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        Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 44: 1898
   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
     __________________________________________________________________

Joy in God

   (No. 2550)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 2, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
   2, 1884.

   "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
   by whom we have now received the atonement" (or, as it should be, "the
   reconciliation"). Romans 5:11.

   You notice, dear Friends, in reading this verse, the "not only so," and
   the, "also. " And, if you look back to the earlier verses of the
   chapter, you will see that there is a continual rising, as of one
   ascending a golden staircase. You get an, "also," and a, "not only so,"
   and then a long succession of Christian attainments rising, one out of
   the other-- "Tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and
   experience, hope; and hope makes not ashamed," and so forth--from all
   which it clearly appears that the Christian life is one of continuous
   progress. It would be so without a break if we were more careful and
   lived nearer to God. We would go steadily on from our spiritual
   childhood and youth and manhood till we became fathers in Christ and,
   by-and-by, perfect men in Christ Jesus, having reached the fullness of
   the stature of men in Christ Jesus. I am afraid that we, sometimes,
   sadly hinder that progress by our lack of prayer and our neglect of
   communion with God. Still, this is what true Christian life should
   be--a continuous going from strength to strength till we, every one of
   us, appear before God in the Zion above.

   Let each Believer ask himself how far it is so with him. It is to be
   feared that there are some who, after many years of Christian
   profession, are not holier, or stronger in faith, or fuller of wisdom
   than they were 20 years ago! Some Believers seem to be like the
   children of Israel in the wilderness--they go forward and
   backward--their path is very intricate and they make but slow progress
   towards the heavenly Canaan. Let us, Beloved, labor to grow in Grace!
   Let us cry to God to enable us to grow. Let us not be satisfied with
   what we have already attained, but let us always feel an insatiable
   craving to acquire more and more of the good gifts of the Covenant of
   Grace, that we may have all things and abound, seeing that all things
   are provided for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!

   But I want, just now, to bring this thought especially under the notice
   of young beginners in Grace, for I am about to speak of an experience
   which belongs, rather, to the full-grown Christian than to the
   newly-born Believer, and it may be that I shall cause trouble of heart
   to some of the little ones of the Lord's family while I speak of what
   is more commonly enjoyed by the greater ones and the stronger ones. I
   do not mean to do so, but quite the reverse. You, dear Friend, who have
   been lately brought to Christ, must not judge and condemn yourself if
   you do not, as yet, possess all the Graces which belong to the more
   matured saint. No one would think of condemning a child three years old
   because he was not six feet high! No one would blame him because his
   little feet would not carry him upon a long journey. No one would
   expect from him the wisdom which we look for in his father. "You cannot
   put old heads on young shoulders, "says our proverb, and it is very
   true, and it would be a pity that we should try to do so, for the old
   heads would be out of place upon young shoulders--let the whole man be
   of the same age. If, therefore, I talk at this time about a high and
   noble joy which you have not yet tasted, long for it--and go the right
   way to gain it--but do not begin to say, "I do not know that joy and,
   therefore, I am no child of God. I have not partaken of that delight
   and, therefore, I cannot be a sincere Believer in Jesus." If you do so,
   you will be acting very unwisely--you will be acting toward yourself in
   a way in which a father would not think of acting toward his own child!
   Christian life is a life ofprogress--it does not yet appear what we
   shall be, but we are going forward, and onward, and upward--and we hope
   to continue doing so until we behold the face of Him we love! And then
   "we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is."

   A second observation I want to make is that the Christian life has its
   own peculiar joys. If you look through the chapter from which our text
   is taken, you will see that it begins with a joy--"Therefore, being
   justified by faith, we have peace with God." That is a smoothly flowing
   current, fathomless and full of infinite sweetness! I do not know, if I
   had my choice of the state of heart in which I would wish to be between
   here and Heaven, whether I would not prefer continual peace to any
   other condition of mind. It is a blessed thing, sometimes, to soar
   aloft, as on the wings of eagles, and to seem to play with the young
   lightning that is at home with the sun! It is a grand thing to live
   even herein the very Presence of God and feel that Earth has grown into
   a little Heaven! But I find that such an ecstatic state as that is
   frequently followed by deep depression. Elijah runs before Ahab's
   chariot, but the next morning he runs away from a woman and asks that
   he may die. Our great "ups" are not far off equally great "downs." We
   climb the mountains and then we slip down the cliffs. We descend into
   the Valley of Humiliation soon after we have been on the tops of the
   Hills of Communion. If one could always be just quiet and peaceful, it
   would be best.

   Then, in the second verse, the Apostle says, "We rejoice in hope of the
   glory of God." That is no small joy, to be always looking for His
   coming in whose Sovereignty we shall be made kings and, as the result
   of whose passion we shall be made priests, expecting to behold Him
   here, and then looking for the revelation of the Glory when we shall be
   "forever with the Lord." Oh, we have great joy whenever we think of
   Heaven! Sit down and turn over the passages of Scripture which relate
   to it. Think of the communion of saints that you shall enjoy and
   especially of the Beatific Vision of the face of Him "whom having not
   seen, you love--in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you
   rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." What must it be to be
   there? We cannot, at present, tell, but the Apostle says, "We rejoice
   in hope of the glory of God." And so we do!

   Then, in the third verse, he tells us of another joy of which
   worldlings certainly never taste. "Not only so, but we glory in
   tribulations, also." There is a secret sweetness in the gall and
   wormwood of our daily trials--a sort of ineffable, unutterable,
   indescribable--but plainly experienced joy in sorrow and bliss in woe!
   O Friends, I think that the happiest moments I have ever known have
   been just after the sharpest pains I have ever felt. As the blue
   gentian flower grows just upon the edge of the Alpine glacier, so, too,
   extraordinary joys, azure-tinted with the light of Heaven, grow hard by
   the severest of our troubles, the very sweetest and best of our
   delights. Then the Apostle tells us, in our text, that we have another
   joy, of which I am now going to speak, "joy in God through our Lord
   Jesus Christ." Let no man's heart fail him when he hears the experience
   of the tried people of God! It is true that we have troubles peculiar
   to the Christian state-- there are some sorrows which are not known
   outside the family of God. They are very blessed, health-giving,
   purifying sorrows and we would not wish to be without them!

   But still, sometimes they are very keen and cut the heart even to its
   very center. Though that is the case--and we admit that it is--we also
   have some peculiar joys which no others realize. There are fruits in
   God's storehouse which no mouth has ever tasted till it has been washed
   clean by the Word and by the Spirit of God. There are secret things
   which are not seen by the human eyes, however much enlightened by
   knowledge, until those eyes have been touched with Heaven's own
   eye-salve that it may look and still may live--look into the Glory and
   not be blinded by the wondrous sight! Come, then, you who are tempted
   by the world's joys, and see where true joy is to be found! Turn away
   from that painted Jezebel--she will but mock and deceive you--

   "Solid joys and lasting treasure, None but Zion's children know." If
   you, young people, give your hearts to Christ, you must not dream that
   you have come to the end of your delights-- you have but begun them.
   Notwithstanding the trials of a believing life, the ways of wisdom "are
   ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

   Now, coming more closely to the text, I am going to answer three
   questions. First, what is joy in God?Secondly, how is this the evidence
   of reconciliation? "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
   whom we have now received the reconciliation." And, thirdly, why is it
   that this joy is said to be through our Lord Jesus Christ?

   I. First, then, WHAT IS JOY IN GOD?

   Now, my dear Friends, I have before me a topic which far exceeds my
   ability. I get out of my depth when I have such a question as this to
   answer, "What is joy in God?" I shall be like the swallow that but
   touches the brook with its wing and then is up and away again. I can do
   no more than skim the surface of the subject, but I know that there is,
   to the Believer, a joy, first, in the very fact that there is a God. To
   the ungodly man, it would be a great delight if it could be proved that
   there is no God. When he is at all serious and thinks upon the great
   problems which concern his own state, he is troubled with the thought
   of God, for, if there is a God, then sin must be punished. If there is
   a God, then a life spent in neglect of Him must entail, somehow or
   other, chastisement and sorrow. The worldling would be glad if he could
   be thoroughly well assured that the idea of God is "a mere bugbear of
   priests to keep men in terror," as some say. There is a something
   within a man that makes him feel and know that the world must have had
   a Maker. If it is so full of intelligence, a Someone, by His
   intelligence, superior to all the intelligence of mankind, must have
   made it--and the man gets troubled as he remembers that he has lived so
   many years--and yet has forgotten his Maker and broken His Laws.

   But the child of God, the regenerate man who feels within him the
   Nature of God and kinship to the Most High, could not bear the idea of
   there being no God. Atheism is a black Egyptian night to a soul that
   once has known God. If we ever come to have joy in Him, anything which
   robs Him of His Glory makes us grieve. But to prove that there is no
   God would be to prove that we are orphans! It would prove to us our
   everlasting poverty and wretchedness! It would be to us an infinite
   catastrophe if we could ever be convinced that there is no God!
   Happily, we have no fear of any such a calamity. We delight to know
   that there is a God and that God is everywhere. Our highest joys are
   experienced when we are in His most immediate Presence! And if we ever
   do anything which we should not do, if we are conscious of His
   Presence, we know that it is wrong--and we have to grieve for doing it.
   But when we live as in His sight. When we truly walk with God, then we
   live like Enoch, who "had this testimony, that he pleased God." Then do
   we realize the truest form of happiness and joy. So, first, we have joy
   even in the fact that there is a God.

   But we have joy, most of all, in the knowledge that this everlasting
   God has become our Father We take no delight in the universal
   fatherhood which comes of creation--that is a poor thing and belongs as
   much to dogs and cats as it does to us, for they are as truly created
   by God as we are! And that sort of fatherhood, of which I hear men
   talk, is the portion of those who blaspheme God and live in utter
   rebellion against Him. It is not that of which the Apostle wrote, "If
   children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" Sirs,
   until God renews your nature, you are children of the Wicked One--not
   children of the Most High! Neither have you any right to talk about the
   fatherhood of God towards you. "You must be born again" and only when
   you are born again and have believed in Christ, are you God's children,
   for "as many as received Him, to them gave He power"--the right, or
   privilege--"to become the sons of God, even to them that 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." But that fatherhood which comes of the
   spirit of adoption within you--because you have been born into the
   family of God--in this you may, indeed, rejoice!

   Now, can you not, and must you not, if you have believed in Christ, joy
   in God as you feel that He is, through His abounding Grace, your
   Father? Whatever He does, He is your Father. When He smiles upon you,
   He is your Father. If He frowned upon you, He would still be your
   Father. I have told you before what the old Welsh preacher answered
   when his friend said to him, "While you are preaching, this morning,
   may you have the smile of God resting upon you!" "Yes," he replied, "my
   dear Brother, I hope that I shall have it. But if I do not have the
   light of God's Countenance, I will speak well of Him behind His back."
   So we should--when we do not have the Lord smiling upon us--we should
   speak well of Him behind His back. Let us be resolved to say with Job,
   "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." If He should take away
   every comfort which I have, I am so persuaded that it will be a
   Father's love that will dictate the action, that I will still praise
   Him and magnify Him, do what He may. It is joy, indeed, when you can
   say that if the Lord is strong, He is strong for you. If He is wise, He
   is wise for you. If He is unchangeable, He is unchangeable to you and
   whatever He is and whatever He possesses, He has made Himself over to
   you to be your possession, saying, "I will be their God, and they shall
   be My people." This, then, is joying in God--first rejoicing that there
   is a God and then delighting in Him as our Father!

   When we once reach this point, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
   we rejoice in every attribute of God--wede-light in Him as He is
   revealed. I fear that in these days many men are very busy trying to
   construct a god for themselves such as they think God ought to be--and
   it generally turns out that they fashion a god like themselves, for
   that saying of the Psalmist concerning idols and idol-makers is still
   true--"They that make them are like unto them, so is everyone that
   trusts in them." These modern manufacturers of gods make them blind
   because they are, themselves, blind, and deaf because they are deaf,
   and dead because they are spiritually dead. No, Beloved, there is no
   God but the God revealed in Holy Scripture, the God of Abraham, Isaac
   and Jacob--the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! And
   the excogitation of another godhead, which has been the business of the
   sages of the present day, is all a mistake and a delusion! God can only
   be seen in His own light. He must be His own Revealer and no man can
   know God except God shall reveal Himself unto him.

   I trust that many of us can say that we do rejoice in God as we find
   Him in the Scriptures. Some quarrel with God as a Sovereign and no
   doctrine makes them grind their teeth like the glorious Truth of Divine
   Sovereignty. They profess to want a god, but he must not be on a
   throne! He must not be King, he must not be absolute and universal
   Monarch! He must do as his creatures tell him, not as he, himself,
   wills. I adore that God who says, "I will have mercy on whom I will
   have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
   Such a God as He is needs no limitation! Let Him do as He wills, for it
   is not possible that He should will to do anything that is unjust or
   unholy! Let us joy and rejoice in Him as an unlimited Sovereign!

   Then let us rejoice in Him as perfectly holy. The holiness of God is an
   attribute that may well fill us with awe. To the eyes of ungodly men,
   it shines like "the terrible crystal" of which Ezekiel speaks, but, in
   the Word of God, whenever the song rises higher than usual, you will
   generally find that it is a hymn in praise of the holy God. Yes, this
   is the song of Heaven--"They rest not day and night, saying, Holy,
   holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." The
   wholeness of the Divine Nature is seen in His holiness. There is in Him
   no defect, no excess--He is altogether just such as a holy soul must
   delight in.

   I trust also, dear Friends, that you and I can joy in God as to His
   justice. The justice of God makes men dread Him till they become His
   children. There are some, today, who pretend to preach the Gospel, but
   who really are preaching "another Gospel which is not another." And
   they try to set forth the littleness of sin and, as for the justice of
   God, it seems to be ignored by them! Their effeminate deity is not
   worthy to be known by the name of God! But our God is terrible in His
   justice and He will, by no means, clear the guilty--and conscience
   tells every man this. But the Believer in Jesus, when he sees what God
   did that justice might be satisfied--and that love might freely flow to
   the unworthy when he beholds Christ crucified, the great Father
   piercing His Son with sharpest smart that He might justly put away the
   sin of His people--then he comes to delight in God's justice! Instead
   of threatening him, God's justice becomes the guardian of his salvation
   with a drawn sword protecting him from condemnation! Happy is the man
   who can say of every attribute of God that he adores it--the man who
   would not have turned back at the Red Sea and not refused to sing unto
   the Lord who had triumphed gloriously in His righteous vengeance upon
   the ungodly! Bow your heads before God as He is, as He declares Himself
   to be in His own Word, for if you do not, you are not reconciled to
   Him! But if you are truly reconciled to Him, you will accept Him
   without question in all those points that seem dark and mysterious. You
   will believe those doctrines which sometimes grate upon the ears as you
   hear of them, and you will say, "Though I cannot understand, I adore.
   And when I tremble before the Lord so that the joints of my bones are
   loosed and I fall prostrate at His feet, yet even in those dread
   mysteries I feel that I love and I joy in God."

   Beloved Brothers and Sisters, what a blessed and transcendent joy this
   joy in the Lord is! Sometimes you joy in your children, yet they die
   and then you sorrow. At other times you rejoice in those who are grown
   up and are prospering, but perhaps they treat you with ingratitude and
   then, again, your joy is gone. You joy in your health and that is a
   great blessing--but you sicken and your joy departs. Some rejoice in
   their riches, but wealth takes to itself wings and flies away. You may
   joy in a choice friend, but after a while you may be forsaken and
   forgotten. You may joy, perhaps, in past achievements and there may
   come to you a joy in your prospects for the future--but there is no joy
   equal to joy in God! Suppose I have nothing in the house but God?
   Suppose there is nothing for me to rely upon but God, nothing that I
   can call my own but God? Well, is that a little thing? Are not all
   creatures but the visions of an hour? But the Creator is the
   substantial All in All, so that he who has God has all that he can
   possibly need! God, to His people, is the fullness out of which all
   their needs shall be supplied. What a mercy it is that when we can joy
   in nothing else, we can joy in God! We can joy in His power, for He can
   help us. We can joy in His faithfulness, for He cannot fail us. We can
   joy in His Immutability, for He changes not and, therefore, we are not
   consumed. We can joy in every thought that we have of Him, for
   altogether and observed from every point of view, He is the delight of
   His people!

   Well now, dear Friends, if we have come as far as that, we can also say
   that we joy in God in all His dealings with us. "That is hard work,"
   says one. But when you perfectly joy in God, you joy in everything that
   He does! Suppose you had a dear friend who came to your house and
   suppose you should say to him, "anything that there is, you may enjoy,
   or you may take. I will give you anything you can ask for or desire. I
   owe my life and all my prosperity to you." Well, if you did miss this
   and that of your treasures which you might like to have retained, when
   you heard that your friend had them, you would be quite content.
   According to that good old parable, when the master went into the
   garden and took a very choice rose, the gardener did not trouble
   himself at the loss of it when he knew who had plucked it. He was so
   glad that the master admired it, that he could even rejoice that it had
   gone! Now, dear Friends, can you not get to this point, that if the
   Lord brings you comforts, you will not rejoice in them so much as in
   Him who brings them? You say that you can get as far as that, but if
   the Lord takes away your comforts, can you come to this point, that you
   will not sorrow over them, but that you will joy in Him who took them
   away? The drops are gone, yes, but there is the fountain always
   flowing. Though the sunbeam is hidden from your eyes, the sun is always
   shining. Therefore always rejoice in God, your All in All, and say,
   "Yes, I will rejoice in all His dealings with me." Looking back on the
   whole of my own life, I desire to bless God for everything that He has
   ever done for me. I desire to praise Him for every cut of the rod, for
   every blow of the hammer, for every melting in the furnace, for the
   crucible and the burning heat. Everything has commenced and continued
   and concluded as it ought to do, according to His infinite love and
   wisdom and I, therefore, joy in all that God does to me and bless His
   holy name!

   Then I think that we also learn to joy in all God's requirements of us
   and in all His teachings. In all that He tells us and in all that He
   reveals to us of the world to come, we learn to joy in God. Thus, as I
   told you, I have only touched the surface of this great subject. I pray
   the Holy Spirit will reveal to you all that there is in the blessed
   Trinity in which we can rejoice. This God is our God and He has said,
   "Delight yourself, also, in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires
   of your heart." There is no fear of your delighting too much in Him, so
   let your hearts be filled with joy! Take down your harps from the
   willows and touch every string with sacred delight as you joy in God!

   II. I was, next, to have answered the question, HOW IS THIS JOY THE
   EVIDENCE OF OUR RECONCILIATION TO GOD? I have occupied so much time
   over the first part of my theme that I must not dwell upon this portion
   of the subject. But it must be clear to you that any man who can truly
   joy in God is reconciled to God. That God is reconciled to him is
   certain, or else the man would not be reconciled to God, for no sinner
   was ever beforehand with God. And if I love God, I may be sure that He
   long ago loved me. But one of the most glorious evidences of a man
   being reconciled to God is when he rejoices in God!

   Suppose he becomes obedient to certain outward precepts that he may be
   and yet be very sorry that he has to be obedient to them? Suppose he
   begins to repent and mourn to think that he has sinned--he may do that
   and yet there may be in his heart the wish that he could have his full
   of sin without fear of punishment. But when a man feels, "There is no
   one in the world that I love as I love God. There is none that I adore
   as I adore the Lord. For Him I would live, for Him I would die. He is
   everything to me. He is the source of my delight and the spring of all
   my joys"--why, that man is perfectly reconciled to God! You can see
   that the enmity in his heart is slain. You can see that now God's
   purposes are his purposes and God's desires are his desires. That which
   God hates, this man hates. That which God loves, this man loves. You
   can see that he is perfectly reconciled to God because he rejoices in
   God!

   As for that part of the reconciliation which has to do with God,
   Himself--about that no question can possibly arise! The difficulty
   never was as to how to reconcile God to a sinner, but to reconcile the
   sinner to God. The Lord Jesus Christ has done perfectly that which
   enables God, with justice, to manifest mercy to the guilty. That is
   done--you may take that for granted. And you can be sure that it is
   done in your case when this lesser matter of reconciling you to God is
   most assuredly accomplished, as it is when you, "joy in God through our
   Lord Jesus Christ."

   III. My last question is, WHY IS THIS JOY SAID TO BE THROUGH OUR LORD
   JESUS CHRIST?

   Why, first, because it is through Him we have received this
   reconciliation. No man can rejoice in an unreconciled God. As long as
   you look up to God and see Him bound by the justice of His Nature to
   punish you for your sin, you cannot delight in Him--you are filled with
   dread and dismay. But when you see Christ making a full Atonement for
   sin.

   When you know that because you have believed in Him, you have the sure
   evidence that He made Atonement for your sins in particular, and put
   them away, then you feel that you are reconciled to God. God, apart
   from Christ, must be the object of dread to the guilty, but God, in
   Christ Jesus, upon the Throne with the Covenant rainbow round about
   Him-- that God becomes our joy and delight!

   I believe that in the world in general men talk a great deal more about
   God than they do about Jesus Christ. At least, they speak about,
   "Providence," and about "the Almighty" and so forth. And there are some
   who say, "Yes, God is good. He has been very good to me." And in common
   parlance you hear much about God. But, ah, my dear Hearer, well as that
   may be, it is all ignorant misunderstanding until you see God in Christ
   Jesus! For you unconverted people there can be nothing about God that
   can be comforting to you until you see Him revealing Himself by His own
   Son, the great Sacrifice for sin. "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes
   away the sin of the world." No man comes unto the Father but by Christ.
   He that has seen Christ has seen the Father, but he who knows not God,
   knows not Christ, however frequently he may speak about Him. So that it
   is God seen through Jesus Christ to whom we are reconciled and in Him
   we joy, in the reconciled God who has at His side--

   "The Maun oflove, the Crucified"

   of whom we sang just now.

   Furthermore, we only joy in God being reconciled to us when we have
   been, ourselves, viewing the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there anything that
   makes a man love God like a sight of Christ? You may, when you are well
   trained, love God for all His goodness in Creation and Providence, but
   the heart is never truly tuned to love until it comes to Calvary. And I
   believe that afterwards, the waves of love never rise to Atlantic
   billows except when the wind blows from Calvary. When I behold Him who
   is the Best-Beloved of the Father, an Infant in His mother's arms, a
   sorrowing Man toiling over the rough roads of Palestine. When I behold
   Him as a bound Victim led to the slaughter and willingly yielding up
   His life in a cruel and shameful death that He may redeem us from the
   curse of the Law of God, then my heart clings to the heart of God as a
   child clings to its mother! Blessed be God the Father, since we have
   beheld God the Son and our hearts have been renewed by God the Holy
   Spirit!

   We can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no joy in God
   except as you see Jesus Christ intimately knit with Him and with
   yourself. Do not try to go to God by any other way than through this
   golden gate of the great Sacrifice of your redeeming Lord! But just now
   sit here and joy in God--and then go home and still joy in God. Perhaps
   when you reach your door there will be some bad news for you. If so,
   still joy in God. Possibly when you get home there will be an ungodly
   husband, there, and no peace or comfort in the house--still joy in God!
   Perhaps when you sit down to your evening meal the question may arise,
   "Where will the next one be found?" Yet still joy in God. Say, with the
   Prophet, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
   be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields
   shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
   there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I
   will joy in the God of my salvation."

   If you have, between here and Heaven, no source of joy but your God, it
   shall be with you as when the rock was smitten in the wilderness and
   the stream followed Israel through all their journeys! But if you have
   all that heart could wish for and yet do not joy in God, you have not
   tasted what true joy is--you have only the pretense and the mockery of
   an adulterated delight. But if you get just a sip of true joy in God,
   though it is but as a drop by the way until you get to the wellhead in
   the home country, you shall be cheered and comforted in a manner that
   worldlings cannot understand! I would that some of you would come and
   trust the Lord. You cannot joy in Him till you have trusted Him. But if
   you trust in Jesus as your Savior, you shall go onward, step by step,
   till even God Himself shall be an infinite delight to your every
   thought! God bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS 8:19-39.

   Verse 19. For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the
   manifestation of the sons of God. The whole Creation is in a waiting
   posture, waiting for the glory yet to be revealed.

   20, 21. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
   by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope, because the
   creation, itself, also shall be delivered from the bondage of
   corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Everything
   here is blighted and subject to storm, or to decay, or to sudden death,
   or to calamity of some sort. It is a fair world, but there is the
   shadow of the Curse over it all. The slime of the serpent is on all our
   Edens. "The creation itself was made subject to vanity," but it "also
   shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
   liberty of the children of God."

   22. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain
   together until now. The birth pangs of the Creation are on it. The
   living creature within is moving itself to break its shell and come
   forth.

   23. And not only they, but ourselves, also, which have the first fruits
   of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
   the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. That is our state
   now. At least it is the condition of the most of us. Some of our
   brethren have gone ahead so tremendously that they have passed out of
   the world of groaning altogether--they are perfect! I regret that they
   are not in Heaven--it would seem to be a much more proper place for
   them than this imperfect earth is. But as for us, our experience leads
   us, in sympathy with the Apostle, to say that we are groaning after
   something better. We have not received it yet. We have the beginnings
   of it. We have the earnest of it. We have the sure pledge of it, but it
   is not, as yet, our portion to enjoy--we are "waiting for the adoption,
   to wit, the redemption of our body"--for, though the soul is born
   again, the body is not. "The body is dead," says the Apostle, in the
   10th verse of this chapter, "because of sin; but the spirit is life
   because of righteousness." There is a wonderful process through which
   this body shall yet pass--and then it shall be raised, again, a
   glorious body fitted for our regenerated spirit--but as yet it remains
   unregenerate.

   24. For we are saved by hope. Hope contains the major part of our
   salvation within itself.

   24-26. But hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does
   he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we, with
   patience, wait for it Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities.
   That same Spirit who gave us the spirit of adoption. That same Spirit
   who set us longing for something higher and better, "also helps our
   infirmities." And we have so many of them that we show them even when
   we are on our knees.

   26. For we know not what we shouldpray for as we ought: but the Spirit,
   Himself makes intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered
   There seems to be a good deal of this groaning. It is only in Heaven
   that there are--

   "No groans to mingle with the songs

   Which warble from immortal tongues." But down here a groan is,
   sometimes, the best wheel for the chariot of progress! We sigh, and
   cry, and groan to grow out of ourselves, and to grow more like our
   Lord. And so we become more fit for the glory which shall be revealed
   in us.

   27. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the
   Spirit because He makes intercession for the saints according to the
   will of God. That is the whole process of prayer. The Spirit of God
   knows the will of the Father and He comes and writes it on our hearts.
   A true prayer is the Revelation of the Spirit of God to our heart,
   making us desire what God has appointed to give us. Hence the success
   of prayer is no difficulty to the man who believes in predestination.
   Some foolishly say, "If God has ordained everything, what is the use of
   praying?" If God had not ordained everything, there would be no use in
   praying, but prayer is the shadow of the coming mercy which falls
   across the spirit--and we become, in prayer, in some degree, gifted
   like the seers of old. The spirit of prophecy is upon the man who knows
   how to pray! The Spirit of God has moved him to ask for what God is
   about to give!

   28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that
   love God, "All things." That is a very comprehensive expression, is it
   not? It includes your present trouble, your aching head, your heavy
   heart--"all things." "All things work.." There is nothing idle in God's
   domain. "All things work together.." There is no discord in the
   Providence of God. The strangest ingredients go to make up the one
   matchless medicine for all our maladies. "All things work together for
   good"--for lasting and eternal good--"to them that love God."" That is
   their outward'character.

   28. To them who are the called according to His purpose. That is their
   secret character and the reason why they love God at all.

   29. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
   to the image of His Son that He might be the first-born among many
   brethren. Oh, what a glorious privilege is yours and mine if we are,
   indeed, children of God!

   We are, in some respects, children of God in the same sense as Christ
   Himself is--He is the First-Born and we are among His "many brethren."

   30. Moreover whom He did predestinate; them He also called: and whom He
   called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also
   glorified. Notice that personal pronoun, "He--how it comes at the
   beginning and goes on to the end. "Salvation is of the Lord." This is
   so often forgotten that, trite as it may appear, we cannot repeat it
   too often--"Whom Hedid foreknow, He also did predestinate. Whom He did
   predestinate, them Healso called, and whom He called, them He also
   justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." You might
   suppose, from the talk of some men, that salvation is all of the man,
   himself--that is free agency pushed into a lie--a plain Truth of God
   puffed into a lie! There is such a thing as free agency and we would
   make a great mistake if we forgot it. But there is also such a thing as
   Free Grace and we would make a still greater mistake if we limited that
   to the agency of man! It is God who works our salvation from the
   beginning to the end!

   31. What shall we then say to these things?If God is for us, who can be
   against us?If God is that great working One who does all this, who can
   be against us? "Why, a great many," says one! But they are nothing, nor
   are all put together anything at all compared with Him who is on our
   side!

   32. 33. 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? Who
   shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God that justifes?No,
   that is impossible! And if He does not lay anything to their charge,
   what cause have they to fear?

   34. Who is He that condemns? It is Christ that died?What? Die for them
   and then condemn them? Nobody can condemn them but the Judge! And if He
   is unable to condemn them, in consequence of what He has already done
   for them, then none can. But this is not all.

   34. Yes, and furthermore, is risen again who is even at the right hand
   of God, who also makes intercession for us. Will He blow hot and
   cold--first intercede for them and then condemn them? It cannot be!

   35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? "Quis separabit?"
   That should be our motto in every time of trial--"who shall separate us
   from the love of Christ?"

   35, 36. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine, or
   nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Your sake we are
   killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter
   They have all had their turn, but did any of them, or all of them put
   together, ever divide the saints from Christ?

   37-39. 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.
   Blessed, forever blessed, be His holy name! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

God's Knowledge of Sin

   (No. 2551)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 9, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   OCTOBER 19, 1884.

   "O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from You "
   Psalm 69:5.

   IT seems, then, that the best of men have a measure of foolishness in
   them and that, sometimes, that foolishness shows itself. How gentle and
   tender ought we to be with others who are foolish when we remember how
   foolish we are, ourselves! How sincerely ought we to rejoice in Christ,
   as made of God unto us wisdom, when we see the folly that is bound up
   in our hearts and which too often shows itself in our talk and in our
   acts! Yet while the best of men have folly in them, it is one of the
   marks of a good man that he knows it to be folly and that he is willing
   to confess his sin before God. "If we say that we have no sin, we
   deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." If we stand as the
   Pharisee stood in the Temple and cry, "God, I thank You that I am not
   as other men are," we shall go home, as the Pharisee did, without the
   justification which comes from God. It is the truly good man who stands
   afar off with the publican and cries, "God, be merciful to me, a
   sinner," and he, also, shall go to his house "justified rather than the
   other."

   There is one solemn thought which deeply impresses the man who is right
   at heart, but who sees his own foolishness and sin and mourns it--and
   that thought is that God sees it--and sees it more perfectly than he
   sees it, himself. His own sight of it makes him repent and humble
   himself. And his knowledge of God's sight of it helps him to that
   repentance and humiliation. God sees everything concerning every man,
   but the most of men care not about God seeing them. They do not give it
   so much as a passing thought. It is the gracious man, the child of God
   who, from a broken heart, cries out, "O God, You know my foolishness;
   and my sins are not hid from You." And this it is that makes a
   Christian man so greatly value the precious blood of Christ and the
   perfect righteousness which Jesus Christ has worked out, albeit that
   Omniscience still perceives sin, yet Justice does not perceive it.

   God knows we are sinners, but He imputes to all Believers the
   righteousness of Christ and looks upon them as they are in Him. He
   cleanses us in the precious blood of Jesus so that we are clean in His
   sight and, "accepted in the Beloved." What a wonderful Atonement is
   that which hides from God that which cannot be hidden, so that God does
   not see what, in another sense, He must always see--and forgets what it
   is impossible for Him, in another sense, ever to forget! In a just and
   judicial way, God casts our sin behind His back and ceases to see
   iniquity in His people because they are clean, every whit, through
   washing in the--

   "Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins."

   Now, looking at our text, I am going to call attention to the great
   Truth of the Omniscience of God, desiring that each one of us may say
   from our heart, "O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not
   hid from You."

   I. First, concerning God's knowledge of man's sin, I remark that IT
   MUST BE SO. I am not going to argue, but just to talk a little to set
   this Truth of God before you with greater assurance of certainty.

   God must know our foolishness, for, first, He is infinite in knowledge.
   We cannot conceive of a God whose knowledge is limited. That condition
   belongs to the finite, the creature, but not to the Infinite, the
   Creator, the great First Cause of everything! God knows all the past,
   all the present and all the future. He knows all the things that might
   have been and are not. He knows what might have come out of certain
   germs and what yet may come, which at the present seems to be far
   remote. All knowable things must be known to the Most High--the very
   Nature of God implies it and, therefore, He must know my foolishness,
   for I know something of it myself--He must know much more than I know
   and my sins are not hid from him, for they are not altogether hidden
   from myself. God must know perfectly what I only perceive in part,
   though that partial perception is terrible to my own heart. Yes, the
   infinite knowledge of God is an absolute certainty and, consequently,
   His knowledge of the folly and sin of every heart is beyond all
   question.

   Moreover, God is everywhere present At all times, He is in every place
   and, therefore, our foolishness and sin must be known to Him. It is not
   merely that you committed a folly or a sin and that it was reportedto
   God. No, but He was there during the doing of it. What? Though the
   blinds were drawn and the doors were fast closed? Yet HE was there and
   all through the sin He stood by you and observed your every thought and
   every movement! There is no darkness that hides from Him, nor any other
   form of screen that can be used to shut out the glances of the eyes of
   the Eternal. He does not see from a distance, but He is on the spot.
   You cannot conceive of a place where God is not, for He fills all
   space! There could no more be a boundary to His existence than to His
   knowledge and, therefore, we are sure that our text is true, "O God,
   You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from You."

   Moreover, God is also everywhere perceiving. He is never a blind God,
   nor a blindfolded God. His knowledge is never, even for a moment,
   stopped and rendered intermittent, but, as His Presence is on the
   highest hill and in the deepest cavern, far away on the wild sea or in
   the plain where the foot of man has scarcely made a track, so, in that
   Presence there is a constant sight, an unfailing observation at all
   times. You would not, I hope, reduce God to the level of One who has
   eyes and sees not! "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that
   formed the eye, shall He not see?" The fact that eyesight and hearing
   come from Him proves how abundantly He possesses those faculties,
   Himself. He sees and He hears in every place and there was never
   anything done of man without His knowledge. The secret murder, the
   silent plot where everybody had sworn an oath of secrecy--all was known
   to God. There was never a thought in a human mind, although the man had
   not uttered it in words even to himself, but what the Lord perceived
   it. Does not this make the fact certain that He knows my foolishness
   and that my sins are not hidden from Him? Infinite in knowledge,
   everywhere present, and everywhere perceiving everything, He must know
   my foolishness and my sin. Dr. Watts forcibly expresses this idea in
   his hymn on God's Omnipresence--

   "In all my vast concerns with You,

   In vain my soul would try

   To shun Your Presence, Lord, or flee

   The notice of Your eyes.

   Your all-surrounding sight surveys

   My rising and my rest.

   My public walks, my private ways,

   And secrets of my breast.

   If winged with beams of morning light,

   I fly beyond the west.

   Your hand, which must support my flight,

   Would soon betray my rest

   If over my sins I think to draw

   The curtains of the night.

   Those flaming eyes that guard Your Law

   Would turn the shades to light.

   The beams of noon, the midnight hour,

   Are both alike to Thee--

   Oh, may I never provoke that power

   From which I cannot fleer

   Beside that, God is always reading the heart We have heard a good deal
   about thought-reading. I hope that the most of you will never be gifted
   in that direction, for such a power would make it very unpleasant for
   many. One said that he wished that he had a window in his bosom, that
   everybody might read his thoughts. I think that if he were at all a
   sensible man, he would need to pull the blind down before long! There
   is something which, now and again, crosses the purest mind which he
   would not wish another to perceive--and he who watches his thoughts
   with an exemplary vigilance will sometimes be off his guard and
   tolerate an imagination which he would not wish to pollute any other
   person's mind. But though we cannot read each other's hearts, God can
   read them. There is no possibility of lying to the Lord so as to
   deceive Him. He reads the hypocrite when he puts on his fine vestments
   and prays his prayer in the most devout style--and even when he gets
   into his closet and bows before his God only after a formal manner. We
   may have performed what looked like a holy deed. We may have sung a
   solemn Psalm. We may have appeared unto our fellow men to be among the
   excellent of the earth, but if it is not really so, no one can hide
   himself in secret, or conceal the deceit of his spirit in the dark
   place from the eyes of the Most High.

   Though you should climb to the top of Carmel in the pride of your
   heart, or go down with Jonah to the bottoms of the mountains in your
   deceit, yet shall He find you out, strip you, unmask you and set you in
   the sunlight to be despised of men and all intelligent beings, as they,
   also, shall see your lies. O Beloved, God must have seen my
   foolishness! And my sins cannot be hid from Him since He reads the
   secrets of the heart and the tortuous passages of the soul are easily
   threaded by His unerring wisdom!

   We are sure, also, that He knows our foolishness and our sin because He
   knows what is yet to be. To know what men have already done is a light
   matter compared with knowing what men will yet do. There are black
   crimes which are recorded by Moses in Scripture which Moses never could
   have known if God had not first seen them and then communicated the
   knowledge of them to him. There are many incidents mentioned in the
   Pentateuch which could only have come to the knowledge of Moses through
   the Revelation of the Spirit of God and, therefore, God Himself knew
   all about those events. But, throughout the prophecies there are
   intimations of the sins of men that would yet be committed and, more
   especially, that sin of sins--the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
   Christ--that crime of crimes is described in all its dreadful details!

   Now, if God saw all that and recorded it by the agency of His servants
   centuries before it happened, there can be no hope that anything which
   has ever occurred has escaped the observation of the Most High! You are
   all books and every page is open to the eyes of the great Reader who
   reads you from the first letter to the last! There is nothing which any
   man can possibly conceal from God. Men love what they call, secrets,
   yet there are no such things in very truth where God is concerned, for
   He observes everything! It matters not what it may be--minute or
   majestic, malevolent or benevolent, a curse or a blessing--it all
   passes before that eye which never wearies or sleeps, or suffers
   anything to escape its notice! It is so, it must be so if God is
   God--He knows my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Him.

   II. Now let us just turn the current of our thought while I ask,
   concerning God's knowledge of man's sin, AFTER WHAT FASHION IS IT? If
   God knows, in what particular way does He know?

   The answer is, that it is complete knowledge. The Lord knows us
   altogether. I must confess that I cower down beneath that thought. That
   the Lord should know my public service is sufficiently
   awe-striking--but that He should know my privatethoughts--ah, this
   sinks me into the very dust! The Lord knows not only the action, but
   the motiveof the action--all the thoughts that went with my action, all
   the pride and self-seeking that came after it--and spoiled it when it
   might have been praiseworthy. "Every way of a man is right in his own
   eyes: but the Lord ponders the hearts." The word, "ponders," means that
   He weighs us, He takes the specific gravity of our actions. They may
   cover a great surface, yet there may be no real substance in them at
   all--but the Lord weighs them as goldsmiths weigh the metal that is
   subjected to their test. He takes care not to be deceived by anything
   that is apparent to our fellow men. "The fining pot is for silver and
   the furnace for gold: but the Lord tries the hearts." There is nothing
   hidden from God's eyes--every separate part of us is open to His
   perpetual inspection! Think of that. God's knowledge is complete and
   baffles all evasion.

   It is also the knowledge of a holy Being. You, perhaps, know some
   people who see all they can, yet do not see all that can be seen. It is
   with them as it was with the lady who said to Turner, as she looked
   upon one of his notable paintings, "Mr. Turner, I have never seen
   anything like that." "No," replied the artist, "I don't suppose that
   you have seen it. Don't you wish that you could?" So, when God looks at
   a man's life, He sees infinitely more in it than the man ever saw in
   it, himself, or than all his fellow creatures have seen. The keen eyes
   of envy and of malice will detect a fault, if fault there is, but
   keener is the eye of perfect holiness! The Lord's eyes are as a flame
   of fire. Being, Himself, essential Truth, He truly discovers everything
   that is within us and makes no mistakes. When we are dealing with God,
   mistakes on His part are quite out of the question. He knows us after
   the manner of a perfectly holy Being and many a thing that looked white
   to us, is absolutely black to God! His eyes can see according to the
   clear white light of Heaven, but you and I can only see in some single
   ray of faint light--we see not as God sees. We shall, one day, be holy
   as He is holy, and we shall then look upon the affairs of this life in
   a strangely different light from that in which we look upon them now.
   And when once we get to Heaven, we shall realize how foolish we were to
   form the judgments that we did while we were here. "Now we see through
   a glass, darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then
   shall I know even as, also, I am known." Think of this, dear
   Friends--the eyes that see you are the eyes of a perfectly holy God
   who, therefore, more readily discovers your shortcomings and your sins
   than all the eyes of men could do!

   Reflect, again, that God knows us with an abiding knowledge. It is a
   great mercy that time brings with it relief of our sorrows by the
   oblivion in which it steeps us. You lost your mother and you could not
   have lived a month suffering the pangs that you felt in the moment that
   you realized your loss. All your losses are the same as they were when
   they first befell you, but they do not eat into your spirit with that
   terrible force which was in them at the onset, for time has taken off
   their edge. It is so with sin--the first time that the youth told a
   lie, he could not sleep--but that first time was 40 years ago and he is
   almost sorry that I have brought it to his recollection! After a while,
   time covers up the remembrance of sin and we think that God has covered
   it up, too, but every sin, even of 50 years ago, is present to God's
   eyes just as if you were committing it at this moment! And your whole
   life does not stand out to Him as the dim past and the bright
   present--it is all presentto Him. As when a man looks on a map and the
   whole of the country is before him, so does God look down upon our life
   as it is spread out for His inspection--He sees it all at once. Up from
   the graves of forgetfulness where you have buried them, your sins
   perpetually rise and confront the Judgment Seat of God. Think seriously
   of this matter, for it is after this manner that God knows our
   foolishness and that our sins are not hid from Him.

   The Lord has an eternal knowledge ofour sins. He will never forget
   them. If they are not washed away by the blood of Christ, He can never
   forget or cease to be angry because of them! He has written the record
   of man's sin in a book--He means it, therefore, to abide. He says, "Is
   not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed up among My treasures?"
   It is as if He had put men's sin by, to be called as a damning witness
   against them in that Great Day when every action and word and thought
   shall pass before the Judgment Seat. I do not know how this thought
   makes you feel, but it makes me tremble while I speak of it!

   For, further, all our sins are known to Him who is to be our Judge.
   There will be no need of witnesses in that last dread day, for the
   Judge knows all about us! There will be no need to call this one and
   that to bear testimony as to our sin, for the Judge saw it, heard it
   and He has never forgotten it, nor does His memory fail Him as to any
   of the details. He will flash that eternal light of His into the
   conscience of the criminal and write upon the tablet of his heart the
   revived memory of all that he had forgotten--and there cannot be a more
   terrible Hell for a man than to be in the grasp of his memory and of
   his conscience in the Last Great Day. Yet so it will be and I beg each
   unconverted man, woman and child to recollect that his foolishness and
   his sin are known to Him to whom he must give an account at the Day of
   Judgment.

   One thought more might, perhaps, tend to impress some who have not yet
   felt the force of this Truth of God, and that is that this knowledge
   will be published. If God knows about our sin, it is tantamount to
   everybody knowing about it. "Oh," says someone, "I trust it will not be
   so! I hope that nobody knows of that dark deed of mine." I tell you,
   Sir, everybody shall know of it, "for there is nothing covered, that
   shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." There
   shall come a day, the Day for which all other days were made, when the
   books shall be opened and every man shall give an account of the deeds
   done in the body, whether they have been good or whether they have been
   evil and, further, our Savior said, "That every idle word that men
   shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment."
   Can we bear to have it all known? Yet known it shall be, written as
   across the sky, when those we have deceived and deluded shall discover
   what we were--and we shall wake up to everlasting shame and contempt
   unless we find shelter in the atoning Sacrifice and are washed in the
   precious blood of Christ! If I could speak of these Truths of God as I
   ought to speak of them, they would move your hearts. I pray God that
   they may.

   III. And now, thirdly, WHAT THEN? If God sees everything and sees it in
   the fashion I have tried to describe, what then?

   Why, first, how frivolous must those be who never think about it! A man
   is about to commit a crime, but his child is present, so he hesitates,
   or somebody looks in the window and he cannot do the wrong he intended.
   How is it that men will tremble under the eyes of a child and almost at
   the presence of a dog--and yet God's Presence is nothing at all to
   them? A man, about to steal, had taken his child with him to help him
   secure the booty. He looked all round and said,

   "There is nobody here, Boy." But the lad said, "Father, there is one
   way you did not look--you did not look up--God can see you." Just so.
   Men do not look up and if you tell them that God sees them, of what
   account is He to them? This is practical atheism, yet men say that
   theywould not have crucified Christ. Sirs, as far as you can, you kill
   God, for you put Him out of your thoughts! You make nothing of Him and
   what is that but the Crucifixion of God? You despise Him so much that
   His Presence has no effect upon you, though the presence of any mortal
   man would have stopped you from your sin!

   Next, dear Brothers and Sisters, what care this ought to work in us!
   How diligently we ought to do our work for God! How earnestly we ought
   to pray when we know that we always have the great Taskmaster's eyes
   upon us! Or, better still, that dear eye that looked in pity upon us
   when we were lost and ruined! The eyes of the Well-Beloved, who gave
   Himself for us, are always fixed upon us. "Fight, my children," said a
   Highland chieftain, "fight and conquer, for your chieftain, though he
   lies here bleeding, has his eyes upon you." And they fought like tigers
   under their leader's eye and thus should Christians fight against sin
   when the eyes of the beloved Captain who died for them is always upon
   them! There must be no sleeping, there must be no "scamping" of our
   work, as bad workmen do when the master is away. It must be gold,
   silver and precious stones that we build with--and every stone must be
   well laid upon the one great Foundation. Everything must be done at the
   very best because God sees it. You know how the heathen sculptor put
   it--he was working with his chisel and hammer upon the back part of a
   statue of which only the front was to be seen. The back part was to be
   built into the wall, so someone said to him, "Why are you toiling so
   elaborately at that which will be hidden in the wall?" He answered,
   "The gods can see inside the wall." The heathen gods could not see, but
   our God can and, therefore, the secret part of one's life is, perhaps,
   the most important part of it! That which is never meant for the eyes
   of man, but wholly for the eyes of God, ought to have a double care
   exercised in the perfecting of it, that His eyes may rest upon it with
   a sacred complacency, according to His abounding Grace and mercy.

   And what holy trembling this ought to put within us! It is often a joy
   to think that God knows everything. It was a true comfort to Peter when
   he could say, ' 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You."
   It is a great joy, when you are slandered and misrepresented, to be
   able to say, "Well, God knows the way that I take. And when He has
   tried me, He will bring me forth as gold. My true record is on high, so
   I need not fear what the record below may be." That is a very
   delightful thought! At the same time, can any among you look forward to
   that Last Great Day without some trembling? Does it not take all your
   faith in the atoning blood and in the Divine Substitute to gird up your
   loins that you may face that Day without fear? Yes, and even that you
   may now live in the full conviction that your life is all known to

   God?

   Just let us think for a minute or two more about this subject and then
   I will close. The Lord knows all about us, so that He knows our
   omissions. I do not know any subject that so much depresses me, humbles
   me and lays me in the dust as the thought of my omissions. It is not
   what I have done about which I think so much as of what I have not
   done. "You have been very useful," says one. "Yes, but might I not have
   been 10 times more useful?" "You have been very diligent," says
   another. "Yes, but might I not, somehow, have been more diligent? Might
   I not have done my work in a better spirit? If I had been better, would
   not my work have been better? If I had borrowed more of my Master's
   strength, which I might have had, might I not have accomplished much
   more?" Do you ever feel satisfied with yourself? If so, I would advise
   you to fling that satisfaction out of the window, as Jehu said of the
   painted Jezebel, "Throw her down!" A sense of satisfaction with
   yourself will be the death of your progress and it will prevent your
   sanctification. Many a man might have been sanctified if he had not
   thought that he was already sanctified. By that thought he clutched the
   shadow and so he lost the substance! Mind that such a thing as that
   does not happen to you.

   Our Lord knows all the faults of our holy things--the coldness of our
   prayers, the wandering of our thoughts, the scantiness of our
   alms-giving and the hardness of our hearts--so that they do not go in
   generous tenderness with the gift we feel bound to bestow. Our sermons,
   our Bible reading, our Sunday school teaching--the Lord sees the faults
   of them--while our friends often see the excellences of them. I have
   had many abusive letters at different periods of my life, but specially
   in the early part of my career in London I think that I had as much
   abuse as ever fell to the lot of anybody. But, as I read letter after
   letter, I said to myself, "O foolish writers, if you knew me better,
   you could say sharper things than these--that would sting me much
   more--but, happily, you have never been able to lay your hands on the
   truth. You have had to tell a lie in order to abuse me and that does
   not hurt me a bit. If you had known me as God does, you might have had
   something to say which would have caused me great sorrow." If men could
   read the secrets of your soul, sincere though you have tried to be,
   they would see such failures, slips and errors that you would not dare
   to set your holiest things in the light of day--yet the Lord knows the
   sins--even of your holy things.

   Then the Lord also knows our lies. That is a very tender point. "We do
   not lie," we say, but is there any man among us who is perfectly true?
   When you prayed, did you not say a little more than you had ever
   attained in your own experience? Or you were talking about yourself and
   you wished to be very sincere and truthful, but you put just a touch of
   color into the picture, did you not? At least you painted yourself with
   your finger over your scars--there are not many like Oliver Cromwell,
   who said, "If you make a portrait of me, paint me as I am, warts and
   all." You may do that with the warts on your forehead, but I question
   whether you would like the warts on your characterto be seen. "I hate
   flattery," says one. Why, you are flattering yourself all the while
   that you are saying that! "But," says one, "I feel that I am humble."
   Do you? Then I guess that you are not really so, for he who is humble
   still laments his pride and thus shows his humility better than in any
   other way. But, whatever we are, God sees all our lies and there is
   nothing hidden from Him.

   Lastly, the Lord knows--and this is the best thing that He knows about
   us--He knows, concerning some of us, that we are clinging to Christ
   alone! Unless I am utterly deceived, I can truthfully say to the Lord
   Jesus Christ--

   "Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on You." Can you say
   the same, dear Friend? If you can, take heart. Do not be afraid of God
   knowing all, but rather say, as we read a little while ago, "Search me,
   O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if
   there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
   Pray with David, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me
   from my sin." Come and cast yourself upon the Omniscience of God,
   desiring to be cleansed--spirit, soul and body--and made meet to enter
   where the redeemed and glorified Church adores the Lord forever without
   fault before His Throne!

   God bless this searching message to every one of you for His dear Son's
   sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. G. SPURGEON: PSALM139.

   1. O LORD, You have searched me, and known me. God does not need to
   "search" us, for that implies a lack of knowledge, a knowledge obtained
   by search. But the meaning of the text is that God knows us as well as
   if He hadexam-ined us through and through, just as an excise officer
   searches a house to find contraband goods. "O Lord, You have searched
   me, and known me."

   2. You know my sitting down, and my rising up. "Such commonplace things
   as these, my sitting down at home, my rising up to go to my business,
   You, O Lord, observe and know even such minor matters as these."

   2. You understand my thoughts afar off "Before the thought has entered
   my mind, You know what it will be. When I run far away from You in my
   own apprehension, You are still so near to me that You can hear my mind
   think and You know the meaning of my thoughts when I try to think
   crookedly."

   3. You compass my path and my lying down, "You surround me when I go
   out, or when I rest at home; when I labor, or when I sleep. You set a
   fence around about my every action and my non-action, too."

   3. And are acquainted with all my ways. "You know all that I do, as One
   that is most intimate and familiar with me. You, great God, 'are
   acquainted with all my ways.'"

   4. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, You know it
   altogether ''Not only the words of my tongue, but the words on my
   tongue, are known to You, O Lord." As we sang just now--

   "My thoughts, before they are my own, Are to my God distinctly known!
   He knows the words I mean to speak, Ere from my opening lips they
   break."

   5. You have beset me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me "I
   am taken as in an ambush: I am held captive; I cannot get away. 'You
   have beset me behind and before'--more than that, You have arrested me,
   'laid Your hand upon me.'"

   6, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain
   unto it' 'You have it, but I cannot reach it. You have it, but, 'I
   cannot attain unto it.'"

   7, 8. Where shall I go from Your spirit? Or where shall I flee from
   Your Presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, You are there. For so it
   runs in the Hebrew. The translators put in the word, "are," as you can
   see by the italics. "If I ascend up into Heaven, you there"--that is
   all the Psalmist says.

   8, If I make my bed in Hell, behold, You. Again it is more emphatic
   without the words supplied by the translators. "You, O God, are in the
   depths as well as in the heights, You are everything in every place,
   You are All in All."

   9, 10. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
   parts of the sea; even there shall Your hand lead me. "I cannot go
   anywhere except You enable me to go."

   10, 11. And Your right hand shall hold me. IfIsay, Surely the darkness
   shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. "There is no
   escaping that way, for the night shall be transformed into light, and I
   shall be as clearly perceived in the darkness as in the daylight."

   12. Yes, the darkness hides not from You. "It hides from eyes which are
   but mortal, but You are pure Spirit and You discern not through the
   impinging of light upon the retina of the eye."

   12. But the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are
   both alike to You. Now the Psalmist goes back to the very foundation
   and origin of his being.

   13. For You have possessed my reins.' 'You are within the secret
   portions of my bodily frame."

   13, 14. You have covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You for
   I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Therefore Galen, the oldest and
   the best-known of the ancient surgeons, was known to say that an
   undevout anatomist must be mad, as another said that an undevout
   astronomer was mad, for there is such a marvelous display of skill and
   wisdom, delicacy and force in the making of a man, that we may, each
   one, say, "I will praise You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

   14-16. Marvelous are Your works; and that my soul knows right well My
   substance was not hid from You, when I was made in secret, and
   curiously worked in the lowest parts of the earth Your eyes did see my
   substance, yet being imperfect and in Your book all my members were
   written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was
   none of them. Still he dwells upon his birth and all that went before
   it--and he did well to speak of those marvels. We are too apt to forget
   God's goodness to us in our infant days, but we should remember that we
   come not into this world without a Creator and in that Creator we find
   a Friend, the best we have ever had, the best we can ever have! Oh, for
   Grace never to wish to stray away from Him in whom we live, and move,
   and have our being!

   17. How precious, also, are Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is
   the sum of them! How often God has thought of each one of us! Remember
   that if you were the only man in all the world, He would not think more
   of you than He does now that you are only one of myriads of myriads!
   The infinite mind of God is not divided by the multiplicity of the
   objects brought before it, but His whole mind goes forth to contemplate
   each individual. What deep thoughts, what bright thoughts, what
   faithful thoughts God has had concerning us! "How precious, also, are
   Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!"

   18. IfIshould count them, they are more in number than the sand: when
   Iawake, Iam still with You. "Whether I sleep or wake, You are with me,
   but, better still, I am with You! Before I fell asleep, I put my soul
   into Your hands. And when I awoke, I found it there."

   19. Surely You will slay the wicked, O God. I t cannot be that God, who
   sees everything, will forever endure the wickedness of men. It cannot
   be that He will suffer all crime and villainy and blasphemy to escape
   with impunity! "Surely You will slay the wicked, O God."

   19. Depart from me therefore, you bloody men.' 'I do not want to be
   with you, or to have you with me, in the day when God metes out
   vengeance upon the ungodly."

   20-22. For they speak against You wickedly and Your enemies take Your
   name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD that hate You? And am not I
   grieved with those that rise up against You? I hate them with perfect
   hatred: I count them my enemies. We are bound to love our enemies, but
   we are not bound to love God's enemies. We are to wish them, as
   enemies, a complete overthrow, but to wish them, as men, a gracious
   conversion, that they may obtain God's pardon and become His friends,
   followers and servants.

   23. Search me, O God. Is it not amazing that what the Psalmist started
   with as a doctrine, now becomes a prayer? Before, he said, "O Lord, You
   have searched me, and known me." Now he cries, "Search me, O God!

   23. And know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. Every attribute of
   God works for the good of those who trust Him. If you are a Believer,
   you may ask for His infinite power to protect you and His infinite
   knowledge to search you.

   24. And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
   everlasting. May God first make that our prayer and then graciously
   hear it, for His great name's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

"Take Heed, Brethren"

   (No. 2552)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 16, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
   23, 1884.

   "Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of
   unbelief in departing from the living God." Hebrews 3:12.

   THIS message is not addressed to strangers far away, but to "brethren."
   Paul wrote it to the Hebrews, who were his brethren according to the
   flesh. It was kind of him to call them by that name. He also writes it
   to all of us who are Believers in Christ, and we ought to receive his
   word with all the greater intensity of attention because he writes to
   us as his brethren. The term applies to all who are Brothers and
   Sisters in Christ--really so--those who are quickened by the one
   Spirit, made children of the one Father and going to the one heavenly
   Home. The Apostle would not have us begrudge this title to any genuine
   member of our Lord Jesus Christ's true Church. It is not for us to read
   men's hearts--we have not the Lamb's Book of Life in our possession, so
   we cannot discover whether such-and-such a man's name is really written
   in it, or not, but, in the judgment of Christian charity, all those who
   have joined themselves to Christ's Church are our brethren--and the
   more we recognize that relationship, the better. To all of you,
   therefore, who bear the Christian name, this message comes with power,
   "Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of
   unbelief, in departing from the living God."

   There are other persons who are associated with us in our congregations
   who do not profess, as yet, to have passed from death unto life,
   although they come up with us to the House of the Lord. They swell the
   chorus of our praise, they bow their heads with us in prayer, they are,
   in many respects, our fellow worshippers and they have, apparently, a
   warm heart towards good things, though not yet fully one with us in the
   highest spiritual'sense. We will not exclude them from this message of
   the Apostle, for they are our brethren as men, even if they are not our
   brethren as Christians, and the Word of God comes to them as well as to
   us who are avowedly on the Lord's side, "Take heed, brethren, lest
   there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief."

   You see, then, that we are, all of us, called upon to "take heed." The
   word means that we are to be careful, to be watchful. True religion is
   not a thing that can be acquired by carelessness or neglect--we must
   take heed or we shall never be found in the narrow way. You may go to
   Hell heedlessly, but you cannot so go to Heaven. Many stumble into the
   bottomless Pit with their eyes shut, but no man ever yet entered into
   Heaven by a leap in the dark. "Take heed, brethren." If ever there was
   a matter that needed all your thought, all your prudence and all your
   care, it is the matter of your soul's salvation. If you trifle with
   anything, let it be with your wealth, or with your health, but
   certainly not with your eternal interests. I recommend all men to take
   heed to everything that has to do with this life, as well as with that
   which is to come, for in the little the great may be concealed--and the
   neglect of our estate may end in mischief to our immortal spirit.
   Certainly, the neglect of the body might lead to great injury to the
   soul, but if ever neglect deserves condemnation, it is when it concerns
   our higher nature! If we do not carefully see to it, that which is our
   greatest glory may become our most tremendous curse.

   Brothers and Sisters, the watchword for every one of us is, "Take
   heed." You are an old Christian, but "take heed." You are a minister of
   the Gospel and there are many who look up to you with veneration--"take
   heed." You have learned the Doctrines of Grace and you know them
   well--there is little that any human being can teach you, for you have
   been well instructed in the things of the Kingdom of God--but still,
   "take heed." Yes, and if you were so near to

   Heaven that you could hear the songs within, I would still whisper in
   your ear, "Take heed." Horses fall most often at the bottom of the hill
   when we think that we need not hold them up any longer. And there is no
   condition in life which is more dangerous than that feeling of perfect
   security which precludes watchfulness and care. He who is quite sure of
   his strength to resist temptation may be also equally certain of his
   weakness in the hour of trial. God grant us Grace, whatever sort of
   "brethren" we may be, to listen to the admonition of the Apostle, "Take
   heed."

   Paul means not only take heed for yourself--though that is the first
   duty of each one of us, for every man must bear his own burden and it
   becomes every prudent man to look well to the matter of his own
   salvation--but the Apostle says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there is in
   any of you an evil heart of unbelief." You are to watch over your
   brethren, to exhort one another daily, especially you who are officers
   of the Church, or who are elderly and experienced. Be upon the watch
   lest any of your brethren in the Church should gradually backslide, or
   lest any in the congregation should harden into a condition of settled
   unbelief and perish in their sin. He who bids you take heed to yourself
   would not have you settle down into a selfish care for yourself, alone,
   lest you should become like Cain who even dared to say to the Lord,
   Himself, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Nothing can be more horrible than
   the state of mind of a man whose talk is like that of Cain, who slew
   his brother. "Take heed," therefore, you who are in the Church of God,
   not only to yourselves, but to those who are round about you,
   especially to such as are of your own family!

   The text naturally divides itself into an exhortation. "Take heed,
   brethren"--a warning--"lest there is in any of you an evil heart of
   unbelief." And a description of the danger which would follow from a
   neglect of this warning--"in departing from the living God." Lay up
   those three things in your memory and heart and may God cause them to
   work there for the effectual blessing of your spiritual life.

   I purpose, as I may be helped of God's Spirit, to take the text and
   apply it to the three classes of persons whom I indicated at the outset
   of my discourse--first, to the inner Church, the true elect, redeemed,
   regenerated, called, sanctified people of God. The message of the text
   is for you, my Brothers and Sisters! Secondly, to the visible Church, t
   o all who are, I trust, as truly saved and regenerated as the first
   class are, but yet I have a fear that there is a mixture in the nominal
   Church--that there is chaff mingled with the wheat upon Christ's floor
   and bad fish caught in the Gospel net along with the good ones. To all
   these persons I speak with great earnestness and say, "Take heed,
   brethren." Then I am going to take the whole congregation and address
   the message of the text to all without exception--"Take heed, brethren,
   lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
   from the living God."

   I. First, then, TO THE INNER CHURCH, God's own chosen people--to you
   who are really His--the Apostle says, "Take heed, brethren." If you
   dare to put yourself among that privileged company and say, "Yes, by
   God's Holy Spirit I have been quickened, renewed, sealed,
   preserved--and I have the witness of the Spirit, Himself, within my own
   spirit, that I am, indeed, born of God--then to you comes the Apostolic
   watchword, "Take heed."

   For, first, dear Friend, even you may fall into unbelief Are you not
   aware of that fact? Have you not been already tormented with it? I
   daresay, like myself, you did, at one time, indulge the idea that old
   Incredulity would soon die. You took him by the heels and you put him
   in the stocks and said to yourself, "He will never trouble me again! I
   shall never doubt the promise of God, anymore, as long as I live. I
   have had such a wonderful experience of God's faithfulness--He has been
   so exceedingly gracious to me that I cannot doubt Him any more." You
   remember how Mr. Bunyan says, in The Holy War, that, after the enemies
   of King Shaddai had been sentenced to death, "One of the prisoners,
   Incredulity by name, in the interim between the sentence and time of
   execution, broke prison, made his escape and got out of the town of
   Mansoul and lay lurking in such places and holds as he might, until he
   should again have opportunity to do the town of Mansoul a mischief for
   their thus handling of him as they did."

   Incredulity will work his wicked will upon you if he can and you must
   always remember that it is possible, even, for youto fall into
   unbelief--you who are rejoicing, you who have hung out all your flags
   and are keeping high festival-- oh, tell it not in Gath! Yes, even
   youmay yet be found doubting your God! May the Lord grant that you may
   be delivered from this evil! But it is only Almighty Grace which can
   keep you with faith pure and simple and free from any tincture of doubt
   and unbelief. Pressure of circumstances may drive you into an
   unbelieving state of mind. Depression of soul, due to physical causes,
   may do it--the spirit often truly is willing and believing, but the
   flesh is weak--and it may pull you down. Association with doubters may
   have a similar effect. Conflict for the Truth of God may make you
   familiar with the poisoned arrows of skeptics and, in attempting to do
   them good, you may imbibe mischief from them. The Lord will preserve
   you from the positive, stark, black Egyptian darkness of unbelief, but
   there are other grades and degrees of it which you may have to endure.
   It is bad for a Christian to have anymixture of darkness with his light
   and to have any measure of doubt mingled with his faith. Yet it may be
   so and, therefore, the Spirit of God says to the people of God, "Take
   heed, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
   departing from the living God."

   Note, next, that in proportion as unbelief gets into your heart, you
   will begin to depart from the living God. I am not speaking, now, of
   open glaring sin--you have not fallen into that and I pray God that you
   never may. But, Beloved, we may have all the decencies of morality, all
   the proprieties of Christian conduct and yet we may be, all the while,
   "departing from the living God." The moment we begin to trust in man
   and to make flesh our arm, we have, to that extent, forgotten Jehovah
   and departed from the living God. The moment our heart's deepest
   affections twine about the dearest creature--be it husband, or wife, or
   child--we are, to that degree, "departing from the living God." To the
   true Believer, in his best estate, the sweetest line that he can ever
   sing is that which we sang just now--

   "Yes, mine own God is He."

   That is the circle which surrounds all his joy! It is the center of his
   soul's highest delight. He has God for his very own! On his God he
   relies and towards Him he sends out the full streams of his earnest
   affection. Remember what the Lord wrote by the pen of the Prophet
   Jeremiah-- "Cursed is the man that trusts in man: and makes flesh his
   arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the
   heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall
   inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not
   inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope
   the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that
   spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes,
   but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of
   drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."

   Brothers and Sisters, it is easy to depart from the living God
   spiritually--gradually to lose that serene and heavenly frame which is
   our highest privilege, to forget Him who ought to always be before our
   eyes as the chief factor in our entire life, the great All-in-All,
   compared with whom everything else is but as a dream, a fleeting
   shadow. I bear my witness that to walk with the living God is life--but
   to get away from Him is death! And that in proportion as we begin to
   depart and put a distance between ourselves and the great Invisible--in
   that proportion our life ebbs away and we get to be sickly and scarcely
   alive! Then doubts arise as to whether we are the people of God at
   all--and it is sad that such a question as that should ever be
   possible! We ought to live like the angel whom Milton pictures as
   living in the sun--in the very center of the orb of light--so near to
   God that we do not merely sometimesenjoy His Presence, but that in Him
   we live altogether and never depart from Him!

   I remember a minister calling upon a poor old saint and before coming
   away he said he hoped that the Divine Father would constantly visit the
   sick man. But he replied, "O Sir, I do not want you to ask that the
   Father should merely visit me, for by these many months together He has
   been living with me and I have been living in Him." So may it be with
   each one of you, my Brothers and Sisters! And that it may be so, give
   attention to the message of the text, "Take heed, brethren, lest there
   is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing"--in any
   measure or degree--"from the living God."

   "But," you say, "why should we take such heed about that matter? We are
   Believers and, therefore, we are saved." Are you Believers? They who
   can trifle with heavenly things are not true Believers in the Lord
   Jesus Christ. And if ever it becomes a thing of small importance to you
   whether you dwell with the living God, or not, the question may well
   arise in your heart, "Am I truly a Believer in Jesus Christ with the
   faith of God's elect--the faith that really saves the soul?"

   But, my Brothers and Sisters, if you do not continue steadfast and firm
   in your faith in its simplicity--if your evil heart of unbelief begins
   to prevail and you are turned aside from your confidence in Christ, and
   so begin to get away from God--you will be great losers thereby even if
   you do manage to get to Heaven, "saved, yet so as by fire." For, first,
   you will lose your joy. That is no small thing. "The joy of the Lord is
   your strength." The joy of the Lord is one of the means by which you
   are to be made useful. The joy of the Lord sweetens trial, lightens
   care and turns service into delight. But if you lose that joy, you are
   as one who travels alone in the dark and who stumbles and falls. I pray
   you, do not depart from the living God in any degree, for if you do so,
   your joy will begin to get clouded, the brightness and the warmth of it
   will be taken from you--and you will become faint-hearted, trembling,
   timorous and sad. If the evil heart of unbelief shall prevail against
   you, depend upon it, you will lose your joy.

   Then you may be certain, also, that you will lose your assurance. Full
   assurance cannot exist with unholiness. One has well said, "If your
   assurance does not make you leave off sinning, your sinning will make
   you leave off enjoying assurance." And I am sure that it is so. If we
   begin to look to second causes and do not trust in God, we shall then
   put forth our hand to some one sin or another. And when we do that, we
   cannot be certain that we are children of God at all! That man who
   feels sure of his safety and yet can play with sin and find pleasure in
   it, may be assured of his own damnation! I remember, in my boyhood, one
   who never talked so religiously as when he was the worse for drink. And
   in public, before ungodly men, he used to boast of his full assurance
   of salvation--when he was much too far gone to be assured that he would
   get home in safety that night! That kind of conduct is atrocious and no
   one would excuse it for a moment! We know that men who talk so only
   proclaim their own shame to their own eternal disgrace. But do not let
   any of us indulge even in a measure of that kind of sin. That evil
   heart of unbelief will not only lead us away from a holy walk with God,
   but it will also take from us our assurance if it is an assurance that
   is worth having.

   Then, next, it will take from us our fruitfulness. Dear child of God, I
   am sure that you do not wish to live here without doing good to others.
   But how can you do good if you are not, yourself, good? You cannot
   bring forth fruit unto holiness unless you are watered with the dew of
   Heaven and the sunlight of God shines upon you. And you will not have
   either of those blessings if you live carelessly and if you fall into
   an unbelieving state of mind and get away from contact with the
   ever-living God. If any of you have tried this kind of life, you must
   have become painfully aware what it is to have all the sap and juice,
   out of which the clusters ought to come, dried up within the tree and
   everything turned to barrenness because you have yourself departed from
   God!

   These are all serious losses to a child of God. It is no light matter
   for you to lose joy, assurance and fruitfulness. But the evil heart of
   unbelief will cause you, also, to lose purity. There is a delicate
   bloom upon the fruit that grows in Christ's garden, where He, as the
   Gardener, cultivates it with tender care. But sin comes and rubs away
   that bloom and spoils the fruit. If you and I fall into sin, we shall
   have to weep bitterly over it. We shall not be able to enjoy the high
   privilege which belongs to those who keep their garments unspotted from
   the world. Of these the Savior says, "They shall walk with Me in white:
   for they are worthy." I believe that, of all fortes of spiritual loss,
   one of the worst is to lose tenderness of conscience, quickness of
   apprehension when sin is near--to lose a sense of cleanness of heart
   and of sanctifica-tion by the Spirit of God. When those are gone, we
   are something like Adam when he lost Paradise, and we turn our faces
   back again toward that purity and cry to the Lord to restore it, as we
   moan rather than sing--

   "Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord?"

   Take care that you do not lose it, for it will hardly be likely to be
   restored to you in the same degree as you had it at the first.

   The child of God who wanders away also loses peace and many other
   attainments of the spiritual life. He is like a boy who is sent down
   from the top of the class--it may take him a long time to get up again.
   Or he is like the soldier who has risen from the ranks, but who has
   misbehaved himself and is, therefore, made a Private again. He who once
   could lead the people of God has to be very thankful that he is
   permitted to go into the rear rank and to follow where others lead. He
   who could talk for God boldly now has to sing very small and let others
   speak. He who used to encourage others, now needs to be encouraged,
   himself. He was once strong in faith and a mighty man of valor, but now
   he has to use Mr. Ready-to-Halt's crutches and to go along with the
   feeble ones among the pilgrims because an evil heart of unbelief has
   made him depart from the living God!

   This brings, of course, a loss of influence with the people of God and
   with worldlings, too, for when a man has injured his reputation, it is
   not soon repaired. If he has slipped and fallen, brethren weep over him
   and love him, and seek to restore him, but they do not trust him as
   they used to do. They are some little while before they dare to follow
   where he leads the way. I have seen a man whose judgment was like that
   of Solomon, whose position in the midst of his brethren was that of a
   hero inciting them to daring deeds--but he has fallen and all Israel
   has wept over him! Perhaps there has been no shameful sin, but yet
   there has been an evident decline in spirituality and in force and
   power. The Lord has left him and great Samson, though he shakes himself
   as before, is fast bound in chains and his eyes have been put out.
   Happy will he be if, at some future day, when the locks of his hair
   have grown back, he shall be able to pull down the temple of the
   Philistine lords upon them. But so far as his brethren are concerned,
   he will have to be the object of loving pity rather than ofjoyful
   confidence.

   Do not tell me, then, that you do not lose anything by getting into a
   state of unbelief and departing from God, for, in addition to all this,
   such a child of God loses power in prayer. It is "the effectual fervent
   prayer of a righteous man" that "avails much." Our Lord Jesus told His
   disciples, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall
   ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." But disobedient
   children will find that the Father will turn a deaf ear to their
   supplication. "No," He will say, "you would not listen to Me--neither
   will I listen to you," for God has a way of walking contrary to them
   that walk contrary to Him.

   Then there very often follows at the back of that, chastisements, heavy
   and multiplied. Take heed, my Brothers and Sisters, as you remember the
   history of David. What a blessed life, what a glorious life, is that of
   David until the unhappy day when kings went forth to battle, but the
   king of Israel went not! He tarried in inglorious ease at home and, as
   he walked upon the top of his palace, he saw that which tempted him to
   evil desire. To that ill desire he fell a prey and the man after God's
   own heart became an adulterer and a murderer! Alas! Alas! All the rest
   of his life he travels on toward Heaven with broken bones and sorrowful
   spirit. At every step he limps--his prayers are sighs, his Psalms lack
   the jubilant notes that once made them ascend joyously unto the Lord!
   He is still a true man of God and, in his deep repentance, he becomes a
   pattern to us all in repenting of sin, but the brave joyous David is
   not there! And at the last, though he pleads the Covenant, he has to
   say, "Although my house is not so with God." There was a great mass of
   heart-break packed away in those few words, more than we need to
   explain just now.

   What a dreadful family David had! None of us have had a family 1ike
   his--that was his chastisement--his own children! What a mercy it was
   for him that Sovereign Grace did not cast him away, for after he had
   uttered that deep bass note, "Although my house is not so with God,"
   then came the sweet assurance of faith, "Yet He has made with me an
   Everlasting Covenant, ordered in al1 things, and sure, although He make
   it not to grow." There came in again the note of deep sorrow mingled
   with his holy faith in God. O Brothers and Sisters, I have heard men
   say that a broken leg, when it is mended, is sometimes stronger than it
   was before. It may be so, but I am not going to break my leg to try the
   experiment! I know one who says that his arm was broken when he was a
   boy and that he believes it is stronger than the other one. So it may
   be, but I will not break my arm if I can help it! May the Lord rather
   keep me in His hands lest I dash my foot against a stone! There is a
   great deal of experience which I hope you will never have--and that is
   the kind of experience which comes of an evil heart of unbelief--in
   departing from the living God. Take heed that you never come to know
   that sorrow!

   II. Now, in the second place, and very briefly, I want to apply my text
   TO ALL IN THE VISIBLE CHURCH, whether they are, indeed, God's people or
   not. If you profess to belong to Christ, it is enough for my present
   purpose. "Take heed," I pray you, professing Christians, "lest there is
   in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
   God."

   For, first, many professors have had an evil heart. I t is not every
   Church member who has a new heart and a right spirit. Judas was in the
   Church, but he had an evil heart and was a devil. It may be so with me,
   my Brothers and Sisters, or with you. There are some in the Church who
   have no real faith in Christ. Their very heart is crammed full of
   unbelief, though they pretend that they have believed in Christ. I know
   that it is so--we cannot help observing that there are unbelievers who
   bear the name of Christians!

   Many of these have turned aside. To our sorrow, we have lived to see it
   in far too many cases. They were members of Churches, but they grew
   weary of the good way. Nothing pleased them. The preacher who used to
   charm them lost all his power over them. Prayer Meetings became dull
   and they would rather not have anything at all to do with religion. We
   have known some go back to the world for no reason that they dared even
   to tell themselves--it was because of the fickleness of their
   unregenerate spirits. We have seen this happen to others when they have
   been strongly tempted. Satan knew their particular weakness and he
   assailed them there. How many professors have given way to strong
   drink! They would have a little and who could condemn them? But when
   they began by taking a little, they soon took what was not little to
   others--and it turned out, by-and-by, not to be little to
   themselves--and he who should have been a pattern of self-denial to the
   people of God has become a victim of intoxication!

   Others have fallen through the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes
   and the pride of life. A man has been tempted to get gain by
   dishonesty. At first the bribe did not affect him--but it was doubled,
   or tripled--and then he fell. Many more have we seen very gradually
   turning aside. It was almost impossible to tell exactly when they left
   the line of strict integrity. It was only by a hair's breadth that they
   turned aside, at first, but afterwards their apostasy was visible to
   all. Some have been frost-bitten--they have grown lukewarm and then, at
   last, ice-cold--and we have lost them. Some professors have been turned
   aside by pride. They were too rich to join with any but a "respectable"
   worldly church, or they were so learned--so conceited is the right
   word--that the plain Gospel was too inferior an article for their
   profound minds! Some, alas--and I fear, very many--have turned aside
   through poverty. We meet with cases where the visitor in the lowest
   haunts of degradation says that he has come across a woman in the
   depths of penury and with scarcely rags enough to cover her, yet she
   has produced a communion ticket, for in better days she was a member of
   the Church, but she could not get clothes quite good enough, as she
   thought. She fancied that she would be looked down upon if she came
   when poor--and so she ceased to attend the means of Grace and,
   by-and-by, gave up everything like a profession of religion. Oh, if
   there are any members of the Church of that sort, here, I pray you, if
   you ever do become very poor, do not go away from us because of that!
   And if your clothes should be all rags, I am sure that none of us will
   despise you! Or if there should be any who do so, I will bear the
   responsibility of despising them--but do not ever stay away from the
   House of God, or the company of your Christian Brothers and Sisters
   because of poverty!

   Why, it seems to me that the less you have of earthly good things to
   comfort you, the more you need of Divine treasure and the companionship
   of Christ! And you should rather seek the society of your friends in
   Christ than for a moment to shun it. Yet it has been so and, therefore,
   I put it to all here who profess to be followers of Christ--"Take heed,
   brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
   departing from the living God."

   III. Now I have only a very few minutes left in which to apply my text
   TO THOSE WHO ARE SIMPLY IN THE CONGREGATION.

   There is a large number of you who come to worship with us who are only
   camp-followers. You are not in the regular regiments of the Lord's
   Army, yet you cling to us and we cannot help regarding you with much
   affection as "brethren" so far as you allow that brotherhood to be
   true. We wish that you would make it truer, still, but we do not want
   any of you to perish because of your unbelief. Remember, dear Friends,
   that your unbelief is an affair of your heart. It is not an evil head
   of unbelief, but, "an evil heartof unbelief of which the Apostle
   speaks. And that is what is wrong with you. You know that you believe
   everything that is in the Bible. You look with horror upon any
   heretical doctrine. You love to hear the Gospel and yet you have not
   received it for yourselves. I want you to give my Lord credit to think
   Him no liar, but a true Savior. And if He is such, then come and trust
   Him! You are fit to come to Him, for your fitness lies in your need of
   Him, and I am sure you need Him. Come and do Him this act
   ofjustice--trust Him! He is so strong, so true, so tender, that if you
   will but commit your soul to Him, He will take care of it. If you will
   bring your sins to Him, He will wash them away. If you will bring your
   weakness to Him, He will strengthen you. If you will really come to
   Him, He will take you as you are at this moment, for He never cast out
   one who came to Him--it is not like He--He could not do it! It is no
   more possible for Christ to reject a sinner who trusts Him than it is
   for God to lie! It is contrary to the Nature of God and He cannot do
   what is contrary to Himself!

   Come, then, and do not depart from the living God by an evil heart of
   unbelief. Nothing will bring you near to God but believing--and nothing
   can shut you out from God and from the life and light and liberty that
   there is in God in Christ Jesus--but your unbelief. Only trust Him!
   That is the whole of the matter. I pray God, of His infinite mercy, to
   make you "take heed, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of
   unbelief," which shall get such mastery over you that you shall depart,
   not only from the living God, but even from the ways of morality, till
   God shall say to you, at the last, "Depart, you cursed. You always were
   departing, keep on departing."

   And this shall be the punishment of your sin--you shall reap it fully
   developed, for Hell is sin full grown! God save us from the baby, which
   is sin, that we may not know the man, which is Hell! God save us from
   the seed, which is sin, that we may not know the harvest, which is
   Hell! God save us from the spark, which is sin, that we may not know
   the conflagration, which is eternal damnation! God save and bless you,
   dear Friends, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 3:1-16.

   Verse 1. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
   consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
   Oh, that He had more consideration at our hands! Consider Him--you
   cannot know all His excellence, all His value to you, unless He is the
   subject of your constant meditation. Consider Him--think of His Nature,
   His offices, His work, His promises, His relation to you. "Consider the
   Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.

   2. Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was
   faithful in all his house. See how our Lord Jesus Christ condescended
   to be appointed of the Father. In coming as a Mediator, taking upon
   Himself our humanity, He "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon
   Him the form of a Servant." And being found in fashion as a Servant, we
   find that He was faithful--to every jot and tittle, He carried out His
   charge.

   3. For this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
   as He who has built the house has more honor than the house. And Moses
   was but one stone in the house. Though in a certain sense he was a
   servant in it, yet in another and, for him, a happier sense, he was
   only a stone in the house which the Lord Jesus Christ had built. Let us
   think of our Lord as the Architect and Builder of His own Church--and
   let our hearts count Him worthy of more glory than Moses--let us give
   Him glory in the highest. However highly a Jew may think of Moses--and
   he ought to think highly of him, and so ought we--yet infinitely higher
   than Moses must ever rise the Incarnate Son of God!

   4. For every house is built by some. By someone or other.

   4. But He that built all things is God. And Christ is God and He is the
   Builder of all things in the spiritual realm-- yes, and in the natural
   kingdom, too, for, "without Him was not anything made that was made."
   So He is to have eternal honor and glory as the one great
   Master-Builder.

   5, 6. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for
   a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ
   as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the
   confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firmly unto the end. You see,
   then, that the Apostle had first made a distinction between Christ and
   Moses on the ground of the builder being greater than the house he
   builds. Now, in the second place, He shows Christ's superiority to
   Moses on the ground that a son in his own house is greater than a
   servant in the house of his master. How sweetly he introduces the Truth
   of God that we are the house of Christ! Do we realize that the Lord
   Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of us? How clean we ought to be, how
   holy, how heavenly! How we should seek to rise above earth and keep
   ourselves reserved for the Crucified! In this house, no rival should be
   permitted ever to dwell--the great Lord should have every chamber of it
   entirely to Himself! Oh, that He may take His rest within our hearts as
   His holy habitation! And may there be nothing in our church life that
   shall grieve the Son of God and cause Him, even for a moment, to be
   withdrawn from us--"whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
   and the rejoicing of the hope firmly unto the end." Perseverance--final
   perseverance--is the test of election! He whom God Has chosen holds on
   and holds out even to the end, while temporary professors make only a
   fair show in the flesh, but, by-and-by, their faith vanishes.

   7. Therefore. Now comes a long parenthesis.

   7-11. (As the Holy Spirit says, Today if you will hear His voice,
   harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation
   in the wilderness: when your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My
   works forty years. Therefore I was grieved with that generation, and
   said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known My
   ways. So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest. Oh,
   that none of us, as professors of the faith of Christ, may be like
   Israel in the wilderness! I fear there is too much likeness--God grant
   that it may be carried no further! May we hear the voice of God as they
   did nothear it, for their ears were dull of hearing! May we never
   harden our hearts as they did, for they kicked against the command of
   God and rebelled against the thunders of Sinai! May God grant that we
   may never test Him, as they did, when they were continually proposing
   to God to do other than He willed to do--something for their
   gratification which would not have been right and which, therefore, He
   did not do! Oh, that we might never grieve Him as they did, for they
   grieved Him forty years! He bore with them and yet they bored Him. He
   forgave and overlooked their errors only to be provoked by the
   repetition of them, for they would not know what God made very plain.
   His works were such that the wayfaring men might have read them, but
   they did not know God's ways and, at last,

   He banished them from all participation in His rest. Their carcasses
   fell in the wilderness and they entered not into the land of promise.
   "Therefore"--

   12, 13. Take heed, brethren, Jest there is in any ofyou an evil heart
   ofunbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another
   daily, while it is called Today; lest any ofyou be hardened through the
   deceitfulness of sin. Watch over each other as well as over yourselves.
   Take heed lest sin hardens you before you are aware of it! Even while
   you fancy that you have wiped it out by repentance, petrifaction will
   remain upon your heart "through the deceitfulness ofsin."

   14-16. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of
   our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, Today if you
   will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For
   some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out
   of Egypt by Moses. Not all, for there were two faithful ones. See how
   the Spirit of God gathers up the fragments that remain! If there are
   but two faithful ones out of millions, He knows it and He records it.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Enemies of the Cross of Christ

   (No. 2553)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 23, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   OCTOBER. 26 1884.

   "For many walk, of whom Have toldyou often, and now tell you even
   weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ: whose end is
   destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their
   shame, who mind earthly things. Philippians 3:18,19.

   IT would seem, dear Friends, that there have been trials and
   difficulties connected with the Church of Christ in every age. We dream
   that our temptations are worse than those of our fathers, but they are
   not. We fancy that the Church is subject to worse diseases than in her
   early days, but it is not so. Paul had to complain that even in the
   Church at Philippi, which was about as good as any, and in some
   respects much better than most of the Churches, there were false
   teachers, and false-living men, who professed to be followers of
   Christ, but who were, in fact, the worst enemies of the Cross of
   Christ. One thing I wish and that is that, instead of brooding over our
   present difficulties, we would take them to the Lord in prayer and
   faith--and so triumph over them. But, at the same time, I wish that we
   had the same tenderness of heart for the Glory of God which was felt by
   the Apostle. That we were as sensitive as he was of anything that
   reflected upon the Divine honor, as jealous as he was, even to tears,
   lest any who professed to be the friends of the Cross should, by their
   lives, turn out to be its worst enemies. Oh, for more of Paul's zeal
   for God as the great motive power of our life, so that we might feel
   that it mattered little how anything else went so long as the Grace of
   Christ triumphed, men were saved and God's name was glorified! The Lord
   bring us to that state of mind! We shall then feel the sins of today
   even more acutely than we do at present--and we shall the more
   confidently trust in God as we seek to overcome them.

   I am not going to confine the text to its immediate connection with the
   church at Philippi, but I shall take it on a somewhat larger scale. Is
   it not startling to read of, "enemies of the Cross of Christ"? One
   would naturally have supposed that a remedy so wondrous and so
   effectual as the Atonement would have been gladly received by souls
   sick unto death with sin. It might have been predicted by any man who
   judged, concerning the future, that no sooner would the Son of God
   descend from Heaven to earth--and die to put away human sin--than men
   would come flocking by millions to adore Him--and would feel as if they
   could not give Him a sufficiently hearty welcome! Yes, but the fact
   that there ever was a Cross shows how depraved is the human heart, how
   great the Fall that needed such a Sacrifice, how deep the depravity
   that committed such a murder as that of Calvary! Man, you are beside
   yourself, indeed, and gone back out of the way and, therefore, it is
   not far-fetched that you should be an enemy of the Cross of Christ! Yet
   it seems very startling to me as I picture the scene--a bleeding Christ
   and enemies gathered about the Cross whereon He dies for them! Then, a
   weeping Apostle warning the Church of God--the messenger of Christ in
   tears as he delivers the warning--yet Christ's enemies still unmoved,
   perhaps pretending to be His friends, but remaining hostile to Him all
   the while. It is a strange conglomerate of amazing things--a Savior
   full of love and man full of hate--a preacher with a heart so broken
   that he rather weeps than preaches, and a congregation with hearts so
   hard that, though he has told them the Truth of God again and again,
   they do not regard it!

   Let that striking mixture of opposing elements stand before you, now,
   while I begin to expound the text.

   I. First, let us enquire, WHAT IS THIS CROSS OF CHRIST to which some
   men are sadly said to be enemies?

   Of course, it is not the material cross. It is not anything made in the
   shape of the cross. There are some who can fall down and adore a cross
   of wood, or stone, or gold, but I cannot conceive of a greater wounding
   of the heart of Christ than to pay reverence to anything in the shape
   of a cross, or to bow before a crucifix! I think the Savior must say,
   "What? What? Am I the Son of God and do they make even Meinto an idol?
   I who have died to redeem men from their idolatries, am I, Myself,
   taken and carved, and chiseled, and molten, and set up as an image to
   be worshipped by the sons of men?" When God says, "You shall not make
   unto you any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in
   Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
   under the earth: you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve
   them," it is a strange fantasy of human guilt that men should say, "We
   will even take the image of the Son of God, or some ghastly counterfeit
   that purports to be His image, and will bow down and worship it, as if
   to make the Christ of God an accomplice in an act of rebellion against
   the commandment of the holy Law." No, it is not the material cross to
   which Paul alludes--we have nothing to do with those outward symbols!
   We might have used them much more, but they have been so perverted to
   idolatry that some of us almost shudder at the very sight of them!

   What is the Cross of Christ, then? Well, first, it is that doctrine
   which is the center of His holy religion, the Doctrine of the Atonement
   By the Cross we mean that the Son of God did actually and literally
   die, nailed to a Roman gibbet as a malefactor--numbered with the
   transgressors--doing this because He had, of His own voluntary will,
   taken upon Himself the sin of His people and, being found with that sin
   upon Him, He must expiate it by His death. He must lay down His life,
   "the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God." As it is written, "He
   has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
   the righteousness of God in Him." Now, they who oppose this doctrine
   are "the enemies of the Cross of Christ, and they who accept this
   Atonement and repose their entire confidence upon it, are the friends
   of the Cross of Christ. They think of that Sacrifice on Calvary with
   reverence linked with love. They never know how sufficiently to speak
   of it with adoring gratitude that ever such a Victim should have been
   presented--the Father, Himself, giving Him--and that such a Victim
   should ever have been slain, the Lord resigning His life for us! Oh, it
   is amazing and more than amazing--a miracle that carries every other
   miracle within itself--greater and more Divine than all the deeds
   whereof poets have sung, even though they are the deeds of God,
   Himself, for in this He has excelled Himself--

   "God, in the Person of His Son, Has all His mightiest works outdone."
   They are "the enemies of the Cross of Christ" who try to belittle this
   great Atonement and to make it out to be a very small affair, next to
   nothing in importance. As I have often said of some preachers, they
   teach that Jesus Christ did something or other, which in some way or
   other, is in some measure or other connected with our salvation. We do
   not teach any such hazy ideas as that! We say that He laid down His
   life for the sheep and that for those sheep He has made a perfect,
   complete and effectual Redemption by which He has delivered them from
   the wrath to come. Blessed is he who rejoices in that Doctrine of the
   Cross of Christ!

   But by the Cross is sometimes meant, in Scripture, the Gospel which is
   the outflow of that central doctrine. And what is that Gospel? Why,
   that, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not
   imputing their trespasses unto them." And that, "He has committed unto
   us the word of reconciliation," which word of reconciliation is this,
   "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "He that
   believes on the Son has everlasting life." This is the Gospel which we
   proclaim--"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." As we preach this Gospel to the sons of men, we hear
   Christ crying to them through us, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and
   are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Come now, and let us
   reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they
   shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall
   be as wool." It is a promise of free, instantaneous, perfect,
   irreversible, everlasting pardon to all who will believe in Jesus
   Christ, the Son of God, for He is--mark this word--"the Author of
   eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him."

   Other salvation there is none than that which lies in His hands, but He
   has opened His hands upon the Cross and today He supplies the needs of
   every sinner who comes and trusts Him. He who quarrels with that
   Doctrine is an enemy of the Cross of Christ! Whether he makes Baptism
   to be the modus of salvation, or sets up any rite or ceremony whatever,
   whether Divinely-appointed or humanly-invented, he is an enemy of the
   Cross of Christ! Circumcision was venerable, it pertained to the
   fathers and was the seal of the ancient Covenant--but even itbecame an
   evil thing when the false teachers would have had the Gentile converts
   to be circumcised that they might escape from bearing the Cross of
   Christ--and might trust in circumcision instead of in Christ, alone!
   "For," says Paul, "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails
   anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." The Doctrine of
   Justification by Faith is the Gospel--I know no other, and I wish to
   know no other. "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that
   through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by
   Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you
   could not be justified by the Law of Moses." But, alas, there are still
   many who are enemies of that Doctrine, and so are, "enemies of the
   Cross of Christ."

   The Cross of Christ is sometimes put in Scripture for the life which is
   the result of faith in Christ. What kind of life should that be? Well,
   first, a life of self-denial. No man who is the friend of the Cross of
   Christ will give license to his passions, or indulgence to his
   appetites. If he does so, he proves that he is the enemy of the Cross
   of Christ. No man will seek honor for himself who has known that Christ
   has bought him with His blood. He will not, he cannot, he dare not live
   for himself, either in the accumulating of wealth, or the getting of
   fame, or the enjoyment of pleasure. His first, chief, master thought
   is, "For Jesus Christ all things--all things in Him, and for Him, and
   to Him, seeing that He has redeemed us with His precious blood." They
   who shirk His service, who take no interest in holy enterprises, who
   just try to live to themselves--your eaters and your drinkers, your
   hoarders and your men and women who are always adorning the body, but
   never consecrating their souls to God--these are they who are "the
   enemies of the Cross of Christ." It galls their shoulders and they will
   not bear it, so they turn aside to ways of their own.

   II. Now, secondly, WHY ARE MEN ENEMIES OF THIS CROSS OF CHRIST?

   Frankly, I think that some do not know why they are. ' 'Let me tell you
   the Gospel," says a kind friend. "I do not want to hear it." "Here is a
   little book which has been very useful to many." "I do not want your
   books." Do you not know the liberal-minded people that we have in the
   world now? When they speak, or when they write, it is all about charity
   and liberality--they hate bigots! Dear, dear, dear, is it not amazing
   that they do not hate themselves because they will not tolerate the
   very notion of true religion? "Why!" says one, "that Book is not true."
   Did you ever read it? "No." I thought so. We almost always find that
   the men who reject the New Testament never read it through and never
   mean to do so. Nicodemus wisely asked, "Does our Law judge any man
   before it hears him?" Our lawless ones do! And there are multitudes of
   men who ought to think themselves as mean as dirt because they never
   gave Christ a hearing--yet they thrust Him from them. "Oh!" says one,
   "I should never go inside any of those canting Methodist places." No,
   you are such a wonderful man that you think you can see through a stone
   wall and judge of what goes on inside--you do not need to be taught
   because you imagine you already know everything! I believe that in
   London there is a vast amount of prejudice against true religion which
   is based upon nothing at all. The people do not know what the Gospel is
   and, in part, this is our hope, for if we can but bring the blessed
   Truth of Christ to bear upon some of these men, it will be like plowing
   up virgin soil in the western states of America--we may hope to reap a
   glorious harvest. God grant that we may!

   But there are some who are "enemies of the Cross of Christ" for reasons
   which they would not like to confess. Some, because the Cross of Christ
   hurts their pride. Why should they need to be pardoned? They have done
   nothing amiss-- they are as good as most people and a great deal better
   than many! You speak to one of them and he says, "Do not talk to me as
   if you thought I was going to be lost. I do not know anybody who can
   find fault with me. I really think that I am an example to others."
   Just so and, therefore, of course you hate the Cross of Christ! No man
   who is well likes medicine-- how we laugh at the doctors when we feel
   all right! What jests we make about their calling! It is only when we
   begin to feel strange that we send for a medical man. And it is just so
   with men spiritually--as long as they are whole, they need not the
   Great Physician. While they think they are righteous, they reject the
   righteousness of Christ.

   Others, too, abhor the Cross of Christ because the Gospel is so simple.
   They belong to a club and they take in a Quarterly Review. And though
   they do not know very much about any one thing, yet they know a little
   about a great many things. They just get a smattering of various kinds
   of knowledge and they think they are wonderfully clever. Do you not
   notice the development of their foreheads? You cannot expect that they
   would have anything to do with the Gospel that would suit a servant
   girl! The religion that fits Jack, Tom and Harry is not grand enough
   for them. Why, they actually had a distant relative who was connected
   with a Baronet, so of course we cannot expect such gentlemen as they
   are to be saved simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ! The
   Gospel is too plain, too easy, for them. O Sirs, would you like to have
   it made difficult, that all the poor ignorant people in the world might
   perish just to please you? Let me remind you that such a man as Sir
   Isaac Newton, who had one of the greatest of all human minds, gloried
   in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and felt it all too great for him. And in
   our days, such a truly scientific man as Faraday bowed meekly before
   the Divine Savior and looked up and found everything in Him. Yet some
   foolish people think they know better than the eternal God so they hate
   the Cross of Christ. Self-conceit is the reason of much of the
   opposition of men to Christ.

   Besides, although the Cross of Christ is lifted high, as the one hope
   for guilty sinners, it is the most terribly holy thing beneath the cope
   of Heaven. That Cross, blood red from His dear wounds, frightens away
   sin, though it draws sinners near itself. That Christ of God, making
   Atonement with bloody sweat, pierced hands and anguished cry of, "Why
   have You forsaken Me?" is the most powerful preacher of godly living
   whose voice was ever heard among the sons of men! Not only do sins
   acknowledged to be black by society in general flee from the light of
   the Cross, but even secret sins fly before the blaze of God's mingled
   vengeance and love upon the accursed tree! The Cross is the birthplace
   of Puritans--the men who must be clean, who will not touch your filthy
   world and its amusements and nine-tenths of its engagements. These are
   the men who have sat beneath the midday midnight of a dying Savior's
   griefs and heard Him cry, "I thirst," as He bore the guilt of sinners.
   But, alas, multitudes of men do not want holiness--they want their
   harlots, they want their wine, they want their carnivals of vice, they
   want their selfishness and they want everything that Christ does not
   give, so they cry, ' 'Not this Man, but Barabbas," and they make the
   awful choice of sin as they neglect their Lord! These are "the enemies
   of the Cross of Christ."

   III. I cannot go further into that painful part of the subject, for
   time fails me, and I want next, to enquire, WHAT ARE THE MARKS OF THE
   ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCH?

   Paul is evidently alluding here to some who professed to be followers
   of Christ, but who were really "the enemies of the Cross of Christ." I
   do believe, Brothers and Sisters, that the description given of them is
   true of many in our day. Here is what the Apostle said of them, "Whose
   God is their belly." That surely means self-indulgence and applies to
   professing Christians who never restrain their appetites, or their
   desires, or their passions--who are sensual while they boast of being
   spiritual--who are altogether given up to self-indulgence and yet claim
   to be followers of the Man of Sorrows who gave up everything for the
   good of others. That is the first kind of "enemies of the Cross of
   Christ."

   Next are those who are the subjects of shameful pride--"whose glory is
   in their shame." That is to say, they boast of things of which they
   ought to be ashamed. Do you not know some who can grind down the wages
   of their employees and boast that they have done a clever and
   business-like thing--and then go and "take the sacrament"? Think of the
   poor starving needlewomen who, if they sew their souls away, cannot get
   bread enough to appease their hunger! I do not know who it is who
   oppresses them so cruelly, but I should not wonder if their taskmasters
   do not even think that they will go to Heaven--I shall be surprised if
   they are not very greatly mistaken! Then there are others who are the
   prey of avarice, and they boast of what they can save. They never give
   anything to the poor, they seem to think that it is wrong to do so.
   They even found a Society to stop it! God gives to the evil as well as
   to the good, but they give to no one! They call their methods,
   "political economy," and glory that they save so much which others
   would have given away. As to the cause of God, one wretched creature
   boasted that his soul did not cost him a shilling a year! Somebody said
   that such a sum would be too great an expense for such a miserable soul
   as his, and we hardly wonder at the sarcasm of the remark. Alas, that
   there should be those who glory in that kind of thing--pinching,
   grinding, money-loving wretches! Some of these are even called
   Christians, but all the while "they are the enemies of the Cross of
   Christ."

   There are others who profess to be Christians who go about talking to
   young people and trying to indoctrinate them with false views.
   Sometimes they even cause the faith of the old to stagger--and they
   draw one and another aside to this novelty and to that, which is not
   according to the Scripture. I believe that such people are the worst
   "enemies of the Cross of Christ." When the devil is in the pulpit, he
   is a devil! When we get bad doctrine proclaimed by ministers of Christ,
   themselves, then have we, indeed, "the enemies of the Cross of Christ,"
   and there are, nowadays, plenty of them of whom I would speak, even
   weeping, as I say that, "they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ."

   Paul adds one other description of these "enemies of the Cross of
   Christ," that is, worldliness--"who mind earthly things." This is a
   very close home-thrust to many professing Christians. Do they ever help
   the Sunday school? Oh, no, no! Sunday school? They hope somebody or
   other attends to it, but it is no concern of theirs. Do they ever aid
   in a Mission? A Mission? Why, they do not get the shutters closed till
   so late at night that they cannot help in mission work--they have
   enough to do to look after themselves. But are they doing nothing at
   all for Christ? No, nothing! And for 20 years together, nothing. What
   are they minding, then? Well, I do not know. Only I am sure that they
   cannot be minding anything but "earthly things." That is all. This is
   the catechism that they go through every day--"What shall we eat? What
   shall we drink? With what shall we be clothed?" That is all they live
   for.

   Now, do not be deceived! If this is true concerning you, you are no
   friend of Christ, for those who belong to Christ admit that they are
   not their own, but they are bought with a price and they have some
   higher and nobler objective than that which takes up the lives of
   worldlings. They are living for God and for eternity, for Christ and
   for the good of men! And their great wish is to lay themselves out for
   the Glory of God and the benefit of the human race. God grant that we
   may not be found among these characters, "whose God is their belly, and
   whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things"!

   IV. For, next, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THESE PEOPLE?

   We are told that their "end is destruction." There will be a total
   destruction of their profession. There will be a destruction of all
   their hopes. There will be a destruction of all their happiness. There
   will be destruction of themselves and they shall stand forever as
   destroyed and ruined things, ghastly exhibitions of what sin can
   do--and what must follow upon a false profession, or any other form of
   enmity to the Cross of Christ.

