve God while you
   are defiled; you need fresh cleansing for successful service. O may he
   take the towel now in his infinite condescension, and visit each one
   and wash you one by one. Pastors, deacons, elders, members, may we all
   avail ourselves of the open fountain at this hour. O that the Holy
   Spirit might give to each one of us that cleansing which shall make us
   fit for service, O that we shall be useful during the coming months in
   the ingathering of his poor lost ones, to his praise and glory. May God
   grant it, for his name's sake. Amen.

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Zechariah 12, and 13:1.
     __________________________________________________________________

                           New Uses for Old Trophies

   A Sermon

   (No. 972)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Evening, November 20th, 1870 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "King David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the
   Lord."--2 Kings 11:10.

   WHEN DAVID HAD FOUGHT with an adversary, and overcome him, he took away
   his armor and his weapons, and as other victorious heroes were wont to
   do, he bore them home as mementoes of his prowess, the trophies of the
   battle. These were placed in the house of the Lord. Perhaps David at
   the same time dedicated in like manner the shield and the sword which
   he had himself used in battle. After Solomon had built the temple,
   these trophies, which seem to have been very numerous, were hung up
   there. So they adorned the walls. So they illustrated the velour of
   noble sires. So they served to kindle emulation, I doubt not, in the
   breasts of true-hearted sons. Thus it was while generations sprung up
   and passed away; till at length other days dawned, darker scenes
   transpired, and sadder things filled up the chronicles of the nation.
   You will all of you remember the crisis to which my text refers.
   Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, wife of Jehoram, king of Judah, the
   usurping queen of Judah, had played the tyrant for well-nigh seven
   years. The endurance of the people had been tried to the uttermost; a
   just recompense was in store, and a well-concerted plan ready for
   execution. The time had come when she should be put to death, and the
   young prince who had been hidden away should be proclaimed king. It was
   arranged that he should be proclaimed in the temple court, yet the men
   that were to be the body-guard were not armed with weapons, for fear an
   alarm might be given, and the matter discovered too soon. But these
   weapons that were hung up of old in the temple were taken down, and the
   Levites and other friends were armed with them. When Athaliah came in
   and saw the young king surrounded by his body-guard, thus strangely
   equipped with the old weapons of former days ready to protect him, she
   rent her clothes, and cried, "Treason, Treason:" but her doom was
   sealed, escape was impossible, she was slain. To such good account
   there and then was the good old armor turned. This simple fact appears
   to me to suggest a striking moral.

   The matter I shall speak to you about to-night will lie under four
   heads. We will give them to you as they occur to us.

   I. And the first is this, IT IS WELL FOR US TO HANG ALL OUR TROPHIES IN
   THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.

   We, too, are warriors. Every genuine Christian has to fight. Every inch
   of the way between here and heaven we shall have to fight, for as
   hitherto every single step of our pilgrimage has been one prolonged
   conflict. Sometimes we have victories, a presage of that final victory,
   that perfect triumph we shall enjoy with our Great Captain for ever.

   "Oh! I have seen the day

   When with a single word,

   God helping me to say

   'My trust is in the Lord,'

   My soul has quelled a thousand foes,

   Fearless of all that could oppose."

   When we have these victories it behoves us to be especially careful
   that in all good conscience we hang up the trophies thereof in the
   house of the Lord. The reason for this lies here: it is to the Lord
   that we owe any success we have ever achieved. We have been defeated
   when we have gone in our own strength; but when we have been victorious
   it has always been because the strength of the Lord was put forth for
   our deliverance. You never fought with a sin, with a temptation, or
   with a doubt, and overthrew it, except by the Spirit's aid. You never
   won a soul for Jesus, you never spoke a valiant word that repelled an
   error, you never did an enterprising deed which really told well for
   the success of the kingdom, but God was in it all--virtually, nay,
   actually enabling you; and he did it of his own good will. What is it
   but a simple matter of justice that he who wrought the wonder should
   have the honor of it? It would have been a crying shame if Miriam had
   sung to the praise of Moses and Aaron at the Red Sea. They were but the
   outward instruments of the people's coming out of Egypt. As she took
   her timbre!, she rightly said, in the hymn that Moses had given her for
   the occasion: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed
   gloriously." So in every struggle that transpires in our hearts, in
   every combat waged in the world, ascribe the power to him to whom it
   belongs, "The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the
   Lord doeth valiantly." As before the fight in his name we set up our
   banner, so after the fight in his name again we give the conquering
   banner to the breeze. "All glory be unto him that won the victory."

   This will save us from pride and self-sufficiency. Scarcely can God
   trust us with a victory, lest we begin fingering it with our own hands,
   as if our own ingenuity, our own wisdom, or our own strength had done
   marvels. As of old, Israel sacrificed to her net when a great draught
   of fish was taken, or to her drag when a great harvest had been
   threshed out, so are we too apt to sacrifice to our own ability, our
   own industry, our own superiority in one respect or another, and think
   that there is some virtue or merit in us to which the Almighty has
   awarded the palm. Instead of looking only to God we begin to look in
   some degree to ourselves. You cannot do otherwise than put the honor
   somewhere. If you do not ascribe it to God the temptation will be too
   strong for you, you will be sure to take it for yourself; and if you do
   this the most fatal consequences will follow, for they that walk in
   pride God will assuredly abase. No matter how dear you are to him, if
   pride be harboured in your spirit he will whip it out of you. They that
   go up in their own estimation must come down again by his discipline.
   You cannot be exalted in self without being by-and-by brought low
   before him. God will have it so; it is always the rule, "He hath put
   down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted them of low degree."
   He goes forts with the axe, and this is the work he does among the
   thick trees--he cuts down the high tree and dries up the green tree,
   but he exalts the low tree, and makes the dry tree to flourish, that
   all the glory may be unto himself alone; for, saith he, I the Lord have
   spoken and have done it. Let us take care, however, that we ascribe the
   glory to God, and do not forget to honor him. We have received so many
   mercies, my brethren, that they come to us as common things. We receive
   them, and scarcely know, perhaps, that we have received them. According
   to the old proverb we do not know the value of our mercies till we miss
   them; but it ought not to be so. Must we be defeated in order to let us
   know that God gives us victory? Is it needful that you and I should
   suffer some great disaster in order to make us grateful for past
   success? Will you never prize health as one of the choicest boons of
   heaven till some grievous malady has sapped your strength, and made all
   the enjoyments of life tasteless or even nauseous? Well, if it be
   needful, it is a necessity of our own producing. The more the pity that
   we should challenge the ills we complain of, and incur the reverses we
   so bitterly deplore. O that we may never slight the good things we
   have, or trifle with the benefits we receive from the hand of the Lord!
   Especially, my dear brethren, let us bless God for every spiritual
   success achieved, and take care to make a record of it on the tablet of
   our grateful heart. If we should one day have to flee before the enemy,
   if our work for God should one day seem to be without success, we may
   look back with much smiting of heart upon those ungrateful times when
   God dealt so generously with us, and yet we did not take the trouble to
   sing him a psalm or offer up a vow, or do any act of homage to express
   our gratitude to him. Hang up Goliath's sword; do not put it by to
   rust. Hang up the shields and the spears of the Philistines. If by
   God's help you have taken them, set store by them, and make the world
   see what the Lord has done on your behalf, whereof you are glad. Hake
   the church to join your grateful song. There is too much of the cold
   silence of ingratitude amongst us. Too seldom do we chant forth our Te
   Deum laudamus with solemn, lively air. Stir the hearts of others
   because your own heart heaves with deep emotions of thankfulness to the
   Most High. I am persuaded, my brethren, that it is only in this way
   that we can secure for ourselves future success. David's life was a
   series of dilemmas and deliverances. With what sort of face, think you,
   could he have invoked rescue from fresh perils, had he failed to
   recognize God's help in past preservation? If, when flushed with
   victory, he had usurped the honor to himself, what assistance would he
   have received the next time he was curried with impending disaster? Or,
   had he not taught the Israelites in the hour of triumph to sing, "Non
   nobis, Domine"--"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
   give glory;" how could he have engaged their hearts in the hour of
   trial to wail forth the litany of supplication--"The Lord hear thee in
   the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee, send thee
   help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion." Without
   consistency we cannot exert any moral influence with men, or obtain any
   spiritual prevalence with God. May not many of our barren seasons be
   ascribed to the fact that we did not thank God for fruitful ones? If
   the preacher has been honored in his ministry to win souls to Christ,
   but has not duly blessed his God for the enabling of the Holy Ghost
   granted to himself, and for the witness of the Holy Ghost given to the
   people; or, worse still if he has complimented himself on his own
   talents, and the use he makes of them; need he wonder if, when next he
   goes forth, as Samson of old, and shakes himself as aforetime, he finds
   his strength has departed from him? "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,
   give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due
   unto his name;" else when most you need him, you may find his strength
   is taken from you and your honors will have departed too. Hang up the
   shield, hang up the spear, let Jehovah's name be exalted. Bring forth
   the forgotten memorials of lovingkindness, expose them to public view,
   put them before your own mind's eye to-night, gratefully remember them,
   lovingly praise him and magnify his name. I am sure we, as a church
   whom God has blessed so long, ought not to be slow to hang up the
   trophies of his loving kindness in our midst. If God has done anything
   for you, tell it. If he has delivered you out of trouble, tell it. If
   he has fed your soul in the wilderness, tell it. If you have lately
   been converted, tell it. If you have found Christ precious to you,
   though just now you were a poor lost soul, tell it. Hang up the shields
   and spears. Let each individual do it, let the whole church do it; and
   often by our enlarged endeavors for the dear Savior's sake, by our
   consecrated self-denials, let us show that we do feel how much we owe
   to the infinite power of the God of victory, who maketh us strong in
   the day of battle. That is the first point. If we have any victories,
   let all the trophies be dedicated to the Lord.

   II. The second is this: THESE TROPHIES MAY COME IN USEFUL AT SUCH TIMES
   AS WE CANNOT FORESEE, AND UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES AS WE WOT NOT OF.

   Little could David have thought when he gave Abiathar the sword of
   Goliath, that he would ever go to the priests of Gad and ask them to
   lend him a sword, and that they should say, We have no sword here, save
   the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the Valley
   of Elah, behold it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. He gave it
   to God, but he did not think that he would ever have it back again with
   a priestly blessing on it, so that he should be able to say, "There is
   none like that: give it me." And when, in after years, he hung up the
   swords and shields which he had taken away from Philistine heroes, he
   did not surmise that one of his descendants, or the seed royal, would
   find the need to employ his own, his grandsire's, or, further back,
   from himself--his forefather's trophies--in order to establish himself
   on the throne. We never know, my brethren, when we praise God for
   mercies, but what the very praises might come back into our bosoms, and
   the offerings we make to God in the way of thankfulness may be our own
   enrichment in the days to come. The memorials we put up to record God's
   goodness, may be to us in after years among the most useful things in
   all our treasury. To ourselves and others the memorials of the
   victories we have won may be signally profitable, strangely opportune,
   seemingly indispensable.

   Let me try to show this. Years ago you and I were fighting battles with
   unbelief. We were struggling after a Savior. Our sins rose up against
   us thick and furious. The fiery darts of the enemy rained upon us like
   hail. That conflict we never shall forget; we bear the scars of it to
   this very day. Glory be to God! by his grace we won the victory and
   overcame through the blood of the Lamb. We looked at Jesus Christ upon
   the cross, and in that moment our sins fled away. The whole host of
   them was defeated. A dying Savior was the symbol of victory. What then?
   Let us use the mementoes we laid up before the Lord of that day--the
   trophies that we took in that battle--for ourselves and for others.

   For ourselves. If ever we have another struggle against sin--perhaps we
   shall have many--I mean such alarming assaults as involve severe
   struggles--let us recollect how Jesus met with us the first time, and
   "if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of
   his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."
   He saved us with a great salvation when we first came home as prodigals
   covered with rags, will he not help us now, when he come to him as his
   own children, clothed in his own righteousness, and say, "Abba,
   Father," being already accepted in the Beloved?

   I do think it often proves a great blessing to a man that he had a
   terrible conflict, a desperate encounter, a hard-fought engagement in
   passing from the empire of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
   Sooner or later each saved man will have his hand-to-hand fight with
   the prince of darkness; and as a general rule, it is a great mercy to
   have it over on the outset of one's career, and be able afterwards to
   feel, "Whatever comes upon me, I never can suffer as I suffered when I
   was seeking Christ. Whatever staggering doubt, or hideous blasphemy, or
   ghastly insinuations, even of suicide itself, may assail my feeble
   heart, they cannot outdo the horror of great darkness through which my
   spirit passed when I was struggling after a Savior." Now I do not say
   that it is desirable that we should have this painful ordeal, much less
   that we should seek it as an evidence of regeneration, but when we have
   passed through it victoriously, we may so use it that it may be a
   perpetual armoury to us. If we can now defy all doubts and fears that
   come, because they cannot be so potent as those which already in the
   name of Jesus Christ our Savior we have overthrown, shall we not use
   that for ourselves? and can we not equally well use it for others? Full
   often have I found it good, when I have talked with a young convert in
   deep distress about his sin, to tell him something more of his anxious
   plight than he knew how to express and he wondered where I had found
   it, though he would not have wondered if he knew where I had been, and
   how much deeper in the mire than he; when he has talked about some
   horrible thought that he has had, with regard to the impossibility of
   his own salvation, and I have said, "Why, I have thought that a
   thousand times, and yet have overcome it through the help of God's
   Spirit." I know that a man's own experience is one of the very best
   weapons he can use in fighting with evil in other men's hearts. Often
   their misery and despondency, aggravated, as it commonly is by a
   feeling of solitariness, will be greatly relieved before it is
   effectually driven out when they find that a brother has suffered the
   same, and yet has been able to overcome. Do I show him how precious the
   Savior is to my soul he glorifies God in me. Right soon will he look
   into the same dear face and be lightened; and then he will magnify the
   Lord with me, and we shall exalt his name together. Thus good it is,
   you see, to take the old shields and spears away from the enemies and
   to use them again against new foes of the house of David.

   Since that time, dear brethren, when we had the first struggle, we have
   had to fight with many evil passions and propensities. Perhaps we have
   had one besetting sin. We were a long time before we came up to beard
   that. We avoided it, and refrained from rising up against it, until at
   length we perceived that it must be killed or it would kill us. It was
   very like pulling out our eyes, but we saw it must be done; we stood
   foot to foot with it. A sharp time it was, for the sin threatened to
   prevail against us; if we threw it down it seemed to rise again, like
   the giant of old, strengthened by its fall. Did you ever have a
   personal, mental, moral conflict with some great dragon of besetting
   sin? If so be you have been enabled to smite it valiantly, and slay it
   utterly, I know you have gained trophies to hang in the house of God.
   To do so will be of no small advantage to ourselves, because you can
   take them down and use them in future; and you will find they are
   footholds of your strength to fight with the next sin that comes upon
   you. The strength which God has educated and fostered in the last
   struggle will greatly assist you in the next. The man who gives way to
   one sin will very readily give way to another, but a man who through
   God's grace has won a very high vantage ground by mastering one sin,
   will be very likely to win another. The spoils taken from the last
   Philistine will help us to go forth and win more, and in the name of
   God we shall get the victory. Many a man has had a hard struggle at
   first. He has been drawn to Christ, proved the grace of acceptance, and
   taken the vows of allegiance, and henceforth it behoves him to depart
   from iniquity, and not turn again to folly. Perhaps he has been
   addicted to swearing, and he has to get rid of that wicked habit at any
   cost. Perhaps he has been accustomed to frequent the public house, to
   sit in the seat of the scornful, and enliven his companions with jest
   and song, he has forthwith to relinquish that place, and take leave of
   that company for ever. Then perhaps there has been some other vice
   which he has cherished in secret, and clung to with the more tenacity
   because it so tenacious!, clung to him; of that evil he has purged
   himself, and from that bondage he has escaped. Is it not possible that
   there yet remains one transgression which lurks in the breast of such a
   one? Very likely at this time he has a passionate temper. Down with it,
   my brother. You slew the lion, and you slew the bear, and this
   uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them. Do not be afraid to
   grapple with it. Do not say, "I have a quick temper, and I cannot help
   it." There is no need for it. God's grace can drive it out even as the
   rest. Beard it in the name of the Most High, and use the trophies that
   you stole from past success--nay, fairly won them from the foes you
   have vanquished--use those with which to combat sins that now assail
   you.

   To change the figure, it is the lot of some of us to be called to
   withstand great errors. We have been sorely harassed at times with
   doubts and misgivings about some established truth. I suppose no one is
   a firm believer who has not once been a doubter. He knows no faith who
   never had a fear; for candid enquiry must go before absolute credence.
   How can any one know the proofs and vouchers of his faith unless he has
   taken pains to dig into the volume of evidence that lies at its base?
   Now it is a fine, a noble thing, when you have had a conflict in your
   own soul with some plausible heresy, some seductive perversion of the
   truth, and have put it to flight with the sword of the Spirit, which is
   the word of God; it is a noble feat, I say, to capture the arms of your
   assailant and to use the very weapons of the adversary against him. You
   have detected his sophistry, you have found out his devices, and now
   for the future you will not be so readily carried away with every wind
   of doctrine. This time you are too old to be taken with his chaff. You
   were deceived once, but by God's grace you are not willing any longer
   to lend a ready ear to the fair speech which casts a mist over plain
   facts, but you henceforth resolve to prove the spirits whether they be
   of God. So from the spoils of past conflicts you are made strong to win
   present victories. Texts of Scripture are sometimes used by the
   adversaries of the gospel, and turned against us. I know some ministers
   who, when they meet with a passage that they cannot immediately
   reconcile with the orthodox faith, alter the reading, or put a fresh
   sense on the words, or twist it and turn it to suit their purpose. It
   is a bad plan, my brethren; the texts of Scripture are to be taken as
   they stand, and you may rest assured they will always defend, never
   overturn, the faith once delivered to the saints. When I have seen a
   text sometimes in the hand of the enemy made use of against the deity
   of Christ, or against the doctrine of election, or against some other
   important and vital doctrine, I have not felt at all inclined to give
   up the text or think lightly of it. I rather admire those Americans in
   the South, who when they had lost some guns, were asked by the
   commanding officer whether they had not spiked the guns before they
   gave them up to the foe? "Spiked them! no," said they, "we did not like
   to spoil such beautiful guns; we will take them again tomorrow." And so
   they did. I would not have a text touched. Grand old text! we honor
   thee even while we cannot keep the field, or ward thee from the
   aggression of the invader. But shall we spoil it, or give it up as
   lost? Never, we will take it out of the hand of the enemy, use it for
   the defense of the gospel, and show that it does not mean what they
   think, or answer the ends to which they would apply it. Are we baffled
   in attack, or do we lose ground in an argument, it is for us by more
   diligent study, and closer research, to take the guns, the good old
   guns, and use those which the enemy used against ourselves--to turn
   them round and use them against him. Depend upon it the great temple of
   truth is not like a house divided against itself. Nothing equivocal or
   prevaricating hath come forth at any time from the mouth of the Lord.
   As for our understanding, it is always weak, and as for our tactics in
   upholding the right, they are often at fault. But the word of God is
   steadfast; it does not change with the times or yield to suit any man's
   purpose. The weapons of our warfare are good, it is the hands that
   wield them that are so unskillful. Thus I might continue to show that
   in all the battles we fight, the trophies which we win should be
   stored; for they may come in for future use at some time or other.
   There is no experience of a Christian that will not have some ultimate
   service to render him. He may say to himself, "What can be the good of
   this feeling, what can be the practical advantage of that agony of mind
   through which I passed?" My brother, you know not what may be the
   history of your life, it is unfinished yet; if you did know you would
   see that in this present trial there is a preparation for some future
   emergency, which will enable you to come out of it in triumph. The
   shields and spears of David are hung up for future action.

   III. In the third place, our text may mean that David hung up the
   spears and shields which he was accustomed to use himself; and if so,
   we shall remark that ANCIENT WEAPONS ARE GOOD FOR PRESENT USE.

   I should like to show you this by taking you on to a battle-field. I
   did take you there just now, but you did not recognize it, perhaps, as
   a battle-ground. We will go to it. It is not Sadowa or Sedan, it is a
   grander arena far--the old seventy-seventh. Turn to the seventy-seventh
   Psalm, and you have a battle-field there. Should you ever have to fight
   the same battle, by looking through this Psalm, you will see David's
   shields and spears, and you will soon learn how to screen yourself with
   the one, and how to do exploits with the other. Here is David fighting
   with despondency--an old enemy of mine. I daresay some of you are
   afflicted with it. But observe how he fought with it. The first weapon
   he drew out of the scabbard was the weapon of all-prayer. And how
   grandly he used it! "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with
   my voice." Satan trembles when he hears the sound of prayer. They are
   the conquering legions that know how to pray. Despondency soon flies
   when a man knows how to ply this all-conquering and ever-useful weapon
   of petition to the Most High.

   Then note how he used this weapon continually. "My hand was stretched
   out all night," saith he, according to the marginal reading of the
   second verse. If the first prayer did not help him, he prayed again; if
   an hour's prayer did not bring him peace, he would pray two hours; and
   all night long he kept at it. You will get a like result too, my
   brother, if you exercise a like perseverance, you must get a like
   result if you know how to linger at the mercy-seat.

   When he had used the weapon of prayer, what did he do next? He took out
   another spear. It was that of remembering God. He had long enough pored
   in thought over himself and his present sinfulness and weakness, and
   now he remembered God's mercy, God's faithfulness, God's
   lovingkindness, God's power, God's covenant, God in the person of
   Christ. Oh! this is indeed to prepare a salvo against the enemy, and to
   fortify one's own position with fresh succours. He can win the battle
   that knows how to use this artillery of remembering God.

   Going on with the strategy of war, what next? Why, in the fifth verse
   we read how he maintained his courage and his constancy--"I considered
   the days of old." He enquired of hoary fathers, and looked back upon
   the inspired traditions, if I may be allowed the expression, of the
   early church. He tamed to see whether God ever did forsake any of his
   people, rightly judging that if he never did he never would, and firmly
   resolving that till he could find a clear case of God's unfaithfulness
   he would not yield an inch of soil, nor give up a stone of any
   fortress, but would hold on and fight the battle out. That inward
   musing helped him much. The enemy began to weary, while he recruited
   his strength.

   But now he used another weapon. He looked to his own experience--see
   the sixth verse. "I called to remembrance my song in the night." Past
   experience acknowledged gratefully, and taken as the index of what the
   future will be--this is another of David's shields and spears. And then
   he seemed to put a whole path of spears before the enemy, and hold up
   an entire wall of shields when he came to close quarters with him, and
   said, "Will the Lord cast off for ever? Will he be favorable no more?
   Is his mercy clean gone for ever? Doth his promise fail for evermore?
   Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender
   mercies?" Oh! this is how to win the battle. The next time, dear
   friend, you find yourself downcast in trouble, do not run away because
   Giant Despair is so strong. Though pressed by danger and beset by foes,
   feed not this frenzy of the soul with gloomy black forebodings. Armed
   with David's shield and spears, attack him; show a bold front, and so
   shall yet resist the devil and find that he flees from you, and you
   shall come back from the conflict with louder notes of victory than you
   had dreamed before.

   There are some persons here, however, who are not yet far enough
   advanced to understand this battle of the seventy-seventh. I will take
   them to another battle, the battle of the fifty-first. That is the
   sinner's battle; we shall see David's shields and spears there. A
   tremendous battle it was with sin, with a guilty conscience, with
   despairing thoughts. Some of you, perhaps, are fighting such a battle
   to-night. I rather hope you are. I was preaching the other day, I think
   it was last Tuesday evening, at Acton. I went my way after service
   hopeful, prayerful that some fruits might be reaped from my labors. Not
   long after I received a letter from the minister to this effect: "My
   dear friend, I could not help writing to tell you that last Tuesday
   night when I was in bed and asleep, there was a knock at my door, and I
   came down and found a railway porter wanting to see me. "O sir," said
   he, "I cannot sleep; I was obliged to come and knock you up though it
   is late. I heard the sermon at your chapel to-night, and I want to know
   what I must do to be saved? It is time for me to seek the Lord, and I
   shall never get rest till I find him." Oh! it is good for us to be
   knocked up at night to answer any one that comes on such an errand as
   that. Would God it were every night in the year, if it were to hear a
   sinner saying, "What must I do to be saved?"

   Now, if one here present be in such a condition as that, just let him
   follow me to this battle-field, and see how David fought. His shields
   and spears in such case consisted first in an appeal to God's mercy. Do
   not appeal to justice, sinner. That is against you; appeal to mercy.
   "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness!" Prayer he
   brings before God, but it is prayer tipped with a hope in the mercy in
   God. Go, sinner, and plead with God and fight your sins with hope in
   his mercy. When he had done that he then turns to confession: "I
   acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me." No weapon
   to drive away guilty fears like making a clean breast of your sins.
   Tell your Father you have offended; do not plead any extenuations or
   mitigations. Confess that you deserve his wrath. Put yourself before
   the throne of God's clemency. Confess that if it were turned to a
   throne of vengeance you deserve it well. Prayers, tears, pleas for
   mercy, and full confession--these are weapons to conquer with.

   But note the master weapon! See where the battle began to turn into
   victory. It is here when he cries in the seventh verse, "Purge me with
   hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than
   snow." You know that hyssop was a little bunch, a brush used to dip
   into the blood--a basin full of blood, and then with this brush of
   hyssop the priest sprinkled the guilty man, the unclean man, and he was
   counted clean. So the master argument in this verse is blood. Oh! how
   this destroys our sins, how this scatters all our doubts and fears--the
   almighty weapon of the cross, the divine weapon of the atonement. Let
   sins come on, and let them be more than the hairs of my head, loftier
   than mountains and deeper than the unfathomed ocean, let them come
   on--God's flaming wrath behind them, hell itself coming to devour me;
   yet if I can but take the cross and hold it up before me, if I can
   plead the precious blood I shall be safe, for I shall be saved and
   prove a conqueror, notwithstanding all. Beloved, then, see that in all
   your fights you use the old, old weapons of David himself--his shields
   and spears--by these same weapons shall you also win the day.

   IV. And now, lastly, let me suggest to you a fourth version of the
   text. DID NOT DAVID HEREIN PREFIGURE HIM THAT WAS TO COME--DAVID'S SON
   AND DAVID'S LORD?

   Jesus Christ, our King, has hung up many shields and spears in the
   house of the Lord. I shall not occupy many minutes, but I invite every
   believer's heart to look at the great temple that Christ has builded,
   and see how he has hung it round with trophies of his victory.
   Sin--Christ has borne it in himself, endured its penalty and overcome
   it; he has hung up the handwriting of ordinances that was against us as
   a trophy in the house of the Lord. He has nailed it to the cross.
   Satan--our great foe--he met him foot to foot in the wilderness and
   discomfited him--met him in the garden--overcame him on the cross. Now
   hell, too, is vanquished--Christ is Lord. The prince of the power of
   the air is but his serf. The King of kings hath led captivity captive,
   and all the crowns of this prince of the power of the air are hung up
   as trophies. Broken are their spears: their shields all battered and
   vilely cast away, hang up as memorials of what Christ has done. Death,
   too, the last enemy, Christ hath taken spoils from him when he rose
   again himself from his prison house, and ascended on high, leading
   captivity captive. And the enmity of the human heart, my brethren. Oh I
   how many of these enmities has Christ hung up in the hall, for he has
   conquered that enmity and made the hater into a lover. My heart, your
   heart, I hope that all our hearts, too, are trophies of what Christ's
   love can do. There are some great sinners at this day who are wonderful
   tokens of the power of love. When we look round the temple and see the
   shields and spears hung up, we say, "Who did those shields and spears
   belong to?" One says, "Why, that is the shield and spear of John
   Newton, the old blasphemer!" Glory be to God, Christ conquered him.
   Whose shield and spears are those? Why, that is the shield and spear of
   John Bunyan, the blasphemer on the village green. God's mercy conquered
   him. Yes, there will be a pillar for many of us, and I do not know
   which will bring Christ most honor, for he had much ado to bring us
   down. I wonder whether there will be a place for you, you old sailor?
   These many year you have been living without God and without Christ.
   You have been a frequenter of every place of sin, every filthy haunt in
   London. I do trust God's grace will meet with you. The poor harlot,
   Mary, the woman that was a sinner--there hangs her shield and spear.
   She was a hard fighter, a very Amazon, but Christ conquered her, hung
   up her shield and spear, and there it shall hang for ever, to the
   praise of the glory of his grace, who vanquished even her, and made her
   his willing servant, nay, his beloved friend. What will heaven be when
   all of us shall be trophies of his power to save, and when our bodies
   shall be there as well as our souls! "O death, where is thy sting? O
   grave, where is thy victory?"--when not only souls, but bodies shall be
   in heaven too, all trophies of what Christ has done when he plucked his
   people from the jaws of the grave and delivered them from the grasp of
   the sepulcher.

   I came just now, before I entered here, from a sight which did my very
   soul good. One of our dear and well-beloved sisters, lies very sick, I
   think sue is dying--in all human probability a few hours will see her
   in another world. I looked at her as one of the trophies of Christ's
   power to save. I would not have missed the visit for I know not what.
   She was not only calm, but joyous; nay, triumphant, expecting the time
   of her departure and longing for it, speaking of everlasting
   faithfulness, of sure promises, and of the presence of Christ as a
   reality, which she enjoyed even now, before the veil of flesh is rent
   that hides his blessed face from ours. I said to her, "How long is it
   since the cloud has broken away from you?" She said, "I have had a good
   deal of peace of mind, but never such joy as I have now. Now that I am
   going hence I shall soon see his face without a veil between." The
   victories of dying spirits substantiate the gospel. When Christian
   people have no motive to overrate their assurance, and certainly no
   inducement to play the hypocrite, when they have nothing in their
   present sensations to inspire courage, raise enthusiasm, or buoy them
   up with suspicious comfort--for heart and flesh fail--there is much to
   admire in their constancy, much to animate us in their faith:

   "Our dying friends are pioneers to smoothe

   Our rugged path to death, to break those bars

   Of terror and abhorrence Nature throws

   Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make

   Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm."

   When you can see the eye, soon to be closed, sparkling with ecstacy,
   and hear the voice feeble because the throat is choking, as brave, and
   braver still than ever it has been before, and when you mark the look
   of deep composure, nay, of heavenly expectancy, upon the pale, pale
   face--oh! this makes our soul, my brethren, to feel that we have a
   faith that is worth prizing, a Christ that is worth trusting. These are
   trophies; and these death-bed trophies are hung up in that part of the
   temple where we can see them.

   Let us take care that we have good confidence, always walking by faith,
   be the path of our pilgrimage rough or smooth, arid ever maintaining
   the fight of faith, however fierce our temptations or fiery our trials.
   So when we come to die we may hang up our trophies too, saying to death
   and hell that we bid them defiance, for Christ is with us to the last,
   making our darkest moments to be bright with the light of his presence.
   God grant that all of us may be trophies of Christ, and hung up thus as
   memorials for ever. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 72.

   NEW WORK BY C. H. SPURGEON.--SECOND Edition, price 2s. sd.

   "FEATHERS FOR ARROWS;" Or, Illustrations for Preachers

   and Teachers, from my Note Book.

   "Racy and designed to hit, and marvelously calculated to accomplish the
   purpose. We forbear to make a single quotation, but urge our readers to
   procure the book."--The Watchman.

   "A new supply of illustrations remarkable for freshness and force,
   raciness and robustness. To men who lack imagination the book will
   prove a stimulus of no common kind, partly by supplying material, but
   chiefly by suggesting the manifold ways in which the events of daily
   life may illustrate, and enforce the teaching of The Bible."--General
   Baptist Magazine.
     __________________________________________________________________

              The Power of Christ Illustrated by the Resurrection

   A Sermon

   (No. 973)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, January 19th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence we also we look for the
   Savior; the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it
   may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
   whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
   himself,"--Philippians 3:20,21.

   I   SHOULD MISLEAD YOU if I called these verses my text, for I intend
   only to lay stress upon the closing expression, and I read the two
   verses because they are needful for its explanation. It would require
   several discourses to expound the whole of so rich a passage as this.

   Beloved, how intimately is the whole of our life interwoven with the
   life of Christ! His first coming has been to us salvation, and we are
   delivered from the wrath of God through him. We live still because he
   lives, and never is our life more joyous than when we look most
   steadily to him. The completion of our salvation in the deliverance of
   our body from the bondage of corruption, in the raising of our dust to
   a glorious immortality, that also is wrapped up with the personal
   resurrection and quickening power of the Lord Jesus Christ. As his
   first advent has been our salvation from sin, so his second advent
   shall be our salvation from the grave. He is in heaven, but, as the
   apostle saith, "We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who
   shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
   glorious body." We have nothing, we are nothing, apart from him. The
   past, the present, and the future are only bright as he shines upon
   them. Every consolation, every hope, every enjoyment we possess, we
   have received and still retain because of our connection with Jesus
   Christ our Lord. Apart from him we are naked, and poor, and miserable.
   I desire to impress upon your minds, and especially upon my own, the
   need of our abiding in him. As zealous laborers for the glory of God I
   am peculiarly anxious that you may maintain daily communion with Jesus,
   for as it is with our covenant blessings, so is it with our work of
   faith and labor of love, everything depends upon him. All our fruit is
   found in Jesus. Remember his own words, "Without me ye can do nothing."
   Our power to work comes wholly from his power. If we work effectually
   it must always be according to the effectual working of his power in us
   and through us. Brethren, I pray that our eyes may be steadfastly
   turned to our Master at this season when our special services are about
   to commence. Confessing our dependence upon him, and resorting to him
   in renewed confidence, we shall proceed to our labor with redoubled
   strength. May we remember where our great strength lieth, and look to
   him and him alone, away from our own weakness and our own strength
   too--finding all in him in our work for others as we have found all in
   him in the matter of the salvation of our own souls. When the
   multitudes were fed, the disciples distributed the bread, but the
   central source of that divine commissariat was the Master's own hand.
   He blessed, he brake, he gave to the disciples, and then the disciples
   to the multitude. Significant also was one of the last scenes of our
   Lord's intercourse with his disciples before he was taken up. They had
   been fishing all the night, but they had taken nothing; it was only
   when he came that they cast the net on the right side of the ship, and
   then the net was filled with a great multitude of fishes. Ever must it
   be so; where he is souls are taken by the men-fishers, but nowhere
   else. Not the preaching of his servants alone, not the gospel of itself
   alone, but his presence with his servants is the secret of success.
   "The Lord working with them," his co-operating presence in the gospel,
   this is it which makes it "the power of God unto salvation." Lift up
   your eyes then, my brethren, confederate with us for the spread of the
   Redeemer's kingdom, to the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who is the Captain
   of our salvation, through whom and by whom all things shall be wrought
   to the honor of God, but without whom the most ardent desires, and the
   most energetic efforts must most certainly fail. I have selected this
   text with no less a design than this--that every eye may by it be
   turned to the omnipotent Savior before we enter upon the hallowed
   engagements which await us.

