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        Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 21: 1875
   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
     __________________________________________________________________

The Weaned Child

   (No. 1210)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "My soul is even as a weaned child." Psalm 131:2.

   I was once conversing with a very excellent aged minister and while we
   were talking about our attitude and feelings, he made the following
   confession--he said, "When I read that passage in the Psalm, 'My soul
   is even as a weaned child,' I wish it were true of me, but I think I
   should have to make an alteration of one syllable and then it would
   exactly describe me at times--'My soul is even as a weaning rather than
   a weaned child,' for," said he, "with the infirmities of old age, I
   fear I get fretful and peevish and anxious. And when the day is over I
   do not feel that I have been in so calm, resigned and trustful a frame
   of mind as I could desire."

   I suppose, dear Brothers and Sisters, that frequently we have to make
   the same confession. We wish we were like a weaned child, but we find
   ourselves neglecting to walk by faith and getting into the way of
   walking by the sight of our eyes. And then we get like the weaning
   child which is fretting and worrying, and unrestful and who causes
   trouble to those round about it and, most of all, trouble to itself.
   Weaning was one of the first real troubles that we met with after we
   came into this world and it was, at the time, a very terrible one to
   our little hearts. We got over it somehow or other. We do not remember,
   now, what a trial it was to us, but we may take it as a type of all
   troubles, for if we have faith in Him who was our God from our mother's
   breasts, as we got over the weaning and do not even remember it, so we
   shall get over all the troubles that are to come and shall scarcely
   remember them for the joy that will follow.

   If, indeed, Dr. Watts is correct in saying that when we get to Heaven
   we shall, "recount the labors of our feet," then, I am quite sure that
   we shall only do it, as he says, "with transporting joy." There, at
   least, we shall be, each one of us, as a weaned child. It is a very
   happy condition of heart which is here indicated--and I shall speak
   about it with a desire to promote the increase of such a state of heart
   among Believers--and with the hope that many of us may reach it and all
   of us who have reached it may continue to say, "My soul is even as a
   weaned child."

   I. First, let us think WHAT THE PSALMIST INTENDED BY THIS DESCRIPTION.
   We will begin by noticing the context, in order to understand him, and
   then we will consider the metaphor in order, still further, to see what
   he literally meant. First, look at the context and you will see that he
   intended that pride had been subdued in him and driven out of him, for
   he commences the Psalm with this, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor
   my eyes lofty." We are all proud by nature, though there is not one
   among us that has anything to be proud of! It makes no difference what
   our condition is--we universally dream that we have something to glory
   about.

   The Lord Mayor is not a bit prouder in his gold chain than the beggar
   in his rags. Indeed, pride is a kind of weed that will grow on very
   poor soil quite as freely as in the best cultivated garden. Every man
   thinks more of himself than God thinks of him, for when a man is in his
   highest estate and at his best, he is nothing but dust and the Lord
   knows his constitution and remembers that he is just that and nothing
   better. Some poor creatures, however, indulge their pride and let it
   run away with them as a wild horse with its rider. They cannot be
   trusted with a little money but straightway they hold their heads so
   high that one might think the stars in danger! They cannot be trusted
   with a little talent but straightway their genius is Omnipotent, in
   their own opinion, and they, themselves, are to be treated like
   demi-gods.

   And if they are God's servants, they cannot have a little success in
   the ministry or in the Sunday school without becoming quite unpleasant
   to those round about them through their boastful ways and eagerness to
   talk of self. Scarcely can they have enjoyment, even of the Presence of
   God, but what they begin to make an idol of their attainments and
   Graces, and begin to say, "My mountain, my mountain, stands firm. I, I
   shall never be moved." Great I grows without any watering, for the soil
   of nature is muddy and the rush of pride takes to it mightily!. You
   need never be troubled about a man's keeping up his opinion of
   himself--he will be pretty sure to do that--the force of nature usually
   runs in the direction of self-conceit.

   This pride very often leads to haughtiness, domineering ways towards
   others and contempt of them--as if they were not as good as we are. And
   if we see any errors and mistakes in them, we conclude that they are
   very foolish and that we would act much better if we were in their
   position. If they act nobly and well, this same pride of ours leads us
   to pick holes in them and to detract from their excellence. And if we
   cannot get up as high as they are, we try to pull them down to our own
   level. This is a base thing to do, but the proud man is always mean.
   Loftiness of looks and meanness of heart run, with him, like a couple
   of hounds in a leash.

   The humble man is the truly great man! Because God's gentleness has
   made him great, he is sure to be kept lowly before the Lord by the Holy
   Spirit. The proud man is really little--no, more--he is really nothing
   even in the things in which he boasts. David could say, "My heart is
   not haughty." His brother, Eliab, said that David was proud when he
   went down to carry his father's present to his soldier brothers, but it
   was not so. His heart was content to be with the sheep--he was quite
   willing to follow the "ewes great with young." When he was in Saul's
   court, they thought him ambitious, but he was not so--he was quite
   satisfied to be a servant there, to fight the battles of Israel. The
   place of captain over a wandering band was forced upon him, but he
   would sooner have dwelt at home. And when he was king he did not exalt
   himself.

   Absalom, when he was aspiring to the kingdom, was a far greater man to
   look at than his father David, for David walked in lowliness of spirit
   before the Lord. Whatever faults he had, he certainly had not the fault
   of vanity, or of being intoxicated in spirit with what God had done for
   him. Now, it is a great blessing when the Spirit of God keeps us from
   being haughty and our looks from being lofty. We shall never be as a
   weaned child till it gets to that, for a weaned child thinks nothing of
   itself. It is but a little babe! Whatever consciousness it has at all
   about the matter, it is not conscious of any strength or any wisdom! It
   is entirely dependent upon its mother's care.

   And blessed is that man who is brought to lie very low in his own
   spirit before the Lord, resting on the bosom of Infinite Love. After
   all, Brothers and Sisters, we are nobodies and we have come from a line
   of nobodies! The proudest peer of the realm may trace his pedigree as
   far as ever he likes, but he ought to remember that if his blood is
   blue, it must be very unhealthy to have such blood in one's veins! The
   common ruddy blood of the peasant is, after all, far healthier! Big as
   men may account themselves to be on account of their ancestors, we all
   trace our line up to a gardener who lost his place through stealing his
   Master's fruit--and that is the farthest we can possibly go. Adam
   covers us all with disgrace and under that disgrace we should all
   humbly sit.

   Look into your own heart and if you dare to be proud, you have never
   seen your heart at all! It is a mass of pollution! It is a den of
   filthiness! Apart from Divine Grace your heart is a seething mass of
   putrefaction and if God's eternal Spirit were not to hold it in check,
   but to let your nature have its way--envy, lust, murder and every foul
   thing would come flying forth in your daily life! A sinner and yet
   proud? It is monstrous! As for children of God, how can they be proud?
   I fear we are all too much so. But what have we to be proud of? What
   have we that we have not received? How, then, can we boast? Are we
   dressed in the robe of Christ's Righteousness? We did not put a thread
   into it--it was all given us by the charity of Jesus!

   Are our garments white? We have washed them in the blood of the Lamb.
   Are we new creatures? We have been created anew by Omnipotent power or
   we should still be as we were. Are we holding on our way? It is God
   that enables us to persevere, or we should long ago have gone back.
   Have we been kept from the great transgression? Who has kept us? We
   certainly have not kept ourselves! There is nothing that we have of
   which we can say, "I did this and it is all my own"--except our faults
   and our sins--and over these we ought to blush.

   Yet, Brothers and Sisters, when the Lord favors us, especially in early
   life--though I do not know but what it is almost as much so with us who
   have got a little farther on--if you get a full sail and a favoring
   breeze, and the vessel scuds along before the wind, there is need of a
   great deal of ballast or else there will soon be a tale to tell of a
   vessel that was upset and a sailor who was too venturesome and was
   never heard of again! We have need continually to be kept lowly before
   God, for pride is the besetting sin of mankind. O, that God would give
   us to be as David was--not haughty, neither our eyes lofty. This is the
   first help towards being as a weaned child.

   And next he tells us that he was not ambitious--"Neither do I exercise
   myself in great matters." He was a shepherd. He did not need to go and
   fight Goliath, but when he did do it, it was because his nation needed
   him. He said, "Is there not a cause?" Otherwise he had stayed in the
   background. When he went into the cave of Adullam, he never lifted a
   hand

   to become king. He might have struck his enemy several times--and with
   one stroke have ended the warfare and seized the throne--but he would
   not lift a hand against the Lord's Anointed, for, like a weaned child,
   he was not ambitious. He was willing to go where God would put him, but
   he was not seeking after great things.

   Now, dear Brethren, we shall never be as a weaned child if we have high
   notions of what we ought to be and large desires for self. If we are
   great men in our own esteem, of course we ought to have great things
   for ourselves. But if we know ourselves and are brought into a true
   condition of mind, we shall avoid those "vaulting ambitions which leap
   over themselves." For instance, we shall not be hankering after great
   possessions. "Having food and raiment" we shall be "therewith content."
   If God adds to our store of the comforts of life, we shall be grateful.
   We shall be diligent in business, but we shall not be greedy and
   miserly. "While others stretch their arms, like seas, to grasp in all
   the shore," we shall be content with far less things, for we know that
   greed after earthly riches brings with it slackness of desire as to
   true riches. The more hungry a man is after this world, the less he
   pines after the treasures of the world to come.

   We shall not be covetous if we are like a weaned child. Neither shall
   we sigh for position and influence--whoever heard of a weaned child
   doing that? Let it lie in its parent's bosom and it is content--and so
   shall we be in the bosom of our God. Yet some Christian men seem as if
   they could not pull unless they are the fore horse of the team. They
   cannot work with others, but must have the chief place, contrary to the
   word of the Apostle who says, "My Brethren, be you not many masters,
   lest you receive the greater condemnation." Blessed is that servant who
   is quite content with that position which his master appoints him--glad
   to unloose the laces of his Lord's shoes--glad to wash the saints'
   feet--glad to engage in sweeping a crossing for the king's servants.

   Let us do anything for Jesus, counting it the highest honor, even, to
   be a doormat inside the Church of God, if we might be such a thing as
   that for the saints to remove the filthiness from themselves upon
   us--so long as we may but be of some use to them and bring some glory
   to God. You remember the word of Jeremiah to Baruch? Baruch had been
   writing the roll for the Prophet and straightway Baruch thought he was
   somebody. He had been writing the Word of the Lord, had he not? But the
   Prophet said to him, "Seek you great things for yourself? Seek them
   not." And so says the mind of the Spirit to us all. Do not desire to
   occupy positions of eminence and prominence, but let your soul be as a
   weaned child--not exercising itself in great matters.

   Very often we seek after great approbation. We want to do great deeds
   that people will talk about and especially some famous work which
   everybody will admire. This is human nature, for the love of
   approbation is rooted in us. As the old rhyme puts it--

   "The proud to gain it, toils on toils endures. The modest shun it but
   to make it sure." But that man has arrived at the right position who
   has become, "careless, himself a dying man, of dying man's esteem." It
   is he who judges what is right before God and does it caring neither
   for public nor private opinion in the matter--to whom it is no more
   concern what people may say of an action which his conscience commends
   than what tune the north wind whistles as it blows over the Alps! He
   who is the slave of man's opinions is a slave, indeed. I would sooner
   go to some barbarous climate where yet the slave whip would fall upon
   my shoulders and the cruel fetter would chain me to the floor, than
   live in dread of such a thing as I myself, and tremble with fear of
   offending this man and the other by doing what I believe to be right.
   He who fears God needs fear no one else! But he who reaches that point
   has undergone a painful weaning and had it not been for that he would
   not be able to say, "My soul is even as a weaned child."

   Frequently, too, we exercise ourselves in great matters by having a
   high ambition to do something very wonderful in the Church. This is why
   so very little is done! The great destroyer of good works is the
   ambition to do great works! A little thing can be done by a Christian
   Brother very well. But if it strikes him, "I will organize a society to
   do it and a committee, a secretary, a president, and a vice-president,"
   (it being well known that nothing can be done till you get a committee,
   a president and all that kind of thing), the Brother soon hampers
   himself and his work ends in resolutions and reports--and nothing more.

   But the Brother who says, "Here is a district which nobody visits. I
   will do what I can in it"--he is probably the man who will get another
   to help him and another, and the work will be done! The young man who
   is quite content to begin with preaching in a little room in a village
   to a dozen, is the man who will win souls! The other Brother, who does
   not begin preaching till he can preach to 5,000 will never do
   anything--he never can. I read of a king who always

   wanted to take the second step first, but he was not a Solomon! There
   are many such about, not kings but common people, who do not want to do
   the first thing, the thing they can do, the thing which God calls them
   to do, the thing they ought to do! No, they must do something great.

   O, dear Brother, if your soul ever gets to be as it ought, you will
   feel, "The least thing that I can do, I shall be glad to do. The very
   poorest and meanest form of Christian service, as men think it, is
   better than I deserve." It is a great honor to be allowed to unloose
   the laces of my Lord's shoes! A young man who once had a small charge
   and only about 200 hearers, complained to an old minister that he
   wished he could move somewhere else. But the old one said, "Do not be
   in a hurry, Brother. The responsibility of 200 souls is quite a heavy
   load enough for most of us to carry." And so it is. We need not be so
   eager to load ourselves with more.

   He is the best draftsman, not who draws the largest, but the most
   perfect circle. If the circle is perfect, nobody finds fault with it
   because it is not large. Fill your sphere, Brother, and be content with
   it. If God shall move you to another, be glad to be moved. If He moves
   you to a smaller, be as willing to go to a less prominent place as to
   one that is more so. Have no will about it. Be a weaned child that has
   given up fretting, crying, worrying and leaves its mother to do just
   what seems good in her sight. When we are thoroughly weaned it is well
   with us--pride is gone and ambition is gone, too. We shall need much
   nursing by One who is wiser and gentler than the best mother before we
   shall be quite weaned of these two dearly beloved sins.

   Next, David tells us he was not intrusive--"Neither do I exercise
   myself in great matters, or in things too high for me." I have seen
   many men always vexed and troubled because they would exercise
   themselves in things too high for them. These things too high for them
   have been many but I will mention only a few. They have expected to
   comprehend everything and have never been satisfied because many Truths
   of God are far above and out of their reach. They have expected,
   especially, to know all the deep things of God--the Doctrine of
   Election and how predestination coincides with the free agency of man,
   and how God orders everything and yet man is responsible--just as
   responsible as if there had been no foreknowledge and no
   foreordination.

   It is folly to hope to know these "things too high for us." Here is a
   little child that has just come off its mother's knee and it expects to
   understand a book on trigonometry and cries because it cannot? And here
   is another little child that has been down to the sea and is fretting
   and kicking in its nurse's arms because it cannot get the Atlantic into
   the hollow of its hand? Well, it will have to kick, that will be the
   end of it. But it is fretting itself for nothing, without any real use
   or need for its crying, because a little child's palm cannot hold an
   ocean. Yet a child might sooner hold the Atlantic and Pacific in its
   two hands, without spilling a drop, than you and I will ever be able to
   hold all the revealed Truth of God within the compass of our narrow
   minds!

   We cannot know everything and we cannot understand even half what we
   know! I have given up wanting to understand. As far as I can, I am
   content with believing all that I see in God's Word. People say, "But
   you contradict yourself." I dare say I do, but I never contradict God
   to my knowledge, or the Bible. If I do, may my Lord forgive me. Do not
   believe me for a minute if I speak contrary to God's Word in order to
   appear consistent. The sin of being inconsistent with my poor fallible
   self does not trouble me a tenth as much as the dread of being
   inconsistent with what I find in God's

   Word!

   Some want to shape the Scriptures to their creed or denomination and
   they get a very nice square creed, too, and trim the Bible most
   dexterously--it is wonderful how they do it! But I would rather have a
   crooked creed and a straight Bible, than I would try to twist the Bible
   round to suit what I believe. "Neither do I exercise myself," says the
   Psalmist, "with things too high for me," and I think we do well to keep
   very much in that line. "Oh, but really, one ought to be acquainted
   with all the phrases of modern thought." Yes, and how many hours in a
   day ought a man give to that kind of thing? Twenty-five out of the 24
   would hardly be sufficient, for the phrases of modern thought are
   innumerable--and every fool who sets himself up as a philosopher sets
   up a new scheme! Am I to spend my time in going about to knock his
   card-houses over?

   Not I! I have something else to do! And so has every Christian
   minister. He has real doubts to deal with which vex true hearts! He has
   anxieties to relieve in converted souls and in minds that are pining
   after the Truth of God! He has these to meet without everlastingly
   tilting at windmills and running all over the country to put down every
   scarecrow which learned simpletons may set up! We shall soon defile
   ourselves if we work day after day in the common sewers of

   skepticism! Brothers and Sisters, there is a certain highway of Truth
   in which you and I, like wayfaring men and women, feel ourselves
   safe--let us travel on it!

   There are some things that we do know because we have experienced
   them--some doctrines which nobody can beat out of us because we have
   tasted them and handled them. Well, if we can go further, well and
   good. But to my mind, we are foolish to go further and fare worse. If a
   man has reached the Land's End and some great genius should tell him to
   walk on farther than Old England reaches. And if he ridicules him
   because he will not go a step further into the fog which conceals an
   awful plunge--I think, upon the whole--he may be content to put up with
   the ridicule! Put your foot down, Brothers and Sisters, and see whether
   there is anything under it! Check whether there is a good text or two
   underneath-- whether there is a little personal experience underneath
   and, if you do not find it, let the advanced thinkers go alone-- you
   had better keep to the Rock.

   "Prove all things"--do not run after their novelties till you have
   proved them. But what you have proved hold fast. Be conservative in
   God's Truth, and radical too, by keeping to the root of the matter.
   Hold fast what you know and live mainly upon the simplicities of the
   Gospel, for, after all, the food of the soul does not lie in
   controversial points--it lies in points which we will never have
   controverted, for "without controversy, great is the mystery of
   godliness, God manifest in the flesh." There is the food of the soul
   where there is no controversy in any devout Christian spirit! Exercise
   yourself, then, in the plainer matters, and do not imbibe the notion
   that you must read all the quarterlies and master, "The Contemporary
   Review" and the like, or else you will be a nobody. Be content to be
   just such a nobody as a weaned child is, and say, "I exercise not
   myself in great matters or in things too high for me."

   The same evil comes up in another form when we want to know all the
   reasons of Divine Providence--why this affliction was sent and why
   that? Why Father died--why those two children that we loved so well
   were taken from us? Why we do not prosper in our various enterprises?
   Why? Why? Why? Ah, when we begin asking, "Why? Why? Why?" what an
   endless task we have before us! If we become like a weaned child we
   shall not ask, "why?" but just believe that in our heavenly Father's
   dispensations there is a wisdom too deep for us to fathom, a goodness
   veiled but certain!

   We exercise ourselves in things too high for us, too, when we begin
   considering the results of duty and hesitate to do it. A man's course
   is quite clear in the Word of God, but he says, "If I do that, how am I
   to provide for my family? If I do that, shall I not be throwing out a
   sphere of usefulness? I know it would be right to do it. My conscience
   tells me that I ought--but other people manage, somehow, to make
   notches in their conscience and they are evidently very useful where
   they are."

   Ah, my dear Brother, pray God to lead you in a plain path, and
   remember, you have nothing to do with results except to receive them as
   tests of your faithfulness! Results must always be left with God! If
   the result of doing right would be that you lost your life, your Master
   tells you that you must hate even your own life, also, or else you
   cannot be His disciple. You will get helped if you can trust, but if,
   for the sake of this or that, you do wrong--I do not mind how you put
   it--you are doing evil that good may come--and you are grieving the
   Spirit of God! Your mind will never get to be like a weaned child. It
   is not the childlike spirit to try to excuse yourself for maintaining a
   false position. The childlike spirit is to do what our heavenly Father
   tells us, because He tells us, and leave the consequences with Him.

   Thus I have said enough, perhaps too much, about the connection. Now,
   from the simile itself we gather that the condition of heart of which
   David spoke was this--that he was like one who was able to give up his
   natural food, which seemed to him absolutely necessary, and which he
   greatly enjoyed. The weaned babe has given up what it loved. By nature
   we hang on the breasts of this world and only Sovereign Grace can wean
   us from it. But when we give up self-righteousness, self-confidence,
   the love of the world, the desire of self-aggrandizement--when we give
   up trusting in man, trusting in ceremonies, trusting in anything but
   God--then and only then has our soul become like a weaned child! Then
   it has given up what Nature feeds upon that it may feed upon the Bread
   of Heaven!

   It means, next, that he had at last conquered his desires, his
   longings. The weaning child has his desires strong upon him and he
   frets. But the weaned child is content, his desires lie still. And the
   child of God, when sufficient Grace has come, feels no desires for that
   which once delighted him. He submits himself so completely to his
   Father's will that if he is to do without, he does without. Paul said
   he had learned in whatever state he was to be content. To be content to
   be without as well as to be with is a high attainment. Not to have and
   to be as happy in not having as if one had all he

   desired is well. O, blessed state to be in! Not merely taken away from
   the breasts of earth, but taught no longer to wish for them!

   Now, a weaned child is entirely dependent upon its mother. It knows
   nothing about how it is to be fed. It could not feed itself and it must
   die if deprived of the care of another. But it rests quietly, free from
   even a trace of anxiety. I find that the Hebrew gives the idea of a
   child lying in its mother's bosom, perfectly satisfied. And David puts
   it something like this, O my Lord, "my soul lies in Your bosom like a
   child that has done with crying and fretting, and is weaned
   altogether." Oh, happy man who so depends upon God that he leaves all
   his concerns with the God of Love and sings sweetly in confidence in
   God!

   Thus I have tried to describe the state which the Psalmist intended by
   being "as a weaned child."

   II. And now, secondly, WHAT IS THE EXCELLENCE OF THIS CONDITION? Why is
   it desirable to be even as a weaned child? It is excellent in every
   way. You will know it best by attaining to it, for when you are weaned,
   your desires will no longer worry you. Curb desire and you have struck
   at the root of half your sorrow! He smarts not under poverty who has
   learned to be content. He frets not under affliction who is submissive
   to the Father's will and lays aside his own. When your desires are held
   within bounds, your temptations to rebel are ended.

   You wanted this and you wanted that, and so you quarreled with God and
   your Lord and you were seldom on good terms. He did not choose to
   pamper you and you wanted Him to and so you fretted like a weaning
   child. Now you leave it to His will and you have peace. The strife is
   over. Your soul is quieted and behaves itself becomingly. Now, also,
   your resentments against those who injured you are gone. You were angry
   with a certain person, but your pettishness has ended with your
   weaning--you see that God sent him to do this which has troubled you
   and you accept his hard words and cruel actions as from God--and by His
   Grace, you are angry no more.

   You do not kick and struggle, now, against your condition and position.
   And you no longer murmur and complain from day to day as if you were
   harshly dealt with. No, if God chooses to better your circumstances you
   will be glad. If He does not, you just take it as you find it, for you
   could not blame His Providence. You give your thoughts to something
   better than the things of earth, for you now resolve as David did in
   the 132nd Psalm, which is very remarkable as following the Psalm which
   contains our text, because there he goes on to declare that he will
   build for the Lord of Hosts. When your own business is all right and
   you are weaned from all fretting, worrying and self-seeking, then you
   are free to undertake the Lord's business.

   He has done for you what you want and now you want to do something for
   Him. You have sought the kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all
   other things have been added to you, so that you are as happy as the
   days are long in June! Look at the birds in the winter. When there is
   not a leaf on the trees they sit and sing! And in the early spring,
   when still the winter's cold is lingering, they pour out their very
   choicest songs--and yet there is not a lark or thrush among them that
   has an hour's provision in store! Not one among them has house or barn,
   or gathers anything and yet, according to Martin Luther's
   interpretation of their song, they sing--

   "Mortal, cease from toilandsorrow, God provides for the morrow." Happy
   is the man who comes to that condition! God, bring us there!

   When we are weaned we have got rid of the ground of future troubles and
   disappointments. We do not get weaned all at once from everything. One
   person, here, has been weaned from confidence in riches, but perhaps
   his heart, his affectionate heart, is clinging to some human love, some
   mortal joy. Well, Brother, well, Sister, remember that where your
   treasure is your heart will go--and if that treasure is taken away,
   your heart must ache. If we trust in an arm of flesh, we make a rod for
   our own backs. You never lean upon a man, or woman, either, and steal
   away from simple trust in God, but what you are preparing for yourself
   a trial! It may be in the treachery of the one you trusted. It
   certainly will be, if you live long enough, in the death of that
   beloved one.

   "Dust to dust" and, "ashes to ashes," will be the end of all earthly
   joy. If a building leans upon a buttress, if that buttress is taken
   away it must be weakened. But if it can stand alone, upon its own
   foundation, then it stands firmly. The man who depends alone upon his
   God and whose expectation is from Him, has not half the occasions for
   trouble that he has who is leaning here and leaning there, and leaning
   in 50 places! For each earthly prop will be the cause or occasion of
   distress at some time or other.

   III. I have very much to say on this point, but my time is gone. I will
   only close with the last inquiry, which is this-- IS THIS STATE
   ATTAINABLE? Certainly. David said, "My soul is even as a weaned child."
   He did not say that he hoped it would be. We can surely get where David
   got, for he was a man of like passions with ourselves. No attainment in
   Grace is to be viewed as the monopoly of one man or one age! In fact,
   we have more advantages than the Psalmist, for he lived under a much
   more poverty-stricken dispensation than we do.

   Now the gates of Heaven are set wide open and the treasure houses and
   the granaries of our heavenly Joseph are free to all Israel! And, if we
   are at all straitened, it certainly cannot be in the Lord! He does not
   stint us. Did David say, "My soul is even as a weaned child"? Then no
   Believer here ought to be content till he can say, "By the Grace of God
   I am brought into that same condition." This sacred weanedness of heart
   is possible under any circumstances. The poor have often attained it.

   I saw, this week, a poor women entirely dependent upon what was given
   to her by others. She is confined to her chamber, needing to be lifted
   from her bed. She is racked with rheumatic pain and yet as happy as an
   angel! She was joying and rejoicing in the Lord and one of her greatest
   pleasures was to sit on the side of the bed for an hour, when her pain
   was not so bad but what she could sit up, and get through a chapter or
   two of her Bible. Then her heart took to itself wings and soared up to
   Heaven! Her soul was as a weaned child. She had no anxieties and no
   fretfulness. Those who attended her said that such a thing as a murmur
   never escaped her. Hear this, you poor ones!

   And you who are better off may get there in the midst of riches, for
   David was a king and yet he did not suffer his worldly wealth to canker
   his spirit. He was as a weaned child though dwelling in a palace! He
   could get at the breast of worldly pleasures and yet he was weaned from
   it! A man may be in this condition when he is tossed to and fro and
   troubled. Business men are apt to say, "It is all very well for you
   ministers to talk about calm and peace of mind. But if you had to sell
   flour and bread, or measure out drapery, or look after a lot of clerks,
   or go into a large factory and see after a pack of work girls, you
   would find it very difficult."

   My dear Friends, look at David's life. How tossed about he was! What
   cares, what trials, what changes, what singular alternations of
   condition--and yet for all that his soul was even as a weaned child! Do
   you think the religion of Jesus Christ was meant to be kept under a
   glass case and that it would make good people of us if we were locked
   up in a cloister? No, it is a practical everyday religion meant for you
   that have factories and you that have bakeries and you that have shops!
   The religion which cannot stand the wear and tear of everyday life is
   not worth two pence--and the sooner you are rid of such rubbish, the
   better! We need a religion which we may take with us wherever we go,
   that will keep us calm and quiet and self-possessed, because we are
   possessed of the Spirit of God. May we reach this happy state and never
   leave it!

   What is the way to get it? The Psalm tells us, "Let Israel hope in the
   Lord, from now on and forever." Faith blossoming into hope is the way
   of sanctification--the road to a calm and quiet spirit. You cannot say
   to yourself, "I will fret no longer," and then expect never to fret.
   No, Brothers and Sisters, you must expel one affection by another-- one
   propensity must be vanquished by another. You are too ready to trust in
   man--trust in God will push out carnal confidence. You are expecting
   great things of the world, that is foolish! Expect great things of God
   and you will cease from carnal hopes. You are seeking, from day to day,
   for this world's good. You feel an ambition to rise--seek after the
   eternal good and feel an ambition to get nearer to God--and the other
   ambition will die. You are worried by fears and anxieties-- come and
   rest your soul upon the faithful promise and, resting there, your
   anxieties will cease.

   I fear that many Christian people think that faith has nothing to do
   with everyday life. They do not expect to find that it relieves them of
   anxieties as to bread and cheese for themselves, or shoes and socks for
   the children--and all those little troubles and worries which concern a
   housewife and a father. But, oh, Beloved, it is not so! The heathen had
   their household gods and, blessed be God, He is our household God, the
   God of all the families of Israel! The Lord hears the young ravens when
   they cry--will He not hear His people? The ravens only cry for meat--a
   dead rabbit or a pigeon is all they need--yet the Lord sees that their
   needs are supplied! And I find that, "not a sparrow falls to the ground
   without your Father, and the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

   These poor hairs? These little things! These trifling things! You will
   never be as a weaned child till you leave these little things with God,
   for the child has no great things. A child's matters are all
   little--though they are great to the babe they are little to us. Leave
   your little things with God! Leave everything with God! Live in God!
   Dwell in God!

   Have no secrets between yourself and God! The troubles of life which
   fret us most are the little things. If a man goes on a long walk it is
   not the climbing and it is not the slipping down the steep hillside--it
   is that nasty little stone which has got into his shoe which troubles
   him! He can hardly see it, but there it is, and it blisters his foot
   and lames him.

   Ah, dear Brothers and Sisters, take the little stone to God! Ask Him to
   remove that little vexation from you, for as with God there is nothing
   great, so is there nothing little. The greatest philosopher in the
   world, or the greatest king, if his little child had a thorn in his
   finger, would not think himself disgraced if he stooped to take it out
   with a needle. The Lord who makes all things and calls the stars by
   their names does not dishonor Himself when He binds up our broken
   hearts. Go, then, to your God and let your soul leave everything with
   Him by faith, being made as a weaned child. "Easier said than done,"
   says somebody. Yes, Brethren, except by faith--but to faith it is easy
   enough.

   And I boldly say here that I have sometimes found it easier to exercise
   faith than to talk about it. When I trust God--and I hope I do that
   habitually--I do not find that to give up anxiety and to trust in God
   is difficult, now, though it used to be. Blessed be my Lord, I cannot
   help believing Him, for He loads me down with evidences of His Truth
   and fidelity! Once get really into the swim of faith and you do not
   need to struggle--the sacred current of Grace will carry you along.
   Give yourself completely up to the Lord Jesus Christ and the mighty
   energy of the blessed Spirit--and you will find it sweet to lie passive
   in His hands and know no will but His!

   God bring you there! If there is any unconverted person here who cannot
   understand all this, I pray the Lord to make him a child, first, and
   then make him a weaned child! Regeneration must come first, but
   sanctification will follow. Believe in Jesus for pardon and then you
   will have Grace given to resign yourself to the Divine will. May the
   Lord wean you from earth and wed you to Heaven. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 130,131. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK" - 708, 778.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Hospital of Waiters Visited with the Gospel

   (No. 1211)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk." John 5:8.

   IT was the Sabbath! Where would Jesus spend that day and how? He would
   not spend it, we are quite sure, in any unhallowed manner or in any
   trifling sort. What would He do? He would do good, for it is lawful to
   do good on the Sabbath. Where would He do good? He knew that there was
   one sight in Jerusalem which was particularly painful--the sight of a
   number of poor persons, blind, lame and crippled, who were lying round
   a pool of water, waiting for a blessing which seldom came. He thought
   He would go and do good there, for there good was most needed. Would to
   God that all Christ's servants felt that the most urgent necessity has
   the greatest claim upon them--that where there is the most need, there
   they ought to exercise the most kindness--and that no way of spending
   the Sabbath could be better than that of bearing the Gospel of
   Salvation to those who are most in need of it.

   But it was a feast day as well. It was a great festival of the Jews and
   Jesus had come up to Jerusalem to keep the feast. Where will He feast?
   Has someone asked Him to his house? There were Mary and Martha and
   Lazarus down at Bethany. Would they ask Him? Sometimes even Pharisees
   and Publicans would open their houses and make a banquet for Him. Where
   would He go? Was it a singular choice for Him to say to Himself, "My
   feast shall be kept among the blind and the crippled and the lame"? No,
   it was not singular, for He had said to one who had invited Him to his
   house, "When you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the
   blind: and you shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense you: for
   you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

   What He urged others to do, He would be sure to do Himself. It was just
   like He to say, "I shall spend My feast in an hospital. I will use this
   day, sacred both to joy and rest, by going where the sick lie thickly
   clustered together, for to Me to be merciful is to be glad--to bless
   men is to find rest for My heart." Christ never feasts more joyfully
   than when He is doing good to others. And the greater the act of His
   liberality--the higher the deed of power which is worked by His
   love--the more is His blessed Nature filled with rest and joy. See you,
   then, the Savior going down to the pool of Be-thesda, determining that
   in the spot where sorrow and disease reigned supreme, He would exercise
   His mercy and overcome evil.

   I shall ask you to go with me, and with the Savior, down to
   Bethesda'spool. I shall call it THE HOSPITAL OF WAITERS. While we are
   there we shall notice that Jesus Christ fixes His eyes upon the most
   helpless person among that waiting company. And then, thirdly, we shall
   have to note with joy how our Lord dealt with the man after a Gospel
   fashion.

   I. First of all, I said we would go down to the POOL OF BETHESDA with
   its five porches, which I have called the hospital of the waiters--for
   all those people who were there were doing one thing--they were
   waiting. They were waiting for the moving of the waters. There was
   nothing else they could do. They were lying sick, with anxious eyes
   gazing upon the little pool, hoping to see it bubble up--to see a
   widening circle coming upon its placid surface--waiting to plunge in
   immediately, for whoever plunged in first would receive a miracle--one
   and no more.

   Said I not truly that it was an hospital of waiters? Too easily may we
   find a large company of waiters now-a-days. I wish it were not so, but
   great numbers are always waiting. I think I know enough to fill all the
   five porches. Some are waiting for a more convenient season and they
   have a notion, perhaps, that this more convenient season will come to
   them on a sick bed. Possibly, they even think, upon a dying bed. It is
   a great mistake! They have heard the Gospel and they believe it to be
   free though they have not accepted it. They go to a place of worship,
   continually, and they say to themselves, "We hope that one of these
   days we shall be able to lay hold of Christ, and shall be healed of the
   disease of sin, but not now."

   How many years have you been waiting, some of you, for the convenient
   season--five, six, eight, ten, twenty? I know some who have been
   waiting 20 or more years! I remember speaking to them about their souls
   and they said, then, that

   they did not intend to neglect the matter. They were waiting and the
   time had not quite come. They did not exactly explain what stood in the
   way, but it was a something that was to be gone in a few months--maybe
   even weeks. But it has not gone and they are still waiting! And I fear
   that they will wait until the Judgment Day will come and find them
   unsaved! They always reckon upon a good tomorrow, but tomorrow is a day
   which you will not find in the almanac--it is found nowhere but in the
   fool's calendar.

   The wise man lives today. What his hand finds to do, he does at once
   with all his might. Today is God's time and whenever we are saved it
   will be our time. But, alas, many lie waiting till their joints
   stiffen, their eyes fail, their ears are heavy and their hearts more
   and more insensible. O you simple ones, will it be so, forever? Will
   you wait till you are cast into Hell? On a second porch, a crowd of
   waiters are waiting for dreams and visions. You, perhaps, think these
   are very few, but they are not so few as you imagine. And they have a
   notion that perhaps one of these nights they will have such a vivid
   dream of judgment that they will wake up alarmed--or such a bright
   vision of Heaven that they will wake up fascinated by it!

   They have been reading in somebody's biography that he saw something in
   the air, or heard a voice, or had a text of Scripture "laid home to
   him" (as it is called). They are waiting, I say, till the same signs
   and wonders shall happen to them. I bear them witness that they are
   very anxious to have this thing happen. But their mistake is that they
   want it, or expect it to happen at all, and lie there by the Pool of
   Bethesda waiting, and waiting, and waiting, as though they cannot
   believe God, but they can believe in a dream--they cannot confide in
   the teaching of Holy Scripture, but they can believe in a voice which
   they imagine to be sounding in their ears, though it might be the chirp
   of a bird, or might be nothing at

   all.

   They could trust their imagination, but they cannot trust the Word of
   God as it is written in the Inspired Volume! They want something over
   and above the sure Word of Testimony. The witness of God is not enough
   for them. They demand the witness of fancy, or the witness of
   feeling--and they are waiting on the porch by the pool till that comes.
   What is this but an insulting unbelief? Is not the Lord to be believed
   until a sign or a wonder shall corroborate His Testimony? Such waiting
   provokes the Most High!

   A third porch full of people will be found waiting for a sort of
   compulsion. They have heard that those who come to Christ are drawn by
   the Spirit of God. They believe the Doctrines of Grace and I am glad
   they do, for they are true. But they misconstrue those doctrines. They
   suppose the Spirit of God makes men do this or that altogether against
   their wills, by exercising force. Their notion seems to be that men are
   taken to Heaven by their ears, or dragged by force and, because we
   speak of cords of love and bands of a man, they pick out the imagery
   and mistranslate it.

   Now, believe me, the Spirit of God never acts by the human heart as you
   and I might act by a box of which we have lost the key. He does not
   wrench it and break it open. According to the laws of our nature, He
   acts with men as men. He draws with cords, but they are cords of
   love--with bands, but they are bands of a man. It is by enlightening
   the judgment that He influences the will. He leads us to see things in
   a different light by the instruction which He gives us and by that
   clearer light He influences the understanding and the heart. The things
   we love, we see to be evil, and we hate them. And the things we once
   hated, we see to be good, and we choose them.

   These persons fancy that they will be made to repent whether they will
   or not--made to believe in Jesus Christ whether they will or not! But
   it is not so that the Holy Spirit acts. Let me warn you of the great
   sin and of putting the Holy Spirit into contrast or rivalry with Jesus
   Christ. Now, the Gospel is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
   shall be saved." But for you to say, "I am waiting for the Holy
   Spirit," is to set up Jesus in a kind of opposition with the Holy
   Spirit--whereas the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit agree in
   One--no, They are One, and the testimony of Jesus is the testimony of
   the Holy Spirit! And when the Holy Spirit works in men, He works with
   the things of Christ, not with any new things. He takes of the things
   of Christ and shows them unto us.

   If a man rejects the Gospel which says, "Believe and live," he rejects
   the Holy Spirit who will not bring any other Gospel, but leaves him
   shut up to believe in Jesus or to die in his sins. You must have
   Christ, or perish! And if you refuse to obey His Gospel Word, neither
   will God the Father nor God the Spirit interpose to deliver you. Jesus
   Christ has the Spirit to bear witness of Him and when He comes, He
   convinces men of sin because they believe not on Christ! And then He
   leads them, not to trust in some work over and above the work of Jesus,
   but to rest simply and alone on the Atonement which Christ has
   furnished. Woe to those who linger anywhere short of this!

   A fourth porch is attractive to many people, especially at this
   peculiar time. They are waiting for a revival. We have heard glad
   tidings, in which we rejoice, of great revivals in different parts of
   England, Scotland and Ireland. And there are some who say, "Oh, if a
   revival would come here, I would be converted." Or it runs thus, "If
   the two honored servants of God were to come here and hold services,
   then, surely, we would be converted." They look to men and excitements.
   I thank God for every genuine revival and, whenever He works, I rejoice
   in it. But for any man to suppose that the Gospel command is suspended
   for a time until a revival comes, is to suppose a lie!

   The Gospel says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you." So said
   Peter on the day of Pentecost. Or, in other words, "Believe on the Lord
   Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." The Gospel call is, "Today, if
   you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." It does not say,
   "Wait, wait, wait till times of refreshing! Wait till a revival." I am
   inclined to think that even if a revival should come, persons who are
   now making it an excuse for delay would be in a very unlikely state to
   get a blessing from it. Or if they thought they got a blessing it
   would, in all probability, be a mistake, for they could be depending
   upon men, or upon fleshly excitement, and not looking away to Jesus
   Christ, who is as able to save them now as He will be in a revival! And
   He is just as able to save them by my voice, now, or by no voice at
   all, as He would be by any other man, however useful he may have been.
   I fear there are many waiting on that porch.

   Many are waiting on the porch of expected impressions. They want an
   impression and they wish the minister to preach a very alarming sermon.
   They want him to be very warm-hearted and earnest, as he ought to be,
   but they want him to fix them--to shoot the arrow into their flesh,
   that they may be pierced in the heart--for this they are waiting! They
   come here every Sunday. They have been touched a great deal and
   rendered very uneasy. They have felt as if they could hardly sit
   through the sermon, but they have managed to do it--and they have
   managed to wait--and wait. When shall I reach you? In what way am I to
   preach?

   Surely, if I knew in what way I could bring you to Jesus, it would be
   my delight to follow it! But I cannot preach any other Gospel than the
   one I preach! And I cannot do it more plainly. Neither do I think I can
   do it more earnestly, for I desire the salvation of sinners with my
   whole soul. Many may preach it better, but none more from the heart. If
   you are looking for me to do something more, you will look in vain, for
   I have nothing better to bring. I have pointed you to a Savior's
   flowing wounds and bid you look to Him and live. If you will not accept
   His salvation, then I have no other hope to set before you. If you will
   not trust my Lord, not even an angel from Heaven, if he should come,
   could give you any other hope. If men will not hear the Gospel which I
   have preached, neither could they be converted though one rose from the
   dead.

   Thus I have shown you five porches of waiters. I will tell you why I am
   sure they are wrong in waiting. I will set before you their theory.
   Those people were waiting because an angel would come and stir the
   water--and whoever stepped in first would get healed. That was their
   idea. They were not looking to Jesus, any of them! Had they not heard
   that Jesus was healing the sick? Had they never heard of the woman who
   came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment and had the issue
   of blood stopped? Had they never heard of a nobleman's son who was on
   the point of dying, and was made to live? Had they never heard of all
   this? I do not know, but certain it is they never tried to get to
   Jesus, nor did they cry to Him.

   They trusted wholly to the pool and the angel, and the stirring of the
   water. Ah, I think had they been wise, they would have said, "This is
   uncertain and only happens now and then. But Jesus says, 'Him that
   comes to Me I will in no wise cast out,' and He is able to save to the
   uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Had we not better crawl as
   best we can to those dear feet and look up into His face and say, 'You,
   Son of David, have mercy upon us'"? And so there is the theory--the
   opposition theory to the Gospel! I want to smash it to pieces, if God
   the Holy Spirit will help me--the waiting theory, the theory of looking
   for something, but not looking to Christ and to Him alone!

   These people attached great importance to the place. They stayed at the
   pool of Bethesda. There was the place. If ever they got any good, they
   would get it there. And so I find waiters often attach great importance
   to the place of worship-- they expect to find salvation only there. Do
   you not know that Jesus can save your souls tomorrow morning in the
   tankard, quite as well as next Sunday in the Tabernacle? Do you not
   know that Jesus is just as much a Savior on a Saturday as on a Sunday?
   Do you not know that when you are walking in the streets, in Cheapside
   or in the Borough, if you breathe a prayer to Him, He is just as mighty
   to save you as He would be if you were on your knees, or at home, or
   sitting here and listening to the Gospel?

   He is wherever there is a heart that needs Him! Wherever there is an
   eye that desires to look to Him with the glance of faith, there is
   Jesus! There are no pools of Bethesda now--no places set apart to
   monopolize the dispensation of Divine Mercy--

   "Where ever we seek Him, He is found, And everyplace is hallowed
   ground."

   Oh, get to Him, then, in these pews, for this is a place where He is!
   And if you were lying on your sick beds, I would tell you He was there!
   And if you were at a carpenter's bench driving the plane, or out in the
   fields driving the plow, I would have nothing more to say to you but
   this, "The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart, that
   if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe
   in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be
   saved." This theory that we are to wait at the pool of ordinances is
   antichrist's Gospel! Christ's Gospel is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
   Christ and you shall be saved."

   Then they say that they are to wait for signs and wonders. Those who
   waited at Bethesda waited for an angel. I do not know whether they ever
   did see an angel, or whether the water was stirred mysteriously by an
   invisible wing. But they waited for an angel--a mystery. People like a
   mystery, but the craving is evil, for albeit that the Gospel is, in one
   respect, the mystery of godliness, yet as far as you sinners are
   concerned, it is the plainest thing in all the world! It is this,
   "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." He has God
   set forth to be a Propitiation for sin. The blood of Jesus is a
   substitutionary offering to God's Justice, instead of our death. And
   whoever trusts Christ to stand instead of him and so accepts Christ to
   be his Substitute, is a saved man!

   Priests try to make a mystery out of everything, now-a-days, and this
   is that word which is written upon the forehead of the whore of
   Babylon, according to the Book of Revelation--"Mystery, Mother of
   Harlots!" Her mass is a mystery and her ceremonies are all mysteries!
   The Latin tongue is used to make the service a mystery! The priest,
   himself, is a mystery! Baptism is a mystery. Now, in the Gospel of
   Jesus Christ, the essential Truth of God is as plain as a pikestaff.
   Legible only by the light they give, stand the soul-quickening
   words--"Believe and live." A man who is almost an idiot may understand
   this! Trust Christ! Accept Christ to be your Substitute before God and
   you are saved on the spot--saved in an instant! But no, they wait for a
   mystery! They pine for a mystery. They even suppose that the Holy
   Spirit, Himself, is to come upon them to confuse the Gospel, whereas,
   what He does is to make the Gospel yet more plain to us! And when He
   comes, He tears the mystery away, removes the scales from our eyes, and
   makes us see that it is a simple matter to receive Jesus and become the
   sons of God!

   Again, these waiters who attach so much importance to place and are
   waiting for mysteries, appear to be waiting, also, for an influence
   which is intermittent. It was only at a certain season that the angel
   stirred the pool. So they seem to fancy that there are certain times
   and seasons when Christ is willing to receive sinners--and occasional
   intervals when they may hope to find salvation. Whereas the mercy of my
   God is not like the pool of Bethesda, stirred now and then! It is a
   well of water always springing up and whoever believes in Jesus,
   whether it is 16 minutes to eight, or whether it is eight o'clock,
   shall find that Christ is ready to receive sinners.

   "All things are ready, come unto the supper," is one of the Gospel
   proclamations. Ready, and ready now, not sometimes, but at all
   times--not now and then, not occasionally, on Sundays and high days and
   revival days, but--"Today, if you will hear His voice." "Today is the
   accepted time; today is the day of salvation." Therefore, because these
   people think that there is a certain intermittent influence, they
   believe that all they have to do is to wait for it in a very singular
   way. Oh, if I were to be hanged tomorrow morning and I knew that an
   application had been made for pardon, I would wait for the result--but
   how do you think I would wait? Suppose I had no hope of Heaven and knew
   I would be hanged tomorrow, but I had a bare hope that perhaps a pardon
   might come, I would wait for it--but how would I wait?

   Would I go to sleep tonight? Would I make a feast and make myself drunk
   with the drunken? Oh no, my life, my life, my life is in jeopardy! I
   cannot trifle! How do sailors on the wreck wait for the lifeboat? Are
   they idle, do you think? No, they are straining their eyes with looking
   and bursting themselves with their signals of distress, imploring help!
   Do they go to sleep on the wreck and say, "If we are to be saved we
   shall be saved. Let us go to sleep"? No, they are waiting, but if there
   should come a rocket to the ship with a rope, they would be ready to
   lay hold of it in a minute and wait no more! It is a lie, nine times
   out of ten, when men say they are waiting for Christ, because they have
   not that awful anxiety, that dolorous uneasiness of mind which goes
   with true waiting. It is only a make-believe waiting, a mere excuse.
   Whatever

   sort of waiting it is, it is clean opposite to the Gospel which never
   says a word about waiting, but which commands men to believe and live!

   Besides, these people are waiting for an influence supposed to be very
   limited. Only one person was healed at a time at Bethesda, and he was
   the first who plunged in. And so when the waiters hear of anyone being
   saved they think that he was in more favorable circumstances than
   themselves, that he was placed in a better position for obtaining
   salvation. They seem to be in the rear of the ranks and unable to get
   to this wonderful pool of theirs. It is all a mistake! Jesus Christ is
   as near to one seeker as another! If a man has been moral, the Gospel
   says to him, "believe." If a man has been immoral, the Gospel cries to
   him, "believe." If a man is a king, the Gospel commands him to
   "believe." If he is a beggar, it bids him, also, "believe." If a man is
   full of self-righteousness, the Gospel points him to Christ and tells
   him to give up his righteousness. And if a man is full of vice and
   rotten with sin, it points him to Christ and bids him give up his sin
   and look to Jesus!

   The footing upon which the Gospel addresses sinners is the same at all
   times. It has neither less nor more to say to the child of the harlot
   than to the child of the Christian matron. It presents the same pardon
   to the great sinner and the little sinner, (if such there is), and
   comes with the same rich blessing to the chief of sinners as it does to
   the children of godly parents. Do not get false notions in your head.
   The same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. Like faith
   obtains a like blessing. There is a limit, for, "the Lord knows them
   that are His," but in the preaching of the Gospel we are not bound by
   the decree which is secret, but by our marching orders, "Go you into
   all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believes
   and is baptized shall be saved." He who bade me preach to every
   creature did not bid me exempt one soul from my message!

   Thus I have tried to show why so many wait and I will add but one thing
   more on this point. Some of these people who are waiting put a good
   deal of reliance on other people even as this poor man said, "I have no
   one to put me in the pool." I have letters every week from persons in
   distress of mind who ask me to pray for them, which I very cheerfully
   do. But as a general rule, I say to them, "My dear Friends, I beseech
   you do not try to quiet your mind by asking me to pray for you. That is
   not your hope. 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
   saved,' whether prayed for or not." I try to get them away from all
   reliance in anybody's prayers and to look to Jesus alone.

   O, do not say, "I will ask my friends to pray for me, and then be
   easy." You may say it if you like, but do not rest in that, I pray you!
   Remember Jesus Christ is to be looked to--not the best people's
   prayers! If you look to Jesus you shall have immediate salvation. But
   if the whole Church of God were to go down on its knees at once and
   stay there for the next 50 years praying for you, you would be damned
   to a certainty if you did not believe in Jesus! If you pray for
   yourself and look alone to Jesus, you shall most assuredly be saved! Is
   not this enough about that dreary hospital full of waiters?

   II. Now a few minutes on the second head. Jesus Christ has entered the
   hospital and He looks about Him. And He picks out THE MOST HELPLESS MAN
   IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I was pleased to notice on the bill of the services
   at the theatres a line which says, "The poorest people are the most
   welcome." That is a Gospel sentence. Even thus is it with Christ. He
   always loves to give His mercy to those who need it most. There lay
   that man and he did not think of Christ, but Christ stood and looked at
   him. He did not know Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ knew him and He
   knew that he had been a long time in that condition.

   He knew that he had been sick 38 years! He knew all that--and He knew
   before the man told him--that he had often been disappointed and,
   indeed, that poor wretch had been. He had often tried, as well as his
   paralyzed body would enable him, to get into the water. But somebody,
   even some blind man who had managed to get nearer the edge and had the
   use of his limbs, plunged in first and came up with his eyes
   open--while this poor nervous creature could not get into the water at
   any time. He had seen a great many others cured and that had made the
   disease more painful to him. But it had not encouraged him, but rather
   made him the more sad. He was the most irresolute, soft kind of a man
   that you ever met with.

   Read the story of the man whose eyes were opened by Christ, who said,
   "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." There is a
   fine hard-headed fellow! He might have been a Scotchman! But this man
   was all irresolution, shiftless, weak in mind. You know some such
   people--perhaps you have such in your family. You cannot help them. If
   you set them up in business they are sure to fail. Whatever they do, it
   never succeeds. They are a poor, weak, childish sort of people who need
   to be put in a basket and carried on somebody else's back all through
   the world. There are people of this

   sort as to religion--and this man was a type of them. He sorely longed
   to be healed but he did not hardly say that, for when Jesus said to
   him, "Will you be made whole?" he did not say "O Lord, I desire it with
   all my heart," but he went on with a rambling story, saying, "I have no
   man to put me into the water," and so on.

   When our Lord did heal him, it you notice, he did not ask Christ His
   name, and, when he found that out afterwards, he went like a stupid to
   the Pharisees and told them directly who his Benefactor was, and so got
   the Lord into trouble. There are still people about of this kind. They
   scarcely know their own mind. They know they need to be saved, but they
   hardly say as much as that. They are rightly impressed, but they get
   impressed the other way almost as easily. They are irresolute and
   unstable.

   Now, my Lord and Master picked out this very man to be the subject of
   His healing energy. To God belong wonders of Grace! Did Jesus not say,
   Himself, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because You
   have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them
   unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight"? "God
   has chosen the foolish things of the world to confuse the wise. And God
   has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which
   are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are
   despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not, to bring to
   nothing things that are." This poor, hapless, helpless paralyzed man--
   almost as paralyzed in his brains as he was in his body--was pitied by
   our gracious Lord!

   Now who is the most helpless man in this place? Who is the most
   helpless woman in this place? I know you are saying, some of you, "I am
   afraid that is myself." I have good news for you! You are just the sort
   my Lord loves to begin with! Do not be offended at the description but
   be willing to take it home to yourself. Very probably, looking back
   upon your past life, you are compelled to say, "Well, that is really
   what I have been. I have plenty of wits about me in my business. I am
   sharp enough there. But when it comes to religion I fear I am just that
   kind of fool. I have no resolution. I have no fixed determination. I am
   always being pulled by the ear by a temptation, or drawn the wrong way
   by evil companions."

   Now, my poor Friend, lie down before Jesus Christ in all your
   helplessness, in all your stupidity--and pray the Lord to look upon
   you. A Brother once said to me, "My dear Sir, I wish you would never
   speak to anybody but sensible sinners." I said, "Well, I am very glad
   to preach to sensible sinners when they come to hear me, but so many
   stupid sinners come along with them that I am bound to preach to them,
   as well." And I do. I put the Gospel to those that feel themselves to
   be insensible and stupid in everything--and who write themselves down
   among the fools. Jesus has come to seek and save poor lost, ruined,
   dead sinners, and I pray Him to look on you at this time!

   III. Now, the third point is HOW JESUS CHRIST DEALT WITH HIM. If Jesus
   Christ had belonged to a certain class of ministers, He would have
   said, "Right, my Man, you are lying at the pool of ordinances and there
   you had better lie." He did not belong to that persuasion and,
   therefore, He did not say anything of the sort! Neither did He say, as
   some Brethren do, "My dear Friend, you should pray." Very proper advice
   in some respects, you know, but Jesus did not give it--He knew better.
   He did not say, "Now, you must begin to pray and wait before the Lord."
   That is a very good thing to say to some people, but it is not the
   Gospel for sinners. Jesus Christ did not say to His disciples, "Go you
   into all the world, and tell people to pray." No. "Preach the Gospel to
   every creature; he that believes and is baptized shall be saved."

   Well, what did Jesus Christ do to him? He gave him a command. "Rise,
   take up your bed, and walk." The words sounded like three thunderclaps.
   "But he cannot! But he cannot! He is paralyzed, good Sir! He is
   paralyzed!" Yes, but the Gospel is a command, for we read of some who
   disobey the Gospel. Now, a man cannot disobey what is not a command! He
   cannot be disobedient unless, first of all, there is a command. Jesus
   Christ brought the Gospel blessing of healing to him as a command.
   "Rise," He said, "take up your bed, and walk." It was a command which
   implied faith, because the man could not rise and could not take up his
   bed--and could not walk of himself. But if he believed in Jesus Christ,
   he could rise and could take up his bed--and could walk! So it was
   really a command to exercise faith in Jesus and to prove it by
   practical works.

   "But the man could not do it." That has nothing to do with it! The
   power is not in the sinner, but in the command! He could not rise, but
   Jesus Christ could make him do so. And when I, or any other minister of
   the Lord Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, address you, chosen
   Sinner, and say to you, "Trust Jesus Christ," we do not do so because
   we believe there is any strength in you, any more than there was in the
   paralyzed man, but because we speak in the name of

   Jesus of Nazareth who has sent us to say to you, "Rise up and walk." I
   trust my Lord to send His power with the Gospel! I know right well that
   I have no power of my own, but He that sent me will bless His own
   message as He pleases. If you are to get salvation, you will get it by
   believing in Jesus and rising, at once, out of the state in which you
   now are! By His power, through the simple act of believing in Him, you
   will be made whole!

   The man believed in Jesus. That was all he did. Soft simpleton as he
   was. Irresolute, and all that, he had enough sense, and God gave him
   Grace enough to simply believe in Jesus. He resolved that he would try
   his legs and to his sur-prise--oh, how astonished he must have
   been--those poor legs worked! He stood and found he could stoop and,
   rolling up his mattress, he took it up and walked away with it. What
   joy went through his frame! You have been ill, but the Lord has
   restored you and you have got up and found yourself able to walk! Was
   it not a delight to you? I know the sensation well. What must it be to
   be paralyzed 38 years? And then to be able to stoop and roll up a bed,
   and put it on your back, and walk away! It must have been a delight to
   feel new life leaping through his nerves and sinews and veins.

   Now, if a sinner says, "Well, I never did try it before, but by the
   Grace of God I will trust my soul in the hands of Jesus--

   "I do believe, I will believe,

   That Jesus died for me,

   And on the Cross He shed His blood

   For sin, to set me free,"

   Sinner, you will rise up and walk directly. You will be surprised,
   yourself, to find the mighty change which God is working in you by His
   blessed Spirit through that simple act of faith! And you will go down
   those Tabernacle steps hardly knowing where you are, singing for joy
   because the Lord has taken you out of the hospital of waiters and put
   you among the Believers! Has He not said, "Then shall the lame man leap
   as an hart, for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams
   in the desert"?

   Jesus Christ treated this man in a Gospel way, for the way in which
   faith came into that man is very remarkable. The man did not know Jesus
   Christ--why was it he believed in Him? Why, it was this--he did not
   know who He was, but he knew He was somebody very wonderful! There was
   a look about Him, a majestic gleam about those eyes, a wonderful force
   in the tone of that voice, a power in the lifting up of that finger
   which was very different from what the man had ever seen before. He
   knew not who He was and did not know His name--yet somehow confidence
   was born in his soul! How much more, then, may faith come to you who
   know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? You know that He died and
   made a full Atonement for sin. You know that He has risen from the dead
   and that He sits on the right hand of God, even the Father--that all
   power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth, and that--"He is able
   to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever
   lives to make intercession for them."

   Do not say, "I will try and get faith." That is not the way. If I want
   to believe a statement, how do I go to work? Why, I hear it and faith
   comes by hearing. If I have any doubt about it, I hear it again and ask
   to have it repeated to me more fully and, when I have heard it again,
   conviction flashes upon me. So Jesus, in the Gospel, says, "Incline
   your ear, and come unto Me: hear and your soul shall live; and I will
   make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."
   "Hear Me. Believe Me"--this is, in brief, the Gospel which Jesus
   preaches to men's hearts.

   Now God gives His witness concerning Christ that He is His Son, for out
   of Heaven He spoke and said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
   pleased." Will you not believe Him? The Spirit, the water and the blood
   are always bearing witness, and these three agree in one. Believe Jesus
   Christ! The evidence is strong, yield up your soul to it and you shall
   find joy, peace and eternal life! The man's belief in Jesus, actively
   proved by his rising, settled the matter! A very different case is that
   from lying and waiting. Why, I should think this man, if he had wits
   enough, would go back and say to others lying and waiting, "What? Still
   lying and waiting? Why, I was lying and waiting for 38 years and I got,
   by lying and waiting, nothing! Neither will you!"

   Simple as he was, he would have said, "I will tell you what is better
   than lying and waiting. There is a Man among us, even Jesus Christ, the
   Son of God, and if we trust Him, He will heal us, for He heals all
   manner of diseases. If you cannot go to Him, send a messenger to Him,
   for He healed a nobleman's son many miles away. Only believe Him and
   virtue will go out of Him, for it is not possible that any should trust
   Him and not be healed." I think I should like to have been that man,
   simpleton as I might have been, to have gone to tell those poor souls
   who were lying and waiting, the difference between lying and waiting
   and immediately believing!

   I would put it in the simplest way I could, for I was, myself, waiting
   when I was a child. I heard much preaching that led me to wait--and I
   think I should have kept on waiting had I not heard that poor Primitive
   Methodist Brother cry, "Look, young man, look now!" I did look, then
   and there, and I found salvation on the spot--and I have never lost it.
   I have nothing else to say to you, but, "There is life in a look at the
   Crucified One," and every man that looks shall have it here, now and at
   once. O, that many would look!

   Do you understand it? Christ bore the wrath of God instead of those who
   trust Him! Jesus Christ took the sins of all who trust Him and was
   punished in the place of every Believer, so that God will not punish a
   Believer because He has punished Christ for him! Christ died for the
   man who believes in Him, so that it would be injustice on the part of
   God to punish that man, for how shall He punish twice for the same
   offense? Faith is the seal and evidence that you were redeemed 1,900
   years ago upon the bloody tree of Calvary! And you are justified and
   who shall lay anything to your charge?

   "It is God that justifies you: who is he that condemns you? It is
   Christ that died; yes, rather, that is risen again." This is the Gospel
   of your salvation! "Oh, but I do not feel." Did I say anything about
   feeling? You shall have feeling after you have faith. "But I am not
   right." I do not care what you are or are not! Jesus says, "Verily,
   verily, I say unto you, he that believes in Me has everlasting life."
   "Oh, but--" Away with your "buts." Here is the Gospel--"Whoever will,
   let him come and take of the Water of Life freely. The Spirit and the
   bride say, 'Come.'" And what both the Spirit and the bride of Christ
   say, surely I may say and do say! And may God bless the saying of it!
   And may you accept it, you waiting ones! May you look, believe and
   live, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--John 4:46; 5:1-16. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--538, 505, 516.
     __________________________________________________________________

Faith and Its Attendant Privileges

   (No. 1212)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as
   received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to
   them which believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of
   the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John
   1:11-13.

   ACCORDING to this text, the principal matter in our salvation is faith.
   Faith is described as "receiving" Jesus. It is the empty cup placed
   under the flowing stream. It is the penniless hand held out for
   heavenly alms. It is also described in the text as "believing on His
   name." And this reception, this believing, is the main thing in real
   godliness. Faith is the simplest thing conceivable! When we hear people
   sing, "Only believe and you shall be saved," they sing the Truth of
   God, for we have the Divine assurance that "whoever believes on Him is
   not condemned." The Gospel message is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
   Christ and you shall be saved."

   The act of faith is the simplest in the world. It may be performed by a
   little child. It has often been performed by persons so short-witted
   that they have been almost incapable of any other intellectual act. And
   yet faith is as sublime as it is simple, as potent as it is plain! It
   is the connecting link between impotence and Omnipotence, between
   necessity and all-sufficiency. He that by faith lays hold on God has
   accomplished the simplest and yet the grandest act of the mind. Faith
   is apparently so small a matter that many who hear the Gospel can
   hardly believe it possible that we can really mean to teach that it
   brings salvation to the soul. They have even misunderstood us and
   imagined that we have meant to say that if persons believed they were
   saved, they were saved.

   If that were the doctrine of Justification by Faith, it would be the
   most wicked of delusions. It is not so! Faith in Jesus as our Savior is
   a very different thing from persuading ourselves to believe that we are
   saved when we are not! We believe that men are saved by faith,
   alone--but not by a faith which is alone. They are saved by faith
   without works, but not by a faith which is without works. The faith
   which saves is the most operative principle known to the human mind,
   for he that believes in Jesus for salvation, being saved, and knowing
   that he is saved, loves Him that saved him--and that love is the key of
   the whole matter!

   The loving Believer ceases from everything which would displease Him
   whom he loves. He tries to abound in that which will please Him, his
   beloved Redeemer. So salvation becomes the great reason for gratitude
   and changes the heart! And, the heart being changed, all the issues of
   life are changed. The man is like a watch which has a new mainspring--
   not a mere face and hands repaired--but new inward machinery with
   freshly adjusted works which act to a different time and tune. And
   whereas he went wrong before, now he goes right, because he is right
   within. Faith is so simple that the little child who believes becomes,
   before long, strong in the Lord. It is a vital force which gets such
   mastery over men that it makes them other men than they ever were
   before!

   And as it grows, it lifts them up from being mere men, to be men of
   God, and then beyond that it leads them on till they become heroes and
   they stop the mouths of lions, quench the violence of flames, obtain
   promises and enter into rest. Faith the size of a grain of mustard seed
   develops into faith that moves mountains! Faith of the little child
   increases into faith of the giant! May we know by experience how true
   this is! Our object is to show what faith does. And, O, while I am
   trying to speak of this great gift of the Lord to men by which they
   obtain every other gift, may many of you who have not believed come to
   believe in Jesus! If you do, there is nothing in this text but what
   shall certainly be yours.

   I. We shall begin by saying that FAITH MAKES THE GRANDEST OF
   DISTINCTIONS AMONG MEN. This is clear from the text. Faith makes the
   grandest distinctions among men, for the text begins, "He came unto His
   own, and His own received Him not"! That is one company--"but as many
   as received Him"--that is another company. Were an angel to come here
   with a drawn sword and to suddenly separate the righteous from the
   wicked with one stroke, you

   would find that his sword had for its edge the question, "Do you
   believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?" This divides men into saved
   Believers and unbelievers with the wrath of God abiding on them.

   "He that believes has passed from death unto life, and shall never come
   into condemnation; but he that believes not is condemned already,
   because he has not believed on the Son of God." There are many
   distinctions among men--some proper and some improper--and there always
   will be such distinctions while this age lasts. There are rich and
   poor-- and I fear there never will be a form of society in which there
   will be no poor. Even in the kingdom of Christ, when He comes, it seems
   there will be poor, for He shall judge the poor and needy. There will
   be the governors and the governed. The wise and the foolish. The
   teachers and the taught. But, mark you, these distinctions pass away.
   The grave is an awful leveler.

   There in the sepulcher Caesar is no more than his vassal, Socrates no
   greater than the slave who washed his feet! The great emperor who
   swayed the scepter has, in the tomb, no higher rank than the bondwoman
   who toiled at the mill. Death recognizes no caste, the sepulcher
   believes in equality. At the Judgment Seat temporal distinctions will
   not be recognized except so far as they involve responsibility--and so
   far as that point goes, some of the great and mighty will then wish
   that they had been slaves--and regret that they cannot hide their heads
   among those whom they oppressed! The grand distinction which will
   outlast all time is that of faith or lack of faith. Do you believe or
   do you doubt? This makes the broad line of distinction! To the
   receivers of Christ or the non-receivers--to which do you belong, dear
   Friend?

   I want you to observe that the faith which makes the distinction is
   described here as a receptive faith. Saying faith becomes a working
   faith by degrees, but at first it is a receptive faith. And in fact,
   work as it may, afterwards, it must always be a receptive faith! We
   only work out our salvation as God works in us--and even the highest
   actions that are ever done for God are performed with the strength
   which God supplies. Working faith is merely receptive faith in action.
   A receiving faith is the vital point and it is absolutely necessary
   that the soul should receive Jesus to be its All in All. "To as many as
   received Him." Have you ever received Him, the Lord Jesus, the real
   Christ? Do you talk to Him? Do you know Him? Is He a companion? Is He a
   friend of yours? If you have received a personal Christ by confiding,
   trusting and depending upon Him, you are on the safe side of the house!

   The text further says, "Even to them that believe on His name." Now,
   what is it to believe on His name? It struck me it would be a fair and
   a right way of illustrating the text to notice what are the names which
   are used in the former verses of this chapter. Please notice, in the
   first chapter of John, where our text is, what name of Jesus is used.
   "In the beginning was the Word"--that is the first name. The Word. What
   is the meaning of that? Why is Jesus Christ called the Word? Why,
   because, Brothers and Sisters, if I want to communicate to you by
   writing or by speech, I use a word. My thought is here--and there is
   your mind.

   I could get the thought partly to your mind by a picture--that is what
   God has done in Nature. But we cannot use pictures for a full
   communication of knowledge--we must employ words. So God, wanting to
   speak to man, spoke by sending Christ and Christ is God's Word. Have
   you ever received Christ as God's Word? Will you just think of it, what
   a wonderful Word He was? God said, "Men, stand no longer at a distance
   from Me. I will come and dwell among you"-- 33 years the Son of God
   dwelt among the sons of men! "Men," He said, "Men, I must punish your
   sins." There hung His Son bleeding on the tree for sin--God saying in a
   wonderful way--"I hate sin and therefore Jesus must die."

   The Lord next cries, "Men, I can now be just and yet can justify you.
   Come unto Me." There is Jesus risen from the dead, in newness of life,
   and He goes into Heaven a Man and, as Man, is received to the Throne of
   God--and thus God says in a word to us, "I am willing to receive you up
   to My very Throne." Actions speak louder than words, but Christ,
   Himself, is the Word, the love-Word, the tender Word, the very
   heart-Word of God--with acts attending and following which make His
   utterance the more convincing! God kept nothing back when He spoke
   Christ. He spoke that Word and that Word is the fullness of God's soul
   to sinners!

   Have you ever accepted Christ as the Word between you and God? Have you
   ever spoken to God that Word back again by pleading the name of Christ?
   Lord, there is no communication between me and You except this!
   Whenever You speak, you say, "Christ," and my reply is, "Christ." When
   I want You to pardon me, I say, "Christ." When I need You to bless me,
   indeed, and give me answers to my prayers, I plead, "Christ." That is
   the Word from God to man, and back again from man to God.

   Now, to as many as believe on His name as the Word, to them He gives
   power to become the sons of God. But many have never accepted Him as,
   "the Word," any more than if God had never spoken. They are deaf. At
   any rate, there is the Word and they have never received it. Look down
   the chapter and you will find that Jesus is described as the Life. "All
   things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was
   made. In Him was life." Have you believed on His name as the Life? Man
   is dead by nature. When God said to Adam, "In the day you eat thereof
   you shall surely die," Adam did die that very day and that is the key
   word to what is meant by death in the Scriptures. Did he cease to
   exist? No, nor will you.

   But he ceased to live and that is a very different thing. To exist is
   not to live, there is a wide distinction there. To die is not to cease
   to exist--no thoughtful man should fall into such an error. What is
   death? Practically it is the separation of a living being into its
   component elements. When the seed is put into the ground, the Apostle
   says, it is not quickened unless it dies, or dissolves into its
   constituent elements. It dies in order more perfectly to live. When we
   die, neither body nor soul ceases to exist, but they cease to be united
   and their separation is death. When a soul departs, (and the life of
   the body is the soul), the life of the body is gone. When a soul dies,
   it is separated from God, for union to God is the soul's true life.
   That is the death which Adam died and which every impenitent sinner
   will have to die. No, that is the death which every sinner is under
   now, for, "he that believes not shall not see life, but the wrath of
   God abides on him."

   Listen well that, "he that believes not has not life." He has an
   existence and always will have, but he has not life-- he abides in
   death. But as for the man who believes in Jesus, he gets back his God
   and that is his life! Jesus says, "He that believes in Me, though he
   were dead, yet shall he live; and he that lives and believes in Me
   shall never die." "I am the Resurrection and the Life." When we are
   brought back to God, God has made our soul alive! A soul without God is
   like a fair palace which has been deserted--you pace through all its
   halls and there is not a sound. It is all death, decay and emptiness.
   But when the king comes back, again, to his palace, the merry bells
   peal out their joyful notes! All is rejoicing and there is life again
   throughout the house. God is the life of the soul and as many as
   receive God in Christ, receive the

   Life.

   Now see, Jesus is first the Word, that is God speaking to men. Secondly
   the Life, that is God quickening man and dwelling in him. Have we so
   received the Christ of God? Note the third name here. "In Him was life,
   and the life was the Light of men." Notice that this name of Jesus is
   repeated many times if you read through the chapter. "John came for a
   witness to bear witness of the Light. He was not that Light, but he was
   sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light," and so
   on. So that the next name of Christ we have in this chapter is the
   Light. Have we received Christ as the Light? What is it to have Christ
   to be your Light? What is light? It is that by which we see. Everybody
   sees in a light.

   Take an illustration--only an illustration. A merchant comes to a city,
   town, village. He calculates whether it is a good place for business.
   "Bad place, this," he says. "A man cannot live here. It is a bad
   situation." And he is not content unless he gets near the Bank or in
   Lombard Street, or some other business quarter. Now look at the artist.
   He has another light. You take that artist into the city and he says,
   "I could not live here in this dreary wilderness of brick, amid these
   fogs! Let me get away to North Wales, or somewhere where the
   picturesque is to be seen." And he settles himself down in
   Bettws-y-coed, and he says, "This is beautiful."

   Take the rich man there and say to him, "You are to live here for 20
   years." "Twenty years?" he says, "I could not live here a month! It is
   preposterous. This is not a place where a man can live." Bring a man of
   gaiety into a religious circle and he says, "O, I need a place where
   there is some life." I have been traveling, sometimes, where I thought
   the scenery very beautiful and I have heard young men say, "This is a
   hateful place: there is no life here." Everybody sees according to the
   light he sees by.

   My dear Hearer, have you ever seen things in the Light of Christ? Did
   you ever feel, "this is the place where I can live, for here are
   Christians with whom I can commune. Here is the Gospel preached and my
   soul will be fed here. I shall learn much of Christ. This is a sphere
   in which I can be useful"? When you have Life you will get Light--and
   you will see things in that Light. You will see yourself in the Light
   of Christ. You will say, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."
   Everything looks according to your light. Yellow spectacles will make
   everything look yellow, but get the true Light, the only Light that can
   lighten any man that comes into the world, and things will be seen in
   the Truth of God. If you get Christ within you, you have Light, indeed!

   So the question comes back--have we believed on the name of Jesus as
   the Word, the Life and the Light? If we have, it has made a distinction
   between us and others, and there is a deep gulf fixed between us,
   across which, thank God, men may come to us by Sovereign Grace, but
   across which we shall never return--for he that has received the Word
   will find in it an incorruptible Seed! He that has received the Life
   has received with it the assurance, "Because I live, you shall live
   also." And he that has received the Light knows that it shines more and
   more unto the perfect day. This distinction, then, is a very grand one
   and it is one which obliterates all others, for the text puts it, "As
   many as received Him"--that is, if the chimney-sweep receives Christ,
   he is a child of God, and if the Czar of Russia receives Christ, he is
   a child of God-- but not the one more than the other. If they receive
   Him--that is the point--they become the sons of God!

   It is a distinction, therefore, which is to be sought after abundantly
   by us, and which has to do with present things. "As many as received
   Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." Now I charge
   you, do not think of religion as a thing to be run after when you die,
   as your friends may seek after an undertaker to bury you. My bell
   sometimes sounds at the dead of night or at three in the morning.
   "Would you come and pray for a dying person?" They even say, "Pray to
   some dying person." Why do they send for me? Why do they not think of
   sending for me when the man is in good health?

   They send for me when the man has taken stupefying drugs, perhaps, to
   lull pain, or he is half asleep with coming death, or his suffering is
   so intense that he cannot think! Or if he can think, he counts on my
   coming and my visit rather ministers to his superstition than to his
   benefit! Religion is for life as well as death. It is for today. "Now
   are we the sons of God." Oh, have the Gospel today, today, today,
   today! It is said that every man ought to repent on the last day of his
   life--this day may be yours--"therefore, today, if you will hear His
   voice, harden not your hearts." I have many things to say unto you, but
   time flies and I have much more left. This is the first head, then.
   Faith makes the grandest of all distinctions.

   II. Secondly, FAITH OBTAINS THE GRANDEST OF ALL ENDOWMENTS. Read, "To
   as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of
   God." The margin says the "privilege." The margin is right, but so is
   the common reading. The word exousia is a very great word in the Greek.
   It cannot be comprehended in the word, "privilege," at all. It means
   power, privilege and a great deal more. Everyone that has believed in
   Jesus has received the privilege, the power and everything else that
   lies in being a son of God. This is described as being a privilege
   peculiar to Believers and yet there are rogues who are everlastingly
   talking about the "fatherhood" of God because He made them.

   I suppose the man who made that table is the father of the table. They
   assert that the Creator is the Father of all His creatures. That is not
   the sense in which Believers say, "Our Father which art in Heaven." If
   you are children of the devil and doing his works, why call God your
   Father? How dare you? If you have not believed on the Son of God, He is
   not your Father in the sense of the text--and you have no right to
   think of yourself as His son! The privilege of the text is, "to as many
   as received Him," for, "to them gave He the power" or, "theprivilege to
   become the sons of God." As for the unbeliever, what is written
   concerning him? "The wrath of God abides on him."

   Now, there is a distinction intended here in the use of this word,
   "son," rather than the old legal word servant. The most that they could
   attain to under the old dispensation was to be servants. "Moses was
   faithful in all his house as a servant." Yes, that is all. And what a
   blessed thing to be a servant of God! The poor prodigal would have been
   glad enough to have been one of the hired servants. But says our
   Master, "Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not
   what his Lord does, but I have called you Friends." And we know who has
   said, "For this cause He is not ashamed to call them Brethren," because
   they are sons in the same house. Oh, what a pleasure to rise from
   slavery to sonship! From the bondage of the Law to the glorious liberty
   of the children of God!

   And that is where we all are who have believed. Only sometimes, you
   know, we do not live up to this sonship privilege. Those who are under
   the Law do not rise to sonship. They may be sons, but they are in their
   minority and the child, while he is yet in his minority, differs little
   from a servant, though he is lord of all. He is under tutors until he
   is of age. Christ has come and we are no longer under a schoolmaster,
   but now, blessed be His name, we are the sons of God! Are we not His
   servants, too? O, yes! Jesus Christ was first His Father's Son and then
   His Father's Servant. So we, being sons, have the joy of serving our
   Father. And I tell you it is a very different thing to serve your
   Father to what it is to serve a mere prince or ruler!

   We are sons, then, rather than servants. We are called sons of God
   because of our new nature. We are the children of God by birth. We are
   also sons by likeness, for the Spirit of God dwells in us and we are
   made like unto God. The likeness between a son of God and God, Himself,
   is real and true. Have you ever seen the likeness between yourself and
   your child? Yes. Yes, he is very much like you. Some points of his
   character are caricatures of yours! You can see your image, distorted
   somewhat, and imperfect, but it is yourself. It is as near like
   yourself as a child can be like a man--but a child is not a man, for
   all that. So God makes His children like Himself, but they are
   miniatures, they are little, childish, weak. There are many
   imperfections and shortcomings, but still, mark that word, I often
   stagger as I read it--"He has made us partakers of the Divine Nature."

   In moral qualities and spiritual actualities, He has given us power to
   become the sons of God, that is, by making us like unto God, showing us
   that as He is who was the Chief Son, so are we, also, in this world.
   Oh, the privilege of this! I assure you I would enlarge upon it if I
   did not feel that I am quite incompetent. I can only stand as John did
   when he wanted to tell us about it, and could only cry, "Behold," as
   much as to say--"Look yourself, I cannot tell you!" "Behold what manner
   of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the
   children of God." We are such by prerogative, by nature, by growing
   like He and by privilege. We are now the sons of God.

   Some of you do not know what this means. Children, you know, take many
   liberties with their father and are very familiar. I wonder what the
   little children of a judge think of him if they are ever taken into
   court to see him with his big wig on, sitting there trying prisoners?
   Well, I have no doubt they feel a great awe of him. But you should see
   him when he is at home! Why there he is down on the rug with the
   children on his back! He is the father and the father somehow swallows
   up the judge! And the child does not seem to remember that he is a
   judge, but only that he is his father. O, how many times has my soul,
   while prostrate with awe in the Presence of my God, laid hold on Him
   and said, "My Father, great as You are, You are not so great as to
   forget that You are my Father. You have taught me to say it, You have
   said, 'When you pray, say, 'Our Father,' and I do say it, and I feel
   that, 'Abba, Father,' is the natural cry of the spirit that is within
   me. Will you not answer to the cry?"

   He does answer us and like as a father pities his children, He pities
   us. He bows His Omnipotence to help us in our little labors--and bows
   His mighty arms to help us in our little troubles. "He counts the
   number of the stars, and calls them all by their names. He heals the
   broken in heart, and binds up their wounds." Is not that a grand stoop
   from rolling the orbs and wheeling the worlds along, to stoop down to
   bind broken hearts and to strap their wounds with Heaven's court
   plaster lest they should bleed too much? Blessed be his name!--

   "The God that rules on high,

   And thunders when He pleases.

   That rides upon the stormy sky

   And manages the seas--

   This awful God is ours,

   Our Father and our love!

   He shall send down

   His hea venly powers

   To carry us above."

   But we must pass on. Faith makes the grandest of distinctions and
   obtains the grandest of endowments.

   III. Thirdly, FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE GRANDEST EXPERIENCE, for the
   text speaks of, "them that believe on His name which were born, not of
   blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." This teaches us that every
   man who believes in Jesus is a regenerate man. He has been born of God!
   What a wonderful thing it is to be born again! There are poor blind men
   about who say that persons are regenerated by the application of water,
   though they have no faith, and grow up without any! May the Lord open
   their eyes! We will say no more, but wherever there is true
   regeneration there must be faith. Read the third chapter of John. See
   how faith and regeneration run together. Read this very passage--"To as
   many as believe on His name which were born, not of blood, nor of the
   will of man." Faith is the first, the unique token of being born again!

   Now, what is it to be born again? I saw a big man once. A strong, rough
   fellow, and he was evidently under conviction of sin. He said, "Would
   God I had never been born." He thought again and he said, "I remember
   when I used to pray at my mother's knee. I knew nothing, then, of the
   wickedness and vice through which I have gone. Would God I

   could begin life again like a little child!" I was pressed to hear him
   say that, for it enabled me to say, "That is exactly what you shall do
   if you believe in Jesus. You shall be born again." But if we could be
   born again as we were born at first, that is, of the will of the flesh,
   we should do as we did before--for that which is born of the flesh, if
   it could be born twice of flesh--would be still flesh.

   That which is born of the Spirit is spirit and, "you must be born again
   from above"--you must be born of the Spirit of God. What the Spirit of
   God does for us is to give us a new life to start us afresh with a new
   nature upon a new career. Whoever believes in Jesus is born again!
   Regeneration is a great mystery, but you have that mystery. Do not
   puzzle yourself about the new birth--you have experienced it if you
   really believe in the Lord Jesus. As I tried to explain it just now,
   you are born again. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. You have
   begun life again. It is of little use to attempt to mend the old
   nature, it is too far gone. There was a certain prince who used to
   swear this oath, "God mend me!" But a good man says, "I think He had
   better make a new one."

   Some men think God will mend them, but they err. I like the drunkard to
   become sober and the thief to become honest and mend himself as much as
   he can. But what he really needs is making over again. I have heard of
   a man who brought his gun to the gunsmith's to be repaired. "You want
   it repaired," says the smith. "Well, what it needs is a new stools dock
   and barrel." That looked very much like making a new one! You had
   better begin de novo. The old Law had for its token the putting away of
   the filth of the flesh, but the distinguishing ordinance of the New
   Covenant goes much further.

   What does Christ say to His people in the act of Baptism? He says, "You
   are dead. You must be buried and must rise into newness of life."
   Baptism cannot do this, but it sets forth our need of the death of the
   old nature and of resurrection into new life. We must be born
   again--not washed, not cleansed, not mended up--but made new creatures
   in Christ Jesus. And every man who believes in Jesus has undergone that
   wondrous change! He is not born of blood, that is not born according to
   the natural way of birth. He is born in a new, celestial manner. He is
   not born of the will of the flesh-- man's bad carnal will--nor of the
   will of man, man's best will, for the will of man, when it has done all
   it can, has done nothing at all savingly. If you were born of the will
   of man, it would not answer the purpose--"born not of the will of the
   flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

   We need renewal by a supernatural power. God alone can create and God
   alone can new-create. To make a new creature is a greater wonder than
   to make a world, because when God made a world there was nothing to
   stand in His way. But when He makes a new creature there is the old
   creature in conflict with Him. If I may be allowed to commit so
   palpable an error of speech, I would say it takes double Omnipotence to
   re-create! We must be born from above, but we are saved if we have
   believed in the Lord Jesus. God grant that if any here have not
   believed, the new birth may be given them--and faith in Christ Jesus.

   IV. Now, lastly, lest I weary you, FAITH RAISES THE BELIEVER TO THE
   NOBLEST CONCEIVABLE CONDITION. The man who has received Christ has
   undergone a new birth which fits him to be a child of God. Now, note,
   first, the inconceivable honor of being a child of God. Ah, if all the
   degrees, dignities, honors and titles that were ever conferred by men
   could be put into a heap, they would not make enough of real honor to
   be seen by a microscope-- compared with the glory that belongs to the
   humblest, poorest and most despised son of God!

   Son of God! "Unto which of the angels did He say at any time, You are
   My Son, this day have I begotten You?" I know the text applies to
   Christ, but it applies, also, to all His people. His angels are
   servants--they are not sons. It is their delight to keep watch and ward
   about us, as servants do over young princes of the blood. "They shall
   bear You up in their hands, lest You dash Your foot against a stone."
   About the child of God there is even, here, a splendor which is none
   the less bright because carnal eyes cannot see it. It is like the
   splendor of God--invisible because too excessive for eyes to see.

   I will picture a child of God, if you please, a daughter of Zion. She
   is a poor seamstress. She has stitched a shroud as well as a shirt and
   she lies upstairs dying. You would not like to fare as she does. She
   dwells in a wretched little room. It is scantily furnished. The bed is
   hard and she lies there in agony. She can scarcely breathe. She gasps
   for life. She is very poor and those upon whom she is depending have
   begun to feel her a burden and sometimes say hard words to her. This is
   a gloomy place, is it not? Come here. I will touch your eyes as the
   Prophet did the eyes of his servant. And what do you see? You see one
   of the members of Christ's body struggling for the last time--and about
   to win the victory!

   Listen to her! She tells you that Christ is with her! Do you see Him?
   There He stands in the deepest sympathy, bending over His beloved,
   smiling upon a soul that He has chosen from before the foundations of
   the world--a daughter upon whom He has put a garment without spot, meet
   for royal wear! She is a King's daughter! Look about the room. Angels
   are there, they are waiting all around her, waiting to take her Home!
   The Holy Spirit, Himself, is within her soul. Do you see the light of
   His consolations and revelations? If your eyes are open, you can see
   it. Yes, the Father Himself is here, for He is never away from the
   deathbeds of His children! "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the
   death of His saints." She has grown worse. Her eyes are dim. Her voice
   is feeble. Listen to her! I am picturing no fancy scene--I have heard
   it!

   She is just about to enter into Life, and she cries--

   "And when you hear my heart-strings break, How sweet my minutes roll! A
   mortal paleness on my cheek, But Glory in my soul!" If she has strength
   enough left, you will hear her sing--

   "'Midst darkest shades, if He appears, My dawning is begun; He is my
   soul's bright morning star, And He my rising sun."

   Do not talk to me of Joan of Arc! This is the true heroine! She is
   battling with Death and singing while she dies. Fear? She has long
   forgotten what that means. Doubt? It is banished! Distress?
   Despondency? She has left them all behind. She is a Believer! She has
   received Jesus and she has power to be a child of God! O, the honor and
   dignity of being born from above!

   Now, note again the safety of this birth. If you are a child of God,
   how safe you are! I am sure there is no father and mother here that
   would let any harm come to their children. None of us would if we could
   protect them. Do you think God will suffer His children to be harmed?
   He will cover them with His feathers and under His wings shall they
   trust. His Truth shall be their shield and buckler. There shall no evil
   befall them--neither shall any plague come near their dwelling. "I, the
   Lord, do keep it. I will water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will
   keep it night and day." "I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they
   shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My
   Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to
   pluck them out of My Father's hand."--

   "Safe in the arms of Jesus." Well may you sing that, for so you are if
   you are the children of God!

   And, last of all, though much more might be said, what happiness this
   brings to a man to know that he is a child of God. I remember, some 22
   years ago, being waited upon by a Mormon who wanted to convince me of
   the Divine mission of Joseph Smith. And after hearing some of his talk,
   I said, "Sir, would you kindly tell me what you have to offer me and
   how I am to get it? I will listen to you if you will let me tell you
   afterwards what I have to offer you and the way to it." I heard him
   with a great deal of patience. He listened to me not quite so
   patiently, but when I had done he saluted me thus, "If what you say is
   true, you ought to be the happiest man in the world!" To which I
   replied, "Sir, you are correct. I ought to be and, more, I am!" And so
   I left him.

   And so I am, and so is every child of God that lives up to his
   privilege. You are a child of God--forgiven, accepted, beloved--what
   more do you need? In the name of goodness, what more do you need? If a
   man were to become an imperial prince, would he say, "I need more"? My
   dear Man, what more can you need? If you are a son of God, what more
   can you ask? I remember the time--perhaps you remember it for
   yourself--when I was in bondage under sin and I thought I should be
   sent to Hell. If the Lord had said to me, "I will forgive you, but you
   must live on bread and water till you die," I would have clapped my
   hands for joy! I would have said, "Lord, do but save me. If I can get
   rid of my sins, the very hardest lot will be a pleasure to me." Let us
   never complain, since we are possessors of salvation. The joy of the
   Lord is your strength. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say,
   rejoice."

   Remember this as a practical word. There is an old French proverb which
   says, "Nobility obliges." There is an obligation upon nobles. You do
   not expect to see great princes sweeping the street crossing. You would
   not expect to hear of Her Majesty the Queen acting like a milkmaid.
   Well, now, if you are a son of God, you must act like it! If I hear of
   a man

   who says, "I am a child of God," and he gives short weight and is hard
   in his bargains--I am ashamed of him! He a son of God? He who must make
   money! And hold it, and keep it? He, a son of God? He is not very much
   like his Father! Son of God? And yet sharp, quick-tempered, angry,
   spiteful! He is not very much like his Father. A child of God and do a
   mean thing? My dear Brothers and Sisters, what are you? A son of God
   and tell a lie?

   A son of God and afraid of anybody? A son of God and cannot look your
   fellow man in the face without a blush? A son of God and at home a
   tyrant? Such conduct will never bear a thought--and he who is guilty of
   it gravely offends. When the great Emperor Napoleon was in his power,
   if a member of his family married below his rank, he was made to know
   the emperor's anger, for members of the imperial house were under bonds
   of honor to keep up their dignity. You girls here, who are daughters of
   God, dare you marry out of the imperial family? Never do that! Take
   care that you are not unequally yoked. When a king was taken prisoner,
   Alexander asked him how he would be treated, and he said, "Like a
   king."

   Christian, act like a king! When a quarrelsome person offends us, we
   should say in our heart, "I would have quarreled with you, but I could
   not stoop to it. I am a child of God." I read a bitter remark of
   Guizot's to his enemies the other day, which ran something like this,
   "Come up the steps and mount as high as you can. And when you reach the
   top you will be beneath my contempt." So oftentimes may the child of
   God think of the world and all the shams, and all the temptations which
   are in it, "I have a great work. How can I come down to you? I am a son
   of God. My conversation is in Heaven! I cannot leave my position to
   come down to you."

   Walk as children of light. "What manner of persons ought you to be in
   all holy conversation and godliness?" You are "a peculiar people, a
   royal priesthood, a chosen generation, zealous for good works." Do not
   demean yourselves! Go your way and may the Spirit of your Father rest
   upon you. Amen and amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 John 3. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--533, 448.
     __________________________________________________________________

Faith, And The Witness Upon Which It Is Founded

   (No. 1213)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for
   this is the witness of God which He has witnessed of His Son. He that
   believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that believes
   not God, has made Him a liar; because he believes not the witness that
   God witnessed of His Son." 1 John 5:9,10.

   YOU observe that I have somewhat corrected the translation. The same
   word is employed in every case in the original, but for the sake of
   variety of expression the translators have used four different words in
   our version and so, instead of improving the sense, which, indeed,
   never can be in the case of the Holy Spirit's writing, they have rather
   darkened the meaning. Put the word, "witness," or, "testimony," in each
   case, and you get the true meaning.

   Last Thursday night I tried to show the great importance of faith and
   that while it was a most simple thing it was also most sublime. While
   it appeared to be weak, it was really the strongest of all motive
   principles, and produced the most amazing results. If, on this occasion
   I shall run in the same strain, for me, indeed, it will not be
   grievous, and for you it will be safe, for we cannot too often review
   the Truths of God which are the vitals of our holy religion. Faith
   stands, under the Covenant of Grace, in a leading position among the
   works of the regenerate man and the gifts of the Spirit of God.

   Righteousness is no longer to him that works, but to the man that
   believes on Him that justifies the ungodly. The promise no longer
   stands to the man who does these things, that he shall live in them,
   else we were shut out of it, but, "The just shall live by faith." God
   now bids us live by believing in Him. He saw that we were not willing
   to yield obedience to Him and remained rebellious. Perceiving, with a
   glance, that the root of that rebellion lay in lack of love to Him and
   in need of confidence in Him, He now begins, at the very foundation of
   the whole matter, and by a wondrous act of Grace, to claim our
   confidence. He gives us proof that He deserves it and then comes to us,
   and says, "Trust Me. Trust My Son, who has died for you, and you are
   reconciled to Me by His blood.

   "Begin, then, the new life, with confidence in Me as the mainspring of
   all your actions, and thus shall you be saved. If I threaten you, you
   will only revolt more and more. If I strike you, you will sooner die
   under the rod than repent. Nothing remains with which to influence you
   but love. And now, in the Person of My Son, I commend My love to you
   and show you what good intents I have towards you. Come and trust Me.
   Let us be Friends again. Rely upon what I have worked in the Person of
   My Son, that you might be forgiven. Trust Him and you are saved."

   Men are willing enough to accept a Gospel which requires them to do
   something. They admire the impossible way of salvation by works. Man is
   afraid, when Sinai is altogether on a smoke, and begs that the terrible
   words of the Law may not be spoken to him again. And yet he still loves
   to wander around the foot of Sinai and is unwilling to come unto Mount
   Zion. The old spirit of Hagar is upon us--and until the Lord causes us
   to be born again we remain children of the bondwoman and will not
   rejoice in the promise. To accept the gift of Free Grace is contrary to
   our proud nature! The power of God is needed to induce us to throw down
   the tools with which we work for salvation and take, with joyful hands,
   the full, free and finished salvation which Jesus bestows on all who
   trust Him. One would have thought this plan of trusting in Jesus for
   salvation would be joyfully accepted by all, but, instead of that, no
   man receives the witness of God, though it is Infallible.

   I wish to speak, this evening, a little upon the grounds of
   testimony--the reasons of faith--and may God grant, while we speak
   about them, Believers may be refreshed and unbelievers may be led to
   Jesus! First, in our text, we have the external evidence, or the
   witness of God to us--"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of
   God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He has witnessed
   of His Son." Then, secondly, we shall consider the internal evidence,
   or the witness of God in us. "He that believes on the Son has the
   witness in himself." And then, thirdly, we shall inquire how we

   are treating the witness of God, especially dealing with those of whom
   we find it said, "He that believes not God, has made Him a liar,
   because he believes not the witness that God witnessed of His Son."

   I. First, then, dear Friends, since our great business is that we
   believe God, let us see what reason we have for believing Him. THE
   EXTERNAL EVIDENCE given is stated in the first verse of the text, as
   the evidence of God to us, and it is prefaced by the remark that, "we
   receive the witness of men." We are accustomed to receive the witness
   of men. David said, "All men are liars," but he spoke in haste. There
   would be no history if we did not receive the witness of men. If we
   neglected human evidence there could be no courts of law, no trading
   between man and man except for cash money. Confidence would cease and
   the bands which unite the social fabric would be snapped. We do and
   must believe the testimony of men as a general rule--and it is only
   right that we should account witnesses honest till they have proven
   themselves false.

   The principle may very readily be pushed too far, and we may take the
   witness of men and find ourselves deceived. Still, for all that, the
   evidence of honest men is weighty and, "in the mouth of two or three
   witnesses the whole shall be established." Now God has been pleased to
   give us a measure of the witness of men with regard to His Son, Jesus
   Christ. We have the witness of such men as the four Evangelists and the
   12 Apostles. These men saw Jesus Christ. Some of them were familiar
   with Him for years. They saw evidence of His Deity, for they saw Him
   walk on water and heard Him say to the winds and the waves, "Peace, be
   still," and there was a great calm! These witnesses say that they saw
   Him heal lepers with a touch, open blind men's eyes and even raise the
   dead.

   Three of them tell us that they were on the Mountain of Transfiguration
   with Him and saw His Glory, and heard a Voice out of Heaven, saying,
   "This is My beloved Son: hear you Him." These persons were very
   unsophisticated individuals. They mostly belonged to a class of men who
   are rather celebrated for their bluff honesty, namely, fishermen. They
   certainly had nothing to gain by saying that they saw all these
   things--in fact, they had everything to lose. Their names are famous,
   now, but they could little have reckoned upon such fame. And they do
   not appear to have been men who cared about fame at all.

   They lost their all. They were despised and maltreated, and most of
   them met with a cruel death on account of having borne witness to what
   they saw. Their witness is by no means of a doubtful character. They
   were very positive that they saw the things of which they are
   witnesses. One of them has said, "he that saw it bore record, and he
   knows that his witness is true, and he knows what he says true." No
   part of history has come down to us so well attested as the life of our
   Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

   Now, a man takes Tacitus, and he believes what Tacitus tells him,
   although, very likely, Tacitus did not see the things and only got them
   second hand. But as a reputable historian, his witness is received.
   Surely the witness of Matthew and Mark, and Luke and John, and Peter
   and James and Paul is as good as the witness of Julius Caesar or
   Tacitus! And it is rendered the more trustworthy from the fact that
   they died for adhering to it--which neither Caesar nor Tacitus were
   made to do. Besides, for the Gospel narrative we have many
   witnesses--the number of names was about 120--and they all agreed and
   stood fast. And even the one who did, for a time, seem to forsake his
   testimony, bad as he was, returned to it and threw down the money for
   which he had sold his Master and said, "I have sinned in that I have
   betrayed innocent

   blood."

   We have the witness of men as to the facts that Jesus Christ, the Son
   of God, lived and died and rose again and ascended into Heaven.
   Further, we have the testimony of men as to the present power of that
   same Jesus to forgive men their trespasses and to save them from the
   power of sin. From the first day when our Lord was taken up till now,
   men and women have come forward and have said, "We were once lovers of
   sin. Whatever our neighbors are, such were we, but we are washed! We
   are sanctified! And all this by faith in Jesus." Those who knew these
   people have confessed the change, although they have often been, at the
   same time, angry with them for it. They have acknowledged their virtues
   and have persecuted them on that account.

   Now these converted people have stood to it that they obtained a new
   heart and a right spirit through believing in Jesus. They have been put
   in prison for saying this and for declaring that faith in the crucified
   Savior had delivered them from the dominion of sin, from despondency
   and despair. That it had made them love God, given them hope and joy
   and peace, taught them to love their neighbors, to do justice and to
   expect a home in Heaven. These people have been among the best in the
   world, all along, even as we read in history of the Albigenses and the
   Waldenses, or the Vaudois or the

   Lollards. They are described as detestable fanatics and enthusiasts,
   but they are admitted to have been sober, honest, chaste, quiet
   citizens and industrious parents--so that the very kings who put them
   to death regretted that it was necessary to sacrifice such subjects.

   Now, it is a very singular thing that these people should so constantly
   and continuously come forward and say, "The witness of God is true. He
   has sent His Son into the world and those that believe on Him are
   saved. We are saved and we will burn at Smithfield, rot in the
   Lollards' tower, or lie in a dungeon till the moss grows on our
   eyelids--but we will never deny or cease to assert this Gospel." All
   ages have supplied the witness of men. Some of you, beloved Friends,
   have had this witness in a very pointed and practical manner. I may be
   addressing one who is irreligious, but he never can forget his mother,
   or his sister, or some other beloved relative now gone to Heaven. You
   are never able to laugh at religion, though you do not believe in it,
   because these sainted ones rise up before your mind.

   You are persuaded that they were under a delusion, but, for all that,
   they were so happy that you half wish you were deluded, too. You would
   sooner put your children in a school with godly people than with
   skeptics like yourself--you know you would! There is a something about
   a Christian which is a witness to you. To me, I must confess, the
   witness of the lives of some Christians has been wonderfully
   confirmatory when I have seen how they suffer without repining and even
   bless the Lord in the midst of agony. If this is the essence of the
   Christian religion it must be true! And so, on dying beds, when we have
   seen the remarkable peace and, sometimes, the extraordinary joy of
   persons departing, we have felt quite sure that faith in Jesus is no
   fiction.

   I have heard dying children speak like doctors of divinity about the
   things of God! I have heard dying women who were quite uneducated,
   speak of the world unseen in a style of inspiration which has struck me
   with awe. I do not believe that a faith which enables a man to die
   triumphantly, rejoicing in his God, or to die calmly in the midst of
   pain, looking for a world to come, can be, after all, a myth! O, if it
   were so, and the wise man could prove it was all a mistake, I would
   almost ask him to forego his work--for this has charmed away our fears
   and turned our desert life into a garden of the Lord! The Gospel has
   smoothed the pillow of the dying and wiped the tears of the desponding!
   Alas, for you, O Earth, if this could be proven a dream! Then were your
   sun quenched forever and it had been better for us all that we had
   never been born!

   But it is not so! The witness of men about the things of God is very
   clear. Some years ago there went into a Methodist class meeting, a
   lawyer who was a doubter, but at the same time a man of candid spirit.
   Sitting down on one of the benches, he listened to a certain number of
   poor people, his neighbors, whom he knew to be honest people. He heard
   some 13 or 14 of these persons speak about the power of Divine Grace in
   their souls, and about their conversion and so on. He jotted down the
   particulars and went home, sat down, and said to himself, "Now, these
   people all bear witness. I will weigh their evidence." It struck him
   that if he could get those 12 or 13 people into the witness box, to
   testify on his side in any question before a court, he could carry
   anything.

   They were persons of different degrees of intellect and education, but
   they were all of the sort of persons whom he would like to have for
   witnesses--persons who could bear cross-examination and by their very
   tone and manner would win the confidence of the jury. "Very well," he
   said to himself, "I am as much bound to believe these people about
   their religious experience as about anything else." He did so and that
   led to his believing on the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart! Thus,
   you see, the testimony of God to us does, in a measure, come through
   men and we are bound to receive it.

   But now comes the text--"If we receive the witness of men, the witness
   of God is greater." God is to be believed if all men contradict Him!
   "Let God be true and every man a liar." One Word of God ought to sweep
   away 10,000 words of men, whether they are philosophers of today or
   sages of antiquity. God's Word against them all, for He knows
   Infallibly! Of His own Son He knows as none else can. Of our condition
   before Him, He knows! Of the way to pardon us He knows! There is
   nothing in God that could lead Him to err or make a mistake--and it
   were blasphemy to suppose that He would mislead us!

   It were an insult to Him, such as we may not venture to perpetrate for
   a moment, to suppose that He would willfully mislead His poor creatures
   by a proclamation of mercy which meant nothing, or by presenting to
   them a Christ who could not redeem them! The Gospel, with God for its
   witness, cannot be false! Whatever may be the witness against it, the
   witness of God is greater! We must believe the witness of God! Now,
   what is the witness of God with regard to Christ?

   How does He prove to us that Jesus Christ did really come into the
   world to save us? He proves it in three ways according to the context
   of this passage. God's witnesses are three--the Spirit, the water, and
   the blood.

   God says, "My Son did come into the world. He is My gift to sinful men.
   He has redeemed you and He is able to save to the uttermost them that
   come unto Me by Him. And in proof that it is so, the Holy Spirit has
   been given. He descended at Pentecost. He abides with you forever. He
   has not gone back again. He is in the Word--He is with the Word. He is
   in the Church--He is with the Church." Whenever God the Holy Spirit is
   pleased to work, whether in revivals, or by individual conversions, the
   wonderful phenomena which are worked by Him, which are miracles in the
   world of the mind, are as astonishing as the miracles of Christ in the
   world of matter. God is saying, "I declare Christ to be My Son and your
   Savior, for I have sent the Holy Spirit to prove it. I have converted
   yonder sinner, I have comforted yonder saint, by the Holy Spirit. I
   have instructed the ignorant, I have sanctified the impure, I have
   guided My people safely by the Holy Spirit. He is My witness. If you
   need any evidence that Jesus is really My Son, behold My Spirit going
   forth among the sons of men, converting whom He wills by the Truth
   concerning Jesus."

   Then the water, that is to say, the purifying power of the Gospel is
   also God's witness to the Truth of the Gospel. If it does not change
   men's characters when they receive it, it is not true. If it does not
   purify and produce virtue and holiness, do not believe it! But as God
   everywhere--among the most savage tribes, or among the most refined of
   mankind-- makes the Gospel to be sacred, it has the power of cleansing
   the hearts and lives of men. He gives another witness that His Son is
   really Divine and that His Gospel is true--the blood also witnesses.
   Does believing in Jesus Christ do what the blood was said to do,
   namely, give peace with God through the pardon of sin? Does it, or not?

   Hundreds of thousands all over the world affirm that they had no peace
   of conscience till they looked to the streaming veins of Jesus--and
   then they saw how God can be Just and yet forgive sin. Wherever God
   gives peace through the blood, that blood witnesses with the Spirit and
   the water on God's behalf. He says to us sinners, "I have spoken to you
   a Word of love, and that word is My Son. What I have said to you is
   Jesus. He is My communication to men. I have delivered Him as My
   message to your souls. And in proof that He is my message to you--a
   message of love and mercy and pardon--behold, I send the Holy Spirit
   forth among the sons of men! Behold, I work a purifying work among the
   sons of men and I give peace in the heart through the blood of the
   Atonement. These three agreeing in one, are My witness concerning My
   Son."

   Now, dear Brothers and Sisters, remember that the evidence of faith to
   every soul hangs here. I shall soon speak to you of the witness in you,
   but the faith demanded of men rests not upon the ground of any witness
   in them, but of the witness to them. I am to believe God because He
   cannot lie. I am to believe Christ because God gives me the witness
   concerning Christ. And if I will not do so I shall have no other
   witness. The inward evidence only comes to those who, first of all,
   accept the evidence of God. Witness in us is not given first, but
   witness to us--and if the evidence to us is rejected, we shall be cast
   away and lost forever.

   II. I come now TO THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE, or the witness in us. "He that
   believes on the Son of God has the witness in Himself." When a man is
   led by the Spirit of God to believe that God cannot lie, he enquires
   what it is that God says. And he hears that atonement has been made and
   that whoever believes in Jesus shall have eternal life. He sees the
   witness to be good and he believes it. That man is saved. What happens
   next? Why, this man becomes a new creature! Old things have passed
   away. He loves what he hated and hates what he loved! He believes what
   he denied and disbelieves what he formerly accepted. He is radically
   changed.

   "Now," says he to himself, "I am sure of the Truth of the Gospel, for
   this change, this wonderful change in me, in my heart, my speech and my
   life, must be of Divine origin! I was told that if I believed I should
   be saved from my former self, and I am! I know not only by the external
   witness, nor even because of the witness of God, but I have an inner
   consciousness of a most marvelous birth and this is a witness in
   myself." The man then goes on to enjoy great peace. Looking alone to
   Jesus Christ for pardon, he finds his sins taken from him and his heart
   is unburdened of a load of fear. And this rest of heart becomes to him
   another inward witness.

   To be forgiven makes his very soul dance for joy and he cries, "Now I
   know that Christ's blood can wash away sin, because mine has gone." Oh,
   believe me, if you were ever reduced to despair under a sense of sin.
   If you were ever dragged through a thorn hedge, laid by the feet in the
   stocks of conviction and beaten with the great ten-thonged whip of the
   Law till there was not a sound place on you and you were utterly ready
   to die--if Jesus then came to you and said, "Be of

   good comfort, your sins are forgiven you"--you knew that it was so and
   doubted His existence no more! From that moment you learned to say, "I
   once hated the testimony of Matthew and Mark, and Luke, and John, and
   Paul, but I do not now. I believe and am sure, for I have felt it
   myself, and know it in my soul."

   Perhaps a skeptical neighbor will sneeringly say, "It is fanaticism."
   Yes, but you will feel just like a man who went to the Ophthalmic
   Hospital as blind as a bat and came out able to see clearly--and
   somebody said it was fanaticism and he said--"Well, I do not know what
   that hard word means, but one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I
   see." It is a wonderfully hard thing to drive a man out of his
   consciousness. "Prove that you are alive," said somebody, and the man
   who was asked for the proof walked across the room. Instead of a
   syllogism he gave a fact! So does the joy and peace which the Lord
   gives to His people from Himself become to them the very best evidence
   of the power of the precious blood and of the Divine mission of Jesus!

   As the Christian thus goes on from strength to strength, he meets with
   answers to prayer. He goes to God in trouble, tells the Lord about it,
   and he gets out of his trouble, or he is enabled to bear it and to see
   it all works for his good. In great perplexity he hastens to the
   Lord--light comes and he sees his way through it. He needs many favors.
   He asks for them and they are bestowed. He does not need Elijah to come
   and say, "God hears prayer, for He answered my cries on Carmel and sent
   rain." He wants no Old Testament saint to declare to him that God
   answers His people's requests. He is glad of their testimony, but he
   has the witness in himself!

   I sometimes hear of even professed ministers of Christ who have doubts
   about these things. I should like to ask them a question or two. I
   should not enquire as to what they believe or do not believe, but I
   should begin thus--"Do you know Jesus Christ in your own soul? Were you
   ever converted? Do you feel the power of the Holy Spirit resting upon
   you?" If I came to close questioning with some of these skeptical
   gentlemen, I guarantee you they would soon take themselves off to some
   other company! I do not believe in this modern doubting--I have no
   faith in its honesty and no belief in its depth. The most foolish men I
   know of take up with it just as small boys like to wear men's clothes.

   But when a man knows anything about God by fellowship and has really
   experienced these things, doubts and fears may flit across his
   soul--just as the migratory birds in the end of autumn may be heard
   flying overhead in the air--but they will not alight on his soul to
   rest! Infidel theories find no dwelling place in a soul that is really
   born unto God and has daily and continual dealings with Him. A man does
   not doubt things that are an integral part of his daily existence. Very
   few skepticisms arise in a man's mind about the facts of pain and
   pleasure, or the phenomena of hunger and thirst. So, when it comes to
   living and feeding upon Christ, practical experience soon puts an end
   to questions. "He that believes has the witness in himself."

   O, Brothers and Sisters, the Lord gives to His people answers to
   prayer! And he gives them such a sense of nearness to Himself and
   sometimes such overpowering joys in His Presence, or such an
   overwhelming sense of awe when He comes near to them, that they believe
   and are sure that it is even so. "He that believes has the witness in
   himself" and there is no witness like it! Expect the witness of God,
   which stands first and which we are to receive, or perish--there is
   nothing equal to the witness within yourself. Somebody wants to prove
   to me that sugar is sweet. My dear Sir, you may spare yourself the
   trouble. I had some in my tea, just now, and I am quite sure about it.

   He wants to prove to me that seawater is salty. Sir, I do not question
   it, I have tasted it quite often enough to have no doubt about it.
   Things of religion must be tasted to be proved--"O, taste and see that
   the Lord is good." First believe the Gospel to be true, because of the
   witness of God. And if, having so believed, you would be deepened and
   strengthened in faith, go on to enjoy the blessings of Divine Grace and
   you will grow in faith. Christian people, I ask you this question and I
   know your answer--If you ever doubt about the truthfulness of God, is
   it not when your piety is in a low condition? If you have neglected
   prayer. If you have lost fellowship with Jesus. If you have dropped out
   of accord with God. Is it not then that you are plagued with questions?

   But if we walk in the Light, as God is in the Light, and abide in Him
   whom we have received, is it not true that though we may be quite
   unable to meet, in the ways of logic, the objections that are raised,
   there is a something within, an inward indisputable assurance which is
   not shaken and cannot be? It is said of a Roman Catholic priest that he
   took away the New Testament from a child on one occasion, but the
   child's teacher had taught the boy 12 chapters of the Gospel according
   to John, and so he said to the priest, "But you cannot take it all
   away, Sir." "Why not?" "Because I have learned 12 chapters by heart."

   Now, if the critics begin tearing away at our precious Book--though I
   would not let them have a verse of it--yet, if they could obliterate
   some of its promises, they could not tear it all away because we have
   it in our hearts. We know it is true. Many a poor man and woman could
   illuminate their Bibles after the fashion of the tried saint who placed
   a, "T and P," in the margin. She was asked what it meant and replied,
   "That means, 'Tried and Proved,' Sir." Yes, we have tried and proved
   the Word of God and are sure of its Truth!

   III. I have shown you that the Gospel is proclaimed to men and they are
   expected to believe it--not upon the ground of any witness that is in
   them, but because of the witness of God to them. And I have also shown
   that the witness in them follows in due course as a reward of faith
   rather than a ground of faith. But here is the practical point--HOW ARE
   WE TREATING THE WITNESS OF GOD? For it is written in our text, "He that
   believes not God, has made Him a liar; because he believes not the
   witness that God witnessed of His Son."

   Now, are we believing the witness of God? I believe that the most of
   you here present entertain no doubt, whatever, that the Bible is the
   Word of God. Do not, therefore, I pray you, think it superfluous for me
   to ask you! Do you believe it? Do you believe it? You reply, "of course
   I do." Well, I am not sure that it is, "of course," because there are
   persons who believe in a way--and that way is a false one. I have heard
   of a poor curate who was upbraided for not believing the articles of
   his Church and replied that he believed at the rate of 40 pounds a
   year.

   There are persons who believe at a very cheap rate. They believe in the
   Westminster Assembly's Catechism--it is true they never read it--but
   they believe it. The Church has a creed--they do not know what it
   is--but they still say they believe it. They believe what the Church
   believes. "But what does the Church believe?" "It believes what I
   believe." "And what do you and the Church believe?" "We both believe
   the same thing." That is what it comes to. Such a faith will not save
   your soul! There must be an intelligent reception of the testimony
   which God has given. There are many in whom this faith does not exist,
   because if it did they could not act as they do.

   Do you unconverted people believe that the wrath of God abides on you?
   Then you must be insane if you do not seek to escape from that wrath!
   If you believed that at this moment there was a snake in your pew, I
   guarantee you, you would soon rush out into the aisle! I should not
   need to argue with you about it, either! I might try to persuade you to
   sit still, but you would not be persuaded. If you really believed that
   your sins had destroyed you, you could not be careless any longer. Do
   you believe that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners
   and that He is able to save you? Yes, you are sure you do.

   I am not so sure, because if it were certain that there was outside
   yonder door a purse of gold worth 50,000 pounds and that whoever chose
   to take it should have it, you would be glad to hear me pronounce the
   benediction, the most devout of you, so that you might get the
   treasure! You would not need any exhorting to go, for natural instincts
   would lead you to make haste and seize the golden opportunity. If you
   believe that Jest Christ saves from sin and gives to the soul a
   treasure far beyond all price, you should make all speed to obtain the
   precious gift! Is it not so? He who believes in the value of a gift
   will hasten to accept it unless he is out of his mind!

   Many of you who think you believe, and say you believe, do not believe
   at all! And, I put it to you, do you know what you are doing? You are
   calling God a liar! So the text says. "No, I would not do that," says
   one. Friend, I hope that your case is well described in that prayer,
   "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But after
   tonight you will know what you do. If you do not believe what God says,
   you call Him a liar. "I do not see that," says one. You cannot help
   seeing it if you will but look at it, for if any person bears witness
   to you concerning some important matter and you say, "I do not believe
   you," you call that person a liar!

   When God bears witness in any way, He ought to be believed. To deny the
   Truth of God is a fearful insult to Him. To every man and to every good
   man, especially, his truthfulness is a jewel. He cannot endure to have
   his truth impugned, and do you think that God can? The more pure a man
   is, the more indignant he is when his truthfulness is assailed. And to
   doubt God is to assail a truthfulness which is unimpeachable and ought
   never to be questioned! Besides, look at the whole case. You have
   quarreled with God. You have broken His Law. You have sinned. You
   deserve to be cast into Hell! And yet, in His mercy, He says, "Sinner,
   I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, but would rather that
   he should turn unto Me and live. And in order that I may be able to
   forgive you and yet be Judge of all the earth, I have given My own Son
   to bleed and die on Calvary, that whoever believes in Him might not
   perish, but have everlasting life. Come," He says, "Sinner, trust in My
   Son, and I will forgive you."

   And your answer is, "I do not believe You." Now that is, in addition to
   the insult of unbelief, exceedingly provoking to the loving heart of
   God! I have met with persons who have been generous to the poor until
   the murmuring words of some whom they have tried to benefit have quite
   wearied them from their benevolent course. Most persons who are doing
   generous actions are very sorely hurt if their conduct is
   misrepresented and their kindness treated with ingratitude. Now, when
   so splendid an act of generosity, so unparalleled a deed of Grace as
   the gift of His own Son is made a subject of undeserved unbelief, it
   touches God in a very tender place. I am not using too strong language
   when I remind you that He whom He gave to us was His own Son, very dear
   to Him, and yet He put Him to grief on our account.

   The bloody sweat of Gethsemane and the wounds of Calvary show how
   greatly God pressed and bruised that matchless cluster--His own Son.
   And, after all that, for you to say "No, I do not believe in Jesus. I
   will not have His Atonement and I will not trust in Him," is cruel of
   you, Sinner! It is cruel of you to the last degree! To stand at
   Calvary's Cross and see Him bleed, whose unspeakable beauties might put
   the very sun to blush for the dimness of His light--to see Him die for
   His enemies and to hear Him say, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and
   are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and then to turn your back
   on Him? This is the direst proof of the depravity of human nature that
   ever was presented under Heaven!

   All the iniquities and transgressions that are committed by men. All
   the crimes that have ever stained humanity do not equal, in extent of
   enmity to God, the hatred that lurks in the resolve sooner to be damned
   than owe salvation to the Free Grace of God! He hates God, indeed, who
   hates Him so much that he will even dwell forever in Hell sooner than
   be forgiven by Him and saved through the blood of His Son! Man shows
   his deadly enmity against God to the fullest extent when he will
   destroy himself to indulge it! I think I hear one say, "I would believe
   if I felt something in my heart." You will never feel that something!
   You are required to believe on the witness of God--and will you dare to
   say that His evidence is not sufficient?

   If you will believe on the Divine testimony you shall have the witness
   within, by-and-by, but you cannot have that first. The demand of the
   Gospel is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe upon God's
   testimony." What more testimony do you need? God has given it to you in
   many forms. By holy men who have gone before, as I have told you. By
   His Inspired Bible. By the various works of His Spirit. And by the
   water and the blood in the Church all around you. Above all, Jesus
   Himself is the best of witnesses. Believe Him. "But I wish I could have
   a very striking dream--perhaps that would convert me." Would you put
   more confidence in a dream than in God's Word? "O, but I hear of
   persons who have received revelations from the Spirit of God."

   Do not tell me about the Spirit of God speaking to anybody more than is
   in the Bible! What is in the Scriptures the Spirit of God will apply to
   the heart. But if you need the Spirit of God to speak to you over and
   above that, you will never have it! You have Moses and the
   Prophets--hear them--and if you do not, neither will you be converted
   though one rose from the dead! But nobody will rise from the dead. You
   have, upon the strength of the Divine testimony, to trust your soul in
   the hands of Jesus--and if you do so you shall be saved. May the Holy
   Spirit lead you to do so at this very moment.

   "That is an easy matter," says one. I know it is, and that is why it is
   so hard. If it were a hard thing, you would do it, or try to do it. But
   because it is so easy, your pride will not come down to it unless my
   Master moves you to consent. It is simply, "wash and be clean."
   "Believe and live, trust and find it true." Ah, may the Lord grant that
   this simple matter may be clear to you--that you may accept it eagerly,
   lay hold upon it earnestly--and then, having believed, you shall have
   the witness in yourself which will prove it to be true.

   "Doctor," you say, "will your medicine heal me?" "Yes," he says. "But
   doctor," you say, "I cannot believe till I have the witness in myself
   that it will make me well." "But," he says, "you won't be able to take
   my medicine on those terms because you cannot have that witness till
   you have taken it! Will you have it on my witness that I have
   prescribed this in many similar cases and I know, from what I
   understand of the anatomy of the body, that the drugs suit your disease
   and will remove it." "No, doctor," says the man, "I must feel better
   before I can have confidence in you." "What? Feel the power of the
   medicine before you take it?" "Yes." "Then your demand is preposterous.
   You must surely be weak in your

   intellect."

   Moved by this reproof, you take the medicine. He comes the next day and
   you feel relieved front the pain. A new tone is given to your system
   and you cheerfully exclaim, "Now, doctor, I have the witness in
   myself." But, if you had been

   foolish enough to insist and not take the medicine till you had proved
   it--and yet you could not prove it till you took it--you would have
   behaved like an idiot! And the man who will not take God at His Word,
   but needs something else besides the Lord's witness, not only insults
   God, but plays the part of an insane suicide and deserves to perish!
   God give you Grace to accept the Gospel! Then you shall have the
   witness in yourself and He shall have the praise, and you shall have
   the comfort.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 John 5. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--531, 486.
     __________________________________________________________________

Strengthening Medicine For God's Servants

   (No. 1214)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "I will not fail you, nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5.

   NO doubt God had spoken to Joshua before. He had been a man of faith
   for many years and his faith enabled him to distinguish himself by such
   simple truthfulness of character and thoroughly faithful obedience to
   the Lord's will, that he and another were the only two left of the
   whole generation that came up out of Egypt. "Faithful among the
   faithless found," he survived where all else died. Standing erect in
   full vigor, he might have been compared to a lone tree which spreads
   its verdant branches untouched by the axe which has leveled its fellows
   with the ground.

   But now Joshua was about to enter upon a new work--he had become king
   in Jeshurun instead of Moses! From a servant, he had risen to be a
   ruler, and it now fell to his lot to lead the people across the Jordan
   and marshal their forces for the conquest of the Promised Land. On the
   threshold of this high enterprise the Lord appears to His servant and
   says, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not fail you,
   nor forsake you." When God's people come into fresh positions, they
   shall have fresh revelations of His love! New dangers will bring new
   protections. New difficulties, new helps. New discouragements, new
   comforts, so that we may rejoice in tribulations, also, because they
   are so many newly-opened doors of God's mercy to us!

   We will be glad of our extremities because they are Divine
   opportunities. What the Lord said to Joshua was particularly
   encouraging and it came precisely when he needed it. Great was his
   peril and great was the promise--"Be not afraid, neither be you
   dismayed: for the Lord your God is with you where ever you go." We will
   waste no time in preface, but at once consider the Divine promise. "I
   will not fail you, nor forsake you."

   I. Observe here, first, THE SUITABILITY OF THE CONSOLATION WHICH THESE
   WORDS GAVE TO JOSHUA. "I will not fail you, nor forsake you." This must
   have been very cheering to him in reference to himself. He knew Moses
   and he must have had a very high esteem of him. He was a great man, one
   of a thousand--scarcely among all that have been born of woman has
   there arisen a greater than Moses. Joshua had been his servant and, no
   doubt, considered himself to be very inferior to that great Lawgiver.

   A sense of his own weakness comes over a man all the more from being
   associated with a grander mind. If you mingle with your inferiors you
   are apt to grow vain--but closely associated with superior minds there
   is a far greater probability that you will become depressed and may
   think even less of yourself than humility might require--for humility
   is, after all, only a right estimate of our own powers. Joshua,
   therefore, may possibly have been somewhat despondent under a very
   pressing sense of his own deficiencies, and this cheering assurance
   would meet his case--"I will not fail you: though you are less wise, or
   meek, or courageous than Moses, I will not fail you, nor forsake you."

   If God is with our weakness it waxes strong. If He is with our folly it
   rises into wisdom. If He is with our timidity it gathers courage. It
   matters not how conscious a man may be of being nothing at all in
   himself, when he is conscious of the Divine Presence he even rejoices
   in his infirmity because the power of God rests upon him. If the Lord
   says unto the weakest man or woman here, "I will not fail you, nor
   forsake you," no cowardly thought will cross that ennobled spirit! That
   word will nerve the trembler with a lion-like courage which no
   adversary will be able to daunt.

   The consolation given to Joshua would be exceedingly suitable in the
   presence of his enemies. He had spied out the land and he knew it to be
   inhabited by giant races, men famous both for stature and strength. The
   sons of Anak were there and, other tribes, described as "great, and
   many, and tall." He knew that they were a warlike people and expert in
   the use of destructive implements of war, such as brought terror upon
   men, for they had chariots of iron. He knew, too, that their cities
   were of colossal dimensions--fortresses whose stones at this very day
   surprise the traveler, so that he asks what wondrous skill could have
   lifted those masses of rock into their places.

   The other spies had said that these Canaanites dwelt in cities that
   were walled up to Heaven and, though Joshua did not endorse that
   exaggeration, he was very well aware that the cities to be captured
   were fortresses of great strength. And he knew the people to be
   exterminated were men of ferocious courage and great physical energy.
   Therefore the Lord said, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you." What
   more was needed? Surely, in the Presence of God, Anakim become dwarfs,
   strongholds become as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers and chariots of
   iron are as thistle-down upon the hillside driven before the blast!

   What is strong against the Most High? What is formidable in opposition
   to Jehovah? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" They that are
   with us are more than they that are against us, when once the Lord of
   Hosts is seen in our ranks! "Therefore will we not fear, though the
   earth be removed, the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."
   Though a host should encamp against us, our hearts shall not fear!
   Though war should rise against us, in this will we be confident. This
   consolation, too, was sufficient for all supplies. Perhaps Joshua knew
   that the manna was no longer to fall. In the wilderness the supply of
   heavenly bread was continuous, but when they crossed the Jordan they
   must quarter on the enemy.

   And with the myriads of people that were under Joshua's command, the
   matter of providing for them must have been no trifle. According to
   some computations nearly three million people came up out of Egypt--I
   scarcely credit the computation and am inclined to believe that the
   whole matter of the numbers of the Old Testament is not yet understood.
   I believe a better knowledge of the Hebrew tongue will lead to the
   discovery that the figures have been frequently misunderstood. But,
   still, a very large number of people came with Joshua to the edge of
   the wilderness and crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan.

   Who was to provide for all these hungry bands? Joshua might have said,
   "Shall all the flocks and the herds be slain for this great multitude?
   And will the sea yield up her fish when the manna ceases? How shall
   these people be fed?" "I will not fail you, nor forsake you" was an
   answer which would meet all the demands of the commissariat! They might
   eat to the full, for God would find them food! Their clothes might wax
   old upon them, now that the miracle of the wilderness would cease, but
   new garments would be found for them in the wardrobes of their enemies.
   When the Lord opens all His granaries, none shall lack for bread. And
   when He unlocks His wardrobes, none shall go bare! So there was no room
   for anxiety in Joshua's mind. As for himself, if weak, this made him
   strong! As for his enemies, if they were powerful, this promise made
   him stronger than they! And as for the needs of Israel, if they were
   great, this promise supplied them all!

   Surely this word must often have brought charming consolation to the
   heart of the son of Nun when he saw the people failing him. There was
   only the venerable Caleb left, of all his comrades with whom he had
   shared the 40 years' march through the great and terrible wilderness.
   Caleb and he were the last two sheaves of the great harvest--and they
   were both like shocks of corn fully ripe for the garner. Old men grow
   lonely and small wonder is it if they do. I have heard them say that
   they live in a world where they are not known, now that, one by one,
   all their old friends are gone Home and they are left alone--like the
   last swallow of autumn when all its fellows have sought a sunnier
   climate. Yet the Lord says, "I will not forsake you: I shall not die: I
   am ever with you. Your Friend in Heaven will live on as long as you
   do."

   As for the generation which had sprung up around Joshua, they were very
   little better than their fathers. They turned back in the day of
   battle, even the children of Ephraim, when they were armed and carried
   bows. They were very apt to go aside into the most provoking sin.
   Joshua had as hard a task with them as Moses had--and it was enough to
   break the heart of Moses to have to deal with them. The Lord seems to
   bid him put no confidence in them, neither to be discomfited if they
   should be false and treacherous--"I will not fail you: they may, but I
   will not. I will not forsake you. They may prove cowards and traitors,
   but I will not desert you."

   Oh, what an evil thing it is in a false and fickle world, where he that
   eats bread with us lifts up his heel against us! Where the favorite
   counselor becomes an Ahithophel and turns his wisdom into crafty hate!
   But we know that "there is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother,"
   One who is faithful and gives us sure tokens of a love which many
   waters cannot quench! I might dwell upon this point and show that the
   consolatory promise has as many facets as a well-cut diamond, each one
   reflecting the light of Divine consolation upon the eye of Joshua's
   faith--but we will come to other matters.

   II. Secondly, AT WHAT TIMES MAY WE CONSIDER THIS PROMISE TO BE SPOKEN
   TO OURSELVES? It is all very well to listen to it, as spoken to Joshua,
   but, O God, if You would speak thus to us, how consoled would we be! Do
   You ever do so? May we be so bold as to believe that You thus comfort
   us? Beloved, the whole run of Scripture speaks

   to the same effect to men of like mind with Joshua. No Scripture is
   ofprivate interpretation! No text has spout itself upon the person who
   first received it. God's comforts are like wells which no one man or
   set of men can drain dry, however mighty may be their thirst!

   A well may be opened for Hagar, but that well is never closed, and any
   other wanderer may drink at it. The fountain of our text first gushed
   forth to refresh Joshua, but if we are in Joshua's position and are of
   his character, we may bring our water pots and fill them to the brim!
   Let me mention when I think we may safely feel that God says to us, "I
   will not fail you, nor forsake you." Surely it is when we are called to
   do God's work. Joshua's work was the Lord's work. It was God who had
   given the country to the people and who had said, "I will drive out the
   Canaanite from before you," and Joshua was God's executioner--the sword
   in the hand of the Lord for the driving out of the condemned races.

   He was not entering upon a quixotic engagement of his own choosing and
   devising. He had not elected himself and selected his own work, but God
   had called him to it, put him in the office and bid him do it! And
   therefore He said to him, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you."
   Brother, are you serving God? Do you live to win souls? Is it your
   grand object to be the instrument in God's hand of accomplishing His
   purposes of Grace to the fallen sons of men? Do you know that God has
   put you where you are and called you to do the work to which your life
   is dedicated? Then go on in God's name, for, as surely as He called you
   to His work, you may be sure that to you, also, He says, as indeed to
   all His servants, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you."

   But I hear some of you say, "We are not engaged in work of such a kind
   that we could precisely call it 'work for God.'" Well, Brothers and
   Sisters, but are you engaged in a work which you endeavor to perform to
   God's Glory? Is your ordinary and common trade one which is lawful--one
   concerning which you have no doubt as to its honest propriety-- and in
   carrying it on do you follow only right principles? Do you endeavor to
   glorify God in the shop? Do you make the bells on the horses holiness
   to the Lord? It would not be possible for all of us men to be
   preachers, for where would be the hearers? Many would be very much out
   of place if he were to leave his ordinary calling and devote himself to
   what is so unscripturally called "the ministry." The fact is, the
   truest religious life is that in which a man follows the ordinary
   calling of life in the spirit of a Christian.

   Now, are you doing so? If so, you are as much ministering before God in
   measuring out yards of calico, or weighing pounds of tea, as Joshua was
   in slaying Hivites, Jebusites and Hittites! You are as much serving God
   in looking after your own children and training them up in God's fear,
   and minding the house and making your household a Church for God, as
   you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the
   Lord of Hosts! And you may take this promise for yourself, for the path
   of duty is the path where this promise is to be enjoyed. "I will not
   fail you, nor forsake you." Now, mark you, if you are living for
   yourself--if you are living for gain--if selfishness is the object of
   life, or if you are pursuing an unhallowed calling. If there is
   anything about your mode of business which is contrary to the mind and
   will of God and sound doctrine, you cannot expect God to aid you in
   sin, nor will He do it.

   Neither can you ask Him to pander to your lusts, and to assist you in
   the gratification of your own selfishness. But if you can truly say, "I
   live to the Glory of God and the ordinary life that I lead I desire to
   consecrate entirely to His Glory," then you may take this promise home
   to yourself, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you." But, mark you,
   there is another matter. We must, if we are to have this promise, take
   God into our calculations. A great many persons go about their supposed
   lifework without even thinking about God. I have heard of one who said
   everybody had left him, and someone said, "But surely, as a Christian,
   God has not failed you?" "Oh," he said, "I forgot God."

   I am afraid there are many who call themselves Christians and yet
   forget God in common life. Among all the forces that a man calculates
   upon when he engages in an enterprise, he should never omit the chief
   force--but often it is so with us. We enquire, "Am I competent for such
   a work? I ought to undertake it, but am I competent?" And straightway
   there is a calculation made of competency. And in these calculations
   there is no item put down, "Item: The promise of a living God. Item:
   The guidance of the Spirit."

   These are left out of the calculation! Remember that if you willfully
   omit them, you cannot expect to enjoy them! You must walk by faith if
   you are to enjoy the privileges of the faithful. "The just shall live
   by faith," and if you begin to live by sense, you shall join the
   weeping and the wailing of those who have gone to broken cisterns and
   have found them empty. And your lips shall be parched with thirst
   because you have forgotten the Fountain of living waters to which you

   should have gone. Do you, Brothers and Sisters, habitually take God
   into your calculations? Do you calculate upon Omniscient direction and
   Omnipotent aid?

   I have heard of a certain captain who had led his troops into a very
   difficult position and he knew that on the morrow he should need them
   all to be full of courage. And so, disguising himself, at nightfall he
   went round their tents and listened to their conversations until he
   heard one of them say, "Our captain is a very great warrior and has won
   many victories. But he has this time made a mistake. For look, there
   are so many thousands of the enemy and he has only so many infantry, so
   many cavalry, and so many guns." The soldier made out the account and
   was about to sum up the scanty total when the captain, unable to bear
   it any longer, threw aside the curtain of the tent and said, "And how
   many do you count me for, Sir?"--as much as to say, "I have won so many
   battles that you ought to know that my skill can multiply battalions by
   handling them."

   And so the Lord hears His servants estimating how feeble they are, and
   how little they can do, and how few are their helpers--and I think I
   hear Him rebukingly say, "But how many do you count your God for? Is He
   never to come into your estimate? You talk of providing and forget the
   God of Providence! You talk of working, but forget the God who works in
   you to will and to do of His own good pleasure." How often in our
   enterprises have prudent people plucked us by the sleeve and said we
   have gone too far? Could we reckon upon being able to carry out what we
   had undertaken? No, we could not reckon upon it, except that we believe
   in God--and with God all things are possible! If it is His work, we may
   venture far beyond the shallowness of prudence into the great deeps of
   Divine confidence, for God, who warrants our faith, will honor it
   before long!

   O, Christian, if you can venture and feel it to be no venture, then may
   you grasp the promise, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you"! When you
   are on your own feet you may dash against a stone! When you are running
   in your own strength you may faint! But, "they that wait upon the Lord
   shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
   They shall run and not be weary. And they shall walk and not faint."
   Now, remember, that we may take this promise when we are engaged in
   God's work, or when we turn our ordinary business into God's work and
   when we do really, by faith, take God into our calculations!

   But we must also be careful that we walk in God's ways. Observe that
   the next verse to the text runs thus, "Be strong, and of a good
   courage," and then the 7th verse is a singular one, "Only be you strong
   and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the
   Law which Moses, My servant commanded you: turn not from it to the
   right hand or to the left, that you may prosper where ever you go." "Be
   strong and very courageous." What for? To obey! Does it need courage
   and strength to obey? Why, nowadays, that man is thought to be
   courageous who will have no Laws of God to bind him! And he is thought
   to be strong-minded who ridicules Revelation! But let us rest assured
   that he is truly strong of mind and heart who is content to be thought
   a fool and sticks to the good old Truths of God and keeps the good old
   way.

   There are enough, nowadays, of "intellectual" preachers. Some of us may
   be excused from this vaunted intellectual-ism that we may preach the
   simple Gospel. There are enough who can becloud theology with the chill
   fogs of "modern thought." We are satisfied to let the Word speak for
   itself without misting it with our thinking. I believe it needs more
   courage and strength of mind to keep to the old things than to follow
   after novel and airy speculations. We must not expect the God of Truth
   to be with us if we go away from God and His Truth. Be careful how you
   dive. To watch every putting down of your foot is a good thing. Be
   exact and precise as to the Divine Rule--careless about man's opinion
   and even defying it in which it is error. But be dutiful to God's Law,
   bowing before it, yielding your whole nature in cheerful subservience
   to every command of the Most High. He that walks uprightly, walks
   surely--and to him is the promise, "I will not fail you, nor forsake
   you."

   Begin your life-course with a policy of your own and you may get
   through it how you can. Be wise in your own conceit and trust to your
   own judgment--and the promotion of fools will be your reward! But be
   simple enough to do only God's will--to leave consequences and to
   follow the Truth of God--and integrity and uprightness will preserve
   you. Go on doing right at all costs and the right will repay you all it
   costs you--and the righteous Lord will be true to His Word--"I will not
   fail you, nor forsake you." These, then, I think, are the conditions
   under which any believing man or woman may take to themselves the words
   of our text.

   III. But now, thirdly, let us consider WHAT THIS PROMISE DOES NOT
   PRECLUDE. "I will not fail you, nor

   forsake you." We must not misunderstand this gracious Word, lest we be
   disappointed when things happen contrary to our expectations. This
   promise does not exclude effort. A great many mistakes are made about
   the promises of God. Some think that if God is to be with them they
   will have nothing to do. Joshua did not find it so. He and his troops
   had to slay every Amorite, Hittite and Hivite that fell in battle. He
   had to fight and use his sword just as much as if there had been no God
   at all!

   The best and the wisest thing in the world is to work as if it all
   depended upon you--and then trust in God, knowing that it all depends
   upon Him! He will not fail us, but we are not, therefore, to fold our
   arms and sit still. He will not forsake us, but we are not, therefore,
   to go upstairs to bed and expect that our daily bread will drop into
   our mouths. I have known idle people who have said, "Jehovah-Jireh,"
   and sat with their feet on their desks and their arms folded, and have
   been lazy and self-indulgent. And generally their presumption has ended
   in this--God has provided them rags and jags, and a place in the county
   jail before long! I think these are the very best provisions that can
   be made for idle people, and the sooner they get it the better for
   society!

   Oh no, no, no, no! God does not pander to our laziness! And any man who
   expects to get on in this world with anything that is good, without
   work, is a fool! Throw your whole soul into the service of God and then
   you will get God's blessing if you are resting upon Him. Even Mohammad
   could appreciate this! When one of his followers said, "I will turn my
   camel loose and trust in Providence," Mohammed said, "No, no! Tie him
   up as tightly as you can and then trust in Providence." Oliver Cromwell
   had a commonsense view of this Truth of God, too. "Trust in God," he
   said, as they went to battle, "but keep your powder dry."

   And so must we. I do not believe that God would have His servants act
   like fools! The best judgment a man has should be employed in the
   service of God. Common sense is, perhaps, as rare a thing among
   Christian people as salmon in the Thames. The devil's servants have
   more wisdom in their generation than the children of Light have, but it
   ought not to be. If you want to succeed, use every faulty you have, and
   put forth all your strength--and if it is a right cause you may then
   fall back on the promise--"I will not fail you, nor forsake you."
   Neither does this promise preclude occasional disaster. After Joshua
   had received this promise he went up to Ai and suffered a terrible
   defeat because the regulations of the war had been violated.

   They had defrauded the Lord of a part of the spoil of Jericho, which
   was hidden in Achan's tent, and this troubled Israel. Yes, and without
   the violation of any law, the best man in the world must expect, in the
   most successful enterprise, that there will be some discouragements.
   Look at the sea--it is rolling in, it will rise to full tide before
   long--but every wave that comes up dies upon the shore! And after two
   or three great waves which seem to capture the pebbles, there comes a
   feebler one which sucks back. Very well, but the sea will win and reach
   its fullness. So in every good work for God, there is a drawing back,
   every now and then. In fact, God often makes His servants go back that
   they may have all the more room to run and take a bigger leap than they
   could have taken from the place where they stood before.

   Defeats in the hand of faith are only preparations for victory. If we
   are beaten for a little while, we grind our swords sharper and the next
   time we take more care that our enemies shall know how keen they are.
   Do not, therefore, let any temporary disappointments dismay you--they
   are incidental to humanity and necessary parts of our education. Go on.
   God will certainly test you, but He will not fail you, nor forsake you.
   Nor, again, does this promise preclude frequent tribulations and
   testing of faith. In the autobiography of the famous Franck of Halle,
   who built and, in the hands of God, provided for, the orphan house of
   Halle, he says, "I thought when I committed myself and my work to God
   by faith, that I had only to pray when I had need, and that the
   supplies would come. But I found that I had sometimes to wait and pray
   for a long time."

   The supplies did come, but not at once. The pinch never went so far as
   absolute want--but there were intervals of severe pressure. There was
   nothing to spare. Every spoonful of meal had to be scraped from the
   bottom of the barrel and every drop of oil that oozed out seemed as if
   it might be the last--but still it never did come to the last drop--and
   there was always just a little meal left. Bread shall be given us, but
   not always in 4-pound loaves. Our water shall be sure, but not always a
   brook full--it may only come in small cups. God has not promised to
   take any of you to Heaven without trying your faith! He will not fail
   you, but He will bring you very low. He will not forsake you, but He
   will test you and

   prove you. You will frequently need all your faith to keep your spirits
   up--and unless God enables you to trust without staggering--you will
   find yourself sorely disquieted at times.

   Now, are any of you brought to the verge of famine in God's work? It is
   a state in which I have often been--thank God, very often--and I have
   always been delivered and, therefore, I can, from experience, say the
   Lord is to be trusted and He will not allow the faithful to be
   confused. He has said it and He will perform it--"I will not fail you,
   nor forsake you." Dear Friends, I would like to say, once more, about
   this, that this promise does not preclude our suffering very greatly,
   or our dying and, perhaps, dying a very sad and terrible death as men
   judge. God never left Paul, but I have seen the spot where Paul's head
   was chopped off by the executioner.

   The Lord never left Peter, but Peter, like his Master, had to die by
   crucifixion. The Lord never left the martyrs, but they had to ride to
   Heaven in chariots of fire. The Lord has never left His Church, but
   oftentimes His Church has been trampled as straw is trodden for the
   dunghill. Her blood has been scattered over the whole earth and she has
   seemed to be utterly destroyed. Still, you know, the story of the
   Church is only another illustration of my text--God has not failed her,
   nor forsaken her! In the deaths of her saints we read not defeat, but
   victory! As they passed away one by one, stars ceasing to shine below,
   they shone with tenfold brilliance in the upper sky because of the
   clouds through which they passed before they reached their celestial
   spheres.

   Beloved, we may have to groan in a Gethsemane, but God will not fail
   us! We may have to die on a Golgotha, but He will not forsake us. We
   shall rise again and, as our Master was triumphant through death, even
   so shall we through the greatest suffering and the most terrible
   defeats rise to His Throne!

   IV. I must pass on again, and occupy you for a few moments over a
   fourth point, which is this. WHAT, THEN, DOES THE TEXT MEAN, IF WE MAY
   HAVE ALL THIS TRIAL HAPPENING TO US? It means to those to whom it
   belongs, first, no failure for your work. Secondly, no desertion for
   yourself. "I will not fail you." Your labor shall not be in vain in the
   Lord. What is it? Is it the great work of preaching the Gospel to
   thousands? God will not fail you in that. I remember how, 20 years ago,
   I was preaching the Gospel in the simplicity of my heart and some
   little stir was made. But the wise men of the day made light of it and
   said it was all to end in six months' time.

   We went on, did we not? And by-and-by, when we had still greater crowds
   listening to us, it was "a temporary excitement, a sort of religious
   spasm." It would all end like a mere flash in the pan, they said. I
   wonder where those prophets are now? If there are any of them here, I
   hope they feel comfortable in the unfulfilled prophecy which they can
   now study with some degree of satisfaction. Thousands on earth and
   hundreds in Heaven can tell what God has worked! Is it another kind of
   work, dear Brother, that you are engaged in? A very quiet, unobtrusive,
   unobserved effort? Well, I should not wonder that, little as it is,
   somebody or other sneers at it.

   There is scarcely a David in the world without an Eliab to sneer at
   him. Press on, Brother! Stick to it, plod away, work hard, trust in
   your God and your work will not fail. We have heard of a minister who
   added only one to his Church through a long year of very earnest
   ministry--only one! A sad thing for him--but that one happened to be
   Robert Mof-fat--and he was worth a thousand of most of us! Go on! If
   you bring but one to Christ, who shall estimate the value of the one?
   Your class is very small just now. God does not seem to be working.
   Pray about it, get more scholars into the class, and teach better, and
   even if you should not see immediate success, do not believe that it is
   all a failure. Never was a true Gospel sermon preached, yet, with faith
   and prayer, that was a failure!

   Since the day when Christ, our Master, first preached the Gospel, unto
   this day--I dare to say it--there was never a true prayer that failed,
   nor a true declaration of the Gospel made in a right spirit that fell
   to the ground without prospering according to the pleasure of the Lord.
   Fire away, Brother! Every shot lands somewhere, for in heavenly as well
   as earthly warfare, "every bullet has its billet." And then there shall
   be no desertion as to yourself, for your heavenly Friend has said, "I
   will not forsake you." You will not be left alone or without a helper.
   You are thinking of what you will do in old age. Do not think of
   that--think of what God will do for you in old age! O, but your great
   need and long illness will wear out your friends, you say. Perhaps you
   may wear out your friends, but you will not wear out your God--and He
   can raise up new helpers if the old ones fail.

   O, but your infirmities are many and will soon crush you down! You
   cannot live long in such circumstances. Very well, then, you will be in
   Heaven and that is far better. But you dread pining sickness. It may
   never come. But, suppose it should come, remember what will come with
   it--"I will make all your bed in your sickness." "I will never leave
   you, nor

   forsake you." So runs the promise. "Fear you not, for I am with you; be
   not dismayed, for I am your God." "The mountains may depart, and the
   hills be removed; but the Covenant of My love shall not depart from
   you, says the Lord, that has mercy on you." You shall not be alone! You
   shall not wring your hands in despair and say, "I am utterly wretched,
   like the pelican of the wilderness--utterly forsaken like the owl of
   the desert." The mighty God of Jacob forsakes not His own.

   V. And so this brings me to the last point, which is this--WHY MAY WE
   BE QUITE SURE THAT THIS PROMISE WILL BE FULFILLED? I answer, first, we
   may be quite sure because it is God's promise. Did ever any promise of
   God fall to the ground? There are those in the world who are
   challenging us continually and saying, "Where is your God?" They deny
   the efficacy of prayer. They deny the interpositions of Providence.
   Well, I do not wonder that they do. The bulk of Christians do not
   realize, either, the answer to prayer or the interposition of
   Providence--for this reason-- that they do not live in the light of
   God's countenance, or live by faith.

   But the man who walks by faith will tell you that he notices Providence
   and never is deficient of a Providence to notice--that he notices
   answers to his prayer--and never is without an answer to his prayer.
   What is a wonder to others becomes a common fact of everyday life to
   the believer in Christ! Where God has given His Word, "I will not fail
   you, nor forsake you," let us believe it, for--

   "His very Word of Grace is strong As that which built the skies; The
   voice that rolls the stars along Speaks all the promises."

   Rest well assured that if a man is called to do God's work, God will
   not fail him because it is not after the manner of the Lord to desert
   His servants. David, in the dark days of his sin bade Joab place Uriah,
   the Hittite, in the forefront of the battle and leave him there to die
   by the hand of the children of Ammon. Was it not cruel? It was base and
   treacherous to the last degree!

   Can you suspect the Lord of anything so unworthy? God forbid! My soul
   has known what it is to plead with the Lord my God after this
   fashion--"Lord, You have placed me in a difficult position and given me
   service to perform far beyond my capacity. I never coveted this
   prominent place and if You do not help me, now, why have You placed me
   in it?" I have always found such argument to be prevalent with God. He
   will not push His servants into severe conflicts and then fail them!
   Besides, remember that should God's servants fail, if they are really
   God's servants, the enemy would exult and boast against the Lord
   Himself.

   This was a great point with Joshua in later days. He said, "The
   Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and
   shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what
   will You do unto Your great name?" If the Lord raises up Luther and
   does not help Luther, then it is not Luther that fails--it is God that
   fails in the estimation of the world. If the Lord sends a man to bear
   witness to a Truth and that man's testimony utterly breaks down, then
   in the estimation of men it is the Truth that breaks down, and
   consequently dishonor is cast upon God and His Truth--and He will not
   have it so. If He uses the weakest instrumentality, He will laugh to
   scorn His adversaries by it and they shall never say that the Lord was
   overcome.

   Besides, if God has raised you up, my Brother or Sister, to accomplish
   a purpose by you, do you think He will be defeated? Were ever any of
   His designs frustrated? I have heard preachers talk about God being
   defeated by the free will of man and disappointed by man's depravity
   and I know not what else! But such a god is no god of mine! My God is
   One who has His will and will have it--who, when He designs a thing,
   accomplishes it! He is a God whose Omnipotence none can resist,
   concerning whom it may be said, "Who shall stay His hand, or say unto
   Him, What are you doing?" The mighty God of Jacob puts His hand to a
   design and carries it through as surely as He begins! The weakness of
   the instrument in His hand does not hinder Him, nor the opposition of
   His enemies deter Him! Only believe in Him and, weak as you are, you
   shall perform wonders--and in your feebleness the strength of God shall
   be glorified!

   Besides, my Brothers and Sisters, if we trust God and live for God, He
   loves us much too well to leave us. It is not as though we were aliens,
   and strangers, and foreigners--mercenary troops whom the prince who
   hires them leaves to be cut in pieces! No, we are His own dear
   children! God sees Himself in all His servants. He sees in them the
   members of the body of His dear Son. The very least among them is as
   dear to Him as the apple of His eye and beloved as His own soul. It is
   not to be imagined that He will ever put a load upon His own children's
   shoulders without giving them strength to

   bear the burden, or send them to labors for which He will not give them
   adequate resources! O, rest in the Lord, you faithful. "Rest in the
   Lord, and wait patiently for Him," for He will appear unto your rescue.
   Has He not said, "I will not fail you, nor forsake you"?

   As I have thus been bringing forth marrow and fatness from the Word, I
   have been thinking of some of you, poor souls, who cannot eat thereof
   and have no share in it. I am glad to see you here, especially on
   Thursday night, for it is not every unconverted person that will come
   to these weeknight services. You must have a hungering after these good
   things, or you would not be here in such numbers. I hope your mouths
   are watering after the good things of the Covenant. I hope, as you see
   the promises of God on the table and see how rich they are, you will
   say to yourself, "Would God I had a share in them!"

   Well, poor Soul, if God gives you an appetite, I can only say the food
   is free! If you would have God to be your Helper--if you would, indeed,
   be saved by Christ--come and welcome, for you are the soul that He
   desires to bless! If you have half a wish towards God, He has a longing
   towards you! If you desire Him, you have not a step up on Him-- depend
   upon it, He has long before desired you! Come to Him! Rest in Him!
   Accept the Atonement which His Son has presented. Begin the life of
   faith in real earnest and you shall find that what I have said is all
   true--only it falls short of the full truth, for you will say, like the
   Queen of Sheba when she had seen Solomon's glory--"The half has not
   been told

   me."

   Blessed be the Lord forever, who has taught my poor heart to believe in
   Himself and to live upon unseen realities, and rest in a faithful God!
   There is no peace or joy like it, or worthy to be mentioned in the same
   day. God grant it to each one of you, Beloved, for His name's sake.
   Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 63. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--34 (VERS. 1), 742, 745.
     __________________________________________________________________

Solemn Pleadings for Revival

   (No. 1215)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Keep silence before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their
   strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near
   together tojudgment." Isaiah 41:1.

   THE text is a challenge to the heathen to enter into a debate with the
   living God. The Lord bids them argue at their best and let the
   controversy be calmly carried out to its issues, so as to be decided
   once and for all. He bids them be quiet, reflect and consider, in order
   that with renewed strength they may come into the discussion and defend
   their gods if they can. He urges them not to bring flippant arguments,
   but such as have cost them thought and have weight in them, if such
   arguments can be. He bids them be quiet till they are prepared to speak
   and then, when they can produce their strong reasons and set their
   cause in the best possible light, He challenges them to enter the lists
   and see if they can maintain, for a moment, that their gods are gods,
   or anything better than deceit and falsehood.

   I am not about to speak of that controversy at this time, but to use
   the text with quite another view. We, also, who worship the Lord God
   Most High have a controversy with Him. We have not seen His Church and
   His cause prospering in the world for many a day as we would desire. As
   yet heathenism is not put to the rout by Christianity, neither does the
   Truth of God everywhere trample down error. Nations are not born in a
   day, nor have the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord
   and of His Christ. We desire to reason with God about this and, He,
   Himself, instructs us how to prepare for this sacred debate.

   He bids us be silent. He bids us consider and then draw near to Him
   with holy boldness and plead with Him. He bids us produce our cause and
   bring forth our strong reasons. It seems to me that at the beginning of
   the year I cannot suggest to Christian people a more urgent topic than
   this, that we should plead with God that He would display among us
   greater works of Grace than as yet our eyes have seen. We have read of
   wonderful revivals. History records the prodigies of the Reformation
   and the marvelous way in which the Gospel was spread during the first
   two centuries. We pine to see the same, again, or to know the reason
   why it is not so--and with holy boldness it is our desire to come
   before the Lord and plead with Him--as a man pleads with his friend.
   May God help us to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit.

   I. First, then, LET US BE SILENT. "Keep silence before me, O islands."
   Before the controversy opens, let us be silent with solemn awe, for we
   have to speak with the Lord God Almighty! Let us not open our mouths to
   impugn His wisdom, nor allow our hearts to question His love. What if
   things do not look as bright as we would wish? The Lord reigns! And
   what if He seems to delay? Is He not the Lord God with whom a thousand
   years are as one day, and who is not slack concerning His promise as
   some men count slackness?

   We are going to be bold to speak with Him, but still, He is the eternal
   God and we are dust and ashes. Whatever we may say with holy boldness,
   we would not utter a word in rash familiarity. He is our Father, but He
   is our Father in Heaven. He is our Friend, but at the same time He is
   our Judge. We know that whatever He does is best. We would not say unto
   our Maker, "What have You made?" Nor to our Creator, "What have You
   done?" Shall the potter give account to the clay for the works of his
   hands? "It is the lord, let Him do what seems good to Him." When we
   look at what He does, it may seem to our dim apprehension to be
   exceedingly strange, and we may fail to read its meaning. But we need
   not wish to read it. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing and if
   He chooses to conceal it, let it be concealed!

   Truly, God is good to Israel and His mercy endures forever! If this
   world's history is to drag on through another score of mournful
   centuries, it will only reveal so much the more matter for praise when
   the great hallelujahs of the ultimate victory shall peal forth. Our
   silence of awe should deepen into that of shame, for, my Brothers and
   Sisters, though it is certainly true that the cause of God has not
   prospered, whose fault is this? If there has been straitening, it has
   not

   been in God. Where, then, has it been? If the seed has rotted under the
   clods, or if the cankerworm has eaten the green shoot so that the
   reaper has not joyfully filled his arm, from where does it come?

   Has there not been sin among us, yes, sin in the Church of God? What if
   Israel has turned her back in the day of battle? Is there not an
   accursed thing in the camp and an Achan who has hidden away the goodly
   Babylonian garment and the shekel of gold? God says, "Is there not a
   cause? Can two walk together, except they be agreed? If you walk
   contrary to Me, I also will walk contrary to you." Truly, when I see
   how God has blessed us, I am not so much astonished that He has not
   given more as I am amazed that He has given so much! Does He bless such
   unworthy instruments, such laggards, such slothful workers? Does He do
   anything by tools so unfit? Does He place any treasure in vessels so
   impure? This is to be ascribed to His Grace.

   But if He does not use us to the highest point, let us take shame and
   confusion of face to ourselves--and before the Throne of His Glory let
   us sit down in silence. What, indeed, can we say? We have no charges,
   no accusations to bring against the Most High, but we must silently
   confess that we, ourselves, are vile. Unto us belongs shame and
   confusion of face. Go further than this and keep the silence of
   consideration. This is a noisy age and the Church of Christ, herself,
   is too noisy. I fear we have very little silent worship. I do not so
   much regret the absence of silence from the public assembly as from our
   private devotions where it has a sacred hallowing influence,
   unspeakably valuable.

   Let us be silent, now, for a minute, and consider what is it that we
   desire of the Lord. The conversion of thousands, the overthrow of
   error, the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom. Think in your minds what
   the blessings are which your soul pants after. Get a correct idea of
   them and then enquire whether you are prepared to receive them. Suppose
   they were to be now bestowed? Are you ready? If thousands of converts
   were to be born unto this one Church, are you prepared to teach them,
   instruct them and comfort them? Are you doing it now, you Christian
   people? Are you acting in such a way that God knows you to be fit to
   have the charge of those converts that you are asking for?

   You pray for Divine Grace--are you using the Grace you have? You want
   to see more power--how about the power you have? Are you employing it?
   If a mighty wave of revival sweeps over London, are your hearts ready?
   Are your hands ready? Are your purses ready? Are you altogether ready
   to be carried along on the crest of that blessed wave? Consider. If you
   reflect, you will see that God is able to give His Church the largest
   blessing and to give it at any time! Keep silence and consider, and you
   will see that He can give the blessing by you or by me--He can make any
   one of us, weak as we are--mighty through God to the pulling down of
   strongholds!

   He can make our feeble hands, though we have but a few loaves and
   fishes, capable of feeding myriads with the Bread of Life. Consider
   this, and this morning ask yourselves in the quiet of your spirits,
   what can we do to get the blessing? Are we doing that? What is there in
   our temper, in our private prayer, in our acts for God which would be
   likely to bring down the blessing? Do we act as if we were sincere?
   Have we really a desire for these things which we say we desire? Could
   we give up worldly engagements to attend to the work of God? Could we
   spare time to look after the Lord's vineyard? Are we willing to do the
   Lord's work and are we in the state of heart in which we can do it
   efficiently and acceptably? Keep silence and consider. I would suggest
   to every Christian that he should sit a while before God, when he
   reaches his home, and worship with the silence of awe, with the silence
   of shame--and then with the silence of careful thought concerning these
   things.

   Then we shall pass on to the silence of attention. "Keep silence before
   Me, O islands." Keep silence that God may speak to you. That God's Word
   may be heard in your soul, not only parts of it, but all of it! That
   God's Spirit may be heard with His gentle monitions warning you. With
   His blessed enlightenments revealing to you, yourself and your Lord.
   With His Divine promptings urging you to greater consecration and
   superior holiness. And with His Divine assistances leading you onward
   in the path of a higher life than you have yet attained. O, it is well
   to sit still before the Lord, deaf to every voice but the Divine! We
   cannot expect him to hear us if we will not hear Him. "I will hear,"
   says the Prophet, "what God the Lord will speak."

   Do you always do so? If you have heard the Lord speak to you, you will
   admit that there is no voice like His. Be silent till you hear the
   Lord's Word slaying all your pride and self-will and self-seeking and
   proclaiming His sole Glory in every part of your manhood. If you have
   learned attention, be silent with submission. For this you will need
   the gracious aid of the Holy Spirit. It is not easy to attain to full
   submission of soul to whatever the Lord wills. We are often like hard
   brass which will not take the impression from the seal. If we were what
   we should be, we should be as melted wax which

   at once takes the stamp that is put upon it. O, to have a heart that is
   quite silent as to any wish or will, or opinion, or judgment of our
   own, so that God's mind shall be our mind, God's will shall be our
   will!

   The Church would soon be healed of her sorrows and delivered from her
   divisions if she would, for a while, be silent. But the voice of a
   favorite teacher is heard by some, and the voice of another master in
   Israel is listened to by others-- and so God's voice is lost amid the
   clamor of sects and the uproar of parties. O, that the Church would sit
   at Jesus' feet, lay aside her prejudices and take the Word in its
   simplicity and integrity--and accept what God the Lord, and He only,
   does declare to be the Truth!

   I invite the members of this Church and urge the members of all
   Churches to see to this. See to it that we cry unto the Lord for a
   blessed silence in His Presence till we sit, like servants, waiting for
   their Master's word and stand like watchmen waiting for the Master's
   coming--ourselves quiet, restful, peaceful, resigned--no, acquiescing
   in the Divine will, all attentive to hear each Word that falls from Him
   and resolved with humble resolution that whatever the Lord shall speak,
   that will we do. We will accent His Word as Law, Light and Life to our
   souls and nothing else! May the Lord send that solemn silence over all
   His people now!

   II. In that silence LET US RENEW OUR STRENGTH. Noise wears us out.
   Silence feeds us. To run upon the Master's errands is always well. But
   to sit at the Master's feet is quite as necessary, for, like the angels
   which excel in strength, our power to do His commandments arises out of
   our hearkening to the voice of His Word. If even for a human
   controversy, quiet thought is a fit preparation, how much more is it
   necessary in solemn pleadings with the Eternal One? Now let the deep
   springs be unsealed! Let the solemnities of eternity exercise their
   power while all is still within us.

   But how does it happen that such silence renews our strength? It does
   so, first, by giving space for the strengthening Word to come into the
   soul and the energy of the Holy Spirit to be really felt. Words, words,
   words! We have so many words and they are but chaff! But where is THE
   WORD that in the beginning was God and was with God? That Word is the
   living and incorruptible Seed. "What is the chaff to the wheat? with
   the Lord." We need less of the words of man and more of Him who is the
   very Word of God! Be quiet, be quiet and let Jesus speak! Let His
   wounds speak to you. Let His death speak to you. Let His Resurrection
   speak to you. Let His Ascension and His subsequent Glory speak to you.
   And let the trumpet of His Second Advent ring in your ears. You cannot
   hear the music of these glorious things for the rattle of the wheels of
   care and the vain jangle of disputatious self-wisdom. Be silent, that
   you may hear the voice of Jesus, for when He speaks, you will renew
   your strength.

   The eternal Spirit is with His people, but we often miss His power
   because we give more ear to other voices than to His, and quite as
   often our own voice is an injury to us, for it is heard when we have
   received no message from the Lord and, therefore, gives an uncertain
   sound. If we will wait upon the blessed Spirit, His mysterious
   influence will sway us most divinely and we shall be filled with all
   the fullness of God. Even as we have seen the frost yield suddenly to
   the influence of the warm south wind, so shall our lethargy melt before
   His Sovereign energy. How often have I felt, in a moment, my ice-locked
   spirit yield to the breath of the Holy Spirit!

   You have seen a cloud on high flying, as you thought, against the wind,
   driven on by some upper current of air which you did not feel below.
   Even thus have we been carried on by upper currents which flesh and
   blood cannot understand. We sang as Dr. Watts does--

   "Look how we grovel here below, Fond of these trifling toys. Our souls
   can neither fly nor go To reach eternal joys."

   But when the Holy Spirit came, the lightning, itself, could not
   overtake us! We rode upon a cherub and did fly, yes, we did ride upon
   the wings of the wind, for God, The Everlasting One, had caught us up
   and filled us with His power! Be silent, then, that the Spirit may thus
   work upon you. Let other spirits be gone--let the spirit of the world,
   and the spirit of the flesh, and the spirit of self be banished--and
   let the Spirit of the Ever Blessed be heard speaking in your soul.

   Thus shall you renew your strength. We must be silent to renew our
   strength, next, by using silence for consideration as to Who it is that
   we are dealing with. We are going to speak with God about the weakness
   of His Church and the slowness of its progress. Be silent, that you may
   remember who He is with whom you are expostulating. It is God the
   Omnipotent, who can make His Church mighty if He will, and that at
   once! We are coming to plead, now, with One whose

   arm is not shortened, and whose ear is not heavy. Renew your strength
   as you think of Him! If you have doubted the ultimate success of
   Christianity, renew your strength as you remember who it is that has
   sworn by Himself that surely all flesh shall see the salvation of God!

   You are coming to plead with Jesus Christ! Be silent and remember those
   wounds of His with which He has redeemed mankind! Can these fail of
   their reward? Shall Jesus be robbed of the power He has so dearly
   earned? The earth is the Lord's and He will unsheathe her of the mists
   which dimmed her luster at the Fall. He will make this planet shine as
   brightly as when she first was rolled from between the palms of the
   Omnipotent Creator. There shall be a new Heaven and a new earth in
   which dwells righteousness! Think of that, and renew your strength. Has
   not the Lord said, concerning His beloved Son, that He shall divide the
   spoil with the strong, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
   His hands? Shall it not be so?

   Think, too that you are about to appeal to the Holy Spirit and there,
   again, you have the same Divine attributes. What cannot the Spirit of
   God do? He sent the tongues of fire at Pentecost and Parthians, Medes
   and Elamites, and men of every nation heard the Gospel at once! He
   turned 3,000 hearts by one sermon to know the Crucified Savior to be
   the Messiah. He sent the Apostles like flames of fire through the whole
   earth, till every nation felt their power. He can do the same again! He
   can bring the Church out of darkness into noonday! Let us renew our
   strength as we think of this. The work we are going to plead about is
   not ours one-half so much as it is God's! It is not in our hands, but
   in hands that cannot fail! Therefore let us renew our strength as we
   silently meditate upon the Triune Jehovah with whom we have to speak.

   In silence, too, let us renew our strength by remembering His promises.
   We want to see the world converted to God and He has said, "The
   knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
   sea." "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
   it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." "They that dwell
   in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the
   dust." "The idols He shall utterly abolish." There are a thousand
   promises! Let us think of that and however difficult the enterprise may
   be, and however dark our present prospects, we shall not dare to doubt
   when Jehovah has spoken and pledged His Word!

   Our strength will be renewed, next, if in silence we yield up to God
   all our own wisdom and strength. Brothers and Sisters, I never am so
   full as when I am empty. I have never been so strong as in the
   extremity of weakness. The source of our worst weakness is our strength
   and the source of our worst folly is our personal wisdom. Lord, help us
   to be still till we have given up ourselves, till we have said, Lord,
   our ways of working cannot be compared with Your ways of working. Teach
   us how to work! Lord, our judgments are weak compared with Your perfect
   judgment. We are fools--be You our Teacher and Guide in all things.
   Crush out of us our fancied strength and make us like worms, for it is
   the worm Jacob that You will make into the new sharp threshing
   instrument which shall thresh the mountain!

   After this sort shall you renew your strength. Keep silence, then, you
   saints, till you have felt your folly and your weakness--and then renew
   your strength most gloriously by casting yourselves upon the strength
   of God. More than ever before, let your inmost souls be filled with
   trust in the arm that never fails, the hand that never loses its
   cunning, the eyes that are never closed, the heart that never wavers.
   Jehovah works everywhere and all things are His servants. He works in
   the light and we see His Glory. But He equally works in the darkness,
   where we cannot perceive Him. His wisdom is too profound to be at all
   times understood of mortal men. Let us be patient and wait His time,
   for as surely as God lives, the idols must go down, the crescent of
   Mohammed must die forever, and the harlot of the Seven Hills must be
   devoured with fire--the Lord has said it--and so it must be!

   Jehovah has declared it, and who shall say He is a liar? With no more
   doubt of our Father's power than the child at its mother's breast has
   of its mother's love--with no more doubt than an angel before the
   Throne can have of Jehovah's majesty--let us commit ourselves, each one
   after his own fashion, to suffering and to labor for the grand cause of
   God, feeling well assured that neither labor nor suffering can be in
   vain in the Lord! Thus much, then, concerning the renewing of our
   strength. I wish we could have had a quarter of an hour's silence that
   you might reflect upon these topics, but I leave them with you,
   trusting that you will seek that silence at home and so renew your
   strength.

   III. Our text proceeds to add, "Then let them draw near." Beloved, you
   that know the Lord, I would urge you to DRAW NEAR. You are silent. You
   have renewed your strength. Now enjoy access with boldness! The
   condition in which to intercede for others is not that of distance from
   God, but that of great nearness to Him. Even thus did Abraham

   draw near when he pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. May God the Holy
   Spirit draw us near even now. Perhaps the following five considerations
   may help us in so doing.

   Let us remember how near we really are. We have been washed from every
   sin in the precious blood of Jesus. We are covered from head to foot,
   at this moment, with the spotless Righteousness of Immanuel, God with
   us! We are accepted in the Beloved! Yes, we are, at this moment, one
   with Christ and members of His body. How could we be nearer? How near
   is Christ to God? So near are we! Come near, then, in your personal
   pleadings, for you are near in your Covenant Representative. The Lord
   Jesus has taken manhood into union with the Divine Nature and now,
   between God and man, there exists a special and unparalleled
   relationship, the likes of which the Universe cannot present. No actual
   blood relationship exists between God and any other creature but man,
   "for verily He took not up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham."
   "Unto which of the angels said He at any time, You are My Son; this day
   have I begotten You"? And yet has He said this first and chiefly to the
   Lord Jesus Christ!

   And next, in a true but secondary sense, to each regenerate one whom He
   has, of His own will, begotten by the Word of Truth! Come near, then, O
   you sons of God, come near, for you are near! Stand where your sonship
   places you, where your Representative stands on your behalf. Let the
   slaves of the flesh and the bondservants of the Law stand afar off from
   the Lord who speaks to them from Sinai. But as for us, it is our joy to
   come very near, for the voice of Love calls to us from Calvary!

   The next consideration which may help you to draw near is that you are
   coming to a Father. That was a blessed word of our Lord's, "The Father
   Himself loves you." God forbid I should say a word to make you think
   less of the splendor and majesty of God! But I pray you remember that,
   however great and terrible He is, He is our Father! I delight in those
   words of our poet--

   "The God that rules on high, And thunders when He please, That rides
   upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas-- This awful God is ours, Our
   Father and our love."

   As surely as my earthly father is near akin to me and I may come to him
   with loving familiarity, so may I approach the Lord who has begotten me
   again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
   dead! And I may say to Him, "Abba," "Father," and He will not disregard
   the cry. Has He not given us the spirit of adoption? How can He despise
   that which He gives? Come, then, and speak in your Father's ear. O
   child of God, you are not talking to a stranger! You are not about to
   hold a debate with an enemy! You are not seeking to wring a blessing
   from an unwilling hand! It is to your Father that you speak! Come near
   to Him, I pray you, and plead this day!

   Remember next, that the desire which is in our heart for God's Glory
   and the extension of His Church, is a desire written there by the Holy
   Spirit. Now, if the Holy Spirit, Himself, incites the prayer, and He
   knows the mind of God. If He makes intercession in our hearts according
   to the will of God, we need have no hesitation to express our desires
   because our desires are simply the shadow of the eternal purpose! And
   that which always was in the mind of God to give, the Spirit of God has
   inclined us to ask! True prayer is the intimation of God to man that He
   intends to bless Him. It is the herald of mercy. Plead, then, O child
   of God, for the Spirit of God is pleading in you! Come and speak out
   that which He speaks within. He Himself helps your infirmities, making
   intercession in you according to the will of God. When the Spirit
   prompts, what cause can there be for hesitation? We must speak when He
   inspires.

   Remember next, that what we ask, if we are now about to plead with God
   concerning His Kingdom, is according to His own mind. We are at one
   with God in this matter. If it were not for God's Glory for sinners to
   be converted, we would not pray for it. We desire to see thousands of
   sinners turn to Christ, but it is with this view--that the infinite
   mercy, wisdom, power and love of God may be manifested towards
   them--and so God may be praised. Verily, much as our heart is set upon
   the prosperity of the Church of God, if it were conceivable that such
   prosperity would not glorify God we would not ask for it! We desire to
   see not our notions, but God's Truth prevail!

   I do not want you to believe as I believe except so far as that belief
   is according to the mind of God. I pray every Believer here to search
   his heart and see whether his desire is a pure one, having God's Glory
   as its Alpha and Omega. It is God's Truth, God's Kingdom, God's Glory
   that we want to see promoted! If this is the case, may we not come very

   boldly? We have not only the king's ear but His heart, also, and we may
   open our mouths wide. When we have a question as to the Lord's will, we
   are bound to go no further than, "nevertheless, not as I will." But
   when there is no ground for hesitancy, with what sacred ardor may we
   press our suit!

   Moreover, there is this further consideration--the Lord loves to be
   pleaded with. He might have given all the Covenant blessings without
   prayer--why does He compel us to use entreaties unless it is that He
   loves to hear the voices of His children? God has given to the Church
   untold mercies in answer to intercession, for He delights to bless His
   people at the Mercy Seat. In this, our own beloved Church, prayer has
   been more glorious and excellent than all mountains of prey. Its bow
   has not returned empty, neither has its shield been cast away! Prayer
   has been bolder than the lion, swifter than the eagle, and has
   overthrown all her adversaries, treading them beneath her feet as straw
   is trod for the dunghill! To this day we live by prayer!

   The Church of God has never gained a victory but in answer to prayer.
   Her whole history is to the praise of the Glory of a prayer-hearing
   God! Come, then, Brothers and Sisters, if we have sped so well before,
   and if God invites us now, yes, if He delights in our petitions, let us
   not be slack, but enlarge our requests before Him. O, for Grace that we
   may now, this day, and from now on draw very near to God!

   IV. I may need a few minutes over the allotted time this morning while
   I now come to the fourth and last point, which is, "LET US SPEAK." Be
   silent, renew your strength, draw near and then speak. What have we to
   say upon the matter which concerns us? Let us first speak in the spirit
   of adoring gratitude. How sweet to think that there should be a Savior
   at all! To think that the project of rescuing this poor world from her
   ruin should ever have been entertained in the courts of Heaven. To
   think that the Spirit should be given to reside among men, to turn the
   hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebels to obedience to
   the Truth! To think that there should be a heavenly kingdom set up, as
   it is set up--that it should have made such advances as it has made and
   should still grow mightily is absolutely wonderful!

   That Jesus Christ should be seen of angels is put down as a wonder, but
   it is mentioned, next to it, that He was "believed on in the world." He
   has been believed on by millions, and, however gloomy the prospects of
   the Church may appear, the kingdom of Christ is not an insignificant
   kingdom, even now. Those who deride her laugh too soon. She is in her
   twilight, as Voltaire said, but it is the twilight of her morning, and
   not of her evening! Brighter times are coming. But even now, up to this
   moment, the history of the Church cannot be told without adoring
   gratitude to God.

   She has been foolish and has lost her strength, but, like Samson's, it
   will return. Deceived and deluded in the days of Constantine, she
   allowed baptized heathen to proclaim an adulterous connection between
   the Church and the State-- and from that day her glory has departed and
   her power has fled. When will she repent? The nominal Church goes after
   her lovers, seeking her corn and her wine at their hands, and she says
   to kings and queens of the earth, "Be you my head, and let your
   senators rule me."

   While she does this God cannot and will not bless her in any great
   degree. When was the ark taken? Never till it was defended by the
   carnal sword! When did the ark triumph? Was it not when, left alone in
   its own glory, it smote Dagon to the ground? When the visible Church
   gets back to her chastity to Christ, she will say, "We have nothing to
   do with parliaments and kings, except to convert them! Ours is a
   spiritual kingdom and Statecraft is foreign to us. We ask not for your
   endowments! We care not for your persecutions. Let us alone--all we ask
   is a clear stage and no favor." The bride of Christ comes not into the
   world to toy with the politics of princes--hers is a higher work. She
   leans upon the Lord, alone, and yields allegiance to none else. Remove
   worldliness and you will see bright days.

   The grand impediment of the Church, now, is the arm of flesh--the
   lofty, high-sounding titles of her prelates, the palaces of her
   bishops--the priestliness of her ministers and the lack of Gospel
   simplicity! Be amazed, you heavens, that the successors of the Apostles
   should be owners of palaces! This hampers her, but cut the Church clear
   of this and God's bare arm will soon win victory unto the Truth in this
   land. I, for my part, bless and magnify the Lord that, though a great
   section of the visible Church has played the harlot so sadly in the
   midst of the nations, yet He has not quite cast her away. He keeps a
   chosen company who follow the Lamb where ever He goes--on whose banner
   is written, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." And whose watchword is,
   "One is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren." As to the
   world, we will seek its conversion, but we will never enter into
   alliance with it, much less bow down our necks before its kings and
   princes! May God grant us Grace as we draw near to Him, to speak out in
   adoration of Him.

   Next, let us speak in humble expostulation. I would earnestly urge my
   Brethren in Christ to reason thus with the Lord. "O Lord, Your Truth
   does not prosper in the land, yet You have said, 'My Word shall not
   return unto Me void.' Lord, You are every day blasphemed, and yet You
   have said that Your Glory shall be seen of all flesh. Lord, they set up
   idols, even in this land, where Your martyrs burned. They are setting
   up graven images again! Lord, tear them down, for Your name's sake. For
   Your honor's sake, we beseech You, do it! Do You not hear the enemy
   triumph? They say the Gospel is worn out! They tell us that we are the
   relics of an antiquated race, that modern progress has swept the old
   faith away.

   "Will You have it so, good Lord? Shall the Gospel be accounted a
   worn-out almanac and shall they set up their new gospels in its place?
   Souls are being lost, O God of Mercy! Hell is being filled, O God of
   Infinite Compassion! Jesus sees but few brought to Himself and washed
   in His precious blood. Time is flying and every year increases the
   number of the lost! How long, O God, how long? Why do You tarry?" In
   this manner order your case before the Lord and He will listen to you.
   When you have spoken by way of reason, then turn to pleading. Plead
   with all your skill in argument. "There is Your promise, O Jehovah.
   Will You not keep it? You have said unto Your Son, Ask of Me, and I
   will give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts
   of the earth for Your possession!

   "We ask in Jesus' name! Do it for Your promise sake! Lord, You have
   done great things and unspeakable in times gone by! We have heard with
   our ears and our fathers have told us the wondrous things which You did
   in their days and in the old times before them. You are the same Lord,
   therefore glorify Yourself again! By all the past, we beseech You,
   reveal Yourself at this present." Plead with the Lord and lay stress
   upon His Glory. Tell Him that it glorifies His mercy to save sinners,
   and glorifies His wisdom and His power, yes, every attribute of His
   Divine Nature.

   Then plead the merit of His Son. O, Brothers and Sisters, plead the
   blood! Plead the wounds! Plead the bloody sweat in Gethsemane! Plead
   the Cross! Plead the death and Resurrection! Come not away from the
   Mercy Seat till with this mighty plea you have won the victory! I
   scarcely need remind you at how many points you may get a grip of the
   Covenant Angel, for when wrestling with Him, if you but have the will
   to do it, you may seize Him anywhere and hold Him fast, and say, "I
   will not let You go unless You bless me."

   I wish I could preach like John Knox, but I wish 10 times more that I
   could pray like he did--a man who would not take "no" for an answer,
   but won Scotland for Christ--and she remains Christ's still, through
   John Knox's prayers! It is not possible for prelacy to flourish where
   Knox has prayed! Oh for prayer such as that, again! King of kings, will
   You not stretch out Your scepter and save men? Will You not pluck Your
   sword out of its scabbard and strike Your foes? There are some men to
   whom God would almost say, as He did to Moses, "Let Me alone." They are
   favored to use such forcible arguments and valid pleas that wrath
   forbears and mercy yields the blessing. If we can push on as Moses did
   with renewed pleading and entreaties, the blessing will come! This is
   what England, yes, the world, needs--men who can plead with God--men
   who can draw near and then speak!

   Again, dear Brothers and Sisters, after we have been silent, after we
   have renewed our strength and after we have drawn near to God, let us
   speak, today, in the way of dedication. Now, here I cannot suggest to
   any man what he, in particular may speak. I charge you before the
   living God, do not lie to Him, but if you can say this, I pray you say
   it--"I give to God this day my whole being, absolutely and forever. My
   body, my soul, my spirit. I have asked that His Kingdom may come--I
   pledge myself, in His sight, to extend that Kingdom by every power I
   possess or may be able to gain, by every opportunity He may put in my
   way--and by every means which I am able to use." I do not think Jesus
   ought to have less than that from us, but I know He gets far less.

   Perhaps the Lord may move some of you young men to say, "Lord, I want
   to see Your Kingdom spread and, therefore, I will give myself up to
   preach the Gospel." Perhaps some of you good women here may say, "I
   will undertake a work of usefulness of some kind or other for Jesus. I
   am resolved I will." And you who have this world's goods, I hope you
   will say, "I know that this good work always needs money. By His Grace
   I have it--it shall be freely given. When I see that the Gospel does
   not spread, I will not have the reflection on my mind that it is
   retarded by deficiency of pecuniary means while I have gold stored up."

   I will not suggest to any of you more than this--whatever the Lord
   moves you to do, do it! But I think when we come to plead with the Lord
   after this fashion we ought to be able to say, "Lord, spread Your
   kingdom. It is not my fault if it does not spread. I do for You all I
   can. I boast not of it, for all I do, I ought to do! I wish I could do
   a thousand times

   as much, but still, Lord, during this year of Grace I hope to do much
   for You which I may have forgotten until this time."

   Last of all, Brothers and Sisters, let us speak, still, in the way of
   confidence. However we may complain of the spread of error, the deaths
   of good men and the fewness of able ministers to take their places.
   However we may think the times to be dark and dreary, let us never
   speak as if God were dead. I walked, some time ago, with one of the
   most earnest Christians I know of, a very devout man, and he told me he
   was afraid one day the streets of London would run with blood. He was
   afraid of an educated democracy which, being uneducated in religion in
   School Board schools, would become clever Atheists and cast off all
   reverence for God and law. And he gave me an awful picture of what was
   going to happen.

   But I touched him on the arm and said, "There is one thing you have
   forgotten, dear Friend--God is not yet dead. What you are dreading will
   never occur in this land, I am sure. We have an open Bible. We still
   have some who preach the Gospel with all their hearts, and there is
   still a salt and leaven in the city of London that God will bless to
   keep down the rottenness and corruption. In spite of all His foes, the
   Lord reigns."

   What, my Friends? The Devil conquer our God? Never! Rome triumphant
   over Zion? Never! Rome has been very cunning. Satan has done his best
   in Roman Catholicism. There is no more wisdom left in the Devil than he
   has put into that concern, and if that is confounded he has lost all.
   That is his ultimatum, the course of hellish craft can go no further.
   He has staked all his power in the Church of Rome--and to a certainty
   she will be driven before the Church of Christ like chaff before the
   wind! They shall ask and say, "Where is this harlot city that made the
   nations drunk with the wine of her fornication? That rode upon the
   scarlet beast up and down upon the earth and had written upon her brow,
   'Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots'?"

   Vain will it be to ask where she is, for they shall answer, "Did you
   not hear the splash of the millstone as the angel hurled it into the
   flood, and said, 'Thus terribly shall Babylon fall, and thus no more be
   found at all'?" Then shall go up the shout, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
   the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Let us anticipate the hour! Even now
   let every heart shout, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah," and yet again let us
   say, "Hallelujah, the Lord reigns, and all must be well."
     __________________________________________________________________

To Souls In Agony

   (No. 1216)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of Hell got hold upon
   me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the
   Lord; O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul...You have delivered my
   soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Psalm
   116:3,4,8.

   THE great trouble which is here described very probably happened to
   David long after he had been a Believer. He had been living the life of
   faith, perhaps, for years, in a calm, happy and quiet manner. But
   by-and-by he met with outward tribulation and not a little of inward
   conflict. At some time or other it generally happens to a Believer,
   between the setting out at the wicket gate and the crossing of the last
   river, that he endures a great fight of afflictions. My observation
   leads me to notice that those who begin with rough times frequently
   have a smooth path afterwards, while others, whose first experience was
   very sunny and peaceful, meet with fierce conflicts farther on.

   Those who have enjoyed a long, calm and comparatively easy life, may
   meet their stormiest hours at the close of their days, for some of the
   best of God's children, to use an old Puritan's expression, "are put to
   bed in the dark." Their sun sets in clouds, but doubtless it rises
   again in the full splendor of the eternal morning! Somewhere or other,
   Brothers and Sisters, you will learn to acknowledge that--

   "The path of sorrow, and that path, alone, Leads to the land where
   sorrow is unknown." The saints above who sing the new song are, at
   least many of them, described by the words, "These are they which came
   out of great tribulation." That is the general way to Heaven and
   perhaps few travelers reach Paradise by any other road. Let Believers,
   therefore, not count upon immunity from trouble, but let them reckon
   upon sufficient Grace for it. Let them believe that God's choicest
   letters of love are sent to us in black-edged envelopes. We are
   frightened at the envelope, but inside, if we know how to break the
   seal, we shall find riches for our souls.

   Great trials are the clouds out of which God gives great mercies. Very
   frequently, when the Lord has an extraordinary mercy to send to us, He
   employs His rough and grizzled horses to drag it to the door. The
   smooth rivers of ease are usually navigated by little vessels filled
   with common commodities, but a huge galleon loaded with treasure
   traverses the deep seas. Let the children of God learn from this
   passage in David's experience that their best resort in trouble is
   prayer. When the sorrows of death compass you, pray! When the pains of
   Hell get hold upon you, pray! When you find trouble and sorrow, pray!
   Everything else which prudence and wisdom suggest is to be done in a
   time of difficulty, but none of these things are to be relied upon by
   themselves.

   "Salvation is of the Lord," whether it is salvation from troubles or
   from sins. You do right to provide the horse for the day of battle, but
   still, safety is of the Lord. Use the means, but never supplant faith
   by the use of means. When you have done all, trust in God as though you
   had done nothing, for, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
   watches but in vain." In all things pray! And be well assured that if
   at this moment you are in the same plight as David was, prayer will
   bring you out of it. Prayer is the catholicon, the universal cure! It
   subdues every disease. In spiritual conflicts it has a thousand uses.
   You may say of it, "By this will I break through a troop; by this will
   I leap over a wall; by this will I put on shield and buckler and by
   this will I smite the foe." Prayer can unlock the treasures of God and
   shut the gates of Hell! Prayer can quench the violence of flames and
   stop the lions' mouths. Prayer can overcome Heaven and bend Omnipotence
   to its will. Only pray, Brothers and Sisters, believingly and in the
   name of the Well-Beloved, and answers of peace must be given to you.

   I intend, this evening, to use the text with another view. I mean to
   accommodate it, as I think lawfully, and to use it as a description of
   the condition of an awakened sinner. To sinners under conviction I
   would address myself, for I know there are such in the congregation. I
   was glad to hear their cries the other night, and I hope, with that,
   the Lord means to bless them and bring them into liberty. We shall
   speak, first, of this poor soul's condition. Then of his course of
   action. And then of the deliverance he obtained.

   I. First, here is THE WRETCHED CONDITION into which many a poor
   awakened soul has been brought. But let me, before I proceed further,
   say, that if any of you are believers in Christ and have not felt all
   that I speak of, you are not to condemn yourselves because of it. There
   are many maladies in the world. If I am describing a sickness and the
   way in which the physician cures it, you must not say, "I am surely
   wrong, for I never felt that phase of the disease." That does not
   matter. No man suffers all maladies. If you are resting only upon
   Jesus, do not disturb yourself--that which I am about to utter is not
   meant for your disturbance, but for other people's comfort.

   From our text I remark that many a troubled conscience feels the
   sorrows of death. That is to say he is the subject of griefs similar to
   those which beset men on their dying beds. I have passed through this
   state, myself, and I shall therefore describe it the more feelingly.
   What are the sorrows of death? One of the sorrows of a sinner's death
   is the retrospect. The dying sinner looks back and sees nothing in his
   life that yields him comfort. He could wish that the day had been
   darkness in which it was said that a child was born into the world, for
   he feels that his existence has been a blank and, worse than that, an
   insult to God and the cause of misery to himself. He cannot see a
   bright or hopeful spot in his whole history.

   So, too, the man truly awakened weeps over a dreadful past and laments
   because all is evil and the very things he once gloried in are
   tarnished. He sees that to have been sin, which before he thought to
   have been righteousness! And he bemoans himself, saying within his
   heart, "Would God I had never been born." Many an awakened man has
   said, as John Bunyan did, that he wished he had been a frog or a toad,
   or a venomous serpent sooner than have been a man to have lived as he
   had lived. Are you feeling, dear Friend, or have you ever felt that
   sorrow of death? Some of us have felt it keenly.

   Another sorrow of death is grief over the present. The man lies tossing
   to and fro upon his deathbed and all his glory and beauty are gone. The
   bloom of health has departed from him. He is a very different man from
   what he was in the days of his agility and vigor--and he knows it. So
   is it with the sinner--he feels the pining sickness of sin consuming
   him as the moth consumes a garment. His moisture is turned into the
   drought of summer. His glory is as a faded flower and the excellency of
   his flesh, in which he boasted and said that he was no worse than
   others and, perhaps, was even better, is now passed away. The Spirit,
   when He blows upon man, finding all flesh to be grass, withers it all
   up--and so He destroys the glory of man's estate and makes his
   excellency decay till the man is sick to death of himself.

   The dying man also sees all his strength departing. Perhaps he thinks,
   like Samson, to shake himself as at other times, but he is mistaken.
   The limbs that bore him to his bed fall under him and the hand with
   which he labored drops palsied by his side. The very eyelids scarcely
   can drop to form a curtain from the light, or lift themselves to admit
   the blessed beams of the sun. The golden bowl is breaking and the
   silver cord is being snapped. It is just so with an awakened sinner. He
   feels death in his soul. He used to be able, as he thought, to do
   anything! His notion was that he could repent and believe, amend and
   reform and save himself whenever he liked.

   But now the cold chill of death has come upon all his powers and he
   hears Christ, in mercy, saying, "Without Me you can do nothing. No man
   can come to Me unless the Father, which has sent Me, draw him." A man
   experiences a dreadful paralysis in his soul when he is really and
   thoroughly awakened. The Spirit of God is making sure work of his
   conversion! He sees his beauty faded and his strength departed and thus
   the sorrows of death get hold upon him. Another present sorrow of death
   is the discovery that friends are no longer of any service. The dying
   man must leave wife and children. They would gladly accompany him, but
   they cannot.

   That dear wife would be willing to dare Death, itself, if she might
   still continue the companion of the man whom she has loved, but it must
   not be. The fondest affection cannot help, now. The awakened sinner
   discovers precisely the same thing with regard to spiritual help. He
   would have looked to a priest, but he dares not. He would have looked
   to his minister, but he knows that if he did, he would be disappointed.
   He finds emptiness written upon every creature so far as his soul's
   necessities are concerned. His sore is too terrible for any man to find
   a plaster, his wound too deep for any human hand to close it up. The
   sorrows of death in this respect compass him.

   Perhaps the worst sorrow about the death of an ungodly man is the
   prospect. The past is black, but blacker, still, the future. The
   present is gloomy, but, oh, the darkness, which may be felt, which
   environs the hereafter! The dying man shudders at the awful future and
   so does the awakened sinner. He dares not go forward! He is afraid and
   a dreadful sound is in his ears. I, myself, before I obtained mercy,
   was afraid lest every tuft of grass I trod on should open beneath my
   feet and swallow me up. So did sin press upon me, that I should not
   have been astonished if I had met, in my daily walks, an angel, as
   Balaam did, with a drawn sword! And if he had said to me, "You are
   doomed forever for your sin," I could only have been dumb before him,
   or confessed the justice of the sentence. Thus does many a sinner feel
   the sorrows of death compass him. They are all around him--those
   sorrows of the past, the present and the future.

   The description becomes yet more graphic in the next sentence. Awakened
   sinners sometimes feel what they describe as the pains of Hell. Not
   that any living man does endure the pains of Hell to the extent which
   they are suffered in Hell, but still a dreadful foretaste of those
   pains may be experienced and, sometimes is experienced by an awakened
   conscience. What are these pains of Hell? First, there is the pain of
   remorse. Before the soul believes in Christ, it has no repentance, but
   it suffers remorse--a sorrow for sin because of its penalty! It is a
   dreadful horror of having lived such a life because it sees that it
   must be punished for that life, and that God, the infinitely Just, must
   take vengeance upon its transgressions.

   Remorse! Is not its tooth as sharp as that of the undying worm? Is not
   its burning as the fires of Tophet? When we felt it, we cried, "My soul
   chooses strangling rather than life!" If God in mercy did not stay the
   soul with some little wavering hope, even before it comes to faith in
   Jesus, surely the spirit of man would utterly fail under a remorseful
   sense of sin! One of the pains of Hell is a sense of condemnation. The
   lost souls are called the "damned"--in other words, the condemned.
   Assuredly, before we believed in Jesus, some of us felt that we were
   condemned. "Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that
   are written in the Book of the Law to do them."

   I remember how that curse howled through my soul like the tempest
   shrieking among the shrouds of a sinking ship. "Cursed is everyone that
   continues not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to
   do them"--I knew that I had not continued in all things required by the
   Law--and I knew that I was cursed! And then came this other text. It
   was the Gospel side of the same terrible blast--"He that believes not
   is condemned already"--condemned already--"because he has not believed
   on the Son of God." When two such winds as those two texts meet each
   other, it is enough to sweep the poor frail tenement of manhood to a
   ruin like that which overthrew the house in which the sons of Job were
   met to feast! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, it is no little thing--let
   those who know it assure you--to have felt the pains of Hell!

   Perhaps one of the acutest pangs of an awakened conscience is a sense
   of hopelessness, a terrible despair, unalleviated by any prospect of
   improvement in the future. We were driven to that, too, some of us. All
   hope of our being saved was lost. There was, sometimes, a little
   twinkling ray of light which seemed to say, "Jesus came to seek and to
   save sinners." But we could not even see that lone star at all times,
   for we thought that He did not come to seek and to save such sinners as
   we were and, moreover, since we had rejected Him before, we feared that
   His mercy was clean gone, forever! How despairingly was I known to harp
   upon that thought!

   I now wish I had not done so, but I know that some others do it and I
   would speak to their experience. May God deliver their frail boats from
   the whirlpools of despair, that awful whirlpool which has sucked down
   so many! There is another pang of Hell which the awakened feel and that
   is a crushing sense of misery. Though not in Hell yet--and blessed be
   God you will not be--yet some of you feel almost as wretched as if you
   were there, for remorse, intensified by a sense of condemnation and
   lashed by despair, creates a dreadful storm within your soul, till your
   heart cries out--

   "At noise of Your dread waterspout Deep unto deep does call! Your
   breaking waves go over me, Yes, and Your billows all. I am cast out
   from Your sight: I seek You, but I cannot find You: I cry after You,
   but You hear me not." Then is the soul smitten, indeed. Read the books
   of Job and Jeremiah and you will see what broken hearts can suffer.
   Those books were not written for people in olden times only, but they
   declare the present experience of many a seeker after Christ--and thus
   they oftentimes render comfort to poor souls when no other portion of
   God's Word seems to have a single syllable to speak to them.

   Thus I have taken two great sentences of the text--"The sorrows of
   death compassed me" and, "The pains of Hell got hold upon me." But the
   case was worse than this, for the poor soul felt no alleviation and
   knew of no escape. These things were, by themselves, unsoftened. They
   were left in all their terror--the gall was unmixed, the vinegar
   undiluted. Notice the language. "The sorrows of death compassed me." It
   is a very strong word. When hunters seek their prey, they form a circle
   around the poor animal that is to be destroyed. The poor panting
   creature looks to the right, but a man with a spear is there. He looks
   to the left and there are the dogs. Before and behind him are more
   spearmen, more hounds, more hunters--there is no way of escape.

   So does an awakened soul discern no rescue, no loophole by which it may
   be delivered. The text says, "The pangs of Hell got hold upon me." "Got
   hold." As if the jaws of the lion had really gripped the lamb, or the
   paws of the bear were hugging the poor defenseless sheep. "Got hold
   upon me." As though God's terrible sergeant from the Court of Justice
   had laid his hand upon his shoulder and said, "I arrest you in the name
   of God to lie in Hell's prison and perish forever." Many a soul has
   felt that and felt, also, that it could not get away from the terrible
   grip.

   Some who know nothing of contrition and heartbreak enquire, "Why don't
   they get out of such bondage?" Ah, but if you were in that condition,
   such a question would grieve, if not exasperate you! I have known
   persons put a great many questions to troubled hearts which they,
   themselves, could not answer if they were in their state. Do you ask a
   man who has had both his legs broken, and lies across the rails of the
   railway--why do you not walk home? Why does he not walk home? Say,
   rather--why do you ask such a foolish question? When a poor soul is
   broken to pieces and despairing, tell him what Christ did for him and
   say very little about what he ought to do! You will never comfort the
   desponding man by telling him his duty. Speak, rather, of Jesus' love!
   Poor souls, they are so disturbed and tossed about that they can do
   nothing! Tell them what Jesus has done! That is the way to bring light
   to their souls.

   Once more, the Psalmist felt no comfort from any exertion that he made.
   That takes in the last sentence of the text's description. "I found
   trouble and sorrow," so that he looked for something, but the only
   result of his search was that he found trouble and sorrow. Do you
   remember, beloved Believer, in the days when you were under bondage on
   account of sin--how you bound yourself apprentice to Moses to work out
   your own salvation by your own goodness? What did you get? Surely you
   found trouble in the work and sorrow as its wages! You were like a
   horse at a mill--the whip was used very freely upon you, but it brought
   you nothing except a sense of failure--a conviction that all you had
   done was rather a provocation of God by setting up an antichrist of
   your own righteousness. There was no help towards an atonement for your
   sin.

   You found trouble and sorrow. Perhaps you went to Mr. Legality and he,
   and his son, Mr. Morality, did what they could for you. But if you were
   really awakened, all that you got from them was trouble and sorrow.
   That was the whole result of it. It is just possible that you went over
   the road to the ceremonial shop--attended one of the ritualistic
   jogs-houses and went through the performances there. And then you were
   told that a priest could absolve you and an outward form and ceremony
   could quiet your mind. Ah, if you were a living soul you found only
   trouble and sorrow in all that foolery! And now you have come to look
   upon it with intense contempt--as the most intolerable imposture of any
   age since man began to seek out many inventions!

   Vain is it to harp to a hungry belly, or dance to a broken limb! And
   equally a mockery are all the posturing and lies of Romanism to those
   whose hearts bleed for sin--

   "None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good."

   If they look elsewhere, they will find trouble and sorrow, and nothing
   more. Assuredly this a pretty pass to be brought to. What is to be
   done? What is to be done? Sinner, there is nothing to be done! At
   least, nothing which you can do. You are shut up to be saved by Jesus,
   or to be lost! I liked the remark of a good Brother from this platform
   the other day, when he said that Gospel ministers were fishers and that
   we were to fish with nets. It was all a mistake that we were to catch
   people with bait--that was angling--and there was nothing about angling
   in Christ's commission. We are to fish with nets.

   Now, what is a net for? The net is to shut the fish up. It goes under
   them, around them, everywhere--and shuts them up so that they cannot
   get out. That is exactly what God does with poor sinners whom He means
   to save! He shuts them right up. He puts the net round them and they
   cannot get out. Only when the net quite encloses his fish can the
   Gospel

   fisherman get them out of the sea of sin and lift them into the boat
   where Jesus sits! We must get the net right round them--shut them up by
   the Law that they may be brought to Christ. Every avenue of escape is
   closed against you forever, Sinner, except one--and that is Christ, who
   says, "I am the door." There is no other door, neither upwards nor
   downwards, to the right nor to the left, before nor behind! You are
   ruined and destroyed, O Sinner, and you must perish if left to
   yourself! There is none in earth, or Heaven, that can help you, save
   One! And O, if the Lord will lead you to look to Him, what a blessed
   thing it will be!

   II. That brings us to the second part of our discourse, which is to
   speak about the awakened sinner's COURSE OF ACTION. "Then called I upon
   the name of the Lord." What did he do? First, he called--called upon
   God's name, invoked Him, spoke to Him, lifted up his heart and lifted
   up his voice--called as a man might do who is lost in a fog and calls
   to a neighbor, hoping to hear a voice that will guide him. Or as one
   who is far away in the bush of Australia and gives a call in the hope
   that some human voice may respond to it.

   This call is often described as a cry--a natural, simple, authentic,
   unpleasant, but most effectual style of expressing our distress. Oh,
   Sinner, if God has really been at work with you and you are where I
   have been describing, you will call to God now! Your heart will cry to
   God at once! Tears will speak for you, sighs will speak for you. Your
   heart, in its silence, will speak unto God and call upon His name!
   Notice he says, "Then called I upon the name of the Lord." There will
   be no more calling upon ministers, or calling upon priests, or calling
   upon yourself, but, "then called I upon the name of the Lord."

   The sinner had forgotten the Lord till then, and now the Lord came to
   his remembrance. "When he came to himself he said, How many hired
   servants of my father have bread enough and to spare?" Thus his father
   came to the prodigal's remembrance. When we get among the swine and
   would gladly fill our bellies with their husks, but cannot, then we
   begin to pray to God whom we have forgotten. "Then called I upon the
   name of the Lord." Now, what better could he do, for who could help him
   if the sorrows of death compassed him? Who but He who overthrew death
   and vanquished the grave? Who can help us, when the pains of Hell get
   hold upon us, but He who has passed through the pains that were due us
   for the death penalty--and who has cast both Death and Hell into the
   Lake of Fire?

   Who can help the hopeless one so well as the Conqueror of Death and
   Hell? Who can sympathize like the Lord? The Lord Jesus, Himself, has
   known the sorrows of Death and, therefore, He is touched with
   compassion for the sons of men. Is He not the Son of Man, Himself,
   tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin? Poor Sinner, I
   tried to shut you up, but now I set before you an open door! Call upon
   the name of Him who knows your condition, is able to meet it and to
   deliver you! When did he call? That is the important point in this
   text. "Then called I upon the name of the Lord." Then.

   Was that the first time in his life? Perhaps it was. Begin at once, O
   Sinner! Notice, he says, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the
   pains of Hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called
   I upon the name of the Lord." When his condition was at its very worst,
   then he called upon God. Why did he not stop till he became better? He
   knew that delays are dangerous. "Then called I." Had he tarried till he
   was better, he would never have called at all, but he called then and,
   though it was the first time, he was not ashamed to break the ice, or
   if he was ashamed, he did it anyway and succeeded! Suppose that you
   never, till this night, did ever look to your heavenly Father, and now
   it is the worst state of life with you that you were ever in. What
   then?

   Even now is the time for prayer! Now you need your God and now you may
   have your God! "Then called I." You see he did not call upon God till
   God sent Death and Hell after him. He was a wandering sheep and so set
   on going astray that he would not come back till the two fiercest dogs
   that the Great Shepherd keeps had come after him! And then he came back
   with a passion! I half wish that God would send Death and Hell after
   some of you who never will come--that they might worry you and tear
   you--and make you return to the Great Shepherd. "Then called I." That
   is to say, when I could call on no one else. No sinner ever calls upon
   God till he finds that he has nowhere else to go!

   And yet the Lord receives these good-for-nothings! Although we only
   come because we have nowhere else to go, yet He will receive us! Into
   the port of Sovereign Grace no vessel ever runs except through stress
   of weather. When the sea is rough and the wind furious. When the
   tempest is on and the ship must go down or else--then Lord
   Will-Be-Will, who has held the helm before and said, "I will never
   enter that harbor"--is suddenly subdued and cries, "Oh for a gust of
   heavenly wind to blow us between the two red lights, right into the
   safe waters where we may ride at peace." I pray God

   to send a tempest after all of you Jonahs, that you may be brought to
   the right place, after all, and landed safely on the shore of Sovereign
   Mercy. "Then called I upon the name of the Lord."

   And now for his prayer. Here it is--"O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my
   soul." A very natural prayer, was it not? He just said what he meant,
   and meant what he said, and that is the way to pray! It is a very short
   prayer. Many a prayer is too long by at least 20 lines. It is smothered
   under a bed full of words. There are times when a Christian can pray
   from hour to hour--but it is a great mistake when Brethren measure
   their supplications by the clock. The great matter is not how long you
   pray, but how earnestly you pray. Consider the life of the prayer
   rather than the length of the prayer. If your prayer reaches to Heaven
   it is long enough! What longer can it need to be? If it does not reach
   the Lord, though it occupied you for a week, it would not be long
   enough to be of use.

   It was a humble prayer--"O Lord, I beseech You." It is the language of
   one who is bowed in the dust. It was an intense prayer--"O Lord, I
   beseech You, deliver my soul." But I want you most of all to notice
   that it was a Scriptural prayer. There are three great little prayers
   in Scripture--"O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul." "God, be
   merciful to me a sinner." And, "Lord, remember me when You come into
   Your kingdom." These are all contained in the Lord's Prayer. "O Lord, I
   beseech You, deliver my soul," is, "Deliver us from evil." "God be
   merciful to me a sinner"--what is that, but, "Forgive us our
   trespasses"? And what is the prayer, "Lord, remember me when You come
   into Your kingdom," but that grand petition, "Your kingdom come"?

   How wonderfully comprehensive is that prayer which our Lord Jesus has
   given us for a model! All prayers may be condensed into it, or
   distilled from it. Let no person here say, "I am in the distress which
   you have described, but I cannot pray." Why not? "I have no words." You
   need no words--wordless prayers are frequently the best. "But I can
   only groan." Groan away, Brother! "But I feel as if I could only sigh."
   Sigh, then! "My heart aches, but I do not know how to express myself."
   Do not express yourself--let your heart ache on--only let it ache up to
   God! Turn all your desires towards Him and let this be the intense
   pleading of your spirit--"O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul."

   You know we have a law that people must not beg in the streets. There
   is a man I know on a certain road who does not beg and yet begs. The
   police would not let him beg and, therefore, he never begs at all--not
   he! It would be a slander to say of him that he begs! But he wears a
   pair of shoes through which you can see his toes and the side of his
   heel. You can spy his knees through his trousers. His cheeks are all
   sunken and his whole appearance is that of a consumptive man who must
   soon die. He has been consuming now for many years and dying daily most
   comfortably! I believe that if I were to say to him, "Are you a
   beggar?" he would reply, "Beggar? No, Sir, certainly not! I never beg."

   Yet he is one of the most successful of beggars! His looks beg! His
   rags beg! His flesh begs! His weariness begs! His general air of
   sickness begs! Everything about him begs! He begs all over! That is the
   way to PRAY! Pour out your heart before the Lord, with or without
   words, as you find most easy--but let your inmost heart be really full
   of desire! Be resolved about obtaining the blessing! Do as one did the
   other night, who said within himself, "I am a lost soul, but I will
   never rise from the side of this bed till I find the Savior. I am
   determined to get forgiveness or die on my knees." He cried and groaned
   and won the day!

   We should not have liked to have heard his pitiful cries, for there was
   no beauty or elegance in his language, and no music in his groans--but
   the Lord heard him and saved his soul! "O Lord, I beseech You, deliver
   my soul," is a prayer most congruous to the situation and in every way
   suitable to it! Oh, that all prayers were as suitable as this! This,
   then, is the wisdom of every poor distressed soul in its time of
   trouble. It must, by a simple faith in Jesus, breathe out its desire at
   the Cross and say, "Jesus, Savior, save me now, and deliver my soul."

   III. Our third point is DELIVERANCE and for this I refer you to the 8th
   verse. This poor, pleading, doubting, trembling petitioner received
   what he asked for. He said, "O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul,"
   and before long he sang, "You have delivered my soul." As the echo
   answers to the voice, so the Lord replied to his request. If you are
   asking for salvation with all your heart--with your eye on Christ's
   Cross--you shall have it! If you cast yourself before Jesus and say to
   Him, "If I perish, I will perish at Your pierced feet," you shall not
   perish! If you sincerely cry for forgiveness, as the publican did, you
   shall go down to your house justified!

   Note, next, that while he had what he asked for, it came from Him of
   whom he asked it--"You have delivered my soul from death." Vile delight
   to ascribe salvation wholly to our Triune God! Some Brethren are a
   little cloudy in their talk about man's salvation. But when you get to
   the inner experience of all true Believers, they will always tell you
   that they

   did not save themselves and they agree that it was not by their own
   will or merit that they were saved, but by the Sovereign Grace of God,
   alone. The unrighteous may gain deliverance from themselves, or their
   fellow men, but those whom the Holy Spirit convicts of sin must be
   delivered by the Lord Himself--nothing short of a Divine salvation will
   do for them. "You have delivered my soul from death." Mine was a case
   in which none could help me but Yourself, my God. My sorrows demanded
   Omnipotent cordials--only the blood of Jesus and the balm of the Holy
   Spirit could comfort me!

   Note, again, that this blessing came consciously to him. "You have
   delivered my soul from death." He does not say, "I hope You have" but,
   "You have." "I know it, I am sure of it, I rejoice in it." And it is
   not, "I have shared the blessing in common with a great many and I hope
   that I have an interest in it." No, but, "You have delivered my soul
   from death. If there is not another saved man in the world, I am one."
   The faith which looks, alone, to Jesus is an appropriating Grace and
   enables the soul to say, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." As a
   dear young friend said to me last Monday night, when I was speaking to
   her about her soul, "I came to see, Sir, that Christ loved me as much
   as though there was not another man or woman in the world, and laid His
   life down in my place, as much as if there was not another sinner that
   needed His blood to be shed. When I got Christ all to myself then I
   rejoiced in Him and now," she said, "I want everybody else to have
   Him."

   It is just so. We must get Him, ourselves, with a holy greediness that
   fences Him about all for ourselves, and then we shall cultivate a
   large-hearted love for souls and long that every other person may know
   the same precious Christ. So the Psalmist, you see, got what he asked
   for--it came from Him of whom he asked it--and it came consciously to
   him. But I want you to notice one other thing. He gained a great deal
   more than he asked for. He prayed, "O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my
   soul," and God delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears and
   his feet from falling. He asked for one thing, and he obtained it--and
   two other things besides--for it is our heavenly Father's way to do
   exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or even think. Blessed be His
   name!

   He gained deliverance from death, for souls can die though they cannot
   cease to exist. They die when separated from God, as Adam's soul died
   in the day when he ate of the forbidden fruit--and as all souls are
   dead until by union to God they are quickened into spiritual life.
   Through the Grace of God, David was delivered from the spiritual death
   which reigns within and the eternal death to which it leads. His eyes
   were also cleared from tears. Who is not free from sorrow when he is
   free from the fear of the death penalty? Forgiveness has joy at its
   heel wherever it comes! And then, having gained salvation and joy, the
   Lord gave him stability. Those feet that were so apt to slide were set
   fast and the fear of future apostasy was removed by the gracious
   securities which God gave to him that He would never leave him. Thus he
   had a blessing for his soul, his eyes and his feet--salvation, joy and
   stability!

   The last word to be said is this--these same blessings can be had by
   others. If I address any who are now passing through the terrible
   experience of David, or anything like it--or if I address any who are
   not passing through any such experience, but, nevertheless, desire life
   everlasting--I would say to them, "Remember, the reason David was heard
   did not lie in his prayer, or in himself, but it in God !" Read the
   verse which follows my first text--the 5th verse: "Gracious is the Lord
   and righteous; yes, our God is merciful." That is why the Lord heard
   David's prayer--because He is gracious and He loves to show Divine
   Grace to sinners!

   It was also because He is righteous and therefore keeps His promises.
   He has made a promise that He will hear prayer and He has said, "If we
   confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." And,
   therefore, in mercy and righteousness He will hear us. Remember, too,
   that if your distresses are like David's, you may use the same prayer,
   because you have the same promises. God's promises are not used up and
   spent so that they will not work for you. If a good meal is provided
   for half-a-dozen people and they eat it all up, and six more come
   afterwards, why, they must go without! But with God's promises it is
   not so! They are fed upon by myriads and yet they remain the same! Ten
   thousand souls have fed upon a precious Christ and received what they
   needed from Him, and yet 10,000 more may come--

   "Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood Shall never lose its power Till
   all the ransomed Church of God Is saved to sin no more."

   Let us remember, then, that we have the same promises and the same God.
   Let the same prayer be offered by each unconverted one here--"O Lord, I
   beseech You, deliver my soul." God's answer to that is, "Believe on My
   Son, Jesus Christ. Trust Him wholly and your soul is delivered."--

   "Allyour sins were laid upon Him, Jesus bore them on the tree. God who
   knew them laid them on Him, And believing, you are free!"

   Trust Him and you are delivered, for thus says the Lord, "I will
   deliver his soul from going down to the pit, for I have found a
   ransom." Turn your eyes to what Jesus Christ has done! Rest in His
   finished Sacrifice and go your way rejoicing! May God the Eternal
   Spirit lead each of you poor sinners to that! And I would entreat you,
   when He does so, to come and let us know it.

   Do as the Psalmist tells you by his example. Say, "What shall I render
   to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of
   salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
   the Lord, now, in the presence of all His people." Do not hide His
   love! Confess it to His Glory, for the comfort of His people, for the
   encouragement of His minister and for the strengthening of His Church!
   The Lord be with you, Brothers and Sisters, for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 116. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--30, 138.
     __________________________________________________________________

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

   (No. 1217)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.

   TIMOTHY was to divide rightly the Word of God. Every Christian minister
   must do this if he would make full proof of his ministry and if he
   would be clear of the blood of his hearers at the Last Great Day. Of
   the whole 20 years of my printed sermons, I can honestly say that this
   has been my aim--rightly to divide the Word of Truth. Wherein I have
   succeeded, I magnify the name of the Lord. In which I have failed I
   lament my faultiness. And now once more we will try, again, and may God
   the Holy Spirit, without whose power nothing can be done aright, help
   us rightly to divide the Word of Truth.

   The expression is a very remarkable one because it bears so many phases
   of meaning. I do not think that any one of the figures by which I shall
   illustrate it will be at all strained, for they have been drawn from
   the text by most eminent expositors, and may be fairly taken as honest
   comments, even when they might be challenged as correct interpretations
   of the text. "Rightly dividing the word of truth" is our authorized
   version, but we leave it for a little to consider other renderings.
   Timothy was neither to mutilate, nor twist, nor torture, nor break in
   pieces the Word of God, nor keep on the outside of it, as those do who
   never touch the soul of a text, but rightly to divide it, as one taught
   of God to teach others.

   I. The Vulgate version translates it--and with a considerable degree of
   accuracy--"Rightly HANDLING the word of truth." What is the right way,
   then, to handle the Word of Truth? It is like a sword and it was not
   meant to be played with. That is not rightly to handle the Gospel. It
   must be used in earnest and pushed home. Are you converted, my Friends?
   Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Are you saved, or not? Swords are meant
   to cut and hack, wound and kill--and the Word of God is for pricking
   men in the heart and killing their sins. The Word of God is not
   committed to God's ministers to amuse men with its glitter, nor to
   charm them with the jewels in its hilt, but to conquer their souls for
   Jesus!

   Remember, dear Hearers, if the preacher does not push you to this--that
   you shall be converted, or he will know the reason why. If he does not
   drive you to this--that you shall either willfully reject, or
   cheerfully accept Christ--he has not yet known how rightly to handle
   the great "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." Now, then,
   where are you personally at this moment? Are you unbelievers, upon whom
   the wrath of God abides, or are you Believers who may lay claim to that
   gracious Word, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believes in Me
   has everlasting life"? Oh that the Lord would make His all-discerning
   Word go round this place and strike at every conscience and lay bare
   every heart with its mighty power!

   He that rightly handles the Word of God will never use it to defend men
   in their sins, but to slay their sins! If there is a professing
   Christian here who is living in known sin, shame upon him! And if there
   is a non-Christian man who is living in sin, let his conscience upbraid
   him! What will he do in that day when Christ comes to judge the hearts
   of men? Remember, the books shall be opened and every thought shall be
   read out before an assembled universe! I desire to handle the Word of
   God so that no man may ever find an excuse in my ministry for his
   living without Christ and living in sin, but may know clearly that sin
   is a deadly evil and unbelief the sure destroyer of the soul! He has,
   indeed, been made to handle the word aright who plunges it like a
   two-edged sword into the very heart of sin!

   The Gospel ought never to be used for frightening sinners from Christ.
   I believe it is so handled sometimes. Sublime doctrines are rolled like
   rocks in the sinner's way and dark experiences set up as a standard of
   horror which must be reached before a man may believe in Jesus--but to
   rightly handle the Word of Life is to frighten men to Christ rather
   than from Him--yes, to woo them to Him by the sweet assurance that He
   will cast out none that come! That He asks no preparations of them, but
   if they come at once, as they are, He will assuredly receive them. Have
   I not handled the Word of Truth in this way hundreds of times in this
   house? Has it not been a great magnet attracting sinners? As a magnet
   has

   two poles, and with one pole it repels, so, no doubt, the Truth of God
   repels the prejudiced, rebellious heart--and thus it is a savor of
   death unto death. But our object is so to handle it that the attractive
   pole may come into operation through the power of the Spirit of
   God--and men may be drawn to Christ.

   Moreover, if we rightly handle the Word of God we shall not preach it
   so as to send Christians into a sleepy state. That is easily done. We
   may preach the consolations of the Gospel till each professor feels "I
   am safe enough. There is no need to watch, no need to fight, no need
   for any exertion whatever! My battle is fought, my victory is won. I
   have only to fold my arms and go to sleep." No, no! This is not how we
   handle the Word of God, but our cry is, "Work out your own salvation
   with fear and trembling; for it is God which works in you both to will
   and to do of His good pleasure. Watch and pray that you enter not into
   temptation. Reckon not yourselves to have attained unto perfection, but
   forget the things that are behind, and reach forward to that which is
   before, looking unto Jesus."

   This is rightly to handle the Word of God. And, oh, Beloved, there is
   one thing that I dread above all others--that I should ever handle the
   Word of God so as to persuade some of you that you are saved when you
   are not. To collect a large number of professors together is one thing.
   But to have a large number of true saints built together in Christ is
   quite another. To get up a whirl of excitement and to have people
   influenced by that excitement so that they think, full surely, that
   they are converted, has been done a great many times. But the bubble,
   has, by-and-by, vanished. The balloon has been filled until it has
   burst. God save us from that! We want sure work--lasting work--a work
   of Divine Grace in the heart.

   If you are not converted, do not pretend that you are. If you have not
   known what it is to be brought down to see your own nothingness and
   then to be built up by the power of the Spirit upon Christ as the only
   foundation, O, remember that whatever is built upon the quicksand will
   fall with a crash in the hour of trial! Do not be satisfied with
   anything short of a deep foundation, cut in the solid rock of the work
   of Jesus Christ. Ask for real vital godliness, for nothing else will
   serve your turn at the Last Great Day. Now, this is rightly to handle
   the Word of God--to use it to push the Truth of God home upon men for
   their present conversion, to use it for the striking down of their
   sins--to use it to draw men to Christ, to use it to arouse sinners and
   to use it to produce, not mere profession, but a real work of Grace in
   the hearts of men

   May the Holy Spirit teach all the ministers of Christ after this
   fashion to handle the two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
   of God.

   II. But now, secondly, my text has another meaning. It has an idea in
   it which I can only express by a figure. "Rightly dividing, or STRAIGHT
   CUTTING. A plowman stands here with his plow and he plows right along
   from this end of the field to the other, making a straight furrow. And
   so Paul would have Timothy make a straight furrow right through the
   Word of Truth. I believe there is no preaching that God will ever
   accept but that which goes decidedly through the whole line of Truth
   from end to end, is always thorough, honest and downright. As the Truth
   of God is a straight line, so must our handling of the Truth be
   straightforward and honest, without shifts or tricks.

   There are two or three furrows which I have labored hard to plow. One
   is the furrow offree Grace. "Salvation is of the Lord"--He begins it,
   He carries it on, He completes it. Salvation is not of man, neither by
   man, but of Grace alone. Grace in election, Grace in redemption, Grace
   in effectual calling, Grace in final perseverance, Grace in conferring
   the perfection of Glory--it is all Grace from beginning to end! If we
   say, at any time, anything which is really contrary to this distinct
   testimony that salvation is of Grace, do not believe us! This furrow
   must be plowed fairly, plainly and beyond all mistake.

   Sinner, you cannot be saved by any merit, penance, preparation, or
   feeling of your own! The Lord, alone, must save you as a work of gratis
   mercy, not because you deserve it, but because He wills to do it to
   magnify His abundant love. That is the straight furrow of the Word. We
   endeavor always to make a straight furrow upon the matter of human
   depravity--to preach that man is fallen, that every part and passion of
   his nature is perverted, that he has gone astray altogether, is sick
   from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet--yes, is dead in
   trespasses and sins, and corrupt before God. "There is none that does
   good, no, not one."

   I have noticed some preachers plowing this furrow very crookedly, for
   they say, "There are still some very fine points about man and many
   good things in him which only need developing and educating." You may
   have read, in the history of Mr. Whitfield's time, what a howl was made
   at him because he once said that man was half beast and half devil. I
   do

   not think he ever got nearer the truth than when he said that--only I
   would beg the beast's pardon--for a beast would scarcely become so evil
   and vile as human nature becomes when it is left alone to fully develop
   itself! O pride of human nature, we plow right over you!

   The hemlock stands in your field and must be cut up by the roots. Your
   weeds smile like fair flowers, but the plow must go right through them
   till all human beauty is shown to be a painted Jezebel, and all human
   glorying a bursting bubble. God is everything, man is nothing! God in
   His Grace saves man, but man by his sin utterly ruins himself until
   God's Grace interposes. I like to plow a straight furrow here. Another
   straight furrow is that offaith. We are sent to tell men that he that
   believes and is baptized shall be saved, and our duty is to put it so.
   "Salvation is not of works"--works is not the furrow. Not of
   prayers--that is not the furrow. Not of feelings--that is not the
   Gospel Arrow. Not of preparations and amendments and reforms--but by
   faith in Jesus Christ. He that believes on Him is not condemned.

   As we begin the new life by faith, we must abide in it by faith. We are
   not to be saved by faith up to a certain point and then to rely upon
   ourselves. Having begun in the Gospel we are not to be perfected by the
   Law. "The just shall live by faith." We live by faith at the wicket
   gate and we live by faith until we enter into our eternal rest.
   Believe!--that is the grand Gospel precept and we trust we have never
   gone out of this furrow, but have tried to plow right across the Gospel
   field from end to end, crying, "Look unto Me and be you saved, all you
   ends of the earth, for Jehovah is God, and beside Him there is none
   else."

   Another furrow which some do not much like to plow, but which must be
   distinctly marked if a man is an honest plowman for God, is that of
   repentance. Sinner, you and your sins must part! You have been married
   long and you have had a merry time of it, perhaps, but you must part.
   You and your sins must separate, or you and your God will never come
   together! You may not keep one sin. They must all be given up! They
   must be brought out like the Canaanite kings from the cave and hanged
   up before the sun. Not one darling must be spared. You must forsake
   them, loathe them, abhor them and ask the Lord to overcome them. Do you
   not know that the furrow of repentance runs right through the
   Christian's life? He sins, and as long as he sins he repents of his
   sin. The child of God cannot love sin--he must loathe it as long as he
   sees any of it in existence!

   There is the furrow of holiness, that is the next turn the plowman
   takes. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." We have preached
   salvation by Grace, but we do not preach salvation to those who still
   continue in sin. The children of God are a holy people--washed, purged,
   sanctified and made zealous for good works. He who talks about faith,
   and has no works to prove that his faith is a living faith, lies to
   himself and lies before God. It is faith that saves us, not works--but
   the faith that saves us always produces works. It renews the heart,
   changes the character, influences the motives and is the means in the
   hand of God of making the man a new creature in Christ Jesus. No
   nonsense about it, Sirs-- you may be baptized and re-baptized, you may
   attend to sacraments, or you may believe in an orthodox creed--but you
   will be damned if you live in sin.

   You may become a deacon, or an elder, or a minister, if you dare, but
   there is no salvation for any man who still harbors his sins. "The
   wages of sin is death"--death to professors as well as to
   non-professors. If they hug their sins in secret, God will reveal those
   sins in public and condemn them according to the strict justice of His
   Law. These are the furrows we have tried to plow--deep, sharp cut and
   straight. O, that God might plow them, Himself, in all your hearts,
   that you may know, experimentally, how the Truth of God is rightly
   divided!

   III. There is a third meaning to the text. "Rightly dividing the word
   of truth" is, as some think, an expression taken from the priests
   dividing the sacrifices. When they had a lamb or a sheep, a ram or a
   bullock to offer, after they had killed it, it was cut in pieces,
   carefully and properly. And it requires no little skill to find out
   where the joints are, so as to cut up an animal discreetly. Now, the
   Word of Truth has to be taken to pieces wisely--it is not to be hacked
   or torn as by a wild beast--but rightly divided.

   There has to be DISCRIMINATION AND DISSECTION. It is a great part of a
   minister's duty to be able to dissect the Gospel--to lay one piece
   there, and another there, and preach with clearness, distinction and
   discrimination. Every Gospel minister must divide between the Covenant
   of Works and the Covenant of Grace. It is a very nice point, that, and
   many fail to discern it well, but it must always be kept clear, or
   great mischief will be done. Confusion worse confounded follows upon
   confusing Grace and Law. There is the Covenant of Works--"This do, and
   you shall live," but its voice is

   not that of the Covenant of Grace which says, "Hear and your soul shall
   live." "You shall, for I will"--that is the Covenant of Grace.

   It is a covenant of pure promise unalloyed by terms and conditions. I
   have heard people put it thus--"Believers will be saved if, from this
   time forth, they are faithful to Grace given." That smells of the
   Covenant of Works! "God will love you"--says another--"if you--." Ah,
   the moment you get an "if" in it, it is the Covenant of Works and the
   Gospel has evaporated! Oil and water will sooner mix than merit and
   Grace! When you find the Covenant of Works anywhere, what are you to do
   with it? Why, do what Abraham did and what Sarah demanded, "Cast out
   the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be
   heir with my son, even with Isaac."

   If you are a child of the Free-Grace promise, do not suffer the Hagar
   and Ishmael of legal bondage and carnal hope to live in your house. Out
   with them! You should have nothing to do with them. Let Law and Gospel
   keep their proper places. The Law is master to bring us to Christ, but
   when we have come to Christ we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Let
   the Law principle go its way to work conviction in sinners and destroy
   their ill-grounded hopes, but you abide in Christ Jesus even as you
   have received Him. If you are to be saved by works then it is not of
   Grace, otherwise work is no more work. And if saved by Grace, then it
   is not of human merit, otherwise Grace is no more Grace. To be
   absolutely clear, here, is of the first importance, for on the rocks of
   legality many a soul has been cast away.

   We need, also, to keep up a clear distinction between the efforts of
   nature and the work of Grace. It is commendable for men to do all they
   can to improve themselves, and everything by which people are made more
   sober, more honest, more frugal, better citizens, better husbands,
   better wives is a good thing. But that is nature and not Grace.
   Reformation is not regeneration. "You must be born again," still stands
   for the good as well as for the bad. To be made a new creature in
   Christ Jesus is as necessary for the moral as for the debauched, for
   when flesh has done its best, "that which is born of the flesh is
   flesh"--and men must be born of the Spirit or they cannot understand
   spiritual things, or enter into Heaven.

   I have always tried to keep up this distinction and I trust none of you
   will ever mistake the efforts of nature for the works of Divine Grace.
   Do what you can for human reformation, for whatever things are honest
   and of good repute you are to foster, but, still, never put the most
   philanthropic plan, or the most elevating system in the place of the
   work of Sovereign Grace, for, if you do, you will do 10 times as much
   mischief as you can possibly do good. We must rightly divide the Word
   of Truth.

   It is always well, too, for Christian men to be able to distinguish one
   Truth of God from another. Let the knife penetrate between the joints
   of the work of Christ for us and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
   Justification, by which the Righteousness of Christ is imputed to us,
   is one blessing. Sanctification, by which we, ourselves, are made
   personally righteous, is another blessing. I have known some describe
   Sanctification as a sort of foundation, or at least a buttress for the
   work of Justification. Now, no man is justified because he is
   sanctified--he is justified because he believes in Him that justifies
   the ungodly. Sanctification follows Justification. It is the work of
   the Spirit of God in the soul of a Believer, who, first of all, was
   justified by believing in Jesus while as yet he was unsanctified. Give
   Jesus Christ all the glory for His great and perfect work and remember
   that you are perfect in Christ Jesus and accepted in the Beloved. But,
   at the same time, give glory to the Holy Spirit and remember that you
   are not yet perfect in holiness, but that the Spirit's work is to be
   carried on and will be carried on all the days of your life.

   One other point of rightly dividing should never be forgotten--we must
   always distinguish between the root and the fruit. He is a very poor
   botanist who does not know a bulb from a bud--but I believe that there
   are some Londoners who do not know which are roots and which are
   fruits, so little have they seen of anything growing! And I am sure
   there are some theologians who hardly know which is the cause and which
   is the effect in spiritual things. Putting the cart before the horse is
   a very absurd thing, but many do it. Hear how people will say--"If I
   could feel joy in the Lord I would believe." Yes, that is the cart
   before the horse, for joy is the result of faith, not the reason for
   it! "But I want to feel a great change of heart, and then I will
   believe." Just so--you wish to make the fruit the root. "Believe in the
   Lord Jesus Christ," that is the root of the matter! Change of life and
   joy in the Lord will spring up as gracious fruits of faith and not
   otherwise. When will you discriminate?

   Thus I have given you three versions of my text--rightly handling,
   straightly furrowing, and wisely discriminating.

   IV. The next interpretation of the Apostle's expression is practically
   CUTTING OUT the Word for holy uses. This is the sense given by
   Chrysostom. I will show you what I mean here. Suppose I have a skin of
   leather before me and I want to

   make a saddle. I take a knife and I begin cutting out the shape. I do
   not want those parts which are dropping off on the right and round this
   corner--they are very good leather--but I cannot, just now, make use of
   them. I have to cut out my saddle and I make that my one concern.

   Or, suppose I have to make a pair of reins out of the leather. I must
   take my knife round and work away with one object, keeping clearly
   before me what I am aiming at. The preacher, to be successful, must
   also have his wits about him. And when he has the Bible before him he
   must use those portions which will have a bearing upon his grand aim.
   He must make use of the material laid ready to his hand in the Bible.
   Every portion of the Word of God is very blessed and exceedingly
   profitable, but it may not happen to be connected with the preacher's
   immediate subject and, therefore, he leaves it to be considered another
   time. And, though some will upbraid him for it, he is much too sensible
   to feel bound to preach all the doctrines of the Bible in each sermon!

   He wants to have souls saved and Christians quickened and, therefore,
   he does not forever pour out the vials and blow the trumpets of
   prophecy. Some hearers are crazy after the mysteries of the future.
   Well, there are two or three Brothers in London who are always
   trumpeting and vialing. Go and hear them if you want to! I have
   something else to do. I confess I am not sent to decipher the
   Apocalyptic symbols--my errand is humbler but equally as useful--I am
   sent to bring souls to Jesus Christ!

   There are preachers who are always dealing with the deep things, the
   very deep things. For them the coral caves of mystery and the far
   descending shafts of metaphysics have a mighty charm. I have no quarrel
   with their tastes, but I do not think the Word of God was given us to
   be a riddle book. To me the plain Gospel is the part which I cut out
   and rightly cut out of the Word of God. There is a soul that needs to
   know how to find peace with God. Some other Brother can tell him where
   predestination falls in with free agency, I do not pretend to know. But
   I do know that faith in Jesus brings peace to the heart. My business is
   to bring forth that which will save souls, build up saints and set
   Christians to work for Christ. I leave the mysteries, not because I
   despise them, but because the times demand that we, first, and above
   all other things, seek the souls of men!

   Some Truths of God press to be heard. They must be heard now, or men
   will be lost. The other Truths they can hear tomorrow, or by-and-by,
   but now escape from Hell and fitness for Heaven are their immediate
   business! Fancy the angels sitting down with Lot and his daughters,
   inside Sodom, and discussing predestination with them, or explaining
   the limits of free agency! No, no! They cry, "Come along," and they
   take them by the arm and lead them out, saying, "Flee, flee, flee, for
   fire is coming down from Heaven and this city is to be destroyed!"

   This is what the preacher has to do--leaving certain parts of the Truth
   of God for other times, he is now rightly dividing the Word of Truth
   when he brings out that which is of pressing importance. In the Bible
   there are some things that are essential, without which a man cannot be
   saved at all. There are other things which are important, but still,
   men are saved, notwithstanding their ignorance of those things. Is it
   not clear that the essentials must have prominence? Every Truth ought
   to be preached in its turn and place, but we must never give the first
   place to a second Truth, or push that to the front which was meant to
   be in the background of the picture.