   V. Now, lastly, How SHOULD WE ACT IN THIS MATTER? If there are still
   such people as the Apostle describes, what have you and I to do
   concerning them?

   Well, first, some of us have to give frequent warning--"Of whom I have
   told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
   enemies of the Cross of Christ." O Friends, there are so many outside
   the professing Church who are "the enemies of the Cross of Christ" that
   it might break one's heart to think of them! But those who are inside
   the Church, professors who never knew Christ, who have often come to
   the Communion Table, but have never had fellowship with Christ--who are
   quite satisfied with their outward religion while their hearts are
   rotten through and through--it is an awful and a dreadful thing that
   there should be such! But we are bound to keep on exhorting one another
   and warning one another because there are such "enemies of the Cross of
   Christ" even inside His nominal Church.

   And, l et me add, if exhortations are frequently to be given, the
   warnings ought to be as frequently taken. How you and I ought often to
   pass the Apostolic question round, "Lord, is it I?" Suppose He stood on
   this platform and lifted up those pierced hands and said in majestic
   sorrow, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, one of you shall betray Me"?
   Would not that question stir us all to anguish? Well, let it do so! See
   to it that you make sure work for eternity, my Brothers and Sisters,
   and while I talk to you--I am talking to myself as well--oh, see to it
   that you do not have a flimsy profession, a name to live when you are
   really dead! What is religion worth if it is not in the heart? It is
   like the pageantry which surrounds the grave--the pomp, the pall, the
   hearse--death decently covered up! May God, of His infinite mercy, save
   us from having a dead profession, for, as the Lord lives, He will not
   endure dead professors! "He is not the God of the dead, but of the
   living," and He will one day say, "Bury My dead out of My sight." These
   "enemies of the Cross of Christ" shall be punished with everlasting
   destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of His
   power.

   But while we speak of these people, it becomes us to be very tender,
   for the Apostle says, "of whom I have told you often, and now tell you
   even weeping." Why weeping? Because it is an awful thing for men to
   hear the Divine and final sentence, "Depart, you cursed." I would not
   like to think of anybody here who will have that for his portion at the
   Day of Judgment! And I would be a gross traitor to your souls if I did
   not also add that I cannot help fearing that this will be the lot of
   some of you! You have never come to Christ. Perhaps you have professed
   to do so, or, possibly, you have neither done it nor professed to do
   it, but you are openly and avowedly antagonistic to the Cross of
   Christ. May God's Grace convert you! Otherwise we may well weep over
   you that you should die in your sins.

   But we have further tears because of the mischief that such sinners do.
   "Enemies of the Cross of Christ" do a world of damage to wife and
   children, neighbors and friends. "One sinner destroys much good." One
   graceless life is a great robbery of the treasury of God. One life
   spent in distinct opposition to the Gospel of Jesus is a terrible
   thing. A Scotchman took some thistle seed to Australia that he might
   see a thistle grow on his farm. He only wanted one or two rare old
   Scotch thistles to make him think that he was at home. But now,
   thousands of acres are covered with this horrible weed which nobody can
   destroy and which has become the most gross nuisance of the region! One
   seed of sin may cover a continent with crime! God save us, then, from
   being numbered with "the enemies of the Cross of Christ"! Why should we
   not all come to the Cross now? The best homage we can pay to Jesus is
   to come and receive Him as our Savior. Let us do so! Let us sing this
   verse while we do it--

   "Just as I am--without one plea

   But that Your blood was shed for me,

   And that You bid me come to You,

   O Lamb of God, I come"

   Let those who can truly sing it, do so, even if they never sang it
   before. God bless you all, for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PHILIPPIANS3.

   Verse 1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. As much as to say,
   "If this were the last sentence that I should write to you, I would
   say, 'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.' It is your privilege,
   it is your duty to rejoice in God--not in your health, your wealth,
   your children, your prosperity, but in the Lord." There is the
   unchanging and unbounded source of joy. It will do you no harm to
   rejoice in the Lord! The more you rejoice in Him, the more
   spiritually-minded will you become. "Finally, my brethren." That is,
   even to the end, not with you, the bitter end, but even to the end of
   life, rejoice in the Lord. Make this the finis of everything, the end
   of every day, the end of every year, the end of life. "Finally, my
   brethren, rejoice in the Lord." Blessed is that religion in which it is
   a duty to be happy!

   1. To write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but
   for you it is safe. Saying the same thing over and over again is safe,
   for your minds do not catch the Truth of God at the first hearing, and
   your memories are slippery.

   2. Beware of dogs.--Men of a doggish, captious, selfish spirit. In
   Paul's day, there were some who were ca1led Cynics, that is to say,
   dogs. "Beware of dogs."

   2. Beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. By which Paul meant
   those Jews who made a great point of circumcision. He calls them here
   "the cutters," for they mangled and cut the Church of God in pieces.
   "Beware of the concision."

   3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and
   rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. These are
   three marks of the true Israel of God. Have you all of
   them--worshipping God in the spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus and
   having no confidence in the flesh?

   4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If anybody might,
   Paul might. If birth, if education, or if external religiousness could
   have saved anybody in the world, it would have saved Saul of Tarsus!

   4, 5. If anyone thinks that he may have confidence in the flesh, I
   more: circumcised the eighth day. The ritual was observed even to the
   hour in his case.

   5. Of the stock of Israel Not an Edomite or a Samaritan, but, "of the
   stock of Israel" and of the very center of that stock.

   5. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Which remained with Judah, faithful, long
   after the ten tribes had gone aside.

   5. An Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the Law, a Pharisee. That is,
   one who observed all the minutiae and details of the Ceremonial Law and
   a good deal more--the traditions of the elders which hung like moss
   about the old stone of Jewish ceremonialism. Paul had observed all
   that.

   6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church! He was most zealous in the
   cause that he thought right. Bitterly, cruelly, even to the death, did
   he persecute the believers in Jesus.

   6. Touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless. Paul had
   been kept from the vices into which many fell. In his young days, he
   had been pure. And all his days, he had been upright and sincere. As
   far as he knew, to the best of his light, he had observed the Law of
   God. In another place, he calls himself the chief of sinners. And so he
   was because he persecuted the Church of God. But, in another sense, I
   may say of him that there is no man who stood so good a chance of being
   justified by works as Paul did, if there could have been any
   justification in that way.

   7. But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
   His faith in Jesus reversed all his former estimates, so that his gains
   he counted to be losses. He thought it so much the worse, concerning
   zeal, to have persecuted the Church, and so much to his injury to have
   imagined that he was blameless in the Presence of God.

   8. Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
   the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom Ihave suffered the loss
   ofall things, and do count them but dung.--Offal, refuse, garbage--

   8. That I may win Christ. He had every opportunity of advancement. He
   was a fine scholar and might have reached the highest degree in
   connection with the Sanhedrim and the synagogue, but he thought nothing
   of all that--he threw it all away as worthless and declared that
   thiswas his ambition--"That I may win Christ."

   9. And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of
   the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
   righteousness which is of God by faith. I t must be more glorious to be
   justified by God than by ourselves. It must be more safe to wear the
   righteousness of Christ than to wear our own. Nothing can so dignify
   our manhood as to have Christ, Himself, to be "the Lord our
   Righteousness." This Paul chose in preference to everything else.

   10. 11. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
   fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if
   by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. See to
   what Paul is looking forward--resurrection--and therefore he lets this
   life go as of secondary importance. He is willing to suffer as Christ
   suffered and to die as Christ died. You and I may never be called to
   make that great sacrifice, but if we are true followers of Christ, we
   shall be prepared for it. If ever it should happen that Christ and our
   life shall be put in competition, we must not deliberate for a moment,
   for Christ is all, and we must be ready to give up all for Christ.

   12. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.
   He does not say that anybody has been perfect, but he does say that he
   was not so himself, and I should think that any man who believed
   himself to be better than Paul would thereby prove at once that he was
   not perfect, for he must be sadly lacking in humility.

   12. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I
   am apprehended of Christ Jesus. "All that Christ meant me to be, I want
   to be. All that Christ meant to give me, I want to have. All that He
   meant me to do, I want to do, to apprehend, to lay hold of that for
   which I am laid hold of by Christ Jesus."

   13. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. That is Paul's
   judgment concerning himself--he has not yet attained to the full all
   that the religion of Christ can give him.

   13, 14. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
   behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
   toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
   Jesus. Always making progress--throwing himself into it, having the
   reward before him, the prize of perfection in Christ--and running
   towards it with all his might.

   15. Let us, therefore, as many as are mature. Or, "would be perfect."

   15. Be thus minded: and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God
   shall reveal even this unto you. I admire that sentence. If any Brother
   has not reached a full knowledge of the Truth of God, let us not
   condemn him, or cast him out of our company, but say to him, "God shall
   reveal even this unto you."

   16. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the
   same rule, let us mind the same thing. There are some points upon which
   we are all agreed. There is some standing ground where the babe in
   Grace may meet with the man in Christ Jesus. Well, as far as we see eye
   to eye, let us co-operate with one another, let us have our hearts knit
   together in a holy unanimity. "Let us walk by the same rule, let us
   mind the same thing." There are some people who are always looking out
   for points of difference--their motto seems to be, "If we differ in
   anything, let us split away from one another." Their great idea is that
   by dividing we shall conquer! The fact is that by separating ourselves
   from one another, we shall miss all hope of strength and play into the
   hands of the adversaries.

   17. Brethren, be followers together ofme, andmark them which walk so
   asyou have us for an example. For the true servant of Christ teaches by
   his life as much as by his words.

   18-20. (For many walk, of whom Ihave told you often, and now tell you,
   even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose
   end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in
   their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation. Or,
   citizenship--

   20, 21. Is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
   Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body. Vile so far that it has
   been defiled by sin. Vile in comparison with that body which shall
   be--"Who shall change our vile body," the body of our humiliation.

   21. That it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to
   the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself
     __________________________________________________________________

The Spiritual Resurrection

   (No. 2554)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 30, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER
   18, 1855.

   "And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
   forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave
   clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus sail unto
   them, Loose him, and let him go." John 11:43, 44.

   PERHAPS the legitimate topic of this discourse, after such a text,
   ought to be the resurrection of the dead. Lazarus had died--he had lain
   in his grave. At the invitation of his sisters, Jesus Christ came to
   see them and His visit answered the double purpose of comforting the
   bereaved and restoring the dead. It would be a blessed and an excellent
   topic were we, for a little while, to dilate upon the wonders of the
   resurrection. We shall do so for a few moments and then we shall come
   to the principal theme of this evening which will rather concern
   spiritual resurrection from a spiritual death, than that natural
   resurrection which is to take place upon us all, by-and-by.

   The very fact that Lazarus came from his grave, after he had lain there
   four days and was corrupt, and that he was called from the sepulcher by
   the mighty voice of Jesus is, to us, a proof that the dead shall rise
   at the voice of Jesus at the Last Great Day. Every Christian believes
   that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, but, unfortunately, the
   great Doctrine of the Resurrection is not, by most of us, made so
   prominent as it ought to be. In old times, the Resurrection was
   preached by the Apostles as being the sum and substance of the Gospel.
   Wherever Paul went, we know that he spoke concerning the Resurrection
   of the dead--and then, "some mocked." But now, usually, if we speak
   concerning the after state of the departed, we generally treat of
   immortality, not of resurrection. Now, immortality was known to the
   ancients before the Gospel came. They believed in a kind of
   immortality, but resurrection never entered into the thoughts of the
   heathen. Many of them believed in the immortality of the soul. Those
   who had been enlightened by powerful reason, or remnants of ancient
   tradition, believed that the soul did not die, but lived on in a future
   state. But immortality is not resurrection! And the immortality of the
   soulis very different from the Christian doctrine of the resurrection
   of the body. We believe that the soul is immortal and shall last
   forever, but we believe something more than that. We believe that the
   body is immortal, too! And that after this body shall have been sown in
   the grave--in the Lord's good time it shall be raised again and shall
   either be translated to Heaven, there to enjoy eternal bliss--or else
   be sent down to Hell to suffer forever and ever.

   The Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead belongs peculiarly to the
   Christian dispensation. It was never taught by any rationalists or
   philosophers. They might hold the transmigration of souls, but the
   resurrection of the body they did not hold. But we, as Christians,
   really believe that this body which we now inhabit, though it must die
   and see corruption, shall be raised from the dust--that, though
   consumed on the funeral pyre, its ashes, scattered to the winds, shall
   yet come together again! We believe that do what you will with the
   body--divide it, scatter it, mingle it--God, by the fiat of His
   Omnipotence, shall rebuild the fabric to become the habitation of the
   living soul forever and forever. We dare not in fact, deny this,
   because we are so expressly taught it in the sacred writings and it has
   been so fully and satisfactorily proved by the Apostle Paul.

   And oh, my Friends, is it not a blessed fact that we shall rise again?
   I see among my audience some whose garb of woe betokens that they have
   lost a friend. I see some whose time-worn countenances tell me that
   they must have buried a mother or a father. Others, I know, have laid
   beloved infants in the dust. Others have had a precious husband or wife
   severed from their bosom. I mark among you some whose dress tell me you
   have been lately widowed, or bereaved of one tenderly beloved. Ah,
   despair not, you mourners! Here is a fact for you--not only that your
   soul and the soul of your loved one shall meet in eternity--but that
   the same body on which you doted shall, if you are Believers, be seen
   by you in Heaven! The eyes of the tender and pious mother which once
   dropped tears on you shall behold you in Heaven! And the hands of that
   pious father, now lying in the grave, that once lay on your head and
   consecrated you to the Lord shall be grasped by you in Heaven! Not only
   shall the soul of that infant live forever and ever, but its beautiful
   body, which is dear to you as the casket which contained the soul of
   your child, shall live again! It shall not be a fictitious
   resurrection--it shall not be a new race of ethereal creatures--but
   actual bodies shall be ours.

   And oh, my Brothers and Sisters, if you have been bereft of all your
   friends--if they have departed in the faith of Jesus, you shall see
   them again! "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
   henceforth: Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
   and their works do follow them." But yet more blessed are they to be,
   "for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
   incorruptible," and we shall see the bodies of those we once loved on
   earth. Those bodies we once silently gazed upon, as they lay in all the
   stiffness of death, we shall see quickened and glorified! That mortal
   shall "put on immortality." That corruptible shall, "put on
   incorruption." It was "sown in weakness" and we wept when we saw it
   lowered into the grave--but it shall be "raised in power." It was "sown
   a natural body" and though it shall be "raised a spiritual body," yet
   it shall be a body to all intents and purposes, as it was before. And
   we shall recognize it as such--

   "Oh, sacred hope! Oh, blissful hope, That Jesus' Grace has given; The
   hope, when days and years are past, We all shall meet in Heaven! "

   Not in a separate existence of merely souls, but souls and bodies, too!
   And--

   "There, on a green and flowery mount, Our wearied (bodies as well as)
   souls shall sit, And with transporting joys recount The labors of our
   feet."

   Ah, Beloved, does not this make Christianity worth having? Does not
   this light up the grave with a supernatural splendor--this cheering,
   this glorious, this overpowering, this more than natural, this
   superhuman Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead? I will not stop to
   picture the scene--I might tell you of the silent graves and of the
   churchyards covered with the grass of ages. I might picture to you the
   battlefields, I might bid you hear the voice of Jesus when, descending
   with the sound of the trumpet and with an exceedingly great army of
   angels, He shall say, "Awake, you dead, and come to judgment!" When he
   cries, "Awake!" eyes that have been glazed for many a year shall open!
   Bodies that have long been stiffened shall regain their energy and
   stand upright! Not sheeted ghosts, not phantoms, not visions, but
   actual beings shall rise! They--the same persons who were buried--the
   real men, the real women. I think I see them bursting the cerements of
   the grave, pushing open their coffin lids and coming forth. Ah, we
   shall see them, and each one, for himself, shall rise. There shall rise
   Lazarus and Martha and Mary--and loved ones that belong to us--whom
   long we have wept as departed, we shall then rejoice over as having
   been recovered!

   So much by way of preliminary remarks concerning the resurrection from
   the dead.

   Now let us deal with the subject in another manner. The death of
   Lazarus, his burial in the tomb and his corruption are a figure and
   picture of the spiritual condition of every soul by nature. The voice
   of Jesus, crying, "Lazarus, come forth," is an emblem of the voice of
   Jesus, by His Spirit, which quickens the soul. And the fact that
   Lazarus, even when alive, wore his grave clothes for a little while,
   until they were taken from him, is extremely significant, for if we
   allegorize upon it, it teaches us that even when a soul is quickened
   into spiritual life, it still wears some of its grave clothes which are
   only torn off when Jesus afterwards says, "Loose him, and let him go."
   We propose, therefore, to consider these three points. First, the
   slumber of death, in which every soul lies by nature. Secondly, the
   voice of life--"Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth."
   And thirdly, the partial bondage which even the living soul has to
   endure, which is signified by Lazarus coming forth bound hand and foot
   and having his face wrapped about with a napkin.

   I. First, then, we have here THE SLUMBER OF DEATH in which all of us
   lie by nature. Come with me now, Christian, to "the rock from where you
   were hewn," to "the hole of the pit"--to the miry clay--"from where you
   were dug." Come with me to the house of death, for there your soul once
   lay, "dead in trespasses and sins." There are some in this world, we
   know, who utterly deny that the sinner is really dead in sins. I
   remember, some time ago, hearing a preacher assert that, though the
   Scriptures said that men were dead, it meant a metaphorical death--that
   they were not really and actually dead, but only metaphorically so.
   Now, I always like, when there is a metaphor, to keep to the metaphor.
   Some of the eminent doctors in Rowland Hill's day said that there were
   no such beings as angels, that they were only Oriental metaphors. "Very
   well," said Rowland Hill, "then it was a company of Oriental metaphors
   that sang at the birth of Christ, 'Glory to God in the highest.' Angels
   are Oriental metaphors? Then it was an Oriental metaphor that slew
   185,000 of Sennacherib's army in a single night. Angels are Oriental
   metaphors? Then it was an Oriental metaphor that appeared to Peter in
   prison, that knocked off his chains and led him through the streets.
   Truly," Mr. Hill said, "these Oriental metaphors are wonderful things!"
   We will try the same rule here. "You has He metaphorically quickened,
   who were metaphorically dead in trespasses and sins!" A fine
   metaphorical Gospel that is! Then again, "To be carnally-minded is
   metaphorical death! But to be spiritually-minded is metaphorical life
   and peace!" Such language does not mean anything at all! My Friends, it
   is all nonsense about metaphorical death! Men are really dead in a
   spiritual sense.

   But I must tell you in what this death consists. There are different
   grades of life--understand that to commence with. There is the life of
   a plant which a stone does not possess and, therefore, a stone is dead.
   There is the life of an animal which the plant does not possess and, if
   you were speaking of animal life, you might describe the plant as to
   that extent dead. Then, again, there is mental life--and since the
   animal has no mind, you might say that the animal is mentally dead.
   Then there is a grade beyond the soul life of a man--a spiritual life.
   To an ungodly man, there are only two parts--soul and body. To the
   Christian, there are three--body, soul, and spirit And as a body
   without a soul would be dead, naturally--so a man without a spirit, a
   man who has not had a spark struck off from the great orb of Light
   called God--is spiritually dead. Nevertheless, there are some who
   assert that men who are ungodly are spiritually alive. Come, sinner, if
   you think thus, I must argue with you a little while.

   First of all, if you are spiritually alive and can do spiritual
   actions, the first thing I ask you is, Why do you not do them now?Some
   men say that they can repent and believe when they like and they do not
   believe that, to do this, they need the power of the Spirit. Then, Sir,
   if you can do it, and do not do it--if any man deserves to be damned,
   it is you! And on your own showing, if there is a corner of the Pit
   hotter than another, you ought to be put there!

   The next thing I have to say to you, O Sinner, is this--You say, "I am
   not dead; I have spiritual life, and can pray, and repent and believe."
   Let me ask, Have you tried to do it? Do you say, "Yes"? Well, then, I
   know you will confess, unless you will lie before God, that you have
   found out your inability! There never was a man yet who strove to pray
   sincerely before God, but he felt something repressing his devotion.
   When he has come before God, under an agony of guilt, crying out for
   mercy, he has felt at times as if he could not pray, as if he could not
   utter a single word! Have none of you known what it is to be in such a
   condition that you cannot pray, that you cannot believe, that you
   cannot repent? When you put your hand on your heart and say, "O God, my
   heart is hard! I wish it would melt! I cannot break it"? When you would
   pray, do you not feel that your heart is far away, wandering in the
   world? The best method of proving a man's inability is to set him about
   doing the thing. When the young man said, "All these things have I kept
   from my youth up," Jesus, just to try him, said, "Go and sell all that
   you have." Ah, Beloved, when God brought us to Himself we wrestled in
   prayer and pleaded with him--and we were taught, after all, that the
   power for everything spiritual must come from God, for there were
   certain times and seasons when we could no more have prayed than we
   could have flown up to Heaven! When we could no more have believed than
   we could have taken the moon in our hands! We could not grasp a
   promise. We could not grapple with a single temptation. We felt
   ourselves to be powerless, lost, dead. Sinner, I tell you, you are dead
   as to all spiritual matters, and dead you always will be, if left to
   yourself--and you cannot by any means carry yourself to Heaven! The
   sovereign will and power of God alone must quicken you, or else you can
   do nothing except sin. Neither righteous acts nor coming to Jesus can
   you ever do of yourself.

   But I think I hear someone say, "II cannot do anything, I will sit down
   where I am and make myself content.''" What? Will you sit down when
   Hell blazes before you, when the Pit is yawning at your feet, when
   damnation stares you in the face, when God is angry with you, when your
   sins are bellowing out to high Heaven for condemnation? Will you sit
   down? I tell you, you cannot and dare not sit down. Sit down? As well
   might a man sit on yonder housetop when the flames are blazing around
   him! As well might he float down the rapids, to be at once dashed to
   pieces! Ah, if you talk about sitting down, you give me the best proof
   in all the world that you are "dead in trespasses and sins," for if you
   were not dead, you would be beginning to cry out, "O God, quicken me! O
   God, give me life! I know that I am dead! I feel that I can do nothing,
   but You have promised to do it all for me. Though I am less than
   nothing, You have Omnipotence to give me life." Do you not see, Man,
   that I am putting you down that Christ may pick you up? Do you not see
   that I am laying you low, not to perish, not to be trampled on in the
   dust, but rather that, like a corn of wheat, you might fall into the
   ground and die and afterwards be quickened and bring forth fruit?
   Nothing can bring a man into a state of life so well as a feeling of
   death! And if I could get my Hearers, one and all, to recognize,
   acknowledge and feel that they were in a state of spiritual death and
   utterly powerless, I could then have hope for them--for no man can
   confess himself to be dead and yet sit down contentedly--he will cry
   out for Divine Grace and ask God to deliver him from that death.

   But there is one thing I have yet to tell you before I leave this point
   and it is that the ungodly man is something more than dead. He is like
   Lazarus lying in his tomb. You remember those homely words which Martha
   said to Jesus? They are translated into plain Saxon and, I daresay, the
   Hebrew is quite as expressive, "Lord, by this time he stinks: for he
   has been dead four days." Yes, Brothers and Sisters, and this is the
   condition of every ungodly man--the is not only dead, but he has become
   positively corrupt in God's sight! There are some here, to whom I might
   point at this moment, who know what I mean when I say they not only
   groan under a sense of spiritual death, but feel themselves to be a
   stench in their own nostrils and in God's also. I ask you, poor
   convicted sinner, does there live or exist in this world a greater
   nuisance than yourself? I know you will say, "No, there may be other
   filthy and abominable things, but I feel myself to be the most
   loathsome incarnation of filthiness that ever could have existed. I did
   not always think myself to be so, but I do now. I feel that I am not
   simply dead and powerless, but I feel offensive to myself, so that I
   wish I could run away from myself. And I feel offensive, moreover, to
   God--utterly obnoxious to Him." Well, then, if that is your feeling,
   you are brought low enough, for it is just when we begin to corrupt, as
   the body of Lazarus did, and we, like Martha, are for giving everything
   up as hopeless, that Jesus Christ calls as He did then, "Lazarus, come
   forth!"

   Now you see what I have made my congregation out to be. Some of you are
   alive--you have been quickened by God. But as for the rest of you, I am
   standing in an immense catacomb, tonight, and all around me there are
   dead persons--in the gallery and down below--men and women who are
   spiritually dead!

   II. But now comes the wonder-working process, THE VOICE OF LIFE. Jesus
   said, "Lazarus, come forth."

   We commence, then, with this wonder-working process by saying that the
   giving of life to Lazarus was instantaneous. There lay Lazarus in the
   grave, dead and corrupt. Jesus cried aloud, "Lazarus, come forth." We
   do not read that a single moment elapsed between the time when Christ
   said the words and when Lazarus came out of his grave! It did not take
   the soul an instant to wing its way into the body of Lazarus, nor did
   that body need any delay to become alive, again! So, if the Lord speaks
   to a man and quickens him to spiritual life, it is an instantaneous
   work. There are some of you standing there, apparently alive, but you
   feel, you acknowledge, you confess, that you are dead. Well, if the
   Lord speaks to you tonight, life will come into you in a moment, in one
   single instant! The power of Divine Grace is shown in this, that it
   converts a man instantly and on the spot! It does not take hours to
   justify--justification is done in a moment! It does not take hours to
   regenerate--regeneration is done in a second. We are born and we die,
   naturally, in instants. And so it is with regard to spiritual death and
   spiritual life--they occupy no period of time, but are done instantly,
   whenever Jesus speaks! Oh, if my Master would cry tonight, "Lazarus,
   come forth!" there is not a Lazarus here--although covered with the
   shroud of drunkenness, bound about with the belt of swearing, or
   surrounded with a huge stone coffin of evil habits and wickedness--who
   would not burst that coffin and come forth a living man!

   But mark, it was not the disciples, but Jesus, who said, ' "Lazarus,
   come forth." How often have I strived to preach you, if possible, into
   life--but that could not be done. I remember, when I have preached at
   different times in the country, and sometimes here, that my whole soul
   has agonized over men--every nerve of my body has been strained and I
   could have wept my very being out of my eyes and carried my whole frame
   away in a flood of tears--if I could but win souls. On such occasions,
   how we preach! As if we had men before us, personally, and were
   clutching them and begging them to come to Christ! But with all that, I
   know I never yet made a soul alive, and never shall. And I am perfectly
   conscious that all the pleadings of all the living ambassadors from God
   will never induce a sinner to come to Jesus unless Jesus comes to that
   sinner! Peter might have cried for a long while, "Lazarus, come forth,"
   before Lazarus would have moved an inch! So might James or John--but
   when Jesus does it, it is done! Oh, does not this lower the pride of
   the minister? What is he? He is a poor little trumpet through which God
   blows, but nothing else! In vain do I scatter seed--it is on God the
   harvest depends! And all my Brothers in the ministry might preach till
   they were blind, but they would have no success unless the Spirit
   attended the quickening Word!

   But, poor Soul, though the hearer cannot do it, and although the
   minister cannot do it, I want to persuade you, if I can, that tonight,
   dead as you are, Jesus can speak you to life. Let me single out a
   character, for I like to do that. There is a man who says, "I have been
   living 50 years in sin and tonight I am worse than ever. My old habits
   bind me hand and foot and I have no hope of being delivered." Now, if
   tonight, my Hearer, Jesus says, "Lazarus, come forth," you will come
   forth in an instant! "No, but," you say, "I am corrupt." Ah, but Christ
   is mightier than your corruption! Do you say, "I am dead"? No, but
   Christ is "life." Do you say, "I am bound hand and foot, and in a
   dungeon of darkness"? No, but Christ is a Light in darkness and He will
   disperse the gloom. You say, perhaps, "I do not deserve it," but Jesus
   cares nothing for deserving. The dead body of Lazarus deserved nothing!
   It was putrid and only deserved to have the stone covering it forever.
   "Roll away the stone," says Christ, and oh, what odor issued forth! And
   there may be some from whom Jesus Christ may have rolled away the stone
   tonight--and they may be standing at their own graves and feeling
   themselves loathsome and offensive. But still, my Hearer, offensive as
   you are, Jesus asks no merit of you--He will give you Hsmerits. It is
   only for Him to say, "Come forth," and you will, this night, come forth
   from your grave--and be made alive in Christ Jesus! Oh, may our God
   wake many dead souls that may be present and bring them to life by His
   summons, "Lazarus, come forth."

   I think I hear another person saying, "Ah, but I am afraid, Sir, that
   if I were told to come forth, the devil would not let me--he has been
   oppressing me so long--he has been trying to keep me down and to make
   me lie still in my grave! I feel that he is now sitting upon my breast
   and weighing down all my hopes, and quenching all my love." Ah, but let
   me tell you Sinner, there is not one in Hell that is so mighty as
   Christ is in Heaven! The Evil One is in Christ's power and if you will
   but call upon Him--if He has enabled you only to utter a groan this
   night--He will cry unto you, "Come forth," and you shall live!

   III. Now let us turn for a few moments to the last point and that is,
   THE PARTIAL BONDAGE. Even when a soul is called by Divine Grace from
   death to life, yet it often wears its grave clothes for a long while.
   Many of my dear friends are afraid they are not converted because they
   are not like Mr. So-and-So, or Mrs. So-and-So-- they have not so much
   faith and assurance and do not know as much as others--so they are
   afraid they are not alive. I have a word of comfort for them! The fact
   that Lazarus came forth in his grave clothes, with a napkin wrapped
   about his head, teaches us that many of us, though we are alive in
   Christ, still have our grave clothes on. I believe many Arminians still
   have their napkin about their head. That is to say, they have not got
   quite free from trusting in works. They used to, when dead, believe in
   salvation by works--they do not, now, but they still have some remnants
   of their grave clothes hanging about them. They have not yet come to
   believe that salvation is by Sovereign Grace, alone, but will have some
   works mixed up with it. They fear that, after all, God may cast them
   out of the Covenant. Oh, if we could but tear their napkin off! We will
   not quarrel with them, we will not be angry with them--but we think we
   hear Jesus Christ say to us, "Loose them, and let them go." And we will
   try all the ways in our power, by preaching, to pull the napkin from
   their eyes and let them see, "free election known by calling," full
   salvation, matchless security, discriminating Grace, particular
   redemption and all those things that make up the great strength of the
   Gospel of Jesus!

   This, however, is not the point I want to dwell on with you, because I
   think most of you have got that napkin off your eyes. But when we first
   obtain spiritual life, how many grave clothes there are hanging about
   us! A man who has been a drunk, even though he becomes a living child
   of God, will sometimes find his old habits clinging to him. I have
   known many drunks give up their drunkenness, but when they have been
   going by a bar, they have thought that, for the life of them, they
   could not keep from going in. And they have often well-near gone astray
   and their feet have almost slipped. And the man who has been a swearer
   will confess that there have been times when the vile words have almost
   come from his lips--perhaps not quite--I hope not, but there will be
   enough to show that he has some of his grave clothes still hanging
   about him. We have known men who have indulged in other kinds of vices
   and sins and whenever an opportunity has presented itself, there has
   been the old feeling getting up and saying, "Let me do it, let me do
   it," and they have strived to keep it down, but they have hardly been
   strong enough. The grave clothes have still been about them. Those
   grave clothes will keep on very tightly until the habit is broken off.
   I believe there is not a Christian living who has not some shreds of
   his grave clothes remaining and that until we lie down in the grave, we
   shall carry them about with us.

   Look at poor Paul. Who could have been a more holy man than he? Yet he
   cried, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of
   this death?" Let this comfort and cheer the man who has come to Christ,
   but who is yet striving against his corruption. Perhaps his unbelief
   says, "If you were a child of God, you would not have these wicked
   thoughts and inclinations." But, let me ask, do you hate those thoughts
   and inclinations? Then tell the devil, next time that he assails you
   thus, that he lies, for verily, this is not a sign that you are not the
   Lord's, but rather a sign that you are His, for if you were not a child
   of God, you would not mind these things! But since you are His child,
   you strive against them.

   These wicked grave clothes will show themselves sometimes. We know some
   who seem as if they could not get rid of their old angry tempers as
   long as they live. Their grave clothes have been torn in shreds by
   Divine Grace. They do not quite strap their arms up, but the shreds
   still hang about them--and our Brothers and Sisters, even though
   converted, still seem inclined, sometimes, to be hot and fierce. And we
   meet with instances, now and then, even in the Church, of some Brothers
   and Sisters who cannot exactly curb themselves--they have some of their
   grave clothes still about them. Do not think I am speaking to exonerate
   or excuse you--I am striving to comfort you. You may be spiritually
   alive with these grave clothes on if you struggle against them and try
   to get them off. But if you love them, they are not your grave clothes,
   but your living clothes--you are doing the work of your father--and you
   shall have his wages! If you feel your sins to be grave clothes and are
   anxious to get rid of them, though you cannot conquer all your sins and
   corruptions, be not dismayed--trust in Christ! Though the grave clothes
   yet hang about you, still trust His mercy and His Grace, for,
   by-and-by, Jesus Christ shall say, "Loose him, and let him go."

   We are loosed, first, from one bad habit, and then from another. All
   the while I live, I feel that I carry some of my grave clothes about
   with me--the garment that encumbers me and the sin that most easily
   besets me. But, by-and-by, (it may only be tomorrow, but it may be many
   years hence--perhaps some of you will pray for me that it may be many
   years--but I do not know why we should wish it, but, by-and-by), the
   time will come and Christ will say, "Loose him, and let him go." I see
   one lying on his bed--the eyes glancing upward to Heaven, the pulses
   faint and few--the breath drawn heavily, the body decaying. What does
   all this mean? Why, it is the undoing of the wires of the cage and, in
   a little while, when sickness and pain have done their work, Christ
   will say, "Loose him, and let him go." I remember hearing a
   brother-minister telling me of his pious sister's death-bed. When she
   was very near dying, she said, "Sit me up a moment," and they did. She
   then said--

   "'Oh! that the final word were given, Loose me, and let me rise to
   Heaven, And wrap myself in God.'"

   In a moment or two, she fell back. God had said, "Loose her, and let
   her go." Oh, how our disembodied spirits will rejoice when God says,
   "Loose them, and let them go." We are fettered, now--we shall be
   emancipated then! Then our spirits shall fly more rapidly than the
   flashing lightning! Then shall they be wafted along, swifter than the
   gales of the North or the winds of the South! We shall fly upwards to
   our God and be free forever from all that now distresses us, for God
   shall have said, "Loose them, and let them go."

   And now a thought or two, dear Hearers, to finish up with. Before God
   will say, "Loose him, and let him go," remember, you must have had
   life. Now I come to this last solemn enquiry. How many of us in this
   place, tonight, have life? How frequently it is the case that we preach
   to our people with all our soul and might, and yet nobody takes it home
   to himself! How often, my Friends, have I preached in vain, from the
   simple fact that the hearer has listened and there has been no
   application of it to his own soul! But, oh, I would not let you go,
   feeble as I am, and unable to say much to you, until I have tried to
   press this matter home upon your souls! My Hearers, in a little while
   I, too, must stand before God's bar. And when I think of it, it is
   enough to make me tremble! When I call to mind the tens and hundreds of
   thousands unto whom I have ministered the Word of the Gospel, and think
   if there should, on the Last Day, be found one person who shall lay his
   damnation to my charge, how horrible and terrible must be my lot! If,
   after having preached to others, I should have been unfaithful and
   should prove a castaway, what an awful thing that would be! In these
   days, when it is advertised that there is a special sermon to be
   preached, people rush off to hear a popular preacher, or somebody who
   happens to be much talked about--but do you know what that man does
   when he preaches, and what you do when you hear? Are you aware that
   every time that man stands in the pulpit, if he is unfaithful, he
   subjects himself to the wrath of God? Do you not know that if, at last,
   that man who stands up to preach to the people should have been
   discovered to have preached false doctrine, his doom must be horrible
   in the extreme? And do you remember, when you hear, it is not as if you
   go to see a play, or to listen to a recital? You are listening to a man
   who professes to speak by God and for God! And to speak for your good
   and his heart yearns over you. Oh, it is solemn work to preach, and it
   should be solemn work to hear! For every preaching and every hearing
   the Lord will call us to account in the Last Great Day when He shall
   judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. What has the preacher talked
   of tonight?

   He has told you, first, that you are all dead. But some of you will go
   away and laugh at it--but laughing at it will not make you alive. He
   has told you, in the next place, that Christ can make you alive. But
   you despise that Christ--but mark, your despising Him will not free you
   from condemnation at the Last Great Day. He has told you of the bands
   of death that some of you are bound with, and you are, perhaps, tempted
   to smile. But mark you this--if you never sorrow over the bands of
   death, here, you will have to wear clanking fetters forever! Did I
   speak of fiction when I said that? I speak not of fiction, but a dread
   reality! There is, somewhere--God knows where it is--a place where the
   fire of Gehenna shall torture bodies forever and where unutterable
   misery shall pain souls! And oh, tremble, you heavens, and shake, you
   hills! O Earth, let your solid ribs of brass shake and let your heart
   be dissolved! It is a fact--a fearful fact that there is a Hell! I know
   not where it is--my spirit longs not to visit that dread region! But
   had it wings, it might fly somewhere and it would find a Hell--not a
   picture, not a dream, but a positive Hell! And there are souls there,
   this night, that are biting their bonds of iron and shrieking out under
   inexpressible torture! And there are some of your friends and relations
   there, perhaps--some whom you knew in the flesh--the man with whom you
   drained the wine-cups, the harlot, the adulterer, the thief and
   such-like persons. There they are, in Hell, at this hour!

   Do you believe it? I do not think you do, but do you believe God's Word
   Or are you hardy infidels and deny it? "It is true," you say. Then are
   you so mad and irrational as to persevere in the road to there? O Sirs,
   if there were some tremendous precipice and I saw you hastily
   approaching it, would I not cry out to you and say, "Stop! Stop! Stop!
   There is ruin before you"? And may I not tonight plead with you for
   your life, that you may be led to stop your course of sin? For "the
   wages of sin is death," while the "gift of God is eternal life through
   Jesus Christ our Lord," whom you are shunning, avoiding and grieving!
   Must I not plead with you? Shall you be going to Hell blindfolded and
   shall not one of your poor fellow creatures pull the bandage from your
   eyes? Shall he not call to you, without being thought mad, or an
   enthusiast? Well, if I am mad, in that respect may I always be so! And
   if that is to be an enthusiast, let none be sober! But if it is mad and
   enthusiastic to go to Heaven, how much more so is it to go to Hell? O
   God, show these poor souls what their portion in the flames must be and
   tell them--for Your mercy's sake tell them--what salvation by Jesus
   Christ is!

   Do you ask meto tell you that before I finish? Do I hear one say, "Men
   and brethren, what must I do to be saved?" I answer, "Believe on the
   Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." It is written, "He that
   believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall
   be damned." If you will trust in Jesus, tonight, you shall be saved! It
   does not say such-and-such a person that believes, but, "he that
   believes"--if he has been a drunk, a swearer, or whatever--"he that
   believes and is baptized"--mark how the two are put together! I dare
   not part what Christ has joined, nor dare I reverse their proper
   order--"he that believes and is baptized shall be saved."

   Farewell to you, my Hearers, for this night. I shall never meet some of
   you again in this world. Before another Sabbath is come, your corpse
   may have been laid in the grave. Which of us shall it be? On whom the
   hungry teeth of Death shall feed before another Sabbath shall let its
   chimes be heard? Oh, if you are the man, or if the preacher is the
   doomed one, may it be fulfilled--

   "Prepare me, Lord, for Your right hand, Then come the joyful day! Come
   death and some celestial band, To bear my soul away."

   But another says, "I will not enter this Chapel again! I will never
   listen to that man again! I will never again hear his voice." Good-bye,
   my Friend. I hope you will hear someone who will be as faithful to you
   and if you find a man who loves you more, or would suffer more for your
   sake, go and hear him! And God bless him to your soul! But one says, "I
   will hear no more of this matter! It is cant. It is nonsense. I will
   not turn." Ah, my Hearer, if I see you going to destruction and you
   know it not, it is none the less destruction because you do not see it!
   But another says, "This night I will give myself to Jesus, for I know I
   need life. I lie down, a corpse, and though I cannot move, I know that
   when He passes by, He will give me life." Go! God has something for
   you! Go and fall before Him! You shall have life bestowed upon you--go
   and accept it! For, wherever there is a "now," i t is of God. The Holy
   Spirit says, ' 'Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your
   hearts."
     __________________________________________________________________

The Stronghold

   (No. 2555)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY
   11, 1883.

   "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows
   them that trust in Him." Nahum 1:7.

   HAVE you read this chapter through? It is a very terrible one--it is
   like the rushing of a mighty river when it is nearing a waterfall. It
   boils, seethes and flows with overwhelming force, bearing everything
   before it, yet, right in the middle of the surging flood, there stands
   out, like a green island, this most cheering, comforting and delightful
   text! Listen a minute to the Prophet's words of terror. "The Lord is
   slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the
   wicked: the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the
   clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry,
   and dries up all the rivers: Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the
   flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake at Him, and the hills
   melt, and the earth is burned at His Presence, yes, the world, and all
   that dwell therein. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can
   abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
   and the rocks are thrown down by Him."

   Then, just as there has sometimes been a break and a delightful silence
   in the very midst of some tremendous chorus of sacred song, so here the
   thunder pauses, the hurricane is stopped and we hear the sweet music of
   this still small voice-- "Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of
   trouble, and He knows them that trust in Him"--from which we may gather
   that there is always a hiding place for His people--His eyes of love
   are fixed on them even when they flash fire upon His adversaries!
   Nothing shall harm them, though the earth is removed and the mountains
   are cast into the midst of the sea! They may rejoice in the goodness of
   the Lord in the day of His fierce anger.

   I invite you, dear Friends, to consider this text, and may the Holy
   Spirit make the meditation which will follow to be useful! There are
   three things, here, to be thought about. First let us think of God
   Himself--The Lord is good." Then let our minds ponder a little upon
   what God is to us--"a stronghold in the day of trouble." And then we
   will change the theme a little and speak of God with us--"He knows them
   that trust in Him."

   I. First, then, let us think of GOD HIMSELF--"Jehovah is good." It is
   well for us to be able to say so when the day of trouble is really upon
   us. It is one thing to sit under your vine and fig tree and sing, "The
   Lord is good." It is quite another thing when the vine and fig tree
   have both been cut down and all your comfort is gone, to still say,
   "The Lord is good." Do you not think that if we fail to say it the
   second time, it will look as if, after all, it was the vine and fig
   tree that were good, and not God? Or, at least, that our view of God's
   goodness was very much derived from the fact of our being in so much
   comfort? It was an accusation which Satan brought against Job that he
   loved God for what he got out of him--"Have not You made a hedge about
   him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side?" The
   devil is very apt to charge God's people with having a cupboard love,
   but it is well for us to refute that accusation by loving, praising and
   adoring God when comforts fail, when the hedge is broken and when the
   things that we received with gratitude are, at length, in wisdom, taken
   away. Oh, what a rebuff the archfiend had when Job, on his dunghill
   scraping his sores and with his children dead and his property gone,
   yet said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the
   name of the Lord."

   That is the spirit of our text. Here is a man of God, in the midst of
   the overwhelming flood, standing up and saying--"The Lord is good. The
   Lord is good." There are some persons who, even in their theology, do
   not believe God to be good. "It cannot be," they say, "that the wicked
   will be cast into Hell if God is good." And they argue, therefore, the
   ungodly will not be punished. But the child of God says that though
   they will certainly be cast into Hell, God is good for all that. It is
   true that He will punish sin and punish it everlastingly, but God is
   good for all that. "No," say others, "but if He is good, He cannot do
   so." You may make unto yourselves another god and call him God, but the
   Christian says, " TheLordi s good, Jehovah is good. He is good as I
   find Him--good as an angry God--good when I read such words as these,
   'With an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place,
   thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.'" God is good, even
   then--He is always good! Let Him reveal Himself as He pleases, let Him
   do what He pleases-- whatever I find He reveals about Himself, or
   whatever I see in Providence about Him, my heart is bowed down! Even
   when my understanding cannot understand, this firm piece of good sound
   doctrine is still true--"The Lord is and must be good."

   The goodness of God is seen in His very name, for what is His name,
   "God," but short for good We call Him God because we count the good.
   And so good is He that "there is none good save One; that is, God." All
   other goodness that exists is but a spark from this great Sun, or else
   it is a lie! There never would have been any goodness in the world
   apart from God, nor can goodness continue to exist, much less increase,
   except as God, whose very name is good, shall continue to make that
   goodness flow forth from Himself unto the sons of men. God is
   essentially good. It is His very Nature to be good. He could not be
   otherwise than good. If you and I are good, it is not because of our
   nature that we are good. Alas, since the Fall, it is true that in us,
   that is, in our flesh, there dwells no good thing--and any goodness has
   to be imparted to us. But to God no goodness can be brought--from God
   all goodness must be fetched, for He is good, essentially!

   And God is good independently. There are none that make Him good, or
   help Him to be so. If you and I are good in any way, it is by His
   Grace, by His teaching, by the example of friends, by Divine
   restraints, by gracious constraints. By a thousand helps and props our
   poor goodness stands, but His goodness stands of itself! None can make
   Him better. None keep Him back from being evil. He is good, He must be
   good and that entirely in and of Himself--essentially and independently
   good. I want you to think of this, because I want you never to get the
   notion in your head that God is good through certain means and under
   certain circumstances and conditions--or that the goodness of God
   depends upon the life of such an one, or upon your possession of
   such-and-such earthly goods. Oh, no! God is good independently of all
   these and if all these were swept away, God would be just as good and
   just as good to you! You may question it, but it should never be a
   matter of question. If every conduit pipe which now conveys to us
   streams of comfort from the foun-tainhead were broken and taken away,
   God could make the waters leap out of the rock, itself, and streams to
   flow in the desert immediately at our feet! As long as you have God,
   you have the essence of all good--and as long as God lives, whoever
   else dies, the goodness on which your soul is to feed has an
   independent existence.

   Note, next, that God is eternally and unchangeably good. He cannot be
   better! He cannot be worse--He is absolutely perfect. There can be no
   improvement and there can be no depreciation in Him. He was good on
   your wedding-day, when He gave you the loved one to be the joy of your
   life. And He was just as good on that sorrowful day when the partner of
   your being was struck down. You thought God was good when your little
   child laughed in your lap and the house was glad with his merry ways,
   but He was just as good when the little coffin went silently out of the
   door, wet with parents' tears. God was good to you when you walked
   abroad in the sunlight and every breath of air meant health to you--and
   He is just as good when every step is a weariness and your body is
   consuming away with sickness. He has not changed. Why, dear Heart, you
   have not changed toward your child, have you? Yet you are evil and
   shall not He who is all good be just as full of love to His children in
   dark dispensations as in bright times? Assuredly it is so! If you
   should live till infirmities are multiplied--if it were possible for
   you to exist till you had numbered the years of Methuselah, yet you
   would still find God to be just as good as in your young days when
   first your heart leaped at the sound of His name! Do not be afraid,
   therefore, of what is yet to be, for whatever comes, "Truly God is good
   to Israel"--truly, "His mercy endures forever,"

   Turn this little sentence over many times, and try to get the full
   meaning out of it. "The Lord is good"--good in each one of His Divine
   Persons. You do not doubt that the Father is good. He chose you before
   the world was. He gave His Son for you. He "has begotten us, again,
   unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
   He is our Father--surely He is good, is He not? There is Jesus, the
   second Person of the blessed Trinity in Unity. Is He not good? He
   "loved me, and gave Himself for me." He loved, lived, died, rose again
   and still lives pleading, preparing, waiting to come and take us to
   Himself. Is not Jesus good? That blessed Truth of God is beyond all
   question! Well, then, the Father is good and the Son is good. And the
   Holy Spirit--is He not good? Did He not first turn your eyes to Jesus?
   Did He not breathe into you the breath of spiritual life? And, since
   then, has He not been your Teacher, your Guide, your Helper, your
   Comforter, dwelling with you, suggesting your prayers, helping your
   infirmities? Oh, He is good! What evil did you ever have at His dear
   hands? Well, then, the Father is good, the Son is good and the Holy
   Spirit is good, so, in a threefold sense we may say, "The Lord is
   good."

   Now, to cheer your faith yet again, let me remind you that the Lord is
   good in all His acts of Grace. Was He not good when first He chose you,
   when there was nothing in you "to merit esteem, or give the Creator
   delight"? When you had fallen and lay all in ruins, yet "He loved you
   not withstanding all"--was He not good then? And when He planned the
   Covenant, "ordered in all things and sure," the Covenant of Grace by
   which He could be just and yet be the Justifier of him that believes in
   Jesus--was He not good then? And when He gave His Son--His only
   Son--that He might die to make atonement for our sin, was He not good
   then? And when He washed us in the precious blood of Christ, clothed us
   with His perfect righteousness, adopted us into His family and, by our
   regeneration, gave us the nature as well as the privileges of
   children--when He promised to preserve us even to the end--was it not
   all goodness? And must we not say of all His acts of Grace, "The Lord
   is good"? Further, Brothers and Sisters, you may depend upon it that
   the Lord's actions are all for our benefit. Good men, you know, are
   much the same all through--cut them where you please, there is
   something sound about them in every part. I am sure that it is so with
   God--it is not merely one portion of His Character that is good, but it
   is all good. Nor is it one set of His actions that are good, but allHis
   acts are good.

   That brings us to this point, that all His Providences are, have been
   and always shall be good. What is the Providence that grieves you just
   now? Perhaps you have been a great loser this week. Ah, but it is a
   good God that permitted you to be a loser. You have been bereaved. Ah,
   but it was not a demon that stole away your darling, but the good God
   permitted it--did it Himself, maybe, so He is good in that. "I should
   think Him good," said one to me," if anything else had happened to me
   except this." No, Sister, He is good in that, for if you will have it
   that He is good in all except only the one thing in which He has dealt
   with you of late, then, truly, if He had done something else, you would
   have been of the same mind! You do not believe Him good, I tell you,
   unless He is all over and altogether good. The Lord has done for His
   people the best that could be done. He has not suffered any evil to
   harm them, neither has He denied them anything that would be for their
   good. It is still true, "No good thing will He withhold from them that
   walk uprightly." A day shall come when these lips shall tell of God's
   goodness in a much better style than they can at present--up there, in
   yonder golden streets! But, meanwhile, I have an opportunity I may not
   have again, for now I am permitted to say, though I have not been
   second in mourning to any of the bereaved this week, and though thrice
   the arrows have wounded me, yet the Lord is good and blessed be His
   name! Though physical pain and mental depression come together, yet the
   Lord is good.

   When I was away in the South of France enjoying health and every
   comfort, I kept saying to myself and to my friend, "Let us praise God
   doubly now, for, maybe we shall be in the dark when we get home and,
   lest we should run short of praise, then, let us give the Lord an extra
   quantity now." I felt so glad to be, as it were, laying up a little
   store of honey against the time when flowers would not be quite so
   plentiful. But I want to use up that store, now, and bless and magnify
   and adore the name of the Lord!

   Let me say to you mourners and sufferers that your praises of God when
   you have no trouble are not worth half as much as they may be now. If
   you can sing His praises on the bed of sickness and extol Him in the
   fire of a sore bereavement, that will be grand! The praises of the
   angels, as they bow in perfect happiness, and say, "God is good," must
   be very blessed. And the praises of men of God on earth, who are
   prospering in business and who have health and strength, and who say,
   "God is good," are very precious. But you take me to one who is poor
   and needy, one who scarcely knows where his daily bread will come
   from--and when he says, "But God is good," I think the Lord finds a
   sweeter note in that praise than He does even in the music of the
   angelic choirs! Then go to one who is racked with pain and suffering,
   and deprived of every comfort--yet I see her stretch out her bony hand
   and say, "The Lord is good, blessed be His name." That is sweeter music
   still! But what praise to God there must have been from those martyrs
   who lay in prison rotting to death, or who were brought out to the
   stake and who, as they burnt, when every finger was a candle, yet still
   loved Him, praised Him, and extolled Him! Oh, that is such music as
   God, Himself, could not create directly and distinctly. God must go
   round about by redeeming love to get such melody as that1 He has not
   made a seraph that could so sing--it has to be a fallen and renewed
   being that could be capable of such love as that, and say, "The Lord is
   good." I am trying to put this praise into your mouth, but may God put
   it into your heart! Dear Brother, dear Sister, let this be your
   continual song, "The Lord is good."

   II. Secondly, GOD IS GOOD TO US. What is He to us? "A stronghold in the
   day of trouble." It is well to know what God is under special
   circumstances. The special circumstances here mentioned are, "in the
   day of trouble." Remember that it is only a day--it is not a week, nor
   a month--and God will not permit the devil to add an extra hour to that
   day. It is a "day of trouble." There is an end to all our griefs. Well
   did one say--

   "When God appoints the number ten, There never can be eleven."

   And when God measures out the bitter medicine to His people, there
   cannot be another drop of gall put into the cup.

   But it really is "the day of trouble." See how the emphasis is laid
   there--"a stronghold in the day of trouble." It is the most troublous
   day that a man has, that day in which the clouds return after the rain,
   that day in which he seems to have lost every comfort, and sorrows come
   one after another, like Job's messengers, all bringing gloomy
   stories--each one more gloomy than those that went before--"the day of
   trouble." There is such a day which occurs to most godly people, sooner
   or later, before they get to Heaven--"the day of trouble." It seems to
   be trouble's own day. Trouble has the day all to itself. From early in
   the morning to the last thing at night, it is trouble, trouble,
   trouble--"the day of trouble." What is God then?He is a "a stronghold."
   That is a grand word, "a stronghold"--that is, a fortress, a castle, a
   tower of defense--"in the day of trouble."

   So that, in the time of trouble, God guarantees safety to His people.
   They dwell surrounded as with impregnable bulwarks! "As the mountains
   are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from
   henceforth even forever." Troubles are like enemies besieging them, but
   God is to them like a strong tower of defense in which they are
   perfectly safe!

   What is more, they are often perfectly at peace. The enemy comes and
   spies upon them, throws up his earthworks and prepares his engines of
   war. But thus says the Lord, as He did to Sennacherib, "The virgin, the
   daughter of Zion, has despised you and laughed you to scorn. The
   daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you." Often, in the times
   of their greatest trouble, God's people are so resigned, so acquiescent
   to their Lord's will and, consequently so calm, so brave, that their
   peace is not in the least degree affected. I had a curious experience
   in conversing with two ladies who were very deaf. We went for a drive
   in a carriage and as soon as the rumbling of the wheels began, they
   could hear everything that I said, so we could easily carry on a
   conversation while there was a great noise, but inside their own
   drawing-room it was not so easy for them to hear. And I do believe
   that, sometimes, when God puts His people into a rumbling tumbler of
   affliction, they can hear His voice much better than at other times! It
   seems odd and strange, but it is strangely true--they are most at peace
   when in the thick of the fight, never so safe as when in danger--and
   never so much in danger as when apparently safe! God's people are a
   mass of contradictions, a paradox and a riddle! Let the Believer read
   that riddle as he can, for no one else will. He has a stronghold in the
   day of trouble, giving safety and perfect peace.

   Beside that, it is a stronghold defying the enemy. The foe comes
   tearing up the hill, ready to devour the people of God. What makes them
   safe against the adversary? Why, there is a bastion, a fortification,
   so that he cannot come near. He grins at the saints and bites his
   nails, like Bunyan's Giant Pope! He threatens what he will do to them.
   Like Rab-shakeh, he writes ugly letters, but he cannot really do
   anything. When a man hides behind the Most High, God Himself bids
   defiance to that man's adversaries, and their rage is all in vain.
   There came a watery torrent down upon a little mill and threatens to
   sweep it away, but Wisdom fitted up a wheel and allowed as much of the
   water as might be needed to turn the wheel and grind the miller's
   grain. As for the rest, it was turned aside. "Surely the wrath of man
   shall praise You: the remainder of wrath shall You restrain." So will
   it be when that great torrent of trouble comes--a part of it shall be
   used to grind our corn and make us rich and fat in the things of
   God--the rest of it shall ran harmlessly by. We shall hear its noise,
   but that shall be all. Therefore, in patience let us possess our souls.

   Once more, this stronghold means that God abides forever the same,
   always a sure refuge for the needy. Strongholds are not like temporary
   camps--fortifications are intended to stand from generation to
   generation and, in that sense, "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the
   day of trouble." Remember what brave Luther did. I think I hear him
   saying, when the enemy raved and raged around him, "Come, let us sing
   the forty-sixth Psalm, and spite the devil." So they sang, "God is our
   refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," and he verily
   laughed for joy in his holy confidence in his God.

   And Luther's God is our God--just the same God as He was then--and He
   deserves the same confidence from us as He had from Luther! Therefore,
   let us give it to Him now! Let us praise Him now! Instead of hanging
   our harps on the willows, let us say, "No, the willows have quite
   enough weight to bear without having our harps hung on them. And our
   harps were never made to be hung on willows." Let us strike every
   string to the praise of that unchanging love which puts the burden on
   the back and even smites us in love and with wise intent. My Soul,
   bless you your Lord this very moment and rob Him not of His revenue of
   praise because you are sad!

   III. Now, lastly, we are to think of GOD WITH US--"He knows them that
   trust in Him."

   Of course the Lord knows everything, but there is an emphatic sense in
   that word, "know," whenever it is applied to God's people. Here it
   refers to His intimate acquaintance with them--their persons, their
   condition, their needs, their sufferings, their past, their present,
   their future. He knows all about them. We say, sometimes, to a person
   whom we do not care to meet, "I do not know you." But we never say that
   to our own dear child, or to a friend whose concerns interest us. No,
   we try to know all about him--we wish to know in order that we may
   relieve and succor. In a far higher sense, Omniscience concentrates its
   all-perceiving glance upon each child of God. Your Father is looking at
   you, Beloved, with as intent a gaze as if there were nobody else in the
   world but you--yes, and no world, either, but only you. Think how He
   would know you if, in the whole universe, there were nothing but God
   and you--just in that way He knows you! He delights to know all about
   you, for He made you and He new-made you! You are a plant of His
   planting. He has watched over you and He has said, "I will water it
   every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." It is
   with the most intimate and intense knowledge that the Lord knows them
   that trust in Him.

   This knowledge also implies tender care. Just as a doctor who really
   cares for a patient, knows all about that patient by making a diagnosis
   of his condition and studying his symptoms from day to day till he gets
   to be thoroughly acquainted with him and does not prescribe for him at
   a venture, so does God care for you with an intense, loving,
   affectionate, earnest care--wishing to do you good, to make you
   better--and to turn everything to your benefit. If you are one of those
   that trust in Him, it is sweet for you to be able to say, "God knows
   all about me and He cares for me." Do notice one word in the text, "He
   knows them that trust in Him"--not those that are perfect, not those
   that are doing certain works--but, "He knows them that trust in Him."

   Those who trust in the Lord are not only the objects of His knowledge
   and care, they are also the objects of His approval There is nothing in
   the world that God approves of more than faith. To trust God is the
   greatest of all works. "What shall we do," said the Jews to our Lord,
   "that we might work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them,
   "This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent." To
   erect a row of almshouses, or to build a cathedral--is not that a big
   work? No, not compared with believing on Jesus Christ whom God has
   sent. This is the God-like work, the greatest work that we can do! Our
   action may not please God, however pleasing it may appear to us, but
   wherever there is faith, God is pleased. And remember, "without faith
   it is impossible to please Him." So dear Friends, if you want to please
   God, trust Him, trust Him implicitly! Trust Him now with your sin, with
   your sorrow, with everything! The more you trust Him, the more pleasing
   you are to God. See what an opportunity you have of pleasing Him in
   times of great trial and trouble. If a person has a burden to carry
   which he is able to bear, self-reliance will serve his turn. But when
   he has a load upon him that he cannotcarry, and he says, "O God, if You
   will strengthen me, I will carry it"--then it is that he is pleasing to
   God! If you are only reaching what you can reach, there is nothing
   notable in that--the real thing is to be doing what you cannot do--by
   believing in God to give you more strength than by nature you possess!
   To trust God while you are alive is good, but to say with Job. "Though
   He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," that is the very cream of faith!
   "He knows"--with approving knowledge--"all them that trust in Him."

   Once more, dear Friends, this word, "know," here means loving
   communion. We know one another by being with one another, sympathizing
   with one another, entering into one another's thoughts and feelings. I
   have known in this sense some of the choicest of God's people--and what
   a loss it is to lose those whom we have known so well! But God knows
   us. He knows our prayers and tears, He knows our wishes, He knows that
   we are not what we want to be, but He knows what we do desire to be. He
   knows our aspirations, our sighs, our groans, our secret lodgings, our
   own chastening of spirit when we fail--He has entered into it all. He
   says, "Yes, dear child, I know all about you. I have been with you when
   you thought you were alone. I have read what you could not read--the
   secrets of your own heart that you could not decipher. I have known
   them all, and I still know them."

   And they who trust in the Lord shall have one more thing. That is, God
   will acknowledge them as His. At the Last Great Day, Christ shall say
   to some, "I never knew you." Those that do not trust Christ, He will
   not acknowledge. In that dread hour when they will most of all need a
   Savior, He will say, "I never knew you." But if you trust Him, He knows
   you now and He will acknowledge you then! Jesus Christ Himself cannot
   say to me at the last day, "I never knew you." He must know me, for He
   knows how I have bothered and worried Him! He knows how I had the blood
   from His heart to wash my sins away and the robe of His righteousness
   to clothe me. I have needed all that He is to make anything of me and
   still, day by day I am a poor beggar who will not let Him go down the
   street without crying, "You, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Therefore
   He knows my name and Christ will never say that He does not know us if
   He does. Make Him acquainted with your name even now! Dear Sinner, go
   and tell the Lord your story and your history, your sin and your
   transgression. If you confess your sin to Him, He cannot say, "I never
   knew you." Then go and cast yourself on Him with all your sin--then He
   will acknowledge you as His and will never disown you!

   "He knows them that trust in Him." Trusting in Him gives us a wonderful
   hold on God. If you trust a man, he feels bound, if he is an honorable
   man, to be true to the trust reposed in him. If it were a poor person
   in the street, who had only a few shillings, and was afraid of being
   robbed, and he were to put his little bit of money in your hand, and
   say, "Good woman, will you take care of this money of mine?"--you would
   take care of it, would you not? You would do anything rather than lose
   it. And Christ will keep that which we have committed unto Him. Last
   Monday night, one of our Brothers, a neighboring minister, told us
   that, 45 years ago, he gave his soul to Christ and, he said, "It has
   been like a sealed envelope ever since." I like that thought of the
   seal that has never been broken. The devil has never been able to get
   at the good man's soul. It has been a sealed envelope ever since his
   conversion--and so it shall be until the day of his Lord's appearing,
   when Christ shall break the seal and reveal to the assembled worlds
   what He has kept!

   Oh, give yourselves to Jesus, dear Hearts! Give yourselves to Jesus!
   Now that so many are being taken away from us to Heaven, I want to have
   a great number coming into the Church to fill up the vacuum. During the
   last few weeks that I have been ill and have been away, I have not been
   able to see any of you, but I intend, as soon as I can, to see such as
   wish to make a confession of their faith in Christ. I hope that there
   are many of you ready to come and that among the rest will be one or
   another able to say, "Yes, Sir, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the
   day of trouble. And I now know that He knows them that trust in
   Him--and I have the witness of the Spirit that I am one of that happy
   company." God bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 77.

   The Book of Psalms, though it is Divinely Inspired, is also marvelously
   human--it is everywhere instinct with life-- and life in its most
   sympathetic forms. However glad you are, there is always a Psalm
   suitable for you to sing. And you are never so sad but a Psalm could be
   found to help you, in the very depths, to pour out your complaint
   before God. This 77th Psalm is the song of a man in deep depression.

   Verse 1. Icried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice;
   andHegave ear unto me. It was only a cry. A monotonous cry, redoubled
   and full of sorrow. Yet the Lord gave ear unto him who cried. There
   were some who would have stopped their ears and have got out of the
   way, for the sound made them melancholy and they could not bear it. But
   the Lord gave ear unto His sad servant's cry. Oh, how sweet is this!
   Though He hears the songs of angels and though the hallelujahs of the
   blood-bought in Glory never cease before Him, yet He stoops from His
   throne of majesty and listens to the cry of misery! "He gave ear unto
   me." Are any of you troubled? Pour out your hearts before the Lord and
   He will give ear unto you as He did to the writer of this Psalm!

   2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. That was a very wise
   thing to do! Where else should he go, in the day of trouble, but to Him
   who sent the trouble, to Him who could help him to bear the trouble, to
   Him who could sanctify the trouble, to Him who could, if He pleased,
   remove the trouble? "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord." I
   have heard of some who fly to strong drink to drown their
   troubles--that will never do--it is like leaping into the fire to
   escape the flame! Some run to their fellow creatures for comfort--that
   is a poor way of acting--better by far do as the Psalmist said he did,
   "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord."

   2, 3. My sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be
   comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled. Yet he says that he
   sought God. It is a grand thing when your faith leads you to seek God,
   even though He troubles you! It is better to knock at God's door when
   He is angry than to go to any other door! Even if He shuts the door in
   your face, still wait upon Him. Though He may seem not to heed your
   cry, there is no door like that of God's! Therefore, continue there.
   Yet there are times when even Believers in God are so conscious of sin,
   so conscious of departure from Him by unbelief towards Him, that, as
   they remember God, they are troubled.

   3-5. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. You hold my
   eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered
   the days of old, the years of ancient times. What God did with others
   of His people in their times of trouble, how He rescued them, the
   splendor of His power in the ages long since gone--these are among the
   things which the Psalmist considered. It is well, sometimes, to live in
   the past. If the present seems to be like a fire that has gone out,
   snatch a live coal from the altars of the past and set the fuel alight
   again.

   6. I call to remembrance my song in the night. ' 'How I was once like a
   nightingale and learned to sing with a thorn at my breast. How, in
   former times, I triumphed in the hour of trouble and affliction." It is
   good to remember all this, for, though past experience will not do to
   liveupon, yet sometimes we are like the men with their barges when they
   push backwards to send the barge forward. We may think of the past to
   help us in the present.

   6, 7. I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
   Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more?Come,
   what do you think? Will such a loving, faithful God as ours cast us off
   forever? Can you harbor such a thought concerning Him? Will He be
   favorable no more after all the favor He has already shown? Can He
   change? Will He deny Himself? Do you think that God will play fast and
   loose with you? "Will He be favorable no more?"

   8. Is His mercy clean gone forever?We sing, "His mercy endures
   forever!" Is that a lie? Can it be?

   8. Does His promise fail forevermore? Does it ever fail at all? And if
   it does tarry a while, will it always wait? Will God, at last, be found
   untrue? Come, children of God, in your trouble face these questions and
   answer them--for you must get comfort out of the only reply that you
   can give to them.

   9. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Is He the same God that He used to
   be? Or has He been overtaken with a fit of forgetfulness? Has He a
   failing memory, like yours and mine?

   9. Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah. Can it be? Has He
   not said, "as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go
   over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor
   rebuke you"? Can it be, then, that in anger He has shut up His tender
   mercies?

   10. And I said, This is my infirmity. And so it is. Worse than that, it
   is sometimes our iniquity, our sin, to think such hard things of God!
   But inasmuch as faith was there, battling, struggling and striving, the
   little temporary victory which unbelief seemed to gain was the result
   of infirmity.

   10. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
   The glorious years of His electing love. The years in which He has
   loved His people and never changed that love. The years in which we,
   ourselves, have realized His Presence and been at His right hand
   enjoying, day by day, a sense of His love.

   11, 12. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember
   Your wonders of old. I will meditate also on all Your works, and talk
   of Your doings. They will bear talking of, they will bear turning over
   and meditating upon, for they are full of comfort.

   13, 14. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as
   our God? You are the God that does wonders: You have declared Your
   strength among the people. Whenever the Hebrew mind was full of
   exulting joy concerning God's greatness and might, it seemed inevitably
   to turn back to Egypt and the Red Sea. Just as we, Believers in Jesus,
   love to sing the song of the Lamb, so did these old Believers sing it
   by anticipation! We may fitly join with them and together we may sing
   the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb. Here is a part
   of it.

   15. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and
   Joseph. Selah. There is no song like that of redemption! Whatever our
   troubles may be--if we are trusting in Christ, we are a redeemed
   people! Whatever our sins or infirmities, or imperfections--we are a
   redeemed people, like Israel of old! They were redeemed by power, as
   well as by price, so we read--

   16-18. Thee waters saw You, O God, thee waters saw You; theey were
   afraid: thee depths also were troubled. Thee clouds poured out water:
   the skies sent out a sound: Your arrows also went abroad. The voice of
   Your thunder was in the Heaven: the lightning lightened the world: the
   earth trembled and shook. This is what Egypt saw when God turned the
   dark side of the cloud towards the Egyptians and greatly troubled them
   through that wild tempestuous night!

   19, 20. Your way is in the sea, and Your path in the great waters, and
   Your footsteps are not known. You led Your people like a flock by the
   hand of Moses and Aaron. And so will He continue to lead His people by
   one and another, till all their wanderings are over and they rest in
   peace at His right hand forever. "Therefore, comfort one another with
   these words."
     __________________________________________________________________

Life Proved by Love

   (No. 2556)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY
   18, 1883.

   "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
   brethren." 1 John 3:14.

   I HAVE heard it said, by those who would be thought philosophers, that
   in religion we must believe, but cannot know. I am not very clear about
   the distinction they draw between knowledge and faith, nor do I care to
   enquire because I assert that, in matters relating to religion, we do
   know! In the things of God, we both believe and know. If you will read
   this Epistle through and, with a pencil draw a line under the word,
   "know," wherever it occurs, you will be astonished to see how John
   continually asserts about the great Truths of our faith, "We know, we
   know, we know, we know." He does not admit that any one of these things
   is the subject of conjecture, but he asserts it to be a matter of
   positive knowledge. These philosophical gentlemen call themselves
   Agnostics--that is a word derived from the Greek and has the same
   meaning as the word, "ignoramus," which comes from the Latin--and is
   the English equivalent for a "know-nothing." Well, if they like to be
   called ignoramuses, I have not the slightest objection to their keeping
   the title, but they should never presume to argue with Christian men!
   They put themselves out of court, directly, for we say, " We know."
   They cannot deny anything we choose to affirm, after that, because
   confessedly they do not know. If we do know and they cannot allege
   against us that we are deceivers--if, in any court of law they will
   admit that our testimony would be taken quite as quickly as theirs, and
   that our general repute is that we are as upright and as honest as they
   are--then they ought, in modesty, never to contradict us in anything,
   but to believe what we declare to be true.

   As they do not know anything, themselves, let them be guided by those
   who doknow. At any rate, whether they choose to agree with us or not,
   we shall always affirm that we know what we know! And there are some
   things about God, and about the future, and about prayer and about the
   work of the Spirit of God in our own souls which we do not fancy, or
   imagine, or even make to be merely matters of faith. We know them, we
   are sure of them, for we have felt them, tasted them, handled them--and
   we know them as surely as we know the fact of our own existence. My
   text seems to me to speak of four things about which Believers in
   Christ are and ought to be positive and certain.

   I. First, WE KNOW THAT ONCE WE WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS. That
   is implied in the text-- "We know that we have passed from death unto
   life." We could not have passed from death if we were not in death.
   Neither would there have been a change in bringing us into life if we
   were in life before. Herein, I believe, lies the Doctrine of the
   Natural Ruin of Man--his original sin, the depravity of his heart. I
   have heard it said that the children of some Christians are so very
   good--I suppose on account of their having such wonderfully good
   fathers and mothers--that they may be considered to have been born in
   the Church. They, I am assured, have no need of any conversion, and
   they never ought to need it. There are such principles within the dear
   little souls that you have only to nourish those blessed principles and
   they will turn into veritable angels! I have seen some of these
   children and I regret to say that I have not found them different in
   nature from other people's boys and girls, neither have they grown up
   to be better than the children of the most ungodly. I believe,
   concerning everybody's child, that it must be born again, that the
   Spirit of God must change its natural heart if it is to become a child
   of God. At any rate, whatever may be the theory as regards other
   people, we know that wewere once dead in sin--we have no question about
   that!

   We who have been converted and become the subjects of the work of the
   Spirit of God know that we were once fast bound in spiritual death--at
   one time we were utterly insensible. We heard the Word of God and were
   pleased, perhaps, with the oratory of the speaker, or moved by his
   earnestness. But we were never led, by all his pleadings, to hate sin
   and to believe in Christ. We were shaken, but we were not awakened. We
   were insensible, spiritually, to the power of the Law of God. We heard
   it preached and we might be, for a moment, disquieted, but we never
   felt the terror of the condemnation which God pronounces upon the
   sinner who breaks His Law. If we did feel anything of it, we strived to
   get away from its influence--and drowned in pleasure and in sin all
   thoughts of the wrath of God. We could also hear the Gospel, as well as
   the Law, and the sweetest note in it had no music for our ears. What
   cared we for Jesus and His bleeding wounds? What respect had we for
   Infinite Love and the invitations of the precious Word? We came and we
   went, yet continued just as we were. We saw our face in the glass, but
   we did not wash it--and the spots of sin still remained.

   Some of you, dear Friends, remember that you had grown so insensible to
   spiritual things that you did not even care to hear the Gospel. The
   Sabbath was to some of you just like any other day in the week, except
   that, sometimes, you took most of your pleasure that day--which meant
   that you went further in sin than you ordinarily did--for your daily
   labor kept you pretty steady through the week. You know how often
   Sunday brought "St. Monday" after it, with all sorts of mischief in its
   train--the Sabbath became to you rather a door of sin than a gate of
   mercy. Some of you had godly parents, yet you took no notice of your
   father's God and your mother's Savior. You saw others go to the House
   of Prayer, but you were in your shirt-sleeves all the morning. And in
   the evening you "did not care to go," you said, "to be stirred up with
   a crowd to listen to dry talk." Just so--all this was because you were
   quite insensible to Divine things. Charm he ever so wisely, the charmer
   cannot allure the deaf adder and, for a time, the Gospel's charming
   music could not reach your ears. That was one proof of your being
   dead--that you were spiritually insensible.

   More than that, we had not the appetites of living men and women. You
   know that if a man is alive, he will be hungry, in due time. There is a
   bell that is sure to ring inside to tell him that it is time to coal up
   and set the fires going again. He will be thirsty, too. The body will
   need moisture and there will be a summons for him to drink if he is
   alive. He may be just on the borders of life, perhaps almost gone, and
   then hunger and thirst may be forgotten, but the healthy man has these
   tokens of life about him at fit seasons--that he must eat and drink.
   There was a time when you and I had no hunger for the Bread of Life.
   "Pshaw," we said, "what cant! What nonsense!" We did not desire to
   drink of "the river of the Water of Life." We did not believe in its
   existence and, though now every drop of the Gospel is sweet to us as
   honey, we cared not an atom about it once! We despised the Doctrines of
   Grace and we did not wish for the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
   Himself! He who is the Bread of Heaven was without any attraction for
   us--we did not feel any need of Him. We thought that we were strong and
   could find our own way into Heaven. We did not know our own weakness
   nor His strength. We believed that we were fat and flourishing and,
   therefore, we did not need to feed upon Him. It is perfectly true that
   with regard to Grace and all spiritual things, we were dead! "Blessed
   are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall
   be filled." But dead are they unto whom no spiritual hunger or thirst
   ever comes! This was the second proof of our spiritual death.

   There was this further evidence that we were without power of movement
   of a spiritual kind. You remember the philosopher who was asked to
   prove that he lived and he did it by simply walking? Movement is a
   proof of life. Certainly, spiritualmovement proves spiritual life. To
   draw near to You, my God, proves that I am alive. To approach You--
   though it is with faltering steps, like a tottering infant who any
   moment may fall--yet, to draw near to You, though I do but crawl like a
   baby of a few months old, proves that I am alive! The movement of godly
   desire, the movement of a humble hope, the movement of a holy wish, the
   movement of a penitential sigh or cry--if there are any of these in the
   soul--they are proofs of life. It is not so very long ago since some of
   you had none of them. I had the great delight, yesterday, of seeing
   many who have just lately been quickened by Divine Grace. Many of them,
   as they looked me in the face with holy shame, told how dead they had
   been towards God--they were alive, indeed, unto transgression and
   unrighteousness--but stone dead as to any movement of the Spirit of God
   who now has made them alive in Christ Jesus!

   There is another sign which proves death, namely, the lack of breath
   That is one of the last tokens of expiring life. You have heard of
   friends holding a mirror to the man's mouth and, as long as there is a
   little dimness to be seen upon the glass, they say, "He still lives."
   But when the breath is all gone, then the life has gone. The poet truly
   said--

   "Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,"

   but there was a time with us when we did not pray. Perhaps some of you,
   from your childhood, always said a form of prayer and if you ever went
   to bed without saying it, you dared not go to sleep. Yet how much of
   that formality was but a mockery of God! I will not speak too harshly
   about the child's form of prayer, for sometimes that form has been made
   use of by God to lead on to true spiritual supplication. Still, it
   would be idle for us to imagine that the mere repetition of certain
   words was prayer--we know, now, that it was notprayer. We did not
   really ask anything of God, we did not truly speak to God at all--we
   might just as well have said our prayers backward, as forward, for any
   good there was in them! I have heard of some people who, even at 30 and
   40 years of age, have repeated the same form of prayer that they used
   when they were children. I have even read of one who, at 60 or 70, used
   to pray God to bless his father and mother who had been dead 30 years!
   When men once get into the way of using a form of prayer, they are apt
   to keep to that form when there is positively no meaning whatever in
   it. That is the state in which some of us were--we used dead prayers,
   for there was no life in us.

   Ah, but it is not so now, Beloved! Now, we pray. I think that some of
   us could more easily tell when we pray than when we do not pray. As we
   walk the crowded streets, we cry to God in secret, "Oh, that You would
   be with me!" We cannot read a book without praying that we may have
   help from God to spy out the meaning. We do not even go to look at a
   baby without pleading with God to save the soul of that dear child. We
   feel habitually in the spirit of prayer. If it is not so with any of
   us, we ought to pray that it may be so! Mark you, the spiritof prayer
   is better than any mere act of prayer. The act of prayer is good, the
   habit of prayer is good, but to have the spiritof prayer always with us
   so that we as naturally pray as we breathe--this is the highest
   blessing of all--and one of the surest signs of spiritual life!

   I grieve to add, but it is true of some of us in a very special degree,
   that we know we were dead in sin because we had begun to corrupt. If a
   man has lost his life for only a certain number of hours, he may still
   look very much as he did and, if the eyes were the only guide, we might
   scarcely know whether he was a living man or not. But that appearance
   will not last many days--you soon perceive the signs of an inward
   dissolution. Corruption is beginning to take possession of the place
   which death has conquered and, very soon, you will have to say, "Bury
   my dead out of my sight." It happened to some of us to be, in our
   salvation, like the little girl to whom Christ went soon after the
   breath was out of her body. He took her by the hand and said, "Talitha,
   cumi"--"Maid, arise"--and she lived again before corruption had worked
   any great change within her. Happy are they who are saved in their
   youth, before the inward death has begun to show itself in outward
   corruption! Yet, some of us who were converted while we were yet boys,
   remember enough of our wanderings to make us fear what we might have
   been if Grace had not interposed.

   I have often told the story of Rowland Hill and the good Scotchman who
   sat for some time looking at the preacher's face and at the strange,
   comic twinkling about his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I am
   looking at the lines of your face," said the Scotchman. "And what do
   you make of them?" "Oh, I was thinking what a bad fellow you would have
   become if it had not been for the Grace of God." And some of us, as we
   look back at the lines of our young character before it was allowed to
   develop, cannot help saying to ourselves, "What great sinners we would
   have been but for the Grace of God!" There were already tokens of
   commenced corruption.

   But there are others in whom the corruption has become more apparent.
   They have gone into actual transgression and have become familiar with
   what are called the pleasures of this world--its vanities, gaieties and
   pollutions. They have not been worse than others. Indeed, even while
   dead in sin, they compliment themselves that they are not so bad as
   others! Yet they would not like to have their secret deeds proclaimed
   before the face of all men, as they will be at the Judgment Day! They
   would be ashamed to have them known. You, my Friend, are like that
   young man who was carried out at the gate of Nain, whom Christ met on
   the way to the sepulcher and raised from the dead. You are dead, surely
   enough, but there are some others who are dead, like Lazarus, who had
   lain four days in the grave--and of whom his sister said, "Lord, by
   this time he stinks." God's Grace has come to some who will easily
   recognize my description of them--when they were as far gone in evil as
   they could be. There was not any other sin left for them to commit!
   They had sinned up to their neck--they had plunged into it and done as
   much evil as they could. Rottenness was in their very soul, corruption
   was in everything they said, for it was full of obscenity and
   blasphemy. It was in all they did, for the more nauseous the sin was in
   the nostrils of God, the more pleasing it was to them! There are some
   here who will always say, "I know that I was dead, for I was corrupt.
   Death had set his seal upon me with a stamp that could not be mistaken.
   I was, indeed, dead before God, for I had begun to be offensive even in
   the nostrils of good men."

   That will suffice for this part of our subject. Let us look back with
   shame on our original. Let us remember the hole of the pit from where
   we were dug and then stand fast in this one certainty--we know that we
   were dead.

   II. Secondly, we know another thing and a brighter thing--WE KNOW THAT
   WE HAVE UNDERGONE A

   VERY AMAZING CHANGE--"We know that we have passed from death unto
   life."

   That passage, "from death unto life," is the reverse of the natural
   one. We all expect to pass from life unto death. The heathen talks of a
   Charon to ferry men across the river into the unseen world. Long ago
   the poet said, "Easy is the descent to Avernus. But to retrace your
   steps--that is the work, that is the difficulty." Yet that is just what
   God has done for us who believe! We have not gone from life to death,
   but He has brought us up from death unto life! There has been such a
   change in us as is altogether supernatural, such a change as never
   would have occurred had we been left to ourselves. We now are sure that
   it is so. I speak to some in whom the change is so evident to
   themselves that they often wonder at it. One of the surest proofs to
   any man of the existence of a God consists in His dealings with that
   man in turning him front darkness to light, and from the power of sin
   and Satan, unto God. All the arguments that ever were written by
   Butler, or Paley, or any of the defenders of religion, will never
   convince a man like coming into personal dealings with God. And when
   those dealings assume this form--that we have passed from death unto
   life--they become indisputable proofs of the Godhead and of the power
   of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

   I do not think that it is easy to describe the passage from life to
   death. I could not describe it, though I have seen many pass away. And
   it is almost impossible to describe the passage from death unto life. I
   know what it is, as you do, Brothers and Sisters, many of you. It has
   happened in your own case, yet you could not explain it. What a
   wonderful process it is! It is not dying--it is quite the reverse--it
   is being quickened. Can you tell another person how it happened? You
   can speak of the outward means and the external circumstances, but you
   cannot picture to anyone the secret way of the Spirit. His methods of
   quickening are deep mysteries and even he who has felt them cannot
   translate them into human language. Yet believe us, O Unbelievers, we
   are before you, men and women as different from what we used to be as
   though we had died and risen from the dead! We are, some of us here, so
   changed and altered that if we met our old selves, we would not know
   them! We are no longer ourselves, though now most truly we are
   ourselves by the effectual working of the almighty Grace of God!

   We can tell you, however, that this passing from death unto life
   usually begins with pain. I have heard that when men have been nearly
   drowned and animation has been restored by rubbing and other processes,
   their first sensation was that of intense anguish. When the blood began
   to move, again, and the lungs began gently to heave, the first feeling
   was one of great pain. You know how, if your foot, "goes to sleep," as
   we say, when it begins to get right, again, what pain there often is!
   That is, on a very small scale, what happens to a man who is being
   resuscitated--it is just a faint picture of the pain that is usually
   felt by those who pass from death to life. Yet let me lay down no hard
   and fast rule! I am not giving a description that is to be stereotyped,
   but I only say what usually happens. I do not know that the little
   girl, to whom the Lord Jesus said, "Talitha, cumi," had any pain at
   all. I expect that she just opened her eyes and sat up, and as soon as
   she saw that it was Jesus, she wanted to wait upon Him, but He
   commanded that something should be given her to eat. And there are some
   dear children and some persons of older age who are brought to Jesus
   very gently. There are not so many pangs in their birth as there are in
   the births of others--yet they are as truly regenerated and born into
   the family of God. Still, I think that the new life usually begins with
   pain.

   One of the first signs of it is that it is accompanied with great
   self-depreciation. The man who is passing from death to life grows very
   little in his own esteem. He gets to despise what he once thought to be
   his beauty and his comeliness. As to his supposed excellence, he is not
   half the man he thought he was! He would never have been able to go
   through the needle's eye while he was such a size as that, so he had to
   be reduced and then still further reduced till he became less than
   nothing in his own eyes.

   At the same time, when that life really does begin in a soul, it begin
   very quickly. There may be, at first, only enough light to make the
   darkness visible, only enough life to incarnate itself in a sigh. The
   prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner," is rather a large-sized form
   of the heavenly life. Sometimes the poor, trembling soul cannot get as
   far as that. Yet, not a single spark of the Divine Life ever dies out,
   or ever can. The living and incorruptible seed of the Word of God lives
   and abides forever! If it is but as a grain of mustard seed and it
   falls into the ground which God has prepared for it, it must live and
   it must grow! But, often, it is at first exceedingly weak. The test of
   its reality is that the man trusts in

   Jesus, for "he that believes on the Son has everlasting life." That is
   a sure Word of God, for He has, Himself, spoken it: "Whoever lives and
   believes in Me shall never die." The renewed man, however feeble his
   life may be, does believe in Jesus and, therefore, he is saved!

   When that life comes to the birth, it is usually attended with great
   joy. When at last the man has believed in Jesus, and rested in Him,
   then he passes from darkness to light in the sense of passing from
   sorrow into overflowing joy! It is not always so, but that is the
   general way--there is a joy unspeakable and full of glory which attends
   this passing from death unto life--it is a period to which a man may
   always look back with gratitude to God. I am always glad when our
   friends get a very decided conversion because, though I am not going to
   say a word about those who come to Christ very gradually, yet their
   experience is rather cloudy. No doubt they are just as safe as others,
   but they lack a good deal of comfort afterwards and, sometimes, persons
   who are very readily converted and who have no very deep sense of sin,
   are more apt to play with evil than others are who have had a clearer
   sight of its enormity. So, we know--however it came to pass--we
   knowthat we have undergone a very amazing change!

   III. Thirdly, we know something else. WE KNOW THAT WE LIVE--"We know
   that we have passed from death unto life."

   In that life, first of all, is included non-condemnation. A man who is
   condemned to die can hardly be said to live, but he who has believed in
   Jesus Christ knows that there is, for him, no condemnation! Nothing
   shall ever be laid to his charge, for all his sins were punished on
   Christ--a full atonement was made for them--and they were forever put
   away. This we know, and we rejoice to know it--it is the very glory and
   bliss of our life!

   We live now, dear Friends, in this way--we have entered into a new
   state of being. We have made the acquaintance of a great many things
   that we did not know anything of before. "All things have become new."
   "Ah, Sir," said one to me once, "either all the world has altered, or
   else I have, for people I once delighted in I am now afraid of. The
   things that once made me glad, now make me unhappy, and those that I
   thought melancholy are now the very things in which I find my highest
   joy." Yes, we have not merely to talk about God, now, but to knowHim!
   Not simply to speak about Christ, but to live in Him! Not now to dream
   or read about the Spirit of God, but to felHim working in us! We have
   come now to know the blood of Jesus as applied to our souls to make us
   clean--the promises are now our riches and prayer is a reality to us!
   We never need anybody to tell us that there is a power in prayer, for
   we have tokens from day to day that the Lord hears our petitions. We
   are living in a new world altogether, we know we are! These things were
   unknown and unperceived by us once, but they are perceived by us now.

   Beside that, we are now introduced into spiritual society. I hardly
   know how to explain the great change to some here, but suppose you had
   been a pig all your life and that you were suddenly made into a man.
   Well, now you are a man, you look through a telescope--swine cannot do
   that. You look through a microscope--I never knew a pig do that in my
   life. Swine do not talk, but you speak, you sing, you pray, you are
   quite a different creature from what you were before. It is just so
   with some of us--we have another life than we ever possessed before, we
   live in a different world to what we used to live in, we know things
   that were unknowable to us once, we enjoy what we never had enjoyed and
   we have griefs that never occurred to us before we passed from death
   unto life. By all these things we know that we do really live.

   Further, this new life necessitates new food. We feel, now, an appetite
   which nothing but Christ can satisfy! We love the House of God, we
   delight in God's Word, and when the Holy Spirit blesses us, then are we
   filled as with marrow and fatness! We believe, too, that this life
   guarantees to us eternal life--that, in fact, it is eternal life--life
   that can never die, or be taken away from us. Let me tell you, my
   un-converted Friend, that we are very happy! "But," you say, "you said
   that you had sorrows which we do not have." Exactly so. Men, you know,
   have sorrows which swine do not have. Do I compare you to swine? Well,
   if you do not like that image, I cannot help it. I will take any other
   that is true, but there is as great a difference between a living
   Christian and a mere man as there is between a living man and a dog. He
   has another life, a higher life and he has entered another realm. I
   would not try to teach a dog astronomy and it is impossible for an
   unrenewed man to know the things of God. I should not think of putting
   my dog into a chair and beginning to explain theology to him--and until
   you are born again, you will never understand the meaning of God's
   Grace. You must get a new life, pass from death unto life, or you
   cannot know these things. But we who believe in Jesus know that we have
   this life.

   IV. Now, fourthly, WE KNOW THAT WE LIVE BECAUSE WE LOVE.

   The enquiry as to whether we are alive or not is a very curious thing.
   This morning I received a letter informing me that the High Court of
   Chancery has ordered investigation, with affidavit, as to whether "the
   said Charles Haddon Spurgeon" is still alive. I replied to the lawyer
   that I would not make an affidavit to that effect, for I would not take
   an oath for any purpose, but that I was willing most solemnly to affirm
   that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, I am still alive. And I
   expect to have to do that before long. I did not say to myself, "Am I
   really alive or not?" But I have known some Christian people, who have
   so often sung--

   "'Tis a point I long to know"-- which all of us have to sing some time
   or other--that they are not sure whether they are alive or not! Making
   themselves sad, miserable and melancholy, they think is a proof of
   life. Perhaps it is, but there are other proofs of life beside that,
   and I like the one that is given in the text--"We know that we have
   passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."

   So, Brothers and Sisters, if we can say that we love God's people, as
   God's people, because they are God's people, that is a mark that we
   have passed from death unto life! Do you love them for Christ's sake?Do
   you say to yourself, "That is one of Christ's people. That is one who
   bears Christ's Cross. That is one of the children of God and,
   therefore, I love him and take delight in his company"? Then that is an
   evidence that you are not of the world. If you were, you would love the
   world, but, belonging to Christ, you love those who are Christ's and
   you love them for Christ's sake.

   Another is you love them for the Truth of God's sake. We are but
   earthen vessels, yet there is the excellency of the treasure of God put
   within us, so, when you can say, "I love that man because of the Truth
   of God he preaches. I do not care about his talents, but I do care
   about his Gospel"--when you can say, "I love that woman, I delight to
   hear her speak of Jesus, her experience comforts me because it is full
   of Christ." Or, "I love to read the writings of such a Brother because
   there is a savor of Christ about every letter that he writes"--that is
   a mark that you have passed from death unto life. If you love the
   children, you love the Father, I am pretty sure of that. And if you
   love Him, it is because He first loved you!

   It is another mark of our passing from death unto life when we love
   God's people for their own sake, when we wish that we were like they
   are, when we say to ourselves, "I would gladly be the least among them,
   washing their feet and filling the humblest place, so that I might
   share the love which is their joy." It is a sure token that you are a
   child of God when you love God's people even when the world hates them,
   taking their part, being willing to be reproached with them. When you
   say, "You scoff at such a saint, do you? I am one of the same family,
   so give me some of your scorn! If you have any rotten stuff to fling
   and you set this Christian man in the pillory, I will stand by his side
   and count it a great honor to share the contempt that comes upon a
   child of God." If you thus love the saints, you need not be afraid
   whether you have passed from death unto life.

   It is also a sure mark of Grace when we love the company of God's
   people as a people, when we are willing to go to the little Prayer
   Meeting to hear them pray, when we hear them groaning and yet feel,
   "That is just the kind of sorrow that I would like to feel." When we
   hear them joyful and say, "That is the kind ofjoy I want to feel." When
   we hear them tell about what the Lord has done for them, and though we
   have not felt quite the same joy, ourselves, yet say, "I love them
   because the Lord has loved them. If He has not yet worked all this in
   me, I love them because He has worked it in them. I rejoice to see my
   Father's finger anywhere, on anyone, whoever he may be." Well, if that
   is your case, go your way in peace! It seems but a very small token of
   the inward life that we love the Brothers and Sisters, yet it is one of
   the surest in the world, and it is one of which even you high and
   mighty saints may be glad to avail yourselves in the cloudy and dark
   day which, sooner or later, may come upon you.

   God grant us all to have a share in this precious knowledge, for
   Christ's sake! Amen and Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM32.

   A Psalm of David, giving instruction. The 32nd Psalm is a Gospel
   benediction. It belongs not to the law--it is a word which can only
   come of Sovereign Grace to the guilty. The very first sentence tells us
   that.

   Verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
   covered. Blessed would have been the man who never transgressed, who
   never sinned, but, be encouraged, O Sinner, there is blessedness even
   for the likes of you! Blessed is he who, though he has transgressed,
   has had his transgression forgiven--who, though he has sinned, and
   sinned often, and sinned foully, yet, nevertheless, has had his sin
   covered. There is such blessedness in this forgiveness that scarcely
   can the bliss of an unfallen spirit excel it! There is a tenderness, a
   delicacy, a fragrance, a love about the dealings of God with pardoned
   sinners that even angels can scarcely tell the excessive sweetness of
   it! They have never known the joy of redeeming Grace and dying love
   and, although they are blessed, yet peculiarly and especially is he
   blessed "whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."

   2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in
   whose spirit there is no guile. He is blessed twice over. God
   multiplies the blessing. He blesses him effectually, He blesses him
   emphatically, He blesses him in body, He blesses him in soul. He is
   blessed! He has iniquities, but God does not impute them to him. They
   have been of old imputed to Another who stood in the sinner's place,
   bore the sinner's guilt and put it all away by His own expiatory
   sufferings! Therefore, as these deeds were put to Christ's account,
   they are not laid to the account of the Lord's people! "Blessed is the
   man unto whom Jehovah imputes not iniquity." But even pardon and
   deliverance from guilt would not be sufficient to make a man blessed if
   they stood alone, for, as long as our heart is full of sin and deceit
   and follows crooked ways, there can be no true rest to us. Therefore
   the blessedness comes to the man "in whose spirit there is no
   guile"--no falsehood. The guile and the guilt have gone together and
   the gall is gone, too. Now the man is truthful, so he confesses his
   sin. He is also trustful, so he lays hold on the sinner's Substitute
   and thus he finds peace. Dear Friends, do you all know this
   blessedness? If you do not, I pray that you may, for it is Heaven begun
   below--the Heaven of a poor sinner whose sin is covered and whose heart
   is purified from guile. Now see the way by which we come to this
   blessedness--

   3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the
   day long. Sin was in his heart but he would not confess it. He was
   silent before God in hardness of heart and then his sorrow grew worse
   and worse, till not only his flesh began to fail, but his bones--the
   most solid part of his frame began to grow old, too. He felt like a man
   prematurely aged, melting away into the grave.

   4. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned
   into the drought of summer Selah. When a man gets God's hand on him, I
   guarantee you that he will want no other burden! This hand of God goes
   with him wherever he goes, it is like his own shadow. Whenever you meet
   with persons who are self-righteous, you may pray God to lay his hand
   on them--that will drive the pride and unbelief out of them. David says
   that he was so pressed under God's hand that the very essence of his
   soul was squeezed out of him.

   5. I acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hid. I
   said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and You forgave
   the iniquity of my sins. Selah. "And You forgave"--blessed, "and!" How
   very simple it was! The floods of Divine Wrath were swelling. David
   just pulled up the sluices of confession, the floods ran away, and all
   was quiet! Oh, what a simple plan this is! But pride cannot stand
   it--to humble oneself and confess before God that one is utterly undone
   and ruined and sinful--our proud spirit will not bring itself to do if
   it can help it. Yet that is the way of peace. Down, down, down, flat on
   your face! "He that is down need fear no fall." But we do not like that
   going down, that acknowledgment of transgression. Still, we must come
   to it and the sooner, the better. The Lord bring every proud soul here
   to a full acknowledgment and confession of sin--and then forgiveness
   will surely follow.

   6. For this shall everyone who is godly pray unto You in a time when
   You may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not
   come near unto him. The fact that God hears us at the first and gives
   us a great deliverance when we are under a sense of sin, makes us pray
   to Him as long as we live. We shall never forget how God heard us
   then--and something whispers into our heart, "He heard you then. He
   will hear you now." One thing I know, if you do not--I can never come
   to God again in such a plight as I came to Him at the first. Whatever
   happens to me--if I am bereaved a thousand times--if I am covered from
   head to foot with sores and sit like Job on a dunghill--I can never be
   brought so low as I was when, in my despair, I was ready to lay violent
   hands on myself rather than live any longer under a sense of sin! I
   looked unto Him and I was lightened--and that first grand deliverance
   ensures that, in every other time of trial, in every other flood of
   great waters, when I cry unto God, He will deliver me!

   7. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You
   shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. Here is a
   threefold declaration. "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me
   from trouble; You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance."
   "Yes," says God, "I will." And now He speaks to His servant. When we
   speak to God, we may expect that God will speak to us. And what a happy
   dialog it is when a soul can pray, and praise, and magnify the
   Lord--and then the Lord condescends to speak to His poor servant after
   this fashion!

   8. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. "I
   have led you so far. I have brought you up out of the horrible pit and
   out of the miry clay. I will not let you perish, now. I will not leave
   you to your own folly."

   8. I will guide you with My eyes. It is a very gentle way of guidance
   when a mistress just turns her eyes towards her servant, who
   understands her without a word. So God is quite willing to guide His
   people with His eyes if they are willing to be so guided.

   9. Be you not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
   understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest
   they come near unto you. Alas, there are some hard-mouthed Christians!
   They will not take a hint from God. They do not watch God's eyes and so
   do not learn by that gentle means and, therefore, they require to have
   a bit and a bridle--and such things are not at all nice in one's mouth.
   Some Christians must always be in trouble, or else they would be in
   sin. It seems as if some could never be allowed a furlough from sorrow,
   or else they would spend it in the tents of wickedness--"Be you not as
   the horse, or as the mule." Be tender-mouthed. Be willing to be guided.
   Yield to the gentle admonitions of the Divine Spirit that you may have
   a truly happy life.

   10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. It is all merriment with them
   now--they "count it one of the wisest things, to drive dull care away."
   But hark to this knell of all their joys, "Many sorrows shall be to the
   wicked." If not today, or tomorrow, yet by-and-by, and in that day it
   shall be so. All the future is dark to the wicked. The further they go,
   the worse they will grow.

   10. But he that trusts in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about ' 'He
   that trusts in the Lord"--he is the very opposite of the wicked. Do you
   trust in the Lord, my Friend? If not, you will have to be put among the
   wicked, for there are only two sorts of people in the world--the wicked
   and those that trust in the Lord! If you are not a believer in Christ,
   you must go with the other company. "He that trusts in the Lord, mercy
   shall compass him about." Mercy shall go all round him, before him,
   behind him, above him, beneath him, within him and around him
   everywhere! As you see the moon, sometimes, with a halo around it, so
   shall you be--you shall have brightness within and round about you,
   mercy shall compass you about.

   11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous: and shout for joy,
   all you that are upright in heart If anybody has a right to be glad,
   you have! So indulge the gladness and magnify the name of the Lord.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Vexed Soul Comforted

   (No. 2557)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   JANUARY 21, 1883.

   "The Almighty hats vexed my soul." Job 27:2.

   THE word, "who," was put into this verse by the translators, but it is
   not needed. It is better as I have read it to you, "The Almighty has
   vexed my soul." The marginal reading is, perhaps, a more exact
   translation of the original--"The Almighty has embittered my soul."
   From this we learn that a good man may have his soul vexed. He may not
   be able to preserve the serenity of his mind. We think and think
   rightly, that a Christian man should "glory in tribulations, also," and
   rise superior to all outward afflictions. But it is not always so with
   us. It is necessary, sometimes, that we should be "in heaviness through
   manifold temptations." Not only are the temptations needed for the
   trial of our faith, but it is even necessary that we should be in
   heaviness through them. I hardly imagine that the most quiet and
   restful Believers have always been unruffled. I can scarcely think that
   even those whose peace is like a river have always been made to flow on
   with calm and equable current. Even to rivers there are rapids and
   cataracts, and so, I think, in the most smoothly-flowing life, there
   surely must be breaks of distraction and of distress. At any rate, it
   was so with Job. His afflictions, aggravated by the accusations of his
   so-called friends, at last made the iron enter into his very soul and
   his spirit was so troubled that he cried, "The Almighty has embittered
   my soul!"

   It is also clear, from our text, that a good man may trace the vexation
   of his soul distinctly to God. It was not merely that Job's former
   troubles had come from God, for he had borne up under them--when all he
   had was gone, he had still blessed the name of the Lord with holy
   serenity. But God had permitted these three eminent and distinguished
   men, mighty in speech, to come about him, to rub salt into his wounds,
   and so to increase his agony. At first, too, God did not seem to help
   him in the debate, although afterwards He answered all the accusations
   of Job's friends and put them to the rout. Yet, for a time, Job had to
   stand like a solitary champion against all three of them and, against
   young Elihu, too. So he looked up to Heaven and he said, "The Almighty
   has embittered my soul. That is the end of the controversy. I can see
   from where all my troubles come."