   In the text notice, first of all, the marvel to be wrought by our Lord
   at his coming; and then gather from it, in the second place, helps to
   the consideration of the power which is now at this time proceeding
   from him and treasured in him; and then, thirdly, contemplate the work
   which we desire to see accomplished, and which we believe will be
   accomplished on the ground of the power resident in our Lord.

   I. First, we have to ask you to CONSIDER BELIEVINGLY THE MARVEL WHICH
   IS TO BE WROUGHT BY OUR LORD AT HIS COMING.

   When he shall come a second time he will change our vile body and
   fashion it like unto his glorious body. What a marvellous change! How
   great the transformation! How high the ascent! Our body in its present
   state is called in our translation a "vile body," but if we translate
   the Greek more literally it is much more expressive, for there we find
   this corporeal frame called "the body of our humiliation." Not "this
   humble body," that is hardly the meaning, but the body in which our
   humiliation is manifested and enclosed. This body of our humiliation
   our Lord will transform until it is like unto his own. Here read not
   alone "his glorious body," for that is not the most literal
   translation, but "the body of his glory;" the body in which he enjoys
   and reveals his glory. Our Savior had a body here in humiliation; that
   body was like ours in all respects except that it could see no
   corruption, for it was undefiled with sin; that body in which our Lord
   wept, and sweat great drops of blood, and yielded up his spirit, was
   the body of his humiliation. He rose again from the dead, and he rose
   in the same body which ascended up into heaven, but he concealed its
   glory to a very great extent, else had he been too bright to be seen of
   mortal eyes. Only when he passed the cloud, and was received out of
   sight, did the full glory of his body shine forth to ravish the eyes of
   angels and of glorified spirits. Then was it that his countenance
   became as the sun shining in its strength. Now, beloved, whatever the
   body of Jesus may be in his glory, our present body which is now in its
   humiliation is to be conformed unto it; Jesus is the standard of man in
   glory. "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Here we
   dwell in this body of our humiliation, but it shall undergo a change,
   "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
   trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
   shall be changed." Then shall we come into our glory, and our body
   being made suitable to the glory state, shall be fitly called the body
   of glory. We need not curiously pry into the details of the change, nor
   attempt to define all the differences between the two estates of our
   body; for "it doth not yet appear what we shall be," and we may be
   content to leave much to be made known to us hereafter. Yet though we
   see through a glass darkly, we nevertheless do see something, and would
   not shut our eyes to that little. We know not yet as we are known, but
   we do know in part, and that part knowledge is precious. The gates have
   been ajar at times, and men have looked awhile, and beheld and
   wondered. Three times, at least, human eyes have seen something of the
   body of glory. The face of Moses, when he came down from the mount,
   shone so that those who gathered around him could not look thereon, and
   he had to cover it with a veil. In that lustrous face of the man who
   had been forty days in high communion with God, you behold some gleams
   of the brightness of glorified manhood. Our Lord made a yet clearer
   manifestation of the glorious body when he was transfigured in the
   presence of the three disciples. When his garments became bright and
   glistering, whiter than any fuller could make them, and he himself was
   all aglow with glory, his disciples sew end marvelled. The face of
   Stephen is a third window as it were through which we may look at the
   glory to be revealed, for even his enemies as they gazed upon the
   martyr in his confession of Christ, saw his face as it had been the
   face of an angel. Those three transient gleams of the morning light may
   serve as tokens to us to help us to form some faint idea of what the
   body of the glory of Christ and the body of our own glory will be.

   Turning to that marvellous passage in the Corinthians, wherein the veil
   seems to be more uplifted than it ever had been before or since, we
   learn a few particulars worthy to be rehearsed. The body while here
   below, is corruptible, subject to decay; it gradually becomes weak
   through old age, at last it yields to the blows of death, falls into
   the ground, and becomes the food of worms. But the new body shall be
   incorruptible, it shall not be subject to any process of disease,
   decay, or decline, and it shall never, through the lapse of ages, yield
   to the force of death. For the immortal spirit it shall be the immortal
   companion. There are no graves in heaven, no knell ever saddened the
   New Jerusalem. The body here is weak, the apostle says "it is sown in
   weakness;" it is subject to all sorts of infirmities in life, and in
   death loses all strength. It is weak to perform our own will, weaker
   still to perform the heavenly will; it is weak to do and weak to
   suffer: but it is to be "raised in power, all infirmity being
   completely removed." How far this power will be physical and how far
   spiritual we need not speculate; where the material ends and the
   spiritual begins we need not define; we shall be as the angels, and we
   have found no difficulty in believing that these pure spirits "excel in
   strength," nor in understanding Peter when he says that angels are
   "greater in power and might." Our body shall be "raised in power."

   Here, too, the body is a natural or soulish body--a body fit for the
   soul, for the lowest faculties of our mental nature but according to
   the apostle in the Corinthians, it is to be raised a spiritual body,
   adapted to the noblest portion of our nature, suitable to be the
   dwelling-place and the instrument of our new-born grace-given life.
   This body at present is no assistance to the spirit of prayer or
   praise; it rather hinders than helps us in spiritual exercises. Often
   the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak. We sleep when we
   ought to watch, and faint when we should pursue. Even its joys as well
   as its sorrows tend to distract devotion: but when this body shall be
   transformed, it shall be a body suitable for the highest aspirations of
   our perfected and glorified humanity--a spiritual body like unto the
   body of the glory of Christ. Here the body is sinful, its members have
   been instruments of unrighteousness. It is true that our body is the
   temple of the Holy Ghost; but, alas! there are traces about it of the
   time when it was a den of thieves. The spots and wrinkles of sin are
   not yet removed. Its materialism is not yet so refined as to be an
   assistance to the spirit; it gravitates downwards, and it has a bias
   from the right line; but it awaits the last change, and then it shall
   be perfectly sinless, as alabaster white and pure, upon which stain of
   sin did never come; like the newly driven snow, immaculately chaste.
   "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image
   of the heavenly."

   Being sinless, the body when it shall be raised again shall be
   painless. Who shall count the number of our pains while in this present
   house of clay? Truly we that are in this tabernacle do groan. Does it
   not sometimes appear to the children of sickness as if this body were
   fashioned with a view to suffering; as if all its nerves, sinews,
   veins, pulses, vessels, and valves, were parts of a curious instrument
   upon which every note of the entire gamut of pain might be produced?
   Patience, ye who linger in this shattered tenement, a house not made
   with hands awaits you. Up yonder no sorrow and sighing are met with;
   the chastising rod shall fall no longer when the faultiness is
   altogether removed. As the new body will be without pain, so will it be
   superior to weariness. The glorybody will not yield to faintness, nor
   fail through languor. Is it not implied that the spiritual body does
   not need to sleep, when we read that they serve God day and night in
   his temple? In a word, the bodies of the saints, like the body of
   Christ, will be perfect; there shall be nothing lacking and nothing
   faulty. If saints die in the feebleness of age they shall not rise
   thus; or if they have lost a sense or a limb or are halt or maimed,
   they shall not be so in heaven, for as to body and soul "they are
   without fault before the throne of God." "We shall be like him," is
   true of all the saints, and hence none will be otherwise than fair, and
   beautiful, and perfect. The righteous shall be like Christ, of whom it
   is still true that not a bone of him shall be broken, so not a part of
   our body after its change shall be bruised, battered, or otherwise than
   perfect.

   Put all together, brethren, and what a stretch it is from this vile
   body to the glorious body which shall be! yet when Christ comes this
   miracle of miracles shall be wrought in the twinkling of an eye. Heap
   up epithets descriptive of the vileness of this body, think of it in
   all its weakness, infirmity, sin, and liability to death; then admire
   our Lord's body in all its holiness, happiness, purity, perfection, and
   immortality; and know assuredly that, at Christ's coming, this change
   shall take place upon every one of the elect of God. All believers
   shall undergo this marvellous transformation in a moment. Behold and
   wonder! Imagine that the change should occur to you now. What a display
   of power! My imagination is not able to give you a picture of the
   transformation; but those who will be alive and remain at the coming of
   the Son of God will undergo it, and so enter glory without death. "For
   this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
   immortality," and therefore the bodies of living believers shall in the
   twinkling of an eye pass from the one state into the other; they shall
   be transformed from the vile to the glorious, from the state of
   humiliation into the state of glory, by the power of the coming Savior.

   The miracle is amazing, if you view it as occurring to those who shall
   be alive when Christ comes. Reflect, however, that a very large number
   of the saints when the Lord shall appear a second time will already be
   in their graves. Some of these will have been buried long enough to
   have become corrupt. If you could remove the mould and break open the
   coffin-lid, what would you find but foulness and putrefaction? But
   those mouldering relics are the body of the saint's humiliation, and
   that very body is to be transformed into the likeness of Christ's
   glorious body. Admire the miracle as you survey the mighty change! Look
   down into the loathsome tomb, and, if you can endure it, gaze upon the
   putrid mass; this, even this, is to be transformed into Christ's
   likeness. What a work is this! And what a Savior is he who shall
   achieve it! Go a little further. Many of those whom Christ will thus
   raise will have been buried so long that all trace of them will have
   disappeared; they will have melted back into the common dust of earth,
   so that if their bones were searched for not a vestige of them could be
   found, nor could the keenest searcher after human remains detect a
   single particle. They have slept in quiet through long ages in their
   lonely graves, till they have become absorbed into the soil as part and
   parcel of mother earth. No, there is not a bone, nor a piece of a bone
   left; their bodies are as much one with earth as the drop of rain which
   fell upon the wave is one with the sea: yet shall they be raised. The
   trumpet call shall fetch them back from the dust with which they have
   mingled, and dust to dust, bone to bone, the anatomy shall be rebuilded
   and then refashioned. Does your wonder grow? does not your faith accept
   with joy the marvel, and yet feel it to be a marvel none the less?

   Son of man, I will lead thee into an inner chamber more full of wonder
   yet. There are many thousands of God's people to whom a quiet slumber
   in the grave was denied; they were cut off by martyrdom, were sawn
   asunder, or cast to the dogs. Tens of thousands of the precious bodies
   of the saints have perished by fire, their limbs have been blown in
   clouds of smoke to the four winds of heaven, and even the handful of
   ashes which remained at the foot of the stake their relentless
   persecutors have thrown into rivers to be carried to the ocean, and
   divided to every shore. Some of the children of the resurrection were
   devoured by wild beasts in the Roman ampitheatres or left a prey to
   kites and ravens on the gibbet. In all sorts of ways have the saints'
   bodies been hacked and hewn, and, as a consequence, the particles of
   those bodies have no doubt been absorbed into various vegetable
   growths, and having been eaten by animals have mingled with the flesh
   of beasts; but what of that? "What of that?" say you, how can these
   bodies be refashioned? By what possibility can the selfsame bodies be
   raised again? I answer it needs a miracle to make any of these dry
   bones live, and a miracle being granted, impossibility vanishes. He who
   formed each atom from nothing can gather each particle again from
   confusion. The omniscient Lord of providence tracks each molecule of
   matter, and knows its position and history as a shepherd knows his
   sheep; and if it be needful to constitute the identity of the body, to
   regather every atom, he can do it. It may not, however, be needful at
   all, and I do not assert that it will be, for there may be a true
   identity without sameness of material; even as this my body is the same
   as that in which I lived twenty years ago, and yet in all probability
   there is not a grain of the same matter in it. God is able then to
   cause that the same body which on earth we wear in our humiliation,
   which we call a vile body, shall be fashioned like unto Christ's body.
   No difficulties, however stern, that can be suggested from science or
   physical law, shall for a single instant stand in the way of the
   accomplishment of this transformation by Christ the King. What marvels
   rise before me! indeed, it needs faith, and we thank God we have it.
   The resurrection of Christ has for ever settled in our minds, beyond
   all controversy, the resurrection of all who are in him; "For if we
   believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
   in Jesus will God bring with him." Still it is a marvel of marvels, a
   miracle which needs the fullness of the deity. Of whom but God, very
   God of very God, could it be said that he shall change our bodies, and
   make them like unto his glorious body?

   I know how feebly I have spoken upon this sublime subject, but I am not
   altogether regretful of that, for I do not wish to fix your thoughts on
   my words for a single moment; I only desire your minds to grasp and
   grapple with the great thought of the power of Christ, by which he
   shall raise and change the bodies of the saints.

   II. We will now pass on. Here is the point we aim at. Consider, in the
   second place, that THIS POWER WHICH IS TO RAISE THE DEAD IS RESIDENT IN
   CHRIST AT THIS MOMENT.

   So saith the text, "according to the working whereby he is able to
   subdue all things unto himself." It is not some new power which Christ
   will take to himself in the latter days and then for the first time
   display, but the power which will arouse the dead is the same power
   which is in him at this moment, which is going forth from him at this
   instant in the midst of his church and among the sons of men. I call
   your attention to this, and invite you to follow the track of the text.

   First notice that all the power by which the last transformation will
   be wrought is ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ now as the Savior. "We
   look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus." When Christ raises the dead it
   will be as a Savior, and it is precisely in that capacity that we need
   the exercise of his power at this moment. Fix this, my brethren, in
   your hearts; we are seeking the salvation of men, and we are not
   seeking a hopeless thing, for Jesus Christ is able as a Savior, to
   subdue all things, to himself; so the text expressly tells us. It doth
   not merely say that as a raiser of the dead he is able to subdue all
   things, but as the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. His titles are
   expressly given, he is set forth to us as the Lord, the Savior, the
   Anointed, and in that capacity is said to be able to subdue all things
   to himself. Happy tidings for us! My brethren, how large may our
   prayers be for the conversion of the sons of men, how great our
   expectations, how confident our efforts! Nothing is too hard for our
   Lord Jesus Christ; nothing in the way of saving work is beyond his
   power. If as a Savior he wakes the dead in the years to come, he can
   quicken the spiritually dead even now. These crowds of dead souls
   around us in this area and in these galleries, he can awaken by his
   quickening voice and living Spirit. The resurrection is to be according
   to the working of his mighty power, and that same energy is in
   operation now. In its fullness the power dwells in him, let us stir him
   up, let us cry unto him mightily, and give him no rest till he put
   forth that selfsame power now. Think not, my brethren, that this would
   be extraordinary and unusual. Your own conversion, if you have truly
   been raised from your spiritual death, was by the same power that we
   desire to see exerted upon others. Your own regeneration was indeed as
   remarkable an instance of divine power as the resurrection itself shall
   be. Ay, and I venture to say it, your spiritual life this very day or
   any day you choose to mention, is in itself a display of the same
   working which shall transform this vile body into its glorious
   condition. The power of the resurrection is being put forth to-day, it
   is pulsing through the quickened portion of this audience, it is
   heaving with life each bosom that beats with love to God, it is
   preserving the life-courses in the souls of all the spiritual, so that
   they go not back to their former death in sin. The power which will
   work the resurrection will be wonderful, but it will be no new thing.
   It is everywhere to be beheld in operation in the church of God at this
   very moment by those who have eyes to see it; and herein I join with
   the apostle in his prayer "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
   Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
   in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being
   enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what
   the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is
   the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according
   to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he
   raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the
   heavenly places' far above all principality, and power, and might, and
   dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
   also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet,
   and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his
   body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."

   Note next that the terms of our text imply that opposition may be
   expected to this power, but that all resistance will be overcome. That
   word "subdue" supposes a force to be conquered and brought into
   subjection. "He is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Herein
   is a great wonder! There will be no opposition to the resurrection. The
   trumpet sound shall bring the dead from their graves, and no particle
   shall disobey the summons; but to spiritual resurrection there is
   resistance--resistance which only omnipotence can vanquish. In the
   conversion of sinners natural depravity is an opposing force; for men
   are set upon their sins, and love not the things of God, neither will
   they hearken to the voice of mercy. My brethren, to remove all our
   fears concerning our Lord's ability to save, the word is here used, "He
   is able," not only to raise all things from the dead, but "to subdue
   all things to himself." Here again I would bid you take the
   encouragement the text presents you. If there be opposition to the
   gospel, he is able to subdue it. If in one man there is a prejudice, if
   in another man the heart is darkened with error, if one man hates the
   very name of Jesus, if another is so wedded to his sins that he cannot
   part from them, if opposition has assumed in some a very determined
   character, does not the text meet every case? "He is able to subdue all
   things," to conquer them, to break down the barriers that interpose to
   prevent the display of his power, and to make I hose very barriers the
   means of setting forth that power the more gloriously. "He is able even
   to subdue all things." O take this to the mercy-seat, you who will be
   seeking the souls of men this month! Take it to him and plead this word
   of the Holy Spirit in simple, childlike faith. When there is a
   difficulty you cannot overcome, take it to him, for he is "able to
   subdue."

   Note next, that the language of our text includes all supposable cases.
   He is able to "subdue all things unto himself," not here and there one,
   but "all things." Brethren, there is no man in this world so fallen,
   debased, depraved, and wilfully wicked, that Jesus cannot save him--not
   even among those who live beyond the reach of ordinary ministry. He can
   bring the heathen to the gospel, or the gospel to them. The wheels of
   providence can be so arranged that salvation shall be brought to the
   outcasts; even war, famine, and plague, may become messengers for
   Christ, for he, too, rides upon the wings of the wind. There lived some
   few years ago in Perugia, in Italy, a man of the loosest morale and the
   worst conceivable disposition. He had given up all religion, he loathed
   God, and had arrived at such a desperate state of mind that he had
   conceived an affection for the devil, and endeavored to worship the
   evil one. Imagining Satan to be the image and embodiment of all
   rebellion, free-thinking, and lawlessness, he deified him in his own
   mind, and desired nothing better than to be a devil himself. On one
   occasion, when a Protestant missionary had been in Perugia preaching, a
   priest happened to say in this man's hearing, that there were
   Protestants in Perugia, the city was being defiled by heretics. "And
   who do you think Protestants are?" said he. "They are men who have
   renounced Christ and worship the devil." A gross and outrageous lie was
   this, but it answered far other ends than its author meant. The man
   hearing this, thought, "Oh, then, I will go and meet with them, for I
   am much of their mind;" and away he went to the Protestant meeting, in
   the hope of finding an assembly who propagated lawlessness and
   worshipped the devil. He there heard the gospel, and was saved. Behold
   in this and in ten thousand cases equally remarkable, the ability of
   our Lord to subdue all things unto himself. How can any man whom God
   ordains to save escape from that eternal love which is as omnipresent
   as the deity itself? "He is able to subdue all things to himself." If
   his sword cannot reach the far off ones his arrows can, and even at
   this hour they are sharp in his enemy's hearts. No boastful Goliath can
   stand before our David; though the weapon which he uses to-day be but a
   stone from the brook, yet shall the Philistine be subdued. If there
   should be in this place a Deist, an Atheist, a Romanist, or even a
   lover of the devil, if he be but a man, mercy yet can come to him.
   Jesus Christ is able to subdue him unto himself. None have gone too
   far, and none are too hardened. While the Christ lives in heaven we
   need never despair of any that are still in this mortal life--"He is
   able to subdue all things unto himself."

   You will observe, in the text that nothing is said concerning the
   unfitness of the means. My fears often are lest souls should not be
   saved by our instrumentality because of faultiness in us; we fear lest
   we should not be prayerful enough or energetic or earnest enough; or
   that it should be said, "He could not do many mighty works there
   because of their unbelief." But the text seems to obliterate man
   altogether--"He is able to subdue all things unto himself"--that is to
   say, Jesus does it, Jesus can do it, will do it all. By the feeblest
   means he can work mightily, can take hold of us, unfit as we are for
   service, and make us fit, can grasp us in our folly and teach us
   wisdom, take us in our weakness and make us strong. My brethren, if we
   had to find resources for ourselves, and to rely upon ourselves, our
   enterprise might well be renounced, but since he is able, we will cast
   the burden of this work on him, and go to him in believing prayer,
   asking him to work mightily through us to the praise of his glory, for
   "He is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

   Note that the ability is said in the text to be present with the Savior
   now. I have already pointed that out to you, but I refer to it again.
   The resurrection is a matter of the future, but the working which shall
   accomplish the resurrection is a matter of the present. "According to
   the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,"
   Jesus is as strong now as he ever will be, for he changes not. At this
   moment he is as able to convert souls as at the period of the brightest
   revival, or at Pentecost itself. There are no ebbs and flows with
   Christ's power. Omnipotence is in the hand that once was pierced,
   permanently abiding there. Oh, if we could but rouse it; if we could
   but bring the Captain of the host to the field again, to fight for his
   church, to work his servants! What marvels should we see, for he is
   able. We are not straitened in him, we are straitened in ourselves if
   straitened at all.

   Once more, for your comfort be it remembered that the fact of there
   having been, as it were, a considerable time in which few have been
   converted to Christ, is no proof that his power is slackening; for it
   is well known to you that very few have as yet been raised from the
   dead, only here and there one like Lazarus and the young man at the
   gates of Nain, but you do not therefore doubt the Lord's power to raise
   the dead. Though he tarrieth we do not mistrust his power to fulfill
   his promise in due time. Now the power which is restrained, as it were,
   so that it does not work the resurrection yet, is the same which may
   hare been restrained in the Christian church for awhile, but which will
   be as surely put forth ere long in conversion as it will be in the end
   of time to accomplish the resurrection. Let us cry unto our Lord, for
   he has but to will it and thousands of sinners will be saved; let us
   lift up our hearts to him who has but to speak the word and whole
   nations shall be born unto him. The resurrection will not be a work
   occupying centuries, it will be accomplished at once; and so it may be
   in this house of prayer, and throughout London, and throughout the
   world, Christ will do a great and speedy work to the amazement of all
   beholders. He will send forth the rod of his strength out of Zion, and
   rule in the midst of his enemies. He will unmask his batteries, he will
   spring his mines, he will advance his outworks, he will subdue the city
   of his adversaries, and ride victoriously through the Bozrah of his
   foes. Who shall stay his hand? Who shall say unto him, "What doest
   thou?"

   I wish we had time to work out the parallel which our text suggests,
   between the resurrection and the subduing of all things. The
   resurrection will be worked by the divine power, and the subduing of
   sinners is a precisely similar instance of salvation. All men are dead
   in sin, but he can raise them. Many of them are corrupt with vice, but
   he can transform them. Some of them are, as it were, lost to all hope,
   like the dead body scattered to the winds, desperate cases for whom
   even pity seems to waste her sighs; but he who raises the dead of all
   sorts, with a word can raise sinners of all sorts by the selfsame
   power. And as the dead when raised are made like to Christ, so the
   wicked when converted are made like to Jesus too. Brilliant examples of
   virtue shall be found in those who were terrible instances of vice; the
   most depraved and dissolute shall become the most devout and earnest.
   From the vile body to the glory-body, what a leap, and from the sinner
   damnable in lust to the saint bright with the radiance of sanctity,
   what a space! The leap seems very far, but omnipotence can bridge the
   chasm. The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ is able to do it; he is able
   to do it in ten thousand thousand cases, able to do it at this very
   moment. My anxious desire is to engrave this one thought upon your
   hearts, my brethren and sisters, yea, to write it on the palms of those
   hands with which you are about to serve the Lord, learn it and forget
   it not--almighty power lies with Jesus to achieve the purpose upon
   which our heart is set, namely, the conversion of many unto himself.

   III. I said I would ask you to consider, in the third place, THE WORK
   WHICH WE DESIRE TO SEE ACCOMPLISHED. I will not detain you however,
   with that consideration farther than this.

   Brethren, we long to see the Savior subduing souls unto himself. Not to
   our way of thinking, not to our church, not to the honor of our powers
   of persuasion, but "unto himself." "He is able even to subdue all
   things unto himself." O sinner, how I wish thou wert subdued to Jesus,
   to kiss those dear feet that were nailed for thee, to love in life him
   who loved thee to the death. Ah! soul, it were a blessed subjection for
   thee. Never subject of earthly monarch so happy in his king as thou
   wouldst be. God is our witness, we who preach the gospel, we do not
   want to subdue you to ourselves, as though we would rule you and be
   lords over your spirits. It is to Jesus, to Jesus only that we would
   have you subdued. O that you desired this subjection, it would be
   liberty, and peace, and joy to you!

   Notice that this subjection is eminently to be desired, since it
   consists in transformation. Catch the thought of the text. He
   transforms the vile body into his glorious body, and this is a part of
   the subjection of all things unto himself. But do you call that
   subjection? Is it not a subjection to be longed after with an
   insatiable desire, to be so subdued to Christ that I, a poor, vile
   sinner, may become like him, holy, harmless, undefiled? This is the
   subjection that we wish for you, O unconverted ones. We trust we have
   felt it ourselves, we pray you may feel it too. He is able to give it
   to you. Ask it of him at once. Now breathe the prayer, now believe that
   the Savior can work the transformation even in you, in you at this very
   moment. And, O my brethren in the faith, have faith for sinners now.
   While they are pleading plead for them that this subjection which is an
   uplifting, this conquering which is a liberating, may be accomplished
   in them.

   For, remember again, that to be subjected to Christ is, according to
   our text, to be fitted for heaven. He will change our vile body and
   make it like the body of his glory. The body of the glory is a body
   fitted for glory, a body which participates in glory. The Lord Jesus
   can make you, sinner, though now fitted for hell, fitted for heaven,
   fitted for glory, and breathe into you now an anticipation of that
   glory, in the joy and peace of mind which his pardon will bring to you.
   It must be a very sad thing to be a soldier under any circumstances; to
   have to cut and hack and kill and subdue, even in a righteous cause, is
   cruel work; but to be a soldier of King Jesus is an honor and a joy.
   The service of Jesus is a grand service. Brethren, we have been
   earnestly seeking to capture some hearts that are here present, to
   capture them for Jesus. It has been a long and weary siege up till this
   hour. We have summoned them to surrender, and opened fire upon them
   with the gospel, but as yet in vain. I have striven to throw a few live
   shells into the very heart of their city, in the form of warning and
   threatening and exhortation. I know there have been explosions in the
   hearts of some of you, which have done your sins some damage, killed
   some of the little ones that would have grown up to greater iniquity.
   You have been carefully blockaded by providence and grace. Your hearts
   have found no provision for joy in sin, no helps to peace in
   unrighteousness. How I wish I could starve you out until you would
   yield to my Lord, the crown Prince, who again to-day demands that you
   yield to him. It is dreadful to compel a city to open its gates
   unwillingly to let an enemy come in; for however gentle be the enemy
   his face is an unwelcome sight to the vanquished. But oh! how I wish I
   could burst open the gates of a sinner's heart to-day, for the Prince
   Emmanuel to come in. He who is at your gates is not an alien monarch,
   he is your rightful prince, he is your friend and lover. It will not be
   a strange face that you will see, when Jesus comes to reign in you.
   When the King in his beauty wins your soul, you will think yourselves a
   thousand fools that you did not receive him before. Instead of fearing
   that he will ransack your soul, you will open all its doors and invite
   him to search each room. You will cry, "Take all, thou blessed monarch,
   it shall be most mine when it is thine. Take all, and reign and rule."
   I propound terms of capitulation to you, O sinner. They are but these:
   yield up yourself to Christ, give up your works and ways, both good and
   bad, and trust in him to save you, and be his servant henceforth and
   for ever. While I thus invite you, I trust he will speak through me to
   you and win you to himself. I shall not plead in vain, the word shall
   not fall to the ground. I fall back upon the delightful consolation of
   our text, "He is able to subdue all things unto himself." May he prove
   his power this morning. Amen and Amen.

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Philippians 3.

   MESSRS, PASSMORE AND ALABASTER, 18, Paternoster Row, beg to inform the
   sermon readers that the second volume of MR. SPURGEON'S GREAT WORK UPON
   THIS PSALMS is receiving the most favorable notice of the reviewers.
   The first edition of Vol. I is nearly exhausted, and a second edition
   will be issued. The large volumes, unusually crowded with matter, are
   published at 8s. each, a price far below the usual charge for such
   books. The following extract is from the Baptist Magazine:--

   "It seems to us that Mr. Spurgeon has got himself not only to the
   devout and scholarly exposition of the Psalms, but also to the
   rendering of his work positively fascinating by its many charms. . . .
   In the possession of this book the young will find themselves at
   college, with the learned and the good of all ages for their tutors;
   and maturer Christians will have the largest spiritual knowledge
   increased, and its richest experiences strengthened."
     __________________________________________________________________

                              Compassion for Souls

   A Sermon

   (No. 974)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, February 5th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "She went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were
   a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she
   sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept."--Genesis 21:16.

   BRIEFLY LET US REHEARSE the circumstances. The child Isaac was,
   according to God's word, to be the heir of Abraham. Ishmael, the elder
   son of Abraham, by the bondwoman Hagar, resided at home with his father
   till he was about eighteen years of age; but when he began to mock and
   scoff at the younger child whom God had ordained to be the heir, it
   became needful that he and his mother should be sent away from
   Abraham's encampment. It might have seemed unkind and heartless to have
   sent them forth, but God having arranged to provide for them sent a
   divine command which at once rendered their expulsion necessary, and
   certified its success. We may rest assured that whatever God commands
   he will be quite certain to justify. He knew it would be no cruelty to
   Hagar or Ishmael to be driven into independence, and he gave a promise
   which secured them everything which they desired. "Also of the son of
   the bondwoman will I make a great nation;" and again, "I have blessed
   him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly;
   twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation." Had
   they both been able to go forth from Abraham's tent in faith they might
   have trodden the desert with a joyous footstep, fully assured that he
   who bade them go, and he who promised that he would bless them, would
   be certain to provide all things needful for them. Early in the morning
   they were sent forth on their journey, with as much provision as they
   could carry, and probably they intended to make their way to Egypt,
   from which Hagar had come. They may have lost their way; at any rate,
   they are spoken of as wandering. Their store of food became exhausted,
   the water in the skin bottle was all spent; both of them felt the
   fatigue of the wilderness, and the heat of the pitiless sand; they were
   both faint and weary, and the younger utterly failed. As long as the
   mother could sustain the tottering, fainting footsteps of her boy, she
   did so; when she could do so no longer, he swooned with weakness, and
   she laid him down beneath the slight shade of the desert tamarisk, that
   he might be as far as possible screened from the excessive heat of the
   sun. Looking into his face and seeing the pallor of coming death
   gathering upon it, knowing her inability to do anything whatever to
   revive him, or even to preserve his life, she could not bear to sit and
   gaze upon his face, but withdrew just far enough to be able still to
   watch with all a mother's care. She sat down in the brokenness of her
   spirit, her tears gushed forth in torrents, and heartrending cries of
   agony startled the rocks around. It was needful that the high spirit of
   the mother and her son should be broken down before they received
   prosperity: the mother had been on a former occasion graciously humbled
   by being placed in much the same condition, but she had probably
   relapsed into a haughty spirit, and had encouraged her boy in his
   insolence to Sarah's son, and therefore she must be chastened yet
   again; and it was equally needful that the high-spirited lad should for
   little bear the yoke in his youth, and that he who would grow up to be
   the wild man, the father of the unconquerable Arab, should feel the
   power of God ere he received the fulfillment of the promise given to
   him in answer to Abraham's prayer. If I read the text aright while the
   mother was thus weeping, the child, almost lost to all around, was
   nevertheless conscious enough of his own helpless condition, and
   sufficiently mindful of his father's God to cry in his soul to heaven
   for help; and the Lord heard not so much the mother's weeping (for the
   feebleness of her faith, which ought to have been stronger in memory of
   a former deliverance, hindered her prayer), but the silent, unuttered
   prayers of the fainting lad went up into the ears of Elohim, and the
   angel of Elohim appeared, and pointed to the well. The child received
   the needed draught of water, was soon restored, and in him and his
   posterity the promise of God received and continues to receive a large
   fulfillment. I am not about to speak upon that narrative except as it
   serves me with an illustration for the subject which I would now press
   upon you.

   Behold the compassion of a mother for her child expiring with thirst,
   and remember that such a compassion ought all Christians to feel
   towards souls that are perishing for lack of Christ, perishing
   eternally, perishing without hope of salvation. If the mother lifted up
   her voice arid wept, so also should we; and if the contemplation of her
   dying, child was all too painful for her, so may the contemplation of
   the wrath to come, which is to pass upon every soul that dies
   impenitent, become too painful for us, but yet it the same time it
   should stimulate us to earnest prayer and ardent effort for the
   salvation of our fellow men.

   I shall speak, this morning, upon compassion for souls, the reasons
   which justify it, the sight it dreads, the temptation it must fight
   against, the paths it should pursue, the encouragement it may receive.

   I. COMPASSION FOR SOULS--THE REASONS WHICH JUSTIFY IT, NAY, COMPEL IT.

   It scarce needs that I do more than rehearse in bare outline the
   reasons why we should tenderly compassionate the perishing sons of men.
   For first, observe, the dreadful nature of the calamity which will
   overwhelm them. Calamities occurring to our fellow men naturally awaken
   in us a feeling of commiseration; but what calamity under heaven can be
   equal to the ruin of a soul? What misery can be equal to that of a man
   cast away from God, and subject to his wrath world without end! To-day
   your hearts are moved as you hear the harrowing details of war. They
   have been dreadful indeed; houses burnt, happy families driven as
   vagabonds upon the face of the earth, domestic circles and quiet
   households broken up, men wounded, mangled, massacred by thousands, and
   starved, I was about to say, by millions; but the miseries of war, if
   they were confined to this world alone, were nothing compared with the
   enormous catastrophe of tens of thousands of spirits accursed by sin,
   and driven by justice into the place where their worm dieth not, and
   their fire is not quenched. The edge of the sword grows blunt at last,
   the flame of war dies out for want of fuel, but, lo! I see before me a
   sword which is never quiet, a fire unquenchable. Alas! that the souls
   of men should fall beneath the infinite ire of justice. All your hearts
   have been moved of late with the thought of famine, famine in a great
   city. The dogs of war, and this the fiercest mastiff of them all, have
   laid hold upon the fair throat of the beautiful city which thought to
   sit as a lady for ever and see no sorrow; you are hastening with your
   gifts, if possible to remove her urgent want and to avert her
   starvation; but what is a famine of bread compared with that famine of
   the soul which our Lord describes when he represents it as pleading in
   vain for a drop of water to cool its tongue tormented in the flame? To
   be without bread for the body is terrible, but to be without the bread
   of life eternal, none of us can tell the weight of horror which lies
   there! When Robert Hall in one of the grand flights of his eloquence
   pictured the funeral of a lost soul, he made the sun to veil his light,
   and the moon her brightness; he covered the ocean with mourning and the
   heavens with sackcloth, and declared that if the whole fabric of nature
   could become animated and vocal, it would not be possible for her to
   utter a groan too deep, or a cry too piercing to express the magnitude
   and extent of the catastrophe. Time is not long enough for the sore
   lamentation which should attend the obsequies of a lost soul. Eternity
   must be charged with that boundless woe, and must utter it in weeping
   and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Not the tongues of prophets, nor of
   seraphs, could se forth all the sorrow of what it is to be condemned
   from the mouth of mercy, damned by the Savior who died to save,
   pronounced accursed by rejected love. The evil is so immense that
   imagination finds no place, and understanding utterly fails. Brethren,
   if our bowels do not yearn for men who are daily hastening towards
   destruction, are we men at all?