   "We preach Christ," said the Apostle, "Christ and Him crucified." And I
   believe that if the preacher is rightly to divide the Word, he will say
   to the sinner, "Sinner, Christ died, Christ rose again, Christ
   intercedes. Look to Him. As for the difficult questions and nice
   points, leave them for awhile. You shall discuss them by-and-by, so far
   as they are profitable to you, but just now, believing in the Lord
   Jesus Christ is the main matter." The preacher must, thus, separate the
   vital from the secondary, the practical from the speculative and the
   pressing and immediate from that which may be lawfully delayed. And in
   that sense he will rightly divide the Word of Truth.

   V. I have given you four meanings. Now I will give you another, leaving
   out some I might have mentioned. One thing the preacher has to do is to
   ALLOT TO EACH ONE HIS PORTION. And here the figure changes. According
   to Calvin, the intention of the Spirit, here, is to represent one who
   is the steward of the house and has to apportion food to the different
   members of the family. He has rightly to divide the loaves so as not to
   give the little children and the babes all the crust. He has to rightly
   supply each one's necessities, not giving the strong men milk, nor the
   babes hard diet-- not casting the children's bread to the dogs, nor
   giving the swine's husks to the children--but placing before each his
   own portion.

   Let me try and do it. Child of God, your portion is the whole Word of
   God. Every promise in it is yours! Take it. Feed on it. Christ is
   yours. God is yours. The Holy Spirit is yours. This world is yours and
   worlds to come. Time is yours. Eternity is yours. Life is yours. Death
   is yours. Everlasting Glory is yours! There is your portion! It is very
   sweet to give you your royal meat. The Lord gives you a good appetite.
   Feed on it! Feed on it! Sinner, you who believe not in Jesus, none of
   this is yours! While you remain as you are, only the threats are yours.
   If you refuse to believe in Jesus, neither this life nor the next is
   yours, nor time, nor eternity. You have nothing good.

   O, how dreadful is your portion now, for the wrath of God abides on
   you! O, that you were wise, that your character might be changed, for
   until it is, we dare not flatter you. There is not a promise for you,
   nor a single approving sentence! You get your food to eat and your
   raiment to put on, but even that is given to you by the abounding
   long-suffering of God and it may become a curse to you unless you
   repent. I am sorry to bring you such a portion but I must be honest
   with you. That is all that I can give you. God has said it--it is an
   awful sentence--"I will curse their blessings." O, Sinner, the curse of
   the Lord is in the house of the wicked!

   We have also to divide a portion to the mourners, and O, how sweet a
   task that is, to say to those that mourn in Zion that the Lord will
   give them beauty for ashes. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they
   shall be comforted." The Lord will restore peace unto His mourners!
   Fear not, neither be dismayed, for the Lord will help you! But when we
   have given the mourners their sweet meats we have to turn round upon
   the hypocrites and say to them, "You may hang your heads like
   bulrushes. You may rend your garments and pretend to fast, but the
   Lord, who knows your heart, will suddenly come and unmask you! And if
   you are not sincere before Him--if you are weighed in the balances and
   found wanting--He will deal out the gall of bitterness to you forever!
   For his mourners there is mercy, but for the deceiver and the hypocrite
   there is judgment without mercy."

   It is a very pleasant thing, moreover, to deal out a portion to the
   seeker--when we say, "He that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it
   shall be opened." "Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy
   laden," says Christ, "for I will give you rest." Take your portion and
   be glad! We have to turn round and say to others who think they are
   seekers, but who are delaying, "How long will you wait between two
   opinions?" How is it that you continually hesitate and refuse to
   believe in Jesus, and stay in the condition of unbelief, when the
   Gospel mandate is, "Believe--believe now and live"? So we have to give
   to one comfort, to another counsel--to one reproof, to another
   encouragement. We have to give to one the invitation--to another the
   warning. This is to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

   Yes, and sometimes God enables His servants to give the Word very
   remarkably to some men. I believe that if I were to tell a few of the
   things which have happened to me during the last 21 years they would
   not be believed. Or if I were to tell you of passages of history which
   are known to me that have occurred in this Tabernacle to people who
   have come here and to whom I have spoken the exact Word, not knowing
   them for a moment, the facts would sound like fictions. I will give you
   one instance. Some of you may remember my preaching from the text,
   "What if your father answers you roughly?" There came into the vestry,
   after that sermon, a venerable Christian gentleman, bringing with him a
   young foreigner whom he was anxious to satisfy upon one point.

   He said, "Sir, I want you kindly to answer this question--have you seen
   me, concerning this young gentlemen?" "No, Sir, certainly not," I said.
   And assuredly, though I knew the gentleman who addressed me, he had
   never spoken to me about the foreign stranger whose very existence was,
   up to that moment, unknown to me. Said he, "This young gentleman is
   almost persuaded to be a Christian. His father is of quite another
   faith and worships other gods. And our young friend knows that if he
   becomes a Christian he will lose his father's love. I said to him, when
   he conversed with me, come down and hear Mr. Spurgeon this morning.
   "Here he came, and your text was, 'What if your father answers you
   roughly?' Now, have you ever heard a word from me about this young
   gentleman?" "No, never," I said. "Well," said the young man, "it is the
   most extraordinary thing I ever heard in my life." I could only say, "I
   trust it is the voice of God to your soul. God knows how to guide His
   servants to utter the Word most fitted to bless men."

   Some time ago a town missionary had, in his district, a man who never
   would suffer any Christian person to come into his house. The
   missionary was warned by many that he would get a broken head if he
   ventured on a visit. He therefore kept from the house though it
   troubled his conscience to pass it by. He made a matter of prayer of
   it, and one morning he boldly ventured into the lion's den and the man
   said, "What have you come here for?" "Well, Sir," he said, "I

   have been conversing with people in all the houses along here, but I
   have passed you by because I heard you objected to it. But somehow I
   thought it looked cowardly to avoid you and therefore I have called."

   "Come in," the man said. "Sit down, sit down. Now, you are going to
   talk to me about the Bible. Perhaps you do not know much about it
   yourself. I am going to ask you a question and if you can answer me you
   shall come again. If you do not answer it, I will bundle you
   downstairs. Now," he said, "do you understand me?" "Yes," said the
   other, "I do understand you." "Well, then," he said, "this is the
   question--where do you find the word, 'girl,' in the Bible, and how
   many times do you find it?" The city missionary said, "The word,
   'girl,' occurs only once in the Bible, and that is in the Book of Joel,
   the third chapter and the third verse. 'They sold a girl for wine.'"

   "You are right," he said, "but I would not have believed you knew it,
   or else I would have asked you some other question. You may come
   again." "But," said the missionary, "I should like you to know how I
   came to know it. This very morning I was praying for direction from God
   and when I was reading my morning chapter I came upon this passage,
   'And they sold a girl for wine,' and I took down my Concordance to see
   whether the word, 'girl,' was to be found anywhere else. I found that
   the word, 'girls,' occurs in the passage, 'There shall be girls and
   boys playing in the streets of Jerusalem,' but the word did not occur
   as, 'girl,' anywhere but in Joel."

   The result, however, of that story, however odd it seems, was that the
   missionary was permitted to call and the man took an interest in his
   visits. And the whole family were the better--the man and his wife, and
   one of his children becoming members of a Christian Church some time
   afterwards. What an extraordinary thing it seems, yet, I can assure you
   that such extraordinary things are as commonplaces in my experience.
   God does help His servants rightly to divide the Word, that is to say,
   to allot a special portion to each special case, so that it comes upon
   the man as if everything about him was known.

   Before I came to London, a man met me one Sunday, in a dreadful state
   of rage. He vowed he would horsewhip me for bullying him from the
   pulpit. What had I said, I asked. "What have you said? You looked me in
   the face and said, 'What more can God do for you? Shall He give you a
   good wife? You have had one--you have killed her by bad treatment! You
   have just got another and you are likely to do the same by her.'"
   "Well," I said, "did you kill your first wife by your bad treatment?"
   "They say so, but I was married on Saturday," said he. "Did you not
   know it?" "No, I did not, I assure you," I replied. "I have no
   knowledge whatever of your family matters, and I am sure I wish you joy
   with your new wife." He cooled down a great deal but I believe that I
   had struck the nail on the head that time--that he had killed his wife
   with his unkindness and he scarcely liked to bring his new wife to the
   place of worship to be told of it.

   The cap fit him. And if any cap fits you, I pray you wear it, for so
   far from shrinking from being personal, I do assure you I try to be as
   personal as I can, for I long to see the Word go home to every man's
   conscience, and convict him and make him tremble before God and confess
   his sin and forsake it!

   VI. You must give me a few more minutes while I take the last point,
   which is this. Rightly to divide the Word of

   Truth means to TELL EACH MAN WHAT HIS LOT AND HERITAGE WILL BE IN
   ETERNITY. Just as when Canaan was conquered, it was divided by lot
   among the tribes, so the preacher has to tell of Canaan, that happy
   land, but he has to also tell of the land of darkness and of
   death-shade, and to let each man know where his last abode will be. You
   know it. You who come here know it.

   Need I repeat a story that we have gone over and over a thousand times?
   As many as believe in Jesus and are renewed in heart, and are kept by
   the Grace of God through faith unto salvation, shall inherit eternal
   life. But as for those who believe not on God, who reject His Son, who
   abide in their sins--there remains nothing for them but "a fearful
   looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation." "The wicked shall be
   turned into Hell with all the nations that forget God." "These shall go
   away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."
   "Beware," says God--"Beware, you that forget God, lest I tear you in
   pieces and there be none to deliver." O, the wrath to come! The wrath
   to come!

   Believer, there is your portion--in the blessed land! Sinner, unless
   you repent, there is your portion--in the land of darkness and of
   weeping--of wailing and of gnashing of teeth! I take a religious
   newspaper from America and the last copy I had of it bore on it these
   words at the end, in good large type, printed in a practical,
   business-like, American way--"If you do not want to have this paper,
   discontinue it NOW. If you wish to have it for the year 1876, send your
   subscription NOW. If you have any complaint against it, send your
   complaint NOW. If you have removed, send a notice of your change of
   residence NOW."

   There was a big "NOW" at the end of every sentence! As I read it, I
   thought, well, that is right. That is common sense. And it struck me
   that I would say to you on this last Sunday night of the year, if you
   wish to forsake your sins, forsake them NOW. If you would have mercy
   from God through Jesus Christ, believe on Him NOW. What fitter time
   than before the dying year is gone--NOW, NOW, NOW? In that very paper I
   read a story concerning Messrs. Moody and Sankey on the same point.

   The story is that while they were preaching in Edinburgh, there was a
   man sitting opposite to them who was very deeply interested, and was
   drinking it all in. There was a pause in the service and the man went
   out with his friend, but when he reached the door he stopped and his
   friend said, "Come away, Jamie." "No," he said, "I will go back. I came
   here to get good to my soul and I have not taken it all in yet, I must
   go back again." He went back, and sat in his old place and listened
   again. The Lord blessed him. He found Christ and so found salvation.
   Being a miner, he went down the pit the next day, to his work, and a
   mass of rock fell on him. He was taken out, but he could not recover.
   He said to the man who was helping him out, "O, Andrew, I am so glad it
   was all settled last night. Oh, Mon," said he, "it was all settled last
   night."

   Now, I hope those people who were killed in the railway accident on
   Christmas Eve could say--"It was all settled the night before." What a
   blessed thing it will be for you, if you should meet with an accident
   tomorrow, to say, "Blessed be God, it was all settled last night. I
   gave any heart to Jesus, I yielded myself to His Divine Love and Mercy,
   and I am saved." O Holy Spirit, grant it may be so, and You shall have
   the praise. Amen and amen!

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--2 Timothy 2. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--1,041, 960.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Miracle of the Loaves

   (No. 1218)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "They considered not the miracle of the loaves." Mark 6:52.

   Let us, with deep attention, consider the miracle of the loaves lest we
   fall into the same evil as that which happened to the disciples in the
   text. When they saw Jesus walking on the sea, "they were sore amazed in
   themselves and wondered: for they considered not the miracle of the
   loaves, for their heart was hardened." Hard hearts and painful
   unbeliefs spring up in the waste places where we bury our forgotten
   mercies. The miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ ought to be considered.
   They are not trifles and they ought not to be passed over as if they
   were the mere commonplace stories of a daily newspaper. Everything that
   has to do with the Son of God is a fit subject for the deepest study
   and all His sayings and works should be sought out by them that have
   pleasure therein.

   Neither earth nor Heaven, time nor eternity, yield choicer gems of
   thought than the achievements of our Lord. Remember, since Jesus Christ
   is the same yesterday, today and forever, what He did at one time ought
   to be well considered, because it is the index of what He is prepared
   to do again should the need arise. He would still sooner feed His own
   sheep by a miracle than allow them to lack any good thing. His
   accomplished wonders have not spent His strength--He has the dew of His
   youth still upon Him. Our Samson's locks are not shorn! Our Solomon has
   not lost His wisdom! Our Imman-uel has not ceased to be "God with us."

   If the disciples had considered the miracle of the loaves they would
   have observed that Christ is grand in emergencies. When there were
   5,000 people to be fed and no towns and villages near enough to supply
   them with bread and the people must faint by the way before they could
   reach the markets, then Christ was ready, full-handed in time of
   scarcity, prompt to dispense His liberality, able to meet the emergency
   so perfectly that the people must have been very thankful that such an
   emergency had arisen and, no doubt, often wished that they could have
   been in such a strait, again, if they could have had the Lord near to
   bring them out of it.

   Had they considered the miracle of the loaves, the disciples would have
   known that Christ is not only grand in emergencies, but that He
   displays His power spontaneously, without need of pressing or even
   prompting. Before anybody else had cared for the multitude, He began
   enquiring about the state of the supplies from which the famishing must
   be fed. He it was who thought of the way of feeding them--it was a
   design invented and originated by Himself. His followers had looked at
   their little bit of bread and fish and given up the task as hopeless.
   But Jesus, altogether unembarrassed, and in no perplexity, had already
   considered how He would feed the thousands and make the fainting sing
   for joy. The Lord of Hosts needed no entreaty to become the Host of
   Hosts of hungry men.

   Remembering this, the disciples, in their new distress should have said
   within themselves, "Now will He display His power. We have scarcely
   need to cry to Him, for before we call He will answer! And while the
   emergency is yet pressing upon our minds He will hear." But they forgot
   what He had done on that occasion and, therefore, they fell into
   distrust as to their new trial. Beloved, is not this a very common
   fault with us? Do we not too often forget what the Lord has done for us
   in times past? We sing so rightly--

   "His love in time past forbids me to think He'll leave me at last in
   trouble to sink. Each sweetEbenezerI ha ve in review Confirms His good
   pleasure to help me quite through." But do we not forget those
   Ebenezers? Do we not very frequently suffer our memory to let His
   benefits go? Is not depression of spirit occasioned by the fact that we
   do not well consider the miracle of the loaves or its counterpart which
   has taken place in our history?

   How many times have I sought the Lord in sorest trouble and He has
   brought me through! What burdens have I carried to Him and found them
   vanish! What needs has He not supplied? What marvels has He not worked
   on my behalf? Surely, if I think of what He has done for me, I shall
   not, unless my heart is hardened, permit myself to be afraid. Cannot
   many of you say the same? Are there not oases in your pilgrimage
   through the desert which, as you look back upon them, are to your
   grateful memory very green and full of sunlight where the Lord revealed
   Himself to you and worked very mightily for you? Consider, then, the
   miracle of the loaves as it has transpired in your own life story and
   be not afraid, whatever your present trouble may be.

   At the present time I shall not consider the miracle of the loaves in
   the form of a sermon, but allow our discourse to take the shape of a
   little friendly talk.

   I. Come, let us think a little, first, about THE GUESTS who gathered
   around our Lord when He worked the miracle of the loaves. And we are
   struck, first, with their great number. Jesus had His feast days, when
   He kept open house and entertained His guests in unusual crowds. Twice,
   especially, He held very remarkable feasts and His banquets were
   distinguished for the number that came to them. Here were 5,000 men
   and, on another occasion, some 4,000 men, besides women and
   children--and I should think that is a very large "besides," for the
   women and children may possibly have outnumbered the men--at least they
   often do so in our congregations nowadays.

   This was feasting on an imperial scale! In the present instance 5,000
   gathered together and all were as easily provided for as if there had
   been but five. Should we not consider this point and argue from it that
   the Lord Jesus will feed our hungry souls if we come to Him? Should we
   not, each one of us, say, then, "If I am a soul needing His love and
   mercy, surely He can bless me? Are there a great many saved already?
   Are hundreds pressing to the Savior at this very hour? Then why should
   I be shut out? He who could feed 5,000 could certainly feed five
   thousand and one! One, more or less, could make no difference at so
   great a feast. No, I am quite certain Jesus can supply me, for He had
   12 baskets left after He had fed all the host. Come, my Soul, if you
   are hungering after Christ, do not stand back as though you would be
   one too many! The more the merrier! The more that come to His Gospel
   banquet, the more pleased Jesus is."

   Some religionists are in raptures with the text, "strait is the gate,
   and narrow is the way, and few there are that find it." They dwell upon
   the words, "few there are that find it," with an evident gusto and
   self-appreciation, something like the old conservative voter when he
   denounced household suffrage and gloried in his own monopoly! Such
   thoughts are not according to the mind of Christ! He did not say, "I
   will feed 500 out of these people and the rest may starve." But in the
   mighty bounty of His heart, the greatness of their number and the
   direness of their need moved Him to come forward and supply them all!

   Had there been 50, they might have gone home as on other occasions, for
   50 might possibly have found food in the villages. But the needs of
   5,000 required a Divine supply. The greatness of the number of sinners
   seems both to encourage our Lord to act in mercy and to make it
   Divinely fit that He should act, for by His knowledge shall He justify
   many and bring many sons unto Glory. Let no sinner ever be troubled
   with the dread that he would be one too many at the banquet of Mercy!
   Neither let him fear that he will be an intruder. Christ's banqueting
   hall was an open field--there were no walls or doors, or persons
   guarding the entrance--thus free is His feast of Love at this moment.
   Whoever will, let him come!

   We note, next, the strange character of His guests. We do not know what
   sort of people they were, but this we do know, He did not exempt one
   because of any flaw in his character! They were a nondescript
   multitude. Little good could be said of them except that they had an
   ear to hear Jesus preach and were especially glad if the sermon was the
   first course, with loaves and fishes for the second. They were a carnal
   people and had nothing about them that deserved our Lord's
   consideration. But when did Jesus Christ wait until men deserved it
   before He blessed them? When we give alms we think it right to make
   enquiries about the deserving characters of those who apply to us for
   relief. And I suppose we must do so, or we shall do mischief.

   But our heavenly Father sends his rain both upon the just and upon the
   unjust and, even so, our Lord Jesus Christ feeds these people, though
   many of them were mere loafers and hangers on. Bad or good, the
   generous Savior fed them. It could not hurt them to have a bit of bread
   and fish to eat. A gift of food which people eat before our eyes is
   generally safe charity, and so the Master fed them. Let me, then, say
   to myself, I may be very unworthy and am. And my character may have
   nothing about it to commend it to the Lord Jesus Christ. But why should
   He not feed me with the food that is neces-

   sary for my soul? Has He not come into the world to save sinners? Did
   He not visit this world as a Physician to heal the sick? Let not my
   unworthiness keep me back!

   Need of merit did not exclude one person from the miracle of the loaves
   and it need not exclude me, for He bids me come. Unworthy as I am, He
   invites me freely, repeatedly, earnestly--yes--He commands me to come.
   Why, then, should I hesitate? If there are many, I will be one among
   them. And if they are of all kinds, I may the more freely join them.
   These guests had one thing in common which, I have no doubt, will be
   found among us, also--they were all hungry and they were all poor. They
   could not supply one single dish for the table. Not one of them had a
   loaf to contribute nor a fish to give to the Master of the feast. They
   were all hungry but not one could produce a crust. And the Lord neither
   asked them to contribute nor repelled them because of their poverty.

   Am I, then, tonight, an empty sinner, having no good in myself? Do I
   feel that I could not contribute even one perfect thought, much less
   one solitary perfect action to the stores of the Redeemer's merit?
   Nevertheless, He bids me come, and I will come. He is a great Giver. I
   can only be a receiver and my utter lack of all goodness fits me to
   receive from Him, since the emptier the vessel the more it can receive.
   If I could help Him, there would be no need for Him to work a miracle
   on my account. But since I can bring nothing whatever, I need His
   miraculous power. As I see Him feeding hungry souls I will join in with
   the rest and partake of the fruit of His compassion. They were a
   penniless, foodless people and could not help themselves, but there was
   One who could help them all--and afford that help with ease! And so,
   tonight, whatever our hearts' necessities may be, Jesus is here to
   enrich us and to do it in a manner which will manifest the boundless
   Nature of His Love and Grace.

   On one of these occasions we read that there were women and children
   among them. Now, I must confess, myself, I am not partial to very small
   children coming into the congregation. I am glad to see their mothers
   and, if they cannot come without bringing their infants, I am glad that
   they should bring them. But they certainly are not an improvement to a
   congregation, as a rule. Yet here they were--here were women and
   children--and I suppose that some of the children were very closely
   connected with the women by being carried in their arms, because they
   are described as, "women and children."

   They were all fed and that would stop their crying! They were all
   supplied, however little they might be. And should not this be a great
   encouragement to me if I am seeking Christ, that if I am no better than
   a little crying child that might seem to be a nuisance in God's family,
   or if I am a person so poor, so ill-clad, that I may seem to myself to
   be as much out of place in a congregation as a crying babe, yet,
   nevertheless, the bounties of Divine Grace are as much for me as for
   others? Jesus would not have it said that He had no food for the
   children! He would not have the mothers go home and say, "The big men
   had their food, but we had only a few bones and broken scraps. And the
   poor dear children had none at

   all."

   In Christ's feasts there is no complaining of the widows as in
   Apostolic days. None are neglected in the general ministration when
   Jesus presides. Whoever will, may come and partake of the bounties
   which the King of Heaven has prepared for every hungry, thirsty soul!
   So much about the guests. May these suggestions be blessed by the Holy
   Spirit to induce some hungry sinner to join with the rest of the
   company and feast on Free Grace.

   II. The next thing we will consider in the miracle of the loaves is THE
   ORDERLINESS OF THE GUESTS. There were 5,000 but they sat down in ranks
   by hundreds and by fifties. I wonder how they were marshaled so well?
   Oh, I remember! The Lord of Hosts was there and He knows how to marshal
   armies! But how was it that they were willing to sit in ranks? People
   are not always so willing to be ordered about and, when they are
   hungry, they are often very disobedient. But they sat down as they were
   told to do. They sat down in rows so that they were divided with little
   aisles between them.

   The original word used by Mark represents them as divided like beds of
   flowers, with walks between, so that as a gardener can go up and down
   and water all the plants, so the waiters at the feast could
   conveniently give every man his share of bread and his piece of fish
   without confusion. They sat down in ranks by fifties and by hundreds.
   Things do not look so orderly now, do they, as we see Christ, through
   His Church, feeding the multitudes? There is a good work going on in
   the north of England. There is a revival in Scotland. There is an
   awakening in Ireland and there is a stir in the midland counties. But
   does it not look very much like a scramble? Do we not seem to tumble
   over one another instead of doing our work in soldierly order?

   A good work springs up in one place all of a sudden, while religion is
   dying out in other quarters. The people are satiated yonder and are
   starving only a little way off. We do not get at the masses as a whole,
   or see the Church progress in all places. Let us not, however, judge
   too hastily, for Jesus makes His order out of our disorder. We see a
   piece of the puzzle, but when the whole shall be put together and we
   shall see the end from the beginning, I guarantee you we shall see that
   Christ's great feast of Mercy, with its myriads of guests, has been
   conducted on a principle of order as mathematically accurate as that
   which guides the spheres in their courses!

   God has laid down, in the book of His everlasting purposes, written by
   Him of old, everything that shall occur in the great economy of His
   Grace--and from that He never swerves. His purposes ripen at the proper
   time and His plans are carried out according to the wisest method.
   Providence, which so often looks wild and blustering, is not so by any
   means--it is working in harmony with Grace for the salvation of as many
   as Christ has bought with His most precious blood--and for the
   accomplishment of the grand intentions of electing love. The raising up
   of this minister and of that. The building of this House of Prayer and
   that. Even the bringing of a certain number of people at one time to
   listen and the bringing of such-and-such persons rather than
   others--and the moving of the preacher's heart to speak in this way and
   not in that and to dwell upon that subject and not upon the other--all
   these things are so ordered that, when the story of the Lord's great
   Grace Banquet shall be told, we shall say to ourselves, "It could not
   have been better. He has done all things well."

   While we shall have to admire the grandeur of the works of Grace as
   seen in the number of the saved, we shall also admire the orderliness
   of it in the way in which these saved ones were separated to Jesus by
   the right means, at the right time and in the right place in such a way
   as to bring the utmost possible glory to God. I like to think this over
   sometimes, not that we may quiet ourselves when we do not see numbers
   saved, nor that we may ever grow indifferent to the great multitudes
   who remain unconverted, but that we may rest assured that our God is
   not disappointed--that His plans are not frustrated and that, after
   all, the Gospel is not preached in vain!

   You must not think, dear Brother, because for a little while you have
   been preaching the Gospel apparently without success, that there will
   be a deficit somewhere in God's account at the end of the chapter! You
   must not dream that because in certain countries the Gospel light burns
   dimly, God is foiled and defeated! When the book of God's purposes
   shall be all unfolded in actual history there will be found no blots,
   mistakes, or blunders there. He knows the end from the beginning and
   His purposes shall be fulfilled in every jot and tittle--in nothing
   shall the Glory of God be marred!

   Though Satan may be laughing, now, and every now and then the men of
   the world may boast against the people of God, it shall not be so in
   the close of the affair! It shall be said of the entire matter, "It was
   a grand banquet of mercy and it was ordered well. And Christ, the great
   Head of the house, made a Divine display of His munificent mercy in
   causing the multitude to taste of His Grace." Our duty, I believe, is
   to urge the people to sit down and receive the Word of God. And the
   duty of the sinner is, especially when he comes to hear the Gospel
   preached, to sit in the attitude of expectancy, desiring to obtain the
   blessing.

   I like the thought of those people all sitting down, although I wonder
   some of them did not say, "I shall not sit down. Pooh! Feed me with two
   fishes and five loaves? I could eat the whole thing! Feed all this
   multitude that way? I shall not sit down. Preposterous! Ridiculous!"
   One is surprised that somebody or other did not get up and say, "No,
   no, no, we are not to be made fools of after this fashion. Show us the
   table and show us something on it to sit down to, and then we will sit
   down, but not before." Let us be always confident that when God
   inclines the people's hearts to come expecting a blessing and to wait
   upon Him for it, it is then that the blessing comes.

   I could not imagine the 5,000 sitting there waiting to be fed and
   Christ not feeding them. Could you conceive such a thing? Their sitting
   down in expectancy laid a sacred compulsion upon the Divine Compassion
   to which it gladly yielded. Oh, Soul, if you sit down in your hunger
   before Christ, and say, "Lord, I know You can feed me. By faith I open
   my mouth wide that I may eat of Your flesh and drink of Your
   blood"--then assuredly you shall be fed! Never was such a soul sent
   empty away. If you believe in Him so as to accept of Him, you have Him!
   Rejoice in Him! Enough, then, about the order of the feast.

   III. And now a little about THEIR FARE. They had bread and fish. Jesus
   seems to have made that His standing bill of fare whenever He spread a
   banquet--bread and fish. They once gave Him a piece of honeycomb, but
   He seems always to have given them bread and fish. Bread was enough,
   was it not? Yes, enough. But not enough for Him to give, for He

   loves to supply a little more than enough. He would give a delicacy as
   well as a staple--there was bread and fish. When Jesus Christ makes
   feasts for souls He gives them a staple--bread, all that they can need,
   all the necessities for their souls'

   life.

   Giving a sufficiency He also gives excellency--He gives fish, there
   shall be savor and delight and peace with God. You shall not say, "He
   has given me workhouse fare--He doles out by half-ounces exactly what I
   need, but He helps me to no sweet morsels, no fat things full of
   marrow." No, you shall have more than you actually need! You shall find
   in your dish a secret something which will sweeten all and many other
   precious things of which you shall sing, "He satisfies my mouth with
   good things." Jesus might have called some of the people close to Him
   and given them bread and fish, and then have fed the next row with
   bread only, but He did not do so.

   He gave bread and fish all round--and it is very sweet to think that
   all souls that come to Christ get the same spiritual food--and if they
   do not eat in the same measure it is their own fault, not His, for
   every promise that is in the Word of God is for every soul that
   believes in Him, save only where some promises are reserved for
   spiritual attainments, and then those spiritual attainments are to be
   sought after and may be reached by all the family.

   O, chief of sinners! If you come to Jesus, there is the same love in
   His heart for you as for the chief of saints! O, least and weakest, and
   feeblest of all who believe in Jesus! There is the same Covenant Mercy
   and Covenant Blessing for you as for Paul or Peter! Bread and fish He
   gave to all who came to His table, and even so, there is a uniformity
   of spiritual meat for all His brethren. Jesus is the same precious
   Christ to all His people. What suitable food it was! Other kinds of
   food might have been either distasteful or indigestible to a
   considerable number, but bread and fish would surely suit all palates
   and all conditions.

   They might all be satisfied with such light and yet substantial food,
   and probably they all were so. And here was the beauty of it--they did
   all eat and were filled. It was the right fare and a most agreeable
   fare. And there was so much of it that though they ate much, as I have
   no doubt they did, for they were very hungry, for they had been all day
   listening to sermons--and that is hungry work--still, for all that,
   there was enough for them, yes, enough and to spare! Gospel provisions
   are adapted to all needs. Gospel provisions are plentiful and are
   liberally given forth to all who come for them. Gospel provisions are
   sweet and pleasant to those who participate in them. Gospel provisions
   will satisfy the most eager appetites.

   Come here, you hungry souls, you who have been to Moses and from him
   obtained nothing but the stony Law! Come and eat the bread of Heaven!
   Come, poor Sinner, you who have been to the pleasures of sin and found
   nothing there but the husks that the swine eat. Come to Jesus, and He
   will fill you to the full with a Divine meat! But we must pass on,
   having noticed the guests, their order and their fare, to notice the
   waiters.

   IV. THE WAITERS at this feast were the disciples. Not the Apostles, I
   think, merely, but the disciples--all of them. They each came and
   received a portion and handed it round to the hundreds and the fifties.
   What a blessed thing it is that Jesus Christ has not taken upon Himself
   to call all His people, by His Grace, apart from instrumentality. He
   might have done so if He had chosen. The blessed Spirit does not stand
   in any need of us--it is His condescension which leads Him to employ
   us. He might have sent the Bible into the world and the only part we
   might have been permitted to take in it might have been the printing of
   it, the giving of it away or the selling of it--and there it might have
   been left.

   But instead He uses the living voice, the living example and the pious
   persuasions of His own quickened disciples. And what an honor this is!
   What a privilege this is! I am sure I should have been very delighted
   that day to help to pass round the bread and the fish--and would not
   you? It is one of the greatest pleasures you can have in life to feed a
   hungry man. If you have ever done it, you all know that there is a look
   about his eyes and a joy in the manner of his eating which makes you
   whisper to others, "I wish you would come and see him eat." It gives
   you pleasure to see his pleasure! If he is very hungry, every mouthful
   is sweet to him, and you feel a sympathy with his gladness as his needs
   are supplied.

   What delightful work it must have been to serve out that bread and
   fish! But O, to preach the Gospel! To preach the Gospel when God is
   blessing it to sinners! I have just finished 21 years of preaching to
   this congregation and they have been 21 years of toil, especially as
   the sermons have been printed every week. But I would not change the
   work for any conceivable occupation, or the happiness of preaching the
   Gospel for any happiness except that of seeing Jesus face to face! And
   I really do not know that I wish for that till I have done preaching
   the Gospel, for if souls are to be saved, I would far rather tarry here
   to help in it than go to Heaven itself.

   Oh, the joy it gives you to see men saved! Have I not seen them,
   sometimes, in the vestry when I have talked with them and prayed with
   them, and they have risen from their knees, and said, "I see it, Sir, I
   understand it now. I never saw it before. I am a saved man, I believe
   in Jesus, I know He is my Savior." If a man finds joy in having made
   £10,000 in business, he may keep his joy. I would sooner have the bliss
   of winning one soul for Christ! There is an intense satisfaction in
   soul-winning! These are the things George Herbert would have said, that
   make music in our bosoms when we lie awake at nights. These are the
   things that make it sweet to live and even sweet to die, if we may feed
   poor hungry souls with the bread of Heaven!

   Now, I want all of you who love the Lord and have tasted of what He
   provides, to busy yourselves with supplying others. I wish we had more
   young men coming forward to enter into the Christian ministry, that
   more would devote their strength and talents to the preaching of the
   Gospel. But, at the same time, we ought to have more persons busying
   themselves in the school, more talking about Jesus Christ in their
   various families, more friends who would open their rooms for Prayer
   Meetings, more who would, in some way or other, try to get at the
   hungry world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

   "Well," says one, "but we must not push too much nor become intrusive."
   We do not find that any disciple labored under that fear. No one
   intrudes on a hungry man if he brings him bread to eat. And if the
   hungry man should be so unkind as to call it intrusion, I have no doubt
   that after he has been fed he will be very grieved with himself for
   having said so and he whom he reproached will readily accept the
   apology. Go and intrude yourselves, my Brothers and Sisters, among the
   hungry, with the Bread of Heaven! Intrude yourselves between the living
   and the dead, as Aaron did with his smoking censor! Intrude yourselves
   in the valley of dry bones and cry aloud unto them, "Thus says the
   Lord, you dry bones, live!" Intrude yourselves as Christ intruded into
   a world which despised and rejected Him, to whom, after all, He is the
   only Savior.

   V. We are getting on with our consideration of the miracle, for we have
   seen the fare and the waiters. Now let us go a step farther, namely, to
   THE BLESSING. There they sit, all hungry, and the waiters are all
   ready, but our Lord will not proceed till He has worshipped and
   rendered thanks. There is something in His glance and gesture--He
   looked up to Heaven. What did that mean? "O Father, these loaves and
   fishes are Yours. You have given them to us. We thank You for them. And
   now, O Father, the power to make these sufficient for the emergency
   comes from Heaven. Grant it, we pray You."

   Brothers and Sisters, always give that look upward before you begin
   your work. Say, "Lord, here am I, a poor nobody, trying to teach others
   and to bring souls to Christ. For what I am, I thank You, for I am that
   by Your Grace, but if I am to be useful, You must make me so. Lord, I
   look up with the hope that You will look down." After our Lord had
   looked up to Heaven, we find that He blessed and then He broke the
   loaves. Jesus must bless our labor or it will be fruitless. He could
   bless the bread for Himself, but we must look away from ourselves for
   the blessing. May Jesus bless you all, and He will, if you look up, and
   say, "Lord, bless us."

   Always do that on Sundays, especially, for those are great settled
   feasts of the Lord. Ask the Lord to bless what the preacher is going to
   say and then it will be made profitable to you. After the blessing
   comes the distribution, but not till then. O, for more looking up to
   God, for in Him lies our strength! O, for more praying--there can never
   be too much of that! If we stopped every evangelistic service for
   awhile and ceased from all teaching and preaching in order to spend a
   season in crying mightily unto the Lord, it might be the quickest way
   of doing the Lord's work! Pauses for prayer are not delays! Prayerless
   haste makes ill speed.

   VI. Now came the work itself--THE EATING. The disciples distributed the
   bread and the fish as quickly as they could and the people began to
   eat. They all ate of the provision and they were all filled. Now, what
   should every soul, here, conclude, but this--if Jesus has provided
   spiritual meat He has not provided it to be looked at. He has not set
   it before us that we may merely hear about it. He has provided it that
   it might all of it be eaten. What is there for me? Lord, I am hungry,
   grant me a meal. O, Souls, if you would hear sermons with the view of
   knowing what there is in them for yourselves--that you might feed upon
   them--what blessed work it would be to preach to you!

   But we hold up the Bread of Heaven and descant upon its excellencies,
   and tell you of its sweetness, and persuade you to taste and see how
   good it is--and then we have the unhappiness of seeing you turn your
   backs both upon it and upon the great Lord of the feast--and you go
   your way as if you cared neither for Him nor for His bounties! The
   disciples had

   not this sorrow to distress them. None of the multitude refused the
   Lord's provision. The miracle of the loaves and fishes would have been
   a poor, lame business if the crowds had not eaten of the food so
   wondrously supplied. What? Jesus Christ a Savior and no sinner saved?
   Christ a Physician and no sick healed! It were a sorry business.

   We must have the sinners saved and the sick ones healed, or Jesus is
   not honored. Ought not this to encourage all of you to lay hold upon
   Christ because He is set forth on purpose to be laid hold upon? Ought
   not this to encourage you to feast upon Him because He must have been
   meant to be fed upon? If you put two canaries in a cage tonight, and in
   the morning when they wake they see a quantity of seed in a box, what
   will the birds do? Will they stop and ask what the seeds are there for?
   No, but they each reason thus--"Here is a little hungry bird and there
   is some seed. These two things go well together." And straightway they
   eat.

   Even thus, if you were in your right senses and had not been perverted
   by sin, you would say, "Here is a Savior and here is a sinner--these
   two things go well together. Dear Savior save me, a sinner. Here is a
   feast of mercy and here is a hungry sinner. What can that feast be for
   but for the hungry, and I am such. Lord, I will even lay to at this
   blessed festival of Yours and, unless You come and tell me to be gone,
   I will feast till I am full." Did you ever know of Jesus say to a
   sinner, "You have no right here"? No! But it is written, "Him that
   comes to Me I will in nowise cast out." No one was upbraided for eating
   that day, or for eating too much! Neither will any sinner ever be
   blamed for taking hold upon Christ, or for taking too hearty a hold
   upon Him!

   Come and take Him, O anxious one, and the more fully you can take Him
   the more will Jesus be pleased! Why flows the river but to make glad
   your fields? Why sparkles the fountain but to quench your thirst? Why
   shines the sun but for your eyes to be blessed with his light? As you
   breathe the air around you because you feel it must have been made for
   you to breathe, so receive the full, free salvation of Jesus Christ
   because it is provided and you are in need of it! No mandate of Heaven
   exists to shut you out, but every sacred doctrine is an argument why
   you should come and welcome, and take Jesus freely!

   The crowds all ate. None were so obstinate as to decline the free food.
   Did they receive the bread which perishes? I charge you, then, accept
   gladly the Bread which endures to life eternal!

   VII. Now, when they had all eaten there came the CLEANING UP. There
   must be a cleaning up after every banquet. They went round and gathered
   up the fragments that remained and found 12 baskets full. This, as has
   often been remarked, teaches us economy in everything that we do for
   God--not economy as to giving to Him--but as to the use of the Lord's
   money. Break your alabaster boxes and pour out the sacred nard with
   blessed wastefulness, for that very wastefulness is the sweetness of
   the gift. But when God entrusts you with any means to use for Him, use
   those means with discretion.

   When we have money given to us for use in God's cause we should be more
   careful with it than if it were our own. And the same rule applies to
   other matters. Ministers, when God gives them a good time in their
   studies and they read the Word and it opens up before them, should keep
   notes of what comes to them. The wind does not always blow alike, and
   it is well to grind your wheat when the mill will work. You should put
   up your sails and let your boat fly along when you have a good,
   favoring breeze--and this may make up for dead calms. Economically put
   by the fragments that remain after you have fed next Sunday's
   congregation, that there may be something for hard times when your head
   aches and you are dull and heavy in pulpit preparations.

   But I think the beauty of it was this, that after they had all been fed
   there was something left. Did I hear a heavy heart complain--"I hear of
   a great revival and a great blessing, but I was not there. I was just
   gone out of the town when that blessing came. Woe's me, I am too late."
   Ah, there is plenty left. No penitent sinner is too late! Sometimes
   friends come in at the end of a meal and there is nothing left beyond
   the bare bones. But here is quite enough for you. Here are 12 baskets
   full to the brim! You are not too late! Come and welcome! Peter, bring
   some of that bread and fish. You have a whole basketful, hand it out.
   Let this poor, latecomer have his portion. What if the revival did miss
   you, and what if the Sabbath sermon did not bless you, though it
   blessed so many? Nevertheless, come along, there is something left.

   And there is this to be remarked, too, that there was something left
   for the waiters. The 5,000 did all eat, but there were 12 Apostles who
   managed the distribution, and they have a basketful each to themselves.
   That was more than they had when they began! They had each a basketful.
   Many a time we, who are the waiters upon you in the Gospel feast, do
   not get so much as you do. I have sometimes, on Sunday, likened myself
   to a butcher who is selling his meat. This person

   comes for a joint, and that customer carries away a round of beef,
   while a third has a sirloin. Thus I have dealt out the meat of the
   Gospel while I have been very hungry, myself.

   There seemed to be nothing for me but the chopper and the block. Is it
   not so occasionally with you teachers in your classes? Have you not
   found it so, you preachers in the street? You tread out the corn but
   are as starved as muzzled oxen. It shall not always be so. Go on
   feeding the people and you shall sit down afterwards--a great basketful
   will remain for you at the end. I remember a good story of one of our
   young Brothers from the College. He preached one Sunday afternoon what
   he thought to himself was a dull, powerless sermon. He was going away
   very much discouraged when an aged minister said to him, "My dear
   Brother, there are two tokens that God can give you of your being
   called, and they are such as He gave to Gideon.

   "He can make the fleece wet while all the barn floor around is dry, or
   he can reverse the token, and He can make all the ground wet while the
   fleece is dry. Now, which token would you like to have?" "Oh, Sir,"
   said the young man, "I see what you are driving at. If I could but hope
   that all the people were wet, this afternoon, I would not mind being
   dry myself." We may well choose, my Brothers, to be dry fleeces if all
   our hearers are wet with the dew of Heaven! I like the sign best to
   come as a wet fleece and a wet barn floor, too, and when the Lord gives
   that, it is a favor, indeed! Such was the Divine generosity in this
   case. He gave the food for the 5,000, and the 12 basketfuls for those
   who waited on them, so that not a grumbler went away, nor a latecomer
   had to say, "There was none for me," nor a waiter missed his share!

   Now, Brethren, cannot you believe that if 50,000 men had come trooping
   up that hill just then--if every blade of grass on that mountain had
   suddenly turned into a man. And if from among the brake, the heather,
   the bushes and the stones a great multitude such as that which shall
   gather on the Judgment Day, had all started up on a sudden, and they
   had all come and sat round the Savior, He would have still stood there
   and multiplied the loaves and the fishes right away and continued
   giving to His disciples till every one was filled?

   I am sure that if all London should come to Jesus, they would find
   enough in Him for them! If all my fellow countrymen, yes, and all the
   human race that dwell upon the face of the earth, should be moved to
   come crowding around the Savior, there would be no fear of exhausting
   His power to save! We should not even have to hesitate for a moment,
   but just stand and preach the Gospel to every creature, still using, in
   the power of the Holy Spirit, the same cry, "He that believes and is
   baptized shall be saved!"

   Come, then, weary, hungry Sinner! You have nothing to do but to take
   Christ! You have not to bake the bread, or broil the fish! The bread
   and fish are broken, blessed and ready. Open your mouth and enjoy the
   food! Faith to receive what Christ provides is all that is needed. Lord
   grant it! Take salvation freely. Freely Jesus gives it to you. Take it
   and God bless you! And if you have never had Christ before, and you get
   Him tonight, you will have a happy future, after the sort that we read
   of in the Bible, when, "they began to be merry." Come, for all things
   are ready! Turn not away! God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Mark6:30-56. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--488, 500, 504.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Voice From Heaven

   (No. 1219)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
   commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
   Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
   Lord from now on: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their
   labors, and their works follow them." Revelation 14:12,13.

   THE text speaks of a Voice from Heaven which said, "Blessed are the
   dead which die in the Lord." The witness of that voice is not needed
   upon every occasion, for even the most common observer is compelled to
   feel, concerning many of the righteous, that their deaths are blessed.
   Balaam, with all his moral shortsightedness, could say, "Let me die the
   death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." That is the
   case when death comes in peaceful fashion. The man has lived a calm,
   godly, consistent life. He has lived as long as he could well have
   wished to live and, in dying, he sees his children and his children's
   children gathered around his bed.

   What a fine picture the old man makes, as he sits up with that snowy
   head supported by snowy pillows. Hear him as he tells his children that
   goodness and mercy have followed him all the days of his life and now
   he is going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever! See the seraphic
   smile which lights up his face as he bids them farewell and assures
   them that he already hears the harpers harping with their harps--bids
   them stop those tears and weep not for him but for themselves--charges
   them to follow him so far as he has followed Christ and to meet him at
   the right hand of the Judge in the day of His appearing. Then the old
   man, almost without a sigh, leans back and is present with the Lord!--

   "Heaven waits not the last moment; Owns her friends on this side death,
   And points them out to men; A lecture silent but of sovereign power! To
   vice, confusion--and to virtue peace."

   Even the blind bat's-eyed worldling can see that, "blessed are the dead
   which die in the Lord" in such a fashion as that! Nor is it difficult
   to perceive that this is the case in many other instances. We have,
   ourselves, known several good men and women who were afraid of death
   and were, much of their lifetime, subject to bondage. But they went to
   bed and fell asleep and never woke again in this world. And as far as
   appearances go, they could never have known so much as one single pang
   in departure, but fell asleep among mortals to awake amid the angels!
   Truly, such gentle loosing of the cable. Such fording of Jordan dry
   shod. Such ascents of the celestial hills with music at every step are
   desirable beyond measure! And we need no Voice out of the excellent
   Glory to proclaim that blessed are the dead who in such a case die in
   the Lord.

   But that was not the picture which John had before his mind. It was
   quite another--a picture grim and black to mortal eyes. The sounds
   which meet the ear are not those of music, nor the whispered
   consolations of friends, but quite the reverse. All is painful,
   terrible and the very opposite of blessed, so far as strikes the eyes
   and ears. Therefore it became necessary that there should be a Voice
   from Heaven to say, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." I will
   give you the picture. The man of God is on the rack. They are turning
   that infernal machine with all their might. They have dragged every
   bone from its place. They have exercised their tortures till every
   nerve of his body cries with agony! He is flung into a dark and
   loathsome dungeon and left there to recover strength enough to be led
   in derision through the streets.

   Upon his head they have placed a cap painted with devils and all his
   garments they have bedizened with the resemblance of fiends and flames
   of Hell. And now, with a shaveling priest on each side, holding up
   before him a superstitious emblem, and bidding him adore the Virgin or
   worship the cross, the good man, loaded with chains, goes through the
   streets, say, of Madrid or Antwerp, to the place prepared for his
   execution. "An act of faith," they call it--an auto da

   fe--and an act of heroic faith it is, indeed, when the man of God takes
   his place at the stake, in his shirt, with an iron chain about his
   loins, and is fastened to the stake where he must stand and burn "quick
   to the death."

   Can you see him as they kindle the wood beneath him and the flames
   begin to consume his quivering flesh till he is all ablaze and
   burning--burning without a cry--though fiercely tormented by the fire?
   Now assuredly is that Voice from Heaven needed, and you can hear it,
   "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord"--blessed even when they
   die like this! "Here is the patience of the saints" and, in the esteem
   of angels and of glorified spirits, such a death may, under many
   aspects, be adjudged to be more blessed than the peaceful deathbed of
   the saint who had some fellowship with Jesus, but was not made to drink
   of His cup and to be baptized with His Baptism, as to die a painful and
   ignominious death as a witness for the Truth of God.

   It must have been a dreadful thing to watch the rabble rousers hurrying
   to Smithfield, to stand there and see the burning of the saints. It
   would have been a more fearful thing, still, if possible, to have been
   in the dungeons of the Low Countries and seen the Anabaptists put to
   death in secret. In a dungeon dark and pestilential there is placed a
   huge vat of water--and the faithful witness to Scriptural Baptism is
   drowned--drowned for following the Lamb where ever He goes! Drowned
   alone--where no eyes could pity and no voice from out of the crowd
   could shout a word of help and comfort. Men hear only the coarse jests
   of the murderers who have given the dipper his last dip--but the ear of
   faith can hear ringing through the dungeon, the Voice, "Blessed are the
   dead which die in the Lord."

   True, through the connection of their names with a fanatic band, these
   holy ancestors of ours have gained scant honor here, yet their record
   is on high! Blessed they are, and blessed they shall be! Where ever on
   this earth, whether among the snows of Piedmont's valleys or in the
   fair fields of France, saints have died by sword or famine, or fire or
   massacre, for the testimony of Jesus because they would not bear the
   mark of the beast either in their forehead or in their hand, this Voice
   is heard sounding out of the third heavens, "Blessed are the dead which
   die in the Lord." It matters not, my Brothers and Sisters, where they
   die, who die in the Lord! It may be that they have not the honor of
   martyrdom in man's esteem, but yet are witnesses for the Lord in
   poverty and pain.

   Here is the patience and here, also, is the blessedness of the saints.
   Yonder poor girl lies in an attic, where the stars look between the
   tiles, and the moon gleams on the ragged hangings of the pallet where
   she largely suffers and, without a murmur, gradually dissolves into
   death. However obscure and unknown she may be, she has been kept from
   the great transgression. Tempted sorely, she has yet held fast her
   purity and her integrity. Her prayers, unheard by others, have gone up
   before the Lord and she dies in the Lord, saved through Jesus Christ.
   None will preach her funeral sermon, but she shall not miss that Voice
   from Heaven, saying, "Write, blessed are the dead which die in the
   Lord." We repeat it, it matters not where you die nor in what
   condition--if you are in the Lord, and die in the Lord--right blessed
   are you!

   Now, it is quite certain that very soon every one of us must leave this
   world. We know that we are no more immortal than our fellow men. Though
   by a sad piece of imposition upon ourselves, we count all men mortal
   but ourselves, right surely mortal we are! And each one of us shall, in
   due time, pass away out of this world. The saints, themselves, must
   die, though to them death is far different than to sinners. It is
   greatly wise to be ready for our undressing, prepared for the sweet
   sleep in Jesus. And if we are not in Christ, it is all the more
   imperative upon us to consider our latter end, that we rush not forward
   in the dark.

   I therefore want, for a few minutes only, to disengage your mind from
   the too abundant snares of this world and the thralldom of human cares,
   that you may look across the border into the great future so surely
   yours, perhaps so nearly yours. Oh, that you might be helped to prepare
   for that future, that by such preparation, through Divine Grace, you
   may be numbered among the blessed who die in the Lord! First, we shall
   briefly describe their character, then mention the rest which
   constitutes their blessedness, and conclude by meditating upon the
   reward, which is a further part of that blessedness.

   I. First, then, let us describe THE CHARACTER. "Here is the patience of
   the saints." To be blessed when we die, we must be saints. By nature we
   are sinners and by Divine Grace we must become saints if we would enter
   Heaven, for it is the land of saints and none but saints can ever pass
   its frontiers. Since death does not change character, we must be made
   saints here below if we are to be saints above.

   We have come to misuse the term, "saint," and apply it only to some few
   of God's people. What does it mean but this--holy? Holy men and holy
   women--these are saints! It is not Saint Peter and Saint John
   merely--YOU are a saint,

   dear Brother, if you live unto the Lord. You are a saint, my Sister,
   however obscure your name, if you keep the Lord's way and walk before
   Him in sincere obedience. We must be saints--and in order to be this we
   must be renewed in spirit, for we are sinners by nature--we must, in
   fact, be born again. All unholy and unclean, we are by nature nothing
   else but sin--and we must be created anew by the power of the Holy
   Spirit, or else holiness will never dwell in us.

   Our loves must be changed so that we no longer love evil things, but
   delight only in that which is true, generous, kind, upright, pure,
   godlike. We must be changed in every faculty and power of our nature by
   that same hand which first made us. And across our brows must be
   written these words, "Holiness unto the Lord." The word, saint, denotes
   not merely the pure in character, but those who are set apart unto
   God--dedicated ones, sanctified by being devoted to holy uses--by
   being, in fact, consecrated to God alone.

   My dear Hearer, do you belong to God? Do you live to glorify Jesus? Can
   you honestly put your hand on your heart and say, "Yes, I belong to Him
   who bought me with His blood and I endeavor, by His Grace, to live as
   He would have me live. I am devoted to His honor, loving my fellow men
   and loving my Lord, endeavoring to be like He is in all things"? You
   must be such, for, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "But
   how am I to attain to holiness?" You cannot rise to it except by Divine
   strength. The Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. Jesus, who is our
   Justifier, is also made unto us sanctification and if we, by faith, lay
   hold on Him, we shall find in Him all that we need. Let this be a
   searching matter with everyone here present, as I desire to make it
   with myself--and may God grant we may be numbered with the saints!

   But the glorified are also described in our text as patient ones--"Here
   is the patience of the saints," or, if you choose to render it
   differently, you may lawfully do so--"Here is the endurance of the
   saints." Those who are to be crowned in Heaven must bear the cross on
   earth. "No cross, no crown," is still most true. Many would be saints
   if everybody would encourage them. But as soon as a hard word is
   spoken, they are offended. They would go to Heaven if they could travel
   there amidst the hosannas of the multitude, but when they hear the cry
   of, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," straightway they desert the Man of
   Nazareth, for they have no intention to share His Cross, or to be
   despised and rejected of men. The true saints of God are prepared to
   endure scoffing, jeering and scorning--they accept this Cross of Christ
   without murmuring, remembering Him who endured such contradiction of
   sinners against Himself.

   They know that their Brethren who went before, "resisted unto blood,
   striving against sin," and as they have not yet come to that point,
   they count it foul scorn that they should be ashamed or confounded in
   minor trials, let their adversaries do what they may. Those who are to
   sing Christ's praise in Heaven must first have been willing to bear
   Christ's shame below! They must be numbered with Him in humiliation, or
   they cannot expect to be partakers with Him in

   Glory.

   And now, dear Brothers and Sisters, how is it with us? Are we willing
   to be reproached for Christ's Glory? Can we bear the sarcasm of the
   wise? Can we bear the jest of the witty? Are we willing to be pointed
   at as Puritanical, punctilious and precise? Do we dare to be singular
   when to be singular is to be right? If we can do this, by God's Grace,
   let us further question ourselves. Could we endure this ordeal if its
   intensity were increased? Suppose it came to something worse--to the
   thumbscrew or the rack--could we bear it, then? I sometimes fear that
   many professors would cut a sorry figure if persecuting times should
   come, for I observe that to be excluded from what is called, "society,"
   is a great grievance to many modern Christians!

   When they settle in any place, their enquiry is not, "Where can I hear
   the Gospel?" but, "Which is the most fashionable place of worship?" And
   the question with regard to their children is not, "Where will they
   have Christian associations?" but, "How can I introduce them to
   society?"--introduction to society frequently being an introduction to
   temptation and the commencement of a life of levity. Oh, that all
   Christians could scorn the soft witcheries of the world, for, if they
   cannot, they may be sure that they will not bear its fiery breath when,
   like an oven, persecution comes forth to try the saints! God grant us
   Grace to have the patience of the saints--that patience of the saints
   which will cheerfully suffer loss rather than do a wrong thing in
   business!

   God grant us that patience of the saints which will pine in poverty
   sooner than yield a principle though a kingdom were at stake! That
   patience of the saints which dreads not being unfashionable if the
   right is reckoned so! That patience of the saints which courts no man's
   smile and fears no man's frown--but can endure all things for Jesus'
   sake and is resolved to do so! Can you cleave to your Lord when the
   many turn aside? Can you witness that He has the Living Word and none
   upon earth beside? Can you watch with Him when all forsake Him and
   stand by Him when He is the butt of

   ribald jest and scorn? Can you bear the sneer of science, falsely so
   called, and the politer sarcasm of those who say they "doubt," but mean
   that they utterly disbelieve?

   Blessed is that preacher who shall be true to Christ in these evil
   days! Blessed is that Church member who shall follow Christ's Word
   through the mire and through the slough, over the hill and down the
   dale, caring for nothing but to be true to His Master! This must be our
   resolve! If we are to win the Glory, we must be faithful unto death.
   God make us so! "Here is the patience of the saints"--it comes not by
   nature--it is the gift of the Grace of God. Farther on these saints are
   described as, "they that keep the commandments of God." This expression
   is not intended, for a moment, to teach us that these people are saved
   by their own merits. They are saints to begin with and in Christ to
   begin with, but they prove they are in Christ by keeping the
   commandments of God.

   Let us search ourselves upon this matter. Brothers and Sisters, we
   cannot hope to reach the end if we do not keep the way. No man is so
   unwise as to think that he would reach Bristol if he were to take the
   road to York. He knows that to get to a place he must follow the road
   which leads there. There is a way of holiness in which the righteous
   walk and this way of obedience to the Lord's commands must and will be
   trodden by all who truly believe in Jesus and are justified by
   faith--for faith works obedience! A good tree brings forth good fruit.
   If there is no fruit of obedience to God's commands in you, or in me,
   we may rest assured that the root of genuine faith in Jesus Christ is
   not in us at all.

   In this age the keeping of Christ's commandments is thought to be of
   very little consequence. It is dreadful to think how Christians, in the
   matter of the law of God's House, do not even pretend to follow Christ
   and His appointments. They join a Church and they go by the law of that
   Church, though that Church's rule may be clean contrary to the will of
   Christ! But they answer to everything, "That is our rule, you know."
   But then who has a right to make rules for you or for me, but Christ
   Jesus? He is the only Legislator in the kingdom of God and by His
   commands we ought to be guided. I should not, I could not, feel grieved
   if Brethren arrived at contrary conclusions to mine, I being fallible
   myself. But I do feel grieved when I see Brethren arrive at
   conclusions, not as the result of investigation, but simply by taking
   things just as they find them.

   Too many professors have a happy-go-lucky style of Christianity.
   Whichever happens to come first, they follow. Their fathers and mothers
   were this or that, or they were brought up in such-and-such a
   connection, and that decides them. They do not pray, "Lord, show me
   what You would have me to do." Brothers and Sisters, these things ought
   not to be! Has not the Master said, "Whoever shall break one of the
   least of these, My commandments, and teach men so, the same shall be
   least in the kingdom of Heaven"? I would not stand here to condemn my
   fellow Christians for a moment. In so doing I should condemn myself,
   also, but I plead with you, if you do, indeed, believe in Jesus, be
   careful to observe all things He has commanded you, for He has said,
   "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you
   will, and it shall be done unto you." And again, "If you love Me, keep
   My commandments."

   A worldling once said to a Puritan, "When so many great men make rents
   in their consciences, cannot you make just a little nick in yours, for
   peace sake?" "No," he said, "I must follow Christ fully." "Ah, well,"
   you say, "these things are non-essential." Nothing is non-essential to
   complete obedience! It may be non-essential to salvation, but it is
   selfishness to say, "I will do no more than I know to be absolutely
   necessary to my salvation." It is essential to a good servant to obey
   his master in all things--and it is essential for the healthiness of a
   Christian's soul that he should walk very carefully and prayerfully
   before the Lord--otherwise he will miss the blessing of them of whom it
   is said, "These are they which follow the Lamb where ever He goes." To
   be blessed in death we must keep the commandments of God.

   The next mark of the blessed dead is, that they kept "the faith of
   Jesus." This is another point upon which I would speak thunderbolts, if
   I could, for to keep the faith of Jesus is an undertaking much
   ridiculed nowadays. "Doctrines," one says, "we are tired of
   doctrines!"--

   "For forms and creeds let graceless bigots fight, He can't be wrong
   whose life is in the right." The opinion is current that to be fluent
   and original is the main thing in preaching and, provided a man is a
   clever orator, it is a proper thing to hear him. The Lord will wither
   with the breath of His nostrils that cleverness in any man which
   departs from the simplicity of the Truth of God! There is a Gospel and,
   "there is also another gospel which is not another, but there are some
   that trouble you." There is a yes, yes, and there is a no, no--and woe
   unto those whose preaching is yes and no, for it shall not stand in the
   Great Day when the Lord shall try every man's work of what sort it

   is. Search, my Brothers and Sisters, and know what the Gospel is--and
   when you know it, hold it--hold it as with a hand of iron and never
   relax your grasp!

   Grievous wolves have come in among us, wolves of another sort to what
   were used to be in the Churches, yet, verily, after the same fashion
   they come disguised in sheep's clothing! They use our very terms and
   phrases, meaning all the while something else! They take away the
   essentials and vitalities of the faith and replace them with their own
   inventions, which they brag of as being more consistent with modern
   thought and with the culture of this very advanced and enlightened age,
   which seems by degrees to be advancing, half of it to Paganism with the
   Ritualists and the other half of it to Atheism with the Rationalists.
   From such advances may God save us! May we be enabled to keep the faith
   and uphold the Truths of God which we know, by which, also, we are
   saved!

   I, for one, cannot desert the grand doctrines of the atoning blood, the
   substitutionary work of Christ and the Truths which cluster around
   them. And why can I not desert these things? Because my life, my peace,
   my hope hang upon them. I am a lost man if there is no Substitutionary
   Sacrifice, and I know it! If the Son of God did not die, "the Just for
   the unjust, to bring us to God," I must be damned! And, therefore, all
   the instincts of my nature cling to the faith of Jesus. How can I give
   up that which has redeemed my soul and given me joy and peace and a
   hope hereafter? I beseech you, do not waver in your belief, but keep
   the faith, lest you be like some in old time, who "made shipwreck of
   faith and a good conscience," and were utterly cast away. Woe unto
   those who keep not the doctrines of the Gospel, for in due time they
   forget its precepts, also, and become utterly reprobate! In departing
   from Christ men forsake their own mercies both for life and death. The
   blessed who die in the Lord are those who "keep the commandments of God
   and the faith of Jesus."

   Notice that these people continue faithful till they die. For it is
   said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Final perseverance
   is the crown of the Christian life. "You did run well; what did hinder
   you that you should not obey the Truth?" Vain is it to begin to
   build--we must crown the edifice--or all men will deride us. Helmet and
   plume, armor and sword--are all assumed for nothing unless the warrior
   fights on till he has secured the victory. Those who thus entered into
   rest, exercised themselves in labors for Christ. For it is said, "They
   rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." The idle
   Christian can have little hope of a reward. He who serves not his
   Master can scarcely expect that his Master will at the last gird
   Himself and serve him!

   If I address any here who are not bringing forth fruit unto God, I can
   say no less than this, "Every tree that brings not forth fruit is hewn
   down and cast into the fire." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
   whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." The rule is invariable.
   It must be so. If there are no works and no labors for Christ, no
   suffering or patient endurance, we lack the main evidence of being the
   people of God at all! To close this description of character, these
   people who die in the Lord were in the Lord. That is the great point!
   They could not have died in the Lord if they had not lived in the Lord.

   But are we in the Lord? Is the Lord, by faith, in us? Dear Hearer, are
   you resting upon Jesus Christ only? Is He all your salvation and all
   your desire? What is your reply to my enquiry? You are not perfect, but
   Jesus is! Are you hanging upon Him as the vessel hangs upon the nail?
   You cannot expect to stand before God with acceptance in yourself, but
   are you, "accepted in the Beloved"? That is the question--"accepted in
   the Beloved." Are you in Christ, and is Christ in you by real vital
   union--by a faith that is the gift of God and the work of the Holy
   Spirit in your soul? Answer, I charge you, for if you cannot answer
   these things before one of your own flesh and blood, how will you
   answer in your soul when the Lord, Himself shall come?

   II. So much with regard to the character. And now a very few words with
   regard to THE BLESSEDNESS which is ascribed to those who die in the
   Lord. "They rest from their labors." By this is meant that the saints
   in Heaven rest from such labors as they performed here. No doubt they
   fulfill service in Heaven. It would be an unhappy Heaven in which there
   should be nothing for our activities to spend themselves upon. But such
   labors as we can do here will not fall to our lot there. There we shall
   not teach the ignorant, or rebuke the erring, or comfort the
   desponding, or help the needy.

   There we cannot oppose the teacher of error, or do battle against the
   tempter of youth. There no little children can be gathered at our knee
   and trained for Jesus. No sick ones can be visited with the Word of
   comfort, no backsliders led back, no young converts confirmed, no
   sinners converted. They rest from such labors as these in Heaven. They
   rest from their labors in the sense that they are no longer subject to
   the toil of labor. Whatever they do in Heaven will yield then

   refreshment and never cause them weariness. As some birds are said to
   rest upon the wing, so do the saints find, in holy activity, their
   serenest repose. They serve Him day and night in His Temple and therein
   they rest.

   Even as on earth, by wearing our Lord's yoke, we find rest unto our
   souls, so in the perfect obedience of Heaven, complete repose is found.
   They rest, also, from the woe of labor, for I find the word has been
   read by some, "they rest from their wailing." The original is a word
   which signifies to beat and, therefore, as applied to beating on the
   breast it indicates sorrow. But the beating may signify conflict with
   the world, or labor in any form. The sorrow of work for Jesus is over
   with for all the blessed dead. Nothing is allowed to approach to molest
   their sweet peace. They shall no more say that they are sick, neither
   shall adversity afflict them. Their rest is perfect.

   I do not know whether the idea of rest is cheering to all of you, but
   to some of us whose work exceeds our strength, it is full of
   pleasantness. Some have bright thoughts of service hereafter and I hope
   we all have, but to those who have more to do for Christ than the weary
   brain can endure--the prospect of a rest has in it the ocean of rest
   and very pleasant. They rest from their labors. To the servant of the
   Lord it is very sweet to think that when we reach our heavenly home we
   shall rest from the faults of our labors. We shall make no mistakes
   there! We shall never use too strong language or mistaken words, nor
   err in spirit, nor fail through excess or lack of zeal. We shall rest
   from all that which grieves us in the retrospect of our service.

   Our holy things up there will not need to be wept over, though now they
   are daily salted with our tears. We shall, there, rest from the
   discouragements of our labor. There, no cold-hearted Brethren will damp
   our ardor, or accuse us of evil motives. No desponding Brethren will
   warn us that we are rash when our faith is strong and obstinate when
   our confidence is firm. None will pluck us by the sleeve and hold us
   back when we would run the race with all our might. None will chide us
   because our way is different from theirs--and none will foretell
   disaster and defeat when we confidently know that God will give us the
   victory. We shall also rest from the disappointments of labor. Dear
   Brother ministers, we shall not have to go home and tell our Lord that
   none have believed our report!

   We shall not go to our beds sleepless because certain of our members
   are walking inconsistently and others of them are backsliding, while
   those that we thought were converted have gone back again to the world.
   Here we must sow in tears--there we shall reap in joy! There we shall
   wear the crown, or rather cast it at our Master's feet. But here we
   must plunge deep into the sea to fetch up the pearls from the depths,
   that they may be set in His diadem. Here we labor, there we shall enjoy
   the fruits of toil where no blight or mildew can endanger the harvest.
   It will be a sweet thing to get away to Heaven, I am sure, to rest from
   all contentions among our fellow Christians. One of the hardest parts
   of Christ's service is to follow peace and to maintain His Truth at the
   same time.

   He is a wise chemist who can, in due proportions, blend the pure and
   the peaceable. He is no mean philosopher who can duly balance the
   duties of affection and faithfulness and show us how to smite the sin
   and love the sinner--to denounce the error and yet to cultivate
   affection for the Brother who has fallen into it. We shall not
   encounter this difficulty in yon bright world of Truth and Love, for
   both we and our Brethren shall be fully taught of the Lord in all
   things! We shall be free from the clouds and mists of doubt which now
   cover the earth and clear of the demon spirits which seek to ruin men's
   souls beneath the shadow of deadly falsehood. Blessed be God for this
   prospect! It will be joy, indeed, to meet no one but a saint! To speak
   with none but those who use the language of Canaan! To commune with
   none but the sanctified! Truly blessed are the dead which die in the
   Lord, if they reach to such as this--

   "To this our laboring souls aspire, With ardent pangs of strong
   desire." "Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem."

   III. The last matter for our consideration is THE REWARD of the blessed
   dead--"They rest from their labors and their works do follow them."
   They do not go before them--they have a Forerunner infinitely superior
   to their works, for Jesus and His finished work have led the way. "I
   go," He says, "to prepare a place for you." In effect He says to us,
   "Not your works, but Mine. Not your tears, but My blood. Not your
   efforts, but My finished work shall lead the van." How, then, do our
   works come? Do they march at our right hand or our left as subjects of
   cheering contemplation? No, no, we dare not take them as companions to
   comfort us!

   They follow us at our heels. They keep behind us out of sight and we,
   ourselves, in our desires after holiness, always outmarch them. The
   Christian should always keep his best services behind, always going
   beyond them, and never setting

   them before his eyes as objects for congratulation. The preacher should
   labor to preach the best sermons possible, but he must never have them
   before him so as to cause him, in self-satisfaction, to say, "I have
   done well." Nor should he have them by his side, as if he rested in
   them, or leaned upon them--for this were to make antichrists of them.
   No, let them come behind! That is their proper place. Believers know
   where to put good works--they do not despise them, they never say a
   word to depreciate the Law, or undervalue the Graces of the Holy
   Spirit--but still they dare not put their holiest endeavors in the
   place of Christ. Jesus goes before, works follow after.

   Note well, that the works are in existence and are
   mentioned--immortality and honor belong to them. The works of godly men
   are not insignificant or unimportant as some seem to think. They are
   not forgotten, they are not as the sere leaves of last year's summer.
   They are full of life and bloom profusely. They follow the saints as
   they ascend to Heaven, even as the silver trail follows in the wake of
   the vessel. I pictured, just now, a man burning at the stake. His
   enemies thought they had destroyed his work, but they only deepened its
   hold upon the age in which he suffered--and projected his influence
   into the effect for ages to come! They made a pile of his books and, as
   they blazed before his eyes, they said, "There is an end of you and
   your heresies."

   Ah, what fools men have become! Truth is not vanquished with such
   weapons, no, nor so much as wounded! Think of the case of Wycliffe,
   which I need not repeat to you. They threw his ashes into the
   brook--the brook carried them to the river and the river to the
   sea--till every wave bore its portion of the precious relics, just as
   the influence of his preaching has been felt on every shore!
   Persecutors concluded beyond all question that they had made an end of
   a good man's teaching when they had burned him and thrown away his
   ashes--but they forgot that the Truth of God often gathers a more
   vigorous life from the death of the man who speaks it--and books once
   written have an immortality which laughs at fire!

   Thousands of infidel and heathen works have gone, so that not a copy is
   to be found--I hope they never may be unearthed from the salutary
   oblivion which entombs them--but books written for the Master and His
   Truth, though buried in obscurity, are sure of a resurrection! Fifty
   years ago our old Puritan authors' writings, yellow with age and
   arrayed in dingy bindings, wandered about in sheep-skins and
   goat-skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented--but they have been brought
   forth in new editions! Every library is enriched with them! The most
   powerful religious thought is affected by their utterances and will be
   till the end of time! You cannot kill a good man's work, nor a good
   woman's work, either, though it is only the teaching of a few children
   in Sunday school. You do not know to whom you may be teaching Christ,
   but assuredly you are sowing seed which will blossom and flower in the
   far off ages.

   When Mrs. Wesley taught her sons, little did she think what they would
   become. You do not know who may be in your class, my young Friend. You
   may have there a young Whitfield and, if the Lord enables you to lead
   him to Jesus, he will bring thousands to decision. Yes, at your breast,
   good woman, there may be hanging one whom God will make a burning and a
   shining light! And if you train that little one for Jesus, your work
   will never be lost. No holy tear is forgotten, it is in God's bottle.
   No desire for another's good is wasted, God has heard it.

   A word spoken for Jesus, a mite cast into Christ's treasury, a gracious
   line written to a friend--all these are things which shall last when
   yonder sun has blackened into a coal and the moon has curdled into a
   clot of blood. Deeds done in the power of the Spirit are eternal!
   Therefore, "Be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
   of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in
   the Lord." Good works follow Christians and they will be rewarded. The
   rewards of Heaven will be all of Grace, but there will be rewards. You
   cannot read the Scripture without perceiving that the Lord, first,
   gives us good works, and then, in His Grace, rewards us for them! There
   is a, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and there is a
   proportionate allotment of reward to the man who was faithful with five
   talents and the man who was faithful with two.

   You who live for Jesus may be quite certain that your life will be
   recompensed in the world to come. I repeat it, the reward will not be
   of debt, but of Grace--but a reward there will be. Oh, the joy of
   knowing, when you are gone, that the Truth of God you preached is still
   living! I think the Apostles, since they have been in Heaven, must
   often have looked down on the world and marveled at the work which God
   helped 12 poor fishermen to do! And they must have felt a growing
   blessedness as they have seen nations converted by the Truth which they
   preached in feebleness. What must be the joy of a pastor in Glory to
   find his spiritual children coming in, one by one! I think, if I may, I
   shall go down to the gate and linger there to look for some of you.
   Yes, not a few shall I welcome as my children there, blessed be the
   name of the Lord, and what a joy it will be!

   You teachers--you, my good Sister, who has brought so many to Christ--I
   cannot but believe that it shall multiply your Heaven to see your dear
   ones entering it! You will have a Heaven in every one of those whose
   feet you guided there! You will joy in their joy and praise the Lord in
   their praise. No, no, the good old cause shall never die and the Truth
   of God shall never perish! As I have lately read many hard things that
   have been spoken against the Gospel, and as in going up and down
   throughout this land I have seen the nation wholly given to idolatry, I
   have felt something of the spirit of the Pole who, wherever he wanders,
   says to himself, "No, Poland, you shall never perish!" Despite the
   darkness and ill-savor of the times, the Gospel nears its triumph. It
   can never perish!

   Great men may fall, great reputations may grow obscure, grand
   philosophies may be cast into the shade, monstrous infidelities may win
   popularity and old superstitions may come back, again, to darken us,
   but Your Cross, Emmanuel, Your pure and simple Gospel, the faith our
   fathers loved and died for, must continue to be earth's brightest
   light--her daystar--till the day dawns and the shadows flee away! The
   vessel of the Church can never be wrecked! She rocks and reels in the
   mad tempest, but she is sound from stem to stern, and her Pilot steers
   her with a hand Omnipotently wise! Her bow is in the wave, but look,
   she divides the sea and shakes off the mountainous billows as a lion
   shakes the dew from his mane! Fiercer storms than those of the present
   have beat upon her and yet she has kept her eye to the wind--and in the
   very teeth of Hell's tremendous tempests she has plowed her glorious
   way!

   And so she will till she reaches her appointed haven. The Lord lives
   and the Lord reigns, and Christ from the Cross has gone to the
   Throne--from Gethsemane and Golgotha up to Glory--and all power is
   given unto Him in Heaven and in earth. We have nothing to do but to go
   on preaching the Gospel and baptizing in His name, according to His
   bidding. And the day shall come when the might shall be with the right
   and the Truth--and the right hand of Jesus with the iron rod shall
   break His adversaries and reward His friends.

   The Lord acknowledges every one of us who are on His side, but if we
   are not on His side, oh, that we may speedily become so by repentance
   and faith! May the Lord turn us and we shall be turned, for if,
   "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," depend upon it, cursed
   are they that die out of Christ--yes, cursed with a curse--and their
   works shall follow them or go before them, unto judgement, to their
   condemnation! May Infinite Mercy save us from being howled at by our
   works in the next world, save us from being hunted down by the wolves
   of our past sins risen from the dead! Remember, unless we are forgiven,
   our transgressions will rise from the grave of forgetfulness and gather
   around us, and tear us in pieces--and there shall be none to deliver.

   May we fly, even now, to Jesus, and through faith in His blood be
   delivered from all evil, that we also may have it said of us, "Blessed
   are the dead which die in the Lord." The Lord bless you for Christ's
   sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Revelation 16. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--878, 853, 852.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Leading of the Spirit, The Secret Token of the Sons of God

   (No. 1220)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
   Romans 8:14.

   CHILDREN are expected to bear some likeness to their parents. Children
   of God, born of the grandest of all parents, regenerated by the
   almighty energy of the Divine Spirit, are sure to bear a high degree of
   likeness to their heavenly Father. We cannot be like God in many of His
   Divine attributes, for they are unique and incommunicable--it is not
   possible for us to wield His power, or to possess His infinite
   knowledge--neither can we be independent and self-existent, or
   possessors of sovereignty or worshipfulness. Man can never be so
   expressly the image of the Father as Jesus is, for He is, in a
   mysterious sense, the only-begotten Son of God. We can imitate God,
   however, in many of His attributes, mainly those of a moral and
   spiritual kind. We must, in these qualities be "imitators of God as
   dear children," or our heavenly pedigree cannot be made out.

   The point mentioned in the text must never be a matter of question, for
   if that is doubtful, our filial relationship to God is unproved. We
   must be, "led by the Spirit of God." That Divine Spirit who is ever
   with the Father and the Son must be always with us so that we are
   guided, instructed, impelled, quickened, actuated and influenced by
   Him, or else we must not dare to think ourselves the sons of God. The
   idea of a Divine Fatherhood extending over all mankind does not appear
   to have been recognized by the Apostle Paul, in this text, at any rate.
   Here the fatherhood is for some, not for all, and the text
   discriminates between the, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God,"
   and the rest of mankind who are under no such influence.

   In men who are devoid of the Holy Spirit there is another spirit--and
   that other spirit marks them out as sons of another father--"they are
   of their father the devil, for his works they do." There have been two
   seeds from the beginning--the Seed of the woman and the seed of the
   serpent--and it is both untrue and immoral to believe God stands in the
   same relation to the two opposing families. No, my Brothers and
   Sisters, our Father who is in Heaven is not to be claimed as father by
   the unbeliever, for to them Jesus expressly says, "If God were your
   Father, you would love Me." The text furnishes us with a very simple,
   but sharp and decisive test which we shall do well to use upon
   ourselves. It should be employed to try every one of us.

   If it had said, "As many as have been baptized are the sons of God," we
   might have been content to sit very easily in our places. If it had
   said, "As many as eat and drink at the holy feast of Christian
   fellowship are the children of God," we might have remembered how short
   a time ago we were sitting with the saints around the communion table.
   If the doing of certain external acts, or the utterance of certain
   prayers, or the avowal of orthodox principles, or abstinence from the
   grosser vices had been made the royal mark and heavenly seal of the
   children of God we might have taken our ease after ascertaining that we
   are correct as to these things. If being united with an earnest Church
   and being members of a faithful community had been Divinely ordained to
   be an unquestionable certificate of sonship with the Lord Most High, we
   might have rested perfectly satisfied without putting ourselves into
   the crucible.

   But, since these things are not so arranged, I trust that none of us
   will be so unwise as to neglect the examination which the text suggests
   to every prudent mind. Come, my Brethren, take nothing for granted on
   so weighty a business as your soul's eternal interests, but search for
   evidence and see to the matter as wise householders would do if their
   whole substance were at stake. Those who are "led by the Spirit of God"
   are the sons of God. Those who are not led by the Spirit of God are not
   His sons. Therefore search and see what spirit is in you, that you may
   know whose children you are.

   To help you in this matter I purpose that we should consider, first,
   where it is that the Spirit of God leads men, that we may see whether
   He has ever led us there.

   I. WHERE DOES THE SPIRIT OF GOD LEAD THE SONS OF GOD? First of all, He
   leads them to repentance. One of the first acts of the Holy Spirit is
   to guide the sons of God to the Mercy Seat with tears in their eyes. He
   leads us into the abominable chambers of imagery concealed within our
   fallen nature, unfastens door after door and sets open before our
   enlightened eyes the secret places polluted with idols and loathsome
   images portrayed upon the wall. He points out with His hands of Light
   the idol gods, the images of jealousy, the unclean and abominable
   things within our nature and thus He astonishes us into humility.

   We could not have believed that such evil things haunted our souls, but
   His discoveries undeceive us and correct our boastful estimates of
   ourselves. Then, with that same finger, He points to our past life and
   shows us the blots, the errors, the willful sins, the sins of
   ignorance, the aggravated transgressions, the offenses against Light
   and knowledge which have marred our career from our youth up. And
   whereas, previously, we looked upon the pages of our life and thought
   them fair, when the Spirit has led us into Light we see how black our
   history has been and, being filled with shame and terror, we cry out to
   God that we may confess our sin and acknowledge that if He should throw
   us into Hell, it would be no more than we deserve!

   Dear Friend, did the Holy Spirit ever lead you to the stool of
   repentance? Did He ever cause you to see how basely you have treated
   your God and how shamefully you have neglected your Savior? Did He ever
   make you bemoan yourself for your iniquities? There is no way to Heaven
   but by the weeping-cross. He who never felt the burden of his sin will
   yet be crushed beneath its enormous weight when, like some tottering
   cliff in Judgment's dreadful hour, it will fall upon him and grind him
   to powder! No man ever goes to the chamber of true repentance till the
   Holy Spirit leads him there, but every child of God knows what it is to
   look on Him whom he has pierced and mourn for his sin. Holy sorrow for
   sin is as indispensable as faith in the atoning blood, and the same
   Spirit who gives us peace through the great Sacrifice also works in us
   a hearty grief for having grieved the Lord.

   If you have, from your youth up, never felt any special mourning for
   sin, then may God begin the gracious work in your heart, for salvation
   is certainly not worked in you. You must have repentance, for
   repentance is absolutely necessary to the Divine Life. "Except you
   repent you shall all likewise perish." The prodigal must cry, "Father,
   I have sinned!" The publican must smite his breast and pray, "God be
   merciful to me a sinner." As well destroy one of the valves of the
   heart and yet hope to live as take away repentance which is the
   inseparable life-companion of faith. A dry-eyed faith is no faith at
   all. When a man has his face towards Jesus, his back is necessarily
   turned on his sins. As well look for spring in the garden without the
   snowdrop as look for Grace in the heart without penitence.

   That faith which is not accompanied by repentance is a spurious faith,
   and not the faith of God's elect, for no man ever trusts Christ till he
   feels he needs a Savior. And he cannot have felt that he needs a Savior
   unless he has been wearied with the burden of his sin. The Holy Spirit
   leads men, first, to repentance. He leads them at the same time, while
   they think little of themselves, to think much of Jesus. Were you ever
   led to the Cross, Beloved? Did you ever stand there and feel the burden
   fall off your shoulders and roll into the Redeemer's sepulcher?

   When Dr. Neale, the eminent Ritualist, took John Bunyan's, "Pilgrim's
   Progress," and Romanized it, he represented the Pilgrim as coming to a
   certain bath into which he was plunged and washed--and then his burden
   was washed away! He explains this to be the bath of "baptism," though I
   have never yet seen in any Ritualistic church a baptistery large enough
   to wash a pilgrim! However, according to this doctored edition of the
   allegory, Christian was washed in the laver of "baptism" and all his
   sins were thus removed. That is the High Church mode of getting rid of
   sin! John Bun-yan's way--the true way--is to lose it at the Cross!

   Now, mark what happened. According to Dr. Neale's, "Pilgrim's
   Progress," that burden grew again on the pilgrim's back, and I do not
   wonder that it did, for a burden which "baptism" can remove is sure to
   come again! But the burden which is lost at the Cross never appears
   again, forever! There is no effectual cleansing for sin except by faith
   in that matchless Atonement offered once and for all on the bloody
   tree! And as many as are led there by the Spirit of God are the sons of
   God! The Spirit of God never led a man to think little of Christ and
   much of priests. The Spirit of God never led a man to think little of
   the atoning blood and of simple faith in it, and much of outward forms
   and ceremonies! The Spirit of God sinks the man and lifts up the
   Savior! He lowers flesh and blood into the grave and gives to man new
   life in the risen Lord who also has ascended up on high! "He shall
   glorify Me," said Christ of the Comforter, and that, indeed, is the
   Comforter's office.

   Now, my dear Friends, has the Spirit ever made the Lord Jesus glorious
   in your eyes? Brothers and Sisters, this is the one point above all
   others. If the Holy Spirit has never made Christ precious to you, you
   know nothing about Him! If He has not lifted Jesus up and sunk your own
   confidences. If He has not made you feel that Christ is all you need
   and that you find more than all in Him, then He has never worked a
   Divine change in your heart. Repentance and Faith must stand gazing
   upon the bleeding Savior or else Hope will never join them and bring
   Peace as his companion.

   When the Spirit has glorified Jesus, He leads us to know other Truths.
   The Holy Spirit leads the sons of God into all Truth. Others go astray
   after this falsehood or that, but the sheep of God will not hear the
   voice of strange leaders-- their ears are closed to their
   flatteries--"A stranger will they not follow, for they know not the
   voice of strangers." Beloved, no lie is of the Truth of God, and no man
   who receives a lie has been led by the Spirit of God into it, let him
   say what he may.

   On the other hand, Truth is like a closed chamber to the unregenerate
   man. He may read the table of contents of the precious storehouse, but
   into that secret room he cannot enter--there is One that has the key of
   David, who opens and no man shuts--and the key with which He opens is
   the power of the Holy Spirit! When He opens up a doctrine to a man, the
   man learns it aright, but he never can know it otherwise. You may go to
   college and sit at the feet of the most learned Gamaliel of the day,
   but you can never know the Truth of God in the heart unless the Holy
   Spirit shall teach you. We never know a Truth in the power of it till
   it is burned into our soul, as with a hot iron, by an experience of its
   power, or engraved as upon brass by the mystic Revelation of the
   Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can interweave the Truth with the heart
   and make it part and parcel of ourselves, so that it is in us and we
   are in it. Have you thus been led into the Truth of God? If so, give
   God the glory, for thus the Spirit of God certifies your adoption!

   The children of God are led not only into knowledge, but into love.
   They are brought to feel the warmth of love as well as to see the light
   of Truth. The Spirit of God causes every true-born son of God to burn
   with love to the rest of the family. He who is a stranger to Christian
   love is a stranger to Divine Grace. Brothers and Sisters, we have our
   disputes, for we dwell where it must be that offenses come. But we
   should be slow to take offense and slower, still, to give it, for we
   are one in Christ Jesus and our hearts are knit together by His Spirit.

   I take it that no honest man ought to hold his tongue concerning any of
   the errors of the day--it is a dishonest way of cultivating ease for
   yourself and gaining a popularity not worth the having! We must speak
   the Truth of God whether we offend or please, but this is to be done in
   love and because of love. God save us from that suggestion of Satan
   which advises us to speak only those soft things which please men's
   ears, for he who gives way to this persuasion is a traitor to Truth and
   to the souls of men. The true man of God must speak against every evil
   and false way--but there beats in his heart a strong affection to every
   child of God--whatever his errors and his faults may be.

   The knife of the surgeon is mercifully cruel to the cancer, not out of
   ill-will to his patient, but out of an honest desire to benefit him.
   Such affectionate faithfulness we have need to cultivate. Love to the
   saints is the token of the saints. There is an inner Church of God's
   own elect within every one of the Christian denominations--and this
   Church is made up of men spiritually enlightened--who know the marrow
   and mystery of the Gospel. Whenever they meet, however diversified may
   be their views, they recognize one another by a sort of sacred
   code--the one Spirit which quickens them all alike leaps within them as
   it recognizes the one life in the bosoms of others.

   Despite their mental divergences, ecclesiastical associations and
   doctrinal differences, spiritual men no sooner hear the password and
   catch the mystic sign, than they cry, "Give me your hand, my Brother,
   for my heart is even as your heart. The Spirit of God has led me and he
   has led you. And in our way we tread step by step together. Therefore
   let us have fellowship with each other." The outsiders of the camp, the
   mixed multitude that come up out of Egypt with our Israel, fall both
   into fighting and lusting--but the children of the living God, who make
   the central bodyguard of the ark of the Lord, are one in heart with
   each other and must be so. "We know that we have passed from death unto
   life, because we love the Brethren."

   The Holy Spirit leads us into intense love for the souls of sinners. If
   any man shall say, "It is no business of mine whether men are lost or
   saved," the Spirit of God never led him into such inhumanity. Hearts of
   iron have never felt the touch of the Spirit of Love. If ever a
   preacher's spirit and teaching legitimately lead you to the conclusion
   that you may view the damnation of your fellow men with complacency or
   indifference, you may be sure that the Spirit of God never led him or
   you in that direction! The devil has more to do with some men's
   pitiless theology than they imagine. Christ's

   eyes wept over the sinner's doom--may the Lord save us from thinking of
   it in any other spirit! He who does not love his fellow man whom he has
   seen--how can he love God whom he has not seen? Does God look with
   complacency upon the ruin of our race? Did He not love men so well that
   He gave His only-begotten Son for them? And will He have His own
   children cold, stoical and indifferent to the loss of human souls?
   Beloved, if we dwell with Cain and cry, "Am I my brother's keeper?" the
   Spirit of God never led us there! He leads us into tenderness,
   sympathy, compassion and tearful effort, if by any means we may save
   some.

   The Spirit of God leads the sons of God into holiness. I shall not
   attempt to define what holiness is. That is best seen in the lives of
   holy men. Can it be seen in your lives? Beloved, if you are of a
   fierce, unforgiving spirit, the Holy Spirit never led you there. If you
   are proud and hectoring, the Holy Spirit never led you. If you are
   covetous and lustful after worldly gain, the Holy Spirit never led you
   there. If you are false in your statements and unjust in your actions,
   the Holy Spirit never led you there. If I hear of a professor of
   religion in the ballroom or the theater, I know that the Holy Spirit
   never led him there. If I find a child of God mixing with the ungodly,
   using their speech and doing their actions, I am persuaded the Holy
   Spirit never led him there.

   But if I see a man living as Christ would have lived, loving and
   tender, fearless, brave, honest and in all things minding to keep a
   good conscience before God and men, I hope that the Spirit of God has
   led him. If I see that man devout before his God and full of integrity
   before his fellow men, then I hope and believe that the Spirit of God
   is His leader and influences his character. "The fruit of the Spirit is
   love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
   temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's
   have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." I do not wish
   to speak sharply, but I feel that I must speak plainly--and I feel
   bound to say that there is far too much hypocrisy among professing
   Christian people.

   Many wear the name of Christian and have nothing else that is Christian
   about them. It is sorrowful that it should be so, but so it is--false
   professors have lowered the standard of Christian character and made
   the Church so like the world that it is hard to say where one begins
   and the other ends. We exercise Church discipline as best we can, but,
   for all that, there is a seed of mischief which does not develop into
   open and overt sin which we cannot remove by discipline, for we are
   forbidden to root up the tares lest we root up the wheat with them. Men
   and Brethren, we must be holy! It is of no use our talking about being
   orthodox in belief--we must be orthodox in life--and if we are not, the
   most sound creed will only increase our damnation!

   I hear men boast that they are Nonconformists to the backbone, as if
   that were the essential matter! Better far be Christians to the heart!
   What is the use of ecclesiastical Nonconformity if the heart is still
   conformed to the world? Another man will glory that he is a Conformist,
   but what is the good of that unless he is conformed to the image of
   Christ? Holiness is the main consideration and if we are not led into
   it by the Spirit of Holiness neither are we the sons of God!
   Furthermore, the Holy Spirit leads those who are the children of God
   into vital godliness--the mystic essence of spiritual life. For
   instance, the Holy Spirit leads the saints to prayer, which is the
   vital breath of their souls. Whenever they get true access to the Mercy
   Seat it is by His power.

   The Holy Spirit leads them to search the Word and opens their
   understandings to receive it. He leads them into meditation and the
   chewing of the cud of the Truth of God. He leads them into fellowship
   with Himself and with the Son of God. He lifts them right away from
   worldly cares into heavenly contemplations. He leads them away to the
   heavenly places, where Christ sits at the right hand of God and where
   His saints reign with Him. Beloved, have you ever felt these leadings?
   I am talking of them, but do you understand them? Are these things
   matters of constant experience with you? It is easy to say, "Yes, I
   know what you mean." Have you felt them? Are these everyday things with
   you? As the Lord lives, if you have not been led into prayer and into
   communion with God, the Spirit of God is not in you, and you are none
   of

   His!

   The Spirit of God, moreover, leads the sons of God into
   usefulness--some in one path and some in another--while a few are
   conducted into very eminent service and into self-consecration of the
   highest order. We bless God for Missionaries who have been led of the
   Spirit of God among the wildest tribes to preach Jesus Christ. We thank
   God for holy women who, at home, have been led into the darkest parts
   of this city to labor among the most fallen and depraved, to lift up
   Christ before them that He might lift them up to Himself. Blessed are
   those men and women who are led by the Spirit of God into labors more
   abundant, for the more abundant shall be their joy.

   I think I ought to remind you all that if you are doing nothing for
   Jesus, the Spirit of God has never led you into this idleness. If you
   eat the fat and drink the sweet in the House of God, but never do a
   hand's turn for the household, the Spirit of God cannot have taught you
   this abominable sloth! There is a something for every one of us to
   do--a talent committed to the charge of every Believer--and if we have
   the Spirit of God dwelling in us, He will tell us what the Lord has
   appointed us to perform. He will strengthen us for the doing of it and
   set His seal and blessing upon it when it is done. Those dead branches
   of the vine which yield no clusters for the Lord, either by patience in
   suffering or activity in working, have no evidence that they are of the
   household of faith! Those who take no part in labors for Jesus can
   hardly hope that they will ultimately be partakers in His Glory with
   Him.

   Thus have I, in a plain manner, without diving too deeply into the
   matter, given you an answer to the question, "Where does the Spirit of
   God lead the sons of God?"

   II. I shall now answer another question with still greater brevity--How
   DOES THE SPIRIT LEAD THE SONS OF GOD? The reply would be this--the
   Spirit of God operates upon our spirits mysteriously. We cannot explain
   His mode of operation, except that we shall probably be right if we
   conclude that He operates upon our spirits somewhat in the same way in
   which our spirits operate upon other men's spirits, only after a nobler
   sort. Now, how do I influence the spirit of my friend? I do it,
   usually, by imparting to him something which I know, which I hope will
   have power over his mind by suggesting motives to him and so
   influencing his acts. I cannot operate upon my neighbor's mind
   mechanically. No tool can touch the heart, no hand can shape the mind.
   We act upon matter by machinery, but upon mind by argument, by reason,
   by instruction and so we endeavor to fashion men as we desire.

   One great instrument which the Holy Spirit uses upon the mind is the
   Word of God. The Word, as we have it printed in the Bible, is the great
   instrument in the hand of the Spirit for leading the children of God in
   the right way. If you want to know what you ought to do, say as the old
   Scotchman used to say to his wife, "Reach down yon Bible." That is the
   map of the way--the heavenly pilgrim's knapsack guide--and if you are
   led by the Word of God, the Spirit of God is with the Word and works
   through it, and you are led by the Spirit of God. Quote chapter and
   verse for an action and, unless you have twisted the passage, you may
   rest assured you have acted rightly. Be sure that such-and-such a thing
   is a command of God written in the Book, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
   and you do not need a voice of thunder from Heaven or an angelic
   whisper--you have a more sure Word of prophecy, unto which you will do
   well if you take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place.

   The Spirit of God also speaks through His ministers. The Word preached
   is often blessed, as well as the Word written, but this can only be the
   case when the Word preached is in conformity with the Word written. At
   times God's ministers seem to give the written Word its own voice, so
   that it sounds forth as if just spoken by the seer who originally
   received it. As they speak, it drops into the ears like honey from the
   comb. It leaps forth like water from the wellhead! And at such times it
   goes into the heart fresh and warm, with even a greater energy than
   when we read it alone in our chamber. How often do we feel, when we
   read a Truth of God in the Bible, (even though that Book is God's
   Word), our sluggish condition prevents its having such power over us as
   it has when a man of God who has experienced it and tasted it, and
   handled it, speaks of it as the outpouring of his own soul?

   May God grant that the ministry which you usually attend may be to you
   the voice of God. May it be guidance to your feet, comfort to your
   heart, invigoration to your faith and refreshment to your soul! And
   while you are sitting in the House of Prayer may you feel, "That Word
   is for me. I came here not knowing what to do, but I have received
   direction. I was faint and weary, but I have obtained consolation and
   strength. The voice of the pastor has been as the oracle of God to my
   soul and now I go my way comforted as Hannah did when the Lord's
   servant had spoken peace to her

   soul."

   Upon another point I would speak with great caution and would have you
   think of it with more caution, still, for it is a matter which has been
   sadly abused and turned to fanatical purposes. The Spirit of God does,
   I believe, directly, even apart from the Word, speak in the hearts of
   the saints. There are inward monitions which are to be devoutly obeyed.
   There are suggestions, mysterious and secret, which must be implicitly
   followed. It is not a subject for common talk, but is meant for the ear
   of the intelligent Believer who will not misunderstand us. There will
   come to you, sometimes, you know not why, certain inward checks, such
   as Paul received when he essayed to go into Mysia, but the Spirit
   suffered him not.

   There is a certain act which you might do or might not do, but an
   impulse comes upon you which seems to say, "Not that, or not now." Do
   not violate that inward restraint! "Quench not the Spirit." At another
   time a proper thing, a fit thing, will have been forgotten by you for a
   time, but it comes upon you strongly that it is to be done at once--and
   for some reason you cannot shake off the impression. Do no violence to
   that impulse! It is not to every man that the Holy Spirit speaks in
   such a way, but He has His favored ones, and these must jealously guard
   the privilege, for perhaps if they are deaf when He speaks, He may
   never again speak to them in that way. If we render reverent obedience
   to Divine monitions they will become far more common with us.

   "Why," says one, "you run into Quakerism." I cannot help that! If this
   is Quakerism I am so far a Quaker! Names do not concern me one way or
   another. You, each one, know whether your personal experience gives
   confirmation to what I have advanced, or otherwise. There let the
   question end, for, mark you, I advance this with caution and do not set
   up such monitions as indispensable signs of a son of God. There is a
   story told, (and many such some of us could tell almost as striking),
   of a certain friend who one night was influenced to take his horse from
   the stable and ride some six or seven miles to a certain house where
   lived a person whom he had never seen.

   He arrived at dead of night, knocked at the door and was answered by
   the master of the house, who seemed to be in great confusion of mind.
   The midnight visitor said, "Friend, I have been sent to you. I know not
   why, but surely the Lord has some reason for having sent me to you. Is
   there anything peculiar about your circumstances?" The man, struck with
   amazement, asked him to come upstairs and there showed him a halter
   tied to a beam. He was putting the rope about his neck to commit
   suicide when a knock sounded at the door. He resolved that he would go
   down and answer the call and then return and destroy himself. But the
   friend whom God had sent talked to him, brought him to a cooler mind
   and helped him in the pecuniary difficulty which embarrassed him, and
   the man lived to be an honorable Christian man.

   I solemnly declare that monitions equally powerful have guided me and
   their results have been remarkable to me, at any rate. For the most
   part these are secrets between God and my own soul. Neither am I eager
   to break the seal and tell them to others. There are too many swine
   about for us to be very lavish with our pearls. If we were obedient to
   such impulses, if we did not save suicides, we might save souls and
   might often be, in the hands of God, as angels sent from Heaven! But we
   are like the horse and the mule which have no understanding, whose
   mouth must be held in with bit and bridle--we are not tender enough to
   be sensitive to the Divine Influence when it comes, and so the Lord
   does not please to speak to many of us in this way so frequently as we
   would desire. Still, it is true that "as many as are led by the Spirit
   of God," however He may lead them, "they are the sons of God."

   Let me here remark that being, "led by the Spirit of God," is a
   remarkable expression. It does not say, "As many as are driven by the
   Spirit of God." No, the devil is a driver, and when he enters either
   into men or into hogs, he drives them furiously. Remember how the whole
   herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. Whenever you see a
   man fanatical and wild, whatever spirit is in him, it is not the Spirit
   of Christ! The Spirit of Christ is forcible. It works mightily, but it
   is a quiet Spirit. It is not an eagle, but a dove. He comes as a
   rushing wind and fills the house where the disciples are sitting, but
   at the same time He comes not as a whirlwind from the wilderness to
   smite the four corners of the habitation, or it would become a ruin.

   He comes as a flame of fire sitting upon each of the favored ones, but
   it is not a flame of fire that burns the house and destroys Jerusalem.
   No, the Spirit of God is gentle! He does not drive, but leads. "As many
   as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The Spirit
   treats us honorably in thus working. He does not deal with us as with
   dumb, driven cattle, or soulless waves of the sea. He treats us as
   intelligent beings, made for thought and reflection. He leads us as a
   man guides his child, or as one leads his fellow--and we are honored by
   subjecting our minds and wills to so Divine a Spirit. Whatever it is,
   the will is truly free until the Holy Spirit sweetly subdues it to
   willing obedience.

   Thus the Spirit of God works, though we cannot explain the method, for
   that is a thing too wonderful for us, and sooner may we know the path
   of an eagle in the air, or the way of a serpent upon a rock. As we
   cannot walk in search of the springs of the sea, so is this, also,
   hidden from all living. We have said somewhat upon the subject, and, as
   far as we can, have answered the question, "How does the Spirit of God
   lead the children of God?" But we are of yesterday and know nothing.
   And, therefore, confessing our ignorance, we pass on.

   III. The last question is, WHEN DOES THE SPIRIT LEAD THE SONS OF GOD?
   Ah, Brothers and Sisters, that

   question needs anxious answering. The Spirit of God would always lead
   the sons of God, but, alas, there are times when

   even children of God will not be led! They are willful and headstrong,
   and start aside. The healthy condition of a child of God is to be
   always led by the Spirit of God. Mark this--led by the Spirit
   everyday--not on Sundays only! Nor alone at periods set apart for
   prayer--but during every minute of every hour of everyday.

   We ought to be led by the Spirit in little things as well as in great
   matters, for, observe, if we were led by the Spirit all our lives in
   all matters, yet, if only one action apart from the Spirit were
   suffered to run to its full results, it would ruin us! The mercy is
   that the Lord restores our souls, but there is never a single hour when
   a Christian can afford to wander from the way of the Spirit. If you
   have a guide along an intricate pathway and you allow him to conduct
   you for half an hour, and then say, "Now, I shall direct myself for the
   next five minutes," in that short space you will lose the benefit of
   having a guide at all!

   It is clear that a pilot who only occasionally directs the ship is very
   little better than none. If you were traversing an unknown and
   difficult pathway it would render all directions useless if you were to
   say, "They told me to turn to the right at this tower, but I mean to
   try the left." That one turning will affect the whole of your later
   journey. If we err, and are really sons of God, our Divine Leader will
   make us retrace our steps with bitter tears and feel what an evil and
   bitter thing it is to have chosen our own delusions. If we use our
   Divine Leader wisely we shall always follow Him. Child of God, the
   Spirit must lead you in everything!

   "Well, but," you say, "will He?" Ah, "Will He?" Yes, to your
   astonishment! When you are in difficulties, consult the Holy Spirit in
   the Word. Hear what God speaks in the Inspired Volume and if no light
   comes from there, kneel down and pray. When you see a signpost in a
   country road, and it tells you which way to go, you are glad to follow
   its directions. But, if in your perplexities you see no signpost, what
   are you to do? Pray. Cast yourself upon the Divine Guide and you shall
   make no mistake, for even if you happen to pick the roughest road it
   will be the right one if you have selected it with holy caution and in
   the fear of God.

   Beloved, the Lord will never let a vessel be dashed upon the rocks
   whose tiller has been given into His hands. Give up the helm to God and
   your boat will thread the narrow winding channel of life, avoid every
   sandbank and sunken rock and arrive safely at the fair havens of
   eternal bliss! The question--when are the sons of God led by the
   Spirit? is to be answered thus--when they are as they should be they
   are always distinctly led by Him and though, owing to sin in them, they
   are not always obedient to the same degree, yet the power which usually
   influences their lives is the Spirit of God.

   Now I close, using the text thus. First as a test. Am I a child of God?
   If so, I am led by the Spirit. Am I led by the Spirit? I am afraid some
   of you never think of that matter. By whom are you led? Hundreds of
   religious people are led by their minister or by a Christian friend and
   so far, so good, for them. But their religion will be a failure unless
   they are led by the Spirit. Let me put the question again that you may
   not shirk it--Are you led by the Spirit? If you are, you are a child of
   God--if not, you are none of His.

   That gives me a second use of the text, namely, the use of consolation.
   If you are a child of God you will be led by the Spirit. Now, are you
   in doubt tonight? Are you embarrassed? Are you in difficulties? Then
   the sons of God are led by the Spirit and you will be led. Perhaps you
   are looking a long way ahead and you are afraid of difficulties in your
   old age, or at the death of a relative. Now, God has not given us eyes
   to pry into the future--so what is the use of our peering where we
   cannot see? Leave it all to your heavenly Father and you will be
   unerringly led by the Holy Spirit! When you come to the place where you
   thought there would be a difficulty, very likely there will be none.

   "Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?" said
   the holy women. But when they came to the sepulcher, lo, the stone was
   rolled away already! Go on as a child of God, walking by faith, with
   the full assurance that the path of faith, if not an easy one, will
   always be a safe one--and all will be well and you will be led in a
   right way to a city of habitations.

   The last word of all is, the text is an assurance. If you are led by
   the Spirit of God, then you are most certainly a son of God. Can you
   say, tonight, "I do yield myself up to the Lord's will. I am not
   perfect, I wish I were. I am burdened with a thousand infirmities, but
   yet if the Lord will teach me I am willing to learn. If He will have
   patience with me I will strive to follow Him. Oh, what would I give to
   be perfectly holy! I long to be pure within. I wish above all things
   else in this world that I may never grieve my God, but walk with Him in
   the Light as He is in the Light, and have fellowship with Him, while
   the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses me from all sin"?

   My Brother, my Sister, be well assured that none ever longed like that
   but a child of God! Flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you. No
   soul, except an heir of Heaven, ever had such wishes, aspirations and
   groaning after holiness, and such sorrow over failures and mistakes.
   The text does not say, "He who runs in the Spirit is a son of God," but
   he that is led by the Spirit of God. Now, we may stumble while we are
   being led. A man may go very slowly while he is being led. He may go on
   crutches as he is being led. He may even crawl on his hands and knees
   while he is being led. But none of these absolutely prevent his being
   truly led!

   With all your weaknesses and infirmities, the question still is--Are
   you led by the Spirit of God? If you are, all your infirmities and
   failures are forgiven you for Christ's sake, and your being led is the
   mark of your being born from above! Go home and rejoice in your
   sonship, and ask God, if you have been weak, to make you strong. If you
   have been lame ask Him to heal you. And, if you have crept along on
   your hands and knees, ask Him to help you to walk uprightly. But, after
   all that, bless Him that His Spirit does lead you! If you can only
   walk, ask Him to make you run. And if you can run, ask Him to make you
   mount on wings as eagles! Do not be satisfied with anything short of
   the highest attainments and, at the same time, if you have not reached
   them, do not despair!

   Remember that in most families there are babes as well as men and
   women--the little child in long clothes carried in the arms, and laid
   on the breast, is just as dear to the parent as the son who in the
   fullness of his manhood marches by his father's side and takes of his
   share in the battle of life. You are sons of God if you are led by the
   Spirit, however small your stature and feeble your Grace. The age,
   strength, or education of the man are not essential to his sonship--the
   trueness of his birth is the all-important matter. See to it that you
   are led by the Spirit, or your parentage is not from above!

   If you have been condemned by this sermon, then fly away to Jesus and
   penitently and trustfully rest in Him! May the Spirit of God lead you
   to do that and you are, then, a child of God. May He bless you now.
   Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Romans 8:1-17. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--722, 448, 456.
     __________________________________________________________________

Opening the Mouth

   (No. 1221)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Psalm 81:10.

   SOME have considered that our text contains an allusion to a singular
   custom of showing favor which has been occasionally adopted by Eastern
   monarchs. It is not a very long time ago that a former Shah of Persia
   bade an ambassador, who was in great favor with him, open his mouth,
   and when he had done so the monarch filled it with pearls and gems of
   great value which, of course, were a present to him. This certainly
   affords an illustration of the text, even if the passage contains no
   allusion to it. If we will but open the mouth of our desire, God will
   give to us mercies infinitely more precious than the rarest gems.

   I guarantee you that if any emperor or king should bid us open our
   mouths that we might have them filled with diamonds, we should be very
   sure to extend them to their largest possible capacity and, therefore,
   this custom may serve as a good enforcement of the text. Open your
   mouth wide, for God will not fill it with secondary things, but will
   satisfy you with Divine mercies of exceeding preciousness. I think,
   however, that the illustration which we have mentioned is far fetched
   and I seldom like an explanation of a passage of Scripture which
   demands the introduction of a very rare incident. Illustrations are
   used in Scripture not to perplex us, but to render the teaching more
   clear.

   We will, therefore, look to some more common act of Eastern life for
   the explanatory allusion. Those who have been at the tables of the
   Orientals know that there is another very common custom which meets the
   case. The host, when you are at supper, will take the fattest portions
   of the lamb, if that happens to be the meat, and he will apportion them
   to you. He may even take up the fattest and choicest morsels in his
   hand and, asking you to open your mouth, he will place them in it. This
   is a common practice of the country and lies at the bottom of many a
   Scriptural expression. "Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so
   that your youth is renewed like the eagles." "My soul shall be
   satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You
   with joyful lips," and a great many other texts which I might quote,
   all allude to that custom.

   A man greatly beloved would be asked to open his mouth wide that he
   might receive a very large portion of the dainties before him. I
   confess, however, that I am not much enamored with even this simile. I
   believe it to be a valuable side light, but I had rather, after all,
   look to Nature for an illustration than dwell upon a custom which is
   purely Oriental and is hardly relished by our Western delicacy. Come
   with me, then, to the woods, where the songsters of the grove have
   built their habitations. Look at the little birds in the nest, for
   there you have the text! They are newly hatched and unable to feed
   themselves and, therefore, they are wholly dependent upon the parent
   birds.

   When I have peered into their abode, they seemed, to me, to be all
   mouth and beak, with but faint trace of wings! If you put out your
   finger, or dangle a worm near them, no feature strikes you but those
   gaping ravenous mouths! When the mother bird brings food she never has
   to ask the little ones to open their mouths wide--her only difficulty
   is to fill the great width which they are quite sure to present to her!
   Appetite and eagerness are never lacking, they are utterly insatiable.
   If you need my text before your eyes in living realization, only
   picture a nest of little birds reaching up their mouths and all opening
   them as wide as they can.

   Instead of the poor little mother bird that has been hard at work to
   gather a scanty portion for one of them, you have an infinite God
   filling all open mouths and bidding them open again, for He is able to
   fill them, however many they may be, or however vast their needs! It is
   that great Lord of ours of whom it is written, "He shall cover you with
   His feathers and under His wings shall you trust," who now speaks to
   us, as little birds, and says, "Open your mouths wide, for I will fill
   them." That is, at any rate, a pleasing illustration of the test, even
   if it is not the exact idea which was in the Psalmist's mind. The text
   divides itself into the exhortation and the promise.

   I. The exhortation is, "OPEN YOUR MOUTH WIDE." How are we to do this?
   The precept relates to prayer and desire and the like. But there is
   also an exhortation to labor after a great sense of need. For what
   makes a bird open its mouth wide but its hunger? The young ravens cry
   because they need food and nobody will ever open his mouth wide for
   spiritual blessings until he has a very deep and solemn sense of his
   need before God. You sinners will never pray till you know you need
   something--why should you? All the prayers offered by people who have
   no needs are so much vain complimenting of God. If you have no sense of
   need how can you pray?

   Would you knock at the door of charity and then tell the good man of
   the house that you require nothing of him? Is not that man an arrant
   trifler who rings the surgery bell but tells the surgeon that he has
   nothing the matter with him and does not need his care? Prayers that
   are not based upon a sense of need are mockeries. And I say this to
   Christians, too. You never pray, Brothers and Sisters, except when you
   are in need--and rest assured when you think you have no more needs you
   have lost the strongest motive for prayer and the main element of power
   in it. You may feel, at times, that there is little to request on your
   own account and you may rejoice that the Lord has filled you to the
   full for the time being, but then there are the needs of the Church and
   of the world--and these should press upon your heart as if they were
   your own.

   You cannot pray without a sense of need, it is out of the question. The
   man who comes to you begging because he has not a night's lodging, or
   has not broken his fast all day, how well he begs! You do not need to
   send him to school to learn the art of begging--his hungry belly makes
   him eloquent! And so, when a man feels he must have heavenly blessings
   or be lost. Or when he feels that, being saved, he must still be kept
   by daily Grace, or else he will start aside. Or when he feels that his
   work of faith and labor of love will be good for nothing without the
   Divine blessing. Or when he feels that the Church must have the
   anointing of the Holy One and that the world needs a visitation from
   God--when any of these needs solemnly weigh upon his soul--then it is
   that he prays! The man does not open his mouth wide till he is
   conscious of a great need, which only the Lord, Himself, can supply.

   I exhort you, therefore, dear Brethren, to shake off the idea of being
   rich and increased in goods, and having need of nothing, for this proud
   notion will strangle prayer! You are weakness itself and emptiness
   itself--and a mass of sin and misery--apart from God your Father, and
   Christ your Redeemer, and the Spirit the Indweller! And when you know
   this, then you will open your mouth wide. Airy notions about having
   reached a higher life and being perfect will make fine gentlemen of
   you, but will spoil you for being beggars at the Mercy Seat. The mouth
   of dire necessity, God always fills, but pride has short results, for
   is it not one of the proverbs of His kingdom, "He has filled the hungry
   with good things; but the rich He has sent empty away"?

   Then, dear Friends, next seek after an intense and vehement desire, for
   the mouth is opened wide only when the desire becomes intense. You know
   how David says, "I opened my mouth and panted." You have seen a dog
   after a long run, how he stands with opened mouth panting for life and
   breath. Oh, that we had desires after God and Divine things strong
   enough to make us thus open our mouth and pant! We may never have seen
   a stag in extremis, but I dare say David had. He had seen it in the
   fierce hunt when it longed to have its smoking sides in the water
   brooks and to drink long draughts, and he said, "As the hart pants
   after the water brooks, so pants my soul after You, O God."

   Nothing puts such energy into prayer as intense anguish of desire.
   Desire comes out of a sense of need and in proportion as the necessity
   is overwhelming, the fervency of the desire will be vehement. My
   Brothers and Sisters, we have not, because, although we ask, we use a
   kind of asking which is as though we asked not! An old Puritan says,
   "He that prays to God without fervor asks to be denied." There is a way
   of asking for a thing in which the person to whom the request is made
   finds it very easy to decline the request. But persons in dire need
   understand how to put their case so that only a very hard-hearted
   person could say, "no." They know how to place their petition in such a
   way that the request wins, not merely because of the rightness of the
   petition, but also because of the very style in which it is put.

   We must learn how to pray with strong cries and tears, for there are
   mercies which cannot be gained by any other mode of supplicating. Did
   you ever try your little child by holding fast in your hand something
   that he wanted? You wished to see whether he had perseverance enough to
   pull open your fingers, one by one, to get what he wished for. And you
   have shut your hand very tightly and tried his endeavors so long that
   at last you have seen the big round tears stand in his eyes--and then
   you have held out no longer. The tears open your hand!

   I believe that our heavenly Father exercises us in that manner at times
   until He gets us right down to this--that we must have it and we shall
   die if we do not have it because it is for His Glory--and we have His
   promise for it. When we come to that point we are where the Lord meant
   us to be! And having brought us there, He gives us our desire, having
   already doubled the blessing by stirring us up to vehemence. Open your
   mouth wide, Man! Do not play at praying! Nobody is saved between
   sleeping and waking--and nobody wins rich blessings by being lukewarm.
   I have heard mothers say of a child that, "he cried all over," and that
   is the right way to pray! Let your whole man wrestle with the Most
   High. "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

   Deep necessity and urgent desire are two great openers of the mouth in
   prayer. To my mind the pith of the text may be compressed into such
   words as these--Ask for large things. Do not restrict your requests and
   pray with bated breath, but plead with the great God for great things,
   such as it will be to His Glory to bestow. In this point we too often
   fail. I remember praying before I preached in a certain provincial town
   and asking the Lord that He would enable at least one poor soul to lay
   hold on Christ.

   I went home to tea with a very worthy Brother, and a fine old Christian
   gentleman at the tea table said to me very kindly, "I do not know what
   you did with your faith this afternoon when you were praying, for you
   asked the Lord to give you one soul, but the sermon was such that I saw
   no reason why it should not be blessed to a thousand. I could not say,
   'Amen,' to such a very narrow prayer as that. Why," said he, "Man
   alive! With such a Gospel as you were preaching, and such a crowd of
   people, you might as well have asked for a thousand souls as one." I
   thought so, too, and confessed the poverty of my prayer.

   Brethren, many of us have made great mistakes and have shut ourselves
   up in the cells of poverty when our feet might have stood in a large
   room! We have laid down pipes too small to bring us a full current of
   blessing. We have half-killed our prayers by lacing them too tight,
   even as foolish mothers kill their daughters. Our cup is small and we
   blame the fountain! The Israelites, according to this Psalm, did not
   believe in God as they should. They did not expect their enemies to be
   driven out, nor hope to be fed with the finest of the wheat. They
   thought their God was a commonplace God, like the gods of Egypt. They
   did not know what a rich, generous, great-hearted, large-giving God He
   is and so they failed in asking and, therefore, they did not obtain the
   richest blessings of Grace. Christians should elevate the scale of
   their praying and enlarge their requests and never let it be said that
   they lose blessings solely by failing to ask for them.

   Dear Brothers and Sisters, we may well ask great things, for we are
   asking of a great God who fills immensity, who has all power, who has
   all blessings in His stores! If we were to ask Him for a world, it is
   no more for Him to bestow a world than it would be for us to give away
   a crumb! When the poor widow gave her two mites she gave her all and
   knowing her poverty, one would ask very little of her and expect even
   less! But when you ask of a king you do not expect two mites from him!
   That poor woman who said, "Truth, Lord, but the dogs eat of the crumbs
   that fall from the Master's table," was far nearer the mark than most
   of us, for much as she valued the inestimable blessing which she
   sought, she reckoned it as being nothing more than a crumb as it came
   from God!

   The greatest blessings which can yet be received through Jesus Christ,
   though we cannot prize them enough and they are beyond all calculation,
   precious, are little in comparison with the unspeakable gift of His
   Son, which has already been bestowed! Open your mouth wide, for wide
   are the supplies of love, and boundless the riches of the Sovereign
   Grace of so great a God! Besides His greatness, remember His goodness.
   The good Lord delights to give--it does not diminish His possessions,
   but affords Him satisfaction. The sun is just as bright,
   notwithstanding all his shining, as if he had stored up his light. It
   is the sun's nature to shine and it may as well shine upon us as
   anywhere else! And it is God's delight to distribute His goodness and
   bless His creatures--and therefore we may well ask large things from
   One whose very nature it is to scatter His fullness among the poor and
   needy.

   Remember, dear Brothers and Sisters, what He has already done for us.
   "I am the Lord your God, which brought you up out of Egypt," says He,
   "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." See what He has done! Is it
   a trifle to have had all your sins forgiven, to have received a new
   heart and a right spirit, to have been saved by the precious blood of
   His dear Son? If we made our prayers to scale, if they were
   proportioned to the measure of God's past favors, what great prayers
   they would be! I love a Gospel on a grand scale. I cannot bear to see
   anything about it lowered, or cut down-- not even the terrors of it. I
   am certain that those who make out the punishment of the wicked to be
   upon a smaller scale,

   must, before long, diminish the Glory of the Atonement and bring down
   their conceptions of God, Himself, for they are all proportioned.

   But you and I, who see everything to be grand, vast, infinite, ought to
   open our mouths wide, to keep our praying somewhat proportionate to the
   condition of things around us. Remember, beloved Brothers and Sisters,
   what great pleas you have to urge when you come before God. Your main
   argument is the gift of His dear Son. Now, if you pray according to
   that plea, you will have this consideration to support you--"He that
   spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how
   shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things"? What a word is
   that--"all things"! Your prayers cannot outrun those comprehensive
   words--"all things." Should you not open your mouth wide? Would you
   employ before God the magnificent plea of the atoning blood and then
   come down to ask for pence and halfpence, when you might as well have
   countless riches?

   Will you ask for enough Grace to keep you out of Hell, when you might
   have Grace enough to make you habitually in the suburbs of Heaven? Will
   you ask to be useful to two or three, when you might, with the same
   plea, prevail to be a spiritual benefactor to hundreds and thousands?
   He deserves to be poor who has no desire to be rich and will not even
   take the trouble to ask for wealth. He who will not so much as open his
   mouth must expect no pity should he starve. Oh, Beloved, do not pinch
   yourselves, but ask the largest conceivable blessings! Spread your most
   capacious net, for the multitude of fish will fill it! Dig the deepest
   pools, for the rain will brim them! Bring forth all your empty vessels,
   for the oil shall be multiplied till all are overflowing.

   Beloved, let us ask great things for ourselves. I do not mean let us
   ask great temporal blessings--we may leave everything of that kind with
   God and this is the limit He puts to such prayer--"Give us day by day
   our daily bread." Having food and raiment let us be content. But as for
   spiritual things, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Here
   the treasury has neither lock nor key! The lid is taken off from the
   jewelry box--help yourself--and if you are straitened you are not
   straitened in God, you are straitened in your own heart! I beseech you,
   young Christians, do not be satisfied with getting as much Grace as the
   people you live with, who profess to be Christians, for there are hosts
   of them that I would not like to risk my soul with.

   I am not their judge, but I think, I think it will be an extraordinary
   thing if they get into Heaven. I know some very loud-mouthed talkers
   whose actions are not pretty at all, and the less said about them the
   better. I mean some professors when I speak thus. I mean members of
   Churches. Now, do not you young people make them your standard--get far
   beyond them! Outstrip the ordinary run of Christians who are consistent
   and no more. I would urge you to seek far higher things than they
   possess. They are said to be "consistent," though I do not know what
   they are consistent with. They do nothing that is grossly wrong and
   they are good, ordinary, respectable people, but as to joy in the Lord
   and being filled with the Holy Spirit, and real faith--daring faith,
   love and zeal for God's Glory--and agony for the conversion of souls,
   why, large numbers of very consistent people know nothing about these
   things except when they read about them in the Bible!

   Surely their condition is more consistent with membership in Laodicea
   than in the New Jerusalem! Their consistency is not consistency with
   the Divine will, but a miserable consistency with their own
   dead-and-alive profession. Oh, you that are beginners in the Divine
   Life, I pray you be not as your fathers! Do not take any of us for a
   standard. We are a good-for-nothing generation, taking us all round,
   and there had need be a far better race springing up that shall really
   believe and act upon their faith! We need a generation who will so live
   unto God with a more intense, strong and mighty life than most of us
   have ever realized. Open your mouth wide, young Christian, for a large
   measure of the Holy Spirit and for a mighty fullness of the life of
   God, that it may be in you a well of water springing up unto
   everlasting life.

   Open your mouths wide, dear Friends, and ask great things for the
   Church. The Church of God, I hope, is in a better condition than she
   was some years ago, but we have not yet learned what it is to believe
   in great works being done for God. There are still Churches, which if
   they were to have half-a-dozen added to them in a year, would be
   intensely satisfied, if not overjoyed, instead of calling for prayer
   and fasting and humiliation because so few are brought to Christ. There
   are Church members around us who do not believe in many people being
   converted at once. If the Gospel were preached so that a dozen were
   brought in at one time, they would impute it to undue excitement and
   doubt its being the work of the Spirit of God, though we have the New
   Testament and the Acts of the Apostles, especially, to lead us to
   expect such things.

   There are Churches to which, if God were to send a hundred converts at
   once, they would not receive them, but would put them through a rigid
   quarantine! And you may be sure our heavenly Father will not send His
   new-born babes to places where they will not be cheerfully admitted!
   There are certain Churches whose modes of testing and trying are such
   that the young lambs would be torn to bits before they would get into
   the green pastures--and there would hardly be two legs and a piece of
   an ear left after they had passed the examination--the Good Shepherd
   will not send His lambs where such a tribe of wolves stand gaping for
   prey. Pray for the Church, that she may have greater faith in her God,
   greater belief in the Gospel which she preaches, greater closeness of
   walk with Jesus, greater care to obey her Master's precepts--and then
   you may open your mouth wide and expect to see the kingdom of Christ
   more fully come.

   Open your mouth for this great city. Who can think what a city we live
   in without desiring to be mighty in prayer for it? At this moment
   Scotland is a land where religion has mighty influence and I trace it
   mainly to the prayers of John Knox. His mighty pleading with God
   anchored Scotland to the Gospel and she cannot get away from it. We
   have urgent need to pray for England in these evil times. Many are
   preying upon her, we have need to pray for her. The darkness
   thick-ens--among the learned it has blackened into Egyptian night and
   among the illiterate it is as the valley of the shadow of death.
   Skepticism is descending upon us like a horrible mist, chilling faith
   even to the very marrow of our bones. Superstition, like a feverish
   fog, pollutes the air. We have need to cry to the Lord to do some great
   work in these days--to smite His enemies upon the cheekbone--and to
   send forth His power among His friends.

   I think I have explained sufficiently that the text means ask great
   things. But one more remark I must cover, and that is that many of us
   have need to ask for enlarged capacities. It would be of no use to open
   your mouth if you could not swallow what was put into it, or if you
   could not digest it after you had swallowed it. And there are many
   precious Truths of the Gospel which uninstructed Believers could not
   digest if they knew them. Therefore there is great need that their
   minds should be strengthened and fitted to feed upon strong meat. The
   grand Truths of the Covenant. The Doctrines of Election and
   Predestination.

   The glorious facts of the Immutable Love of God and the indissoluble
   union of the saints with Christ, and their consequent everlasting
   safety--all these are sublime matters which cannot be appreciated by
   every novice, but require a spiritually educated mind to enjoy them.
   Thousands of professors sneer at these eternal Truths because they have
   not the spiritual digestion which could assimilate such grand
   soul-feeding meat! They remind me of little, conceited boys affecting
   to despise the diet of men because they, themselves, have no taste
   except for sugar plums and sponge cakes. There are many mercies which
   persons ask for and if God were to bestow them, they would not know
   what to do with them! It would be like giving them a white
   elephant--they would not know where or how to keep it.

   Yonder Brother asks for more talent and yet he does not use what he
   already has! Another Brother begs the Lord to make him successful in
   his work, but he would be top heavy and proud, and exalted above
   measure if he were favored with a little success. One man craves that
   he may know, but his knowledge would puff him up. Another prays that he
   may feel, but his feelings would drown his faith! If we had more room
   for the Lord's gifts, we should receive more. I have half a mind to
   exhort you to imitate the rich fool and pull down your barns and build
   greater. He was a fool because he meant to gather a store of wheat and
   grain of the earth--but if you can build greater barns to hold the
   precious Grace which comes from Heaven, you will be wise, indeed.

   God will not give you what you cannot receive or put to healthy use.
   But, Oh, pray to Him, "Lord, enlarge my heart, expand my soul and give
   me a nobler mind free from selfishness, less cramped with ideas of my
   own consequence! Make me less important, more loving, more careful for
   the souls of others, more ambitious for Your Glory, more intensely
   consecrated to Your Word and will." While self hoards up its treasures
   there is no room for Divine things! And the surest way for our
   enlargement is to turn out the vile stuff. Tobiah's furniture is in the
   chamber of the house of the Lord and out it must go! Then there will be
   room for the treasure which the Master bestows.

   II. The second head is the promise. "Open your mouth wide, AND I WILL
   FILL IT." You might expect such a promise as that. You could not think
   it possible for the Lord to say, "Open your mouths for nothing." It
   would not be according to His usual way of procedure. He does not set
   His servants praying and then say somewhere behind their backs, "they
   shall seek My face in vain." Tantalus belongs to the heathen mythology,
   not to the Christian's experience. "Open your mouth wide, and I will
   fill it."

   I gather from this promise, first, that it is a promise only made to
   those who open their mouths wide. Some Brethren never get their mouths
   filled because they never open them to any extent. They ask for some
   little mercy and they may get it, or may not. There is no promise about
   such shut-mouthed prayers--if they had opened their mouths wide they
   would have, for sure, had the mouth-filling blessing. With the world,
   it is the less you ask for, the more likely you will be to obtain it,
   but God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. With God, the more you ask,
   the more likely are you to be heard. Half open your mouth and it may or
   may not be filled, but, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."

   We always pray well and successfully when the Spirit of God enables us
   to stand on elevated ground and plead on godlike terms for blessings
   which for value, number and greatness are worthy of the infinite bounty
   of Jehovah. We are then dealing with God as He loves to be dealt with,
   for He is a rich and great God, and loves to be approached with great
   prayers and great requests. And when we draw near in that fashion we
   shall be quite sure to succeed. I would encourage you, dear Brothers
   and Sisters, who seem to have failed in your supplications, to enquire
   whether they may not have failed because their requests were too
   little.

   God seems to say to His servant, "You have not asked enough. Come, Man,
   you are trifling with Me! Here is My Mercy Seat--I am rich, infinitely
   rich, and willing to give you according to your desires--and you are
   asking me for mere odds and ends. Do not play with Me in this way! Ask
   for something which I can feel a pleasure in giving to you-- something
   worthy of a God." "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Should
   not this thought greatly strengthen us when next we draw near to God in
   prayer?

   Remember, too, that this is a promise given by One who can fulfill it
   and will. "Open your month wide, and I will fill it" is a sort of
   challenge. "See whether you can ask for more than I can give you." Try
   whether your faith can outrun your God! See whether you can expect more
   of God than He will bestow. Take His promise and challenge Him, and see
   whether He will run back from it. He promises great things and
   unsearchable, let your soul's necessities impel you to ask for the
   greatest conceivable blessings and see whether He will deny you. "Prove
   Me, now, says the Lord of Hosts, and

   see."

   Oh, if Israel had been in an experimenting mind, what wonders would
   they have seen! How would the windows of Heaven have been flung back
   and Infinite Good been showered down! But they were not in a praying
   mood. God encouraged them to ask by the favor with which He had
   surrounded them, for of old He had scattered manna about their
   habitations, and from the Rock He had drawn forth flowing streams. Thus
   He seemed to say to them, "Oh, Israel, see how you are surrounded with
   miracles! Heaven and earth are made subservient to you. Nothing is too
   hard for Me--I open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst
   of the deserts--believe in Me and act according to the scale upon which
   I am acting to you--and see whether I shall fail in anything." Even so
   the Lord puts it to you, dear Brethren, and it is not an empty boast.
   He is not a man that He should lie, or the son of man that He should
   repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? "Open your mouth wide, and
   I will fill it."

   Oh, what stories I could tell, here, of my own experience if it did not
   seem like egotism. When I read, as I continually do, slurs put upon our
   prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God, and find that it has become a
   current opinion that there really is no such a thing as an answer to
   prayer, I feel indignant! Why, Sirs, I am as sure that God hears my
   prayers as I am certain that you hear me! To me the energy of prayer is
   as self-evident as the weight of a substance, or the force of a motive
   power. The law of gravitation I might doubt, but the law that God hears
   prayer I cannot! The wonder to me is that men should stand up and
   assert that God does not hear prayer when they cannot be supposed to
   know everything and dare not claim to have any very special
   acquaintance with prayer, itself, such as to qualify them to calculate
   its results.

   Those who deny the efficacy of prayer never pray! No, are not capable
   of offering prevalent prayer. Why do they speak so positively? What do
   they know about it? How dare they, as philosophers, speak dogmatically
   of that which they have never tried? I can say, and I do say it
   honestly, that hundreds of times, about all sorts of things, I have
   taken my case to God and have obtained the desire of my heart, or
   something far better--and that not by mere coincidence, as these
   objectors assert--but in a manner palpably in reply to my pleadings.
   There are multitudes of Brothers and Sisters here, who, from their own
   experience, can bear the same witness!

   Yet a fellow gets up who never tried prayer and says it is of no avail!
   We find it hard to have patience with him. How does he know? He reminds
   me of the Irish prisoner who was brought up for murder and half-a-dozen
   people swore that

   they had seen him do the deed. "Your Lordship," he said, "I could bring
   ten times as many that didn't see me do it." Yes, but that was no
   evidence at all! And in the same way, these people have the impudence
   to set up their theory on no better grounds than the fact that they do
   not pray and God does not hear them! What is the good of such evidence?
   We know He would not hear them if they did not pray. When He does hear
   simple men and women, guiltless persons who, if they were put on the
   witness stand, would be reckoned to be the best witnesses a court could
   have--is their witness to go for nothing?

   And others of us, whose character, I trust, would bear us through any
   cross-examination--are we to assert that God has answered our prayers
   and be prepared to die to prove our sincerity, if need be--and yet be
   told that men who have not tried it, and say it is not so, are
   philosophers and are to be believed sooner than we are? We may not be
   philosophers, but we are honest men and have done nothing to make our
   testimony unreliable. It is easy to call us fools, but hard names prove
   nothing but the weakness of those who use them. Take Christians as a
   rule and they are not less sharp-witted than skeptics. Indeed, even
   when they have been fanatical, they have seldom said or done such
   unwise things as skeptical philosophers have propounded and attempted
   to carry out. However, it little matters what the ungodly say, the
   foundation of God stands sure.

   Oh, Brethren, we will prove the power of prayer more than ever! If we
   have asked and had, we will ask more and we shall have more. If we have
   opened our mouths and God has filled them, we will open our mouths
   wider and obtain a larger blessing. The very best way to put to rout
   the falsehood of these philosophic atheists is more real prayer--fools
   are unanswerable. Christian Brethren, look at the promise again. "Open
   your mouth wide, and I will fill it," and then answer the question--how
   will the Lord fill our mouth? First, He will fill it with prayers. Do
   you ever feel as if you could not pray? Do not yield to the feeling,
   for then is the time to pray! When you cannot pray you must pray. Hold
   your empty mouth open before God, for the Holy Spirit to put the prayer
   into it.

   I have come away from attempting to pray and felt I did not pray. And
   the next time I have knelt down I have been very fluent in prayer and
   yet there was more real prayer in my groaning and sighing and heaving
   heart when I thought I failed, than there was in the fluency of the
   second occasion! Open your mouth wide, dear Brothers and Sisters, and
   God will fill it with petitions of an acceptable kind. The Holy Spirit
   will give you "groans that cannot be uttered." No prayer excels that in
   which the creature feels as if it could not pray and did not pray--and
   yet the Creator, Himself, strives mightily within!

   Then, open your mouth wide and He will fill it with the actual
   blessings. He will not merely put blessings into your hands, but He
   will fill your mouth with them. It is one thing to have the cup of
   blessing in your hand and quite another thing to drink thereof. Many a
   man possesses what he never enjoys--the fruit on the tree is his own,
   but its sweet flavor never gladdens his mouth. When the Lord, in love,
   bestows a blessing, He teaches us how to enjoy it! He gives us the
   essence of the meat, the soul of the solace, the juice of the vine, the
   heart of the joy--not merely the legal claim to it but the actual
   enjoyment of it! This is the cream of the cream, the mercy of the
   mercy, the filling of the mouth with the promised good.

   The Lord will also fill our mouth with praises. Open your mouth wide
   and God will fill it with songs, with shouts, with gratitude which
   cannot be expressed in words. Some of us know what it means to have our
   mouths so full of God's praises all day long that we have wanted all
   mankind and all the angels to help us magnify the Lord. Open your
   mouths wide, then, and God will fill them with prayer, with blessing,
   and with praise.

   In conclusion, is there not very much of rebuke in this to most of us?
   Parents, have you prayed for the salvation of your children--vehemently
   and earnestly? All your children? Teachers in the classes, have you
   expected the conversion of all your children and prayed for it?
   Preachers of the Gospel, have you looked for many conversions and
   prayed for them? Brethren who labor for Christ in any capacity, have
   you expected to see London converted to God and looked for it and
   worked for it? In Gospel fisheries we generally catch what we fish for.
   If we fish with a fly we may get one fish, but if we know how to use
   the great dragnet, by mighty faith we shall take 153 great fishes! And
   for all that, the net will not be broken! Open your mouth wide,
   Brothers and Sisters, and be rebuked to think you have not opened it
   wide before.

   But is there not also a word here of consolation to the sinner? "Open
   your mouth wide," says God, even to you, "and I will fill it." What do
   you need, Sinner? "Well, I want a little comfort." Do not ask for that,
   Brother. Ask for the Lord Jesus Christ at once. "Open your mouth wide."
   "Oh, I want a little peace. I am so troubled." Do not ask for that,

   Brother. Ask for a whole Christ and a perfect salvation now. "I want to
   feel some measure of impression under this sermon." Do not pray for
   that, Sister. Ask God for a new heart and a right spirit outright, and
   now! "Open your mouth wide." "Will I have it if I asked for it?" It is
   written, "He that asks receives; he that seeks finds; and to him that
   knocks it shall be opened."

   If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall have this
   unspeakably great blessing of being immediately saved, for, "He that
   believes on the Son of God has everlasting life." "Open your mouth
   wide." "But I am such a sinner." Open your mouth, Man! The promise
   makes no limit as to who you are. "But I am--I am--." There, I mind not
   what you are. Open your mouth, Man! Open your mouth wide! If we were to
   gather together in one place all the little waifs and strays of London
   streets, and were to say to them, "Children, we are going to give you a
   good dinner, and all you have to do is open your mouths," I do not
   suppose one little hungry wretch would shut his mouth, or turn away
   muttering, "I am not fit." Oh dear, no! You can be quite sure that they
   would open their mouths if all were hungry, and would need no pressing
   either!

   And so will you, too, if the Spirit of God has made you hunger and
   thirst after righteousness. Open your mouth wide, believing that Jesus
   is the Christ! Trust your soul with Him and ask, now, for immediate
   pardon through His precious blood, and you will not be denied. May the
   Holy Spirit make you hungry and then your longing mouth shall be
   filled--and God shall have all the glory. May His blessing rest upon
   you for Christ's sake.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 81. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--978, 986, 980.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Overflowing Cup

   (No. 1222)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "My cup runs o ver." Psalm 23:5.

   THE Psalm culminates in this expression. The poet can mount no higher.
   He has endeavored to express the blessedness of his condition, in
   having the Lord for his Shepherd, but after all his efforts, he is
   conscious of failure. His sonnet has not reached the height of the
   great argument, nor has his soul, though enlarged with gratitude, been
   able to compass the immeasurable gifts of Grace. And therefore, in holy
   wonder at the lavish superfluities of mercy, he cries, "My cup runs
   over." In one short but most expressive sentence he does as good as
   say, "Not only have I enough, but more than enough! I possess not only
   all that I am capable of containing, but I inherit an excess ofjoy, a
   redundancy of blessing, an extravagance of favor, a prodigality of
   love--my cup runs over."

   We do not know when David wrote this Psalm. There seems, however, to be
   no period of his life in which he could have used this expression in
   reference purely to his temporal circumstances. In his youth he was a
   shepherd boy and kept his father's flock. And in such an occupation
   there were many hardships and discomforts, in addition to which he
   appears to have been the object of the ill-will of his brothers. He was
   not rocked on the knee of luxury, nor pampered with indulgences. His
   was a hardy life abroad and a trying course at home. And unless he had
   been deeply spiritual, and therefore found contentment in his God, he
   could not have said, "My cup runs over."

   When he had come forth into public life and lived in the courts of
   Saul, and even had become the king's son-in-law, his position was far
   too perilous to afford him joy. The king hated him and sought his life
   many times. If it were not that he spoke of Grace and not of outward
   circumstances, he could not have, then, said, "My cup runs over."
   During the period of his exile, his haunts were in the dens and caves
   of the mountains and the lone places of the wilderness, to which he
   fled for his life like a hunted partridge. He had no rest for the soles
   of his feet--his thirst after the ordinances of God's house was intense
   and his companions were not such as to afford him solace--surely it
   could only have been in reference to spiritual things that he could,
   then, have said, "My cup runs over."

   When he came to be king over Israel, his circumstances, though far
   superior to any which he may have expected to reach, were very
   troublous ones for a long season. The house of Saul warred against him
   and then the Philistines took up arms. He passed from war to war and
   marched from conflict to conflict. A king's position is, in itself, a
   thorny place, but this king had been a man of war from his youth up, so
   that, apart from the Grace of God and the choice blessings of the
   Covenant, he could not even, on the throne, have been able to say, "My
   cup runs over." In his later days, after his great sin with Bathsheba,
   his troubles were incessant and such as must have well near broken the
   old man's heart.

   You remember the cry, "O Absalom, my son, my son! Would God I had died
   for you, O Absalom, my son, my son"? That was the close of a long trial
   from his graceless favorite--a trial which had been preceded by many
   others--in which first one member of his family and then another
   departed from the paths of right. Nor did it close the chapter of his
   adversities, for the troubles of his heart were enlarged even to the
   last, and the good old man had to say upon his deathbed that, though he
   rejoiced in the sure Covenant of God, yet his house was not so with God
   as his heart could have desired.

   We cannot, therefore, take the text and say, "This is the exclamation
   of a man in easy circumstances who was never tried. We cannot say this
   was the song of a favorite of Providence who never knew an ungratified
   wish." Not so. David was a man of troubles. He bore the yoke in his
   youth and was chastened in all his old age. You have before you, not a
   King Croesus, whose long prosperity became, itself, a terror, nor an
   Alexander whose boundless conquests only excited new ambitions, nor
   even a Solomon whose reign was unbroken peace and commercial gain, but
   David, the man who cried, "Deep calls unto deep at the noise of the
   waterspouts; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me."

   So did the spiritual outweigh the natural, that the consolations of the
   son of Jesse exceeded his tribulation, and even in his most troublous
   times there were bright seasons of fellowship with the Lord, in which
   he joyfully said, "My cup

   runs over." Let us think of some cups which never run over. And then
   consider, if ours runs over, why it does so. And then, thirdly, what
   then?

   I. SOME MEN'S CUPS NEVER RUN OVER. Many even fail to be filled because
   taken to the wrong source. Such are the cups which are held beneath the
   drippings of the world's leaky cistern. Men try to find full
   satisfaction in wealth, but they never do. Pactolus fills no man's cup,
   that power belongs exclusively to the river whose streams make glad the
   city of God. As to money, every man will have enough when he has a
   little more, but contentment with his gains comes to no man. Wealth is
   not true riches, neither are men's hearts the fuller because their
   purses are heavy. Men have thought to fill their cups out of the foul
   pools of what they call, "pleasure," but all in vain, for appetite
   grows, passion becomes voracious and lust, like a horseleech, cries,
   "Give, give."

   Like the jaws of death and the mouth of the sepulcher, the depraved
   heart can never be satisfied. At the polluted pool of pleasure no cup
   was ever filled though thousands have been broken--it is a corrosive
   liquor which eats into the pitcher and devours the vessel into which it
   flows. Some have tried to fill their souls with fame. They have aspired
   to be great among their fellow men and to wear honorable titles earned
   in war, or gained in study. But satisfaction is not created by the
   highest renown. You shall turn to the biographies of the great and
   perceive that in their secret hearts they never gained contentment from
   the most grand successes they achieved.

   Perhaps if you had to look at the truly miserable, you would do better
   to go to the Houses of Parliament and to the palaces of those who
   govern nations, than to the outskirts of poverty, for awful misery is
   full often clothed in scarlet, and agony feasts at the table of kings.
   From the sparkling founts of fame no cups are filled. Young man, you
   are just starting in life. You have the cup in your hand and you want
   to fill it. Let us warn you (those of us who have tried the world) that
   it cannot fill your soul, not even with such poor sickly liquor as it
   offers you. It will pretend to fill, but fill it never can! There is a
   craving of the soul which can never be satisfied, except by its
   Creator. In God, only, is the fullness of the heart, which He has made
   for Himself.

   Some cups are never filled for the excellent reason that the bearers of
   them suffer from the grievous disease of natural discontent. All
   unconverted men are not equally discontented, but some are intensely
   so. You can no more fill the heart of a discontented man than you can
   fill a cup which has the bottom knocked out. A contented man may have
   enough, but a discontented man never can--his heart is like the Slough
   of Despond into which thousands of wagon loads of the best material
   were cast--and yet the slough swallowed up all and was none the better.
   Discontent is a bottomless bog into which if one world were cast, it
   would quiver and heave for another.

   A discontented man dooms himself to the direst form of poverty, yes, he
   makes himself so great a pauper that the revenues of empires could not
   enrich him. Are you the victims of discontent? Young men, do you feel
   that you never can be content while you are apprentices? Are you
   impatient in your present position? Believe me, as George Herbert said
   of incomes in times gone by, "He that cannot live on 20 pounds a year
   cannot live on forty." So may I say--he who is not content in his
   present position will not be content in another though it brought him
   double possessions. If you were to accumulate property, young man,
   until you became enormously rich, yet, with that same hungry heart in
   your bosom you would still pine for more. When the vulture of
   dissatisfaction has once fixed its talons in the breast, it will not
   cease to tear at your insides.

   Perhaps you are no longer under tutors and governors, but have launched
   into life on your own account, and yet you are displeased with
   Providence. You dreamed that if you were married and had your little
   ones about you, and a house all your own, then you would be satisfied.
   And it has all come to pass, but scarcely anything contents you. The
   meal provided today was not good enough for you. The bed you will lie
   upon tonight will not be soft enough for you. The weather is too hot or
   too cold, too dry or too damp. You scarcely ever meet with one of your
   fellow men who is quite to your mind--he is too sharp and
   rough-tempered, or else he is too easy and has "no spirit." Your type
   of a good man you never see--the great men are all dead and the true
   men from this generation fail.

   Some of you cannot be made happy--you are never right till everything
   is wrong--nor bearable until you have had your morning's growl. There
   is no pleasing you. I know men, who, if they were in Paradise would
   find fault with the glades of Eden and would propose to turn the
   channels of its rivers and shift the position of its trees! If the
   serpent were excluded, they would demand liberty for him to enter and
   would grow indignant at his exclusion. They would criticize the music
   of the angels, find fault with the cherubim and become weary of white
   robes and harps of gold--or as a last

   resource they would become angry with a place so completely blessed as
   not to afford them a corner for the indulgence of their spiteful
   censures. For such unrestful minds the cup which runs over is not
   prepared.

   Some, too, we know, whose cup never will run over because they are
   envious. They would be very well satisfied with what they have, but
   someone else has more, and they cannot bear it. If they see another in
   a better position in society, they long to bring him down to their
   level. Now, surely, Friend, if you find your own lot hard to bear, you
   cannot wish another man to suffer it, too! If your case is a hard one,
   you should be glad that others are not equally afflicted. It is a happy
   thing when a man gets rid of envy, for then he rejoices in the joy of
   others and with a secret appropriation which is far removed from
   anything like theft, he calls everything that belongs to other men his
   own, for he is rich in their riches, glad in their gladness and, above
   all, happy that they are saved.

   Some of us have known what it is to doubt our own salvation and yet
   feel that we must always love Jesus Christ for saving other people. I
   charge you, cast out envy! The green dragon is a very dangerous guest
   in any man's home. Remember, it may lurk in the hearts of very good
   men. A preacher may not be able to appreciate the gifts of another
   preacher because they seem to be more attractive than his own. Good
   people, when they see another useful, are too much in the habit of
   saying, "Yes, but he does not do this," or, "She does not do that," and
   the remark is made, "He is very useful but very eccentric," as if there
   ever was a man who did anything in this world that was not eccentric.
   Their very eccentricities, (which are uncomfortable things), God often
   overrules to be the power of the men and women whom He means to employ
   in striking out new paths of usefulness.

   What you call imprudence may be faith, and what you condemn as
   obstinacy may only be strength of mind necessary for persevering under
   difficulties. Bless God for gracious men as you find them and do not
   want them to be other than they are. When Divine Grace has renewed
   them, help them all you can and make the best use you can of them. And
   if their bell does not ring out the same note as yours and you cannot
   change its tone, and yet you feel that your note would be discordant to
   theirs, pray God to tune your bell to harmony with theirs, that from
   the sacred steeple there may ring out a holy, hallowed, harmonious
   chime through the union of all the bells and all their tones in the
   sole praise of God. Envy prevents many cups from running over.

   So, once more, in the best of men unbelief is sure to prevent the cup
   running over. You cannot get into the condition of the Psalmist while
   you doubt your God! Note well how he puts it. "The Lord is my shepherd,
   I shall not want." He has no fears, or forebodings, or doubts. He has
   given a writing of divorce between his soul and anxiety. And now he
   says, "My cup runs over." What are you fretting about, my Sister? What
   is the last new subject for worry? If you have fretted all your life,
   your husband, your children and your servants have had a sad time of
   it. Your husband feels, with regard to you, "Good woman. I know nothing
   in which I could find fault with her, except that she finds fault with
   others and that she grieves when there is no cause for grieving."

   May the Lord be pleased to string your harp so that it may not give
   forth such jarring notes as it now does, but may yield the joyful music
   of praise. Your great need is a more childlike faith in God! Take God's
   Word and trust it and, good Sister, your cup will run over, too. What
   is your trouble, Brother? You were smiling just now at the thought of
   how some women are troubled, for you thought, "Ah, they do not have the
   cares men have in business!" Little do you know! There is a burden for
   women to carry which is as heavy as that of their husbands and
   brothers. But what is your distress? Is it one that you dare not tell
   to God? Then what business have you with it? Is it one which you cannot
   tell to God? What is there in your heart that forbids your unburdening
   it?

   Is it one which you refuse to tell to God? Then it will be a trouble
   and a curse to you--and it will grow heavier and heavier till it will
   crush you to the earth. But, O, come and tell your great Helper! You
   believe in God for your sons-- believe in Him about your property!
   Believe in God about your sick wife or your dying child! Believe in God
   about your losses and bad debts and declining business! A bare bosom
   before the Lord is necessary to perfect satisfaction. I have proven God
   and I speak what I know--I have had a care that has troubled me, which
   I could scarcely communicate to another without, perhaps, making it
   worse. I have done my best and I have prayed over it but have not seen
   a way of escape and, at last, I have left it with God, feeling that if
   He did not solve it, it must go unsolved. I have resolved that I would
   have nothing more to do with it and when I have done that, the
   difficulty has disappeared--and in its disappearance I have found an
   additional reason for confidence in God--and have been able, again, to
   say, "My cup runs over."

   We must walk by faith with both feet. Some try to walk by faith with
   the left foot, but their right foot they will not lift from the
   earth--and therefore they make no progress at all. Wholly by faith,
   wholly by faith must we live! He who learns to do that will soon say,
   "My cup runs over." I have not time to enlarge, although much more
   might be said, for there are cups which never have run over, and never
   will.

   II. But now, secondly, WHY DOES OUR CUP RUN OVER? Assuming that we have
   really believed in Jesus and that not with a wavering faith, but in
   downright solemn earnest, then joy will follow our faith. Our cup runs
   over, first, because, having Christ, we have in Him all things. "He
   that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all,
   how shall He not, with Him, also, freely give us all things?"--

   "This world is ours, and worlds to come: Earth is our lodge, and Heaven
   our home." Between here and Heaven there is nothing we shall need but
   what God has supplied. The promise is, "Seek you first the kingdom of
   God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
   As the old Puritan puts it, earthly comforts are like paper and string
   which you need not go to buy, for you will have them given to you when
   you purchase more valuable things.

   Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things
   shall be added unto you. Our God is not like the Duke of Alva, who
   promised to spare the lives of certain Protestants and then denied them
   food so that they died of starvation. He does not give His eternal life
   and then deny us that which is necessary to the securing of it! He will
   give us manna all the way from Goshen to Canaan, and cause the gushing
   Rock to follow us all the time we are in the wilderness. "No good thing
   will I withhold from them that walk uprightly." "Your shoes shall be
   iron and brass and as your days so shall your strength be." I climbed a
   hill the other day, and as I went down the steep side a sharp stone
   made a tremendous gash in my shoe, and then I thought of that promise,
   "Your shoes shall be iron and brass." If the road is rough, a strong
   shoe shall fit the foot for it. As with the Israelites, their feet did
   not swell, neither did their garments wax old upon them, so shall it be
   with you. You shall find all things in God and God in all things.

   But there is another reason why our cups run over. They run over
   because the infinite God, Himself, is ours. "The Lord is my shepherd."
   "My God," the Psalmist styles Him. One of the most delightful
   renderings ever employed in a metrical translation of the Psalms is
   that of the old Scotch version--

   "For yet I kno w I shall Him praise, Who graciously to me The health is
   of my countenance; Yes, my own God is He."

   I feel as if I could stop preaching and fall to repeating the words,
   "My own God," "My own God," for the Lord is as much my God as if there
   were no one else in the world to claim Him! Stand back, you angels and
   archangels, cherubim and seraphim, and all you hosts redeemed by blood!
   Whatever may be your rights and privileges, you cannot lessen my
   inheritance! Assuredly all of God is mine--all His fullness, all His
   attributes, all His love, all Himself, all, all is mine, for He has
   said, "I am your God." What a portion is this! What mind can compass
   it?

   O, Believer, see, here your boundless treasure! Will not your cup run
   over, now? What cup can hold your God? If your soul were enlarged and
   made as wide as Heaven you could not hold your God! And if you grew and
   grew and grew till your being were as vast as seven heavens and the
   whole universe, itself, were dwarfed in comparison with your capacity,
   yet, still, you could not contain Him who is Infinite! Truly, when you
   know, by faith, that Father, Son, and Spirit are all your own in
   Covenant, your cup must run over!

   But when do we feel this? When do we see that our cup runs over? I
   think it is, first, when we receive a great deal more than we ever
   prayed for. Has not that been your happy case? Mercy has come to your
   house and you have said, "Why have I received this? I never dared to
   seek so great a blessing." "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly
   above what we ask or even think." You knelt down and prayed God to
   deliver you in trouble--He has done it, but instead ofjust barely
   carrying you through, He has set your feet in a large room and you have
   said, "Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Had you delivered me by
   the skin of my teeth I had been grateful, but now my cup runs over."
   You asked the Lord to give you sufficient sustenance for the day and,
   look, He has bestowed upon you a great many worldly comforts and His
   blessing with them all. Must you not say, "My cup runs over"?

   You asked Him to save your eldest daughter, but in His infinite mercy
   He has been pleased to convert several of your children, perhaps all.
   You began to teach in the Sunday school and you prayed to the Lord to
   give you one soul. Why, He has given you a dozen! Will you not say, "My
   cup runs over"? When I began to preach I was sure my little meeting
   house seemed large enough and my sphere sufficiently extensive. And if
   the Lord had said to me, "I will give you a thousand souls as your
   reward before you shall go to Heaven," I should have been overjoyed and
   cried my eyes out with weeping for delight. But now, how many thousands
   has He given me to be the seals of my ministry? My cup runs over! My
   God has dealt with me beyond all my expectations or desires!

   It is His way! He gives like a king! He has outstripped my poor prayers
   and left my faith far in the rear. I am persuaded, Beloved, that many
   of you know many things concerning God which you never asked to know.
   You possess Covenant blessings which you never sought and you are in
   the enjoyment of attainments which you did not think it possible for
   you to gain--so that the cup of your prayer has been filled to the brim
   and it runs over! Glory be to the All-Bounteous Lord! So has it been
   with the cup of our expectation, for we ask many things and then from
   lack of expecting them we fail to receive them. But have you not
   indulged large expectations, some of you? Have you not had your
   daydreams in which you pictured to yourself what a Christian might do?

   And the Lord has given you more than imagination pictured! You sat at
   Mercy's gate and said, "Would God I might but enter to sit among the
   hired servants." But He has made you sit at the table and killed for
   you the fatted calf! You were shivering in your rags, and you said,
   "Would God I might be washed from this filthiness and my nakedness
   clothed a little!" But He has brought forth the best robe and put it on
   you! You said, "Oh, that I had a little joy and peace!" But, lo, He has
   made music and dancing for you, and your spirit rejoices abundantly in
   the God of your salvation! I will ask any Christian here if Christ is
   not a good Christ?

   You know when Henry the Eighth married Anne of Cleves, Holbein was sent
   to paint her picture with which the king was charmed. But when he saw
   the finished work, his judgement was very different and he expressed
   disgust instead of affection. The painter had deceived him. Now, no
   such flatteries can ever be paid to our Lord Jesus Christ. The
   painters, I mean the preachers, all fall short--they have no faculty
   with which to set forth beauties so inexpressibly charming, so beyond
   all conception of mind and heart! The best things which have ever been
   sung by adoring poets, written by devout authors, or poured forth by
   seraphic preachers all fall below the surpassing excellence of our
   Redeemer! His living labors and His dying love have a value all their
   own!

   There are great surprises yet in store for those who know the Savior
   best. Jesus has filled the cup of our expectation till it runs over.
   And I may say the same of every mercy that He has brought in His
   hands--it has been a richer mercy, a rarer mercy, a more loving mercy,
   a more rapturous mercy, a fuller mercy, a more lasting mercy than ever
   we thought it possible for us to receive! I speak to some who live by
   faith in their Lord's service. You have learned to expect great things,
   my Brothers and Sisters, and you will learn to expect greater things,
   still! But has not God always kept pace with our expectation? Has He
   not outrun us? Has He not presented us with His kindness? The path of a
   man who lives by faith is like a gigantic staircase--it winds up, up,
   up, in God's sight, into the clear crystal--but as far as we are
   concerned it seems to wind its way among dense clouds, full often dark
   as night.

   Every step we take, we stand firmly on a slab of adamant, but we cannot
   see the next landing place for our foot! It looks as if we were about
   to plunge into an awful gulf, but we venture on and the next step is
   firm beneath our feet. We have ascended higher and higher--and yet the
   mysterious staircase still pierces the clouds--though we cannot see a
   step of the way. We have found our Jacob's ladder until this time to be
   firm as the everlasting hills! And so we climb on and we mean to do so,
   with the finger of God as our guide, His smile as our light and His
   power as our support. The blessed Voice is calling us and our feet are
   borne upward by the summons, climbing on and on in the firm belief that
   when our flesh shall fail, our soul shall find herself standing on the
   threshold of the new Jerusalem! Go on, Beloved! God will do far more
   than you expect Him to do, and you shall sing, "My cup runs over."

   Sometimes, too, the text is true of the Christian's joy, "My cup runs
   over." The other night as I sat among our young men in the ministry,
   and we were all singing, "I am so glad that Jesus loves me," I did not
   wonder that the writer of that piece made them repeat that delightful
   Truth over and over again. "I am so glad that Jesus loves me." You can
   excuse monotonies, repetitions and tautologies when that dear word is
   ringing in the ears, "Jesus loves me," "Jesus loves me," "Jesus loves
   me." Ring that bell again and yet again! What need of change when you
   have reached a perfect joy? Why ask

   variety when you cannot conceive of anything more sweet? There is
   music, both in the sound and the sense, and there is enough of weight,
   force and power in the simple utterance of, "Jesus loves me," to allow
   of its being repeated hundreds of times and yet never palling upon the
   ear!

   Now and then I hear of an interruption of a sermon by a person who has
   found the Savior--how I wish we were often interrupted in that way! I
   wonder, when men first learn that Jesus suffered in their place, that
   they do not shout and make the walls ring! Surely it is enough to make
   them! What a blessing it would be if that old Methodist fire, which
   flamed so furiously in men's souls that they were forced to let the
   sparks fly up the chimney in hearty expressions, would but blaze away
   in our cold, formal assemblies! Come, let us pour out a libation of
   praise from our overflowing cups, while we say, again, "I am so glad
   that Jesus loves me." Have you not sat down when you have been alone
   and felt, "I am so happy because I am saved, forgiven, justified, a
   child of God! I am beloved of the Lord! This fills me with such joy
   that I can hardly contain myself"?

   Why, if anyone had come to you at such a time and said, "There is a
   legacy of 10,000 pounds left you," you would have snuffed at it, and
   felt, "What is that? I have infinitely more than that, for I am a joint
   heir with Christ. My Beloved is mine and I am His. 'My cup runs over.'
   I have too much joy. 'I am so glad that Jesus loves me.'" At such times
   our gratitude ought to run over, too. Our poet's gratitude ran over
   when he wrote that remarkable stanza--

   "Through all eternity, to You

   My grateful song I'll raise;

   But, oh, eternity's too short

   To utter half Your praise!"

   I have heard cold critics condemn that verse and therein prove their
   incompetence to enjoy poetry! Would they cramp the language of love by
   the rules of grammar? May not enthusiasm be allowed a language of its
   own? It is true it is incorrect to speak of eternity as, "too short,"
   but the inaccuracy is strictly accurate when love interprets it! When a
   cup runs over it does not drip, drip, at so many drops per minute--it
   leaps down in its own disorderly fashion--and so does the grateful
   heart!

   Its utterances are as bold as it can make them, but they never satisfy
   itself. It labors to express itself in words and sometimes it succeeds
   for a while, and cries, "My heart is composing a good matter, I speak
   of the things which I have made touching," but before long its rushing
   overflow stops up the channel of its utterance and silence becomes both
   necessary and refreshing. Our souls are sometimes cast into a swoon of
   happiness in which we rather live and breathe gratitude than feel any
   power to set it forth. As the lily and the rose praise God by pouring
   forth their lives in perfume, so do we feel an almost involuntary
   outgush of our very selves in love which could, by no artistic means,
   tell forth itself. We are filled and overfilled, saturated, satiated
   with the Divine sweetnesses--

   "Your fullness, Lord, is mine, for oh,

   That fullness is a fount as free

   As it is inexhaustible,

   Jeho vah's boundless gift to me.

   My Christ! O sing it in the hea vens!

   Let every angel lift his voice;

   Sound with ten thousand harps his praise, With me, you heavenly hosts,
   rejoice!" III. Now, thirdly, WHAT THEN? The first thing is, let us
   adore Him who has filled the cup. If the cup runs over let it run over
   upon the altar. "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits
   toward me?" Remember, dear Christian Friends, that preaching is not a
   result--it is a means to an end--and that end is the worship of God.
   The design of our solemn assemblies is adoration. That, also, is the
   aim and result of salvation, that the saved ones may fall down on their
   faces and worship the Lamb in His Glory. Preaching and praying are like
   the stalks of the wheat, but hearty worship is the ear itself. If God
   has filled your cup, worship Him in the solemn silence of your soul.
   Let every power, passion, thought, emotion, ability and capacity adore
   the Lord in lowest reverence for the Fountain from which flow the
   streams which have filled us to the brim.

   The next thing is, if your cup runs over, pray the Lord to make it
   larger. Does not the Apostle say, "Be you also enlarged"? Does not
   David speak of having his heart enlarged? There is too much of
   narrowness in the largest-hearted

   man! We are all but shallow vessels towards God. If we believed more
   and trusted more, we should have more, for the stint is not with God.
   Pray like Jabez of old, "Oh, that you would bless me, indeed, and
   enlarge my coast." The next thing is, if your cup is running over, let
   it stop where it is. Understand my meaning--the cup stands under the
   spring and the spring keeps running into it and so the cup runs over.
   But it will not run over long if you take it from where the spring
   pours into it.

   The grateful heart runs over because the fountain of Grace runs over.
   Keep your cup where it is! It is our unwisdom that we forsake the
   fountain of living waters and apply to the world's broken cisterns. We
   say in the old proverb, "Let well enough alone," but we forget this
   practical maxim with regard to the highest good. If your cup runs over,
   hear Christ say, "Abide in Me." David had a mind to keep his cup where
   it was and he said, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
   When I preach away from here, I always like to go to the same house in
   the town, and I say to my host, "I shall always come to you, as long as
   you invite me, for I do not think there is a better house."

   If a man has a good friend, it is a pity to change him. The older the
   friend, the better. The bird which has a good nest had better keep to
   it. Gad not abroad, I charge you, but let the Lord be your dwelling
   place forever. Many have been fascinated by new notions and new
   doctrines and, every now and then, somebody tells us he has found a
   wonderful diamond of new truth, but which generally turns out to be a
   piece of an old bottle. As for me, I need nothing new, for the old is
   better and my heart cries, "Return unto your rest, O my Soul, for the
   Lord has dealt bountifully with you." Until they find me a better
   fountain than the Lord has opened in Christ Jesus, His Son, my soul
   will abide in her old place and plunge her pitcher into the living
   waters! Where my cup is filled there shall it stand and run over,
   still.

   Once more, does your cup run over? Then call in your friends to get the
   overflow. Let others participate in that which you do not wish to
   monopolize or intercept. Christian people ought to be like the cascades
   I have seen in brooks and rivers, always running over and so causing
   other falls which, again, by their joyful excess cause fresh cascades
   and beauty is joyfully multiplied! Are not those fountains fair to look
   upon where the overflow of an upper basin causes the next to fall in a
   silver shower, and that, again, produces another glassy sheet of water?
   If God fills one of us, it is that we may bless others! If He gives His
   ministering servants sweet fellowship with Him, it is that their words
   may encourage others to seek the same fellowship. And if their hearers
   get a portion of meat, it is that they may carry a portion home.

   If you get the water for your own mill and dam it up, you will find
   that it will become overgrown with rank weeds and becomes a foul thing.
   Pull up the sluices, Man, and let it run! There is nothing in the world
   better than circulation, either for Grace, or for money! Let it run!
   There is more a-coming, there is more a-coming! To withhold will
   impoverish you, to scatter is to increase! If you get the joy of God in
   your heart, go and tell it to poor weeping Mary and doubting Thomas--it
   may be that God sent you the running over on purpose that those who
   were ready to perish might be refreshed.

   Last of all, does your cup run over? Then think of the fullness which
   resides in Him from whom it all proceeds. Does your cup run over? Then
   think of the happiness that is in store for you when it will always run
   over in everlasting Glory! Do you love the sunlight? Does it warm and
   cheer you? What must it be to live in the sun, like the angel Uriel
   that Milton speaks of! Do you prize the love of Christ? Is it sweet to
   you? What will it be to bask in its unclouded light? O, that He would
   draw up the blinds, that we might catch a glimpse of that face of His
   which is as the sun shining in his strength! What will it be to see His
   face and to enjoy the kisses of His mouth, forever? The dew which
   distils from His hands makes the wilderness rejoice! What must it be to
   drink of the rivers of His pleasure? A crumb from His table has often
   made a banquet for His poor saints, but what will it be when the Tree
   of Life will yield them 12 manner of fruits and they shall hunger no
   more?

   Bright days ought to remind our souls of Heaven, only let us remember
   that the brightest days below are not like the days of Heaven any more
   than a day in a coal mine when the lamp burns most brightly can be
   compared to a summer's noon! Still, still, we are down below. The
   brightest joys of earth are only moonlight. We shall get higher before
   long, into the unclouded skies, into the land of which we read, "there
   is no night there." How soon we shall be there, none of us can tell!
   The angel beckons some of us. We hear the bells of Heaven ringing in
   our ears even now. Very soon--so very soon--we cannot tell how very
   soon, we shall be with Jesus where He is, and shall behold His Glory!
   Brethren, the thought of such amazing bliss makes our cups run over!
   And our happiness overflows as we remember that it will be forever and
   forever and forever!

   Eyes never to weep again, hands never to be soiled again, bones never
   to ache again, feet never to limp again, hearts never to be heavy
   again--the whole man as full as it can be of ineffable delight, plunged
   into a sea of bliss, deluged with ecstatic joy--as full of Heaven as
   Heaven is full of Christ! Dear Hearer, the last word I have to say is
   this, do you know what it is to be filled with the love of God?
   Unconverted Hearer, I know you are not happy. You say, "I wish my cup
   would run over!" What are you doing with it? "I am trying to empty it
   of my old sins." That will not make it run over. "I have been washing
   it with my tears." That will not make it run over. Do you know the only
   way of having joy and peace in your heart?

   What would you do with an empty cup if you were thirsty? Would you not
   hold it under a fountain until it were full? This is what you must do
   with your poor, dry, empty soul! Come and receive of Jesus, Grace for
   Grace. "For as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
   the sons of God, even to as many as believed on His name." Hold your
   empty cup under the stream of Divine Fullness which flows to the guilty
   through Jesus Christ and you shall also joyfully say, "My cup runs
   over." The Lord pour His mercy into you, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 23. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--725, 708, 711.
     __________________________________________________________________

Jesus, The Substitute For His People

   (No. 1223)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is
   risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
   intercession for us." Romans 8:34.

   THE most dreadful alarm that can disturb a reasonable man is the fear
   of being condemned by the Judge of All. To be condemned of God, how
   dreadful! To be condemned of Him at the Last Great Day, how terrible!
   Well might Belshaz-zar's loins be loosed when the handwriting on the
   wall condemned him as weighed in the balances and found wanting! And
   well may the conscience of the convicted one be comparable to a little
   Hell when, at its lesser judgement seat, the Law pronounces sentence
   upon him on account of his past life.

   I know of no greater distress than that caused by the suspicion of
   condemnation in the Believer's mind. We are not afraid of tribulation,
   but we dread condemnation. We are not ashamed when wrongly condemned of
   men, but the bare idea of being condemned of God makes us, like Moses,
   "exceeding fear and quake." The bare possibility of being found guilty
   at the great judgement seat of God is so alarming to us that we cannot
   rest until we see it removed. When Paul offered a loving and grateful
   prayer for Oneisphorus he could ask no more for him than, "the Lord
   grant that he may find mercy in that day."

   Yet though condemnation is the most fatal of all ills, the Apostle
   Paul, in the holy ardor of his faith dares ask, "Who is he that
   condemns?" He challenges earth and Hell and Heaven! In the justifiable
   venturesomeness of his confidence in the blood and righteousness of
   Jesus Christ, he looks up to the excellent Glory and to the Throne of
   the thrice holy God, and even in His Presence, before whom the heavens
   are not pure, and who charged His angels with folly, he dares to say,
   "Who is he that condemns?"

   By what method was Paul, who had a tender and awakened conscience, so
   completely delivered from all fear of condemnation? It certainly was
   not by any of the enormity of sin. Among all the writers who have ever
   spoken of the evil of sin, none have inveighed against it more
   heartily, or mourned it more sincerely from their very soul, than the
   Apostle Paul. He declares it to be exceedingly sinful. You never find
   him suggesting apologies or extenuations. He neither mitigates sin nor
   its consequences. He is very plain when he speaks of the wages of sin
   and of what will follow as the consequences of iniquity.

   He sought not that false peace which comes from regarding transgression
   as a trifle. In fact, he was a great destroyer of such refuges of lies.
   Rest assured, dear Hearer, that you will never attain to a
   well-grounded freedom from the fear of condemnation by trying to make
   your sins appear little. That is not the way--it is far better to feel
   the weight of sin till it oppresses your soul than to be rid of the
   burden by presumption and hardness of heart. Your sins are damnable and
   must condemn you unless they are purged away by the great Sin-Offering!

   Neither did the Apostle quiet his fears by confidence in anything that
   he had himself felt or done. Read the passage through and you will find
   no allusion to himself. If he is sure that none can condemn him, it is
   not because he has prayed, nor because he has repented, nor because he
   has been the Apostle of the Gentiles, nor because he has suffered many
   stripes and endured much for Christ's sake. He gives no hint of having
   derived peace from any of these things--but in the humble spirit of a
   true believer in Jesus he builds his hope of safety upon the work of
   his Savior!

   His reasons for rejoicing in noncondemnation all lie in the death,
   resurrection, power and the plea of his blessed Substitute! He looks
   right out of himself, for there he could see a thousand reasons for
   condemnation, to Jesus through whom condemnation is rendered
   impossible. And then, in exulting confidence he lifts up the challenge,
   "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" He dares to
   demand of men and angels and devils, yes, of the great Judge, Himself,
   "Who is he that condemns?"

   Now, since it is not an uncommon thing for Christians in a weakly state
   of mind, exercised with doubts and harassed with cares, to feel the
   cold shadow of condemnation chilling their spirits, I would speak to
   such, hoping that the good Spirit may comfort their hearts. Dear child
   of God, you must not live under fear of condemnation, for "there is
   therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus," and
   God would not have you fear that which can never come to you. If you
   are not a Christian, delay not till you have escaped from condemnation
   by laying hold on Christ Jesus.

   But if you have, indeed, believed in the Lord Jesus, you are not under
   condemnation and you never can be--either in this life or in that which
   is to come! Let me help you by refreshing your memory with those
   precious Truths of God, concerning Christ, which show that Believers
   are clear before the Lord. May the Holy Spirit apply them to your souls
   and give you rest.

   I. And first you, as a Believer, cannot be condemned because CHRIST HAS
   DIED. The Believer has Christ for his Substitute and, upon that
   Substitute his sin has been laid. The Lord Jesus was made sin for His
   people. "The Lord has made to meet upon Him the iniquity of us all."
   "He bore the sin of many." Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, by His death has
   suffered the penalty of our sin, and made recompense to Divine Justice.
   Observe, then, the comfort which this brings to us. If the Lord Jesus
   has been condemned for us, how can we be condemned? While Justice
   survives in Heaven and Mercy reigns on earth, it is not possible that a
   soul condemned in Christ should also be condemned in itself!

   If the punishment has been meted out to its Substitute, it is neither
   consistent with Mercy nor Justice that the penalty should, a second
   time, be executed. The death of Christ is an all-sufficient ground of
   confidence for every man that believes in Jesus. He may know of a
   surety that his sin is put away and his iniquity is covered. Fix your
   eyes on the fact that you have a Substitute who has borne Divine Wrath
   on your account, and you will know no fear of condemnation--

   "Jehovah lifted up His rod--

   O CHRIST, it fell on Thee!

   You were sore stricken of Your God;

   There's not one stroke for me."

   Observe, dear Brothers and Sisters, who it was that died, for this will
   help you. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, died! The Just for the unjust.
   He who was your Savior was no mere Man. Those who deny the Godhead of
   Christ are consistent in rejecting the Atonement. It is not possible to
   hold a proper substitutionary propitiation for sin unless you hold that
   Christ was

   God.

   If one man might suffer for another, yet one man's sufferings could not
   avail for ten thousand times ten thousand men. What efficacy could
   there be in the death of one innocent person to put away the
   transgressions of a multitude? No, but because He who carried our sins
   up to the tree was God over all, blessed forever--because He who
   suffered His feet to be fastened to the wood was none other than that
   same Word who was in the beginning with God, and who also was
   God--because He who bowed His head to death was none other than the
   Christ, who is Immortality and Life, His dying had efficacy in it to
   take away the sins of all for whom He died!

   As I think of my Redeemer and remember that He is God, Himself, I feel
   that if He took my nature and died, then, indeed, my sin is gone. I can
   rest on that. I am sure that if He who is Infinite and Omnipotent
   offered a satisfaction for my sins I need not enquire as to the
   sufficiency of the Atonement, for who dares to suggest a limit to its
   power? What Jesus did and suffered must be equal to any emergency. Were
   my sins even greater than they are, His blood could make them whiter
   than snow. If God Incarnate died in my place, my iniquities are
   cleansed.

   Again, remember who it was that died, and take another view of Him. It
   was Christ, which being interpreted, means, "The Anointed." He who came
   to save us did not come unsent or uncommissioned. He came by His
   Father's will, saying, "Lo, I come, in the volume of the Book it is
   written of Me, I delight to do Your will, O God." He came by the
   Father's power, "for Him has God set forth to be a Propitiation for our
   sins." He came with the Father's anointing, saying, "The Spirit of the
   Lord is upon Me." He was the Messiah, sent of God. The Christian need
   have no fear of condemnation when he realizes Christ died for him,
   because God Himself appointed Christ to die. And if God arranged the
   plan of Substitution and appointed the Substitute, no one cannot
   repudiate the vicarious work.

   Even if we could not speak as we have done of the glorious Person of
   our Lord, yet if the Divine Sovereignty and Wisdom elected such an One
   as Christ to bear our sins, we may be well satisfied to take God's
   choice and rest content with that which contents the Lord. Again,
   Believer, sin cannot condemn you because Christ died. His sufferings, I
   doubt

   not, were vicarious long before He came to the Cross, but, still, the
   substance of the penalty due to sin was death, and it was when Jesus
   died that He finished transgression, made an end of sin and brought in
   everlasting Righteousness.

   The Law could go no further than its own capital sentence which is
   death--this was the dire punishment pronounced in the garden--"In the
   day that you eat thereof you shall surely die." Christ died physically,
   with all the concomitants of ignominy and pain, and His inner death,
   which was the most bitter part of the sentence, was attended by the
   loss of His Father's Countenance and an unutterable horror. He
   descended into the grave and for three days and three nights He slept
   within the tomb really dead.

   Herein is our joy--our Lord has suffered the extreme penalty and given
   blood for blood, and life for life. He has paid all that was due, for
   He has paid His life. He has given Himself for us and borne our sins in
   His own body on the tree, so that His death is the death of our sins.
   "It is Christ that died." I speak not upon these things with any
   flourishes of words, I give you but the bare doctrine. May the Spirit
   of God apply these Truths to your souls and you will see that no
   condemnation can come on those who are in Christ!

   It is quite certain, Beloved, that the death of Christ must have been
   effectual for the removal of those sins which were laid upon Him. It is
   not conceivable that Christ died in vain--I mean not conceivable
   without blasphemy--and I hope we could not descend to that! He was
   appointed of God to bear the sins of many and, though He was God,
   Himself, yet He came into the World and took upon Himself the form of a
   Servant and bore those sins, not merely in sorrow but in death itself.
   And it is not possible that He should be defeated or disappointed of
   His purpose. Not in one jot or tittle will the intent of Christ's death
   be frustrated!

   Jesus shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. That which
   He meant to do by dying shall be done and He did not pour His blood
   upon the ground in waste in any measure or sense. Then, if Jesus died
   for you, there stands this sure argument--that as He did not die in
   vain, you shall not perish. He has suffered and you shall not suffer.
   He has been condemned and you shall not be condemned. He has died for
   you and now He gives you the promise--"Because I live, you shall live
   also."

   II. The Apostle goes on to a second argument, which he strengthens with
   the word, "rather." "It is Christ that died, yes, rather, THAT IS RISEN
   AGAIN." I do not think we give sufficient weight to this, "rather." The
   death of Christ is the rocky basis of all comfort, but we must not
   overlook the fact that the Resurrection of Christ is considered by the
   Apostle to yield richer comfort than His death--"yes, rather, that is
   risen again." How can we derive more comfort from Christ's Resurrection
   than from His death, if from His death we gain a sufficient ground of
   consolation? I answer, because our Lord's Resurrection denoted His
   total clearance from all the sin which was laid upon Him.

   A woman is overwhelmed with debt. How shall she be discharged from her
   liabilities? A friend, out of his great love to her, marries her. No
   sooner is the marriage ceremony performed than she is, by that very
   act, clear of debt because her debts are her husband's, and in taking
   her, he takes all her obligations. She may gather comfort from that
   thought, but she is much more at ease when her beloved goes to her
   creditors, pays all, and brings her the receipts. First she is
   comforted by the marriage, which legally relieves her from the
   liability--but much more is she at rest when her husband, himself, is
   rid of all the liability which he assumed.

   Our Lord Jesus took our debts--in death He paid them and--in
   Resurrection He blotted out the record. By His Resurrection He took
   away the last vestige of charge against us, for the Resurrection of
   Christ was the Father's declaration that He was satisfied with the
   Son's Atonement. As our hymnster puts it--

   "The Lord is risen, indeed, Then Justice asks no more. Mercy and Truth
   are now agreed Which stood opposed before."

   In His prison of the grave, the Hostage and Surety of our souls would
   have been confined to this very hour unless the satisfaction which He
   offered had been satisfactory to God. But being fully accepted He was
   set free from bonds and all His people are thereby justified. "Who is
   he that condemns? Christ is risen again."

   Mark further that the Resurrection of Christ indicated our acceptance
   with God. When God raised Him from the dead, He thereby gave testimony
   that He had accepted Christ's work, but the acceptance of our
   Representative is the acceptance of ourselves. When the French
   ambassador was sent away from the Court of Prussia it meant that war
   was declared and when the ambassador was again received, peace was
   re-established. When Jesus was so accepted of God that He rose again

   from the dead, everyone of us who believes in Him was accepted of God,
   too, for what was done to Jesus was, in effect, done to all the members
   of His mystical body. With Him we are crucified. With Him we are
   buried. With Him we rise again and in His acceptance we are accepted.

   Did not His Resurrection also indicate that He had gone right through
   with the entire penalty and that His death was sufficient? Suppose for
   a moment that 1,800 and more years had passed away and that He still
   slumbered in the tomb. In such a case we might have been enabled to
   believe that God had accepted Christ's substitutionary Sacrifice and
   would ultimately raise Him from the dead, but we would have our fears.
   But now we have before our eyes a sign and token as consoling as the
   rainbow in the day of rain, for Jesus is risen and it is clear that the
   Law can exact no more from Him. He lives, now, by a new life and the
   Law has no claim against Him. He against whom the claim was brought has
   died. His present life is not that against which the Law can bring a
   suit.

   So with us--the Law had claims on us once, but we are new creatures in
   Christ Jesus, we have participated in the Resurrection Life of Christ
   and the Law cannot demand penalties from our new life. The
   incorruptible Seed within us has not sinned, for it is born of God. The
   Law cannot condemn us, for we have died to it in Christ and are beyond
   its jurisdiction. I leave with you this blessed consolation! Your
   Surety has discharged the debt for you and, being justified in the
   Spirit, has gone forth from the tomb. Lay not a burden upon yourselves
   by your unbelief! Do not afflict your conscience with dead works, but
   turn to Christ's Cross and look for a revived consciousness of pardon
   through the blood washing.

   III. I must pass on now to the third point upon which the Apostle
   insists. "WHO IS EVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD." Bear in mind that what
   Jesus is, His people are, for they are one with Him. His condition and
   position are typical of their own. "Who is even at the right hand of
   God." That means love, for the right hand is for the Beloved. That
   means acceptance. Who shall sit at the right hand of God but one who is
   dear to God? That means honor. To which of the angels has He given
   permission to sit at His right hand? Power also is implied! No cherub
   or seraph can be said to be at the right hand of God.

   Christ, then, who once suffered in the flesh is, in love, acceptance,
   honor and power at the right hand of God. Do you see the force, then,
   of the question, "Who is he that condemns?" It may be made apparent in
   a twofold manner. "Who can condemn me while I have such a Friend at
   court? While my Representative sits near to God, how can I be
   condemned?" But next, I am where He is, for it is written, "He has
   raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
   Christ Jesus." Can you suppose it possible to condemn one who is
   already at the right hand of God? The right hand of God is a place so
   near, so eminent, that one cannot suppose an adversary bringing a
   charge against us there!

   Yet there the Believer is in his Representative! Who dare accuse him?
   It was laid at Haman's door as his worst crime that he sought to bring
   about the death of queen Esther, herself, so dear to the king's heart.
   And shall my foe condemn or destroy those who are dearer to God than
   ever Esther was to Ahasuerus, for they sit at His right hand, vitally
   and indis-solubly united to Jesus! Suppose you were actually at the
   right hand of God, would you, then, have any fear of being condemned?
   Do you think the bright spirits before the Truth of God have any dread
   of being condemned, though they were once sinners like yourself?

   "No," you say, "I should have perfect confidence if I were there." And
   you are there in your Representative! If you think you are not, I will
   ask you this question, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"
   Is Christ divided? If you are a Believer, you are one with Him and the
   members must be where the Head is. Till they condemn the Head, they
   cannot condemn the members! Is that clear? If you are at the right hand
   of God in Christ Jesus, who is he that condemns? Let them condemn those
   white-robed hosts who forever circle the Throne of God and cast their
   crowns at His feet. Let them attempt that, I say, before they lay
   anything to the charge of the meanest Believer in Christ Jesus!

   IV. The last word which the Apostle gives us is this, "WHO ALSO MAKES
   INTERCESSION FOR US." This is another reason why fear of condemnation
   should never cross our minds if we have, indeed, trusted our souls with
   Christ, for if Jesus intercedes for us, He must make a point of
   interceding that we may never be condemned. He would not direct His
   intercession to minor points and leave the major unheeded! "Father, I
   will that they, also, whom You have given Me be with Me where I am,"
   includes their being forgiven all their sins, for they could not come
   there if their sins were not forgiven.

   Rest assured that a pleading Savior makes secure the acquittal of His
   people. Reflect that our Lord's intercession must be prevalent. It is
   not supposable that Christ asks in vain. He is no humble Petitioner at
   a distance who, with moan

   and sigh, asks for what He deserves not. But with the breastplate on,
   sparkling with the jewels which bear His people's names, and bringing
   His own blood as an infinitely satisfactory Atonement to the Mercy Seat
   of God, He pleads with unquestioned authority. If Abel's blood, crying
   from the ground, was heard in Heaven and brought down vengeance, much
   more shall the blood of Christ, which speaks within the veil, secure
   the pardon and salvation of His people!

   The plea of Jesus is indisputable and cannot be put aside. He pleads
   this--"I have suffered in that man's place." Can the infinite Justice
   of God deny that plea? "By Your will, O God, I gave Myself a Substitute
   for these, My people. Will You not put away the sin of these for whom I
   stood?" Is not this good pleading? There is God's Covenant for it.
   There is God's promise for it. And God's honor is involved in it so
   that when Jesus pleads, it is not only the dignity of His Person that
   has weight, and the love which God bears to His Only-Begotten, which is
   equally weighty, but His claim is overwhelming and His intercession
   Omnipotent!

   How safe is the Christian since Jesus ever lives to make intercession
   for him? Have I committed myself into His dear hands? Then may I never
   so dishonor Him as to mistrust Him. Do I really trust Him as dying, as
   risen, as sitting at the Father's right hand and as pleading for me?
   Can I permit myself to indulge a solitary suspicion? Then, my Father,
   forgive this great offense and help Your servant, by a greater
   confidence of faith, to rejoice in Christ Jesus and say, "There is
   therefore now no condemnation."

   Go away, you that love Christ and are resting on Him, with the savor of
   this sweet doctrine on your hearts! But, O, you that have not trusted
   Christ, there is present condemnation for you! You are condemned
   already because you have not believed on the Son of God! And there is
   future condemnation for you, for the day comes, the dreadful day, when
   the ungodly shall be as stubble in the fire of Jehovah's wrath! The
   hour hastens when the Lord will lay justice to the line and
   righteousness to the plummet, and sweep away the refuges of lies. Come,
   poor Soul, come and trust the Crucified and you shall live! And with us
   you shall rejoice that none can condemn you.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Isaiah 53. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--329, 404, 299.
     __________________________________________________________________

Jesus, The Stumbling Stone Of Unbelievers

   (No. 1224)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which
   are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is
   made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
   offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient." 1
   Peter 2:7,8.

   So it always is where Jesus comes--He divides the company into
   Believers and unbelievers--the obedient and the disobedient. But why
   are unbelievers, here, called disobedient? Is faith a matter of law and
   because a man does not believe, does he therefore disobey? How can it
   be otherwise? Is it not a natural duty for every man to believe that
   which is true? Let the very least among us judge in so simple a matter!
   It so happens that in the very form and sound of the words in the
   original tongue, to believe and to obey are much the same and,
   certainly, to disbelieve and to disobey are things of very near
   relationship. To disbelieve is in its very essence disobeying, for he
   who disbelieves the Word of the King is disloyal at heart.

   If I doubt the veracity of God I have assailed His authority and if,
   when He sets forth His Son to be a Propitiation for sin, I refuse to
   accept Him, disobedience is included in that rejection. As it were
   difficult to tell by which form of sin our father, Adam, fell, for all
   sins were wrapped up in the taking of the forbidden fruit, so unbelief
   contains within itself the eggs of all sins possible to men. Moreover,
   unbelief of God's Word is the root of all other sin. A man who does not
   believe his God is a man who casts off the Law of God. He has already
   rejected God's Gospel--why should he respect the Law?

   If the silken cords of love are broken asunder, how much less is the
   man likely to bear the bonds of law? Now, inasmuch as it is painfully
   certain that a very large proportion of these who hear the Gospel are
   unbelieving and disobedient, it becomes important to consider, What is
   the result of this disobedience? This disobedience leads them into
   violent opposition. What effect does their opposition produce? The text
   tells us the result of human opposition upon Christ Himself, and,
   secondly upon the persons who offer it.

   I. Let us consider, in the first place, then, THE RESULT OF THE
   UNBELIEF AND THE OPPOSITION OF MEN AGAINST THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. We
   are told that, as far as He is concerned, "the stone which the builders
   disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner"--in one word, it
   has not affected Him at all! The opposition of mankind has, by no
   means, and in no degree, lessened the Glory which God has put upon His
   dear Son. The builders rejected the stone with disdain--"It shall not
   be built," they said, "in the temple of our hope."

   But, God has said, "It shall be the top stone," and the top stone it
   is, and shall be, despite all the opposition of earth or Hell. The rage
   of puny man shall no more defeat the Lord than the anger of a gnat can
   affect the sun! Human opposition shall no more thwart the Divine will
   than a sere leaf cast into Niagara can block the water flow. He that
   stumbles upon this stone shall be broken, but the stone itself will not
   be injured. Observe how the Lord Jesus has been rejected of man and yet
   His cause has stood against all opposition.

   First came the Jew. He had the pride of race to maintain. Were not the
   Jews the chosen people of God? Was not Israel set apart by the Most
   High? Jesus comes preaching the Gospel to every creature. He sends His
   disciples even to the Gentiles and, therefore, the Jews will not have
   Him. They have been looking for a temporal prince. Jesus does not come
   with the magnificence they expected--He is a root out of a dry ground,
   without form or comeliness--they see nothing of Solomon's splendor in
   the poor scion of the dried-up stock of David. Therefore, "Away with
   Him! Let Him be crucified!"

   But the opposition of His countrymen did not defeat the cause of
   Christ. If rejected in Palestine, His Word was received in Greece. It
   triumphed in Rome, it passed onward to Spain, it found a dwelling place
   in Britain and at this day it lights up the face of the earth! The
   persecution of the Apostles at Jerusalem hastened the spread of the
   Gospel, for they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
   the Word, so that Jewish enmity was overruled for good and the foolish
   builders were made subservient to the uplifting of the rejected
   headstone!

   Next arose the philosopher to be the Gospel's foe. Different schools of
   thought held sway over the more cultivated minds of the period and no
   sooner did Paul begin to preach where these philosophies were known
   than they called him a babbler. They heard what he had to say and
   condemned him as a fool. This resurrection from the dead, this doctrine
   of an Incarnate God who suffered for human sin--it was too simple for
   them, too plain to fit in with their subtle philosophies. But though
   philosophy made terrible inroads, for a while, on the Church of God in
   the form of the Gnostic heresy, did it really impede the chariot wheels
   of Christ? Did it conquer the faith?

   Oh no, my Brethren, for at this day where are these philosophies? Who
   now believes in the Stoics? Who would care to be called an Epicurean?
   These philosophies have passed away--the stone cut out of the mountain
   without hands has broken them in pieces! The stone from the sling of
   Christ has struck the heathen philosophy in the forehead. We see its
   corpse lying headless in many an ancient book, while the Son of David
   goes forth conquering and to conquer. After those days there came
   against the Church of God the determined opposition of the secular
   power. The imperial authorities saw danger in Christianity. These
   peasants and boors and mechanics set up a new religion, a religion
   which spoke of another king, one Jesus.

   They met together on the first day of the week and sang hymns in His
   honor as to God. Moreover, they refused to keep the holy days of the
   gods, nor would they worship the images of the emperors, either
   departed or living. Everybody else paid homage to these imperial demons
   except these Christian people, so the secular power said, "We will put
   them down. Let them be dragged before the judgement seat. Let them be
   imprisoned, let them be stripped of their goods and if that does not
   drive them out of this new doctrine, let us try the rack and such like
   tortures--and if that does not end them let them die! Why cannot men
   worship the gods of their fathers?

   Thus they tried to stamp out the faith of Jesus, crowding their
   prisons, flooding their theatres with blood and wearying the
   executioners. All that cruelty could do was done! But, my Brothers and
   Sisters, what was the result? The more the Christians were oppressed,
   the more they multiplied! The scattering of the coals increased the
   conflagration. The tribunals of judgement became pulpits from which
   Christianity was preached and men who stood burning at the stake
   commanded mighty audiences, among which they proclaimed Jesus Christ as
   king! The martyr's courage made men enquire, "Is there not something
   here, the like of which we have never seen before?" And it was not long
   before imperial legions bowed before the Cross of Christ and the
   Galilean had won the day.

   Since that period the Church has been attacked in various modes. The
   Arian heresy assaulted the Deity of Christ, but the Church of God
   delivered herself from the accursed thing, as Paul shook the viper into
   the fire. Then came popery, the antichrist, and counterfeit of His
   Sacrifice. Now they set up the cross of ivory, hung round with gems, to
   mimic the King of kings on His Cross of shame. They thrust before us
   the crucifix of man's making instead of Jesus, Himself, upon the tree.
   Now we are asked to worship saints and relics and images, and I know
   not what else, and a man is lifted into the throne of the Infallible
   God!

   Some timid minds fear that Jesus Christ, as a stone rejected, will be
   cast out of sight, while high over all, the "Vicar of Christ at Rome"
   shall be made the head of the corner, but the Lord will not allow it.
   Brethren, have faith in God and think not so! The differing modes of
   Popery, Roman and Anglican, shall pass away as all things else have
   done that withstood the Cross and cause of Jesus Christ! Even as a
   moment's foam dissolves into the wave that bears it and is gone
   forever, so shall all these disappear! Jesus Christ's holy Gospel and
   Himself, the Savior, shall yet be set on high as a rock defying the
   billows!

   What a day that was when Luther's rough protest broke the silence of
   the dark ages! When the clear teaching of Calvin followed and the bold
   notes of Zwingle were heard and a thousand voices shouted in chorus!
   What a day was that when the nations awoke from their long sleep to lie
   no longer under priestly domination, resolute to be free! Cannot God,
   who sent one Reformation, send another? Be of good courage, for
   brighter days are on the way! There shall come

   yet greater awakenings! The Lord, the avenger of His Church, shall yet
   arise and the stone which the builders disallowed, the same shall be
   the head stone of the corner!

   By prophetic vision I see gathering another opposition which will be as
   difficult to cope with as any that has gone before. I see mustering
   within the ranks of the Church of God men who say they hate all creeds,
   meaning that they despise all Truth. They are they who would gladly be
   ministers among us and yet tread under foot all that we hold sacred,
   not teaching, at first, the fullness of their infidelity, but little by
   little gathering courage to vent their unbelief and heresies!
   Credophobia is maddening many! They appear to fear lest they should
   believe anything and to hope that there is something good to be found
   in atheism, or devil worship--indeed, in all religions except the only
   true one.

   We lift our earnest protest, but if it should be lost amidst the
   general popular clamor, and if the nations should be drunk, again, with
   the wine of this fornication and turn aside to error, what matters it
   to the ultimate success of the eternal cause? Yet has Jehovah set His
   king upon His holy hill of Zion and yet shall the ancient decree be
   fulfilled! The Throne of Christ shall stand and the Covenant sealed
   with blood shall be sure to all the chosen seed! Let us have comfort,
   for despite all that can be done by men or devils, not one elect soul
   shall be lost, not one soul redeemed by blood shall be snatched out of
   the Redeemer's hand!

   Christ shall not lose so much as a grain of glory neither in earth nor
   in Heaven. His people's earnest contention for the faith shall honor
   Him. Their patient suffering shall give Him praise--Heaven shall be the
   sweeter rest to them and the brighter place of Glory to them when He
   shall return with them from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,
   travailing in the greatness of His strength, having trod the winepress
   and overcome His foes. Then shall His rest be glorious and His joy
   complete! Thus much, then, upon the effect of human opposition. "The
   stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
   corner."

   II. A far more painful subject must now occupy our attention, namely,
   THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS OPPOSITION TO THE OPPOSERS. Let us dwell with
   great solemnity upon one or two points. When men stumble at the plan of
   salvation by Christ's sacrificial work, what is it that they stumble
   at? The reply must be a somewhat wide one, but it cannot possibly
   comprehend all the reasons for man's wicked opposition to his best
   Friend. Some stumble at the Person of Christ. Jesus, they will admit,
   was a good Man, but they cannot accept Him as co-equal and co-eternal
   with the Father.

   Oh, my Hearer, if you would be saved, stumble not at this, for who but
   a God could save you? And how could the Justice of God have been
   satisfied unless One of Infinite Nature had become the Propitiation for
   sin? My soul falls gratefully back upon the doctrine of the Deity of
   Christ for her deepest comfort, and I pray that none of you may reject
   it, for be assured that apart from it there is no true ground of peace
   for the conscience. Some stumble at His work. Many cannot see how Jesus
   Christ is become the Propitiation for human guilt and, we fear, the
   reason why they cannot see must lie in that Word of our Lord, "You
   believe not because you are not of My sheep."

   We fell, my Brothers and Sisters, not personally, but in another. It
   was our first father, Adam, who first ruined us, not we, ourselves.
   Perhaps it was because we so fell that it was possible for us to be
   restored. As we fell in another, there was a loophole for mercy, for
   the Lord, having dealt with us under one federal head, could justly
   deal with us under another federal head! And thus fallen in another, we
   now rise in Another! As by the offense of one, the condemnation came
   upon all men, so by the righteousness of One does the forgiveness come
   to as many as believe in Him.

   The Doctrine of Substitution or representation begins at the fountain
   of human history and runs through its whole course. I beseech you, do
   not quibble with it! It is rich balm and comfort to us who have
   received it. It has turned our Hell to Heaven. The Spirit, by its
   means, has renewed our nature and has made us other than we were--and
   today we have no hope apart from the vicarious Sacrifice of Emmanuel.
   Oh that you who are objectors would accept that which today you stumble
   at! Some stumble at Christ's teaching and what is it they stumble at in
   that? Sometimes it is because it is too holy--"Christ is too
   Puritanical--He cuts off our pleasures." But it is not so. He denies us
   no pleasure which is not sinful. He multiplies our joys! The things
   which He denies to us are only joyous in appearance, while His commands
   are real bliss.

   "Still," say some, "His teachings are too severe." Yet from others I
   hear the opposite accusation, for when we preach Free Grace, objectors
   cry, "You encourage men in sin!" There is little chance of pleasing the
   sons of men, for what gratifies some, offends others. But truly, there
   is no just reason on either ground to stumble at the Gospel, for though
   it does place good works where they should be placed, as gifts of the
   Spirit and not as things of merit, yet it is a Gospel accord-

   ing to holiness, as those know who have proved its power. We have found
   some object to the teachings of Christ because they are too humbling.
   He destroys self-confidence and He presents salvation to none but those
   who are lost. "This lays us too low," says one.

   Yet I have heard from the opposite corner of the house an objection to
   the Gospel because it makes men proud, for some say, "How dare you
   speak of being certain that you are saved? That is a boastful speech
   and ill befits a lowly sinner." Friend, do not stumble at the blessed
   Truth of God, for Believers are certainly saved and may know it--and
   yet be all the humbler for the knowledge. You are humbled, it is true,
   by Christ, and laid low--but He exalts you in due time--and when He
   exalts you, by His Grace, there is no fear of boasting, for boasting is
   excluded by Grace.

   Still, I have known others object that the Gospel is too
   mysterious--they cannot understand it, they say. While again, from the
   other corner of the compass, I have heard the objection that it is too
   plain! This being saved by simply believing in Christ is too plain for
   many and too hard for others. Beloved, do not quibble at it for either
   reason. What if there are mysteries in it? Can you expect to comprehend
   all that God knows? Be teachable as a child and the Gospel will be
   sweet to you. We have known some who have stumbled at Christ on account
   of His people and, truly, they have some excuse.

   They have said, "Look at Christ's followers, see their imperfections
   and hypocrisies!" But why judge the Master by His servants? I could
   weep while I confess how much there is of truth in your accusations,
   but let me beseech you--lay the fault at our door, not at our
   Master's--for there is nothing in His teaching that encourages our
   sinning, and none can be more severe towards hypocrisy than is Christ
   Jesus our Lord! This stumbling at His people is, however, frequently
   founded on another reason. The lovers of the Gospel, it is said, are
   generally very poor and unfashionable. To unite with them is to lose
   caste.

   Now that is true and it always has been so. From the first day until
   now, the Gospel has flourished most where there has been least care for
   fashion and honor among men. But, I know, if you are men, this will be
   a small concern with you. Only those who are not men, but mimics of
   men, care for these small matters. You, if your manhood is as it should
   be, will feel that to follow the Truth of God barefooted through the
   mire is better than to ride with the lie in all her pomp. Besides,
   taking the great ones of the earth as a class, is their society so
   specially desirable? Are the rich so very virtuous? Are the great so
   peculiarly good? I think not.

   We have noble exceptions. There are a few who wear the coronet and yet
   will wear a crown in Heaven, but taking them as a class, the honorable
   among men are no better than they should be. No order of men have more
   to answer for, than kings and princes. At their will human blood has
   flowed like water and nations have been consumed by famine and
   pestilence as the result of their wars. Why, then, account their favor
   to be so precious a thing? We can turn the tables upon those who sneer
   at Christ's servants for their lowness of rank, for before the eyes of
   God, the great ones are the most evil of all when they become leaders
   in iniquity. Now, if these are your objections, I pray God to give you
   Grace to play the man and bear joyfully the reproach of Christ.

   What does this stumbling at Christ cost the ungodly? I answer, it costs
   them a great deal. Those who make Him a rock of stumbling are great
   losers by it in this life. Opposition to Jesus is, to many men, a
   kicking against the pricks. When the Eastern farmer drives his bullock
   and it moves amiss, he goads it. And if the bullock is not broken in,
   it kicks against the goad as soon as it is pricked--and the consequence
   is, it drives the goad into itself more deeply--and if it then kicks
   violently, the goad pierces and wounds it still more. It is so with
   rebellious men. Their persecutions hurt themselves--they cannot really
   injure our Lord.

   The hammer said, "I will break the anvil," and the anvil did not
   answer, but stayed in its place, while the hammer smote it day after
   day. Month after month, year after year, the anvil patiently received
   the blows, but after awhile the hammer broke, and though it did not say
   so, for it was too quiet to speak, the anvil might have said, "I have
   broken hundreds of hammers before, and I shall break hundreds more by
   patient endurance." It is so with Christ and His Church, and His
   Gospel--the persecutor may smite, and smite, and smite--the true
   Christian makes no reply, but patiently bears, and in the long run that
   patient endurance will break the persecutor down.

   What anger it costs ungodly men to oppose Christ! Some of them cannot
   let Him alone! They will rage and fume. Concerning Jesus it is true
   that you must either love or hate Him--He cannot long be indifferent to
   you--and therefore inward conflicts come to opposers. I remember an
   ungodly man who was a raving hater of Christ. A Bible was brought

   into his house, he seized it and destroyed it in his wrath. He did not
   know that when his daughter went to bed her eyes were wet with tears at
   what her father had done and that the next night there was a New
   Testament under her head. When by-and-by he found out that she attended
   the House of God, there were great threats and I do not know what, of
   blustering.

   But it was done, all the same for that, and his anger was patiently
   borne. "Well," he thought, "she is a foolish girl, it will end there,"
   but very soon another daughter became pious and then he was furious. He
   took his wife into his counsels, to help him, but by her quivering
   manner she betrayed that she did not like his proceedings. And after
   awhile he found out that she, when he was away, had snuck into the
   little Meeting House, too, and that she was feeling with her daughters
   the value of eternal things. Well, at least he had a boy left! The
   women were always fools, he said, but his boy, he hoped, would show
   more sense, and not be deluded. Like his father, he would never fall
   into superstition, would he?

   He would see about it and question him. What was his surprise to find
   the boy speak up like a man, and say, "Yes, Father, I believe as my
   sisters do, and I go to the House of God whenever I can, and I mean to
   do so." To his surprise, he found all his house inclined to hear the
   Gospel and most of them believers in it! It did him no good to be in a
   passion about it, but he used to rave horribly, and I fear he thereby
   shortened his days. But the thing went on in spite of all he did--the
   servants of the house also joined the people at the meeting, and his
   laborers went in the same way. God intended to bless the family and the
   enemy was powerless to prevent it, though it cost him much anger and
   wrath.

   Ah, what it costs some men when they come to die! In the days when
   persecution was more public than it is now, many persons were guilty of
   being informers against the Puritans, or the Quakers. These traitors'
   deaths were, in many cases, appalling, not because of any peculiar
   pains they endured, but because how their persecuting innocent
   neighbors came up to their memory in their last moments. And some of
   them could not rest for crying out and making acknowledgment of the
   injustice that they had done to good men in hunting them into prisons
   for worshipping God.

   If any of you do not believe in Jesus and will not be saved by Him
   yourselves, I would recommend you to let Him and His people alone, for
   if you oppose Him, you will be the losers, He will not. Your opposition
   is utterly futile! Like a snake biting a file you will only break your
   own teeth. You cannot hurt the Church, nor hurt the Word of God.
   Perhaps your very opposition is one cog in the wheel to urge it on. If
   the things are of God, it is in vain that you fight against them. Be as
   wise as Haman's wife when she warned her husband that if Mordecai was
   of the seed of the Jews, before whom he had begun to fall, it was no
   use to take up the cudgels against him. This warning was proven to be
   true when Haman was hung upon the gallows fifty cubits high! To oppose
   the royal Seed of Heaven is of no use whatever, but assures ruin to
   those who engage in it.

   Now, suppose a man says, "I am not going to believe that Jesus Christ
   came into this world and died for the guilty, neither will I have Him
   for my Savior! I will run the risks." Well, remember, if you do it, it
   is at your own cost. Do it if you dare. Many years ago a captain was
   sent out in one of the Government ships, the Thetis, to discover a
   shoal, a rock, or some other obstruction said to exist in the
   Mediterranean Sea. The captain was an old salt who knew little about
   navigation as a science, and cared less for rules, books, theories and
   so on. He always sneered at scientific works. Though he sailed near the
   spot, he did not discover the rock and came back.

   But one of his officers was persuaded that, nevertheless, there was
   something in the report. So, sometime after, when he had become,
   himself, a first officer in another vessel, he sailed near the spot and
   discovered it. It was marked on the charts of the Admiralty and he
   received a considerable reward for having made the discovery. The old
   captain cursed and swore at these newfangled fellows who could find
   what he could not! He would not believe the shoal was there--one thing
   he would do--they might call him a liar if he did not drive the Thetis
   right over the spot where the rock was marked and so prove it to be all
   nonsense.

   He had an opportunity, sometime later, when he was out upon a cruise.
   He sailed close to the spot marked on the chart, and thinking he had
   passed over it, he cried out to those who were standing round, with
   many expressions of blasphemy, that he had proved these whippersnappers
   to be fools and liars! Just as he uttered his boast there came a crash,
   the ship was on the rock, and in a few minutes she was sinking. By the
   good Providence of God all on board escaped except the captain. He was
   in such a desperate state of mind that when last he was seen he was on
   deck in his shirt sleeves rushing about as if he had gone mad! You see,
   his firm belief that there was no rock there did not alter the case--he
   was wrecked for his obstinacy.

   There are a great many who say, "Oh, I do not believe it, I shall not
   bother my head about it." Well, you are warned! You are warned,
   remember that! There is a way of salvation by Jesus Christ, the
   Incarnate God, and we implore you to accept it. If you do not, this
   rock of unbelief will be your eternal shipwreck. I pray God that every
   one of us may bow before Christ and accept Him as our King. He will
   shortly come to be our Judge! Oh, let us worship Him as our Mediator!
   Look to Him! Look to Him on His Cross, for you must soon look to Him on
   His Throne. Look to His wounds! Behold the atoning blood! Look to Him
   and find salvation!

   Whether you look to Him now, or not, you will have to look to Him in
   that day when Heaven and earth shall rock and reel, the trumpet shall
   sound, the dead shall rise and you among them! Then the books shall be
   opened and the sentence of eternal wrath shall be uttered against the
   disobedient and unbelieving! God save us all for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 Peter 2. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--118, 2, 961.
     __________________________________________________________________

Jesus, The Delight of Heaven

   (No. 1225)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and
   to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to
   God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
   nation; and have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall
   reign on the earth." Revelation 5:9,10.

   IF YOU want to know a man's character, it is well to inquire at his
   home. What do his children and servants think of him? What is the
   estimate formed by those who are always with him? George Whitefield was
   once asked his opinion of a person and his answer was very wise, for he
   replied, "I never lived with him." Beloved Brothers and Sisters in
   Christ, see what an estimate is formed of your Lord at Home up yonder,
   where they know Him best and see Him most constantly, and in the
   clearest light! They have discovered no faults in Him. The angels who
   have beheld Him ever since they were created, the redeemed who have
   been with Him, some of them for thousands of years, have found no spot
   in Him. Their unanimous verdict expressed freely in joyful song is,
   "You are worthy; You are worthy; You are worthy."

   If you desire to know a man, it will be well to find out what the best
   sort of people think of him, for the good opinion of bad men is
   worthless. "What have I done," said one of the Greek philosophers,
   "that you speak well of me?" when he found himself applauded by a man
   of evil character! A character that comes from men fitted to judge, who
   know what purity is, who have had their eyes opened to discriminate
   between virtue and its counterfeit--such a character is well worth
   having! One would not like to be thought ill of by a saint. We value
   the esteem of those whose judgement is sound, who are free from
   prejudice and who love only that which is honest and of good repute.

   Now, Beloved, see what your Lord is thought of in the best society!
   Where they are all perfect! Where they are no longer children, but are
   all able to judge! Where they live in a clear light and are free from
   prejudice! Where they cannot make a mistake! See what they think of
   Him! They, themselves, are without fault before the Throne of God but
   they do not think themselves worthy--they ascribe worthiness to Jesus
   only. None stood up to take the book from the open hand of the great
   King. When they saw the Lamb do so, they felt that it was His right to
   take that prominent and honorable position--and with one accord they
   said, "You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
   for You were

   slain."

   You and I cannot have too lofty thoughts of Jesus. We err in not
   thinking enough of Him. Let our estimate of Him grow and let us cry
   with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" Oh, for great thoughts of Jesus! Oh,
   to set Him on the highest imaginable throne in the conceptions of our
   soul, and to make every power and faculty of our manhood fall prostrate
   like the elders before Him, while whatever of honor God may put upon us
   we cast always at His feet, and always say, with heart and lip and act,
   "You are worthy, Jesus, Emmanuel, Redeemer, who have purchased us by
   Your blood. Worthy are You, worthy forever and forever."

   It is to the estimate of the perfect spirits that I would call your
   attention. What do you think of Christ, you glorified ones, with whom
   we shall so soon unite? We have your answer in the words we have read.
   "You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
   You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every
   kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and have made us unto our
   God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the

   earth."

   I. Notice, first, that the bright ones before the Throne adore the Lord
   Jesus as WORTHY OF THE HIGH OFFICE

   OF MEDIATOR. They adore Him as alone worthy of that office, for there
   was silence in Heaven when the roll was held in God's hand and the
   challenge was given, "Who is worthy to take the book, and to open the
   seals thereof?" Dumb were the four living creatures. Silent were the
   cherubim and seraphim--in mute solemnity sat the 24 elders on their
   thrones.

   They put in no claim for worthiness, but by their silence and their
   subsequent song when Christ came forward, they admitted that He, alone,
   could unfold the purposes of God and interpret them to the sons of men.

   I take it that one of the meanings of our Lord's taking the book into
   His hand was this--that He was the Fulfiller of that mysterious roll so
   closely sealed. He came to unfold it and, by transactions in which He
   should hold the chief place, it was to be fulfilled. The key of the
   purposes of God is Christ. We do not know what the decrees of God may
   be until they are fulfilled, but we do know that of Him, and through
   Him, and to Him, are all things, and that everything will begin and end
   with Jesus, for He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

   He is the initial letter of all history and He will be the "finis" of
   it when He shall give up the Throne to God, even the Father, that God
   may be All in All. As our Lord Jesus is the Fulfiller, so He is the
   Interpreter. He has been with the Father and, "No man knows the Father
   save the Son, and He to whom the Son shall reveal Him." He is the great
   Interpreter to us of the mind of God. His Spirit, dwelling in us, takes
   of His things and shows them unto us. And in the light of the Spirit we
   see the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. "No man comes to the
   Father," He says, "but by Me," for no man can expound the Father to us
   or conduct us to the Father save Jesus Christ, the sole Interpreter of
   the Divine secret.

   And so I regard the expressions here as setting Him forth as Mediator,
   for He it is who stands between God and man. He is worthy to take the
   book in His hands on our behalf and grasp for us the indentures of our
   inheritance beyond the stars. No one else can go in for us to the
   august Presence of the Most High and take the title deeds of Grace into
   His hands on our behalf. But Christ can do it and, taking it, He can
   unfold it and expound to us the wondrous purpose of electing love
   towards the chosen ones. Stand back, you sons of antichrist, with your
   bronze foreheads! How dare you bring forward a virgin, blessed among
   women, and cause her very name to be defiled by styling her our
   intercessor before God? How dare you bring your saints and make these
   to mediate between God and men? "There is one Mediator between God and
   man, the Man Christ Jesus."

   The saints in Heaven sing of Him, "You are worthy," and they salute
   none other! They reserve no homage for any other intercessor or
   mediator or interpreter or fulfiller of Divine Grace, for they know of
   no other. Unto Him they give, and to Him alone, the honor to go in unto
   the King on the behalf of the sons of men, and to take the book in His
   hands. Notice carefully to what they ascribe this worthiness--"You are
   worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof, for you were
   slain." Now, the case stands thus--God has given to us innumerable
   blessings in the Covenant of Grace--but they are given upon a
   condition. There are two sides to a covenant.

   Jesus Christ is our representative and Covenant Head, and the condition
   which, as the Mediator, He had to fulfill was this--that in due time He
   would offer to Divine Justice an honorable amend for all the injury
   done to the honor of God by our sins. As Mediator, our Lord's
   worthiness did not merely arise from His Person as God and perfect
   Man-- this fitted Him to undertake the office, but His right to claim
   the privileges written in the Magna Charta which God held in His hands,
   His right to take possession for His people of that seven-sealed
   indenture lies in this--that He has fulfilled the condition of the
   Covenant and, therefore, they sing, "You are worthy, for You were
   slain."

   Not, "You are worthy, for You were born on earth and You did live a
   holy life," but, "You were slain." For He must render recompense to
   incensed Justice and injured Holiness--and that He did upon the bloody
   tree. Whenever we begin to talk about this, the believers in the modern
   atonement--which is no Atonement, but a hazy piece of cloudland-- say
   to us, "Oh, you hold the commercial theory, do you?" They know right
   well that we only use, because the Bible uses them, commercial
   expressions as metaphors. But I venture to say to them, "You may well
   assert that there is nothing commercial about your system, for the
   commercial value of a counterfeit farthing would be too much to pay for
   the atonement in which you believe."

   I believe in an Atonement in which Christ literally took the sin of His
   people and for them endured the wrath of God, giving to Justice quid
   pro quo for all that was due to it, or an equivalent for it--bearing,
   that we might not bear, the wrath that was due to us. Jesus, Himself,
   really "bore our sins in His own body on the tree." "He was made sin
   for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
   in Him." There was a literal, positive, actual Substitution of "the
   Just for the unjust to bring us to God." No other atonement is worth
   the breath used in preaching of it. It will neither give comfort to the
   conscience nor Glory to God. But on this rock our souls may rest
   without fear and it is because of this that they sing in Heaven, "You
   are worthy, for You were slain.

   "You can claim our absolution--You can take the Magna Charta of Your
   elect into Your hands and unroll the Covenant established with them of
   old. You can reveal to us the sure mercies of David, for Your part in
   the Covenant has been fulfilled. Your Substitutionary death has made
   Your people heirs with You." Gladly would I fly yonder to join their
   song, but till then I'll lisp it forth as best I may--"You are worthy
   to take the book and open the seals thereof, for You were slain."

   II. Secondly, in Heaven they adore the Lord as their REDEEMER. "You
   were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood." The metaphor of
   redemption, if I understand it, signifies this--a thing which is
   redeemed, in the strictest sense, belonged beforehand to the person who
   redeemed it. Under the Jewish law, lands were mortgaged as they are
   now. And when the money lent upon them, or the service due for them,
   was paid, the land was said to be redeemed. An inheritance first
   belonged to a person and then went away from him by stress of poverty.
   But if a certain price was paid it came back.

   Now, "all souls are Mine" says the Lord, and the souls of men belong to
   God. The metaphor is used and, mark, these expressions are but
   metaphors. But the sense under them is no metaphor--it is fact. Our
   souls had come under mortgage, as it were, through the sin committed,
   so that God could not accept us without violating His Justice until
   something had been done by which He, who is infinitely Just, could
   freely distribute His Grace to us. Now, Jesus Christ has taken the
   mortgage from God's inheritance. "The Lord's portion is His people."
   That portion was hampered till Jesus set it free. We were always God's,
   but we had fallen into slavery to sin. Jesus came to make recompense
   for our offenses, and thus we return to where we were before, only with
   additional gifts which His Grace bestows.

   In Heaven, they say, "You have redeemed us." And they tell the price,
   "You have redeemed us to God by Your blood." There lay the price--the
   sufferings and death of Jesus have set His people free from the slavery
   into which they were brought. They are redeemed and they are redeemed
   unto God. That is the point--they come back to God as lands come back
   to the owner when the mortgage is discharged. We come back to God,
   again, to whom we always and ever did belong, because Jesus has
   redeemed us unto God by His blood.

   And please notice that the redemption they sing about in Heaven is not
   general redemption. It is particular redemption. "You have redeemed us
   to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and
   nation." They do not speak of the redemption of every tongue, and
   people, and nation, but of a redemption out of every tongue, and
   people, and nation! I thank God I do not believe that I was redeemed in
   the same way that Judas was, and no more. If so, I shall go to Hell as
   Judas did. General redemption is not worth anything to anybody, for of
   itself it secures to no one a place in Heaven--but the special
   redemption which does redeem, and redeems men out of the rest of
   mankind--is the redemption that is to be prayed for, and for which we
   shall praise God forever and ever.

   We are redeemed from among men. "Christ loved His Church and gave
   Himself for it." "He is the Savior of all men"--let us never deny
   that--"but especially of them that believe." There is a wide,
   far-reaching sacrificial Atonement which brings untold blessings to all
   mankind, but by that Atonement a special Divine object was aimed at,
   which will be carried out--and that object is the actual redemption of
   His own elect from the bondage of their sins--the price being the blood
   of Jesus Christ. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, may we have a share in this
   particular, efficient redemption, for this, alone, can bring us where
   they sing the new song!

   This redemption is one which is personally realized. You have redeemed
   us to God. Redemption is sweet, but, "You have redeemed us" is sweeter,
   still! If I can but believe He loved me and gave Himself for me, that
   will tune my tongue to sing Jehovah's praise, for what did David say?
   "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness." He repeated that
   several times over, but it would never have been carried out unless he
   had said, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed
   out of the hand of the enemy." In vain he called upon others, their
   tongues were dedicated to their pleasures! But the redeemed of the Lord
   are a fit choir to magnify His name.

   The pith of what I have to say is this--in Heaven they praise Jesus
   Christ because He has redeemed them--my dear Hearer, has He ever
   redeemed you? "Oh," says one, "I believe He has redeemed everybody!"
   But of what use is that? Do not the great mass of mankind sink to
   perdition? If you rest upon such a redemption, you rest upon what will
   not save you! He redeemed His own elect, or, in other words, He
   redeemed Believers. "God so loved the world" is a text much cried up,
   but pray go on with it. How much did He love the world? "That He gave
   His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish."

   There is the specialty of it--"Whoever believes in Him," and if you do
   not believe in Him, you have no part or lot in His redemption! You are
   slaves to sin and Satan, and so will you live and so will you die. But
   believing in the Lord Jesus you have the marks of being specially and
   effectually redeemed by Him. And when you get to Heaven this will be
   your song--"You have redeemed us unto God by Your blood out of every
   kindred, and people, and tongue." Blessed be God for this! Some of all
   sorts are saved, some of all colors, ranks, nations and ages are saved!
   Some of all conditions of education and morals, some of the poorest,
   and some of the richest are redeemed--so that when we all assemble in
   Heaven, though we make a motley throng on earth, we shall constitute a
   united choir, having all our voices tuned to this one note, "Worthy is
   the Lamb that was slain."

   III. Thirdly, and briefly, in Heaven they praise Christ, not merely as
   Mediator and as Redeemer, but as the DONOR OF THEIR DIGNITIES. They are
   kings and they reign. We, too, are kings, but as yet we are not known
   or recognized, and often we, ourselves, forget our high descent. Up
   there they are crowned monarchs, but they say, "You have made us
   kings." They are priests, too, as we are now, every one of us. When a
   fellow comes forward in all sorts of curious garments and says he is a
   priest, the poorest child of God may say, "Stand away and don't
   interfere with my office--I am a priest--I know not what you may be.
   You surely must be a priest of Baal, for the only mention of the word
   vestments in Scripture is in connection with the temple of Baal."

   The priesthood belongs to all the saints! They sometimes call you
   laity, but the Holy Spirit says of all the saints, "You are God's
   cleros"--you are God's clergy. Every child of God is a clergyman or a
   clergywoman. There are no priestly distinctions known in Scripture.
   Away with them! Away with them forever! The Prayer Book says, "Then
   shall the priest say." What a pity that word was ever left there. The
   very word, "priest," has such a smell of the sulfur of Rome about it,
   that so long as it remains, the Church of England will give forth an
   ill savor. Call yourself a priest, Sir? I wonder men are not ashamed to
   take the title, when I remember what priests have done in all
   ages--what priests connected with the "church of Rome" have done!

   I repeat what I have often said--I would sooner a man pointed at me in
   the street and called me a devil than called me a priest, for bad as
   the devil has been, he has hardly been able to match the crimes,
   cruelties and villainies which have been transacted under the cover of
   a special priesthood. From that may we be delivered! But the priesthood
   of God's saints, the Priesthood of Holiness, which offers prayer and
   praise unto God--this they have in Heaven, and they say of it, "You
   have made us priests." What the saints are, and what they are to be,
   they ascribe to Jesus. They have no glory but what they received from
   Him, and they know it, and are perpetually confessing it. Let our
   hearts sing with the redeemed--"All for Jesus, for all is from Jesus!
   All for Jesus, for Jesus has given us all we have." Let us begin that
   music here.

   IV. Once again. They in Heaven adore the Savior as DIVINE. I am not
   straining the words of my text at all, but keeping the whole passage
   before me. If you read the two chapters you will find that while they
   sing to God, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive honor and glory and
   power," they sing to the Lamb, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to
   receive power and riches and wisdom." The ascriptions which are given
   to the Creator are also offered to the Lamb, and He is represented as
   sitting on the same Throne. Mark carefully that the adoration which
   they give to Him, He does not resent.

   When John fell down to worship one of the angels, he received an
   earnest protest, "See you do it not." Now, if the worship given to
   Christ had been wrong, the thrice holy Savior would have exclaimed most
   earnestly, "See you do it not." But He intimates no objection to the
   worship, although it is freely rendered by all the intelligent beings
   before the Throne. Depend upon it, my Hearer, you will never go to
   Heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God. They are
   all doing it there--you will have to come to it--and if you entertain
   the notion that He is a mere man, or that He is anything less than God,
   I am afraid you will have to begin at the beginning and learn what true
   religion means. You have a poor foundation to rest upon.

   I could not trust my soul with a mere man, or believe in an Atonement
   made by a mere man! I must see God Himself putting His hands to so
   gigantic a work. I cannot imagine a mere man being thus praised as the
   Lamb is praised. Jesus is "God over all, blessed forever." When we ever
   speak at all severely of Socinians and Unitarians you must not be
   surprised at it, because if we are right, they are blasphemers! And if
   they are right we are idolaters--there is no choice between the two. We
   never could agree and never shall while the world stands. We preach
   Christ, the Son of God, as very God of very

   God, and if they reject Him, it is not for us to pretend that it makes
   no difference, when, in fact, it makes all the difference in the world!

   We would not wish them to say more than they believe to be true, and
   they must not expect us to say less than we believe to be true. If
   Jesus is God, they must believe it, and must worship Him as such, or
   else they cannot participate in the salvation which He has provided. I
   love the Deity of Christ! I preach His Humanity with all my might, and
   I rejoice that He is the Son of Man, but oh, He must be the Son of God,
   too, or there is no peace for me--

   "Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort find.

   The holy, just, and sacred Three

   Are terrors to my mind.

   But if Emmanuel's face appears,

   My hope, my joy begins:

   His name forbids my slavish fear;

   His Grace removes my sins."

   Now I have almost done, only this is the outcome of the subject. You
   see the opinion they have of Jesus in Heaven. My dear Friends, are you
   of the same mind with them? You will never go there till you are! There
   are no sects in Heaven--no two parties. They all hold the same views
   about Jesus. Let me ask you, then, are you of the same persuasion as
   the glorified saints?

   They praise Jesus for what He has done. It is very wonderful to my mind
   that when they are adoring the Savior they seem to strike that one
   key--they praise Him for what He has done--and they praise Him for what
   He has done for them. They might have praised Him for what He is, but
   in the text they do not. Now, this reason which has such say in Heaven
   is the very same which moves us here--"We love Him because He first
   loved us," and as if to show that this kind of love is not an inferior
   love, the love of gratitude seems to be the very sum and substance of
   the love of Heaven--"You were slain, and have redeemed us." Can you
   praise Him for redeeming you?

   Dear Hearer, you have heard about Jesus hundreds of times. Has He saved
   you? You know there is a fountain filled with blood which cleanses from
   all sin--has it cleansed you? You know He has woven a robe of
   righteousness which covers His people from head to foot--has He covered
   you with it? You will never praise Him till that is the case--and you
   cannot go to Heaven till you are ready for His praise. "Well, but I go
   to my place of worship." So you may. But that will not save you till
   you get a personal hold on Christ for yourself. "My mother and father
   were godly people." I am glad they were. I hope they won't have an
   ungodly son.

   You must have a personal religion--something done by Jesus Christ for
   you. Young woman over yonder, has Jesus Christ redeemed you from among
   the mass of the people? Has He brought you out from your sins and
   separated you to Himself? Have you had the blood applied to your
   soul--the precious blood of sprinkling which speaks peace in the
   conscience? Time is flying and you have been hearers month after
   month--will it always be so? Will you never cry unto God, "Lord, let me
   know Your redemption! Let me have a share in the precious blood! Let me
   be washed from my sins"?

   Remember, you must be able to praise Him for what He has done for you,
   or else you are not of the opinion of those in Heaven and into Heaven
   you cannot go! It is clear from the song I have been reading that in
   Heaven Christ is everybody and everything. Is Christ so with you? It is
   a solemn question to put to persons. Is Christ first and last and
   middle with you, top and bottom, foundation and pinnacle, All in All?
   He knows not Christ who does not know that Christ is All in All! Christ
   and company will never do. Christ is the sole Savior, the sole Trust,
   the one Prophet, Priest and King to all who accept Him.

   Is He everything to you? Ah, there are some who think they love Christ!
   They think they trust Christ! But if He were to come to their house He
   would have a seat at the far end of the table if they treated Him as
   they treat Him now. They give Him part of the Sabbath--they were
   loafing about all the morning, they were only able to get here this
   evening-- and even now they have not come to worship, but only out of
   curiosity. A chapter in the Bible--how long is it, young Man, since you
   read one? Private prayer--ah, I must not go into that! It is such a
   sorry story that you would have to tell.

   If anybody said to you, "You are not a Christian," you would be
   offended. Well, I will say it, and you may be offended if you like, but
   remember you should be offended with yourself rather than with me. If
   you offend my Lord I am not at all afraid of your being offended with
   His servant, and therefore I tell you, if Christ is anything short of
   Lord and

   King in your soul, Christ and you are wide apart! He must be in the
   front rank, Lord High Admiral upon the sea, and Commander-in-Chief on
   the land. He is not going to be a petty officer, to come in at your odd
   times to be a lackey to you! You must take Him to be Head, Lord and
   Master. Is it so with you? If not, you differ from those in Heaven, for
   He is All in All to them!

   Once more. Can you join with the words of our text and say, "He is
   worthy, He is worthy"? I hope there are many here who, if they for a
   moment heard that full burst of song, "He is worthy," would join it
   very heartily, and say, "Yes, He is worthy." I seemed, tonight when I
   was praying, as if I could hear them sing, "He is worthy," and I could
   hardly restrain myself from shouting, "Well sing you so, you spirits
   before the Throne! He is worthy!" If we were to loose our silence for a
   moment, and break the decorum which we have observed through the
   sermon, and with one unanimous shout cry, "Yes, He is worthy," I think
   it would be a fit thing to do!

   Jesus is worthy of my life, worthy of my love, worthy of everything I
   can say for Him! He is worthy of a thousand times more than that,
   worthy of all the music and harps on earth, worthy of all the songs of
   all the sweetest singers, worthy of all the poetry of the best writers,
   worthy of all the adoration of every knee! He is worthy of all that
   every man has, or can conceive or can compass! He is worthy to be
   adored of all that are in the earth and under the earth, and in the
   sea, and in the heavens, and in the Heaven of heavens! He is worthy!

   We say, "worthy," because we cannot tell how worthy. I think these good
   singers in Heaven desired to give to the Lamb His due and then they
   paused, and said to themselves, "We cannot give Him the praise He
   deserves, but we know that He is worthy. We cannot pretend to give Him
   what He is worthy of, but we will say, 'He is worthy.'" Yes, He is
   worthy! If I had 50,000 lives in this poor body, He is worthy that they
   should all be poured out, one after another, in martyrdom! One should
   be burned alive, and another should be broken on the wheel, and another
   should be starved by inches, and another should be dragged at the heeds
   of a wild horse--and He would deserve them all! He is worthy, and if we
   had all the mines of India--silver and gold and gems, the rarest
   treasures of all the kings that ever lived, if we were to give it all
   up to Him and go barefoot--He is worthy!

   And if, after having done that, we were to abide day and night in
   perpetual work without rest, all for His sake, and if each one of us
   were multiplied into a million, and all of us labored so, He is worthy!
   Worthy! I would make every drop of dew sparkle with His praise and
   every leaf in the forest bear His name! I would make every dell and
   every mountain vocal with adoration and teach the stars, and teach the
   angels above the stars, His praise--

   "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer's praise!"

   Let time and space become one mouth for song, and all eternity sound
   forth that mighty word, "He is worthy." Do you feel that He is worthy?
   If you do not, you cannot be admitted where they sing that song, for if
   you could enter there you would be unhappy. Never hope to enter there
   until your soul can say, "I have rested in His blood. I am, by it,
   redeemed unto God and the Redeemer is worthy! And I will bear witness
   of His worthiness till time shall be no more."

   God bless you all, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Revelation 4:5. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--412, 416, 417.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Secret Of Health

   (No. 1226)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my
   God." Psalm 42:11.

   ANOTHER verse in this Psalm so attracts me that, though it is not my
   text, I cannot pass it by without a moment's notice. In the 5th verse
   the Psalmist says, "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His
   Countenance," and then follows the expression of the text, "who is the
   health of my countenance and my God." God's Countenance is our help and
   He, Himself is the health of our countenance! The best help a man can
   have in time of trouble is the Countenance of God! If he feels that he
   enjoys the Divine Love and that he is acceptable with the Lord, he
   becomes, at once, strong to bear, or dare, or do. Ask the Presence of
   God to be with you, child of God, and you may then descend into a
   lion's den, traverse a fiery furnace, or pass through the iron gates of
   death! A look from the Lord is life and strength to His people!

   So much for the 5th verse. Now let us weave our text with it. This help
   of God's Countenance usually comes to Believers by their obtaining
   health for their countenances. It may not please God to lessen the
   burden, but it comes to the same thing if He strengthens the back. He
   may not recall the soldier from the battle, but if He gives him a
   greater stomach for the fight, and increased strength for its toils, it
   may be better, still, for him. "The spirit of a man will sustain his
   infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Give a man health in his
   countenance and he laughs at that which would have crushed him had he
   been in another mood.

   There are times when the grasshopper becomes a burden and there are
   other seasons, when, with undaunted spirit we can say, "Who are you, O
   great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain." Everything
   depends upon the man's personal condition. For the diseased eyes,
   beauty does not exist. For the disordered palate, sweetness is no
   longer to be found. And to a deaf ear, harmony is silent. Our happiness
   depends more upon our own personal condition than upon our
   surroundings. The great thing to be desired by all of us is that we
   may, in spirit, soul and body, be whole, that is, to be holy, for
   holiness is, in very truth, wholeness of our entire manhood!

   Sin is disease. Righteousness is health. We all need to be healed, that
   being healed, we may be healthy--that receiving the Divine restoration,
   our nature may arrive at perfect soundness. Through the Fall and our
   own sins we have become the prey of manifold maladies and need the
   exercise of Divine power to bring us back into that sacred sanity of
   nature in which God first created man--when He made him in His own
   image and saw, concerning him and the world in which He had placed
   him--that it was very good.