   Advancing a step further, we notice that in all this, Job did not rebel
   against God, or speak a word against Him. He swore by that very God who
   had vexed his soul. See how it stands here--"As God lives, who has
   taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who has vexed my soul." He
   stood fast to it that this God was the true God. He called Him good, he
   believed Him to be almighty--it never occurred to Job to bring a
   railing accusation against God, or to start aside from his allegiance
   to Him. He is a truly brave man who can say with Job, "'Though He slay
   me, yet will I trust in Him.' Let God deal with me as He will, yet He
   is good and I will praise His name. What if He has vexed my soul? He
   has a right to vex me, so I will not kick against the pricks. Let Him
   grieve me, let Him put gall and wormwood into my cup if so it shall
   please Him, but still will I magnify His name, for He is good and only
   good." Here is the strength of the saints--here is the glory which God
   gets out of true Believers--that they cannot and will not be soured
   against their

   God!

   Now go another step and notice that this embittering of Job's soul was
   intended for his good. The Patriarch was to have his wealth doubled and
   he, therefore, needed double Grace that he might be able to bear the
   burden. He was also to be a far holier man than he had been at the
   first. Perfect and upright as he seemed to be, he was to rise a stage
   higher. If his character had been deficient in anything, perhaps it was
   deficient in humility. Truly Job was no proud man, he was generous,
   kind and meek, but, possibly, he had a little too high a notion of his
   own character, so even thatmust be taken away from him. Other Divine
   Graces must be added to those he already possessed. He must have a
   tenderness of spirit which appears to have been lacking. He must become
   as gentle as a maid. As he had been firm as a man of war, consequently,
   this bitterness of soul was meant to help him towards perfection of
   character. When that end was accomplished, all the bitterness was
   turned into sweetness. God made the travail of his soul to be forgotten
   by reason of the joy that came of it. Job no longer thought of the
   dunghill and the potsherd, and the lost sheep, and the consumed
   camels--he only thought of the goodness of God who had restored
   everything to him, again, and given him back the dew of his youth and
   the freshness of his spirit.

   Child of God, are you vexed and embittered in soul? Then bravely accept
   the trial as coming from your Father and say, "The cup which my Father
   has given me, shall I not drink it?" "Shall we receive good at the hand
   of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Press on through the cloud
   which now lowers directly in your pathway--it may be with you as it was
   with the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, "they feared as
   they entered the cloud," yet in that cloud they saw their Master's
   Glory and they found it good to be there. Fear not, have confidence in
   God--all your sorrows shall yet end in joy and the thing which you
   deplore, today, shall be the subject of tomorrow's sweetest songs. The
   Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see no more forever.
   Therefore, be of good courage and let your hearts be strengthened.

   I am going to take the text right away from its connection. Having
   explained it as it relates to Job and those like Job, I want to use it
   for the benefit of anyone else who can fitly use the expression, "The
   Almighty has vexed my soul." My sermon will be like an archer's
   arrow--God knows where the heart is at which I am aiming. I draw the
   bow at a ven-ture--the Lord will direct the bolt between the joints of
   the harness of the one it is intended to strike.

   I. First, I shall speak upon A PERSONAL FACT. Many a person has to say,
   "The Almighty has embittered my soul."

   This happened to you, dear Friend, perhaps, through a series of very
   remarkable troubles. Few persons were happier than Job and few have
   found misfortunes tread so fast upon one another's heels. What were the
   troubles in your case? It may be that one child was taken away and then
   another--and yet a third. Or, perhaps, your infant was carried to the
   grave, to be soon followed by its dear mother, and you are left to
   mourn alone. Bereavement has followed bereavement with you until your
   very soul is embittered. Or it may be that there is one ill at home and
   you fear that precious life cannot be preserved--your cup seems full of
   trembling. Or, possibly, you have had a series of disasters in business
   such as you could not have foreseen or prevented. It seems, to you,
   indeed, as if no man was ever so unsuccessful--you have not prospered
   in anything. Wherever you have put your hand, it has been like the hoof
   of the Tartar's horse which turns the meadow into a desert--nothing
   goes well with you. Perhaps you have desired to be a man of learning.
   You have worked very hard and now your health is failing you, so that
   you cannot go through the examination for which you have been
   preparing. You would willingly die at your post if you had a hope of
   gaining the honor to which you aspire, but this is denied you. On the
   very doorstep of success, you are stopped. God seems to have embittered
   your life.

   Or you of the tender heart have been disappointed and rejected, and
   your love has been thrown away. Or you of the energetic spirit have
   been foiled and driven back so many times that you perceive that your
   attempts are fruitless. Or you, a man of true integrity, have been
   cruelly slandered and you feel as if you could not bear up under the
   false charge that is in the air all around you. Ah, I know what
   thatmeans! There are many like you, with whom the Almighty is dealing
   in all wisdom and goodness, as I shall have to show you.

   It may be, however, that you have not had a succession of troubles, but
   you have had one trial constantly gnawing at your heart. It is only
   one, but that one you are half-ashamed to mention, for it seems so
   trifling when you try to tell it to another. But to you it is as when a
   wasp stings and continues to sting--it irritates and worries you. You
   try patience, but you have not much of that virtue. You seek to escape
   from the trouble, but it is always boring into your very heart. It is
   only some one little thing--not the devil, only a messenger of Satan,
   one of his errand boys, one of the small fry of trouble. You cannot
   make out how you can be so foolish as to let it worry you, but it does.
   If you rise up early, or if you sit up late, it is still there
   tormenting you. You cannot get rid of it and you cry, "The Almighty has
   embittered my soul." Time was when you would have laughed at such
   things and put them aside with a wave of your hand--but now they follow
   you into business, they are with you at the desk, they come home with
   you, they go to bed with you--and they worry you even in your dreams.

   Perhaps I have not yet hit the mark with you, my Friend. It is neither
   a succession of troubles nor yet any one trouble. In fact, you have no
   trouble at all in the sense of which I have been speaking. Your
   business prospers, you are in fine health, your children are about you,
   everyone holds you in good esteem--yet your very soul is embittered. I
   hope that it has become saddened through a sense of sin. At one time
   you did not think that there was any fault to be found with you, but
   you have had a peep in the mirror of the Word, the Spirit of God
   holding the candle. You have had a glimpse of yourself, your inner life
   and your condition before God and, therefore, your soul is vexed. Ah,
   many of us have gone through that experience and, wretched as it is, we
   congratulate you upon it! We are glad that it is so with you!

   Is it more than a sense of sin? Is it a sense of wrath as well? Does it
   strike you that God is angry with you and has turned His hand against
   you? Does this seem to loosen the very joints of your bones? Ah, this
   is a dreadful state of heart, indeed--to feel God's hand day and night
   upon you till your moisture is turned into the drought of summer! Yet,
   again I congratulate you on it, for the pilgrim path to Heaven is by
   Weeping Cross--the road to joy and peace is by the way of a sense of
   sin and a sense of the Lord's anger!

   It may be that this is not exactly your case, but you are restless and
   weary. Somehow you cannot be easy, you cannot be at peace. Someone
   recommended you go to a play, but it seemed such a dull piece of
   stupidity you came away worse than you went! Your doctor says that you
   must have a change of air. "Oh," you cry, "I have had 50 changes of air
   and I do not improve a bit!" You are even weary of that in which you
   once delighted. Your ordinary pursuits, which once satisfied you, now
   seem to be altogether stale, flat and unprofitable. The books that
   charmed your leisure have grown wearisome. The friends whose
   conversation once entranced you, now seem to talk but idle chit-chat
   and frivolity.

   Besides all that, there is an undefined dread upon you. You cannot tell
   exactly what it is like, but you almost fear to fall asleep lest you
   should dream and dreaming should begin to feel the wrath to come. When
   you wake in the morning, you are sorry to find that you are where you
   are and you address yourself sadly to the day's business, saying,
   "Well, I will go on with it, but I have no joy in it at all. The
   Almighty has embittered my soul." This happens to hundreds and they do
   not know what it means, they cannot understand it--but I hope that I
   may be privileged to so explain it that some may have to say that never
   did a better thing happen to them than when they fell into this
   state--that never, in all their lives, did they take so blessed a
   turning as when they came down this dark lane and began to murmur, "The
   Almighty has embittered my soul."

   II. From this personal fact of which I have spoken, I want to draw AN
   INSTRUCTIVE ARGUEMENT which has two edges.

   The first is this. If the Almighty--note that word, "Almighty"--has
   vexed your soul as much as He has, how much more is He able to vex it?
   If He has embittered your life up to the present point and He is,
   indeed, almighty, what more of bitterness may He not yet give you? You
   may go from being very low in spirit to being yet more heavy even unto
   despair. You may even come to be like Bunyan's man in the iron cage, or
   like the demoniac wandering among the tombs! Remember what God has done
   in the case of some men and if He can do that on earth, what can He not
   do in Hell? If this world, which is the place of mercy, yet contains in
   it men so wretched that they would rather die than live, what must be
   the misery of those who linger in a state of eternal death--and yet
   from whom death forever flies? O my God, when my soul was broken as
   between the two great millstones of Your justice and Your wrath, how my
   spirit was alarmed! But if You could do this to me here, what could You
   not have done to me hereafter if I had passed out of this world into
   the next with un-forgiven sin? I want everyone who is in sore
   soul-trouble to think over this solemn Truth of God and consider what
   God can yet do with him.

   Now turn the argument the other way. If it is the Almighty who has
   troubled us, surely He can also comfort us. He that is strong to sink,
   is also strong to save. If He is almighty to embitter, He must also be
   almighty to sweeten. Draw, then, this comfortable conclusion--"I am not
   in such a state of misery that God cannot lift me right out of it into
   supreme joy." It is congenial to God's Nature to make His creatures
   happy. He delights not in their sorrow, but if, when He does make them
   sorrowful, He can make life unendurable--if His anger can fill a man
   with terror so that he fears his own steps and starts at his own
   shadow--if God can do that on the one hand, what can He not do on the
   other? He can turn our mourning into music! He can take off from us the
   ashes and the sackcloth and clothe us in beauty and delight!

   God can lift up your head, poor Mourner, sorrowing under sin and a fear
   of wrath. I tell you, God can at once forgive your sin, turn away all
   His wrath and give you a sense of perfect pardon--and with it a sense
   of his undying love! Oh, yes, that word, "Almighty," cuts both ways! It
   makes us tremble and so it kills our pride. But it also makes us hope
   and so it slays our despair. I put in that little piece of argument
   just by the way.

   III. Now I come to my third point which is more directly in my road.
   And that is this. Here is A HEALTHFUL ENQUIRY for everyone whose soul
   has been vexed by God.

   The enquiry is, first, is not God just in vexing my soul?Listen. Some
   of you have long vexed Him--you have grieved His Holy Spirit for years!
   Why, my dear Man, God called you when you were but a boy! Or very
   gently He drew you while you were yet a young man. You almost yielded
   to the importunity of a dying friend who is now in Heaven. Those were
   all gentle strokes, but you heeded them not--you would not return unto
   the Lord. And now, if He should see fit to lay His hand very heavily
   upon you and vex you in His hot displeasure, have you not first vexed
   Him? Have you not ill-used Him? If you would not come to Him in the
   light, it is very gracious of Him if He permits you to come in the
   dark. I do not wonder if He whips you to Himself, seeing that you would
   not come when, like a father beckoning a little child, He smiled at you
   and wooed you to Him.

   I might say to others, if God brings you to Himself by a rough road,
   you must not wonder, for have not you many a time vexed your godly
   wife? When seeing friends who come to join the Church, I am often
   struck with the way in which converts have to confess that, in former
   days, they made it very hard for their families. There are some men who
   cannot speak without swearing--at the very name of Christ they begin to
   curse and to swear! They seem as if they hated their children for being
   good--and could not be too hard upon their wives because they try to be
   righteous in the sight of God. Well, if you vex God's people, you must
   not be surprised if He vexes you! He will give you a hard time of it,
   it may be, but if it ends in your salvation, I shall not need to pity
   you, however hard it may be for you! There is one thing more you may
   say to yourself, and that is, "It is much better to get to Heaven by a
   rough road than to go singing down to Hell. O my God, tear me in
   pieces, but save me! Let my conscience drive me to the very borders of
   despair if You will but give me the blood of Christ to quiet it. Only
   make sure work of my eternal salvation and I will not mind what I have
   to suffer!" I shall bless God for you, dear Friend, and you will bless
   God for yourself, too, if you are but brought to Him, even though you
   have to say, "The Almighty has vexed my soul."

   Another point of enquiry is this-- What can be God's design in vexing
   your soul? Surely He has a kind design in it all. God is never anything
   but good. Rest assured that He takes no delight in your miseries--it is
   no pleasure to Him that you should sit, and sigh, and groan and cry. I
   mean that such an experience, in itself, affords Him no pleasure, but
   He has a design in it. What can that design be? May it not be, first,
   to make you think of Him? You forgot Him when the bread was plentiful
   upon the table, so He is going to try what a hungry belly will do for
   you when you would gladly fill it with the husks that the swine eat.
   You forgot Him when everything went merry as a marriage peal--it may be
   that you will remember Him, now that your children are dying, or your
   father is taken away! These trials are sent to remind you that there is
   a God. There are some men who go on by the space of 40 years, together,
   and whether there is a God or not, is a question which they do not care
   to answer. At least they live as if there were no God--they are
   practically atheists. This stroke has come that you may say, "Yes,
   there is a God, for I feel the rod that He holds in His hand. He is
   crushing me, He is grinding me to powder. I must think of Him."

   It may be, too, that He is sending this trial to let you know that He
   thinks of you. "Ah," you say, "I did not suppose that He thought of me.
   I thought that surely He had forgotten such an one as I am." But He
   does think of you. He has been thinking of you for many a day and
   calling and inviting you to Him--but you would neither listen nor
   obey--and now that He has come, He means to make you see that He loves
   you too well to let you be lost! You are having His blows right and
   left, to let you know that He thinks of you and will not let you
   perish. When God does not care for a man, He flings the reins onto His
   neck and says, "There! Let him go!" Now see how the horses tear
   away--you need not lash them--they will go as though they had wings and
   could fly! Leave a man to himself and his lusts drag him, post haste,
   to Hell. He pants to destroy himself! But when God loves a man, He
   pulls him up as you might pull your horse on to his haunches. He shall
   not do as he wills--the eternal God, in infinite mercy, will not let
   him! He tugs at the reins and makes the man feel that there is a
   mightier than he who will not let him ruin himself,

   But who will restrain him from rushing to his destruction? Am I
   speaking to any who are in this plight? Let them not kick against God,
   but rather be grateful that He condescends thus to meddle with their
   sinful souls and check them in their mad career! I have spoken lately
   with some who were about to join this Church, who, if friends had said,
   five or six months ago, that they would have been sitting on that chair
   talking to me about their souls, would have cursed them to their faces!
   Yet they were obliged to come. The Lord had hold of them--they tried to
   break away, but He had them too firmly! They were caught by my Lord and
   Master as a good fisherman will catch a salmon, if once it takes his
   bait--he lets it run for a while and then pulls it up a bit, and then
   lets it go again. But he brings it to land at last--and I have had the
   pleasure of seeing many sinners thus safely caught by Christ! It may
   be, dear Friend, that the Almighty is vexing you to let you see that He
   loves you!

   May it not be also for another reason--that He may wean you entirely
   from the world? He is making you loathe it. "Oh," you used to say, "I
   am a young man and I must see life!" Well, you have seen it, have you
   not? And do you not think that it is wonderfully like death and
   corruption? That which is called, "London life," is a foul, loathsome,
   crawling thing, fit only for the dunghill! Well, you have seen it, and
   you have had enough of it, have you not? Perhaps your very bones can
   tell what you gained by that kind of life. "Oh," you said, "but I must
   try the intoxicating cup!" Well, what did you think of it the morning
   after you tried it? "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contention?
   Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of
   eyes? They that tarry long at the wine--they that go to seek mixed
   wine." I saw a man of that kind in the street, the other day. Once he
   was a most respectable man who could consort with others and be
   esteemed by them. Now he is dreadfully down at the heel. I think I saw
   a toe through each of his shoes and he looked like the wretched being
   that he is. He shuffled from place to place as if he did not wish to be
   seen--and he did not lift himself up until he got into the gin palace
   to take another draught of Hell-water--and then he seemed, for a
   minute, to be drawn straight again by that which made him crooked!

   You know the man--is he here tonight? Dear Sir, have you not had
   sufficient strong drink? God has let you have enough of it that you may
   hate it from this hour and flee away from it, never to desire to go
   back to it again! I heard, at Boulogne, the story of a Frenchman who
   had been drinking heavily, and who threw himself into the harbor. Some
   sailors plunged in and rescued him. The man was on the deck of a ship,
   but in a minute he broke away from his keepers and jumped in again. It
   was not pleasant to be trying to save a madman, again and again, yet
   they did get him out and took him down below. But he rushed on deck and
   jumped in a third time. A man there said, "You leave him to me." So he
   jumped overboard and seized hold of him, put his head under the water
   and held him there. When he managed to get his head up, his rescuer
   gave him another ducking, and then another, till he just about filled
   him up with water. He said to himself, "I will sicken him of it, so
   that he will never jump in here again." He just diluted the eau-de-vie
   the man had taken and then he dragged him on board ship--and there was
   no fear of his jumping overboard any more! And I believe that,
   sometimes, the Lord acts like that with men. He did so with me--He made
   sin to be exceedingly bitter to my soul, till I loathed it--and it has
   often given me a trembling even to think of those sins that then were
   pleasurable to me. It is a blessed thing to be plucked out of the water
   and saved, once and for all, but a little of that sailor's style of
   sousing the drunkard--a little of those terrors and alarms that some of
   us felt is not lost! And when the Lord thus deals with sinners, it is
   with the design that they may never want to go back to those sins
   again. They have had their full of them and henceforth they will keep
   clear of them. It may be that the Almighty vexed some of you for this
   cause, that you might, from then on, hate sin with a perfect hatred.

   Do you say, my Friend, that I have not been describing you? You are
   still a gentleman, an excellent well-to-do man? You have done nothing
   wrong in the way of vice, but still you cannot rest? No, and God grant
   that you never may rest till you come humbly to the Savior's feet,
   confess your sin and look to Him alone for salvation! Then you shall
   rest with that deep "peace which passes all understanding," which
   shall, "keep your heart and mind by Christ Jesus" forever and ever.

   I think I hear someone say (and with that I will finish), "As the
   Almighty has vexed my soul; what had I better do?\ thought, Sir, when I
   came in here that I was a castaway, but I see that I am the man you are
   looking after. I thought that I was too wretched to be saved, but now I
   perceive that it is to the wretched that you are preaching. It is for
   the mourning, the melancholy and the desponding. What had I better do?"
   Do? Go home and shut your door, and have an hour alone with yourself
   and God! You can afford that time--it is Sunday night and you do not
   need the time for anything else. That hour alone with God may be the
   crisis of your whole life--try it!

   "And when I am alone with God, what had I better do?" Well, first, tell
   Him all your grief. Then tell Him all your sin--all you can remember.
   Hide nothing from Him! Lay it all, naked and bare, before Him. Then ask
   Him to blot it all out, once and for all, for Jesus Christ's sake. Tell
   Him that you can never rest till you are at peace with Him. Tell Him
   that you accept His way of making peace, namely, by the blood of the
   Cross. Tell Him that you are now willing to trust His dear Son for
   everything and to accept salvation freely as the gift of Sovereign
   Grace. If you do so, you will rise from your knees a happy man and,
   what is more, a renewed man! I will stand bondsman for God about this
   matter. If there is this honest confession, this hearty prayer and this
   simple acceptance of Christ as your Savior, the days of your mourning
   are ended, the daylight of your spirit shall be beginning and I should
   not wonder if many of your present troubles come to an end! Certainly
   your heart-ache shall be ended and ended at once. Oh, that you would
   accept my Savior!

   Sometimes, when I am thinking about my Hearers and my work, I seem to
   take God's part instead of yours, and to say, "O God, I have preached
   Christ to them. I have told them about Your dear Son and how Your
   fatherly heart parted with Him that He might die that men might
   live--yet they do not care for Him! They will not have Your Son. They
   will not accept the pardon that Jesus bought." If the Lord were to say
   to me, "Then never go and say another word to them, they have so
   insulted Me in refusing such a gift," I have at times felt as if I
   would say, "Lord, that is quite right. I do not want to have anything
   more to do with them as they treat You so shamefully." But we have not
   reached that point yet, so once more I put it to you--have you not
   delayed long enough? Have you not questioned long enough? Have you not
   turned away from the Savior long enough? And now that the arrows of God
   are sticking in you, will you not ask Him to draw them out? Will you
   not plead that the precious blood of Christ may be balm to heal your
   wounds?

   Oh, come to Him! In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I beseech you, come!
   By amazing love and amazing pity, by wondrous Grace that abounds over
   sin, come and welcome! Jesus said, "He that comes to Me, I will in no
   wise cast out." Then come to Him and come now! Blessed Spirit, draw
   them! Draw them now, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOB27

   Remember that Job's friends had accused him of having committed some
   great sin which would account for his great sorrows. The good man is
   naturally very indignant and he uses the strongest possible language to
   cast away from himself with horror the charges which they brought
   against him in the day of his grief.

   Verses 1-4. Moreover Job continued his parable and said, As God lives,
   who has taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who has vexed my
   soul; all the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my
   nostrils, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter
   deceit. He felt that it would be wicked for him to confess to what he
   had never done--it would be deceit for him to acknowledge crimes which
   he had never committed. Therefore he most solemnly declares, by the
   living God, that he never will permit the lie to pass his lips. He had
   not transgressed against God in the way his friends insinuated and he
   would not admit that he had.

   5. God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove
   my integrity from me. We are bound to keep to the truth. No man is
   permitted, with mock humility, to make himself out to be what he is
   not. Job was right, so far in standing up for the integrity of his
   character, for he was a man of such uprightness that even the devil
   could not find fault with him. He was such a holy man that God could
   say to Satan, "Have you considered My servant, Job, that there is none
   like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God
   and eschews evil?" And all that the devil could do was to insinuate
   that he had a selfish motive for his goodness. "Have not You made an
   hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on
   every side? You have blessed the work of his hands and his substance is
   increased in the land. But put forth Your hand, now, and touch all that
   he has, and he will curse You to Your face." Job was upright, yet we
   are never so right but what there is a mixture of wrong with our right!
   A man may very easily become self-righteous when he is defending his
   own character. There may be a 1ack of admissions of faults unperceived.
   There may be a blindness to faults that ought to have been
   perceived--and something of that imperfection, doubtless, was in the
   Patriarch.

   6. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall
   not reproach me so long as I live. There he went too far, for he had
   not yet seen God as he afterwards saw Him. Before man, there was
   nothing with which he needed to reproach himself. But how he changed
   his tone when God drew near to him! Then he said, "I have heard of You
   by the hearing of the ear: but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor
   myself and repent in dust and ashes." If we knew more of God, we would
   think less of ourselves. If those who consider themselves perfect, had
   any idea of what perfection is, their comeliness would be turned in
   them to corruption!

   7, 8. Let my enemy be as the wicked, and he that rises up against me as
   the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has
   gained, when God takes away his soul?That is a very solemn, searching
   question. If a man tries to play fast and loose with God, if he is a
   hypocrite, and if he should gain by his hypocrisy all that he tries to
   gain, namely, repute among men, "what is his hope when God takes away
   his soul?" Then, his hope is turned to horror, for he has to stand
   before Him who cannot be deceived, but who reads him through and
   through, and casts him away because he has dared to insult his Maker by
   attempting to deceive Omniscience. Oh, may you and I never play the
   hypocrite's part! There cannot be a more foolish thing and there cannot
   be a more wicked thing.

   9. Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? That is one of
   the tests of the hypocrite--"Will God hear his cry when trouble comes
   upon him?" Will the hypocrite cry to God at all? Will he not give up
   even his profession of religion when he loses his prosperity? And if he
   does cry, will God hear the double-tongued man?

   10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon
   God? These questions, while they condemn those who are hypocrites, are
   comforting to many a sincere heart. Dear Friend, do you delight
   yourself in God? Do you really admire Him, love Him and seek to glorify
   Him? Then you are no hypocrite, for no hypocrite ever found delight in
   religion and especially no hypocrite ever found delight in God Himself!

   "Will he always call upon God?" No, there are certain times when he
   will cease to pray. Pleasure enchants him and he will not pray. Or,
   perhaps, he is so discouraged and despairing that he cannot pray. There
   are times when the hypocrite gives up praying, but the Christian cannot
   give it up--it is his vital breath--he must pray. No sorrow is so deep
   as to take him off it! No joy is so fascinating as to seduce him from
   prayer. But as for the hypocrite, "Will he always call upon God?" No,
   you may rest assured that he will not.

   11. I will teach you by the hand of God. Or, better, as the margin
   runs, "I will teach you being in the hand of God. " Being himself
   chastened and experiencing the teaching of God, Job says to his
   friends, "I will teach you."

   11-14. That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal Behold, all
   you yourselves have seen it; why then are you thus altogether vain?
   This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of
   oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. If his children
   are multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be
   satisfied with bread. If God does not visit the hypocrite with
   punishment in his own person, it will certainly fall upon the next
   generation.

   15-18. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his
   widows shall not weep. Though he heaps up silver as the dust, and
   prepares raiment as the day; he may prepare it, but the just shall put
   it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver He builds his house as
   a moth, and as a booth that the keeper makes. ' 'He builds his house as
   a moth," which makes its home in the cloth and the servant's brush
   knocks it all out and destroys the moth's children, too. "And as a
   booth that the keeper makes." The hypocrite's house is no better than
   that little shanty which the keeper of a vineyard puts up with a few
   boughs or mats, to sit under it from the heat of the sun. God save us
   from being such poor builders as this! May we build a house that is
   founded on the Rock!

   19. The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he opens
   his eyes, and he is not He has grown rich by oppression, he has become
   great in the land by his hypocrisy, but he speedily goes down to the
   grave. God looks at him and he is gone.

   20. Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest steals him away in
   the night. This is a parallel passage to that word of our Lord, "But he
   that hears, and does not, is like a man that without a foundation built
   an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently,
   and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."

   21. The east wind carries him away, and he departs and as a storm hurls
   him out of his place. These are your great ones, your proud ones, your
   strong men that accomplish nothing and would insure their own lives to
   a certainty for the next 20 years! Look how they go! Shadows are not
   more evanescent! A poor moth is not more easily crushed.

   22. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would gladly flee
   out of His hand. The man would escape from God if he could. It was
   Job's glory, as we read just now, that he was in God's hand. But the
   hypocrite would gladly flee out of God's hand, yet that is altogether
   impossible.

   23. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of
   hisplace. Such ignominy shall be poured upon the hypocrite at the last,
   that all mankind shall endorse the sentence of God which condemns him!
   And shame and everlasting contempt shall be his portion. The Lord save
   all of us from such an awful doom, for Christ's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Songs in the Night

   (No. 2558)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK.

   "But none says, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?"
   Job 35:10.

   ELIHU was a wise man, exceedingly wise, though not as wise as the
   All-Wise Jehovah, who sees light in the clouds and finds order in
   confusion. Hence Elihu, being much puzzled at beholding Job so
   afflicted, cast about him to find the cause of it and he very wisely
   hit upon one of the most likely reasons, although it did not happen to
   be the right one in Job's case. He said within himself, "Surely, if men
   are sorely tried and troubled, it is because while they think about
   their troubles and distress themselves about their fears, they do not
   say, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?'" Elihu's
   reason is right in the majority of cases. The great cause of a
   Christian's distress, the reason of the depths of sorrow into which
   many Believers are plunged is simply this--that while they are looking
   about, on the right hand and on the left, to see how they may escape
   their troubles, they forget to look to the hills from where all real
   help comes--they do not say, "Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in
   the night?"

   We shall, however, leave that enquiry and dwell upon those sweet words,
   "God my Maker, who gives songs in the night." The world has its night.
   It seems necessary that it should have one. The sun shines by day and
   men go forth to their labors. But they grow weary and nightfall comes
   on, like a sweet gift from Heaven. The darkness draws the curtains and
   shuts out the light which might prevent our eyes from slumber. The
   sweet, calm stillness of the night permits us to rest upon the bed of
   ease and forget, awhile, our cares, until the morning sun appears and
   an angel puts his hand upon the curtain, opens it once again, touches
   our eyelids, and bids us rise and proceed to the labors of the day.
   Night is one of the greatest blessings men enjoy--we have many reasons
   to thank God for it. Yet night is to many a gloomy season. There is
   "the pestilence that walks in darkness." There is "the terror by
   night." There is the dread of robbers and of fell disease with all
   those fears that the timorous know when they have no light wherewith
   they can discern different objects. It is then they fancy that
   spiritual creatures walk the earth, though, if they knew rightly, they
   would find it to be true that--

   "Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we
   wake, and when we sleep,"

   and that at all times they are round about us, not more by night than
   by day.

   Night is the season of terror and alarm to most men, yet even night has
   its songs. Have you ever stood by the seaside at night and heard the
   pebbles sing, and the waves chant God's praises? Or have you ever risen
   from your bed and thrown up the window of your chamber and listened?
   Listened to what? Silence--save now and then a murmuring sound which
   seems sweet music. And have you not fancied that you have heard the
   harps of gold playing in Heaven? Did you not conceive that yon
   stars--those eyes of God looking down on you--were also mouths of song
   and that every star was singing God's glory, singing as it shone its
   mighty Maker's well-deserved praise? Night has its songs! We need not
   much poetry in our spirit to catch the song of night and hear the
   spheres as they chant praises which are loud to the heart, though they
   are silent to the ear--the praises of the mighty God who bears up the
   unpillared arch of Heaven and moves the stars in their courses.

   Man, too, like the great world in which he lives, must have his night.
   For it is true that man is like the world around him--he is himself a
   little world--he resembles the world in almost everything and if the
   world has its night, so has man. And many a night do we have--nights of
   sorrow, nights of persecution, nights of doubt, nights of bewilderment,
   nights of affliction, nights of anxiety, nights of ignorance, nights of
   all kinds which press upon our spirits and terrify our souls! But
   blessed be God, the Christian can say, "My God gives me songs in the
   night."

   It is not necessary, I take it, to prove to you that Christians have
   nights, for if you are Christians, you will find that you have them and
   you will not need any proof, for nights will come quite often enough. I
   will, therefore, proceed at once to the subject and notice, with regard
   to songs in the night, first, their source--God gives them. Secondly,
   their matter--what do we sing about in the night? Thirdly, their
   excellence--they are hearty songs and they are sweet ones. And
   fourthly, their uses--their benefits to ourselves and others.

   I. First, songs in the night--WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THEM? "God," says
   the text. Our "Maker, who gives songs in the night."

   Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws
   inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man
   can sing to the praise of a God who gives a plenteous harvest, or sends
   home a loaded argosy. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper
   music when the winds blow--the difficulty is for music to come when no
   wind blows. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight,
   but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of
   light by which to read. He sings from his heart and not from a book
   that he can see, because he has no means of reading, save from that
   inward book of his own living spirit from where notes of gratitude pour
   forth in songs of praise. No man can make a song in the night, himself.
   He may attempt it, but he will find how difficult it is. It is not
   natural to sing in trouble. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is
   within me bless His holy name," is a daylight song. But it was a Divine
   song which Habakkuk sang when, in the night, he said, "Although the fig
   tree shall not blossom," and so on, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I
   will joy in the God of my salvation." I think on the banks of the Red
   Sea, any man could have made a song like that of Moses, "The horse and
   his rider has He thrown into the sea." The difficulty would have been
   to compose a song before the Red Sea had been divided, and to sing it
   before Pharaoh's hosts had been drowned, while yet the darkness of
   doubt and fear was resting on Israel's hosts! Songs in the night come
   only from God--they are not in the power of man!

   But what does the text mean when it asserts that God gives songs in the
   night? We think we find two answers to the question. The first is that
   usually in the night of a Christian's experience, God is his only song.
   If it is daylight in my heart, I can sing songs touching my gifts,
   songs touching my sweet experiences, songs touching my duties, songs
   touching my labors. But let the night come, my gifts appear to have
   withered. My evidences, though they are there, are hidden. Now I have
   nothing left to sing of but my God. It is strange that when God gives
   His children mercies, they generally set their hearts more on the
   mercies than on the Giver of them! But when the night comes and He
   sweeps all the mercies away, then at once they each say, "Now, my God,
   I have nothing to sing of but You! I must come to You and to You, only.
   I had cisterns once--they were full of water and I drank from them--but
   now the created streams are dry. Sweet Lord, I desire no stream but
   Yourself, I drink from no fountain but from You." Yes, child of God,
   you know what I say, or, if you do not yet understand it, you will do
   so, by-and-by! It is in the night we sing of God and of God alone.
   Every string is tuned and every power has its tribute of song while we
   praise God and nothing else! We can sacrifice to ourselves in
   daylight--we only sacrifice to God by night. We can sing high praises
   to ourselves when all is joyful, but we cannot sing praise to any but
   our God when circumstances are untoward and Providences appear adverse.
   God alone can furnish us with songs in the night.

   And yet again, not only does God give the song in the night because He
   is the only subject upon which we can sing, then, but because He is the
   only One who inspires songs in the night Bring me a poor, melancholy,
   distressed child of God. I seek to tell him precious promises and
   whisper to him sweet words of comfort. He listens not to me--he is like
   the deaf adder, he heeds not the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so
   wisely. Send him round to all the comforting divines and all the holy
   Barnabases who ever preached and they will do very little with
   him--they will not be able to squeeze a song out of him, do what they
   may! He is drinking gall and wormwood! He says, "O Lord, I have eaten
   ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping." And comfort him
   as you may, it will be only a faint note or two of mournful resignation
   that you will get from him--you will evoke no Psalms of praise, no
   hallelujahs, no joyful sonnets.

   But let God come to His child in the night, let Him whisper in his ear
   as he lies on his bed, and now you can see his eyes glisten in the
   night season. Do you not hear him say--

   "'Tis Paradise, if You are here! If You depart, 'tis Hell"?

   I could not have cheered him--it is God that has done it--for God
   "gives songs in the night." It is marvelous, Brothers and Sisters, how
   one sweet Word of God will make many songs for Christians. One Word of
   God is like a piece of gold-- the Christian is the gold-beater and he
   can hammer that promise out for whole weeks! I can say, myself, I have
   lived on one promise for weeks and needed no other. I had just simply
   to hammer the promise out into gold leaf and plate my whole existence
   with joy from it! The Christian gets his songs from God. God gives him
   inspiration and teaches him how to sing! "God my Maker, who gives songs
   in the night."

   So, then, poor Christian, you need not go pumping up your poor heart to
   make it glad! Go to your Maker and ask Him to give you a song in the
   night, for you are a poor dry well. You have heard it said that when a
   pump is dry, you must pour water down it, first of all, and then you
   will get some up. So, Christian, when you are dry, go to your God! Ask
   Him to pour some joy down you and then you will get more joy up from
   your own heart. Do not go to this comforter or that, for you will find
   them, after all, "Job's comforters." Go first and foremost to your
   Maker, for He is the great Composer of songs and Teacher of music--He
   it is who can teach you how to sing!

   II. Thus we have dwelt upon the first point. Now let us turn to the
   second. WHAT IS GENERALLY THE MATTER CONTAINED IN A SONG IN THE NIGHT?
   What do we sing about?

   Why, I think, when we sing by night, there are three things we sing
   about. Either we sing about the day that is over, or about the night,
   itself, or else about the morrow that is to come. Those are all sweet
   themes when God our Maker gives us songs in the night. In the midst of
   the night, the most usual method is for Christians to sing about the
   day that is over The man says, "It is night now, but I can remember
   when it was daylight. Neither moon nor stars appear at present, but I
   remember when I saw the sun. I have no evidences just now, but there
   was a time when I could say, 'I know that my Redeemer lives.' I have my
   doubts and fears at this present moment, but it is not long since I
   could say with full assurance, 'I know that He shed His blood for me.'
   It may be darkness, now, but I know the promises were s weet. I know I
   had blessed seasons in His House. I am quite sure of this. I used to
   enjoy myself in the ways of the Lord and though now my path is strewn
   with thorns, I know it is the King's Highway. It was a way of
   pleasantness, once--it will be a way of pleasantness again. 'I will
   remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.'"

   Christian, perhaps the best song you can sing, to cheer you in the
   night, is the song of yesterday! Remember, it was not always night with
   you--in fact, night is a new thing to you. Once you had a glad heart
   and a buoyant spirit. Once your eyes were full of fire. Once your feet
   were light. Once you could sing for very joy and ecstasy of heart.
   Well, then, remember that God who made you sing yesterday has not left
   you in the night! He is not a daylight God who cannot know His children
   in darkness, but He loves you now as much as ever! Though He has left
   you for a little while, it is to prove you, to make you trust Him more
   and love and serve Him more. Let me tell you some of the sweet things
   of which a Christian may make a song when it is night with him.

   If we are going to sing of the things of yesterday, let us begin with
   what God did for us in times past. My Beloved Brothers and Sisters, you
   will find it a sweet subject for song, at times, to begin to sing of
   electing love and Covenant mercies. When you, yourself, are low, it is
   well to sing of the Fountainhead of mercy, of that blessed decree
   wherein you were ordained unto eternal life--and of that glorious Man
   who undertook your redemption--of that solemn Covenant signed, sealed
   and ratified in all things ordered well, of that everlasting love
   which, before the hoary mountains were begotten, or before the aged
   hills were children, chose you, loved you firmly, loved you fast, loved
   you well, loved you eternally! I tell you, Believer, if you can go back
   to the years of eternity--if you can, in your mind, run back to that
   period before the everlasting hills were fashioned, or the fountains of
   the great deep were scooped out--and if you can see your God inscribing
   your name in His eternal Book. If you can read in His loving heart
   eternal thoughts of love to you, you will find this a charming means of
   giving you songs in the night! There are no songs like those which come
   from electing love, no sonnets like those that are dictated by
   meditations on discriminating mercy!

   Think, Christian, of the Eternal Covenant, and you will get a song in
   the night! But if you have not a voice tuned to so high a key as that,
   let me suggest some other mercies you may sing of--they are the mercies
   you have experienced. What? Can you not sing a little of that blessed
   hour when Jesus met you, when, as a blind slave, you were sporting with
   death and He saw you and said, "Come, poor slave, come with Me"? Can
   you not sing of that rapturous moment when

   He snapped your fetters, dashed your chains to the earth and said, "'I
   am the Breaker. I am come to break your chains and set you free"?
   Though you are now ever so gloomy, can you forget that happy morning
   when, in the House of God, your voice was loud--almost as a seraph's
   voice, in praise, for you could sing, "I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A
   monument of Grace, a sinner saved by blood"? Go back, Brothers and
   Sisters--sing of that moment and then you will have a song in the
   night! Or, if you have almost forgotten that, then surely you have some
   precious milestone along the road of life that is not quite overgrown
   with moss, on which you can read some happy inscription of God's mercy
   towards you! What? Did you ever have a sickness like that which you are
   suffering now, and did He not raise you up from it? Were you ever poor,
   before, and did He not supply your needs? Were you ever in straits
   before, and did He not deliver you? Come, Brothers and Sisters! I
   beseech you--go to the river of your experience and pull up a few
   bulrushes and weave them into an ark wherein your infant faith may
   float safely on the stream! I bid you not forget what God has done for
   you.

   What? Have you buried your diary? I beseech you, turn over the book of
   your remembrance. Can you not see some sweet Hill Mizar? Can you not
   think of some blessed hour when the Lord met with you at Hermon? Have
   you never been on the Delectable Mountains? Have you never been fetched
   from the den of lions? Have you never escaped the jaw of the lion and
   the claws of the bear? No? O, I know you have! Go back, then, a little
   way, to the mercies of the past--and though it is dark, now, light up
   the lamps of yesterday and they shall glitter through the darkness and
   you shall find that God has given you a song in the night!

   "Yes!" says one, "but you know that when we are in the dark, we cannot
   see the mercies that God has given us. It is all very well for you to
   talk to us thus, but we cannot get hold of them." I remember an old
   experimental Christian speaking about the great pillars of our faith.
   He was a sailor and we were on board ship and there were sundry huge
   posts on the shore, to which the vessels were usually fastened by
   throwing a cable over them. After I had told him a great many promises,
   he said, "I know they are good promises, but I cannot get near enough
   to shore to throw my cable around them. That is the difficulty." Now it
   often happens that God's past mercies and loving kindnesses would be
   good sure posts to hold on to, but we have not faith enough to throw
   our cable around them, so we go slipping down the stream of unbelief,
   because we cannot stop ourselves by our former mercies.

   I will, however, give you something over which I think you can throw
   your cable. If God has never been kind to you, one thing you surely
   know, and that is, He has been kind to others. Come, now, if you are in
   ever so great straits, surely there have been others in greater
   straits. What? Are you lower down than poor Jonah was when he went to
   the bottom of the mountains? Are you worse off than your Master when He
   had nowhere to lay His head? What? Do you conceive yourself to be the
   worst of the worst? Look at Job, scraping himself with a potsherd and
   sitting on a dunghill. Are you as low as he? Yet Job rose up and was
   richer than before! And out of the depths, Jonah came and preached the
   Word! And our Savior, Jesus, has mounted to His Throne!

   O Christian, only think of what God has done for others! If you cannot
   remember that He has done anything for you, yet remember, I beseech
   you, what His usual rule is and do not judge my God harshly! You
   remember when Benhadad was overcome and fled, his servants said to him,
   "Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are
   merciful kings. Let us, I pray you, put on sackcloth on our loins,
   ropes upon our heads and go out to the king of Israel: perhaps he will
   save your life. So they girded sackcloth on their loins, put ropes on
   their heads and said, Your servant Benhadad says, I pray you, let me
   live." What said the king? "Is he yet alive? He is my brother!" And
   truly, poor Soul, if you had never had a merciful God, yet others have
   had! The King of Kings is merciful! Go and try Him! If you are ever so
   low in your troubles, look to the hills from where comes your help.
   Others have had help from there and so may you!

   Up might start hundreds of God's children and show us their hands full
   of comforts and mercies--and they could say, "The Lord gave us these
   without money and without price. And why should He not give to you,
   also, seeing that you, too, are the King's son?" Thus, Christian, you
   may get a song in the night out of other people if you cannot get a
   song from yourself. Never be ashamed of taking a leaf out of another
   man's experience book! If you can find no good leaf in your own, tear
   one out of someone else's! If you have no cause to be grateful to God
   in darkness, or cannot find cause in your own experience, go to someone
   else and, if you can, harp God's praise in the dark and, like the
   nightingale, sing His praises sweetly when all the world has gone to
   rest. Sing in the night of the mercies of yesterday!

   But I think, Beloved, there is never so dark a night but there is
   something to sing about, even concerning that night For there is one
   thing I am sure we can sing about, let the night be ever so dark, and
   that is, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
   His compassions fail not." If we cannot sing very loudly, yet we can
   sing a little low tune, something like this, "He has not dealt with us
   after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." "Oh,"
   says one, "I do not know where I shall get my dinner tomorrow! I am a
   poor wretch." So you may be, my dear Friend, but you are not so poor as
   you deserve to be! Do not be mightily offended about that. If you are,
   you are no child of God, for the child of God acknowledges that he has
   no right to the least of God's mercies, but that they come through the
   channel of Divine Grace alone. As long as I am out of Hell, I have no
   right to grumble. And if I were in Hell, I should have no right to
   complain, for I felt, when convinced of sin, that never creature
   deserved to go there more than I did. We have no cause to murmur--we
   can lift up our hands and say, "Night! You are dark, but you might have
   been darker. I am poor, but if I could not have been poorer, I might
   have been sick. I am poor and sick, yet I have some friends left. My
   lot cannot be so bad but it might have been worse."

   Therefore, Christian, you will always have one thing to sing about,
   "Lord, I thank You it is not all darkness!" Besides, however dark the
   night is, there is always a star or moon. There is scarcely a night
   that we have, but there are just one or two little lamps burning in the
   sky and, however dark it may be, I think you may find some little
   comfort, some little joy, some little mercy left--and some little
   promise to cheer your spirit. The stars are not put out, are they? No,
   if you cannot see them, they are there, but I think one or two must be
   shining on you--therefore give God a song in the night! If you have
   only one star, bless God for that one, and perhaps He will make it two.
   And if you have only two stars, bless God twice for the two stars, and
   perhaps He will make them four. Try, then, if you cannot find a song in
   the night.

   But, Beloved, there is another thing of which we can sing yet more
   sweetly, and that is we can sing of the day that is to come. Often I
   cheer myself with the thought of the coming of the Lord. We preach now,
   perhaps, with little success. "The kingdoms of this world" have not yet
   "become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." We are laboring,
   but we do not see the fruit of our labor. Well, what then? We shall not
   always labor in vain, or spend our strength for nothing! A day is
   coming when every minister of Christ shall speak with unction, when all
   the servants of God shall preach with power, and when colossal systems
   of heathenism shall tumble from their pedestals and mighty, gigantic
   delusions shall be scattered to the winds! The shout shall be heard,
   "Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord God Omnipotent reigns." I look for that
   day--it is to the bright horizon of Christ's Second Coming that I turn
   my eyes! My anxious expectation is that the blessed Sun of
   Righteousness will soon arise with healing in His wings, that the
   oppressed shall be righted, that despotism shall be cut down, that
   liberty shall be established, that peace shall be made lasting and that
   the glorious liberty of the children of God shall be extended
   throughout the known world! Christian, if it is night with you, think
   of tomorrow! Cheer up your heart with the thought of the coming of your
   Lord! Be patient, for you know who has said, "Behold, I come quickly
   and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall
   be."

   One thought more upon this point. There is another sweet tomorrow of
   which we hope to sing in the night. Soon, Beloved, you and I shall lie
   on our dying bed and we shall not lack a song in the night even then!
   And I do not know where we shall get that song if we do not get it from
   the tomorrow. Kneeling by the bed of an apparently dying saint
   recently, I said, "Well, Sister, the Lord has been very precious to
   you. You can rejoice in His Covenant mercies and His past loving
   kindnesses." She put out her hand and said, "Ah, Sir, do not talk about
   them now! I need the sinner's Savior as much, now, as ever--it is not a
   saint'sSavior I need, it is still a sinner's Savior that I need, for I
   am still a sinner." I found that I could not comfort her with the past,
   so I reminded her of the golden streets, of the gates of pearl, of the
   walls of jasper, of the harps of gold, of the songs of bliss. And then
   her eyes glistened as she said, "Yes, I shall be there soon. I shall
   see them, by-and-by," and then she seemed so glad. Ah, Believer, you
   may always cheer yourself with that thought! Your head may be crowned
   with thorny troubles now, but it shall wear a starry crown presently!
   Your hands may be filled with cares, but they shall soon grasp a
   harp--a harp full of music. Your garments may be soiled with dust, but
   they shall be white, by-and-by! Wait a little longer.

   Ah, Beloved, how despicable our troubles and trials will seem when we
   look back upon them! Looking at them here in the present, they seem
   immense. But when we get to Heaven they will seem to us just nothing at
   all! We shall talk to one another about them in Heaven and find all the
   more to converse about, according as we have suffered more here below.
   Let us go on, therefore, and if the night is ever so dark, remember
   there is not a night that shall not have a morning! And that morning is
   to come, by-and-by. When sinners are lost in darkness, we shall lift up
   our eyes in everlasting light.

   Surely I need not dwell longer on this thought. There is matter enough
   for songs in the night in the past, the present and the future.

   III. And now I want to tell you, very briefly, WHAT ARE THE
   EXCELLENCIES OF SONGS IN THE NIGHT ABOVE ALL OTHER SONGS.

   In the first place, when you hear a man singing a song in the night--I
   mean in the night of trouble--you may be quite sure it is a hearty one.
   Many of you sing very heartily now. I wonder whether you would sing as
   loudly if there were a stake or two in Smithfield for all of you who
   dared to do it? If you sang under pain and penalty, that would show
   your heart to be in your song. We can all sing very nicely, indeed,
   when everybody else sings--it is the easiest thing in the world to open
   our mouth and let the words come out. But when the devil puts his hand
   over our mouth, can we then sing? Can you say, "Though He slay me, yet
   will I trust in Him"? That is hearty singing! That is real song that
   springs up in the night!

   Again, the song we sing in the night will be lasting. Many songs we
   hear our fellow creatures singing will not do to sing, by-and-by. They
   can now sing rollicking drinking songs, but they will not sing them
   when they come to die. No, but the Christian who can sing in the night
   will not have to leave off his song--he may keep on singing it forever!
   He may put his foot in Jordan's stream and continue his melody. He may
   wade through it and keep on singing until he is landed safe in Heaven!
   And when he is there, there need not be a pause in his strain, but in a
   nobler, sweeter song he may still continue singing the Savior's power
   to save!

   Again, the songs we warble in the night are those that show we have
   real faith in God. Many men have just enough faith to trust God as far
   as Providence goes as they think right. But true faith can sing when
   its possessors cannot see! It can take hold of God when they cannot
   discern Him!

   Songs in the night, too, prove that we have true courage. Many sing by
   day who are silent by night. They are afraid of thieves and robbers.
   But the Christian who sings in the night proves himself to be a
   courageous character. It is the bold Christian who can sing God's
   sonnets in the darkness.

   He who can sing songs in the night proves, also, that he has true love
   to Christ It is not love to Christ merely to praise Him while everybody
   else praises Him--to walk arm in arm with Him when He has the crown on
   His head is no great thing to do. To walk with Christ in rags, is
   something more. To believe in Christ when He is shrouded in darkness.
   To stick hard and fast by the Savior when all men speak ill of Him and
   forsake Him--that proves true faith and love. He who sings a song to
   Christ in the night, sings the best song in all the world, for he sings
   from the heart.

   IV. I will not dwell further on the excellencies of night songs, but
   just, in the last place, SHOW YOU THEIR USE. Well, Beloved, it is very
   useful to sing in the night of our troubles, first, because it will
   cheer ourselves. When some of you were boys, living in the country, and
   had some distance to go alone at night, do you not remember how you
   whistled and sang to keep your courage up? Well, what we do in the
   natural world, we ought to do in the spiritual! There is nothing like
   singing to keep up our spirits. When we have been in trouble, we have
   often thought ourselves to be well near overwhelmed with difficulty, so
   we have said, "Let us have a song." We have begun to sing and we have
   proved the truth of what Martin Luther says, "The devil cannot stand
   singing, he does not like music." It was so in King Saul's day--an evil
   spirit rested on him, but when David played his harp, the evil spirit
   left him. This is usually the case, and if we can begin to sing, we
   shall remove our fears.

   I like to hear servants sometimes humming a tune at their work. I love
   to hear a plowman in the country singing as he goes along with his
   horses. Why not? You say he has no time to praise God, but if he can
   sing a song, surely he can sing a Psalm--it will take no more time!
   Singing is the best thing to purge ourselves of evil thoughts. Keep
   your mouth full of songs and you will often keep your heart full of
   praises--keep on singing as long as you can--you will find it a good
   method of driving away your fears.

   Sing in trouble, again, because God loves to hear His people sing in
   the night At no time does God love His children's singing so well as
   when He has hidden His face from them and they are all in darkness.
   "Ah," says God, "that is true faith that can make them sing praises
   when I do not appear to them! I know there is faith in them that makes
   them lift up their hearts, even when I seem to withhold from them all
   My tender mercies and all My compassions." Sing then, Christian, for
   singing pleases God! In Heaven we read that the angels are employed in
   singing--be you employed in the same way--for by no better means can
   you gratify the Almighty One of Israel who stoops from His high Throne
   to observe us poor, feeble creatures of a day!

   Sing, again, for another reason--because it will cheer your companions.
   If any of them are in the valley and in the darkness with you, it will
   be a great help to comfort them. John Bunyan tells us as Christian was
   going through the valley, he found it a dreadful place--horrible demons
   and hobgoblins were all about him--and poor Christian thought he must
   perish for certain. But just when his doubts were the strongest, he
   heard a sweet voice. He listened to it and he heard a man in front of
   him singing, "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of
   Death, I will fear no evil." Now, that man did not know who was near
   him, but he was unwittingly cheering a pilgrim behind him! Christian,
   when you are in trouble, sing! You do not know who is near you.
   Sing--perhaps you will get a good companion by it. Sing! Perhaps there
   will be another heart cheered by your song. There is some broken
   spirit, it may be, that will be bound up by your sonnets. Sing! There
   is some poor distressed Brother, perhaps, shut up in the Castle of
   Despair, who, like King Richard, will hear your song inside the walls
   and sing to you--and you may be the means of getting him ransomed and
   released! Sing, Christian, wherever you go! Try, if you can, to wash
   your face every morning in a bath of praise. When you go down from your
   chamber, never look on man till you have first looked on your God--and
   when you have looked on Him, seek to come down with a face beaming with
   joy! Carry a smile, for you will cheer up many a poor, wayward pilgrim
   by it. And when you fast, Christian. When you have an aching heart, do
   not appear to men to fast--appear cheerful and happy! Anoint your head
   and wash your face--be happy for your Brothers and Sisters' sake--it
   will tend to cheer them up and help them through the valley.

   One more reason, and I know it will be a good one for you. Try and sing
   in the night, Christian, for that is one of the best arguments in all
   the world in favor of your religion. Our divines, nowadays, spend a
   great deal of time in trying to prove the truth of Christianity to
   those who disbelieve it. I would like to have seen Paul trying that
   plan! Elymas the sorcerer withstood him--how did Paul treat him? He
   said, "O full of all subtlety and all mischief, you child of the devil,
   you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right
   ways of the Lord?" That is about all the politeness such men ought to
   have when they deny God's Truth! We start with this assumption--that
   the Bible is God's Word--but we are not going to prove God's Word. If
   you do not believe it, we will bid you, "Good-bye." We will not argue
   with you. Religion is not a thing merely for your intellect to prove
   the greatness of your own talent--it is a thing that demands your
   faith. As a messenger of Heaven, I demand that faith! If you do not
   choose to give it, on your own head be your doom!

   Christian, instead of disputing, let me tell you how to prove your
   religion! Live it out! Live it out! Give the external as well as the
   internal evidence! Give the external evidence of your own life. You are
   sick. There is your neighbor who laughs at religion. Let him come into
   your house. When he was sick, he said, "Oh, send for the doctor!" And
   there he was fretting, fuming and making all manner of noises. When you
   are sick, send for him, first--tell him that you are resigned to the
   Lord's will, that you will kiss the chastening rod, that you will take
   the cup and drink it, because your Father gives it. You need not make a
   boast of this, or it will lose all its power. But do it because you
   cannot help doing it. Your neighbor will say, "There is something in
   such a religion as that."

   And when you come to the borders of the grave--your neighbor was there,
   once, and you heard how he shrieked and how frightened he was--give him
   your hand and say to him, "Ah, I have a Christ who is with me now. I
   have a religion that will make me sing in the night." Let him hear how
   you can sing, "Victory, victory, victory," through Him that loved you.
   I tell you, we may preach fifty thousand sermons to prove the Gospel,
   but we shall not prove it half as well as you will through singing in
   the night! Keep a cheerful face, keep a happy heart, keep a contented
   spirit, keep your eyes bright and your heart aloft--and you will prove
   Christianity better than all the Butlers, and all the wise men who ever
   lived! Give them the "analogy" of a holy life and then you will prove
   religion to them! Give them the "evidences" of internal piety,
   developed externally, and you will give the best possible proof of
   Christianity! Try and sing songs in the night, for they are so rare
   that if you can sing them, you will honor your God and bless your
   friends!

   1 have been all this while addressing the children of God. And now
   there is a sad turn that this subject must take. Just a word or so, and
   then I have done. There is a night coming in which there will be no
   songs ofjoy--a night when a song shall be sung of which misery shall be
   the subject, set to the music of wailing and gnashing of teeth. There
   is a night coming when woe, unutterable woe, shall be the theme of an
   awful, terrific miserere. There is a night coming for the poor
   soul--and unless he repents it will be a night wherein he will have to
   sigh, and cry, and moan, and groan forever! I hope I shall never preach
   a sermon without speaking to the ungodly, for oh, how I love them!
   Swearer, your mouth is black with oaths, now, and if you die, you must
   go on blaspheming throughout eternity--and be punished for it
   throughout eternity! But listen to me, blasphemer! Do you repent? Do
   you feel yourself to have sinned against God? Do you feel a desire to
   be saved? Listen! You may be saved! You may be saved! There is another.
   She has sinned enormously against God and she blushes even now while I
   mention her case. Do you repent of your sins? Then there is pardon for
   you! Remember Him who said, "Go, and sin no more."

   Drunkard! But a little while ago you were reeling down the street and
   now you repent. Drunkard, there is hope for you! "Well," you say, "what
   shall I do to be saved?" Let me again tell you the old way of
   salvation. It is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be
   saved." We can get no further than that, do what we will! This is the
   sum and substance of the Gospel. "He that believes and is baptized
   shall be saved." So says the Savior Himself. Do you ask, "What is it to
   believe?" Am I to tell you again? I cannot tell you except that it is
   to look to Christ. Do you see the Savior there? He is hanging on the
   Cross. There are His dear hands, pierced with nails, fastened to a tree
   as if they were waiting for your tardy footsteps because you would not
   come. Do you see His dear head there? It is hanging on His breast as if
   He would lean over and kiss your poor soul. Do you see His blood,
   gushing from His head, His hands, His feet, His side? It is running
   after you because He well knew that you would never run after Him.

   Sinner, to be saved, all you have to do is to look at that Man! Can you
   not do it now? "No," you say, "I do not believe that will save me." Ah,
   my poor Friend, try it, I beseech you, try it! And if you do not
   succeed when you have tried it, I will be bondsman for my Lord--here,
   take me, bind me and I will suffer your doom for you! This I will
   venture to say--if you cast yourself on Christ and He deserts you--I
   will be willing to go halves with you in all your misery and woe, for
   He will never do it. Never, never, NEVER--

   "No sinner was ever empty sent back, Who came seeking mercy for
   Jesus'sake."

   I beseech you, therefore, try Him and you shall not try Him in vain!
   You shall find Him "able to save them to the uttermost that come unto
   God by Him." And you shall, by His Grace, be saved now--and saved
   forever!
     __________________________________________________________________

Co-workers With God

   (No. 2559)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 6, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY
   25, 1883.

   "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it:
   unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It
   is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of
   sorrows: for so He gives His Beloved sleep." Psalm 127:1,2.

   Did you notice, when we were reading this Psalm, that it is entitled,
   "A Song of Degrees for Solomon"? The title may be either, "for
   Solomon," or, "bySolomon." If it is bySolomon, I can only say that it
   is worthy to be placed side by side with the Book of Proverbs or
   Ecclesiastes. It is a Psalm which is very brief and which has the soul
   of wisdom in it. It is, in fact, a Solomonic Psalm--it is quite after
   his style of writing. The whole of it might be made into a Proverb and
   its separate sentences might be cut up into proverbial expressions. It
   was inspired by the Spirit of God and He may have used for the writing
   of it no less accomplished an individual than King Solomon, whose
   wisdom was greater than that of the men of his age. If it is a Psalm,
   "frSolomon"--which it strikes me it is, then it is none the less
   admirable in our esteem, for, if Solomon needed to be taught it,
   certainly we do. If, when David knew that Solomon was to build the
   house of the Lord, he thought it necessary, before he began the Temple,
   to remind him that "unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in
   vain who build it," we may depend upon it that as we are less wise than
   Solomon, we need to have just such a lesson taught us! Let us accept it
   as from David and let each one of us hear the words of the dying king
   as he speaks to us as well as to his son and successor.

   I intend, as God shall help me, to fetch out three or four lessons from
   our text which it may be well for us to learn.

   I. The first is WHAT WE MAY NOT EXPECT, namely, that God will build the
   house without our laboring, that God will guard the city without the
   watchman's staying awake, or that He will give us bread without our
   toiling for it. This principle may be applied to a great many matters.

   And, first, to what we call our ordinary life, though I never like to
   draw any distinction between one portion of our life and another. It is
   a part of the Christian religion to sanctify everythingso that we
   worship God in the shop as well as in the meeting house--and we are as
   reverent about our domestic affairs as about our devotional concerns.
   But, still, as it is our habit to speak of the ordinary affairs of
   life, it is necessary to say that in all things to which we put our
   hand, we are expected to use all available means. We are not allowed to
   be idle, to sit still and do nothing because we say that we are
   trusting in Providence. One of the things which Christianity cannot
   bear is laziness! The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, was
   inspired to pass a very sharp sentence upon them--"This we commanded
   you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat"--a sentence
   which would exterminate a great number of persons who at the present
   time seem to flourish! If in business I am not diligent, I cannot
   expect to prosper. If I wish to be a man of learning, I cannot get it
   simply by praying for it--I must study, even to the weariness of the
   flesh. If a man is sick, he may trust in God as much as he wills--that
   should be his first thing--but let him also use such remedies as God
   has given if he can discover them, or learn of them from others.

   My grandfather said to me, many years ago, concerning the preparation
   of a sermon, and I have always remembered his words, "I study my sermon
   as much as if the work of preaching depended entirely upon myself. And
   I go into the pulpit relying upon the Spirit of God, knowing that it
   does not depend upon myself, but upon Him." For us to do all that we
   can do is the appointed way in which the blessing comes. We would all
   think it ridiculous if men left off sowing because they had so much
   faith in God that they were sure He would not suffer men to starve and
   would be certain to send a harvest. Suppose the farmer said, "Plowing
   is for ordinary people. I live by faith, I never plow. Harrowing,
   fertilizing, sowing--these are all the pitiful shifts of unbelief. I
   shall do nothing with the land, I shall just wait. I cannot doubt that
   God can make wheat to grow quite as well as weeds and, if He pleases,
   He can give me a harvest without my using any of these ordinary means
   which are only a coverlet for unbelief."

   Within a year, he would be convinced of his folly! I wish it were as
   easy to convince all Christians of their folly in thinking that faith
   means that they are to work no more. "Faith without works is dead."
   "Faith works by love." There is no stronger and more forceful principle
   for fetching out the energy of a man than his conviction that God is
   with him. If God works in me to will and to do of His good pleasure,
   then the natural result is that I must work out what He has worked in.
   Where God has united means and ends, I would say of them, "What God has
   joined together, let no man put asunder." To trust in the means without
   God is presumption--but to profess to trust in God without the means is
   only another form of presumption--it will come to the same thing in the
   end. I am to believe in God and in God, alone, but if

   1 perceive that He works in a certain way, I am to drop into God's way
   and to believe that He will work while I am pleading with Him to do so,
   and seeking to carry out His plan of doing it!

   So, in the ordinary affairs of life, my dear Brothers and Sisters, do
   not go and put your feet on the fender and sit still, and say, "The
   Lord will provide," because if you act so foolishly, very likely He
   will provide you with a place in the workhouse! If you go up and down
   the town with no profession, with your hands in your empty pockets and
   say that you are trusting in God, God will give you the wages that you
   earn, namely poverty! He will clothe you with rags if you clothe
   yourself with idleness. If you will not serve Him, you shall find the
   reward that comes to the man who wastes his Master's talents by
   wrapping them in a napkin!

   The same thing is true in the great matter of our salvation. Dear
   Friends, it is quite true that God saves His people. "Salvation is of
   the Lord" from first to last, but no man is saved apart from his own
   believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That faith is God's gift, but it is
   man's act. The Holy Spirit does not believe for us--what would He
   believe? No man is saved apart from repentance--and repentance is a
   work of the Spirit of God. But the Spirit of God does not repent-- what
   has He to repent of? It is the man, himself, who must repent and
   believe. "If you believe not, you shall die in your sins." "Unless you
   repent, you shall all likewise perish." Do not, therefore, any of you,
   sit still and dream about the Predestination of God! Divine
   Predestination is most blessedly true--it is the joy of my spirit--but
   do not turn it into a pillow for your idle head and fancy that
   blessings will come to you when you are not looking for them. "Faith
   comes by hearing." Therefore hear most attentively and reverently the
   Word of God--and drink it in. And "salvation comes by faith."
   Therefore, what you hear of God's Word, believe and accept simply and
   with a childlike faith--and so you shall be saved. Do not, I pray
   you--any of you--fall into the idea that it matters not where you are,
   or what you do, or how inattentive you are, or how careless you are
   about the things of God. It does matter! All these things are
   sins--sins for which you shall be called to account!

   Oh, that the Spirit of God may lead you to adopt quite another line of
   conduct! Search the Scriptures, says our Lord, "for in them you think
   you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." May you
   often be found upon your knees, for the Lord hears them that cry unto
   Him! May you be found confessing your sins, for, "whoso confesses and
   forsakes them shall have mercy"! May you be found believing in the Lord
   Jesus Christ, for there is no soul lost that casts i t-self at the foot
   of Christ's Cross! Do not, then, misread the text as though, either in
   common things or in the loftiest matter, we were to do nothing and
   leave everything to God.

   This also is true, dear Friends, as to the matter of our spiritual
   growth We are not to assume that because we are Christians, we shall go
   on growing in Grace if we use no sort of means whatever. I know persons
   who stint themselves in their meals--and they are often faint--do you
   wonder? What shall I say of persons who, on the Sabbath, practice
   once-a-day Christianity and who never go out to a week-night service?
   They have not time, they say, yet I hear of their being at various
   secular entertainments. They stint themselves in their spiritual food
   and then they say--

   "Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought Do Ilove the
   Lord or no, Am I His, or am I not?"

   That is a point Ilong to know, too, for the case is very doubtful! If a
   man will not feed himself upon the Bread of Heaven, can he expect that
   he shall grow strong? We see some who neglect private prayer--of course
   not giving it up altogether--but they have little of it and they are
   seldom found where the assemblies of God's people are gathered for
   prayer. And they say they do not know how it is that they do not enjoy
   religion! I should think not, dear Friend--you do not have enough of
   it, for it is with religion as the poem says it is concerning
   learning--

   "A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or taste not the
   Pierian spring." It is often so with religion--a man gets just enough
   of it to make him miserable! He can no longer be satisfied with the
   world and he is not satisfied with God--so he is miserable all round.
   Oh, that you had not only religion enough to make you a miserable
   sinner, but enough to make you a rejoicing saint! But if we neglect to
   search the Word and neglect private prayer, and neglect the assemblies
   of God's House. If we restrain communion with the Most High, can we
   wonder if we do not grow? God will undoubtedly build our spiritual
   house, but we, also, must labor in it--there must be an earnestness, a
   prayerfulness, a watchfulness, an intensity of desire, a using of all
   appointed means by which we may be built up in our most holy faith.

   I am certain that this is also true in a fourth matter, namely, in our
   Christian work, i n our trying to bring souls to Christ. We cannot
   expect to see men converted if we are not earnest in telling them that
   Truth of God which will save the soul. It is the work of the Spirit to
   convert sinners--to regenerate must always be the sole work of God--yet
   the Lord uses us as His instruments. The great honor that God often
   puts upon instrumentality is very wonderful. Paul speaks of himself as
   the very mother of those to whom he was the means of conversion--"My
   little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ is
   formed in you." Then, in writing to Philemon, he says, of Onesimus,
   "whom I have begotten in my bonds"--making himself to be, as it were,
   both father and mother--strong expressions and yet they are warranted,
   otherwise Paul would not have used them. God uses those who seek to win
   souls so that, as it were, He puts the very paternity of those souls
   upon them! It is great condescension that He should do so, but let it
   teach us this lesson that if God works by means, as He does, He will
   not have us neglect those means, or we will be found unfit for the
   Master's use!

   A Brother complains that there are no conversions under his ministry.
   Will he ask himself whether he has aimed at conversion? A Sunday school
   teacher says that she has seen no girls in her class brought to Christ.
   Has her teaching been such as to tend that way? Has Christ been set
   forth in His sweet attraction? Has prayer been offered that the girls
   might come to Christ? Have they been pleaded with? Have they been
   taught their lost condition? Have they been shown the excellence of
   Christ as a Savior? You see, if we live in a region of means suited to
   ends, it is the path of wisdom to find out the means best suited to the
   desired end--and to use it in dependence upon God! Our text tells us
   that without God our labor will be in vain. But it does not tell us
   that we may expect to have our desire in our spiritual service unless
   we, ourselves, work for the Lord. I believe, my Brothers, that if we
   preach Christ Crucified with crucified hearts--if we set forth Christ
   with earnest longing that men may see Him, they will see Him. "They
   that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

   I believe, teachers in the Sunday school, that if Christ is taught in
   the classes earnestly and prayerfully, the children will receive Him.
   Ask those who have tried it--there are many such here--and I am sure
   that if I were to appeal to their experience, they would tell you that
   though they may have been, at times, slack in their service, God has
   never been slack concerning His promise! His Word has not returned unto
   Him void--it has accomplished what He pleased and prospered in the
   thing where He sent it. Let there be no listless indifference, no
   falling back upon the Sovereignty of God as an excuse for
   half-heartedness! Solomon was too wise a man to write a Psalm that
   would be meant to encourage idleness! The Holy Spirit would never have
   led him to write sentences that would bring us into such a state of
   heart as that.

   II. But now, secondly, our text suggests to us WHAT WE MAY EXPECT. That
   is, we may expect failure if we attempt the work without God.

   We may expect it and we shall not be disappointed. Going back, again,
   to our ordinary life, note what the Psalmist says. "Unless the Lord
   builds the house, they labor in vain who build it: unless the Lord
   guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you
   to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows." The
   pivotal word in the text is the word, "vain." Three times it rings out
   as a death-knell to the hope of every man who tries to do without God!
   Vain is your building a house; vain is your watching a city; vain is
   your rising up early and sitting up late. "Vanity of vanities," says
   the Preacher. All is vanity--utter vanity without God! Success in life,
   without God, is always vain! A man may be a millionaire without God,
   but what is that? He may be reported in the newspapers to have died
   worth a million, when, in fact, he was not worth a brass button! He was
   put into a coffin, lowered into the grave, but he was worth nothing at
   all. He could take nothing with him. Even the silver plate on the
   coffin did not belong to him. If anyone had dug open the grave and
   taken the plate away, he could not have said, "Leave that alone, it is
   mine!" "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we
   can carry nothing out." So life is a failure if it is only used in
   amassing gold.

   "Oh," says one, "but a man may be famous without God." Yes, in a sense,
   he may. But have you ever analyzed fame? Of what good is it to a dead
   man? Of what good is it to a damnedman? A man in Hell and his name in
   every newspaper! A man in the bottomless Pit and they say that he is
   one of the great men of the age who has left his mark upon the world!
   But if it is a mark without God, what kind of mark is it? A mark that
   had better be obliterated as soon as possible! No creature can be a
   success unless it pleases its Creator. No man can be a success unless
   he has treasure laid up for immortality, a mansion in Heaven, a place
   to abide in the islands of the blessed in the land of the hereafter.
   Without God, he is a complete failure in life.

   It may be that some of you are trying to attain success without God,
   but you will not succeed and, in the process, you will fritter away
   your life. What would you think of a man who cut himself up into strips
   with which to make himself a coat? "That would be a most absurd thing,"
   you say. Well, but what think you of a man who destroys himself that he
   may get himself bread, or that he may find a house and clothes for
   himself? "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world
   and lose his soul?" That is, supposing he could gain the whole world by
   bartering his soul for it, what profit would he make? But men do not
   gain the world by losing their soul--they lose both this world and the
   next, too! And for what do they lose all this? Why, they "rise up
   early." Oh, what would they not give for another half-hour in the
   morning? They rise up early and they "sit up late," till they fall
   asleep at their work. Oh, dear! What mill horses! What worse than
   slaves! And they, "eat the bread of sorrows." There is very little
   bread and, instead of being buttered, it seems to be smeared over with
   gall. There are some that I know who would not eat bread if they could
   help it--they grudge the money that it costs to keep body and soul
   together. And so they are losing this life and they are not getting
   anything for the life to come. They are throwing all away for some vain
   hope of becoming rich, that they may be talked of among men! Oh, happy
   and blessed is the man who has risen above that groveling and who knows
   that without his God he cannot prosper! He first of all goes to Him to
   learn what true prosperity is--and then looks to Him to bestow it.

   Now, dear Friends, here is a very important and blessed Truth of God
   which concerns our salvation. What we may expect regarding our
   salvation is this--if we attempt to obtain salvation apart from God, it
   will be a failure. Oh, how many there are who are seeking salvation
   through the works of the Law! They build and they watch. And they rise
   up early and they sit up late. And they eat the bread of sorrows and,
   let me tell you, if you are trying to be saved by your good works, you
   have need to get up early, sit up late, work your fingers to the bone,
   worry yourselves into your graves and then it will still be all in
   vain! Let me read to you, again, the beginning of that 126th Psalm,
   though we had it just now. The man of works rises up early, sits up
   late and eats the bread of sorrows all in vain.

   But this is what Faith says--"When the Lord turned, again, the
   captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth
   filled with laughter and our tongue with singing: then said they among
   the heathen, The Lord has done great things for them." You are trying
   to see what you can do. But we have found out what the Lord can do! You
   are fretting and fuming because of what you cannot do. But we are
   laughing and singing because of what the Lord has done by the
   redemption accomplished on the Cross of Calvary! I wish you would flee
   from Moses and get away to Christ and begin to trust and rejoice in
   Him, for, if you do not, this is what you may expect--if you spend the
   next half-century in tears and mortification of the body, if you deny
   yourself and give all your goods to feed the poor, and even give your
   body to be burned, yet vanity of vanities shall it all be! Without God,
   all that you can do in the matter of your salvation shall be vain!

   It is just the same with regard to the Christian's growth in Divine
   Grace. The Believer must never think that he will naturally and
   necessarily grow in Grace because he uses the means of Grace. I just
   now insisted upon the reading of the Scriptures, but that may be a very
   dry formality unless we look to Got to bless it to us. I spoke of
   gathering to hear the Word, but that will be a very unprofitable piece
   of ceremonialism unless our eyes are toward the Lord rather than toward
   the preacher. I spoke of private prayer, but that may degenerate into a
   mere form unless we have communion with God in it. Indeed, it is
   nothing unless God is there! You cannot go an inch in the pilgrimage to
   Heaven without God! It is not possible for you to overcome a solitary
   sin, or to produce a single virtue apart from the Holy Spirit. "They
   labor in vain who build" without God. You may rise up early and sit up
   late--and be one of the most outspoken professors of religion--but
   nothing will come of it unless God is in it all.

   And so is it with regard to the work and service of God. O Bothers and
   Sisters, we may preach, but none of our preaching will raise the
   spiritually dead unless the Lord is there! We may adopt every kind of
   expedient and go what length we like in seeking a revival, but it will
   be a farce and a nullity unless our dependence is upon the Lord alone.
   Give us a working Church, but let it first be a trusting Church! Let
   the man be earnest, but first let him be humble. Let him believe in the
   Gospel being blessed, but let him first believe that it is God, alone,
   who can bless the Gospel. If not, we shall certainly meet with failure.
   If we dream for a moment that we can change a heart of stone into
   flesh, that stony heart will, by its obduracy, teach us a severe
   lesson! If we even think that one little child can be converted by our
   tears and prayers, apart from God, we shall be utterly disappointed.
   Without God, we are nothing!

   III. Now, thirdly, and briefly, let us notice, from the text, WHAT WE
   SHOULD NOT DO.

   And the first point is that in our ordinary affairs we should not fret,
   or worry, or grieve. You know how some people act--they forget that God
   rules all things and that they are taught to pray, "Give us this day
   our daily bread." So they are all in a fume, up in the morning far too
   early, waking everybody up who needed a little extra rest, then toiling
   hard all day, not really doing much, but fussing over it all, rather
   than really accomplishing anything. They seem as if they cannot go to
   bed at night--there is always something more to be done. There is
   another drawer that needs putting to rights, or something else that
   must be attended to even at midnight! Then look at the man in
   business--he does not do half as much as the quiet man who goes calmly
   about his work. But you would think, from the fuss he makes, that he is
   going to compete with all the traders in London and that his shop, if
   he is to live by it, must cut out all the shops that ever existed! If
   there is a bad debt, oh, he will be ruined!

   I know of some people who seem to make all the affairs of life into a
   kind of slavery by the way in which they are agitated about them. It is
   sad to see an immortal soul worrying itself thus about the things of
   time. Well did the poet say that it resembled--

   "Ocean into tempest tossed

   To waft a feather or to drown a fly."

   Yet this is the way with very many--they forget that God "gives His
   beloved sleep." They would be far better in bed, sometimes, when they
   are sitting up and worrying. If they could just sleep on it and leave
   the matter with God, it would go on a deal better without them than it
   does with them. Yet they fancy that if they are not there to hack,
   drive and scold from morning to night, everything would go amiss. My
   dear worrying man or woman, pray the Lord to give you a little patience
   and a great deal of faith--and the Grace to be quiet and leave all in
   His hands.

   In the matter of the soul's salvation, a man should be anxious, yet his
   salvation will never come by his working and running from this one to
   that and the other. I have known men who have desired to be saved and
   who have not been satisfied with the preacher they have been accustomed
   to hear--so they have gone to another. They have not been satisfied
   with him--so they have gone to still another! They have not been
   content, perhaps, in one denomination, so they have drifted off to
   another and, at last, it is highly probable that they have cast anchor
   with the worst lot of all. Perhaps they have got as far as the Papacy
   and they think now they have something real--here is an historic
   church--they can cast anchor there. Yet very soon they are off
   somewhere else. Possibly they go to the Plymouth Brethren, or to the
   Irving-ites--nobody knows where they may go, but they keep flying about
   here and there. This is not the way that salvation comes! I can stop
   just where I am and find that by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, I
   am saved. "Lord Jesus, I believe. I trust You and I am saved." That is
   the way salvation comes--not by all that running about and gadding to
   and fro! This is our Lord's declaration--"He that believes and is
   baptized shall be saved." That is how, in the Great Commission, He bade
   us put it and I shall not put it otherwise than He commanded us. "He
   that believes on the Son has everlasting life." "Believe on the Lord
   Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." But instead of doing that, some
   must be here and there, and everywhere. Oh, that they would listen to
   the text! "It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat
   the bread of sorrows," for to those who are in Christ, to those who
   simply believe on Him, "He gives His beloved sleep."

   Now, with regard to growing in Divine Grace, I believe that it is much
   the same. I do not know that I ever looked down my own throat, but
   there are some Christians who seem to live that way--they will not
   believe that they are spiritually breathing unless they can see down
   their own throats! They do not believe that their heart is beating
   unless they can hear it palpitating. I mean this! There is often such
   an amount of introspection about Christians that they miss the very
   essence of true Christian life. They look into themselvesinstead of
   looking to Christ alone. You remember that when the face of Moses shone
   because he had looked at God, we read that, "Moses wished that the skin
   of his face had not shone." You go and look in the mirror and you are
   in hopes that you will see your face shine that way, but it will not.
   You say, "Would you not have a man look in the mirror?" Of course I
   would, that he may see the spots on his face. But he cannot remove them
   by his looking--he must go to the water to wash the spots away. The way
   to become like Christ is to think about Christ. Some people think so
   much about their own sanctification that they miss sanctification
   altogether. They are looking at their own image and admiring it until
   they are gradually being more and more conformed to their own image!
   But he who looks away from himself, entirely to Christ, shall go from
   glory to glory and be transformed into the image of his Master. It is
   foolish to be always fretting and worrying, and saying, "I am not
   humble enough, I am not believing enough, I am not this or that." Go to
   Christ and rest yourself on Him--and believe that what He has begun to
   do for you and in you, He will certainly perform and perfect!

   Here comes in, again, our working for the Lord. Beloved Friends, let us
   work for the Lord without being "cumbered" with much service as Martha
   was. The Lord Jesus Christ is admirable in His life for the quiet way
   in which He does everything. He always seems ready. Whatever the
   occasion is, He is never put about or flurried. He works all day long
   and He gets weary, but He says nothing about it. It is a sweet way of
   working for Christ--"to do the next thing," the next that needs to be
   done today--not always forecasting all that we are going to do tomorrow
   and the next day, but calmly and quietly believing that there are so
   many days in which a man shall be able to walk and to work, and while
   we have them we will both walk and work in the strength of God! It is a
   very sweet thing when a man is brought into such a condition that he
   can work for Christ in Christ's own quiet way, calmly leaving all his
   cares at his Savior's feet.

   IV. I will finish up with the description of SOMETHING WHICH I WOULD
   LIKE TO SEE. When Solomon was building the Temple for the Lord, it was
   done very quietly. The men had the plan--not one of them had to
   consider about it--the plan was all before them and when the stones
   came from the quarries, they did not need any hammering or any
   altering. They only needed quietly fixing, each stone into the place
   that was prepared for it. Those who went to work for Solomon on the
   mountains had one month in Lebanon, and then they had two months at
   home, so that they were not killed by overwork. I can well believe that
   while the Temple was building, it was about the noblest form of human
   labor that ever fell to men's lot. I should think they began the
   morning with Psalms--not too early, before the sun was up-- but just
   when they could begin it properly. And they worked well on till
   evening--not too late, for this was work for God, and God is no
   tyrant--He does not want His servants to be slaves--and before the sun
   went down there was an evening hymn and they said, when they went home,
   "Oh, we have had another blessed day's work! It has been so pleasant!
   Another big stone has been hoisted up--we could not have believed that
   it would move, but we got it into its place all right. We had not to
   hammer it, or even to tap it with a mallet--it just fitted precisely
   and we felt so glad, for it is the Lord's House that is being built. We
   kept singing all day. All the time the great cranes were lifting the
   big statues, we kept praising and blessing the Lord as we saw the
   Temple being built. We never had such work, before, and never enjoyed
   work like it--it seems like one long blessed holiday."

   Those who were privileged to work from day to day with all their might
   yet found every day to be like a Sabbath, for now their ordinary work
   was work for God. They were not like common workmen who were toiling
   for the world! Even that by which they earned their daily bread was all
   for the Lord. So every day went merrily on till they came to the very
   last day and they saw the top stone raised. And then they looked with
   the utmost delight upon it and they were the most glad of all the
   company! When Solomon prayed that wonderful prayer to the great Lord of
   the House, they felt that they had not labored in vain, for God had
   blessed them and now He had filled the House with His Presence so that
   the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the brightness of
   the Glory!

   Now, I want all of us to feel that as workers for God--pastor and
   people, Sunday school teachers and you who teach the Bible classes, you
   who distribute tracts, you who preach at the street corners, all of
   you, my beloved fellow helpers-- we are doing grand work! You know that
   it is God's House that we are building. Under God and with His help, we
   are building up His Church with stones that He points out to us, helps
   us to quarry and enables us to bring into their places. And the work
   goes on so easily, too, if we will but do it according to the Great
   Architect's plan. And if we do not get too fussy and busy, and if we do
   not think that we should knock a corner off here, and alter the shape
   of a stone there, but will just do it as God would have it done, in His
   fear, in simple dependence upon Him, confident that it is all
   right--the great Master-Builder will complete His work! I think that we
   ought to be the happiest workers who ever lived! It should be a joy to
   us to do anythingfor the Lord Jesus. And, oh, when it gets finished,
   and the top stone is laid, and the Lord descends and fills the House
   and none of us will be any longer needed, for the priests will not be
   able to stand and minister by reason of the Glory of the Christ who has
   filled His Church--oh, then what joy we shall have that ever we were
   engaged in the work!

   I mean that for you, my dear Sister--do not go on fretting and saying,
   "I shall have to give up my class. Things do not seem to go well." I
   know how you talk--do not speak like that any longer! And you, dear
   Brother, must not go home to your church in the country and say, "I
   cannot stir the people. The work does not flourish as I wish it would."
   Of course it does not! My work does not prosper as I wish it might. You
   and I can never go at the pace we would like to go, but can we not be
   willing to be driven by our Lord and to go at HIS pace? It is quite
   right to work as if the salvation of all the souls in the world
   depended upon you, yet, as it does not, you had better throw that
   burden back upon your Lord and Master! Feel the weight of men's souls
   till it crushes you down to Christ's feet, but do not let it crush you
   any lower than that--you are not the Savior, you are not to have the
   Glory of their salvation. Neither, if you have served your Lord
   faithfully, shall you have the shame of their ruin if they are lost!
   Rise not up early and sit not up late. I mean, so as to work yourself
   away--but give yourself up by faith to do all you can do, all that God
   shall help you to do--and then trust in Him to bless you and He will
   bless you. God make this discourse a word of comfort to His own people,
   for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALMS 126. AND 127.

   Psalm 126:1. When the LORD turned, again, the captivity of Zion, we
   were like them that dream. We could hardly believe it! We began to talk
   incoherently, as men do in their sleep. We were so carried away with
   joyful rapture that we did not know where we were--"we were like them
   that dream."

   2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter We became Issacs, for he was
   the child of laughter. We laughed as Abraham did, for very joy of
   faith! Sometimes laughter may become the holiest possible expression.
   It may be one of the meanest utterances of our nature, but it may also
   be one of the loftiest. These people not only laughed, but their mouth
   was filled with laughter! They could not laugh loudly enough. There was
   no expression of articulate speech that sufficed them at all--"Then was
   our mouth filled with laughter."

   2. And our tongue with singing. When they did find their tongue, they
   could not speak, they must sing! They could not have anything so slow
   as a mere declaration, they must have a Psalm--"Then was our mouth
   filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing."

   2. Then said they among the heathen, The LORD has done great things for
   them. The heathen could not help seeing that it was the Lord who had
   delivered Israel. No other people except the Jews ever came back from
   captivity. The Babylonian tyrant never restored any others to their
   land, but he did restore these people. And the very heathen said, "It
   is their God, Jehovah, that has done it." And what did God's own people
   say?

   3. The LORD has done great things for us; whereof we are glad. See the
   difference between the outsider and the insider. The outsider says,
   "The Lord has done great things for them." Ah, but they who belong to
   God say, "The Lord has done great things for us." Oh, the privilege of
   being able to say, "for us"! Dear Hearers, can you join with all the
   saints and say, "The Lord has done great things for us" This is what
   happened to God's people, before, but now they have fallen into another
   trouble, so hear how they pray.

   4. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. '
   'You did it once. Do it again. You made us to live. Make us to live
   again. We sang, then, O Lord--enable us to sing again, 'Turn again our
   captivity.' As the dry riverbeds are suddenly made to be filled with
   water at the melting of the snow, so come, and fill our hearts, 'as the
   streams in the south.'"

   5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Take that for certain! Lay
   it down as a Scripture Proverb. When God sends us a wet time, and we
   have to sow in the moist, foggy atmosphere--never mind--there are
   brighter days yet to come. We shall reap amid the sunbeams and carry
   home our sheaves with joy!

   6. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless
   come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. ' 'He shall
   doubtless come again with rejoicing." Now, you disconsolate workers,
   you who have only a handful of seed, you shall come back with an armful
   of sheaves! You shall come back rejoicing though you now go forth
   sorrowing, for the Lord has said it! Therefore be of good courage.

   Psalm 127:1-3. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who
   build it: unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in
   vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the
   bread of sorrows for so He gives His beloved sleep. Lo, children are an
   heritage of the LORD and the fruit of the womb is a reward. The
   Psalmist had been speaking about house building and there is the
   building up of the house in the sense of a family being built up by
   children. Some people think children an encumbrance, but they are, "a
   heritage of the Lord," and they are to be looked upon with gladness.
   One said, "I have 12 sons," and his friend answered, "That is exactly
   Jacob's number." "Yes," said the first speaker, "and I have Jacob's God
   to enable me to sustain them." There is a comfort in that thought--may
   God grant that none may be troubled by those whom God sends to us for a
   heritage!

   4. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the
   youth. In the case of an arrow, you know it all depends which way you
   shoot it. Mind, therefore, that you direct your children aright. Give
   them a good start, a true aim from the very first, God helping you, and
   then they shall fly from you like the arrows of a mighty archer!

   5. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them. That is, when
   they are like arrows--not when they are gnarled and knotty, like
   crooked sticks! When they are unwilling to be tutored and trained, then
   they become a trial and a trouble. But happy is the man who has a
   quiver full of arrows--the more the merrier of such children as the
   Psalmist here speaks of.

   5. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in
   the gate. When there was any suit at law, these sons of his would be
   there to plead for him. If there was any fighting to be done, they also
   would be to the front. It was a dangerous thing to attack a man who had
   a house full of strong, loyal, loving sons! They would be his
   defense--they would speak--and speak with very considerable emphasis,
   too, with his enemies in the gate.
     __________________________________________________________________

Universal Fatherhood--a Lie!

   (No. 2560)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 13, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 1, 1883.

   "I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and you do that which
   you have seen with your father." John 8:38.

   THESE were the words of Christ to those who beset Him round about with
   angry eyes and cruel tongues. Our Lord declared that He had been with
   His Father before He spoke with those wicked Jews. And, indeed, He had
   been, for He was with the Father before the worlds were formed. He saw
   all that the Father did and He helped in doing it--"Without Him was not
   anything made that was made." He was the Father's eternal delight. The
   relationship of father and son among man implies that one exists before
   the other, but it is not so implied in the relationship of the eternal
   Father and Son. We know not how to explain this great mystery, for the
   terms Father and Son are only the nearest approximation that can be
   given to our poor understandings of the relationship which exists
   between them. Yet is the Father eternal and the Son eternal--the Son
   coequal and coeternal with the Father. Our Lord had an existence before
   He was born of Mary--He had an everlasting existence. His goings forth
   were from of old, even from eternity. Though He is unto us the Child
   born and the Son given, yet He is equally, "the Everlasting Father,"
   who was and is and ever shall be One with the eternal God.

   We learn, from what Christ said, that He knows all the Father's mind.
   He understands the very essence of the Godhead. He is acquainted with
   the purposes that are kept secret from men and angels. As God, He knows
   what none of us can know till the day shall declare it and there is
   nothing in the Father's heart that is hidden from Him. As the Son of
   Man, He knew not all things, for He grew up as a child and increasedin
   knowledge. And He said, "Of that day and that hour knows no man, no,
   not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."
   But as Divine, He is acquainted with all the Father's heart, mind,
   will, desire, purpose and plan. The very heart of God is read by His
   Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who dwells in it and is One with Him.

   We ought to be very grateful that the Son of God has come into the
   world and told us all that we need to know concerning the Father. "I
   speak," He says, "that which I have seen with My Father." First He saw
   it all with such an eye as no one else has--and then He came here and
   spoke of it all, or as much of it as it was possible and wise for man
   to receive. Let us rejoice in the preaching of Christ, because He
   testified what He had seen. What He said was no theory, no
   guesswork--He revealed facts and that which He has told us concerning
   God is stamped with the solemn seal of Infallible Truth, for Christ
   cannot err or make mistakes. He has told us what He has seen and
   testified what He has known. Oh, for Divine Grace to receive His
   witness! He that does receive it shall live forever--He that rejects it
   shall die the death that never dies!

   Then, at the back of this follows another very consolatory
   thought--that if Christ's teaching is, indeed, the revelation of what
   He has seen with the Father, then we are quite certain, since God is
   never inconsistent with Himself, that there is nothing in the secret
   purpose and design of God which is contrary to the Gospel which Christ
   has revealed. When I read, therefore, "Whoever will, let him take the
   water of life freely," I need not fear lest any doctrine of election or
   predestination will be in conflict with that invitation! If I hear
   Christ say, "He that believes on Me has everlasting life," I may be
   quite sure that it is so. There is nothing in the sealed Book of the
   Divine Decrees that is contrary to the open Book of Divine Revelation.
   There is no passage in the mysterious roll of destiny that, rightly
   understood, can conflict in any degree with any part of the Volume
   which the Spirit of God has given us. This ought to make us very glad.
   I may sit down and pore over the tremendous mysteries of fixed fate,
   foreknowledge, predestination and the like until I confuse my mind and
   make my spirit heavy with a thousand gloomy thoughts about things I
   cannot understand--but what a mercy it is to say, "He has said, 'He
   that believes and is baptized shall be saved.' "God so loved the world
   that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
   not perish, but have everlasting life.'" It cannot be that God is
   keeping back in His mind something that is contrary to what He has
   spoken--"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man,
   that He should repent: has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He
   spoken and shall He not make it good?" I rejoice to know that neither
   has Christ seen wrongly, nor is there anything which He has seen which
   would conflict with what He has said to us!

   I want you, dear Friends, to look at the text and to notice two or
   three things that come out, as it were, incidentally. The first is that
   the doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God is a lie. That is clear
   enough from this passage, "I speak that which I have seen with My
   Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father." Then,
   there are two fathers, and there are two sets of children--there is a
   Father whom Christ calls, "My Father." And there is another father whom
   He calls, in speaking to the Jews who hated Him, "your father." The
   prayer beginning, "Our Father, which are in Heaven," was never meant to
   be used by everybody. In the mouth of the ungodly, it is altogether out
   of place, for God is nottheir Father. "You must be born again" before
   you can be the children of God. The Scripture statement is clear and
   distinct--"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the
   sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." We are constantly
   spoken of as being begotten again, regenerated and adopted by God--all
   of which is a farce and a nullity if men are by creation and by their
   first natural birth, the children of God. It is not so! "We know that
   we are of God, and the whole world lies in the Wicked One." "Behold,
   what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be
   called the sons of God"--and the distinction is set forth between "us"
   who have received this "manner of love" and the multitude who are still
   the seed of the Wicked One. This truth needs to be proclaimed very
   forcibly and the axe must be laid to the root of that deadly upas tree
   of universal fatherhood, for all manner of mischief will result if
   unconverted men are led to believe that they are already the sons of
   God. They are not so until they have been Divinely translated out of
   the kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.

   Another fact that is incidentally taught us here is that there is a
   devil A great many of the devil's servants are so disrespectful to
   their lord that they even deny his existence and Satan, himself, is so
   self-denying in this respect that he denies his own existence and sets
   other people to do the same. Men squeezed the Lord's prayer very hard
   when they made it read, "Deliver us from evil," for it is pretty clear
   that it ought to be, "Deliver us from the Evil One." There is a
   distinct enunciation of a great master-power of evil, a dread
   personality, "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
   works in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our
   conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
   desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children
   of wrath, even as others," until Grace brought us out from that
   terrible state! They who have started on the road to Heaven know that
   there is a devil, for they have had many an evil thought that came not
   from themselves or from their fellow men--strange, dark, mysterious
   thoughts which have rushed upon them from the infernal regions and
   nowhere else!

   And those who have stood foot to foot with Apollyon, as Christian did,
   know full well that he is neither a myth nor a dream, but an awful and
   powerful adversary from whom may God deliver us from day to day! Even
   His errand boys, his imps, are terrible enough, for Paul was hard put
   to it when he was vexed by a messenger of Satan who buffeted him. But
   as for Satan, himself, when he comes to fight with a soul, woe to that
   man unless he has the almighty power of God to enable him to bear up in
   the day of battle! Our Lord Jesus Christ here speaks of Satan as being
   just as real as the Father is--"I speak that which I have seen with My
   Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father." Then He
   says, in the 44th verse, "You are of your father the devil, and the
   lusts of your father you will do." I quite expect, one of these days,
   to meet a man who will tell me that I have neither eyes, nor ears, nor
   head, nor body, nor soul, nor anything else! Sometimes I have said to
   myself, "Surely, the course of doubting can go no further! Men have
   reached the uttermost absurdity of unbelief." But, Brothers and
   Sisters, we know, to our joy, that there is a Father in Heaven--the God
   and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and, sometimes, we also
   know to our terror that there is another father of another family,
   against whom we fight in full assurance of victory, rejoicing that "the
   God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly."

   Still, those are not the main Truths of God I want to bring out of the
   text. Let them be laid by to be thought upon, but think, now, of this
   Truth--that nature is the root of character. That is the doctrine
   taught in this text--that conduct is the result of nature, for Christ
   says, "I speak that which I have seen with My Father." And to His
   enemies He says, "You do that which you have seen with your father." A
   child talks according to his nature. Has he good training at home? Does
   he live with godly parents? Hear him prattle and you will soon find out
   where he came from. Listen to another child who has lived in very
   different circumstances--one who has been brought up amid evil of every
   kind. As you hear himtalk, you learn from what kind of family he came.
   It is the real nature of a person which produces the conversation and
   the conduct. It is not good actions that make a good man--it is the
   good man who does the good actions. It is not the sweet apples that
   make the tree sweet, but it is the sweetness of the sap, the excellence
   of the tree, which produces the good apples. So, you see, there is a
   great deal more to be done than to alter your talk and your actions!
   Our very naturehas to be changed! That is the Truth of God I want to
   bring out before I close my discourse.

   I. Note, first, that OUR BLESSED LORD PROVED HIS OWN PARENTAGE BY WHAT
   HE SAID. "I speak that which I have seen with My Father."

   Though I cannot put my thoughts into words as I would like, it seems so
   beautiful to me that our Lord Jesus Christ should be called the Holy
   Child Jesus and that all His life-teaching should be, as it were, a
   child telling what He has seen at home. You have sometimes heard a
   pretty little guileless child telling out all that it has seen while
   with its father and mother--disclosing even the innermost secrets of
   the family with naivete and sweetness. And you have, perhaps, laughed
   heartily as you have seen how everything has been laid bare by that
   little talker's tongue. Now transfer that idea, on a sublime scale, to
   Christ. He comes, as the Holy Child Jesus, not to tell us of the
   grandeur of God, but as though He condescends to take upon Himself our
   child-nature in its immaturity. He tells us, as a child, what He has
   seen with the Father! It is such a blessed way of letting us know the
   secrets of God's heart for the Only-Begotten, the Well-Beloved, to come
   and tell us, who are made by Grace the younger members of the family,
   all that He has seen with the Father.

   When we listen to Christ, we say at once that He speaks to us words of
   love. "Never man spoke like this Man." He was Tenderness, itself. He
   spoke so winsomely and His words were so full of affection that, "the
   common people heard Him gladly." Yes, and even the publicans and
   sinners drew near to Him to hear Him! The first words of hope they ever
   heard fell from His dear lips. The teachers of the Law were chilly and
   cold, and they froze up every thought of joy in the poor sinner's soul,
   but the words of Christ were warm with brotherly affection, for He
   spoke of what He had seen with the Father! What had He seen with the
   Father but love--love unutterable, love illimitable, love that endures
   forever, for "God is Love"!

   Yet did Christ also speak words of justice. God i s not so much Love
   that any true attribute which ought to be found in a perfect Character
   is absent and, therefore, God is Just. True Christianity is never
   dubious about the justice of God. The Lord abhors sin, He cannot endure
   it. He "will by no means clear the guilty." The tone of the chapter I
   have read to you [see Exposition at end of sermon] seems severe and so
   it should be when spoken to hypocrites like those scribes and
   Pharisees. Do you expect God to treat them with anything but severity?
   When our Lord Jesus Christ declares that the wicked shall be cast into
   Hell, "where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched." When
   He says, "these shall go away into everlasting punishment," you see the
   sternness of Divine Justice! Turn back to the Old Testament and see
   whether this is not the Jehovah who was the God of Abraham, of Isaac
   and of Jacob--the righteous God who burned up Sodom and Gomorrah and
   destroyed Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea. I confess that I have
   been as ready to tremble at the words of Jesus as at the tempest, fire
   and smoke of Sinai's burning hill, for Love, when it speaks terrible
   things, makes them more awful because of love! Nothing causes the
   darkness of the tempest to stand out so terribly as that one bright
   flash of lightning that makes it afterwards seem darker than before.
   And when, in the gentle words of Christ, we see the gleam of God's
   wondrous love, we feel confounded before the terror of many of His
   warnings because He speaks that which He has seen with His Father--He
   keeps back nothing. He proclaims the God of Love, but He proclaims that
   God who shall come and shall not keep silent and who shall judge the
   nations in righteousness--and smite the wicked with a rod of iron!

   Yet notice always about our blessed Master this trait in the character
   of His speech, that He always speaks words of Truth. To Christ's
   sermons there need never be appended any list of errata. He has neither
   left anything out, nor left anything in by mistake. Nearly 19 centuries
   have tried and tested the teachings of Jesus and perhaps this century,
   with all its unbelief, does the Character of Christ more honor than any
   century that has gone before it! And certainly the influence of Christ
   is felt, today, in places of which people little dream. I heard one say
   that when our soldiers, in the fight in Egypt, stopped to put water to
   the lips of the thirsty enemies whom a century ago our troops would
   have slain at once, it was because the Christ was shadowing them! They
   felt His influence, though possibly most of them were not Christians at
   all. Everywhere the Christ is putting down barbarism in some form or
   other and helping to amend the character of men-- they are girded by
   Him though they have not known Him! He has never had to alter or to
   revise His teaching, though our explanation of the teaching has had to
   be corrected. There have been prophets and teachers, not sent of God,
   who, to establish a system of doctrine, or a sect or denomination, have
   had to keep back or to exaggerate something or other, but it was not so
   with Christ--He spoke the Truth of God, the whole Truth and nothing but
   the Truth of God, for He had been with the Father, and as a child He
   told out what He had seen in the Father's House.

   Thus I might keep on bringing out various points about our Lord's
   teaching, but I will only mention one other. And that is, the supreme
   holiness of the words of Christ Jesus Christ, with all His gentleness
   and love, never tolerates sin. That narrative in this chapter, in which
   He said to the adulteress, "Neither do I condemn you," has never made
   any other woman commit adultery and it has never helped a single
   conscience to find delight in unhallowed lust. No, the brightness of
   that glorious tenderness is as the shining of a crystal! It is so pure
   in its tenderness that while it is gentle with the sinner--and may we
   always be so--yet it is all the more severe with the sin from its very
   gentleness! Christ never helps us to be selfish, or to excuse
   ourselves, or to be hypocritical, covering up our sin with a cloak of
   godliness. No, but His teaching is pure, transparent righteousness from
   beginning to end. And we feel as if we could bow down before Him and
   worship Him with the same adoration with which the cherubim and
   seraphim salute the Father and say to Christ, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord
   God and Savior, our very hearts do worship You!" The teaching of Jesus
   is thus holy because He speaks the things which He has seen with His
   Father.

   II. Now I go to my second head which is that, like their Lord, CHRIST'S
   PEOPLE SHOULD ALSO DISPLAY THEIR PARENTAGE. They should speak what they
   have seen with their father and brothers and sisters. You and I are not
   the children of God if it is not so with us. We begin to suspect the
   parentage of any who have no resemblance to their reputed parents--no
   family trait or feature whatever! And certainly in spiritual things, he
   who is in no respect like Christ, may begin to suspect that he is not a
   true-born child of God, but merely bears the name, and has not come by
   supernatural descent from the Most High.