   I could abundantly justify compassion for perishing men, even on the
   ground of natural feelings. A mother who did not, like Hagar, weep for
   her dying child--call her not "mother," call her "monster." A man who
   passes through the scenes of misery which even this city presents in
   its more squalid quarters, and yet is never disturbed by them, I
   venture to say he is unworthy of the name of man. Even the common
   sorrows of our race may well suffuse our eyes with tears, but the
   eternal sorrow, the infinite lake of misery--he who grieves not for
   this, write him down a demon, though he wear the image and semblance of
   a man. Do not think the less of this argument because I base it upon
   feelings common to all of woman born, for remember that grace does not
   destroy our manhood when it elevates it to a higher condition.

   In this instance what nature suggests grace enforces. The more we
   become what we shall be, the more will compassion rule our hearts. The
   Lord Jesus Christ, who is the pattern and mirror of perfect manhood,
   what said he concerning the sins and the woes of Jerusalem? He knew
   Jerusalem must perish; did he bury his pity beneath the fact of the
   divine decree, and steel his heart by the thought of the sovereignty or
   the justice that would be resplendent in the city's destruction? Nay,
   not he, but with eyes gushing like founts, he cried, "O Jerusalem,
   Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a
   teen gathereth her chickens under her wings! and ye would not." If you
   would be like Jesus, you must be tender and very pitiful. Ye would be
   as unlike him as possible if we could sit down in grim content, and,
   with a Stoic's philosophy, turn all the flesh within you into stone. If
   it be natural, then, and above all, if it be natural to the higher
   gracegiven nature, I beseech you, let your hearts be moved with pity,
   do not endure to see the spiritual death of mankind. Be in agony as
   often as you contemplate the ruin of any soul of the seed of Adam.

   Brethren, the whole ruin and current, and tenour and spirit of the
   gospel influences us to compassion. Ye are debtors, for what were ye if
   compassion had not come to your rescue? Divine compassion, all
   undeserved and free, has redeemed you from your vain conversation.
   Surely those who receive mercy should show mercy; those who owe all
   they have to the pity of God, should not be pitiless to their brethren.
   The Savior never for a moment tolerates the self-righteous isolation
   which would make you despise the prodigal, and cavil at his
   restoration, much less the Cainite spirit which cries, "Am I my
   brother's keeper?" No doctrine is rightly received by you if it freezes
   the genial current of your Christian compassion. You may know the truth
   of the doctrine, but you do not know the doctrine in truth if it makes
   you gaze on the wrath to come without emotions of pity for immortal
   souls. You shall find everywhere throughout the gospel that it rings of
   brotherly love, tender mercy, and weeping pity. If you have indeed
   received it in its power, the love of Christ will melt your spirit to
   compassion for those who are despising Christ, and sealing their own
   destruction.

   Let me beseech you to believe that it is needful as well as justifiable
   that you should feel compassion for the sons of men. You all desire to
   glorify Christ by becoming soul-winners--I hope you do--and be it
   remembered that, other things being equal, he is the fittest in God's
   hand to win souls who pities souls most. I believe he preaches best who
   loves best, and in the Sunday-school and in private life each
   soul-seeker shall have the blessing very much in proportion to his
   yearning for it. Paul becomes a saviour of many because his heart's
   desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved. If you can live
   without souls being converted, you shall live without their being
   converted; but if your soul breaketh for the longing that it hath
   towards Christ's glory and the conversion of the ungodly, if like her
   of old you say, "Give me children, or I die," your insatiable hunger
   shall be satisfied, the craving of your spirit shall be gratified. Oh!
   I would to God there should come upon us a divine hunger which cannot
   stay itself except men yield themselves to Jesus; an intense, earnest,
   longing, panting desire that men should submit themselves to the gospel
   of Jesus. This will teach you better than the best college training how
   to deal with human hearts. This will give the stammering tongue the
   ready word; the hot heart shall burn the cords which held fast the
   tongue. You shall become wise to win souls, even though you never
   exhibit the brilliance of eloquence or the force of logic. Men shall
   wonder at your power--the secret shall be hidden from them, the fact
   being that the Holy Ghost shall overshadow you, and your heart shall
   teach you wisdom, God teaching your heart. Deep feeling on your part
   for others shall make others feel for themselves, and God shall bless
   you, and that right early.

   But I stand not here any longer to justify what I would far rather
   commend and personally feel.

   "Did Christ o'er sinners weep,

   And shall our cheeks be dry?

   Let floods of consecrated grief

   Stream forth from every eye,"

   Is God all love, and shall God's children be hard and cold? Shall
   heaven compassionate and shall not earth that has received hearer's
   mercy send back the echo of compassion? O God, make us imitators of
   thee in thy pity towards erring men.

   II. We shall pass on to notice THE SIGHT WHICH TRUE COMPASSION DREADS.

   Like Hagar, the compassionate spirit says, "Let me not see the death of
   the child," or as some have read it, "How can I see the death of the
   child?" To contemplate a soul passing away without hope is too terrible
   a task! I do not wonder that ingenious persons have invented theories
   which aim at mitigating the terrors of the world to come to the
   impenitent. It is natural they should do so, for the facts are so
   alarming as they are truthfully given us in God's word, that if we
   desire to preach comfortable doctrine and such as will quiet the
   consciences of idle professors, we must dilute the awful truth. The
   revelation of God concerning the doom of the wicked is so overwhelming
   as to make it penal, nay, I was about to say damnable, to be
   indifferent and careless in the work of evangelising the world. I do
   not wonder that this error in doctrine springs up just now when
   abounding callousness of heart needs an excuse for itself. What better
   pillow for idle heads than the doctrine that the finally impenitent
   become extinct? The logical reasoning of the sinner is, "Let us eat and
   drink, for to-morrow we die," and the professing Christian is not slow
   to feel an ease of heart from pressing responsibilities when he accepts
   so consolatory an opinion. Forbear this sleeping draught, I pray you,
   for in very deed the sharp stimulant of the truth itself is abundantly
   needful; even when thus bestirred to duty we are sluggish enough, and
   need not that these sweet but sleep-producing theories should operate
   upon us.

   For a moment, I beseech you, contemplate that which causes horror to
   every tender heart; behold, I pray you, a soul lost, lost beyond all
   hope of restitution. Heaven's gates have shut upon the sanctified, and
   the myriads of the redeemed are there, but that soul is not among them,
   for it passed out of this world without having washed its robes in
   Jesus' blood. For it there are no harps of gold, no thrones of glory,
   no exultation with Christ; from all the bliss of heaven it is for ever
   excluded. This punishment of loss were a heavy enough theme for
   contemplation. The old divines used to speak much of the poena damni,
   or the punishment of loss; there were enough in that phase of the
   future to make us mourn bitterly, as David did for Absalom. My child
   shut out of heaven! My husband absent from the seats of the blessed! My
   sister, my brother not in glory! When the Lord counts up his chosen, my
   dear companion outside the gates of pearl, outside the jewelled
   battlements of the New Jerusalem! O God, tis a heartbreaking sorrow to
   think of this. But then comes the punishment added to the loss. What
   saith the Savior? "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
   quenched." "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." And yet
   again, "And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
   hypocrites." And yet again, "Into outer darkness: there shall be
   weeping and gnashing of teeth." "Metaphors," say you. It is true, but
   not meaningless metaphors. There is a meaning in each expression--and
   rest assured though man's metaphors sometimes exaggerate, God's never
   do; his symbols everywhere are true; never is there an exaggeration in
   the language of inspiration. Extravagances of utterance! He uses them
   not; his figures are substantial truth. Terrible as the scriptural
   emblems of punishment are, they set forth matters of undoubted fact,
   which if a man could look upon this day, the sight might blanch his
   hair, and quench his eye. If we could hear the wailings of the pit for
   a moment, we should earnestly entreat that we might never hear them
   again. We have to thank God that we are not allowed to hear the
   dolorous cries of the lost, for if we did they would make our life
   bitter as gall. I cast a veil over that which I cannot paint; like
   Hagar I cannot bear to look at the dread reality which it breaks my
   heart to think upon.

   How all this gathers intensity, when it comes to be our own child, our
   own friend! Hagar might perhaps have looked upon a dying child, but not
   upon her dying Ishmael. Can you bear now to think for a moment of the
   perdition of your own flesh and blood? Does not your spirit flinch and
   draw back with horror instinctively at the idea of one of your own
   family being lost? Yet, as a matter of stern fact, you know that some
   of them will be lost if they die as they are now living? At God's right
   hand they cannot stand unless they be made new creatures in Christ
   Jesus. You know that, do not try to forget it.

   It will greatly add to your feeling of sorrow if you are forced to feel
   that the ruin of your child or of any other person may have been partly
   caused by your example. It must be a dreadful thing for a father to
   feel, "My boy learned to drink from me; my child heard the first
   blasphemous word from his father's lips." Or mother, if your dying
   daughter should say, "I was led into temptation by my mother's
   example," what a grief will this be! O parents, converted late in life,
   you cannot undo the evil which you have already done; God has forgiven
   you, but the mischief wrought in your children's characters is
   indelible, unless the grace of God step in. I want you to seek after
   that grace with great earnestness. As you must confess that you have
   helped to train your child as a servant of sin, will you not long to
   see your evil work undone before it ends in your child's eternal
   destruction?

   If we shall have to feel that the ruin of any of our friends or
   relations is partly occasioned by our own personal neglect of religion,
   it will cause us bitter pangs. If our example has been excellent and
   admirable in all respects, but that we have forgotten the Lord and his
   Christ, it will have been none the less injurious to men's souls. I
   sometimes think that these examples are the very worst in their effect.
   Immoral, ungodly men can hardly work the same measure of mischief as
   moral but unchristian men. I will tell you why. The ungodly quote the
   orderly life of the moralist as an argument that there can be goodness
   apart from Christianity, and this often helps men to rest satisfied
   apart from Christ Jesus. And what, O moralist, though you never taught
   your child a vice, if you taught it unbelief, and if your example
   helped to harm its heart in bold rebellion against God! Ah! then, how
   will you blame yourself when you are converted, or curse yourself if
   both you and your child perish.

   Dear friends, it makes a terrible addition to the sight of a soul being
   lost if we have to feel we were under responsibility concerning it, and
   have been in any measure unfaithful. I cannot bear the idea of any of
   my congregation perishing, for in addition to the compassion I hope I
   feel, I am influenced by a further additional consideration, for I am
   set as a watchman to your souls. When any die, I ask myself, "Was I
   faithful? Did I speak all the truth? And did I speak it from my very
   soul every time I preached?" John Walsh, the famous Scotch preacher,
   was often out of bed in the coldest night, by the hour together, in
   supplication; and when some one wondered that he spent so many hours
   upon his knees, he said, "Ah, man, I have three thousand souls to give
   account of in the day of judgment, and I do not know but what it is
   going very ill with some of them." Alas! I have more than that to give
   account of, and well may I cry to God that I may not see you perish. O
   may it never be that you shall go from these pews to the lowest hell.
   You, too, my fellow Christian, have your own responsibilities, each one
   in your measure--your children, your school classes, your servants, ay,
   and your neighbors, for if you are not doing any good and do not assume
   any responsibility towards the regions in which you dwell, that
   responsibility rests upon you none the less. You cannot live in a
   district without being responsible to God for doing something towards
   the bettering of the people among whom you reside. Can you endure it
   then, that your neighbors should sink into hell? Do not your hearts
   long for their salvation?

   Is it not an awful thing that a soul should perish with the gospel so
   near? If Ishmael had died, and the water had been within bow-shot, and
   yet unseen till too late, it had been a dreadful reflection for the
   mother. Would she not have torn her hair with double sorrow? And yet
   many of you are being lost with the gospel ringing in your ears; you
   are perishing while Christ is lifted up before you; you are dying in
   the camp through the serpent's bite, though the brazen serpent is
   yonder before your eyes, and with many tears we cry to you, "Look unto
   Jesus Christ, and live!" Ah, woe is me, woe is me, if you perish when
   salvation is brought so close home to you. Some of you are very near
   the kingdom of God; you are very anxious, very concerned, but you have
   not believed in Jesus; you have much that is good, but one thing you
   lack. Will you perish for lack of only one thing? A thousand pities
   will it be if you make shipwreck in the harbour's mouth and go to hell
   from the gates of heaven.

   We must add to all this, the remembrance that it is not one soul which
   is lost, but tens of thousands are going down to the pit. Mr. Beecher
   said in one of his sermons, "If there were a great bell hung high in
   heaven which the angels swung every time a soul was lost, how
   constantly would its solemn toll be heard!" A soul lost! The thunder
   would not suffice to make a knell for a lost spirit. Each time the
   clock ticks a soul departs out of this world, perhaps oftener than
   that, and out of those who make the last journey how few mount to the
   skies; what multitudes descend to endless woe! O Christians, pull up
   the sluices of your souls, and let your hearts pour out themselves in
   rivers of compassion.

   III. In the third place, I said I would speak upon COMPASSION FOR THE
   SOULS OF MEN--THE TEMPTATION IT MUST RESIST.

   We must not fall into the temptation to imitate the example of Hagar
   too closely. She put the child under the shrubs and turned away her
   gaze from the all too mournful spectacle. She could not endure to look,
   but she sat where she could watch in despair. There is a temptation
   with each one of us to try to forget that souls are being lost. I can
   go home to my house along respectable streets, and naturally should
   choose that way, for then I need not see the poverty of the lowest
   quarters of the city, but am I right if I try to forget that there are
   Bethnal Greens and Kent Streets, and such like abodes of poverty? The
   close courts, the cellars, the crowded garrets, the lodging-houses--am
   I to forget that these exist? Surely the only way for a charitable mind
   to sleep comfortably in London is to forget how one half of the
   population lives; but is it our object to live comfortably? Are we such
   brute beasts that comfort is all we care for; like swine in their stye?
   Nay, brethren, let us recall to our memories the sins of our great
   city, its sorrows and griefs, and let us remember also the sins and
   sorrows of the wide, wide world, and the tens of thousands of our race
   who are passing constantly into eternity. Nay, look at them! Do not
   close those eyes! Does the horror of the vision make your eyeballs
   ache? Then look until your heart aches too, and your spirit breaks
   forth in vehement agony before the Lord. Look down into hell a moment;
   open wide the door; listen, and listen yet again. You say you cannot,
   it sickens your soul; let it be sickened, and in its swooning let it
   fall back into the arms of Christ the Savior, and breathe out a cry
   that he would hasten to save men from the wrath to come. Do not ignore,
   I pray you, what does exist. It is a matter of fact that in this
   congregation many are going down to hell, that in this city there are
   multitudes who are hastening as certainly to perdition as time is
   hastening to eternity. It is no dream, no fiction of a fevered brain
   that there is a hell. If you think so, then why dare you call
   yourselves Christians? Renounce your Bible, renounce your baptism,
   renounce your profession if one spark of honesty remains in you. Call
   not yourselves Christians when you deny the teaching of your Master.
   Since assuredly there is a dreadful hell, shut not your eyes to it, put
   not the souls of your fellows away among the shrubs, and sit not down
   in supineness. Come and look, come and look, I say, till your hearts
   break at the sight. Hear the cries of dying men whose consciences are
   awakened too late. Hear the groans of spirits who are feeling the sure
   consequences of sin, where sin's cure will never avail them. Let this
   stir you, my brethren, to action--to action immediate and intense. You
   tell me I preach dreadful things; ay, and they are wanted, they are
   wanted. Was there ever such a happy age as this? Were there ever such
   sleepy persons as ourselves? Take heed lest you take sad precedence of
   all others in the accusations of conscience, because knowing the
   gospel, and enjoying it, you nevertheless use so little exertion in
   spreading it abroad among the human race. Let us shun the temptation
   which Hagar's example might suggest.

   IV. I will now speak upon THE PATH WHICH TRUE COMPASSION WILL BE SURE
   TO FOLLOW; and what is that?

   First of all, true pity does all it can. Before Hagar sat down and
   wept, she had done her utmost for her boy; she had given him the last
   drop from the bottle; she had supported his tottering footsteps, she
   had sought out the place under the shrubs where he might be a little
   sheltered she had laid him down gently with soothing words, and then,
   but not till then, she sat herself down. Have we done all that it is
   possible for us to do for the unconverted around us? There are
   preventible causes of men's ruin. Some causes you and I cannot touch,
   but there are some we ought at once to remove. For instance, it is
   certain that many perish through ignorance. It ought never to be that a
   soul should perish of ignorance within a mile of where a Christian
   lives. I would even allot a wider area in regions where the people
   dwell not so thickly. It should at least be the resolve of each
   Christian, "Within this district where I live, so far as my ability
   goes, everybody shall know the gospel by some means or other. If I
   cannot speak to each one will send something for him to read; it shall
   not be said that a man lost his way for ever because he had no Bible.
   The Holy Ghost alone can lead men into the truth, but it is our part to
   put the letter of the word before all men's eyes.

   Prejudice, too, is another preventible cause of unbelief. Some will not
   hear the gospel, or listen to it, because of their notions of its
   sternness, or of the moroseness of its professors. Such a prejudice may
   effectually close their hearts; be it yours to remove it. Be kind to
   the ungodly; be loving, be tender, be affable, be generous to them, so
   that you may remove all unnecessary antipathy to the gospel of Jesus.
   Do them all the good you can for their bodies, that they may be the
   more likely to believe in your love towards their souls. Let it be said
   by each one here, "If a soul perishes, I, at least, will have done all
   in my power to reclaim it."

   But what next does compassion do? Having done all it can, it sits down
   and weeps over its own feebleness. I have not the pathos wherewith to
   describe to you the mother sitting there and pouring out her tears, and
   lifting up her plaintive voice over her child. The voice of a broken
   heart cannot be described, it must be heard. But, ah! there is
   wonderful power with God in the strong crying and tears of his people.
   If you know how to weep before the Lord, he will yield to tears what he
   will not yield to anything besides. O ye saints, compassionate sinners;
   sigh and cry for them; be able to say, as Whitfield could to his
   congregation, "Sirs, if ye are lost, it is not for want of my weeping
   for you, for I pour out my soul day and night in petitions unto God
   that ye may live." When Hagar's compassion had wailed itself out, she
   looked unto God, and God heard her. Take care that your prayers be
   abundant and continuous for those who are dying without hope.

   And then what else doth Hagar teach us? She stood there ready to do
   anything that was needful after the Lord had interposed. The angel
   opened her eyes; until then she was powerless, and sat and wept, and
   prayed, but when he pointed to the well, did she linger for a minute?
   Was she unprepared with the bottle wherewith to draw water? Did she
   delay to put it to her child's lips? Was she slack in the blessed task?
   Oh, no! with what alacrity did she spring to the well; with what speed
   did she fill the bottle; with what motherly joy did she hasten to her
   child, and gave him the saving draught! And so I want every member here
   to stand ready to mark the faintest indication of grace in any soul.
   Watch always for the beginning of their conversion, be ready with the
   bottle of promise to carry a little comfort to their parched lips;
   watch with a mother's earnestness, watch for the opportunity of doing
   good to souls; yearn over them, so that when God shall work you shall
   work with him instanter, and Jesus shall not be hindered because of
   your carelessness and want of faith. This is the path which the true
   Christian should pursue. He is earnest for souls, and therefore he lays
   himself out for them. If we did really know what souls are, and what it
   is for them to be cast away, those of us who have done very little or
   nothing would begin to work for Christ directly. It is said in old
   classic story, that a certain king of Lydia had a son who had been dumb
   from his birth, but when Lydia was captured, a soldier was about to
   kill the king, when the young man suddenly found a tongue, and cried
   out, "Soldier, would you kill the king?" He had never spoken a word
   before, but his astonishment and fear gave him speech. And methinks if
   ye had been dumb to that moment, if ye indeed saw your own children and
   neighbors going down into the pit, you would cry out, "Though I never
   spoke before I will speak now. Poor souls, believe in Christ, and ye
   shall be saved." You do not know how such an utterance as that, however
   simple, might be blessed. A very little child once found herself in
   company with an old man of eighty, a fine old man who loved little
   children, and who took the child upon his knee to fondle it. The little
   one turning round to him said, "Sir, I got a grandpa just like you, and
   my grandpa love Jesus Christ, does you?" He said, "I was eighty-four
   years of age and had lived always among Christian people, but nobody
   ever thought it worth his while to say as much as that to me." That
   little child was the instrument of the old man's conversion. So have I
   heard the story. He knew he had not loved the Savior, and he began to
   seek him, and in his old age he found salvation. If as much as that is
   possible to a child it is possible to you. O dear brother, if you love
   Jesus, burst the bonds of timidity, or it may be of supineness; snap
   all fetters, and from this day feel that you cannot bear to think of
   the ruin of a soul, and must seek its salvation if there be in earth or
   heaven ways and means by which you can bring a blessing to it.

   V. But I must close, and the last point shall be THE ENCOURAGEMENT WITH
   TRUE COMPASSION FOR SOULS WILL ALWAYS RECEIVE.

   First take the case in hand. The mother compassionated, God
   compassionated too. You pity, God pities. The motions of God's Spirit
   in the souls of his people are the footfalls of God's eternal purposes
   about to be fulfilled. It is always a hopeful sign for a man that
   another man prays for him. There is a difficulty in getting a man to
   hell whom a child of God is drawing towards heaven by his
   intercessions. Satan is often defeated in his temptations by the
   intercession of the saints. Have hope then that your personal sense of
   compassion for souls is an indication that such souls God will bless.
   Ishmael, whom Hagar pitied, was a lad about whom promises had been made
   large and broad; he could not die; she had forgotten that, but God had
   not. No thirst could possibly destroy him, for God had said he would
   make of him a great nation. Let us hope that those for whom you and I
   are praying and laboring are in God's eternal purpose secured from
   hell, because the blood of Christ has bought them, and they must be the
   Lord's. Our prayers are ensigns of the will of God. The Holy Ghost
   leads us to pray for those whom he intends effectually to call.

   Moreover, those we pray for, we may not know it, but there may be in
   their souls at this time a stirring of divine life. Hagar did not know
   that her son was praying, but God did. The lad did not speak, but God
   heard his heart cry. Children are often very reticent to their parents.
   Often and often have I talked with young lads about their souls, who
   have told me that they could not talk to their fathers upon such
   matters. I know it was so with me. When I was under concern of soul the
   last persons I should have elected to speak to upon religion would have
   been my parents, not out of want of love to them, nor absence of love
   on their part; but so it was. A strange feeling of diffidence pervades
   a seeking soul, and drives it from its friends. Those whom you are
   praying for may be praying too, and you do not know it; but the time of
   love will come when their secret yearnings will be revealed to your
   earnest endeavors.

   The lad was preserved after all, the well of waters was revealed, and
   the bottle put to his lips. It will be a great comfort to you to
   believe that God will hear importunate prayers. Your child will be
   saved, your husband will be brought in yet, good woman, only pray on.
   Your neighbor shall be brought to hear the truth and be converted, only
   be earnest about it.

   I do not know how to preach, this morning; the tongue cannot readily
   speak when the heart feels too much. I pray that we may have a great
   revival of religion in our midst as a church; my spirit longs and pants
   for it. I see a great engine of enormous strength, and a well-fashioned
   machine: the machine cannot work of itself, it has no power in it, but
   if I could get the band to unite the machine with the engine, what
   might be done! Behold, I see the omnipotence of God, and the
   organisation of this church. O that I could get the band to bind the
   two together! The band is living faith. Do you possess it? Brethren,
   help me to pass it round the fly wheel, and oh, how God will work, and
   we will work through his power, and what glorious things shall be done
   for Christ! We must receive power from on high, and faith is the belt
   that shall convey that power to us. The divine strength shall be
   manifest through our weakness. Cease not to pray. More than you ever
   have done, intercede for a blessing, and the Lord will bless us: he
   will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. Amen.

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Romans 10.; and Genesis
   21:1-21.
     __________________________________________________________________

                        The Parable of the Wedding Feast

   A Sermon

   (No. 975)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, February 12th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
   marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that
   were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent
   forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I
   have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed and all
   things are ready: come unto the marriage."--Matthew 22:2,3,4.

   IF GOD GRANT ME STRENGTH I hope to go through this parable, but at this
   present we shall confine our thoughts to the opening scene of the royal
   festival. Before, however, we proceed further, it is most fitting that
   we give expression to our deep gratitude, that it has pleased the
   infinite mind to stoop to our narrow capacities, and instruct us by
   parable. How tenderly condescending is God to devise similitudes, that
   his children may learn the mysteries of the kingdom! If it be sometimes
   marvelled at among men that great minds are ever ready to stoop, what a
   far greater marvel that God himself should bow the heavens and come
   down to meet our ignorance and slowness of comprehension! When the
   learned professor has been instructing his class in the hall in
   recondite matters of deep philosophy, and then goes home and takes his
   child upon his knee, and tries to bring down great truth to the grasp
   of his child's mind, then you see the great love of the man's heart:
   and when the eternal God, before whom seraphim are but insects of an
   hour, condescends to instruct our childishness and make us wise unto
   salvation, we may well say, "herein is love." Just as we give our
   children pictures that we may win the attention, and may by pleasing
   means fix truth upon their memories, so the Lord with loving
   inventiveness has become the author of many a charming metaphor, type,
   and allegory, by which he may gain our interest, and through his Holy
   Spirit enlighten our minds. If he who thunders till the mountains
   tremble, yet deigns to speak with us in a still small voice, let us
   gladly sit in Mary's place at his gracious feet, and willingly learn of
   him. O that God would give to each one a teachable spirit, for this is
   the greatest step towards understanding the mind of God. He who is
   willing to learn, in a childlike spirit, is already in a considerable
   measure taught of God. May we all so study this instructive parable as
   to be quickened by it to all that is well-pleasing in the sight of God,
   for after all true learning in godliness may be judged of by its
   result; upon our lives. If we are holier we are wiser, practical
   obedience to the will of the Lord Jesus is the surest evidence of an
   understanding heart.

   In order to understand the parable before us we must first direct our
   attention to the design of the "certain king" here spoken of. He had a
   grand object in view; he desired to do honor to his son upon the
   occasion of his marriage. We shall then notice the very generous method
   by which he proposed to accomplish his purpose; he made a dinner, and
   bade many: there were other modes of honoring his son, but the great
   king elected the mode which would best display his bounty. We shall
   then observe, with sad interest, the serious hindrance which arose to
   the carrying out of his generous design--those who were bidden would
   not come. There was nothing to hinder the magnificence of the festival
   in the riches of the prince--he lavished out his stores for the feast;
   but here was a hindrance strange and difficult to remove, they would
   not come. Then our thoughts will linger admiringly over the gracious
   rejoinder which the king made to the opposers of his design; he sent
   other servants to repeat the invitation, "Come ye to the marriage." If
   we shall drink deep into the meaning of these three verses, we shall
   have more than enough for one meditation.

   I. A certain king of wide dominions and great power designed to give a
   magnificent banquet, with a GRAND OBJECT in view. The crown prince, his
   well beloved heir, was about to take to himself a fair bride, and
   therefore the royal father desired to celebrate the event with
   extraordinary honors. From earth, look up to heaven. The great object
   of God the Father is to glorify his Son. It is his will "that all men
   should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." (John 5:23.)
   Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is glorious already in his divine person.
   He is ineffably blessed, and infinitely beyond needing honor. All the
   angels of God worship him, and his glory fills all heaven. He has
   appeared on the stage of action as the Creator and as such his glory is
   perfect, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and
   that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
   dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
   him, and for him." He said, "Light be," and it flamed forth. He bade
   the mountains lift their heads, and their summits pierced the clouds.
   He created the water-floods, he bade them seek their channels, and he
   appointed their bounds. Nothing is lacking to the glory of the Word of
   God, who was in the beginning with God, who spake and it was done, who
   commanded, and it stood forth. He is highly exalted also as the
   preserver, for he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
   He is that nail fastened in a sure place, upon which all things hang.
   The keys of heaven, and death, and hell, are fastened to his girdle,
   and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be
   called Wonderful. He hath a name which is above every name, before
   which all things shall bow, in heaven, and earth, and under the earth.
   He is God over all. He is blessed for ever. To him that is, and was,
   and is to come, the universal song goeth up.

   But there is another relation in which the Son of God has graciously
   been pleased to stand towards us. He has undertaken to be a Savior, in
   order that he might be a bridegroom. He had enough glory before, but in
   the greatness of his heart, he would magnify his compassion even above
   his power, and he therefore condescended to take into union with
   himself the nature of man, in order that he might redeem the beloved
   objects of his choice from the penalty due to their sins, and might
   enter into the nearest conceivable union with them. It is as Savior
   that the Father seeks to honor the Son, and the gospel feast is not for
   the honor of his person merely, but for the honor of his person in this
   new, yet anciently purposed relationship. It is for the honor of Jesus
   as entering into spiritual union with his church, that the gospel is
   prepared as a royal entertainment.

   Brethren, when I said that here was a grand occasion, it certainly is
   so in God's esteem, and it should be so in ours; we should delight to
   glorify the Son of God. To all loyal subjects in any realm, the
   marriage of one of the royal family is a matter of great interest, and
   it is usual and fitting to give expression to congratulations and
   sympathies by suitable rejoicings. In the instance before us the
   occasion calls for special joy from all the subjects of the great king
   of kings. For the occasion in itself is a subject for great delight and
   thankfulness to us personally. The marriage is with whom? With angels?
   He took not up angels. It is a marriage with our own nature, "he took
   up the seed of Abraham." Shall we not rejoice when heaven's great Lord
   is incarnate as a man, and stoops to redeem humanity from the ruin of
   the fall? Angels rejoice but they have no such share in the joy as we
   have. It is the highest personal joy to manhood that Jesus Christ who
   thought it not robbery to be equal with God, was made in the likeness
   of men that he might be one flesh with his chosen. Arise ye who
   slumber! If there was ever an occasion when ye should bestir your
   spirits and cry "wake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp" it is now,
   when Jesus comes to be affianced to his church, to make himself of one
   flesh with her, that he may redeem her, and afterwards exalt her to sit
   with him upon his throne. Here were abundant reasons why the invited
   guests should come with joyful steps, and count themselves thrice happy
   to be bidden to such a banquet. There is overwhelming reason wily
   mankind should rejoice in the glorious gospel of Jesus and hasten to
   avail themselves of it.

   Beside that we must consider the royal descent of the Bridegroom.
   Remember that Jesus Christ our Savior is very God of very God. Are we
   asked to do him honor? It is right, for to whom else should honor be
   given? Surely we should glorify our Creator and Preserver! Wilful must
   be the disobedience which will not pay reverence to one so highly
   exalted and so worthy of all homage. It is heaven to serve such a Lord.
   His glory reacheth unto the clouds; let him be adored for ever and
   ever; O come let us worship and bow down, let us cheerfully obey those
   commands of God which aim at the honor of his Son.

   Remember also the person of Immanuel, and you will desire his glory.
   This glorious Son, whose fame is to be spread abroad, is most certainly
   God--of that we have spoken, but he is also most assuredly man, our
   brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. Do we not delight to
   believe that he, tempted in all points as we are, has never yet
   submitted to be stained by sin? Never such a man as he, head of the
   race, the second Adam, the everlasting Father--who among us would not
   do him reverence? Will we not seek his honor, seeing that now he lifts
   our race to be next to the throne of God.

   Remember, too, his character. Was there ever such a life as his? I will
   not so much speak of his divine character, though that furnishes
   abundant reason for worship and adoration, but think of him even as a
   man. O beloved, what tenderness, what compassion, yet what holy
   boldness; what love for sinners, and yet what love for truth! Men who
   have not loved him have nevertheless admired him, and hearts in which
   we least expected to see such recognition of his excellence have
   nevertheless been deeply affected as they have studied his life. We
   must praise him, for He is "chief among ten thousand, and altogether
   lovely." It were treason to be silent when the hour has come to speak
   of him who is peerless among men and matchless among angels. Clap, clap
   your hands at the thought of the marriage of the King's Son, for whom
   his bride hath made herself ready.

   Think, too, of his achievements. We take into reckoning whenever we do
   honor to a prince all that he may have done for the nation over which
   he rules. What, then, has Jesus done for us? Rather let me say what has
   he not done? Upon his shoulders were laid our sins; he carried them
   into the wilderness, and they are gone for ever. Against him came forth
   our foes; he met them in shock of battle, and where are they now? They
   are cast into the depths of the sea. As for death itself, that last of
   foes, he has virtually overcome it, and ere long the weakest of us
   through him shall say "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is
   thy victory?" He is the hero of heaven. He returned to his Father's
   throne amidst the acclamations of the universe. Do we not, for whom he
   fought, for whom he conquered, do we not desire to honor him? I feel I
   speak with bated breath upon a theme where all our powers of speech
   should be let loose. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him! Is it
   not the universal verdict of all who know him? Ought it not to be the
   cry of all the sons of men? East and west, and north and south, ought
   they not to ring the joy bells and hang out streamers on his marriage
   day, for joy of him? Is the King's Son to be married, is there a
   festival in his honor? O then let him be great, let him be glorious!
   Long live the King! Let the maidens go forth with their timbrels, and
   the sons of music make sweet melody--yea, let all creatures that have
   breath break forth with his praises. "Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he
   that cometh in the name of the Lord."