   Of our complete manhood's health I shall speak this morning. And while
   I speak of it may the Lord be pleased to make all of us see that He is
   the health of our countenance and our God.

   I. Our first remark is one which naturally grows out of the text,
   though it may seem a very trite one, namely, that PERFECT HEALTH IS A
   GREAT BLESSING. Do not misunderstand me by narrowing my words in their
   application. I am not speaking of the health of the body, alone, for to
   say that bodily health is a blessing were but to assert what no one
   disputes. Man, however, is something more than a body. He is also a
   living soul. Yes, more--there is in the regenerate man, a triple
   nature, consisting of body, soul and spirit.

   Even in you, who are unregenerate, there is a double nature of body and
   soul. I would hope you have been born again and have reached the triple
   nature, and possessed that higher principle which is born of God, but
   even you are not all comprised in mere flesh. And when I speak of your
   health, I mean the health of your entire being. Perfect health lies in
   the right condition of spirit, soul and body. Complete health in Heaven
   will be ours when our body has been raised from the dead,
   incorruptible--our soul has been cleansed from all defilement, our
   new-born spirit has come to its full develop-ment--our entire manhood
   shall be glorified!

   This universal health of our manhood is invaluable, for it was that
   which made our first Paradise. Man was not happy in Eden merely because
   the fruits were luscious and delicious as were the odors of the flowers
   which grew in the garden of delights, but because no disease of sin had
   tainted any part of his nature. His bodily appetites had not gained
   predominance over his mental faculties, neither had he suffered any of
   his mental powers to override the rest, or permitted the pride of
   knowledge to stay the childlike spirit which adored the great Father.
   His being was well balanced and all its powers were in a perfect
   condition.

   Adam was in all respects such as God would have man to be, for he was
   such as God had actually made him. As in a perfect machine which comes
   fresh from the maker's hand, every wheel acts upon its fellow and the
   whole is obedient to the central mainspring--and so was Adam's nature
   in complete order. Alas for us that it ever became otherwise! As
   perfect health was our first happiness, so it will be our last and
   eternal happiness, for Heaven is not merely streets of gold and harps
   of melodious music and winged creatures strangely bright--it is
   perfection realized! The slough of depravity cast off, the soul shall
   be herself again, and of manhood it shall be said, "his flesh is
   fresher than a child's, and he has returned to the days of his youth."

   Spiritual health, then, was the first Paradise and we can never reach
   the second except by its recovery. No forgiveness of sin, no imputation
   of righteousness, no justification by faith, if such could be apart
   from an inward change--could make a man happy so long as his soul is
   sick of. Health must reign within, or a throne in Heaven would be a
   mockery! Today, a measure of health is essential to our happiness. If
   any man here burns with the fever of lust he cannot be a happy man. In
   the fierce heat of passion he may think himself blessed, but he dares
   not deny that in those intervals of chill remorse which alternate with
   the heat of passion, woe and anguish are his portion! Anger, envy,
   revenge, covetousness, discontent, pride and self-will are all diseases
   fatal to happiness.

   Perhaps some man before me is utterly given up to worldliness and
   lethargy has seized upon him. And in the deadness of that lethargy he
   complains of no pain whatever, but finds a happiness in the numbness of
   spiritual death. May God deliver you from this hideous peace, this
   horrible stupefaction, for it is not true happiness but the herald of
   eternal death! Absolute happiness, that which will bear close
   examination--real joy, peace, felicity--can never come to a man while
   one part of his nature jars with the other! He must be right with
   himself. The little universe of our nature cannot sing in harmony till
   its central sun of faith, its planetary affections and even those
   imaginations which are comparable to the comets, are each and all in
   their fit spheres and orbits. Then, as they all, like the heavens,
   declare the Glory of God, all will be well. We must be spiritually
   healthy or we cannot be happy.

   The need of this health is the cause of a thousand ills. This world we
   complain of full often, but it were no longer the prison of sorrow if
   it ceased to be the theater of sin. If man were man as God made him,
   the earth would soon regain her excellency and her deserts would
   blossom as the rose. If men were not sinners, neither would they be
   sufferers. Thorns and thistles would be no longer a curse, but would be
   counted among flowers, if men had not thorns within their bosoms and
   thistles in their hearts. On the way of holiness no lion or ravenous
   beast could go up, for of the perfect man it is written, "You shall be
   in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field
   shall be in peace with you." Cast out sin and you have cast out the
   serpent whose slime has made this world so foul. Cut down this upas
   tree and numberless griefs and torments will no more drip upon mankind.

   We may judge of the value of health when we remember that it cannot be
   purchased. You cannot buy deliverance from bodily disease. What would
   we not give if we could? We would seek out, at any expense, the
   physician whose fee is highest, and we would not refuse to fill his
   hands with gold could he but give us ease. But no, when God chastens,
   the rod will not be quiet. As for the health of the soul and spirit,
   the miser's bags, if they were emptied out, could not purchase it for a
   moment! No, the very fact that he hoped so to win it would be, in
   itself, a disease, for what are trust in riches and reliance upon
   self-righteousness but forms of pride, which is one of the most deadly
   of our sicknesses?

   You cannot buy health for your nature! Your tears cannot procure it!
   Your works, your repentances, your prayers cannot find it apart from
   God! He is the health of your countenance. Bless Him that He is so.
   Were it not for this, your whole head would continue sick, and your
   whole heart faint. There is no balm in Gilead, there is no physician
   there. God, alone, is the Healer of the Soul and freely does He bestow
   what India, with its gems, and California, with its gold, cannot
   procure. If we are without this health, nothing can compensate us for
   the loss of it. You who have been sick know

   that nothing can make up for the agony of pain or the misery of
   inability to move your limbs. Those weary nights and long days of
   anguish can not be recompensed by gold and silver.

   So, unless you become right in soul and spirit with your God, nothing
   can help you. You may put on the garb of religion. You may learn the
   tones and mannerisms of Christians. You may sing the songs of saints.
   You may think that you could play the music of angels, but, "you must
   be born again!" You must be recovered from sin's mortal malady! You
   must be purged from the foul leprosy of evil, for you are polluted, and
   until you are recovered you cannot come into the tabernacles of the
   Lord, nor stand in His holy place. Without holiness, which is another
   word for wholeness or health, no man can see the Lord.

   If this health of ours is not found, let us be warned that it will be
   eternal Hell, for what is Hell? Is it not consummated sin? What are the
   fetters of the condemned but their own tyrant passions? The fires that
   burn and yet do not consume, will they not be ungratified desires? The
   worm that never dies, will it not be a tormenting conscience? The man,
   himself, is his own Hell! True, there may be, over and above this,
   penalties from the hand of the Lord, for what are we that we should
   pretend to know the secrets of the dreadful prison? There may be
   positive inflictions from the Divine hand, but without these there is
   misery enough in despair and torment abundant in remorse.

   If a man were taken up to Heaven, itself, and were surrounded with all
   the circumstances which assist the blessed to express their joy, yet
   there he would burn and there he would gnash his teeth, and there he
   would weep and wail, if still his breast was cankered with enmity to
   God and his heart palpitated with fierce and strong passions. Within
   ourselves must ever be the essential Heaven, or the actual Hell.

   There lies the main business, Sir. You are sick and must be cured, or
   you are damned, for your sickness is incipient damnation. Sir, you were
   born with a cancer in your bosom which will one day flood your whole
   nature with its horrible loathsomeness! And then will come the time of
   your misery! You must be cured, or else a doom awaits you which
   language cannot describe. Assuredly I have said enough to show that
   manhood's perfect health is the greatest of blessings, and I proceed to
   the next point.

   II. Our text joyfully asserts, secondly, that GOD IS OUR HEALTH. "Hope
   you in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my
   countenance and my God." God is our health! He is so in these senses,
   that, first of all, He is the originator of health which once was
   enjoyed by man. There was, in the primeval days, one perfect man, no,
   there was one perfect pair, upon the face of the earth. And these
   possessed a total sanity because God, who is, Himself, holy, had made
   them whole or holy, and they were perfect in their ways from the day
   they were created till iniquity was found in them. They were made a
   little lower than the angels, but they wore a glory and honor about
   them which made all the lower creatures obedient to their command. That
   beauty of holiness was the work of God who made man upright and caused
   his countenance to beam with health. He who made the first man pure
   must make us pure, or we shall never be pure.

   But again, God is the health of our countenance because our relation to
   Him is the test of our health. Just what you are to God, that you
   really are. It is good to stand well with your fellow men. To love your
   neighbor as yourself is right and just. But He who made us has the
   first claim upon us. Our Creator should, first of all, have the love
   and loyalty of our hearts. If He is not the chief Object of our
   thoughts, depend upon it, we are wrong. Whatever we may be in our
   relation to others, we are sadly wrong if we are disarranged towards
   God. If you do not love God, you do not love Him who is the holiest,
   the purest and the best. If you do not love God, it is certain that you
   do not love essential goodness, truth, justice, and purity.

   You complain that the Character of God is so much above you--then how
   low must you be? You assert that you cannot think of Him as your
   Father--but we would have you remember that when a child cannot think
   of its father as its father, its heart must be alienated, indeed. Do
   you ever judge yourselves in relation to God? Men seldom do, and when
   they use expressions which concern this relationship they generally
   misuse them. I have noted in this place, before, that if we call a man,
   a sinner, he is not offended with us, for that only means that he
   disobeys the Law of God. But if we call him a criminal, he is
   indignant, because that means that he has broken the laws of man. Alas,
   that our relation to man should seem to be so much more important than
   our connection with God!

   To set man before God is unrighteous and shows the essential injustice
   of unrenewed hearts, for when their hearts are set right, men feel that
   they would sooner a thousand times offend their fellow men than once
   offend their God. So that you may judge of your spiritual health by
   your relation to God. Do you love Him? Do you trust Him? Do you speak
   with

   Him? Do you pray to Him? Is He your Friend? Is He your delight? Is His
   will your will? Do you take pleasure in that which pleases Him? Does
   your life run parallel with the life of God? It is well with you if
   things are so--it is on the way to being well with you if you desire to
   have them so. But if, on the contrary, God's will draws one way and you
   the other, the Lord cannot be wrong and you are clearly proven to be in
   an ill case. The Lord is holy. "Holy, holy, holy," say the angels, and
   if you are not like He is, you are unholy--that is you are not whole,
   you are not spiritually in health--your nature is diseased. God is our
   health, then, because our relation to Him is the test of it.

   Remember again, that the Lord is the very model of health. All
   perfections meet in Him. In God's Nature no single attribute ever
   intrudes upon another. You cannot find in God's Character any one point
   of which you can say--"He is this, alone, to the exclusion or
   overshadowing of other excellencies." God is Love, but God is also a
   consuming fire. God is Merciful, but God is true. God is great, but God
   is good. All excellencies are in Him in perfection. See whether you are
   like God then, for if you are not, you are not like the model of
   health. If the symptoms of your condition differ from the
   characteristics of God, you are unhealthy, for God is the standard of
   perfect holiness.

   The text intends to teach us that God must be to each one of us the
   Restorer of our spiritual health. If ever we recover soundness, He must
   restore us. The Sun of Righteousness must bring us healing, the
   heavenly wind of the Holy Spirit must drive away the pestilence of sin.
   The Water of Life must work our cure, the plant of renown must yield us
   balm. Man's malady demands a Divine Physician. Only Omnipotent Wisdom
   can make a man healthy, or keep him so. This body of ours is so complex
   and contains so many bones, cells, muscles, nerves, tissues and blood
   vessels that, perhaps, it is the greatest miracle on the face of the
   earth that we live, or if there is a greater, it must be that we live
   at all in health. Dr. Watts well said--

   "Strange that a harp of thousand strings, Should keep in tune so long."

   But when I think of the soul, it is so much more mysterious than the
   body, that to put a soul into proper conformity to God, and keep it
   right, would appear to be a greater wonder than anything which can be
   discovered by the physiologist in the anatomy of the body! O God, You
   alone made man, and You alone can deliver him from the evils which have
   unmade him, and bring him back to be what You would have him be. No
   hand but Yours must venture upon the task. They do but blunder who
   boast of regenerating with water. Blunder? No, they lie! God, alone,
   can regenerate a soul, and His Spirit must do it by that same mighty
   power which raised the Redeemer from the dead! Nothing short of
   Omnipotence at its full can raise us from our natural sickness to
   spiritual health.

   Spiritual health is produced by God's coming to us, for the only
   medicine for a sick soul is not something out of God, but God Himself!
   He could not cure us till He gave us His Son and His Son could not heal
   us till He gave us Himself. Today the food of spiritual health is the
   flesh and blood of Jesus, and nothing keeps us from relapsing into sin
   but the indwelling of the eternal Spirit! Our health is our God, our
   God Incarnate, our God dwelling in us, our God looking down from the
   Throne of Glory, and saying, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them,
   and I will be their God and they shall be My people." Jehovah Rophi,
   The Lord That Heals You, this is Your name, O Lord, and by it we adore
   You!

   III. But I must pass on to the third matter, namely, that THIS HEALTH
   HAS VISIBLE SIGNS. "He is the health of my countenance." The health of
   a man is mainly judged of by his face. Truly, you can tell something of
   it by his gait, and every limb of the body, more or less, evidences his
   condition--but the countenance is the window of the soul--the mirror
   which reflects the nature. True sanity towards God, or at any rate, the
   beginning of it in the work of Grace, can be seen. It is not a close
   secret hidden from observation--it displays itself!

   A notion is abroad that perhaps a man may be saved and not know it. He
   may be alive unto God unconsciously. He may be washed in the blood of
   Jesus without knowing it, so that he may live without discovering his
   own salvation and only find it out by the help of a priest as he is
   dying. There is nothing like that in the Word of God! Nothing of the
   kind! That may be the version of the Vatican, but it is not the version
   of the New Jerusalem. Read the Scriptures and you find men talk about,
   "us who are saved." You find them declaring that being justified by
   faith they have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

   When the Lord Jesus Christ takes a man in hand to heal him, He makes a
   difference in his countenance, by which, of course, I do not mean the
   countenance of the body merely, but that countenance which David meant,
   that part of our nature which is visible to others. The Lord gives
   outward evidences of His inward work! And what sort of signs are those?

   He takes away from the countenance of our manhood the blotches of sin.
   I look into a man's spiritual face and I discover that he is a drunk,
   that he is a man of lust, that he is a man of anger, that he is a hard,
   cruel man, a mean, miserly man-- these are so many blotches. And when
   the Grace of God enters the heart it takes away these disfigurements
   and beautifies the character!

   When the Lord Jesus begins to heal us, He removes from our countenance
   the blankness of despair. Did you ever see it? I have seen it in the
   actual bodily visage and a dreadful sight it is! But oh, when those
   charming bells are heard to ring, the bells of "free Grace and dying
   Love," and the man knows that his sin is forgiven and that he is
   accepted in Christ Jesus, then despair flies away! The shadow of the
   dragon's wing is taken from the face and the dove of peace passes by
   and casts a brightness as of silver upon the countenance! When the
   Great Physician heals men, He removes the paleness of fear, for men are
   pale when they dread the wrath to come! And they tremble with fear,
   lest they die in their sins.

   Once pardoned that pallor is gone and the ruddiness of confidence comes
   back to the cheeks! The gloom of sorrow also goes from the man whom
   Christ makes whole--

   "Why should I sorrow more?

   I trust a Savior slain,

   And safe beneath His sheltering Cross,

   Unmoved I shall remain."

   And when the Lord goes on working the cures of Grace, it is wonderful
   how He removes from the countenance the lines and furrows of need. The
   lantern jaws of hunger are seen in many who are pining after Christ and
   Grace, and cannot find either. But when Christ comes, He satiates the
   soul and makes fat the bones--and the countenance of the heart is glad.

   Let me tell you, though, I am afraid some Christians do not prove it,
   that the Lord Jesus smoothes out the wrinkles of care from the
   foreheads of His patients. When Christians are under the influence of
   Divine Grace, they know no care. They cast their care on Him who cares
   for them! They do the little they can do and leave the rest with their
   Lord, and all goes well, and their life is peace. O happy man who has
   been thus healed. "Well," says one, "I trust I am healed of sin, but I
   am not so healed as that." Brother, the Good Physician is proceeding
   with His operations, and if you have not yet all the cure, it is your
   fault and not His, for it is in His power, if you trust Him, to take
   away sorrow, fear, despair, doubt and even care--so that you shall say
   as our hymn puts it--

   "All that remains for me Is but to love and sing, And wait until the
   angels come

   To bear me to their King."

   It will not be long before they will come if you are in that condition!
   Only bad farmers leave their wheat out in the field too long, but my
   Lord never did so yet. Whenever His sheaves are ready for the garner,
   He is sure to reap them. A perfect man is on the threshold of Heaven.
   When you are spiritually healthy and have undergone your spiritual
   quarantine, and there is no more sickness in you, do you think your
   Lord will keep you out of Heaven? Not He, He is too desirous to have
   you with Him where He is!

   The health which our Lord Jesus works in us is seen in the spiritual
   countenance in many ways. First, it makes the eyes bright. A man full
   of doubts and fears, or vexed with ambition or love of the world, has
   no bright transporting hopes. But the man who believes in Jesus has a
   hope that when days and years are past he shall be in Heaven where
   Jesus is. I must confess that sometimes, when I try to realize that
   hope, my physical eyes grow dim because the tears begin to flow and
   almost blind me. Shall I, shall I ever see His face and cast a crown at
   His feet? I shall, I know I shall! But oh, it does seem too good to be
   true! While the physical eyes are thus dimmed, how bright the spiritual
   eyes become with such a hope to cheer them!

   Spiritual health imparts a beauty to the entire visage. Think how the
   spouse describes her beauty. She says, "I am black"--she could not help
   saying that, for she was sunburned with exposure to the world--but she
   adds, "I am comely." Her Lord looked at her in such a way that she felt
   He could see her comeliness though she could not--

   "Though in ourselves denied we are,

   And black as Kedar's tents appear,

   Yet, when we put Your beauty on,

   Fair as the courts of Solomon."

   There is no more beautiful object in the world to Christ than His own
   Church! What a passage that is in the Song, where the king exclaims,
   "You are all fair, My Love, there is no spot in you." He sees with eyes
   of love, indeed, who sees such beauty. Yet fair beyond conception will
   Grace make the Christian! Altogether lovely will Glory make the
   Christian! We shall bear neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing,
   but be without fault before the Throne of God.

   What a difference Grace makes to the spiritual forehead when it works
   with power. By nature our forehead is as brass--hard, bold,
   presumptuous--but see what Grace makes it. "Your temples are like a
   piece of pomegranate within your locks." Now, the pomegranate, when you
   open it, is red and white, and the Christian's brow is full of the
   blushes of a sacred shamefacedness. "Within your locks," says the Song,
   as though concealed with holy fear, but what you did see of her brow
   was red and white with blushing with bashfulness and holy love in the
   Presence of her Lord. I pray that all of you who are converted in these
   days may know what holy shamefacedness means.

   Confidence in Christ is admirable, but not effrontery and
   self-confidence. I am afraid of those people who are so very sure, so
   very confident all of a sudden, and yet have never felt the burden of
   sin. Be ashamed and be confounded while you lay hold on Christ, for the
   more He does for you the less you must think of yourself. You may very
   accurately measure the reality of your Grace by the reality of your
   self-loathing. The Bridegroom also describes the lips of His Beloved,
   "Your lips are like a thread of scarlet and your speech is comely."
   Before her health returned, her lips were livid. Before she had
   received comfort, they were white with fear. But now they wear a
   healthy redness and are lovely to her Lord.

   How about your lips, beloved Friends? Are they praying lips, singing
   lips, confessing lips? Do you speak well of the Redeemer and rejoice
   whenever you tell what His love has done for you? Well is it with us
   when to our Lord our "cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, and our
   neck with chains of gold," while our whole countenance shines with
   holiness. When God is our health, our whole countenance becomes bright.
   According to the words of the Song, "Who is she that looks forth as the
   morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army
   with banners."

   The Believer's countenance becomes bright with clearness, as far as he,
   himself, is concerned--he is saved and he knows it! It becomes fair, as
   far as others are concerned, for they see the excellence of his
   character and wonder at it. And then it becomes dazzling to his
   adversaries, as the sun vanquishes rash gazers by its effulgence.
   Holiness is to opposers "terrible as an army with banners." I desire
   that those of you who have been under the Great Physician's hand of
   late may shine forth and proclaim the power of Jesus. Your Beloved
   cries, "Let Me see your face, for sweet is your face, and your
   countenance is comely."

   If Christ has cured you, why do you conceal His work? I feel inclined
   to do with you as the watchmen did with the spouse in the Song--"They
   smote me and took away my veil from me." I would not smite you,
   severely, but I would gladly remove the veil from some of you--that you
   might be seen, that the Church may see you--and the saints may rejoice
   in what the Savior has done for you. David says, "He is the health of
   my countenance." He does not say, "the health of my heart,
   merely"--"the health of my inward parts," though that is true, but, "of
   my countenance." Therefore, if the Lord has done great things for you,
   proclaim it abroad, and make the streets of Jerusalem ring with
   grateful song!

   IV. The last observation is this. THIS PASSAGE ENTITLES THE MOST SICK
   SOULS AMONG US TO HOPE. "Hope you in God, for I shall yet praise Him
   who is the health of my countenance." Look at the Source of spiritual
   health. If David had said, "I shall yet recover, for I have a splendid
   constitution. My stamina is such that it will throw off this sickness."
   Such boasting would not encourage you, would it? Because in your case
   the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, how could it? You
   have no stamina except for evil. The disease has smitten you to the
   very core and your heart has melted like wax. Then bless God that your
   healing does not depend on any constitutional strength in yourself!

   Next, notice David does not expect healing from anything he can do. He
   not say, "Certain actions of mine will yet recover me of my disease."
   Not at all. If it were so, you, my Friend, would be in despair, for you
   cannot do anything! What good work can you do? Why, you have smutty
   fingers, and if you were to try and produce a piece of fair white linen
   you would blacken it in the weaving of it! You cannot achieve your own
   salvation, nor need you do it. The health of David's countenance lay
   where yours must lie, not in your works or merit, but in the salvation
   of God!

   And mark, he does not speak of undergoing a long process. "I shall yet
   praise Him who is the health of my countenance." Here is nothing about
   waiting, tarrying, lingering and loitering, as some preachers seem to
   make out. No, David understood, as I trust we understand, the doctrine
   of, "Look unto Me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth." Who-

   ever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ receives, by that look of faith,
   the principle of health which will begin at once to work--and will
   ultimately cast out all spiritual disease. Blessed is it to know that
   our hope lies in God and not in ourselves! I want you, just for a
   moment, especially you who wish to be healed, to think who He is, and
   what there is in Him which you have to look to as your spiritual
   health.

   Sin is your disease and here is mercy without limit to meet it. You
   have done evil in all ways and what is worse, your very nature is evil!
   But here is God who delights to forgive, infinitely gracious, finding a
   happiness in passing by transgression and sin--look to Him, then! Here
   shall all your sins be drowned, for God's love in Christ Jesus is a sea
   without a bottom, and without a shore. Here is assured healing for your
   sickness, for Infinite Mercy cannot be baffled in its design. Again
   here is Infinite Atonement, also. God is not only willing to pardon,
   but He can do it consistently with justice, for His own dear Son has
   bled and died.

   When I turn my eyes to the Son of God bleeding upon the Cross, so
   glorious is His Sacrifice in my eyes that I conclude that if there were
   ten thousand, thousand worlds full of sinners there must be merit
   enough in the death of Christ to save them all if God had so willed it!
   We cannot conceive any boundary to the merit of the dying Son of God.
   Incarnate Deity smarts beneath the lash of Justice, is pierced to the
   heart, is slain, is laid for three days in the grave! Why, there must
   be a splendor of power about that majestic Sacrifice, illimitable,
   inconceivable! Come, Soul, if this is your healing, no disease can
   stand against it! Infinite Mercy armed with an Infinite Atonement can
   accomplish all things! O God, You are, indeed, the health of my
   countenance! By You I am brought back from my death in sin.

   Then remember that Divine energy is ready to work our healing, and
   Omnipotence works all things. "Can these dry bones live?" said one of
   old, but live they did! The dead have been raised and even at this hour
   things impossible with men are possible with God! The Eternal Spirit
   waits to work His miracles of love even now. No propensity of depraved
   nature is too strong for the Almighty. Man, have you a lion of anger
   within you? This Samson can tear that lion as though it were a kid!
   Have you a host of evil passions within you, and fears strong like the
   Midianites of old? Behold, this sacred torrent of Divine Love, mightier
   than Kishon of old, can sweep them all away!

   Has Satan, himself, entered you and brought a legion of devils with
   him? Has Hell vomited forth all its spawn to hold a horrid carnival in
   your nature? There was one out of whom Jesus cast seven devils--no,
   another out of whom He drove a legion! Come to Jesus, Man, for devils
   still tremble at His power! Jesus can chase away the enemy from you.
   All God's energy waits to heal you. "Seek Him that makes the seven
   stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, that
   calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the earth; the
   Lord is His name," for nothing can stand against the mighty arm of His
   Irresistible Grace.

   To complete this I must add there is, in God, who is the health of our
   countenance, Immutable Love. If God begins to heal you, He will never
   give up the work till He has achieved it. There is not recorded in the
   life of Christ a solitary half cure. I read of none into whom the
   devils returned after Jesus drove them out, nor of any lepers who had
   the leprosy again. I have not to preach to you a salvation that can be
   lost and dependent upon your good behavior! Lo, I preach a pardon never
   to be reversed, acceptance in the Beloved never to be cancelled,
   adoption which makes you sons forever! Give yourselves up to Jesus and
   He will give you garments of mercy that will never wear out, treasures
   of love which neither moth nor rust shall consume and health which will
   introduce you into a city in which the inhabitant shall no more say, "I
   am sick," for the people that dwell therein have been forgiven their
   iniquity.

   Healing by God, Himself, presents a ground of hope to the worst among
   us and, blessed be God, many of us have realized it as David did! Now
   if we, as honest men, tell you that God in Christ Jesus is the health
   of our countenance, we trust you will believe us and that you will seek
   the Lord for yourselves. The healing which God gives in Jesus Christ is
   available to every sin-sick soul. Whoever you may be, if you are sick,
   today, God is able and willing to heal you through Jesus Christ His
   Son! I pray you, linger not through any fear of His ability or His
   willingness, but come and welcome, come and welcome! Come right now!

   It is of no use my preaching about healing to those who are not sick.
   Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But to
   those who are sick this will be a gladsome message! I would like to put
   it in such an unmistakable shape that they must comprehend it, the Holy
   Spirit instructing them. You have a deadly disease in your nature,
   every one of you. In some of you, it has taken a very hideous form, but
   the disease is at the heart of every one of you ladies and gentlemen,
   even the same which festers in the bosom of the harlot and the thief.
   True, it has come out differently in them.

   Circumstances have helped to bring it out. Perhaps if you had been in
   their circumstances it might have been as foully developed as in them.

   Now, if today you feel the terrible ravages of this disease, I am glad
   of it, for it is a hopeful sign. When the high priest examined men who
   were suspected of being lepers, I can suppose that one would say, "I
   have a very bad spot on my forehead, but there is just near my breast a
   piece of clean flesh where there are no white scales. I am right at
   heart, though bad elsewhere." "Ah!" the priest would say, "You are
   unclean and I must put you away." Another would say, "It is true I have
   a whiteness on my lips, but if you examine me, you will find half my
   body quite free from the disease," "Ah, I must shut you out of the
   camp," said the priest. But last of all, there came one who said
   tremblingly to the priest, "I am leprous altogether, I cannot point to
   a spot as big as a pin's head that is clean. I am a leper from the
   soles of my feet to the crown of my head."

   The priest would put his hands on that man and say, "you are clean."
   How astonished he must have been! Be you also astonished, O despairing
   Soul! If you are a sinner and nothing but a sinner, condemned, lost,
   ruined--and you will admit it and look to the Lord Jesus Christ for
   salvation--you are clean every whit! Whenever we are brought to perfect
   soul poverty and absolute bankruptcy of spirit so that we turn our
   purses inside out, and cannot find one rusty farthing left, then Christ
   and all the treasures of His Grace are ours! Oh to be brought down to
   the lowest depth of self-despair, for that is the door of hope!

   While your cup is half full, Christ will not pour His wine into it. Now
   bring your cups and say, "Lord, there is a little good at the bottom,
   does not that recommend me?" No, no, no! He will never pour in the new
   wine of the kingdom until you are turned bottom upwards and wiped out
   as a man wipes a dish! But when you are quite emptied, then He will
   pour in the stream of His love until it brims the vessel of your
   nature! The Lord make you to feel sick, even unto death, and then you
   will find Jesus to be the Resurrection and the Life.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 42 and Jeremiah 30:4-17.
   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--908, 715, 103.
     __________________________________________________________________

Spiritual Appetite

   (No. 1227)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 4, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The full soul loathes the honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every
   bitter thing is sweet." Proverbs 27:7.

   IT is a great blessing when food and appetite meet together. Some have
   appetite and no meat, they need our pity. Others have meat but no
   appetite. They may not, perhaps, win our pity but they certainly
   require it. We have heard of a gentleman who was accustomed to take an
   early morning walk and frequently met a poor man hastening to his
   labor. One morning he said to him, "I have to walk this early each
   morning to get a stomach for my meat." "Ah," said the other, "and I
   have to trudge to work this early to get meat for my stomach." Neither
   of them was quite satisfied with his position--only the happy
   conjunction of the appetite and the food could secure content.

   Are we thankful enough when we have both? It has often happened that
   men have been so luxuriously fed that appetite has departed from them
   altogether. The Israelites, when they were in the wilderness, became so
   squeamish that though they were fed with the bread from Heaven and, for
   once, men did eat angels' food, yet they said, "Our soul loathes this
   light bread." And you in the world are in great danger of falling into
   the same condition, for you do not enjoy the rarest luxuries! You pick
   and choose as if nothing were good enough for you and, like the old
   Roman gluttons, you require sea and land, earth and air to be ransacked
   for your gratification and then crave pungent sauces and strange
   flavorings before you can eat.

   The fact is, the old proverb is true, that the best sauce for meat is
   hunger, and while the confectioner and the cook may labor with a
   thousand arts to produce a dainty dish, Nature teaches us the way to
   enjoy our meat, namely, not to eat it till we need it--and then to
   partake of only so much as our bodies require. That hunger gives a
   relish even to objectionable diet is certain. Our forefathers found it
   possible to live upon food which we could not touch. Even so late as
   the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the mass of the poor seldom tasted wheat
   bread, but fed on rye or barley cakes. And they often had to be content
   with bread made of beans, peas, tares, oats, lentils and even these had
   to be frequently mixed with acorns. They had a saying that, "Hunger
   sets his foot in the horse's manger," meaning that food which was only
   fit for horses was devoured by men in the time of famine.

   Those delicate people who are forever complaining of this and that, and
   regretting the, "good old times," would change their tune if they had a
   trial of such fare--and could earnestly pray to be projected, again,
   into the times in which we live. The rules which apply to the bodily
   appetite hold equally true of the mind. We easily lose our taste for
   anything of which we have our fill. Many men of the world have gone the
   round of amusement and now nothing can please them. They have worn out
   all their playthings and are tired of every game. Poor things, more
   wearied of their follies than the slave by his servitude!

   For them laughter and mirth have become ghastly mockeries--men and
   women singers are no delight--and instruments of music are discordant.
   Gardens and palaces are dreary--and treasures of art a vexation of
   spirit. By the road of folly they have reached the very point to which
   Solomon came with all his wisdom and like he, they cry, "Vanity of
   vanities, all is vanity." In a higher order of things the same process
   can be observed. In the pursuit of knowledge men may come to loathe
   honeycombs through sheer repletion. Many a literary man has reached
   such a condition of fastidiousness that the books which he can enjoy
   are as few as the fingers of his hands. With a toss of the head he
   passes by volumes with which ordinary readers are charmed. His delicate
   poetical taste is shocked by the hymns which delight his countrymen and
   his ears are tortured by the tunes to which they are sung.

   For my part, I would sooner retain the power of enjoying a simple hymn,
   sung to a tune which delights the multitude, than find myself
   proclaimed king of critics. And I would sooner be able to sit down and
   read a child's storybook

   with interest, than rise into the sublime condition of those literary
   gentlemen who glance over every book with a sharp critical eye--and see
   nothing meriting their attention. In fact, they never will see anything
   worth reading unless the book is written by themselves or one of their
   party. "The full soul loathes the honeycomb; but to the hungry soul
   every bitter thing is sweet."

   I would not have said so much upon this principle of our nature if it
   had not happened to enter into religion. It is upon religious
   fastidiousness that I have to speak this morning. Men, in the things of
   God, have not always an appetite for the sweetest and most precious
   Truths of God. The Gospel of Jesus, revealed from Heaven, is full of
   marrow and fatness. But the condition of men's minds is such that they
   cannot perceive its excellence. They regard it as a tasteless thing, at
   best, while some even treat it as though it were wormwood and gall to
   them. They feed upon the husks of the world with greedy relish, but
   turn from the provisions of Mercy with disdain! They are full of the
   meat from the flesh pots of Egypt--for the Bread of Heaven they have no
   desire! Nor will they, till the Holy Spirit quickens them into
   spiritual life, and makes them feel the keen pangs of spiritual hunger.

   The three points of my discourse will be as follows--first, that Jesus
   Christ is, in Himself, sweeter than the honeycomb. Secondly, there are
   those that loathe even Him. And then, thirdly, blessed be His name,
   there are others who appreciate Him--"To the hungry soul every bitter
   thing is sweet."

   I. Let us begin, then, with the assured truth that JESUS CHRIST IS,
   HIMSELF, SWEETER THAN THE HONEYCOMB. Whether you believe it, or not,
   the fact remains, the Incarnate Word is sweeter than honey or the
   honeycomb. Whether it is your privilege to revel in the delightful
   knowledge of His love or not, that love will still be equally precious.
   That Jesus Christ is sweeter than the honeycomb is clear if we consider
   who He is and what He gives and does. If you think of it you will see
   that it must be so. Our Lord is the Incarnation of Divine Love.

   The love of God is sweet and Jesus is that Love made manifest. "God so
   loved the world"--I pause to ask how much? Where shall we see at a
   glance the fullness of that Love? Turn your eyes to Jesus, He alone
   answers the question. "God so loved the world that He gave His
   only-begotten Son." There, bleeding upon Calvary, we see the heart of
   the Father revealed in the pierced heart of His only-begotten Son!
   Jesus is the focus of the Love of God. The boundless goodness of the
   ever-loving God finds its best expression in the Person of the
   Redeemer--surely, then, He must be sweet beyond comparison!

   When God takes His Love and culls the choicest flower from it, and
   hands it down to earth for men to gaze upon it as the token of His
   favor, we may be sure that its fragrance surpasses conception. God is
   Love and when that Love is concentrated in one Individual that it may
   afterwards be diffused through multitudes, there must be an infinite
   sweetness in that blessed Person. Judge you what I say--must it not be
   so? Moreover, Jesus Christ is, in Himself the embodiment of boundless
   Mercy to sinners as well as Love to creatures. God loved men, for He
   had made them, but He could not bless them, for He must judge them for
   their offenses.

   Lo, Jesus Christ has vindicated the Divine Honor, satisfied the Law,
   and now the Mercy of God can descend freely to men, even to the
   rebellious and the undeserving! Who would find mercy, let him look
   where Jesus died upon the tree, and he shall find it blooming freely
   from the crimsoned ground! Who would behold Mercy in all its plenitude,
   let him go where Jesus stands with open hands welcoming the vilest of
   the vile to the feast of love, cleansing their every stain and robing
   them in garments of salvation! He must be sweet from whom such
   sweetness flows that He makes the foulest and most offensive of mankind
   acceptable to God!

   If His merits turn our Hell to Heaven, our gall of bitterness into joy
   and peace, it is not possible that even the honeycomb dripping with
   virgin honey should fitly set Him forth. You bees that wander over
   fairest flowers, your choicest gatherings can never rival the
   quintessences of delight which must dwell in One in whom the Mercy of
   God is concentrated! You poverty-stricken sons of men, Christ must be
   sweet, for He meets all your needs. Sweet is liberty to the captive and
   when the Son makes you free, you are free, indeed! Sweet is pardon to
   the condemned and proclaims full forgiveness and salvation! Sweet is
   health to the sick and Jesus is the Great Physician of souls!

   Sweet is light to those who are in darkness and to eyes that are dim,
   and Jesus is both sun to our darkness and eyes to our blindness! All
   that men can ever need--all that the most famished souls can pine
   after--is to be found in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, and
   therefore sweet He must be! He is sweet because, whenever He comes into
   a man's heart, He breathes into it the sweetness of abounding peace.
   Oh, the rest our souls have known when we have leaned upon His

   bosom! "The peace of God which passes all understanding" has kept our
   heart and mind by Jesus Christ! Our soul has drank nectar from His
   wounds!

   Nor has it been bare peace, alone, the glassy pools of rest have
   bubbled up into fountains of joy. In Jesus we have rejoiced and do
   rejoice and will rejoice all day! No happiness can be more Divine than
   the bliss of knowing Him and feeding upon Him and being one with Him.
   All the true peace and joy that are known on earth--I might have said
   that are known in Heaven among the ransomed throng--all come through
   Jesus Christ our Lord, whose name is the sum of delights! Those spices
   must be sweet, indeed, from which the sacred oil ofjoy distills! That
   honey must be infinitely sweet of which one single drop fills a whole
   life with rejoicing!

   It is clear that our Lord must be sweet because His very name smells of
   celestial hope to Believers. No sooner do we taste of Jesus, than, like
   Jonathan in the woods, our eyes are enlightened and we see the
   invisible! The veil is taken away and we behold a way of access to our
   Father God and to the joys of His right hand! Once understand that
   Jesus has borne our sins and carried our sorrows, and we see that the
   felicities of eternity are prepared for us! His name is the open sesame
   of the gates of Paradise! Learn but to pronounce the name of Jesus from
   your heart as all your confidence and you have learned a magic word
   which will scatter troops of opposing foes and will open the two-leaved
   gates, and cut the bars of iron in sunder if they stand between your
   soul and Heaven! Since Jesus is all this and vastly more than any human
   tongue can tell, it is clear upon the very face of it that He must be
   sweet.

   But we are not left to the supposition and inference that it must be
   so, we know it is so. Our Lord is as the honeycomb, for He is sweet to
   God, Himself. The taste of the High and Holy One, who shall venture to
   judge? What the Lord Himself calls sweet must be sweet, indeed. Now,
   the very smell of Christ's Sacrifice, no, I will go further--the very
   smell of that which was the type of Christ in the days of Noah--was so
   pleasing to God that it is written, "The Lord smelled a sweet savor of
   rest, and He said, I will no more destroy the earth with a flood." If
   the very smell of that which was but the emblem of the bleeding Lamb
   was grateful to Jehovah, how sweet to the Divine Father must the Lord
   Jesus Himself be in His actual Sacrifice?

   Why, the very sight of the blood--and, mark you, not the blood of
   Christ, but only the blood of a lamb slain in type of Christ--the very
   sight of that blood sprinkled on the lintel turned away the destroying
   angel from Israel of old, for the Lord said, "When I see the blood I
   will pass over you." Now, if a mere glimpse of the type of Jesus'
   atoning blood is so satisfactory to the heart of God, think what the
   sight of Jesus must be, for He has been obedient to death, even the
   death of the Cross! If I had time I might mention the many ways in
   which our Lord is set forth in Scripture as being sweet to the
   Father--all the senses are represented as being gratified--the Lord
   hears His voice crying from the ground and answers it with blessing.

   He tastes His Sacrifice as wine which makes glad the heart of God, and
   He feels His touch as the Daysman laying His hands both upon Judge and
   offender. In every possible way Jesus is most sweet and pleasant to the
   Divine mind. Hear how from the highest Heaven the Lord declares, "This
   is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The Lord is well pleased
   for His righteousness' sake. Now, if the heart of Deity, itself, is
   satisfied and filled to the full with content, there must be an
   Infinite sweetness in the Person of the Lord Jesus! That honeycomb must
   be sweet with which the Triune God is satisfied!

   Moreover, our Lord Jesus is sweet to the angels in Heaven. Did they not
   watch Him when He was here below with careful eyes? When first they
   missed Him from the courts above, they flew with eager haste to
   discover where He was, and when they found that He was come to this
   poor planet, they made the night bright with their radiance and sweet
   with their chorales. While He tarried here they watched His footsteps,
   they ministered to Him in the wilderness, and in the garden, and at
   other times they waited in their legions, eager to deliver Him if He
   would but have beckoned them to use their celestial weapons.

   When they saw Him at last, ready to ascend, I can well believe that the
   poet's words are no fiction, but describe a fact--

   "They brought His chariot from on high To bear Him to His Throne;
   Clapped their triumphant wings and cried, 'The glorious work is
   done!''"

   He was "seen of angels," and was very dear and precious to them. Surely
   He who attracts all those bright intelligences and causes them to gaze
   upon Him unceasingly, and pay Him Divine honors must be sweet, indeed.
   Sweet is Christ, Beloved, for it is His Presence that makes Heaven what
   it is. You are in a garden and smelling a dainty fragrance. You say to
   yourself, "Where does this come from?" You traverse the walks and
   borders to discover the source of the pleasant odor and at last you
   come upon a rose. Even thus, if you were to walk among those fruitful
   trees which skirt the river of the Water of Life, you would perceive a
   peerless perfume of superlative delight, but you would not have to ask
   yourself, "Where does this fragrance come from?"

   There is but one rose in the Paradise of God which is capable of
   scattering such perfume of joy--and that is the "Rose of Sharon," that
   famous, "plant of renown," which has diffused fragrance over both earth
   and Heaven! Well may He be sweet to us, since when He was broken like
   the alabaster box of precious ointment, He filled all the chambers of
   the House of God both above and below with an unrivalled sweetness! If
   you need proof from nearer home, let me remind you how sweet the
   Well-Beloved is to His own people. What was it that first attracted us
   to God? Was it not the sweetness of Christ? What was it that banished
   all the bitterness of our fears? Was it not the sweetness of His
   pardoning Love?

   What is it that holds us so that we cannot leave, which enchains us,
   seals us, nails us to the Cross so that we can never leave it? Is it
   not that He is so sweet that we shall never find any to compare with
   Him? Yes, and therefore we must abide with Him because there is nowhere
   else to go! Brothers and Sisters, I appeal to you who know Jesus, are
   you not satisfied? I mean not only satisfied with Him, but satisfied
   altogether? Does He not fill and overfill your souls? When you enjoy
   His Presence, what other joy could you imagine?

   When He embraces you, have you any heart left for other delights? Do
   you not say, "He is all my salvation, and all my desire." My cup runs
   over, my Lord Jesus, when I have communion with You--

   "Jesus, to whom I fly, Does all my wishes fill! What, though the
   creature streams are dry, I have a fountain still."

   All the saints will tell you that Christ is most sweet and altogether
   lovely. And some of them will confess that, sometimes, His sweetness
   overcomes them, carries them right away and bears them out of
   themselves! The eagle wings of Jesus' Love uplift us to the gates of
   Heaven and this will happen to us even when there is nothing on earth
   to make us happy, and all without and within is dark. When the poor
   body is full of pain and every nerve is unstrung by disease, even then,
   Jesus comes and lays His fingers amid the strings of our poor nature,
   until charmed by His touch, they pour forth a music which might teach
   the harps of Heaven His praise!

   In His Presence our heart is glad beyond all gladness! We are beatified
   if not glorified. Would God it might be always so! My dear Lord and
   Master is very sweet, but my lips fail me and I blush at my poor
   attempts to speak His praises. One thing that proves how sweet He is,
   is this--He removes all bitterness from the heart which truly receives
   Him. The quassia cup of sickness is no longer bitter when a drop of His
   love falls into it. In His society, sick beds grow into thrones in
   which the invalid does not so much pine as reign! The lonely chamber
   becomes a royal reception room. The hard bed a couch of down and the
   curtains are transformed into banners of love!

   So, too, His love digs out of the garden of life the roots of the
   regret of care and the wormwood of anxiety. A man may be vexed with a
   thousand anxieties, but in communion with Christ he will find rest unto
   his soul. The delectable mixture of fellowship with Jesus effectually
   drowns the taste of the world's bitterness. Saints in persecution have
   found the love of Christ cleanse their mouths from every taste of
   hatred's gall. They have been able to bear imprisonment and think it
   liberty, to regard chains as ornaments, to find the rack a bed of roses
   and the blazing stake a chariot of fire to bear them to their reward!

   If a child of God were called in the pursuit of duty to swim through a
   sea of Hell's most bitter pains, yet with the sweetness of Christ's
   love in his mouth, he would not so much as taste the sea of gall. As to
   death, we have learned to swallow it up in victory! Surely its
   bitterness is past. Where else can you find such delicious dainties?
   Where else such all-subduing sweetness? Jesus is bliss itself! Thus
   have I shown sufficiently that facts have proven that Jesus is sweet as
   the honeycomb, but I detain you just a moment to notice that He is
   incomparably so.

   Whether I am right or not in speaking thus of honey, I shall be right
   enough in saying it of Jesus Christ--He is not only sweet, but
   Sweetness itself! We need not say of Him that He is good, for He is
   essential Goodness. He is not only lov-

   ing, but Love. Whatever good thing you may seek in the world, you shall
   find it thinly spread here and there upon good men, as God deals out
   these precious things by measure. But the fullness of all good you
   shall find in Jesus Christ! He is not the sweet odor, but the ointment
   which gives it forth! He is not the brook, but the fountain from which
   it springs! He is not the beam of light, but the sun from which it
   proceeds!

   Honey is the conglomeration and compounding of a thousand sweets. The
   bees visit all sorts of flowers, knowing by a cunning wisdom denied to
   us, where all sweet things are hidden--they take not only the nectar of
   the ruddy rose but also of the snow-white lily--and gathering ambrosia
   from all the beauties of the garden, they thus concoct a luscious
   sweetness altogether unsurpassable. Even thus my Lord is all
   excellences compounded and commingled in Divine har-mony--a rare
   confection of all perfections to make one perfection--the meeting of
   all sweetnesses to make one perfect sweet!

   They said of Henry the Eighth that if all the features of a tyrant had
   been lost, they might have been painted afresh from his life. And
   surely we may say of Christ that if all the sweetness and light of
   manhood had been forgotten. If all the love of mothers, the constancy
   of martyrs, the honesty of confessors and the self-sacrifice of heroes
   had departed, you would find it all treasured up in the Person of our
   Lord Jesus Christ! Each bee, as he performs his many journeys, selects
   what he thinks best and brings it to the common store. And I doubt not
   they have each a dainty tooth so that each one chooses the best he
   finds. Oh, you preachers of the Gospel, you may each seek out the
   richest thoughts and words you can, to proclaim my Lord!

   Oh, you who are the mighty orators of the Church, you may utter the
   choicest language of poetry or prose, and so you may bring all sweets
   together, but you shall never match the altogether peerless sweetness
   which dwells in the Person and work of Jesus the Well-Beloved! Honey is
   a healthy sweet, though many sweets are not so. Children have been made
   sick and even poisoned by berries whose sickly sweetness has decoyed
   them to their hurt. But as for our Lord, the more you feed on Him the
   more you may! Christ is health to the soul, yes, strength and life!
   Eat, yes, drink abundantly, O Beloved. Have you found honey? Eat not
   too much, but have you found Jesus? Eat to the full, and eat on still,
   if so you can, for you shall never have too much of Him!

   II. Secondly--THERE ARE THOSE WHO LOATHE THE SWEETNESS OF OUR LORD.
   This shows itself variously. Some loathe Him so as to trample on Him,
   and this I find to be the translation given in the margin, "The full
   soul tramples on a honeycomb." God have mercy upon these boastful ones
   who persecute His saints, revile His name and despise His Gospel! If
   there are any such here, may Sovereign Mercy change their hearts, or a
   fearful judgement awaits them! Others show that they loathe Christ
   because they are always murmuring at Him. If they do not find fault
   with the Gospel, itself, they rail at its ministers. Nobody can please
   them.

   John comes neither eating nor drinking, and they say he has a devil.
   The Master comes eating and drinking and they say--behold a Man
   gluttonous and a wine bibber! One man preaches very solemnly and they
   call him heavy; another mingles humor with his discourse and they
   accuse him of frivolity. One minister uses a lofty rhetoric, he is too
   flowery. Another speaks in simpler style, he is vulgar. This
   generation, like the generations which have gone before, cannot be
   satisfied--but it is Jesus they are discontented with. O you carping
   critics of the Gospel, you find fault with the dish, but it is a mere
   excuse--you do not like the meat! If you hungered after the meat you
   would not object to the platter on which it is served! But because you
   love it not you complain of the dish and the carver.

   Often this loathing is shown by an utter indifference to the Gospel.
   The great mass of our fellow citizens will not attend a place of
   worship at all, or if they do attend it is but seldom. And when they
   come, they leave their hearts behind them, so that the Word goes in one
   ear and out the other. The suffering Savior is nothing to them. Heaven
   and Hell are nothing to them. Whether they shall be lost or saved is
   nothing to them! Thus they show their loathing. Perhaps some here,
   present, loathe our Lord at bottom and yet think not so. They attend to
   His Word, but what is the attention? They care for Jesus, but they care
   so little that it leads to no practical result.

   Some of you, after 10 years of hearing the Gospel, are still
   unconverted! And after 20 years of the enjoyment of Gospel privileges
   you still have never tasted the honey of the Word of God. If you
   thought it sweet, you would have tasted of it before now--you loathe it
   or else you would not let it stand right under your nose untasted for
   years. You must be full, or you would not allow this honeycomb to lie
   untouched so long. You have meant to eat of it, you say. Yes, but I
   never knew a hungry man to sit without eating for six hours at a table!
   No, he begins eating as soon as Grace has been

   said, and in your case the Grace has been said a great many times--and
   yet you sit with the sweets of mercy before you and refuse to eat.

   I cannot account for it on any other theory but that there is a secret
   loathing in your soul. This loathing is manifest by many signs. There
   is the Bible, a book of infinite sweetness, God's letter of love to the
   sons of men! Is it not dreadfully dry reading? A three-volume novel
   suits a great many far better. That is loathing the honeycomb! There is
   the Gospel ministry. Sermons are dull affairs, are they not? Now, I
   will admit that some sermons are dreary and empty as a desert, but when
   Christ is honestly and earnestly preached, how is it you are so weary?
   Others are fed, why do you complain? The meat is right enough, but you
   have no appetite for it--for the reason given in the text.

   When a man loathes Christ he finds prayer to be bondage and if he
   carries it on at all, it is a very dull exercise, yielding no
   enjoyment. As to meditation, that is a thing neglected altogether by
   the godless many! Sunday, with some persons, is a very weary day--they
   are glad when it is over. I heard one say the other day he thought
   Sunday ought to be spent in recreation. Upon which a friend replied
   that he wished he might find true re-creation, for he needed to be
   created anew in Christ Jesus--and then he would judge the Sabbath to be
   the best day of the week!

   Alas, these dull Sabbaths and these dreary preachers! And this dull
   praying and singing. And all this weariness-- they are sure signs that
   you are full souls--and therefore loathe the honeycomb. This loathing
   comes of a soul's being full--and souls may be full in a great many
   ways. Some are full because they have never discovered their natural
   depravity and nothingness. They have never realized that they are
   condemned by the Law of God. These full souls who are what they always
   were--good people from their birth--do not need a Savior and,
   therefore, they despise Him. Why should the whole value a physician? Is
   He not intended for the sick?

   Alas for you full ones, for your time of hunger will come when there
   will be no more feasts of love, and then, as Dives could not obtain a
   drop of water, you, also, will be denied a crumb of consolation! Some
   people are full with enjoying the world. They have wealth and they are
   perfectly content with it. Or they have no wealth, but still they are
   pleased with the groveling pursuits of their class. Their thoughts
   never rise. They are like the rooster on the dunghill that scratched up
   a diamond and said, "I would sooner have found a grain of barley." They
   are satisfied if they have enough to eat and drink and wear--but they
   do not think of Divine things. They are full of the world and therefore
   loathe the honeycomb.

   Some are full of confidence in outward religiousness. They were
   christened when they were babes and they were con-firmed--and if that
   doesn't save people, what will? A bishop's hands laid on you! Think of
   that!! Since then they have taken the sacrament and they have always
   been told that if you go regularly to your place of worship, and
   especially if you pay 20 shillings in the pound you will do very
   well--at least if you do not--what will become of your neighbors? These
   full souls do not appreciate Free Grace and dying Love--salvation by
   the blood of Christ seems to them to be but idle babble.

   Some are full of self-conceit--they know everything--they are great
   readers and profound philosophers. Their thoughts have dived to the
   bottom of infinity! They are so nice in their criticisms that they--

   "Can a hair divide

   Between the west and north-west side!" It is not possible to satisfy
   them. The knowledge of Christ Crucified is foolishness and a stumbling
   block to them. Others are full of the pride of rank. Yes, they are very
   glad to hear that the poor people hear the Gospel--and they have no
   doubt that the plain preaching of the Gospel is very useful to the
   lower orders--but respectable people who live in the West End and ride
   in carriages do not require such preaching. They are too respectable to
   need saving and so their full souls loathe the honeycomb.

   But we need not go on any longer talking about them, for we shall do
   them no good as long as they are full. If the angel Gabriel were to
   preach Christ to them it would be as a sounding brass and as a tinkling
   cymbal. Serve up the meat as well as you may, but never will it be
   appreciated till the guest has an appetite! May the Lord send them an
   appetite by the work of His Holy Spirit!

   III. And so I close with the third point, which is this--THERE ARE SOME
   WHO DO APPRECIATE THE

   SWEETNESS OF CHRIST. I would to God I could find such out this morning.
   Hungry Souls, we are Brethren if you are hungry after pardon, mercy and
   Grace. I remember when I was in your condition. What would you give to
   have Christ? "I would give my eyes," says one. Give Him your eyes,
   then, by looking to Him, and you shall have Him! "What I would

   give," says one, "to be delivered from my besetting sin! I hunger after
   holiness." Soul, you may have deliverance from besetting sins and have
   it for nothing!

   Jesus Christ has come into the world to save His people from their
   sins! Looking to Him, He will deliver you from that disease which now
   makes you love sin! And He will give you a taste for holiness and a
   principle of holiness by the Holy Spirit and you shall, from now on,
   become a saint unto God! He turns lions into lambs and ravens into
   doves! Nothing is impossible with Him! You have but to trust your soul
   with Him and you shall have pardon, peace, holiness, Heaven, God,
   everything! Those who hunger are those, then, who know the sweetness of
   Christ. But they must do more than that--being hungry, they must
   feed--though the text does not say so, it is very clear that merely
   being hungry does not make meat sweet. It is only sweet when you eat
   it.

   If meat were placed where we could not reach it, and we were hungry, we
   should be inclined to think it bitter, after the model of the fox and
   the grapes in the fable. If there were a Savior, but we could not reach
   Him, it would make our life still more miserable. Poor Soul, if you
   need Christ, receive Him! It is all you have to do! The bread is before
   you, eat it! The fitness which is needed for eating is an appetite--you
   have it--lay to, then, by holy faith. Receive Christ into yourself and
   He will be sweet, indeed, to you! The text says that the hungry man's
   appetite makes even bitter things sweet. Is there anything bitter in
   Christ?

   Yes, there was much in Him that was bitter to Himself, and that is the
   very sweetest part to us. Those pangs and griefs of His, and
   unutterable woes, and bloody death, how bitter! The wormwood and the
   gall were His. But to our believing soul these bitter things are
   honeycombs! Christ is best loved when we view Him as crucified for us.
   There are other bitters with Christ. We must repent of sin and to
   carnal minds it is a bitter thing to hate sin and leave it. But to
   those who hunger after Christ, repentance is one of the daintiest of
   Divine Graces. Christ requires of His people self-denial and
   self-sacrifice--unrenewed nature nauseates at the suggestion of these
   things--but souls eager after Jesus are glad to deny themselves, glad
   to give of their substance, glad, even, to suffer hardships for His
   dear sake--even bitter things for Him are sweet.

   There are doctrines, also, which are very distasteful to carnal minds.
   They cannot agree with them--they are angry when they are
   preached--even as those who left our Lord when He said, "Except you eat
   My flesh and drink My blood, there is no life in you." Those who hunger
   after Christ prize the Doctrines of Grace--only let them know what
   Jesus teaches and every syllable is, at once, acceptable to their
   minds. It may be there are ordinances which you shrink from. You have
   felt Baptism especially to be a cross, but when your soul fully knows
   the sweetness of Christ, and your mind perceives that it is His
   ordinance, you feel at once that the bitter thing is sweet to you for
   His dear sake.

   Possibly you may have to suffer some measure of persecution and be
   despised and nicknamed for Jesus' sake. Thank God they cannot imprison
   you and put you to death, but even if they could, if you have an
   appetite for Christ, you will eat the bitter herbs as well as the
   Paschal Lamb--and think that they go well together! Christ and His
   Cross--you will give your love to both and shoulder the Cross right
   bravely and find it a sweet thing to be despised for the love of Jesus
   Christ your Lord. Have but an appetite for Christ and the little Prayer
   Meeting, though there are few poor people at it, will be sweet to you.
   That poor broken-down preaching, which is the best that the minister is
   able to give, will become sweet to you because there is a savor of
   Christ in it.

   If you can only get a leaf torn out of the Bible, or half a leaf, it
   will be precious to you! Even to hear a child sing a hymn about Christ
   will be pleasant. You remember Dr. Guthrie, when dying, asking his
   friend to sing him "a bairn's hymn"? He needed a child's hymn, then. A
   simple little ditty about Christ was what the grand old man desired in
   his departing moments. And when your soul hungers after Jesus Christ,
   you will love simple things if they speak of Him. You will not be so
   dainty as some of you are. They must have a comfortable cushion to sit
   upon. When you are hungry you are glad to stand in the aisles.

   Full souls need have a very superior preacher. They say of the most
   successful evangelist, there is nothing in him, he only tells a lot of
   anecdotes. But when you are hungry you will rejoice that the man
   preaches Christ and his faults will vanish. I remember my father
   telling me, when I was a boy, and did not like my breakfast, that he
   thought it would do me good to be sent to the Union House for a month
   and see if I did not get an appetite, then. Many Christians need to be
   sent under the Law a little while--Moses would cure them of
   squeamishness so that when they came back to Jesus and His Love they
   would have a zest for the Gospel!

   The lesson from all this is--pray for a good appetite for Christ--and
   when you have it, keep it. Do not spoil it with the unsatisfying
   dainties of the world, or by sucking down modern notions and skeptical
   philosophies--those gingerbreads and unhealthy sweetmeats so much cried
   up nowadays. Do not waste a good appetite upon anything less sweet than
   the true honeycomb. When you have got that appetite for Christ, indulge
   it. Do not be afraid, at any time, of having too much of Christ! Some
   of our Brethren seem alarmed lest they should grow perfect against
   their wills! Dear Brothers and Sisters, go into that river as far as
   you please--there is no likelihood of your being drowned. You will
   never have too much Grace, or peace, or faith, or consecration! Go in
   for the whole thing! Indulge your appetite to the very full. We cannot
   say it to our children with honey before them, but we may say it to
   God's children with Christ before them-- "Eat, yes, eat abundantly."

   Pray the Lord to give other people appetites. It is a grand thing to
   hear of ten and twenty thousand rushing to hear the Gospel! I hope it
   is because they are hungering for it. When the Lord gives the people
   the appetite, I am certain He will find them the meat, for it is always
   true, in God's family, that whenever He sends a mouth, He always sends
   meat for it, and if any one of you has a mouth for Christ this morning,
   come to Him and be filled to the full! While you pray to God to give
   others an appetite, try and create it. How can you create it? Many an
   appetite has been created in the streets among poor starving wretches
   by their passing the place where provision is prepared--the very smell
   of it has made their mouths water.

   Tell sinners how happy you are! Tell sinners what Christ has done for
   you! Tell them how He has pardoned you, how He has renewed your nature.
   Tell them about your glorious hope, tell them how saints can live and
   die triumphant in Christ and you will set their mouths a-watering! That
   is half the battle--when once they have an appetite they are sure to
   have the meat. May the Lord the Holy Spirit send that appetite to
   sinners throughout the whole of London! And to Jesus Christ, who
   satisfies all comers, shall be glory forever. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 Peter 1. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--907, 436, 559.
     __________________________________________________________________

Salvation by Faith and the Work of the Spirit

   (No. 1228)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 11 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by
   faith" Galatians 5:5.

   IT may seem remarkable that Paul, who was once the strictest of
   Pharisees, should become the most ardent champion of the doctrines of
   Salvation by Grace and Justification by Faith. How large a portion of
   the New Testament is given up to his writings--and the most prominent
   subject in all that falls from his pen is righteousness by faith. Did
   not the Lord show great wisdom in selecting as the chief advocate of
   this Truth of God a man who knew the other side--who had worked
   diligently under the Law, who had practiced every ceremony, who was a
   Hebrew of the Hebrews--and had profited above many under the Jews'
   religion, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the
   fathers?

   Paul would know, right well, the bondage of the old system, and having
   felt its iron enter into his soul, he would more highly prize the
   liberty with which Christ makes men free! He was also a man of great
   learning--he was at home in every part of the Old Testament and,
   consequently, the quotations which he makes from it are innumerable. He
   also understood the Rabbinical method of spiritualizing and used it
   against his old associates, turning the Old Testament allegories into a
   battery in defense of New Testament principles.

   He knew how to take the story, as we have seen, of Hagar and Sarah, and
   to find in it an argument for the doctrine which he desired to defend.
   It was well that a man who had been, in spirit, a Pharisee and in
   education equal to the most learned of the Jewish doctors, should be
   engaged by the Spirit of God to defend the glorious principles of
   Salvation by Grace. Moreover, Paul was a man of very powerful mind. Has
   the Christian Church ever had in her midst a man whose arguments are so
   keen, so subtle, so profound and yet so clear? He dives to the very
   bottom of things, but he never darkens counsel by mysticism.

   Like the eagle, he soared aloft and his piercing eyes did not fail him
   as he gazed on the sun. He was amazed by the Revelations he beheld, but
   he was not dazzled. He spoke some things hard to be understood, which
   the foolish have wrested to their destruction, but they had to do his
   teaching great violence before they could pervert it. His intimate
   acquaintance with Divine things and the logical conformation of his
   mind, combined with an immovable decision of character and a flaming
   ardor of soul, made him, in the hands of God, the fittest conceivable
   instrument for the Divine purpose. He was wisely chosen and set for the
   defense of the Gospel.

   But why, my Brothers and Sisters, such care in selecting an advocate
   whose previous education and formation of mind so well enabled him to
   do battle for the cause? Why was the choice so carefully made? Why such
   a display of Divine Wisdom? I reply, because this is the point which,
   above all others has been, is, and always will be, most assailed by the
   enemies of our holy religion. Justification by Faith is the Thermopylae
   of Christianity! It is there that the battle must be decided by
   hand-to-hand fight! If that narrow pass is once carried by the enemy,
   then the whole of our bulwarks may be stormed! But as long as that fort
   is held fast, the rest of the Truths of the Gospel will be maintained.

   The Lord, therefore, sent this mighty man of valor, this Saul the
   Benjamite--head and shoulders taller than his fellows, of sound heart
   and decided purpose and devout spirit--to wage war with the adversaries
   of Free Grace. I have said that the Truth of God has always been
   assailed and is it not the case? It was the clouding of this light, the
   almost quenching of it, which occasioned the darkness of the medieval
   period! It was Luther's clear sight of this Truth and the astonishing
   thunders with which he uttered it, which brought about the Reformation!

   And though there are other Truths of God of great importance--and we
   would not depreciate their value for a single moment--yet this one,
   whenever it has flashed forth with brilliance before the eyes of men,
   has always been the means of restoring evangelical doctrines and at the
   same time exercising a powerful influence over men's hearts and
   bringing much glory to the Savior. Despite this fact, or perhaps
   because of it, it is still resisted. And at the present day it is op-

   posed as much as ever, for you hear, continually, the remark that the
   preaching up of salvation by immediate faith in Christ is very
   dangerous and opposed to the interests of morality. It is asserted that
   it cannot be supposed to make men any better and will only create in
   them a false confidence. They say it will add to other faults the pride
   and presumption which grow out of an assured security.

   We continually hear such observations. The present revival has set all
   the owls hooting and you know their note-- good works are in peril and
   virtue in jeopardy! However well meant, I believe that at the bottom of
   these wonderful objections you will discover the old Popery of reliance
   upon good works. Human nature always did kick against Salvation by
   Grace, alone, and it always will! Even professing Christians raise the
   same objection, but they word it cautiously. They say that the
   preaching up of Jesus Christ as saving men immediately upon their
   believing in Him ignores, too much, the work of the Holy Spirit. And
   they affirm that a great deal more ought to be said about the
   preparation of the heart, the humbling and abasing of the soul, the law
   work, the inward sense of need and so on.

   There may be some truth in this as seen from a certain point, and I
   should be disposed to hear such criticisms patiently, but I fear that
   in not a few instances the remarks are suggested by a measure of
   departure from the simplicity of the Gospel--the very essence of which
   lies in the words, "believe and live." There is a danger of meaning,
   "salvation by works," while we use the phrase, "the work of the
   Spirit." Zeal for the inner life may only be a convenient method for
   covering up pure legalism. I will, therefore, assert it boldly that
   salvation by feelings is as unscriptural as salvation by works--and
   that Paul did not cry out against those who trusted in works with
   greater vehemence than he would, now, have called out against any who
   relied upon their terrors and convictions, or who imagined that their
   feelings, or their doings may be joined on to the finished work of
   Christ as a ground of trust. Jesus Christ, alone, is a complete and
   all-sufficient foundation for faith! It is by believing in Him that men
   are justified--and in no degree by anything else!

   We shall use our text, this morning, with the view of dealing with that
   class of objections which are founded upon the work of the Holy Spirit.
   It would be a grievous fault in any preaching if it did not ascribe
   honor to the Holy Spirit, nor could we too severely rebuke any ministry
   which ignored His Divine working. But, on the other hand, it is no less
   a fault to misrepresent the Spirit's work and set it up in a kind of
   competition with the work of the Lord Jesus! Faith is not opposed to
   the Spirit, but is the child of it--"We through the Spirit wait for the
   hope of righteousness by faith."

   Two things I shall try to do--may the Holy Spirit enable me--for on His
   mysterious teachings my mind relies for guidance into the Truth of God.
   First I shall labor to declare the Christian's hope. Then, secondly, I
   shall endeavor to show the relation of that hope to the Holy Spirit.

   I. Let me DECLARE THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE. "We, through the Spirit, wait
   for the hope of righteousness by faith." Concerning the Christian's
   hope, let us notice, first, its singularity. The Jews had a hope
   founded upon their descent. "We have Abraham for our father," they
   said. "We were free born, we were never in bondage to any man. The
   temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we." They looked down
   upon Gentiles as uncircumcised and despised them.

   Brethren, we have no such hope! We do not expect to be saved by virtue
   of our parentage. We cannot boast of fleshly descent from Abraham.
   Neither do we rest upon the fact that we are, some of us, the children
   of godly parents and that from generation to generation saintly names
   occur in our pedigree. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and no
   more, however pure the flesh may be. The children of God are born, not
   of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. Carnal descent
   leaves us heirs of wrath even as others. We have no belief in a
   pretended Abrahamic Covenant made with the seed of Believers according
   to the flesh. We have no reliance upon anything that comes to us by the
   way of the natural birth, for that would make us like that son of the
   bondwoman who was born after the flesh.

   Those who glory in their birth may do so at their leisure--we have no
   sympathy with their glorying. Our hope is altogether distinct from the
   hope of the Jew. Neither have we any confidence in outward rites and
   ceremonies. Paul has said, "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails
   anything, nor uncircumcision," and we hold that if you put any other
   rite in the place of circumcision the same statement is true. No infant
   baptism, no immersion, no mass, no sacrament, no confirmation, no
   ceremony of any kind can, in any measure or degree, be rested upon as
   the soul's righteousness. What if the rites which we believe that God,
   Himself, had given were authenticated to us by a voice out of the
   excellent Glory? On those rites we dare not build, no, not for an
   instant!

   No blood of bullocks or of goats after the old Law and no unbloody
   sacrifice of the mass after the modern legality of Popery can we rest
   upon! The beggarly elements of a visible external religion we have left
   behind as childish garments, unfit for men in Christ Jesus. No,
   Brothers and Sisters, we are wide as the poles asunder from all who
   rest upon outward forms and ceremonial religiousness! We hope to be
   saved, not because we attend a place of worship, nor because we have
   made a profession of religion, but because we have obtained
   righteousness by faith! We differ, also, from those who place reliance
   upon moral virtues and spiritual excellencies--and even from those who
   would have us found our hope upon certain Graces supposed to be the
   works of the Holy Spirit.

   Had we been the most courageously honest. Had we been the most chastely
   pure. Had we never offended against the law of man in any respect
   whatever. If we could say with the Apostle, "as touching the law,
   blameless," and if, like the young man in the Gospel narrative, we
   could say of the Commandments, "All these things have I kept from my
   youth up," yet would we count our virtues and obedience to be but dross
   that we might win Christ and be found in Him, not having our own
   righteousness which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith
   of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

   We dare not hope to be acceptable with God because of anything good
   that is in us by nature, or may be infused into us by Grace. We are
   accepted in the Beloved and apart from Him we look not to be found
   acceptable. Even what the Holy Spirit works with us does not furnish us
   with any merit which we can plead, for it is a gift of Grace, and no
   part of our justifying righteousness. We rest upon Jesus Christ
   crucified and not upon our faith, our repentance, our prayers, our
   conquests of sin, our likeness to Christ! Right away from anything that
   comes from us or to us we look to Jesus, who is all our salvation, the
   Alpha and Omega, the Author and the Finisher of faith.

   Our faith is singular, then, because it differs from that of the Jew
   who boasts in his carnal descent. It differs from that of the
   religionist, who rests upon outward forms, and that of the
   self-righteous man who depends upon his own works in whole or in part.
   These three forms of dependence we renounce from the very depth of our
   hearts! And any other form of dependence upon anything that can be done
   by man is equally detestable to us. We know that if we are saved it
   must be upon quite another ground than that of the merit of works of
   any sort or kind. "We wait for the hope of righteousness by

   faith." th

   Secondly, consider the specialty of our hope. Taking our text in
   connection with the 4th verse, we remark that our hope is in Divine
   Grace alone. According to Paul, any man who tries to be justified by
   the Law has altogether given up Salvation by Grace--therefore we trust
   for righteousness in Christ, alone, and look entirely to the free mercy
   of God. If I ever get to Heaven it will be in no measure because I
   deserve to be there, but because God willed that I should enter Glory
   by His abounding Grace! No man has any claim upon God whatever! If God
   gives man what he may claim in justice, He will award him eternal
   destruction from the glory of His power--that is all man has a right
   to--he is an undeserving, ill-deserving, Hell-deserving sinner!

   If any good thing, therefore, comes to us, it must be entirely on the
   ground of goodness freely given to the undeserving. It is pardon
   extended to the guilty. It is infinite compassion looking upon our
   misery and determining to reveal itself in a free gift. It is not to be
   won by effort--not to be deserved nor purchased--but bestowed solely
   because He "will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will
   have compassion on whom He will have compassion." Our hope stands on
   pure Grace, Sovereign Grace, Grace unqualified! God blesses us because
   He is good, not because we are! God saves us because He is gracious,
   not because He sees any Grace inherent in us! He blesses as according
   to His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in
   trespasses and sins. And therefore Grace must ever be the subject of
   our praise! We can never endure the preaching of any other confidence,
   for we know it to be a delusion and a snare.

   Thirdly, consider the ground of our hope. A groundless hope is a
   retched thing. But our hope has a firm foundation. It is founded upon
   right and is called, "the hope of righteousness by faith."
   Righteousness is a solid basis for hope. If we had a hope which
   disturbed or destroyed or diminished the luster of the Righteousness of
   God, the sooner we were rid of it the better. But we need not detract
   in any degree from the severity of Divine Justice in order to sustain
   our hope. We expect to be saved by an act of Justice as well as by a
   deed of Mercy. A strong expression to use--and we use it advisedly. We
   reckon that by faith we are saved by a method which as much vindicates
   the Justice of God as if He had cast us into Hell--a plan by which the
   Divine Righteousness is manifested, rather than obscured.

   Observe that our hope is the hope, "of righteousness." That is to say,
   a hope arising out of the fact that we are righteous and therefore God
   will treat us as such. "Strange hope," says one, "for we are guilty."
   That we admit with deepest shame and we disown all reliance upon our
   own righteousness which we know to be but filthy rags. But still, we
   have a glorious hope based upon the fact that we are, at this moment,
   actually righteous before God! By faith we are as righteous as if we
   had never sinned! Those eyes which can discern the slightest flaw, gaze
   upon us and discern our inmost thoughts--but they discover no flaw in
   our righteousness! Like burning suns they search us through and
   through, but our righteousness endures the search and comes forth
   unscathed from the heat of that consuming fire.

   This day, having believed in Jesus Christ, "there is therefore now no
   condemnation to us." "Being justified by faith we have peace through
   Jesus Christ our Lord." We have a righteousness which we dare present
   before God, for it is perfect! In it there is no omission and no
   excess. We are righteous before God and without fault before His
   Throne. Bold words, but not bolder than the Apostle used when he said,
   "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
   justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather
   that is risen again."

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, if we have a hope founded upon righteousness
   it is well sustained, for where Justice lends its aid to bless, we are
   sure that all the other Divine attributes will co-operate! But is it,
   indeed, the fact that we are righteous? According to Holy Scripture it
   is undoubtedly so! We are not righteous in ourselves. Have we not, with
   detestation, flung away that thought? But we know that it is written,
   "To him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly,
   his faith is counted for righteousness."

   Even David, also, describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God
   imputes righteousness without works, saying, "Blessed are they whose
   iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
   to whom the Lord will not impute sin." When we put our trust in Christ
   Jesus, His blood cleanses us from all sin! Does Divine Perfection need
   us to be more clean than that? Cleansed from all sin! When we trust in
   Jesus Christ, He is made of God unto us righteousness--do we require a
   more perfect and glorious righteousness? Our Redeemer finished
   transgression and made an end of sin! What remains of that of which an
   end is made? What more do we need than everlasting righteousness? What
   more does God, Himself, require? Don't you know, Beloved, how the Lord,
   Himself, has said concerning His Church--"This is the name with which
   she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness"?

   I said that clothed in the Righteousness of Christ we are as accepted
   as if we had never sinned. I correct myself--had we never sinned we
   could only have stood in the righteousness of man. But this day, by
   faith, we stand in the Righteousness of God, Himself! The works and the
   dying of our Lord Jesus Christ make up, for us, a wedding dress more
   glorious than human merit could have spun, even if unfallen Adam had
   been the spinner!--

   "With my Surety's vesture on, Holy as the Holy One."

   Here is the footing of our hope, then, that we are righteous in the
   Righteousness of Christ, accepted in the Beloved, complete in Him and
   perfect in Christ Jesus. This righteousness we have not obtained by any
   process which has occupied a great deal of time and exhibited our
   ability and tried our strength--it is the righteousness offaith. We
   have believed and we are righteous! "Strange doctrine," says one. Not
   at all! It is the way by which Abraham became righteous, for it is
   written, "Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for
   righteousness." Along this path all the ancient saints traveled and
   sang, "Surely in the Lord Jehovah have we righteousness and strength."
   This is the only possible way to righteousness and blessed is the man
   who follows it and knows that by faith in the great substitutionary
   Sacrifice he is righteous before God!

   We will now dwell a minute upon the substance of this hope. Suppose you
   were all perfectly righteous--what would you expect from God? You
   cannot expect more, at any rate, than we do who have the righteousness
   of faith. We expect to die triumphantly, glorying in our exalted Head!
   We expect, as soon as our breath has left our body, to be with Him
   where He is, that we may behold His Glory! We expect to sit at the
   right hand of God, even the Father--because Christ is there. We expect
   to rise again at the blast of the archangel's trumpet, when the Lord,
   who is our Righteousness, shall descend upon the earth! We expect,
   then, to be manifested because He will be manifested, for, "it does not
   yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we
   shall be like He; for we shall see Him as He is."

   We expect to share in all the glories of His millennial reign and when
   comes the end and He delivers up the kingdom to the Father, we expect
   to be there and forever in the perfection of bliss and Glory to dwell
   with Him, always singing,

   "Worthy is the Lamb" We will never sing, "Worthy am I," but always say,
   "We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the
   Lamb." We will never claim that our robes were not defiled, or that we
   cleansed them ourselves. We expect this and we expect it because we are
   righteous! Do you see this? No man has a right to expect a reward if he
   has not a righteousness to which it is due--but lo, He who is All in
   All to us, our Covenant Head, deserves the reward--and He has
   transferred that reward to us who are members of His body. And so are
   one with Him! We wait for the hope of righteousness by faith!

   Once more upon this point, notice the posture which our hope takes up.
   We are waiting for this hope--waiting. Would it not have been better to
   have said, "We are working"? No, it would have spoiled the sense
   altogether. To complete the foundation of our hope of righteousness by
   faith we have nothing more to do except to wait for the reward of what
   is done! To the garment which covers us we dare not think of adding a
   single thread. Why should we? To the acceptance in which we stand
   before God we cannot hope to add a single jewel. Why attempt it? Has
   not Jesus said, "It is finished"?

   As far as justifying righteousness is concerned, we are as righteous as
   we shall be when robed in light! We shall cast our crowns before the
   Throne of God. We are at rest, waiting in peace. It is true we are
   working for other reasons and other purposes, but as far as the
   righteousness of faith is concerned we are waiting, not working.
   Waiting--that is the posture of confidence! We are not hurrying,
   bustling and running about in anxiety, but we are at rest, knowing that
   the reward will come. As the workman, when his six days' work is over,
   goes up to his master's pay table and waits for his wages, we believe
   that the meritorious work by which Heaven is procured for us is all
   done. And therefore we are waiting in the name of Jesus to take the
   reward which as a matter of justice is due to Him and has been, by His
   dying testament, transferred to us.

   Waiting implies continuance. The Galatians wanted to be more sure than
   faith could make them and so they ran off to get circumcised and
   observed days, weeks, months and all sorts of carnal ordinances. But
   the Apostle says, "We, through the Spirit, wait." We ask no touch of
   priests, or charm of magic rites! We are thoroughly furnished in our
   blessed Lord and are content to abide in Him. Our faith is not for
   today and tomorrow only, but for time and eternity! We are rooted and
   grounded in faith in Christ--

   "All that remains for me

   Is but to love and sing,

   And wait until the angels come

   To bear me to their King."

   "I thought it was a race," says one, "a combat." Oh, yes, we will tell
   you about that another time, but that has nothing to do with our
   righteousness, nothing to do with the ground of our acceptance before
   God--and that is what we are speaking about just now. As far as that is
   concerned, "It is finished," sounded from the tree of Calvary and that,
   "It is finished," brings the righteous to perfect peace--and there they
   sit and wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. I have said enough
   upon the first point and must hasten to the second.

   II. THE RELATION OF THIS MATTER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. We may be quite
   sure that the doctrine of Salvation by Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be
   opposed to the work of the Spirit of God, for never, without blasphemy,
   can we imagine anything like a division in the purposes and works of
   the sacred Persons of the adorable Trinity. The will of the Father, the
   will of the Son and the will of the Spirit must be one! It is a
   perverse forgetfulness of the Unity of the Godhead to suppose
   otherwise. That which glorifies Jesus cannot dishonor the Holy
   Spirit--we may be quite sure of that.

   But observe, Brothers and Sisters, it is the Spirit's work to destroy
   the pride of man. All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is
   as the flower of grass. The grass withers because the Spirit of the
   Lord blows upon it. All the vaunted comeliness of the natural man is to
   be destroyed by the Holy Spirit--and does not the doctrine of
   Righteousness by Faith wither up the glory of man? What can do it more
   effectually? I have seen the proud Pharisee leer with a scornful hatred
   when he has heard this doctrine. "What?" he cries, "After all I have
   done for years, am I to come to Christ just as if I had been a thief or
   a harlot and be saved by charity?"

   He cannot bear it! He will not have it! Now the Spirit of God designs
   to stain the pride of all glorying and to bring into contempt all the
   excellency of the earth--and this doctrine is the appropriate
   instrument for His work and is, therefore, consistent with the mind of
   the Spirit. Another office of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Christ. "He
   shall glorify Me,"

   said Jesus. And does not this doctrine glorify Jesus, since it makes
   Him the head and front, the All in All of a sinner's hope by informing
   him that nothing but faith in Jesus will save him? Is not this
   according to the mind of the Spirit?

   O Beloved, the Holy Spirit is no rival to the Redeemer, but a glorious
   co-worker, delighting to honor the Son! We know, Beloved, that the
   Spirit of God works under the economy of Grace, only. The Apostle says,
   "Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law?" Nobody ever received
   the Spirit by his own works, or as a matter of merit. Since, then, the
   Spirit only comes to men in connection with the great principle of
   Grace, and Justification by Faith is the essential doctrine of Grace,
   it must be perfectly consistent with His mind! And you may be sure of
   this, poor Sinner, that there is no deep, mysterious operation of the
   Holy Spirit which can, if rightly understood, stand in conflict with
   the Gospel announcements that, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the
   Christ, is born of God." And, "Whoever believes in Him is not
   condemned." And, "Whoever will, let him come and take of the water of
   life freely." Salvation by Grace through faith and the operations of
   the Holy Spirit must be consistent!

   Carefully note that this righteousness by faith must be consistent with
   the work of the Spirit because the faith which brings this
   righteousness is never exercised by any but those who are born of the
   Spirit. The flesh relies upon works. It is a somewhat remarkable
   circumstance, perhaps, but so it is, that sinful flesh, which is barren
   of all real excellence, always clings to merit. The natural man
   persists in the belief that he has something to do and yet he can do
   nothing! He grasps with all his might the sword which cuts him. You
   cannot get him to see that--

   "Till to Jesus Christ you cling

   By a simple faith,

   'Doing 'is a deadly thing

   'Doing' ends in death."

   He finds fault with it. He cannot bear it. Of course he cannot--Ishmael
   is the bondwoman's son and has the nature of his mother in him. That
   which is born of the Spirit instinctively clutches the promise, even as
   Isaac did, for Isaac knew that he had no right to the inheritance
   except according to the promise, for, according to the flesh, Ishmael
   was the first born.

   The new-born life in every man runs instinctively to Grace and lives by
   faith! You shall never find simple faith in Jesus exercised by any life
   except the life that is born of Divine Seed in the new birth. Here,
   then, simple faith and the Holy Spirit are related, for the new heart
   which the Spirit creates is the only soil in which faith will grow.

   Again, faith for righteousness is based on the testimony of the Holy
   Spirit. My Brothers and Sisters, why do we believe that we are
   justified by faith in Jesus Christ? On the ground that the Spirit, in
   the Holy Scripture, has borne witness that it is so! The witness which
   God gave concerning His Son is the basis for our belief! We accept the
   witness of the Holy Spirit as contained in these pages. The Bible
   cannot be contrary to the mind of the Spirit because it is inspired by
   the Spirit! So you may rest certain that faith in Jesus Christ as the
   ground of salvation cannot be opposed to the Spirit's work, because
   that faith is based upon the Spirit's own testimony concerning Christ!

   Moreover, simple faith is always the work of the Spirit. No man did
   ever believe in Jesus Christ for righteousness unless the Spirit of God
   led him to it. He can never be brought to it unless the Holy Spirit
   shall lead him there. Faith is as much the gift of God as Jesus Christ,
   Himself! Nature never did produce a grain of saving faith and it never
   will. When a man has believed, he obtains a great increase to his faith
   in Jesus by the work of the Spirit. The Spirit never takes a man off
   from Jesus Christ as he grows in Grace, but He establishes him in his
   confidence in the Righteousness of Christ. The witness of the Spirit in
   us is a testimony to the faith that Jesus is the Propitiation for sin.
   He never leads us to rest upon the work within, but points us always to
   Jesus.

   When He works in us mightily, our faith becomes even more simple and
   childlike. We sink in our own esteem and rise higher in confidence in
   Jesus. The Holy Spirit could not be supposed to do this if salvation by
   faith were an imperfect matter, or dangerous, or dishonoring to
   Himself! It is by the Spirit that we continue to exercise faith. Notice
   my text. I will quote it emphatically--"We, through the Spirit, wait
   for the righteousness by faith." It is not because of any other
   influence but the influence of the Spirit that we come to rest--and
   continue to rest and wait while we rest--for the hope of the
   righteousness by faith! The Spirit of God works it all and, therefore,
   He is not in conflict with it. It is that which He plants, waters,
   fosters and brings to perfection--and He cannot but love it.
   Ridiculous, then, absurdly ridiculous, is the attempt to make out that
   the preaching of Justification by Faith is derogatory to the ministry
   and deity of the Holy

   Spirit!

   Let us draw an inference or two before we close. From this subject the
   inference is that whoever has this hope of righteousness by faith has
   the Spirit of God. If your hope, Beloved, is based upon your being
   righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, you have been born again and
   renewed in heart by the Holy Spirit! Many are puzzled and say, "I wish
   I knew I had the Spirit." They fancy that the Spirit of God would cause
   some singular excitement in them--very different from quiet penitence
   and humble trust. I have even known them suppose that it would cause
   some very astounding swooning, palpitations, and I know not what
   besides! The best evidence of your having the Spirit of God is your
   depending upon Christ as a little child depends upon its mother!

   Others may bring other evidence to prove that they are born from
   above--let them bring the evidence and be thankful that they can bring
   it. But if you have no other evidence but this, "Jesus Christ is my
   sole reliance and on Him do I depend," that is enough! All the rest
   will follow in due course. He that believes has the Holy Spirit in
   himself. He that believes in Him is not condemned.

   Draw a second inference. Wherever there is any other hope, or a hope
   based upon anything else but this, the Spirit of God is not present.
   There may be much talk about Him, but the Spirit Himself is not there,
   for "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, even
   Jesus Christ the Righteous." The Spirit will not bear witness to man's
   home-born presumptuous hopes! He bears witness only to the finished
   work of Jesus Christ! If you are trusting that you have the Spirit, but
   are building upon sacraments, works, orthodoxies, feelings, or anything
   but Jesus Christ, you have not the Spirit of God, for the Spirit of God
   never taught a man to place his house upon such sandy foundations.

   Beloved Friend, you may, therefore, answer inquiries about what is
   within so far as they cause you distress, by turning your eyes to
   Jesus, the Lord, our Righteousness. "Look to Me," says Jesus, "and be
   you saved." Look away from self to God's appointed Propitiation! On
   yonder shameful tree hangs all your trust! Look up to Jesus upon His
   Father's Throne, for there dwells your hope!

   One further thought I want to leave upon every mind. Nothing should
   make us speak with bated breath when we are lifting up Christ crucified
   before the eyes of sinful men. There is no doctrine, there is no
   experience, there is no decree of the Father, there is no influence of
   the Spirit which needs, for a moment, make us hesitate when we are
   extolling the Lord Jesus as an All-Sufficient Savior for the very chief
   of sinners. I stand here, this morning, to solemnly assert before God
   that I have not a shadow of a hope of seeing His face with acceptance
   except that which lies in the fact that Jesus Christ came into the
   world to save sinners!

   In Him I do unfeignedly trust, and in Him alone. What if I have
   preached the Gospel these 25 years? What if I have brought souls to
   Jesus, not by the hundreds but by the thousands through the Divine
   blessing? What if I have been the means of founding and fostering works
   of usefulness on the right hand and on the left? Truly, if these things
   were to be gloried in we might glory before men! But far from it! We
   ascribe them all to the Lord's Grace and before His Presence we lie in
   the dust. We have no hope because of our works! No, nor a shadow of
   hope! We have no reliance upon our Graces! No, nor a ghost of a
   reliance upon them!

   Jesus Christ stood in my place! I, a guilty sinner, have taken shelter
   by faith which He has given me! Beneath His wings I hide myself in Him.
   There is my hope and that is the hope of every true Believer here--

   "Not what these hands ha ve done

   Can save this guilty soul.

   Not what this toiling flesh has borne

   Can make my spirit whole.

   Not what I feel or do

   Can give me peace with God.

   Not all my prayers and sighs and tears,

   Can bear my awful load.

   Your work alone, O Christ,

   Can ease this weight of sin.

   Your blood alone, O Lamb of God,

   Can give me peace within."

   Now we preach the same hope to the ungodly! Hear what God's Word says
   to you! You have broken His Laws and deserve His wrath! He might justly
   sweep you down to Hell but behold, He addresses you in tones of Divine
   Grace! You

   have no claim upon Him. You have no right to expect mercy at His hands
   because of anything in you that could move Him to pity. But in the
   plenitude of His Grace He has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation for
   your sins. And the Apostle adds, "And not for ours only, but for the
   sins of the whole world." We preach Jesus Christ unto you this morning
   and say in His own Words, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
   shall be saved." Come to Christ and trust in Him, and you shall be
   reconciled to God--

   "Your sins shall vanish quite away,

   Though black as Hell before.

   Shall be dissolved beneath the sea

   And shall be found no more." Whoever you may be and in whatever
   condition of heart you may be--it doesn't m atter if you have seven
   devils in you, or if you are as vile as Lucifer, himself, in rebellion
   against God--if you believe in the great atoning Sacrifice you shall
   have instantaneous pardon and acceptance in the Beloved! O, hold not
   out against such free and boundless love! "God was in Christ
   reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
   them." "Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting
   life."

   Oh, yield, Man! What are your works but sin and death? What are your
   boasted performances, your virtues and your excellencies? All
   rottenness in the sight of the heart-searching God! Quit your refuges
   of lies, I pray you! Quit them now, lest the avalanche of Divine Wrath
   overwhelms both you and your refuges--

   "Come, guilty souls, and flee away,

   Like doves to Jesus' wounds!

   This is the accepted Gospel day,

   Wherein free Grace abounds."

   Trust His Son Jesus! It is His command to you! In other words, "Believe
   on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved," for, "he that
   believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall
   be damned." God save us, for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Galatians 4,5:1-6. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--202, 531, 533.
     __________________________________________________________________

Decision--Illustrated by the Case of Joshua

   (No. 1229)

   A SERMON DELIVERED OF LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 18, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

   JOSHUA knew that the people who surrounded him, while ostensibly
   serving Jehovah, were, many of them, secretly worshipping the ancient
   idols of their Mesopotamian fathers--those seraphim which were once
   hidden in Rachel's tent and were never quite purged from Jacob's
   family. Some of them, also, harbored the Egyptian emblems. And some had
   even fallen into the worship of the gods of the people whom they had
   displaced and were setting up the images of Baalim in their homes. The
   people were nominally worshippers of Jehovah, but in reality, many of
   them had turned aside unto strange gods. Never in their best days had
   the children of Israel been quite divorced from idols, for, as Stephen
   said of them, even in the wilderness they took up the tabernacle of
   Moloch and the star of their god Remphan, figures which they made, to
   worship.

   Now, being a thorough-going, decided, down-right man, Joshua could not
   endure double-mindedness and, therefore, he pushed the people to
   decision, urging them to serve the Lord with sincerity and, if they did
   so, to put away, altogether, all their graven images. He demanded from
   them a determination for one thing or the other, and cried, "If it
   seems evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom you will
   serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
   other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites among whom you
   dwell." He shut them up to a present choice between the true God and
   the idols and gave them no rest in their half-heartedness. Anticipating
   the cry of Elijah upon Carmel, he demanded, in effect, "How long halt
   you between two opinions? If God is God, serve Him, but if Baal is God,
   serve him." He demanded a decision and rightly so.

   Can either earth or Heaven be quiet while such a matter is in suspense?
   To compel them to assert their decision, he declared his own. A man's
   own personal example is eloquent beyond the power of words. Hear the
   grand old man! He cries, "You may hesitate, but my mind is made up once
   and for all. Judge you as you will, my verdict is already given and my
   children agree with me--as for me and my house we will serve Jehovah.
   We have no reverence for the demons of Canaan or the myths of Egypt who
   could not preserve their own worshippers--our hearts are loyal to the
   God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who brought us up out of Egypt and gave
   us this land for an heritage. So far as myself and my sons and my
   daughters are concerned, the die is cast and Jehovah, alone, will we
   serve."

   This clear avowal on the part of Joshua was not a trick of eloquence or
   a resolve made, for the first time, in order to influence his
   audience--he had so lived that his declaration carried weight with all
   who heard it, else it had been idle to have uttered it. He had always
   been a man of firm steps and determined mind. Probably this was one
   reason why Moses chose him to be his servant and kept him in personal
   attendance upon himself. His firmness comes out very clearly in his
   conduct as one of the 12 spies. The others brought up an evil report of
   the land, but not so Joshua and Caleb! Though they were only two
   against 10, yet they boldly maintained their testimony! And when the
   people spoke of stoning them, they did not falter for an instant, but
   remained faithful to their consciences.

   These two men, alone, survived the graves of the wilderness, because
   they, alone, were untainted with the wilderness sins. Take Joshua as a
   warrior, too, for he was called to fight the Lord's battles and you
   find him always a good soldier of the Lord. What a soldier he was!
   Saul, in later times, might spare the condemned seed of Amalek, but not
   so Joshua! As long as Moses held up his hands to pray, the sword of
   Joshua stayed not in the work of execution. When Israel had crossed the
   Jordan to attack the Canaanites, he had a commission from the Lord to
   destroy these outlawed nations and he made thorough work of it! So
   zealous was he in this war that the day was not long enough for him--he
   bade the sun and moon stand still till the Lord's battle was fought to
   the end!

   Joshua, like his friend, Caleb, "followed the Lord fully." He might
   have taken for his motto the word, "thorough.''" He belonged to
   Jehovah, heart and soul, and mind and strength. As the successor of
   Moses and the type of the Lord Jesus, he put on zeal as a cloak and
   girded himself with fidelity as a garment. His appointed duty was
   fulfilled with martial strictness and unswerving steadiness. He had a
   single eye and a firm hand. He was strong and of good courage--and the
   Lord was with him. It was no idle boast when the old warrior and prince
   in Israel said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

   We admire fidelity in Joshua and we confess that he needed it. But we
   may, perhaps, forget that there was never an age in which a decision
   for God was not equally required. It is well to admire this in another,
   but it is far better to possess it ourselves! In all times it is
   imperative upon men to take their stand for God and His Truth. In the
   first household outside of Eden, Abel protested against his elder
   brother's example and died in consequence. Enoch, when all around
   walked according to the course of this world, dared to be singular and
   walked with God. Noah believed God amid universal wickedness and
   persevered for long years in preparing the Ark, though all men mocked
   his warnings. Abraham forsook country and home, at the command of God,
   and became a pilgrim and a stranger, dwelling alone and not numbered
   among the peoples. His was a grand life, for decided faith made him not
   only a mighty man, but a king among Patriarchs.

   Each age had its man whose heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord to
   serve as a landmark for weaker saints to steer by, and a rock against
   which the tumult of the people raged in vain. Look at Moses, counting
   the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt,
   exciting a sluggish race to action, facing the tyrant king and leading
   Israel into the wilderness! What a princely soul Divine Grace made him!
   How firmly did he adhere to right and the Truth of God so that he was
   faithful to God in all his years. Pass along through the Judges and you
   find that they were men decided for the Lord, their God, or they would
   never have delivered Israel. Remember Samuel and David, and Nathan and
   Elijah! What grandeur surrounded the head of the Tishbite because he
   was exceedingly zealous for the Lord God of Israel! He was no
   timeserver, as Jezebel and Ahab knew full well.

   In later years Daniel is the grand type of decision as we see him
   opening his window and praying, as before, though he knows that the
   threat of death hangs over him. The three holy children, also, are
   before us defying the devouring flames of the furnace sooner than bow
   before Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. In New Testament times John the
   Baptist rises to the front rank by his resolute fidelity and Pilate
   sinks to eternal shame by reason of his vacillation. Paul is covered
   with renown, while Agrippa, who is "almost persuaded," is lost in
   oblivion! In each age decision has been the one thing needed--to bend,
   bow and cringe has been fatal--but to stand like iron columns and
   bronze walls has been safety and honor.

   The same firmness is needed today! We, too, must take our stand, and,
   taking it, must hold it as though we were rooted to the ground! O
   blessed Spirit, give us Grace for this! Faithful Redeemer, set Your
   image upon us that we, too, may resist even to blood, striving against
   sin! My discourse shall run thus--Decision for the Lord--let me
   describe it, extol it and demand it.

   I. First, let me DESCRIBE IT. It means many things, all of which must
   be worked in us by Divine Grace, or we shall never possess them, though
   we may have their counterfeits. Decision implies, first, that all
   hesitation is gone. There is a period when the thoughtful mind hangs in
   equilibrium and it is a question which way the scale will turn. We have
   a time of testing and proving when the crucibles are brought out and
   the firing pots are placed among the coals. To come wisely and speedily
   through this period is a great mercy. This was all over in the case of
   Joshua--he had finished the proving of all things and reached the
   holding fast of that which is good! The balance was no longer in
   suspense. The scale had gone down for God and His cause. It rested in
   its place never to be moved. Joshua had a mind of his own and he knew
   his own mind. Doubt had long ago vanished, debate was finally closed,
   resolve was taken and taken without a grain of reserve. And
   consequently action was forcible and ardent.

   And now, dear Friends, it is surely time with some of us, especially
   with those of us who have reached the prime of life, that we, too, had
   done with the fickleness of irresolution! Have we not had enough of
   hesitation, deliberating, trifling and delaying? The time past may
   suffice for these--has it not been already far too long? You will make
   no journey, O traveler, if, now that the sun is in its zenith, you do
   not soon decide which way to walk! Mariner, your voyages will be scant
   if you lie much longer at anchor! The season of favorable winds is
   passing away and yet your sail

   remains unfilled--will you never have solved the problem--"to what port
   shall I steer? With what cargo shall I load my boat?" Is our life to
   end in a constant repetition of the question, "What shall I be?"

   If we could change places with the weathercock and become the toy of
   circumstances, irresolution might be alright. But for a man, decision
   is indispensable--he must know where he is and where he is going! And
   it will be an evidence of salvation to him if he has cancelled doubt by
   a firm faith in Jesus and ended hesitancy by full consecration to the
   service of the Lord. O that every man and woman among us had, through
   Divine Grace, come to this point, "As for me and my house, we will
   serve the Lord"!

   This state of heart indicates superiority to the evil influence of
   others. While we are children, we are plastic to every hand. We believe
   what is told us by the last informant, our judgment is swayed by our
   parents, schoolmasters and elders. But, when we come to be men and
   women, we put away the childish things which controlled us. We ought to
   put away this propensity to lean upon other men's judgments. Our own
   understanding should now be exercised, or else why is it given to us?
   God waits to guide us, but He would have us cry to Him and not follow
   the trail of our fellows. We should endeavor to have a mind enlightened
   by Grace, decided for God and established in the Truth. And then we
   should strike out our own path for God and His Truth--and count it no
   very great hardship if in that path we should have to walk alone.

   A man should not be like a house which is one of a row, which would
   come down with a crash if those on the right and left were removed--he
   should be altogether detached so that all four walls will stand without
   another house to buttress them. Alas, I fear that few have reached this
   point! The most of men are a feeble herd and follow their leaders,
   having no minds of their own. Woe to them when blind leaders lead them
   into the ditch! The great guide of the world is fashion and its god is
   respectability--two phantoms at which brave men laugh! How many of you
   look around on society to know what to do? You watch the general
   current and then float upon it! You study the popular breeze and shift
   your sails to suit it. True men do not so!

   You ask--"Is it fashionable? If it is fashionable, it must be done."
   Fashion is the law of multitudes, but it is nothing more than the
   common consent of fools! The world has its fashions in religion as well
   as in dress and many of you feel the influence of it. If you had fallen
   in among Christ's people some of you would have made a profession of
   religion before now, but having, on the contrary, been cast among the
   ungodly, even though you have some desires towards Christ, you are held
   back by the evil influence. What are you but babes, fit for the nursery
   and the sucking bottle? If you were men, you would stand on your own
   feet and not need to be carried in someone's arms--

   "Dare to be a Daniel!

   Dare to stand alone!

   Dare to ha ve a purpose true,

   And dare to make it known!"

   Little will it decrease our eternal misery if all the rest of the world
   should be lost with us! Company in Hell will be the reverse of
   consolation! If we lose Heaven for fashion's sake, it will be no solace
   to us that others lost it, too. We are born alone and shall have to die
   alone and to be judged alone--it is time that we began to look into our
   souls' affairs with our best judgment and no longer be as the sere leaf
   in the wind, or the log in the rapids. God has given to each man a
   conscience, to each man a heart--and He will not allow men to quench
   their personal consciences and yield up their hearts to be molded by
   others--He will hold them personally responsible for the right use of
   judgment, reason and heart! Oh Sirs, may every one of us know the Lord
   for ourselves and, forsaking the broad road with its many travelers may
   we be bold to walk in the narrow way which leads unto life.

   Right decision for God is deep, calm, clear, fixed, well grounded and
   solemnly made. Joshua does not speak his determination lightly. Gaze
   upon the stern warrior's face scarred in many battles, bronzed with
   exposure, wrinkled with more than 100 years of varied experience! He
   looks not like a trifler. He speaks not as one who sings a love song
   and trills it from his lips! His utterances rise from that broad breast
   of his with the rugged honesty and brave sincerity of a soldier prince.
   "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," as much as if he had
   said, "I have known my God too many years to forsake Him, now. I have
   not bared my breast to the battle so many scores of times to now be a
   coward!

   "I have not dwelt under the shadow of the Almighty 40 years in the
   wilderness and all these years in Canaan that I might seek idols! The
   golden calf is not for me--I saw it ground to powder long ago! The
   idols of the Amorites are not for me--I have dashed thousands of them
   to the ground." He speaks as one who has weighed the matter, counted
   the cost

   and come to a decision which he can defend against all comers. It would
   be idle to try and shake his resolve--it is as stable as Lebanon! You
   do not hear in him a timeserver, who, to please men, falls in with the
   general affirmation! Nor is he a mere scholar, repeating what he has
   learned by rote--nor a ceremonialist, muttering his creed for form's
   sake!

   You hear an honest man revealing his heart and uttering his inmost soul
   with awful earnestness, even in that utterance careless of being heard
   of men except so far as their hearing may be of use to themselves. He
   speaks with immoveable resolve. His soul is anchored and defies all
   storms--"As for me and my house we will, despite crowds and customs. We
   will, despite temptations and trials. We will, despite idols or devils,
   to the end of the chapter, serve Jehovah." Such ought the decision of
   every one of us be, and I earnestly wish that it were so.

   That resolve on the part of Joshua was openly declared. I want to come
   straight home to some of you here who have said in your hearts, "Yes,
   we will serve the Lord," but you have never yet declared your
   allegiance, for you have thought it quite enough to promise in secret.
   Does not Joshua's outspoken vow make you blush? You are espoused to
   Christ, you say, but will there never be an open marriage? Will you
   never take Him publicly before the eyes of men to be your Lord and
   Husband forever and ever? Does Jesus agree to secret nuptials? Can such
   a thing be done in a corner? Of old the candle was put on a
   candlestick--is it now to be put under a bushel? You say you are His
   soldier--will you never put on your Prince's uniform? Shall your
   Captain's colors never adorn you? Will you never come forward and take
   your Commander's weapon in your hand and march at His bidding to the
   fight?

   That is sorry courage which skulks behind the bushes! That is poor
   loyalty which never utters the King's name! That is a questionable
   decision which dares not declare itself to be on the Lord's side!
   Remember how the Lord Jesus said. "He that denies Me before men, him
   will I deny before My Father who is in Heaven." I like this in Joshua,
   that he would have no one be in doubt as to where he was. He gives them
   his whereabouts plainly enough. Where Jehovah's altar smokes with the
   sacrifice of bullocks--where the paschal lamb is slain and the blood is
   sprinkled, where the High Priest offers incense to the one invisible
   and ever glorious God--there will you find Joshua! And there his sons
   and daughters, too, for, "As for me and my house, we will serve the
   Lord."

   Why are you not equally openhearted, O you who love the Lord? What
   excuse have you for your silence? I am not able to see what is the good
   of a decision, however firm and deep, if it is never asserted! It may
   be good for the man who has made it, but as far as society is
   concerned, what can be the influence of a decision which is altogether
   secret? Why, my Brothers and Sisters, should there be concealment? Our
   God has not loved us with reserve and kept His mercy in the dark! Our
   Savior has not gone sneaking down the ages, ashamed to confess the
   mortals whom He loves! And if He has never been ashamed of us, we ought
   never to be ashamed of Him! O, my Brethren, can you hesitate? Are you
   not ashamed of being ashamed, and afraid to be, any longer, afraid? Out
   with it! There! Run up the colors to the masthead, where every eye may
   see them and there let them be nailed! And if any man is at war with
   Jesus he is at war with us! Let earth and Hell know this once and for
   all!

   In Joshua's case his resolve was not only openly acknowledged, but
   earnestly carried out. Some have declared themselves on the Lord's side
   and yet they do not serve the Lord. Their names are down in the Church
   book and they attend to the outward ordinances, but as for any serving
   of the Lord, you will have to search for it and search in vain! Joshua
   went in for serving God in truth. He was a soldier and if anyone had
   asked him, "Whose soldier are you, Joshua?" he would have answered, "I
   am God's soldier." "Whose battles do you fight?" "I fight the battles
   of Jehovah." "And what is your object in fighting?" "To glorify
   Jehovah!" He was committed to the Lord's cause from head to foot!

   Many professors do not understand what this means. They view religion
   as a kind of weekend farm. They have another estate which is their home
   and main care--and the kingdom God is a weekend farm--to be mainly
   managed by the minister as a bailiff. Their religion gets their spare
   time and odd thoughts. Jesus comes in for the cold meat that is left
   over, while the world has the hot steaks. Religion is by no means the
   great channel along which the strength of their life runs--it is a sort
   of backwater--they let the waste water run there when they have more
   than enough to turn the mill-wheel of business.

   They are seen at Prayer Meetings when there are no accounts to settle
   and no new books to read. They do something for the Church of God when
   they have nothing to do, no friend coming to spend the evening with
   them and no amusement available. They treat the Lord Jesus Christ very
   indifferently. They hope they will be saved by Him--I hope they will,
   too! They say they will be wonders of Grace if they are and I think
   they will, too! Such conduct to the bleeding

   Lamb is dastardly and I hate it! As for me, I will be bold enough to
   say with Joshua, "I will serve the Lord"--that is to say, if I am His
   servant I will be His servant and lay myself out for Him. I will not
   bear His name, eat His bread and wear His clothes and yet do Him no
   service! Better die than live so dishonestly!

   Certain servants of great men are kept merely for show. You shall go
   into My Lord's house and see a fine fellow who is paid a considerable
   income. What does he do? He is not kept to do anything--he is the
   ornament of the establishment--the display of those magnificent legs
   and that beautiful form which looks so well in uniform is all his
   master gets! Surely, some Christians suppose that they are engaged on
   the same terms and that the Lord Jesus Christ, having the distinguished
   honor of having their names in His Church book, is perfectly satisfied
   though they do nothing! These are the fellows who are everlastingly
   grumbling at those who do serve--and become the pests of the Church. Be
   not like them! Better far to die outright! Serve the Lord with real
   labor, to whose free Grace and dying love you owe your all!

   Once more. Joshua's decision was adhered to throughout the whole of his
   life. He had begun early in the service of God and he never left it. A
   hundred years rolled over his head, but we never discover in him any
   desire to take up with the service of Baal, or the service of the
   seraphs! He continued to the last, true to the resolve, "We will serve
   Jehovah." Happy are we, Brothers and Sisters, if Grace enlisted us in
   the service of Christ while we were yet young! Happier, still, if Grace
   has kept us, to middle age, still firm in our young resolve. And
   happiest of all shall we be if, when our hair is gray, we shall be able
   to say, "O God, You have been my God from my youth, and until this time
   I have declared Your wondrous works. Now, also, when I am old and
   gray-headed, O God, forsake me not!"

   He who decides aright for God decides for eternity. Beloved, you never
   will quit serving God! There never was such a one yet! My Lord and
   Master never fires His old servants, nor do His old servants ever run
   away from Him! The more they serve Him, the more they wish to serve
   Him. Their physical strength may fail them, but never their love to His
   work! They still bring forth fruit in old age to show that the Lord is
   upright. Blessed are they who have this abiding thoroughness in the
   cause of the Lord their God!

   II. Let me now PRAISE DECISION. In religion nothing is more desirable
   than to be out and out in it. With some little variation I might say of
   it as of knowledge--

   "A little piety's a dangerous thing, Drink deepest draughts at that
   refreshing spring." To enjoy religion you must plunge into it! To wade
   into it up to the ankles may make you shiver with anxieties, doubts and
   questions till you resemble a trembling boy unwillingly entering a bath
   on a cold morning! But to plunge into its depths is to secure a glow of
   holy joy. Some of you are ill at ease at sea, but my friend in the blue
   jacket over yonder likes it well enough, for he is always there! His
   home is on the rolling waves and there is no seasickness for him. Those
   of you who make short trips upon the sea of piety and do a little
   coasting religion now and then, are sick with doubts and fears. But if
   you sailed always on that sea you would get your sea legs! You would
   gain full assurance and see the glories of the Lord and His wonders in
   the deep!

   It is with true religion as with the American's orchards. A gentleman
   was invited into a garden to taste the apples. "No," he said, "I would
   rather not," and being often asked to come and partake, yet refusing,
   the other said, "I guess you've a prejudice against my apples." "Yes,"
   said the man, "I have tasted a few of them and they are very sour."
   "But which," said he, "did you taste?" "Why, those apples which fall
   into the road over the hedge." "Ah, yes," said the owner, "they are as
   sour as crabs! I planted them for the good of the boys, but if you come
   into the middle of the lot you will find a different flavor"--and it
   was so.

   Now, just round the border of religion, along the outer hedge, there
   are some very sour apples of conviction, self-denial, humiliation and
   self-despair! They are planted on purpose to keep hypocrites and mere
   professors out. But in the midst of the garden are luscious fruits,
   mellow to the taste and sweet as nectar! The central position in
   religion is the sweetest. The nearer to God, the sweeter the joy! If I
   were a German, which I am not, the last sort of German I should like to
   be would be an Alsatian or a Lorrainer, because I would have to be a
   German by nationality, but might be even more a Frenchman in manners!
   And if ever the war should be renewed between the two nations, the
   fighting would be sure to come very near my farm and home. I should not
   like to be a German-Frenchman, or a French-German in time of war! I
   would prefer to be of pure breed. As to sacred things I would not be a
   neutral. No, no! Let me be out and out, thorough

   and decided! If you are a Christian, be a Christian! If you serve the
   devil, serve him out and out! And if you serve the Lord, serve Him with
   your whole heart and soul and strength.

   A decision for God enables a man to direct his ways. A man who resolves
   that he will serve the Lord knows his way about the world. Something
   will happen to you in business tomorrow. You will have a fine
   opportunity--you will be able to make a great deal of money. But it
   will be by sailing very near the wind and you would rather not have the
   transaction published in The Times. When that temptation comes before
   you, how will you act? I do not know, but if you have made up your mind
   that you will serve the Lord, you will not need to consult your
   partner--your course will be clear! Nine out of every 10 questions
   which can possibly come before you in your business are already
   answered when the grand question is settled!

   Is such an action dishonest? Then it matters nothing how profitable it
   might be--it is dismissed as quite beyond consideration. Is such a
   course necessitated by honesty? Then let it be followed whatever the
   loss may be! David prayed "lead me in a plain path because of my
   enemies." And the man who has made up his mind, by Divine Grace, that
   he will serve the Lord, has that prayer fulfilled! This saves many men
   from temptation. Satan tempts those who can be tempted, but when he
   finds men sufficiently resolved, there is a certain order of temptation
   with which he never assails them again. He adapts his devices to our
   standing and does not use, for lion-hearted minds, those petty nets
   with which he takes small birds. As a giant walks along unconscious of
   the cobwebs across his path, so does a thoroughly consecrated man break
   through a thousand temptations which, indeed, to him are no longer
   temptations at all!

   Thorough-going men wield a mighty influence. Joshua was able to speak
   for his house as well as for himself. Many fathers cannot speak for
   themselves and, therefore, you may guess the reason why they cannot
   speak for their families! Joshua's religion was so intense that it, by
   the Divine blessing, set his sons burning with the same flame. I have
   known a Christian woman to be so low in Grace that she never influenced
   one of her children to desire to be like she was. And I have heard of
   fathers who we hope were Christian men, whose force to repel from piety
   was greater than their power to attract to it!

   God give us more vitality in our own religion and we shall influence
   our children and servants--and from them the savor will spread all
   around! For this reason and a thousand more it is desirable beyond
   measure to be decided and resolute for the Lord's cause! Hesitation and
   wavering can answer no purpose, but a prompt decision is, in every way,
   commendable.

   III. I find I shall not be able to say one half of what I intended to
   have said this morning and, therefore, I shall come

   to a close by DEMANDING THIS DECISION FOR CHRIST which I have described
   and praised. May the Holy Spirit

   enable you to answer to the demand! A decision is required because the
   Lord deserves to have it. He who made us ought not to be served
   hesitatingly. He who gave His Son to die for us ought not to be trifled
   with. By the splendor of Deity and the Glory of the Cross, I claim your
   whole hearts for my Lord! If the Christian religion is a lie, it is a
   most detestable one and it ought to be abhorred heartily! But if the
   service of God is, indeed, right. And if religion is a matter of fact,
   it demands our whole heart, soul and strength--nor should it have less.

   The service of the Lord is not a matter to be loosely touched with the
   tips of one's fingers, but it should excite all the powers and passions
   of our entire nature to obedient action. My dear Hearer, look at
   yourself for a moment. Is there much in you--taking the largest
   estimate you can of yourself? Are your dimensions so very vast? Compare
   yourself with the thrice holy God! Those tall archangels who bow before
   Him are as nothing in His sight! What must you be? And if you, as a
   whole, are so little, do you dream of dividing yourself and giving God
   a part? The Heaven, even the Heaven of heavens and the realms of space
   are not enough for Him!

   And all things that He has made are but as a drop in a bucket compared
   with His infinite Majesty! As for this little dominion of your body and
   soul, will you carve it out among rival monarchs and insult the Lord by
   offering Him a corner while you save spaces for the world, the flesh
   and the devil? Mock not the Majesty of Heaven! If a gnat that dances in
   the summer sunbeam above the Rhine should talk of dividing its
   allegiance between the German Emperor and the French Marshal, you would
   smile. Shall you, you insignificant creature, talk of dividing yourself
   between God and Mammon? Let me demand of you, dear Friends, that you
   give to God your whole mind and soul, because to attempt a middle
   position is mean and dishonorable!

   Who claims to be indifferent to the claims of virtue? Who dares to be
   neutral in the battle between truth and a lie? Brand him as a coward!
   To refuse to take our place upon great questions is disgraceful! And
   when the issue is one which divides the unwise--a question between
   holiness and sin, between God and the devil--why it is a mean thing for
   a man to insinuate that he really is not called upon to decide and that
   he may take up a position midway between the two! God save you from
   such dishonor! If, after all, the world and the things thereof are
   best, say so and take your side! And this morning, if not another
   person should do it, say in your heart, "As for me and my house, we
   will serve ourselves and the world." If you mean it, say it out
   straight and do not hide it!

   For a man to say, "I cannot determine what I shall serve, but I rather
   think I shall serve myself till I get pretty nearly worn out. And then
   I shall turn about and try what is to be done with religion," is
   detestable! Such beings are hardly as respectable as oxen and asses,
   which at least know their owners! Not to decide for the Lord is
   dangerous in the last degree. There is Lot in Sodom--perilous is his
   position, but the angels come to him and they say, "This city is to be
   burned with fire, you must escape." Lot is on the road at once and
   before long he reaches the mountain and is safe.

   His wife is willing to go, too, and yet unwilling--she wavers and
   delays. She has not quite made up her mind. She does not like leaving
   that house full of new furniture and that wardrobe of fine linen!
   Moreover, her neighbors, though they did not go to Chapel every Sunday
   and were rather loose in their morals, were very cheerful, chatty
   people--she did not quite like leaving them. See, she looks back! She
   may look back forever, for there she stands, transformed into a pillar
   of salt.

   Oh, you who think the world has many attractions! You who would like to
   serve God but still feel that there is a great deal to be said on the
   other side of the question, come and taste this salt! Its acrid flavor
   may be healthy to you if it makes you, from now on, dread dallying and
   hesitating! Remember there are no curses in the Bible more terrible
   than those which are directed against those who stand hesitating
   between two opinions. Listen to this Old Testament curse, you who make
   no profession, you who contradict your profession by ill lives. "Curse
   you Meroz, says the Lord, curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof,
   because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord
   against the mighty." Did they fight against the Lord? Not they! Why are
   they cursed? Because they did not fight for Him! What if this curse is
   hovering over this house to fall upon the head of those men who go not
   forth to the help of the Lord! Will it fall upon you?

   Now, listen to the New Testament word which comes from those lips which
   never spoke too roughly--lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling
   myrrh! Here they are--"I would you were cold or hot. So then because
   you are neither cold nor hot I will spit you out of My mouth." Who is
   this offensive one? Did he burn the Savior's lips by hot persecutions?
   No. Did he freeze them with utter coldness of heart? No. He was a
   harmless, good sort of person--moderate, sober, easy-going--in fact, a
   lukewarm man. He was a little warm--only a little more and he would
   have been hot. He was a little cool--only a little cooler and he would
   have been as refreshing as the snows of Lebanon.

   He was neither cold nor hot. Yes, and Christ said He loathed him! I do
   not read of His spitting anything out of His mouth except this. And
   this He cannot bear. Some of you, if you judged yourselves, would say
   you are not good enough for Heaven, but rather too good for Hell. Alas,
   Hell is your portion and an inner dungeon therein! Repent of your
   double-mindedness and turn unto the Lord with purpose of heart! I can
   see where you are, you betweenites! There is the army of God, a vast
   and mighty host on yonder hill. I see the glittering warriors ready for
   the fray. Yonder encamps the host of Satan on the opposite hill. Black
   and grim is the Prince of Darkness--and fierce are they that follow
   him.

   Where are we this morning? Some of us can say we are with the Prince
   Emanuel. We are poor warriors, yet we serve under His standard.
   Possibly there are some here who are on the wrong side and are so
   honest that they will not deny that they are enlisted on the opposite
   side. But my Hearers, where are you? Where are you? "We are thinking
   about it." But where are you while you are thinking? "We are
   considering and judging." But where are you now? Mark this! When the
   fight comes and our Lord's artillery shall come into play--and when the
   adversaries on the other hand reply to us-- you will receive the shot
   from both sides!

   And when the armies come to deadly hand-to-hand fight, you will be
   trampled down by both! Do we not read of some who will wake up "to
   shame and everlasting contempt"? The saints will be ashamed of you,
   because you did not join with Christ in the day of battle. And the
   adversary, himself, will despise you because you shrunk away, even from
   him! Be one thing or the other!

   In closing, remember that to be between the two is, after all, utterly
   impossible. Though I have thus pictured some as hovering between the
   two armies, it is not actually the case, for every man is on one side
   or the other. You are either dead or alive! You are either justified or
   condemned! You are either in the gall of bitterness or enjoying the
   sweets of liberty! No man can serve two masters and no man can be
   without a master. God will not have half the soul--and the world will
   not have half the soul. Both God and sin are imperious and
   monopolizing--they will have the whole or none--

   "God and Mammon! O be wise,

   Serve them both? It cannot be!

   Ease in warfare, saint and miser?

   These will never well agree.

   Give the fawning foe no credit,

   So the bloody flag's unfurled.

   That base heart, the Word has said it,

   Loves not God that loves the world." Put Christ into the heart and He
   will chase sin out, or keep sin in the soul and sin will put down every
   better thought till the man is altogether vile. When you get home write
   this down if you will, "is for me, I will serve the Lord." Put your
   name to it in earnest. Or, if this is not to your mind, write, "is for
   me, I will serve the world," and put your name to it. I long to drive
   you to a decision! If God is God, serve Him! If Baal is God, serve him!
   O, may the Spirit of God lead you to decide for God and His Christ this
   very moment and He shall have the praise forever! Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Joshua24:11-27; Psalm 101
   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--63 (SONG III), 671, 645.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Holy and Homely Resolve

   (No. 1230)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will You come
   unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart." Psalm
   101:2.

   THE 100th Psalm is perhaps the best known song of praise in the Word of
   God. To sing the "Old Hundredth" has been a habit of worshippers from
   generation to generation--the custom of every succeeding age as it is
   still our custom. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all you lands."
   Now, it is somewhat significant that the 101st, which immediately
   follows it, should be such a practical Psalm--all about how a man
   should walk in his house, how he should put away sin from his very eyes
   and keep himself from evil companionship. What does it seem to teach us
   but this, that the best praise is purity and that the best music in the
   world is holiness?

   If we would extol the Lord, the best way to do it is to labor to keep
   His mind before us and to walk in His commandments. The sweetest sounds
   that ever came from the heaving bellows or the organ pipes can never
   have so much melody in them as a life that is tuned to the example of
   Christ! If we obey, we praise. He sings best who works best for God.
   There is no praise that excels that which is like the praise of angels,
   "who do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word."

   I suppose that this Psalm was written by David about the time when he
   was invested with regal authority and took the reins of government in
   his hands. Three times, you will remember, he was anointed king. First,
   in the house of his father, Jesse the Bethlemite, when, "Samuel took
   the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren" (1 Sam.
   16:13). Secondly, at Hebron, when, "The men of Judah came and there
   they anointed him king over the house of Judah" (2 Sam. 2:4). And
   thirdly, when all the elders of Israel came to the king 7 V years
   afterwards, "And David made a league with them in Hebron before the
   Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel" (2 Sam. 5:3).

   With the solemn responsibilities of government in view he sat himself
   down and considered how he would behave himself when he should come to
   the throne. And this was the resolution which he passed and labored, by
   the Grace of God, to carry out. It has been well said that in this
   Psalm David was merry and wise. He was merry, for he said, "I will sing
   of mercy and judgment." And he repeated his resolution to sing by
   saying, "Unto You, O Lord, will I sing." Such merriment as that were
   well for all of us to cultivate! We cannot sing too much when we sing
   unto the Lord! And, provided that the songs are the songs of Zion, the
   more of them we sing and the merrier we are in singing them, the
   better.

   But he was merry and wise, for, having spiritual merriment, he also
   sought to have spiritual holiness. And so he passed this resolution--"I
   will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." Our meditation, then, will
   be of a practical character, and it will divide itself thus. First, in
   the text we have a comprehensive resolution--"I will behave myself
   wisely in a perfect way." Then, as if he were amazed at his resolve,
   feeling how much he had resolved to do and how little power he had to
   do it, we have, in the second place, a devout ejaculation--"O when will
   You come unto me?" But, still being firmly set upon his first hallowed
   resolution, he returns to it, again, and that leads us, in the third
   place, to notice a particular application of his resolution. He applies
   it to his own domestic household life--"I will walk within my house
   with a perfect heart."

   May God the Holy Spirit, who alone can make us practically holy, help
   us, now, while we consider the holy resolutions before us.

   I. WHAT A COMPREHENSIVE RESOLUTION THIS IS! "I will behave myself
   wisely in a perfect way." With a full knowledge of all the care and
   circumspection it entailed on himself--and with as clear an
   apprehension of all the risks of popularity it involved among his
   subjects--this was David's deliberate choice. Influenced by the Grace
   of God he, like his son Solomon after him, chose wisdom as the
   principal thing and accounted the fear of the Lord as the choicest
   safeguard.

   Many a young man, if he were about to be promoted to a throne, would
   say, "I will behave myself grandly. In the dignified position to which
   I am about to be lifted up, I will be every inch a king. I will make
   them know how stately is my bearing, how sovereign is my word, how
   nobly I can play my part, how well a crown befits my head. There shall
   be no Shah or Sultan more dignified than I."

   David might have chosen an empty conceit, but he did better, he elected
   a discreet conduct. He said not, "I will behave myself grandly," but,
   "I will behave myself wisely." There are many, too, who, having David's
   opportunity, would have said, "I will have a merry time of it! Once let
   me mount to Israel's throne, I will give myself up to the full
   indulgence of every passion. There shall be nothing that my soul shall
   lust for but what my hand shall grasp. Let me have horses and chariots
   in abundance! Give me singing men and singing women. I will get myself
   all manner of the delights of the flesh with whatever enjoyments I can
   devise. I will behave myself right joyously when once I come into
   power."

   Not so David. His deliberate choice was neither grandeur nor pleasure,
   but wisdom. "I will behave myself wisely." Now, Brothers and Sisters,
   there must be some of you just starting in life. Before that household
   is formed, sit down and consider what is the best way of action. Or,
   perhaps, though you have not yet left your father's house and commenced
   business for yourself, you contemplate doing so. This, then, is the
   time to take stock of your moral resolutions. Or, it may be you are in
   such a condition that you are now starting afresh, commencing life
   anew, though perhaps farther advanced in years and experience of the
   world than the young man I have just referred to.

   Now, how will you act? What will you choose? You shall be happy,
   indeed, if the Grace of God leads you to say, "I choose wisdom, the
   truest and best wisdom. Be it mine to live as God would have me
   live--understanding His Testimonies and yielding obedience to His Laws.
   Gladly would I live as the Incarnate Wisdom lived when He was here
   below. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." I say it was
   David's deliberate choice. Oh, that every young man and woman here
   would emulate his example! Oh, that every one of us in our present
   condition and in full view of whatever prospects may be opening up
   before us, might be led now, once and for all, with the full consent of
   all our powers, to say, "Whatever happens to me, this is my
   resolution--I desire to behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Should
   others run after gain or fame, ease or luxury, let them cry, 'Who will
   show me any good?' Let them make self their idol, or follow after gold.
   As for me, my soul is made up to this one purpose and to seek but this
   one thing--I would be wise, my God, by Your Grace, and behave myself
   wisely in a perfect way."

   This deliberate choice of David was, no doubt, suggested by a sense of
   necessity. He felt that he needed to behave himself wisely. He was to
   be a king--and a foolish king is no ordinary fool! It used to be a
   proverb some three or four hundred years ago that every king was born a
   fool. And in truth they generally so acted as to merit the disgrace.
   The common people were not too severe in the judgment they passed on
   their rulers! But, alas, for the misfortunes of a country whose king is
   a fool! You know what troubles came upon the Jewish nation through
   Rehoboam and others who were too foolish to sway the scepter
   righteously.

   David could hardly fail to remember that as he succeeded the dynasty of
   Saul, Saul's descendants would survive and seek to regain the
   crown--therefore he would need to act very discreetly to preserve
   himself from the pretenders and their faction. He knew that enemies
   would be sure to track his course to see if they could find any fault
   with him. He needed, therefore, to have great wisdom if he was to walk
   aright. "Well," you say, "but the lesson concerns people of rank and
   pedigree--it does not concern us--we are not going to be kings."
   Granted. That may be so, but you need wisdom in every grade of society,
   however lofty or however lowly it may be. The humblest waiting maid, as
   a Christian, needs wisdom to do her duty and adorn her position.

   Those entrusted with children need peculiar wisdom, for a child's mind
   may be warped by a servant as well as by a superior teacher. Any little
   misfortune happening to a child through your negligence may do it
   serious damage. If you are a tradesman, you need wisdom in such an age
   as this, with competition so fierce and temptation so abundant. And I
   am sure, if you are a father and you wish to see your children trained
   up in the fear of God, you have a task before you that might tax the
   wisdom of a Solomon! It takes true wisdom to judge this boy's
   disposition and to understand that girl's character, so as neither to
   be too severe nor too lenient.

   Much wisdom is needed to know how to deal with each child just as a
   gardener deals with each separate plant in the conservatory--the one
   needing dry heat and the other needing moisture--and not injuring or
   destroying either by applying the wrong treatment. Many have been
   injudicious with their children, to their own anguish of heart in later

   days. O parents and heads of households! Masters of factories! Managers
   of business houses and you, too--you working men and servants--you all
   need wisdom and you must have it, or you will make shipwreck. If the
   fisherman's little boat is wrecked through mismanagement, it is as bad
   for him, especially if he is drowned in it, as if he had lost the
   greatest steamship that ever plowed the waters and perished with the
   vessel. It is his all! And your all is embarked in the momentous voyage
   of life. If you make shipwreck of the life that God has given you, and
   the humble position in which He has placed you, it is your all, and to
   you it is as much a ruin as if you had been a monarch! You need to
   behave yourselves wisely whatever your vocation in the world may be.

   Moreover, David recognized that to behave one's self wisely, one must
   be holy, for he says, "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way."
   Observe that. He felt he could not be wise if he were unacquainted with
   the true ideal of absolute unblemished perfection! Wisdom lay only
   there. Folly might suggest a specious but vacillating policy. That,
   however, would be an imperfect way. Always remember this. In common
   life the wisest thing is the right, straight, undeviating course. The
   right thing is always the wisest. Sometimes it looks as if it is really
   necessary to go off the straight line--(you mean to come back again,
   you know)--just to take a short cut across Bye-Path Meadow and leave
   the road, for it is covered with flint stones. Surely, you think, it
   must be better to just cut that corner off.

   It seems so. It never is. The tale of Bye-Path Meadow is a book of
   lamentations from beginning to end. Thousands have tried it, but always
   with the same result. The wise man will keep along the King's Highway,
   cost what it may. We have heard of young men who, under extraordinary
   pressure, have felt as if they must relax integrity a little to obey a
   master and thus keep the position they hold. Well, from that time
   forward their nose has been to the grindstone as long as they have
   lived! And if they had had the manliness, let alone the godliness, to
   do the right thing, it would have been the turning point in their
   entire career and have saved them from a thousand sorrows!

   But you do not need to be a philosopher and consult huge books to
   discover how you ought to act under any circumstances. The way to act
   in every case is to fear God and keep His commandments. Constantly I
   receive letters asking special counsel for peculiar emergencies. It is
   to me an everyday annoyance. Persons tell me of painful dilemmas in
   which they are placed and frequently wish me to reply to such and such
   a place, without giving their names. Now, they need not ever write to
   me for indulgences. I have no power to grant them! All trouble might be
   spared. Straight ahead!--that is the way to go in every case! If the
   conscience of man is elastic, the Law of the Lord is inflexible.

   "What, and lose all I have?" Yes. You will lose less by doing right
   than you can possibly lose by doing wrong, for if a man were to lose
   all the property he possessed by a right action, it were better than
   that he should lose his soul by deliberately choosing to avoid poverty
   or acquire wealth instead of seeking to abide in the favor of God. "I
   will behave myself wisely," says David. But he knew that the perfect
   way, the way of right, the way of God, was the way of wisdom. Prince
   Bismarck may have a long head and a far-seeing eye. And he may be able
   to dictate the shrewdest policy under the most distracting
   complications. But were you to consult him in any strait of your own,
   he could not tell you anything that is wiser than this--to do justice
   and righteousness and truth towards your fellow men, and to walk humbly
   with your God.

   Keep to the eternal principle which God has revealed! Keep to the
   sacred instinct which the Holy Spirit sows in every regenerate heart.
   Keep to the example of your Lord and Master who has bought you with His
   precious blood! Should it cost you trouble--should it cost you your
   life--"it were better to enter into eternal life crippled or maimed
   than, having two eyes or two feet, to be cast into Hell fire." And,
   "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his
   own soul?" The perfect way is the wise way and the wise way the
   perfect.

   David seems to have felt that this resolution would cost him a great
   deal of effort and strength. He does not look upon it as a light thing.
   He weighed it in all its bearings before he said with so much emphasis
   I WILL. "I will--behave myself wisely in a perfect way." Though he does
   not say as much, he fully implies determination without power. "My will
   or desire is to behave myself wisely. My dependence is on Him whose
   cause I espouse." The next clause seems to say, "I must have more Grace
   and I must get it, too. I must have more help than ever I can find in
   myself--I must use all the means of Grace. I must call in God to be my
   Helper in this matter, for, whatever it may cost, I will behave myself
   wisely in a perfect way."

   He felt that character was too momentous to be messed with--that it
   must be of sterling metal--or else it were mere dross and that the
   actions of a man's life were too signal to be insignificant. It shocks
   me--I cannot help saying it--it

   shocks me to my very soul when I hear persons talk about the Doctrines
   of Grace, which are dear to my heart as life itself, but uphold the
   principles while they ignore the practices of godliness, for their
   lives are inconsistent with their professions! I have known professors
   that never talk so well about theology as they do when they are half
   drunk--and never seem to be so sound in the faith as when they can
   hardly stand on their legs. They will tell you that good works are
   nothing at all, and they glory in Free Grace.

   Ah, dear Friends, God save you from being Mr. Talkative who can discuss
   at great length upon Free Grace but has never felt the power of it! If
   the Grace of God does not save a man from drunkenness, from lascivious
   conversation, from lies in trade and lewdness in jests, from slandering
   your fellow man and scowling at your fellow Christians, then I think
   the Grace of God must be a very different thing from what I read of in
   this precious Book! Either my judgment is at fault or your pretensions
   are spurious. The Grace of God, when it does come, comes freely as the
   Sovereign distinguishing gift of Heaven--but it makes men to differ and
   it makes them differ in holiness of character. If a man shall say to
   me, "Character--I don't care anything about that," I am not quick to
   answer him, neither need anybody care much about him.

   I think Rowland Hill was right when he said that he did not believe in
   a man's religion if his cat and his dog were not the better for it--if
   everybody in his house were not the better for it! If it does not make
   you, as a master, gentler and kinder to your servants. If it does not
   make you, as a servant, more respectful and more diligent. If it does
   not make you, as tradesmen, more scrupulous and more honest. If it does
   not make you, as a workman, less of an eye-servant. If it does not, in
   fact, make you more moral (that is the least thing to say of it)--if it
   does not make you more holy (that is the higher thing, by far), you may
   well question whether you know anything about the Grace of God in your
   soul at all!

   David did not say, "Well, I am washed. He has made me whiter than snow
   and He has created a new heart and a right spirit within me--and that
   is quite enough. As to my outward actions, what do they signify? We are
   not saved by works, you know, it is all of Grace." Ah, but that is not
   the language of David or of any other legitimate child of God. It is
   this--"I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way." I have heard say
   that where they talk a great deal about good works you will not find
   them. But I hope among those of us who talk much about Grace, good
   works will always be found, for where good works do not follow upon
   faith, such faith as there seems to be is dead, indeed!

   God grant you, dear Friends, to take this as the resolution of every
   child of God--"I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way."

   II. But now the text is interrupted. There is a break. There is a piece
   inlaid, as it were, of a different metal. It IS AN EJACULATION. "O,
   when will You come unto me?" Many inspired writers, without diverging
   from their train of thought, interline their purpose with a prayer.
   There is an old proverb that, "kneeling never spoils silk stockings."
   Prayer, to the preacher, is like provender to the horse. It strengthens
   and cheers him to go forward. As the scribe halts to mend his pen, or
   the mower to wet his scythe without loss of time, but rather with more
   facility to do his work, so you expedite, instead of hinder your
   business by stopping in the middle of it to offer a word of prayer.

   So here it is written, "O, when will You come unto me?" And he means by
   that, "Lord, I want to be wise. Come and teach me! I want to behave
   myself wisely in a perfect way. Lord, come and sanctify me! I know not
   how to act till You instruct me. Open my lips that I may show forth
   Your praise. Guide my feet that I may run in Your commands. Keep my
   eyes that they look not upon sin. Hold back my hand from iniquity. When
   will You come unto me? I need the influence of Your Grace to guide me
   in Your ways. Lord, come and teach me."

   Then he meant further, "Lord, come and assist me. If there is any
   holiness to which I have not yet attained, come, Holy Spirit, lift me
   up unto it. If there is any sin which I have not conquered, O, come,
   You conquering Spirit of holiness, and overcome the evil. When will You
   come unto me? I am feeble, I can do nothing, but when I have Your
   mighty aid I become strong and can perform all things. When will You
   come unto me?" It is a crying of his soul after Divine teaching, Divine
   direction, Divine assistance. Nor less, I believe, is it a yearning
   after Divine fellowship. You know, Beloved, we never walk aright unless
   we walk with God. As I have said that holiness is wisdom, so let me say
   that communion is the mother of holiness. We must see God if we are to
   be like God.

   And if from day to day we can be content without a word from the mouth
   of God, go to business without prayer, come home and go to our beds
   without seeking the face of our Father who is in Heaven--then, to walk
   wisely is impossible! The neglect of prayer is a fatal flaw in any
   life. Communion with God is so essential and the disregard of it is

   such a folly, that it is simply ridiculous for the negligent man to
   talk about behaving himself wisely in a perfect way. Godliness is the
   soul of life. Get near to God--that is the thing! If we walk with Him
   we walk in the light. But if we get away from Him we walk in the
   darkness. It cannot be otherwise--and he that walks in the darkness
   will stumble. He may not know why he stumbles, but stumble he will.
   Only he who walks in the light will be able to pick his steps and
   verify the blessed fact that, "If we walk in the light as God is in the
   light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
   Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

   And thus we are enabled to walk wisely in a perfect way when the light
   comes to us. "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O, when
   will You come unto me?" appears to me like an expression of holy awe,
   as if he said, "Lord, I had need behave myself aright, for You are
   coming. I am a steward. You are my Master and You are coming to say,
   'Give an account of your stewardship.' I am a servant. I need mind what
   I am about and how I acquit myself, for my Master can see me and my
   Master is on the way to say to me, 'What have you done with your
   talent? How have you laid it out?' When will You come unto me? It makes
   me feel a trembling in my soul and brings the tears into my eyes when I
   think of having to go before my Lord to give Him my account. Such a
   stewardship as mine will not easily be accounted for."

   I often envy George Fox, the Quaker, who, as he died, used these
   remarkable words, "I am clear, I am clear, I am clear!" Doubtless, he
   meant that he was "clear of the blood of all men." Grand thing for a
   minister to be able to say! It will need all the Grace that God can
   give a man to be able to say that! Now I ask you, fathers of families,
   if you were called upon at once, without further notice, to give in
   your account, can you tell the Lord you are clear about your children?
   Mothers, can you say you are clear about your boys and girls as to the
   way you have brought them up--as to your efforts for their souls?

   Masters, mistresses, are you clear about your servants? Young men,
   young women, are you clear about those that you work with and in whose
   houses you live? If the Lord were to say to you, "Come, now, I have
   entrusted you with a talent, how have you used it?"--are there not some
   of you who would have to go and take up that napkin in which you have
   hidden away till it has grown rusty? "O, when will You come unto me?"
   seems to me a question full of solicitude. Lord, it may be You will
   come all of a sudden with surprise, for You have told me that in such
   an hour as I think not You will appear. Am I ready? Am I able to give a
   satisfactory account as to what I have done, as Your servant, in my
   general walk and conversation?

   Come, let me press these thoughts upon myself and then upon you! "I
   will behave myself wisely in a perfect way," and well I may, since Your
   eye is on me, O my God, and Your day is coming when I must be put into
   the balances! And if I am found wanting, terrible must be my doom, for
   other eyes than mine shall search my heart, and other scales than I am
   able to use shall give the final test--and settle once and for all my
   endless state. God grant you to order your lives by His Grace! You
   cannot do so without the power of the Holy Spirit. O, that whenever the
   Lord shall come you may meet Him with joy!

   III. Now to our third point. After a parenthesis of devotion, he
   returns with more intense earnestness to his resolution. IN A MOST
   PRACTICAL MANNER HE CONCENTRATES HIS AIM--"I will walk within my house
   with a perfect heart." With his house or household in view, for which
   he felt a deep responsibility and a yearning anxiety, he applies
   himself with a delicate consideration to the state of his own heart.
   "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of
   life." A very wise thing. Elisha healed the springs when the currents
   ran foul. It is of no use attempting to cleanse the courses when the
   fountain is corrupt. The thing is to heal the springs. The heart needs
   putting right. When the heart is right, then all will be right.

   If anywhere we show our hearts, it is at home. There we wear our hearts
   upon our sleeves. Outside, in the world, it is not safe to show too
   much of our heart. There are some of us who always say everything that
   is uppermost. We cannot help it. We have not learned to be guarded yet,
   and we have had our knuckles rapped pretty dreadfully, sometimes, for
   our unguardedness. No doubt there are many men of a reserved
   disposition who go through the world more easily than those of a more
   open-minded character. At home everybody should be open-hearted and
   transparent. Hence the necessity that if we are to walk aright at home,
   the matter should begin with the heart being sound.

   If any man were to say to you, "I mean to be a good husband, a good
   father"--if any woman shall say, "I mean to be a good mistress," or, "a
   good servant," that will not do unless you understand that the heart
   must, first of all, be altered. If the heart is right, other things
   will surely follow in their place. Now, the heart, if we are to walk
   rightly, must show itself in the house. "I will walk within my house
   with a perfect heart." The heart must be perfect. And then we must show
   our heart in our

   actions. I think it is a miserable thing when a man does not open his
   heart in the sacred precincts of his own home. I can understand his
   restraining his feelings abroad, for he may be conscious that he is
   among rivals rather than friends--but when at home that restraint is
   unbecoming.

   You know the sort of man whose hospitality is repulsive. I have been to
   see him at his house. I dare say you are welcome, but you would not
   think you were by the sinister greeting you receive when he shakes
   hands with you! His hand drops into your hand just like a dead fish.
   You talk with him and he is perfectly indifferent. When he is most
   friendly there is not any freedom in his conversation. Well, now, see
   the way in which he treats his wife. No love. He is afraid of spoiling
   her. I recollect very well going to a house where I sat with the
   husband and I heard a gentle tap at the door. His Lordship said, "Come
   in."

   Who should enter but his wife? What a delightful picture of obedience!
   Knocking at a husband's door occurred to me as not the style of thing
   that most of us are accustomed to, or would like to see. I very soon
   perceived that she was the principal servant in the house. That was all
   he accounted her--and she had learned to form no higher estimate of
   herself. The man had not a heart. We talked about a son that was dead.
   Well, he seemed to regret that he was gone--he was a very good help to
   him in his business. That seemed to be the principal point about his
   deceased son--he was a great help to him in his business. No heart! No
   heart! No heart! No heart!

   But it is worse when you see a woman with no heart. And there are some.
   And if they are Christian people--well, I often wonder at the Lord's
   choice of any of us--but I certainly wonder when He chooses any of that
   sort! They do not seem to be the stuff out of which you can make a
   Christian. No feeling--hard "Gradgrindy" sort of people. They seem to
   think that people are just so many machine wheels to grind round at a
   regular rate. And the strong-minded woman simply puts a little oil, now
   and then, occasionally, as a trade, to the machinery and administers it
   just in that style. No heart!

   Now David did not mean to go through the world in this fashion. O, a
   house is all the better for having a heart inside it! And a man is a
   man--and he is more like God when there is a heart inside his ribs.
   When he gets home the children feel that father has got a heart. And as
   they climb his knees and smother him with kisses, they delight to know
   that he has a warm heart! And when he greets his dear relatives,
   especially those that are part and parcel of himself, he has got a soul
   that goes beyond his own little self and is enlarged and inspires the
   whole of the family! O, give me heart, and that is what David meant
   when he said he would behave himself wisely. But when he was in his own
   house he would walk with a perfect heart. He would be hearty in
   everything he did and said.

   Well, now, having noticed those two things--that the heart must be
   right, and that the heart must be expressed--the next thing is that the
   conduct at home must be well regulated. "I will walk within my house
   with a perfect heart." The Christian man at home should be scrupulous
   in all departments within his house. We may have different rooms there,
   but in whatever room we are, we should seek to walk before God with a
   perfect heart. Ah, dear Friends, there are many professors that fail in
   this! I am not disposed to pry into your homes. I do not want to
   undertake the task. It would be a sad thing if it were part of a
   minister's duty to be peeping through your keyholes, seeing how you
   act. Still, we have reason to fear that some people who pass current as
   saints abroad behave themselves like devils at home!

   It used to be so and it is so, still, and you may depend upon it--the
   man is what he is at home. This is a simple but a crucial test of
   character. If a man does not make his family happy. If his example is
   not that of holiness in the domestic circle, he may make what
   pretension of godliness he likes, but his religion is base, worthless,
   mischievous. The sooner he gets rid of such a profession the better for
   himself, for then he may begin to know what he is and where he is, and
   seek the Lord in spirit and in truth. It is at home that the lack of
   true religion will do the most damage!

   If you are a hypocrite and go out into the world, you will soon be
   found out--and the people who observe you will not be much influenced
   by your example. They will come to the conclusion that you are what you
   are, and they will treat you as such, and that will be the end of it.
   But that will not be so with little Master Johnny, who sees his
   father's actions. He is not able to criticize, but he has a wonderful
   faculty for imitation. And, Mother, it is not likely that little Polly
   will begin to say, "Mother is inconsistent." No, she does not know
   that, but she will take it for granted that mother is right and her
   character will be fashioned upon your pattern--and you will be injuring
   her for life unless the Grace of God wonderfully prevents it.

   Why, at home, to our children, especially when they are young, we are,
   as it were, little gods! They take their law from us and their conduct
   is shaped according to the pattern we set before them. Round the
   hearth, if anywhere, holiness ought to be conspicuous, for there,
   holiness is most beautiful, most useful and most productive. It is a
   blessed thing for some of us that we can look back upon a father's
   example and a mother's example with nothing but unalloyed gratitude to
   God for both. But there are others among you, who, in looking back,
   must say, "I thank God I was delivered from the evil influence to which
   I

   was subjected as a child." Do not let your child ever have to say that
   of you, dear Friend, but ask for Grace that in your own house you may
   walk with a perfect heart.

   Surely, dear Friends, if we are not living in our households as we
   ought to do, this, above all common faults and infirmities, is one of
   the most disparaging and condemnatory marks with which we can possibly
   be judged! In the world we may be under some pressure, but at home we
   are left free, for every man's house is his castle and if, inside his
   own castle, he does not walk before God, then he stands condemned by
   the depravity of his temper and his habits! Outside, men are checked
   and kept within decent bounds by the example and the observation of
   their fellow men, so that they are not altogether what they seem--and
   they are partly regulated by what they wish to appear. Even when they
   are in Church they are under some restraint--they are constrained to
   show some deference to the place and the assembly. But at home they are
   altogether unshackled! They can think aloud, speak without
   premeditation, follow their own tastes and gratify their natural
   inclinations. There, therefore, if anywhere, the man is what he is!

   Now you need not tell me what kind of appearance you will put on next
   Sunday morning. You need not tell me that! I would rather ask you to
   judge yourself by your deportment on Saturday night. I do not
   particularly ask you how you feel on Thursday night at this particular
   hour. How will you be at half-past nine? And how will you be tomorrow
   morning? What will you be to your servants, to your employers, to your
   children, to your neighbors? If God, by His Infinite Grace and the
   power of His Holy Spirit, helps you to walk with a perfect heart at
   such times and in such places, then will you be an honor to the Church
   of God and you will have a blessing upon your own soul.

   Now, the things that I have talked of seem to be very homely, but,
   indeed, they are most important. I love to expound Christian doctrine!
   I love to open up the promises! This is all sweet work, but we must
   have the precepts. We shall never have a large increase to an unholy
   Church, or, if we do, that increase will be a curse instead of a
   blessing. I believe that the greatest power in the world, next to the
   ministry of the Word of God, is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the
   holy living of Christian families! Let us plant in this dark world
   garrisons of holy men and women with their children about them, and
   this will be a means whereby the world shall be conquered for Christ.

   Ah, I may be addressing some who have no part or lot in true religion.
   It is just possible that they are at the heads of households and yet
   they may have never considered this question about walking wisely.
   Permit me to suggest to you how necessary it is. I have known men who,
   though very ungodly themselves, have been shocked at the idea of their
   children growing up in worldliness and wretchedness. And I have, on the
   other hand, known persons converted late in life who never could
   forgive themselves when they looked upon their children who had grown
   up in sin. I remember very well a poor woman who had received good
   under my ministry and found the Savior. She earned her living by
   washing.

   When I went into the house to see her she hastily wiped her hands and,
   as she greeted me, the tears were in her eyes when she spoke about her
   conversion, but she wrung her hands in bitterness, for she said, "I was
   left with six little children when my husband died. As a lonely widow I
   worked hard for them. I never had any help from anybody, but I brought
   them up myself and now my son is this, and my daughter is that. But,"
   she said, "they are, everyone of them, unconverted--everyone of them!
   And after I was converted, myself, I found that I had lost the
   opportunity of influencing them. I never took my children to the House
   of God. My eldest boy, when I went to see him the other day, and asked
   him to go with me, said, 'No, no. You never took us when we were little
   and you need never expect us to go now.'"

   That was the trouble that bowed her down with heaviness when she was
   relieved of the former obligations to find them daily bread. Oh,
   Fathers and Mothers, if you are not converted early, you will live to
   regret it if God does save you at all, that you saw your youngsters
   grow up till they got beyond your influence and they grew up unsaved!
   You young persons who are just commencing life, I do charge
   you--perhaps God has sent you here that I may ring these counsels and
   cautions in your ears! Do pause, think, consider, look--and may God
   give you Grace and sense enough to see that it needs wisdom to steer
   the boat through this voyage of life--and that wisdom only is to be had
   from Heaven!

   May you bend your knees at this very hour, and say, "Lord, give me Your
   Grace! Give me a renewed heart! Give me Christ to be my Savior and help
   me to behave myself rightly in a perfect way till You shall bring me to
   see You in Heaven in Your Glory." God fulfill to you this petition, for
   Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--James 1
     __________________________________________________________________

The Sure Triumph Of The Crucified One

   (No. 1231)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 25, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and
   extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at you, His visage
   was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of
   men: So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their
   mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see;
   and that which they had not heard shall they consider." Isaiah
   52:13-15.

   MODERN Jewish writers refuse to see the Messiah in this passage, but
   their predecessors were not so blind. The Tar-gum and the ancient
   Rabbis interpreted it of the Messiah and, indeed, all attempts to
   explain it apart from Him are palpable failures. Christian commentators
   in all ages have seen the Lord Jesus here. How could they do otherwise?
   To whom else could the Prophet have referred? If the Man of Nazareth,
   the Son of God, is not right visible in these three verses, they are
   dark as midnight itself! We do not hesitate for a moment in applying
   every word to our Lord Jesus Christ.

   Dear Brothers, when our Lord ascended on high, He gave us this
   commission, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
   creature." Our duty is to obey that command, whether men will hear or
   whether they will not. The commission is unconditional and is not
   dependent upon our success. If up to this date, 1875, there had never
   been a solitary convert through Christian ministry. If the whole of the
   Church of God had, until this time, labored in vain and the succession
   of saints had only been kept up by miracle, it would not affect our
   duty one iota. Our business is to preach the Gospel, even to those who
   are driven to persecution thereby. We are to sow, whether a harvest
   follows or not. Success is with God--service belongs to us.

   I believe, therefore, that true faith, when it is in a healthy
   condition, will enable us to go plodding on, carefully scattering the
   seed even by the wayside and on stony places. But there is flesh about
   us all--and faith is not always unalloyed with sight--and consequently
   we occasionally flag and almost faint if we do not see some present
   usefulness. This passage may cheer us if we fear that we have spent our
   strength for nothing, for such certainly was the condition of the
   Church of God at the time when this passage was addressed to it.

   There is a break made, in our version, between the 52nd and 53rd
   chapters, but no such break should have been made. And if we read
   straight on we shall see that these consoling words are meant for
   mourning workers. We hear even Prophets saying, "Who has believed our
   report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Even the bravest
   of the Prophets lamented that the offense of the Cross hindered men
   from seeing the comeliness of the Messiah. All-Glorious as He was to
   the Prophets, when they beheld His substitutionary griefs, He was not
   understood by the multitudes who only saw in Him a man smitten of God
   and afflicted, having no beauty that they should desire Him.

   To support them under circumstances so dispiriting, there comes, in
   this comfortable word of our text in which the marred visage and
   disfigured form of the great Servant of the Lord are fully recognized,
   encouragement from the voice of the Lord that the shame and contempt
   caused thereby will be temporary--and the ultimate result will be sure!
   The issue of the great scheme of Redemption is by no means uncertain.
   His cause must prosper, His Throne must be established and the will of
   the Lord must be done. Let us brace ourselves up, this morning, with
   the delightful prospect of the predestinated triumph of the kingdom of
   our Lord and of His Christ!

   In handling our text we shall note, first, that in directing us to the
   Lord Jesus Christ, it dwells upon the character of His dealings--"My
   servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be
   very high." Then, secondly, it mentions the stumbling block which lies
   in His way, the great hindrance to the progress of His work--"As many
   were astonished at you, His visage was so marred more than any man, and
   His form more than the sons of men." Thirdly, we

   see in the verses before us the certainty of the removal of this
   hindrance--"So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut
   their mouths at Him." And, fourthly, the manner of its accomplishment,
   namely, by instruction in the Gospel--"For that which had not been told
   them they shall see; and that which they had not heard shall they
   consider."

   I. THE CHARACTER OF OUR LORD'S DEALINGS. He is called in the text, "My
   Servant," a title as honorable as it is condescending. The Lord Jesus
   has undertaken, in Infinite Love, to become the Servant of the Father
   for our sakes. And He is a Servant like unto Moses, who was set over
   the Lord's house to manage the affairs of the dispensation. Jesus,
   though a Son and, therefore Lord, has deigned to become the great
   Servant of God under the present economy. He conducts the affairs of
   the household of God and, as it is said in the text and it is to that
   we have to draw attention--that He deals prudently.

   He who took upon Him the form of a Servant, acts as a wise Servant in
   everything. And, indeed, it could not be otherwise, for, "In Him are
   hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge." This prudence was
   manifest in the days of His flesh, from His Childhood among the doctors
   in the Temple, on to His confession before Pontius Pilate. Our Lord was
   enthusiastic--there was a fire burning within Him which nothing could
   quench--He found His meat and drink in doing His Father's will. But
   that enthusiasm never carried Him into rashness, or forgetfulness of
   sound reason. He was as wise and prudent as the most cold-hearted
   calculator could have been.

   Our Savior was full of Love and that Love made Him frank and
   open-hearted. No frigid reserve kept Him at a distance from the people,
   or shrouded Him in a cloud of mystery. He was a Man among men,
   transparent, childlike, "the holy Child Jesus." But for all that He was
   ever prudent and "committed Himself unto no man, for He knew what was
   in man." Too many who aspire to be leaders of the people study policy,
   craft and diplomacy--and think it necessary to use language as much for
   the concealment as for the declaration of their thoughts. Such men
   watch their own words till their very soul seems withered within them.

   The Friend of Sinners had not a fraction of that thing about Him and
   yet He was wiser and more prudent than if diplomacy had been His study
   from His youth up! You see His wisdom when He baffles His adversaries.
   They think to entangle Him in His speech, but He breaks their snares
   asunder as with a wave of our hand we sweep cobwebs from our path. You
   see His wisdom when He deals with His friends--He has many things to
   say to them, but He perceives that they cannot bear them--He,
   therefore, does not overload their intellects, lest undigested Truth
   should breed mischief in their souls. Little by little, like the
   increasing brightness of the dawn, He lets Light into their souls, lest
   their eyes should utterly fail before the brilliance.

   He does not send them upon difficult errands at first--He reserves for
   their riper years and stronger days the sterner tasks and more heroic
   deeds of daring. As we see His career in the light of the four
   Evangelists, it is distinguished for His prudence--and in that respect,
   "never man spoke like this Man." He who on earth became obedient unto
   death has now gone into Glory, but He is still over the House of God,
   conducting its affairs. He still deals prudently. Our fears lead us to
   judge that the affairs of Christ's kingdom are going amiss, but we may
   rest assured that all is well, for the Lord has put all things under
   the feet of Jesus and made Him to be Head over all things to His
   Church. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in the hand of Jesus!

   We err, but He does not. No, the very points in which we err are
   overruled by Him for the display of His unerring wisdom and consummate
   skill. The storms and tempests which surround the Church serve only to
   illustrate the wisdom and power of our great Pilot. He has ultimate
   designs which are not apparent upon the surface which He never fails to
   accomplish. Brethren, all along through the history of the Church the
   dealings of the Lord Jesus with His people have been very remarkable.
   The wisdom in them is often deep and only discoverable by those who
   seek it out. And yet frequently it sparkles upon the surface like gold
   in certain lands across the sea.

   Note how the Lord has made His Church learn the Truth of God by degrees
   and purified her, first of one error, and then of another. The Church
   has fallen, first, into one folly and then into another, but her Lord
   has borne with her and delivered her. Full often He has allowed her to
   work her folly out so as to see its result. And by this process He has
   stamped out the error effectually, so that it will never again gain
   power. At the present time the gross folly of uniting with the State is
   being practically proved before the eyes of all men--and when it has
   come to its fullness it will end-- never to be revived again.

   We wonder, sometimes, why He allows this or that error to exist, and we
   ask how it can be that the Church should be so despoiled of her purity
   and weakened in her strength. We wonder that our Lord does not judge
   the evil and punish it at once, or that He does not raise up some
   strong voice to protest against it and, sending His Holy Spirit,
   destroy the evil at once. I know He might, but there is prudence in the
   withholding of His power. The wise physician tolerates disease until it
   shall have reached the point at which he can grapple with it, so as to
   eradicate it from the system. So has the good Lord allowed some ills to
   fester in the midst of His Church, that He may ultimately exterminate
   them.

   We wish to see great success following all forms of ministry. We would
   see our missionary societies prosperous to such a degree that a nation
   should be born in a day! But the Lord withholds success in a great
   measure and herein He is dealing prudently. He keeps us back from
   prosperity till we have learned that it does not, after all, arise out
   of our plans, schemes, resources and energies--He would strip us
   ofpride--He would put us in such a condition that it would be safe to
   give us success and would be glorious to Himself, also.

   Often has a Church, like Israel of old, to suffer defeat till it
   discovers and destroys the Achan who troubles the camp. The Church has
   been foiled and humbled till at last, in sheer despair, she has fallen
   upon her face in prayer and lifted up her heart to the Strong for
   strength! And then her strength has returned and victory has waited on
   her banners. As rivers filter and purify in their running, so does the
   Church, in her course, become pure through the manifold wisdom of her
   Lord. Study the pages of ecclesiastical history and you will see how
   Jesus Christ has dealt wisely in the raising up of men for all times. I
   could not suppose a better man for Luther's age than Luther, yet
   Luther, alone, would have been very incomplete for the full service
   needed had it not been for Calvin, whose calm intellect was the
   complement of Luther's fiery soul.

   You shall not find a better age for Wickliffe to have been born in than
   the time in which he shone forth as the morning star of the
   Reformation. God fits the man for the place and the place for the man!
   There is an hour for the voice and a voice for the hour! Our Lord has
   done all things well, even unto this day, but now, perhaps, we are
   getting a little tired. It is near 2,000 years since He died and there
   has been a lot of talk about its being the end of the 6,000 years since
   Creation, and we murmur to each other that the great Sabbath must
   surely be very near. I am not much in love with this chronological
   theory, for I think we cannot be certain that we have not long ago
   passed beyond the 7,000 years.

   It is very questionable to me whether we do not altogether
   misunderstand the chronology of the Old Testament. Certainly nothing is
   more perplexing than the ancient Hebrew numbering. Still, the many will
   have it, and possibly so it is. A portion of the Church not only
   expects the Lord's Second Advent, but gets into a state of feverishness
   about the matter. Surely, they say, His delays have been very
   great--why are His chariots so long in coming? Ah, Brothers and
   Sisters, the Master knows best! It may please Him to finish up the
   present dispensation today! If so, He will doubtless deal prudently in
   so doing. But it may be that myriads of years are yet to elapse before
   His appearing--and if so, there will be wisdom in the delay!

   Let us leave the matter alone, for while the general fact that He will
   come is clearly revealed in order to quicken our diligence--the details
   are veiled in mystery--since they would only gratify our curiosity. If
   I knew that our Lord would come this evening, I should preach just as I
   mean to preach. And if I knew He would come during this sermon, I would
   go on preaching until He did. Christian people ought not to be standing
   with their mouths open, gazing up into Heaven and wondering what is
   going to happen--they should abide with loins girt and lamps burning,
   ready for His appearing whenever it may be. Go straight ahead upon the
   business your Lord has appointed you and you need be under no
   apprehension of being taken by surprise.

   On one occasion I called to see one of our friends and I found her
   whitening the front steps. When she saw me she jumped up and blushingly
   said, "Oh dear, Sir, I am sorry you caught me like this. I wish I had
   known you were coming." "My dear Sister," I said, "I hope that is how
   the Lord will find me at His coming--doing my duty." I should like to
   be found whitening the steps when the Lord comes, if that were my duty.
   Steady perseverance in appointed service is far better than prophetical
   speculation, especially if such speculation leads us to self-conceit
   and idleness. We may rest assured that the future is safe, for Jesus
   will deal wisely and come at the right time! Therefore we may leave all
   matters in His hands. If the times are dark, it is right they should
   be. If the times are bright, it is right they should be. I, at least,
   cannot change the times and, therefore, my duty is to do the work God
   has given me to do, whether the times are dark or bright.

   For all practical purposes it is enough for us that Infinite Wisdom is
   at the helm of affairs. "My Servant shall deal prudently."

   Another translation of the passage is, "My Servant shall have
   prosperous success." Let us append that meaning to the other.
   Prosperity will grow out of our Lord's prudent dealings. The pleasure
   of the Lord prospers in the hands of Jesus. The Gospel will prosper in
   the thing which God has sent it. The decrees of God will be
   accomplished. His eternal purposes will be fulfilled. We may desire
   this or that and our wish may or may not be granted, but whatever the
   Lord has appointed, in His Infinite Wisdom to be done, will come to
   pass to the last jot and tittle. The blood of Jesus Christ will not
   miss of its foreseen result in reference to any individual under
   Heaven--and no end that was designed in the eternal plan of Redemption
   shall be left unaccomplished. All along the line the Captain of our
   salvation will be victorious and in every point and detail of the
   entire business the will of the Lord shall be done--and all Heaven and
   earth shall be filled with praise as they see that it is so.

   In consequence of this, the text tells us the Lord shall be exalted and
   extolled. How well He deserves to be exalted and extolled for His
   matchless prudence! He cannot be esteemed too highly. At the present
   time you will say the name of Christ is not honored. But wait awhile
   and He shall be very high. His name is, even now, more honored than in
   former days when it was the jest of the nations. The prudent plans
   which the Lord has adopted are surely working out the growth of His
   kingdom and will certainly result in bringing to the front His name,
   Person and teaching. Perhaps you think that certain doctrines are
   hindrances to the success of the Gospel--you know not what you say! In
   the end it shall be seen that every part of His teachings and
   procedure--and every act of His life, and all His government in
   Providence--were so wisely ordered that, as a whole, they secured in
   the best and speediest manner the exalting and extolling of His holy
   name.

   The star of Jesus rises higher every hour! The twilight of Calvary
   brightens towards Millennial Day! He was despised and rejected of men,
   but now tens of thousands adore Him and, according to the Omnipotent
   promise of the Father, to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue
   confess that He is Lord! The Spirit of God is at work glorifying Jesus
   and Providence is bending all its forces to the same end. In Heaven
   Jesus is exalted and extolled. In His Church He is very high. And even
   in the world, itself, His name is already a word of power and destined
   to be supreme in ages to come. Thus much, then, upon the character of
   Messiah's dealings.

   II. Now let us view THE STUMBLING BLOCK IN THE WAY OF OUR LORD. It is
   His Cross, which to Jew and

   Greek is always a hindrance. As if the Prophet saw Him in vision, he
   cries out, "As many were astonished at you, His visage was so marred
   more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." When He was
   here, His personal position and condition and appearance were very much
   against the spread of His kingdom. He was the son of a carpenter. He
   wore the smock frock of a peasant. He associated with publicans and
   sinners. Is He the Son of David? We looked for a great prince. We hoped
   for another Solomon. Is this He?

   Therefore the Jews rejected the meek and lowly Prince of the house of
   David and, alas, they persist in their rejection of His claims. Today
   He has risen from the grave and gone into Glory, but the offense of the
   Cross has not ceased, for upon His Gospel there remains the image of
   His marred visage and, therefore, men despise it. The preaching of the
   Cross is foolishness to many. The main doctrine of the Gospel concerns
   Jesus Crucified--Jesus, the Son of God, put to an ignominious death,
   because, for our sakes, He was numbered with the transgressors and bore
   the sin of many. Many will tell you they could believe Christianity if
   it were not for the Atonement, that is to say, if Jesus will come down
   from the Cross, modern scoffers will believe in Him, just as the
   ancient ones tauntingly promised to do.

   But of the Gospel we may say that the atoning blood is the pledge and
   if you leave out the substitutionary work of Christ, there is no
   Gospel. It is a body without a soul. This, then, seems to be the
   impediment to the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom--He, Himself, with
   His marred visage--and His Gospel with a visage equally uncomely in the
   eyes of carnal men. The practical part of the Gospel is equally a
   stumbling block to ungodly men, for when men inquire what they must do
   to be saved, they are told that they must receive the Gospel as little
   children, that they must repent of sin and believe in the Lord Jesus
   Christ.

   These are very humbling precepts for human self-sufficiency! And after
   they are saved, if they do what they should, the precepts are not those
   which commend themselves to proud, hectoring human nature--for they are
   such as these-- "Be kindly affectionate, one to another." "Forgive one
   another and forbear one another even as God, for Christ's sake,

   has forgiven you." To the world which loves conquerors and blasts of
   trumpets--and wreaths of laurel--this kind of teaching has a marred
   visage and an uncomely form. Then, what seems even more humbling, the
   Lord Jesus Christ, in His prudent dealing, not only brings before us an
   offensive Gospel, because of the Doctrine of Atonement and offensive in
   its practical precepts, but He sends this Gospel among us by men who
   are neither great nor noble, nor even among the wise of this world!

   The proud say, "We would submit ourselves to men of master minds, but
   we cannot endure these foolish ones! Send us philosophers and orators
   combined. Let men overcome us by cogent arguments. Let them master us
   by words whose splendor shall dazzle our intellects." Instead of which,
   the Lord sends a man who talks humbly, plainly and, perhaps, even
   coarsely. Very simple is what he says--"Believe and live. Christ, in
   your place, suffered for you. Trust Him." He says this and little more.
   Is not this the fool's Gospel? Is it not worthy to be called the
   foolishness of preaching? Men do not like this. It is an offense to
   their dignity. They would hear Caesar if he would officiate in his
   purple, but they cannot endure Peter preaching in his fisherman's coat!

   They will hear a pope in his sumptuous array, or a cardinal in his red
   hat! And they would not object to listen to a well-trained dialectician
   of the schools, or an orator from the forum. But they are indignant at
   the man who disdains the excellency of speech and styles the wisdom of
   this world folly! How can the Gospel spread by such means? How, indeed,
   unless the Lord is with it, using human weakness to display the power
   of His Grace? Worse still, if there can be worse, the people who become
   converted and follow the Savior are generally of the poorer sort and
   lightly esteemed. "Have any of the rulers believed?" is still the
   question.

   With what scorn do your literary men speak of professed Christians!
   Have you ever seen the sneer upon the face of your "advanced thought"
   gentleman and of the far-gone school of infidels, when they speak of
   the old women and the semi-idiots who listen to the pious platitudes of
   evangelical doctrines? They know how to despise us if they know nothing
   else! But is such scorn worthy of men? It is only another version of
   the old sneer of the Pharisees when they said, "Do you hear what these
   say?" and pointed to the boys and the rabble who shouted, "Hosanna,
   blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." Contempt has always
   followed at the heels of Jesus and it always will till the day of His
   Glory. If the great ones of the earth despise the Lord Jesus, on their
   own heads be their blood! To Him it is a Glory rather than a shame that
   "the poor have the Gospel preached to them."

   He is the people's Christ whom it was written of old--"I have exalted
   One chosen out of the people." He rejoices to be called a Leader and
   Commander of the people and He is glad that "the common people hear Him
   gladly." But here stands the head and front of the difficulty--the
   Cross, which is the soul of Christianity--is also its stumbling block.
   If any here are offended with Christ because of His Cross, I beg them
   to dismiss the prejudice. Should it lead any man to doubt the Savior or
   withhold his heart from Him because He comes with a visage marred with
   sorrow? If He came to teach us to be unhappy and to prescribe to us
   rules for increasing misery, we might be excused if we shunned His
   teaching. But if He comes bearing the grief, Himself, that we may not
   bear it, and if those lines of agony were worked in His Countenance
   because He carried our griefs and our sorrows, they ought to be to us
   the most attractive of all beauties!

   I reckon that the scar across the warrior's face, which he gained in
   defending his country, is no disfigurement to him--it is a beauty spot!
   If my brother had, in saving my life, lost an arm or received a hideous
   wound, he would be all the more beautiful in my esteem. Certainly I
   could not shun him on that account. The wounds of Jesus are precious
   jewels which should charm our eyes. They are eloquent mouths which
   should win our hearts. Be attracted by Him, all of you! Hide not your
   faces from Him! Look on Him and live and love!

   That crown of thorns has far more true glory about it than any crown of
   gold! Those hands pierced and nailed should be your delight to kiss!
   Before that once sorrowing Person you should bow with joyful alacrity.
   Jesus, O marred One, your Cross, instead of being a stumbling block to
   us is the Glory of our faith! That the Gospel is spoken very plainly
   and that God blesses very simple people ought not to offend anybody!
   Ought it not, rather, to make us hopeful for the conversion of men
   because God may so largely bless commonplace instruments? Ought the
   conversion of the poor and the illiterate be an offense to us? It shows
   a need of humanity! It looks as if pride had dried up the milk of human
   kindness in us if we can begrudge those who have so little of this
   present world but the priceless gifts of another.

   III. THE CERTAINTY OF THE REMOVAL OF THIS STUMBLING BLOCK and the
   spread of Christ's kingdom. As His face was marred, so surely, "shall
   He sprinkle many nations," by which we understand, first, that the
   Doctrines of

   the Gospel are to fall in a copious shower over all lands! Jesus shall,
   by His speech which drops as the dew and distils as the rain, sprinkle
   not the Jews only, but Gentile nations everywhere! Your brethren
   abhorred You, O Immanuel! They despised You, O Man of Nazareth! But all
   lands shall hear of You and feel You coming down like showers upon the
   mown grass! The dusky tribes afar off and the dwellers in the land of
   the setting sun shall hear Your doctrine and shall drink it in as the
   fleece of wool sucks up dew. You shall sprinkle many nations with Your
   gracious Word!

   This sprinkling we must interpret according to the Mosaic ceremonies.
   Remember there was a sprinkling with blood, to set forth pardon of sin,
   and a sprinkling with water to set forth purification from the power of
   sin. Jesus Christ with--

   "The water and the blood From His riven side which flowed," has
   sprinkled not only many men but many nations! And the day will come
   when all nations shall feel the blessed drops which are scattered from
   His hands and know them to be "of sin the double cure," cleansing
   transgressors both from its guilt and power. Dr. Kitto explains the
   passage by an Oriental custom. He says that kings, when they invited
   their subjects to great festivals, would employ persons to sprinkle
   with perfume all who arrived as they passed the palace gate. I scarcely
   think that that is the meaning of the text, but at any rate it supplies
   an illustration of it.

   Jesus invites men of all nations to come to the Gospel feast--and as
   they enter He casts upon them the sweet perfumes of His Love and Grace,
   so that they are fragrant before the Lord. There were no perfumes for
   You, O Jesus, upon Calvary! Vinegar and gall were all they offered You,
   but now, since You have gone to Heaven, You provide perfumes for
   multitudes of the sons of men! And nations north and south and east and
   west are refreshed with the delicious showers of fragrance which,
   through the Gospel, fall upon them!

   The text, then, claims for Jesus Christ that the influence of His Grace
   and the power of His work shall be extended over many nations and shall
   have power not over the common people only, but over their leaders and
   rulers. "The kings shall shut their mouths at Him." They shall have no
   word to say against Him. They shall be so subdued by the majesty of His
   power that they shall silently pay Him reverence and prostrate
   themselves before His Throne. Kings, remember this! I am always glad to
   hear of noblemen being converted, though I am by no means inclined to
   flatter the great, or to think more of one man's soul than of
   another's. I am glad, however, to hear of the salvation of peers and
   princes, for it indicates the wide spread of the Gospel, when all
   classes are affected by it, and when those who usually stand aloof
   yield themselves to its power.

   "Kings shall shut their mouths at Him." This promise has not been
   fulfilled yet. There are those who think that the Biblical prophecies
   are pretty nearly accomplished and that we are passing into a new
   dispensation. Well, I dare not dogmatize, but I dare question most of
   the talk I hear nowadays about the future. Scores of prophecies are not
   yet fulfilled! Kings have not yet shut their mouths at Him! They have
   mostly opened their mouths wide against Him and reviled and blasphemed
   Him and persecuted His saints. There will be brighter days to come for
   this poor world when even princes shall humbly obey our Lord!

   The more I study the Bible, the more sure I am of two things which I
   cannot reconcile. First, that Christ will come at such an hour as men
   look not for Him and may come right now. And secondly, that the Gospel
   is to be preached in all nations and that "all the ends of the earth
   shall remember and turn unto the Lord." I do not know which of the two
   things I am surest of--neither do I know how to reconcile them. They
   are both in the Word and in due time they will be reconciled by history
   itself. Assuredly the day will come when the mightiest prince shall
   count it his highest honor to have his name enrolled as a member of the
   Church of Christ. "Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him. All
   nations shall serve Him."

   The little handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains
   is yet to increase till the fruit shall shake like Lebanon. "They shall
   not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
   know the Lord; for all shall know Him from the least to the greatest."
   We look for this, and it will come! O thorn-crowned King of Calvary,
   kings shall yet be Your courtiers!

   IV. Let us consider THE MANNER OF ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. How will it come
   to pass? Will there be new machinery? Will the world be converted and
   the kings be made to shut their mouths by some new mode of operation? I
   do not think so. Will the saints take the sword one day? Will it be
   accomplished by that wonderful implement of civilization, a gunboat?
   Shall we convert the Hottentots by gunpowder? We have had a little
   trial of these carnal weapons and some

   admire the success, but they may live to regret it. The Prince of Peace
   bids us put the sword into its scabbard. His weapons, like His kingdom,
   are not carnal. The way which has been from the beginning of the
   dispensation will last to its close.

   I believe that this battle is to be fought out on the line upon which
   it began. It pleases God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them
   that believe. To conceive that our Lord will end the present mode of
   warfare, as though it were admitted that evil could not be conquered by
   the use of instrumentality, is to my mind to do Him great dishonor. To
   me it is plain that, as He has chosen to magnify His power by using
   feeble instruments, He will continue to do so till the victory is won.
   He has never yet relinquished His work so as to give the enemy an
   opportunity of claiming a victory. To change weapons is to lay one's
   self open to the charge of being unable to conquer with those first
   used--but it is not so with our Lord.

   The very same grain of mustard which is now so small is yet to become a
   tree with far-spreading branches. The leaven is yet to leaven the whole
   lump. The last harvest will be the result of sowing by men and not by
   some miraculous agency. The dividing of the people, at the last, will
   be made from the contents of one and the same Gospel dragnet, which we
   are bound to use till the heavens are no more. According to this
   passage, these kings and nations are, first of all, to hear. "Faith
   comes by hearing." They are to hear something. Well, Brothers and
   Sisters, if they are to hear, we must preach and teach so that our
   clear line of duty is to go on spreading the Gospel! Jesus Christ would
   have His servants preach and teach the Gospel! Are you doing it? Go on
   doing it, Brother, in the power of the Holy Spirit, no matter what
   happens!

   Have you not done it? Begin to do so now, as one of Christ's servants,
   and pray for Divine help. Do you say you cannot do it? You can! You are
   hiding your talent in a napkin! Take it out, you unfaithful servant,
   lest your Lord comes and judges you! But you cannot teach many? Who
   said you could? Teach one! Oh, but you cannot preach? Who said preach?
   Teach! Teach somehow. Cause the people to know the story of the Cross.
   But you cannot teach kings, you say. Why need you? Teach servants and
   children--only spread the Gospel!

   The world is to be won to Christ, if it is ever won at all, by hearing
   the glad tidings of a dying Savior's love. And how can they hear
   without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?
   Christ sends you, for He says, "Let him that hears say, 'Come.'" In the
   power of that commission say at once--

   "Now will I tell to sinners round What a dear Savior I have found,
   Point them to His redeeming blood And say, Behold the way to God."
   These people appear not only to have heard, but to have seen. "That
   which had not been told them shall they see." This seeing is not with
   their bodily eyes, but by the perceptions of their minds. Faith comes
   by the soul perceiving what the Gospel means. We cannot believe in that
   which we do not understand. Therefore we must go on telling people the
   Gospel till they see what the Gospel is.

   Many men will never know the Gospel till they have been told it a
   thousand times--and you must keep on telling it to them till you get to
   that thousandth time. "What do you mean by that?" you ask. I mean this,
   that it must be line upon line and precept upon precept almost to the
   exhaustion of patience. It must be a mother's prayers, a teacher's
   anxieties, Providences, sicknesses, twitches of conscience, ministries
   of all sorts and much pleading. And it is only at the last stroke that
   the Word will be achieved, though all the other efforts will have
   contributed towards it. Go on, dear Brother, go on and teach Jesus
   Christ till the people see Him! That sight will come all of a sudden.
   How many times have I heard the young convert say, "I knew all about
   this before, Sir. I had heard it many times, but I could not see it.
   Now I

   see it."

   O, how it makes a man shut his mouth at Christ in humble silence, when
   he perceives, at last, that His marred visage and suffering form were
   tokens of Divine Love--and that by such sorrows sin is purged away!
   Would to God you all saw Him! After they had seen, it appears from the
   text that they considered. "That which they had not heard shall they
   consider." This is how men are saved--they hear the Gospel, they catch
   the meaning of it, and then they consider it. Let us pray, dear
   Friends, that God would set unconverted people considering! If we can
   but get them to think, we have great hopes for them. If any of you,
   here, have never yielded to Jesus Christ, I would ask you to hear or
   read about Him. Spend this afternoon in carefully reading one of the
   Gospels. Turn to Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John and read the story
   of His passion and ask God to let you see what it all means.

   And when you see it, turn it all over in your minds. Think of it. Think
   how wonderful it is that God should become Man to suffer in your place.
   See if it is reasonable to disbelieve it or right to refuse to love the
   Savior. There are a thousand reasons why you should rush into His arms
   and say, "Incarnate Deity, how can I resist You? Bleeding Omnipotence,
   how dare I doubt You? Immortal Love, crucified for my sins, I yield
   myself to You! I would be Your servant forever." It is clear that those
   people, when they had seen and considered silently, accepted the Lord
   as their Lord, for they shut their mouths at Him. They ceased all
   opposition! They quietly resigned wills and paid allegiance to the
   great King of kings.

   Brothers and Sisters, we want to see hundreds, here, doing this for
   Christ! There is a great religious stir, just now, and we desire that
   this Church and all the Churches abroad, should use the favorable
   breeze. You know how, in harvest time, the farmer gets all the men he
   can to work and they toil on through long hours. I have seen them
   working briskly beneath the bright moonlight to get the wheat in. This
   is our harvest time and we must get our sheaves in! The Lord has much
   corn and it needs to be garnered. I pray you make long hours and work
   hard for Jesus! Let the subject expounded this morning inspire you. The
   success of the Gospel is in no jeopardy whatever. Jesus must reign till
   He has put all enemies under His feet.

   If the devil can persuade you that Christ is going to give up the war,
   or is going to fight it out on another line and dispense with your
   efforts, you will soon grow idle. You will find an excuse for laziness
   in some supposed conversion of the world by miracle, or some other
   wonderful affair. You will say the Lord is coming and the war will all
   be over at once, so there is no need of your fighting it out now. Do
   not believe it! Our Commander is able to fight it through on this
   line--in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, by the power of the Eternal
   Spirit, we are bound to keep right on till this world yields before
   God. You remember the American general who, when the nation was eager
   for speedy victory, said he did not know when that would come, but that
   he would keep on pegging away? That is what we are bound to do--to keep
   on "pegging away."

   No gunner may leave his gun, no subordinate may disperse his band, no
   officer may suggest a retreat. Brothers and Sisters, Popery must fall!
   Mohammedanism must come down! All the idol gods must be broken and cast
   to the moles and to the bats! It looks like a task too gigantic, but
   the bare arm of God--only think of that--His sleeve rolled up,
   Omnipotence, itself, made bare--what can it not accomplish? Stand back,
   devils! When God's bare arm comes into the fight, you will all run like
   dogs, for you know your Master! Stand back, heresies and schisms, evils
   and delusions! You will all disappear, for the Christ of God is
   mightier than you!

   O, believe it! Do not be downhearted and dispirited! Do not run to new
   schemes and fancies and interpretations of prophecy. Go and preach
   Jesus Christ unto all the nations! Go and spread abroad the Savior's
   blessed name, for He is the world's only hope! The Cross is the banner
   of our victory! God help us to look to it ourselves and then to hold it
   up before the eyes of others till our Lord shall come upon His Throne.
   Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Isaiah 53. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--72, 418, 302.
     __________________________________________________________________

Solomon's Plea

   (No. 1232)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 2, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "For You did separate them from among all the people of the earth, to
   be Your inheritance" 1 Kings 8:53.

   ISRAEL was a type of the Church of God. The Apostle, in the Epistle to
   the Romans, clearly shows that Abraham was the father, not of the
   circumcision only, but of all those who walk in the steps of the faith
   of Abraham, and that the promise that he should be heir of the world
   was not to Abraham or his seed through the Law, but through the
   righteousness of faith. The covenanted inheritance was not to be given
   according to descent through the flesh, else would the inheritance have
   fallen to Ishmael, but the peculiar blessings which God promised to
   Abraham are the heritage of those who are born after the Spirit,
   according to the promise, even as Isaac was. Abraham, himself,
   believed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness, and all
   those who possess faith are the true children of "the father of the
   faithful."

   We may, therefore, without any violence, apply what is said of ancient
   Israel to the present people of God. The promises which were made to
   the great Patriarch had an eye to us, "as it is written, I have made
   you a father of many nations," and, "the promise is sure to all the
   seed, not to that only which is of the Law, but to that also which is
   of the faith of Abraham" (Rom. 4:16, 17). "The children of the promise
   are counted for the seed" (Rom. 9:8), and of them the children of the
   flesh, namely, the Jews, are but a type. We shall not err, then, in
   applying this prayer of Solomon to the people of God at the present
   time.

   It is worthy of remark concerning this prayer that it is as full and
   comprehensive as if it were meant to be the summary of all future
   prayers offered in the temple. One is struck, moreover, with the fact
   that the language is far from new and is full of quotations from the
   Pentateuch, some of which are almost word for word, while the sense of
   the whole may be found in those memorable passages in Leviticus and
   Deuteronomy in which the Lord threatened His people that if they were
   untrue to Him, He would visit them with heavy chastisements. And, in
   which He also added that if they turned to Him with sincere repentance
   and confessed their iniquities, He would smile upon them again and
   deliver them.

   Solomon was certainly able to have found words of his own, for the
   royal preacher was wise and sought out acceptable words. Yet he
   preferred the words of the Holy Spirit to his own. In prayer there is a
   peculiar sweetness in being able to bring before God not only His own
   meaning, but His own Words! "Remember the Word unto Your servant upon
   which You have caused me to hope." No language has such a mystic charm
   and solemn power about it as that employed by the Holy Spirit. "How
   sweet are Your Words unto my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my
   mouth!" When we spread the very Words of the Lord before Him, our mind
   is conscious of great power in asking--and much assurance of receiving.

   The expressions by which the Spirit teaches us are very comely when we
   return them to Him in supplication. By the illumination of the Spirit
   of God much more is to be seen in Solomon's prayer than may be apparent
   upon the surface. The chief point to which I shall call your attention
   at this time will be its concluding plea which he repeats in various
   forms, saying, "For they are Your people and Your inheritance, which
   You brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron."
   And again in the words of the text, "For You did separate them from
   among all the people of the earth, to be Your inheritance, as You spoke
   by the hand of Moses, Your servant, when You brought our fathers out of

   Egypt."

   The Lord's choice of Israel, His past mercies towards the elect people
   and His peculiar relationship to them above all other nations--these
   were the pleas which the suppliant son of David laid before the
   Covenant God. Three things, then, this morning. The first is the fact,
   "You have separated them from among all people." The second is the
   design, "to be Your inheritance." And the third is the plea, which is
   fitly based thereon. We shall try to work out the plea in reference to
   the various petitions of Solomon's prayer, for they comprehend most, if
   not all, of the trials of the godly.

   I. First, here is THE FACT. "You did separate them from among all the
   people of the earth." The historical Books of Scripture show that this
   was emphatically true of Abraham and his descendants. Balaam spoke the
   truth when he said, "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be
   reckoned among the nations." Israel never prospered when it forgot its
   separateness, for the promise was, "Israel then shall dwell in safety
   alone." When they followed the customs of their neighbors, they had
   bitter cause for lamentation. But all things went well when they
   remembered how the Lord had said, "You shall be holy unto Me, for I,
   the Lord, am holy; and have severed you from other people that you
   should be Mine."

   Israel's safety and glory lay in being distinct from all other
   people--and that Truth of God holds good concerning the Church of God
   at this day, for we, also, are not of this world! In the human race
   there are many divisions-- nationalities, races and the like--but these
   are only like the marks of a plow upon the surface of a field, they do
   not divide. There is a far deeper and more lasting division which God,
   Himself, has made. All around us is the world's wide wilderness and
   yonder is the spot enclosed by Grace which the Lord of All has set
   apart to be His garden. Before us lies the great and troubled sea which
   cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. But we also see the
   Rock on which He has built His Church, which God has settled and made
   to stand fast by His eternal power.

   Gross darkness covers the earth, for the whole world lies in the Wicked
   One. But in the land of Goshen there is Light, for upon those that fear
   His name the Sun of Righteousness has arisen. This separation of the
   world into two races was predicted when our first parents fell. At the
   gates of the Garden of Eden the Voice of the Lord spoke concerning the
   Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, between whom an enmity
   was to be placed. From that day until this, the serpent's seed has
   continued in direct lineal descent and, blessed be God, the Seed of the
   woman has not failed from off the face of the earth, for God's infinite
   Grace has evermore raised up children in the family of Grace. The two
   lines of Cain and Seth, of Ham and Shem, of Ishmael and Isaac, of Esau
   and Jacob are very visible from the first hour of history until now.

   There is a separation, then. Let us speak of it. That separation
   commenced in the eternal purpose of God. Before the earth was, He had
   set apart unto Himself a people whom He looked upon in the glass of His
   foreknowledge and viewed with infinite affection. "Moreover whom He did
   foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
   Son." Think not that God's children are born into His family by chance,
   for, when they are born again, they do but receive "that eternal life
   which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." Conceive
   not that the newly converted ones are strangers to Him--He has known
   them long before they knew themselves! And He has shed abroad upon them
   "that great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in
   trespasses and sins."

   We may say of the mystical body of Christ that in the Lord's Book all
   His members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as
   yet there was none of them! Long before He had made the world in which
   men should dwell, He had ordained a place for His people and the
   arrangements of Providence were made with an eye to them, for Moses
   says, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
   when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people
   according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's
   portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance."

   This first act of separation was followed up, or I might say,
   accompanied, by a distinct act of Grace in which the chosen were given
   over to the Lord Jesus Christ. "Yours they were," says Jesus, "and You
   gave them to Me." He speaks of as many as His Father gave Him--these
   were to be members of Christ's body, they were to make up His bride,
   the Lamb's wife--they were to be His brethren and He the Firstborn.
   They were to be taken under a federal headship of which He should be
   the second Adam. "He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
   world." Oh, what a blessing this is to be the chosen of God and given
   to the Lord Jesus--to have one's name written in the Lamb's Book of
   Life--that book in which the Lamb's name stands first and is followed
   by the names of all whom He has redeemed with His precious blood!

   O bliss, eternal and boundless, to know by assurance of faith that you
   belong to those who are set apart unto God, and are one with Jesus! So
   far the separation is hidden from us, but what is hidden in the
   purpose, in due time develops itself into the event, for all the people
   of God are at the proper moment called out by effectual calling, and in
   this way they are separated from among the people of the world. They
   hear a voice which others hear not! Their eyes are opened to see what
   others perceive not! Drawn by cords which others do not feel, they
   yield to those bands of love which others resist. With full consent,
   their will being sweetly influenced, they follow as they are drawn!
   Like Abraham, they go forth from the country of their birth to seek a
   city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.

   The Most High has called them to come forth and be sojourners with Him,
   and they come. Do you not remember, Brothers and Sisters, when first
   the sacred Voice sounded in your inner ears? It said, "You are in a far
   country, My child. You are poor and hungry. You are sick and faint. You
   are feeding swine. You are disgraced and dishonored. Come back to your
   Father's house." Well do I remember how that Voice charmed me to
   consideration, to humiliation, to confession and to resolve until my
   heart cried out, "I will arise and go unto my Father." Did not Jesus
   say, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me"? And
   did He not say to others, "You believe not because you are not of My

   sheep"?

   Here begins the separation which is visible and manifest! Grace works
   and calls the chosen out of Nature's lost estate. At the call of the
   Almighty Spirit, dead souls arise to Divine life and forsake the tombs
   among which they wandered! Lepers find their flesh returning to its
   former health and quit the lazar house in which they dwelt! And rebels,
   flinging down their weapons, sue for peace and become loyal subjects of
   their gracious King! Do you know, Beloved, what this means? It is what
   we call conversion. It is a wonderful phenomenon--who shall understand
   it? Let no man dare to ridicule it! There is a mock conversion which
   arises from a little feverish feeling which turns cold when the fit is
   over--but this is no evidence that there are no true conversions.

   Real conversion by the Holy Spirit is as distinct and radical a change
   as though an old man were placed in a mill and ground young again! No,
   it is something more than that would be, for "old things are passed
   away, behold all things are become new." The regenerate are dead,
   indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God by Jesus Christ! In them has been
   performed a deed of the same power which worked in Christ when He was
   raised from the dead--and this has most effectually put a difference
   between them and the rest of mankind! Believers become separate from
   the hour of their conversion by possessing a new nature. Do not think I
   am too bold when I say that the distinction between the child of God
   and the carnal man is as great as the difference between a man and a
   beast! As man possesses an intellectual life which is denied to the
   beast, so the regenerate are endowed with a third and loftier principle
   called the spirit, which lifts them into a higher sphere of existence.

   The most moral and most educated of unregenerate men are still dead as
   to spiritual things--and they must remain so till the new life is
   implanted in them. Those who have been born again have received the
   living and incorruptible Seed of God which abides forever. They have,
   in the words of the Apostle, been "made partakers of the Divine Nature,
   having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." This
   makes a wonderful distinction between them and the rest of mankind. A
   man is separate from an ox or a sheep by every instinct of his
   nature--there is no mistaking the one for the other. True, there are
   parts of manhood which have affinity with the animal, but still the
   possession of a mind creates tastes, desires, emotions, joys, sorrows,
   cravings and motives with which the animal cannot intermeddle.

   The Christian man is endowed with a nature above that of other men and
   is conscious of a life with which they cannot sympathize. Dear Hearer,
   do you know anything of this deep, vital, radical, essential
   distinction from the world? You must know it, or you cannot belong to
   Christ, for He says of His disciples, "they are not of the world, even
   as I am not of the world." The separateness of the Believer comes out
   in his life. We shall do well to call to mind that the Jews were
   remarkably separated from the Gentiles by the ordinances and
   commandments which the Lord gave them. If they sat down to eat they
   could not mingle with the heathen, for they were discriminating in
   their food--the Lord had said to them, "You shall, therefore, put
   difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean food
   and clean: and you shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by
   fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creeps on the ground, which
   I have separated from you as unclean."

   If the Jew went out to fish, some of the fish were without scales and
   fins--and these were unclean to him--and the Jewish fisherman was thus
   distinct from the Gentile. Or, if he became a fowler, some of the birds
   which might be taken were unclean, and so the Israelite was detected
   again. Not alone in his food, but in his dress, also, he was a marked
   man, for the Lord had commanded, "Speak unto the children of Israel,
   and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their
   garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the
   fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue: and it shall be unto you for a
   fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of
   the Lord, and do them." It did not matter where he was, whether he ate,
   drank, slept, walked, rode--there was such a distinction about the man,
   that, with a little observation, you could safely say, "that man is an
   Israelite."

   Even thus should it be with the Lord's people. I do not mean that we
   are to use cant phrases, or set up distinctive trademarks as certain of
   the sects are doing. Behold how broad they make their phylacteries! One
   sort can do nothing without the "sign of the cross," and another cannot
   be happy except they exhibit the orthodox formula--"The Gospel of the
   Grace of God will be preached here, God willing.''" How readily does
   the most simple worship fix itself down to form and become as
   ritualistic without rituals as others with a superabundance of
   ceremonies! A broad brimmed hat and a collar-less coat were once brave
   protests against wide-spread folly. And they may be well enough, even
   now, if worn in a right spirit. But still the distinction between saint
   and sinner can never lie in beaver and broadcloth, nor can it be
   revealed by mere peculiarities of speech--it needs other and more
   important modes of manifestation.

   We do not believe the Lord would have us become unnatural. The Grace of
   God has left us men and intends us to be men, though it has quickened
   us with a higher life and actuated us with nobler motives. Not John the
   Baptist in the wilderness, but Jesus among men, is the example of our
   lives! We are to be in the world but not of it! Grave distinctions are
   to mark us. A worldling loves himself--the Christian loves his God. The
   worldling seeks gain for self--the Christian seeks glory for God. The
   worldling lives to bless himself--the Christian lives to bless his age.
   If the love of God is in a man, he will, in motive and spirit, differ
   as much from the ungodly as light from darkness--and in his life you
   will see the difference with the naked eye. The saints are a peculiar
   people and this is their main peculiarity--they are zealous for good
   works--not to save them, but because they are saved!

   Dear Brethren, it is to be feared that many of us are not separated
   enough from the world. God intends the difference to be very marked. He
   would have the line between the Church and the world drawn very
   clearly. I could wish to obliterate forever the unhappy and artificial
   distinction which is constantly made between sacred and secular, for a
   world of mischief has come out of it. The Truth of God is that a real
   Christian may be known by this--that to him everything secular is
   sacred and the most common matters are holiness unto the Lord! I do not
   believe in the religion which only lifts its head above water on Sunday
   and confines itself to praying and preaching and carrying hymn books
   about.

   We must have a religion which gives a true yard when it is measuring
   its calico, a religion which weighs a true pound when it is dealing out
   shop goods, a religion which scorns to puff and lie and take advantage
   of a gullible public. We must have a religion which is true, upright,
   chaste, kind and unselfish. Give me a man who would not lie if the
   whole earth or Heaven, itself, were to be won thereby! We need among
   professed Christians a high morality--no, far more-- we need unsullied
   holiness! O, Holy Spirit, work it in all of us!

   As we have often said, holiness means wholeness of character in
   contradistinction to the cultivation of some few virtues and the
   neglect of others. Oh that we were like the Lord in this--that we loved
   only that which is right and abhorred that which is evil! If only we
   kept along the straight and narrow path and could not be decoyed from
   it, fearing not the frown of man nor courting his smile, but resolved,
   as God lives in us, that we will live in our daily actions according to
   His will! This would make Christians to be a separated people, indeed,
   and this is precisely what their God would have them to be!

   There shall be a final separation, by-and-by, when the wheat shall be
   gathered into the garner and the tares cast into the oven--when the
   Great Shepherd shall come and set His sheep on the right hand and the
   goats on the left. O, in that day of final separation, may we be found
   among those of whom He has said, "They shall be Mine in the day when I
   make up My jewels."

   II. Now, secondly and briefly, as to THE DESIGN. What has the Lord
   aimed at by separating His people from among men? The text tells us,
   "to be Your inheritance." God has made a choice of a people who are to
   be called, "the Lord's portion." They are to be "the lot of His
   inheritance," by which is meant that He would have a peculiar interest
   in them. All the world belongs to God--"The earth is the Lord's and the
   fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein," yet out of
   the mass He has chosen His own, of whom He says, "You, only, have I
   known of all the nations of the

   earth."

   The Queen of England may traverse the whole of these islands and say,
   "All this is mine," but yet there are spots which are, in a deeper
   sense, her own inheritance. Windsor is the home of her ancestors and
   Balmoral and Osborne are also hers, as Blair Athol and Ventnor are not.
   Jehovah claims all men as His--"All souls are Mine, says the Lord," but
   He singles out some and says, "I know whom I have chosen." "It has
   pleased the Lord to make you His people." "Blessed is the people whom
   He has chosen for His own inheritance." A man, when he takes anything
   to be his inheritance, expects

   to have it used for his own purposes. If he has inherited a farm he
   looks to receive the rents of it, or if he tills the ground, himself,
   he rightfully considers that the crops belong to him.

   So, my Brothers and Sisters, if we are the Lord's inheritance, all that
   we are capable of producing belongs to Him, and He looks to have it. To
   Him every power, every faculty, every passion, every ability, yes, even
   life itself, belongs to Him. All the clusters of our vine are His and
   His each ear of our nature's harvest. We are vessels unto honor,
   reserved only for His use. We are His servants whose sole and only
   business it is to wait upon Him. We dare not look upon ourselves as our
   own, or as belonging unto others, for we are bought with a price! And
   therefore it is but reasonable that we serve the Lord in our bodies and
   our spirits, which are His.

   A man will generally take up his abode in the spot which he has
   selected to be especially his own. "For the Lord has chosen Zion; He
   has desired it for His habitation. This is My rest forever: here will I
   dwell; for I have desired it." "I will dwell in them, and I will walk
   in them," says the Lord. Blessed is that man with whom Jehovah deigns
   to dwell! Will He, in very deed, dwell upon earth? He will, for He has
   said, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
   contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word." In a man's inheritance he
   takes his delight, and oh, we mention it with joyful awe--Jehovah takes
   delight in His people! "The Lord your God, in the midst of you is
   mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest
   in His love, He will joy over you with singing."

   It is said of Him who is the Incarnate Wisdom, "My delights were with
   the sons of men." So does He love us that He rejoices over us--and when
   we know that His joy is fulfilled in us then our joy is full! Oh,
   Brothers and Sisters, see the honor which is put upon you by being made
   the delight of the Lord! When a man takes a portion to be his
   inheritance he means never to give it up. A Jew never yielded his
   inheritance. Poor Naboth had a little vineyard and Ahab wanted it and,
   therefore, he said--"I will give you the worth of it in money, or I
   will give you a better vineyard." "No," said Naboth, "the Lord forbid
   it that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto you." And he
   died sooner than alienate his heritage! Beloved, you are the
   inheritance of God! You are the Lord's own portion! Sooner than give
   you up, the Only-Begotten shed His heart's blood! You are His and He
   will not lose you. "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is
   in Christ Jesus our Lord?"

   Now, before I go further, I want to ask, have we realized our separated
   condition and our being wholly the Lord's? Certain regiments in the
   army count it a great honor to be called the Queen's Own. Oh, Brothers
   and Sisters, what an honor to be God's own, to be Jesus Christ's own! I
   would like to be the branded slave of Christ, like Paul, who, when he
   looked upon the scars which commemorated his sufferings said, "Let no
   man trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," as if
   these were the brands never to be erased which marked him forever as
   belonging to the Crucified Savior! If you and I belong to Jesus, let us
   never be false to Him. Let us never be ashamed of His service, nor
   negligent in it. Such an honor as we possess must not be trifled with.

   What manner of persons ought we to be? Brothers and Sisters, are you
   living for God? May I press the question home upon you? You profess to
   have been born into His family, are you seeking to glorify God as the
   main object of life? You may have other objects, but they must be
   secondary to this. This must eat you up! It must be like fire in your
   bones. You must feel, "For me to live is Christ." An old Divine said,
   "I desire to eat, drink and sleep eternal life." Let us be wholly
   consecrated, for the Lord's portion must not be spoiled! The King's
   private garden must not be trod under the stranger's foot. His bride
   must not be for others.

   Brethren, you cannot but joyfully confess that you are the Lord's! Yes,
   you delight to have it so and desire to make the Lord's possession of
   you more and more manifest--go on unto perfection. There is no
   happiness comparable to a complete submergence of self into the Glory
   of God. This is the nearest approach to Heaven this side of the grave!
   O, to be reserved for the Lord, hedged round about, shut up and
   enclosed for Jesus and for Him alone!

   III. Thirdly, the subject before us furnishes us with A PLEA. If you
   have realized that you are separated to belong to the Lord, this is a
   plea--and the plea applies in prayer to all your trials. As time would
   fail me, I shall not read all the words of Solomon, but I will ask you
   to notice that from the 31st verse he pleads for any who may have a
   case pending in judgment. It happens that righteous men are falsely
   accused. Solomon asks that God would decide the case and give forth His
   sentence and establish the right.

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, perhaps some of you are under the peculiarly
   severe trial of being misunderstood, misrepresented and misjudged. You
   have not been guilty of that which is laid at your door. You loathe
   from your very heart the

   evil which is attributed to you. Now, if you are the Lord's own, you
   may go to Him with this argument--your Savior has put it into your
   mouth--"And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night
   unto Him?" Be not very sorely troubled when men falsely speak evil
   against you, for they so persecuted the Prophets that were before you.
   Your reputation may be dead and buried, but, if you have not killed it
   by your own conduct, it will have a resurrection! And when it rises,
   again, it will be much more fair and beautiful than it was before.

   "Light sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."
   Do not believe that the good man's sun has set, for it is written,
   "Your righteousness shall come forth as the light, and your judgment as
   the noon-day." Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, for He will
   do you justice in due time, for you are His own, and He will not forget
   you. I think this is good pleading--surely God will defend His own!
   Then Solomon goes on to speak, at verse 33, of those who had suffered
   defeat, and there may be some present who have passed through this
   experience. "When Your people Israel are defeated before the enemy
   because they have sinned against You, and shall turn to You, and pray
   and make supplication to You, then hear You in Heaven."

   He speaks of, "Your people Israel," so that it seems a man may be a
   true Israelite and yet be defeated by the foe. Perhaps you have been
   struggling against an error and the advocate of that error is more
   clever in the use of his weapons than you are, and has gained an
   apparent advantage over you. Fear not, dear Brother, if you are God's
   servant, you shall have victory! Perhaps some failing in your spirit
   while pleading for the Truth has baffled you. Go to God and confess it.
   And then return to the war. God will help you. Perhaps you have been
   struggling against some besetting sin and, as yet, you fear you have
   been overcome. Say unto the dragon, "I shall yet defeat you, Rahab.
   Were you not wounded at the Red Sea? Behold, the Lord will yet enable
   me to cut you in pieces. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, though I
   fall, yet shall I rise again."

   O you people of God, who have been defeated by Satan in your attempts
   to teach the infidel, the scoffer, or the Ritualist--go to the Strong
   for strength--and cry unto the Lord, "Am I not Your own servant? Did I
   not do this for Your cause? Did I not seek Your honor?" And assuredly
   you shall have an answer of peace and you shall yet conquer. Solomon
   then proceeded to speak of barrenness and the absence of the dew and
   the rain, a fearful calamity in Judea, for if the rain did not fall
   there could be no gladsome weeks of harvest. At times, Brothers and
   Sisters, we, also, are without the heavenly rain--God's Spirit is
   withheld and our hearts become dry as the desert sand. Do any of you
   suffer from spiritual drought this morning? Do you feel as if you had
   no sap left in you?

   Those of us who search our own hearts, experience seasons when we can
   scarcely find a trace of Grace, except that we do long after Grace and
   do certainly rest in Jesus Christ if we rest anywhere. I believe that
   even those of God's children who live nearest to Him sometimes undergo
   spiritual drought. They cry unto God for help, but help does not
   immediately come. At such times they may come, each one, with the plea,
   "Save me, O Lord, for I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid!
   You have loosed my bonds. I am Yours, quicken me. You bid dew fall on
   the grass and You give each blade of grass its own drop. And yet the
   grass cannot pray as You have taught my soul to do. Come, Lord, give me
   the dew for which You have made me cry with eagerness of desire. O, by
   the desire which You could not have created in order to tantalize me, I
   pray You, hear me and let Your Spirit come upon me." This is good
   pleading.

   "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
   children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
   to them that ask Him." You ask of a father and he gives to you as his
   child. You may ask peculiar gifts because you stand in a peculiar
   relationship. Brother, do you belong to some decaying Church? Do you
   come up here, today, to be refreshed, and are you saying, "Our Church
   is very dry and barren." Go and plead with the Lord and say, "This is
   Your Church, Lord, and though the members have grown very slothful and
   seem to be indifferent about sinners, they are still Your people,
   therefore look upon them and revive them again. Will You not visit us
   again, for we are Your people? Revive us, we pray You, and send upon us
   the showers in their season."

   Solomon further uses this plea in connection with chastisements, giving
   a long list of them. "If there is pestilence, blasphemy, mildew,
   locusts, caterpillars" and the like. Beloved, you may be under some
   chastisement, today, on account of sin. "What son is there whom his
   father chastises not?" O how some of us have had to learn the meaning
   of those words, but blessed be God we have not had to ponder over that
   other dreadful verse, "If you are without chastisement whereof all are
   partakers, then are you bastards and not sons." Know you not what the
   smarting rod means? At such times when the rod falls again and again it
   is well to turn your eyes upward and say, "Father, am I not Your child?
   Are

   You sitting as a Judge? Will You smite me with the blows of a cruel
   one, as though You hate me? My God, it cannot be for I am Your own--

   Gently, gently lay Your rod On my sinful head O God; Stay Your wrath,
   in mercy stay, Lest I sink beneath its sway.

   "I am Yours, You know I am! Have compassion on the offspring of Your
   own eternal love! Look down with favor on me, whose name is sculptured
   on the heart of Jesus, The Well-Beloved. O, do not crush me, do not
   utterly destroy me! Truly, I deserve Your utmost wrath, but by Your
   ancient affection when You did appear of old unto me and say, 'Lo, I
   have loved you with an everlasting love,' put up Your rod, and restore
   unto me the joy of Your salvation." I am not telling you, now, what I
   do not know. How many times I have pleaded just like that with God!!
   And sometimes I have even made bold to say to Him, when pain was sharp
   and the mind was weary, "I would not thus chastise my child, and O, my
   Father, will You be a less tender Father toward me than I am?" Being
   bold like this I have often obtained an answer of peace from His hands,
   and even felt physical pain relieved, while spiritual distress has been
   swept away.

   This is Solomon's argument--"Are they not Your people? Have You not
   separated them? Be not angry with Your inheritance!" This is equally
   good pleading if we come to the next point--which is warfare, for
   Solomon says, "If Your people go out to battle against the enemy, where
   ever You shall send them." Brethren, our life is warfare. There is a
   convict within and there is a warfare to be carried on outside--at this
   very hour we hear the trumpet sounding for an earnest assault upon the
   iniquities of London--and if we wish to plead for a blessing, this may
   serve us--"Lord, are we not Your people? Is not this Your Gospel? Is
   not Jesus Christ Your Son? Is not this Your cause? For if it is, then,
   O Lord, go forth with us! If we are mistaken and the Gospel is not Your
   Truth, and if we are not Your servants, then we wish that our cause
   should sink, for we would not fight against You. If we are Yours, O
   remember us and now, even now, send prosperity for Jesus' sake." You
   may plead thus, and you shall be heard.

   Again, Solomon prayed for any, who through their sins, were carried
   into captivity. Some here may be in that state. Brother, you were once
   a member of this Church, but you have been put away for your unseemly
   conduct. Sister, you once walked in the Light of God's Countenance, but
   it is many a day since you have seen the gleaming of the Savior's face,
   for you have behaved strangely towards your best Beloved. Well, now,
   notwithstanding all this, your Lord says, "Return, you backsliding
   children." It is a wonderful thing, that even if you have been a
   prodigal, and have spent your living with harlots, yet if you are His
   child you may call Him, "Father."

   Did not the prodigal say, "Father, I have sinned"? There is good
   pleading in this fact, for you are not disowned, even by your sin! If
   you are a child of God you are a child of God and always will be, for
   it is not possible that the relationship of son-ship should come to an
   end. Alas, our children may bring grave dishonor upon us and we may cry
   over them, "O Absalom, my son, my son," but even Absalom is still
   acknowledged as David's son, and must be. And, therefore, O Backslider,
   you are still the Lord's child! Come back, I pray you, and ask to be
   delivered from your captivity.

   I have but one thing more to say. I hear a mourner cry, "This sermon is
   very consolatory for the people of God, but what about us? Some of us
   do not belong to the separated ones. Are you going to send us away
   without a word?" Oh no! What did Solomon say in his prayer? His prayer
   was all for Israel, was it not? Well, yes, but I will read you a little
   piece of it. Just listen. See if it suits you. "Moreover concerning a
   stranger that is not of Your people Israel, but comes out of a far
   country for Your name's sake. For they shall hear of Your great name
   and of Your strong hand, and of Your stretched out arm. When he shall
   come and pray toward this house, hear You in Heaven, Your dwelling
   place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for: that
   all people of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as do Your
   people Israel."

   That is a prayer for strangers! Stranger, where are you? Stranger to
   yourself, stranger to Christ and a stranger to His people--have you
   come here this morning among the people of God? What has brought you?
   Have you come from a far country? Are you far off from God by wicked
   works? Is there something in your breast which makes you long to draw
   near? Stranger, have you heard that Christ has been saving thousands of
   late, and do you want Him to save you? Stranger, have you a relative
   who has lately passed from death to life, and do you want to know that
   saving change yourself? Stranger, has your mother gone to Heaven? Has
   some beloved child been borne away to sing like a seraph beyond the
   stars? And do these things tempt you to desire to know more about the
   great Redeemer?

   You are welcome! O, so welcome, not to this Tabernacle merely, but to
   Jesus and to His heart of love! Stranger, utter your heart's desire.
   Ask of the Lord great things, for whatever you shall ask believingly,
   you shall receive! The Queen of Sheba was not sent away empty-handed by
   Solomon and you shall not be sent away hungry by Jesus Christ the Lord!
   Breathe your prayer now. Do you want pardon? Ask for it now! Would you
   be saved? Pray for salvation now, for the Lord will certainly hear you!
   Let this be the plea, the plea which Solomon gives us--that God's name
   may be known and glorified to the very ends of the earth! For if the
   Lord will but save you, I guarantee you, you will never let Him hear
   the last of it, for you will tell of His Grace to everybody as long as
   you live!

   The Lord will bless you if you plead His Grace in Christ Jesus. Say,
   "Lord, there is no reason why I should be saved, except this, that if
   You will save me it will greatly glorify Your mercy. Surely, if ever I
   get to Heaven, the glorified ones will stand surprised and hold up
   their hands, and say, 'How came you in here?' Lord, if You will but
   make me a changed man, the people of my parish will marvel greatly, and
   say, 'What has God worked!' Therefore do it and be glorified

   thereby!"

   I have an impression upon me that there are persons here, this morning,
   who are very unlikely ever to be converted, and I pray the Lord that
   these very men may begin to seek His face. If they do so they may plead
   in this wise--"Lord, because I judge myself to be the least likely to
   be saved, and because others judge me to be so, do be pleased to
   perform a wonder of Grace this morning! Lord, it is nothing to put tame
   doves on Your finger and teach them to peck from Your lips--this is
   what saints do. But Lord, if You will lure a wild bird like me and tame
   me to Your will, You will be renowned, indeed! To lead a lamb by a
   string as You lead Your gentle children, Lord, is not so hard a thing.
   But I am as a raging lion, or a hungry wolf! O that Your Sovereign
   Grace would transform me into a lamb--then will Your mercy appear
   glorious, indeed!"

   Plead thus, O Sinner, and at the same time look unto Jesus Christ, and
   you shall find salvation, to the praise of the glory of His Grace!
   Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 Kings8:22-53. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--47, 195, 106 (PART II).
     __________________________________________________________________

Healing Leaves

   (No. 1233)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 9, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. (ON BEHALF OF THE RELIGIOUS
   TRACT SOCIETY).

   "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
   Revelation 22:2

   WE have in the 21st and 22nd chapters of the Book of Revelation a very
   wonderful description of Heaven upon earth. I shall not attempt to go
   into any prophetical explanations as to when this will be fulfilled,
   but we know this for certain, for we have it in so many words, that the
   holy city, New Jerusalem, will descend out of Heaven from God, and
   that, in a word, there will be, for a time at least, a Heaven on earth.
   But inasmuch as Heaven, be it where it may, is still Heaven, the
   description of Heaven on earth sufficiently benefits us to reveal, in
   some measure, the present joys and blessings of the celestial state.

   We shall not make any mistake if we read the passage as hundreds of
   thousands have done before us, and as all common readers will always
   persist in doing, as a description of the heavenly state as it is at
   present, for what can come down from Heaven but that which is in
   Heaven? The results of the revealed Presence of the God of Love must
   be, to His saints, very much the same at all times. The same Glory will
   be revealed, the same happiness bestowed, the same occupations
   followed, the same fellowship enjoyed. We may, therefore, consider that
   we have before us a description of what Heaven now is and shall be,
   world without end, save only that the bodies of the saints are not yet
   raised and, therefore, all the minute details may not be fully
   developed.

   The glowing metaphors here employed, for we must, to a large extent,
   regard the language as figurative, is evidently taken from the Garden
   of Eden. That was man's first inheritance and it is a type of his last.
   That Paradise which the first Adam lost us, the second Adam will regain
   for us, but with added bliss and superior joy! We shall dwell where a
   river rolls with placid streams and compasses a land where there is
   gold, "and the gold of that land is good, there is myrrh and the onyx
   stone." The river is watering every tree that is pleasant to the sight
   and flows hard by the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden.

   Yet, though there is a likeness between Heaven and Eden, there is a
   difference, too, for the earthly Paradise with all its perfections was
   still of the earth, earthy. And the second Paradise is, like the Lord
   from Heaven, heavenly and Divine! The fatal Tree of Knowledge of Good
   and Evil, hedged about by a solemn threat, grows not in the garden of
   the immortals. They have known evil, but they now, "know the Lord," and
   know evil no more. Everything in the Divine Paradise is fuller and more
   abundant. The gold, which in Eden lay in the soil, is used in the
   heavenly Paradise to pave the streets. The river has no earthly source,
   but is "a pure river of the Wafer of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding
   out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb."

   The Lord, who in Eden walked only at solemn intervals, "among the trees
   of the garden in the cool of the day," has, in Heaven, His Tabernacle
   among men and dwells among them, while the trees which grew in Eden,
   and ripened their fruits only in autumn, are succeeded by trees with 12
   fruitages in the year. It has been thought that man would have
   preserved the immortality of his body by eating of the Tree of Life in
   Eden and that, therefore, when he sinned he was shut out from it, "lest
   he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat, and
   live forever." Some even go so far as to think that the extreme
   longevity of the antediluvians may have been helped by the remaining
   influence of that wondrous food upon the constitution of man for many
   generations.

   Of that we know nothing, it is all conjecture. It is, however, very
   customary for expositors to speak of the Tree of Life in the Garden as
   the sacrament of the primeval age, the eating of whose fruit they
   conceive to be the grand means of preserving Adam from death. Now,
   there is a Tree of Life in Heaven, but there is this difference, that
   it is more accessible--more accessible even than when Adam was in
   perfection--for if there were but one Tree of Life in the Garden, the

   Garden was certainly divided by the river which flowed in several
   streams through it. Therefore the tree could not always be easily
   reached from all parts of the garden.

   In the passage before us we have the Tree of Life on either side of the
   river, which, I suppose, means that there were many such trees--though
   there was only one tree as to its kind, yet many in number. The picture
   presented to the mind's eye would appear to be that of a wide street
   with a river flowing down the center, like some of the broader canals
   of Holland, with trees growing on either side, all of them of the same
   kind, all called the Tree of Life. I do not know how we can make the
   figure out in any other way. Some have represented the tree as only one
   and growing in the bottom of the river, rising out of the water, and so
   sending boughs on either side, being, itself, so large as to shade all
   the city. Such a conception is almost monstrous!

   But to conceive of many Trees of Life, all one tree as to quality and
   nature, growing all along the street, is to present a beautiful image
   which can very readily be conceived by the mind. At any rate, to all
   the inhabitants of Heaven the Tree of Life is equally and perpetually
   accessible. They may come at it when they may. No cherub's flaming
   sword stands there to keep them back, but they may always come and eat
   of its 12 fruitages and pluck its healing leaves--

   "Joy here holds court within its own metropolis! And through its midst
   the crystal river flows Exhaustless from the everlasting Throne, Shaded
   on either side by Trees of Life Which yield in still unvarying
   interchange Their ripe vicissitude of monthly fruits Amid their
   clustering leaves medicinal." We are about to speak only of the leaves
   of this true arbor vitae, "the leaves of the tree were for the healing
   of the nations." Of what can this tree be but a type but of our Lord
   Jesus Christ and His salvation? What can it signify but that the
   Presence of Christ preserves the inhabitants of Heaven forever free
   from sickness, while beyond Heaven, the precincts among the nations,
   the saving influence is scattered?

   As the leaves fall from the trees, so does sacred influence descend
   from our Lord Jesus in Heaven down to the sons of men! And as the
   leaves are the least precious products of a fruit-bearing tree, so the
   least things that have to do with Him and come from Him have a healing
   virtue in them. I shall handle the text very briefly in reference to
   Heaven and then, at full length, endeavor to bring out its relation to
   earth, as the Holy Spirit may enable me.

   I. In REFERENCE TO HEAVEN. If you read the passage you will see that
   the heavenly City is described as having an abundance of all manner of
   delights. Do men rejoice in wealth? "The very streets are paved with
   gold exceedingly clear and fine." The gates are pearls and the walls
   are built of precious stones. No palace of the Caesars or of the Indian
   Moguls could rival the gorgeous riches of the city of the Great King--

   "That city with the jeweled crest Like some new-lighted sun! A blaze of
   burning amethyst, Ten thousand orbs in one."

   In our cities we feel greatly the need of light. It must have been a
   dreary age when our ancestors groped their way at night through
   unlighted streets, or gathered poor comfort from the feeble, struggling
   rays of a poor candle placed over each householder's door. The heavenly
   City knows no night at all and, consequently, needs no candle. Indeed,
   its endless day is independent of the sun, itself, "for the Glory of
   God did lighten it and the Lamb is the Light thereof." Conveniences for
   worship are terribly needed in many of our great cities and it is a
   good work to erect temples in which worshippers may assemble. But,
   speaking paradoxically, Heaven is well-supplied in this respect,
   because of an utter absence, both of the need of such places and of the
   places themselves!

   "I saw no temple therein," for, indeed, the whole place is a temple!
   And every street is, in the highest sense, hallowed ground. O blessed
   place, where we shall not need to enter into our closet to worship our
   Father who is in Heaven, but shall, in the open street, behold the
   unveiled vision of God! O blessed time, when there shall be no
   Sabbaths, but one endless Sabbath! O joy of joys when there shall be no
   breaking up of happy congregations, but where the general assembly and
   Church of the Firstborn shall be met for an everlasting service and
   spend it all in glorifying God!

   Cities on earth should, more and more, strive after purity. I am glad
   that more attention is being paid to cleanliness. Too long has the age
   of filth made the crowded populations the prey of disease and death. Up
   yonder in Heaven the sanitary measures are perfection, for, "there
   shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatever
   works abomination or makes a lie." There, every inhabitant is without
   fault before the Throne of God, having neither spot nor wrinkle! There,
   everything healthy, everything holy and the thrice Holy One, Himself,
   is in their midst! As for the necessities under which glorified beings
   may be placed, we know but very little about them, but certainly, if
   they need to drink, there is the river of the Water of Life, clear as
   crystal! And if they require to eat, there are abundant fruits ripening
   each month upon that wondrous tree!

   All that saints can possibly need or desire will be abundantly
   supplied. No pining need or grim anxiety shall tempt them to ask the
   question, "What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or, with what
   shall we be clothed?" "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
   more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb
   which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them
   unto living fountains of waters." Nor is there merely provision made
   for bare necessities--their love of beauty is considered. The City,
   itself, shines "like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone,
   clear as crystal."

   And her glorious foundations are garnished with all manner of precious
   stones, insomuch that her Light, as seen afar by the nations, gladdens
   them and attracts them to her. A city whose streets are lined with
   trees laden with luscious fruits must be lovely beyond all expression!
   They said of the earthly Jerusalem, "Beautiful for situation, the joy
   of the whole earth is Mount Zion." But what shall we say of you, O
   Jerusalem above? Zion! Zion! Our happy home where our Father dwells!
   Where Jesus manifests His love! Where so many of our Brothers and
   Sisters have wended their happy way, to which our steps are evermore
   directed! Blessed are the men that stand in your streets and worship
   within your gates! When shall we, also, behold your fitness and drink
   of the river of your pleasures?

   Thus in all respects the new Jerusalem is furnished. Even with medicine
   it is supplied and though we might suppose it to be no more needed, yet
   it is a joy to perceive that it is there to prevent all maladies in
   those whom before it has healed. Leaves for health are plentiful,
   above, and therefore the inhabitant shall no more say, "I am sick." As
   everything good is present, our text hints that nothing ill is there.
   One of the worst ills that can happen to a man is sickness, for, if he
   is suffering from disease, his gold is cold and cheerless metal. If he
   is languishing, the light is dark in his tabernacle. If he pines away
   with pain, he cannot enjoy his food--neither is beauty any longer fair
   to him.

   But there can be no sickness in Heaven because the Tree of life bestows
   immortal health on all beneath its shade! Its leaves extract a balmy
   influence, fostering the vigor of immortality! Sickness and suffering
   are banished by this Tree of Life. "There shall be no more death,
   neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for
   the former things are passed away." As need is banished, as darkness is
   unknown, as infirmity is shut out, as anxiety and doubt and fear and
   dread are far away, so will all bodily and spiritual disease be forever
   removed!

   It is, in Heaven, according to our text, again, that there grows the
   tree which is not only health to Heaven, but which brings healing to
   the nations here below. Heaven is the abode of Jesus and Jesus is the
   Tree of Life. If any man would be healed of the guilt of sin, he must
   look to the eternal merits of the Lamb slain from before the foundation
   of the world, who is now upon the Throne of God! If any man would be
   saved from daily temptation and trial, he must look to our Advocate in
   Glory who intercedes for us and pleads that, when sifted as wheat, our
   faith may not fail! If any of us would be saved from spiritual death we
   must look to Jesus, for He lives at the right hand of the Father--and
   because He lives, we shall also live.

   "He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,
   seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them." I say that Jesus
   Christ, my Lord and Master, is in Heaven and is there comparable to a
   tree planted in the very center of the City! Under His broad shadow,
   the redeemed delight to sit, and His leaves, as they are wafted down to
   earth, bring health with them! If we would be healed, we must gather
   those leaves and apply them to the wounds and bruises of our souls and
   we shall surely recover. Look upward, then, by means of the Scripture
   before us, to Heaven, and see it full of every good! See it purged of
   every evil and see in it the great conduit Head, from which abundant
   streams of healing flow down to men below!

   II. Now let us come practically to the text IN REFERENCE TO OURSELVES
   BELOW. "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
   There is, then, an abundance of healing power in Jesus Christ and His
   salvation. Not only

   is His fruit sweet and nourishing, but the leaves, the little things,
   as it were, about Christ, are full of healing virtue. We will begin our
   meditation upon the truth of the text by noticing that all the nations
   are sick. Leaves are provided for their healing which would be
   superfluous if they did not require to be healed.

   We have, in our time, heard great talk about discovering pure,
   unsophisticated tribes, beautiful in native innocence, untainted with
   the vices of civilization. But it has turned out to be all talk.
   Travelers have penetrated into the heart of Africa and they have found
   these naked innocents--but they have turned out to be "hateful and
   hating one another." Voyagers have landed upon lovely islets of the sea
   and found unsophisticated innocents eating each other! They have gone
   into the backwoods and discovered--

   "The poor Indian, whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds, and hears
   Him in the wind," but they have found him cunning as a fox and cruel as
   a wolf. Though Pope tells us that the true God is--

   "Father all in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage,
   and by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord,"

   yet we find neither sages nor savages so worshipping unless the Gospel
   has instructed them! No, the savage nations have been found so morally
   sick that their customs have shocked humanity and men have turned from
   them with horror! Alas, poor human nature, even apart from the many
   evil inventions of civilization, your disease is terrible!

   Neither have nations been delivered from the dread malady of sin by
   refinement and culture. They tell us a great deal about the wonderful
   perfection of the ancient Greeks and, certainly, they did understand
   how to draw the human form. And for delineating physical grace and
   beauty, we cannot rival their sculptors. But when we come to look at
   the Greek moral form, how graceless and uncomely! The ordinary morals
   of a Greek were too horrible to be described. When Paul felt it
   absolutely necessary to speak of them, he was obliged to write that
   terrible first chapter of Romans, which no man can read without a
   blush, or close without a sigh that such an indictment was so sadly
   just.

   God forbid that the filthiness which the ancients tolerated should ever
   be revived among us, their very sages were not clear from unmentionable
   crimes! The Hindus and Chinese, those polished nations of modern times,
   do they excel? Is it not a fact that India reeks with lasciviousness
   which will not endure to be thought upon? Ah, Lord God, you know! All
   the nations need healing, our own among them! If you doubt it, open
   your eyes and ears. Do not iniquities abound? Are not profanities to be
   heard in our very streets? Go to the west end and see its fashionable
   sin, or to the east end and see its more open wickedness!

   Or stay on this side the Thames and mark the degradation of thousands!
   Overwhelming evidence will come before you to show that our nation
   needs healing if you traverse the streets beneath the pale light of the
   moon, or even pass the doors of those haunts of gaiety which have, of
   late, been so enormously multiplied. And all individuals in every
   nation need healing. It is not that some of us are sick and some whole
   by nature--we are altogether fallen--and all of us born in sin! The
   evil is in our nature from the very beginning and nothing within the
   reach of mere man can purge away the evil, let him dream as he may!

   There is but one cure for the nations--the leaves of the tree. There
   grows no healing herb but the one plant of renown. There is one sacred
   Fountain, to wash, therein, is health--there is but one, it was opened
   on Calvary! There is one great Physician who lays His hands on men and
   they are restored--there is but one! Those who pretend that their hands
   can minister salvation, and that drops of water from their fingers can
   bring regeneration are accursed! No, there is no balm in Gilead, there
   is no physician there, the balm is at the Cross! The Physician is at
   the right hand of God!

   Jesus is pictured, here, as a blessed tree whose leaves heal the
   nations. Now the point of the text is this, that the very leaves are
   healing, from which I gather that the least thing about Christ is
   healing. It is said of the blessed man in the first Psalm, "His leaf,
   also, shall not wither." God takes care of the little things, the
   trifles, of Believers, and here, of our Lord, it is said, "The leaves
   are for the healing of the nations." That is to say, even His common
   things, His lower blessings of Divine Grace are full of virtue!

   Many know but very little about Jesus Christ, but if they believe on
   Him, that little heals them! How very few of us know much of our Lord.
   Some only know that He came into the world to save sinners. I wish that
   they knew more, so that they could feed upon the fruits of the Tree of
   Life. But even to know that is salvation to them, for the leaves heal
   the

   nations! Do you know yourself a sinner? Will you have Christ to be a
   Savior? Soul, will you rely upon His precious blood to make expiation
   for your sin? Then, though you have not yet reached up to the golden
   apples, yet since a leaf has fallen upon you, it will save you!

   The touch of His hand opened deaf ears! The spit of His lips
   enlightened blind eyes! The look of His eyes softened hard hearts. The
   least fragment of this Sovereign remedy has Omnipotence in it! We may
   also learn that the most humble and most timid faith in Jesus Christ
   will save. It is a grand thing to believe in Jesus Christ with all your
   heart, soul and strength. It is delightful never to doubt, but to go
   from strength to strength until you come to full assurance of
   understanding. But if you cannot thus mount up with wings as eagles,
   you will be saved if you come limping to Jesus! If you have but a
   mustard-seed of faith, you are saved! She who in the great crowd
   touched but the hem of the Savior's garment found that virtue flowed
   out of Him and came to her. Pluck a leaf of this Tree by your poor
   trembling faith and if you dare not take more than that, yet shall it
   make you whole!

   Beloved, after we have been saved from our sin by faith in Jesus
   Christ, it is very wonderful how everything about Christ will help to
   purge the blood, which as yet is not cleansed. Study His example and as
   you look at the lovely traits of His Character--His gentleness and yet
   His boldness, His consecration to our cause and His zeal for the Glory
   of God-- you will find, as you value His excellences, they will
   exercise a curative power over you. You will be ashamed to be selfish,
   you will be ashamed to be idle, you will be ashamed to be proud when
   you see what Jesus was! Study Him and you will grow like He.

   If we take His precepts, and I hope we prize them as highly as we do
   His doctrines, there is not a command of our Lord but what possesses a
   sacred power, by the application of the Holy Spirit, to cure some fault
   or other of our character. Do as He bids you and you shall be made
   whole! Why, there is not a Word that ever fell from those dear lips but
   what bears healing in it for some one or other of the thousand ills
   that have befallen our humanity! It is a sweet thing to get even a
   broken text from His mouth. His least Words are better than the best of
   others! Lay a Word from him, like a grain of medicine, upon your tongue
   and keep it there all day--with what a flavor it fills the mouth! How
   sweetly it perfumes the breath!

   It is a grand thing to bind a promise round your arm--how strong it
   makes each sinew! How forceful for the battle of life. It is a blessed
   thing to take His cheering words, which are as fragrant as "a cluster
   of camphire," and carry them in your bosom, for they chase away sadness
   and inspire dauntless courage. A word of His, being His, and recognized
   as His and coming home to the heart as His, brings healing to head and
   heart, conscience and imagination, desire and affection! A leaf of the
   Tree of Life is a medicine fitted to raise the dead! Do you not know
   its power by a joyful experience? Blessed be God, some of us know it
   right well, and can bear glad witness to its matchless power!

   Then, too, this medicine heals all sorts of diseases. The text puts it,
   "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." It does
   not say of this or that malady, but by its silence it teaches us that
   the medicine is universal in its curative power. Take this medicine,
   then, dear Friends, to any man, whoever he may be, and let it be
   applied by the Spirit of God, and it will heal him of whatever disease
   he has because the Gospel strikes at the root of all diseases. Truly it
   exercises power over all the different branches of the upas tree of
   evil, but it does so by laying the axe at the root, for it deals with
   sin, the sin of unbelief, the sin of not loving God. No medicine can
   ever heal all maladies unless it eradicates the root of the evil and
   creates a fountain of health.

   Now, the Gospel applied by the Spirit of God is radical. It goes to the
   root of the matter, operates upon the heart and purifies the issues of
   life. Human precepts and methods of morality lop the branches, but
   leave the trunk of the deadly tree untouched--but this cuts the taproot
   and tears away the evil growth from beneath the soil! For this cause it
   is able to remove all diseases. This medicine heals disease because it
   searches into the innermost nature. Some medicines are only for the
   skin--others will only touch a few organs and those not vital. But the
   leaves of the Gospel Tree, when taken as medicine, penetrate the mind
   and search the heart. Their searching operations divide between the
   joints and the marrow, and discern the thoughts and intents of the
   heart.

   A wondrous medicine is this! It searches the soul through and through
   and never ceases its operations till it has purged the entire manhood
   of every relic of sin and made it completely clean. Lord, give us these
   leaves! Lord, give us these leaves continually! Create in us a clean
   heart and renew a right spirit within us. "Behold, You desire truth in
   the inward parts: and in the hidden part You shall make me to know
   wisdom." But this can never be unless You give us to

   drink of this most potent medicine! These leaves prevent the recurrence
   of disease by enabling the man, from then on, to find good in all that
   comes to him. A person diseased, if healed, may, by the food which he
   shall afterwards receive, bring on the disease again.