   Notice, first, that children of God have, in a measure, the Nature of
   their Father We are not full-grown yet, some of us are very tiny babes,
   and it is not always easy to detect the Father's likeness in His
   infants. That likeness comes out as the child grows and as the man
   appears. We are struck, sometimes, with the similarity between father
   and son, though we could scarcely trace it while the boy was but
   little. It is so with us in relation to our Heavenly Father. In
   regeneration, the Nature of God is imparted to us--not, of course, that
   high and incommunicable Essence of the Godhead which belongs to God,
   alone--but the Character and disposition of God become ours. Did not
   the Apostle Peter write, "Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of
   Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
   through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and
   peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus
   our Lord, according as His Divine power has given unto us all things
   that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him that
   has called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding
   great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of
   the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
   through lust"?

   The Spirit of God, in regeneration, creates in man a third principle
   which, I believe, was not there before. He is only body and soul until
   this miracle is worked, but then he becomes body, soul and spirit--he
   rises into a higher sphere and enters into another world into which he
   could not have come before. "The natural man receives not the things of
   the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
   know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "The first man,
   Adam, was made a living soul" and we are made in his likeness. "The
   last Adam was made a quickening Spirit"--and when we, by being born
   again, receive His likeness, we then participate in that quickening and
   rise into the Nature and Image of God! There is a "living and
   incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever" and which becomes
   our life in that day when, by the power of the Spirit of the eternal
   God, we are "begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of
   Jesus Christ from the dead." This is a deep mystery and blessed are
   they who need not merely talk of it, because every day they know its
   power! Now, where there is the Nature of God, there will be a likeness
   to God, and you and I must have a measure of likeness to our great
   Father, or else it cannot be right for us to say that we are born of
   Him.

   Next, the children of God, when they are in a right state of heart,
   live with their Father. If you send your children away to school and
   they never come home to see you, they may grow up with very little of
   your characteristics, for they are apt to be impressed by those with
   whom they live. Those who are born of God live with God. Moses said,
   "Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations." And the
   Apostle John wrote, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
   His Son Jesus Christ." It is our delight to go to our Father and to
   speak with Him. We dwell in God, even as Christ said to His disciples,
   "Abide in Me, and I in you." You cannot live with a man without growing
   more or less like he is and, certainly, no child of God can live with
   God and contemplate the Person and Character of Christ so as to abide
   in Him without becoming changed into His image, "from glory to glory,
   even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

   Children have a natural gift of imitation, so God's children imitate
   their Father. Paul's words, in Ephesians 5:1, should read, "Be you
   imitators of God, as dear children." It is very curious to see how
   children will imitate their parents. Was there ever a preacher whose
   boy did not stand on a chair and try to preach? Was there ever a man
   who laid bricks, or used a saw, who has not caught his children doing
   the same sort of thing? Was there ever a girl who did not seem to know
   what she would come to in being a nurse of little children and,
   therefore, naturally took to nursing a doll? It is the habit of
   children to imitate--they cannot help it. Well now, if we are the
   children of God and if we dwell with God, the instinct of imitation
   will certainly manifest itself and we shall try to be doing, in our
   small way, those deeds of kindness and love, those acts of
   righteousness and holiness which God is doing! And it will be said of
   us in our measure, "You do that which you have seen with your father."

   Then, in addition, God's children tell what they hear. There is, in a
   child, the instinct is always to tell what it hears. I am afraid that I
   have not lost that instinct, myself, though I am no longer a child. I
   never like to be entrusted with anybody's secrets and I generally give
   people notice that if they want them published abroad, they have only
   to communicate them to me. It stops me from being bothered with a lot
   of things that will be sure to get known without my telling them!
   Children cannot keep a secret! It is no use to tell them to do so. If
   there is any family secret at all, the children must not only be put to
   bed at night, but they must be kept in bed all day, for, "little
   pitchers have large ears," and they also have a great gift of running
   over! Children tell just the very thing that you do not want them to
   say--and say it just at the very time when you would rather they not
   have it said! So, the children of God must tell what they have seen of
   their Father. As soon as ever they have heard of the great Father's
   love, something makes them want to run outside and find somebody to
   whom they can say, "Did you ever hear this wonderful story?" Perhaps
   that "somebody" has no sympathy with them, but he is bound to hear what
   they have to say--and then off they go to someone else to ask whether
   he ever heard this good news. Though they may be ridiculed and laughed
   at, yet these dear children of God will keep telling the blessed tale.
   The more a man has learned of Christ, the more, I believe, he will want
   to tell the endless and unreliable story of what he has seen with the
   Father!

   I have known some professedly Christian people who hardly like to be
   spoken to about the things of God, but it ought not to be so. Let the
   dear children talk about their Lord as much as ever they like--at the
   street corners, if they please, or at the dinner table. Anywhere and
   everywhere, a good word for God ought never to be out of season.
   Surely, there is no place where a word about the precious Savior will
   be out of order! What if we do, sometimes, cast pearls before swine? We
   have so many of them that we can afford to let the wretched creatures
   munch one or two--and if they turn and tear us, we can endure even this
   in the hope that, afterwards, they may be sorry for it and God may tear
   and renew their hearts! Therefore, do not be bashful, you who know the
   Lord, but say with emphasis, "I must speak that which I have seen with
   my Father."

   III. Now I have to finish on the gloomy side of the subject, namely,
   that THE DEVIL'S FAMILY PARTAKE OF THE DEVIL'S NATURE and they are sure
   to speak that which they have seen with their father, too.

   For instance, there are some who are very spiteful and speak with
   enmity, especially of Christian people. They cannot stand them--they
   have never a good word for them. They denounce their motives if they
   cannot find fault with their actions. I do not wonder that they do,
   because their father did a long while ago. One of his names is, "the
   accuser of the brethren," and it was said to him of old, "I will put
   enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed."
   There is always that enmity and we expect to see it, so we are not
   surprised. But we are grieved for any of you who, by your speech,
   betray your hatred of the people of God and so reveal the fact that you
   are children of Satan. One said, "I would like to kill all Christians.
   I hate them! I cannot endure them, especially if they are very earnest.
   I would have such fellows hung." Did not one say, the other day, of a
   certain minister, that he wished he had been killed in the accident?
   Yes, he did, and that is the feeling that some have toward those who
   are true Christians. What said the Jews concerning Paul? "Away with
   such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live."
   That is the way the devil's children still talk, for they hear it at
   home with their father. Did Satan ever have a good word for our Father?
   No. Then he will never have a good word for His children. When,
   sometimes, he has spoken a true word, he has tried, with fiendish
   malice, to undermine the cause of Christ by praising it. But you
   remember how Paul and Silas would not let the devil praise them--they
   stopped his mouth directly. The highest compliment the devil can pay to
   virtue, is to hate it. It is the unconscious homage that evil must pay
   to goodness to loathe it, even as Satan loathes all that is good and
   right.

   Beside this, the devil's children frequently speak untruths. There are
   some who lie in trade and some who lie in jest-- they call them, "white
   lies." If this is the case with anybody here, do not deceive yourself,
   my Friend. You know who was a liar from the beginning and the father of
   lies--and they who cannot or will not speak the Truth of God are the
   children of that ancient liar--and they will have to go home to their
   father one of these days. They are not the children of God, for God's
   children abhor a lie! When their word is once given, they will stand to
   it even to their own hurt. If you are not true, you have not been with
   the great Father of Truth and you must have learned falsehood from the
   great father of lies.

   There are some, too, who are wickedly proud--proud of their person,
   proud of the rags they wear, proud of their abilities, proud of their
   station, proud of their ancestors, proud of I know not what--too
   haughty, almost, to come near a commonplace person. Yes, they learned
   that of their father, for Lucifer is the very prince of pride! "By that
   sin fell the angels." And in that sin live those who are like the
   fallen angels. I beseech you, fling away all pride! May God help you
   soon to be rid of it altogether!

   Then there is another trait which is common enough in many persons and
   that is, self-will They are not going to be ruled and governed and tied
   to their mother's apron strings. They will have their own way. If they
   suffer for it, they will do as they like and be their own master. Yes,
   and they learned that from their father, for that is the way he talked
   of old. "Better," he said, "to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,"
   according to Milton, and Milton has but put into words the spirit of
   that fallen one. He is rebellious, he cannot endure authority, he will
   not yield to God--the word, "obey," is one which he cannot stand. Oh,
   let those who are living in disobedience to God, in utter carelessness,
   as lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, self-seekers who never
   give a thought to what they owe to their Creator and their Lord--let
   them understand that all this betrays whose children they are and where
   they were brought up! Does anybody get angry at my speech and say, "I
   will hear no more of it"? That is like your father, too! And do you
   gnash your teeth and bite your tongues? That is like your father,
   too--"You do that which you have seen with your father."

   What shall be the conclusion of my discourse? Why, my drear Friends,
   that it is of very little use for you to try and change your outward
   character, your language and so forth, first. What you need is for your
   natureto be changed. When the fountain is made sweet, the streams will
   be sweet, but, until the source is sweetened, that which comes out of
   it will still be impure. "You must be born again." Do you ask, "How can
   that be?" Well, there is a very amazing connection between being born
   again and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the third chapter of
   John's Gospel and note how our Lord not only said to Nicodemus, "You
   must be born again," but He also said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent
   in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that
   whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
   Believe in Christ and you are born again! That act of faith is an
   indication that the new birth has taken place. The moment that God
   gives you the Grace to trust yourself with Christ, He has also renewed
   your nature! That act of trusting in Christ is like the first snowdrop
   that tells us that spring is near. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
   you are a new person in Christ. Then live with your Father and go out
   and tell all what you have seen with your Father, and God bless you,
   for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C.H. SPURGEON: JOHN 8:12-39

   Verses 12, 13. Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light
   of the world: He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
   have the light of life. The Pharisees--These wasps were always stinging
   Him! When He drove them away once, they quickly returned to attack Him
   again, "The Pharisees--

   13-15. Therefore said unto Him, You bear record of Yourself- Your
   recordis not true. Jesus answered and said unto them; Though I bear
   record of Myself, yet My recordis true: for I know from where I came,
   and where I go; but you cannot tell from where I come, and where I go.
   You judge after the flesh; I judge no man. He did not come for that
   purpose the first time. He will come, a second time, to judge all
   mankind.

   16. And yet if I judge, My judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I
   and the Father that sent Me. You see, Brothers and Sisters, how our
   Lord Jesus claimed to be God, for He put Himself here in such a
   connection with God as would be quite inconsistent for any mere man.
   This is what Paul meant when He said that Christ "thought it not
   robbery to be equal with God," He thought it not a prize to be grasped,
   for it was already His.

   17, 18. It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is
   true. Iam One that bear witness ofMyself and the Father that sent Me
   bears witness of Me. He did that by the miracles which Christ worked
   and they proved that He was, indeed, sent of God.

   19. Then said they unto Him, Where is Your Father? Jesus answered, You
   neither know Me, nor My Father: if you had known Me, you should have
   known My Father also. They thought they knew His reputed father,
   Joseph. They thought they also knew all about Christ, the carpenter's
   Son, but there is more in Christ than carnal eyes can ever see. There
   is more in Christ than the most enlightened understanding, if it is but
   natural understanding, can ever perceive. These blind bats, the
   Pharisees, neither knew Christ nor the Father. If they had known Him,
   they would have known the Father, for Christ is "the brightness of His
   Glory and the express Image of His Person."

   20. These words spoke Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the
   Temple: and no man laid hands on Him; for His hour was not yet come.
   Like our Lord, every child of God is immortal till his work is done.
   This ought to divest us of every kind of fear. The enemy cannot lay
   hands upon a Christian until his Lord wills it--and when his hour has
   come, then it behooves not the child of God to resist the Father's
   will.

   21. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way and you shall seek Me,
   and shall die in your sins: where I go, you cannot come. Oh, what a
   terrible sentence is that! I pray that the Lord may never say that to
   any of us, "Where I go, you cannot come." That would be the death-knell
   of all our hopes and would make our life one long banishment. Blessed
   be His name! We who have sought Him and have found Him, by His Grace,
   know that. We shal1 not die in our sins and where He has gone, we shall
   also go!

   22. 23. Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He says,
   Where I go, you cannot come. And He said unto them, You are from
   beneath; I am from above. You are of a groveling nature. Your thoughts
   rise out of the abyss where every evil dwells.

   23. 24. You are of this world; Iam not of this world. I said therefore,
   of you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that
   Iam He, you shall die in your sins. If you have no faith in Christ as
   the Son of God, "you shall die in your sins." What an awful thing it
   will be to die in your sins! What cerements for your eternal burial!
   What a robe of fire in which to lie down for your long sleep and then
   to find no sleep because of it! "You shall die in your sins." I would
   like this short, stern sentence to ring in the ears of every
   unbeliever. These are not my words, but Christ's own Words--the Words
   of the most loving and tender Savior--"If you believe not that I am He,
   you shall die in your sins."

   25-29. Then said they unto Him, Who are You? And Jesus said unto them,
   Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many
   things to say and to judge of you: but He that sent Me is true; and I
   speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him. They
   understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus
   unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know
   that I am He, and that I do nothing ofMyself; but as My Father has
   taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me is with Me. This
   made Christ's life so calm, so deeply joyous amid all its sorrow--"He
   that sent Me is with Me." Servant of God, can you say the same? If so,
   it is your joy, your confidence, your strength! God grant that we may,
   each one of us, realize that blessed Presence of our Lord!

   29. Thee Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things
   that please Him. Christ could truly say that. Oh, that it might be true
   of us, too!

   30, 31. As He spoke these words, many believed on Him, Then said Jesus
   to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My Word, then
   are you My disciples indeed. "If you became My disciples because of
   what I said, will you believe what I shall yet say? Are you prepared to
   take in still further revelations and to receive whatever I shall teach
   you? If so, 'then are you My disciples indeed'"

   32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
   Some who heard this message of our Lord caught at it--they were always
   on the watch for anything to quibble at and contradict and, therefore--

   33, 34. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in
   bondage to any man: how say You, You shall be made free? Jesus answered
   them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever commits sin is the
   servant of sin. Or, "the slave of sin." There is the test of your
   position--if you do the devil's dirty work, you are his servant. If you
   delight in sin then you can hear your fetters clank if the ears of your
   conscience are but open--"Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin."

   35-37. And the servant abides not in the house forever: but the Son
   abides always. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be
   free, indeed. Iknow that you are Abraham's seed. "I know what a boast
   you make of that."

   37-39. But you seek to kill Me because My Word has no place in you. I
   speak that which I have seen with My Father: and you do that which you
   have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is
   our father. Jesus had admitted that, as a matter of temporal descent,
   but He denied it as a matter of real fact.
     __________________________________________________________________

"Noli Me Tangere" ("Touch Me Not")

   (No. 2561)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 20, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 4, 1888.

   "Jesus said unto her, Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My
   Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My
   Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God." John 20:17.

   I COMMENCE my discourse by remarking that it was very amazing that our
   Lord Jesus Christ, after His Resurrection, should give so early and so
   clear a manifestation of Himself to Mary Magdalene. Out of her He had
   cast seven devils. I suppose it was literally so and that there had
   been in her a great deal of spiritual as well as moral defilement. It
   may not really be so, but it certainly was the current notion of the
   early Church that Mary Magdalene was not only a great sufferer who had
   been relieved, but a great sinner who had been purified. Yet she is the
   first to hear a word from the risen Christ and to behold Him face to
   face! I may be addressing some great sinner at this moment. Dear
   Friend, the greatness of your sin may not prevent you from yet
   occupying a first place among the saints! If you seem to be sorely
   beset by Satan, as though seven devils were in you, there is no reason
   why you should not be filled with the seven spirits of God and become
   even a leader in the Church of Christ! There are first that shall be
   last, but there are also last that shall be first. Such a case as that
   of Mary Magdalene should give great encouragement to those of you who
   seem to be far away from Christ--if He calls you to humble penitence
   and childlike confidence in Himself, you may yet be one of the nearest
   and dearest of His disciples--and His manifestation of Himself to you
   may be even clearer and sweeter than to some of the more publicly known
   among His people.

   The special thing to be noted about Mary Magdalene is that she had gone
   to the grave to find Christ. She had made a mistake about the condition
   in which she would find Him, but she had made no mistake about this
   point, that she must somehow find Him--and when the other disciples,
   having repaired to the sepulcher and not seen Him, had gone their
   way--she still remained. There she stands, to weep if she cannot find
   her Lord, for she feels that nothing else will content her. She must
   wait at the sepulcher until she finds Him. And, my dear Friends, if
   there is anyone here who will find Christ, it is the one who mustfind
   Him! When you are at such an extremity that you say, "Give me Christ,
   or else I die," you shall have Christ! And when, as a child of God,
   your heart and your flesh cry out for Him. When you have a hungering
   and a thirsting after Him that cannot be stopped, then He will manifest
   Himself to you as He does not to the world. It will be a happy thing
   for you, if, having come into this place seeking the Lord, you should,
   all of a sudden, discover Him to be here and would even hear Him speak
   your name as he said, "Mary," and she responded at once, "Rabboni, my
   dear Master." Oh, that your eyes might be opened, my Brother, if they
   are shut! My Sister, may you have given to you the spiritual perception
   which will discern the Presence of the spiritual Christ who is in the
   midst of His people even now! May you, on the seat where you are
   sitting, feel as you have not felt of late--ravished, carried away into
   a holy ecstasy with this thought, "My Lord has come to me! He has
   spoken to me! He has revealed Himself to me! I perceive Him and I
   rejoice in Him!"

   Well then, if you are in that happy state, my text is addressed to you,
   for no Scripture is of any private interpretation. If true to Mary
   Magdalene, it is also true to all who are in the same condition as Mary
   Magdalene was. Right down these 18 or 19 centuries, the voice of Christ
   comes sounding to persons who are like her to whom that message was
   first uttered! He who said to Mary, "Touch Me not, but go to My
   brethren," says the same thing to every Mary and every John who has
   suddenly discovered Him to be present with them! As far as the language
   of Christ on that occasion is capable of adaptation to anyone's case,
   so far does the Spirit of God speak it to that person now.

   I. The first thing that I see in my text deserving of notice is THE
   CAUTION. There stands the Lord Jesus Christ and Mary perceives that it
   is the Lord. And the first impulse of her being is to grasp Him and
   hold Him lest He should vanish. Yet the Master keeps her from too near
   an approach, saying, "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended." What
   does this caution teach us?

   Well, first, it teaches that we may make mistakes even when we are
   nearest to our Lord and enjoying the most rapturous fellowship with
   Him. There are things which we may try to do which we are not allowed
   to do. O Brothers and Sisters, where will not sin follow us? If we lay
   our hands upon the horns of the altar, sin will follow us even there!
   We cannot shut our door so fast as to shut out Satan--neither can we be
   so engrossed in prayer as to be sinless even then. Our very prayers
   need to be prayed over! Our tears need to be wept over! Our repentance
   has something in it that needs to be repented of! Our faith is mixed
   with unbelief and our spiritual life, itself, often has much of death
   about it. Sin penetrates our holy things and however near we may get to
   Christ, we may still make blunders and mistakes--and the Master may
   have to say to us, as He said to Mary, "Touch Me not."

   The kind of mistake into which we may fall is indicated by the text,
   for we are very apt to carnalize spiritual things. When our Lord gave
   to His disciples the ordinance of bread and wine to be an emblem of His
   body and His blood, very soon even good men began to talk as if there
   were some kind of witchcraft or black magic about it, so that the bread
   did actually become His flesh and the cup did literally become His
   blood. That was carnalizing a great spiritual Truth of God. The most of
   us are so unspiritual--we are so affected by our senses--that we soon
   bring down pure spiritual Truth into the groveling regions of flesh and
   sense. It is very possible for you to do this even when you are in
   communion with Christ. You may get to think of Christ according to some
   picture you have seen--you may even have before your mind's eye some
   image of Him, though you would abhor with all your heart all image
   worship and picture worship! Yet it is easily done by the mind and so
   you may be carnalizing--making into flesh, as it were--materializing
   what should be pure spiritual worship!

   It is easy to make your love of Christ to be no longer spiritual, but
   sensuous, until even your enjoyment of Christ's Presence may come to be
   no true devotion at all. I have no doubt that many a man feels very
   pious in the dim religious light of some old cathedral when the organ
   peals forth and tender tones are heard--when the choir, or, if you
   will, the whole body of the people sing, there is a feeling all over
   the audience which is mistaken for true religion--yet it is often
   precisely the same feeling which is produced by an orchestra and by
   good music anywhere! It would be produced if the song was in Italian
   and if not a word of it was understood! And to imagine that this is
   true worship is a mistake, indeed! It is simply that the ear is
   pleased, the taste is gratified--there is a mysterious influence in the
   solemn aisle and vaulted roof--but that is all. Never make that
   blunder, dear Friends, for if you do, the Savior will have to say to
   you, "Do not give Me material things in the place of spiritual
   communion." It is not to be a matter of the body of Christ grasped by
   the hands--soul must commune with soul and spirit with spirit, and our
   fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ must be
   through the Holy Spirit--and not after any carnal method.

   We may blunder, again, when we are very near to Christ, by seeking
   after that which we really do not need. Was it wrong for Mary to try to
   touch the Lord? Certainly not, for He permitted Thomas to put his
   finger into the print of the nails and to thrust his hand into His
   side. He also said to all His disciples, "Handle Me, and see, for a
   spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have." It would have been
   wrong if Thomas and the other Apostles had not touched the Master, yet
   the Lord refused that touch to Mary. She did not need it--she knew that
   He was the Christ and that He was risen from the dead! Thomas doubted
   it and the other disciples had some lingering questions, hence they
   were allowed to have certain signs which Mary did not need and which
   the Savior did not let her have.

   I have known some very feeble-minded Christians who have been cheered
   by a dream. It seems to me the most absurd thing in the world is to be
   encouraged by a dream, yet it encouraged them. Why have not I had such
   a dream? Because I do not need it and it would be of no use to me. I
   believe there are some minds so feeble that they would scarcely get any
   faith at all if there were not some touch of the supernatural about
   them. And the Lord may permit it to them, but do not you ordinary
   Christians begin to crave anything of that kind, for you do not need it
   and you will not have it! You should rise to the far loftier dignity of
   those of whom Christ said, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and
   yet have believed." Cast yourself on Christ! Spiritually believe in Him
   and so realize Him--do not ask for what you really do not need--for
   these signs and tokens are not meant for you.

   Once more, in our Lord's Presence, we may sometimes make a mistake by
   asking to have, now, what it will be better for us to have, by-and-by.
   See how Jesus puts it to Mary, "Touch Me not"--that is, not now--"for I
   am not yet ascended." There will be opportunity for all that in good
   time. Did you go up into your little room, the other night, and pray,
   "Lord, if I am, indeed, Your child, give me now such raptures as I have
   heard your servant Rutherford had"? Yet you have not had them. Well, do
   not worry about that--you are not yet fit for them. "Touch Me not,"
   says Christ. "Ask not this of Me just yet--another day this experience
   will be more appropriate, less dangerous and more useful." Do you not
   see that you may make a mistake, even when you are with your Master, by
   asking what is not good for you, or at least what is not good for you
   just then?

   I think also that the Lord said to Mary, "Touch Me not," because He
   meant to add, "but go to My brethren." This teaches us that it is very
   easy for spiritually-minded people to get to be selfish in their
   enjoyments. I have known some who spent a great part of their lives in
   a meditative, contemplative enjoyment of Christ. And God forbid that we
   should altogether blame them! But there is a more excellent way--it is
   sometimes better to go and tell our Brethren good news from Christ than
   it is for us to have fellowship with Him. I have often known what it is
   to be enjoying my Master's Presence when the time has come for
   preaching--and I have been inclined to wish that I might stay with
   Him--but it is wrong to think so. There is an old Romish story which
   has a good lesson in it. A monk was in his cell and he thought he saw a
   vision of Christ, but just as he was looking with rapture upon his
   Lord, the bell rang and he knew that it was his turn to take his place
   at the monastery gate to feed the poor that were standing there. As he
   left his cell, he heaved a deep sigh, and said, "Ah, me, that I should
   have this work to do and lose the company of my Lord!" He took his turn
   of an hour or two at waiting on the poor and when he went back to his
   cell, with a heavy heart, thinking that he should never see that
   blissful sight again, there was his Master waiting for him and a voice
   said to him, "If you had stayed, I would have gone. But as you went, I
   have stayed to manifest Myself to you."

   Take the meaning out of that legend and you will learn that if you shut
   yourself up in your room rather than go down to the Sunday school, you
   will make a great mistake. I am persuaded that there are some good
   Christian people who have two spiritual meals every Sabbath--and do not
   get very fat, even then--who would be much stronger in soul if, after
   they have had their one meal, they went out among the poor and needy,
   seeking the lost ones for Christ and telling them of His love. If this
   hint shall reach some living, loving heart and make it a little wiser
   in its course of action, it will bring great glory to God.

   II. I have taken up so much time with the caution, that I must be very
   brief upon the second head which is THE MISSION--"Go to My brethren."
   Mary Magdalene, instead of remaining in solitary communion with Christ,
   was sent upon a mission and that was for two reasons.

   First, it was better for herself. Hear this, dear Friends, it is better
   for you to do good to others than to have all the enjoyment of Christ
   to yourself--better for you to be turned out into the cold to go and
   comfort the distressed, than for you to stay in the warmth of your
   Master's Countenance and notdo good to others!

   Secondly, it was better for the disciples. However bright and happy
   Mary might be with Christ, that would not help Peter and James and John
   and the other disciples. They were all sorrowing, for they were all
   doubting. They thought their Master dead. They did not yet understand
   the saying that He had risen from the grave. Surely Mary must not be
   selfish--she has seen the Lord, so she must remember that others have
   not seen Him--and she is therefore bid to go and deliver to them a
   message from Christ.

   It is very interesting to notice that Mary did not stay a minute after
   the Master said to her, "Go." As soon as the Lord commissioned her,
   away she went! The next verse says, "Mary Magdalene went"--with swift
   feet she hastened to the place where the disciples were--"Mary
   Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and
   that He had spoken these things to her." Come, my Brothers, come, my
   Sisters--leave, for a while, the happy quiet nook where you met with
   Jesus! Come out and tell others what you have seen. Who knows but that
   they, also, will be led to see Jesus? And when you have told what you
   have seen, do what is still better--tell what He has said What you have
   seen is good, but there may be a mistake in it. What Christ has spoken
   is perfection and there is no error in that. Relate your own experience
   and tell the Gospel, too, to all with whom you come into contact--and
   cease not to do so. To see Christ is blessed, but unless we tell what
   we have seen, the blessing may be like a talent in a napkin, or a
   candle under a bushel. I would like to come round to each one of you
   and to say, "Dear Brother, dear Sister, do you live in the light of
   God's Countenance? Has Jesus Christ shone upon you? Is He your Beloved
   and are you His beloved? Then come and let Him have the use of your
   tongue! Let Him have the use of those bright eyes of yours to tell with
   beaming countenance what the Lord has done for you and what He has said
   that He will do for others!

   III. Now, thirdly, we have to consider THE TITLE--"Go to My brethren"
   Do you hear that? "Go to My brethren." I do not remember that the Lord
   Jesus ever called His disciples His brethren till that time. He called
   them "servants." He called them, "friends." But now that He has risen
   from the dead, He says, "My brethren."

   Notice then, first, they were His brethren, though He was about to
   ascend to His Throne. The fact that Christ had risen from the dead did
   not take Him further away from His people--it brought Him nearer, for
   He goes on--"and say to them, I ascend unto My Father, and your
   Father." It is clear that there is no greater distance between us and
   Christ, now that He has ascended, than there was when He had not
   ascended--no, that inasmuch as He did not call them brethren while He
   was yet among them before His death and did call them brethren when He
   said, "I ascend unto My Father, and your Father"--if there is any
   difference, Christ ascended is nearer to us than Christ on the earth!--

   "Now though He reigns exalted high, His love is still as great! Well He
   remembers Calvary, Nor let His saints forget."

   This is a very blessed Truth of God, but it is a great mystery. I can
   understand that Christ is my Brother when I see Him weary, sitting on
   the well at Sychar. When I see Him in the garden, agonizing even unto
   sweat of blood, I know that He is my Brother. But if my eyes could see
   Him as John saw Him, when, "His head and His hairs were white like
   wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His
   Countenance was as the sun shines in its strength," I think I would
   need great help to call Him, "Brother," then! And I might not need to
   do so, for it is not said that the disciples called Christ, "Brother,"
   but that He called them, "brethren." Oh, for Grace to believe that the
   crowned, reigning, exalted Christ is the Brother of our soul! His
   Nature in Heaven is our nature! He has a sympathy in Glory with His
   people still in tribulation. He is pleading our cause in Heaven as much
   as ever He did on earth and He is as truly our Covenant Head--as really
   one with us--now, as ever He was when He was here. And hence, when He
   had risen and was about to ascend, He said, "Go to My brethren."

   There is another side of this Truth of God that is worth noticing--they
   were His brethren, though they had forsaken Him in His shame. I was
   reading, in the life of the famous Thomas Boston, the author of The
   Fourfold State, that one day he was very burdened and depressed in
   spirit, and was walking up and down his room in great trouble about his
   own standing before God, for, mark you, they who lead others to Christ
   and help others to confidence in Him, often have trembling in their own
   soul--as Boston had at that time. It happened that his little daughter
   was in the room and she said to him, "Father, Jesus said, 'Go to My
   brethren.' They were His brethren, still, though they had forsaken
   Him." Boston said, "In a moment, I caught at that." They were still His
   brethren, although there was one of them who had denied Him with oaths
   and curses! Yet that very one was especially mentioned by the angel who
   said, "Tell His disciples and Peter." All the rest forsook Him and fled
   yet Jesus said, "Go to My brethren. "This is a tie which you cannot
   break!

   If you had a brother who had misbehaved himself. And if you had been
   obliged to advise him to flee the country and he had gone far away--and
   you knew that he was living an evil life--yet he would still be your
   brother. Born of the same parents, the bond between you two must last
   on. I believe in the final perseverance of the saints and I cannot make
   out how those get on who do not believe it. If Christ was my Brother
   yesterday, He will be my Brother to all eternity. I do not believe in
   these relationships coming to an end--they seem to me to be fixed. My
   child is my child forever, let him be what he may. And if I am Christ's
   brother, and Christ is my Brother, we are joined together by a bond
   which cannot be broken. "Quis separabit?" "Who shall separate us from
   the love of Christ?"

   Come, Brothers and Sisters, listen to me! Have you been getting cold in
   heart? Still, Christ is your Brother and He acknowledges it. As I have
   reminded you, the Master did not call His disciples, "brethren," till
   after they had all forsaken Him. What? Does His Grace seem to grow as
   our sin grows? It seems so--"Where sin abounded, Grace did much more
   abound." This wondrous love ought to break your hearts. If any of you
   have been false to Christ. If you have been ungrateful, cold,
   unspiritual--will not this bring you back? He still acknowledges you as
   His! He still calls you brethren. Come along back to Him--let there be
   no time lost! Come weeping to His feet and say, "My Brother, I confess
   my transgressions and ask pardon of You because You change not and You
   still call me Your brother." I will not enlarge upon this theme, though
   it is a very sweet one. It is a sort of cluster of Eshcol. I should
   have liked to press and squeeze it till it filled the cup with its
   generous juice, but I hand it over to you. Take it home and rejoice
   that your Lord still says, "Go to My brethren."

   IV. Lastly, we have to consider the message, THE TIDINGS. "Go to My
   brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father;
   and to My God, and your God."

   Notice that this message was far above their fears. They thought that
   He was dead. "Oh, no," He says, "I ascend." They thought His body had
   been taken away and they should never have the mournful pleasure of
   knowing where it was. Surely the guards or somebody had broken the seal
   and stolen away that blessed form! But He shows how vain were their
   fears, for He says, "I ascend." Now, child of God, whatever your fears
   are, throw them all out! You have no need of any of them! If Christ is
   yours and you are trusting in Him, fear not! The Lord says to you,
   "Fear not," and will you keep on fearing when He bids you not to fear?
   I pray you, do not! What you dread will never come to pass. There is
   something infinitely better than that in store for you!

   In the next place, this message was above their hopes, for all that
   they hoped for was that they might find the dead body of Christ. But He
   talks about ascending, so He is alive and their hopes are far exceeded!
   What are your hopes, dear Brothers and Sisters? Are you hoping to have
   some good thing from the Lord? There is something better than that laid
   up for you! "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
   ask or think."

   Further, this message was beyond their wishes, for I am sure that when
   they knew that Christ was alive, they wanted Him to stay with them. It
   would have cheered them very much if Christ had said, "Go tell My
   brethren that I am going to stay with them for the next hundred years."
   No, no, no! They were to have more than they wished for--it was
   expedient for them that Christ should not stay with them. It was to
   their advantage that He should go to be with the Father--it would bring
   them greater blessings to have Him gone than to have Him tarry--so that
   the message sent to them was above their wishes. And the Lord will do
   for you more than you wish for. He will be better to you than your
   highest desire--therefore be of good cheer!

   But what Mary had to say to them was also beyond their knowledge, their
   comprehension, beyond the grasp of their understanding. As yet they
   knew not that Christ must rise from the dead, so I am sure that they
   did not know what He meant by ascending. But it was true, though they
   did not understand it. Blessed be God, there are thousands of blessings
   true to you although you cannot yet get a grip of them! God will do
   more for you than you can understand. Your imagination may enlarge
   itself, yet He will go beyond that. I quoted, just now, Paul's words,
   "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."
   Now think some great thought, like one who lay dying and said, "Oh, for
   big thoughts!" We shall not need big thoughts, then, for we shall come
   into the region of great realities. But however great your thoughts,
   Christ can exceed them. He said to His disciples, "I am going up into
   Glory to plead for you." They did not know what He meant, yet His words
   brought them incalculable blessings.

   I think I hear somebody say, "Well, I am so glad I can get as far as
   that, I can feel comfort in Christ's ascending to my Father." Yes, but
   I want you to go further than that, for I am to tell you that He is
   coming again! There is always to be something yet beyond--whatever you
   attain to, there is something more to be reached. That same Jesus who
   went up from us into Heaven, will so come in like manner as they saw
   Him go up into Heaven. With the trumpet of the archangel and with the
   voice of God, He shall descend a second time upon the earth, no more to
   suffer, no more to invite disobedient and rebellious men who shall
   reject Him--but He shall come to rule the nations with a rod of iron
   and to gather together His own people that He may be "admired in them
   that believe." This is the great hope of the Church! Reach forward to
   it and be not satisfied with anything that as yet you have received, or
   that as yet you understand. O heirs of immortality, infinite bliss
   opens before you! Unspeakable glory awaits you! Be of good courage and
   if, for the present, you may not have all the fellowship with Christ
   you really wish for, because He says, "Touch Me not," yet wait till you
   shall be taken up, or He shall come again to receive you unto Himself,
   for then, where He is, you shall also be, with all the godly company
   that has gone before!

   As for you who have no part nor lot in this matter, I am very sorry for
   you. I would God that you had. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus
   Christ shall have all this and much more than tongue can tell. Oh, that
   you would believe in Him, now, and live forever! God grant it, for
   Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALMS20AND21.

   The 20th Psalm is a prayer for the king going forth to the conflict--a
   prayer for David. Better still, a prayer for great David's greater Son.
   The 21st Psalm is a song of victory for the returning conqueror, it is
   a Te Deum, as the King has triumphed and has returned from the conflict
   to enjoy the congratulations of His loyal subjects.

   Psalm 20:1. The LORD hear you in the day of trouble; the name of the
   God of Jacob defend you. This is a prayer for David, a prayer for Jesus
   and a prayer for every child of God. "Jehovah hear you in the day of
   trouble." What do you need? Remember that the Lord gives you this
   promise, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and
   you shall glorify Me." "The name of the God of Jacob defend you." The
   God that took care of Jacob when he slept with a stone for his pillow.
   The God that guarded him when he was a stranger in a strange land and
   brought him home again. The God that wrestled with him at Jabbok, the
   God that made all things work for him, instead of against him, as he
   feared "the name"--the Character, the Attributes, the Glory--"of the
   God of Jacob defend you."

   2. Send you help from the sanctuary. ' 'Help from the holy place, help
   from the sprinkled blood, help from the Mercy Seat, help from the
   golden pot that had the manna, help from Aaron's rod that budded, help
   from Him that shone between the cherubim--send you help from the Holy
   of Holies.

   2. And strengthen you out of Zion. That is to say, with His own power,
   His own Glory, which He manifests in the midst of His people.

   3. Remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah.
   This God did to His dear Son and this He is prepared to do to all His
   people. Whenever we give anything to the cause of God, we ought to do
   it with all that solemnity and all that willingness which was seen in
   God's own people in the olden time, remembering that it is to Him we
   bring it, and the chief point for our consideration is, "Will He accept
   it?"

   4. Grant you according to your own heart, and fulfill all your counsel
   We cannot pray this for everybody. We pray it for Christ and we pray it
   for the Lord's sanctified people, that He may grant them the desire of
   their heart and fulfill their counsel.

   5. We will rejoice in Your salvation, and in the name of our God we
   will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all your petitions. What a
   wonderful prayer this is! May it be granted to each of you!--

   "The Lord fulfill all your petitions."

   6-9. Nowknow that the LORD saves His anointed; He willhear him from His
   holy Heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Some trust in
   chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD
   our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand
   upright Save, LORD. Or, "Hosanna."

   9. Let the King hear us when we call Now turn to the Psalm of victory.
   It corresponds very beautifully with the litany which we have just been
   reading.

   Psalm 21:1. The King shall joy in Your strength, O LORD; and in Your
   salvation how greatly shallHe rejoice! See how greatly Christ rejoices,
   how full His heart is of gladness as He sees God's power put forth, and
   God's salvation accomplished among men.

   2. 3. You have given Him His heart's desire, and have not withheld the
   request of His lips. Selah. For You present Him with the blessings of
   goodness. That is to say, "You go before Him," as you have seen, in
   pictures, some great conqueror preceded by those who strewn his path
   with roses, so has God strewn the pathway of Christ with innumerable
   blessings.

   3. You set a crown of pure gold on His head. Is He not of royal race?
   Has He not achieved a mighty conquest? Is He not King of kings and Lord
   of lords?

   4. He askedlife ofYou and You gave it to Him, even length ofdays
   forever and ever. "You gave Him a resurrection from the dead as our
   Mediator, and as such He lives."

   5. His Glory is great in Your salvation. It is the distinguishing mark
   of God's salvation that Christ's Glory is great in it. In the
   beginning, in the middle and the end of it, everywhere you see the name
   of Jesus written in large letters of light. In His salvation, the
   Father has glorified His Son.

   5-8. Honor and majesty have You laid upon Him. For you have made Him
   most blessed forever: You have made Him exceedingly glad with Your
   countenance. For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of
   the Most High He shall not be moved. Your hand shall find out all your
   enemies. That very hand that was nailed to the tree shall find out all
   the adversaries of the Cross.

   8. Your right hand shall find out those that hate You. ''Hide wherever
   they may, You will find them. They may stand in the high places and
   defy You; but You will hurl them down."

   9. You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger. "Not
   only shall they be cast into the fire, but they shall, themselves, be
   as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger. They shall torment
   themselves and shall be their own destruction."

   9-11. The LORD shallswallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall
   devour them. Their fruit shall You destroy from the earth, and their
   seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against
   You: they imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to
   perform. But that did not diminish their sin. When a man has devised an
   evil tiring, even if he cannot carry it out, he is guilty of it!

   12. Therefore shall You make them turn their back, when You shall make
   ready Your arrows upon Your strings against the face of them. As if God
   would single out the enemies of Christ to be targets for His arrows and
   fill them with the darts of His displeasure. Who would wish to be in
   such a plight as this?

   13. Be You exalted, LORD, in Your own strength: so wiil we sing
   andpraise Your power.
     __________________________________________________________________

Cries From the Cross

   (No. 2562)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 27, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER
   2, 1856.

   "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from
   helping me, and from the words of My roaring?" Psalm 22:1.

   (This was the first evening Sermon preached by Mr. Spurgeon after the
   fatal calamity at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall two weeks previously.
   [Someone yelled "Fire!" and ensuing rush to leave building by some
   resulted in someone being trampled to death.--Editor.] On commenting on
   his discourse, Mr. Spurgeon said, "The observations I have to make will
   be very brief, seeing that afterwards we are to partake of the Lord's
   Supper. I shall make no allusion to the recent catastrophe--that theme
   of my daily thoughts and nightly dreams, ever since it h as occurred. I
   hope, however, to speak about that event at some future period." This
   Mr. Spurgeon did, in many memorable utterances which will be included
   in Vol. II of his Autobiography, now in course of compilation).

   WE here behold the Savior in the depths of His agonies and sorrows. No
   other place so well shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary and no other
   moment at Calvary is so full of agony as that in which this cry rends
   the air, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" At this moment,
   physical weakness brought upon Him by fasting and scourging, was united
   with the acute mental torture which He endured from the shame and
   ignominy through which He had to pass-- and, as the culmination of His
   grief, He suffered spiritual agony which surpasses all expression on
   account of the departure of His Father from Him. This was the blackness
   and darkness of His horror. Then it was that He penetrated the depths
   of the caverns of suffering.

   "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" There is something in these
   words of our Savior always calculated to benefit us. When we behold the
   sufferings of men, they afflict and appall us, but the sufferings of
   our Savior, while they move us to grief, have about them something
   sweet and full of consolation. Here, even here, in this black spot of
   grief, we find our Heaven while gazing upon the Cross. This, which
   might be thought a frightful sight, makes the Christian glad and
   joyous. If he laments the cause, yet he rejoices in the consequences.

   I. First, in our text, there are THREE QUESTIONS to which I shall call
   your attention.

   The first is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" By these
   words we are to understand that our blessed Lord and Savior was, at
   that moment, forsaken by God in such a manner as He had never been
   before. He had battled with the enemy in the desert, but thrice He
   overcame him and cast him to the earth. He had striven with that foe
   all His life long and even in the garden He had wrestled with him till
   His soul was "exceedingly sorrowful." It is not till now that He
   experiences a depth of sorrow which He never felt before. It was
   necessary that He should suffer, in the place of sinners, what sinners
   ought to have suffered. It would be difficult to conceive of punishment
   for sin apart from the frown of Deity. With crime we always associate
   anger, so that when Christ died, "the Just for the unjust, that He
   might bring us to God"--when our blessed Savior became our
   Substitute--He became, for the time, the victim of His Father's
   righteous wrath, seeing that our sins had been imputed to Him in order
   that His righteousness might be imputed to us. It was necessary that He
   should feel the loss of His Father's smile--for the condemned in Hell
   must have tasted of that bitterness--and therefore the Father closed
   the eyes of His love, put the hand ofjustice before the smile of His
   face and left His Son to cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken
   Me?"

   There is no man living who can tell the full meaning of these
   words--not one in Heaven or on earth. I had almost said, in Hell there
   is not a man who can spell these words out with all their depth of
   misery. Some of us think, at times, that we could cry, "My God, my God,
   why have You forsaken me?" There are seasons when the brightness of our
   Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness. But let us remember
   that God never really forsakes us. It is only a seeming forsaking with
   us, but in Christ's case it was a realforsaking. God only knows how
   much we grieve, sometimes, at a little withdrawal of our Father's love,
   but the real turning away of God's face from His Son--who shall
   calculate how deep the agony which it caused Him when He cried, "My
   God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

   In our case, this is the cry of unbelief. In His case it was the
   utterance of a fact, for God had really turned away from Him for a
   time. O you poor, distressed Soul who once lived in the sunshine of
   God's face, but are now in darkness--you who are walking in the Valley
   of the Shadow of Death--you hear noises and you are afraid! Your soul
   is startled within you, you are stricken with terror if you think that
   God has forsaken you! Remember that He has not really forsaken you,
   for--

   "Mountains when in darkness shrouded, Are as real as in day."

   God in the clouds is as much our God as when He shines forth in all the
   luster of His benevolence! But since even the thought that He has
   forsaken us gives us agony, what must the agony of the Savior have been
   when He cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

   The next question is," Why are You so far from helping Me?"Up to now,
   God had helped His Son, but now He must tread the winepress alone--even
   His own Father cannot be with Him. Have you not felt, sometimes, that
   God has brought you to do some duty and yet has apparently not given
   you the strength to do it? Have you ever felt that sadness of heart
   which makes you cry, "Why are You so far from helping me?" But
   remember, if God means you to do anything, you can do it, for He will
   give you the power! Perhaps your brain reels, but God has ordained that
   you must do it and you shall do it! Have you not felt as if you must go
   on, even while every step you took, you were afraid to put your foot
   down for fear you should not get a firm foothold? If you have had any
   experience of Divine things, it must have been so with you. We can
   scarcely guess what it was that our Savior felt when He said, "Why are
   You so far from helping Me?" His work is one which none but a Divine
   Person could have accomplished, yet His Father's eyes were turned away
   from Him! With more than Herculean labors before Him, but with none of
   His Father's might given to Him, what must have been the strain upon
   Him? Truly, as Hart says, He--

   "Bore all Incarnate God could bear, With strength enough, and none to
   spare."

   The third enquiry is, "Why are You so far from the words of My
   roaring?" The word here translated, "roaring," means, in the original
   Hebrew, that deep, solemn groan which is caused by serious sickness and
   which suffering men utter. Christ compares His prayers to those roars
   and complains that God is so far from Him that He does not hear Him.
   Beloved, many of us can sympathize with Christ, here. How often have
   we, on our knees, asked some favor of God and we thought we asked in
   faith, yet it never came? Down we went upon our knees again. There is
   something which withholds the answer and, with tears in our eyes, we
   have wrestled with God some more--we have pleaded, for Jesus' sake, but
   the heavens have seemed like brass! In the bitterness of our spirit we
   have cried, "Can there be a God?" And we have turned round and said,
   "'My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from the
   words of my roaring?' Is this like You? Do You ever spurn a sinner?
   Have You not said, 'Knock, and it shall be opened unto you?' Are You
   reluctant to be kind? Do You withhold Your promise?"

   And when we have been almost ready to give up, with everything
   apparently against us, have we not groaned and said, "Why are You so
   far from the words of my roaring?" Though we know something, it is not
   much that we can truly understand of those direful sorrows and agonies
   which our blessed Lord endured when He asked these three questions--
   "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from
   helping Me, and from the words of My roaring?"

   II. Let as now, in the second place, ANSWER THESE THREE QUESTIONS.

   The answer to the first question I have given before. I think I hear
   the Father say to Christ, "MySon, I forsake You because You stand in
   the sinner's place. As You are holy, just and true, I never would
   forsake You. I would never turn away from You, for, even as a Man, You
   have been holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners--but on
   Your head rests the guilt of every penitent--transferred from him to
   You and You must expiate it by Your blood. Because You stand in the
   sinner's place, I will not look at You till You have borne the full
   weight of My vengeance. Then, I will exalt You on high, far above all
   principalities and powers."

   O Christian, pause here and reflect! Christ was punished in this way
   for you! Oh, look at that Countenance so wrung with horror--those
   horrors gather there for you! Perhaps in your own esteem you are the
   most worthless of the family--certainly the most insignificant--but the
   meanest lamb of Christ's flock is as much the object of purchase as any
   other. Yes, when that black darkness gathered round His brow and when
   He cried out, "Eloi, Eloi," in the words of our text, for the Lord
   Omnipotent to help Him. When He uttered that awfully solemn cry it was
   because He loved you, because He gave Himself for you that you might be
   sanctified here and dwell with Him hereafter! God forsook Him,
   therefore, first, because He was the sinner's Substitute.

   The answer to the second question is, "Because I would have You get all
   the honor to Yourself---therefore I will not help You lest I should
   have to divide the spoil with You." The Lord Jesus Christ lived to
   glorify His Father, but He died to glorify Himself in the redemption of
   His chosen people. God says, "No, My Son, You shall do it alone, for
   You must wear the crown alone. And upon Yourself shall all the regalia
   of Your Sovereignty be found. I will give You all the praise and.
   therefore. You shall perform all the labor." He was to tread the
   winepress alone and to get the victory and glory alone to Himself.

   The answer to the third question is essentially the same as the answer
   to the first. To have heard Christ's prayers at that time would have
   been inappropriate. This turning away of the Divine Father from hearing
   His Son's prayer is just in keeping with His condition as the sinner's
   Surety. His prayer must not be heard! As the sinner's Surety, He could
   say, "Now that I am here, dying in the sinner's place, You seal Your
   ears against My prayer." God did not hear His Son because He knew His
   Son was dying to bring us near to God. And the Son, therefore, cried,
   "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

   III. In conclusion I shall offer you A WORD OF EARNEST EXPOSTULATION
   AND OF AFFECTIONATE

   WARNING.

   Is it nothing to some of you that Jesus should die? You hear the tale
   of Calvary but, alas, you have dry eyes! You never weep concerning it.
   Is the death of Jesus nothing to you? Alas! It seems to be so with
   many. Your hearts have never throbbed in sympathy with Him. O Friends,
   how many of you can look on Christ, thus agonizing and groaning, and
   say, "He is my Ransom, my Redeemer"? Could you say, with Christ, "My
   God" Or is God another's and not yours? Oh, if you are out of Christ,
   hear me speak one word--it is a word of warning! Remember, to be out of
   Christ is to be without hope! If you die unsprinkled with His blood,
   you are lost!

   And what is it to be lost?I shall not try to tell you the meaning of
   that dreadful word, "lost" Some of you may know it before another sun
   has risen. God grant that you may not! Do you desire to know how you
   may be saved? Listen to me. "God so loved the world that He gave His
   only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but
   have everlasting life." "He that believes and is baptized shall be
   saved." To be baptized is to be buried in water in the name of the
   Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Have you believed in
   Christ? Have you professed faith in Christ? Faith is the Divine Grace
   which rests alone on Christ. Whoever will be saved, before all things
   it is necessary that he should feel himself to be lost--that he should
   know himself to be a ruined sinner and then he should believe this--"It
   is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
   came into the world to save sinners," even the very chief of sinners!
   You need no mediator between yourselves and Christ! You may come to
   Christ just as you are--guilty, wicked, poor--Christ will take you just
   as you are. There is no necessity for washing beforehand. You need no
   riches-- in Him you have all you require--will you bring anything to,
   "all"? You need no garments, for in Christ you have a seamless robe
   which will amply suffice to cover even the biggest sinner on earth, as
   well as the least!

   Come, then, to Jesus at once. Do you say you do not know how to come?
   Come just as you are. Do not wait to do anything! What you need is to
   leave off doing and let Christ do all for you. What do you need to do
   when He has done all? All the labor of your hands can never fulfill
   what God commands. Christ died for sinners and you must say, "Sink or
   swim, I will have no other Savior but Christ." Cast yourself wholly
   upon Him--

   "And when your eye of faith is dim, Still trust in Jesus, sink or swim!

   Still at His footstool humbly bow, OSinner! Sinner/Prostrate now!"

   He is able to pardon you at this moment. There are some of you who know
   you are guilty and groan concerning it. Sinner, why do you wait? "Come,
   and welcome!" is My Master's message to you! If you feel you are lost
   and ruined, there is not a barrier between you and Heaven--Christ has
   broken it down. If you know your own lost estate, Christ has died for
   you! Believe, and come! Come, and welcome, Sinner, come! O Sinner,
   come! Come! Come! Jesus bids you come and as His ambassador to you, I
   bid you come as one who would die to save your souls if it were
   necessary--as one who knows how to groan over you and to weep over
   you--one who loves you even as you love yourself! I, as His minister,
   say to you, in God's name and in Christ's place, "Be you reconciled to
   God." What do you say? Has God made you willing? Then rejoice! Rejoice,
   for He has not made you willing without giving you the power to do what
   He has made you willing to do! Come! Come! This moment you may be as
   sure of Heaven as if you were there, if you cast yourself upon Christ
   and have nothing but Jesus for your soul's reliance!
     __________________________________________________________________

Grace for the Guilty

   (No. 2563)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 27, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER
   25, 1855.

   "Have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a
   cloud, your sins: return unto Me, for I have redeemed you." Isaiah
   44:22.

   THIS declaration was not made to a pious and praying people, who kept
   near their God, but was spoken to idolatrous Israel--to those who,
   after having drunk from the fountain of living waters, turned aside to
   drink the drops that were to be found in broken cisterns. It was spoken
   to a people who, after they had tasted the good things of God and known
   the high privileges of true religion, yet turned aside with the nations
   of the world, forsook the God of Jacob, made unto themselves graven
   images that were not gods, provoked the Lord to jealousy and moved Him
   to wrath against them on account of their sins. These words of wondrous
   mercy were not spoken to the nation of Israel while living near
   God--who, notwithstanding, would have had sins to mourn over and to be
   forgiven--but they were addressed to a brutish and foolish nation, to a
   harlot people who had committed wickedness with all the idols of the
   heathen! They were those who had offered incense on their hills to
   false gods, who had made their children pass through the fire of
   Topheth in the Valley of the Children of Hinnom--to men who were filled
   with abominable and loathsome sins--men who had committed the crimes of
   Sodom and bowed down to Baal and Ashtaroth!

   This promise was made to those who had wandered far from God, not
   because they repented, or because they believed, but simply and
   entirely of the Sovereign Grace of God, because, having set His
   affection upon them, He would not turn away from them because, having
   sworn unto their father Abraham that He would bless his seed forever,
   He still remembered them. He forgot them not, notwithstanding they had
   forgotten Him days without number--but provided them a Savior and now
   sends them, by the mouth of His Prophet, this comfortable assurance, "I
   have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a
   cloud, your sins: return unto Me, for I have redeemed you."

   We will take this text as it shall open to us gradually and, therefore,
   we will give you the thoughts as they come to us. [This sermon is the
   one described in C H. Spurgeon'sAutobiography, Volume I, Chapter 32,
   where the beloved preacher gives a graphic account of a certain Sabbath
   evening when he delivered an extempore discourse from a text which the
   Holy Spirit vividly impressed upon his mind while the congregation was
   singing the hymn immediately before the Sermon. Readers of the
   Autobiography will also see how timely was the sudden and unexpected
   extinction of the gas lights mentioned at the end of the present
   discourse.]

   I. The first is, that A MAN'S SINS MAY BE REALLY FORGIVEN LONG BEFORE
   HE KNOWS IT, for it is written, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud,
   your transgressions."

   If they knew it, there would be no necessity for telling it to them. If
   they understood in their hearts that their transgressions were blotted
   out, what need had they of a Prophet to come and tell them that it was
   so? Long before a man knows that his transgressions are pardoned, God
   may have pardoned and blotted them out. I do not say that a man
   receives actual pardon in his own soul, or a sense of justification
   without knowing it. I cannot believe, with some, that a man may be born
   again without being aware of it. I know there never was a natural birth
   without pangs and pains--and I am equally sure that there never will be
   a spiritual birth without some suffering and some agonies. A man is not
   to be born again when he is asleep--he is to know it and know it, he
   will, at some time or other in his life! Not constantly, it may be, but
   nevertheless he will know, even if it is only for an hour, that he is a
   child of God! I think he who never had one minute of assurance, never
   had faith. He who never knew himself to be a child of God, who never
   could say, "I believe

   in Jesus," never could see his sins blotted out--I think such an one
   does not know what faith is. It may endure for ever so short a time,
   but if it is real assurance, it springs from true faith and the man is
   saved.

   But a man may have his sins blotted out before he knows it. And they
   may be blotted out when he does not believe that they are--and blotted
   out when he is full of doubt on the point--yes, they may be pardoned
   even when he cannot be persuaded that they actually are. I can tell you
   of persons whom, in my inmost soul, I believe to be the subjects of
   Divine Grace. I can see in them the marks of God's power--He has
   convinced them of sin, they are humble, they are penitent, they are
   prayerful, they feel their guilt, they confess it--yet they have a
   haziness about their views of the Atonement and from this arises great
   darkness of spirit. They cannot see the plan of salvation and because
   they cannot see the plan, they do not, therefore, get a joyful sense of
   the thing, itself. Yet if these persons were soon to die, I am well
   assured that before they departed this life, God would give them such a
   glimpse of sunshine that all the clouds would be dissipated and they
   would be able to enter Heaven singing, as they waded through the stream
   of Jordan, "Christ is with me! Death is nothing. Christ is with me! He
   is my Helper and my Stay." Long before they know it, their sins are
   forgiven.

   Besides, there is a doctrine very much scandalized by certain
   professors and rejected by many persons, but which I firmly believe in.
   I mean, the Doctrine of the Eternal and Complete Justification of All
   the Elect in the Person of Christ Jesus. It does seem to me that when
   the Divine Surety paid our debts, our debts were discharged. That when
   He took our guilt upon His head and suffered for us on Calvary, our
   sins were, in that moment, blotted out. Some will say, "But the sins
   were not in existence, then." No, they were not, except in the
   foreknowledge of God, but the foreknowing God had all those sins
   written in the book of His foreknowledge long before they were
   committed. And by the blood of Christ, "the Lamb slain from the
   foundation of the world," He did forever blot out the crimes and sins
   of all His Covenant people, so that everyone who shall be saved at last
   was j ustified in Christ when He died. The sins of all who shall be
   saved were atoned for by Christ, though they know nothing of it until
   God reveals it to them, by His Spirit, in the moment when they exercise
   faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the debt was paid, then surely a
   full receipt was given! If the crime was then laid on Jesus' head and
   He was then punished for it, surely the crime ceased to be! If you say
   that the crime was not in existence because it was not committed--I
   would tell you that Christ died for it before it was committed.
   Therefore we are quite right in saying that it was blotted out before
   it was committed.

   I received my pardon when I believed--but it was purchased when Christ
   died. In the Person of Christ I was as completely and as truly, in
   God's sight, justified then, as I am now! But I knew it not--it was not
   revealed to me, I could not rejoice in it, I could not be blessed by
   it. The blood-bought pardon could not absolve me till I had a sense of
   it--the pardon of Christ could not redeem me from the prison of sin
   until I knew about it--but yet it was virtually given. When the ransom
   price was paid, the freedom was really secured, though the slave was
   still scarred, branded and chained to his oar. He was a purchased man
   and would one day receive his liberty. Oh, are not your hearts
   gladdened and do not your eyes glisten? Though you do not know that you
   are pardoned, it may be true that your sins are blotted out! Though you
   do not know that you have been justified, it may be true that you are
   "accepted in the Beloved!" "Oh," says one, "if I thought there were a
   hope or even a chance of such a thing for me, I would go to Jesus,
   though my sins had 'risen like a mountain.'" Go, then, poor Sinner, and
   if you cannot read your pardon, there--if you cannot see the
   handwriting of ordinances that were against you nailed to His
   Cross--come back and say that I speak not the Truth of God! There have
   been many sinners who went to Christ full of sin--but there never was
   one who came back from Him as he went! Many have gone to Him guilty,
   but none have been turned away from His door unforgiven! He blots out,
   as a thick cloud, their transgressions and, as a cloud, their sins.

   A man may have his sins forgiven, then, before he knows it, and a true
   Christian who has come to the Lord Jesus may have his sins blotted out
   even when he does not believe they are. The devil can make you believe
   anything. No lawyer is equal to him--though some lawyers have, most
   undoubtedly, learned a few lessons at his hands--for not only can he
   make what is half the truth appear the whole truth, but he can take a
   lie and gild it with truth. How often does he persuade a truly
   justified man that he is not justified! It often comes to pass that
   when God has pardoned a poor sinner, the devil will come to him and
   tell him that he is not pardoned--and so much logic will he use with
   him, that he will make him believe that he is not pardoned, although he
   really is. Though every crime of that man has been forgiven long ago,
   though all his iniquities have been cast into the depths of the sea,
   Satan will agitate his conscience, stir up his soul, bind him with
   unbelief, cast gravel into his food, cause him to eat wormwood and
   drink the water of gall, as Jeremiah has said, until he will not only
   deny that he has ever tasted that the Lord is gracious, but he will be
   in such despair that he will fancy it is not possible that he can ever
   be saved. Satan will persuade a justified man that he is yet "in the
   gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity."

   Are there not some of you who have had many pleasant days, many sweet
   hours of fellowship with Christ, but in some dark moment the thought
   crossed your mind that you might be a hypocrite, after all? From that
   hour you have not been able to come near to Him and though you have
   trusted under the shadow of His wings, yet you have not seen the light
   of His Countenance. Well, but let me tell you, Brothers and Sisters,
   the pardon is not revoked because it is concealed from view! The pardon
   is just as good when you cannot see it as when you do see it. A pardon
   is a pardon and though the condemned criminal does not see the pardon,
   it is not revoked. God takes care of our pardon for us! He does not put
   it into our hands, for Satan might take it away from us, but He lets us
   have a copy of it to read and though Satan steals the copy, he cannot
   get the original--that is safe in the archives of Heaven! Up there, in
   the Ark of God, where He keeps the deeds of the universe, there He
   preserves the writings of the pardon of our sins! Yes, though I may
   doubt whether I am pardoned, if I really am so, I am so! And I ought
   not so much to depend upon my own frames and feelings as upon this--God
   has said to me once, "I have blotted out your sins." He has said it to
   me twice! I read it in His Word and though Satan says they are not
   removed, I believe they are. And I will stand fast in this assurance
   because God said, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your
   transgressions."

   II. Another remark upon our text is that NOTHING CAN SO STRONGLY LEAD A
   MAN TO COME TO GOD AS A SENSE OF PARDONED SIN. "I have blotted out, as
   a thick cloud, your transgressions and as a cloud, your sins: return
   unto Me; for I have redeemed you."

   Enthusiastic divines have thought that men were to be brought to virtue
   by the hissings of the boiling cauldron. They have imagined that by
   beating a Hell drum in the ears of men, they could make them believe
   the Gospel. That by the terrific sights and sounds of Sinai's mountain,
   they could drive men to Calvary. They have preached perpetually, "Do
   this and you are damned." In their preaching there preponderates a
   horrible and terrifying voice. If you listened to them, you might think
   you sat near the mouth of the Pit and heard the "dismal groans and
   sullen moans," and all the shrieks of the tortured ones in Perdition!
   Men think that by these means sinners will be brought to the Savior.
   They, however, in my opinion, think wrongly! Men are frightened into
   Hell, but not into Heaven. Men are sometimes driven to Sinai by
   powerful preaching. Far be it from us to condemn the use of the Law of
   God, for, "the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ," but
   if you want to get a man to Christ, the best way is to bring Christ to
   the man! It is not by preaching Law and terrors that men are made to
   love God--

   "Law and terrors do but harden, All the while they work alone. But a
   sense of blood-bought pardon, Soon dissolves a heart of stone."

   I sometimes preach "the terror of the Lord" as Paul did when he said,
   "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." But I do
   it as did the Apostle--to bring them to a sense of their sins. The way
   to bring men to Jesus, to give them peace, to give them joy, to give
   them salvation through Christ, is by God the Spirit's assistance, to
   preach Christ--to preach a full, free, perfect pardon. Oh, how little
   there is of preaching Jesus Christ! We do not preach enough about His
   glorious name. Some preach dry doctrines, but there is not the unction
   of the Holy One revealing the fullness and preciousness of the Lord
   Jesus. There is plenty of, "Do this and live," but not enough of,
   "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." O sweet
   Jesus, have not some of Your disciples forgotten You? Have not some of
   Your preachers almost lost the sound of Your glorious name and scarcely
   know its blessed pronunciation? Send us, once again, we pray You, the
   spirit of love and of a sound mind, that we may preach more fully Jesus
   Christ our Lord!

   But now, my Friends, let me ask you earnestly--when did you ever feel,
   under a sense of sin, the most inclination to come to the Savior? I
   think you will reply at once, when you felt that there was hope for you
   and that He had blotted out your sins! No man will come to Jesus while
   he thinks harshly of Him. But when he has sweet thoughts of Him, then
   will he come. You have no doubt heard the old figure, borrowed from
   John Bunyan, of a certain army that was inside a city and which was
   attacked by another host. The king outside said, "Give up the city,
   directly, or I'll hang every man of you." "No," they said, "we will
   fight to the death and we will never give up!" "I will burn your city,"
   he said, "and utterly destroy it, raze it to the ground and slay your
   wives and children. I will wholly cut off the race and exterminate
   you." "Ah," they said, "then we will fight till we die! We will never
   open the doors." Seeing that threats were of no avail, he sent another
   message, "If you will only open your gates and come out to me, I will
   let you go away, bag and baggage. I will give all of you your lives and
   liberty and, what is more, I will let you have your lands, again, for a
   small tribute, and you shall be my servants and friends forever."
   "Straightway," says the parable, "they unbarred the gates and came
   tumbling out to the monarch." That is the way, by the Spirit's help, to
   get a sinner to come in penitence to Jesus-- to tell him that the Lord
   says this--"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions
   and, as a cloud, your sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed you."

   Come along, Beloved! Why are you afraid of Jesus? He says, "Return unto
   me; for I have redeemed you." Come along, Brothers and Sisters, to the
   Lord Jesus if you are a sinner! I speak to that one who feels himself a
   lost and guilty one. Come with me to Jesus, for He has blotted out your
   transgressions as a thick cloud and, as a cloud, your sins. And He has
   redeemed you. "Oh," says one, "I dare not come in! He will frown upon
   me." Come and try Him! He says He has forgiven you--come in at the door
   and you will find it true that Christ has forgiven you! I think I see
   you standing and looking at yourself and saying, "Oh, was I not worse
   than ten thousand fools to be afraid to come in--to be afraid to trust
   Him when He had pardoned me beforehand? Was I not worse than ignorant
   to stand back from my best Friend, as if He had been a lion--to stay
   away from the dear Jesus who had purchased my ransom, as if He were my
   foe?"

   One would think, dear Friends, when you are so loath to come to Christ,
   that you were coming to receive condemnation instead of coming to be
   saved! Men come unwillingly to execution, but must they come as
   unwillingly to Christ as they do to the slaughter? You think Him some
   angry Judge. You have bad ideas of my sweet Jesus, or else you would
   not keep away from Him when He is continually crying, "Return unto Me!"
   "Return unto Me!" O that you would so love Him and rejoice in Him, that
   you would feel the greatest pleasure in the world in coming to Him!
   [Some alarm was here occasioned by the gas lights suddenly going out.
   After the temporary confusion had subsided, Mr. Spurgeon proceeded to
   address the large and excited auditory on a different subject. In his
   Autobiography, he mentions that both the discourses delivered under
   these unusual circumstances were blessed to the conversion of some of
   his hearers.]

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM125.

   Verse 1. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion which
   cannot be removed, but abides forever Various conquerors have destroyed
   the buildings upon Mount Zion, but the mountain, itself, is still
   there. None have ever dug it up and cast it into the Mediterranean Sea.
   It stands fast and will stand there as long as the world endures. And
   "they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion"--they shall abide
   as firmly as that sacred mountain does! Nothing can move them, or
   remove them. They are in the hands of Christ and none can pluck them
   from there. "My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all," says
   Christ, "and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Oh,
   what strength does faith give to a man!

   2. As the mountains are roundabout Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His
   people from this time forth and forever This verse shows the Believer's
   safety, as the former one showed his stability. As the mountains stood
   to guard the sacred city, so does God surround His people as a wall of
   fire. Before any can hurt the Believer, they must first break through
   the ramparts of the Godhead! It is not merely said that horses of fire
   and chariots of fire are round about His people, though that is true,
   but that the Lord, Himself, surrounds them, and that not occasionally,
   but "from this time forth and forever." I believe in the eternal safety
   of the saints and I would base it upon these two verses if there were
   no other Scriptures to that effect! If they never are to be moved any
   more than Mount Zion and if God is round about them forever, then they
   must live and they must stand. There is no, "if," or, "but," put in
   here--there is no, "provided that they behave themselves," and so on.
   No, but, trusting in God, they shall never be moved and God will
   surround them as their sure defense! I fancy I hear someone say, "If it
   is so, why am I tried and troubled?" Ah, my Brother, it was never
   contemplated that you should be free from trouble! There is a rod in
   the Covenant and if you never feel it, you may suspect that you are
   notin the Covenant!

   3. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the
   righteous lest the righteousput forth their hands unto iniquity. You
   will feel that rod, but it shall not rest upon you. The days of
   persecution shall be shortened for the elect's sake and though,
   perhaps, the devil may be more furious with you than ever--having great
   wrath because he knows that his time is short--yet God will put an end
   to your suffering, your persecution, your oppression, for He knows your
   frame and he is aware that, perhaps, if the temptation were pushed too
   far, you might yield. Therefore will He makes a way of escape for you.
   He means to try and test you, but not too much. He will abate the
   fierceness of man's wrath and deliver you.

   4. Do good, O LORD, unto those that are good, and to them that are
   upright in their hearts. True Believers are good--especially are they
   good at heart, for Divine Grace has made them so and God, therefore,
   will do them good. He will bless them more and more. He will sanctify
   them and prepare them for the ineffable goodness that is at His right
   hand forever and ever.

   5. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall
   lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon
   Israel There are--there always have been--in the Church of God some who
   have been the Church's dishonor. They have crooked ways of their own
   and, in due time, under stress of persecution, or through temptation,
   they "turn aside unto their crooked ways." They leave the path of
   trustfulness and holiness, as Judas did, as De-mas did, as many have
   done. What will God do with them? He will "lead them forth." He will
   show them up. He will bring them into His Light. And in what company
   will He lead them forth? Why, "with the workers of iniquity," for if
   they were not such in outward action, they were really so in thought
   and heart! And where will He lead them? He will lead them forth to
   execution--they shall go among the malefactors--they shall be led forth
   to die. But will this hurt the Lord's people? No. When the chaff is
   separated from the wheat, the wheat shall be all the purer. "Peace
   shall be upon Israel." All the Lord's chosen, pleading, princely
   people--His Israel--shall have peace upon them! May we all be found
   among them, for Christ's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Strange Ways of Love

   (No. 2564)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, ARPIL 3, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 8, 1883.

   "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
   wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." Hosea 2:14.

   The first part of this chapter is very dark, but the second part is
   clear daylight. As we read the first verses, we tremble, for we seem to
   stand at the foot of Sinai when it is altogether on a smoke. But when
   we reach the second half of the chapter, we can say that, "we have come
   unto Mount Zion." We hear no sound of trumpet, but the voice of that
   blood "which speaks better things than that of Abel." The reason for
   this is not that God has changed, nor that the person who is here
   spoken of has changed--up to this point there is no change indicated in
   the person--it is the same unchaste, unholy, obstinate, rebellious,
   ungrateful creature. Yet there is a wonderful change in the words
   spoken and the reason is because there is a change of dispensation--the
   sinner is brought from under Law to come under Grace! God no longer
   convinces of sin by the terrors of the Law, but He comes to deal with
   the poor guilty soul on terms of love and mercy! This is the great
   wonder of wonders that ever it should be truly said that, "in due time
   Christ died for the ungodly," and that he is saved who believes on Him
   that justifies the ungodly! Christ died for us, not as saints, not as
   godly persons, but as the ungodly! Our subject is all about the
   dealings of Divine Love with guilty sinners, by which God brings them
   unto Himself. I shall speak of four things.

   I. The first is that in our text, FOR GOD'S DEEDS OF LOVE, THERE IS A
   REASON BEYOND ALL REASON.

   The text begins with, "therefore." God is very fond of that word, for
   He never acts illogically. There is always a good reason for all that
   He does. But His ways are not our ways, neither are His thoughts our
   thoughts and, sometimes, our logic is altogether baffled and our
   reasoning faculties seem as if they could not in any way follow the
   working of the mind of God, if such an expression may be used
   concerning His wondrous thoughts.

   Here, then, is a, "therefore," but what is the argument of which this
   is the conclusion? Two of the most eminent writers on Hosea who wrote
   in Latin in the olden time--and were both Romanists--think that the
   word, "therefore," ought to be expunged, for they cannot see any reason
   for its being here. Neither, according to Romanist teaching, is there
   any reason for it. It is a Scripture nut which is too hard to be
   cracked if salvation is by human merit and by human works. "Therefore"
   is a manifest non sequitur in such a place as this if that is the
   theory. But he who understands that salvation is notof works, nor in
   any degree of human merit, but entirely an act of the free and
   Sovereign Grace of God-- that it is not of man, nor by man--he has
   spied out a method of reasoning, here, which the workaholic will never
   be able to discover! There is a reason, though it is beyond all reason.

   Note, then, first, that when God is about to save a man, He finds a
   reason for Grace where there is none. Where there is no reason in the
   man, God, nevertheless, finds one. There never can be any reason in a
   man's sin why God should pardon it--at least we cannot see how it can
   be so--yet David did when he prayed, "For Your name's sake, O Lord,
   pardon my iniquity, for it is great," as if the very greatness of it
   was turned into a reason why it should be forgiven! This is a singular
   argument. When a man has rebelled against the Lord, is that a reason
   why God should publish an act of amnesty and oblivion? When man refuses
   to accept forgiveness, is that any reason why the Lord should go out of
   His way to change that sinner's obstinacy so as not to let him destroy
   his own soul? I fail to see any reason for it, but God finds a reason,
   "for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." "He makes His sun
   to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on
   the unjust."

   We think it always wise to enquire whether a person who applies for
   alms is a worthy person, for we like to give to deserving people. But
   God likes to give to the unworthy and undeserving--and He has a reason
   for it, for how could Mercy be so honored as in the forgiveness of the
   guilty--and how could Divine Grace get to itself so complete a victory
   as in reclaiming those who are utterly lost? God finds a reason where
   to us, at any rate, there seems to be none whatever. If, dear Friend,
   you are self-condemned and can see no reason why the Lord should have
   mercy upon you, yet He spies a reason in the very fact of your being
   unable to see any! He finds, in that very brokenness, misery and
   helplessness of yours, a reason why His own sweet love and mercy should
   come and deal with you, even with you.

   Further, God not only finds a reason where we cannot see any, but He
   makes a reason which overrides all other reasons. There was a reason
   why He should have put Israel away altogether. She had been, as it
   were, espoused to Him-- that is the parallel that is given to us--and
   if it seems, in your judgment, wrong that I should use the parallel, I
   cannot help it--it is in the Bible and I am going to follow it. God
   compares Israel to a wife who has left her husband, broken her marriage
   vow and become unchaste, filthy and polluted. In such a case as that,
   there are a thousand reasons why a man says, "I cannot have her as my
   wife any longer. How can I dishonor myself by receiving her, again, to
   my house and to my heart?" Yes, just so. But God finds a reason for
   receiving His banished and guilty ones over and above all reasons why
   He should put them away. He looks over the head of the argument for
   their destruction and finds grounds for their salvation! These people
   had given themselves up to the worship of that abominable idol-god
   called Baal, whose very worship was full of filthiness--and you can
   conceive the grief of the holy God when He saw them bowing down before
   such an obscene deity as this! That was a reason why He should put them
   away and have no more to do with them. But He had in His heart a reason
   that was stronger than any reason in their guilt and in their crime! He
   had also chastened them. He had brought them very low with famine and
   fever, yet they had gone on in sin worse than ever! And if they seemed
   to return for a little while, they were soon off, again, on their
   wanderings. These provocations of theirs cried aloud, "Put them away!
   Destroy them! Have no mercy upon them!" Yet God, whose mercy endures
   forever, still found a reason for looking favorably on poor Israel. And
   He said, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
   wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." In like manner, though
   you, poor conscience-stricken Sinner, may see ten thousand reasons why
   you should be lost, God sees a reason which is stronger than all those
   and which, with a louder voice, cries over their heads, "Let them live!
   Let them find mercy at Your hands, O God!" Thus He finds a reason that
   overrides every other reason.

   Yes, and I go further and say that God turns reasons against us into
   reasons for us. Every sin is a reason why a sinner should perish. Every
   willful transgression is a reason why a man should be given over to
   continue in his stubbornness, but God does not reason so. In His
   infinite mercy, He treats our sin as though it were a necessity rather
   than a crime! You know how you deal with persons who are in great need.
   Did you ever hear a beggar who came to your door say, "Sir, I am not
   very badly off. I have a nice little income, but I need some relief."
   How much will he get out of you? He goes the wrong way to work! But
   here comes a man in a most dilapidated state. His garments are all in
   rags, his feet are on the ground, his body is emaciated, he tells you
   that he has not tasted food for the last two days, that he has to walk
   the streets at night and has nowhere to lay his head. And the worse his
   story is, the more he prevails with you. Now, the Lord, in His infinite
   mercy, taking that tender view of sinning, as if it had bred a
   necessity in men, loves to hear them speak with Him--not thus, "God, I
   thank You I am not as other men are." You know the rest of it, but the
   man who said thatwas notaccepted of God! But the Lord loves to hear a
   man say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." That cry touches His heart.
   It is the greatness of men's sin which He interprets to be the
   greatness of their necessity and, therefore, He deals with them in
   mercy.

   He also does this when He treats sin as if it were a disease. If a man
   were taken into a hospital, or if he were picked up on a battlefield
   and carried to the surgeon who has a large number of patients to wait
   upon, does the man who is suffering say, "Oh, it is a very slight
   affair, just a mere grazing of the skin, that is all"? He knows that if
   he talked so, the surgeon would pass him by to attend to the man whose
   wound will prove mortal if it is not stanched within a few minutes. The
   man who has the attention of the humane surgeon is the one who can
   truly say, "Sir, there is not a more severely wounded person in all
   this throng. My voice is failing, I am almost choked, I shall die if
   you do not relieve me at once."

   The surgeon says to the other patients, "My good fellows, you must all
   wait awhile. I must see to that poor man." Now, God looks at your sin
   as if it were a deadly disease working in you--and the greatness of
   your malady becomes a plea with Him. Oh, how strange it is that the
   very thing which, as a matter ofjustice, is really against us, turns
   out to be for us when it comes to be a matter of pure Grace!

   I want you all to put it upon that footing. You know what the woman
   said to the great Napoleon when she wanted him to save the life of her
   father. Napoleon said to her, "Woman, I have pardoned this man two or
   three times before." But she said, "Sir, I pray you pardon him again."
   The emperor answered, "I see no reason in justice why I should do so."
   "No, Sir," she replied, "and there is not any. But I am appealing to
   your mercy. It is a fine opportunity for you to show mercy, for he does
   not deserve it." The great man said, "That is well put. Let him live."
   And God will let you live when you plead on the ground of pure mercy!
   If you talk of justice, you are doomed, for there is nothing in the
   justice of God but a sharp, two-edged sword, the very touch of which
   will slay you! God's Throne of Justice is a place of fiery wrath which
   shoots devouring flames! But if you approach it by the door that is
   sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ, and cry to God for mercy,
   you shall be received with the kiss of forgiveness! Go, then, to that
   mercy of God which, in the very sins of men, spells out arguments for
   displaying itself! God does not want your fullness--He wants your
   empti-ness--that He may fill it with His fullness. He does not want
   your good works, you poor sinners--He wants your bad works--that He may
   wash them all away. Paul says that Christ "gave Himself for our sins,"
   and Luther's comment on that is, "He never gave Himself for our
   righteousness. That would not have been worth His having, but He gave
   himself for our sins." "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all
   acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
   This is the footing on which we must go to God!

   They tell us that this preaching of mercy to sinners is against
   morality. Well, morality can take care of itself, God will take care of
   it. But we know that there is nothing which promotes morality like this
   wonderful pardoning love of God. Those who never will be reached by
   being told what they ought to do, for they cannotdo it, and will not do
   it, are reached by being told what God will do for them and what Christ
   has done for them! And when they come and believe that, then they set
   about doing what is right--and good works are produced to the glory of
   God! But on the other theory, no man living under Heaven will ever
   come.

   II. Now turn to the second point. In our text, notice that there is A
   METHOD OF POWER BEYOND ALL POWER--"I will allure her, and bring her
   into the wilderness."

   This is a singular kind of power. "I will allure her." Not, "I will
   drive her." Not even, "I will draw her." Or, "I will drag her." Or, "I
   will force her." No--"I will allure her." It is a very remarkable word
   and it teaches us that the allurement of love surpasses in power all
   other forces. That is how the devil ruins us--he tempts us with honeyed
   words, sweet utterances, with the baits of pleasure and the like. And
   the Lord in mercy determines that in all truthfulness, He will outbid
   the devil and He will win us to Himself by fascinations, enticements
   and allurements which shall be stronger than any force of resistance we
   may offer! This is a wonderfully precious word--"I will allure her." I
   hardly know how to explain it except by reminding you of how bird
   catchers entice the feathered creatures with the allurements of decoys
   that sing them into the net, or how a mother allures her little child
   who is just beginning to walk. You have seen her hold out an orange, or
   an apple, or a sweet, that the little one may leave the chair against
   which it is leaning and come to her arms. That is the meaning of the
   word, "I will allure her." God is trying this plan with guilty men and
   so tries it as to succeed, for there is in it a power beyond all other
   power!

   Other forms of power had been tried upon Israel. She had been
   afflicted--God declared that He would strip her even to nakedness! And
   He had done so, yet she did not turn to Him. He said to her, "I will
   hedge up your way with thorns," but she went on right over the thorns.
   Then He said, "I will make a wall, that she shall not find her paths."
   But she broke through the wall. Affliction of itself cannot bring a man
   to Christ--you may flog him till he gets more wicked. He may be
   chastened, as Ahaz was, and yet, like he, go further astray, the more
   he is afflicted, No dear Friends, the power of God's Grace--the power
   of His infinite allurements--will be found to be much stronger than the
   power of affliction!

   Moreover, the Lord had tried upon Israel the effect of instruction. He
   says, "She did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil." So He
   told her, but instruction did not help her. She sinned in the Light of
   God as badly as she had done in the darkness! Then He tried what could
   be done by exposure. He said--and it is a strong word--"I will declare
   her lewdness in the sight of her lovers." There are some people who are
   made to be thoroughly ashamed--they are caught in some secret sin. They
   are convicted of something which, even in the eyes of sinners like
   themselves, is mean and dirty--and they cannot deny it--yet they do not
   turn from sin. They still cling to it.

   In addition to all this, the Lord had tried the power of sorrow upon
   sorrow, for it is written, "I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
   her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts.
   And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees." Though she found no
   mirth in sin and the way of her transgression was hard, yet Israel
   would not turn to God! But the sweet allurement of tenderness would
   succeed where all else had failed.

   This was a power which was greater than those other forms of power
   because the allurement of love overcomes the will to resist. Israel
   could resist everything else, but she could not resist the allurements
   of God's Grace--they won her where nothing else could. If Christ does
   but touch the blind man's eyes, so that out of the corners of them he
   only gets one glimpse of the Savior's beauty, he must infallibly be so
   enamored of the Christ that he will love Him beyond all others! There
   are amazing beauties about the Person of Jesus, yet, by their own
   unaided power, men cannot see them. But if once Christ enables them to
   see Him as He is and they realize the power of His eternal love, then
   their hearts are captured and they no longer resist Him. In fetters of
   Grace they are led as willing captives to Christ!

   Let me tell you one or two things about the Savior that I think one can
   never resist. There is, first, His self-denying love--that He loved His
   enemies--that He loved such poor creatures as we are, who could do Him
   no good. He was infinitely glorious and we were insignificant and, what
   was worse, we were opposed to Him! Yet each Believer can say, "He loved
   me and gave Himself for me." Out of pure, disinterested affection, He
   came to earth to dwell in a stable, to hang upon a woman's breast, a
   babe as feeble as any other babe, and then, marvel of marvels, His life
   on earth ended on the Cross--the cruel gallows of utmost scorn! There
   the Faultless One bears all our fault and because of our transgression,
   He is nailed to the tree, His back having first been scourged, His
   hands and feet pierced. Yes, and God Himself forsakes Him--not for any
   evil that He has done, but because He has been guilty of excess of love
   and has dared to put Himself in the poor sinner's place to bear the
   wrath of Heaven! Look at Him--can you help loving Him with His face
   disdained with spit and His back all gory from the cruel lash? Is He
   not more lovely, there, than even up yonder amidst eternal thrones? O
   Love, bleeding Love, dying Love! If this does not allure men, what
   will? But that is how God allures the sinner to Himself. He says, "I
   did all this for you. I lived for you. I died for you." And this wins
   the sinner's affections, even though he feels himself the guiltiest of
   the guilty.

   Then our blessed Master, having risen from the dead, now charms us by
   the fact that amidst all His glories He is faithful to His first love.
   He has not forgotten you and me, though cherubim and seraphim have been
   singing His praises all these years, day without night. See what He is
   doing. He makes intercession for the transgressors and he bears upon
   His breastplate the names of guilty ones for whom His cry goes up that
   they may be forgiven and find mercy through His wondrous merit! I will
   not say that you ought to l ove Him, for love does not act that way.
   But I will say this--if you truly know Him, you cannot help loving
   Him--you must love Him. Thus does He allure men to Himself by His own
   personal charms.

   The Lord draws men to Himself in different ways. I was allured to
   Christ very much by the hope of eternal safety. I was but a lad and I
   saw young men, a little older than myself, who had been very promising
   youths, go off into drunkenness and into vice of different kinds. And I
   thought that I might do the same. But when I read those words of the
   Apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able
   to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day," I was
   charmed with Christ as a sort of Preserver of character--an Insurer of
   my soul unto eternal bliss! And I came to Him for that reason. I have
   known others who have seen the happiness of Christians--their peace in
   the midst of turmoil, their joy in times of sorrow, their contentment
   in poverty, their calmness in prospect of death--and they have said,
   "If all this happiness can be had in Christ, I will come to Him for
   it." And in that way He has allured them. Perhaps some of you have
   never had any great terrors of conscience, or distress of soul--do not
   fret on that account! If you come by allurements, it is a Covenant way
   of coming. If you are fascinated by the charms of Christ, it is the
   very way that God declares He will draw His erring and His guilty
   people. Oh, that you would yield to the fascination! I pray that you
   may feel the allurement and say--

   "I yield--by mighty love subdued! Who can resist its charms? And throw
   myself, by wrath pursued, Into my Savior's arms."

   Do any of you feel some soft drawing? Is there a pierced hand touching
   you and a loving voice saying, "Seek the Lord"? Have you been very
   hard, up till now, but does an unusual gentleness steal over your
   spirit as you are sitting in this House of Prayer? Give yourself up to
   it--it may be that the time of Divine Grace is now upon you. I hope
   that it is so, that your birth-night has come and that you are passing
   from death unto life! We have prayed about you. We met for an hour
   before service and there was hard pleading for you. And God has given
   us the desire of our spirit and you are to come to Christ tonight!
   Blessed Lord, if it is so, there will be work for angels in Heaven to
   sing Your praises concerning a sinner that repents!

   III. But now, thirdly, and with brevity, here is A CONDITION OF COMPANY
   BEYOND ALL COMPANY. Kindly read the text again. "Therefore, behold, I
   will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness."

   If you have ever heard a sermon from this text, you have probably had
   it translated to you to mean that God will bring His people in trouble,
   but it does not mean that. It means that God would cause Israel to be
   alone with Him. I t was usual, after the nuptial ceremony, for the
   husband to take his wife away into some lone spot for a while. The same
   thing constantly happens among us--when a man is married, away he goes
   to the seaside for a time--and he takes his spouse away to be with him
   alone. That is the idea in the text, the Lord says of Israel, "I will
   allure her to Myself and then, "I will take her into the wilderness.
   She shall be in My company and in nobody else's company." That is just
   what the Grace of God does--the soul had forgotten Him, before, but now
   it thinks only of Him. His sweet love has so won it that it is now full
   of God! Instead of not thinking of Him at all, He is in his first
   thoughts in the morning, and in his thoughts all day long--and the last
   thing at night, till friends who do not sympathize say, "Why, you are
   going out of your mind! You are going religiously mad!" I wish that you
   would stay in that blessed state into which you were brought when the
   Lord's love was revealed to you and His allurements drew your soul to
   Him.

   The soul in the wilderness, alone with God, does not think of anybody
   else, and does not trust in anything else. I t used to trust in good
   works, but it feels as if it has not any, now, though really its first
   good works are just being produced. Oh, what a clearance of our finery
   the love of God makes when it comes into the soul! We are the most
   respectable people who ever lived until we know God--and then we abhor
   ourselves and repent in dust and ashes!

   Now it comes to pass that God is our only joy. Once we had joy in the
   theater, or joy in the ballroom, or joy in other worldly things, but
   now we find true joy in God! And all other rejoicing seems only the
   mirth of fools and idiots. When we have once sat at the feast in our
   Father's House, we cannot go back to eat the husks that satisfy swine.
   We have something better than that--our Lord has brought us where
   everything but Himself is a wilderness and our cry is, "O God, You are
   my God! Early will I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs
   for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water." Joy in God
   eats up all other joy, as Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the
   impostors! Now we can say of the Lord, "He is all my salvation and all
   my desire." Oh, to be wholly His and to enjoy all that we can enjoy of
   Him! This is what He means by bringing us into the wilderness. That is,
   into the solitary place alone with Him.

   It may also be understood--and the connection requires it--that God
   brings His people into the same condition into which He brought the
   Israelite nation of old. I t was not to afflict them that He brought
   them into the wilderness-- it was to take them out of affliction that
   He led them there--and that is the meaning of our text. When the Lord
   allures His people, He takes them away from the old Egyptian bondage.
   He leads them through the Red Sea. He makes it roll between them and
   their old life and then He treats them just as He treated His people in
   the wilderness. That is, He provides their food. They live on manna--no
   longer have they their kneading troughs which they brought out of
   Egypt. I wonder what they did with those kneading troughs? They never
   needed them in the wilderness, certainly, for the manna was all ready
   for them when it fell.

   Then, next, the Lord becomes the Guard of His people--a wall of fire
   round about them. He protects them by a fiery pillar at night and He is
   the only Guide and Leader of His people--by cloud or by fire He leads
   them both by night and by day. He becomes the healing of His people,
   for, in the wilderness, when Israel had sinned and the fiery serpent
   had bitten them, they looked to the bronze serpent and they lived. The
   Lord was the Champion and Defender of His people. Si-hon, king of the
   Amorites, did He smite, "for His mercy endures forever; and Og, the
   king of Bashan, for His mercy endures forever." In the wilderness
   Israel had nothing but God--did they need anything else? They carried
   on no commerce. They had no railways. They kept no shops. Well, really,
   if you could go out every morning and gather your bread and if, when
   you needed meat, the quails came in any quantity for you to feed upon.
   And if your clothes never waxed old, neither did your feet swell--that
   would be a grand life to lead!

   The Lord bring you and me under the wings of His eternal Providence and
   if the world should seem a wilderness to us, yet if God continues to
   scatter the manna and faith has but hands with which to gather it, and
   a joyful mouth with which to feed upon it, then, blessed be God, the
   wilderness is better than anywhere else! "I will allure her and bring
   her into the separated place where she shall walk by faith. And I will
   dwell with her, and walk with her. And I will be her God and she shall
   be Mine forever." That is the meaning of the promise--a condition of
   company beyond all company!

   IV. Now, fourthly, we have, in our text, A VOICE OF COMFORT BEYOND ALL
   COMFORT. "I will speak comfortably unto her." The Hebrew is, "I will
   speak to her heart"--a style of speech that can only be adopted by God
   who made the heart, searches the heart and tries the reins of the
   children of men.

   When the Lord gets His people all alone, what words of comfort He has
   with them! What words they are when He assures them of their full
   forgiveness, when they see all the sins of their former perverse life
   gone forever and hear the Lord say, "I have blotted out, as a thick
   cloud, your transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins." These are,
   indeed, comfortable words when they are spoken home to the heart! And
   so they are when the Lord not only tells His people that all evil is
   removed, but that all good is theirs--when such words as these come
   home to them--"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon
   us, that we should be called the sons of God." And, "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." And, "There is,
   therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And,
   "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
   sanctification, and redemption." Those are comfortable words when the
   Lord goes on to tell us of our everlasting safety--"They that trust in
   the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides
   forever." And when in prayer He foretells our coming glory--"Father, I
   will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am."

   I like even better that rendering, "I will speak to her heart." I heard
   of one who died many years ago and an old divine, who stood by his
   bedside, reported what he said. He had been a great professor, but he
   had become an apostate and turned aside. But he used to comfort himself
   with the universal mercy of God. And when he lay a-dying, he said to
   the minister, "Sir, I have made a plaster for my wound, but it will not
   stick." He turned over in the bed and said, "It will not stick! It will
   not stick!" And so he died. Ah, and unless God speaks the Gospel to the
   heart, it will not stick. You cannot get it to stick to the wound. It
   seems pretty enough and you fancy that it will heal--it is a "royal
   court plaster"--but, for all that, it will not stick! But when the Lord
   speaks His Truth home to the heart and conscience, by the Holy Spirit,
   and the poor trembling sinner grips it as for dear life and says, "That
   is mine--I will venture my soul on it! Christ has died for sinners--I
   am a sinner and I take Christ to be my Savior!" Then that plaster will
   stick! What a mercy it is, when God makes it to be so! I can speak to
   your ears, but I cannot speak to your hearts and, what is more, even
   this blessed Book of Inspiration could only appeal to the ears! Apart
   from the Spirit of God, it could not reach your heart. But if the Lord
   Himself takes His Truth, oh, how blessedly it goes home!

   I tell you, you desponding and despairing ones, you may come out of the
   iron cage tonight! You may, this very hour, enter into joyous peace and
   liberty if the Spirit of God will but speak home a single text--a
   solitary Word--a New-Covenant Word to your spirit! Be of good cheer,
   then--things impossible with men are possible with God--and you may yet
   be singing instead of sighing, and shouting instead of groaning! Look
   to Jesus! All our hope lies in Him. May He save you--yes, may the Lord
   allure you even now! I am afraid I have not spoken gently enough to
   some of you poor wounded ones. It is very hard for the preacher to
   always pick his words to suit all His hearers and, perhaps, someone
   will come to me, after the service, and say, "Oh, there was something
   you said that tried me so very much." And, usually, the very people who
   are most tried by the Word are the very ones that we most want to
   comfort! Sometimes, a dear soul comes to me and says, "Oh, Sir, I am
   afraid I am a hypocrite!" I answer, "I never met a hypocrite who was
   afraid that he was a hypocrite." That could not be, for hypocrites are
   quite certain that they are not hypocrites! And he that is so timid and
   trembling that he is afraid he may not take these things of which I
   have been speaking, is the very person whom we must encourage to lay
   hold of every sweet and precious promise that falls from the mouth of
   the Lord Jesus Christ!

   May God make this promise true to everyone here who does not yet know
   Him, "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
   comfortably unto her"! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HOSEA 2.6-23.

   Verse 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and
   make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. God will cause sin to
   be painful. He will make the way of it difficult. He will do everything
   to prevent the sinner running in it--"She shall not find her paths."

   7. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
   them. They cannot find satisfaction in sinful pleasure. That which once
   they easily obtained, they shall no longer be able to procure.

   7. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she
   say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better
   with me than now. Am I addressing a backslider? Has God hedged up your
   way? Is there a whisper in your heart which reminds you of better days
   and happier times? Oh, stifle not that whisper! Let it be heard within
   your spirit--if it is but a gentle voice, listen to it till it
   increases in force and sounds like the very voice of God in your soul!
   It will be for your present and eternal good if you do so.

   8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
   multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. It is a
   sad sin when we take God's mercies and use them in rebellion against
   Him. Just think of it--the very gifts which Jehovah gave to these
   people, they presented in sacrifice to Baal! And there are men who are
   in comfortable circumstances, who spend their wealth for sin. They have
   health and strength, and they use them in the service of their own evil
   passions. The very gifts with which God has enriched them become
   weights to sink them deeper and deeper in the gulf of transgression.
   Ah, this is terrible! God has often brought men down to poverty, to
   sickness, to death's door, in order that they might be weaned from
   their sin. He saw that they were going to Hell full-handed and He
   judged it better that they should go to Heaven empty-handed! He knew
   that if they had health, they would misuse it, so He stretched them on
   the bed of sickness, that they might turn to Him. God has severe
   remedies for desperate cases--He will do all that mercy and wisdom can
   suggest to prevent men from being their own destroyers.

   9-11. Therefore will I return and take away My corn in the time
   thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool
   and My flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I uncover her
   lewdness in the sight of her lovers, andnone shall deliver her out
   ofMyhand. I willalso cause allher mirth to cease, her feast days, her
   newmoons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. There is no more
   merriment--the old songs have lost their sweetness and the old games
   have lost their charm.

   12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has
   said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me. So I will make
   them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. So that the
   joys of sin shall become miseries, as if vineyards were suddenly
   trained into dense forests wherein lions and wolves might make their
   lairs. There are some people who can understand this in a spiritual
   sense. Some, perhaps, who have been made to realize it in their own
   experience.

   13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned
   incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her
   jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, says the LORD. It
   is terrible when God comes to visit upon men the days of their
   sin--when for every night of sin they shall have a night of
   anguish--when for every pleasure that they took in sin they shall feel
   the scourge of conscience till they have measured out the weary round.
   "She went after her lovers, and forgot Me, said the Lord." This was
   said by Him who never forgot her, by Him whose love was true and
   faithful to her when she thus went away from Him and defiled herself
   and dishonored His holy name!

   Now read the next verse and be astonished--

   14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
   wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. You might have thought the
   Lord was going to say, "Therefore, behold, I will destroy her!" Nothing
   of the kind. "l will fascinate her to myself, I will draw her away from
   all her idol lovers and I will speak comfortably unto her."

   15. And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of
   Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of
   her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
   ' 'I will pluck this Israel of Mine out of all her sin. I will give her
   back the purity and the happiness of her early days. 'She shall sing,
   there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up
   out of the land of Egypt.'" You must have noticed how often God speaks
   of that coming out of Egypt. He says, in another place, "I remember
   you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you
   went after Me in the wilderness." Here the Lord promises to give back
   to Israel the joy she had when she was young and espoused herself to
   her God.

   16. And it shall be at that day, said the LORD, that you shall call Me
   Ishi; and shall call Me no more Baali. ' 'You shall call me, my Man, my
   Husband"--a name of sweet endearment. "and shall call me no more,
   Baali," that is, "my Lord, my lordly Husband," for the Lord's love
   shall not be galling to you, but it shall sweetly and gently rule you.
   Oh, what a sweet change this is, when we no longer tremble before God
   with slavish fear, but love Him with intense affection and see in Him
   our soul's Husband in whom is all our delight!

   17. For I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth and they
   shall no more be remembered by their name. The word, Baalim, had been
   profaned--they had applied it to other lords--and when they used it
   concerning Jehovah, it sounded harsh, as if He, too, was a tyrant
   master!

   18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of
   the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things
   of the ground. Everything is in covenant with me if I am in covenant
   with God! There is nothing so high that it can hurt me, there is
   nothing so low that it can injure me, there is nothing so great that it
   need distress me, there is nothing so little that it shall torment me!

   18. Andl will break the bowand the sword ofthe battle out ofthe earth,
   and willmake them to lie down safely. Oh, the security of God's people
   when they get into their right position towards God!

   19. And I will betroth you unto Me forever; yes, I will betroth you
   unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and
   in mercies. What a glorious promise is this! It is marvelous that our
   wayward, wanton, wicked souls should be brought back, by infinite
   mercy, and then that God should be so enamored of us as to declare, "I
   will betroth you unto Me forever."

   20. I will even betroth you unto Me in faithfulness: and you shall know
   the LORD. It is said three times that He will betroth us unto Himself,
   as if the Lord knew that we would hardly be able to believe it.

   21. 22. Andit shall come to pass in that day, I willanswer, said the
   LORD, will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth; and the
   earth shall answer with corn, and wine, and the oil and they shall
   answer Jezreel. So that there shall be no famine to try God's people!
   Their prayers shall be abundantly answered and all their needs shall be
   supplied.

   23. And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon
   her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not
   My people, You are My people; and they shall say, You are my God. Oh,
   blessed Scripture! May the Lord write it on all our hearts! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Ruins

   (No. 2565)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 10, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 11, 1883.

   "But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel." 2 Chronicles 28:23.

   I HAVE a little to say about the condition of Judah under Ahaz before I
   come to personal dealing with souls from this text. God had given to
   His people a very simple mode of worship. He was the invisible and only
   living God and they were to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There
   was to be one altar and that was to be at Jerusalem. But all the rest
   of the world was given up to idolatry and the Israelites were not a
   very spiritual people, so, by-and-by, they wanted something to see,
   some image, some symbol. When the 10 tribes broke off from Judah, they
   set up images of a bull to represent the strength of Deity. Those who
   kept to the worship of the invisible Jehovah without emblems, ridiculed
   these symbols, and called the bulls, in contempt, calves. But the
   calf-worship became very strong throughout Israel and there were many
   in Judah who were attracted to it. It was the worship of God, but it
   was the worship of God in a wrong way, for there was a very express
   Commandment which forbade it--"You shall not make unto you any graven
   image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is
   in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you
   shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord
   your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
   the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate
   Me."

   There are still many who worship idols and images, but they say, "No,
   we do not worship them; we worship God through them." Just so, but that
   is as much forbidden in the Second Commandment as the worship of other
   gods is forbidden in the First--they are both violations of the Divine
   Law! When the people of Judah had gone so far as to worship God through
   images, they went still farther and bowed down to Baal and Ashtaroth.
   They even bowed down to the sun and even flies, for Baal-Zebub, the
   "God of Flies," became one of their objects of adoration! Associated
   with this idolatry was everything that was sinful. I do not dare tell
   you what horrible and loathsome abominations were witnessed in
   connection with the worship of these gods.

   Do not, however, condemn those Jews and Israelites without remembering
   another story. In this world, in later times, the Son of God set up a
   pure and undefiled religion in which there was no similitude of God
   whatever. But, after a while, they who professed to worship Christ felt
   they needed to have a cross and crucifix, pictures and images. Of
   course they did not worship the cross, or the crucifix, or the
   pictures, or the images! No, but they professed to worship Christ by
   the help of these things. That was the first violation of the
   simplicity of worship and it was, in reality, departing from the living
   God. In a very short time they took to the worship of saints--and from
   that they went to the worship of cast clouts and rotten rags until some
   of us have seen, with our own eyes, bones--supposed to be the bones of
   saints-- decayed teeth and all kinds of rubbish made the subjects of
   worship when they have been exposed to the gaze of the deluded people!
   Into such idolatry, by slow degrees, did those fall who professed to
   call themselves Christians--and only three or four hundred years ago,
   from one end of this island to the other, the land was full of "holy
   crucifixes," images, relics and I know not what! The people were
   utterly given up to idolatry and the Gospel of God was scarcely known!