   II. Secondly, here is a GENEROUS METHOD of accomplishing the design. A
   king's son is to be honored on the day of his marriage, in what way
   shall it be done? Barbarous nations have their great festivals, and
   alas, that men should have sunk so low; on such occasions rivers of
   human blood are made to flow. To this very day, on the borders of
   civilisation, there is found a wretched tyrant whose infernal customs,
   for I dare not call them by a less severe term, command the murder of
   hundreds of his fellow creatures in cold blood, on certain high days
   and festivals. Thus would the monster honor his son by acting like a
   fiend. No blood is poured forth to honor the Son of heaven's great
   King. I doubt not Jesus will have honor even in the destruction of men
   if they reject his mercy, but it is not so that God elects to glorify
   his Son. Jesus the Savior, on his wedding-day with manhood, is
   glorified by mercy, not by wrath. If blood be mentioned on such a day,
   it is his own by which he is glorified. The slaughter of mankind would
   bring no joy to him, he is meek and lowly, a lover of the sons of men.
   It has been the custom of most kings to signalise a princely wedding by
   levying a fresh tax, or demanding an increased subsidy from their
   subjects. In the case of the anticipated wedding of our beloved Queen's
   daughter, the dowry sought will be given with greater pleasure than
   upon any former occasion, and none of us would lift a whisper of
   complaint; but the parable shows that the King of kings deals with us
   not after the manner of man. He asks no dowry for his Son; he makes the
   marriage memorable not by demands but by gifts. Nothing is sought for
   from the people, but much is prepared for them, gifts are lavishly
   bestowed, and all that is requested of the subjects is, that they for
   awhile merge the subject in the more honorable character of the guest,
   and willingly come to the palace, not to labor or serve at the table,
   but to feast and to rejoice.

   Observe, then, the generous method by which God honors Christ is set
   forth here under the form of a banquet. I noted Matthew Henry's way of
   describing the objects of a feast, and with the alliteration of the
   Puritans, he says, "A feast is for love and for laughter, for fullness
   and for fellowship." It is even so with the gospel. It is for love; in
   the gospel, sinner, you are invited to be reconciled to God, you are
   assured that God forgives your sins, ceases to be angry, and would have
   you reconciled to him through his Son. Thus love is established between
   God and the soul. Then it is for laughter, for happiness, for joy.
   Those who come to God in Christ Jesus, and believe in him, have their
   hearts filled with overflowing peace, which calm lake of peace often
   lifts up itself in waves of joy, which clap their hands in exultation.

   It is not to sorrow but to joy that the great King invites his
   subjects, when he glorifies his Son Jesus. It is not that you may be
   distressed, but that you may be delighted that he bids you believe in
   the crucified Savior and live. A feast, moreover, is for fullness. The
   hungry famished soul of man is satisfied with the blessings of grace.
   The gospel fills the whole capacity of our manhood. There is not a
   faculty of our nature which is not made to feel its need supplied when
   the soul accepts the provisions of mercy; our whole manhood is
   satisfied with good things and our youth is renewed like the eagles.
   "For I have satisfied the weary soul, and I have replenished every
   sorrowful soul." To crown all, the gospel brings us into fellowship
   with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. In Christ Jesus we commune
   with the sacred Trinity. God becomes our Father, and reveals his
   paternal heart. Jesus manifests himself unto us as he doth not unto the
   world, and the communion of the Holy Ghost abides with us. Our
   fellowship is like that of Jonathan with David, or Jesus with John. We
   feast on the bread of heaven, and drink wines on the lees well refined.
   We are brought into the heavenly banqueting house where the secret of
   the Lord is revealed to us, and our heart pours itself out before the
   Lord Very near is our communion with God; most intimate love and
   condescension does he show to us. What say you to this? Is there not
   here a rich repast worthy of him who prepares it. Here all your
   capacious powers can wish, O sinner, shall be given to you; all you
   want for time and for eternity God prepares in the person of his dear
   Son, and bids you receive it without money and without price.

   I have already told you that all the expense lies with him. It was a
   very sumptuous festival, there were oxen, and there were fatlings, but
   none of these were taken from the pastures, or stalls of the guests.
   The gospel is an expensive business; the very heart of Christ was
   drained to find the price for this great festival; but it costs the
   sinner nothing, nothing of money, nothing of merit, nothing of
   preparation. You rosy come as you are to the gospel feast, for the only
   wedding dress required is freely provided for you. Just as you are, you
   are bidden to believe in Jesus. You have nothing to do but to receive
   of his fullness, for to "as many as received him, to them gave he power
   to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." You
   are not asked to contribute to the provision, but to be a feaster at
   the divine banquet of infinite compassion.

   How honorable, too, is the gospel to those who receive it. An
   invitation to a regal marriage was a high honor to those who were
   bidden. I do not suppose that many of us are likely to be invited to
   the Princess's wedding, and, if we were, we should probably be greatly
   elated, for we should most of us feel it to be one of the great events
   of our lives. So was it with these people. A king's son is not married
   every day, and it is not everybody that is bidden to the monarch's
   entertainment. All their lives long they would say, "I was at his
   wedding, and saw all the splendor of the marriage festival." Probably
   some of them had never before enjoyed such a feast as the luxurious
   potentate had prepared for that day, and had never before been in such
   good company. My brethren nothing so honors a man as for him to accept
   the gospel. While his faith honors Christ, Christ honors him. It is no
   mean thing to be a king's son, but those who come to the marriage feast
   of God's own Son shall become King's sons themselves--themselves
   participators in the glory of the great heir of all things. While I am
   speaking of this generous method my heart glows with sacred ardor, and
   my wonder rises that men do not come to the banquet of love which
   honors all its guests. When the banquet is so costly to the host, so
   free to the guests, and so honorable to all concerned, how is it that
   there should be found any so unwise as to refuse the favor. Surely here
   is an illustration of the folly of the unrenewed heart, and a proof of
   the deep depravity which sin has caused. If men turn their backs on
   Moses with his stony tables, I do not marvel, but to despise the loaded
   tables of grace, heaped up with oxen and fatlings--this is strange. To
   resist the justice of God is a crime, but to repel the generosity of
   heaven, what is this? We must invent a term of infamy with which to
   brand the base ingratitude. To resist God in majesty of terror is
   insanity but to spurn him in the majesty of his mercy is something more
   than madness. Sin reaches its climax when it resolves to starve sooner
   than owe anything to divine goodness. I feel I must anticipate the
   period for delivering my message, and as I have described to you the
   way in which God honors his Son, I must at once proclaim the
   invitation, and cry to you, "Come to the wedding feast. Come ye, and
   glorify Jesus by accepting the provisions of grace. Your works will not
   honor him, if you set them up as a righteousness in competition with
   his righteousness. Not even your repentance can glorify him, if you
   think to make it a rival to his precious blood. Come, guilty sinner, as
   you are, and take the mercy Jesus freely presents to you, and accept
   the pardon which his blood secures to those who believe in him."
   Methinks when the messenger went out from the King and first of all
   marked signs of neglect among those who were bidden, and saw that they
   would not come, he must have been mute with astonishment. He had seen
   the oxen, and seen the fatlings, and all the goodly preparations, he
   knew the King, he knew his Son, he knew what joy it was to be at such a
   feast; and when the bidden ones began to turn their backs on him, and
   go their way to their farms, the messenger, repeated his message over
   and over again with eagerness, wondering all the while at the treason
   which dared insult so good a Being. I think I see him, at first
   indignant for his Master's sake, and afterwards melted to pity as he
   saw what would surely come of such an extravagance of ingratitude, such
   a superfluity of insolence. We mourned that his fellow-citizens whom he
   loved should be such fools as to reject so good an offer, and spurn so
   blessed a proclamation. I, too, am tossed to and fro in soul, with
   mingled but vehement feelings. O, my God, thou hast provided the
   gospel, let none in this house reject it, and so slight thy Son and
   dishonor thee, but may all rejoice in thy generous way of glorifying
   Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom of his church, and may they come, and
   willingly grace the festival of thy love.

   III. We now advance to our third point, and regretfully remember THE
   SERIOUS HINDRANCE which for awhile interfered with the joyful event.

   The king had thought in his mind, "I will make a great feast, I will
   invite a large number. They shall enjoy all my kingdom can afford, and
   I shall thus show how much I love my son, and moreover all the guests
   will have sweet memories in connection with his marriage." When his
   messengers went out to intimate to those who had received previously an
   express invitation that the time was come, it is written, "They would
   not come;" not they could not, but they "would not come." Some for one
   reason, some for another, but without exception they would not come.
   Here was a very serious hindrance to the grand business. Cannot the
   king drag his guests to the table? Yes, but then it would not
   accomplish his purpose. He wants not slaves to grace his throne.
   Persons compelled to sit at a marriage-feast would not adorn it. What
   credit could it be to a king to force his subjects to feast at his
   table? No for once, as I have said before, the subject must be merged
   in the guest. It was essential to the dignity of the festival that the
   guests should come with cheerfulness to the festival, but they would
   not come. Why? Why would they not come? The answer shall be such as to
   answer another question--Why do not you come and believe in Jesus! With
   many of them it was an indifference to the whole affair. They did not
   see what concern they had in the king or his son. Royal marriages were
   high things and concerned high people; they were plain-speaking men,
   farmers who went hedging and ditching, or tradesmen who made out bills
   and sold by the yard or pound. What cared they for the court, the
   palace, the king, the prince, his bride, or his dinner! They did not
   say quite that, but such was their feeling; it might be a fine thing,
   but it was altogether out of their line. How many run in the same
   groove at this hour? We have heard it said, "What has a working man to
   do with religion?" and we have heard others of another grade in life
   affirm that persons who are in business cannot afford time for
   religion, but had better mind the main chance. The Lord have mercy upon
   your folly! Here is one great obstacle to the gospel, the stolid
   indifference of the human mind concerning this grandest of all
   conceptions--God's glorifying his dear Son by having mercy upon
   sinners.

   At the bottom the real reason for the refusal of those in the parable
   was that they were disloyal, they would not come to the supper because
   they saw an opportunity for the loyal to be glad, and not being loyal
   they did not wish to hear the songs and acclamations of others who
   were. By staying away they insulted the king, and declared that they
   cared not whether he was a king or not, whether his son was a prince or
   not. They determined to disavow their allegiance by refusing the
   invitation. They said in effect, "Anyhow, if he be a king and his son a
   prince, we will do him no honor, we will not be numbered with those who
   surround his board and show forth his splendor. No doubt a feast is
   worth having, and such a feast as there will be provided t'were well
   for us to participate in, but for once we will deny our appetites that
   we may indulge our pride. We proclaim a revolt. We declare we will not
   go." Ah, ye who believe not in Jesus, at the bottom of it your unbelief
   is enmity to your Maker, sedition against the great Ruler of the
   universe, who deserves your homage. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the
   ass his master's crib," but ye know not, neither do ye consider; ye are
   rebels against the Majesty of heaven.

   Moreover, the refusal was a slight to the prince as well as to his
   father, and in some cases the gospel is refused mainly with this
   intent, because the unbeliever rejects the deity of Christ, or despises
   his atonement. O sirs, beware of this, I know of no rock more fatal
   than to dishonor Christ by denying his sonship and his deity. Split not
   upon it, I beseech you--"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish
   from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little." Indifference
   covered the refusal in the text, "they made light of it," but if you
   take off the film you will see that at the bottom there was treason
   against the majesty of the king, and distaste to the dignity of his
   son.

   No doubt some of them despised the feast itself. They must have known
   that with such a king it could not be a starveling meal, but they
   pretended to despise the feast. How many there are who despise the
   gospel which they do not understand, I say which they do not
   understand, for almost invariably if you hear a man depreciate the
   gospel, you will find that he has scarcely even read the New Testament
   and is a utter stranger to the doctrines of grace. Listen to a man who
   is voluble in condemnation of the gospel, and you may rest assured that
   he is fond because he is empty. If he understood the subject better he
   would find, if he were indeed a man of candour, that he would be led at
   least to be silent in admiration if he did not become loyal in
   acceptance.

   Beloved friends, the feast is such as you greatly need, let me tell you
   what it is. It is pardon for the past, renewal of nature for the
   present, and glory for the future. Here is God to be our helper, his
   Son to be our shepherd, the Spirit to be our instructor. Here is the
   love of the Father to be our delight, the blood of the Son to be our
   cleansing, the energy of the Holy Spirit to be life from the dead to
   us. You cannot want anything that you ought to want, but what is
   provided in the gospel, and Jesus Christ will be glorified if you
   accept it by faith. But here is the hindrance, men do not accept it,
   "they would not come." Some of us thought that if we put the gospel in
   a clear light, and if we were earnest in stating it our hearers must be
   converted, and God forbid we should ever try to do otherwise than make
   it plain and be earnest, but for all that the best ministry that ever
   was, or ever could be, will be unsuccessful in a measure; yea, and
   altogether so, unless the effectual work of the Spirit be present.
   Still will the cry go up, "Who hath believed our report?" Still will
   those who serve their Master best, have reason to mourn that they sow
   on stony ground, and cast their bread on thankless waters. Even the
   prince of preachers had to say, "Ye search the scriptures, for in them
   ye think ye have eternal life, but ye will not come to me that ye might
   have life." Alas, alas, that mercy should be rejected and heaven
   spurned.

   IV. So now we must close with the most practical matter of
   consideration, THE GRACIOUS REJOINDER of the king to the impertinence
   which interfered with his plans. What did he say? You will observe that
   they had been bidden, and then called; after the Oriental custom, the
   call intimated that the festival was now approaching, so that they were
   not taken unawares, but knew what they did. The second invitation they
   rejected in cold blood, deliberately, and with intent. What did the
   monarch do? Set their city in a blaze, and at once root out the rebels?
   No, but in the first place, he winked at their former insolent refusal.
   He said in himself, "Peradventure they mistook my servants,
   peradventure they did not understand that the hour was come. Perhaps
   the message that was delivered to them was too brief, and they missed
   its meaning. Or, if perchance, they have fallen into some temporary
   enmity against me, on reconsideration, they will wish that they had not
   been so rude, and ungenerous to me. What have I done that they should
   refuse my dinner? What has my son done that they should not be willing
   to honor him by feasting at my table. Men lone feasting, my son
   deserves their honor--why should they not come? I will pass over the
   past and begin again." My hearers, there are many of you who have
   rejected Christ after many invitations, and this morning my Lord
   forgets your former unkindnesses, and sends me again with the same
   message, again to bid you "come to the wedding." It is no small
   patience which overlooks the past and perseveres in kindness, honestly
   desiring your good.

   The King sent another invitation--"all things are ready, come ye to the
   marriage," but you will please to observe that he changed the
   messenger. "Again he sent forth other servants." Yes, and I will say
   it, for my soul feels it, if a change of messengers will win you, much
   as I love the task of speaking in my Master's name, I would gladly die
   now, where I am, that some other preacher might occupy this platform,
   if thereby you might be saved. I know my speech to some of you must be
   monotonous. I seek out images fresh and many, and try to vary my voice
   and manner, but for all that one man must grow stale to you when heard
   so often. Perhaps my modes are not the sort to touch your peculiarities
   of temperament--well, good Master, set thy servant aside, and consider
   him not. Send other messengers if perchance they may succeed. But to
   some of you I am another messenger, not a better, but another, since my
   brethren have failed with you. Oh, then, when my voice cries, "Come
   unto Jesus, trust in his atonement, believe in him, look to him and
   live," let the new voice be successful, where former heralds have been
   disregarded.

   You notice, too, that the message was a little changed. At first it was
   very short. Surely if men's hearts were right, short sermons would be
   enough. A very brief invitation might suffice if the heart were right,
   but since hearts are wrong God bids his servants enlarge, expand, and
   expound. "Come, for all things are ready. I have prepared my dinner, my
   oxen and my fatlings are killed, all things are ready, come to the
   marriage." One of the best ways of bringing sinners to Christ is to
   explain the gospel to them. If we dwell upon its preparations, if we
   speak of its richness and freeness, some may be attracted whom the
   short message which merely tells the plan of salvation might not
   attract. To some it is enough to say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
   and thou shalt be saved," for they are asking, "Sirs, what must I do to
   be saved?" but others need to be attracted to the wedding feast by the
   description of the sumptuousness of the repast. We must try to preach
   the gospel more fully to you, but we shall never tell you of all the
   richness of the grace of God. As high as the heavens are above the
   earth, so high are his thoughts above your thoughts, and his ways above
   your ways. Forsake your sins and your thoughts and turn to the Lord,
   for he will abundantly pardon you. He will receive you to his heart of
   love, and give you the kiss of his affection at this hour, if, like
   prodigal children, you come back and seek your Father's face. The
   gospel is a river of love, it is a sea of love, it is a heaven of love,
   it is a universe of love, it is all love. Words there are none, fully
   to set forth the amazing love of God to sinners, no sin too big or too
   black, no crime too crimson or too cursed for pardon. If you do but
   look to his dear crucified Son all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall
   be forgiven you. There is forgiveness. Jesus gives repentance and
   remission. And then the happiness which will be brought to you here and
   hereafter are equally beyond description. You shall have heaven on
   earth and heaven in heaven; God shall be your God, Christ shall be your
   friend, and eternal bliss shall be your portion.

   In this last message the "guests were pressed very delicately, but
   still in a way which if they had possessed any generosity of heart at
   all, must have touched them. You see how the evangelist puts it, he
   does not say, "Come, or else you will miss the feast; come, or else the
   king will be angry; come, come, or else you will be the losers." No,
   but--he puts it, as I read it, in a very remarkable way. I venture to
   say--if I be wrong, the Master forgive me so saying--the king makes
   himself the object of sympathy, as though he were an embarrassed host.
   See here, "My dinner is ready, but there is no one to eat it; my oxen
   and fatlings are all killed, but there are no guests." "Come, come," he
   seems to say, "for I am a host without guests." So sometimes in the
   gospel you will see God speaks as if he would represent himself as
   getting an advantage by our being saved. Now we know that herein he
   condescends in love to speak after the manner of men. What can he gain
   by us? If we perish what is he the loser? But he makes himself often in
   the gospel to be like a father who yearns over his child, longing for
   him to come home. He makes himself, the infinite God, turn beggar to
   his own creatures, and beseeches them to be reconciled. Wondrous stoop;
   for, like a chapman who sells his wares, he cries, "Ho, every one that
   thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, let him
   come." Do you observe how Christ, as he wept over Jerusalem, seems to
   weep for himself as well as for them. "How often would I have gathered
   thy children together." And God, in the prophets, puts it as his own
   sorrow, "How can I set thee as Admah, how can I make thee as Zeboim,"
   as if it were not the child's loss alone, but the father's loss also,
   if the sinner died. Do you not feel, as it were, a sympathy with God
   when you see his gospel rejected? Shall the cross be lifted high, and
   none look to it? Shall Jesus die, and men not be saved by his death? O
   blessed Lord, we feel, if nothing else should draw us, we must come
   when we see, as it were, thyself represented as a host under our
   embarrassment, for lack of guests. Great God, we come, we come right
   gladly, we come to participate of the bounties which thou hast
   provided, and to glorify Jesus Christ by receiving as needy sinners
   that which thy mercy has provided.

   Brethren and sisters since Christ finds many loath to honor him, my
   exhortation is to you who love him, honor him the more since the world
   will not. You who have been constrained to come, remember to sing as
   you sit at his table, and rejoice and bless his name. Next go home and
   intercede for those who will not come, that the Lord will enlighten
   their understandings, and change their wills, that they may be yet
   constrained to believe in Jesus; and as for those of you who feel half
   inclined this morning by the soft touches of his grace to come and
   feast, let me bid you come. It is a glorious gospel--the feast is good.
   He is a glorious king--the Host is good. He is a blessed Savior, he who
   is married, he is good. It is all good, and you shall be made good too,
   if your souls accept the invitation of the gospel which is given to you
   this day. "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved: he that
   believeth not shall be damned." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
   thou shalt be saved." The Lord send his Spirit to make the call
   effectual, for his dear Son's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Matthew 21.
     __________________________________________________________________

                              The Wedding Garment

   A Sermon

   (No. 976)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, February 19th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which
   had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest
   thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
   Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take
   him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and
   gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen."--Matthew
   22:11-14.

   APPARENTLY the parable of the marriage feast would have been complete
   without this addition, but there was infinite wisdom in appending this
   sequel. This is seen practically in the experience of the church of
   God. Those who are permitted to see large additions to the church will
   find this parable of the wedding garment to be singularly appropriate
   and timely. Whenever there is a revival and many are brought to Christ,
   it seems inevitable that at the same time a proportion of unworthy
   persons should enter the church. However diligent may be the oversight
   there will be pretenders creeping in unawares who have no true part or
   lot in the matter, and hence, when the preacher is most earnest for the
   ingathering of souls to Christ, he needs to couple therewith a holy
   jealousy, lest those who come forward to make a profession of faith
   should be moved by carnal motives, and should not really have given
   their hearts to God. We must use the net to draw in the many, but all
   are not good fishes that are taken therein. On the threshing floor of
   Zion the heap is not all pure wheat, the chaff is mingled with the
   grain, and therefore the winnowing fan is wanted. God's furnace is in
   Zion, and there is good need for it, for the gold is yet in the ore and
   needs to be separated from the dross. Wood, hay, and stubble building
   is quick work, but it is a waste of effort; we need continually to
   examine our materials, and see that we use only gold, silver, and
   precious stones. It is most needful in times of religious excitement,
   to remind men that godliness does not consist in profession, but must
   be proved by inward vitality and outward holiness. Everything will have
   to be tested by a heart-searching God, and if, when he comes to search
   us, we are found wanting, we shall be expelled even from the marriage
   feast itself; for there is a way to hell from the very gates of heaven.
   In a word, it is well for all to be reminded that the enemies of the
   great King are not only outside the church, but they are even in it;
   while a part refuse to come to the wedding of his Son, others press
   into the banquet and are still his foes. May God grant that this
   subject may have a heart-searching effect. May it be as the north wind
   when it blows through the marrow of the bones. May it lead us to desire
   to be searched and tried of God, whether we are truly in the faith, or
   are reprobates in his esteem.

   The parable may be discoursed upon under five heads. Here is an enemy
   at the feast; here is the king at the feast; that king becomes the
   judge at the feast; and hence the enemy becomes the criminal at the
   feast; and swiftly is removed by the executioner at the feast.

   I. We see in the text AN ENEMY AT THE FEAST.

   He came into the banquet when he was bidden, but he came only in
   appearance, he came not in heart. The banquet was intended for the
   honour of the son, but this man meant not so; he was willing to eat the
   good things, but he intended no respect to the prince. He did not, like
   others, say, "I will not come, for I will not have this man to reign
   over me"; but he said, "I will come, but it shall be in such a way that
   the royal purpose shall not be served, but rather hindered. I shall be
   present as an onlooker, but take no share in the ceremony; I will, on
   the contrary, show that I have no care for the business in hand, except
   so far as it serves my turn." The man came in full exercise of
   self-will and self-love. He resolved to yield no homage, but to assert
   his independent self-sovereignty. He would show the king even at his
   table, where his bounties were so largely dispensed, that he was not
   afraid to affront him. When he came to the door of the feast, he found
   the guests all putting on the garment suitable for the marriage
   banquet. As here, in our own country, at a funeral, each mourner is
   expected to put on the articles of mourning which are provided, so at
   the wedding feast each person was expected to wear the bridegroom's
   favours, the garment which, as a badge, marked him as an attendant at
   the wedding, and as one who rejoiced in it. While others cheerfully put
   on this wedding dress the traitor would not; he resolved to defy the
   rules of the palace, and to insult the king by appearing in his own
   garments. He scorned to wear the livery of respectful joy, he preferred
   to make himself conspicuous by his daring insolence. The badge was
   intended to show that the wearer was a real participator in the joy of
   the feast, and for that very reason he would not put it on. He did not
   acknowledge the king nor the prince, nor care one atom about the
   gladsome event. He had no objection to be there, to eat the dainties,
   or recline upon the seats, and see the pomp and the show, but he was
   only in it, and not of it; he was there in body, but not in spirit. Are
   there not crowds of people whose union to the church is nothing better
   than an insult to God? Custom sways them, and not sincere faith. They
   have no regard to the great Head of the church or to the
   heart-searching God. They treat church membership as a trifle, and have
   no tenderness of heart touching the matter. They, in effect, say, "The
   table of the Lord is contemptible." "Spots are they in our feasts,
   feeding themselves without fear."

   Many a time the question has been asked: "What was the wedding
   garment?" It is a question which need not be curiously pried into. So
   many answers have been given that I conclude that if our Saviour had
   intended any one specific thing he would have expressed himself more
   plainly, so that we would have been able, without so much theological
   disputing, to have understood what he meant. It seems to me that our
   Lord intended much more than any one thing. The guests were bidden to
   come to the wedding to show their respect to the king and prince; some
   would not come at all, and so showed their sedition; this man came, and
   when he heard the regulation, that a certain garment should be put on,
   comely in appearance and suitable for the occasion, he determined that
   he would not wear it. In this act of rebellion, he went as far in
   opposition as they did who would not come at all, and he went a little
   further, for in the very presence of the guests and of the king he
   dared to declare his disloyalty and contempt. Alas, how many are
   willing enough to receive gospel blessings, but they are still at
   enmity with God and have no delight in the only Begotten Son. Such will
   dare to use the forms of godliness, and yet their hearts are full of
   rebellion against the Lord. The wedding garment represents anything
   which is indispensable to a Christian, but which the unrenewed heart is
   not willing to accept, anything which the Lord ordains to be a
   necessary attendant of salvation, against which selfishness rebels.
   Hence it may be said to be Christ's righteousness imputed to us, for
   alas, many nominal Christians kick against the doctrine of
   justification by the righteousness of the Saviour and set up their own
   self-righteousness in opposition to it. To be found in Christ, not
   having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but having the
   righteousness which is of God by faith, is a very prominent badge of a
   real servant of God, and to refuse it is to manifest opposition to the
   glory of God, and to the name, person, and work of his exalted Son. But
   we might with equal truth say that the wedding dress is a holy
   character, the imparted righteousness which the Holy Spirit works in
   us, and which is equally necessary as a proof of grace. If you question
   such a statement, I would remind you of the dress which adorns the
   saints in heaven. What is said of it? "They have washed their robes and
   made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Their robes therefore were
   such as once needed washing; and this could not be said in any sense of
   the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; that was always perfect and
   spotless. It is clear then that the figure is sometimes applied to
   saints in reference to their personal character. Holiness is always
   present in those who are loyal guests of the great King, for "without
   holiness no man shall see the Lord." Too many professors pacify
   themselves with the idea that they possess imputed righteousness, while
   they are indifferent to the sanctifying work of the Spirit. They refuse
   to put on the garment of obedience, they reject the white linen which
   is the righteousness of saints. They thus reveal their self-will, their
   enmity to God, and their nonsubmission to his Son. Such men may talk
   what they will about justification by faith, and salvation by grace,
   but they are rebels at heart, they have not on the wedding dress any
   more than the self-righteous, whom they so eagerly condemn. The fact
   is, if we wish for the blessings of grace, we must in our hearts submit
   to the rules of grace without picking and choosing. It is idle to
   dispute whether the wedding garment is faith or love, as some have
   done, for all the graces of the Spirit and blessings of the covenant go
   together. No one ever had the imputed righteousness of Christ without
   receiving at the same time a measure of the righteousness wrought in us
   by the Holy Spirit. Justification by faith is not contrary to the
   production of good works: God forbid. The faith by which we are
   justified is the faith which produces holiness, and no one is justified
   by faith which does not also sanctify him and deliver him from the love
   of sin. All the essentials of the Christian character may be understood
   as making up the great wedding garment. In one word, we put on Christ,
   and he is "made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
   and redemption."

   The wedding garment is simply mentioned here as being a test of loyalty
   to those who came to the marriage feast, and as a mode by which
   rebellion was avowed and loyalty made apparent. Here was a man then who
   came into the gospel feast, and yet refused to comply with the command
   which related to that feast. He willfully preferred self to God, his
   heart was full of enmity and pride, he despised the gifts of grace, he
   scorned the rule of love, he stood a defiant rebel even at the banquet
   of mercy which his king had spread.

   His sin lay, first of all, in coming in there at all without the
   wedding garment. If he did not mean to be of one heart with his fellow
   guests and his lord, why did he come? If a man does not intend to yield
   himself up to God's will, why does he profess to be of God's church? If
   a man is not saved by the righteousness of Christ, why does he profess
   to be a believer in Christ? If he will not be obedient to Christ's holy
   will, why does he pretend to be follower of Christ? It is a grave
   mistake for any person to imagine that he can be in the church of God
   to his own advantage unless his heart is renewed, unless he means what
   he declares, and sincerely loves the rule under which he professes to
   put himself.

   The intruder's sin was aggravated by the fact that after he had
   unlawfully come into the feast he still continued there without the
   wedding robe. He does not appear to have had any compunction, or to
   have thought of amending his error. Only when the king came in and
   said, "Take him away," had the insolent rebel any idea of removing. Had
   he come in there, as I fear some of you have come into the church,
   under a mistake, thinking that there was no need of the wedding dress,
   when he looked around and saw all other persons wearing it, and
   observed that it was the peculiar mark of a guest, he would have felt
   uneasy and have gone to those who kept the royal wardrobe to get such a
   robe for himself; and then his sin in the matter would not have been
   laid to his charge. But he persisted in remaining where he was, and as
   he was. O my dear hearers, if you have already perpetrated the sin of
   union with the visible church of God without having the prerequisites,
   without being indeed submissive to God in heart and desirous to honour
   Christ, I entreat you, seek what is wanted, seek faith in God, seek a
   new heart, seek holiness of life, seek to become a loyal subject of the
   King, and be not content until you have these things, for the King will
   soon come in: he gives you time as yet, may he also give you grace to
   see to it that, being now where you ought never to have been, you may
   yet make your position a right one by obtaining that which will justify
   you in remaining where you are. The guest in his own clothes was a
   speckled bird amongst that company, it was possible for him even then
   to have become one of them; but he would not, he continued to defy the
   King.

   This persistence he retained though he probably knew the fate of those
   who had refused to come. He knew that the king had sent forth his
   armies and destroyed those wicked men who had molested his messengers,
   and yet he dared to recline at his ease in the very teeth, and defying
   the terrible power of the monarch. He made his brow as brass and
   hardened his heart as adamant, and forced his way into a position where
   his seditious spirit would be able to display itself conspicuously. He
   said within his soul, "I care nothing for this marriage. I will make
   sport of it; I will intrude myself into that feast and show my
   contempt. I will take the provisions, but the son shall have no honour
   from me, and the king shall not find me bend my will to his command."
   Thus he had the audacity to disport himself as a willful rebel at the
   feast of mercy. Are there any such among you here? The tendency will be
   for those who are not so to begin to condemn themselves. I know already
   one who has said, "I am that guest that had not on a wedding garment."
   She is not that one, for she is not even a member of the church, and
   therefore it cannot concern her; but many like her write bitter things
   against themselves. Another will be saying, "I am that one," whereas,
   if there be one that lives near to God and whose desire is to be like
   Christ, and to be in all things conformed to the divine will, he is the
   man. You who are most assuredly right will probably be suspicious that
   you are not, and you who are insincere and have never submitted
   yourselves to the will of God will probably say, "What does it matter?
   I am doing as well as others, I give as much, I attend the means as
   much, surely there can be no cause for concern In me." God grant that
   you may feel anxiety and fear before the Lord.

   II. We pass on to the next point--THE KING AT THE FEAST.

   "The king came in to see the guests." What an honour and privilege this
   was to the poor creatures whom his royal munificence had brought
   together! Was it not indeed the chief point of the entire festival'?
   One of our greatest joys is to sing--

   The king himself comes near

   And feasts his saints today!

   What would church fellowship be if it had not the fellowship of God
   with it? To sit with my dear brethren and rejoice in their love is
   exceedingly delightful; but the best wine is fellowship with the
   Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The king did not provide the
   banquet and leave his guests to eat by themselves, but he "came in,"
   and into every gospel church gathered according to his command the King
   will come. I am sure the most fervent desire of this church is that the
   King may personally visit us. We trust he is with us, but we want him
   yet more fully to reveal himself. Our cry is, "Come, great King, with
   all thy glorious power, with thy Spirit and with thy glorious Son, and
   manifest thyself to us as thou dost not unto the world."

   When the king came into the banqueting chamber he saw the guests, and
   they also saw him. It was a mutual revelation. Ever sweet is this to
   the saints, that their God looks upon them; his look brings no terror
   to our minds when we are loyal and loving. "Thou God seest me" is sweet
   music. We desire to abide for ever beneath the divine inspection, for
   it is an inspection of unbounded love. He sees our faults, it is to
   remove them; he notes our imperfections, it is to cleanse them away.
   Behold me, O great King, and lift up thine eyes upon me, accepting me
   in the Beloved. What joy it is to us who are saved in Christ Jesus that
   we also can see him! "Through a glass darkly," I grant you we behold
   him, for as yet we are not fit to behold the full splendour of his
   Godhead! but yet how sweetly doth he reveal himself to our souls and
   unveil his eternal love. Then it is that the feast is most fully a
   banquet of wine, when the banner of love waves over us, and the king's
   voice fills us with unspeakable delight.

   "The king came in to see his guests." This, I say, was the crowning
   point of the entire banquet. Observe that he came in after they were in
   their places. They did not see him before they had entered his halls.
   When an inferior entertains a superior he always advances to the door
   to meet him and waits until he comes. If her Majesty the Queen were
   entertained by one of her nobles, he would be in waiting, and at the
   threshold would meet her; but when a superior entertains an inferior
   the inferior may take his seat at the table, and when all is ready the
   noble host will come in. It is so in the banquet of mercy. You and I
   see nothing of God, by way of communion with him, until first we have
   been brought in by the message of mercy to the marriage-feast of the
   gospel; for, indeed, until then a sight of God would strike us with
   terror--

   "Till God in human flesh I see,

   My thoughts no comfort find;

   The holy, just, and sacred Three

   Are terrors to my mind;

   But when Immanuel's face appear,

   My hope, my joy, begins;

   His name forbids my slavish fear,

   His grace removes my sins."

   When I get to the banquet of mercy, then it is that I can dare to look
   at the King of kings, but not until then. What a joyous sight, a vision
   of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory as
   he appears in the gospel, feasting us upon his fatlings. An incarnate
   God makes God visible to us and makes us happy in the sight. "How canst
   thou see my face and live?" was the old question, but, behold, it is
   answered this day. At the marriage union of Christ with his people we
   see the face of the King in his beauty, and our souls not only live,
   but we have life more abundantly.

   Observe, dear brethren, that the King has special times for this. He is
   not always in the festal chamber; to our sorrow we sometimes miss the
   King's presence at his table. We have the ordinances always, but we do
   not always enjoy the God of ordinances. The means of grace are abiding,
   but the grace of the means will come and go according to the sovereign
   good pleasure of our God. The King has his times of coming in. These
   are glad times to his people, but they are trying times to the mass of
   professors. When are these times? So far as unworthy guests are
   concerned, the times of God's visitation are those seasons when
   character is manifested. All times and periods do not reveal character.
   A lion may lie all day asleep, you may scarce know but what it is tame;
   but when the night brings the time for it to go forth to its prey, then
   it howls, and displays its ferocity. And so an ungodly man may lie down
   in the church of God with the lambs of the flock, and nothing may lead
   you to suspect his true character, but when the time comes for him to
   make profit by sin, or to get pleasure by sin, or to escape from
   persecution by sin, then you find out what he is. These providences are
   the King's coming in to scrutinize the guests. Changes in the
   conditions of the church, changes in the condition of the individual,
   all sorts of providential events go to make up the great sieve by which
   the wheat and the chaff are separated.