   Place a man under certain conditions which cause him an illness--you
   may heal him--but if you lead him back to those conditions, he may soon
   be ailing again. And here, in such a world as this, even if Christ
   healed us today, we should be sick to death tomorrow if the medicine
   had not some wondrous continuance of power. And so it is! For all
   things that come to us after conversion are changed, because we are
   changed. All things work together for good to them that love God, to
   them that are the called according to His purpose. Have we earthly joy?
   We no longer idolize it, but it now points us to God, the Giver. Have
   we earthly sorrow? We dare not despair because of it, for we know who
   has ordained

   it!

   Why should a child of God complain who knows that there is love in
   every chastening stroke of his Father's rod? What we once called good
   is now really good to us! What we called ill is no longer ill to us,
   for the leaves of the Tree of Life are an Infallible antidote. What
   would have been our poison is now our food, and what might have
   destroyed us, now builds us up! This wondrous medicine abides in the
   system as a source of health. "The water that I shall give him shall be
   in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." Other
   medicine taken into the system acts in its own manner and that is an
   end of it, but this stays. These healing leaves change the life blood,
   affect the spirits and make the nature other than it was before. Yonder
   in Heaven, those faces which look so bright and comely, fresher than
   new born babes, owe their freshness to these healing leaves! And so
   until the Glory life begins, the abiding power of the healing leaves
   keeps the soul of the Believer in perpetual health and will keep him
   so, world without end!

   I have shown that the leaves will heal all diseases. I will occupy a
   minute with the glad Truth of God that these leaves heal whole nations.
   They are suited to the peculiarities of differing nations. The Gospel
   has never been carried to a people who did not need it, or whom it did
   not suit. It has been found equally applicable to the ignorant
   Hottentot and the subtle Hindu. No man has been found too degraded for
   its operation, nor too civilized for its benefits. The Gospel has such
   abundant power that it heals nations and, "nations," is a large word,
   comprehending millions! But the leaves of this tree can heal countless
   armies of men, and it will--

   "...Never lose its power

   Till all the ransomed Church of God

   Are sa ved to sin no more."

   It is a happy circumstance that an agent of such potency is diffusible
   by the simplest means. A medicine consisting of leaves may be carried
   by the apothecary where he wills--it is no cumbrous matter. So may we
   carry the Gospel to the utmost ends of the earth--and we will carry it
   and send it to every habitation! The winds shall waft it, the waves
   shall bear it wherever man is found. These leaves are not cumbrous like
   the stage properties of Popery, but are readily scattered, and wherever
   they go, no climate injures them. The cold of Greenland has not been
   too severe to prevent the Greenlander rejoicing in the Savior's blood!
   And the heat of the torrid zone has not been too intense to prevent
   Believers from rejoicing in the Sun of Righteousness. No, Beloved, the
   Gospel heals nations wherever the nations may be and readily heals them
   of the direst miseries and the blackest crimes.

   It is the cure for poverty, by making men wise and economical. It is
   the cure for slavery, teaching men to love their fellows and respect
   the rights of all. It is the cure for drunkenness, weaning the drunk
   from his filthy appetite, saving him from the spell which binds him.
   The Gospel is the only preventive for war. We shall need no blood-red
   soldiery when once the warriors of the Cross have won the day! This is
   the cure for those foul evils which are the curse of our social
   economies, which human laws too often increase instead of remove. This
   shall purge us from every form of knavery, rebellion and discontent,
   and this only. God grant that its healing influences drop upon the
   nations thick as leaves in Val-lambrosa, till that golden age shall
   dawn in which the world shall be the abode of moral health!

   I must remind you, before I pass from this, and it is a very sweet
   thing to remind you of, that this medicine is given and appointed for
   the very purpose of healing. I draw your attention to this for the
   comfort of any who feel their sickness this morning--"The leaves of the
   tree were for the healing of the nations." You look up to this Tree and
   say, "I am sick at heart. I know that here is my cure, but may I dare
   to partake of it?" Partake freely, for the Tree was planted on purpose
   for you! In the eternal purpose and decree of God, Christ was given to
   heal the nations. In actual fulfillment He has

   healed nations--many nations already enjoy a partial health because
   multitudes of individuals in those nations have been healed.

   Great works have been done in the Isles of the Sea. When I think of
   England, and of the gems of the Southern Sea, and of Madagascar, the
   Lord seems to have a peculiar favor towards the isles, for in the
   islands the Gospel has spread more abundantly then elsewhere--"Let the
   multitude of the isles be glad thereof." The Tree is planted with
   intent that its leaves should heal--you need not, then, hesitate and
   enquire, "May I be healed?" It grows for the sick! Are you sick? It
   grows for you! The other day I was thirsty and passed a drinking
   fountain. I never paused to ask whether I might drink, for I knew it
   was placed there for the thirsty, and being thirsty, I drank.

   Who hesitates, for a moment, when he is in a lonely spot upon the beach
   and finds that there is health in every billow, to strip himself and
   plunge into the wave? Does he ask if he may? Surely God has spread the
   ocean that man may bathe! If I want to breathe, being in the air, I ask
   no man's liberty to breathe, nor do I sigh for God's leave, either, for
   did not He give me liberty when He gave me lungs and bade the breezes
   blow? Since you see Christ before you, Brothers and Sisters, take
   Christ! You need not ask any man's liberty, nor pine for Divine
   permission! Has He not said, "Whoever will, let him take of the water
   of life freely"? He bids you receive! He commands you to believe and He
   threatens you if you do not! He says to His servants--"Compel them to
   come in." And as to those who refuse to come, He says, "He that
   believes not shall be damned." What fuller leave or license can be
   imagined?

   These words to close with. Are you sick this morning? Take these leaves
   freely! Are you very sick? The more the reason you should take them!
   You are sinful. Past guilt troubles you--take the leaves again and
   again. Worse than that, tendencies to evil afflict you. You want to be
   rid of them--feed on the purging leaves as long as you live and they
   will prove an antidote! You need not think that you will exhaust the
   merit or power of Christ, for if the fruit is described as coming 12
   times in the year, how abundant must the leaves be? There is enough in
   Christ for every sin-sick sinner! If the sinner does but come to Jesus,
   he shall find no stint in Jesus' healing power! Though the sick soul is
   full of leprosy, the Savior is full of Grace. Put forth your finger,
   Sister, and touch the hem of Jesus' garment now! Lift your eyes,
   Sinner, look to Christ on the Cross! Though He seems far away from you,
   there is life in a glance, however dim the eyes or distant the view.
   Come to this Tree--its very leaves will heal you!

   Last of all, are you healed? Well, then, scatter these leaves! Are you
   saved? Speak of Jesus Christ to everybody! I wish you to teach others a
   whole Christ, if you can. I desire, always, to make my ministry like
   Simeon's action when he took the Redeemer altogether into his arms, and
   said, "Lord, now let You Your servant depart in peace." There was a
   long span of time between Simeon, with the Son of the Highest in his
   arms, and the woman who touched the hem of the Master's garment--yet
   both have gone to Heaven--and there is a good span of time between the
   Christian who can embrace a whole Christ, and a poor timid one who can
   only tremblingly hope in Him.

   If you cannot tell others all about Christ, and give them the fruit of
   the Tree, go and give them the leaves! And one very convenient way of
   doing so is that which you may help today, by aiding the Religious
   Tract Society, the friend of us all, on whose behalf I will add a word
   or two. "The leaves of the tree"--that is to say, even little portions
   and single pages about Christ will do good. It is a rule of the Tract
   Society that every tract shall have enough of Christ in it to save a
   soul if God shall bless it. Do not despise a mere leaf, or, as you say,
   "a leaflet," for if Christ is in it, it is a leaf of the Tree and He
   will bless it. Scatter, then, the Gospel leaflets!

   Perhaps you have not the means to distribute Bibles and larger
   books--cover, then, your pathway with tracts! Large portions of our
   country still need wide distributions of tracts and all the world
   outside our country needs the Gospel, and needs the Gospel in the
   printed form. Scatter the leaves! Let them fall as thickly as leaves
   descend in the last days of autumn. Scatter them everywhere, since they
   are for the healing of the nations! The Tract Society, however, not
   only provides us with very excellent tracts, but it brings out books
   upon common subjects written in a religious tone. And this class of
   literature I hope will be multiplied, because people will not always
   read books on religious topics, but will read works on other
   subjects--and when these are written in a religious spirit they will
   exercise the most healthful influence.

   These books are not exactly the fruits of the life-giving Tree, but
   they are leaves, and Life is in them. I am glad to see the Society
   bringing out pictures to hang on cottage walls and little illustrative
   texts done in colors, and the like, for anything about Christ will do
   good. It is wonderful how a little thing may save a soul, if Christ is
   in it. "A verse may

   strike him from whom a sermon flees," and a picture on a wall may
   awaken a train of thought in a man who would not listen to that same
   thought if spoken in words.

   Remember Colonel Gardiner and his remarkable conversion by looking at a
   picture of Christ upon the Cross. While waiting to fulfill an
   engagement of the most infamous kind, he saw a picture of our dying
   Lord, and under it written--"I did all this for you, what have you ever
   done for Me?" The engagement was never kept and the colonel became a
   brave soldier for Jesus Christ. Possibly we may not think well of
   representations of the crucifixion, which is a theme beyond the
   painters' art, but there can be no question that it is our duty to set
   forth Christ among the people by our speech, so that he may be seen by
   their mind's eye, evidently crucified among them.

   Make the passing throng see the Gospel in every corner of the streets
   if you can. Paste up texts of Scripture among business announcements!
   Hang them up in your kitchens, in your parlors and in your drawing
   rooms. I hate to see Christian men hang up abominable Popish things, as
   they sometimes do, because they happen to be works of art. Burn every
   one of such artful works, whether prints or paintings! I would take the
   hammer and administer it with an iconoclastic zeal on all images and
   pictures of saints and virgins, and the like, which do but tempt men to
   idolatry!

   Do not degrade your houses by anything which insults your God, but let
   your adornments be such as may lead men's thoughts aright. And never
   let a man say, in Hell, "I was misled by a work of art on your wall
   which was also a work of the devil and suggested evil thoughts."
   Everywhere bring Christ to the front and scatter His Words, like leaves
   from the tree. If you cannot do more, do this and show your gratitude
   to your Lord.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Rerelation 21,22:1-5. HYMNS
   FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--145, 867, 539.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Final Separation

   (No. 1234)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate
   them, one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the
   goats." Matthew 25:32.

   JESUS Christ, the man of Nazareth, who is also the Son of God, was
   crucified, dead and buried, and the third day He rose again from the
   dead. After He had showed Himself to His disciples for 40
   days--sometimes to one alone, at other times to two or three together,
   and on one occasion to above 500 Brethren at once--He ascended into
   Heaven. From the Mount Olivet, from the midst of His disciples, He rose
   into mid air and, by-and-by, a cloud received Him out of their sight.
   That same Jesus who is gone into Heaven shall so come in like manner as
   He was seen to go up into Heaven. That is to say, in Person, in His own
   risen body. The same Christ who rose into the skies will, in the latter
   day, surely descend again. The time of His coming is not revealed to
   us--"Of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels of
   God," but the time is certainly growing nearer every day, and we cannot
   tell when the hour shall be.

   We are told that He will come quickly. It seems a long time since that
   was said, even 1,800 years, but we remember that things which are slow
   with us, may be very quick with the Lord, for one day with the Lord is
   as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. It is not for us
   to know the times and the seasons. They remain hidden in the purpose of
   God. For excellent reasons these times and seasons are unrevealed, that
   we may be always on the watchtower, not knowing at what hour the Lord
   Jesus may be revealed.

   To the ungodly world He will come as a thief in the night and take them
   unaware. But we, Brothers and Sisters, are not in darkness that that
   day should overtake us as a thief. Being children of the day, we are
   taught to be wakeful, and standing in the clear light, with our loins
   girt, we ought to be always looking for our Master's appearing. Always
   are we to be watching, never sleeping. Our text tells us that as one
   result of His coming there will be a general judgement. I am not going,
   tonight, to try and arrange the other events which will happen at the
   Lord's coming.

   It is probably true that at His coming there will be, first of all, a
   resurrection and rewarding of His saints, a dividing of the 10 cities
   and the five cities, according to the faithfulness of those who were
   entrusted with talents. And at the close of that period will come that
   last tremendous day of which Prophets and Apostles have spoken--

   "The day that many thought should never come; That all the wicked
   wished should never come; That all the righteous had expected long; Day
   greatly feared, and yet too little feared By him who feared it most."

   A day of fear and wrath! A day of destruction of the ungodly! A testing
   day to all mankind! A day which shall burn as an oven! We may
   tremblingly say of it, "Who may abide the day of His coming, and who
   shall stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like
   fuller's soap."

   At that day when Christ shall come He shall judge all nations. There
   will be gathered before Him not only the Jews, to whom the Law was
   given, but the Gentiles, also. Not merely those nations who for many an
   age have heard the Gospel, but those to whom it shall then have been
   but lately published, for the kingdom of God must be published
   throughout all nations as a testimony against them. Everywhere Christ
   will have been preached and, then, from all regions, men shall be
   summoned to stand before Him. Remember, not merely all the living
   nations, but all the nationalities that have passed away.

   There shall rise from the dead the hosts that perished before the flood
   and those, also, who were drowned amid its awful surges. There, too,
   shall appear the myriads that followed at the call of Nimrod, the
   swarms of the sons of Japheth who divided the isles of the Gentiles,
   and the hordes that marched to battle at the command of the kings of
   Assyria and

   Babylon. The dead of Egypt shall rise from their beds of spices, or
   from the earth with which their dust has mingled. The tens of thousands
   shall be there over whom Xerxes wept when he remembered how soon they
   would all pass away. The Greek and the Persian, these, shall rise, and
   the Roman, too, and all the hordes of Huns and Goths that swarmed like
   bees from the northern hives. They all passed into the unknown land,
   but they are not lost--they shall each answer to the muster roll in the
   Great Day of the Lord.

   The earth, which is now becoming more and more a graveyard, shall yield
   up her dead and the sea, itself, transformed into a solid pavement,
   shall bear upon its bosom the lonely ones who today lie asleep in her
   gloomy caverns. All of woman born shall come forth from the prolific
   womb of the sepulcher--myriads, myriads countless as the drops of the
   morning, or as the sands of the sea shore. Multitudes, multitudes shall
   be gathered together in the valley of decision! Their bones shall come
   together and breath shall enter their bodies anew, and they shall live
   once more. Long as they have slept in the tomb, they shall all rise
   with one impulse and start up with one thought--to appear before their
   Judge.

   The Great White Throne shall be set on high, all pure and lustrous,
   bright and clear like a sapphire, as one vast mirror in which man shall
   see himself and his sins reflected--and on that Throne shall sit the
   Son of Man. That same Jesus who was nailed to the tree and rose to
   Heaven shall sit upon the Judgement Seat, appointed to determine the
   cases of all mankind of every age. What an assemblage! No imagination
   can compass it. Far as the eyes can see--yes, far as the eagle's pinion
   can soar--the earth shall be covered with men like a field with grass
   in the springtide! And there will they all stand with the Judge upon
   the Great White Throne as the common center of observation, for every
   eye shall see Him, and they, also, that crucified Him. And all the
   kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.

   It will be a motley throng, as you may well imagine, but the Shepherd,
   the great Shepherd, the Judge, Himself, shall divide them. That
   division will be the one work of the Judgement Day. He will divide them
   as readily and unerringly as a shepherd divides his sheep from the
   goats. Your business, tonight, shall be to draw the attention of each
   one to that division, that each of you may enquire what will be the
   result of it upon himself. I have thought it over on my own account,
   and desire to think of it, still. I would bid my mind fly into the
   future and see, for a moment, "the pomp of that tremendous day when
   Christ, with clouds, shall come."

   I would anticipate the verdict of that hour and I would think of the
   dread alternative of Heaven or Hell. I pray we may all think of it and,
   especially you who are unprepared for it, that you may at once fly to
   Him whose blood and righteousness, alone, can make you hold up your
   head in that tremendous hour. Three things we shall speak about--the
   first is the division. The second is the Divider. And the third is the
   rule of the division.

   I. The first, then, is THE DIVISION. "Before Him shall be gathered all
   nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
   divides his sheep from the goats." That is to say, first, they shall be
   divided into two parts--His sheep and the goats. There shall be two
   positions--He shall put His sheep on the right hand, but the goats on
   the left. Is there no place for a third party? No, for the simple
   reason that there will, then, be no third class. And there will, then,
   be none for this reason--that there never was a third class!

   I know there are some here, tonight, who dare not say they believe in
   Jesus, but they would not like to be put down among the ungodly. Yet I
   pray you remember that there are but two books--and in one or the other
   of those two your name must stand recorded by the hand of God--for
   there is no third book. There is the Lamb's Book of Life and if your
   name is there, happy are you! If it is not there, your sins still stand
   recorded in the book which contains the condemning evidence which will
   seal the death warrants of unbelievers.

   Listen to me! There are in this world, nowhere, any other sort of
   people beside those who are dead in sin and those who are alive unto
   God. There is no state between! A man either lives or is dead! You
   cannot find a neutral condition. A man may be in a swoon, or he may be
   asleep, but he is alive--there is no state that is not within the
   boundary of either life or death! Is not this clear enough? There is no
   state between being converted and unconverted--between being quickened
   and being dead in sin. There is no condition between being pardoned and
   having our sins upon us. There is no state between dwelling in darkness
   and being brought into marvelous light.

   One or the other must always be our condition--and this is the great
   folly of mankind in all times--that they will dream of a middle state
   and try to loiter in it. It was for this cause that the old Prophet,
   standing on Carmel's brow, said, "How long halt you between two
   opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, follow him." And
   it is for this reason that we have constantly to call the attention of
   mankind to the great declaration of the Gospel--"He that be-

   lieves and is baptized shall be saved: he that believes not shall be
   damned." God has given to the preacher two hands, that he may set the
   people on each side and deal out the Truth of God to two characters and
   no more. Be not deceived about it, you are either on the way to Heaven
   or on the road to Hell.

   There is no "purgatory" or middle condition in the next world.
   "Purgatory" is an invention of the Pope for the filling of his cellar
   and his pantry--and no more profitable speculation has ever been set
   than the saying of masses and the robbing of dupes under the pretence
   of altering that state which is fixed forever! Purgatory Pick-Purse was
   the name the first Reformers gave it. But you will go to Heaven or to
   Hell--and you will remain in one place or the other--for you have
   either a character that is fit for Heaven or a character that is fit
   for Hell. There is no character which can be supposed, if we understand
   the Scriptures correctly, which would be fit for a middle place. And
   neither is there any middle place prepared for it. "He shall separate
   them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:
   and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the
   left." The human flock will be divided into two companies.

   Observe, next, that they will be divided readily. It is not everybody
   that could divide sheep from goats. I suppose, according to your
   ordinary judgement of goats, you could very readily tell them from
   sheep. But one who has traveled in the East and even in Italy, knows
   that it takes somewhat tutored eyes to know a certain kind of goat from
   a certain kind of sheep. They are extremely like each other--the wool
   of some sheep in a warm climate becomes so like hair and the hair of a
   kind of goat is so much like wool, that a traveler scarcely knows which
   is which--but a shepherd who has lived among them knows the difference
   well.

   So in this world, it is easy enough to tell the sinner from the saint
   in some cases--you need no great wit to discern the characters of the
   grossly dishonest, the drunk, the debauched, the Sabbath-breaker, the
   profane. You know that they have no part among the people of God, for
   they bear upon themselves the ensigns of the children of the Evil
   One--the immoral are easily separated from the pure in heart. But
   inside the Church there are a number of persons who have so much about
   them that looks good and yet so much that is terribly inconsistent,
   that we are quite unable to discover which is their true nature!

   Thank God we are not called upon to judge them, nor even allowed to do
   so. The most experienced pastor must scarcely attempt to do so.
   Certainly, if he feels so much trouble about the matter that he takes
   it to his Lord and asks for directions as to how to deal with these
   tares, he will be told to let them grow on till harvest time, lest in
   rooting up the tares he should root up, also, the wheat with them. I
   talked, today, to a certain good man who labors hard among the poor in
   the East end. He said, "We have a great number who profess to be
   converted, but," he said, "I do not think that much more than one in
   five actually stay and turn out to be really so.

   "But," he said, "we have no trouble about them in the Church--no such
   trouble as you would be likely to have with your people, because," he
   said, "among the class of people who go to the Tabernacle there is a
   feeling that it is right to go to the House of God at least once on the
   Sabbath, if not twice. And if persons join the Church, there, they
   will, from habit. continue to attend. But," he said, "the moment a man
   of the poorest class ceases to be a Christian in heart, he ceases, at
   the same time, to attend the public services, because there is no
   fashion to keep him up to it. And so he follows his own tastes, stops
   at home and loafs about, and in all probability gets drunk, or falls
   into some other of the common vices of his class, and he is sifted off
   at once."

   In such cases the classes are easily separated. But among a more
   respectable class of people, who do not drink and who observe the
   Sabbath, you will have a number of people who remain in the Church,
   though they have no secret piety, no real love to Christ, no private
   prayer and, therefore, there is all the more danger. Now, dear Friends,
   what we cannot do, and must not try to do, Jesus Christ will do easily
   enough. The Shepherd, when He comes, will soon separate His sheep from
   the goats. His eyes of fire will read each heart. The hypocrites in the
   Church will tremble in a moment-- instinctively reading the meaning of
   that glance, as Christ, will, by that glance say to them, "What are you
   doing, here, among My people?"

   Remember, that as the division will be made readily it will be made
   Infallibly, that is to say, there will not be found among the goats one
   poor trembling sheep left to be driven off with the unclean herd. When
   Christ says, "Depart, you cursed," He will not say that to one sincere
   but feeble soul. Ah no, you may condemn yourself, but if you really
   have a living faith, the Lord will not condemn you. You may often be
   afraid that He will bid you depart, but He will not. No

   lamb of His flock shall be among the goats! The whole company of His
   redeemed shall be safely gathered into their eternal mansions--

   "Lord, those shall bear that day, so dread, so splendid, Whose sins
   are, by Your merits covered over, Who when Your hand of mercy was
   extended, Believed, obeyed, and owned Your gracious power; These,
   mighty God, shall see without dismay The earth and Hea ven before them
   pass away!" The sword cuts the other way, too, and therefore be sure of
   this, that there will be no goat allowed to enter the pastures of the
   blessed among the sheep! No unconverted graceless person will follow
   the Great Shepherd to those living fountains, above, which afford
   eternal draughts of bliss to the purchased flock. Though the sinner may
   have led a sort of outwardly consistent life for 40 or 50 years. Though
   he may have preached the Gospel and done many wonderful works, yet
   Christ will say to him, "I never knew you." He will not be able to keep
   on his sheep's clothing, then, or bleat any longer in sheep
   fashion--Christ will know him under whatever disguise he may wear! He
   will find him out and drive him to his own place, so that not a single
   one of the accursed shall enter into the city with the blessed. It will
   be an Infallible judgment! There is, therefore, good reason that we are
   prepared for it. There is no bribing or deceiving the Judge and no
   avoiding His tribunal. Oh, be ready to face that eye which will read
   you through and through!

   That division, when it shall take place, let me further beg you to
   remember, will be very keen and sharp. Think it over, think it over,
   for some of you may have to smart through it. Two men shall be in the
   field, one shall be taken and the other left. There were two laborers
   who worked together, they had guided the same plow and driven the same
   oxen, but the one shall be upon the right hand and the other on the
   left. Two carpenters at the same bench had handled the same hammer and
   the same plane, but one shall be taken and the other left. Two had
   served in one shop at the same counter with the same goods--and one
   shall be taken and the other left--they were familiar acquaintances and
   old shop mates, but one shall rejoice to hear the welcome "Come," and
   the other shall tremble as he receives the dread sentence, "Depart."

   Alas, the division will come closer home, still. Two women shall be in
   one house--the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall
   be grinding at the mill, that is, engaged about the household duties,
   grinding the morning's breakfast corn--one shall be taken and the other
   left. So you may be two servants in the same house, cook and housemaid,
   one saved and the other lost. Two sisters living together under the
   same roof, one brought into Glory and the other cast into shame. Two of
   you may be dwellers under the same roof, eating bread at the same
   table, drinking from the same cup and yet one of you shall feast at the
   eternal banquets and the other shall cry for a drop of water to cool
   their burning tongue! You would not like to be separated, but separated
   you must be.

   Alas, there will be a separation still more painful! Two shall be in
   one bed, the one shall be taken and the other left--the husband torn
   away from the wife--and the wife taken from her husband. Oh, there will
   be partings, there will be partings and, consequently there will be
   weeping, there will be weeping at the Judgement Seat of Christ! Not for
   the godly, for in them the glory of their Lord will swallow up all
   other thought, but for the Christless, the prayerless, the graceless.
   Oh, the wailing of the children, and the wailing of the women, and the
   wailing of the husbands, and the wailing of the fathers when their
   children are saved, or their parents are saved, or their husbands and
   wives are saved--and they themselves are cast out forever!--

   "O there will be mourning Before the Judgement Seat, When this world is
   burning Beneath Jeho vah's feet. Friends and kindred then shall part,
   Shall part to meet no more; Wrath consume the rebel's heart, While
   saints on high adore!"

   The separation will be agony, indeed, to the lost! I could scarcely
   have the heart to bid a man, "good-bye," if I knew that I should never
   see him again. The worst wish I could entertain concerning the worst
   enemy I ever had--though I do

   not know that I have one in the world--would not go so far as to say I
   wished I might never see him again. Since I hope I shall be where Jesus
   is, I should like to see him, be he who he may, and see him there among
   the blessed. But it must not be. It must not be if sinners will not
   repent of sin if they persist in rejecting Jesus Christ. Unless you
   believe in Jesus, the parting will be keen and cutting, dividing
   between joints and marrow, tearing asunder marriage ties and bonds of
   filial or parental affection--slaying all vain hopes forever. O
   impenitent souls, I could weep for you! If you are linked in blood
   relationship with the saints, it will not help you if you die
   unregenerate! Though you were bone of each other's bone, and flesh of
   each other's flesh, yet must you be separated unless you are one with
   Christ! I entreat you unregenerate ones to lay this to heart at once
   and trifle no longer!

   That division, dear Friends, remember, will be very wide as well as
   very keen, for the division will be such as will be represented in its
   distance by Heaven and by Hell--and what a distance is that! The
   distance between God and Satan! Between happiness and misery! Between
   Glory and everlasting contempt! Between infinite joy and boundless
   sorrow! Between songs and weeping! Between triumphs and wailing,
   feasting and gnashing of teeth! If the only division would be such as
   might arise from difference in degrees of Glory, (if such there is),
   one might still pine to have the companionship of our dear ones--but
   the difference is between Heaven and Hell--and Christ says of it that
   there is "a great gulf fixed" so that they that would pass from us to
   you cannot and neither can they come to us that would come from there.
   The distance will be wide as eternity, the separating gulf will be deep
   as the abyss and impassable as Hell.

   And, remember, the separation will be final. There is no flinging a
   bridge across that vast abyss. Damned spirits may look down into that
   dread gulf, into the unutterable blackness of its darkness, but they
   will never see a hope of crossing to the land of the blessed. The key
   is lost--they can never come out of the dungeon of despair. "Forever,
   forever, forever," is written upon the chain which binds the lost
   spirit! No hope of restoration was ever indulged by a man in Hell and
   it is idle to dream about it now. Of all figments of the imagination,
   it has the least support in Scripture. The lost sinner is forever
   separated from Jesus and from the disciples of Jesus, however near akin
   in the flesh those disciples may have been to him. Unalterable and
   eternal is the separation!

   Beloved, these are such weighty things that while I dwell upon them I
   feel far more inclined to sit down and weep than to stand up and speak
   to you. The theme causes me to feel the weakness of mere words and in a
   measure makes me lose the power of expression, for what if any ofyou
   should be lost forever? It was a touching thing to me, yesterday, when
   I saw a Sister in Christ who has been my hearer for many years. She
   told me that she was decided for Christ by my saying, when I went away
   last time, that perhaps I might never address you again and might find
   a grave in a foreign land. I felt that it might be so at the time I
   uttered the words, though I am glad that they have not been fulfilled.

   She thought, "Well, he has been preaching to me these many years, and
   if I die unconverted, I shall never see him again." And then it flashed
   across her mind, "How much worse to feel that I shall never see the
   King in His beauty! I shall never see the Savior!" And she was thus led
   by the Holy Spirit to give her heart to Jesus. Perhaps the Lord may use
   the thought of this separation to move some of you to say, "I will come
   to Jesus and I will rest in Him." O Lord, my God, grant it may be so,
   for Jesus' sake!

   II. We have spoken about the division. We will now have a few words
   about THE DIVIDER. "He shall separate them, one from another." Christ
   Jesus will be the Divider of the race of men into two parts and this I
   am glad to know, because, first of all, this will be the occasion of
   lasting, yes, of eternal joy to all the saints. No child of God will
   ever have a doubt in Heaven, but it is necessary that they begin their
   bliss with a very strong assurance of Divine Love, or else, I think,
   they might.

   Unless God had ordained the method at which the text hints, I could
   well imagine myself in Heaven saying to myself, after I had been there
   a little while, "Oh, can it be, can it be that I am here? I do remember
   the sin of such a day and the shortcomings of such an hour, and my
   murmurings, and my unbelief, and all my departures from my God, and am
   I here, after all?" I could imagine, if there had not been the means
   used to put an end to such a possibility, my saying, "Surely I am to
   taste this only for a moment that I may be driven to my due deserts,
   after all, that my Hell may be made the more terrible because I have
   seen what Heaven is, and that my hunger may grow the more intolerable
   because I have eaten of the bread of angels."

   If such a fear were possible, behold the answer to it. "He, the Judge,
   the Judge, the Judge, Himself, has said, 'Come, you blessed of My
   Father.'" That Judge cannot be mistaken, for He is Jesus the Infallible
   Son of God! God Himself has

   blessed His chosen and Jesus tells them so in the most plain
   terms--"Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
   for you." Since Jesus has decreed this everlasting happiness, the child
   of God cannot doubt throughout eternity! That voice will sound forever
   in his ears, sweeter than music of flute or harp or dulcimer! "Come,
   you blessed of My Father." Why, it will be the very basis of the bliss
   of Heaven to think, "Jesus bade me come. Who shall ask me the question,
   'How came you in here?' Did not He admit me? Who shall question my
   right to be here? Did not He say, 'Come, you blessed of My Father'?"

   Do you not see that it is a choice and comforting fact that we shall
   not divide ourselves at the last, nor shall an angel do it who might
   err, but the Divider will be Jesus, Himself, the Son of God! And,
   therefore, the Glory which He metes out to us will be most surely ours
   and we may enjoy it without fear. But then, note on the other hand,
   that this will increase the terror of the lost, that Christ will divide
   them. Christ, full of infinite Love, would He destroy a sinner unless
   it must be! He that would have saved Jerusalem and wept because it must
   be destroyed! The guilty city was resolved to perish, but as her Lord
   pronounced the sentence, He wept! When I hear of a judge putting on the
   black cap to condemn a man, I like to read in the papers, "The judge's
   voice faltered and he was evidently unable to suppress his emotion as
   he uttered the sentence of death."

   What right-minded man could be otherwise than moved when compelled to
   deliver his fellow creature to the gallows? But no judge on earth has
   such compassion for his fellow man as Jesus has for sinners! And when
   it comes to this, that He says, "I must do it, I must condemn you,"
   then, Sinner, it must be so, indeed! When Incarnate Love says, "Depart,
   you cursed," you must be cursed with an emphasis. You must be infamous
   beings, indeed, when He, whose lips drop blessings as lilies drop
   sweet-smelling myrrh--when He calls you so! There must be something
   very horrible about you that He should bid you, "depart." And, indeed,
   there is an abominable thing in you, for unbelief in God is the most
   horrible thing, even in Hell!

   Not to believe that God is Love is worthy of the utmost condemnation.
   You will have to say, if you are lost, "I was condemned by the most
   loving Judge that ever sat upon a judgement seat. The Christ that died
   lifted His pierced hands at the very moment when He said, 'Depart, you
   cursed!'" Yet there is something more, though this might be enough. If
   you should be lost, as God forbid you should, it will infinitely add to
   your terror to know that you were condemned by One who is infinitely
   Just. You will feel that the Christ who condemned you was the holiest
   of Men, in whom was no sin and, besides that, He is pure and perfect
   God, so that you will not be able to quibble at the sentence. Neither
   will there be any question about a new trial--your own conscience will
   make you feel that the decision is final, for it is just--and you will
   be too well assured of its reality and certainty, for He who will
   pronounce that sentence is the God of Truth. He said, "I am the way and
   the truth." You would not have Him for the way, but you will find Him
   to be "the truth." And when He pronounces you cursed, cursed you will
   be beyond all question!

   Once more, if He that condemns you is the Christ of God, you will know
   that He has power to carry out the sentence, for all power is given
   unto Him in Heaven and in earth, and the government shall be upon His
   shoulders. And if He says, "Depart into everlasting fire," into that
   fire you must go. If He declares that the fire shall never be quenched,
   depend upon it, it will burn on forever. And if He decrees that the
   worm shall never die, that worm will live and gnaw to all eternity, for
   He who gives forth the sentence is able to make it good. Remember how
   He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Heaven and earth shall pass
   away, but My Word shall never pass away"? Firmer than the rocks shall
   stand the irrevocable decree--"these shall go away into everlasting
   punishment and the righteous into life eternal." My soul trembles while
   I thus proclaim Jesus as the Judge whose awful voice divides the
   sinners from the saints.

   III. Lend me your ears but for a minute or two longer, while I notice,
   in the third place, THE RULE OF THE DIVISION. Did you notice where the
   division is made? It is very wonderful to notice--very wonderful,
   indeed! The great division between the sons of men is Christ. Here are
   the sheep--there are the goats. What separates them? Christ! He is the
   center! There is no great barrier set up, as it were, on that last
   tremendous day, but He, Himself is the division. He shall set the sheep
   on His right hand and the goats on His left.

   Now, that which parts us tonight into two portions is our relationship
   to Jesus Christ. On which side of Christ are you, tonight? I want you
   to question yourselves about that. If you are on His right hand, you
   are among His people. If you are not with Him, you are against Him, and
   so are on His left hand. That which parts the saint and the sinner is
   Christ. The moment a sinner comes to Christ he passes over to the other
   side and is numbered with the saints. This is the

   real point of separation. Christ stands between the Believers and the
   unbelievers, and marks the boundary of each class. When Aaron stood
   between the living and the dead swinging the censer full of incense,
   what separated the dead from the living? Remember the scene before you
   answer the question.

   There they lie! There they lie, I say, stricken with pestilence! The
   unseen avenger has slain them in heaps. But here are the living,
   rejoicing and safe. What separates them? The priest standing there with
   the censer! Even thus, our great High Priest stands, at this moment,
   between the living and the dead, while the incense of His merits
   ascends before God and makes the most real dividing wall between dead
   sinners and those who are alive unto God by Jesus Christ. Christ is the
   Divider! Christ is, Himself, the Division. But what is the rule by
   which He separates the people? The rule of the division is, first,
   actions. Actions! Did you notice that? He says nothing about words. He
   dwells upon deeds of mercy, "I was hungry and you gave Me meat. I was
   thirsty and you gave Me drink. I was naked and you clothed Me." These
   are all actions.

   Now, perhaps you would have liked the Judge to have said, "You were in
   the habit of singing hymns out of 'Our Own Hymn Book.' You were known
   to talk very sweetly about Me and call Me, Master and Lord. You were
   accustomed to sit at the Communion Table." Not a word is said about
   these things! No, nor is anything said about ceremonial actions. He
   does not say, "You used to bow before the crucifix. You reverently
   stood up at one part of the service and knelt at another. You walked
   round the Church singing the processional hymn." Nothing is said about
   these performances, only common actions are noticed--"I was hungry and
   you gave Me meat. I was thirsty and you gave Me drink." These are all
   commonplace matters. Actions will be the great rule at the Last
   Judgment.

   I am not preaching, now, contrary to the Gospel, but only repeating in
   other words what our Lord, Himself, has said. "We shall give an account
   for the deeds done in the body, whether they are good, or whether they
   are evil," is the statement, not of the Law, but of the New Testament
   of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Those that have done evil shall go
   away into eternal punishment. Are we, then, saved by our works? By no
   means! Yet our works are the evidences of our being saved--and Grace
   will bring out these evidences in our lives if we possess them. A
   Magistrate judges by the actions as proved upon evidence. It is true he
   may and will have respect to the motive which urged the action, but
   first of all the actions, themselves, must be before him in evidence.
   And so here the King mentions the actions that were done.

   Let us notice that the actions which were the rule ofjudgement were,
   all of them, actions about Christ. I want you to carefully note this.
   The Lord says, "/ was hungry and you gave Me meat. I was thirsty and
   you gave Me drink. I was sick and you visited Me." This summary is made
   up of actions about Christ. I will, therefore, earnestly put this
   question to each of you--What actions have you ever done in reference
   to Jesus? "I am a Church member," says one. I will not hear about that
   just now, because the Judge will not say anything about it. I am glad
   you are an avowed disciple, if you are honestly so, but do your actions
   prove that you are really so? That is the question. Have you ever done
   anything for Christ? Have you ever given anything to Christ?

   Could Christ say to you, "I was hungry and you gave Me meat. I was
   thirsty and you gave Me drink"? Now, I know some professors of whom I
   fear that Jesus Christ could not speak thus, for He cannot speak that
   which is not true. Their pockets are hermetically sealed, like tins of
   Australian meat--even the smell of their money never reaches Christ's
   poor. Give meat to a hungry man? Not they! Let him go to the parish.
   Give clothes to a naked man? Not they! What do we pay taxes for? The
   idea of giving anything to another, or doing anything for another,
   without getting paid for it or praised for it, seems to them to be out
   of all character!

   Now, selfishness is as much opposed to the spirit of the Gospel as the
   cold of the northern region is to the warmth of the sun. If the sun of
   Christ's love has shone into your heart, you will love others and you
   will show your love to others by desiring to do them good in all sorts
   of ways. And you will do it for Christ's sake--for Christ's sake--so
   that when He comes, He will be able to say, "I was hungry and you gave
   Me meat. I was thirsty and you gave Me drink. I was sick and you
   visited Me. I was in prison under reproach and you came unto Me." What
   have your actions been with regard to Christ? I pray you, Brothers and
   Sisters, who are one with me in the profession of allegiance to Christ,
   judge yourselves by your actions with regard to Him, as I, also, will
   judge myself.

   Now, notice that Christ, as it were, inferentially, tells us that the
   actions which will be mentioned at the Judgement Day, as the proof of
   our being the blessed of the Lord, spring from the Grace of God, for He
   says, "You blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
   from before the foundations of the world." They fed the hungry, but
   Sovereign Grace had first fed them. They clothed the naked, but
   Infinite Love first clothed them. They went to the prison, but

   Free Grace had first set them free from a worse prison. They visited
   the sick, but the Good Physician, in His Infinite Mercy, first came and
   visited them!

   They evidently had no idea that there was anything meritorious in what
   they did. They had never dreamed of being rewarded for it. When they
   stand before the Judgement Seat, the bare idea of there being any
   excellence in what they have done will be new to the saints, for they
   have formed a very low estimate of their own performances--and what
   they have done seems to them too faulty to be commended. The saints fed
   the hungry and clothed the naked because it gave them much pleasure to
   do so. They did it because they could not help doing it--their new
   nature impelled them to it. They did it because it was their delight to
   do good and was as much their element as water for a fish or the air
   for a bird! They did good for Christ's sake, because it is the sweetest
   thing in the world to do anything for Jesus.

   Why is it that a wife is so kind to her husband? Because it is her
   duty, you say. All very well, but the real reason is because she loves
   him so intensely. Why is a mother so careful over her baby? Is there
   any rule or act of Parliament commanding mothers to be fond of their
   little ones? No, there is no act of Parliament. There is an act of God
   in the bosom, somewhere, passed in the chamber of the heart, and the
   mother cannot but be kind. Now, when the Lord puts a new nature into us
   and makes us one with Jesus Christ, we cannot help loving His people!
   And, seeking the good of our fellow men and the Lord Jesus Christ will
   be, at the Last Day, an evidence that there was love in the heart,
   because love was shown by your actions. May God grant that when the
   Judge of all shall come, we may be found renewed in heart and full of
   love through the power of His Holy Spirit.

   "Oh," says one, "I wish I had that renewed heart which would produce
   such actions." Jesus can give it to you! You will always live for self
   in some sense or other until you are saved--even the most philanthropic
   who have loved their fellow creatures best, without religion--have
   generally sought their own esteem. And the verse is true concerning the
   praise of our fellow creatures--

   "The proud, to gain it, toils on toils endure;

   The modest shun it but to make it sure." But when you receive a new
   heart you will not live for the approbation of your fellow men. Then
   your alms will be done in secret and you will not let your left hand
   know what your right hand does. Then, when you do your kindnesses, it
   will not be that others may publish abroad the announcement that you
   have visited the sick and clothed the naked, but your deeds will be
   done behind the door and in the corner, where none shall know of them
   but your God and the grateful recipients of your bounty.

   You will quietly put into the treasury the two mites that make a
   farthing and think yourself unobserved, but One who sits over against
   the treasury, who knows your heart, will take good note of it. Your
   Lord will accept what you do because you do it out of love to Him--and
   at the Last Great Day, while you blush to hear it, He will tell it to
   the angels and to the listening hosts of earth and Heaven--and swing
   wide the gates of immortal bliss and let you in, according to the
   promise of His Grace. God bless you, Beloved, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Matthew 25. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--846, 362, 360.
     __________________________________________________________________

How A Man's Conduct Comes Home To Him

   (No. 1235)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 16, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good
   man shall be satisfied from himself." Proverbs 14:14.

   A common principle is laid down here and declared to be equally true in
   reference to two characters, who in other respects are a contrast. Men
   are affected by the course which they pursue, for good or bad--their
   own conduct comes home to them. The backslider and the good man are
   very different, but in each of them the same rule is exemplified-- they
   are both filled by the result of their lives. The backslider becomes
   filled by that which is within him, as seen in his life, and the good
   man, also, is filled by that which Divine Grace implants within his
   soul. The evil leaven in the backslider leavens his entire being and
   sours his existence, while the gracious Fountain in the sanctified
   Believer saturates his whole manhood and baptizes his entire life.

   In each case, the fullness arises from that which is within the man and
   is in his nature like the man's character. The fullness of the
   backslider's misery will come out of his own ways and the fullness of
   the good man's content will spring out of the love of God which is shed
   abroad in his heart. The meaning of this passage will come out better
   if we begin with an illustration. Here are two pieces of sponge and we
   wish to fill them--if you place one of them in a pool of foul water, it
   will be filled, and filled with that which it lies in. If you put the
   other sponge into a pure crystal stream, it will, also, become
   full--full of the element in which it is placed.

   The backslider lies soaked in the dead sea of his own ways and the
   brine fills him. The good man is plunged like a pitcher into "Siloah's
   brook, which flows hard by the oracle of God," and the river of the
   Water of Life fills him to the brim. A wandering heart will be filled
   with sorrow, but a heart confiding in the Lord will be satisfied with
   joy and peace. Or take two farms. One farmer sows tares in his field
   and, in due time, his barns are filled therewith. Another sows wheat
   and his garners are stored with precious grain.

   Or follow out our Lord's parable--one builder places his frail dwelling
   on the sand and, when the tempest rages, he is swept away in it,
   naturally enough. Another lays deep the foundations of his house and
   sets it fast on a rock--and, as an equally natural consequence, he
   smiles upon the storm, protected by his well-founded dwelling place.
   What a man is by sin or by Grace will be the cause of his sorrow or of
   his satisfaction.

   I. I shall take the two characters without further preface. First, let
   us speak, awhile, about THE BACKSLIDER. This is a very solemn subject,
   but one which it is necessary to bring before the present audience,
   since we all have some share in it. I trust there may not be many
   present who are backsliders in the worst sense of the term, but very,
   very few among us are quite free from the charge of having backslidden,
   in some measure, at some time or other since conversion. Even those who
   sincerely love the Master, sometimes wander--and we all need to take
   heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing
   from the living God.

   There are several kinds of persons who may, with more or less
   propriety, be comprehended under the term, "backsliders," and these
   will, each in his own measure, be filled with his own ways. There are,
   first, apostates, those who unite themselves with the Church of Christ
   and, for a time, act as if they were subjects of a real change of
   heart. These persons are frequently very zealous for a season and may
   become prominent, if not eminent, in the Church of God. They did run
   well, like those mentioned by the Apostle, but by some means they are,
   first of all, hindered and slacken their pace. After that they linger
   and loiter and leave the crown of the causeway for the side of the
   road. By-and-by, in their hearts they go back into Egypt and, at last,
   finding an opportunity to return, they break loose from all the
   restraints of their profession and openly forsake the Lord.

   Truly, the last end of such men is worse than the first. Judas is the
   great type of these pre-eminent backsliders. Judas was a professed
   Believer in Jesus, a follower of the Lord, a minister of the Gospel, an
   Apostle of Christ. He was the trusted treasurer of the college of the
   Apostles and, after all, turned out to be the, "son of perdition," who
   sold his Master for 30 pieces of silver. He, before long, was filled
   with his own ways, for, tormented with remorse, he threw down the
   blood-money he had so dearly earned, hanged himself and went to his own
   place. The story of Judas has been written over and over again in the
   lives of other traitors. We have heard of Judas as a deacon and as an
   elder. We have heard Judas preach. We have read the works of Judas, the
   bishop, and seen Judas the Missionary.

   Judas sometimes continues in his profession for many years, but, sooner
   or later, the true character of the man is discovered. His sin returns
   upon his own head and if he does not make an end of himself, I do not
   doubt but what, even in this life, he often lives in such horrible
   remorse that his soul would choose strangling rather than life. He has
   gathered the grapes of Gomorrah and he has to drink the wine. He has
   planted a bitter tree and he must eat its fruit. Oh Sirs, may none of
   you betray your Lord and Master! God grant I never may!

   "Traitor! Traitor!" Shall that ever be written across your brow? You
   have been baptized into the name of the adorable Trinity. You have
   eaten the tokens of the Redeemer's body and blood. You have sung the
   Songs of Zion. You have stood forward to pray in the midst of the
   people of God and will you act so base a part as to betray your Lord?
   Shall it ever be said of you, "Take him to the place from where he
   came, for he is a traitor"? I cannot conceive of anything more
   ignominious than for a soldier to be drummed out of a regiment of Her
   Majesty's soldiers. But what must it be to be cast out of the host of
   God!? What must it be to be set up as the target of eternal shame and
   everlasting contempt for having crucified the Lord afresh and put Him
   to an open shame!

   How shameful will it be to be branded as an apostate from truth and
   holiness, from Christ and His ways? Better never to have made a
   profession than to have belied it so wretchedly and to have it said of
   us, "It is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is
   turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her
   wallowing in the mire." Of such John has said, "They went out from us,
   but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no
   doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be
   made manifest that they were not of us."

   This title of backslider applies, also, to another class, not so
   desperate but still most sad, of which not Judas but David may serve as
   the type. We refer to backsliders who go into open sin. These are men
   who descend from purity to careless living. And from careless living to
   indulgence of the flesh--and from indulgence of the flesh in little
   matters into known sin--and from one sin to another till they plunge
   into uncleanness. They have been born again and, therefore, the
   trembling and almost extinct life within must and shall revive and
   bring them to repentance. They will come back weary, weeping, humbled
   and brokenhearted--they will be restored--but they will never be what
   they were before.

   Their voices will be hoarse, like that of David after his crime, for he
   never again sung so jubilantly as in his former days. Life will be more
   full of trembling and trial and manifest less of buoyancy and joy of
   spirit. Broken bones make hard traveling and even when they are set,
   they are subject to shooting pains when ill weathers are abroad. I may
   be addressing some of this sort this morning and, if so, I would speak
   with much faithful love. Dear Brother, dear Sister, if you are now
   following Jesus afar off you will, before long, like Peter, deny Him.
   Even though you will obtain mercy of the Lord, yet the text will
   certainly be fulfilled in you and you will be "filled with your own
   ways."

   As certainly as Moses took the golden calf and ground it into
   powder--and then mixed it with the water which the sinful Israelites
   had to drink till they all tasted the grit in their mouths--so will the
   Lord do with you if you are, indeed, His child! He will take your idol
   of sin and grind it to powder--and your life shall be made bitter with
   it for years to come. When the gall and wormwood are most manifest in
   the cup of life it will be a mournful thing to feel, "I procured this
   unto myself by my shameful folly." O Lord, hold us up and keep us from
   falling little by little, lest we plunge into overt sin and continue in
   it for a season, for surely the anguish which comes of such an evil is
   terrible as death itself!

   If David could rise from his grave and appear before you with his face
   seamed with sorrow and his brow wrinkled with his many griefs, he would
   say to you, "Keep your hearts with all diligence, lest you bring woe
   upon yourselves. Watch unto prayer and guard against the beginnings of
   sin lest your bones wax old through your roaring and your moisture be
   turned into the drought of summer." O beware of a wandering heart, for
   it will be an awful thing to be filled with your own backslidings!

   But there is a third sort of backsliding and I am afraid a very large
   number of us have, at times, come under the title--I mean those who in
   any measure or degree, even for a very little time, decline from the
   point which they have reached. Perhaps such a man hardly ought to be
   called a backslider, because it is not his predominant character, yet
   he backslides. If he does not believe as firmly, love as intensely and
   serve as zealously as he formerly did, he has, in a measure,
   backslidden. And any measure of backsliding, be it less or be it more,
   is sinful, and will, in proportion as it is real backsliding, fill us
   with our own ways. If you only sow two or three seeds of the thistle
   there will not be so many of the ill weeds on your farm as if you had
   emptied out a whole sack, but still there will be enough and more than
   enough.

   Every little backsliding, as men call it, is a great mischief. Every
   little going back, even in heart, from God, if it never comes to words
   or deeds, yet will involve us in some measure of sorrow. If sin were
   clean removed from us, sorrow would be removed, also--in fact we would
   be in Heaven--since a state of perfect holiness must involve perfect
   blessedness. Sin, in any degree, will bear its own fruit, and that
   fruit will be sure to set our teeth on edge. It is evil, therefore, to
   be a backslider even in the smallest degree.

   Having said so much, let me now continue to think of the last two kinds
   of backsliders, and leave out the apostate. Let us first read his name,
   and then let us read his history--we have both in our text. The first
   part of his name is, "backslider." He is not a back runner, nor a back
   leaper, but a backslider. That is to say he slides back with an easy,
   effortless motion--softly, quietly--perhaps unsuspected by himself or
   anybody else. The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of
   ice. You cannot slide up, no, you have to cut every step with an ice
   axe--only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any
   progress. You need a Guide to help you and you are not safe unless you
   are fastened to the Guide, for you may slip into a crevasse.

   Nobody ever slides up, and if great care is not taken, they will slide
   down, slide back, or, in other words, backslide. This is very easily
   done. If you want to know how to backslide, the answer is leave off
   going forward and you will slide backward! Cease going upward and you
   will go downward of necessity, for stand still you never can. To lead
   us to backslide, Satan acts with us as engineers do with a road down
   the mountains side. If they desire to carry the road from yonder alp
   right down into the valley far below, they never think of making the
   road plunge over a precipice, or straight down the face of the rock,
   for nobody would ever use such a road. But the road makers wind and
   twist.

   Look, the track descends very gently to the right--you can hardly see
   that it runs downwards. And soon it turns to the left with a small
   incline, and so, by turning this way and then that, the traveler finds
   himself in the valley below. Thus the crafty enemy of souls fetches
   saints down from their high places! Whenever he gets a good man down it
   is usually by slow degrees. Now and then, by sudden opportunity and
   strong temptation, the Christian man has been plunged right from the
   pinnacle of the temple into the dungeon of despair in a moment--but it
   is not often the case--the gentle decline is the devil's favorite piece
   of engineering and he manages it with amazing skill.

   The soul scarcely knows it is going down, it seems to be maintaining
   the even tenor of its way, but before long it is far below the line of
   peace and consecration. Our dear Brother, Dr. Arnot, of the Free
   Church, illustrates this very beautifully by supposing a balance. This
   is the heavy scale loaded with seeds and the other is high in the air.
   One morning you are very much surprised to find that what had been the
   heavier scale is aloft, while the other has descended! You do not
   understand it till you discover that certain little insects had
   silently transferred the seeds one by one. At first they made no
   apparent change, but by-and-by there was a little motion--one more
   little seed was laid in the scales and the balance turned in a moment.

   Thus silently the balance of a man's soul may be affected, and
   everything made ready for that one temptation by which the fatal turn
   is made and the man becomes an open transgressor. Apparently
   insignificant agencies may gradually convey our strength from the right
   side to the wrong, by grains and half-grains, till at last the balance
   is turned in the actual life and we are no more fit to be numbered with
   the visible saints of God. Think again of this man's name. He is a
   "backslider," but what from? He is a man who knows the sweetness of the
   things of God and yet leaves off feeding upon them! He is one who has
   been favored to wait at the Lord's own Table and yet he deserts his
   honorable post, backslides from the things which he has known, felt,
   tasted, handled and rejoiced in--things that are the priceless gifts of
   God!

   He is a backslider from the condition in which he has enjoyed a Heaven
   below. He is a backslider from the love of Him who bought him with His
   blood. He slides back from the wounds of Christ, from the works of the
   Eternal Spirit, from the crown of life which hangs over his head, and
   from a familiar communion with God which angels might envy

   him. Had he not been so highly favored he could not have been so basely
   wicked. O fool and slow of heart, to slide from wealth to poverty, from
   health to disease, from liberty to bondage, front Light to darkness,
   from the love of God, from abiding in Christ and from the fellowship of
   the Holy Spirit into lukewarmness, worldliness, and sin!

   The text, however, gives the man's name at greater length, "The
   backslider in heart." Now the heart is the fountain of evil. A man need
   not be a backslider in action to get the text fulfilled in him. He need
   only be a backslider in heart. All backsliding begins within--begins
   with the heart's growing lukewarm--begins with the love of Christ being
   less powerful in the soul. Perhaps you think that so long as
   backsliding is confined to the heart it does not matter much. But
   consider, for a minute, and you will confess your error. If you went to
   your physician and said, "Sir, I feel a severe pain in my body," would
   you feel comforted if he replied, "There is no local cause for your
   suffering, it arises entirely from disease of the heart"? Would you not
   be far more alarmed than before? A case is serious, indeed, when it
   involves the heart!

   The heart is hard to reach and difficult to understand and, moreover,
   it is so powerful over the rest of the system and has such power to
   injure all the members of the body, that a disease in the heart is an
   injury to a vital organ, a pollution of the springs of life! It is more
   that a wound--it is as a thousand wounds--a complicated wounding of all
   the members of the body. Look well, then, to your hearts, and pray, "O
   Lord cleanse the secret parts of our spirit and preserve us to Your
   eternal kingdom and Glory!"

   Now let us read this man's history--"He shall be filled with his own
   ways." From which it is clear that he falls into ways of his own. When
   he was in his right state he followed the Lord's ways, he delighted
   himself in the Law of the Lord and He gave him the desire of his heart.
   But now he has ways of his own which he prefers to the ways of God. And
   what comes of this perverseness? Does he prosper? No. He is, before
   long, filled with his own ways. We will see what that means. The first
   kind of fullness with his own ways is absorption in his carnal
   pursuits. He has not much time to spend upon religion--he has other
   things to attend to. If you speak to him of the deep things of God he
   is weary of you and even of the daily necessities of godliness he has
   no care to hear, except at service time. He has his business to see to,
   or he has to go out to a dinner party, or a few friends are coming to
   spend the evening. In any case, his answer to you is, "I pray you have
   me excused."

   Now, this preoccupation with trifles is always mischievous, for when
   the soul is filled with chaff there is no room left for wheat. When all
   your mind is taken up with frivolities, the weighty matters of eternity
   cannot enter. Many professed Christians spend far too much time in
   amusements, which they call recreation, but which, I fear, is far
   rather a redestruc-tion than a recreation. The pleasures, cares,
   pursuits and ambitions of the world swell in the heart when they once
   enter and, by-and-by, they fill it completely. Like the young cuckoo in
   the sparrow's nest, worldliness grows and grows and tries its best to
   cast out the true owner of the heart. Whatever your soul is full of, if
   it is not full of Christ, it is in an evil case!

   Then backsliders generally proceed a stage further and become full of
   their own ways by beginning to pride themselves upon their condition
   and to glory in their shame. Not that they really are satisfied at
   heart--on the contrary, they have a suspicion that things are not quite
   as they ought to be and, therefore, they put on a bold front and try to
   deceive themselves and others. It is rather dangerous to tell them of
   their faults, for they will not accept your rebuke. They will defend
   themselves and even carry the war into your camp. They will say, "Ah,
   you are a Puritan, strict and straight-laced, and your manners and ways
   do mischief rather than good." They would not bring up their children
   as you do yours, so they say. Their mouths are very full because their
   hearts are empty and they talk very loudly in defense of themselves
   because their conscience has been making a great stir within them.

   They call sinful pleasure a little unbending of the bow. Greed is
   prudence, covetousness is economy and dishonesty is cleverness! It is
   dreadful to think that men who know better should attempt, thus, to
   excuse themselves. Generally the warmest defender of a sinful practice
   is the man who has the most qualms of conscience about it. He himself
   knows that he is not living as he should, but he does not intend to
   cave in just yet, nor at all if he can help it! He is filled with his
   ways in a boasted self-content. Before long this fullness reaches
   another stage, for if the backslider is a gracious man at all, he
   encounters chastisement and that from a rod of his own making. A
   considerable time elapses before you can eat bread of your own growing.
   You have to first prepare the ground--it must be plowed and sown. Then
   the wheat has to come up to ripen and to be reaped--and threshed and
   ground in the mill--and the flour must be kneaded and baked in the
   oven. But the bread comes to the table and is eaten at last.

   Even so, the backslider must eat of the fruit of his own ways. "Be not
   deceived; God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that shall he also
   reap." Now look at the backslider eating the fruit of his ways. He
   neglected prayer and when he tries to pray, he cannot! His powers of
   desire, emotion, faith and entreaty have failed. He kneels, awhile, but
   he cannot pray. The Spirit of supplications is grieved and no longer
   helps his infirmities. He reaches down for his Bible. He commences to
   read a chapter, but he has disregarded the Word of God so long that he
   finds it to be more like a dead letter than a living voice, though it
   used to be a sweet book before he became a backslider. The minister,
   too, is altered. He used to hear him with delight, but now the poor
   preacher has lost all his early power, so the backslider thinks.

   Other people do not think so, the place is just as crowded--there are
   as many saints edified and sinners saved as be-fore--but the wanderer
   in heart began criticizing and now he is entangled in the habit. He
   criticizes everything and never feeds upon the Truth of God at all!
   Like a madman at table he puts his fork into the morsel and holds it
   up, looks at it, finds fault with it and throws in on the floor! Nor
   does he act better towards the saints in whose company he once
   delighted--they are dull society and he shuns them. Of all the things
   which bear upon his spiritual life he is weary. He has trifled with
   them and now he cannot enjoy them. Hear him sing, or rather sigh--

   "Your saints are comforted, I know, And love Your house of prayer. I
   sometimes go where others go, But find no comfort there."

   How can it be otherwise? He is drinking water out of his own cistern
   and eating the bread of which he sowed the corn some years ago. His
   ways have come home to him. Chastisement also comes out of his conduct
   in other ways. He was very worldly and gave wild parties--and his
   daughters have grown up and grieved him by their conduct. He, himself,
   went into sin, and now that his sons outdo his example, what can he
   say? Can he wonder at anything? Look at David's case. David fell into a
   gross sin and soon Amnon, his son, rivaled him in iniquity. He murdered
   Uriah the Hittite, and Absalom murdered his brother, Amnon. He rebelled
   against God, and lo, Absalom lifted up the standard of revolt against
   him.

   He disturbed the relationships of another man's family in a disgraceful
   manner, and behold, his own family was torn in pieces and never
   restored to peace--so that even when he lay a-dying he had to say, "My
   house is not so with God." He was filled with his own ways and it
   always will be so, even if the sin is forgotten. If you have sent forth
   a dove or a raven from the ark of your soul, it will come back to you
   just as you sent it out. May God save us from being backsliders lest
   the smooth current of our life should turn into a raging torrent of
   woe!

   The fourth stage, blessed be God, is at length reached by gracious men
   and women, and what a mercy it is they ever do reach it! At last they
   become filled with their own ways in another sense, namely, satiated
   and dissatisfied, miserable and discontent. They sought the world and
   they gained it, but now it has lost all charms to them. They went after
   other lovers, but these deceivers have been false to them, and they
   wring their hands and say, "Oh that I could return to my first husband
   for it was better with me, then, than now." Many have lived at a
   distance from Jesus Christ, but now they can bear it no longer--they
   cannot be happy till they return. Hear them cry in the language of the
   51st Psalm, "Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me
   with Your free Spirit."

   But, I tell you, they cannot get back very easily. It is hard to
   retrace your steps from backsliding, even if it is but a small measure
   of it. And to get back from great wanderings is hard, indeed--much
   harder than going over the road the first time. I believe that if the
   mental sufferings of some returning backsliders could be written and
   faithfully published, they would astound you, and be a more horrible
   story to read than all the torments of the Inquisition! What racks a
   man is stretched upon who has been unfaithful to his Covenant with God!
   What fires have burned within the souls of those men and women who have
   been untrue to Christ and His cause!

   What dungeons, what grim and dark prisons have saints of God lain in
   who have gone aside into By-Path Meadow instead of keeping to the
   King's Highway! Their sighs and cries, for which, after all they have
   learned to be thankful, are dolorous and terrible to listen to and make
   us learn that he who sins must smart, and especially if he is a child
   of God, for the Lord has said of His people, "You only have I known of
   all the people of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your
   iniquities." Whoever may go unchastened, a child of God never
   shall--the Lord will let His adversaries do a thou-

   sand things and not punish them in this life since He reserves
   vengeance for them in the life to come. But as for His own children,
   they cannot sin without being visited with stripes.

   Beloved Friends, let us all go straight away to the Cross at once for
   fear we should be backsliders--

   "Come, let us to the Lord our God

   With contrite hearts return!

   Our God is gracious, nor will leave

   The penitent to mourn."

   Let us confess every degree and form of backsliding, every wandering of
   heart, every decline of love, every wavering of faith, every flagging
   of zeal, every dullness of desire, every failure of confidence. Behold,
   the Lord says unto us, "Return!" Therefore let us return! Even if we
   are not backsliders, it will do us no harm to come to the Cross as
   penitents. Indeed, it is well to abide there forevermore! O Spirit of
   the living God, preserve us in believing penitence all our days!

   II. I have but little time for the second part of my text. Excuse me,
   therefore, if I do not attempt to go into it very deeply. As it is true
   of the backslider, that he grows, at last, full of that which is within
   him and his wickedness, it is true, also, of THE CHRISTIAN, that in
   pursuing the paths of righteousness and the way of faith, he becomes
   filled and content, too. That which Grace has placed within him fills
   him in due time. Here, then, we have the good man's name and history.

   Notice first, his name. It is a very remarkable thing that as a
   backslider, if you call out his name, he will not, as a rule answer to
   it. Even so, a good man will not acknowledge the title here assigned
   him. Where is the good man? Know that every man here who is right
   before God will pass the question on, saying, "There is none good, save
   One, that is God." The good man will also question my text and say, "I
   cannot feel satisfied with myself." No, dear Friend, but mind you, read
   the words correctly. It does not say, "satisfied with himself," no
   truly good man ever was self-satisfied, and when any talk as if they
   are self-satisfied, it is time to doubt whether they know much about
   the matter. All the good men I have ever met with have always wanted to
   be better--they have longed for something higher than as yet they have
   reached. They would not admit that they were satisfied and they
   certainly were, by no means, satisfied with themselves.

   The text does not say that they are, but it says something that reads
   so much like it that care is needed. Now, if I should seem to say, this
   morning, that a good man looks within and is quite satisfied with what
   he finds there, please let me say at once, I mean nothing of the sort!
   I should like to say exactly what the text means, but I do not know
   quite whether I shall manage to do it, except you will help me by not
   misunderstanding me, even if there should be a strong temptation to do
   so. Here is the good man's history--he is "satisfied from himself"--but
   first I must read his name again, though he does not admit it, what is
   he good for?

   He says, "good for nothing," but in truth he is good for much when the
   Lord uses him. Remember that he is good because the Lord has made him
   over again by the Holy Spirit. Is not that good which God makes? When
   He created nature at first, He said of all things that they were very
   good. How could they be otherwise, since He made them? So in the new
   creation a new heart and right spirit are from God and must be good.
   Where there is Grace in the heart the Grace is good and makes the heart
   good. A man who has the righteousness of Jesus and the indwelling of
   the Holy Spirit is good in the sight of God! A good man is on the side
   of good. If I were to ask, who is on the side of good? We would not
   pass on that question. No, we would step out and say "I am. I am not
   all I ought to be, or wish to be, but I am on the side ofjus-tice,
   truth, and holiness. I would live to promote goodness and even die
   rather than become the advocate of evil."

   And what is the man who loves that which is good? Is he evil? I think
   not! He who truly loves that which is good must be, in a measure, good,
   himself. Who is he that strives to be good and groans and sighs over
   his failures, yes, and rules his daily life by the Laws of God? Is he
   not one of the world's best men? I trust, without self-righteousness,
   the Grace of God has made some of us good in this sense, for what the
   Spirit of God has made is good, and if in Christ Jesus we are new
   creatures, we cannot contradict Solomon, nor criticize the Bible if it
   calls such persons good, though we dare not call ourselves good.

   Now, a good man's history is this, "He is satisfied from himself." That
   means, first, that he is independent of outward circumstances. He does
   not derive satisfaction from his birth, or honors, or properties. That
   which fills him with content is within himself. Our hymn puts it so
   truly--

   "I need not go abroad for joys, I have a feast at home,

   My sighs are turned into songs, My heart has ceased to roam. Down from
   above the blessed Dove Is come into my breast, To witness Your eternal
   love And give my spirit rest."

   Other men must bring music from abroad if they have any, but in the
   gracious man's bosom there lives a little bird that sings sweetly to
   him. He has a flower in his own garden more sweet than any he could buy
   in the market or find in the king's palace. He may be poor, but he
   would not change his estate in the kingdom of Heaven for all the
   grandeur of the rich! His joy and peace are not even dependent upon the
   health of his body--he is often well in soul when sick as to his
   flesh--he is frequently full of pain and yet perfectly satisfied.

   He may carry about with him an incurable disease which he knows will
   shorten and eventually end his life, but he does not look to this poor
   life for satisfaction! He carries that within him which creates
   immortal joy--the love of God shed abroad in his soul by the Holy
   Spirit yields a perfume sweeter than the flowers of Paradise. The
   fulfillment of the text is partly found in the fact that the good man
   is independent of his surroundings. And he is also independent of the
   praise of others. The backslider is comfortable because the minister
   thinks well of him and Christian friends think well of him. But the
   genuine Christian who is living near to God thinks little of the
   verdict of men. What other people think of him is not his chief
   concern--he is sure that he is a child of God.

   He knows he can say, "Abba, Father." He glories that for him to live is
   Christ and to die is gain! And therefore he does not need the
   approbation of others to buoy up his confidence. He runs alone and does
   not need, like a weakly child, to be carried in his mother's arms. He
   knows whom he has believed and his heart rests in Jesus--thus he is
   satisfied, not from other people and from their judgment--but, "from
   himself." Then, again, the Christian man is content with the well of
   upbringing Water of Life which the Lord has placed within him. There,
   my Brothers and Sisters, up on the everlasting hills is the Divine
   reservoir of all-sufficient Grace--and down here in our bosom is a
   spring which bubbles up unto everlasting life!

   It has been welling up in some of us these 25 years, but why is it so?
   The grand secret is that there is an unbroken connection between the
   little spring within the renewed breast and that vast unfathomed
   fountain of God--and because of this, the spring never fails--in summer
   it still continues to flow. And now if you ask me if I am dissatisfied
   with the spring within my soul which is fed by the all-sufficiency of
   God, I reply, no, I am not. If you could, by any possibility, cut the
   connection between my soul and my Lord I should despair altogether. But
   as long as none can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ
   Jesus our Lord, I am satisfied and at rest. Like Naphtali, we are,
   "satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord."

   Faith is in the good man's heart and he is satisfied with what faith
   brings him, for it conveys to him the perfect pardon of his sin. Faith
   brings him nearer to Christ. Faith brings him adoption into the family
   of God. Faith secures him conquest over temptation. Faith procures for
   him everything he requires! He finds that by believing, he has all the
   blessings of the Covenant to enjoy daily. Well may he be satisfied with
   such an enriching Grace! The just shall live by faith. In addition to
   faith, he has another filling Grace called Hope, which reveals to him
   the world to come and gives him assurance that when he falls asleep he
   will sleep in Jesus--and that when he awakes he will arise in the
   likeness of Jesus! Hope delights him with the promise that his body
   shall rise and that in his flesh he shall see God! This hope of his
   sets the pearly gates wide open before him, reveals the streets of gold
   and makes him hear the music of the celestial harpers!

   Surely a man may well be satisfied with this. The godly heart is also
   satisfied with what love brings him, for love, though it seems but a
   gentle maid, is strong as a giant and becomes, in some respects, the
   most potent of all the Divine Graces. Love first opens wide herself
   like the flowers in the sunshine and drinks in the love of God, and
   then she joys in God and begins to sing--

   "I am so glad that Jesus loves me." She loves Jesus, and there is such
   an interchange of delight between the love of her soul to Christ and
   the love of Christ to her that Heaven, itself, can scarcely be sweeter.
   He who knows this deep mysterious love will be more than filled with
   it--he will need to be enlarged to hold the bliss which it creates! The
   love of Jesus is known, but yet it passes knowledge.

   It fills the entire man so that he has no room for the idolatrous love
   of the creature! He is satisfied from himself and asks no other joy.

   Beloved, when the good man is enabled, by Divine Grace, to live in
   obedience to God, he must, as a necessary consequence, enjoy peace of
   mind. His hope is alone fixed on Jesus, but a life which evidences his
   possession of salvation casts many a sweet ingredient into his cup. He
   who takes the yoke of Christ upon him and learns of Him finds rest unto
   his soul. When we keep His commandments, we consciously enjoy His love
   which we could not do if we walked in opposition to His will. To know
   that you have acted from a pure motive, to know that you have done the
   right is a grand means of full content. What matters the frown of foes
   or the prejudice of friends if the testimony of a good conscience is
   heard within?

   We dare not rely upon our own works--neither have we had a desire or
   need to do so--for our Lord Jesus has saved us everlastingly. Still,
   "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony our conscience, that in
   simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the
   Grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." The Christian
   needs to maintain unbroken fellowship with Jesus, his Lord, if he would
   be good as a soldier of Christ. If his communion is broken, his
   satisfaction will depart. If Jesus is within, we shall be satisfied
   from within, but no way else. If our fellowship with Him is kept
   up--and it may be from day to day, and month to month, and year to
   year, (and why should it ever be snapped at all?)--then the
   satisfaction will continue and the soul will continue to be full even
   to the brim with the bliss which God alone can give!

   If we are, by the Holy Spirit, made to be abundant in labor or patient
   in suffering--if, in a word--we resign ourselves fully up to God, we
   shall find a fullness of His Grace placed within ourselves. An enemy
   compared some of us to cracked vessels and we may humbly accept the
   description. We do find it difficult to retain good things--they run
   away from our leaking pitchers. But I will tell how a cracked pitcher
   can be kept continually full. Put it in the bottom of an ever-flowing
   river and it must be full! Even so, though we are leaking and broken,
   if we abide in the love of Christ we shall be filled with His fullness.
   Such an experience is possible! We may be--

   "Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, And lost in His immensity,"

   Then we shall be full, full to running over as the Psalmist says, "My
   cup runs over." The man who walks in God's ways, obediently resting
   wholly upon Christ, looking for all His supplies to the great eternal
   deeps--that is the man who will be filled--filled with the very things
   which he has chosen for his own! He will be filled with those things
   which are his daily delight and desire.

   Well may the faithful Believer be filled, for he has eternity to fill
   him. The Lord has loved him with an everlasting love--there is the
   eternity past! "The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed,
   but My Covenant shall not depart from you"--there is the eternity to
   come. He has infinity, yes, the Infinite One, Himself, for the Father
   is his Father, the Son is his Savior, the Spirit of God dwells within
   him--the Trinity may well fill the heart of man! The Believer has
   Omnipotence to fill him, for all power is given unto Christ and of that
   power Christ will give to us according as we have need. Living in
   Christ and hanging upon Him from day to day, Beloved, we shall have a
   "peace of God which passes all understanding to keep our hearts and
   minds through Christ Jesus." May we enjoy this peace and magnify the
   name of the Lord forever and ever. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--John 15:1-17. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--757, 775, 809.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Best House-visitation

   (No. 1236)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, May 23rd, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [1]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered
   into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. But Simon's
   wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. And
   he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately
   the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. And at even, when the
   sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them
   that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together
   at the door." Mark 1:29-33.

   WE SEE BEFORE US small beginnings and grand endings. One man is called
   by the voice of Jesus, and then another; the house wherein they dwell
   is consecrated by the Lord's presence, and by-and-by the whole city is
   stirred from end to end with the name and fame of the Great Teacher. We
   are often wishing that God would do some great thing in the world, and
   we look abroad for instruments which we think would be peculiarly fit,
   and think of places where the work might suitably begin: it might be
   quite as well if we asked the Lord to make use of us, and if we were
   believingly to hope that even our feeble instrumentality might produce
   great results by his power, and that our abode might become the central
   point from which streams of blessing should flow forth to refresh the
   neighborhood.

   Peter's house was by no means the most notable building in the town of
   Capernaum. It was probably not the poorest dwelling in the place, for
   Peter had a boat of his own, or perhaps a half share in a boat with his
   brother Andrew, or possibly he and Andrew and James and John were
   proprietors of some two or three fishing boats, for they were partners,
   and they appear to have employed hired servants. (Mark 1:20.) Still
   Peter was not rich nor famous, he was neither a ruler of the synagogue,
   nor an eminent scribe, and his house was not at all remarkable among
   the habitations which made up the little fishing suburb down by the
   sea-shore. Yet to this house did Jesus go. He had foreknown and chosen
   it of old, and had resolved to make it renowned by his presence and
   miraculous power. There hung the fisherman's nets outside the door—the
   sole escutcheon and hatchment of one who was ordained to sit upon a
   throne and judge with his fellow apostles the twelve tribes of Israel.
   Beneath that lowly roof Immanuel deigned to unveil himself: God-with-us
   showed himself. God with Simon. Little did Peter know hone divine a
   blessing entered his house when Jews crossed the threshold, nor how
   vast a river of mercy would stream forth from his door adown the
   streets of Capernaum. Now, dear friend, it may be that your dwelling,
   though very dear to you, is not very much thought of by anybody else;
   no poet or historian has ever written its annals, nor artist engraved
   its image. Perhaps it is not the very poorest cot in the place in which
   you live; still it is obscure enough, and no one as he rides along
   asks, "Who dwells there?" or, "What remarkable house is that?" Yet is
   there no reason why the Lord should not visit you and make your house
   like that of Obed-edom, in which the ark abode, or like that of
   Zaccheus to which salvation came. Our Lord can make your dwelling the
   center of mercy for the whole region, a little sun scattering light in
   all directions, a spiritual dispensary distributing health to the
   multitudes around. There is no reason except in yourself why the Lord
   should not make your residence in a city a greater blessing to it than
   the cathedral and all its clergy. Jesus cares not for fine buildings
   and carved stones; he will not disdain to come beneath your cottage
   roof, and cording there he will bring a treasury of blessings with him,
   which shall enrich your house, and shall ensure the richest of boons to
   your neighbors. Why should it not be? Have you faith to pray this
   moment that it may be so? How much do I wish you would! More good by
   far will be done by a silent prayer now offered by yourself to that
   effect than by anything which can be spoken by me. If every Christian
   here will now put up the supplication, "Lord, dwell where I dwell, and
   in so doing make my house a blessing to the neighborhood," marvellous
   results must follow.

   I am going to speak of three things this morning. The first is, How
   grace came to Peter's house; secondly, What grace did when it got
   there; and thirdly, How grace flowed forth from Peter's house.

   I. HOW GRACE CAME TO PETER'S HOUSE. The first link in the chain of
   causes was that a relative was converted. Andrew had heard John the
   Baptist preach, and had been impressed. The text which was blessed to
   him was probably, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of
   the world." Andrew followed Jesus, and having become a disciple, he
   desired to lead others to be disciples too. He began, as we all ought
   to begin, with those nearest to him by ties of relationship; "He first
   findeth his own brother Simon." Beloved friend, if you are yourself
   saved, you should cast about you and inquire, "To what house may I
   become a messenger of salvation?" Perhaps you have no family of your
   own; I do not know whether Andrew had: he seems at to time of this
   narrative to have lived in a part of the same house as Peter: possibly
   they had each of them a house at Bethesda, which was their own city,
   but they lived together when they went on business to Capernaum.
   Perhaps Andrew had no wife, and no children; I cannot tell. If it were
   so? I feel sure that he said to himself, "I must seek the good of my
   brother and his family." I believe, if we are really lively and
   thoughtful Christians, our conversion is an omen for good to all our
   kinsfolk. We shall not idly say, "I ought to have looked after my own
   children and household, if I had owned any, and having none I am
   excused"; but we shall consider ourselves to be debtors to those who
   are kindred householders. I hope that some Andrew is here who, being
   himself enlisted for Jesus, will be the means of conquering for Jesus a
   brother and a brother's household. If there be no Andrew, I hope some
   of the Maries and Marthas will be fired with zeal to make up for the
   deficiency of the men, and will bring brother Lazarus to the Lord.
   Uncles and aunts should feel an interest in the spiritual condition of
   nephews and nieces; cousins should be concerned for cousins, and all
   ties of blood should be consecrated by being used for purposes of
   grace. Moses, when he led the people out of Egypt, would not leave a
   hoof behind, nor ought we to be content to leave one kinsman a slave to
   sin. Abraham, in his old age, took up sword and buckler for his nephew
   Lot, and aged believers should look about them and seek the good of the
   most distant members of their families; if it were always so the power
   of the gospel would be felt far and wide. The household of which Peter
   was master might never have known the gospel if a relative had not been
   converted.

   This first link of grace drew on another of much greater importance,
   namely, that the head of the family became a convert. Andrew sought out
   his brother and spoke to him of having found the Messias: then he
   brought him to Jesus, and our Lord at once accepted the new recruit,
   and gave him a new name. Peter believed and became a follower of
   Christ, and so the head of the house was on the right side. Heads of
   families, what responsibilities rest upon us! We cannot shake them off,
   let us do what we may! God has given us little kingdoms in which our
   authority and influence will tell for the better or the worse to all
   eternity. There is not a child or a servant in our house but what will
   be impressed for good or evil by what we do. True, we may have no wish
   to influence them, and we may endeavor to ignore our responsibility,
   but it cannot be done; parental influence is a throne which no man can
   abdicate. The members of our family come under our shadow, and we
   either drip poison upon them like a deadly upas, or else beneath our
   shade they breathe an atmosphere perfumed with our piety. The little
   boats are fastened to our larger vessel and are drawn along in our
   wake. O fathers and mothers, the ruin of your children or their
   salvation will, under God, very much depend upon you. The gracious
   Spirit may use you for their conversion, or Satan may employ you as the
   instruments of their destruction. Which is it like to be? I charge you,
   consider. It is a notable event in family history when the grace of God
   takes up its headquarters in the heart of the husband and the father:
   that household's story will henceforth be written by another pen. Let
   those of us who are the Lord's gratefully acknowledge his mercy to us
   personally, and then let us return to bless our household. If the
   clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the earth; let us
   pray to be as clouds of grace to our families. Whether we have only an
   Isaac and an Ishmael like Abraham, or twelve children like Jacob, let
   us pray for each and all that they may live before the Lord, and that
   we and all that belong to us may be bound up in the bundle of life.

   Note, further, that the third step in the coming of grace to Peter's
   house was, that after the conversion of the brother and Peter, there
   were certain others converted who were partners and companions with the
   two brothers. It is a great help to a man to find godly work-fellows.
   If he must needs go a-fishing like Peter, it is a grand thing to have a
   James and a John as one's partners in the business. How helpful it is
   to piety when Christian men associate from day to day with their fellow
   Christians, and speak often one to another concerning the best things.
   Firebrands placed closely together will burn all the more freely, coals
   laid in a heap will glow and blaze, and so hearts touching hearts in
   divine things cause an inward burning and a sacred fervor seldom
   reached by those who walk alone. Many Christians are called to struggle
   hard for spiritual existence through having to work with unbelievers;
   they are not only sneered at and persecuted, but all sorts of doubts
   and blasphemies are suggested, and these materially hinder their growth
   in the heavenly life. When they are brought into this trial in the
   course of providence they have need of great grace to remain firm under
   it. Beloved brother, if in your daily business you meet with none to
   help but many to hinder, you must live all the nearer to God, for you
   require a double measure of grace; but if in the providence of God you
   happen to be placed where there are helpful Christian companions, do
   not readily change that position, even though your income would be
   doubled thereby. I would sooner work with James and John for twenty
   shillings a week than with swearers and drunkards for sixty. You who
   reside with really consistent Christians are much favored, and ought to
   become eminent Christians. You are like flowers in a conservatory, and
   you ought to bloom to perfection. You live in a lavender garden, and
   you ought to smell sweetly. Prove that you appreciate and rightly use
   your privileged position by endeavoring to bring grace to your house,
   that it may be altogether the Lord's.

   A fourth and more manifest step was taken when Peter and his friends
   were drawn closer to their Lord. The good man of the house was already
   saved, and his brother and companions, but by the grace of God they
   rose to be something more than merely saved, for they received a call
   to a higher occupation and a nobler service; from fishers they were to
   rise into fishers of men, and from rowing in their own boats to become
   pilots of the barque of the church. Peter was already a disciple, but
   he was in the background; he must come to the front: he had been more a
   fisherman than a disciple, but now he must be more a disciple than a
   fisherman. He must now follow Jesus by a more open avowal, a more
   constant service, a nearer communion, a more attentive discipleship, a
   fuller fellowship in suffering; and for this he must receive an inward
   preparation by the Divine Spirit: he was, in fact, by the call of his
   Lord and Master, lifted to a higher platform altogether, upon which he
   would abide and learn by the Spirit what flesh and blood could never
   reveal.

   Beloved, what a difference there may be between one Christian and
   another. I have sometimes seen it with astonishment; and though I would
   not go so far as to say that I have seen as much difference between one
   Christian and another as between a Christian and a worldling; for there
   must ever be between the lowest grade of life and the fairest form of
   death a wider distinction than between the lowest and highest grades of
   life, yet still it is a very solemn difference. We know some who are
   saved—at least we hope they are—but oh, how few are the fruits of the
   Spirit; how feeble is the light they give; how slender is their
   consecration; how small is their likeness to him whom they call Master
   and Lord. Thank God, we have seen others who live in quite another
   atmosphere, and exhibit a far different life. It is not a higher life,
   I hardly like that term, for the life of God is one and the same in all
   believers; but it is a higher condition of the life, more developed,
   more vigorous, more influential; a condition of life which has a
   clearer eye, and a nimbler hand, a quicker ear, and a more musical
   speech; a life of health, whereas too many only know life as laboring
   under disease, and ready to give up the ghost. There are Mephibosheths
   among the king's favourites, but give me the life of Naphtali,
   "satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord;" or of
   Asher, of whom it is written, "let him dip his foot in oil." An owl is
   alive though it loves the darkness, and a mole is alive though it is
   always digging its own grave, but give me the life of those who mount
   as on the wings of eagles, who live upon the fat things, full of
   marrow, and drink the wines on the lees well refined. These are the
   mightier of Israel, whose joyous energy far surpasses that of the weary
   and faint, whose faith is feeble and whose love is cold. Now, Peter and
   his friends at this time had been called from their fishing tackle and
   their boats to abide with Jesus in his humiliation, and learn of him
   the secrets of the kingdom, which afterwards they were to teach to
   others. They had heard the Master say, "Follow me," and they had left
   all at his bidding. They were in the path of fellowship, boldly
   pressing on at their Lord's command, so that now they had taken a grand
   stride in their Christian career; and that is the time, beloved, when
   men bring blessings on their houses. Oh, I could sigh to think of the
   capacities which lie dormant in some Christians! It is sad to think how
   their children might grow up, and with God's blessing become pillars in
   the House of the Lord, and perhaps ministers of the gospel, under the
   influence of an earnest consecrated father and mother: but instead
   thereof the dulness, the lukewarmness, the worldliness, and the
   inconsistencies of parents are hindering the children from coming to
   Christ, hampering them as to any great advances in the divine life,
   dwarfing their stature in grace, and doing them lifelong injury.
   Brethren, you do not know the possibilities which are in you when God's
   Spirit rests upon you; but this much is certain, if you yourselves be
   called into a higher form of divine life, you shall then become mediums
   of blessing to your relatives. Your husband, your wife, your child,
   your friend, and the whole of your family shall be the better for your
   advance in spiritual things.

   Now, observe further, that at this time when the Lord was about to
   bless the household of Peter he had been further instructing Peter
   about Andrew and James and John, for he took them to the synagogue, and
   they heard him preach. A delightful sermon it was—a sermon very full of
   energy, and very unlike the discourses of ordinary preachers, for it
   had authority and power about it a was when they came home front
   synagogue, after hearing such a sermon, that the blessing descended
   upon the house. The best of us need instruction. It is unwise for
   Christian people to be so busy about Christ's work that they cannot
   listen to Christ's words. We must be fed, or we cannot feed others. The
   synagogue must not be deserted, if it be a synagogue where Christ is
   present. And oh, sometimes, when the Master is present, what a power
   there is in the word: it is not the preacher's eloquence, it is neither
   the flow of language, nor the novelty of thought; there is a secret,
   quiet influence which enters into the soul and subdues it to the
   majesty of divine love. You feel the vital energy of the divine word,
   and it is not man's word to you, but the quickening voice of God
   sounding through the chambers of your spirit, and making your whole
   being to live in his sight. At such times the sermon is as manna from
   the slimier, or as the bread and wine with which Melchizedec met
   Abraham; you are cheered and strengthened by it, and go away refreshed.
   My dear brother, my dear sister, then is the time to go home and take
   your Lord home with you. Peter and his friends had so enjoyed the great
   Teacher's company at the synagogue that they begged him to abide with
   them, and so they went straight away with him from the synagogue into
   the house. Can you do that this morning? If my Lord shall come and
   smile upon you and warm your hearts, do not lose him as you go down the
   aisles, do not let him go when you reach the streets and are walking
   home. Do not grieve him by chitchat about worthless matters, but take
   Jesus home with you. Tell him it is noon-day, and entreat him to tarry
   with you during the heat of the day; or if it be eventide, tell him the
   day is far spent, and beseech him to abide with you. You can always
   find some good reason for detaining your Lord. Do as did the spouse of
   old, when he said, "I found him whom my soul loveth; I held him, and
   would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house,
   and into the chamber of her that conceived me." Is there not a sick one
   at home? Take Jesus home to her. Is there no sorrow at home? Entreat
   your Lord to come home to help you in your distress. Is there no sin at
   home? I am sure there is. Take Jesus home to purge it away. But,
   remember, you cannot take him home with you unless you first have him
   with you personally. Labour after this then; be not satisfied without
   it. Resolve to be his servant—that I trust you are; to be his servant
   walling in the light as he is in the light, and having fellowship with
   him—that I hope you are; and then, having gone so far, resolve that you
   will take him to your friends and to your kinsfolk, that so your whole
   house may be blest.

   I desire, before I pass to the second point, to lay great stress upon
   this. We have an old proverb that charity must begin at home, let me
   shape it into this,—piety must begin with yourself. Before you ask
   salvation for your family, lay hold upon it for yourself. This is not
   selfishness: indeed, the purest benevolence makes a man desire to be
   qualified to benefit others; and you cannot be prepared to bless others
   unless God has first blessed you. Is it selfishness which makes a man
   stand at the fountain to fill his own cup, when he intends to hand that
   cup round for others to drink? Is it any selfishness for us to pray
   that in us there may be a well of water springing up unto everlasting
   life, when our second thought is that out of us may flow rivers of
   living water whereby others may be replenished? It is no selfishness to
   wish that the power of the Lord may be upon you, if you long to
   exercise that power upon the hearts of others for their good. Look ye
   well, brethren, to yourselves; ye cannot bless your children, ye cannot
   bless your households till first of all upon yourselves the anointing
   of the Lord doth rest. O Spirit of the living God, breathe upon us,
   that we may live yet more abundantly, and then shall we be chosen
   vessels to bear the name of Jesus to others.

   II. Now we take the second step, and show WHAT GRACE DID IN PETER'S
   HOUSE WHEN IT CAME THERE.

   The first effect that grace produced was, it led the family to prayer.
   The four friends have come in, and no sooner are they in than they
   begin to speak with the Master, for the text tells us, "Anon they tell
   him of her,"—of Peter's wife's mother who lay sick. I like that
   expression—I do not know whether you have noticed it—"Anon they tell
   him of her." Luke tells us "they besought him." I have no doubt Luke is
   right, but Mark is right too. "They tell him of her." It looks to me as
   if it taught me this—that sometimes all I may do with my sore
   affliction is just to tell my own dear Lord about it, and leave it to
   his loving judgment to act as he sees fit. Have you any temporal
   trouble or sickness in the house? Tell Jesus of it. Sometimes that is
   almost as much as you may do. You may beseech him to heal that dear
   one, but you will have to say, "Not as I would, but as thou wilt," and
   so will feel that all you may do is to tell Jesus the case and leave it
   with him. He is so gentle and loving, that he is sure to do the kindest
   thing, and the thing which is most right to do; therefore we may be
   content to "tell him of her." With regard to spiritual things, we may
   press and be very importunate, but with regard to temporal things, we
   must draw a line, and be satisfied when we have told Jesus and left the
   matter to his discretion. Some parents may, when their children are
   ill, plead with God in a way which shows more of nature then of grace,
   more clearly the affection of the mother than the resignation of the
   Christian; but such should not be the case. If we have committed our
   way unto the Lord in prayer, and meekly told him of our crisis it will
   be our wisdom to be still, and watch till God the Lord shall speak. He
   cannot be either unjust or unkind, therefore should we say, "Let him do
   what seemeth him good."

   Very likely this good woman, Peter's wife's mother, was herself a
   believer in Christ; but I venture to take her case as typical of
   spiritual success, not at all wishing, however, to insinuate that she
   was spiritually sick, for she may have been one of the most devoted of
   Christians. But now, suppose you take Jesus Christ home with you, dear
   friend, if you have an unconverted one in the house, you will
   immediately begin to "tell him of her." "They told him of her." That is
   a very simple type of prayer, is it not? Yes, in some respects it is,
   and therefore I urge you to use it. Do not say you cannot pray for your
   child; you can tell Jesus of her. Do not say you cannot plead for your
   brother or your sister; you can go, and in a childlike manner tell
   Jesus about the case, and that is prayer. To describe your needs is
   often the best way of asking for help. I have known a person say to a
   man of whom he needed aid, "Now, I am not going to ask you for
   anything, I only want you to hear my story, and then you shall do as
   you like"; and if he wisely tells his story, the other begins to smile,
   and says,"You do not call that asking, I suppose?" Tell Jesus Christ
   all about it; his view of the matter will be to your advantage.

   This elementary form of prayer is very powerful. The police do not
   allow people to beg in the streets, but I do not know that there is any
   law to prevent their sitting down in attitudes of misery and exhibiting
   holes at the knees of their trousers and bare feet staring through
   soleless shoes. I saw that exhibition this morning. The man was not
   begging, but it was wonderfully like it, and answered the purpose
   better than words. To tell Jesus Christ about your unconverted relative
   or friend may have in it a great deal of power, may be, in fact, one of
   the most earnest things you could do; because the absence of spoken
   pleas and arguments may arise from your being so burdened with anxiety
   that you cannot find words to say, "Lord relieve me," but you stand
   there and sigh under the burden, and those groanings which cannot be
   uttered act as urgent pleas with the pitiful heart of Christ, and cry
   aloud in his ear, "Lord, help me."

   Telling Jesus is a simple mode of praying, but methinks it is a very
   believing mode. It is as if they felt, "We only need to tell the case,
   and our blessed Lord will attend to it. If anon we tell him of her,
   there shall be no need to clasp his knees and cry with bitter tears for
   pity upon the fevered one; for as soon as he hears, so loving is his
   heart, he will stretch out his hand of power." Go to Jesus, then, dear
   friends, in that spirit, about your unconverted friend or child, and
   "Tell him of her."

   There is something very instructive about this particular case, because
   we are apt to think we must not tell the Lord of the more common
   troubles which occur in our family; but this is a great error. Too
   common? How can the commonness of an evil put it out of the list of
   proper subjects for supplication? The seaboard of Capernaum in which
   Peter dwelt is said by travelers to be a peculiarly damp, marshy,
   aguish, feverish place, no end of people had the fever just around the
   house; but Peter and Andrew did not argue that they must not tell the
   Lord because it was a common disease. Do not let Satan get an advantage
   over you by persuading you to keep back commonplace troubles or sins
   from your loving Lord. Beloved, if he counts the hairs of your heads,
   if not a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge, depend upon
   it your commonest trouble will be sympathized in by him. "In all their
   afflictions he was afflicted." It is a great mistake to think you may
   not carry to your Redeemer the ordinary trials of the day; tell him,
   yea, tell him all. If your child is only a common sinner, if there is
   no unusual depravity in him, if your son hats never grieved you by
   perverseness, if your daughter has always been amiable and gentle, do
   not think there is no need to pray. If it is only a common case of the
   fever of sin, yet it will be deadly in the end unless a balm be found,
   therefore tell Jesus of it at once. Do not wait till your son becomes a
   prodigal, pray at once! Do not delay till your child is at death's
   door, pray now!

   But sometimes a difficulty arises from the other side of the matter.
   Peter's wife's mother was attacked by no ordinary fever. We are told it
   was "a great fever": the expression used implies that she was burning
   with fever; and she was intensely debilitated, for she was laid or
   prostrate. Now the devil will sometimes insinuate, "It is of no use for
   you to take such a case to Jesus; your son has acted so shamefully,
   your daughter is so wilful: such a case will never yield to divine
   grace in answer to prayer." Do not be held back by this wicked
   suggestion. Our Lord Jesus Christ can rebuke great fevers, and He can
   lift up those that are broken down and rendered powerless by raging
   sin. "Wonders of grace to God belong." Go and tell Jesus of the case,
   common or uncommon, ordinary or extraordinary even as they told Jesus
   of her.

   Now, notice one or two reasons why we think they were driven to tell
   Jesus of her. I know the great reason, but I will mention the little
   ones first. I fancy they told Jesus of her, at first, because it was a
   contagious fever, and it is hardly right to bring a person into a house
   that has a great fever in it, without letting them know. If there is a
   great sin in your house, you may perhaps feel in your heart, "How can
   Jesus Christ come to my house while my drunken husband acts as he
   does?" Perhaps, more sorrowful still, the wife drinks in secret, and
   the husband, who sees it with deep regret, says, "How can I expect the
   Lord to bless us?" Or perhaps some great, sad sin has defiled your
   child, and you may well say, "How can I expect the Lord to smile on
   this house? I might as well expect a man to come into a house which is
   infected with typhus fever." Never mind. Tell Jesus all about it, and
   he will come, fever or no fever, sin or no sin.

   I think perhaps they told him of her because it would be some excuse
   for the scantiness of the entertainment they were likely to give. What
   could Peter and Andrew do at preparing a meal? The principal person in
   the house was ill and could not serve. We poor men are miserable hands
   at spreading a table, we need a Mary or a Martha to help us, or a
   Peter's wife, or a Peter's wife's mother. And so they say with long
   faces, "Good Master, we would gladly entertain thee well, but she who
   would delight to serve thee is sick." How often a family is hindered
   from entertaining Christ through some sick soul that is in the house.
   "O Lord, we would have family prayer, but we cannot: the husband will
   not permit it." "Lord, we would make this household ring with thy
   praises, but we should make one tenant of it so angry that we are
   obliged to be quiet." "We cannot give thee a feast good Lord: we have
   to set before thee a little as best we can, or the house would grow too
   hot to hold us." Never mind. Tell Jesus about it; and Jesus will come
   and sup with you, and turn the impediment into an assistance.

   Moreover, the faces of the friends looked so sad. I care say while in
   the synagogue Peter had almost forgotten about his wife's mother, he
   had been so pleased with the preaching, but when he reached home the
   first question when he crossed the door was, "How is she now?" The
   servants replied, "Alas, master, the fever rages terribly." Down went
   Peter's spirits, a cloud came over his countenance; and he turned to
   Jesus and cried, "Good Master, I cannot help being sad, even though
   thou be here, for my wife's mother, whom I love much, is sick of a
   fever." That sadness may have helped Peter to "tell him of her."

   But I think the grand reason was this, that our blessed Lord had such a
   sympathetic heart that he always drew everybody's grief out of them.
   Men could not keep anything to themselves where he was. He looked like
   one who was so much like yourself; so much in all points tried like as
   you are, that you could not help telling him. I exhort you that love my
   Lord to allow his sweet sympathy to extract from you the grief which
   wrings your heart; and let it constrain you to tell him of your
   unconverted relative. He endured the contradiction of sinners against
   himself, he loved the souls of men, and died for them; and, therefore,
   he can tenderly enter into the anxieties which you feel for souls
   rebellious and hardened in sin. Therefore, "tell him of her."

   I think, however, that they told him of her because they expected that
   he would heal her. Tell Jesus about your child, or your friend, who is
   unconverted, and expect that he will look upon them with an eye of
   love. He can save. It is like him to do it. He delights to do it. It
   will honor him to do it. Expect him to do it, and tell him the case of
   your unregenerate friend this very day.

   May I put the question all round? You have each of you, probably, some
   one left in your family unsaved, and you have said, "I was in hopes
   that this one would be converted." Have you ever told Jesus of her or
   of him? Oh, I hope you can answer, "Yes, I have many times" but it is
   just possible you have not made a set business of it. Begin now, and go
   upstairs and take time every day to tell the Lord every bit about Jane,
   or Mary, or Thomas, or John. Wrestle with God, if need be, all night
   long, and say, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." I do not
   think that many of you will be very long with that trouble to carry
   when you have in that manner told it to your Lord. This is what they
   did when Jesus came. Immediately they told him of her, for the word
   "Anon" is really in the Greek "immediately." Directly Christ went in
   they told him of her, and directly Christ went to heal her.

   So the first work grace wrought in the house was it led them to pray;
   and, secondly, this led the Savior to heal their sick. He went into the
   chamber, spoke a word, gave a touch, lifted up the sick woman, and she
   was restored, and the wonderful thing was she was able to rise from the
   bed immediately and wait upon them. This never occurs in the cure of a
   fever, for when a fever goes it leaves the patient very weak, and he
   needs days and weeks, and sometimes months, before he recovers his
   wonted strength. But the cures of Christ are perfect; and so at once
   the patient rose and ministered unto them.

   Thus we see that when grace came into that house and wrought its cure
   it quite transformed the family. Look at the difference. There is the
   poor woman, the patient, shivering, and then again burning, for the
   fever is on her; she can scarcely lift hand or foot. Now look at her,
   she is busily serving, with a smiling face; no one more happy or
   healthy than she. So when God's grace comes, the one who has been the
   object of the most anxiety becomes the happiest of all; the sinner,
   saved by sovereign grace, becomes servant of the Lord; the patient
   becomes the hostess.

   Note the change in the rest of them. They had all been heavy of heart,
   but now they are rejoicing.. There is no anxiety on Peter's face now,
   Andrew is no more troubled, the skeleton in the closet has disappeared,
   the sickness has been chased out, and they can all sing, a gladsome
   hymn. The house is changed from an hospital to a church, from an
   infirmary to a banqueting hall. The Lord himself seems changed, too, if
   chancre can come over him, for, from a physician, going carefully into
   a sick room, he comes forth a King who has subdued an enemy, and they
   all look upon him with wonder and reverence as the mighty Lord,
   victorious over invisible spirits. Now, I pray God that our household
   may be transformed and transfigured in this way: our Luz become a
   Bethel, our valley of Achor a door of smile, our sons of perverseness a
   seed to serve the Lord. If you yourself get a fullness of grace, the
   next step is for your families to receive of the boundless fullness,
   till not one shall be soul-sick at home, but all shall be happy in the
   Lord, all, all shall serve him.

   III. When mercy had once entered, let us see HOW GRACE FLOWED FORTH
   FROM THE HOUSE. They could not keep the fact hidden indoors that
   Peter's wife's mother was cured. I do not know who told about it. Had
   it been in our day I should have thought it was one of the servants
   over the palings of the backyard, where they are so fond of talking; or
   perhaps some friend who came in, and was told the news. Perhaps the
   doctor called round to see the good woman, and, to his utter
   astonishment, found her up and about the house. He goes to his next
   patient, and says, "My business will soon come to an end; my patient
   who had fever yesterday has been made perfectly whole by one Jesus, a
   prophet of Nazareth." Somehow or other it oozed out. You cannot keep
   the grace of God a secret; it will reveal itself. You need not
   advertise your religion: live it, and other people will talk about it.
   It is good to speak for Christ whenever you have a fair opportunity,
   but your life will be the best sermon.

   The story went through the town, and a poor man upon crutches said to
   himself, "I will hobble out to Peter's house!" Another who used to
   creep through the streets on all fours quietly whispered "I will go to
   Peter's house and see." Others, moved by the same impulse, started for
   the same place. Many who had sick ones said, "fire will carry our
   friends to Peter's house;" so the house grew popular, and, lo, around
   the door there was such a sight as Peter had never seen before. It was
   a great hospital, all down the street patients were clamouring to see
   the great prophet. "Almost the whole city came round about the door."
   And, now, what say you to Peter's house? We began with calling it a
   humble lodging, where a fisherman dwelt; why, it is become a royal
   hospital, a palace of mercy. Here they come with every kind of
   complaint, lepers, and halt, and lame, and withered, and there is the
   loving Master, moving here and there till he has healed every one of
   them. The streets of Capernaum rang that night with song of joy. There
   was dancing in the street of a new kind, for the lame man was leaping;
   and the music that accompanied the dancing was of a new kind too, for
   then did the tongue of the dumb sing, "Glory be to God." It was out of
   Peter's house that all this mercy came.

   Ah, brethren, I would to God he would look first on Peter, and then on
   Peter's wife's mother, or Peter's child or relative, and then on the
   whole house, and then from the house cause an influence to stream forth
   and to be felt by all the neighborhood. "It cannot be so with my home,"
   says one. Why not, dear brother? If you are straitened at all, you are
   not straitened in God; you are straitened in yourself. "But I live in a
   place," says one, "where the ministry is lifeless." The more reason why
   you should be a blessing to the town. "Oh, but I live where many active
   Christians are doing a great deal of good." The more reason why you
   should be encouraged to do good too. "Oh, but ours is an aristocratic
   neighborhood." They want the gospel most of all. How few of the great
   and mighty are ever saved! "Oh, but ours is such a low neighborhood."
   That is just the place where the gospel is likely to meet with a glad
   reception, for the poor have the gospel preached to them, and they will
   hear it. You cannot invent an excuse which will hold water for a
   moment: God can make your house to be the center of blessing to all who
   dwell around it, if you are willing to have it so. But the way to have
   it so I have described. First, you must be yourself saved, yourself
   called to the highest form of life, yourself warmed in heart by the
   presence of your Master; then your family must be blest; and after that
   the widening circle around your habitation. Oh that it might be so. I
   know some brethren who, wherever they are, are burning and shining
   lights; but I know some others who are lamps, but it would be difficult
   to say whether they are alight or not. I think I see a flicker, but I
   am not sure. Brethren, aspire to be abundantly useful. Do you wish to
   live ignoble lives? Do you wish to be bound to the loathsome carcase of
   a dead Christianity? I abhor lukewarmness from my soul, let us have
   done with it! We have a very short time in which to bear our testimony,
   we shall soon be at rest; let us world while we can. The shadows are
   lengthening, the day is drawing to a close. Up! brethren, up! If you
   are to bring jewels to Jesus, if you are to crown his head with many
   crowns, up, I pray you, and labor for him while you can.

   There are some here who are unconverted. I have not spoken to them, but
   I have tried to set you all speaking to them. Will you do it, or shall
   I keep you to hear the second halt of my sermon? No, I will trust you
   to deliver it, and may God bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Mark 1:14-45.
     __________________________________________________________________

How They Conquered the Dragon

   (No. 1237)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, May 30th, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [2]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their
   testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."— Revelation
   12:11.

   IT IS NOT MY MAIN OBJECT at this time to expound the chapter before us.
   I scarcely consider myself qualified to explain any part of the Book of
   Revelation, and none of the expositions I have ever seen entice me to
   attempt the task, for they are mostly occupied with a refutation of all
   the interpretations which have gone before, and each one seems to be
   very successful indeed in proving that all the rest know nothing at all
   about the matter. The sum total of substantial instruction in nearly
   all the comments upon the Revelation amounts to this, that our heavenly
   Father has said in his word some mysterious things which few of his
   children can yet comprehend. This is just what we might have expected
   when the infinite God speaks to finite men, and it is no doubt intended
   to humble us and draw forth our reverent adoration. Happily there is a
   blessing to those who read and hear and keep the words of his prophecy,
   for had that blessing been confined to those who understand it, few
   would have obtained the benediction. The Revelation is a most blessed
   book, but its unfolding has yet to be accomplished. If you refer to the
   expositors you will find that they discover in this passage the
   dragon-ensign of pagan Rome, and its removal from its position by
   Constantine, who set up the cross in its stead. I do not believe the
   Lord took any more interest in Constantine than in any other sinner,
   and it seems to me little short of blasphemous to say that he was the
   man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and was
   caught up into God and to his throne. His adoption of Christianity as
   the state religion was not a thing for glorified spirits to rejoice in,
   but a dreadful calamity, fitted only to make sport for Pandemonium. No
   one ever did the church a worse turn than he who first joined her to
   the state. The act was a piece of state policy and kingcraft and no
   more, a business utterly unworthy of record by an inspired pen.

   It would be unprofitable to follow great interpreters through the
   history of the Roman empire, all of which they find in the visions of
   John: such an exercise would be more suitable to another day, and would
   rather come under the head of history than theology. I can only give
   you what it occurs to me that you and I would have understood by the
   vision if it had been granted to us. It does not appear to me to be a
   portion of a consecutive revelation, but a sort of summary of the
   visions which follow it, and in some respects a preface to them.
   Remember that it is a vision, and is not to be interpreted in cold
   blood word by word, or read as if its coherence and connection would
   always be apparent. In this chapter we may see, as in a panorama, the
   entire conflict between the principles of good and evil, between God
   and Satan. We have before us the old original quarrel between the woman
   and the serpent with which the inspired volume commences, and a clear
   development of the first promise, "I will put enmity between thee and
   the woman, between thy seed and her seed."

   Woman in her innocence was attacked by "that old serpent, called the
   devil, and Satan," and she readily enough fell a prey to his
   deceptions, to the utter ruin of our race. At the end of that first
   crafty assault and speedy victory the dragon met with his rebuff in
   words like these: "The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, and
   thou shalt bruise his heel"; a promise which declared that, though the
   woman's seed must suffer greatly at Satan's hand in consequence of sin,
   yet he would conquer in the end, and destroy the power of evil. In the
   Revelation the scene is changed from Eden to the heavens, and there
   before you stand again the woman and the serpent, in the same position
   of antagonism as before, the serpent still the assailant, only this
   time more openly so. Observe how both woman and serpent have developed;
   the one has become a queen bedecked with celestial splendor, and the
   other a python with tail so vast that he threatens to obliterate the
   stars with every sweep of it. The woman is no longer a simple,
   childlike personage, but a wonder; she walks not among the trees and
   the flowers, but amid the orbs of heaven. She is clothed with the sun,
   the moon is under her feet, and upon her head is a coronet of twelve
   stars. In her you see the great cause of truth and righteousness
   embodied—she is, in fact, the church of God in all ages, the woman
   whose seed blesses all the nations of the earth. The glorious cause of
   holiness and God, incarnated in the church, is clothed with the
   splendor of light, and truth, and majesty. We will not stay to explain
   the details of the gorgeous imagery, for in such a matter it is almost
   frivolity to go into detail. The church has her greater and her lesser
   lights: she is covered with the underived splendor of indwelling Deity,
   and her walk is bright with the reflected glory of holiness, while her
   crown of joy is found in her complete ministry as represented by the
   apostolic twelve. She is fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
   terrible as an army with banners. Behold, then, the typical woman, and
   see how glorious is the cause of truth and holiness.

   In the vision the queenly woman is about to bring forth the promised
   seed; she cries in her anguish, "travailing in birth, and pained to be
   delivered." This, of course, may represent the church crying day and
   night unto God in times gone by for the coming of the promised
   deliverer—a cry which increased in intensity and agony of desire as the
   time drew on; but it may also depict the constant condition of a true
   church, always travailing in birth till Christ be formed in the hearts
   of men, till the man-child, namely Christ mystical, be born here below
   till the Christ be so brought forth among the sons of men that he and
   all those who by grace are enabled to overcome the wicked one, shall
   rule the nations with a rod of iron. (Revelation 2:26-27.)

   You see, then, in vision the woman, the church, and before her stands
   another wonder—the serpent mightily developed. He is called a great red
   dragon: huge in bulk and terrible in appearance is this emblem of evil,
   and he is clothed with the horrible splendor peculiar to himself—the
   splendor of deadly hate and imperious rebellion. Bright and burning,
   like flames of fire, the huge serpent is terrible to gaze upon. The
   python is red with wrath, and encrimsoned with persecuting malice. Red
   is the color of Edom, the adversary of the Lord, and of his Israel, and
   it is still the chosen color of the monstrous power of antichrist,
   which holds its court at Rome. What is the last of its evil gifts to
   our own country but a red hat for its arch-priest? This great red
   dragon is full of craft, for it has seven heads. One Satanic head were
   enough, but our great enemy possesses an almost perfect ingenuity of
   wickedness, he uses a wisdom all but infinite to effect the overthrow
   of the church of God and the destruction of Christ and the rest of the
   heavenborn seed among men! These seven heads are supplemented by ten
   horns, the emblems of power, for the prince of the power of the air is
   by no means weak; he has, in fact, more power than wisdom, having but
   seven heads to ten horns, and yet since according to the order of
   nature each head should have two horns, we may also say that he has not
   power enough to execute all that his wicked cunning enables him to
   invent. By the power wielded by the dragon, he leads men to rebel
   against the law of the Lord, and induces them to persecute the church.
   The power of evil is great in all lands, and as opposed to a
   defenseless woman in a sorrowful condition, it seems quite impossible
   that she should stand against it. The heads are also crowned, for Satan
   sways with more than regal power the minds of men; he is the god of
   this world, it lieth in the wicked one. He delights to display that
   power, and trusts much to outward pomp, therefore he wears seven crowns
   upon his seven heads, as if one diadem were not sufficient to denote
   his kingship. His enormous energy is also set forth by his lashing the
   skies in his fury and tearing down a third part of the stars—it is
   evermore his ambition to deepen darkness and destroy light, and
   terribly successful has he been in this his choicest pastime.

   See, then, before you the woman in her brightness and loveliness and
   the dragon in his rage and power. The dragon is watching for the
   expected birth, he is eager to devour the man-child as soon as it is
   born,—the ideal man, the offspring of the divine life he longs to
   destroy. It was so when our Lord Jesus was born; Satan stirred up Herod
   to seek the young child, and hence the massacre of the innocents. But
   the dragon was foiled, Jesus lived till his hour was come, and then he
   was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Thus also Satan strove to
   devour the new-born seed, when the converts to Christ were few, and
   mystical body upon earth was like unto that of a little child. He
   persecuted the man-child when first the gospel was preached; but the
   more his servants persecuted the saints, the more they multiplied. The
   method followed by Pharaoh in Egypt was a crafty one, but it did not
   and could not succeed. Persecution always fails.

   To-day, brethren, the man-child, even our Lord Jesus, is caught up unto
   God and sits upon his throne; and in part also the mystical body of
   Christ is there also, far beyond the reach of the dragon. Jesus reigns
   with his saints in a region in which there is no more place for the
   dragon, a domain from which he is for ever cast out into the earth. All
   the power which Satan ever had in heavenly things is now ended by the
   finished work of our ascended Lord.

   "Bruised is the serpent's head
   Hell is vanquish'd, death is dead
   And to Christ gone up on high
   Captive is captivity."

   By reason of our sin and his own power over death, Satan shut heaven
   against us, but now the battle in the higher regions between the dragon
   and the woman's seed is over, and we are in the heavenly places, and
   Satan banished for ever. There is no condemnation unto us any more, nor
   a foot for the evil one to stand upon, now that we are in Christ. When
   we read here "heaven," do not understand by it the place of the
   blessed, where God dwelleth, but the spiritual region, the realm of
   spiritual things. The first fight between truth and error lies in
   purely spiritual matters, in those heavenly places into which Christ
   has lifted up his church, it is a wrestling between good and evil
   spirits and not a contention with flesh and blood. We find angels first
   entering into this strife. We know but little about it, but it would
   seem that the great dragon of evil has made war with angels as well as
   with men. Milton sang of those angelic conflicts in majestic verse, but
   Milton was not inspired to speak infallibly, and we must take heed not
   to confound poets with prophets. It is clear that good and evil spirits
   are at necessary variance one with another, and it is also clear that
   in ages gone by Satan tempted the angelic band, and those angels which
   kept the first estate were victorious over him once for all; they
   rejected his sinful solicitations, and now he has no more power over
   them. Ever again can he tempt them, they shall stand fast for ever,
   confirmed in their blessed estate. Michael and his angels have defeated
   the devil and his angels in one decisive battle, and by remaining true
   to their allegiance have chased away from angelic realms the invading
   power of evil.

   Dwelling in the spirit realms there are others besides angels, our
   brethren who have left the body, the saints of ancient times, and the
   faithful of the early church; these also dwell in a region out of which
   Satan is expelled, he cannot molest them any more. The text bids us
   hear the glorified chanting the song of victory over Satan, for ever
   cast down from the realms of the blessed never again to enter into the
   spiritual domain to vex them. "And I heard a loud voice saying in
   heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God,
   and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
   down, which accused them before our God day and night." To the singers
   of this song I want to call your attention, and mainly to one point
   concerning them. They have conquered Satan; I want you to observe this,
   and to note the weapons by which they overcame.

   Leaving all the rest, we will pay our attention to the victors and the
   weapons by which they won the day. First, we shall notice that the
   blessed ones before the throne were all warriors and victors; secondly,
   they all fought with the same weapons; and thirdly, they all fought the
   same spirit.

   I. First, ALL THE BLESSED ONES WHO ARE REJOICING IN HEAVEN WERE ONCE
   WARRIORS AND VICTORS HERE BELOW. It is a very simple truth to mention,
   but we need to be reminded of it.

   "Once they there mourning liege below,
   And wet their couch with tears;
   They wrestled hard, as we do now,
   With sins and doubts and fears."

   We too often think of the saints that have gone before as if they were
   men of another race from ourselves, capable of nobler things, endowed
   with graces which we cannot reach, and adorned with holiness impossible
   to us. The medieval artists were wont to paint the saints with rings of
   glory about their heads, but indeed they had no such halos; their brows
   were furrowed with care even as ours, and their hair grew grey with
   grief. Their light was within, and we may have it; their glory was by
   grace, and the same grace is available for us. They were men of like
   passions with ourselves, "our brethren," though a little elder born. It
   is clear from our text that every one of the saints in heaven was
   assailed by Satan. How could there be a victory without a battle? They
   were all attacked by one or other of the dragon's heads and horns. When
   you suffer from a fearful temptation which almost stirs you, count it
   no strange thing; be not dismayed as though a new temptation had
   befallen you. That fiery dart had been aimed at other men's hearts
   before it was caught upon your shield. If the insinuation should happen
   to be profane and blasphemous to a very high degree, so that you
   condemn yourself and say, "No other human mind could ever have been
   defiled with so foul a suggestion as this," do not despond, for such
   suggestions have been injected into the minds of the purest, even as
   the worst of thieves may seek to enter the house of the most honest man
   in the city. Even to those who at this moment are without fault before
   the throne of God it happened while here below that horrible
   temptations assailed them. Satan always has been since his fall a
   tempter of the worst order, and ever since he first beguiled our mother
   Eve he has gone on to ensnare men's souls with the same craft, the same
   cruelty, the same falsehood, the same impiety against the Lord. It will
   help you if you reflect that you are not alone, and the pathway which
   you follow was trodden by the most honored of the elect of God. Paul,
   who won provinces for Christ, nevertheless had his messengers of Satan
   to buffet him, and had to stand against doubts and scars insinuated by
   the old serpent, even as you must stand. If you could have examined the
   celestial victors one by one as they entered within the pearly you
   would have found them all covered with scars: though now they bear
   neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, they had all of them in
   the day of their flesh to feel the cruel tooth and fang of that
   infernal serpent; not one of them traversed a clear course and took his
   throne unchallenged; neither will you conquer without conflict. For you
   also if there be no cross there will be no crown; therefore, be not
   astonished if you are attacked in all ways.

   The glorified, in addition to having been attacked, were led to resist
   the evil one, for nobody overcomes an antagonist without fighting with
   him. There must be, in order to a real battle, two sides of the
   question, but I fear sue there are some professors who know much about
   being tempted, but they do not know much about resisting. Now,
   brethren, however great our temptation, our resistance must be greater.
   To be tempted is common, even to the worst and most reprobate of men,
   but to resist temptation is the mark of the child of God. The verse I
   quoted just now says,

   "They wrestled hard, as we do now
   With sins and doubts and fears."

   It is not merely that they had "sins and doubts and fears," these all
   may have, but they "wrestled hard" with them, they would not be put
   down by them, they would not yield an inch, they stood upon their guard
   until they drove the sword of the Spirit through the very heart of the
   foe. "They resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Rest assured,
   dear friends, that sin will never be conquered without resistance, and
   if we fold our arms and suppose that we shall get the victory by
   believing that we have got it, we shall be mightily mistaken. We must
   watch, and pray, and strive and agonise, and press forward; "this kind
   goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Salvation is not by works,
   but conquest over sin involves fighting from day to day; victory will
   not come to us while we lie passive, but we must be stirred up with all
   the energy of the eternal Spirit to vanquish evil. These Canaanites
   must be driven out of the land by force of arms ere we can take full
   possession of our inheritance. Let this, then, be our pi dyer to our
   great Joshua as we gird on our harness and unsheathe our swords.

   "Almighty King of saints,
   These tyrant lusts subdue;
   Drive the old dragon from his throne,
   And all his hellish crew."

   We find that these warriors all overcame, for heaven is not for those
   who fight merely, but for those who overcome. "He that overcometh shall
   inherit all things." "I do fight against my sin," says one. Brother, do
   you overcome it? Did it seem a hard question just now when I said, do
   you resist? It is a harder question which I now put, "Do you overcome?"
   For if sin overcomes you; if as an habitual matter of fact sin is your
   master, then you have yet to know what true religion is, for of the
   saints it is said, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are
   not under the law, but under grace." There is a groaning and a crying
   which is common to the saints. "O wretched man that I am, who shall
   deliver me from the body of this death?" is not an experience of an
   hour, never to be repeated; it runs more or less throughout the whole
   of life; but then remember that it is also attended with hopeful
   confidence in the power of divine grace, for the apostle goes on to
   say, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The believer feels
   the battle, but he also rejoices in the victory. He wrestles and
   conquers at the same time. I wish that some of lay brethren could see
   how possible this is. We are victorious, though not without a conflict.
   Our victory is gained, and we are noose shall conquerors, but still we
   march on to new conflicts, and never lay aside our swords. The
   Christian's position is very like that of Napoleon, who used to say,
   "Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest must maintain me;" and so
   with you, Christian; you have conquered through Jesus Christ, but you
   have to conquer still, and go on as he did, "conquering and to
   conquer." All this by the power of the Holy Ghost. What if to-day I
   have been enabled by grace to overcome some one besetting sin, before
   an hour is over I may find another sin stirring within my bosom, and I
   must not yield to it; I am bound to conquer each temptation as it
   assails me. If I overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb I am a
   Christian, but not else, for if any sin permanently overcomes me I camp
   enter heaven. If I overcome one sin by the power or the Holy Ghost I
   must still be looking out to wrestle with others, for between here and
   heaven I may never accept a truce, or hope for a cessation of
   hostilities. Never may the Christian take off his harness, never say to
   himself, "The battle is fought, and the victory is won, and I have
   nothing more to do." You are enlisted, brother, in a lifelong fight:
   when you shall lie down in your grave then may it be said, "The battle
   is over," but as long as you are here you will be within gunshot of the
   enemy, and it is just possible your sharpest conflict will be upon your
   dying bed, even as John Knox, after conquering the devil in all ways
   and shapes, waged as he lay a-dying the sternest struggle of his entire
   life. Even thus it may be with you, but you are bound to overcome.
   Attack, resistance, and victory must be yours.

   So, then, in heaven they all rejoice because they have overcome, for
   the next verse to our text puts it, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and
   ye that dwell in them." It is a theme for gladness in heaven that they
   did fight and resist and overcome. Those white robes mean victories, so
   do those palms; but there could not have been victories if there had
   never been conflicts. There is joy among the angels, for they had their
   conflict when they stood firm against temptation, and did not swerve
   when the dragon's tail swept away a third part of the stars of heaven:
   but ours will be a victory peculiarly sweet, a song especially
   melodious, because our battle has been peculiarly severe. We fell, we
   rose again, we were kept, upheld, sustained, and enabled to overcome at
   last, and therefore will we rejoice for ever before the throne of God.

   I leave this point, but I would like you to make the personal
   application—Are you resisting? are you conquering? Does the life of God
   in you get the upper hand of sin? Do not let us deceive ourselves. If
   sin is our master we shall perish; grace must reign in us, or we are in
   a wretched condition. Do not let us look upon victory over sin as a
   luxury to be enjoyed by the higher-life—it is a condition into which we
   must all enter, or we are not saved. Holiness is not a luxury for the
   few, it is a necessity for all saints; and what is preached as an
   accomplishment which may be obtained by a second conversion is in truth
   a necessary part of the first conversion, if it be of the Lord. The
   slaves of sin are not the children of God. If sin reigns in your mortal
   bodies, you are dead in it. If Satan has dominion over won, you are not
   in Christ Jesus, for "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh
   with the affections and lusts." Wherever grace lives it either reigns
   or fights for the throne; it enters the soul on purpose to war with
   evil and overthrow it. Where the ark of the Lord is Dagon must fall
   upon his face and be broken. "He that sinneth hath not seen him,
   neither known him," says the apostle John, and he saith truly. "That
   which is born of God overcometh the world," and if you let the world
   get the mastery you cannot be born of God. Thus I leave the point,
   hoeing that we may endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,
   and receive a crown of life at the last.

   II. Now, secondly, THE VICTORS ALL FOUGHT WITH THE SAME WEAPONS. They
   had two weapons, and these two were one, the blood and the word. "They
   overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their
   testimony." First, the blood of the Lamb: it was theirs. The blood of
   the Lamb will not help us until it becomes our own. They went to Jesus
   by faith and received the atonement, the cleansing blood was sprinkled
   on them, it spoke peace in their consciences, it took away their sin,
   they were washed in it, they were made white as the driven snow. "The
   blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." They were
   afar off, and "They were made nigh by the blood of Christ"; this blood
   continued to give them access to God, for it gave them boldness to draw
   near unto the throne of grace. In fact, this blood was so theirs, that
   it was the life of their spirit; it was a generous wine to them, and
   became the highest joy of their souls. Brethren, if you and I are ever
   to be amongst these victors, the blood must be our own, appropriated by
   faith. How is it with you this morning? Has the blood cleansed thee, my
   brother? Does the blood dwell in thee as thy life? Has the blood of the
   Lamb given thee fellowship with God and brought thee near? If so, thou
   art on the way to overcoming by the blood.

   The blood of the Lamb, according to the verse which precedes the text,
   had given them all they needed, for it gave them salvation. They were
   saved, completely saved. Jesus Christ, when they laid hold upon him and
   felt the power of his blood, redeemed them from all iniquity, and
   translated them from the kingdom of Satan. Then they received strength:
   note that word. They had been dead, but they obtained life; they had
   been weak, and they were made strong in the Lord, for he who knows the
   power of the blood of Jesus is made strong to do great exploits. Then
   they obtained the kingdom, for the kingdom comes to us by the way of
   the conquering blood of Jesus, and he hath made us kings and priests
   unto God because he was slain. We are told, also, that they had power,
   or authority. Our Lord, who has risen from the dead, clothed all his
   disciples with authority when he said, "All power is given unto me in
   heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
   them." Beloved, if we have participated in the blood of Jesus Christ, I
   hope we feel it to be all these four things to us—salvation from sin,
   strength out of weakness, a kingdom in fellowship with Christ, and
   authority to speak in his name. It is the blood of the covenant, and it
   secures all the covenant gifts of God to us. It is the life of our
   life, the all in all of all that we possess. So, then, they had the
   blood of the Lamb, and they possessed the privileges which the blood
   brings with it.

   But the gist of the text lies in the fact that they fought with the
   dragon by means of the blood of the Lamb, and overcame with it. How did
   they do that? It is easy to discover. They overcame Satan's terrors
   with the blood of atonement. Satan is the great red dragon, a hideous
   seven-headed python, horrible to look upon, horned, like the serpent
   called the Egyptian Cerastes. Man dreads the serpent race, and would
   dread most a monster so dire as this, so full of poison, so red with
   fury. The conflict appears to be unequal enough between this horrid
   monstrosity and the seed of a timid woman. Yet when we are sprinkled
   with the blood of Jesus we are invulnerable, and fear not the dragon,
   for we remember the promise which saith, "Thou shalt tread upon the
   lion and the adder." When the atonement brings peace to our hearts, the
   great dragon dwindles down to a mere snake with a broken head, of which
   it is written, "Upon thy belly thou shalt go and dust shalt thou eat."
   We can see the heel mark of Christ upon his broken head, and what is
   more we expect to set our own heel there, for we are told that the Lord
   will bruise Satan under our foot shortly. I reckon upon the tune when
   the Lord will bruise him under my foot, it shall be as heavy a bruise
   as I can give him, I warrant you. He has tempted and tried us all so
   much, that the victory we shall gain will be one which will bring to
   Jesus much renown, and we will not fail to sing his praises as long as
   we have any being. Thus our fear of Satan ceases when we see that
   Christ has redeemed us from the curse, and put Satan as an enemy under
   our feet. Our hearts exult in thy presence, O destroyer of the devil
   and his works, and we triumph in thee.

   "When we behold death, hell, and sin,
   Vanquish'd by that dear blood of thine,
   And see the man that groaned and died
   Sit glorious by his Father's side."

   By the blood of the Lamb we overcome Satan as the accuser of the
   brethren. The chapter expressly tells us that he accuses the brethren
   day and night; and there is an instructive tradition among the Jews
   that Satan accuses the elect of God all day and all night long, except
   on the day of atonement, and then he is quiet. Glory be to the dying
   Lamb, the atonement shuts the mouth of the lion continually, for the
   atonement lasts all the year round. Neither in the court of Heaven, nor
   in the court of conscience, can the enemy's accusations harm us, for
   the blood of our Substitute is a bar to all suits against us. If we by
   faith are assured that Jesus has put away our sin, what cause have we
   for alarm? If the punishment due to our sin, and the sin itself have
   both been carried away by our great Surety, so that sin is plunged into
   the depths of the sea, and cast behind God's back, then who is he that
   shall harm us? Brethren, do but grasp the doctrine of the atonement,
   and know your own interest in it, and the accuser of the brethren will
   be silenced by the voice of the blood.

   We overcome Satan by the same means as to his craft. He has seven
   heads, but we tell him Jesus died, and that breaks all the seven heads,
   and destroys the sevenfold ingenuity of his snares. He would, if it
   were possible, deceive even the very elect, but the secret of the
   sprinkled blood is that which prevents the elect from ever being
   deluded by him. Who shall separate them from the love of Christ? Does
   not redemption by blood hold them fast to their Redeemer? You cannot be
   right anywhere if you are wrong upon the atonement, but if you are
   sound upon the substitutionary sacrifice there is little fear of your
   falling into any serious error. As the needle once magnetized continues
   to seek the pole, so they who are once touched with the love of their
   dying Surety are sure to remember it and cannot long be turned in any
   other direction. As for the dragon's horns of power; the power of the
   blood is far greater. Since we have been redeemed by Christ from under
   the power of Satan he cannot regain his hold of us. His power is
   broken. As to the crowns which he wears, what care we for them? We are
   delivered from under his power by being redeemed by the blood of Jesus
   Christ, and Satan can never again have the rule over us. As for the
   energetic influence which is figured by his tail, he may quench the
   very stars of heaven, and pull down the most brilliant professors and
   make them fall to the earth as apostates, but he cannot harm us, for
   because of the blood of Jesus we are latest by the power of God through
   faith unto salvation. Cling to the cross, dear brethren, for there you
   are out of the reach of the old serpent's venom; he may hiss, but he
   can do no more. No wave can ever wash a poor sinner off from the rock
   of ages, no storm can drive a penitent out of the clefts of the rock.
   Within the wounds of Jesus we are secure from all the rage of Satan. In
   our battles with Satan we need no other artillery but the atoning
   blood, it meets and conquers him at all points.

   The other weapon is for use in spreading the gospel and defeating the
   devil in his power over our fellow-men. They overcame him by the blood
   of the Lamb and by the word of their testitmony. Now, brethren, what is
   the testimony of the saints? It is a testimony concerning the blood of
   the Lamb. If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must preach
   the atoning blood. Whenever the doctrine of the atonement has been
   obscured in the church in any measure, to that extent the power of the
   church has declined, but you shall find that whether there is a clear
   declaration of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, then the church
   comes forth in her glory, and bruises the dragon's head. Dear brethren,
   if you want to deliver souls from the power of Satan, you must preach
   the sacrifice of Jesus and its power to remove sin. Does Satan cast
   about men the chains of drunkenness, or uncleanness, or
   self-righteousness, preach the blood of Jesus is the only way of
   salvation, let them see how sin was punished in him, and how ready the
   Lord is to forgive them, and they will arise and go unto their Father.
   Tell the sinner that God is able to put away his sin, because Jesus
   died, and, touched with repentance, through the teaching of the Holy
   Spirit, you will find the sinner break loose front dominion of the
   devil. If you find that same sinner trembling with despair, accused in
   his conscience, alarmed as at a great red dragon, you may cheer him by
   the old, old story of redeeming grace and dying love. The blood of
   Jesus is the dentin of despair. There is no weapon like a testimony to
   the cleansing blood with which to kill despondency. Tell the sinner
   that there is no sin that man has done but what the blood can put it
   away; go to the very gates of hell with your testimony for remission by
   blood, and you will find some to welcome you upon the borders of
   destruction. Tell the thieves in prison and the criminals condemned to
   die, and the reprobates upon their death-beds, that there is still life
   in a look at the Crucified One, and if you do this you will deliver
   them from the hardness of heart which saith, "there is no hope." If
   Satan deceives sinners with false hopes, and causes them to trust in
   priestcraft and sacramentarianism, there is no way to overcome Satan in
   them but by the porch of the blood of Jesus. I do believe, brethren,
   that if the atonement of Christ had been properly preached in the
   churches of England some years ago, we should not now be pestered with
   this revived popery; but there has been a great deal of mystification
   upon the doctrine of satisfaction for sin, a great deal of keeping back
   of the grand doctrine of vicarious sacrifice, and therefore as men want
   a Savior and a sacrifice, if you do not present them the true one they
   will go off to find a false one, and they do find such a false one in
   the priestcraft of the Roman and Anglican churches. Keep up the
   preaching of the one finished sacrifice and the dragon must fly. As St.
   Patrick is said to have driven out all the venomous creatures from
   Ireland, so let Jesus Christ come, and all the serpent's seed fly
   before him—they cannot bear the great truth of the atoning death of the
   Son of God. Lift up the cross, young man, when you stand in the corners
   of the streets; whatever you do not know, know the doctrine of the
   atonement; whatever you cannot tell the people, tell them about Jesus
   Christ, who hung upon the tree for sinners, and make him the main theme
   of all your conversation. If you write tracts, if you cannot explain
   the apocalypse, and few of us can, do explain Calvary, dwell much upon
   Golgotha and Gethsemane, "for I, if I be lifted up," saith Christ,
   "will draw all men unto me." Keep to the cross, this is the main
   attraction; this is the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the
   nations: this is the central sun of the gospel, and its light will
   scatter the darkness, but nothing else will do it. Israel never came
   out of Egypt until the blood of the Lamb was sprinkled on the lintel
   and the two side posts of the houses: they overcame by the blood of the
   Lamb. The world of sinners redeemed will never be converted till we
   bring forth that grandest of all miracles, the Paschal Lamb and the
   blood by faith sprinkled on the door. Let us evermore proclaim
   salvation by the dying Lamb, and shake the power of Satan to its
   foundations.

   III. I must close with this last remark, that while they all fought
   with the same weapons THEY ALL FOUGHT WITH THE SAME SPIRIT; for the
   text says, "they loved not their lives unto the death." My brethren,
   what does this mean? I wish we could reach to it and interpret it by
   our lives.

   The expression indicates dauntless courage. They were never afraid of
   the doctrine of a bleeding Savior, nor ashamed to cry, "Behold the Lamb
   of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Let us never be ashamed
   of our hope. There is such a straining in these days after learned
   preaching, such love of word-spinning and theory-inventing; but let us
   be fools for Christ's sake, and stick to the old gospel, having no
   banner for our war but the brazen serpent, lifted high, even Jesus
   Christ, and him crucified. Let us never yield to sneers or ridicule.
   Some of us have been styled the echo of the Puritans: yes, the
   honorable title of "Ultimus Puritanorum," the last of the Puritans, has
   been assigned to us. It is well, we want no higher degree, for the old
   theology is very dear to us. We nail our colors to the mast. The
   atoning blood is the very life, soul, and core of our ministry, and
   shall be so long as we live.

   These men in addition to dauntless courage had unswerving fidelity.
   They "loved not their lives unto the death." They thought it better to
   die than to deny the faith. They could not be tempted, or led aside, by
   bribes and offers of emoluments, and when life itself was put into the
   scale they did not hesitate, they stuck by the cross. Brethren, I want
   you all to do this, to have the courage to avow your convictions about
   Christ, and then the fidelity to stand forth in evil times.

   More than that, they were perfect in their consecration. "They loved
   not their lives unto the death." They gave themselves up, body, soul,
   and spirit, to the cause of which the precious blood is the symbol, and
   that consecration led them to perfect self-sacrifice. No Christian of
   the true type counts anything to be his own. He who really knows the
   power of the blood of Jesus says, "I am not my own I am bought with a
   price"; and to him to live or die, to be poor or rich, to be sick or in
   health, to be in honor or in shame, is not a matter of choice—he is his
   master's own, and has given himself up unreservedly, loving not his
   life even to the death. I trow that this is the spirit in which to
   preach Christ's gospel. Brethren, we shall never see the gospel come to
   the front so as to conquer the dragon till we bring it there in this
   spirit. When God shall raise up among us men and women who live only to
   prove the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, and live for nothing
   else; who tell out the Saviours name, and show in their lives what that
   blood has done for then, and are ready to die to glorify their Lord,
   then will come the times in which the song of victory shall be heard,
   then shall the travailing woman have her reward, and then shall the
   dragon be covered with everlasting shame! May God bless you this
   morning by giving you to know the power of the blood for Jesus' sake.
   Amen.

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Isaiah 51:9-16; Revelation 12.
     __________________________________________________________________

Beware of Unbelief

   (No. 1238)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, June 6th, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [3]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and
   said, Behold, it the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this
   thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but
   shalt not eat thereof"— 2 Kings 7:2.

   THE PEOPLE OF SAMARIA had cast off their allegiance to Jehovah, and
   worshipped other gods, and therefore, according to his solemn
   threatening, the Lord visited them with sore judgments. They were so
   blockaded by Syrian armies, that food failed them altogether, and in
   their hunger they devoured human flesh, and the most abominable offal.
   They could not open the city gates, for they knew that the adversary,
   if he once entered, would sack and ransack the city, and put them all
   to the sword, and therefore they remained cooped up within the city
   walls to perish. In their dire extremity the Lord had mercy upon them
   and remembered that they were the children of Israel, the seed of
   Abraham, his friend, and therefore he would not utterly destroy them,
   but gave them space for repentance. He turned an eye of pity upon the
   famished thousands and promised them relief from the sore famine which
   had wasted them. How rich in mercy is the Lord our God! Sin must be
   multiplied exceedingly ere his long suffering ceases; he is unwilling
   to execute the sentence of his wrath. Judgment is his strange work. He
   is ever ready with his mercy, he waiteth to be gracious, yea, he is
   always beforehand with us in his grace, but he is very slow footed in
   punishment; he pauses by the way and deliberates, and before he deals a
   blow he often expostulates with himself and cries, "How shall I give
   thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make
   thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim?" Verily he is a God
   merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.

   Perhaps one reason why the Lord was pleased in Samaria's extremity to
   visit it so graciously was the presence of Elisha there. There was at
   least one man in the city who had power with God in prayer, and perhaps
   a band of the sons of the prophets was with him, so that there were in
   the apostate city some few holy men, "faithful among the faithless
   found," and these acted as a handful of salt and preserved the city.
   Solomon tells us in the Proverbs that one wise man preserved a city,
   and this was a case in which one godly man did so. The Lord had respect
   unto his servant, and, for the sake of the man of God, Samaria was
   saved. Well was Elisha styled the chariot of Israel and the horsemen
   thereof, for he was a better defense than ten thousand cavalry. Ye
   cannot measure the beneficial influence of godly men, they are
   universal benefactors. We hear men speak of the sweet influences of the
   Pleiades, and the other stars which smile from above upon this earth
   below, but we too much forget the influence of the stars below upon the
   heavens above. Power proceeds upward as well as downward, even as the
   angels ascended as well as descended upon the ladder which Jacob saw. A
   good man's prayers move the arm which moves the world.

   The Lord met the need of Samaria by a most merciful promise, all the
   more full of grace because it bore upon its front the assurance of
   speedy fulfillment. The prophet was commissioned to declare, "Tomorrow,
   about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel."
   They had only four-and-twenty hours to wait; yet once more must the sun
   go down and rise, and then there should be no more pinching hunger or
   cruel famine throughout Samaria. The timing of the supply was most
   kind, he gives twice who gives quickly, and so the speedy promise was
   doubly precious. The plentifulness of the promise made it the more
   gracious, for so cheap would the wheat and barley become that they
   Should be sold at a figure far less than that which had been paid for
   doves' dung, whatever that may have been, and less than the price of
   such unwholesome meat as might be gathered from an ass's head, which
   had been sold for fourscore pieces of silver.

   The best food, even fine flour, was to be openly vended at a low rate
   at their very doors. They would not need to send to Egypt or fetch corn
   from afar, but it was to be brought to their gates, and sold at a price
   which would enable all to purchase. It was very great goodness on the
   Lord's part to meet the famine-stricken multitude with such a right
   royal word of cheer. But observe how God's prophet is answered—not as
   one would have thought, with words of thanksgiving and tears of
   gratitude, but with the reverse. They did not fall down and on their
   knees exclaim, "O God, how good thou art!" They did not lift up a
   single word of praise, as surely they should have done: the only
   response was a supercilious sneering, contemptuous, unbelieving
   utterance—"If the Lord should make windows in heaven might such a thing
   be." O base ingratitude! Ungenerous return for such great mercy!

   Mark well the Lord's answer to the unbeliever's scorn. There is nothing
   which he will so little endure as unbelief, and unbelief in the face of
   unusual mercy becomes doubly provoking. In the name of the Lord the
   prophet at once responded—"Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes,
   but thou shalt not eat thereof." The Lord has a speedy answer to the
   unbelief which dares defy him: if men call God liar, they shall ere
   long have sufficient proof in their own persons that his threatenings
   do not lie.

   We shall try this morning to gather from the text the lesson which it
   was intended to teach us. May God bless us in so doing, helping us by
   his Holy Spirit.

   First, let us observe the conduct of unbelief; secondly, the divine
   answer to it; and, thirdly, the appointed punishment of it.

   I. First let us notice repentingly, for we have been guilty of this sin
   ourselves, THE CONDUCT OF UNBELIEF. You will observe that unbelief
   dares to question the truthfulness of the promise itself. The prophet
   had said, "To-morrow, about this time, shall two measures of barley be
   sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel;" and
   directly in the teeth of this "Thus saith Jehovah" comes the
   contemptuous denial of the lord on whose hand the king leaned. Unbelief
   does not hesitate to say that what God declares will not be fulfilled,
   although it frequently veils its speech, and usually imagines some sort
   of argument upon which to base its denials. Sophistry comes to the aid
   of incredulity and endeavors to buttress its bowing walls. If you had
   asked the sneering nobleman why he spoke so Distrustingly, he would
   have replied, "Why, the promise is far too great to be fulfilled. It is
   out of all character and reason. How can there be flour enough in this
   city in twenty-four hours to be sold at a measure for a shekel? Why,
   you could not get a measure of fine four for ten thousand shekels; it
   cannot be had for love or money, and there is not a measure of barley
   left in all the country around Samaria, for the Syrians have plundered
   every homestead and granary. Do you not see that the thing this prophet
   talks about is utterly impossible? His talk is preposterous. We might
   have believed him if his prediction had been a tenth as large, but he
   has overdone it, and no attention ought to be paid to his maunderings.
   Has not your unbelief, my brethren, sometimes made out a case for
   mistrust from the greatness of the promised good? When first the Lord
   was drawing you with cords of love, was not the very greatness of his
   mercy one of the severest trials of your faith? When you found that he
   would blot out your sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your
   iniquities, did not your heart say, "How can it be?" Well do I remember
   with what power and sweetness the words of Isaiah once came to my soul
   to remove this doubt—"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
   your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than
   the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways." We forget this
   glorious declaration, and we fall to measuring God's capability of
   blessing by our capacity of believing, and because the favor is
   wonderful we think it improbable. Is not this ill reasoning? Can
   anything be great with God? Can any marvel be too miraculous for the
   Lord? The matter is hard in itself, but is it hard for omnipotence? It
   is a massive blessing, but can it be too large for the infinitely
   gracious hand to bestow? Surely the Holy One of Israel is not such an
   one as thyself, wherefore then dost thou limit him as if he could give
   no more than thou canst give. May divine love deliver our souls from
   this net of unbelief, which so easily entangles us. Low thoughts of the
   divine power greatly dishonor God, and deprive us of much comfort. Is
   he not a great God, and is it not like him to do great things for his
   people? His resources are infinite, and therefore he is able to verify
   his promises, however great they may be. He did not promise in
   ignorance or in haste, his word is not a thing of yesterday, therefore
   he will not fail to keep his promise to the letter.

   Perhaps had you enquired of this lord he would have said to you, "Oh,
   but it will be such a new thing. I have lived in Samaria, and I have
   not seen flour exposed for sale at any price for months. The
   householders have hoarded it up, as if each ounce of it were a jewel.
   Each man has taken care to secure what he had for his own family; and
   now there is none left anywhere, even in private stores, and yet you
   talk of selling wheat and barley at the gate of Samaria! Blessed would
   the eyes be which should see such a thing for many a day! I never
   expect to see it, and a thousand prophets should not induce me to
   indulge such a dream. We shall perish by famine or by the sword of the
   Syrians, for this promise will not be kept." Fly brethren, has not our
   unbelief sometimes fed upon the novelty of the promised blessing? It
   seemed a new thing to you sinners that the Lord should in a moment pass
   by your sins, and make you righteous in the righteousness of Christ:
   yet the new thing has come to pass. When we hear of a more than
   ordinarily successful Christian work, many brethren who have not been
   favored with such prosperity cannot believe it to be true. Had they
   seen two or three people converted and added to the church in a year,
   they would have said, "This is the finger of God," but if they hear of
   forty or a hundred, or even a thousand converted during a gracious
   revival they are very sceptical. The conversion of thousands under one
   sermon they admit may have taken place in Old Testament times, but that
   is a long time ago; we cannot expect to see such things now. Thus they
   reason in their hearts, and insinuate that the Lord's arm has waxed
   short. Oh, brethren, if God has given us a promise which has not yet
   been fulfilled, and if there never has before occurred anything like
   it, this is no excuse for our disbelieving the divine word. Has he not
   promised, "Behold I will do a new thing"? (Isaiah 43:19). Did he not
   say to his people Israel, "I have showed thee new things from this
   time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them." Is not
   everything new when for the first time the Lord reveals it? Moses might
   have doubted God's promise to smite Egypt with plagues, for these
   plagues were novelties. He might have doubted the Lord's power to lead
   his people through the Red Sea, for when had a sea been divided for a
   nation to pass through it dryshod? He might have doubted God's power to
   feed the hosts in the wilderness, for when had bread been rained down
   from heaven, and when had water leaped from a rock? The Lord, who works
   great wonders, shews us mercies "new every morning." He is not tied
   down to a monotony of procedure, his blessings are as varied as his
   creations, he delights to surprise us with fresh manifestations of
   love; and thus it is clear that the novelty of the blessing is no
   excuse whatever for our unbelief.

   I dare say the scoffing nobleman would have said "It is the suddeness
   of the thing which renders the promise so incredible. To-morrow! What!
   abundance of food to-morrow! Nay, that is too much. Say that in three
   months we may be supplied and we may believe it, but to-morrow is going
   too far. How could wheat and barley be brought in such plenty to
   Samaria in the time, even upon swift horses and dromedaries? Suppose
   the Syrians were to leave us to-morrow, yet the country has been
   devoured by them, and you must import wheat from some distant land. It
   is not at all likely that this could be done on a sudden. Do not strain
   our faith too much, give us a month or two at any rate." My brethren,
   now-a-days I find that this point of suddenness often staggers
   unbelieving minds. "What! the church revived on a sudden! How can it
   be? True doctrines may perhaps be spread in England by slow degrees,
   after generations have come and gone, but to expect the gospel to
   spread through the country in a few months is perfectly absurd." Some,
   perhaps, among my present hearers dare not Lope that this south of
   London can be immediately stirred, as I believe it will be, and they
   dare not expect conversions at once, such as I venture to look for.
   Some dread everything sudden, and feel sure that if any gracious gift
   come suddenly it will prove to be like Jonah's gourd, which came up in
   a night and perished in a night. They give the world the express
   trains, and condemn grace to travel in the luggage van. Why do they
   dream that the Lord is slow? Why do they limit the rapidity of his
   actions? He created the world in six days, could he not recreate it in
   the like space? He destroyed the race in the days of Noah in forty
   days, can he not do his saving work with equal speed? Is it not
   written, "He rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the
   wings of the wind"? O unbelief, how darest thou say, "in a year" when
   God says "to-morrow"? If he says "tomorrow" it will be to-morrow to the
   tick of the clock. "To-morrow, about this time," said the prophet, and
   so it was. Let us not be as those spoken of by the prophet Haggai, who
   said, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be
   built." Let us lay aside this postponing of expectancy, and believe
   that God can do wonders to-day, even to-day. Ah, sinner, yolk cannot
   believe that God can save you in a minute, but he can; in less time
   than it takes the clock to tick he can cause you to pass from death to
   life, and cast all your transgressions behind his back. At this very
   moment, if thou wilt look to Jesus Christ, the work of grace shall be
   accomplished. The publican who confessed his sin had not to tarry long
   for his justification, but received it ere he went down to his house.

   This cavilling peer would also have justified his unbelief by saying,
   "Where can you find the means for accomplishing this promise? So much
   corn and barley are to be sold, you say, but where is it to come from?
   There are no corn factors here, and if there were their stocks would
   have run out long ago. No great underground store-rooms remain to be
   discovered, I am sure of that for I have ordered a minute search in
   every place where food could be hidden away." "No," he said, "There
   will be no cheap food, for there are no means by which it can be had."
   Has not our unbelief too often run on that tack? We too often want to
   see how the Lord will perform his word. We begin calculating, like the
   disciples, that two hundred pennyworth of bread will not be enough for
   the multitude, and as for a few loaves and fishes, we cannot believe
   that they will be of any avail among so many. Of course, if we have to
   engineer according to the laws of mechanics, we must calculate our
   forces and demand means proportionate to the results to be produced;
   but why apply the slender line of mechanics to the omnipotent God? Nay,
   I think we do worse, for we hardly carry out our calculations correctly
   in reference to the Lord's working; if we did we should calculate
   that—given omnipotence, difficulties exist no longer, and
   impossibilities have disappeared. If the Lord be indeed almighty, then
   how dare we question as to ways and means? Ways and means are his
   business and none of ours, and with him no such question can ever
   arise.

   I should not wonder, too, if the nobleman's unbelief arose partly from
   the realisation of the scene which would be presented if the promise
   were indeed fulfilled. Had he been told that there would be a great
   deliverance wrought for Jerusalem when it was besieged I dare say he
   would have believed it; but for Samaria—! What here? Here on this spot?
   In these streets which have so long heard the wailing of weeping women
   and the groans of famished men! Plenty of corn and barley in
   four-and-twenty hours! He could not realize that. It is easy to believe
   that God will keep his promise in Australia, it is not always so easy
   to believe that he will do it here. That the Lord will be very gracious
   to my afflicted brother over there I do firmly believe, but do I always
   believe that he will be gracious to me? You have been in many troubles,
   and you have been helped through them, and you believe that God would
   help you a second time through those same troubles if they were to
   return; but this particular one that you are now in, there is something
   so peculiar about it that you cannot quite realize that you will be
   supported under it. We have generally got a large quantity of faith
   when we do not want it, but when faith comes to be needed how much of
   it evaporates. The time to believe in the promise of God is when the
   famine is sore in the city: but, alas for the nobleman, he could not
   realize the blessing, he could not suppose it to be possible.

   But now, putting the whole of these causes for distrust together, is
   there any force in any or all of them as a reason for doubting God? If
   God has said it he will certainly do it. Why, then, do we doubt him?

   Now observe, secondly, that unbelief often shows itself by shutting up
   the Lord to one mode of action. This man thinks that perhaps there
   might be food in Samaria if God would make lattices up in heaven, or,
   as some read it, open sluices in heaven, out of which you would see the
   barley and flour pouring down. That would be the only way as far as he
   can see by which God could feed the people. Perhaps he recollected the
   manna in the wilderness, and how it seemed to drop from the clouds of
   heaven. Well, God might do it in that way; he goes the length of half
   admitting that perhaps he might do it in that way. That is how unbelief
   does: we say, "Yes, God may deliver me in my time of trouble, if
   such-and-such a friend's heart be touched." God is shut up to touching
   that friend's heart, according to our notion. The sinner thinks that he
   might be saved if he could get to hear Mr. So-and-so, or if
   such-and-such an impression could be fell within, but according to his
   notion the Lord is shut up to converting him under one minister and
   bringing him to Jesus in one particular way. That is many a man's
   notion of revival—"If you could get Mr. Eloquent to come and hold a
   course of services in our town he would wake us up, but I do not see
   any other way." Do you not call that unbelief? God calls it so. Why,
   brethren, if the Lord wished to feed Samaria, he could have done it by
   multiplying the food that was there, just as he multiplied the widow's
   oil; or he could have continued the quantity of food undiminished, just
   as he did the barley cake and the little oil of the widow of Zarepta.
   God has a thousand ways of accomplishing his purposes. He might have
   turned every stone in Samaria into a loaf, and made the dust of its
   streets into flour, if so he willed. If he sent food in the wilderness
   without harvests, and water in the wilderness without wind and without
   rain, he can do as he wills and perform his own work in his own way. Do
   not let us think of limiting the Holy One of Israel to any special mode
   of action. When we hear of men being led to break out into new ways of
   going to work, do not let us feel, "This must be wrong;" rather let us
   hope that it is very probably right, for we need to escape from these
   horrid ruts, and wretched conventionalisms, which are rather hindrances
   than helps. Some very stereotyped brethren judge it to be a crime for
   an evangelist to sing the gospel; and as to that American
   organ,—dreadful! One of these days another set of conservative souls
   will hardly endure a service without such things, for the horror of one
   age is the idol of the next. Every man in his own order, and God using
   them all; and if there happens to be some peculiarity, some
   idiosyncrasy, so much the better. God does not make his servants by the
   score as men run iron into moulds; he has a separate work for each man,
   and let each man do his own work in his own way, and may God bless him.

   Once again, notice that unbelief does not after all believe that even
   if God were to work in her way the thing would have been done. Did you
   notice a little note of interrogation in the text, "Behold, if the Lord
   would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" Now, look through
   your spectacles, and you will see at the end of the word "be" a note of
   question. He meant to say that if God did make windows in heaven even
   then he could not feed the starving multitudes in Samaria. If the men,
   who say, if God severe to do so-and-so we might see a great blessing,
   Severe pressed home, it would be discovered that they do not believe
   that it would be done even then. Unbelief is such a presumptuous denier
   of the veracity of God, that it does not give him credit for being able
   to keep his promise in any shape or way, nay, not even by the most
   extraordinary deeds. May the Spirit of God drive such unbelief as this
   out of our hearts. It may be there at this very moment, and we may be
   unconscious of it. Let us search and look and drive this traitor out,
   for if anything can harm ourselves and the church and the world, it is
   disbelief in the fidelity of God.

   II. Now let us pass on to the second head, THE DIVINE ANSWER. Here
   stands God's servant Elisha, who has spoken in God's name, and there
   stands the great nobleman, who I have no doubt very much despises the
   poor prophet, and he answers him with a sarcasm, thought to be witty, I
   dare say; many laughed at it and thought it quite extinguished the good
   man. But notice the conduct of the Lord's servant. He does not argue
   with the man, not at all. We have had a great deal too much of arguing
   with unbelievers. Whenever a rotten book comes out some ministers take
   care to read it all through, and then they go and tell their people all
   about it under the presence of answering it, and the people forget
   their answers, and only recollect the poison which the ministers
   unwisely disseminate. There would not be a tenth part of the infidelity
   that there now is if the ministers would let it alone. It is like a
   pool of filth, it is all the worse for being stirred, let it alone. It
   has not enough vitality to live of itself, it is only our opposition
   that makes it vital at all. So Elisha had no argument for him, nor need
   we be very careful to answer those who deny the truth of God. They
   shall answer for it to their God, not to us.

   And there was no adoption of the unbeliever's means. God did not say by
   his servant Elisha, "Well, to oblige you I will go out of my way, and
   make windows in heaven, if you think it the best way of provisioning
   the city." Not at all. When there are objections taken to modes of
   usefulness which God evidently blesses it is not for us to alter them
   because the popular voice is against them, or some very wise people
   have condemned them. I think that is a reason for going on with them,
   and when the world suggests that holy work ought to be done in this way
   or in that, the very best thing is to let those who like the proposed
   plans try them themselves. God does not shape his course to please the
   wisdom of men, and if the Lord means to save souls in this part of
   London he will do it in his own way, and unbelief may say what it
   likes, he will not abate one jot or tittle of his own purpose, but
   bless the people as seemeth good in his sight.

   In due time the promise was kept. That lord's unbelief did not alter
   the mind of God. The promise was kept; the wheat and the barley were
   sold at the prices named. His lordship's indignation and sarcasm did
   not postpone the fall of prices for a single hour. Lord or no lord,
   nobleman or no nobleman, it made no difference whatever, the flour and
   the barley were there. And herein is our great joy, that although there
   has been much infidelity in our country, much loose talk about the
   doctrines of the gospel, much insinuation that the whole thing is worn
   out and out of date, God will not, because of these semi-infidels,
   withhold the blessing from his own true people who really believe his
   word. Our God will answer the infidelity of this age, nay, has answered
   it during the last two or three years. There has come news to us,
   brought by those who were despised, that there is corn for the people.
   Some who were no ordained messengers, but laymen outside the city, have
   made a discovery; we did not look that they should do it, but they have
   brought information that there is plenty of food to be had by the
   starving crowds, and now the gospel is preached to the multitude, and
   they are told that Jesus Christ is able to save, that he is ready to
   give them salvation. What follows? Why, we have seen it already, we
   have seen it in the Tabernacle for many years, and we shall see it
   generally all over England, I hope, soon. The people go rushing out to
   find this bread, and as they pour forth in armies they tread infidelity
   under their feet. There it stands, this boasted modern thought, this
   vaunted culture, it looks upon the preachers of the simple gospel and
   those who go to hear them as a set of fools. Infidelity will not
   believe that the gospel of Jesus is the bread of the soul; the crowding
   of the people is the answer. See how eagerly they devour the word! See
   how they rejoice in it! Listen to their songs like the voice of many!
   Unbelief is trodden down as mire in the streets. Brethren, if you want
   to answer infidelity, preach the gospel; tell the people that Jesus
   Christ is able to save sinners. Lift high the bloodstained cross,
   proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to
   them that are bound. This will make a stir, this will agitate the
   masses. There is nothing like it. Christ's gospel is like fire flung
   amongst the standing corn, it makes a wondrous conflagration. Preach
   Jesus Christ and him crucified, the people must come to hear it, they
   are not masters of themselves, they cannot stay away; and as they hear
   it, and as they feed upon it, and joy comes unto them, and peace, and
   new life, facts will answer theories, salvation will be the best reply
   to the witticisms and the sophistries of unbelief. Do not enter into
   arguments, but test the gospel practically. Somebody says that yonder
   lifeboat is not of the right color. I see a number of men in the
   rigging of yonder sinking vessel: they cannot hold on much longer.
   Here, good fellows, do not stand debating about the boat, jump into it,
   pull out to the vessel, get the men on board, and bring them to shore.
   Hurrah! Here they are! Is not that the best reply to every objection?
   There they are! If they tell us that the gospel which we preach is not
   true, we point to many here present whose stories of reclamation from
   vice and deliverance from despair and uplifting into light and life and
   holiness are proofs that the gospel is divine. There they are! Facts,
   facts, facts, these are God's replies. The noble lord was silenced in
   death by the facts of the case.

   III. Thirdly, our text teaches us THE APPOINTED PUNISHMENT OF UNBELIEF.
   It is allotted to unbelief that it shall see with its eyes what it
   cannot enjoy. This is always fulfilled, although in different ways. The
   unbeliever says he will not believe what he cannot see: God's answer
   is, that he shall not enjoy what he does see. There was the flour,
   there was the barley; the man could see these, but he could not enjoy
   them. Unbelievers do not really enjoy the things of this life. The mass
   of them find that wealth does not yield them satisfaction, their
   outward riches cannot conceal their inner poverty. To many men it is
   given to have all that heart can wish, and yet not to have what their
   heart does wish. They have everything except contentment. If you will
   not accept in faith the spiritual gifts which God promises, then the
   temporal gifts which the world promises shall tantalize you; you shall
   eat and not be satisfied, you shall have, but not have enough; you
   shall spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for
   that which satisfieth not. If you will not have things unseen, things
   seen shall become a mere shadow to you. This is one punishment of
   unbelief.

   Another is this: oftentimes men in connection with spiritual things,
   being unbelievers, have their minds convinced but their hearts are not
   converted. They see enough of the work of God to make them know that
   the Lord he is God and that Christ is a Savior, that faith brings
   pardon, that the Holy Spirit renews the heart; they know all these
   things and yet they never taste of them. They are as orthodox as
   orthodox can be as to their creed, but there is nothing in their heart.
   The living water flows by their lips, but, as they stoop to drink, it
   flees away as in the fable of Tantalus of old.

   Often also they see God's work in others but never feel it in
   themselves. Their wife has found peace, but they have not; their dear
   child has been converted, but they are not: the brother has seen his
   sister rejoicing in the Lord, but he knows no such joy; the sister has
   seen her sister lay hold of Christ, but she has never done so herself.
   This makes missing the blessing so much the more unhappy a
   circumstance, for to be starving when everybody else is fed is
   dreadful. I would not have been in that nobleman's place for all the
   world, to see the people all satisfied and himself not able to partake
   thereof, and yet it is so with some of you.

   Do you know that this will lead to an eternal tantilisation? for
   unbelievers in hell, according to Christ's own description, will look
   up and see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, but they themselves will be cast
   out. Surely it must be one of the hells of hell—to see heaven and to
   have a great gulf fixed between you and it.

   You shall have good things if you believe your God, but if you will not
   believe in him neither shall you receive them. The punishment is
   natural, and fair, and appropriate. If certain persons believe that
   gold is to be found in a mine and others do not, is it not right that
   if there be gold there those who believed in it and sought after it
   should have it? Should he who ridiculed the idea come in for his share
   too? Nobody would think so. It is the very least thing that can be
   expected of us to believe God, for he cannot lie, and if we refuse
   credence to the word of God it cannot be thought to be a hard measure
   that the blessing should not be given to us. If ye will not believe ye
   shall not be established. O unbeliever, it will be your lot to know
   that God speaks the truth, but never to know that truth in your own
   soul; to know that he is gracious, to know that he is ready to forgive,
   to know that he lifts sinners up to his own throne through the blood of
   the Lamb, and yet never to be forgiven, never to be saved, never to be
   glorified. I am afraid there are some in this house of prayer who are
   going hard on towards such a doom. I do not mean strangers who have
   dropped in here once, but I mean those who have sat here many years,
   and yet have never believed. In this next month you will see God's
   grace working in the south of London, but it will not come near you:
   you are an unbeliever, and you have been so for many years; there is no
   reason to expect you will ever be altered, the probabilities are you
   will remain just as you are. The rain will fall around you, but never
   upon you; the barn floor will be civet, but your fleece will be dry.
   God grant it be not so, but it is to be feared it will.

   Now, in closing, I want to apply my subject to the special
   circumstances under which we are found to-day, at the commencement of
   the special services for the south of London. Dear friends, I do
   earnestly trust that all of you resident in this region who love the
   Lord will unite your best energies to make this movement a success. I
   mean chiefly by prayer for the blessing, by giving your attendance at
   such meetings as are called for Christian conference, by endeavoring to
   take your friends, your children, and your neighbors, if they are
   unconverted, to the place, and by doing everything you can to win
   souls, as the Holy Ghost shall enable you. It may be just possible that
   some of you are standing aloof. Now, I cannot condemn any brother for
   doing that if his reasons are such as satisfy his conscience, for there
   is no movement, however excellent, but what from some point or other it
   is open to criticism, and if a brother's criticism be conscientious and
   honest, it is not for me to judge him for a moment. But I should like
   to put this question to some—Do you not think that at the bottom of
   almost all objections raised against this work there is unbelief? It is
   an unusual thing, and there is excitement—why not? Somebody says he
   does not see any remarkable talent in the two brethren—what of that? I
   am sure the brethren do not pretend to any talent whatever, for more
   unassuming men I never saw in my life, and that is one reason why God
   blesses them so much. For one reason and another good people hold off,
   but does it not all amount to unbelief? Our friends in Glasgow,
   Edinburgh, Newcastle, bear indisputable testimony to the fact that
   souls were saved in large numbers, and that the churches were edified,
   and the tone of religious feeling improved. We cannot doubt the
   testimony of faithful, well-instructed brethren, and I think if we hold
   back it will resolve itself into this, that we do not believe in God's
   working just now upon a large scale by simple instrumentality. For my
   part, I would like to put it to myself thus, could I justify myself in
   standing back when I come to my dying bed? Here are two men who have
   for months consecrated themselves to the preaching of the gospel with
   no object in the world but the winning of souls for Christ. Baser
   calumny than to assert that they have a selfish motive never fell from
   the lip of Satan himself. They have no design nor object to gain but
   the sole glory of God. They seek conversions, conversions to Christ
   only; and brethren, if there were a thousand faults in them, who am I
   or who are you to judge them, and to say we will not help them in such
   a work and with such motives? Brother, do you mean God's glory? So do
   I. Do you mean the salvation of souls? So do I. Brother, do you preach
   salvation by the precious blood? So do I. Brother, do you believe in
   regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost? So do I. Do you tell
   sinners to believe and live? That is exactly what I am telling them;
   and if we are agreed in this, for my part I cannot conceive any excuse
   for any man's holding back unless he has so much work of his own to do
   that he has no time to spare, in which case let him at least bid them
   God speed. If we do not help now we may live to regret it. For some
   reason or other the crowds are willing to hear the gospel, and there
   seems to be a unity among Christians about the thing. However it comes
   about, let us accept it from God, and use it. There is a tide which,
   taken at the flood, leads on to fortune as well in heavenly things as
   in secular, and let us take this tide, however God may have sent it to
   us, and use it to our best: for if not, if unbelief hold us back, it
   may happen to us even as to Moses, who, for his unbelief, never entered
   into the promised land: he saw it, but never entered it; and we may
   see, and see with gladness, God blessing the church, but we may have no
   part of the blessing in our own church. Do we wish to see the clusters
   of grapes that come from an Eschol into which we cannot enter. It may
   even happen to us as it happened to this that God may see fit to take
   us out of the way. I have marked it, do not think me superstitious,
   when any truly good man has stood in God's way God has made very short
   work with him, he has taken him home, or he has laid him aside by
   sickness. If you will not help, and will hinder, you will be put aside,
   and perhaps your own usefulness will be cut short. Or it may happen,
   worst of all, that if we refuse help when the time of blessing had come
   we shall remain among our fellow Christians, but for many years we
   shall be wretched and unprofitable. A blessing was coming and you did
   not seem to want it, so the Lord sent it somewhere else, and you will
   be a doubting, miserable, carping, critical, faultfinding Christian as
   long as you live, never eating the dainties, but always pointing out
   errors in the cookery; never delighting in the joy of your Lord nor
   making your harps to ring for joy over converts, but always playing the
   part of the elder brother who was angry and would not go in, though it
   was his own brother that had come home and his own father who had
   killed the fatted calf. God save us from this, and cause us from this
   very day to shake off unbelief and to go forward rejoicing in the Lord!

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—2 Kings 7.

   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"—191, 46 (VERS. II.), 483; and Mr.
   Sankey's "Ring the Bells of Heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

Messrs. Moody and Sankey Defended; or, A Vindication of the Doctrine of
Justification by Faith

   (No. 1239)

   Delivered by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [4]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
   and lusts."— Galatians 5:24.

   FROM SEVERAL QUARTERS we have heard lately intensely earnest objections
   to the matter and tenor of the preaching of the evangelists from
   America, who have been working among us. Of course, their teaching as
   well as our own is open to honest judgment, and they, we feel sure,
   would rather court than shun investigation of the most searching sort.
   Criticisms upon their style of speaking and singing, and so on, are so
   unimportant, that nobody has any need to answer them, "Wisdom is
   justified of her children." It is a waste of time to discuss mere
   matters of taste, for no men however excellent can please all, or even
   become equally adapted to all constitutions and conditions: therefore
   we may let such remarks pass without further observation. But upon the
   matter of doctrine very much has been said, and said also with a good
   deal of temper not always of the best. What has been affirmed by a
   certain class of public writers comes to this, if you boil it down—that
   it cannot really do any good to tell men that simply by believing in
   Jesus Christ they will be saved, and that it may do people very serious
   injury if we lead them to imagine that they have undergone a process
   called conversion, and are now safe for life. We are told by these
   gentlemen, who ought to know, for they speak very positively, that the
   doctrine of immediate salvation through faith in Christ Jesus is a very
   dangerous one, that it will certainly lead to the deterioration of the
   public morality, since men will not be likely to set store by the
   practical virtues when faith is lifted up to so very lofty a position.
   If it were so it were a grievous fault, and woe to those who led men
   into it. That it is not the fact we are sure; but meanwhile let us
   survey the field of battle.

   Will you please to notice that this is no quarrel between these
   gentlemen and our friends Messrs. Moody and Sankey alone. It is a
   quarrel between these objectors and the whole of us who preach the
   gospel; for, differing as we do in the style of preaching it, we are
   all ready to set our seal to the clearest possible statement that men
   are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and saved the moment they believe.
   We all hold and teach that there is such a thing as conversion,—and
   that when men are converted they become other men than they were
   before, and a new life begins which will culminate in eternal glory. We
   are not so dastardly as to allow our friends to stand alone in the
   front of the battle, to be looked upon as peculiar persons, holding
   strange notions from which the rest of us dissent. So far as salvation
   through faith in the atoning blood is concerned, they preach nothing
   but what we have preached all our lives; they preach nothing but what
   has the general consent of Protestant Christendom. Let that be known to
   all, and let the archers shoot at us all alike.

   Then, further, if this be the point of objection, we should like those
   who raise it to know that they do not raise it against us merely, and
   these friends who are more prominent, but against the Protestant faith
   which these very same gentlemen most probably profess to glory in. The
   Protestant faith in a nutshell lies in this very same justification by
   faith which they hoot at. It was the discovery that men are saved by
   faith in Jesus Christ which first stirred up Luther. That was the ray
   of light which fell upon his dark heart, and by the power of which he
   came into the liberty of the gospels This is the hammer by which popery
   was broken in the old time, and this is the sword with which it still
   is to be smitten—the very "Sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Jesus is
   the all-sufficient Savior, and "He that believeth in him is not
   condemned." Luther used, in fact, to say—and we endorse it—that this
   matter of justification by faith is the article by which a church must
   stand or fall. That so-called church which does not hold this doctrine
   is not a church of Christ, and it is a church of Christ that does hold
   it, notwithstanding many mistakes into which it may have fallen. The
   contest lies really between the Popish doctrine of merit and the
   Protestant doctrine of grace, and no man who calls himself a Protestant
   can logically dispute the question with us and our friends.

   We shall go somewhat further than this. The objection is not against
   Messrs. Moody and Sankey, but against all evangelical ministers; not
   against them only, but against our common protestantism; and yet more,
   it is against the inspired word of God; for if this book teaches
   anything under heaven, it certainly teaches that men are saved by faith
   in our Lord Jesus. Read the Epistle to the Galatians, and your judgment
   may be very perverse, but you cannot, by any common wresting of words,
   expel that doctrine from the Epistle. It was written on purpose to
   state that truth plainly, and defend it fully. Neither can you get rid
   of that doctrine from the whole New Testament. You shall find it not
   merely seasoning all the epistles, but positively saturating them, tin,
   as you take chapter by chapter, you may wring out of them, as out of
   Gideon's fleece, this one truth, that justification before God is by
   faith, and not by the works of the law. So that the objection is
   against the Bible; and let those who shoot their errors understand that
   they fight against the Eternal Spirit of God and the witness which he
   has borne by his prophets and apostles. Deny inspiration, and you have
   ground to stand on; but while you believe the Bible you must believe in
   justification by faith.

   But now let us look this matter in the face. Is it true or not that
   persons who believe in Jesus Christ do become worse than they were
   before? We are not backward to answer the inquiry, and we stand in a
   point of observation which supplies us with abundant data to go upon.
   We solemnly affirm that men who believe in Jesus become purer, holier,
   and better. At the same time I confess that there has been a good deal
   of injudicious and misleading talk at times by uninstructed advocates
   of free grace. I fear, moreover, that many people think that they
   believe in Jesus Christ, but do nothing of the sort. We do not defend
   rash statements, or deny the existence of weak-minded followers; but we
   ask to be heard and considered. Some persons say, "You tell these
   people that they will be saved upon their believing in Christ." Exactly
   so. "But will you kindly tell me what you mean by being saved, sir?" I
   will, with great pleasure. We do not mean that these people will go to
   heaven when they die, irrespective of character: but, when we say that
   if they believe in Jesus they will be saved, we mean that they will be
   saved from living as they used to live—saved from being what they now
   are, saved from licentiousness, dishonesty, drunkenness, selfishness,
   and any other sin they may have lived in. The thing can readily be put
   to the test, if it can be shown that those who have believed in the
   Lord Jesus have been saved from living in sin, no rational man ought to
   entertain any objection to the preaching of such a salvation. Salvation
   from wrongdoing is the very thing which every moralist should commend
   and not censure, and that is the salvation which we preach. I am afraid
   that some imagine that they have only to believe something or other,
   and they will go to heaven when they die, and that they have only to
   feel a certain singular emotion, and it is all right within them. Now,
   if any of you have fallen into that error, may God in his mercy lead
   you out of it, for it is not every faith that saves, but only the faith
   of God's elect. It is not any sort of emotion that changes the heart,
   but the work of the Holy Ghost. It is a small matter to go into an
   inquiry-room and say, "I believe"; such an avowal as that proves
   nothing at all, it may even be false. It will be proved by this,—if you
   have rightly believed in Jesus Christ you will become from that time
   forward a different man from what you were. There will be a change in
   your heart and soul, in your conduct and your conversation; and, seeing
   you thus changed, those who have been honest objectors will right
   speedily leave off their objections, for they will be in the condition
   of those who saw the man that was healed standing with Peter and John;
   and therefore they could say nothing against them. The world demands
   facts, and these we must supply. It is of no use To cry up our medicine
   by words, we must point to cures. Your change of life will be the
   grandest argument for the gospel, if that life shall show the meaning
   of my text,—"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
   affections and lusts."

   Let us discuss this text in an apologetic manner, hoping to overcome
   prejudice, if God permit.

   Notice, first of all, that THE RECEPTION OF JESUS CHRIST BY FAITH IS,
   IN ITSELF AN AVOWAL THAT WE HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH WITH THE
   AFFECTIONS AND LUSTS. If faith be such an avowal, why say that it is
   not connected with holy living?

   Let me show that this is the case. Faith is the accepting of Jesus
   Christ. In what respects? Well, principally as a substitute. He is the
   Son of God, and I am a guilty sinner. I deserve to die: the Son of God
   stands in my stead and suffers for me, and when I believe in him I
   accept him as standing for me. To believe in Jesus was very beautifully
   set forth in the old ceremony of the law, when the person bringing a
   sacrifice laid his hands upon the head of the bullock or the lamb, and
   hereby accepted the victim as standing in his place, so that the
   victim's sufferings should be instead of his sufferings. Now, our faith
   accepts Jesus Christ as standing in our stead. The very pith and marrow
   of faith's confidence lies in this—

   "He bore, that I might never bear,
   His Father's righteous ire."

   Christ for me, Christ in my room and stead.

   Now, try to catch the following thought.—When you believe, you accept
   Christ as standing instead of you, and profess that what he did he did
   for you, but what did Christ do upon the tree? He was crucified and
   died. Follow the thought, and note well that by faith you regard
   yourself as dead with him—crucified with him. You have not really
   grasped what faith means unless you have grasped this. With him you
   suffered the wrath of God, for he suffered in your stead: you are now
   in him—crucified with him, dead with him, buried with him, risen with
   him, and gone into the glory with him—because he represents you, and
   your faith has accepted the representation. Do you see, then, that you
   did, in the moment when you believed in Christ, register a declaration
   that you were henceforth dead unto sin. Who shall say that our gospel
   teaches men to live in sin, when the faith which is essential to
   salvation involves an avowal of death to it? The convert begins with
   agreeing to be regarded as dead with Christ to sin: have we not here
   the foundation stone of holiness?

   Observe also that, if he follows the command of Christ, the very first
   step which a Christian takes after he has accepted the position taken
   up by the Lord Jesus on his behalf is another avowal more public than
   the first, namely, his baptism.

   By faith he has accepted Christ as dead, instead of him, and he regards
   himself as having died in Christ. Now, every dead man ought to be
   buried, sooner or later; and so, when we come forward and confess
   Christ, we are "buried with him in baptism unto death, that like as
   Jesus Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
   also might rise to newness of life." Though baptism does not avail
   anything as a ceremony, having no power or efficacy in and of itself,
   yet as a sign and symbol it teaches us that true believers are dead and
   buried with Christ. So, you see, the two ways in which, according to
   the gospel, we actually and avowedly give ourselves to Christ, are by
   faith and baptism. "He that believeth, and is baptised, shall be
   saved." Now, the essence of faith is to accept Christ as representing
   me in his death: and the essence of baptism is to be buried with Christ
   because I am dead with him. Thus at the very doorstep of the Christian
   religion, in its first inward act and its first outward symbol, you get
   the thought that believers are henceforth to be separated from sin and
   purified in life. He who truly believes, and knows what it is to be
   really buried with Christ, has begun—nay, he has, in a certain sense,
   effected completely—what the text describes as the crucifixion of the
   flesh with the affections and lusts. For, dear friends, let it never be
   forgotten that the grand object for which we lay hold on Christ is the
   death of sin. Who among us has believed in Christ that he might escape
   the pangs of hell? Oh, brother, you have but a very poor idea of what
   Jesus Christ has come into the world to do: he is proclaimed to be a
   Savior who "shall save his people from their sins." This is the object
   of his mission. True, he comes to give pardon, but he never gives
   pardon without giving repentance with it; he comes to justify, but he
   does not justify without also sanctifying. He has come to deliver us,
   not from thee, O death, alone! nor from thee, O hell, alone! but from
   thee, O sin, the mother of death, the progenitor of hell! The Redeemer
   lays his axe at the root of all the mischief, by killing sin, and thus,
   as far as we are concerned, he puts an end to death and hell. Glory be
   to God for this! Now, it does seem to me that if the very commencement
   of the Christian faith be so manifestly connected with death to sin,
   they do us grievous injustice who suppose that in preaching faith in
   Jesus Christ we ignore the moralities or the virtues, or that we think
   little of sin and vice. We do not so, but we proclaim the only method
   by which moral evil can be put to death and swept away. The reception
   of Christ is an avowal of the crucifixion of the flesh with the
   affections and lusts, what more can the purest moralist propose? What
   more could he avow himself?

   II. But secondly, AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE DECEPTION OF CHRIST IS
   ATTENDED WITH THE CRUCIFIXION OF SIN. I shall now state my own
   experience when I believed in Jesus; and while I am doing so I rejoice
   to remember that there are hundreds, if not thousands in this place who
   have experienced the same, and millions in this world, and millions
   more in heaven, who know the truth of what I declare. When I believed
   that Jesus was the Christ, and rested my soul in him, I felt in my
   heart from that moment an intense hatred to sin of every kind. I had
   loved sin before, some sins particularly, but those sins became from
   that moment the most obnoxious to me, and, though the propensity to
   them was still there, yet the love of them was clean gone; and when I
   at any time transgressed I felt an inward grief and horror at myself
   for doing the things which aforetime I had allowed and even enjoyed. My
   relish for sin was gone. The things I once loved I abhorred, and
   blushed to think of.

   Then I began to search out my sins. I see now a parallel between my
   experience in reference to sin, and the details of the crucifixion of
   Christ. They sent Judas into the garden to search for our great
   substitute, and just in that way I began to search for sin, even for
   that which lay concealed amid the thick darkness of my soul I was
   ignorant, and did not know be sin, for it was night in any soul; but,
   being stirred up to destroy the evil, my repenting spirit borrowed
   lanterns, and torches, and went out as against a thief. I searched the
   garden of my heart through and through, with an intense ardor to find
   out every sin; and I brought God to help me, saying, "Search me, O God,
   and try me, and know my ways;" nor did I cease till I had spied out my
   secret transgressions. This inward search is one of my most constant
   occupations; I patrol my nature through and through to try and arrest
   these felons, these abhorred sins, that they may be crucified with
   Christ. O ye in whom iniquity lurks under cover of your spiritual
   ignorance, arouse yourself to a strict scrutiny of your nature, and no
   longer endure that your hearts should be the lurking-places of evil. I
   remember when I found my sin. When I found it I seized it, and I
   dragged it off to the judgment-seat. Ah, my brethren, you know when
   that occurred to you, and how stern was the judgment which conscience
   gave forth. I sat in judgment on myself. I took my sin to one court,
   and to another. I looked at it as before men, and trembled to think
   that the badness of my example might have ruined other men's souls: I
   looked at my sin as before God, and I abhorred myself in dust and
   ashes. My sin was as red as crimson in his sight and in mine also. I
   judged my sin, and I condemned it—condemned it as a felon to a felon's
   death. I heard a voice within me which, Pilate-like, pleaded for it—"I
   will chastise him and let him go; let it be a little put to shame; let
   not the wrong deed be done quite so often; let the lust be curbed and
   kept under." But, ah, my soul said, "Let it be crucified! Let it be
   crucified!" and nothing could shake my heart from this intent, that I
   would slay all the murderers of Christ if possible, and let not one of
   them escape for my soul hated them with a deadly hatred, and would fain
   nail them all to the tree. I remember, too, how I began to see the
   shame of sin. As my Lord was spit upon, and mocked, and despitefully
   used, so did my soul begin to pour contempt upon all the pride of sin,
   to scorn its promises of pleasure, and to accuse it of a thousand
   crimes. It had deceived me, it had led me into ruin, it had well nigh
   destroyed me, and I despised it, and poured contempt upon its
   briberies, and all it offered of sweetness and of pleasure. O sin, how
   shameful a thing didst thou appear to be! I saw all that is base, mean,
   and contemptible concentrated in thee. My heart scourged sin by
   repentance, smote it with rebukes, and buffeted it with self-denials.
   Then was it made a reproach and a scorn. But this sufficed not—sin must
   die. My heart mourned for what sin had done, and I was resolved to
   avenge my Lord's death upon myself.

   Thus my soul sang out her resolve—
   "Oh, how I hate those lusts of mine
   That crucified my God;
   Those sins that pierced and nail'd his flesh
   Fast to the fatal wood!
   Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die;
   My heart was so decreed:
   Nor will I spare the guilty things
   That made my Savior bleed."

   Then I led forth my sins to the place of crucifixion. They would fain
   have escaped, but the power of God prevented them, and like a guard of
   soldiery, conducted them to the gibbet of mortification. The hand of
   the Lord was present, and his all-revealing Spirit stripped my sin as
   Christ was stripped; setting it before mine eyes, even my secret sin in
   the light of his countenance. Oh, what a spectacle it was as I gazed
   upon it! I had looked before upon its dainty apparel, and the colors
   with which it had bedizened itself, to make it look as fair as Jezebel
   when she painted her face: but now I saw its nakedness and horror, and
   I was well nigh ready to despair; but my spirit bore me up, for I knew
   that I was forgiven, and I said "Christ Jesus has pardoned me, for I
   have believed in him; and I will put the flesh to death, by crucifying
   it on his cross." The driving of the nails I do remember, and how the
   flesh struggled to maintain its liberty. One, two, three, four, the
   nails went in, and fastened the accursed thing to the wood with Christ,
   so that it could neither run nor rule; and now, glory be to God, though
   my sin is not dead, it is crucified, and must eventually die. It hangs
   up there; I can see it bleeding out its life. Sometimes it struggles to
   get down, and tries to wrench away the nails, for it would fain go
   after vanity; but the sacred nails hold it too fast, it is in the grasp
   of death, and it cannot escape. Alas, it dies a lingering death,
   attended with much pain and struggling: still it dies, and soon its
   heart shall be pierced through with the spear of the love of Christ,
   and it shall utterly expire. Then shall our immortal nature no more be
   burdened with the body of this death, but, pure and spotless, it shall
   rise to and behold the face of God for ever.

   Now, I am not talking allegorically of things which ought to be
   realized, but as a matter of fact remain mere ideas. I am describing in
   figure what happens in reality; for every man who believes in Jesus
   immediately bestirs himself to get rid of sin; and you may know whether
   he has believed in Jesus Christ or not by seeing whether there is a
   change in his motives, feelings, life, and conduct. Do you say that you
   doubt this? You may doubt what you like, but facts speak for
   themselves. There will come before me, I dare say, before this week is
   over, as there have almost every week of my life, men who have been
   slaves to intoxication made sober at once by believing in Jesus Christ;
   women, once lost to virtue, who have become pure and chaste by
   believing in Jesus; men who were fond of all manner of evil pleasures,
   who have turned instantly from them, and have continued to resist all
   temptation, because they are new creatures in Christ Jesus. The
   phenomenon of conversion is singular, but the effect of conversion is
   more singular still; and it is not a thing done in a corner, it can be
   seen every day. If it were merely an excitement in which men felt a
   distress of mind, and then by-and-by thought they were at peace, and
   became happy because self-satisfied, I should not see any particular
   good in it; but if it be true that regeneration changes men's tastes
   and affections, that it, in fine, changes them radically, making them
   altogether new creatures; if it be so, I say, then may God send us
   thousands of conversions! And that this is so we are quite sure, for we
   see it perpetually.

   III. Thirdly, we go a step farther, and say that THE RECEPTION OF JESUS
   CHRIST INTO THE HEART BY SIMPLE FAITH IS CALCULATED TO CRUCIFY THE
   FLESH.

   When a man believes in Jesus the first point that helps him to crucify
   the flesh is that he has seen the evil of sin, inasmuch as he has seen
   Jesus, his Lord, die because of it. Men think that sin is nothing; but
   what will sin do? What will it not do? The virus of sin, what wilt it
   poison? Ay, what will it not poison? Its influence has been baleful
   upon the largest conceivable scale. Sin has flooded the world with
   blood and tears through red-handed war; sin has covered the world with
   oppression, and so has crushed the manhood of many, and broken the
   hearts of myriads; sin begat slavery, and tyranny, and priestcraft, and
   rebellion, and slander, and persecution; sin has been at the bottom of
   all human sorrows; but the crowning culminating point of sin's villainy
   was when God himself came down to earth in human form—pure, perfect,
   intent on an errand of love—came to work miracles of mercy, and
   redemption. Then sinful man could never rest till he had crucified his
   incarnate God. They coined a word when the Parliamentary party executed
   the king in England, and called the king's destroyers "regicides," and
   now we must make a word to describe sin: sin is a deicide. Every
   sinner, if he could, would kill God, for he says in his heart, "No
   God." He means he wishes there were none. He would be rejoiced indeed
   if he could learn for certain that there was no God. In fact, that is
   the bugbear of his life, that there is a God, and a just God, who will
   bring him into judgment. His secret wish is that there were no religion
   and no God, for he might then live as he pleased.

   Now, when a man is made to see that sin in its essence is the murderer
   of Emmanuel, God with us, his heart being renewed, he hates sin from
   that very moment. "No," he says, "I cannot continue in such evil. If
   that be the true meaning of every offense against the law of God—that
   it would put God himself out of his own world if it could—I cannot bear
   it." His spirit recoils with horror, as he feels—

   "My sins have pulled the vengeance down
   Upon his guiltless head:
   Break, break, my heart, oh burst mine eyes!
   And let my sorrows bleed.
   Strike, mighty grace, my flinty soul,
   Till melting waters flow,
   And deep repentance drown mine eyes
   In undissembled woe."

   Then the believer has also seen in the death of Christ an amazing
   instance of the great grace of God; for if sin be an attempt to murder
   God—and it is all that—then how wonderful it is that the creatures who
   committed this sin were not destroyed at once. How remarkable that God
   should consider it worth his while to devise a plan for their
   restoration; and yet he did, with matchless skill, contrive a way which
   involved the giving up of his only-begotten and well-beloved Son.
   Though this was an expense unequalled, yet he did not withdraw from it.
   He "so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
   whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting
   life:" and this for a race of men who were the enemies of their good
   and gracious God. "Henceforth," saw the believer in Christ, "I can have
   nothing to do with sin, since it does despite to so gracious a God. O,
   thou accursed sin, to drive thy dagger at the heart of him who was all
   grace and mercy! This makes sin to be exceedingly sinful."

   Further, the believer has had a view of the justice of God. He sees
   that God hates sin intensely, for when his only begotten Son tools sin
   upon himself, God would not spare even him. That sin was not his own,
   in him was no sin, but when he voluntarily took it upon himself, and
   was made a curse for us, the Judge of all the earth did not spare him.
   Down from his armoury of vengeance he took his thunderbolts and hurled
   them at his Son, for his Son stood in the sinner's stead. There was no
   mercy for the sinner's substitute. He had to cry as never one cried
   before or since, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Torrents
   of woe rushed through his spirit; the condemnation of sin overwhelmed
   him; all God's waves and billows went o'er him.

   Now, when a man sees this wonderful fact he can no longer think lightly
   of transgression. He trembles before the thrice holy Jehovah, and cries
   in his secret heart, "How can I sin if this be God's opinion of it? If
   in his justice he smote it so unsparingly, even when it was only laid
   by imputation upon his Son, how will he smite it when its actual guilt
   lies on me? O God deliver me from it."

   The believer has also had one more sight which, perhaps, more
   effectually than any other changes his view of sin. He has seen the
   amazing love of Jesus. Did you ever see it, my hearer? If you have seen
   it you will never love sin again. O think, that he who was master of
   all heaven's majesty came down to be the victim of all man's misery! He
   came to Bethlehem, and dwelt among us, offering thirty years and more
   of toilsome obedience to his Father's will; and at the close he reached
   the crisis of his griefs, the crowning sorrow of his incarnation—his
   bloody sweat and death agony. That was a solemn Passover which he ate
   with his disciples, with Calvary full in view. Then he arose and went
   to Gethsemane,

   "Gethsemane, the olive-press,
   (And why so called let Christians guess,)
   Fit name, fit place, where vengeance strove,
   And griped and grappled hard with love.
   'Twas there the Lord of life appeared
   And sighed, and groaned, and prayed, and feared;
   Bore all incarnate God could bear
   With strength enough, and none to spare."

   Behold how he loved us! He was taken to Pilate's hall, and there was
   scourged—scourged with those awful Roman whips weighted with little
   bullets of lead, and made of the intertwisted sinews of oxen, into
   which they also inserted small slivers of bone, so that every blow as
   it fell tore off the flesh. Our beloved Lord had to suffer this again
   and again, being scourged often as that verse seems to intimate which
   says, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
   iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
   stripes we are healed." Yet he loved us, loved us still. Many waters
   could not quench his love, neither could the floods drown it. When they
   nailed him to the tree, he loved us still. When, every bone being
   dislocated, he cried in sad soliloquy, "I am poured out like water, all
   my bones are out of joint," he loved us still. When the dogs compassed
   him and the bulls of Bashan beset him round, he loved us still. When
   the dread faintness came upon him till he was brought into the dust of
   death, and his heart melted like wax in the midst of his bowels, he
   loved us still. When God forsook him, and the sun was blotted out, and
   midnight darkness covered the midday, and a denser midnight veiled his
   spirit—a darkness like that of Egypt, which might be felt, he loved us
   still. Till he had drunk the last dregs of the unutterably bitter coo,
   he loved us still. And when the light shone on his face, and he could
   say, "It is finished," that light shone on a face that loved us still.
   Now, every man to whom it has been given to believe in Jesus, and to
   know his love, says, "How can I offend him? How can I grieve him? There
   are actions in this life which I might otherwise indulge in, but I dare
   not now, for I fear to vex my Lord." And if you say "Dare not, are you
   afraid of him?" the answer will be, "I am not slavishly afraid, for
   into hell I can never go." What am I afraid of, then? I am afraid of
   that dear face, on which I see the gutterings of tears which he once
   shed for me. I am afraid of that dear brow which wore the thorn-crown
   for me; I cannot rebel against such kindness, his bleeding love
   enchains me. How can I do so great a wickedness as to put my dying Lord
   to shame? "Do you not feel this, my beloved brother? If you have ever
   trusted the Lord Jesus, you crouch at his feet, and kiss the prints of
   his nails, for very love; and if he would use you as a footstool, if it
   would raise him any higher, you would count it the highest honor of
   your life. Ay, if he bade you go to prison and to death for him, and
   would say it himself, and put his pierced hand on you, you would go
   there as cheerfully as angels fly to heaven. If he bade you die for
   him, though the flesh is weak, your spirit would be willing; ay, and
   the flesh would be made strong enough, too, if Jesus did but look upon
   you, for he can with a glance cast out selfishness and cowardice, and
   everything that keeps us back from being whole burnt-offerings to him.
   Is it not so?

   "Speak of morality! Thou bleeding Lamb
   The best morality is love to thee!"

   When we once are filled with love to thee, O Jesus, sin becomes the
   dragon against which we wage a lifelong warfare; holiness becomes our
   noblest aspiration, and we seek after it with all our heart and soul
   and strength. If candid minds will but honestly consider the religion
   of Jesus Christ, they will see that Christian men must hate sin if they
   are sincere in their faith. I might go farther into that, but I will
   not.

   IV. The last thing of all is this. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WITH THE GOSPEL,
   AND WHERE HE IS HOLINESS MUST BE PROMOTED.

   Let it never be forgotten that—while the reception of Jesus Christ by
   simple faith is an avowal of death to sin, and does bring with it an
   experience of hating sin, and is calculated to do so—there in one thing
   more. If, dear friends, in any work of revival, or ordinary ministry,
   there was nothing more than you could see or hear, I think that many
   criticisms and cavils might be, at least, rational, but they are not so
   now; for one grand fact makes them for ever unreasonable. Wherever
   Jesus Christ is preached, there is present One sublime in rank and high
   in degree. You will not suppose that I am speaking of any—earthly
   potentate. No, I am speaking of the Holy Ghost—the ever blessed Spirit
   of God. There is never a gospel sermon preached by an earnest heart but
   what the Holy Ghost is there, taking of the things of Christ and
   revealing them unto men. When a man turns his eye to Jesus, and simply
   trusts him—for we adhere to that as being the vital matter—there is
   accompanying that act—nay, I must correct myself, there is as the cause
   of that act—a miraculous, supernatural power which in an instant
   changes a man, as completely as if it flung him back into nothingness
   and brought him forth into new life. If this be so, then believing in
   Christ is something very marvellous. Now, if you will turn to the third
   chapter of John's gospel, and also to his Epistles, you will see that
   faith is always linked with regeneration, or the new birth, which new
   birth is the work of the Spirit of God. That same third of John which
   tells us, "Ye must be born again," goes on to say, "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 eternal
   life." Wherever there is faith in Jesus Christ a miracle of
   purification has been wrought in the heart. Deny this and you deny the
   testimony of the Scriptures, which say plainly, that "whosoever
   believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." "And whosoever is
   born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
   himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Wherefore do you doubt,
   for we who are personal examples can assure you that it has been so in
   our case? I mean not that myself and one or two others affirm this, but
   the witnesses may be met with by hundreds and thousands, and they all
   agree in asserting that the power of the Holy Ghost has changed the
   current of their desires, and made them love the things which are holy,
   and just, and true. Therefore, sirs, whether you believe it or not, you
   must be so kind as to understand one thing from us very decidedly,
   namely, that if to preach salvation through faith be vile we purpose to
   be viler still. Surely you cannot blame us for acting as we do if our
   stand-point be correct. If the preaching of the cross, though it be to
   them that perish foolishness, be to them that believe in Christ the
   wisdom of God and the power of God, we shall not give up preaching
   Christ for you. If it be so that men are made new creatures—that, while
   others are talking about morals, our gospel plants and produces them—we
   shall not give up work for talk, nor the efficient agency of the gospel
   for the inventions of philosophy.

   To the front, my brethren, with the cross, more and more; in your
   schools and in your pulpits set forth Christ crucified as the sinner's
   hope more and more plainly. Bid the sinner look to Jesus! Look and
   live! The gospel is the great promoter of social order, the great
   reclaimer of the waifs and strays of society, the elevator of the human
   race; this doctrine of free pardon and gracious renewal, freely given
   to the most worthless upon their believing in Jesus, is the hope of
   mankind. There is no balm in Gilead, and never was; but this is the
   balm of Calvary, for there is the true medicine, and Jesus Christ is
   the infallible Physician. Do but try it, sinners! Do but try it! Look
   to Jesus, and the passions which you cannot else overcome shall yield
   to his cleansing power. Believe in Jesus, and the follies which cling
   to you, and crush you as the snakes engirdled Laocoon and his sons, you
   shall be able to untwist. Yea, they shall die at Jesus' glance, and
   shall fall off from you. Believe in Jesus, and you have the spring of
   excellency, the hath of purity, the source of virtue, the destruction
   of evil, the bud of perfection.

   God grant us still to prove the power of the Lord Jesus in ourselves,
   and to proclaim his power to all around us.

   "Happy if, with our latest breath,
   We may but gasp his name;
   Preach him to all, and cry in death
   Behold behold, the Lamb!"

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Galatians 5.

   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"—278, 317, AND 432; and "Safe in the Arms
   of Jesus."
     __________________________________________________________________

The Song of Songs

   (No. 1240)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, June 13th, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [5]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts
   of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and
   every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified
   himself in Israel."— Isaiah 44:23.

   NO DOUBT THIS PROPHECY had a fulfillment in the restoration of the
   captive Jews from Babylon, in the rebuilding of the temple, and the
   completion of the walls of Jerusalem. This made the nation rejoice with
   unspeakable joy, and made them cry, "Sing together, ye waste places of
   Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed
   Jerusalem." This was a fulfillment, but not the fullest accomplishment
   of the soul-stirring prophecy before us, a larger blessing was yet to
   come, to make every word emphatic and to enlarge the area of the joy
   till all the earth and all the spheres of heaven should take part in
   it. I shall spend no time upon the minor meanings of the passage, but
   speak at once of that redemption, of which all the rest are but types,
   the redemption of the true Israel of God by Christ Jesus our Lord. To
   that redemption the words of our text are preeminently applicable.
   "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts
   of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and
   every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified
   himself in Israel."

   In considering the text we shall first survey the scenery of the
   prophecy; secondly, we shall contemplate the exceedingly glorious
   subject for joy. Having attended to both of these matters, we will for
   a little while listen to the song; and then, in the last place, if the
   Spirit of God shall graciously help us, we will join in the universal
   chorus.

   I. LET US SURVEY THE SCENE. The scene of our text is noteworthy. We saw
   its earthly parallel yesterday. The heavens were overcast, the clouds
   were dense, the sky was black, the sun was obscured, and albeit it is
   near Midsummer a chill came over us. Far over head rolled the loud
   thunder, the dread artillery of heaven pealed forth as in the day of
   the Lord's battle. We expected a terrific tempest, and timid hearts
   began to quail. Who knew where the bolts of heaven might fall, and what
   mischief the flames of fire might work? The coward's fears were
   groundless, the storm had gathered for other fields than ours. There
   fell a shower which blessed the earth.

   "Down, down they come, those fruitful showers!
   Those earth-rejoicing drops!
   A momentary deluge pours,
   Then thins, decreases, stops.
   And ere flee dimples on the stream
   Have circled out of sight,
   Lo! from the sun a joyous gleam
   Breaks forth, of amber light."

   Then the ever gracious Lord hung out across the heavens his bow of
   beauty the covenant token, as if to assure us that he was not about to
   destroy the earth with a flood. Anon the swift winds blew, and cloud
   after cloud disappeared, till as we went forth to walk beneath the
   gladsome trees, and amidst the laughing flowers, the thick clouds had
   gone and above us was the blue serene of heaven. Tempest and bolt of
   terror were far removed, heaven shone on earth, and earth smiled back
   on heaven. On such a spiritual scene the prophet fixed his eye, and he
   pictured it in the verse which precedes my text. A cloud, even a thick
   cloud of sin shut out the light of God's countenance from his people,
   and turned its dark side on their upward gazing eyes. Sins and
   transgressions interposed like a curtain, nay, rather like a wall of
   brass, between the sinful people and their God, so that their prayers
   could not pass through to him, nor could his favor shine down on them.
   They cowered down in terror, as they heard the voice of God threatening
   judgment, and they expected every moment that he would overthrow them
   in his wrath. Lo instead thereof, the Lord hung out the covenant
   rainbow, gospel promises were seen, Jesus was set forth as the great
   atoning sacrifice; and as men looked upon him gleams from the light of
   God's countenance filled them with hope. Nor did they hope in vain, for
   anon the Lord fulfilled, as in a moment, the word wherein it is
   written, "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and
   as a cloud thy sins." So, going forth and returning to their God
   beneath that clear sky, from which the Sun of Righteousness shone down
   with beams of love, the forgiven people were filled with rejoicing, and
   by the mouth of the prophet they cried aloud, "Sing, O heaven, clouds
   veil thee no longer; shout, ye lower parts of the earth, which have
   been refreshed with fertilising showers; shout, O ye forest trees,
   whose every bough has been hung with diamond drops; for the Lord hath
   redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." Thus the scenery of
   the text is helpful to the full understanding of it. Read the two
   verses together, and their beauty is seen.

   When did the joyous event take place which we are bidden to celebrate
   with song? We may consider it as virtually accomplished in the eternal
   counsels of God, for our Lord is "the Lamb slain from before the
   foundation of the world." When the covenant was made between the Father
   and the Son, and Jesus undertook to die as a substitute for his chosen
   people, then the cloud was gone and the Lord could look upon his elect
   with complacency, as redeemed by their Surety's pledge. Viewing them as
   guilty, his holy eyes could endure them, but looking upon them as in
   Christ Jesus, regarding them through the atonement, he cast their
   iniquities behind his back, and was well pleased with them "for his
   righteousness' sake." At the thought of the covenant "ordered in all
   things and sure" the universe of intelligent beings may well rejoice,
   for therein man's redemption and God's glory are joined together by an
   eternal decree. On the strength of that covenant multitudes entered
   heaven before the great Surety had shed his blood; it was therefore a
   legitimate theme for holy song before the long appointed day had
   dawned.

   The clouds were actually removed when the atonement was presented. In
   the fullness of time Jesus appeared, and up to the tree carried all the
   sins of his people. Having all his life long carried their sicknesses
   and sorrows, he bore the burden of sin to the place of its
   annihilation, and by his death he made an end of it. Apart from the
   atonement, the chosen of God, like other men, lay under sin; the black
   cloud was over all the race, but Jesus took the dense mass of all the
   transgressions of his people, past, present, and to come, and
   obliterated the whole, even as a cloud is blotted out from the face of
   heaven. Jesus took the whole incalculably ponderous load, all charged
   with tempest as it was, and bore it all upon those shoulders, which
   must have been crushed to the earth had they not been divine: on the
   tree he bore that sin and the wrath which was due to it, feeling all
   its crowded tempests in his own soul, until in that moment when he had
   borne all, and ended all, he sent up the victorious shout of "It is
   finished." Then shone forth the unclouded glory of boundless love; then
   was gone for ever the threatened storm; then righteousness sprang out
   of the earth, and peace looked down from heaven, and the reconciled
   ones might well exclaim, "Sing, O heavens; for the Lord hath done it:
   shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye
   mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed
   Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel." Sin was put away,
   transgression was cast into the depths of the sea, and loud o'er all
   rang out the jubilant challenge—"Who shall lay anything to the charge
   of God's elect? who is he that condemneth, now that Christ hath died?"

   The text also receives an actual fulfillment to each one of God's
   people in the moment when the eye of faith is first turned to the
   crucified Savior. I scarcely need to sketch that experience, for, my
   brethren, you know it well. Oh, the blackness of the darkness above;
   oh, the horror of the tempest within, in the dreadful hour of
   conviction of sin, when my weary soul longed for nothingness, that it
   might escape from its own hell. Oh the dread of the wrath to come. I
   saw all God's indignation gathering up to spend itself upon me, but
   glory be to God it spent itself elsewhere!

   "The tempest's awful voice was heard;
   O Christ, it broke on thee!
   Thy open bosom was my ward,
   It braved the storm for me.
   Thy form was scarr'd, thy visage marr'd,
   Now cloudless peace for me."

   Well do I remember the day in which I looked to Jews was lightened in a
   moment; the rain was over and gone, and all was peace and joy. Oh, that
   blessed day! I went forth with joy, and was led forth with peace; the
   mountains and the hills brake forth before me into singing, and all the
   trees of the field did clap their hands. Nor has the joy departed: for
   me the mountains still are singing, and the trees still clap their
   hands; for still my heart is glad within me at every mention of the
   precious name of Jesus, his blood still speaketh peace within my
   conscience, and his finished sacrifice is still my joy.

   This also comes true not only at first, but frequently during the
   Christian life; for there are times when our unbelief makes new clouds,
   and threatens new storms. Though our sin was all forgiven at the very
   first, and when we were first washed we were clean every whit, so that
   we needed not ever afterwards to wash again, except to wash our feet,
   yet unbelief can revive the memories of sin, and defile the conscience
   with dead works, and so it can create clouds between us and God:
   nevertheless, when our Lord reveals himself he blotteth out our sins
   like a cloud, and like a thick cloud our transgressions, and again we
   return unto him and rejoice in him. We need not come under these
   returning glooms, and we ought not to do so; but should it happen to us
   that we come under a cloud, it will be a blessed thing to look up and
   remember that the Lord can clear the skies in a moment, and turn our
   dreariest shades into the brightness of the morning.

   The text will obtain its best fulfillment, methinks, at the day of the
   Lord's appearing,—that day around which our chief hopes must ever
   center. The day will come when the gospel shall have been preached for
   the last time, when the chosen of God shall have been all gathered out
   from among men, and the dispensation shall be fulfilled. Then shall all
   the saints rise to glory at the call of God. The elect multitude shall
   be all there, every one according to the purpose of the Father, every
   one according to the redemption of the Son, every one according to the
   calling of the Spirit, all there; upon their faces there shall be no
   spot nor wrinkle, and on their garments no stain nor defilement, for
   they are without fault before the throne of God. Then as the books are
   opened, and the transgressions of the ungodly are published under
   heaven, they shall stand without trembling, for

   "Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
   Their beauty are, their glorious dress;
   'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
   With joy shall they lift up their head."

   Yes, and we shall be there who have believed in Jesus, every one of us;
   and with what delight, as we reflect upon our sins, shall we see the
   all-covering atonement, the cross which crucified our sins, the
   sepulcher which swallowed up in an eternal death all our
   transgressions, the ascension which led captivity captive, and the
   second coming which gave to us the adoption, to wit, the redemption of
   our body, and perfected us so that no trace of sin's mischief can be
   found upon us. No damage shall be sustained by our humanity; we shall
   come up out of the furnace of life's trial with not the smell of fire
   upon us. Though the temptation and the guilt were like a seven times
   heated furnace, yet, because he, the Son of God, came into the burning
   furnace with us, we shall live and come forth unscathed, and in the
   last day our humanity shall have suffered no harm, but shall even be
   brighter and better than if it had never fallen. Ah, what notes will be
   heard; not the sound of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and
   dulcimer, and all kinds of music, as in the days of Babylon's
   idolatries, but blessed songs of holy adoration shall be heard, to
   which angels' harmonies shall keep tune, and this shall be the
   hymn—"Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and
   glorified himself in Israel."

   II. We have now reached the second part of our subject, and therefore
   LET US CONTEMPLATE THE GLORIOUS SUBJECT FOR JOY. The great subject of
   joy is redemption—the redemption of God's Israel. This is a stupendous
   work. It was a simple matter for man to sell himself into slavery, but
   to redeem him was another matter. This is the work, this is the labor!
   To redeem man from his iniquity is a work which all the cherubim and
   seraphim could not have accomplished, a work indeed which all
   creatureship would have failed to perform. My brethren, our slavery was
   terrible, and the price of deliverance was far beyond mountains of
   silver and gold. The redemption of the soul is precious; "it cannot be
   valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
   The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall
   not be for jewels of fine gold." As there needed a price, so there was
   needed a power, to redeem; for with a high hand and an outstretched arm
   must Israel be brought out of Egypt; and where could such power be
   found? Neither angel nor archangel possessed it, and as for the sons of
   man, the insects which dance through a summer's eve are not more
   feeble. Hopeless is human bondage unless the malice and craft and power
   of Satan can be matched by love and wisdom and force superior at all
   points. The price has been found, the power has been displayed. Sing, O
   ye heavens, for the Lord has found a ransom! We were not redeemed with
   corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
   Christ, and that price has effectually set us free. Break forth into
   singing, ye mountains, for the Lord hath also found the power: his own
   right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory! He has brought
   up his people out of the house of bondage and made them free indeed.

   Of redemption, redemption by price and by power, we are bidden to sing,
   a redemption so pre-eminently desirable that we can never sufficiently
   value it, a redemption which has delivered us from sin, of all
   slaveries the worst. "Sin shall not have dominion over you;" Christ has
   effectually redeemed you from its tyrannic sway. You enjoy also
   deliverance from the curse of the law, by Christ's being made a curse
   for us, as it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
   You are blest with deliverance from misery; wherever there is sin
   misery is sure to follow, but Jesus has borne the penalty for your sins
   and turned it aside from you. You are delivered from carking care, and
   unbelieving anxiety; the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
   keeps your heart and mind by Jesus Christ. And you are delivered from
   death and hell. Let this thought thrill you with delight: in your ear
   can never ring the doleful sentence, "Depart, ye cursed": for you there
   is no bottomless pit, no fire which cannot be quenched, no worm which
   never can die. Christ has delivered you; you are no longer slaves to
   sin and victims to death, for you are set free from the thraldom of
   Satan's power, who hath the power of death. He may tempt, but he cannot
   force; he provoke, but he cannot subdue: Christ has undone the devil's
   work, has cast him down from his throne, and torn up his stronghold;
   his empire over you is ended, never to be renewed. In you who have
   believed the Lord has set up his throne, and there will he reign for
   ever. Glory be to God for this. The Lord's redemption is the theme of
   ceaseless praise, for it is a redemption which brings in its train
   hope, holiness, and heaven, deliverance from sin, likeness to Christ,
   and eternal glory with Christ. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth!

   Brethren, the very center and emphasis of the song seems to me to lie
   in this: "The Lord hath done it." How my heart delights in those five
   words, "The Lord hath done it!" Look at them for a minute. Whatever God
   does is the subject of joy to all pure beings. God in action is the
   delight of an intelligent universe. When God created the world, the
   morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. I
   can well conceive that they kept a more than ordinarily joyous festival
   on that Seventh Day, when the Lord "rested and was refreshed." Wondrous
   expression! If we were perfect, everything that God did would cause us
   to sing, and as he is always acting we should be always singing. Ay, if
   he smote us, it would make us bless him, if Eve were clean divorced
   from sin. If salvation were the work of man, our scantiest notes might
   suffice, for what is man but a worm, a creature that is crushed before
   the moth? Wherein is he to be accounted of? But when we sing of
   redemption it is the Lord's redemption. He planned it from the
   beginning, he carried it out in the person of his Son, he applies it by
   his Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. "The Lord hath done it." You
   who choose may invent a salvation that is partly by man and partly by
   God, and you may cry this up much as you please; as for me, I have no
   desire for any salvation but that which is all of God, neither is there
   any other. This one note shall occupy my entire being—"The Lord hath
   done it:" "The Lord hath done it." Every new convert who has newly
   found peace knows that the Lord has done it; every man who has been for
   years a believer, and has learned his own weakness, will say clearly,
   "The Lord hath done it;" ay, and the aged Christian just about to
   depart is the man to say, "The Lord hath done it." Grace reigns without
   a rival, the Lord alone is exalted. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful O
   earth, for redemption is Jehovah's work.

   It is sweet to reflect that redemption is an accomplished fact. It is
   not "The Lord will do it," but "The Lord hath done it." If I were sent
   this morning as a prophet to tell you that the Lord would become
   incarnate, and bleed, and die on Golgotha, I hope that some would
   believe it; but it may be you would find it difficult to realize it,
   and as Abraham did to see Christ's day, and be glad; for it is a marvel
   not to be believed at all except upon divine testimony that God himself
   should make atonement for injury done to his own moral government. But
   I have to-day to speak of a matter of history—"The Lord hath done it";
   he who was the offended one has provided a propitiation; his own deed
   of transcendent grace has scattered the thick clouds of sin, and poured
   eternal day upon the darkened earth. Jesus has bled and died, and
   vanquished sin thereby. Our glorious Samson lay asleep in the Gaza of
   the tomb, and his foes thought they had him fast for ever; but he awoke
   before the morning light, and he pulled up the gates of death and hell,
   post and bar and all, and carried them away, leading captivity captive.
   He hath done it, our divine deliverer has spoiled death and the grave
   for us. "Sing, O ye heavens: shout, ye lower parts of the earth." The
   Breaker is gone up before us, and our King at the head of us; he hath
   broken up and cleared a pathway straight from the tomb to the throne of
   God. Glory be to his name, he has done it.

   We may lay peculiar force upon the word, "The Lord hath done it," for
   he has finished the work. In the matter of the redemption of his people
   nothing remains to be done. There is no mortgage on the church of God
   to be ultimately discharged, the Lord has made us his unencumbered
   freehold, and we are his own portion for ever. There is not a little
   left of human merit for the sinner to work out for himself, or some
   little point in which the work of salvation is incomplete; but "The
   Lord hath done it." No, brethren, even the fringe of the robe of
   righteousness is all there; you have not a thread to add to it, it is
   without seam, and woven from the top throughout, all of one piece.
   Consummatum est. "It is finished," every type fulfilled, every
   commandment kept, every sin abolished, the wrath of God and everything
   that hindered put away. "The Lord hath done it." The heavens sang when
   Jesus came to do the deed, they woke the silence of the sheepfolds when
   the heavenly babe was born; how must they sing now that he has finished
   the work which was committed to him, and perfected for ever all those
   who were set apart! I cannot speak on such a theme; language is too
   poor a medium for the expression of my grateful joy. I wish that we
   could pause and sing the text—"The Lord hath done it: he hath redeemed
   Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel."

   A very important part of the song, however, lies in the fact that what
   God has done glorifies himself. Infinite mercy and condescending love
   reflect glory upon God. What a subject for a Dr. Owen to write upon—the
   attributes of God as displayed and glorified in redemption. He would
   need a score of volumes, all crowded with such condensed thought as he
   was wont to give forth. What a chapter should be written on the wisdom
   of redemption! What another chapter upon the justice of it! How the
   Lord would not pardon sin without a sacrifice, because he was just, and
   could not tolerate iniquity. What another chapter, nay, what tomes upon
   tomes, might be composed upon the love of redemption! The fear would be
   that our finite minds, in beholding the brightness of one divine
   attribute, would be so dazzled as to forget the rest. Who can tell us,
   concerning the atonement, which of its letters best is writ, the
   wisdom, the justice, or the grace? In redemption you see all the
   attributes of God, blended in harmony, shining with benignant radiance,
   not with the flash and flame of Sinai, but with the soft beams of peace
   and love from Calvary. God is never so gloriously seen as at the cross;
   no, not even amidst the flaming seraphim do the saints above enjoy such
   a view of God as when they see him in the wounds of Jesus, and putting
   their finger into the print of the nails, exclaim with transport, "My
   Lord and my God."

   Why, my brethren, the Lord has not only illustrated every one his
   attributes in the great plan of redemption, but he has been pleased to
   show how the goodness of his nature triumphs over all the power of
   evil. Satan seemed to have gained a great advantage over God when he
   poisoned our race with his venom; the advantage was but temporary, and
   it ended in his greater defeat. Little did he know that by his craft
   and malice he was preparing a black background for divine love to lay
   its lovely tints upon, that they might be the more conspicuous. How art
   thou baffled in thy dark designs, O Lucifer! How art thou vanquished, O
   thou enemy! How art thou spoiled, O thou spoiler! How art thou led
   captive, O captivity! Thou thoughtest that man would be thy weak and
   willing instrument with which to show thy spite against the Most High,
   but lo, man, whom thou didst disgrace and dishonor, triumphs over thee
   on God's behalf. The seed of the woman whom thou didst beguile has been
   wiser than thou; his bruised heel has been the breaking of thy head;
   while he hath all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and
   the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
   through the paths of the sea. The man Christ Jesus is Lord of all, and
   at his name all creatures bow the knee. Even the devils are subject
   unto him, and evil is overruled for good. See how the Lord "frustrateth
   the token of the liars, and maketh diviners mad." Let the Lord be
   praised for ever and ever.

   The Lord has also glorified himself by raising up a race of creatures
   such as could not have been created by mere power, at least, so far as
   we can judge. God has a company of angels to worship him, but they
   never knew evil, and consequently their choice of good is not so
   marvellous. They are also of an ethereal nature, and are not cumbered
   with material bodies of flesh and blood. The Lord might have created
   myriads more of pure spirits like the angels, but he desired to be
   served and loved by beings who should be in part material, and yet
   should be akin to himself: beings who should possess freedom of will
   and should know both good and evil, and yet should for ever choose good
   alone. Behold how such creatures have been produced! Not so much by
   creation as by redemption. The glorified once plunged deep into sin,
   but they were, without a violation of their free agency, recovered to
   their allegiance by the love of Jesus, and then lifted up into such a
   position that in Christ Jesus they are akin to God himself, so that no
   order of beings intervenes between them and God; and yet they never
   will nor can presume, nor take ambitious advantage of their elevated
   position. If God were to create free agents, knowing both good and
   evil, and put them where men will be in heaven, without their
   undergoing any preparatory process, it would be a dangerous experiment;
   but for him to let them know evil to the full, and yet be for ever
   bound to perfect holiness, because infinite love sways them with
   omnipotent obligations of gratitude,—this is to make creatures which
   bring exceeding glory to their author. These are not merely fashioned
   on his wheel, but dipped into the blood of his own suffering and
   indwelt by his own mighty power, and well may they be precious in his
   sight. "Glory, glory, how the angels sing"; but far louder are the
   notes of the redeemed. "Glory, glory," thrice and sevenfold told is
   that which comes from those loud harps of ransomed ones, who have
   washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The
   Lord hath glorified himself in Israel.

   I cannot linger here, though the subject fascinates me, for I have to
   say somewhat upon the third point, which is,

   III. LET US LISTEN TO THE SONG. The angels sing, for they have deep
   sympathy with the redemption of man, the redeemed in glory sing, for
   they have been the recipients of this mighty mercy, the material
   heavens themselves also ring with the sweet music, and every star takes
   up the refrain, and with sun and moon praise the Most High.

   Descending from heaven, the song charms the lower earth, and the
   prophet calls upon materialism to share in the joy; mountains and
   valleys, forests and trees, are charged to join the song. Why should
   they not? This round earth of ours has been overshadowed by the curse
   through sin; she has yet to be unswathed of all the mists which
   iniquity has cast upon her, for the creature was made subject to
   vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in
   hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
   bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
   Therefore let creation sing. What mountain is there that has not been
   defiled with idolatry? Lo, the altars of Chemosh and the high places of
   Baal! But sing, ye mountains, for the God of the hills is revealed, and
   has purged you, by the blood of Calvary. What valley is there which man
   has not polluted with sin? In the plains, which should have been sacred
   to peaceful harvests, men have shed the blood of their fellows in
   fierce battle, and cities have been builded which have become the
   strongholds of iniquity. But sing, ye valleys and ye fruitful plains,
   for the Lord shall walk through you, and make you as the valley of
   Barachah, where the men of Judah sang, "Praise the Lord, for his mercy
   endureth for ever"; therefore the name of the place was called the
   valley of Blessing unto this day. Ye forests, where wild beasts have
   been invaded by still wilder men, break forth into singing, for no more
   shall the destroying hand of the Lord be upon all the cedars of
   Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan!
   Ye groves, which have witnessed the cruel rites of bloody worship,
   sing; for adown your aisles shall now be heard the holy hymn which
   chants redeeming love. O ye green trees, under which men have polluted
   themselves, beneath your shade shall saintly spirits find retreats
   prepared for prayer and praise. Break forth into singing, ye mountains!
   Sing, O Moriah, on whose summit the patriarch drew his knife to slay
   his son, for the true Isaac has been offered up, God has provided for
   himself a lamb! Sing, O Sinai, for the law proclaimed from thy awful
   summit has now been magnified and rendered honorable! Sing, O Pisgah,
   for now that Christ has died, from thy peak may be seen a promised land
   into which the servants of the Lord shall not be denied an entrance!
   Sing, O Carmel, for the controversy between God and Baal has been
   decided once for all! Sing, O Hermon, for now the gentle dews of
   brotherly love shall fall upon and keep not silent, O Gilboa, once
   accursed, for the Son of David gives thee back thy dew! Sing, O Tabor,
   for Messiah transfigured has become the image of the future race! Sing,
   O Olivet, for where Jesus groaned and bled he comes to plant his foot
   to establish for ever bliss and holiness! The text exhorts the lower
   parts of the earth to shout, and well they may, for in the hands of the
   redeeming Lord are the deep places of the earth. Let the valleys
   respond to the song of the hills. Shout, O valley of Shaveh, thou that
   are called the king's vale, for now the great Melchizedek hath brought
   forth the true bread and wine for the seed of Abraham! Shout, O Eshcol,
   for thy richest clusters are outdone by the true vine, which the Lord
   hath planted! O valley of the Jordan shout, for in thy river the
   Redeemer was baptised! O valley of Baca rejoice, for the Lord Jesus has
   filled thy pools! O vale of Achor shout, for thou art now a door of
   hope! O ye wildernesses and solitary places, be glad, for redemption
   shall make you blossom as the rose! Let every tree in the forest bless
   the Lord, let each one yield boughs with which to strew the way before
   the lowly prince. Fruitful trees and all cedars, praise ye the Lord!
   Adown the fir trees' pillared shade let the soft murmur of praise be
   heard; and beneath our island's giant oaks let the glorious gospel be
   proclaimed. Praise ye the Lord ye elms, as peace sports adown your
   ancient avenues; praise him ye far-spreading beeches, as beneath your
   umbrageous boughs the flocks feed in plenty; and you, ye pines, for
   ever clad in verdure, join ye the song. Let not a single herb be
   silent, nor even the hyssop upon the wall be dumb. I cannot reach "the
   height of this great argument," nor can any man beside, I ween, unless
   he were a Milton, and had a soul inspired at once with loftiest poetry
   and grace divine.

   The meaning of the whole seems to be this, that wherever saints are
   they ought to praise God for redeeming love, whether they climb the
   Alps or descend into the plains; whether they dwell in the cities or
   walk in the quietude of the woods. In whatever state of mind they feel
   themselves they still should praise redeeming grace and dying love;
   whether on the mountain top of communion, or in the valley of
   humiliation; whether lifted up by prosperity or cast down by adversity.
   They should leave a shining trail of praise behind them in their daily
   course even as does the vessel when it ploughs the sea.

   The text calls upon all classes and conditions of men to praise God for
   redemption. Ye that are lifted up like mountains,—magistrates, princes,
   kings, and emperors; and ye who lie beneath like plains, ye who eat
   bread in the sweat of your faces, ye children of poverty and toil,
   rejoice in redeeming love. Ye who dwell in the midst of sin as in a
   tangled forest, ye who have transgressed against God and plunged into
   the deep places of vice, be glad, for ye may be restored. All ye of
   woman born, together praise the Redeemer of Israel, for he has
   accomplished the salvation of his people!

   IV. LET US JOIN THIS SONG. Mr. Sankey is now behind me, but he cannot
   sing sweetly enough to set forth to the full the majesty of this song,
   nor could the choicest choir of singing men and singing women; nay,
   this task exceeds the reach of the seraphim themselves. Praise is
   silenced, O Lord, by the glory of thy love. Yet, brethren, let us give
   forth such music as we have.

   Let us consider how we sing this song. We sing it when by faith we see
   the grand truth that Jesus Christ took his people's sin upon him, and
   so redeemed them. Understanding this fact, which is the heart of the
   gospel, we begin to sing for joy. Get a grip of that, my brethren, and
   hold it fast: your hearts will then sing; you cannot help it. Not all
   the harps of heaven can be more melodious than your song will be when
   your heart fully understands this fact—that Jesus Christ did actually
   stand in his people's stead, and finished transgression, and brought in
   everlasting righteousness for them. You will sing it better still if
   the Holy Spirit has applied it to your own soul, so that you can say,
   "My sins are blotted out like a cloud, and like a thick cloud my
   transgressions." "Through Jesus' blood I am clean, I am accepted in the
   Beloved, I am dear to the heart of God, on me there remaineth now no
   spot nor wrinkle, for I am cleansed through Jesus Christ." Nothing else
   can bring forth such charming music from any man's mind as a sense of
   redeeming grace and dying love.

   You will be still better able to sing this if you every day realize the
   blessings of redemption and pardon, by drawing near to God, using the
   privilege of prayer, trusting the Lord for everything, enjoying
   sonship, and communing with your heavenly Father if you seek to bear
   the image of the heavenly as truly as you have borne the image of the
   earthly, if you are fully consecrated to the Lord's service, and are
   borne along by the irresistible current of divine love: oh, if it be so
   with you beloved, you will be for ever crying, "Sing, O heavens, for
   the Lord hath done it."

   I think I hear from different parts of the building the lament, "Alas,
   we cannot sing, for we have not believed in Jesus, and Christ has not
   put away our sin." Listen a minute, and I have done. Sinner, though you
   have not this redemption, yet I would have you sing about it, for it is
   precisely what you want. You are slaves to sin, and ought you not to
   bless God that there can be such a thing as redemption? If I had been a
   slave in the old slave days, even though I had small chance of being
   redeemed, yet the word redemption would have been a sweet morsel to me,
   and if I heard of others being redeemed, if I sang at all, I should
   choose for my theme redemption. So may you, poor soul. Many are
   redeemed, and are rejoicing in it; why should it not come to you? At
   any rate, begin to hope.

   Rejoice, because salvation is a work done for you by another hand. "The
   Lord hath done it." A redemption in which you had to find a part of the
   price would not make you sing, for you are too poor to contribute a
   farthing, but the Lord has found the whole cost to the utmost penny. If
   ever you are saved, it must be by power beyond your own, for you are
   weak as water; be glad, then, that the Lord has done it. If you can
   ever get that thought into your mind (and I pray the Holy Ghost to put
   it there), that your salvation was completed on the tree by the Lord
   Jesus, why, methinks, you will with joy shout forth the Redeemer's
   praise.

   Think again "the Lord hath done it," even he whom you have offended.
   The God whom you have grieved has condescended to work our your
   redemption. Ought not this to make your soul say, "Would God it were
   for me"? and then begin to sing even at the bare possibility of such a
   thing.

   Then, sinner, listen. Your sin can be blotted out. You have tried to
   remove the stain, but all in vain; that scarlet stain abides, and
   though you were to wash your hand in the Atlantic till you reddened
   every wave, that blot would never disappear: no finite power can ever
   remove the accursed spot. But it can be got out, for the text says he
   has blotted it out in the case of others. Why not, then, for you? This
   disease is not absolutely unto death: it may be cured. O man, those
   fetters are not, after all, eternal, they may be snapped; the bars in
   yonder window may be torn out, so that you can escape into liberty.
   Begin to sing, then! Alas, I know you will not because I bid you, nor
   at any man's bidding, till grace sets you free. The only thing to make
   you sing is for you to realize salvation, and oh may you do so at this
   moment by believing in Jesus. Have done with everything but Christ, and
   drop into his arms! Rest in him, trust him, depend upon him, and all is
   well, and then will you cry aloud, "Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord
   hath done it."

   "Come every soul by sin oppressed,
   There's mercy with the Lord;
   And he will surely give you rest,
   By trusting in his word.
   Only trust him! Only trust him!
   Only trust him now!
   He will save you. He will save you.
   He will save you now."

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Isaiah 44.

   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"—96, 203, 428.
     __________________________________________________________________

Honest Dealing with God

   (No. 1241)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, June 20th, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [6]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is
   not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
   us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that
   we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."— 1
   John 1:8-10.

   GOD IS LIGHT, and in him is no darkness at all:" and consequently he
   cannot have fellowship with darkness. God is light, that is purity: and
   as the thrice Holy One he can hold no communion with iniquity. God is
   light, that is knowledge, for all things are known unto the Lord, and
   with ignorance he has no affinity. God is light, that is truth, for he
   can neither err, nor break his word, and therefore he cannot smile on
   anything that is false. We are constantly erring, first on this side
   and then on that, for there is darkness in us; God is light
   essentially, and it is not possible for his nature to be affected by
   either impurity or error. Out of this attribute of his nature arises
   the fact that the Lord always deals with things as they are. Man
   invents fictions, but God creates facts. We conceive of things as they
   appear, but God sees them as they exist. "Man looketh at the outward
   appearance, but God looketh at the heart." The dress of things
   impresses us, but all things are naked and open before him. The Lord
   never misrepresents, nor has fellowship with misrepresentation. We are
   for ever hurrying about with our paint and varnish and tinsel, laboring
   to make the meaner thing appear equal to the more precious, and
   spending our skill in making the sham seem as brilliant as the reality,
   but all this is contrary to the way of the Lord. Everything is true in
   God, and everything is seen in its reality by his all-discerning eye.
   Because he is light, he deals with things in the light, treating them
   as they are. If God is to deal graciously with us, we must each one
   stand in the light, and present ourselves before him as we are. If
   there be upon our lip a false word, or in our heart a false thought, or
   in our mind a knowingly false judgment, so far we are out of the sphere
   in which God can have fellowship with us. "If we say that we have
   fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the
   truth."

   Yet, dear friends, the natural tendency of our heart is to try and
   appear to be what we are not, and we all have more or less to struggle
   against this tendency, for it assails the most truthful. That love of
   approbation which, rightly checked and kept in order, has its uses,
   very readily pushes men on to pretend to be better than they are. Fear
   of censure is an equally powerful means of producing hypocrisy. We must
   by all means strive against the very beginnings of this frightful evil,
   for if it should ever get the mastery over us it will make us
   altogether untruthful, and consequently we shall be far removed from
   all power to walk with God. The Lord cannot stand with us on the
   platform of seeming and appearance, but only on the ground of what we
   really are, and therefore in proportion as we are untrue we cut
   ourselves off from God.

   Our tendency to be false is illustrated in the chapter before us, for
   we find three grades of it there. There is first the man who lies: "If
   we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and
   do not the truth." We say and do that which is untrue if while abiding
   under the influence of sin and falsehood we claim to have fellowship
   with God. If this tendency is let alone and unchecked, you will find
   the man growing worse and doing according to the eighth verse, wherein
   it is written, "We deceive ourselves." Here the utterer of the
   falsehood has come to believe his own lie. he has blinded his
   understanding and befouled his conscience till he has become his own
   dupe. Falsehood has saturated his nature, so that he puts darkness for
   light and light for darkness. This is at once his sin and his
   punishment; he closed his eyes so long that at length he has become
   stone blind. He will soon reach the complete development of his sin,
   which is described in the tenth verse, when the man, who first lied,
   and then secondly, deceived himself, becomes so audacious in his
   falseness as to blaspheme the Most Holy by making him a liar. It is
   impossible to say where sin will end; the beginning of it is as a
   little water in which a bird may wash, and scatter half the pool in
   drops, but in its progress sin, like the brook, swells into a torrent
   deep and broad. We must, therefore, judge ourselves very severely, lest
   our natural tendency to falseness should lead us to false assertion as
   to ourselves, and then should urge us on till we delude ourselves into
   the foolish belief that we are what we proudly represent ourselves to
   be, and then should dare in the desperation of our pride to think God
   himself untrue.

   Our only safe course—and may the Spirit of God grant us grace to follow
   it—is to come to God as we actually are, and ask him to deal with us,
   in Christ Jesus, according to our actual condition. If we are to walk
   with God at all it must be in the light, and if we once walk in the
   light with him our condition will tally with the description of verse
   seven; we shall see sin in ourselves and daily feel the blood of Jesus
   Christ cleansing us therefrom. Only on the footing of sin daily
   confessed and pardoned can there be any fellowship between us and the
   eternal God this side heaven, for that footing is the only one
   consistent with the facts of the case. Let us daily ask the Lord to
   keep us in a truthful spirit, admitting the truth, both concerning
   ourselves and our Lord, feeling its power, and desiring to he taught
   still more of it. Let us pray him to deal with us not according to our
   suppositions but according to the fact, and let us entreat him never to
   allow us to rejoice in fancied blessings, such as might satisfy our
   proud, half-stupified conscience, but to give to us the real blessings
   of genuine forgiveness, and effectual cleansing from all
   unrighteousness.

   I intend at this time, as God may help us, first, to consider the three
   courses which lie open before us in the text; then, in the second
   place, to consider how to follow in the right course; and thirdly, it
   shall be my endeavor to lead you to consider why you should do so.