   Then rang out, clear and shrill, the voices of Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin
   and the like and, after a while, men arose who said, "We will worship
   none but God--and all these images we utterly abhor." There was, for
   them, nothing but the prison, the stake and all manner of cruel
   deaths--but they were steadfast even unto the end! You know how brave
   Hugh

   Latimer, as he began to burn at the stake in his old age, cheered up
   his companion by saying, "Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play
   the man! We shall, this day, light such a candle by God's Grace in
   England as I trust shall never be put out." And so they did. There came
   out to die for Christ, poor, humble, illiterate men and women--and some
   of noble rank! And even bishops could sometimes take their share of the
   persecution and die until, at last, men began to hate the idols by
   reason of the cruelty which was used in keeping them up! Then came a
   revolt against Romanism and all over England men smashed the "holy
   water" basins, defaced the pictures, pulled down the images and treated
   them with utter contempt! And England was freed from the idolatry under
   which she had groaned so long. We thought she would always remain free,
   but, alas, we only dreamed it. By-and-by there came men in the
   Established Church who did not bid us worship saints, nor did they, at
   first, go very far in idolatry, but they said that they must have
   vestments, incense and I know not what. And now they have boldly set up
   the crucifix--that calf of Baal, for it is nothing better--that image
   which they adore and which we loathe because it has become the thin end
   of the wedge--the first open return to idolatry!

   Where is true Protestant feeling in England? It seems to me to be
   almost extinct! All that many care for is an ornate service--something
   beautiful for the eyes to rest upon, flowers more abundant than in a
   conservatory, music sweet to the ear, the scent of incense and thus,
   by-and-by--unless God prevents it--we shall get back to the old Roman
   idolatry and that would be the ruin of this land as it has been the
   ruin of every land where it has had the sway! Time was when God covered
   England with His wing, when Spain's Armada was swept away by the
   tempest, like chaff before the wind, and God was with our country and
   gave her power and made her to be the empress of the seas. But if she
   forsakes her God, she will fall from her heights! If this land becomes
   full of images and idols again--and there are none found to protest
   against it--the God that lifted us up will throw us down! He that has
   used us for His Glory will reckon us to be unfit for His service and
   cast us away with other nations that He has forsaken because of their
   defilement through idolatry! I will not say more upon this matter, now,
   but I will pray about it, and I ask every man who feels as I do to
   continue to pray, lest it should be said of us, concerning these idols,
   "They were the ruin of him, and of all Israel," for so it must be if we
   forsake the living God and turn aside unto gods that are not gods!

   Now I come to a more practical matter as far as each individual is
   concerned and, first, I shall want you to notice the man ruining
   himself. Secondly, the man in ruins. And, thirdly, other people ruined
   with him.

   I. First, look at THE MAN RUINING HIMSELF.

   Sin will ruin any man. If it is not forsaken, it will eternally ruin
   him. Ahaz is the type of those who ruin themselves. I daresay many will
   at once exclaim, "This description does not belong to us!" Perhaps you
   suppose it never could belong to you. Listen, I have seen those who
   swore to live a holy life turn aside to the grossest immorality. Often
   they have been men who thought they were past temptation and believed
   it was utterly impossible that they should turn aside. Let us speak of
   Ahaz and, as we do so, let each man take to heart anything that belongs
   to himself--and that which does not belong to him, let him pray God to
   bless to the one to whom it is suitable.

   Here, then, was one who, as a king, began life by determining to be his
   own master. He had been told to worship the invisible God with the
   simple rites of the Law, but he resolved that he would worship what he
   pleased, where he pleased and how he pleased. He was not to be dictated
   to! He would select his own gods and worship as many as he pleased. So
   he did, "but they were the ruin of him." A man may begin life with this
   resolution--"I am not going to be bound by anybody. I shall do as I
   like, I shall have my own way. I shall be independent, I am not going
   to be obedient to God, nor to hearken to what His Book prescribes. I
   shall have what indulgences I choose." If he does so, those indulgences
   will be "the ruin of him." That character which has not for its
   cornerstone, obedience to God, is a character that will tumble down in
   ruins one day or another! O young man, begin life with this resolve, "I
   will serve God. I will seek to know His mind and His will, and I will
   say to all others, 'Whether it is right to obey God rather than man,
   you judge.'"

   This man, Ahaz, was also very high-handed in his sin. He even set up
   rival altars in the Temple itself! Dreadful as it seems, yet he
   imported an altar from Damascus and erected it in the place where had
   stood the altar of God! He went beyond his predecessors in his
   determination that idolatry should cover all the land--and he
   persecuted and oppressed the faithful servants of Jehovah. A man may be
   very high-handed against God and sneeringly ask, with Pharaoh, "Who is
   the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" But if he does so, it will be
   "the ruin of him." Pharaoh did not find the answer. He might continue
   to provoke Jehovah, but, in the end, when God had killed the first-born
   of Egypt, the chief of all her strength, he learned that it is perilous
   for a man to be high-handed with God!

   Further, Ahaz also lavished great treasure upon his sin. All the wealth
   he had, he was willing to spend in order that he might have his own way
   and worship his own gods. Yet, "they were the ruin of him." Perhaps he
   was ruined all the faster for that very reason. When a man has plenty
   of money and he lets it run away freely, simply that he may sin against
   his God and indulge his evil passions, he may seem to flourish for a
   while, but let no man envy him, for those passions will be "the ruin of
   him." Though the land is full of silver and gold, though there is no
   end of the horses and chariots, yet, as the Lord lives, if a man shall
   use these in fighting against God, they will be "the ruin of him." That
   is how it will end, sooner or later--and probably sooner!

   Ahaz also defied the chastisement of God. The Lord punished him by
   permitting his enemies to invade his country. His people were carried
   away captive, yet he would not humble himself on account of that. The
   more he was distressed, the more he sinned. "This is that king Ahaz,"
   and we have seen men whom God has terribly smitten, but they have not
   yielded to Him. They have even risen from a sick bed more wicked than
   when they were stretched upon it--breaking their promises, casting
   their vows to the wind and going back, "like the dog to his own vomit,
   or the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." They have
   said that they cared nothing for pain, sickness, illness--they would
   not turn unto the Lord--and thus their sins were the ruin of them. The
   blows of God came home to them, at last, and sin slew them, after all!

   Yet further, Ahaz was exceedingly clever. He said, "I will make a
   friend of Tilgath-Pilneser, the king of Assyria, and he will protect
   me. I will put myself in vassalage under him and then the little kings
   of Syria and Israel will be afraid to touch me, and I shall be left in
   quiet." Ah, men are sometimes very clever in their sin. At least they
   think they are! They will not yield to God. They will not become
   Christians--they are not such fools! They are so sharp, they will do
   well enough! They have a friend, somewhere. They have a card they have
   not yet played and a scheme which, when it is revealed, will astonish
   you! They will do well enough without God--let those who want Him pray
   to Him. Yet their sins will be the ruin of them, for the clever men
   shall be taken in their own craftiness and shall be destroyed by the
   very instruments with which they sought to promote their
   prosperity--even as this man was, for, when the king of Assyria came,
   he plundered the palace of Ahaz and took away his wealth--and did not
   help him in the least.

   Ahaz was also a man of great taste. That was one reason why he was an
   idolater--the worship of God, in a simple manner, did not please him,
   or gratify his refined taste. He was a cultured and aesthetic
   individual, so, when he went down to Damascus and saw an idolatrous
   altar, he said, "That is my idea of an altar! I will have one like it."
   So the pattern of it was sent off to Jerusalem and Uriah, the priest,
   made himself very busy in carrying out the king's wishes so that, by
   the time Ahaz came back, there was his new altar all ready. I can
   imagine that he said, as he looked at it, "That is the style of altar
   for me! I want none of your old-fashioned Davidic altars." Yet those
   fine ideas of his were "the ruin of him." And I am afraid there are a
   great many persons who will be ruined by their taste--by allowing it to
   override conscience and suffering, themselves, to be guided by their
   whims and fancies--and not by the teaching of the Word of God. To me
   that seems beautiful which God ordains--and that is abominable which
   God abhors! May it be so with each one of us, but if we allow our own
   taste to lead us into sin, then we shall find that it will be the ruin
   of us and of all who do like unto us.

   This man--I have not yet completed my portrait of him--had some to back
   him who ought to have opposed him. When his predecessor, Uzziah, went
   into the Temple to offer incense, the priests withstood him and thrust
   him out for he had no right there--and leprosy came upon his brow and
   he hasted to go out. But when Ahaz wanted this new altar, Uriah the
   priest was quite ready to adapt himself to his lord's ideas. He would,
   of course, prefer the old-fashioned low church but, still, he was a
   very broad-minded man and he was willing to have a high church altar
   set up if his majesty wished it. And when his majesty said so and when
   he came and offered sacrifices upon it, Uriah did not say a word
   against it. How could he? It was a State church and, therefore, the
   king did as he liked! That style of action is often seen in religious
   and social life. A man does wrong and the Christian minister who ought
   to speak plainly to him about it, does not dare to do so! Perhaps the
   minister, who ought to be faithful for his Master's sake, thinks that,
   for the sake of peace, he had better not interfere and so he does not.
   Then the guilty man says, "It does not matter what I do, I have a
   priest at the back of me, I shall be all right." Yet his sins are "the
   ruin of him" for all that. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall
   not be unpunished."

   This man, Ahaz, had another thought within his mind, namely, that he
   would imitate prosperous sinners. ' 'Look," he said, "at the king of
   Syria. Look how he prospers! I will worship his gods and then I shall
   prosper, too." "But they were the ruin of him." That is where the
   emphasis of the text comes in. I have known a man say in deeds, if not
   in words, "I know what I will do. I have no trust in God nor in His
   Providence, but there is So-and-So who has a very clever way of making
   money, I shall do as he does." Oh, the many who have found that this
   mode of action has been the ruin of them-- when they have broken loose
   from the bonds of integrity and righteousness--and have begun to play
   fast and loose with honesty and truth! Take heed, dear Friends, not to
   imitate the prosperous sinner, for if you do, you may be sure that
   following his plans will be the ruin of you! Envy not the man who gets
   rich by that which is not straightforward, for he must come to an evil
   end.

   It was so with Ahaz, for he abandoned the worship of God altogether. He
   broke up the holy vessels of God's House, put out all the lamps which
   had burned perpetually and shut up the doors of the House of the Lord.
   This is the case, nowadays, with men who say that they have done with
   religion. Nobody in their house goes to a place of worship. They have
   no Bibles to bother them, they care nothing about the Sabbath. As for
   themselves, they never darken the doors of any House of Prayer--you
   never see them there, any more, and they say, "We have got rid of this,
   and of that, which used to be our custom." But such conduct is the ruin
   of them! A man may harden himself until he becomes like the nether
   millstone, his conscience may seem to be suffocated and the last spark
   of goodness to be extinct within him--but he cannot, for all that,
   evade the impending doom--for his sins will be "the ruin of him." It is
   hard work to have to speak thus, but there are some who must have this
   stern Truth of God spoken to them, lest they should die in their sins.
   II. Secondly, and very briefly, I want you to look

   AT THE MAN IN RUINS.

   You say, perhaps, that you will never be in that state. You are not
   converted, but you are honest, upright and truthful. Well, we shall
   see, or, at all events, Godwill see! I have beheld a man in ruins who
   once seemed a Christian. He came in and out among his brethren and they
   esteemed him. But he was living secretly in a defiled life. He was
   unchaste and that worm gnawed and gnawed, until, at last, his household
   was forsaken, domestic comfort was gone--and at this moment I scarcely
   know where he is. And no one wishes to know, for he has become so
   abandoned and so foul that those who once knew him can only sigh as
   they remember him.

   I have known others of this sort. They were apparently doing well. They
   were admirable and excellent. They were the delight of every company in
   which they entered, but they took the intoxicating cup, a little, and
   then a little more, and then secret drinking became visible by certain
   tokens upon the face and, by-and-by, business was neglected, other
   things were not attended to and now the man may be known by his very
   clothing--if he is not in rags, he is near to it--his character is
   gone, for he is a confirmed drunk. He must acknowledge it--he cannot
   truthfully deny it. That is another kind of ruin. I have also seen a
   young Christian man apparently begin to go into bad company and join
   with those who were merry fellows. It is true they scoffed at religion
   a little, but he winked at that, for he enjoyed their society. They
   flattered him and now he has become just as bad as they are! Instead of
   being shocked at infidel sentiments, he is the first to vent them--a
   very ringleader in taking the chair of the scoffer--and sitting there a
   ruined man!

   I have seen men ruined as to their peace. They once seemed bright and
   happy, but they are not so now--their laughter is but a mimic joy. They
   have sinned, they have turned aside from God and their peace is marred.
   In some, their character is ruined. Those who know them cannot trust
   them, so their prospects are ruined. They went aside, little by little,
   and, whereas we hoped they would have been useful and honorable men,
   they are the very reverse--they are like drowning men--they are,
   themselves, sinking--and they are pulling down others with them! Worst
   of all, their soul is ruined and, unless infinite mercy shall prevent
   it, they are ruined for eternity, ruined past all hope save that one
   grand hope-- the door of which stands open even to the dying
   sinner--faith in Jesus Christ! But as yet they are ruined, utterly
   ruined, though once they seemed to bid as fair for goodness as any man
   in the world!

   Whenever I see a ruin, I cannot help thinking of what it used to be.
   Can you? Here once sat knights at their tables, while the minstrel
   poured forth sweetest song. Now, all is a desolation! So, in that man
   was once everything that was hopeful--you would have been glad to go to
   the House of God in company with him. Look at him now--the victim of
   every passion, a waif and stray upon the great ocean of vice!

   When you look at a ruin, you cannot help thinking what it might yet be.
   It was once a famous Church where the praises of God rang out both
   morning and evening. It might be so, still, but the roof is gone, the
   walls are tottering and the windows let in the cold blasts. So, I see a
   man who once seemed to praise God, but he is a ruin. His sins have been
   "the ruin of him." What do you often find in a ruin? Go there at night
   and hear the owl hooting to his fellow. Go by day and see all manner of
   loathsome creatures finding harbor there. So, go to the ruined man, the
   man who once promised as well as any man among us, but who departed
   from God and gave way to sin and, little by little, went further and
   further from the paths of rightness. Think of him with sorrow. He has
   lost his opportunity--think what he might have been. Ah, and think what
   he is now through his sins. "They were the ruin of him."

   If I had the time, I would like to indicate many things, perhaps to men
   here, that will be the ruin of them. But if there is one here who has
   begun to get away from God, who thinks that he can do without God, I
   implore him to stop before he goes further, for sin will be "the ruin
   of him!" There never was a man yet who made a good bargain with sin.
   There is not one man, now in eternity, whose course in this life is
   finished, who, when he takes his tablet to reckon up the result of a
   sinful life, can say that he was the gainer by it. What if it made him
   a king, if he waded through sin to a throne? What are his gains today?
   What if he grew rich--where is his wealth now? That solemn question of
   our Lord he can sorrowfully answer for himself--"What shall it profit a
   man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Oh, that
   God the blessed Spirit would send these warnings home to some who are
   beginning to trifle with sin, lest it should be the ruin of them!

   III. I have one more point to dwell upon. Not only was there a man in
   ruins, but there were others that were ruined with him, for the text
   says, "They were the ruin of him, and of all Israel."

   Ahaz ruined all Israel as well as himself! This man did not perish
   alone in his iniquity! My Friends, if you perish in your sin, you will
   not perish alone. That is one of the most terrible things about evil.
   If I have preached to you, during my ministry here, false doctrines and
   that which is not God's Word, there are many here who must perish with
   me. But then my lot would be more horrible than that of any one among
   you if I have misled you and if I have not been faithful. It will be an
   awful thing for a man who has occupied a pulpit and yet has not
   preached the Gospel, to go before the bar of God and have to answer for
   the souls committed to him! That ancient message still needs to be
   heard--"If the watchman sees the sword come and blows not the trumpet,
   and the people are not warned. If the sword comes and takes any person
   from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I
   require at the watchman's hand." This it is that makes our work so
   weighty that our knees, sometimes, knock together when we are thinking
   of going up to our pulpit again! It is no child's play, Sirs, if there
   is to be a judgment and we are to answer for our faithfulness or
   unfaithfulness! What must be our account if we are not true to God and
   to man?

   "Don't speak so sharply," says one. "You are very dogmatic, Sir," says
   another. I know what is said, but what is that, compared with clearing
   my conscience so that I may stand up in the light of the Last Great Day
   an honest man? I have prayed many a time that I might be able, at the
   end of my ministry, to say what George Fox, the Quaker, said when he
   was dying, "I am clear, I am clear!" If we have been faithful in our
   testimony. If we have said what we felt and have not hesitated to speak
   out for fear of sinful men--and if we have never tried to put velvet on
   our lips, that we might restrain the Spirit's course within us--to earn
   the approval of some few persons of taste--it will be well with us in
   the Great Day of Account!

   "Well," says someone, "I am not a minister." No, perhaps you are not.
   But are you a father? Suppose your boy perishes through your iniquity,
   what will you say to that? One day I heard a man, who was given to
   drink, say to his son, "Open your shoulders, boy, and take it in like a
   man! I want you to drink like your father." Who but his father made
   that boy a drunk? There was a father who dropped an oath. Do I mean
   you, you ask? Yes, if you are here tonight. When your boy took to
   cursing and swearing, you did not like it--but who taught him to swear?
   Are there not many men who will be the ruin of their children's souls?
   And are there not mothers, in a different rank of life, who train their
   daughters for gaiety and frivolity, who will have to answer for the
   ruin of their souls? Do you not think that there are people who would
   like to be thought respectable, who are planning to bring up their
   children to be victims to sin? They know they are not putting them
   where they are likely to come under good influences, but where,
   according to the order of nature, they will be led away from Christ and
   from the service of God!

   O Sirs, we all have vastly more influence than we reckon upon! The
   working man in the shop thinks that he is the victim of his companions'
   bad example, but, if he had more backbone, he might be the master and
   leader of them! Now he follows suit and goes in the swim. But if he
   were to be converted, how many he might influence for good! I thank God
   that when men are really turned by His Grace, those who have been the
   worst usually become the best! Did you not hear me speak, just now, of
   grand old Hugh Latimer, who burned so bravely for the faith? Yet he
   was, before his conversion, one of the most thoroughgoing Papists in
   the world--and was so violent that he would have put to death every
   heretic that he got hold of! But when the Grace of God arrested him, he
   became just as earnest for the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he had been
   earnest against it! If sin will be the ruin of men--and surely it
   will--yet our Lord Jesus Christ knows how to take ruined sinners and
   build them up to be temples for His indwelling! Christ will take the
   very castaways of the devil and use them for Himself. He delights to
   stoop over the dunghill and pick up a broken vessel that is thrown away
   and make it into a vessel meet for the Master's use!

   Do we not sometimes sing to His praise that He has taken us from the
   dunghill and made us to sit amongst princes, even the princes of His
   people? Turn unto God, then, you wanderers! Turn unto Christ! It may be
   so with you! Look to the bleeding wounds of the great Redeemer! May His
   Spirit help you to do so at this very hour and, looking, you shall
   live! And then your sins shall not be the ruin of you, but the Repairer
   of these ruins shall come to build you up into a temple for His praise!
   The Lord bless these feeble words, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 2 CHRONICLES28:1-5,16-27f ISAIAH 2:6-22.

   2 Chronicles 28:1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign,
   and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. So that he died before he
   reached the prime of life--he was cut off by God in the very midst of
   his sin.

   1. 2. But he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD,
   like David his father: for he walked in the ways of the kings ofIsrael.
   They had set up the worship of God under emblems. There were the calves
   of Bethel, the representation of strength--it was the worship of God by
   imagery and Ahaz imitated it--and went even further in sin.

   2. And made also molten images for Baalim. If we worship the true God
   under some symbol, the next step is to worship a false god.

   3. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and
   burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen
   whom the LORD had cast out before the children ofIsrael The worship of
   Moloch was one of the most horrible that can be imagined. A bronze
   image was made terribly hot and then children were thrust into its
   burning arms to be consumed. And this king went to such a length that
   he gave his own children to death in that cruel fashion in the place
   commonly called by the Jews, Topheth, or the Place of Spitting, since
   it was so loathsome to them to think of this false god.

   4. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the
   hills, and under every green tree. According to the command of God,
   there was to be but one altar and that one was to be at Jerusalem. But
   these people multiplied their altars--there could not be a high place
   but they must have an idol shrine set up upon it.

   5. Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king
   of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of
   them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered
   into the hand of the king ofIsrael, who smote him with a great
   slaughter He received blow upon blow--God would not let him rest in his
   sin. Now turn to verse sixteen.

   16. At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help
   him. The king of Assyria was the greatest potentate in that region--all
   the little kings were afraid of him and Ahaz, therefore, sent to him
   for help when they were in trouble. Ahaz made no appeal to God for the
   assistance he required--he turned to the arm of flesh.

   17. For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah and carried away
   captives. The Edomites had been under subjection to Judah, but now that
   God had left her, Judah could not hold her position.

   18. The Philistines also. A people that one might have thought had
   become extinct, so weak were they that we scarcely hear of them, yet,
   "the Philistines also"--

   18-20. Had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of
   Judah, and had taken Beth-Shemesh, and Aja-lon, and Gederoth, and
   Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof,
   Gimzo, also, and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there. For the
   LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king ofIsrael; for he made
   Judah naked and transgressed sorely against the LORD. And
   Tilgath-Pilneser king of Assyria came unto him and distressed him, but
   strengthened him not How vain it is to seek relief apart from God!

   21, 22. For Ahaz took away a portion out ofthe House ofthe LORD, and
   out ofthe house ofthe king, and ofthe princes, and gave it unto the
   king of Assyria: but he helped him not And in the time of his distress
   did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. A
   black mark is put against his name, to show how greatly guilty he was.
   Those who rebel against Divine checks and will not be held in by the
   Providence of God are to be written down in capital letters as great
   sinners. They sin with emphasis who sin against the chastising rod!

   23-25. For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him:
   and he said, Because the gods ofthe kings of Syria help them, therefore
   will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin
   of him, and of all Israel And Ahaz gathered together the vessels ofthe
   House of God, and cut in pieces the vessels ofthe House of God, and
   shut up the doors ofthe House ofthe LORD, and he made him altars in
   every corner of Jerusalem. And in every single city of Judah he made
   high places to burn incense unto other gods, andprovoked to anger the
   LORD God of his fathers. He set up little shrines so that every
   passerby might worship which idol he pleased--and each man might
   present a little incense--thus the whole city was filled with idolatry.

   26, 27. Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last,
   behold, they are written in the book ofthe kings of Judah and Israel
   And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even
   in Jerusalem; but they brought him not into the sepulchers ofthe kings
   ofIsrael There was a holy and reverent feeling among the remnant of
   God's people that a man who had lived as Ahaz had done should not lie
   with the good kings of Israel.

   27. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place. Now turn to Isaiah, the
   second chapter, and the sixth verse.

   Isaiah 2:6. Therefore You have forsaken Your people, the house of
   Jacob, because they are replenished from the east and are soothsayers
   like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of
   strangers. I t was God's command that they should keep themselves
   separate and worship only Him, but, in the reign of this man Ahaz, they
   began to practice all the foul arts of the nations round about them.
   They had "soothsayers like the Philistines"--men who pretended to
   divine future events from the flights of birds, or from the entrails of
   victims--and a thousand other things. They went into witchcraft and the
   unhallowed arts of the heathen.

   7-9. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any
   end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is
   there any end of their chariots: their landalso is full ofidols; they
   worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have
   made: and the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself:
   therefore forgive them not. The poor men worshipped these idols and the
   rich did the same. All over the country the people were bowing before
   some symbol or other instead of worshipping the unseen God in spirit
   and in truth. Therefore the Prophet foretold that something terrible
   would happen to them.

   10-16. Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, for fear ofthe LORD,
   and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be
   humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD
   alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day ofthe LORD of Hosts
   shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that
   is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: and upon all the cedars of
   Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
   and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hiils that are lifted
   up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all
   the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. These people
   were wealthy through the natural riches of their land and through
   commerce with other nations. They were skilled in the arts, according
   to the fashion of the times, but now God declares that because they
   were proud, all their treasures would be destroyed and the things
   wherein they boasted should be taken away from them.

   17, 18. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the
   haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be
   exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. They set
   them up at every street corner, they even put them before the House of
   God, itself. On every green hill and in every grove, they worshipped
   with filthy rites that can scarcely be thought of without a blush! But
   God declared that He would sweep them all away and so He did when He
   visited the land in His fierce anger.

   19-22. And they shall go into the holes ofthe rocks, and into the caves
   ofthe earth, for fear ofthe LORD, and for the glory of His majesty,
   when He arises to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall
   cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made, each
   one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into
   the clefts ofthe rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear
   of the LORD, and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake
   terribly the earth. Cease you from man, whose breath is in his
   nostrils: for of what account is he? Can you imagine Isaiah delivering
   this stern, but noble message--gorgeous in language, poetic and sublime
   to the very last degree? What courage it must have taken for him to
   stand forth and deliver this before an idolatrous king and a people who
   went greedily after him! Verily, the Lord has raised up His faithful
   servants in all times, and He gives them the courage of lions and
   voices that are very terrible! Yet the hearts of men are seldom moved.
   "Cease you," says Isaiah, "cease you from man"--from the king of
   Assyria--from all powers in which you trust! "Cease you from man, whose
   breath is in his nostrils: for of what account is he?"
     __________________________________________________________________

A Test for True Seekers

   (No. 2566)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 17, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 15, 1883.

   "They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces toward it." Jeremiah
   50:5.

   This prophecy of Jeremiah was concerning the destruction of Babylon.
   Israel and Judah had been carried away into captivity by the
   domineering power. The captives lived far away in Babylon and wept when
   they remembered Zion. The Prophet foretells that in the day when God
   should break the power of Babylon and cast down all their false gods,
   then should come the time when the captives should return to their own
   land. That seems a very simple observation, but it is full of comfort
   when we remember its symbolic meaning. By nature, all are captives
   under the power of Satan, sin and death. That is the great Babylon that
   has carried captive even the elect of God! And there are multitudes,
   redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, who are still in bondage
   under the powers of darkness. Now, just as Israel found comfort and
   hope, and had an expectation of getting back to the promised land when
   the might of Babylon was broken, so there is comfort for every sinner
   who desires to escape from the power of sin and Satan in this great
   fact--that Christ has broken the power of the old dragon. They met in
   deadly combat. All the hosts of Hell were mustered in that dark and
   dreadful hour when our lone Champion, whom God had anointed that He
   might fight our battles, met the whole of them and overthrew them! They
   bruised His heel, for He left His body bleeding on the Cross, but He
   broke the head of the archenemy. As He cried, "It is finished," He
   dashed to pieces the powers that were arrayed against Him--and Babylon
   was then and there overthrown! Here is our hope.

   Listen, you who are in the fetters of Satan, you may yet overcome him
   by the blood of the Lamb, for the Lamb Himself has overcome him and all
   who trust in His great Sacrifice shall come off more than conquerors!
   He has led captivity captive! He is the master of the situation and His
   adversaries He has utterly overthrown. His adversaries, I said, but
   they are also your adversaries--therefore let every sinner who desires
   to escape from the bondage of Satan, take heart of hope from the good
   news that in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah has triumphed
   over our great enemy! He has snapped in two the iron yoke, that His
   redeemed might go free! Thus, Babylon's destruction is Israel's
   salvation.

   Notice, next, these words in the fourth verse--"In those days, and in
   that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and
   the children of Judah together"--from which I gather that when men's
   hearts are set upon seeking the Lord, it is wonderful how neighborly
   they become! You know that the children of Israel and the children of
   Judah had separated from one another. They each had a king and they
   were frequently at war. They envied one another, though they ought to
   have been brethren. But now, when God begins to deal with them and they
   start back to seek their God, they become friends with one another!
   Well may we forget our enmities against men when we begin to repent of
   our enmities against God! It is time for a man to forgive his brother
   his trespasses when he, himself, prays to the Lord, "Forgive me my
   trespasses." And this must be done! It will be a very great hindrance
   to any seeker if he tries to find the Lord and yet, in his heart,
   harbors enmity against anyone who has offended him. I believe that
   there are many persons who long to find peace with God, who never will
   unless they first make peace with their fellow men. Remember our Lord's
   words--"If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that
   your brother has anything against you; leave there your gift before the
   altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then
   come and offer your gift."

   Will you go and ask the great King to forgive you the enormous debt
   that you owe Him when you are about to seize your brother by the throat
   because of the few pence he owes you? Then, surely you cannot think
   that God will listen to such a suppliant as you are! No, but when God
   brings people together to Himself, it is astonishing how close they
   come to one another! Israel and Judah will then be praying and weeping
   together--and seeking the same Lord. How often this has happened in
   times of revival! A man has stood up to be prayed for and he has been
   astonished to find that there was a Brother with whom he had quarreled,
   months before, who was pleading for mercy at the same time! Neighbors
   who have fallen out with one another, have come to the Tabernacle and
   found the Savior, together--and have been good friends ever since--for
   the God who reconciles us to Himself is sure to make us friendly with
   one another! Attend to this hint, then, you who are seeking the Savior!
   You who are encouraged by the fact that the power of Satan is broken,
   take care that you make up all quarrels and put an end to all envying
   and disputes, for thus you will be helped in seeking the Lord.

   Notice, next, that the right way for a sinner to return is first to
   seek the Lord and then to seek Zion--that is, the Church, or Heaven,
   whichever you understand Zion to be. Verse four says, "They shall go
   and seek the Lord their God." And then follows our text, "They shall
   ask the way to Zion." John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress shows the way to
   Heaven, but we ought always to remember that he was not writing to show
   sinners the way to Christ, but to show the way to Heaven. Those are two
   different things though, in some respects, they are similar, yet there
   is a difference between them. The way to Christ is this--"Believe and
   live." The way to Heaven is, first, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,"
   and then, after that, by His Grace, follow on to know the Lord and go
   from strength to strength, from Grace to Grace, till, at last, you are
   prepared for the eternal happiness. There is a difference between
   seeking Christ and seeking Christ's people that should always be
   noticed--you are not to seek Christ's people so as to join with them
   until you have, first of all, found Christ! No man, no woman, no child,
   has any right to Gospel ordinances till first of all he has trusted
   Christ. When you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then Christ is
   yours and you are saved! Then come and join with the Church militant,
   below, and you shall, in due time, join with the Church triumphant
   above! But remember that the first business of a sinner is not to seek
   Heaven, nor to join a church, but to seek the Lord. You have to be
   reconciled to the God who made you--you have to experience the power of
   the God who alone can re-create you and make you a new creature in
   Christ Jesus--you have to seek the Lord.

   "But, "says one, "God is a consuming fire." I know He is. Therefore,
   come to Him that everything in you that can be consumed, may be
   consumed, and that God may give you an inconsumable life which shall
   dwell even in the midst of the fire and not be consumed! There is no
   Heaven apart from God, there is no peace of conscience apart from God,
   there is no purification from sin apart from God. The Lord still says,
   "Seek you My face." But many make a mistake and go trooping off to join
   some Christian people. No, no! Come back--you cannot go to God that
   way! First, give yourselves to the Lord and then afterwards, "unto us
   by the will of God." You must first be joined to the Head, then to the
   members! First to Christ, then to His Church. Take all things in the
   right order--begin and go on as God would have you do. "He that
   believes and is baptized shall be saved." Let that also be treasured up
   in your memory, if you are seeking the Lord.

   Another remark arising from the context is this, that many who seek the
   Lord seek him weeping. "The children of Israel shall come, they and the
   children of Judah together, going and weeping." Notice that
   combination, "going and weeping." Some are weeping, but never
   going--and some are going, but never weeping. It is a blessed thing
   when we have the two together--practically drawing near to God and
   passively feeling deep sorrow for sin. There are two kinds of tears and
   I think that they who truly seek the Lord shed both of them--the one is
   a tear of sorrow because of sin, the other is a tear of joy because of
   pardon. I would like to have my eyes full of both, that with my joy for
   pardoned sin I might mourn that I pierced the Lord, grieving that I
   transgressed God's Law, yet rejoicing that I am forgiven! May you, dear
   Friends, have these tears standing in your eyes! They never blind the
   eyes--they are like a bright magnifying glass through which we can more
   clearly see the mercy of God.

   Are any of you beginning to turn to the Lord and do you feel more sad
   than you ever did before? Well, if so, I am not sorry for you--that is
   the way that many go to Christ --"going and weeping." The old Puritans
   used to say that "the way to Heaven is by Weeping-Cross"--by which they
   meant that repentance is necessary to salvation--and so it is! He who
   has never sorrowed for sin has never rejoiced in a Savior! And the more
   you rejoice in Christ, the more you will sorrow for sin. Perhaps the
   last repentance of a good man is the deepest that he ever feels. I mean
   that he will hate sin more when he stands at the gates of Heaven than
   he did when he first of all saw the way to pardon through the Atoning
   Sacrifice. Repentance is not a thing to be once manifested and then to
   be done with forever--repentance and faith go hand in hand all the way
   to Heaven! Good old Rowland Hill said there was only one thing about
   Heaven that he regretted and that was that he would not be able to shed
   the tears of repentance there, for God will wipe all tears from all
   faces there. But till we get to Heaven, at any rate, let us always be
   repenting of sin, always lamenting that we ever plunged into it and, at
   the same time, be always rejoicing that our sins are forgiven!--

   "My sins, my sins, my Savior!

   How sad on You they fall,

   Seen through Your gentle patience,

   I tenfold feel them all.

   I know they are forgiven,

   But still their pain to me

   Is all the grief and anguish

   They laid, my Lord, on Thee." Now, with all this by way of preliminary,
   though indeed it is part of the sermon, I come to that portion of
   Scripture which really forms my text--"They shall ask the way to Zion
   with their faces toward it." This passage may be used as a test by
   which to try true seekers. I will introduce to you four or five sorts
   of seekers and also some who are not seekers at all.

   I. First, there are some PERSONS WHO NEITHER ASK THE WAY TO ZION NOR
   SET THEIR FACES TOWARD IT.

   There may be some such persons to whom I am now speaking. Their
   relationship to Christ is that of utter indifference. There are
   millions around us in this sad condition. They are not active
   opponents--they do not think enough on the things of Christ even to
   take that position. They regard eternal things as though they were mere
   trifles and they look upon temporal things as though these were
   all-important. They call this, "minding the main chance," and, "looking
   after the principal thing." But as to their souls, God, Heaven and
   eternity, they are utterly indifferent.

   Let us think, just for a minute or two, of what it is to which they are
   indifferent. They are utterly indifferent to God. He made them and yet
   they never think of what they owe to their Creator. Every minute that
   they live, the breath in their nostrils is His gift, yet they make Him
   no return--He is not at all in their thoughts. You know how many there
   are who live as if there were no God at all. This is a terrible thing
   because God will require all this at their hands. As surely as they
   live, if they break His laws, they will be punished. If they neglect
   His great salvation, He will visit it upon them. He knows all their
   indifference and He is grieved about it all. Hear how He, Himself, puts
   it--"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken. I
   have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against
   Me. The ox knows his owner and the ass his master's crib: but Israel
   does not know, My people do not consider." It is no slight thing to be
   utterly indifferent to Christ, to Him who loved mankind so much that He
   could not abide in Heaven and let them perish, but, must come here and
   be a lowly, suffering, despised, crucified Man, that He might redeem
   men. Yet, after all that He has done, which must have astonished the
   angels in Heaven and which ravishes the heart of every gracious man on
   earth, these people do not care--

   'Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Is it nothing to you that
   Jesus should die?"

   And they are also utterly indifferent with regard to themselves. They
   expect to have troubles in this life; but as to that which comforts
   many of us under these troubles, they do not wish to know about it.
   They see many of God's people calm and quiet under pain and bereavement
   and sorrow--and they are sometimes curious to know what the secret is--
   yet their curiosity is not strong enough to stir them from
   indifference. Many never cross the threshold of the house where Christ
   is preached. Some of your neighbors know, by the sound of the bells,
   that it is the Sabbath, but that is all the Sabbath there is for them.
   Oh, this is indeed sad! It ought to weigh heavily on every tender heart
   that there should be multitudes who neither ask their way to Zion nor
   turn their faces toward it. Alas, that they are indifferent to their
   own eternal state! They know that they will die--it is very rarely that
   you meet with a man who will question that--and some of them believe
   that when they die, there is another state and there will be a final
   judgment and a giving in of an account before the last tribunal! Yet,
   for all that, they go on from day to day "like dumb driven cattle." As
   the ox goes to the slaughter and as the lamb goes to the shambles, so
   do these people descend into their graves without anxiety and without
   thought.

   Alas, they will not think of that awakening which is as certain as
   death itself, of that rising again which is an undoubted fact and of
   that dread appearing before the burning Throne of God where eyes of
   fire shall read their hearts and where the tongue of thunder shall
   proclaim their deeds recorded in God's Book of Remembrance. Oh, no,
   they have no care for all this, it is all a trifle to them! And there
   are many such. Pity them, dear Friends, and pray for them--and do it
   all the more because "such were some of you." I saw, yesterday, many
   working men who, I believe, have really trusted in Christ, and I was
   charmed by the way in which they were brought to the Savior by their
   fellow workmen. But some of them, who were at least 40 years of age,
   told me that they never remembered praying or having a religious
   thought at all till the Lord met with them. And He that can meet with
   some can meet with others, too, so let it be our prayer that He will do
   so to the praise of the glory of His Grace!

   Often, when a man is indifferent about Divine things, it is because he
   vainly imagines that he is wise. I do not think that you and I ought to
   meddle with everything. There are some things we may as well let drift,
   but this will never do about God and eternity! I may be indifferent to
   God, but He is not indifferent to me. I may forget Him, but He has not
   forgotten what I do, think and say. As surely as I live, I shall have
   to stand before His judgment bar. I may despise Christ, but I shall
   have to see Him sitting on the Great White Throne. And if I will not
   have Him as my Savior, then I must appear before Him as my Judge--so
   that my indifference is vain!

   Another thought that ought to come home to many is that this
   indifference is so foolish. When a man is indifferent to his own
   happiness, then he is a fool! If a man were sick and there were some
   medicine that would heal him, but he was indifferent to it, you would
   be very grieved for him, but you would say that he was most foolish. If
   a man were miserably poor, although he might be rich, but he was
   indifferent about it, you would think him insane. Now, there is no joy
   like the joy of salvation in Christ! There is no bliss under Heaven
   that can parallel the bliss of the man who has committed himself into
   Christ's hands and is resting calmly in Him! Yet these indifferent
   people do not care about it. Poor souls, they do not know the value of
   Christ. Well said the poet--

   "His worth, if all the nations knew, Surely the whole world would love
   Him, too." And if they knew the pleasure of religion, they would want
   to enjoy it. They say that we are a set of long-faced, miserable,
   melancholy folk. I do not think we look so! Do we? At any rate, we do
   not feel so--

   "The men of Grace have found Glory begun below."

   Ours is a singing religion, ours is a joyful faith that helps us to
   surmount the trials of each passing hour. Oh, that men would not be
   indifferent to this, but would begin to ask their way to Zion with
   their faces toward it!

   II. Now, secondly, there is another set of people who ASK THE WAY TO
   ZION WITH THEIR FACES TURNED AWAY FROM IT.

   We meet them, every now and then--some of them come here--their faces
   are turned away from God, but they have a pew here and they like to
   hear about the Gospel. I cannot make some people out--they take the
   trouble to go out on the Sabbath to hear about the way to Heaven, yet
   they deliberately walk in the opposite direction! I never dare say
   again what I did once, that I almost wished that some who had heard the
   Gospel for a number of years and never accepted it, would stay away if
   they did not mean to have it--that they might make room for somebody
   else who would receive it. I have always been sorry that I said that,
   for there is one who has stayed away ever since--and for whose
   conversion I have often prayed--but he said there was commonsense in my
   remark and as he did not intend to have salvation, he would come no
   more to hear of it. And he never has, so far as I know. I sometimes
   hope that the very honesty of the man may yet compel him to think--he
   has a love to this place and to me, though he does not come--and I pray
   God that even that which seemed so sad a result of what I said may turn
   out for good in the end. But I will not say it again.

   Still, it is a very strange thing that any should say, "Tell us the way
   to Heaven," and yet, when we have told them, that they should set off
   walking the other way! "Go due east," you say. But they go due west,
   directly. Now what can be the reason for that? A man is secretly a
   drunk, or he is unchaste, or a woman is living in secret sin, yet
   always found listening to the Gospel. Why is this? Do you wish to
   increase your own condemnation? Do you deliberately intend that the

   Gospel, which you will not permit to be a savor of life unto life to
   you, shall be a savor of death unto death to you? Do you really choose
   that? I cannot think that it is so!

   I hope that you do not come in order that you may hear of things to
   quarrel with and quibble over You do not ask your way to Zion that you
   may find fault with the way, or pick holes in the reply of him who
   tries to answer your enquiry--may that be far from you! Yet there have
   been some, no doubt, who have been guilty of that sin. Still, let me
   say, even if you come to hear a sermon to ridicule it, come and hear
   it! I remember one who was, afterwards, an eminent saint, who first
   went to hear Mr. Whitefield because he was a great mimic. He wanted to
   hear him so he could later mimic him in a club which they called the
   "Hell Fire Club." "Now, my mates," he said, "I am going to give you a
   sermon that I heard Mr. Whitefield preach yesterday." And the man
   repeated the sermon, but he, himself, was converted while he preached
   it--and so were several of his mates who had met for blasphemy! So,
   come even if you come for such an evil purpose as that! Still, it is a
   sorrowful business that there should be men who ask the way to Zion and
   turn their faces in the opposite direction. Turn them, O God, and they
   shall be turned!

   III. There is a third class of people WHO ASK THE WAY TO ZION, BUT TURN
   NOT THEIR FACES.

   They are not opposed to religion, yet their faces are not turned
   towards it. I do not understand them--they are always wanting to know
   how they can be saved and to know all about salvation, but they do not
   seem to wish to have it-- their faces are not set that way.

   What is the meaning of their conduct? Is it an idle curiosity?Do they
   want to understand theology as others wish to understand astronomy or
   botany? That is almost like drinking wine from the sacred vessels, as
   Belshazzar did--and you know how that night he was slain. When men who
   have no part nor lot in this matter are discussing this doctrine and
   that, it is as if those who are not God's children were playing with
   the children's bread, or pulling it in pieces.

   Why do such people ask about salvation? Do they dream that mere
   knowledge will save them? Do I address one here who imagines that an
   orthodox creed will save him? Alas, I suppose that no one is more
   orthodox than the devil, yet no one is more surely lost than he! You
   may get a clear head, but if you have not a clean heart, it will not
   avail you at the last. You may know the Westminster Assembly's
   Catechism by heart and you may heartily denounce all who err from that
   statement of sound doctrine. But unless you are born again, it will not
   benefit you. Did you say that you believed the 39 Articles? There is
   one article that is essential--"You must be born again"--and woe to
   that man who has not passed through that all-important change!

   Perhaps, however, some of those who are asking their way to Zion, but
   have not set their faces that way, are asking with a view to quiet
   their consciences. It makes them feel better to hear a sermon. Oh, you
   are strange people! There is a man who is very hungry--does it make him
   feel that his appetite is appeased when he smells the dinner, when he
   sees the plates arranged upon the table and hears the clatter of the
   knives? Do you think that if you are very poor, you will get rich by
   being allowed to walk through the Bank of England and see the great
   quantities of bullion there? It is strange that you should imagine
   this, for it might rather increase, than diminish, your sense of
   poverty to know that there is so much wealth while you are not a
   partaker of it.

   Is it that you are trying to store up some little knowledge to use,
   by-and-by? Are you asking the way to Zion that you may run in it when
   it becomes convenient to you? Ah, Sir, are you making a convenience of
   God? Do you intend to make Him stand by while you attend to more
   important things? What is it that is to come before God? I knew a man
   who was religiously inclined in many respects, but there was a harlot
   who stood before God. I knew another who had many serious thoughts
   about God, but in his case it was the wine cup and the companionship of
   certain friends that stood before God. Ah, how many things there are
   that are earthly, sensual, devilish--yet men say that God must wait
   till they have served their turn with these things! Sirs, He will not
   turn lackey to you! And it may come to this as it did with Felix--that
   you will never have a convenient time for God--and God will never find
   a convenient time for you! Oh, let it not be so! If you ask the way to
   Heaven, let it be with your faces toward it.

   IV. There is a fourth set of people WHO HAVE THEIR FACES TOWARD IT, BUT
   THEY DO NOT ASK THE

   WAY.

   There are not so many, perhaps, in this class as in those I have been
   describing, but there are some of them. They are resolved to be saved.
   They are anxious to find Christ. They are willing to join the Church.
   They are, above all, longing to get to Heaven--but they do not ask the
   way. Do they fancy that there are many ways? How many roads are there
   to

   Heaven? This Book declares that there is only one! It says, "Other
   foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
   And Jesus Himself says, "I am the way." Not, "I am one of the ways,"
   but, "I am THE way." I quoted to you, just now, one of His last
   sayings--"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Well,
   suppose that he does not believe, what then? "He that believes not
   shall be damned." Thus, you see, the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ
   is intolerant of all compromise! It will not admit that there may be
   other ways to Heaven and other methods of salvation. "Believe on the
   Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "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." There
   are some people who, if they happen to be born of parents who believe
   the Gospel, will follow their father and mother in the good way. But if
   they happen to be born of ungodly parents, they imitate them. If my
   father were blind, I do not see any reason why I should put my eyes
   out. And if any of you happen to have an extremely poor fathers, do
   you, therefore, say, "Well, I shall never try to rise above his
   condition. I shall be just as poor as he was and feel a pleasure in
   being so"? Surely you do not talk like that! Then why should you follow
   your parents in sinning against God? If the father is wrong, there is
   the more reason why the child should be earnest to be right! There have
   been enough in your family who have been lost--why should not you be
   the first to be saved, if there have been no others? Think about this
   important matter. Enquire the way to Zion.

   Do you ask, "Where are we to enquire?" Well, first of all, enquire of
   the Book--

   "This is the judge that ends the strife, Where wit and reason fail, Our
   guide to everlasting life Through all this gloomy vale." When you have
   enquired of the Book, then go on your knees and enquire of the blessed
   Spirit who inspired the Book! If you cannot understand the Bible, ask
   the Author of it to explain it to you. He gives wisdom, therefore ask
   the Holy Spirit for guidance. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to manifest
   Himself unto you as He does not unto the world, and to lead you in His
   way. I may also say, but quite secondarily, enquire of His servants. Go
   and hear the Gospel! Do not go where there is fine preaching and clever
   preaching--unless it is true Gospel preaching. The people of this land
   have had to get Acts of Parliament passed to prevent the sale of
   adulterated goods--and in London people try to buy milk that has at
   least some milk in it--yet they will go into a place of worship and
   say, "There is a clever preacher here." Yes, but is it the Gospel that
   he preaches? "Oh, they have a very fine organ!" But is the Gospel fully
   proclaimed there? "You can see all the colors of the rainbow on the
   backs of the fellows who perform at the altar." Yes, but is the Gospel
   preached there? That is the one point on which everything depends--all
   the rest is of little account. They may try to sell us what they like,
   but if it is not the genuine article, we will not buy it--if it is not
   the Gospel, what do we want with it? We want that which will really
   save us in time and through eternity, so we ask for it of those who
   preach the Gospel, and who preach nothing but the Gospel

   And I may also add that you will do well to ask about the way from many
   of God's people. Although they do not preach, they will be glad to tell
   you what they know, and many godly men and women can explain to you
   just what you need to know. I like to see men, when they are in
   earnest, seeking out some Christian friend and saying, "Tell me, now,
   how did you find Christ?" It is good for a young woman to go to the
   teacher of her class, or to some matronly Christian, and say to her,
   "Let me tell you of my doubts, dear Sister. You have gone a good way on
   the heavenly road--tell me how I can get into it." It is a good thing,
   thus, to enquire of those who are in the road. You may often get your
   mistakes rectified in this way and, before you have wandered very far,
   you may be guided into the right road.

   V. Now to close. Those are the best enquirers WHO TURN THEIR FACES
   TOWARD ZION AND YET ARE

   WILLING TO ASK THE WAY.

   Is that your condition, dear Friend? Have you set your face towards
   Christ, towards holiness and towards Heaven, and are you asking the
   way? Well, then, let me say two or three things for your encouragement.
   the first is, Thank God that your face is toward it and that you are
   asking the way--

   "My seeking His face Is all ofHisGrace,"

   said one. And so it is. Thank God for the Grace that has made you feel
   uneasy in sinning, for the Grace that has made you wish for Grace, for
   the Grace that has made you long to be a Christian! Set a high value on
   this little Grace, for it is no small thing, after all, and, as you
   think of it, bless God for it!

   Remember, next, that you must act as far as you know how to act If the
   Lord has shown you the right pathway, go in that pathway. Perhaps you
   say, "There are many difficulties there." Never mind the
   difficulties--cross each bridge as you come to it. "Oh, but there are
   some things that I do not understand!" No doubt there are! And there
   are many things that I do not understand. And there are some things
   that I do not particularly want to understand! If I understand what
   really concerns my eternal welfare and the good of my fellow men, and
   the glory of God, it is enough for me. As far as I have gone at
   present, I can say, with Jack the huckster--

   "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my All in
   All." That map of the road has lasted me so far and I would advise you
   to keep to it, at least for the present. "But I want to know all about
   the Doctrine of Election and so on." Do you? Well, you shall know, one
   of these days, but just now, you need not think so much of that
   glorious Truth of God as the Doctrine that God has sent His Son into
   the world that men might live through Him! You keep to that line of
   Truth at present. You have your face turned toward Zion, then go
   straight on! You have asked the way and you have learned enough to know
   that Christ is the way--then let Him be the way for you. And if there
   is anything else to be learned--and there is--God shall reveal even
   this to you.

   Of some of the grand Doctrines of the Gospel our Lord might say to you
   as He said to His disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto you,
   but you cannot bear them now." You shall bear them, by-and-by. When
   your little boy gets his first spelling book, does he begin to whimper
   and say, "I can't learn A B C, Mother, because my brother Harry learns
   Greek, and I must learn Greek first"? You say, ' 'My dear John, learn
   your A B C now, and you shall get to Greek by-and-by if it is
   necessary." So, dear Friend, you just keep to such texts as
   these--"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." "He that
   believes on the Son has everlasting life." If you are now asking the
   way to Zion with your face toward it, remember that the Lord has made
   the way very plain. He knew that limping feet would travel over it, so
   He gathered out the stones. He knew what dim eyes some of the travelers
   in it would have, so He lit it up with many a bright lamp and He,
   Himself, is still the Light of it!

   He knew what a heavy burden you would bear until you began to tread
   that narrow way, so He had an open sepul-cher set close by the Cross,
   that everyone who looks to Him on that Cross might feel his burden roll
   off his back, to be buried in that sepulcher never to be found again! O
   dear Friend, run in that road that Christ has made so plain! Trust,
   trust, TRUST, TRUST! That is the way--TRUST! Trust God as your Father!
   Trust Christ as your Redeemer! Trust the Holy Sprit as your Renewer.
   Have done with yourself! Have done with everything but your God, your
   Savior, your Comforter. Trust in Jesus and you have found the way! You
   are saved, your sins are forgiven you, you are, "accepted in the
   Beloved." You are not yet in Heaven, but you shall be, in God's good
   time. You have not yet joined Christ's visible Church, but you are
   welcome to do so--do not postpone it. You have not yet joined the
   Church triumphant, but you shall do so one of these days. Therefore, be
   of good cheer, and the Lord bless you! Amen and Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH 31:18-26.

   Verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. It is God
   who is speaking here. There is never a moan, or a sob, or a cry, or a
   sigh, but God hears it. The Lord is very quick of hearing for the
   sorrows of penitent sinners. There is no mistake about this matter, for
   He says, "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus."

   18. You have chastised me, and I was chastised. "No good came of it. I
   smarted, but I was not benefited--'You have chastised me, and I was
   chastised.'"

   18. As a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn me, and I shall be
   turned, for You are the LORD, my God. There was never a heart that
   spoke thus, unless Grace had been secretly at work with it. And depend
   upon it, if God has brought us to this point, we are ready to declare
   Him to be our God and are anxious to be the subjects of His converting
   Grace. It is because God has looked upon us in His wondrous love. If
   you desire to be turned towards God, you are already, in a measure,
   turned towards Him. The desire to feel is a kind of feeling! The
   longing to believe has some measure of faith in it! Be comforted by
   this thought, yet be not content to rest where you are, but go on till
   you have all the blessing that the Lord is waiting and willing to
   bestow upon you! Happy is the man who is saying to God at this moment,
   "Turn me, and I shall be turned, for You are the Lord, my God."

   19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was
   instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded
   because I did bear the reproach of my youth. When a man has "sown his
   wild oats" and God, in mercy, helps him to come back from such a
   dreadful field as that, he recollects what he has been and he is
   ashamed of himself. Sometimes he is more than half ashamed to mingle
   with God's people, for he is afraid that they will have nothing to do
   with such a wretch as he has been. But he is, most of all, ashamed to
   come near to his God because of the sins of his youth. Yet listen to
   the Lord's gracious words concerning him.

   20. Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke
   against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart is
   troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord.
   Here we seem to look into the very heart of God and He is represented
   to us as though He had contending passions within Him. He speaks
   angrily one day, but He earnestly remembers mercy the next. God changes
   not, yet His dealings with men must change because their state varies
   so much. He sometimes speaks in great wrath while they hold to their
   sin, but love lies even at the bottom of that wrath--and soon He
   changes His tone and speaks comfortably--and puts away the sinner's sin
   when He sees that His anger has worked the due result and the sinner
   quits his sin to come to his God. Some of you understand this
   treatment, for you have experienced it. But you cannot comprehend the
   fullness of mercy and love that is in the heart of God towards the
   repenting sinner.

   21, 22. Set up signposts, make high heaps: set your heart toward the
   highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel,
   turn again to these, your cities. How long will you go about, O you
   backsliding daughter?How long will you be seeking comfort where you
   cannot find it and pleasure where nothing but misery can come?

   22, 23. For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth, a woman
   shall compass a man. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; As
   yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities
   thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless you,
   O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. Jerusalem was cursed
   because of sin, but God declared that in His great mercy He would make
   it to be a place of blessing, and men should speak of it as the,
   "habitation ofjustice, and mountain of holiness."

   24-26. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities
   thereof together, farmers and they that go forth with flocks. For Ihave
   satiated the weary soul, andIhave replenished every sorrowful soul Upon
   this Iawaked and beheld, and my sleep was sweet unto me. He that can
   sleep and dream as Jeremiah did, may well say that his sleep was sweet
   to him. May God grant to us, whether we sleep or wake, to be always
   with Him! Then our time shall be indeed sweet unto us!
     __________________________________________________________________

The Single-handed Conquest

   (No. 2567)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 24, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JANUARY 6,
   1856.

   "I have trodden the winepress alone; and ofthe people there was none
   with Me." Isaiah 63:3.

   IT is said of some stupendous works of architecture that although you
   see them every day, you are struck with wonder and admiration every
   time you behold them and that, although you should live close to them
   and have your eyes perpetually fixed upon them, yet your admiration of
   them would by no means decrease, for they are so matchless in symmetry,
   such patterns of art and such marvelous displays of the skill of man. I
   know not whether that is true. I believe that the best and grandest
   achievements of mortals lose their glory when they are too closely
   examined and that the frequency of our sight of them very much lessens
   our wondering admiration. But this I know is true concerning Christ
   Jesus our Lord--you may see Him every day, but the more often you see
   Him, the more you will wonder at Him and call Him, "Wonderful." You may
   even have communion with Him every hour, but the frequency of your
   converse and the constancy of your communion will be so far from
   diminishing your awe, your love, your respect, your devout adoration of
   Him, that the more you know Him, the more your wonder and admiration of
   Him will increase!

   Now, who could be expected to know so much about Christ as Christ's own
   Church? Yet, in the opening of this chapter you find that even she
   bursts out with such exclamations as this--"Who is this that comes from
   Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His
   apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?" She had often
   seen Him before. She had often viewed Him under that aspect and
   doubtless she had seen Him as the Conqueror of mighty heroes, Master
   over princes and the Lord of the kings of the earth. But at a fresh
   view of Him, she was so utterly astonished that she could not help
   crying out, "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from
   Bozrah?"

   Live near to Jesus, Brothers and Sisters. Live with Jesus. Live in
   Jesus and you will find Him a theme of such excellent and such endless
   contemplation that, instead of being tired and weary with the subject
   of your meditation, you will find it more easy to begin, again, than it
   was to begin at first--more interesting and more pleasing to consider
   Him in the 50th year of your knowledge of Him than it was in the first
   hour that you knew Him! Think much of Him and you will have little
   cause to think lightly of Him! Constantly meditate on Him and you will
   the more admire and wonder at His goodness!

   We have here our Savior answering the questions of His Church, which
   she, in wonder, had asked of Him--"Who is this that comes from Edom,
   with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His apparel,
   traveling in the greatness of His strength?" "I that speak in
   righteousness," He says, "mighty to save." And when again she asks Him,
   "Why are You red in Your apparel and Your garments like he that treads
   in the wine vat?" He replies, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and
   of the people there was none with Me."

   Very briefly, as the Spirit shall help us, we shall notice, first, the
   interesting figure employed. Secondly, the glorious fact stated.
   Thirdly, the solitary Conqueror described. And then, fourthly, we shall
   offer some sweet and salutary considerations suggested, that we may be
   refreshed by our meditations. Let our souls be calm and quiet whilst we
   contemplate the awfully-solemn and sublimely-grand spectacle of the
   Conqueror of men and the Conqueror of Hell treading the winepress
   alone.

   I. First, then, here is AN INTERESTING FIGURE EMPLOYED--"I have trodden
   the winepress."

   You must understand the circumstances to which these words relate. This
   is Jesus speaking after His conquest over His foes--not Jesus before
   the battle, but Jesus after it--not Jesus buckling on the harness, not
   Jesus becoming the Baby of Bethlehem, but Jesus after the battle is
   fought and the victory is won. There were certain enemies who opposed
   the salvation of God's people. There were numberless foes who stood in
   the way of the deliverance of His chosen, but Christ undertook to
   conquer them and now, on His return, He not only declares that He has
   overcome them, but He uses an expressive figure to set out some of the
   facts in that wondrous feat of conquest. "I have trodden the
   winepress."

   First, this denotes the supreme contempt with which the mighty
   Conqueror regarded the enemies whom He had overcome. It is as if He had
   said, "I have overcome the many foes of My people and I compare My
   victory over them to nothing but the treading of the winepress. Angels
   sing My praise, the hosts of the redeemed in Heaven swell the sublime
   chorus as, in exultant strains, they declare how I have broken the
   dragon's head and have put down the strength of the oppressor. They
   tell how mighty kings have been slain in My wrath and giants in My hot
   displeasure. But as for Myself, I say little about it, I only declare
   that I have trodden the winepress and have counted My enemies as easy
   to conquer as if they had been grapes beneath My feet! My people's
   crimes may have been tremendous and their enemies mighty, but coming
   up, 'with dyed garments from Bozrah,' I have crushed their foes and My
   foes just as easily as a treader of grapes treads them under foot. I
   have trodden them as in a winepress."

   O ungodly Sinner, perhaps you think that it will cause God great
   trouble to destroy you with an utter destruction-- it will not! It may
   be you think that God will have need to exert much power to send your
   guilty spirit to the loathsome dungeons of Hell, but, ah, it will
   require no might from Him! If you should continue to be His foe, He
   will tread you beneath His feet as easily as you could tread grapes
   beneath yours! What are the berries of the vine beneath the feet of the
   wine presser? And what shall your soul and body be when the feet of
   Jesus tread upon them? In vain your ribs of steel! In vain your sinews
   of brass! In vain your bones of adamant--if such you had. If your
   spirit were clothed with scales like leviathan's, yet under the feet of
   Jesus you wouldst be like ripe grapes--the blood of which flows out
   freely! Yes, terrible shall be the meaning of that figure when Christ
   shall say of sinners, at the last day, "I have trodden them down as he
   that treads grapes presses out the juice thereof--'I have trodden the
   winepress.'"

   But, mark you, there is in the figure an intimation of toil and labor,
   for the fruit of the vine is not bruised without hard work. So the
   mighty Conqueror, though in contempt He says His foes were as nothing
   but the grapes of the vintage to His might, yet, speaking as a Man like
   unto us, He had something to do to overcome His foes when He fought
   with them in the Garden. Sometimes the wine presser is wearied with his
   labor, although he takes hold of the strap which is placed above him
   and jerking, and dancing, and laughing, and singing all day, he presses
   out the juice of the grapes. Yet oftentimes he wipes the sweat from his
   brow and is tired with his toil. So our blessed Lord, albeit He could
   have crushed the enemies of His Church like moths beneath His finger,
   had enough to do to overcome them in the Garden. It was no little
   pressing of the foot which was needed when He bruised the old dragon's
   head in Gethsemane! Then He--

   "Bore all Incarnate God could bear, With strength enough, but none to
   spare."

   My Soul, meditate on this glorious Wine Presser! Those sins which would
   have crushed you to pieces, He had to tread beneath His feet. How it
   must have bruised His heel to tread upon those sins! O how powerfully
   He must have trodden on those crimes of yours, breaking them into less
   than nothing! How did it force from Him, not sweat like ours, but drops
   of blood, when He could say, "I have trodden the winepress." Yet, toil
   as it was, labor as it might be, costing Him tears and groans, He could
   say, "I have done it. The great work is fully accomplished--'it is
   finished'--'I have trodden the winepress alone.'"

   Moreover, in the figure employed, there is an allusion to the staining
   of the garments. We see it is so in the verse before the text, "Why are
   You red in Your apparel, and Your garments like he that treads in the
   wine vat?" The garments of the wine presser would naturally be
   sprinkled over with the juice, squirting up from beneath his feet. Ah,
   my Soul, stand here and solemnly contemplate your Savior, sprinkled
   with His own blood! Look at Him, when but eight days old, already
   shedding blood for you! And go on to the time when He commenced the
   shedding of His blood, again, in Geth-semane's Garden! Mark you how, in
   one gory robe, He is enveloped--not like the kings of the earth, in
   garments of Tyrian-dyed purple, but like the King of Misery, dressed in
   a crimson robe of blood! Go and mark the blood as it flows from His
   temple, when the crown of thorns lacerates His brow! Weep when the
   accursed flagellation of the cruel Roman is tearing off, piece after
   piece of His quivering flesh! Pursue Him in His weary via dolorosa, as
   He treads the streets of Jerusalem!

   Stop and see how each stone on which He treads is stained with His
   precious blood! Then mark how His hands begin to gush down streams of
   blood, as the rough iron tears them asunder! See Him now crucified,
   hung upon the Cross, plunged into the lowest depths of misery!--

   "See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled
   down! Did ever such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a
   crown? His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads o'er His body on the
   tree."

   Jesus, from the crown of Your head to the sole of Your feet, You were
   sprinkled with blood! Your inward Man was stained with blood and your
   outward Man, too! You were covered with blood, You glorious Presser of
   our sins beneath Your feet! We will not ask again, "'Who is this that
   comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious
   in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?" We know
   why Your garments are red. You have trodden the winepress of the wrath
   of God!

   Thus have we explained briefly, as best we could, the interesting
   figure employed by our Lord. II. And now we come to consider THE
   GLORIOUS FACT STATED--"I have trodden the winepress." Christian, I need
   you a moment! Come with me, my Brothers and Sisters--not to Heaven, nor
   to Hell, but to the great winepress which the Savior trod. You
   understand the form of the Eastern winepresses, how they were built up
   in order that a great quantity of grapes might be put into them, to be
   trodden by the feet of the wine presser? Come here, then, and look over
   the edge of this great winepress in which your Savior stood and
   trampled on your behalf! Gaze down into its depths.

   The first thing that you will see in that winepress is your sins. Look
   down attentively. In the middle of the winepress there are the crimes
   of your youth, like unripe grapes lying there in thick clusters. There
   lie the sins of your manhood, dark with the black juice of Gomorrah. Do
   you see them, like the grapes from the vine of Sodom? And see you not
   the full clusters, like the vine of Sibmah? Look there and see the
   fruits of your middle age. And there the sins of your old age, too!
   They are all put into the mighty winepress. Come, then, you chief of
   sinners, there lie your sins and there lie mine all mingled in one
   mighty heap! But wait--the Wine Presser enters and puts His feet on
   them. Oh, contemplate how He presses them! Do you see Him in
   Gethsemane, treading your sins to pieces? Come, and look again! There
   lie the skins-- the broken skins--of all your guilt. But there is no
   guilt there and there are no crimes there now! They are gone, gone,
   gone! He says, "I have trodden the winepress." Look back upon those
   sins and weep, for they are still your sins, but, at the same time,
   weep not with bitter and despairing anguish, as if you would be
   punished for them, for all the black juice, the venom of your guilt, is
   pressed out and has run away! Christ has caught it in His cup of gall
   and drained it to its very dregs!

   1 bid you look down there, for if you have eyes of faith, you will see
   all your sins destroyed. Do try and look--let not the devil put his
   hands before your eyes--but look! And if some dark crime, not confessed
   to man, still rankles in your bosom, look, it is there! And if some
   cruel injury to your neighbor, or some dire crime to your Maker, still
   haunts you, look, there it is--it is trampled on just as much as the
   other! Little sins and great sins, too, all are trampled to pieces, nor
   could you find one of them even by diligent seeking--

   "If I search to find my sins, My sins could ne'er be found." They are
   there, Believer, trodden into less than nothing! They are gone, they
   are all gone! "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, who is even at the right hand of God,
   who also makes intercession for us." Look there, Accuser, into the
   winepress! Look there, Conscience, into the wine vat! Look there,
   Satan! Do you see the bruised pieces of my former sins? They are all
   gone! My sins have ceased to be!--

   "Covered is my unrighteousness! From condemnation I am free!"

   But come, Believer, and you will see, next, something in Christ's
   winepress which, perhaps, you did not expect to see. There is Satan,
   lying with bruised head! How often does he come to afflict you! How
   terribly does he sometimes roar in your ears and tell you that Hell
   must be your portion! How does he seek to keep you from your Savior's
   blood! How frequently has he striven to deprive you of peace, although
   God loves you! I beseech you, tell Satan this night to come with you to
   the wine vat of Gethsemane, and when he looks in there, he will see
   himself! Yes, take Satan and put him into the wine vat and Christ will
   bruise his head again for you! But there he is, Christian! Do not fear
   that he can hurt you--he may torment, but he cannot destroy you, for he
   is chained! He may roar, but he cannot bite! He may frighten, but he
   cannot injure you! He may startle, but he cannot devour you! He goes
   about, seeking whom he may devour, but he may not devour you! He may go
   about and seek as long as he likes--he will never find you, for the
   Lord has said concerning you, that you never shall be destroyed!
   Whenever you have a sharp conflict with Satan, tell him about the wine
   vat and rejoice over him! And as Luther said, "Laugh at the devil,"
   laugh at him and tell him to remember Gethsemane's wine vat. Ask him
   what he thinks of that and how he likes the bruising he received there.
   It was a desperate blow which he gave our Lord in Gethsemane, but it
   was a heavier blow that our Lord gave him when He took away his power,
   extracted his sting and left him--still an enemy, but a conquered
   one--for Christ trampled him in the wine vat!

   Look again, Christian! Do you see there--just between your sins and the
   devil who lies bruised there--an ugly monster? He is a bony,
   skeleton-looking thing. Do you recognize him? It is your last
   enemy--"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Look at him!
   Do you note that his skull is broken and his bones are broken, too? Do
   you mark how death is now a dismantled monarch? There he lies and yet
   you are afraid of him--though he lies there broken, bruised, battered,
   injured, ruined, destroyed? There they are--death, the devil, and your
   sins together--an infernal trio forever trampled beneath the mighty
   Conqueror's feet! He said, "O Death, I will be your plagues; O Grave, I
   will be your destruction." And so He was and, henceforth, to the wine
   vat we will go whenever our adversaries disturb and afflict us!

   What else have you to oppose you, Christian? I do not know what it is,
   but it is all here. Whatever your enemy, go look into the wine vat and
   see it dead there! Giant Despair took the pilgrims to a place where he
   showed them the bones of certain pilgrims that he had devoured--and
   told them it would assuredly be so with them. Do you, with all your
   doubts and fears, just as Despair did with the pilgrims, say to them,
   "Doubts and fears, do you see the bones of my old doubts and fears that
   have been trampled there? In a day or two, you shall be with them."
   Take today's sins and tell them that they shall be just where
   yesterday's were--drowned in the blood of Jesus and slain by His
   blessed Sacrifice! And when Conscience convicts you of your crimes,
   take him to this winepress. It will stop any ghost of guilt if you take
   it there, for it is written, "I have trodden the winepress alone." It
   is done. It is finished! Sins, doubts, fears, Hell, death, destruction
   and self, too--all are trodden beneath the conquering feet of Jesus,
   the Wine Presser who has "trodden the winepress alone."

   III. Now, Christian, come consider THE SOLITARY CONQUEROR DESCRIBED. "I
   have trodden the winepress alone."

   The great lesson God will teach the world is, "I am God and beside Me
   there is none else." And especially in redemption, He will have it that
   the glory shall be all His. Hence, Christ never allowed any to share
   with Him the toil of redemption, nor will He suffer any to share the
   honors of it. And, moreover, there was no one who could help Him. None
   could take any part in the work of redemption since there was none able
   to bear so much as an atom of that mountain of His people's guilt which
   pressed upon His heart! And there were none able to drink so much as a
   drop of that cup which He had to drink to the very dregs! He did it all
   alone, as the fifth verse of this chapter declares--"I looked, and
   there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold:
   therefore My own arm brought salvation unto Me; and My fury, it upheld
   Me."

   Come, now, Believer, and let us look at the lonely Jesus. How lonely He
   was in this world during the few short years of His ministry! I think
   there never was such a lonely man, living among so many, as the Lord
   Jesus Christ was. He stood in the crowd and the congregation listened
   to His preaching--and though many heard with joy, there was no one who
   could give such sympathy as He needed. He went to a solitary place and
   talked with His disciples, but they could not sympathize with Him. John
   did so a little, for he laid his head on Christ's bosom, but it was
   poor sympathy that even John could give. Jesus must have been, to a
   very great extent, always a most lonely Man. Who was so pure that they
   could match His unsullied purity? Who so perfect, that they could abide
   with Immaculate Perfection? Who so wise as to talk with the Wonderful
   Counselor? Who so far-seeing as to be able to commune with the Prophet
   of all the ages? Who so benevolent as to speak with the gracious
   Jesus--and who so sorrowful as to be a fit companion for the "Man of
   Sorrows and acquainted with grief?

   His loneliness increased as His heaviest sorrows came upon Him. When He
   was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He trod the winepress all alone. I
   think I see our Savior, like the true Man that He was, clinging a
   little to His fellows. He says, "Peter, James and John--the other eight
   may go away. Judas has already gone--they may rest there, at that end
   of the Garden, but you come with Me, for I am about to be exceedingly
   sorrowful." He takes them with Him. Ah, but He feels that it would not
   do to have them with Him while He struggles, for they would die if they
   were to see His face! His was so terrible a Countenance when His body
   was racked with pain and His soul was bearing the load of our guilt,
   that they must inevitably have been stricken with death if they had
   looked upon that face of sorrow! What heavy drops of bloody sweat
   flowed from Him in His agony! Still He clung to the three disciples as
   if He needed some companionship. But, oh, how sorrowful it was to Him,
   when He came back, to find them all sleeping! Do you not think you see
   Jesus looking on His three slumbering disciples? There they lie! He
   goes to them three times, as if He sought some help from man, as if He
   had hoped that they would condole with Him, for that was all they could
   do in His grief.

   Thrice He goes to them and the third time He says, "Rise, let us be
   going: behold, he is at hand that does betray Me." Surely, nowthey will
   rally round Him! They do for a moment, for Peter, with his sword,
   slashes off the ear of Malchus. But soon, "All His disciples forsook
   Him and fled." He is taken prisoner by the men with swords and staves.
   O Earth, has He no Friend? O heavens, have you no Friend for Jesus?
   Where is Peter? He said, "Though all men shall be offended because of
   You, yet will I never be offended." Where is John? He has fled! There
   is no one to be with Jesus. No one to help Him. They take Him before
   the council, but there is no one to declare His innocence. He stands up
   in the hall, but there is no one with Him. Yes, there is one--but look
   at Him! He says, "I tell you, I know not the Man." Soon Peter is
   cursing and swearing almost before his Master's face!

   And now He goes up to Calvary and still there is no one with Him,
   until, when He is hanging on the Cross, those blessed women come to
   lift their sorrowful eyes up to their beloved Lord and melt their
   hearts away in tears. And when the darkness gathered round, so that He
   could see no one, He was alone, alone, alone, in thick, impenetrable
   gloom! Hear Him cry, "Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani?" which is, being
   interpreted, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Then He could
   cry, "I am treading the winepress alone, and of the people there is
   none with Me." When He was buried, nobody slept in the grave with
   Him--no other arose from the same sepulcher on the Resurrection
   Morning. Ah, Christian, never associate anyone with Jesus in the work
   of redemption! Rather understand well that this stands forth as a great
   cardinal Truth of God--that Jesus has trodden the winepress alone and,
   therefore, HE IS ALL IN ALL!

   IV. Now this brings us, having briefly passed over the other points, to
   some SWEET AND SALUTARY CONSIDERATIONS SUGGESTED by this most blessed
   and sacred subject.

   The first inference is there is no winepress of Divine wrath for you, O
   Believer, to tread! If Jesus trod the winepress, and trod it alone, you
   shall never have to tread it. What mistakes Christians often make in
   this matter! You will hear one say that such-and-such a good man was
   punished for his transgressions--and I have known Believers think that
   their afflictions were punishments sent from God on account of their
   sins! The thing is impossible! God has punished us, who are His people,
   once and for all in Christ and He will never punish us again! He cannot
   do it, seeing He is a just God. Afflictions are chastisements from a
   Father's hand, but they are not judicial punishments! Jesus has trodden
   the winepress and He has trodden it alone, so we cannot tread it. How
   often have you thought that God would make you feel the weight of some
   of your sins, that He would cause you to suffer for some of your guilt!
   Ah, no! Jesus says, "I have trodden the winepress," and if you had to
   tread it, if you had to suffer the smallest pang of punishment for your
   iniquities, Christ could no more say, "I have trodden the winepress
   alone." He has done it completely and there is no punishment reserved
   for you! For you there are no flames of Hell, for you no punishment,
   for you no rack--you are freely acquitted, you are fully
   discharged--nor can you ever again be condemned! Christ, once and for
   all, has trodden your sins beneath His feet! Therefore, you never,
   never can be punished for them.

   What say you to this, you seekers after the Truth of God? It may be you
   have heard the doctrine taught that Christ was punished for the sins of
   everybody and yet that many people are punished for their own sins. You
   will never find peace or comfort in that doctrine--it is so untrue, so
   unjust to God, so unsafe for man! We are taught, from the Holy

   Scriptures, that God has made His Son to be the Substitute for all His
   people and, "has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." And not one of
   "us"--the people for whom Christ was punished--can ever be, ourselves,
   punished! If Jesus did endure our punishment, we stand on this broad
   ground of unalterable justice, that God cannot, consistently with His
   Nature, (and He can do nothing inconsistent with it), ever punish us
   any more! O rejoice, Christian Brothers and Sisters, that ours is a
   solid foundation! The elect--all who are united to Christ by a living
   faith--have been punished in Christ and now they stand in Him, "fair as
   the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners!" None
   can lay anything to their charge. "There is, therefore, now no
   condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
   flesh, but after the Spirit." Glorious God, unto You be praise, unto us
   be shame that we do not better love and more fully value this
   inestimable Doctrine of Substitution and its necessary consequences of
   complete justification!--

   "Remember, Lord, that Jesus bled,

   That Jesus bowed His dying head,

   And sweated bloody sweat.

   He bore Your wrath and curse for me

   In His own body on the tree

   And more than paid my debt!

   Surely He has my pardon bought--

   A perfect righteousness worked out.

   His people to redeem--

   O that His righteousness might be

   By Grace imputed now to me,

   As were my sins to Him!"

   Another thought for you, O child of God, is this. There are winepresses
   of suffering, although not of punishment, which you wiil have to tread.
   But I want you to remember that you will not have to tread these
   winepresses alone. Tell a little child to go down a lonely lane on a
   dark night and the child says, "Mother, I don't want to go there." "I
   will go with you," says the mother. "Then I will go," says the child.
   "I will go anywhere with you, Mother." Ah, Christian, there are many
   dark lanes for you to go down, but you will not have to go there alone!
   There are many winepresses-- not of God's wrath, but of His chastening
   hand--for you to tread, but you will not have to tread them alone. Oh,
   is not this a Truth of God that ought to ravish our hearts? We shall
   never tread the winepress alone! Minister, you go to your pulpit, but
   if God has sent you, you will never go alone! Your Master's feet are
   behind you and your Master, Himself, stands by you! Deacons, you have
   sometimes to steer the Church in troublous waters. You need great
   wisdom, but there is an Arch-Deacon with you--you shall not go to your
   labors alone!

   Sunday school teacher, you go to your class with earnestness and you
   think you teach alone. Ah, no, there is another Teacher sitting by you
   who can teach better than you can! He teaches hearts, while you teach
   only heads. He teaches souls, while you only teach bodies. He will
   teach for you! O daughter of affliction, you who lie on your bed of
   languishing, you lie not there alone! It is not an angel there that
   shades your head with its pure wing, but it is Jesus who stands and
   puts His pierced hand on your burning brow. Dying saint, you fear to
   die, but you shall not die alone! Jesus turns Bed-Maker to each one of
   His people. David says, "You will make all his bed in his sickness."--

   "Jesus can make a dying bed Feel soft as downy pillows are. While on
   His breast I lean my head, And breathe my life out sweetly there."

   What is your trial, Christian? "Oh, a dark one!" you say. It may be so,
   but His rod and His staff shall comfort you. His right hand shall guide
   you. What is your grief, Christian? "Ah, a deep one!" you say. But
   "when you pass through the waters," Jesus whispers, "I will be with you
   and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk
   through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame
   kindle upon you." In the old Pilgrim's Progress I used to read in my
   grandfather's house, I remember the picture of Hopeful in the river
   holding Christian up--and the engraver has done it very well. Hopeful
   has his arm around Christian and lifts up his hands, and says, Fear
   not, Brother, I feel the bottom." That is just what Jesus does in our
   trials--He puts His arm around us, points up, and says, "Fear not! The
   water may be deep, but the bottom is good." And though the cold streams
   of trouble rush down the river, do not fear--Christ is with you passing
   through the river--you will not have to pass through it alone. He trod
   the winepress for us, but we shall never have to tread it! It would be
   an ill day for us, Beloved, if we had to tread it. Some of God's people
   have tried to do a little for themselves and tried to do it alone, but
   they have made a sorry mess of it. If we seek to do anything in our own
   strength, it is all over with us! But he who lives with Jesus and begs
   Him to be with him, shall find Him with him in winepresses, in
   Gethsemanes, and in Gabbathas--and if it were necessary that we should
   be crucified on Calvary, we would find Christ on Calvary crucified with
   us! You will not, Christian, have to pass through the river without
   your Master!

   We remember an old tale of our boyhood, how poor Robinson Crusoe,
   wrecked on a foreign island, rejoiced when he saw the print of a man's
   foot. So is it with the Christian in his trouble--he shall not despair
   in a desolate land because there is the footprint of Christ Jesus on
   all our temptations and troubles! Go on rejoicing, Christian! You are
   in an inhabited country--your Jesus is with you in all your afflictions
   and in all your woes! You shall never have to tread the winepress
   alone!

   But, lastly, you servants of the living God, since Jesus trod the
   winepress alone, I beseech you bear with me while, for my Master's
   sake, I bid you give all things to Him. Alone He suffered--will you not
   love Him, alone? Alone He trod the winepress--will you not serve Him?
   Alone He purchased your redemption--will you not be His property and
   His, alone? Oh, have you given half of yourself to the world and only
   half to your Master? Did the world ever bless you? Did the world redeem
   you? Was the world crucified for you? Did the world tread the winepress
   for you? No! Then give not the world a portion of your heart! You have
   some dear relative whom you love with all your soul, but be careful, O
   Christian, that your heart is still set most on your Lord! Did that
   friend tread the winepress for you? Did that friend drink the gall for
   you? Did that friend suffer for you on the Cross? No! Then let Jesus
   stand first and foremost. Let Him sit King upon the throne and no one
   else but He. And when you daily go forth to labor, take heed that you
   labor not for self, or pleasure, or any worldly object, but that you
   labor for Jesus!

   If the world says, "Come with me, and I will show you all manner of
   delights," reply, "O world, I cannot come! I never saw your feet in the
   winepress." Does lust invite you? Cry. "O lust, I cannot love you, for
   you never sweat a drop of blood for me!" Yes, if all the world's
   inhabitants should open wide their loving arms to beseech you to come
   in and forsake your Lord, answer, "No, no! You did not tread the
   winepress and that is all I care about! Jesus trod the winepress alone,
   and I will give myself wholly to Him." Half-hearted Christians, you who
   divide yourselves in two--giving one half to Christ and the other to
   lust--you are not the Lord's! "You cannot serve God and mammon." There
   can be only one Master and one Lord because there was but one Redeemer,
   one Friend, one Governor, One whom we live on, for whom we would even
   dare to die, because there is only One who dared to die for us. Never,
   I beseech you, Christians, and I beseech myself, also, for I plead with
   myself when I plead with you--never forget this--Jesus trod the
   winepress alone! And always take care that you have Him alone as King
   in your heart.

   If you ask me, tonight, to paint Redemption, I shall have to put only
   one figure in the picture. We may paint groups when we depict Creation,
   for the morning stars sang together. We may paint groups when we
   picture the Resurrection, for an angel rolled away the stone. But if we
   paint Redemption, there can be but one figure and that figure is "the
   Man Christ Jesus." So, if you would have a painting in your heart, I
   bid you paint no groups upon the canvas of your soul, but ask God's
   Holy Spirit to paint on it one name, one lovely Being, one adorable
   Personage--Christ, who trod the winepress alone!

   Queen Mary said that when she died, they would find the word, "Calais,"
   written on her heart. Ah, Christian! Live so that when you die, all
   will know that the name, "Jesus," is printed on your heart, for it is
   certain that your name is deeply cut on His very heart and on His
   hands, and on His brow--it is written in His precious blood! Give Him
   not only the best place in your heart, but allyour heart! Often do you
   sing--

   "Prone to wander Lord, I feel it.

   Prone to leave the God I love--

   Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it,

   Seal it from Your courts above!" Brothers and Sisters who will now come
   into close fellowship with your Lord at His Table, may this one idea
   engross your mind, that it is--

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

   And you despisers of the Cross, oh, let me tell you that you are as
   grapes in the winepress! If you die ungodly, unsaved, unrighteous,
   unforgiven--you must be cast into the great wine vat of the wrath of
   God, hurled into Hell with myriads of your fellows, like grapes fully
   ripe, cut off by the sickle of the angel--and horrible shall be the day
   when Christ shall tread on you in His fury and trample upon you in His
   hot displeasure! God save you from being put in the wine vat! May you
   be able to cast your sins in there instead, that Christ may trample on
   them!

   I cannot close my sermon without recurring to the happy circumstance
   that on this day, six years ago, I found deliverance, myself, from the
   bondage of Egypt and rejoiced in the liberty wherewith Christ made me
   free! What if my Master would, by my lips, bring another soul to
   Himself! What do you say, poor Trembler? Did you hear the text of this
   morning? "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth:
   for I am God, and there is none else."

   [In preaching from these words in the morning, Mr. Spurgeon said, "Six
   years ago, today, as near as possible at this very hour of the day, I
   was 'in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity,' but had
   yet, by Divine Grace, been led to feel the bitterness of that bondage
   and to cry out by reason of the soreness of its slavery. Seeking rest
   and finding none, I stepped within the House of God and sat there,
   afraid to look upward lest I should be utterly cut off, and lest His
   fierce wrath should consume me. The minister rose in the pulpit, and,
   as I have done this morning, read this text--'Look unto Me, and be you
   saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none
   else.' I looked that moment--the Grace of faith was vouchsafed to me in
   the same instant! And now I think I say with truth--

   'Ever since by faith I saw the stream His flowing wounds supply,
   Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be till I die.'

   I shall never forget that day while memory holds its place. Nor can I
   help repeating this text whenever I remember that hour when first I
   knew the Lord." [--See Sermon #50, Volume 2, Sovereignty and Salvation]

   Did you hear that? Then hear it yet again. And have you looked? If not,
   oh, look now! Have you looked to Him? If you have not seen Him, still
   look, and you shall see Him, by-and-by. But look now! It is all He asks
   you to do and even that, He bestows upon you! Look now, poor Sinner!
   Look now, for Christ's sake, for your soul's sake, for Heaven's sake if
   you would escape the damnation of Hell! Look and that look shall save
   you! Catch but one glimpse of that dear head crowned with thorns--get
   but one glance from His sweet eyes full of pity--catch but one glimpse
   of that smiling countenance, or, if you cannot look so high, see but
   the sole of His pierced feet and you are saved!

   For it is still written, "They looked unto Him and were lightened."
   "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth."
     __________________________________________________________________

Sabbath-work

   (No. 2568)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 1, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 18, 1883.

   "And on the same day was the SSabbath." John 5:9.

   OUR Divine Master healed men every day of the week. From the first day
   even to the close of the seventh day, He went about doing good and
   healing all manner of diseases. The healing virtue did not flow from
   Him occasionally, but perpetually. It was not like that famous pool
   which was only now and then touched with the angel's wing and so made
   salutary to the sick folk lying around--but whoever stepped into the
   pool of Christ's mercy found healing at any hour of the day or night!

   Still, it is worthy of notice that the Lord Jesus frequently made the
   Sabbath to be a high day of Grace and blessing. There was, I suppose,
   something about that day that led Him more especially to display His
   great power, or, perhaps, He felt bound to meet the superstition of the
   Pharisees, and He met it by a flood-tide of mercy upon that day to the
   sons of men. I have read to you the records of six notable miracles
   which were worked by our Lord on the Sabbath. [See EXPOSITION at end of
   sermon.] I need not read them, again, but I will just remind you that
   those miracles comprised the casting from a devil in the synagogue, the
   healing of a man whose hand was withered, the lifting up of a woman who
   had been bound by infirmity for 18 years, the instantaneous cure of the
   dread disease of dropsy, the recovering of a man who had been afflicted
   with palsy for 38 years so that he could not stir and the opening of
   the eyes of one who was born blind--six notable miracles to render the
   Sabbath most famous as a day of the display of Christ's power!

   The Sabbath was a day of rest and Christ did not break His rest by His
   miracles, for He was God, so it was rest to Him to do good. You
   remember how, when He spoke to the woman of Samaria at the well of
   Sychar, He told His disciples that it was His meat and drink to be
   dealing out mercy to her. He was refreshed by what, to others, might
   have been wearisome and, assuredly, whenever the Lord Jesus worked a
   deed of mercy, it was rest to His heart. And, moreover, it was giving
   rest to others. To those who had been afflicted so long, what rest His
   miracles brought! To that poor daughter of Abraham who had been bound
   18 years--what rest it was, once more, to straighten herself and to
   stand upright, and to glorify God for the marvelous miracle that had
   been worked! And the man who had been bedridden for 38 years--what a
   time of merciful rest that Sabbath was for him! To take up his bed and
   walk was to be made truly to rest! Not for all that long period had he
   enjoyed such rest as he did on that memorable Sabbath when Christ
   healed him!

   So, then, viewing the Lord Jesus Christ as Divine, I say that He
   committed no breach of the rest of God. He first enjoyed it, Himself,
   by working the miracle, and then He spread the influence of that rest
   upon those who were helped by Him. Viewing Him, also, in His
   condescending capacity as the God-Man, in the form of the Servant of
   men, He did not break the day of rest, for His healing was a form of
   holy ministry. He was preaching sermons while He was healing the
   sick--and the best sort of sermons, too--sermons that must strike and
   be remembered, for men could see them with their eyes as well as hear
   them with their ears! His cures are acted discourses. Whenever we try
   to interpret any of the miracles, I am sure you feel that we do not put
   the Truth of God into them, but that the Truth of God is already there!
   There is much precious teaching in every miracle that He worked.

   The ruler of the synagogue might just as well have confessed that he
   broke the Sabbath when he read a chapter of the Scriptures as have said
   that Christ broke the Sabbath by healing anyone. They were really both
   doing the same thing, only the mere official was doing it in a much
   poorer and more perfunctory manner. Christ was grandly teaching while
   He was healing the sick, for what is the Sabbath? Is it not a day set
   apart for the Glory of God, for the reverencing of His most holy name?
   And, my Brothers and Sisters, what could bring God more Glory than for
   the Lord Jesus Christ to be working these miracles which caused men to
   glorify Him? She who had been bound for 18 years--the first thing she
   did when she stood upright was to glorify God! And others in the
   synagogue, of nobler spirit than Pharisees and lawyers, when they saw
   what God was doing by Him whom they thought to be a Prophet, glorified
   God. Although Jesus, in a measure, worked, He was all the while doing
   Sabbath-work--the very service for which the day was set apart, that
   God might be honored among the sons of men. Fools and slow of
   heart--no, foul of heart, were they, to bring the charge of breaking
   the Sabbath against our blessed Master for what He did.

   I am going, very briefly, to refer to these cures of Christ in the fond
   hope that He will transfer from the seventh to the first day of the
   week the Glory which He put upon His ancient Sabbath. I need not say in
   the "hope" that He will do it, as though it were a new thing, for He
   has done it all through the Christian era! I suppose that there have
   been more souls born to God on the last day of the week than on all the
   other days of the week. Certainly, this day, on which Christ rose from
   the grave, has been the time of the resurrection of ten thousands times
   ten thousands--and when we have met together, on this first day of the
   week, to sing hymns and to pray in the name of Jesus--and to talk of
   His great love and of all that came of it, He has been especially
   present with us, and He has worked wondrous miracles of mercy many and
   many a time. May He do so among us now!

   I. First, then, concerning Christ's Sabbath cures, I make this
   observation--THESE CURES MEET MANY CAS-

   ES--and we may expect that Christ, who worked such cures in the past,
   will continue to meet similar cases of need today.

   The first was a man under Satanic influence. Christ spoke the Word and
   the devil came out of him. There may be such persons here. I have known
   many children of God in that sad condition. Ah, poor creatures! They
   have been assailed with blasphemous thoughts which they have hated and
   loathed, and yet the thoughts would come. They could not stop them. And
   if it so happens to God's people, much more will it happen to those
   who, as yet, have never fled to Christ! I believe that there are some
   men who are transported in wickedness far beyond themselves and who
   both say and do things which would not have entered into their hearts,
   bad as they are, if it were not for Satan taking possession of them and
   bearing them beyond themselves. Just as I am sure that the Spirit of
   God often works in gracious men things which would not come, even of
   their renewed nature, carrying them from themselves by a holy ecstasy
   and a divine enthusiasm, so does Satan, on the other hand, work in
   ungodly men beyond themselves, bearing them into a kind of frenzy and
   fanaticism of iniquity. Well, if I am addressing any such--if it is a
   lucid interval with some poor wretch--if the drunk is sober tonight--if
   the man who plunges into vice is here--yes, even if the devilish spirit
   is still within him, I am glad that he is here, for my Master can
   rebuke that spirit and cast it from the man to never return! He will
   need more done to him than that, but that will be a grand beginning.
   Oh, that, in His infinite mercy, Jesus, the enthroned King, would
   manifest His Divinity by casting out the spirit of darkness from the
   stronghold which He has made for Himself in the hearts of men! That
   case, then, was met by Christ on the Sabbath.

   The next case was that of a man conscious of a very grievous inability.
   He had an arm which hung helplessly by his side. He could not earn
   bread for his children. He could do nothing to help himself. His arm
   was withered--it was not merely dislocated, so that he could not lift
   it, but it had gradually dried up. The sinews had shrunk, the flesh had
   gone, the arm had become a mummified useless object. There are
   spiritual inabilities in all unregenerate men, but there are some
   inabilities of which they are conscious. "I cannot pray," says one,
   "oh, that I could!" " 'I cannot believe," says another, "would God that
   I could!" "I cannot do this, and I cannot do that." Dear Friend,
   whatever your inability may be, the Lord Jesus Christ is able to give
   you, even now, that power of which you lament the absence. He can say,
   "Stretch out your withered hand" and if you are but obedient to His
   gracious command, you shall stretch it out! You shall pray. You shall
   believe. You shall at once quit the sin that now holds you spellbound.
   Oh, blessed be His name, though the power to do these things is not in
   you, it is in Him! All that is needed to meet the sinner's case is in
   Christ, for all power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth. Look
   up, then, you with the withered hands, for Christ is still present and
   able to heal, now, just as of old.

   The third case was that of a woman who had been afflicted, I suppose,
   by spinal disease, till she was bent double. She could not lift herself
   up. It was something more than a more stoop--it was evidently a very
   painful doubling of herself up so that her face looked rather to the
   earth than, as it should look, towards Heaven. Poor creature! Eighteen
   years she had suffered from this grievous bend, but the Lord Jesus
   lifted her up and made her straight in one single minute! There may be,
   here, some very desponding and even despairing soul, but the Lord can
   lift up that soul. Last Thursday morning I preached over in the City
   Temple and I had my wages for preaching as soon as the sermon was done,
   for when I came from the pulpit there met me a brother minister, and he
   said, "Sir, I cannot tell you now, but I will write tomorrow--my wife
   is set at liberty!" He wrote to tell me how she had been in despair and
   what sorrow she had had, and what a grief it had been to him. But while
   I preached upon, "Cast not away your confidence, which has great
   recompense of reward," she was brought from bondage. Oh, how I praised
   and blessed God and thought that I would like to preach day and night
   if I might but be the channel of such blessing again and again! It was
   the Master who made that poor crooked woman straight and if there is
   another here who is like she is, He can work a similar miracle for that
   poor soul! I know that many of you belong to the Despondency family.
   Miss Much-Afraid, down there, you think there is nobody so bad as you,
   so lost as you are. But my Lord and Master can lay His hand upon you
   and you shall be straightened at once! Oh, what a blessed thought this
   is--Jesus worked this miracle on the Sabbath! Oh, that He would work
   others like it on this

   Sabbath!

   The fourth case was that of the man with the dropsy, an inward
   complaint which would soon have ended his life if Christ had not cured
   him. Last Wednesday I saw a dear man of God who was afflicted with
   dropsy and I bade him farewell. He said that, in the night, when he
   slept a little, the water seemed to rise almost to his heart, and he
   knew that he must soon die. And when I called just now, I found that he
   was gone. I may be addressing someone who has an inward fatal
   complaint--I do not mean bodily, but spiritually--and you feel that it
   must soon be all over with you and that you must perish forever. But,
   dear Friend, you need not perish--if you come within range of my
   Master's hand, you shall live, for He is able to pluck men from the
   jaws of destruction! As it is said of this man, that He took him and
   healed him and bade him go his way, so can He do with you. God grant
   that He may!

   The next case was that of a man paralyzed. I believe that the man,
   after being so afflicted for 38 years, had become paralyzed in his mind
   as well as in his body. He was a poor feeble creature who said to
   Christ, "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
   the pool." So the Lord Jesus Christ said to him, "Will you be made
   whole?"--as if He would see whether the paralysis had penetrated even
   into his will--and when the man said that he had hardly any hope about
   it, but only described his sad case, the Master said at once, "Rise,
   take up your bed, and walk." And the man did so. Now, if you have been
   long a trembling seeker, not so much in earnest as you ought to have
   been, and have now come to be spiritually paralyzed so that you do not
   seem to have any energy left, yet still my Lord can give you energy and
   speak the healing words so that you shall rise and take up your bed and
   walk!

   The last case was that of the man who was born blind. I know that he is
   represented here. Plenty of you were born blind. No, more--there is not
   one of you who was not born spiritually blind--and, "since the world
   began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
   born blind." Perhaps it was not heard till that day, but on that
   blessed Sabbath, Christ opened that blind man's eyes! Oh, that He would
   take away the scales of prejudice that are blinding so many tonight!
   Oh, that He would remove the natural opposition to the Gospel which
   blinds so many eyes and hearts--and give men to see tonight! He can do
   it. Oh, that He may! I think that I have proved my assertion that these
   Sabbath cures meet many cases. They certainly meet the cases of many
   who are here. Christ is still, "able to save them to the uttermost that
   come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for
   them."

   II. I shall only be able to say a little upon my second point which is
   that THESE CURES REPRESENT VARIOUS PROCESSES OF GRACE. The way in which
   Christ healed, then, shows how He heals now.

   The first man He healed with a word. That word was not spoken to the
   man, but to the devil in the man. The devil in the man made a
   disturbance in the congregation. He cried, "Let me alone." Christ said,
   "Hold your peace and come from him." And I believe that the Lord Jesus
   Christ still deals with the devil in that way. He never gives him a
   word more than is necessary. Oh, that He would say, "Come from him," to
   some drunk who is here, and who has the drink devil in him, or to some
   swearer or some other great sinner who is here! That man under Satanic
   influence was healed by a word and Christ can do the same thing with a
   word now!

   The man with a withered hand was healed by a personal word. The Lord
   Jesus Christ said to him, "Rise up and stand forth in the midst." That
   he could do, for he had not withered feet and there he stood. It is a
   grand thing when the Gospel message picks a man out from his fellows
   and he feels that the preacher is speaking specially to him. Have you
   ever felt that? It is one of the ways in which Christ saves men. I am
   preaching to the whole congregation, but Christ is not--He is preaching
   to you, my Friend--if He means to bless you and you feel as if you were
   stood out to be shot at. After Christ had given the man a personal
   pointed word, He said to him, "Stretch forth your hand." It was done at
   once at the word of command and now He says to you, poor guilty Sinner,
   "Believe! Believe in Me and you shall be saved." Oh, that Christ might
   speak that word of command straight into your soul, for, as the Lord
   lives, if you believe in Him, you shall not perish, but you shall have
   everlasting life! In this man's case it was a personal word that worked
   the healing he needed.

   In the next case, there was a touch as well as a word. The woman was in
   the crowd in the synagogue, bent double, and, perhaps, could not even
   see the Christ. But He said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your
   infirmity," and He laid His hands on her--and with that word and that
   touch she was loosed in a minute! She was called upon to do nothing
   except to believe that it was all done--and so she lifted herself up.
   The Lord Jesus Christ gave her the strength to rise and she did rise!
   There are many conversions like that. All of a sudden a man finds that
   all has been done for him--Christ has saved him, he is forgiven and so
   he rises and stands upright. Now, poor woman over yonder, do that!
   Believe that Christ has loved you and given Himself for you. Oh, may
   His Spirit enable you to do so! Now you are upright, are you not? You
   feel as if you could stand up and shout, "Hallelujah! The Lord has done
   it! He has broken my bonds and set His child at liberty." It was a word
   and a touch in that poor woman's case.

   In the next case--that of the man afflicted with the dropsy--there was
   healing without a word. I do not think that there was even a word
   spoken to him. Christ saw the man swollen as He stood before him and it
   is written, "He took him, and healed him, and let him go." And I have
   known the Lord save some souls without any spoken word. His own secret
   power has done it all. The man has been sitting at his work, or walking
   about and, suddenly--he knew not how--he felt his heart become soft,
   his spirit inclined to his Savior, he looked to Him and was lightened
   and his face was not ashamed.

   In the case of the paralytic, there was not only a word, there were two
   words. The first was an enquiring word, meant to arouse him. "Will you
   be made whole?" This was spoken to wake him up and make him think and
   hope. And then came the commanding word, "Take up your bed and walk."
   The Lord sometimes brings men into a state of spiritual health by two
   words instead of one. For a little while, He seems to ask them whether
   they really will be saved, whether they have any wish to be saved--and
   when earnest desires after salvation are excited, then comes the Gospel
   precept, "Believe and live"--and they do believe and live!

   In the last case--that of the blind man--Christ used means as well as
   words, but the means were very poor ones, as we think. He spat and made
   clay of the spittle--and then put the clay on the man's eyes. "More
   likely to blind him," you say, "than to give him sight." And I have
   known a sermon, of which I have thought when I went home, "I wish I had
   never gone into the pulpit." I have been ready to cry my eyes out about
   it. The Lord could not bless it--so I thought-- but He did. It was from
   His own mouth, after all! Though I was but the clay, He put that clay
   on the man's eyes--even my poor rough statement of the Truth of God
   which seemed as if it would blind the man from seeing Him, but it did
   not--it opened his eyes. The Lord can use very strange means--and He
   does. I have known Him use means in men's conversion which I thought He
   could not use. And it makes one speak with bated breath about some
   people who seem to use very odd means to bring men to Christ. If the
   Lord brings them, the end may not justify the means, but, at the same
   time, it makes us very aware of what we say, lest we fight against God.
   If the Lord chooses to spit, let Him spit. And if He chooses to use
   clay and that seems a very strange thing to put on blind eyes, it is
   better than the best ointment if Christ ordains it! So let Him do
   things after His own fashion, for He always does them right.

   Now, which shall be the way in which He will heal you? Well, it will
   not matter, dear Friend, what means are used--so long as your cure is
   effected, God shall have the glory of it!

   III. I want you to notice now, in the third place, very briefly,
   indeed, that THESE CURES ON THE SABBATH WERE WORKED BOTH IN AND OUT OF
   THE SYNAGOGUE.