   A great and most solemn coming in of the King to see the guests is,
   when having looked over the church, unknown to us, he decides that such
   and such a hypocrite has had space enough for repentance and time
   enough for mischief, and must now be summoned to the dread tribunal by
   death. The time when the King comes in to see his guests is not the
   last judgment, for that is the coming of the Son and not of the Father,
   and if it were intended in the parable, we would read that the prince
   came in to see his guests. We are led to view the King himself as
   continually judging professors and detecting the rebels who place
   themselves among the saints; by this judgment of God men are taken away
   from the church in their transgressions, bound hand and foot, and cast
   into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
   I do not know, my dear brethren, when God may be visiting this church,
   and taking away the men that are rebels in our midst, but I do know
   that when professors die it is not certain that all of them sleep in
   Jesus; but some of them are rooted up, like tares from among the wheat,
   and are bound up in bundles to burn. The division is going on
   constantly. The King's presence is known to believers in the joy which
   they feel, but it is made known to hypocrites by his cutting them off
   and appointing them their portion in eternal woe.

   If, however, there is any one time when we may be quite sure that the
   King comes in to see the guests, it is after large ingatherings from
   the world, for notice here, when the servants had gathered in guests in
   large numbers, it was then that the king came in. Now it will be after
   the time of revival which we are feeling just now, when I hope a great
   many will be added to the church, that the Lord will search and sift
   us. If there has been no visitation of the church before for purposes
   of love or judgment--for they go together--we shall be quite sure to
   have such a visit from the great Lord himself at this time.

   III. Solemnly think of THE JUDGE AT THE FEAST.

   To all the rest at the festival he was the king, the beloved monarch,
   the munificent donor of a splendid banquet, and all eyes feasted as
   they looked at him: it was joy enough to behold the king in his beauty,
   and to see his Son with all his royal jewels on, attired for the
   wedding feast; but he was a judge to the hypocritical intruder. The day
   of comfort to his saints is also the day of vengeance of our God. He
   who comes to comfort all that mourn comes at the same time to smite the
   rebellious with a rod of iron.

   The judge begins, as you perceive, by seeing, "He saw there a man."
   What eyes are those of Omniscience! The parable represents but one such
   man as present, yet the All-seeing King saw him at once, he fixed his
   flaming eyes on that one. I suppose it was a greater crowd than this,
   but the king fixed his eyes on the solitary offender at once. Does the
   parable speak of only one because we may expect to find only one
   hypocrite in a church? Alas! there have been many such at the wedding
   feast, but one only is mentioned to show us that if there were but one,
   God would find him out; and, being many, the sinners in Zion may be the
   more sure that they will not escape. It is possible that none of the
   guests may have noticed the man's garments; the parable makes no remark
   upon any expostulations made to him by others; perhaps they were all so
   taken up with the sight of the king, and so glad to be at the feast
   themselves, that they had no heart to make remarks upon others. But
   this is certain, that the king detected at once the absence of what was
   requisite to the marriage feast. It was not the presence of anything
   offensive, but the absence of something which was requisite. He did not
   say to the unworthy guest, "Thou hast rags upon thee," or "thou art
   filthy." or "thou hast an unwashed face"; he enquired solely into the
   absence of the peculiar badge which denoted a loving guest. God will
   judge, and does continually judge his church upon this question, the
   absence of what is absolutely necessary to being a Christian, the
   absence of honouring the Son, and obeying the Father. O soul, if thou
   art a professor of religion, and yet dost not love Jesus, and dost not
   fear the great King of kings, thou lackest the wedding robe, and what
   dost thou here? The King will see at once that thou lackest it. Thy
   morality, thy generosity, thy high sounding prayers, ay, and even thine
   eloquent discoursings, these cannot conceal from him the fact that thy
   heart is not with him. The one thing needful is to accept loyally the
   Lord as King.

   The king next began to deal with the rebel. Note how he spoke with him.
   He took him on his own ground. It was too high a day for the king to
   use rough speech; the man pretended to be a friend, and he addressed
   him as such, but though the word I doubt not was uttered softly, it
   must have stung him if he had any feeling left. Judas exemplified in
   his own person this character. When he gave the Saviour the traitor's
   kiss, our Lord addressed him as "friend." He pretended to be a friend.
   A friend, indeed, to insult his king at his own table, and to select
   for the insult the delicate occasion of the prince's marriage to which
   he had been hospitably invited! This was infamous! Friend indeed! Where
   will you find enemies if such shall be called friends? The king put it
   to him, "How camest thou in hither?" What business hast thou here? What
   could have induced thee so maliciously to defy me? To smite me in my
   tenderest point, and mock my guests, and trample on my son? Didst thou
   intend such daring insolence? "How camest thou in hither? In hither?
   Was there nowhere else to pour forth thy sedition, no other spot in
   which to play the traitor? Needest thou come into my palace, and to my
   table, and before my son on his wedding day to reveal thy enmity? Was
   there a need to do this?" So may the Lord say to some of us. "Were
   there no other ways to sin, but that you must profess to be my servant
   when you were not so? Were there no other bowls that you could drink
   from, that ye must profane the cups of my table? Was there no other
   bread that you could put into your wicked mouths but the bread that
   represents the body of my Son? Had you nowhere else to sin in that you
   must needs sin in the church? Could you do nothing else to show your
   spite but that you must make a lying profession of faith in my Son, who
   bled upon the cross to redeem the sons of men? Could you assail me
   nowhere else but through the wounds of my only-begotten Son? Could you
   vex my Spirit by no other means than by pretending to be my friend, and
   thrusting yourself in hither, while defiantly rejecting that which was
   necessary to do me honour, and to do my Son honour, at the festival of
   my grace?" I dare not dwell upon the topic. I give you the text; I pray
   that your conscience may preach the sermon.

   Notice however, one thing, and that is, that the king, when he thus
   turned a judge, dealt with this man only about himself. "How camest
   thou in hither?" Did I hear a whisper in some one's mind, "Well, if I
   am unfit to be a church member, there are a great many others who are
   in the same condemnation." What is that to you? See to thyself! When
   the king came in to see the guests he did not say to this man, "How
   came yonder persons here without the wedding garment?" His dealings
   were personal with him alone: "How camest thou in hither, not having on
   the wedding garment?" Professor, look to thyself, look to thyself. Let
   thy charity begin at home. Cast out the beam from thine own eye, and
   then mayst thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy
   brother's eye. He fixed on the one man, made him his entire audience,
   and directed to him the solemn question, "Friend, how camest thou in
   hither?" Ah, my dear hearers, as the pastor of this church it has been
   a very great joy to me to see our numbers increased; many have been
   added to us, and many have gone forth from us to form other churches;
   my joy has been constant in God concerning this matter. Our beloved
   brethren associated with me in office have done their best to keep any
   of you back who have sought membership in whom we could see no fruits
   corresponding. We have not used our office deceitfully; as in the sight
   of God we have tried to be neither too severe nor too lax, but for all
   that I cannot but know that there are some of you who are not
   Christians though you bear the name. Like those of old, you say you are
   Jews and are not, but do lie. I am not now speaking of any who have
   fallen into sin and have suffered our rebuke, or have been separated
   from us by excommunication and yet remain in the congregation; I mean
   others of you whose lives are all that could be desired openly, and yet
   there is a worm at the heart of your profession; you are not vitally
   godly, you have a name to live, and you keep that name untarnished as
   yet, but you are dead. Search ye yourselves; do not from this
   tabernacle descend into hell; let your prayer be, "Gather not my soul
   with sinners, nor my life with bloody men." I am as concerned about
   myself as about you, that I should be found "accepted in the Beloved;"
   lest after having preached to others I myself should be a castaway! Do
   let it be a matter of solemn anxiety with each one. If you have never
   come to Jesus, come now; if you have never sought holiness of life,
   seek it now. If you have never had the wedding garment, it is yet
   procurable; go ye to him who freely gives it, the Lord will not refuse
   you; go to-day and he will accept you.

   IV. He who was the unworthy guest is now THE CRIMINAL AT THE FEAST. The
   king has now become a judge to him; the question has been personally
   put to him, and he is speechless. Why is he silent? Surely it was
   because he was convicted of open, undeniable disloyalty. No evidence
   was required; he had come there on set purpose with malice aforethought
   to display his disloyalty, and had done so in the presence of the King.
   I do not think he represents at all a person who enters the church
   through ignorance, with a sincere but ignorant intention, but he
   pourtrays one who makes a profession without care to make it
   true--willfully despising the Lord's commands. He is a man willing to
   be saved by grace, and professing to be so, but refusing to acknowledge
   his duty to God and his obligations to the Son. He was speechless; he
   could not have chosen a worse place, nor a more impertinent method of
   ventilating his disloyalty than that which he selected; there was
   nothing he could say in self-defense. At that moment, when the King
   looked him through and through, he saw the full horror of his position;
   his loins were loosed, like Belshazzar of old when he saw the
   handwriting on the wall; he saw now that his time to insult was over,
   and the day of retribution had come. He was taken in the very fact, and
   could not escape. He had been guilty of a superfluity of naughtiness,
   of an unnecessary extravagance of wickedness in coming into the feast
   to air his pride. He had committed a suicidal intrusion. He might have
   kept himself away at any rate, and not have thrust himself into the
   Judge's presence. He saw now that the cause of sedition was hopeless,
   the King was there and he was in his power and none could rescue him.
   Why did he not burst into tears? Why did he not confess the wrong? Why
   did he not say, "My king, I have insulted thee, have pity upon me"? His
   proud heart would not let him. Sin made him incapable of repentance.
   There is a verse in one of Hart's hymns which runs thus--

   "Fixed is their everlasting state:

   Could they repent, tis now too late."

   That is true enough, but it supposes an impossibility, and I think it
   would have been far better to have said--

   "Fixed is their everlasting state;

   They can't repent, tis now too late."

   Because the sinner goes on to sin he continues still to suffer; he will
   not turn, he cannot turn. As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor
   the leopard his spots, so when sin has reached its height the man
   cannot bend, or bow, or retrace his steps. Oh, if he could have
   repented even then! But he could not; and the tears that came after the
   king had pronounced the sentence where no tears of penitence, but only
   of despairing pride. He stood speechless. It was not only that he had
   no excuse, but he would not confess his wrong. Have I anyone here in
   such a condition of heart, that while he has been sinning by making a
   false profession, and knows it, yet he sullenly refuses to confess his
   fault? Yield thee, man! Yield at once. Fall at the King's feet at once.
   Even if you are not a hypocrite, if you have any suspicion that you
   are, fall down and say, "My King, make me sincere; I submit myself to
   thy will, and am ready to put on the wedding badge; if there is any
   method by which I can honour thy Son, I cavil not at it; let me wear
   his colours, and be known by all men to be truly a lover of the great
   Prince."

   But now, lastly, while he stood speechless in the king's presence, the
   king gave place to THE EXECUTIONER, for he uttered these words, "Bind
   him hand and foot." He was lawless, make him feel the law; he said, "I
   am free, and I will do as I like," let him never be free again; bind
   him, pinion him. Executioner, do your duty, prepare him for death.
   Alas, there are some who are bound and pinioned even before the breath
   is out of their bodies. In their dying hours false professors have
   often found that they could not pray, and could not repent; like dying
   Spira, that arch-hypocrite and apostate, they have been sensible of
   misery, but not penitent, and no gospel promise has availed to comfort
   them. Their hearts were seared, they were twice dead before they were
   dead. Then came the sentence, "Take him away," which is sometimes
   executed by the church in her excommunications--deceivers are taken
   away from the gospel feast by just discipline; but which is more fully
   carried out in the hour of death when the man's hope fails him. Ah,
   sirs, what will ye do if ye have no true grace in your hearts when you
   are taken away from the Lord's table, taken away from the baptism in
   which you gloried, taken away from the doctrines of the gospel which
   you understood so well by head, but which you did not know in your
   heart. John Bunyan's description of the man dragged by seven devils,
   bound with cords, comes up before my mind. "Bind him hand and foot and
   take him away." How thankful I am that the servants who brought them in
   are not the same who were commanded to take them away. The Douloi
   brought them in, the diakonoi took them away, the King has a special
   order of servants for the taking of deceivers away; his angels do that
   in the hour of death--they execute his vengeance. He gives us ministers
   a better office, he bids us be his heralds of mercy. Then the judge
   said, "Cast him," fling him like a useless, worthless thing. That
   wretch has dared pollute my marriage feast, cast him away, as men fling
   weeds over the garden wall or shake off vipers into the fire. There is
   none in heaven or earth thought more despicable, more fit to be thrown
   away as rubbish and offal, than a man who had a Christian name, but had
   not the essentials of the Christian nature. Cast him away. Where? "Into
   outer darkness" far from the banquet hall where torches flame and lamps
   are bright; drive him out into the cold, chilly midnight air. He has
   once seen the light, it will be all the darker now for him when he is
   driven into the dark. There is no darkness so dark as the darkness of
   the man who once saw light. Cast him into outer darkness. What will he
   do there? We are not told what would be done to him, it was not
   needful; we learn elsewhere as much as could be revealed to us, but we
   are told what he did, for "there shall be weeping," not the gush of
   tears which gives relief but the everlasting dropping of scalding tears
   which create fresh sorrow and enlarge their own source. The outcast
   shed no tears of regret, but of sullen disappointment, because he could
   not after all dishonour the king, and had even served to illustrate the
   royal justice and power, and so had brought glory to the king whom he
   hated in soul. Then came the "gnashing of teeth," caused by wrath and
   envy because he could do no more mischief. No sorrow is equal to that
   of a malicious spirit, that having attempted a daring deed of atrocious
   wickedness, has been defeated and has contributed to the triumph of the
   good and excellent. The misery of hell is not a misery which God
   arbitrarily creates, it is the necessary result of sin, it is sin
   itself come to ripeness. Here you see the picture of the man who was
   insolent enough to come into the church without being a Christian, and
   now for ever he gnashes with his teeth against that glorious Majesty of
   heaven which it will never be in his power to injure, but which it will
   always be in his heart to hate; and this will be his hell--that he
   hates God, this his darkness--that he cannot see beauty in God, and
   this the outerness of the darkness--that he cannot enter into God's
   will. "Depart ye cursed," is only love repelling that which is not
   lovely, it is only justice giving to man what his fallen nature craved
   after. "Get away from me, ye did not honour me; when ye did come to me
   it was with your lips only. Go where your hearts were; depart from me,
   you cursed." Oh, may God grant that not one here may come under the
   lash of this terrible parable, but may we be found of the Lord in peace
   in the day of his appearing. You see, then, how the Lord sifts us.
   First we are sifted by the preaching of the gospel, and many will not
   come--there is one heap of chaff: next, by the judgment of God in his
   church, and others are found wanting--there is another heap of chaff.
   Ah, when this is done, and the two great sieves are used, shall we be
   found among the wheat?

   Do you say, "the sermon has nothing to do with me, I never made a
   profession, I shall go home easy enough." Come hither friend, I must
   not let you go. There is a vagabond brought before the magistrate
   accused of theft, he says he is perfectly innocent, but he is convicted
   and has to suffer for it; after him comes a bragging fellow, who says,
   "I do not make any profession of being honest, I rob anybody I can, and
   I mean to do so, I do not pretend to keep the law." Why, methinks the
   magistrate would say, "I condemned the one who did at least pretend to
   something decent, but to you I give double punishment, you are
   evidently incorrigible, and your case needs no consideration." You who
   do not say you are Christians, who confess you are not, you avow
   yourselves the enemies of Christ; get no comfort therefore out of this
   parable I pray you, but yield yourselves to the Saviour, and believe in
   him, for he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Epistle of Jude.

   The attention of all our friends is earnestly directed to the SERIES OF
   SPECIAL SERVICES AT THE TABERNACLE. In order that London friends may
   unite with us we publish the meetings week by week, and at the same
   time our country friends can join with us in spirit:--

   Lord's-day, February 26th.--Sermon to the Sabbath School and young
   people generally. By C.H.S., at 3 p.m.

   Monday, February 27th.--Prayer-meeting for females only, at six. Young
   people's prayer-meeting at the same time. At seven, Elders and Deacons
   will deliver addresses to the unconverted at the usual prayer-meeting.

   Tuesday, February 28th.--Great meeting of butcher's men, invited by Mr.
   Henry Varley. Addresses in the Tabernacle at 7. (Tickets.) C.H.S. to
   preside.

   Wednesday, March 1st.--Prayer-meetings at the houses of our friends,
   according to the list, which will be issued. May the prayers of all the
   households be heard in heaven.

   Thursday, March 2nd.--Mothers' prayer-meeting at six. Meeting for
   persons under concern of soul at half-past eight, after the lecture.
   Fathers' prayer-meeting at 8:30.

   Friday, March 3rd.--Meeting of our young friends above fifteen, and yet
   unsaved. Tea at six. (Tickets to be had of the Elders.)
     __________________________________________________________________

                The Master's Profession--The Disciple's Pursuit

   A Sermon

   (No. 977)

   Delivered on Thursday Evening, April 21st, 1870 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

   In aid of the Baptist Young Men's Missionary Association.

   "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have
   not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart, I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from
   the great congregation."--Psalm 40:9,10.

   WHO IS THE SPEAKER that gives utterance to these marvellous words? In
   the first instance they must be understood to proceed from our Lord
   Jesus Christ. By the Spirit of prophecy in the Old Testament they were
   spoken of him, and by the Spirit of interpretation in the New Testament
   they have been applied to him. Mark, then, how vehemently he here
   declares that he has fully discharged the work which he was sent to
   accomplish. When, in the days of his flesh, he was crying to his Father
   for preservation in a season of dire distress, he might well ask that
   he should then be helped, since all the previous strength he possessed
   had been laid out in his Father's service. But because this profession
   emphatically belongs to our Savior we need not suppose that it
   exclusively belongs to him. On the other hand, Christ being our
   forerunner and our example, we are encouraged to emulate the high
   calling and the dutiful obedience he so perfectly exhibited.

   I. UNDOUBTEDLY OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AS WE READ HIS HISTORY IN THE
   FOUR EVANGELISTS, MOST GLORIOUSLY FULFILLED HIS LIFE-MISSION.

   He was constantly testifying to the gospel of God, the gospel of his
   righteousness and of his grace. From the first moment when he, being
   full of the Holy Ghost, began to preach the gospel, until the day when
   he was taken up into heaven, while he blessed his disciples, he was
   instant in season and out of season. There were no waste moments of
   time, no neglected opportunities, no talents held in reserve. "I must
   work," was his motto. The zeal of God's house consumed him. It was his
   meat and his drink to do the will of him that sent him. A marvellous
   study is this life of Christ on earth; and as one looks at it thought
   begets thought, for--

   "Kindred objects kindred thoughts inspire,

   As summer clouds flash forth electric fire."

   Mark ye not how he concentrated every attribute of his nature, ever
   faculty of his mind, and every power of his body in the one work he had
   undertaken--to do his Father's will? He seems all his life through to
   have challenged the enquiry, "Wist ye not that I must be about my
   Father's business?" He was continually preaching the gospel. "Never man
   spake as this man," may apply to the quantity as well as the quality of
   his utterances. All places seemed to be alike suitable to his ministry.
   Your gowns and your pulpits, your chancels and naves, your aisles and
   transepts were of no account with him. He wanted no toga or rostrum,
   nor did he need a preconcerted arrangement of the assembly to lend
   grace to his discourses when he made known the word of God to the
   people and astonished them with his doctrine. He could speak
   anywhere--even along the crowded thoroughfare, where the multitudes
   thronged him. He went down the lowest streets, and from the poorest
   beggars he didn't turn aside. He was not thwarted by the sneers, and
   sarcasms, and subtle questioning of the Pharisees and Sadducees. One
   thought possessed him, and he persistently wrought it out. His
   life-sermon as so thorough that nothing of earthly splendor could
   allure or distract him, or break the thread. He was always and
   everywhere either pleading with God for men, or else pleading with men
   for God. The reiterated expressions of these two verses are
   emphatically the truth: the asseverations are vehement, yet the effect
   is a noble vindication of integrity. "I have preached righteousness in
   the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou
   knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have
   declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy
   lovingkindness, and thy truth from the great congregation." He was the
   great Witness for God, the great Testifier, who went proclaiming
   everywhere the kingdom of God, and the good tidings of salvation to
   man.

   Do not these words likewise suggest to you the thought that Christ
   testified frequently to the greatest crowds? "I have preached
   righteousness in the great congregation. . . . I have not concealed thy
   lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation." On the
   hill-top, where his disciples came unto him and he began with his
   benediction of "Blessed," the multitude that gathered together, when he
   sat down and taught them, was doubtless imposing. The people sometimes
   thronged to hear him in such numbers that the historian describes them
   as innumerable, and tells us that they trod one upon another. From the
   statement given us, that there were at one time five thousand and at
   another time four thousand men, besides women and children, collected
   together in the desert place and the wilderness, when he fed them, we
   might reasonably infer that in populous places the crowds assembled on
   a yet vaster scale. Of course, the whole population off Judea,
   scattered all over the land, was scarcely equal to the population of
   this city, and therefore greater crowds may be collected in London than
   could have been gathered in Jerusalem; yet the concourse there must at
   times have been exceedingly great and the spectacle unusually grand,
   especially when at the great feast our Lord stood up before the people,
   and rang out, in words clear and distinct--"If any man thirst, let him
   come unto me and drink." Why, for years afterwards, the very tones of
   his voice must have haunted the memories of those who stood and
   listened to him, if they rejected the message. It is not easy to stand
   up before a crowded assembly; let those who think so come and try.
   Oftentimes it tests a man's valor. It brings him many trials to his
   spirit to be prepared for the work. But our Lord Jesus Christ was fully
   equipped for his blessed ministry. He was a great preacher, with a
   great message, full of a great love, with a great Father by whom he was
   commissioned, sustained, cheered. All the qualities of his character
   and conduct were congruous. With a great assembly he was at home; for
   his sympathy was mighty in its aggregate and minute in its detail. At
   the same time, Christ did not want a great congregation to enable him
   to preach. The first verse of our text, if I catch the heart of its
   meaning, seems to me to intimate that he could speak personally to one
   or to two: "Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest."
   From the court of human conscience to the court of divine omniscience
   the appeal is carried. Fame hath not heard of this private fidelity.
   Howbeit he that dwelleth in the heavens takes cognisance of it. "O
   Lord, thou knowest, and canst bear witness to it. When there was but
   one woman at the well's brink, I refrained not my lips." When there
   were but two--his disciples, as he was going to Emmaus--he opened his
   mouth. Whether they were those whom he had made or would make his
   disciples, he had a word for all at all times and at all seasons. In
   this we ought to imitate the Master. Be ready to tell of Christ not
   only when your heart is prepared for it at a set time, but at all
   times, whether you have prepared for it or not. Your spirit should be
   always on the alert; you should always be on the watch for souls. Fain
   would I be like the eagle that is on its way to the eyrie, and looks
   for it long before it comes in sight, and no sooner discerns it than,
   like a lightning-flash, it darts off and alights upon it. O for a heart
   that is set on winning souls, that is set on glorifying God, that is
   set on coming nearer to the model and being more conformed in this
   matter unto Christ our Head! Our Lord could truly assert that he had
   not kept back the gospel; he had preached it publicly to the crowds,
   and he had declared it privately, as opportunity allowed. That he never
   did seal his lips or stifle his testimony, he could call God to
   witness.

   Does not the tenth verse, in its first clause, intimate that Christ's
   preaching was never heartless preaching? "I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart." As if he had said, "It is in my heart,
   but I have never concealed it there. What I have received of thee, O my
   Father, I have made known unto the people: forsooth, thy will, which I
   have observed in heaven, and engaged to fulfill on earth; thy
   righteousness, as it appears in the justice of thy throne and the
   benevolence of thy laws; thy faithfulness, as it is verified in the
   stability of thy covenant and the perpetuity of thine ordinances; thy
   salvation, as it was prepared in thy counsels of old, and is displayed
   when thou makes bare thy right hand and thy holy arm; thy
   lovingkindness which flows in one perpetual stream of mercy; and thy
   truth, which sets the final seal to thy testimonies;--all these have I
   treasured in my heart, not to hide them from the children of men, but
   to manifest them for the glory of thy name and the welfare of thy
   people." Is it so? Then this solemn protest before God is of vital
   interest to us. Henceforth every word, every statute, every precept of
   the gospel, comes to us distilled through the heart of Christ. I like
   the idea of pouring our sermons out of our own hearts. They must gone
   from our hearts, or they will not go to our hearers' hearts. But, oh,
   how full of gracious secrets our hearts ought to be, priceless secrets,
   which though hidden from the wise and prudent, are revealed unto babes!
   Jesus, we thank thee for this, that thou hast not concealed thy
   Father's lovingkindness and truth from us.

   See, too, our Master kept always to vital matters. We notice here how
   he uses words which show that his teaching had a distinct reference to
   God. "I have not hid thy righteousness; I have declared thy
   faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
   and thy truth from the great congregation." Our Lord in his teaching
   never seems to have diverged from the great central truth. We are too
   apt to be taken up with the mere externals, and if we do not become
   mere sectarians, it is just possible that points of our creed of the
   least importance occupy the most prominent place in our thought and
   conversation. Our Lord, with eagle eye, descries what is most important
   for men to know, and upon that he dwells. Sinners must know of God's
   righteousness; they will never know their sinfulness else, or knowing
   it they will think it to be a little thing. The righteousness of God
   comes like a stream of light into the soul, and reveals its corruption.
   God's salvation, again, must be shown in its true colors. It does not
   owe its origin, its accomplishment, or its application to our works or
   our merits, but it proceeds from God's grace, and redounds to his
   glory. I hold that this should be the cherished motive of the gospel
   preacher, to glorify God! While it should be the chief end and aim of
   Christians ordinarily, it is to be the chief end and aim of the
   preacher extraordinarily. Beyond everyone else, he is concerned with
   that which, beyond everything else, brings glory to him who is first,
   last, midst, and without end. Jesus Christ preached God's
   righteousness, and showed God's righteousness even in salvation, and
   then he preached that salvation fully.

   Nor, dear friends, did he withhold his testimony of the other
   attributes of God. Think for an instant of God's faithfulness. Oh, what
   a delightful theme! As immutability is a glory that belongs to all his
   attributes, so faithfulness pertains to all his purposes and promises.
   Well may his people everywhere rely upon his fidelity. Well may we tell
   that we serve no mutable God. "He is not a man that he should lie;
   neither the Soul of Man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall
   he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
   Moreover he will rest in his love, "for the Lord will not forsake his
   people for his great name's sake." He is "the Father of lights, with
   whom is, no variableness, neither shadow of turning." His promises and
   his threatenings abide steadfast. Side by side with the faithfulness of
   God there is witness of his lovingkindness. Oh, what a glorious
   revelation! the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God of
   pity and of pardon, the God of love. Not of love as with us, in a mere
   effeminate sense, as though it were only an impulse of human admiration
   that would wink at iniquities. He is Love, love in the essence, love
   essentially divine; love consistent with holiness, that hums like
   flames of fire. In justice deep and terrible is God; in majesty he doth
   ride on the wings of the wind. This God of tempest, is the God of God,
   and this is the God whom Jesus preached; and while he did not conceal
   the sterner attributes of the Almighty, yet he did not forget to depict
   the heart of mercy and the hand that is ready to help. The God whom he
   preached is full of gentleness and tenderness. May we learn to believe
   in the God and Father whom his only begotten Son Jesus Christ delighted
   to make known, and if called to testify of Him may we testify fully and
   heartily as Jesus did.

   To sum up all, we may say that our Lord's three years' ministry was
   matchless in its perfection, such as he could look back upon without a
   single regret, but with unsullied complacency. It was matchless as to
   its doctrines, and as to its completeness it was unsurpassed. More
   might be said of his manner, which was full of tenderness to the men
   among whom he walked, and of his majestic oratory, which we may admire
   and seek to imitate, but which we can reach only at a distance, for it
   is peerless beyond all competition, it stands alone; "Never yet man
   spake like this man," shall be true of him to the world's end. All his
   life long there is no flaw, there is no excess. "I have finished the
   work which thou gavest me to do," he could truly say, as he laid down
   his earthly ministry, and ascended to exercise his ministrations before
   the throne. In the retrospect of his labors there was no occasion for
   self-reproach, no cause for a fault to be found, even by the accuser of
   the brethren. All was to be joy and rejoicing when he had completed his
   life-work.

   Thus much concerning our Lord. I have only opened the door for you to
   enter. I wonder whether it will ever be given to us to be able to say,
   as Christians, in our humbler measure, what he said, as the very Christ
   in such exalted strains?

   II. Let us now use the text IN REFERENCE TO OURSELVES.

   It ought to be the ambition of every believer here, in a sense more or
   less extensive, to be able to say, "I have preached righteousness; I
   have not refrained my lips; I have not hid thy righteousness within my
   heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not
   concealed thy and thy truth."

   It is quite certain that many careless Christians will never be able to
   lay this unction to their heart. In all our churches there is a very
   large proportion of idle people. I hope they are saved; the Lord knows
   whether they are or not, but whatever else they are saved from,
   certainly they are not saved from laziness. We have in the visible
   church a large proportion of flesh that is not living, or if it is
   alive it gives very little indication of life. Now, I do like as pastor
   to be in fellowship with a living church, all alive, and everybody
   active. Though it may be our happy lot to have a goodly preponderance
   in this church of living men and women, I know there is a considerable
   portion of added flesh about it. Albeit, there are some portions of the
   body which may be said to be ornamental, it is equally true that they
   also have some distinct service; there is not one of them put there to
   do nothing. Some Christians seem to think themselves "a thing of beauty
   and a joy for ever" to the church, and that they have nothing to do in
   it for the common weal. They must imagine that they are ornaments, for
   certainly they are of no use, so far as any good offices are concerned.
   It used to be almost thought that the whole duty of man consisted in
   taking your sitting, paving your quarter's rent, filling up your place,
   and listening with more or less attention to the sermons that were
   preached. As to the idea of everybody doing something for Christ, and
   the exhortation to them as good soldiers of the cross not to shirk
   their duty, these people said that it was sheer madness. To do or dare,
   to labor or suffer in the cause of the Captain of our salvation, was no
   article of their creed. Sleepy souls, they presently become victims of
   their own infatuation. As men who habituate themselves to take opium,
   they grow soporific. Then their Christianity becomes like a dream. It
   may be they are filled with flattering illusions, but in full many a
   case they are scared with strange spectres that issue in the short
   sighs, weak cries, and dismal groans of doubt and fear. Alas for them!
   they will not be able to say, "I have preached righteousness; lo, I
   have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth." Nay,
   nay; when their conscience is awakened, they shall have poignant
   regrets that they have neglected so many glorious opportunities of
   bringing crowns to Christ.

   Nor will cowardly people be able to make this protest. Many Christians
   are of a retiring disposition, and their retiring disposition is
   exemplified somewhat in the same way as that of the soldier who felt
   himself unworthy to stand in the front ranks. He felt that it would be
   too presumptuous a thing for him to be in front, where the cannon balls
   were mowing down men on the right hand and on the left, and therefore
   he would rather be in the van-guard. I always look upon those very
   retiring and modest people as arrant cowards, and I shall venture to
   call them so. I ask not every man and woman to rush into the front
   ranks of service, but I do ask every converted man and woman to take
   some place in the ranks, and to be prepared to make some sacrifice in
   that position they choose or think themselves fit to occupy. But ah!
   there are some who shrink back from any post that demands toil or
   vigilance. When they were young their ardor was never kindled, the
   spirit of enterprise was never stirred within them. Had they shown any
   mettle then, they might have been lion-hearted now; had they done
   Nothing then, their career of usefulness might have been in full vigor
   now. But alas for the man upon whom there is the rust of wasted years;
   he waits, he doubts, he parleys still, and shelters himself under a
   fictitious humility. Would God I had more courage myself, but I will
   tell you one thing, I dare not fold my arms, nor dare I hold my tongue;
   it seems to me so awful a thing not to be doing good, and it seems to
   me so dastardly a thing to shrink back when opportunities lie in one's
   path. I do wish that some of you would learn to imitate the character
   of the godly man--

   "Who holds no parley with unmanly fears; Where duty bids, he
   confidently steers,

   Faces a thousand dangers at her call

   And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all."

   The cowards will not be able to say, "I have preached righteousness:
   lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid
   thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and
   thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth."

   Nor, again, will spasmodic people be able to adopt this language. There
   are some people who, if there is a revival, are so marvellously zealous
   and earnest that we are ready to clap our hands, but all on a sudden
   they stop. That Sunday-school class they were just getting into right
   order, but before there was an opportunity to reap the fruit they felt
   it was not precisely what they were called to. That Young Men's Bible
   Class--yes, that was a happy thought, the pastor was delighted; but,
   unfortunately, some little difficulty occurred that you had not
   foreseen, and that also has fallen through. So it has been in other
   cases. Know therefore that those who cannot, like the Master, look back
   upon a continuous and persevering testimony, will not be able to speak
   with a clear conscience as he did.

   But although so many classes of those who profess and call themselves
   Christians will not be able to take a happy retrospect of their lives,
   yet there are not wanting those who could do so. I have known men of
   one talent who without any self-righteousness could say, "I have
   preached righteousness; I have not regained my lips, O Lord, thou
   knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have
   declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy
   lovingkindness and thy truth." Dear good men in many a country village
   whose Dames will never be known to fame have gathered just a few people
   together and have preached on, on, on for years, and when they come to
   die in the Lord and rest from their labors, their works will follow
   them, and their life-service will be as acceptable as the services of,
   many men with ten times the talents and ten times the scope for their
   exercise. Perhaps the Master will say to them, "Well done!" with a
   stronger emphasis than to some who were better known. That poor girl
   whose only work she could do for Christ was to teach those two little
   children who were entrusted to her, and that nursery maid with but one
   gift, and one only, may be able to say, "I have preached righteousness;
   lo! I have not refrained my lips: I have declared thy faithfulness and
   thy salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth."
   You one-talent servants, you have this within your reach.