   I. LET US CONSIDER THE THREE COURSES laid open before us in the text.

   I will suppose that we are all earnestly anxious to be in fellowship
   with God. We cannot bear to be his enemies any longer; distance from
   him has become distasteful to us; we long, like the prodigal son, to
   arise and go to our Father, that we may hereafter dwell in our Father's
   house. Our deceitful heart suggests to us, first, that we should deny
   our present sinfulness, and so claim fellowship with God, on the ground
   that we are holy, and so may draw near to the Holy God. It is suggested
   to our hearts that we should say that "we have no sin," and are neither
   guilty by act nor defiled in nature. This is a bold assertion, and he
   who males it has no truth in him, but at different times and by very
   different persons it has been made and stoutly maintained. There are
   many ways in which this proud saying has been justified. Some have
   arrived at it by denying altogether the doctrine of original sin, "as
   the Pelagians do vainly talk." They will not allow that there is a
   fault and natural corruption in the nature of every man, whereby man is
   very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature
   inclined to evil. Now we, I trust, will ever be clear from this
   doctrinal error, for we know, as David did, that we were shapen in
   iniquity, and are

   "Sprung from the man whose desperate fall
   Corrupts the blood, and taints us all."

   I do not suppose that many of you are likely to say you have no sin on
   the ground of a disbelief of natural depravity, for many of you know
   this truth, not merely as a matter of creed, but as a terrible fact,
   which has come home to you, and caused you keenest sorrow. If, however,
   any of you should venture to plead that you have no sin, on the ground
   that your nature is not evil, I do beseech you rid your heart of that
   lie, for a lie it is through and through. I mind not how honest your
   parentage, nor how noble your ancestry, there is in you a bias towards
   evil; your animal passions, nay more, your mental faculties are
   unhinged and out of order, and unless some power beyond your own shall
   keep your desires in check, you will soon prove by overt acts of
   transgression the depravity of your nature.

   It is not uncommon for others to arrive at the same conclusion by
   another road. They have attained to the audacity to say that they have
   no sin by divers feelings and beliefs which they, as a rule, ascribe to
   the Holy Spirit. Now, if any man says that all tendency to sin is gone
   from him, that his heart is at all times perfect, and his desires
   always pure, so that he has no sin in him whatsoever, he may have
   traveled a very different road from the character we just now warned,
   but he has reached the same conclusion, and we have but one word for
   both boasters, it is the word of our text—"If we say that we have no
   sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

   Some, however, have reached this position by another route. They plead
   that though it may be they have sin, yet they are not bad at heart;
   they look upon sin as a technical term, and though they admit in words
   that they have sin, yet they practically deny it by saying, "I have a
   good heart at bottom; I always was well-intentioned from the very
   first. True, what I have done does not appear to be right according to
   the very severe judgment of the law of God; but I cannot help that; I
   only followed my nature, and cannot be blamed, for I never meant to do
   anything wrong, either to God or man. I have always been kind to the
   poor, and have done the right thing all round. I know I have—of course
   we all have—erred here and there, but you cannot expect a fellow to be
   perfect. I can't say I see anything to find fault with." Thus you in
   effect say you have no sin. Though you compliment God by saying with
   the church service, "We are miserable sinners," you do not mean it at
   all; you mean that if you have sinned it has been your misfortune, and
   you are to be pitied rather than blamed. In so saving or feeling you
   prove that the truth is not in you, you are either deplorably ignorant
   as to what holiness is, or else you are wilfully uttering a falsehood;
   in either case the truth is not in you.

   A fourth sort of persons say the same thing, for albeit they confess
   that they have sinned, they think themselves now to be in a proper and
   fit condition to receive pardon. "We have prayed," say they; "we have
   repented, we have read the Scriptures, we have attended public worship,
   and are as right as we can be: we have tenderness and contrition, and
   every right and proper feeling; our wonder is that we do not receive
   salvation." It would be a very great wonder to me if you did, for it
   does not matter how you got there, you have virtually come to the same
   place as others of whom I have spoken, for you believe that there is
   nothing about you which can operate against your salvation; you are
   ripe for mercy, and fit for pardon, and what is this but declaring that
   you are not in a sinful state? All things are ready with you, and you
   half insinuate that God is not ready: this is casting the blame of your
   unbelief upon God and disowning it yourself. According to your ideas
   you are a poor innocent whom God delays to bless; you are willing and
   earnest enough, and yet he passes you by;—do you really believe this?
   Then let me tell you that if any man dreams that he has a fitness or
   preparation for divine grace he knows not what he speaks upon, for in
   the very nature of things the only fitness for grace is the need of it.
   The idea of fitness is only another form of the vain notion of merit,
   and it cannot find an inch of foothold in the gospel. True penitents
   can see nothing in themselves to commend them to mercy, and therefore
   they cast themselves upon undeserved favor, feeling both unworthy and
   unfit, but hoping to receive forgiveness freely.

   Whatever shape our denial of our sinful nature and state may take,
   please remember that that denial is a mere say, and nothing more,—"If
   we say we have no sin." You know how little value we attach to evidence
   of the nature of "I say," and "they say." There may be no truth
   whatever in such evidence, and in the present case there is nothing
   whatever to warrant the proud saying—"We have no sin." There will come
   a day when the righteous will have no sin, as a matter of fact; but
   now, whether saint or sinner, if you say "I have no sin," you say it,
   and that is all. The words sound very prettily, but there is no fact to
   correspond with them.

   Moreover, the idea of having no sin is a delusion; you are altogether
   deceived if you say so; the truth is not in you, and you have not seen
   things in the true light; you must have shut your eyes to the high
   requirements of the law, you must be a stranger to your own heart, you
   must be blind to your own conduct every day, and you must have
   forgotten to search your thoughts and to weigh your motives, or you
   would have detected the presence of sin. He who cannot find water in
   the sea is not more foolish than the man who cannot perceive sin in his
   members. As the salt flavours every drop of the Atlantic, so does sin
   affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly
   there, that if you cannot detect it you are deceived.

   This self-deceit has taken you a good deal of persuading and ingenious
   trickery. To deceive another requires a measure of cunning, but to
   deceive yourself needs far more. Our deceitful heart reveals an almost
   Satanic shrewdness in self-deception, it readily enough makes the worse
   appear the better reason, and it states a lie so that it wears the
   fashion of truth. If you say you have no sin you have achieved a
   fearful success, you have put out your own eyes, and perverted your own
   reason! You have fed upon falsehood till it has entered into your very
   being, and rendered you incapable of truth. I know you claim to be very
   sincere in your belief of your own rightness, and it would be very hard
   to persuade you out of your fond notions; tent this is all the worse,
   for so much the more completely have you deceived yourself. Now that
   you call darkness light, and boast that your blindness is true sight,
   we mourn over you as all but hopeless; and we fear lest the Lord should
   leave you to perish, because you cling so fast to a lie.

   In how many ways men manage to deceive themselves! They can do it by
   irreligion and by religion too; by outrageous sin and by boastful
   sanctity. They can mislead themselves by precious hymns,—which rightly
   understood speak truth, but wrongly turned speak desperate falsehoods,
   by dwelling upon the work of the Spirit of God,—which rightly taken is
   greatly for our consolation, but taken after the Pharisaic manner may
   itself be misconstrued and made to furnish wind for the bubble of vain
   glory. O friends, it is not without effort that men pervert the best
   things into excuses for pride, yea, turn even their meat into poison.
   It is not an easy thing to get up the imposture of sinlessness, nor is
   it an easy matter to keep the cheat from collapsing. The baseless
   fabric must be deftly put together, and it will need much propping up
   and buttressing; it is almost as hard to seem to be as to be, perhaps I
   might say it is harder. Pity that men should be at such pains to make
   fools of themselves.

   Let it be remembered, however, that while the man who has deceiver!
   himself says, "I have no sin," he has not deceived the Lord. God sees
   sin in us if we do not. The ostrich is reported to bury her head in the
   sand, and then to suppose herself safe, but she is the more speedily
   taken; and we may shut our eyes and say, "have no sin," but in so doing
   instead of securing eternal salvation we shall as practically give
   ourselves up to the destroyer as the bird of the desert is fabled to
   do. Let a man say, "I have no sin," and he has condemned himself out of
   his own mouth, for the text says of such a man the truth is not in him,
   and he who hath not truth in him is not saved. The absence of
   confession of present sin means the absence of the light of truth, and
   sincerity. All sorts of people God saves, however black their sins, but
   the man of a false spirit, the Pharisaic washer of the outside of the
   cup, while the inside is foul, is the last person who is likely to be
   saved. A main point in conversion consists in a man's being honest, for
   it is the honest and good ground which receives the seed. If you preach
   the gospel among the roughest and most profane of men, there is more
   hope of success among them than among hypocritical professors. Open
   enmity and opposition are better than that pretended friendship which
   begins and ends with the shallow compliments of empty formalism.
   Outward religiousness, unattended by heart piety, does a man serious
   injury, by rendering him superficial and unreal in all that he does in
   reference to God, and as God desires truth in the inward parts he will
   not parley with dishonest men. Pretend and profess and boast what ye
   will, but this know, that the living God abhors everything which is not
   according to the strictest truth.

   Now, all this may serve for our guidance when seeking the Lord.
   Awakened sinners often say, "If I could feel my heart was right towards
   God, then I could believe that he would look upon me in mercy." How
   wrong is this! If you did feel that all was right, it would be an
   untruthful feeling, for by nature all is wrong. "Oh, sir," say you, "if
   I could but feel that now at last I am as I ought to be before God, as
   tender and as penitent as he would have me to be, then I could have
   hope." No, but my dear friend, such a feeling would not be according to
   truth, for no man is as tender and as penitent as he ought to be; and
   if you felt you were, you would be feeling a falsehood, and so the
   truth would not be in you. I do not want you to feel that you are what
   you ought to be: I pray that you may own that you are not what you
   ought to be; I would have you feel unrest, and absence of anything like
   satisfaction, for such feelings will be according to the truth. I
   beseech you never claim to experience feelings which you do not feel,
   nor make hypocritical confessions of sin which you have never
   committed, nor pretend to a repentance which is not in you, for the
   Lord hates all shams, and will only deal with you according to truth.
   If you are conscious of impenitence, go to the Lord and tell him you
   have a hard heart, which will not feel either the terrors of his law or
   the meltings of his love: in fine, go to him just as you are, and
   confess what you are, and ask him to deal with you in Christ Jesus as
   he sees you to be. That is the only way, and the plan of pretending
   that we are now free from sin will not work and bring us blessing; for
   "we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

   The second course which is open to us is the one which I trust the
   divine Spirit may lead us to follow, to lay bare our case before God
   exactly as it stands. "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just
   to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity." Please to
   observe that John does not say, "If we confess our sin." He had been
   speaking of that in the eighth verse, but here he uses the plural, to
   include both sin in its essence and in its actual development in our
   life. We are to confess both the inward sin and the outward fruit of
   it. We must say, "Lord, I own with shame that as my nature is corrupt
   such has my life been; I am a sinner both by nature and by practice."
   Make the confession of the two things, of the cause and the effect, of
   the original depravity—the foul source, and then of the actual sin
   which is the polluted stream. And if you say, "How am I to confess it?"
   I would say this—To confess sin does not mean merely on some one
   occasion to repeat a catalogue of sins before God in private, nor at
   certain set seasons to rehearse a list of our faults, but it means a
   life-long acknowledgment of our sin. We must take our places as then
   who have sinned, and never attempt to occupy the position of innocent
   beings. We are to look towards God as a man ought to look who has
   transgressed. Do you understand me? The Pharisee took up the posture
   and spirit of a man who had no sin in him and said, "God, I thank
   thee." He was not confessing sin, but claiming righteousness, and he
   was not accepted because he was out of the light, that is to say, he
   was not speaking and feeling according to truth. But the republican,
   though he said little, and made no confession of sin in detail, yet by
   his posture, by his smiting on his breast, by his not daring to look
   up, by the sigh which he heaved, was virtually confessing sin. When a
   man prayerfully begs that he may feel the power of the blood of Jesus,
   he is confessing sin, for is not the blood of Jesus needful because of
   our sin? The daily exercise of faith in Jesus Christ is a confession of
   sin, for nobody would need to believe in a Savior unless he had sin.
   Baptism is a confession of sin,—who needs to be buried with Christ if
   he be alive by a righteousness of his own? To come to the communion
   table, and remember there the atoning sacrifice, is a confession of
   sin; for we should need no remembrance of our blessed Substitute if we
   were not sinners. Confession of sin is best carried out when we deal
   with God as those who have offended him, not as those who feel that
   they are innocent. We are to act before the Lord as those who know that
   sin is in them. And how ought such to behave? They will walk with God
   very humbly, and watchfully, jealous lest inbred corruption should get
   the mastery of them. Such persons will daily cry to the strong for
   strength, and what is prayer for strength but a confession of weakness
   caused by sin? What is watchfulness but a confession that our nature
   still needs holding in check. So ought we to watch as those who feel
   that the battle is not fought, and therefore we cannot lay down our
   Armour and our sword. We should so live as those who know that the race
   is not run, and therefore they press forward. We ought to be
   prayerfully dependent upon God, as those who know that if they were
   left by divine grace they would go back unto perdition.

   When a sinner feels he has no natural fitness for receiving the grace
   of God; when a broken spirit cries, "Oh, what a wretch I am! Not only
   my past sin but my present feelings disqualify me for the love of God;
   seem to be made of hell-hardened steel," he is confessing that sin is
   in him. Methinks I hear him sighing,

   "The rooks can rend; the earth can quake;
   The seas can roar; the mountains shake:
   Of feeling all things show some sign,
   But this unfeeling heart of mine!
   "To hear the sorrow thou hast felt,
   Dear Lord, an adamant would melt:
   But I can read each moving line
   And nothing move this heart of mine!
   "Thy judgments, too, unmoved I hear,
   Amazing thought! which devils fear:
   Goodness and wrath in vain combine
   To stir this stupid heart of mine."

   Now, this piteous outcry because all is wrong within is virtually a
   confession of sin, and a truthful one too, for all is wrong. If you
   feel you are desperately bad, remember you are worse than you think you
   are. Your case is in itself desperate, hopeless, damnable! If you feel
   that you are lost, you do not feel too strongly, you are in the true
   light where God will meet with you. The Lord will not consent to parley
   with you on the ground that you are not much of a sinner, and that
   after all your sin is not a great evil. No, he will meet you where the
   truth is and nowhere else; when you confess that you are unworthy of
   his pity, you are owning the truth, and when you feel guilty, you feel
   what is really fact; on this footing of truth, sad truth though it be,
   the Lord will meet with you through the atoning blood. It is in your
   vileness that sovereign grace o'er sin abounding will come to you and
   cleanse you, and therefore the sooner you come to the honest truth the
   better for you, for the sootier will you obtain joy and peace through
   believing in Christ. The text means just this—Treat God truthfully, and
   he will treat you truthfully. Make no pretensions before God, but lay
   bare your soul, let him see it as it is, and then he will be faithful
   and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all
   unrighteousness. Mark the beauty of that expression; God will deal with
   you in faithfulness. His nature is mercy, and you naturally expect that
   if you confess your sin to a merciful God, he will deal mercifully with
   you and be faithful to his nature; and he will be so. But he has also
   given a promise that if the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
   man his thoughts and turn unto the Lord, he will have mercy upon kiln;
   depend upon it he will be faithful to his promise. The blood of Jesus
   Christ has made a full atonement, and God will be faithful to that
   atonement. He will deal with you on the grounds of the covenant of
   grace, of which the sacrifice of Jesus is the seal, and therein also he
   will be true to you.

   What a blessing it is that the Lord will be faithful and just to you in
   the cleansing of you from all the sinfulness of your nature. I pray you
   deal honestly with God and say to him, "Cleanse thou me from secret
   faults; thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden
   parts thou wilt make me to know wisdom, purge me, therefore, O Lord,
   and I shall be clean." Suppose you go to a surgeon because you have
   some deadly polypus or cancer growing upon you: you want to have it
   removed, and you know there are a great many physicians who will
   profess to cure such things, but in reality only give temporary ease.
   From all these you keep clear. You are well aware that if only a little
   root of the growth should be left it will grow again. So you say
   outright to the surgeon, "Sir, there is my disease; I will tell you all
   the symptoms of it: I only ask to have a thorough cure, cost me what it
   may in money or pain. I make no reserve, do just whatever you is best
   in the case, but make clean work of it. If you have the knife in your
   hand, do not spare it out of pity for my pain, but be just with me, cut
   out the disease, roots and all, so that it may be a complete cure."
   Even in the same manner, go to the Lord, and say, "Lord, there is my
   sin, I confess it all; do not suffer me to have any peace unless it is
   true peace, do not let me have any comfort unless I get it from Christ;
   and if there must be more conviction of sin and more alarm of
   conscience, if there must be deeper gashes and sterner cuts into my
   soul, Lord, do not spare me; be pleased to purge me from the secret
   depravity of my nature, and make me pare. Thy holiness is what I crave
   after, and I cannot be satisfied till thou make me holy, even as thou
   art holy." This is the way to plead with God, and the only way. Confess
   the sin, and then he will be faithful and just to give you the double
   cure, namely, first, the forgiveness, and next, the cleansing from all
   unrighteousness.

   Now, there are still some who say, "Well, yes, I think I could go to
   God in that way, sir, but oh, my past sins prevent me. I could tell him
   I am sinful, I could ask him to renew my nature, I could lay myself
   bare before him, but oh, my past sins; all might yet be well if I had
   not so sinned? Ah, my brethren, that brings out a third course which
   lies before you, which I hope you will not follow, namely, to deny
   actual sin. The very thing which I bless God you cannot do, would seal
   your doom, for it would lead you to make God a liar, and so his word
   could not abide in you. If you felt able to say, "I have not singed,"
   in proportion as you said and felt that you would put yourself out of
   the light in which God alone can walk with you. Some get to that point
   by saying that what they did was not Really sin to any extent; or, at
   any rate, if it would have been sin in other people, it was no sin in
   them; considering their strong passions, they wonder they were not
   worse, and considering the circumstances of their case, they do not see
   how they could have done otherwise: in a word, they have not sinned at
   all. There is another class who say, "All these commandments have I
   kept from my youth up; what lack I yet?" This self-justification
   clearly makes God a liar. For what means the cross of Calvary, what
   mean those streams of blood, what mean those agonies to the death? God
   has acted out a gigantic lie if we have no sin, for he has provided a
   propitiation for a thing which does not exist. O hideous profanity! O
   vile blasphemy! thus to insinuate that the great sacrifice of love
   divine was an acted falsehood. Brethren, we have sinned, sinned far
   beyond anything we know, and the only wise and true way is to confess
   it before God.

   I find the first part of my subject has occupied much more time than I
   thought, and therefore I will be exceedingly brief upon the second
   head.

   II. LET US NOW CONSIDER HOW WE CAN FOLLOW THIS COURSE, which is the
   only right and acceptable one, namely, to confess our sin. I suppose I
   am speaking to those who are in earnest about their salvation. O my
   friends, lay bare your consciences before the law of God. Go and open
   the twentieth chapter of Exodus and read the ten commands; think of
   their spirituality,—remember how he that looketh on a woman to lust
   after her committeth adultery with her in his heart; and let the law
   with all its blaze of light flash flame into your soul. Do not shirk
   the facts or shrink from knowing their full force, but feel the power
   of the condemning law. Then recollect your individual sins; recall them
   one by one: those greater sins, those huge blots upon your character,
   do not try to forget them. If you have forgotten them, raise them from
   the grave and think them over, and feel them as your own sins. Do not
   lay them at the door of anyone else. Do not look at circumstances in
   order to find an alleviation for your guilt, but set them in the light
   of God's countenance. Remember, the sins of your holy things, your
   Sabbath sins, your sanctuary sins, your sins against the Bible, your
   sins against prayer, your sins against the love of the Father, the
   blood of Christ, and the strivings of the Spirit. Oh, how many are
   these! Think of your sins of omission, your failures in duty, your
   shortcomings in spirit. Repent of what you have done, and what you have
   not done. How both these forms of iniquity may stagger and humble you!
   Think of your sins of heart. How cold has that heart been towards your
   Savior! Your sins of thought, how wrongly your mind has often judged;
   your sins of imagination, what filthy creatures your imagination has
   portrayed in lively colors on the wall. Think of all the sins of your
   desires and delights, and hopes and fears. What faculty is there that
   has not been defined? "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart
   faint." We are bound to confess the aggravations of our sin, how we
   sinned against light and against knowledge, against conscience, and
   against divine love, against the monitions of the Holy Spirit, against
   tender warnings which came from his gentle voice. Oh, when some of us
   err, every ounce of our sin has as much evil in it as a ton of other
   men's sins. Let us take care that we confess all. And then let us try
   to see the heinousness of all sin as an offense against a kind, good,
   loving God, a sin against a perfect law, intended for our good. Let us
   remember our wanton sins, our mischievous sins, sins which hurt
   ourselves, foolish sins, despicable sins, into which our spirits have
   descended, even though we have known the nobility of holiness, and had
   some fellowship with God. I beseech you, dear hearer, try to fix your
   eye on Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice, and live as a believer
   in him, and this will make you live as a constant confessor of sin; for
   when the wounds of Jesus speak peace they also preach penitence, and
   when the atonement gives us rest it also makes us meek and lowly in
   heart under a sense of abiding faultiness. As you see what Jesus
   suffered you will see how you sinned, and as you observe the glory of
   his merit you will see the horror of your own demerit. Thus may you
   daily, as long as ever you live, confess sin and find cleansing from
   all unrighteousness.

   III. LET US CONSIDER WHY WE SHOULD CONFESS SIN. I shall say first, do
   so because it is right. Religious lie-telling is a dreadful thing, and
   there is plenty of it; but if I could be saved by masking my condition
   before God, I would not like to be saved in that way. The man whose
   heart is in the light loves to do the right. It would he a great
   dishonor to God to suppose it possible that he will save us in any
   manner which would not accord with truth. It is right that we should
   come before God as we are, and plead for mercy through Jesus Christ,
   and therefore let us do it.

   Moreover, upon some of us it is imperative, because we cannot do
   anything else. There may possibly be a person here who could say, "I
   have no sin"; but I could not. Why, if I were to claim innocence either
   of nature or practice the words would choke me. Say I have no sin! I
   should expect to turn black in the face and fall down dead, it would be
   so gross a falsehood. To say I have no sin, why there is no one part of
   my whole nature but what would protest against such an assertion! I am
   shut up to come to God as a sinner, I cannot help it; and I would to
   God that every one in this place felt shut up to it too, for it is the
   intent and design of the law to shut the sinner up in order that he may
   be compelled to accept salvation on free grace terms through Jesus
   Christ. You can never catch a fish in a net while there is one mesh
   through which he can escape, but when all around the meshes are so
   small that the fish Cannot get out, then we have taken him. When you
   are such a sinner that you cannot plead that you have no sin, nor yet
   that you have not sinned, but are quite shut up to be saved by grace,
   then you are in Christ's net, and he will lift you out, and the Fisher
   of Men shall have cause to rejoice.

   Besides, beloved friends, suppose we have tried to appear before God
   what we are not, God has not been deceived, for he is not mocked. We
   may get up a very respectable character to please ourselves, and give
   it a few touches every now and then, just to set it off and improve it,
   and we may find a number of people to join with us to form a mutual
   admiration society, and our friends may cheerfully hear us talk about
   what wonderful beings we are, provided we will sit and hear them
   glorify themselves in return: but neither with one witness nor a
   thousand witnesses will our boasts be one jot more true, or likely to
   be believed in heaven. God is not misled, he looks at all boasters of
   their own purity, and says, "When you say you have no sin you make me a
   liar, and my word is not in you, for if the truth were in you, you
   would know that sin is in you; and if my word were in you, you would
   also confess that you have sinned, and humble yourselves before me."

   I exhort thee, sinner, to give up all thine attempts to feel right and
   to be right before coming to God in Christ Jesus. Have you not made a
   great failure of it already? You thought you were getting right for
   Christ, but just then you fell in the worst possible way. You have been
   trying to repair your old clothes and make yourself respectable before
   coming to Christ; but every time you have touched the garment the rent
   has grown worse. Give up all attempting to prepare for grace, and come
   to Jesus Christ just as you are. When you have been trying to make
   yourself feel that you are right and proper for Christ, you have been
   sinning against God, for you have been flying in the teeth of his
   witness, which is, that Jesus Christ came, not to save the righteous,
   but sinners. In proportion as you try to make yourself out to be
   righteous you have denied the testimony of God. May the Spirit of God
   help you to come to your heavenly Father on the ground of truth,
   confessing that you have sinned—that is the truth for you; and on the
   ground that Christ died for sinners—that is the truth on God's side
   which enables him to smile on sinners.

   Now, what is your state this morning? Cold as an iceberg as to divine
   things? Come and tell the Lord you are an iceberg, and Isle him to thaw
   you. What is your state—hard as a rock, or like a nether millstone? Is
   there no feeling? Come and tell the Lord that you do not feel. Oh, is
   there no trace of any good feeling in you? Come to my Lord without a
   trace of feeling, and tell him just what you are; and oh, if you can
   dare over the head of all your sin and sinfulness to say,
   "Nevertheless, I rest myself on the blood that cleanses from all sin
   and I beseech thee, O Lord, seeing I confess my sin, to cleanse me from
   all unrighteousness," you will find him faithful and just to do it.
   Come as the citizens of Calais did to King Edward III when the city was
   captured; come with ropes about your neck, owning that if sentence be
   executed upon you, you deserve it; come at once in all your filthiness
   and dishabille; come with no jewels in your ears, with no ornaments
   upon your necks, and with no recommendation whatever; come as sinners
   by nature, and as sinners by practice. Plead nothing that looks like
   goodness, but come in your sin. Do not try to put one touch of paint on
   those cheeks of yours, nor imitate the flush of health upon that
   consumptive countenance. Come honestly as you are, and say "Lord, look
   at me as I am, a worse sinner than even I think myself to be, and then
   show the infinity of thy free grace, and the power of Jesus' dying love
   in saving me, even me." Ah, my brethren, you will not be long without
   peace if you draw nigh to God in that fashion. Fling away any
   preparations, fitnesses, commendations, and hopefulnesses, and take my
   Lord Jesus, as empty-handed sinners take him. Meet him just as he is,
   and just as you are. God will deal with you truthfully. He will never
   cast away a sinner that comes to him according to truth. For my own
   part, I mean to come to him always as a sinner. I know I am saved, but
   I never hope to get one inch beyond that verse,—"The blood of Jesus
   Christ his Son cleanseth me from all sin," for only so can I walk in
   the light as he is in the light.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—1 JOHN 1:1-11.

   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"—176, 51, 551.
     __________________________________________________________________

Abraham's Prompt Obedience to the Call of God

   (No. 1242)

   Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, June 27th, 1875, by

   C.H. SPURGEON,

   At the [7]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

   "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a plane which he
   should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not
   knowing whither he went."— Hebrews 11:8.

   ONE IS STRUCK with the practical character of this verse. Abraham was
   called, and he obeyed. There is no hint of hesitation, parleying, or
   delay; when he was called to go out, he went out. Would to God
   that—such conduct were usual, yea, universal; for with many of our
   fellow-men, and I fear with some now present, the call alone is not
   enough to produce obedience. "Many are called, but few are chosen." The
   Lord's complaint is "I called and ye refused." Such calls come again
   and again to many, but they turn a deaf ear to them; they are hearers
   only, and not doers of the word: and, worse still, some are of the same
   generation as that which Zechariah spake of when he said, "They pulled
   away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear."
   Even among the most attentive hearers how many there are to whom the
   word comes with small practical result in actual obedience. Here we are
   in midsummer again, and yet Felix has not found his convenient season.
   It was about midwinter when he said he should find one, but the chosen
   day has not arrived. The mother of Sisera thought him long in coming,
   but what shall we say of this laggard season? We can see that the
   procrastinator halts, but it were hard to guess how long he will do so.
   Like the countryman who waited to cross the river when all the water
   had gone by, he waits till all difficulties are removed, and he is not
   one whit nearer that imaginary period than he was years ago. Meanwhile,
   the delayer's case waxes worse and worse, and, if there were
   difficulties before, they are now far more numerous and severe. The man
   who waits until he shall find it more easy to bear the yoke of
   obedience, is like the woodman who found his faggot too heavy for his
   idle shoulder, and, placing, it upon the ground, gathered more wood and
   added to the bundle, then tried it, but finding it still an unpleasant
   load, repeated the experiment of heaping on more, in the vain hope that
   by-and-by it might be of a shape more suitable for his shoulder. How
   foolish to go on adding, sin to sin, increasing the hardness of the
   heart, increasing the distance between the soul and Christ, and all the
   while fondly dreaming of some enchanted hour in which it will be more
   easy to yield to the divine call, and part with sin. Is it always going
   to be so? There are a few weeks and then cometh harvest, will another
   harvest leave you where you are, and will you again have to say, "The
   harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved"? Shall
   God's longsuffering mercy only afford you opportunities for multiplying
   transgressions. Will ye always resist his Spirit? Always put him off
   with promises to be redeemed to-morrow? For ever and for ever shall the
   tenderness and mercy of God be thus despised? Our prayer is that God of
   his grace may give you to imitate the example of Abraham, who, when he
   was called, obeyed at once.

   The sad point about the refusals to obey the call of the gospel is that
   men are losing a golden opportunity, an opportunity for being numbered
   amongst the choice spirits of the world, amongst those who shall be
   blessed among men and women. Abraham had an opportunity, and he had
   grace to grasp it, and at this day there is not on the beadroll of our
   race a nobler name than that of "the father of the faithful." He
   obtained a supreme grandeur of rank among the truly great and good: far
   higher is he in the esteem of the right-minded than the conqueror
   blood-red from battle, or the emperor robed in purple. He was an
   imperial man, head and shoulders above his fellows. His heart was in
   heaven, the light of God bathed his forehead, and his soul was filled
   with divine influences, so that he saw the day of the Lord Jesus and
   was glad. He was blessed of the Lord that made heaven and earth, and
   was made a blessing to all nations. Some of you will never gain such
   honor, you will live and die ignoble, because you trifle with Supreme
   calls, and yet, did you believe in God, did you but live by faith,
   there would be before you also a course of immortal honor, which would
   lead you to eternal glory. Instead thereof, however, choosing the way
   of unbelief, and neglect, and delay, you will, I fear, one day awake to
   shame and to everlasting contempt, and know, to your eternal confusion,
   how bright a crown you have lost. I am in hopes that there are some
   among you who would not be losers of the crown of life; who desire, in
   fact, above all things, to obtain the prize of the high calling of God
   in Christ Jesus, and to them I shall speak, and while I spear; may the
   Holy Spirit cause every word to fall with power.

   To help them, we shall consider, first, what was Abraham's special
   experience which led to his being what he became? and, secondly, what
   was there peculiar in Abraham's conduct? and then, thirdly, what was
   the result of that conduct?

   I. WHAT WAS ABRAHAM'S SPECIAL EXPERIENCE, which led to his becoming so
   remarkable a saint? The secret lies in three things: he had a call, he
   obeyed it, and he obeyed it because he had faith.

   First, then, he had a call. Now that call came we are not told; whether
   it reached him through a dream, or by an audible voice from heaven, or
   by some unmentioned prophet, we cannot tell. Most probably he heard a
   voice from heaven speaking audibly to him and saying, "Get thee out
   from thy kindred and from thy father's house." He, too, have had many
   calls, but perhaps we have said, "If I heard a voice speaking from the
   sky I would obey it," but the form in which your call has come has been
   better than that, for Peter in his second epistle tells us that he
   himself heard a voice out of the excellent glory when he was with our
   Lord in the holy mount, but he adds, "We have also a more sure word of
   prophecy" as if the testimony which is written, the light that shineth
   in a dark place, which beams forth from the word of God, was more sure
   than even the voice which he heard from heaven. I will show you that it
   is so; for, if I should hear a voice, how am I to know that it is
   divine? Might it not, even if it were divine, be suggested to me for
   many reasons that I was mistaken, that it was most unlikely that God
   should speak to a man at all, and more unlikely still that he should
   speak to me? Might not a hundred difficulties and doubts be suggested
   to lead me to question whether God had spoken to me at all? But the
   most of you believe the Bible to be inspired by the Spirit of God, and
   to be the voice of God. Now, in this book you have the call—"Come ye
   out from among them, be ye separate, touch not the unclean thing; and I
   will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." Do
   not say that you would accept that call if it were spoken with a voice
   rather than written; you know that it is not so in daily life. If a man
   receives a written letter from his father or a friend, does he attach
   less importance to it than he would have done to a spoken
   communication? By no means. I reckon that many of you in business are
   quite content to get written orders for goods, and when you get them
   you do not require a purchaser to ask you in person, you would just as
   soon that he should not; in fact, you commonly say that you like to
   have it in black and white. Is it not so? Well, then, you have your
   wish, here is the call in black and white; and I do but speak according
   to common sense when I say that if the Lord's call to you be written in
   the Bible, and it certainly is, you do not speak truth when you say, "I
   would listen to it if it were spoken, but I cannot listen to it because
   it is written." The call as given by the book of inspiration ought to
   have over your minds a masterly power, and if your hearts were right
   before God the word spoken in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost would be
   at once obeyed.

   Moreover, my undecided hearers, you have had other calls beside those
   from the Book. There have been calls through the living ministry, when
   the minister has spoken as pointedly to you as if he were a prophet,
   and you have known that the Lord spake by him, for he has depicted your
   circumstances, described your condition, and the word has come to you,
   and you have with astonishment owned that it found you out. The message
   has also been spoken to you by a mother's tender love and by a father's
   earnest advice. You have had the call too in the form of sickness and
   sore trouble. In the silence of the night, when you could not sleep,
   your conscience has demanded to be heard, the inward strivings of the
   Holy Ghost have been with you, and loud have been the knocks at your
   door. Who among us has not known the like? But, alas, the Lord has
   called and has been refused, he has stretched out his hands and has not
   been regarded. Is it not so with many of you? You have not been like
   Samuel who said, "Here am I, for thou didst call me," but like the
   adder which shutteth her ear to the voice of the charmer. This is not
   to be done without incurring great guilt and involving the offender in
   heavy punishment.

   Abraham had a call, so have we, but here was the difference, Abraham
   obeyed. Well doth Paul say, "They have not all obeyed the gospel": for
   to many the call comes as a common call, and the common call falls on a
   sealed ear, but to Abraham and to those who by grace have become the
   children of faithful Abraham, to whom are the blessings of grace, and
   with whom God has entered into league and covenant, to touch it comes
   as a special call, a call attended with a sacred power which subdues
   their wills and secures their obedience. Abraham was prepared for
   instant obedience to any command from God; his journey was appointed,
   and he went. He was bidden to leave his country, and he left it; to
   leave his friends, and he left them all. Gathering together such
   substance as he had he exiled himself that he might be a sojourner with
   his God, and took a journey in an age when travelling was infinitely
   more laborious than now. He knew not the road that he had to take, nor
   the place to which his journey would conduct him: it was enough for him
   that the Lord had given him the summons. Like a good soldier, he obeyed
   his marching orders, asking no questions. Towards God a blind obedience
   is the truest wisdom, and Abraham felt so, and therefore followed the
   path that God marked out for him from day to day, feeling that
   sufficient for the day would be the guidance thereof. Thus Abraham
   obeyed! Alas, there are some here present, some too to whom we have
   preached now for years, who have not obeyed. Oh sirs, some of you do
   not require more knowledge, you need far more to put in practice what
   you know. Would you wonder if I should grow weary of telling some of
   you the way of salvation any longer? Do you not yourselves weary of
   persuading those who will not yield? So far as I have reason to fear
   that my task is hopeless it becomes a heavy one. Again, and again, and
   again have I explained the demands of the gospel, and described the
   blessings of it, and yet I see its demands neglected and its blessings
   refused. Ah sirs, there will be an end to this ere long, one way or the
   other, which shall it be? O that you were wise and would yield
   obedience to the truth! The gospel has about it a divine authority, and
   is not to be trilled with. Notwithstanding that grace is its main
   characteristic it has all the authority of a command. Do are not read
   of those who "stumbled at the word, being disobedient"; surely there
   must be a command and a duty, or else there could not be disobedience.
   It is awful work when through disobedience to the command of the gospel
   it becomes a savor of death unto death instead of life unto life, and
   instead of a corner-stone it becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of
   offense. Remember, upon whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to
   powder. Christ himself has said it, and so it must be. Stay lo of his
   infinite mercy give us the willing and the obedient mind that we may
   not pervert the gospel to our own destruction.

   But I reminded you that the main point concerning Abraham was this, he
   obeyed the call because he believed God. Faith was the secret reason of
   his conflict. We read of certain persons that "the word preached did
   not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it," and
   again we read that" some when they had heard did provoke." But in
   Abraham's case there was neither misbelief nor provocation, he believed
   God with a childlike faith. His faith, I suppose, lay in the following
   items:—When the Lord spoke he believed that it was the living God who
   addressed him. Believing that God spoke, he judged him worthy of his
   earnest heed; and he felt that it was imperative union him to do as he
   was bidden. This settled, he desired nothing more to influence his
   course: he felt that the will of God must be right, and that his
   highest wisdom was to yield to it. Though he did not know where he was
   to go, he was certain that his God knew, and though he could hardly
   comprehend the reward promised to him, he was sure that the bounteous
   God never mocked his servants with deceitful gifts. He did not know the
   land of Canaan, but he was sure if it was a country chosen by God as a
   peculiar gift to his called servant, it must be no ordinary land. He
   left all such matters with his heavenly Friend, being fully persuaded
   that what he had promised he was able also to perform. What a mighty
   sway faith has over a man, and how greatly it strengthens him. Faith
   was to the patriarch his authority for starting upon his strange
   journey, an authority which enabled him to defy alike the worldly
   wisdom which advises, and the worldly folly which scoffs. Perhaps they
   said to him, "Why wilt thou leave thy kinsfolk, Abraham?" but he
   replied, "God bids me." That was for him a sufficient warrant; he
   wanted no further argument. This also became to him the guide of his
   steps. If any said, "But, strange old man, how canst thou journey when
   thou knowest not the way?" He replied, "I go whither the Lord bids me.
   Faith found in God, chart, compass, and pole star, all in one. The word
   of the Lord also became the nourishment for his journey. If any said,
   "How wilt thou be supplied, Abraham, in those wild lands, where wilt
   thou find thy daily bread?" he replied, "God bids me go: it is not
   possible that he should desert me. He can spread a table in the
   wilderness, or make me lice upon the word which cometh out of his
   mouth, if bread should fail." Probably these suggestions of trial may
   never have occurred to Abraham, but if they did, his faith swept them
   aside from his path as so many cobwebs. Perhaps some even dared to say,
   "But whither goest thou? There is no such country, it is an
   enthusiast's dream,—a land which floweth with milk and honey, where
   wilt thou find it? O, greybeard, thou art in thy dotage, seventy years
   and five have bewildered thee." But he replied, "I shall find it, for
   the Lord has given it to me and leads me to it." He believed God, and
   took firm hold, and therefore he endured as seeing him that is
   invisible.

   See, then, dear friends, what we must have if we are to be numbered
   with the seed of Abraham,—we must have faith in God and a consequent
   obedience to his commands. Have we obtained these gifts of the Spirit?
   I hope that many of us have the living faith which Folks by love, and
   if so we shall rejoice in the will of the Lord, let it be what it may;
   if we know anything to be right we shall delight to do it but as for
   doubtful or sinful deeds we renounce them. For us henceforth our leader
   is the Lord alone. But is it so with all of you? Let the personal
   question go round and cause great searching of heart, for I fear that
   in many instances precious faith is absent. Many have heard, but they
   have not believed; the sound of the gospel has entered into their ears,
   but its inner sense and sacred power have not been felt in their
   hearts. Remember that "without faith it is impossible to please God,"
   so that you are displeasing to the Lord. How long shall it be so? How
   long shall unbelief lodge within you and grieve the Holy Spirit? May
   the Lord convince you, yea, at this moment, may be lead you to
   decision, and enable you henceforth to live by faith. It may be now or
   never with you. God grant it may be now!

   II. This brings me to the second part of our subject, WHAT WAS THERE
   PECULIAR IN ABRAHAM'S CONDUCT? for whatever there was essential in his
   conduct there must be the same in us, if we are to be true children of
   the father of the faithful. The points of peculiarity in Abraham's case
   seem to me to have been five.

   The first was this, that he was willing to be separated from his
   kindred. It is a hard task to a man of loving soul to put long leagues
   of distance between himself and those he loves, and to become a
   banished man. Yet in order to salvation, brethren, we must be separated
   from this untoward generation. Not that we have to take our journey
   into a far country, or to forsake our kindred—perhaps it would be an
   easier task to walk with God if we could do so—but our calling is to be
   separate from sinners, and yet to live among them: to be a stranger and
   a pilgrim in their cities and homes. We must be separate in character
   from those with whom we may be called to grind at the same mill, or
   sleep in the same bed; and this I warrant you is by no means an easier
   task than that which fell to the patriarch's lot. If believers could
   form a secluded settlement where no tempters could intrude, they would
   perhaps find the separated life far more easy, though I am not very
   sure about it, for all experiments in that direction have golden down.
   There is, however, for us no "garden walled around," no "island of
   saints," no Utopia; we sojourn among those whose ungodly lives cause us
   frequent grief, and the Lord Jesus meant it to be so, for be said,
   "Behold I send you forth as sheep among wolves." Come, now, my hearer,
   are you willing to be one of the separated? I mean this—Dare you begin
   to think for yourself? You have let your grandmother's religion come to
   you with the old arm chair and the antique china, as heirlooms of the
   family, and you go to a certain place of worship because your family
   have always attended there. You have a sort of hereditary religion in
   the same way as you have a display of family plate; pretty battered it
   is, no doubt, and rather light in weight by this time, but still you
   cling to it. Now, young man, dare you think for yourself? Or do you put
   out your thinking to be done for you, like your washing? I believe it
   to be one of the essentials of a Christian man, that he should have the
   courage to use his own mental faculties, and search the Bible for
   himself; for God has not committed our religious life to the guidance
   of the brain in our neighbour's head, but he has bestowed on each of us
   a conscience, and an understanding which he expects us to use. Do your
   own thinking, my friend, on such a business as this. Now, if the grace
   of God helps you rightly to think for yourself, you will judge very
   differently from your ungodly friends; your views and theirs will
   differ, your motives will differ, the objects of your pursuit will
   differ. There are some things which are quite customary with them which
   you will not endure. You will soon become a speckled bird among them.
   The Jews in all time have been very different from all other nations,
   and although other races have become permanently united, the Jewish
   people have always been a family by themselves. Though now residing in
   the midst of all nations, it is still true "the people shall dwell
   alone, they shall not be reckoned among the nations." In all the cities
   of Europe there are reattains of the "Jews' quarter," and we in London
   had our "Old Jewry," the Jews being evermore a peculiar people. We
   Christians are to be equally distinct, not in meats, and drinks, and
   garments, and holy days, but as to spirituality of mind and holiness of
   life. We are to be strangers and foreigners in the land wherein we
   sojourn. For we are not resident traders in this Vanity Fair, we pass
   through it because it lies in our way home, but we are ill at ease in
   it. In no tent of all the fair can we rest. O traders in this hubbub of
   trifles, we have small esteem for your great bargains and tempting
   cheats; we are not buyers in the Roman row nor in the French row, we
   would give all that we have to leave your polluted streets, and be no
   more annoyed by Beelzebub, the lord of the fair. Our journey is towards
   the celestial city, and when the sons of earth cry to us, "What do ye
   buy?" we answer, "We buy the truth." O young man, can you take up in
   the warehouse the position of being a Christian though there is no
   other believer in the louse? Come, good woman, dare you serve the Lord,
   though husband and children ridicule you? Man of business, dare you do
   the right thing in business, and play the Christian, though around you
   the various methods of trading render it hard for you to be
   unflinchingly honest? This singularity is demanded of every believer in
   Jesus. You cannot be blessed with Abraham unless like him you come out,
   and stand forth as true men.

   "Dare to be a Daniel,
   Dare to stand alone;
   Dare to have a purpose true,
   Dare to make it known."

   May God grant to us grace to be Daniels, even if the lions' den should
   threaten us.

   A second peculiarity of Abraham's conduct is seen in the fact that he
   was ready for all the losses and risks that might be involved in
   obedience to the call of God. He was to leave his native country, as we
   have already said: to some of us that would be a hard task, and I doubt
   not it was such to him. The smoke out of my own chimney is better than
   the fire on another man's hearth. There is no place like home wherever
   we may wander. The home feeling was probably as shone in Abraham as in
   us, but he was never to have a home on earth any more, except that he
   was to realize what Moses afterwards sung, "Lord, thou hast been our
   dwelling-place in all generations." For him there was no rooftree and
   paternal estate, he owned no portion of the land in which he sojourned,
   and his sole alcove was a frail tent, which he removed from day to day
   as his flocks required fresh pasturage. He could say to his God, "I am
   a stranger and a sojourner with thee." He had to leave those whom he
   loved, for, though they accompanied him part of the way, they would not
   go further; if he followed the Lord fully he must go alone. The
   patriarch knew nothing of half measures, he went through with his
   obedience, and left all his kindred to go to Canaan, to which he had
   been summoned. Those who wished to stop at Halam might stop there.
   Canaan was his destination, and he could not stop short of it. No doubt
   he had many risks to encounter on his journey and when be entered the
   country. The Canaanite was still in the land, and the Canaanites were a
   fierce and cruel set of heathen, who would have utterly destroyed the
   wanderer if the Lord had not put a spell upon them, and said, "Touch
   not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." It was a country
   swarming with little tribes, who were at war continually. Abraham
   himself was, for Lot's sake, to gird on his sword, and go forth to
   fight, peace-lover as he was. Of all discomforts and dangers, loss of
   property, and parting with friends, Abraham made small account. God
   commanded, and Abraham went. Now, brethren, can you and I do the same?
   Oh, you who desire to be saved, I say, can you do this? Have you
   counted the cost and determined to pay it? You must not expect that you
   will wear silver slippers and walk on green rolled turf all the vary to
   heaven: the road was rough which your Lord traversed, and if you wall:
   with him yours will be rough too. Can ye bear for Jesus' sake all
   earthly loss? Can ye bear the scoff, the cold shoulder, the cutting
   jest, the innuendo, the sarcasm, the sneer? Could you go further, and
   bear loss of property and suffering in purse? Do not say that it may
   not occur, for many believers lose all by having to leave the ill
   pursuits by which they once earned their bread. You must in your
   intention give all up for Jesus, and in act you must give up all to
   Jesus. If he be yours, you must henceforth have all things in common
   with him; you must be joint heirs together, his yours and yours his;
   you may be well content to make joint stock, when you have so little
   and he has so much. Oh, can you stand to it, and give up all for him?
   Well, if you cannot, do not pretend to do it. Yet, except ye take up
   your cross, ye cannot be his disciples. Except you can give up
   everything for him, do not pretend to follow him. Listen to this. If
   you think heaven worth nothing, and Christ worth nothing, if you
   consider worldly gain to be everything, and comfort everything, and
   honor everything, if you could not die a martyr's death for Christ,
   your love to him is not worth much, and the Abraham spirit is not in
   you. May God enable us to take our places in the battle in the front of
   the foe, where the fight is most furious. May grace make us sing,—

   "Jesus, I my cross have taken,
   All to leave and follow thee,
   Destitute, despised, forsaken,
   Thou, from hence, my all shalt be."

   If that be said in truth, it is well, my brother; you bid fair to be in
   all things a partaker with faithful Abraham: you also shall find much
   blessing in the separated life.

   Thirdly, one great peculiarity in Abraham was that he waived the
   present for the future. He went out to go into a place which he should
   after receive for an inheritance. He left the inheritance he then had
   to receive one which was yet to come. This is not the way of the world.
   The proverb saith, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and
   especially in such a bush as Abraham saw before him. It did not seem
   very likely he would ever obtain that land; but still he let his bird
   in the hand go and took to the bird in the bush, being fully persuaded
   that he should have it in God's good time. Mr. Bunyan sets this forth
   in his picture of two children, Passion and Patience. Passion would
   have all his good things now, and he sat among his toys and joys, and
   laughed and rejoiced. Patience had to bear to see his brother Passion
   full of mirth, and to hear his scoffing; but then, as Master Bunyan
   beautifully says, Patience came in last for his portion, and it lasted
   for ever, for there is nothing after the last. So, then, if we are to
   have our heaven last it will last, and no cloud shall mar it, no
   calamity bring it to an end. He is the wise man who lets go the shadow
   to grasp the substance, even though he should have to wait twenty,
   thirty, or forty years for it. He is blessed who leaves earth's wind
   and bubble and feeds on more substantial meat. God grant us grace to
   live more for the future than we have been accustomed to do. Oh ye
   ungodly ones, you do not care about the future, for you have never
   realised death and judgment. You are afraid to look over the edge of
   this narrow life. As to death, nothing frightens you so much. As for
   hell, if you are warned to escape from it, instead of thanking the
   preacher for being honest enough to warn you of it, you straightway
   call him a "hell-fire" preacher, or give him some other ugly name.
   Alas, you little know how pained he is to speak to you on so terrible a
   subject! You little dream how true a lover of your soul he is, or he
   would not warn you of the wrath to come. Do you want to have flatterers
   about you? Such are to be had in plenty if you desire them. As for
   heaven, you seem to have no regard for it; at any rate you are not
   making your title to it sure or clear by caring about divine things. If
   you would have the birthright you must let the present mess of pottage
   go. The eternal future must come far before the fleeting trifles of
   to-day; you must let the things which are seen sink, and bid the
   "things not seen as yet" rise in all their matchless grandeur and
   reality before your eyes. You must give up chasing butterflies and
   shadows, and pursue things eternal. My soul immortal pines only for
   immortal joys. I leave my present lot to be appointed of the Lord as he
   wills, so long as he will shed his love abroad in my heart. We must be
   prepared for eternity, and for that purpose we should concentrate our
   faculties upon divine truth and personal religion, that we may be ready
   to meet our God. This, then, was the third excellence in Abraham's
   walk, that he waived present comfort for the sake of the future
   blessing.

   Fourthly, and this is the main point, Abraham committed himself to God
   by faith.

   From that day forward Abraham had nothing but his God for a portion,
   nothing but his God for a protector. No squadron of soldiers
   accompanied the good man's march, his safeguard lay in him who had
   said, "Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great
   reward." He had to trust the Lord for his daily bread and daily
   guidance, for he was to march on and not know half a mile before him.
   He was ignorant when to stop and when to journey on, except as the Lord
   God guided him hour by hour. I must not say that Abraham became a poor
   pensioner upon the daily provision of God, but I will use a better term
   and describe him as "a gentleman commoner upon the royal bounty of his
   heavenly King." His lot was to have nothing but to be heir of heaven
   and earth. Can you thus walk by faith? Has the grace of God brought you
   who have been hesitating to resolve henceforth to believe God and trust
   him? If you do you are saved, for faith is the deciding matter. To
   realize the existence of God and to trust in him, especially to trust
   in his mercy, through Jesus Christ, is the essential matter. As for the
   life and walk of faith, they are the most singular things in the world.
   I seem myself to have been climbing a series of mysterious staircases,
   light as air and yet as solid as granite. I cannot see a single step
   before me, and often there seems to the eye to be nothing whatsoever to
   form a foothold for the next step. I look down and wonder how I came
   where I am, but still I climb on, and he who has brought me so far
   supplies me with confidence for that which lies before me. High into
   things invisible the ethereal ladder has borne me, and onward and
   forward to glory its rounds will yet conduct me. What I have seen has
   often failed me, but what I have not seen, and yet have believed, has
   always held me stably. Have not you found it so, all ye children of
   God? Let us pray that the Lord may lead others to tread the same mystic
   ascent by beginning to-day the life of faith.

   The last speciality in Abraham's procedure was, what he did was done at
   once. There were no "ifs" and "ands" debatings, considerings, and
   delays. He needed no forcing and driving—

   "God drew him and he followed on,
   Charmed to confess the voice divine."

   At once, I say, he went. Promptness is one of the brightest
   excellencies in faith's actings. Delay spoils all. Some one asked
   Alexander to what he owed his conquests, and he said, "I have conquered
   because I never delayed." While the enemy were preparing he had begun
   the battle, and they were routed before they knew where they were.
   After that fashion faith overcomes temptation. She rims in the way of
   obedience, or rather she mounts on the wings of eagles, and so speeds
   on her way. With regard to the things of God our first thoughts are
   best: considerations of difficulty entangle us. Whenever you feel a
   prompting to do a good thing do not ask anybody whether you should do
   it or not; no one ever repents of doing good. Ask your friends
   afterwards rather than beforehand, for it is ill consulting with flesh
   and blood when duty is plain. If the Lord has given you substance, and
   you are prompted to be generous to the cause of God, do not count every
   sixpence over, and calculate what others would give; count it after you
   have given it, if it must be counted at all, but it would be better
   still not to let your left hand know what your right hand doeth. It
   cannot be wrong to do the right thing at once; nay, in matters of duty,
   every moment of delay is a sin. Thus we have Abraham before us; may the
   Holy Spirit make us like him.

   Now, this morning, who will listen to the call of God? Who, like
   Abraham, will quit the world, with all its folly, and resolve
   henceforth to be upon the Lord's side? O, Spirit of the living God,
   constrain manly a hidden Abraham to come forth!

   III. We have to close with two or three words about what was THE RESULT
   OF ABRAHAM'S ACTION. The question of many will be, did it pay? That is
   the inquiry of most people, and within proper bounds it is not a wrong
   question. Did it answer Abraham's purpose? Our reply is, it did so
   gloriously. True, it brought him into a world of trouble, and no
   wonder: such a noble course as his was not likely to be an easy one.
   What grand life ever was easy? Who wants to be a child and do easy
   things? Yet we read in Abraham's life, after a whole host of troubles,
   "And Abraham was old and well stricken in years, and the Lord had
   blessed Abrabam in all things." That is a splendid conclusion—God had
   blessed Abraham in all things. Whatever happened, he had always been
   under the divine smile, and all things had worked for his good. He was
   parted from his friends, but then he had the sweet society of his God,
   and was treated as the friend of the Most High, and allowed to
   intercede for others, and clothed with great power on their behalf. I
   almost envy Abraham. I should do so altogether if I did not know that
   all the saints are permitted to enjoy the same privileges. What a
   glorious degree Abraham took when he was called "the friend of God";
   was not his loss of earthly friendships abundantly made up to him? What
   honor, also, the patriarch had among his contemporaries; he was a great
   man, and held in high esteem. How splendidly he bore himself; no king
   ever behaved more royally. That pettifogging king of Sodom wanted to
   make a bargain with him, but the grand old man replied, "I will not
   take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I
   have made Abraham rich." Those sons of Heth also were willing to make
   him a present of a piece of land around the cave of Machpelah; but he
   did not want a present from Canaanites, and so he said, "No, I will pay
   you every penny. I will weigh out the price to you, whatever you may
   demand." In noble independence no man could excel the father of the
   faithful; his contemporaries look small before him, and no man seems to
   be his equal, save Melchizedek. His image passes across the page of
   history rather like that of a spirit from the supernal realms than that
   of a mere man; he is so thorough, so childlike, and therefore so
   heroic. He lived in God, and on God, and with God. Such a sublime life
   recompensed a thousandfold all the sacrifice he was led to make.

   Was not his life a happy one? One might wisely say, "Let my life be
   like that of Abraham." As to temporal things the Lord enriched him, and
   in spirituals he was richer still. He was wealthier in heart than in
   substance, though great ever, in that respect. And now Abraham is the
   father of the faithful, patriarch of the whole family of believers, and
   to him alone of all mortal men God said, "In thee shall all the
   families of the earth be blessed." This very day, through his matchless
   seed, to whom be glory for ever and ever, even Jesus Christ of the seed
   of Abraham, all tribes of men are blessed. His life was both for time
   and for eternity, a great success; both for temporals and for
   spirituals the path of faith was the best that he could leave followed.

   And now may we all be led to imitate his example. If we never have done
   so, may we this morning be led to give God his due by trusting him, to
   give the blood of Christ its due by relying upon it, to give the Spirit
   of God his due by yielding ourselves to him. Will you do so, or not? I
   pause for your reply. The call is given again, will you obey it or not?
   Nobody here will actually declare that he will not, but many will reply
   that they hope they shall. Alas! my sermon is a failure to those who so
   speak: if that be your answer, I am foiled again. When Napoleon was
   attacking the Egyptians he had powerful artillery, but he could not
   reach the enemy, for they were ensconced in a mud fort, and it made
   Napoleon very angry, because, if they had been behind granite walls, he
   could hate battered them down, but their earthworks could not be blown
   to pieces, every ball stuck in the mud, and made the wall stronger.
   Your hopes and delays are just such a mud wall. I had a good deal
   sooner people would say, "There, now, we do not believe in God nor in
   his Christ," and speak out straightforwardly, than go on for ever
   behind this mud wall of "We will by-and-by," and "We hope it will be so
   one day." The fact is, you do not mean to obey the Lord at all. You are
   deceiving yourselves if you think so. If God be God to-morrow he is God
   to-day; if Christ be worth having next week he is worth having to-day.
   If there is anything in religion at all, it demands a present surrender
   to its claims and a present obedience to its laws; but if you judge it
   to be a lie, say so, and we shall know where you are. If Baal be God,
   serve him; but if God be God, I charge you by Jesus Christ, fly to him
   as he is revealed, and come forth from the sin of the world and be
   separate, and walk by faith in God. To this end may the Spirit of God
   enable you. Amen and amen.

   PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—Hebrews 11:1 to 13; Genesis
   11:27 to end; 12:1 to 9.

   HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"—174, 655, 658.
     __________________________________________________________________

Rivers Of Water In A Dry Place

   (No. 1243)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 11, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "As rivers of water in a dry place." Isaiah 32:2.

   I SUPPOSE it must be conceded that the surface sense of this passage
   refers to Hezekiah and to other good kings who were the means of great
   blessings to the declining kingdom of Judah. We can scarcely be
   thankful enough for a righteous government. If, for a few years, we
   could feel the yoke of despotism, we should better appreciate the joys
   of freedom. In the prophecy before us, very much is said in praise of a
   king who shall reign in righteousness and princes who shall rule in
   judgment. Such men are the protectors of the State, enriching it by
   commerce and blessing it with peace. They deserve honor and the Word of
   God renders it to them.

   But I cannot bring my mind to believe that these expressions were
   intended by the Holy Spirit to have no other and higher reference. They
   appear to me to be far too full of meaning to be primarily or solely
   intended for Hezekiah or any other mere man. When the Holy Spirit
   declared, by the mouth of the Prophet, "A man shall be as a hiding
   place from the wind and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in
   a dry place, as the shadow of great rock in a weary land," it can
   scarcely be conceived that he referred only to Hezekiah and his
   princes.

   It cannot be that the Church of God has erred these many years in not
   applying such a passage as this to the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely the
   words are not only applicable to Him, but can never be fully understood
   until they are applied to His ever blessed and adorable Person. At any
   rate, this much is sure, that if a king who rules in righteousness
   brings so much blessing on his people, then Jesus, who is peculiarly
   the King of Righteousness, "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of
   kings and Lord of lords," must bring these blessings in the highest
   conceivable degree and, therefore, these expressions are, beyond all
   possibility of exaggeration, applicable in their widest sense to Him
   whom this day we delight to hail as Lord of All!

   Applying the language of the whole verse to the Lord Jesus Christ, the
   King in Zion, we are struck with the number of the metaphors. He is not
   merely a hiding place and a cover, and a river, but He is a shadow of a
   great rock. Yes, my Brothers and Sisters, if we attempt to set forth
   our Lord's glories by earthly analogies we shall need a host of them,
   for no one can set Him forth to perfection! Each one has some
   deficiency and even all together they are insufficient to display His
   loveliness! We need a thousand types and images to depict the varied
   beauties of His Character, the manifold excellencies of His offices,
   the merit of His suffering, the glory of His triumphs and the
   innumerable blessings which He bestows on the sons of men!

   Should you focus all the rays of nature's sun, you could not equal a
   solitary beam of His splendor--

   "Nor earth, nor sea, nor sun, nor stars, Nor Hea ven His full
   resemblance bears; His beauties you can never trace Till you behold Him
   face to face." It is very pleasant to see that our Beloved is such a
   many-sided Christ. From all points of view He is admirable and He is
   supremely precious in so many different ways--for we have so many and
   so varied needs and our circumstances are so continually changing--and
   the incessant cravings of our spirit are so constantly taking fresh
   turns. Blessed be His name, these changes of ours, and needs of ours,
   and cravings of ours shall only put us in fresh positions in which to
   see, more fully, His surpassing excellencies, His superlative fullness
   and how completely He is adapted to meet the needs of our nature in
   every conceivable condition!

   Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus that while He is One, He is many!
   While He is altogether lovely, He is also loveliness combined! While He
   is perfect under one aspect, He is equally complete under every other.
   The point to note in the

   text, applying it to Christ, is this, that it is a Man who is to be as
   rivers of water in a dry place. Note that--a Man! We glory in the
   Godhead of Jesus Christ--about that we entertain no question. This is
   not the place in which to attempt to prove it, for we are all persuaded
   of it, and we know Him to be Divine by personal dealings with Him. We
   have found Him to be the Son of the Highest and He ever must be so to
   us--"Very God of very God."

   Yet, none the less, but all the more, do we tenaciously hold to the
   Truth of God of the true and proper Manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
   and it is as God in human flesh that He is to us as rivers of water in
   a dry place. Think of it for a minute. If God loves us so much as to
   become Man, then the blessings which He intends to bestow must be
   incalculable! The Incarnation is, in itself, a promise big with untold
   blessing. Gaze upon the Son of God in Bethlehem's manger and you feel
   sure that if the Infinite has assumed the form of an Infant, His
   Incarnation betokens Infinite Love, foreshadows intimate communion, and
   foretells unbounded blessedness for the sons of Adam!

   If Jehovah, Himself, in human flesh walks over the acres of Judea. If
   He bears human sicknesses and sorrows. If He, in human form, gives His
   hands to the nails and His heart to the spear, there must be boundless
   affection in His heart towards the seed chosen from among men! What
   rivers of blessings must come to us if God Himself comes to us and
   comes in such a fashion and in such a spirit? What does the union of
   Godhead with humanity mean but this, that though He was rich, yet, for
   our sakes, He became poor? And what can His purpose be but, "that we,
   through His poverty, might be made rich"? Rich with riches as vast as
   those which He renounced in order to espouse our nature in all its
   poverty and degradation!

   Let us, at this time, joy and rejoice in the Son of Mary, the Son of
   Man, who is also the Son of God! Let us exult, today, as we believe
   that Jesus is as truly Man as He is truly God--

   "Oh joy! There sits in our flesh, Upon a throne of lights One of a
   human mother born, In perfect Godhead bright!"

   This is the source, the channel and the stream, bringing to us and
   containing within itself all the blessings with which God has enriched
   us! This is that river of God which is full of water! Let us come,
   then, with this as our guide, to study the metaphor of our text. When
   we have done so for a little, we shall remark upon a special excellence
   which is indicated. And, having so done, we shall close by gathering up
   the practical lessons of the whole.

   I. As setting forth the benedictions which come to us through the
   Incarnate God, LET US STUDY THE METAPHOR of rivers of water in a dry
   place. This means, first, great excellence of blessing. A river is the
   fit emblem of very great benefits, for it is of the utmost value to the
   land through which it flows. A river, in its own way, creates life
   wherever it flows--grass, reeds and rushes are sure to spring up--and
   willows fringe the water courses. The water of the river fosters and
   nourishes the vegetation along its banks and sustains an infinite
   number of fish and creeping things. The silver stream lights up the
   landscape with its brightness!

   "The joyous and abounding river" is the theme of song and a song in
   itself. It is a glad sight to trace the winding line of silver light
   among green fields. Who can refuse to render thanks to the God who thus
   visits the earth and waters it? Now, what the river is to the land,
   that the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. He is the spring and source of
   spiritual life and where He comes, Divine Life springs up and
   flourishes like a tree by the rivers of water whose leaf never withers.
   The Life which He bestows, He also nourishes, watering it every moment.
   Nourishing it, He makes it fruitful. Making it fruitful, He causes it
   to be fair to look upon and brings it to perfection. Vegetation owes
   much to the river which waters it. What were the meads without the
   streams? What were the saints without the Savior! What were the
   villages without their springs and brooks? What were Believers without
   the Covenant blessings which are given us in Christ Jesus?

   The analogy is so very obvious that I need not pursue it. The place of
   broad rivers and streams is the place where plentiful good things are
   looked for and not in vain shall we look for good things in our Lord
   Jesus. He is that river the streams whereof make glad the city of God!
   Of Him it may be truly said that, "everything that lives which moves,
   where ever the rivers shall come, shall live." Because the Word was
   made flesh and dwelt among us, therefore do rivers of mercy flow to
   many and, we who believe shall be made to drink of the river of His
   pleasures.

   Here, my Heart, is reason for adoration! I need not see any difficulty
   in it. Having believed the testimony of the Lord, all difficulty has
   vanished. "The Word was God," and the Word was also "made flesh and
   dwelt among us," and through being made flesh and dwelling among us, He
   has opened rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the

   valleys. God has come down to man that man may go up to God! God has
   veiled Himself in an Infant's form that babes may learn His love! The
   Christ has grown in stature from Childhood to Manhood that we, also,
   may grow up into Him in all things! He has been perfect Man that we,
   also, may come unto the fullness of the stature of men in Christ Jesus!
   Christ the Man, the God, connects man with God--the river flows
   directly from the Throne of God to the hearts of mortals and brings
   God, Himself to us to fill us with all fullness. Observe the excellence
   of the Lord Jesus and meditate upon

   it!

   The metaphor chiefly implies, in the second place, abundance. Jesus is
   as rivers of water because He is full of Grace and truth. It would be a
   very difficult thing to calculate the body of water to be found in the
   Thames, but in rivers such as our American friends are favored with, it
   must be almost beyond the power of mind to conceive the mass of water
   that must come rolling down into the sea! Gallons and hogsheads seem
   quite ridiculous by the side of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence! I
   always feel very fidgety when theologians begin making calculations
   about the Lord Jesus. There used to be a very strong contention about
   Particular Redemption and general redemption and though I confess
   myself to be to the very backbone a believer in Calvinistic doctrine, I
   never felt at home in such discussions.

   It is one thing to believe in the Doctrines of Grace, but quite another
   thing to accept all the encrustations which have formed upon those
   doctrines and also a very different matter to agree with the spirit
   which is apparent in some who profess to propagate the pure Truth of
   God. I can have nothing to do with calculating the value of the
   Atonement of Christ. I see clearly the specialty of the purpose and
   intent of Christ in presenting His expiatory Sacrifice, but I cannot
   see a limit to its preciousness and I dare not enter into computations
   as to its value or possible efficacy. Appraisals and estimate of values
   are out of place here.

   Sirs, I would like to see you with your slates and pencils calculating
   the cubical contents of the Amazon! I would be pleased to see you
   sitting down and estimating the quantity of fluid in the Ganges, the
   Indus, and the Orinoco! But when you have done so and summed up all the
   rivers of this earth, I will tell you that your task was only fit for
   school boys and that you are not at the beginning of that arithmetic
   which can sum up the fullness of Christ--for in Him dwells all the
   fullness of the Godhead bodily! His merit, His power, His love, His
   Grace surpass all knowledge and, consequently, all estimate!

   Limits are not to be found, neither shore nor bottom are discoverable.
   Instead of coldly calculating, with a view to systematize our
   doctrines, let us joyfully sing with the poet of the sanctuary--

   "Rivers of love and mercy here In a rich ocean join; Salvation in
   abundance flows, Like floods of milk and wine."

   All idea of stint or insufficiency is out of place in reference to the
   Lord Jesus! When any man enquires, "Is there enough merit in the
   Savior's death to make atonement for my sin?" The answer is, "The blood
   of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." When any say,
   "Perhaps I may not taste His love and believe on His name," the reply
   is, "Whoever will, let him take of the Water of Life freely." Oh, Sirs,
   would you measure the air? Could you calculate the contents of the
   atmosphere which surrounds the globe? Yes, that might be done. Would
   you measure space? I suppose that, also, might be accomplished.

   Will you measure eternity? Will you calculate infinity? You must begin
   by problems like these before you can discover a sum to that abundant
   Grace which comes to sinners through God in human flesh, who bore human
   sin and gave up His life, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God!
   Anything approaching to a narrow spirit is unseemly in connection with
   the merits of our Redeemer! Stinginess at an imperial banquet is no
   more out of place than an ungenerous spirit in a Christian! Our Lord
   does things upon such a royal scale that we ought to be of a kingly
   spirit, also. Saint and bigot are a strange mixture--saint and miser
   cannot agree!

   I remember hearing of a man who used to go out preaching and happened
   to have a well upon his premises, to which his neighbors came more
   frequently than he liked. He, therefore, put up a notice that
   trespassers would be prosecuted. It was not at all surprising that a
   witty friend soon adorned the preacher's residence with a bill in
   prominent capitals, bearing these words, "Come to Jesus, but you must
   not take water out of my well.''" In a great many other ways the same
   remark might be applied. Come to Jesus, but do not crowd me up in my
   pew! Come to Jesus, but do not ask me for a shilling! Certain people
   are very free with the Gospel, for it costs them nothing--very free,
   indeed, with the tracts which are given

   them to distribute, but they hang back when the hungry need feeding or
   the naked need clothing. Do you think such churls any credit to the
   Gospel?

   Yes, and are there not preachers who appear to be half afraid that some
   poor non-elect sinner may get into Heaven by accident? Hear how they
   define, distinguish and denounce! I confess I have no sympathy with
   those who would drive men back. Far rather would I draw them forward.
   When one once gets to know that Jesus is as rivers of water, a
   large-hearted loving spirit seems to spring up in the soul as a matter
   of course. The Holy Spirit enlarges the heart by revealing to us the
   glorious fullness of our Lord. I pray, my Brothers and Sisters, you may
   be all enlarged and that none of you may ever slander the Lord Jesus
   Christ by bearing a narrow, contracted testimony concerning Him. Never
   may you help to straiten other people's apprehensions of what the
   Gospel is by depicting your Lord as if He were some cramped up
   straight-lined canal with locks, pumps and measured wharfs--for He is
   as rivers of water!

   There is, in Christ Jesus, such an abundance that if you come, O great
   Sinner, there is enough mercy in Christ for you! Yes, if the teeming
   myriads of the human race should all come rushing to this river to
   drink, they could not drain it dry--no, it should seem all the fuller
   and the lands should be made all the gladder as the undiminished stream
   flowed on! In a river we see not only excellence and abundance, but
   freshness. A pool is the same thing over again and gradually it becomes
   a stagnant pond, breeding corrupt life and pestilential gases. A river
   is always the same, yet never the same! It is always in its place, yet
   always moving on. Filled to the brim with living water, even as in ages
   long gone by, and yet flowing fresh from the spring, it is an ancient
   novelty.

   We call our own beautiful river, "Father Thames," yet he wears no
   furrows on his brows, but leaps in all the freshness of youth. You
   shall live by the banks of a river for years and yet each morning its
   stream shall be as fresh as though its fountain had been unsealed but
   an hour ago when the birds began to awake the morning and the sun to
   sip the dew. Is it not so with our Lord Jesus Christ? Is He not
   evermore as bright and fresh as when first you met with Him? I remember
   when first I knew Him, and my soul was married to Him. I had a blessed
   honeymoon in dearest fellowship! That sweet communion is not over yet,
   no, it is deeper, nearer, more constant than ever! He is as good a
   Christ to me now as at first--I may not say that He is better, but I
   must confess that I know Him better. I love Him more fervently and
   prize Him more highly.

   If you serve a master 20 years I should not wonder but what you know a
   lot about him by that time. Some of you have served the Lord Jesus
   these 40 years, and what do you think of Him? You have found out a lot
   about Him by this time and you may, without fear, tell all that you
   have discovered. Do not words fail you to express His excellence? All
   others become stale, but Jesus has the dew of His youth! These fine
   ribbons and bits of color which are attracting the people to certain
   Episcopal Churches for a time will soon fade. They tell us that
   such-and-such a Church is quite full because they have a surpliced
   choir, pretty processions, tasteful banners and many other childish
   toys which turn their churches into dolls' houses!

   But let them not dream that these trinkets will draw the people for
   long. Go into the Popish churches on the continent and you will see, in
   some cases, fine marble and gems. and in others two-penny and halfpenny
   artificial flowers and daubs of paint--but where are the people? Rarely
   enough do you see a crowd. In general you only spy out a few women,
   dupes of the priests! The manhood of the nation is not to be entrapped
   by such transparent tomfooleries! These things grow old and effete, but
   the Gospel does not! Centuries ago Wickliffe preached the Gospel of
   Christ beneath an oak in Surrey and crowds assembled. Not long ago I
   preached beneath the same old tree, the same Gospel, and its attractive
   power was none the less!

   Even so, in the ages yet to come, others will arise with the same
   message on their tongues and the people will gather to hear them, and
   discover the Gospel's power. Some will come to find fault and will
   gnash their teeth with rage, but they must come and hear it! It is
   impossible for them to do otherwise, for the novelty of the Gospel will
   always attract. Is it not always new? And is not a new thing ever
   sought after? Does a man need something new? Tell him "the old, old
   story." Our naked fathers crossed the Thames in their coracles and we
   sail upon it in our steamships! But it is the same glad river and when
   it first flowed it was not more fresh and sparkling than it is today.
   It is ever changing, ever fresh, ever new, yet ever the sane. And so is
   Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

   Again, Jesus Christ may well be compared to a river, from His freeness.
   We cannot say this of all the rivers on earth, for men generally manage
   to claim the banks and shores, the fisheries and water powers. I
   sometimes wonder why our

   great men do not map out the stars. Will no duke claim the Pole star,
   and no earl monopolize Castor and Pollex? Could we not have an
   Enclosure Act for the Zodiac, or at least for some of the brighter
   constellations? Well is it written, "The Heaven, even the heavens, are
   the Lord's: but the earth has He given to the children of men."

   Yet rivers can scarcely be parceled out--they refuse to become private
   property. See how freely the creatures approach the banks! I enjoyed,
   the other day, watching cattle come to the river to drink. They sought
   out a sloping place and then stood knee deep in the stream and drank
   and drank again! I thought of Behemoth, who trusted he could snuff up
   Jordan at a draught. He drank so heartily, and no one said to him,
   "No," or measured out the draught. A dog, as he ran along, lapped
   eagerly and no tax was demanded of him! The swan was free to plunge her
   long neck into the flood, and the swallow to touch the surface with its
   wing. To ox and fly, and bird, and fish, and man, the river was, alike,
   free!

   So you ox of a sinner with your great thirst, come and drink! And you
   dog of a sinner, who thinks yourself unworthy, even, of a drop of
   Grace, yet come and drink! I read near one of our public ponds a
   notice, "Nobody is allowed to wash dogs here." That is right enough,
   for a pond, but it would be quite needless for a river. In a river the
   foulest may bathe to his heart's content! The fact of its fullness
   creates a freeness which none restrict. How I delight to talk about
   this, for I remember when I thought that the Lord Jesus was not free to
   me! I dreamed that I wanted Him and He would not have me, whereas it
   was all the other way--He was willing enough, but I was unwilling. Oh,
   poor Sinner, there is nothing so free in all the world as Christ is! To
   all who pant after Him, desire Him, and need Him, He is free as the air
   you breathe!

   Christ is like a river for constancy, too. Pools and cisterns dry up,
   but the river's song is--

   "Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever."

   So is it with Jesus. The Grace to pardon and the power to heal are not
   a spasmodic force in Him--they abide in Him always. He saved a thousand
   years ago, He still saves. He saves all day long and all night long.
   Whether we sleep or wake, the river still flows on, sounding no
   trumpet, but steadily pursuing its course. And so the pardoning Grace
   of God is flowing all day and all night long, all the year round,
   quietly blessing thousands. Blessed be God for this! Today is Sunday
   and to me it seems as if the river widened out and poured its bounty
   over a greater area! Oh that you would drink of it, poor Sinner, today!
   It still flows, whether you refuse it or accept it. Oh suffer it not to
   flow in vain for you!

   The text speaks of rivers, which implies both variety and unity--upon
   this we cannot enlarge, but must dwell upon the idea of force. Nothing
   is stronger than a river. It cuts its own way and will not be hindered
   in its course. Who shall dam up the Mississippi? Who shall enchain the
   Amazon? They roll where they will, following the course which Infinite
   Sovereignty marked out for them. If the rock is in the river's way it
   will wear it down. If the cliff intrudes, it must fall--being
   undermined by the current and falling--it must disappear. The river
   waits not for man, neither tarries for the sons of men, but follows its
   predestined course.

   Glory be to God! Christ Jesus will accomplish the Divine purposes! The
   pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand! None can stay His
   course--winding this way and that, He must go to this sinner and the
   other--He cleanses a dying thief and waters some of "Caesar's
   household." Between the high hills of proud opposition He speeds His
   way and makes glad the lowly valleys of the contrite in heart! Neither
   death nor Hell can stay His course. He sweeps away all opponents even
   as that mighty river, the river Lisbon, swept away the armies of Jabin.
   And when it seems as if there is no longer a channel for the Gospel,
   the Truth of God leaps down the precipice in some great reformation or
   revival like a glorious Niagara--and the wonders of Divine power are
   seen more clearly--the Lord making bare His arm in the eyes of all the
   people. Flow on, O river of God, forev-ermore!

   II. Secondly, WE WILL CONSIDER A SPECIAL EXCELLENCE which the text
   mentions. "Rivers of water in a dry place." I cannot tell you how I
   leaped at that word on my own account. In this country we do not value
   rivers so much because we have springs and wells in all our villages
   and hamlets. But in the country where Isaiah lived, the land is parched
   and burnt up without rivers. You can trace the Jordan and the other
   streams by the fringe of vegetation skirting their banks and,
   consequently a river is greatly prized in a dry place.

   Ah, my Brethren, when the Man Jesus Christ came here with blessings
   from God, He brought rivers into the dry place of our humanity! When He
   came down among Abraham's race, He brought rivers of water into the dry
   old stock of Jesse. When Judah had lost her king, He came to renew the
   royalty of the house of David and today, we Gentiles, who had been cut
   off from all Covenant blessings and left like the desert while Israel
   was like a garden--we have Jesus Christ coming among us as rivers of
   water in a dry place!

   Jesus has come to you, my Brothers and Sisters, and what a dry place
   your heart was by nature. Ah, think how dry it was before Christ came
   and caused springs of life to water your soul. As I think of my own
   state by nature, I can only compare it to a howling wilderness waste,
   "a salt land and not inhabited," in which there was great drought--a
   dry and thirsty land where no water was. The Sahara is not more
   destitute of water brooks than is human nature of anything that is
   good, and yet Jesus Christ has come into your human nature and into
   mine and made the dry land springs of water!

   Brethren, what a dry place our nature would still be at this very
   moment if it were not for the Presence of Jesus as the river of the
   Water of Life! We have grown older, but our nature has not improved.
   Years have gone over us but not even a cloud the size of a man's hand
   has come to us by Nature's energy. Our only watering has been through
   our interceding Savior! So far as the flesh is concerned, I see myself
   more prone to sin than ever, weaker than ever for all good things, more
   consciously dead and withered apart from Christ. If you have found
   springs in the waste places of your nature, I confess I have not--my
   nature is, indeed, still a dry place.

   Emptiness, oh, that is hardly the word for it--one feels worse than
   empty! Dead, oh how dead! Even those of us who try to live near to God
   have cold seasons. I suppose perfect people have no such confessions to
   make, but I am not one of them. I mourn over seasons in which I cannot
   pray as I would, and rise groaning from my knees. I suffer from
   temptations without and fighting within, and I cannot always, alike,
   rejoice in God, although I know He is always worthy of all my joy. I
   lament that it is so, but so it is with me. There may be persons who
   can always glide along like a tram-car on the rails without a solitary
   jerk, but I find that I have a vile nature to contend with and
   spiritual life is a struggle with me.

   1 have to fight from day to day with inbred corruption, coldness,
   deadness, barrenness! And if it were not for my Lord Jesus Christ, my
   heart would be as dry as the heart of the damned, and have no more
   life, or light, or goodness in it than Hell itself. This, however, I
   can say, I value His fullness all the more because I am so empty, and I
   prize His power the more because I am so weak. I find I cannot speak or
   think well enough of my Lord, nor ill enough of myself. Nothingness and
   emptiness, vanity and sin are my sole and only heritage by nature. All
   my fullness lies in Christ and every excellence I can ever claim must
   come from Him and Him alone.

   Do not many of you find your outward circumstances very dry places? Are
   you rich? Ah, my Brethren, wealthy society is generally as dry a place
   as the granite hills. "Gold and the Gospel seldom agree." Are you poor?
   Poverty is a dry place to those who are not rich in faith. Are you
   engaged in business from day to day? How often do its cares parch the
   soul, like the heat of the desert? To rise up early and to toil late
   amid losses and crosses is to dwell in a dry place. Oh, to feel the
   love of Christ flowing, then! This is to have rivers of water! To have
   Christ near when you are losing your money, when bills are being
   dishonored and commercial houses falling--this is true religion!

   To rejoice in Christ when you are out of work, poor man--to have Christ
   when the wife is sick, Christ when the darling child has to be buried,
   Christ when the head is aching, Christ when the poor body is half
   starved--this is sweetness! Ah, you will never know the sweetness of
   Christ till you know the bitterness of trial. You cannot know His
   fullness till you see your emptiness! I pray that it may be our
   experience to always feel ourselves going down and Christ going up,
   ourselves getting poorer and poorer apart from Him, while we know more
   and more of the priceless blessings which are ours in Christ Jesus our
   Lord.

   The point then, of the whole, seems to me to be this--that Christ is a
   river of abounding Grace, but He is most so to those who are most dry.
   Alms are only sought by the poor, the physician is only esteemed by the
   sick, the lifeboat is only valued by the man that is drowning! So, my
   Brothers and Sisters, Christ will be dearer and dearer to you just in
   proportion as you have less and less esteem of yourself. "Rivers of
   water in a dry place."

   III. Now, WE CLOSE WITH THE PRACTICAL LESSON from it all. First, see
   the goings out of God's heart to man, and man's way of communing with
   God. Other rivers rise in small springs and many tributaries combine to
   swell them, but the river I have been preaching about rises in full
   force from the Throne of God. It is as great a river at its source as
   in its after course.

   Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, whenever you stoop down to drink of the
   mercy which comes to you by Jesus Christ you are having fellowship with
   God, for what you drink comes direct from God Himself! Think of this,
   now. You desire to have a communication established between you and
   God, and the Lord says, "Here am I coming to you, coming in a great
   river of blessedness. Take of Me. Accept what comes to you through
   Jesus Christ. Every drop of it has come from My Throne and is full of
   the love which is My essence."

   Oh, poor Sinner, do you see this? What a simple, what a safe, what a
   suitable way God has prepared to bring you into communion with Himself!
   You are to be the receiver, and He the Giver! He the everlasting Source
   of all your supplies, and you

   simply the partaker of His benefits. Ask what God is, and the answer
   is, God is a river of goodness streaming down to men through the Person
   of Jesus Christ.

   Secondly, see what a misery it is that men should be perishing and
   dying of soul-thirst when there is this river so near. That men should
   die of thirst would be horrible, but that such deaths should happen all
   along the banks of a river is shocking, indeed. What ails them? Have
   they never heard of it? Dear Brethren, let the thought press heavily on
   you that millions of our race have never heard of Jesus! In China, in
   parts of India, in Africa, in large tracts of the country, myriads live
   and die without having heard the sweet name of Jesus!

   Are we doing all we can for missions, do you think? Are we all sure
   that we give as much as we should, and pray as we should, and work as
   we should for missions? It is a sad thing that Christ has come into the
   world and yet men perish by millions. Ah, yet there is a sadder
   thought, still, for millions of men know all about this river and yet
   do not drink! Many of our own fellow citizens know the plan of
   salvation by Jesus Christ, but they are struck with a strange
   insanity--they would sooner die of thirst than drink of God's own
   river! O God, we sometimes say, "Have pity," but You have had pity and,
   therefore, we had better to pray, "Teach men to have pity upon
   themselves."

   Another lesson is, let us learn if we have any straitness, where it
   must lie. It cannot be in Christ, because He is as rivers of water. So
   the next time we feel that we are straitened, that we have little
   Grace, little power, little joy, let us know where the fault lies. Our
   cup is small, but the river is not! If you have not, Brethren, it is
   not because God does not give--it is because you are not open to
   receive. "You have not because you ask not, or because you ask amiss."
   O Church of God, if you are weak, it is not because God is weak! If you
   cannot get at sinners it is not because God cannot reach them! You are
   not straitened in Him, you are straitened in your own heart!

   Is Christ a river, then, last of all, drink of Him, all of you. To be
   carried along on the surface of Christianity, like a man in a boat, is
   not enough--you must drink or die. Many are influenced by the externals
   of religion, but Christ is not in them. They are on the water, but the
   water is not in them. And if they continue as they are, they will be
   lost. A man may be in a boat on a river and yet die of thirst if he
   refuses to drink. And so may you be carried along and excited by a
   revival, but unless you receive the Lord Jesus into your soul by faith,
   you will perish after all. Faith is as simple a thing as drinking, but
   you must have it--you must believe or die!

   If a man were set up to his neck in water like Tantalus, and if all the
   rivers in the world flowed by him, he would expire in the pangs of
   thirst if he did not drink. Some of you have been up to your neck in
   the river for years. As I look at those pews I cannot but remember that
   rivers of Love and Mercy have been flowing right up to your lips--and
   yet you have not drunk! He who dies so deserves to die! He who perishes
   of thirst in such a condition must perish with a sevenfold emphasis.
   God help you! I know not what more I can ask Him to do for you. Has He
   not done enough in giving rivers of Mercy to you in Christ?

   And if you have drunk of this stream, the next thing I say is, live
   near it. We read of Isaac that he dwelt by the well. It is good to live
   hard by an inexhaustible spring. Commune with Christ and get nearer to
   Him each day. Wade into this river, as you have done, till the water is
   up to your ankles! Go on till it is up to your knees! Go on till it
   washes your heart and lungs-- yes, go on till you find it a river to
   swim in! I should like to say, last of all, if Christ is like a river,
   let us be like the fishes that live in it.

   I sat under a beech tree some months ago in the New Forest. I gazed up
   into it, measured it, and marked the architecture of its branches, but
   suddenly I saw a little squirrel leap from branch to branch, and I
   thought, "After all, this beech tree is far more to you than to me, for
   you live in it. It delights me, it instructs me and it affords me
   shade, but you live in it and upon it." So we know something about
   rivers and they are very useful to us, but to the fish the river is its
   element, its life, its all.

   So, my Brothers and Sisters, let us not merely read about Christ and
   think of Him, and speak of Him--but let us live on Him, and in Him as
   the squirrel in the tree and the fish in the river. Live by Him, and
   live for Him--you will do both if you live in Him--

   "Roll over me, You heavenly stream, I find my element in Thee. This my
   true life and bliss I desire, In Christ, my Lord, absorbed to be.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Isaiah 32. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--170, 541, 488.
     __________________________________________________________________

Faith's Ultimatum

   (No. 1244)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 18 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15.

   THIS is one of the supreme sayings of Scripture. It rises, like an
   alpine summit, clear above all ordinary heights of speech. It pierces
   the clouds and glistens in the Light of God. If I were required to
   quote a selection of the most sublime utterances of the human mind, I
   should mention this among the first--"Though He slay me, yet will I
   trust in Him." I think I might almost say to the man who thus spoke,
   what our Lord said to Simon Peter when he had declared him to be the
   Son of the Highest--"Flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you."
   Such tenacious holding, such immovable confidence, such unstaggering
   reliance are not products of mere nature, but rare flowers of rich
   Divine Grace!

   The text contains a precious jewel of Grace, fitly set in the purest
   gold of choice speech. Happy is the man upon whose arm it can be worn
   as an ensign in the day of battle. It is well worthy of observation
   that in these words Job answered both the accusations of Satan and the
   charges of his friends. Though I do not know that Job was aware that
   the devil had said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not set a
   hedge about him and all that he has?" yet he answered that base
   suggestion in the ablest possible manner, for he did, in effect, say,
   "Though God should pull down my hedge and lay me bare as the
   wilderness, itself, yet will I cling to Him in firmest faith."

   The arch-fiend had also dared to say that Job had held out under his
   first trials because they were not sufficiently personal. "Skin for
   skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for his life. But put forth
   Your hand, now, and touch his bones and his flesh, and he will curse
   You to Your face." In the brave words before us, Job most effectually
   silences that slander by, in effect, saying, "Though my trial is no
   longer the slaying of my children, but of myself, yet will I trust in
   Him." He thus, in one sentence, replies to the two slanders of Satan
   and, thus, unconsciously, does Truth overthrow her enemies, defeating
   the secret malice of falsehood by the simplicity of sincerity.

   Job's friends also had insinuated that he was a hypocrite. They
   inquired of him, "Who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the
   righteous cut off?" They thought themselves quite safe in inferring
   that Job must have been a deceiver, or he would not have been so
   specially punished. To this accusation Job's grand declaration of his
   unstaggering faith was the best answer possible, for none but a sincere
   soul could thus speak. Will a hypocrite trust in God when He slays him?
   Will a deceiver cling to God when He is smiting him? Assuredly not!
   Thus were the three miserable comforters answered if they had been wise
   enough to see it.

   Our text exhibits a child of God under the most severe pressure and
   shows us the difference between him and a man of the world. A man of
   the world under the same conditions as Job would have been driven to
   despair and, in that desperation, would have become morosely sullen, or
   defiantly rebellious! Here you see what, in a child of God, takes the
   place of desperation. When others despair, he trusts in God. When he
   has nowhere else to look, he turns to his heavenly Father. And when,
   for a time, even in looking to God, he does not meet with conscious
   comfort, he waits in the patience of hope, calmly expecting aid and
   resolving that even if it does not come, he will cling to God with all
   the energy of his soul!

   Here, all the man's courage comes to the front, not, as in the case of
   the ungodly, obstinately to rebel, but bravely to confide. The child of
   God is courageous, for he knows how to trust. His heart says, "My Lord,
   it is bad with me, now, and it is growing worse, but should the worst
   come to the worst, still will I cling to You and never let You go." In
   what better way can the Believer reveal his loyalty to his Lord? He
   evidently follows his Master, not in fair weather only, but in the
   worst and roughest days. He loves his Lord, not only when He smiles
   upon him, but when He frowns.

   His love is not purchased by the liberality of his Lord's golden hands,
   for it is not destroyed by the smiting of His heavy rod. Though my Lord
   puts on His sternest looks. Though from fierce looks He should go to
   cutting words. And though from terrible words He should proceed to
   cruel blows which seem to beat the very life out of my soul, yes,
   though

   He take down the sword and threaten to execute me, yet is my heart
   steadfastly set upon one resolve, namely, to bear witness that He is
   infinitely good and just! I have not a word to say against Him, nor a
   thought to think against Him! Much less would I wander from Him! And,
   though He slay me, I would trust in Him!

   What is my text but an Old Testament version of the New Testament,
   "Quis separabit?"--Who shall separate? Job does but anticipate Paul's
   question, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
   tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
   peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
   through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor
   life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
   nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
   be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
   our Lord."

   Was not the same Spirit in both Job and Paul? Is He also in us? If so,
   we are men, indeed, and our speech is with power and this declaration,
   to us, is no idle boast, no foolish bravado, though it would be
   ridiculous, indeed, if there were not a gracious heart behind it to
   make it good. It is the conquering shout of an all-surrendering faith
   which gives up all but God. I wish that we may all have its spirit this
   morning, that whether we suffer Job's trial or not we may, at any rate,
   have Job's close adherence to the Lord, his faithful confidence in the
   Most High.

   There are three things in the text--a terrible supposition--"though He
   slay me." A noble resolution, "yet will I trust in Him." And, thirdly,
   a secret appropriateness. This last will require a little looking into,
   but I hope to make it clear that there is a great appropriateness in
   our trusting while God is slaying us--the two things go well together,
   though it may not so appear at first.

   I. First, then, here is A TERRIBLE SUPPOSITION--"Though He slay me."
   The Lord is here set forth as a slayer of His trusting servant! An idea
   full of terror. It is a supposition which, in some senses, cannot be
   tolerated for a minute-- "Though He slay me." Here I am, His dear
   child. One whom He has loved from before the foundation of the world.
   One for whom He laid down His life upon the Cross. One of whom He has
   said, "I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands." How can He slay
   me? If He does so, it can only be in a minor sense. As to my best and
   truest life, it must be safe, for He is its Author and Guardian, and
   cannot be its Destroyer.

   Can a mother forget her sucking child, that she could not have
   compassion on the son of her womb? Could she suffer a child of hers to
   die while she had power to keep it alive? Would she lay violent hands
   upon the child of her love and destroy it? God forbid! Neither will God
   destroy, or suffer to be destroyed, any of His own dear children! Jesus
   has solemnly said--"I give unto My sheep eternal life and they shall
   never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." The fairest
   children of the earth will die, for that which is born of the flesh is
   flesh, and all flesh is as decaying grass. But the feeblest child of
   God will live forever, for the life of God in every degree is
   immortality!

   Time will put out the sun. The lamp of the moon will grow dim in ages
   yet to come, but neither time nor age shall quench a solitary spark of
   Heaven-born Grace and Light. Though faith is but as a grain of mustard
   seed, it is essentially a living thing, and it is not conceivable that
   God, Himself, should slay that which is quickened with His Life. Though
   it is imperceptible, sometimes, even to the possessor of it, and though
   it should raise many painful questions as to whether it is there at
   all, yet if it is there, God will preserve it even to the end.

   Come, child of God, you must not suppose that the Lord will slay you
   forever! You must not allow suppositions which would dishonor your God!
   You may suppose what you like if it is innocent, but you must not
   suppose that which would blaspheme the Divine Love, or cast a slur upon
   God's fidelity to His promise! He may cast you aside for awhile, but He
   cannot cast you away forever! He may take away your goods, but not your
   highest good. He may allow a cloud to rest upon your reputation, a
   blight to fall upon your usefulness and a storm to sweep away your
   happiness, but His mercy is not clean gone forever--He has not in anger
   turned away His heart from you!

   He has chastened you sorely, but He has not given you over unto death.
   No, you must not interpret the supposition of the text as though it
   said, "Though He leave me to perish, though He cast me into Hell," for
   that can never be! But I make bold to say that even if the devil were
   to whisper in your ear that the Lord would finally destroy you, it
   would be a glorious thing if you could bravely reply, "And if He did I
   would still trust Him." One old saint once used very daring and,
   perhaps, unjustifiable language when he said, "If ecstasy of love of
   God casts me into Hell, I will hold so fast by Him that He shall go
   there, too. I will not let Him go and Hell, itself, will be no Hell to
   me while He is there."

   Beloved, say in your soul--"Though the Lord should condemn me, I will
   not rebel, but confess that He is just. Though He should refuse to hear
   my prayers, yet He is an infinitely good and blessed God, and I will
   still praise Him." But, Beloved, it cannot be that God should slay or
   condemn a Believer, and you need not tolerate the supposition. Blessed
   be His name, He has not cast away the people whom He did foreknow!
   Neither has one soul that trusted in Him ever been forsaken!

   The terrible supposition before us is inclusive of all possible ills.
   "Though He slay me." He means that if every form of evil up to actual
   death should come upon him, yet would he trust in God. Though he should
   lose all that he had in flock or field, in purse or portion, yet would
   he trust. In Job's case, away went the oxen and the asses, away went
   the sheep, away went the camels and away went all the servants. And
   each time, as the messenger came breathlessly running in, he said, "I,
   only, am left alone to tell you." At last the worst news of all came,
   for all his children were taken away at a stroke. All was gone, for his
   wife was as good as lost, too, since she went over to the enemy, and
   said, "Curse God and

   die."

   Well says Job, "Though my troubles have left me bare of all but life.
   Though nothing remains to me but this dunghill and the broken potsherd
   with which I scrape my sores, yet will I trust in the Lord." Oh, it was
   bravely said! In this resolve, as we have seen, he includes not only
   all losses of property, but all bereavements of friends! And I should
   like you Christian people to look this in the face. Perhaps the Lord
   may suddenly take away from you the dearest object of your heart's
   affection--your husband or your wife--can you trust Him, then? The
   almost idolized children may be removed, one by one, and leave sad
   vacancies within your heart. O fond wife, the beloved of your soul may
   pass away in the prime of his manhood, the brother may be cut down as
   the green herb and the sister fade as a flower!

   Parents, children, Brethren--any and all of these may be put far from
   you--and you may find yourselves as lone trees, whereas now you are
   surrounded by a kindred forest. You may be the last of the roses, left
   alone, scarcely blooming, but bowing your head amid the heavy showers
   of sorrow which drench you to the soul. Now, Believer, if you are in
   such a deplorable case as that, can you still say, "If the Lord should
   go even further than this, should His next arrows penetrate my own
   lacerated heart, even then, as I bleed to death, I will kiss His hand"?
   Job included in his supposition all kinds of pain. We can hardly
   imagine the bodily agony of Job when he was covered with boils from the
   soles of his feet unto his head.

   None could approach him, the disease was so foul, neither could he
   endure to be touched. He says, "Though I have all these boils and even
   should they grow worse, so that the pains I now endure should become
   unendurable. And should I suffer the very anguish of death, itself, yet
   still would I put my trust in my God. Neither poverty, loneliness, nor
   fierce torment shall make me forsake the Lord, nor shall all put
   together cause me to doubt Him." What a victory of faith is this! Job,
   at that time, also suffered from dishonor, for those who once looked up
   to him with respect now despised him in their hearts. He says that
   those whose fathers he would have disdained to have set with the dogs
   of his flock, opened their mouths against him, and whereas, when he
   stood in the street, princes were silent in his presence to listen to
   his wisdom, now among the most base of mankind he had become a song and
   a byword.

   As for his mistaken friends, he had grown so weary of them that he
   said, "O that you would altogether hold your peace and it would be your
   wisdom." Poor Job was sorely galled with the scorn poured on him at a
   time when he deserved both sympathy and honor, but yet his faith cries,
   "If I am still more despised and forgotten as a dead man out of mind,
   yet will I trust in You, my God." Connected with all this, the
   afflicted Patriarch must have felt much depression of spirit. Did he
   not say, "Even today is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than
   my groaning. For God makes my heart soft and the Almighty troubles me"?

   Those of us who are subject to depression of spirit find much that is
   congenial in the Book of Job. His music is in tune with our own. How
   bitterly does he wail at times! What wondrous insight has he into the
   mystery of sorrow! Though his grief has never been thoroughly weighed,
   nor his calamities laid in the balances together, yet have his woes
   been considered by thousands of mourners! They have ministered a wealth
   of consolation to them. Job does not exclude his own despondencies from
   his resolves. No, he mainly intends them, for these are, in a special
   sense, a man's own personal slaying and he says, "Though He slay
   me"--though my heart should break with anguish, pierced through with
   despondency, yet will I put my trust in God.

   I began by calling the supposition of our text a terrible one, and now
   I claim that I have shown it to be so, since it includes the coming
   upon us of all sorts of ills. Listen, yet again. This supposition goes
   to the extreme of possibility, if not beyond it, for it will be hard to
   find a case in which God has really slain any of His servants. The
   martyrs were slain for Him, but not by Him. To none of His children,
   save One, has the Lord been as Abraham was to Isaac when he unsheathed
   the knife to slay him. If it had been so, could we have been as the
   lamb beneath the sacrificial knife? The stones which slew Stephen and
   the sword which slew James were in the hands of cruel men, and not in
   the hands of God. But God, Himself, is here supposed to slay us.

   Now, though He has not actually done so, we may enquire whether we
   could resign ourselves to Him, even if He should take life and all with
   His own hands. Could we lie on the altar and not struggle? Do we hate,
   even, our own life for love of Him? What do we say? Is our love
   stronger than death? God grant it may be found so! But this supposition
   goes further than matters ever will go. Why, then, does the Patriarch
   suppose such a case? I answer because only by such suppositions can he
   express his faith to the fullest. Remember that Psalm, "Therefore we
   will not fear, though the earth is removed, and though the mountains
   are carried into the midst of the sea"? We are not expecting the earth
   to move nor the mountains to plunge into the ocean--but in order to
   express our confidence we declare that even such a quaking would not
   affect the foundation of our faith.

   God Himself meets His people in the same manner, by saying, "The
   mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall
   not depart from you, neither shall the Covenant of My peace be
   removed." Child of God, you may suppose what never will occur, if you
   like, and project your soul by that supposition into depths of woe and
   grief into which you will never actually come, and yet, through Divine
   Grace you will resolve, "If it came even to that, I would still trust
   in Him." Though the text supposes what will not actually occur, yet it
   is a just description of what often does occur as far as our
   conceptions go. Have you ever known what it is to be, in your own
   conceptions, slain by God? My heart has known it often. It is as death,
   itself, to feel all your religion melt away like the hoar frost of the
   morning when the sun has risen. All your joys in which you delighted
   fly away like birds when a man claps his hands.

   Have you ever had to begin all over again, at the very alphabet of
   repentance and childlike faith--and find even that no easy work? Did
   you never know what it was to get your cup right full of what you
   thought was holy joy and sweet experience and then for the Lord to turn
   it, bottom upward, and let you see that it was a mixture of
   self-conceit and sen-timentalism, with thick dregs at the bottom of
   pride and falsehood? Can you say with David, "I have seen an end of all
   perfection"? Have you ever been brought down from imaginary riches to
   bitter but honest poverty? Have you ever thought you were becoming so
   wonderfully sanctified that you could scarcely lay a split sheet of
   tissue paper between you and perfection--and then all of a sudden the
   Lord has laid you naked and made you loathe the sight of your inborn
   corruptions? You have been as a cup which bubbled at the top and
   frothed over, and the Lord has blown off the froth and made you see the
   black draught of your inward vileness.

   God has many ways of thus slaying, in His children, all that ought to
   die. Thus He kills the spiritual hypocrisy which is so common in us
   all. Our life seems, at times, to run all into puffballs and bloated
   fungi of self-glorying. We think that we are something when we are
   nothing! And then the Lord prunes us back to our real condition. Do you
   know what it is to be thus slain? Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, at times
   our life is a long experience of the power of death. Do you know what
   it is to say, "Is this prayer? Why, while I prayed, my thoughts were
   perplexed, distracted and wandering. Is this faith? Why, even on the
   most vital points my soul dares scarcely speak with confidence! Is this
   love?--love to Christ, which even while I exercise it accuses me on
   account of its lukewarmness and lack of self-denying ardor! Can this be
   spiritual life? Life at which I blush and over which I mourn! Life
   which scarcely reaches so far as feeling and when it does, soon
   subsides into insensibility!"

   Beloved Brethren, I speak from experience! All this is a kind of
   slaying by which the Lord hides pride from men and keeps them from the
   snares of vain confidence. Has He not written, "I kill and I make
   alive, I wound and I heal"? In these times of wounding and killing,
   which are very common to the experience of some of the children of God,
   the only thing we can do is still to trust--"Though He slay me, I will
   trust in Him." Trust Him though He sifts out nine-tenths of your hopes,
   burns up all your experiences, grinds your evidences to powder, crushes
   all your realized sanctities and sweeps away all your rests and
   refuges! Then, indeed, is the best time of all to exercise true faith!

   Once more, the grim supposition of the text, if ever it were realized
   by anybody, was realized by our Lord Jesus. Our great covenant Head
   knows to the full what His members suffer. God did slay Him and, glory
   be to His blessed name, He trusted God while He was being slain. "It
   pleased the Father to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief." Yet from
   the lips of our dear Lord we hear no expressions of unbelief. Read the
   22nd Psalm, where He says, "Our fathers trusted in You, they trusted in
   You and You did deliver them, but I am a worm, and no man." Hear how He
   pleads with God and specially listen to His dying words, where, though
   He says, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" yet a few minutes
   later He cries, "Into Your hands I commit My spirit."

   What? Into the hands of a God who had forsaken Him and smitten Him? Did
   He commit Himself into those hands? Yes, into those very hands! And
   herein we must follow in His steps. Though the Lord cuts, hews, hacks,
   tears and grinds us to powder, yet out of the dust, the tears and the
   blood of the conflict we must look up to Him and say, "I still trust
   You." Here is the patience of the saints! Here is the glory of faith!
   Blessed is the man who thus becomes more than a conqueror. I say it
   calmly, I would sooner be able to do as Job did, than to be one of
   yonder seraphim who have never suffered and, consequently, have never
   clung to a slaying God! I count it the grandest possibility of a
   created being that it is able to completely yield itself up into the
   Creator's hands and, unwaveringly believing in the Creator's love! O,
   royal word of a right royal soul, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust
   in Him."

   II. Secondly, we have before us A NOBLE RESOLUTION--"Yet will I trust
   in Him." Job meant that he was confident that the Lord was just. And
   though he did not feel that the suffering he was then enduring was sent
   upon him for his sins, yet he never doubted the righteousness of God in
   so afflicting him. His friends said, "You see, Job, you suffer more
   than anybody else. Therefore you must have been a hypocrite, for God
   will not lay upon any man more than is just." "No," said Job, "I have
   been upright before the Lord. And yet, on the other hand, I do not
   accuse the Lord of injustice, I am sure He does what is right. And I
   trust Him as much as ever."

   There were two things to which Job stuck very firmly--"Though He slay
   me, yet will I trust in Him, but I will maintain my own ways before
   Him"--that is, I will not admit that I have been a hypocrite, for I
   have been sincerely obedient to Him. Nor will I be driven to the other
   conclusion, that God is unjust in afflicting me. Job did not understand
   the Lord's reasons, but he continued to confide in His goodness. He set
   no terms or limits to the Lord's actions, but left all to His absolute
   will and was sure that whatever He might do, it must be right. Should
   death prevent all apparent possibility of making up to him all his
   losses and woes, his faith leaped over the sepulcher and saw Justice
   and Mercy alive in the realms beyond, making all things right in the
   end. O, it was grand, thus, to champion almighty goodness in the teeth
   of Death, itself!

   Now, dear Brethren, you and I, if we are resting upon God, may say,
   "Whatever happens, though I may not be able to understand God's
   dispensations to me any more than Job understood God's dispensations
   towards him, yet I am quite sure of this--that He will help me in my
   trouble and I will, therefore, cast myself upon Him--believing that as
   my days my strength shall be. Or if He does not aid me in my trouble
   with manifest help, I will still trust that He will bring me out of it,
   that if He seems to forsake me for a while, yet it shall be said of me
   as of God, "a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the
   last." If I should neither receive present help nor immediate
   deliverance, yet I am persuaded that my good is designed by my long
   trial and that God is making the worst things work out my everlasting
   benefit and His own Glory--therefore I will subunit to His will and
   expect, in the end, to see the lovingkindness of the Lord.

   Yes, and if I should have neither present help nor deliverance, nor see
   any immediate good come of my affliction, yet will I repose myself upon
   God, for in some mysterious way or other I shall yet know that His
   Providence was right and good, for He cannot err! His dealings must be
   wise, He cannot be unkind! His actions must be tender. Though the sharp
   edge of death, itself, invades me, I will hold to this belief, that
   You, O Lord, do all things right. If down to the sepulcher my steps
   must go and through the gloomy valley's darkest shade my pilgrimage
   must wind, yet will I fear no evil, for Your rod and staff shall be my
   confidence! And I will be sure that He who bids me die will bid me live
   again--up from the grave my body shall yet rise--and in my flesh I see
   shall God. As for my spirit, though it pass through the death shade, it
   shall come forth into a brighter light and in the eternity of Glory it
   shall receive abundant recompense for the sorrows of the present time.
   This is the faith for us to hold at all times--"Though He slay me, yet
   will I trust in Him."

   Why, do you think, Job was able to speak so positively about his
   trusting God? Was it not because he knew God? "They that know Your name
   will put their trust in You." If you would believe God, you must know
   Him! Those who are

   strangers to Him cannot trust Him. O, Beloved, only think what God is!
   Sometimes, when I am contemplating His Being and Character, I feel as
   if I could leap for joy! And when I touch upon the theme in the pulpit
   I feel as if I could talk on forever in His praise and use the
   grandest, sweetest, richest words in human language to tell what a
   blessed God my God is. What? The Lord do wrong to any of us?
   Impossible! The Lord be unkind to us? The supposition cannot be endured
   for a single moment! After once knowing Him, we feel that all the
   goodness and kindness of fathers, mothers, Brethren, children,
   husbands, wives--all put together--is only like one single drop of
   sweetness compared with that ocean full of honey which is to be found
   in His infinite love!

   Besides, we have not only His attributes to trust, but His past actions
   to us. Did my Lord forgive me all my sin? And after that will He ever
   be unkind to me? Did He lay down His life for me upon the accursed tree
   and can I dream that He will desert me? Have I looked into the wounds
   of my dying Savior and shall I ever murmur if He should multiply pains
   and sufferings and losses and crosses to me? God forbid! Such love as
   His forbids all fear! Did you ever lean on the Bridegroom's arm? Have
   you ever sung like the bride in the canticle, "His left hand is under
   my head, and His right arm does embrace me"? Did He ever stay you with
   dragons and comfort you with apples while your soul was sick with too
   much delight? And after all that, will you indulge harsh thoughts of
   Him? O, no! Till the day breaks and the shadows flee away, we cannot
   think harshly of Him who has dealt so kindly with us!

   His ways must be right! Such wondrous acts of love as His have proved
   to us beyond all question that He is Love, essential Love and cannot,
   therefore, do us an ill turn. Beside this, we know the relationship in
   which He stands to us. It has been said that you cannot trust an enemy
   and it has been equally well added you cannot trust a reconciled
   enemy-- suspicion lingers long! But our God is no reconciled enemy,
   though He is sometimes represented as if He were so. He has loved us
   with an everlasting love. His is no friendship of yesterday, no passion
   which began to burn a month or two ago. Long before the hills lifted up
   their heads, He loved us. The bands of His Fatherhood are upon us and
   we can well commit ourselves into His hands.

   Are any of us in great trouble, this morning? Then let us trust in the
   Lord, now, for what else can we do? Suppose we give up trusting in
   Him--to whom or where should we go? If this anchor drags, what other
   holdfast can there be? Let us continue to trust our Lord, for He
   deserves it! He has never done anything that could justify our doubting
   Him. Has He ever been false to us? Ah, Judas, you sold your Master, but
   your Master never sold you! Ah, unbelieving Heart, you have wandered
   from Jesus, but He never wandered from you! If you do not doubt Him
   till you have cause for doubting Him, it will not be soon!

   Let us trust our God, for this is the sweetest comfort a man can have.
   This side of Heaven nothing can yield the afflicted man such support
   under trial as when he can fall back upon the strong love of God and
   believe that the wisdom of God is overruling all. Nothing tends to
   sanctify our trials and produce good results from them, as faith in
   God. This is the Samson which finds honey in the lion. For a thousand
   reasons I would say, "Trust in the Lord at all times: you people, pour
   out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us." Say, each one of
   you, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!"

   III. And, now, the last point is this--A SECRET APPROPRIATENESS about
   it all. There is a something about our Lord's slaying us which should
   help us to trust Him. I would sooner the Lord should slay me with
   troubles and trials than let me alone in my sin. What says the
   Scriptures? "If you are without chastisement, whereof all are
   partakers, then are you bastards and not sons, for what son is he whom
   the father chastens not?" I do not so much pity the children of God who
   have a cross to carry--I reserve my fears for those worldlings who are
   not in trouble as other men, neither plagued like other men. It would
   be very foolish for the afflicted one to say, "I am no child of God
   because He smites me"--there would be more reason in the sinner's
   saying, "I am no child of God, for I have my portion in this life."

   Surely there is something in you which God loves, or else He would not
   be killing that which He hates. If He hates the sin in you, it is a
   good sign, for where do we hate sin most? Why, in those we love most!
   If you see a fault in a stranger, you wink your eye and say but little.
   But in your own dear child you are deeply grieved to observe it. Where
   there is true love there is a measure of jealousy and the more burning
   the love, the more fierce the jealousy, especially on the part of Jesus
   Christ. Where He sees sin in those who are very dear to Him, His fury
   burns not against them, but against their sin--and He will not stop
   until He has slain it!

   His rebukes are severe, not because of lack of love, but because He
   loves so much. An ungodly man met me some years ago, when I was
   suffering, and said to me in a jeering way, "Ah, whom the Lord loves,
   He chastens, I see." I said, "Yes, it is His custom." "Ah," he said,
   "so long as I am without the chastisement I am very content to be
   without the love." Oh, it brought the red into my cheeks and the tears
   into my eyes, and I cried, "I would not change places with you for
   10,000 worlds! If my God were to afflict me from head to foot I would
   bear it joyfully sooner than live a moment without His love." When the
   Lord flogs us, we love Him, and we would not leave Him though the devil
   should bribe us with all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of
   them. Our Father puts us, sometimes, into the black hole, and we are
   there crying bitterly under a sense of His wrath, but we love Him
   still, by His Grace. And if anybody were to find fault with Him, we
   would be up at once and say, "He is a good God and blessed be His
   name."

   Note, again, that the slaying of the creature is the very condition in
   which Faith was born and in which she delights to display her power. We
   are saved by passing from death unto life. As Noah was like a dead man,
   out of mind, shut up in the ark and, by this burial, passed into the
   new world. And as in the ordinance of Baptism we are in like figure
   buried with Christ that we may rise with Him. So Faith took her birth
   in the death of the creature at the time when the new life was breathed
   into us. When God is slaying all that is capable of death and our new
   immortal life, alone, survives, Faith feels as if her birthday had come
   over again and brought with it her native air.

   Notice again, it is at times when God is slaying us that our faith is
   being tested whether it is true or not. When all the winds are fair,
   how can you tell whether your boat would bear a storm? How much faith
   some of us have at times! Have you ever felt as if you could fight
   seven devils with one hand? There was not a devil within seven miles
   when you were so bold--but when the smallest fiend has drawn near--your
   courage has oozed out! We are like an old man whom I once knew, who
   said to me, "Here am I, 80 years old, and through the winter I often
   think I wish I had a bit of mowing or reaping to do, for I feel quite
   young again. But as soon as harvest comes on, and I get down my old
   sickle, I have not done much before I feel the old man is a very old
   man and had better leave that work alone."

   Slaying times let us know whether our strength is real strength and
   whether our confidence is true confidence! And this is good, for it
   would be a great pity for us to be stocked with heaps of vain faith,
   fictitious Grace and ready-made holiness. Some of my friends talk as if
   they had boldness enough for a dozen people, but I am afraid if they
   were tried, as some of us are, they would find they had not half enough
   for one! This is the benefit of trial--it lets us see what is gold and
   what is tinsel--what is fact and what is fiction. Alas, how much
   religious fiction is abroad at this time! Note further, that slaying
   times are the most favorable for trusting God. I have been putting a
   little riddle to myself. Here it is. Is it easier to trust God when you
   have nothing, or when you have all things?

   Is it easier to say, "Though He slay me, I will trust in Him," or to
   say, "Though He make me alive, I will trust in Him"? Will you think it
   over? Shall I help you? Here is a man without a farthing in the world.
   His cupboard is bare, his flocks are cut off from the field and his
   herds from the stall. Is it hard for that man to trust in God? If you
   say so I will not dispute with you. But here is another man who has a
   bank full of gold. His meadows are covered with flocks and herds, his
   barns are ready to burst with corn and his trade prospers on all hands.
   Now, Sirs, is it easy for that man to trust God? Do you say, "Yes"? I
   say, "No."

   I say that he has a very hard task, indeed, to live by faith, and the
   probabilities are that when he says, "I trust God," he is trusting his
   barn or his bank. All things considered, it occurs to me that it is
   easier to trust God in adversity than in prosperity, because whatever
   trust there is in adversity is real trust. But a good deal of the faith
   we have in prosperity is a kind of trust which you will have to take
   upon trust--and whether it is faith or not is a matter of serious
   question. Sirs, where is the room for faith when you can see, already,
   all that you need? A full barn has no room for faith if she is any
   bigger than a mouse. But in an empty barn faith has scope and liberty.
   When the brook Cherith is dried up, when the poor widow has nothing
   left but a handful of meal and a little oil, then there is room for the
   Prophet to exercise faith!

   O, Brothers and Sisters, it is well to go into action with clear decks.
   In the name of God, with double-barreled guns full of strong faith you
   can let the world and the flesh and the devil know what faith is! But
   while your deck is all hampered with comforts and visible resources,
   faith can scarcely stir a hand or move a gun. "Though He slay
   me"--well, that means everything is gone--only breath enough left for
   me just to exist. And now, my Lord, You are All in All to me. Now can I
   say, "Whom have I in Heaven but You? There is none upon the earth that
   I desire but You."

   Once more, these slaying times are very desirable occasions, because
   they allow the child of God to show that he is not a mercenary
   professor, held to Christ by a cupboard love. If God were always to
   prosper us the world would say, "These Christians follow their God as
   stray dogs follow those who give them bones, but they have no sincere
   love." When the Lord falls a whipping us and we love Him all the more,
   then they cannot say but what we are faithful! Nor can they deny the
   work of Grace in our souls. Oh, you that are Christians as long as it
   is pleasant to be Christians! You who make your love to Christ depend
   upon your feeling happy--what despicable beings you are!

   Our Lord wants not such base disciples, but such as can say, "If I lose
   all I have, still I love You, O my Savior. Your sweet love is so
   precious that if death were threatened me I would still choose You to
   be my All in All." Love desires opportunities for proving her
   disinterestedness and such is the opportunity of the text. There are
   seeking souls here, this morning, and I daresay they have said, "Mr.
   Spurgeon has been describing great faith--we shall never get to that."
   I have been thinking, dear Souls, what kind of a man is most like a
   little child. Is it not a very old man? What kind of faith is most like
   new-born faith? Why, the ripest and most advanced faith! My text is
   very old faith--"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

   But the very first faith I had in Christ--I remember it well--was just
   like it! I thought He would destroy me. I could not see how He could do
   otherwise and be a just God. I thought He must strike me down if I went
   to Him. He seemed to stand with a drawn sword in His hand. But I felt,
   "Well, if He does slay me, I had better die by His hand than remain His
   enemy." And I went to Him. I was like the boy who ran away from his
   homes and dared not return because he feared his father would flog him.
   He was out all night, shivering, cold and wet. He had nothing to eat
   all day. By the time he got to the next evening, such was his dread of
   being alone all through another night, that he said to himself, "I
   would sooner feel my father's rod than lie here." And so he went home
   and was received with tenderness!

   So with me. I thought if I went to the Lord, I should have to smart for
   it, but I concluded I would rather smart than be as I was. And so I
   went to Him and found I was safe. O poor Souls, come to Jesus Christ in
   that fashion! Say--

   "I can but perish if I go,

   lam resolved to try,

   For, if I stay away, I know

   I must forever die.

   But if I die with mercy sought,

   When I the king have tried;

   That were to die, delightful thought,

   As sinner never died."

   Say, "If I go to Hell, I will trust Christ. If I am cast away forever,
   I will trust Christ--and that cannot be, for, "he that believes in Him
   is not condemned." God grant you true faith, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 73. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--73 (PART 2), 689, 46 (VERS. 3).
     __________________________________________________________________

Why Men Cannot Believe in Christ

   (No. 1245)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not
   the honor that comes from God only?" John 5:44.

   OUR Savior was addressing Himself to Pharisees who would not receive
   Him, and who, no doubt, pleaded that they could not believe on Him.
   They had just seen a very notable miracle worked by Him--a man who had
   been sick many years had been suddenly restored and that by a word.
   That miracle, being of the same nature as the wonderful works of the
   great Father, a miracle of tenderness and Omnipotence, ought to have
   convinced them that Christ was the Son of God. They saw the miracle,
   however, and instead of drawing the proper inference, they began to
   quibble at the Master because He had performed it upon the Sabbath Day.
   The teaching of our Lord's wonderful work of mercy and power was lost
   upon them. They could not, they would not see the finger of God in the
   miracle.

   Before this miracle had occurred, John the Baptist had come--the Elijah
   who was foretold to herald the Messiah. These Pharisees had felt a
   partial belief in John and the popular voice compelled them to stifle
   any unbelief concerning him which may have lingered in their hearts.
   They dared not say that his ministry was altogether of man, and
   consequently they were posed by the Savior's question, "The ministry of
   John, was it from Heaven or of men?" They could not answer the question
   because if they denied his mission, the people would cry out against
   them. But, on the other hand, if they confessed that John came from
   Heaven, our Lord's reply would have been, "Why, then, did you not
   believe him and accept his testimony concerning Me?"

   They had, therefore, in addition to the miracle which Jesus worked, the
   testimony of John the Baptist, but still they could not believe. In
   addition to this, these men were exceedingly well acquainted with the
   Scriptures. The scribes made it their business to transcribe the Old
   Testament. They learned chapters and books by heart. Many of them were
   so well acquainted with the letter of Scripture that they could tell
   you which was the middle verse in each book! They have left us
   Masoretic notes which tell us what is the middle verse of the Bible,
   and the middle letter of the Bible and like trifles. They were very
   curious and careful concerning all the little jots and tittles of the
   sacred manuscripts.

   Now, those books speak plainly of Christ. It is marvelous that men
   conversant with Old Testament Scripture could see Jesus Christ and
   observe His doings and not discover that He was the Messiah of whom
   Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write. What witness can be
   plainer than that of Isaiah? Here was testimony upon testimony and yet,
   in the teeth of it all, the Christ was rejected! There are still
   persons of this kind in the world. They believe the Scriptures to be
   the Word of God, though they do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!
   They accept the Gospel narrative. They have no doubt, whatever, that
   Jesus, the Son of God, did live a life of perfection on earth and died
   as a substitutionary Sacrifice. They also believe that He has risen
   from the dead and is gone into Glory and has all power to save.

   They believe that the Gospel message is true and yet they do not
   believe on the Lord Jesus--I mean that they do not so believe in Him in
   spirit and in truth as to believe unto salvation. They stop short with
   the knowledge of the outward facts. They do not come with their hearts
   and rest upon Him as their whole salvation. And if you ask them why
   not, they will not say that they will not, and shall not, but that they
   cannot. They plead a need of ability and they endeavor, as well as they
   can, to screen themselves behind that lack of ability. It is a
   monstrous thing, beyond all things monstrous, that a man should plead
   that he is under a necessity to call his God a liar!

   It is an amazing thing that a man should actually urge as an apology
   for remaining at enmity to God that he cannot believe Him! That is to
   say, he actually pleads the great sin of calling God a liar as an
   excuse for his rebellion! What is that but to insult the Majesty of
   Heaven with an excuse which is, in itself, the highest insolence? To
   say I cannot believe a man is to malign his character. And to say that
   I cannot believe God is to do Him the highest conceivable dishonor. To

   what a pitch has the human heart gone in extravagance of presumptuous
   daring, when it boldly tells God that it cannot believe His testimony
   concerning His Son?

   And though He says, "Believe in My Son and you are saved," man dares to
   answer Him thus, "We cannot believe in Your Son," as if the Christ of
   God were a liar, too, and He who died for us and gave the best pledge
   of His love, was not to be trusted. Alas for our race! Has it, indeed,
   come to this, that it is a hard thing to rely upon One who cannot
   deceive us, and difficult to place our dependence upon One who is able
   to save to the uttermost? Now, I want to deal as gently as I dare with
   those of you who have pleaded inability. It is very likely true that
   you cannot believe--let us try to find out the reason for it.

   The difficulty does not lie in the Truth of God to be believed, for it
   is neither absurd nor incredible. Neither does it lie in any need of
   mental faculty in yourself by which you might believe. In your case,
   the difficulty is not a mental one, for you already believe in the
   Inspiration of the Word of God, and in the mission of Christ and so on.
   Your difficulty, and I shall be faithful with you and try to put my
   finger upon it, just as Christ was faithful with these people and
   pointed out their moral difficulty--"How can you believe, which receive
   honor one of another?" May the Holy Spirit put power into my words.

   First, let us speak of the hindrance which was in the way of these
   Pharisees. And then, secondly, let us make some guesses at the
   hindrances in the way of some of you who cannot believe.

   I. First, THE HINDRANCE IN THE WAY OF THE PHARISEES. It may be in the
   way of some here and, therefore, let us note it carefully. They
   received honor one of another. Now, the mere fact of receiving honor,
   even if that honor is rightly rendered, may make faith in Christ a
   difficulty. A man gets to feel that he is something when others honor
   him and this is dangerous, for a man never believes in Jesus till he
   knows himself to be nothing. If others praise us. If they dwell upon
   our good points. If they pay respect to our rank. If they notice our
   abilities and talents, we are very apt to think that there should be
   some special way to Heaven for us--some platform tickets to let us in
   by a back door a little apart from the common crowd of sinners because
   we are so respected.

   And when the Gospel says, "You must be saved as a sinner or not at all.
   You must give up all claims of merit and all reliance upon what you can
   do, or else you never can be saved," then, in all probability the mere
   fact of our having received honor from other people will render it the
   more difficult for us to believe a doctrine which gives no honor to
   men, but stains the pride of all glory and casts human excellency into
   the dust. It is still more perilous if, receiving honor, we come to
   expect it, as these people did. They expected their countrymen to pay
   them homage. Were they not called by their brethren, "great," and
   "distinguished," and "learned"? Were they not styled "doctor" and,
   "rabbi," and the like? They came to think that the people ought to
   honor and esteem them! And thus they went a step deeper into the
   perilous floods, for when a man gets to feel that he ought to be
   honored, he is in extreme danger.

   I have known some who have been worthy of much honor and have received
   it without being in any degree elevated. With a proper modesty they
   have shunned the fame which followed them and blushed when it has
   overtaken them. But it is not given to all men to bear the serious
   trial of honor. Too many men, receiving honor, come to expect
   honor--and he who expects honor is not in that condition of heart which
   renders it easy to fall down on his knees at the Throne of Divine Mercy
   and cry, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

   Now, some of you may be very much esteemed in your families--I am very
   glad you are. But, perhaps without your knowing it, there is growing up
   the feeling that you ought to be esteemed. Now, dear Friend, take care
   lest that should fester into a dangerous pride which will be your ruin!
   You know the simple story, (I dare say you have heard it told), of the
   slave owner who was under conviction and who had a servant under
   impressions, too. But poor Sam found Christ and peace long before his
   master did, at which the master expressed his wonder. The slave
   replied, "Do you see, Massa, when de angel comes along with a white
   robe, he says to Massa, 'Here is a new robe for you.' Massa looks at
   his coat, a little worn and a few holes, but still pretty fine. 'Ah,'
   says Massa, ' it will patch up and do a little longer,' so Massa does
   not get de new robe. De angel comes to Sam and says, 'Sam, new robe for
   you.' Sam says, 'Ah, I am all rags--I am all rags! Thank you,' and I
   put on de new robe at once, Massa."

   Now, there is just that fear lest your very amiable character and the
   respect it brings you should lead you to be all the longer in accepting
   the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. That, perhaps, is where your
   difficulty may be found at the present time. And if so, dear Friend,
   humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and you shall be exalted
   in due time, "for

   God resists the proud, but He gives Grace to the humble." Remember, you
   may not be at all offensively proud to other people and yet there may
   be much pride in your heart in the sight of God--and this may be
   hindering you from believing the simple, precious Gospel which is meant
   for the guilty and the lost and the ruined, and which, dear Friends, is
   really meant for you if you did but know your own condition.

   In the case of the Pharisees, however, there was something more than
   that. They not only received honor and expected honor, but this honor
   was quite undeserved. These men won respect by a false character. Oh,
   they were wonderfully good men and marvelously religious! They had two
   pennyworth of halfpence to give away and they sounded a trumpet in the
   street, and everybody said, "What a generous man that Rabbi Ben Simeon
   is! He has been giving money away at the corner of the street." When
   they paid their tithes they were very particular to send the servant
   down into the garden to cut exactly a tenth-part of the mint, the anise
   and the cumin. True, it was not worth two pence, it would not have made
   up a pound sterling in a hundred years--but it was intended to let
   everybody see their thorough-going principles.

   Everybody said, "Rabbi Ben Simeon is so very exact in the payment of
   his tithes. He is such a very holy man! He actually begged the
   collector to give him change for half a farthing so as to be quite
   correct, and not have even a sprig of mint on his conscience. He is
   very holy! Look at the border of his garment--other people wear theirs
   about an inch wide, but his is six inches at least! His tailor says
   that he is one of the godliest men he ever knew and spends a deal in
   trimmings. He is very holy and observes all the fasts--you can tell
   that by his sad countenance. He fasts twice in the week! Whoever heard
   of such self-denial? It is true he has a famous appetite on the other
   five days, but yet he is a very holy man."

   They extolled one another for this ostentatious religiousness--this
   wonderful piety! But if you could have seen the Pharisee in private you
   would have discovered that he really did not deserve a word of praise,
   for there, behind the door, what is that he is eating? Our Lord tells
   you--it is a widow's substance. "You devour widows' houses, and for a
   show make long prayers." He has been washing his hands because he has
   been to market, and they need it, for an orphan's plunder defiles them.
   He carefully washes before he eats bread, but though he has made clean
   the outside of the cup and the platter, his inner part is full of
   filthiness.

   Albeit that he was strict as to ceremonies, he taught men to set aside
   the Commandments of God and follow, instead, the commandments of men.
   The fellow, instead of deserving to be praised, ought to have been
   hooted off the stage for his hypocrisy! Now, be sure of this, if a man
   has a fine character, but does not deserve it--if he allows that piece
   of dishonesty to go on, I do not wonder that he cannot believe in Jesus
   Christ! How could he? A man so false through and through--how could he
   believe the Truth of God? If a man has lived in the dark all his life,
   do you wonder that the light makes his eyes ache and that, therefore,
   he hates it? If a man has been incrusted in filth from his birth and
   thrived in it, there is no wonder that he judges purity to be quite a
   superfluity. Believe in Jesus Christ? O, Man, while you are acting so
   vile a part, there is no wonder that you cannot believe in the honest,
   truthful Savior!

   Now, is there anybody here who wears before the eyes of men a fair
   character and yet, in secret, is anything but what he ought to be? O
   Sir, if you cannot believe in Jesus, I can very well comprehend your
   difficulty! But, O, may God make you sincere--may He turn you into that
   honest and good ground on which the Seed will grow, for it never will
   grow in a hypocrite's heart, let us preach to him as long as we may!
   These people who received honor had a further difficulty, namely, that
   always receiving this undeserved honor, they deceived themselves into
   believing that they deserved it. A man who deludes other people, by
   degrees comes to delude himself--the deluder first makes dupes of
   others and then becomes a dupe to himself!

   I should not wonder but what the Pope really believes that he is
   "infallible," and that he ought to be saluted as, "His Holiness." It
   must have taken him a good time to arrive at that eminence of
   self-deception, but he has got there, I dare say, by now, and every one
   who kisses his toe confirms him in his insane idea! When everybody else
   believes a falsehood concerning you, you come, at last, to believe it
   yourself, or at least to think that it may be so. These Pharisees,
   being continually called "the learned rabbi," "the holy scribe," "the
   devout and pious doctor," "the sanctified teacher," almost believed the
   flattering compliments! They used very grand phrases in those days and
   doctors of divinity were very common, almost as common as they are now.
   And the crowd of doctors and rabbis helped to keep each other in
   countenance by repeating one another's fine names till they believed
   they meant something.

   Dear Friends, it is very difficult to receive honor, to expect it and
   yet to keep your eyesight, for men's eyes gradually grow dull through
   the smoke of the incense which is burned before them. And when their
   eyes become dim with self-

   conceit, it will not be at all unusual if they say, "We cannot believe
   in Jesus Christ." Their own great selves conceal the Cross and make
   them unable to believe the Truth of God! Once more, the praise of men
   generally turns the receivers of it into great cowards. How could they
   believe in Jesus? Why, the people would leave off terming them, "the
   learned rabbi," and "the celestial doctor," and their brethren would
   put them out of the synagogue! How could they believe and lose their
   status?

   Why, the people would say, "Has rabbi So-and-So become a disciple of
   the carpenter's son? Has he put aside his wisdom and become a child,
   that he may be instructed by the Nazarene?" Why, the whole Sanhedrim
   would hiss out indignation against the learned man, the pious man, the
   devout man with his phylactery and the broad border on his garment, if
   he were to follow with publicans and harlots at the heels of the
   rejected Messiah! They were afraid! They were afraid! That same spirit
   which makes us love the praises of men makes us dread the threats of
   men. You cannot be pleased with the adulation of mankind without
   becoming fearful of their censure. It is a perilous thing to taste of
   human honor--if it makes you sick, it is the best thing it can do for
   you. If you despise it utterly, it is the only way of bearing it
   without being injured by it, for I say again, delight in the praises of
   others saps the foundations of a man's manhood--delight in the praise
   of men takes a man off from following after the Glory of God and makes
   him afraid of following the Truth if it costs him ridicule.

   Now, I am afraid that there are many here who cannot believe in Jesus
   Christ because they are afraid. Yes, there is a commercial traveler
   over there! If he were to become a Christian, why, the next time he
   went into the commercial room it would be known and there would be many
   odd remarks and no end of chaffing! You, Mr. Commercial, cannot follow
   Christ, can you? It is plain that you cannot believe and the reason is
   plain, too--you are a great coward! There is a working man over there
   and he knows that it is right to be a believer in Jesus Christ, but he
   cannot believe. And the reason is that he could not stand those coarse
   remarks which he would be sure to get in the shop tomorrow morning! He
   has not spirit enough to bear with ridicule! He is the slave of others
   and trembles at their laughter! I would sooner lie in my grave than be
   so mean a thing.

   Some are afraid of their brothers, others are afraid of the companions
   that they spend their evenings with. They have been, until this time,
   the first to lead the laugh at the evening carnival. If they were to be
   converted they would lose their little empire and no longer be a
   favorite. They could not stand contempt! Oh, the fear of man, the fear
   of man! What cowards it makes of intelligent beings! It is not
   conscience that makes cowards of us one-half so much as the need of
   con-science--if we had more conscience we should have less fear of
   men--and would brave their scowls, and scorn their scorn, and bid
   defiance to their threats. But, O, how many live on the breath of their
   fellow men! To be approved--to be applauded--that is their Heaven!

   But to be despised, to be sneered at, to be called a fool, to have some
   nickname applied to them--O, no--they would sooner go to Hell than bear
   that! I say that they are fools with an emphasis if that is the case!
   And if they will use their wits for a moment I think they will see it
   so, for surely to be lost to please fools is to be a fool yourself!
   Please your friends as far as it is right, but never go to such an
   expense as the ruin of your souls to keep up friendship with sinners.
   That man is no friend of mine who would leave me ruin my soul! I have
   known friends come to a man and suck all his estate out of him, lead
   him into speculations and schemes that serve their turn and desert him
   when they have ruined him! Do you call such men, friends?

   We do not, when we speak honestly, call them such, and shall I call him
   a friend who leads me into sinful amusements, who seeks my favor by
   teaching me how to indulge my passions and courts my praise while
   ruining my soul? He is my decided enemy! He cannot be my friend at all!
   Flee from all of his class, young man, if you cannot convert him. Do
   not be such a coward as to be afraid of anybody! Stand straight up as
   God made you, and say, "No, He never made me to be afraid of man, or
   woman, either. He has made me a man and the very least thing I can do
   is to pray Him to make me manly enough to buy the Truth of God and sell
   it not, and take up my Cross and follow Christ, come what may of it."
   Thus much upon the point as it concerned the Pharisees and some here.

   II. Now, secondly, I am going to make some guesses as to OTHER
   HINDRANCES and you must all help me. You who cannot believe must help
   me by trying to find out how far I am describing your cases. It is, no
   doubt, true that some are unable to believe in Christ because they have
   a very high opinion of themselves. They have never done anything amiss,
   at least, not much, and they have got very good hearts at bottom. And
   if there has been anything awry they mean to

   mend and set it all right. They have no doubt that they will fare as
   well as most people. They will just do their best and God Almighty is
   very merciful and, no doubt, they will, by some means, get on the right
   side of the Judge at last.

   Ah, dear Friend, you must be purged of this perilous stuff, or you
   cannot be saved! Your self-satisfaction is founded upon falsehood! Your
   heart is not so good as you think it, nor your conduct so commendable
   as you suppose. You have not done your best. If you will examine your
   past life, your conscience will find out many instances in which you
   did not do your best. And you cannot--mark that word--despite the
   apparent strength of that resolve of yours--you cannot conquer sin. I
   must say to you as Joshua to the children of Israel, "You cannot serve
   the Lord." You are going to fight a stout enemy and the spear you carry
   in your hand is but a reed which will snap in battle's perilous hour.

   You think that you shall chase out the Canaanites, but they have
   chariots of iron and you cannot drive them out. I wish you would give
   up thinking that you can, for as long as you are strong and good and
   meritorious you will never be saved! Confess that you have failed!
   Confess that you are weakness, itself! Lay hold on the Divine strength!
   Leave yourself in the hands of Jesus! Yield to His Holy Spirit and sin
   will be conquered! Unless you do this, the real reason why you cannot
   believe in Christ is because you believe in yourself, and that is a
   very sorry reason for unbelief. The lie of self-conceit prevents your
   seeing the great Truth of Christ's ability to save.

   In many cases there is a strong aversion to confession of sin and to an
   approach to God, and that is the reason why men cannot believe. When
   they are told, "Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus has everlasting
   life," they answer, "I wish I could believe, but I cannot." Now, let me
   ask one who speaks in that fashion. Did you ever go to God with tears
   and say, "Lord, I have sinned"? Did you ever acknowledge your
   transgressions to the Lord and, acknowledging them, did you then say,
   "God be merciful to me a sinner"? No, you have not done that and you
   cannot bring your mind to it. You do not like to make a clean breast of
   it. Now, he that confesses his sin shall find mercy, but none else.
   David said, "When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring
   all the day long."

   Moreover, if you do not confess your sin to the Lord, I do not see how
   you can believe in Christ, because Christ has come to pardon sin, and
   if you will not confess that you have transgressed, how can you believe
   in His power to pardon? How can you rightly value forgiveness when you
   are not awake to the fact that you have offended? The Lord Jesus has
   come to cleanse you by virtue of His blood. But if you do not need
   cleansing, or will not acknowledge that you do, I can well understand
   you when you say, "I cannot believe in Him." It is your hardness of
   heart! It is your hatred of God! It is your esteem of yourself that
   hinders!

   Many, also, are unable to believe in Jesus Christ because they are too
   lazy. They are slothfully thoughtless and careless. A great many young
   people and some older ones, too, do not like thinking--it is too much
   trouble. If you think, some of you women, it is about how that ribbon
   will suit your complexion. And some of you men, if you think at all, it
   is only about how you shall get an extra five pound note by your
   speculations. Thinking is a kind of work which the mass of the present
   race abhor! They will no more think than butterflies will make honey.
   They flit from flower to flower, but gather nothing. I know that this
   is true of multitudes in this country and I confess it was true of
   myself before the Lord, in mercy, met with me.

   I did not want to think about sin, death, Heaven and Hell. I did not
   mind hearing a sermon, because that was the proper thing, and one could
   soon shake off any uneasy impression produced by it. To spend an hour
   quite alone, to look into another world, to face death, judgment and
   eternity--that is very dreary work to you whose main consideration is
   to kill time and keep yourselves amused. Now, my dear Friend, if you
   are a trifler, indifferent, careless, frivolous, superficial, giddy,
   forever giggling, not even serious enough to laugh--if life is all
   surface work with you--I can very well understand why you cannot
   believe in Jesus Christ. You do not seem to have mind enough, or sense
   enough, for you degrade yourself into a semi-idiotic state by your
   frivolity. May God awaken you!

   This life was given us for something better than to be sported away. It
   is not all a game of badminton, or skipping-rope. This life is given
   you to be followed by another--and that other will be molded by this.
   What you are here you will be forever. He that is filthy, here, will be
   filthy. And he that is holy, here, will be holy. Mind what you do! The
   hours you try to get rid of, when you speak of, "killing time," will
   accuse you before God as their murderer and bear blood-red evidence
   upon their hands against you. Wake up from such laziness, I charge you,
   lest you wake up when it will be too late! Already such sluggishness
   has kept you from believing--it will soon sleep you into Hell.

   There are some, again, who cannot believe in Jesus Christ because they
   are very, very fond of what they call pleasure. Now, every man is
   desirous of happiness and is not to be condemned for being so. The
   human mind was constituted to enjoy pleasure, but it was never created
   that it might be content with the vanities which nowadays are falsely
   called pleasures. It makes one blush for the age in which we live when
   we think of the trifles, light as air, in which our neighbors take
   delight. Sinful

   pleasures are a great bar to faith and must be renounced. That evil
   companion who has charmed you with questionable jests must be given up.
   Do you say that you cannot quit him? Then I see why you cannot believe
   in Jesus!

   That house of unclean amusement which leads to vice--unbelievers know
   that they must forsake it if they believe in Christ--and they cannot
   believe because they love the place of temptation. They hesitate. They
   deliberate. They say that they cannot believe in Jesus, but if they
   would speak the truth, they mean they cannot give up sweet sin! Sin is
   such a dainty that they need to roll it under their tongue and relish
   it once more. They prefer their pleasure to their Savior! Let me also
   say there are some who are unable to believe in Jesus Christ for
   reasons which I hardly care to utter publicly, and yet I must do it. I
   have sometimes had sorrowful proof of the reason why some men have
   lived in unbelief of Christ.

   After death I have heard what it would have been a shame to whisper in
   the ear of an unsuspecting wife. The man was a respectable merchant in
   the City. He went into the "best society," but he was keeping a
   mistress and living in fornication all the while! He said he could not
   believe in Christ! Do you wonder? How could he? I speak plainly,
   because these things are very common among your respectable merchants
   and they need to be told plainly of their sins. Do not come whining to
   me about "I can't believe in Jesus Christ." Of course you cannot while
   you live in filthy lusts!

   Some cannot believe, but why is it? Why, about once a fortnight, or
   perhaps once a month, the bottle gets the upper hand of them! They
   cannot believe, no, and there is another thing they cannot do, they
   cannot walk straight! They cannot believe, but they could if they would
   fling that brandy bottle out of the window--the vile drink stands
   between them and Christ. To show us that they cannot believe, they hunt
   up some of Tom Paine's blasphemies. And when they get "half seas over"
   they blubber out their religious difficulties and want us to believe
   that they are troubled about them! They are only acting a part-- they
   are not honest infidels--they only use skepticism to quiet their
   consciences, for they know very well that drunkenness is their real
   master. There are plenty of very respectable people who never have to
   pay "five shillings and costs," and yet do not go to bed sober as a
   rule. I mean women as well as men. These, also, cannot believe.

   Have I not told some of you why you cannot believe? I will not mince
   matters with you. You know that what I say is true. I cannot go into
   all the sins which separate between men and Christ, but there are some
   who live for gain and, therefore, cannot believe. They must make money!
   Their first aim and their last is to make money--and they are making
   money--but they are making money in a way they would not like to have
   known. "There are tricks in all trades," they say, as if they would
   smudge everybody else with their black brush to make themselves seem
   clean!

   Now, I do not believe that every tradesman practices dishonesty. I
   believe there are many who would scorn a trick even if they could win
   millions thereby. And therefore it is not fair to blacken our neighbors
   to excuse ourselves. There are men about who seek gain and will stick
   at any lie if they can make a profit. They are making "great
   sacrifices" always--of their customers, I suspect, mainly. They
   misrepresent their goods and puff them with barefaced lies--the world
   is full of this rotten trading. Are any of you engaged in such trading?
   Dare you go to God and say, "Lord, help me to believe in the Lord Jesus
   Christ," and then take down your shutters and cheat people? Why, the
   Lord will never help you to do anything of the sort! You must give up
   knavery and puffery, for you cannot serve God and Mammon, and God will
   never help you to do so.

   There is no promise in the Bible that God will allow a man to remain
   dishonest and yet be saved. You need to be saved from your dishonesty,
   to be saved from your drunkenness, to be saved from your injustice! And
   unless you are saved from these you can by no means enter the kingdom
   of Heaven. May God grant us Grace to shake these vipers into the fire,
   for, O, my Hearers, though I have spoken sternly, just now, even as
   John the Baptist might have done, I, also, am a man and would plead
   with you tenderly. What sin can be worth indulging at the expense of
   your soul? Young soldier, over yonder, is there any sin which prevents
   your being a Christian in your regiment? Can any sin repay you for
   losing your soul? Young woman, over there, tempted by pleasure, can any
   gaiety be worth losing Heaven? Whether young or old, I ask you, "What
   shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
   soul?" I have spoken roughly to you in love--love to your souls. If the
   whole host of pleasurable sins could be put together and gold piled
   upon them high as the moon, the whole mass would not repay a man for
   being cast into the fires of Hell! Do not run such risks, I pray you.
   May great Grace enable you to cast your sins away and take Christ at
   once.

   There is one other thing I will mention, which I am persuaded prevents
   a great many from believing in Christ, and it is this--they complain
   that they cannot believe that God will forgive such sinners as they
   are--and they try to make out that it is impossible that their
   iniquities should be pardoned. I have, on several occasions, discovered
   that the true reason has been that they have not forgiven other people.
   Now, let us not deceive you. You must forgive everyone his trespasses
   against you, or your Father in Heaven will never forgive you. An
   unforgiving man is an unforgiven man. Let us say that again--An
   unforgiv-

   ing man is an unforgiven man! If you take your brother by the throat
   and say, "Pay me what you owe," you cannot wonder that the great King
   should be angry and refuse to hear you when you pray unto Him!

   It is a very dreadful thing when this kind of spirit springs up between
   relatives, but it does do so. We have known parents who cannot forgive
   children. And we have known brothers who cannot forgive brothers, so
   that two of the same family will not speak to each other by the year
   together. I hope they are not so daring as to come to the Communion
   Table in such a temper as that, because they have no right there,
   certainly! It is not possible for us to be at peace with God if we will
   not be at peace with one another. May I not have put my finger upon the
   cause of unbelief in some now present? I know I have!

   And now to sum up all in a word. If these are the reasons why you
   cannot believe in Jesus Christ, are they not reasons which aggravate
   your sin? You dare not plead any one of them before God. They are
   reasons which will fail you when you come to die. Remember, they will
   all be made known at the Day of Judgment. Every secret sinner here will
   have to stand forth to be seen as I stand publicly before you now. Yes,
   and much more so! Every man will be visible to the eyes of the
   assembled universe--and all his actions will be read out in the face of
   the sun--and more, his motives will be published, too. Who--who among
   you but must feel some dread of the Great Day of Assize? If you are not
   covered by the Righteousness of Christ, how will you endure the
   revelation of that day?

   There will be no secrets then! A trumpet voice shall proclaim aloud
   every hidden thing and the lightning flash of the Divine eye shall
   discover the deeds of darkness. O, Soul, if you have any of these
   reasons for not believing, what shall I say to you? Put away such
   unreasonable reasons! God has given His Son to bleed and die for
   sinners--all He bids sinners do is to come and trust His Son--and if
   they will but trust His Son they are saved! Their transgressions are
   forgiven the moment they believe in Jesus! They receive a new life and
   begin a new career. "But," you say, "how am I to know that it is so?"
   God says it is so! Is not that enough? There are hundreds of us here
   who have tried and proved the Truth of the promise--

   "Oh, believe the message true-- God to us His Son has given." Rest on
   Him and you shall have the blessings which He came to give to the
   guilty and the lost!

   I feel as if I cannot utter what I feel, or feel as I ought to feel,
   when I look round upon this congregation and remember that there are
   many here who are refusing Jesus Christ--and that some of them, in a
   very short time, will be where they will have no more space for
   believing unto life, but will be shut out forever from all hope! I
   cannot bear the thought that one among you should then say, "I went to
   hear the preacher at the Tabernacle one Sunday evening and he preached
   to us about the reasons why we could not believe. But he was so very
   smooth-tongued and velvet-mouthed that he did not deal with our
   consciences fairly and honestly."

   No, Sirs! You will not dare to say that! You will not dare to say that!
   I have spoken plainly to you! What, then, will you say? You will have
   to admit, "I was plainly warned, but I persisted in not believing in
   Jesus Christ. I said I could not, but the reason was that I would not.
   I harbored evils in my heart and I refused to get rid of them. And so I
   could not believe in Christ. I chose my own destruction and now that I
   have accomplished it, I have no one to blame but myself. Over the roof
   of that dreadful prison in which I am shut in forever, I continually
   read these words, 'You knew your duty, but you did it not. You heard of
   Jesus, but you rejected Him, and your blood is on your own head.'"

   God grant it may not be so, but instead thereof, may many of you come
   to believe in Jesus now! And then we will meet in Heaven and praise
   redeeming Grace. Hoping that free Grace will make it so, we will sing
   one of Mr. Sankey's joyful hymns-- "Ring the Bells of Heaven"--

   "Ring the bells of Heaven! There is joy today, For a soul returning
   from the wild! Look! The Father meets him out upon the way, Welcoming
   His weary wandering child. Glory! Glory! How the angels sing, Glory!
   Glory! How the loud harps ring! 'Tis the ransomed army, like a mighty
   sea, Pealing forth the anthem of the free."

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--John 5. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--387, 572, 541.

   Adapted from The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, Ages Software,
   1.800.297.4307.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Blessings Of Following On

   (No. 1246)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth
   is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as
   the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hosea 6:3.

   I MUST first remove the moldy piece from the text, and that is the
   word, "if," which has no sort of business here whatever. You notice
   that the translators put it in italics, to intimate to us that it was
   no Word of God, but one of their own words which they thought necessary
   to complete the sense. We might read--and we should, to be far nearer
   the sense--"Then shall we know when we follow on to know the Lord." Or,
   perhaps, better still, "We shall know: we shall follow on to know the
   Lord," for there is no trace of question in the matter, and no
   indication of an, "if." We will cut out man's, "if," and then take the
   text as it should have been--"Then shall we know when we follow on to
   know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning."

   I continually hear it said concerning those who have been converted, or
   profess to have been converted of late, "We hope they will hold on." I
   wish people would speak what they mean and not veil their speech, for
   the plain English of that expression frequently is, "We do not believe
   that they will hold on." "We hope they will," means, "We do not expect
   it." One thing is quite certain, however--those who are truly converted
   to God can be safely left in God's hands. If they have, indeed,
   believed in Jesus Christ--in Jesus only, with all their hearts--their
   salvation is as sure as if they were already within the gates of
   Paradise! The Redeemer will not suffer any soul to perish trusting in
   Him--

   "His honor is engaged to save

   The meanest of His sheep,

   All that His heavenly Father ga ve,

   His hands securely keep.

   Nor death, nor Hell, shall ever remove

   His favorites from His breast,

   In the dear bosom of His lo ve

   They must forever rest."

   Question whether it is a work of Grace if you will, though I would much
   rather the questioning spirit were laid aside. But if it is the Lord's
   work, it will stand, for neither time nor eternity, nor life nor death,
   shall ever cast down that which Divine Omnipotence builds up! Jehovah
   puts not His hands to a work which shall ultimately crumble into
   nothingness! My dear young Friends, if you have believed in Jesus and
   are tormented by these quibblers, with their pretended hopes as to your
   holding on, I beseech you, be in earnest to disappoint the fears of
   your friends and the expectations of your foes, by living near to God,
   by asking for persevering Grace, by watching carefully every step you
   take and by guarding jealously, by the aid of the blessed Spirit, your
   own hearts in private, lest by any means the enemy get an advantage
   over you.

   Let it be the great object of your ambition that you may hold on and
   hold out to the end--and so prove that the Lord has, indeed, looked
   upon you with an eye of love. There is a sweet verse in one of our
   hymns which I commend to you who are beginners in the Divine Life--

   "We ha ve no fear that You should lose

   One whom eternal love could choose;

   But we would never that Grace abuse,

   Let us not fall, let us not fall."

   The first part of the text meets all doubts about perseverance in
   Divine Grace and the second comforts souls distressed for another
   reason. While some young Christians are troubled about whether they
   shall hold on, others are very much exercised because of the
   slenderness of their knowledge. They compare themselves with older
   Christians and they say, "How

   can I be a child of God when I know so little?" They even contrast
   themselves with their teachers and because they, as they might
   naturally expect, are somewhat behind them, they conclude that surely
   they cannot have been taught of God at all!

   I beseech these friends to remember that the green blade has not the
   ripeness of the full ear, nor can it expect to have as yet--that the
   child has not the experience nor the strength of the man, nor can he
   expect to have as yet--that the early morning has not the warmth of
   noon, nor can we expect it should have. It has its own peculiar
   beauties, though it has not yet the full glory of meridian splendor.
   There is a growth in the Divine Life. You do not know what you shall
   know, you are not what you shall be, you have not yet what you shall
   have, you do not enjoy what you shall enjoy. But these are among the
   things to come which are yours.

   I begin, therefore, the handling of my text with this double
   remark--let not the fears of some that you will not hold on disturb
   you, rather let them excite you to lean more fully upon Christ. And let
   not your own consciousness of ignorance depress you--let that, also,
   lead you nearer to the Savior, who alone teaches us to profit. In our
   text there are three points. The first is, our business--"Follow on to
   know." The second is, God's promise--"Then shall you know." And the
   third is, the modes by which this promise is fulfilled--"His going
   forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the
   rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."

   I. First, then, here is OUR BUSINESS. It is to follow on to know the
   Lord. And that implies, first, that we begin with knowing the Lord. You
   cannot follow on with that which you have not commenced. There is a
   religiousness which contains in it no knowledge of God whatever. Beware
   of it! The religion which consists only in the knowledge of outward
   rites and ceremonies, or the knowledge of orthodoxies, the knowledge of
   doctrinal distinctions, the knowledge of religious language and brogues
   and experiences or the knowledge of popular hymns--that religion is
   vain. There must be a knowledge of God!

   And, mark you, if you know God, you will think very little of yourself.
   He who knows not God thinks man a noble being--he who has seen God
   thinks man to be dust and ashes. He who knows not God's holiness thinks
   himself to be a good creature, but when he sees a thrice-holy God he
   says, "I abhor myself." He who knows not God thinks man to be a
   wonderful being, able to accomplish whatever he wills. But in the sight
   of God, human strength is burned up and man becomes lighter than
   vanity. Do you know God? O my dear Hearer, do you know God in the
   majesty of His Justice as condemning your sin and you for sin?

   Do you know God in the splendor of His Love, as giving Jesus Christ to
   die for sinners, blending that Love with Justice--for Love gave Jesus
   and Justice slew Him? Do you know God in the fullness of His power to
   save, renewing the heart, changing the mind, subduing the will? Do you
   know Him, even, in this which is, comparatively, a slender branch of
   knowledge? If you do, you have begun to know Him and you have begun to
   know yourself, too, for he knows not himself who does not know
   something of God. Oh, to know the Father as my Father who has kissed me
   and put the best robe upon me! Oh, to know the Son as my Brother, in
   whose garments I am accepted and stand comely in the sight of God! Oh,
   to know the Spirit as the Quickener and the Divine Indweller and
   Illuminator, by whose light, alone, we see, and in whose life we live!

   To know the Lord--that is true religion! And I say again, any religion,
   whatever it is--Churchianity or Nonconformity, or whatever you like--if
   it does not lead you to know God, it is of no use whatever. The
   knowledge of God is the basis of all saving experience. "The fear of
   God is the beginning of wisdom." "Acquaint yourself, now, with Him and
   be at peace." This is the one great business of human life--to know the
   Lord. And next, our business is to advance in this knowledge. We must
   shut out of our minds all ideas that we fully know the Lord, for the
   text says, "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know." Now a man
   will never follow on if he judges that he has reached the end! If he
   comes to the conclusion, "I know the Lord. I know all about Him. I know
   all that is knowable"--that man will not follow on and, therefore, I am
   afraid that he will never know the Lord at all.

   I trembled for a very beloved Brother the other day when I heard that
   he had declared that he could not sing "Nearer my God, to You," for he
   was already as near to God as it was possible to be. Brothers and
   Sisters, my soul feels a horror creeping over it when such expressions
   are used! And more so when they fall from those I love. I know nothing
   about such talk as that--it seems to me to be sheer vanity! I think I
   know the Lord--no, I know that I know Him. I have been favored with His
   Presence and have enjoyed a very clear sense of my acceptance in the
   Beloved, but to suppose that I know

   all that is to be known, or that I possess, in myself, all the holiness
   that a creature can attain this side of the grave, is as far from me as
   the east is from the west!

   I growingly feel my unworthiness--I sink lower and lower in my own
   judgement. I was nothing and now I am less than nothing. I do not know
   the Lord as I hope to know Him. I would have you remember that the
   Apostle Paul said that he desired to know Christ. If you look at the
   Epistle to the Philippians, which contains that wish, you will find
   that it was written by Paul at least 20 years after he had been
   converted! He had enjoyed 20 years of walking very near to God and of
   very marvelous Revelations--20 years of very successful working for
   God, such as, perhaps, were never accorded to any other man--and yet he
   still aspires, "That I may know Him." What? Paul, do you not know Him?
   "Oh, yes," he would reply, "I know Him so sweetly, so blessedly, but I
   would wish to know Him better still. The more I know Him, the more I
   find there is yet to be known. He is such a deep of Love! He is such a
   mountain of Mercy that as I dive deeper, a further deep opens up to me!
   And as I climb higher, a loftier peak towers above me."

   Dear Hearer, if you think you can never be better than you are, I do
   not think you ever will be. Self-contentment is the end of progress!
   When you have attained, why, what remains for you but to rest and be
   thankful, and do a little pious boasting? I do not believe you if you
   say you have got to the ultimatum. As long as you are this side of
   Heaven there will be room for progress and something yet beyond you
   after which you will labor. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to
   know." You will still have to press forward and the exhortation will
   still sound in your ears--

   "Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge your way."

   Not as though you had already attained, either were already perfect,
   this one thing you do, forgetting the things that are behind, press
   forward, still looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith.
   Our business, then, is to begin with the knowledge of God, to press
   forward in the knowledge of God, and not to flatter ourselves into the
   idea that we have no more to learn.

   Another thought. Our business is to continue in what we know. There are
   some persons who are everything by turns and nothing long. They say
   that they have begun to know the Lord in the right way, but very soon
   you find them following another route. A tree which is often
   transplanted is not likely to bring forth much fruit. The vessel which
   changes its course because its captain is full of caprice, is not
   likely to make headway to any desired haven. Brethren, in whatever you
   have attained, mind the same thing--rush not after novelties, as
   certain vagrant bands in this city are always doing. If you have begun
   in the Spirit, do not hope to be made perfect in the flesh! If all that
   you have already known concerning your Lord has come to you by faith,
   do not expect the rest of it to come by feeling.

   Some Christians seem to live by jerks. They live as bankrupt sinners,
   dependent upon the mercy of God--and then they get encouraged, and set
   up to live as saints rolling in riches of realized sanctification. But
   before long they are insolvent again, and no wonder, for this sort of
   paper money generally leads to a collapse. Keep to the one point--"I am
   nothing. Christ is everything. I am sin. He is my righteousness. I am
   death. He is my life. I look to Him for everything. I trust not in
   excitement or feeling, or attainments, or graces, or works--I rely on
   Jesus only." Brothers and Sisters, that is the fight path to follow.
   Follow on! Turn not to the right hand or to the left. Your hope of
   knowing more of Divine things must lie in your persevering in this
   course.

   But take care that you persevere eagerly. I find the Hebrew here is
   strong enough to bear to be translated, "Then shall you know if you
   eagerly follow on to know the Lord." The knowledge of God is not to be
   attained, certainly no great proficiency in it is to be attained,
   without an intense desire. Even to obtain human knowledge, a man
   separates himself and engages in much study which is "a weariness of
   the flesh." If we would know God it will not be by trifling over His
   Word, nor by neglecting the assembling of ourselves together, nor by
   slighting the Mercy Seat, or neglecting private meditation. There must
   be a keen scent and an eager pursuit, as when the hound pursues the
   stag, for we cannot know much of God so as to feel His going forth as
   the morning and His refreshing as the dew, except our heart thirsts
   after God as the hart thirsts for the water brooks.

   Let me urge you, newly-converted ones, to be very diligent in searching
   the Word of God! Be much in attendance upon the means of Grace, but,
   especially, be much with God privately, holding personal communion
   alone with God. You may learn something of a person by reading his
   books. You may get a better idea of him by hearing him speak. But if
   you want to know him best, you must live with him. Even so you may know
   much of God from His Word and much from

   the speech of His servants. But if you want to really know Him, you
   must abide with Him in habitual communion. I urge this upon you--then
   shall you know Him, when, in this manner, you follow on to know the
   Lord.

   Once more. Our business is to be receptive. If we are to know the Lord
   we must follow on to know the Lord by being willing to learn. Notice
   that the text says, "He shall come unto us as the rain." Now, the earth
   drinks in the rain. That portion of the soil which repels the rain--the
   rock, which turns it off from its surface--cannot be blessed thereby.
   It is a great blessing to have a soul capable of receiving Divine
   Truth. Alas, there are some who have heard the Gospel so long that they
   have almost become Grace-resistant! I have seen a new tent, when a
   shower has come on, let in the wet in a hundred places. But, after a
   while, when the canvas has been well swollen with the rain, it has
   become waterproof and not a drop has come through.

   Certain hearers seem to be so saturated with the rain of the Word that
   they are Gospelproof! The heavenly moisture does not penetrate them.
   They hear, but hear in vain--insensible as steel. Open your breasts to
   Christ whenever He comes! Let the gates of your heart be set wide open,
   that He may enter. Let him not knock, and knock, and knock again in
   vain! When Jesus of Nazareth passes by, let Him see that there is an
   open door to your house, so that if, today, He must abide in your
   house, He may come in and welcome. The Lord opens the door of our
   hearts like that of Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened." Prejudice
   often shuts out the Word--some people do not know the Lord, or much
   about Him, because they do not want to know. Certain points of God's
   Truth would disturb what they call their, "settled views," and
   therefore they wear blinkers for fear of seeing too much.

   Happy is that man who wants to find Truth wherever it may be and is
   glad to discover and amend his errors, because his heart is set upon
   being right before the Lord! He longs to follow the Lord fully, as
   Caleb did of old. Here, then, Beloved, is our business. May Grace be
   given to us to attend to it--to know the Lord to begin with, to exclude
   all idea that there is nothing further to know, to continue in what is
   known, to persevere eagerly in the endeavor to know more--and to daily
   be receptive of Divine influences.

   II. Now, secondly, we have GOD'S PROMISE--"Then shall we know, if we
   follow on to know the Lord." You shall know, young Friend! God says
   that you shall know! What will you know? Why, you will know, when you
   follow on to know the Lord, more about the past. Take the text in its
   connection. You observe that it details the experience--the very
   perplexing experience--of a quickened soul. "He has torn and He will
   heal; He has smitten and He will heal us up; after two days He will
   revive us," and so on.

   Now, you do not know, perhaps, at this time, what your present
   experience means. You thought that as soon as you believed in Jesus you
   would have perfect peace and joy--and that your delight would never
   depart from you. You have heard others sing, "Oh, happy days," and you
   have sung it yourself. But just now you do not feel at all as happy as
   you hoped to be. On the contrary, you feel very miserable because you
   have found out that the devil is not dead--and that your sins are not
   dead--and that outside in the world, people do not look upon you with
   any greater love because you are a Christian. In fact, on the contrary,
   they oppose you! Some of your dearest relatives even scoff at you for
   loving the name of Jesus! And you are a good deal staggered by their
   opposition.

   Besides, you do not enjoy prayer as you did at first and the Bible,
   itself, scarcely seems to glitter before your eyes as in your first
   love. And even the sermons, which seemed to be so very sweet, appear
   somehow to have become sharp and cutting to you. Well, you will
   understand all this by-and-by. When we are very little, our mothers
   carry us in their arms. But when we get a little bigger they set us on
   our own feet. It is natural that the child that has to walk alone
   should, when weary, regret that the time is over when it lay so closely
   in its mother's bosom. Yet it is good for the babe to try its own
   feet--good for it to tumble down and know its own weakness--or else it
   might always be helpless. Many things in the beginning of Christian
   life are very pleasant and delightful, but trials come in due time to
   exercise our graces that we may be no longer children.

   We do not understand this at the time and to the raw recruit I would
   say, do not wish to understand it now! You shall understand it when you
   follow on to know the Lord. Leave your experience to God. Believe in
   the Lord Jesus Christ and hang on to that--and when you cannot
   comprehend your own feelings, and your religion all seems to be in a
   tangle, never mind--hold on to the Cross and sing--

   "I, the chief of sinners, am, But Jesus died for me."

   Stand to that! Rest in the precious blood once shed for many for the
   remission of sins and, by-and-by, you shall know all about the winding
   experiences through which you are now going. Then shall you know, when
   you follow on to know the Lord.

   Beloved, the text means not only that we shall know about the past, but
   as we follow on to know the Lord we shall know in the present the sweet
   things of the Gospel and the enjoyments which are stored up for the
   Lord's people. "Eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, the things
   which God has prepared for them that love Him; but He has revealed them
   unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the
   deep things of God." You will not know the choice things which God has
   prepared for His people except as, by degrees, the Spirit of God
   reveals them to you. Press on to know more of God!

   I know it sometimes puzzles you to hear us talk of election. You cannot
   quite understand the Doctrine of Eternal Love which had no beginning
   and never shall have an end--of Immutable Love which neither shifts nor
   changes, of vital union to Christ--Justification through Imputed
   Righteousness, and the like. Very well, we will not trouble you with
   high sounding terms and theological phrases. But as you follow on to
   know the Lord you will know the deep things of God. Continue to follow
   on to know more about Christ. Stick to the one desire--to know more
   about Him--and you will find your way through difficulties.

   As in a maze, if you follow the clue, you will get to the center of it.
   Christ is the clue to all Gospel mysteries--follow that silken clue
   stained with scarlet and you will arrive at all those precious Truths
   of God one by one and have the present enjoyment of them as God shall
   see that you are able to bear them. He deals with us in much prudence
   and according as our strength is, so does He reveal these choice things
   to us. "You cannot bear them now," said Christ concerning certain
   Truths which He would gladly have taught to His disciples. So you
   beginners cannot bear the higher doctrines, now, and if we were to
   preach them to you we should stagger you, but you will bear them soon.
   No, you will love them soon and, whereas they may seem bugbears to you
   tonight, the day shall come when you shall bless God that ever He
   revealed them in Scripture and you will be prepared to die in defense
   of them!

   Beloved Christian Friends, those of you who have gone to greater
   lengths than others in Divine knowledge may well take this promise to
   yourselves as to the future--"Then shall we know, if we follow on to
   know the Lord." We know something of our Lord's love and faithfulness,
   and truth and power to save. We know the Covenant of Grace and we have
   seen something of its lengths and breadths and depths and heights. But
   we are conscious that we have no more fully understood the boundless
   Love and Grace than the child who takes up a handful of water from the
   sea has held the Atlantic in his palm! But we shall know, we shall
   know! We shall know more and more and more, and especially we shall
   know more as we get nearer to Heaven.

   That land Beulah teaches very much. Saints grow speedily wise in that
   region where the angels bring bundles of spices from the other side of
   the river--and stray notes from the harps of angels are borne on
   favoring breezes to the blessed ears of God's beloved ones who are
   waiting to be called away. We shall know. All that has been revealed to
   the saints shall be revealed to us when we follow on to know the Lord.
   Their rapturous enjoyments when they have been overcome with Divine
   Love --we shall drink of those wines on the lees, well refined. Their
   confident assurance when they were as certain of their interest in
   Divine Love as of their own existence--we shall climb to that and stand
   upon our high places, too. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know
   the Lord."

   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, can you guess what yet is to be revealed to
   you? Could you have imagined at the outset of the Christian life that
   you would, or could have had such confidence and rest and peace as you
   have now? I ask those of you who have had many trials and have been
   rooted and established in the faith--could you have thought it possible
   that you would have had such a grip and hold on Christ as you now have?
   Perhaps you were, for many years, under a misty, cloudy ministry--and
   yourselves in a sort of semi-darkness, "not light, but darkness
   visible"--but the Lord has brought you out to see all things finished
   in Christ and to understand the Covenant of Grace! Oh, what brightness
   is before you now!

   But--but the day comes, even before you get to Heaven, when the light
   of this day shall be as dimness compared with what you shall behold!
   For the light of one day shall then be as the light of several days, if
   you press forward in this knowledge as God shall help you. There are
   ascending rungs in the Ladder of Grace and stages each one above the
   other in the Divine climbing. The mount of the Lord is very high--he
   who stands, even, at the base is saved--but there are

   higher platforms and we ascend first to one and then to another! And
   from the elevations, gradually rising, the scene widens and the air
   grows clearer. Oh, to be higher, higher, higher and so near to light,
   nearer to perfection, nearer to God! Press on, O Climber, and you shall
   find that you shall know more and more of the Lord as you press towards
   Him!

   III. The third and last point is THE FULFILMENT OF THIS PROMISE. I will
   not be very long over the two figures lest I should weary you, but they
   are both very suggestive. "His going forth is prepared as the morning."
   That is to say, press on to know the Lord and you shall know the Lord
   more fully in the light and heat which He brings to men. The going
   forth of the morning is peculiarly bright because it stands in contrast
   with the night. There are countries in which the night suddenly gives
   place to the morning. Here we have long intervals of twilight, but in
   those lands, after the eye has been in darkness all night, the sun
   suddenly seems to leap above the horizon and there is light.

   Now, it has been so with you, already, who know the Lord, and it shall
   be more and more so with you. The contrast between your sorrow and your
   joy shall be very striking. As your tribulations abound, so, also,
   shall your consolations abound. Your broken bones shall rejoice! The
   place of your weeping, the valley of Achor, shall be the door of your
   hope! Now be joyous about this. Follow on to know the Lord and there
   shall be light for you--light out of darkness--your midnight shall
   blaze into day. The Lord will come as the morning as to His freshness,
   for every morning is a new morning. No second-hand morning has ever
   dawned upon the earth, yet. The dawn is always fresh with the sweet
   breath of the zephyrs and bright with the sparkling dews which hang
   like new jewels in the ears of nature.

   The light is always as of newly minted gold and the air is as perfume
   fresh pressed from its spices. All the earth seems like a newly married
   bride in the early morning. Well, now, such shall you find true
   religion to be as you press forward--it will always be fresh for
   you--never flat and stale. I have wearied of a thousand things, but
   never of my Lord! Ask the saints whether they ever wearied of the sight
   of Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness who rises with healing beneath His
   wings! It is said of our Lord in "the Song" that His locks are black as
   a raven, that is to say, He is always young. Truly He wears the dew of
   His youth to our hearts. Never does our Lord grow old! Though He is so
   ancient that His locks are white as snow, yet He is still so new and
   fresh that the raven's plume has not more joy. You shall find it so as
   you press forward, joy shall be given to you--and that joy shall be
   forever new.

   This blessing shall come irresistibly, for when the morning comes to
   the earth, none can stop it. Can any human hand seize the reins of the
   horses of the sun and restrain them from passing through the gates of
   the morning? Impossible! God bids the sun rise and rise he does! So
   with you Christians, abiding in the knowledge of God and pressing
   forward, the light must come to you. Nothing can prevent it! The sun
   rejoices to run his race and defies all competitors. And even so shall
   the Lord, your Redeemer, scorn all who would restrain Him and come to
   you in the fullness of His love.

   The blessing shall come increasingly, too, for the morning awakes, at
   first, with a few gray streaks. Then follow the redder hues which stain
   the sky, as though night, in retreating, hung out the banners of
   defeat. And soon succeed the brighter tints and then the sun, himself,
   is seen above the mountain's height and all the earth is robed in
   splendor! So with your soul. At first there is a little light, then
   more, and more, and more till you come unto the perfect day and see
   Jehovah face to face and fear no ill! His coming forth shall be
   prepared as the morning. The text says, "is prepared as the morning." I
   find that the word may be read, "is decreed"--determined, fixed,
   appointed, prepared.

   Christ's coming to gladden your soul, O you that know the Lord, is a
   fixed thing! It is not a perhaps, but is determined of God. You must
   have it! It is a decree as powerful as that fiat which said, "Let there
   be light," and there was light. And therefore the blessing must come to
   you. It should be no small joy to the believer in God through Jesus
   Christ that the mercies he is to enjoy are measured out, fixed and
   determined by an unalterable will which has been framed of old by
   Eternal Love and Infinite Wisdom! Follow on to know the Lord and if all
   the devils in Hell try to keep you in the dark, they cannot, the sun
   must rise for you! Follow on to know the Lord and if all apparent
   Providences should seem to keep you back, they cannot, for the secret
   and Omnipotent decrees which rule the Providences shall carry the
   point. His going forth is prepared as the morning--and that going forth
   shall be for your joy and delight.

   The second figure of the text has less to do with the light of the
   knowledge of Christ, and more to do with the inward power which comes
   of that knowledge. "He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
   and former rain unto the earth." This is the inward power. Dwell upon
   those words, "unto us"--not only, "shall He come as the rain," but,
   "shall come unto us." I rejoice to feel the Gospel come home to me. It
   is very sweet to preach it, but when I get to hear it for myself, and
   it comes unto me, then I know its power to refresh my soul!

   Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has a way of coming unto us which is as the
   rain when it waters the earth. The earth is dry and dusty, parched,
   barren. The rain does not ask the earth for anything, but it looks down
   from the heights and sees the gaping mouths of the parched fields and
   the clods crumbling as they lie baking in the cruel sun, and the rain
   says, "I will go and bless that field." And down it comes, drop after
   drop, in plenteous refreshment. Each drop finds its way, until the rain
   enters the crevices and descends into the bosom of Mother Earth and the
   field is refreshed, the hidden seeds start up to life, and the green
   blades take another shoot.

   Now, follow on to know the Lord, Beloved, and you shall find the Lord
   Jesus Christ not only giving you more light and knowledge like the sun,
   but giving you more life within yourself, more sap of Divine Grace,
   more vigor within your own soul so that you shall become fruitful and
   shall grow to perfection! As you drink in the rain of Grace from
   Heaven, you shall yield back to Heaven the fruits of righteousness to
   the honor and glory of God. Observe that it is written, "He shall come
   unto us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain."

   Now, these come in their season. The former rain came in Palestine at
   the end of autumn, when they had sown the corn. The latter rain came at
   the beginning of our spring, when corn in the east is getting nearly
   ripe. It is not so with us, of course, but it is so in Palestine. The
   latter rain came to plump out the ears. Now, God will give you Grace
   when you need it, Grace to help in time of need. A shower when you
   begin and another shower when you go on, and perhaps the heaviest
   shower just as you are ripening. Do not be frightened when you see a
   cloud of trouble. If we were to expect rain without clouds we should be
   very great fools! I sometimes think that to expect a shower of blessing
   without trial is almost as great a folly--

   "You fearful saints, fresh courage take,

   The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In
   blessings on your head."

   God knows how to send a shower of rain when it is needed and to send
   Grace when it is needed--to give us the former rain and the latter rain
   in their season.

   Notice, again, it is a repeated gift. He shall give the former rain and
   the latter rain. If you have had Grace once, the Lord has more for you.
   Did you have happy times when old Dr. So-and-So was your pastor? Well,
   the doctor is dead, but God is not! Were you very much delighted when
   you used to sit in such-and-such a Church, in years gone by, but have
   you moved into the country now? Yes, but God has not moved! He is in
   the country as well as in the town! You tell me you had such happy
   times when you were young. Yes, but God is neither younger nor older.
   Go to Him, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

   Do you suppose that because He gave you the former rain, He has emptied
   the bottles of Heaven? It is not so! The clouds, "those wandering
   cisterns of the sky," fill again and empty again, and fill again and
   empty again--and so is it with the mighty Grace of God! There is an
   exhaustless fullness in the Lord--however much you have had from Him
   you shall have more. Follow on to know the Lord and you shall have
   Grace upon Grace! The showers shall never cease to fall till you get to
   the land where you shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water
   and shall drink in unfailing supplies from the river itself.

   One word more, only, and it is this--all this fulfillment of the
   promise that you shall know comes only to you through the Lord Himself.
   If we are to know, it must be by His going forth and because He shall
   come unto us. There is no knowing in any other way. Oh, my Brothers and
   Sisters, I know that your desire is like mine--to know more of the Lord
   by that deep, vital, practical knowledge which makes the soul like the
   God it knows! Never let us forget that our only way of knowing the Lord
   is through His coming to us! We may read the Bible--I trust we
   shall--but there is such a thing as resting in Bible reading and if we
   do so we shall fall short.

   Our Lord denounced that in His day when He said, "You search the
   Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are
   they which testify of Me. And you will not come to Me that you might
   have life." As much as if He had said, "Your searching the Scriptures
   is well enough, but coming to Me is the main business." It is not the
   letter-god, but the Living God that we need. It is not the Book of God
   so much as the God of the Book that we must know! We must seek Christ
   Jesus, the personal Christ, really existent to ourselves! And falling
   at His feet, confessing our sins, looking up to His wounds, trusting
   and confiding in Him, we shall be, indeed, blessed.

   You cannot know the Lord in any other way than by His coming to you in
   the reality of His Incarnation as the very Christ of God. I wish I knew
   how to put the matter so that everyone here would recognize to the full
   my meaning. You know the moment people begin to think about religion
   they say, "Well, yes, we must keep the Sabbath. We must attend a place
   of worship. We must have family prayer." Thus they dwell upon the many
   things that they "must do," all of which things are right enough, but
   they are only the shell!

   What the sinner has to say is not, "I will arise and go--to Church."
   No, no! "I will arise and go to my closet and pray." No, that is not
   the first thing. "I will arise and go and read a chapter of the Bible."
   No, that is not it, good as that is! But, "I will arise and go unto my
   Father.''" That is where you have to go--to a real God! "How can I go?"
   Well, not with those feet, but He is not far from any of you. In Him
   you live and move and have your being--you are also His offspring. Let
   your hearts think of Him now. Let your hearts mourn that you have
   broken His Law. Let your hearts listen to His gracious Words, for He
   says, "Return unto Me, and I will return unto you. Let the wicked
   forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
   return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God,
   for He will abundantly pardon."

   No turn will do but a turning unto the Lord. No new birth, but a birth
   by His Spirit. If you do not know the Lord, remember that He has
   revealed Himself very clearly in the Person of His only-begotten Son
   who took our nature and died in the place of His people upon the Cross.
   Whoever looks to Jesus, the Man, believing Him to be the Son of God,
   sees all of God that He needs to see in the Person of the crucified
   Redeemer! Look to Him, however weak and feeble your eyes may be! Trust
   Him, trust Him fully, trust Him only, trust Him now! God enable you to
   do so by His ever-blessed Spirit, and you are saved.

   You know the Lord, and as you go on to know more about Him, you shall
   find Him to be as the sun in his brightness, and as the rain in its
   sweetness and life. God bless you. May we all meet in Heaven, for
   Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Hosea 6. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--605, 670, 673.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Special Prayer Meeting

   (No. 1247)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 20, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "When he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the
   mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered
   together praying." Acts 12:12.

   IT was a great wonder that the infant Church of Christ was not
   destroyed. Truly, she was like a lone lamb in the midst of furious
   wolves, without either earthly power, prestige or patronage to protect
   her, yet, as though she wore a charmed life, she escaped from the hosts
   of her cruel foes. Had not this child been something more than others
   it had been slain like the innocents at Bethlehem--but being
   Heaven-born it escaped the fury of the destroyer. It is worth while
   asking, however--with what weapons did this Church protect herself? For
   we may very wisely use the same. She was preserved in her utmost danger
   from overwhelming destruction--what was her defense? Where did she find
   shield and buckler?

   The answer is--in prayer--"many were gathered together praying."
   Whatever may be the danger of the times, and each age has its own
   peculiar hazard, we may rest in calm assurance that our defense is of
   God and we may avail ourselves of that defense in the same manner as
   the early Church did, namely, by abounding in prayer. However poisonous
   the viper, prayer can extract its sting. However fierce the lion,
   prayer can break its teeth. However terrible the fire, prayer can
   quench the violence of the flame. But this is not all--the new-born
   Church not only escaped, but it multiplied! From being as a grain of
   mustard seed, when it could all assemble in the upper room, it has now
   become a great tree! Lo, it covers the nations! The birds of the air,
   in flocks, find shelter in its branches.

   Why this wondrous increase? What made it grow? Outward circumstances
   were unfavorable to its progress--upon what nourishment has it been
   fed? What means were taken with this tender shoot that has been so
   speedily developed? Whatever means were used of old, we may wisely use
   them today, also, to strengthen the things that remain and are ready to
   die, and to develop that which is hopeful in our midst. The answer
   is--the fact that on all occasions, "many were gathered together
   praying."

   While praying, the Spirit of God came down upon them. While praying,
   the Spirit often separated this man and that for special work. While
   praying their hearts grew warm with inward fire. While praying their
   tongues were unloosed and they went forth to speak to the people. And
   while praying the Lord opened to them the treasures of His Grace. By
   prayer they were protected and by prayer they grew. If our Churches are
   to live and grow, they must be watered from the same source. "Let us
   pray," is one of the most necessary watchwords which I can suggest to
   Christian men and women, for if we will but pray, prayer will fill up
   the pools in the valley of Baca, yes, and open to us all the channels
   of that river of God which is full of water, the streams whereof make
   glad the city of our God.

   We have heard a great deal of talk in certain sections of the Church
   about going back to primitive times. They are introducing to us all
   sorts of superstitious inventions, under cover of the customs of the
   early Church. The plea is cunningly chosen, for primitive practices
   have great weight with true Christians. But the weak point of the
   argument is that, unfortunately, what they call the early Church is not
   early enough! If we must have the early Church held up as a model, let
   us have the earliest Church of all! If we are to have fathers, let us
   go back to Apostolic fathers! And if we are to have ritual, rule and
   ceremonies modeled on strict precedent, let us go back to the original
   precedent recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

   We, who are called Baptists, have not the slightest objection to go
   back in everything to the Apostolic habit and practice--we reverence
   the real primitive method and desire to follow the customs of the true
   early Church. And if we could see every ordinance restored to the exact
   mode in which it was practiced by the saints immediately after the
   Ascension of our Lord, and during Apostolic times, we would clap our
   hands with delight! 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. To see
   the early Church alive, again, would cause us unfeigned satisfaction.
   Especially upon this point would we imitate the early Church--we would
   have it said of us--"Many were gathered together praying."

   May we have much prayer, much household prayer, much believing prayer,
   much prevalent prayer--and then we shall obtain great blessings from
   the Lord!

   I. This morning my earnest desire is to stir up the Church of Jesus
   Christ to increased prayerfulness. I have taken this text, as it
   furnishes me with one or two points of great interest and is full of
   practical suggestions. The first is this, LET US NOTICE THE IMPORTANCE
   WHICH THE EARLY CHURCH ATTRIBUTED TO PRAYER and to Prayer Meetings. Let
   this be a lesson to us. As soon as we begin to read in Acts and
   continually as we read on in that record, we note that meetings for
   prayer had become a standing institution in the Church. We read nothing
   of "masses," but we read much of Prayer Meetings. We hear nothing of
   Church festivals, but we read often of meeting together for prayer.

   It is said that Peter considered the thing--I fancy that he considered
   it all round, and thought, "Where shall I go?" And he remembered that
   it was Prayer Meeting night down at John Mark's mother's house--and
   there he would go because he felt that there he should meet with true
   Brethren. In those days they did things by plan and order, according to
   that text, "Let all things be done decently and in order," and I have
   no doubt that it had been duly arranged that the meeting should be held
   that evening at the house of John Mark's mother. Therefore Peter went
   there and found, as he probably expected, that there was a Prayer
   Meeting going on.

   They were not met to hear a sermon. It is most proper that we should
   very frequently assemble for that purpose, but this was distinctly a
   meeting where, "many were gathered together praying." Praying was the
   business on hand. I do not know that they even had an address, though
   some will come to the Prayer Meeting if the pastor is present to speak.
   But you see James, who is generally thought to have been pastor of the
   Church at Jerusalem, was not there, for Peter said, "Go show these
   things to James," and most probably none of the Apostles were there,
   because Peter added, "and to the Brethren," and I suppose by that he
   meant the Brethren of the Apostolic college.

   The eminent speaking Brethren seem to have been all away and, perhaps,
   no one expounded or exhorted that night, nor was there any need, for
   they were all too much engrossed in common intercession. The meeting
   was convened for praying, and this, I say, was a regular institution of
   the Christian Church and ought always to be kept up. There should be
   meetings wholly devoted to prayer! There is a serious flaw in the
   arrangements of a Church when such gatherings are omitted or placed in
   a secondary position. These Prayer Meetings should be kept to their
   objective--and their great attraction should be prayer, itself. An
   address if you like. A few burning words to stir up prayer if you like.
   But if you cannot have them, do not look upon speech-making as at all
   necessary!

   Let it be a standing ordinance in the Church that at certain times and
   occasions many shall meet together to pray, and supplication shall be
   their only objective! The private Christian will read, hear and
   meditate, but none of these can be a substitute for prayer. The same
   Truth holds good upon the larger scale--the Church should listen to her
   teachers and receive edification from Gospel ordinances--but she must
   also pray. Nothing can compensate for the neglect of devotion.

   It appears, however, that while Prayer Meetings were a regular
   institution, the prayer was sometimes made special, for we read that
   prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God, "for him," that
   is, for Peter. It adds greatly to the interest and not a little to the
   fervency of prayer when there is some great object to pray for. The
   Brothers and Sisters would have prayed if Peter had been out of prison,
   but seeing that he was in prison, and likely to be put to death, it was
   announced that the Prayer Meeting would be especially to pray for
   Peter, that the Lord would deliver His servant, or give him Grace to
   die triumphantly. And this special subject gave enthusiasm to the
   assembly.

   Yes, they prayed fervently, for I find the margin of the fifth verse
   runs thus, "Instant and earnest prayer was made of the Church for him."
   They prized the man, for they saw what wonders God had worked by his
   ministry and they could not let him die, if prayer would save him. When
   they thought of Peter and how his bleeding head might be exhibited to
   the populace on the morrow, they prayed heart and soul--and each
   succeeding intercessor threw more and more fervency into his pleading.
   The united cry went up to Heaven, "Lord, spare Peter!" I think I can
   hear their sobs and cries even now. God grant that our Churches may
   often turn their regular Prayer Meetings into gatherings with a special
   objective, for then they will become more real.

   Why not pray for a certain missionary, or some chosen district, or
   class of persons, or order of agencies? We should do well to turn the
   grand artillery of supplication against some special point of the
   enemy's walls. It is clear that these friends fully believed that there
   was power in prayer, for, Peter being in prison, they did not meet
   together to arrange a

   plan for getting him out. Some wise Brother might have suggested the
   bribing of the guards and another might have suggested something else.
   But they had done with planning and betook themselves to praying. I do
   not find that they met to petition Herod. It would have been of no use
   to ask that monster to relent--they might as well request a wolf to
   release a lamb which he has seized.

   No, the petitions were to Herod's Lord and Master, to the great
   Invisible God. It looked as if they could do nothing, but they felt
   they could do everything by prayer! They thought little of the fact
   that 16 soldiers had him in charge. What are 16 guards? If there had
   been 16,000 soldiers, these believing men and women would still have
   prayed Peter out! They believed in God, that He would do wonders! They
   believed in prayer, that it had an influence with God and that the Lord
   listened to the believing petitions of His servants. They met together
   for prayer in no dubious mood. They knew what they were doing and had
   no question as to the power which lay in supplication! Oh, let it never
   be insinuated in the Christian Church that prayer is a good thing and a
   useful exercise to ourselves, but that it would be superstition to
   suppose that it affects the mind of God!

   Those who say this have foolishly thought to please us by allowing us
   their scientific toleration to go on with our devotions, but do they
   think we are idiots, that we would continue asking for what we knew we
   should not receive? That we would keep on praying if it would be of no
   more use than whistling to the winds? They must think us devoid of
   reason if they imagine that we shall be able to keep up prayer as a
   pious exercise if we once concede that it can have no result with God!
   As surely as any law of Nature can be ascertained and proven, we know
   both by observation and experiment that God assuredly hears prayer and,
   instead of its being a doubtful agency, we maintain prayer to be the
   most potent and unfailing force beneath the skies!

   We say in the proverb, "man proposes but God disposes," and here is the
   power of prayer, that it does not dally with the proposer but goes at
   once to the Disposer and deals with the First Cause! Prayer moves that
   arm which moves all things. O Brothers and Sisters, may we gather power
   in prayer by having faith in it! Let us not say, "What can prayer do?"
   but, "What cannot it do?" for all things are possible to him that
   believes! No wonder Prayer Meetings flag, if faith in prayer is weak.
   And no wonder if conversions and revivals are scarce where intercession
   is neglected.

   This prayer in the early Church, we remark, in the next place, was
   industriously continued. As soon as Herod had put Peter into prison the
   Church began to pray. Herod took care that the guards should be
   sufficient in number to keep good watch over his victim, but the saints
   of God set their watches, too. As in times of war, when two armies lie
   near each other, they both set their sentries, so in this case Herod
   had his sentries of the night to keep the watch, and the Church had its
   pickets, too. Prayer was made of the Church without ceasing--as soon as
   one little company were compelled to separate to go to their daily
   labor, they were relieved by another company--and when some were forced
   to take rest in sleep, others were ready to take up the blessed work of
   supplication.

   Thus both sides were on the alert and the guards were changed both by
   day and by night. It was not hard to foresee which side would win the
   victory, for truly, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakes
   but in vain! And when, instead of helping to keep the castle, God sends
   angels to open doors and gates, then we may be sure that the watchmen
   will wake in vain, or fall into a dead slumber! Continually, therefore,
   the people of God pleaded at His Mercy Seat. Relays of petitioners
   appeared before the Throne. Some mercies are not given to us except in
   answer to importunate prayer. There are blessings which, like ripe
   fruit, drop into your hands the moment you touch the bough. But there
   are others which require you to shake the tree again and again, until
   you make it rock with the vehemence of your exercise, for then, only,
   will the fruit fall down.

   My Brothers and Sisters, we must cultivate importunity in prayer! While
   the sun is shining and when the sun has gone down, still should prayer
   be kept up and fed with fresh fuel, so that it burns fiercely and
   flames on high like a beacon fire blazing towards Heaven! I would pause
   here a minute and urge my dear Brethren to attach as much importance to
   prayer as the early Church did. You cannot think too much of it.
   Believing prayer, dictated of the Spirit and presented through Jesus
   Christ, is, today, the power of the Church, and we cannot do without
   it! Some look at her active agencies and prize them, and they suppose
   that prayer might be dispensed with.

   You have seen the threshing machine going along the country road from
   farm to farm. In front there is a huge, black engine which toils along
   the road. And then behind you see the machine which actually does the
   threshing. A novice might say, "I will hire the threshing machine, but
   I do not want your engine. That is an expensive affair, which consumes

   coal and makes smoke. I do not require it. I will have the machine
   which actually does the work, but I do not need the engine." Such a
   remark would be absurd, for of what use would the machine be to you if
   the motive power were gone?

   Prayer in the Church is the steam engine which makes the wheels revolve
   and really does the work! Therefore we cannot do without it. Suppose a
   foreman were employed by some great builder and sent out to manage
   works at a distance. He has to pay the men their wages weekly and he is
   very diligent in doing so. He neglects none of his duty towards the
   men, but he forgets to communicate with headquarters--he neither writes
   to his employer, nor goes to the bank for cash to go on with. Is this
   wise? When the next payday comes round, I am afraid he will find that,
   however diligent he may have been towards the men, he will be in a dire
   predicament, for he will have no silver or gold to hand out because he
   has forgotten to apply to headquarters.

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, the minister does, as it were, distribute
   the portions to the people, but if he does not apply to his Master to
   get them, he will have nothing to distribute. Never sever the
   connection between your soul and God! Keep up a constant communication
   with Heaven or your communications with earth will be of little worth.
   To cease from prayer is to stop the vital stream upon which all your
   energy is dependent--you may go on preaching and teaching, and giving
   away tracts, and whatever you do--but nothing can possibly come of it
   when the power of Almighty God has ceased to be with you!

   Thus much on our first point. May the Holy Spirit use it and awaken the
   Churches to unanimous, intense, importunate intercession.

   II. Next we notice THE NUMBER ASSEMBLED which is a rebuke to some here
   present. The text says, "Many were gathered together praying." Somebody
   said the other day of Prayer Meetings, that two or three thousand
   people had no more power in prayer than two or three. I think that is a
   grave mistake in many ways, but clearly so in reference to each other.
   For have you never noticed that when many meet together praying, warmth
   of desire and glow of earnestness are greatly increased? Perhaps two or
   three might have been all dull, but out of a larger number someone, at
   least, is a warm-hearted Brother, and sets all the rest on a flame.

   Have you not observed how the requests of one will lead another on to
   ask for yet greater things? How one Christian Brother suggests to
   another to increase his petition and so the petitions grow by the
   mingling of heart with heart, and the communion of spirit with spirit?
   Besides, faith is a cumulative force. "According to your faith so is it
   done unto you," is true to one, to two, to 20, to twenty thousand! And
   20,000 times the force will be the result of 20,000 times the faith!
   Rest assured that while two or three have power with God in their
   measure, two or three hundred have still more! If great results are to
   come, they will be accompanied by the prayers of many.

   The brightest days of all will never come except by the unanimous
   prayer of the entire Church, for as soon as Zion travails--not one or
   two in her midst, but the whole Church travails--then shall she bring
   forth her children. Therefore I do earnestly pray, Brethren, to make
   the numbers gathered in prayer as great as they can be. Of course, if
   we come together listlessly--if each heart is cold and dead--there is
   only so much more coldness and deadness. But taking for granted that
   each one comes in the spirit of prayer, the gathering of numbers is
   like adding firebrand to firebrand and piling on the burning coals--and
   we are likely to have a heat like that of coals of juniper which have a
   most vehement flame.

   Now this is not a very common occurrence and why is it that so many
   Prayer Meetings are so very thin? I know some places in London where
   they talk about giving up the Prayer Meeting, where instead of two
   services during the week they have compassion on their poor overworked
   minister and only wish him to hold forth for a few minutes at a sort of
   mongrel service, half Prayer Meeting and half lecture. Poor dear
   things, they cannot manage to get out to worship more than once in the
   week, they are so much occupied. This is not in poor Churches, but in
   respectable Churches.

   Gentlemen who do not get home from the City and have their dinner till
   seven o'clock cannot be expected to go out to a Prayer Meeting--who
   would have the barbarity to suggest such a thing! They work so
   extremely hard all the day, so much harder than any of the working men,
   that they say, "I pray you have me excused." Churches in the suburbs,
   as a general rule, have miserable Prayer Meetings because of the
   unfortunate circumstances of the members who happen to be burdened with
   so much riches that they cannot meet for prayer as poor people do. Some
   of you who have your delightful villas are very careful of your health
   and never venture out into the evening air to Prayer Meetings, though I
   rather suspect that your parties and socials are still kept up.

   I say this not with particular reference to anybody, except if it
   happens to refer to you, and if it does refer to you, the reference is
   very special. After all, dear Friends, this is a personal matter. It is
   of no use my standing here or you sitting there and complaining that so
   few come to the Prayer Meeting--how are we to increase the number? I
   would suggest to you a way of increasing it, namely, by coming
   yourself! You may be aware, perhaps, that one and one make two, and
   that another one will make three, so that by additions of ones we shall
   gradually get up to thousands! The largest numbers are made up of
   units, so that the practical point of all is, if choice blessings are
   to be gained by numbers coming together for prayer, the way for me to
   increase the number is to go there myself. And if I can induce a friend
   to go, also, so much the better.

   I have a very high opinion of the early Church, but I am not sure that
   quite so many would have been gathered together that night if it had
   not been that Peter was in prison. They said to one another, "Peter is
   in prison, and in danger of his life, let us go to the Prayer Meeting
   and plead for him." Did you ever know a minister who was often laid
   aside by illness and always found his people pray better when he was
   ill? Did it ever strike you that one reason for his being afflicted was
   God's desire to stir the hearts of his people to intercede for him?
   Their prayers are better than his preaching and so his Lord says to
   him, "I can do without you. I will put you on the bed of pain and make
   the people pray."

   Now, I have an opinion that the best way for these people to really do
   good for their pastor is to pray that they always be kept in a right
   condition and may not need his sickness as a stimulus to prayer! If
   Churches become slack in prayer, those whom they most value may be laid
   aside, or even taken away by death--and then they will cry to God in
   the bitterness of their souls! Could we not do without such flogging?
   Some horses want to be reminded, now and then, with a little touch of
   the whip. If they did not need the lash they would not get it. And so
   it may be with us, that we need Church trials to keep us up to the mark
   in prayer--and if we need them we shall have them! But if we are alive
   and earnest in prayer, it may be that Peter will not get into prison
   and some other trying things will not happen, either.

   III. The third thing in our text is THE PLACE OF ASSEMBLY. That we will
   dwell upon this morning as a suggestion. "The house of Mary, the mother
   of John, whose surname was Mark." This was a Prayer Meeting held in a
   private house and I want to urge all my Brothers and Sisters here to
   consecrate their houses by frequently using them for Prayer Meetings.
   This would have an advantage about it--it would avoid all smell of
   superstition. There still lingers, among people, the notion that
   buildings may be consecrated and rendered holy. Well, it is so babyish
   an idea that I should have hoped the manliness of this generation, let
   alone anything else, would have given up the notion!

   How can it be that inside four brick walls there should be more
   holiness than outside, or that prayer offered in some particular seat
   should be more acceptable than prayer offered anywhere else? Behold,
   this day God hears prayer wherever there is a true heart--

   "Wherever we seek Him, He is found And everyplace is hallowed ground."

   Meetings for prayer, held at the house of the mother of Mark, at your
   mother's house, at your brother's house, at your own house, will do
   much to be a plain protest against the superstition which reverences
   holy places. There was a meetness in their meeting in this particular
   house, the house of Mark's mother, for that family stood in a very dear
   relationship to Peter.

   Do you know who Mark was, in reference to Peter? If you turn to Peter's
   First Epistle, in the fifth chapter, you will read, "Marcus, my son."
   Ah, I am sure Mark would pray for Peter, because Peter was his
   spiritual father! I should not wonder but what Mark and his mother were
   both converted on the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached that famous
   sermon. Anyway, Mark was converted under Peter, and so both he and his
   mother often invited Peter to their house and when he was imprisoned
   they had the special Prayer Meetings at their house, because they loved
   him greatly. There is sure to be prayer for the pastor in the house
   where the pastor has been blessed to the family. He need not be afraid
   but what his own sons and daughters in the faith will be sure to pray
   for him!

   These meetings had a good effect upon Mrs. Mark's house. She, herself,
   no doubt, had a blessing, but her son, Mark, obtained peculiar favor of
   the Lord. Naturally he was not all we should like him to have been, for
   though his uncle Barnabas was very fond of him, Paul, who was a very
   good judge, could not put up with his instability. But he obtained so
   great a blessing from the Lord that he became, according to the
   unanimous tradition of the Church, the writer of the Gospel of Mark! He
   might have been a very weak and useless Christian if it had not been
   that the Prayer Meetings at his

   mother's house warmed his heart. And he might never have used his
   graphic pen for the Lord had not the conversation of the good people
   who came to his house instructed him as to the facts which he
   afterwards recorded in the precious Gospel which bears his name.

   The house received a blessing, and so will you, too, if your house
   shall be, every now and then, opened for special prayer. I urge upon
   the followers of Jesus Christ to use their own houses more frequently
   than they now do for holy purposes. How largely might the Sunday
   schools in London be extended if all the better-instructed gathered
   together Bible classes in their own houses and taught them during the
   Sabbath! And what a multitude of prayers would go up to Heaven if
   Christians who have suitable rooms would frequently call together their
   Brothers and Sisters and neighbors to offer prayer! Many an hour is
   wasted in idle talk. Many an evening frittered away in foolish
   amusements degrading to Christians, when the time might be occupied in
   exercises calculated to bring down untold blessings upon the family and
   upon the Church!

   Prayer Meetings at private houses are very useful, because friends who
   would be afraid to pray before a large assembly and, others, who if
   they did so, would be very much restricted in language, are able to
   feel free and easy in a smaller company in a private house. Sometimes,
   too, the social element is consecrated by God to promote a greater
   warmth and fervor so that prayer will often burn in the family when,
   perhaps, it might have declined in the public assembly. I never knew
   the little Church of which I was pastor before I came here to be in
   such a happy condition as when the members took it into their heads to
   hold Prayer Meetings in their own houses! I have sometimes, myself,
   attended six or seven in an evening, running from one to another just
   to look in upon them, finding 12 in a kitchen, 10 or a dozen in a
   parlor, two or three together in a little chamber!

   We saw a great work of Grace then! The biggest sinners in the parish
   felt the power of the Gospel! The old saints warmed up and began to
   believe in young people being converted and we were all alive by reason
   of the abundance of prayer! Brethren, we must have the same abundance
   of prayer--pray that we may have it! We have been distinguished as a
   Church for prayerfulness and I am jealous with a godly jealousy lest we
   should go back in any degree. I do affectionately suggest to you with
   much earnestness of heart that we should try to increase the number of
   the places where many shall be met together praying. I do not know
   where the mother of John Mark is, this morning, but I hope she will
   start a Prayer Meeting in her large room.

   She is well-to-do, I believe, because her brother Barnabas had land,
   and sold it, and I suppose she had property, also. We will use her
   drawing room. If a poorer friend has a smaller and poorer room, we
   shall be glad of the loan of it, for it will be more suitable for
   persons of another class to go to. Perhaps they would not like to go to
   Mrs. Mark's drawing room, but they will come to your kitchen. All sorts
   will have an opportunity of praying when all sorts of chambers are
   dedicated to prayer!

   IV. I have a little to say about THE TIME OF THIS PRAYER MEETING. It
   was held at dead of night. I suppose they prayed all through the night.
   They could say, "We have been waiting, we have been waiting, all the
   night long." After midnight the angel set Peter free. Peter went to the
   house and they had not gone to bed, but many were met together praying.
   Now, as to the time for Prayer Meetings, let me say this. If it happens
   to be an inconvenient hour, and I should think the dead of night was
   rather inconvenient, nevertheless go! Better hold Prayer Meetings at
   midnight than not at all! Better that we should be accused, as the
   Christians were of old, of holding secret conventicles under the shadow
   of night, than not meet together for prayer.

   But there is another lesson. The dead of the night was chosen because
   it was the most suitable hour, since they could not safely meet in the
   day because of the Jews. It becomes those, who appoint the times for
   Prayer Meetings, to select as good an hour as they can--a quiet hour, a
   leisure hour, an hour suited to the habits of the people. Still, let us
   remember that whatever hour is appointed, if we come together with true
   hearts, it will be an acceptable hour. Better still, it would be well
   if there could be meetings for prayer at all hours. Then every hour
   would be an acceptable hour and if one happened to be unseasonable,
   another would be convenient--and all classes of Believers could thus
   meet together at some time or other to pour out their hearts in prayer
   to God.

   Oh, Brethren, if your business will not let you meet in the middle of
   the day, meet in the middle of the night! If you cannot come together
   for prayer at the times that are generally appointed, then have Prayer
   Meetings at such times as

   will suit yourselves, only let there be a unanimous resolve throughout
   the whole Church of Christ that much prayer shall be presented to the
   Most High.

   V. Notice, in the last place, the SUCCESS OF THE PRAYER MEETINGS AS AN
   ENCOURAGEMENT TO US.

   They prayed and they were heard at once. The answer came so speedily
   that they were, themselves, surprised! It has sometimes been said that
   they did not really expect Peter to be set free. And that their
   astonishment was the result of unbelief. Perhaps so, but I doubt it,
   for you must remember that their prayers did set Peter free, and
   therefore it does not look as if it could have been unbelieving prayer.

   I trace their surprise to another cause. I think they expected that God
   would somehow or other deliver Peter, but they did not think He would
   deliver him in the dead of the night. They very likely had appointed in
   their own minds that something would happen the next day and, so, their
   surprise arose, not from the fact that Peter was free, so much as from
   his being out of the dungeon at that particular time, and in that
   particular manner. I cannot judge that to have been an unbelieving
   prayer which really did win the day with the God of Heaven.

   Dear Friends, the Lord Jesus waits to give us great blessings in answer
   to prayer. He can send us surprises quite as great as those which
   astonished the assembly at midnight. We may pray for some sinner and
   while we are yet praying we may hear him cry, "What must I do to be
   saved?" We may offer our prayers for the sleeping Church and while we
   pray, it may be answered. But, the Church still sleeps. She has had a
   smiting on the side, of late, but has not yet girded herself and come
   out of the prison of her coldness and conventionality. But if we
   continue in prayer we may see, with astonishment, the Church rouse
   herself from sleep and come forth to liberty. We cannot tell what will
   happen. Prayer operates in so many ways, but operate it will, and we
   shall assuredly have our reward!

   I selected this topic just now for this reason. The American
   evangelists who have been so useful in this great city have gone from
   us and the great assemblies which they gathered are no more. There must
   have been many converted--I cannot but believe that many thousands have
   received the Lord Jesus Christ and I have no sympathy, whatever, with
   the remarks of those who are alarmed that our friends have not touched
   the lowest class of society. I believe they have touched every class of
   society. At any rate, their business was to preach the Gospel to every
   creature, and they have done so with great impartiality and
   earnestness.

   If the poorest did not go, it was not because they were not welcome.
   But they did go! I am an eyewitness to it. I know that many who went
   nowhere before did attend the Bow and Camberwell Halls, and the fact
   that the congregation looked respectable by no means proves that they
   were not of the working classes, for what working man is there among us
   but tries to dress as neatly as he can when he goes to a place of
   worship? There are plenty of friends here who work hard for their daily
   bread, but looking around they all seem, by their dress, to be
   well-to-do. No one has a right to judge, that because a man does not
   come to worship in rags, he cannot, therefore, belong to the lower
   portion of the working class, for it is not the habit of the working
   men of London to go to places of worship in their everyday clothes or
   in rags.

   I saw with my own eyes that multitudes assembled there were of that
   class which did not habitually hear the Gospel! I am sure that good was
   done and I do not care who quibbles. The practical point is--What is to
   be done now? We must keep up this work. And how? Not by those large
   assemblies, but by all the Churches being revived all round--and the
   numbers in all the places of worship becoming more numerous--and at the
   same time becoming more prayerful. Let us pray now. We need prayer to
   train the converts, to keep God's people warm, now they are warm, and
   to make them yet more so.

   What wonders we have obtained in the Tabernacle in answer to prayer! We
   began this work with a little handful of Christian men I remember the
   first Monday night, after I came to London--there was a slender
   audience on the Sabbath, but thank God there was almost as many at the
   Prayer Meeting as on Sunday! And I thought, "This is all right. These
   people can pray." They did pray, and as we increased in prayer we
   increased in numbers. Sometimes, at Prayer Meetings, my heart was
   almost ready to break for joy because of the mighty supplication that
   was offered. We wanted to build this great house--we were poor enough,
   but we prayed for it, and prayer built it! Praying gave us everything
   we have! Praying brings us all manner of supplies, spiritual and
   temporal.

   Whatever I am in the Church of God this day, I owe, under God's
   blessing, to your prayers. As long as your prayers sustain me, I shall
   not flag nor fail. But if your prayers are gone, then my power is gone,
   for the Spirit of God is gone and what can I do without Him? All
   through the Church of God the true progress is in proportion to the
   prayer. I do not

   care about the talent of the speaker. I am glad if he has talent. I do
   not care about the wealth of the congregation, though I am glad if they
   have wealth. But I do care beyond everything for the deep, real,
   earnest prayer--the darting up of the souls of Christians to God--and
   the bringing down of the blessing upon men from God!

   And if this were the last word I had to address to this congregation, I
   would say to you, dear Brothers and Sisters, abound in prayer! Multiply
   the petitions that you put up and increase the fervor with which you
   present them to God! When my venerable predecessor, Dr. Rippon, was
   growing old, this was one of the things everybody noticed about him,
   that he always prayed earnestly for his successors. He did not know who
   they might be, but his prayer was that God would bless the Church and
   his successors in years to come. And I have heard old Christians say
   that our present prosperity might be traced to Dr. Rippon's prayers.

   Oh, let us pray! I believe we have had a revival very much in answer to
   the multitudinous fervent prayers that were put up here and elsewhere.
   And now that God is beginning to bless the Church in answer to prayer,
   if she stays her hand she will be like that king of old who had the
   arrows and the bow put into his hands and shot once or twice, whereas,
   if he had shot many times, God would have destroyed Syria before him
   and established his people. Take down your quivers full of desires and
   grasp the mighty bow of faith! Now shoot again and again the arrow of
   the Lord's deliverance and God will give us multitudes of converts all
   over London and throughout the world!

   "Prove me now herewith," says the Lord of Hosts, "and see if I do not
   open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that you shall
   not have room enough to receive it." God bless you, for Christ's sake!

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Acts 12:1-19. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--1,009, 978, 1,000.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Choice Of A Leader

   (No. 1248)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 1, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And he spoke a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall
   they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his
   master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." Luke
   6:39, 40.

   MAN can hardly be retained in the place of wisdom, even if brought
   there. Truth lies between two extremes and man, like a pendulum, swings
   either too much this way or that. He abides not long in one place, but
   tosses from side to side, never, except by Divine Grace, finding rest
   in the middle point of wisdom. Two extremes exist in reference to the
   pilgrimage and scholarship of life. Some assert that man needs no guide
   whatever. Is he not a noble creature, gifted with high intelligence?
   Can he not reason and judge, and understand and discern? He can surely
   find his own way without direction from without. As a learner, why does
   he need a teacher? He can instruct himself! Is he not possessed of
   science? Has he not already found out many inventions?

   Such self-sufficient boasters will not, therefore, condescend to sit at
   the feet of a master, or follow the track of a guide--and,
   consequently, they frequently become erratic, singular, lawless and
   unreasonable in their modes of thought and action. Into the mazes of
   infidelity and atheism such pilgrims wander! Into foolishness and
   strong delusion such teachers of themselves conduct their own minds.
   This scheme is dangerous, but its opposite pole is not less so. Deliver
   a man from rationalism and he often swings into superstition, and says,
   "I see that I need a guide, I will take the one nearest to me."

   Finding a guide constituted by this authority or that, the man who has
   ceased to use his judgement surrenders himself, at once, to his
   leadership and reckons that to question is to be guilty of wicked
   unbelief. Without considering whether the guide is a seeing man or
   blind, or the teacher an instructed and qualified instructor, the
   credulous yield themselves up to priests or leaders and are sorely
   misled. Weary of thinking, they beg others to think for them and there
   they leave the matter. This is the religion of a great many and they
   find much in it--the peace of slumbering stupidity! They meet with a
   church which claims to be venerable for antiquity and then they believe
   whatever that church chooses to teach!

   They consider that they have no right any longer to judge or to use
   their understanding. They hang conscience and reason in a sling, as if
   they were broken arms, no longer usable, and give themselves up to be
   wheeled about like invalids in the chairs of tradition and dogmatism.
   They do not dare to question--that would spoil the whole thing--they
   shut their eyes and let other people see for them. No, they shut their
   eyes to be guided by blind men! They give up thinking, to be directed
   by those who have also given up thinking, who have long ago shut their
   eyes and opened their mouths to take in whatever a supreme council or a
   pope may please to put into them.

   Between these two extremes there is a narrow path of right, and happy
   is he who finds it--namely, the honestly and sincerely judging of whom
   the leader and teacher should be. This leads to the discovery that a
   Leader has been appointed in the Person of the Lord Jesus and a teacher
   in the Divine Spirit--and then a complete, willing and believing
   submission of the whole man to this Infallible guidance! Happy is that
   man who, in the pride of intellect, determines not to be a guide to
   himself--and so to be guide to a fool! Happy is that man who, in the
   indolence of superstition, refuses to surrender himself up to be guided
   by his fellow man, call him priest, or pope, or minister, or what you
   will--but who, having found that God has sent His Son into this world
   of ours to be the Captain of salvation, who shall bring many sons into
   Glory, follows where his Commander leads the way!

   Happy is the man, having seen this same Jesus appointed to be the
   Prophet of His people, delights to sit at His feet and receive of His
   words, reason, affection, contemplation and will--finding perfect rest
   in Him. He, with his eyes open,

   follows the All-Seeing One and, with his mind illuminated, becomes a
   disciple of the Eternal Light! It is clear that the most important
   thing, if we are agreed that we need a guide, is to examine the claims
   of those who aspire to the office. Some take a guide because, as I have
   said before, he is appointed by authority--he happens to be the parson
   of the parish, or the family minister--and he is at once accepted
   without consideration.

   He would be a very foolish person who would, in climbing the mountains
   of Switzerland, take a guide merely because he professed to be one and
   carried the usual certificates, if upon looking at him it was clear
   that the man was stone blind! Would you say that does not matter, he
   says he is appointed by authority? Would you go to the top of Mont
   Blanc with him? If so, he would soon conduct you into a crevasse and
   there would be an end to your folly! Yet multitudes resolve upon taking
   their religion by prescription, feeling confident that what is
   patronized by the great, and established and endowed by the nation,
   must, of course, be right!

   Whether the guide can see or not seems to be a trifle. What matters is
   that he is properly ordained and duly inducted. If that is settled, the
   unthinking many ask no more. For my part, I like to look at my guide's
   eyes. I like to know whether he has ever traversed the country and
   whether he has had experience of the way. If he cannot satisfy me on
   those points I look elsewhere, to one who has all sight and has had all
   experience, even the Lord Jesus! His authority I cannot question. I
   take for granted all that He teaches me. I am glad to be a seeing man
   following a seeing Leader, and I endeavor to be an intelligent scholar
   learning of a wise and sympathetic Teacher.

   Our text has much wisdom about it as to this matter, for, first, it
   announces to us a great general principle, as a warning, namely, that a
   disciple does not get above his Master, but becomes like he is.
   Secondly, it gives a special application of the great general principle
   to Christ, that as we are perfected we shall become like He is, even as
   in the case of all other disciples who grow like their masters. After
   these points, I shall try to use the text for the encouragement of
   those who desire Christ as their Master, by saying that we may put the
   facts mentioned in the text to a practical test.

   I. Let us take THE GREAT GENERAL PRINCIPLE as a warning. Several Truths
   of God are involved in the text, and these all illustrate the main
   point. It is evident that the disciple is generally drawn to the master
   who is most like himself--the blind man is led by the blind. It is not
   merely that birds of a feather flock together and, therefore, men of
   kindred minds form association with each other, but there is about us
   all a natural tendency to admire our own image and to be willing to
   submit to any who are superior to us, and yet are of our type.

   A teacher who does not shock our prejudices, but shows a sympathy with
   our tastes, we are at home with at once. The priest is like the people
   because the people are pleased to have him so. It is true of teachers
   as of idols, "they that make them are like unto them." If the blind man
   could only see, he would not choose a blind man to be his guide. But as
   he cannot see, he meets with one who talks as blind men talk, who
   judges things as they are in the dark, and who does not know what
   sighted men know and, therefore, never reminds the blind man of his
   infirmity. And at once he says, "This is my ideal of a man, he is
   exactly the leader I require! I will commit myself to him." So the
   blind man takes the blind man to be his guide--and this is the reason
   why error has been so popular.

   No error would live if it did not chime in with some evil propensity of
   human nature, if it did not gratify some error in man to which it is
   congruous. Idolatry is a prevailing sin because man is alienated from
   God who is a Spirit, and in his carnal folly demands a god whom his
   senses can apprehend. When you hear of crowds going over to Popery, do
   not wonder at it! Popery is the religion of depraved human nature put
   into shape by Satan and, therefore, it is no marvel that the nations
   are fascinated by it! What they love and what the god of this world
   sweetens to their tooth must go down with them. Popery and other forms
   of Sacramentarianism are a soft bed for idle limbs and as surely as a
   lazy man lies down, so surely does a superstitious man take to these
   systems.

   Give a superstitious man the information contained in the Bible and a
   pair of scissors to cut his coat according to his shape, and Popery, in
   some shape or other, will be the religion which he will cut out for
   himself. Consequently it is popular. You cannot, at first, understand
   how the blind man who sets up for a guide could expect to find clients.
   Neither would he, only there are so many other blind people about who
   know nothing about his blindness and are sure to come to him! Mind you
   that you are not so blind, yourself, as to follow their example. Young
   man, mind who it is you choose for a guide. Your tendencies will be to
   select a wrong one, because your tendencies, themselves, are wrong.
   Pray that you may begin aright the journey of life, having Divine Grace
   infixed into your hearts, that you may choose the Christ of God who is
   "the way, the truth, and the life."

   O Lord, let no soul here be so blind as to choose blind atheism, blind
   skepticism, or blind superstition to be his leader! You take the blind
   in the hand and lead them by a way that they know not and by paths
   which they have not seen. Do these things unto them, and do not forsake
   them! Having chosen his tutor, the student gradually becomes more and
   more like his master, or, having taken his guide, the tendency is to
   tread more closely in his footsteps and obey his rules more fully every
   day. We must be all conscious that we imitate those whom we admire.
   Love has a strange influence over our nature, to mold it into the form
   of our beloved.

   A true disciple is like clay on the wheel and his master fashions him
   after his own image. We may be scarcely conscious of it, but we are
   most surely being conformed to the likeness of those to whose influence
   we submit ourselves. Whoever, then, your master may be, dear Friend,
   you are changing into his image. If you choose to be led by the votary
   of pleasure, you will become more and more frivolous. If you admire the
   slave of avarice, you will become avaricious. If you feel the sway of
   the minion of vice, you will, yourself, grow vicious. If a man who
   despises the Word of God becomes your hero, you will, before long,
   despise it, too. While you are gazing upon him with admiration, a kind
   of photography is going on, and you, like a sensitive plate, receive
   his image. I charge you, therefore, to be careful who becomes your
   guide.

   And mark, the pupil does not go beyond the tutor, nor does the man who
   submits to be led go beyond his guide. Such a case is very rarely
   found. Indeed, I may say, never, for when the one who is led goes
   beyond his leader, he is not, in truth, led any longer--rarely enough
   does it ever come to that. Men, if they outstrip their leaders,
   generally do so in the wrong direction. They seldom exaggerate their
   virtues--those they frequently omit--they usually exaggerate
   peculiarities, follies, failings and faults. It is said that in the
   court of Richard III, because the king was round-shouldered, the
   courtiers gradually became humpbacked. And we have seen a whole country
   idiotic enough, not in the last century, but in this century, to have
   almost all its women limping because a popular princess was afflicted
   with a temporary lameness.

   It is the way of mankind! They imitate each other as if by instinct.
   This is the only excuse I know of for Darwin's theory of our having
   descended from the ape. Imitativeness is well developed in us, but if
   left to itself it works with a bias the wrong way, and the imitation is
   most forcible in the direction of deformity and defect. In music,
   painting, poetry and literature, men of a school seldom excel their
   master, or, if they do, they leave him. But the habit is to perpetrate
   the master's mannerisms and weaknesses. It is even more so in the art
   of living. Young men, in the task of choosing a master for your faith,
   I beseech you be careful to have none but the best, for you will not
   excel, but rather fall behind the master you follow. You are choosing a
   leader--choose one who knows the road--for if he has made some blunders
   you will make 10 times as many, and in all probability you will
   exaggerate each one of his mistakes.

   The most solemn truth remains to be noted. When a man chooses a bad
   leader for his soul, at the end of all bad leadership there is a ditch.
   A man teaches error which he declares he has drawn from Scripture, and
   he backs it up with texts perverted and abused. If you follow that
   error and take its teacher for a leader, you may, for a time, be very
   pleased with yourself for knowing more than the poor plain people who
   keep to the good old way, but, mark my word, there is a ditch at the
   end of the error! You do not see it, yet, but there it is, and into it
   you will fall if you continue to follow your leader. At the end of
   error there is often a moral ditch and men go down, down, down--they
   scarcely know why--till presently, having imbibed doctrinal error,
   their moral principles are poisoned and like drunken men they find
   themselves rolling in the mire of sin.

   At other times the ditch beyond a lesser error may be an altogether
   damnable doctrine. The first mistake was comparatively trifling, but,
   as it placed the mind on an inclined plane, the man descended almost as
   a matter of course, and almost before he knew it, found himself given
   over to a strong delusion to believe a lie. The blind man and his
   guide, whatever else they miss, will be sure to find the ditch--they
   need no sight to obtain an entrance into that! Alas, to fall into the
   ditch is easy, but how shall they be recovered? I would earnestly
   entreat, especially professing Christians, when novelties of doctrine
   come up, to be very cautious how they give heed to them. I bid you
   remember the ditch!

   A small turn of the switch on the railway is the means of taking the
   train to the far east or to the far west. The first turn is very
   little, indeed, but the points arrived at are remote. There are new
   errors which have lately come up which your fathers knew not, with
   which some are mightily busy! And I have noticed when men have fallen
   into them, their usefulness ceased. I have seen ministers go only a
   little way in speculative theories and gradually glide from
   latitudinarian-ism into Socinianism or Atheism. Into these ditches
   thousands fall.

   Others are precipitated into an equally horrible pit, namely, the
   holding nominally of all the doctrines in theory and none of them in
   fact. Men hold truths nowadays with the heart taken out of then, and
   the very life and meaning torn away. There are members and ministers of
   evangelical denominations who do not believe evangelical doctrine, or
   if they do believe it, they attach but little importance to it! Their
   sermons are essays on philosophy tinged with the Gospel. They put a
   quarter of a grain of Gospel into an Atlantic of talk--and poor souls
   are drenched with words to no profit. God save us from ever leaving the
   old Gospel, or losing its spirit and the solid comfort which it brings!

   Yet into the ditch of lifeless profession and philosophic dreaming we
   may soon fall if we commit ourselves to wrong readerships. All this
   should prevent us, as I think, from taking any man whatever as our
   leader, for if we trust to any mere man, though he may be right in 99
   of the hundred, he is wrong, somewhere, and our tendency will be to be
   more influenced by his one wrong point than by any of his right ones.
   Depend upon it, in matters of religion, that ancient malediction is
   abundantly verified, "Cursed is he that trusts in man and makes flesh
   his arm."

   There is one whom you may follow implicitly, and one only! There is one
   whom you may trust without reserve and only one--the Man, Christ Jesus,
   the Son of God! But if you do not wish to be led into errors of heart
   and practice, beware of men, and follow none but Jesus! Follow no
   footprints but the footprints of that flock which follows at His heel.
   You will do best not even to follow the sheep, but to follow the
   Shepherd, only, and to do that even if you walk alone! May the Holy
   Spirit be given you to lead you into all truth. Thus much upon the
   great principle--let it act as a warning.

   II. ITS SPECIAL APPLICATION TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST is our
   encouragement! If we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our Leader we
   certainly cannot go beyond our Leader, but we shall be privileged to
   grow more and more like He and we shall be perfected, according to our
   text, as our Leader is. First, this is what we might have expected. We
   see ordinarily, as we have said, that the disciple grows like his
   Master, but with such a Master the process becomes more sure!

   With such a Master, of whom these lips cannot speak well enough, a
   Master the laces of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, it may well
   come to pass that we are melted down with love and poured out into the
   mold of obedience. He is the Creator, can He not create in us His
   image? From such an One as He is, we confidently expect it. For,
   observe, the teaching, itself, is such that it must have power over
   hearts that yield to it. His doctrine is almighty Love--all His
   teaching is Divine and yet so broken down to human capacity that it
   exactly suits the man who has taken the yoke of Christ upon him and
   determined to learn of Him!

   Other masters teach us crooked and doubtful lessons. And when learned,
   too often the best wisdom is to unlearn them. But with our Lord, the
   teaching is most sure, most heavenly, most potent--and we feel within
   ourselves that it is so true, so noble, so grand--that it comes to us
   with authority and not as the word of man. If I knew only what Jesus
   teaches, I would conclude that a teacher who gives forth such doctrines
   and such precepts must influence His disciples. But it is not in His
   teaching, alone, that His influence lies. The most potent charm is
   Himself. When He spoke here below they said, "Never man spoke like this
   Man," and the reason was because, "never man lived like this Man."

   His Word was with power, but then He, Himself was THE WORD. If you view
   the precepts of Christ as embodied in His life, they glow with beauty
   and flash with power. You can bear from such a Teacher what you could
   not have endured from anybody else, for His Character gives Him a right
   to speak. Many of His precepts would have seemed perfectly preposterous
   had they first fallen from the lips of fallible men, for their hearers
   would have cried out, "Physician, heal yourself." Coming from Him, they
   come naturally as good fruit from a good tree--they are the necessary
   fruit of such a Nature and such a life. Who can help being persuaded
   when the arguments live before our eyes? We are overpowered by the
   grandeur of the Redeemer's goodness, by the splendor of His love, the
   infinity of His self-sacrifice!

   Jesus commands our faith by the revelation of Himself and by that same
   revelation He conforms us to Himself. Was ever such a life as His? Was
   ever such a death? Was ever such an altogether lovely Person as His?
   Was ever such perfection as His? In life He was so outspoken and yet so
   gentle, so courageous and yet so kind, so unflinching and yet so
   tender, wearing His heart upon His sleeve in the transparency of truth,
   but prudent and guarding Himself with Infallible Wisdom! He was a match
   for all, however they might assail Him, and yet apparently never on His
   guard at all, but as a child among them, the Holy Child Jesus. Oh, if
   you sit at Jesus' feet you will not only learn of Him and His teaching
   will have power over you, but you will learn Him, for He, Himself, is
   His own best lesson!

   Never did eyes look up into those dear eyes of Jesus, which are "as the
   eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set,"
   but they were, themselves, cleansed and purified till they became "like
   the fish pools in Heshbon,

   by the gate of Beth-rabbim." Who could bear the Lord Jesus on his
   heart, like a cluster of myrrh, and not be perfumed by His Presence?
   Who could be with Him and not be like He is? We feel quite sure that
   the disciples will grow like their Master in the case of Jesus because
   He inspires them with an intense love to Himself which flames forth in
   enthusiasm for Him! Get a teacher whom all the scholars love and
   admire, and they will soon learn. Make them enthusiastic for him, and
   no lesson will be too hard. This, our dear and blessed Lord, of whom
   these lips cannot speak as they should, has done.

   We admire, we love, no, we adore Him! He is our God, our All in All,
   and therefore we desire to be molded at His will. Live for Him? Yes, we
   find it to be our joy, for the love of Christ empowers us! Die for Him?
   Yes, His saints in all ages have rejoiced to lay down their lives for
   Him. Full of fervor and fired with enthusiasm, they have suffered
   losses and reproaches for His name's sake. If the Teacher inspires such
   enthusiasm, doubtless He will fashion the disciples in His likeness.
   Best of all, our Great Teacher has a Spirit with Him, a mighty Spirit,
   God, Himself, the Holy Spirit! And when He teaches, He teaches not with
   words alone, but with a power which goes beyond the ear into the heart
   itself!

   Other teachers, except as they follow Christ, must depend upon the
   charms of eloquence, or the force of argument. But our Lord, though
   most eloquent of all, for His lips are like lilies dropping
   sweet-smelling myrrh--though full of arguments, for His is the Wisdom
   of God--relies upon the energy which He felt when He said, "the Spirit
   of the Lord is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me." The Divine
   Spirit casts a light into the soul of such a brilliance that things not
   seen stand out in clearest evidence! And things hoped for are grasped
   in their very substance! With that Light there comes, also, Life to
   feel, power to realize and discernment to judge. And so the soul is led
   into all Truth and the scholar receives the lessons of his lord in
   their life and energy.

   Who else can give this Spirit? By what other teacher can the Holy
   Spirit be breathed into us? Who would not sit at the feet of a Master
   so transcendently above all others in possessing such an infinite gift?
   I would to God, while I am speaking thus, that some here present would
   say, "Gladly would I commit myself to that great Teacher." Remember,
   Beloved, if you want Him to be your Master, He equally longs for you to
   be His disciple! I think I have now shown that it was to be expected
   that with such a Master, disciples should become like He is.

   Now let me observe that this was virtually promised. It is promised to
   us, in effect, in the great decree of predestination, "for whom He did
   foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
   Son." This is the great purpose of God, that Christ may be the
   First-Born among many Brethren, and that the Brethren may be a company
   in whose faces the Lord shall discern the image of the Only Begotten.
   What God predestinates we may confidently expect. It is promised to us
   in the very name of Jesus Christ, for that name is Jesus, "for He shall
   save His people from their sins."

   But saving men from their sins is the bringing of them back into a
   condition of purity and holiness. This, indeed, is the salvation which
   we preach--not the mere forgiveness of sin, as some think--but the
   conquering of sin, the driving out of sin, the making of men like the
   Lord Jesus by the Spirit of God! The very name of Jesus tells us that
   He means to make His disciples as free from sin as He is. We know,
   also, that this was our Lord's objective, for the design of Christ's
   life is clearly seen in His last prayer when He prayed, "Sanctify them
   through Your truth; Your word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify
   Myself, that they, also, might be sanctified through the truth."

   You can see that His one objective is to make His people holy, as He is
   holy, to keep them from evil even as He was kept, and to make them
   conquerors over sin even as He conquered. All His life He labored at
   this with the 12 and with others who followed with Him and His last
   prayer breathes this, "I pray not that You should take them out of the
   World, but that You should keep them from the Evil One." Everywhere
   this is seen to be true. The relationships which He assumes suppose it,
   for brethren are like their brother, and friends are like their friend.
   The metaphors which He uses imply the same thing, for the engrafted
   branch drinks in the nature of the stem, the spouse grows like her
   husband and the members of the body are of the same nature as the head.

   The mystical Christ it not like the image of the Babylonian monarch's
   dream with head of gold, and feet of clay, but Christ is one
   throughout. The Grace which dwells in the Head, transforms the whole
   body. It is our delightful expectation that "we shall be like He is,
   for we shall see Him as He is," and then we shall be satisfied, for we
   shall wake up in His likeness.

   Well, Brothers and Sisters, what we might have expected, and what God
   has thus virtually promised, has been actually seen, for the disciples
   have been like their Lord, and this is where I want to lay the most
   stress. Have not the disciples been like their Lord in points of
   character? It would be very absurd for me to say that the Old Testament
   saints were dis-

   ciples of Christ in a literal sense, and yet in spirit they all were
   not, for the Gospel is the same in all ages, and it is the same light
   which lightens every man that comes into the world. The inner teaching
   of the Spirit was the same to Abel and to Noah as it was to John and
   Paul. And while Apostles looked back to Jesus and were enlightened,
   Patriarchs looked forward and had light, too.

   Now each of the saints in the olden time had some likeness to the Lord
   Jesus Christ. Think of a few of them and you will see some of His
   beauties. Abel reveals His righteousness and Enoch His walking with
   God. Job shows His patience and Abraham His faith. Moses His meekness
   and Samuel His power of intercession. Daniel is like He in His
   integrity and Jeremiah in His weeping. Like drops of morning dew, all
   these reflected the light of the Sun of Righteousness. In the New
   Testament we see the transforming power of His teaching in many
   instances. Peter and John were like their Master, for we read that when
   their enemies "saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that
   they were unlearned and ignorant men, they took knowledge of them that
   they had been with Jesus." The likeness was so striking that they were
   obliged to confess it!

   Take John alone, for a minute, and who can read his Epistles without
   saying, "Even thus his Master spoke?" John was far behind his Lord, but
   yet how marvelously like He! You have smiled at your children,
   sometimes, when you have seen your own ways repeated in them. You have
   beheld your own peculiarities as in a mirror! Almost unconsciously they
   have been yourself in miniature. So was it evidently with John. If it
   is true, as tradition says, that he was carried into the assembly when
   he was too old to walk, and was in the habit of saying to them, "Little
   children, love one another: little children, love one another"--it was
   so like our Lord Jesus Christ, you might have thought the Master had
   returned to earth!

   As for Paul, in many aspects he is the counterpart of his Lord, and as
   I read that strange passage in Romans which staggers some, where he
   says, "I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren,
   according to the flesh," I am led to say, "Herein he resembles that
   Blessed One who was actually made a curse for us, as it is written,
   cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." Now, all the saints of God,
   more or less, according as they have fully been disciples of Jesus,
   display His characteristics. I cannot stop, this morning, to tell you
   what characteristics I see in you which are like my Lord. I rejoice
   that I do know Brothers and Sisters here of whom I have often said to
   myself, "I can see their Master in them." I wish I could say so of all
   of you, but still, I am glad to see in so many the points of true
   likeness to Jesus, the family characteristics which mark all the
   children of God.