   The first was the man who was misbehaving himself in the synagogue. I
   do not say to any, "Come, and misbehave yourselves in the House of
   God," but I do say, "Come anyway you can to the place where prayer is
   known to be made." I would rather that a man should come to ridicule
   the Gospel than not come to hear it at all! Here is a man, with the
   devil in him, disturbing the worship in the synagogue by crying out to
   Jesus, "Let me alone." Yet it was a blessing for him to be there and a
   great blessing for him that the devil was not quiet that morning! The
   devil is very crafty, but he is often a great fool and he made a huge
   mistake when he took to bawling out that Sabbath. Whenever I hear a man
   swear, I always pray for him and, I have sometimes thought, when I have
   heard an oath, it has been a warning bell ringing to let me know that
   it was time for me to pray. It is a horrible thing that men should
   blaspheme, curse and swear, but I believe that there would be less of
   these evils if all Christians prayed whenever they heard an oath, for
   the devil would see that it would not pay him, for, fool though he is,
   he has some sense left. At all events, this man was in the synagogue
   making a disturbance.

   The next person was the man with a withered hand. He could not do any
   work and, beside that, it seems that he had some love for the House of
   God and there Christ picked him out and blessed him. The woman who was
   bent double was also there. I like the idea of her going to the
   synagogue. No doubt it was a trouble for her to walk and she was a very
   pitiable object--yet she loved the place. I believe she was a gracious
   woman, for it was said of her as it is not said of others, "she
   glorified God" when she was made straight. Never mind what your
   infirmity is, dear Friends, be sure to come to the House of God. There
   was a dear Sister who used to sit on my left hand, here, and who did
   not hear a word I said, for she was deaf. But she always came because,
   she said, she thought it was a good example to those who were round
   about her to come and sit here. Besides, she said, somebody told her
   what hymn we were singing and she could join in that. And so, to the
   day of her death, she was still here. Yes, we love the place where God
   deigns to meet with His people and we hope to get a blessing there,
   somehow or other, as this poor woman did.

   But the other three people healed in these Sabbath miracles were not in
   the synagogue. The man with the dropsy was cured after synagogue hours.
   The Lord Jesus Christ had gone to eat bread with a certain Pharisee and
   it was then that He saw this poor man. O dear Friends, may the Lord
   bless you after the service is over, if He does not bless you while the
   service is going on! May He bless you at your meal! You who love the
   Lord, pray Him to bless men and women when they are sitting at their
   supper, tonight, after the sermon is over, and they have gone home and
   have not, perhaps, felt the power of the Word. God can bless them even
   there, as this poor dropsied man received his cure when the Sabbath
   services were over and he had gone to his evening meal!

   The next case, I think, was earlyi n the morning, before the service.
   Whether it was or not, does not matter, for it was the case of a man
   who could not go to the synagogue. He had the palsy, he could not even
   step into the healing bath, so I know that he could not go to the
   synagogue--yet the Lord came and healed him. Pray, dear Friends, for
   the sick folk at home and, when you are, yourselves, ill, do not think
   that you are shut out from Christ because you are shut out from the
   public means of Grace! The Lord can come and bless you wherever you
   are! Oh, what a Savior my Master is! If you cannot come to His House,
   He can come to your house! If you cannot go to the synagogue, He can
   come and make a temple of your little chamber and save you there!

   As for the blind man, he was not in the synagogue, but he used to go,
   for we read that they cast him from the synagogue, so he must have been
   formerly in it. But on that occasion he was not there. Iwonder whether
   the reason was because he was too poor. His neighbors asked, "Is not
   this he that sat and begged?" Perhaps he did not like to go because he
   had not fit clothes to go in. I always think it is a very sad thing
   that people should make that excuse. I do not care what clothes you
   come in--the only clothes that are unfit to wear are those that you
   have not paid for! Let our clothes be ever so poor, or ever so mean, do
   not stay away from the House of God on that account, but come and
   listen to the Gospel. But if it really is the case that you cannot
   come, what a mercy it is that God can bless the poor who do not come to
   His House--for He can go to them.

   Perhaps He means somebody who is here tonight--some dear child of
   His--to call in, on the road home, to see some poor person who has not
   come because he says that he has not fit clothes. Knock at his door and
   say, "Our minister was saying, this evening, that some people did not
   come to God's House because they thought they had not fit clothes, and
   his words brought you to my mind. He said that God could bless them at
   home. I thought that, perhaps, the Lord might bless you through me. Let
   me tell you about Jesus Christ for a few minutes. I won't tire you.
   Then let me pray with you before I go." Why, who knows? Perhaps, this
   very night, you may be a messenger of mercy to some poor creature of
   that kind.

   IV. Now I close with what might have been the whole of my sermon, for
   there is enough in this last division to preach from for a month. It is
   a very singular thing that all these Sabbath cures were cures of
   PERSONS WHO DID NOT ASK TO BE HEALED. They were all instances of free,
   Sovereign Grace giving blessing to those who did not crave it.

   The first one did not ask for it, but entreated Christ to leave him
   alone, yet he was healed. The next, the man with the withered hand, I
   suppose did not even think of it till Christ said, "Stand forth." And
   then he stood forth and his hand was restored. The next, the poor woman
   who had been bent double for 18 years, I should think that she did not
   hope for such a thing. Certainly, she did not say a word about it, but,
   to her astonishment, mercy burst upon her with these words, "Woman, you
   are loosed from your infirmity." What a surprise it was to her, as the
   Grace of God often is when it dispels man's despair! The dropsied man
   did not ask for healing, but Christ took him and healed him, and sent
   him on his way. As for the paralytic man, hehad not nerve enough left
   to ask. Christ had to ask him, "Will you be made whole?" And then the
   blind man, he also, perhaps, had never dreamed of such a thing, for he
   expressed his own astonishment-- "Since the world began was it not
   heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind." They
   did not ask for the blessing, yet they received it.

   Well, what is the inference from all that I have been saying? Why, that
   you who ask for the blessing shall receive it, for if Christ goes to
   those who do notask, you who have been asking--asking for days and
   perhaps for months, may well pluck up courage and expect His mercy--and
   you shall have it. Why, if a man in the street gives alms to a poor
   beggar who did not ask anything of him, the boy at the crossing will be
   touching his hat to him, I am sure, and following him all across the
   road, for he is sure of getting something! He says, "He gave to that
   fellow who did not ask. Surely he will give to me if I do ask" Oh,
   believe that it must be so with you if you ask of the Lord Jesus
   Christ! Surely you seekers shall be finders.

   The next inference I draw is this. What a mercy that we are able,
   sometimes, to bring into the House of God some who have never asked God
   to bless them. Have you brought in any tonight? If you have not, you
   know that you ought to do it, for it is the duty of Christians to be
   constantly bringing in outsiders where God gives a blessing. Some of
   you have brought others. Well, then, if the Lord Jesus Christ
   spontaneously blessed those people who seemed to be there by accident,
   much more will He bless those whom you have brought to His House and
   for whom you are now praying that He would bless them. Do not say, "It
   is of no use to bring in such-and-such, he is not at all seriously
   inclined." That is the very person to bring in! Those who are seriously
   inclined will come of themselves--you are to bring those who do not
   have any desire to come! It is grand work to be plowing virgin soil
   that has never been broken up before. It is a great mercy to speak into
   an ear that has not been stopped up with Gospel wax, an ear that
   listens to the Gospel as a thing that is fresh and new, and which comes
   with startling novelty to the soul. Bring in people of that sort!
   Remember that we do not trust in theirwill--our trust is in the will of
   God! We do not trust in theirpower--our trust is in the power of
   Almighty Grace! We do not trust in their coming here to seek
   Christ--our trust is in the fact that "the Son of Man has come to seek
   and to save that which was lost!"

   As for you who have never trusted the Savior, all you have to do is to
   cast yourselves, with all your weight of sin, upon the finished work of
   the Lord Jesus Christ, and I solemnly charge you to take heed that you
   do not neglect it. Beware lest while you are thinking about it, the
   moments should steal away and hope should steal away with the moments.
   Some of you have come here a good many Sabbath nights hoping to lay
   hold on Christ--leave your hoping and lay hold on Jesus! May the
   blessed Spirit now bid you stretch out that withered hand and grasp
   eternal life! It is within reach of everyone who desires to have it--it
   may be yours, now, if you trust Him who brings it to you. But do not, I
   pray you, continue longer in unbelief. If you do, I think I know what
   will happen to you. You will begin to say, "There is no hope for me."
   And then you will leave off coming to hear the Gospel and then what is
   likely to become of you?

   As I look at some of my hearers, I might well settle my countenance, as
   Elisha did when he looked on Hazael. He could not bear to think of all
   that the man would do--and when the man himself heard the prophecy, he
   said, "Is your servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Yes,
   he was dog enough to do even that! A Friend was speaking to me of an
   unhappy man whose life has been one of licentiousness and crime--and
   who has gone away from his country--he used to sit by his wife's side
   in this house and he said that he would one day turn over a new leaf.
   But then he did not yield himself to Christ. So, when he did turn over
   a new leaf, it was a blacker one than he had ever turned over, before,
   and, unless you repent, some of you will do the same as that man did.
   God bless and save you, dear Friends, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE4:33-36; 6:6-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6;
   JOHN 5:1-9; 9:1-14.

   We are going to read the Inspired records of several of our Savior's
   Sabbath cures, for they are very instructive.

   Luke 4:33-36. And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit
   of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us
   alone! What have we to do with You, You of Nazareth? Have You come to
   destroy us? I know You, who You are: the Holy One of God. And Jesus
   rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace and come from him. And when the
   devil had thrown him in the midst, he came from him, and hurt him not
   And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a
   word is this! For with authority and power He commands the unclean
   spirits, and they come out. This was a very remarkable cure worked by
   the Lord Jesus Christ on the Sabbath. Now let us turn to another, which
   is recorded in the sixth chapter of this same Gospel.

   Luke 6:6-10. And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that He
   entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right
   hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him, whether
   He would heal on the Sabbath; that they might find an accusation
   against Him. But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had
   the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst And he arose
   and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing.
   Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or
   to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all.-- I think I see
   that piercing glance which read their very hearts, and condemned the
   wickedness it saw there--"Looking round about upon them all"--

   10, 11. He said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he did so
   and his hand was restored whole as the other And they were filled with
   madness and communed one, with another, what they might do to Jesus.
   This was a second miracle worked by our Lord on the Sabbath and it,
   also, was a very notable one. Follow on in the same Gospel until you
   come to the 13th Chapter, at the 10th verse.

   Luke 13:10-17. And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the
   Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity
   eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up
   herself And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto
   her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And He laid His hands
   on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And
   the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that
   Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and said unto the people, There are
   six days in which men ought to work: in them, therefore, come and be
   healed, but not on the Sabbath. The Lord then answered him, and said,
   You hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or
   his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not
   this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, these
   eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? And when He
   had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed: and all the
   people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him. His
   adversaries might well be ashamed and the people might well rejoice at
   such a display of His power and mercy! But the point I want you to
   notice is that the poor woman was set at liberty by the Lord Jesus on
   the Sabbath. There is another Sabbath miracle recorded in the next
   chapter.

   Luke 14:1-6. And it came to pass, as He went into the house of one of
   the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him.
   And, behold, there was a certain man before Him which had the dropsy.
   And Jesus answering spoke unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it
   lawful to heal on the Sabbath? And they held their peace. And He took
   him, and healed him, and let him go; and answered them, saying, Which
   of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and wiil not
   straightway pull him out on the Sabbath? And they could not answer Him
   again to these things. Christ's question was unanswerable unless they
   wished to condemn themselves. Now I want you to kindly turn to the next
   Evangelist, in whose Gospel you will find the record of the fifth
   miracle which our Savior worked on the Sabbath.

   John 5:1-9. After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up
   to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market, apool
   which is calledin the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having fveporches. In
   these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
   waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a
   certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whoever, then,
   after the troubling of the water, first stepped in, was made whole of
   whatever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an
   infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he
   had been now a long time in that case, He said unto him, Will you be
   made whole? The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the
   water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming,
   another steps down before me. Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your
   bed, and walk And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his
   bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath. I hope to speak
   on these miracles in my discourse, so only briefly refer to them now,
   but this Sabbath afforded another memorable instance of our Lord's
   healing power. In the ninth chapter of John's Gospel you have the
   remarkable story of the man born blind.

   John 9:1-3. And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from
   his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin,
   this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered,
   Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents. That is to say, their sin
   was not the cause of his blindness.

   3-14. But that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must
   work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes,
   when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of
   the world. When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made
   clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the
   clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam, (which is, by
   interpretation, Sent). He went his way, therefore, and washed, and came
   seeing. The neighbors, therefore, and they which before had seen him
   that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said,
   This is he: others said, he is like he: but he said, I am he. Therefore
   said they unto him, How were your eyes opened? He answered and said, A
   man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said unto
   me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I
   received sight. Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know
   not. They brought him to the Pharisees that before was blind. And it
   was the Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. This
   gracious act of Christ was made another occasion of complaint on the
   part of the Pharisees--and it is the sixth instance in which we are
   very specially and definitely informed that our Lord Jesus Christ
   worked miracles of healing on the Sabbath. Oh, that He would do similar
   works in our midst even now in a spiritual sense, if not literally!
     __________________________________________________________________

The Backslider's Door of Hope

   (No. 2569)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 8, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 22, 1883.

   "And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley ofAchor
   for a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth,
   and as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." Hosea 2:15.

   A FORTNIGHT ago, you will remember that we considered the very terrible
   description which the Prophet gave of the sin of God's ancient people.
   [See Sermon #2564, Volume 44, "Strange Ways of Love"] They were even
   described coarsely, because only such imagery could set forth their
   disgraceful filthiness in departing from Jehovah, the living and true
   God, and setting up false gods, the rites of whose worship were
   indescribably obscene. I would not dare to mention what these men did
   under the guise of religion when they turned aside from Jehovah and set
   up Baal, Ashtaroth and other idols that were not gods. You will also
   remember how the Lord, in His holy jealousy, dealt with His people. He
   sent them affliction after affliction. He took away from them those
   mercies which they had prostituted for the purpose of sin. He made them
   poor, sick and wretched. They were invaded and enslaved by the
   neighboring nations whose deities they had set up in the place of the
   Most High. Further, you remember--for we tried to describe it--they
   were so desperately set on mischief that they would not be turned from
   their wicked ways--they revolted more and more. The more it cost them
   to sin, the more extravagant they were in it.

   Then it was that the Lord, in great mercy, changed His mode of
   operation. He told His servant, Hosea, to say that He would try another
   plan of working. The Law had failed, in that it was weak through the
   flesh, so He would use the Gospel--He would bring the Omnipotent power
   of love into the field! Our text a fortnight ago was, "I will allure
   her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart." And I
   sought, then, to set forth the strange ways in which God, with wondrous
   love, allures His people to Himself--how He draws them away from all
   their former confidences and hopes and brings them into a wilderness
   alone with Him. And there He must feed them, or they must die-- there
   He must guide them, or they must hopelessly stray. And there He must be
   everything to them, or else they must be destroyed with a great
   destruction. When the Lord, in love, brings His people to be alone with
   Him, then it is that He makes His promises come home to their
   hearts--and His person, His purposes, His ancient love and all the
   great preparations of that love as to the eternal future are laid home
   to the hearts of God's backsliding children--and they are made, again,
   to rejoice therein so that they are comforted. That was our subject, as
   you may remember.

   Now we follow with this next verse which is intended to show yet more
   the goodness of God towards backsliders when they return to Him, or, if
   you like, towards sinners when, for the first time, they approach His
   feet. On this occasion I intend mainly to speak to those who have lost
   a sense of God's love. Perhaps there may have strayed in here some who
   were once professors, but they are not professors, now--some who were
   once members of a Christian Church, but no Christian Church would
   acknowledge them, now. Once they could, perhaps, speak to others in
   Christ's name, but they would be afraid to say a word for Jesus now,
   for they have gone far astray from Him. The message of infinite mercy
   to such people is, "Return, you backsliding children!" Come back, come
   home to your God! There is no other place of rest for you in the whole
   world--you will be as a bird that wanders from its nest. Sinners may
   rest content in their sin, for as yet they know no better, but you are
   disqualified even for that! You have so much knowledge still left and
   so much of conscience still remains that you are spoiled for this
   world, spoiled for the pleasures of sin, spoiled for all confidence
   except the one confidence which you used to have in Christ Jesus your
   Lord. There is no alternative for you but to return, for you cannot go
   elsewhere. Therefore, come home to your first Husband--that is God's
   own metaphor--for it was better with you then, than now!

   Oh, that the blessed Spirit would now allure you, draw you apart, get
   you alone with Christ and speak comfortably to you! While He is doing
   that, permit me to tell you something, first, concerning restored
   blessings. "I will give her vineyards from there." Then, next,
   concerning revived hopes.' 'I will give her the Valley of Achor for a
   door of hope." And then, thirdly, concerning renewed songs. ' 'She
   shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when
   she came up from the land of Egypt."

   I. First, then, let me talk to returning backsliders ABOUT RESTORED
   BLESSINGS.

   You have lost a good deal by losing Christ. In fact, to your own
   consciousness, you have lost everything. All that made you joyous and
   glad has departed from you like a dream of the night--as a man awakes
   and finds himself in darkness--even so have you awakened from the
   brightness of that foolish dream of yours and you find yourself undone.
   Now come back to God, for in coming back you will have fulfilled to you
   the promise of our text--"I will give her vineyards from there."

   By this is meant, first, that God will give back to returning penitents
   that which He took away. Read the 12th verse--"I will destroy her vines
   and her fig trees." Now the Lord says, "I will give her her vineyards
   from there." When you come back to Christ, the very things that were
   taken away from you shall be restored to you! It is sometimes so even
   in temporal things. The rod is put aside when it has answered its
   purpose. Many a man has been kept poor, or sick, or grievously
   depressed in spirit until the time when he has heard the rod and Him
   that did appoint it. And then, when he has turned, again, to his God,
   he has once more prospered. I do not say that it is always so, for
   there may be other reasons why the affliction should continue, but I do
   say that it is often so in the experience of God's people. While they
   have gone astray, they have had affliction upon affliction--but when
   they have returned to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, He has
   made them to lie down in green pastures, beside the still waters. I am
   sure that it is so as to spiritualmat-ters.

   If you have backslidden, the House of God ministers no comfort to you
   now. When you come to it, it is no longer a home to you. But if you
   come back to the Lord, you shall find the same pleasure in the House of
   Prayer that you used to find in it. Now, perhaps, the Sabbath has
   become a weariness to you, for it does not bring you any holy joy--it
   only sounds the knell of your departed blessings. Come back to God and
   the Sabbath bell shall have all its silvery music restored and you
   shall wake up on the morning of the Lord's-Day and begin singing--

   "Come, bless the Lord, whose love assigns So sweet a rest for wearied
   minds; Provides an antepast of Heaven, And gives this day the food of
   seven." You shall have the House of Prayer made none other than the
   House of God to you, and the first day of the week shall become to you
   the best of all the seven!

   Possibly, also, you continue to read your Bible, but it appears to have
   lost all its former interest. You fall upon your knees and try to pray,
   but you do not meet with God. You associate with the Lord's people, but
   you find no charm in that communion which was once so hallowed--the
   very essence seems to have gone from every means of Grace. You go out
   in the morning, but there is no manna. The dews of Heaven are withheld,
   so no blessing comes to your spirit. Now, if you return to the Lord
   Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth--and His great love restores you to
   Himself--then all this shall come back to you! "I will give her her
   vineyards from there." Do not wait till all this blessing comes back
   and then return to Christ--do not try to put the effect before the
   cause! But come now, just as you are, in all your dullness and your
   deadness--come back to your first love and trust in Jesus as you did at
   the very beginning--for then the Lord will restore to you all the
   privileges that made your life so happy and bright.

   Notice, next, that not only are these things which are restored to the
   backsliding nation those that were taken away, but they are now made to
   be more hers than they were before. Read again verse 12--"I will
   destroy her vines and her fig trees." Now God says, "I will give her
   her vineyards from there." She shall feel a peculiar possession about
   what she now has, for she shall see that there is a deed of gift by
   which God has again given to her those mercies which she had lost. Oh,

   1 do love to feel, when the Sabbath comes, that it is God's Day which
   He has hedged about for me! And when I go to the

   House of God to worship, I like to think that it is appointed for me
   there to draw near to God, to open His Book, and to feel that the Bible
   is my Father's letter to me, a gift from God to me--and that the Mercy
   Seat was the gift of Infinite Love and Divine Grace, prepared on
   purpose that I and others like I might come to it! How precious do even
   our common mercies become when we see them given back to us by a
   Father's hand! I reckon that there is no man who loves the means of
   Grace like the man who at one time felt them to be dry and barren. When
   the Lord fills the dry beds of the rivers with the torrents of His
   love, then we come and drink abundantly and we rejoice exceedingly.
   When, for a while, all outward means have seemed to become a wilderness
   to us, oh, how glad we are when, once again, the Lord appears, and puts
   life, and power, and efficacy into them, so that our soul rejoices in
   them! Poor Backslider, ask the Lord even at this moment to give you
   back all that you have lost and to make you feel that He is giving it
   to you by a double act of Grace and that, therefore, it is yours--you
   have a Covenant right to it and what He gives you is now your very own
   so that you will enjoy it to the fullest without any idea that you are
   presuming when you do so! Thus you will understand the meaning of God's
   gracious promise, "I will give her her vineyards from there."

   Further, notice that when the Lord restores a backslider, He does not
   withhold even the sweetest ofHis former blessings. The Lord give him
   not only that which is necessary--that might be described as
   cornfields--but He gives that which tends to luxury, to joy, to
   exhilaration--"I will give her, her vineyards." Vineyards are not
   necessary to the life of man, but God does not stint Himself in giving
   to His people barely bread and water, but He gives them things not
   absolutely necessary, that He may further increase their joys. He gives
   after a royal manner! The house of God's mercy is not a workhouse,
   where they weigh out so many ounces of bread--it is a banqueting house
   where the Lord, as King in Zion, makes His guests to rejoice as He
   distributes the riches of His Grace! "I will give her, her vineyards."
   Oh, listen, you who are now distressed! You shall not only have back
   your former peace of mind, but you shall have even joy in the Lord! You
   shall not merely be permitted to sit at the Lord's table and eat a
   little morsel, and then go your way hungering for more--but He will
   satiate your soul with goodness, He will make you to eat of fat things
   full of marrow and to drink of wines on the lees well refined!

   Never imagine that the Lord will let in a poor backslider to a sort of
   second-rate Gospel feast, put him in the back rows and give him
   something less than he gives to his Brothers and Sisters. No, the
   prodigal's father killed for him the fatted calf which he had not
   killed even for the elder brother. And if you will come back to God, my
   wandering Friend, He will give to you the chief things which He has
   stored up, even the abundance of Infinite Love, till your heart shall
   leap within you and your life shall become a Psalm, and your whole
   being shall be as a harp upon which the fingers of God shall play to
   bring out sweetest music henceforth and forever! Only return and you
   shall see what lies before you! Go on in your sin and your way shall
   become blacker and blacker--the pitfalls and snares shall multiply
   every step you take-- and the darkness shall deepen into a tenfold
   night! But return unto your rest and the way shall become smoother
   beneath your feet, your heart shall grow stronger in the Lord, your
   ways shall be established and a new song shall be put into your mouth,
   even praise unto your God! Thus runs the promise, "I will give her her
   vineyards." She shall have all the mirth and all the joy that a
   ransomed spirit ought to know! Oh, what comfort there is in this to any
   who have wandered away from God, but who resolve to return to Him!

   I want you also to notice, before I leave this first point, that it is
   said, "I will give her, her vineyards from there," which means, I
   think, that God gives these blessings in the wilderness into which He
   allures her He promises to give her her vineyards in the solitude into
   which He allures her when He takes her away from all her earthly trusts
   to be alone with Himself. And, mark you, the vineyards given, "from
   there," will be worth ten thousand of the world's vineyards! I mean, by
   this, that a joy which is found in Christ, alone, is true joy, one
   single particle of which will outweigh the joy of all the world
   besides! The joy that springs from the garden dies when the garden is
   dry, but the joy that is given in the wilderness is a root from a dry
   ground so it can never lose its moisture. It can never decay, for it is
   nourished from above, not from beneath. The joy that I get in the
   creature dies with the creature from which it comes, but the joy that
   comes from Christ the Creator is like He from whom it comes--it can
   never expire! "I will give her her vineyards from there," that is to
   say, I will fetch her gains from losses, her crowns from crosses and
   her sweet from sweat. I will bring her honey from a lion. I will bring
   her life from Christ's death. I will bring her Heaven from all His
   woes! "I will give her, her vineyards from there."

   I should like everyone here, who is very happy, to be asking, "What is
   the secret of my joy? Am I rejoicing in the Lord? Or, is mine like the
   mirth of the ungodly that sustains itself on corn, wine, oil and on the
   abundance of these perishable things? Have I peace at this moment?
   Then, on what is my peace founded? Is it built on something which I can
   see, and taste, and handle of the world's goods? If so, it will fail me
   at the last! But if I get happiness that springs from Christ, my Lord,
   who has become everything to me, then I have a peace that I may grasp
   and hold fast in the article of death as well as in the trials of life!
   "I will give her, her vineyards from there." Come, poor Backslider,
   whatever your sad case-- the Lord can give you joy in Himself! All the
   joy that your soul can hold, He can give you when alone with Himself.
   Poor Sinner, if you are sorely grieved with a sense of your sin, and if
   outward trials are pressing you very heavily, the Lord can give you joy
   that shall fill your heart to overflowing from Himself, alone, if you
   will but come to Him! He can give you the resolve to come--oh, that,
   with all your heart, you would now seek His face and live in Him! May
   His blessed Spirit work this Grace in you, and to Him shall be all
   glory!

   Many here well know what these vineyards are which the Lord gives to
   His returning people. I will tell you of some into which I have been,
   myself, and I wish to live in those vineyards all my days. One of them
   is access to God in prayer. The wanderer is shut out from God, he
   cannot come near to God in prayer. But when he returns to the Savior,
   he finds that the Mercy Seat is still open and he can speak with God as
   a man speaks with his friend. That is a vineyard bearing the sweetest
   clusters!

   A second vineyard is that of communion with God--to feel that God
   dwells within us and we dwell in Him--that we are His children and that
   He is our Father always manifesting Himself to us. That is a glorious
   vineyard! If a man can but eat the fruit thereof, it will make him long
   to go into the hill country of Heaven where the best grapes are
   ripening for the perfected ones.

   A third vineyard is that of full assurance of faith. May a backslider
   ever come back to that vineyard? Yes, that he may! If you, poor
   Wanderer, do so, you will be a happy man--not only to hope and to trust
   that you are saved, but to knowit. And not only to know it, but to know
   it infallibly, to know it so that all the devils in Hell cannot shake
   your confidence that it is so--to know it by the witness of the Holy
   Spirit's inward sealing of the Truth of God to your soul. This is a
   blessed vineyard, indeed! God will give it to all those who truly come
   back to Him. And may those who have not wandered, often go and dwell
   amidst those sweet-smelling vines!

   Yet another vineyard is usefulness. When backsliders return to the
   Lord, He condescends to employ them and honor them in bringing others
   to Himself. This is, indeed, to live in a vineyard where the grapes are
   very sweet to the palate, for surely, men can hardly have greater joy
   than that of leading others to the Savior's feet! And then, besides
   these vineyards, there are the manifestations of Christ to His own.
   There are openings up of the Word of God by the blessed Spirit. There
   are the tokens of Divine Love even in Providence in a thousand varied
   forms. I cannot tell you all the sweet and precious things--the joys
   unspeakable--which the Lord gives to His own people when they come back
   to Him and dwell with Him! Therefore, come back, poor Wanderer, and you
   shall find it out for yourself! And you who have never come, before,
   you, also, come by simple, humble faith, and the Lord will receive you
   graciously and bless you this night and forever!

   So much, then, for the first part of my subject--restored blessings.

   II. The second division of my discourse is this, REVIVED HOPES--"I will
   give her the Valley of Achor for a door of hope."

   What was this Valley of Achor? It was the place of their first victory
   over their enemies. I t was the first land upon which the Israelites
   entered after they crossed the Jordan and the walls of Jericho fell
   flat to the ground. Hard by the city of palm trees was the fertile
   Valley of Achor. If ever the Israelites were to go back, again, they
   must enter Palestine by the same door if they crossed the Jordan at
   all--the key of the position was the Valley of Achor, the first region
   of which they would have to take possession if they wished to win the
   rest of the land.

   And, surely, the spiritual meaning of the metaphor is this--the Lord
   will give to backsliders, when they return to Him, a renewed
   realization ofHis Grace--the old joyous feelings, the consciousness of
   their first love coming back, their first simple faith being revived.
   This taking possession, again, of that which was theirs at the first,
   shall be to them, "a door of hope," that they shall, in time, take
   possession of the land! I tell you, Brothers and Sisters, it is a very
   blessed thing to get back to our first days. We may have better days
   than our first ones if we go on and make the progress God desires for
   us, but though they may be, in some respects, deeper and fuller, yet I
   do not know whether we do not all look back upon the first days of our
   conversion with very fond memories and some regrets. Other days have
   become indistinct, like coins in general circulation, but, as far as I
   am concerned, that first day of my spiritual life is, in my memory, as
   clear, fresh and sharp as when it first came from the mint of time! Oh,
   the bliss of that first joy when Jesus told me I was His and my Beloved
   was mine! That first moment of rest when the burden rolled off my
   shoulders--I will never forget it! I cannot help remembering it at this
   moment. And it is a very sweet way of putting it, that the Lord will
   give you back that first Valley into which you then came--that Valley
   of Achor where first you set your foot--and you shall feel, again, as
   you felt then!

   To use another figure--though now you are covered with leprosy, your
   flesh shall be, again, to you as the flesh of a little child--you shall
   feel as if you were beginning your spiritual life over again. That
   shall be to you, "a door of hope," for you shall say to yourself,
   "Surely, the Lord means mercy to me. He has led me back to the very
   spot where He blessed me at first! He has made me feel just as I felt,
   then, and He has brought me to the same simplicity of faith which I
   exercised in the young dawning of my spiritual life. Therefore am I
   persuaded that He means, now, to lead me on from strength to strength
   that, as I capture Achor, I may capture all the rest of the land and
   all the blessings of the Covenant may be mine." Listen to this,
   Backslider! Pluck up heart of hope! May God help you to do so and to
   come back to Him, for He will give you that Valley of Achor to be a
   door of hope!

   But we cannot help remembering that the name of that Valley of Achor
   signifies trouble. You have only to look in the margin of your Bible,
   at Joshua 7:26, and you will find that it was the Valley of Trouble,
   and the trouble came in this way--when the walls of Jericho fell flat
   to the ground, there was one Achan, or Achar, or Achor, who took some
   of the spoil which was all to have been either dedicated to God or else
   destroyed. Before the children of Israel could have God's blessing,
   they had to clear themselves from the guilt of this accursed thing.
   They went out to battle and were defeated at Ai. Then there had to be a
   searching and a digging--and at last they found the godly Babylonian
   garment and the two hundred shekels of silver, and the wedge of gold.
   And then they took Achan, and all that he had, and brought them into
   the Valley of Achor--and destroyed and burned them--and buried them
   under a great heap of stones. That Valley of Achor was, indeed, a
   Valley of Trouble, but after Joshua and all Israel had purged
   themselves from the evil, it became a door ofhope to them!

   So, dear Friends, when you and I began our spiritual life, it was not
   long before our joy was marred. Sin was still in our heart and, before
   long, it broke out. There are many poor sinners who want to find peace,
   who seem to me to be searching their hearts exactly the wrong way--they
   are seeking for any good thing there may be in them--but that is a
   sheer waste of time! The proper thing to do is to search your heart for
   the bad things that are in you--to do as Israel did in the case of
   Achan when they cast lots that God's will might be known and that His
   Spirit might reveal the criminal. And then go and dig until you turn up
   the evil and find the accursed thing. "Why, Sir!" you say, "I can
   already see quite enough of my sins." Can you? I think that the fault
   of most sinners is that they do not see half enough of their sin. "Oh,
   but," you cry, "I see enough to drive me to despair!" I wish you saw
   enough to drive you to double despair, for when a man heartily and
   thoroughly despairs of himself, then will he begin to hope in Christ!
   But many men try to find out some good thing in themselves and they dig
   all over the camp to discover something of great price. Believe me,
   there is not a grain of pure gold in all your mines! There is not
   anything worth the finding in all Israel's camp! Dig as long as you
   may, you will only dig out the evil thing on which God's curse is
   resting!

   There is many a sinner who cannot find the door of hope because he is
   holding on to some evil thing. There is, for instance, the man who is
   clinging to strong drink--he never can have peace with God when,
   perhaps, only once in six months can he walk home in an upright
   fashion. He cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils!
   There is another man who is practicing some secret sin. I dare not say
   what it is, but he knows. Yet he says that he is trying to find peace
   with God. Ah, Sir, you will never obtain it while you cling to that
   iniquity! You must cut off the evil thing, even if it is your right
   arm! You must pluck it out, even if it is your right eye! Here is a
   person who does something in business that he ought not to do--and here
   is another man who omits to do what he knows that he ought to do. They
   think that God will make peace with them on their terms, but He makes
   no terms with sinners unless they will part with their sins and trust
   in Christ alone! God will not save you and let you save your pet
   sin--that cannot be! The place in which a man shall honestly give up
   every willful act and thought of sin and, by the help of God's Spirit,
   shall quit everything which is revealed to him to be evil, shall be to
   him a door of hope! The place where he troubles himself because of his
   sin, where his conscience frets and worries over it. The place where he
   puts away the sin and buries it--and piles stones upon it because he
   abhors it--that is the place where God shall come and manifest Himself
   to him in the fullness of His Grace! "I will give her the Valley of
   Achor for a door of hope." The place of Grace and the place of purging,
   the place of chastisement and the place of turning away from sin--this
   is the place that shall become the backslider's door of hope!

   Now, Beloved, we will not spend all our time in talking about the door
   and forget what the hopes are, but who can describe the hopes that come
   trooping through that door? The hope of being kept, preserved and
   sustained through every struggle of this life's campaign--the hope of
   entering into eternal rest with Christ--the hope of the resurrection
   from among the dead--the hope of infinite glory for body and soul with
   Christ, world without end--all those hopes which your backsliding has
   cast away shall come back to you! And, filled with hope, your spirit
   shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory!

   III. I have but a minute or two to dwell upon the last point, whereon
   one might well speak for an hour--that is,

   RENEWED SONGS.

   You must have noticed, dear Friends, that whenever men turn aside from
   Christ, they go away from all the music of true religion. A little
   religion is a very miserable thing! If you have just enough religion to
   let you know that you are wrong, but not enough to make you right, you
   are spoiled for the joys of the world, yet you do not possess the joys
   of the world to come. I cannot help telling you again the old American
   story about the apples in the orchard. There is said to have been a
   gentleman who asked a friend to come and have some of his apples, which
   he said were among the finest apples in the State. Yet his friend did
   not come, though he was invited several times. The gentleman thought
   that there must be some reason for his refusal, so he asked him why he
   did not come, and his friend answered, "The fact is, while I have been
   driving by your orchard, I have picked up an apple or two that fell
   into the road and I can't say that I have, at all, pleasant memories of
   those apples--they were the sourest that I ever ate in my life! They
   set my teeth on edge even to think of them." "Oh," said the owner of
   the orchard, "now I understand! I sent a great many miles to buy those
   particular apples that grow just by the side of the hedge and fall into
   the road. I bought them for the special benefit of the boys who might
   be inclined to steal my fruit. Whenever they taste them, they say to
   themselves, ' It is no use to rob that orchard, the apples are horribly
   sour.' But," he added, "if you will come inside, where those boys do
   not come, you shall then see what a good apple is like."

   So is it with religion. All along the outside of the hedge, where those
   people come who have just a little religion, the fruit is as sour as it
   can be--repentance that needs to be repented of--and that gripes the
   very spirit of the man who has it. There are plenty of those things on
   the outside, but you have no idea of the luscious sweetness of the
   fruits that grow in the center--and these shall be yours if you come
   back to the Master and give yourself up wholly to Him! And the result
   will be that you will again begin to sing!

   "She shall sing," says the text. She shall not be able to talk out her
   joys, she shall feel that she must sing! "She shall sing there." That
   is, in the wilderness, alone with Christ. "She shall sing there." "The
   wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
   desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." "She shall sing there,
   as in the days of her youth."" Youth is the time for singing! Young
   converts are usually full of song and if we return to our Lord, after
   having backslidden from Him, we shall get back the songs of our
   spiritual childhood as well as all the other good things that were with
   us when first we knew the Lord. Ah, poor Wanderer, if you come back to
   Christ, you shall relish, again, the hymns that you began to despise
   when you acquired that fine taste that some have which scorns the
   precious things that please God's humble people. I know some who have
   become so lofty and proud that the Gospel is not good enough for
   them--they want something much more refined to suit their precious
   wisdom and their wonderful culture! Yes, but when the Lord puts them on
   short commons for a while and whips them well for their ill manners,
   they are glad to get back to the simple hymns and to the elementary
   Truths of God they once loved. You know how dear, good Dr. Guthrie,
   when he was dying, wanted those around him to sing him a child's hymn
   and, in another sense, when the children of God are spiritually
   reviving, they always want to have the hymns that were good for them
   when they were in their spiritual childhood.

   The text further says, "She shall sing there, as in the days of her
   youth, and as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt."" I
   read you that song--oh, that our hearts might time to its tune! May we
   come back to the Lord so perfectly that we shall be able to say, "Let
   us sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously." May we see so
   much of

   His conquest of our sin that we may magnify His name and exalt in Him!
   May we take Him so wholly to be ours that we may say again, "He is my
   God and I will prepare Him an habitation. He is my father's God, and I
   will exalt Him." I want you who have gone back from God, to get such a
   renewed hold on Him that you will not know how to make enough of Him
   and not know how sufficiently to praise and land and magnify that
   infinite love which has brought you, as it were, through the very
   depths of the sea and landed you safely on the other side! Oh, come,
   let us sing unto the Lord! If your feet may not dance, yet let your
   heart dance! And if you need no timbrel, as you are not under the old
   dispensation in which such instruments were allowable, yet let your
   fingers seem to beat the heavenly tunes! Let your whole being praise
   and glorify the Lord who has brought you back from the land of your
   captivity! If you blessed Him when you first came to Him, bless Him yet
   more, now that you are allowed to come to Him for the second time! If
   you praised Him when first you plunged in the fountain filled with
   blood, oh, bless Him still more, now that He comes and washes your feet
   which have wandered so far from Him. If the first homecoming was with
   music and dancing, what shall the second homecoming be?--

   "Angels, assist our mighty joys."

   Rejoice with us over Brothers and Sisters who were dead and are alive
   again--over lost ones that are now found! So may it be! Poor Wanderers,
   do come home, do come home! "The door is shut," you say. Who shut it?
   Certainly not the Father, for He has sent His Son to be the open Door
   for all who will come unto Him! Christ Himself invites you to return!
   The Spirit is given to draw you back to God and if you have never come
   before, come now! Oh, that you might be persuaded to come, ere yet you
   leave this House of Prayer, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HOSEA 2:14,15; EXODUS 15:1-21.
   [Exposition was always before the sermon.--EO]

   You remember that, a fortnight ago, we read the second chapter of the
   prophecy of Hosea, and I preached from the 14th verse. I am going to
   continue that subject tonight, so we will read two verses of the same
   chapter over again. I am sure we shall never exhaust it and you will
   not be weary of hearing it. We will begin with the text from which I
   then spoke to you.

   Hosea 2:14, 15. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her
   into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her And I will give her
   her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope;
   she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day
   when she came up from the land of Egypt Now I want you to hear how she
   did sing in the days of her youth, in the day when she came up from the
   land of Egypt. Turn to the 15th Chapter of the Book of Exodus, where we
   have the joyful song of the emancipated chosen nation.

   Exodus 15:1-10. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song
   unto the LORD, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for He has
   triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has He thrown into the
   sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation:
   He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation. He is my father's
   God, and I will exalt Him. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is His
   name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea: his
   chosen captains also are drownedin the RedSea. The depths have covered
   them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Your right hand, O LORD,
   has become glorious in power: Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in
   pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of Your excellency You have
   overthrown them that rose up against You: You sent forth Your wrath
   which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils the
   waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and
   the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I
   will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be
   satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
   You did blow with Your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in
   the mighty waters. They were all noise, bluster and boast, but observe
   the sublime attitude of God, how readily He eased Himself of His
   adversaries--"You did blow with Your wind, the sea covered them: they
   sank as lead in the mighty waters."

   11-14. Who is like unto You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You,
   glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched
   out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have
   led forth the people which You have redeemed: You have guided them in
   Your strength unto Your holy habitation. The people shall hear and be
   afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine. That
   is, the heathen nations who, at that time, inhabited the land of
   Palestine. "Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine."

   15. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab,
   trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan
   shall melt away. This great deed of God would be told, and told again,
   all over Palestine. And the inhabitants would feel that their end was
   come, for who could stand against Israel's mighty God?

   16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm
   they shall be as still as a stone; till Your people pass over, O LORD,
   till the people pass over, which You have purchased. And how still they
   were! All the 40 years that the Israelites were in the wilderness, they
   were scarcely ever attacked. And even then it was not by the
   inhabitants of Canaan, but by the wandering Bedouin tribe of the
   Amalekites, who slew the hindmost of them. It was amazing that no
   troops ever came from Egypt to molest God's people after the
   destruction at the Red Sea. Neither from Canaan did any come to block
   their way. When God strikes, He makes His adversaries dread all future
   conflicts!

   17-21. You shall bring them in, andplant them in the mountain of Your
   inheritance, in theplace, O LORD, which You have made for You to dwell
   in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands have established. The
   LORD shall reign forever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in
   with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD
   brought again the waters of the sea upon them, but the children of
   Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And Miriam the
   prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all
   the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam
   answered them, Sing you to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously!
   The horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea. They sang as in an
   oratorio, Miriam singing the solo, and all the women joining in the
   jubilant chorus! And well might they rejoice after the great
   deliverance which the Lord had worked for them.
     __________________________________________________________________

Jesus Sitting on the Well

   (No. 2570)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 15, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   FEBRUARY 25, 1883.

   "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well:
   and it was about the sixth hour." John 4:6.

   IF we were wise, dear Friends, we would find a thousand things in the
   world to remind us of our blessed Lord. It is well to form the habit of
   connecting things that are seen with Him, "whom, having not seen, we
   love." If we do so, there will not be an hour in the day when we shall
   not be helped to think of Him and scarcely anything that we see in our
   trade, or in the street, or in the field, or in our house which will
   not be the means of reminding us of Him. When we rise in the morning,
   would it not be well to think of how He rose a great while before day
   that He might have time for private prayer? He had a hard day's work
   before Him and, therefore, He needed strength with which to do it. And
   He gained it, not by a longer sleep, but by stealing time from sleep in
   which to draw near the strengthening Father in prayer! Even when the
   morning is ended and we come to the middle of the day, if we are hot
   and weary and the sun scorches us, we shall do well to think of our
   text, "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the
   well."

   When the clock strikes three, Christians should not forget that it was
   about that hour when He yielded up the ghost and passed away. When it
   comes to eventide and we go to our comfortable bed, or to our hard
   pallet, as the case may be, would it not be sweet to remember Him who
   said, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the
   Son of Man has not where to lay His head"? The whole world might
   constitute a system of helps to memory if we were but wise enough to
   use it so. The stars speak of Him to those who have but ears to hear.
   The morning sun reveals Him and even the setting of the sun is not
   without instruction concerning Him. As God is everywhere, so are the
   footprints of the Only-Begotten. He has so taken up materialism into
   connection with His spiritual and Divine Nature that He has left His
   impress upon all materialism and in His temple of Creation everything
   speaks of His Glory!

   Our second observation shall be how truly Human was the Lord Jesus
   Christ! Nowadays, we do not have to insist much upon that because it is
   not often denied--we have to fight for His Deity, but not often for His
   Humanity. Perhaps it is none the better for us that it is so. You know
   that there were some, soon after the Apostle John's days, who denied
   that Christ took upon Himself a real body. They believed that He
   existed as a phantom. I will not go into the philosophical way in which
   they put it, but their main attack was against the Humanity of the Son
   of God. Now, times have changed and men admit that He existed and they
   admit His Humanity--yes, they so much admit it that they deny that He
   was anything more than Man! We must fight against that thrice-accursed
   doctrine as long as we have any being, but we must not forget how truly
   Human Jesus was. How really Human He appears when the burning sun
   smites Him, the sweat rolls off Him and He is thoroughly weary! And,
   being weary, He must do what we do when we are tired and worn-out-- He
   must sit down. And the sun is so hot that He thirsts--He is parched
   with heat and there is the water in the well, but He has nothing to
   draw with, so He must sit there in the heat and bear the thirst.

   You remember also, dear Friends, how He hungered. You will never forget
   how "Jesus wept." You all know how He suffered and how, at last, He
   died. Treasure up in your mind and heart the assured fact that Christ
   was most really and truly Man--and though the Godhead was most
   mysteriously united to His Manhood--He was none the less completely and
   intensely Man. Because He was perfectly and supremely God, His Godhead
   did not take away from Him His power to suffer and to be wearied.

   It seems rather singular, but it is worthy of notice that our Lord
   appears to have been more weary than His disciples were, for they had
   gone away into the city to buy food. I suppose that He might have gone
   with them if He had not been more fatigued than they were. He was quite
   worn out and thoroughly weary, and so, while they went into Sychar to
   purchase provisions, He sat down on the well. I take it that, in all
   probability, the reason is this--He had mental weariness associated
   with His bodily fatigue--and when the two things come together, they
   make a man wearied, indeed. I know that there are some who fancy that
   to think and to care for others, to preach and to teach, is not much of
   work. Well, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I can assure you that you may
   keep on working much longer with your arms than you can with your
   brain! And I am speaking from experience when I say that careful
   thought and great anxiety to do good bring much wear and tear with them
   to a man's whole constitution. And if the life is taken out of a man in
   two ways at once--by fatigue of body and by fatigue of mind, too--then
   you will see that such a man will necessarily be the first to give way.
   The disciples had little to do but to follow implicitly as their Master
   led them. He had to be the Leader and upon the leader comes the strain
   and stress of thought and care. No man knows what were the cares that
   agitated the great heart of Christ. Surely, in one sense, He never
   rested--He was constantly thinking, not only of the twelve, but of all
   those who were with Him. And not merely of them, but it was as He said
   in His great intercessory prayer, "Neither pray I for these, alone, but
   for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." All
   Believers had a share in His thoughts of love even then, for He was
   bent upon no less a mission than the salvation of a countless number
   who shall be His in the day of His appearing!

   His mind and heart were always at work. That busy brain of His was
   never still, so I do not wonder that though the disciples could go into
   the city to buy food, their Master could not go, but He must sit down
   on the well. "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus
   on the well"--in a thoroughly exhausted condition. He sat down as if He
   could go no further, could do no more--and there it was that the
   Samaritan woman found Him. How perfectly human all this proves our Lord
   to have been!

   I want you, while we are speaking of that fact, to admire the great
   self-constraint which our Divine Master put upon Himself in bearing
   weariness, because, although He was Man and could be weary, I have also
   reminded you that He was God and, therefore, He could have refreshed
   Himself if it had been right for Him to do so. According to the Divine
   order of things, it would not have been right. When our Lord was in the
   wilderness 40 days, He hungered. Why did He not turn the stones into
   bread? He certainly could have done so, but to do so was evidently
   quite out of order with Him who had come to be a Servant and to suffer
   as a Man. The devil tempted Him to do it, which proves to us that it
   would have been wrong for Christ to do it. But, only think--if you and
   I were hungry and we could turn stones into bread--would we not do it?
   If we were weary and could immediately give ourselves the rest we
   required, would we not do so? Why, I think the water would have been
   glad to leap out of the well to refresh the lips of Him who had created
   it! That well would have been honored by suddenly pouring forth all its
   liquid refreshment that He might drink and be satisfied, but Jesus
   never worked a miracle merely for His own comfort. He felt that His
   miraculous power was to be used for others in His great work, but as
   for Himself, His Humanity must bear its own infirmity, it must support
   its own trials--so He keeps His hands back from relieving His own
   necessities. Oh, I never imagined how strong Christ was till I saw His
   love hold back His Deity! That Omnipotence which restrains
   Omnipotence--it cannot be something more than Omnipotence and yet, in a
   sense, it must be! The Love of Christ restrains the Omnipotence of
   Christ! He might have broken through all the infirmities of manhood,
   but He must not do so if He is to be perfectly bone of our bone and
   flesh of our flesh--and He does not do it. He bears exhaustion, He
   bears deprivation of comfort, He bears, in fact, the very curse of
   labor which our father Adam brought upon us, that in the sweat of our
   brow we should eat our bread--and He bears it still with a magnanimity
   of condescension which cannot be imitated. It is far beyond our
   conception and infinitely beyond our venturing to follow this. We can
   only admire and adore. We worship You, O Son of God, that for our sins
   You could even deign to be wearied and to sit thus on the well!

   Another thought I put before you is this. Behold the wonderful sympathy
   of the Lord Jesus Christ with us. You have been on a very long journey,
   and your feet are tired and you are weary and worn--you could not go a
   step further. Now Christ, in the days of His flesh, was like you. He
   knows what is meant by all that heaviness and heat of the feet, that
   blistering of the soles, that drawing of the sinews, that testing of
   every muscle! And the next time you go a long tramp and sit down
   because you are weary, think to yourself, "He who is at the right hand
   of God remembers when He felt as I do, and

   He sympathizes with me in this, my present distress." Or take it to be
   another case, that your daily work is very hard-- and I know that I
   speak to many who earn their bread with very severe toil and labor--and
   when the hour, at last, comes (alas! alas! how late it often is!) when
   the shop can be closed, or when your work is finished, you are
   thoroughly exhausted. You can scarcely crawl up to your bed, you feel
   so weary. It is often so with you and getting to be more often so, now
   that you are growing old and years are telling upon your once stalwart
   frame. Well, the next time you sit down, say to yourself, "Jesus, my
   Lord, You know all about this and You can pity Your poor servant, and
   help and comfort me as I have to bear it."

   Do you not remember the story about Alexander's soldiers? When they
   went on long, forced marches, they, none of them, grew weary because
   although Alexander had a horse, he never rode. He said, "No, not while
   one man walks shall Alexander ride." So he tramped side by side with
   them and once, when a cup of water was brought for the king, he said,
   "There is a soldier who looks more faint than I am; pass i t over to
   him." And every man felt strong because of that sympathy. Now, you who
   toil, think of Him who is the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the
   Prince of the kings of the ear-th--and for your comfort read the text
   again--"Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on
   the well."

   Yes, but there are other kinds of toilers beside these. There are holy
   workers who, I think, ought to have a drink of water out of this well.
   You try and speak for Christ, or you go about and visit--you are very
   earnest to bring sinners to Jesus and, sometimes, you feel as if you
   could not do any more. You have not succeeded, perhaps, and you are
   disappointed and heart-weary. Well, when you are so, say to yourself,
   "My Lord knows all about His servant. 'Jesus therefore, being wearied
   with His journey, sat thus on the well.'" Or, perhaps, your weariness
   comes of suffering. The pain is very sharp, you get very little rest,
   it seems to you as if all night long you had never slept. You steal a
   little sleep and when you wake again, in the morning, you feel more
   tired than when you went to bed. And sometimes you say to yourself, "I
   am so weary and worn. Will these pains never end? Is there no release
   from this, my chain? Must I always drag it with me?" But when you fall
   back upon the pillow, oh so weary--and some of us know all about this
   weariness, for we have many times felt as if we could not even breathe,
   or lift a finger--remember, then, "Jesus being wearied with His
   journey, sat thus on the well." Oh, the deep sympathy of Christ! He
   knows it, not only by having heard of it, and seen it, but by having
   felt it. Go to Him without any fear, with a childlike confidence that
   He who has been tried in all points like as we are, and who was,
   Himself, compassed with infirmity, is able to succor us in all times of
   weariness! And be assured that if we come to Him, He will give us rest.

   I am just getting into my sermon, now--all these observations which I
   have made are only preliminary, but the discourse, itself, will be a
   short one.

   First, dear Friends, if I have, here, a weary sinner who longs to find
   rest, I want his conscience to paint a picture. And after his
   conscience has painted it, I want his faith to come and study it And
   when that has been done, I want his gratitude and his love to remove
   thatpicture and to paint another

   I. First, then, I want every conscience here that is awakened, but has
   never been quieted by the blood of Christ, to PAINT A PICTURE--and that
   picture is the portrait of a wearied Savior, a Savior wearied by you,
   worn out by you-- wearied, not with His journey, but wearied with your
   sin.

   "Can that be?" someone asks. Yes, the Lord has said it in Isaiah. "You
   have wearied Me with your iniquities." You have wearied Christ by doing
   wrong and doing it again and again, and sinning against conscience and
   against light. You are wearying my Lord, my loving Lord! In the Book of
   Amos He says, "I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is
   full of sheaves." You know how they heap the sheaves on till the wagon
   creaks and the axle is ready to break--do you treat my Lord like an old
   wagon and load on your sins, sheaf upon sheaf, till He can bear no
   more? He says that it is so with some of you and I want you to paint
   the picture of a wearied Christ, wearied with your sin.

   Perhaps in the case of some of you Christ is wearied with your
   religion. ''Wearied with our religion?" asks one. When you get home,
   will you read the first chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and
   you will see there how God declares Himself to be tired of the empty
   formalism of the people? "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
   abomination unto Me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of
   assemblies, I cannot endure. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
   Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a
   trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them." It was a weariness to Him
   and, if you pray, but do not pray sincerely, my Lord will be tired of
   hearing your mockery of prayer! If you go to sacraments, or come to
   public worship and think that this will save you, my Lord will be weary
   of you, for it is all a sham! There is a shell, but there is no kernel.
   You mock Him with the solemn sound upon a thoughtless tongue. You sit
   as His people sit and your minds are far away on the mountains of
   vanity. You hear, you join in the hymn and listen to the prayer, but
   there is no true worship, praise, or supplication. I tell you, Sirs, my
   Lord is getting weary of you--getting sick and tired of your religion!
   What a picture! Christ wearied with sin and wearied with dead religion!

   I fear that I might also say that there are some here of whom Christ is
   weary because of their broken promises. When they were sick, they said,
   "We will repent if the Lord will spare our lives." They vowed, when
   they were in danger, that they would turn to Him if He delivered
   them--but nothing of the kind has happened. My dear Friend, you are
   still here undecided! Twelve months ago you would not have believed
   that another year would have passed and found you just where you are.
   The wheels of time are running round swiftly as flames of lightning,
   but you make no advance whatever! On the contrary, I am afraid that you
   are going backward. My Lord is getting wearied of your excuses and your
   procrastination! "You have lied to Me," says the Lord, and He will not
   always endure this treatment from you.

   With some, my Lord is getting weary because of their resistance to His
   Spirit Remember that God said of some who rebelled and vexed His Holy
   Spirit, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." He shall not
   always be put to the indignity of striving with men who resist Him, as
   did their fathers. When holy thoughts arise, you quench them--and you
   have done this, oh, so long! How many years has this been the case with
   some of you? If some persons whom I know are provoked for only five
   minutes, their anger boils over. If they stood to be insulted for
   half-an-hour, they would count it a miracle! I know some with whom it
   is "a word and a blow" and, often, the blow comes faster than the word!
   But only think of anyone having lived to provoke God for five years, 10
   years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years! Shall I go further? I believe that
   there are some here who have outdone the Israelites in the wilderness,
   for they provoked God 40 years, but these people have provoked Him 50,
   sixty, or even 70 years!

   My Lord is weary! My Lord is weary! You remember, when He grew weary
   with the Israelites, He lifted His hand to Heaven and swore that they
   should not enter into His rest. What was the sin that shut them out?
   "So then," says the Apostle, "they could not enter in because of
   unbelief." Christ will not always be quibbled at, nor have His promises
   belied, nor His sweet invitations cast behind your backs. He is getting
   very tired and very weary of you--and I fear that He will one day say,
   "I will ease Me of My adversaries." Be thankful that He has not said
   it, yet, and turn to Him with true repentance and faith!

   But there is the picture and to me it is a very pitiful picture, to see
   Jesus sitting down by the well of Eternal Life, wearied by men whom He
   came to bless.

   II. Now I want you to STUDY THAT PICTURE of the wearied Christ.

   Look closely at it--not merely with the eyes of your conscience, but
   with the eyes of faith--and if you have not any, I must try to lend you
   mine. For a few minutes I must believe for you, in the hope that what I
   tell you--and know to be true--God the Holy Spirit may enable you to
   believe, too, that you may, yourselves, spiritually see. Yes, I can see
   Jesus Christ, very weary, sitting on the well. Let me look at Him a
   while. I like the picture so, it seems to comfort me as I look at the
   well, for, albeit that He is very weary, yet I perceive that He is
   waiting. He sits on the well, for there is a woman coming--a poor
   fallen woman--and He is waiting to bless her. She ought to have been
   here early in the morning, and it is now twelve o'clock. The sun has
   reached its zenith and is shining at its hottest. The woman will be
   here soon. Jesus is very weary, but He still waits. Sinner, that is
   just the attitude of my Lord towards you! You say you cannot see Him--
   you have not the eyes of faith, but I can see Him. I remember when I
   first saw Him that He had long been waiting for Me. He waits to be
   gracious. He is in no hurry, He allows the sinner time, wicked though
   the spending of that time is on the sinner's part--but Christ spends
   that time in patiently waiting.

   I must look again at the picture. As I look, I can see that He is not
   only waiting, but He is watching. I can see that He is turning His eyes
   toward the city gate. "She will be out very soon," He says to Himself.
   "She must come here and I know that she is coming." He is not looking
   round at the scenery. That is not the chief thing to Him, just now--He
   is looking for this poor soul that is coming. Oh, my dear Friend,
   though you have wearied Christ, yet He is still waiting and watching
   for you! There is many an elect soul that my Lord is spying out over
   there in the first gallery, or up there in those boxes almost in the
   roof, or down below in that area! And Jesus is waiting and watching for
   them.

   Now I must look again, for my Lord, though He is very weary, has at
   last spied out the person for whom He is waiting and watching. Here she
   comes! And now I perceive how willing He is. His heart seems to beat
   more quickly, His eyes are brighter than usual, He is not half as weary
   as He was. You may have seen the faint and tired hunter suddenly grow
   strong when, at last, he spies on the crag, the deer he has come to
   seek. Or the fisherman standing wearily in the stream, holding his rod,
   but ready to go home to his long-needed meal, but, at last, the salmon
   begins to part away at his line-- now how strong a man he is! He will
   go on for an hour at that work and he will not need to eat or drink.
   The whole of his being is in the fishing. So was it with my blessed
   Master. That woman was coming and Christ was "all there," as we say. He
   was ready to speak the right words--a word in season to one who was
   weary--to speak the word of admonition, or of comfort, or of
   invitation. And He is "all here" at this moment. I thought, when I
   stood here tonight, to speak to you, "I am constantly coming to the
   Tabernacle to talk to this great throng," and something seemed to say
   to me, "You ought to be glad to have such an opportunity!" I thought,
   "Yes, and I am glad, and I will try my very best to preach Christ to
   them as long as this tongue can move, for it is a delightful privilege
   to be allowed to tell men about my Master's pardoning love." But, oh,
   if He were here in bodily Presence, He would do it so much better than
   any of us can, for His heart is so much more full of love than our poor
   hearts are!

   He was at the well, waiting, and watching, and willing. And though He
   was very weary, yet, when the woman came to Him and she believed His
   message, He saved her right away. A weary Christ is most willing to
   save a weary sinner! Though He was tired, yet He could save that great
   sinner and now, exalted in the highest heavens, though you have wearied
   Him with your sins, yet He will blot out those sins, even now, the
   moment you put your trust in Him! And even with His weary hands He will
   wipe away your transgressions. He is, in fact, so weary with your sins
   that He will put them away, that He and you, too, may never be wearied
   with them again! He is so sick of your wanderings that He will end them
   and receive you into His heart, that you may never wander again!

   This picture looked very sad when I saw it at a distance and when you
   saw it with the eyes of your conscience, but, oh, if you can put on the
   blessed glasses of faith and see it as I have tried to describe it, the
   picture grows very lovely! "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His
   journey, sat thus on the well"--waiting, watching, willing and able to
   save--yes, to so save the woman as to make her the means of saving
   others! And, maybe He will now save you who have wearied Him, and start
   you at once to bringing others to Him. I shall not be surprised if it
   is so! I shall be concerned if it does not happen, for we have sought
   it at His hands and we expect to have it!

   III. Now I want to ALTER THE PICTURE ON THE CANVAS.

   I suppose I have not an artist here who can help me with his brush. I
   want to take a little out and put a little in, for the new picture is
   to be a portrait of the weary Savior sitting on the well, refreshed by
   the very sinner who had helped to weary Him! A woman must be put into
   the picture now, Mr. Painter. There she is and the Master is saying to
   her, "Give Me a drink." And did she do it? She did not dip her water
   pot into the well, but did she give Him a drink? Yes, that she did! I
   am sure she refreshed Him even more than she would have done by a
   draught of water, because when the disciples came back to their Master,
   He said to them, "I have meat to eat that you know not of," so that He
   had evidently been refreshed. And how was it done? Why, by that woman!
   What had she given Him which had so refreshed Him?

   Well, first, she had put to Him various enquiries. She began asking Him
   a number of questions and the Lord Jesus Christ is always refreshed
   when He meets with enquirers. If you only want to know all you can
   about Christ, that will be some sort of refreshment to Him, for the
   mass of men pass by Him with indifference, so that He has to say--

   "Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Is it nothing to you that
   Jesus should die?"

   I am sure that my Master will be glad if some of you will begin to
   enquire, as the woman did, "Are You greater than our father Jacob,
   which gave us the well?" Or, "From where, then, have You that living
   water?" I do not mind even if your question is a foolish one, because
   that will only show the state of mind you are in--and Christ can cure
   the foolishness and give you wisdom. Read the New Testament carefully.
   Go down on your knees and say, "Lord, teach me what the meaning of this
   passage is." You will thus refresh my Master's heart and I shall expect
   to see you, before long, among the saved!

   Next, this woman refreshed the Savior's heart with prayer, for when she
   had asked Him questions, she prayed in her poor way, "Sir, give me this
   water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw." She hardly knew
   what she said, but, as far as she knew anything, she meant to ask Jesus
   to give her what He had to give! Dear Heart, may the Lord help you to
   begin to pray even now! The Master's spirit will be wonderfully
   refreshed by your supplication. He will have a deep draught of cold
   water from the well when He gets to hear your voice in prayer. "Take
   with you words," says the Prophet Hosea," and turn to the Lord. Say to
   Him, Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously." If one poor
   soul in this Tabernacle, far away at the back, there, who cannot see,
   and perhaps can hardly hear, is moved to pray, "God be merciful to me a
   sinner," that petition will touch the heart of the Son of God! Even on
   the Throne of the highest heavens, He will be refreshed--He always is
   when He hears a sinner pray!

   But, further, this woman not only prayed, but she confessed her sin.
   The confession was not very explicit, but she acknowledged that what
   the Lord laid to her charge was true. "Sir," she said "I perceive that
   You are a Prophet." And to the men of the city she said, "Come, see a
   Man who told me all things that ever I did." A hearty confession to
   God, while it is good for your soul, is good for Christ's soul, too--He
   gets refreshed thereby.

   Best of all, this woman believed in Jesus. When He said that He was the
   Christ, she accepted His declaration as true and, therefore, she said
   to the men of the city, "Is not this the Christ?" O my Lord, You will
   again see of the travail of Your soul and You will be once more
   satisfied if some poor sinner does but receive You! Does not a mother
   rejoice when, after her pangs, she fixes her eyes upon her first-born
   child? That is the very picture that Isaiah drew of the Lord Jesus
   Christ--"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be
   satisfied." Oh, to think that you and I can give satisfaction to the
   heart of Christ for all the anguish that He bore when He poured out His
   soul unto death! That is no metaphor of mine--it is a Scriptural
   symbol! I have only given you what the Holy Spirit, Himself, has said
   and, oh, dear Friends, I do pray that some of you may thus gratify,
   satisfy, refresh, invigorate, delight and glorify the Christ who now,
   though He reigns on high, has never forgotten that He did once sit on
   the well and thirst! And while He so thirsted, saved a Samaritan sinner
   and found Himself refreshed in the doing of it!

   God bless you, Beloved, and bring you to the Savior, for His name's
   sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN4:1-29.

   I have often read this chapter in your hearing and you have often read
   it yourselves, but the Word of God is not like the grapes of an earthly
   vine which, when once trodden, are exhausted. You may come to Holy
   Scripture again and again--it is like an ever-flowing fountain--the
   more you draw from it, the more you may draw.

   Verses 1-3. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard
   that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus
   Himself baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judaea and departed
   again into Galilee. Observe, here, that our Lord at first shunned
   conflict with the Pharisees. When He knew that they were jealous of
   Him, He went away from Judaea to a more remote district, "into
   Galilee." May He help us always to take that which may be the wiser
   course in every emergency! He was not guilty of cowardice--that He
   could not be--for He was the bravest of the brave, but sometimes it
   will be most courageous on our part to shun a conflict. When you
   believe it is right to do so, never mind what anybody may say, but do
   as your Master did on this occasion.

   4. And He must go through Samaria. It is true that it was the nearest
   way, yet He might have gone round about. But He would not do so, for
   there were souls in Samaria who were to be blessed by His Presence. He
   had a constraint upon Him, an inward impulse, so that, "He must go
   through Samaria." Dear Friends, whenever you feel the drawings of the
   Spirit in any particular direction, do not resist them, but yield
   yourself entirely to His gracious influence, even as your Lord did.

   5, 6. Then He came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near
   to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's
   well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat
   thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. About twelve
   o'clock, in the middle of the day, at high noon. You will observe, dear
   Friends, that our Lord spoke to Nicodemus at night, but when He was
   about to talk to a fallen woman, alone, He did it in the middle of the
   day. There is a time for everything--so let those who serve God be
   careful as to the best time of their service. Our Lord had a tender
   delicacy about Him which led Him instinctively to do the right thing at
   the right time.

   7. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. That was not the usual
   time for drawing water. Women generally went to the well in the morning
   and in the evening, but this poor fallen creature was not one with whom
   other women would associate, so she came alone, at the hour when the
   sun was hottest--and when nobody else would likely to be there.

   7. Jesus said unto her, Give Me a drink. This was quite a natural way
   of beginning a conversation and they will best touch other people's
   minds and hearts who do not harshly interject religion, but who wisely
   introduce i t, leading up to it with a holy dexterousness such as our
   Lord always exhibited. He begins not with any remarks about the woman's
   life, or her sin, or even about His great salvation, but with the
   simple request, "Give Me a drink."

   8, 9. (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy food).
   Then said the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that You, being a
   Jew, ask a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?For the Jews have
   no dealings with the Samaritans. But our Lord did not come to maintain
   these distinctions of race and caste. It is altogether foreign to the
   spirit of Christianity for nationalities to be despised! We sometimes
   hear people say of a person, "Oh, he is only a So-and-So!" mentioning
   some nation that happens to be in the background. Christ was
   cosmopolitan! He loved men of every nation, tribe, tongue and people.
   To Him there was neither Jew nor Samaritan--all such distinctions were
   banished from His mind. The woman might well say what she did, but her
   words would have sounded strangely out of place from the lips of
   Christ.

   10, 11. Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God,
   and who it is that says to you, Give Me a drink; you would have asked
   of Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said unto
   Him, Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from
   where, then, have You that living water?Holy knowledge is very
   advantageous--it often is the means of breeding prayer. "If you
   knew...you would have asked, and He would have given." Therefore,
   Beloved, let us teach the Truth of God to all who come in our way, for
   it may be that we, too, shall meet with many of whom it can be said
   that if they know what the gift of God is, they will ask for it--and if
   they ask for it, Christ will give it to them.

   12. Are Yougreater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and
   drank thereof himself, andhis children, andhis cattle?'Ah, she did not
   know how infinitely superior Jesus was to Jacob! There could be no
   comparison between the two. Jesus is the true Father of all Israel and,
   in that respect, He is like Jacob, but He is immeasurably greater than
   "father Jacob."

   13, 14. Jesus answered and said unto her, Whoever drinks of this water
   shall thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give
   him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
   him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Hence he will
   always be content. He who has Divine Grace in his heart is a happy
   man--he grows more and more satisfied with the Grace as it wells up
   increasingly in living power in his character and life. Oh, if you have
   never received that Living Water, may God give it to you now! You shall
   never regret receiving it, and you shall rejoice over it forever!

   15. The woman said unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst
   not, neither come here to draw. Up till now she has not imbibed a
   single idea from Christ. The Lord has spoken to her in parables, but
   she has not seen through the thin veil, so she has missed His meaning.
   Now He fires another shot and deals with her in another fashion.

   16-18. Jesus said unto her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The
   woman answered and said, Ihave no husband. Jesus said unto her, You
   have well said, Ihave no husband, for you have had five husbands; and
   he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly. It
   was necessary to awaken this woman to a sense of her sinfulness. It was
   no use putting on plasters where there was no knowledge of a sore, and
   no use attempting to fill the void where there was no feeling of
   emptiness. So first she must be brought low. She must be made to see
   herself in the glass of the Truth of God. And then she would begin to
   understand her need of salvation. Oftentimes, in seeking to bless
   people, the kindest way is not to build them up, but to pull them
   down--not to begin to encourage their hopes--but to let them see how
   hopeless their case is apart from Sovereign Grace.

   19. The woman said unto Him, Sir, Iperceive that You are a Prophet She
   did not deny Christ's charges. She could not, for they were so
   accurately descriptive of her whole life.

   20-23. Our fathers worshippedin this mountain; andyou say that in
   Jerusalem is theplace where men ought to worship. Jesus said unto her,
   Woman, believe Me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this
   mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you
   know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
   But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
   the Father in spirit and in truth. I t is not the place which makes the
   true worship--it is the heart. It is not even the day--it is the state
   of a man's mind. It is not that the place is said to be holy and,
   therefore, prayer is accepted--every place is equally holy where holy
   men worship God. All distinctions of buildings are heathenish or, at
   the best, Jewish--they are done away with by Christ.

   23-26. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and
   they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. The
   woman said unto Him, I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ:
   when He is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I
   that speak unto you am He. And she believed it, for what she had heard
   had prepared her mind for this declaration! Christ's reading of her
   heart had convinced her that He was the Messiah. How many have been
   brought to Christ's feet by having their characters laid bare in the
   preaching of the Word! The very thing they did in secret, yes, the very
   thoughtof their heart which they never communicated even to their best
   friend, has been told them. Their dream has been revealed to them and
   the interpretation of it, too--and, by God's Grace, they have been
   convinced that He who can thus read their hearts must be the Son of
   God!

   27, 28. And upon this came His disciples and marveled that He talked
   with the woman, yet no man said, What do You seek? Or, Why do You talk
   with her? The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the
   city. So that blessed interview was broken up by Christ's own
   disciples! What a set of blunderers we are! We sometimes come in
   between Christ and poor sinners whom He is going to bless. There is
   many a lover of stern doctrine, with an unsympathetic heart and a harsh
   tone of speech, who has intruded just when he was not needed! If we
   cannot help poor souls, Brothers and Sisters, let us never hinder them!
   What Christian would not wish to help a poor sinner to her Savior? Yet
   these disciples, unconscious of what they were doing, had by their very
   looks driven this poor woman from their Master. She "went her way into
   the city."

   28, 29. And said to the men, Come, see a Man, which told me all things
   that ever I did: is not this the Christ? May we be made useful, even as
   this woman was, in bringing others to Christ' feet, for His dear name's
   sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Climax of God's Love No. 2571

   (No. 2571)

   INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 22, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
   1, 1883.

   "And it shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me,
   Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali. For I will take away the names
   of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by
   their name." Hosea 2:16,17.

   You who have been here, on recent Thursday nights, will remember how
   Israel was described at the time to which our text refers. [ See Sermon
   #s 2564 and 2569--Strange Ways of Love, and The Backsliders Door of
   Hope] She was represented as a woman who had been false to her marriage
   vows, had left her husband and defiled herself in the most abominable
   way. Being greatly inflamed with evil passions, she had gone astray
   times out of number--and then the Lord Jehovah, who was Israel's true
   spiritual Husband--in the abundance of His love, sought to bring her
   back to Himself. He exercised her with severe discipline, taking away
   from her many things in which she delighted, till she became poor, sick
   and wretched. He hedged up her way with thorns and put obstacles in her
   way so that she could not find her paths. And when she went after her
   lovers, she could not overtake them. But, notwithstanding all that, she
   still continued to go further and further away from Him to whom her
   love was due--the God to whom she owed everything--the only living and
   true God who had been so gracious and true to her.

   At last the Lord tried other means of bringing her back to Himself.
   Instead of driving her from Him, or threatening her with destruction,
   He allured her into the wilderness and there He manifested Himself to
   her in all the charms of His Divine Purity and Beauty. He drew her away
   from all her old companions, brought her into a place of solitude and
   then spoke to her very heart with a voice of Infinite Love so that He
   won her, again, and brought her back to Himself. And then it was that
   He once more gave her the joys which she had lost--and a great many
   others--and made her rich with everything that could cause her to be,
   indeed, blessed!

   Now comes in this passage, which I have just read in your hearing, that
   which appears to me to describe the climax of God's love. His Infinite
   Mercy at last taught Israel to know Him in deed and in truth and, by
   the mighty power of His Grace, she was clean delivered from all her
   former idolatrous lovers and made to cleave in holy constancy to
   Jehovah, her God! I want to speak to you about that work of love in the
   heart of these wanderers which, at last, brought them to be right with
   their God. And my hope is that our meditation upon the text will be
   blessed in the same fashion to many others. When a man is truly right
   with God, he is right everywhere. As long as he is wrong with God, he
   may be right everywhere else, yet he is not right in the most important
   matter of all! But as long as he is right with God, everything is put
   in due order and everything will go on well with him in all respects.

   Coming closely to our text, I want you to notice, first, the conquest
   of love--"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call
   Me, Ishi." That is, "my Husband." Secondly, I shall say a little upon
   the jealousy of love. "At that day . . .you shall call Me no more,
   Baali." Because that name had been defiled and God would not have His
   servants use toward Himself a title which had been stained with sin.
   Then, thirdly, I shall speak of the nearness of love, which is a point
   that lies concealed within the text, but which I will try to bring out.
   And, fourthly, I shall speak upon the vengeance of love, for true love
   will lead us to take vengeance upon that evil which has brought so much
   sorrow to our heart--"I will take away the names of Baalim out of her
   mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name."

   I. First, then, let us think for a little while upon THE CONQUEST OF
   LOVE--"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me,
   Ishi." That is, "my Husband."

   They had never called God by that name. They had stood in awe and dread
   of the Most High, but as to calling God, their Husband, that they had
   never done, though He was truly a Husband to them, for He lavished on
   them all the kindness and tenderness which a husband renders toward his
   beloved wife. Yet God's people had never given Him that love which was
   due in return--and they had never dared to call Him by so sweet and
   endearing a name as that of Ishi, "my Husband." But the Lord said, "At
   that day, you shall call Me, Ishi." Grace has really won us when it has
   won our hearts! When we yield to God not a mere external obedience, but
   the affection of our hearts, then all is won and all is well.

   Note, first, dear Friends, that these people were so truly won back to
   God that they had a new name for Him, a name which had never occurred
   to them before. They had called Him, God. They had spoken to Him as
   Jehovah, or as El, or as Elohim, but they had never thought to call
   Him, "Ishi." But now they understand Him better and here is a new name
   for Him who is, to them, practically a new Being, a new Person. Alas,
   that still many men do not "know the Lord." There is a depth of meaning
   in that expression and to multitudes God is quite unknown. It was said,
   long ago, that it is the highest wisdom for a man to know himself--but
   I deny that. The first, the highest, the best of all wisdom is for a
   man to know his God. As for himself, he is but a speck, an atom, a
   nothing. If he truly attains a knowledge of God, he will afterwards
   know himself in the best possible way. Pope said that "the proper study
   of mankind is man," but it is not so. His proper study is mankind's
   Maker, the God who made us all! But man, until he is Divinely taught,
   knows not God--he has not, by nature, a name for God. He borrows a name
   out of the Bible and calls Him, "God." That is, "good" but he does not
   mean what he says, for if he thought that God was good, he would love
   Him. But inasmuch as he does not love God, he does not, in the highest
   sense, know God.

   But when a man comes to know the Lord. When God, in all His wondrous
   majesty, draws near the heart and opens the eyes of the understanding
   till the man sees his Maker and cries, "How dreadful is this place!
   This is none other than the House of God and this is the gate of
   Heaven"--when he feels that the Lord is there and he knows it, then,
   straightway, he uses a right name for God! That is a very precious name
   which Christ puts into our mouths when He bids us say to God, "Our
   Father, which are in Heaven." And there is a wonderful sweetness when
   we come to know that we may call Him our Husband. I do not like to
   compare the two, or say which title is to be preferred--whether Husband
   or Fa-ther--they are both unutterably sweet when they are enjoyed to
   the fullest.

   You see, then, dear Friends, that Grace had taught these people a new
   name for God. David said to the Lord, "They that know Your name will
   put their trust in You." In another Psalm, the Lord's response is
   given--"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver
   him: I will set him on high because he has known My name." So was it in
   the day of which our text speaks.

   Further, that name, Ishi, "my Husband," is a name of love. There is a
   mutual engagement between the true husband and wife, they complement of
   each other. So is it with Christ and His Church. Yet, as I read of it
   in the Bible, it often astonishes me. Paul wrote to the Colossians, "It
   pleased the Father that in Him," (that is, in the Divine Husband,
   Christ Jesus), "should all fullness dwell." Then to the Ephesians he
   wrote, "And has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the
   Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of
   Him that fills all in all." It is marvelous that the saints should be
   toChrist a fullness, but so it is! He is to be to us as the Husband and
   we are to be to Him as the dearly-beloved object of that love, desiring
   to return it as best we can, loving Him and Him, alone, with all our
   heart, mind, soul and strength. What a sweet name that is for our
   Divine Lord--our Husband! What but the Grace of God could ever have
   given backsliding Israel courage to utter it? What but the Grace of God
   could ever have taught us to know that we, also, might truthfully say
   it? Yet I trust that many of us do say of God in Christ Jesus, "He is
   our Ishi, our Husband." This name, then, is a name of love, suggesting
   the mutual engagement between Christ and His people.

   It is also a name of honor, involving obedience, ' 'for the husband is
   the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church. .
   .Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be
   to their own husbands in everything." In the relationship between
   Christ and His people, everything is written in capital letters, for
   truly He is the Head of His body, the Church. Therefore, dear Friends,
   it is for us who belong to Him to be obedient to Christ in everything.
   It was a wise word that the mother of Jesus spoke to the servants at
   the marriage at Cana, "Whatever He says to you, do it." That is
   exactlywhat we ought to do under all circumstances. Christ's will is
   our law. His teaching is our doctrine. He, Himself, we call Lord and we
   do well, for so He is. He has become everything to us, now, as the true
   husband is to the true wife. It is a joy to us to obey Him. If a
   command comes to us from Christ, our feet have wings, like the fabled
   Mercury! If a word comes from Christ, our mind is wax to be stamped
   with it, as with a seal! And we desire never to lose the impression. If
   we know that Christ does but wish a thing, it shall be as the bonds of
   law to us. We wish to do--no, we longto do His will and to have every
   thought brought into captivity to the Law of Christ. I am sure, dear
   Friends, it is a wonder of Grace when we can say this, for there was a
   time when we never cared for Christ. A little while ago some of us did
   not mind what His Laws were, or what His teaching was--He was nothing
   at all to us. "He was despised and we esteemed Him not." But now, how
   different it is! The faintest accent that falls from His lips has in it
   a power and a majesty which we do not wish to question! He is our
   Husband and we are His obedient spouse.

   Husband, again, is a name of trust and expectation. A wife expects her
   maintenance and all that she needs from her husband and she ought to
   have it, too. It is the part of the husband to render to his wife all
   that he can for her necessity and her happiness. All our expectations
   are from Christ. Some wives bring their husbands a dowry, but we
   brought Christ nothing but our poor selves. Sometimes a wife has
   nothing but what she stands upright in, but we had not even that, for
   we could not stand upright at all. We were like that infant whom the
   Lord described by the pen of Ezekiel-- cast out into the open field,
   neglected, unwashed, unclothed--left there to die--but when our Lord
   passed by, it was the time of love and He said to us, "Live." We had to
   be indebted to Him for life and we have had to be indebted to Him for
   everything since then! I have no doubt that some wives think it is a
   fine thing to have their husband's purse to draw from, but I know that
   it is glorious to have Christ's purse to draw from! "Of His fullness
   have all we received, and Grace for Grace." And we expect to receive a
   great deal more and sometimes we sing about what we are to have,
   by-and-by--

   "And a 'new song'is in my mouth,

   To long-loved music set!

   Glory to You for all the Grace

   I have not tasted yet"

   Yes, this name of husband is a name of trust and expectation and, in
   God's case, as the Husband of His people, the trust and the expectation
   are never disappointed!

   But, best of all, it is a name of indissoluble union. I could not trust
   myself to speak on this wondrous theme, for even Paul, when he wrote
   upon it said, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
   and shall be joined unto his wife, and the two shall be one flesh."
   "This is a great mystery," added the Apostle, "but I speak concerning
   Christ and the Church." It is, indeed, a great mystery that Christ
   should have left His Father to become one flesh with His people! Think
   of Him here on earth, hungry, weary, toiling and, at last, scourged,
   crucified, faint and dying because He took upon Himself our flesh and
   became one with us. And now there is such a union between every
   Believer and Christ as can never be destroyed! Paul triumphantly asks,
   "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
   our Lord?" There is no possibility of divorce between Christ and the
   soul that trusts Him, for it is written, "The Lord, the God of Israel,
   says that He hates putting away" and, therefore, He will never practice
   it, nor will He ever banish from His heart one whom He has taken to be
   His own. "Your Maker is your Husband," is a sentence full of comfort to
   everyone who can claim that blessed relationship! This union stands
   fast forever and ever. The Lord did not approve of giving a bill of
   divorcement in the olden days, although Moses permitted it because of
   the hardness of men's hearts, and He will never do what He did not
   approve of, but He will cling to us forever. Once joined to Christ, we
   shall never be divided from Him, but shall always be able to call Him,
   "Ishi, my Husband."

   Is not this, indeed, a conquest of love? That those who were utter
   strangers to Christ--that those who were downright enemies to Him--that
   those who lived year after year, and even when they thought a little,
   did not give Him a thought? Or if they thought of Him, refused to yield
   to Him--is it not wonderful that even these should come to be as much
   in love with Christ as the newly-married wife is with her husband--and
   that these people should be linked with Christ so as never to be
   separated from Him, world without end? O Beloved, I think I said
   nothing but the truth when I called it the conquest of love!

   II. Now we come to the second part of the text, which speaks of the
   JEALOUSY OF LOVE--"It shall be at that day, says the Lord, that you
   shall call Me, Ishi; and shall call Me no more, Baali."

   What does, "Baali," mean? It means, husband. It means the same thing as
   Ishi. I will show you the point of difference, presently, but speaking
   broadly, it is the same thing. Then, why not call Him, Baali, if it
   means the same thing?

   Was there anything wrong in the word, Baali? No, nothing, for the Lord
   Himself uses it on other occasions. Why, then, does He say, "You shall
   call Me no more, Baali," when He calls Himself so? Well, it was for
   this reason--they had used the name for false gods, they had called
   them, Baal--therefore they were not to use that title any more for
   Jehovah. He said to them, "You have been accustomed to speak of Me as,
   Baal, and to speak of this god, and that god, and all the gods as so
   many Baals, or Baalim. Now, from this time forth, I will have a name to
   Myself, and it shall be, Ishi, and you shall never again call Me,
   Baali." This was the command of God and, moreover, it met with His
   people's full consent. You may depend upon it that what God here
   orders, His people were willing to carry out. They would no more call
   Him by a name which had been dishonored by association with Israel's
   idols and which, therefore, could not properly be applied to Jehovah.

   I want you to listen very intently to what I am about to say. Some of
   you have lately united with the Lord's people-- may God give you great
   love to Himself and may that love have a holy jealousy associated with
   it! There are some things which, in themselves, may be right enough,
   but having become connected with wrong things, you must not meddle with
   them any more. If the word, Ishi, means, husband, and the word, Baal,
   also means, husband, yet, inasmuch as that word, Baal, has been used
   concerning idols and so has become defiled and despoiled of its beauty
   and purity, you must not use it in reference to God. There is nothing
   wrong in the word, itself, but there is evil in its associations.
   Therefore, drop it. There have been other words that have fallen in a
   similar fashion. The word, "tyrant," used to mean a lord or king--
   there were so many little kings of Greece who were called tyrants and
   who so misbehaved themselves, that at last nobody wished to wear such a
   name as that of tyrant! It is no longer applied to a king simply
   because he holds that office, but only to an oppressive tyrannical
   despot. So, in the Latin, there is a word which used to mean, servant,
   but now, if you turn to the dictionary, you will find that it means a
   thief--and a servant is not called by that name, but it came to mean a
   thief because, I suppose, in those days many servants were thieves. In
   this way words get pulled down from their original meaning--and this
   word, Baal, was just one of them. It is no use saying, "Oh, but there
   was a time when it was a very proper word to use!" You have nothing to
   do with that matter--is it a proper word to use now? For, if it is not,
   do not touch it!

   There are many things in the world of that sort. I am not going to
   mention them, one by one, because you have your own senses and you can
   apply a general rule to particular instances. There are a thousand
   things which, today, in your minds and in the minds of all thinking
   persons, are connected with evil. And if you have a truly jealous love
   to Christ, you will say, concerning any of them, "I must not do this."
   Avoid the very appearanceof evil, keep clear of it altogether! Just
   picture to yourself a true Ishmaelite kneeling down to worship Jehovah.
   I will suppose that he has been accustomed to speak of God under that
   word, Baal, as his Husband and, as he worships,, with others, he cries,
   "O Baal, hear us!" I can imagine that as God heard that prayer, He
   accepted it--the man meant it rightly enough--He worshipped God under a
   right name, one which the Lord had given to Himself. But supposing that
   a heathen happened to stand where he heard the Israelite pray? He would
   say to himself, "That man worships Baal the same as I do!" Well, if it
   had been my case and I had risen from my knees, and heard such a remark
   as that, I would have said, "I see that the title I have used is
   calculated to mislead--I will never use it again--but what word shall I
   put in its place?" The Lord, here, answers the question! "It shall be
   at that day, says the Lord, that you shall call Me, Ishi; and shall
   call Me no more, Baali," because the name, Baali, was likely to be
   misunderstood.

   For God's sake be pure, for nothing but purity ought to appear in His
   Presence! For your own sake, be very care-ful--you cannot be too
   precise and particular. Your tendencies are toward evil, keep them in
   check and, for the sake of others, who, if they see you take an inch,
   will take a yard, be you doubly careful and let not even a name which,
   to you, may have been sacred and holy, come upon your lips if it has
   been used in an unholy manner and would suggest a sinful idea to the
   minds of others! That is the drift of the subject--that a man who loves
   Christ should be jealous of himself to the last degree.

   I never knew anyone who was too precise or too Puritan--I have heard
   some people say that of certain men and whenever I have come to know
   those who have been so described, I have found them such godly people
   that I have wished to be like they! It is always better to be too
   precise than to be too lax. Our chastity of love to Christ is a thing
   that must not be questioned. Caesar's wife must not only be beyond
   blame, but she must be above suspicion--and so must Christians try to
   be. Oh, that we did always guard ourselves most jealously lest in
   anything we should grieve our Lord! Better that I deny myself a
   thousand things which I might take than that I should mislead one
   person and lead him into sin! "If meat offends my brother, I will eat
   no flesh while the world stands," said the Apostle Paul. He might
   lawfully have eaten meat and he said that he felt free in his own
   conscience to do as he pleased in that matter, but he had regard to the
   conscience of others who might be caused to stumble through him.
   Therefore he made himself weak that he might gain the weak and, lest
   haply another man, doing what he might safely do, might be lost through
   doing it. Take care, then, dear Friends, as to your influence upon
   other people. Do not be among those who say, "We shall still use the
   title, Baali. We always did before and it is a very proper title. God
   has applied it to Himself and we are not going to use anything else.
   What if other people do misuse it? We cannot help that--we are not our
   brother's keepers." That is the way Cain talked! "Am I my brother's
   keeper?" If there is such a man among us, I hope he will be very
   uncomfortable until he has come to a better state of mind! Our feeling
   is that we are our brothers' keepers and we desire, as much as lies in
   us, only to do that which will be safe for others to imitate. God help
   us to put the spirit and teaching of this passage into constant
   practice in our daily life!

   III. Now, thirdly, I want to prove to you that in our text there is a
   reference to THE NEARNESS OF LOVE. It lies hidden there, as honey is
   concealed within a flower, and the bee must dive right into the flower
   to find it!

   It appears, dear Friends, according to a great number of commentators,
   that those two words, Ishi and Baali, though they both mean, husband,
   yet mean, husband in a very different way. If a husband were to command
   his wife in an imperious fashion, as I suppose the Oriental husbands
   usually did, then the spouse might say, "My lord," or, "Baali." But
   when the husband was kind, tender and loving, his wife might say,
   "Ishi." Baali means, "my husband," "my lord," as Sarah obeyed Abraham,
   calling him, "My lord," or, "Baali." Yes, but, Ishi, means, "My
   husband," "My well-beloved," "My man," in that genial, loving, tender
   sense in which that expression is used by a loving wife. Let us be
   astonished as we learn that God would have His people call Him no more,
   "Baali," or, "Lord," but, "Ishi," "My Man," "My Husband."

   God is thus revealed to His people as ruling them not so much by law,
   as by love. It is no longer "You shall," and, "You shall not," but a
   sweet constraint is upon them by which they delight to do His will!
   When the worldling dreads sin, it is because he is afraid of Hell. But
   the Christian is delivered from all fear of Hell and he hates sin,
   itself, because he fears to grieve the God he loves. In the Church of
   God, the great rule is not, "Do this and you shall be rewarded; do the
   opposite and you shall be punished." That is the way Hagar ruled
   Ishmael, but that is not the way in which Sarah governed Isaac! The
   Lord does not put us upon legal terms with Him. He does not say, "You
   must do this and that, or else you shall have no Grace from Me, and I
   will cast you off and destroy you." Nothing of the sort! You who
   believe in Jesus are not under the Law, but under Grace! You are under
   the sweet and blessed rule of gracious and generous love--

   "'Tis love that makes our willing feet In swift obedience move."

   The Law of God drives and scourges, but it gets nothing out of us. But
   Love comes with its abundant gifts of all-sufficient Grace and
   straightway we say, "Lord, enable us to serve You. Help us to be
   obedient to You." Love accomplishes what Law never can--and when we
   view God as Love, then He is Ishi--and no longer do we look upon Him as
   ruling us by Law, for then His name would be Baali.

   Further, this nearness of love changes servitude into honor When we are
   under the Law and call God, Baali, life is servitude. Look at some who
   are trying to serve God without really knowing Him--they must doso
   much, they must felso much, they must prayso much, they must workso
   much, they must go through such-and-such ceremonies--and all they do is
   looked upon as being something required at their hands by a stern
   taskmaster! Rowland Hill tells the story of one who said that she had
   been preparing herself for the "sacrament"--she took a week to do it
   and then she found out that she had mistaken the day--and she said that
   through her mistake she had lost the whole week! That is the way they
   act and speak to whom God is Baali! But the child of God, when he comes
   to the Communion Table, if he thinks it right to spend the whole week
   in getting himself in a right condition of heart for so doing, would
   say, if the Table were not spread, "Well, I have had a blessing even in
   preparing for it. Even if I cannot, just now, observe the outward
   ordinance, I have been waiting upon God and so I have drawn near to Him
   in spirit and in truth."

   It is one of our highest pleasures to attend a place of worship, yet to
   some people it is a self-denial. Well, I do not say to them, "Do not go
   to the House of Prayer." But I do say, "You are not going in the right
   spirit." I like to see the people coming here on the Lord's-Day, or on
   a week-night. I can almost tell them by the way they walk. They trip
   along joyously as if they were pleased to come and as if they came to
   enjoy themselves, as I believe they do. That is how God would have you
   worship Him--in the spirit of freedom--not in the spirit of slavery!
   Does He want slaves to grace His Throne? In the old days of Legree and
   the slave-drivers, a man might be thought great who had all his slaves
   bowing down before him as he walked along, but what true man wishes for
   that sort of servitude? To rule over free men should be the ambition of
   a monarch--God will rule over spirits that love Him, that delight in
   Him, that are perfectly free and that find their freedom in doing His
   will. You shall call Him no more, Baali, counting it as servitude to
   wait upon Him, but you shall call Him, Ishi. It shall be a joy and an
   honor to serve your beloved Lord!

   You know how a loving wife waits upon her husband--it is never a
   slavery to her, but always a delight. She thinks of a hundred things
   that she can do for his comfort--some of them things that are perfectly
   unnecessary, they would never be commanded by any kind of law--but her
   loving heart suggests to her that she should do them so as to give him
   pleasure. So is it with the child of God. He tries to think of what he
   can do for Jesus and he never imagines that he can do enough for the
   Savior who has loved him and died to save him! Had he ten thousand
   hearts and lives, he would like to spend them all--and the help they
   bring with them--and the force they have in them for His dear Lord and
   Master!

   The name, Ishi, instead of, Baali, further means that, henceforth, the
   Believer's life is not one of fear, but one of confidence. The slave is
   afraid of the crack of the whip--look how the blood flies from his poor
   cheeks, lest he should feel the cruel lash! That is the condition of
   the man who thinks that his eternal safety depends upon his own
   watchfulness, his own prayerfulness, his own doings and his own will!
   But the child of God says, "I am trusting in Christ, I am everlastingly
   saved and have no need to fear." And he adds--

   "Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count but loss,
   My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His cross." He is
   now not at all afraid. What? Not afraid of sinning? Yes, he is, but not
   on legalground. The true Christian reminds me of a little boy who had a
   very kind and loving father and he was very fond of his father, too.
   One day some boys agreed to go and rob an orchard and they said to him,
   "Jack, you come with us." "No," he answered, "I cannot go with you, for
   it would grieve my father." "Oh, but," they said, "your father loves
   you and he won't beat you as our fathers will if they find out." "Ah,"
   he replied, "that is the very reason why I could not go--because he
   never beats me--he is so kind and loving that I will not do anything to
   grieve him."

   That is just the spirit that animates true Christians! If we live unto
   God, we cannot bear to do what is wrong. Immortal principles forbid the
   child of God to sin--he must be holy! Love binds him fast, crucifies
   him, makes him dead to what he once loved and makes him live in newness
   of life. You who prefer the bondage of the Law, may have it if you
   please. You who like the crack of that whip, may live under it if you
   will. But oh, if you once really knew the Love of God, you would never
   want to go back to that servitude! You would never say, "Baali," and
   crouch down, like a poor woman before a husband who was about to strike
   her. But you would come to your Lord in loving confidence and say to
   Him, "Offend You, my Lord? I cannot do it! I love You too well for
   that. I would give all I am and all I have, that I might give You
   pleasure, for You are my Ishi!"

   O Christ, by your bleeding wounds and bloody sweat, by Your death and
   resurrection, You are my Man, my Husband! You are Man and You have
   become Man for me. My Man, to whom my soul is married, once and for
   all, and I must love You and serve You till my life's last breath."--

   "I will love You in life, I will love You in death, And praise You as
   long as You lend me breath! And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my
   brow, 'If ever I loved You, my Ishi, 'tis now.'"

   IV. So to close, I want you, for a minute or two, to notice, in the
   fourth place, THE VENGEANCE OF LOVE, for, when jealousy is stirred up,
   love makes a clean sweep of everything that comes in its way--"I will
   take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more
   be remembered by their name."

   What a sweeping vengeance i t is! "I will take away the names of Baalim
   out of her mouth." The very name of the one we once loved shall be
   taken away from us! One good effect of the long captivity of the Jews
   was that after they returned to their own land, they never fell into
   idolatry again--and I do not believe they ever will. They are clean
   cured of that evil! I should think it is the rarest thing in the world
   to find a Jew become a Romanist because it seems contrary, now, to the
   very nature of Israel to bow down before a visible emblem. But what did
   the Jews do? They took the name that they used to give to their false
   god, Baal, and they applied it to the devil--hence you get the term
   Beelzebub, or Baalzebub, the god of flies, the god of dung--a
   caricature name which they applied to the devil himself. So, the things
   you loved when you were in the world and made your god, are now to you
   like the devil! What a change the Grace of God makes when it enters the
   heart! Has your false god become your devil and what you despised
   become your God? That is the meaning of the promise of the text--"I
   will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth." When we pronounce
   the word that once was sweet to us, it shall positively mean something
   else. It shall be bitter to us even to think of it. There are some
   words which were in our vocabulary when we were ungodly, but we never
   use them now, or, if we do use them, they mean the very opposite to
   what they meant before we came to love the Lord!

   There are professors who talk a great deal about some things that are
   better not mentioned. Paul says, "It is a shame even to speak of those
   things which are done of them in secret." I always regret, when a
   person tells the story of his past life, when he seems to think it
   necessary to drag in some of the black bits. If you do so, my Brother,
   mind that you rub in plenty of salt before you put any of the unsavory
   meat, otherwise it may leave a bad smell behind. There may be mischief
   done even by those who fancy that they are magnifying the Grace of God.
   It is sometimes necessary to tell what we were, in our unconverted
   state, but if we do so, we must be very careful not to take the name of
   Baalim on our lips while we are trying to glorify our God!

   The fact is, dear Friends, the Lord makes such a thorough change, such
   a spiritual change, that it is true of past things, "they shall no more
   be remembered by their name." That is the last clause of the text. You
   cannot help remembering the things in which you delighted in the days
   of your ignorance. You cannot quite blot them out of your memory, even
   though you have forsaken them long ago. But you do not remember them by
   their old name and you do not call them by that name now. You have
   learned to call a spade a spade, and you do not know it, now, except by
   that name. People talk about "seeing life," but if they were to say to
   a Christian that he had been seeing life, he would not understand them.
   He would say, "You do not see life in the places where you go--you see
   corruption. To see life is to live unto God." "Oh, but," says one, "I
   have been enjoying myself, I have been having pleasure." But, to the
   Christian, those words do not mean what they mean to the ungodly man,
   for sin would be no pleasure to him--it would be utter misery. The
   swine find great pleasure in a few inches of filthy mud but if you
   could change them into men and put them to sleep in nice soft beds, I
   guarantee you that then they would have a good night's rest!

   I daresay the devil finds himself at home in Hell, or wherever his
   dwelling place may be, but if he could be converted into a seraph, he
   would not stay in Hell for an hour! He would never want to go there
   again for pleasure, of that I am certain. And when a man who professes
   to be converted says that he goes into the world, and into sin, for
   pleasure, it is as if an angel went to Hell for enjoyment! The Lord
   give you Grace, Dearly-Beloved, so to love Him and to find such perfect
   liberty in His service, that though you may be tempted to sin, you will
   not yield, for invincible love binds you to His heart and holds you
   fast forever!

   Paul said, and it was a grand utterance, "I bear in my body the marks
   of the Lord Jesus." When a Roman had a slave whom he did not mean to
   ever sell, or to part with--in his cruelty he branded him with his own
   name. Suppose that it was Caesar? He took his slave and burned the name
   of Caesar right into his flesh! So the Apostle says, "I bear in my body
   the marks"--the brand--"of the Lord Jesus. I am His forever! I never
   wish to run away from Him, nor can I." There are some friends about to
   be baptized. I only trust that they will receive the spiritual brand
   right into their soul. What a brand this Baptism is to a man! You see,
   it is not on his arm--so he cannot cut it off--it is all over him. It
   is a watermark that cannot be removed! You may go into sin, but you
   have been baptized, and that fact shall rise against you in judgment!
   Whatever you do, you have been professedly buried with Christ and if
   you are not dead, you have no business to be buried! But if you have
   lied to God and, during the rest of your life, if you turn away from
   Him, yet that mark is still upon you. Woe unto you, for you have been a
   deceiver!

   But the true and genuine Christian does not mind what mark he has, to
   tell to whom he belongs. "Set it on my forehead," he says, "for there I
   hope to wear it, by-and-by." "His servants shall serve Him and they
   shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads." God
   grant that we may all come to that glorious condition, for our Lord
   Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Fellowship With Christ

   (No. 2572)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 29, 1893.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, EARLY IN THE YEAR 1856.

   "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
   blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of
   the body of Christ?" 1 Corinthians 10:16.

   THERE is one great difference between Christ, as the Founder of the
   Christian religion, and all mere men who have attempted to fashion a
   system of belief. The difference is not merely that Christ's was a true
   religion and theirs a false one, but there is another distinction. All
   false prophets have sought to keep their disciples at a distance and to
   impress upon them not merely a high estimation of their importance, but
   also a superstitious reverence for their person. Yes, and sometimes
   altogether putting aside the thought of allowing any of their disciples
   to hold communion with them. Look at the false prophet, Mohamed, and
   you will see how he kept himself aloof from his disciples. He taught
   them to regard him as something superior to themselves. And the
   caliphs, to this day, and all those who take to themselves the titles
   of his successors, endeavor to invest themselves with solemn pomp and
   state. They forbid all to approach them without certain salaams and
   salutations--they never allow their followers to hold fellowship with
   them.

   It was also so with the old Pagan priests. They bade the worshippers
   fall down before them, but they never permitted them to come near to
   them and hold fellowship with them. They were for driving the people
   away and, in fact, the whole system of their religion depended upon the
   eminence of one who kept himself distinct from every other man. They
   were to be looked up to as a god, being regarded as a personage above
   all the rest, with whom they might, on no pretense whatever, hold any
   communion at all! Look at the "Pope," that great antichrist and false
   prophet! Does he encourage any to stand on friendly terms with him? Is
   he at all times accessible? Ah, no! He surrounds himself with cardinals
   and bishops and keeps himself distinct from others. It must not be
   expected that a "Pope" is to be seen by everybody, nor can it be
   supposed that he should herd with common men. It is very much the same
   with the bishops of another church that we know. How they labor to put
   men away from them with their pomp, their tinsel, their gewgaws, and
   their parade!