   And those, too, with an extremely narrow sphere may be able to say
   this. It is not, perhaps, the man who can stand and talk to thousands,
   but it may be you in the family--the housewife, the kitchen maid, the
   serving-man, or the woman who has been bed-ridden for years, whose only
   audience will be a few poor neighbors, or perhaps, now and then, a
   generous friend--it is you within these narrow spheres who may yet be
   able to say, "I have preached righteousness; I have not refrained my
   lips, O Lord, thou knowest; I have not hid thy righteousness within my
   heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not
   concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth." I have sat by a bedside
   where I have envied the poor woman despite the agonies and pains of
   body she suffered, because she yet could praise and magnify the
   lovingkindness revealed to her there.

   But, brethren, we may be, able to quote these words, some of us to whom
   greater talents have been committed. Though we may feel that we have
   not preached as earnestly as we could have wished; that we have not
   done our utmost towards those whom we have taught; that in our
   house-to-house visitation we have not been so earnest with poor souls
   as we might have been in this respect, for alas! alas! we are all
   unprofitable servants; yet we can say, "I have preached righteousness;
   I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth."

   Fervently do I hope that those of you with the largest opportunities
   may yet be privileged to make this good profession with all sincerity.
   I am not afraid for those friends who have but narrow
   spheres--sometimes I wish that mine were such--I am not afraid for
   those in humbler fields, but oh, if with such spheres, and such
   churches as God here and there allots to some of his servants, they can
   thus give account of their stewardship, it will be grace indeed, and to
   grace alone will the honor be due. Yet let us hope that we too may be
   able to say, "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation;
   lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid
   thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and
   thy salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth
   from the great congregation."

   III. It is with an overwhelming sense of the importance as well as the
   moral grandeur of this profession that I repeat it to you again and
   again; for when we are able to feel this, and to say it humbly and
   confidently, with good faith and without guile, IT CASTS MUCH
   COMFORTABLE LIGHT ON MANY SOLEMN subjects.

   How awful to remember that every hour there are hundreds of men and
   women who are dying without Christ. Turn to the bills of mortality of
   this one city. Be our sentiments ever so charitable, let us judge with
   the utmost liberality, the dreadful fact fills our mind, and every
   knell speaks it to our heart, "They go out of this world unforgiven;
   they go before their Maker's bar without a hope!" I think our hearts
   would break with the dread recollection of this if we could not say, "I
   have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not
   refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from
   the great congregation."

   And how many deaths there always are among our hearers! What comfort
   can any Christian who knows you have, if you die unsaved, unless he is
   able to appeal to God, and say, "My Father, I did all I could to teach
   that soul the way of salvation; I did all I could to persuade him to
   accept the Christ of God"?

   Dear friends, whenever you see any of your neighbors, your relatives,
   your acquaintance die, can you forbear to ask yourselves, shall their
   blood be required at my hands? Are your skirts stained? Are there no
   blood drops there? Come, look them down, and say if you can ponder with
   a clear conscience the fact of a sinner dying in a Christless state
   without your being able to say, "I have done all I could to bring that
   soul to Christ"?

   And as for that dreadful outlook--the hereafter of the lost--would that
   we could believe the softer theories which some so eagerly embrace! We
   would, but dare not. We believe that those who die in their sins when
   they pass from this life into the next, shall find that second death to
   be no extinction of existence, but an eternity of sin and of misery,
   Ah! how can any of us bear to think of this if we feel that we are
   morally responsible for any one soul that is damned? Yet are we so, I
   speak but the bare truth, until we have delivered ourselves from that
   responsibility by faithful earnestness. Is there a Cain here who says,
   "Am I my brother's keeper?" I shall not appeal to your most sympathetic
   soul, but leave you to your Judge. But to the Christian I say, "No man
   liveth to himself." When you think of a spirit in despair, cast out for
   ever from the presence of his God and from the glory of his power, may
   you, friends, be able to say, "Great God, though I understand not thy
   ways, for thy judgments are a great deep; yet I warned the sinner, I
   admonished him to lay hold on Christ, and if he perished it was not for
   want of preaching to or for praying over; my warnings and tears were
   never spared. I did what was in me to prevent his ruin." Put in that
   light, we may look at least with some degree of serenity upon the
   doctrine of divine sovereignty. I must confess that the sovereignty of
   God is a great mountain whose top we cannot scale. I often marvel at
   the coldness with which some men talk of the sovereignty of God, as
   though it were of small concern whether men were lost or saved. They
   seem to take these things as easily as if they were only talking of
   blocks of wood, or fields filled with tares. I do not think that we can
   equitably plead the divine sovereignty as a counterpart to our futile
   efforts, till we can say, "I have done all that was possible to bring
   that soul to God, I have prayed over him and wept over him, and now if
   he perish I must believe that this man wilfully rejected Christ, that
   his iniquities are upon his own head, and that in him, as a vessel of
   wrath, God will get glory as well as in vessels of mercy.

   The doom of the heathen is a subject in like manner of which it were
   too painful for any of us to speak unless we can say, "I have, as far
   as lieth in me, sought to do something for them." This is a thing about
   which we ought not to think with any ease, unless we feel that we would
   fain save them, and give them the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus
   Christ; and to carry out this, our cherished purpose, we will do the
   best we can.

   The uprisings of error often cause us dismay. Every now and then we see
   some old form of error spring up that was stamped out, as we supposed,
   in the days of our ancestors. Not unfrequently a foul old heresy is
   brought out as a brand new discovery, and all the world admires it, and
   wonders whence it came. Now, whenever these old heresies crop up, and
   are brought out as new, and lead men astray, it is a great comfort when
   you and I are able to say, "I have preached righteousness in the great
   congregation; lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I
   have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy
   faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
   and thy truth from the great congregation." Let men propagate whatever
   errors they choose, if we have no share in misleading the people, and
   are continually engaged in instructing them, we may wrap ourselves in
   our integrity, and lay the matter before our God to vindicate our
   righteous cause.

   The apathy of the church, which has lasted so long, is truly
   disheartening. With many a deep-drawn sigh do we bewail it. O that we
   could get the church to awake! You might sound the trump of the
   archangel before you could rouse full many to the appalling destitution
   by reason of which the people perish for lack of knowledge. Even the
   cries of lost souls, and the shrieks of the sinners in this Metropolis,
   rushing headlong to the pit that is bottomless, do not startle some of
   us. Yes, but if we can say, "I have preached righteousness; I have not
   refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have declared thy
   faithfulness and thy salvation," then we may take courage to work nobly
   and to persevere under terrible difficulties. Though for awhile we
   should see no conversions; and though for a season the ploughshare
   should break against the rock, or against even the very adamant itself,
   yet still if we can say, "I have preached righteousness, I have not
   refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth"--we
   are exonerated from blame; nay, more, we are unto God a sweet savor of
   Christ in the testimony we have delivered. Yes, brethren, I apprehend
   that amongst the sweetest dying-bed recollections, and amongst the
   minor comforts, in taking our farewell of the world as it is, not the
   least will be that of having been constant and faithful all our lives
   to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

   Give me a few minutes longer while I turn this sermon into the special
   direction which it was intended to take. I do not know that there are
   many more "young men" present to-night than there are usually at our
   week-day lecture. I generally find when I preach a sermon for any of
   our societies it so happens that everybody connected with the society
   seems to stay away. They would be willing enough to come if it were for
   the Primitive Methodist, or any other denomination. They are in love
   with everybody else except their own relations. I do not say this by
   way of censure, but surely if there be a people under heaven without a
   grain of clannishness it is that denomination to which we belong. If it
   had been a sermon for Jews or Turks the building would have been
   crowded; but as it is for ourselves it does not signify. However, if
   they are not present for whom it was intended, they may probably read
   the sermon; so I will add a few words expressly for them.

   Young man, it may be that you are one of those who ought to become a
   missionary; it may be that you ought to dedicate your life to some work
   for God either at home or abroad. Well, if it be so, do not mistake
   your path in life. We do not urge you to rush into the ministry, much
   less into the foreign ministry, unless you are called to it, for that
   is the very last place for a man to be in who is not called to the
   work. Act as a Christian young man for once in your life by asking
   whether it may not be your vocation to bear the cross of Christ into
   lands where as yet it is unknown. Surely, whatever answer you may feel
   called upon to give you will be ready for it. You will at least be
   willing to give yourself up to the very hardest form of service to
   which you maybe called. I should like you, then, to be sure about this
   on the outset lest you should in the turn of the road miss the path and
   so not be able to say at the last: "I have preached righteousness; lo,
   I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy
   righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
   salvation; I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from
   the great congregation." I should not like you, if meant by the gifts
   of God for a great missionary, to die a millionaire. I should not like
   it, were you fitted to be a missionary, that you should drivel down
   into a king; for what are all your kings, what are all your nobles,
   what are all your stars, what are all your garters, what are all your
   diadems and your tiaras, when you put them all together, compared with
   the dignity of winning souls for Christ, with the special honor of
   building for Christ, not on another man's foundation, but preaching
   Christ's gospel in regions yet far beyond? I reckon him to be a man
   honored of men who can do a foreign work for Christ, but he who shall
   go farthest in self-annihilation and in the furtherance of the glory of
   Christ, he shall be a king among men, though he wear no crown that
   carnal eyes can see. Ask yourselves the question then, Christian young
   men, whether that is your vocation.

   Should it happen that you feel convinced this is not your calling,
   remember you may still in your daily business be able to say these
   words. Some of my friends here never will be able to say them. They
   have been church members for twenty years, and during all those twenty
   years they have not preached righteousness, they have refrained their
   lips, they have hidden his righteousness, they have not declared his
   faithfulness and his salvation, they have concealed his lovingkindness
   and his truth. You, young men and women, have an opportunity of doing
   what is gone from them. Though they might publish Christ abroad from
   now till they die, there are twenty years they must ever regret and
   look back upon as waste land for which they will have to give an
   account at the last. You have, it may be, those twenty years before
   you, and it is a noble thing to begin working young, and so long as
   ever you live to go on building on that work. I have heard it said that
   you should not put young converts to work for which they are not
   qualified. Ah! say I, put the youngsters in; they will never learn to
   swim if they are not put in at once. Why should you, young men and
   women, be received as church members at all unless you are prepared to
   do something for Christ? Work becomes you as well as worship. I mean,
   of course, if not disqualified by sickness, and even then there is a
   sphere for testimony. You can make a sick bed a pulpit to preach
   Christ, while by patience and resignation you show forth his praise. No
   one should join a church without seeking out something to do for the
   glory of Jesus Christ. Do start your lives, young men, with high
   purpose, that you may close them with holy cheer.

   In order to do this, you will need much more zeal than you are likely
   to possess by making resolutions, and much more grace than you will
   ordinarily get without much self-denial and devout consecration. You
   have need to be baptised into the Holy Ghost and in fire. I do like
   those converts who are thoroughly purged from the corruptions of the
   world, and thoroughly converted to God, every faculty of the mind and
   every member of the body being surrendered to Christ, all of them as
   instruments of righteousness. We seem to get some people who are not
   half converted. I hope their hearts are converted, but the effect is
   not to drain their pockets or to set their hands to work.

   You need, dear friends, to go much to Jesus Christ, to live much in
   communion with him, for this life-service has many expenses, and you
   have no ready money. You must go to the great exchequer of the King of
   kings and draw from its inexhaustible treasury. Do so. Do resolve to
   live lavishly in the service of Christ, and the divine storehouse will
   supply all that you need, be your ambition as large as it may.

   There are habits, it is true, to be acquired which must be the result
   of growth, for they cannot be matured without the manifold experience
   of sunshine and shower, summer and winter, heat and cold; to all of
   these you will be exposed. But when once you have yielded ourselves to
   those divine influences which foster life, you will prove that by all
   these things men live. To this I can bear you witness. Drudgery ceases
   to be irksome when the ruling passion of laboring for the Lord has
   begun to ferment in your breasts, and the sweet assurance that your
   labor is not in vain in the Lord has quickened a sacred enthusiasm in
   your spirit. It may be that in your apprenticeship you have to
   encounter many hardships, but it shall be that in the full discharge of
   your vocation you will reap a harvest of joy.

   God help you never to refrain from preaching the truth, never to
   withhold any part of it; may you be clear in all these matters as
   before the living God.

   Oh! yours will be cheerful dying if you familiarise yourselves with
   such noble living as this. You will have a welcome entrance into heaven
   if such has been your life on earth. The pastor, when he can preach no
   more the gospel, will say, "I preached when there was time, and now I
   will sing when sermons all are o'er." You Sunday-school teachers cannot
   teach any longer, but your Sabbath recreations below will prove the
   sweet prelude to your Sabbatic felicities above. Tract distributors,
   now that all your work is over, you will say, "I did but distribute the
   leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the people, but now I
   feed myself on all its luscious fruits."

   I do not say that rewards are given as mere rewards of merit, but this
   I do assuredly know, there are rewards given in respect of service
   through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I pray you seek the
   prize. So run that you may obtain it. May you be able to say, "While I
   was down below where service could be done for my Master--

   "In works which perfect saints above,

   And holy angels cannot do,"

   with all my might I labored to excel, and now I enter into the bliss of
   him who helped and strengthened me, who revealed his grace in me, and
   counted me worthy to put me into some part of the ministry of his
   church."

   God bless you, dear friends, and make you earnest to tell to others
   those things he has made known unto you, for our Lord Jesus Christ's
   sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 40.
     __________________________________________________________________

                             All Fulness in Christ

   A Sermon

   (No. 978)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, February 26th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
   dwell."--Colossians 1:19.

   THE PREACHER IS UNDER NO DIFFICULTIES this morning as to the practical
   object to be aimed at in his discourse. Every subject should be
   considered with an object, every discourse should have a definite
   spiritual aim; otherwise we do not so much preach as play at preaching.
   The connection plainly indicates what our drift should be. Read the
   words immediately preceding the text, and you find it declared that our
   Lord Jesus is in all things to have the pre-eminence. We would seer; by
   this text to yield honor and glory to the ever-blessed Redeemer, and
   enthrone him in the highest seat in our hearts. O that we may all be in
   an adoring frame of mind, and may give him the pre-eminence in our
   thoughts, beyond all things or persons in heaven or earth. Blessed is
   he who can do or think: the most to honor such a Lord as our Immanuel.
   The verse which succeeds the text, shows us how we may best promote the
   glory of Christ, for since he came into this world that he might
   reconcile the things in heaven and the things in earth to himself, we
   shall best glorify him by falling in with his great design of mercy. By
   seeking to bring sinners into a state of reconciliation with God, we
   are giving to the great Reconciler the pre-eminence. On gospel shall be
   the gospel of reconciliation on this occasion. May the reconciling word
   come home by the power of Christ's Spirit to many, so that hundreds of
   souls may from this day forth glorify the great Ambassador who has made
   peace by the blood of his cross.

   The text is a great deep, we cannot explore it, but we will voyage over
   its surface joyously, the Holy Spirit giving us a favorable wind. Here
   are plenteous provisions far exceeding, those of Solomon, though at the
   sight of that royal profusion, Sheba's queen felt that there was no
   more spirit in her, and declared that the half had not been told to
   her.

   It may give some sort of order to our thoughts if they fall under four
   heads. What is here spoken of--"all fullness." Where is it placed--"in
   him," that is, in the Redeemer. We are told why, because "it pleased
   the Father;" and we have also a note of time, or when, in the word
   "dwell." "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell."
   Those catch words, what, where, why, and when, may help you to remember
   the run of the sermon.

   I. First, then, let us consider the subject before us, or WHAT--"It
   pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Two mighty
   words; "fullness a substantial, comprehensive, expressive word in
   itself, and "all," a great little word including everything. When
   combined in the expression, "all fullness," we have before us a
   superlative wealth of meaning.

   Blessed be God for those two words. Our hearts rejoice to think that
   there is such a thing in the universe as "all fullness," for in the
   most of mortal pursuits utter barrenness is found. "Vanity of vanity
   all is vanity." Blessed be the Lord for ever that he has provided a
   fullness for us, for in us by nature there is all emptiness and utter
   vanity. "In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." In
   us there is a lack of all merit, an absence of all power to procure
   any, and even an absence of will to procure it if we could. In these
   respects human nature is a desert, empty, and void, and waste,
   inhabited only by the dragon of sin, and the bittern of sorrow. Sinner,
   saint, to you both alike these words, "all fullness," sound like a holy
   hymn. The accents are sweet as those of the angel-messenger when he
   sang, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy." Are they not
   stray notes from celestial sonnets? "All fullness." You, sinner, are
   all emptiness and death, you, saint, would be so if it were not for the
   "all fullness" of Christ of which you have received; therefore both to
   saint and sinner the words are full of hope. There is joy in these
   words to every soul conscious of its sad estate, and humbled before
   God.

   I will ring the silver bell again, "all fullness," and another note
   charms us; it tells us that Christ is substance, and not shadow,
   fullness, and not foretaste. This is good news for us, for nothing but
   realities will meet our case. Types may instruct, but they cannot
   actually save. The patterns of the things in the heavens are too weak
   to serve our turn, we need the heavenly things themselves. No bleeding
   bird nor slaughtered bullock, nor running stream, nor scarlet wool and
   hyssop, can take away our sins.

   "No outward forms can make me clean,

   The leprosy lies deep within."

   Ceremonies under the old dispensation were precious because they set
   forth the realities yet to be revealed, but in Christ Jesus we deal
   with the realities themselves, and this is a happy circumstance for us;
   for both our sins and our sorrows are real, and only substantial
   mercies can counteract them. In Jesus, we have the substance of all
   that the symbols set forth. He is our sacrifice, our altar, our priest,
   our incense, our tabernacle, our all in all. The law had "the shadow of
   good things to come," but in Christ we have "the very image of the
   things."Hebrews 10:1. What transport is this to those who so much feel
   their emptiness that they could not be comforted by the mere
   representation of a truth, or the pattern of a truth, or the symbol of
   a truth, but must have the very substance itself! "The law was given by
   Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."John 1:16.

   I must return to the words of the text again, for I perceive more honey
   dropping from the honeycomb. "All fullness" is a wide, far-reaching,
   all-comprehending term, and in its abundant store it offers another
   source of delight. What joy these words give to us when we remember
   that our vast necessities demand a fullness, yea, "all fullness,"
   before they can be supplied! A little help will be of no use to us, for
   we are altogether without strength. A limited measure of mercy will
   only mock our misery. A low degree of grace will never be enough to
   bring us to heaven, defiled as we are with sin, beset with dangers,
   encompassed with infirmities, assailed by temptations, molested with
   afflictions, and all the while bearing about with us "the body of this
   death." But "all fullness," ay, that will suit us. Here is exactly what
   our desperate estate demands for its recovery. Had the Savior only put
   out his finger to help our exertions, or had he only stretched out his
   hand to perform a measure of salvation's work, while he left us to
   complete it, our soul had for ever dwelt in darkness. In these words,
   "all fullness," we hear the echo of his death-cry, "It is finished." We
   are to bring nothing, but to find all in him, yea, the fullness of all
   in him: we are simply to receive out of his fullness grace for grace.
   We are not asked to contribute, nor required to make up deficiencies,
   for there are none to make up--all, all is laid up in Christ. All that
   we shall want between this place and heaven, all we could need between
   the gates of hell, where we lay in our blood, to the gates of heaven,
   where we shall find welcome admission, is treasured up for us in the
   Lord Christ Jesus.

   "Great God, the treasures of thy love

   Are everlasting mines,

   Deep as our helpless miseries are,

   And boundless as our sins."

   Did I not say well that the two words before us are a noble hymn? Let
   them, I pray you, lodge in your souls for many days; they will be
   blessed guests. Let these two wafers, made with honey, lie under your
   tongue; let them satiate your souls, for they are heavenly bread. The
   more you bemoan your emptiness the sweeter these words will be; the
   more you feel that you must draw largely upon the bank of heaven, the
   more will you rejoice that your drafts will never diminish the
   boundless store, for still will it retain the name and the quality of
   "all fullness."

   The expression here used denotes that there is in Jesus Christ the
   fullness of the Godhead; as it is written, "In him dwelleth all the
   fullness of the Godhead bodily." When John saw the Son of Man in
   Patmos, the marks of Deity were on him. "His head and his hairs were
   white like wool, as white as snow"--here was his eternity; "His eyes
   were as a flame of fire"--here was his omniscience; "Out of his mouth
   went a sharp two-edged sword"--here was the omnipotence of his word;
   "And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength"--here was
   his unapproachable and infinite glory. He is the Alpha and Omega, the
   beginning and the end, the first and the last. Hence nothing is too
   hard for him. Power, wisdom, truth, immutability, and all the
   attributes of God are in him, and constitute a fullness inconceivable
   and inexhaustible. The most enlarged intellect must necessarily fail to
   compass the personal fullness of Christ as God; therefore we do no more
   than quote again that noble text: "In him dwelleth all the fullness of
   the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in him."

   Fulness, moreover, dwells in our Lord not only intrinsically from his
   nature, but as the result of his mediatorial world. He achieved by
   suffering as well as possessed by nature a wondrous fullness. He
   carried on his shoulders the load of our sin; he expiated by his death
   our guilt, and now he has merit with the Father, infinite,
   inconceivable, a fullness of desert. The Father has stored up in Christ
   Jesus, as in a reservoir, for the use of all his people, his eternal
   love and his unbounded grace, that it may come to us through Christ
   Jesus, and that we may glorify him. All power is put into his hands,
   and life, and light, and grace, are to the full at his disposal. "He
   shutteth and no man openeth, he openeth and no man shutteth." He has
   received gifts for men; yea, for the righteous also. Not only as the
   Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, is he the possessor of heaven and
   earth, and therefore filled with all fullness, but seeing that as the
   Mediator he has finished our redemption, "he is made of God unto us
   wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Glory
   be to his name for this double fullness.

   Turn the thought round again, and remember that all fullness dwells in
   Christ towards God and towards men. All fullness towards God and--I
   mean all that God requires of man; all that contents and delights the
   eternal mind, so that once again with complacency he may look down on
   his creature and pronounce him "very good." The Lord looked for grapes
   in his vineyard, and it brought forth wild grapes, but now in Christ
   Jesus the great Husbandman beholds the true vine which bringeth forth
   much fruit. The Creator required obedience, and he beholds in Christ
   Jesus the servant who has never failed to do the Master's will. Justice
   demanded that the law should be kept, and, lo, Christ is the end of the
   law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Seeing that we had
   broken the law, justice required the endurance of the righteous
   penalty, and Jesus has borne it to the full, for he bowed his head to
   death, even the death of the cross. When God made man a little lower
   than the angels, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and
   so made him immortal, he had a right to expect singular service from so
   favored a being--a service perfect, joyful, continuous; and our Savior
   has rendered unto the Father that which perfectly contents him; for he
   cries, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." God is more
   glorified in the person of his Son than he would have been by an
   unfallen world. There shines out through the entire universe a display
   of infinite mercy, justice, and wisdom, such as neither the majesty of
   nature nor the excellence of providence could have revealed. His work
   in God's esteem is honorable and precious; for his righteousness sake,
   God is well pleased. The Eternal mind is satisfied with the Redeemer's
   person, work, and sacrifice; for "unto the Son, he saith, Thy throne, O
   God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of
   thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
   therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
   gladness above thy fellows."Hebrews 1:8,9.

   What unspeakable consolations arise from this truth, for, dear
   brethren, if we had to render to God something by which we should be
   accepted, we should be always in jeopardy; but now since we are
   "accepted in the Beloved," we are safe beyond all hazard. And we to
   find wherewithal we should appear before the Most High God, we might
   still be asking, "Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
   calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
   or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?" But now hear the voice which
   saith, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin
   thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein:" we hear the same
   divine voice add, "Lo, I come to do thy will," and we rejoice as we
   receive the witness of the Spirit, saying, "By the which will ye are
   sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
   all," for henceforth is it said, "Their sins and iniquities will I
   remember no more for ever."

   The all-fullness of Christ is also man-ward, and that in respect of
   both the sinner and the saint. There is a fullness in Christ Jesus
   which the seeking sinner should behold with joyfulness. What dost thou
   want, sinner? Thou wantest all things, but Christ is all. Thou wantest
   power to believe in him--he giveth power to the faint. Thou wantest
   repentance--he was exalted on high to give repentance as well as
   remission of sin. Thou wantest a new heart: the covenant runs thus, "A
   new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit will I put within
   them." Thou wantest pardon--behold his streaming wounds wash thou and
   be clean. Thou wantest healing: he is "the Lord that healeth thee."
   Thou wantest clothing--his righteousness shall become thy dress. Thou
   wantest preservation--thou shalt be preserved in him. Thou wantest
   life, and he has said, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the
   dead, and Christ shall give thee life." He is come that we might have
   life. Thou wantest--but indeed, the catalogue were much too long for us
   to read it through at this present, yet be assured though thou pile up
   thy necessities till they rise like Alps before thee, yet the
   all-sufficient Savior can remove all thy needs. You may confidently
   sing--

   "Thou, O Christ, art all I want,

   More than all in thee I find."

   This is true also of the saint as well as the sinner. O child of God,
   thou art now saved, but thy wants are not therefore removed. Are they
   not as continuous as thy heart-beats? When are we not in want, my
   brethren? The more alive we are to God, the more are we aware of our
   spiritual necessities. He who is "blind and naked," thinks himself to
   be "rich and increased in goods," but let the mind be truly
   enlightened, and we feel that we are completely dependent upon the
   charity of God. Let us be glad, then, as we learn that there is no
   necessity in our spirit but what is abundantly provided for in the all
   fullness of Jesus Christ. You seek for a higher platform of spiritual
   attainments, you aim to conquer sin, you desire to be plentiful in
   finis unto his glory, you are longing to be useful, you are anxious to
   subdue the hearts of others unto Christ; behold the needful grace for
   all this. In the sacred armoury of the Son of David behold your
   battle-ax and your weapons of war; in the stores of him who is greater
   than Aaron see the robes in which to fulfill your priesthood; in the
   wounds of Jesus behold the power with which you may become a living
   sacrifice. If you would glow like a seraph, and serve like an apostle,
   behold the grace awaiting you in Jesus. If you would go from strength
   to strength, climbing the loftiest summits of holiness, behold grace
   upon grace prepared for you if you are straitened, it will not be in
   Christ; if there be any bound to your holy attainments, it is set by
   yourself. The infinite God himself gives himself to you in the person
   of his dear Son, and he saith to you, "All things are yours." "The Lord
   is the portion of your inheritance and of your cup." Infinity is ours.
   Be who gave us his own Son has in that very deed given us all things.
   Bath he not said, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the
   land of Egypt; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it"?

   Let me remark that this is not only true of saints on earth, but it is
   true also of saints in heaven, for all the fullness of the church
   triumphant is in Christ as well as that of the church militant. They
   are nothing even in heaven without him. The pure river of the water of
   life of which they drink, proceedeth out of the throne of God and of
   the Lamb. He hath made them priests and kings, and in his power they
   reign. Those snowy robes were washed and made white in his blood. The
   Lamb is the temple of heaven (Revelation 21:22), the light of heaven
   (Revelation 21:23), his marriage is the joy of heaven (Revelation
   19:7), and the Song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the
   Lamb, is the song of heaven (Revelation 15:3). Not all the harps above
   could make a heavenly place if Christ were gone; for he is the heaven
   of heaven, and filleth all in all. It pleased the Father that for all
   saints and sinners all fullness should be treasured up in Christ Jesus.

   I feel that my text overwhelms me. Men may sail round the world, but
   who can circumnavigate so vast a subject as this? As far as the east is
   from the west so wide is its reach of blessings.

   "Philosophers have measured mountains,

   Fathomed the depths of seas, of states, and kings,

   Walked with a staff to Heaven, and traced fountains:

   But there are two vast spacious things,

   The which to measure it doth more behove:

   Yet few there are that sound them: Grace and Love."

   Who is he that shall be able to express all that is meant by our text?
   for here we have "all" and "fullness"--and in fullness and a fullness
   in all. The words are both exclusive and inclusive. They deny that
   there is any fullness elsewhere, for they claim all for Christ. They
   shut out all others. "It pleased the Father that in him should all
   fullness dwell." Not in you, ye pretended successors of the apostles,
   can anything dwell that I need. I can do well enough without you; nay,
   I would not insult my Savior by trading with, you, for since "all
   fullness" is in him, what call there be in you that I can require? Go
   to your dupes who know not Christ, but those who possess the exceeding
   riches of Christ's grace bow not to you. We are "complete in Christ"
   without you, O hierarchy of bishops; without you, ye conclave of
   cardinals; and without you, O fallible infallible, unholy Holiness of
   Rome. He who has all in Christ would be insane indeed if he looked for
   more, or having fullness craved for emptiness. This text drives us from
   all confidence in men, ay, or even in angels, by making us see that
   everything is treasured up in Jesus Christ. Brethren, if there be any
   good in what is called catholicism, or in ritualism, or in the modern
   philosophical novelties, let religionists have what they find there; we
   shall not envy them, for they can find nothing worth having in their
   forms of worship or belief but what we must have already in the person
   of the all-sufficient Savior. What if their candles burn brightly, the
   sun itself is ours! What if they are successors of the apostles, we
   follow the Lamb himself whithersoever he goeth! What if they be
   exceeding wise, we dwell with the Incarnate Wisdom himself! Let them go
   to their cisterns, we will abide by the fountain of living water. But
   indeed there is no light in their luminaries, they do but increase the
   darkness; they are blind leaders of the blind. They put their sounding
   emptinesses into competition with the all-fullness of Jesus, and preach
   another gospel which is not another. The imprecation of the apostle be
   upon them. They add unto the words of God, and he shall add to them its
   plagues.

   While the text is exclusive it is also inclusive. It shuts in
   everything that is required for time and for eternity for all the
   blood-bought. It is an ark containing all good things conceivable, yea,
   and many that are as yet inconceivable; for by reason of our weakness
   we have not yet conceived the fullness of Christ. Things which ye yet
   have not asked nor even thought, he is able to give you abundantly. If
   you should arrive at the consecration of martyrs, the piety of
   apostles, the purity of angels, yet should you never have seen or be
   able to think of anything pure, lovely, and of good report, that was
   not already treasured up in Christ Jesus. All the rivers flow into this
   sea, for from this sea they, came. As the atmosphere surrounds all the
   earth, and all things live in that sea of air, so all good things are
   contained in the blessed person of our dear Redeemer. Let us join to
   praise him. Let us extol him with heart and voice, and let sinners be
   reconciled unto God by him. If all the good things are in him which a
   sinner can require to make him accountable with God, then let the
   sinner come at once through Such a mediator. Let doubts and fears
   vanish at the sight of the mediatorial fullness. Jesus must be able to
   save to the uttermost, since all fullness dwells in him. Come, sinner;
   come and receive him. Believe thou in him and thou shalt find thyself
   made perfect in Christ Jesus.

   "The moment a sinner believes,

   And trusts in his crucified God,

   His pardon at once he receives,

   Redemption in full through his blood."

   II. Having thus spoken of what, we now turn to consider WHERE.

   "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Where
   else could all fullness have been placed? There was wanted a vast
   capacity to contain "all fullness." Where dwells there a being with
   nature capacious enough to compass within himself all fullness? As well
   might we ask, "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
   and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the
   earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills
   in a balance?" To him only could it belong to contain "all fullness,"
   for he must be equal with God, the Infinite. How suitable was the Son
   of the Highest, who "was by him, as one brought up with him," to become
   the grand storehouse of all the treasures of wisdom, and knowledge and
   grace, and salvation. Moreover, there was wanted not only capacity to
   contain, but immutability to retain the fullness, for the text says,
   "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell" that is,
   abide, and remain, for ever. Now if any kind of fullness could be put
   into us mutable creatures, yet by reason of our frailty we should prove
   but broken cisterns that can hold no water. The Redeemer is Jesus
   Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever: therefore was it meet
   that all fullness should be placed in him. "The Son abideth ever." "He
   is a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." "Being made
   perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all they that
   obey him." "His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued
   as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall
   call him blessed."

   Perhaps the sweetest thought is, that the "all fullness" is fitly
   placed in Christ Jesus, because in him there is a suitability to
   distribute it, so that we may obtain it from him. How could we come to
   God himself for grace? for "even our God is a consuming fire." But
   Jesus Christ while God is also man like ourselves, truly man, of a meek
   lowly spirit, and therefore easily approachable. They who know him,
   delight in nearness to him. Is it not sweet that all fullness should be
   treasured up in him who was the friend of publicans and sinners: and
   who came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost? The
   Man who took the child up on his knee and said, "Suffer the little
   children to come unto me," the Man who was tempted in all points like
   as we are, the Man who touched the sick, nay, who "bore their
   sicknesses," the Man who gave his hands to the nails, and his heart to
   the spear; that blessed Man, into the print of whose nails his disciple
   Thomas put his finger, and into whose side he thrust his hand; it is
   he, the incarnate God, in whom all fullness dwells. Come, then, and
   receive of him, you who are the weakest, the most mean, and most sinful
   of men. Come at once, O sinner, and fear not.

   "Why art thou afraid to come,

   And tell him all thy ease?

   He will not pronounce thy doom,

   Nor frown thee from his face.

   Wilt thou fear Immanuel?

   Or dread the Lamb of (God,

   Who, to save thy soul from hell,

   Has shed his precious blood?"

   Let it be noted here, however, very carefully, that while fullness is
   treasured up in Christ, it is not said to be treasured up in the
   doctrines of Christ; though they are full and complete, and we need no
   other teachings when the Spirit reveals the Son in us; nor is it said
   to be treasured up in the commands of Christ, although they are amply
   sufficient for our guidance; but it is said, "It pleased the Father
   that in him," in his person, "should all fullness dwell." In him, as
   God incarnate dwelleth in all the fullness of the godhead bodily;" not
   as a myth, a dream, a thought, a fiction, but as a living, real
   personality. We must lay hold of this. I know that the fullness dwells
   in him officially as Prophet, Priest, and King--but the fullness lies
   not in the prophetic mantle, nor in the priestly ephod, nor in the
   royal vesture, but in the person that wears all these. "It pleased the
   Father that in him should all fullness dwell." You must get to the very
   Christ in your faith and rest alone in him, or else you have not
   reached the treasury wherein all fullness is stored up. All fullness is
   in him radically; if there be fullness in his work, or his gifts, or
   his promises, all is derived from his person, which gives weight and
   value to all. All the promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. The
   merit of his death lies mainly in his person, because he was God who
   gave himself for us, and his own self bare our sins in his own body on
   the tree. The excellence of his person gave fullness to his
   sacrifice.Hebrews 1:3. His power to save at this very day lies in his
   person, for "he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto
   God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." I
   desire you to see this, and feel it; for when your soul clasps the
   pierced feet of Jesus, and looks up into the face more marred than that
   of any man, even if you cannot understand all his works and offices,
   yet if you believe in him, you have reached the place wherein all
   fullness dwells, and of his fullness you shall receive.