   There are little touches of their Father in all the heirs of salvation
   which make us feel that they belong to the same family as Jesus. They
   could not have learned those ways--they must have been imparted by a
   birth from above. It is a very noteworthy thing that those who are
   disciples of Christ, each become like He as to their life story. Going
   back to the old saints as being really disciples of the doctrine of the
   Redeemer, there is Melchizedek bringing forth bread and wine to refresh
   Abraham--would you not have thought it was Christ Himself? There is
   Isaac gently submitting to his father while he draws the knife to slay
   him--could you not have said that it was Jesus? There is Joseph making
   himself known to his brethren and ruling all Egypt for their
   good--might we not have thought that it was our Lord come on earth
   before His time to bless His chosen ones?

   Yonder is David coming back with Goliath's head, while all the maidens
   of Israel rejoice around him--could you not have thought it was our
   Master returning from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra? The saints
   are types of Him because they are of the same type as He is. As for the
   disciples after Christ came, you will often find them in positions
   which set forth Jesus Christ most evidently. See Stephen boldly
   declaring the Gospel until his enemies stone him. Have you not read of
   his Master many times, "They would have stoned Him, but He conveyed
   himself out of their sight"? Look at Paul at Lystra. They are about to
   sacrifice to him--it makes you think of days when the crowd cried,
   "Hosanna, Ho-sanna." Lo, the Apostle rebukes the throng, and now are
   they stoning him--and it recalls to your memory the time when the crowd
   shouted, "Crucify Him, crucify Him! Away with such a Fellow from the
   earth."

   Read the story of Paul in the shipwreck, when he says to the captain of
   the ship, and to the officer of the troops, "Be of good cheer, for
   there shall be no loss of any man's life among you." You might almost
   have thought it was the Savior, Himself, saying to the winds and waves,
   "Peace, be still." Indeed, Christ is in all His members! His life is
   written out again in their lives. Beloved, I could mention many saints
   of modern times in whose lives we may see Jesus. That poor

   woman who dropped into the treasury her two mites, which were all her
   living--is she not very much like Jesus who gave up all for us, and
   became poor that we, through His poverty, might be rich?

   Others are like the woman who broke the alabaster box of precious
   ointment, to give their best things to her Lord. Do they not remind you
   of the lover of our souls, who broke the precious alabaster box of His
   body and filled all earth and Heaven with the perfume? Everyone who
   gives up self for God's Glory is Jesus in miniature! Look at John
   Howard going about among the dungeons of Europe, spying out poor
   prisoners to do them good. Is not that Christ all over again, with glad
   tidings for the captives? Or John Williams landing at Erromanga with
   his life in his hands, to convert cannibals--was not that laying down
   his life for the sheep?

   Now, dear Friends do you think if we had your life before us we could
   make out anything like Jesus Christ in it? If you are His disciple it
   will be so. There will it be in your biography as your children will
   read it--for they will read it better than anybody else. There it will
   be as your wife will read it and as those you work with will read
   it--something which looks as if it were extracted from the life of
   Jesus. Students in Christ's College must be like their Tutor, and they
   are! I dare say the Brother is present, here, of whom I am about to
   speak. And if so, he will be sorry to hear me tell the story and would
   stop my mouth if he could!

   I will, however, make bold to go on. I know a house painter who was
   working with other men over the top of the Great Northern Railway, at a
   great height. One of his fellow workmen had been drinking very heavily
   and was unsteady on the lofty scaffold. He said to himself, "That man
   will never get down alive," and rather than he should perish, he
   actually offered to carry him down on his back. I believe it would have
   been death to them both if the attempt had been made, but he cheerfully
   offered. He said, "My soul is safe. I am a Christian. I am afraid you
   will be killed and, if you are, your soul will be lost. I will carry
   you down if you will only keep quiet."

   The man rejected the kind offer, though persuaded again and again, and
   alas, in trying to descend he fell into the middle of the railway, from
   a dreadful height, and was taken up dead. When I heard of my good
   Brother, a humble member of this Church, doing that, I thought, "There
   is our Master, revealed in His disciple!" Our life is a painting, and
   if we are in Christ's Studio, there will be traces of His hand, and men
   will exclaim, "That was no common Painter! That stroke, that line, is
   just the line that the great Master used to make! I am sure He has put
   in those touches." O Brothers and Sisters, we need none of us wish to
   be originals--let us plagiarize Christ--and that will be the grandest
   original! God help us in this.

   Now I was going to say, but time has fled, that Christ's disciples grow
   like He in their struggles and in their temptations. They are met by
   Satan as Christ was. They are tried by the world as Christ was. They
   are assailed by Sadducee unbelief and Pharisaic superstition as Christ
   was. They have to go through the same fight and, blessed be God, they
   win the same victories! Christ's disciples overcome sin. By their
   Master's help they rise above doubt, they vanquish the world and they
   stand in purity and faith. By-and-by they shall be like He in their
   rewards. "To him that overcomes," He says, "I will give to sit upon My
   throne, even as I have overcome and have sat down with My Father upon
   His throne."

   It is a beautiful subject! I wish I had the power to work it out, the
   way in which the disciple of Jesus thus, by sure steps, becomes
   perfected into the image of Christ, till the likeness is so near and so
   close that even the clear eyes of this wicked world in the dim
   atmosphere of its ignorance cannot help seeing that the man is like the
   Master!

   III. Now, lastly, we will dwell for two or three minutes upon this
   encouraging fact, that WE MAY PUT ALL THIS TO THE TEST this morning if
   we will. Brothers and Sisters, if you are not disciples of Jesus
   Christ, remember, He will receive you! He will receive you though you
   have been to other masters and learned a great deal under them, all of
   which you will have to unlearn. It is a very easy thing to take a man
   and teach him if his mind is clear and clean. But you have learned a
   great deal that you will have to forget.

   O you of 40, 50, or 60, what a world of mischief there is in you that
   will have to come out! Well, my Master will take you for pupils, though
   you have been with other masters all this while. And, though you do not
   know even the rudiments of what He is going to teach, He will take you.
   My Lord Jesus keeps an A B C school--He begins with the infants. What a
   mercy it is that He takes such poor, stupid heads as ours, who know
   nothing except what we ought not to know! And I will add, if you have
   but very little capacity, or none at all, it does not matter--

   "He takes the fool, and makes him know The wonders of His dying love."

   Not many great men, not many mighty are chosen, but God has chosen the
   poor of this world, and things that are not, and things that are
   despised, yes, and weak things and foolish things, has God chosen. Come
   to Him, for if you are incapable, He is not, and His capacity will soon
   overcome your incapacity. You say, "I cannot learn." Ah, but you do not
   know how well He can teach, for He can teach so well that even those
   who think they cannot learn are soon instructed in His school!

   Stand not back, dear Friend, because you cannot pay the fee, for my
   Master's is a free school! He takes nothing from us, but He gives
   everything to us. The only admission ticket that you need is simply to
   be willing to be taught, to be conscious that you need teaching and
   guiding, and to submit yourself to His guidance and instruction. Are
   you willing to do so? "Oh," you say, "I shall grieve Him till He gives
   me up." Well, I have often thought so. I do not wonder that you are
   troubled with that thought--it has often come across me when I see what
   little progress I have made after being so many years in His school.

   If I had a human master, he would have been out of patience with me
   long ago. But the Lord Jesus Christ never gives up a scholar--having
   once commenced to teach, He continues His Divine lessons till they are
   fully learned--and the more difficult it is for Him to teach, the more
   honor it will be when He gets all His scholars educated for the skies!
   He will not allow a defeat in this matter--He will overcome ignorance,
   sin, hardness of heart, infirmity and incapacity till He shall have
   instructed us in the lore of Heaven and made us meet to be partakers of
   the inheritance of the saints in light!

   Come, dear Brothers and Sisters, you that are scholars of Christ, let
   us sit at His feet! Let us follow in His ways more closely than ever!
   And you, dear Friends, who as yet are not in His school, He says to
   you, "Who is simple let him turn in here. As for him that needs
   understanding let him eat of My bread and drink of the wine which I
   have mingled." May the good Lord incline your hearts to learn of Him,
   for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Luke 6:20-40. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--852, 262, 705.
     __________________________________________________________________

Saints In Heaven And Earth One Family

   (No. 1249)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 8, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The whole family in Hea ren and earth." Ephesians 3:15.

   BEREAVEMENTS are among the sorest griefs of this mortal life. We are
   permitted by God to love those whom He gives to us and our heart
   eagerly casts its tendrils around them and, therefore, when suddenly
   the beloved objects are withdrawn by death, our most tender feelings
   are wounded. It is not sinful for us to lament the departure of
   friends, for Jesus wept. It would be unnatural and inhuman if we did
   not mourn for the departed--we should be less feeling than the beasts
   of the field. The stoic is not a Christian, and his spirit is far
   removed from that of the tender-hearted Jesus.

   The better the friend, the greater our regret at his loss, although
   there also lies within that fact more abundant sources of consolation.
   The mourning for Josiah was very sore because he was so good a prince.
   Because Stephen was so full of the Holy Spirit, and so bold for the
   faith, devout men carried him to his burial and made great lamentation
   over him. Dorcas was wept for and bewailed because of her practical
   care for the poor. Had they not been true saints, the mourning had not
   been so great.

   Brethren, we cannot but sorrow this day, for the Lord has taken away a
   Sister in Christ, a true servant of the Church. She was a consecrated
   woman who'll he honored above many, and to whom He gave many crowns of
   rejoicing. And we cannot but sorrow all the more because so loving a
   mother in Israel has fallen asleep, so useful a life has come to a
   close and so earnest a voice is hushed in silence. I have, this day,
   lost from my side one of the most faithful, fervent and efficient of my
   helpers. And the Church has lost one of her most useful members.
   Beloved, we need comfort! Let us seek it where it may be found.

   I pray that we may view this source of grief, not with our natural, but
   with our spiritual eyes. The things external are for the natural eye
   and from that eye they force full many a tear, for in his natural life
   man is the heir of sorrow. But there is an inward and spiritual life
   which God has given to Believers--and this life has an inner eye--and
   to this inner eye there are other scenes presented than the senses can
   perceive. Let that spiritual vision indulge itself now. Close your eyes
   as much as your tears will permit you to the things which are seen, for
   they are temporal and shadowy, and look to the eternal, secret, Truths
   of God, for these are realities.

   Take a steady look into the invisible, and the text, I think, sets
   before us something to gaze upon which may minister comfort to us. The
   saints in Heaven, though apparently separate from us, are, in reality,
   one with us! Though death seems to have made breaches in the Church of
   God, it is, in fact, perfect and entire. Though the inhabitants of
   Heaven and Believers on earth might seem to be two orders of beings,
   yet in truth they are "one family."--

   "Let all the saints terrestrial sing, With those to Glory gone; For all
   the servants of our King In earth and Heaven are one."

   So sings the poet. The text tells us that there is a "whole family." It
   speaks not of a broken family, nor of two families, but of, "the whole
   family in Heaven and earth." It is still one undivided household,
   notwithstanding all the graves which crowd the cemetery.

   To this thought I shall call your attention, hoping that thereby you
   may enter into that "one communion," in which saints above are bound up
   with saints below. I invite you to consider the ties which bind us to
   those who have gone before, and the indissoluble kinship in Christ
   which holds us as much as ever in one sacred unity.

   I. First, let us think of THE POINTS OF THIS GREAT FAMILY UNION. In
   what respects are the people of our God in Heaven and earth our family?
   We answer, in very many, for their family relationship is so ancient,
   so certain and

   so paramount, that it may be seen in a vast variety of ways. Let us
   note, first, concerning those in Heaven and earth whom the Lord loves
   that their names are all written in one family register.

   That mystical roll which eye has not seen contains all the names of His
   chosen. They are born by degrees, but they are chosen at once--by one
   decree set apart from the rest of mankind--by one declaration, "They
   shall be Mine," separated forever as hallowed things unto the Most
   High! "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
   blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
   according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
   world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
   having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
   to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise
   of the glory of His Grace, in which He has made us accepted in the
   Beloved."

   We like to keep our own family registers. We are pleased to look back
   to the place where our parents recorded our names with those of our
   brothers and sisters. Let us gaze by faith upon that great Book of Life
   where all the names of the redeemed stand indelibly written by the hand
   of Everlasting Love. And as we read those beloved names, let us
   remember that they make but one record. The faithful of modern times
   are on the same page with the saints of the Old Testament, and the
   names of the feeblest among us are written by the same hand which
   inscribed the Apostles and the martyrs!

   We confidently believe that Mrs. Bartlett's name is found in the same
   roll which contains yours, my Sister, though you may be the most
   obscure of the Lord's daughters. "Even as you are called in one hope of
   your calling," so were you all comprehended in one election of Grace.
   The saints above and below are also one family in the Covenant,
   "ordered in all things and sure," made with them in the Person of their
   one great federal Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly one are all the
   members of the human race in our first father, Adam, for in Adam we all
   fell.

   We realize that we are one family by the common sweat of the face, the
   common tendency to sin, the common liability to death--but there is a
   second Adam, and all whom He represented are most surely one family
   beneath His blessed Headship! What the Lord Jesus has accomplished was
   achieved for all His people. His righteousness is theirs! His life is
   theirs! His Resurrection is the pledge of their resurrection! His
   eternal life is the source and guarantee of their immortal glory--

   "With Him, their Head, they stand or fall-- Their life, their surety,
   and their All."

   Let us think how close we are together, then, for we are in very truth
   nearer to the saints in Heaven than we are to the ungodly with whom we
   dwell! We are in one Covenant Headship with just men made perfect, but
   not with the unregen-erate. We are fellow citizens with the glorified,
   but we are strangers and foreigners among worldlings.

   Christ Jesus represented us even as He represented the glorified ones
   in the old eternity, when the Covenant was signed, and in that hour
   when the Covenant stipulations were fulfilled upon the bloody tree. And
   He represents us with the glorified ones, still, as He takes possession
   of the inheritance in the names of all His elect, and dwells in the
   Glory which He is preparing for His one Church. It is sweet to remember
   that all the saints in Heaven and earth have the Covenantpromises
   secured to them by the same Seal. You know the Seal of the
   Covenant--your eyes delight to dwell upon it, it is the Sacrifice of
   the bleeding Lamb! And what, my Brothers and Sisters, is the ground of
   the security of the saints above, but the Covenant of Divine Grace,
   sealed and ratified by the blood of the Son of God?

   We are rejoiced to see that, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in
   connection with the spirits of just men made perfect, the Holy Spirit
   mentions Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and the blood of
   sprinkling, which speaks better things than that of Abel. The promise
   and the oath of God--those two Immutable things, in which it is
   impossible for God to lie, are given to all the heirs of promise
   whether they are militant or triumphant. The Lord has said to them all,
   "I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people." Glory be
   to His name, the blood which is the ground of our hope of Heaven
   guarantees to the perfected that they shall abide in their bliss! They
   are there as the "redeemed from among men," which we, also, are this
   day. That same blood which has made white their robes has also cleansed
   us from all sin!

   The family in Heaven and earth, again, will be plainly seen to be one,
   if you remember that they are all born of the same Father, each one in
   process of time. Every soul in Heaven has received the new birth, for
   that which is born of the flesh cannot inherit a spiritual kingdom and,
   therefore, even babes snatched away from the womb and before yet they
   had fallen into actual sin, have entered Heaven by regeneration. All
   there, whether they lived to old age or died in childhood,

   have been begotten, again, into a lively hope by the resurrection of
   Jesus Christ from the dead, and are born as to their heavenly state,
   not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
   of God.

   The nature of all regenerate persons is the same, for in all it is the
   living and incorruptible Seed which lives and abides forever. The same
   nature is in the saints above as in the saints below. They are called
   the sons of God and so are we! They delight in holiness and so, also,
   do we! They are of the Church of the First-Born and so are we. Their
   life is the life of God and so is ours--immortality pulses through our
   spirits as well as through theirs. Not yet, I grant, is the body made
   immortal, but as to our real life we know who has said, "Whoever lives
   and believes in Me shall never die." Is it not written, "You are made
   partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is
   in the world through lust"? I know there is no higher nature than the
   Divine, and this is said to have been bestowed upon the saints below!

   The new life in Heaven is more developed and mature. It has also shaken
   off its dust and has put on its beautiful garments, yet it is the same.
   In the sinner born to God but yesterday there is a spark of the same
   fire which burns in the breasts of the glorified above. Christ is in
   the perfected and the same Christ is in us, for we are, "all of one,"
   and He calls us all Brethren. Of the same Father, begotten. Into the
   same nature born. With the same life quickening us, are we not one
   family? Oh, it needs but little alteration in the true saint below to
   make him a saint above! So slight the change that in an instant it is
   accomplished. "Absent from the body and present with the Lord." The
   work has proceeded so far that it only remains for the Master to give
   the last touch to it and we shall be meet for Glory and shall enter
   into the heavenly rest with capacities of joy as suitable for Heaven as
   the capacities of those who have been there these thousands of years!

   We are one, yet further, Brethren, because all saints, whether in
   Heaven or earth, are partakers in the same Divine love. "The Lord knows
   them that are His," not merely those in Heaven but those below. The
   poor struggling child of God in poverty is as well known by God as yon
   bright songster who walks the golden streets! "The eyes of the Lord are
   upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." I tell you,
   timid, trembling woman, humbly resting on your Savior, that you are as
   truly beloved of God as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who sit down at His
   table in Glory! The love of God toward His children is not affected by
   their position, so that He loves those in Heaven better and those on
   earth less. God forbid!

   You, being evil, are not so partial as to bestow all your love upon a
   son who has prospered in the world and give none of it to another who
   is bearing the burden of poverty. Our great Father loves the world of
   His elect with love surpassing thought and has given Himself to each
   one of them to be the portion of each individual forever. What more can
   He do for those in Heaven? What less has He done for us? Jesus has
   engraved the names of all the redeemed upon His hands and heart. He
   loves them all unto perfection! If, then, they all dwell in the bosom
   of God as the dearly beloved of His soul, are they not, indeed, one
   family?

   As they all receive the same love so are they all heirs of the same
   promises and the same blessed inheritance. I am bold to say that as a
   believer in Christ, Heaven is as much mine as it is Paul's or Peter's!
   They are there to enjoy it and I am waiting to obtain it--but I hold
   the same title deeds as they do and, as an heir of God and joint heir
   with Jesus Christ-- my heritage is as broad and as sure as theirs!
   Their only right to Heaven lies in the Grace of God which brought them
   to believe in Jesus. And if we, also, have been brought, by Grace, to
   believe in Jesus, our title to eternal Glory is the same as theirs!

   Oh, child of God, do not think that the Lord has set apart some very
   choice and special blessings for a few of His people--all things are
   yours. The land is before you, even the land which flows with milk and
   honey, and the whole of it is yours, though you may be less than the
   least of all saints. The promise is sure to all the seed and all the
   seed have an interest in it. Remember that blessed passage, "If
   children, then heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ"--not
   if full-grown children! Not if well-developed children! Not if strong,
   muscular children, but, "if children," and that is all! Regeneration
   proves you to be heirs, and alike heirs, for there can be no difference
   in the heirship if they are all heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
   Christ.

   Will you think of this, you who are little in Israel? You who rank with
   the Benjamites? Will you sit down and think of this? You are one of the
   same family as those bright spirits who shine as the stars forever and
   ever! And their inheritance is also yours, though as yet you have not
   come of age, and like a minor must wait till you have been trained
   under tutors and governors and educated for Heaven! You are a prince,
   though as yet an infant. You are one of the Redeemer's kings and
   priests, as yet uncrowned. You are waiting, waiting, but still secure
   of the inheritance! You are tarrying till

   the day breaks and the shadows flee away, but sure that in the morning
   the crown of life so long reserved will be brought forth and you, also,
   shall sit with Jesus on His Throne.

   So might I continue showing the points in which the saints above and
   the saints below are akin, but this last must suffice--They are all
   members of one body--and are necessary to the completion of one
   another. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told, concerning the
   saints above, that, "they, without us, cannot be made perfect." We are
   the lower limbs, as it were, of the body, but the body must have its
   inferior as well as its superior members. It cannot be a perfect body
   should the least part of it be destroyed. Hence it is declared that in
   the dispensation of the fullness of time, He will gather together in
   one, all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on
   earth. The saints above with all their bliss must wait for their
   resurrection until we, also, shall have come out of great tribulation.

   Like ourselves they are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
   redemption of the body. Until all who were predestinated to be
   conformed to the image of the First-Born shall have been so conformed,
   the Church cannot be complete. We are linked to the glorified by bonds
   of indispensable necessity! We think that we cannot do without them,
   and that is true--but they, also, cannot do without us! "As the body is
   one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being
   many are one body, so also is Christ." How closely this brings us
   together!

   Those for whom we sorrow cannot be far away, since we are all "the body
   of Christ and members in particular." If it is dark, my hands know that
   the head cannot be far off, nor can the foot be far removed--eyes,
   ears, feet, hands, head are all comprised within the limits of one
   body--and so if I cannot see my beloved friend, if I shall not, again,
   hear her voice on earth, nor see her pleading tears, yet am I sure she
   is not far away and that the bond between us is by no means snapped,
   for we are members of our Lord's body, of which it is written, "not a
   bone of Him shall be broken."

   Thus have I, according to my ability, set forth some of the points of
   this family union. May the Holy Spirit give us to know them for
   ourselves.

   II. Let us now speak upon THE INSEPARABLENESS OF THIS UNION. "The whole
   family in Heaven and earth" Not the two families nor the divided
   family, but the whole family in Heaven and earth. It appears at first
   sight as if we were very effectually divided by the hand of death. Can
   it be that we are one family when some of us labor on and others sleep
   beneath the greensward? There was a great truth in the sentence which
   Wordsworth put into the mouth of the little child when she said, "O
   master, we are seven."--

   "But they are dead: those two are dead!

   Their spirits are in Heaven!

   'Twas throwing words away, for still

   The little maid would have her will,

   And said 'No, we are seven.'"

   Should we not thus speak of the Divine family, for death, assuredly,
   has no separating power in the household of God! Like the Apostle, we
   are persuaded that death cannot separate us from the love of God. The
   breach caused by the grave is only apparent--it is not real, the family
   is still united--for if you think of it, when there is a loss in a
   family the father is bereaved, but you cannot conceive of our heavenly
   Father's being bereaved. Our Father which art in Heaven, You have lost
   none of Your children! We wept and went to the grave, but You did not,
   for Your child is not dead! Rather has Your child come closer unto Your
   bosom to receive a sweeter caress and to know more fully the infinity
   of Your love!

   When a child is lost from a family, the elder brother is a mourner, for
   he has lost one of his siblings, but our Elder Brother is not
   bereaved--Jesus has lost none of His! No, has He not, rather, brought
   home to Himself, His own redeemed? Has He not rejoiced exceedingly to
   see His good work perfected in one whom He loved? There is no break
   towards the Father, and no break towards the Elder Brother, and
   therefore it must be our mistake to fancy that there is any break at
   all! It cannot be that death divides our Israel--were not the tribes of
   Reuben and Gad and Manasseh one with the rest of Israel, though the
   Jordan rolled between?

   It is a whole family, that redeemed household in Heaven and in earth!
   How little death prevents actual communion it is impossible for us to
   tell. Some attractive but worthless books have been written pretending
   to unfold to us the connection between departed spirits and ourselves.
   But I trust you will not be led into such idle speculations. God has
   not revealed these things to us and it is not for us to go dreaming
   about them, for we may dream ourselves into grievous errors if we once
   indulge our fancies. We know nothing about the commerce of the
   glorified with earth, but we do know that all

   departed saints are supremely blessed and that they are with Christ!
   And if they are with Christ, and we are with Christ, we cannot be far
   from each other.

   We meet all the saints of every age whenever we meet with God in Christ
   Jesus. In fellowship with Jesus you are come unto the city of the
   living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
   angels, to the general assembly and Church of the First-Born, whose
   names are written in Heaven, and to the spirits of just men made
   perfect. It is impossible to restrict our communion with the people of
   God by the bounds of sect, race, country, or time, for we are vitally
   one with them all! Come, Brothers and Sisters, let us join our hands
   with those who have gone before, and let us, with equal love, join
   hands with those below, who before long will be numbered with the same
   company!

   Death has removed part of the family to an upper room, but we are still
   one family! There may be two brigades, but we are one army! We may feed
   in two pastures, but we are one flock! We may dwell awhile in separate
   habitations, but one homestead will, before long, receive us all. As a
   matter which grows out of death, it may be well to say that space makes
   no inroads into the wholeness of the Lord's family. So far as spirits
   are limited to place, there must be a vast distance between the saint
   in Heaven and the saint on earth. But we ought to remember that space,
   which seems vast to us, is not vast relatively, either as to God or to
   spiritual beings. Space is but the house of God, no, God comprehends
   all space and space, therefore, is but the bosom of the Eternal.

   Space, also, is scarcely to be reckoned when dealing with spiritual
   beings. We can love and commune with those who are across the Atlantic
   with as much ease as we can have fellowship with those in the next
   house. Our friends in Australia, though on the other side of the world,
   are by no means too distant for our spiritual embrace. Thought flies
   more swiftly than electricity. Spirits defy space and annihilate
   distance. And we, in spirit, still meet with the departed in our songs
   of praise, rejoicing with them in our Lord Jesus Christ! Space does not
   divide--there are many mansions, but they are all in our Father's
   house.

   And, dear Brethren, it is such a great mercy that sin, that greatest of
   all separators, does not now divide us, for we are made near by the
   blood of Christ. When we think of those bright spirits before the
   Throne of God, they seem to be of a superior race to us and we are half
   tempted to bow at their feet. But this feeling is rebuked in us, as it
   was in John, by the voice which said, "See you do it not! I am of your
   fellow servants, the Prophets: worship God." They are one with us,
   after all, for they have washed their robes and made them white in the
   blood of the Lamb--and that is exactly what we have done, by God's
   Grace!

   Beloved in Christ, we are already justified and accepted in the Beloved
   as much as the glorified. The veil is torn for us as well as for them.
   The dividing mountains of sin are overturned for us as well as for
   them. Sinners as we are, we have access to God by the blood of
   Jesus--and with joy we draw near the Throne of God! They have attained
   to perfection and we are following after. They see the Lord face to
   face, but we, also, who are pure in heart, have Grace given us to see
   God. The atoning blood has removed the middle wall and we are one in
   Christ Jesus.

   Neither do errors and failures of understanding divide the family of
   God. If, indeed, they did, who among us could be of the same family as
   those who know even as they are known? The little child makes a
   thousand mistakes and his elder brothers smile, sometimes, but they do
   not deny that he is their brother because he is so ignorant and
   childish. Even so, dear Brothers and Sisters, we know very little now.
   Like the Apostle, we may each one say, "I spoke as a child, I
   understood as a child, I thought as a child." For now we see through a
   glass darkly and only know in part, but this does not disprove our
   kinship with those who see "face to face."

   We are of the same school, though on a lower form, and it is written,
   "All your children shall be taught of the Lord." What they know they
   learned at those same feet at which we also sit. Neither can sorrow
   separate us. Ah, they know no tears, their griefs and their toils are
   ended, but we must abide awhile in the stern realities of life's
   battle, to wrestle and to suffer. But it is evident that we are not
   divided from them, for we are all spoken of in one sentence as, "These
   are they that are coming out of great tribulation," for so the
   translation may run. Those who are already arrived and those who are on
   the way are described as one company.

   The sick child is of the same family as his brother in perfect health.
   Soldiers who are enduring the brunt of the battle are of the same army
   as those who have gained their laurels. To deny that your warring
   soldier is a part of the host would be a great mistake. To say that he
   is not of the army because he is in the midst of the conflict would be
   cruel and false. The

   saints militant are of the same host as the triumphant! Those who are
   suffering are of the same company as the beatified. None of these
   things part us--we are still one family in Christ Jesus. Who shall
   separate us?

   III. A topic of deep interest now comes before us--THE PRESENT DISPLAY
   OF THE UNION. We have been speaking of our being one family, but
   perhaps it appears to you to be only a pleasing theory and, therefore,
   we will notice certain points in which our unity practically appears. I
   like to think, first, that the service of those who have departed
   blends with ours. I do not mean that they can descend to earth to
   preach and teach and labor. But I do mean this, that they being dead,
   yet speak. Their service projects itself beyond this life.

   A good man is not dead as to his influential life and real service for
   God as soon as the breath leaves his body. His work has a momentum in
   it which makes it roll on--his influence abides. "Even in their ashes
   live their known fires." A very large part of the power which the Holy
   Spirit gives to the Church is found in the form of influence derived
   from the testimonies and examples of departed saints. Today the Church
   of God feels the influence of Paul and Peter. At this very moment the
   work of the Apostles is telling upon the nations. Is it not certain
   that the energetic souls of Luther and Calvin have left vital forces
   behind them which still throb and pulsate?

   Perhaps the Reformers are doing as much today as they did when they
   were alive! So each man, according to his talent and Grace, leaves
   behind him not merely his arrow and his bow, his sword and his shield
   for other hands to use--but the arrows which he shot before he died are
   still flying through the air and the javelin which he hurled before his
   hand was paralyzed in death is yet piercing through the bucklers of the
   foe! The influence of my dear Sister, Mrs. Bartlett, will operate upon
   some of you as long as you live--and you will transmit it to your
   successors. You Christians will be the more intense because of her
   glowing example--and you sinners will find it the harder to live in sin
   when you remember her tearful warnings.

   Some of you, I do not doubt, will be her posthumous children, born unto
   her after she has entered into her rest. Do not let the living think
   that they are the sole champions in this holy war, for, to all intents
   and purposes, the spirits of the just made perfect stand side by side
   with them! And the battle is being carried on, in no small measure, by
   cannon which they cast and weapons which they forged. Though the
   builders are absent in body, yet the gold, silver and precious stones
   which they gave to their Lord will establish forever. Then again, we
   are one family in Heaven and earth, and that very visibly, because the
   influence of the prayers of those in Heaven still abides with us.

   Do not misunderstand me, I am no believer in the intercession of the
   saints above. I believe that they pray, but I believe it to be a
   damnable error to urge anyone to seek their intercession! What I mean
   is very different. I mean that prayers offered while they were here and
   unanswered in their lifetime still remain in the Church's treasury of
   prayer. Many a mother dies with her children unsaved, but the prayers
   she continually offered for them will prevail after her death. Many a
   minister and many a private member pleads with God for blessing on the
   Church and, perhaps, does not see it, but prayer must be answered--and
   50 years afterwards it is possible that the Church will reap the result
   of those supplications.

   Is not Scotland, today, the better and the holier for the prayers of
   John Knox? Is not England the brighter for the prayers of Latimer and
   Ridley? The august company of the glorified have ceased to kneel with
   us in person, but in effect they do so! They have gone to other work,
   but the incense which they kindled when they were below still perfumes
   the chambers of the Church of God! Further, our unity with them will be
   seen in this, that their testimony from above blends with ours. The
   Church is ordained to be a witness. My brethren, we try to witness as
   God helps us to His Truth as it is in Jesus, even as those who are
   above once witnessed with us here in life and in death.

   What a sweet witness dying Christians often bear when they cannot
   speak, in the gleam of the eyes, in the perfect rest of soul which
   others may well envy, enjoyed just in the moment when pain was most
   severe and the flesh was failing. But now that these spirits have
   entered within the veil, do they cease their testimony? No. Hear them.
   They bear witness to the Lamb, saying, "for You were slain and have
   redeemed us to God by Your blood." They make known to angels and
   principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of
   God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
   our Lord.

   We are engaged with them in revealing the abundant mercy and
   all-sufficiency of the Lord. You are comrades with us, you shining
   ones! You are fellow witnesses for Jesus and therefore you are one with
   us! The main employment of saints above is praise. Beloved, what is
   ours but praise, too? Is it not well put by our poet--

   "They sing the Lamb in hymns above, And we in songs below"?

   Their music is sweeter than ours, freer from discord and from all that
   is cold or wandering, but still, the theme is the same and the song
   springs from the same motive--and is worked in the heart by the same
   Grace. I think I shall never praise my Lord in Heaven more sincerely
   than I often praise Him now, when my mouth cannot speak, for the
   flooding of my soul's delight and joy in my God, who has taken me up
   out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
   a Rock and established my goings, and put a new song into my mouth!

   The deep obligations of every day overwhelm me with indebtedness! I
   cannot but praise my God, when I think of dire necessities perpetually
   supplied, multiplied sin continually pardoned, wretched infirmity
   graciously helped. Yes, we are one family, because when holy worship
   goes up into the ears of the Eternal, our praise blends with the praise
   of those who are glorified above, and we are one! Brethren, I believe
   we are one in some other points as well. Do you not rejoice over
   sinners? Is it not one of our holidays on earth when the prodigal
   returns? "Verily I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the
   angels of God over one sinner that repents."

   Do you ever cry out against sin and groan because of the power of error
   in the land? Know you not that the souls under the altar also cry with
   the same indignation, "O Lord, how long! Will You not judge and avenge
   Your own elect?" Do you not expect, each day, the coming of your Lord,
   and look for it with rapture? They, also, do the same. They say there
   is no hope in Heaven, but who told them so? The saints, like ourselves,
   are looking for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Lord
   and Savior Jesus Christ! Your joy, your desire, your hope--are not
   these the same as theirs before the Throne of God?

   Towering over all is the fact that The Well-Beloved is the common joy
   of saints in Heaven and on earth. What makes their Heaven? Who is the
   Object of all their worship? Who is the Subject of all their songs? In
   whom do they delight themselves all the day long? Who leads them to
   living fountains of waters and wipes all tears from their eyes?
   Beloved, He is as much All in All to us as He is to them! Jesus, we
   know You and they know You! Jesus, we love You and they love You!
   Jesus, we embrace You and they embrace You! Jesus, we are oftentimes
   lost in You, and they are lost in You. Sun of our soul, Life of our
   life, Light of our delight, You are that to us which You are to them
   and herein we are all one!

   IV. Last of all, there is to come, before long, A FUTURE MANIFESTATION
   OF THIS FAMILY UNION, much brighter than anything we have as yet seen.
   We are one family and we shall meet again! If they cannot come to us we
   shall go to them, by-and-by. It does not often happen that we carry to
   the grave one who is known to all this congregation, but seldom does a
   week pass but what one or other of our number, and frequently two or
   three, are taken home. I have to look upon you and upon myself as so
   many shadows. And when I meet you, how often does the question occur to
   me, "Who will go next?"

   Naturally, I think of some of you who have grown gray in your Master's
   service and have passed your threescore years and ten. You must go
   soon, my Brothers and my Sisters. And I know you are not grieved at the
   prospect. Yet the young as well as the old are taken Home. And men in
   middle life, with the marrow moist in their bones, are removed, even as
   those who lean upon their staff for very age. Who knows but what I may
   leave you soon? My Brother, who knows but that you may be called away?
   Well, in that blessed day when we leave the earth, we shall perceive
   that as we are free of the Church below, we are citizens of the Church
   above!

   Whenever some of us enter an assembly of Believers, they recognize and
   welcome us--the same reception awaits us above! We shall be quite at
   home in Heaven when we get there. Some of you have more friends in
   Heaven than on earth. How few are left of your former friends, compared
   with the many who have gone above? In the day when you enter into
   Heaven, you will perceive that the Church is one family, for they will
   welcome you heartily and recognize in you a Brother and a friend, and
   so, together with them, you shall adore your Lord!

   Remember there is coming another day in which the family union of the
   Church will be seen, and that is when the trumpet shall sound and the
   dead shall be raised. It may be that we shall all be of the company of
   those who sleep and, if so, when the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ
   shall rise first, and we shall have our share in the first
   Resurrection. Or, if our Lord should come before we die, we shall be,
   "alive and remain." But we shall undergo a change at the same moment as
   the dead are raised, so that this corruptible shall put on
   incorruption! What a family we shall be when we all rise

   together and all the changed ones stand with us, all of one race, all
   regenerate, all clothed in the white robe of Jesus' righteousness! What
   a family! What a meeting it will be!--

   "How loud shall our glad voices sing,

   When Christ, His risen saints shall bring

   From beds of dust, and silent clay,

   To realms of everlasting day."

   Beloved, I cannot dwell upon what Glory will follow on earth, but if
   our Lord shall live and reign on earth a thousand years, and if there
   shall be set up a great empire which shall outshine all other
   monarchies as much as the sun outshines the stars, we shall all share
   in it, for He will make us all kings and priests unto God, and we shall
   reign with Him upon the earth. Then, when comes the end, and He shall
   deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, and God shall be All in
   All, we shall forever be with the Lord.

   My soul anticipates that grandest of all family meetings, when all the
   chosen shall assemble around the Throne of God. It is but a little
   while and it shall come. It is but the twinkling of an eye and it shall
   all be matter of fact. We talk of time as though it were a far reaching
   thing. I appeal to you gray heads who know what 70 years mean--are they
   not gone as a watch in the night? Well, let the waiting be prolonged
   for 10,000 years, if the Lord pleases! The 10,000 years will end and
   then forever and forever we shall be as one family where Jesus is! This
   hope should cheer us. Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your
   victory? Cheered by the prospect of an everlasting reunion, we defy you
   to sadden us! Encouraged by the Glory which God has decreed, we laugh
   at your vain attempts to make breaches in the ranks of the one and
   indivisible family of the living God!

   The practical point is--Do we belong to that family? I will leave that
   naked question to work in every heart. Do I belong to that family? Am I
   born of God? Am I a believer in Jesus? If not, I am an heir of wrath
   and not in the family of God. If we do belong to the family, let us
   show our relationship by loving all the members of it. I should not
   like a Brother to be gone to Heaven and to reflect that I was unkind to
   him. I should not like to think that I might have smoothed his pathway
   but I did not. Or I might have cheered him and refused.

   Dear Brothers and Sisters, we shall live together in Heaven forever!
   Let us love each other fervently, now, with a pure heart. Help your
   poor Brothers and Sisters, cheer your desponding Brothers and Sisters.
   Let no man look only on his own things, but every man, also, on the
   things of others. Brother, be brotherly! Sister, be a true sister. Let
   us not love in word, only, but in deed and in truth, for we shall soon
   be at home together in our Father's house on high.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Revelation 7. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--872, 832, 859.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Priest Dispensed With

   (No. 1250)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 15, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself." 1 John
   5:10.

   IT is a part of the theory of Ritualism, that is to say, Anglicized
   Popery, that no man can know his sins forgiven unless he is assured so
   by a priest. They tell us that to know ourselves saved we must either
   have a revelation from Heaven, which we may not expect, or we must wait
   till the Day of Judgement, or else some duly authorized "spiritual
   father" must pronounce us absolved. They cannot suppose any other
   method of being assured of forgiveness. That is the theory and in
   practice it comes to this, that when anything troubles your conscience
   you must make a clean breast of it to this, so-called, learned
   "minister," alias parish priest, and tell him whatever things you have
   done, answering all questions he may choose to put to you, whether they
   are clean or whether they are unclean.

   And only then will he give you absolution in the name of God, claiming
   to be--mark you, I am not saying what they do not say, for I quote from
   one of the most popular of their manuals, entitled, "Steps to the
   Altar"--claiming, I say, to be "a trustee from God, and commissioned by
   Him as His ministerial deputy, to hear, and judge, and absolve." That
   is the theory, a very attractive one, too, to human nature, for man, by
   nature, is an idolater, that is to say, he desires something tangible,
   and visible, to revere and trust in. The old spirit which cried out in
   the wilderness, "Make us gods to go before us, for as for this Moses
   which brought us up out of the land Egypt, we know not what has become
   of him," is still alive and craves for idols--and delights to find them
   either in the form of priests or sacraments

   As for faith in the unseen purely spiritual worship, and simple
   reliance upon the promise of God, these are not according to human
   nature, and wherever you discover them, they are the gifts of the Holy
   Spirit. Man's idolatry loves priestcraft and, therefore, we should not
   be astonished if Ritualism were to become more and more popular and
   subjugate the whole land. Confidence in priestly powers seems to afford
   the soul an easy way of coming to an anchorage. To come directly to
   Jesus Christ with the whole heart needs thought, consideration and
   heart work--but to confess to a priest and get his assurance of pardon
   is a method much less difficult, less spiritual and, consequently, more
   agreeable to human nature.

   What need is there of being born again from above when a little water
   will do it? What need is there of feeding upon Christ when bread and
   wine are the same thing? What need is there of the witness from above
   when every curate can assure you that you are pardoned? What need is
   there, I ask, of the witness of the Holy Spirit, when any clerical
   person can pronounce you absolved? I would in all kindness speak with
   those who are in bondage to this delusion and suggest a few questions.
   You think it more easy to believe in a man appointed by God than to
   believe in Christ Himself, but may there not be a doubt or two about
   the man? Is it not possible that he has not been rightly ordained, or
   that he, himself, when he speaks does not mean what he says? Remember,
   everything depends upon his ordination and intention!

   Do you say, "Oh, but he is certified by the Church"? But are there not
   grave questions as to the Church? Can Apostolic succession be proven?
   It is the idlest of romances! The church of Rome has struggled to prove
   her own descent from Peter, but fails at the very beginning--and we may
   be doubly sure that the Anglican Church is still more at sea. She calls
   the Nonconformists, Schismatic in reference to herself, but what is she
   in regard to the church of Rome? She has no Apostolic succession, in
   the sense in which the expression is ecclesiastically used, and should
   be ashamed of setting up the fraudulent presence!

   Her godly ministers have the same Apostolic successor as all true
   servants of Christ have, and no more. No man has such a pedigree as to
   entitle him to represent the Eternal God and stand between the Father
   and men's souls! The claim is as gross an imposition as that of the
   fortuneteller who pretends to prophecy. Hark you, my Friends, have you
   no manliness? Does it not seem to you, as it does to me, to be a
   monstrously degrading thing that you should prostrate yourselves

   before a man, like yourselves, and believe that he can pronounce the
   pardon of your sins? This precious, "Steps to the Altar," says, "Let
   the manner of your confession be in an humble posture, on your knees,
   as being made to God rather than man." Mark you this, you are to go
   down on your knees to the man whom the State appoints to superintend
   the religion of your parish!

   What is it but Brahmanism, mislabeled Christianity? The whole drift of
   the scheme is to elevate a clerical caste and lay all the rest of
   mankind at their feet! This is the reverse of the religion of the New
   Testament which says that all Believers are a royal priesthood, made by
   the Lord Jesus kings and priests unto God! Is not Ritualism quite sure
   to grow into Popery, no, is it not full-blown Popery, already? Will it
   not, once again, reduce the world to slavery under an arch-priest at
   Rome or Canterbury if it is allowed to have its way? And what say the
   Scriptures? "There is one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ
   Jesus." Why should we set up other mediators and go to them for
   absolution when our Lord Jesus receives all who come to Him?

   Do you see in the New Testament any trace of such assumptions on the
   part of God's ministers? Does the Gospel say, "He that believes and is
   baptized shall be saved, if absolved by a priest"? That interpolation
   is foreign to the Gospel! "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
   shall be saved" is the Gospel according to the Scriptures! "Confess to
   the priest and you shall be forgiven" is the Gospel of the Vatican!
   Everywhere the Scripture calls man to come into personal contact with
   his reconciled God in Christ Jesus. The first resolution of the
   awakened sinner is, "I will arise and go unto my Father." It is not, "I
   will arise and go unto the authorized minister who stands between me
   and my Father." It is not, "I will resort to sacraments and
   ceremonies," but, "I will go to my Father." In fact the whole objective
   of the Gospel is to bring us near to God in Christ Jesus and to put
   down every interposing medium. He who rent the veil of the temple has
   ended this priestly business!

   This morning my business is to show that there is no need of a
   certificate from any man as to our being forgiven, for "he that
   believes has the witness within himself." He does not need a new
   revelation. He does not need to wait till the Day of Judgment--he is
   forgiven, and he knows it, and knows it infallibly, too--by a witness
   which is within himself. Of that I shall speak, and may the Spirit of
   God help us to get at the real truth! Yes, I would to God that all who
   hear me this day would believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and have the
   witness of His salvation in themselves!

   Let me, first of all, say a word or two about the way in which we are
   saved, the modus operandi of salvation, as we find it described in the
   Scriptures. Here it is in a nutshell. We have all broken God's Law and
   we are justly condemned on account of it. God, in infinite mercy,
   desiring to save the sons of men, has given His Son, Jesus, to stand in
   the place of as many as believe in Him. Jesus became the Substitute of
   His people and suffered in their stead, and for them the debt of
   punishment due to God was paid by Jesus Christ upon the Cross of
   Calvary. All who believe in Him are, thereby, cleared before the bar of
   Divine Justice.

   Now, the Lord, having given His Son, has revealed this great fact in
   His Word. Here it is in this Inspired Book--the full statement of
   it--to this effect, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
   Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and that whoever
   believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has everlasting life. This is God's
   testimony! We, who are here present, or at least the bulk of us, know
   that it is God's testimony and all we have to do in order to realize
   the result of Christ's passion is simply to believe the testimony of
   God concerning it and rest upon it!

   The argument runs thus--Christ saves those who trust Him. I trust Him
   and, therefore, I am saved. Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of His
   people. His people are known by their believing in Him. I believe in
   Him and, therefore, He died for my sins, and my sins are blotted out.
   This is the summary of the transaction. God's testimony concerning His
   Son is at first believed, simply because God says so and for no other
   reason. And then there grows up in the soul other evidence not
   necessary to faith, but very strengthening to it--evidence which
   springs up in the soul as the result of faith, and is the witness
   referred to in our text--"He that believes has the witness in himself."

   There is no need for the intervention of any second or third party
   here. The man has trusted Christ and the Gospel for himself, and proved
   it to be true--what service can that gentleman in a long coat render to
   him? What more evidence can he bring with his Prayer Book or without
   it? The matter is as clear as the sun! What is the need of his tallow
   candles? We shall try to answer three questions today by the aid of our
   text--How do we come to be Believers? Secondly, How do we know that
   Believers are saved? And thirdly, How do we know that we are Believers?

   I. HOW DO WE COME TO BE BELIEVERS? Beloved Friends, you know how faith
   arises in the heart from the human point of view. We hear the Gospel,
   we accept it as the message of God and we trust ourselves to it. So far
   it is our own work--and let it be remembered that in every case faith
   is and must be the act of man. The Holy Spirit never believes for
   anybody--each man must personally believe. We cannot be saved by the
   faith of another, even though that other were Divine. Each one of us
   must, himself, believe.

   But, having said that, let us remember that the Godward history of our
   believing is quite another thing, for true faith is always the gift of
   God and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us to
   perform the act of faith by which we are saved and the process is after
   this manner, though varying in different individuals--First, we are
   brought attentively to listen to the old, old story of the Cross. We
   have heard it a great many times, perhaps, but now we hear with opened
   ears, anxiously desiring to know the inner sense. While we are so
   listening, the Word commends itself to us--it awes us by its majesty of
   holiness! It attracts us by its beauty of love and we perceive that it
   is truly the Word of God.

   Thus faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Attentive
   hearers, earnestly listening, very seldom remain unbelievers long. The
   superficial hearer who is satisfied to sit through a sermon but does
   not care to understand it, misses the blessing. The diligent reader of
   the Bible, reading it with prayer, is very unlikely to remain unsaved--
   before long the Spirit of God, who works through the Word, applies some
   portion or other of Holy Scripture to the soul with power--and the
   reader is brought to faith.

   We believe, then, not because a clerical person, or a crowd of clerics
   assure us that the Bible is Inspired, but because the Spirit of God,
   working with the Word, commends it to our consciences and to our
   understandings and, therefore, we believe. You will generally find that
   unbelievers do not read the Bible, and do not hear the Gospel--how can
   they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? If they will not
   consider the Gospel candidly, how can they expect to believe

   it?

   Further, the Holy Spirit is also pleased to make us conscious of our
   sinfulness, our danger and our inability. And this is a great way
   towards faith in Christ, for the great difficulty in believing in Jesus
   is that men believe in themselves. But when they discover that their
   lives, which they thought commendable, are censurable--and when they
   find out that their native strength is feebleness itself--they are,
   then, prepared to believe in God's salvation! When a man can no longer
   rely upon himself, he cries to the Strong for strength. Thus the Spirit
   of God leads us to faith by driving us out of self-confidence.

   Moreover, while attentively hearing, we perceive the suitability of the
   Gospel to our case. We feel ourselves sinful and rejoice that our great
   Substitute bore our sin, and suffered on its account, and we say, "That
   substitution is full of hope to me; salvation by an atonement is
   precisely what I desire. My conscience can rest here." We learn that
   Jesus came by water, to cleanse our nature as well as to take away our
   guilt, and we say, "That also meets my need." Studying the great
   doctrine of the Cross, it strikes us as being full of the wisdom and
   love of God, and as suitable for our case as bread is suitable for
   hunger, or water for thirst. And our moral instincts, by an inner
   witness which we cannot further describe, leap to the conclusion that
   this must be true and, therefore, we believe it.

   You see, first we give an attentive hearing to the Gospel, then we
   receive, by the Spirit of God, a consciousness of our need of it, and
   then we discover the suitability of it to meet our need! And by that
   process we are led onward to genuine faith in Christ. There is but one
   more step, and that is, we accept Jesus as set forth in the Gospel and
   place all our trust in Him. He is set forth as the Savior of mankind,
   bringing life and peace to all who trust Him. We hear a voice that
   says, "Whoever will, let him come and take the Water of Life freely."
   We see the Savior, Himself, standing with outstretched arms and crying,
   "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink."

   And being assured of the freeness as before we were of the suitability
   of the Atonement, we accept it, and thus we exercise the faith of God's
   elect. We have gone through a process which has divorced us from every
   other confidence and brought us to rest on that which God has set forth
   to be a Propitiation, even the finished work, the blood and
   righteousness of Christ. When the soul accepts the Lord Jesus as
   Savior, she believes in Him as God, for she says, "How can He have
   offered so glorious an Atonement had He not been Divine? How could God
   set Him forth to make propitiation for the sons of men had He not been
   equal to the task, a task requiring an Infinite Nature?" We worship the
   Son of God! In Him we rest and on Him we lean! We find in Him all that
   we need! This is why we believe, then, and the process is a simple and

   logical one. The mysterious Spirit works us to faith, but the states of
   mind through which He brings us follow each other in a beautifully
   simple manner.

   Now, in all this I see no room for a priest at all. For the preacher
   there is a niche, for, "how can they hear without a preacher?" But the
   priest with his authority as an interpolator, like the fifth wheel of a
   steam engine, he is of no possible service and a good deal in the way.
   He deserves to be called "a superfluity of naughtiness." God's Word
   convinces my reason, and God's Spirit wins my heart to faith in
   Jesus--what more under Heaven do I need as a reason for faith?

   That gentleman with the gown on has no more to do with the business
   than if he did not exist! His intervention to tell me, by authority,
   that the Gospel is true and that I am absolved, is as ridiculous as the
   conduct of that little African potentate who, as soon as he has eaten
   the few morsels of carrion which adorn his majestic table, bids a
   herald proclaim east, west, north, and south, that all other kings in
   the world are now permitted, by his gracious majesty, to have their
   dinners! Probably they have never heard of the permission and have
   suffered no evil from being ignorant of it. Who is this fellow, that he
   should take so much upon himself?

   Having been brought to rest in Jesus as my Savior by a perfectly
   reasonable process, by a chain of argument in which not one link is
   deficient, I care nothing whatever for any official confirmation from
   the gentleman in the gown, who has no argument, but bids me believe
   because he has been ordained! I need no confirmation of what God
   speaks! Twice two will be four whether the parish priest says so or
   not, and God's testimony is true quite independently of all the gowns
   and surplices in and out of the robe-maker's shop. If Her Majesty
   should give me the title deeds of an estate, signing the transfer with
   her own hand and seal, I should smile at the lackey who should kindly
   offer to add his authority to her Majesty's act and deed!

   Where the word of a king is, there is power, and this is preeminently
   true where the Word of the King of kings is concerned! I have believed
   in Jesus Christ as He is set forth on the authority of God, Himself,
   and who are you, Sir Priest, to come between me and God? You tell the
   penitent, "You are to look upon the priest, as he is trustee from God,
   and commissioned by Him as His ministerial deputy, to hear and judge
   and absolve you." Away with such blasphemous lies! We need no deputies,
   for we have Christ Himself! You and your authority may go packing.

   II. Secondly, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT BELIEVERS ARE SAVED? That seems to be
   a grave question with

   some. "I trust Jesus, I believe in Him with all my heart, but am I
   saved?" My dear Friend, you ought not to raise that question, for it is
   finally settled by Divine authority. But as you do raise it, let us
   answer it for you very briefly. We know and are sure that every
   Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is saved because God says so, and is
   not that enough? God declares in His Word, even in that sure Word of
   Testimony--where you will do well to take heed as unto a light that
   shines in a dark place--that every Believer in Jesus Christ is saved.

   The passages in which this is stated are far too many for us to quote
   them all. Only let us note that memorable one at the close of Mark's
   Gospel, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
   creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that
   believes not shall be damned." The Believer is saved! You have in those
   verses God's Word for it! True, the Believer is bound to profess his
   faith by baptism, which follows upon his faith--but the second sentence
   shows that the faith is the all-important matter, for it is added--"He
   that believes not shall be damned."

   Faith is the vital thing which, if omitted, will involve damnation. How
   the whole of John's Gospel teems with this Truth of God! Turn to the
   blessed third of John, and see how wondrously clear it is. In the 16th
   verse, for instance--"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
   begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
   everlasting life." Read the 18th verse--"He that believes on Him is not
   condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he
   has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

   Follow on to the 36th verse: "He that believes on the Son has
   everlasting life." Can anything be more plain and positive? Assuredly,
   he that believes in Jesus is a saved man! Turn to the 10th chapter of
   Romans. I shall only give you passages in which the Truth of God is as
   the sun in the heavens. Paul says, beginning in the fourth
   verse--"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
   believes. For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the Law,
   that the man which does those things shall live by them. But the
   righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your
   heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven? (that is to bring Christ down from
   above) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is to bring up Christ
   again from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, even
   in your mouth, and in

   your heart (that is, the word of faith, which we preach) that if you
   will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your
   heart that God has raised Him from the dead you shall be saved."

   Paul rejects all idea of salvation by works and lays all the stress
   upon believing in a risen Savior. To the same purpose speaks the
   Apostle in Romans 1:16--"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ:
   for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to
   the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
   of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall
   live by faith." This, indeed, is the great reason why the Bible is
   written, that we may believe on the Lord Jesus and have life through
   His name! And so John tells us in the 20th chapter of his Gospel at the
   31st verse.

   Don't you see, then, Brothers and Sisters, if you believe in Jesus you
   are saved? And you can be sure that it is so because God declares it!
   If we, from now on, had no other witness, is not the witness of the
   Lord sufficient? It seems to me to be the essence of unbelief for a man
   to need a minister to tell him that if he believes he is saved, when
   God solemnly affirms that it is so! I could not conceive myself so
   forsaken of God as to assume that I could assure my fellow man of his
   pardon and affect to pronounce absolution by authority committed to me!
   Surely this were presumption to be answered for at the Last Great Day!
   God forgive those who are guilty of it!

   Again, we know on the authority of Scripture that Believers are saved
   because the privileges which are ascribed to them prove that they are
   in a saved condition. Let us read in John again. John goes to the very
   root of every matter and in chapter 1:12 he tells us, "As many as
   received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to
   them that believe on His name." See, Brethren, everyone that believes
   on the name of Jesus is a son of God--and how can a son of God be a
   lost soul? Will He cast away His own children? God forbid! In the same
   Gospel, chapter 5:24, Christ, Himself, tells as, "Verily, verily, I say
   unto you, He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has
   everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
   from death unto life."

   He is gone out, then, of the region of death and condemnation into that
   of life and acceptance, and surely no one will say that such a man is
   not saved! Our Lord tells us, too, that everyone that believes in Him
   has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, which could not be if he were not
   saved. Look at John, chapter 7:38-39--"He that believes on me, as the
   Scripture has said, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.
   This He spoke of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should
   receive." So that the Holy Spirit dwells in every Believer, and where
   the Holy Spirit abides, salvation is certainly enjoyed.

   Our Lord also promises the resurrection to every Believer. Read John
   11:25, that glorious passage in which Jesus said to Martha, "I am the
   resurrection, and the life. He who believes in Me, though he were dead
   yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never
   die. Do you believe this?" Resurrection to eternal life is not the
   portion of the unsaved, for they "shall not see life, but the wrath of
   God abides on them." You see that John's Gospel is rich with this
   precious doctrine. Nor does he, alone, thus reveal the blessed results
   of faith. Paul also speaks of these privileges in all his Epistles. If
   you turn back to the Romans, how full that Epistle is of the same Truth
   of God--"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
   through Jesus Christ our Lord by whom, also, we have access by faith
   into this Grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
   God."

   You remember the passage we read just now in the Epistle of John--"This
   is the victory which overcomes the world, even our faith," so that
   faith brings us victory from day to day, even as faith at the very
   outset brings us remission of sin as the Apostle tells us in the Acts
   10:43. But I need not multiply proof texts--it would require several
   sermons to sum up the privileges of Believers--privileges quite
   inconsistent with the idea that a Believer can be an unsaved man. You
   can find these for yourselves, for they are as plentiful in Scripture
   as ears of corn in harvest! There are such privileges ascribed to
   Believers everywhere as could not be ascribed to them if they were not
   saved souls.

   Once again, the whole tone of Scripture regards the Believer as a saved
   man. "Believers" is a common synonym for saints, for sanctified
   persons. And it is a truth to say the Epistles are written to
   Believers, for they are written to the Churches, and Churches are but
   assemblies of Believers. The Lord looks upon men as divided into
   Believers and unbelievers--and between these two there is a gulf of
   difference as great as that between the Israelites and the Egyptians in
   the day when the pillar gave light to Israel but darkness to the hosts
   of Egypt.

   Do you believe in Jesus? You are in the favor of God. Do you not
   believe in Him? Then no priest can help you, nor can you help yourself!
   You are lost and ruined and undone! The only way of escape is that you
   believe in Jesus Christ!

   Brethren, when the Word of God tells us so positively that having
   believed we are saved, can you see any earthly use in going to a person
   who says he is authorized of God, and asking him whether you are saved
   or not? I cannot, for one! I think it far easier, by God's Grace, to
   believe in Jesus than to believe in these gowned and bedizened clerics!
   And to believe in Jesus and in them, too, is like seeing by the light
   of the sun aided by the lamp of the glowworm!

   What can the little men do? In the bad old times in the South a free
   Negro was forced to carry his papers about with him, but in that
   blessed day when the Jubilee trumpet sounded, and every African
   throughout the States was free, I can hardly imagine some little squire
   or country judge saying to the emancipated Negro, "Sam, I will make out
   papers for you, and for your consolation I will put my name, 'Jeremiah
   Stiggins,' at the bottom." Why, the emancipated man would have said, "I
   have seen the proclamation which has the name of Abraham Lincoln, the
   President of the United States, at its foot, and I do not care a button
   for your name or anybody else's!"

   Having believed in the Lord Jesus, I have salvation upon the authority
   of the Word of God, and on the Holy Spirit's authority I know that
   there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
   Jesus, and therefore I would not thank an angel for his oath if he
   tendered it in confirmation! When the little man in the surplice comes
   to me and says, "I will give you a certificate that you are absolved,"
   I reply, "I am very much obliged to you, but there are softer heads
   than mine, and you had better exercise your arts upon them. You cannot
   excite in me any feeling but that of pity, bordering on contempt."
   Before God the whole business is blasphemy, and before Christian men it
   is foolery and worse!

   III. The last point is this, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE ARE BELIEVERS? It
   is clear that if we are Believers we are saved, but how do we know that
   we are Believers? First of all, as a general rule, it is a matter of
   consciousness. How do I know that I breathe? How do I know that I
   think? How do I know that I believe that there was once a Saxon
   Heptarchy? I know I do, and that is enough. Faith is, to a large
   extent, a matter of consciousness. A man is not always conscious of
   what is true, for a man might be in such a weak condition that he might
   say, "I hardly know whether my heart beats," and yet it will be beating
   all the time. Doubts may arise, and will--but as a general rule--faith
   is a matter of consciousness. I live, and if you ask me for proof I
   reply, "I know I do." I believe, and if you ask me how I know it, I
   reply, "I am sure I do."

   Still, there is other evidence. How do I know that I am a Believer?
   Why, by the very remarkable change which I underwent when I believed!
   For when a man believes in Jesus Christ there is such a change worked
   in him that he must be aware of it. As in the case of the blind man
   when his eyes were opened he said, "One thing I know, whereas I was
   blind, now I see." That poor woman who had the issue of blood so many
   years--when she touched Christ's garment and was healed, how did she
   know it? We read that she felt in herself that she was made whole. She
   had touched the hem of the Lord's garment and was recovered--and in the
   same way the Believer knows that he has believed.

   Suppose a child was born in a coal pit and has seen no light except
   that of the candles down below, and, that he is suddenly taken up the
   shaft to see the sun, the green fields and the sweet spring flowers?
   What a surprise! I cannot wonder if the child should think itself
   dreaming! But if you were to say to it, "Are you out of the coal pit?
   Can you prove that you are?" Why, notwithstanding that the child would
   hardly know where it was because of its vast surprise, yet would it be
   sure that it was out of the darkness--convinced by an argument within
   itself which nobody could refute! So do we know, Brothers and Sisters,
   that we are born again, for we feel a new life and live in a new world.
   Things we never dreamed of before we have realized. I remember one,
   who, when he was converted said, "Well, either the world is new or else
   I am." This change is to us strong evidence that faith is in us and has
   exercised its power.

   Brethren, we have further evidence that we believe, for our affections
   are altered. The Believer can say that the things he once loved, he now
   hates, and the things he hated he now loves. That which gave him
   pleasure, now causes him pain. And things which were irksome and
   unpleasant have now become delightful to him. Especially is there a
   great change in us with respect to God. We said in our hearts, "No
   God." Not that we dared say, "There is no God," but we wanted to get
   away from Him. We would have been glad to hear that there was no God!
   But, now, how altered are our affections! Now our greatest joy is God!
   The nearer we can approach Him the better! The very sound of His name
   is delicious music to us! We know that this change was produced by our
   believing in Him, of that we are confident, for the matter is clear.

   A certain master had a servant whose mind was very much poisoned
   against him by slanderous tales. Everything the master did the servant
   misconstrued because he considered him to be a tyrant and an oppressor.
   Now it came to pass that this servant, one day, learned more concerning
   his master, and found out that everything he had done was dictated by
   the

   most generous motives and that his master, indeed, was one of the
   excellent of the earth. The moment that servant's thoughts of his
   master changed and he had faith in his goodness, he acted very
   differently, as you may well conceive! None could be more faithful and
   diligent than he.

   Now we prove that we believe, because we feel towards God so very
   differently! He is loved in our inmost souls and we delight to serve
   Him! This would have been utterly impossible if we had not been changed
   in our feelings toward Him by being led to trust Him. We know, also,
   that we believe because, though very far from perfect, we love holiness
   and strive after purity. You that have believed in Jesus, do you not
   now pant after holiness? Do you not endeavor to do that which is right?
   And when you are conscious that you have failed, does not conscience
   prick you? Have you not gone on your knees in bitterness of soul and
   said, "My God, help me and deliver me, for I delight in Your
   commandments. Help me to keep

   Your statutes"?

   Right, truth and peace are the things we now seek after, whereas time
   was when these were of small account, and our own selfish pleasure and
   our own perverted judgement were the rule of our being. By this change
   of conduct we know that we have believed in Jesus Christ! And, my dear
   Brothers and Sisters, we know that we have believed in Jesus Christ
   because now we have communion with God. We are in the habit of speaking
   with God in prayer and hearing the Lord speak with us when we read His
   Word. Some of us have spoken with our Lord Jesus so often that we have
   grown to be near and dear Friends--and whatever we ask in prayer He
   grants us.

   Answered prayers are sweet testimonies to faith! When the Lord is
   pleased to deliver us out of trouble. When His Holy Spirit cheers us in
   depression. When He helps us under difficulties. When He makes us
   patient under pain--all these things become proofs that we have real
   faith in Him! Our faith has realized Him and brought Him near! It has
   taught us how to live upon Him and so strengthened us in His ways. Once
   more, only, upon this point, and then we will come to the practical
   application.

   We know that we have believed in the Lord Jesus because we have, over
   and above all this, a secret something, indescribable to others, but
   well-known by ourselves, which is called in Scripture, the witness of
   the Holy Spirit--for it is written, "The Spirit, Himself, also bears
   witness with our spirit that we are born of God." First our spirit
   bears witness to our new birth, and then the Spirit of God comes in and
   bears witness with our spirit to the same effect! Do you know what it
   means? If you do not, I cannot tell you. "The secret of the Lord is
   with them that fear Him." There comes stealing over the soul,
   sometimes, a peace, a joy, a perfect rest, a heavenly deliciousness, a
   supreme content in which, though no voice is heard, yet we are
   conscious that it is there rushing through our souls, like a strain of
   Heaven's own music, the witness of the Spirit of God! We are sure of
   it, as sure as we are of our own being! And by that witness we know
   that we are, indeed, Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

   Now mark, we may not ask for any witness beyond the testimony of God,
   nor will any other witness be given. I charge all of you here present
   not to say, "I will believe in God when I obtain the inward witness."
   No, you are bound to believe in God first, on the sure testimony of His
   Word. If you believe His Word you shall know the sweets of Divine
   Grace. To ask for more evidence, first, is as though a man should say,
   "Here is a medicine prepared by a physician of great repute, and it is
   said to be very powerful for driving out the disease from which I
   suffer. I will take it as soon as I see that I am improving by its
   means."

   The man has lost his reason, has he not? He cannot expect even a
   partial cure till he has taken the medicine! He cannot expect the
   result to come before the cause. You must take the good physician's
   medicine as a matter of faith and, afterwards, your faith will be
   increased by the beneficial result. You must believe on the Lord Jesus,
   because of the witness of God concerning Him, for that is all the
   witness you ought to wish for and all that God will give you. After you
   have believed, other witnesses will spring up in your soul, as the
   results of faith. And so your confidence will be strengthened. But just
   now, Beloved, believe in Jesus Christ, and having believed in Him you
   shall know that you are forgiven for His name's sake.

   In closing, let me ask every person here, do you believe in Jesus
   Christ or not? If you believe, you are saved! If you believe not you
   are condemned already, because you have not believed. Remember that.
   Let me next ask, are any of you seeking after any witness beyond the
   witness of God? If you are, do you not know that you are virtually
   making God a liar? For if God says such-and-such a thing is true, and
   you seek further evidence beyond His Word, you do, in effect, say

   that God's witness is not sufficient and that God is a liar. I pray you
   behave not so insolently. Accept His naked Word, for it is surer than
   the sight of the eyes or the hearing of the ears.

   Behold how the arch of Heaven stands without a single pillar, vast as
   it is--what sustains it but the Word of God? See how this round world
   hangs on nothing and yet strays not from her sphere--what maintains her
   in her course but the bare Word of God? That Word which rolls the stars
   along and has never failed to fulfill its purpose, is that on which you
   are asked to lean! Sinner, will you believe your God? If you will, you
   shall be established, blessed and enriched! But if you still say He is
   a liar, then you shall be as the heat in the desert which shall not see
   when good comes, but suffers perpetual drought.

   If you rest in Jesus, trusting Him, you have done well, but yet you
   have only done Him justice. There is no merit in believing what is
   true! Who but a man of base heart would refuse to do so? To believe One
   who cannot lie is by no means a meritorious action and, therefore,
   salvation is by faith that it may be by Grace! Yet faith will bring to
   you life, love, joy, peace, immortality and all that Heaven can mean!
   May God grant you Grace to believe! But I pray you do not let the
   little man in robes stand between you and Christ. Let no one do so! I
   charge you, never regard anything I say as having any authority in it
   apart from the Word of God.

   I reckon it of all crimes, the greatest, for a man to assume to mediate
   between men and God! Little as I respect the devil I prefer him to a
   priest who pretends to forgive sins! For even the devil has too much
   honesty about him to pretend to give absolution in God's name. There is
   but one pardoning Priest and He is the Son of the Highest. His one
   Sacrifice has ended all other sacrifices! His one Atonement has
   rendered all future oblations counterfeit. Today, as Elijah stood on
   Carmel and cried out against the priests of Baal, so would I! I count
   no words too severe! If my very speech should be a thunderbolt and
   every word a lightning flash, it would not be too strong to protest
   against the accursed system which once degraded the whole earth to kiss
   the Pope's foot and is degrading our nation still, and that through a
   so-called Protestant Church!

   Oh, God Almighty, God of Latimer and Ridley, God of the martyrs whose
   ashes are still among us, will You allow this people to go back, again,
   to false gods, and saints, and virgins, and crucifixes, relics, and
   cast iron and rotten rags? For to this, also, will they come if Your
   Grace does not prevent it! Oh, my hearers, Jesus is the only Savior of
   the sons of men. Believe in Him and live! This is the only Gospel! At
   your peril reject it! I pray you receive it for Christ's sake.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--I. John 5. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--554, 239, 232.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Sacred Love-Token

   (No. 1251)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 22, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And the blood shall be to you for a token." Exodus 12:13.

   You remember that last Lord's-Day morning we spoke upon the witness
   within the child of God. We tried to show that Believers did not need
   any man to assure them that they are forgiven, that they could get on
   exceedingly well without absolution from a priest and could know their
   salvation altogether apart from the ghostly father, seeing that they
   have the evidence of it in their own souls by believing in the Lord
   Jesus Christ. We shall not think or speak much of that miserable
   impostor, the priest, this morning, for he really is not worth thinking
   of. But we shall continue our consideration of the witness which the
   Lord has given to His believing people concerning their safety in Jesus
   Christ. May the Holy Spirit help us while we meditate upon the most
   vital of all subjects, which lies at the very heart of true religion.

   There are some, as we have said, who desire a token of their safety
   from man--a poor thing when they get it and not worth asking for! And
   there are others who desire it from God in the form of a sign or a
   wonder, or else they will not believe. "Show me a token for good" is a
   prayer which is often used in a very mistaken sense. They desire some
   special transaction of Providence, or remarkable dream, or singular
   feeling. But God says to all those who desire a token for good, "The
   blood shall be to you for a token." What more can we desire? All the
   squadrons of the angelic host could not better assure us if each one
   brought a message from Heaven. The best of all evidences of Divine Love
   is the Cross!

   The strongest of all assurances of safety, the surest of all pledges of
   favor, the best token of Grace that a man can possibly behold is the
   sprinkled blood by which he is cleansed from sin. "The blood shall be
   to you for a token." Before we dive into this subject, let us notice
   that the blood which was a token to God's people was not merely that
   which had been shed by the sacrifice of all unblemished lambs, but
   blood which had been caught in a basin, had been taken by the person at
   the head of the household in his own hands and recognized as shed for
   him.

   Then a bunch of hyssop was laid to soak in a basin and afterwards the
   blood was sprinkled upon the lintel and the doorposts--this blood, thus
   appropriated, was the token. By an appropriating faith we must take
   Christ to be ours. We must, in a word, believe in the Atonement which
   He has made, for an Atonement which is not believed in is no Atonement
   to us. Our Lord Jesus laid down His life for us, but He that believes
   not in Him shall by no means partake of any of the blessings of His
   death. The sprinkled blood preserved the houses of the Israelites and
   it is the blood of Jesus accepted by us, relied upon and applied to our
   consciences which delivers us from death.

   This sprinkling, moreover, was done in a very public manner. They
   stained the lintel and the two side posts, so that every passerby might
   see it, yes, and must see it. So salvation is promised, not alone, to
   believing, but to confession with the mouth. "He that with his heart
   believes, and with his mouth makes confession of Him shall be saved."
   And so the grand commission at the end of the Gospel by Mark puts it,
   not, "he that believes shall be saved," but "he that believes and is
   baptized shall be saved." For if we believe in Christ we must not be
   ashamed of Him! Shame about faith would argue insincerity of faith.
   True faith in the Savior is so potent a principle of our lives that it
   must be seen whether we publish it or not--and we must be willing that
   it should be seen!

   Yes, this should be the most visible point in our lives--our glory and
   our delight--that we do, indeed, believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
   Oh, that every one of you, my dear Hearers, used the Cross for its
   proper purpose! I grieve that any among you should need to have it
   asked of you--

   "Is it nothing to you, oh you that pass by, Is it nothing to you that
   Jesus should die?" The Lamb is slain but you have never caught the
   blood, you have never sprinkled it with the hyssop of faith and,
   consequently, you are not saved! Oh that each one of you could say, "My
   faith is resting in the substitutionary work of Jesus."

   1 could, indeed, sing that blessed hymn just now, and I drank it in
   with all my heart! And I heartily wish you could all sing it, too--

   "Complete Atonement You ha ve made

   And to the utmost farthing paid

   Whatever Your people owed:

   Nor can His wrath on me take place,

   If sheltered in Your righteousness,

   And sprinkled with Your blood!" Now, to the text. The blood of Jesus
   Christ is to Christians a token and in order to bring out the whole
   sense we must have five words--it is a distinguishing token, an
   assuring token, a significant token, a love-token, and a recognition
   token.

   I. First, then, the blood shall be to you for a token, A DISTINGUISHING
   TOKEN. You could tell where the Israelite dwelt, for the blood-mark was
   there that night. You knew the Egyptian's abode, for he knew nothing of
   the token. Nothing so truly distinguishes Christians as the blood of
   Jesus Christ. Where the blood is not believed in, nor prized, you have
   dead Christianity, for "the blood is the life thereof." A bloodless
   Gospel is a lifeless Gospel! If the Atonement is denied or frittered
   away, or put into a secondary place, or obscured--in that proportion
   the life has gone out of the religion which is professed.

   But we, Brethren, bear this distinguishing token, the mark of the
   blood. Our religion is, in many respects, a very singular one--one open
   to a world of objection and ridicule from carnal minds. It is one which
   always has been criticized and always will be, for we believe, first,
   that our sin deserves death. We do not believe transgression to be a
   trifle, or a mere misdemeanor of the first class. We know it to be a
   capital offense deserving the death penalty! When the Lord says, "The
   soul that sins, it shall die," our conscience says, "Amen," to the
   sentence of the Most High. The blood on the doorpost meant that those
   who dwelt there confessed that they deserved to die as much as others
   and would have done so had it not been for the paschal lamb.

   The crimson mark was virtually a confession of deserving death. So
   every Believer feels that his sin is great and grievous, terrible and
   overwhelming. He does not subscribe to theories which make little of
   man's guilt. He has no ear for those who try to mitigate the penalty
   and endeavor to make the guilt appear small. He does not call sin a
   mistake, a failure or a lapse. I think I have heard all those words,
   lately, used about sin, by those who say, "Poor unhappy man! So
   mistaken, seeking after the light and crying after God in the dark. How
   sad that he should stumble! Surely God will not be so harsh as to
   punish him forever."

   Such talk has no charm for us! We admit the heinous criminality of sin
   and the justice of the awful sentence which declares that the wicked
   shall go away into everlasting punishment. Our God is just and takes
   vengeance on iniquity. The God who smote all the first-born of Egypt
   and overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea, is the God whom we adore! And as
   we bow before Him we admit that He might righteously have smitten us,
   also, and have utterly destroyed us. For us the blood-mark is virtually
   an acknowledgment that we have the sentence of death in ourselves and
   dare not trust in ourselves.

   We are singular enough to believe in Substitution. The blood upon the
   lintel said, "Someone has died, here, instead of us." We also hold and
   rest in this Truth of God, that Christ died, "the Just for the unjust,
   to bring us to God." We believe, "He was made a curse for us, as it is
   written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." The belief in the
   greatness of sin distinguishes Christians from Pharisees, and all other
   self-justifiers. And the belief in Substitution separates Christians
   from all those philosophic adulterators of the Gospel who are willing
   to hold up Christ's example, but cannot endure His expiatory Sacrifice.
   They will speak to you of Christ's spirit and the power of His
   teaching, but reject His vicarious death.

   We do not subscribe to the lax theology which teaches that the Lord
   Jesus did something or other which, in some way or other, is, in some
   degree or other connected with the salvation of men! We hold as vital
   Truths of God that He stood in His people's place and for them endured
   a death which honored the Justice of God, and satisfied His righteous
   Laws. We firmly believe that He bore the penalty due to sin, or that
   which, from the excellence of His Person, was fully equivalent thereto.
   My Brothers and Sisters, this is and always will be assailed, but it is
   the keystone of the Gospel arch!

   As at Waterloo all the battle seemed to rage around the chateau of
   Hugoumont, so does the conflict center around the doctrine of the
   atoning death of our great Substitute--and we are not going to shift
   our ground for a moment--nor

   adopt any other phraseology. We stand to the literal Substitution of
   Jesus Christ in the place of His people and His real endurance of
   suffering and death in their place. And from this distinct and definite
   ground we will not move an inch! Even the term, "the blood," from which
   some shrink with the affectation of great delicacy, we shall not cease
   to use, no matter who may take offense at it, for it brings out that
   fundamental Truth of God which is the power of God unto salvation.

   We dwell beneath the blood-mark and rejoice that Jesus poured out His
   soul for us unto death when He bore the sins of many. But we believe
   more--and what will seem very strange to some--we believe that we died
   in Jesus. The Israelite knew that when the angel went through Egypt he
   meant to exact a life at every house, and so he exhibited the blood, as
   much as to say, "The first-born is dead here." The lamb had died
   instead of the first-born and, virtually, the first-born is dead, and
   there is no cause for smiting, because the smiting has been done. So,
   when Jesus died, His elect died in Him and their sins received the
   vengeance due in that day when on the accursed tree He yielded up His
   life a ransom for many.

   How can we die? We are already dead in Him and have been buried with
   Him by virtue of our union with His blessed Person. This is a most
   precious Truth of God and those who hold it are thereby distinguished
   from the rest of mankind. Believing this, we next come to the
   conclusion that we are safe, for when the Hebrew had struck the blood
   upon the doorposts of his house, he went in to feast, not to fret--he
   went into the house to eat the lamb whose blood had been
   sprin-kled--and to stand at the table with his loins girt about,
   expecting not to die, but to go forth to a land which the Lord his God
   would give to him!

   This is the distinguishing mark of a Christian that he knows himself to
   be saved and, therefore, he keeps the feast rejoicing in the Lord! And,
   standing with his loins girt, he is expecting, soon, to be called away
   to the land which the Lord his God has given to him, that he may
   inherit and dwell there forever. Other men are not saved, nor dare they
   profess that they are! They acknowledge that they have a great deal to
   do before they will be saved--present salvation they know not. Or if
   they think they are saved, yet they dream that their continued
   salvation depends upon themselves--there is still something needed
   besides the sprinkled blood. The Israelite needed nothing but the
   blood--his was perfect satisfaction with that.

   And so is the Believer! He has believed in Christ as dying in his
   place. He is delighted to know that he is complete in Him and accepted
   in the Beloved. He waits till the summons shall come and he shall be
   called to ascend to the Glory Land where Christ has gone to prepare a
   place for him. The Israelite in Egypt made this distinction prominent.
   As we have already said, he put it upon upper part of his door and upon
   the two side posts, too. We read in Revelation that those who received
   the mark of the beast sometimes bore it in their forehead, but
   sometimes also on their right hand, while he who had the mark of God
   always received it on his forehead, never on his right hand where it
   could be hidden within the palm.

   It has been very well remarked that there is a back door to Hell, but
   there is none to Heaven. The way to Heaven is the King's Highway, a way
   which is not made for concealment, but for honest travelers who have
   nothing to hide! Believers must be seen, for they are the lights of the
   world! Yet there are some who try to go to Heaven up the back stairs
   and serve the Lord only by night. It must not be! Strike the blood
   where all can see it, and let men know that you are a believer in the
   Lord Jesus Christ's atoning Sacrifice! Whether they like it or not, let
   them know that this is all your salvation and all your desire.

   I had the pleasure of riding into the Leonine city in Rome a short time
   after the Italian troops had taken possession, and I noticed that every
   house had marked up, most conspicuously, the arms of the kingdom of
   Italy and the name of Victor Emmanuel. They were not content to have it
   over their doors, but all over the front of the houses you read,
   "Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy," showing that they were right glad to
   escape from the dominion of the Pope and to avow their allegiance to a
   constitutional king. Surely if for a human monarch and the earthly
   freedom which he brought, men could thus set up his escutcheon
   everywhere, you and I who believe in Jesus are bound to exhibit the
   blood-red token, and to keep it always conspicuous!

   Let others believe the priest, we believe Jesus! Let others trust their
   works, we trust the sprinkled blood! Let others rely on frames and
   feelings, discipline and development, we believe in Jesus Christ and
   Him only! And we nail to the mast the blood-red banner of the atoning
   Sacrifice!--

   "My faith is built on nothing less

   Than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
   frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I
   stand, All other ground is sinking sand." Thus much, then, upon the
   blood as the distinguishing token.

   II. Now, secondly, the blood was an ASSURING TOKEN. When we mean to do
   a special kindness for a friend it may be we say to him, "That you may
   be sure I shall do it, here is a token of my faithfulness." God gave to
   His people the blood of sprinkling as the token that He would preserve
   them safely. And surely, the more the Israelite studied that token, the
   more at ease would he be, for he would say, "God has appointed this
   unblemished lamb to take our place, and seeing that He appointed it,
   and the lamb has been slain, we are sure He will not run back from the
   substitution which He has, Himself, ordained, so we are perfectly
   safe."

   Now, I want you, for a few minutes, especially you who have any doubts
   and fears, to look upon the blood of Christ and see its suitableness to
   be an assuring token to your consciences. Remember, first, what it
   was--blood, the token of suffering. Your sin deserves suffering. Christ
   has suffered for sin. Think what suffering He endured, what
   contradiction of sinners and what forsaking of His Father! Suffer no
   one to depreciate the physical sufferings of Christ, but still,
   remember that His mental sufferings were greater! His soul sufferings
   were the soul of His sufferings. Go to dark Gethsemane, go to shameful
   Gabbatha, go to deadly Golgotha and as you see your Lord and mark that
   wondrous spectacle of woe, will you not feel that He can put away your
   sin and that if He so terribly suffered, you need not suffer?

   God has accepted an expiation worthy of His Justice! That
   Heaven-rending cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" shows
   how keen were the pangs with which our hope was born! Think,
   further--blood signifies not only suffering but death--for our Lord
   could only put away sin by actually dying. All His tears, all His holy
   living, all His painful sufferings, even, could not recompense for sin
   till the death penalty was paid, for death was that which God had
   appointed as the reward of sin, and Jesus died.

   Oh see Him die--see HIM die! Was ever such a spectacle? Every drop that
   distils from His pierced hands cries aloud, "Safety for the Believer!
   The ransom price is paid!" That gash in His side, like the mouth of
   love, speaks eloquently to our hearts, "Pardon, acceptance, eternal
   love!" I cannot see that bowed head, those eyes glazed in death and
   that dear body taken down to be laid in the tomb without feeling, "If
   Christ has died, there must be boundless mercy for the guilty sons of
   men." Think of it and I pray God the Holy Spirit to lead you to see the
   sweetness and comfort which lie in this token.

   Remember, too, that you rest, not merely on suffering and death, but on
   the excellence of the Person so suffering and dying. Ask whose
   suffering and death it is? In the Israelites' case it was an
   unblemished lamb. In your case and mine it is the spotless Lamb of God!
   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, think of the life of Jesus in its innocence
   and disinterestedness! Was ever such a life, was ever such a death of
   such a sacred Person? He was God, "very God of very God." Those hands
   that were pierced had healed the sick with their touch! And those
   nailed feet had trod the sea! Those eyes, all closed in death, had
   looked into men's hearts and those silent lips had spoken miracles! It
   was God, Himself, who, on the bloody tree, offered expiation for sin
   against Himself!

   There must be power in such a death as that to put away sin. Do you not
   admit that it must be so? Is not the token full of comfort to you?
   Think, again, that it was not merely the lamb, but it was the Lamb of
   God. That is to say, when the Israelite killed the lamb he was doing
   what God commanded him to do, and when Jesus died in our place, He did
   not die as an amateur Savior, but as one appointed by God. Now, if God
   appointed the Atonement, He must accept it. Surely if He said that
   Christ should die in our place, if He "laid upon Him the iniquity of us
   all," then the Atonement must be accepted since God, Himself, set it
   forth, provided it and ordained it!

   How sweetly do I rest in this! I feel, when I look up to my dear Lord,
   and I desire evermore to do so, as if I could say to the Justice of
   God, "What can You do against me? Do I not present to You all You can
   demand--a death? I bring before You a death which You did appoint to be
   instead of my death? If You have appointed it, I know You will not
   refuse it." This is one of the sweetest parts of the whole matter of
   Atonement and fills the token with assurance. One other thought, and a
   sweet one, this token was that of blood which was shed--not to be shed,
   but shed already! They had killed the lamb, they had taken the warm
   blood in the basin and smeared the door-posts, it was all done and all
   over!

   You and I, also, are resting in a finished Sacrifice, not in a
   sacrifice to be offered, nor in a sacrifice which continues to be
   offered, according to this Anglican Popery which reeks in so many
   parish Churches, but a complete Sacrifice, for, "by one offering He has
   perfected forever them that are set apart." There is no continuance of
   the offering of Christ in the sacrifice of the "mass"--it is a
   barefaced lie before Almighty God, for Christ declares that when He had
   once offered Himself, He forever sat down at the right hand of the
   Majesty in the heavens. By that word, "It is finished!" He has put an
   end to all sacrifices and offerings by way of expiation for sin,
   because they are not needed--one death has accomplished it all!

   Beloved, what joy is here! Suffering, suffering to the death, the
   suffering of the Son of God, a suffering ordained of God to be the
   vicarious Sacrifice and a suffering which is perfect and complete! Let
   us look at the token and let our hearts be glad within us from now on
   and forever. One of our kings once gave a ring to his favorite, and
   said to him, "I know that at the council tomorrow a charge of heresy
   will be brought against you. But, when you come in, answer them if you
   will, but you need be in no fear--if you find yourself brought to a
   strait, simply show them the ring and they will go no

   further."

   It is even so with us. The Lord has given us the precious blood of
   Christ to be like a ruby ring upon our finger and now we know how far
   conscience may go, and how far accusations from Satan may go--we have
   only to produce that token and bar all further proceedings. "He that
   believes in Him is not condemned," neither can he be. God cannot and
   will not go back from His promise! The blood is the faithful assurance
   of the security of all the saints.

   III. But now, thirdly, this is A MOST SIGNIFICANT TOKEN. Tokens
   generally mean something. Some inner sense is implied in them. Now, our
   token of the blood means four things. When the Jew smeared the blood
   upon the lintel and the two side posts he meant redemption. He did as
   good as say, "We are redeemed by blood! The people who live in this
   house are free! They have been slaves but they are redeemed! They are
   going out tomorrow morning and old Pharaoh and all his army cannot hold
   them."

   That is just what the blood of Jesus Christ means to us. We are bought
   and paid for and we are a free people! And if the Son has made us free,
   we are free, indeed! "O Lord, I am Your servant! By Your Grace I am
   Your servant! You have loosed my bonds. You have brought me up out of
   the house of bondage and out of the iron furnace. You have broken all
   my chains--the sprinkled blood declares it." Then the blood meant,
   next, that the people who lived beneath that sign belonged to God. It
   was the mark of the Lord's property--"You are not your own, you are
   bought with a price."

   He who redeemed us ought to possess us. The blood, when it bought us,
   also set us apart to be forever the property of the Redeemer. Whenever
   you think of Jesus, crucified, think of yourself also as crucified to
   the world, as no more belonging to self or sin or Satan--no longer
   bound by worldly customs, fashions, maxims, laws--but under law to
   Christ, for you are the Lord's freeman. Give up the members of your
   body to His service! Yield them as servants unto righteousness, because
   you have not been purchased--spirit, soul, and body--with corruptible
   things as with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
   as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot! The token set forth our
   redemption and also God's property in us.

   This token next means acceptance. He who has the blood of Christ
   sprinkled on him has that to show which renders him acceptable before
   the Lord. There has been a war and a wounded soldier comes home. He
   goes to the house of a father and mother who have a son out in the
   army, and he inquires, "Does So-and-So live here?" "Yes." "Can I see
   him?" "Yes." "I have a letter from your son, whom I left in the army,
   he was my dear comrade." "Are you sure you have such a letter?" The man
   looks disreputable, his garments are torn, and he is evidently very
   poor, but he replies, "Yes, I have a letter from your son." He puts his
   hands into his pockets, and he cannot find it. The master of the house
   is angry and says "It is of no use your coming here with this tale, you
   are deceiving me."

   He fumbles, still, in his pockets and at last he brings it out. Yes,
   there is the token, the father knows the handwriting of his dear boy.
   The letter says, "Father, this is a choice companion of mine and I want
   you, when he reaches home, to treat him kindly for my sake. Tell mother
   that anything she does for him shall be the same as if she had done it
   to her own boy." See how well he is received at sight of that token!
   And even so, when we present the blood-mark, we say to the Lord, "There
   is the token that we are Jesus' friends," and the Lord does not look at
   the rags in which our poor nature is arrayed, but He looks at the token
   of His own Son's blood and accepts us for His sake. What surer and more
   suggestive

   token could we desire? When cleansed in the blood of Jesus we are
   comely with His comeliness and dear to the heart of God for His Son's
   sake.

   Yes, Beloved, and it moreover means perfect safety. As soon as ever the
   blood was on the lintel those inside the house were perfectly secure.
   The angel could not strike them, for if he had done so he would have
   struck his Master and insulted the Lord of Angels. To use his sword
   while the Divine shield was exhibited outside the door would have been
   to bid defiance to God's honor, and that no angel of God could ever do!
   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, there is no shield for a guilty soul like the
   blood-red shield of the Atonement! Stand beneath the purple canopy of
   Sacrifice and the great hailstones of wrath can never fall upon you!
   You must be safe if Christ's Atonement interposes between you and God.
   So you see the sprinkled blood is a very significant token.

   As I went, a few days ago, through a piece of forest much overgrown
   with undergrowth and saplings, I noticed certain straight young trees
   distinguished by a red mark, and I discovered that the woodmen were
   about to cut down all the undergrowth and clear the ground for the
   better growth of the timber. Those marked trees were to be spared to
   become large oaks. I can see the red marks and the small trees in my
   mind's eye at this moment--and there come the woodmen chopping down
   everything with their axes and billhooks! Down goes all the brushwood
   and many a pole falls, too, but they stop at the marked trees--these
   must not be touched--the red mark saves them!

   So is it with you and with me if we have known the sprinkling of the
   blood! The Lord will not only say, "Let them alone this year, also,"
   but He will say to the destroyers, "Come not near unto those upon whom
   is the mark." By this token you may know that you shall live and not
   die! Like Rahab, we hang this scarlet line in our window, and when all
   Jericho goes down with terrible destruction, our house must stand, for
   the red line secures it evermore!

   IV. The fourth point is that THE BLOOD IS A LOVE-TOKEN. The blood is a
   token of ancient love, for it was shed more than 1800 years ago. Oh my
   Soul, the Lord has given you an ancient token which sets forth His
   great love with which He loved you, even when you were dead in
   trespasses and sins! Before you were born, the blood was poured forth
   which is today the ensign and pledge of everlasting love! It is a token
   of intense love, for it is a pledge taken from the heart of Christ and
   it denotes not the love of the lips, not love which begins and ends
   with outward deeds of mercy, but a love which wells up from the Essence
   of the Redeemer's being--from His inmost heart which was reached by the
   cruel spear.

   What a token is this, a token taken not from the lilies of my Lord's
   garden, nor from the jewels of His crown, nor even from the hair of His
   head, but drawn from the inner sanctuary of His soul--from that Holy of
   Holies--the heart of Emanuel, God With Us! Oh Believer, since you have
   such a token as this, you should be ready to die sooner than doubt the
   love of the Lord! It is a token, too, of mighty love, for it testifies
   that He who gave it possessed a conquering flame of love which many
   waters could not quench nor Death, itself, destroy. See, He gives you
   the blood which is the token of death, His death for you, and thus
   shows that He went to the grave for your sake, "and Death, by dying,
   slew"!

   Wear this token near your heart, I pray you, for it is the richest that
   was ever given by the hands of Love to the choicest object of
   affection. O You who are our Well-Beloved, You have loved us even to
   the end, for You have loved us to the death! It is a token, too, of a
   wise all-seeing love, for it shows that our Lord knows our sin and has
   known it all. When He gives us the blood, He does as much as declare,
   "My child, I am aware of the evil which is in you, for I have suffered
   its penalty. I know your sin, but you shall know it no more, for I have
   carried it away and cast it into the depths of the sea." By this token
   Believers know that their sin is covered, and that in the sight of the
   Lord they are "all fair," for He has cleansed them from every stain.

   The day is come when if their sins were searched for, they would not be
   found. No, they shall not so much as exist, for the blood has washed
   them white! And it is the token of a love unlimited which will deny
   nothing to its object. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely
   delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
   us all things?" If you have received the blood of His dear Son, what
   will the Lord refuse you? Do you think your God will deny you
   Providential mercies when He has already given the bleeding heart of
   Jesus to redeem you? Do you imagine that He will leave you without
   bread and water, or garments to cover your backs when He has yielded up
   the Jewel of His soul, the Delight of His heart, to you?

   Prize the token of His love, and look at it till your soul weeps for
   very joy! Blessed is that man to whom the Lord has said, "The blood
   shall be to you for a token."

   V. Lastly, it is A RECOGNITION TOKEN. The man who has this token is
   known to the angels as one of the heirs of salvation to whom they
   minister. As soon as they see the blood applied to the soul by faith,
   there is joy among them, for this is a sure sign of repentance. All
   God's children have this family mark at their birth and there is no
   mistaking it, so that at the sight of it, the angelic guardians
   commence their tender care and begin to bear up the newly begotten one
   in their hands lest at any time he dash his foot against a stone.

   The devil also knows that mark and, as soon as he sees it, he begins to
   assail the man who bears it, seeking in all sorts of ways to destroy
   him. If the Believer is not destroyed, it will not be for lack of
   enmity or industry on Satan's part. He knows the mark of the "seed of
   the woman," and he roars and rages, but at the same time he trembles,
   for well he knows that he cannot prevail. At the sight of the
   sacrificial token the great enemy stands confounded--like a raging lion
   he would gladly devour the sheep of the Lord, but the mark of the blood
   upon them saves them from his teeth.

   And, Brothers and Sisters, this blood-mark is known among the saints,
   themselves, and has a wonderful power for creating and fostering mutual
   love. I have often noticed that as soon as we begin to discourse upon
   the atoning death of our Divine Lord, we are at home with one another.
   There may be Brethren present from various Churches and they may not be
   well at ease when we handle other subjects, but when we come to the
   precious blood we come to the heart of the matter and are all as one!
   This is one of the secret signs of our spiritual freemasonry! I have
   had my heart warmed and cheered against my own will, sometimes, by
   devout writers whose doctrinal theories I do not believe, and whose
   Churches I could not join, and yet when they write about my Lord, they
   win my heart!

   "Aliquid Christi," as one old Divine used to say--the something of
   Christ in them awakens our affections and draws us near. Even books
   which are corrupt with Sacramentarianism have, occasionally, such a
   sweet savor of Christ in them that we cannot utterly cast them away.
   Sometimes we feel bound to very carefully pare the apple and cut out
   the rotten places, and remove the objectionable core for the sake of
   the sweet morsels flavored with the love of Christ. As the sweet
   honey-bearing flowers attract the bees, so does the name of Jesus draw
   all His saints to Him, and so to each other. Give me your hand, my
   Brother, for if you know my Lord, we belong to the same family--the
   Infallible mark of the redeemed is upon us both!

   Best of all, the Lord knows this token! When we go to the Mercy Seat,
   if we would prosper, we must produce the sacred passport of the
   precious blood. With this it is impossible to fail. The Primitive
   Methodist Brother, when he was in a meeting where a friend could not
   pray, cried out, "Plead the blood, Brother!" and the advice was wise.
   Yes, plead that, and say, "For Jesus' sake--by His agony and bloody
   sweat--by His Cross and passion." What mighty blows are given to the
   gate of Heaven by that battering ram! These are arguments to which
   Heaven always yields. Our God recognizes the blood-mark in the hour of
   death and attends His people through the solemn article.

   Death's terrors are gone to him who has the blood for a token. Lay me
   down on my bed! There let me endure the allotted pain and weakness till
   the clammy sweat stands on my brow and needs to be constantly wiped
   away! Lay me down, I say, and I will calmly fall asleep like a child
   tired with a day's play, if I have but the token! Distresses and
   poverty and anguish of body may molest me, yet shall I be perfectly at
   ease and ask for no exchange. Why is this, you ask? Many a man
   possessed of health and wealth is not one-half so blessed as the poor
   saint upon his death pallet! From where does this blessedness come?

   Here is the secret. The Lord has passed by and given a token! "A
   token," you say, "what is it? Is it some line extracted from the golden
   book of God's election? Is it a gem taken from the diadem which is
   prepared for him in Heaven?" No, no, it is not this. "Has he, in his
   sleep, beheld a vision and seen the shining ones walking the golden
   streets, or has he heard an audible celestial Voice saying to him, 'You
   are mine'?" No, he has none of these! He has neither dream nor vision
   nor anything that men call superhuman. He is resting in the precious
   blood--and this blood is the token of friendship between God and his
   soul! By this he knows the love of God and by this, God communes with
   him. They meet at the

   blood!

   God delights in the sacrifice of Christ and the believing soul delights
   in it, too. They have, thus, a common love and a common joy--and this
   has bound the two together by a bond which never can be broken! This is
   it which makes some of us sing--

   "And when I'm to die, Receive me, I'll cry

   For Jesus has loved me,

   I cannot tell why.

   But this thing I find,

   We two are so joined,

   He won't be in Heaven

   And lea ve me behind." Oh what a blessing to feel that the blood of
   Jesus has united us to Him eternally!

   Suffer this last word. Some of you, perhaps, have said, "Oh, I wish I
   had the blood of Jesus Christ for a token." Then let me tell you,
   first, that you have not to provide a sacrifice, for that is done! The
   Lamb is slain, the blood of the Everlasting Covenant is ever before the
   Presence of God. What have you to do? You have nothing to do but to
   have the blood sprinkled upon you. You know how they sprinkled it--it
   was with a bunch of hyssop. Hyssop is a common herb to be found
   everywhere in and around eastern cities, growing even on walls where
   but little soil is found. It was a plant with a great many stalks, so
   that it would hold the blood and act as a sort of brush. Indeed, its
   only excellence was its power to hold the blood.

   Now, faith is a very simple thing, and it is the act not of refined and
   educated minds, only, but of the poorest and simplest. The efficacy of
   the hyssop did not lie in what the hyssop was, but in its being put
   into the basin to drink up the blood. My poor faith is just as common
   as a bit of hyssop pulled up from the wall, but then I lay it to soak
   in the Atonement, while I muse upon who Jesus was, and what He
   suffered, and for what purpose, till it is wet, saturated, and all
   crimsoned with the vital blood.

   The hyssop was an insignificant item in the whole business, it is only
   mentioned once, the second time the sprinkling is commanded it is not
   mentioned at all. And, so, after all, faith is but the humble
   instrument of salvation--the blood is the main matter--it is the life,
   the shelter, the token, the everything! Let your trembling faith lay to
   soak in the precious blood and then say, "I believe You, Jesus, and I
   tell the world I believe You. Sinner as I am, Your precious blood was
   shed for me and I trust in You alone."

   Thus you crimson the lintel and the door posts! Let all men know that
   whatever you may have been, and whatever you are now, you do now
   believe in the substitutionary death of Jesus, oppose who you may.
   Witness, you men and angels and devils, that Jesus' blood is our sole
   hope! He who thus believes is saved. Brother, go your way, and leap for
   joy! No man ever perished who from his heart rested in the atoning
   blood. God bless you. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Exodus 12:1-15; 21-30. HYMNS
   FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--152, 280, 404.
     __________________________________________________________________

The First Day Of Creation

   (No. 1252)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, AUGUST 29, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And God saw the light that it was good." Genesis 1:4.

   WE shall, this morning, leave all discussion as to the creation of the
   world to those learned Divines who have paid their special attention to
   that subject, and to those geologists who know, or at any rate think
   they know, a very great deal about it. It is a very interesting
   subject, but this is not the time for its consideration. Our business
   is moral and spiritual rather than scientific. We justify our present
   discourse by quoting that remarkable parallel text which the Holy
   Spirit has given us in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, fourth
   chapter and the sixth verse, where Paul says, "God, who commanded the
   light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the
   light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
   Christ."

   The creation was an instructive type of the new creation. God's methods
   of forming the old creation illustrate His ways in preparing and
   perfecting His people who are new creatures in Christ Jesus. So we
   shall gather light from an analogy which is evidently warranted by the
   New Testament. We trust we shall not be guilty of inventing things
   fanciful, strained, or merely curious--our objective is edification and
   consolation--and not a display of ingenuity. May the eternal light of
   the Holy Spirit shine upon us, now, that by His light we may see light.

   Man's fallen nature is a very chaos, "without form and void," with
   darkness thick and sevenfold covering all. The Lord begins His work
   upon man by the visitation of the Spirit, who enters the soul
   mysteriously and broods over it, even as of old He moved upon the face
   of the waters. He is the Quickener of the dead soul. In connection with
   the Presence of the Holy Spirit, the Lord sends into the soul, as His
   first blessing, light. The Lord appeals to man's understanding and
   enlightens it by the Gospel. The heavenly light reveals to man his
   obligations to God and his forgetfulness of them. It shows him the evil
   of sin, his own guilt, consequent danger and the impossibility of his
   escaping from that danger by any efforts of his own.

   That same light, also, reveals to man God's way of salvation--shows him
   the Person of Christ, His work, its suitability and its freeness--and
   lets him see how he may obtain an interest in redemption by the simple
   act of believing. It is a blessed thing for any man when the Lord God
   says concerning him, "Let there be light." If you keep your eyes upon
   the chapter you will observe that the light came into the world at
   first by the word--"God said, 'let there be light.'" It is through the
   Word of God contained in this book, the Bible, that light comes into
   the soul. Let me correct myself--it is by Him who is called the Logos,
   THE WORD, that light is poured into the heart of man, for, "in Him was
   life, and the life was the light of men."

   This is that true light which lights every man that comes into the
   world. The Spirit, you see, is engaged in the new creation--He broods
   over the soul. The Son of God is the Creator, also--He is that WORD
   without whom nothing was made, and by whom light came. And the Father
   unites in the same sacred work, for it is He who speaks and it is done.
   It needs the Trinity to new-create a soul. Oh, Triune God, our souls
   which are new-created worship You with the trinity of their
   nature--spirit, soul, and body! The light which broke in upon the
   primeval darkness was of a very mysterious kind, and came not according
   to ordinary laws, for as yet neither sun nor moon had been set as
   lights in the firmament.

   Can we tell how spiritual light first dawns on nature's night? It darts
   upon some souls without the aid of apparent ministries, immediately
   from God! Indeed, though the Lord sends light by this means or by that,
   yet in every case the light is His own work, and the means are, in
   themselves, so evidently powerless that the whole glory of the work
   belongs to the Lord alone! How He removes darkness from the
   understanding and illuminates the intellect is a secret reserved for
   only Himself. Mysteriously, then, the light enters into the soul of
   man. But one thing is clear concerning it--however it comes, if it is
   true light, it is always God-given and comes, alone, from the great
   Father of lights.

   No gracious light ever will or can come to any man except directly from
   God Himself. There was no latent light in the chaotic mass of world.
   There was no brilliance to be developed out of the primitive darkness.
   It was necessary that Jehovah should interpose and that His fiat should
   pour in light firm above. O heart of man, you are darkness itself, but
   in the Lord is your light found! The light came instantaneously. Six
   days were occupied in furnishing the earth, but a moment sufficed for
   illuminating it. God works rapidly in the operation of regeneration--as
   with a flash, He darts light and life into the soul.

   The operations of Grace are gradual, but its entrance is instantaneous.
   Although instantaneous, it is not, however, shallow and short-lived.
   The light did not depart because of its rapid coming--it was a
   permanent blessing which earth received in that glad hour. The light
   remained, increased and though in every spot upon the globe there are
   necessary interludes of night, and though there has been an evening as
   well as a morning to all succeeding days, yet our globe has never been
   forsaken of the blessed light since the day when first the eternal Word
   flashed it forth upon the face of the deep! Even so, when God sends
   Grace into the soul of man it comes in an instant, but it does not so
   depart. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

   The darkness struggles for the mastery, but the light, once given, none
   shall quench--it must and shall shine forth more and more unto the
   perfect day. All this is worthy of our careful note, but the point
   which we are about to dwell upon is this--our text concerns only the
   first day of creation and the Lord's consideration of that first day's
   work--and His approval of it. The first day of creation fairly pictures
   the commencement of our spiritual life, our conviction, conversion and
   first faith in Jesus.

   My objective shall be to speak words of comfort to beginners, that I
   may cheer those upon whom the true light has only lately begun to
   shine. And I shall, also, give a few words of advice to older people as
   to their duty to these newly-enlightened ones.

   I. Our first observation will be this--THE LORD SEES WHATEVER HE
   CREATES. "The Lord saw the light." He was the sole observer of it.
   Neither eyes of man, nor bird, nor beast was there to behold the golden
   glory, but God saw the light! Newly enlightened one, it may be you are
   pained because you have no Christian companion to observe your change
   of heart. Cease from your sorrow, for God beholds you! Have you seen
   yourself a sinner and do you, therefore, weep in secret places? Have
   you begun to see the Savior and do you look to Him in loneliness of
   spirit and find in Him a joy with which a stranger intermeddled not?

   It is but a small matter that no human eyes have seen your repentance
   and your faith, for He beholds them, even He who gave them birth! It
   may be that neither father nor mother has perceived the change and,
   perhaps, had they perceived it they may be such that they would not
   have rejoiced in it. But let this be your comfort--your heavenly Father
   sees you and His heart pities you. When the prodigal was yet a great
   way off, his father saw him, and even thus, your heavenly Father sees
   you! And as this was enough for the prodigal, so it is enough for you.
   Upon your tears of penitence He has fixed His eyes, and upon your
   glance of faith He has turned His gaze. "The Lord saw the light"--this
   grand Truth of God should be very sweet to those whose faith is lonely,
   who meet with many discouragements, and little or no sympathy.

   Like Hagar in the desert you should rejoicingly say, "You, God, see
   me." "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are
   open unto their cry." David said, "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord
   thinks upon me." Oh, young beginner, the Lord sees the work of Grace
   that is in you! Though it is but in its first day, He does not turn His
   eyes from the light which He has kindled! And as long as this is the
   case, you need not fear. The orator of old thought Plato, alone, quite
   enough for an audience! Much more, then, may you consider that the
   Lord, alone, is all that you need by way of observation and you may
   joyfully pray with the Psalmist, "Look You upon me, and be merciful
   unto me, as You use to do unto those that love Your name."

   That light had come into the world in a noiseless manner, yet the Lord
   saw it. The entrance of God's Word which gives light is effected in
   "solemn silence of the mind." If men make an illumination, we can hear
   the crackling of their fireworks all over the city. But when God
   illuminates the earth with the sun, the orb of day arises without a
   sound! The ancients talked of the chariot of the sun, but whoever heard
   the sound of wheels or the hoof beats of horses in the sky? The
   health-bearing wings of the morning cause no tumult in the air when
   they are spread abroad. "When morn her rosy steps in the eastern clime
   advancing, sows the earth with orient pearl," her footsteps are not
   heard.

   True, the birds salute her coming with glad songs, but she, herself,
   steals onward without voice. Even thus Grace enters the soul and not a
   whisper is breathed, yet the Lord sees the light. Light is its own
   advertisement, it needs no trumpet to announce it. And it is the same
   with Divine Grace. Dear young Friend, in you the work of Grace has been
   a very quiet one. Perhaps you remember no remarkable sermon, no
   horrible dream, no sick-bed experience, no grim terrors of the Law as
   have happened to others of God's people. You have been treated as Lydia
   was whose heart the Lord opened, or like Timothy, you have known the
   Scriptures from your youth.

   Be not, therefore, led to suspect your sincerity, or to doubt the
   reality of the work of Grace. Although the work in your soul has been
   so quiet, so hidden from the eyes of men, so unremarkable and
   commonplace, yet take comfort from our text, "The Lord saw the light."
   No trumpet proclaimed it, but the Lord saw it! No voice went forth
   concerning it, but the Lord saw it and it was enough! And in your case
   it is the same. The earth itself could not recognize the light, yet the
   Lord saw it. Poor dull chaos, what could it know? And as for primeval
   night, the light shone in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it
   not.

   How often does the young Believer stand in doubt as to himself! How
   frequently does he enquire, "Is this light or is it not?" Nor is he
   alone in such great searchings of heart, for there are times with some
   of the more advanced of us, when we are very glad to think that the
   Lord sees the light, for we cannot see it. There are times when,
   through doubt, fear and a keen sense of sin, we begin to question
   whether the Lord has ever shone upon us at all! And if this happens to
   full-grown saints it is not much wonder if it occurs to babes in Grace
   in the first morning of their life. If it should occasionally prove a
   very serious question--"Am I in the light or not?"--we need not marvel,
   for often have sincere children of God put up the anxious inquiry, "Is
   this light, or only darkness visible?"

   How often do we mourn that we have scarcely more light than suffices to
   reveal our darkness and make us pine for more! Oh, troubled one, lay
   this home to your soul--the Lord saw the light when earth, herself,
   could not perceive it! Let us not forget that besides the light there
   was no other beauty. The earth, according to the Hebrew, was "tohu and
   bohu," which, in order to come near to both the sense and sound at the
   same time, I will render, "anyhow and nohow." It was confusion,
   emptiness, waste. Matter was discordant and disorganized. And so God
   fixed His eyes on the light, not on the chaos!

   Even so, beloved Friend, your experience may seem to be a chaos, nohow
   and anyhow, exactly what it should not be, a maze of unformed
   conceptions and half-formed desires, and ill-formed prayers--but yet
   there is Grace in you and God sees it--even amid the dire confusion and
   huge uproar of your spirit! What He has, Himself, created in you He
   beholds, considers, and delights in! And, as for the sin that dwells in
   you, He only regards it as covered from His sight by the atoning work
   of His dear Son! Remember, too, that when the light came it had to
   contend with darkness, but God saw it, none the less.

   So, also, in your soul, there still remains the darkness of inbred
   corruption, ignorance, infirmity and tendency to sin. And these cause a
   conflict, but the light is not hidden from the eyes of God. What a
   mercy this is that our God keeps His eyes on the light rather than on
   the darkness. Oh, how I bless Him for that! If He were to ignore the
   light that is in us because it is feeble, and look only at our sin
   because it is abundant, He would certainly utterly destroy us! But
   instead of that He casts our sins behind His back, while upon the
   new-born Grace He fixes His steady gaze and says, "I the Lord do keep
   it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it
   night and day."

   For many reasons the Lord sees the light, but chiefly He sees it
   because He made it, and He forsakes not the work of His own hands. God
   can see Grace in men where you and I cannot, because He knows where it
   is, seeing He, Himself, hid it in the soul. There is never a grain of
   Grace in the world but what God has a register of it. All the Grace in
   men's hearts calls God, "Father," and God hears its voice and turns His
   eye that way. He knows His own children and His eyes and His heart are
   towards them continually for good. He knows the light which is of His
   own creating--there is not one stray sunbeam in the universe, nor one
   forgotten ray of light.

   Neither is there a spark of forgotten Grace, or a grain of salvation
   which has got out of its course. God cannot but remember His own Grace,
   seeing that the giving of it is a work so dear to His heart, and the
   effect of that work is so precious in His esteem. To sum up what we
   have said, you who have been converted to God may lament that in your
   soul there is no order and that everything is tossed about. You may
   perceive no growth, no fruit, no virtue in your life because you have
   not known the Lord long enough to produce much.

   But if there is light enough to reveal Christ in you as your only hope,
   be of good cheer, for the Lord does not look for the fourth day's work
   on the first day! He sees that in you which is of His own giving and
   creating--and he calls it good! Seeing the light in you, He will
   perpetuate it so that you shall never walk in darkness! And He will
   increase it till the glory breaks upon you! Do you repent of sin? God
   sees the light. Have you bemoaned your shortcomings? God saw the light.
   Have you begun to pray? "Behold, he prays," says God, for He sees the
   light. Have you believed in Jesus Christ with even a trembling faith?
   God sees the light. Have you begun to hope in His mercy? He sees that
   hope, for the God that gave you its light still looks upon it!

   II. It is time for us to pass on to a second head, which is this--THE
   LORD APPROVES OF WHAT HE CREATES. "God saw the light that it was good."
   He took pleasure in it. Now, as far as this world was concerned, light
   was but young and new--and so in some of you, Grace is quite a novelty.
   You were only converted a very little while ago and you have had no
   time to try yourselves or to develop your Divine Graces, yet the Lord
   delights in your new-born life! There are some older folk who are
   suspicious of the dawn of Grace and look very dubiously upon new
   converts, but in this they have not the mind of God.

   The old members of our Churches in the country, 20 years ago, used to
   say, "We must not take in young converts too soon. We must summer and
   winter them before they are baptized." This they called prudence. I
   wonder what they would think of prudent farmers who summered and
   wintered the lambs before they took them into the fold? Or prudent
   parents who summered and wintered their babes before they pressed them
   to their bosom? We ought right gladly to take the little babes in Grace
   and nurse them for the Lord--and by no means despise their youth. The
   Lord did not leave the light to itself till it had been tried for
   years, but on the first day He smiled upon it and pronounced it good!

   He took delight in it because it was as much His creation and as truly
   good as if He had made it ages before. Light is good at dawn as well as
   at noon. The Grace of God is good though but newly received! It will
   work out for you greater things, by-and-by, and make you more happy and
   more holy, but even now all the elements of excellence are in it and
   its first day has the Divine blessing upon it. Grace in the bud is
   pleasant unto the Lord--let this Truth of God fill the newly converted
   with intense delight!

   Here we must mention again that it was struggling light, yet none the
   less, for it was approved of the Lord. We do not understand how it was
   that the light and the darkness were together until God divided them,
   as this verse intimates, but as John Bunyan says, "No doubt darkness
   and light, here, began their quarrel," for what communion has light
   with darkness? The black darkness was in possession, but the arrows of
   light pierced it through and through. It strove to hold its own, but
   before long it could be said, "the darkness is past and the true light
   now shines."

   Do you remember how it was with you when the light invaded the little
   world within you? I remember well the inward battle and sore conflict
   in my own case. What struggles! What contentions! What conflicts my
   soul endured when the light first broke in upon nature's night! My
   darkened heart rebelled against the light, hating to have its deeds
   reproved. But the light would not be extinguished or turned aside.
   Backed by the Divine fiat, it pierced its way until I joined the
   company to whom it is said, "you were sometime darkness, but now are
   you light in the Lord."

   My Brothers and Sisters, I am sure you are no strangers to this
   conflict, nor is it to you altogether a thing of the past. You are
   still in the conflict. Still Grace and sin are warring in you, and will
   do so till you are taken Home. Let this help you, O you who are
   perplexed! Remember that struggling as the light is, God approves of it
   and calls it good! Even the repentance which cannot repent as it would
   is good! The faith which cannot believe as it would is good! Life which
   smolders like fire in damp wood is good--and the Lord so esteems it! "A
   bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He will not
   quench."

   As yet the light had not been divided from the darkness and the
   boundaries of day and night were not fixed. And it is so in young
   beginners--they hardly know which is Grace and which is nature, what is
   of themselves and what is of Christ-- and they make a great many
   mistakes. Yet the Lord makes no mistake of that which His Grace has
   placed in them! They have so little discernment that they see and do
   not see, for they see men as trees walking, but God sees them clearly
   enough. It is neither day nor night with them--they are in a fog and
   lack power of discernment--but the Lord discerns them, for He knows
   them that are His. Let this be their joy that the Lord can analyze
   their condition and He knows what is light in them and approves it.

   As yet the light and darkness had not been named--it was afterwards
   that the Lord called the light, "day," and the darkness, "night." Yet
   He saw the light that it was good. And so, though you do not know the
   names of things, God knows your name! Though you do not understand the
   doctrines so as to speak of them correctly, yet He understands you.
   Your ignorance of terms and names, your confusion of mind and childish
   misapprehensions will not provoke the Lord or make Him overlook the
   Grace which He has worked in you. The sooner you can distinguish
   between things that differ, the better, but meanwhile the Lord
   distinguishes what is in you and loves the light which He has given
   you, for He never made a Grace which He did not love, and never worked
   a work in the soul of man which He did not approve!

   The light of the first day could not reveal much of beauty, for there
   was none, and so, dear Friend, the light within does not yet reveal
   much to you--and what it does reveal is uncomely, but the light,
   itself, is good--whatever it may make manifest. If the Grace given you,
   my young Friend, only reveals the depravity of your nature. If it only
   shows you the cage of unclean birds within you and the wild beasts that
   rage and rave within your nature--if it only makes these growl in their
   dens more fiercely than ever because their reign is coming to an
   end--still it is light!

   If it displays your nature as tossed about in sorry tumult and wretched
   disorder, yet the light is good, and God takes delight in it. When no
   varied landscape of land and sea, mountain and lake, meadow and forest
   charmed the eyes, yet the Lord approved the light which shone over the
   formless mass. Let this cheer and comfort you, that in the same manner
   you have the approbation of God upon whatever of Grace His hands have
   created within you. But why did God say that light was good? I suppose
   it was because its creation displayed His attributes. The instantaneous
   coming of light revealed His power, His sovereignty, His goodness, His
   wisdom and His love.

   He is not a God whose glory consists in darkness, but, "He covers
   Himself with light as with a garment." Grace is a still more glorious
   manifestation of the Divine Character and in it God glorifies His name.
   The Grace that is in you has sufficed to show you the power and the
   justice of God--and something of His mercy and His love--and angels
   from Heaven have beheld the same sacred attributes in the Divine work
   within you. Therefore God loves Grace because it makes Him known in
   many of His glorious attributes. He loves the light, too, because it is
   like Himself, for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

   Light is ethereal and almost spiritual, and therein like He who is a
   Spirit. Light makes manifest the Truth of God and therein is like the
   God of Truth. The Grace that is in you, if, indeed it is Grace, is yet
   more truly of the nature of God, for it is that living and
   incorruptible Seed by which you are made partakers of the Divine Nature
   and are enabled to escape the corruption which is in the world through
   lust. Satan is the Prince of the powers of darkness, but another
   principle, even that of the light of God dwells in the man who believes
   in Jesus--and this principle must be good--for it is of God.

   Light is eminently good, for the Lord spent a whole day in creating and
   arranging it--a whole day out of six! This shows that He attaches great
   importance to it. Moreover, He gave it the front rank by occupying the
   first day of creation's week upon it. Even thus the plan of Grace was
   early in the mind of God. It was and is His masterpiece and He has
   never yet placed it in the background. His eternal wisdom devised it
   from old and that same wisdom continues to dwell upon it all through
   this long day of Grace. The little Grace which is in you is approved of
   God, for it is the fruit of His thoughts of old, and by it He has begun
   His new creation in you.

   I suppose that the Lord approved of the light because it was a
   seasonable thing. It was what was needed to begin with. Not but what
   God could work in the dark, for, as to natural light, in that respect
   darkness and light are both alike to Him. We can all see that the works
   of His creating skill needed light, for how could plants, animals and
   men live without it? Assuredly the sanctifying operations of the Spirit
   of God require light in the soul--the understanding must be
   enlightened, for true religion cannot flourish in ignorance--and until
   there is some knowledge of God none of the Graces can blossom.

   When God the Holy Spirit new-creates a man, the first essential thing
   towards it is the illumination of his soul in knowledge and holiness,
   to know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Because it is so
   essential, the Lord pronounces it good. So, then, dear Brothers and
   Sisters, I have shown you that God took delight in His own work, and I
   have given you some reasons why He did so. Now, you trembling
   beginners, I want you to feel that if God approves of the Grace which
   He has worked in you, He will preserve it! He will not suffer the light
   which He kindles to be quenched by the world, the flesh, or the devil!
   Yes, He will improve it and cause your twilight to brighten into
   perfect day! I would to God

   that some poor, troubled one could catch this thought, for I remember
   well the time when it would have been exceedingly consoling to myself.

   When I compared myself with older saints I feared that there was little
   of the Divine work in me. But if I had known, as now I rejoice to know,
   that God's work, even at the beginning, is approved by Him--that even
   the rudiments and elements of Grace in the soul are looked upon by Him
   with Divine complacency, I think my heart would have greatly rejoiced!
   I want you lambs of the flock to feed on this tender grass! It is sweet
   food, suitable to your young days. Fear not, little flock! Your Great
   Shepherd takes delight in you!

   III. But now, thirdly, let me give you what will seem to be, but is
   not, the same thought--THE LORD QUICKLY DISCERNS ALL THE GOODNESS AND
   BEAUTY WHICH EXISTS IN WHAT HE CREATES. The Lord did not merely feel
   approbation for the light, but He perceived reason for it--He saw that
   it was good. He could see goodness in it where, perhaps, no one else
   would have been able to do so. Let us note, then, that light is good in
   itself and so is Divine Grace. What a wonderful thing light is! Just
   think of it! How simple it is and yet how complex. Scarcely have the
   students of light been able, as yet, to discover a tenth of its various
   qualities!

   Wonders have burst upon them, but there are many more to follow. What
   intertwisted colors go to make up the simplicity of the white light in
   which we rejoice? Grace, too, is simple yet complex. The Grace that
   quickens, the Grace that convicts of sin, the Grace that consoles, the
   Grace that instructs, the Grace that sustains, the Grace that
   sanctifies, the Grace that perfects--it is all a very simple matter,
   but how varied are its operations! How marvelous is the "all Grace"
   which God makes to abound unto us! Think of the triple ray which we
   find in Grace--the Grace of the Father in election, the Grace of the
   Son in redemption, the Grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration!
   Consider, admire, and adore the manifold Grace of God!

   Light, too, how common it is! We see it everywhere, and all the year
   round. The most despotic monarch cannot enclose the light for himself.
   The meanest beggar takes a royal share! It cannot be monopolized, but
   pays its gladsome visits to all alike. Even thus the Scriptures reveal
   the freeness of Divine Grace--and experience shows that it shines on
   the poorest and the simplest--it enlightens the foolish and the
   ignorant. Yet what a precious thing is light! Those who are blind, what
   would they not give to see it! And if you and I were confined in a
   sepulcher, how earnestly should we long, once more, to walk in the
   light of Heaven.

   So is the Grace of God priceless yet free to every eye that is able to
   drink it in. Light, too, how feeble and yet how strong! Its beams would
   not detain us one-half so forcibly as a cobweb, yet how mighty it is,
   and how supreme! Scarcely is there a force in the universe of God which
   is more potent. The Grace of God, in the same manner, is contemptible
   in the eyes of man, and yet the majesty of Omnipotence is in it, and it
   is more than conqueror! Light, too, as we have said before, how
   noiseless! You never hear its footsteps, and yet how effectual! So the
   Grace of God comes not with observation, but its transformations are
   unparalleled.

   Light, too, how varied, as we see it in many phases and through
   differing mediums, and yet, how uniform! How uniformly good! Grace
   comes in many ways and works variously, yet it is always the same, and
   its results are always pure, lovely and of good repute. Well did God
   say that light was good, for who can make it otherwise? Who can defile
   it? The sunbeam lights on a dunghill, but its purity remains snow-white
   as the lily. Who can rob light of its beauty? Its excellence remains
   undimmed, though it pierces the gloom of a dark dungeon, feverish and
   full of loathsome filth. Light never ferments into darkness, nor decays
   into gloom. The leaves upon the trees have, in successive autumn blasts
   turned sere, and have fallen to the earth to rot, but no ray of light
   has ever withered!

   Many changes the world has passed through, but light is the same, the
   glory of its youth is on it! The young sunbeams leap from the central
   fire and visit us on wings unwearied. They, themselves, being adorned
   with all the freshness of earth's birthday. Transfer all this to the
   Grace of God and it will bear to be emphasized. Grace cannot be
   depraved, it is always pure and good! It cannot be overcome, it will
   effect its purposes! It never corrupts, it is the seed of God which
   lives and abides forever! Oh, precious Grace, if you are in the
   soul--if, as yet, it is but your first day--you are good!

   Light is good, not only in itself, but in its warfare. The light
   contended with darkness and it was good for darkness to be battled
   with. Grace has come unto you, young Friend, and it will fight with
   your sins--and your sins ought to be fought with--and to be overcome!
   The light which came from God was good in its measure. There was
   neither too much of it nor too little. If the Lord had sent a little
   more light into the world we might all have been dazzled into
   blindness,

   and if He had sent less we might have groped in gloom. God sends into
   the new-born Christian just as much Grace as he can bear--He does not
   give him the maturity of later years, for it would be out of place.

   Did not Jesus say, "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot
   bear them now." Dawn is good as well as noontide. A babe in Grace is
   beautiful and the Grace in him is suitable to his condition. Do not,
   dear Brother, judge the babe because he has not the light and the Grace
   which belong to a full-grown man, for that would be unreasonable. Light
   was good as a preparation for God's other works. The great Creator was
   about to make plants. What could plants do without light? He knew that
   He would soon make fowl that fly in the open firmament, and beasts that
   graze the meadows--is not light needed by all these?

   He knew that light, though it was but the beginning, was necessary to
   the completion of His work. Light was necessary that the eyes of man
   might rejoice in the works of God and so God saw the light that it was
   good in connection with what was to be. And, oh, I charge you who have
   to deal with young people, look at the Grace they have in them in
   relation to what will be in them! Think not so much of the weakness of
   it as of the fact that it is only the green blade! Let your faith see
   the golden ear which will come from that tender shoot! See the oak in
   the acorn, the man in the child--and call them good!

   What a mass of thought one might raise from this one Truth of God of
   the goodness of light and the goodness of Grace, as to their results.
   Light produces the beauty which adorns the world, for without it all
   the world were uncomely blackness. Light's brush paints the whole and
   even so all beauty of character is the result of Grace. Light sustains
   life, for life, in due time, would dwindle and die out without it, and
   thus Grace, alone, sustains the virtues and blessings of the Believer.
   Without daily Grace we should be spiritually dead! Light heals many
   sicknesses and Grace brings healing in its wings. Light is comfort,
   light is joy, the prisoner in his darkness knows it to be so. And so
   the Grace of God produces joy and peace wherever it is shed abroad.

   Light reveals and so does Grace, for without it we could not see the
   Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. O to walk in the light as God
   is in the light so that we may have fellowship with Him! O Lord, "send
   out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me! Let them bring me unto
   Your holy hill." You see, now, that God perceived in light a mass of
   latent good and, in the same manner, He perceives, in the first work of
   Grace in the soul, an amount of good which the soul, itself, knows
   nothing of, and which even Christian observers, with kindly eyes, would
   not be able to detect.

   IV. This leads me to close with a practical observation, namely, that
   GOD RECORDED HIS ESTIMATE OF THIS

   FIRST DAY'S PRODUCT. Here we have His judgement expressed--"God saw the
   light that it was good." This leads me to say to the young Christian,
   the Lord would have you encouraged. You have been looking at yourself
   since you have been converted and, perhaps, you have grown desponding,
   and have cried, "Alas, I am vile! I did not know all that was in

   me!"

   No, and you do not know all that is in you now. "But I am so bad." Let
   me assure you, you are a great deal worse than you think you are.
   "Alas, Sir, I see enough to drive me to despair." Yes, but if you could
   see the whole truth about yourself, you would be driven to self-despair
   10 times over! You are so bad as to be hopeless! And you had better
   know it, too! I often thank God for teaching me early that my old
   nature was dead and corrupt, so that nothing has surprised me since. I
   commenced as a penniless bankrupt and I have, therefore, never become
   poorer! I began naked and, therefore, I have never lost a rag! I was
   dead, utterly dead, and therefore I have lost no strength!

   It is a necessary thing for you to know that in your flesh there dwells
   no good thing. "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
   subject to the Law of God, neither, indeed, can be." Put that down at
   the first, as an ascertained fact, and then nothing will amaze you
   afterwards! Your nature is incorrigible and incurable! But there is
   gracious light in you which God has put there and God delights in you
   because of it. Though you may have been born to God but a week ago and
   are a poor little crying baby in the nursery of the Lord's house, yet
   your Father loves you and sets great store by the Grace He has given
   you! Now, do not be downcast! Say to yourself, "The Lord has said that
   the faith which He has given me is good. He has said that this little
   love that I have for Him is good. I will be encouraged, for if He has
   begun a good work in me, He will carry it on."

   My last word is to older Christian people. If the Lord says that His
   work in the first day is good, I want you to say so, too. Do not wait
   till you see the second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day before you
   feel confidence in the convert and offer him fellowship. If God speaks
   encouragingly so soon, I want you to do the same. A few words to a
   young Christian

   will be greatly helpful to him and his weakness craves them. Those of
   us who have been a long while in the Lord's ways ought to be ashamed if
   we are gruff, and sour, and critical. You know it was the elder
   brother, not one of the younger ones, who said, "This your son has
   come, who has devoured your living with harlots," and so on.

   Do not degenerate into the elder brother's spirit, I pray you. You must
   grow older in years, but endeavor to remain young at heart. There is a
   tendency to look for far too much in young converts and to expect in
   them a great deal more than we shall ever see. This is wrong. We shall
   not do them much good by criticizing them, but we may greatly benefit
   them by encouraging them. We have all read in the papers this week
   about Captain Webb's swimming across the channel, and we noticed that
   every now and then his friends gave him a cheer. Would that help him?
   No doubt it did! There is nothing like a cheer to a fellow when he
   feels faint and weak.

   Give the weak brother a cheer, I say! When you meet with a young
   Believer who is tossed about, give him a cheer! Give him a hearty
   cheer! Tell him some choice promise! Tell him how the Lord helped you.
   Your few words may not be much to you, but they will be very much to
   him. Whereas the black look, which, perhaps, you really did not mean,
   may chill him to the very marrow of his bones! Many a poor young
   Christian has been frostbitten by the coldness of stern professors. Let
   us make a rule to encourage the young and help them forward, for that
   work of encouragement may affect the whole of their future history.

   As the Lord said the first day was good, so He said the same right on,
   till at last He declared that it was "very good." In this way I trust
   it will be "good" with young converts from beginning to end. That early
   blessing which you may be the means of bestowing upon the young
   Christian may be the first of thousands of commendations which shall
   culminate in, "Well done, good and faithful servant." At any rate, if
   you do this, my dear Brothers and Sisters, it will reveal in you a
   God-like disposition. The Lord said that the first day's work was good!
   Be as God is, ready to see the good, if it is ever so little, and ready
   to speak well of it! It will be for your own comfort to see and commend
   the young work of Grace.

   If you have an eye to spy out what is good, either in young people or
   old people, it will be a very happy faculty. Those who have a keen eye
   for others' faults are wretched beings. They look at the sun and they
   say, "He has spots." Then they gaze at the moon and observe that its
   light is very pale. Better be blind than see in this fashion! Let it
   not be so among you! But as God saw the light that it was good, so do
   you look for it and rejoice in it. Be on the side of weak Grace and
   your own Grace will grow stronger. Comfort the feeble-minded, support
   the weak, be patient towards all and in holy charity think no evil, but
   rejoice in the Truth of God.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Genesis 1. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK."--104, 205, 891.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Lion-slayer--the Giant-killer

   (No. 1253)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Your servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised
   Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of
   the living God. David said moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of
   the paw of the lion and out of thepaw of the bear, He will deliver me
   out of the hand of this Philistine." 1 Samuel 17:36,37.

   WE have all thought a great deal of the courage of David in meeting
   giant Goliath, but probably we have not given him credit for his
   conduct in a previous contest. We have not sufficiently noticed that
   immediately before the encounter with the Philistine he fought a battle
   which cost him far more thought, prudence and patience. The battle of
   words in which he had to engage with his brothers and with King Saul
   was a more trying ordeal to him than going forth in the strength of the
   Lord to smite the uncircumcised boaster. Many a man meets with more
   trouble from his friends than from his enemies. And when he has learned
   to overcome the depressing influence of prudent friends he makes short
   work of the opposition of avowed adversaries.

   Observe that David had first to contend with his own brothers. I hardly
   think Eliab was so much swayed by envy as has been supposed. I fancy
   that Eliab had too much contempt for his young brother to envy him. He
   thought it ridiculous that a youth so given to music and piety and
   gentle pursuits should dream of encountering a giant. He derided the
   idea of his being equal to such a task and only feared, lest in a
   moment of foolish enthusiasm, he might throw his life away in the mad
   enterprise. And therefore Eliab somewhat superciliously, but still
   somewhat in the spirit natural to an elder brother who feels himself a
   sort of guardian to the younger members of the house, chided him and
   told him that only pride and curiosity had brought him there at all and
   that he had better have remained with his sheep in the wilderness.

   Such a youth, he thought, was more fit among lambs than among warriors,
   and more likely to be in his place beneath a tree with his shepherd's
   pipe than in the midst of a battle. David met this charge in the very
   wisest way--he answered with a few soft words, and then turned away. He
   did not continue to argue, for in such a contest, to multiply words is
   to increase ill feelings and he who is silent first is the conqueror.
   Grandly did this young man restrain himself, though the provocation was
   very severe, and herein he won the honors of the man who restrains his
   spirit and greater than the soldier who takes a city. I admire David as
   he selects his five smooth stones from the brook, but I admire him
   quite as much when he so gently replies where others might have been
   angry--and then so wisely turns aside from a debate which could not
   have been to the profit of either party.

   Next, he is brought before Saul and enters upon a contest with a king
   to whom he felt loyal respect, and with a soldier who had been a man of
   war from his youth up and had worked many famous deeds, one, therefore,
   to whom David looked up with not a little reverence. When king Saul
   said to him, "You are not able to fight with this Philistine, for you
   are but a youth and he a man of war from his youth," it must have been
   somewhat difficult for the young hero to cope with the weighty
   judgment. And yet he did so, answering meekly, forcibly and in all
   respects well. Did you notice how David said to Saul, "Let no man's
   heart fail because of him." He did not say, "Let not your heart fail
   you"--he was too much of a courtier for that--he had too much delicacy
   of mind to insinuate that a royal heart could fear.

   When he proceeded to argue with the king it was in the most polite and
   deferential manners. He begins, "Your servant kept his father's sheep."
   He calls himself a servant of the king and does not hesitate to admit
   that he is only a shepherd who had no flock of his own, but served
   under his father. There was nothing like assumption, but the very
   reverse. Yet while he used soft words, he brought forth hard arguments.
   He mentioned facts and these are always the best weap-

   ons against carnal reasoning. Saul said, "You are not able to meet this
   Philistine." But David replied, "Your servant slew both the lion and
   the bear." He placed facts against mere opinions and won the day.

   He did not quote Scripture to the king, for I suppose he knew Saul too
   well for that, and felt that he had not Grace enough to be swayed by
   the promises and examples of Holy Writ. But he brought facts before
   him, knowing well how to give a reason for the hope that was in him
   with meekness and fear. His arguments quite overcame the opposition of
   Saul, which would have dampened the enthusiasm of many. And so Saul not
   only commissioned him to go and fight the Philistine, saying, "Go, and
   the Lord be with you," but he actually clothed him in his royal armor,
   which was of no small value and which, of course, would have increased
   the honors of the Philistine champion had David fallen before him.

   Some little faith in David was kindled in Saul's bosom and he was
   willing to trust his armor in his hands. Thus it is clear that David
   fought the battles with Saul as admirably as he afterwards conducted
   his duel with the giant--and he deserves no small honor for it. No,
   rather unto God be honor who while He taught His servant's hands to
   war, and his fingers to fight, also taught his tongue to utter right
   words by which he put to silence those who would have abashed him! What
   was the meat of David's argument? What were the five smooth stones
   which he threw at the head of carnal reasoning?

   That shall be the subject of this morning's discourse. We will consider
   the way in which he argued down all doubts and fears and, by the Spirit
   of God, was nerved to go forth to deeds of sacred daring in the name of
   the Most High, for the same conquering arguments may, perhaps, serve
   our turn also. Three things are before us in the text, recollections,
   reasonings and results.

   I. First, RECOLLECTIONS. "Your servant kept his father's sheep, and
   there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I
   went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth:
   and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him,
   and slew him. Your servant slew both the lion and the bear." These were
   noteworthy facts which David had stored up in his memory. And he now
   mentions them, for they exactly answered his purpose. We ought not to
   be unmindful of the way by which the Lord our God has led us, for if we
   are, we shall lose much.

   Some saints have very short memories. It has been well said that we
   write our benefits in dust and our injuries in marble! And it is
   equally true that we generally inscribe our afflictions upon brass,
   while the records of the deliverances of God are written in water. It
   ought not to be! If our memories were more tenacious of the merciful
   visitations of our God, our faith would often be strengthened in times
   of trial.

   Now, what did David remember, for I want you to remember the same. He
   remembered, first, that whatever his present trial might be, he had
   been tried before--tried when he was but a young man peacefully
   employed in keeping his father's flocks. A lion rushed upon his prey
   and he had to defend his sheep--that was no small trial for a young
   man--to have to meet a savage beast, strong, furious and probably
   ravenous with hunger. Yet the ordeal had not destroyed him and he felt
   sure that another of the same kind would not do so.

   He had encountered that danger in the course of his duty, when he was
   in his proper place and engaged in his lawful calling. And he had
   thereby learned that the path of duty is not without its difficulties
   and perils. He was keeping his flock as he ought to be and yet a lion
   attacked him. And so you and I have met with trials which did not arise
   from sin, but, on the other hand, came to us because we conscientiously
   did the right thing and would not yield to temptation. We must not
   think that we are out of the right road when we meet with difficulties,
   for we must expect, through much tribulation, to inherit the kingdom of
   God. Severe afflictions and afflictions arising out of holy walking are
   not new things to us! Let us now remember our old encounters.

   He remembered, too, that he had been tried frequently. He had not only
   been attacked by a lion, but also by a bear. He had been tried in
   different ways, for lions and bears do not fight exactly in the same
   manner, neither are they to be met with precisely the same tactics.
   David remembered that his trials had been of different sorts and that
   in each case the battle had been hard. It was no small matter to fight
   hand to hand with a lion, and no child's play to rush single-handed
   upon a bear. We, also, in looking back, remember sharp encounters with
   foes of many kinds which were terrible battles to us at the time.

   Brothers and Sisters, some of us who have been for years in the ways of
   the Lord can tell of shrewd brushes with the enemy. We can speak of
   wounds and ugly tears of which we wear the scars to this day. Many have
   been our adversaries, and furious--yet we have been upheld till now by
   Jesus, the Captain of our salvation! Why, then, should we fear concern-

   ing the present fiery trial, as though some strange thing had happened
   to us? Is it a Philistine this time? Well, it was a lion before, and a
   bear on another occasion--it is only a little change of the same
   constant trial of our faith--therefore let us not shrink from the
   conflict.

   Next, David remembered that he had risked all in the prosecution of his
   duty. He was set to take care of the sheep and the lambs and he did so.
   A lion had dared to leap into the fold and seize a lamb, and without a
   single thought of anything but the lamb and his own duty, the young
   shepherd rushed upon the monster with all the ardor of youth! And
   smiting him with his crook compelled him to drop his prey. He had put
   his own life in jeopardy for the poor defenseless lamb. Can you not
   remember, my Christian Brothers and Sisters, when you, also, took no
   thought as to what you should lose if you followed Christ and cared not
   if it cost you your very life? With earnest honesty you desired to
   learn what you ought to do and you did it, regardless of the cost.

   You defied Reproach, slander, misrepresentation and unkindness, so long
   as you could but clear your conscience and honor your Lord. O blessed
   recklessness! Do you remember those early days when you could
   cheerfully have gone to prison and to death for Christ's sake? For
   Scriptural doctrines and ordinances you would willingly have suffered
   martyrdom! Perhaps some of you have, on more than one occasion,
   actually risked everything for the sake of integrity and for the honor
   of the Lord Jesus Christ, even as others have defied the utmost power
   of Satan and the most virulent hatred of men for the sake of the Lord
   God of Hosts. You have felt that you could sooner die than deny the
   Truth of God and sooner perish from off the face of the earth than to
   turn from the trust which the Lord had committed to you.

   Look back upon your brave days, my Brothers and Sisters, not that you
   may be proud of what you did, but that you may be ashamed if you are
   afraid to do the same today! Blush if what you could do as a babe in
   Grace should appear too difficult for you in riper years! These
   remembrances have precious uses--they will lead us to bless God and
   humble ourselves in His Presence.

   Next David remembered that he had on that occasion gone alone to the
   fray. The antagonist was a lion! A dozen men might have found
   themselves too few for the fight and David remembered that in that
   contest he was quite alone--he had not called in other shepherds to the
   rescue, but armed only with his crook, he had belabored the lion till
   the monster found it convenient to leave his prey and turn upon the
   young shepherd. David was ready for him, seized him by his beard,
   dashed his head upon the rocks and did not relinquish his grasp till
   the king of beasts lay dead at his feet. It was a grand incident, even
   had it stood alone, but a bear had supplied an equally memorable
   trophy.

   Some of us may well recall hours in our past lives when we were all
   alone and, as we went forth to serve the Lord Jesus, our enterprise was
   regarded as Utopian and spoken of as sure to end in failure. Many a
   good man has gone forth for Christ's sake even worse than alone, for
   those who should have aided have done their best to criticize and
   prophesy disaster. But men whom God ordains to honor have shut their
   ears to critics and pushed on till they have reached success. And then
   everybody has said, "We always thought so," and not a few have even
   claimed to have been ardent admirers all along!

   Brother, do you remember when everyone said you were foolhardy and
   self-sufficient, and regarded your course as absurd and sure to come to
   an end? Remember when they said six months were to see the end of your
   career which was a mere bubble and would soon collapse? Ah, those were
   brave times when the Lord was with you and man's opinion weighed but
   lightly! It may be that your relatives turned their backs upon you and
   no man would give you a good word. And yet, in the name of the Lord God
   of Hosts, you did the right and dared all results! And you have had no
   cause to regret it, but overflowing reasons to bless God that He
   strengthened you to "dare to be a Daniel and dare to stand alone."

   Look back at that courageous hour, and now that you are surrounded by a
   goodly company of friends, think whether you have as simple a trust in
   God, now, as you manifested then. If you judge that you have, prove by
   your actions that you can still dare to go forward under difficulties,
   unshackled by dependence on an arm of flesh. The discipline of
   desertion ought not to have been lost upon you--you ought to be all the
   stronger for having been compelled to walk alone. The friendship of
   your fellows has been a loss rather than a gain if you cannot now wage
   single-handed battle as you did in former times. Have you now become
   slavishly dependent on an arm of flesh? If so, chide yourself by the
   memories of braver days!

   David also remembered that on that occasion, when he smote the lion and
   the bear, he had nothing visible to rely upon, but simply trusted his
   God. He had in his hand no sharp weapon of iron with which to smite the
   wild beast to the heart. Careless as to weapons, he thought only of his
   God and rushed on the foe. He was as yet a young man, his muscles were
   not set and strong, neither did he seem fit for such a venturous deed!
   But his God was almighty and, reliant upon the Omnipotence of God, he
   thought nothing of his youth, but flung himself into the fray. What
   more in the way of help did he need, since God was with him? Oh,
   Brothers and Sisters, there were times, with some of us, when we
   commenced our work when our sole reliance was the unseen Lord!

   We were cast upon the invisible power of God and if that could fail us
   we must fail. Our attempts were such as carnal reason could not
   justify, such indeed as only Divine interposition could carry through!
   We were right enough if the Divine power could be calculated on, but
   apart from that, we were near insane! Glory be to God, He has been as
   good as His word! Our faith has been justified by results and unbelief
   has been struck dumb. The Lord taught us to rest in Him from our youth
   up and to declare His wondrous works! And now that we have tried and
   proved His faithfulness, we dare not hide these things from the
   generation following. Our witness must be borne even though we should
   be charged with boasting! "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord."

   But can it be true that now we have begun to coolly calculate means and
   to rely upon methods and plans, whereas once we looked to God, alone?
   Do we now trust in this friend and rely on that, and distrust the Lord
   if friends are few? Shame upon us if we do, for this is to leave the
   way of victory for the path of defeat, to come down from the heroic
   track to the common highway of carnal reasoning and so to fall into
   care, fretfulness, weakness and dishonor! Happy is the man who trusts
   in the Lord, alone, by unstaggering faith! He shall go from strength to
   strength, but he who chooses to walk by sight shall utterly decay.

   David remembered, also, that the tactics which he adopted on that
   occasion were natural, artless and vigorous. All that he did was just
   smite the lion and the bear with his staff, or whatever came first to
   hand, and then to fight as nature and the occasion suggested. He did
   what his courage prompted, without waiting to consult a committee of
   lion-slayers and bear-trappers. His whole art was faith! This was his
   science and his skill. He consulted not with flesh and blood. He
   followed no precedents, imitated no noted hunters and encumbered
   himself with no rules. He did his best as his faith in God directed
   him. He threw his whole soul into the conflict and fought vigorously,
   for his faith did not make him sit still and expect the lion to die in
   a fit, or the bear to become insensible.

   He seemed to say to himself, "Now, David, if anything is to be done,
   you must be all here and every muscle you have must be put to the
   strain. You have a lion to fight with, therefore stir up your strength
   and while you rely upon God, alone, take care to play the man this day
   for your father's flock." Courage supplied coolness. And energy, backed
   up by confidence, won the day. Do you remember, my Brother, when in
   your own way you did the same? You were reliant upon God but not idle.
   You put your whole force of soul and energy into your Master's service,
   as if it all rested on you and yet, you depended wholly on Him and you
   succeeded! How is it with you now? Do you now take things easily? Do
   you wonder that you do not succeed? If you are growing cold and
   careless. If you are getting sleepy and dull, rebuke your soul and use
   your past experience as a whip with which to flog yourself into energy!
   Let it never be said that he who woke himself up to fight a lion now
   falls asleep in the presence of a Philistine!

   David remembered that by confidence in God his energetic fighting
   gained the victory--the lion was killed and the bear was killed, too.
   And cannot you remember, Brothers and Sisters, what victories God gave
   you? When you were little in Israel and despised, yet His hand was upon
   you! And when few would bid you God speed, yet the Jehovah of Hosts
   encouraged your heart! And when you were feeble and but a youth, the
   Lord Jesus helped you to do exploits for Him in your own way. Remember
   this, and be of good courage this morning in the conflict which now
   lies before you. David talked of his former deeds somewhat reluctantly.
   I do not know that he had ever spoken of them before. He did so on this
   occasion with the sole motive of glorifying God and that he might be
   allowed to repeat them.

   He ravished for permission from Saul to confront the Philistine
   champion and bring yet greater glory to God! Brethren, whenever you
   talk of what God enabled you to do, mind you lay the stress upon God's
   enabling, and not upon your own doings. And when you rehearse the story
   of your early days, let it not be as a reason why you should now be
   exonerated from service and be allowed to retire upon your laurels, but
   as an argument why you should now be allowed

   the most arduous and dangerous post in the battle! Let the past be a
   stepping stone to something higher--an incentive to nobler enterprise.

   On, on you soldiers of the Cross! In God's name eclipse your former
   selves! As Grace enabled you to pile the carcass of the bear upon the
   corpse of the lion, so now resolve that the Philistine shall increase
   the heap and his head shall crown the whole, to the honor and glory of
   the God of Israel! So much for remembrances. I pity the man who has
   none of them and I pity, yet more, the man who, having them, is now
   afraid to risk all for his Lord!

   II. Now for REASONING. David used an argument in which no flaw can be
   found. He said, "The case of this Philistine is a parallel one to that
   of the lion. If I act in the same manner, by faith in God, with this
   giant as I did with the lion, God is the same and, therefore, the
   result will be the same." That seems to me to be very good reasoning
   and I bid you adopt it. Such-and-such was my past difficulty and my
   present trouble is of the same order. In that past trial I rested upon
   God and acted in a right way--and He delivered me. Therefore, if I
   trust in God, still, and do as before, He is the same as ever--and I
   shall triumph again!

   Let us now consider the case and we shall see that it really was
   parallel. There was the flock, defenseless. Here is Israel, God's
   flock, defenseless, too, with no one to take up its cause. In all the
   camp there was not one single man who dared take up the giant
   challenge. David was a shepherd and, therefore, as a shepherd, bound to
   defend his flock. And in the present instance he remembered, I doubt
   not, that Samuel had anointed him to be king over Israel and he felt
   that some of the responsibility of the anointing rested upon him even
   then. And if no other man would play the shepherd, the anointed son of
   Jesse must do it!

   And so it looked to him like a parallel case--Israel the flock and he
   the shepherd who must defend it. He was alone that day when he smote
   the lion and so he was this day when he was to confront his enormous
   foe. Of course it was one of the conditions of a duel that the
   Israelite champion should go forth, alone, and besides that, there was
   no one in all the camp who was likely to wish to accompany him upon
   such an errand. So, now that he was all alone, the case was the more
   truly parallel! As for that Philistine, he felt that in him he had an
   antagonist of the old sort. It was brute force before. It was brute
   force now.

   It might take the shape of a lion or a bear or a Philistine, but David
   considered that it was only so much flesh and bone and muscle--so much
   brag or roar, tooth or spear. He considered the Philistine to be only a
   wild animal of another shape because he was not in Covenant with God,
   and dared to put himself in opposition to the Most High! My Brothers
   and Sisters, a man who has God for a friend is higher than an angel,
   but a man who is God's enemy is no better than a beast! Reckon him so
   and your fears of him will vanish! Goliath was mighty, but so was the
   lion. He was cunning, but so was the bear. The case was only a
   repetition of the former combat.

   And as God was not with the lion, nor with the bear, so David felt that
   God was not with Goliath and could not be, for he was the enemy of
   God's Israel. And as God had been with him when fighting the wild
   beasts, so he felt that God was with him now. It looked to him as if he
   had already twice gone through a rehearsal of all this when he was in
   the wilderness, alone, and therefore he could the more easily go
   through it now. Perhaps there flashed in his mind the case of Samson,
   who learned to slay the Philistines by rending a lion when he was alone
   in the vineyard. So David felt, "I have killed my lion like Samson and
   now, like Samson, I go to fight this Philistine, or a thousand like he,
   if need be, in the name of the Lord of Hosts."

   The whole argument is this--in the one case, by such tactics we have
   been successful, trusting in God--and, therefore, in a similar case we
   have only to do the same and we shall realize the same victory!
   Brothers and Sisters, here is a fault with most of us, that when we
   look back upon past deliverances we do not draw this parallel, but on
   the contrary, the temptation haunts us to think that our present trial
   is clearly a new case! For instance, David might have said, "When I
   slew that lion I was younger than I am now and I had more courage and
   vivacity, but those shrewd brushes have strained me somewhat and I had
   better be more prudent."

   Just as you and I say, sometimes, "Ah, what I did was done when I was a
   young man, I cannot do the same now. That trouble which I bore so
   patiently, by God's Grace, was in other times. But this affliction has
   come upon me when I am less able to endure it, for I have not the
   elasticity of spirit which once I had, nor the vigor I formerly
   possessed." When we want to escape from some arduous work, we do it by
   trying to show that we are not under the same obligations as in former
   days. We know in our conscience that if we did great things when we
   were young we ought to do greater things

   now that we are older, wiser, more experienced and more trained in
   war--but we try to argue our conscience into silence.

   If the Lord helped us to bear with patience, or to labor with zeal
   after all the experience we have had, that patience and zeal should now
   be easier to us than before. Alas, we do not argue so, but to our shame
   we excuse ourselves and live ingloriously. I know a man who, today,
   says, "Yes. What we did in years gone by, we did in our heroic age, but
   we are not so enthusiastic now." And why not? We are so apt to magnify
   our former selves and think of our early deeds as of something to be
   wondered at but not to be attempted now! We are fools for they were
   little enough in all conscience and ought to be outdone!

   Oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, this resting on our oars will not do! We
   are drifting down with the tide. David did not say, "I slew a lion and
   a bear so I have had my turn at such bouts. Let somebody else go and
   fight that Philistine!" Yet we have heard people say, "When I was a
   young man I taught in the Sunday school. I used to go out preaching in
   the villages and so on." Oh, Brother, and why not do it now? I think
   you ought to be doing more instead of less! As God gives you more
   knowledge, more experience and more Grace, surely your labors for Him
   ought to be more abundant than they used to be, but, alas, you do not
   look on it as a parallel case, and so make excuses for yourself.

   Too often in our spiritual work we fix our mind upon the differences
   rather than upon the similarities. For instance, David might have said,
   "I would not mind another lion. I can manage lions. I would not be
   afraid of half-a-dozen more bears, I am used to bears. But this
   Philistine is a new sort of monster." No, David saw it was the same
   thing, after all, a little different in shape but the same brute
   force--and so he went at it with courage. But we say, "Alas, there is a
   great difference! Our present trials have an unusual bitterness in
   them." "I," cries the widow, "I lost my husband and God helped and my
   son has been a stay to me. But now he, too, is gone, and I have no
   other son, and no one to fall back upon."

   She points out the difference, though the trouble is virtually the
   same! Would it not be far better if she pleaded the same promise and
   believed in the Lord as she did before? One man will say, "Ah, yes, I
   did, on such an occasion, run all risks for God. But, you see, there is
   a difference here." I know there is, my dear Brother, there is a little
   difference and if you fix your eyes on that, you will drill yourself
   into unbelief! But difference or no difference, where duty calls or if
   you should be called to bear such an affliction as never befell mortal
   man, before, yet remember God's arm is not shortened that He cannot
   deliver His servants! You have but to commit yourself to Him and out of
   the sevenfold adversity you shall come forth a sevenfold conqueror!

   We are very apt, too, to look back upon the past and say, "I know that
   there are some grand things the Lord did for me and my venture for His
   sake turned out well, but I do not know what I should have done if a
   happy circumstance had not occurred to help me just in the nick of
   time." We dare to attribute our deliverance to some very "happy
   accident"! It is very base of us to do so, for it was the Lord who
   helped us from first to last--the happy occurrence was a mere second
   cause! And cannot God give us another "happy accident," if necessary,
   in this present trouble? "Alas," our unbelief says, "there was a
   circumstance in that case which really did alter it, and I cannot
   expect anything like that to occur now." Oh, how wrong this is of us!
   How we lose the force of that blessed reasoning from parallels which
   might have supplied us with courage! God grant we may break loose from
   this net!

   Possibly our coward heart suggests "Perhaps, after all, this deed of
   courage may not be quite my calling and I had better not attempt it."
   David might have said, "I am a shepherd and I can fight with lions, but
   I was never trained to war, and therefore I had better let this
   Philistine alone." He might, also, have discovered that he was better
   adapted for protecting sheep than for becoming the champion of a
   nation. We must guard against the use of this plausible pretext, for
   pretext it is. Brethren, if we have achieved success by the power of
   God, let us not dote upon some supposed adaptation, but stand prepared
   to be used of the Lord in any other way which He may choose!

   Adaptation is unknown till the event proves it--and our Lord is a far
   better judge of that than we are! If you see before you a work by means
   of which you can glorify God and bless the Church, do not hesitate, but
   enter upon it in reliance upon your God! Do not stand stuttering and
   stammering and talking about qualifications and so on, but what your
   hand finds to do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus who has bought
   you with His blood! Prove your qualifications by bringing Goliath's
   head back with you and no further questions will be asked by anyone--or
   by yourself!

   So, too, sometimes we frame an excuse out of the opinions of others. We
   are apt to feel that we really must consider what other people say. Our
   good brother Eliab may be a little crusty in temper, but still, he is a
   man of a good deal of prudence and experience. And he tells us to be
   quiet and let these things alone and, perhaps, we had better do so. And
   there is Saul. Well, he is a man of great acquaintance with such
   matters! He judges that we had better decline the task and, therefore,
   upon the whole we had better exhibit that prudence which is the better
   part of valor and not rush upon certain danger and probable
   destruction.

   This seeking advice and following cowardly counsel is all too common!
   We know that some strenuous effort is needed and it is in our power,
   but we desire ease and, therefore, we employ other men to weave excuses
   for us. It would be more honest to say outright that we do not want to
   do any more. Were we more full of love to Jesus, this unworthy device
   would be scorned by us and in sacred manliness of mind we would scorn
   the counsel which tends to cowardice. Others cannot bear our
   responsibility--we must, each one, give an account of himself to
   God--why, then, yield to the judgement of men?

   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, fling this folly to the winds! Obey the
   dictates of the Holy Spirit and close your ears to the advice of
   unbelief! Men or women consecrated to God, if the Lord impels you to do
   anything for Him, do not ask me, do not ask my fellow Church officers,
   but go and do it! If God has helped you in the past, draw a parallel
   and argue from it that He will help you in the present. Go, and the
   Lord go with you! Do not fall prey to that wicked unbelief which would
   rob you of your strength!

   III. The last thing is RESULTS. The results were, first, that David
   felt he would, as he did before, rely upon God alone. Come to the same
   resolution, Brothers and Sisters! God, alone is the source of power! He
   alone can render real aid! Let us then rest in Him, even if no other
   help appears. Is not the Lord, alone, enough? That arm which you cannot
   see will never be palsied. Its sinews will never crack, but all the
   arms of mortals upon which you so much love to lean must, one day, turn
   to dust in the tomb. And while they live, they are but weakness itself.
   Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting
   strength. David had found wisdom's self when he said, "My soul waits
   only upon God, for my expectation is from Him."

   David resolved, again, to run all risks once more, as he had done
   before. As he had ventured himself against the lion, so would he put
   his life in His hands and engage the Philistine. Come wounds and
   maiming! Come piercing spear or cutting sword! Come death, itself! Amid
   the taunts and exultations of his giant foe, he would still dare
   everything for Israel's sake and for God's sake! Soldiers of the Cross,
   if you feel that you can do this, be not slow to put it into practice!
   Throw yourselves wholly into the Lord's service! Consecrate yourselves
   and your substance to the grand end of glorifying Christ, fighting
   against error and plucking souls from destruction!

   David's next step was to put himself into the same condition as on
   former occasions, by divesting himself of everything that hampered him.
   He had fought the lion with nature's weapons and so would he meet the
   Philistine. Off went that glittering royal helmet which, no doubt, made
   his head ache with its weight! Off went the cumbersome armor in which
   he found it very hard to move! In such a metallic prison he did not
   feel like David a bit and, therefore, he put all aside and wore only
   his shepherd's frock! As for that magnificent sword which he had just
   strapped by his side, he felt that it would be more ornament than
   use--and so he laid it aside with the rest of the trappings. He put on
   his pouch and took nothing with him but his sling and stones.

   This was the old style and he did well to keep to it, for the Lord
   saves not with sword and spear! We are all too apt to get into a fine
   harness and tie ourselves up with rules and methods. The art of getting
   rid of all baggage is a noble one, but few have learned it. Look at our
   Churches! Look at the Church at large--is there not enough red tape
   about to strangle a nation? Have we not committees enough to sink a
   ship with their weight? As for patrons, presidents, vice-presidents and
   secretaries, had not Christianity been Divine it could not have lived
   under the load of these personages who sit on her bosom! The
   roundabouts are worrying straightforward action out of the world. We
   are organized into strait waistcoats! The vessel of the Church has such
   an awful lot of top-hamper that I wonder how she can be navigated at
   all! And if a tempest were to come on she would have to cut herself
   free from nearly all of it.

   When shall we get at the work? If there should ever come a day when
   Brothers will go forth preaching the Gospel, simply resting in faith
   upon the Lord alone, I, for one, expect to see grand results! But at
   present, Saul's armor is everywhere! When we get rid of formality in
   preaching, we shall see great results! But the Churches are locked up
   in irons

   which they call armor. Why, dear me, if we are to have a special
   service, one Brother must have it conducted in the Moody method and
   another can only have Sankey hymns! Who, then, are we that we must
   follow others? Do not talk to us about innovations and all that--away
   with your rubbish!

   Let us serve God with all our hearts and preach Jesus Christ to sinners
   with our whole souls--the mode is of no consequence! To preach down
   priestcraft and error, and do it in the simplest possible manner--by
   preaching up Christ--is the way of wisdom! We must preach, not after
   the manner of doctors of divinity, but after the manner of those
   unlearned and ignorant men in the olden time who had been with Jesus
   and learned of Him! Brothers, some of you have too much armor on! Take
   it off! Be simple, be natural, be artless, be plain-spoken, be trustful
   in the living God and you will succeed! Less of the artificer's brass
   and more of Heaven-anointed manhood is needed! More sanctified
   naturalness and less of studied artificialness! O Lord, send us this,
   for Christ's sake. Amen.

   The ultimate result was that the young champion came back with
   Goliath's head in his hand! And equally sure triumphs await every one
   of you if you rely on the Lord and act in simple earnestness. If for
   Christ, my Sister, you will go forward in His work, resting upon Him,
   you shall see souls converted by your instrumentality. If, my Brother,
   you will but venture everything for Christ's glory and depend, alone,
   on Him, what men call fanaticism shall be considered by God to be only
   sacred consecration and He will send you the reward which He always
   gives to a full, thorough, simple, unselfish faith in Himself.

   If the result of my preaching this sermon should be to stir up half a
   dozen workers to some venturesome zeal for God, I shall greatly
   rejoice. I remember when I commenced this work in London, God being
   with me, I said if He would only give me half a dozen good men and
   women, a work would be done, but that if I had half a dozen thousand
   sleepy people nothing would be accomplished. At this time I am always
   afraid of our falling into a lethargic condition. This Church numbers
   nearly 5,000 members, but if you are only 5,000 cowards, the battle
   will bring no glory to God! If we have one David among us, that one
   hero will do wonders! But think what an army would be if all the
   soldiers were Davids--it would be an ill case with the Philistines,
   then!

   Oh that we were all Davids! That the weakest among us were as David and
   David, himself, were better than he is, and became like an angel of the
   Lord! God's Holy Spirit is equal to the doing of this and why should He
   not do it? Let us call to Him for help and that help will come! I must
   just say this word to some here present who lament that there is
   nothing in this sermon for them. Unconverted persons, you cannot draw
   any argument from your past experience, for you have none of a right
   kind. But you may draw comfort, and I pray you do, from another view of
   this story.

   Jesus Christ, the true David, has plucked some of us like lambs from
   between the jaws of the devil. Many of us were carried captive by sin.
   Transgression had so encompassed us about that we were unable to
   escape. But our great Lord delivered us! Sinner, why can He not deliver
   you? If you cannot fight the lion of the pit, HE can! Do you ask me,
   What are you to do? Well, call for His help as loudly as you can. If
   you are like a lamb, bleat to Him, and the bleating of the lamb will
   attract the shepherd's ear. Cry mightily unto the Lord for salvation
   and trust, alone, in the Lord Jesus! He will save you! If you were
   between the jaws of Hell, yet, if you believed in Him, He would surely
   pluck you out of destruction. God grant you may find it so, for
   Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 Samuel 17:23-51. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--73, 674, 681.
     __________________________________________________________________

Jesus In Our Midst

   (No. 1254)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when
   the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
   Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said unto them, Peace be
   with you." John 20:19.

   WE do not wonder that when certain devout Greeks came up to keep the
   feast at Jerusalem they said to Philip, "Sir, we would see Jesus." Who
   would not want to see Him? Who that has been redeemed by His precious
   blood does not long to behold Him? As a child pines for its mother, so
   have we been sick with strong desire to behold our Lord! Yet to see the
   King in His beauty with these eyes of ours is denied to us for the
   present. But the reasons for delay are so gracious that we are well
   content to tarry. It is better for us that the bodily Presence of our
   Lord should be withdrawn, for otherwise the Comforter would not come
   unto us and the Comforter, even the blessed Spirit, brings us richer
   gifts than even the personal Presence of Christ could have conferred!

   Still, reasons cannot utterly remove longings, and we would still be
   glad to behold our Lord. Is it not natural that a soldier should wish
   to hear his Captain's voice? At least there is something excusable
   about it, if, every now and then, we dare to wish that we could have a
   glimpse, even if it were ever so short, of our own Well-Beloved,
   altogether lovely Lord. If we could but catch a glimpse of that face
   whose brightness outshines the sun, how it would stimulate us! But,
   Brothers and Sisters, it must not be. Until He, Himself, shall come, or
   till He shall take us up to be with Him where He is, we must be content
   with faith and postpone our desires for sight.

   So far as the needs of the Gospel kingdom are concerned, the need for
   eye-witnesses is over. Apostles who had seen the Lord are required no
   more. Forty days of our Savior's tarrying here below sufficed to let a
   sufficient number of persons fully assure themselves that He had
   actually risen from the dead. And Jesus took great care that there
   should be left behind a body of evidence concerning the actual
   resurrection of His body which would render that fact indisputably
   certain to all candid minds. Probably there is no statement of human
   history which is better sustained by evidence than this fact--that
   Jesus of Nazareth who hung upon the Cross and died, did afterwards rise
   again from the dead!

   The time of eye-witnesses is now over. More evidence would be
   superfluous and we are now in the mid-ocean of faith. The Lord knows
   that sight interferes with faith, and, therefore, He does not give us a
   mixture of the two. We do not walk by sight and faith, but, "we walk by
   faith, not by sight." To let us occasionally see, would, in fact,
   remove us out of the realm of faith and bring us down from the high
   position of Believers to the low platform of sightseers. Adieu,
   therefore, for a while, O Sight! Yet, dear Brothers and Sisters, there
   are spiritual visits from Jesus which are more than sufficient
   substitutes for His bodily Presence and these we may still desire and
   expect.

   Christ may be really present where He is not materially present! There
   is a discerning of the Presence of Christ which we must all have,
   especially when we come to the communion table, for we are told that he
   who there discerns not the Lord's body eats and drinks unworthily.
   There is a discerning of the Lord's Presence in the midst of His people
   which is essential to the power of our assemblies. I pray that we may
   have this, even now, and if we do, we shall not be a whit behind those
   who saw Jesus with their eyes and heard Him with their ears! I do not
   think there is any privilege which the actual bodily Presence of Christ
   could bestow which we may not obtain at this moment by the actual
   spiritual Presence of Christ, if we do but exercise faith in Him as
   being in the midst of us.

   He has said, "Lo, I am with you always," and this is the pledge of
   every conceivable good. Concerning this Presence I shall speak, using
   the story as told by the Evangelists as a sort of type of that
   spiritual communion which I hope we may now realize.

   I. Our first point this morning shall be, THERE IS A PECULIAR MANNER IN
   OUR LORD'S COMING TO HIS DISCIPLES. You will see, first, that He comes
   gladly to them. I am sure He came gladly, for He came so soon and so
   often. First, He appeared to Mary Magdalene, then to Simon, then to the
   two at Emmaus and then to the 11 at Jerusalem. There are at least four
   times in a day in which the Risen One seeks His Brethren. These visits
   of His were in different places, somewhat remote from each other. It
   was a busy day with Him, this first day after He had risen from the
   dead! How true it was after His Resurrection, even as it was in ages
   long ago, that His delights were with the sons of men.

   He evidently loved to be where His people were. He might have gone away
   and spent the 40 days in the desert, triumphing on the scene of His
   former conflict. Or He might have surveyed the earth in lonely travel,
   but instead He spent His sacred leisure with His people. And on the
   first day after He had risen from the grave we have record of no less
   than four interviews which He had with His disciples. Remember that on
   each occasion He came right willingly and showed Himself freely.
   Magdalene, it is true, went to the tomb seeking Him, but He might
   readily have remained unknown had He so desired.

   I know not where Simon was when his Lord met him, but he, also, did not
   find Him as the result of search. As for the two disciples at Emmaus,
   they were going away from Jerusalem and evidently were not seeking Him,
   yet He joined Himself to their company. And the 11 had met to console
   each other, but not to meet with Jesus--that was a matter beyond their
   expectation. The doors were shut. No sentinel stood ready to look for
   the appearing of the Lord Jesus, but He came to them all of a sudden,
   an uninvited guest! I gather from this, Beloved, that our blessed Lord
   delights to manifest Himself to His people even now, for we know that
   He is the same as always.

   After a spiritual manner He is glad to come and sup with us that we may
   sup with Him. He is not reluctant to visit the places where His people
   assemble. It is the joy of His soul to look those in the face for whom
   He shed His blood and to hear their prayers and praises and accept
   their offerings. You have not, today, therefore, in the prayer which I
   trust you are breathing to Him, to urge an unwilling guest to come
   where He cares not to be. You have not to lay hold of Him and constrain
   Him, saying, "Abide with us." He will be glad to reveal Himself to you
   as He does not unto the world. Jesus comes cheerfully where He is
   cheerfully received. He even comes to those who invite Him not and,
   therefore, He will surely turn aside and tarry with you who are longing
   for fellowship with Him.

   He came on that occasion, also, to those who were quite unworthy of so
   great a privilege--for who were those eleven? God forbid we should say
   a hard word against those honored men, but in reference to their Master
   they had not behaved as they should have done. It is written, "Then all
   the disciples forsook Him and fled." Among that 11 there was not one
   who had stood up in his Lord's defense, not even the man who had leaned
   his head upon His bosom. No, one who was not the least among them had,
   with oaths and cursing, denied Him! They had not forgotten Him or
   renounced His cause, or else they would not have met as they were
   doing. But they had all disbelieved the promise of His return, or else
   they had not met in fear and trembling as they did that night.

   I think some leaders would have refused to acknowledge such followers,
   or at best would have sent them cold commands and denied them their
   company till they were in a better spirit. Our Master came to His
   cowardly, faithless disciples and stood in the midst of them uttering
   the cheering salutation, "Peace be with you!" My Soul, why should He
   not come to you, though you are the most unworthy of all whom He has
   bought with His blood? Though you assuredly have been unfaithful,
   cowardly and unbelieving, yet even upon you may His light arise and
   into your ears may He speak the peaceful benediction, even as He did
   unto the eleven. This ought to be a point of great comfort to you, this
   morning, and great incitement to hope that you will obtain the Lord's
   spiritual Presence, unworthy though you are.

   Note again, the manner of His coming. He came to the full assembly of
   the Apostles and their companions, after He had been seen by the few.
   That is to say, first one had seen Him, then another one. And then
   two--and then the full quorum of the 11 and they that were with them
   were favored with His company. I am glad, my Brothers and Sisters, to
   know that this morning early, soon after break of day, a few of the
   household of faith met under this roof and found their Master among
   them displaying His love. I know, also, that a second time, before we
   assembled in this upper room for worship, there was in the basement
   below another company gathered together, who sought and found our Lord.
   And, moreover, one at least is here who saw Jesus early this morning in
   his own chamber while privately worshipping.

   These are good tokens, my Brethren, for now that we have all come
   together, many more than 11, and now that all our hearts are eager
   after Him, we shall surely meet with Him! Since the Brothers and the
   Sisters say, "We have seen Him

   this morning. We saw Him in our chambers. We saw Him as we walled to
   the house of prayer. We met Him in the early morning Prayer Meeting,"
   this is good news to us and confirms our hope that He will come to us,
   also. Yes, Beloved, He will come to the feast! Even now I see Him and
   His Presence makes my heart burn within me!

   Our Lord came to His disciples when they were met together quietly,
   secluded from the world, shut in as much as they could be from its
   cares and distractions. The 11 and the more trustworthy Brethren had
   appointed this midnight rendezvous for no purpose but that of quietly
   considering their condition, cheering each other's hearts and waiting
   upon God. They had nothing to buy or sell, or debate upon. They had
   laid aside business cares and domestic troubles and then their Master
   came. It is a good thing for the saints to be shut in and the world
   shut out. I hope we are in that position now. You must not expect Jesus
   to show Himself to you if your heart is at home with the children, or
   away at the workshop, or traveling to and fro through the earth,
   seeking after vanity!

   But with the doors all shut about us, even in this great Tabernacle we
   shall see our Beloved. If we can but shut the world out we may expect
   to feel His Presence and to have Him breathe upon us as He did upon
   those of old. Not in the noisy street, but in the quiet chamber, Jesus
   comes. Not at the market, but in the meeting. Not in the street, but in
   the sanctuary will His gathered people have their clearest sights of
   Him.

   Having all met together, the next noticeable point as to the Lord's
   coming was that they were all thinking about Him and talking about Him.
   The uppermost subject was Jesus whom they had followed as their Master
   and whom they had seen die--and of whom it was said that He had risen
   from the dead. I suppose they prayed together, but I am sure their
   prayers all had reference to Him. I do not think they sang, but if they
   did, I think they must have selected a Psalm which had an evident
   allusion to Him. Some of them may have spoken. I have no doubt Simon
   Peter did, but it must have been to tell how the Lord had revealed
   Himself to Him and was risen, indeed!

   And Magdalene in that quiet assembly may have, again, told of the
   vision of angels which she saw and how she met the Master and mistook
   Him for a gardener. And now there come in two Brothers, sweating from
   their rapid journey from Emmaus, who are just in time before the
   assembly breaks up to repeat the same gladsome tidings! Everything that
   night was about Jesus, directly and distinctly about Him. There were no
   discussions as to doctrines and no questions about ordinances. They
   spoke wholly of Jesus who died, Jesus who was said to have risen, and
   they said one to another, is it, indeed, so? Thus while all their
   hearts and tongues were taken up with Him, Jesus manifested Himself to
   them.

   Now I hope our Lord will come this morning, for I know some who think
   less and less every day of everything but Jesus. They now account a
   sermon to be precious or to be vile in proportion as it is full of Him,
   and reckon a day well spent or ill just in proportion as they have
   spent it with Him. He is the Alpha and Omega, head, front, chief, Lord,
   all, yes, All in All to us! And if there are many such present today,
   you may depend upon it, Jesus will not stay away and we shall feel the
   delights of His fellowship! Still, someone will say, "Perhaps He will
   not come here, for there are many barriers and we, ourselves, are not,
   perhaps, in the very best condition to receive Him."

   Stop, Brothers and Sisters, and ask yourselves--were there no
   difficulties then? The doors were shut and the disciples were in fear.
   I do not know how Jesus came into the room! Some think He passed
   through the closed door by miracle, albeit that his body was
   substantial flesh and bone. Others suggest that He opened the door by
   miracle and then it closed again. I care not how, but there He was,
   though the doors were shut! And I know this, that whatever doors there
   may be between my Lord and my soul, though they were doors made of
   seven times plated steel, He could pass through them or could open them
   to get at my heart when it longs after Him!

   Brethren, if there are mountains between you and Christ, behold, He
   comes leaping like a roe or a young hart over the separating hills!
   Nothing can keep Him back from you except yourself--and if you will
   that He should come--He wills to come and is on His way, even now. No
   considerations of domestic suffering or of personal pain. No
   remembrance of the trials of the week, or even the present temptations
   of Satan shall avail to keep back your Lord and Master! Surely you are
   aware He can make your soul like the chariots of Amminadab! But perhaps
   you are afraid He will not visit you because you have a fear which you
   cannot shake off.

   So had the disciples, or they would not have closed the doors so
   carefully. They feared the Jewish mob which might try to slay them as
   they had done their Lord! And though you may be fearing the troubles of
   the week before you, the Lord will not despise you for it. Perhaps some
   very heavy cloud hangs over your spirit right now. Well, your Lord can
   pierce through clouds! Does not the sun look forth from the heavens
   though the morning is lowering and dreary? Shines

   he not even though the fogs and mists gather about our city? And Jesus
   comes, though sins encompass us and doubts and fears and cares hang
   thick about our path!

   He comes as the dew which waits not for man, neither tarries for the
   sons of men. I see no reason why, now, at this very instant, we may not
   hear the voice of our Beloved! Blessed Lord, we beseech You to come,
   for come You can, as well we know! At favored times I have felt as
   though His very shadow were over me, as though the touch of His right
   hand were upon me and I heard Him say to me, "Fear not, I am He that
   lives and was dead." And why not again? Why not now? There are many
   reasons which make us hope that we shall, this morning, behold Him! Let
   us look up, and with one hearty cry, "Come, Savior, and reveal Yourself
   to us now as You do not unto the world!"

   II. Secondly, OUR SAVIOR HAD A PECULIAR MANNER WHEN HE WAS COME, so, if
   He is here, this morning, we may expect Him to be here in something
   like the following fashion. He stood in the midst of them. He stood,
   suddenly stood--where they had seen no one the moment before--He stood,
   plainly revealed. He did not flash across the room like a meteor, but
   He remained in one position as though He meant to tarry for a while. He
   stood in the midst--He took the place which a teacher should occupy,
   the position which naturally belongs to the Master and Lord.

   I rejoice to think of my Lord Jesus as taking the midst of the circle
   when He visits His Brethren. I love the name of Calvin, but I always
   regard him as sitting on one side of the room. And I love the name of
   Wesley, but I regard him as occupying another side place in the
   assembly. There are many preachers in the Church, but not one of them
   is in the midst of the family circle of the redeemed. The Lord, alone,
   is there--the center of all hearts. Others are present and they shine
   with differing lights, but He is the sun! He is the center and ruler of
   the system of His Church.

   This morning, in addressing you, I stand in body in your midst, but no
   doubt my preaching does not consort with the experiences and feelings
   of all present. I must stand on one side, but if my Lord will reveal
   Himself to you, I am sure we will all give Him the chief place! He will
   be the center of all our loves and delights. I would not yield
   precedence to you, Brothers and Sisters, in my desire to honor my Lord
   as the chief Beloved of my soul, and I feel sure that whatever your
   condition, you all agree to magnify Him and are all glad to look in the
   same direction, namely, to Him alone. Though our views may sometimes
   differ, yet our views about Jesus are the same, and our hearts' best
   affections all unite in Him. Well, then, if He is here, this morning,
   we shall all feel that we find a common meeting place in Him, that our
   confidence is in Him, our consecration is to Him, we belong to Him, He
   belongs to us and we are happiest among the happy because He gathers us
   all around His loving heart.

   When He stands in the midst, the next thing we find is that He speaks,
   and His word is, "Peace be with you." The Presence of Christ, this
   morning, will be signaled by the bestowal of a deep sense of peace. You
   will not be able to tell one another why you feel such profound quiet,
   but it will vividly come before you that Jesus loved you from before
   the foundations of the world, that your names are engraved upon His
   hands, that He has bought you with His precious blood, that you are
   near and dear to Him and that where He is, there you shall be, also,
   and your souls will feel as if they were more than content. Your
   experience will be that of the Psalmist when he said, "My soul is even
   as a weaned child."

   It is a glad hour when we need nothing more, but are filled with all
   the fullness of God! When we can heartily say, "Whom have I in Heaven
   but You, and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside You?"
   Cares are gone, delight is come, longings are satisfied and desires
   fall asleep on His bosom, when Jesus is present! No sound of war is in
   the camp, nor voice of them that mourn. The time of the singing birds
   is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. After
   observing that our Lord spoke, we next find that He showed--showed
   Himself to His disciples. Jesus did not come into their midst to show
   them a new thought, a philosophic discovery, a deep doctrine, a
   profound mystery, or, indeed, anything but Himself. He was a sacred
   egoist that day, for what He spoke of was Himself and what He revealed
   was Himself.

   What a sight was that for the disciples! They saw the very Christ! They
   had seen Him for three years before, but not as one who had been dead
   and passed through the sepulcher! And now He stood before them, as the
   First-Begotten from the dead. The most conspicuous things He showed in
   Himself were His wounds--His hands, His feet, His side. Oh, if my Lord
   is present here this morning, the chief object of faith's vision will
   be Himself--and the most conspicuous point in Himself will be the
   emblems of His passion! The mind cannot contemplate a more blessed
   object than the wounds of Jesus--founts of redemption, doors of eternal
   life, sources of hope, scale of Heaven!

   Look, you saints, look even now to your crucified Savior! As far as He
   enables you, come close to Him and put your finger into the nail
   prints, and say, "My Lord and my God"! Those sacred scars of His are
   the sure tokens of sin forgiven,

   punishment borne by the Substitute and the soul forever emancipated
   from her slavery! This is what Jesus does when He comes to us in
   spirit--He makes Himself more dear than ever by fuller and more
   condescending discoveries of His love, so that we know and believe the
   love which He has towards us. In so doing our Lord opens up the
   Scriptures. He did so to the eleven. Jesus Christ's Presence is always
   known by His people by the value and the beauty which they are led to
   attach to the Scripture at such times.

   The Bible is one book in the dark and another book in the light. Do you
   not, sometimes, take up the Scripture and as you read it, feel that it
   is like reading any other book, only that it involves a responsibility
   which another book does not bring upon you? At such seasons you get no
   sweetness out of it, but rather bitterness. But when Jesus takes the
   Book, He looses the seven seals and with His finger lights up every
   line and bids you look, if you will, through the hole in His hand and
   read the promises in that fashion! Ah, how they glow and glisten! Then
   the Book talks with you and you detect the Voice to be that of the
   Beloved Himself!

   There is life in the Lord because Christ is there who is the Way, the
   Truth, and the Life--and is, Himself, the eternal Logos, the true Word
   of God. Yes, Jesus Christ's Presence never teaches a man to despise
   Scripture and look to inner light, or personal revelation--for much of
   supposed special revelation is the child of superstition and
   conceit--whereas in the Scriptures we have a more sure word of
   testimony. The more light a man has directly from the Spirit, the more
   he prizes the light of the Spirit in the Word. And the more truly he
   gets into communion with the unseen Christ, the more does he delight in
   the Truths of God as revealed to him in the pages of Inspiration. May
   we know Christ's Presence by that sign and token this morning!

   Dear Friends, the Lord's Presence among His followers that day had this
   peculiarity about it, again, that then they forgot all their fears. As
   He had given them peace with God, so now He puts aside the fear of the
   Jews and every other fear which had distressed them. They had been
   frightened, at first. They thought He was a spirit, but now, as they
   gathered about Him and saw Him eat with them, they gathered around Him
   as sheep around a shepherd and they felt at home. I am sure, as they
   went to their houses, they had no fears of Jews as they passed through
   the midnight streets. And when they reached their doors they felt
   joyous and light of heart. Whatever their pecuniary circumstances may
   have been, they had no longer any care, for they had seen the Lord!

   Jesus Christ's Presence will be known to you this day by the forgetting
   of your cares. There is a text in Solomon where he says, "Give strong
   drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that are of
   heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and renumber his
   misery no more." The love of Jesus is that blessed strong drink whose
   Presence is the wine of which if a man will drink, he shall forgot his
   misery and shall remember his sorrow no more! If Jesus Christ does but
   give to the man of downcast spirit, the spiced wine of His pomegranate
   by making him feel that He is near him and that He loves him--if He
   does but make him conscious that the Redeemer's self is no fiction but
   a very present Friend and Helper--then whatever the trial may be, he
   shall bear it readily! The cross shall cease to be a load and the road
   beneath his pilgrim foot shall become smooth.

   Brethren, we cannot enjoy, as yet, the Presence of Christ corporeally,
   but I have already shown you that all the blessings which His bodily
   Presence could bestow, we can realize if our Lord, after the same
   fashion, shall be present with us spiritually today.

   III. Now thirdly, THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST WITH HIS DISCIPLES EXCITED
   VARIOUS EMOTIONS. These emotions may be excited by His spiritual
   Presence quite as readily. At first they were terrified, for they
   thought Him a spirit. It is a sad sign of man's depraved nature and of
   his gross carnality that the presence of a spirit is the source of
   alarm to him. If we were more spiritual than we are, we should not fear
   to meet beings of our own order, but should delight to think of the
   presence of disembodied spirits and should be glad enough to commune
   with them!

   Because the disciples were unspiritual they were alarmed and when the
   alarm ceased a little, Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled? And
   why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" I suppose they began to think of
   their ill conduct to their Master and conscience made them tremble. We
   are told by Mark that He also upbraided them with their unbelief and
   hardness of heart. In gentle tones He chided them for having been so
   unbelieving and they must have felt this, also, to be a source of
   troubled thoughts.

   Meanwhile they doubted whether it could be the risen Savior. But when
   they were convinced by indisputable signs, they greatly rejoiced and
   almost at the same time the very vividness of their joy blinded them
   into another doubt. Like a

   pendulum, they swung from joy to unbelief! After doubt went, they
   rejoiced, and then wonder came, and then doubt again, so that they
   scarcely knew where they were, they were in such a state of excitement!
   John, if you notice, gives a very calm account of it all, for he looked
   at it rather from Christ's point of view than from the disciples' and,
   having had his head so lately on Christ's bosom, he was, perhaps, more
   believing than the rest. Luke's picture of it shows us the contending
   emotions at work in the breasts of the assembled Brothers and Sisters,
   for Luke was a physician and accustomed to watch symptoms and phases of
   feeling. He looked at it from the human side and, therefore, he gives
   us a fuller description of the tossing to and fro, the hopes, fears,
   joys, sorrows, questions and comforts of the hour.

   Well, we will leave the 11 and come to ourselves. Suppose, a moment,
   that our Lord were actually to appear among us this morning? I will not
   say I wish He would, because we know Him no more after the flesh and
   there is no blessing which His corporeal Presence could bestow but what
   we have already in His spiritual Presence. But if He were to come, my
   Brethren, what would be our state of mind towards Him? I hope we should
   not be terrified. I think the most of us who believe in Him would be
   more likely to be overjoyed than at all frightened, but I am sure we
   should all be filled with the profoundest awe.

   The sight of HIM! Our Master and Lord! Should we not, like John in
   Patmos, fall at His feet as dead? Would not the bliss of that vision be
   too great for these frail bodies? At any rate, we would devoutly bow
   the knee before Him and reverently adore Him! And oh what adoration
   would we give to the Lamb that once was slain! To that dear and ever
   blessed Son of God who has washed us from our sins in His own blood!
   Brethren, we would turn this Tabernacle into a temple and this hallowed
   hour into a fragment of Heaven's eternity! If our Lord would but come
   here and show Himself among us, what overflowing love should He have
   from us! How would our hearts melt while He spoke! Brothers and
   Sisters, He is here!

   Let us give that loving adoration to Him even now! Let us bow before
   Him and with prostrate reverence of heart worship the Divine Son! Why
   should it not be so? Brethren, may the Holy Spirit lead you into the
   depths of devotion now! I have no doubt we should feel a marvelous
   degree of serene joy to think that at length we were with our Lord.
   When we went home and told our friends who were not here, we would say
   to them, "We have had some sweet Sundays, but we have never before had
   such a Lord's-Day as this, for He who is Alpha and Omega walked among
   us and spoke with us! We forgot Brother Spurgeon--he went back to his
   seat and held his head in delight--we thought no more about him, for
   his Lord absorbed our attention! The joy we had in seeing Jesus was
   worth waiting for."

   Well, dear Friends, we shall not have our Lord's crucified body here so
   as to feel peace from the sight of our eyes and the hearing of our
   ears, but He is here, really. And all the facts which cluster around
   His Presence which would be legitimate reasons for peaceful joy, we
   have already, for He has died and redeemed us and He has gone into His
   Glory! And remember, He is pleading for us and He is coming again to
   take us Home to Himself! These are, by His Grace, the fundamental
   reasons for peace. We have all the real causes of joy that we should
   have if the Man of Nazareth did stand in our midst! Therefore let us be
   calmly glad and wholly at rest this morning. God help us to be so!

   Surely, also, many would be melted down with deep contrition in our
   Redeemer's Presence. Some of us would have to say, "Lord and Master,
   have You come to ask an account of our stewardship? We are ashamed to
   look You in the face, we have done so little for You." There is one who
   might say, "I have been a member of a Church for years, but I have
   neither helped in the school, preached in the villages, visited the
   sick nor rendered any service whatever. I have eaten the fat and drank
   the sweet in the House of the Lord, but that is all that I have done."
   Brothers and Sisters, here, before the spiritually present Lord you may
   make the same confessions and be humbled on account of them. I wish you
   would.

   Though Jesus is not here with that dear face to tenderly chide you, yet
   He is here, by His blessed Spirit, to gently remind you of your
   forgotten obligations. By His wounds and by His bloody sweat, I do
   entreat you to be loiterers no longer, but go work in His vineyard and
   cease not till life's sun goes down! "Ah," says one, "but if our Lord
   were here, I would tell Him my great trouble and ask for His sympathy
   and help. I would come to His feet and beseech Him to save my husband
   and to convert my ungodly son." Do it, Sister, do it NOW, for He will
   hear you as assuredly as if we heard His footsteps in these aisles!

   His Spirit, who has put the desire into your soul, is the pledge of His
   Presence. Breathe the prayer and expect the blessing and your
   expectation shall not fail. I hear another Believer cry out, "Ah, if my
   Lord were here before me, I would pour out my glad soul in praise and
   tell Him how I love Him! I would kiss His feet and wash them with my
   tears."

   Do it NOW, my Friend, for though you have not the flesh and blood of
   Christ present, yet Jesus in spirit is here and though His body is up
   in Glory, yet your tears and thankfulness will reach Him and be as
   acceptable to Him as if He were here in body! Even now His heart will
   accept the emotions of your soul! Let them flow out before Him as
   perfume from the flowers.

   "Ah," says one, "if I did but see the Lord I should leave this
   morning's assembly feeling that I could now lead a higher life than
   ever I had led before. I could not look at Him without saying, 'You
   altogether lovely One, I pledge myself to You, for You to live, for You
   to die and all I have and all I am shall be Yours forever.'" Beloved,
   do it unrestrainedly and unfeignedly even NOW! Do it now, I say, for He
   will just as well accept you, looking out from the Glory Land above, as
   though He looked down upon you from this platform!

   I wonder what the scene would be with some hypocrites who are present,
   if Christ were to come. Ah, how they would wish they had never made a
   profession of religion! Oh Judas, Judas, how would you bear to see the
   risen glory of Him whom you betrayed? Are you here this morning, Judas?
   And you, vacillating Pilate, who knew the right but did the wrong--how
   will you meet the Man in whom you found no fault but yet condemned to
   die? There may be many here who have despised Him, who have reviled His
   people and ridiculed His Gospel, albeit that Jesus shed His blood for
   the sons of men!

   Well, although Jesus is not here in body, yet will He soon come in
   Person to judge the quick and dead! And if you dare not meet Him now,
   how will you meet Him then? Thus says the Lord, prepare for His advent,
   for behold He comes to judge mankind, and woe onto those who shall be
   found wanting in the day of His appearing.

   IV. The last thing of all is this. Jesus Christ, when He came among His
   disciples, LEFT CERTAIN PERMANENT GIFTS which also can be realized by
   His spiritual Presence. One of the most precious gifts He left them was
   the realization of His Person. Those who saw Him that day never thought
   of Him, from then on, as a mere historical person, or a dream, or a
   phantom. You have read a great many histories but you have never
   realized the persons of history as you have realized your own father
   and mother and children. But the disciples must have realized Christ,
   for they saw Him and some of them touched Him and put their finger into
   the print of the nails.

   Now, it is very desirable that we should, all of us, realize the
   reality of Jesus Christ as God and Man, and we can do it, this morning,
   if He will come and overshadow us with His Presence. There are some of
   us to whom Christ has been a world more real than ourselves, for we
   have sometimes scarcely known whether we were in the body or out of the
   body, when He has been near. But we have always known whether He was in
   the body or out of the body. We have felt as if wife and father and
   mother were shadows that would pass away--but we have realized the
   eternal existence of Christ and have known that He could not pass away.
   And so spiritually we have grasped Him more firmly than we have our own
   friends and kin.

   The most real thing under Heaven to my soul is the Lord Jesus Christ!
   Brethren, can you all say that? If you can, then Christ has been
   present with you this morning. I do not say that I can use this
   language always. Alas, alas, when my Lord has gone, it is not so with
   me! But when I know He is near, there is no force that does so
   completely constrain me, no impulse that does so utterly hold me
   spellbound as the impulse that arises from His Presence, and the
   magnificence that flows out of His love shed abroad in my soul. Every
   child of God knows it is so and thus it is clear that without seeing
   Christ with the eyes, you can obtain the blessing of realizing Him.

   Next He gave to them all a commission, He said, "Go you into all the
   world and preach the Gospel to every creature." He has never laid His
   hand on your shoulder, my Brother, and said, "Go and tell the Gospel to
   poor sinners." He has never touched you, my Sister, and said, "Woman, I
   have sent you to bring your companions to Me. Go and tell them of My
   love!" No, but He has virtually done it by the commission which He gave
   to all His disciples! And He does it powerfully and specially by His
   Spirit to many of us whenever we realize His Presence. We cannot sit
   down at the feet of Christ without feeling that we must work for Him! I
   defy any man to live near Christ and to be lazy! Our Lord walks a smart
   pace and if you will keep company with Him you must go His rate. But if
   you loiter and linger and waste time, Christ will be on ahead and leave
   you to yourself.

   I pray Him to commission some of you this morning! I tried last Sunday
   morning to call out young heroes for Christ. I do not know whether the
   Lord called them out by me or not, but I pray that Jesus would do it!
   If today He should appear, the Crucified One, with face more marred
   than that of any man--with pierced hands, with side opened by the deep

   gash--if He should speak personally to each of you, and say, "My Son,
   My Daughter, go and serve Me, from this day, until I come," with what
   energy would you go forth to His service, even if it were to the ends
   of the earth!

   The last gift He gave them was He breathed on them. His breath was the
   Spirit of God. This was the first drop of the shower of the Spirit
   which afterwards was shed so plenteously at Pentecost. He breathed on
   them and though they did not get the fullness of the Spirit, yet they
   obtained a measure of it and they became qualified to fulfill their
   commission. Oh that He would breathe the Spirit upon us now! No, we
   need not ask for it, Beloved, for our Lord has given the Spirit once
   and for all to all His people! He has baptized His Church into the Holy
   Spirit and into fire--and the Spirit remains with us always--only you
   must believe the might which that Spirit bestows upon you.

   Oh Brother, oh Sister, I beseech you do not estimate yourself according
   to your ability, according to your experience, your learning and the
   like, but according to that Divine energy which rests upon you if you
   are called of God to service! What are the powers within? They are
   feebleness itself! But the power from above is the power of God! Gird
   on this mystic belt, this Divine Omnipotence, and if you know how to
   wear it by faith, you shall break through a troop and leap over a wall.
   "All things are possible to him that believes."

   May Jesus Christ, then, may His Spirit be so among us that each one of
   us may be conscious of obtaining a fresh anointing this very morning!
   And in that strength we shall go forth to new service for the glory of
   God. May God bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

How To Converse With God

   (No. 1255)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Then call, and I will answer: or let me speak, and You answer me." Job
   13:22.

   JOB might well have been driven frantic by his miserable comforters. It
   is wonderful that he did not express himself far more bitterly than he
   did. Surely Satan found better instruments for his work in those three
   ungenerous friends than in the marauding Sabeans, or the pitiless
   whirlwind. They assailed Job remorselessly and seemed to have no more
   hearts of compassion than so many flint stones. No wonder that he said
   to them many things which otherwise he would never have thought of
   uttering and, a few, which I dare say, he afterwards regretted.

   Possibly the expression of our text is one of those passages of too
   forcible speech. The tormented Patriarch did what none but a man of the
   highest integrity could have done so intensely as he did. He made his
   appeal from the false judgement of man to the bar of God and begged to
   be forthwith summoned before the tribunal of the Judge of All, for he
   was sure that God would justify him. "Though He slay me, yet will I
   trust in Him: but I will maintain my own ways before Him. He, also,
   shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before Him." He
   was ready to appear at the Judgement Seat of God, there to be tried as
   to his sincerity and uprightness!

   He says, "Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself
   from You. Withdraw Your hand far from me: and let not Your dread make
   me afraid." He offers, in the words of our text, to come before the
   righteous Judge in any way which He might appoint--either he will be
   the defendant and God shall be the plaintiff in the suit--"Call and I
   will answer," or else he will take up the part of the plaintiff and the
   Lord shall show cause and reason for His dealings towards him, or
   convict him of falsehood in his pleas--"Let me speak, and You answer
   me." He feels so sure he has not been a hypocrite that he will answer
   to the All-Seeing, then and there, without fear of the result.

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, we are far from condemning Job's language,
   but we would be quite as far from imitating it. Considering the
   circumstances in which Job was placed. Considering the hideous libels
   which were brought against him. Considering how he must have been stung
   when accused so wrongfully at such a time, we do not wonder that he
   thus spoke. Yet it may be that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips, but,
   at any rate, it is not for us to employ his language in the same sense,
   or in any measure to enter upon self-justification before God! On the
   contrary, let our prayer be, "Enter not into judgement with Your
   servant: for in Your sight shall no man living be justified."

   How shall man be just with God? How can we challenge His judgement
   before whom the heavens are not pure and who charged His angels with
   folly? Unless, indeed, it is in a Gospel sense, when, covered with the
   righteousness of Christ, we are made bold by faith to cry, "Who shall
   lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies,
   who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that has
   risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
   intercession for us."

   I am going to use the words of Job in a different sense from that in
   which he employed them and shall apply them to the sweet communion
   which we have with our Father God. We cannot use them in reference to
   our appearance before His Judgement Seat to be tried, but they are
   exactly suitable when we speak of those blessed approaches to the Mercy
   Seat when we draw near to God to be enriched and sanctified by sacred
   communion. The text brings out a thought which I wish to convey to
   you--"Call, and I will answer: or let me speak, and You answer me." May
   the Holy Spirit bless our meditation.

   The three points this morning will be, two methods of secret
   conversation--"Call, and I will answer: or let me speak, and You answer
   me." Secondly, the method of combining the two, and here we shall try
   to show how the two modes of conversation should be united in our
   communion with God. And thirdly, we shall show how these two modes of
   fellowship are realized to the full in the Person of our Lord Jesus
   Christ, who is our answer to God and God's answer to us.

   I. First, then, here are TWO METHODS OF SACRED CONVERSATION BETWEEN GOD
   AND THE SOUL-- sometimes the Lord calls to us and we reply, and at
   other times we speak to God and He graciously deigns to answer us. A
   missionary, some years ago, returning from South Africa, gave a
   description of the work which had been accomplished there through the
   preaching of the Gospel. Among other things, he pictured a little
   incident of which he had been an eyewitness. He said that one morning
   he saw a converted African chieftain sitting under a palm tree with his
   Bible open before him.

   Every now and then he cast his eyes on his book and read a passage, and
   then he paused and looked up a little while, and his lips were seen to
   be in motion. Thus he continued alternately to look down on the
   Scriptures and to turn his eyes upward towards Heaven. The missionary
   passed by without disturbing the good man, but a little while after he
   mentioned to him what he had seen and asked him why it was that
   sometimes he read, and sometimes he looked up? The African replied--"I
   look down to the Bible and God speaks to me. And then I look up in
   prayer and speak to the Lord, and in this way we keep up a holy talk
   with each other." I would set this picture before you as being the
   mirror and pattern of communion with Heaven--the heart hearkening to
   the Voice of God--and then replying in prayer and praise.

   We will begin with the first method of communion. Sometimes it is well
   in our conversation with God that we should wait till our heavenly
   Father has spoken--"Call, and I will answer." In this way the Lord
   communed with His servant Abraham. If you refer to those sacred
   interviews with which the Patriarch was honored, you will find that the
   record begins--"The Lord spoke unto Abraham and said." After a
   paragraph or two you hear Abraham speaking to the Lord and then comes
   the Lord's reply, and another word from the Patriarch. But the
   conversation generally began with the Lord Himself.

   So it was with Moses. While he kept his flock in the wilderness he saw
   a bush which burned and was not consumed. He turned aside to gaze upon
   it and then the Lord spoke to him out of the bush. The Lord called
   first and Moses answered. Notably this was the case in the instance of
   the holy child, Samuel. While he lay asleep, the Lord said to him,
   "Samuel, Samuel," and he said, "Here I am," and yet a second and a
   third time the Voice of God commenced a sacred communion. No doubt the
   Lord had heard the voice of the child in prayer at other times, but
   upon this notable occasion the Lord first called Samuel, and Samuel
   answered, "Speak Lord, for Your servant hears."

   So was it with Elijah. There was a still small Voice and the Lord said
   to the Prophet, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Then Elijah replied,
   "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, for they have
   thrown down Your altars and slain Your Prophets with the sword." To
   which complaint his great Master gave a comfortable answer. Now, as it
   was with these saints of old so has it been with us--the Lord our God
   has spoken to us by His Spirit--and our spiritual ears have listened to
   His words and thus our communion with Heaven has commenced. If the Lord
   wills to have the first word in the holy conversation which He intends
   to hold with His servants, God forbid that any speech of ours should
   interpose!

   Who would not be silent to hear Jehovah speak? How does God speak to
   us, then, and how does He expect us to answer? He speaks to us in the
   written Word. This "more sure Word of testimony, whereunto you do well
   if you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place." He
   speaks to us, also, in the ministry of His Word, when things new and
   old which are in Holy Scripture are brought forth by His chosen
   servants and are applied with power to our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
   The Lord is not dumb in the midst of His family, though, alas, some of
   His children appear to be dull of hearing!

   Though the Urim and Thummim are no longer to be seen upon the breasts
   of mortal men, yet the oracle is not silent. O that we were always
   ready to hear the loving Voice of the Lord! The Lord's Voice has many
   tones, all equally Divine. Sometimes He uses the voice of awakening and
   then we should give earnest heed. We are dead and He quickens us. We
   are sluggish and need to be awakened and the Lord, therefore, cries
   aloud to us, "Awake you that sleep!" We are slow to draw near to Him
   and, therefore, He lovingly says, "Seek you My face." What a mercy it
   is if our heart at once answers, "Your face, Lord, will I seek."

   When he awakens us to duty there is true communion in our hearts if we
   at once reply "Here am I, send me." Our inmost souls should reply to
   the Lord's call as the echo answers to the voice. I fear it is
   sometimes far otherwise--and then our loving Lord has His patience
   tried. Remember how He says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock"? He
   knocks because He finds that door closed which should have been wide
   open. Alas, even His knocks are, for a while, in vain, for

   we are stretched upon the bed of ease and make idle excuses for
   remaining there--"I have taken off my coat, how can I put it on? I have
   washed my feet, how can I defile them?"

   Let us no longer treat Him in this ungenerous manner lest He take it
   amiss and leave us, for if He goes away from us we shall seek Him but
   find Him not. We shall call Him but He will give us no answer. If we
   will not arise at His call it may be He will leave us to slumber like
   sluggards till our poverty comes as one that travels and our need as an
   armed man. If our Beloved cries, "Rise up My Love, My fair One, and
   come away," let us not linger for an instant! If He cries "Awake,
   awake, put on your strength, O Zion," let us arise in the power of His
   call and shade ourselves from the dust! At the first sound of Heaven's
   bugle in the morning, let us leave the bed of carnal ease and go forth
   to meet our Lord and King. Herein is communion--the Lord draws us and
   we run after Him! He awakens us and we wake to serve Him! He restores
   our soul and our hearts praise Him!

   Frequently the voice of God is for our instruction. All Scripture is
   written for that purpose and our business is to listen to its teachings
   with open ears and willing heart. Well did the Psalmist say, "I will
   hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace unto His
   people." God's own command of mercy is, "Incline your ear and come unto
   Me, hear and your soul shall live." This is the very Gospel of God to
   the unsaved ones and it is an equally important message to those who
   have, through Grace, believed, for they, also, need to receive of His
   Words. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word which
   proceeds out of the mouth of God shall men live."

   Therefore one of the saints cried out, "Your Words were found and I did
   eat them." And another said, "How sweet are Your Words unto my taste,
   yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth." God's Word is the soul's manna
   and the soul's Water of Life. How greatly we ought to prize each Word
   of Divine teaching! But, dear Brothers and Sisters, do you not think
   that many are very neglectful of God's instructive Voice? In the Bible
   we have precious doctrines, precious promises, precious precepts and,
   above all, a precious Christ! If a man would really live upon these
   choice things, he might rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

   But how often is the Bible left unread? And so God is not heard. He
   calls and we give no heed. As for the preaching of the Word, when the
   Holy Spirit is in it, it is the "power of God unto salvation," and the
   Lord is pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
   believe. But all Believers do not hear the voice of the Lord by His
   ministers as they should. There is much carping criticism, much
   coldness of heart, much glorying in man, and a great need of
   teachableness of spirit and thus the Word is shut out of our hearts.
   The Lord would gladly teach us by His servants, but our ears are dull
   of hearing.

   Is it any wonder that those professors cannot pray who are forever
   grumbling that they cannot hear? God will be deaf to us if we are deaf
   to Him. If we will not be taught, we shall not be heard. Let us not be
   as the adder which is deaf to the charmer's voice. Let us be willing,
   yes, eager to learn. Did not our Lord Jesus say, "take My yoke upon you
   and learn of Me"? And is there not a rich reward for so doing in His
   sweet assurance, "you shall find rest unto your souls"? Search the
   Scriptures that no Word from the Lord may be inadvertently slighted by
   you! Hear the Word attentively and ponder it in your heart. Daily make
   this your prayer, "What I know not, teach me." "Open my eyes, that I
   may behold wondrous things out of Your Law."

   Let us strive against prejudice and never let us dream that we are so
   wise that we need learn no more. Jesus Christ would have us be
   teachable as little children and ready to receive, with meekness, the
   engrafted Word which is able to save our souls! You will have a blessed
   fellowship with your Lord if you will sit at His feet and receive His
   Words. O for His own effectual teaching! Call, O Lord, and I will
   answer!

   The Lord also speaks to His servants with the voice of command. Those
   who trust Christ must also obey Him. In the day when we become the
   Lord's children we come under obligations to obey. Does He not,
   Himself, say, "If I am a father, where is My honor?" Dear Friends, we
   must never have a heavy ear towards the precepts. I know some who drink
   in the promises as Gideon's fleece did the dew, but as for the
   commands, they refuse them as a man turns from wormwood. But the child
   of God can say, "Oh, how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the
   day: I will delight myself in Your Commandments which I have loved."

   The will of God is very sweet to His children. They long to have their
   own wills perfectly conformed to it. True Christians are not pickers
   and choosers of God's Word--the part which tells them how they should
   live in the power of the Spirit of God is as sweet to them as the other
   portion which tells them how they are saved by virtue of the redeeming

   sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Dear Brothers and Sisters, if we shut our
   ears to what Jesus tells us, we shall never have power in prayer, nor
   shall we enjoy intimate communion with the Well-Beloved. "If you keep
   My commandments, you shall abide in My love," He says, "even as I have
   kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love."

   If you will not hear God, you cannot expect Him to hear you! And if you
   will not do what He bids you, neither can you expect Him to give you
   what you seek at His hands. An obedient heart is necessary if there is
   to be any happy conversation between God and the soul! The Lord
   sometimes speaks to His servants in the tone of rebuke and let us never
   be among those who harden their necks against Him. It is not a pleasant
   thing to be told of our faults, but it is a most profitable thing.

   Brethren, when you have erred, if you are on good terms with God, He
   will gently chide you. His voice will sound in your conscience, "My
   Child, was this right? My Child, was this as it ought to be? Is this
   becoming in one redeemed with precious blood?" When you open the Bible,
   many a text will, like a mirror, show you yourself and the spots upon
   your face. And Conscience, looking on, will say, "Do not so, my Son,
   this is not as your Lord would have it." "Surely it is meet to be said
   unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. That
   which I see not teach me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more."

   If we do not listen to God's rebuking voice in His Word, He will
   probably speak in harsher tones by some addicting Providence. Perhaps
   He will hide from us the light of His Countenance and deny us the
   consolations of the Spirit. Before this is the case, it will be wise to
   turn our hearts unto the Lord, or if it has already come to that, let
   us say, "Show me why You contend with me. Make me to know my faults, my
   Father, and help me to purge myself from them." Brothers and Sisters,
   be you not as the horse, or as the mule, but pray to be made tender in
   spirit. Be this your prayer--

   "Quick as the apple of an eye, Oh, God, my conscience make. Awake, my
   soul, when sin is near, And keep it still awake. Oh may the least
   omission pain My well instructed soul And drive me to the blood again,
   Which makes the wounded whole!" Let us hear Nathan as kindly when he
   rebukes us as when he brings a promise, for in both cases the Prophet
   speaks his Master's own sure word. Let us thank the Lord for chiding us
   and zealously set about destroying the idols against which His anger is
   lifted. It is due to the Lord and it is the wisest course for
   ourselves.

   But blessed be His name, the Lord will not always chide, neither will
   He keep His anger forever! Very frequently the Lord speaks to us in
   consolatory language. How full the Bible is of comforts! How truly has
   God carried out His own precept to the Prophet--"Comfort you, comfort
   you My people, says your God." What more, indeed, could God have said
   than He has said for the consolation of His own beloved? Be not slow to
   hear when God is swift to cheer you. Alas, our mischief sometimes turns
   a deaf ear even to the sweetest note of Jehovah's love! We cannot think
   that all things will work together for our good. We cannot believe that
   the Providence which looks so evil can really be a blessing in
   disguise.

   Blind unbelief is sure to err and it errs principally in stopping its
   ear against those dulcet tones of everlasting lov-ingkindness which
   ought to make our hearts leap within us for joy! Beloved, be not hard
   to comfort, and when God calls, be ready to answer Him, and say, "I
   believe You, Lord, and rejoice in Your Word, and therefore my soul
   shall put away her mourning and gird herself with delight." This is the
   way to keep up fellowship with God--to hear His consolations and to be
   grateful for them. And last of all upon this point, God speaks to His
   people, sometimes in the tones which invite to innermost communion. I
   cannot tell now how they sound--your ear must, itself, have heard them
   to know what they are.

   Sometimes He calls His beloved ones to come away to the top of Amana,
   to ascend above the world and all its cares, and to come to the Mount
   of Transfiguration. "There," says He, "will I show you My loves." There
   the Lord seems to lay bare His heart to His child and to tell him all
   the heights and depths of love unsearchable. There the Lord allows him
   to understand his eternal union with Christ and the safety that comes
   of it. There the Lord reveals the mystical Covenant with all its
   treasures, "for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and
   He will show them His Covenant." It is a

   sad thing when the Lord calls us into the secret chamber, where none
   may approach but men greatly beloved, and we are not prepared to enter.

   That innermost heart-to-heart communion is not given to him who is
   unclean. God said even to Moses, "Put off your shoes from off your
   feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground." There is no
   enjoying that extraordinary nearness to God with which He sometimes
   favors His choice ones, unless the feet have been washed in the bronze
   laver and the hands have been cleansed in innocence. "Blessed are the
   pure in heart, for they shall see God." He that is of clean hands and a
   pure heart, he shall dwell on high, but only he, for God will not draw
   inconsistent professors and those who are dallying with sin into close
   contact with Himself. "Be you clean that bear the vessels of the Lord,"
   and especially be you clean who hope to stand in His holy place and to
   behold His face, for that face is only to be beheld in righteousness.

   Brethren, it is clear that the voice of God speaks to us in different
   tones and our business, as His children, is to answer at once when He
   speaks to us. This is one form of holy fellowship. The second and
   equally common form is that we speak to God and He graciously replies
   to us. How should we speak to the Most High? I answer, first, we ought
   constantly to speak to Him in the tone of adoration. We do not, I fear,
   adore and reverently magnify God one hundredth as much as we should.
   The general frame of a Christian should be such that whenever his mind
   is taken off from the necessary thoughts of his calling, he should at
   once stand before the Throne blessing the Lord, if not in words, yet in
   heart.

   I was watching the lilies, the other day, as they stood upon their tall
   stalks with flowers so fair and beautiful. They cannot sing, but they
   seemed to me to be offering continual hymns to God by their very
   existence! They had lifted themselves as near to Heaven as they could.
   Indeed, they would not commence to flower till they had risen as far
   from the earth as their nature would permit--and then they just stood
   still in their beauty and showed to all around what God can do--and as
   they poured out their sweet perfume in silence they said by their
   example, "Bless the Lord as we, also, do by pouring out our very souls
   in sweetness."

   Now, you may not be able to preach and it would not be possible to be
   always singing, especially in some company. But your life, your heart,
   your whole being should be one perpetual discourse of the
   lovingkindness of the Lord and your heart, even if the Lord is silent,
   should carry on fellowship by adoring His blessed name. Coupled with
   adoration, the Lord should always hear the voice of our gratitude. One
   of our Brethren in prayer, last Monday night, commenced somewhat in
   this fashion. He said, "Lord, You do so continuously bless us that we
   feel as if we could begin to praise You now and never leave off any
   more. We are half ashamed to ask for anything more because You do
   always give so promptly, and so bountifully."

   In this spirit let us live! Let us be grateful unto Him and bless His
   name and come into His Presence with thanksgiving! The whole life of
   the Christian man should be a Psalm of which the contents should be
   summed up in this sentence, "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is
   within me bless His holy name." Now, adoration and thanksgiving, if
   rendered to God with a sincere heart through Jesus Christ, will be
   acceptable to God and we shall receive an answer of peace from Him so
   that we shall realize the second half of the text. "Let me speak, and
   You answer me." But, my Brothers and Sisters, it would not suffice for
   us to come before God with adoration, only, for we must remember what
   we are.

   Great is He and, therefore, to be adored, but sinful are we and,
   therefore, when we come to Him there must always be confession of sin
   upon our lips. I never expect, until I get to Heaven, to be able to
   cease confessing sin every day and every time I stand before God. When
   I wander away from God, I may have some idea of being holy, but when I
   draw near to Him I always feel as Job when he said, "I have heard of
   You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I
   abhor myself in dust and ashes." If you would have the Lord hear, be
   sure you speak to Him in humble notes. You have rebelled against Him.
   You are a sinner by nature and though forgiven and accepted, and
   therefore freed from dread of wrath, you can never forget that you were
   a rebel--and if it had not been for Sovereign Grace you would have been
   so still--therefore speak with lowliness and humility before the Lord
   if you wish to receive an answer.

   Beloved Friends, we should also speak to God with the voice ofpetition
   and this we can never cease to do, for we are always full of needs.
   "Give us this day our daily bread" must be our prayer as long as we are
   in the land where daily needs require daily supplies. We shall always
   need to make request for temporals and for spirituals, for ourselves
   and for others, too. The work of intercessory prayer must never be
   allowed to cease. Speak to the Lord, you that have His ear! Speak for
   us, His servants, who are His ambassadors to men! Speak for the Church,
   also! Plead for rebellious sinners and ask that unnumbered blessings
   may be given from above.

   We should also speak to Him, sometimes, in the language of resolution.
   If the poor prodigal was right in saying, "I will arise and go to my
   father," so are Christians right in saying, "Therefore will I call upon
   Him as long as I live," or in saying, "As long as I live I will bless
   the Lord." Sometimes when a duty is set before you, very plainly, which
   you had, for a while, forgotten, it is very sweet to say unto the Lord,
   "Lord, Your servant will rejoice to do this, only help me!" Register
   the secret vow before the Lord, and honorably fulfill it. We should
   often use the language of intimate communion. "What language is that?"
   you ask and, again, I answer, "I cannot tell you."

   There are times when we say to the blessed Bridegroom of our souls love
   words which the uncircumcised ear must not hear. Why, even the little
   that is unveiled before the world in the Book of Solomon's Song has
   made many a man quibble, for the carnal mind cannot understand such
   spiritual secrets. You know how the Church cries out concerning her
   Lord-- "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for His love is
   better than wine." There are many love passages and love words between
   sanctified souls and their dear Lord and Master which it were not
   lawful for a man to utter in a mixed assembly--it were like the casting
   of pearls before swine, or reading one's love letters in the public
   streets. Oh, you chosen, speak to your Lord! Keep nothing from Him!

   He has said, "If it were not so, I would have told you." He has told
   you all that He has seen with the Father! Tell Him everything that is
   in your heart and when you speak, speak with sacred child-like
   confidence, telling Him everything! You will find Him answering you
   with familiar love and sweet will be the fellowship thus created. Thus
   I have shown you that there are two forms of the Believer's communion
   with God.

   II. Let us now consider THE METHOD OF THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO. With
   regard to this subject I would say that they must be united. Brethren,
   we sometimes go to prayer and we want God to hear us, but we have not
   heard what God has to say. This is wrong. Suppose a person neglects the
   hearing of the Word of God, but is very fond of prayer? I feel certain
   that his prayer will soon become flat, stale and unprofitable, because
   no conversation can be very lively which is all on one side. The man
   speaks, but he does not let God speak and, therefore, he will soon find
   it hard to maintain the conversation.

   If you are earnest in regular prayer, but do not as regularly read or
   hear the Scriptures, your soul gives out without taking in and is very
   apt to run dry. Not only thoughts and desires will flag, but even the
   expressions will become monotonous. If you consider how it is that your
   prayer appears to lack vivacity and freshness, the probable reason is
   that you are trying to maintain a maimed fellowship. When conversation
   is all one-sided, do you wonder that it flags?

   If I have a friend at my house, tonight, and we wish to have fellowship
   with each other, I must not do all the talking, but I must wait for him
   to answer me or to suggest new topics, as he may please. And if he is
   wiser than I am, there is the more reason why I should play second in
   the conversation and leave its guidance very much to him. It is such a
   condescension on God's part to speak with us that we ought eagerly to
   hear what He has to say. Let Him never have to complain that we turned
   our ears away from Him.

   At the same time, we must not be silent. For to read the Scriptures, to
   hear sermons and never to pray would not bring fellowship with God.
   That would be a lame conversation! Remember how Abraham spoke with God
   again and again, though he felt himself to be but dust and ashes?
   Remember how Moses pleaded? Do you remember how David sat before the
   Lord and then spoke with his tongue? Above all, remember how Jesus
   talked with His Father as well as listened to the Voice from Heaven.
   Let both forms of conversation unite and all will be well.

   Again, it will be well sometimes to vary the order. Dear Mr. Muller,
   who is a man living near to God, whose every word is like a pearl,
   said, the other day, "Sometimes when I go into my closet to pray, I
   find I cannot pray as I would. What do I do then? Why, since I cannot
   speak to the Lord, I beg the Lord to speak to me and therefore I open
   the Scriptures and read my portion. And then I find the Lord gives me
   matter for prayer." Is not this a suggestion of much weight? Does it
   not commend itself to your spiritual judgement?

   Have you not observed that when somebody calls to see you, you may not
   be in a fit condition to start a profitable conversation? But if your
   friend will lead, your mind takes fire and you have no difficulty in
   following him! Frequently it will be best to ask the Lord to lead the
   sacred conversation, or wait awhile till He does so. It is a blessed
   thing to wait at the posts of His door, expecting a Word of Love from
   His Throne. It is generally best, in communion with God, to begin with
   hearing His voice, because it is due to His sacred majesty that we
   should first hear what He has to say to us. And it

   will especially be best for us to do so when we feel out of order for
   communion. If the flesh, in its weakness, hampers the spirit, then let
   the Bible reading come before the praying, that the soul may be
   awakened thereby.

   Still, there are tines when it will be better to speak to our heavenly
   Father at once. For instance, if a child has done wrong, it is very
   wise of him to run straight away to his father, before his father has
   said anything to him, and say, "Father, I have sinned." The prodigal
   had the first word and so should our penitence seek for speedy audience
   and pour itself out like water before the Lord. Sometimes, too, when
   our heart is very full of thankfulness, we should allow praise to burst
   forth at once. When we have received a great favor, we ought not to
   wait till the Giver of it speaks to us, but the moment we see Him we
   should at once acknowledge our indebtedness.

   When the heart is full of either prayer or praise, and the Presence of
   Jesus is felt, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin addressing the
   Lord with all our hearts. The Lord has spoken and it is for us to reply
   at once. On the other hand, when for wise reasons our Lord is silent
   unto us, it is well to take with us words and come to Him. If you have
   read your Bible and have felt no visit from the Holy Spirit, or if you
   have heard a sermon and found no dew from the Lord attending it, then
   turn at once to prayer. Tell the Lord your condition and entreat Him to
   reveal Himself to you. Pray first and read afterwards, and you will
   find that your speaking with God will be replied to by His speaking to
   you through the Word. Take the two methods--commonsense and your own
   experience will guide you--and let sometimes one come first and
   sometimes the other.

   But let there be a reality about both. Mockery in this matter is deadly
   sin. Do not let God's Word be before you as a mass of letterpress, but
   let the Book speak to your soul. Some people read the Bible through in
   a set time and in great haste--they might just as well never look at it
   at all! Can a man understand a country by merely tearing through it at
   a railway pace? If he desires to know the character of the soil and the
   condition of the people, he walks leisurely through the land and
   examines with care. God's Word needs digging, or its treasures will lie
   hidden. We must put our ear down to the heart of Scripture and hear its
   living throbs. Scripture often whispers, rather than thunders, and the
   ear must be duly trained to comprehend its language.

   Resolve emphatically, "I will HEAR what God the Lord shall speak." Let
   God speak to you and in order that He may do so, pause and meditate,
   and do not proceed till you grasp the meanings of the verses as far as
   the Spirit enables you. If you do not understand some passages, read
   them again and again, and remember it is good to read even those parts
   of Scripture which you do not understand, even as it is good for a
   child to hear his father's voice whether he understands all his father
   has to say or not. At any rate, faith finds exercise in knowing that
   God never speaks in vain, even though He is not understood. Hear the
   Word till you understand it.

   While you are listening, the sense will gradually break in upon your
   soul, but mind that you listen with opened ears and willing heart. When
   you speak to God, do not let it be a dead form, for that is an insult
   to the Most High. If the heart is absent, it is as wicked to say a
   prayer as to be prayerless. If one should obtain an audience of Her
   Majesty and then should read a petition in which he took no interest,
   which was, in fact, a mere set of words, it would be an insult of the
   worst kind. Beware lest you thus insult the Majesty of Heaven!

   III. The last thought is only meant to be dropped before you for you to
   enlarge upon it at your leisure--THE BLESSED REALIZATION OF THESE TWO
   FORMS OF COMMUNION IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST. "Call, and I will answer."
   Infinite majesty of God, call upon me and ask for all You can ask, and
   I bless You that I have an answer for You. Ask Your poor servant for
   all You can demand of him and he will gladly reply. Brethren do you ask
   in wonder-- "How can we answer Him?" The answer is clear--"By bringing
   Jesus to remembrance!" Our Lord Jesus Christ is man's complete answer
   to God.

   Divine Justice demands death as the penalty of sin--behold the Son of
   God taken down from the Cross because He was surely dead, wrapped in
   the cerements of the grave and laid in Joseph's tomb! God's Justice
   demands suffering, demands that the sinner be abandoned of God. See
   yonder Cross and hear the cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken
   Me?"! Great God, You have, in Jesus, all the suffering Your Justice can
   ask, even to death itself. God's holiness righteously demands a life of
   obedience--man cannot be right before God unless he renders perfect
   obedience to the Law. Behold our answer, we bring a perfect Savior's
   active and passive obedience and lay it down at Jehovah's feet-- what
   more can He ask for?

   He requires a perfect heart and an unblemished person, and He cannot
   accept less than a perfect manhood. We bring the Father His
   Only-Begotten, the Son of Man, our Brother! And here is our
   answer--there is the perfect Man, the un-fallen Head of the race. Oh,
   never try to reply to God with any other answer than this! Whatever He
   asks of you, bring Him your Savior! He cannot ask for more. You bring
   before Him that which fully contents Him, for He, Himself, has said,
   "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Let your answer,
   then, to the Justice of God, be Christ!

   But I said that Christ fulfilled the other purpose. He is God's answer
   to us. What have you to ask of God this morning? Are you so far away
   from Him that you enquire, "How can I be saved?" No answer comes out of
   the excellent Glory except Christ on the Cross--that is God's
   answer--believe in Him and live! By those wounds, by that bloody sweat,
   by that sacrificial death you must be saved! Look! Can you say unto the
   Lord, "I have trusted Christ, but am I secure of salvation?" No answer
   comes but Christ risen from the dead to die no more! Death has no more
   dominion over Him, and He has said, "Because I live, you shall live
   also." The risen Christ is the Lord's assurance of our safety for
   eternity!

   Do you ask the Lord, "How much do You love me?" You have asked a large
   question, but there is a large answer for you. He gives His Son--behold
   what manner of love is born! Do you enquire, "Lord, what will You give
   me?" His Son is the answer to that question, also! Behold these lines
   written on His bleeding Person, "He that spared not His own Son, but
   delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely
   give us all things?" Would you need more? Do you say, "What sign do You
   show that all these things are so?" He gives you Christ in Heaven!

   Yes, if you ask, "Lord, what shall Your servant be when You have
   completed Your work of Grace upon me? He points you to Jesus in Glory,
   for you shall be like He is! If you ask what is to be your destiny in
   the future, He shows you Christ coming a second time without a
   sin-offering unto salvation! Dear Friend, you can ask nothing of your
   God, but what He gives you at once as a reply is Jesus. Oh what blessed
   talk is that when the Christian's heart says Jesus, and the Christian's
   God says Jesus! And how sweet it is when we come to Jesus and rest in
   Him and God is in Jesus and makes Him His rest forever.

   Thus do Believers and their God rest together in the same Beloved One!
   May the Lord add His blessing to our meditation and make this kind of
   communion common among us for Jesus' sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 84 and 85. HYMN FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--84 (SONG III), 95 (SONG III), 782.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Old Man's Sermon

   (No. 1256)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 26, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "O God, You ha ve taught me from my youth: and until this time ha ve I
   declared Your wondrous works. Now, also, when I am old and gray-headed,
   O God, forsake me not, until I have showed Your strength unto this
   generation, and Your power to everyone that is to come." Psalm
   71:17,18.

   I EXPECT, during the present week, to have the pleasure of preaching at
   Kettering, to celebrate the centenary of the ministry in that place of
   Mr. Toller and his father. My esteemed friend, Mr. Toller, has for
   about 55 years proclaimed the Gospel of the Grace of God to the same
   people, and with the 45 years of his father's previous pastorate the
   century is completed! Having this very pleasant task before me, I have
   been led to consider the subject of old age and especially the old age
   of Believers, and have concluded that "the reminiscences of an old man"
   would furnish us a suitable topic for this morning's discourse. I was
   the more led to choose the subject because on Sabbath week the children
   and young people will have a claim upon the preacher, since that day
   has been selected by the Sunday School Union for special prayer.

   To balance accounts, let us give this morning's service to our grave
   and reverend seniors. David has here spoken as an aged man and what he
   has said has been echoed by thousands of venerable Believers. His
   experience of the past, his prayer for the present and his aspiration
   for the future have all occurred to others who are his equals in years.
   And those of us who are in middle life will, before long, be glad to
   say, "Amen" thereto. "O God, You have taught me from my youth: and
   until this time have I declared Your wondrous works. Now also when I am
   old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not."

   David, in this passage, may be regarded as the model of an aged
   Believer converted in early life. And we feel quite safe in taking all
   his expressions and putting them into the mouths of veteran soldiers of
   the Cross.

   I. The first thing we shall dwell upon, this morning, will be HIS
   SCHOLARSHIP, or a good beginning. "O God, You have taught me from my
   youth." The Psalmist was an instructed Believer. He had not merely been
   saved, but taught-- conversion had led to instruction. I call the
   attention of all young Christians to this. How desirable it is, not
   merely that you should be forgiven your sins and justified by faith in
   Christ Jesus, and that your hearts should be renewed by the operations
   of the Holy Spirit, but that you should go to Jesus' school and take
   His yoke upon you and learn of Him.

   Do you not know that this is the good part which Mary chose, and which
   the Lord declared should not be taken away from her? She chose to sit
   at His feet to learn of Him. Do not suppose that to be saved from Hell
   is everything! You need, also, to be instructed in righteousness. If
   you seek to know the Lord more and more, it will save you from a
   thousand snares, cause you to grow in Divine Grace and enable you to be
   useful. That will be a fruitful old age which was preceded by an
   instructed youth. We ought to know the Truth of God and understand it,
   for if we do not, we shall always be weak in the faith.

   That David was exceedingly well instructed is clear from his Psalms
   which contain a mine of doctrine and a wealth of experience never
   surpassed even by other Inspired writings. If one had no other book
   than the Psalms to study, he might, by the blessing of God's Spirit,
   become one of the wisest of men. Aim, then, my Brothers and Sisters to
   be disciples now, that in your old age you may look back with joy on
   the days spent in heavenly learning. All his instruction the Psalmist
   traced to his God. "O God, You have taught me." He had entered Christ's
   College as a scholar. Most wisely had he chosen to learn of Him who has
   Infinite Wisdom to impart and Divine skill in communicating it.

   The Lord not only endeavors to teach, but He does so. He knows how to
   make His children learn, for He speaks to the heart and teaches us to
   profit. "O God, You have taught me." What a blessed thing it is when we
   are fully convinced

   by the Holy Spirit that to learn anything aright we must be taught of
   God! Too many appear to fancy that everything they need to know they
   can discover for themselves. They think they can work it out by their
   own thoughts, or, at any rate, the profound learning of their favorite
   authors will carry them through.

   My Brother, my Sister, you who have grown gray in your Master's
   service, I am sure you have learned to mistrust your own understanding
   and are glad to receive the kingdom of Heaven as a little child. You
   know by experience that all you have ever learned apart from God has
   been a lesson of sorrow or of folly. You have obtained no true light
   except from the great Father of lights. No heavenly truths are learned
   aright till by the Holy Spirit they are burnt into the soul. Blessed
   are those who have gone to school of such a Master--they shall be among
   the wise who shall shine as the brightness of the firmament!

   The Lord had taught David, in part, by His Word, for we find David
   delighting in the Scriptures and meditating in them both day and night.
   He taught him also by His ministers. He gathered no little instruction
   from Samuel and he learned some pointed lessons from Nathan, while Gad,
   the king's Seer, no doubt, also ministered to his building up. God's
   children are willing to be taught by God's servants. He had also been
   instructed by the Holy Spirit--many a precious Truth of God had been
   communicated to him in the quiet of the sheep walks, or in the solitary
   caverns of the hills--and even when he had become a king he was
   awakened in the night watches that he might hear the voice of the Lord,
   his God.

   Moreover, the Lord taught him by Providence. He learned much from his
   shepherd's crook, much from his sling and stone, much from the hatred
   of Saul, much from the love of Jonathan. He must have learned much
   afterwards of his own heart from his own trials, follies and sins. And
   he must have seen much of man's worthlessness from the ingratitude of
   Absalom, the treachery of Ahithophel, the brutality of Joab and the
   blasphemy of Shimei. His whole life was a source of education. Whether
   he stood on the hill Mizar or traversed the valley of Baca. Whether he
   exulted in green pastures or sunk in the deeps where all God's waves
   and billows went over him. Whether he sang a hallelujah or chanted a
   Miserere, everything was training him for a yet nobler existence.
   Therefore he could say to the most High, "You have taught me."

   O beloved Christian Friends, in looking back can you not see how
   everything has been instructive to you when you have been willing to
   learn? What a school have some of us passed through--a school of trial
   and a school of love! We have sat on the hard floor of discipline, we
   have felt the rod of correction and, on the other hand, our eyes have
   sparkled with delight as we have studied the illuminated book of
   fellowship and peered into the secrets of the Lord which is with them
   that fear Him.

   In us has been fulfilled that ancient Covenant promise, "All your
   children shall be taught of the Lord." David also had the privilege of
   beginning early. "O God, You have taught me from my youth." I was a
   scholar in Your infant class. I was put to You to learn my letters and
   when I learned to spell out Your name as my Savior and Father, it was
   Your Grace which taught it to me. All true learning begins at Christ's
   feet and it is well to be there in our youth! If you would be a good
   scholar, you must be a young scholar. David felt that he needed to be
   instructed of God from his youth, for in one of his Psalms he says,
   "Remember not the sins of my youth, and my former transgressions." So
   that even pious David had sins of his youth to mourn over and,
   therefore, needed, as well as others, to learn the way of holiness when
   young.

   The dire necessity which the foolishness of nature has laid upon us
   from our earliest days is met by early Grace. My aged Brothers and
   Sisters, I would urge you, at this moment, to bless the Lord for the
   Grace which in early days saved many of you from falling into grievous
   sin! The sin which the Psalmist mourned over, he was enabled by Divine
   teaching to master. He says himself, "How shall a young man cleanse his
   way? By taking heed thereto according to Your Word," and so David had
   done and, therefore, his early life was marked by great purity and
   simplicity of character, because he had so well been taught of God.

   Especially had he been taught to trust his God, for in the fifth verse
   of this Psalm he says, "You are my hope, O Lord God, You are my trust
   from my youth." And being so taught he had practically proved his
   faith, for while he was yet in his youth he smote the uncircumcised
   Philistine! And in the name of God he delivered Israel. Blessed is that
   young man who practically shows, by daring deeds, that he is a disciple
   of Jesus! Blessed is that old man who, in looking back, confesses that
   he needed teaching from his youth up, but also rejoices that he
   received instruction from the Lord and was led into the way of
   righteousness.