   Christ, as the great Founder of a new dispensation, revealed the idea
   of communion with Himself on the part of everyone of His disciples and,
   today, instead of endeavoring to keep His followers at a distance, He
   is always striving to bring them near to Him. He blames them not for
   familiarity, but because they are not familiar enough! He does not
   praise them because they stand at a respectful distance, but He praises
   Enoch because he walks with God. And He loves John because he lays his
   head on the bosom of his Savior. Christ, our Master, loves to have all
   His followers live near Him! He loves to have them in sympathy with
   Him. He loves to make them feel that while He is their superior and
   their King, He is also as their fellow, bone of their bone and flesh of
   their flesh, in ties of blood, one with them! One objective of Christ's
   religion is to bring all His disciples into union and communion with
   its great Founder that they may have fellowship with the Father, and
   with His Son, Jesus Christ.

   Our present subject is the Doctrine of Fellowship with Christ. We think
   there are four degrees of fellowship with Christ. The first is the
   fellowship of communion. The second, the fellowship of sympathy. The
   third, the fellowship of unity. And the fourth will be the fellowship
   of Heaven.

   I. The first grade of communion with Christ is that with which all
   Believers commence, and without which they cannot attain to any other.
   It is THE FELLOWSHIP OF COMMUNION.

   Probably a large proportion of those here who love the Savior will not
   be able to go much farther with me than with regard to the fellowship
   of communion. Let me explain myself. I meet with one or two of you, I
   talk with you, we discourse with one another. In Scripture phraseology
   it might be said, we "commune with each other," "we hold communion with
   one another." So, Beloved, there are times when Christ and His people
   meet--when He talks to them and they talk to Him and so, "commune with
   Him." That is the fellowship of communion. Let me show you how we enter
   into it.

   We enjoy this kind of communion when, by faith, we lay hold of Christ
   and when Christ, in honoring faith, lays hold of us. And when, under
   sorrows and troubles, we go and tell our Master what our sorrows and
   troubles are. We are talking with Him while He cheers us, reminds us of
   His promises, speaks to our heart with that sweet voice which lays our
   fears in their graves and makes our tears to dry. It is then that we
   hold with Him a fellowship of communion--the communion of faith. Mark
   you, this is no mean attainment, to be able to take Christ's arm, to
   command His ear, to possess His heart and to feel that when our lips
   speak to Him, His lips reply to us. It is only by His Grace that when
   we look at Him and are lightened, that lightening comes from the fact
   that He looks at us--and that we are cheered by knowing that the reason
   of our cheerfulness is because His right hand is under our head and His
   left hand embraces us.

   It is a privilege for which angels might barter their crowns, to be
   allowed to talk with Christ as Faith does, for Faith asks of Christ and
   Christ gives to Faith! Faith pleads promises and Christ fulfills
   promises! Faith rests wholly upon Christ and Christ lays all His honor
   upon the head of Faith and is content to let Faith wear His own diadem.
   Yes, He uncrowns Himself to put His crown upon the head of Faith! You
   young Believers know how sweet it is, by holy assurance, to come near
   your Master. You put your hand into His side and you say, "My Lord, and
   my God." You know what it is to throw your arms around Him and to
   receive that gracious smile from Him, without which your spirits could
   not rest. That is the communion of faith, the communion which we have
   by faith in Jesus Christ.

   There is, too, a communion in prayer which is called the communion of
   conversation, for, in prayer, what do I do? If

   1 pray aright, I talk to God! And if I pray with faith, what does
   Christ do, but talk with me? In prayer, the heart of man empties itself
   before God and then Christ empties His heart out to supply the needs of
   His poor believing child. In prayer, we confess to Christ our needs and
   He reveals to us His fullness. We tell Him our sorrows, He tells us His
   joys. We tell Him our sins, He shows to us His righteousness. We tell
   Him the dangers that lie before us, He tells us of the shield of
   Omnipotence with which He can and will guard us. Prayer talks with God,
   yes, it walks with Him and he who is much in prayer will hold very much
   fellowship with Jesus Christ.

   Then, again, there is a fellowship of communion which we derive from
   meditation. When we sit down and in thought see Christ in Gethsemane,
   and witness the blood-red drops wetting the soil. When we look upon Him
   shamed, spit upon, mocked and buffeted. When we view Him on Golgotha
   and hear His death-shriek startling the darkness--then our heart goes
   out after Him and we love Him. While He holds up His hands and says,
   "These were pierced for you," we hold up our hearts and say, "Here are
   our hearts, Lord, take and seal them; they are Yours because bought
   with Your precious blood."

   Have you never felt the sweet communion of meditation? Many Christians
   know little about it. They have so much occupation, such a perpetual
   whirl of business, that they have not half-an-hour to spend in
   meditation upon God. Beloved, you will never hold much personal
   communion with the Savior unless you have a place where you can sit
   down and--

   "View the flowing Of His soul-redeeming blood, With Divine assurance
   knowing That He made your peace with God."

   You cannot expect to talk much to Christ unless your mind is freed from
   the cares of earth. Oh, 'tis then that Christ descends and talks with
   His children--and gives us sweet communion with Him--and fellowship in
   meditation on His sufferings! Children of God, you know this! All of
   you who are His people have had some taste of this communion of
   conversation with God. You know much more of it than I can tell. Alas!
   Alas, that the great majority of the people of God are far enough from
   understanding even this first and faintest form of communion with Jesus
   Christ!

   Let me make one or two remarks here, before we pass away from this
   communion of conservation. I would not have you despise this fellowship
   because you have not attained to the rest I am about to mention, but,
   dear Friends, take care that you hold communion with Christ. There is a
   ladder between the Believer's soul and Heaven--mind that you tread its
   rungs very often. There is a road between Mansoul and the Celestial
   City--let the track be hard-beaten with the hoofs of the steeds of
   prayer! Let the chariots of praise whirl along the highway to Glory! Do
   not let your Jesus live a day without a line from you--and do not be
   happy if you live a day without a word from Him! I marvel at some
   professors who can live weeks and months quite satisfied without
   holding this fellowship with Christ. What? A wife happy if her husband
   smiles not on her? And is not Christ my Husband and shall I be blessed,
   shall I be easy, if He shuts His mouth and speaks not a word to me? Can
   I be content if I have not one smile all day long? Is Christ my Brother
   and shall I be willing to live without the assurance of my Brother's
   love to me? Can I be content to pass a week without knowing that my
   Brother's heart is still beating with affection towards me? Verily,
   Christians, I marvel at you! And angels marvel, too, that you can be so
   foolish, so stolid, so stone-like, as to live days beyond number
   without holding even this most common of all communions with our Lord
   Jesus Christ!

   Stir yourselves up, Beloved! You have a ticket to admit you to the
   King's Palace--why do you not enter? You have an invitation to the
   wedding feast--why do you not go? You have constant access to the
   banqueting house--why do you not go and feast on Divine Love? There are
   the "apples of gold in baskets of silver"--why do you not go and take
   them? There is Christ's open heart! There are His open hands! His open
   eyes! His open ears! Will you not go to Him who stands ready and
   waiting to bless you? And you, too, poor Sinner--I have often thought
   that a true description of Christ on the Cross would be a fine sermon
   to illustrate that hymn--

   "Come and welcome, Sinner come!" Do you not see the Savior there? He
   has His arms stretched out, as though He had them wide open to take a
   big sinner in. There are His hands nailed fast, as if they intended to
   wait there till you were brought to Him! His head is hanging down, as
   if He had stooped to kiss you. And there are His feet pouring out
   streams of blood, as if His very blood would run after you, if you
   would not come after Him! Verily, if you saw Christ by faith, each
   bleeding wound and quivering atom of His body would say to you--

   "Come and welcome, Sinner, come!" Much more do they say to you, beloved
   children of God, "Come to your Savior and hold this fellowship of
   conversation with Jesus Christ your Lord."

   II. Now we have done with the lowest grade of fellowship and we pass on
   to another--THE FELLOWSHIP OF

   SYMPATHY.

   Let me tell you what I mean by this expression. I said before that if
   we meet two or three friends and converse together, that is communion.
   But there was one friend there who had a lofty project in hand and,
   though I talked to him, I did not share his views and I did not wish to
   see his project accomplished. Therefore I did not enjoy such deep
   communion with him as I might otherwise have done. Another of my
   friends was exceedingly sick, but I was not suffering, just then, so
   that when he spoke of his illness, I could not commune with him as
   fully as I could have wished to do. There was Another who was
   upbraided, scorned and spit upon--but I was not assailed in the same
   way and, therefore, I had only partial communion with Him and that not
   of the deepest kind. I could not say that I had complete fellowship
   with Him in His sufferings. But, Christians, some of you have climbed
   another step on the heavenly ladder of communion--you have come to hold
   communion with Christ in sympathy!

   Here I must divide this head of my discourse into two or three points.
   Some of us have known what it is to hold communion with Christ in
   sympathy when we have suffered just like Christ Did you ever find a
   friend fail you--a friend of whom you expected far better things, at
   whose table you had often sat, who had walked to the House of God with
   you--and with whom you had held sweet converse? Did you not find him,
   all of a sudden, unaccountably lifting up his heel against you and
   doing all he could to bring despite and injury to you? Did you not
   press your hand to your burning brow and say, "Ah! Christ had His Judas
   and now I can hold communion with Christ, because my friend has
   deserted me, too. And I can sympathize with Christ in the desertion of
   men"?

   Did you ever have a false report spread about you? Possibly, somebody
   said you were "a drunk and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and
   sinners." Or, perhaps, someone said that on such-and-such a night you
   committed such-and-such an act. Or, if they could not stain your
   character by charging you with immorality, they said that you were
   insane! And did not your spirit, at first, beat high with passion as
   you thought that you would answer the calumny? But, in a moment, you
   put your hand to your heart, as you said, "Ah! He was oppressed and He
   was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to
   the slaughter and, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened
   not His mouth." And did you not sit down and say, "Now I can hold
   fellowship with Christ in my reproaches. Now I can bear a part in the
   brunt of the battle. Now I can feel as He did, when He, too, was
   oppressed by wicked men"?

   Some of you, also, have been exceedingly poor. Here and there, one
   could say, "I have not a place where to lay my head," and looking down
   on your ragged garments, you may have thought, "Ah, now I know how
   Jesus felt when He said, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have
   nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head.' And so," you
   thought, "I am holding the fellowship of sympathy with Him in His
   poverty."

   There was a time, too, when you prayed and received no answer--your
   agonized spirit went backward and forward many times while you cried to
   God, but no reply came. In the intensity of your importunity, you could
   almost have "sweat, as it were, great drops of blood," as Jesus did!
   Yet God did not answer you. Rising from your knees, you only rose to
   fall down upon them, again, and, at last, you clasped your hands in
   agony and said, "O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from
   me! Nevertheless not as I will, but as You will." And you started up,
   for you thought you heard your Lord say those words in tones of deeper
   woe and greater agony than you had ever dreamed of! And you said, "Ah!
   I, in my humble measure, have held fellowship with Him whose bloody
   sweat has made Him always memorable, and whose agony in Gethsemane
   helped to make Him my Savior."

   And, perhaps, too, you have known what it is, at times, to lose the
   sight of the Countenance of God. You have said, "Oh, that I knew where
   I might find Him! That I might come, even, to His seat!" Your heart
   melted with agony because God seemed to frown on you. Your prayers were
   rejected. You had no light of His Countenance. You had no peace, no
   light, no love, no joy, no God--and you cried, "My God! My God! Why
   have You forsaken me?" And then you remembered that Christ said those
   words, too, and that you were holding communion of sympathy with Him,
   for you were feeling just as He felt--you had entered into a part of
   His agony, you had drunk some drops of the awful cup which He drained
   to its dregs, you had dived a little into the sea without a bottom,
   into which Christ plunged--you had the fellowship of sympathy, for you
   suffered with Him.

   That is the most wonderful fellowship in the world, the fellowship of
   fellow-suffering. Those two holy martyrs who were burned at Oxford have
   this link forever between them because they were burned in the same
   fire. Oh, what sweet fellowship they had because they were to die
   together! Nothing makes us love Christ like feeling the same whip on
   our shoulder which Christ had on His, to be pierced with the same
   nails, to be spit upon by the same mouths and to suffer, though in a
   very humble degree, the same kind of sufferings which Christ Himself
   endured! O wondrous Grace, that we should be allowed to share in our
   body the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ!

   Some of us are not called to suffer so much as to serve. And we, too,
   have our communion with Christ in labor See the Sunday school teacher
   who takes the little children on his knee as he teaches them. Though
   some laugh, he seems to say, as did his Lord, "Suffer the little
   children to come unto me, and forbid them not." There is the same
   spirit in the servant as there was in his Master--and he is holding
   communion with Christ in labor! See the faithful evangelist. He is in
   an open field and he is preaching to the people with hands uplifted and
   with an earnestness that makes him eloquent. Look! He has concluded. He
   feels a sweet stillness in his soul. He knows not the reason of it, but
   it is because he has been having communion with Christ and has felt, in
   a measure, as Christ did, when we have wept over your poor dying souls.
   When, on our bended knees we have asked God for your salvation. When we
   have groaned and cried to bring you near to God. When, with most
   impassioned supplication we have wrestled for your souls--then,
   Beloved, we think we have had some communion with Christ, for --

   "Cold mountains and the midnight air Witnessed the fervor of His
   prayer." He, too, wept over Jerusalem and said, "If you had known, even
   you, at least in this, your day, the things which belong unto your
   peace but now they are hid from your eyes." Laboring Christians have
   sympathy with Christ and when they work with might and main, with good
   intentions, with earnest desires, with cries and tears, they can say,
   "O Lord, we have entered into fellowship with You!"

   So too, we have fellowship with Christ, a heavenly fellowship of
   desire, when we neither suffer nor work with Him, but yet sympathize
   with Him. Perhaps you are not often sick, but you often feel a
   fellowship of compassionate pity and love. You are not persecuted--you
   almost wish you were. Perhaps you have very little talent and you
   cannot labor for

   Christ, but you have sometimes said, as you have trodden the way to
   this Chapel, "What would I not give to see sinners saved? Oh, I think I
   would be willing to die if I might but have my son and my daughter
   converted to God." Do you know that, just at that moment, you were
   holding communion with Christ, for you felt just as Christ did, who
   loved us with a love so pure and so perfect, that He gave up His body
   to death that He might redeem us from Hell? You have, perhaps, also
   said to Jesus, sometimes, "I have but little that I can give to You
   but--

   ''Had I ten thousand hearts, dear Lord,

   I'd give them all to Thee!

   Had I ten thousand tongues, they all

   Should join the harmony.'"

   Ah, you had fellowship with Christ, then, for you desired to do all
   that you could for the extension of His Kingdom!

   I will show how we hold fellowship with Christ in our designs. You see
   two men in a court ofjustice. One man stands there to be tried--there
   is every probability that he will be condemned. There is a person in
   court who is about to plead--he is a barrister, but, besides that, he
   is a friend of the prisoner. The man is being tried for his life. Do
   you see the awful agony on his face? But up rises his advocate and you
   notice that as he pleads, he turns his eyes towards the prisoner at the
   bar. And when he sees the tears start from the poor man's eyes, out
   comes an eloquent period! There is a sigh just heaved by the
   culprit--look how the counselor waxes hot. The prisoner begins to weep
   excessively and hides his face. Do you notice how the advocate gets
   more fiery and more zealous as he proceeds, and how much more pathetic
   his speech becomes, and how earnestly he pleads as his tongue is set at
   liberty? Why is that? Because he is in fellowship with the poor man! He
   feels for him! He is not talking to him--that would only be the
   fellowship of conversation--he is feeling with him and their hearts are
   near akin. Even supposing they have not seen each other before, if they
   feel for one another, they are nearer akin than blood-relationship
   could make them!

   Beloved, when you see a minister pleading with souls as if he were
   pleading for himself. When you hear him contending for Jesus Christ's
   Divinity as much as if he were contending for his own honor, that
   minister is holding communion with Christ! And when you see a saint
   speaking to a poor sinner of the Redeemer's death and pointing to his
   wounds, why, every drop of Calvary's blood seems to make the man speak
   more eloquently and every groan he thinks he hears makes him urge his
   plea in more desperate earnestness with men! This, Beloved, is sympathy
   with Christ, fellowship with Him--and that I call a higher grade of
   communion than the fellowship of conversation. I hope some of you have
   arrived at it. If you have, you will be more useful than those who only
   understand the fellowship of conversation. God grant to us all the
   fellowship of fellow-feeling, the fellowship of sympathy with Christ

   III. The third point is THE FELLOWSHIP OF UNITY.

   Do you see this hand? Do you see this brow? This hand and this brow are
   more nearly allied together than my brother's heart and mine, although
   he loves me with all his heart and would plead for me even to the
   death. But this hand and this brow have not only a communion of
   fellow-feeling, they have the same feeling. The members of the body
   have positively the same feeling--so Christ's mystical members feel the
   same emotion as He does.

   You ask, "Do Christians ever arrive at this stage of fellowship?" Yes,
   certainly they do--the Supper of the Lord was intended to set forth
   that highest grade of communion which Christians ever hold with their
   Master here below. It is not a communion with Him in His sufferings, it
   is not a communion with Him in His service, but it is a communion with
   Himself. You Believers are invited spiritually to eat the flesh of
   Christ, and spiritually to drink His blood--and that is a nearer,
   clearer fellowship than any of which we have spoken of before because
   it brings you into positive unity with Him. It makes you feel that you
   are not only pleading for Him as your Friend, but that you are a part
   of Him, a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. Many
   hearers of the Gospel do not understand this great mystery. Some even
   think it is profanity to talk of this oneness with Christ. It wouldbe
   the very height of profanity for a man to say, "I am one with Christ,"
   if the Scripture did not warrant him in saying so! To call oneself, "a
   friend of God," would be blasphemous presumption--but Scripture says
   that Believers are His friends and, therefore, there is no blasphemy in
   repeating the declaration.

   Some may think it is absurd to talk of our being "one with the Savior."
   It is not absurd, because it is Scriptural. We are s o and we feel,
   when we drink the wine, that the blood of the Savior is spiritually in
   our veins, as well as in His--that we are brethren in ties of blood. I
   hope we shall be able to say that we were one with Him when He died,
   one with Him when He rose, one with Him when He triumphed over the
   grave, one with Him when He ascended up on high, one with

   Him, now, and one with Him eternally! I believe that not a few of us
   will get so near to Christ that we shall not only lay our heads on His
   bosom, but shall do more than that--we shall not put our heart against
   His heart, but right into His heart--and we shall feel as much one with
   Christ as the little drop of dew is with the stream into which it
   falls. I hope we shall be as much a portion of Christ, while we sit
   around the Communion Table, as the particle of flesh is of the body and
   shall feel that each pulse that beats in Him also throbs through our
   frame--that the blood of Christ runs through our veins! That each sigh
   we heave, He heaves, and that each groan we utter, He utters! I hope we
   shall hear Him say--

   "I feel at My heart all your sighs and your groans,

   For you are most near Me, My flesh and My bones.

   In all your distresses your Head feels the pain,

   Yet all are most needful, not one is in vain," Beyond this, the
   Christian cannot survive on earth! It is the highest style of
   communion, till--

   "That happy hour of full discharge

   Shall set his ransomed soul at large!

   Unbind his soul and drop his clay,

   And speed is wings far, far away"--

   up where Christ dwells!

   And there, Beloved, we shall know communion with Christ in a sense
   which only folly will labor to depict, for wisdom's self knows nothing
   of it! There at His feet we will sit and on His breast we will lean!
   There from His lips will we hear sweet music, from His mouth we will
   breathe perpetual balm, from His eyes we will draw Divine Light! We
   will press His hand inside these palms. We will kiss Him with these
   very lips. We will put ourselves within His arms we will abide all day
   close by our Beloved. We will talk with Him. We will be with Him
   wherever He goes. And He shall lead His sheep "unto living fountains of
   waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

   IV. This fellowship, of which I have been speaking, is a steppingstone
   to that best, that beatified fellowship which we shall have in a few
   more years--THE FELLOWSHIP OF HEAVEN.

   O Christians do you ever imagine how sweet it will be to be with your
   Lord? I sometimes think to myself--Oh, how strange it will seem, to
   have a crown upon this head, to have sandals of gold on these feet, to
   have a vesture of white on this poor body, to have rings of everlasting
   love decorating these fingers, to have a harp, over which my delighted
   fingers shall run, making it emit the sweetest melody in praise of
   Jesus! And to have a throne on which to sit to judge the tribes of
   Israel. To have songs more melodious than music ever evoked,
   perpetually rolling from my lips! To have my heart brimful of bliss and
   my soul baptized in love and glory! Above, beneath, around, within,
   without, EVERYWHERE, it is Heaven! I breathe Heaven, I drink Heaven, I
   feel Heaven, I think Heaven, everything is Heaven!

   Oh, "what must it be to be there?" To be there is to be with Christ!
   Wait but a little while, Dearly-Beloved, and you shall realize what
   Paul meant when He said, "We know that if our earthly house of this
   tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made
   with hands, eternal in the heavens." Soon, World, I shall say farewell
   to you! Soon, beloved Friends, I shall, for the last time, shake hands
   with you! Soon, these eyes shall see their last dim mists, there last
   tears shall have been wiped away forever! My last sighs shall have been
   wafted away by the breath of God and there, ah, there! God knows how
   soon, there--

   "Far from a world of grief and sin, With God eternally shut in"

   --I shall be with Him forever!

   Do you believe that concerning yourselves, my dear Christian Brothers
   and Sisters? Then, why are you afraid to die? Why are you so often
   fearing? What? Men and women, Brothers and Sisters, do you believe that
   in a few more days you will be in Heaven--and see all you love and all
   you live for here below? Do you believe that in a few more months or
   years, you will clasp your Savior and be blessed forever? Why, Beloved,
   it is enough to make you leap for joy and clap your hands in ecstasy!
   What? You are troubled? You are desponding? No, go your way, eat your
   bread with joy, be happy all your life, for you know that your Redeemer
   lives and though after your flesh, worms shall destroy this body, yet
   in your flesh you shall see God!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:

   1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-31.

   Verses 12, 13. For 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 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we
   are Jews or Gentiles, whether we are bond or free; and have been all
   made to drink into one Spirit Oh, what a sacred oneness that is which
   subsists between all the Lord's people! We are not simply Brothers and
   Sisters, but we are one! We are not allied by affinity, but by actual
   identity! We are parts of the same body. We are brought into spiritual
   membership with each other as real and as effectual as that membership
   which subsists between the various parts of the body. Yet we are not
   all alike, although we are all of one body. Some are Jews, some are
   Gentiles, some are bond, some are free. And yet, in some things, we are
   all alike, for we have all been baptized by one Spirit. And, moreover,
   we have all been made to drink into one Spirit--we have had one
   spiritual baptism, and we have had one spiritual drinking. Would to God
   that we felt more one, that our hearts beat more in tune with each
   other, that we had a sympathy with each other in woes and sufferings,
   that we had a fellow feeling with all who love the Lord and could at
   all times weep with those that weep, as well as rejoice with those that
   rejoice

   14, 15. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shallsay,
   Because Iam not the hand, Iam not ofthe body--is it, therefore, not
   ofthe body? Do not be comparing yourself with others and saying, "Ah,
   if I were such-and-such a person, I might then think myself to be part
   of Christ's body." No, you might not, even if you were just like he. As
   there are only certain members of a sort in a man's body, so, by a
   parity of reasoning, there would not be more than a certain number of
   members alike in the mystical body. We do not imagine that there will
   be many members of this body, the Church, of one class, or of one
   character--so that, if you are different from others, you are
   fulfilling a different office in the body. You may, from that fact,
   draw an inference of comfort rather than one of sorrow and despondency.
   Even should you say, "Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body,
   are you therefore not of the body?" Oh, no! You are still of the body,
   even though you do not think that you are.

   16, 17. And if the ear shall say, Because Iam not the eye, Iam not
   ofthe body; is it therefore not ofthe body? If the whole body were am
   eye, where were the hearing?If we were all preachers. If we could all
   see into God's Truth and set it forth in a public manner, where should
   we get our congregations?

   17. If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?There must be
   different members to fill different offices. If we were all so one that
   there was no distinction, whatever. If we were all of one rank, all of
   one age, all of one standing, the body would be incomplete.

   18-21. But now has God set the members, every one of them, in the body,
   as it has pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the
   body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye
   cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to
   the feet, I have no need of you. Brothers and Sisters, you sometimes
   think there are some belonging to the Church whom we could well spare.
   But there is not one superfluous member in the whole body! If they are
   truly united to Christ, they have all their offices, all their places.
   There is not a poor old woman who has not been able to get up to the
   House of Prayer for several years, who is not of some use to the
   Church, for she lies upon her bed and there she intercedes with God!
   There is not a member of the Church so humble, so illiterate, so
   unin-structed, that he or she may not be of essential service to the
   whole body. There is some little part, my Brother or Sister, which you
   are to take in the great Church of Christ. You may not be always able
   to tell what it may be, but still there is a place for you to fill!
   There is a linchpin in a chariot--who thinks much about or thanks that
   pin? Indeed, it is so very small and insignificant, who would imagine
   it is necessary to the locomotion or speed? The wheels carry it around,
   but who would suppose that if it were taken away, the wheel would fly
   off? Perhaps you are like one of these little linchpins which keep the
   wheel right. You may not know what use you are, but, possibly, you
   prevent someone else from turning aside. Let us each keep in our
   station, endeavoring, God helping us, to exert the influence which He
   has given us.

   22-24. No, much more, those members ofthe body which seem to be more
   feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body which we think to
   be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor and our
   uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have
   no need but God both tempered the body together, having given more
   abundant honor to that part which lacked. A moment's thought will tell
   you that those parts of our frame which are most tender are the most
   necessary parts; and those members of the body which we think to be
   less honorable, upon these, by clothing them more than other parts, we
   bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant
   comeliness, for our comely parts have no need of being covered and,
   therefore, we leave them exposed.

   25. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members
   should have the same care, one for another We have heard this text
   urged by some who are in the Church of England as a proof that we are
   wrong in departing from it. They tell us that there should be no schism
   in the body. We beg to tell them that there isno schism in the body
   that we know of! We do not belong to their body and, therefore, we make
   no schism in that body--we are quite clear of them. We have neither
   stick, nor stone, nor part, nor lot in their State Establishment!
   Therefore we do not create a schism in the body. When they divide
   themselves into Puseyites and Evangelicals, they make a schism in their
   own body, but, as long as we are all united, as long as the members of
   a church walk together in unity, there is no schism in the body. We are
   different bodies altogether! They say that a schismatic is one who
   departs from a Church, and makes a rent from i t. By no means! A
   schismatic is one who makes a rent in i t, not from i t. We, I say, are
   not schismatics. Those who are in the Church of England and yet do not
   agree with its fundamental principles and its Articles of Faith, they
   are schismatics! But we are not.

   26. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it Is
   that true of our churches? I am afraid not. The members of the one
   Church of Christ have not been brought to that unity of feeling and
   sympathy which they ought to have.

   26-30. Or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it Now
   you are the body of Christ and members in particular And God has set
   some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
   teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,
   governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all
   prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the
   gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? God
   intended that there should be different offices in His Church. Let us
   look on each other as being different and yet united in the common
   faith of Christ.

   3l. But covet earnestly the best gifts. I would not wish you, Brothers,
   to repress your aspirations after these blessings. I am most anxious
   that you should earnestly desire and seek to possess a large share of
   all these spiritual endowments.

   31. And yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Which is, holding the
   Truth of God in love and walking in charity, one toward another.
     __________________________________________________________________

Unparalleled Suffering

   (No. 2573)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 5, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
   4, 1883.

   "Christ also has once suffered." 1 Peter 3:18.

   IT is very unpleasant to our poor flesh and blood to suffer. Physical
   pain is a grievous infliction--mental agony or spiritual sorrow is
   still worse. Irons around the wrists can be worn till they fit easily,
   but when the iron enters into the soul, how it rusts the heart and eats
   into the spirit! Perhaps, to some minds, the most difficult of all
   suffering is that which is not deserved at all, but which comes because
   we do notdeserve it. I mean that suffering which innocent persons are
   called to endure because of their innocence when they are slandered and
   oppressed and persecuted, not for evil-doing, but for well-doing. I
   admit that there is much about this form of trial which should tend to
   make it a light affliction, for we ought to take it joyfully when we
   suffer wrongfully. Yet, as a rule, we are not able to do so. Certainly
   not by nature, for there is a sort of sense of justice within man which
   makes him feel that it is very hard that he should have to suffer, not
   for unrighteousness, but for righteousness--not for any wrong-doing,
   but for having espoused the cause of God and His

   Truth.

   The Apostle Peter would have Christians prepare themselves for this
   suffering. They had to bear very much of it in his day--they will have
   to bear some of it as long as the Church of Christ remains in this
   wicked world. He says, in the verse preceding our text, "It is better,
   if the will of God is so, that you suffer for well-doing, than for
   evil-doing." Further on, at the beginning of the next chapter, he says,
   "Forasmuch, then, as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm
   yourselves, likewise, with the same mind." He warns us that we shall
   need to be clad in heavenly armor, for we shall have to pass through
   conflict and suffering for Christ's sake and for righteousness' sake.
   We must put on a coat of mail and be enveloped in the whole panoply of
   God. We must have, as our great controlling princip1e, the mind of
   Christ, that, as He endured such contradiction of sinners against
   Himself, we, also, may endure it and not be weary or faint in our
   minds. We shall best bear our own sufferings when we find fellowship
   with Christ in them. Therefore, it is for your strengthening, that your
   spiritual sinews may be braced, that you may be armed from head to foot
   and preserved from the darts of the enemy that I would set forth before
   you, as best I may, the matchless sufferings of the Son of God, who,
   "once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring
   us to God."

   It has sometimes struck me that the first Epistle of Peter is greatly
   concerning Christ's First Advent and that his second Epistle tells us
   about our Lord's Second Advent. In this first letter there are many
   references to the sufferings of Christ. It may interest you to notice
   some of them. In the first Chapter, at the 11th Verse, we read,
   "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was
   in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
   Christ." When the Apostle gets to the second Chapter, at the 21st
   Verse, we find him writing thus, "For even hereunto were you called:
   because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you
   should follow His steps." Next comes our text in the third Chapter.
   Then, in the Fourth chapter, at the first Verse, is the passage I have
   already read to you. [See Exposition at end of sermon.] And in the 13th
   Verse, the Apostle says, "Rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of
   Christ's sufferings." And in the 5th Chapter, at the first Verse, he
   calls himself, "a witness of the sufferings of Christ." Thus his
   frequent expression--his peculiar idiom--is, "the sufferings of Christ"
   and, in the language of our text he thus describes the great work of
   our redemption--"Christ also has once suffered," It may seem a very
   small thing to you to call your attention to such words as these, but
   it does not appear small to me. It seems to me that there is a great
   depth of meaning within these few words and it shall be my objective,
   at this time, to bring out that meaning, as far as I can, under the
   Holy Spirit's guidance.

   I. Notice then, first of all, A SUMMARY WITHOUT ANY DETAILS--"Christ
   also has once suffered." There is compassed within that expression a
   summary of the whole life and death of Christ! The Apostle does not
   give us details of Christ's sufferings, but he lets us, for a moment,
   look into this condensation of them--"Christ also has once suffered."

   It is the epitome of His whole earthly existence up to the time of His
   rising from the dead. Christ begins His life here with suffering. He is
   born into the world, but there is "no room for Him in the inn." He must
   lie in a manger where the horned oxen feed. He is born of a poor
   mother. He must know the ills of poverty and, worse still, Herod seeks
   the young Child's life. He must be hurried away by night into Egypt. He
   must be a stranger in a strange land, with His life in peril from a
   blood-thirsty tyrant! When He comes back from Egypt, He grows in wisdom
   and stature and in favor with God and men--but you may rest assured
   that the years He spent in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth, though we
   are not told about them, were years of sore travail--perhaps of bodily
   pain, certainly of mental toil and preparation for His future service.
   Such a public life as His could not have been lived without due
   training. I will not attempt to lift the veil where God has let it
   fall, but I see, in the whole public ministry of Christ, traces of a
   wonderful mental discipline through which He must have gone and which,
   I should think, must have involved Him in suffering. Certainly it was
   one main point in His preparation that He was not without spiritual
   conflicts and struggles which must have involved suffering to such a
   nature as His was.

   No sooner does He appear on the stage of action and the Spirit of God
   descends upon Him in the waters of Baptism, than He is hurried off to a
   forty days' fast in the wilderness and to a prolonged and terrible
   conflict with His great enemy and ours. Of that time we may truly say
   that "Hesuffered, being tempted." Throughout His life you may read such
   words as these--"Jesus, being weary, sat thus on the well." "Foxes have
   holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not
   where to lay His head." And then you can understand some of the ways in
   which He suffered. We cannot tell how much our Lord suffered even in
   the brightest portion of His career, for always was He "despised and
   rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief." We
   cannot go into all the details of His life, but I think you may see
   that even in the very smoothest part of it, He suffered. And Peter does
   well to thus sum it up--"Christ suffered."

   But when He comes to Gethsemane, shall I speak of the bloody sweat and
   the groans which startled angels? No, I need not say more than
   this--"Christ suffered." Shall I tell of His betrayal by Judas, of His
   being hurried from court to court, falsely accused, despitefully
   entreated, bruised, scourged and made nothing of? Truly, I may sum it
   all up by saying that He suffered! And as for all the rest, that march
   along the Via Dolorosa--that fastening to the wood--that uplifting of
   the Cross. The wounds, the cruel fever, the direful thirst, the
   mockery, the scorn, the desertion of His Father when He must, at last,
   yield Himself up to death itself--what better summary could even an
   inspired Apostle give than to say-- "Christ also has once suffered"?
   This expression sums up the whole of His life.

   It is well for you and for me, when we have the time and the
   opportunity, to make as complete as possible our knowledge of Christ as
   to all the details of His life and death. But, just now, it must
   suffice us, as it sufficed Peter, to say, "Christ suffered." When next
   you are called to suffer, when pains of body oppress you, let this text
   whisper in your ears, "Christ also has once suffered." When you are
   poor, needy and homeless, remember that "Christ also has once
   suffered." And when you come even to the agony of death, if such shall
   be your portion, then still hear the soft whisper, "Christ also has
   once suffered." I know of no better armor for you than this--"Arm
   yourselves likewise with the same mind"--and be prepared to count it
   your honor and glory to follow your Master with your cross upon your
   shoulders!

   Much may be said to be known concerning Christ's sufferings, but still,
   to a great extent, they are unknown sufferings. Some eyes saw Him
   suffer, yet I might truly say, "Eye has not seen, neither has ear
   heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which
   Christ suffered for His people." You may think, Brothers and Sisters,
   that you know something of Christ's sufferings, but they are a
   unfathomably deep, a height to which the human imagination cannot soar!
   We are obliged to leave this summary without any details. "Christ also
   has once suffered."--

   "Much we talk of Jesus' blood, But, how little's understood! Of His
   sufferings, so intense, Angels have no perfect sense.

   Who can rightly comprehend Their beginning or their end? 'Tis to God
   and God alone That their weight is fully known."

   II. Secondly, this is A STATEMENT WITHOUT ANY LIMIT. How indefinitely
   it is put! "Christ also has once suffered."

   Do you ask the question, " When did Christ suffer?" It is answered by
   not being answered, for, truly, we may reply to you--"When Christ was
   on earth, when was there that He did not suffer?" "Christ also has once
   suffered." The Apostle adds no note of time. He says not, "Christ
   suffered on the Cross, or in the garden," but the very indefiniteness
   of the statement leaves us to understand that as long as Jesus was
   here, He was the acquaintance of grief. His life was, in a sense, a
   life of suffering. All the while He was here, even when He was not upon
   the Cross, and even when no bloody sweat was on His brow, it is
   written, "He, Himself, took our infirmities and bore our sickness." He
   was bearing the lead, not, as some say, "on the tree" alone, but up to
   the tree, as the passage may be read--daily bearing it till, at length,
   He came to the Cross--and there it was for the last time that He felt
   the pressure of human sin. You cannot get and yet you do, in some
   sense, get, from my text, an answer to the question, "When did Christ
   suffer?"

   Perhaps another asks, " What did Christ suffer?" The text is remarkable
   in giving no limit whatever to the statement. "Christ also has once
   suffered." What did He suffer? I answer--what was there that He did
   notsuffer in body, in mind, and in spirit? What of pain--what of
   shame--what of 1oss--what of hatred--what of derision? He suffered from
   Hell, from earth, from Heaven--I was going to say--from time and from
   eternity, for there was a certain sense in which eternal pangs passed
   through the heart of Christ and spent themselves upon Him. What did He
   suffer? Peter says, as if that should be enough for us to know, "Christ
   has once suffered"--the very indefiniteness implies that He suffered
   everything that He could suffer.

   And where did Christ suffer? Peter does not answer that question. Where
   did He suffer? In the wilderness? In the garden? In Pilate's Hall? On
   the Cross? The text as good as says, "No. Yes. Not somewhere only, but
   everywhere!" Wherever He was, Christ was enduring that great burden
   which He came into the world to bear till He would carry it away and it
   should be lost forever.

   From whom did Christ suffer?Mark how unlimited is the text--"Christ
   also has once suffered." From men falsely accusing Him and slandering
   Him? Yes, and that is the comfort of His slandered people. But He
   suffered not from only wicked men, but even from good men--the best of
   His disciples cost Him many pangs and sometimes made His heart ache. He
   suffered from devils. He suffered from the Father, Himself! There it
   stands--a sky without horizon--a sea across which I look and see no
   end--"Christ also has once suffered." I think that Joseph Hart spoke
   well when he said that Christ--

   "Bore all Incarnate God could bear, With strength enough, and none to
   spare."

   So we leave this part of our theme. It is a statement without any
   limit. "Christ also has once suffered."

   III. Now I want you to notice, in the third place, that this is A
   DESCRIPTION WITHOUT ANY ADDITION. "Christ also has once suffered."

   Is that all? Was there not something else? No. This line sweeps the
   entire circumference. There was nothing in Christ, before Hissuffering,
   which was contrary to it. He never regretted that He had entered upon a
   course which involved suffering. "When the time was come that He should
   be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,"
   warning His followers that He was going there to be mocked, to be
   scourged and to be crucified. He might at any moment have relinquished
   His terrible task, but that idea never entered into His mind. Even when
   He came near to the worst part of His pain and His human Nature shrank
   from it, His true heart never was discouraged or thought of turning
   back. He said, "The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink
   it?" And He did drink it, though it involved more suffering than we can
   imagine! Yet there was no resistance to that suffering. He suffered,
   but He never rebelled against it. He could truly say, "I was not
   rebellious, neither turned back." He did not even complain and Isaiah's
   prophecy was literally fulfilled by Him--"He is brought as a lamb to
   the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens
   not His mouth."

   If we were to describe the experiences of even the best of men, I am
   afraid that we would have to say, "He suffered very much and he did not
   often murmur. Sometimes, however, he rebelled and cried out." It was
   not so with Christ. Peter says, He suffered and there is no addition to
   that. You know, my Brothers and Sisters, how, having undertaken to
   suffer for sins, He went through with it. If He stood before Pilate and
   His enemies smote Him, what did He do? He suffered. If they bound His
   eyes and buffeted Him, what did He do? He suffered. When they spat in
   His face, what did He do? He suffered. When they nailed Him to the
   Cross, what words did He speak against His murderers? Not one! He
   suffered. "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again." Even when they
   jested at Him, His only reply was the prayer, "Father, forgive them,
   for they know not what they do." He suffered and there was nothing to
   take away from the completeness of that suffering. The whole of His
   Nature ran out into that act of obedience called suffering! It was the
   time when He must do the Father's will by suffering--and all the power
   of His Being ran into that channel. The Lord had made to meet upon Him
   the iniquity and, consequently, the suffering of us all And He just
   accepted it at the Father's hand without a complaint or a murmur. You
   can sum it all up in the language of our text, without a single word
   added to it--"Christ also has once suffered'"

   IV. Once more, I want you to notice that this is A DECLARATION WITHOUT
   ANY QUALIFICATION. "Christ suffered."

   There is no word to bid us imagine that He had any alleviation of His
   agony. Of a person in very bad health we may be able to say, "He
   suffers a great deal, but he has an excellent medical attendant, a good
   nurse and he has every comfort that can be given to him." But, in the
   case of our Lord, all is summed up in these two words,
   "Christsuffered."" Were there no comforters? No. He suffered. Was there
   no sleeping-draught to deaden His pain? No. He suffered. But did not
   His Father help Him in the hour of His agony? No. His cry, "My God, My
   God, why have You forsaken Me?" proves that we may say of Him, even
   with reference to God, that He suffered! The death of Christ was quite
   unique--none of the martyrs were ever brought into the same condition
   as their Lord was in.

   I remember reading in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the story of a man of God
   who was bound to a stake to die for Christ. There he was, calm and
   quiet, till his legs had been burned away and the bystanders looked to
   see his helpless body drop from the chains. He was black as coal and
   not a feature could be discerned. But one who was near was greatly
   surprised to see that poor black carcass open its mouth and two words
   came out of it! And what do you suppose they were? "Sweet Jesus!" And
   then the martyr fell over the chains and, at last, his life was gone.
   Oh, how much of the blessed Presence of God that poor saint must have
   had to be able to say, at the last, when he was charred to a coal,
   "Sweet Jesus!"

   But the Lord Jesus had not that help and comfort. His Father's
   Countenance was hidden from Him. "Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani," is
   such a shriek as even Hell itself has never heard, for the lost ones
   there have never known what it was to have the love of God shed abroad
   in their hearts, as Christ had known it and, therefore, they could
   never know the loss of it as Christ knew it in that supreme moment of
   His agony. "Christ suffered." That is all you can say of Him, He
   suffered, without any alleviation of His pain.

   Further, He suffered without any qualification in the sense of being
   compelled to suffer We say of such-and-such a person, "He suffers
   greatly, but he cannot help suffering. He has a deadly disease, the
   pain of which cannot be alleviated. He is, therefore, obliged to bear
   it." The martyr, whom I mentioned just now, was bound to the stake--he
   could not get away--he suffered under compulsion. He was made to
   suffer. But you cannot say that of Christ. Herein is a marvelous thing,
   that while Christ suffered, you may take the word in the active sense.
   I do not know how exactly to express my meaning, but there is a sort of
   passive sense in which He suffered--that is the sense in which we all
   suffer according to our share--but Jesus also suffered in an active
   sense. That is to say, He suffered willingly, resolutely, without any
   compulsion. At any moment He might have broken loose from the Cross! He
   might have called for 12 legions of angels and scattered all His foes.
   He might have flung off His body and appeared before them as a
   Consuming Fire to utterly destroy them!

   Or, retaining His Humanity, He might have smitten them with blindness,
   or worked some other miracle and so have escaped from them. If we
   should be called to die for Christ, it would only be paying the debt of
   nature a little beforehand, for we are bound to die sooner or later--it
   is the lot of man. But there was no such need in the case of Christ!
   There was no necessity of death about that Holy Thing which was born of
   the Virgin Mary! It would not corrupt and it needed not to die. All the
   way through His death, remember that He did not die as we do--gradually
   losing consciousness, floating away and never able to suspend the
   process of dissolution--but, at any instant, up to the final committal
   of His spirit to His Father, He could have caused all those pains to
   cease! Now see with what an extraordinary meaning my text is girt
   about. As the painters foolishly depict Christ with a halo around His
   head which was never there, I may truly picture His sufferings,
   mystically and spiritually, with a halo about them which is really
   there, for He suffered in this superhuman fashion, without any
   qualification as to alleviation or as to compulsion!

   Dear Friends, how shall I speak further upon this part of my subject?
   Only this word would I add--that "Christ suffered" without any desert.
   If we suffer, we must say to ourselves that we suffer less than we
   deserve, and even when a man suffers so as to die, we know that death
   is the penalty of sin. But "Christ suffered" in a very special sense
   because "in Him was no sin." He had never done anything worthy of
   death, or of bonds. He suffered "for sins not His own." There was
   nothing about Him that brought the suffering upon Him--His was the
   suffering of a pure and holy Being. We say of a criminal, not so much
   that he suffers, but that he is punished, He is executed, He is put to
   death. We never say that of Christ--we say that He
   suffered--voluntarily and without any obligation on account of demerit.
   He comes and takes upon Himself the sins of His people, stands in their
   place, is chastened with their chastisements, is smitten with their
   smiting. Well does He say, by the mouth of the Psalmist, "Many a time
   have they afflicted Me from My youth: yet they have not prevailed
   against Me. The plowers plowed upon My back: they made long their
   furrows." So indeed they did, not only on His back, but on His heart!

   I am speaking now, not only of His external but of His internal
   sufferings. Truly did one say that "the sufferings of Christ's soul
   were the very soul of His sufferings." And so, no doubt, they were.
   But, in His case, there was no punishment due to Him, so in His
   sufferings there was nothing exacted from Him on His own account. I
   must leave you to think upon this great mystery, for I cannot speak of
   it as it deserves.

   V. I close with this last reflection. My text is AN EXPRESSION WITH AN
   EMPHASIS. "Christ also has once suffered."

   When we think of our own sufferings, as compared with our Lord's, we
   may print them in the smallest type that the printer can use. But where
   shall I find capital letters that are large enough to print this
   sentence when it applies to Him--"CHRIST ALSO HAS ONCE SUFFERED"? It is
   almost as if the Apostle said, "You have, none of you, suffered when
   compared with Him." Or, at least, He was the Arch-Sufferer--the Prince
   of Sufferers--the Emperor of the Realm of Agony--Lord Paramount in
   sorrow. Just take that term, "a Man of Sorrows." You know that in the
   Book of Revelation, there is the expression, "the man of sin." What
   does, "the man of sin" mean but a man made up of sin, one who is all
   sin? Very well, then, "a Man of Sorrows" means a Man made up of
   sorrows, constructed of sorrows--sorrows from the crown of His head to
   the sole of His feet--sorrow without and sorrow within. He did sleep
   with sorrow and wake with sorrow--Christ was a Man of Sorrows, a massof
   sorrow.

   Take the next expression, "and acquainted with grief." Grief was His
   familiar acquaintance, not a person that He passed by and casually
   addressed, but His acquaintance that kept close to Him throughout His
   life. He said once, "Lover and friend have You put far from Me, and My
   acquaintance into darkness." But this acquaintance was with Him there--
   "acquainted with grief." Listen to the words and if you can see my Lord
   pressed by the strong arm of grief until He is covered all over with a
   gory shirt of bloody sweat, then you know that grief had made Him to be
   acquainted with its desperate tugs. When you see Him bleeding from His
   hands, feet and side, with all His spirit exceedingly sorrowful even
   unto death--and God, Himself, leaving Him in the thick darkness--then
   you know that He was, indeed, acquainted with grief! You know a little
   about grief, but you do not know much. The hem of Grief's garment is
   all you ever touch, but Christ wore it as His daily robe! We do but sip
   of the cup--He drank it to its bitterest dregs. We feel just a little
   of the warmth of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, but He dwelt in the very
   midst of the fire!

   There I must leave the whole matter with you. But as you come to the
   Communion Table, come with this one thought upon you--"Christ also has
   once suffered." Somebody, perhaps, asks me, "Is there any comfort in
   that thought?" Is it not an amazing thing that there should be more of
   comfort in the sufferings of Christ than in any other thing under
   Heaven? Yet it is so--there is more joy in the sufferings of Christ, to
   those whose hearts are broken, or sorely wounded--than there is in His
   birth, or His resurrection, or anything else about the Savior! It is by
   His stripes rather than even by His glory that we are healed! Come,
   Beloved, take a draught from this bitter wine, which shall sweetly
   charm away all your sorrows and make you glad! May God the Holy Spirit
   grant that it may be so!

   And if there is anybody here who is not saved, remember, Friend, that
   your salvation depends upon the sufferings of Christ. If you believe on
   Him, then His sufferings are yours--they have taken away your sin and
   you are clear! Therefore, go your way and be glad.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM27; ROMANS 8:14-17.

   Psalm 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; First comes light
   and then salvation. We are not saved in ignorance. The knowledge of our
   sinfulness is revealed to us--we discover our true condition in the
   sight of God--and then we perceive the mercy and the love of God. We
   see first the light and then the fullness of salvation, for this is not
   a matter of the past only, but of the present. At this very hour, each
   Believer can say, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Can you say
   that, dear Friend? If so, there is more real eloquence in that little
   sentence than in all the orations of Cicero!

   1. Whom shall I fear? "There is nobody that I have any need to fear. I
   need not fear the powers of darkness, for 'the Lord is my light.' I
   need not fear damnation, for 'the Lord is my salvation.' Then, 'Whom
   shall I fear?'"

   1. The LORD is the strength of my life. Is not that a wonderful
   expression? Ordinarily, a man lives by the strength of his
   constitution, but the spiritual life lives by the strength of God
   within the soul.

   1. Of whom shall I be afraid. "For, if God is my strength, then am I
   strong as Samson, and I may slay the lion or the Philistines with equal
   ease."

   2. When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up
   my flesh, they stumbled and fell Good men have enemies because they are
   good men. There are two classes in the world--the righteous and the
   wicked--the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And you know
   that even in Eden, the Lord said to the serpent, "I will put enmity
   between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed." We must
   expect, then, if we are among the righteous, that we shall be attacked
   by the wicked. But, when they come against us, we may believe that they
   shall be overcome even before we strike a single blow in our own
   defense!

   3. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear
   Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. You
   know that, usually, we fear just before the battle begins--when we see
   the enemy encamped against us. We do not know what they are going to do
   and we are sure to imagine the very worst. But such was David's
   confidence in his God that he said, "Though an host should encamp
   against me, my heart shall not fear." There they lie, their legions
   marshaled against him in all their dread array! But says the Psalmist,
   "In this will I be confident." Oh, the joy of the man who has received
   this confidence from God and who is, therefore--

   "Calm 'mid the bewildering cry, Confident of victory."

   4. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I
   may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold
   the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His Temple. Did David refer
   to any special spot, or to any one sacred shrine? I think not. He meant
   that he wished to be always at home with God. And, you know, at the
   same time we can also be in our own houses or in the fields, on the
   land or on the sea. This was David's great desire, that he might always
   dwell with God, like a child at home, wherever he was. And that he
   might have such communion with God that he might "behold the beauty of
   the Lord," that he might ask of God guidance in all his difficulties,
   "and to enquire in His Temple." Those are two things, dear Friends, for
   which I hope many of us have come here--that we may behold God's
   graciousness and loveliness in the ordinances of His sanctuary--and
   that we may ask and receive of Him help in all our difficulties and
   guidance in all our dilemmas. How often, in this house, has God spoken
   so personally to His dear children that they have thought that the
   preacher knew all about them, when he really knew nothing whatever of
   them, though God did, and sent a message by His servant, straight to
   their souls!

   5. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the
   secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a
   rock. If I dwell with God, He will hide me away in the pavilion of His
   Sovereignty and, as long as He is King--and that will be forever and
   ever--He will not let me perish! His sword and shield shall be
   stretched out for my defense. Then God has also a tabernacle as well as
   a royal pavilion--as of old He had the Holy of Holies into which no man
   could enter, on pain of death, save only the High Priest on the
   appointed day. "In the time of trouble," the Lord Himself shall take us
   and hide us there by the Mercy Seat, near the Ark of the Covenant,
   where His Glory shall shine upon us, and where none can intrude to hurt
   us. We have the protection of the Pavilion of Sovereignty and the
   Tabernacle of Sacrifice--what two places can be safer? We have also the
   rock of God's Immutability--His people shall stand on that high mount,
   beyond the reach of their adversaries, where their feet shall never
   slide.

   6. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies roundabout me:
   therefore willIoffer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing,
   yes, I will sing praises unto the LORD. This is a blessed resolution!
   Oh, that you and I would carry it out more and more! David says twice
   that He will sing the Lord's praises--"I will sing, yes, I will sing
   praises unto the Lord." Come, all you who sigh, change that word, and
   say, "I will sing." Come, all you who make a mourning noise, and ask
   the Lord to help you to make a joyful noise before His face! Is not
   praise comely and fitting in the Presence of such a God as He is who
   has dealt so well with us? Let each individual who knows the goodness
   of God say, "I will sing, yes, I will sing praises unto the Lord."

   7. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and
   answer me. The Psalmist has only just begun praising when he takes to
   praying--and that should be a Christian's double occupation--praising
   and praying! I have often said that as our life is made up of breathing
   in and breathing out, so we should breathe in the atmosphere of Heaven
   by prayer and then breathe it out, again, in praise--

   "Prayer and praise, with sins forgiven, Bring down to earth the bliss
   of Heaven!"

   8. When You said, Seek you My face; my heart said unto You, Your face,
   LORD, will I seek David springs forward to accept the Divine invitation
   which invitation was general--"Seek you My face"--but the response was
   personal, "Your face, Lord, will I seek." Whether others would do so,
   or not, David resolved and declared that he would seek the face of the
   Lord! Let everyone of us, dear Friends, do the same.

   9. Hide not Your face far from me; put not Your servant away in anger--

   "Dismiss me not Your service, Lord." You know how masters sometimes
   discharge their servants in anger. But what a gracious Master you and I
   have, Beloved, or else He would have sent us adrift long ago! "Get you
   gone," He would have said, "you disgrace My house, you mar My work, you
   do not perform your service well. Be gone!" But He does not speak or
   act in that fashion.

   9, 10. You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God
   of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake we, then the LORD
   will take me up. ' 'They carried me when I was a child and He will
   carry me now! 'The Lord will take me up.' When they steel their hearts
   against me, because I become a Christian, He will love me and more than
   make up my loss of their love."

   11. Teach me Your way, OLORD, andleadme in aplainpath, because ofmy
   enemies. "Lord, do not let me get into difficulties, so that I shall
   not know what to do, for my foes are so sharp-eyed that if they can
   find a fault in me, they will! And even if there is no fault, they will
   make one up. Therefore, Lord, 'lead me in a plain path, because of my
   enemies.'"

   12. Deliver me not over unto the will ofmy enemies: for false witnesses
   are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. Am I
   addressing anyone who is being slandered? Has somebody borne false
   witness against you? Well, be very thankful that it is false! I do not
   quite understand why it is so often said, "You see, it is such a
   downright lie and that is what grieves me so." But, dear Friend, it is
   much better that it should be false than true! If anyone brings an
   accusation against me, I shall be glad to find that it is false. Let
   not that be the sting of the trouble which really is the sweetness of
   it--be glad that they cannot say anything against you unless they speak
   falsely! However, if you expect to go to Heaven without being
   slandered, you expect what you are not likely to get, for God Himself
   was slandered in Paradise! Our Lord Jesus, in whom was no fault, was
   slandered when He was upon the earth--His Apostles and followers in all
   ages have had the same treatment! And here is David saying, "False
   witnesses are risen up against me."

   13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living. That is the point to be noted--there is no
   getting over fainting except by believing, for believing saves us from
   swooning and makes us strong--"I had fainted unless I had believed."

   14. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your
   heart Here is a man of God giving us the benefit of his own experience!
   He waited upon God and now he bids us do the same, that we may be
   blessed as he was. At our Prayer Meeting before we came in here, one
   dear friend thanked the Lord that, for more than 60 years, he had been
   enabled to rest upon the Divine promises and he had never found one of
   them to fail in the hour of need. These testimonies are very precious.
   I remember, in my early Christian days, how my soul was greatly
   sustained by hearing a blind man say that he had lived on God by faith
   for more than 60 years, and he had found the Lord faithful to His
   promises all that time. Those of you, dear Friends, who are younger
   than others of us, may be comforted by the experience of your seniors!
   But if we were to live to be ten times as old as Methuselah, we would
   never find God backward in keeping His promises--He must be true
   whatever happens.

   14. Wait, I say, on the LORD. Now let us read just a few verses to
   remind us of our union with our suffering Lord. Romans 8:14. For as
   many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. You can
   judge yourself, dear

   Friend, by this test. Do you follow the Spirit's leading? Do you desire
   continually that He should be your supreme Guide and Leader? If you are
   led by the Spirit of God, then you have this highest of all
   privileges--you are one of the sons of God! Nothing can equal that
   honor! To be a son of God is more than anything of which ungodly kings
   and emperors can boast, with all their array of pomp and wealth!

   15. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You
   did receive it once and it was a great blessing to you. This came of
   the Law and the Law brought you under bondage through a sense of
   sin--and that made you first cry for liberty and then made you accept
   the liberating Savior. But you have not received that spirit of bondage
   again to fear.

   15. But you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
   Father. We who believe in Jesus are all children of God and we dare to
   use that name which only children might use, "Abba." And we dare use it
   even in the Presence of God and to say to Him, "Abba, Father." We
   cannot help doing it because the spirit of adoption must have its own
   mode of speech--and its chosen way of speaking is to appeal to the
   great God by this name, "Abba, Father."

   16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
   children of God. There are two witnesses, then, and in the mouth of
   these two witnesses the whole Truth of God about our adoption shall be
   established. Our own spirit--so changed as to be reconciled to God and
   led in ways which once it never trod--our own spirit bears witness that
   we are the sons of God. And then God's own Spirit bears witness, too,
   and so we become doubly sure!

   17. And if children, then heirs. For all God's children are heirs and
   all equally heirs. The elder-born members of God's family, such as
   Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs, are no more heirs of God than
   are we of these latter days who have but lately come to Christ! "If
   children, then heirs." Heirs of what?

   17. Heirs of God. Not only heirs of what God chooses to give, but heirs
   of Himself! There need be nothing else said, if this is true! "The Lord
   is my portion, says my soul." "Heirs of God."

   17. And joint-heirs with Christ; if it is so that we suffer with Him,
   that we may be also glorified together. Do you ever have in your heart
   a longing to behold the Glory of God? Do you feel pressed down when you
   see abounding sin? Are your eyes ready to be flooded with tears at the
   thought of the destruction of the ungodly? Then, you are having
   sympathy with Christ in His sufferings and you shall as certainly be an
   heir with Him, by-and-by, in His glory!
     __________________________________________________________________

"Persecuted, But Not Forsaken"

   (No. 2574)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 12, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
   8, 1883.

   "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say:
   many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not
   prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long
   their furrows. The Lord is righteous: He has cut asunder the cords of
   the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
   Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it
   grows up: which the mower fills not his hand; nor he that binds sheaves
   his arms. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be
   upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD." Psalm 129.

   You see, dear Friends, the Psalm speaks of two sorts of people--there
   is Israel and there are those that hate Zion. The first three verses
   are dedicated to God's people. The last five speak of those who are not
   God's people, but are the haters of them. From the very first, there
   have been two seeds in the world. The first man that was born--Cain,
   was of the seed of the serpent, but the second was, by the Grace of
   God, of the seed of the woman. And so early, when those two boys had
   but just developed into manhood, he that was born by Grace served his
   God and brought a lamb as his sacrifice. But he that was born after the
   flesh--the firstborn of man--became his brother's murderer. Thus, in
   the very first household that ever existed, there was a sharp line of
   demarcation between the man of faith and the man of sense--the man that
   lived unto God and the man that lived after his own passions. Always
   and everywhere since that day there have been the same two characters
   and, albeit there is a large number of persons about whom you or I may
   not be able to give any decision, for they seem as if they stood
   between the two! Yet in the sight of God there is a line, narrow, but
   most sure, which divides the living from the dead--the believing from
   the unbelieving--the men that fear God from them that fear Him not.

   And still, right down the ages, that Word that was spoken to the
   serpent in the Garden of Eden stands true--"I will put enmity between
   you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed." There are the
   believing people of God-- His own elect brought out from among men, and
   there is the world that lies in the Wicked One. To one of these two
   classes we all belong--there are really no neutrals--it is not possible
   that there should be. There is no borderland between life and death--a
   man is either alive by the quickening of the Spirit, or he remains dead
   in trespasses and sins.

   I am going to speak of each of these two classes that are mentioned in
   my text. So, first, let us notice the description given of God's own
   people. The first three verses of the Psalm may be summed up
   thus--Israel persecuted, but not forsaken. When I have spoken on that
   theme, I shall hope to say something about the wicked flourishing, but
   perishing. Those two words--flourishing, perishing--describe the
   condition of those that hate Zion and that hate the children of Zion.
   Before I plunge into the text, however, let me give you a few sentences
   by way of introduction.

   The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is the picture of the life of His
   people. "As He was," says Paul, "so are we, also, in this world." This
   is so remarkably true that, in the Psalms we sometimes can hardly tell
   whether the writer is describing himself or the Lord Jesus, because, as
   is the Head, so are the members, and there is a growing likeness which
   is often spoken of in Scripture as if these two were one, as indeed, in
   the highest sense, they are. If you read this Psalm carefully, you can
   see Christ in it. Jesus could truly say, "Many a time have they
   afflicted Me from My youth: yet they have not prevailed against Me."
   Herod sought the young Child's life to destroy it. Satan seemed to stir
   Hell, itself, to seek the destruction of the Infant Jesus. "The plowers
   plowed upon My back: they made long their furrows." How true was that
   of our Divine Master--when He was in His agony in the garden, the
   furrows were plainly visible! When He was brought before Herod, and
   before Pilate, and was scourged till He was covered with wounds--and
   when He died and they took down that blessed but mangled body--how deep
   were the furrows!

   Now the sufferings of Christ, of which I spoke to you last Sunday night
   [See Sermon #2573, Volume 44--Unparalleled Suffering] are, in their
   measure, repeated in His people--we are made to have fellowship with
   Him in His sufferings. Shall the disciple be above his Master? Shall
   the servant be above his Lord? If they have persecuted Him, they will
   also persecute us! He bids us look for such treatment as this. Do not,
   therefore, expect rest where Christ had none, or look to wear a crown
   of gold where Christ wore a crown of thorns.

   My next observation is that the history of God's people, Israel, is
   also, in type, a history of His Church. Truly, the sins of Israel are
   far too often repeated in Believers, but the woes and griefs of Israel,
   and their deliverance out of them, are the means of comfort to many of
   God's saints. See how the Israelites were afflicted from their youth,
   when they were but a little nation and went down into Egypt. How hard
   they had to work in the brick-kilns! With what enmity did Pharaoh look
   upon them! How cruelly and craftily he sought to compass the
   destruction of the nation by drowning the male children in the Nile! He
   used his wit and his power every way possible to destroy the chosen
   people--but the Lord preserved His own. Then, in the day of Israel's
   youth, when she went into the wilderness, she was afflicted. "I
   remember you," says God, "the kindness of your youth, the love of your
   espousals, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was
   not sown." But in the wilderness she had her trials and when she came
   to the promised land, her trials did but begin again. Scarcely was she
   delivered from the Canaanites before she fell prey to the Philistines!
   And the Philistines were hardly overcome before we hear of the Syrians,
   the Edomites, the Moabites--and then of the Assyrians and the
   Babylonians who, at last, carried away captive the people of God. That
   nation, Israel, to this day may say, "Many a time have they afflicted
   me from my youth: but they have not prevailed against me."

   Now one more remark. I have already reminded you that Christ's life is
   the picture of His people's life and that the history of Israel is the
   picture of His Church. Now notice how true it is that the Church, from
   her very outset, has always been afflicted--first by Herod, when he
   sought to slay the Apostles, and did murder James. Next afflicted by
   the Jews and driven from city to city. Then afflicted by Saul of Tarsus
   who breathed out threats and slaughter against the Church of Christ
   from her youth. Then broke out the great Pagan persecution. Your
   knowledge of history, I suppose, tells you how the emperors of Rome
   used the whole of their force to crush the Christian Church, yet they
   prevailed not against her! When the Roman emperors had done their
   worst, and done it in vain, the Church of Christ was turned into an
   established church by patronage--and from that moment became a harlot
   and so grew into the apostate Church of Rome!

   Then the Pope, with all his night, sought to crush out the Church of
   God. Read the stories of the Albigenses in the South of France, the
   Waldenses in the valleys of Piedmont. Read the history of the Lollards
   in England and of the saints of God in any country which you please to
   choose. They were torn asunder. They were made to rot in prison. They
   were tortured on the rack. They were put to death in all manner of
   ways. In our own country, especially, by being burned to death at the
   stake. Yet the enemies of Zion have not prevailed against her. No,
   Rome, you shall never triumph! And even now, though today our clergy
   preach your doctrines and wear your garments, yet you shall not prevail
   against the Church of God, for He shall surely come, even He that has
   delivered in days gone by, and shall work deliverance for His Israel
   once again!

   So I have spoken to you of Christ, of Israel, and of the Church. Now I
   come to deal with the subject as it relates to yourselves. As it was
   with the Church at large, as it was with Israel, as it was with our
   Lord Jesus, so expect it to be with you! As I go through this Psalm
   with you, and dwell upon it, you can apply it to yourself, my dear
   tried and persecuted Friend.

   I. In the first three verses of the Psalm, we have a description of
   ISRAEL PERSECUTED, BUT NOT FORSAKEN.

   First notice, concerning Israel's affliction, from where it came--
   "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth." Who was it that
   afflicted Israel? The text says, "they" And why is the word, "they,"
   used? Because, to enter into particulars would rather obscure the sense
   than impress anything upon the memory. "They." Why, it meant, in the
   case of the nation of Israel, Egyptians, Amalekites, Hivites, Hittites,
   Jebusites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians--it would be such a long
   list--so the Psalmist just says, "they." Who are the people that have
   afflicted you, my dear Friend? The

   Scripture leaves room for you to add the names if you care to put them
   in. But perhaps it will be wiser for you to forget all the names and
   simply to leave it as it is here--"Many a time have they afflicted me
   from my youth."

   I hardly like to think of who they are, who, in many cases, have
   afflicted God's true servants, but it is still true that "a man's foes
   shall be they of his own household." A woman is just brought to Christ
   and her greatest trouble comes from him whom she loves best of all
   living mortals--her husband becomes her terror! When a child has been
   brought to the Savior, it is sad that his worst fears should arise
   concerning the treatment he will receive from his father or his
   mother--but it has often been so. We do not put the names in--we can
   pray for the persecutors all the better if we leave it, "they." A
   newly-converted Christian goes out into business. Does he find friends
   there? Sometimes God is very tender and pitiful, and casts the lot of
   his young children in among the gracious. But there are others who have
   a hard time of it, for they have to earn their bread in the midst of
   the ungodly. Christ seems to say to them, "Behold, I send you forth as
   sheep in the midst of wolves." And these wolves are always seeking to
   destroy the lambs, if possible! Is it not a singular thing in
   Providence that though the wolves might have eaten all the lambs up
   long ago, yet there are a great many more sheep in the world, now, than
   there are wolves? And in this country, you know, there is not a wolf
   left--they have all died out. They could take care of themselves and
   fight, yet they have all gone. The sheep could not defend themselves,
   yet here they are in flocks! God takes care of the weak and the
   feeble--and in that very fact of natural history He seems to say to His
   people, "'Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure
   to give you the Kingdom.' When the wicked are cut off, you shall see
   it. 'The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in
   the abundance of peace.'"

   Outside, in the world, the Christian frequently meets with those who
   would rejoice to see him stumble, who try to make faults where there
   are none and exaggerate little mistakes into great crimes. Wherever he
   goes, he has to travel with his sword drawn--he finds an adversary
   behind every bush. He is a pilgrim through the midst of Vanity Fair
   whom the traders cannot understand. In his case, that ancient word is
   again fulfilled--"My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds
   round about are against her." Such a man can truly say, "Many a time
   have they afflicted me."

   But, next, let us ask, how does this persecution come? The Psalm says,
   "Many a time." That means very often. So then, you who are faithful to
   God must expect that you will frequently be assailed by the foe. I know
   some of God's saints who feel almost frightened when people speak well
   of them. They begin to say, "What have we been doing wrong? Would these
   people commend us if we had been serving our Master faithfully?" There
   is another side to that truth, for, "when a man's ways please the Lord,
   He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." But, between the
   two, it is not always easy to tell which is the right course. This we
   know--we are not to expect to find favor where Christ found no favor!
   If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, we must expect that
   they will have ill names for us. If they imputed evil motives to Him,
   they will impute evil motives to us. If they even said of Him that He
   was a drunk and a wine-bibber, we must not be astonished if sometimes
   things of which we have never heard, or things that we abhor, should be
   laid to our charge! Therefore, arm yourselves, also, with the same mind
   as Christ had, who endured such contradiction of sinners against
   Himself many and many a time.

   The Psalm tells us that these attacks of the ungodly were a real
   affliction to the people of God. "Many a time have they afflicted me. .
   .Many a time have they afflicted me." It is written twice over to show
   how trying it was. The brine made poor Israel's wounds smart. She was
   really hurt and she felt it. I have sometimes met with a person who has
   said, "I do not care what people say of me." I am not sure whether that
   feeling is right, or wrong. Sometimes it may be an indifference which
   is pitiable. At other times it may be a courage which is admirable. But
   this I do know, that the saints of God have found slander to be a very
   piercing thing--it has gone right to their heart--the iron has entered
   into their soul. Hence the Savior said to His disciples, "Let not your
   heart be troubled," for trouble tries, sometimes, to get to the heart.
   Affliction that does not really afflict is no affliction. But here they
   felt it. They groaned under it. The plowers made deep furrows, not mere
   surface ones--they cut down deep into the very spirit, into the very
   soul of Israel. And we must not wonder if, sometimes, for Christ's
   sake, we have to meet with this kind of trial.

   Possibly, some Christian sitting here is saying, "I do not know much
   about that sort of affliction." Well, be very thankful if you do not,
   but be ready for it--be prepared for it. There are some of us who had a
   hard time of it in years gone by. There was not any name in the catalog
   of contempt which some of us have not been made to bear. And now,
   perhaps, we have smoother times, but we stand quite ready to go into
   the burning fiery furnace, again, if so it must be, for this is a part
   of the portion of God's servants--"Many a time have they afflicted me .
   . . Many a time have they afflicted me."

   But notice, while we are speaking of how affliction came to Israel,
   that it came to her in her youth. What a coward Satan is! He always
   tries to attack God's children most fiercely when they are young. Fight
   one of your own size, Sir! But that he is afraid to do. When the child
   of God gets well matured and, by experience knows how to fly to his
   God, Satan will often leave him quietly alone. You know the story in
   the Revelation of how, when the woman was delivered of a Man-Child, the
   dragon sought to destroy the Child at once and it was, therefore,
   caught up unto God, and to His Throne. No sooner did the devil spy out
   Christ, as He rose dripping from the waters of Baptism, than he
   determined to assail Him with his fierce temptations and, if possible,
   destroy Him before He began His ministry! But that young Christ,
   freshly anointed of the Spirit, was more than a match for him. Many a
   time since then has the Adversary met God's people in their youth, when
   as yet they were feeble--when they were not expert in war, just as
   David in his youth had to fight the lion and the bear, and afterwardsto
   meet the giant.

   Oh, it was grand for that ruddy youth to be able to say to Saul, "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." It may be so with you who are young in Grace--do not
   be astonished if you meet with your fiercest attacks in the morning of
   your days! But have courage and say to yourself, "It was told me that
   it would probably be so. I am not taken at unawares, I was warned of
   that as I read the Psalm, 'Many a time have they afflicted me from my
   youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my
   youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.'"

   Notice again that the Psalm goes on to describe this persecution of
   Israel under the imagery of plowers plowing her back. It is a kind of
   duplicate metaphor. It is just as the scourger, when he takes his
   dreadful lash and brings it down with all his might on he bare back of
   his victim, makes a deep gash where the throng falls. And it is also
   like the furrow that is cut by a plow, only it is not made in dead
   clods, it is right in the quivering flesh! The scourge falls again and
   there is another mark--again you can hear the dreadful motion of the
   whip of wire as it falls and cuts deeper and deeper into that poor
   sensitive bleeding back.

   Now, just so, Israel says, it was with her, and you know that it was
   so, for she seemed to be all but destroyed many times. That little
   nation was hacked to pieces. Zion was plowed as a field. So is it with
   some of God's people--as it was, also, with their Master, and as it has
   been with the entire Church of Christ. The whip has come down
   mercilessly again and again and again--forty stripes save one--for
   Satan will never stint his blows. He will vex God's people again and
   again and again, and if he could, he would utterly destroy them. Such
   often has been the lives of God's saints--the very best and truest of
   them--and such are their lives now. It is not so with all of us, but it
   has been so with many. May the Lord help His suffering people! In
   patience may they possess their souls! As I remind you of what some of
   our Brothers and Sisters in Christ are just now suffering, I pray you
   to remember those that are in bonds as bound with them, and those that
   are in trouble, knowing that you, yourselves, also are yet in the body.

   This, then, is the description of what God's people have often had to
   suffer. The plowers have made long their furrows--they have left no
   headlands--they have plowed the back again and again--and scourged it
   with the cruel lash.

   But now, what is the reason for all this persecution?There are two
   reasons. And the first is the hatred of the serpent and his seed. There
   are two things that are inconceivable in length and breadth. The first
   is the love of God to His people, which is altogether without limit.
   And the next is the hatred of the devil, which is and must be finite,
   for he is only a creature, but still, it is as great as it possibly can
   be. We have no idea with what determined vehemence Satan hates these
   who belong to Christ! He will do anything he can in the hope of
   destroying one of them. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom
   he may devour. That, Beloved, is why you have so many persecutions from
   those who are the faithful children of Satan--they are of their father,
   the devil, and his works they will continue to do--and one of those
   works is persecuting those who are the children of God.

   Still, there is a higher reason for the persecution of the saints. The
   second reason is because God permits it. Why does He permit it? Well,
   very often for your safety. "For our safety?" you ask. "For our
   safety?" Yes, the Church of God has often been preserved by
   persecution--she was never purer, she was never holier, she was never
   truer and she never lived nearer to God and more like her Savior than
   when she was persecuted! I venture to say of the Church of Scotland
   that she was never grander than in the Covenanting times when they met
   among the glens and up in the lone places when she sat on the heather
   watching, lest Claverhouse's dragoons should be near. I think, of late
   years, she was never nobler than in Disruption times, and I believe she
   will never again be so good and great unless she is persecuted.

   Often we do not prosper in spiritual things, in times of ease, as we
   ought to do. Sometimes, the best friend of the sheep is the dog--and
   when the shepherd lets him loose, he fetches back the wanderers. And if
   there are any animals that ought not to be with the flock, the dog gets
   in among them and makes the separation between his master's sheep and
   other people's. We owe a great deal to persecuting dogs! I knew a young
   man who used to steal in here on Thursday nights and who would come
   into the Prayer Meetings and pray very sweetly and very earnestly. But
   he had no comfort in his home, for he had a father who could not endure
   his religion and was very bitter against him. His father died and the
   son inherited his property. He is never here, now. He has no love for
   God, as far as I can judge. He has grown cold and has turned aside, but
   as long as he was persecuted, he certainly seemed to be one of the most
   earnest men I ever knew! I believe that it has often been so, for
   silken days do not suit Christ's soldiers--but in the battle they will
   glory when their Master is with them. So you see how persecution is
   sometimes for our safety.

   Next, it is for our trial and testing, to separate the precious from
   the vile. We are put into the sieve and Satan sifts us. He likes that
   task, but what a fool he is to do the sifting for Christ! It is good
   work when it is done and Satan, in persecuting the saints, is simply a
   scullion in Christ's kitchen, cleansing His pots and pans. They never
   are so bright as when he scours them and it is a scouring with a
   vengeance. Yet, in that way he separates, or God, through him,
   separates, between the precious and the vile! The Lord sometimes allows
   persecution to break out upon His people that they may know more of
   themselves. And oh, how we fail when we come to times of persecution! I
   have heard of one who, when he was condemned to die for the faith, got
   out of bed in the night and held his finger over the candle to see
   whether he could burn. Poor soul, he felt that he could not endure that
   pain, but yet he said, "I do verily believe that when I come to the
   stake, the agony which I cannot endure in my finger, now, I shall bear
   in my whole body, for then I shall be suffering God's will. Now, when I
   hold my finger in the candle, I am only suffering for my own curiosity
   and I get no support and strength."

   And it was so. In Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the tale is told of a poor
   woman who was taken with the pains of travail when condemned to die in
   prison. And when she cried out, her enemies said to her, "If you cannot
   bear this which is but natural, what will you do when you come to
   burn?" The woman answered, "Now, I am only suffering the curse that
   came upon the race through sin, and I feel it bitterly. But when I am
   burning at the stake, I shall be suffering for Christ's sake, and I
   shall feel it to be sweet." And it was noticed how bravely--to quote a
   strange phrase--she played the man. No, she played the WOMAN for Christ
   and suffered well for Him without tears or cries! Ah, yes, when God is
   with His people, He helps them wonderfully. But what a test it is to
   them and how they are driven at such times to prove their own weakness!
   How it tries their faith and proves of what stuff it is made! And how
   it makes them reel trembling and weak where they thought they were
   steadfast and strong!

   I find that my time has nearly gone, yet I am not half-way through my
   subject. I must just mention the blessings which come to the tried
   children of God through their troubles. I do so enjoy the reading of
   that part of the Psalm where it says, "But they have not prevailed
   against me." You see a troop of horsemen riding into the very midst of
   the battle and you lose sight of them for a moment amidst the dust and
   smoke. But out of the middle of that cloud you hear the brave captain's
   cry, "They have not prevailed against me!" You see that little band
   advancing into a yet more crowded host, all glaring upon them like
   wolves. Surely they will be cut to pieces! But in the very center of
   the struggling mass you see the banner still waving and again comes the
   cry, "They have not prevailed against me!" That is, in brief, the story
   of the Church of Christ, and that shall be the story of every Christian
   who puts his trust in God--he shall have to say, at the close of every
   trouble--yes, and even in the midst of it--"They have not prevailed
   against me."

   What is the reason why the enemy cannot prevail against the saints of
   God? Read the next verse. "The Lord is righteous." If He were to
   forsake His people and they were to perish, He would not be righteous.
   But He will not forget our work of faith and labor of love, nor will He
   leave us to fall in the evil day. "The Lord is righteous." That is to
   say, He will take the right side, He will defend those that fight for
   the right and for the truth, He will prove Himself strong on the behalf
   of them that put their trust in Him. "The Lord is righteous" and,
   therefore, He will smite His adversaries upon the cheekbone! He will
   not let them go on forever in their pride and cruelty. They get the
   upper hand for a while, and they smite His saints, but, "the Lord is
   righteous," and He will speedily avenge His own elect that cry day and
   night to Him! He may delay the overthrow of His people's foes, but He
   will, in the end, take their part and display His Almighty Power. For
   the present, He is patient. He bears long with the ungodly, but He will
   not always do so. The fact that "the Lord is righteous" is the pledge
   that the wicked shall not prevail over His saints.

   Then notice the next sentence--"He has cut asunder the cords of the
   wicked." Literally, it should run thus--"He has cut the traces of the
   wicked." They are plowing, you see, and in the East, the oxen are
   fastened to the plow by a long cord. What does God do in the middle of
   their plowing? There are the bulls and there is the plow, but God has
   cut the harness--and how wonderfully He has sometimes cut the harness
   of the persecutors of His people! Look at the way He did this for our
   poor hunted Brothers and Sisters in Piedmont. They were likely, every
   one of them, to be crushed and, apparently, there was nobody to protect
   them. The Duke of Savoy, whose subjects they were, had given them up to
   be destroyed. The next country was France, but the King of France was a
   Roman Catholic and as eager for their destruction as was the Duke. But
   one day, Oliver Cromwell sent for the French ambassador and said to
   him, "Tell your master to order the Duke of Savoy to leave off
   persecuting my brethren in Piedmont, or he shall hear from me about the
   matter." "Sir," said the ambassador, "they are not the subjects of the
   King of France. He has nothing to do with them. The Duke of Savoy is an
   independent prince--we cannot interfere with him." "I do not care about
   that," replied Cromwell. "I will hold your king answerable if he does
   not stop the Duke of Savoy from persecuting the Piedmontese."

   And they knew that "Old Noll" meant what he said. So, somehow, the King
   of France managed to interfere with that precious independent prince
   and told him that he had better cease his persecutions, for if he did
   not, Oliver Cromwell would take up the quarrel. Yes, and when the Pope,
   himself, had persecuted some English sailors at Rome, Cromwell wrote
   and said that he did not know whether "his holiness" would like to hear
   the thunder of his guns at Rome, but he very soon would do so unless he
   ceased his cruelties. Cromwell was the defender of those that feared
   God, and it was most Providential that such a man should have come into
   power just when he was needed for the protection of the persecuted. God
   always knows how to save His people! What He has done in the past, He
   can do again. He can cut the traces of those that are plowing and there
   will be no more deep furrows. How frequently He has done it! How often
   has He put out His hand and said to the wicked, "Stop!" And they have
   had to stop and that has been the end of their persecution! Cry
   mightily, then, you who are tried! Cry mightily unto the Lord to
   deliver you!

   Dearly Beloved, "avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto
   wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the
   Lord." Therefore, leave your persecutors in His hands. Be you like the
   anvil--there have been a great many generations of hammers that have
   come and have gone, but the old anvil still stands in the smithy! Be
   you just like that--let your persecutors hammer away, but stand you
   steadfast to your God and to your faith--and may His blessed Spirit
   keep you so even to the end!

   The latter half of the sermon must come, if the Lord wills, on another
   Thursday night. May God's blessing be with you! Oh, happy are they that
   are God's people! Blessed are they that are in the furnace! Blessed are
   they that are tried and troubled! Has not He, whose lips can never lie,
   pronounced them blessed? "Blessed are they which are persecuted for
   righteousness' sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are
   you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
   manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be
   exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted
   they the Prophets which were before you." Therefore, reckon yourselves
   gladdened and honored when you are counted worthy to suffer for
   Christ's sake!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: GALATIANS4, 5:1.

   Galatians 4:1-5. Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child,
   differs nothing from a servant, though he is lord of all; but is under
   tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so
   we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the
   world: but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
   Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were
   under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Like little
   children, the Jewish Believers were under the Law. They observed this
   ceremony and that, just as children, though they may be heirs to vast
   estates, yet, while they are in their minority, are under tutors and
   governors. But now in Christ we have come of age and we have done with
   those schoolbooks and that tutorship, and we have received the adoption
   of sons! Now we have joy and peace in believing. We have begun to enter
   into our possession. We already have the earnest of it and, by-and-by,
   we shall receive the fullness of the inheritance of the saints in the
   Light of God.

   6. And because you are sons, Godhas sent forth the Spirit ofHis Son
   into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father While the Jewish Believers, like
   children, were under the Law, they did not have such direct access to
   the Father as we have. They could not enter into such close fellowship
   with God as we now can. We who are the sons of God, really born into
   His family, feel within us a something that makes us call God,
   "Father," not only in prayer, saying, "Our Father, which are in
   Heaven," but, inwardly, when we are not in the attitude of prayer, our
   hearts keep on crying, "Father, Father." The Jew may say, "Abba," and
   the word is very sweet. But we cry, "Father," and it means the same
   thing.

   7. Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then
   an heir of God through Christ All God's sons are, in a certain sense,
   His servants, but there is a sense in which servants are not sons. We,
   therefore, are not like those servants who have no relationship to
   their master and no share in his possessions--we are sons. Whatever
   service we render, we are still sons, and we have a share in all that
   our Father has. We are heirs, "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
   Christ." Are you living up to your privileges, Brothers and Sisters?
   Are we, any of us, fully realizing what this heirship means? Do we not
   often live as if we were only servants toiling for hire? Do we not
   tremble at God as if we were His slaves rather than His children? Let
   us remember that we are God's sons and daughters, His heirs, and let us
   come close to Him. Let us take possession of the blessed inheritance
   which He has provided for us.

   8-11. Therefore, then, when you knew not God, you didservice unto them
   which by nature are notgods. But now, after that you have known God, or
   rather are known of God, why turn you, again, to the weak and beggarly
   elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage? You observe
   days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid for you, lest I
   have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Among the heathen, there were
   many "lucky" and, "unlucky" days--sacred days and days in which they
   indulged in sensual excess. They had even "holy" months and, "unholy"
   months. Now, all that kind of thing is done away with in the case of a
   Christian--he is set free from such weak and beggarly superstitions!
   Among the Jews there were certain sacred festivals--times that were
   more notable than other seasons--but they, also, were done away with in
   Christ. We observe the Christian Sabbath, but beyond that, to the true
   Believer, there should be no special observance of days, months and
   years. All that is a return to "the weak and beggarly elements" from
   which Christ has delivered us. That bondage is all ended, now, but
   there are some who still "observe days, and months, and times, and
   years." And Paul says to them, "I am afraid for you, lest I have
   bestowed upon you labor in vain." Every day is holy, every year is holy
   to a holy man! And every place is holy, too, to the man who brings a
   holy heart into it.

   12. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as you are: you have
   not injured me at all. ' 'Be perfectly at home with me, for I am so
   with you. Though you Galatians have treated me very badly, yet you have
   not really injured me and I freely overlook your ill manners toward
   me."

   13-15. You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the
   Gospel unto you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you
   despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as
   Christ Jesus. Where is, then, the blessedness you spoke of? for I bear
   you record, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out
   your own eyes and have given them to me. The Apostle remembers how they
   received him at first. His Gospel was, to them, like life from the dead
   and though he was full of infirmities--perhaps had weak eyes--perhaps
   had a stammering tongue-- perhaps was, at that time, very much
   depressed in spirit--yet, he says, "You received me as an angel of God,
   even as Christ Jesus. You loved me so much that, if it had been
   possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them
   to me."

   16. Have I, therefore, become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
   There come times, with all God's servants, when certain people proclaim
   something fresh and new in doctrine--and then the old messenger of God
   who was blessed to them, comes to be despised. I have lived long enough
   to see dozens of very fine fancies started, but they have all come to
   nothing. I daresay I shall see a dozen more and they will all come to
   nothing. But here I stand--I am not led astray either by novelties of
   excitement or novelties of doctrine. The things which I preached at the
   first, I still preach, and so I shall continue, as God shall help me.
   But I know, in some little measure, what the Apostle meant when he
   said, "Have I, therefore, become your enemy, because I tell you the
   truth?"

   17-20. They zealously affect you, but not well; yes, they would exclude
   you, that you might affect them. But it is good to be zealously
   affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with
   you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
   is formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my
   voice; for I stand in doubt of you. The point of doubt was that they
   had been led astray by legal teachers--they had been made to believe
   that, after all, there was something in outward ceremonies, something
   in the works of the Law and so they had come under bondage again. So
   the Apostle says--

   21-23. Tell me, you that desire to be under the Law, do you not hear
   the Law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a
   bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
   was born after the flesh--by Abraham's own strength--

   24. But he of the freewoman was by promise. Born when Abraham and his
   wife were past age--born by the power of God's Spirit, according to
   promise.

   24. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two Covenants: the
   one from the mount Sinai which genders to bondage, which isHagar. It is
   the strength of the flesh which leads to bondage.

   25, 26. For thisHagarismountSinaiin Arabia, andanswers to Jerusalem
   which nowis, andisin bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is
   above is free, which is the mother of us all That is, of all of us who
   believe in Christ Jesus. We are born of the freewoman, not of the
   bondwoman--not born of the Covenant of Works and in the strength of the
   creature--but born of the Covenant of Grace, in the power of God,
   according to promise.

   27, 28. For it is written, Rejoice, you barren that bear not; break
   forth and cry, you that travail not: for the desolate has many more
   children than she which has an husband. Now we, Brothers and Sisters,
   as Isaac was, are the children of promise. If we are God's children, it
   is not by our own strength, or by the strength of the flesh in any
   measure or degree--it is by the Grace of God and the promise of
   God--that we are what we are.

   29, 30. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
   that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what
   says the Scripture?Make a compromise, and be friends? Let Isaac and
   Ishmael live in the same house and lie in the same bed? No!

   30, 31. Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the
   bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then,
   Brothers and Sisters, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
   free.

   Galatians 5:1. Standfast therefore in the liberty which Christ has made
   us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. God grant
   us Grace to keep to Grace! God grant us faith enough to live by faith,
   even to the end, as the freeborn children of God, for His name's sake!
   Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Sermon of Personal Testimony

   (No. 2575)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, JUNE 19, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
   11, 1883.

   "For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life."
   Deuteronomy 32:47.

   (One of the nights when the regular hearers left their seats to be
   occupied by strangers).

   THESE are among the last words of Moses before his death. He addressed
   the people in a most tender and affectionate manner before he went from
   them. "The old man eloquent" seemed as if he would never leave off--he
   kept on reminding the children of Israel of the goodness of God to them
   and telling them what they might expect at His hands if they would but
   serve Him. He pleaded with all earnestness again and again and, at
   last, used this master argument why he would have them keep the ways of
   God, "For," he said, "it is not a vain thing for you"--it is a most
   essential thing-- "because it is your life."

   It is very clear, from this passage, that there were some people in the
   days of Moses who thought that it was a vain thing to serve the Lord.
   Yet those were very amazing times, for, if men rebelled against God,
   they were smitten with terrible sicknesses and, sometimes, with sudden
   death. God was then so manifestly in the midst of the camp that great
   miracles were often worked and men were compelled to stand still and
   say, "This is the finger of God." Besides, whenever men in those days
   kept God's ways, they prospered. That was the dispensation of temporal
   rewards and immediate punishments, yet, though it was so--though the
   very bush in the desert glowed with the Glory of the Godhead, though
   the mountains smoked and trembled beneath the touch of Deity, though
   the uplifted rod of Moses had caused the Red Sea to be divided and had
   fetched water out of the flinty rock--yet even when Jehovah was so
   conspicuously with His people, there were some among them who said, "It
   is a vain thing to serve the Lord." This proves that miracles will not
   convince men if the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not! And it also proves
   that if God were to make His religion a thing of eyes and hands, to be
   looked upon and to be handled, it would still be rejected by ungodly
   men, for their hearts are set against it and they are determined not to
   have God or Christ to rule over them!

   Seeing that men thought it a vain thing to serve God in those olden
   times, I do not wonder that men should think the same now, for, in
   these days there are not such manifest judgments upon wicked men,
   neither are there always such apparent rewards for the godly as there
   were under the Mosaic dispensation. Nowadays the righteous man is often
   sorely tried and troubled. Sometimes he has more tribulation than his
   ungodly neighbors have and his trials come even as the result of his
   serving God! On the other hand, does not the wicked man often prosper?
   Have we not seen him "spreading himself like a green bay tree," and
   covering the earth with his branches? This is the age of faith, in
   which God does not show Himself as He did in the olden time. It is the
   dispensation of spiritual things, wherein only spiritual men are
   cognizant of God's Presence and working. And, therefore, it is no
   marvel that many turn upon their heels and say, "There is nothing in
   religion! It is a vain thing to serve the Lord."

   Now, dear Friends, I am not going to argue with you about this
   question, but I am going to bear my testimony concerning it. In a court
   of law, argument goes for much, but testimony is the thing which
   carries weight with the jury. They hear the evidence and if they
   believe that the witnesses are honest and truthful, they accept their
   testimony and give a verdict accordingly. If they have reason to think
   that the witnesses are only acting a part and speaking falsehood, they
   attach no importance to their evidence. I am going to give my testimony
   concerning the reality and blessedness of the religion of Jesus Christ,
   our Lord, in the hope that it will convince some of you of the truth of
   my text, "It is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life."

   I begin by admitting that there is a great deal of so-called religion
   that is a vain thing and that is nobody's life. The religion of
   ceremonies is a vain thing. If any man shall tell me that by any act of
   his, he can convey Divine Grace to me, I will not believe him! If he
   says that by the application of water, he creates within an infant,
   membership with Christ and makes that child to be an inheritor of the
   Kingdom of Heaven, I will not believe him! I shall attach no more
   importance to what he does, if he pretends to convey Grace by it, than
   I should to the hocus-pocus of a gypsy, or the abracadabra of a
   magician. God does not convey His Grace in that fashion, but by the
   working of His Spirit upon the mind, will and heart. True religion is
   not a thing that can be conveyed by water, or by bread and wine, apart
   from the state of mind and heart of the person receiving it. If my
   religion consists in putting on a certain dress and showing myself as a
   mere performer, or thinking that some good thing can come to the people
   by the sweetness of music, or the beauty of architecture, my religion
   is vain! It was not so with Christ and His Apostles--they went
   everywhere preaching the Word and proclaiming that "faith comes by
   hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

   Then again, a religion that consists in merely subscribing to a certain
   creed is a vain thing. Even if that creed were perfect, yet if your
   religion depended in simply believing it as a creed, it would not
   affect you to any real purpose. Religion is a life grounded upon
   belief, but salvation comes not to a man simply because he is orthodox.
   If his orthodoxy is merely a matter of the head--and all the while the
   heart remains unaffected, and the actions are unchanged--such a
   religion is a vain thing!

   I have to also admit, with very great pain, that there is no doubt that
   a large portion of the religion of the present day--the religion that
   consists in a mere profession--is vain. If any man comes to this place
   and subscribes to the creed that I teach. If he is baptized with the
   Baptism of Scripture, itself, and if he is a most diligent man in all
   his devotions. Yet, if he does not truly trust in Christ--if his heart
   is not renewed by the Spirit of God, if his life is not a life of
   temperance, chastity, holiness and godliness--his religion is vain. It
   matters not that you are called Christians--the name to live is
   nothing--you must be spiritually alive! As our Lord told Nicodemus,
   "You must be born again." A man must be godly through and through--and
   when he is so, his religion is not vain.

   It is to that religion I now want to bear my testimony as faithfully as
   I can. "For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life." I
   wish to give evidence in support of these four assertions. First, it is
   no fiction. Secondly, it is no trifle. Thirdly, it is no folly.
   Fourthly, it is no speculation. May the Holy Spirit help me to speak
   and you to hear!

   I. First, then, concerning the religion that is our life, we declare
   that IT IS NO FICTION.

   I speak on behalf of many who are present and of an almost innumerable
   company who are not present, and who could not be present, when I bear
   witness that having tried and tested the faith of the Lord Jesus
   Christ, we have not found it to be a fiction! We were told that there
   was God the Father and we were bid to address Him in prayer as our
   Father. And we have found that, "like as a father pities his children,"
   so the Lord has pitied us, loved us and cared for us. We must always
   speak as we find and we testify that since the day we sought His face,
   all the love of the best earthly father has been eclipsed by the love
   of God which He has manifested towards us. God the Father a fiction?
   Why, in the lives of some of us, He is the greatest and most potent of
   all factors! We could do without anyone or anything else except our
   Father who is in Heaven! We have often spoken with Him in prayer and in
   His Word He has spoken back to us. In the time of trouble, it is our
   joy to run to Him and cry, "Father!" And in our hours of need, He has
   supplied all our needs "according to His riches in Glory by Christ
   Jesus."

   It is no use for any man to say that there is no such being as God, if
   he has never tried Him. There is no power in that kind of negative
   evidence! The Irish prisoner said to the judge, "There are three men
   who swear that they saw me kill the man, but I can bring 50 men to
   swear that they did not see me kill him." The judge soon exposed that
   fallacy, for there was no argument in it. If you say, "I do not know
   God, for I have never sought Him," we believe you, Friend, and we
   believe you with the deepest grief! And we wish that you thought us as
   honest as you are, yourself, when we reply that we have sought God's
   face and we are conscious, not by the sight of the eyes, or by the
   hearing of the ears, but by a new inward sense which God has given us,
   that in Him we live, move and have our being--and it is our joy to know
   that it is so!

   Again, in the blessed Godhead there is a second Person namely, Jesus
   Christ Have we ever found Him to be real? It seems to be a current
   notion, even in the Christian Church, that Jesus Christ is dead. But
   some of us believe in a living Christ and well we may, for we went to
   Him all burdened with a sense of sin and, at the sight of Him on the
   Cross, our burden disappeared! And many another time have we gone to
   Him whenever that sense of sin has returned--and He has comforted us
   exceedingly with the abundance of His mercy. No Christ Jesus? Why, we
   have in secret had such fellowship with Him as a man has with his
   dearest friend! We could doubt our own existence sooner than we could
   doubt the supernatural Presence of Christ with true Believers! It
   matters not if others say that it is not so with them--their sad
   experience does not prove how it is with us--and we bear our witness
   that of all friends, the most real is Jesus of Nazareth, of all helpers
   and comforters, the truest and best we have ever found is Jesus Christ
   our Lord!

   There yet remains another adorable Person in the Sacred Trinity--the
   Holy Spirit. Is there such a Person? Does He work upon the hearts of
   men? I speak now, not for dozens or hundreds, but for thousands, and
   for tens and hundreds of thousands, when I say that He has new-made us!
   He has illuminated us! He has comforted us. He has strengthened us. He
   has guided us. He has sanctified us. He is with us and we are conscious
   of His Presence and His Power. There are times when we are carried
   clean out of ourselves. We speak, you say, like men in a frenzy, though
   we are no more frenzied than you are! There are many of us who are no
   more fools than you are and who could prove to you, in any matter of
   business or of science, that we are your equals in intellect. And we
   aver most certainly that there is a Power beyond ourselves which has
   caused us to sing in the depths of sorrow, which has enabled us to
   rejoice when we have been racked with pain, which has made us sublimely
   calm when we have seemed to stand between the open jaws of death--and
   has carried us out of ourselves so that we have freely forgiven those
   who did us wrong, loved them all the better for their wrong-doing and
   sought their good the more--inasmuch as they have sought our hurt. Such
   action as this proves the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit! He is
   no fiction to us--and to know the Father, the Son and the Holy
   Spirit--is to some of us the most real thing that ever was upon the
   face of the earth!

   I could wish that some, who speak of godliness being all an action, had
   known what I once knew when I felt conviction of sin. I think that I am
   usually as cheerful as most men, but there was a time when no poor
   wretch on earth was more sunken in despair than I was. I knew that
   though but young, I had broken God's righteous Law and had grievously
   sinned against Him. And, under a sense of my guilt, I went about
   burdened day after day. If I slept, I dreamt of an angry God and
   thought that He would cast me forever into Hell. When I attended to my
   daily calling, the dreadful thought of my sin haunted and followed me
   wherever I went. If anyone had said to me, then, "Sin is a fiction," I
   could not have laughed him to scorn, for I was in no laughing humor,
   but I could have sat down and wept to think that anyone should fancy
   that this grim reality was, after all, but a matter of foolish fear or
   cowardly dread!

   Conviction of sin was real enough to me! And so was the joy of pardon,
   for, one day, I heard it said, "Look unto Me, and be you saved, all the
   ends of the earth," and it was explained to me that Christ, the Son of
   God, did take my sin and suffer for it, and that if I trusted Him, I
   might know that He had made a full atonement for me--and that I was
   clear of all guilt! I believed that message. It seemed to come to me
   straight from Heaven. I looked to Jesus and in a moment I leaped from
   the depths of despair to the heights of joyous confidence! I wanted to
   tell the assembled congregation that the witness of that humble
   preacher was true--that there was life in a look at the Crucified
   One--and life at that moment for all who looked to Him! If anyone had
   said to me, then, "That deliverance of yours is not real," I would have
   answered, "Let those who knew me only a week or two ago bear witness to
   the change it has worked in me." As the sorrow was real, so was the joy
   real, too! And the alteration worked in me was so great that I hope it
   helped to make others see its reality by my life and conduct in
   endeavoring to serve God.

   And since then--I am still bearing my own personal testimony--what
   reality there has been in all spiritual things by way of consoling,
   comforting, strengthening, guiding and delivering! Religion not real?
   Well, some of us would willingly let everything else go as long as we
   may keep our faith. You may ridicule all we know, if you please, but
   you can never laugh us out of what we believe! If you had been in
   prison for six months, no one would ever convince you that imprisonment
   was not a real thing. And if, all of a sudden you had been set at
   liberty, no one would make you believe that there was no difference
   between liberty and captivity, and that neither of those conditions
   existed! And, in like manner, we believe and are sure that there is
   such a thing as conviction of sin and pardon for sin, for both these
   things are, to us, matters of fact!

   Mark, yet further, that religion is, to us, no fiction, for, since our
   conversion, we have received certain privileges which formerly we did
   not possess. I will mention only one, that is, the privilege of
   speaking with God in prayer, with the assurance that He will answer us.
   Does God answer prayer? He who has never tried it is not able to tell,
   and it is most unphilosophical for any man to say that such a thing
   cannot be when he has never tested it himself! But they who have tried
   and proved it are the ones who know. I have sometimes wished that
   certain people could have seen some of the answers to prayer which I
   have received. I am sure they would have been surprised. Not long ago a
   woman came to see me about joining the Church. She was in great
   trouble, for her husband had gone away, under rather sad circumstances,
   to Australia, or somewhere in that part of the globe, and she could not
   hear any news of him. I said to her, "Well, let us pray for him." When
   I had prayed for his conversion, I prayed that he might come back to
   his wife and I said to her, "Your husband will come back to you. I am
   persuaded that God has heard my prayer. So, when he returns, bring him
   to see me in this room." As she went out, she said to the friend who
   had come with her, "How very positively Mr. Spurgeon speaks about the
   Lord answering his prayer! He says that my husband will certainly come
   back to me."

   In a little over 12 months that woman was in my vestry with her
   husband. I had forgotten the circumstances till she recalled them to
   me. About the time of our prayer, God had met with him on the sea,
   while he was reading one of my sermons, as a penitent sinner. He was
   brought to the feet of Jesus and he came back and joined this Church.
   And he is with us at this day in answer to that prayer. "Oh!" says
   someone, "that is merely a coincidence." Well, that woman did not think
   so, nor did her husband and nor did I at the time--and I do not think
   so now! You may call it a coincidence if you like, but I call it an
   answer to prayer, and as long as I get such coincidences, I shall be
   perfectly satisfied to go on praying! "A rose by any other name would
   smell as sweet." I do not believe I should have had such coincidences
   if I had not asked for them and, as I get them daily, I shall stand to
   it, nor shall anything stop me from this glorying--that there is a God
   that hears prayer! And I challenge all men to try for themselves
   whether it is not so. If they come humbly to God, by Christ Jesus, and
   seek His face, they shall not seek in vain and, by-and-by, if they
   continue to wait upon Him in prayer, He will gird them with power so
   that they shall ask and receive both for themselves and for others.