   Beloved, remember our practical aim. Praise his person, ye saints! Be
   ye reconciled to God through his person, ye sinners! Ye angels, lead us
   in the song! Ye spirits redeemed by blood, sing, "Worthy is the Lamb
   that was slain," and our hearts shall keep tune with yours, for we owe
   the same debt to him. Glory be unto the person of the blessed Lamb.
   "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and
   power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever." Would God we
   could see him face to face, and adore him as we would. O sinners, will
   you not be reconciled to God through him, since all fullness is in him,
   and he stoops to your weakness, and holds forth his pierced hands to
   greet you? See him stretching out both his hands to receive you, while
   he sweetly woos you to come to God through him. Come unto him. O come
   with hasty steps, ye penitents; come at once, ye guilty ones! Who would
   not be reconciled unto God by such a one as this, in whom all fullness
   of grace is made to dwell?

   III. The third question is, WHY? "It pleased the Father." That is
   answer enough. He is a sovereign, let him do as he wills. Ask the
   reason for election, you shall receive no other than this, "Even so,
   Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." That one answer may reply
   to ten thousand questions, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him
   good." Once "it pleased the Father to bruise him," and now "it pleased
   the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Sovereignty may
   answer the question sufficiently, but hearken! I hear justice speak,
   should not be silent. Justice saith there was no person in heaven or
   under heaven so meet to contain the fullness of grace as Jesus.

   None so meet to be glorified as the Savior, who "made himself of no
   reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and being
   found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient to
   death, even the death of the cross." It is but justice that the grace
   which he has brought to us should be treasured up in him. And while
   justice speaks wisdom will not withhold her voice. Wise art thou, O
   Jehovah, to treasure up grace in Christ, for to him men can come; and
   to him coming, as unto a living stone, chosen of God and precious, men
   find him precious also to their souls. The Lord has laid our hell, in
   the right place, for he has laid it upon one that is mighty, and who is
   as loving as he is mighty, as ready as he is able to save. Moreover, in
   the fitness of things the Father's pleasure is the first point to be
   considered, for all things ought to be to the good pleasure of God. It
   is a great underlying rule of the universe that all things were created
   for God's pleasure. God is the source and fountain of eternal love, and
   it is but meet that he should convey it to us by what channel he may
   elect. Bowing, therefore, in lowly worship at his throne, we are glad
   that in this matter the fullness dwells where it perpetually satisfies
   the decree of heaven. It is well that "it pleased the Father."

   Now, brethren, if it pleased the Father to place all grace in Christ,
   let us praise the elect Savior. What pleases God pleases us. Where
   would you desire to have grace placed, my brethren, but in the
   Well-beloved? The whole church of God is unanimous about this. If I
   could save myself I would not; I would think salvation to be no
   salvation if it did not glorify Jesus. This is the very crown and glory
   of being saved, that our being saved will bring honor to Christ. It is
   delightful to think that Christ will have the glory of all God's grace;
   it were shocking if it were not so. Who could bear to see Jesus robbed
   of his reward? We are indignant that any should usurp his place, and
   ashamed of ourselves that we do not glorify him more. No joy ever
   visits my soul like that of knowing that Jesus is highly exalted, and
   that to him "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus
   Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." A sister in Christ, in
   her kindness and gratitude, used language to me the other day which
   brought a blush to my cheek, for I felt ashamed to be so undeserving of
   the praise. She said, "Your ministry profits me because you glorify
   Christ so much." Ah, I thought, if you knew how I would glorify him if
   I could, and how far I fall below what I fain would do for him, You
   would not commend me. I could weep over the best sermons I have ever
   preached because I cannot extol my Lord enough, and my conceptions are
   so low, and my words so poor. Oh, if one could but attain really to
   honor him, and put another crown upon his head, it were heaven indeed!
   We are in this agreed with the Father, for if it pleases him to glorify
   his Son, we sincerely feel that it pleases us.

   Ought not those who are yet unrenewed, to hasten to be reconciled to
   God by such a Redeemer? If it pleases the Father to put all grace in
   Christ, O sinner, does it not please you to come and receive it through
   Christ? Christ is the meeting-place for a sinner and his God. God is in
   Christ, and when you come to Christ, God meets you, and a treaty of
   peace is made between you and the Most High. Are you not agreed with
   God in this--that Christ shall be glorified? Do you not say, "I would
   glorify him by accepting this morning all his grace, love, and mercy"?
   Well, if you are willing to receive Jesus, God has made you willing,
   and therein proved his willingness to save you. He is pleased with
   Christ. Are you pleased with Christ? If so, there is already peace
   between you and God, for Jesus "is our peace."

   IV. We must close by dwelling upon the WHEN. When is all fullness in
   Jesus? It is there in all time, past, present, and to come. "It pleased
   the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Fulness, then, was
   in Christ of old, is in Christ to-day, will be in Christ for ever.
   Perpetuity is here indicated; all fullness was, is, shall be in the
   person of Jesus Christ. Every saint saved under the old dispensation
   found the fullness of his salvation in the coming Redeemer, every saint
   saved since the advent is saved through the selfsame fullness. From the
   streaming fount of the wounds of Christ on Calvary, redemption flows
   evermore; and as long as there is a sinner to be saved, or one elect
   soul to be ingathered, Christ's blood shall never lose its power, the
   fullness of merit and grace shall abide the same.

   While the expression "dwell" indicates perpetuity, does not it indicate
   constancy and accessibility? A man who dwells in a house is always to
   be found there, it is his home. The text seems to me to say that this
   fullness of grace is always to be found in Christ, ever abiding in him.
   Knock at this door by prayer, and you shall find it at home. If a
   sinner anywhere is saving, "God be merciful to me!" mercy has not gone
   out on travel, it dwells in Christ both night and day; it is there now
   at this moment. There is life in a look at the crucified One, not at
   certain canonical hours, but at any hour, in any place, by any man who
   looks. "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart
   is overwhelmed," and my prayer shall not be rejected. There is fullness
   of mercy in Christ to be had at any time, at any season, from any
   place. It pleased the Father that all fullness should permanently abide
   in him as in a house whose door is never shut.

   Above all, we see here immutability. All fullness dwells in
   Christ--that is to say, it is never exhausted nor diminished. On the
   last day wherein this world shall stand before it is given up to be
   devoured with fervent heat, there shall be found as much fullness in
   Christ as in the hour when the first sinner looked unto him and was
   lightened. O sinner, the bath that cleanses is as efficacious to take
   out spots to-day as it was when the dying thief washed therein. O thou
   despairing sinner, there is as much consolation in Christ to-day as
   when he said to the woman, "Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace."
   His grace has not diminished. He is to-day as great a Savior as when
   Magdalen was delivered from seven devils. Till time shall be no more he
   will exercise the same infinite power to forgive, to renew, to deliver,
   to sanctify, to perfectly save souls.

   Shall not all this make us praise Christ, since all fullness is
   permanent in him? Let our praises abide where the fullness abides. "All
   thy works praise thee, O God, but thy saints shall bless thee;" yea,
   they shall never cease their worship, because thou shalt never abate
   thy fullness This is a topic upon which we who love Christ, are all
   agreed. We can dispute about doctrines, and we have different views
   upon ordinances; but we have all one view concerning our Lord Jesus.
   Let him sit on a glorious high throne. When shall the day dawn that he
   shall ride through our streets in triumph? When shall England and
   Scotland, and all the nations become truly the dominions of the great
   King? Our prayer is that he may hasten the spread of the gospel, and
   his own coming as seemeth good in his sight. O that he were glorious in
   the eyes of men!

   And surely if all fullness abides perpetually in Christ, there is good
   reason why the unreconciled should this morning, avail themselves of
   it. May the blessed Spirit show thee, O sinner, that there is enough in
   Jesus Christ to meet thy wants, that thy, weakness need not keep thee
   back, nor even the hardness of thy heart, nor the inveteracy of thy
   will; for Christ is able even to subdue all things to himself. If you
   seek him he will be found of you. Seek him while he may be found. Leave
   not the seat until your soul is bowed at his feet. I think I see him;
   cannot your hearts picture him, glorious to-day, but yet the same
   Savior who was nailed like a felon to the cross for guilty ones? Reach
   forth thy hand and touch the silver scepter of mercy which he holds out
   to thee, for those who touch it live. Look into that dear face where
   tears once made their furrows, and grief its lines; look, I say, and
   live. Look at that brow radiant with many a glittering gem, it once
   wore a crown of thorns; let his love melt you to repentance. Throw
   yourself into his arms now feeling, "If I perish I will perish there.
   He shall be my only hope." As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand,
   there shall never be a soul of you lost who will come and trust in
   Jesus. Heaven and earth shall pass away but this word of God shall
   never pass away. "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved."
   God has said it; will he not do it? He has declared it, it must stand
   fast. "Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have
   everlasting life." O trust ye him! I implore you by the mercy of God,
   and by the fullness of Jesus, trust him now, this day! God grant you
   may, for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Colossians 1.

   The attention of all our friends is earnestly directed to the SERIES OF
   SPECIAL SERVICES AT THE TABERNACLE. In order that London friends may
   unite with us we publish the meetings week by week, and at the same
   time our country friends will join with us in spirit:--

   Lord's-day, March 5th.--A deputation will address Mrs. Bartlett's class
   and the senior classes of the Sabbath School; as also Mrs. Bartlett's
   children's meeting at the Almshouses.

   Monday, March 6th.--Prayer-meeting for females only, at six. For young
   people at the same time. Special prayer-meetings at seven for the
   various agencies of the church. Meetings for enquirers at half-past
   eight.

   Tuesday, March 7th.--The Pastor and others will meet the parents of the
   Sabbath School to tea, and speak with them upon heavenly things.

   Wednesday, March 8th.--Annual Meeting of Mrs. Bartlett's class.

   Thursday, March 9th.--Closing gathering. May our hearts be filled with
   adoring praise. We shall meet to commemorate our Lord's death. Members
   will please show their tickets. Spectators will find room in the
   gallery.
     __________________________________________________________________

                             Faith and Regeneration

   A Sermon

   (No. 979)

   Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, March 5th, 1871 by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and
   everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten of
   him."--1 John 5:1.

   FOR THE PREACHER of the gospel to make full proof of his ministry will
   be a task requiring much divine teaching. Besides much care in the
   manner and spirit, he will need guidance as to his matter. One point of
   difficulty will be to preach the whole truth in fair proportion, never
   exaggerating one doctrine, never enforcing one point, at the expense of
   another, never keeping back any part, nor yet allowing it undue
   prominence. For practical result will much depend upon an equal
   balance, and a right dividing of the word. In one case this matter
   assumes immense importance because it affects vital truths, and may
   lead to very serious results unless rightly attended to; I refer to the
   elementary facts involved in the work of Christ for us, and the
   operations of the Holy Spirit in us. Justification by faith is a matter
   about which there must be no obscurity much less equivocation; and at
   the same time we must distinctly and determinately insist upon it that
   regeneration is necessary to every soul that shall enter heaven. "Ye
   must be born again" is as much a truth as that clear gospel statement,
   "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." It is to be feared
   that some zealous brethren have preached the doctrine of justification
   by faith not only so boldly and so plainly, but also so baldly and so
   out of all connection with other truth, that they have led men into
   presumptuous confidences, and have appeared to lend their countenance
   to a species of Antinomianism very much to be dreaded. From a dead,
   fruitless, inoperative faith we may earnestly pray, "Good Lord, deliver
   us," yet may we be unconsciously, fostering it. Moreover to stand up
   and cry, "Believe, believe, believe," without explaining what is to be
   believed, to lay the whole stress of salvation upon faith without
   explaining what salvation is, and showing that it means deliverance
   from the power as well as from the guilt of sin, may seem to a fervent
   revivalist to be the proper thing for the occasion, but those who have
   watched the result of such teaching have had grave cause to question
   whether as much hurt may not be done by it as good. On the other hand,
   it is our sincere conviction that there is equal danger in the other
   extreme. We are most certain that a man must be made a new creature in
   Christ Jesus, or he is not saved; but some have seen so clearly the
   importance of this truth that they are for ever and always dwelling
   upon the great change of conversion, and its fruits, and its
   consequences, and they hardly appear to remember the glad tidings that
   whosoever believeth on Christ Jesus hath everlasting life. Such
   teachers are apt to set up so high a standard of experience, and to be
   so exacting as to the marks and signs of a true born child of God, that
   they greatly discourage sincere seekers, and fall into a species of
   legality from which we may again say, "Good Lord, deliver us." Never
   let us fail most plainly to testify to the undoubted truth that true
   faith in Jesus Christ saves the soul, for if we do not we shall hold in
   legal bondage many who ought long ago to have enjoyed peace, and to
   have entered into the liberty of the children of God.

   It may not be easy to keep these two things in there proper position,
   but we must aim at it if we would be wise builders. John did so in his
   teaching. If you turn to the third chapter of his gospel it is very
   significant that while he records at length our Saviour's exposition of
   the new birth to Nicodemus, yet in that very same chapter he gives us
   what is perhaps the plainest piece of gospel in all the Scriptures:
   "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
   Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not
   perish, but have everlasting life." So, too, in the chapter before us
   he insists upon a man's being born of God; he brings that up again and
   again, but evermore does he ascribe wondrous efficacy to faith; he
   mentions faith as the index of our being born again, faith as
   overcoming the world, faith as possessing the inward witness, faith as
   having eternal life--indeed, he seems as if he could not heap honour
   enough upon believing, while at the same time he insists upon the grave
   importance of the inward experience connected with the new birth.

   Now, if such difficulty occurs to the preacher, we need not wonder that
   it also arises with the hearer, and causes him questioning. We have
   known many who, by hearing continually the most precious doctrine that
   belief in Jesus Christ is saving, have forgotten other truths, and have
   concluded that they were saved when they were not, have fancied they
   believed when as yet they were total strangers to the experience which
   always attends true faith. They have imagined faith to be the same
   thing as a presumptuous confidence of safety in Christ, not grounded
   upon the divine word when rightly understood, nor proved by any facts
   in their own souls. Whenever self-examination has been proposed to them
   they have avoided it as an assault upon their assurance, and when they
   have been urged to try themselves by gospel tests, they have defended
   their false peace by the notion that to raise a question about their
   certain salvation would be unbelief. Thus, I fear, the conceit of
   supposed faith in Christ has placed them in an almost hopeless
   position, since the warnings and admonitions of the gospel have been
   set aside by their fatal persuasion that it is needless to attend to
   them, and only necessary to cling tenaciously to the belief that all
   has been done long ago for us by Christ Jesus, and that godly fear and
   careful walking are superfluities, if not actually an offence against
   the gospel. On the other hand, we have known others who have received
   the doctrine of justification by faith as a part of their creed, and
   yet have not accepted it as a practical fact that the believer is
   saved. They so much feel that they must be renewed in the spirit of
   their minds, that they are always looking within themselves for
   evidences, and are the subjects of perpetual doubts. Their natural and
   frequent song is--

   "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?"

   These are a class of people to be much more pitied than condemned.
   Though I would be the very last to spread unbelief, I would be the very
   first to inculcate holy anxiety. It is one thing for a person to be
   careful to know that he is really in Christ, and quite another thing
   for him to doubt the promises of Christ, supposing that they are really
   made to him. There is a tendency in some hearts to look too much
   within, and spend more time studying their outward evidences and their
   inward feelings, than in learning the fullness, freeness, and all
   sufficiency of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. They too much obscure
   the grand evangelical truth that the believer's acceptance with God is
   not in himself, but in Christ Jesus, that we are cleansed through the
   blood of Jesus, that we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, and
   are, in a word, "accepted in the Beloved." I earnestly long that these
   two doctrines may be well balanced in your souls. Only the Holy Spirit
   can teach you this. This is a narrow path which the eagle's eye has not
   seen, and the lions whelp has not trodden. He whom the Holy Ghost shall
   instruct will not give way to presumption and despise the Spirit's work
   within, neither will he forget that salvation is of the Lord Jesus
   Christ, "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
   sanctification, and redemption." The text appears to me to blend these
   two truths in a very delightful harmony, and we will will try to speak
   of them, God helping us.

   "He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." We shall
   consider this morning, first of all, the believing which is here
   intended; and then, secondly, how it is a sure proof of regeneration;
   and then, thirdly, dwelling for awhile upon the closing part of the
   verse we shall show how it becomes an argument for Christian love:
   "Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten
   of him."

   I. WHAT IS THE BELIEVING INTENDED IN THE TEXT? We are persuaded, first
   of all, that the believing here intended is that which our Lord and his
   apostles exhorted men to exercise, and to which the promise of
   salvation is always appended in the word of God; as for instance that
   faith which Peter inculcated when he said to Cornelius, "To him give
   all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in
   him shall receive the remission of sins;" and which our Lord commanded
   when he came into Galilee, saying to men, "Repent ye, and believe the
   gospel" (Mark i. 15). Certain persons have been obliged to admit that
   the apostles commanded, and exhorted, and besought men to believe, but
   they tell us the kind of believing which the apostles bade men exercise
   was not saving faith. Now, God forbid we should ever in our zeal to
   defend a favorite position, be driven to an assertion so monstrous. Can
   we imagine for a moment apostles with burning zeal and ardor, inspired
   by the Spirit of God within them, going about the world exhorting men
   to exercise a faith which after all would not save them? To what
   purpose did they run on so fruitless an errand, so tantalizing to human
   need, so barren of results? When our Lord bade his disciples go into
   all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and added, "he
   that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," the faith which was to
   be preached was evidently none other than a saving faith, and it is
   frivolous to say otherwise. I must confess that I felt shocked the
   other day to read in a certain sermon the remark that the words of Paul
   to the jailor "were spoken in a conversation held at midnight under
   peculiar circumstances, and the evangelist who wrote them was not
   present at the interview." Why, had it been at high noon, and had the
   whole world been present, the apostle could have given no fitter answer
   to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" than the one he did
   give, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It
   is, I repeat, a mere frivolity or worse, to say that the faith enjoined
   by the apostles was a mere human faith which does not save, and that
   there is no certainty that such faith saves the soul. That cause must
   be desperate that calls for such a defence.

   Furthermore, the faith here intended is the duty of all men. Read the
   text again: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
   God." It can never be less than man's duty to believe the truth; that
   Jesus is the Christ is the truth, and it is the duty of every man to
   believe it. I understand her by "believing," confidence in Christ, and
   it is surely the duty of men to confide in that which is worthy of
   confidence, and that Jesus Christ is worthy of the confidence of all
   men is certain, it is therefore the duty of men to confide in him.

   Inasmuch as the gospel command, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
   thou shalt be saved," is addressed by divine authority to every
   creature, it is the duty of every man so to do. What saith John: "This
   is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus
   Christ," and our Lord himself assures us, "He that believeth on him is
   not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
   he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." I
   know there are some who will deny this, and deny it upon the ground
   that man has not the spiritual ability to believe in Jesus, to which I
   reply that it is altogether an error to imagine that the measure of the
   sinners moral ability is the measure of his duty. There are many things
   which men ought to do which they have now lost the moral and spiritual,
   though not the physical, power to do. A man ought to be chaste, but if
   he has been so long immoral that he cannot restrain his passions, he is
   not thereby free from the obligation. It is the duty of a debtor to pay
   his debts, but if he has been such a spendthrift that he has brought
   himself into hopeless poverty, he is not exonerated from his debts
   thereby. Every man ought to believe that which is true, but if his mind
   has become so depraved that he loves a lie and will not receive the
   truth, is he thereby excused? If the law of God is to be lowered
   according to the moral condition of sinners, you would have a law
   graduated upon a sliding- scale to suit the degrees of human
   sinfulness; in fact, the worst man would be under the least law, and
   become consequently the least guilty. God's requirements would be a
   variable quantity, and, in truth, we should be under no rule at all.
   The command of Christ stands good however bad men may be, and when he
   commands all men everywhere to repent, they are bound to repent,
   whether their sinfulness renders it impossible for them to be willing
   to so or not. In every case it is man's duty to do what God bids him.

   At the same time, this faith, wherever it exists, is in every case,
   without exception, the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
   Never yet did a man believe in Jesus with the faith here intended,
   except the Holy Spirit led him to do so. He has wrought all our works
   in us, and our faith too. Faith is too celestial a grace to spring up
   in human nature till it is renewed: faith is in every believer "the
   gift of God." You will say to me, "Are these two things consistent?" I
   reply, "Certainly, for they are both true." "How consistent?" say you.
   "How inconsistent?" say I, and you shall have as much difficulty to
   prove them inconsistent as I to prove them consistent. Experience makes
   them consistent, if theory does not. Men are convinced by the Holy
   Spirit of sin--"of sin," saith Christ, "because they believe not on
   me;" here is one of the truths; but the selfsame hearts are taught the
   same Spirit that faith is of the operation of God. (Col. ii. 2)
   Brethren be willing to see both sides of the shield of truth. Rise
   above the babyhood which cannot believe two doctrines until it sees the
   connecting link. Have you not two eyes, man? Must you needs put one of
   them out in order to see clearly? Is it impossible to you to use a
   spiritual stereoscope, and look at two views of truth until they melt
   into one, and that one becomes more real and actual because it is made
   up of two? Man men refuse to see more than one side of a doctrine, and
   persistently fight against anything which is not on its very surface
   consistent with their own idea. In the present case I do not find it
   difficult to believe faith to be at the same time the duty of man and
   the gift of God; and if others cannot accept the two truths, I am not
   responsible for their rejection of them; my duty is performed when I
   have honestly borne witness to them.

   Hitherto we have only been clearing the way. Let us advance. The faith
   intended in the text evidently rests upon a person--upon Jesus.
   "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." It is
   not belief about a doctrine, nor an opinion, nor a formula, but belief
   concerning a person. Translate the words, "Whosoever believeth that
   Jesus is the Christ," and they stand thus: "Whosoever believeth that
   the Saviour is the Anointed is born of God." By which is assuredly not
   meant, whosoever professes to believe that he is so, for many do that
   whose lives prove that they are not regenerate; but, whosoever believes
   it to be the fact, as truly and in very deed to receive Jesus as God
   has set him forth and anointed him, is a regenerate man. What is meant
   by "Jesus is the Christ," or, Jesus is the Anointed? First, that he is
   the Prophet; secondly, that he is the Priest; thirdly, that he is the
   King of the church, for in all these three senses he is the Anointed.
   Now, I may ask myself this question: Do I this day believe that Jesus
   is the great Prophet anointed of God to reveal to me the way of
   salvation? Do I accept him as my teacher and admit that he has the
   words of eternal life? If I so believe, I shall obey his gospel and
   possess eternal life. Do I accept him to be henceforth the revealer of
   God to my soul, the messenger of the covenant, the anointed prophet of
   the Most High? But he is also a priest. Now, a priest is ordained among
   men to offer sacrifices; do I firmly believe that Jesus was ordained to
   offer his one sacrifice for the sins of mankind, by the offering of
   which sacrifice once for all he has finished the atonement and made
   complete expiation? Do I accept his atonement as an atonement for me,
   and receive his death as an expiation upon which I rest my hope for
   forgiveness of all my transgressions? Do I in fact believe Jesus to be
   the one sole, only propitiating Priest, and accept him to act as priest
   for me? If so, then I have in part believed that Jesus is the Anointed.
   But he is also King, and if I desire to know whether I possess the
   right faith, I further must ask myself, "Is Jesus, who is now exalted
   in heaven, who once bled on the cross, is he King to me? Is his law my
   law? Do I desire to submit myself entirely to his government? Do I hate
   what he hates, and love what he loves? Do I live to praise him? Do I,
   as a loyal subject, desire to see his kingdom come and his will be done
   on earth as it is in heaven?" My dear friend, if thou canst heartily
   and earnestly say, "I accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be Prophet,
   Priest, and King to me, because God has anointed him to exercise those
   three offices; and in each of these three characters I unfeignedly
   trust him," then, dear friend, you have the faith of God's elect, for
   it is written, "He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
   God."

   Now we go a little further. True faith is reliance. Look at any Greek
   lexicon you like, and you will find that the word pisteuein does not
   merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to,
   entrust with, and so forth; and the marrow of the meaning of faith is
   confidence in, reliance upon. Let me ask, then, every professor her who
   professes to have faith, is your faith the faith of reliance? You give
   credit to certain statements, do you also place trust in the one who
   glorious person who alone can redeem? Have you confidence as well as
   credence? A creed will not save you, but reliance upon the Anointed
   Saviour is the way of salvation. Remember, I beseech you, that if you
   could be taught an orthodoxy unadulterated with error, and could learn
   a creed written by the pen of the Eternal God himself, yet a mere
   notional faith, such as men exercise when they believe in the existence
   of men in the moon, or nebulae in space, could not save your soul. Of
   this we are sure, because we see around us many who have such a faith,
   and yet evidently are not the children of God.

   Moreover, true faith is not a flattering presumption, by which a man
   says, "I believe I am saved, for I have such delightful feelings, I
   have had a marvelous dream, I have felt very wonderful sensations;" for
   all such confidence may be nothing but mere assumption. Presumption,
   instead of being faith, is the reverse of faith; instead of being the
   substance of things hoped for, it is a mere mirage. Faith, is as
   correct as reason, and if her arguments are considered, she is as
   secure in her conclusions as though she drew them by mathematical
   rules. Beware, I pray you, of a faith which has no basis but your own
   fancy.

   Faith, again, is not the assurance that Jesus died for me. I sometimes
   feel myself a little at variance with that verse--

   "Just as I am--without one plea

   But that thy blood was shed for me."

   It is eminently suitable for a child of God, but I am not sure as to
   its being the precise way for putting the matter for a sinner. I do not
   believe in Jesus because I am persuaded that his blood was shed for me,
   but rather I discover that his blood was shed especially for me from
   the fact that I have been led to believe in him. I fear me there are
   thousands of people who believe that Jesus died for them, who are not
   born of God, but rather are hardened in their sin by their groundless
   hopes of mercy. There is no particular efficacy in a man's assuming
   that Christ has died for me; for it is a mere truism, if it true as
   some teach, that Jesus died for everybody. On such a theory every
   believer in a universal atonement would necessarily be born of God,
   which is very far from being the case. When the Holy Ghost leads us to
   rely upon the Lord Jesus, then the truth that God gave his only
   begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might be saved, is opened
   up to our souls, and we see that for us who are believers, Jesus died
   with the special intent that we should be saved. For the Holy Spirit to
   assure us that Jesus shed his blood for us in particular is one thing,
   but merely to conclude that Jesus for us on the notion that he died for
   everybody is as far as the east is from the west, from being real faith
   in Jesus Christ.

   Neither is it faith for me to be confident that I am saved, for it may
   be the case that I am not saved, and it can never be faith to believe a
   lie. Many have concluded rashly that they were saved when they were
   still in the gall of bitterness. That was not the exhibition of
   confidence in Christ but the exhibition of a base presumption
   destructive to the last degree. To come back to where we started from,
   faith, in a word, is reliance upon Jesus Christ. Whether the Redeemer
   died in special and particular for me or not, is not the question to be
   raised in the first place; I find that he came into the world to save
   sinners, under that general character I come to him, I find that
   whosoever trusteth him shall be saved, I therefore trust him, and
   having done so, I learn from his word that I am the object of his
   special love, and that I am born of God.

   In my first coming to Jesus I can have no knowledge of any personal and
   special interest in the blood of Jesus; but since it is written, "God
   hath set him forth to be a propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
   only, but also for the sins of the whole world," I come and trust
   myself to that propitiation; sink or swim I cast myself on the Saviour.
   Great Son of God, thou hast lived and died, thou hast bled and
   suffered, and made atonement for sin for all such as trust thee, and I
   trust thee, I lean upon thee, I cast myself upon thee. Now, whoever has
   such faith as this is born of God, he has true faith which is proof
   positive of the new birth. Judge ye, therefore, whether ye have this
   faith or no.

   Let me tarry just one minute longer over this. The true faith is set
   forth in Scripture by figures, and one or two of these we will mention.
   It was an eminent type of faith when the Hebrews father in Egypt slew
   the lamb and caught the warm blood in the basin, then took a bunch of
   hyssop and dipped it in the blood and marked the two posts of his door,
   and then struck a red mark across the lintel. That smearing of the door
   represented faith. The deliverance was wrought by the blood; and the
   blood availed through the householder's own personally striking it upon
   his door. Faith does that; it takes of the things of Christ, makes them
   its own, sprinkles the soul, as it were, with the precious blood,
   accepts the way of mercy by which the Lord passes over us and exempts
   his people from destruction. Faith was shown to the Jews in another
   way. When a beast was offered in sacrifice for sin, the priest and
   sometimes the representatives of the tribes or the individual laid
   their hands upon the victim in token that they desired their sins to be
   transferred to it, that it might suffer for them as a type of the great
   substitute. Faith lays her hands on Jesus, desiring to receive the
   benefit of his substitutionary death.

   A still more remarkable representation of faith was that of the healing
   look of the serpent-bitten Israelites. On the great standard in the
   midst of the camp Moses lifted up a serpent of brass; high overhead
   above all the tents this serpent gleamed in the sun, and whoever of all
   the dying host would but look to it was made to live. looking was a
   very simple act, but it indicated that the person was obedient to God's
   command. He looked as he was bidden, and the virtue of healing came
   from the brazen serpent through a look. Such is faith. It is the
   simplest thing in the world, but it indicates a great deal more than is
   seen upon its surface:

   "There is life for a look at the Crucified One."

   To believe in Jesus is but to glance the eye of faith to him, to trust
   him with thy soul.

   That poor woman who came behind our Saviour in the press offers us
   another figure of what faith is. She said, "If I may but touch the hem
   of his garment I shall be made whole." Taking no medicines, making no
   profession, and performing no ceremonies, she simply touched the
   ravelling of the Saviour's robe, and she was healed at once. O soul, if
   thou canst get into contact with Christ by simply trusting him, though
   that trust be ever so feeble, thou hast the faith of God's elect; thou
   hast the faith which is in every case the token of the new birth.

   II. We must now pass on to show that WHEREVER IT EXISTS IT IS THE PROOF
   OF REGENERATION. There never was a grain of such faith as this in the
   world, except in a regenerate soul, and there never will be while the
   world standeth. It is so according to the text, and if we had no other
   testimony this one passage would be quite enough to prove it.
   "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." "Ah!" I
   hear thee say, poor soul, "the new birth is a great mystery; I do not
   understand it; I am afraid I am not a partaker in it." You are born
   again if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, if you are relying upon
   a crucified Saviour you are assuredly begotten again unto a lively
   hope. Mystery or no mystery, the new birth is yours if you are a
   believer. Have you never noticed that the greatest mysteries in the
   world reveal themselves by the simplest indications. The simplicity and
   apparent easiness of faith is no reason why I should not regard its
   existence as an infallible indication of the new birth within. How know
   we that the new-born child lives except by its cry? Yet a child's
   cry--what a simple sound it is! how readily could it be imitated! a
   clever workman could with pipes and strings easily deceive us; yet was
   there never a child's cry in the world but what it indicated the
   mysteries of breathing, heart-beating, blood-flowing, and all the other
   wonders which come with life itself. Do you see yonder person just
   drawn out of the river? Does she live? Yes, life is there. Why? Because
   the lungs still heave. But does it not seem an easy thing to make lungs
   heave? A pair of billows blown into them, might not that produce the
   motion? Ah, yes, the thing is easily imitated after a sort; but no
   lungs heave except where life is. Take another illustration. Go into a
   telegraph office at any time, and you will see certain needles moving
   right and left with unceasing click. Electricity is a great mystery,
   and you cannot see or feel it; but the operator tells you that the
   electric current is moving along the wire. How does he know? "I know it
   by the needle." How is that? I could move your needles easily. "Yes;
   but do not you see the needle has made two motions to the right, one to
   the left, and two to the right again? I am reading a message." "But,"
   say you, "I can see nothing in it; I could imitate the clicking and
   moving very easily." Yet he who is taught the art sees before him in
   those needles, not only electric action, but a deeper mystery still; he
   perceives that a mind is directing an invisible force, and speaking by
   means of it. Not to all, but to the initiated is it given to see the
   mystery hidden within the simplicity. The believer sees in the faith,
   which is simple as the movements of the needle, an indication that God
   is operating on the human mind, and the spiritual man discerns that
   there is an inner secret intimated thereby, which the carnal eye cannot
   decipher. To believe in Jesus is a better indicator of regeneration
   than anything else, and in no case did it ever mislead. Faith in the
   living God and his Son Jesus Christ is always the result of the new
   birth, and can never exist except in the regenerate. Whoever has faith
   is a saved man.

   I beg you to follow me a little in this argument. A certain divine has
   lately said, "A man's act of believing is not the same as his being
   saved: it is only in the direction of being saved." This is tantamount
   to a denial that every believer in Christ is at once saved; and the
   inference is that a man may not conclude that he is saved because he
   believes in Jesus. Now, observe how opposed this is to Scripture. It is
   certain from the Word of God that the man who believes in Jesus is not
   condemned. Read John iii. 18, and many other passages. "He that
   believeth on Him is not condemned." Now is not every unregenerate man
   condemned? Is not a man who is not condemned a saved man? When you are
   sure on divine authority that the believer is not condemned, how in the
   name of everything that is rational can you deny that the believer is
   saved? If he is not condemned, what has he to fear? Will he not rightly
   conclude that being justified by faith, he has peace with God through
   our Lord Jesus Christ?

   Note, secondly, that faith in the fourth verse of the chapter before us
   is said to "overcome the world." "This is the victory that overcomes
   the world, even our faith." What, then, does faith overcome the world
   in persons who are not saved? How can this be possible when the apostle
   saith that that which overcomes the world is born of God? Read the
   fourth verse: "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:" but
   faith overcomes the world. therefore the man who has faith is
   regenerate; and what means that but that he is saved, and that his
   faith is the instrument by which he achieves victories.

   Further, faith accepts the witness of God, and more, he that hath faith
   has the witness in himself to the truth of God. Read the tenth verse of
   the chapter: "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
   himself." It is not said, "He that does this or feels that," but "He
   that believeth hath the witness in himself," his heart bears witness to
   the truth of God. Has any unsaved man an experimental witness within?
   Will you tell me that a man's inner experience bears witness to God's
   gospel and yet the man is in a lost state, or only hopeful of being
   saved ultimately? No, sir, it is impossible. He that believeth has that
   change wrought in him which enables by his own consciousness to confirm
   the witness of God, and such a man must be in a state of salvation. It
   is not possible to say of him that he is an unsaved man.