   Further, notice David tells us he kept to his studies. He says, "O God,
   You have taught me from my youth," which implies that God had continued
   to teach him and, so, indeed, He had. The learner had not sought
   another school, nor had the Master refused His pupil. Some make slight
   progress because they seem to begin well but afterwards turn aside to
   folly. They profess to be taught of God at one time, but they grow
   weary of the plain Gospel of Jesus and resort to heresy-mongers and
   inventors of strange doctrines. Good is it for the heart to be
   established in the Truth of God and to yield itself to no teacher but
   the Lord.

   Venerable Brother, I hope you can say, "O God, You have taught me from
   my youth. I have not bowed my soul to every wind of doctrine and made
   myself as the bulrush, which yields to every passing breath of air. But
   I have, by Your Grace, been steadfast, unmovable, holding fast the Word
   of Truth." It is equally clear that he was still learning. The oldest
   saint still goes to the school of the Lord Jesus. Oh, how little we
   know when we know most! The wisest saints are those who most readily
   confess their folly. The man who knows everything is the man who knows
   nothing. The man who cannot learn any more is the man who has never
   learned anything aright. To know Christ and the power of His
   Resurrection creates an insatiable thirst after a still closer
   acquaintance with Him.

   Our eager desire is yet more fully "to know Him." I half wish that I
   could leave the pulpit and that some venerable Brother could come
   forward and tell you how God began with him and repeat the first
   lessons that he learned. I should like to hear him tell how God has had
   patience with him and has taught him still--how sometimes he has had to
   smart under the rod before he could be made to learn at all--and yet
   the Lord has been gentle with him. I should like "such an one as Paul
   the aged" to tell you how, by everything that has happened, bad and
   good, bright and dark, his education has been carried on! And I should
   like him to tell you how glad he is to continue to be a learner, though
   now so far advanced in life. The best instructed of our elder Brethren
   are those who most earnestly cry, "What I know not, teach me!" And,
   "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law."

   Though my venerable friend has earned unto himself a good degree, he
   still keeps to his old Bible, and his old Master. Though now able to
   teach others, also, he is none the less a disciple, sitting at the feet
   of Jesus! Yes, he is all the more teachable because of what he already
   knows. Thus, Brethren, we have seen that the model of aged Believers is
   an instructed saint who owes all he knows to Divine teaching, who began
   to learn early and has persevered in his sacred studies even to this
   day--

   "'Twas Yours, O Lord, to train and try My spirit from my youth; And to
   this hour I glorify

   The wonders of Your Truth."

   II. Secondly, pass on to consider HIS OCCUPATION. His scholarship was a
   good beginning, his occupation was a good continuance--"Until this time
   have I declared Your wondrous works." This was David's chief
   employment. It is true he had other work to do, for he was at first a
   shepherd. He then became a royal harper, afterwards grew into a warrior
   and at last climbed to a throne! Still, his life's main bent and
   objective was to magnify the Lord by declaring His wondrous works. You
   and I, Brethren, have each one his calling, and if it is a lawful
   calling, let us abide in it and let us not dream that it would honor
   God for us to leave our daily occupations upon pretence of serving Him
   in a more spiritual way by living upon other people.

   Still, our earthly vocation is but the shell of our heavenly calling
   which is the kernel of our life's pursuit. Our temporal business must
   be subservient to our spiritual business and we must declare the Glory
   of God in some way or other. David magnified the Lord by his Psalms.
   How sweetly has he therein declared God's ways of mercy and of
   faithfulness! He glorified God by his life, especially by those heroic
   deeds which made all Israel know the mighty works which God could do by
   a feeble but trustful man. He, no doubt, often declared the wondrous
   works of God in private conversation with Believers and unbelievers by
   narrating his personal experience of the Lord's mercies.

   You and I, if we have been to God's school, must follow the same
   occupation. Some of us can preach. Let us be diligent in it. Others of
   you teach in the Sunday school--I beseech you put your whole hearts
   into that blessed work. All of you can, by written letters or private
   conversation, and especially by consistent lives, declare the wondrous
   works of God and make men know the glories of the God of Grace! Let us
   be eager in this sacred work. Men do not care to know their God, but we
   must not allow them to be ignorant. Tell them of that love of His
   against which they daily offend and of His readiness to forgive their
   provocations.

   Publish and proclaim salvation by Grace. It is sweet in old age to
   remember that you did this. Notice here, dear Friends, that David had
   chosen a Divine subject. "Until this time have I declared Your wondrous
   works." God's works he had declared, not man's! He had not talked of
   what man could do or had done. Note verse sixteen--"I will make mention
   of Your righteousness, even of Yours only." Neither the virtues of
   saints, nor the prerogatives of priests, nor the infallibility of
   pontiffs, nor anything of the sort had degraded the Psalmist's lips!
   Those lips had reserved themselves for the glory of God, alone! "My
   tongue, also, shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long." We
   ought to speak of what God has done in creation, Providence and
   Grace--and especially should we point out the marvelous nature of those
   works--for there is a wonder about them all.

   Truly, Brothers and Sisters, here is a great subject for us--the
   wonders of electing love, the wonders of redeeming Grace, the wonders
   of the Holy Spirit's converting power, the wonders of sanctification,
   the wonders of sin conquered and of Grace implanted! Such wonders never
   cease! Wonders of Grace belong to God and it should be your business
   and mine, in the spirit of holy reverence, to tell others what God has
   done, that we may set them wondering and adoring, too! David had a
   blessed subject, a subject of which the main point was the blending of
   righteousness with salvation. Did you notice the 15th verse, "My mouth
   shall show forth Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day"?
   That is the great Christian doctrine--medulla theologiae, the very pith
   and marrow of theology--the Atonement in which Grace and Justice unite
   in the sacrifice of Jesus.

   O Beloved, I could wish to have no other subject to speak upon, and to
   have my tongue touched with a live coal from off the altar to preach of
   only Substitution! I desire to speak of it first and foremost and
   beyond all else! I would show forth daily how God is just and yet the
   justifier of him that believes in Jesus! How He smites for sin and yet
   smites not the sinner! How He is severe, relaxing none of the penalty,
   and yet laying none of the penalty upon the guilty because The
   Guiltless One has borne it all!

   Make it, dear Friends, the occupation of your lives is to instruct men
   in this saving Truth of God. Teach them this if nothing else. If there
   are some doctrines you cannot understand, yet get a grip of this one.
   If some are too high for you, yet let this be your daily theme--Christ
   crucified--at whose Cross righteousness and peace have kissed each
   other! This was David's occupation. My aged brethren in Christ, this
   has been your occupation, also, and you do not regret it. You only wish
   you had been more diligent in it.

   Now notice that while David's subject was Divine, it had also been
   uniform. He says, "Until this time have I declared Your wondrous
   works." It is a sad thing when a good man turns aside to error, even if
   it is but for a little season. Some ministers have preached terribly. I
   should think they, themselves, do not know what they have taught, for
   they have gone from one line of thought to another and contradicted
   themselves over and over again. Beware of being men given to change,
   ready to catch every new disease! I confess I feel an admiration for a
   man who can say, "What I taught in my youth, I teach in my old age.
   That which was my hope and confidence when first the Spirit of God
   opened my mouth-- that and no other--is my hope and confidence still."

   As men grow in years they ought to think more deeply, to understand
   more clearly and to speak with greater confidence. And it is their
   wisdom to correct many errors of detail which occurred through the
   immaturity of their early days. But still, it is a great thing to hold
   fundamental Truths of God from the very first. There are not two
   Christs nor two Gospels--if there is another Gospel it is not another,
   but there are some that trouble us. Oh, my Brother, if the Lord has
   taught you from your youth, abide in that which you have learned--hold
   to it now that your hair is gray! Let us see that "the Old Guard dies
   but never surrenders."

   Even we, who are younger than you are, have resolved to abide in the
   grand old Truths of God. Our banner was nailed to the mast long ago!
   Surely the veterans will say the same. All my salvation and all my
   desire are centered in the Covenant of Grace and the Gospel of
   redemption by the blood of Jesus! As for novelties of doctrine, I have
   one answer for them all--

   "Should all the forms which men devise

   Assault my faith with treacherous art,

   I'd call them vanity and lies,

   And bind the Gospel to my heart." That is good word of
   permanence--until this time-- "Until this time have I declared Your
   wondrous works." Until this time, also, have our aged fathers come,
   holding, still, the things most surely believed among us. But, dear
   Friends, notice

   that the style which David used was very commendable. "Until this time
   have I declared," says he. Now by "declaration" I understand something
   positive, plain and personal.

   David's teaching about his God had not been with an, "if," or a, "but,"
   or a, "perhaps," but it had been, "Thus and thus, says the Lord." He
   had declared the Truth of God openly. His teaching had not been misty
   and foggy so that his people could make what they liked out of it
   according to their tastes. Neither had it been mystical, metaphysical,
   transcendental and philosophic--he had declared it, cleared it,
   explained it and brought it into prominent notice--so that he who ran
   might read it. He had also declared it as known to himself and
   certified by his own experience. It is a blessed thing to give a
   personal tinge to our testimony by saying, "Thus and thus have I
   experienced and so has the Lord dealt with me."

   Herein will lie much of the interest of our testimony. Dear Brothers
   and Sisters, you who have attained to a ripe old age, I trust you are
   able in looking back to say, "Yes, I have spoken honestly for God from
   my inmost heart and, therefore, I have spoken with decision, proving by
   my personal experience the truth of the Divine promises. God has always
   been true to me and though some may think me an egotist I can bear the
   censure, for I am unable to restrain myself from uttering my grateful
   acknowledgments! Surely if I did not speak, the stones would cry out! I
   must proclaim the faithfulness of the living God."

   David's style had in it very much of holy art and loving devotion, for
   he says, "Your wondrous works," which shows that he, himself, had
   wondered while he spoke. I like to hear a good man talk of God's love,
   feeling it to be too deep for him, speaking of it with tears, as though
   it overcame him--telling his tale as though it were more marvelous to
   him than he could make it appear to his hearers. David had done his
   work in the spirit of adoring wonder and grateful love, for, my
   Brethren, he had always before him this one objective--to make God
   great in men's thoughts. May I ask you who are getting on in years, are
   you making this your one occupation? And, if you happen to be teachers
   or preachers, do you teach the salvation of God with the sole aim of
   glorifying God?

   Oh, it must come to this, for all Divine service which is not rendered
   with this motive is unacceptable and idle work! If we could preach with
   the tongues of men and of angels so as to surpass Apollos or if our
   objective were to shine in the eyes of men, our preaching would be as
   sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal! If there is any mixture in the
   motive, dead flies are in the ointment of the apothecary and it gives
   forth an ill savor! But if this is our one sole desire, to glorify God
   by making men see what a great and blessed God He is, our labor will be
   as the incense upon the golden altar! Upon such service we shall be
   able to look back in our old age with thankfulness.

   How is it with you, my Brother, my Sister, in reviewing the past? And
   how are matters with you who are in the prime of your strength--are you
   about your Father's business and living for God in all that you do? Oh,
   then, happy shall you be when gray hairs shall adorn your heads with a
   crown of glory, for the silver light shall not rest on your heads only,
   but shall cast its sheen of gladness upon your hearts, also, as you
   remember that until this time you have declared His wondrous works!

   III. Thus I pass on to the third thing in the text, namely, HIS PRAYER,
   which was a good omen--"Now, also, when I am old and gray-headed, O
   God, forsake me not." What a plaintive prayer it is. It shows you,
   Brethren, that David was not ashamed of his former reliance. He felt
   that he should not have come so far if God had not led him. He saw his
   absolute dependence upon God in the past, the necessity which had
   always existed for his entire reliance on the Divine Omnipotence. I
   hope that from our youth we have known the necessity of dependence upon
   God, but I am certain that dependence is a growing feeling.

   Growing Christians think themselves nothing. Full-grown Christians
   think themselves less than nothing! Good men are like ships--the fuller
   they are, the lower they sink in the stream. The more Grace a man has,
   the more he complains of his need of Grace. Grace is not a kind of food
   which creates a sense of fullness, but as I have heard of some meats
   that you can eat till you are hungry, so it is with Grace--the more you
   receive the more you long for. David knew the secret springs from which
   all his blessings had flowed and he pleads with the Lord never to stop
   the Divine fountain of all-sufficiency, or he must faint and die.

   This proves, dear Friends, that David did not imagine that past Grace
   could suffice for the present! Past experience is like the old manna,
   it breeds worms and stinks if it is relied upon. The moment a man
   begins to pride himself on the Grace he used to have six years ago, you
   may depend upon it, he has very little now. We need new Grace every
   day! The

   Presence of God with me yesterday will not suffice for the present
   moment--I must have Grace now. David acknowledged his present
   dependence, and it was wise to do so. Men always stumble when they try
   to walk with their eyes turned behind them.

   It is very remarkable that all the falls, as far as I remember,
   recorded in Scripture, are those of old men. This should be a great
   warning to us who think we are getting wise and experienced. Lot and
   Judah and Eli and Solomon and Asa were all advanced in years when they
   were found faulty before the Lord. Cool passions are no guarantees
   against fiery sins unless Grace has cooled them rather than the decay
   of nature! There was great need for David to say, "O God, forsake me
   not," and his own case proved it. I have heard say by those who drive
   much, that horses more often fall at the bottom of the hill than
   anywhere else. Where the driver thinks he needs not hold them up any
   longer, down they go!

   And thus many men have borne temptation bravely for years--and just
   when the trial was over and they reckoned that they were safe--they
   turned aside to crooked ways and grieved the Lord. You are greatly
   surprised aren't you? You would have believed it of anybody sooner than
   of them, but so it is. Take this, then, as a caution, lest we spoil a
   lifelong reputation by one wretched act of sin. My very heart cries, "O
   God, forsake me not." The Psalmist saw that many enemies were watching
   him and, therefore, he pleaded, "Forsake me not." He had many
   temptations to grow weary in his Master's service and he prayed,
   "Forsake me not." He felt, also, the natural decay of his physical
   force and he cried, "my strength fails," and therefore he pleaded,
   "Forsake me not."--

   "With years oppressed, with sorrows worn,

   Dejected, harassed, sick, forlorn,

   To you, O God, I pray;

   To you my withered hands arise,

   To you I lift these failing eyes;

   Oh, cast me not away!"

   The Psalmist, by this prayer, confessed his undeservingness. He felt
   that for his sins God might well leave him. Hence that prayer in the
   51st Psalm, "Cast me not away from Your Presence; take not Your Holy
   Spirit from me." But he humbly resolved not to be deserted. He could
   not bear it! He held his God with eagerness and cried in agony, "O God,
   forsake me not." His heart was desperately set upon holding to his one
   hope and consolation and, so, he pleaded as one who pleads for life,
   itself. You now have the prayer before you--what do you think,
   Brethren--will the Lord answer it? You who are feeling your strength
   fail through old age have been praying, "O God, forsake me not." What
   do you think, will the Lord answer your prayer?

   Yes, that He will! It is not possible for Him to do otherwise. Do you
   think it is like our Lord to leave a man because he is growing old?
   Would any of us do it? Son, would you cast off your father because he
   totters about the house? Brother, would you leave your elder brother
   because he is now aged and infirm? Do we, any of us, as long as we have
   human hearts in our bosom, pitilessly desert the aged? Oh no! And God
   is far better than we are! He will not despise His worn-out servants!
   The feeble meanings of the most afflicted and infirm are heard by Him,
   not with weariness, but with pity. Do you think the Lord will turn off
   His old servants? Would you do so?

   Among men it is common, enough, to leave poor old people to shift for
   themselves. The soldier who has spent the prime of his life in his
   country's service has been left to beg by the roadside, or to die of
   starvation. Even the saviors of a nation have been allowed, in their
   old age, to pine in penury. How often have kings and princes cast off
   their most faithful servants and left them exposed to their enemies!
   When time has wrinkled the handsome face and bowed the erect figure,
   the old man has no longer found a place in the throng of courtiers. But
   the Lord deals not so! The King of kings casts not off His veteran
   soldiers, nor His old courtiers! He indulges them with peculiar favors.

   We have a proverb that old wine and old friends are best and, truly, we
   need not look far to see that the oldest saints are frequently the best
   esteemed by the Lord. He did not forsake Abraham when he was well on in
   years, nor Isaac when he was blind, nor Jacob when he worshipped upon
   the top of his staff. Who among us would turn off an old servant? Some
   skinflints who have no sense of shame might do so, but they are a
   disgrace to their kind! I know my Lord and Master will never act as
   they do, for He is Love, and His mercy endures forever! If He has
   blessed us in youth and middle age, He will not change His ways and
   desert us in our declining days. No, blessed be His name, at eventide
   it will be light and He will show Himself more tender than ever to us,
   for He has said, "Even to old age I am He, and even to hoary hairs will
   I carry you: I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry, and will
   deliver you."

   No, my Brothers and Sisters, Jesus will not forget his old Barzillais,
   nor, though, like Peter, others should gird us and take us where we
   would not, He will not turn away His face from us, but will love us to
   the end. Why, Brethren, if the Lord had meant to cast us off, would He
   not have done so long ago? If He needed occasion for discharging us
   from His service, has He not had plenty? My Lord has had reason enough
   to send me packing hundreds of times if He had willed to do so! He has
   not waited all these years to pick a quarrel with you at the last, I am
   sure, for He might have justly removed you from His household years
   ago. If He had meant to destroy you, would He have shown you such
   things as He has done? If He meant to leave you, would He not have left
   you in your troubles 20 years ago?

   He has spent so much patience and pains and trouble over you that He
   surely means to go through with it! Why should He not? Has He begun to
   build and is He not able to finish? Trembling Friend, remember that
   your vessel has been steered across the ocean of life for 70 years and,
   surely, you can trust the Lord to pilot you for the few years which
   remain! Did you say that you are nearly 80 and do you still doubt your
   God? How long do you expect to live? Another 10 years? Cannot you trust
   Him for that? Why, you will not be here so long as that, in all
   probability, and since the Lord has been good to you so long, why do
   you doubt now? Oh, do not so! It is almost Saturday night, the week's
   work is nearly done and you will soon enjoy the everlasting
   Sabbath--can you not rely upon your God till the day breaks and the
   shadows flee away?

   "Ah," you say, "you are only a young man, it is very well for you to
   talk." I know it. I know it. And yet I believe that when I grow old I
   shall be able to talk as I do now and even more confidently, for I
   trust I shall then be able to say, "He who taught me from my youth and
   kept me to this day, will not, now, let me go." Oh, my Brothers and
   Sisters, though you cried in prayer, "O God, forsake me not," do not
   sink so low as to imagine that He can forsake you, for that were to
   mistrust His royal Word, in which He said, "I will never leave you nor
   forsake you."

   IV. Our last point is this, here is HIS WISH, or a good ending.
   "Forsake me not until I have showed Your strength unto this generation
   and Your power to everyone that is to come." He had spent a lifetime in
   declaring God's Gospel, but he wanted to do it once more. Aged saints
   are reluctant to cease from active service. Many of them are like old
   John Newton, who, when he was too feeble to walk up the pulpit stairs
   of St. Mary Woolnoth Parish, was carried up to his place and preached
   on! His Friends said, "Really, Mr. Newton, you are so feeble, you ought
   to quit." And he said, "What? Shall the old African Blasphemer ever
   leave off preaching the Grace of his Master as long as there is breath
   in his body? No, never."

   It is harder work to leave off than to go on, for the love of Christ
   constrains us, still, and burns with young flames in an aged heart. So
   here the good man pines to show forth, once more, God's strength. I
   think I hear somebody say to the aged man, "You are very unfit to show
   forth God's strength, for by reason of years your strength is failing."
   But such a speech would be foolish, for the very man to show forth the
   Lord's strength is the man who has none of his own! It is no small
   thing to be in a condition to need great help, and so to be fitted to
   receive it, and qualified to illustrate what great things Divine power
   can accomplish! My aged Friend, your weakness will serve as a foil to
   set forth the brightness of Divine strength!

   The "old man eloquent," feels that if he could bear one more testimony,
   everybody would know it was not the strength of his natural spirit or
   his fine juvenile constitution which upheld him! If he spoke up for his
   Maker, all men would say, "That feeble old man who testified so bravely
   for his Lord is, himself, the best of all testimonies to the power of
   Divine Grace, for we see how it strengthens him!" Moreover, he thought
   that if he witnessed for his Lord the young people would note the
   strength of Divine Grace which could last out so many years--they would
   see that many waters could not quench love, neither could the floods
   drown it! They would see the strength of God's pardoning mercy in
   blotting out his sins so long and the power of God's faithfulness in
   remaining true to His servant, even to the end.

   Because of all this he eagerly desired to bear one more testimony. And,
   do you notice the congregation he wished to address? He would testify
   to the generation that was growing up around him! He wished to make
   known God's power to his immediate neighbors and to their children, so
   that the light might be handed on to other generations! This should be
   on the mind of all who are going off the stage of action--they should
   think of those who are to come after them! They should pray for them
   and help them. The aged man's thoughts should be fixed upon the
   spiritual legacies which he will leave and, as good old Jacob gathered
   up his feet in the bed, and then divided his blessing among his sons,
   so should the venerable Believer distribute benedictions.

   Your work is almost done, it only remains to leave behind you a
   monument by which you may be remembered. Marble and brass will perish,
   but the Truth of God will remain! Set up a memorial of faithful
   testimony! Not much longer will you mingle with the sons of men. Your
   seat will be empty and the place which knows you today will know you no
   more. Hand on, then, the blessed treasure of the Gospel! You die, but
   the cause of God must not. Speak now, so that when you are gone it may
   be said of you, "He, being dead, yet speaks." Call your children and
   your grandchildren together and tell them what a good God you have
   served! Or, if you have no such dear ones, speak to your neighbors and
   your friends, or write it down that other eyes may read it when yours
   are glazed in death.

   Reach out your hands to the ages yet to come and present them with the
   pearl of great price. Pray God to enable you to set your mark upon the
   coming generation and then set about winning youth to Jesus by a
   cheerful, bold, unhesitating witness to His love and power! Willing to
   go, we all ought to be, but we ought scarcely to desire departure till
   we have seen the interests of the cause of God secured for coming time!
   If there is one more soul to be saved, one more heart to be comforted,
   one more jewel to be gathered for the Redeemer's crown, you will say,
   dear Friend, I am sure "Let me wait till my full day's work is done."--

   "Happy if with my last breath I may but lisp your name, Preach you to
   all, and say in death, 'Behold, behold the Lamb!"'

   With this last practical thought I send away my venerable Brothers and
   Sisters, asking them to take care that their eventide shall be made to
   glow with the special light of usefulness by their abundant witnessing.
   I would urge the Lord's veterans to yet more valorous deeds. If, like
   David, you have slain the lion and the bear and the Philistine when you
   were young, up! Do another deed of daring, for the Lord lives, still,
   and His people have need of you! Though your joints are rather rusty
   and your limbs can hardly bear you to the battlefield, yet limp to the
   conflict, for the lame take the prey. He who helped you when you were
   but a youth and ruddy will help you now though you are old and
   infirm--and who knows what you may do?

   One of the finest paintings I ever saw to move one's soul was the
   picture of old Dandolo, the Doge of Venice, leading the way in an
   attack at sea upon the enemies of the Republic. He was far past the
   usual age of man and blind--yet, when the efforts of others failed to
   save his country, he became the leader--and was the first to board the
   ships of the enemy. The young men felt that they could not hold back
   when they saw the heroic conduct of the blind, gray-bearded man! His
   brave example seemed to say, "Soldiers of Venice, will you ever turn
   your backs?" And the response was worthy of the challenge!

   Oh, my honored Brethren, deserving reverence for your years, show us
   your metal! Let the young ones see how victories are won! Quit
   yourselves like men and let us see how he who is washed in the blood of
   Jesus would not hesitate to shed his own blood in the Redeemer's cause!
   Your zeal will stimulate us, your courage nerve us and we, too, will be
   valiant for the Lord God of Israel! So may God's Spirit work in you and
   in us. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 71. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--71 (SONG I), 71 (SONG II), 733.
     __________________________________________________________________

Love to Jesus the Great Test

   (No. 1257)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 3, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love Me: for
   I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He
   sent Me." John 8:42.

   THE order of salvation is, first, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
   and we obtain a change of heart as His gift, and then that renewed
   heart loves the Lord Jesus in whom it has believed. Faith leads the
   train of Divine Graces, not love. It would not be preaching the Gospel
   to say to men, "Love Christ." Love to Jesus is an after growth. To
   preach the Gospel is to cry, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you
   shall be saved." The faith which saves is not, however, a mere credence
   of facts in which men feel no interest. It is a hearty trustfulness in
   Jesus for blessings of which we feel the need and it is, in every case,
   an operative faith--a faith which works--and works by love. If you
   have, indeed, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of your
   soul, then you are a child of God, for, "to as many as received Him, to
   them gave He power to become the sons of God."

   If you are a son of God, you love your Father. And it is a rule that
   "he that loves Him that begat loves Him, also, that is begotten of
   Him." So that true faith is the evidence of our sonship and sonship
   with God is attended with love-- which love to the Father leads to the
   love of His Son, Jesus Christ. By this, then, shall you judge your
   faith this day, whether it is the faith of God's elect or not. If it is
   a cold assent of the understanding, it will not save you. But if it is
   a warm allegiance of the heart, then it is, indeed, the faith which is
   of the operation of the Spirit of God.

   I intend, this morning, to speak about our love to Christ. it may help
   you if I give you the outline, first, of what I have to say. Love to
   Christ is, in itself, essential. Secondly, love to Christ is the test
   of sonship, as the text informs us. And therefore, thirdly, love to
   Christ is a test which it is important for us to apply to ourselves at
   this time.

   I. LOVE TO CHRIST IS, IN ITSELF, ESSENTIAL. There are some Graces in
   which a man may be deficient and though he may be the worse for that
   deficiency, still he may be a Christian. But love to Jesus is an
   essential Grace, a Grace of the heart, lying near the vitals of piety,
   so that the lack of it is fatal. You must love Jesus Christ if you are,
   indeed, alive unto God. Now observe, first, that the absence of love to
   Christ is the loss of one of the greatest of spiritual pleasures. We
   ought to pity, as well as to blame the man who does not love Jesus
   Christ. Alas, poor soul, into what a state has he fallen that he should
   not be able to love Him who is "altogether lovely," nor to admire Him
   who is the "Chief among ten thousand"?

   I met, not long ago, with a lady who had lost her taste and smell--a
   somewhat singular affliction. The fairest rose in the world cannot
   salute her nostrils with its pleasant perfume. The most dainty flavor
   that ever delighted men's palate has no charms for her. She is dead to
   those pleasures and I could not but sympathize with her in her loss.
   Yet, after all, this loss of pleasurable sensation is a trifle--it will
   only last for a few years--and when this brief life is over she will
   possess every desirable faculty.

   But what a terrible thing to be unable to perceive the fragrance of the
   name of Jesus, which is as ointment poured forth! What sorrow is yours
   if you are unable to taste the sweet flavor of the bread of Heaven, or
   the richness of that wine on the lees well refined which makes the
   saints of God so glad! I had rather be blind, deaf and dumb and lose my
   taste and smell, than not love Christ! To be unable to appreciate HIM
   is the worst of disabilities, the most serious of calamities. It is not
   the loss of a single spiritual faculty, but it proves the death of the
   soul! It evidences the absence of all that can make existence worth the
   having, for he that has not the Son has not life--and the wrath of God
   abides on him.

   The absence of the love of Christ in the soul, again, is a sign of very
   grievous degradation. It is the mark of the animal that it cannot enter
   into intellectual pursuits. You may put before it the most delightful
   of studies, but the swine can

   never realize mental pleasure. It would be its degradation that it
   cannot, if, indeed, it had been originally intended for such pursuits.
   Man was made for the highest and most elevated enjoyment, the enjoyment
   of the Presence of God and the admiration of His infinite perfections.
   And when he loses this power to appreciate, admire and love his God, he
   sinks from his high calling to a level with the brutes.

   If an angel could be lowered into a dog and yet could worship God and
   love Christ, he would scarcely have fallen at all, compared with the
   fatal descent of a man who is plunged into such a stupor of evil that
   he cannot perceive the loveliness of the Lord Jesus Christ! We greatly
   pity those poor creatures of our own race who are unable to reason, but
   what shall we think of those who cannot love, or rather cannot love
   where love should center? To the poor idiot you may read the most
   charming lines of Milton, but he cannot rise to a sense of sublimity.
   You may afterwards pour into his ears the pleasing sweetnesses of
   Wordsworth, or the fascinating allegories of Bunyan, but he smiles at
   you vacantly and you perceive that his imbecile mind is incapable of
   comprehension.

   Sad it is that a human being should come down to this--and yet, not to
   love the Lord Jesus reveals a moral and spiritual imbecility far worse
   than mere mental incapacity--because it is willful and involves a crime
   of the heart! Generally the non-appreciation of goodness is attended
   with an appetite for evil and, therefore, the ill is doubled. It was a
   great degradation for the king of Babylon when he left the diet of the
   royal table to roam the fields with the cattle and to eat grass like
   the oxen. It was not merely that his madness drove him from man, but it
   herded him with brutes! It not only took away his relish for bread but
   gave him a taste for grass!

   It was a strange madness which drove a king to graze with beasts, but
   not more strange than that which makes men feed upon the ashes of this
   world's sinful pleasures and turn aside from that which is truly bread.
   Oh, it is a worse insanity than that which is secluded within the walls
   of yonder Bedlam, this madness which can discover beauty in the painted
   face of the Jezebel of sin and is not charmed by the comeliness of Him
   whose brightness is the light of Heaven! Yet, O you saints of God,
   remember you were such not long ago! "He came unto His own, and His own
   received Him not." "We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was
   despised, and we esteemed Him not." Our foolish heart was darkened and
   we saw not Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness. Blessed be the Grace which
   has given us power to appreciate our Savior! May it increase more and
   more!

   Let us pity, as well as blame, those who now are given over to the fast
   closing of their eyes that they cannot see my Lord, and the shutting of
   their ears that they cannot hear the music of His voice, and the
   deadening of their hearts that they cannot perceive the charms of His
   love. Alas for the degradation which is manifested in inability to love
   Jesus!--

   "That Holy One,

   Who came to earth for thee-- O basest thing beneath the sun, That He,
   by any mortal one, Forgotten ever should be."

   To be without love to Christ is a clear proof that the whole of our
   manhood is out of order. It would be impossible for us to be
   indifferent to the excellencies of Jesus if we were as God created us.
   And inasmuch as we do not love Him till Grace renews us, this proves
   how altogether diseased human nature has become. The understanding,
   were it well balanced, would judge that Christ is over all and before
   all and give to Him the pre-eminence in everything. But, being biased
   and thrown out of gear, the judgement puts Christ in the lowest place
   and pays its homage to the world, the flesh, or the devil, rather than
   to the King of kings!

   The mind must be altogether debased and robbed of all nobility not to
   love One whose self-denying benevolence commands the admiring gratitude
   of all renewed spirits! Did our Lord descend from Heaven to earth to
   save His enemies? Being found on earth in fashion as a Man, did He
   endure every insult and every misery with the sole objective of
   blessing others? And did He, at last, endure pangs never to be
   described--and all for the sake of worthless man? Then not to love such
   a mirror of generous affection is to be mean in spirit and base at
   heart! Gratitude is no very stupendous virtue, but it is necessary to
   deliver us from being guilty of the meanest of all the vices, for
   ingratitude may justly be so described! Man despising Christ who died
   for man is a sight enough to make an angel mourn! Yes, seraphs might
   weep with wonder that a creature once so fair as man should have become
   so foul at heart!

   God forgive the mind that can be so unjust, so perverted, so bewitched
   and besotted as to treat Jesus with indifference! Man's affections as
   well as his mind must have become terribly polluted, or he would at
   once love Jesus. If the heart

   were what it should be, it would love the good, the right, the true,
   the beautiful. Nothing is more good, right, true, or beautiful than
   Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God, and that the heart does not
   instinctively love Him as soon as ever it perceives Him, is clear proof
   that it is poisoned at its fountain. It is given unto its idols and
   therefore it will not love the true God. If you needed, at this time,
   to prove man's fallen state, you might do so by a thousand arguments,
   but only one would be needed.

   There, perhaps, was never a more powerful demonstration than that of
   the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which we dare not
   read in public. It is a chapter which contains the most terrible of
   indictments against our man-hood--and every word of it true. But, Sirs,
   I take it that all the unnatural lusts into which men have fallen,
   though they are deeds which crimson the cheek of modesty, do not so
   thoroughly prove human nature to be corrupt as man's not loving Christ!
   A certain Divine on one occasion, wishing to display his rhetoric and
   bring down upon himself the admiration of his hearers, exclaimed, "O
   Virtue, you are so fair and beautiful that if you should descend upon
   earth, all men would love you."

   How greatly he erred! For Virtue did descend on earth, clothed in the
   most attractive form, the form of pure benevolence! And yet men
   received her not. Virtue came in the Person of our Lord Jesus, not
   dressed in the armor of Justice, but in the silken robes of Salvation,
   bedecked with charity and tenderness. But men refused her a habitation,
   denied her the common courtesies of life and, at last, condemned her to
   die! When man crucified Jesus, he did, as much as in him lay, destroy
   all goodness, truth and holiness. Then did he spit his worst venom upon
   everything that is lovely and of good repute, for he selected the most
   lovely and honored of all Beings to murder by his malice. Not to love
   Jesus Christ is, whatever your outward character may be, dear Friend,
   to angels and to all intelligent and purified spirits who are fit to
   judge, the most terrible symptom of your subjugation to a malignant
   spiritual disease which tyrannizes all your powers and causes you to be
   the opponent of your best Friend!

   Not to love Jesus Christ is a sure token that we have no part nor lot
   in His salvation, for the first effect of receiving His salvation is to
   love Him. You remember our Lord's parable of the two debtors. The one
   owed 500 pence and the other fifty. They were both freely forgiven
   their debts because they had nothing to pay. And the question asked,
   concerning them, was, "Which of them will love him most?" Now mark, the
   question was not, "Which of them will love their generous benefactor?"
   for it is taken for granted and who will deny it, that whether forgiven
   50 pence or 500, they must love him who forgave them! It is inevitable
   that if you have been forgiven your sin, you should love Jesus Christ!
   And if you do not love Him, rest assured that in His precious blood you
   have no portion--and His righteousness does not cover you. Solemn
   reflection! This excellent Grace of love is absolutely essential!

   Without love to Christ it is clear that you are not saved, for you lack
   the mainspring of the spiritual life. We are often accused, when
   telling men to believe and live, that we throw a holy life and virtuous
   conversation into the shade. If our objectors were candid they would
   inquire whether their accusation is true, and as the result of that
   inquiry they would acquit us. Either ignorance, misunderstanding or
   malevolence must have occasioned the utterly groundless charge, for we
   have explained, times without number, that when we say, "Believe in the
   Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved," we do not mean that the
   belief of an abstract proposition will save men from Hell! We mean that
   trust in Jesus will change the heart and so save the life from sin. By
   salvation we mean salvation from sin, salvation from the old selfish
   life, salvation unto holy living! This is the salvation that we
   preach--salvation from evil--and this, we say, is the result of
   believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

   If these things are so, it is evident that the man who does not love
   Christ is not saved in this sense, for love to Christ is through the
   Holy Spirit made to be the mainspring and central force by which a holy
   life is created and sustained. "The love of Christ constrains us." This
   is the grand power which keeps us back from evil and impels us toward
   holiness. In proportion as you love Jesus you will be holy! And in
   proportion as your love to Jesus becomes weak, the power of sin grows
   strong! And if there is no love to Jesus at all, then there are in you
   none of the elements which make up the Christian character--

   "Knowledge, alas! 'tis all in vain, And all in vain our fear; Our
   stubborn sins will fight and reign If love is absent there."

   Not to love Christ is a thing so dreadful that those who do love Him
   can hardly tell you how they tremble at the bare notion of being in
   such a condition! Death in the most horrible form would be preferable!
   Many a time have we sung, and I, for one, have felt it at my heart's
   core--

   "A very wretch, Lord, I should prove,

   Had I no love to Thee.

   Rather than not my Sa vior love,

   Oh, may I cease to be."

   It were much better never to have been born than not to love the
   Savior! It were better to go to annihilation, if such could be the
   case, than exist a moment without love to the Blessed One! Sometimes
   the saints of God have grown so warm concerning what is due to Jesus,
   their Lord, and have felt such a horror at the sin of not loving Him,
   that they have pronounced a curse, in God's name, upon those who love
   not Christ. Perhaps the most terrible words in sacred Scripture are
   these--"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be ANATHEMA
   MARANATHA"--cursed when the Lord shall come. It is the major
   excommunication of the Church! It is the most solemn word of
   denunciation that could have fallen from Apostolic pen--and yet Paul
   felt that he must write it--even that Paul who could not speak of the
   enemies of Christ's Cross without tears.

   My dear Hearer, though you are the most moral person in the world and
   though you are the most orthodox professor in the Church, yet if you
   love not the Lord Jesus Christ, "Anathema Maranatha" must be sounded in
   your ears, for it is proclaimed in the Word of God against you! Who
   would wish to live without the love of Jesus in his soul? It is the
   most hideous of all conditions, for it despoils our life on earth of
   its highest beauty and renders Heaven impossible! Until He gives you
   love to Christ, God Himself cannot give you Heaven! You may take my
   words in their broadest sense, for I mean them just as they stand. I
   say until God, Himself makes you love Christ, He cannot give you
   heavenly happiness, for the very essence of Heaven lies in the love of
   that which is good and true--and the essence of all goodness and truth
   are in Jesus Christ!

   Could you be carried to the place called Heaven without love to Christ
   you would be utterly out of your element! The nearer Presence of Christ
   into which you would be brought would cause you terror instead of
   happiness! And the delight which you would see upon the faces of ten
   thousand times ten thousand who love Him would only provoke you to a
   direr enmity and a bitterer despair! Oh, my Friend, you cannot know
   happiness till you know Christ! Till your heart beats with love to Him,
   the true life can never be yours! You are in darkness and death even
   now, without love to Christ, and so you must live. It is inevitable
   that it should be so. So I leave the first very weighty point, praying
   God, the Holy Spirit, to press it upon the hearts of all who have no
   affection for the Savior. It is essential that you should love Him.

   II. LOVE TO CHRIST IS THE TEST OF SONSHIP. Certain modern teachers have
   asserted that God is the Father

   of all mankind--and the doctrine of Universal Fatherhood is, I am told,
   exceedingly prevalent in certain quarters. That God is the Creator of
   all men and that in this sense men are the offspring of God, is
   undoubtedly true. But that unregen-erate men are the sons of God is as
   undoubtedly false! How that flesh-pleasing doctrine can be supported, I
   do not know, for certainly my text gives it no assistance whatever, but
   rather strikes it a deadly blow.

   "If God were your Father, you would love Me." Consequently God is not
   the Father of those who do not love Christ! What do these teachers make
   out of the privilege of adoption? Why are men adopted, if children by
   nature? How is it that it is a special promise, "I will be a Father
   unto you and you shall be My sons and daughters"? What need of a
   promise of that which they have already? "To as many as received Him,
   to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as
   believed on His name." What does that mean if everybody already is a
   child of God? How do they interpret that God has begotten His people,
   again, by the resurrection of Christ unto a lively hope? Were we sons
   already? How were we heirs of wrath even as others if all men are in
   the family of God?

   They make use of an expression which bears two renderings to set up a
   theory which is destructive of the Gospel! I leave those to defend that
   statement who care to do so. I believe it to be altogether untenable if
   we keep to the Word of God. The Fatherhood of God is to a special
   people, chosen from before the foundation of the world and adopted and
   regenerated in due time, through His Grace. It appears from the text
   that love to Christ is the only Infallible test of our sonship towards
   God. Those to whom Christ spoke were, by nature and descent, if any in
   the world were, the children of God. If any men who did not love Christ
   could be the children of God they were the Jews who stood before Him,
   then, for

   they were of the seed of Abraham, whom God had chosen. They had been
   brought up from their very childhood in the observance of ceremonies
   which God had ordained and they bore in their flesh the mark of the
   Covenant.

   They were, moreover, the only people under Heaven that worshipped one
   God. The Romans, the Greeks and all others were idolaters! These Jews
   were worshippers of the one unseen Jehovah and very tenacious they were
   about it, for after the Babylonian captivity, nothing could make a Jew
   worship an idol! Whatever faults they might have, they certainly were
   not wanderers from the unity of the Godhead. That they held and held
   most firmly. And, moreover, these people were, no doubt, made to suffer
   a good deal of abuse and reproach for worshipping the one, only and
   invisible God. They were despised by their Roman masters. And the
   polite Greeks, with their poetic mythology, sneered at their strange
   worship which they considered to be mere atheism, since they saw no
   image set up.

   The Jew, therefore, stood out grandly as being, if any unregenerate man
   could be so, a son of God! And yet, as they did not love the Christ,
   they had not God for their father! Our Master tells them, "If God were
   your Father, you would love Me." And so He puts down all pretensions
   arising from their pedigree, from their circumcision, from their rites
   and ceremonies, from their broad phylacteries and bordered garments and
   everything else! LOVE TO CHRIST is the great test of sonship to God! My
   dear Hearer, if you do not love Christ, you are no child of God, for if
   you were, you would love what your Father loves! Your nature, descended
   from God, would run in the same channel--and since He loves Christ
   supremely and above all things--so would you love Jesus Christ with all
   your heart beyond all the world!

   If you were a child of God, you would love Jesus, for you would see God
   in Jesus. He says, "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father
   in Me," and inasmuch as you are a child of God, you would know your
   Father and perceive Him in the Son, in whom dwells all the fullness of
   the Godhead bodily. He is the express image of His Person and the
   brightness of His Father's glory. And as the child loves his father, so
   would you love the Godhead in Jesus Christ! It would be impossible for
   you to do otherwise! No, not only the Godhead, but even the Humanity of
   our Lord would win your love, for God loves holiness in man and
   especially in the Man, Christ Jesus, and so must we.

   All the qualities of His Human Nature were brilliant with His Divine
   holiness and, therefore, will be sure to command your love if you love
   the Father. Every man loves that which is like himself. If you were
   born of God, you would love God. And Jesus Christ is God and,
   therefore, you would love Him. If you were born of God, you would be
   holy and true and loving and tender--and Jesus is all that--and so you
   would love Him. It is curious how language sometimes teaches morals.
   You know we have the word, "like." We are said to like a thing. But the
   word has another meaning--we may be like to a thing.

   Now a man always likes that which he is like and if you are like God,
   you love God, to whom you are like. And being like Christ, you like
   Christ, to whom you are like, for like loves like, or let me say, like
   likes its like. There must be love to Christ in the soul if you are
   like to Christ, which you are if you are a child of God. If you are a
   child of God you must love Christ, because of His essential Divinity.
   For notice in the text, "I proceeded forth and came from God." I do not
   understand that expression--nobody does. You have heard of Dr.
   Dollinger and a number of learned men meeting to lay down dogmatic
   declarations upon the double procession of the Holy Spirit.

   What a foolish task! They were engaged in defining a subject which they
   could not possibly understand--ants met to measure the sun! Mosquitoes
   debating upon eternity! We cannot enter into the springs of the sea,
   nor can we enter into the essence of Deity, or the relationships of the
   blessed Persons of the Trinity, the one to the other! And no man ever
   undertakes to do so but what he goes wrong, misled by his own
   presumption! If any man were to undertake to look the sun in the face
   by the day together he would soon become blind--the light is so
   excessive and mortal eyes are so dim--that blindness must follow.

   Jesus Christ is the Son of God by what we are accustomed to call
   eternal filiation, or what the text calls proceeding from Him and,
   therefore, because of that, being Divine and proceeding from the Divine
   Father in some mysterious sense, He is, Himself to be devoutly adored.
   And if we are the children of God we must love the Lord Jesus. The text
   adds that we shall also love Him because of His mission. "I came from
   God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me." If we love God we must
   love that which comes from God. I know when I left the village where I
   was first pastor and where I had loved the people much and they had
   loved me, I used to say if I saw even a dog which came from that parish
   I should be glad to see him, for I felt a love to everything and
   everybody coming from that spot.

   It matters not how small the trifle--a little flower or a piece of leaf
   from the garden--you prize it, for it came from someone you revere. Ah,
   that little shoe of your dear babe now in Heaven! Or a little piece of
   the handwriting of your dear mother, now with God! How dear they are!
   How much more should we love Christ because He came from God! And
   comes, not as a mere relic or memorial, but as His living, loving
   Voice! If a child were far away, in India, and he had not heard from
   home for some time, and he at last received a letter, how sweet it
   would be! It comes from Father. How pleased he is to get it.

   But suppose a messenger should come and say, "I came from your father"?
   Why, he would feel at once the deepest interest in him! Would you shut
   your door against your father's messenger? No, but you would say, "Come
   in, though it is the middle of the night, I shall always have an ear
   for you." Shall we not, thus, welcome Jesus? And then, remember, while
   Jesus came as our Father's Messenger, what a message He brought--pardon
   for sin, restoration from the Fall, acceptance in the Beloved and
   eternal life and Glory! Oh, when He comes from the Father, comes for
   the Father and comes with a message meant to lead us to the Father, we,
   who are the children of God must love Him for all these reasons! It is
   not possible that you can be a child of God and not love the Christ
   whom the Father has anointed, the Messiah whom the Father has sent, the
   Jesus whom the Father has made to be the Savior, the Immanuel, the God
   With Us, the Father's Self revealed in fullness of Grace and Truth!

   That He came not of Himself is another reason for love. When a man
   lives only to serve himself, our love begins to dry up for lack of
   secret springs. But when we perceive that Jesus Christ did not come of
   Himself, but was sent of the Father--that His aims and objectives were
   not for Himself in any degree, but entirely for the Father and for
   us--our heart must go out towards Him!

   III. I might thus continue, but there is no need for it, to show you
   that you must love Jesus. And so I close with the APPLICATION. Lend me
   your ears and hearts a few minutes. If it is so, that love to Christ is
   essential and is the main test of sonship, come, Brothers and Sisters,
   do we love Him or not? Now, put the question all round. I know some
   will say, "Love Him? Yes, that I do." Yes, but I will still ask you,
   for my Lord asked Peter three times, you know, "Simon, son of Jonas, do
   you love Me?" And I do not suppose you are better than Peter, so I must
   repeat the question, though you may answer it as quickly as he did, for
   it will not hurt you to answer aright three times--but it would hurt to
   answer falsely once. So let us put the question home--Do you love
   Jesus? If I love Him, then I trust Him and lean on Him with all my
   weight. "Ah, I do that. Blessed be His name, I know I do." Can you not
   speak with assurance as to that point? Tell me, then, have you any
   other hope besides that which springs from His dear Cross and wounded
   side? If you have, you do not love Him. But if your trust rests wholly
   and alone on Him, there are the beginnings of love in you! The root of
   the matter is there.

   If you love Him, you will keep His Word. That is the next point. He
   says, "If any man love Me, he will keep My Word," that is to say, he
   will reverence what Jesus said and endeavor to learn from His teaching.
   You will believe what He says and desire to know its meaning. Now, are
   you quite sure that you pay reverence to the Words of Christ? How about
   your neglected Bible? How about the parts of Scripture which you have
   never wished to understand because you were afraid it was a little
   different from the articles of your Church or the creed of your family?
   That does not look like reverence to Christ's Word!

   My dear Friend, let me put the question very pointedly. Do you want to
   know what Christ taught? Are you willing to believe all He reveals? Do
   you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into the things of Christ? For
   remember, he who breaks one of the least of our Lord's Commandments and
   teaches men so, the same shall be least in the kingdom of Heaven and
   would you wish to be that? Another test of love to Christ is this, "If
   you love Me, keep My commandments." It is not merely hearing His Word,
   for that the man did who built his house upon the sand. But the Lord
   said, "He that hears My Word and does it, is like a man that built his
   house on a rock." "Does it." "Does it!" Do you obey Christ? If you do
   not, you do not love Him!

   If the commands of Jesus are treated by you as matters of no
   importance, then your heart is not with Him. The child is to love his
   father, but the command by which his love is to be tested is,
   "Children, obey your parents in all things." So with Jesus! If you love
   Him, you will obey Him. Now search your hearts and look at your
   lives--are there not some points which might make you question? At any
   rate, I think there are many matters that should make us pray, "Lord,

   You know all things and, therefore, You know all my sins and all my
   failures. But still you know that I love you! Deliver me from sin and
   let me not grieve You any more."

   Now, apply that text to your heart in another form. If you love Christ
   you will imitate Him. It is the nature of love to be imitative. The
   sincerest form of admiration is imitation. If you love Jesus, you will
   labor to be like He. I am sure you will. Are you trying to be
   Christ-like? You perceive in yourself many things that are not in
   Christ--do you long to get rid of those things? And you see in Jesus
   Christ many excellencies which you have not yet reached. Are you
   pressing towards them? Then I know you love Him--but if there is no
   imitation there is no love.

   Love to Christ may also be judged of by love to His people. He who
   loves Jesus is sure to love all others whose hearts burn with the same
   flame. How is it with you? "Well," you say, "I love some of the
   Brethren." Yes, and so do the publicans and sinners love some of them.
   Certain of God's people are so very sweet in their tempers and
   excellent in their natural dispositions that I should think the most
   wicked person in the world must love them! But the test is to love them
   for Jesus' sake, even though you cannot help seeing their mistakes and
   faults.

   "I love the saints," says one. "At least, I love all of my
   denomination." That, also, is very easy, for the Sadducees loved the
   Sadducees and the Pharisees loved the Pharisees. But the thing is to
   love God's people, though you fear that they are in error upon certain
   points--and though you cannot agree with them in some of their
   views--and think they dishonor God by certain failures. The Christian
   loves all who are in Christ, not because of their soundness in the
   faith, but because of their union to Jesus. Come, then, do you love the
   Lord's people because they are His? "We know that we have passed from
   death unto life because we love the Brethren."

   And, dear Friend, you may judge, again, whether you love Christ by
   this--do you sympathize with His objectives? Whenever we love another,
   we begin to love the things which he loves. Christ desires to see this
   world brought to His feet. Do you wish to see Him King over the
   nations? He desires to gather out to Himself a chosen people. Are you
   seeking to bring in His wanderers? He delights to save the sons of men.
   Do you wish to see them saved? Do your thoughts, wishes and desires run
   in a groove with those of Jesus? If so, you love Him.

   Again, do you serve His cause? That love which never leads to action is
   poor love. Is it love at all? The affection which can be content
   without doing anything for the beloved object is so base a thing that
   it were a shame to degrade that golden name of love by applying it to
   such a miserable counterfeit! Love Jesus? And yet you have never taught
   a little child His name? Love Jesus? And you are an orator and yet you
   never stand up to proclaim His Gospel? Love Jesus? And your gold lies
   cankering and your silver is tarnished--and you give none of these to
   His work? Love Jesus? And it never costs you a night's unrest, or an
   hour's distress of mind because His kingdom does not come? I thank God
   I do not understand your love and hope I never may! May God give you a
   better love than this--may He give you the love which works and shows
   itself in deeds.

   If you love Jesus, you desire to be with Him and you are very glad of
   every opportunity of having special fellowship with Him. I know if you
   love Him you will not be happy to live a day without Him. You will feel
   ill at ease if He is gone but for an hour. If you love Jesus, oh, how
   you pant for the time when you will see Him face to face! If you love
   Him, there are seasons when you become sick of love after Him! When you
   feel as if to die were a fleabite or a nothing if you might but behold
   His face! How often, when you have been to the House of God and heard a
   sermon that has carried you near to Jesus, you have been ready to say,
   like Simeon, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace according to
   Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation"? When you have had to
   go back into the world again, you have almost felt unhappy to think you
   were bound to linger in this far-off country and you could only feel
   satisfied by saying, "Sun of my soul abide with me, for this world is
   dark and dreary without You."

   I pass the question round again. Is there anyone here who dares not
   say, "I love the Savior"? Then, my dear Friend, I beseech you to look
   that matter in the face, for if you do not love Christ heartily and
   sincerely, then you are none of His! And you are none of God's--you are
   a child of Satan! "Well," says one, "it would not yield me any comfort
   to know that." No, and I do not want you to find any comfort, for
   comfort, now, would be deadly to you. A good physician does not always
   look to the immediate ease of his patient--he has his eyes on the cure.
   I want you to be uncomfortable till Jesus comforts you. I want you to
   be ashamed of not loving Christ until you become unhappy about it.

   I beg you to stand at the foot of Calvary's Cross and look up and see
   Jesus bleeding and dying, and then say, "He has done all this, and yet
   I do not love Him." I wish you would go into the Garden of Gethsemane
   and see the bloody drops

   of sweat fall upon the frozen ground, and hear His cries and groans for
   sinners, and then say, "and yet I do not love Him." I beg you to look
   at Him taken down from the Cross and laid in the tomb with the image of
   death stamped on His glorious face--a death which He endured out of
   pure love to His enemies--and then I would have you see if you are vile
   enough to say, "And yet I do not love Him." I beg you in spirit to
   follow Him in His Resurrection and to see Him as He breathes peace over
   His disciples and then see if you dare say, "I do not love Him." I
   would wish you to see Him, by faith, rising as He ascends into Glory
   and a cloud receives Him, and then I would like you to put your hands
   to your brow and feel as if your heart must burst while you say, "Yet I
   do not love Him."

   I would have you see Him sitting on His Throne in all His Glory, adored
   by myriads of the blessed, with every harp string in Heaven thrilling
   out His praise as He sits at the right hand of the Father, and the
   Father takes delight in Him. Amid that splendor I would wish you to
   stand and begin to smite upon your breast, and say, "And yet, alas,
   this hard heart does not love Him." How I wish you would get to your
   chamber and pour your soul out in a flood of tears, to think that,
   by-and-by, He will come to judge the world in righteousness and to be
   admired of them that believe, and you, unless you are renewed in heart,
   will have to stand among that mighty throng that shall surround His
   Great White Throne and weep and wail and wish you never had been born,
   while the dire thought will flash through your mind, "I do not love
   Him. He is come to judge me and I am far off from Him, unsaved,
   uncleansed in His blood."

   I entreat you to think of it now, that you may not have to realize it
   later. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, O you unloving heart, and you
   shall be saved from your unloving spirit and taught to esteem Him whom
   to love is the best evidence of eternal life!--

   "O love beyond all mortal thought!

   Unquenchable by flood or sea!

   Love that through death to man has brought

   The life of immortality!

   You do enkindle Heaven's own fire

   In hearts all dead to high desire.

   Let love for love our souls inflame,

   The perfect love that fails never;

   And sweet hosannas to your name

   Through Hea ven's vast dome go up forever."

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--John 8:21-59. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--423, 807, 377.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Hand of God in the History of a Man

   (No. 1258)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 10 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days
   also like the days of an hireling?" Job 7:1.

   I WAS settling myself down yesterday to meditate upon the Word of God
   and to prepare my mind to preach the Gospel to you today, when, all of
   a sudden I had my subject marked out for me by a mournful messenger,
   for the Angel of Death pointed to it with his finger. There came into
   my chamber an honored elder of this Church, who in broken accents told
   me, "Our beloved Brother, Henry Olney, is dead." He is my near neighbor
   and I was in his house so lately that I could not believe the news. It
   seems that when he left the City at noon he felt a severe rheumatic
   pain in his shoulder, and on reaching home he sent for a doctor, who
   prescribed a slight remedy and advised him to lie down. He did so, and
   with a gasp or two, he expired.

   A man in the prime of life and apparently in full vigor of health, he
   went to his business for the last time that morning and returned to
   die. The blow has fallen so suddenly that I am stunned and staggered by
   it, nor do I think that either of his three brothers, whose familiar
   faces we miss this morning, have yet recovered from the amazement
   caused by the stroke. Many around me were with him so short a time
   since that it is hard to believe one's own eyes and feel sure that
   there he lies, a cold corpse, motionless upon the bed. But, oh, my
   Brothers and Sisters, how true it is that in the midst of life we are
   in death! And those who often die first are they who least expected to
   go. If I had said to you this morning that our Brother, William Olney,
   was gone, you would have said, "We are grieved at our loss, but we do
   not wonder, for he has been long sick."

   But here, the strong and stalwart brother, who ailed nothing, has been
   taken away, while, thank God, the languishing invalid is still spared
   to us. Thus do they remain who expected to depart, and they depart who
   expected to remain. Who among us can reckon upon a single hour? We talk
   of being living men--let us correct ourselves and feel, from this
   moment on, that we are dying men, whose every breath brings us nearer
   to the grave! We are and are not. We walk in a vain show and are
   disquieted in vain. We are unsubstantial as the shadows of the flying
   clouds which on a summer's day flit over the face of the field and are
   gone!

   When I look at that seat where our departed friend sat for years, the
   Lord seems to have come very near to us. I could almost take my shoes
   off in awful consciousness of His terrible Presence. We can no longer
   think of the Lord as far away in Heaven. He has been among us--He who
   touches the hills and they smoke has set His eyes upon our Brother, and
   lo, he is not! Let me put it in a gentler manner--our Lord came into
   His garden to gather lilies and His hand has been filled to our sorrow.
   When our heavenly Father comes so near to us and in so solemn a manner,
   let us ask Him why He contends with us. Let us, in solemn reverence,
   approach Him that we may hear His answer and may be obedient to His
   Word.

   The flower of the field stands amid the grass, unconscious that the
   mower's scythe is busy, and though swath after swath has fallen beneath
   the pitiless stroke, the flower smiles gaily! It cares not for its
   associates in the same field and reckons not of its own speedy fall.
   Its leaves are wet with dew and its colors are bright in the sun. It
   mourns not for its fellows, but rejoices in unconsciousness of all that
   happens around it. In this respect you are not as the grass of the
   field, but are endowed with understanding, so that you are able to be
   instructed, or at least, warned, by the fall of those around you.

   The sheep in their folds remark not that their fellows are taken away
   to the slaughter. The cattle graze in the meadows in happy ignorance
   that death is all around. You, however, are not "dumb, driven cattle."
   To you it is given to know your own mortality--and you cannot suffer
   your comrades to be taken away, one after another so rapidly, without
   feeling emotion and gathering wisdom. You will hear the rod and Him
   that has appointed it, and this morning you

   will ask Divine Grace that the dead may be your schoolmasters and
   yourselves the scholars who cry, "So teach us to number our days that
   we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

   As best I shall be able, this morning, I shall try and teach you, by
   the help of God's Spirit, one lesson. It is this-- Divine appointment
   rules human life. And when we have learned that lesson, we shall, in
   the second place, draw inferences from this Truth of God.

   I. First, then, let us consider a Truth of God which, I trust, none of
   us have ever denied, but have heartily accepted ever since we have been
   Believers. THERE IS A DIVINE APPOINTMENT RULING ALL HUMAN LIFE. Not
   that I single out man's existence as the sole object of Divine
   forethought, for I believe it to be but one little corner of
   illimitable Providence. A Divine appointment arranges every event,
   minute or magnificent!. As we look out on the world from our quiet
   room, it appears to be a mass of confusion. He who studies history and
   forgets God might think that he was looking out on chaos, for events
   seem flung together in terrible disarray, and the whole scene is as
   darkness itself, without any order.

   Events happen which we deeply deplore--incidents which appear to bring
   evil, and only evil--and we wonder why they are permitted. The picture
   before us, to the glance of reason, looks like a medley of color with
   dark shades where lights seemed necessary, and glowing color where we
   might have looked for masses of black. Human affairs are a maze of
   which we cannot discover the clue. The world appears to be a tangled
   mess and we weary ourselves with vain endeavors to disentangle it. But,
   Brethren, the affairs of this world are neither tangled, nor confused,
   nor perplexing to Him who sees the end from the beginning. To Him all
   things are in due course and order, and before Him all forces keep rank
   and file. God is in all and rules all!

   In the least as well as in the greatest, Jehovah's power is manifested.
   He guides the grain of dust in the March wind and the comet in its
   immeasurable pathway. He steers each drop of spray which is beaten back
   from the face of the rock and He leads forth Arcturus with his sons.
   God is the dictator of destinies and appoints both means and ends. He
   is the King of kings, ruling rulers and guiding counselors. Alike in
   the crash of battle and in the hush of peace, in the desolation of
   pestilence and famine, and in the joy of abounding harvests, He is
   Lord! He does according to His will, not only in the army of Heaven,
   but among the inhabitants of this lower world. Yon fiery steeds, which
   dash so terribly along the highway of time, are not careering
   madly--there is a Charioteer whose almighty hands have held the reins
   for ages-- and will never let them go!

   Things are not in the hurry-burly which we imagine, but driven onward
   by a power which is irresistible. They are under law to God, and speed
   onward without deviation towards the goal which He designs. All is
   well, Brothers and Sisters! It is night, but the Watchman never sleeps,
   and Israel may rest in peace. The tempest rages, but it is well, for
   our Captain is governor of storms! He who trod the waves of the
   Galilean lake is at the helm and, at His bidding, winds and waves are
   quiet. Our main point is that God rules mortal life and He does so,
   first, as to its term--"Is there not an appointed time to man upon
   earth?" He rules it, secondly, as to its warfare, for so the text might
   most properly be read-- "Is there not an appointed warfare for man upon
   earth?" And, thirdly, He rules it as to its service, for the second
   clause of the text is, "Are not his days as the days of an hireling?"

   First, then, God's determination governs the time of human life. We
   shall all acknowledge this as to its commencement. Not without infinite
   wisdom did any infant's life commence then and there, for no man is the
   offspring of chance. Not without a world of kindness did your life
   commence, dear Friend, just where and when it did. Our child's little
   hymn, in which he thanks God that he was not "born a little slave to
   labor in the sun," contains a good deal of truth in it. A man's whole
   life is mainly guided by its commencement--had we been born as
   thousands are where God was never known, we might have been idolaters
   at this hour!

   Who would wish to have first seen the light at the era when our naked
   forefathers sacrificed to idols? Who would wish to have stepped upon
   the stage of life amid the dense darkness of popery, when our childish
   hands would have been lifted up by superstitious parents in adoration
   of the Virgin Mary, and we should have been taught to worship some bone
   fragment or rotten rug, superstitiously believed to be a relic of a
   saint? 'Tis no small thing to have been born in the nineteenth century,
   when works of Grace are to be seen on every side! Many of us should
   bless the Lord every day because in infancy we lay upon a Christian
   woman's bosom and were lulled to sleep with the sound of holy hymns of
   which the name of Jesus was the theme!

   Our tiny feet were taught to run in the ways of righteousness, as far
   as parental instruction could effect the same, and this was no
   insignificant advantage. Blessed are the eyes which see the things
   which we see and hear the things which we hear! All this is by the
   appointment of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Our
   presence on earth in this day of Grace was a matter altogether beyond
   our control, and yet it involves infinite issues--therefore let us,
   with deepest gratitude, bless the Lord, who has cast our lot in such an
   auspicious season.

   The continuance of life is equally determined by God. He who fixed our
   birth has measured the interval between the cradle and the grave, and
   it shall not be a day longer or a day shorter than the Divine decree.
   How many times your lungs shall heave and your pulses beat have been
   fixed by the eternal calculator from of old. What reflections ought to
   arise out of this! How willing we should be to labor on, even if we are
   weary, since God appoints our day and will not over-weary us, for He is
   no hard taskmaster!

   How glad we ought to be, even, to suffer if the Lord so ordains it. It
   is sweet music, that God draws forth from patient sufferers, and though
   the strings have to be painfully tightened every now and then with many
   a grief and pang to us, yet if those dear hands of the Chief Musician
   can fetch out richer melody from those tightened strings, who among us
   would wish to have it otherwise, or ask to have the harp withdrawn from
   that beloved Harper's hand before the wondrous strain is over?

   No, let us wait, for He appoints. If our griefs were the offspring of
   chance, we might pine to have them ended, but if the loving Lord
   appoints, we would not hurry Him in His processes of love. Let the Lord
   do what seems good to Him. Here is good cheer for those who have lain
   so long upon the bed of pain and who are apt to ask--"Will it never
   end? O Lord, will the chariots of salvation never come? Have the angels
   quite forgotten Your servant in his sickness? Must he forever remain a
   prisoner under his infirmity, loneliness and decay? Have You placed me
   as a sentinel to stand upon my watchtower through a night which will
   never end? And shall I never be relieved from my weary guard? Shall I
   never know rest? Must I forever peer into the dark with these eyes so
   red with weeping?"

   Courage, Brother! Courage, Sister, the Lord, the Ever Merciful, has
   appointed every moment of your sorrow and every pang of your suffering.
   If He ordains the number 10, it can never rise to 11, neither should
   you desire it to shrink to nine. The Lord's time is best--to a hair's
   breadth your span of life is rightly measured. God ordains
   all--therefore peace, restless spirit, and let the Lord have His way.
   So, too, has He fixed life's termination. "Is there not an appointed
   time for man upon earth?" A time in which the pulse must cease, the
   blood stagnate and the eyes are closed? Yes, my Brethren, it is of no
   use for us to indulge any idle dream of living forever here! A time of
   departure must come to every one of us, unless the Lord, Himself,
   should appear all of a sudden and then we shall not die, but be
   changed.

   There is no man among us that lives and shall not see death. In this
   war there is no discharge. Not only do the Scriptures teach us so, but
   our common sense and reason put the matter beyond all question. What do
   the gray hairs mean which fall like snow flakes upon our heads? What do
   that stooping gait and failing strength mean? What do the dimness of
   the eyes and the tottering of the limbs mean? Do they not all show that
   the house is about to come down, for the frame and plaster of it are
   beginning to give way? Yet our earthly house will not fail us till the
   time ordained of Heaven! There is an appointed time for death and God
   has fixed how we shall die, when we shall die and where we shall die--

   "Though plagues and deaths around me fly, Till He pleases I cannot die
   Not a single shaft can hit Till the God of love sees fit."

   Diseases eager to slay are in ambush all around us, but none of their
   swords can come at us till Jehovah gives them leave. Behold, the Lord
   shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust,
   nor shall nightly pestilence nor midday destruction make you afraid--

   "What, though a thousand at your side

   At your right hand ten thousand died,

   Our God, His chosen people sa ves

   Amongst the dead, amidst the graves." We are immortal till our work is
   done, but that work will not last forever, and when it is concluded we
   shall have fulfilled our day and shall receive our summons Home. All
   this is true. None will venture to dispute it, but let us remember that
   it is true for ourselves at this moment. For you, my Brothers and
   Sisters, it is true while you sit here. Realize it,

   and do not look on others as dying men while you, yourselves, are
   secure of a long life. Be you, also, prepared to meet your God
   suddenly, for so you may be called to do. This fact is most solemn. We
   shall not live, but die, and that death may come in an instant. As I
   saluted my Brothers, this morning, in the vestry, I could not help
   expressing my pleasure and surprise that any of us were alive, for
   certainly it was quite as much a wonder that certain of us were alive,
   as that our friend should be dead.

   We might as readily have been taken away as he, and even more readily.
   God had ordained his death, but He might have ordained ours. "Be you,
   also, ready; for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man
   comes." Yet this fact, to my mind, is most strengthening. The doctrine
   of Predestination, when really believed, is like steel medicine. It
   infuses a deal of iron into the mental system and builds up strong men!
   I am not such a Predestinarian as Mohammed, who bade his soldiers rush
   to the fight, "for," he said, "when your time comes to die you will die
   at home as well as in the battle, and Paradise is to be found beneath
   the shadow of swords." But still I see that while the doctrine makes
   some men slumber, it is, to nobler souls, a mighty source of energy and
   a fountain of courage.

   If duty calls you into danger--if you have to nurse the sick who are
   laid low with foul diseases--never shrink, but run all risks if love to
   God or man demand them of you. You will not die by a stray arrow from
   Death's quiver! The Lord, alone, can recall your breath. Your death is
   not left to chance--it is determined by a heavenly Father's gracious
   will--therefore be not afraid. Be not so fearful of pain, or so anxious
   to preserve life as to be held back where Jesus calls you, for in such
   a case he that saves his life shall lose it. You may not be reckless
   and rush on danger without reason-- that were madness--but you will, I
   trust, be brave and never fear to face death when the voice of God
   calls you into peril.

   Moreover, how consoling is this Truth of God for, if the Father of our
   Lord Jesus arranges all, then our friends do not die untimely deaths!
   The beloved of the Lord are not cut off before their time. They go into
   Jesus' bosom when they are ready to be received there. God has
   appointed the times for the gathering in of His fruit. Some of them are
   sweet, even, in early spring, and He gathers them. Others are as a
   basket of summer fruit and He takes these, also, while the year is
   young, while yet another company needs to remain among us till autumn
   mellows them. Each class shall be gathered in its season. Now of all
   this we are, by no means, competent judges. We know nothing, for we are
   infants of a day. God knows best. It were better that our friend should
   die, as die he did, than that he should live, otherwise he had lived.
   Be sure of that. Yes, God has appointed the commencement, the
   continuance and the conclusion of this mortal life.

   But we must now consider the other translation of our text. It is
   generally given in the margin of the Bibles. "Is there not an appointed
   warfare to man upon earth?" Which teaches us that God has appointed
   life to be a warfare. To all men it will be so, whether bad or good.
   Every man will find himself a soldier under some captain or another.
   Alas, for those men who are battling against God and His Truths--they
   will, in the end, be clothed with dishonor and defeat. I shall,
   however, speak mainly of the righteous and, truly, their experience
   shows that life is one long struggle from which we never cease till we
   hear the words, "Your warfare is accomplished."

   Brothers and Sisters, life is a warfare and, therefore, we are all men
   under authority. No Christian is free to follow his own devices. We are
   all under law to Christ. A soldier surrenders his own will to that of
   his commander. His captain says to him, "Go," and he goes, or, "Do
   this," and he does it. Such is the Christian's life--a life of willing
   subjection to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. In consequence of this
   we have our place fixed and our order arranged for us--and our life's
   relative positions are all prescribed. A soldier has to keep rank and
   step with the rest of the line. He has a relation to the man on his
   right, to his comrade on his left. He bears a relation which he must
   not violate to each officer and, especially, to his commander-in-chief.

   God has appointed for you, then, dear Brother, to be a father or to be
   a son, to be a master or to be a servant, to be a teacher or to be
   taught. See that you keep your place. As a bird that wanders from her
   nest, so is a man that wanders from his place. In our appointed warfare
   happy is the man who, from first to last, keeps in order with the
   forces of the Lord of Hosts and cheerfully fulfils the Divine purposes.
   As we have a warfare to accomplish, we must expect hardships. A soldier
   must not reckon upon ease. During a campaign he has neither house nor
   home. Perhaps last night he pitched his tent in a happy valley, but he
   must be up and away, and his tent must, tomorrow, be exposed on the
   bleak mountain side.

   He has renounced the luxuries of life and the joys of repose. Forced
   marches, light slumbers, scant fare and hard blows are his portion--he
   would be foolish to look for ease and enjoyment during a campaign. O
   you sons of men, the

   Lord has appointed life to be a warfare! Why, then, do you wrap
   yourselves about with silken garments and sew pillows for your
   armholes, and say to yourselves, "Soul, you have much goods laid up for
   many years! Eat, drink and be merry"? You must not do so! And if the
   Lord, by trial, prevents your doing so, you must not quarrel with Him,
   but must feel that such treatment must be expected in this war.

   If life is a warfare, we must look for contests and struggles. The
   Christian man must not expect to go to Heaven without opposition. A
   soldier who never meets an enemy at all is not renowned. We count his
   valor light and reckon him to be as some vain carpet knight, "whose
   best delight is but to wear a braid of his fair lady's hair." The man
   who is scarred and gashed, maimed and wounded--he is the hero to whom
   men pay homage! You must fight if you would reign! Your predecessors
   swam through seas of blood to win the crown and, though the form of
   battle may be changed, yet the spirit of the enemy is unaltered! You
   must still contend against sin and bear up under trouble, for only
   through much tribulation will you inherit the kingdom of God!

   It is a warfare, Brothers and Sisters, for all these reasons and yet
   more so because we must always be upon the watch against danger. In a
   battle no man is safe. Where bullets fly, who can reckon upon life for
   a moment? Brethren, the age is peculiarly dangerous! Perhaps every
   preacher before me has said as much and every preacher after me will
   say the same for his times--yet still, I say--in this peculiar age
   there are a thousand perils for the soul, from superstition on the one
   hand and skepticism on the other! From rude self-reliance and indolent
   trust in others, from a wicked world and an apostate church! You must
   not marvel that it is so, for war is raging! The enemy has not laid
   down his weapons. The war drum is still beaten, therefore do not lay
   down your arms, but fight manfully for your King and country--for
   Christ and for His Church.

   Blessed be God that the text says "Is there not an appointed warfare?"
   Then, Brothers and Sisters, it is not our warfare, but one that God has
   appointed for us, in which He does not expect us to wear out our armor,
   or bear our own charges, or find our own rations, or supply our own
   ammunition! The armor that we wear we have not to construct. The sword
   we wield we have not to fabricate. All things are ready for us! Our
   great Captain manages the commissariat with unquestioned skill and
   unbounded liberality. Yes, the warfare is so much His warfare that He
   is with us in it! The Greek soldiers, when they marched against the
   Persians, traversed many a weary league, but that which comforted them
   and made every man a hero was that Alexander marched when they marched!

   If he had been carried luxuriously, like the Persian monarch, while
   they were toiling over the hills and dales, they might have murmured.
   If he had been seen to drink of costly wines while they were parched
   with thirst, they might have complained. But Alexander, like the great
   commander he was, marched in the ranks with his soldiers, so that they
   saw him faint and weary as they were! They saw him wiping the sweat
   from his brow as they did. And when, as was his due, they brought him
   the first crystal draught they could obtain, he put it to the side and
   said, "Give it to the sick soldiers, I will not drink till every man
   can take a draught."

   O glorious Jesus! Surely You have done the same and more! You have
   borne resistance even unto blood! You have known toil and agony even to
   a sweat of gore! Suffering, weakness and self-denial You have drank of,
   for You saved others, but You could not save Yourself! Courage,
   Brothers and Sisters, then! Our warfare is of the Lord. Let us go forth
   to it, conquering and to conquer!

   Thirdly. The Lord has also determined the service of our life. All men
   are servants to some master or another, neither can any of us avoid the
   servitude. The greatest men are only so much the more the servants of
   others. The Prime Minister is only the first and most laborious of
   servants. The yoke upon the neck of the Emperor is heavier than that
   which galls the shoulders of the serf. Despots are the most in bondage
   of all men. Happy will it be for us if, through Divine Grace, we have
   chosen Jesus for our Master and have become His servants for
   life--then, indeed, we are free, for His yoke is easy and His burden is
   light--and in learning of Him we shall find rest unto our souls.

   If we are now the servants of the Lord Jesus, this life is a set time
   of a labor and apprenticeship to be worked out. I am bound by solemn
   indentures to my Lord and Master till my term of life shall run out,
   and I am right glad to have it so. Jacob, when he had served seven
   years, was glad to serve seven more for the love of Rachel and we, for
   love of Jesus, would serve 70 times seven if He desired it! But even
   then, the longest term of life would have an end, even as ours, also,
   will. Here below our term is fixed, even as the days of an hireling.

   Now, a servant who has let himself out for a term of years has not a
   moment that he can call his own, nor have any of us, if we are God's
   people. We have not a moment, no, not a breath, nor a faculty, nor a
   farthing that we may honestly reserve. We have transferred ourselves to
   Jesus Christ forever and we belong wholly to Him. A servant does
   nothing of his own mind, he does what his master tells him--this also
   is our condition. We have an appointed service and we receive orders
   from our Lord, which orders are our Law. A servant has his occupations
   prescribed. He may have to work indoors or outdoors. He may have to be
   near the house or far off in the field. He may be sent on errands, or
   bid to stay at home, but he does not choose his labor or the place of
   it--he accepts what is chosen for him by his superior. Are we not glad
   to have it so? Does not our heart say, "anything, everything for
   Jesus?" That should be our spirit!

   The servant, moreover, expects to be sometimes weary and spent, is it
   not natural? To a servant who applies for your situation and says, "I
   do not expect to work hard. I want large wages and little work," you
   would say, "Yes, there are many of your mind, but I shall not employ
   one of the sort if I know it." Your Lord and Master thinks the same.
   You must expect to toil in His service till you are ready to faint. And
   then His Grace will renew your strength. A servant knows that his time
   is limited. If it is weekly service, he knows that his engagement may
   be closed on Saturday. If he is hired by the month, he knows how many
   days there are in a month and he expects it to end. If he is engaged
   the year, he knows the day of the year when his service shall run out.

   As for us, we do not know when our term will be complete, but we do
   know that it will conclude, therefore we would live in view of that
   conclusion. It is as well that the Lord has not told us when the
   appointed end will be, or we might have loitered till near the close.
   But He has left that period unrevealed that we may be always laboring
   and waiting for His coming. None the less, it is sure that there is an
   appointed time and our work will come to an end. The hireling expects
   his wages--that is one reason for his industry. We, too, expect
   ours--not of debt, truly, but of Grace--still a gracious reward. God
   does not employ servants without paying them wages, as many of our
   merchants now do. They are His own children and, therefore, they would
   be glad enough to serve without a hope of wage, but that is not God's
   way. He prefers that they, also, should have "respect unto the
   recompense of reward."

   While the child's relationship shall be carried out with blessed
   liberality, so shall the servant's relation, too, and wages shall be
   liberally given. Let us look forward, Brothers and Sisters, let us look
   forward to the Great Day when the Master shall call His servants
   together and give them their wages! The reward, if it were of debt,
   would be a very scanty one, and, in fact, it would be none at all, for
   we are unprofitable servants. But, the wages being of Grace, there is
   room for giving every man his penny--room for giving to us exceeding
   abundantly above what we ask or even think!

   There I leave the subject of service--it is all appointed for us, let
   us fulfill it.

   II. Secondly, and briefly, THE INFERENCES TO BE DRAWN FROM THIS FACT.
   First, there is Job's inference. Job's inference was that as there was
   only an appointed time and he was like a servant employed by the year,
   he might be allowed to wish for life's speedy close and therefore he
   says--"As a servant earnestly desires the shadow, and as an hireling
   looks for the reward of his work." Job was right, in a measure, but not
   altogether so. There is a sense in which every Christian may look
   forward to the end of life with joy and expectancy and may pray for it.
   I wish that some Believers were in a state of mind which would fairly
   admit of their doing so. Many of us can heartily sympathize with the
   songster who penned the verses beginning--

   "I would not live always, Iask not to stay

   Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way.

   The few fleeting mornings that dawn on us here

   Are enough for life's sorrows, enough for its cheer.

   Who, who would live always away from his God--

   Away from yon Heaven, that blissful abode,

   Where rivers of pleasure flow o'er the brightplains,

   And the noontide of glory eternally reigns?" At the same time, there
   are necessary modifications to this desire to depart and a great many
   of them, for, first, it would be a very lazy thing for a servant to be
   always looking for Saturday night, and to be always sighing and
   groaning because the days are so long. The man who wants to be off to
   Heaven before his life's work is done does not seem, to me, to be quite
   the man that is likely to go there at all! He that is fit to go there
   and serve God is one who is willing to stop here and do the same!
   Besides, while our days are like those of a hireling, we serve a better
   Master than other servants do.

   There are employers of such a kind that servants might be very glad
   never to see their faces any more. They are so sharp, so acid, so
   domineering.

   But our Master is Love itself. Blessed be His name, His service is
   perfect freedom! We are never so happy and never so truly helping
   ourselves as when we are altogether serving Him. For my part, I can say
   of Him that I love my Master, I love His service, I love His house, I
   love His children and I love everything about Him! And if He were going
   to discharge me at the end of this life, I would beg Him to let me live
   here forever, for I could not bear to be dismissed. It is one of my
   dearest hopes, in going to Heaven, that He will employ me still.
   Moreover, we are not like other servants, for this rea-son--we are one
   with our Master--His brethren, His spouse, His body--and we are under
   such deep obligation to Him that it is unspeakable joy to work for Him.
   If He gave us no wages it would be wage enough to be allowed to wait
   upon

   Him--

   "For why, O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love You well? Not for
   the sake of winning Heaven, Or of escaping Hell."

   But because of Your own sweetness, goodness and dear love to me, ought
   I not to be Yours forever?

   Yes, yes! Under some aspects you might feel that it was better to
   depart and be with Christ, but from other points of view you see
   differently and check the wish, so that, like Paul, you are in a strait
   betwixt the two and you don't know which to choose. It is a great mercy
   that the choice does not lie with you! All things are settled for us.
   Thus you see there are facts which modify Job's inference and forbid
   our excessive longing to close life's weary day. I will tell you the
   devil's inference. The devil's inference is that if our time, warfare
   and service are appointed, there is no need to care and we may cast
   ourselves down from the pinnacle of the temple, or do any other rash
   thing, for we shall only work out our destiny. So argues the
   arch-enemy, though he knows better.

   How many men have drawn most damnable conclusions from most blessed
   Truths of God! And these men know, when they are doing it, that their
   conclusions are absurd. "Oh," they say, "we need not turn to Christ,
   for if we are ordained to eternal life we shall be saved." Yes, Sirs,
   but why will you eat at mealtime today? Why do you eat at all? For if
   you are to live you will live. Why go to bed tonight? If you are
   ordained to sleep you will sleep. Why will you take down your shop
   shutters tomorrow and exhibit your goods and try to sell them? If you
   are predestinated to be rich you will be rich.

   Ah, I see, you will not act the thing out. You are not such fools as
   you look! You are more knaves than fools, and your excuse is a piece of
   deceit. If it is not so, why not act upon it in daily life? He has a
   false heart who dares to suck out of the blessed Truth of
   Predestination the detestable inference that he may sit still and do
   nothing! Why, Sirs, nothing in the world more nerves me for work than
   the belief that God's purposes have appointed me to this service! Being
   convinced that the eternal forces of Immutable Wisdom and unfailing
   power are at my back, I put forth all my strength as becomes a "worker
   together with God."

   The bravest men that ever lived, like Cromwell and his Ironsides,
   believed in God's decrees, but they also kept their powder dry. They
   relied upon everlasting purposes, but also believed in human
   responsibility, and so must you and I. Your years are appointed, but do
   not commit lewdness or drink with the drunk, or you will shorten your
   days. Your warfare is appointed, O Man, but do not go and play the
   fool, or your troubles will be multiplied! Your service is allotted
   you, O Believer, but do not loiter, or you will grieve the Spirit of
   God and mar your work.

   I will now give you the sick man's inference--"Is there not an
   appointed time to men upon earth? Are not his days also like the days
   of an hireling?" The sick man, therefore, concludes that his pains will
   not last forever and that every suffering is measured out by Divine
   Love. Truly, disease is a bitter draught, but Jehovah Rophi often
   prescribes it as a medicine for spiritual disease. When the Lord knows
   that the appointed affliction has worked out all His purpose He will
   either raise up the patient to walk among the sons of men, again, or
   else He will take him to His bosom in Glory. Let him be patient,
   therefore, and in confidence and quietness shall be his strength.

   Next comes the mourner's inference--one which we do not always draw
   quite so readily as we should. It is this-- "My child has died, but not
   too soon. My husband is gone, ah, God, what shall I do? Where shall my
   widowed heart find sympathy? Still he has been taken away at the right
   time. The Lord has done as it pleased Him and He has done wisely." If
   you have not yet come to mourning over the dead, but have everyday to
   sympathize with a living sufferer who is gradu-

   8 The Hand of God in the History of a Man Sermon #1258

   ally melting away amidst wearisome pain and constant anguish, ask Grace
   to enable you to feel, "It is well." It is a grand triumph of Grace
   when the heart is neither stoic, unsympathetic, nor rebellious--when
   you can grieve but not rebel in the grieving, mourn without
   murmuring--and sorrow without sinning. Pray for some who have this
   trial. Pray for them that Grace may be perfect in their weakness.

   Furthermore, let us draw the healthy man's inference. Do you know what
   inference I have drawn from the sudden death of my friend? I
   thought--in a moment it struck me--"Ah, if I had died last Saturday
   afternoon instead of Mr. Henry Olney, should I have left all the
   concerns that I have in hand quite in order?" I have no end of
   business-- a great deal too much--and I resolved, "I will get all
   square and in order as if I were going off, for perhaps I am." Dear
   Brothers and Sisters, I want you to feel the same. You are healthy, but
   be prepared to die. Have your will made and your accounts squared and
   fit for your successor to take up.

   What you do, do quickly! Have your will made and if you are wealthy, do
   not forget the Lord's work. Mr. Whitfield used to say, "I could not
   sleep at night if I had left my gloves out of their place, for," he
   said, "I would leave everything in order." Trim the ship, Brothers and
   Sisters, for you know not what weather is coming. Clear the decks for
   action, for no one knows when the last enemy will be in sight. Your
   best Friend is coming, make ready for His entertainment. Be as a bride
   adorned for her husband, and not as a slovenly woman, ashamed to be
   seen. Lastly, there is the sinner's inference. "My time, my warfare and
   my service are appointed, but what have I done in them? I have waged a
   warfare against God and have served in the pay of the devil, what will
   the end be?"

   Sinner, you will run your length. You will fulfill your day to your
   black master. You will fight his battle and earn your pay, but what
   will the wages be? The end comes and the wage-paying--are you ready to
   reap what you have sowed? Having taken sides with the devil against
   yourself and against your God, are you prepared for the result? Look to
   it, I pray you, and beseech the Lord, through Jesus Christ, to give you
   Grace to escape from your present position and enlist on the side of
   Christ. I ask you, Sirs, who are sitting in this gallery and who have
   not believed in Jesus--and you men and women all over this building who
   are unregenerate--if, instead of the decease of the Brother who has
   fallen I had to speak of your death, where must you have been?

   If you had died in sin, we are not among those who would have read a
   hypocritical service over you and thanked God that you were taken! We
   would not have insulted the Most High by saying that we, ourselves,
   hoped to die in that fashion! We dare not so have blasphemed the
   Majesty of Heaven! You know we should have laid you into the grave very
   silently with many a tear more salty than usual, because deep down in
   our spirit there would have been that dreary thought, "He died
   impenitent. He died unregenerate. He is lost! He is lost!" Weep not for
   our Brother, dead in his prime, whose children mourn him! Weep not for
   him, though his sorrowing wife bends over his corpse and cannot
   persuade herself that his spirit is gone!

   Weep not for him, but weep for those who have died and are lost
   forever, driven from the Presence of God! In their eternal warfare
   there will be no discharge! And in their dreadful slavery there will be
   no end, for there is no appointed time for man when once he leaves this
   earth! Time is over and the angel who puts one foot upon the sea, and
   another upon the land, swears by the Eternal that time shall be no more
   and the condition of the lost spirit is finally settled, settled
   forever! Beware, therefore, and be wise, for Christ's sake and your
   own. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Job 7. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--90, 851, 839.
     __________________________________________________________________

There Go The Ships

   (No. 1259)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "There go the ships." Psalm 104:26.

   I was walking, the other day, by the side of the sea, looking out upon
   the English Channel. It so happened that there was a bad wind for the
   vessels going down the Channel and they were lying in great numbers
   between the shore and the Goodwins. I should think I counted more than
   a hundred, all waiting for a change of wind. All of a sudden the wind
   shifted to a more favorable quarter and it was interesting to see with
   what rapidity all sails were spread and the vessels began to disappear
   like birds on the wing. It was a sight such as one might not often see,
   but worth traveling a hundred miles to gaze upon, to see them all sail
   like a gallant squadron and disappear southward on their voyages.
   "There go the ships," was the exclamation that naturally rose to one's
   lips.

   The Psalmist thought it worth his while to pen the fact which he, too,
   had noticed, though it is very questionable whether David had ever seen
   anything like the number of vessels which pass our coasts. Certainly he
   had seen none to be compared with them for tonnage. The first lesson
   which may be learned from the ships and the sea is this--every part of
   the earth is made with some design. The land, of course, yields "grass
   for the cattle and herb for the service of man." But what about the
   broad acres of the sea? We cannot sow them, nor turn them into pasture.
   The reaper fills not his arms from the briny furrows! They give neither
   seed for the sower nor bread for the eater, neither do herds of cattle
   cover them as they do the thousand hills of earth.

   Remorselessly swallowing up all that is cast upon it, the thankless
   ocean makes no return of fruit or flower. Is not the larger part of the
   world given up to waste? "No," says David, and so say we--"There go the
   ships." The sea benefits man by occasioning navigation and yielding,
   besides, an enormous harvest of fishes of many kinds. Besides which, as
   the blood is necessary for the body, so it is necessary for this world
   that there should be upon its surface a vast mass of water in perpetual
   motion. That measureless gathering together of the waters is an amazing
   instance of Divine Wisdom in its existence, its perpetual ebb and flow
   and even in its form and quantity. In the ocean there is not a drop of
   water too much nor a drop too little! There is not a single mile of sea
   more than there ought to be, nor less than there should be.

   An exact balance and proportion is maintained and we little know how
   the blooming of the tiny flower or the flourishing of the majestic
   cedar would be affected were the balance disturbed. Between the tiny
   drop of dew upon each blade of grass and the boundless main there is a
   relation and proportion such as only an infinite mind could have
   arranged. Remember, also, that the ocean's freshness tends to promote
   life and health among the sons of men. It is good that there is sea, or
   the land might devour its inhabitants by sickness. God has made nothing
   in vain. Ignorance gazes on the stormy deep and judges it to be a vast
   disorder, the mother of confusion and the nurse of storms. But better
   knowledge teaches us what Revelation had before proclaimed, namely,
   that in wisdom has the Lord made all things.

   But does not the ocean grievously separate lovers and friends? Many a
   wife thinks of her husband on the far-off Pacific. Many a mother casts
   an anxious thought towards her sailor boy. And both are half inclined
   to think it is a mistake to place so vast a portion of the globe as a
   cruel dividing gulf between loving hearts. Others evidently thought so
   in years gone by, for among the figurative excellencies of the new
   earth we are told that there shall be no more sea. But what a mistake
   it is to think that the sea is a divider--it is the great uniter of the
   races of men--for, "there go the ships." It is the highway of nations
   by which they reach each other far more readily than they could have
   done had no sea existed and arid deserts or towering mountains had
   intervened.

   This is one instance in which we do not understand God's designs, for
   we judge them upon the surface. As the sea apparently divides, but
   really unites nations, so often in Providence things look one way, but
   go another. We say, "All these things are against me," when all things
   are working together for our good! We judge that to be a curse which,
   in the deep intent of God, is a rich blessing! And we write that down
   as among the ills of life which, in God's esteem, is

   reckoned to be among its choicest mercies. Judge not according to the
   sight of the eyes, or the changeful feelings of the heart! But
   unstaggeringly believe in the Infallible Goodness of our great Father
   in Heaven!

   As the child mistakes God's design in the sea, so will you also mistake
   His designs in Providence if you set up yourself as the measurer of the
   infinite--

   "Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His Grace.
   Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling face."

   Our subject, however, shall not be the uses of the sea, but this one
   simple matter--"There go the ships."

   I. And, first, WE SEE THAT THE SHIPS GO. "There go the ships." The
   ships are made to go. The ship is not made to lie forever upon the
   stocks, or to be shut up in the docks. It is generally looked upon as
   an old hulk of little service when it has to lie up in ordinary and rot
   in the river. But a ship is made to go, and, as you see that it goes,
   remember that you also were made to go. Activity in Christian work is
   the result and design of Grace in the soul. How I wish we could launch
   some of you!

   You are, we trust, converted, but you as yet serve but slender uses.
   Very quiet, sluggish and motionless, you lie on the stocks by the month
   together, and we have nearly as much trouble to launch you as Brunel
   had with the "Great Eastern." I have tried hard to knock away your
   blocks, remove your dogshores, and grease your ways, but you need
   hydraulic rams to stir you! When will you feel that you must go and
   learn to "walk the water as a thing of life." O, for a grand launch!
   Hundreds are lying high and dry and to them I would give the motto,
   "launch out into the deep." The ships go, when will you go, too?

   The ships, in going, at last disappear from view. The vessel flies
   before the wind and very speedily it is gone--and such is our destiny
   before long. Our life is gone as the swift ships. We think ourselves
   stationary, but we are always moving on. As we sit in these pews so
   quietly, the angel of time is bearing us between his wings at a speed
   more rapid than we can guess. Every single tick of the clock is but a
   vibration of his mighty wings and he bears us on, and on, and on, and
   never stays to rest either by day or night. Swift as the arrow from the
   bow we are always speeding towards the target. How short time is! How
   very short our life is! Let each one say, "How short my life is!"

   No man knows how near he is to his grave. Perhaps if he could see it,
   it is just before him. I almost wish he could see it, for a yawning
   grave might make some men start to reason and to thought. That yawning
   grave is there, though they perceive it not--

   "A point of time, a moments space, May land me in yon heavenly place,
   Or shut me up in Hell."

   "There go the ships," and there go you, also! You are never in one
   place. You are always flying, swift as the eagle, or, to come back to
   the text, as the swift ship, yet, "all men think all men mortal but
   themselves." The oldest man here probably thinks he will outlive some
   of the younger ones. The man who is soonest to die may be the very man,
   of us all, who has the least thought of death! And he that is nearest
   to his departure is, perhaps, the man who least thinks of it. Just as
   in the ship all were awake and every man praying to his God except
   Jonah, for whom the storm was raging, so does it often happen that in a
   congregation every man may be aroused and made to think of his latter
   end except the one man, the marked man, who will never see tomorrow's
   sun. As you see the ships, think of your mortality!

   The ships, as they go, are going on business. Some few ships go here
   and there upon pleasure, but for the most part the ships have something
   serious to do. They have a charter and they are bound for a certain
   port. And this teaches us how we should go on the voyage of life with a
   fixed, earnest, weighty purpose. May I ask each one of you, have you
   something to do, and is it worth doing? You are sailing, but are you
   sailing like a mere pleasure yacht, whose port is everywhere, which
   scuds and flies before every fitful wind and is a mere butterfly with
   no serious work before it? You may be as heavily laden and dingy as a
   collier, there may be nothing of beauty or swiftness about you, but
   after all, the main thing is the practical result of your voyage.

   Dear Friend, what are you doing? What have you been doing? And what do
   you contemplate doing? I should like every young man here just to look
   at himself. Here you are, young man. You certainly were not sent into
   this world merely to wear a coat and to stand so many feet in your
   stockings! You must have been sent here with some intention. A

   noble creature like man--and man is a noble creature as compared with
   the animal creation--is surely made for something. What were you made
   for? Not merely to enjoy yourself. That cannot be! You certainly are
   not "a butterfly born in a bower," neither were you made to be
   creation's blot and blank.

   Neither can you have been created to do mischief. It were an evil thing
   for you to be a mere serpent in the world, to creep in the grass and
   wound the traveler. No, you must be made for something. What is that
   something? Are you answering your end? We were made for God's glory.
   Nothing short of this is worthy of immortal beings! Have we sought that
   glory? Are we seeking it now? If not, I commend to your consideration
   this thought, that as the ships go on their business, so ought men to
   live with a fixed and worthy purpose. I would say this, not only to
   young men, but with greater earnestness, still, to men who may have
   wasted 40 years.

   O, how could I dare to stand before this congregation tonight and have
   to say, "Friends, I have had no objective. I have lived in this world
   for myself, alone. I have had no grand purpose before me"? I should be
   utterly ashamed if that were the fact. And if any man is obliged to
   feel that his purpose was such that he dares not acknowledge it, or
   that he has only existed to make so much money, or gain a position in
   life, or to enjoy himself, but he has never purposed to serve his God,
   I would say to him, Wake up, wake up, I pray you, to a noble purpose,
   worthy of a man! May God, the ever-blessed Spirit, set this before you
   in the light of eternity and in the light of Jesus' dying love! And may
   you be awakened to solemn, earnest purpose and pursuit.

   "There go the ships," but not idly. They go upon business. These ships,
   however, whatever their errand is, sail upon a changeful sea. Today the
   sea is smooth like glass. The ship, however, makes very small headway.
   Tomorrow there is a breeze which fills out the sail and the ship goes
   merrily before it. Perhaps, before night comes on, the breeze increases
   to a gale and then rushes from a gale into a hurricane. Let the mariner
   see to, it when the storm-winds are out, for the ship needs to be
   staunch to meet the tempest. Mark how in the tempestuous hour the sea
   mingles with the clouds and the clouds with the sea. See how the ship
   mounts up to Heaven on the crest of the wave and then dives into the
   abyss in the furrow between the enormous billows--until the mariners
   reel to and fro and stagger like drunken men.

   Soon they have weathered the storm and, perhaps, tomorrow it will be
   calm again. "There go the ships" on an element which is a proverb for
   fickleness, for we say, "false as the smooth, deceitful sea." "They
   go," you say, "upon the sea, but I dwell upon the solid earth." Ah,
   good Sir, there is not much to choose. There is nothing stable beneath
   yon waxing and waning moon. We say "terra firma," but where, where is
   terra firma? What man has discovered the immovable rock? Certainly not
   he who looks to this world for it! He has it not who thinks he has, for
   many plunge from riches into poverty, from honor to disgrace, from
   power to servitude.

   Who says, "My mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved"? He speaks
   as the foolish speak! It is a voyage, Sir, and even with Christ on
   board it is a voyage in which storms will occur! It is a voyage in
   which you may have to say, "Master, do You not care that we perish?"
   Expect changes, then. Do not hold anything on earth too firmly. Trust
   in God and be on the watch, for who knows what may be on the morrow?
   "There go the ships."

   II. But now, having spoken upon that, our second point is, HOW GO THE
   SHIPS? What makes them go? For there are lessons here for Christians.
   We leave our steamships out of the question, as they were not known in
   David's day and, therefore, not intended. But how go the ships? Well,
   they must go according to the wind. They cannot make headway without
   favoring gales. And if our port is Heaven, there is no getting there
   except by the blessed Spirit's blowing upon us. He blows where He
   wishes and we need that He should breathe upon us.

   We never steer out of the port of destruction upon our venturesome
   voyage till the heavenly Wind drives us out to sea. And when we are out
   upon the ocean of spiritual life we make no progress unless we have His
   favoring breath. We are dependent upon the Spirit of God even more than
   the mariners upon the breeze. Let us all know this and, therefore,
   cry--

   Celestial Breeze, no longer stay

   But fill my sails and speed my way." It is not possible to insist too
   much on the humbling Truth of God, "Without Me you can do nothing." It
   helps to check self-confidence and it exalts the Holy Spirit. Unless we
   honor Him, He will not honor us. Therefore, let us cheerfully
   acknowledge our absolute dependence upon Him.

   But still, the mariner does not go by the wind without exertion on his
   own part, for the sails must be spread and managed so that the wind may
   be utilized. One man will go many knots, while another with the same
   breeze goes but few, for there is a good deal of tacking about needed,
   sometimes, to use the little wind, or the cross wind which may prevail.
   Sometimes all the sails must be spread, but at other times only a part.
   Management is required. If some were spread, they might take the wind
   out of others, and so the ship might lose instead of gaining. There is
   a deal of work on board a ship. I believe that some people have a
   notion that the ship goes of itself and that the sailors have nothing
   to do but sit down and enjoy themselves. But if you have ever been to
   sea as an able-bodied seaman, you have discovered that for an easy life
   you must not be one of a ship's crew!

   And so, mark you, we are dependent upon the Spirit of God, but He puts
   us into motion and action. And if Christian men sit down and say, "Oh,
   the Spirit of God will do the work," you will find the Spirit of God
   will do nothing of the sort! The only operation which He will be likely
   to perform will be to convince you that you are a sluggard and that you
   will come to poverty. The Spirit of God makes men earnest, fervent,
   living and intense. He "works in us to will and to do of His own good
   pleasure." We have sails to manage to catch the favoring breeze and we
   shall need all the strength we can obtain if we are to make good
   headway in the voyage of life.

   Some professors say, "God will save His own people." I am afraid He
   will never save them! They expect there will come good times when a
   great number of the elect will be gathered in, but they fold their arms
   and do nothing at all to promote the spread of the Gospel. When they
   see others a little busy, they say, "Ah, mere excitement!" and so on.
   They tell us God will have His own, to which I generally reply that I
   believe He will, but I do not believe He will have them, because if
   they were His own they would not talk in that fashion, for those who
   are God's own people have a zeal for God and a love for souls.

   Do you not remember what God said to David? "When you hear the sound of
   a going in the tops of the mulberry trees then shall you bestir
   yourself." Not, "Then shall you sit still and say 'God will do it.'"
   When David heard the angels coming over the tops of the trees to fight
   the Philistines--when he heard their soft tread among the leaves, like
   the rustling of the wind--then he was to bestir himself! And so, when
   God's Spirit comes to work in the Church, the Christian must bestir
   himself and not sit still. "There go the ships." They go with the wind,
   but they are the scene of great industry, or else the wind would
   whistle through the yards and the ship would make no voyages. Thus,
   Brothers and Sisters, we see dependence and energy united--faith
   sweetly showing itself in good works.

   "There go the ships." How do they go? Well, they have to be guided and
   steered by the helm. The helm is a little thing, but yet it rules the
   vessel. As the helm is turned, so is the vessel guided. Look you well
   to it, Christian, that your motives and purposes are always right. Your
   love is the helm of the vessel! Where your affection is, your thoughts
   and actions tend to be. If you love the world, you will drift with the
   world! But if the love of the Father is in you, then your vessel will
   go towards God and towards Divine things! O, see to it that Christ has
   His hands on the tiller and that He guides you towards the haven of
   perfect peace!

   The ship being guided by the helm, he who manages the helm seeks
   direction from charts and lights. "There go the ships," but they do not
   go of themselves, without management and wisdom. Thought is exercised
   and knowledge and experience. There is an eye on deck which at night
   looks out for yonder revolving light, or the colored ray of the light
   of the ship just ahead there. And the thoughtful brain says, "I must
   steer south-west of such a light," or, "to the north of such a light,
   or I shall be upon the sands." Besides mere lookouts upon the sea, that
   anxious eye also busies itself with the chart, scans the stars and
   takes observations of the moon. The captain's mind is exercised to
   learn exactly where the vessel is and where she is going, lest the good
   ship unawares should come to mischief.

   And so, dear Brethren, if we are to get to Heaven, we must study well
   the Scriptures. We must look well to every warning and guiding light of
   the Spirit's kindling and ask for direction from above, for as the
   ships go not at haphazard, so neither will any Christian his way to
   Heaven unless he watches and prays and looks up daily, saying, "Guide
   me in a plain path, O God." The voyage of a ship on the main ocean
   seems, to me, to be an admirable picture of the life of faith. The
   sailor does not see a road before him, or any land mark or sea mark,
   yet is sure of his course. He relies upon fixed lights in Heaven, for
   far out he can see no beacon or light on the sea.

   His calculations, based on the laws of the heavenly bodies, are sure
   guides on a wild wilderness where no keel ever leaves a furrow to mark
   the way. The Late Captain Basil Hall, one of the most scientific
   officers in the navy, tells the fol-

   lowing interesting incident. He once sailed from San Blas, on the west
   coast of Mexico. After a voyage of 8,000 miles, occupying 89 days, he
   arrived off Rio de Janeiro, having in this interval passed through the
   Pacific Ocean, rounded Cape Horn and crossed the South Atlantic without
   making land or seeing a single sail except an American whaler. When,
   within a week's sail of Rio, he set seriously about, determining by
   lunar observations, the position of his ship, and then steered his
   course by those common principles of navigation which may be safely
   employed for short distances between one known station and another.

   Having arrived within what he considered, from his computations, 15 or
   20 miles of the coast, he hove to, at four o'clock in the morning, to
   await the break of day, and then bore up, proceeding cautiously, on
   account of a thick fog. As this cleared away, the crew had the
   satisfaction of seeing the great Sugar Loaf Rock which stands on one
   side of the harbor's mouth, so nearly right ahead, that they had not to
   alter their course above a point in order to hit the entrance of the
   port. This was the first land they had seen for nearly three months,
   after crossing so many seas, and being set backwards and forwards by
   innumerable currents and foul winds. The effect upon all on board was
   electric and, giving way to their admiration, the sailors greeted the
   commander with a hearty cheer. And what a cheer will we give when,
   after many a year's sailing by faith, we, at last, see the pearly gates
   right straight ahead and enter into the fair havens without needing to
   shift a point! Glory be to the Captain of our salvation! It will be all
   well with us when the fog of this life's care shall lift, and we shall
   see the Light of Heaven!

   Once more, how go the ships? They not only go according to the wind,
   guided by the helm and the chart, but some ships will go better than
   others, according to their build. With the same amount of wind one
   vessel makes more way than another. Now it is a blessed thing when the
   Grace of God gives a Christian a good build. There are some Church
   members who are so oddly shaped that somehow they never seem to cut the
   water! Even the Holy Spirit does not make much of them. They will get
   into harbor at last, but they will need a world of tugging. The snail
   did get into the ark--I often wonder how he did it--he must have got up
   very early that morning! However, the snail got in as well as the
   greyhound, and so there are many Christian people who will get to
   Heaven, but Heaven, alone, knows how, for they are such an odd sort of
   people that they seem to make no progress in the Divine Life. I would
   sooner live in Heaven with them forever than be with them 15 minutes
   here below!

   God seems to shape some Christian minds in a more perfect model than
   others, so that, having simplicity of character, warmth of heart,
   zealous temperaments and generous spirits, when the wind of the Spirit
   comes they cut through the foam. Now, I suspect that some good people
   have, by degrees, become like the "Great Eastern" a short time since,
   namely, foul under water. They cannot go because they are covered with
   barnacles. A ship is greatly impeded in its voyage if it carries a
   quantity of barnacles on her bottom. I know lots of Christian people--I
   could point them out tonight, but I will not--who are covered with
   barnacles. They cannot go because of some secret inconsistency, or love
   of the things of this world rather than the love of God.

   They need laying up and cleaning a bit, so as to get some of the
   barnacles off. It is a rough process, but it is one to which some of
   God's vessels have to be exposed. What headway they would make towards
   Heaven if that which hinders were removed! Sometimes, when a man is on
   a bed of sickness he is losing his barnacles and, sometimes, when a man
   has been rich and wealthy and has lost all he had, it takes off the
   barnacles. When we have lost friends we love, and whom we have made
   idols of, we have been sorry to lose them--but it has cleaned off our
   barnacles. And when we have got out to sea there has been an ease about
   the going and we have scarcely known how it was, but God knew that He
   had made us more fit for His service by the trials of life to which He
   exposed us.

   That is how the ships go. There are many mysteries about them and there
   are many in us. God makes us go by the gales of His Spirit. O, that we
   may be trim for going, buoyant and swift to be moved, and so may we
   make a grand voyage to Heaven with Christ Jesus at the helm!

   III. Thirdly and briefly. When I saw these ships go I happened to be
   near a station of Lloyd's. I noticed that they ran up flags as the
   vessels went by, to which the vessels replied. I suppose they were
   asking questions--to know their names and what their cargo was, where
   they were going, and so on. Now I am going to act as Lloyd's tonight,
   and put up the flags and ask you something about yourselves. The third
   point, then, will be--the ships go, LET US SIGNAL THEM.

   And, first, who is your owner? "There go the ships," but who is your
   owner? You do not reply, but I think I can make a guess. There are some
   hypocrites about who make fine pretensions, but they are not
   holy-living people! They even dare

   to come to the Lord's Table and yet they drink of the cup of devils!
   They will sing pious hymns with us and then sing lascivious ditties
   with their friends. I would say to such a man--you are a rotten vessel,
   you do not belong to King Jesus! Every timber is faithful in His
   vessels. They are not all what we should like them to be and, as I have
   said already, they, too, are often covered with barnacles, but still
   they are all sincere. The Lord builds His vessels with sound timber and
   unless we are sincere and right, Christ is not our Owner, but Satan is.

   The painted hypocrite is known through the disguise he wears. There is
   another vessel over there, a fine vessel, too. Look, she is newly
   painted and looks spick and span. You can see nothing amiss with her.
   What white sails, and do you notice the many flags? Take the glass and
   read the vessel's name, and you will see in bold letters,
   "Self-righteousness." Ah, I know that the owner is not the Lord Jesus
   Christ, for all the ships that belong to Him carry the red Cross flag
   and cannot endure the flaunting flag of self-righteousness! All God's
   people admit that they must be saved by Sovereign Grace! Anything like
   righteousness of their own they pump overboard as so much leakage and
   bilge-water.

   I see another vessel over yonder, with her sails all spread and every
   bit of her colors flying. There, there, what a blaze she makes! How
   proud she seems as she scuds over the water. That vessel is "The
   Pride," from the port of Self-Conceit, Captain Ignorance. I do not know
   where she is more often to be seen, but sometimes she crosses this bit
   of water. I should not wonder if she is in sight here, now, and you may
   be sure she does not belong to our Lord Jesus. Whether it is pride of
   money, or person, or rank, or talent, it comes of evil, and Jesus
   Christ does not own it! You must get rid of all pride if you belong to
   Him. God grant us to be humble in heart. I could mention some more
   vessels that I see here tonight, but I will not.

   I will rather beg each man and woman to ask himself, "Can I put my hand
   on my heart and say, 'I am not my own, I am bought with a price?' Did
   Jesus buy me with His precious blood and do I acknowledge that there is
   not a timber, spar, rope, or bolt in me but what belongs to Him?"
   Blessed be His name, some of us can say there is not a hair of our head
   or a drop of our blood but what belongs to Him! Yours are we, You Son
   of David, and all that we have! I hope there are vessels here which are
   owned by the Lord Jesus Christ. Let them never be ashamed to confess
   their Owner. A vessel on proper business is never ashamed to answer
   signals. If there should be a smuggler or pirate in the offing, the
   crews would not be likely to answer signals. But those who are on
   honest business are ready to reply. And so, Brothers and Sisters, be
   ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and
   fear. Never show in your actions that you are ashamed of Jesus, but
   always let the broad flag be flying in whatever waters you are--"Christ
   is mine, and I am His. For Him I live. His reproach would I bear and
   His honor would I maintain."

   Our next inquiry is, what is your cargo? "There go the ships," but what
   do they carry? You cannot tell from looking at them far out at sea,
   except that you can be pretty sure that some of them do not carry much.
   Look at that showy brig! You can tell by the look of her that she has
   not much on board--from the fact of her floating so high it is clear
   that her cargo is light. Big men, very important individuals, very
   high-floating people are common, but there is nothing in them! If they
   had more on board they would not sink deeper in the water. As we said
   this morning, the more Divine Grace a man has the lower he lies before
   God.

   Well, Brothers and Sisters, what cargo have you got? I am afraid some
   of you who lie down in the water are not kept down by any very precious
   cargo, but I fear you are in ballast. I have gone aboard some
   Christians. I thought there was a good deal in them, but I have not
   been able to find it. They have a great deal of trouble and they always
   tell you about it. There is a good old soul I call in to see sometimes.
   I begin to converse with her and her conversation is always about
   rheumatism--nothing else! You cannot get beyond rheumatism. That good
   Sister is in ballast. There is another friend of mine, a farmer. If you
   talk with him, it is always about the badness of the times. That
   Brother is in ballast, too.

   There are many tradesmen who, though they are Christians, cannot be
   made to talk of anything but the present dullness of business. I wish
   they could get that ballast out and fill up with something better, for
   it is not worth carrying! You must have it, sometimes, I suppose, but
   it is infinitely better to carry a load of praises, prayers, good
   wishes, holy doctrines, charitable actions and generous encouragements!
   Some ships, I think, carry a cargo ofpowder. You cannot go very near
   them without feeling you are in danger--they are so very apt to
   misjudge and take offense. I wish that such persons were made to carry
   a red flag that we might give them a wide berth.

   It is well to be loaded with good things. Young people, study the Word
   of God. Ask to be taught by experience and, wherever you go, seek to
   carry the precious commodities which God has made dear to your own
   soul, that others may be

   enriched thereby. It is an interesting sight to see those immense ships
   loaded with passengers for the colonies. I cannot help praying as I
   look at them, "God grant that no harm may come to them, but may they
   safely reach their desired haven." When I look at some of our Brethren
   whom God is blessing, so that they have a cargo of blessed souls on
   board, consisting of hundreds who have been brought to Jesus by them, I
   would to God we had many more!

   Thank God, I have sometimes had my decks crowded with passengers who
   have, from my ministry, received the Gospel. The Lord has brought them
   on board, and O, I trust before I die He will give me thousands more
   who will have to thank God that they heard the Gospel from these lips!
   May we be emigrant vessels bearing souls away into the Glory Land where
   the days of their mourning shall be ended! Of course we can only be
   humble instruments, but still, what honor God puts upon His instruments
   when He makes use of them for this object. "There go the ships." Not
   ships of war are we, with guns to carry death, but missionary vessels
   carrying tidings of peace and glad news to the utmost ends of the
   earth!

   Our last signal asks the question--where go the ships? "Where go the
   ships? Oh, yes, they went merrily down the Channel the other day, but
   where are they now? In a year's time, who will report all the good
   vessels which just now passed by our coast? I am looking out upon all
   of you, anxious to know what port you are making for. Some of you are
   bound for the Port of Peace. Swiftly may the winds convey you over the
   waters and safely may you voyage under the convoy of the Lord Jesus! I
   will try and keep pace with you! I hope that you will sail in company
   with others of my Master's vessels, but if you have to sail alone over
   a sea in which you cannot see another sail, may God, the Blessed One,
   protect and guard you! Bound for the Port of Peace, with Christ on
   board, insured for Glory, bound for Life Eternal, let us bless the name
   of the Lord!

   But alas, alas, many ships which bid fair for the desired haven are
   lost on the rocks! Some soul-destroying sin causes their swift
   destruction. Others, equally fair to look upon, are lost on the sands.
   They seemed bound for Heaven, but they were not the Lord's. The sands
   are very dangerous, but they are only a mass of little atoms, soft and
   yielding. Yet as many ships are lost on the sands as on the rocks. Even
   so, there are ways and habits of evil which are deceptive--there is
   apparently nothing very bad about them. Nothing heartbreaking, like
   rocks, but oh, the multitudes of souls that have been sucked in by
   sandy temptations! Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are not going
   that way. God grant you Grace to avoid little sins and I am sure you
   will keep off the rocks of great sin. In any case, may we turn out to
   be the Lord's own, and so be kept to the end. Woe unto us if we should
   prove to be mere adventurers and perish in our presumption!

   Among the ships that go to sea, there are some that founder. One does
   not know how, but they are never heard of again. They were sighted on
   such-and-such a day, but we shall never more hear any tidings of them.
   How is that? I have known some of the members of this Church go down in
   mid-ocean. I never thought it could have happened, but they have gone!
   I can only imagine how it was. They seemed seaworthy vessels, but they
   were doubtless rotten through and through. Oh Brothers and Sisters, may
   God keep you from foundering, as some do by some mysterious sin which
   seems as if it clasped the soul and dragged it down to the deeps of
   Hell!

   I have known some vessels, too, that have become derelict--waifs and
   strays upon the sea--men that were the hope of Churches, but who have
   abandoned themselves to reckless living. They used to worship with the
   people of God and seemed to be very earnest and zealous. And now,
   perhaps, at this very moment, they are passing through the gin palace
   door, or spending this evening in vices which we dare not mention. O,
   it is dreadful! Many start on their voyage and look as if they were
   Christ's own vessels--and yet for some strange, unreasonable reason
   they give all up. And they will be met with, in years to come, drifting
   about, rudderless, captainless, crewless, dangerous to others and
   miserable to themselves. God save you from this!

   And you, my Friend, though you have been a member of this Church for 20
   years, God save you from despairing and sinning furiously, for there,
   sometimes, come over men strange moments of insanity in which they
   reverse the whole of their lives, lay violent hands upon an excellent
   character and become castaways. The Grace of God will save the truly
   regenerate from this, but, alas, how many high professors never were
   regenerate at all?! Where will some of the vessels I see before me go?
   It is a fine fleet I am looking upon. Brothers and Sisters, I hope all
   of us will be found in that great harbor in Heaven which can
   accommodate all His Majesty's fleet. O, it will be a great day when we
   all arrive! Will you give me a hail when you get into port? Will you
   know me?

   I shall be on the lookout for some of you. I cannot help believing that
   we shall know each other. We have been in rough waters together these
   20 years, and we have had some glorious weather, too, have we not? We
   have seen the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep! I hope we
   shall keep together till we reach that blessed haven where our
   fellowship will be eternal! How we will glorify Him who gets us there,
   even Jesus, the Lord High Admiral of the seas! Christ shall never hear
   the last of it if I get to Heaven! I will sing, yes, I will sing
   praises unto His name! I remember preaching once, when half of my
   congregation quarreled with me when I had done preaching, for I had
   said--

   "Then loudest of the crowd I'll sing While Heaven's resounding mansions
   ring With shouts of sovereign Grace.'" As I came downstairs I met one
   who said, "You will not sing loudest, for I owe more to Grace than you
   do!" And I found that all the Lord's people said the same!

   Well, we will have it out when we get to Heaven--we will try this
   contention among the birds of Paradise and see which of us can sing the
   most loudly to the praise of Redeeming Grace! Till then let us trust
   the Lord Jesus and obey His orders, for He is our Captain and it is our
   duty to do His bidding. But it would be a dreadful supposition--and
   yet, perhaps, it may be worse than a supposition--that some of you will
   have to cast anchor forever in the Dead Sea, whose waves are fire,
   where every vessel is a prison, where every passenger feels a Hell!
   What must it be like to be in Hell an hour? I wish some of you could
   think it over. What must it be like to be shut up in despair for one
   single day!

   If you have a toothache a few minutes, how wretched you are and how
   anxious to get rid of it! But what must it be to be in Hell even if
   were for a short time--even it were but for a short time? O, if it came
   to an end, still would I say, by all the humanities that are in my
   soul, I charge you, Brothers and Sisters, do not risk the wrath of God!
   Go not down to the Pit! Pull down that black flag, Man, pull it down
   and cast off your old owner. Ask Christ to be your Owner! Run up the
   red flag of the Cross and give yourself to Jesus, for if you do not,
   your voyage must lead to the gulf of Black Despair where you will
   suffer forever the result of your sin!

   God have mercy upon us and may we never have to pass through the
   Straits of Judgment into the Gulf of Damnation! May it never be said,
   "There goes one of the ships that the Tabernacle pilot signaled. It is
   gone to destruction." May it rather be said of all of us, all in full
   sail together, as we go towards Heaven, "There go the ships!" Not one
   of them is drifting to the Gulf of Destruction! Believe in the Lord
   Jesus Christ and all is well with you. Reject Him, and all is ill with
   you. May He, by His Word, enable you to make a right choice tonight,
   for His Love's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 104. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--551, 686, 656.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Unbroken Line Of True Nobles

   (No. 1260)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 17, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make
   princes in all the earth." Psalm 45:16.

   WERE you ever perplexed by being drawn with almost equal force in two
   directions? I have been so. There is a bond which reaches from the
   cemetery which holds me very fast and, therefore, I desired again, this
   morning, to have made use of the solemn visitation which so suddenly
   removed one of our friends from us. But this is the beginning of the
   week set apart for prayer for the young, and I have felt duty bound to
   take a part in the celebration and to assist to stir up Sunday school
   teachers and the members of the Church in general to pray for the
   blessing of God upon the rising generation.

   Now these mourning friends expect a consoling word from me--and these
   children demand that I plead for them, also! I realized the scene in my
   study. What was I to do? Between two subjects I might arrive at none
   and that was not a desirable conclusion. I watched, looked and prayed,
   and at last I resolved to yield myself to both influences, and I have
   as nearly as possible done so by selecting this text--"Instead of your
   fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the
   earth."

   The text begins with, "Instead." It is a sad word. I do not enjoy the
   sound of it. "In stead"--well, then, we must expect to lose some if
   others are to come in their stead. Alas, these funerals will be
   repeated, new graves must be dug! New friends will arise, but we dread
   the exchange. Would it not be more pleasant to keep the old workers?
   Would it not be safer to have the same comrades in the day of battle?
   What a grand Old Guard the veterans would make! "Instead"! It is a
   prophecy that some must go that others may come! That some must decay,
   that others may flourish! That some must die that others may succeed
   them!

   Our trembling faith hardly likes the change here hinted at, for we are
   apt to think that those who are to stand "instead" will be very slow in
   coming. Where are we to find men to fill the vacant places? By whom
   shall Jacob arise, for he is small? Indeed, there are some saints so
   eminently blessed of God that we ask ourselves the question, "Who can
   stand in their stead?" Moses! May Moses live forever, for who but he
   can rule and guide so great a multitude and, with mingled meekness and
   authority, conduct so great an army through the wilderness? Who but he
   can have such power with God as to stand between Israel and the Divine
   anger?

   We hear a whisper of Joshua as his successor, but good as Joshua may
   be, we can hardly endure to see the leadership change hands. And
   Elijah, too, that bold iron Prophet, that man of fire and thunder. "I,
   only," said he, "am left." Shall we lose him? From where shall there
   come another? No, if it pleases the Lord, we would rather keep Elijah.
   We do not like that word, "instead," even though we hear that there is
   an Elisha to follow Elijah. Too frequent is the fear that the one who
   comes instead will be a poor substitute and succeed only in name! After
   high hills come deep valleys, the second crop seldom equals the first
   and so great Grace and ability seldom continue long either in a family
   or in an office.

   We know that Solomon died and was succeeded by Rehoboam--a wise man by
   a fool! We know, also, that Eli, good man and true priest of God, had
   most ungodly Phineas to succeed him. We would, therefore, keep Eli, if
   possible, and see Solomon forever on the throne. But it cannot be so
   and, therefore, it is of no use sitting down idly to fret over the
   future and lament the past! All our sorrow over changes caused by the
   mortality of our race will not alter it, for God has ordained that one
   must depart and another come in his place.

   But, listen, I think that the word instead, if we listen to it with
   another ear, will sound out a note of gladness! If one falls, there is
   another to fill up the gap in our ranks. Comrades, is not this good
   news? If one laborer is taken from the vineyard, there is still a man
   in reserve to supply his place--does not this cheer you? We are
   encouraged by the belief that when the Lord supplants one set of
   servants by others He does not, after all, diminish the display of His
   love and Grace

   and power! No, rather He shows His independence of any one company of
   men and His power to use whom He pleases! After all, He puts the same
   spirit upon the newcomers and the power remains the same though the
   weapon wielded differs.

   Sometimes the change is manifestly for good. Eli was followed by
   Samuel, a great improvement upon Eli, after all. We remember, too, that
   Moses, albeit there was never a man born of woman greater than he, was
   yet followed by a hero more fitted for the new phase of Israel's
   history than Moses would have been. I can hardly conceive of Moses,
   sword in hand, slaying Canaanites at his advanced age! That was fitter
   work for Joshua and though, in some respects, Joshua was an inferior
   man to Moses, yet he was more suitable for his times and more adapted
   for the peculiar work which the armies of the living God had to do.

   Courage, my Brothers and Sisters, our sons may be superior to
   ourselves! There is room for them and let us hope they will be. Our
   sons, at any rate, may be fitter for the work which they will have to
   do than we should be if our lives could be extended into another age. I
   doubt not we may say without personal vanity that we have been better
   men for this age than our grandchildren would have been had their lives
   been protracted into this present time--and so shall our children and
   grandchildren go beyond us, if the Lord enable them--in fulfilling the
   growing demands of the ripening ages. God knows best and when He puts
   one man instead of another, I have no doubt that His infinite wisdom
   perceives that there is abundant cause for the change.

   For life to display fresh developments instead of the old is the law
   both of nature and of Grace--whether we are glad or sad, it must be so.
   Therefore let us accept the Divine arrangement and act accordingly. To
   help us in this matter, let us consider the promise before us--"Instead
   of your fathers shall be your children." This may be viewed in a light
   which will reveal its gracious recompense. Secondly, we shall regard
   its eminent fulfillment. Thirdly, we shall look at its happy
   encouragement, for it has a very bright side. And fourthly, we shall
   remember its practical requirements. Into this last we shall throw our
   strength, in the hope that, by the Divine blessing, holy effort for the
   coming generation may be awakened.

   I. First, in the promise of our text let us observe ITS GRACIOUS
   RECOMPENSE. I read you the Psalm just now. Now, in this sweet song you
   noticed that the bride is commanded to forget her own people and her
   father's house. Very naturally this would be painful to her and,
   therefore, the rest of the Psalm is occupied with cheering her by a
   sight of the recompenses which she may expect. Instead of your fathers,
   whom you, O bride of Christ are to forget and to forsake, shall be your
   children, equally dear to you, who shall occupy that place in your
   heart which has been left empty by your forgetting your father's house.

   Do you not see that her husband's heart is so full of love to her that
   while he takes her right away from old connections and makes it a
   condition of his desiring her beauty, that all these shall be
   forgotten? Yet he assures her that new associations shall be formed
   which shall yield more than equal solace to her. "Instead of your
   fathers shall be your children." The practical lesson is this--many
   Christians, when they are converted to God, are members of irreligious
   fami-lies--and from the moment of their conversion they cease to have
   any real heart-fellowship with their relatives, who in many cases treat
   them unkindly and give them the cold shoulder or worse.

   Dwelling with them after the flesh, they have to come out from among
   them after the Spirit and be separate, and no longer touch the unclean
   thing. However kindly disposed they may be, and Grace will make them
   more so, and induce in them a double affection to their kin, yet they
   feel that the possession of Grace by them and the non-possession of it
   by their friends, sets a great gulf between them. Let them not lament
   nor sigh, though their foes should be the men of their own household,
   for there are abundant recompenses available. You are to be introduced,
   my Friend, into another household and you are there to form other
   acquaintances and other intimate connections, for to you shall be
   fulfilled the promise of the Savior, "No man has left father or mother
   or children that shall not receive in this life a hundredfold, and in
   the world to come life everlasting."

   Do not look back to those evil companionships and ensnaring loves!
   Forget the fleshpots of Egypt and the associations of Goshen. Let them
   go, they will do you no good! And now throw yourself into the work of
   Christ. In the converts whom you shall lead to Jesus, in the desponding
   saints whom you shall cheer, in the disciples whom you shall instruct
   and in the brotherhood of which you shall become a member--you will
   find ample room for all the affections of your soul, till you shall be
   able to say of the Church of God--

   "My soul shall pray for Zion still, While life or breath remains, There
   my best friends, my kindred dwell, There God my Savior reigns."

   The law of recompense works, also, in another quarter and comes in to
   compensate for the separations caused by death. As the fathers die, one
   after another, those of like years feel that they are left almost
   alone. To them, then, shall it be true, "instead of your fathers shall
   be your children." Do not give way to idle regrets and say, "All who
   joined the Church with me are gone, all those who were the companions
   of my manhood are now taken away. I am left alone and the cause is
   weakened." No, my Brothers and Sisters, keep your hearts young and make
   yourselves indispensable to the young people around you! The old
   soldier must let his heart go out towards the recruits and he must make
   friends of the young warriors. Instead of lamenting that you are
   lonely, as I have known some do, and looking down upon everything that
   is of the present time as though it could not possibly be so good as in
   your own days, throw yourself into the present, project yourself into
   the future and love the children for the fathers' sake!

   I know when I was much younger than I am now, I used to think the men
   in office were such marvelous saints, but then I did not mix with them,
   I only looked up to them from a distance. At Prayer Meetings and
   communions I thought there never were such excellent people in the
   world as those pillars of the Church. Somebody said to me the other day
   that he did not meet with such good old men now as we used to know in
   our youth, and I told him that the men were quite as good, but we were
   in among them and, therefore, had less of the superstitious awe of our
   youth. And I added that I was, myself, surprised to find them as good
   as they now are since our view of them is so much nearer and so much
   more daring.

   No Prophet has honor in his own country, nor among men of his own age!
   Distance lends enchantment in many cases. We have as good men among us
   now as ever lived, but we know more about them than of those who have
   departed, and we criticize them more severely. We are, none of us, able
   to fully compare the past generations with this present one, because we
   were not in those generations as we are in this. Men at a great
   distance may appear to be absolutely perfect, but when we get close to
   them, spots are manifest and our judgement changes. Never let us fall
   into that silly state of mind in which we say, "the dear good men are
   all gone. The faithful are all dead." There are dear good men still
   alive and there are more coming!

   Do not let us fear that the Almighty will run short of servants! Let us
   not dream that He with whom is the residue of the Spirit will allow His
   cause to droop for lack of qualified ministers, elders, deacons, or
   other workers. On the contrary, let us say, "Bless the Lord, whose
   mercy endures forever!" We have learned that instead of the fathers
   shall be the children. And we will take as much delight in the young
   saints who are growing up as in former years we took in those mature,
   judicious, well-instructed saints whom the Lord, our heavenly Father,
   has taken Home. Let this suffice to show that the text promises a
   recompense!

   II. Secondly, let us view our text historically in ITS EMINENT
   FULFILMENT. Brothers and Sisters, as long as God has had a people in
   the world there have been changes. In God's garden as in ours, plants
   of this year have been succeeded by those of the next. "As the days of
   a tree are the days of My people, says the Lord." As soon as the leaf
   is formed in the spring, if you watch it, there is a new leaf beneath
   it for the next spring. This year's leaf opened gradually, grew, came
   to perfection and then it began to decay. And there is now on the
   branch a new leaf-bud which is pushing it off and that is what our sons
   are doing with us. We must drop off from the tree of mortal existence
   and it is right we should-- and we need not complain--for God has
   provided some better things for us.

   It has been the law in the world and the law in the Church that one set
   of laborers should follow the other--and they have done so without
   fail. It is with the Church as with the sea--each wave dies, but there
   is another wave behind it. Sometimes the wave appears to retreat rather
   than advance, but frequently the next wave rolls up gloriously. So must
   it always be and we must not despair that the waves die, for the sea
   does not die and the tide is still advancing. You may, perhaps, have
   seen an olive tree in growth. I have studied it carefully, for it has
   the charm of Gethsemane about it. It looks like an embodiment of sorrow
   and fruitfulness.

   An olive is twisted like a thousand snakes. It seems as if in an agony,
   yet it has a cheerfulness about it, too, for when the tree grows old
   the young shoots spring up from its roots, keeping it always young. I
   have no doubt it is to this that the Psalmist refers when he says,
   "Your children round your table like olive plants." The shoots spring
   up around the old olive and so it lives again! And when these die,
   fresh shoots appear and the tree still brings forth fruit in old age!
   The

   Church of God never dies, for when one, after another, we finish our
   course, others spring out of the ever-living root and so the blessed
   succession of Grace is kept up in the world.

   Now, look back a moment. That was a grand age when Patriarchs walked
   through the earth, when Abraham and Isaac and Jacob towered above the
   sons of men. They died and the Church was in captivity in Egypt,
   downtrodden and afflicted, yet were there among them those who sighed
   and cried unto the Lord and, therefore, He looked down upon the tribes
   with pitying eyes. Then there came great rulers like Moses and Joshua
   to deliver the chosen Seed--and when these departed the Judges were
   raised up! Time would fail us to tell of Gideon, Barak and Samson, who
   each one, in his turn, delivered Israel.

   When the judges passed away, God exalted the man after his own heart to
   lead His people and the kings ruled in righteousness. When these turned
   aside, the light of Israel was not quenched, for the Prophets bore
   witness and when the lamp of Prophecy burned dim, there were confessors
   who, all through the period between the Old and the New Testament,
   still remained faithful to the commands of God. Then blazed forth the
   light of our Lord Jesus and His Apostles! And before the last Apostle
   had been taken away, the martyr flames lit up the world. When
   persecution had ceased and heathenism had conquered Christianity by
   debasing her doctrines, the Reformers shone out with their gracious
   brilliance and these have been succeeded constantly by Evangelists, one
   after the other, who have moved the people and maintained, through the
   Divine Spirit, the Gospel testimony to this day.

   Brethren, I believe that the history of the Church in modern times is
   like that of olden times. The Apostles were our Patriarchs, the
   Reformers were our Moses and Joshua and the great preachers since have
   been as judges! And now we look for the King, Himself, even He that
   shall sit upon the throne of David and shall reign forever and ever!
   View history as you will, there is a continuity in it. In the darkest
   times there has shone forth some bright, particular star, yes, and in
   secret places, in holy hearts and gracious families there has remained
   more of the Divine life and light than the pages of historians have
   recorded.

   There has always been a remnant according to the election of Grace.
   When the Church moaned and said, "God has forsaken me, my God has
   forgotten me. The fathers, where are they?" God had not forsaken
   her--He had kept for Himself His thousands who have not bowed the knee
   to Baal. And there has arisen a leader just in the nick of time to
   seize the banner and to rally the wavering host, for as God lives and
   the Spirit still abides in the Church, and Jesus is with us always,
   even to the world's end, the succession of Grace shall never cease!
   Glory be to the name of the Most High!

   III. Thirdly, having seen, concerning our text, its eminent
   fulfillment, let us for a second or so view it in ITS HAPPY
   ENCOURAGEMENT. Brothers and Sisters, God's promise is the ultimate hope
   of the Christian and of the Church at large, and here we have
   it--"Instead of your fathers shall be your children." Lean on the
   Divine shall, for it is as sure as the Everlasting Covenant. As you
   have to leave the Ark of the Lord behind you and you can no longer
   carry it upon your shoulder, God will provide successors.
   "Jehovahjireh, the Lord Will Provide."

   You have believed that word in reference to your family and your own
   livelihood--believe it in reference to God's family and His cause. God
   has provided, already, for Himself a Lamb for His Passover--you may
   depend upon it He will provide what is a vastly smaller thing--a line
   of men who shall ever keep that Passover Lamb before the eyes of His
   people! We are sure, O Lord, that You will do as You have said--

   "Fathers to sons shall teach Your name, And children learn Your ways;
   Ages to come Your truth proclaim, And nations sound Your praise." Do
   not give way to distrust about the present or the future, for Jesus
   lives and walks among the golden candlesticks, trimming all the lamps
   and shining through them! The stars are in His right hand, by Him
   kindled and by Him renewed with immortal flame. You have the Spirit of
   God still dwelling in the Church to call whomever Jesus wills and to
   anoint them with holy oil that they may go forth in the Master's name.

   My Brethren, to have doubt about this would be unpardonable because we
   are coming towards an epoch where all the promises declare a victory.
   Do they not all travail with a glorious day of Grace? We are bound to
   exert ourselves for the spread of the Gospel, for we know that Christ
   must have the pre-eminence everywhere. "As truly as I live, says the
   Lord, all the earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Lord." We
   have received the Word from God's mouth, "He must reign till He has put
   all enemies under His feet." We are not taking a leap into the dark! We
   are not "shooting Niag-

   ara"--we are marching into light--the day has broken, the shadows are
   fleeing, the brightness is increasing, the noontide is at hand and,
   perhaps, before this century ends, we may have passed into the supreme
   brilliance of that millennial period in which Christ Jesus shall reign
   gloriously among His ancients!

   If He bids us wait and wait we may, we would cheerfully march on, for
   our faces are to the sunrise and every hour brings Glory nearer. At any
   rate, in such an hour as we think not, behold, the Bridegroom comes!
   And when He comes our victory has come with Him. Let us not yield to
   despondency. If the line of battle wavers, or our ranks are broken by
   the enemy, remember the reserves, the grand reserves which our Captain
   is holding back! And remember the King, Himself, is coming who never
   fights but to conquer! He, whose Presence means triumph, is on His way!
   Mark the signal and "Hold the fort, for He is coming," whose coming
   shall close your warfare and commence your triumph!

   IV. I must now come to view the text, as to ITS PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS.
   "Instead of your fathers shall be your children." Well then, if we
   stand instead of our fathers, what manner ofpersons ought we to be? I
   will not call to mind your immediate sires, though it were no dishonor
   to many of you if I did so. I will not recount the family ancestry with
   which God has blessed us. No imperial blood is in our veins nor blue
   blood of nobility. Descended from the King of kings, each saint
   possesses a nobler pedigree than earthly princes! To be the child of
   godly parents is one of the greatest honors in the world.

   But I ask you to look back to your spiritual ancestry, your fathers
   after the spirit, your predecessors in the faith of the Lord Jesus. Oh,
   my Brothers and Sisters, what manner of people ought we to be, who as
   Christian men and women have succeeded the heritage of martyrs? Who
   have taken up a cause pleaded by Apostolic lips? Who have followed upon
   men of whom the world was not worthy? Our ancestors were made what they
   were by the Grace of God and the Church of God may well glorify God in
   them! Their sufferings and heroic fortitude, their labors and their
   dauntless courage have left us under solemn obligations. Shall we be
   coward sons of heroic sires? Shall we be sluggards and slovenly in a
   work which they carried out so well?

   They built with gold, silver and precious stones--shall we degrade
   their work by heaping thereon wood, hay and stubble? I charge you,
   Brethren, take good heed unto your ways by the remembrance of where you
   came. Thus would I speak to all Believers, for the Church is one and
   indivisible. Each tribe of the one Seed has its own history and I leave
   my Brethren of various denominations to speak to their own. I will now
   address myself specially to those who are known as Baptists. As for us,
   the baptized followers of Christ, our ancestry as a body of Christian
   men is not to be despised. Albeit that the name of Anabaptist has been
   made the football of reproach because it was wrongfully associated with
   fanatical opinions, we may rest assured that the more history is
   understood, the more apparent will it be that those who were the most
   humiliated were thus treated because they were before their times. They
   bore the brunt of battle because they led the way!

   God forbid that I should induce you to glory in them and so to wear
   borrowed laurels! Of all pride, I think that to be the most idle which
   hides its own nakedness beneath the tattered banners of ancestry. I do
   but dwell for a moment upon our past history to excite you to yet more
   earnest deeds! Prove yourselves to be these men's sons by doing their
   deeds! Otherwise you are bastards and not sons. In every effort for
   civil and religious liberty, our fathers were at the front! In the
   utterance of those Divine Truths of God which have made tyrants and
   priests quake for fear, they have been among the boldest! Our fathers,
   for holding to Baptism as the Lord ordained it, suffered at the hands
   of men who knew no mercy. Their beliefs were misrepresented and
   themselves regarded as monsters rather than men.

   In this country they were, in the matter of time, both first and last
   at the stake! On this very spot where you now sit, long before there
   were any Lutherans or Calvinists, we read that, "three Anabaptists were
   burnt at the Butts at Newing-ton." Our sires were Protestants before
   the Protestants! They were part of a long line of men who stood firm
   when the mass of the Church turned this way and that! They were, in
   fact, the most bold and thoroughgoing of all the adherents of the
   Apostolic and Scriptural Church and, therefore, they were persecuted by
   prelates and abhorred by priests. When I hear Ritualists talking of
   their ancient Church, I blush to think that Englishmen should claim
   kinship with the Roman Antichrist, whose yoke our fathers tore from off
   their necks!

   The pedigree of every Anglican priest must, of necessity, have flowed
   through the Dead Sea of Popery. Our limpid streamlet runs not through
   that slough of filthiness, but comes down pure from earliest ages! Our
   doctrines and ordinances remain as they were delivered unto us by our
   Lord! Neither have we desired to add the traditions of men to them.

   "Hold fast, therefore, your confidence which has great recompense of
   reward." Do not give up your principles, my Brothers and Sisters, for
   the Church and the world will need them. Nobody can fight the battle
   against Sacramentarian-ism like the man who puts the ordinances in
   their Scriptural position as belonging to Believers and to Believers
   only. As long as Baptism is given to those who are unregenerate, the
   figment of baptismal regeneration will find a foothold!

   We must unflinchingly keep to our testimony that religion is a personal
   thing and that only those who have faith in Jesus can partake in the
   privileges of His House. Birthright membership and vows of sponsors
   must, alike, be the subjects of our protest. By your sires who were
   drowned by the hundreds for refusing homage to a superstitious rite,
   men who neither feared Luther nor the Pope, and were hated of all men
   and even by Reformers because they occupied a standpoint still bolder,
   clearer, and more advanced than all others, I beseech you, Brothers and
   Sisters, hold fast your Christian liberty and never cease to testify to
   all the Truth which God has taught you!

   May our Brothers and Sisters who differ from us, come to us in this
   matter, for we cannot go to them--we are spellbound by the plain
   teaching of Scripture and dare not move so much as a hair's breadth.
   May the Lord yet give to all His saints to know the "one Lord, one
   faith, and one baptism." If we are instead of our fathers, let us
   endeavor to continue their testimony undiminished in force and
   untarnished in clearness. Our Brethren of other denominations must bear
   their testimony to what truth they know and we are the last to deny
   them this liberty or to despise their cooperation. But, after all, our
   own duty is that which we must look to--that we may be found faithful
   "in that day."

   The next practical point is this--if others are to come instead of us,
   what are we doing for them? Looking at ourselves as occupying the
   present time, how far are we good links between the present and the
   future? Others are to come instead of us--are we taking care as much as
   lies in us that those who come in the place of us shall be fit men to
   maintain the interests of God's Truth? Oh, Brethren, let us, as a
   Church, love the young! Let us labor, by God's Grace, to gather in a
   multitude of young converts! Let us pray God to bless our schools of
   every sort and the teaching among the rising youth, as far as that
   teaching is according to His mind and will! A Church which does not
   believe in the conversion of children, a Church that, in fact, scarcely
   believes in the conversion of anybody, is likely to die out! But a
   Church that lives for converts, even as parents live for their
   children, will be the joyous mother of a numerous progeny and become
   stronger and stronger.

   I would to God we were all stirred up, not merely the teachers in the
   school, but all of us, to seek the conversion of the young and to aim
   by every means in our power to set God's Truth before them and lead
   them in His way. The Church ought to look to the tuition, the training
   and the culture of her children. All those who are brought to Christ in
   youth should be peculiarly watched over by us. It is said that
   Alexander gathered together his valiant army principally through
   training children from their very birth to the pursuits of war. He took
   little children as soon as they could run alone and placed them in a
   camp where their playthings were swords and their amusements were found
   among armor, spears and shields.

   These born soldiers grew up knowing of nothing and caring for nothing
   but for Alexander, Macedon and fighting. Thus would we, by God's Grace,
   train our sons to live alone for Christ, His Truth and the souls whom
   He has redeemed. O that our sons might be men of war from their youth
   for Jesus! We need workers who have been in the vineyard from the first
   hour of the day--these are the backbone of successful Christian
   husbandry. There is necessity for far more attention to training and
   Christian edification than has, until this time, been usual--and the
   sooner this is felt, the better. We need men whose earliest feats of
   mental strength are shown in the gymnasium of the Church, young
   athletes trained for war, ready for exploits and waiting to take their
   place in the Lord's battles at their fathers' side! We shall have a
   grand era when the Church learns to train her youth in holy enterprises
   and to employ them early for the Lord.

   We know, too, that if we are to have good successors, our young friends
   must acquire a noble carriage from their childhood. That is a great
   word--"whom you may make princes in all the earth," and we must not be
   content to come short of it. What? Make our young converts princes?
   Yes, so says the text--and it is to be done, by God's Grace, if they
   are imbued with heavenly principles by the Holy Spirit--and if we set
   before them the example of our princely Savior and if each one of us
   shall try to make his own life right royal in dignity of purpose and
   aim.

   The nobility of the text is of a rare sort--"princes in all the earth."
   Why, a man may be a prince in his own country, and have no power out of
   it--but a man of high Christian character is a prince in all the earth
   and we would have all our children such! That ancient schoolmaster,
   Jacob Treboniue, whenever he went into his school, was accustomed to
   take off

   his hat to his boys. When asked why he did so, he replied, "Because,
   Sir, I do not know what learned doctors and great men I may be
   teaching." He was quite right, for Martin Luther was one of the boys in
   his school and I would have taken off my hat to Martin Luther if I had
   been his schoolmaster! I, perhaps, would have chastised him as well,
   but taken off my hat, at any rate, out of respect to the man concealed
   in such a boy!

   Who knows but among those whom we teach for Jesus, right royal spirits
   may be concealed? And it is ours to try, by the Grace of God, to train
   those choice spirits that they may be yet more noble. I have read a
   story which shows how poor, ragged children may be nobles. A minister
   was once called in to examine a school. The master said to him,
   "Question the boys all through the Catechism, for they know it
   thoroughly." "But," he said, "do you think they understand it?" The
   schoolmaster smiled and bowed his head in assent. "Try them, Sir." The
   minister asked one of the shoeless little boys to repeat the
   commandment, "Honor your father and your mother," and he did so
   promptly. "Do you understand it, my lad?" said the minister.

   "Yes, Sir, I think I do." "What does it mean?" "Well, Sir, last week I
   went over the mountain with some gentlemen to show them the way and I
   had no shoes. And the stones were so sharp that they made my feet bleed
   and the gentlemen gave me some money to buy a pair of shoes. When I
   went home I recollected that mother needed shoes, too, and so I gave
   her the money to buy a pair for herself." That lad was surely one of
   the princes in all the earth! And if children, by the Grace of God, are
   taught to do the same and if we, ourselves, shall each one cultivate a
   noble spirit of disinterested love, we shall give proof that the Holy
   Spirit has made us princes in all the earth!

   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, when I think of what the Church of God can do
   for her young converts when God helps her, I am amazed and full of
   delight! She is a mother whose sons are, each one, born in king's
   palaces and each one joint heirs with the Prince Emanuel! All her
   children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be their peace. To
   make a man a prince you ought to give him not only a noble carriage but
   a rich endowment. He will be wretched unless he has some means with
   which to exercise the liberality which dwells in his heart. If I were
   addressing the young man who has lately been converted, I would say,
   "My Son, take this Bible in your hands. It is the best treasure and you
   will be a prince if you will make it your own by the teaching of the
   Holy Spirit. Here is an endowment for you which shall make you richer
   than Croesus of old!

   "Give to your children the Gospel, the glorious Doctrines of Grace.
   Give to them the Precepts of Christ and the blessed inspiring example
   which He has left behind Him. Give them a hallowed example in your own
   life and you have done infinitely more for them than if you had left
   them an annual income to be measured by millions. You shall make them
   princes in all the earth if, by God's Grace, you lead them to Jesus and
   He endows them with the Spirit of all Grace, so that they are rich in
   faith and zealous for good works."

   I was so glad last Monday that I do not know whenever I have been as
   glad--there were two young sisters and two young brothers of this
   Church, two of them connected with this Sunday school, who were going
   abroad as missionaries! The Prince of Wales set out on his journey on
   Monday and so did two princes and two princesses out of this Church! I
   felt more confidence in sending my princes out, I am bound to say, than
   the Royal mother did in sending her son! Perhaps in the last day of
   account India will have more to say of our princes than even of our
   future king. It is a grand thing for a Church to have missionaries bred
   and born in her! We aspire to it and already the blessing is coming!
   Young men, young women in the Tabernacle, we are looking for more of
   you to be our princes in all the earth!

   We have some in India, we have some in Spain, we have some in other
   lands who are preaching Christ, but we want to have princes in all the
   earth! I shall never be completely satisfied till, looking over a map,
   I shall recollect, "Brother So-and-So is there. Sister So-and-So is
   there turning the heathen to Christ and conquering the land for Jesus!"
   To the utmost bounds of the habitable globe may a princely offspring go
   forth from all the Churches of the living God! And may we take our full
   share of the blessed privilege!

   The last word is this--looking to my young friends who may be present
   this morning, as I have already looked back to our sires and down upon
   ourselves, I say to them, are you prepared to take your fathers'
   places? It was with great joy that, at the cemetery last Friday, when I
   buried my beloved Brother, Henry Olney, I saw so many of our young men
   present. The hope of the Church--honorable men, too--I believe worthy
   to succeed their sires. I thanked God and I took courage as I came out
   of the cemetery gate as I saw many of them walking together in
   Christian brotherhood. Younger

   Brothers and Sisters, I trust you will be worthy of your sires, even if
   you do not excel them. I beseech you, since you are the Church's hope,
   do not disappoint us!

   Young men and young women, consecrate yourselves early to God and let
   it be thorough, out-and-out consecration--you will never regret it.
   There sits behind me a Brother who could tell you, if he were well
   enough, how his early days were happy in his Master's service and how,
   now, when he speaks with somewhat trembling accents, his heart rejoices
   in the Lord whom he has loved so long. Young men, follow in his
   footsteps! Young women, be you, also, fully devoted to Christ! By way
   of warning, I must add, let none of you suppose that because you come
   of pious parents you will be saved. Remember Abraham had for his son an
   Ishmael.

   The line does not run according to blood and natural descent, but
   according to the will of God. Alas, there are some, too--I met one the
   other day, I feel the arrow in my heart at this moment--there are some
   who utterly forsake the Lord God of their fathers and turn aside to
   skepticism and sin. When a young man glories in infidelity and chooses
   for his companions loose fellows of the baser sort, his descent from
   saintly fathers will bring upon him sevenfold guilt. It were better for
   him that he had never been born, than leave an ancestry which God has
   blessed, to turn aside to be an enemy of the Cross of Christ!

   Perhaps someone may say, "Ah, but Ishmael had not a good mother--she
   was Hagar, the bondwoman." My solemn answer is--Esau had the same
   mother as Jacob and was born at the same birth--yet Esau shared not in
   spiritual privileges as Jacob did. Trust not in your descent! Rely not
   upon a mother's tears or a father's piety. Seek the Lord, my sons, my
   daughters, or you will not taste His love. "My son, give Me your
   heart," says Jesus--not your father's heart, but your own! Yield
   yourselves as living sacrifices unto God and then, instead of the
   fathers, shall be the children! I stand among you like an officer in
   the midst of his regiment and, as one and another falls, I entreat you
   to close up your ranks!

   My Brothers and Sisters, my Children! Do not permit the good cause at
   the Tabernacle to fail! You will not, I am sure. I am persuaded better
   things of you though I thus speak. Whoever dies, stand ready, you
   younger men, to take their places! As you get older, ask for more Grace
   to qualify you, not merely to be private members, but to be leaders
   among us, that to this Church may be fulfilled forevermore the promise
   of the text, "Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you
   may make princes in all the earth." God bless you, my beloved
   companions in the army of the Lord, young and old, for Christ's sake!
   Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 45. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--45, 422, 145.
     __________________________________________________________________

Sow To Yourselves

   (No. 1261)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 24, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy." Hosea 10:12.

   FARMERS are now devoting their attention to putting seed into the
   ground. They know right well that without sowing in the present they
   cannot expect a reaping in the future. Seedtime has many lessons. That
   which we shall learn this morning is very personal and practical. Our
   hearts are like a field and if we let them alone the only crop we shall
   get will be the natural weeds of the soil together with those tares
   which the evil spirit is quite sure to scatter whether we sow good seed
   or not. We are to sow beside all waters, but we must not neglect to sow
   to ourselves. There is need that we sow good seed in our own gardens,
   or else it will be of little use to us to have planted and watered
   others.

   It is concerning this sowing of the home farm, this seeding of our own
   peculiar acre, that I shall now speak. May the Spirit of God bless the
   word. Before I launch into the subject, it may be well to observe that
   it does not apply to unre-newed hearts. It is in vain to sow unto
   yourselves till the soil has been prepared by our Father, who is the
   Farmer. Even Christ's own seed of the Word, pure from His own hands,
   brings forth no fruit when it falls on unprepared hearts. His ministers
   are bound to scatter the seed in all places--on the hard rocks, on the
   highways and among thorns--but still no harvest ever comes till the
   soil is broken up and made receptive of the Truth of God by the Spirit
   of God.

   Our text stands in the midst of a number of agricultural similes and it
   is preceded by that of plowing. "I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah
   shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods." Without plowing what is
   the use of sowing? Some soils need plowing and cross plowing--they are
   so heavy by nature that in them the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence,
   and only by mighty ripping of the soil are they saved. Have you ever
   had a broken heart, dear Hearer? Did the Spirit of God ever drive the
   black horses of the Law across your heart with the sharp plow of
   condemnation, killing your false hopes, wounding your spirit and
   revealing your secret sins?

   If you have not known something about this I cannot tell you to sow to
   yourself in righteousness! You are not prepared for that step--you must
   first be plowed. I pray the Divine Spirit to operate upon your heart to
   the breaking up of your fallow ground that you sow not among thorns.
   Let us, also, add another statement, lest we should be misunderstood.
   Even when we speak to the people of God and bid them, "Sow to
   yourselves in righteousness," we, by no means forget that all true
   culture of the heart comes of the Spirit of God.

   We exhort men as the Scriptures do, as active, intelligent beings. We
   exhort them as much as if there were no Holy Spirit, but we also pray
   to the Holy Spirit to make our exhortations, the efforts of His
   servants, effectual for the designed end. Without His Divine
   operations, neither the precept of our text, nor any other, will be
   obeyed. In this, as well as in every matter connected with the Gospel,
   Grace reigns! If the first sentence of the text might seem to breathe
   legality, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness," yet the second clause
   of it most effectually evangelizes it, for it says, "Reap in mercy."

   Unless we reap eternal wrath we must reap in mercy. If anything comes
   of what we do--if our prayerful anxiety and earnest faith as to the
   condition of our heart shall be really productive of holiness--it will
   be the result of infinite mercy and the effect of the Spirit's energy!
   Even the desire to be right before God arises from the operation of the
   Spirit of God! All the righteousness which is found in us comes by
   Divine power and is not of ourselves, but, like the whole of salvation,
   it is the gift of God! So, while I exhort, entreat and persuade, I am
   not forgetful of the Divine One without whose gracious working we can
   do nothing at all!

   We will now draw near to the text. First, my Brothers and Sisters, we
   must not neglect seedtime and, secondly, we must not neglect harvest
   when it comes.

   I. WE MUST NOT NEGLECT SEEDTIME. "While the earth remains, seedtime and
   harvest shall not cease." Both are necessary and, therefore, God has
   decreed that time for both shall be given to men. All life is, in some
   respects, a sowing. All that we think, say, do, or leave undone is a
   sowing for the harvest of the Last Great Day. And if we sow to the
   flesh we shall of the flesh reap what always comes of the flesh,
   namely, corruption. But if we sow to the spirit we shall of the Spirit
   reap what is congruous to the spirit, namely, life everlasting! As a
   man sows, so shall he reap. It is not, however, upon that form of
   sowing and reaping that I am going to speak to you this morning.

   As I have already told you, we shall deal with the inner life, for I
   think the connection shows that this is what was meant, for the Prophet
   is evidently dealing with the people, themselves, and their condition
   of heart before God. The outward sowing of righteous actions in the
   field of the world is, doubtless, very important, but none the less so
   is the secret sowing of the enclosed garden of the heart. Our subject
   will be just this--that after we have been plowed by conversion we need
   to take great care that our spiritual culture commences and is carried
   on.

   The little spot enclosed by Grace out of the world's wide wilderness
   now calls for our attention and claims the holy skill and industry
   necessary to spiritual farming. It must be sown with the good seed of
   the Word of God, even the precious Truths of Scripture, that from its
   soil there may be produced a harvest which shall be garnered with
   abounding joy and bring glory to God. The first thing after conversion
   to Christ is confession of Christ. And the next is instruction in
   Christ. I fear that too many professed converts leap over these hedges
   and endeavor to become teachers at once! Without joining themselves to
   the Church of Christ, or becoming disciples in His school, they rush to
   the front, endeavoring to teach before they have been taught--and if
   they are the least checked, they resent it as an interference and cast
   suspicion upon the zeal of their advisers.

   They call themselves disciples and repudiate all discipline. They say
   they are soldiers of the Cross, but they can neither march in line nor
   keep step and neither will they submit themselves to order. They appear
   to think that the moment they are born, they are fathers! The instant
   they are enlisted they are officers! Now, conversion is the beginning
   of the spiritual life--not the climax of it! It makes a man a disciple
   and the main thing a disciple has to do is to learn. After he has
   learned, he will be able to teach others, also, but not till then. I
   have often said to you that nothing can come out of you that is not in
   you--and therefore if there is not something put into you to begin
   with, you may go out to war, but, as you have neither shot nor powder
   in your gun, the enemy will not be much injured by your valor.

   We must be filled before we can run over! It is necessary for the
   Christian man to be prepared for holy service--in fact, what he does
   for God should be a harvest growing out of himself--because of a
   previous seedtime during which much precious seed was put into him. Let
   us take note upon this sowing and ask, first, what shall we sow? Here
   is our heart, a plowed field, ready to receive the seed. What shall we
   sow? I answer, see to it, my Brethren, that there is sown in you a real
   faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be of the simplest and most
   childlike kind. Do not trouble yourselves with definitions which darken
   counsel or by words without knowledge.

   Hold on to Christ as a babe clings to its mother with its arms around
   her neck. Trust Him, depend upon Him, rest in Him and in Him, alone.
   Mind that your faith is real reliance on Jesus, for I meet with some
   who think that faith is to believe that you are saved, but if, indeed,
   you are not saved, such faith will be a lie and you will entangle
   yourselves in the net of false confidence. Others think that faith is
   to believe that Christ died for them, when at the same time they think
   that He died for everybody, so, of course He died for them! Surely
   there can be no particular virtue or power in believing what is a
   self-evident inference!

   Many believe that Christ died for them and yet they are not saved. To
   believe savingly is to trust Christ--see that you have this trust sown
   in you. You ought to know why you trust Him and what He did for you,
   and in what relationship He stands towards you and God. You should be
   able, not merely to sing about His blood, but to know the doctrine of
   Atonement--to grasp the blessed fact of His Substitution--and know the
   reconciliation thereby effected. To know whom you have believed should
   be one of the chief objectives of your life! I am afraid that some who
   profess to have been converted do not even know the A B C of the
   Gospel, namely, what is the faith of God's elect and on what does it
   rest? Take heed to yourselves that you are not ignorant here, but let
   your heart be well sown with simple reliance upon the eternal Son of
   God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

   Sow to yourselves and see that in your soul there is repentance of sin.
   Do not fall under the notion that the necessity for repentance is over.
   I have heard it said that repentance is "merely a change of mind." I
   wish that those who so speak

   had undergone that change! It is a sad sign of a faulty ministry when
   men can depreciate that precious Grace of God! Mark you, no sinner will
   enter into Heaven who has not repented of his sins. No promise can be
   found in the Inspired Pages of eternal life to men who live and die
   without repentance! It is an old-fashioned virtue, I know, but it is in
   fashion with the angels who rejoice over sinners who possess it!

   Know, my dear young Friends, that sin is an evil and a bitter
   thing--and the language to be used about it is such as David employed
   in the 51st Psalm. Pray to God to convince you of your guilt and ask
   Him to enable you to flee from every false way. Seek Grace to detect
   sin and as soon as ever you discern its presence, to fly from it as you
   would from a deadly serpent! May there be worked in you an inward
   abhorrence of sin and a loathing of yourself because of your tendency
   to transgress. "You that love the Lord hate evil." "Hating even the
   garment spotted by the flesh." May you also have a full conviction that
   in you, that is, in your flesh, there dwells no good thing--that your
   nature is empty, void and waste, like the chaos of old--except as the
   blessed Spirit shall brood over you and the everlasting God shall
   create you new.

   There needs to be in your soul a deep sense of its rein or you will not
   prize redemption, or much of the godly sorrow of repentance, or you
   will not know the ecstasy of forgiveness. O for a plentiful sowing in
   tears, that we may reap in joy! Labor, also, to have sown in you a
   clear knowledge of the Gospel. Do not be satisfied to see men as trees
   walking, but ask for the eyes cleansed, even, of the smallest mote. Be
   thankful if you have only a little sight, but let your gratitude lead
   you to pray for the removal of every scale. If you are really to bring
   forth a harvest of wheat without tares, you must distinguish between
   things that defer, for a man's belief affects his life more than some
   imagine.

   You ought to know the plan of redemption, the system upon which God
   grants salvation. It will be a great advantage for you to understand
   the two Covenants and to see, plainly, the distinction between the
   Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. He who is clear upon that
   matter has grasped the marrow of theology and possesses the clue to the
   precious Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would have you know the Doctrines of
   Grace and understand them--and be able to defend them with Scriptural
   arguments whenever they are assailed. Young people, I pray you, be
   willing to learn! Learn before you teach!

   Do not go blundering out to tell the tale of mercy before you have
   considered it and in some measure understood its grand points. God
   forbid that I should dampen your zeal, but I implore you to put a
   little knowledge with it, or else the best of causes will suffer at
   your hands. Become apt to teach by being first apt in learning. Grow in
   Grace and in the knowledge of your Lord and Savior. Fill your basket
   with bread from His hands or you will never feed the multitude. I would
   have you well equipped for battle with the adversaries of the faith,
   or, at any rate, able to give a reason for the hope that is in you with
   meekness and fear.

   Do not even be satisfied with clear knowledge. Ask for living
   principles growing out of this knowledge. The religion of passion is
   flimsy. The religion of principle will endure wear and tear. Heat and
   excitement too often engender a mushroom life which dies as readily as
   it is produced. We want you to know the Truth of God so as to feel its
   power till it dominates your entire nature, sways the scepter of your
   soul and becomes a resident monarch within you! Then will you be able
   to stand alone and you will not need a crowd about you, or a flaming
   orator to hold you in your place--you will know whom you have believed
   and be persuaded that He is able to keep that which you have committed
   to Him.

   Oh, if our young friends and old friends, too, were well sown in this
   fashion, so that the Truths they profess to believe had a living
   foothold in their souls by the Holy Spirit, what Churches we should
   have and what little injury would the Pope and the infidel be able to
   do to us! A man may hold a religion--he may hold 50 religions and have
   a new one every week and be none the better--it is the religion which
   holds the man which will save him! Your Bibles printed on paper are a
   blessing, but to have the Scriptures written on the heart is far
   better! We need not so much the doctrine which has been driven into the
   brain by argument, but the Truths of God worked into the soul by
   experience through the teaching of the blessed Spirit! Would to God
   that living principles were thus sown in all hearts!

   The great point is that whatever is sown in us should be sown in
   righteousness, that is to say, that it is really sown and that honest
   seed is taken into our hearts. If you sow in error, however sincerely
   you sow, it will produce bad results upon your intellect. "Sow to
   yourselves in righteousness." Do not take handfuls of seed out of your
   grandfather's basket simply because he put it there--study to see
   whether it is God's Seed. Do not snatch haphazard at what is in the
   creed, or the articles of your Church--go to the winnowed corn of
   Scripture--sow that and that only. And though we, or an an-

   gel from Heaven, should teach you anything contrary to the Infallible
   Word of God, refuse such seed a place in your hearts.

   Pray God to forgive the preacher his mistakes, but do not follow him.
   Pray to "sow to yourselves in righteousness." Receive the Truth of God
   and only the Truth of God and beseech the Lord to give you an honest
   grip of that Truth--for there is such a thing as "holding the Truth in
   unrighteousness." It is very easy to be untrue to the Truth of God.
   Truth held by a bad man is as a jewel of gold in a swine's snout. The
   fair lily of Truth should be held in a clean hand. Nor is this all. Let
   us ask the Lord to rid us of the mere pretence and mimicry of faith.
   Away, forever, with a sham faith! Never talk fictitious experience. Do
   not borrow bits from this man and bits from that and retail them as
   your own--this is unrighteous!

   Pretence in religion is a sort of blasphemy. May all our religion be
   such as will stand the test of the Day of Judgement. I charge you, make
   sure work in this matter. If, indeed, the Lord has plowed your heart,
   the field belongs to Him. Therefore obey His Word and remember how He
   forbids His people to sow with mingled seed. Let all that which is sown
   in you be true, honest, gracious, loving, Godlike and Divine, so when
   the harvest comes you shall not lose what you have worked. God help you
   thus to sow!

   The second inquiry is, How shall we sow it? The answer is, Sow in the
   Lord's appointed manner. The means of Grace are ordained of God to help
   us in sowing, watering, weeding and fostering the good seed. Let us, in
   dependence upon the Holy Spirit, sow the heart, first, by diligently
   studying the Word of God. Every Believer ought to be a student in
   Christ's College. We who preach the Gospel are to go into all the world
   and make disciples of all nations. Now, a disciple is a learner. Are
   all the people who professed to have been converted during the late
   special services learners? I should like to know, for one, where they
   are. I have anxiously asked several of my Brothers, the pastors of the
   neighboring Churches, and they do not know.

   I should like to discover the Churches which have received these new
   converts, for wherever I inquire, I hear of one or two, but scarcely
   any more--and up to this moment my earnest inquiries have brought me
   nothing but bitter disappointment. If these thousands were made
   disciples, how is it that they do not come under discipline? They
   professed to be converted, how is it that they have not united
   themselves with our Churches? Do they need no instruction, or are none
   of us fit to edify them? Conversion should be the commencement of
   discipleship, but where are the disciples? Some months have now passed
   and with deepest sorrow I inquire with what Churches are they
   associated. Where are they learning the way of God more perfectly? I
   should rejoice to know.

   My young Brothers and Sisters, lately brought to Jesus, search the
   Scriptures through and through! Be not satisfied with simply knowing
   the way of salvation--ask to know all that God has revealed--for there
   is nothing unnecessary in the Bible! There is not a leaf that we could
   afford to tear out and throw into the fire and say, "It is a
   superfluity." It is all to be studied and we must give ourselves to the
   study of it by reading it, by hearing it and by bowing ourselves to the
   influence of the Holy Spirit, that He may lead us into all the Truth of
   God! How shall we sow? Why, by an inward reception of the Truth into
   the soul! I cannot tell you how the branch takes in the sap, but I know
   it does take it in. And you must receive God's Truth into your hearts
   as living sap to your souls--it is the living and incorruptible Seed
   which lives and abides forever.

   I want you not only to know the Truth of God in theory, but to receive
   it in its inward power into your very souls as babes receive milk that
   you may feed thereon and grow. Only by such feeding can you come to the
   measure of the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus. You can, also,
   thus, "sow to yourselves in righteousness" by much prayer, much praise,
   and much of every form of communion with Jesus Christ. O Brothers and
   Sisters, if you are to do exploits, you must be strong, and you cannot
   be strong except in the Lord and in the power of His might. O Brethren,
   if you are to be holy, you must commune with the Holy One and get a
   glow upon your countenance reflected from the face of your Lord! In His
   light, only, can you shine as lights in the world.

   To say you are converted is nothing! We desire your sanctification,
   your growing likeness to the Lord! I do not know whether I make my
   meaning fully apparent, but I mean this, that we must by all means that
   God has put into our power make our hearts to be a well-stored seed
   plot in which there shall grow for God all manner of precious fruits,
   which afterwards we shall reap and use to His Glory. You are trying to
   sow others, some of you, have you sown yourselves with that Seed which
   yields seed to the sower and bread to the eater? Look to yourselves,
   for if you leave home

   plowing unheeded you may have to complain with the spouse, "They made
   me a keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept."

   I am certain that if we want to spread religion we must begin by
   securing the improvement of those who are already Christians. Until the
   army of the Lord shall be stronger and every man shall have more of the
   force of Divine Life, we cannot expect to see the nations conquered by
   the Church of God. Look well to this matter and see to it that you use
   the means of God's ordaining, that by the power of the Spirit you may
   sow to yourselves.

   Thirdly, When shall we sow to ourselves? What is the proper sowing
   time? I answer, specially at the time of conversion and immediately
   after your new birth. Very much depends upon the soil being well sown
   when it is newly plowed. Then the heart is tender. Then the soul is in
   the formative stage--like clay on the potter's wheel, or like wax that
   has just been melted--it is, then, ready to receive the right
   impression and form. When Paul was converted he went into Arabia, for a
   time, and these months were, I have no doubt, the most profitable that
   Paul ever spent, for there he communed with God and his mind was
   impregnated with the Truths of God.

   Perhaps he had never been so great an Apostle during the rest of his
   life if it had not been for that little tarrying in Arabia. The
   disciples, after the Resurrection of our Lord, were to tarry at
   Jerusalem till they were endowed with power from on high. O you
   Christian people, see to it that you give your first thoughts, after
   your conversion, to being edified and built up in your most holy faith!
   It will be the most practically useful endeavor to others, in the long
   run, if, like your Lord, you take time to do your Father's business in
   the quiet of Nazareth's contemplation than in bearing unripe fruit.

   But, Brethren, it is not immediately after conversion, alone, I take
   it, that every Christian should sow unto himself in righteousness. We
   must be always sowing and if we do not, we shall not be always reaping.
   Ask the best instructed Christian and he will tell you that he knows
   more of his own folly than he ever did and is more willing to be a
   learner, now, than when he first entered into the school of Christ.
   Lord, teach us! Teach us every day! Even to gray hairs, still instruct
   us, that we may have the power to instruct others!

   There should be a special sowing, it seems to me, whenever we desire a
   special harvest. Notice our blessed Lord-- whenever He was about to do
   some special action, such as sending out the 12, we always read that He
   retired to pray. Praying was His habit, but there were peculiar seasons
   when He had more of it than usual--that more power might go out from
   Him. Whenever you are about to be, as you hope, a great soul-winner,
   wait on the Lord more abundantly concerning it. If you are about to
   pass through an extreme trial and need great strength to yield a
   greater harvest of patience, have a greater sowing of Grace by drawing
   nearer to God. Our Grace should always be at the flood tide--but even
   then some flood tides are higher than others and we may pray the Lord
   to give us a spring tide flood when extraordinary Grace is required.

   Again, I say, look well to yourselves, lest you lose that which you
   have worked. Seeing there remains a rest for the people of God, let
   none of us even seem to come short of it. With all your ability, get
   understanding. With all your doings see to it that your inner man is
   not neglected, that you walk before the Lord in secret and are not
   negligent in soul communion with Him. See that you walk circumspectly,
   that you grow in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   We should be always sowing, for we have to be, in practical holiness,
   ever reaping.

   In the next place, why do so many omit to sow? It may be, first,
   because they are lifted up with the notion that they do not require
   sowing. How idle is their conceit! Here is a piece of land that has
   just been enclosed from the devil's common, and it has, for years,
   produced only briars and thorns. It needs sowing! Is there good seed in
   it by nature hidden among the clods? Impossible! Do you believe that
   because it has been plowed it may now be left alone and a harvest will
   come spontaneously? You know better! The novice is not to be set up as
   a teacher--he should sit down as a scholar. He may tell what he
   knows--so far he has been sown and so far he may produce a harvest--but
   how can he tell what he does not know, and how shall he communicate to
   others what has never been communicated to himself?

   We do not pick up religious knowledge and maturity by instinct. We are
   bound to search out the meaning of the Word of God and yield ourselves
   to the illumination of the Divine Spirit. We must prove our conversion
   to be true by being teachable as little children. We are not to rush
   naked to the fight, but to seek full equipment--and that we have not in
   ourselves--helmet and shield and sword are to be sought for in the
   armory of God. Some do not like the sowing because it is very quiet
   work. A young man spends an hour searching into the Truth of God for a
   certain doctrine. Well,

   that will never be put into the newspapers, or written in the reports
   of a society and nobody will extol him for it--hence he is apt to
   despise such exercises.

   He goes hour after hour to the Lord Jesus and begs to be instructed in
   the deep things of God--nobody will sound a trumpet about that! No, nor
   do they sound trumpets when they sow fields--the shouting is left till
   they bring in the sheaves! But the sowing must be done though nobody
   shouts over it and you must search the Word and get your souls well
   sown, none the less, but all the more, because it does not bring you
   applause. Sometimes it is even suggested that to cultivate the heart by
   quiet study is a waste of time. The sower in sowing does not see any
   immediate results! Rather, as he scatters his handfuls, he perceives a
   void in his basket and there is so much less corn in the granary. There
   are no results, except his weariness, as he toils over the furrows--yet
   he is a wise man.

   Yes, and you, dear Friend, must not be snatching at results too soon. I
   and glad that you are wanting to win souls! May that passion be
   increased in you, but more glad, still, shall I be if you combine with
   that passion, the prudent thought that you must ask His blessed Spirit
   to make you a vessel fit to be used! If you have been trying to produce
   a harvest for God without any preparatory sowing, you have only to take
   counsel of common sense and learn your error. You must be conscious
   that in some points you will not succeed. You will be staggered by
   infidel objections. You will often be completely nonplussed when
   tallying with inquirers because you will not know how to meet the
   questions put to you. Sometimes you will blunder over a text and will
   not be able to make heads or tails of it.

   Well, come to school a little while before you go out as a teacher!
   Come and be plowed and sowed a little before thinking about the harvest
   home! Sowing, besides, is often very sorrowful work. We read of some
   who sow in tears. To learn costs humiliation, weariness, trouble and
   crying because of the task. I have cried my way into many a Truth of
   God. I believe there is many a portion in God's Word whose meaning will
   never reach you except you will work your passage, as some poor men do
   when they want to go to America. You cannot open these sealed treasure
   houses without hard thought, long toil, much prayer, much conquering of
   prejudice and yielding up of the soul to the Holy Spirit.

   This is a kind of labor which always pays well and when it is over,
   your other work for God will be much lightened. After the sowing is
   over the farmer rests and the seed springs up both by night and by day.
   He knows not how but by thorough seeding of the soul with the Truth of
   God, studied and understood, there comes forth a future crop with
   wonderful ease and spontaneous growth. Lazy people generally take the
   most pains in the long run but it is a saving of time and effort to
   store the mind and heart thoroughly at the very first.

   The shoeing of the horse and the buckling on of the harness with care
   will save time in the journey. Supplying a ship before it sails is a
   part of the means by which a safe and speedy voyage is procured. Your
   peace and strength in later years wild amply repay you for care and
   effort now. Sow in the present that you may reap in the future! Last of
   all, on this point, why should we sow? We should sow unto ourselves and
   cultivate our hearts very carefully because our lives must, after all,
   as to their results, depend upon this sowing. If a man sows
   scantily--if he learns little, if he receives little of the Spirit of
   Christ into him--his life must be feeble and barren. How can there be a
   rich harvest from a scanty sowing?

   Little cast into the soil ends in little coming out of it. If a man
   sows in a patchy way, attending only to a few selected Truths and
   Graces, as some do, there will be a patchy character as the result.
   Some Brothers and Sisters have been thoroughly sown as to one furrow
   and there is a first-rate crop in that place. But then they neglect
   other portions--they do not strive before God to obtain all Grace or to
   know all Truth--and as a consequence their life is faulty in many
   points. Complete experience and watchfulness of every point are
   necessary to the formation of a complete character. Beware of a half
   obedience in the heart, or a semi-illumination of the mind, for these
   will create an inconsistent character--a garden here and a desert
   there.

   Be cautious, also, not to sow with mingled seed, for this was forbidden
   of old and if you do it there will be a bit of wheat in one place and a
   bit of tares in another--and you will be trying to serve God and
   mammon. Too many professors are as pleased with the tares as with the
   wheat! They scarcely know one from the other! As the Eastern plant
   called in our version, a tare, is very like the wheat, so there are
   counterfeits of the virtues and these deceive many. If we sow only with
   the good Seed of the Truth of God, we shall realize a holy,
   influential, acceptable character--but mingled seed will produce
   fickleness, inconsistency, poverty of character and we shall bring no
   glory to the great Farmer. I am certain I am right in enforcing this
   point upon all the children of God with great earnestness.

   Brothers and Sisters, do you believe that people would be carried away
   with Ritualism, which has now grown to be undisguised Popery, had they
   been fully instructed in the doctrines of our Protestant faith? I do
   not believe it would have been possible! At the present moment the
   wolves leap into our Churches and they find easy prey where the people
   are least instructed and established in the Gospel. The people that
   know nothing for themselves--nothing by heart knowledge-- are readily
   deceived. But where there is a clear understanding and a fervent love
   for the Gospel. Where there is a spiritual growth and an abundant
   communion with God arising out of inward vital principles, men are not
   carried away by every wind of doctrine. They are not deceived by the
   sleight of man and his cunning craftiness--they stand fast, rooted and
   grounded in Christ!

   In conclusion, this steadfastness is a part of the harvest of which I
   have now to speak.

   II. WE MUST NOT NEGLECT THE HARVEST. If a man with constant
   watchfulness, holy fear, devout prayer and simple faith in Jesus seeks
   to cultivate his own heart, he may expect fruit to come of it, both
   towards himself and his God. Towards himself one fruit will be
   stability, as I have already said. The man will be able to say, "O God,
   my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise." He is not to be
   decoyed by the boasts of the finders of new truth, nor by the
   contemptuous sneers of modern thinkers who deride the good old way, nor
   by those mighty discoverers who have found out that there is no truth
   at all! Experienced Believers know and are persuaded and have firm
   moorings.

   Oh, be well sown, for then you will be stable and out of that stability
   will come solid comfort! Half the fears of Christian people rise like
   mists from the marshes of their ignorance. If we knew the promises
   better, knew the Gospel better, knew God better and knew Christ better,
   we should not have a tenth as many fears. Remember that as the soul is
   penetrated with the spirit of the Gospel, it will be filled with peace
   and consolation--

   "'Tis religion that can give

   Sweetest pleasures while we live,

   'Tis religion must supply

   Solid comfort when we die."

   Those sweet pleasures and solid comforts are the harvest which those
   reap who look well to the good sowing of their souls. Those whose
   hearts are sown by Grace possess joys utterly unknown to other
   professors. What rapture and delight are frequently bestowed on those
   who have drawn near to God and had their souls full of Him! "Blessed
   are the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk, O Lord, in
   the light of Your countenance." When others starve they shall feed, and
   when others faint they shall renew their strength because their souls
   have learned to stay themselves on God, alone.

   One blessed fruit of this sowing is boldness in the Lord's service. The
   men that know their God shall be strong and do great exploits. He who
   fears God much fears not men. He has been living near to God and cares
   no more for the opinions of men than for the howling of the wind over
   the moor. With this courage comes patience under suffering--the man who
   is full of Grace is able to bear the Lord's will whatever it may be.
   This is a blessed fruit of the Spirit! You who think resignation a
   light thing may yet live to prize it. These are a few of the fruits
   which grow in a soul well-seeded by Grace.

   Now notice the text says that though we sow in righteousness we must
   reap in mercy. If any fruit, Beloved, ever comes out of your earnest
   prayerfulness and watchfulness, it will be God's Mercy that gives it to
   you, for do what you will, anything that is God-like and holy must be
   planted, nourished and supported by Divine power--and nothing short of
   it! If you have shown any holy courage or gracious patience, or sacred
   stability, or hallowed experience, or spiritual joy, or heavenly
   rapture, or true holiness, it is God's Mercy that has enabled you to
   reap this precious fruit!

   God bids you sow--it is your duty to do so and to be jealous over your
   own spirit--but to reap to the Glory of God is entirely the gift of His
   Grace, from first to last and we must cheerfully admit that it is so.
   The text most pointedly bids us reap. "Reap in mercy." There is fruit
   upon you if you have sown aright in the power of the Spirit of
   God--therefore reap it! That is to say, when the season comes, be ready
   with the outward fruits of your inward Grace. Let patience be ready in
   growth and perseverance in the day of labor. As you bring forth these
   things, bless the Lord for them. Do not be exalted by them, for you are
   to reap in mercy--if you were to reap in any other way, you might be
   exalted--be humble, for it is God's Mercy that gives you the Graces
   which flourish in your soul.

   Take care to bless God for every good and perfect gift. And whatever
   comes out of your inner life, reap it so as to lay it out for the good
   of others in order that God may be glorified! If there is in you any
   zeal, courage, patience and what not, as the result of the inner
   culture, then come forward and spend it for your Redeemer's praise!
   Remember you have

   nothing which you have not received--and having received it, you are
   bound in gratitude to expend it for Him who gave it to you.

   But closing, let us see to it, I say, dear Brothers and Sisters, that
   all of us are keeping our hearts with all diligence before the Lord. It
   is the Spirit's work! We have admitted this, over and over again, but
   the Spirit of God awakens us to activity and does not lull us into a
   passive condition, for He would have us careful that these things be in
   us and abound, that we are not barren nor unfruitful. He would have us
   see that we come not short in any good thing, but that we abound in all
   knowledge, all love and all patience to His Glory, that thus our life
   may show that we have, indeed, come under the fostering husbandry of
   our Lord Jesus Christ.

   I would to God we were as a Church lifted up to a higher platform
   altogether, the whole of us, by one blessed lift from the Divine
   Spirit! And then I would to God that out of us there might be chosen
   more ministers of Christ, more mighty soul-winners, more missionaries
   among the heathen and more of every order of soldiers for Christ! When
   our Master needs workmen, He does not take those who are sick. If you
   had to lay a railway you would not go to Brompton Hospital and pick out
   all the patients with consumption and give them a pickaxe or a spade to
   try and throw up embankments or dig cuttings. No, but you would select
   the strong men, the men of brawny arms, the men of muscle who know how
   to wield crowbar and spade.

   And so will God do in His Church. We must be strong in Grace, strong in
   secret, strong in private prayer, strong in fellowship with God, strong
   in vital principle within us and after that the Lord will let us loose
   as a Church upon His foes, like a tornado sweeping everything before
   us! We cannot bring out of ourselves what is not in us! We must go to
   God to be filled or we cannot run! Lamps may shine, but they must be
   trimmed with oil, or else they will smell amiss and cease to shine--we
   must have food, or we cannot keep up our stamina--we must live upon
   Christ! We must be nurtured with His very heart's blood, or else the
   life in us will only be a life of pain and panting--not a life of
   triumph and of realization! See to this and may God bless you therein.

   As for you who are not plowed, I beseech you, remember that you can
   bring forth no fruit to God. Be ashamed at your barrenness and cry
   mightily unto Him that He would deal graciously with you and bring you
   to Jesus! For now you are near unto cursing, and before long, unless
   Divine Grace prevents, your end will be to be burned. May God save you
   for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Ephesians 4. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--719; 119 (VER. II), 4-6; 39.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Turning Of Job's Captivity

   (No. 1262)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends:
   also the Lord ga ve Job twice as much as he had before." Job 42:10.

   SINCE God is immutable, He acts always upon the same principles and,
   therefore, His course of action in the olden times to a man of a
   certain sort will be a guide as to what others may expect who are of
   like character. God does not act by caprice, nor by fits and starts. He
   has His usual modes and ways. The Psalmist David uses the expression,
   "Then will I teach transgressors Your ways," as if God had well-known
   ways, habits and modes of action. And so He has, or He would not be the
   unchangeable Jehovah. In that song of Moses, the servant of God and the
   song of the Lamb, which is recorded in the 15th chapter of Revelation,
   we read, "Just and true are Your ways, You King of saints." The Lord
   has ways as high above our ways as the heavens are above the earth--and
   these are not fickle and arbitrary.

   These ways, although very different if we view them superficially, are
   really always the same when you view them with understanding. The ways
   of the Lord are right, though transgressors fall therein by not
   discerning them. But the righteous understand the ways of the Lord, for
   to them He makes them known and they perceive that grand general
   principles govern all the actions of God. If it were not so, the case
   of such a man as Job would be of no service to us. It could not be said
   that the things which happened before happened unto us for an example,
   because if God did not act on fixed principles we could never tell how
   He would act in any fresh case--and that which happened to one man
   would be no rule whatever--and no encouragement whatever to another.

   We are not all like Job, but we all have Job's God. Though we have
   neither risen to Job's wealth, nor will, probably, ever sink to Job's
   poverty, yet there is the same God above us if we are brought high and
   the same God with His everlasting arms beneath us if we are brought
   low. And what the Lord did for Job, He will do for us, not precisely in
   the same form, but in the same spirit and with same design. If,
   therefore, we are brought low tonight, let us be encouraged with the
   thought that God will turn our captivity around and let us entertain
   the hope that after the time of trial shall be over, we shall be
   richer, especially in spiritual things, than ever we were before.

   There will come a turning point to the growing heat of affliction and
   the fire shall cool. When the ebb has fallen to its lowest, the sea
   will return to its strength. When mid-winter has come, spring will be
   near and when midnight has struck, then the dawning will not be far
   away. Perhaps, too, the signal of our happier days shall be the very
   same as that of the patient Patriarch--when we pray for our friends,
   blessings shall be poured into our own bosoms.

   Our text has in it three points very clearly. First, the Lord can soon
   turn His people's captivity-- "The Lord turned the captivity of Job."
   Second, there is generally some point at which He does this--in Job's
   case He turned his captivity when he prayed for his friends. And,
   third, Believers shall never be losers by God, for He gave Job twice as
   much as he had given him before.

   I. First, then, THE LORD CAN SOON TURN HIS PEOPLE'S CAPTIVITY. That is
   a very remarkable expression--"captivity." It does not say, "God turned
   Job's poverty," though Job was reduced to the extremity of penury,
   having lost all his property. We do not read that the Lord turned his
   sickness, though he was covered with boils. It does not say that He
   turned away the sting of bereavement, reproach and calumny, although
   all those are included. But there is something more meant by the word
   captivity. A man may be very poor and yet not in captivity. His soul
   may sing among the angels when his body is on a dunghill and dogs are
   licking his sores.

   A man may be very sick and yet not be in captivity. He may be roaming
   the broad fields of Covenant mercy though he cannot rise from his bed.
   His soul may never enjoy greater liberty than when his body is scarcely
   able to turn from side to side. Captivity is bondage of mind--the iron
   entering into the soul. I suspect that Job, under the severe mental
   trial which attended his bodily pains, was, as to his spirit, like a
   man bound hand and foot and fettered--and then taken away

   from his native country--banished from the place which he loved,
   deprived of the associations which had cheered him and confined in
   darkness. I mean that together with the trouble and trial to which he
   was subjected, he had lost, somewhat, the Presence of God. Much of his
   joy and comfort had departed. The peace of his mind had gone and the
   associations which he had formed with other Believers were now broken.
   He was, in all these respects, like a lone captive.

   His three friends had condemned him as a hypocrite and would not have
   association with him except to censure him. And thus he felt like one
   who had been carried into a far country and banished both from God and
   man. He could only follow the occupation of a captive, that is, to be
   oppressed, to weep, to claim compassion and to pour out a dolorous
   complaint. He hung his harp on the willows and felt that he could not
   sing the Lord's song in a strange land. Poor Job! He is less to be
   pitied for his bereavements, poverty and sickness than for his loss of
   that candle of the Lord which once shone about his head!

   That is the worst point of all when trouble penetrates to the heart.
   All the bullets in the battle, though they fly thick as hail, will not
   distress a soldier like one which finds a lodging in his flesh. "To
   take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them," is a
   grand and manly thing. But when that sea of trouble fills the cabin of
   the heart, puts out the fires of inward energy, washes the judgement
   from the wheel and renders the pumps of resolution useless, the man
   becomes very nearly a wreck. "A wounded spirit who can bear?" Touch a
   man in his bone and in his flesh, and yet he may exult--but touch him
   in his mind--let the finger of God be laid upon his spirit--and then,
   indeed, he is in captivity!

   I think the term includes all the temporal distress into which Job
   came, but it chiefly denotes the bondage of spirit into which he was
   brought as the combined result of his troubles, his sickness, the
   taunts of his friends and the withdrawal of the Divine smile. My point
   is that God can deliver us out of that captivity--He can deliver us
   from both the spiritual and the temporal captivity and give us a joyful
   release.

   The Lord can deliver us out of spiritual captivity and that very
   speedily. I may be addressing some, tonight, who feel everything except
   what they want to feel. They enjoy no sweetness in the means of Grace
   and yet for all the world they would not give them up. They used to, at
   one time, rejoice in the Lord. But now they cannot see His face and the
   utmost they can say is, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" It
   little matters that some live in perpetual joy--the triumphs of others
   cannot cheer a man who is, himself, defeated. It is idle to tell a
   distressed soul that it ought to rejoice as others do. What one ought
   to do and what one can do are sometimes very different, for how to
   perform that which we would, we find not.

   In vain do you pour your glad notes into a troubled ear. Singing songs
   to a sad heart is like pouring vinegar upon gunpowder--the elements are
   discordant and cause a painful effervescence. There are true children
   of God who walk in darkness and see no light. Yes, some who are the
   excellent of the earth, nevertheless are compelled to cry aloud, "My
   God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Throughout all time some of
   these have been in the Church and there always will be such, let our
   perfect Brethren condemn them as they please. The Lord will always have
   His mourners. His Church shall always have an afflicted and poor people
   in her midst. Let us all take warning, for we, also, may be tried and
   cast down before our day is over.

   It may be that the brightest eye among us may yet be dimmed and the
   boldest heart may yet be faint--and he that dwells nearest to his God
   at this moment may yet have to cry out in bitterness of soul, "O God,
   return unto me, and lift up the light of Your countenance upon me."
   Therefore mark well this cheering Truth of God--God can turn your
   captivity and turn it at once!

   Some of God's children seem to think that to recover their former joy
   has to take a long period of time. It is true, dear Brother, that if
   you had to work your passage back to where you came from it would be a
   weary voyage. There would have to be most earnest searching of heart
   and purging of spirit, struggling with inbred lusts and outward
   temptations and all that, if joy were always the result of inward
   condition. There must be a great deal of scrubbing and cleansing and
   furbishing up of the house before you could invite your Lord to come,
   if He and you dwelt together on terms of Law. But albeit that all this
   cleansing and purifying will have to be done, it will be done far
   better when you have a sense of His love than it ever can be if you do
   it in order to make yourself fit for it!

   Do you not remember when first you sought Him? You wanted Him to deal
   with you on the legal ground of making yourself better and you prepared
   the house for Him to come and dwell in it, but He would not come on
   such terms. He came to you just as you were--and when He came, He,
   Himself, drove out the intruders which profaned the temple of

   your soul! And He dwelt with you in order to perfect the cleansing. Now
   He will vouchsafe to you the conscious enjoyment of His Presence on the
   same terms as at first, that is, on terms of free and Sovereign Grace!
   Did you not, at that time, admit the Savior to your soul because you
   could not do without Him? Was not that the reason? Is it not a good
   reason for receiving Him again?

   Was there anything in you when you received Him, which could commend
   you to Him? Say, were you not, all over, defilement and full of sin and
   misery? And yet you opened the door and said, "My Lord, come in. In
   Your Free Grace, come in, for I must have You or I perish." My dear
   Friend, dare you invite Him, now, on any other terms? Having begun in
   the Spirit, would you be made perfect in the flesh? Having begun to
   live by Grace, would you go on to live by works? When you were a
   stranger, did you trust in His love and now that you are His friend,
   will you appeal to the Law? God forbid! Oh, Brother, Jesus loves you,
   still, and in a moment He will restore you!

   Oh, Sister, Jesus would gladly come back to your heart, again, and that
   in an instant! Have you never read that joyful exclamation of the
   spouse, "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
   Amminadib"? Why can He not do the same with you now and quicken you,
   even in a moment? After all, you are not worse than you were when He
   first visited you--you are not in so sorry a plight, after all, as your
   first natural state--for then you were dead in trespasses and sins
   altogether! But He quickened you and now, though you say you feel dead,
   yet the very expression proves that there is some life lingering in
   you! Did I not hear you say--

   "Return, O Sacred Dove, return, Sweet Messenger of rest, I hate the
   sins that made You mourn, And drove You from my breast."

   Why, Friend, those sighs and groans are sweet to the Lord and they
   would not have been in you if He had not put them there! They are sure
   tokens that His Grace has not been altogether taken from you! Do you
   not know, O child of God, that the Grace of God is intended to meet all
   your sins after conversion as well as before conversion? Do you not
   know that the Lord loved you of old, despite your sins and He loves you
   still? Don't you understand that the ground of your salvation is not
   your standing, or your character, but the standing of Christ before God
   and the Character and work of Christ in the Presence of God? Believe
   firmly that He still loves you, for so, indeed, He does! Cast your eyes
   upon those dear wounds of His and read His love still written there.
   Oh, unbelieving Thomas, do not put your finger into your own wounds,
   for that will not help you! Place them in the wounds of Jesus! Come
   close to Him and you shall cry with ecstasy of spirit, "My Lord and my
   God."

   Well do I know what it is to feel this wondrous power of God to turn
   our captivity! When one is constantly engaged in ministry, it sometimes
   happens that the mind wanders, the spirit flags and the energy is
   dampened. Yet, all in a minute the Lord can quicken us into vigorous
   activity! The heart catches fire and blazes gloriously when the Holy
   Spirit applies the fire. We have heard a hymn sung and we have said, "I
   cannot join in that as I could wish," and yet, all of a sudden a mighty
   rushing wind has borne us away with the song right into Heaven! The
   Lord does not take days, months, weeks, or even hours to do His work of
   revival in our souls! He made the world in six days, but He lit it up
   in an instant with one single word. He said, "light be," and light was!
   And cannot He do the same for us and chase away our gloom before the
   clock ticks again? Do not despair, no, do not even doubt your God. He
   can turn your captivity as the streams in the south.

   Beloved, He can do the same as to our temporal captivity. We do not
   often say much about temporals when we are preaching. I fear we do not
   say enough about them, for it is wonderful how the Old Testament is
   taken up with the narration of God's dealings with His people as to
   temporal things. Many people imagine that God has a great deal to do
   with their prayer closet, but nothing to do with their pantry. It would
   be a dreadful thing for us if it were so. Indeed, my Brothers and
   Sisters, we ought to see as much the hand of our Lord on the table in
   the kitchen when it is loaded as we do at the communion table, for the
   same love that spreads the table when we commemorate our Savior's dying
   love spreads the table which enables us to maintain the bodily life
   without which we could not come to the other table at all.

   We must learn to see God in everything and praise Him for all that we
   have. Now, it may be I address some friend who has been a great
   sufferer through pecuniary losses. Dear Friend, the Lord can turn your
   captivity. When Job had lost everything, God readily gave it all back
   to him. "Yes," you say, "but that was a very remarkable case." I grant
   you

   that, but then we have to do with a remarkable God who still works
   wonders! If you consider the matter, you will see that it was quite as
   remarkable a thing that Job should lose all his property as it was that
   he should get it back again!

   If you had walked over Job's farm, at the first, and seen the camels
   and the cattle. If you had gone into his house and seen the furniture
   and the grandeur of his estate--if you had seen how those who passed
   him in the street bowed to him, for he was a highly respected man--and
   if you had gone to his children's houses and seen the comfort in which
   they lived, you would have said, "Why, this is one of the
   best-established men in all the land of Uz." There was scarcely a man
   of such substance to be found in all that region! And if somebody had
   foretold that he would, in one day, lose all this property--all of
   it--and lose all his children, why you would have said, "Impossible! I
   have heard of great fortunes collapsing, but then they were built on
   speculations.

   "They were only paper riches, made up of bills and the like. But in the
   case of this man there are oxen, sheep, camels and land--and these
   cannot melt into thin air! Job has a good substantial estate, I cannot
   believe that he will ever come to poverty." Remember, when he went out
   into the gate where the magistrates sat to administer justice, they
   rose up and gave him the chief seat on the bench! He was a man whose
   flocks could not be counted, so great were his possessions--
   possessions of real property, not of merely nominal estate. And yet
   suddenly, marvelously, it all took to itself wings and disappeared.
   Surely, if God can scatter, He can gather. If God could scatter such an
   estate as that, He could, with equal ease, bring it back again!

   But this is what we do not always see. We see the destructive power of
   God, but we are not very clear about the building power of God. Yet, my
   Brothers and Sisters, surely it is more consonant with the Nature of
   God that He should give than take, and more like He that He should
   caress than chastise. Does He not always say that judgement is His
   strange work? I feel persuaded that it was strange work with God to
   take away all Job's property from him and bring him into that deep
   distress. But when the Lord went about to enrich His servant Job,
   again, He went about that work, as we say, con amore--with heart and
   soul! He was doing, then, what He delights to do, for God's happiness
   is never more clearly seen than when He is distributing the liberality
   of His love.

   Why can you not look at your own circumstances in the same light? It is
   more likely that God will bless you and restore to you, than it is ever
   likely that He will chasten you and take away from you. He can restore
   all your wealth and even more. This may seem to be a very trite
   observation, commonplace and such as everybody knows, but, Beloved, the
   very things that everybody knows are those which we need to hear if
   they are most suitable to our case. Those old things which we did not
   care about in our prosperity are most valued when we are cast down by
   the terrible blows of tribulation. Let me, then, repeat the truism, the
   Lord who takes away can as easily restore. "The Lord makes sore and
   binds up. He wounds and His hands make whole. He kills and He makes
   alive."

   Believe that He will put forth His right hand soon if the left has been
   long outstretched and, if you can believe it, it will not be long
   before you will be able to say He has regarded the low estate of His
   servant. He has lifted the poor from the dunghill and set him among
   princes, even the princes of His people. For the Lord puts down the
   mighty from their seat, but He exalts them that are of low degree. I
   leave you with this simple Truth of God. The Lord can turn the
   captivity of His people! You may apply the Truth to a thousand
   different things. You Sunday school teachers, if you have had a
   captivity in your class and no good has been done, God can change that!

   You ministers, if for a long time you have plowed and sowed in vain,
   the Lord can turn your captivity! You dear wives who have been praying
   for your husbands. You fathers who have been pleading for your children
   and have seen no blessing, yet, the Lord can turn your captivity in
   those respects! No captivity is so terrible but God can bring us back
   from it! No chain is so fastened but God can strike it off and no
   prison is so strong but God can break the bars and set His servants
   free!

   II. I pass on to our second remark, which is this. THERE IS GENERALLY
   SOME POINT AT WHICH THE LORD INTERPOSES TO TURN THE CAPTIVITY OF HIS
   PEOPLE. In Job's case, I have no doubt, the Lord turned his captivity,
   as far as the Lord was concerned, because the grand experiment which
   had been tried on Job was now over. The suggestion of Satan was that
   Job was selfish in his piety--that he found honesty to be the best
   policy and, therefore, he was honest--that godliness was gain and,
   therefore, he was godly. "Have You not set a hedge about him and all
   that he has?" said the old accuser of the Brethren.

   The devil generally does one of two things. Sometimes he tells the
   righteous that there is no reward for their holiness and then they say,
   "Surely, I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in
   innocence." Or else he tells them that they only obey the Lord because
   they have a selfish eye to the reward. Now, it would be a calamity if
   the devil could charge the Lord with paying His servants badly. It
   would have been an ill thing if Satan had been able to say, "There is
   Job, a perfect and an upright man, but You have set no hedge about him.
   You have given him no reward whatever." That would have been an
   accusation against the goodness and justice of God! But, as the devil
   cannot say that, he takes the other course, and says--"You have set a
   hedge about him and all that he has; he serves You for gain and honor.
   He has a selfish motive in his integrity."

   By God's permission the matter was tested. The devil had said, "Put
   forth, now, Your hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will
   curse You to Your face." But Job did no such thing. In his extremity he
   said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, and blessed be the
   name of the Lord." God puts His servants, sometimes, into these
   experiments that He may test them--that Satan, himself, may know how
   true-hearted God's Grace has made them and that the world may see how
   they can play the man. Good engineers, if they build a bridge, are glad
   to have a train of enormous weight go over it. You remember when the
   first Great Exhibition was built, they marched regiments of soldiers,
   with a steady tramp, over the girders that they might be quite sure
   that they would be strong enough to bear any crowd of men--for the
   regular tramp of well-disciplined soldiers is more trying to a building
   than anything else.

   So our wise and prudent Father sometimes marches the soldiers of
   trouble right over His people's supports to let all men see that the
   Grace of God can sustain every possible pressure and load. I am sure
   that if any of you had invented some implement requiring strength you
   would be glad to have it tested--and the account of the successful
   trial published abroad. The gunsmith does not object to a charge being
   fired from the barrel at the proof house greater than any strain which
   it ought ordinarily to bear, for he knows that it will endure the
   proof. "Do your worst or do your best. It is a good instrument. Do what
   you like with it." So the maker of a genuine article is accustomed to
   speak--and the Lord seems to say the same concerning His people. "My
   work of Grace in them is mighty and thorough. Test it Satan! Test it
   world! Test it by bereavements, losses and reproaches--it will endure
   every ordeal." And when it is tested, and bears it all, then the Lord
   turns the captivity of His people, for the experiment is complete.

   Most probably there was, in Job's character, some fault from which his
   trial was meant to purge him. If he erred at all, probably it was in
   having a somewhat elevated idea of himself and a stern manner towards
   others. A little of the elder-brother spirit may, perhaps, have entered
   into him. A good deal that was sour came out of Job when his miserable
   comforters began to tease him--not a hundredth part as much as would
   come out of me, I guarantee you, or, perhaps, out of you. But, still,
   it would not have come out if it had not been in him. It must have been
   in him or otherwise all the provocation in the world would not have
   brought it out--and the Lord intended, by his trials, to let Job have a
   view of himself from another standpoint--and discover imperfections in
   his character which he would never have seen if he had not been brought
   into a tried condition.

   When, through the light of trial and the yet greater light of God's
   glorious Presence, Job saw himself unveiled, he abhorred himself in
   dust and ashes. Probably Job had not humbled himself of late, but he
   did it then! And now, if any sort of selfishness lurked in him it was
   put away, for Job began to pray for his cruel friends. It would take a
   good deal of Grace to bring some men to pray for such friends as they
   were. To pray for one's real friends, I hope, comes natural to us. But
   to pray for that Bildad and the other two, after the abominable things
   they had spoken and insinuated--well, it showed that there was a large
   amount of sweetness and light in Job's character--and abounding Grace
   deep down in his soul or he would scarcely have interceded for such
   ungenerous stumpers upon a fallen friend.

   Now, behold, Job has discovered his fault and he has put it away. And
   the grand old man bows his knee to pray for men who called him a
   hypocrite--to pray for men who cut him to the very soul! He pleads with
   God that He would look in mercy upon men who had no mercy upon him but
   had pitilessly heaped all kinds of epithets upon him and stung him in
   his most tender places, just when they ought to have had pity upon him.
   His misery, alone, ought to have stopped their mouths, but it seems as
   if that misery egged them on to say the most cruel things that could
   possibly have been con-ceived--the more cruel because they were, all of
   them, so undeserved. But now Job prays for his friends! You see the
   trial had reached its point. It had evidently been blessed to Job and
   it had proved Satan to be a liar. And so now the fire of the trial goes
   out and like precious metal the Patriarch comes forth from the furnace
   brighter than ever!

   Beloved Friends, the point at which God may turn your captivity may not
   be the same as that at which He turned Job's, for yours may be a
   different character. I will try and indicate, briefly, when I think God
   may turn your trial. Sometimes He does so when that trial has revealed
   to you your special sin. You have been putting your finger upon many
   faults, but you have not yet touched the spot in which your greatest
   evil is concentrated. God will now help you to know yourself. When you
   are in the furnace you will begin to search yourself and you will cry,
   "Show me why You contend with

   me."

   You will find out three or four things, perhaps, in which you are
   faulty, and you will commit yourself to the Lord and say, "Give me
   Grace, good Lord, to put away these evil things." Yes, but you have not
   come to the point, yet, and only a greater trial will guide you to it.
   The anger of the Lord smokes against your house, not for this or that,
   but for another evil and you have need to institute another search, for
   the images may be under the seat whereon a beloved Rachel sits. The
   evil in your soul may be just at the point where you think that you are
   best guarded against temptation. Search, therefore, and look, dear
   Brother, dear Sister, for when the sin has been found out and the Achan
   has been stoned, then the valley of Achor shall be a door of hope and
   you shall go up to victory, the Lord going with you.

   Perhaps, too, your turning point will be when your spirit is broken. We
   are, by nature, a good deal like horses that need breaking in, or, to
   use a scriptural simile, we are as "bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke."
   Well, the horse has to go through certain processes in its management
   until, at last, it is declared to be "thoroughly broken in." And we
   need similar training. You and I are not yet quite broken in, I am
   afraid. We go very merrily along and yield to the rein in certain forms
   of service, but if we were called to other sorts of work, or made to
   suffer, we should need the kicking strap put on and require a sharper
   bit in our mouths. We should find that our spirit was not perfectly
   broken.

   It takes a long time of pain and sickness to bring some down to the
   dust of complete resignation to the Divine will. There is a something,
   still, in which they stick out against God and of many it is true,
   "Though you should crush a fool in mortar among wheat with your pestle,
   yet will not his foolishness depart from him." We have been mixed in
   that mortar and with that pestle day after day, and week after week,
   and yet we are still foolish! When our soul shall cheerfully say, "Not
   as I will, but as You will," then our captivity will be almost over!
   While we cry, "It must not be so, I will not have it so," and we
   struggle and rebel, we shall only have to feel that we are kicking
   against the pricks and wounding our foot every time we kick! But when
   we give up all that struggling, and say, "Lord, I leave it entirely
   with You. Your will be done"--then will the trial cease, because there
   will be no necessity for it any longer! That is with some the
   culmination and turning point of trouble. Their Gethsemane ends when,
   like the Lord Jesus, they cry, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You
   will."

   Sometimes, again, trial may cease when you have learned the lesson
   which it was intended to teach you, as to some point of Gospel Truth. I
   think I have sometimes said that many Truths of the Gospel are like
   letters written with sympathetic ink. If you have ever had a letter
   written with that preparation, when you look at it you cannot see
   anything whatever-- it is quite illegible. The proper thing to do is to
   hold the writing up to a fire. As it warms at the fire, the writing
   becomes manifest and the letters are before you. Many of God's promises
   need to be held before the scorching fires of adversity and personal
   trouble--and then we read the precious secret of the Spirit's
   consolation.

   You cannot see the stars in the day time upon the surface of the earth.
   But if you go down into a well you can and when you go down a deep well
   of trouble it often happens that you see a beauty and luster in the
   promise which nobody else can see. And when the Lord has brought you
   into a certain position in which you can see the Glory of His Grace as
   you could never have seen it anywhere else, then He will say, "It is
   enough. I have taught My child the lesson and I will let him go." I
   think, too, it may be with some of us that God gives us trouble until
   we obtain a sympathetic spirit. I should not like to have lived 40
   years in this world without ever having suffered sickness. "Oh," you
   say, "that would have been very desirable." I grant you it appears so.
   When I met with a man that never had an ache or a pain or a day's
   sickness in his life, I used to envy him, but I do not, now, because I
   feel very confident that he is a loser by his unvarying experience.

   How can a man sympathize with trouble that he never knew? How can he be
   tender in heart if he has never been touched with infirmity, himself?
   If one is to be a comforter to others, he must know the sorrows and the
   sicknesses of others in his measure. It was essential to our Lord and,
   certainly, what was essential to Him is necessary to those who are to
   be shepherds of others, as He was. Now, it may be that by nature some
   of us are not very sympathetic. I do not think Job was--it is possible
   that though he was kind and generous to the poor, yet he was rather
   hard--but his troubles taught

   him sympathy. And, perhaps, the Lord may send you trouble till you
   become softer in heart so that afterwards you will be one who can speak
   a word in season to the weary. As you sit down by the bedside of the
   invalid, you will be able to say, "I know all the ins and outs of a
   sick man's feelings, for I have been sorely sick myself." When God has
   worked that in you, it may be He will turn your captivity.

   In Job's case, the Lord turned his captivity when he prayed for his
   friends. Prayer for ourselves is blessed work, but for the child of God
   it is a higher exercise to become an intercessor and to pray for
   others. Prayer for ourselves, good as it is, has just a touch of
   selfishness about it. Prayer for others is delivered from that
   ingredient. Herein is love, the love which God, the Holy Spirit,
   delights to foster in the heart when a man's prayers go up for others.
   And what a Christ-like form of prayer it is when you are praying for
   those who have ill-treated you and despitefully used you! Then are you
   like your Master!

   Praying for yourselves, you are like those for whom Jesus died. But
   praying for your enemies, you are like the dying Jesus, Himself.
   "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," has more of
   Heaven in it than the songs of seraphs. And your prayer, when offered
   for those who have treated you ill, is somewhat akin to the expiring
   prayer of your Lord. Job was permitted to take a noble revenge--I am
   sure the only one he desired--when he became the means of bringing them
   back to God. God would not hear them, He said, for they had spoken so
   wrongly of His servant Job. And now Job is set to be a mediator, or
   intercessor on their behalf! Thus was the contempt poured upon the
   Patriarch turned into honor! If the Lord will only save the opposers'
   souls through your prayer, it will be a splendid way of returning
   bitter speeches. If many unkind insinuations have been thrown out and
   wicked words said, if you can pray for those who used such words and
   God hears you and brings them to Jesus, it will be such a triumph as an
   angel might envy!

   My Brothers and Sisters, never use any other weapon of retaliation than
   the weapon of love! Avenge not yourself in any way by uttering anything
   like a curse, or desiring any hurt or mischief to come to your
   bitterest foe. But inasmuch as he curses, overwhelm him with blessings!
   Heap the hot coals of your good wishes and earnest prayers upon his
   head and if the Lord uses you to bring him to a state of salvation, He
   shall be praised and you shall have happiness among the sons of men.
   Perhaps some of you are in trouble now because you cannot be brought,
   sincerely, to pray for your enemies. It is a grievous fault when
   Christians harbor resentments. It is always a sad sign when a man
   confesses, "I could not heartily pray for So-and-So."

   I would not like to live an hour at enmity with any man living, be he
   who he may! Nor should any Christian, I think. You should, by the Grace
   of God, feel that however treacherous, dishonorable, unjust and
   detestable the conduct of your enemy may have been to you, yet, still,
   it is forgiven, quite forgiven in your heart and, as far as possible,
   forgotten, or in which remembered, remembered with regret that it
   should have occurred. But with no resentment to the person who
   committed the wrong. When we get to that state, it is most probable
   that the Lord will smile upon us and turn our captivity.

   III. The last word I have to say--the third word--is that BELIEVERS
   SHALL NOT BE LOSERS FOR THEIR

   GOD. God, in the experiment, took from Job all that he had. But at the
   end He gave him back twice as much as he had-- twice as many camels and
   oxen--and twice as many of everything, even of children. I heard a very
   sweet remark about the children the other day, for somebody said, "Yes,
   God did give him twice as many children, because his first family were
   still his. They were not lost but gone before." So the Lord would have
   His people count their children that are gone to Heaven and reckon them
   as still belonging to the family, as the child did in Wordsworth's
   pretty poem, "Master, we are seven."

   And so Job could say of his sons and daughters, as well as of all the
   other items, that he had twice as many as before. True, the first
   family were all gone, but he had prayed for them in the days of their
   feasting. He had brought them together and offered sacrifices and so he
   had a good hope about them and he reckoned them as still his own. Tried
   Brother, the Lord can restore to you double in temporal things if He
   pleases. If He takes away, He can as certainly give, and that right
   early. He certainly can do this in spiritual things. And if He takes
   away temporals and gives spirituals we are exceedingly great gainers!
   If a man should take away my silver and give me twice the weight in
   gold in return, should I not be thankful? And so, if the Lord takes
   away temporals and gives us spirituals, He thus gives us a hundred
   times more than He takes away!

   Dear Brothers and Sisters, you shall never lose anything by what you
   suffer for God. If, for Christ's sake, you are persecuted, you shall
   receive in this life your reward. But if not, rejoice and be glad, for
   great is your reward in Heaven! You shall not lose anything by God's
   afflicting you. You shall, for a time, be an apparent loser--but a real
   loser in the end you shall never be. When you get to Heaven you will
   see that you were a priceless gainer by all the losses you endured.
   Shall you lose anything by what you give to God? Never! Depend on it,
   He will be no man's debtor. There dwells not on earth or Heaven any man
   who shall be a creditor to the Most High. The best investment a man
   makes is that which he gives to the Lord from a right motive. Nothing
   is lost which is offered to the cause of God.

   The breaking of the alabaster box of precious ointment was not a
   wasteful thing and he who would give to the Lord all that he had would
   have made a prudent use of his goods. "He that gives to the poor lends
   to the Lord." And he that gives to the Lord's Church and to the Lord,
   Himself, lays up his treasure in Heaven where it shall be his forever.
   Beloved, we serve a good Master and if He chooses to try us for a
   little while, we will bear our trial cheerfully, for God will turn our
   captivity before long!

   In closing, I wish I could feel that this subject had something to do
   with you all, but it is not the case. Oh, no, there are some of you who
   have felt no captivity, but you have a dreadful captivity to come--and
   there is no hope of God's ever turning that captivity when once you get
   into it! Without God! Without Christ and strangers from the
   commonwealth of Israel, you are in bondage until now and there will,
   before long, come upon you bondage that will never end! You cannot pray
   for your friends--you have never prayed for yourself. God would not
   hear you if you did pray for others, for, first of all, you must be,
   yourself, reconciled to Him by the death of His Son.

   Oh, that you would mind these things and look to Jesus Christ, alone,
   for your salvation! If you do, He will accept you, for He has promised
   to cast out none who come to Him. And then look at this--after all is
   right between God and your soul, you need not fear what happens to you
   in the future, for, come sickness or health, come poverty or wealth,
   all is right, all is safe, all is well! You have put yourself into the
   hands of God and wherever God may lift those hands you are still within
   them and, therefore, you are always secure and always blessed! And, if
   not always consciously happy, yet you have always the right to be so,
   seeing you are true to God and He delights in you. God bless you and
   give you all salvation, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Psalm 18. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--7, 48, 30.
     __________________________________________________________________

Hold Fast Your Shield

   (No. 1263)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense
   of reward." Hebrews 10:35.

   THE early Christians had to suffer for their faith. They were exposed
   to great ridicule and enmity. They were, indeed, the byword, the
   laughingstock and the derision of all mankind. There are still to be
   seen in Rome, in the praetorian guardroom, caricatures of Christians
   and of their Lord. I dare not mention what they are, but they are so
   insulting to everything which we hold dear, that they remain as lasting
   evidence that Christians were counted as the offscouring of all things
   for the sake of Jesus, their crucified Savior. Nor did it end in
   ridicule. They were deprived of their goods. Ruinous fines were exacted
   from them. They were driven from city to city and not thought worthy to
   dwell among the sons of men.

   They were made a spectacle to all men, both in their lives and deaths.
   Very frequently they were not put to death as other condemned persons
   were, but their execution was attended with circumstances of cruelty
   and scorn which made it still harder to bear. They were daubed with
   pitch and set up in the gardens of Nero to be burned alive to light
   that tyrant's debaucheries, or taken to the amphitheater, there to
   fight with beasts and to be torn in pieces. Everything that could be
   invented that was at once degrading and cruel, their persecutors
   devised for them. Malice exhausted its ingenuity upon believers in
   Christ. Yet there was never a braver race of men.

   "Men," did I say? Why, the women were as brave as their brothers! The
   name of such women as Blandina will remain in everlasting recollection.
   Set in a hot iron chair, tormented with whips, or tossed upon the horns
   of bulls, such heroines showed no cowardice. The tenderness of their
   sex only increased the glory of the courage with which they adhered to
   their Master under unutterable torments. The despised sect wearied out
   a long succession of Roman emperors. Those despots passed edict upon
   edict, each one more ferocious than its predecessor, in order to
   exterminate the followers of the Nazarene!

   But the more they persecuted them the more they multiplied. And instead
   of hiding themselves, they came boldly to the courts of the
   magistrates, confessing Christ and defying death. Never was the victory
   of patience more complete than in the early Church. The anvil broke the
   hammer by bearing all the blows that the hammer could place upon it.
   The patience of the saints was stronger than the cruelty of tyrants.
   Christ, then, the immortal Christ, was stronger than all the pangs of
   death and they triumphed though they were slain! Truly did the Apostle
   say, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that
   loved us."

   The secret reason for the triumph of Christians in those circumstances
   was their confidence in Christ. Brothers and Sisters, we are not
   subjected to the same persecution and it will not do for us to wrap
   ourselves about with the garments of our ancestors and say that
   Christians are this and that, as though we were to be honored without
   enduring trial. Yet, remember, there are still conflicts for you. If
   you are real Christians, you will have to endure the trial of cruel
   mockeries. In some cases family ties are the source of far greater
   sorrow than comfort. Truly is it written, "A man's foes shall be they
   of his own household."

   The coming of the Gospel into a man's heart has often rendered him the
   object of hatred to those who loved him before. In his own house and in
   society abroad, the Christian working man has, at this day, to run the
   gauntlet much more severely than some suppose. And in almost every
   sphere of life the genuine Christian meets with the "cold shoulder" and
   the sneer--and sometimes with cruel misrepresentation and slander, for,
   until the hearts of men are changed, persecution in some form or other
   will continue. Those that are born after the flesh will always
   persecute those that are born after the Spirit.

   For us, then, our only defense is holy confidence--the confidence which
   sustained the martyrs--and to us Paul speaks as well as unto them.
   "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense
   of reward." Let us notice, first, the elements of this confidence of
   which the Apostle speaks. And then we shall speak upon how it may be
   cast away. God grant we may never attempt to do so! Thirdly, let us
   consider why it should be held fast--because it "has great recompense
   of reward."

   I. First, then, WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF THIS CONFIDENCE of which the
   Apostle speaks? Those who are acquainted with the original will know
   that it is not very easy to explain this word in one English word. The
   nearest approach to it would be boldness--"Cast not away your
   boldness." It is frequently translated by that word. In Acts, where we
   read, "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John," it is the same
   word in the Greek as that which is here translated, "confidence." But
   it means something rather different from boldness, because we read of
   Christ, in the Gospel by Mark, that He spoke openly--and there the word
   is precisely that which is here used and translated--"confidence."

   And the Apostle says, "We use great plainness of speech," and there the
   word is the same, also. It means that freedom, that peace, that
   at-home-ness, which makes a man feel bold, free, confident.

   We come back to the word in the text--your confidence, your child-like
   plainness, freedom, quietude, peace of heart, rest, sense of security
   and, therefore, courage. The Apostle meant a great deal when he said,
   "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence." And the elements of it
   seem to me to be these. First, confidence in the principles which you
   have espoused. Some persons appear to think that a state of doubt is
   the very best which we can possibly reach. They are very wise and
   highly cultured individuals and they imagine that by their advanced
   judgments nothing in the world can be regarded as assuredly true.

   Some of the broad Church school would seem to believe that no doctrine
   in the Bible is worth dying for, or worth anybody's losing over and
   above a halfpenny for. They do not feel sure of any doctrine--it may be
   true and there is a good deal to be said for it, but then, a good deal
   may be said on the other side--and you must hold your mind,
   "receptive," and be ready to accept "new truth." Some Robinson or other
   said something about new truth as if there ever could be such a thing
   and, under cover of his probably misinterpreted speech, like
   chameleons, they are always taking their cue from the particular light
   that falls upon them.

   They have no light in themselves and no truth which they hold to be
   vital. Such people cannot understand this confidence, but the smallest
   babes in the family of faith know what it means. Here are certain
   things which God has taught me. I believe them and am sure about them.
   "Dogmatic," one says. Exactly so! Call it what you like, but we are
   bold to confess that there remains no doubt to us after God has spoken!
   The question is solved by God's Word! The doubt is laid to sleep,
   forever, by the witness of the Holy Spirit! Oh, to know the grand
   Truths of the Gospel and to know them Infallibly!

   For instance, the grand doctrine of the Substitutionary Sacrifice of
   the Son of God--to know it and hold it and be able to say, "Let others
   question and quibble, but I believe it! It is my only hope, it is all
   my salvation. I stake my soul upon it. If that is not true then am I
   lost." And so with regard to all the other grand Truths of Revelation,
   the thing is to know them and grasp them firmly. There must be leverage
   if we would move men and, to have a leverage you must have a fixed
   point. There must be certain undoubted Truths of God about which you
   can sing, "O God, my heart is fixed! My heart is fixed! I will sing and
   give praise"--things which you perceive to be plainly taught in the
   Scriptures--things brought home by the power of the Holy Spirit.

   This is the groundwork of true confidence. But to make it complete
   there must be an open acknowledgement of our belief in our Lord Jesus.
   The Apostle has said, "Hold fast the profession of your faith," not
   merely your faith, but the profession of it. To hold a Truth of God
   which I am ashamed to utter is to be false both to God and man. To have
   convictions which I stifle and principles which I dare not profess, is
   to be unworthy of the Lord that bought me and unworthy of the Spirit
   who has instructed me. God forbid that we should glory save in the
   Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God forbid that we should refuse to
   glory in that!

   Let us never cloak our faith in Jesus, whatever the company, and though
   we are not to cast pearls before swine, yet, if a time comes to exhibit
   pearls, let us not conceal them, even though swine should gaze upon
   them. We are not sent into the world to comfortably sneak through it
   into Heaven, but we are sent, like a troop of soldiers, to fight our
   way and to win a victory all along from the beginning of our pilgrimage
   even to the close of it. The colors are not to be covered up

   and kept by the color-sergeant in a tent somewhere in the rear! They
   are to be unfurled to the breeze and borne in the front and every
   believing soldier is to labor earnestly to bear them farther forward
   and to smite the foe that dares to insult the standard of the Lord.
   "Cast not away your confidence," that is, hold confidently the Truths
   of God which God has taught you and never blush or stammer, or show the
   slightest sign of hesitancy in avowing them.

   To do all this you must know your own interest in those truths. A man
   will readily let go a truth which may condemn him. Who will die for a
   truth in which he has no share? The man who can live and die for Christ
   is the man who believes that Christ has lived and died for him. A
   doctrine--what is that? A mere statement written in a book. It stirs no
   man's heart and awakens no one's enthusiasm. But a blessed Truth of God
   which has been verified in one's own experience, in which one feels
   that he has a share, no, which is all his own--this is a thing for
   which a man may well be willing to be counted the offscouring of all
   things.

   Beloved Christian Friends, do you know that you have passed from death
   unto life? If so, you do not doubt the doctrine of Conversion. Do you
   know that you have been washed in the blood of Jesus? If so, you do not
   doubt the doctrine of Atonement. Do you know that Christ has saved you,
   and that you are one with Him? Then you do not doubt the doctrine of
   Union to Christ. Do you know that He has preserved you to this day?
   Then you do not doubt His faithfulness-- you have proof of it before
   your eyes! We must "eat this roll," as Ezekiel did, before we can bear
   testimony to it. The Truths of God must be the food of our spirits, the
   sustenance of our inward life, before we can have that confidence in it
   which the Apostle bids us never to cast away. These are the first
   points of confidence--a full conviction of the Truth of the Gospel,
   willingness to confess it and a full assurance of our own interest in
   it.

   But the word, as I have said, cannot have all its meaning brought out
   by this word, boldness. It means beside, a full and firm reliance upon
   the faithfulness of God, so that we are free from all mistrusts, fears
   and simply rest in God. It is a very sweet thing to admit that God is
   true and to sing, with the Psalmist of old, "His mercy endures
   forever." "Why," says one, "that is a very simple fact and I never
   doubted it." Dear Brothers and Sisters, when the Holy Spirit taught the
   Psalmist to make that Psalm whose many verses conclude with, "His mercy
   endures forever," He knew very well that we do not so easily believe in
   the Lord's enduring mercy as we think we do. And, therefore, He has
   given us line upon line, and precept upon precept.

   Do you not feel that you have a very great deal of faith in God when
   you have no afflictions? Do you not feel sure about your daily bread
   when you have a good job, or have an excellent pension, or a good sum
   of money in the bank? Such faith is very easy and very unreal--the
   publicans and sinners have that faith. But to trust in God when you see
   nothing but starvation before you! To believe when you cannot see! Ah,
   this is another kind of faith, and the faith and the only faith that is
   of the operation of the Spirit of God. I wonder whether you could have
   believed in Jesus if, for having been here last night, you had been
   arrested at the foot of the steps of the Tabernacle and taken off to
   Horsemonger Lane Jail, and kept there in prison in the dark, with only
   bread and water for several months?

   Suppose you were occasionally stretched upon the rack, or beaten with
   rods? Would you feel, in the loneliness of the prison, smarting under
   the rounds you endured, quite sure that all things worked together for
   good--quite certain of that promise, "I will never leave you, nor
   forsake you"? If it were intimated to you that tomorrow morning you
   must go out to be burned to death in the great square of the city, or
   to be torn to pieces in the amphitheatre by wild beasts, would you be
   quite sure that the promises of God were faithful and true? Yet,
   Beloved, that is the kind of faith we must have, for God deserves it!
   He cannot lie! He has promised that those who trust in Him shall never
   be forsaken or confounded world without end. Now, to have the
   confidence of the text, we must subscribe in heart to a full
   surrender--"Whatever happens, I believe in God. Come what may, I rest
   in His promises and I leave my matters entirely in His hands, resting
   them with Him as with a faithful Creator." Happy is the man who has
   this confidence! Let him take care that he never casts it away!

   Where that confidence really reigns in the soul, it takes the form of a
   sense offull acceptance before God. Let me illustrate that by the
   condition of a child. A child that lives in full confidence with its
   father is quite sure of its father's love. It is also sure about its
   father's wisdom and, consequently, quite content with all its father's
   dealings. This is confidence, and the sort of confidence which is meant
   in the text. That, at least, is part of what is meant--confidence
   towards God-- confidence that all is well between my soul and God.
   Confidence that I can walk with Him in the light as He is in the

   light--that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin
   and, therefore, I have fellowship with Him as a man has fellowship with
   his friend.

   We must have confidence so as to avail ourselves of perpetual access to
   God, so as to be able to speak with Him at all times, not merely in the
   closet where we are accustomed to pray, but everywhere! True confidence
   makes the Believer feel, "I am God's child. I can speak with my Lord
   whenever I will and I can hear His voice everywhere--hear it in Nature
   as well as in the Bible. I dwell always in my Father's own house at
   home and I know that 'goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
   of my life.'" Oh, what a sweet feeling that is, to know that you are
   always near to God, that He is always with you and, consequently, you
   are always at home and your Father is always accessible. Upon this
   there follows that further confidence, of which John says, "This is the
   confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
   His will He hears us"--confidence that when we pray we shall be heard.

   Now, all Christians accept this as a matter of doctrine, but very few
   Christians really believe it. When you talk to them about God's hearing
   prayer, they open their eyes at you. You tell them some cases in which
   He has answered you, and they look upon you as a wonder! Dear Mr.
   Muller's Orphanage at Bristol is thought to be a sort of miracle and
   we, ourselves, in that and other cases are conscious of a feeling of
   astonishment when we hear of God's answering prayer. It should not be
   so. If we have the confidence we ought to have in our heavenly Father,
   we shall be astonished at His goodness, but we shall not be astonished
   at the fact that He keeps His promises and answers His children's
   prayers.

   I sometimes felt, when I was a child, astonished at my father's
   goodness in giving me what I asked for. But not when he had previously
   promised it to me. A loving child asks with expectation. Probably if he
   had not the expectation he would scarcely ask, but he asks because he
   expects to receive. And, oh, what a sweet confidence that is--to know
   that God is your Father, that you are on happy terms with Him through
   Jesus Christ and that you may speak to Him and whatever you desire you
   may ask of Him, pleading that promise--"Delight yourself, also, in the
   Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Oh, blessed,
   blessed confidence! May we always enjoy it!

   Over and above that, how delightful to feel that even what we do not
   pray for, by reason of ignorance or forgetfulness, our gracious God
   will bestow. "Your heavenly Father knows what you have need of before
   you ask Him." I would pray as if I had to remind the Lord of everything
   and yet feel when I have done that He has never forgotten, nor could He
   fail to give anything that was good for me, for did He not say, "No
   good thing will I withhold from then that walk uprightly"? Beloved,
   this is the confidence that we have towards God, that He will bestow
   upon us all things necessary for this life and godliness. That He will
   not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able and that when He
   sends a trial, He will also make a way of escape.

   "Ah," says one, "that is a happy way of living if we could only attain
   to it." That is how you ought to live, dear Brothers and Sisters, and
   if you ever do so live, then remember the text, "Cast not away,
   therefore, your confidence." If you get it, hold it! If you have a
   childlike simplicity of confidence in God, reckon it to be a priceless
   jewel and watch it night and day. Let no one rob you of it, but labor
   with might and main, by His blessed Spirit, to abide in this confidence
   as long as you live. You may add to all this the confidence that He is
   able to keep that which you have committed to Him, for we have this
   confidence--that whether we sleep or wake we shall be together with
   Him. "We are confident, I say, and willing, rather, to be absent from
   the body and present with the Lord," for we are confident that though
   we shall drop this tabernacle, "we have a temple of God, a house not
   made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

   With confidence we are looking forward to resurrection after death! We
   are looking forward to a grand reunion with the beloved ones that have
   gone before! We are looking forward to being satisfied when we awake in
   His likeness! We are looking forward to seeing the King in His beauty
   in the land that is very far off. We are looking forward to sitting
   upon Christ's Throne, even as He overcame and has sat down with His
   Father upon His Throne. We comfort one another with these words! Yes,
   we joy and rejoice and we reckon that the sufferings of this present
   time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall revealed
   in us.

   Oh, blessed confidence, the confidence that He will keep us while we
   are here and will glorify us hereafter! As sure as Christ is glorified
   so must His people be! "If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with
   Him." This is the confidence we have in Him! Cast not away your
   confidence!

   II. Having thus labored as best I could to show the confidence, let us
   now spend a few moments in considering how WE MAY CAST IT AWAY. It
   strikes one, at once, on reading the passage--and the best expositors
   think so, too--that

   there is, here, an allusion to the Greek soldier with his shield on his
   arm. When he went out to battle wearing his shield, which covered him
   from head to foot, the rule was that he must either come back with his
   shield or be brought back upon it--but he must never cast it away.
   Among the Spartans there was a law that any soldier who cast away his
   shield must die--he was not fit to be a soldier.

   You remember how one of the old Scriptural songs speaks of the shield
   of the mighty which was vilely cast away? This showed that in the old
   war times, the casting away of your shield was a disgrace. It was
   showing the white feather. It was giving up the conflict and ceasing to
   hope for safety, much less victory! Our confidence is our shield and we
   are not to cast it away, or suffer any to tear it from us, but hold it
   fast until the battle is fought and the victory is won forever. But how
   can you cast your confidence away? You can cast it away by exchanging
   it for self-confidence. You can get off from the platform on which you
   now stand, which is that of simple confidence in your Savior, and you
   can very readily grow confident in yourselves.

   All along the road to Heaven there are many junctions and at every one
   of these, the devil cries out, "Change here for self-righteousness!"
   The high level railway of the perfect Brethren has been much infested,
   of late, by devils which cry, "Change here for self-confidence!" When I
   hear how good they are and how they have conquered their tempers, I am
   delighted to hear that they are on such good terms with themselves. But
   at the same time I remember the proverb, "Let another praise you and
   not your own lips," and I conclude that if they had been quite as good
   as they say they are, they would have held their tongues about it.

   My dear Brothers and Sisters, you who have begun in the Spirit, do you
   hope to be perfected by the flesh? Hang on to Christ, as a sinner's
   Savior, till you die! If it has been Christ up till now, do not put,
   "Christ and Co." for that firm will fail, inasmuch as one of the
   partners is already a bankrupt! Christ alone will stand, and stand
   forever! Whatever run there may be upon that bank it will pay out gold
   coin without end. When you come in, it is a self-reliance altogether.
   Better to yoke a cherub with an ant than to think of yoking yourself
   with Christ! You have cast away your confidence if, in any measure or
   degree, you confide in self. God keep us from that, and hold us fast to
   the platform of simple reliance on Christ.

   I remember telling you, years ago, a story you have often met with
   since, of poor Jack the huckster who heard a little ditty sung--

   "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my All in
   All." That exactly suited Jack because he had nothing of his own, and
   so he took Christ and trusted Him. He wanted to join the Church and
   they asked what was his experience, and he said he did not think he had
   any, only he was a poor sinner and nothing at all and Jesus Christ was
   his All in All. "But," they said, "don't you have doubts?" And he said,
   "Well, what is there to doubt? I know that I am a poor sinner and
   nothing at all, I cannot doubt that. And Jesus Christ is my All in All,
   for the Bible says so, and why should I doubt it?" They could never get
   him away from that standpoint--

   "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all But Jesus Christ is my All in
   All." Oh, Brothers and Sisters, if you get an inch above that platform,
   you will have to come down again! Be empty and Christ will be your
   fullness! But if you become full in yourself you have done with Christ.
   Cast not away your confidence by leaving your simple reliance upon
   Jesus Christ.

   Some, however, cast away their confidence by giving way to sin. Look at
   the child I spoke of just now who has such confidence in his father. He
   goes in and out the house and asks for what he wants and expects to
   receive it because he knows his father loves him. But see, he has done
   what his father told him not to do! Do you not see that his confidence
   is gone? At night he slinks away to bed. In the morning at breakfast he
   does not eat much, for his father is grieved. That child does not think
   that he has ceased to be his father's child, but he knows that his
   Father is grieved with him and he cannot act with freedom and
   confidence. If his brothers were to say, "John, ask father for
   such-and-such," he would say, "No, you had better, I am out of favor
   with him."

   Perhaps the father has not said a word, yet, but the boy is conscious
   of having done wrong and is ill at ease. If he is a wise child he will
   go, at once, and say, "Father, I have done wrong. Forgive me." And
   after his father has said, "Yes, dear child, I forgive you," his
   confidence will return. But by doing wrong he has cast away his
   confidence. He has faith in his father that he will provide him with
   food and raiment and all things necessary--he never loses that
   faith--but when

   he disobeys, he has not that confidence towards his father which
   enables him to act as a loving, favored child should do. My Brothers
   and Sisters, we cannot enjoy confidence towards God if we live in
   disobedience.

   Old Master Brooks says, "Assurance will make us leave off sinning, or
   sinning will make us leave off assurance." And, depend upon it, it
   will. He who lives in the light of God's Countenance must mind what he
   is doing. Kings' favorites live under a jealous eye. More is expected
   from those who lean their heads upon Christ's bosom than from any other
   of the disciples. You cannot grieve your heavenly Father and yet feel
   the same confidence towards Him. Perhaps some of you know that you have
   not this confidence. Remember that the Lord is ready to forgive you. He
   is waiting for you to come and say, "Father, I have sinned."

   Never let sin rankle in your conscience. It is well, every night, to
   clear all out by confession. Dear Mr. Muller said from this pulpit, "Do
   not begin the day unless you feel happy in the Lord." The advice is
   good. See that you walk in obedience with great watchfulness, so shall
   you have the freedom of children towards God. "Beloved, if our hearts
   condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God." There is another
   way of losing our confidence, and that is by getting into worldly
   company and mixing up with the wild and frivolous. A child would soon
   lose his loving, confident feeling towards his father if his father had
   an enemy and he constantly went into that enemy's house and heard all
   the language that was used there. Why, he would gradually harbor hard
   and wrong thoughts about his father--and if his father knew that he had
   been associating with his enemies, the child could not feel towards his
   father as before.

   Have you been cast into company some evening where the conversation was
   not at all to edification, but light and frivolous and perhaps worse?
   If you are a child of God, have you not felt unfit for devotion when
   you reached home? You wanted to pray, but you could not. A deadening
   influence will come over your intimate communion with God if you are on
   close terms with unbelievers. You cannot walk with God and His enemies.
   You cannot be in league with Christ and Belial at the same time, or sit
   at your Master's table and expect Him to smile upon you after you have
   partaken of the cup of devils. Do not lose your sweet confidence and
   holy boldness in God's Presence by associating with the world, but come
   out from among them and be you separate.

   You can very easily lose your confidence by changing your aim in life.
   The Christian's aim in life is to live for God's Glory. If he does so,
   no persecution can ever shake him. If his goods are spoiled, he says,
   "If it glorifies God for me to lose my property, I am no loser. I gave
   my goods to God years ago." If he is put in prison, he says, "I have
   lost my liberty, but I am no loser. I gave up my liberty to God long
   ago." If they tell him that he will die, he says, "Well, I am no loser,
   for I gave Him my life long ago. I am altogether Christ's." While your
   objective is God, you will be bold as a lion! But a sordid motive is
   the mother of cowardice. Suppose a minister preaches so that he may
   receive honor from men? How anxious he will be to please his
   hearers--and he will cut and trim to do so.

   But if his sole objective is the Glory of God, he will not smooth his
   speech or withhold rebukes because of man's anger. He will care no more
   for human criticism than for the sighing of the rushes by the river. If
   we once shift our motive. If we seek after honor from men, or for
   money, or anything of self, we have cast away our confidence. You can
   be perfectly confident when you feel, "What I have done I did for God's
   Glory. I have a clear conscience about it." But your confidence is gone
   if your motive is selfish. Why, you can look 7,000 devils in the face
   and not care for one of them when your conscience will bear the
   piercing eyes of God! But if you must confess to sordid motives, you
   fall from your excellency and stand in doubt of your own honesty. Cast
   not away your confidence, then, by shifting your aim.

   Alas, dear Friends, some unhappy professors have apparently cast away
   their confidence in utter unbelief. They set out with a great
   confidence of a certain sort. Like Pliable, from the City of
   Destruction, they were going to have the Celestial City and enjoy it
   forever. But they fell into the Slough of Despond and they felt that
   their confidence could not be kept up--and so they got out of the
   slough on the side that was nearest their own house--and went back
   through sheer despair of better things. May God keep you from this!
   Remember, if you really are Christians, there is nothing for you but to
   fight it through.

   This is what Bunyan impresses upon us in his portrait of the Pilgrim,
   who, when he saw Apollyon standing across the way and heard him swear
   that he would spill his soul, would have turned back but he reflected
   that he had no armor for his back, so that to retreat would be certain
   destruction. For you there is nothing but to cut a lane right through
   your enemies till you come up to the Throne of God! To turn back means
   sure damnation! God's vengeance rests upon

   the deserter and the apostate. Oh, then, Brothers and Sisters, we must
   go forward! And may God the Holy Spirit help us to do so! If we think
   of turning aside we are casting away our confidence and renouncing its
   reward.

   III. I will close by noticing THE REASONS GIVEN IN THE TEXT FOR HOLDING
   FAST OUR CONFIDENCE. The first argument in the text is "therefore."
   "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence." What does this,
   "therefore," mean? Why, it means this--because you have already endured
   so much. You were made a laughingstock and you suffered the loss of
   your goods. Therefore, cast not away your confidence, for if you do,
   you will have suffered for nothing! I have known a man begin to build
   his house and he has spent a great deal of money upon it. But, at
   length, he has thought, "I do not quite like the situation. Shall I
   finish the building?" One strong argument for going on has been this,
   "I have spent so much money on it, I must go through with it."

   Now, some of you have spent much upon your faith. By God's Grace you
   have been, for years, following on to know the Lord. You bore the
   troubles of your early youth when, perhaps, father and mother were
   against you and you were bold, then, for Christ. Some of you have been
   known as Christian working men for years and you have encountered the
   chaff of the workshop for many a month. And yet you have not gone back.
   Well, you have spent a good deal upon your faith--never give it up, my
   Brother--never give it up. If, for your Lord's sake, you have had the
   honor to be abused and scandalized, do not turn your back, now. What?
   Have you half routed the enemy, and will you now flee? Believe me, the
   rest of them will be routed, too. Yon cowards have fled before you
   already, fight on till the rest are vanquished!

   "But," you say, "they come up thick and fast." So much the better, for
   so much the grander the victory in the end. You can overcome them--by
   God's Grace you can! Do not lose the victories which you have already
   gained. If it was wise to go so far, it will be wise to go on to the
   end. Cry for Grace to persevere, for he that endures to the end, the
   same shall be saved, and only he. Having gone so far it will be
   disgraceful to turn back now! Do not even think of it. I remember going
   over the Col D'Obbia on the Alps and when I got a little way down I
   found myself on a steep mountain side upon a mass of loose earth and
   slate.

   There seemed to me to be some miles of almost perpendicular descent and
   no road. My head began to swim. I set my feet fast down in the loose
   soil, turned my back to the scene below me, my face to the hillside,
   and stuck my hands into the earth to hold as best I could. I cried to
   my friend, "I shall never go down there! I will go back." He coolly
   replied, "Just look where you have come from." When I looked up it
   appeared to be much worse to try and clamber up than it could possibly
   be to go down and so he remarked, "I think you had better go on, for it
   is worse going back." So, Brothers and Sisters, we must go on, for it
   will be worse going back. Let us never think of retreating, but gird up
   the loins of our mind and push onward with firm resolution, by the help
   of the Spirit of God.

   Here is the other argument--Do not cast away your confidence, for it
   has great recompense of reward. There is a reward in it now for it
   makes us happy. When we are sweetly confident in God and do not molest
   ourselves with doubts and fears, how happy we are! Who has not read
   Cowper's beautiful description of the cottager with her pillow lace and
   bobbins, who knew no more than, "her Bible true, a truth the learned
   Frenchman never knew"--who was just as happy as the days were long? We
   are never so happy as when, in childlike simplicity, we trust our God
   without a doubt! Do not cast away your confidence, since it yields you
   such pure delight.

   But it makes you so strong, too--strong both to bear and labor. When
   you are like a child in confidence before God, you can endure pain and
   reproach right bravely--

   "If on my face, for Your dear name, Shame and reproach shall be, I'll
   hail reproach and welcome shame, For You'll remember me."

   You can bear, like Atlas, a world upon your shoulders when you have God
   within you! If He is near, you laugh at difficulties! And as for
   impossibilities, there are no such things! Brethren, hold fast your
   confidence, because it ministers to your strength. And, moreover, it
   makes you victorious. Many a man has been won to Christ by the
   confidence of simple Christians. Our doubts and fears are mischievous.
   They are thistle seed. They sow unbelief in others, but our childlike
   reliance upon God, our humble joy in our dear Father's care and our
   unmoved resolution through thick and thin to stick to our Master is
   likely to convert others, by God's good Spirit, to the right way!
   Therefore, cast not away your confidence.

   And, best of all, there is a recompense of reward to come. The day will
   come when the King will review His troops as the squadrons come back
   from the battle. The day will come when He shall come down our ranks
   and look at every one of us. And, if we have been faithful in this evil
   day, O Brothers and Sisters, it will repay us for anything we suffered
   if He shall say to us, "Well done!" Oh, those two words! These were
   enough to make us eternally happy! But hear the rest-- "Well done, good
   and faithful servant, enter you into the joy of your Lord." Believe me!
   Believe me, my Hearers! Kings and mighty men who have rolled in riches
   and yet were enemies to Christ, when they hear Christ say, "Well done!"
   to His poor people, will think themselves accursed that they were not
   martyrs and that they did not lie in prison, or at least suffer
   reproach for Christ!

   The enemies of Christ laugh today, but they will laugh on the other
   side of their faces before long. Let them laugh, for we shall win! The
   day shall come when shame shall be the promotion of fools, but the
   royal robe shall be put upon each man's back who dared to be a fool for
   Christ. The scars of suffering saints shall shine like diamonds and
   they that were most abused shall be the brightest of the shining ones!
   Most glad of all will they be who have the ruby crown of martyrdom to
   cast at the Savior's feet--but each one of you who have boldly held on
   to Christ, though despised and re-jected--and dared to suffer slander
   for His dear name's sake--you shall be among the first and brightest
   who wear the white robe and share their Master's victory. By the palm
   and by the white robe. By the unfading crown. By the halos of angels,
   and the streets of gold, cast not away your confidence, for it has
   great recompense of reward!

   Oh, you that know not Christ and have no confidence in Him, beware! He
   is coming--coming to call you to judgement. Beware, for in the day of
   His appearing He will look upon you and He will know that you never
   trusted Him and never suffered for Him, but chose the broad road that
   leads to destruction. Oh, how you will tremble, then, and with what
   agony will you cry to the mountains, "Hide us from the face! Hide us
   from the face of Him that sits upon the Throne!" God grant that you may
   not thus be carried away with terror, but may you believe your Lord and
   then have a full confidence in Him--a confidence which you will never
   cast away, "for it has great recompense of reward."

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Hebrews 10:19-39. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--675, 632.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Man of One Subject

   (No. 1264)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 31, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,
   and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2.

   Paul was a very determined man and whatever he undertook he carried out
   with all his heart. Once let him say, "I determined," and you might be
   sure of a vigorous course of action! "This one thing I do" was always
   his motto. The unity of his soul and its mighty resoluteness were the
   main features of his character. He had once been a great opposer of
   Christ and His Cross and had shown his opposition by furious
   persecutions. It was not so very much to be wondered at that when he
   became a disciple of this same Jesus, whom he had persecuted, he should
   become a very ardent one and bring all his faculties to bear upon the
   preaching of Christ crucified.

   His conversion was so marked, so complete, so thorough, that you expect
   to see him as energetic for the Truth of God as once he had been
   violent against it. A man so whole-hearted as Paul, so thoroughly
   capable of concentrating all his forces as the Apostle was--and so
   entirely won over to the faith of Jesus--was likely to enter into his
   cause with all his heart and soul. And thus he was determined to know
   nothing else but his crucified Lord. Yet do not think that the Apostle
   was a man easily absorbed in one thought. He was, above the most of
   men, a reasoner, calm, judicious, candid and prudent.

   He looked at things in their bearings and relations and was not a
   stickler for minor matters. Perhaps even more than might perfectly be
   justified, he made himself all things to all men that he might by all
   means win some and, therefore, any determination which he came to was
   only arrived at after taking counsel with wisdom. He was not a zealot
   of that class which may be likened to a bull which shuts its eyes and
   runs straight forward, seeing nothing which may lie to the right or to
   the left--he looked all round him, calmly, quietly and though he did,
   in the end, push forward in a direct line at his one objective, yet it
   was with his eyes wide open, knowing perfectly what he was doing and
   believing that he was doing the best and wisest thing for the cause
   which he desired to promote.

   If, for instance, to have opened his ministry at Corinth by proclaiming
   the unity of the Godhead, or by philosophically working out the
   possibilities of God's becoming Incarnate--if these had been the wisest
   plans for spreading the Redeemer's kingdom--Paul would have adopted
   them. But he looked at them all and having examined them with all care,
   he could not see that anything was to be gained by indirect preaching,
   or by keeping back a part of the Truth. Therefore he determined to go
   straight forward and promote the Gospel by proclaiming the Gospel!
   Whether men would hear or whether they would forbear, he resolved to
   come to the point at once and preach the Cross in its naked simplicity.

   Instead of knowing a great many things which might have led up to the
   main subject, he would not know anything in Corinth save Jesus Christ
   and Him crucified. Paul might have said, "I had better beat about the
   bush and educate the people up to a certain point before I come to my
   main point. To lay bare my ultimate intent at the first might be to
   spread the net in the sight of the birds and frighten them away. I will
   be cautious and reticent and will take them with guile, enticing them
   on in pursuit of the Truths of God." But Paul did not do that! Looking
   at the matter all round as a prudent man should, he comes to this
   resolve, that he will know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him
   crucified.

   I would to God that the "culture" we hear of in these days, and all
   this boasted "modern thought" would come to the same conclusion! This
   most renowned and scholarly Divine, after reading, marking, learning
   and inwardly digesting everything as few men could do, yet came to this
   as to the issue of it all--"I determined not to know anything among
   you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." May God grant that the
   critical skill of our contemporaries and their laborious consideration
   may land them on the same shore by the blessing of the Holy Spirit!

   I. Our first consideration, this morning, will be, WHAT WAS THIS
   SUBJECT TO WHICH PAUL DETERMINED TO SHUT HIMSELF UP WHILE PREACHING TO
   THE CHURCH AT CORINTH? That subject was one, though it may also be
   divided into two--it was the Person and the work of our Lord Jesus
   Christ--laying special stress upon that part of His work which is
   always the most objected to, namely, His substitutionary Sacrifice, His
   redeeming death. Paul preached Christ in all His positions, but he
   especially dwelt upon Him as the Crucified One.

   The Apostle first preached his great Master's Person--Jesus Christ.
   There was no equivocation about Paul when he spoke of Jesus of
   Nazareth. He held Him up as a real Man, no phantom, but one who was
   crucified, dead and buried-- and rose again from the dead in actual
   bodily existence. There was no hesitation about His Godhead, either.
   Paul preached Jesus as the Son of the Highest, as the wisdom and the
   power of God, as One, "in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
   bodily." You never doubted when you heard Paul, but that he believed in
   the Divinity and the Humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ--and worshipped
   and adored Him as very God of very God. He preached His Person with all
   clearness of language and warmth of love. The Christ of God was All in
   All to Paul.

   The Apostle spoke equally clearly upon the Redeemer's work, especially
   laying stress upon His death. "Horrible!" said the Jew, "How can you
   boast in a Man who died a felon's death and was cursed because He was
   hanged on a tree?" "Ah," said the Greek, "tell us no more about your
   God that died! Babble no longer about resurrection. We never shall
   believe such unmitigated foolishness." But Paul did not, therefore, put
   these things into the background and say, "Gentlemen, I will begin with
   telling you of the life of Christ and of the excellency of His
   example--and by these means I shall hope to tempt you onward to the
   conclusion that there was something Divine in Him and then, afterwards,
   to the further conclusion that He made an atonement for sin."

   No, he began with His blessed Person and distinctly described Him as he
   had been taught by the Holy Spirit! And as to His crucifixion, he put
   it in the front and made it the main point. He did not say, "Well, we
   will leave the matter of His death for a time," or, "We will consider
   it under the aspect of a martyrdom by which He completed His
   testimony." No! Paul gloried in the crucified Redeemer, the dead and
   buried Christ, the sin-bearing Christ, the Christ made a curse for us,
   as it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." This was
   the subject to which he confined himself at Corinth--beyond this he
   would not stir an inch. He does not merely determine to keep his
   preaching to that point, but he resolves not even to know any other
   subject! He would keep his mind fast closed among them to any thought
   but Jesus Christ and Him crucified!

   Very unwise this must have seemed. Call in a council of worldly wise
   men and they will condemn such a rash course, for, in the first place,
   such preaching would drive away all the Jews. Holding, as the Jews did,
   the Old Testament Scriptures and receiving, therefore, a great deal of
   teaching about the Messiah and holding very firmly to the unity of the
   Godhead, the Jews had gone a long way towards the light--and if Paul
   had kept back the objectionable points a little while, might he not
   have drawn them a little further--and so by degrees have landed them at
   the Cross? Wise men would have remarked upon the hopefulness of the
   Israelites, if handled with discretion, and their advice would have
   been, "We do not say, renounce your sentiments, Paul, but disguise them
   for a little while! Do not say what is untrue, but at the same time be
   a little reticent about what is true, or else you will drive away these
   hopeful Jews."

   The Apostle yielded to no such policy! He would not win either Jew or
   Gentile by keeping back the Truth of God, for he knew that such
   converts are worthless. If the man who is near the kingdom will be
   driven right away from the Gospel by hearing the unvarnished Truth,
   that is no guide as to Paul's duty. He knows that the Gospel must be a
   "savor of death unto death" to some as well as, of "life unto life"
   unto others and, therefore, whichever may occur he must deliver his own
   soul. Consequences are not for Paul, but for the Lord! It is ours to
   speak the Truth boldly and in every case we shall be a sweet savor unto
   God. But to compromise, in the hope of making converts, is to do evil
   that good may come--and this is never to be thought of for an instant!

   Another would say, "But, Paul, if you do this, you cause opposition. Do
   you not know that Christ crucified is a byword and a reproach to all
   thinking men? Why, at Corinth there are a number of philosophers and, I
   tell you, it will create unbounded ridicule if you so much as open your
   mouth about the Crucified One and His Resurrection. Do not you remember
   on Mars' Hill how they mocked you when you spoke upon that theme? Do
   not provoke their contempt! Argue with their Gnosticism and show them
   that you, too, are a philosopher! Be all things to all men. Be learned
   among the

   learned and rhetorical among the orators. By these means you will make
   many friends and, by degrees, your conciliatory conduct will bring them
   to accept the Gospel."

   The Apostle shakes his head, puts down his foot and with firm voice
   utters his decision, "I have determined," he says, "I have already made
   up my mind. Your counsels and advice are lost upon me. I have
   determined to know nothing among the Corinthians--however learned the
   Gentile portion of them may be, or however fond of rhetoric--save Jesus
   Christ, and Him crucified." He stands to that. It is further worthy of
   note that the Apostle had resolved that his subject should so engross
   the attention of his hearers that he would not even speak it with
   excellency of speech or garnish it with man's wisdom!

   You have heard, perhaps, of the famous painter who drew the likeness of
   James I. He represented him sitting in a bower with all the flowers of
   the season blooming around him--and nobody ever took the smallest
   notice of the king's visage for all eyes were charmed by the excellency
   of the flowers! Paul resolved that he would have no flowers at all! The
   portrait which he sketched would be Christ crucified, the bare facts
   and doctrine of the Cross without so much as a single flower from the
   poets or the philosophers! Some of us need not be very loud in our
   resolution to avoid fine speech, for we may have but slender gifts in
   that direction. But the Apostle was a man of fine natural powers and of
   vast attainments--a man whom the Corinthian critics could not have
   despised--and yet he threw away all ornaments to let the unadorned
   beauty of the Cross win its own way!

   As he would not add flowers, so he would not darken the Cross with
   smoke, for there is a way of preaching the Gospel amid a smother of
   mystification and doubt so that men cannot receive it. A numerous band
   of men are always boiling and stirring up a huge philosophic caldron
   which steams with dense vapor, beclouding the Cross of Christ most
   horribly. Alas for that wisdom which conceals the Wisdom of God! It is
   the most guilty form of folly. Some people preach Christ as I have seen
   representations of a man-of-war in battle. The painter painted nothing
   but the smoke and you have said, "Where is the ship?" Well, if you
   looked long you might discern a fragment of the top of one of the masts
   and, perhaps, a portion of the boom. The ship was there, no doubt, but
   the smoke concealed it! So there may be Christ in some men's preaching,
   but there is such a cloud of thinking, such a dense pall of profundity,
   such a horrid smoke of philosophy that you cannot see the Lord!

   Paul painted beneath a clear sky. He would have no learned obscurity.
   He determined not to know how to speak after the manner of the orators,
   not to know how to think deeply according to the mode of the
   philosophers, but only to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified--and just
   to set Him forth in His own natural beauties. He dispensed with those
   accessories which are so apt to attract the eyes of the mind from the
   central point--Christ crucified. "A rash experiment," says one. Ah,
   Brethren, it is the experiment of faith and faith is justified of all
   her children! If we rely upon the power of mere persuasion, we rely
   upon that which is born of the flesh! If we depend upon the power of
   logical argument, we, again, rely upon that which is born of men's
   reason! If we trust to poetic expressions and attractive turns of
   speech, we look to carnal means.

   But if we rest upon the naked Omnipotence of a crucified Savior, upon
   the innate power of the wondrous deed of love which was consummated
   upon Calvary--and if we believe that the Spirit of God will make this
   the instrument for the conversion of men, the experiment cannot
   possibly end in failure! But oh, my Brothers and Sisters, what a task
   this must have been for Paul! He was not like many of us who are
   neither familiar with philosophy, nor capable of oratory. He was so
   great a master of both that he must have found it necessary to keep
   himself constantly in check. I think I can see him, every now and
   then--when a deeply intellectual thought has come across his mind and a
   beautiful mode of utterance has suggested itself--reining himself up
   and saying to his mind, "I will leave these deep thoughts for the
   letter to the Romans.

   "I will give them all this in the eighth chapter. But as for these
   Corinthians, they shall have nothing but Christ crucified, for they are
   so carnal, so grossly slavish before men that they will run away with
   the idea that my excellent way of putting the Truth of God was the
   power of it. They shall have Christ only--and only Christ. They are
   children, and I must speak to them as such. They are mere babes in
   Christ and have need of milk--and milk, alone, must I give them. They
   claim to be clever and learned but they are conceited, high-minded,
   full of divisions and controversies. I will give then nothing but 'the
   old, old story of Jesus and His love,' and I will tell them that story
   simply as to a little child."

   Boundless love to their souls thus made him concentrate his testimony
   upon the one central point of Jesus crucified! And thus I have shown
   you what his subject was.

   II. Now, secondly, ALTHOUGH PAUL THUS CONCENTRATED HIS ENERGIES UPON
   ONE POINT OF TESTIMONY, IT WAS QUITE SUFFICIENT FOR HIS PURPOSE. If the
   Apostle had aimed at pleasing an intelligent audience, Christ and Him
   crucified would not have done at all. If, again, he had designed to set
   himself up as a profound teacher, he would naturally have looked out
   for something new, something a little more dazzling than the Person and
   work of the Redeemer. And if Paul had desired, as I am afraid some of
   my Brothers do, to collect together a class of highly independent minds
   which is, I believe, the euphemism for free-thinkers--to draw together
   a select Church of the "men of culture and intellect," which generally
   means a club of men who despise the Gospel--he certainly would not have
   kept to preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

   This order of men would deny him all hope of success with such a theme.
   They would assure him that such preaching would only attract the poorer
   sort and the less educated--the servant maids and the old women. But
   Paul would not have been discouraged by such observations, for he loved
   the poorest and feeblest souls and, besides, he knew that what had
   exercised power over his own educated mind was likely to have power
   over other intelligent people, and so he kept to the doctrine of the
   Cross, believing that he had, therein, an instrument which would
   effectually accomplish his one desire with all classes of men.

   Brethren, what did Paul wish to do? Paul desired, first of all, to
   awaken sinners to a sense of sin--and what has ever accomplished this
   so perfectly as the doctrine that sin was laid upon Christ and caused
   His death? The sinner, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, sees at once
   that sin is not a trifle, that it is not to be forgiven without an
   Atonement, but must be followed by penalty, borne by someone or other.
   When the guilty one has seen the Son of God bleeding to death in pangs
   unutterable in consequence of his sin, he has learned that sin is an
   enormous and crushing burden! If even the Son of God cries out beneath
   it! If His death agony rends the heavens and shakes earth, what an
   awful evil sin must be! What must it involve upon my soul if in my own
   person I shall be doomed to bear its consequences? Thus the sinner
   rightly argues and thus is he aroused to a sense of guilt.

   But Paul wanted, also, to awaken in the minds of the guilty that humble
   hope which is the great instrument of leading men to Jesus. He desired
   to make them hope that forgiveness might be given consistently with
   justice. Oh, Brethren, Christ crucified is the one ray of light that
   can penetrate the thick darkness of despair and make a penitent heart
   hope for pardon from the righteous Judge! Need a sinner ever doubt when
   he has once seen Jesus crucified? When he understands that there is
   pardon for every transgression through the bleeding wounds of Jesus, is
   not the best form of hope at once kindled in his bosom and is he not
   led to say, "I will arise and go unto my Father, and will say unto him,
   Father, I have

   sinned"?

   Paul longed, yet further, to lead men to actual faith in Jesus Christ.
   Now, faith in Jesus Christ can only come by preaching Jesus Christ.
   Faith comes by hearing, but the hearing must be upon the subject
   concerning which the faith is to deal. Would you make believers in
   Christ, preach Christ! The things of Christ, applied by the Spirit,
   lead men to put their reliance upon Christ. Nor was that all. Paul
   wanted men to forsake their sins and what should lead them to hate evil
   as much as seeing the sufferings of Jesus on account of it? You and I
   know the power of a bleeding Savior to make us take revenge upon sin.
   What indignation, what searching of heart, what stern resolve, what
   bitterness of regret, what deep repentance have we felt when we have
   seen that our sins became the nails, the hammer, the spear, yes, the
   executioners of the Well-Beloved?

   And Paul longed to train up in Corinth a Church of consecrated men,
   full of love, full of self-denial, a holy people, zealous for good
   works. And let me ask you, what is more necessary to preach to any man
   to promote his sanctification and his consecration than Jesus Christ
   who has redeemed us and so made us forever His servants? What argument
   is stronger than the fact that we are not our own, for we are bought
   with a price? I say that Paul had, in Christ crucified, a subject equal
   to his objective! He had a Subject that would meet the case of every
   man, however degraded or however cultured, and a subject which would be
   useful to men in the first hours of the new birth and equally useful
   when they were made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
   saints in light. He had a subject for today and tomorrow, and a subject
   for next year, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and
   forever!

   He had in the crucified Jesus a subject for the prince's palace and a
   subject for the peasant's hut, a subject for the market place and a
   subject for the academy, for the heathen temple and for the synagogue!
   Wherever he might go, Christ would be both to Jew and Gentile, to bond
   and free, the wisdom of God and the power of God--and that not to one
   form of beneficial influence, alone--but unto full salvation to
   everyone that believes.

   III. But I must pass on to a third remark, that THE APOSTLE'S CONFINING
   HIMSELF TO THIS SUBJECT COULD NOT POSSIBLY DO HARM. You know, Brothers
   and Sisters, that when men dwell exclusively upon one thing they get
   pretty strong, there, but they generally become very weak in other
   points. Hence a man of one thought, only, is generally described as
   riding a hobby. Well, this was Paul's hobby, but it was a sort of hobby
   which a man may ride without any injury to himself or his neighbor! He
   will be, none the less, a complete man if he surrenders himself wholly
   and only to this one theme.

   But let me remark that Christ crucified is the only subject of which
   this can be said. Let me show you that it is so. You know a class of
   ministers who preach doctrine--and doctrine only. Their mode of
   preaching resembles the counting of your fingers--"one, two, three,
   four, five," and for a variety, "five, four, three, two, one"--always a
   certain set of great Truths of God and no others. What is the effect of
   this ministry? Well, generally to breed a generation of men who think
   they know everything, but really do not know much--very decided and so
   far, so good--but very narrow, very exclusive, very bigoted and, so
   far, so bad! You cannot preach doctrine, alone, without contracting
   your own mind and that of your hearers.

   There are others who preach experience only. They are very good people.
   I am not condemning either them or their doctrinal friends, but they,
   also, fall into mischief. Some of them take the lower scale of
   experience and they tell us that nobody can be a child of God unless he
   feels the horrible character of his inbred sin and groans daily. We
   used to hear a good deal of that some years ago, there is less of it
   now. Am I wrong in saying that this teaching trains up a race of men
   who show their humility by sitting in judgement upon all who cannot
   groan down to as deep a note as they can? Another class has lately
   arisen who preach experience, but theirs is always upon the high key.

   They soar aloft, as I think, a little in the balloon line. They own
   only the bright side of experience. They have nothing to do with its
   darkness and death. For them there are no nights and they sing through
   perpetual summer days. They have conquered sin and they have ignored
   themselves. So they say, but we should not have thought so if they had
   not told us so! On the contrary, we might have fancied that they had a
   very vivid idea of themselves and their own attainments. I hope I am
   mistaken, but it has appeared to some of us poor fallible beings that
   in some beloved Brethren, self has grown marvelously big of late!
   Certainly their conversations and preaching largely consist of very
   wonderful declarations of their own admirable condition.

   I should be pleased to learn of their progress in Grace if it is real.
   But I had sooner have made the discovery myself, or have heard it from
   somebody besides themselves, for there is an Inspired Proverb which
   says, "Let another praise you, and not your own lips," and, for my
   part, if any other man thought it right to praise me, I would rather
   that he held his tongue, for man-magnifying is a poor business. Let the
   Lord, alone, be magnified! I think it is clear that grave faults arise
   from exclusively preaching an inner life instead of preaching Christ,
   who is Life itself!

   Another class of ministers have preached the precepts and little else.
   We need these men as we need the others--they are all useful and act as
   antidotes to each other--but their ministries are not complete. If you
   hear preaching about duty and command, it is very proper. But if it is
   the only theme, the teaching becomes very legal in the long run. And
   after a while the true Gospel, which has the power to make us keep the
   precepts gets flung into the background--and the precepts are not kept,
   after all! Do, do, do, generally ends in nothing being done! If a
   Brother were to undertake to preach the ordinances only, like those who
   are always extolling what they are pleased to call the holy
   sacraments--well, you know where that teaching goes--it has a tendency
   towards the southeast--and its chosen line runs across the city of
   Rome.

   Moreover, beloved Brother, even if you preach Jesus Christ, you must
   not keep to any other phase of Him but that which Paul took, namely,
   "Him crucified," for under no other aspect may you exclusively regard
   Him. For instance, the preaching of the Second Advent, which, in its
   place and proportion, is admirable, has been, by some, taken out of its
   place, and made the end-all and be-all of their ministry. That, you
   see, is not what Paul had selected and it is not a safe selection. In
   many cases sheer fanaticism has been the result of exclusively dwelling
   upon prophecy and probably more

   men have gone mad on that subject than on any other religious question!
   Whether any man could ever become fanatical about Christ crucified I
   cannot say, I have never heard of such an instance. Whether a man ever
   went insane with love to the crucified Redeemer I do not know, but I
   have never met such a case.

   If I should ever go crazy, I should like it to be in that direction,
   and I should like to incite a great many more, for what a blessed
   subject it would be for one to be carried away with--to become
   unreasonably absorbed in Christ crucified--to have gone out of your
   senses with faith in Jesus! The fact is, it never can injure the mind,
   it is a doctrine which may be heard forever and will be always fresh,
   new and suitable to the whole of our manhood. I say that the keeping to
   this doctrine cannot do hurt and the reason is this--it contains all
   that is vital within itself. Keep within the limits of Christ, and Him
   crucified, and you have brought before men all the essentials for this
   life and for the life to come! You have given them the root out of
   which may grow both branch and flower and fruit of holy thought, word
   and deed.

   Let a man know Christ crucified, and he knows Him who to know is Life
   Eternal! This is a subject which does not awaken one part of the man
   and send the other part to sleep. It does not kindle his imagination
   and leave his judgement uninstructed, nor feed his intellect and starve
   his heart. There is not a faculty of our nature but what Christ
   crucified affects for good! The perfect Manhood of Christ crucified
   affects mind, heart, memory, imagination, thought, everything! As in
   milk there are all the ingredients necessary for sustaining life, so in
   Christ crucified there is everything that is needed to nurture the
   soul. Even as the hand of David's chief minstrel touched every chord of
   his ten-stringed harp, so Jesus brings sweet music out of our entire
   manhood.

   There is also this to be said about preaching Christ exclusively, that
   it will never produce animosities. It will not impregnate men's minds
   with questions and contentions as those nice points do which some are
   so fond of dealing with. When certain questions are settled by my
   judgement and by your judgement, and by a third and a fourth man's
   judgement, a contest is sure to ensue. But he who stands at Christ's
   Cross and stays there. He stands where he may embrace the whole
   brotherhood of true Christians, for we are perfectly joined together in
   one mind and judgement there! There is no vaunting of man's judgement
   at the Cross. "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Christ," comes
   from not keeping to Jesus crucified! But if we keep to the Cross as
   guilty sinners needing cleansing through the precious blood and finding
   all our salvation there, we shall not have time to set ourselves up as
   religious leaders and to cause divisions in the Church of Christ.

   Was there ever, yet, a sect created in Christendom by the preaching of
   Christ crucified? No, my Brothers and Sisters, sects are created by the
   preaching of something over and above this, but this is the soul and
   marrow of Christianity and, consequently, the perfect bond of love
   which holds Christians together!

   IV. I shall not say more, but pass on to my last reflection, which is
   this--Because, then, Paul made this his one sole subject among the
   Corinthians and he did no hurt by doing so, which cannot be said of any
   other subject, I COMMEND

   TO YOU THAT WE SHOULD, ALL OF US, MAKE THIS THE MAIN SUBJECT OF OUR
   THOUGHTS, PREACHING AND EFFORTS. Unconverted men and women, to you I
   speak first. To you I have nothing else to preach but Jesus Christ and
   Him crucified.

   Paul knew there were great sinners at Corinth, for it was common all
   over the then world to call a licentious man a Corinthian. They were a
   people who pushed laxity and lasciviousness of manners to the greatest
   possible excess, yet among them Paul knew nothing but Christ and Him
   crucified, because all that the greatest sinner can possibly need is to
   be found there! You have nothing in yourself, Sinner, and you need not
   wish for anything to carry to Jesus. You tell me you know nothing about
   the profound doctrines of the Gospel--you need not know them when
   coming to Christ. The one thing you need to know is this--Jesus Christ,
   the Son of God, came into the world to save sinners and whoever
   believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life!

   I shall be glad for you to be further instructed in the faith and to
   know the heights and depths of that love which passes knowledge, but
   just now the one thing you need to know is Jesus Christ crucified! If
   you never get beyond that. If your mind should be of so feeble a cast
   that anything deeper than this you would never be able to grasp, I, for
   one, shall feel no distress whatever--for you will have found that
   which will deliver you from the power of sin and from the punishment of
   it--and that which will take you up to Heaven to dwell where that same
   Jesus who was crucified sits enthroned at the right band of God! Oh,
   dear broken Heart, if you will ever find healing, it is in those
   wounds! If you ever find rest, you must have it from those pierced
   hands! If you ever hear absolution, it must be spoken from those same
   lips which said

   so sweetly, "It is finished." God forbid that we should know anything
   among sinners except Christ and Him crucified! Look to Him and Him
   only, and you shall find rest unto your souls!

   As for you, my Brothers and Sisters who know Christ, I have this to say
   to you--keep this to the front and nothing else but this, for it is
   against this that the enemy rages. That part of the line of battle
   which is most fiercely assailed by the enemy is sure to be that which
   he knows to be most important to carry. Men hate those they fear. The
   antagonism of the enemies of the Gospel is mainly against the Cross.
   From the very first it was so. They cried, "Let Him come down from the
   Cross and we will believe in Him." They will write us pretty lines of
   Christ and tell us what an excellent man He was, and do our Lord such
   homage as their Judas' lips can afford Him. They will also take His
   Sermon on the Mount and say what a wonderful insight He had into the
   human heart, and what a splendid code of morals He taught, and so on.
   "We will be Christians" they say, "but the dogma of Atonement we
   utterly reject."

   Our answer is, we do not care one farthing what they have to say about
   our Master if they deny His substitutionary sacrifice! Whether they
   give Him wine or vinegar is a small question so long as they reject the
   claims of the Crucified. The praises of unbelievers are sickening! Who
   needs to hear polluted lips lauding Him? Such sugared words are very
   like those which came out of the mouth of the devil when he said, "You
   Son of the Highest," and Jesus rebuked him and said "Hold your peace
   and come out of him." Even thus would we say to unbelievers who extol
   Christ's life--"Hold your peace! We know your enmity, disguise it as
   you may! Jesus is the Savior of men or He is nothing. If you will not
   have Christ crucified you cannot have Him at all."

   My Brothers and Sisters in Jesus, let us glory in the blood of Jesus!
   Let it be conspicuous as though it were sprinkled upon the lintel and
   the two side posts of our doors! And let the world know that redemption
   by blood is written upon the innermost tablets of our hearts! Brethren,
   this is the test point of every teacher. When a fish goes bad they say
   it first stinks at the head and, certainly when a preacher becomes
   heretical it is always about Christ. If he is not clear about Jesus
   crucified and you hear one sermon from him--that is your misfortune.
   But if you go and hear him again, and hear another like the first, it
   will be your fault. Go a third time, and it will be your crime! If any
   man is doubtful about Christ crucified, recollect Hart's couplet, for
   it is a truth--

   "You cannot be right in the rest. Unless you think rightly of Him."

   I do not need to examine men upon all the doctrines of the Westminster
   Assembly's Confession. I begin here, "What do you think of Christ?" If
   you cannot answer that question, go and publish your own views where
   you like, but you and I are wide as the poles asunder! Neither do I
   wish to have fellowship with you. We must have plain speaking here. It
   is "Christ crucified" which God blesses to conversion. God blessed
   William Huntingdon to the conversion of souls--I am sure of that,
   though I am no Huntingdonian. He blessed John Wesley to the conversion
   of souls. I am quite as clear about that, though I am not a Wesleyan.
   The point upon which the Lord blessed them, both, was that in which
   they bore testimony to Christ--and you shall find that in proportion as
   Jesus Christ's Atonement is in a sermon, it is the lifeblood of that
   sermon--and is that which God sanctifies to the conversion of the souls
   of men. Therefore keep it always prominent!

   And I ask you now, my Brethren, one thing more. Is not Christ and Him
   crucified the thing to live on and the thing to die on? Worldlings can
   live upon their flimsies. They can delight themselves under their
   Jonah's gourds while they last. But when a man is depressed in spirit
   and tortured in body, where does he look? If he is a Christian, where
   does he fly? Where, indeed, but to Jesus crucified? How often have I
   been glad to creep into the temple and stand in the poor publican's
   shoes and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner," looking only to that
   Mercy Seat which Jesus sprinkled with His precious blood? This will do
   to die with! I do not believe we shall die seeking consolation from our
   peculiar Church organizations. Nor shall we die grasping with a dying
   clutch either ordinance or doctrine by itself. Our soul must live and
   die on Jesus crucified!

   Notice all the saints, when they die, whether they do not get back to
   Calvary's great Sacrifice. They believed a great many things. Some of
   them had many crotchets and whims and oddities, but the main point
   comes uppermost in death. "Jesus died for me, Jesus died for me"--they
   all come to that! Well, where they get at last, do you not think it
   would be well to go at first? And if that is the bottom of it all and
   it certainly is, would it not be as well for us to keep to that? While
   some are glorying in this and some in that, some have this form of
   worship and some that, let us say, "God forbid

   that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
   the world is crucified to me and I unto the world."

   Brethren, I commend to you more and more the bringing of the Cross of
   Christ into prominence, because it is this which will weld us more and
   more closely to one another and will keep us in blessed unity. We
   cannot all understand those peculiar Truths which depend, very much,
   upon nice points and shades of meaning in the Greek which only critics
   can bring out. If you are going in for these pretty things, Brother,
   you must leave behind many of us poor fools, for we cannot go in for
   these things--they puzzle us. I know you have got that dainty point
   very beautifully in your own mind and you think a great deal of it, and
   I do not wonder, for it has cost you a good deal of thinking and it
   shows your powerful discernment. At the same time, do you not think you
   ought to condescend to some of us who never will, as long as ever we
   live, take up with these knotty points?

   Some of our brains are of an ordinary sort. We have to earn our bread
   and we mingle with ordinary people. We know that two times two will
   make four, but we are not acquainted with all the ambiguous principles
   which lie concealed in the lofty philosophy to which you have climbed.
   I do not know much about it. I do not climb to such elevations, myself,
   and I shall never get up there along with you--might it not be better
   for the unity of the faith that you would kindly leave some of these
   things alone, agree better with your friends at home, show more love to
   your fellow Christians and attend a little more to commonplace duties?
   I do not know but what it might do you good, and bring a little of your
   humility to the front, if you get down there with Jesus Christ and Him
   crucified.

   Personally I might know a host of things--I specially might, for
   everybody tries to teach me something! I get advice by the
   wagonload--one pulls this ear and one pulls that. Well, I might know a
   great deal, but I find I should have to leave some of you behind if I
   went off to these things--and I love you too well for that. I am
   determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him
   crucified. If any man will keep to that, I will say, "Give me your
   hand, my Brother! Jesus washed it with His blood as He did mine. Come,
   Brother, let us look up together at the same Cross. What do you make of
   it?"

   There are tears in your eyes and in mine, but yet there is a flush of
   joy upon both our faces because of the dear love that nailed Jesus
   there. "What shall we do in the sight of this Cross?" My Brother says,
   "I will go and win souls," and I say, "So will I." He says, "I have one
   way of speaking," and I reply, "I have another, for our gifts differ,
   but we will never clash, for we are serving one Lord and one Master and
   we will not be divided, either in this world or in that which is to
   come." Let Apollos say what he likes, or Paul or Peter--we will learn
   from them all and be very glad to do so--but still, from the Cross we
   will not move, but stand fast there--for Jesus is the first and the
   last, the Alpha and the Omega. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--1 Corinthians 2. HYMNS FROM
   "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--425, 483, 433.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Eternal Truth of God

   (No. 1265)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE 6, 1875,

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "The truth endures to all generations." Psalm 100:5.

   IT was very solemn work, this morning, to lay bare the sin of unbelief.
   [Sermon #1238, Beware of Unbelief] It was the burden of the Lord to him
   who had to speak and it could have been but very small pleasure to
   those who had to listen. Nevertheless, I trust it was something better
   than pleasure to many and it drove their souls to pray to God for
   others. By His Grace sinners were moved, as we already know, to yield
   up their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. After meditating upon the
   heinousness of this sin--the sin of making God a liar--after even
   thinking of it, horror took hold upon my soul and it seemed to me that
   we ought to have a supplementary sermon, tonight, in honor of the Truth
   of God.

   As we have, as it were, cleansed the temple and swept out the dreadful
   filthiness of giving the Lord the lie, it is now our part to offer a
   sweet smelling offering by declaring the faithfulness of the Lord. It
   is my earnest desire that each one of us may join in the devout
   exercise and bear our witness that, as far as we have known the Lord,
   He has been a God of truth to us. We will also rehearse the Scriptural
   Testimony to this great and certain fact that God cannot lie--and
   meditate upon the evidence that in Him and in all His actions,
   faithfulness shines in the highest possible perfection.

   I desire in the courts of the Lord's House and in the midst of His
   people, to extol Him whose counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
   We will consider only two points, though those will subdivide into many
   others, and the first is, that, according to the text and according to
   fact, God is true. And, secondly, that God is true in all generations.

   I. First, then, GOD IS TRUE. He is true in His very Nature. There is no
   deceit, falsehood, or error in the essential Nature of God. It could
   not be. We, from our very birth, have deceitful hearts, deceitful above
   all things. And in us, the old serpent who deceived our first parents
   has fearfully perverted our judgement and turned aside our souls from
   their integrity. As a result we often put bitter for sweet and sweet
   for bitter. And frequently we believe a lie and reject the truth. But
   God is not a man that He should lie. His very name is, "The Lord God,
   abundant in goodness and truth." This is only a part of His holiness.
   The angels could not cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth," if
   God were not true. Admit for a single moment, untruthfulness on the
   part of God, and you have, at once, destroyed the wholeness, or
   holiness, of His ever blessed and adorable Character.

   What makes men untruthful? Whatever it may be, it is clear that nothing
   of the kind can operate with God. When a man tells a lie, it is often
   through fear--fear of the consequences of the truth. But the eternal
   Jehovah cannot dread consequences--He is Omnipotent--all things are in
   His hands. When a man utters a lie, he frequently does so because he
   thinks there is no other way of accomplishing his end. But the Infinite
   Wisdom of God is never short of resources--He knows how to accomplish
   His will and pleasure without adopting the mean devices and paltry
   schemes of poor pitiful man. Man sometimes promises what he cannot
   perform and then he is false to his promise. But that can never be the
   case with the Almighty who has but to speak and it is done--to command,
   and it stands fast.

   Falsehood is the wickedness--I dare not call it the infirmity--the
   wickedness of little natures. But as for the Great Supreme, you cannot
   conceive Him acting in any manner that is otherwise than
   straightforward, upright and truthful. He is essentially a God of truth
   and righteousness. He must be so. The Lord our God is not only true in
   His Nature, but He is true to His Nature. We are not always true to
   ourselves. I have known a generous man who, in a spot, has acted very
   ungenerously. I have known a man universally admitted to be just and
   upright who, nevertheless, under pressure, has stooped to an action
   which he could not justify.

   And we have read of persons exceedingly kind by nature who,
   nevertheless, have perpetrated cruel deeds in times of fear. They were
   not true to themselves. They did actions of which any candid person
   would say, "This is not like the man--we are astonished that he should
   do this. He seems to have stepped out of his ordinary path to do a
   something al-

   together foreign to his better nature." But the Lord is always true to
   Himself. You never find Him doing anything that is not godlike. Select
   the acts of His Creation. If He makes an aphid to creep upon a rosebud,
   you will find traces of infinite wisdom in it--you shall submit the
   insect to the microscope and discern a wisdom in it as glorious as that
   which shines in yonder rolling stars!

   If in Providence some minor event comes under your notice, in that
   event you shall find no deviation from the constant rule of right and
   love by which the Most High characterizes all His doings. There are no
   emergencies with God in which He could be driven to act an untruth.
   There are no pressures, no difficulties, no infirmities which could
   produce falsehood in Him. "I am Jehovah: I change not," He says. Find
   Him where you will, He is what He was and what He ever shall be--the
   eternal and ever glorious I AM, over whom circumstances can have no
   kind of influence--who, indeed, knows nothing of circumstances, for He
   fills all places, and all times and all ages are present with Him! As
   for the creatures, they are as nothing in His sight and He is All in
   All. Ever true, ever true by Nature and His Nature is true is the Lord
   our God and adored be His thrice holy name! By Jesus Christ, we present
   to You, O Jehovah, our adoring praise!

   Let us further notice that God is true in action. He has been true to
   the first transaction of which we are aware, namely, the making of the
   Eternal Covenant. What God has done in the eternity which we call the
   past, (but which to Him is as the present), we do not fully know. We
   have no reason to believe that we know much of what God has done. There
   may be as many other worlds and sorts of beings existent as there are
   sands upon the sea shore, for all we know. And the Lord may have been
   occupied in ages past with thousands of glorious plans and economies as
   yet unrevealed to man.

   We cannot tell what He does, or what He has done. We are creatures of a
   day and know nothing. We are like insects that are born on a leaf and
   die amid our fellows at the setting of the sun--but He lives on
   forever. We talk of the "eternal hills," but they are babes that were
   born yesterday, as far as He is concerned. "Before the mountains were
   brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even
   from everlasting to everlasting You are God." We say, "Roll on, you
   ancient ocean!" but the ocean is not ancient--it is a drop that fell
   yesterday from the tip of the Creator's finger!

   We cannot tell all that the Lord did in the past, but we are told in
   Scripture that He made a Covenant in the olden time with His Son and
   with us, also, who are believers in His Son. And in that Covenant the
   chief point was that He would give His Son to be a ransom for
   many--that Jesus Christ should lay down His life for His sheep and give
   Himself for His Church. That was the most astounding promise that was
   ever made! Indeed, all the promises made to men are couched in that.
   Did He keep it? Did He take the Darling of His bosom, the pure and holy
   Christ, and send Him down to earth to be made in the likeness of sinful
   flesh?

   Did He submit that His peer, His equal, the Son of the Highest, should
   wear the smock frock of a peasant and live among the sons of men as a
   carpenter's son? Did He fulfill that wondrous Word and allow that dear
   Son of His to be nailed to a Cross--to die on that gibbet like a common
   felon? Did He permit Him to slumber in the dust among the dead? He did!
   Let Bethlehem and Calvary say, "The Lord is true! He has kept His
   Covenant--

   "True to His Word, He gave His Son To die for crimes which men ha ve
   done. Blest pledge! He never will revoke A single promise He has
   spoke." But it was a stipulation of that Covenant on the Lord's side
   that Jesus Christ should have a people who would be His reward for His
   sufferings. The Father gave to Christ a chosen people--His sheep, His
   bride. These were to be His. "He shall see of the travail of His soul
   and shall be satisfied."

   Has the Divine Father kept that part of His Covenant? Beloved, He is
   keeping it every day! By the preaching of the Gospel and by other means
   in the hand of the Spirit, those for whom Jesus died are being called
   from among the mass of mankind! They are reconciled to God by the death
   of Jesus and they are saved! And whenever these present themselves
   before the Throne of God, He looks upon them as forgiven, regards them
   as one with His beloved Son and members of the body of Christ--and
   therefore He accepts them in the Beloved! For Christ's sake He
   preserves them. For Christ's sake He sanctifies them. For Christ's sake
   He will, by-and-by, glorify them! The Covenant of Grace has many
   promises in it, but not one of them has failed. As on Christ's side,
   the Covenant was kept by His death, so on the Father's side, the
   Covenant has been kept by the salvation of those whom Jesus redeemed
   from among men whom He gave himself a ransom for many.

   Oh, Beloved, if it could be proven that the Covenant of Grace had
   failed. If there had been the smallest faltering in the fulfillment of
   this Divine Treaty, then might we speak with bated breath concerning
   the truthfulness of God, and the sinner would not be so guilty when he
   makes God a liar! But because in this grand Covenant transaction God
   has not swerved by so much as one jot or tittle from His promise, let
   His name be blessed! Praise Him, all you saints in Heaven! Praise Him,
   you saints on earth, for, "His truth endures to all generations." God
   being thus true in His Nature and true to His Nature--and true to His
   Covenant--He has been true to all His purposes. Whatever God resolved
   to do, He has done. Whatever He decreed has come to pass!

   There has been no change in the purpose of God at any time. Straight
   forward He goes and none can hinder Him. The opposition of men and the
   opposition of devils are as nothing--these can no more change His plans
   than an infant's breath could alter the course of the sun. "Has He said
   and shall He not do it?" Who are you that hopes to thwart the designs
   of God? What He resolves to do, who shall dare to censure, much less to
   oppose? Who is he that shall say unto the Lord, "Your arm is short. You
   are not able to accomplish Your work"? Behold, His will is Omnipotence
   and He does as He pleases among the angels of Heaven and among the
   inhabitants of this lower world. From the time He planned the whole
   scheme of Providence and Grace, nothing has ever made Him alter so much
   as one single line of it. There it stands, and He is true to it and
   true He will be, till, like a vesture, He shall fold up Creation as a
   worn-out mantle which has answered its wearer's purpose.

   This leads us to remark that God is true to His promises. There is not
   a promise which God has made, but what either He has kept it, or else,
   being dated for the future, He will keep it when the time appointed
   comes. Whatever He has said to the sons of men He has meant. How sadly
   common it is for men to make engagements in public while, in the long
   run, they never intend to do anything of the sort. How many promises
   are made to please the ear and cheat the heart? Blessed be the Lord, it
   is not so with Him! I love that passage in which it is written, "I have
   not spoken in secret, in the dark places of the earth. I said not unto
   the seed of Jacob, seek you My face in vain." There are no mental
   reservations and Jesuitical equivocations with God--there is nothing in
   His secret purpose which will contradict the promise which He has
   given.

   When He says to the wicked, "You shall surely die," He means it. But
   when He says, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as wool,"
   He means it. And when He says, "I will be merciful to their
   unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no
   more," it is not mere talk. It is reality. He means it. He is "the Lord
   God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
   sin." There is truth in what He says, and He fulfils it. Oh, how many
   of us there are here who can tell of the pardoning mercy of God! We
   have been forgiven! We have been saved! We sought the Lord and He heard
   us! We cried unto Him and He answered us! We came before Him with no
   plea except the blood of Jesus and He said, "Son, be of good cheer;
   your sins, which are many, are forgiven you." Blessed be His name! His
   promises are true!

   Now, child of God, I want you to note this upon the tablets of your
   heart. Be sure of it! For on your assurance of God's truthfulness very
   much depends. You cannot call out to God and be accepted if you have
   any suspicion of the Divine veracity, for, "without faith it is
   impossible to please Him." Do not play with God's promises! Do not say,
   "I hope they are true." You have no business to hope about it. They are
   true! Do not go with a promise on your lips and say, "Lord, I sometimes
   hope that this will be fulfilled." No, but say, "Lord, I know You
   cannot lie. You have said it and You will do it. As the pitcher hangs
   on the nail, so do I hang upon Your truth." God deserves to be treated
   with unbounded confidence. Sooner shall Heaven and earth pass away than
   one promise of our God shall fall to the ground!--

   "He will not His great Self deny;

   A God all truth can never lie;

   As well might be His being quit

   As break His oath or word forget." Now, as He is thus true to His
   secret purposes and true to His promises, I may add that He is true to
   all His published Word which He has made known to us in Holy Scripture.
   The Bible, having in it testimonies from God, is not a book for
   yesterday, nor shall it be merely a book for today, but for all time!
   It stands and must stand fast forever. Did the Law condemn sin? It
   condemns it still! Did the Gospel provide pardon 1,800 years ago? It
   does so still! Is there a promise that believers shall be saved? They
   are saved still! Is there a declaration that unbelievers shall be
   damned? Damned they must be, for that Word can never alter! Of every
   gracious declaration of the Most High we may sing--

   "Engraved as in eternal brass The mighty promise shines, Nor can the po
   wers of darkness erase Those everlasting lines."

   Every Word of God is true and stands fast like the pillars of Heaven!
   Neither can it ever be changed--rest assured of this.

   Further, let me assure you, tonight, that God is true in every relation
   that He sustains. Is He a King? The kingcraft of God is not like that
   of many princes who think that their ambassadors ought to be sent
   abroad to tell lies for the good of their countrymen at home. No, there
   are no deceits, tricks or plots with the court of Heaven! Nothing of
   what is called finesse and intrigue enter into the government of God!
   It is all straightforward with Him and so plain and clear that it
   baffles villainy, countermines the mining of deceit and makes the
   diviners mad! O blessed King upon Your throne, Your courtiers are men
   of clean hands who love the Truths of God in their hearts! They dwell
   with You, but as for liars and deceivers, You have said that they shall
   be cast into the Lake of Fire.

   The Lord will be true as a Judge. When you and I come to be tried
   before Him there will be no bribes taken. There will be no inducing of
   witnesses to commit perjury, no twisting of the law. In righteousness
   shall He judge the world and His people with equity, for He is just and
   true in all His ways and will, by no means, clear the guilty. He will
   only clear those whom He has made righteous through the righteousness
   of His Son. Blessed be His name, He is true as a Father. Many fathers
   are bad fathers--hard, forgetful, selfish--we pity the children who
   have such parents. They are not fathers at all, in the true sense of
   the word. But God is a true father, pitying and compassionate, helping
   and loving and providing for His children.

   And He is a true friend. There are friends in the world of a sad sort.
   Friends? Perhaps we have a dozen of them-- friends while we have a
   shilling--but they leave us when our purse is empty, or we are under a
   cloud. "A friend in need is a friend, indeed," says our proverb, and
   such a friend is God, for, oh, how He helps the helpless! How the widow
   and the fatherless, and those that have no helper, look up to Him! And
   how in our despair, when we are sorely pressed and crushed under a
   burden of trouble, we have turned to Him and He has helped us, truly
   helped us, for He is a practical Friend. But I should tire you if I
   went through all the relationships in which God sustains us--only I sum
   up all by saying that He is true and thorough in them all.

   There is no pretence or mockery with Him. And I will close this head by
   saying that God is true to every man, to every woman in the world. When
   you get to the end of life you will find that everything that God said
   is true. You may have doubted it, but experience will prove it. You may
   call Him a liar, as we proved that unbelievers do, this morning, but
   you will find Him true--true to your regret if you die rejecting Him,
   but assuredly true in all respects. Some dare to charge God with
   favoritism and I do not know what they will not say. Such things have I
   heard said about the living God that I will not defile my lips by
   repeating them. But, Sinner, you will find Him to be impartial. Your
   judgement before God will be so just that you, yourself, will agree
   with it!

   Though it sends you down to Hell, you will be obliged, by your
   speechless confusion, to confess that God has kept His Word with you
   and has dealt out impartial justice. You will not at any time be able
   to turn round upon Him and say, "This is not what was written in Your
   Bible. This is not what Your ministers told me. This is not what my
   conscience tells me should be." No, no, but as it is written, so shall
   you find it! Do not risk the Lord's driving you forever from His
   Presence, for if you die in unbelief He will do so. If you reject Him,
   He will reject you. And if you despise His Son, He will despise you. If
   you will live and die impenitent and unbelieving, you shall be driven
   from His Presence into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and
   wailing and gnashing of teeth--and He has told you so!

   I sometimes pity persons who are brought up before the magistrates for
   breaking some of our new laws which the magistrates, themselves, cannot
   administer and which nobody can understand. The magistrate says, "It is
   clear you have broken a law," and the man replies, "I did not know it."
   I pity a man in that case! But you do know the Law of the Lord! God's
   Laws have been published, fastened up in your conscience and printed in
   the Bible which is in all your houses! And so if you sin against His
   commands, you sin against light and knowledge. And you will be utterly
   without excuse when He calls you to His bar.

   There I leave this great Truth of God, having illustrated it in a
   considerable number of ways. God is true.

   II. The second head was to be that GOD IS TRUE IN ALL GENERATIONS. This
   fact breaks up into three heads--

   in the past, in the present and in the future. I should have to detain
   you here for a long time if I were to go into that first

   head at any length. God has been true in the past. The whole of
   history, sacred and profane, goes to prove that. Take the beginning of
   our race. God warned Adam and Eve that if they ate of the forbidden
   fruit they should surely die. He indicated to them, therein, a
   spiritual death which signifies separation from God. In the day they
   ate thereof they did die-- die as to all spiritual life and Adam,
   instead of welcoming God, went to hide himself among the trees of the
   garden and felt that he was naked.

   God then told him that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread and
   that his wife should bring forth her children with bitter pangs. Has it
   not been so? Every man's labor and every woman's travail prove that God
   is true. But then the Lord came in with a voice of mercy and He said,
   "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and Jesus
   came, the woman's promised Seed, and He has bruised the head of Satan
   and proclaimed to us salvation through the Man, the Mediator, who is
   also God over all, blessed forever. The first promise has been kept.
   Years rolled on and God destroyed the world with a flood. You know the
   story. God said He would and He did it. He told Noah to go into the ark
   and He would save him. Noah went in and God saved him.

   But when he came out, perhaps Noah was half afraid the world would be
   destroyed again and, when a shower began to fall, he did not know but
   what the sluices of Heaven had been pulled up again and that once more
   the floods might come. Presently he saw in the skies that wonderful
   sight which I think none of us can look upon without delight--a
   rainbow, a bow of many colors, not a bloodstained bow, but a bow of
   joy, many-colored, like streamers of delight--a bow not turned
   downwards to shoot at us, but upwards, as if we might shoot our prayers
   up to God upon it. A bow without an arrow, to show that God has not
   come out to war with men.

   And what did God say? "I, behold, even I, do set My bow in the cloud,
   for behold I make a covenant with the world that seedtime and harvest,
   summer and winter, cold and heat, shall never fail. And I will no more
   destroy the earth with a flood." Has He not kept it? Have you not felt
   winter's cold going through your bones? Did you not sweat with the heat
   of summer? Did He not say that He would give you the harvest time and
   the heat? He has kept His Covenant! Every time you see the rainbow in
   Heaven, no, every time you walk upon the earth and find that it is not
   transformed into one dreary, dreadful, all-devouring sea, you may say
   to yourself, "God is true."

   The world went on and there came an Abraham into the world. And God
   said, "Get you hence, from your kindred, and from your father's house,
   to a land that I will show you. I will give it to you and to your seed
   after you." Abraham believed God and went into a land that he knew
   nothing of. He found it full of inhabitants and he dwelt among them in
   tents, wandering up and down. It did not look likely that God would
   give him that land, nor to his seed after him, for he had no children
   and he was more than a hundred years old. And his wife was well
   stricken in years. He had to wait a long time, but Isaac came, at last,
   and made glad that household.

   Four hundred and fifty years went on. Abraham had been gathered to his
   fathers and yet there was not an Israelite in all Canaan! Not a foot of
   that land belonged to them except the cave of Machpelah in which the
   dead Patriarch still lay. But the time came for Israel to come up into
   the promised land and they did come. God sent down Moses and told
   Pharaoh to let His people go, for the time was come and they must go up
   to their own land. Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey
   His voice? I will not obey His voice, neither will I let Israel go."
   But he had to change his tune and bow before the stammering man who
   spoke for God!

   God chastened and plagued Egypt till, at last, they let Israel go--and
   they did go, though the Red Sea rolled before them--and Pharaoh's host
   pursued them! They did go, and though the wilderness yielded them no
   meat, the heavens dropped with manna! They went through the great
   howling wilderness and failed not for drought, for the rocks gushed
   with rivers! They did go till they came to Canaan and there they were
   called to fight with Anakim and giants. And they threw down the
   battlements of their cities! And they smote the Canaanites with great
   slaughter, took possession of the land and dwelt therein--every man
   under his vine and under his fig tree--for the Lord had said it, and
   the Lord fulfilled it.

   He gave the land to them and they possessed it in due time. Thus, you
   see, I might keep on with history as long as you pleased, but it all
   goes to show that if God says it, He does it. He said that Edom should
   become a desolation and the traveler can hardly pass through Petra at
   this present day. He said that Tyre should become a place for the
   mending of nets and it is still so in its desolateness. He said that
   Egypt should be the meanest of all the nations and who that knows

   Egypt, where the stick is used on almost every man, does not know that
   no people yield so meanly to a despot's will as the Egyptian race?
   Everything has happened that the Lord has spoken up to this moment.

   Now, instead of taking you back to ancient or modern history, I would
   like to take you to the history of your mother or of your grandmother.
   I think of my dear old grandfather and of what he used to say to me. If
   he were here tonight--I am glad he is not, because he is in Heaven, and
   that is a much better place for him--but if he could come from Heaven
   and could talk as he used to do when he was here on earth, he would
   say, "Ah, my boy, I did find Him a faithful God." He had a large family
   and a very small income, but he loved his Lord and he would not have
   given up his preaching of the Gospel for anything, not even for an
   imperial crown!

   He had told me often how the Lord provided for him. He had a little
   farm to get his living upon it and he had a cow which used to give milk
   for his many children. And one day when he came up to the cow it fell
   back with the staggers and died. Grandmother said, "James, how will God
   provide for the dear children now? What shall we do for milk?"
   "Mother," he said, "God said He would provide, and I believe that He
   could send us 50 cows if He pleased." It so happened that on that day a
   number of gentlemen were meeting in London. Persons whom Grandfather
   did not know were sitting as a committee for the distribution of money
   to poor ministers, and they had given it to all who had asked for it.

   My grandfather had never asked for any. He liked to earn his own money.
   He did not send in any petition or appeal. Well, after the gentlemen
   had distributed to all who had asked, there was five pounds over and
   they were considering what they should do with this balance. "Well,"
   said one, "there is a Mr. Spurgeon down at Stambourne, in Essex, a poor
   minister. He stands in need of five pounds." "Oh," said another, "don't
   send him five pounds. I will add five to it. I know him. He is a worthy
   man." "No," said another, "don't send him 10 pounds. I will give
   another five pounds if somebody else will put a fourth five to it."

   The next morning came a letter to Grandfather with nine pence postage
   due! Grandmother did not like to pay out nine pence for a letter, but
   there was 20 pounds in it, and as my grandfather opened it he said,
   "Now, can't you trust God about an old cow?" These things I tell you,
   and you smile, and well you may, but, oh my soul laughs, and my face
   laughs on both sides, when I think how faithful God has been to me! I
   can tell you about my grandfather, but I will not tell you about
   myself, for that would be almost as long as the history I spoke of.
   From the day that I left my father's house to this day, if there is no
   other man in the world that can speak of the faithfulness of God, I
   can. I must, I will and none shall stop me of this glorying.

   He has never lied unto me, or failed me, or forsaken me, but has kept
   His Word to the moment in every respect. No, I sometimes think He has
   gone beyond His Word and done for me exceedingly abundantly above what
   I understood Him to promise. He has exceeded my expectations even when
   my expectations have been at full tide. If I were to invite the
   Brothers round us, one by one, to get up and were to say "Brother, has
   God kept His Word to you in the past? Speak as you have found Him,"
   they would all testily to the Lord's truth! And, oh, it is not merely
   the Brothers, but there are many aged woman here--there are many widows
   here--there are many poor tried Believers here, and as I look round I
   know the stories of some of you and I know what you would say. It would
   be, "Blessed be His holy name, not one good thing has failed of all
   that the Lord God has promised." There is the testimony of history,
   ancient and modern. There is the testimony of the biographies of our
   ancestors and the testimony of our autobiographies as well. God is
   true, glory be to His name!

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, I was to have said next, that God is still
   true. Not only was He true, but He is true--He is true tonight. He is
   true tonight! If you want to know that, go down many of our streets in
   London tonight. Go to the casual ward of the workhouse, if you like,
   and just pick out the vagrants--those that are in rags and poverty.
   What do you find? In nine cases out of 10, how did they get there? What
   brought them to poverty? Drink and laziness! And what did God say? "The
   drunkard and the sluggard shall come to poverty." God said they would
   and they do. He says, "The sluggard shall clothe himself with rags."
   Every time I see a sluggard in rags, I say to myself, "God is true. He
   said it would come to that." He tells us that sin will bring sorrow,
   and do you not see it everywhere? Most of the misery in the world can
   be traced to some sin or other--some direct breach of the Divine
   commands. God is true.

   On the other hand, look, tonight, on many a happy face. If I were to
   question the man who owns that happy face-- What makes you so
   happy?--he would say, "Because my sins are forgiven me." "How came that
   about?" "I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and I had the promise that
   my sins should be forgiven me, and they have been." "You had a burden

   once, had you not?" "Yes." "And you have got rid of it? Did you go to
   Jesus Christ's Cross with that burden?" "Yes, and I got rid of it just
   as He said I would." "Did you do anything more than that?" "No, I
   simply trusted Jesus. He said I should have peace and I have it."
   "Well, but how about your daily troubles? Do you have any?" "Oh, yes. I
   do." "I ask you that question because Jesus said, 'In the world you
   shall have tribulation.' Do you find it so?" "That I do," says one.

   But then He said, "In Me you shall have peace." Do you find it so,
   Brothers and Sisters? How was it with you last week when you had all
   those troubles? Did you enjoy peace, even then? Did you hear Him say,
   "Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God: believe, also, in
   Me"? And did you believe in Him and find at once that you could cast
   your burden upon God? Oh, yes, the saints will testify unanimously that
   whenever they trust God it is well with their souls! And tonight, as
   well as in the past, we have a faithful God!

   Have we present tonight any friend in great distress? You have
   forgotten it, I suppose, during the service, but now you remember that
   the brunt of the storm will be upon you tomorrow. Does this alarm you?
   You are a child of God and do you think that your Father will leave you
   in the time of need? No, I will not ask you whether you think so,
   because it would be a crying shame if you did your Lord such an
   injustice. If we never doubt our God till we have a cause for it, it
   will be a long while first. "But it is a new trouble, Sir." Yes, but He
   who was your God of old will help you through the new trial. Go to Him
   again. "Ah, but I dread the loss of a very dear and precious one." Yes,
   but as His will is, so should your will be. God makes all things work
   together for good. Do you not believe it? All things are moving
   according to the decree of goodness and wisdom--and you must not doubt
   it. Like Jacob, you sometimes say, "All these things are against me,"
   but they are not, they are all for you. God is ordering all for the
   best.

   Now, last of all, God will be true. I do not know how far we have to go
   before we shall reach our journey's end, but this I do know, the whole
   of the road that we have to travel is paved with love and faithfulness,
   and we need not be afraid. We shall soon lie down upon our beds and
   fall asleep in death. I bless God for that. I said to a Brother the
   other day, "So-and-So has gone Home," and the Brother replied, "Well,
   where else should He go?" Where should a child go, when the day is
   over, but home? It is very sweet to think that the Lord's own children
   shall all go Home, by-and-by. He has promised that we shall be with Him
   where He is, and we shall find it so! Only, like the Queen of Sheba, we
   shall be astonished when we get there and we shall say, "The half has
   not been told us."

   We shall leave these poor bodies behind in the grave for a while, but
   they will not be lost. They are old companions of ours on the journey
   of life and, though the worms devour them, yet in our flesh we shall
   see God! The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised
   incorruptible and, body and soul, one perfect man shall "behold the
   King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off." God has said
   so, and it will be so! We shall leave the Church behind us, but God
   will take care of His Church. We need not fret about that--He will not
   fail her nor forsake her. We shall leave the world behind us and the
   world is very wicked, but it will not prevail against the Truth of God,
   for the Lord has said the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His
   Church, nor shall they.

   We need not be worrying about what will happen when Mr. So-and-So dies.
   People are always putting the question, "What will they do when their
   minister is gone?" Do? Trust in God as they did before! God is alive!
   Martin Luther once said to his friend, when he was fretting and
   worrying, "When will you leave off trying to govern the world?" And we
   may say the same to one another when we are anxious and fretful. God
   does not need any of us. We think ourselves mightily important but we
   really are no more important to God's plans than the caterpillar in the
   kitchen garden is to a Napoleon when he is marching his armies across a
   continent! We are nothings and nobodies, except when God pleases to use
   us--and He can do better without us than with us many times, for we get
   in His way.

   Oh, Brothers and Sisters, matters are all right, for they are in God's
   hands! The everlasting God lives and He will work His purposes, for He
   is the true God! The heathen will be converted to Christ, for the Lord
   has said, "Ask of Me, and I will give you the heathen for your
   inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession."
   "As I live," says the Lord, "surely all flesh shall see the salvation
   of God." It shall be done! It must be done. Rest sure of it! "The
   kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His
   Christ." Antichrist on yonder seven hills must be thrown down--the
   crescent of Mahomet must wane--the gods of the heathen must be utterly
   abolished. Must, I say, for is it not written, "He must reign till His
   enemies are made His footstool"?

   I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet and, therefore, I do not dare
   set up a theory of futurity, but this one thing I know--"The Lord
   reigns"--and the Lord will accomplish His purposes and preserve His
   Church in the world. The

   Truth of God shall never die and Christ's Throne shall never shake, for
   the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Thus have we tried
   to declare the truthfulness of God. How short of the mighty theme have
   we fallen! These two words and we have done. Since God is true, you
   children of God, why do you mistrust Him? Since God is true, you
   sinners, why do you belie Him by your unbelief? Echo answers, "Why?"
   And so we leave it. And unto Father, Son and Holy Spirit be glory,
   forever and ever! Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SECTION--Psalm 85. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"-- 100 (VERS. IV), 193,1,009.

   THE BAPTIST BULLETIN

   THE PILGRIM FATHERS--This is actually a reprint of Brown's work,
   published in commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the landing of
   the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. It would be good for every American
   (assuming that he would read with an open mind ) to read this account
   of the noble band so indelibly tied in with the origins of our nation.
   It is interesting to read quotations such as this--"For that the
   propagation of the Gospel is a thing we do profess above all to be our
   aim in settling this plantation, we have been careful to make plentiful
   provision of godly ministers, by whose faithful preaching, godly
   conversation and exemplary life we trust not only those of our own
   nation will be built up in the knowledge of God, but also the Indians
   may, in God's appointed time, be reduced to the obedience of the Gospel
   of Christ." Would that such a purpose would be characteristic of our
   nation as a whole today!
     __________________________________________________________________

Paul's Doxology

   (No. 1266)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 1, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that
   we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be
   glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
   end. Amen." Ephesians 3:20,21.

   This chapter has a whole service of worship within itself. It certainly
   contains a sermon, for Paul gives a very earnest address upon the
   unveiling of the hidden mystery so that the Gentiles are made partakers
   of the promise in Christ by the Gospel. It contains a prayer, for one
   of the verses begins, "For this cause I bow my knees." And in the
   verses before us it closes with a hymn, a hymn of incomparable praise.
   Thus, in the compass of a short chapter, we have all those devout
   exercises with which our assemblies for worship are familiar,
   namely--instruction, supplication, and praise.

   It was meet that the Apostle should close the chapter as he does, for
   the doxology here given grows out of the chapter. It is its natural
   outcome and crowns the whole, even as the flower of the lily is borne
   up by the stem, completes it and adorns it. The chapter would have been
   altogether incomplete without the ascription of praise--not perhaps in
   its sense, but certainly in its spiritual development.

   Mount Zion doubtless possessed in itself both glory and beauty, but the
   temple on its summit constituted its most sacred charm. Even so to a
   noble chapter this doxology is a Divine climax, adding glory and
   sanctity to all the rest. If you look the chapter through, you will see
   that the Apostle has represented the Gospel in its various aspects to
   different persons and generally has set it forth with the word unto. In
   the fifth verse he speaks of it as manifested unto the sons of men. It
   was not revealed to them in the olden time so clearly as now, but now
   unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit, the Gospel is
   revealed and we live in its clear light, for which we have reason for
   great thankfulness.

   It were a good subject to dwell upon--the relation of the Gospel unto
   the sons of men. The Apostle, a little lower down, in the eighth verse,
   speaks of the relation of the Gospel unto himself, "Unto me, who am
   less than the least of all saints, is this Grace given." What the
   Gospel may do unto other men is of great importance for us to allow,
   but the knowledge will little avail us unless we can testify of what it
   has done unto each one of us personally. All the gold mines of
   California are of less worth to a man than the money in his own
   possession. Can you, beloved Hearers, speak, each one for himself and
   say of the Gospel--"unto me is this Grace given"?

   Further on, the Apostle speaks of the angels, and in the 10th verse he
   says, "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
   heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom
   of God." The Gospel has a relation to angels--they have always had
   something to do with it, for of old they desired to look into it. And
   it is written of our Lord that He was "seen of angels." We know, also,
   that they rejoice over penitent sinners and that they join in those
   ascriptions of Glory which the redeemed in Heaven present to the Lamb
   of God. Yet further, the Apostle, without exactly using the word,
   "unto," dwells upon the relation of the Gospel to the people whom he
   addressed when he declares that he had prayed to the Lord that He would
   grant them, according to the richness of His Glory, to be strengthened
   with might by His Spirit in the inner man.

   Thus having mentioned how the Gospel bears upon mankind at large, upon
   Inspired men, upon himself, upon angels and then upon the saints to
   whom he was writing, he turns with a full heart to look at its bearings
   upon God Himself. And now it is no longer "unto principalities and
   powers." It is no longer, even, "unto me," or "unto the holy Apostles
   and Prophets." But his theme is "unto HIM." I pray God the Holy Spirit
   to fulfill my desire at this time that every one of us who have tasted
   that the Lord is gracious, may look wholly unto the Lord and spend the
   little time appointed for our discourse in reverent adoration of Him
   from whom all Grace comes and to whom all the Glory, ought, therefore,
   to return, "for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things."
   If unto Him there should be glory in the Church

   throughout all ages, then, to Him should there be glory in this Church
   at this present moment. O Lord, help us to render it unto You!

   In our text we have adoration, not prayer, the Apostle had done with
   that. Adoration--not even so much the act of praise as the full sense
   that praise is due and far more of it than we can render. I hardly know
   how to describe adoration. Praise is a river flowing on joyously in its
   own channel, banked up on either side that it may run towards its one
   object. But adoration is the same river overflowing all banks, flooding
   the soul and covering the entire nature with its great wa-ters--and
   these not so much moving and stirring as standing still in profound
   repose, mirroring the Glory which shines down upon it--like a summer's
   sun upon a sea of glass!

   Adoration is not seeking the Divine Presence, but conscious of it to an
   unutterable degree and, therefore, full of awe and peace, like the sea
   of Galilee when its waves felt the touch of the sacred feet. Adoration
   is the fullness, the height and depth, the length and breadth of
   praise! Adoration seems to me to be as the starry heavens which are
   always proclaiming the Glory of God and yet, "there is no speech nor
   language where their voice is not heard." It is the eloquent silence of
   a soul that is too full for language. Adoration is to prostrate
   yourself in the dust in humility and yet to soar aloft in sublime
   thought--to sink into nothing and yet to be so enlarged as to be filled
   with all the fullness of God! It is to have no thought and yet to be
   all thought--to lose yourself in God--this is adoration.

   This should be the frequent state of the renewed mind. We ought to set
   apart far longer time for this sacred engagement, or what shall we call
   it? Act or state? It were for our highest enrichment if we made it our
   daily prayer that the blessed Spirit would frequently bear us right out
   of ourselves and lift us above all these trifles which surround us till
   we were only conscious of God and His exceeding Glory. Oh that He would
   plunge us into the Godhead's deepest sea till we were lost in His
   immensity and could only exclaim in wonder, "Oh! The depths! Oh! The
   depths!"

   In that spirit I desire to approach the text and I ask you to turn your
   eyes away from all else to HIM, even to the Lord God Almighty and the
   Lamb. I do not ask you to remember what the Gospel does for you except
   as you remember it to render praise for it. I do not ask you to
   contemplate the Gospel in its reference to men and angels, but only to
   consider the Lord Himself and to render Him Glory for ability to bless,
   enrich and sanctify above all our asking or thinking. Looking to the
   Lord, alone, let us draw near unto Him in spirit and in truth.

   I. Our first consideration shall be, UPON WHAT PART OF HIS GLORIOUS
   CHARACTER SHALL OUR MINDS REST? The text guides us to the Divine
   ability. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly." And
   it selects the Divine ability to bless--"to do according to the power
   that works in us." This, then, is the subject. What does the Apostle
   say of it? He declares that the Divine ability to bless is above what
   we ask.

   We have asked great things in our time. We remember when it seemed the
   greatest conceivable thing for us to say, "Father, forgive me." We
   asked a large thing when we requested the pardon of all our sins and an
   equally great thing when we prayed to be cleansed in spirit. When we
   felt our hearts hard and our natures depraved, it seemed almost too
   great a blessing to expect the heart of stone to be turned to a heart
   of flesh. We did, however, cry for gracious renewal, and the prayer was
   heard! Full many a time since then, in deep distress, we have besought
   the Lord for great deliverances. In abject need we have sought great
   supplies and in terrible dilemmas we have asked for great guidance--and
   we have received all these again and again.

   The blessings sought and obtained have assuredly been neither few nor
   small. Some of us would almost seem to have tried the limit of prayer
   in the matters for which we have cried unto the Lord. We have, in times
   of holy boldness and sacred access, asked large things, such as one
   could only ask of the Great King. And yet our asking has been too short
   a line to reach the bottom of Divine ability--He is able to do above
   what we ask! Our prayer at its best and boldest has many a boundary. It
   is limited often by our sense of need. We scarcely know what we need!
   We need to be taught what we should pray for, or we never ask aright.
   We mistake our condition. We know not how deep and numerous our needs
   are.

   Our soul's hunger is not keen enough--sin has taken the edge from our
   spiritual appetites and, therefore, we limit and cramp our prayers.
   But, blessed be God, He is not limited by our sense of need! His guests
   do but ask for bread and water, but behold, His oxen and fatlings are
   killed and a feast is made of fat things--"of fat things full of
   marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." Yes, and our need, itself,
   is limited. We do not need everything. Empty as we are, there are some
   things that can fill us even to the brim. But God is able to go beyond
   our absolute needs and He has often al-

   ready done so. He has given to His redeemed more than, as creatures,
   they absolutely require to make them happy and blessed!

   We might have been restored to the full stature of unfallen manhood and
   in consequence have been as Adam was before his sin, but, wonder of
   wonders, the Lord has done more, for He has made us His children and
   His heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs of Jesus Christ! This is not the
   supply of necessity--it is the bestowal of honor, dignity and
   exceedingly great glory! And now, although our needs are, in
   themselves, very terrible and far greater than can be supplied by
   anything short of all-sufficiency, yet God is able to do exceedingly
   abundantly above all that we actually need!

   He will not treat us as men treat a pensioner, to whom they allot
   barely enough to live upon and count themselves generous for doing so.
   He will treat us as kings and princes and do exceedingly abundantly
   above all that we need! Thus does He leave our prayers far behind,
   outstripping both our sense of need and the need itself. Our prayer is
   also limited by our desire. Of course a man does not pray any further
   than his desires go--and our desires are not always as much awake as
   they should be. We are sometimes very cold and slow in desiring good
   things. The nether springs make us forget the upper fountains.

   Alas, like the foolish king of Israel, we shoot but two or three arrows
   when we ought to have emptied out our quiver! We bring but small cups
   to the well and take home but little water. Our mouths are not opened
   wide enough, for our hearts are not warm enough to melt the ice which
   closes our lips. But, blessed be God, He is not limited by our desires!
   He is able to bless us beyond what our souls have yet learned to wish
   for! And, alas, when we do desire great things our faith is often weak
   and there we are restrained. We cannot believe God to be so good as to
   give us such unspeakable blessings and so we fail. How much we lose
   thereby I scarcely dare pause to consider! Our unbelief is a great
   impoverishment to us.

   Even when faith does become developed, and sometimes it does, yet I
   guarantee you its stature never reaches the height of the promise. No
   man ever believed God as much as he might believe, nor trusted His
   promise so implicitly as he might do, or put so large a construction
   upon the Divine Word as it would bear. O Brothers and Sisters, we have
   to thank God that He is not bounded by our narrow faith, but even goes
   beyond what we believe concerning Him! How often, too, we are limited
   in prayer by our lack of comprehension--we do not understand what God
   means. Search to see if there is a single promise in the whole Covenant
   of Grace which any child of God perfectly understands. There is a
   meaning in the Covenant promises--a breadth, a length, a height, a
   depth not yet compassed.

   God condescends to use human language and to us the words mean silver,
   but He uses them in a golden sense. He never means less than He says,
   but He always means far more than we think He says. For this let us
   magnify the Lord! His power to bless us is not bounded by our power to
   understand the blessing! Grace is not measured to us according to our
   capacity to receive, but according to His efficacy to bestow! He can
   enlarge us, my Brethren! O that He would do so now! Prayer is an
   exercise in which our minds ought to be expanded and our hearts
   enlarged! Has not the Lord said, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill
   it"? Yet our widest mouth is not the measure of what He can give us!
   Our boldest prayer is not the boundary of what He is able to bestow!
   Pray at your utmost, like Elijah upon Carmel! Pray as you will till the
   keys of Heaven seem to swing at your side and yet you can never outrun
   that Omnipotence to bless which dwells in the Lord God Almighty!

   The Apostle then goes on to say that the ability of God to bless is
   above what we think. Now we can think of some things we dare not pray
   for! Thought is free and scarcely can space contain it. Its wings bear
   it far beyond all visible things. It can even soar into the impossible,
   yet thought cannot attain to the power of God to bless, for that is
   immeasurable! Have you not, at times, been filled with great thoughts
   of what God might do with you? Have you not imagined how He might use
   you for His Glory? He can do more than you have dreamed! Turn your
   pleasant dreams into fervent prayers and it may yet please the Lord to
   make you useful to an amazing degree--so that you shall be astonished
   at what you will accomplish. If of a humble shepherd lad He made a
   David, He may do the same with you!

   Have you not, at other times, conceived great ideas of what the Lord
   will make out of you when you shall be washed, cleansed, delivered from
   sin and carried away to serve Him in Heaven? Ah, but you have no idea
   what you will be! You do not know, when you have guessed your greatest,
   how perfect and pure and blessed you will be in your Father's house on
   high when He has completed in you all the good pleasure of His will!
   You have sung sometimes--

   "What must it be to dwell above!"

   And your thoughts and imaginations have gone to very great lengths in
   picturing the repose, the security, the wealth, the enjoyment, the
   perfect satisfaction of Heaven! Ah, yes, but the Lord is able to do
   more than has ever entered into your heart. There, fling the bridle on
   the neck of your imagination and let it, like a winged horse, not only
   scour the plains of earth, but fly through the clouds and mount above
   the stars--but its furthermost flight on the most rapid wings shall not
   bring you near the confines of the possibilities of God!

   Your thoughts, even at their best, are not His thoughts! As high as the
   heavens are above the earth, so high are His thoughts above yours,
   think however you may! How amazing a subject is now before us! What
   language of mine can adequately set forth the Divine ability to bless,
   when both the eagle eye of prayer and the eagle wing of thought fail to
   discover a boundary?

   Now, I need to call your attention, in this passage, to every word of
   it, for every word is emphatic. "He is able to do exceedingly
   abundantly above all that we ask or think." Not above some things that
   we ask, but, "ALL." Not above some of our dimmer conceptions, our lower
   thoughts, but above "ALL" that we think! Now just put together all that
   you have ever asked for. Heap it up and then pile upon the top all that
   you have ever thought of concerning the riches of Divine Grace. What a
   mountain! Here we have hill on hill, Pelion on Ossa, as though Alp on
   Alp were heaped on end to build a staircase or a Jacob's ladder to the
   very stars!

   Go on! Go on! It is no Babel tower you build and yet its top will not
   reach unto Heaven. High as this pyramid of prayers and contemplations
   may be piled, God's ability to bless is still higher--"above all that
   we ask or even think." Some render it, "Now unto Him that is able to do
   above all things exceedingly abundantly," and so on. Well, take it so.
   God is able to bless us above all things! Above all the blessings that
   others could give us--that is little. Above all the blessedness which
   resides in creatures--that is great, but not comparable to what He can
   do! Above all the blessings which can be imagined to be conveyed to us
   by all the creatures that are useful and beneficial to us--He is able
   to do above all good things for us. O Lord, help us to understand all
   this! Give us faith to get a grip of this and then to magnify and adore
   You! Alas, our adoration can never be proportionate to Your goodness!

   Now, dwell on another word, "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly
   above all that we ask or think." The we refers to the Apostles as well
   as to ourselves. Paul was a mighty man in prayer. What a wonderful
   prayer this chapter con-tains--how he finishes up, "That you might be
   filled with all the fullness of God." I will defy any man to bring out
   the meaning of those words to the fullest. Yet when he had prayed that
   prayer, Paul felt that God could go far beyond his comprehension of it.
   I do not know how, but he says so--above all that we ask--and, of
   course, this includes himself!

   Paul, in that, we, may be viewed as including the Apostles--we, the 12
   who have come nearest to Jesus and have been personally taught how to
   pray by Him--we who have seen Him face to face and upon whom His Spirit
   specially rests. "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we
   ask"! The Apostles were Inspired. The Spirit of God was in them to an
   unusual degree. Their thoughts were larger than ours, but, says Paul,
   He is able to do above what we think, even we, His Apostles, the best,
   the most holy, the most spiritual of Christian men!

   Oh, then, Brethren, I am sure He is able to do exceedingly abundantly
   above what we ask or think, for it is a terrible come down from the
   Apostles' asking and thinking to ours! He must be able to do
   exceedingly abundantly above the asking or thoughts of such poor, puny
   saints as we are! Now, notice the Apostle's use of the word,
   "abundantly." He says, not only that God is able to do above what we
   ask or think, but "abundantly." We might say of a man, "He has given
   much, but he has still something left." That expression would fall
   sadly short if applied to the Most High! He has not only something
   left, but all abundance left! We have already understood but a part of
   His ways. We have been able to comprehend the mere remnant of His
   glorious Grace.

   The reserve of goodness, the things which God has prepared for them
   that love Him far exceed our thoughts. Our Apostle, not content with
   the use of the word "abundantly," adds another word, and says,
   "exceedingly abundantly." He has constructed here, in the Greek, an
   expression which is altogether his own. No language was powerful enough
   for the Apostle--I mean for the Holy Spirit speaking through the
   Apostle--for very often Paul has to coin words and phrases to show
   forth his meaning and here is one--"He is able to do exceedingly
   abundantly"--so abundantly that it exceeds measure and description!
   Yonder ship is on the sea and the sea can bear it up, though it weighs
   several thousand tons.

   Does that surprise you, my Brethren? No, for you know that the ocean
   could float not merely one such ship, but a navy, yes, and more navies
   than you could count if you continued to number them throughout the
   lifelong day. The far-

   reaching main is able to bear upon its bosom, ships innumerable! It
   supports them "exceedingly abundantly." God is as the great ocean. What
   you have seen Him do is but as it were the floating of one single boat!
   But what He can do, ah, that is "exceedingly abundantly" above what you
   ask or think! There flows our beautiful river among the meadows and the
   child dips its cup to drink and is fully refreshed. Yet all that the
   child can take is as nothing compared with what still remains--and if
   along the banks of Father Thames, crowds of thirsty ones should
   congregate and drink their fill, both men and cattle--yet all they
   could abstract from the waters would bear a very inconsiderable
   proportion to the volume which would still flow to the sea!

   Lo, I see thousands of the redeemed crowding down to the
   all-sufficiency of God! I see them lie down to drink like men that must
   take draughts both long and deep or die! But after they have all drunk
   and all the creatures that live have all been supplied, I see no
   lessening in the blessedness which pours forth from the Throne of God
   and of the Lamb, which can only be described in these words, "He is
   able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or even think."
   Now to help you to adore the Lord--for that is my one objective this
   morning--think how blessed you are in having such an all-sufficient
   God! It is always pleasant to take out of a great heap and to know that
   what you receive does not deprive others of their share.

   Who cares to sit at a table where every morsel must be counted, for if
   you have more somebody must have less? It is a scant feast where the
   provision is exactly measured. Here, at the table of our God, there is
   need of no such economy. "Eat, O Friends, drink, yes, drink abundantly,
   O Beloved," for the feast is of the King and His provisions are
   infinite! Thus we see that there need be no limit to our prayers. You
   need never rise from your knees and say, "Perhaps I was presumptuous.
   Perhaps I have asked more than God will give?" Down on your knees,
   Brother, Sister, and ask God to forgive you for dishonoring Him by
   harboring such a thought! He is able to give exceedingly abundantly
   above what you ask. Thus we see, also, that He is still able to bless
   us, upon whom the ends of the earth are come, for if He was able to do
   exceedingly abundantly in the Apostle's time, He is quite as able,
   still, and we may come to Him without fear.

   Now, I see, also, that if my case is very special, still I need not
   tremble or stand in dread of need. What if I require superabundant
   Grace? I may have it! If I need exceedingly abundant help, I can have
   it. Ah, if I need more Grace than I dare ask for, I can have it! Yes,
   and if I require more than I think, I may have it, for still my Lord is
   able to give it to me, and what He is able to do, He is willing to do.
   What comfort this should afford even to poor sinners who are far away
   from God. He is able to give you great forgiveness for the greatest
   possible sin! Sins that you have not yet thought of, He can pardon! Do
   but come to God in Christ Jesus and you shall find Him able to save to
   the uttermost.

   If this little hint is taken up by some despairing heart, it may give
   it immediate peace! It cannot be true that God cannot forgive, for in
   Christ Jesus, "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we
   ask or even think."

   II. Our second business is to answer the enquiry, IN WHAT WAY DO WE
   PERCEIVE THIS ABILITY? We cannot

   well praise what we cannot in any measure discern. The Apostle says,
   "according to the power that works in us." We know that God can give us
   more than we ask or think, for He has given us more than we have asked
   or thought. Our regeneration came to us before prayer, for prayer was
   the first sign of the new birth already given. To pray for life is not
   a faculty of the dead--but regeneration puts into us the living desire
   and the spiritual longing. The first principle of life imparted makes
   us long after more life.

   We were dead in sin and far from God and He surprised us with His
   preventing mercy. And in us was fulfilled the words, "I was found of
   them that sought Me not." In this case He did for us above what we
   asked or thought. Redemp-tion--whoever sought for that? Had it not been
   provided from of old, who would have dared to ask the Lord to give His
   Son as a Substitute to bleed and die for man? Sirs, in providing a
   Substitute for us from before the foundation of the world, the Lord has
   already gone beyond man's thoughts or requests! Thanks be unto Him for
   His unspeakable Gift! He gave us Christ and then gave us His blessed
   Spirit, another surprising blessing which man could not have supposed
   possible for him to have obtained. Having done that which we never
   sought for, nor thought of, He is still able to amaze us with unlooked
   for Grace!

   Moreover, where prayer has been offered, our heavenly Father has gone
   far beyond what we have asked or thought. I said unto the Lord, in the
   anguish of my soul, that if He would forgive my sins I would be content
   to be the meanest servant in His house and would gladly lie in prison
   all my life, and live on bread and water. But His mercy did not come to
   me in that scanty way, for He put me among His children and gave me an
   inheritance! "Make me as one of Your hired servants"

   is a prayer the Father does not hear--He puts His hand on His child's
   mouth when he begins to talk so, and says, "Bring forth the best robe
   and put it on him! Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet." We
   have asked for a stone and He has given us bread! We have asked for
   bare bread and he has given us angels' food. For brass He has given
   silver and for silver, gold. We looked for a drop and the rain has
   filled the pools! We sought a morsel and He has filled us with good
   things! And therefore we are warranted in expecting that in the future
   He will continue to outdo our prayers.

   Look at the plan of salvation, in the next place, and you will see how
   it suggests the ability of God to do more for us. Who is He that chose
   us? Who is He that has begotten us again unto a lively hope? It is God
   the Father! And when you mention Him as having put His hand to the work
   of Grace, you have opened a wide door of hope, for what is there He
   cannot do? He who has filled yon heavens with stars, scattering them
   broadcast as the sower sows corn, and could have made a thousand
   universes all full of worlds with as much ease as man speaks a
   word--has He begun to bless us and can there be any limit to His power
   to deal graciously with us? Impossible!

   Look next at His dear Son. He that created the heavens and the earth is
   made a Man and lies in a manger! He whom angels obey is despised and
   rejected of men! He who only has immortality, hangs on a tree and
   bleeds and dies! There must be, in those groans and those drops of
   sweat, and those wounds, and that death of His, a power to save
   altogether inconceivable! Immanuel made a Sacrifice! What ability to
   bless must dwell in Him! He must be able to do exceedingly abundantly
   above what we ask or think!

   And who is this, the Divine Spirit, who comes to dwell in us? Yes,
   literally to dwell in these mortal bodies and make these tabernacles of
   clay His temples! He has already mortified our lusts, already changed
   our hearts, already made us partakers of the Divine Nature! My Brothers
   and Sisters, is there any limit to the possibilities of the Spirit's
   work in us? May we not fairly conclude that when God, Himself, comes to
   inhabit our bodies, He will deliver us from every sin and make us
   spotless as God is spotless--till in us shall be fulfilled the
   command--"Be you holy, for I am holy"? Look at the plan--it is drawn to
   a wondrous scale! The Trinity in Unity is manifest in the Divine
   working within us and there must be something inconceivably great
   possible to us through the working of such mighty power!

   Come then, dear Friends, and for a moment think of the power which
   actually dwells in you! If you are a Christian you must be conscious of
   a power in you far too great for your mental or physical constitution
   to bear if it were not restrained. Do you never experience groans which
   cannot be uttered, deep and terrible, like the moving of an earthquake,
   as though everything were loosed within you with extreme heaviness,
   anguish and travailing in birth? These pangs and throes betray the
   latent God within you, cramped for room within the narrow bounds of
   your new created and growing spiritual nature! Have you never felt the
   working and striving of strong desires, fierce hunger and insatiable
   thirsts? Have you not felt mysterious energies working like pent-up
   springs within your spirit, demanding space and vent, or threatening to
   burst your heart?

   Are you never conscious of the Infinite struggling within you? Have you
   never felt like a little bird shut up within its egg, chipping at the
   shell to gain liberty? Are you not conscious that you are not what you
   shall be? Do you not feel Omnipotence rush through you, sometimes, with
   unutterable joy, till you have to cry, "Hold, my Lord, this joy becomes
   not man--it is the joy of Christ fulfilled in me and if I feel it any
   longer I must die, for in this body it is insupportable!"? There are
   ecstasies, but we must not tell of them here. There are high mysterious
   delights of which it is scarcely lawful to speak! There are lifting up
   in which man so communes with his Maker as to rise above himself and to
   be far more than man--even as the bush in Horeb, though but a bush, was
   rendered capable of burning with fire without being con-sumed--and so
   was more than a bush, for it blazed with Deity!

   Are not your hearts familiar with these sacred mysteries of the
   Heaven-born life? If they are, then you have the means of guessing at
   the Apostle's meaning when he said, "He is able to do exceedingly
   abundantly above all that we ask or even think, according to the power
   that works in us." God grant us to know this more fully.

   III. Our third consideration is--WHAT, THEN, SHALL BE RENDERED TO GOD?
   "Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
   world without end." "Unto Him be glory." Oh, my Soul, adore Him! Feel
   His splendor, let His exceeding goodness shine full upon your soul and
   warm you with its rays and let the warmth be adoring love! Oh, my Soul,
   proclaim His goodness and reflect the light which falls upon you from
   Himself--and so glorify Him by manifesting to the sons of men what He
   manifests to you!

   Yes, my Soul, let all that is within you bathe in His boundless
   goodness and then glorify Him by perpetual service. Bow your strength
   to obedience! Be yoked to that mighty chariot in which Jesus rides
   forth conquering and to conquer, saving the sons of Adam. God deserves
   glory in the most emphatic sense and in the most practical meaning of
   that term. Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, let us try to render it to Him!

   But the Apostle felt that he must not say, "Unto Him be glory in my
   soul." He wished that, but his one soul afforded far too little space
   and so he cried, "unto Him be glory in the Church." He calls upon all
   the people of God to praise the Divine name! If all the world but it
   were dumb, the Church must always proclaim the Glory of God. If moon
   and stars and sun and sea no more reflect the majesty of the Creator,
   yet let the redeemed of the Lord praise Him, even those whom He has
   redeemed out of the hand of the enemy! As Israel sung at the Red Sea
   with dances and timbrel, so let the Church of God exult, for He has
   brought us through the sea and drowned our adversaries--"The depths
   have covered them, there is not one of them left." You, O Jesus, have
   redeemed our souls with blood, have set the prisoners free and made us
   to be a royal priesthood and, therefore, Your Church must praise You
   without ceasing!

   But as if he felt that the Church, herself, was unequal to the task,
   though she is ordained to be the sphere of the Divine Glory, note how
   he puts it. "In the Church by Christ Jesus." You, Lord Jesus, You are
   He alone among men eloquent enough to express the Glory of God. Grace
   is poured into Your lips and You can declare our praises for us!
   Brethren, do you not remember how our blessed Lord vowed to praise the
   Divine name among His brethren? Read the 22nd Psalm, and you will see
   how He becomes the chief musician, the leader of the choirs of the
   blessed! By Christ it is that our praises ascend to Heaven! He is the
   Spokesman for us, the Interpreter, One of a thousand before the Throne
   of the Infinite Majesty!

   O Christ--we are Your body, and every member of the body praises God!
   But You are the Head and You must speak for us with those dear lips
   that are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh! You must offer our
   praises to the great High Priest and they shall be accepted at Your
   hands. Yet the Apostle was not satisfied, for he adds, "Unto Him be
   glory in the Church by Christ Jesus through all ages." And the Greek
   runs exactly thus, "unto all the generations of the age of ages."
   Perhaps the Apostle half expected the world to last for ages although
   he did not know when Christ might come, and therefore stood watching
   for Him.

   At any rate, he desired that generation after generation might show
   forth the Glory of God and when there were no more succeeding races of
   men, he desired that that age of ages, the golden age, God's age, the
   age of peace and joy and blessedness, whatever phases it might pass
   through, might never cease to resound with the Glory of God! Oh,
   blessed words of the Apostle! We cannot reach their meaning and if we
   did, still that meaning would be short of what God deserves--

   "M praise Him while He lends me breath; And when my voice is lost in
   death! Praise shall employ my nobler powers My days of praise shall be
   never past,

   While thought and life and being last,

   Or immortality endures."

   Our children shall follow after us and they shall praise the Lord. And
   their children and they shall praise Him and their children and they
   shall praise Him. And when the time comes that the earth grows old and
   Christ, Himself, shall descend from Heaven to renew all things, His
   saints shall magnify Him when He comes!

   When He smites His foes and breaks them in pieces like potter's
   vessels, the saints shall still adore Him! And when comes the end and
   He shall have delivered up the power to God, even the Father, still the
   everlasting song shall go up to God and the Lamb! And through the ages
   of ages when God shall be All in All, it shall be the bliss of every
   redeemed one forever and forever to say, "Unto Him be Glory, unto Him
   be Glory forever and ever!"

   IV. I have done when you have done--and the last point concerns what
   you have to do. WHAT SHALL WE SAY TO ALL THIS? The text tells us in one
   word. It concludes with your part of it--"Amen." Some of you have newly
   been born to God. You are babes in His family. I pray you to glorify
   Him, this morning, who can do for you exceedingly abundantly above what
   you ask or think. Say "Amen" while we unite in ascribing Glory to Him!

   And you, my Brothers and Sisters, who, like myself are in the vigor of
   manhood, in the very prime of life, working for God, let us heartily
   say, "Amen," as well we may, for all the Grace we have had and still
   have comes from Him. And

   you, my venerable Brothers and Sisters who are getting near to Heaven,
   there is more mellowness in your voices than in ours, for there is a
   ripeness and maturity in your experience! Therefore say you first and
   foremost, "Unto Him be Glory in the Church." Say it now, all classes of
   Believers--you who are rejoicing in the Lord this morning, and you,
   also, who are sorrowful and sad, say, "Amen." Though you have not the
   present joy, yet say, "Amen" in the expectation of it!

   Be not laggard any one of you to say, "Unto Him be Glory in the Church
   throughout all ages. Amen." Say it, O Church, below, without exception!
   Say it, all you militant ones. You saints that lie upon your sick beds
   and you that are near to death, yet say, "Amen." You that suffer and
   you that labor, you who sow and you who reap, say, "Amen." And when the
   whole Church below has said, "Amen," O Church above take up the grand,
   "Amen." You triumphant ones who have washed your robes in the blood of
   the Lamb, I need not challenge you to say, "Amen," for I know you do it
   louder and more sweetly than saints below!

   You sinners who have not yet tasted of His Grace, I think I might
   almost urge you to say, "Amen," for if you have not yet obtained mercy,
   He is able to give it to you! You have come here, this morning, thirsty
   like Hagar and God sees you. You are searching for a little water to
   fill your bottle. See, yonder is a well, a well which flows finely.
   Drink of it, drink and live, and say, "Amen," as you bless the Lord who
   looks on you in love! Perhaps you came here like Saul, seeking your
   father's donkeys, or some such trifles. Behold, He gives you a
   kingdom--He gives you more than you ask or think--freely He gives it
   according to the riches of His Grace!

   Accept it, and then say, "Amen." Oh, with one heart and one soul let
   all of you that have been redeemed from death and Hell, or even hope to
   be so, join in this ascription--

   "Now to the Lord, whose power can do

   More than our thoughts or wishes know,

   Be everlasting honor done,

   By all the Church, through

   Christ His Son."

   Amen and amen!

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Ephesians 3. HYMNS FROM "OUR
   OWN HYMN BOOK"--166, 450, 412.
     __________________________________________________________________

The God of Bethel

   (No. 1267)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "I am the God of Bethel." Genesis 31:13.

   Jacob had been sent away to Padanaram and he might, perhaps, have
   stopped there if things had been quite as he wished. As it was, he
   stayed there quite long enough. He seemed almost to forget his father's
   house in the cares that his wives and children and the anxious
   oversight of his constantly increasing flocks involved. But God did not
   mean him to remain at Padanaram. He was to lead a separated life in
   Canaan and, therefore, things grew very uncomfortable with Laban. He
   was not a nice man to live with at any time, but he began to show his
   crotchets and his heart-burnings, and a good deal of that scheming
   spirit of which there was a little in Jacob.

   It came to him from his mother, who was Laban's true sister, and had
   her share of the family failing. So there were endless bickering,
   bargaining, disputes--each trying to outdo the other--till at last, as
   God would have it, Jacob could bear it no longer. So he resolved to
   take leave of that land and return to the land of his kindred. An angel
   appeared to him, then, to comfort him in going back to his father's
   house. The angel spoke in the name of the Lord and said, "I am the God
   of Bethel," which must have at once suggested to Jacob that the Lord
   had not changed, more especially in regard to him.

   The occurrence at Bethel was the first special occasion, probably, upon
   which he had known the Lord and though many years had passed, God comes
   to him as the same God as He was before. "I am the God of Bethel." You
   remember, some of you, perhaps, the first time when pardoning love was
   revealed to you--when you were brought to see the love of God in the
   great atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ! Well, tonight, the Lord says
   to you, "I am the same God as you have ever found Me. I have not
   changed. I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed,
   even as your father Jacob was not consumed, for I was, even to him, the
   same God."

   Brothers and Sisters, what a mercy it is that we have an Immutable God!
   Everything else changes. Yon moon, which but a little while ago was
   full, you see now young and new again and soon she will fill her horns.
   Everything beneath her beams changes like herself. We are never at one
   stage and our circumstances are perpetually varying. But You, O God,
   are the same and of Your years there is no end. Your creatures are a
   sea, but You are the terra firma and when our soul comes to rest on
   You, Rock of Ages, then we know what stability means and, for the first
   time, we enjoy true rest.

   Trust in the Lord forever and rest in the Lord alone, for He changes
   not. "I AM THE GOD OF BETHEL. Does not that mean, first, that our God
   is the God of our early mercies? As we have already said, Bethel was to
   Jacob the place of early mercy. Let us look back upon our early
   mercies. Did they not come to us, as they did to him, unsought and
   unexpected and when, perhaps, we were unprepared for them? I do not
   know what were Jacob's feelings when he lay down with a stone for his
   pillow, but I feel very sure that he never reckoned that the place
   would be the House of God to him!

   His exclamation showed this when he said, "Surely, God is in this
   place, and I knew it not!" It was the last thing on his mind that,
   amidst those stones, the Lord would set up a ladder for him and would
   speak from the top of it, to his soul. So, dear Friends, with some of
   us, when God appeared to us, it was in a very unexpected manner.
   Perhaps we were not looking for Him, but in us was fulfilled that
   memorable word, "I am found of them that sought Me not." We, like
   Jacob, were glad to meet Him, but we had not expected that He would
   come, or come in so Divine a manner, with such fullness of Covenant
   manifestation and such richness of Grace!

   But He took our soul, before we were aware, and carried us right away
   from ourselves. We, perhaps, like Jacob, were sleeping. God was awake.
   This was the mercy! And He came to us while yet our heart slept and our
   mind had not felt awakened towards Himself. We seemed slumbering with
   regard to Divine things, but as a dream in the visions of the night, so
   God came to us. He found us sleeping, but nevertheless He manifested
   Himself to us as He does not unto the world. Do you remember all that?
   Then the God you have to look to is the God of that unexpected Grace!
   Do you need

   Grace tonight? Why should you not have it? Are you unfit for it? Do you
   feel more and more how undeserving you are of it? Yet it came to you
   before, when you were in just such a state! Why shouldn't it come
   again?

   Sitting in this house of prayer, why should not we again be startled
   and be made to say, "Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not! I
   did not think, when I came within these walls that here He would, in
   such a special manner, reveal Himself to me! But now I shall always
   think of the seat in which I sat, and say, 'How wonderful is this
   place! It is none other than the House of God and the gate of Heaven.'"
   The God of unexpected manifestations in your early days is still the
   same God!

   Perhaps, dear Friends, some of you can look back upon those early
   manifestations as having taken place when you were in a very sad and
   lonely condition. Jacob was alone. He was a man that loved society.
   There are many signs of that. Perhaps, for the first time in his life,
   he was then out of the shelter of his tent and away from the familiar
   voices of his beloved father and mother. He had always been his
   mother's son. Something about him had always attracted her. But now no
   one was within call. He might, perhaps, have heard the roar of the wild
   beast, but no familiar voice of a friend was anywhere near. It was a
   very lonely night to him.

   Some of us remember the first night we were away from home--how dreary
   we felt as children. The same kind of homesickness will come over men
   and women and they say to themselves, "Now, at last, I have got out of
   the range in which I have been accustomed to go, and I have got away
   from the dear familiar faces that made life so happy to me." Yes, but
   it was just then that God appeared to him and have not you found it so?
   Amid darkest shades, Christ appears to you. Have not you had times of
   real desolation of spirit from one cause or another in which the Lord
   has seemed more sweet to you than ever He was before?

   When all created streams have run dry, the everlasting fount has
   bubbled up with more sweet and cooling streams than it ever did at any
   other time. Well, remember all those scenes and the accompanying
   circumstances which made them seem so cheering, and then say, "This
   God, even the God of Bethel, is still my God. And if I am at present in
   trouble, if I am as lonely now as I was then. If I am brought so low
   that, literally, I have nothing but a doorstep for my pillow. If I
   should lose job, home and friends, and be left like an orphan among the
   wild winds, with none to shelter me, yet, O God of Bethel, You who were
   the cover of my head and the protector of my spirit, will still be with
   me, the God of those early visitations in times of my dark distress."

   Thus the God of Bethel, by that visit, cheered Jacob's heart. I can
   hardly suppose that there was an individual more unhappily
   circumstanced that night than Jacob was. But I question whether ever
   any individual in tent or palace woke up so happy in the morning as the
   Patriarch did! Oh, it was a night that might make us wish to lie
   beneath the same dews and look up to the same Heaven, if we might see
   the same vision! We would put from us the downy pillow, the luxurious
   curtains and the comfortable well-furnished chambers and say, "Give us,
   oh, give us, Lord, if so it might please You, that same desert place,
   if we might but see You and hear Your voice, as Jacob did of old."

   Oh, how strong he was to pursue his journey after he poured that oil on
   the top of the stone! I guarantee you he went many an extra mile that
   day in the strength of that night's sleep! Now he could refrain from
   pining after his kindred and his father's house. Now he could keep his
   face constantly towards Bethuel's home, where his father had sent him,
   for the God of his fathers had said, "I am with you in all places where
   you go, and I will bring you back again unto this place." Now, do you
   not remember how you were strengthened and comforted in like manner?
   Have not you sung--

   "Midst darkest shades, if He appears, My dawning is begun. He is my
   soul's bright morning star, And He my rising sun"?

   Have not you found Him all that you needed and more than you expected?
   Has not Grace for Grace been given and strength equal to your day
   because the Lord appeared of old unto you?

   Brethren, the Presence of God puts the iron shoes on the feet of the
   weary traveler--no, it makes his feet like hinds' feet, so that he
   stands on high places! And while he pours out the oil of gratitude, God
   pours upon him the oil of joy and puts away his mourning. So the
   pilgrim foots it merrily over the rough way until he gets to the place
   where he is told to go. The God of Bethel, then, is the God of early
   visits unexpected, given when much needed and yielding just what was
   needed of peace to the soul. "I AM THE GOD OF BETHEL."

   This title conveys a fresh lesson. Does it not mean, the God of our
   Lord Jesus Christ? What is, "Beth-el," but, "the House of God"?
   Brethren, I hear that term constantly applied to your buildings that
   are made with stone or iron, with brick and mortar, or with lath and
   plaster or whatever it may be. Every little conventicle that is put up
   and every huge cathedral that is built, be it a building with lowly
   porch or lofty spire, is called the House of God. Well, did you never
   read where it is said, "God that made Heaven and earth dwells not in
   temples made with hands, that is to say, of this

   building"?

   Have you never read that magnificent sentence of Solomon at the
   consecration of the temple, "Behold, Heaven and the Heaven of heavens
   cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built"? Do
   you think, then, that He will dwell in any of these classic buildings,
   be they of Greek, or Gothic, or Norman or mediaeval architecture? Oh,
   Sirs, God is great and greatly to be praised as much outside as inside
   of your petty structures! He is everywhere! He fills all things! And
   God's House is not a place that you can build for Him, artistic as your
   tastes may be! Your memorial windows are not His remembrancers! They
   may charm you, they cannot please Him!

   But there is a place where God always dwells. What habitation has He
   prepared for Himself and what tabernacle has He built? There is one
   abode mysteriously fashioned. We speak of its strange conception and
   its matchless purity of architecture. It was the body of the Lord Jesus
   Christ! "A body have you prepared Me." And the house of God, the true
   Bethel, is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for, "In Him dwells all
   the fullness of the Godhead bodily." For, "The Word was made flesh and
   tabernacled among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
   Only-Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and truth."

   The house of God is first, the Person of Christ, and then the Church of
   God which is the body of Christ mystically. This is the house and the
   household of God, even the Church of the living God! Not now to insist
   upon that meaning of the word Bethel, or on Him who came to Bethlehem,
   and there was born the very House of the Divine indwelling, I will
   rather muse upon that vision which made God, especially to Jacob that
   night, the God of the Savior. He saw the ladder, the foot of which was
   on earth, and the top reached to Heaven--a ladder which can never be
   explained in any other way than as a figure of that same Christ who
   came down from Heaven, who also is in Heaven, by whom we must ascend to
   Heaven and through whom Heaven's blessings come down to us!

   The God of Bethel is a God who concerns Himself with the things of
   earth, not a God who shuts Himself up in Heaven. The God of Bethel is a
   God who has a ladder fixed between Heaven and earth. The god of most
   men--the god of the unregenerate--is an inanimate god, or, if alive and
   able to see, he is an unfeeling God, careless about them and their
   personal interests. "Oh, it is preposterous," they say, "to think that
   he takes notice of our sorrows and troubles--and still more absurd to
   suppose that he hears prayer, or that he ever interferes in answer to
   the voice of supplication, to grant a poor man his requests. It cannot
   be!" That is their god, you see. That is the god of the heathen--a
   dead, blind, dumb god. I do not wonder that they do not pray to him.
   They could not expect an answer.

   But the God of Grace is One who has opened a communication between
   Heaven and earth. He notices the cries of His children, puts their
   tears into His bottle, sympathizes with their sorrows, looks down on
   them with an eye of pity and a father's love. He has communion with
   them and permits them to have communion with Him. And all that, through
   the blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ! See where the foot of this
   Ladder rests on earth, for He lies in the manger at Bethlehem as a
   babe. He lives on earth the life of a common laborer, wearing the smock
   frock of toil. He dies upon the accursed tree a felon's death, that He
   may be like man even in bearing the image of death upon His face! This
   is where the Ladder stands, in the miry clay of manhood.

   But see where it rises, for He is equal with God, co-equal, equal in
   power, wisdom, dignity and holiness and every glorious attribute, very
   God of very God, before whom angels bow! The bottom of the Ladder comes
   down to man, but the top of it reaches right up to God, in all the
   Glory of the mysterious Godhead. Thus, you see, there is a link between
   the two. And the God whom we worship does hold fellowship with us and
   remains no silent spectator of our griefs. Up that Ladder angels ascend
   and our prayers ascend--our praises, our tears, our sighs. Jesus
   teaches them the way. And there is a traffic downwards, too, for
   blessings come, both rich and rare, by the way of the Mediator. We
   shall never be able to count them! How great is the sum of them! What
   traffic there is on the rungs of that Ladder!

   Upwards, O my Soul, send your messengers a thousand times a day! But
   downwards God's messengers are continually coming--mercies, favors,
   altogether as innumerable as the sands that are upon the seashore, and
   all coming down

   that Ladder. There is a way of judgement which the swift-winged angel
   takes without a Ladder, but the way of Mercy always needs that
   staircase of light! No mercy or favor comes to us except through Jesus
   Christ our Lord, by whom we deal with God and God deals with us. That
   way in Jacob's dream, you will notice, was eminently a way commended to
   him, for the foot of the Ladder was where Jacob lay and the top of it
   was where God was.

   Have we realized this? Do you know God, my Brothers and Sisters, as One
   with whom you can speak--with whom you can speak, yourself--as real to
   you as your husband, your father, your friend? Are you in the habit of
   keeping up constant communication with your God? If you are, you know
   the God of Bethel. If you are not, I pray that the God of Bethel may
   reveal Himself to you. You could not have had fellowship with God if
   there had been no Christ. Without the Ladder, how could there be a
   connection between Jacob and God? But with the Ladder, even Jesus
   Christ, the way is open, open always, open now!

   Oh, it has been open many and many a time! We have resorted to it and
   never found it closed. We have cried to Him in deep distress, but the
   way upwards has been open when all surrounding ways were shut. We have
   needed mercy and mercy has come when we thought that mercy could not
   possibly reach us. Yet it came downwards when it could not have come in
   any other way. And it is just the same tonight. Oh, use the Ladder! Use
   it well. Dart your desires upwards now. They shall tread those rungs.
   Your thanks, your petitions, your confessions--send them up! They are
   welcome. The Ladder is made on purpose for the traffic. Use it, now,
   and as you use it, bless the God of Bethel with all your heart!

   Still further, let us remember that this God of Bethel is the God of
   angels. We do not often say much about those mysterious beings, for it
   is but little that we know of them. This, however, we know--that angels
   are sent by God to be the watchers over His people. Jacob was asleep,
   but the angels were wide awake. They were going up and down that ladder
   while Jacob was lying there, steeped in slumber. So when you and I are
   sleeping, when the blessed God has put His finger on our eyelids, and
   said, "Lie still, My child, and be refreshed," there may be no
   policeman at the door, no bodyguard to prevent intrusion, but there are
   angels always watching over us.

   We shall not come to harm if we put our trust in God. "I will lay me
   down to sleep, for You make me to dwell in safety." These angels were
   also messengers. "Are they not all ministering spirits?" And are they
   not sent with messages from God? To Jacob they had their errand. On
   more than one occasion angels bore him messages from the Most High. How
   far or how often they bring us messages, now, I cannot tell. Sometimes
   thoughts drop into the soul that do not reach us in the regular
   connection of our thoughts. We scarcely know how to account for them.
   It may be they are due to the immediate action of the blessed Spirit,
   but they may, for all we know, be brought by some other spirit, pure
   and heavenly, sent to suggest those thoughts to our soul. We cannot
   tell. The angels are watchers, certainly, and they are messengers
   without a doubt.

   Moreover, they are our protectors. God employs them to bear us up in
   their hands, lest at any time we dash our foot against a stone. We do
   not see them, but unseen agencies are probably the strongest agencies
   in the world. We know it is so in physics. Such agencies as
   electricity, which we cannot perceive, are, nevertheless,
   unquestionably powerful and, when put forth in their strength, quite
   beyond the control of man. No doubt myriads of spiritual creatures walk
   this earth, both when we sleep and when we wake. How much of good they
   do us it is impossible for us to tell. But this we do know--they are
   "sent forth to minister to them that are heirs of salvation," and they
   are, in God's hands, the means, oftentimes, of warding off from us a
   thousand ills which we know not of.

   Therefore we cannot thank God that we are kept from them, except we do
   so by thanking Him, as I think we ought to do more often, for those
   unknown mercies which are none the less precious because we have not
   the sense to be able to perceive them. Perhaps in mid-air at this
   moment there may be battles between the bright spirits of God and the
   spirits of evil. Perhaps full often when Satan might tempt, there come
   against him a mighty squadron of cherubim and seraphim to drive him
   back. And those strange battles of which Milton sings in his wondrous
   epic may not be all a dream. We cannot tell. We know they dispute--the
   good angels dispute with the wicked, and contend. We know that they are
   mighty in battle and strong on behalf of God's people.

   Regardless, this is true--Omnipotence has many servants and some of
   those least seen are the strongest it employs. If there is an angel
   anywhere, my Friend, he is your friend if you are God's friend. If
   there is in Heaven or earth any bright intelligence flying swiftly at
   this moment, he flies upon no errand of harm to you. You can be sure of
   that. Occasionally I meet with very foolish people who believe in
   things which are unrevealed, in things superstitious and baseless
   fancies.

   Oftentimes they are not a little frightened about I scarcely know
   what--about enchantments, divinations, or sorceries. There is such a
   credulity that still survives among the extremely ignorant.

   But whenever I have heard such observations, I have always thought of
   that wonderful text in the Book of Numbers, "Surely there is no
   enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
   Israel." There can be no spiritual powers which you or I have any need
   to fear! I remember hearing a good Brother speak about courage against
   the devil, and in reference to spiritual power he said that he believed
   that a man of God, when he had faith, could kick his way through a
   street full of devils from one end to the other. I admired his simile.
   It was worthy of Martin Luther, for it was the kind of thing that
   Martin Luther would have said.

   Oh, if the air were as full of devils as it is of fogs, a man that has
   God within him might laugh them all to scorn. Who can hurt the man whom
   God protects? Unseen powers and terrible they may be, but they cannot
   injure us, for there are other unseen powers more terrible, still--the
   hosts of that Lord who is mighty in battle--and all these are sworn to
   protect the children of God. "You have given commandment to save me,"
   says David, and if God has charged His angels to protect and save His
   people from all harm, depend upon it, His people are secure!

   Moreover, the God of Bethel is the God of Providence. That He is the
   God of Providence and that He revealed Himself as such, is very clear,
   for He told Jacob, "Behold I am with you, and will keep you in all
   places where you go, and will bring you again to this land, for I will
   not leave you till I have done that which I have spoken to you." So He
   gave Jacob a promise that he should have bread to eat and raiment to
   put on--and should come, again, to that place in peace. Christian, your
   God is the God of Providence! He is the God of Bethel! Doddridge's
   hymn, which we sang just now, thus celebrates His praise--

   "O God of Bethel, by whose hand Your people still are fed; Who through
   this weary pilgrimage Have all our fathers led."

   Let us think of it, Brothers and Sisters--God is with His people in all
   places wherever they go! On the land or on the sea, by day or by night,
   you never can be where God is not! It is impossible for you to journey
   out of your Father's dominions. You may live in a mansion or a hovel
   and yet still be in His house, for His house is of vast dimensions. "In
   My Father's house are many mansions." You may dwell here or there and
   still be in the great house of the heavenly Father. And He is with you
   to provide you with all necessary things. Has not it been so until now?
   You may have had some very hard pinches. Perhaps you have partaken the
   bitter fare of widowhood. Your children may have cried about your need
   for daily bread.

   Perhaps you have been very poor and the supply you have received has
   been scant. Still you are alive. Your food has been given you and your
   waters have been sure. Your garments are worn, but not quite worn out.
   Your shoes about you scarcely defend you from the damp, but still you
   are not altogether unshod. Until this time the Lord has helped you.
   Je-hovahjireh has been your song. The Lord has provided. He whom Jacob
   worshipped as the God of Bethel has been the God of Bethel till now!
   Can you not trust Him? The little birds in the winter morning sit on
   the bare branches and sing when the snow covers all the ground--and
   they cannot tell where their breakfast will come from. They do the
   first duty--they sing--and they sing before they have had their
   breakfast! And God somehow provides for them. Seldom do you pick up a
   dead sparrow.

   For the most part, the birds of Heaven are fed. Perhaps you would like
   to live in a cage and be fed regularly and have a pension. I believe
   that more of those birds die that are taken care of as pets by men and
   women than of those that are taken care of by God. So it is better for
   you to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. He has not let
   you starve, nor will He, even to your journey's end. Take this from His
   own mouth. "Trust in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the
   land, and verily you shall be fed." There is God's, "verily" for it!
   Heaven and earth shall pass away, but that "verily" shall never fail!

   He promised Jacob, too, that he should have a seed and a posterity. It
   did not look like it as Jacob lay there, but yet He proved its verity
   before Jacob came back. Why, when he returned he had some 12 children
   about him! There was a God of Bethel! He had, indeed, granted him the
   desire of his heart. As the good man said a little while after, "With
   my staff I crossed this Jordan and now have I become two bands." Ah,
   Jacob! He promised to provide for you. Look at the troop of children.
   "Yes," but Jacob might have said, "that is part of the burden." No,
   then, but listen to the bleating of

   those sheep! Listen to the lowing of the cattle. What do they mean,
   Jacob? "That is the provision that God has given me in the land of
   exile."

   Ah, and you have, most of you, got far more than you ever reckoned
   upon. You have, some of you, to thank God, indeed, for what He has done
   for you in providential things, and even those that have least have got
   more than they deserve! Let them remember that and, however poor we may
   be, we shall never be as poor as we were when we were born. We brought
   nothing into this world. Come as low as we may, we shall have enough to
   get us into Heaven, depend upon that--just enough manna to last until
   we get across Jordan and then we shall eat of the old corn of the land
   that flows with milk and honey!

   But God had also promised Jacob that he would bring him back to that
   place again. And that was another engagement of Providence--that he was
   to go there and be brought back again--and by this should it be known
   that He was the God of Bethel. Now this really looked, at one time,
   very unlikely. Seven years he had to serve for Rachel and then got Leah
   instead, so there were seven more years to serve for Rachel. Then there
   came one year during which he had to be after the spotted sheep, and
   then another after the streaked, and so on. So it did not look as if he
   should ever get away from Mesopotamia at all. But God had said that He
   would bring him back there in peace. Would He do it? Yes, He would
   drive him out of Laban's house somehow, for return to his fatherland he
   must.

   Yet as soon as he gets out of Laban's house, Laban is after him in hot
   haste! I do not know what Laban was not going to do--something very
   horrible, indeed--slay the father and mother with the children? But by
   the time that he gets close up to Jacob he cannot help himself, his
   heart is changed. He wants to kiss his daughters and his grandchildren
   and he has not got any thought of anger in him. God had warned him in a
   dream not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. So Laban tells Jacob
   that he is very sorry that he did not know that he was going, for he
   would have sent him out with mirth and with songs, with music and with
   harp. Though the truth is, he would not have let him go at all! But God
   knew how to manage Laban, though Jacob did not.

   And when Jacob left Laban's land, Jacob had dwelt there long enough and
   he was never to pass into it again, for they had left a heap of stones
   and that reminded them that neither of them was to go over those stones
   to hurt one another. And they said, "The Lord watch between us when we
   are absent from one another." And they did not interfere with one
   another any more. There are many things in Providence that God will
   bring to pass in a very mysterious way. He uses trial and trouble full
   often to compass His wise designs. It is not the winds that blow
   directly towards the harbor that are always the best for ships. They
   speed better with cross winds, sometimes, as you might think them not
   altogether favorable, as some would imagine, because they have a little
   touch of another quarter in them.

   And so it appears to me that the best wind to take a man to Heaven is
   not the wind that blows due heavenward all the time, as he fondly
   wishes, but a cross wind that gives you a little chop of sea now and
   then and makes you feel the stress of anxiety and adversity. The thing
   a man wishes for his own welfare is not always the most desirable. Full
   often the deluge we dreaded has brought us a blessing we had not
   expected! Some sad reverse has issued in a glad result. We had better
   leave it with God to order all our affairs. Brethren, God manages
   Providence! You may rest assured of that. He stands in the chariot and
   holds the reins. Though the steeds are furious, He holds them in with
   bit and bridle. Nothing happens but what God ordains or permits.

   Nothing, however terrible it may seem, can thwart His everlasting
   purposes of mercy, or turn aside one of His dear children from the
   eternal inheritance to which He has appointed them all. Rest in the
   Lord, for the Lord lives and the Lord reigns. Stay yourselves upon Him!
   Nothing can hurt you. Make Him your refuge and you shall find a most
   secure abode and rejoice in the God of Bethel, who is God of
   Providence.

   Next to this, the God of Bethel is the God of the promises. What a many
   promises He made that night to Jacob! Yet He kept them all. So the God
   of Bethel is to you and to me the God of promises. The Everlasting
   Covenant was confirmed to Jacob--"I am the Lord God of Abraham your
   father, and the God of Isaac." That meant that He was the God of the
   Covenant. And the God with whom you and I have to deal is a God who may
   do as He wills. He is an absolute Sovereign, but He never can do
   anything but what is right. Nevertheless, He has bound Himself--to
   speak with reverence--with bonds and pledges to us in the Person of
   Jesus Christ, saying, "Surely, blessing, I will bless you."

   There is a Covenant entered into on our behalf by the Lord Jesus with
   the Father. It brings to us unnumbered blessings, assuredly and
   certainly, for God cannot lie and He has given us two immutable pledges
   that we may have strong

   consolation and never doubt His faithfulness. Beloved, the God of the
   promises has appointed your lot and heritage and you shall stand in it
   at the end of the days. The God of the promises has appeared to you in
   Jesus Christ and to you, also, has He sworn an oath, therefore you,
   also, may rest in the blood of Jesus, which makes the Covenant sure. He
   has promised never to leave His people. "I will not leave you," He says
   to Jacob--and He says the same to you.

   He has promised that He will never forget to give what He has declared
   He will give. "I will not leave you till I have done that which I have
   spoken of to you." Oh, blessed Word! I feel as if my mouth were closed
   and words failed me! The Divine utterance, itself, is so rich, so full
   of marrow and fatness, that to talk about it seems like gilding gold,
   or adding whiteness to the lily's beauty! Only take it home! May the
   Spirit of God apply it. The God that changes not has made all the
   promises, yes, and amen, in Christ Jesus to the glory of God by us, and
   every one of His promises made to Believers shall stand fast and firm,
   though earth's old columns bow--"though Heaven and earth shall pass
   away, neither jot nor tittle of His Word shall fail."

   But time fails me. I must leave this inspiriting meditation just to
   notice, once more, that the God of Bethel is the God of our vows. Do
   not forget this, for it is the practical part--the God of Bethel is the
   God of our vows. You remember, Brothers and Sisters, Jacob vowed that
   God should be his God. You remember when you made a similar vow?--

   "Oh, happy day that fixed my choice

   On You, my Savior and my God!

   Well may this glowing heart rejoice

   And tell its rapture all abroad.

   High Heaven that heard that solemn vow,

   That vow renewed shall daily hear,

   Till in life's latest hour I bow,

   And bless in death a bond so dear." God who gave Himself to us has led
   us to give ourselves to Him! Now we are not our own, for we are bought
   with a price. Looking up from the inmost recesses of our sincere hearts
   we can say, "My God, my Father, You are mine forever and forever." And
   then Jacob, having made that vow, said--"this stone which I have set up
   for a pillar shall be God's house." In the fresh gratitude of his heart
   he made a solemn dedication to the Lord.

   And have you not said something like it? Did you not give your house to
   God when you gave yourself to Him? Have you not given God not only one
   place to be a Bethel, but have not you asked Him to make your whole
   life and every place where you are, a Bethel to His name? So it should
   be, and I trust so it is, for this is true Christianity--not to account
   this place or that edifice holy, but to make every place, be it your
   kitchen or your parlor, your bedchamber or your workshop, holy--and the
   pots and the pans, the implements of your daily calling all holy before
   the Lord! Is that your vow?

   Let it be your daily desire that that vow should be fulfilled--be
   resolved to live for God, for God ready to die, if need be--never doing
   anything but what you can ask His blessing! And whether you eat or
   drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. And doing all
   in the name of the Lord Jesus, give thanks to God and the Father by
   Him. This should be true. The other thing that Jacob promised was that
   he would give a tenth unto the Lord. I do not know whether any of you
   have made any vow of that kind. I suppose there are few Christians who
   have not, at some time or other, made a vow of this sort.

   Well, Brothers and Sisters, perform your vows unto the Lord! God forbid
   that we should ever say anything in the heat of emotion, or make any
   pledge without due premeditation, for God is not to be mocked. When we
   have once devoted anything unto the Lord, let us not draw back our
   hand. I have known Christian men who have said, "If the Lord should
   prosper me till I am worth such-and-such an amount, all that I gain
   beyond it shall be given as a free-will offering to Him." I know one or
   two of the largest givers in Christendom who are thus fulfilling the
   vows they made.

   Yet I have also known some persons entangled by their vows. They have
   had, in perplexity, to ask, "What am I to do? I am in such a position
   that a larger capital than I ever contemplated is necessary for the
   carrying on of my business! Yet I have pledged myself to give and call
   my own no more than a definite sum which I have already in possession."
   You must take heed how you vow, for you may entangle yourself! Very
   often it is best not to vow at all. But if in the hour of sorrow you
   have opened your mouth unto the Lord, take heed that you do not
   withdraw from the thing your heart has purposed and your lips have
   uttered.

   Sometimes the Lord directs His people to make some solemn pledge which,
   otherwise, they might not have done. He does this on purpose, that they
   may do more for the glory and honor of His name than they have ever
   done before. I remember one night, when I was about to preach, my
   subject went from me--my text and every thought about it were gone. It
   was in a village chapel and I sat there, I know not in what state of
   trepidation! I breathed my soul to God and there came before me, as in
   a moment, the face of a certain worthy Brother--a poor man, exceedingly
   poor--who wanted me to assist him in his education at the College,
   [Pastors College] but I had not the means just then. I did not know how
   to do it. I breathed a prayer to God that He would help me. And I
   promised that that Brother should be taken.

   He was one of my earliest students and he has been honored of God and
   blessed in the conversion of souls for the past 16 or 17 years. I do
   not think that I should ever have taken him if it had not been for that
   dilemma of mine. And when I had vowed the vow unto the Lord that I
   would find the money for him, even if I went without, myself, my sermon
   came back to me and I preached with pleasure--and I hope with profit! I
   was glad of my vow and I was able to keep it. Sometimes such things are
   right. At other times it would be absurd to think of making such a vow!
   Better to feel that everything belongs to God, already, and therefore
   you have nothing to spare to vow with, because you have already
   consecrated everything that you had from first to last to His Glory!

   Yet if you ever do set up an Ebenezer in your pilgrimage, be sure to
   pour some oil out of your cruse at the time to hallow it, as Jacob did.
   Then the vows you have ratified will be sweet to look back upon. The
   God of Bethel, who remembers the vow that you vowed unto Him, will be
   the more precious unto your soul. I should not wonder if that woman who
   poured the alabaster box of ointment on Christ's head often thought
   about what a blessed thing it was that she did. I am sure that there
   was not one time in all her life that she ever said, "Oh, how handy the
   money of that alabaster box would come in now. I wish I had not spent
   it." No, she would think it over oftentimes. Perhaps she became a poor
   woman afterwards. At any rate, Christ was gone and she would say, "Oh,
   how glad I am that when the opportunity offered, I seized it."

   Though Judas said, "To what purpose is this waste?" she did not care
   much about Judas. She would say, "I anointed my blessed Master and
   filled the house with the sweet perfume, and I am glad I did it, and I
   shall be glad, even, when I see His face in Heaven." So may you often
   feel! Take no credit to yourself for anything you do. That we could
   never tolerate. Yet be thankful if the Lord leads you, in His
   Providence, and enables you, by His Grace, to do something special for
   Him. It will make you think with all the more sweetness of the God of
   Bethel as you read of the way in which God accepts your votive
   offering, for my text runs like this--"I am the God of Bethel, where
   you anointed the pillar, and where you vowed a vow unto Me."

   So the vow is part and parcel of the title which God loves to remember!
   And He would have us lovingly remember, too. Dear Friends, I am afraid
   there are some among you who do not know the God of Bethel. Let me tell
   you that He is the God you need--the God of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
   is the only Ladder for your poor souls to get to Heaven by. This is a
   Ladder with easy rungs. It is a Ladder strong enough to bear the
   biggest sinner that ever tried his weight on it! And if you will but
   come and trust Jesus, you shall go up that Ladder, even to the place
   where Jehovah dwells in all His purity and you shall be with Him
   forever and ever!

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Genesis 28. HYMN FROM OUR "OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--214, 125.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Story of a Runaway Slave

   (No. 1268)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "Perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that you should receive
   him forever." Philemon 1:15.

   NATURE is selfish but Grace is loving. He who boasts that he cares for
   nobody and nobody cares for him, is the reverse of a Christian, for
   Jesus Christ enlarges the heart when He cleanses it. None so tender and
   sympathetic as our Master and if we are truly His disciples, the same
   mind will be in us which was also in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul was
   eminently large-hearted and sympathetic. Surely he had enough to do at
   Rome to bear his own troubles and to preach the Gospel. If, like the
   priest in the parable of the good Samaritan, he had, "passed by on the
   other side," he might have been excused, for he was on the urgent
   business of that Master who once said to His 70 messengers, "Salute no
   man by the way."

   We might not have wondered if Paul had said, "I cannot find time to
   attend to the needs of a runaway slave." But Paul was not of that mind.
   He had been preaching and Onesimus had been converted--and from now on
   he regarded him as his own son. I do not know why Onesimus came to
   Paul. Perhaps he went to him as a great many scapegraces have come to
   me--because their fathers knew me. And so, as Onesimus' master had
   known Paul, the servant applied to his master's friend, perhaps to beg
   some little help in his extremity. Anyway, Paul seized the opportunity
   and preached Jesus to him and the runaway slave became a Believer in
   the Lord Jesus Christ!

   Paul watched him, admired the character of his convert and was glad to
   be served by him. And when Paul thought it right that he should return
   to his master, Philemon, he took a deal of trouble to compose a letter
   of apology for him, a letter which shows long thinking, since every
   word is well selected. Although the Holy Spirit dictated it,
   Inspiration does not prevent a man's exercising thought and care on
   what he writes. Every word is chosen for a purpose. If he had been
   pleading for himself, he could not have pleaded more earnestly or
   wisely. Paul, as you know, was not accustomed to write letters with his
   own hand, but dictated to a secretary.

   It is supposed that he had an affection of the eyes and, therefore,
   when he did write, he used large capital letters, as he says in one of
   the Epistles, "You see how large a letter I have written unto you with
   my own hand." The Epistle was not a large one, but he probably alluded
   to the largeness of the characters which he was obliged to use whenever
   he, himself, wrote. This letter to Philemon, at least part of it, was
   not dictated, but was written by his own hand. See the 19th verse. "I,
   Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it." It is the
   only note of hand which I recall in Scripture, but there it is--an I O
   U for whatever amount Onesimus may have stolen!

   Let us cultivate a large-hearted spirit and sympathize with the people
   of God, especially with new converts, if we find them in trouble
   through past wrongdoing. If anything needs setting right, do not let us
   condemn them off-hand and say, "You have been stealing from your
   master, have you? You profess to be converted, but we do not believe
   it." Such suspicious and severe treatment may be deserved, but it is
   not such as the love of Christ would suggest. Try and set the fallen
   ones right and give them again, as we say, "a fair start in the world."
   If God has forgiven them, surely we may, and if Jesus Christ has
   received them, they cannot be too bad for us to receive! Let us do for
   them what Jesus would have done had He been here--so shall we truly be
   the disciples of Jesus.

   Thus I introduce to you the text, and I notice concerning it, first,
   that it contains a singular instance of Divine Grace. Secondly, it
   brings before us a case of sin overruled. And, thirdly, it may be
   regarded as an example of relationship improved by Grace, for now he
   that was a servant for a season will abide with Philemon all his
   lifetime and be no more a servant, but a beloved Brother in Christ.

   I. But, first, let us look at Onesimus as AN INSTANCE OF DIVINE GRACE.
   We see the Grace of God in his election. He was a slave. In those days
   slaves were very ignorant, untaught and degraded. Being barbarously
   used, they were

   for the most part, themselves sunk in the lowest barbarism. Neither did
   their masters attempt to raise them out of it. It is possible that
   Philemon's attempt to do good to Onesimus may have been irksome to the
   man and he may, therefore, have fled from his house. His master's
   prayers, warnings and Christian regulations may have been disagreeable
   to him and therefore he ran away.

   He wronged his master, which he would scarcely have done if he had not
   been treated as a confidential servant to some extent. Possibly the
   unusual kindness of Philemon and the trust reposed in him may have been
   too much for his untrained nature. We know not what he stole, but
   evidently he had taken something, for the Apostle says, "If he has
   wronged you, or owes you anything, put that on my account." He ran away
   from Colosse, therefore, and thinking that he would be less likely to
   be discovered by the ministers ofjustice, he sought the city of Rome
   which was, then, as large as the city of London is now, and perhaps
   larger.

   There, in those back slums, such as the Jews' quarter in Rome now is,
   Onesimus would go and hide. Or among those gangs of thieves which
   infested the imperial city, he would not be known or heard of any more,
   so he thought--and he could live the free and easy life of a thief.
   Yet, mark you, the Lord looked out of Heaven with an eye of love and
   set that eye on Onesimus! Were there no free men, that God must elect a
   slave? Were there no faithful servants, that He must choose one who had
   embezzled his master's money? Were there none of the educated and
   polite, that He must look upon a barbarian? Were there none among the
   moral and the excellent that Infinite Love should fix itself upon this
   degraded being who was now mixed up with the very scum of society?

   And what the scum of society was in old Rome I should not like to
   think, for the upper classes were about as brutalized in their general
   habits as we can very well conceive! What the lowest scum of all must
   have been, none of us can tell. Onesimus was part and parcel of the
   dregs of a sink of sin. Read Paul's first chapter of the Epistle to the
   Romans, if you can, and you will see in what a horrible state the
   heathen world was, at that time. And Onesimus was among the worst of
   the worst! And yet Eternal Love, which passed by kings and princes and
   left Pharisees and Sadducees, philosophers and magi to stumble in the
   dark as they chose, fixed its eyes upon this poor benighted creature
   that he might be made a vessel to honor, fit for the Master's use!--

   "When the Eternal bows the skies To visit earthly things, With scorn
   Divine He turns His eyes From towers of haughty kings. He bids His
   awful chariot roll Far downward from the skies, To visit every humble
   soul, With pleasure in His eyes. Why should the Lord that reigns above
   Disdain so lofty kings? Say, Lord, and why such looks of love Upon such
   worthless things? Mortals are dumb; what creature dares Dispute His
   awful will? Ask no account of His affairs, But tremble and be still.
   Just like His nature is His Grace, All sovereign, and all free Great
   God, howsearchlessare Your ways How deep yourjudgments be!"

   "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
   compassion on whom I will have compassion," rolls like thunder from the
   Cross of Calvary and from the Mount of Sinai. The Lord is Sovereign and
   does as He pleases. Let us admire that marvelous electing love which
   selected such a one as Onesimus!

   Grace, also, is to be observed, in the next place, in the conversion of
   this runaway slave. Look at him! How unlikely he appears to become a
   convert. He is an Asiatic slave of about the same grade as an ordinary
   Lascar, or heathen Chinese. He was, however, worse than the ordinary
   Lascar who is certainly free and probably an honest man, if he is
   nothing else.

   This man had been dishonest and he was daring, for after taking his
   master's property he was bold enough to make a long journey from
   Colosse to reach Rome. But Everlasting Love means to convert the
   man--and converted he shall be!

   He may have heard Paul preach at Colosse and Athens, but yet he had not
   been impressed. In Rome, Paul was not preaching in St. Peter's--it was
   in no such noble building! Paul was not preaching in a place like the
   Tabernacle, where Onesimus could have a comfortable seat--no such place
   as that--but it was probably down there at the back of the Palatine
   Hill, where the praetorian guard have their lodgings and where there
   was a prison called the Praetorian. In a bare room in the barrack
   prison Paul sat with a soldier chained to his hand, preaching to all
   who were admitted to hear him--and there it was that the Grace of God
   reached the heart of this wild young man, and, oh, what an immediate
   change it made in him!

   Now you see him repenting of his sin, grieved to think he has wronged a
   good man, vexed to see the depravity of his heart as well as the error
   of his life. He weeps. Paul preaches to him Christ crucified and the
   glance ofjoy is in his eye-- and from that heavy heart a load is taken!
   New thoughts light up that dark mind! The very face is changed and the
   entire man renewed, for the Grace of God can turn a lion into a lamb,
   the raven into a dove! Some of us, I have no doubt, are quite as
   wonderful instances of Divine election and effectual calling as
   Onesimus was. Let us, therefore, record the lov-ingkindness of the Lord
   and let us say to ourselves, "Christ shall have the glory of it. The
   Lord has done it and unto the Lord be honor, world without end."

   The Grace of God was conspicuous in the character which it worked in
   Onesimus upon his conversion, for he appears to have been helpful,
   useful and profitable. So Paul says. Paul was willing to have had him
   as an associate and it is not every man that is converted that we
   should altogether choose as a companion. There are odd people to be met
   with who will go to Heaven, we have no doubt, for they are pilgrims on
   the right way. But we would like to keep on the other side of the road,
   for they are cross-grained and there is a something about them that
   one's nature can no more delight in than the palate can take pleasure
   in nauseous medicine. They are a sort of spiritual hedgehogs--they are
   alive and useful and, no doubt, they illustrate the wisdom and patience
   of God--but they are not good companions. One would not like to carry
   them in his bosom.

   But Onesimus was evidently of a kind, tender, loving spirit. Paul at
   once called him Brother and would have liked to retain him. When he
   sent him back, was it not a clear proof of a change of heart in
   Onesimus that he would go back? Away as he was in Rome, he might have
   passed on from one town to another and have remained perfectly free.
   But feeling that he was under some kind of bond to his
   master--especially since he had injured him--he takes Paul's advice to
   return to his old position. He will go back and take a letter of
   apology or introduction to his master, for he knows that it is his duty
   to make reparation for the wrong that he has done.

   I always like to see a resolve to make restitution of former wrongs in
   people who profess to be converted. If they have taken any money
   wrongfully, they ought to repay it. It were well if they returned
   sevenfold. If we have, in any way, robbed or wronged another, I think
   the first instincts of Grace in the heart will suggest compensation in
   all ways within our power. Do not think it is to be got over by saying,
   "God has forgiven me and, therefore, I may leave it." No, dear Friend,
   but inasmuch as God has forgiven you, try to undo all the wrong and
   prove the sincerity of your repentance by so doing.

   So Onesimus will go back to Philemon and work out his term of years
   with him, or otherwise do Philemon's wishes, for though he might have
   preferred to wait upon Paul, his first duty was due to the man whom he
   had injured. That showed a gentle, humble, honest, upright spirit and
   let Onesimus be commended for it--no, let the Grace of God be extolled
   for it! Look at the difference between the man who robbed and the man
   who now comes back to be profitable to his master. What wonders the
   Grace of God has done! Brethren, let me add--what wonders the Grace of
   God can do! Many plans are employed in the world for the reformation of
   the wicked and the reclaiming of the fallen--and to every one of these,
   as far as they are rightly bottomed, we wish good success--for whatever
   things are lovely and pure, and of good report, we wish them God speed.

   But mark this word--the true reforming of the drunk lies in giving him
   a new heart! The true reclaiming of the harlot is to be found in a
   renewed nature! Purity will never come to fallen women by those hideous
   Contagious Diseases Acts, which, to my mind, wear, like Cain, a curse
   upon their forehead! Womanhood will but sink lower under such laws. The
   harlot must be washed in the Savior's blood or she will never be clean!
   The lowest strata of society will never be brought

   into the light of virtue, sobriety and purity except by Jesus Christ
   and His Gospel--and we must stick to that. Let all others do what they
   like, but God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord
   Jesus Christ.

   I see certain of my Brethren fiddling away at the branches of the tree
   of vice with their wooden saws, but, as for the Gospel, it lays the axe
   at the roots of the whole forest of evil! And if it is fairly received
   into the heart it fells all the upas trees at once--and instead of
   them, there spring up the fir tree, the pine tree and the box tree
   together--to beautify the house of our Master's Glory! Let us, when we
   see what the Spirit of God can do for men, publish the Grace of God and
   extol it with all our might!

   II. And now, secondly, we have in our text and its connections, a very
   interesting INSTANCE OF SIN OVERRULED. Onesimus had no right to rob his
   master and run away. But God was pleased to make use of that crime for
   his conversion. It brought him to Rome and so brought him where Paul
   was preaching--and thus it brought him to Christ and to his right mind.
   Now, when we speak of this, we must be cautious. When Paul says,
   "Perhaps he departed for a season, that you should receive him
   forever," he does not excuse his departure. He does not make it out
   that Onesimus did right--not for a moment! Sin is sin, and, whatever
   sin may be overruled to do, yet sin is still sin!

   The crucifixion of our Savior has brought the greatest conceivable
   blessings upon mankind, yet, none the less, it was "with wicked hands"
   that they took Jesus and crucified Him. The selling of Joseph into
   Egypt was the means in the hand of God for the preservation of Jacob
   and his sons in the time of famine. But his brothers had nothing to do
   with that and they were, none the less, guilty for having sold their
   brother for a slave. Let it always be remembered that the faultiness or
   virtue of an act is not contingent upon the result of that act.

   If, for instance, a man who has been set on a railway to turn the
   switch forgets to do it, you call it a very great crime if the train
   comes to mischief and a dozen people are killed. Yes, but the crime is
   the same if nobody is killed. It is not the result of the carelessness,
   but the carelessness, itself, which deserves punishment. If it were the
   man's duty to turn the switch in such-and-such a way, and his not doing
   so should even by some strange accident turn to the saving of life, the
   man would be equally blameworthy. There would be no credit due to him,
   for if his duty lies in a certain line his fault also lies in a certain
   line, namely, the neglecting of that duty.

   So if God overrules sin for good, as He sometimes does, it is none the
   less sin. It is sin just as much as ever, only there is so much the
   more glory to the wonderful wisdom and Grace of God who, out of evil,
   brings forth good and so does what only Omnipotent Wisdom can perform.
   Onesimus is not excused, then, for having embezzled his master's goods
   nor for having left him without permission--he still is a
   transgressor--but God's Grace is glorified. Remember, too, that this
   must be noticed--that when Onesimus left his master, he was performing
   an action, the results of which, in all probability, would have been
   ruinous to him.

   He was living as a trusted dependent beneath the roof of a kind master
   who had a Church in his house. If I read the Epistle rightly, he had a
   godly mistress and a godly master and he had an opportunity of learning
   the Gospel continually. But this reckless young blade, very likely,
   could not bear it and could have lived more contentedly with a heathen
   master, who would have beaten him one day and made him drunk another!
   The Christian master he could not bear, so away he went. He threw away
   the opportunities of salvation and he went to Rome. And he must have
   gone into the lowest part of the city and associated, as I have already
   told you, with the very grossest company.

   Now, had it come to pass that he had joined in the insurrections of the
   slaves which took place frequently about that time, as he in all
   probability would have done had not Grace prevented, he would have been
   put to death as others had been. He would have had a short stay in
   Rome. I half suspect a month and off with his head as was the rule
   towards slaves and vagabonds. Onesimus was just the very man that would
   have been likely to be hurried to death and to eternal destruction. He
   had put his head, as it were, between the lion's jaws by what he had
   done. When a young man suddenly leaves home and goes to London, we know
   what it means. When his friends do not know where he is, and he does
   not want them to know, we are aware, within a little while, where he is
   and what he is up to.

   What Onesimus was doing, I do not know, but he was certainly doing his
   best to ruin himself. His course, therefore, is to be judged, as far as
   he is concerned, by what it was likely to bring him to--and though it
   did not bring him to it, that was no credit to him--all the honor of it
   is due to the overruling power of God! See, dear Brothers and Sisters,
   how God overruled all. Thus had the Lord purposed. Nobody shall be able
   to touch the heart of Onesimus but Paul. Onesimus is living at Colosse.
   Paul cannot come there, he is in prison. It is necessary, then, that
   Onesimus should go to Paul. Sup-

   pose the kindness of Philemon's heart had prompted him to say to
   Onesimus, "I want you to go to Rome and find Paul out and hear him"?

   This evil servant would have said, "I am not going to risk my life to
   hear a sermon. If I go with the money you are sending to Paul, or with
   the letter, I shall deliver it, but I want none of his preaching."
   Sometimes, you know, when people are brought to hear a preacher with
   the view of their being converted, if they have any idea of it, it is
   about the very last thing likely to happen, because they go there
   resolved to be fireproof. And so the preaching does not come home to
   them--and it would probably have been just so with Onesimus. No, no, he
   was not to be won in that way! He must go to Rome another way. How
   shall it be done?

   Well, the devil shall do it, not knowing that he will be losing a
   willing servant thereby! The devil tempts Onesimus to steal. Onesimus
   does it and when he has stolen he is afraid of being discovered and so
   he makes tracks for Rome as quickly as he can! And he gets down among
   the back slums and there he feels what the prodigal felt--a hungry
   belly--and that is one of the best preachers in the world to some
   people! Their conscience is reached in that way. Being very hungry, not
   knowing what to do and no man giving anything to him, he thinks whether
   there is anybody in Rome that would take pity on him.

   He does not know anybody in Rome at all and is likely to starve.
   Perhaps one morning there was a Christian woman--I should not
   wonder--who was going to hear Paul and she saw this poor man sitting
   crouched up on the steps of a temple. Perhaps she went to him and spoke
   about his soul. "Soul?" said he, "I care nothing about that, but my
   body would thank you for something to eat. I am starving." She replied,
   "Come with me, then," and she gave him bread and then she said, "I do
   this for Jesus Christ's sake." "Jesus Christ!" he said, "I have heard
   of Him. I used to hear of Him over at Colosse." "Whom did you hear
   speak about Him?" the woman would ask. "Why, a short man with weak
   eyes. A great preacher named Paul, who used to come to my master's
   house." "Why, I am going to hear him preach," the woman would say,
   "will you come and hear him with me?" "Well, I think I should like to
   hear him again. He always had a kind word to say to the poor." So he
   goes in and pushes his way among the soldiers. And Paul's Master
   incites Paul to speak the right words.

   It may have been so, or it may have been the other way--that not
   knowing anybody else at all, he thought, "Well, there is Paul, I know.
   He is here a prisoner and I will go down and see what prison he is in."
   He goes down to the Praetorian and finds him there, tells him of his
   extreme poverty and Paul talks to him. And then he confesses the wrong
   he has done and Paul, after teaching him a little while, says, "Now,
   you must go back and make amends to your master for the wrong you have
   done." It may have been either of these ways, but, at any rate, the
   Lord must have Onesimus in Rome to hear Paul. And the sin of Onesimus,
   though perfectly voluntary on his part, so that God had no hand in it,
   is yet overruled by a mysterious Providence to bring him where the
   Gospel shall be blessed to his soul.

   Now, I want to speak to some of you Christian people about this matter.
   Have you a son who has left home? Is he a willful, wayward young man
   who has gone away because he could not bear the restraints of a
   Christian family? It is a sad thing it should be so--a very sad
   thing--but do not despond or even have a thought of despair about him!
   You do not know where he is, but God does! And you cannot follow him,
   but the Spirit of God can! He is going on a voyage to Shanghai. Ah,
   there may be a Paul at Shanghai who is to be the means of his
   salvation! And as that Paul is not in England, your son must go there.
   Is it to Australia that he is going? There may be a word spoken there,
   by the blessing of God, to your son which is the only word which ever
   will reach him!

   I cannot speak it. Nobody in London can speak it. But the man there,
   will, and God, therefore, is letting him go away in all his willfulness
   and folly that he may be brought under the means of Grace which will
   prove effectual to his salvation. Many a sailor boy has been wild,
   reckless, godless, Christless and at last has got into a foreign
   hospital. Ah, if his mother knew that he was down with the yellow
   fever, how sad her mind would be, for she would conclude that her dear
   son will die away at Havana or somewhere, and never come home again.
   But it is just in that hospital that God means to meet with him!

   A sailor writes to me something like that. He says, "My mother asked me
   to read a chapter every day, but I never did. I got into the hospital
   at Havana, and, when I lay there, there was a man near to me who was
   dying. And he died one night, but before he died, he said to me, 'Mate,
   could you come here? I want to speak to you. I have got something that
   is very precious to me here. I was a wild fellow, but reading this
   packet of sermons has brought me to the Savior, and I am

   dying with a good hope through Grace. Now, when I am dead and gone,
   will you take these sermons and read them? And may God bless them to
   you. And will you write a letter to the man that preached and printed
   those sermons, to tell him that God blessed them to my conversion and
   that I hope he will bless them to yourself?"

   It was a packet of my sermons, and God did bless them to that young man
   who, I have no doubt whatever, went to that hospital because there a
   man who had been brought to Christ would hand to him the words which
   God had blessed to himself and would bless to his friend! You do not
   know, dear Mother, you do not know. The worst thing that can happen to
   a young man is sometimes the best thing that can happen to him! I have
   sometimes thought, when I have seen young men of position and wealth
   taking to racing and all sorts of dissipation, "Well, it is a
   dreadfully bad thing, but they may as well get through their money as
   quickly as ever they can, and then when they have got down to begging
   they will be like the young gentleman in the parable who left his
   father."

   When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he
   began to be in need, and he said, "I will arise and go to my father."
   Perhaps the disease that follows vice--perhaps the poverty that comes
   like an armed man after extravagance and debauchery--is but love in
   another form, sent to compel the sinner to come to himself and consider
   his ways and seek an ever merciful God! You Christian people often see
   the little gutter children--the poor little Arabs in the street--and
   you feel much pity for them, as well you may. There is a dear Sister
   here, Miss Annie MacPherson, who lives only for them. God bless her and
   her work! When you see them you cannot be glad to see them as they are,
   but I have often thought that the poverty and hunger of one of these
   poor little children has a louder voice to most hearts than their vice
   and ignorance! And God knew that we were not ready and able to hear the
   cry of the child's sin, so He added the child's hunger to that cry,
   that it might pierce our hearts.

   People could live in sin and yet be happy, if they were well-to-do and
   rich. And if sin did not make parents poor and wretched, and their
   children miserable, we should not see it and, therefore, we should not
   awaken ourselves to grapple with it. It is a blessing, you know, in
   some diseases, when the patient can throw the complaint out upon the
   skin. It is a horrible thing to see it on the skin, but still it is
   better than its being hidden inside. Oftentimes the outward sin and the
   outward misery are a sort of throwing out of the disease so that the
   eyes of those who know where the healing medicine is to be had is
   thereby drawn to the disease--and so the soul's secret malady is dealt
   with.

   Onesimus might have stayed at home and he might never have been a
   thief! But he might have been lost through self-righteousness. But now
   his sin is visible. The scapegrace has displayed the depravity of his
   heart and now it is that he comes under Paul's eyes and Paul's prayers
   and becomes converted! Do not, I pray you, ever despair of man or woman
   or child because you see their sin upon the surface of their character.
   On the contrary, say to yourself, "This is placed where I can see it,
   that I may pray about it. It is thrown out under my eyes that I may now
   concern myself to bring this poor soul to Jesus Christ, the mighty
   Savior who can save the most forlorn sinner."

   Look at it in the light of earnest, active benevolence and awaken
   yourselves to conquer it! Our duty is to hope on and to pray on. It may
   be, perhaps, that, "he therefore departed for a season, that you should
   receive him forever." Perhaps the boy has been so wayward that his sin
   may come to a crisis and a new heart may be given him. Perhaps your
   daughter's evil has been developed that now the Lord may convince her
   of sin and bring her to the Savior's feet. At any rate, if the case is
   ever so bad, hope in God and pray on!

   III. Once more. Our text may be viewed as AN EXAMPLE OF RELATIONS
   IMPROVED. "He therefore departed for a season, that you should receive
   him forever." "Not now as a servant, but a Brother beloved, specially
   to one, but how much more unto you?" You know we are a long while
   learning great truths. Perhaps Philemon had not quite found out that it
   was wrong for him to have a slave. Some men who were very good in their
   time did not know it. John Newton did not know that he was flying wrong
   in the slave trade and George Whitfield, when he left slaves to the
   orphanage at Savannah, which had been willed to him, did not think, for
   a moment, that he was doing anything more than if he had been dealing
   with horses, or gold and silver.

   Public sentiment was not enlightened, although the Gospel has always
   struck at the very root of slavery. The essence of the Gospel is that
   we are to do to others as we would that others should do to us--and
   nobody would wish to be another man's slave--and therefore he has no
   right to have another man as his slave. Perhaps, when Onesimus ran away
   and came back again, this letter of Paul may have opened Philemon's
   eyes a little as to his own position. Maybe he began to doubt that he
   was a good master. He had trusted his servant and not treated him as a
   slave at all, but perhaps he had

   not regarded him as a brother. And now Onesimus has come back. He will
   be a better servant, but Philemon will be a better master and a
   slave-holder no longer. He will regard his former servant as a Brother
   in Christ.

   Now, this is what the Grace of God does when it comes into a family. It
   does not alter the relations. It does not give the child a right to be
   pert and forget that he is to be obedient to his parents. It does not
   give the father a right to lord it over his children without wisdom and
   love, for it tells him that he is not to provoke his children to anger,
   lest they be discouraged. It does not give the servant the right to be
   a master, neither does it take away from the master his position, or
   allow him to exaggerate his authority--but all round it softens and
   sweetens.

   Rowland Hill used to say that he would not give a halfpenny for a man's
   piety if his dog and his cat were not better off after he was
   converted. There was much weight in that remark. Everything in the
   house goes better when Grace oils the wheels. The mistress is, perhaps,
   rather sharp, quick, tart--well, she gets a little sugar into her
   constitution when she receives the Grace of God! The servant may be apt
   to loiter, be late up in the morning, very slovenly, fond of a gossip
   at the door. But if she is truly converted, all that kind of thing
   ends. She is conscientious and attends to her duty as she ought. The
   master, perhaps--well, he is the master and you know it. But when he is
   a truly Christian man--he has a gentleness, a suavity, a
   considerateness about him.

   The husband is the head of the wife, but when renewed by Grace he is
   not at all the head of the wife as some husbands are. The wife also
   keeps her place and seeks, by all gentleness and wisdom to make the
   house as happy as she can. I do not believe in your religion, dear
   Friend, if it belongs to the Tabernacle and the Prayer Meeting, but not
   to your home. The best religion in the world is that which smiles at
   the table, works at the sewing machine, and is amiable in the
   drawing-room. Give me the religion which blacks boots and does them
   well, cooks the food and cooks it so that it can be eaten! Measures out
   yards of calico and does not make them half-an-inch short! Sells a
   hundred yards of an article and does not label 90 a hundred, as many
   trades people do!

   That is the true Christianity which affects the whole of life! If we
   are truly Christians we shall be changed in all our relationships to
   our fellow men and, therefore, we shall regard those whom we call our
   inferiors with quite a different eye. It is wrong in Christian people
   when they are so sharp upon little faults that they see in servants,
   especially if they are Christian servants. That is not the way to
   correct them. They see a little something wrong and, oh, they are down
   upon the poor girls as if they had murdered somebody! If your Master,
   and mine, were to treat us in that style I wonder how we would get on?
   How quick some are in discharging their maids for small faults! No
   excuse, no trying the persons again-- they must go.

   Many a young man has been turned out of a situation for the littlest
   trifle, by a Christian employer, when he must have known that he would
   be exposed to all sorts of risks. And many a servant has been sent
   adrift as if she were a dog, with no sort of thought whether another
   position could be found, and without anything being done to prevent her
   going astray. Do let us think of others, especially of those whom
   Christ loves even as He does us. Philemon might have said, "No, no, I
   won't take you back, Mr. Onesimus, not I. Once bitten, twice shy, Sir.
   I never ride a horse with broken knees. You stole my money! I am not
   going to have you back again." I have heard that style of talk, have
   not you? Did you ever feel like it? If you have, go home and pray to
   God to get such a feeling out of you, for it is bad stuff to have in
   your soul! You cannot take it to Heaven.

   When the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven you so freely, are you to take
   your servant by the throat and say, "Pay me what you owe?" God forbid
   that we should continue in such a temper! Be pitiful, easily entreated,
   ready to forgive. It is a deal better that you should suffer a wrong
   than do a wrong--much better that you should overlook a fault which you
   might have noticed, than notice a fault which you ought to have
   overlooked--

   "Let love through all your actions run, And all your words be kind," is
   said in the little hymn which we used to learn when we were children.
   We should practice it now, and--

   "Live like the blessed virgin's Son That meek and lowly Child."

   God grant we may, of His infinite Grace! I want to say this, and then I
   have done. If the mysterious Providence of God was to be seen in
   Onesimus getting to Rome, I wonder whether there is any Providence of
   God in some of you being here tonight? It is possible. Such things do
   happen. People come here that never meant to come. The last thing in
   the world they would have believed, if anybody had said it, is that
   they would be here, yet here they are.

   With all manner of lyrists and turns they have gone about, but they
   have got here somehow. Did you miss a train, and so stepped in to wait?
   Did not your ship sail quite so soon as you expected, and so are you
   here tonight? Say, is that it? I do pray you, then, consider this
   question with your heart. "Does not God mean to bless me? Has He not
   brought me here, on purpose, that this night I may yield my heart to
   Jesus as Onesimus did?" My dear Friend, if you believe on the Lord
   Jesus Christ, you shall have immediate pardon for all sin and shall be
   saved! The Lord has brought you here in His infinite wisdom to hear
   that, and I hope that He has also brought you here that you may accept
   it and so go your way altogether changed.

   Some three years ago I was talking with an aged minister, and he began
   fumbling about in his waistcoat pocket, but he was a long while before
   he found what he wanted. At last he brought out a letter that was well
   near worn to pieces, and he said, "God Almighty bless you! God Almighty
   bless you!" And I said, "Friend, what is it?" He said, "I had a son. I
   thought he would be the stay of my old age, but he disgraced himself
   and he went away from me, and I could not tell where he went, only he
   said he was going to America. He took a ticket to sail for America from
   the London Docks, but he did not go on the particular day that he
   expected."

   This aged minister bade me read the letter, and I read it, and it was
   like this--"Father, I am here in America. I have found a situation and
   God has prospered me. I write to ask your forgiveness for the thousand
   wrongs that I have done you and the grief I have caused you, for
   blessed be God, I have found the Savior! I have joined the Church of
   God here, and hope to spend my life in God's service. It happened thus:
   I did not sail for America the day I expected. I went down to the
   Tabernacle to see what it was like, and God met with me. Mr. Spurgeon
   said, 'Perhaps there is a runaway son here. The Lord call him by His
   Grace.' And he did. "Now," said he, as he folded up the letter and put
   it in his pocket, "that son of mine is dead and he is in Heaven, and I
   love you, and I shall do so as long as I live, because you were the
   means of bringing him to Christ."

   Is there a similar character here tonight? I feel persuaded there
   is--somebody of the same sort--and in the name of God I charge him to
   take the warning that I give him from this pulpit! I dare you to go out
   of this place as you came in! Oh, young man, the Lord in mercy gives
   you another opportunity of turning from the error of your ways, and I
   pray you now, here--as you now are--lift your eyes to Heaven, and say,
   "God be merciful to me a sinner," and He will be so. Then go home to
   your father and tell him what the Grace or God has done for you--and
   wonder at the love which brought you here to bring you to

   Christ!

   Dear Friend, if there is nothing mysterious about it, yet here we are.
   We are where the Gospel is preached and that brings responsibility upon
   us. If a man is lost, it is better for him to be lost without hearing
   the Gospel than to be lost as some of you will be if you perish under
   the sound of a clear, earnest enunciation of the Gospel of Jesus
   Christ! How long have some of you been between two opinions? "Have I
   been so long time with you," says Christ, "and yet have you not known
   Me?" All this teaching and preaching and invitations--and yet do you
   not turn?--

   "O God, You the sinner turn,

   Convince him of his lost estate.

   Let him linger no longer,

   Lest he linger till he rue his

   Fatal choice too late." God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Philemon. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--231, 248.
     __________________________________________________________________

The New Fashion

   (No. 1269)

   DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them
   all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never
   saw it on this fashion." Mark 2:12.

   IT is very natural that there should be many surprising things in the
   Gospel, for it is remarkable beyond measure that there should be a
   Gospel at all. As soon as I begin thinking of it I exclaim with Bunyan,
   "O world of wonders, I can say no less." And I invite you all to join
   with the multitude in saying with the text, "We never saw it on this
   fashion." When man had sinned, God might instantly have destroyed our
   rebel race, or He might have permitted it to exist as the fallen angels
   do--in a state of enmity to all goodness and in consequent misery. But
   He who passed the angels by took up the seed of Abraham and looked upon
   man--that insignificant item in the ranks of creatureship and
   determined that man should experience salvation and show forth His
   Divine Grace.

   It was a wonderful thing, to begin with, that there should be a Gospel
   for men. And when we remember that the Gospel involved the gift of the
   only-begotten Son of God. When we remember that it was necessary that
   God, the invisible Spirit, should be veiled in human flesh. When we
   think about the fact that the Son of God should become the son of Mary,
   should be subject to pain and weakness, poverty and shame--when we
   remember all this, we may expect to find great wonders clustering round
   such a stupendous fact!

   Beholding God in human flesh, miracles no longer strike us as being at
   all marvelous, for the Incarnation of God outmiracles miracle! But we
   must further remember that in order to bring the Gospel to us it was
   necessary that God should, in our nature, offer Atonement for human
   sin. Think of it! The holy God making Atonement for sin! When the
   angels first heard of it, they must have been lost in astonishment, for
   they "never saw it on this fashion." Shall the Offended die for the
   offender? Shall the Judge bear the chastisement of the criminal? Shall
   God take upon Himself the transgression of His creature? Yet so it has
   been, and Jesus Christ has borne, that we might never bear, the
   consequences of sin--no, sin itself. "For the transgression of My
   people was He stricken." Jesus was made a curse for us, as it is
   written, "Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree."

   Now, a commonplace result could not be imagined as growing out of a
   Gospel sent to rebellious men, much less a Gospel involving the
   Incarnation and the death of the Son of God! Everything in God's
   creation is made to scale. There is a balance between the dewdrop on
   the rose and the most majestic of yonder orbs that adorn the brow of
   night. Law regulates everything, from a single drop of water to the
   ocean itself. Everything is proportionate and, therefore, we are
   persuaded that in an economy in which we start with an Incarnate God
   and an infinite Atonement there must be something very striking. And we
   ought to be prepared to exclaim frequently, "We never saw it on this
   fashion."

   Commonplaces are foreign to the Gospel. We have entered the land of
   wonders when we behold the love of God in Christ Jesus. Romance is
   out-romanced in the Gospel. Whatever marvels men are able to imagine,
   the facts of God's amazing Grace are more extraordinary than anything
   imagination has ever conceived. I desire at this time to say two or
   three things to those who are not familiar with the Gospel. Some have
   dropped in here to whom the Gospel, as we believe it, is quite a new
   thing. I want to say to them, first, do not disbelieve it because it
   strikes you as doing something very strange. In the second place,
   remember that in the Gospel there must be amazing and surprising things
   and we shall try to set them out before you, hoping that, so far from
   your disbelieving them, faith may be worked in your soul as you hear
   them. And, thirdly, if any of these strange things should have happened
   to you, and you should have to say, " We never saw it on this fashion,"
   then glorify God and give new honors to His name.

   I. First, then, DO NOT DISBELIEVE THE GOSPEL BECAUSE IT SURPRISES YOU.
   Remember, in the first place, that nothing stands so much in the way of
   real knowledge as prejudice. Our race might have known a great deal
   more

   of scientific facts if it had not been so largely occupied and
   captivated with scientific supposition. Take up books upon most
   sciences and you will find that the main part of the material is an
   answer to many theories that have been set up in ages gone by, or
   originated in modern times. Theories are the nuisances of science, the
   rubbish which must be swept away that the precious facts may be laid
   bare.

   If you go to the study of a subject, saying to yourself, "This is how
   the matter must shape itself," having beforehand made up your mind what
   the facts ought to be, you will have put in your own way a difficulty
   more severe than the subject itself could place there. Prejudice is the
   stumbling block of advance. To believe that we know before we do know
   is to prevent our really making discoveries and coming to right
   knowledge. When an observer first discovered that there were spots on
   the sun he reported it, but he was called before his "Father Confessor"
   and upbraided for having reported anything of the kind.

   The Jesuit said that he had read Aristotle through several times and he
   had found no mention in Aristotle of any spots on the sun and,
   therefore, there could be no such things. And when the offender replied
   that he had seen these spots through glasses, the father told him that
   he must not believe his eyes--he must believe him because it was
   certain, to begin with, that if Aristotle had not indicated the spots,
   spots there could not be--and he must not believe it. Now, there are
   some who come to hear the Gospel in that spirit.

   They have a notion of what the Gospel ought to be--a pretty firm and
   strong cast-iron creed of their own manufac-turing--or an hereditary
   one which they have received with the old family chest of drawers. And
   they are, therefore, unprepared to hear candidly and learn. Neither do
   they turn to Scripture to discover the mind of the Spirit of God, but
   to find some color for their prejudices. It is easy to show a man a
   thing if he will open his eyes, but if he shuts his eyes and resolves
   not to see, the task is difficult.

   You may light a candle pretty readily, but you cannot do so if it has
   an extinguisher over it. And there are persons who have extinguished
   their souls and covered them over with prejudices. They act as judges
   of what the Gospel ought to be and, if there is anything said that does
   not suit their preconceived notions, straightway they are offended.
   This is very absurd and, in a matter in which our souls are concerned,
   it is something worse than ridiculous! It is dangerous to the highest
   degree. We ought to come to the preaching of the Word of God praying,
   "Lord, teach me! Blessed Spirit guide me into all Truth. Let me see a
   doctrine to be in Your Word and I will accept it, though it should
   shock all my prejudices. Though it should seem to me to be a totally
   new thing, yet, if clearly it is the Word of God, I am willing to
   receive it and to rejoice in it."

   God give us such a spirit, so that when we have to say in the words of
   the text, "We never saw it on this fashion," yet still our prejudices
   may not prevent our accepting the Truth of God! Let us remember, dear
   Friends, that many things which we know to be true would not have been
   believed by our fathers if they had been revealed to them. I feel
   morally certain that there were many generations of Englishmen who, if
   they could have been informed that men would travel at 40 or 50 miles
   an hour over the surface of the earth, drawn without horses, but by a
   steam engine, they would have shaken their heads, and laughed such a
   prediction to scorn.

   Even a little time ago, if someone had prophesied that we should be
   able to speak across the Atlantic in a single instant and speedily
   obtain a reply by a cable that should be laid along the ocean's bottom,
   we, ourselves, could not have conceived it to be possible. How could it
   be? And yet these things are common everyday facts with us now. Let us,
   therefore, expect that when we come to deal with what is more wonderful
   than creation and far more wonderful than any of the inventions of man,
   we will meet with things which will be hard to be believed. Let us
   willingly give up our heart and soul to receive the impress of the
   Truth of God and constantly exercise a simple faith in what God
   reveals.

   It is well known that there are many things which are undoubted facts
   which certain classes of men find it hard to believe. Some time ago a
   Missionary had told his congregation that in the winter time the water
   in England became so hard that a man could walk upon it. Now they
   believed a good deal that he had said, but they did not believe that!
   And they whispered to one another that the Missionary was a great liar.
   One of them was brought over to England. He came over with the full
   conviction that it was a most ridiculous thing to suppose that any man
   could ever walk across a river.

   At last the frost came, the river was frozen over and the Missionary
   took his friend down to it. The good man stood on the ice, himself, but
   he could not persuade his convert to venture. "No," he said, "I do not
   believe it." "But you can see it, Man!" said the other. "Come along
   with you! Come here!" "No," he said, "I never saw it so. I have lived
   50 years

   in my own country and I never saw a man walk on a river before." "But
   here I am, doing it," said the Missionary, "come along with you!" And
   he seized his hand and pulled so vigorously that at last the African
   tried the frozen water and found that it did support his weight. Thus a
   statement proved to be none the less true because it was contrary to
   experience!

   The same rule holds good in the case of the Gospel. Yet you must expect
   to find in it certain things which you could not have believed to be
   true. But if some of us have proven them to be facts and are living in
   the daily enjoyment of them, do not stubbornly refuse to try them,
   yourself. If we get you by the hand affectionately and say, "Come on to
   this River of Life. It will bear you, you can walk in safety here. We
   are doing so and have done so for years," do not act towards us as if
   we were deceivers. And do not put us off with the absurd argument that
   the Gospel cannot be true because you have not, until this time, tried
   it and, therefore, have no experience of its power!

   Why, my dear Friend, it may be true for all that, just as the ice was a
   matter of fact though the friend from Africa had never seen it. He
   found the ice a reality when he, at last, ventured upon it and you will
   find Jesus Christ and the precious things of the Gospel to be sure and
   firm and true, as we have found them to be, if you will only venture
   your soul upon them! I merely mention these things to prepare your mind
   for the full conviction that the fact that a Gospel statement seems new
   and astonishing ought not to create unbelief in the mind.

   My beloved Friend, it may be that you exclaim, "I cannot hope that my
   sin can be forgiven. I cannot imagine that my heart can be changed. I
   cannot suppose it possible that, by one simple act of faith, I could be
   a saved man." No, but do you not see that every man measures things
   according to his own standard? We measure other people's corn, but we
   always do it with our own bushel. We even try to measure God by our own
   standard and there is a text which very sweetly rebukes us for it, "My
   thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the
   Lord." What I consider it right to expect from God may, very naturally,
   be a very different thing from what God may be prepared to give me.

   Perhaps I judge of His behavior towards me by what I deserve, and if I
   do so, what can I look for? Or, perhaps, I judge of His mercy by my
   own, and considering whether I could forgive to 70 times
   seven--whether, if often provoked, I could still overlook the
   transgression. I find in my own heart no very great powers of
   forgiveness and then I conclude that God is as hard and as unwilling to
   forgive as I am. But we must not so judge. Oh, Sinners, you must not do
   so!

   If you are longing for a great salvation, you must not sit down and
   begin to calculate the Godhead by inches and measure out the merit of
   Christ by yards and calculate whether He can do this, or can do that. A
   God--what is there that He cannot do? Did Jesus make an Atonement
   boundless as His Nature? Then what sin is there which that Atonement
   cannot wash away? Judge not the Lord according to human judgement! Know
   you, O Man, that He is no small stream or lake which you can measure,
   and whose capacity you can calculate--He is a sea without a bottom and
   without a shore-- and all your thoughts are drowned when you attempt to
   measure Him!

   Lift up your thoughts as high as you ever will and think great things
   of God--and expect great things from God-- and when you shall have
   enlarged your expectation and your faith shall have grown to its very
   utmost, God is able to do exceeding abundantly above what you ask, or
   even think. "Can you, by searching, find out God?" Do you expect that
   you can exceed Him and desire more and hope for more than He is able to
   give? O, it cannot be! Consider this--that you are very liable to make
   a mistake as to what the Gospel is. Why? Because your mode of
   estimating it must naturally be a false one since you judge only from
   what you know, and what you are capable of, while God is infinitely
   above all that you know or can conceive.

   Further, let me remind you, dear Friend, you who are a stranger to the
   Gospel, that when we come to speak of it directly, you must not
   disbelieve it on account of its strangeness, for it is clear that many
   have made a mistake as to what the Gospel is. The Jews who lived in our
   Savior's day heard the best Preacher that ever preached, but they did
   not understand Him. It was not from lack of a lucid style, for, "never
   man spoke like this Man," but yet they mistook all that He said! They
   thought that they knew His meaning but they did not. And even His own
   disciples and the Apostles, until they were illuminated by the Spirit
   of God, mistook the meaning of their Master and knew but little, after
   all His teaching. Should you feel at all astonished if you should have
   been mistaken, dear Friend--you who have never found joy and peace in
   believing?

   Is it not possible that you may have been mistaken, after all? The Jews
   heard the Savior Himself and yet did not understand the Truth of God.
   Some of them were men of genius and well instructed. There was one,
   especially, who was a

   ruler--a doctor among the Jews--who understood not these things. And
   when the Savior said to him, "You must be born again," he took it
   literally--he could not understand the mystic change which the Savior
   meant to describe. Now, if Nicodemus did not know and, a great many
   like Nicodemus, may it not happen to be the case that you, also, have
   not found out the secret and are, at this moment, without the
   possession of it?

   Possibly you may be a person of very considerable education and of
   remarkable gifts and parts. My dear Friend, if any people are liable to
   miss the true sense of the Gospel, it is such as you are! It is
   strange, you will say, that I should make such a remark, but the
   observation is founded upon fact. "Not many wise men after the flesh,
   not many mighty are chosen." Not many of the learned of this world ever
   learn of Christ! He teaches babes, but leaves wise men to boast in
   their own folly. The Magi of the East went round about to find the
   Savior--even with a star to guide them they missed their way. But the
   humble shepherds from the plains of Bethlehem, without a star, went
   immediately to the place where Jesus was.

   Ah, it was a good and true remark of Augustine, when he said, "While
   the learned are fumbling to find the latch, the simple and poor have
   entered into the Kingdom of Heaven." Simplicity of heart is more
   helpful to the understanding of the Gospel than culture of mind. To be
   ready to be taught is a better faculty than to be able to teach, as far
   as the reception of the Gospel is concerned. That degree in divinity
   may stand in your way of understanding the Divine God! And the very
   position that you have taken in the classical studies may render it the
   more difficult for you to comprehend that which the wayfaring man,
   though he is a fool, knows by heart! Since it is certainly so, I am not
   offering you any insult when I say, perhaps, dear Friend, you may,
   until this time, have labored under a mistake, and, therefore, if at
   any time the Gospel should be spoken to you, it would well become you
   to give it a fair hearing and not to reject it because it appears to be
   new.

   One other remark, and I will go on to the next point, and it is this.
   The person I am now addressing, and I believe that there are such
   persons here, if he is the man I mean, must confess that the religion
   he now possesses has not done much for him. You think you know the
   Gospel? But, say--could you die upon what you know? Could you die
   now--now-- happily and contentedly with the hope you have? If you
   could, I thank God and congratulate you. Has your hope which you
   possess comforted your heart? Do you feel and know assuredly that your
   sins are forgiven you? Do you look upon God as your Father? Are you in
   the habit of speaking with Him as a child speaks with his father,
   confiding in Him and telling all your cares and troubles to Him? If it
   is so, my dear Friend, I rejoice with you.

   But unless yours is the religion of Jesus Christ, I know you have not
   found such peace. There are many shapes of what is called, "religion,"
   many, many shapes. But they amount to this--they put a man in a
   position in which he feels that he is about as good as other people,
   and as well to do in spiritual things as the average of others--and if
   he does his best, and acts up to his knowledge and light, he will get
   better, no doubt. And, perhaps, when he comes to die, possibly by the
   assistance of a clergyman or a priest--perhaps by some remarkable
   experience that he may undergo in the use of sacraments--he may get to
   Heaven.

   It is the general religion of mankind that they are on a road which
   they have to follow, and by industriously and carefully pursuing it
   they will possibly save themselves by the gracious help of the Lord
   Jesus Christ. They generally tack that on, of course, to make their
   self-righteousness look a little more respectable! Now, I say
   deliberately, as in the sight of God, that such religion is not worth
   one solitary halfpenny! The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a
   man a complete, full, free, irreversible pardon of all his sins at
   once, together with the changing of his nature, the implantation of a
   new life and the putting of him into the family of God.

   And it gives to him these things so that he knows that he has them,
   consciously enjoys them and lives in the power and spirit of
   them--humbly serving the Lord who has done such great things for him.
   This is the religion of Christ and this is what we are now going to
   speak of more fully, while we mention some few things which lead men to
   say, "We never saw it on this fashion.

   II. Our second point was to be that THERE ARE VERY SINGULAR AND
   SURPRISING THINGS IN THE GOSPEL. Let us mention some of them. One is
   this--that the Gospel should come to people whom it regards as
   incapable. In the narrative before us the wonder was that the Lord
   Jesus dealt with a crippled and paralyzed person so far gone that he
   could not crawl into Christ's Presence, but had to be borne by four
   friends. Look at him! He is incapable and incurable!

   All that he can do is lie on that bed on which the kindness of friends
   has placed him--and there he must remain--he can do nothing.

   Now, the Gospel regards every man to whom it comes as unable to do
   anything good. It addresses you, not merely as paralyzed, but it goes
   farther and describes you as dead. The Gospel speaks to the dead! I
   have often heard it said that the duty of the Christian minister is to
   awaken the activities of sinners. I believe the very reverse--he should
   rather labor to kill their self-trusting activities dead and to make
   them know that all that they can do of themselves is worse than
   nothing! They can do nothing, for how can the dead move in their
   graves? How can the dead in sin accomplish their own quickening? The
   power which can save does not lie in the sinner--it lies in his God!

   And if any of you are unconverted, I do not come to tell you something
   which you are able to do, by the doing of which you can save
   yourselves, but I warn you that you are lost, ruined, and undone! You
   have power to stray like lost sheep, but if ever you come back your
   Shepherd must bring you back, you will never come back of yourselves.
   You had power to destroy yourselves and you have exercised that power.
   But now your help does not lie in you, it lies in your God. It is a
   strange thing that the Gospel should represent a man to be in such a
   desperate condition, but it is a fact. And though it is astonishing,
   let it not be doubted.

   An equally remarkable thing is that the Gospel calls upon men to do
   what they cannot do, for Jesus Christ said to this paralyzed man, "I
   say unto you, Arise, take up your bed and walk." He could not rise. He
   could not take up his bed, and could not walk and yet he was bid to do
   it. And it is one of the strange things of the way of salvation that--

   "The Gospel bids the dead revive! Sinners obey the voice and live. Dry
   bones are raised and clothed afresh, And hearts of stone are turned to
   flesh." We have to say, in the name of Jesus, to the man with the
   withered arm--whose arm is so withered that we know he has no power in
   it, "Stretch out your hand." And we say it in God's name. Some of my
   Brethren of a certain order of doctrine say, "It is ridiculous! If you
   admit that a man cannot do it, it is ridiculous to tell him to do it."

   But we do not mind being ridiculous--we care little for the censure of
   human judgement. If God gives us a commission, that commission will
   prevent our suffering very seriously from the ridicule of other people.
   "Ezekiel, do you not see before you that valley of dry bones?" "Yes,"
   he says, "I see them. They are very many and very dry. Through many a
   summer the sun has scorched them and through many a winter the fierce
   winds have dried them till they are as if they had passed through an
   oven."

   "Prophet, what can you do with these bones? If God means to raise them
   to life they will be raised, therefore let them alone. What can you
   do?" Listen to him as he makes solemn proclamation. "Thus says the
   Lord, You dry bones live!" "Ridiculous, Ezekiel! They cannot live, why
   speak to them?" He knows they cannot live of themselves, but he also
   knows that his Master bids him tell them to live, and he does what his
   Master tells him! So, in the Gospel, the minister is to bid men to
   believe, and he is to say, "Repent, and believe the Gospel." For this
   reason, alone, do we say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
   shall be saved."

   The Gospel bids you believe, albeit that you are dead in trespasses and
   sins. "I cannot understand it," says somebody. No, and you never will
   till God reveals it to you. But, when the Lord comes and dwells with
   you, you will perfectly understand and see how the exercise of faith on
   the part of the preacher of the Gospel is a part of the Divine
   operation by which dead souls are raised!

   Another and more remarkable thing is this--that while the Gospel comes
   to men incapable and dead, and bids them do what they cannot of
   themselves do, they actually do it--there is the marvel! In the name of
   Jesus we say to the paralyzed man, "Take up your bed and walk," and he
   takes up his bed and walks! For with the Word of God faithfully spoken,
   in confidence in God, there comes the eternal power into the man who
   had no power of his own! And God's elect, called out by the preaching
   of the Gospel, hear the message from Heaven and the power comes with it
   at the time they hear the message, so that they obey it and live. Dead
   as they were, they live!

   O, marvelous operation this--that, out of this congregation, while I
   say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ"--there will be some who will
   believe and be saved! Those who will believe have no more power,
   naturally, to believe, than others have--they are by nature all in an
   equal state of death! But to God's own chosen the Word comes with
   power, attended by the Holy Spirit, and they believe and live!

   Here are three singular things. It is a strange thing to have to tell
   you good Church people and Chapel people who have always done
   everything so well, that unless you are converted you are dead in
   trespasses and sins and all your good works are so many grave clothes
   in which your corpse is wrapped up, and nothing better! And it is
   strange that we should be bound to call upon you to believe in Jesus
   when we have already told you that you have no spiritual life. And it
   is remarkable that we should be commanded to warn you that you are
   living in great sin if you do not believe in Jesus.

   More singular still, you may judge it to be, that we are confident that
   the telling you these things plainly and honestly in the name of God,
   will be blessed by the Spirit of God, and will lead you to believe and
   to trust in Jesus! It seems strange, but so it is. More remarkable,
   still, to the crowd, no doubt, was this--that this paralyzed man was
   healed at once. If ever a cure of paralysis is worked at any time--and
   it is very rarely that such thing occurs--I do not think that it is
   ever cured in an instant.

   This man is unable to move hand or foot, but Jesus says, "Take up your
   bed and walk," and he rises as if he had never been paralyzed! Every
   ligament is in its place. Every muscle is ready for action in a moment.
   You would have thought it would take a month or two, and a good deal of
   rubbing and friction to bring the man's blood into healthy action, to
   get him round and warm him into life again. But it did not--he only
   heard that strange voice which told him to do what he could not do, and
   he did what he could not do by a power that went with that message! And
   so he rose up and was healed at once.

   And here is the marvel of the Gospel. A sinner hears the Gospel and all
   the sins of his whole life are upon him, but he believes that Gospel
   and all his sins are gone in a moment! And he is as clean before the
   Throne of God as if never a sin had defiled him. He was, up to the time
   of his reception of the Gospel, an enemy to God by wicked works. But he
   accepts the Testimony of God concerning His Son Jesus, he rests in
   Jesus and his heart becomes as the heart of a little child. In a moment
   the stone is taken away and the fleshy heart is given--He becomes a new
   creature in Christ Jesus! The darkness disappears as the primeval
   darkness fled before the fiat which said, "Let there be light." 'Tis
   done--done in a moment!

   You will not comprehend this, I am sure, till you experience it. Oh how
   I bless God that years ago when I heard the message of God--"Look unto
   Me and be you saved all you ends of the earth," I was enabled to look
   and live! I pined and longed for salvation and labored hard and prayed
   hard to get it--but I never got one inch the farther. But the message
   came--"Look!"--how could I look? My eyes were sightless! But I did
   look, for the power to look came with the command to look, and the
   moment I looked I was as conscious that I was forgiven as I am
   conscious of my existence!

   There was life to me in a look at the Crucified One! Sure pardon,
   certain and sealed home to my conscience, was given to me in the same
   moment when I looked to Jesus in the bloody sweat, Jesus on the Cross,
   Jesus risen from the dead and Jesus gone into Glory! A look at Him and
   it was all done! You had not thought of that, you say, and even now it
   startles you. You thought you would have to take the sacrament and keep
   on attending a place of worship, and gradually work yourself up out of
   your paralyzed condition. That is man's way of salvation! But Christ's
   way of salvation is an instantaneous change of heart and an
   instantaneous forgiveness of sin!

   Another thing which they had never seen after that fashion was that the
   man was healed without any ceremony. The proper way to heal a paralyzed
   person would have been to fetch the priest down and to bring water and
   oil, or to shed the blood of a bullock and offer it. And then to go
   through no end of ceremonies--and through the mysterious power of
   ceremonies, at last the man might be cleansed. But here was not one
   single ceremony. It was just this--"Take up your bed and walk." The
   man, though he cannot take up his bed and walk, yet believes that He
   who told him to do it will give him power to do it--and he takes up his
   bed and walk!

   There is the whole of it in a nutshell. He believes and acts on that
   belief, and he is restored. And that is the whole plan of salvation.
   You believe the Gospel and act upon the truth of it, and you are
   saved--saved the moment you accept the witness of God concerning His
   Son Jesus Christ. But is there not Baptism? Yes, for the saved--but no
   Baptism in order to salvation. When you are saved--when you are a
   Believer in Jesus--then the instructive ordinances of God's house
   become useful to you--but God forbid that we should ever look to
   Baptism as a means of salvation! God forbid that we should even look to
   the Lord's Supper for that purpose! May we be preserved from anything
   approximating to trust in rites and forms!

   When you are saved, then the ordinances of the house into which you
   have come--the ordinances of the family of which you are a
   member--belong to you. But they do not belong to you and can render to
   you no service, whatever, un-

   til you are a saved man! Salvation from death in sin has nothing to do
   with ceremonies. Believe and live is the sole Gospel precept. Another
   remarkable thing was that this man was perfectly restored--not merely
   restored in a moment, but perfectly so. A partial restoration would not
   have been one-tenth so memorable. I have known dear friends partially
   paralyzed who, after some time, in the good Providence of God, have
   somewhat recovered. But a twist of the mouth, a weakness in the eyes,
   or a feebleness of the hand has remained as a proof that the paralysis
   had been there.

   But this man was perfectly whole and at once. The glory of salvation is
   that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus is completely pardoned! It is
   not some of his sin that is put away, but all of it. I rejoice to look
   upon it as dear Kent does when he sings--

   "Here's pardon for transgressions past, It matters not how black their
   cast And, O my Soul, with wonder view For sins to come, here's pardon
   too!" We are plunged into the fountain of redeeming blood and cleansed
   from every fear of ever being found guilty before the living God. We
   are accepted in the Beloved through the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
   justified once and for all, forever, before the Father's face! Christ
   said, "It is finished," and finished it is! And, O, what a bliss is
   this--one of the things that may well stagger those who have never
   heard it before, but let them not reject it because it staggers them!
   But rather let them say--"This wonderful system which saves and saves
   completely, in an instant, simply by looking out of self to Christ, is
   a system worthy of Divine Wisdom, for it magnifies the Grace of God and
   meets man's deep necessities."

   One other thing, no doubt, astonished them about this man--that his
   cure was evidently done. There was no deception about it, for he rolled
   up the mattress that he had lain upon, put it upon his back and walked
   away with it and went home to his house. There was no doubt about his
   being perfectly restored, for he was carrying a burden on his back. And
   there is the glory of when a man believes in Jesus Christ--there is no
   doubt about his conversion--you see it in his actions!

   They tell me that a child is born again in Baptism. Very well, let me
   have a look at the child. Is there any difference in him? Some of you,
   perhaps, have had children that were born again in the sacramental
   fashion. Mine were not. I cannot, therefore, speak from experience. I
   wonder whether yours have turned out any better than mine--whether,
   indeed, the watery regeneration made any difference in them. I am
   persuaded you could not pretend to having seen any result. It is a kind
   of regeneration that does not show itself in the life and, indeed,
   produces no result--for these precious regenerate babies and regenerate
   boys and girls are just the same as the unregenerate boys and
   girls--there is not a pin to choose between them.

   Send them to the same school and I will undertake very often to show
   you that some of those that never were baptis-mally regenerated are
   better than those who were, for probably they have had Christian
   parents who had taken more pains to instruct them than those
   superstitious parents who merely relied upon the outward ceremony. Now,
   that regeneration which produces no effect is nothing--less than
   nothing. It would be like saying, "That man is saved from the
   paralysis." "Well, but he lies on the bed." "Yes, he lies on the bed
   the same as he did before, but," you say, "he is--he is delivered from
   the paralysis." "But how do you know?" "Well, of course, it may not be
   an actual cure, but it is a virtual cure, because he has undergone a
   ceremony and therefore it must be so. You are to believe it." This is
   fine talk. But when the man rose and rolled his bed up, and carried it
   on his back--that was a deal more convincing!

   Now, when God's Providence brings into this house a man who has been a
   drunk and he hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believes in Jesus,
   and turns his cups bottom upwards and becomes a sober man, there is
   something in that! If a man comes here who is proud, haughty, a hater
   of the Gospel altogether--a man who can swear and who has no regard for
   the Sabbath--and he believes in Jesus and becomes at home as gentle as
   a lamb, so that his wife hardly knows that he is the same man. And on
   the Sabbath he delights to go to the House of God, there is something
   to be seen in that, is there not?--something real and tangible!

   Here is a man that would cheat you as soon as look at you, in his
   business. But the Grace of God comes to him and he becomes scrupulously
   honest. Here is a man that used to associate with the lowest of the low
   and, by the Grace of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is received by him
   and he seeks godly companions. And he loves only those whose talk is
   sweet and clean and holy. Why, you can see it! You can see it! And this
   is the kind of salvation we need in these days, a salvation that can be
   seen--which makes the paralyzed sinner roll up his bed and carry it
   away--makes him a conqueror over de-

   praved habits--delivers him from the thralldom of his sins and shows
   itself in the outer life to all who care to look upon him.

   Yes, Brothers and Sisters, this is what the Gospel has done for us. And
   if I address any here tonight who have looked upon religion as a kind
   of salve that they were to use while they continued in their sins, I
   want them to see what a very different thing it is. Christ has come to
   save you from your sins--not to keep you in the fire and prevent your
   burning-- but to pluck you like a brand out of the burning. He has come
   to make you new creatures and this He can do at this very moment, while
   you are sitting in your pews. If, while you hear the sound, "Believe in
   the Lord Jesus Christ," there is found in you a willing mind, given you
   of His Grace so that you trust Him, you shall be saved as surely as
   Christ lives!

   These are strange things, but do not reject them because they are
   strange. They are things worthy of a God.

   III. So, lastly, IF YOU HAVE EVER FOUND OUT ANY OF THESE THINGS AND HAD
   TO SAY, "WE NEVER SAW IT ON THIS FASHION," THEN GO AND GLORIFY GOD!
   Magnify Him from your inmost soul! If salvation were by works and we
   could fight our own way to Heaven by our own merits, I for one, when I
   got up there, would throw up my cap and say, "Well done! I have
   deserved something, and I have got it!" But since salvation is by Grace
   from first to last, and not of man, neither by man, nor of the will of
   the flesh, nor by blood or birth--since the Lord begins, carries on and
   ends--let us give Him all the glory!

   And if ever He gives us, as He will give us, a crown of life that fades
   not away, we will go and cast it at His feet and say, "Not unto us, not
   unto us, but unto Your name be praise forever and ever!" Let us live in
   this spirit, dear Friends. The man who believes in the Doctrines of
   Grace and yet thinks much of himself is highly inconsistent. A man who
   believes salvation to be all of Grace and yet does not glorify God
   continually acts contrary to his own convictions. "O, magnify the Lord
   with me! Let us exalt His name together!" He took us up out of the
   horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and He set our feet upon a rock
   and established our goings. He put a new song into our mouths, even
   praise forevermore. Praise be unto Him, for He has done it and He shall
   be extolled!

   O, you cannot praise Him, you who do not know this salvation--and I do
   not exhort you to attempt to do so! But, first of all, may you know
   this salvation for yourselves. You can know it. Blessed be God, I trust
   that some of you will know it this very night by ceasing from
   yourselves, giving up all dependence upon anything you can do or be or
   feel, and by dropping into the arms of Jesus, resting in His finished
   work and confiding in Him. He will--he MUST save you if you trust
   Him--and then you shall give Him praise. God bless you, dear Friends,
   for Christ's sake.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Mark 2. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--202, 232.
     __________________________________________________________________

"God With Us"

   (No. 1270)

   A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 26, 1875,

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

   "They shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God
   with us." Matthew 1:23.

   THOSE words, "being interpreted," salute my ear with much sweetness.
   Why should the word, "Emmanuel," in the Hebrew, be interpreted at all?
   Was it not to show that it has reference to us Gentiles and, therefore,
   it must be interpreted into one of the chief languages of the then
   existing Gentile world, namely, the Greek? This, "being interpreted,"
   at Christ's birth and the three languages employed in the inscription
   upon the Cross at His death, show that He is not the Savior of the Jews
   only, but also of the Gentiles.

   As I walked along the wharf at Marseilles and marked the ships of all
   nations gathered in the port, I was very much interested by the
   inscriptions upon the shops and stores. The announcements of
   refreshments or of goods to be had within were not only printed in the
   French language, but in English, in Italian, in German, in Greek and
   sometimes in Russian and Swedish. Upon the shops of the sail makers,
   the boat builders, the ironmongers, or the dealers in ship supplies,
   you read a mixture of announcements setting forth the information to
   men of many lands. This was a clear indication that persons of all
   nations were invited to come and purchase, that they were expected to
   come and that provision was made for their peculiar needs.

   "Being interpreted" must mean that different nations are addressed. We
   have the text put first in the Hebrew, "Emmanuel," and afterwards it is
   translated into the Gentile tongue, "God with us," "being interpreted,
   "that we may know that we are invited, that we are welcome, that God
   has seen our needs and has provided for us, and that now we may freely
   come, even we who were sinners of the Gentiles and far off from God!
   Let us preserve with reverent love both forms of the precious name and
   wait the happy day when our Hebrew Brethren shall unite their,
   "Emmanuel," with our, "God with us."

   Our text speaks of a name of our Lord Jesus. It is said, "They shall
   call His name Emmanuel." In these days we call children by names which
   have no particular meaning. They are the names, perhaps, of father or
   mother, or some respected relative, but there is no special meaning, as
   a general rule, in our children's names. It was not so in the olden
   times. Then names meant something. Scriptural names, as a general rule,
   contain teaching and especially is this the case in every name ascribed
   to the Lord Jesus. With Him names indicate things. "His name shall be
   called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father,
   The Prince of Peace," because He really is all these.

   His name is called Jesus, but not without a reason. By any other name
   Jesus would not be so sweet, because no other name could fairly
   describe His great work of saving His people from their sins. When He
   is said to be called this or that, it means that He really is so. I am
   not aware that anywhere in the New Testament our Lord is afterwards
   called Emmanuel. I do not find His Apostles, or any of His disciples,
   calling Him by that name literally. But we find them all doing so in
   effect, for they speak of Him as, "God manifest in the flesh." And they
   say, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
   glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of Grace
   and truth."

   They do not use the actual word, but they again interpret and give us
   free and instructive renderings while they proclaim the sense of the
   august title and inform us in many ways what is meant by God being with
   us in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a glorious fact, of
   the highest importance, that since Christ was born into the world, God
   is with us! You may divide the text, if you please, into two
   portions--"GOD," and then, "GOD WITH US." We must dwell with equal
   emphasis upon each word.

   Never let us, for a moment, hesitate as to the Godhead of our Lord
   Jesus Christ, for His Deity is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian
   faith. It may be we shall never fully understand how God and Man could
   unite in one Person, for

   who can, by searching, find out God? These great mysteries of
   godliness, these "deep things of God," are beyond our measurement. Our
   little skiff might be lost if we ventured so far out upon this vast,
   this infinite ocean, as to lose sight of the shore of plainly revealed
   Truth.

   But let it remain as a matter of faith that Jesus Christ, even He who
   lay in Bethlehem's manger and was carried in a woman's arms, and lived
   a suffering life and died on a malefactor's cross, was, nevertheless,
   "God over all, blessed forever," "upholding all things by the word of
   His power." He was not an angel--that the Apostle has abundantly
   disproved in the first and second chapters of the Epistle to the
   Hebrews--He could not have been an angel, for honors are ascribed to
   Him which were never bestowed on angels. He was no subordinate Deity or
   was elevated to the Godhead, as some have absurdly said--all these
   things are dreams and falsehoods.

   He was as surely God as God can be, One with the Father and the
   ever-blessed Spirit. If it were not so, not only would the great
   strength of our hope be gone, but as to this text the sweetness would
   be evaporated altogether. The very essence and glory of the Incarnation
   is that He was God who was veiled in human flesh. If it were any other
   being who thus came to us in human flesh, I see nothing very remarkable
   in it, certainly nothing comforting. That an angel should become a man
   is a matter of no great consequence to me. That some other superior
   being should assume the nature of man brings no joy to my heart and
   opens no well of consolation to me.

   But, "God with us," is exquisite delight! "GOD with us"--all that,
   "GOD," means--the Deity, the Infinite Jehovah with us! This, this is
   worthy of the burst of midnight song when angels startled the shepherds
   with their carols, singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
   peace, good will to men." This was worthy of the foresight of seers and
   Prophets, worthy of a new star in the heavens, worthy of the care which
   Inspiration has manifested to preserve the record. This, too, was
   worthy of the martyr deaths of Apostles and confessors who counted not
   their lives dear unto them for the sake of the Incarnate God.

   And this, my Brothers and Sisters, is worthy, at this day, of your most
   earnest endeavors to spread the glad tidings! It is worthy of a holy
   life to illustrate its blessed influences and worthy of a joyful death
   to prove its consoling power. Here is the first Truth of our holy
   faith--"Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God was
   manifest in the flesh." He who was born at Bethlehem is God, and, "God
   with us." God--there lies the majesty! "God with us"-- there lies the
   mercy. God--there is glory! "God with us"--there is Grace! God alone
   might well strike us with terror, but, "God with us," inspires us with
   hope and confidence!

   Take my text as a whole and carry it in your bosoms as a bundle of
   sweet spices to perfume your hearts with peace and joy. May the Holy
   Spirit open to you the Truth of God and the Truth of God to you. I
   would joyfully say to you in the words of one of our poets--

   "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the Incarnate Deity! Pleased as
   man with men to appear, Jesus our Immanuel here."

   First, let us admire this Truth of God. Then let us consider it more at
   length. And after that let us endeavor personally to appropriate it.

   I. LET US ADMIRE THIS TRUTH OF GOD. "God with us." Let us stand at a
   reverent distance from it as Moses when he saw God in the bush stood a
   little back and took his shoes off, feeling that the place where he
   stood was holy ground. This is a wonderful fact! God the Infinite once
   dwelt in the frail body of a child and tabernacled in the suffering
   form of a lowly man. "God was in Christ." "He made Himself of no
   reputation, and took upon Him the form of a Servant, and was made in
   the likeness of men."

   Observe first, the wonder of condescension contained in this fact, that
   God, who made all things, should assume the nature of one of His own
   creatures! That the Self-Existent should be united with the dependent
   and deprived, and the Almighty linked with the feeble and mortal! In
   the case before us the Lord descended to the very depth of humiliation
   and entered into alliance with a nature which did not occupy the chief
   place in the scale of existence! It would have been great condescension
   for the Infinite and Incomprehensible Jehovah to have taken upon
   Himself the nature of some noble spiritual being, such as a seraph or a
   cherub. The union of the Divine with a created spirit would have been
   an immeasurable stoop--but for God to be one with man is far more.

   Remember that in the Person of Christ, Manhood was not merely a
   quickening spirit, but also suffering, hungering, dying flesh and
   blood. There was taken to Himself by our Lord all that materialism
   which makes up a body and a body is, after all, but the dust of the
   earth--a structure fashioned from the materials around us. There is
   nothing in our bodily frame but what is to be found in the substance of
   the earth on which we live. We feed upon that which grows out of the
   earth and when we die, we go back to the dust from which we were taken.
   Is not this a strange thing that this grosser part of creation, this
   meaner part, this dust of it, should, nevertheless, be taken into union
   with that pure, marvelous, incomprehensible, Divine Being of whom we
   know so little, and can comprehend nothing at all?

   Oh, the condescension of it! I leave it to the meditations of your
   quiet moments. Dwell on it with care. I am persuaded that no man has
   any idea how wonderful a stoop it was for God thus to dwell in human
   flesh and to be, "God with us." Yet, to make it appear still more
   remarkable, remember that the creature whose nature Christ took was a
   being that had sinned. I can more readily conceive the Lord's taking
   upon Himself the nature of a race which had never fallen. But, lo, the
   race of man stood in rebellion against God and yet Christ became a Man,
   that He might deliver us from the consequences of our rebellion and
   lift us up to something higher than our pristine purity. "God sending
   His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, has condemned sin in the
   flesh." "Oh, the depths," is all that we can say as we look on and
   marvel at this stoop of Divine Love.

   Note, next, as you view this marvel at a distance, what a miracle of
   power is before us. Have you ever thought of the power displayed in the
   Lord's fashioning a body capable of union with Godhead? Our Lord was
   Incarnate in a body, which was truly a human body, but yet in some
   wondrous way was prepared to sustain the indwelling of Deity! Contact
   with God is terrible--"He looks on the earth and it trembles. He
   touches the hills and they smoke." He puts His feet on Paran and it
   melts, and Sinai dissolves in flames of fire. So strongly was this
   Truth inwrought into the minds of the early saints that they said, "No
   man can see God's face and live!" And yet here was a Manhood which did
   not merely see the face of God, but which was inhabited by Deity.

   What human frame was this which could abide the Presence of Jehovah! "A
   body have You prepared Me." This was, indeed, a body curiously worked,
   a holy thing, a special product of the Holy Spirit's power. It was a
   body like our own, with nerves as sensitive and muscles as readily
   strained. It was a body with every organization as delicately fashioned
   as our own and yet God was in it! It was a frail boat to bear such
   freight. Oh, Man Christ, how could You bear the Deity within You! We
   know not how it was, but God knows. Let us adore this hiding of the
   Almighty in human weakness, this comprehending of the Incomprehensible,
   this revealing of the Invisible, this localization of the Omnipresent!

   Alas, I do but babble! What are words when we deal with such an
   unutterable Truth of God? Suffice it to say that the Divine power was
   wonderfully seen in the continued existence of the materialism of
   Christ's body--which otherwise had been consumed for such a wondrous
   contact with Divinity! Admire the power which dwelt in, "God with us."
   Again, as you gaze upon the mystery, consider what an ensign of good
   will this must be to the sons of men. When the Lord takes Manhood into
   union with Himself in this matchless way, it must mean good to man. God
   cannot mean to destroy that race which He thus weds onto Himself!

   Such a marriage as this, between man and God, must mean peace. War and
   destruction are never thus predicted. God Incarnate in Bethlehem, to be
   adored by shepherds, foretells nothing but "peace on earth and mercy
   mild." O you sinners who tremble at the thought of the Divine Wrath, as
   well you may, lift up your heads with joyful hope of mercy and favor,
   for God must be full of Grace and mercy to that race which He so
   distinguishes above all others by taking it into union with Himself! Be
   of good cheer, O men born of women, and expect untold blessings for,
   "unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."

   If you look at rivers you can often tell from where they come and the
   soil over which they have flowed by their color. Those which flood from
   melting glaciers are known at once. There is a text concerning a
   heavenly river which you will understand if you look at it in this
   light--"He showed me a pure river of the Water of Life, clear as
   crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb." Where
   the Throne is occupied by Godhead and the appointed Mediator, the
   Incarnate God, the once bleeding Lamb, then the river most be pure as
   crystal and be a river, not of molten lava of devouring wrath, but a
   river of the Water of Life! Look to "God with us" and you will see that
   the consequences of Incarnation must be pleasant, profitable, saving
   and ennobling to the sons of men.

   I pray you to continue your admiring glance and look upon God with us
   once more as a pledge of our deliverance. We are a fallen race. We are
   sunk in the mire. We are sold under sin, in bondage and in slavery to
   Satan. But if God comes to our race and espouses its nature, why, then,
   we must retrieve our Fall--it cannot be possible for the gates of Hell
   to keep those down who have God with them! Slaves under sin and
   bondsmen beneath the Law, hearken to the trumpet of jubilee, for One
   has come among you, born of a woman, made under the Law, who is also
   Mighty God, pledged to set you free! He is a Savior, and a great one!
   He is able to save, for He is Almighty, and pledged to do it, for He
   has entered the fight and put on the harness for the battle.

   The champion of his people is one who will not fail nor be discouraged
   till the battle is fully fought and won. Jesus, coming down from
   Heaven, is the pledge that He will take His people up to Heaven! His
   taking our nature is the seal of our being lifted up to His Throne!
   Were it an angel that had interposed, we might have some fears. Were it
   a mere man, we might go beyond fear and sit down in despair. But if it
   is "God with us," and God has actually taken Manhood into union with
   Himself, then let us "ring the bells of Heaven" and be glad!

   There must be brighter and happier days! There must be salvation for
   man! There must be Glory to God. Let us bask in the beams of the Sun of
   Righteousness who now has risen upon us--a Light to lighten the
   Gentiles, and to be the Glory of His people Israel! Thus we have
   admired at a distance.

   II. And, now, in the second place, let us come nearer and CONSIDER THE
   SUBJECT MORE CLOSELY. What is

   this? What does this mean, "God with us"? I do not expect, this
   morning, to be able to set forth all the meaning of this short text,
   "God with us," for indeed, it seems to me to contain the whole history
   of redemption! It hints at man's being without God and God's having
   removed from man on account of sin. It seems to tell me of man's
   spiritual life, by Christ's coming to him and being formed in him the
   hope of Glory.

   God communes with man and man returns to God and receives, again, the
   Divine image as at the first. Yes, Heaven itself is, "God with us."
   This text might serve for a hundred sermons without any more drawing.
   Yes, one might continue to expatiate upon its manifold meanings
   forever! I can only, at this time, give mere hints of lines of thought
   which you can pursue at your leisure, the Holy Spirit enabling you.
   This glorious word, Emmanuel, means, first, that God in Christ is with
   us in very near association.

   The Greek particle here used is very forcible and expresses the
   strongest form of "with." It is not merely, "in company with us," as
   another Greek word would signify, but "with," "together with" and,
   "sharing with." This preposition is a close rivet, a firm bond,
   implying, if not declaring, close fellowship. God is peculiarly and
   closely "with us." Now, think for a while, and you will see that God
   has, in very deed, come near to us in very close association. He must
   have done so, for He has taken upon Himself our nature, literally our
   nature--flesh, blood, bone, everything that made a body--mind, heart,
   soul, memory, imagination, judgement, everything that makes a rational
   man.

   Christ Jesus was the Man of men, the Second Adam, the model
   representative Man! Think not of Him as a Deified man any more than you
   would dare to regard Him as a humanized God, or demigod! Do not confuse
   the natures nor divide the Person--He is but one Person, yet very Man
   as He is also very God. Think of this Truth, then, and say, "He who
   sits on the Throne is such as I am, sin, alone, excepted." No, 'tis too
   much for speech, I will not speak of it! It is a theme which masters
   me, and I fear to utter rash expressions. Turn this Truth over and
   over, and see if it is not sweeter than honey and the honey-comb--

   "Oh joy! There sits in our flesh, Upon a throne of light, One of a
   human mother born, In perfect Godhead bright!"

   Being with us in our nature, God was with us in all our life's
   pilgrimage. Scarcely can you find a halting place in the march of life
   at which Jesus has not paused, or a weary league which He has not
   traversed. From the gate of entrance even to the door which closes
   life's way, the footprints of Jesus may be traced. Were you in the
   cradle? He was there. Were you a child under parental authority? Christ
   was, also, a Boy in the home at Nazareth. Have you entered upon life's
   battle? Your Lord and Master did the same. And though He lived not to
   old age, yet through incessant toil and suffering He bore the marred
   visage which attends a battered old age.

   Are you alone? So was He, in the wilderness and on the mountain's side,
   and in the garden's gloom. Do you mix in public society? So did He
   labor in the thickest crowds. Where can you find yourself, on the
   hilltop, or in the valley, on

   the land or on the sea, in the daylight or in darkness--where, I say,
   can you be, without discovering that Jesus has been there before you?
   What the world has said of her great poet we might with far more truth
   say of our Redeemer--

   "A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's
   epitome." One harmonious Man He was, and yet all saintly lives seem to
   be condensed in His.

   Two Believers may be very unlike each other, and yet both will find
   that Christ's life has in it points of likeness to their own. One shall
   be rich and another shall be poor. One actively laborious and another
   patiently suffering, and yet each man, in studying the history of the
   Savior, shall be able to say--His pathway ran hard by my own. He was
   made in all points like unto His brethren. How charming is the fact
   that our Lord is "God with us," not here and there, and now and then,
   but forever! Especially does this come out with sweetness in His being
   "God with us" in our sorrows. There is no pang that rends the heart--I
   might almost say not one which disturbs the body--but what Jesus Christ
   has been with us in it all.

   Do you feel the sorrows of poverty? He "had not where to lay His head."
   Do you endure the griefs of bereavement? Jesus "wept" at the tomb of
   Lazarus. Have you been slandered for righteousness' sake and has it
   vexed your spirit? He said, "Reproach has broken My heart." Have you
   been betrayed? Do not forget that He, too, had His familiar friend who
   sold Him for the price of a slave. On what stormy seas have you been
   tossed which have not also roared around His boat? Never a glen of
   adversity so dark, so deep, apparently so pathless, but what in
   stooping down you may discover the footprints of the Crucified One. In
   the fires and in the rivers, in the cold night and under the burning
   sun, He cries, "I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am both your
   Companion and your God."

   Mysteriously true is it that when you and I shall come to the last, the
   closing scene, we shall find that Emmanuel has been there! He felt the
   pangs and throes of death. He endured the bloody sweat of agony and the
   parching thirst of fever. He knew the separation of the tortured spirit
   from the poor fainting flesh and cried, as we shall, "Father, into Your
   hands I commend My spirit." Yes, and the grave He knew, for there He
   slept and left the sepulcher perfumed and furnished to be a couch of
   rest and not a morgue of corruption. That new tomb in the garden makes
   Him God with us till the Resurrection shall call us from our beds of
   clay to find Him God with us in newness of life!

   We shall be raised up in His likeness and the first sight our opening
   eyes shall see shall be the Incarnate God! "I know that my Redeemer
   lives, and though after my skin worms devour this body, yet in my flesh
   shall I see God." "God with us." I in my flesh shall see Him as the
   Man, the God. And so to all eternity He will maintain the most intimate
   association with us. As long as ages roll He shall be "God with us."
   Has He not said, "Because I live you shall live, also"? Both His Human
   and Divine life will last on forever, and so shall our life endure. He
   shall dwell among and lead us to living fountains of waters and so
   shall we be forever with the Lord. Now, my Brothers and Sisters, if you
   will review these thoughts, you shall find a good store of food. In
   fact, a feast, even, under that one head. God, in Christ, is with us in
   the nearest possible association.

   But, secondly, God in Christ is with us in the fullest reconciliation.
   This, of course, is true, if the former is true. There was a time when
   we were parted from God. We were without God, being alienated from Him
   by wicked works. And God was also removed from us by reason of the
   natural rectitude of character which thrusts iniquity far from Him. He
   is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, neither can evil dwell with
   Him. That strict Justice with which He rules the world requires that He
   should hide His face from a sinful generation. A god who looks with
   complacency upon guilty men is not the God of the Bible, who is in
   multitudes of places set forth as burning with indignation against the
   wicked. "The wicked and him that loves violence His soul hates."

   But now the sin which separated us from God has been put away by the
   blessed Sacrifice of Christ upon the tree. And the Righteousness, the
   absence of which causes a gulf between unrighteous man and righteous
   God, that Righteousness, I say, has been found, for Jesus has brought
   in Everlasting Righteousness! So that now, in Jesus, God is with us,
   reconciled to us--the sin which caused His wrath is forever put away
   from His people.

   There are some who object to this view of the case, and I, for one,
   will not yield one jot to their objections. I do not wonder that they
   quibble at certain unwise statements which I like no better than they
   do. But, nevertheless, if they oppose the Atonement as making a
   recompense to injured Justice, their objections shall have no force
   with me. It is most true that God is always Love, but His stern Justice
   is not opposed thereto. It is also most certainly true that towards His

   people He always was, in the highest sense, Love, and the Atonement is
   the result and not the cause of Divine love. Yet, still viewed in His
   rectorial Character, as a Judge and Lawgiver, God is "angry with the
   wicked every day," and apart from the reconciling Sacrifice of Christ,
   His own people were "heirs of wrath even as others."

   There was anger in the heart of God, as a righteous Judge, against
   those who broke His holy Law, and the reconciliation has a bearing upon
   the position of the Judge of all the earth as well as upon man. I, for
   one, shall never cease to say, "O Lord, I will praise You, for though
   You were angry with me, Your anger is tamed away and You comfort me."
   God can now be with man and embrace sinners as His children, as He
   could not have righteously done had not Jesus died. In this sense, and
   in this sense, only, did Dr. Watts write some of his hymns which have
   been so fiercely condemned.

   I take leave to quote two verses, and to commend them as setting forth
   a great Truth of God if the Lord is viewed as a Judge and represented
   as the awakened conscience of man rightly perceives Him. Our poet says
   of the Throne of God--

   "Once 'twas the seat of dreadful wrath,

   And shot devouring flames.

   Our God appeared, consuming fire,

   And Vengeance was His name.

   Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood,

   Which earned His frowning face,

   Which sprinkled o'er the burning Throne,

   And turned the wrath to Grace." So that now Jehovah is not God against
   us, but "God with us." He has "reconciled us to Himself by the death of
   His

   Son."

   A third meaning of the text, "God with us," is this, God in Christ is
   with us in blessed communication. That is to say, now He has come so
   near to us as to enter into commerce with us and this He does, in part,
   by hallowed conversation. Now He speaks to us and in us. He has, in
   these last days, spoken to us by His Son and by the Divine Spirit with
   the still small voice of warning, consolation, instruction and
   direction. Are you not conscious of this? Since your souls have come to
   know Christ, have you not, also, enjoyed communion with the Most High?
   Now, like Enoch, you "walk with God," and, like Abraham, you talk with
   Him as a man talks with his friend.

   What are those prayers and praises of yours but the speech which you
   are permitted to have with the Most High? And He replies to you when
   His Spirit seals home the promise or applies the precept, when, with
   fresh light He leads you into the doctrine or bestows brighter
   confidence as to good things to come. Oh yes, God is with us now, so
   that when He cries, "Seek you My face" our heart says to Him, "Your
   face, Lord, will I seek." These Sabbath gatherings--what do they mean
   to many of us but, "God with us"? That Communion Table--what does it
   mean but, "God with us"?

   O, how often, in the breaking of bread and the pouring forth of the
   wine in the memory of His atoning death have we enjoyed His real
   Presence, not in a superstitious, but in a spiritual sense, and found
   the Lord Jesus to be "God with us"? Yes, in every holy ordinance, in
   every sacred act of worship, we now find that there is a door opened in
   Heaven and a new and living way by which we may come to the Throne of
   Grace. Is not this a joy better than all the riches of earth could buy?
   And it is not merely in speech that the Lord is with us, but God is
   with us, now, by powerful acts as well as words! "God with us," why it
   is the inscription upon our royal standard which strikes terror to the
   heart of the foe and cheers the sacramental host of God's elect.

   Is not this our war cry, "The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of
   Jacob is our refuge"? As to our foes within, God is with us to overcome
   our corruptions and frailties. And as to the adversaries of the Truth
   of God without, God is with His Church and Christ has promised that He
   always will be with her, "even to the end of the world." We have not
   merely God's Word and promises, but we have seen His acts of Grace on
   our behalf, both in Providence and in the working of His blessed
   Spirit. "The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the
   people." "In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. In Salem,
   also, is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion. There broke He
   the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle."

   "God with us"--O, my Brothers and Sisters, it makes our hearts leap for
   joy! It fills us with dauntless courage! How can we be dismayed when
   the Lord of Hosts is on our side? Nor is it merely that God is with us
   in acts of power on our behalf, but in emanations of His own life into
   our nature by which we are at first, new born, and afterwards sustained
   in

   spiritual life. This is more wonderful, still! By the Holy Spirit the
   Divine Seed which, "lives and abides forever," is sown in our souls and
   from day to day we are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the
   inner man.

   Nor is this all, for as the masterpiece of Grace, the Lord, by His
   Spirit, even dwells in His people. God is not Incarnate in us as in
   Christ Jesus, but only second in wonder to the Incarnation is the
   indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Believers. Now is it, "God with us,"
   indeed, for God dwells in us! "Know you not," says the Apostle, "that
   your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?" "As it is written, I
   will dwell in them, and I will walk in them." Oh, the heights and
   depths that are comprehended in those few words, "God with us"!

   I had many more things to say, but time compels me to sum them up in
   brief. The Lord becomes "God with us" by the restoration of His image
   in us. "God with us" was seen in Adam when he was perfectly pure, but
   Adam died when he sinned--and God is not the God of the dead but of the
   living! Now we, in receiving back the new life and being reconciled to
   God in Christ Jesus, receive, also, the restored image of God and are
   renewed in knowledge and true holiness. "God with us" means
   sanctification--the image of Jesus Christ imprinted upon all His
   Brothers and Sisters.

   God is with us, too, let us remember, and leave the point, in deepest
   sympathy. Brethren, are you in sorrow? God is, in Christ, sympathetic
   to your grief. Brothers and Sisters, have you a grand objective? I know
   what it is, it is God's Glory--therein, also you are sympathetic with
   God and God with you. What, let me inquire, is your greatest joy? Have
   you not learned to rejoice in the Lord? Do you not joy in God by Jesus
   Christ? Then God also joys in you! He rests in His love and rejoices
   over you with singing, so that there is God with us in a very wonderful
   respect, inasmuch as through Christ our aims and desires are like those
   of God.

   We desire the same thing, press forward with the same aim and rejoice
   in the same objects of delight. When the Lord says, "This is My beloved
   Son, in whom I am well pleased," our heart answers, "Yes, and in Him we
   are well pleased, too." The pleasure of the Father is the pleasure of
   His own chosen children, for we also joy in Christ--our very soul
   exults at the sound of His name!

   III. I must leave this delightful theme when I have said two or three
   things about OUR PERSONAL APPROPRIATION of the Truth of God before us.
   "God with us." Then, if Jesus Christ is "God with us," let us come to
   God without any question or hesitancy! Whoever you may be, you need no
   priest or intercessor to introduce you to God, for God has introduced
   Himself to you! Are you children? Then come to God in the Child Jesus
   who slept in Bethlehem's manger. Oh, you gray heads, you need not keep
   back, but like Simeon come and take Him in your arms, and say, "Lord,
   now let Your servant depart in peace according to Your Word, for my
   eyes have seen Your salvation."

   God sends an Ambassador who inspires no fear--not with helmet and coat
   of mail, bearing lance, does Heaven's Herald approach us--but the white
   flag is held in the hand of a Child, in the hand of One chosen out of
   the people--in the hand of One who died, in the hand of One who, though
   He sits in Glory, still wears the nail-prints. O Man, God comes to you
   as One like yourself! Do not be afraid to come to the gentle Jesus! Do
   not imagine that you need to be prepared for an audience with Him, or
   that you need the intercession of a saint, or the intervention of
   priest or minister!

   Anyone could have come to the Babe in Bethlehem. The horned oxen, I
   think, ate of the hay on which He slept and feared not. Jesus is the
   Friend of each one of us, sinful and unworthy though we are. You, poor
   ones, you need not fear to come, for, look, He is born in a stable, and
   in a manger He is cradled! You have not worse accommodation than His!
   You are not poorer than He! Come and welcome to the poor man's Prince,
   to the peasants' Savior! Stay not back through fear of your
   unfitness--the shepherds came to Him in all their rags. I read not that
   they tarried to put on their best garments, but in the clothes in which
   they wrapped themselves that cold midnight they hastened, just as they
   were, to the young Child's Presence. God looks not at garments, but at
   hearts, and accepts men when they come to Him with willing spirits,
   whether they are rich or poor. Come, then! Come, and welcome, for God
   is, indeed, "God with us."

   But, O, let there be no delay about it. It did seem to me, as I turned
   this subject over yesterday, that for any man to say, "I will not come
   to God," after God has come to man in such a form as this, were an
   unpardonable act of treason! Perhaps you knew not God's love when you
   sinned as you did. Perhaps, though you persecuted His saints, you did
   it ig-norantly in unbelief. But, behold your God extends the olive
   branch of peace to you. He extends it in a wondrous way, for He,
   Himself, comes here to be born of a woman that He may meet with you who
   were born of women, too, and save you from your sin!

   Will you not listen, now that He speaks by His Son? I can understand
   that you ask to hear no more of His Words when He speaks with the sound
   of a trumpet, waxing exceedingly loud and long, from amidst the flaming
   crags of Sinai. I do not wonder that you are afraid to draw near when
   the earth rocks and reels before His awful Presence! But now He
   restrains Himself and veils the splendor of His face, and comes to you
   as a Child of humble bearing, a carpenter's son. O, if He comes so,
   will you turn your backs upon Him? Can you spurn Him? What better
   Ambassador could you desire? This Ambassador of peace is so tenderly,
   so gently, so kindly, so touchingly put, that surely you cannot have
   the heart to resist

   Him?

   No, do not turn away, let not your ears refuse the language of His
   Grace, but say, "If God is with us, we will be with Him." Say it,
   Sinner! Say, "I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto Him,
   Father, I have sinned." And as for you who have given up all hope. You
   who think yourselves so degraded and fallen that there can be no future
   for you-- there is hope for you yet, for you are a man--and the next
   being to God is a man! He that is God is also Man, and there is
   something about that fact which ought to make you say, "Yes, I may yet
   discover, perhaps, brotherhood to the Son of Man who is the Son of God.
   I, even I, may yet be lifted up to be set among princes, even the
   princes of His people, by virtue of my regenerated manhood which brings
   me into relation with the Manhood of Christ and so into relation with
   the Godhead." Fling not yourself away, O Man, you are something too
   hopeful, after all, to be meat for the worm that never dies and fuel
   for the fire that never can be quenched. Turn to your God with full
   purpose of heart and you shall find a grand destiny in store for you!

   And now, my Brothers and Sisters, the last word to you is, let us be
   with God since God is with us. I give you for a watchword through the
   year to come, "Emmanuel, God with us." You, the saints redeemed by
   blood, have a right to all this in its fullest sense. Drink it in and
   be filled with courage! Do not say, "We can do nothing." Who are you
   that can do nothing? God is with you! Do not say, "The Church is feeble
   and fallen upon evil times"--no, "God is with us." We need the courage
   of those ancient soldiers who were desirous to regard difficulties only
   as whetstones upon which to sharpen their swords!

   I like Alexander's talk--when they said there were so many thousands,
   so many millions, perhaps, of Persians. "Very well," says he, "it is
   good reaping where the corn is thick. One butcher is not afraid of a
   thousand sheep." I like even the talk of the old Gascon, who said when
   they asked him, "Can you and your troops get into that fortress? It is
   impregnable." "Can the sun enter it?" he asked. "Yes." "Well, where the
   sun can go, we can enter." Whatever is possible or whatever is
   impossible, Christians can do at God's command, for God is with us! Do
   you not see that the word, "God with us," puts impossibility out of all
   existence? Hearts that could never be broken will be broken if God is
   with us!

   Errors which never could be confuted can be overthrown by, "God with
   us." Things impossible with men are possible with God! John Wesley died
   with that upon his tongue, and let us live with it upon our
   hearts--"The best of all is God with us." Blessed Son of God, we thank
   You that You have brought us that Word. Amen.

   PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Hebrews 1. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
   HYMN BOOK"--249, 256 (VERS. 3, 4), 260.
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture Commentary

   Genesis

   [8]1:4   [9]31:13

   Exodus

   [10]12:13

   Joshua

   [11]1:5   [12]24:15

   1 Samuel

   [13]17:36-37

   1 Kings

   [14]8:53

   2 Kings

   [15]7:2

   Job

   [16]7:1   [17]13:15   [18]13:22   [19]42:10

   Psalms

   [20]23:5   [21]42:11   [22]45:16   [23]71:17-18   [24]81:10
   [25]100:5   [26]101:2   [27]104:26   [28]116:3-4   [29]116:8
   [30]131:2

   Proverbs

   [31]14:14   [32]27:7

   Isaiah

   [33]32:2   [34]41:1   [35]44:23   [36]52:13-15

   Hosea

   [37]6:3   [38]10:12

   Matthew

   [39]1:23   [40]25:32

   Mark

   [41]1:29-33   [42]2:12   [43]6:52

   Luke

   [44]6:39-40

   John

   [45]1:11-13   [46]5:8   [47]5:44   [48]8:42   [49]20:19

   Acts

   [50]12:12

   Romans

   [51]8:14   [52]8:34

   1 Corinthians

   [53]2:2

   Galatians

   [54]5:5   [55]5:24

   Ephesians

   [56]3:15   [57]3:20-21

   2 Timothy

   [58]2:15

   Philemon

   [59]1:15

   Hebrews

   [60]10:35   [61]11:8

   1 Peter

   [62]2:7-8

   1 John

   [63]1:8-10   [64]5:9-10   [65]5:10

   Revelation

   [66]5:9-10   [67]12:11   [68]14:12-13   [69]22:2
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

References

   1. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
   2. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
   3. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
   4. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
   5. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
   6. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/index.html
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