   Again, note in this chapter, at the thirteenth verse, that wherever
   there is faith there is eternal life; so run the words, "these things
   have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;
   that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Our Lord himself, and his
   apostles, in several places have declared, "He that believeth on him
   hath everlasting life." Do not tell me that a sinner who believes in
   Jesus is to make an advance before he can say he is saved, that a man
   who trusts Christ is only on his way to salvation, and must wait until
   he has used the ordinances, and has grown in grace, before he may know
   that he is saved. No, the moment that the sinner's trust in placed on
   the finished work of Jesus he is saved. Heaven and earth may pass away,
   but that man shall never perish. If only one second ago I trusted the
   Saviour I am safe; just as safe as the man who has believed in Jesus
   fifty years, and who has all the while walked uprightly. I do not say
   that the new born convert is as happy, nor as useful, nor as holy, nor
   as ripe for heaven, but I do say that the words, "he that believeth on
   him hath everlasting life," is a truth with general bearings, and
   relates as much to the babe in faith as does to the man who has
   attained to fullness of stature in Jesus Christ.

   As if this chapter were written on purpose to meet the gross error that
   faith does not bring immediate salvation, it extols faith again and
   again, yea, and I may add, our Lord himself crowns faith, because faith
   never wears the crown, but brings all the glory to the dear Redeemer.

   Now, let me say a word or two in reply to certain questions. But must
   not a man repent as well as believe? Reply: No man ever believed but
   what he repented at the same time. Faith and repentance go together.
   they must. If I trust Christ to save me from sin, I am at the same time
   repenting of sin, and my mind is changed in relation to sin, and
   everything else that has to do with its state. All the fruits meet for
   repentance are contained in faith itself. You will never find that a
   man who trusts Christ remains an enemy of God, or a lover of sin. The
   fact that he accepts the atonement provided is proof positive that he
   loathes sin, and that his mind is thoroughly changed in reference to
   God. Moreover, as to all the graces which are produced in the Christian
   afterwards, are they not all to be found in embryo in faith? "Only
   believe, and you shall be save," is the cry which many sneer at, and
   others misunderstand; but do you know what "only believe" means? Do you
   know what a world of meaning lies in that word? Read that famous
   chapter to the Hebrews, and see what faith has done and is still able
   to do, and you will see that it is no trifle. Wherever there is faith
   in a man let it but develop itself and there will be a purging of
   himself from sin, a separating himself from the world, a conflict with
   evil, and a warring for the glory of Christ, which nothing else could
   produce. Faith is in itself one of the noblest of graces; it is the
   compendium of all virtues; and as sometimes there will lie within one
   single ear enough seed to make a whole garden fertile, so, within that
   one word "faith," there lies enough of virtue to make earth blessed;
   enough of grace, if the Spirit make it to grow, to turn the fallen into
   the perfect. Faith is not the easy and light thing men think. Far are
   we from ascribing salvation to the profession of a mere creed, we
   loathe the idea; neither do we ascribe salvation to a fond persuasion,
   but we do ascribe salvation to Jesus Christ, and the obtaining of it to
   that simple, child like confidence which lovingly casts itself into the
   arms of him who gave both his hands to the nail and suffered to the
   death for the sins of his people. He who believes, then, is saved--rest
   assured of that. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
   of God."

   III. Now what flows out of this? Love is the legitimate issue! We must
   love if we are begotten of God all those who are also born of God. It
   would be an insult to you if I were to prove that a brother should love
   his brother. Doth not nature herself teach us that? Those, then, who
   are born of God ought to love all those of the same household. And who
   are they? Why, all those who have believed that Jesus is the Christ,
   and are resting their hopes where we rest ours, namely, on Christ the
   Anointed One of God. We are to love all such. We are to do this because
   we are of the family. We believe, and therefore we have been begotten
   of God. Let us act as those who are of the divine family; let us count
   it our privilege we are received into the household, and rejoice to
   perform the lovely obligations of our high position. We look around us
   and see many others who have believed in Jesus Christ; let us love them
   because they are of the same kindred. "But they are some of them
   unsound in doctrine, they make gross mistakes as to the Master's
   ordinances." We are not to love their faults, neither ought we to
   expect them to love ours, we are nevertheless to love their persons,
   for "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God," and
   therefore he is one of the family, and as we love the Father who begat
   we are to love all those who are begotten of him. First, I love God,
   and therefore I desire to promote God's truth and to keep God's gospel
   free from taint. But then I am to love all those whom God has begotten,
   despite the infirmities and errors I see in them, being also myself
   compassed about with infirmities. Life is the reason for love, the
   common life which is indicated by the common faith in the dear Redeemer
   is to bind us to each other. I must confess, though I would pay every
   deference to every brother's conscientious judgment, I do not know how
   I could bring my soul as a child of God to refuse any man communion at
   my Master's table, who believed that Jesus is the Christ. I have proof
   in his doing do, if he be sincere (and I can only judge of that by his
   life), that he is born of God; and has not every child a right to come
   to the Father's table? I know in the olden times, parent used to make
   their children go without meals as a punishment, but everybody tell us
   now this is cruel and unwise, for it injures the child's constitution
   to deprive it of necessary food. There are rods in the Lord's house,
   and there is no need to keep disobedient children away from supper. Let
   them come to the Lord's table, and eat and drink with the Lord Jesus
   and with all his saints, in the hope that when their constitution
   bestows stronger they will throw out the disease which now they labor
   under, and come to be obedient to the whole gospel, which saith, "He
   that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."

   Let me beg the members of this church to exhibit mutual love to one
   another. Are there many feeble among you? Comfort them. Are there any
   who want instruction? Bring your knowledge to their help. Are there any
   in distress? Assist them. Are they backsliding? Restore them. "Little
   children, love one another," is the rule of Christ's family, may we
   observe it. May the love of God which has been she abroad in our hearts
   by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, reveal itself by our love to
   all the saints. And, remember, other sheep he has which are not yet of
   this fold; them also he must bring in. Let us love those who are yet to
   be brought in, and lovingly go forth at once to seek them; in whatever
   other form of service God has given us, let us with loving eyes look
   after our prodigal brothers, and who knows, we may bring into the
   family this very day some for whom there will be joy in the presence of
   the angels of God, because the lost one has been found. God bless and
   comfort you, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 John 5.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                  Hidden Manna

   A Sermon

   (No. 980)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, March 12th, 1871, by

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the
   joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord
   God of hosts,"--Jeremiah 15:16.

   Jeremiah was a man of exceedingly sensitive temperament; the very
   reverse of Elijah. Yet he was sent of God to execute a duty which
   apparently required a person of great sternness and slender
   sensibility. It was his unhappy duty to denounce the judgments of God
   upon a people whom he dearly loved, but whom it was impossible to save;
   for even his deep anguish of heart and melting pathos were powerless
   with them, and rather excited their ridicule than their attention.
   Either they did not believe that he was sent of God at all, or else
   they neither cared for Jehovah nor for his prophet. Naturally mild and
   retiring, his strong sense of allegiance to God and love to Israel made
   him bear a fearless testimony for the truth; but the reproaches,
   insults, and threats, which were heaped upon him, sorely wounded his
   soul; and even deeper was his anguish, because he well knew that his
   rejected warnings were terribly true. He carried before his mind's eye
   at all times the picture of Jerusalem captured by her foes, and her
   wretched sons and daughters given up to the sword. There is no line in
   the whole of his prophecy more characteristic of him than that
   exclamation, "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of
   tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of
   my people."

   He was eminently the man that had seen affliction, and yet in the midst
   of a wilderness of woe he discovered fountains of joy. Like that
   Blessed One, who was "the man of sorrows" and the acquaintance of
   grief, he sometimes rejoiced in spirit and blessed the name of the
   Lord. It will be both interesting and profitable to note the root of
   the joy which grew up in Jeremiah's heart, like a lone palm tree in the
   desert. Here was its substance. It was an intense delight to him to
   have been chosen to the prophetic office; and when the words of God
   came to him, he fed upon them as dainty food. They were often very
   bitter in themselves, for they mainly consisted of denunciations, yet
   being God's words, such was the prophet's love to his God, that he ate
   every syllable, bitter or not. This also was evermore a consolation to
   him--that he was known by the people to be a prophet of Jehovah. This
   distinction, whatever persecution it brought upon him, was his joy "I
   am called by thy name." God's word received, God's name named upon him,
   and God's work entrusted to him, these were stars which cheered the
   midnight of his grief. However hard his lot might be, and none seem to
   have fallen upon worse times, there were secret sweetnesses of which
   none could deprive him. When he was "filled with bitterness, and
   drunken with wormwood," he still drank of that ever-flowing river, the
   streams whereof make glad the city of our God. The basis of faith's joy
   lies deeper than the water-floods of affliction; no torrents of misery
   can remove the firm foundations of our peace.

   May our hearts be so moulded by divine grace that the words of the
   weeping prophet in this verse may be proper language for us to use.
   Especially do I speak to those who during the last few weeks have found
   a Savior; my prayer and cry to God for you, beloved friends, is that
   you may say sincerely, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and
   thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am
   called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts."

   I. In considering these words, we shall begin by dwelling upon A
   MEMORABLE DISCOVERY--"Thy words were found." As Jeremiah meant them,
   they signified this: that certain messages came to him most clearly
   from God, and he recognised them as such; he ascertained how far the
   thoughts which passed through his mind were originated by the Spirit of
   God, and how far they were merely his own imaginings; he separated
   between the precious and the vile, and when he had found, discovered,
   and discerned God's word, then it was that he fed upon it.

   But the words, as we may use them, may signify something more. Beloved,
   it is a great thing to find God's word, and discern it for ourselves.
   Many have heard it for years and yet have never found it. I may say of
   them as of the heathen gods, "Eyes have they, but they see not: ears
   have they, but they hear not." Content with the outward letter of the
   Scriptures, the inner meaning is hid from their eyes. O that they had
   known the life-giving truth! O that they had found the "treasure hid in
   the field!" The word of God to them might as well be the word of King
   James the First, whose name dishonors our authorised version, for they
   have never felt that its truths proceed immediately from the throne of
   God, and bear the sign-manual of the King of kings. Hence they have
   never felt the weight of authority with which its authorship impresses
   holy writ. What is meant by finding God's words! The expression
   suggests the mode. A thing found has usually been sought for. Happy is
   that man who reads the Scriptures and hears the word--searching all the
   while for the hidden spiritual sense, which is indeed the voice of God.
   The letter of the truth contains a kernel, which is the inner life of
   it. Like some tropical fruits, which are very large, but in which the
   actual life-germ is a comparatively small thing, so within the sacred
   volume are many words and books, but the living secret may be summed up
   in a few syllables. The mystery which was hid from ages, is a secret
   something which flesh and blood cannot reveal unto us. "Understandest
   thou what thou readest?" is a vital and heartsearching question,
   meaning more than appears at once. The chosen of God dig into the mines
   of revelation, believing that "Surely there is a vein for the silver,
   and a place for gold where they fine it;" therefore they give their
   hearts to meditation, and cry mightily unto God to reveal himself unto
   them. Such seekers winnow sermons as the husbandman winnows his corn;
   they care little for the chaff of fair speeches; they desire only the
   fine wheat of the Lord's own truth. Solomon tells us the method of
   finding the true wisdom, in that cheering word at the commencement of
   the second chapter of the Proverbs, "My son, if thou wilt incline thine
   ear to wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou
   criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if
   thou seekest her as silver, and searches for her as for hid treasures;
   then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge
   of God." Though occasionally the Lord in his infinite sovereignty has
   been pleased to reveal his salvation to those who sought it not,
   according to his own word, "I am found of them that sought me not," yet
   there is no promise to this effect; the promise is to those who seek.

   To find God's words, means that we have been made to understand them. A
   man may be well versed in Scripture, both in the English and in the
   original tongue; he may be accustomed to read the best of commentaries,
   and be acquainted with Eastern manners, and yet he may be quite
   ignorant as to the word of God. For the understanding of this Book, as
   to its depth of meaning, does not lie within the range of natural
   learning and human research; reason alone is blinded by the excess of
   light, and wanders in darkness at noon day; for "the natural man
   receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
   unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
   discerned." Before my conversion I was accustomed to read the
   Scriptures, to admire their grandeur, to feel the charm of their
   history, and wonder at the majesty of their language; but I altogether
   missed the Lord's intent therein; but when the Spirit came with his
   divine life, and quickened all the page to my newly-enlightened soul,
   the inner meaning-shone forth with quickening glory. The Bible is to
   many carnal minds almost as dull a book for reading as an untranslated
   Latin work would be to an ignorant ploughman, because they cannot get
   at the internal sense, which is to the words as juice to the grape, or
   the kernel to the nut. It is a tantalising riddle till you get the key;
   but the clue once found, the volume of our Father's grace absorbs our
   attention, delights our intellect, and enriches our heart.

   To find the word of God means not only to understand it, but to
   appropriate it as belonging to yourself. To read a will is not an
   interesting occupation--repetitions, legal phrases, tautologies
   multiplied to utter weariness; but if there be a legacy left to you in
   that will, no writing will be more fascinating; you will trip lightly
   over the lawyer's fences and five-barred gates, and rejoice as one that
   findeth spoil when you reach those clauses which leave certain
   "messages, tenements, and hereditaments" to yourself and heirs. In such
   a case every repetition becomes musical, and technical phrases sound
   harmoniously. After this manner we learn to enjoy the word of God by
   discovering that we have a part and lot in it. When we perceive that
   the Lord is calling us and blessing us, then have we found his word.
   When the divine promise assures us personally that our sin is forgiven,
   that our spirit is clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that heaven
   is for us, that we are accepted in the Beloved, then the word is found
   indeed. I will ask each hearer here, whether in this respect he has
   found God's word. Have you an ear to hear gospel truth as the voice of
   the Infinite God addressed to your own soul? The Dutch farmers at the
   Cape, at no very distant period, considered the hottentots around them
   to be little better than beasts, quite incapable of anything beyond
   mere eating, drinking, stealing, and lying. After our missionaries had
   labored among the natives for a time, one of them was found reading the
   Bible by the roadside. The Dutchman enquired of him, "What book are you
   reading?"--"The Bible." "The Bible! Why that book was never intended
   for you."--"Indeed it was," said the black man, "for I see my name
   here." "Your name: Where?" cried the farmer. "Show it to me."--"There,"
   said the Hottentot, putting his finger on the word "sinners." "That's
   my name; I am a sinner, and Jesus Christ came to save me." It were well
   indeed if men would but read the Bible, saying, "In this volume the
   great God condescends to speak to me, and bids me come and reason with
   him that my scarlet sins may become white; therein he appeals to my
   weakness that he may remove it, to my wilfulness that he may subdue it,
   to my distance from him that he may bring me near!" Happy is that man
   who hears or reads the word of God for himself, feeling evermore a
   living power witnessing within his soul, and operating mightily upon
   him. Unapplied truth is useless. Unappropriated truth may condemn but
   cannot save. The word of God to an unregenerate heart is like a trumpet
   at the ear of a corpse: the sound is lost. Beloved, I pray that you may
   discern the truth, and then may grasp it as your own. May your interest
   and title to the promises be clearly made out, so that not
   presumptuously, but with the full approbation of your conscience, you
   may know yourself to be beloved of the Lord.

   "Thy word was found." Yes, indeed, it has been found by many of us, and
   a blessed find it was! Recollect, my brethren, the time when you first
   found God's word. Recall the period of your conversion; let the
   remembrance kindle in you anew the flame of gratitude. Magnify the
   divine grace which revealed the heavenly word to you. What a removal of
   darkness, and bursting in of glory you then felt! It was a discovery
   far more memorable than the finding of a new continent by Columbus, or
   the discovery of gold mines in the southern continent--you found
   eternal life in God's word. May you who have never found the
   life-giving word, be led to desire it. We pray for you, that the Lord
   may open your eyes to see wondrous things in his law.

   II. Secondly, our text testifies to AN EAGER RECEPTION. "Thy words were
   found, and I did eat them."

   It is not "I did hear them," for that he might have done, and yet have
   perished. Herod heard John gladly, and yet became his murderer. He does
   not say, "I did learn them by heart"--hundreds have committed chapters
   to memory, and were rather wearied than benefited thereby. The Scribes
   fought over the jots and titles of the law, but were blind leaders of
   the blind not withstanding. It is not "Thy words were found, and I did
   repeat them," for that he might have done as a parrot repeats language
   it is taught: nor is it even, "Thy words were found, and I remembered
   them;" for though its an excellent thing to store truth in the memory,
   yet the blessed effect of the divine words comes rather to those who
   ponder them in their hearts. "Thy words were found, and I did eat
   them." What is meant by eating God's words? The phrase signifies more
   than any other word could express. It implies an eager study--"I did
   eat them." I could not have too much of them, could not enter too
   thoroughly into their consideration. He who loves the Savior desires to
   grow in knowledge of him; he cannot read or hear too much or too often
   concerning his great Redeemer. He turns to the holy page with ever new
   delight; he seeks the blessing of the man who meditates in God's law,
   both day and night. It is pleasing to notice the sharp-set, spiritual
   appetite of a new convert; he hungers and thirsts after righteousness;
   he will hear a sermon without fatigue, though he may have to stand in
   an uncomfortable position; and when one discourse is over, he is ready
   for another. O that we all had our first appetites back again! Some
   professors grow very squeamish and proudly delicate; they cannot feed
   on heavenly truth, because forsooth they see defects in the style of
   the preacher, or in the manner of the service. Some of you need a dose
   of bitters to keep you from quarrelling with your food. When the word
   was found by my soul I did not stand to remark upon an inelegant
   expression or a misplaced word, but I seized at once the marrow of the
   truth, and left the bones to the dogs. I drank in the expressed juice
   of the sacred clusters, and left the husks to the swine. I was greedy
   for the truth. My soul hungered even to ravenousness to be fed upon the
   bread of heaven.

   The expression also implies cheerful reception. "I did eat them." I was
   so in love with thy word that I not merely held it, rejoiced in it, and
   embraced it, but I received it into my inner man. I was not in a frame
   of mind to judge God's word, but I accepted all without demur; I did
   not venture to sit in judgment upon my judge, and become the reviser of
   the unerring God. Whatever I found to be in his word I received with
   intense joy. The stamp of divine authority upon any teaching is enough
   for the believer. Proud self-will demands to have doctrines proved by
   reasoning, but faith lets the declaration of Jehovah stand in the place
   of argument. Others may cry, "Let us spin our creed out of our own
   bowels like the spiders; let us find in the easings of the great the
   grounds of our beliefs, or let us remain in a state of suspense, to be
   moulded by fresh discoveries;" but we are committed to revelation, our
   minds are made up; we confess that we have eaten God's word and intend
   still to feed upon it--upon the whole of it, and upon nothing else.
   Open your mouths, ye wild asses of the wilderness, and snuff up wind;
   our food is more substantial, and we will not leave it to wander with
   you.

   The expression signifies also an intense belief. "Thy words were found,
   and I did eat them." He did not say, "Perhaps it is true, and if it be
   so it is of no great consequence," but he made practical use of it at
   once. He set about testing the power of the word to nourish his soul;
   he brought it into the most intimate contact with his being, and
   allowed it to operate upon his vital parts. We have heard that God's
   word is life; be it ours to possess that life abundantly. The truth
   makes men strong, free, pure, god-like. Let us then eat it, that it may
   purify, strengthen, liberate and elevate us. Whatever God's word by his
   Spirit can do for man, it should be our desire to experience for
   ourselves. Blessed is that man who is so humbled as to become like a
   little child in the submission of his mind, his judgment, and all his
   faculties to the operation of the word of divine truth; he has eaten
   it, and shall live by it.

   The language before us means besides both the diligent treasuring up of
   the truth and the inward digestion of the same. Food eaten does not
   long continue as it was; the juices of the body operate upon it, and
   the substance is dissolved and absorbed, so that it becomes a part of
   the man's body. So when we find God's truth, we delight to meditate,
   con template, and consider. We let it dwell in our hearts richly till
   at last its sustaining, upbuilding, nourishing influence is felt, and
   we grow thereby. It is not a hasty swallowing of the word which is
   blessed to us, but a deliberate eating of it. Our inward life acts upon
   the truth, and the truth acts upon our life. We become one with the
   truth, and the truth one with us. I would to God we were all more given
   to feeding and lying down in the green pastures of God's word; the
   sheep fattens as it chews the cud at peace, and so do we. Establishment
   in the gospel is the result of meditation, and nothing is more
   desirable at this present crisis than that all believers should more
   constantly study and weigh the word of God. Neglect in this matter has
   weakened, is weakening, and will weaken the church. We want at this
   time not merely persons who have been aroused by solemn exhortation,
   and led to give their hearts to Christ under the influence of deep
   emotion, but Christians well instructed in the things which are verily
   believed among us, rooted and grounded in gospel doctrines. Many
   professing Christians think very lightly of Scriptural knowledge, and
   especially of an experimental acquaintance with divine truth. Few
   nowadays have studied the doctrines of grace so as to be able to give a
   reason for the hope that is in them. Too often converts are made by
   excitement, and, as a consequence, when the excitement is gone, they
   grow cold; some of them go back to the world, and prove that they were
   never taught of God, and others linger on in a half-starved condition,
   because soul-sustaining truth is hidden from them. The man who knows
   the truth, and feels that the truth has made him free, is the man who
   will continue a free man at all hazards. There are enemies of the faith
   about nowadays; error is put in very tempting forms. Those who try to
   subvert the gospel are exceedingly dextrous, and know how to make every
   falsehood fascinating. These will rend and devour, but who will be
   their victims? Not the instructed saints, not those who can say "Thy
   words were found, and I did eat them," but the mixed multitude in
   nominal union with the church, who scarce know what they believe, or
   knowing it merely in the letter have no inward vital acquaintance
   therewith. We read in the word of God of certain deceivers who would,
   if it were possible, deceive the very elect, from which we gather that
   the elect cannot be deceived, and that for this reason--that the truth
   is not held in the hand of the elect man as a staff which can be
   wrenched from him, but he has eaten it: it has entered into his vital
   substance. You cannot tear away from a man what has become assimilated
   to himself. You might draw the silken thread out of a piece of
   tapestry, and in so doing injure the material, but you cannot remove
   the truth which is interwoven into the fabric of our new-born nature by
   the Holy Spirit. A Christian is dyed ingrain with the truth--he wears
   no flying nor fading colors; he can as soon cease to be as cease to
   believe what he has learned by the Spirit's teaching. In olden times,
   the fury of persecutors has failed to make the servants of Christ deny
   the faith. The saints were taken to the stake, but the fires which
   devoured their bodies only burned their testimonies into the hearts of
   other witnesses. They were faithful even unto death. This glorious
   firmness in the faith is greatly needed now to resist the insidiousness
   of error. Besides, dear friends, it may in the providence of God happen
   that some of you will be taken away from the ministry which now feeds
   you, and what will you do if the word of God be not in your inmost
   souls? I have observed many who did run well when under a gospel
   ministry, who, when they have been removed into a barren region, have
   lagged and loitered in the race. Some whose principles were never very
   deep have given them up when placed in society which despised them. I
   pray you get such a hold of the gospel, that you need not be dependent
   upon the preacher or upon earnest companions. Let not your faith stand
   in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. No truth will be of any
   use to you unless it is branded into you; yea, and made to penetrate
   the marrow of your being. If you could give up truth you have never
   received it. He only has the truth of God who so holds it that he could
   never part with it. A person takes a piece of bread and eats it. He who
   gave it to him demands it back. If he had put that bread upon a shelf,
   or laid it in a cupboard, he can hand it down; but if he can reply, "I
   have eaten it," there is an end to the request; no human power can
   reproduce what is already eaten. "Give up justification by faith and
   trust in sacraments," says the Ritualist. "Give up faith and follow
   reason," cries the Infidel. We are utterly unable to do either. And
   why? Because our spiritual nature has absorbed the truth into itself,
   and none can separate it from us, or us from it. To live upon the truth
   is the sure method to prevent apostacy. "Be not carried about with
   divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be
   established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them
   that have been occupied therein." May you all be rooted and built up in
   Christ Jesus, and established in the faith as ye have been taught,
   abounding therein with thanksgiving.

   Besides, good friend, you cannot be very useful to others if you are an
   unintelligent Christian. To do much good, we must have truth ready to
   hand, and be apt to teach. I desire that you may grow up, you who are
   new-born into the Christian family, to become fathers and mothers in
   Israel; but this cannot be, unless you as new-born babes desire the
   unadulterated milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. O for a race
   of Bible-reading Christians! We have long had a society for selling the
   Bible, but who shall found a society for getting the Bible read? A
   young man who never had read his Bible was tempted to do so, and led to
   conversion by the gift of a bookmarker, presented to him by a relative.
   The gift was made upon the condition that it should be put into his
   Bible, but should never stop two days in a place. He meant to shift it,
   and not to read the book, but his eye glanced on a text; after awhile
   he became interested, by-and-by he became converted, and then the
   bookmarker was moved with growing pleasure. I am afraid that even some
   professors cannot say that they shift their bookmark every day.
   Probably of all the books printed, the most widely circulated, and the
   least read volume, is the word of God. Books about the Bible are read,
   I fear, more than the Book itself. Do you believe we should see all
   these parties and sects if people studiously followed the teaching of
   inspiration? The Word is one; whence these many creeds? We cry, "the
   Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants;" but it is
   not true of half the Protestants. Some overlay the Bible with the
   Prayer-book, and kill its living meaning; others read through the
   spectacles of a religious leader, and rather follow man's gloss than
   God's text. Few indeed come to the pure fount of gospel undefiled. A
   second-hand religion suits most, for it spares them the trouble of
   thinking, which to many is a labor too severe while to be taught of man
   is so much easier than to wait upon the Holy Spirit for instruction.
   Remember ye, my beloved children in Christ, the words of David, and
   make them your own. "I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not
   forget thy word." "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter
   than honey to my mouth." "Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage
   for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart." "Mine eyes prevent
   the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word." "My soul hath
   kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly. I have kept thy
   precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee."

   III. Thirdly, the text tells us of HAPPY CONSEQUENCES. "Thy word was
   unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." He who has spiritually
   found God's word, and consequently feeds upon it, is the happy man. But
   in order to get joy from God's word we must receive it universally.
   Jeremiah first speaks of God's "words," then he changes the number and
   speaks of God's "word." We are not only to receive parts of the gospel,
   but the whole of it, and then it will afford us great joy. That man's
   heart is right with God who can honestly say that all the testimonies
   of God are dear to him. "But," saith one, "that is impossible: parts of
   the Bible are full of terrible denunciations; can they afford us joy?"
   In this way, brethren. If God appoints that sin should be punished, we
   are not to rebel against his righteous ordinance, nor to close our
   minds to the consideration of divine justice: God's judgments are
   right, and what is right we must rejoice in. Moreover, by the
   threatenings of the word many are led to forsake their sin, and thus
   the warning itself is a means of grace. To tender-hearted Jeremiah I
   have no doubt it was a trial to say, "Your city will be destroyed, and
   your women and your children will be slain." But when he considered
   that some might be led to repentance he would with tearful vehemence
   deal out the thunder of the Lord. But, brethren, God's word is not all
   threatening. How much of it consists of exceeding great and precious
   promises? grace drops from it like honey from the comb. How would even
   Jeremiah brush away the falling tear, while that face usually so
   clouded would beam as the sun when he spoke of the Messiah? Surely, if
   there be anything in the whole range of truth which can make our hearts
   leap for joy, it is the part of it which touches upon the lovely person
   and finished work of our adorable Redeemer, to whom be honor and glory
   for ever. Receive the whole of God's word. Do not cut a single text out
   of Scripture or desire to pervert its meaning. Hold the truth in its
   entirety and harmony, and then as a matter of certainty it will become
   to you the joy and rejoicing of your spirit.

   Allow me to interject another thought. No word of God to Jeremiah would
   have given him joy if he had not been obedient to it. If he had kept
   back a part of his Master's message, it would have been a burden
   intolerable to his conscience. What a wound it makes in the heart if we
   have inwardly to confess, "I have been unfaithful. I have neglected a
   command of the Host High." Never, I beseech you, allow any text of
   Scripture to accuse you of having neglected its teaching or denied its
   obvious meaning. There are ordinances to which some of you have not
   submitted yourselves which you know to be the will of Jesus Christ. How
   can the Scriptures be a joy and rejoicing to you when their pages
   accuse you of disobedience to your Master's will? In order to have the
   full joy of the testimony of God, your mind must yield itself to what
   God reveals as the plastic clay to the potter's touch, your willing
   spirit must be prompt to run as with winged feet in the ways of
   obedience to all that Christ commands. Then the word being found, and
   you having eaten it, it will be to you a song in the house of your
   pilgrimage.

   Let me refresh your memories for a moment by reminding you of certain
   choice truths in God's word which are brimming with comfort. There is
   the doctrine of election: the Lord has a people whom he has chosen, and
   whom he loved before the foundations of the world. I will suppose that
   you have found it out for yourself, and have read the riddle, and like
   the apostle Paul, can say, "Whom he did foreknow, he also did
   predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son; and whom he did
   predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
   justified." I will suppose that you know yourself to be called, and
   therefore know yourself to be predestinated. Is not this the joy and
   rejoicing of your heart? Is it not to you a very heaven below to
   believe that ere the hills were made God loved you, ere sin was born or
   Satan fell, your name was in his book, and he regarded you with
   infinite affection? Could any doctrine be a more abundant table, spread
   for you in the presence of your enemies? Take the other doctrine, the
   doctrine of the immutability of divine love. Before you knew the secret
   of it, it was a mere dogma; but now you understand that Jesus never
   changes, and therefore the promises are yea and amen, you will, you
   must rejoice. Having loved his own, he loved them to the end. Is not
   this music to your ear? "I have loved thee with an everlasting love,"
   is not this a heavenly assurance? As you sit down and consider for
   yourself, "God has loved me, for he has given me salvation in Jesus
   Christ, and the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but the
   covenant of his grace cannot depart from me;" will not your cup run
   over, and your soul dance before the ark of God? Of course it will not
   be so till you have found the word for yourself, and have eaten it, but
   then it shall be marrow and fatness to you. Thousands of God's people
   live in doubts and fears, because they have not eaten God's word as
   they should; they do not know the fullness of the blessings of the
   gospel of peace. How many are in bondage through the fear that after
   all though they have been for years believers they are not yet saved,
   whereas if they read the Scriptures, and received their meaning, they
   would know that the moment the sinner believes in Christ he is saved in
   that very instant he has passed from death into life, and shall never
   come into condemnation. If they read the Scriptures, would they endure
   such doubts about being left to perish after having believed? The thing
   is impossible. The people of his choice Jehovah cannot cast away. No
   members of Christ's body shall be suffered to perish, or else the body
   of Christ would be mangled, and he himself would be the head of a
   dismembered frame. To have a clear understanding of the gospel, to know
   the covenant which like a mighty rock underlies all gospel blessings,
   to know Christ and our union with him, to know his righteousness, his
   perfection and our perfection in him, to know the indwelling of the
   Holy Ghost, these things must inevitably make us strong in the joy of
   the Lord. Half our doubts and fears would vanish if we had more
   acquaintance with the Lord's statutes. Other knowledge brings sorrow,
   but this wisdom is the joy and rejoicing of the heart.

   Beloved, if there is a quarrel between you and any text of Scripture,
   end the dispute by giving way at once, for the word of God is right,
   and you are wrong. Do not say, "We have always been of one way of
   thinking, and our parents were so before us." Have respect unto God,
   and sit at Jesus' feet. The Lord's teaching is in this Book, and may be
   opened to you by his Spirit. Test everything by the word; prove the
   spirits whether they be of God. Do not be such fools as to take your
   religion from fallible men when you may have it from the infallible
   God. Some who do so are not fools in other matters, but in this case it
   may be said of them as it was once said of the people of an Italian
   city, "They were not fools, but they acted as if they were." Persons
   who would not take the opinion of anybody else as to the goodness of a
   half-crown, will leave their religion to be settled by an Act of
   Parliament, or by convocation, or by conference. What are brains given
   to us for? Are we for ever to be the slaves of majorities and follow a
   multitude to do evil? God forbid! Stand upright, O Christian man, and
   be a man. God has given you a judgment, and his Spirit waits to
   enlighten it. Search the Scriptures! See whether the things handed down
   by tradition came from the devil or from God, for many an ancient maxim
   may be traced to the infernal pit. To the law and to the testimony, if
   they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light
   in them. May we have grace given us like Ezekiel to receive the roll
   from the Lord's hand, to eat it, and to find it in our mouth as honey
   for sweetness.

   IV. The fourth point is A DISTINGUISHING TITLE. "I am called by thy
   name, O Lord God of hosts." This may not appear to some of you a very
   joyful thing--to Jeremiah it was pre-eminently so. In Jeremiah's day
   the name of the Lord God of hosts was despised. The God of hosts was
   the subject of derision among the rabble of Jerusalem, and the weeping
   prophet of mournful countenance, who spoiled their mirth, came in for
   his full share of scorn. Now. Jeremiah, instead of feeling it a hard
   thing to be associated with the Lord in this contempt of the wicked,
   was glad to be so honored. The reproaches of them that reviled the Lord
   fell upon his poor servant, and he was content to have it so. O you who
   love Jesus Christ, never shun the scandal of his cross! Count it glory
   to be despised for his sake. Let fear be far from you. Remember Moses,
   of whom it is written, "he esteemed the reproach of Christ to be
   greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt." It does not say he
   esteemed Christ to be greater riches, an ordinary believer would do
   that; but he reckoned the worst thing connected with Christ to be
   better than the best thing about the world. The reproach of Christ he
   esteemed above Pharaoh's crown. Disciples of Jesus, be willing to bear
   all the contumely the wicked pour upon you for your Lord's sake, for in
   so doing they help to make you blessed. Through the mire, and through
   the slough, march side by side with truth, for those who share her
   pilgrimage shall share her exaltation. Be content to abide with Christ
   in his humiliation, for only so may you be sure that you shall be with
   him in his glory. It was a comfort to Jeremiah that he bore the name of
   the despised God. It made him the object of very much persecution as
   well as contempt; the king put him in the dungeon; he was made to eat
   the bread of affliction, and was in tribulations oft, but he took it
   all joyfully for the Lord's sake. And if to serve Christ to-day, and
   bear his name, should entail suffering extreme, as in the days of
   Rome's tyranny, yet, my brethren, we ought to be cheerful in the
   bearing of it, and glad that we are counted worthy to suffer for the
   name of Jesus Christ.

   Yet I am afraid I am speaking to some who do not count it a fair thing
   to bear the name of the Most High. I gather this from their conduct.
   They have a belief in Jesus, they hope they have, but they have nev