   I would like to mention another thing that makes us feel that the
   religion of Christ is no fiction, and that is, the many cases of
   conversion that are constantly witnessed among us. If this were the
   time and place--and I do not think that it is, for I do not care about
   such an exhibition of trophies of God's Grace, or bringing men out, one
   by one, in such a fashion--I could tell, not only of the drunk made
   sober, but of the man, passionate and violent in temper, becoming as
   meek and gentle as a child. I could fetch one out from the congregation
   if you wanted to see him, and I could point you to the swearer, who at
   one time found it impossible to speak without an oath, but who, from
   the moment of his conversion, was never again tried by that temptation.
   I could bring the thief who now knows what is his own and what is his
   neighbor's--and who is honest as the day. And the unchaste, who were
   given up as if they could never be saved, who are now our Sisters in
   Christ and serving Him with modest, pure, simple hearts. Show us
   something else that makes such changes as these, if you can! Show us
   something else, if you can, that will meet the needs of the hardened
   and abandoned people in the back slums! We do not know where to find
   it--but we do know that wherever Christ is faithfully preached, such
   conversions are continually seen--and that morality and social order
   and everything that is pure and lovely are sustained and promoted by
   the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherever it is believed! These things are
   matters of fact--let those who care to do so, resist the natural
   inference.

   One of the strongest things which are no fiction is, the joy of
   Believers when they die. We have lately lost some of our dearest and
   best friends from the Tabernacle. Some of our most earnest helpers have
   passed away, but, oh, they have died gloriously! It has been a pleasure
   and a privilege to see them rejoicing while everybody else was
   weeping--to hear them triumphant when all around them were
   sorrowful--to behold them casting gleams of sunlight from their eyes
   even when those eyes were being glazed in death! Give me a religion by
   which I can live, for that is the religion on which I can die! Give me
   that faith which will change me into the image of Christ, for then I
   need not be afraid to bear the image of death! God grant that you and
   I, dear Friends, may know, as a matter of personal experience, that
   there is a solid truth in our religion, that it is, indeed, our life!

   I know that there are some people who profess to disbelieve in religion
   altogether, yet, every now and then, they show that they do not doubt
   as much as they say they do. There was a traveler, in the backwoods of
   America, who put up one night at a log cabin. The man who lived in the
   house was a very rough-looking customer and the traveler felt rather
   afraid of him. The traveler had some money on him and he was
   half-inclined to go walking on instead of stopping there. The master
   bade him come in and eat with him. He did so and after he had eaten,
   the man said, "Stranger, it is my custom to always read a chapter in
   the Bible, and to pray before I turn in." The traveler said that, in a
   moment, he felt perfectly safe! He professed to be an infidel, but he
   showed that his infidelity was not very deep, for he believed in the
   man who worshipped his God--and was not afraid to sleep under his roof.
   William Hone, who wrote the Every Day Book, was an unbeliever once. But
   he was traveling through Wales and he saw a little Welsh girl at the
   door reading her Bible. He said to her, "Ah, my Lassie, you are getting
   your task, I see!" "What did you say, Sir?" she asked. "I said that you
   are learning your task." "What do you mean, Sir? I am reading my Bible.
   You don't call that a task, do you?" Well, he did think it was a
   task--it would have been one to him. She said, "Why, it is this reading
   my Bible that makes me happy all the day long! I am trying to learn
   some of it by heart, but that is no task to me, it is one of my
   greatest pleasures."

   And William Hone afterwards confessed his own faith in the Lord Jesus
   Christ, to whom he had been guided by the joy that he saw in that
   girl's face! He could not help believing that there must be something
   real in religion, after all--it was life to her, and very soon it
   became life to him!

   II. I have taken so much time for the first part of my subject that I
   must be very brief with the rest. My second remark about true religion
   is that IT IS NO TRIFLE. "It is not a vain thing for you; because it is
   your life."

   Godliness is no trifle, dear Friends, because it concerns the soul If a
   thing only concerns the body, I do not call it a trifle--cleanliness,
   temperance, obedience to the laws of health--these are very proper
   things to be urged upon men. I wish that people in general were more
   careful of their bodies, but the soul is immortal--it will live when
   the body shall have molded into dust and ashes! Therefore, trifle not
   with your souls. If you must play the fool, let it be with your
   moneybags. If you must speculate, let it be with your gold. But, I pray
   you, venture not upon any risk with your immortal spirit--make sure
   work for eternity, "for what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
   the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

   True religion also concerns Godand, therefore, it is not a trifling
   matter. If you must trifle with someone, trifle with your equal, even
   with your monarch, if you will--but never trifle with your God! He that
   made the heavens and the earth and that holds all things in the hollow
   of His hand is to be worshipped and reverenced, but never to be trifled
   with! Beware, you that thus insult God, for trifling with Him will
   bring nothing but woe to you.

   True religion also concerns Heaven and Hell--and these are not to be
   trifled with. True godliness is such a thing as no saint ever dares to
   trifle with. He strives to enter in at the strait gate. He throws his
   whole energy into the running of the Christian race. No true minister
   ever trifles with the Truth of God he proclaims. I have preached the
   Gospel, now, these 30 years and more, and some of you will scarcely
   believe it, but in my vestry behind that door, before I come to address
   the congregation in this Tabernacle, I tremble like an aspen leaf. And
   often, in coming down to this pulpit, have I felt my knees knock
   together--not that I am afraid of any one of my hearers--but I am
   thinking of that account which I must render to God, whether I speak
   His Word faithfully or not. On this service may hang the eternal
   destinies of many. O God, grant that we may all realize that this is a
   matter of the most solemn concern! May we all come to God by Christ
   Jesus, that everything may be right with us, now, and right for
   eternity! God grant that it may be!

   These are things which must not be trifled with, because their weight
   is incalculable if we do trifle with them. There will be such damage as
   can never be remedied. A man who once becomes a bankrupt, may start in
   business, again, and yet grow rich. The commander who loses a battle
   may gather together his troops, again, and yet lead them on to victory.
   But if the battle of this life is lost, woe the day! It is lost
   forever--there is no hope of any change to all eternity! It is not,
   therefore, a matter to be trifled with, but a thing to be attended to
   with all our might. I love to see Christians in downright earnest. The
   other day we lost a merchant from the City of London--a man of wealth
   and standing and, at the same time, a deacon of a Baptist church. Just
   a night or two before he died, he was at a Church meeting. He was
   unwell, and they could have done without him but, as he was a deacon,
   he felt that he ought to be there. When his pastor said to him, "My
   dear Sir, I think you should not be out," he answered, "If I had not
   been out, today, in Gresham Street, about my own business, I would not
   have been out, tonight, about my Master's business. If I am well enough
   to look after my own affairs, I am surely well enough to attend to
   His."

   Let there always be with you, dear Christian people, this thought, that
   the Master's business must never be pushed behind your own, but that it
   must always be first and foremost with you. "It is not a vain thing for
   you; because it is your life." The highest point, the crown, the
   flower, the glory of your life is your religion.

   III. Now notice the next point. "It is not a vain thing." That is to
   say, IT IS NO FOLLY.

   First, it is no folly to serve God. Suppose, my Brothers and Sisters,
   it should turn out, after all, that there is no God? Suppose that we
   should all die like dogs? Then there would be nobody left to laugh at
   me for having served my God. That is quite clear. I am of the same mind
   as Cicero, when he spoke about the soul being immortal, and someone
   said to him, "Philosophers will laugh at you for saying that." He
   replied, "They may laugh while I live. I am used to that kind of
   treatment. And if I am dead and they also are dead, it is quite clear
   that no dead philosopher will be able to laugh at me." We who believe
   in Christ have two strings to our bow. If we live again in another
   world, all will be well with us. If we do not, we shall be as well off
   as you will be. We are as happy as you are, anyway! Actually, we feel
   that we are far happier--so we are quite content to go on as we are. If
   it is folly to serve God, I am willing to be guilty of such folly as
   that! As I am His creature, I would serve my Creator. And as I am His
   child, I would serve my Father. I think it is the chief end of my being
   to glorify Him here and then to enjoy Him forever in Glory!

   Further, is it folly to be reconciled to God?fs it folly to believe
   that there is eternal justice and that if there is eternal justice,
   there will be a judgment? And if there is a judgment, there will be
   punishment for sin? Is that folly? And is it folly to believe that
   Jesus Christ came and bore the punishment for those who trust Him? And
   that if He bore that punishment, then those for whom He bore it may go
   free? And that if He bore it for those that believe in Him, then I,
   believing in Him, am clearly saved? Is that folly? It seems to me to be
   the most rational form of reasoning that I have ever come across yet,
   and to it will I stand! "God forbid that I should glory, save in the
   Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

   Next, is it folly to be prepared to do your duty? I venture to say that
   a man who is a true Christian is the most ready of any men that live to
   do his duty. I do not know whether it is ever a Christian's duty to
   kill people, but if a man is a soldier, it is amazing how often
   religion makes him a good soldier. Read a bit of veritable history. An
   officer wanted to call out some troops in India for a certain duty, and
   he said, "At this time of night it is no use, for all the men are
   drunk, unless you send for Havelock's saints--they will be all right."
   And so they were. Some time after, it was rumored that one of the
   "saints" was drunk, and Havelock straightway made enquiry and found
   that it was not one of his men, but another who bore the same name. The
   general said, "I do not know what Baptists are, but if Havelock's men
   are Baptists, I wish the whole army were Baptists, for there are no
   other soldiers like them." There was a commander who found his army
   better fitted for conflict because they feared the Lord and lifted up
   their hearts in prayer to Him. They never turned aside to drunkenness
   and other evil ways. God grant that you, dear Friends, may have a
   religion that will make you ready to do your duty, whatever it may be!

   Besides, is it not true wisdom to be prepared for your eternal destiny?
   It is wise, some say, to look to present things. So it is, to a certain
   extent, but it is wise to look at present things in the light of the
   future. A man was dying--dying without hope and without much concern,
   either. His lawyer was called in to make his will. He was willing away
   all his property. His wife and his little girl stood by his bed and
   heard him giving his instructions. He said, "As to the home, you know,
   Dear, I leave that to you." So the lawyer put it down. His little girl
   said, "Then, Pa, you haven't got a home of your own where you are
   going." That sentence touched him--he had forgotten that matter--but,
   by God's Grace, he was led to seek and to find the eternal Home. It
   must be a wise thing not to only have a home of your own, here, but to
   have another and a better Home to go to when you die!

   A person said, one day, "I know an infidel who lately died in perfect
   happiness and peace." "But," asked a workman who stood by, "was he in
   his senses?" "Yes," replied the speaker, "and he died in perfect
   peace." "Then," said the workman, "he must have had a very miserable
   time while he was alive." The other asked, "What do you mean?" He
   answered, "I will tell you what I mean. I have a very good, kind
   wife--the best woman that ever lived. And I have some dear children,
   too, and they are my comfort and joy. And if I had to leave them, and
   go away, I did not know where, and did not know whether I should live,
   again, or not, I should feel it the most awful thing in all the world
   to die! And I am sure that my wife would break her heart over it. But,"
   he said, "now I can die in perfect peace because I feel that I am going
   Home to my Father and to my Savior--and my wife can part with me in
   peace because she knows that I am going where I shall receive even
   greater love than she can give me. But I think that infidel must have
   had a scolding wife and that was why he was glad to die. I cannot
   understand it on any other ground."

   Nor can I. It looks to me to be a most unreasonable kind of composure
   for a man to lie down to die and say, "I do not know where I am going.
   I expect I shall be annihilated." I shudder at the thought! I could not
   die like that! But when I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
   that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him, then I can,
   with reason, as well as with faith, surrender myself into my Heavenly
   Father's hands.

   IV. Now, lastly, let me say to you, concerning true religion, that IT
   IS NO SPECULATION.

   There are a great many speculations nowadays. If any of you want to
   lose your money, or are particularly anxious never to see it again, or
   want to have a very limited view of it, I advise you to put it into a
   company. It will soon disap-pear--depend upon that! There are many
   speculations and there are many people who become speculators. But
   there are some things that are certainties, and here is one. If any man
   will trust himself with Jesus Christ, he shall be saved. He may, for
   some time, be in darkness, but if he will fully trust himself with
   Christ, unless God can lie, and unless Christ can be defeated, such a
   man must and shall be saved! And he shall know it, too. There is not in
   Hell a single man who can say that he trusted Chris, and yet that
   Christ did not save him. And I hardly think that there is anywhere on
   earth a man so base as to say that. At any rate, if he did say it, I
   should take leave not to believe what he said.

   The process of salvation is very different in different cases. About a
   fortnight ago, there stood in Cheapside a young man reading one of my
   sermons which had attracted his attention. As he was reading it, he
   came across this passage--"If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you
   are saved now. But I want you to project your faith further and to
   believe in Jesus Christ for the whole of your life, for if you do so,
   you shall not only be saved, now, but you shall infallibly be saved
   forever." Then followed the text, "I give unto them eternal life," and
   this comment upon it--"Now, eternal life cannot come to an end. 'He
   that believes on the Son has everlasting life.' Everlasting life cannot
   come to an end. It is a thing that lasts forever. Believe for
   everlasting life and you have it, you are saved forever."

   The young man said, "Standing there, I did believe just as I was told.
   I trusted Christ and I believed, then, that in Him I had everlasting
   life. The next minute, I felt, 'Oh, what a glorious thing this is! How
   I love Christ who has done this great thing for me! What is there that
   I can do to serve Him? What sin is there that I would not give up?'
   Then," he said, "I said to myself, as I walked on, 'Why, I am saved! I
   am sure I am, because now I love Christ! Now I want to give up sin and
   now I want to serve Him.'" And was not that a sure proof of his being
   saved, because he saw the greatness of Divine Love to him and this made
   him grateful--and that gratitude turned him right round and made a new
   man of him? This is how Christ can save you, also! Suppose you have
   been addicted to drunkenness and that you are convinced of the evil of
   it. You go to Christ and He forgives you. Then you say, "Now I am
   forgiven, oh, how I love my Savior! I will never go back to my cups
   again! I have done with my old companions! I will go and seek out other
   people that love Christ and I will join with them if they will have me.
   And I will see what Christ expects me to do, and I will do it, for I
   will do everything for Him who has done so much for me."

   That is salvation--a change of character--a deliverance from that which
   held you in bondage, an entrance into the blessed liberty of loving God
   and wanting to be holy. Oh, that we might, each one of us, know that
   blessedness! It is no speculation--you do not believe in Christ on a
   chance. If you believe in Christ, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
   his Word shall never pass away--you are saved, as surely as God is God!
   He that believes in Christ shall be saved, now, and in the hour of
   death, and at the day ofjudgment, and forever and ever.

   Now, dear Friends, in closing, I should like to say that this salvation
   is suitable for all whom I am addressing. Many of you know this and you
   have been praying that others may know it, too. This salvation is
   suitable for poor men. If you are very poor, is it not time that you
   were rich unto God? And if you have the hard side of the hill in this
   world, why should you not have eternal life, and joy and bliss in the
   world to come? It is also equally suitable for the rich man, for if you
   have not where to go when you die, I pity you. To leave your parks and
   gardens and mansions and estates, to go from Dives' table to Dives'
   Hell will be a horrible thing for you, my lord, and for your ladyship,
   if that should happen to be your case! You need a Savior, most
   certainly, rich as well as poor!

   This salvation exactly suits you, my aged Friend over yonder. "Oh!" you
   say, "I am too fixed in my habits. I am afraid I shall never be saved.
   I am getting quite gray and very old." Well, then, this is the very
   thing to make you young! "You must be born again." "Can a man be born
   again when he is old?" That is what Nicodemus asked and Christ told him
   that he could be. He can put new life into you, so that you shall be a
   child even if you are a 100 years old! And you shall joy and rejoice in
   God that, in your latter days, you have come to Him as a child and
   received a Father's love. "Ah! but it won't suit me," says a young man.
   "I need to see a little life." That is exactly what I want you to
   see--but you will never see life till you see Christ! "Oh, but I want
   to be happy!" I know you do, and so do I! And I should like you to be
   happy. "I never believe in cats being cats before they are kittens. I
   like to see young people full of joy and full of merriment." I agree
   with you, but I tell you that there is more joy experienced by a
   Christian in five minutes than by a worldling in 500 years. When a
   saint lives near to God--

   "His joys divinely grow,

   Unspeakable like those above,

   And Heaven begins below."

   Talk of life and happiness--we have it who sought the Savior in our
   youth--and have never turned aside from Him since!

   This salvation suits everybody. It suits you even if you are a most
   moral person. You are like a statue of marble, now, very beautiful and
   fair to look upon, but you have no warm life of love to God within you!
   Oh, if we could only make that marble live!--

   "Oh, that those lips had language!"

   But the Grace of God can put life into your dead morality!

   Perhaps I am speaking to some who are immoral. If that is your case,
   this salvation is just the thing for you! The religion of Jesus suits
   publicans and harlots--it is just the thing for the felon and the
   depraved. Someone here, perhaps, is half-ashamed to be in this
   congregation. You are the very one I am sent after tonight--the lost
   sheep! It is you the Shepherd is seeking! He can afford to leave the 99
   that went not astray. But you lost sheep--you lost woman, lost man--you
   are the very one that Jesus loves, for, "the Son of Man is come to seek
   and to save that which was lost." Come and cast yourself into His arms
   by simple trust, for that is faith! Trust Jesus! Just as I lean my
   whole weight upon this rail, lean on Him your whole weight! Fall flat
   down on His promise of pardon! Lie right down on the Rock--trust in
   nothing of your own--but trust Christ for everything--and you are
   saved!

   God grant that this may be the happy lot of us all, for Jesus Christ's
   sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Zion's Prosperity

   (No. 2576)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 26, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, EARLY IN
   THE YEAR 1856.

   "You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her,
   yes, the set time, is come. For Your servants take pleasure in her
   stones, and favor the dust thereof." Psalm 102:13,14.

   A selfish man in trouble is exceedingly hard to comfort because the
   source of his joy lies entirely within himself and when he is sad, all
   his springs are dry. But a large-hearted man, a man of benevolence and
   Christian philanthropy, has other springs from which to supply himself
   with comfort beside those which are found within himself. He can go to
   his God, first of all, and there seek abundant help. And we who try to
   comfort him can use other arguments not relating to himself, but to the
   world at large, to his country and, above all, to the Church of Christ.
   The writer of this Psalm seems to have been exceedingly sorrowful. He
   says, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the
   desert. I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top." And,
   finding there was no solace in his own circumstances, the only way in
   which he could comfort himself was to believe that God would arise and
   have mercy upon Zion. Though he was sad, yet Zion should prosper.
   However low was his own estate, yet Zion should arise. Christian you
   can always comfort yourself in God's gracious dealings toward the
   church at large, but, if the church of which you are a member is in a
   sad and sickly condition, where shall you comfort yourself? Surely,
   then, you will be compelled to say with the Psalmist, "I have eaten
   ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping because of Your
   indignation and Your wrath, for You have lifted me up, and cast me
   down."

   We shall notice four things. The nature, necessity, means and signs of
   church prosperity.

   I. THE NATURE OF THE PROSPERITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Here I shall
   differ from many, for I think that many churches that are called
   prosperous are far from being so, while some churches, which are
   despised, are the most prosperous in God's estimation.

   We do not conceive it to be, necessarily, a sign of a church's
   prosperity when the congregation is large. We love to see people throng
   to hear God's Word and to hear assembled multitudes shout aloud the
   praises of Jehovah. But when we witness these things, we do not take it
   for granted that the church is prosperous. Concerning some places, we
   would pray God to empty every seat, for there is in them a going away
   to Rome, or a wandering from the fundamental principles of God's Word.
   The building may be full--crammed to its very doors--but there may be a
   desolating blight inside. There may be more prosperity in a place where
   but six of Christ's true people meet together than where thousands
   congregate to worship God in a way which they think to be right, but
   which is not in accordance with His sacred Word.

   Nor do we conceive that the riches of the people make a church
   prosperous. Ask some member of a certain aristocratic community, "Is
   your church prospering?" "Yes," he says, "there were 19 carriages
   waiting outside the other Sunday." Ask another the same question and he
   will say, "Yes, So-and-So, who is worth so many thousands, has joined
   the church." We say that a rich man's soul is as precious as a poor
   man's, but, at the same time, could anyone bring to us all the gold
   mines of Peru, the church would not, thereby, prosper! There are many
   churches which are rich in wealth, but exceedingly poor in faith, which
   might well barter all of their riches for the humble piety of the
   Methodist, or the earnest zeal of the ancient Puritan.

   Nor do we think that a church is necessarily prosperous because the
   minister is exceedingly eloquent The tendency of the present day is
   toward what is called "intellectual preaching." I never could see any
   intellect in it. I have heard literary men preach and I could only say
   of them what Locke said, "If a man cannot make you understand what he
   means, very likely it is because there is no meaning in it." If you
   cannot understand him at once, just leave him alone, for he probably
   does not understand himself. We hold it to be a wrong thing that
   intellectual Rationalism should disgrace our churches--God's pulpit was
   meant for God's Gospel! We have theaters and public halls in which men
   may teach philosophy if they wish to do so. Take Christianity out of
   our pulpits and what have we done? The pulpit is the main bastion of
   the Church of Christ--the Thermopylae of Christendom. Here the great
   Truths of the Bible must be taught and he that uses not his pulpit to
   preach the Gospel has disgraced it, even though his talents are almost
   superhuman! He has disgraced God's Church in not unceasingly
   proclaiming the Evangelical principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

   Then, my Friends, you may ask me how I can tell whether the Church is
   prospering? I answer--I must consider for what purposes the Church was
   formed. And if it is not accomplishing that particular objective, it is
   not prospering. The Church is established for two objectives. First,
   for bringing God's wandering sheep back to the fold of Christ. And,
   secondly, for fostering those sheep that are brought within the fold.

   We enter a place where we hear Divine Truth proclaimed. We enquire,
   "How many have been added to the church this year?" "No addition, no
   progress." We enquire again another year--the same reply is received,
   "No sinners saved, none brought into the fold." We are very deferential
   towards all ministers of the Everlasting Gospel--we would sooner
   receive a bad one as our friend than reject a good one. But we will not
   flatter our Brother, we will not mind about his congregation--if he
   does not win souls to Christ, his church is not prospering! If the pool
   of Baptism has never been opened to receive a convert, if the church
   doors have never turned upon their hinges to receive souls seeking
   salvation, if no fresh members are received to sit down at the Table of
   the Lord, if God's elect have not been brought in, we have strong
   suspicions whether that man is a minister of God--we are certain that
   he is not a successful one! That church is in a sad, sad condition,
   which never hears the cry of newborn souls in its midst. God forbid we
   should preach for even a month or a week without winning souls! We
   think it would be worse than death to live a year and not hear of
   hundreds brought to Christ. It is true prosperity when the Lord's
   children are gathered out from among the ungodly, when God is pleased,
   by the agency of His Word, to break hard hearts, to bend stubborn wills
   and to bring the mourners in Zion to rejoice in the love of the Savior.
   Is your church thus increasing? Then it is truly prospering.

   We also said there is another reason for the establishment of the
   Church of Christ, that is, for its own edification. It is a happy
   church in which the sheep of Christ are fed. Beloved, if God's people
   are not fed, we do not think the church is prospering. Some have
   laughed at the term, "fed." We have heard people say, "What do they
   mean by being fed?" Ah, children know the meaning of that word, and our
   hearers know what is meant by it. They do not care about our garnishing
   for the platter on which we serve the food, or the manner in which we
   carve it--we may cut it with a blunt knife, yet the child of God loves
   it! But if there is no food for the saints, if the members do not grow
   in Grace, if they are not irreproachable in their conduct, if they have
   not the spirit of Christ, if they do not enjoy fellowship with Jesus,
   if they have not attained to the knowledge of the love of God in
   Christ, if they have not entered into the rest of faith, if they do not
   live near Jesus and endeavor as much as in them lies to imitate Him--we
   say the church is not prospering! It may be the wealthiest under
   Heaven, but it may also be the most impoverished. It may be the most
   learned, according to human views, but the most heretical, the farthest
   from prosperity and the nearest to blasphemy!

   Let us look at our churches as they ought to be viewed. Are souls
   saved? Are saints edified and built up? This is the only thing I ask
   myself. Some say this, some that, and some the other about our
   church--we care not in the least about the ten thousand opinions people
   form of us! We only say sinners are saved and we will keep on preaching
   as long as this is the case. And if we can find men, women and children
   declaring that they are spiritually fed, we feel that our mission is
   successful! Is it so in your church? Then you have the elements of a
   prosperous one.

   II. We shall now consider THE NECESSITY FOR THE PROSPERITY OF OUR
   CHURCHES.

   What matters that to some? They come regularly to chapel and occupy
   their pews. But they never ask themselves the question, "Does our
   church prosper?" Oh, no--that is the minister's business! The Deacons
   must look after that matter. Our friend comes to chapel Sunday after
   Sunday, like a very religious man. He does not go to sleep, that I have
   upon good evidence! Sometimes the sermon should stir him up, yet it
   does not. He approves of the idea of everybody minding his own business
   and, while carrying out the old maxim, "Charity begins at home," he
   allows it to end there. Now and then, he prays for the minister, if
   called upon at the Prayer Meeting, but he does not regard the minister
   as his Brother, so he does not pray for him at the family altar. He
   hears that missions are succeeding abroad, but, for all he cares, the
   mission stations might be closed. He would like the church to prosper,
   but he would not put himself out of his way even to secure that result
   and, as to giving up himself, like Curtius of old, and leaping into the
   gulf to serve the church--oh, no--he would never commit so rash an act!
   He would not endanger his own life, lest the church should be damaged
   by losing so good a man!

   But I trust that some of you have a regard for the church's prosperity.
   If not, you ought to have. Let me remind you why. Even selfish as we
   may be, we ought to care for the success of the church, first, for our
   own sakes. If we do not, by Divine Grace, live and labor for our
   fellow-creatures, their decline will have a deleterious influence upon
   our own piety. The coldness of the church of which I am a member tends
   to chill me. The lukewarmness of my fellow Christians has a tendency to
   pull me down. But if I belong to a church which is rich in Grace, the
   tendency will be to fill my mouth with marrow and fatness--and to make
   me rejoice in the ways of the Lord!

   Your families, too, are deeply interested in the prosperity of the
   church. I know that many sons and daughters do not attend the chapels
   where their parents go--their parents do not ask them to do so--they
   would not like them to go there. "It does very well for us," they say,
   "but it would not suit them." Then, there must be something amiss
   there! What is good for the parent is good for the child, and what is
   good for the child is good for the parent. I like what Robert Hall once
   said when he had been preaching a doctrine which he was told was
   suitable for old women--"If it is so," he replied, "then it is suitable
   for everybody, and I shall preach that doctrine again." Now, if you
   love your families and would see them brought into Christ's Church, you
   must labor with God in prayer for them and ask that He would be pleased
   to have mercy upon Zion, that her set time may come, that her servants
   may take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof.

   Also, for the sake of the neighborhood in which you live, labor for
   God, seeking His blessing, that your church may prosper. Wherever a
   minister's voice is raised in the cause of his Master, all around there
   ought to be a green spot, as in the desert, where water is to be found,
   there is an oasis where the traveler can rest, so, where a House for
   God is built, there ought to be a green spot where the efforts of the
   tract-distributor and the Sunday school teacher should tend to keep the
   soil fertile.

   Again, for the sake of our nation, seek the prosperity of Zion. If we
   are to be a prosperous nation, we shall not accomplish that result by
   our commerce, or by the force of arms, but by our Christianity! As long
   as ever Christ's Church remains faithful in this land, old England
   shall stand in the front of the nations. England has been the cradle of
   the Gospel and, therefore, has she flourished. And, rest assured that
   as the true faith grows strong, England shall be mighty. The flag of
   old England is nailed to the mast, not by our sailors, but by our God!
   England is safe as long as she keeps fast by the true Protestant
   principles of the Everlasting Gospel. Her ministers need never fear for
   her, for firm as the eternal hills, strong as the mighty mountains
   shall this, our happy land, forever rest while she is true to Christ!
   God grant that the Church may prosper for old England's sake!

   But, most of all, we want to see the Church prosper for Christ's sake.
   He is everything to us! Compared with Christ, our nationality is less
   than nothing and vanity. But, oh, when we think of all our Savior did
   and suffered for us here below, surely we can desire nothing less than
   for Him to see of the travail of His soul and to be abundantly
   satisfied. When you bend your knees in prayer to God to bless His
   Church, think that you hear Christ groaning in Gethsemane, that you see
   Him in agony in the garden. Think of Him when the thorns were placed on
   His head. Think of the shame, the spitting, the plucking off the hair
   that He endured. Yes, when you pray for the Church, think, then, that
   you behold the Lamb of God expiring on the Cross. Think that you hear
   Him cry, "Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani"--"My God, My God, why have You
   forsaken Me?" When you think of these things, surely you will say, "Did
   Jesus suffer thus to win a crown, and shall I not pray that that crown
   may rest on His head? Did Jesus thus die that His children might be
   ransomed and His elect saved, and shall I not pray that He may realize
   that desire?"

   For your Master's sake--for your Lord's sake--for His blood and
   agonies' sake, I beseech you, pray always for Zion, "pray for the peace
   of Jerusalem." "They shall prosper that love her."

   III. We notice, next, THE ONLY MEANS OF REVIVAL IN GOD'S CHURCH.

   What is it? We may hear of some great evangelist going through the
   land--surely he will revive the churches! We will hold a convocation of
   the clergy and theyshall devise means of reviving the churches! Not so,
   thinks the Psalmist-- he says, "You shall arise," as if God had nothing
   to do but to arise and then His Church would arise, too! For, when God
   arises, Zion begins to prosper! How easy are the methods by which God
   accomplishes His great works! No doubt, if we had had to devise means
   for lighting up this earth, when the darkness of the evening first came
   upon it, we would have recommended some fifty thousand great lights
   hung about in various parts of the world. But look at God's wondrous
   means of lighting the globe--the sun rises, the light shines and all is
   done! So is it with God's plan of reviving His Church. We devise this
   plan and the other, but God only arises and has mercy upon Zion--and
   "the time to favor her, yes, the set time is come."

   Let us learn this lesson--if our church is to be made to prosper, God
   must do it! If we are to grow up in Christ and see great revival in
   these latter days, God must do it! Can the minister revive the Church?
   Can the people revive it? Certainly not! God alone can accomplish that
   great work. He must arise and have mercy upon Zion. There are means
   which He puts into the hands of His people and wishes them to use, but
   still, the ultimate reason of a church's growth is that God arises and
   has mercy upon her! If the prosperity of a church consists in the
   salvation of sinners, must not God arise to save? If the building up of
   God's elect is another part of spiritual prosperity, must not God arise
   to build up His people in their faith, for, "except the Lord build the
   house, they labor in vain that build it"? You may bring me a man filled
   with the Holy Spirit, possessing the zeal of Peter, or the eloquence of
   Paul, but no prosperity will there be in God's Church unless God
   Himself bestows the heavenly shower and sends salvation down! What our
   churches need, just now, is not simply men of God, but we need more of
   God's own Presence and Power in our midst!

   We think we have our God among us, but I fear we have not so much of
   His Presence as our forefathers used to have. I am inclined to look
   back with holy envy upon the olden times--the days of George
   Whitefield, or of Rowland Hi1l-- there was then a larger influx into
   the Church than there is now and a more visible manifestation of God's
   Holy Spirit. We are multiplying our places of worship and doing very
   much towards evangelizing the world, but we have not the shout of a
   King in our midst as we used to have! We have our soldiers clad in
   steel--their arms bright and glittering, their swords of the best
   metal--but the great lack is we have not the King's Presence as we once
   had. I am sure, having passed through many churches, there is a sad
   lack of the influences of the Holy Spirit. There is a lack of vital
   godliness and earnest piety. There is some supplication, but not that
   prevailing prayer which thunders in the ears of God and brings copious
   blessings from on high. Where are the Elijahs who can stop up the
   bottles of Heaven? Where are there on the earth those who can face a
   multitude and prophesy to the dry bones, knowing that when they speak,
   souls shall be saved?

   Go into many Prayer Meetings in London--I hope it is not so generally
   throughout the country--the minister is obliged to say that he has not
   enough people present to ring the changes and he, himself, has to pray
   twice to fill up the time. By all his preaching he cannot get the
   people to pray! Shame upon such a church! This state of things proves
   that God is not in our midst as He was formerly. When God shall arise,
   His Church shall arise in earnest, fervent prayer, for the time to
   favor Zion, yes, the set time will then have come!

   IV. Now, Beloved, let us consider the fourth point--THE SIGNS THAT
   GOD'S CHURCH IS BEING BLESSED. "For Your servants take pleasure in her
   stones, and favor the dust thereof."

   What are the "stones" of Zion? The Church of God is built of living
   stones--that is, the children of God. And it is a good sign when God's
   servants take pleasure in one another and "favor the dust"--that is,
   not the ministers, nor the deacons, but the poor members. In these
   degenerate times, we do not take so much pleasure in each other as we
   ought. There is little Christian sociability, but it is a happy sign
   when the members meet in a cordial spirit and begin to talk of what the
   Savior did and suffered here below, and of Jesus' charming name which
   has a sweeter sound than the most melodious music! It is profitable,
   indeed, when Christians begin to speak often, one to another, and God
   Himself turns eavesdropper to His children. He listens and hears, and a
   Book of Remembrance is written--the Lord, Himself, becomes a reporter
   and records the conversation of them that fear Him and that think upon
   His name! We shall be sure the church is prospering when all the
   members love each other and the poorer ones are not overlooked!

   There are some chapels where a Christian Brother and Sister are divided
   by that rail in the center--they have sat there for years--yet they do
   not know each other's names! They did show each other the hymn one day,
   when one came late, but they have never shaken hands. They are members
   of the same church and one of them may be poor and starving--but the
   other knows nothing about it because he does not, "favor the dust
   thereof." But, when God arises, and has mercy upon Zion, His people
   say--

   "Have You a lamb in all Your flock I would refuse to feed? Have You a
   foe, before whose face I fear Your cause to plead?" It is a good sign
   for a church when its members "take pleasure in her stones, and favor
   the dust thereof."

   The next translation we will give of this word, "stones," is the
   Doctrines of the Bible. By the term, "Doctrines," I do not mean merely
   some three or four particular points, but allthe Doctrines which build
   up the Church of Christ. In these days it is usual to hear people say,
   "Doctrines are of no importance. You may believe this or that, but you
   will go to Heaven all the same." It is not so, Beloved! God has given
   us a Bible, common sense and judgment--and if we foolishly say, "It
   does not matter what we believe," we thereby sin against God! It is
   important that we should be right in Doctrine, though not so important
   as that we should be right in heart. The tendency of this age is toward
   what is called, "charity." I hold that charity is not for us to give up
   our convictions, but for each of us to preach them boldly! The charity
   of this age wants us to get rid of our angles and points. It says, "Do
   not say anything to offend such-and-such an individual." Nonsense! True
   charity is for me to boldly speak my views and for my Brother of an
   opposite opinion to do the same--and for me to love him, if he holds
   the Head, Christ Jesus--but it is no charity to put a gag on us all.
   There is a great evil in the universal charity of the present day--it
   is Satan transforming himself into an angel of light! He sees us
   divided into different camps and he says, "Put down your flags! No
   sectarianism!" He means, "No religion." But let us all keep to our own
   regiments and fight manfully for them, yet combining against the common
   enemy. Let us hold God's Truth, but not with a slippery hand. If a
   Doctrine is true, let us grip it fast, though the earth shake or the
   heavens fall!

   Christian, where there is a love for God's Truth, God will bless His
   Church. But because this is a time-serving age, because we have not
   come out plainly with those things which distinguish us from each
   other, because we have paid too much deference to each other's views
   and have not boldly declared the great Truths of His Word--these are
   the reasons why God has, to some extent, deserted us.

   You say, "I do not see so much in Doctrines, after all." Then you will
   not see much prosperity! I love so much what I believe to be true that
   I would fight for every grain of it! Not for the "stones" only, but for
   the very "dust thereof." I hold that we ought not to say that any Truth
   of God is non-essential--it may be non-essential to salvation, but it
   is essential for something else! Why, you might as well take one of the
   jewels out of the Queen's crown and say it is nonessential, she will be
   Queen all the same! Will anyone dare to tell God that any Doctrine is
   non-essential? O gracious Spirit, have You written what is
   non-essential? Have You given me a Book respecting which I say, "My
   father and mother believed it all, but it is not necessary for me to
   believe it"? God has given me a judgment--am I to follow in the wake of
   other people, thinking I shall be sure to be right and that God will
   never ask me what I was? An easy kind of religion this! It was not so
   in the days of good old John Bunyan and Berridge--they sang a far
   different song! But now people are saying, "I can listen to So-and-So
   and So-and-So"--men who contradict one another! We cannot think much of
   people who can hear opposite opinions and yet believe both to be
   correct! We cannot expect much growth unless you hold the Truth of God
   and take pleasure in the stones of Zion and, "favor the dust
   thereof--every atom of it!

   Once again, the stones of Christ's Church are the ordinances and God's
   people ought to take care that they love her "stones," and favor her
   "dust." For those two Divine Institutions--Baptism and the Lord's
   Supper, and the observance of them as handed down to us from Apostolic
   times--there ought to be an intense love in the hearts of God's people,
   that we may be kept from the innovations of men. Let us always love
   what God has given us! It may be thought by some to be antiquated, yet
   let us never let it go, for then will God build up the ruined walls of
   Zion.

   I may also mention that it is a good sign of the church's prosperity
   when the ministry of the Word and the Prayer Meeting are well
   attended--especially the latter. A friend of mine said, the other
   evening, "I shall go to the lecture tonight, but I did not go on
   Monday, for it was only a Prayer Meeting." Why, that is the best
   service in the week! What is to become of your minister, in the other
   services, if you do not meet to pray for him? Yet many professing
   Christians never think of meeting for prayer--they leave that duty to
   the old members--those who always speak about "the unthinking horse
   rushing into the battle." A Prayer Meeting ought to be regarded as
   superior to any other service and there should be at least all the
   members met together to pray. If you say, "It is only a Prayer
   Meeting," even that is the "dust" of Zion, and God's people "take
   pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof--the little services
   as well as the great services. "You shall arise, and have mercy upon
   Zion: for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, is come. For Your
   servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof."

   And now, dear Friends, you may not agree with me as to my ideas of a
   church's prosperity, but there must be one thing you have observed as
   the great need of the churches in the present day. That is the need of
   more prayer, more firm attachment to the walls of Zion and greater love
   to the Doctrines of the Bible. And I beseech you, be henceforth doubly
   in earnest in seeking for God's Spirit to enable you to cling, heart
   and soul, to every "stone" and every grain of "dust" in God's Temple of
   Truth, and let nothing be given up to please men--cleave fast to all
   that God has ordained and He will prosper and bless you!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: EZEKIEL 34:11-31.

   The former part of the chapter contains a prophetic denunciation
   against the evil shepherds--the men who fed not the flocks, but fed
   themselves--who fouled, with their filthy feet, the waters where the
   flocks drank, and trod upon the soft grass that otherwise might have
   afforded pasture for the sheep. After pronouncing judgment upon them,
   the Lord turns His thoughts to His sheep and gives this precious
   promise--

   Verse 11. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both
   search My sheep and seek them out. The shepherds did not do this. They
   left the sheep to wander and many were lost on the mountains. But where
   men fail, God proves Himself all-sufficient. My Hearer, are you sitting
   under an unprofitable ministry? Then look to the Chief Shepherd and not
   to the man who is unfaithful as an under-shepherd!

   12. As a shepherd seeks for his flock in the day that he is among his
   sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and wiil deliver
   them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and
   dark day. I t does not matter where the place is, the Lord will find
   His sheep. If it is the castle of Giant Despair, He will find them. If
   it is the worst dungeon in Doubting Castle, He will discover them
   there! They may have wandered upon the mountains of Despondency and
   Dejection. They may have been lost in the gorges of some dark Valley of
   Desperation, but the Lord says, "I will both search My sheep and seek
   them out." And, mind you, He does not seek without finding! He
   discovers them, for He knows where they are. Oh, is not that a "cloudy
   and dark day" wherein we wander from God and know not how to return to
   Him? But clouds and darkness are banished when we see the light of His
   face!

   13-15. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from
   the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them
   upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the
   inhabitedplaces of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and
   upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they
   lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the
   mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie
   down, says the Lord GOD. There is a blessed state of rest! God's flock
   are not only to be fed, but they are to lie down while they feed! You
   have sometimes noticed a flock, at noontide, when the sun is hot, lie
   down upon the grass and feed while they rest. That is what God's people
   are to do. They are to lie down in tranquility of spirit. They are to
   lie down in a state of placid submission to His will, in a state of
   perfect security--a state, not of idleness from the Master's service,
   but still a state in which they know there is nothing for them to do
   for their own security since Christ has accomplished the whole of their
   salvation! "I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down,
   says the Lord God." It is not everyone of God's people that has
   attained to this blessed experience, to be able to lie down in quiet
   confidence and rest--

   "Thousands in the fold of Jesus, This attainment never can boast To His
   name eternal praises, None of these shall ever be lost." Deeply
   engraved on His heart their names remain. If you are His sheep, yet
   even if you have never come to lie down in peace, if you cannot say, "I
   know and am confident," and cannot rest while you feed, it is still
   comforting for you to feel that all Christ's sheep are His sheep,
   whether they are lying down or standing up, or even wandering from Him!

   16. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was
   driven away. Ah, one little thinks, perhaps, that there should be such
   a thing as a poor sheep driven away, but it is sometimes true! A legal
   preacher drives Christ's sheep away from Christ. A seeking soul would
   gladly come to Jesus, but he is told that he must be something and do
   something before he can come. The poor sinner would trust in Jesus, but
   he is told, first, to get such-and-such a state of heart. He is told,
   "You are not the man who should be encouraged to come to Christ--you
   must have some deeper experiencebefore you come." But, blessed be God,
   the Good Shepherd says, if Satan has driven you away, or a legal
   preacher has driven you away, "I will seek that which was lost, and
   bring again that which was driven away."

   16. And will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that
   which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed
   them with judgment. Those who boast of being fat and strong, who glory
   in themselves--these, God will destroy! But the poor, weak, sick souls
   shall be fed with kindness tempered with judgment.

   17, 18. And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I
   judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
   Seems it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, but
   you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to
   have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your
   feet? Oh, how many there are, even of God's sheep, that foul the
   waters! They come up to God's House, where, perhaps, they get some
   sweet morsel in the sermon, but there are some things in it with which
   they do not quite agree. They are walking home with some young
   Christian and he is thinking how blessedly he felt under the sermon,
   while, perhaps, that old professor is grumbling the whole time and
   stirring up the waters with his feet! If the pasture is not good enough
   for you, you should let the lambs eat of it without treading it down!
   Others like it, though you may not, and if you do not like it, you can
   always leave it! But what is the use of finding fault with it and
   treading it under your feet and not letting others eat of it? It is a
   great crime, says God--"Seems it a small thing" to tread it down under
   your feet, to spoil the spiritual enjoyment of your Brothers and
   Sisters? It seems, to some, of very little consequence what harm they
   do to God's weak ones--but it is not so--it is a great sin to tread
   down with your feet the residue of your pastures, so you quibblers and
   critics had better beware!

   19-21. And as for My flock, they eat that which you have trodden with
   your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.
   Therefore thus says the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will
   judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because you
   have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased
   with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad. I wish some
   people would not thrust so much with side and shoulder in their
   controversies with their brethren. It may be all very well for a man to
   be honest and faithful, and push with his horns, but there are some
   diseased ones who cannot stand rough usage when they are only coming in
   all simplicity to drink at the Fountain of Life.

   22, 23. Therefore willIsave My flock, and they shallno more be a prey;
   andI willjudge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one
   shepherd over them. There is only one Shepherd. As for the rest of us,
   we are only under-shepherds. There is only one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus
   Christ--we are simply the men He employs to look after His sheep a
   little. He is the Great Shepherd and when He shall appear, we also
   shall appear with Him in Glory. "I will set up one shepherd over them."

   23-25. And he shall feed them, even My servant David; he shall feed
   them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God,
   andMy servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.
   AndI will make with them a Covenant of peace, and will cause the evil
   beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the
   wilderness, and sleep in the woods. Those who have seen the watching of
   flocks by night in the East could give you quite a picture of the
   meaning of this verse. Sometimes the shepherds will sit down in the
   midst of bushes and briars that may grow at the side of the woods and,
   taking some of them for firewood, they will light a fire in the night.
   And when the wolves come around them, the sheep are quite safe. I have
   read of this in books of travel--and what a beautiful thing it seems to
   sit, with the full moon shining down on the forest, and the fires
   alight, feeling that, notwithstanding all the wolves, the sheep are
   quite safe with the shepherds there to protect them! So is it with
   God's people. They must always expect, while they are in the woods of
   this world, to have a scratch, now and then, from the briars and
   thorns, but, "they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in
   the woods." God will always take care of His own, for, "the Lord knows
   them that are His."

   26. And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing;
   and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be
   showers of blessing. My earnest prayer is that this church may be a
   great blessing to all who are around us--and I firmly believe it will
   be so, by God's Grace!

   27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth
   shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and
   shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their
   yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served
   themselves of them. The Jews will know that God is the Lord when they
   shall return to their own land. The poor tired sinner, best of all
   knows that God is God when he gets the bands of his neck broken off
   him! By nature, we all have bands about our necks--it is only God who
   takes them off. Pilgrim, you know, lost his burden when he looked at
   the Cross--it rolled away down into the sepulcher. And if you had asked
   him then, "Is God, God?" "Yes," he would have said, "otherwise, I
   should not have had the bands of my neck loosed." No man who has had
   the bands taken off him will ever doubt that there is a God! Let him
   experience that holy calm which springs from the fact of his having
   been set at Gospel liberty and he will say, "This is the work of God!
   No man, no human power could have done it." I can never be an Arminian
   as long as I feel myself a sinner. I am obliged to come back to
   this--Lord, I must be saved by Sovereign Grace, or not at all. A single
   day's experience is enough to take all the self-conceit out of a
   Christian if the Lord should leave him to his own unaided strength. We
   best know that God is God when we have had the bands broken off our
   necks. How many are there sitting here with bands on their
   necks--slaves, wearing the yoke upon their shoulders? They cannot see
   it, but it is there, nevertheless. Who is there who can say, "My bands
   are broken from my neck"?--

   "'My sins are drowned, as in a flood, Of Jesus'pure and matchless
   blood.' I am finally discharged; the bands are broken off my neck,
   verily, God is God."

   28, 29. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall
   the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and
   none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a garden of
   renown. Jesus is "a garden of renown," because you may go to Him at all
   times and you will always find fruit on Him. That is more than you can
   say of any other garden. You may go to Him and you will always find the
   sort of fruit you need. Is He not "a garden of renown"? You will find
   healing virtue in His leaves and satisfying fruits hanging in clusters
   upon Him. He is "a garden of renown" because His Father planted Him,
   because He has food enough for all His saints and a gracious variety
   for all their tastes! And He will blossom through eternity! Because of
   the multitude who sit under His shadow and rejoice therein, He is "a
   garden of renown" to His people, for under His shadow they are begotten
   and brought forth! The greatest transactions of their lives have taken
   place beneath the shadow of that old tree, "the garden of renown."

   29, 30. And they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land,
   neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know
   that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, even the house
   ofIsrael, are My people, says the Lord God. Thus shall they know it. Do
   you know it? Has God told it to you? Have you the witness of the Spirit
   within your spirit that you are born of God? My Hearers, never be
   satisfied till you get this, for you will never be truly at rest until
   you know that you are God's people and until you can, each one, say,
   "My God, my God, you are my God"

   31. And you My flock, the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your
   God, says the Lord GOD. ' 'However much I may have lifted you up, you
   are only men, after all. But I am not a man, I am your God," says the
   Lord. And we rest more upon what God is, than upon what man is, for He,
   "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, or think."
     __________________________________________________________________

Living on the Word

   (No. 2577)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 3, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
   15, 1883.

   "Man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out
   ofthe mouth of the LORRD does man live." Deuteronomy 8:3.

   THE main thing for every one of us is life. What would it profit a man
   if he should gain the whole world and lose his own life? Of what use
   would riches be if life were gone? What is the value of broad acres to
   a dead man, or the applause of nations to one who lies in his
   sepulcher? The first thing, therefore, that a man is to look to, is
   life. There are some persons who take this Truth of God in a wrong
   sense and so make mischief of it. They say, "We must live," whereas, in
   the sense in which they mean it, there is no such necessity at all!
   That we must continue to live here is not at all clear--it were better
   far for us to die than to live by sinning. Martyrs have preferred to
   suffer most fearful deaths rather than, even by a word, to bring
   disgrace upon the name of Christ. And every true Christian would prefer
   immediate death rather than dishonor his great Lord. and Master.

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, according to our common notion, if we must
   live, we must eat. We must eat bread which is the staff of life and,
   sometimes, when bread is scarce and hunger sets up its sharp pangs, men
   have been driven to put forth their hand unto iniquity to provide
   themselves with necessary food. You remember how our Divine Lord, who
   is our perfect Exemplar in all things, acted when He was in this
   situation? When He had fasted in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights,
   He hungered and then the Evil One came to Him and said, "If You are the
   Son of God, command that these stones be turned into bread." This was,
   in effect, saying, "Leave off trusting in Your Heavenly Father. He has
   evidently deserted You--He has left You in the wilderness among the
   wild beasts and though He feeds them, He has not fed You! He has left
   You to starve--therefore, help Yourself--exercise Your own power!
   Though You have put it under God's keeping and, being here on earth,
   You have become Your Father's Servant, yet steal a little of Your
   service from Your Father and use it on Your own behalf. Take some of
   that power which You have devoted to His great work and employ it for
   Your own comfort. Leave off trusting in Your Father--command these
   stones to be made bread." At once this text flashed forth, as the
   Master drew it out, like a sword from its scabbard--"It is written, Man
   shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of
   the mouth of God." It was only by the use of this "sword of the Spirit,
   which is the Word of God," that the arch-enemy was driven off from
   Christ! And I want to use that weapon now. I may say of it what David
   said of the sword of Goliath, "There is none like that; give it me."
   That sword, with which Christ won the victory, is the best one for His
   servants to employ!

   This answer of our Lord to the tempter teaches us that the sustenance
   of our life, although naturally and according to the ordinary
   appearance of things depends upon bread, yet really depends upon God!
   It is God who gives the bread the power to nourish the man. To me, it
   seems a great mystery that bread, or any other kind of food, should do
   this. I can understand how, being matter in a certain form, it tends to
   build up the material structure of the body, albeit that the process is
   a very amazing one by which bread turns into flesh, blood, bone,
   muscle, hair and all sorts of things, by a perpetual working of the
   Power of God. But it is more remarkable, still, that this material
   should seem, at any rate, to some extent, to nourish man's heart, so
   that the very soul and the living principle within him should be
   dependent upon its being sustained by the food of the body! Can any of
   us tell how it is that the inner spirit sets in motion the muscles of
   the hand and the nerves that communicate with the brain? How is it that
   the impalpable spirit--a thing which you cannot see or hear, which is
   not, itself, at all material--yet possesses powers by which it controls
   the materialism of this outward body? And how is it that the material
   substance in bread somehow works to the keeping of our spirit in
   connection with this flesh and blood? I cannot explain this mystery,
   but I believe it to be a continual miracle worked by God. I am
   frequently told that miracles have ceased. It seems to me that miracles
   are the rule of God's working and that, everywhere, things of marvel
   and of wonder are to be perceived if we will only look below the
   outward appearance! Dig for a while beneath the mere surface and we
   shall see--

   "A world of wonders: I can say no less." According to our text, we are
   called upon to observe that the power which keeps us alive is not in
   the bread, itself, but in God, who chooses to make use of the bread as
   His agent in nourishing our frame. I do not infer from this Truth of
   God that, therefore, I ought never to eat, but to live by faith because
   God can make me live without bread. Some people seem to me to be very
   unwise when they infer that because Goal can heal me, therefore I am
   never to take fit and proper medicine for a disease because I am to
   trust in God. I do trust in God, but I trust in God in God's own
   way--and His way of procedure is this--if I wish to satisfy hunger, I
   must ordinarily eat bread. If I wish to be cured of any malady, I must
   take the remedy He has provided. That is His general rule of working,
   but still, it would be an equally grievous error and would show another
   form of folly if we were to say that it is the bread or the medicine
   that does the work! It is the bread that feeds, it is the medicine that
   heals--but it is God who works by these means, or, if He pleases--who
   works without them! If it were necessary that His child should live and
   He did not choose to put ravens into commission to bring him bread and
   meat, or if He did not command a widow to sustain His servant, yet He
   could support him without any means, for, "man shall not live by bread
   alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." When
   the Lord speaks and bids him live, he lives! God spoke the world into
   existence--His Word still keeps the whole fabric of the universe upon
   its pillars and, surely, that Word is able to sustain our soul in life
   even without the use of outward means, or by means as long as God
   pleases.

   That, I think, is the meaning of the text. God took His people into the
   wilderness where there was no sowing, no reaping, no making bread--and
   they seemed as if they must be famished there. But, then, God made the
   manna drop from Heaven, to show that if not by one means, yet by
   another, He could sustain them. He took them where there were no
   rippling brooks or gentle purling streams of water, but His servant
   struck the flinty rock and the water came forth to show that God could
   give men drink, not only from the fountains of the deep, below, or by
   rain from the clouds above, but from the solid rocks if He so pleased!
   God can give you bread to eat, my Friend. Though not perhaps in the way
   you hope, it may come in a fashion of which you have never even
   dreamed! I have read of one who was condemned to be starved to death
   and, as the judge pronounced the sentence, he said to him, "And what
   can your God do for you, now?" The man replied, "My God can do this for
   me--if He pleases, He can feed me from your table." And so it happened,
   though the judge never knew it, for his own wife sent food to the poor
   man and kept him alive until, at last, he regained his liberty! God has
   a way of using most unlikely instruments to effect His purpose. He can,
   if He pleases, make the waters stand upright as a heap until the chosen
   nation has passed through the midst of the sea. Or He can permit the
   fire to blaze around His people and yet keep them from being burned, as
   Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego came forth unharmed from
   Nebuchadnezzar's burning fiery furnace--and not even the smell of fire
   had passed upon them!

   I now come to the more spiritual meaning of the text and I pray God to
   make it to be rich food for your souls. I ask you to notice, first, the
   Word. ' 'Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."
   Secondly, consider the use we are to make of the Word. We are to live
   upon it! And then, thirdly, note the adaptation of that Word to our
   use--every word of it, for, according to the text, we do not live upon
   some words that come out of God's mouth, "but by every word that
   proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live."

   I. First, then, let us think a little about THE WORD OF THE LORD.

   What do we mean by the expression, "the Word of God"? God deigns to use
   figures of speech such as we can understand, for we are like little
   children who have to learn by pictures. Now, with regard to a man, his
   word is often the expression of his wish. He desires such-and-such a
   thing to be done and he says to his servant, "Do this," or to another,
   "Come here," or, "Go there." His word is the expression of his wish.
   Alas, with us, our wishes are often strong and our words are feeble! We
   order such-and-such a thing to be done, but it is not done. We have,
   perhaps, a thousand wishes in our hearts which, if we were to utter
   them, would be to make ourselves appear ridiculous! We may wish to do
   this and that, but if we were to say, "Let these things be done," they
   would not be done in spite of all our saying, for, often, where the
   word of a man is, there is weakness. It is only where the Word of God
   is that there is power! Speaking after the manner of men, when God
   wills a thing, He says, "Let it be," and it is immediately! Power goes
   forth from God with His will. He said, "Let there be light," and there
   was light. God said, "Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered
   together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so."
   God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to
   divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
   seasons, and for days, and for years: and let them be for lights in the
   firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it was so."
   He has but to will anything and it comes to pass! His Word is His will
   in motion, His power put into action--that is the common and emphatic
   sense of the term.

   God's Word is also the expression of His Truth. A man says to us, "I
   promise you so-and-so," and we say to him, "We rely upon your word." A
   man's honor is involved in his word. He who does not keep his word is
   not a man of honor and he soon falls, very naturally and very properly,
   into disgrace with his fellows. Men will not trust one whose word is
   not reliable. Alas, the words of men are not only feeble, but they are
   often fickle and false! But the Word of God is the promise of One who
   knows what He is saying, who is able to perform what He promises and
   who will never change nor ever be untrue. So that, if we look at His
   Word as being the expression of His Truth, we see His faithfulness. And
   upon these two--the power that can keep the promise, and the will which
   is faithful to keep it--we may rest with joy and confidence.

   Again, if a man is a true man, his word is a revelation of himself One
   of the ancients said of a very beautiful boy or young man, when he had
   looked at him, "Speak, boy, for then I can see you." And we often see a
   great deal more of a person's character when he speaks than when we
   simply look at him. There is many a pretty face that has been admired
   because of its appearance, but when its owner's not very pretty tongue
   has begun to chatter, love has been almost driven to its wits' end to
   find any cause for admiration! There are some people who talk in such a
   way that when we see their inner selves, they appear as unlovely as
   their outer selves seem to be comely. But a true man reveals himself by
   his words. Hence it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is called, "The Word
   of God." Jesus Christ is God speaking. God thinks what He says, and the
   thoughts of God are embodied in the Person, work, life and death of
   Jesus Christ, His dear Son. With all reverence, we say that God never
   could have revealed Himself so fully in any other way than by giving
   "His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish,
   but have everlasting life." Well did Dr. Watts sing--

   "Nature with open volume stands,

   To spread her Maker's praise abroad.

   And every labor of his hands

   Shows something worthy of a God.

   But in the Grace that rescued man

   His brightest form of Glory shines

   Here on the Cross, 'tis fairest drawn

   In precious blood and crimson lines.

   Here I behold His inmost heart,

   Where Grace and vengeance strangely join

   Piercing His Son with sharpest smart,

   To make the purchased pleasures nine." So, you see, dear Friends, the
   expression, "the Word of God," has a very wide range. But my text bids
   me remind you of something very sweet--"Man does not live by bread
   only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does
   man live." It is beautiful to think of the Scripture as proceeding out
   of the mouth of God. Do not look upon that scroll of parchment on which
   it is written and over which the critics quibble and quarrel. They
   stumble at almost every letter and word of it and so miss its meaning
   and spirit, but, as for you, pray the Holy Spirit to speak it into your
   heart as coming immediately from the mouth of God! When Cowper looked
   up at his mother's portrait, after, to his great sorrow, she had long
   been gone from earth, he cried--

   "O that those lips had language!" Well, you are to regard this Word of
   God as constantly coming forth fresh from His lips. The Holy Spirit
   puts into the Word a power which makes it go right into your heart with
   the very tone and majesty of the God of Grace, the Father of your
   spirit! This manna falls ever fresh from Heaven. The Israelites never
   had stale bread in the wilderness. They gathered the "angels' food" new
   every morning, just as it came down from the skies. In the same way,
   take every passage of God's Word as coming to you fresh from God.
   Regard it as your Heavenly Father speaking it straight to your heart!

   I was reading, one day, in one of Mark Guy Pearse's books, a pretty
   thought that I had never noticed before. He puts into the mouth of a
   very simple but godly man, who is talking about his Heavenly Father,
   words something after this fashion--"I am quite sure my Father will
   take care of me. He never rested during the six days of creation till
   He had fitted up a place for His child to come and live in. Until He
   had put the finishing stroke on it and got the house all ready for
   Adam, He would not rest at all. And now my Heavenly Father will not
   rest until He has made Heaven ready for me--and made me ready for
   Heaven--and all that I need on the way, He will surely give me." When I
   read that, it came just as fresh to me as if I had seen the second
   Chapter of the Book of Genesis written! It did not look to me like an
   old, stale record, but a fresh and living message proceeding out of the
   mouth of God--then and there! And there is many a dear child of God
   who, taught of the Spirit, has given new readings to old texts and, as
   it were, hung the old oil paintings in a better light, till we have
   said, as we have looked at them, "Can they be the same pictures? They
   seem to have fresh beauty and fresh force put into them!" This is what
   you are to feed upon, dear children of God--His own Word, as you have
   it here. But you must feed upon it as continually coming forth out of
   His very mouth.

   The text further says, "by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
   the LORD does man live." Don't you be at all disturbed, dear Friends,
   concerning the Doctrine of Inspiration, as to how the Bible is
   Inspired, whether by this process, or by that. I do not much mind how
   it is--I know that it is Inspired and that is enough for me--and I
   believe that it is verballyInspired. I find the Apostle Paul hanging a
   weighty argument upon the use of a singular or a plural, where he says,
   "He says not, And to seeds, as of many but as of one, And to your Seed,
   which is Christ." I find the Apostle Peter dwelling upon a word spoken
   by a woman and making it teach an important lesson--"Even as Sara
   obeyed Abraham, calling him, lord," and so forth. And, you remember
   that, not long ago, we had the text, "And it shall be at that day, says
   the Lord, that you shall call Me Ishi; and shall call Me no more Baali.
   For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they
   shall no more be remembered by their name," in which a great Truth of
   God was involved in the use of two words that were somewhat similar in
   meaning. [See Sermon #2571, Volume 44-- The Climax of God's Love]

   I do not say that either of our English versions is Inspired, for there
   are mistakes in the translation, but if we could get at the original
   text, just as it was first written, I am not afraid to say that every
   jot or tittle--every crossed "t" of it and every dot of each "i"--was
   Infallibly Inspired by God the Holy Spirit! I believe in the
   Infallibility and the Infinity of Holy Scripture! God Inspired the
   whole record, Genesis as well as Revelation, and all that is
   between--and He desires us to believe in one part of the Word as much
   as another. If you do not believe that, it will not be food to you. I
   am sure that it will not--it will only be a kind of emetic to you and
   not food. It cannot feed your soul as long as you are disputing about
   it. If it is not God's Word, then it is man's word, or the devil's
   word--and if you care to live on the devil's word, or on man's word, I
   do not! But God's Word is food for the soul that dwells with God and it
   cannot be satisfied with anything else.

   II. Now let us pass on to our second point which is THE USE WE ARE TO
   MAKE OF GOD'S WORD. We are to live on it.

   I was sitting, one day, in the New Forest, under a beech tree. I like
   to look at the beech and study it, as I do many other trees, for every
   tree has its own peculiarities and habits, its special ways of twisting
   its boughs and growing its bark, and opening its leaves and so forth.
   As I looked up at that beech and admired the wisdom of God in making
   it, I saw a squirrel running round and round the trunk and up the
   branches, and I thought to myself, "Ah, this beech tree is a great deal
   more to you than it is to me, for it is your home, your living, your
   all." Its big branches were the main streets of his city and its little
   boughs were the lanes. Somewhere in that tree he had his house and the
   beech mast was his daily food--he lived on it. Well now, the way to
   deal with God's Word is not merely to contemplate it, or to study it,
   as a student does, but to live on it as that squirrel lives on his
   beech tree! Let it be to you, spiritually, your house, your home, your
   food, your medicine, your clothing--the one essential element of your
   soul's life and growth.

   There are some whom I know who take God's Word and play with it. They
   are interested in its narratives--they study its histories in the light
   of modern research--and so on. But it was not meant merely for such a
   purpose as that.

   Loaves of bread are not put on the table for you to carve them into
   different shapes simply to look at--they are intended to be eaten. That
   is the proper use for bread and that is the proper use for God's Word!

   Some do even worse than this--they do not so much play with the Bible
   as fight over it--they contend fiercely for a Doctrine and condemn
   everybody who cannot accept their particular interpretation of it! I
   think that I have heard preachers who have seemed to me to bring out a
   Doctrine on purpose to fight over it. I have a dog that has a rug in
   which he sleeps and when I go home, tonight, he will bring it out and
   shake it before me--not that he particularly cares for his rug, but
   because he knows that I shall say, "I'll have it," and then he will
   bark at me and, in his language say, "No, you won't." There are some
   people who fetch out the Doctrines of Grace just in that way! I can see
   them trotting along with the Doctrine of Election just in order that
   some Arminian may dispute with them about it and that they may then
   bark at him! Do not act so, Beloved! The worst implement with which you
   can knock a man down is the Bible! It is intended for us to live
   upon--not to be the weapon of our controversies--but our daily food
   upon which we rejoice to live.

   I do not think that our Bibles were given to us that we might merely
   employ them as telescopes to peer into the heavens, to try to find out
   what is going to happen in 50 years' time. I am weary with the
   prophecies and speculations that, as a general rule, end in nothing! I
   know some brethren with whom one cannot talk about any passage but they
   say, "Oh, you have not seen the last little book of R. B. S. (those are
   not the real initials of the good Brother), in which he says that this
   passage does not apply to us, it is meant only for the Jews." Or else,
   "That was only for the Church in the wilderness, and not for us in
   these days." Let us not so misuse the Word of God, but prize it as the
   bread upon which we are to live! "Man does not live by bread only, but
   by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man
   live."

   "But how can we live on words?" asks one. You have spoken well. We
   cannot live on words if they are the words of men. But there is nothing
   like the Word of God to live upon! To that Word we owe our life. He
   spoke us into being, He spoke the soul into our body. By that Word of
   God we are daily kept alive--let God but reverse it and say, "Return,
   you children of men"--and we must at once go back to the dust from
   where we came.

   Certainly, it is by God's Word that we began to live spiritually--we
   believed on Christ through the effectual working of His Word. The
   living and incorruptible Seed was sown in our heart and by it we began
   to live. And it is by that same Word that our soul has been sustained
   in life. Up to this moment you and I have received no nutriment from
   the Holy Spirit except by that Word of God which is the food of the
   spiritual Israel in the wilderness of this world. Christ said, "My
   flesh is meat, indeed, and My blood is drink, indeed." And it is by
   Him, as the Word of God, that our life is yet further to grow. There is
   no development of the Christian that will come to him in any way but by
   God's Word-- Incarnate or Inspired. He who spoke us into being must
   speak us into yet stronger being! Faith is God's gift, but so is
   assurance. The very first spark of life is the gift of God's Grace, but
   so is the seraphic flame of zeal. That all comes from God's Word and
   when we are about to enter Heaven, the last touch that shall perfect us
   will be given by no engraving tool, but the Word of God! Our Lord
   prayed for His disciples, "Sanctify them through Your Truth; Your Word
   is Truth." And that Word shall complete the entire process! See, then,
   Beloved, on what your inmost spirit must live-- God's holy Word!

   Brothers and Sisters, may I ask you whether you are all sufficiently
   aware of this great Truth of God? You never received spiritual life by
   your own feelings. It was when you believed God's Word that you lived!
   And you will never get an increase of spiritual life and grow in Grace
   by your own feelings or your own doings. It must still be by your
   believing the promises and feeding on the Word! There is no other food
   for your souls--all else, in the end, will prove but husks. Therefore,
   are you hungry? Come and feed upon the Word! Have you backslidden? Come
   and feed again upon the Word! God heals His people by feeding them.
   "How so?" you ask. When the church at Laodicea was neither cold nor
   hot, so that Christ felt that He must spew her out of His mouth, yet
   even then He said to the angel of that church, "Behold, I stand at the
   door and knock: if any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will
   come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." I am bold to
   say, "There is no cure for lukewarmness like a good supper with
   Christ!" If He enters in and sups with you, and you with Him, your
   lukewarmness will disappear at once! Do not begin to be saved by faith
   and then go on to be saved by works--do not try to mix the two! If you
   are of the house of Sarah, do not bow your knee before Hagar and go
   back to the bondwoman. If you have lived on the pure, simple Word,
   crediting it by a living, God-given faith, go on to live in the same
   way and grow by the Word. Feed thereon continually, that you may be
   "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."

   III. Now I come to my last point, which I want to insist upon very
   urgently, and that is THE ADAPTATION OF THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE FEEDING
   of our souls. "By every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD
   does man live."

   "By every word." If you restrict yourselves in your food to one or two
   articles, every physician will tell you that there is a danger that
   your body may not be supplied with every form of nutriment that it
   requires. A good wide range of diet is recommended to those who would
   have vigorous health. And in spiritual things, if you keep to one part
   of God's Word, you may live on it, but the tendency will be for you not
   to attain to complete spiritual health through the lack of some
   nutriment with which the Word would have supplied you had you used it
   all. Every Word of God is that upon which man lives in the highest and
   healthiest state.

   Look, for instance, at the Doctrine in the Word of God. "I do not like
   doctrine," says one. Do you know what you are saying? You are a
   disciple, yet you do not like teaching, for doctrine means teaching.
   For a disciple to say that he does not like to be taught, is as good as
   to say that he does not like to be a disciple and, in fact, that he is
   not one in the true meaning of that term. Whatever Truth is laid down
   in God's Word, it is important for us to know it.

   "Oh," says one, "but there are some Truths of God that are not
   important." I do not know of any. In places where they cut diamonds,
   they sweep up the dust because the very dust of diamonds is valuable.
   And in the Word of God, all the Truth is so precious that the very
   tiniest Truth, if there is such a thing, is still diamond dust and is
   unspeakably precious! "But," you object, "I do not see that such a
   Truth would be of any practical use." You may not see it, dear Friend,
   but it is so. If I could write out my experience as Pastor of this
   Church, I could show that there have been persons converted to God by
   Doctrines that some might have thought unlikely to produce that result.
   I have known the Doctrine of the Resurrection to bring sinners to
   Christ. I have known scores brought to the Savior by the Doctrine of
   Election--the very sort of people who, as far as I can see, would never
   have come if that Truth of God had not happened to be an angular
   Doctrine that just struck their heart in the right place and fitted
   into the crevices of their nature. I believe that everything that is in
   God's Word ought to be preached, ought to be believed and ought to be
   studied by us! Every Doctrine is profitable for some end or other. If
   it is not food, it is medicine, and children sometimes need a tonic as
   much as they need milk. Every plant in God's garden answers some good
   purpose, so let us cultivate them all, and not neglect any Doctrine.

   Yet, when I come to God's Word, I find that it is not all Doctrine, and
   I discover much of precept Now, perhaps a man says, "I do not care
   about precepts." We used to have a set of Christian people, so-called,
   who, if you preached about any duty of a Believer, said at once, "We
   cannot bear the word, 'duty.' It has a legal sound in it." I remember
   saying to one who called me "a legal preacher," "That is all right.
   'Legal' means, lawful, and you mean, I suppose, that I am a lawful
   preacher, and that you are an unlawful person to object to my
   preaching!" But so it used to be, if you preached good sound Doctrine,
   if you preached on the privileges of Believers, then they were as
   pleased as possible. But when you once began to talk about the
   practical parts of God's Word, then straightway they were offended. No
   wonder, for their conscience pricked them for their neglect of those
   portions of the Scriptures! But, dear Friends, we live upon the
   precepts as well as upon the Doctrines and they have become to us as
   our necessary food. You know how David said of the Lord's Commandments,
   "More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
   sweeter, also, than honey, and the honeycomb; moreover by them is Your
   servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward."

   Blessed be God, there is also a large portion of this Book that is
   taken up with promises. Dear Friends, be well acquainted with the
   promises! I have often found it profitable to consult that little book
   in which Dr. Samuel Clarke has arranged the promises of Scripture under
   different heads. It is very helpful, when you are in trouble, to refer
   to all the promises which are given to those who are in similar
   circumstances to yours. For instance, to the sick, or to those in
   poverty, or those suffering from slander. As you read them over, one
   after the other, you say to yourselves, "This is my checkbook--I can
   take out the promises as I need them, sign them by faith, present them
   at the great Bank of Grace-- and come away enriched with present help
   in time of need." That is the way to use God's promises, so that they
   shall minister to the life of our spirit.

   But, dear Friends, much of God's Word is taken up with histories. Here
   you have the story of the Creation and of the Fall, of Abraham and of
   Isaac, of Jacob, of Moses, and of the kings and princes and people of
   Israel. You ask, perhaps, "Is this food?" Certainly! There are critics,
   nowadays, who speak very slightingly of the Old Testament and talk as
   if the Gospels comprised the whole of God's Word. Even the Epistles are
   reckoned to be of inferior quality. But this is all wrong! It is by
   every Word of God that man lives and, often, a history, giving us an
   example of faith, or a proof of God's faithfulness in helping His tried
   people, becomes more suitable food than the promise, by itself, might
   be! There is more force, men say, in the concrete, than there is in the
   abstract. Certainly there is more power in a thing put into actual life
   than there is in that same thing merely stated in words. If ever you go
   to the picture galleries of Versailles, you may walk through--I was
   about to say miles of galleries, among portraits of kings and notable
   men of different ages--but you do not see anybody stopping to look at
   them! And neither do you care to see them yourself. They are just
   portraits, but, downstairs there are paintings of the same men, only
   they are pictured in battle array, or in various positions which show
   them in action. Now you stand and look at them, for you are interested
   in the representation of the scenes in which they lived. So, sometimes,
   God's promises hang up like pictures on the wall and we do not notice
   them. But when we see men who have trusted those promises and proved
   the truth of them, then there is a sort of human interest about them
   which wins our attention and speaks to our hearts. Never neglect the
   historical parts of God's Word, for they are full of food to the
   children of God.

   It is precisely the same with regard to the prophecies. I once heard
   Mr. George Muller say that he liked to read his Bible through, again
   and again, and he liked, especially to read those portions of the Bible
   which he did not understand. That seems rather an amazing thing to say,
   does it not? For what profit can come to us if we do not understand
   what we read? The good man put it to me like this. He said, "There is a
   little boy who is with his father and there is a good deal of what his
   father says that he comprehends and takes it in, and he is very pleased
   to hear his father talk. But sometimes his father speaks of things that
   are quite beyond him, yet the boy likes to listen--he learns a little,
   here and there, and, by-and-by, when he has listened year after year,
   he begins to understand what his father says as he never would have
   done if he had run away whenever his father began to talk beyond his
   comprehension." So is it with the prophecies and other deep parts of
   God's Word. If you read them once or twice, but do not comprehend them,
   still study them--give your heart to them, for, by-and-by, the precious
   Truth of God will permeate your spirit and you will insensibly drink
   wisdom which otherwise you never would have received!

   Every part of the Word of God is food for the soul. So, dear Friends,
   it may be that there is a threatening message which speaks very sharply
   to you, but which is also most profitable for you. Perhaps some Sabbath
   you go out of the Tabernacle and you say, "Our Pastor has not comforted
   us this morning. He seems to have harrowed us and plowed us." Yes, I
   know that it is so, sometimes, but it is for your profit, for, as
   Hezekiah said, "by these things men live." It frequently happens that
   we need humbling, proving, testing and bringing down--and every
   right-minded child of God will say, "Do not let my training be
   according to my mind, but let it be according to God's mind." That
   sermon which pleases us most may not profit us at all--while the one
   which grieves and vexes us may, perhaps, be doing us a most essential
   service. When the Word of God searches you through and through, open
   your heart to it! Let the wind blow right through your whole being and
   carry away every rag and relic that ought to be taken from you.

   There are some of God's Words that are very short, but they contain an
   abundance of food for the soul. I have sometimes stood still, as I have
   been looking at a text, and I have felt like Jonathan when he found the
   honey. I could not eat it all. I could only dip my rod into it and
   taste it. And I wanted to call you all up, to see if you could clear
   this forest which was so laden with sweetness. At other times, on my
   way home, when I have not got much, myself, during the sermon, the
   Master has given me a feast on the road, and I have laughed to myself,
   again and again, for very joy of heart over some precious passage out
   of which fresh light has broken to cheer my spirit and make me glad in
   the Lord! Oh, keep to the Word, my Brothers and Sisters! Keep to it as
   God's Word and as coming out of His mouth. Suck it down into your soul,
   you cannot have too much of it! Feed on it day and night, for thus will
   God make you to live the life that is life, indeed!

   If there is a poor soul here that needs to find eternal life, my dear
   Friend, I bid you seek it in God's Word and nowhere else. "I thought I
   would go home and pray," says one. Do so, but, at the same time,
   remember that your prayers are of little worth without God's Word. Hear
   God's Word, first, and then go and tell God your own word, for it is in
   His Word of promiserather than in your word of prayer that salvation is
   to be found! Remember that grand sentence in the Book of Exodus where
   God says, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." It is not said,
   "When you see the blood," but when I see it! So, when God looks upon
   Christ's shed and sprinkled blood, it is then that He looks on you with
   pity and compassion! Look where God looks and then your eyes will meet
   His! If you look to Christ, and God looks to Christ, then you shall see
   eye to eye, and you shall find joy and peace in believing. God the
   Father admires Christ.

   Poor soul, do you admire Him, too? Then there will be a point on which
   you will both be agreed. God the Father entrusts His honor and glory to
   Christ--trust your soul with Christ--for so you will be agreed. God
   grant that you may do so this very hour! Remember this one text as you
   go your way--"He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." God
   grant that every one of you may have that everlasting life, for
   Christ's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Refusing to Be Comforted

   (No. 2578)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 1O, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
   18, 1883.

   "My soul refused to be comforted." Psalm 77:2.

   WHEN you meet with a person in great distress, you feel at once a
   desire to comfort him. That is to say, if you have an ordinarily tender
   heart. You cannot bear to see another in trouble without trying to
   minister to that diseased heart. But supposing that the person refuses
   to be comforted? Then you are foiled. What can you do? It is as though
   you met with a hungry man and offered him bread, but he rejected it.
   You tried to give him daintier food, but he scorned it. You asked him
   what he could eat, but he altogether refused to accept any form of
   nourishment. Then what could you do? Your cupboard might be full and
   the door might be freely opened, but if the man would not eat, you
   could not remove his hunger. So, if a man in trouble refuses to be
   comforted, how are you to cheer and solace him? One man can lead a
   horse to the water, but a thousand cannot make him drink if he will
   not--and when a man in trouble refuses to be comforted, then lover and
   friend are put far from him--and his acquaintance into darkness.
   Indeed, they soon need to be comforted, for disquietude is contagious
   and, sometimes, those who come to comfort another, go away provoked by
   his perversity. Many a man, whose heart was full of pity, has, at last,
   become indignant, and so has increased the sorrow which he intended to
   comfort--he has grown angry with the man who willfully put aside what
   was intended to encourage him.

   With those few prefatory remarks, let us come to the text. "My soul
   refused to be comforted." Note, concerning a man in such a case, first,
   possibly he may be right. Secondly, he is probably wrong. Thirdly, he
   may one day regret his conduct, as did Asaph, for, while he tells us
   that his soul refused to be comforted, he writes it down--not as an
   example for us to follow, but for our warning!

   I. First, then, when a man's soul refuses to be comforted, POSSIBLY HE
   MAY BE RIGHT.

   He may have a great spiritual sorrow and someone who does not at all
   understand his grief may proffer to him a consolation which is far too
   slight. Not knowing how deep the wound is, this foolish physician may
   think that it can be healed with any common ointment. I have known men
   to say to a person in deep distress things which have really aggravated
   him and his malady, too. "As he that takes away a garment in cold
   weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singes songs to a
   heavy heart." "Oh," they have said, "there is really nothing the matter
   with you, after all!" When the arrows of God were drinking up your
   soul, they have said, "you are low-spirited." Who would not be
   low-spirited when he has to face an angry God? "You are very nervous,"
   says another. "I am afraid you are going off into religious
   melancholy--you need cheerful society and amusement." That is poor
   consolation for one who feels that he is ready to die and that his soul
   chooses strangling rather than life! Reduced as he is to such a point
   of agony in his spirit, it is no wonder that the man should put away
   these comforters and say with Job, "'Miserable comforters are you all.'
   Mine is not a sorrow that can be removed by the bowl or by the violin.
   Mine is not a grief that can be charmed away with your merriment, or
   laid to sleep by your ridicule. The wound is too deep and too severe
   for you to cure." The man acts rightly when he puts aside these
   physicians without skill, of whom it may be said, "They have healed the
   hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, where
   there is no peace." You may send such comforters away from you, for it
   is right to refuse to be comforted by them. You will do well to say,
   with Toplady--

   "If my Lord Himself reveals, No other good I want, Only Christ my
   wounds can heal, Or silence my complaint. He that suffered in my stead,
   Shall my Physician be. I will not be comforted Till Jesus comforts me."

   So, too, it is equally right to refuse to be comforted when the comfort
   is untrue. When a man is under a sense of sin, I have known his friends
   say to him, "You should not fret; you have not been so very bad. You
   have been, indeed, a very good sort of fellow." One says, "I can
   recollect how kind you were to So-and-So and how honestly you behaved
   under such-and-such a temptation. You have not committed any very
   terrible sin--God help the world if you are a great sinner! I do not
   know what will become of the rest of us." Another says, "You have only
   to pray and go to a place of worship, perhaps be a little more regular
   in your attention to religion and it will all come right again. You are
   not so bad as you think you are." Be off with you! Such talk as that is
   a lie and the man whom God has really awakened to feel his state by
   nature will refuse to be comforted by such falsehoods as those! However
   friendship may flatter, the man himself says, "I know that I have
   broken God's Law and that I deserve His wrath." Conscience will not be
   quieted by all the soft speeches of officious but ignorant friends! I
   charge you, before God, if the Spirit of Truth has begun to trouble
   you, never drink these sweet but poisonous consolations! Never think
   that you are good, or that you can make yourself good. Refuse to be
   comforted in any such way. That comfort which does not come from truth
   and from God's Word, applied by the Holy Spirit, is a comfort to be
   rejected with scorn!

   We have known others who have tried to comfort poor, mourning,
   repentant sinners in an unhallowed way. They have said, "You need to
   raise your spirits. I can recommend you some fine old wine which will
   do you a world of good." Another will say, "You should really mix a
   little more in society and shake yourself up. You should get with some
   happy, lively people--they would soon take this melancholy out of you."
   Have you ever heard the story which was current in Rowland Hill's day,
   and which I believe was true, about a certain comic actor who, at that
   time, carried all the sway in London and made all laugh who went to see
   and hear him? The poor man, himself, suffered from depression of spirit
   to the very worst degree, insomuch that life had become a weariness to
   him. He went to consult a certain physician who was noted for dealing
   with hypochondriacs and melancholy persons. The doctor said to him,
   "Now, my Friend, you are evidently very low in spirits--you should go
   to the theater. I went the other night, hearing So-and-So, and he made
   me laugh at such a rate that I am quite sure, if you went and heard
   him, you would soon get rid of all your melancholy." The patient took
   the doctor by the hand and said, "Doctor, I am that man. I have made
   all London laugh, but my heart is breaking all the while." What said
   Solomon? "I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove you with mirth,
   therefore enjoy pleasure. And, behold, this also is vanity. I said of
   laughter, It is mad. And of mirth, What does it do?" I am sure that a
   person who is really troubled in spirit will increase his sorrow if he
   attempts to cure it in that way. It is only putting more fuel on the
   flame. It seems such a mockery to the spirit, when it is burdened with
   a sense of sin, to tell it to dance and make merriment! "Can I be merry
   on the brink of Hell?" cries the sorrowful man. "In danger every moment
   of death and certain that if death came, I should be lost, can I enjoy
   mirth? It cannot be!"

   There was a certain king of Hungary, a pious, gracious man, who was, at
   one time, deeply cast down and depressed. He had a brother, a worldly
   courtier, who rallied him about his despondency and, as far as he
   dared, mocked the poor broken heart of the king. It was the custom in
   Hungary that if a man was to be suddenly executed, a trumpeter should
   stand under his window and sound a blast of a certain kind--and then he
   was taken away to be put to death. The king sent the trumpeter, at the
   dead of night, to sound that blast under his brother's window. The
   courtier knew what it meant, so he arose at once, but he begged the
   executioner to first take him to the king--and there he stood, white as
   a sheet and trembling from head to foot. "Brother," said the king,
   "what ails you?" "What ails me?" he said, "why, you sent your trumpeter
   under my window, and he sounded the death-blast, and I suppose that I
   am to die!" "Well," answered the king, "you tremble now, yet it is only
   because you are to die, whereas I have heard the thunder-blast of God
   and I stand in fear of everlasting judgment! Now, dear brother," he
   added, "perhaps you can sympathize with me. I only sent the trumpeter
   that you might be enabled to look with a little more compassion upon me
   when I am in trouble before

   God."

   Ah, it is not laughter or mirth that will comfort the soul that has
   heard the voice of God saying, "You have sinned and I must punish you.
   You have lived a careless, godless life, and now you must come to
   judgment. Can you answer for one of a thousand when I shall set your
   sins before My face? When I shall bring forth a plummet to try you and
   to see how you stand, how will you endure that test?" No, no! Put aside
   all those hollow, unhallowed, empty comforts, and say, "My soul refuses
   to be comforted in that way."

   In a word, Brothers and Sisters, let me say that if your hearts are
   troubled on account of sin, refuse every comfort except that which
   comes through being washed in the precious blood of Christ which can
   make us whiter than snow! Refuse every comfort short of being born
   again and made a new creature in Jesus! Make this solemn resolve--"I
   will sooner die in prison than be let out except by His dear pierced
   hands. I will tremble before the wrath of God rather than I will dare
   to presume upon His mercy. I will wait till I have looked into the dear
   face of Him who died for me, and have read my pardon, there, before I
   will be comforted." If you resolve not to be comforted except in that
   Scriptural way, you will do well.

   II. But now, in the second place, with brevity, I want to show when
   this refusal is wrong. PROBABLY HE IS WRONG who says, "My soul refused
   to be comforted."

   It is quite wrong if it is a temporal matter that causes your sorrow.
   Why do you refuse to be comforted, my Friend? "I have lost one who was
   very dear to me--my beloved mother." "I have lost my child," says
   another. "It is my husband who has been taken away," says a third,
   while a fourth cries, "I have been bereaved of my dearest friend, and
   my soul refuses to be comforted." What, then, have you nobody left?
   "No, nobody." And has God done you a wrong? Did not your mother belong
   to Him? Was not your child His? He has only taken back what He lent you
   for a while--and because you have lost this one cistern, will you never
   drink of the fountain? Because the star is gone, will you never enjoy
   the sunlight? O dear Friend, I pray you, talk not so!

   "Ah," says another, "but I have lost my health! I found out, but a few
   days ago, that I have a deadly disease which will take me off, before
   long and, therefore, I refuse to be comforted." What? You will go down
   to your grave rebelling against God? Why should you not be sick? Better
   people than you have gone Home by consumption, or cancer, or by some
   other malady. Would it not be well to make your submission to God about
   that matter and ask that you may have a Heaven to go to, and a place of
   joy when death comes? "Ah," cries another, "but all my earthly
   prospects are blighted. I thought that I should get on in the world,
   but now I find that I cannot, the door is locked against me. I can
   never be comforted." Are there no other doors? Are you sure that what
   you call your prospects would have been blessings to you if you had
   realized them? Does not God know better than you do and will it not be
   wise for you to pluck up courage and, as the world's poet says--

   "To take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, end them"?

   Better far is it to act like that than to sit down in sullen gloom, or
   in fierce wrath against God!

   "Ah," says another, "but mine is a very peculiar trouble. My love has
   been slighted. One whom I loved very dearly has proven faithless and
   discarded me." Yes, and your heart is broken, and well it may be. But,
   my Friend, will you therefore refuse to love Him who never forsakes
   those on whom He once sets His affection? Would it not be wiser to turn
   the current of your heart's love towards Him who is faithful and true,
   and who loves even to all eternity? That would be a wiser course of
   action, surely! Refuse not to be comforted, I pray you--you are only
   driving the dagger deeper and deeper into your wounds. You are making
   the bitter waters more bitter. All that you do in this direction is but
   increasing your sorrow. You are like sailors pumping the seawater into
   the ship instead of pumping it out! You are heaping on another burden,
   much heavier than God has put there, by refusing to be comforted.
   Instead of doing that, think of the mercies that you still have, think
   of how God can bless your troubles to you, think of the shortness of
   life, think of the glories of Heaven, think of the sufferings of your
   Lord who endured much more than you are called to bear--and no longer
   refuse to be comforted, for, if you do, worse troubles may come to you.

   I heard a woman say to her child, as I passed her door, "If you don't
   leave off crying, I'll give you something to cry about." And I have
   known that to happen with some of the Lord's children. They have had
   very small troubles and they have fretted and rebelled against God
   until they have had a much greater sorrow--they have had something to
   cry about! Oh, do not refuse to be comforted, but yield yourself to
   God! Willingly submit to the discipline of your dear Father's hand.

   But now I will suppose that yours is a spiritual trouble and yet you
   refuse to be comforted. Listen to me, I pray you, for a few minutes,
   for I am sure that I shall describe some of you. The Gospel is meant
   for sinners, for guilty sinners, for Hell-deserving sinners. It is
   meant for persons just like you, yet you put it away from you and
   refuse to be comforted. It would be such a comfort to you if you
   accepted it--you would have such joys as you never knew before. But no,
   you will not touch it, you turn aside from it. There are kind friends
   who, at one time, encouraged you to cast yourself upon Christ, but now
   you try to avoid them, you get out of their way if you can. You feel so
   sad that you do not want to be cheered, you scarcely desire to be
   encouraged. Perhaps I speak to some who have gone so far astray that
   they say, "We cannot go back to the House of Prayer now." It is a
   horrible thing when people fall into such depths of sorrow that when
   they most need to come and hear, and be comforted, the devil says to
   them, "Don't go there any more--you will hear nothing for your comfort.
   The preacher will only confirm your condemnation," and so he tries to
   keep them away from the means of Grace. "Oh," says one, "I used to
   delight in the Prayer Meeting, but I dare not go to it now! I feel that
   no prayers will ever be any blessing to me. I used to love to hear
   Pastor's voice, once, and I have laughed for very joy while hearing it.
   But now I do not want to listen to it any longer." No, you are refusing
   to be comforted.

   It is also a terrible thing when Satan leads men to neglect the private
   means of Grace. They shut up the Bible and do not read it, being afraid
   that every Word should turn out to be a curse that will only make their
   sorrow deeper. Or, if they do read a promise, they say, "That is not
   for us. It may be true to everybody else, but not to us." As to private
   prayer, such a man says, "I cannot pray. God would not hear me, anyway,
   I am such a hypocrite. I have been such a backslider, I am so false, I
   am so guilty. It is no use for me to try to pray." That which ought to
   be the channel of sweetest consolation is neglected by those who refuse
   to be comforted! Some of them will even go so far as to deny the
   testimony of God. He says that He is merciful--they say that He is not.
   God declares that there is a propitiation for sin in the blood of
   Christ--they say that there is none. Jesus says, "Him that comes to Me
   I will in no wise cast out"--they say that He would cast them out if
   they came to Him. He invites them to come--they say that they cannot
   come. While He bids them to come near to Him and warns them that there
   is nothing in their way but their own evil hearts--yet they give God
   the lie and reject the only Savior!

   They also refuse the testimony of those of us who are God's
   witnesses--though this is but a small matter after refusing God's own
   testimony! We come and say, "Friend, if you will believe, you shall see
   the Glory of God. If you will simply cast yourself upon Christ, you
   shall live." Yet they do not believe us. There are some of you who
   would not doubt anything that I told you, I am sure that you would
   not--your esteem and affection would lead you to receive almost
   anything that I stated as fact--and yet you have put away from you, you
   have refused and rejected that glorious testimony which it is my life's
   work to tell to you, namely, that Jesus Christ will receive you and
   cleanse you from every sin, if you will but come to Him just as you are
   and put your trust in Him! No, you refuse to be comforted. But how
   wicked this refusal is! What a wrong you do to our honest love! What a
   wrong you do to the matchless love of God!

   Do you not remember the story of the good man who wanted to teach his
   little girl what faith was? He went down into the cellar, took away the
   ladder by which he had descended, and called to his child. "Ruth," he
   said, "jump into my arms." It was very dark down there, so she said,
   "Please, father, I can't see you." Then he replied, "you do not need to
   see me, I can see you--jump down." With a merry laugh she sprang into
   the dark and was, in an instant, resting on her father's bosom. Now,
   God bids us do just that! Can you not, by faith, take a leap in the
   dark, into your Heavenly Father's arms? This is what you will do if you
   are really His child--but you will not do it unless you can say, "I
   will trust and not be afraid."

   I will tell you why people sometimes refuse to be comforted. One says,
   "I have been depressed such a long time." Yes, but when the night is
   long, is that any proof that the morning will not come? It looks to me
   to be a good argument that the daylight is not very far off. "Oh," says
   another, "but my depression is so deep! You cannot conceive how
   miserable I am." Can I not? I think I have been in that dark dungeon
   where you now are and in the very corner where you are hiding. But even
   if I could not fully sympathize with you, the depth of your distress is
   to me an argument for your comfort, for God will first help the most
   helpless--and where there is the most misery, there will His mercy most
   swiftly come. So I look upon you with great hopefulness! If you are so
   thoroughly broken down, the Lord will surely speak comfort to you among
   the very first. "Ah," says another friend, "but I am under the
   impression that I shall never be saved." Perhaps you are, but I am
   under another impression, namely, that you willbe saved! And I am under
   another impression, which I know is true--that is, if you will only
   cast yourself upon Christ by a simple faith, you shall be saved at
   once! I know that impression is true because here is the seal that made
   it--"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
   give you rest." These are the words of Him who cannot lie or change! Do
   you still refuse to be comforted?

   "Oh," says one, "but if you knew me, Sir, you would not talk so, for I
   have been such a great sinner!" I think that is very likely. "Oh, but I
   mean it, Sir!" I hope you do. I trust you are not adding lies to your
   other sins. "But, Sir, I have been such a sinner!" Yes, I know what you
   mean, and I believe it. And I will tell you something about yourself
   that you probably do not believe--you are a worse sinner than you think
   you are. "Oh, that cannot be!" you say. But I tell you that it is--you
   do not know what a sinner you are. Sin is a more horrible thing than
   imagination, itself, can conceive it to be. "But I deserve the hottest
   place in Hell," says one. Yes, but suppose that it is so, and that all
   you say is true? Yet, in the name of God, I tell you that "all manner
   of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," for, "the blood of
   Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." What is your sin?
   Have you committed falsehood, theft, fornication, murder? Is there any
   crime which you have committed which I dare not mention--some secret
   sin which has polluted you and left you a black blot upon the face of
   God's earth? Yet come along with you, whoever you may be! If you are
   the sweepings of Helldom, yet come along with you, for Jesus Christ is
   able to save to the uttermost--let me say that word again--"He is able
   to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him."

   Do not refuse to be comforted, for if you do, you will be a spiritual
   suicide! The man who will not eat and so dies of starvation is as much
   a suicide as he that puts the pistol to his head and blows out his
   brains. He that rejects Christ, damns himself as surely as he that
   gives himself, body and soul, to the devil. He that refuses what God
   has provided and will not have pardon through the precious blood,
   dashes himself upon the bosses of Jehovah's buckler and fixes himself
   upon the point of the javelin of Divine Justice! Do not do it, I
   implore you! Be not among those who refuse to be comforted!

   III. But now, lastly, for my time is nearly gone, YOU WILL HAVE TO
   REPENT OF REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED.

   Possibly you will have to repent in a very terrible way. Suppose, now,
   that you should refuse to be comforted, and so should willfully go into
   a yet darker and deeper dungeon of despair Suppose that your Christian
   friends should grow weary of you--I hope they will not--but suppose
   that godly man, or that godly woman who has so long followed you up,
   should, at last, despair of you and leave? Where would you be, then?
   And suppose that because you shut your eyes to the Light of God, God
   should take it away? What if you should have to move to a region where
   nobody will want to comfort you, where no minister will labor and
   travail for your soul's salvation, where you shall sit under a dry and
   lifeless ministry, or perhaps under none at all--and you shall be left
   to go on down, down, down? God prevent it! But if ever that should be
   your sad lot, I hope there may still remain about you sufficient relics
   of life to make you say, "Oh, that I had been willing to be comforted
   when I might have been, and had accepted the testimony of Grace before
   I had passed beyond the reach of those blessed means of mercy!" But I
   do not mean to dwell upon that thought, for I have something much more
   cheerful to say.

   I hope that many here present who have refused to be comforted, will
   yet regret it when they shall be enjoying the fullness of comfort. One
   of the things that I have sometimes said to myself, when I have been
   alone, has been this, "How foolish you are!" And if anybody had heard
   me, he would have known that I was upbraiding myself in the spirit of
   Christian and Hopeful when they were locked up in Giant Despair's
   castle. You remember how Bunyan tells us that the pilgrims began to
   pray on Saturday, about midnight, and continued in prayer till almost
   the break of day, when Christian called out, "What a fool am I, thus to
   lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a
   key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any
   lock in Doubting Castle." So he pulled it out of his bosom, put it in
   the lock, opened the door of the dungeon, and they soon were out! When
   they came to the outer door leading to the castle yard, the key fitted
   that, and they went through. Then they came to the great iron gate--the
   lock went horribly hard, but Christian kept working away at it and, at
   last, the bolt shot back, the big gate was open--and they escaped.

   But Giant Despair heard the noise and came down. And he was just about
   to fall upon his poor prisoners, when he was taken with a shaking
   fit--I have always been glad that the cruel old giant used to have
   epilepsy, so he could not catch the two pilgrims--and away they went! I
   am sure that when they got out, Christian kept saying to himself, "What
   a fool I have been! What a fool I have been! I have been lying in that
   dungeon all this while, when I might have been out ever so long ago."
   If I ever hear you, who have had a similar experience, cry, "What a
   fool I have been," I shall say, "That is quite right! You have hit the
   nail on the head this time," for, whenever a man doubts the mercy of
   God, the best thing that I can say of him is that he is a fool! I could
   say a far worse thing than that, but when you refuse the sweet mercy,
   the tender love, the overflowing forgiveness, the generous kindness of
   the heart of Christ, you certainly act like a fool. And then, when you
   come to your right mind, I am sure that you will ask yourself, "How
   could I have refused so long to be comforted?"

   Now, finally, when you and I get to Heaven, we shall regret that we
   ever refused to be comforted. "Oh," says a poor sinner over there, "now
   you are drawing the long bow." Which do you mean--for myself or for
   you? "Why, Sir, you said, 'When you and I get to Heaven.'" Very well,
   which is the, "you," and which is the, "I," that you are quibbling
   about? Do you think that it is such a very great wonder that Ishould
   get to Heaven? If you do, I altogether agree with you, for it will be a
   wonder, indeed! "No," you say, "I mean that it will be a wonder if Iget
   there." Yes, and I, too, think it will be so. You and I will be about
   equal wonders if we get there--and when we are there, by the rich mercy
   of God, by the infinite love of Christ--and we shallbe, you know, as
   surely as we are here if we will but believe in Christ--you and I will
   meet together, one day, in Heaven. Why should we not? I will promise to
   meet you there! Come, we will make a bargain of it--I am going by
   Christ, the Way, and if you go by Christ, the Way, we shall get to the
   same place! And there will be the King in His beauty. I will guarantee
   you that you will not take much notice of me, or I of you, for the
   sight of the King will be so ravishing! Oh, what a Countenance! Oh,
   what a Glory! Oh, that matchless Lover of our souls! And I believe
   that, then, we shall, each of us, say, "However could I have refused to
   be comforted by Him when He had loved me with an everlasting love, when
   He had chosen me from before the foundation of the world, when He had
   bought me with His precious blood, when He had sought me by His Holy
   Spirit, when He had clothed me with His righteousness, when He had
   taken me into the family and made me His brother and a child of God,
   when He had gone to Heaven on purpose to prepare a place for me and
   sent His Spirit down to earth to prepare me for the place? Yet there
   was a time when I refused to be comforted by Him!" I think, if we could
   weep in Heaven, we would certainly weep glad tears of deep and solemn
   regret that ever we should have stood out against Him to whom we are
   married. Oh, on that wondrous wedding day, when He shall consummate His
   love and ours, He will notsay, "You were difficult in the wooing. You
   refused Me many times." But I do believe that I shall say to myself,
   "How could I have refused Him? How could I have treated Him so
   terribly?" And as I look at His dear hands, still scarred, I shall say
   to Him, "O my Savior, I cost You Your life, Your heart's blood, and
   though I long refused You, yet You would have me! Oh, love unutterable!
   How I will love You throughout eternity!" But what regret we must feel
   that we ever rejected Him! Do not refuse to be comforted, dear
   Friend--come along with you and take at once the mercy that Jesus waits
   to give!

   One little illustration, and I have done. I have noticed that when a
   dog is very hungry, he does not stand upon etiquette There is a
   butcher's shop and no invitation is given to him to enter--but he makes
   himself very free and in he goes! There is a very nice little bit of
   meat on the block and the butcher has not the courtesy to offer it to
   him, though there is no creature that would more welcome it. So what
   does my friend, the dog, do? Why, he just makes a grab at it, seizes
   the meat, and then away he goes down the street! Now, if he can only
   get time to eat it, I will defy the butcher to get it away from him if
   he has taken it right into himself! I want you, poor Sinner, to be like
   that dog! There is the mercy of God--you do not believe that you ought
   to have it. Come and lay hold of it, for let me tell you this--Christ
   never takes away from the jaws of faith what faith once dares to seize!
   Take it and you have it! Believe even if you seem to have no right to
   believe! Commit a heavenly felony upon Divine Mercy! If the devil tells
   you that it is felony, come and take the mercy all the same, for he can
   never steal it from you! If you once get it, you have it forever. Oh,
   take it, then!--

   "Artful doubts and reasoning be Nailed with Jesus to the tree." Come
   and trust Him and He is yours forever! The Lord help you to do it, for
   Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 77.

   This "Psalm of Asaph" has a mournful tone in it. At times the writer is
   in the deeps, but we may be quite sure that he will end the Psalm
   cheerfully because he begins it with prayer. No matter what sorrow
   falls to your lot, if you can pray, you will rise out of it. When Jonah
   went to the bottoms of the mountains, in the belly of the fish, and
   took to praying, it was well with him. If you, dear troubled Soul, can
   but pray, you need not despair.

   Verse 1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice;
   and He gave ear unto me. You see, he cried, and he cried again--and at
   his second call the door of mercy was opened to him. God sometimes
   makes petitioners wait that they may become more earnest and that they
   may really feel the value of the thing they are seeking. So Asaph says,
   "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice." That is
   the way to get the blessing! You will often find, dear Friends, that it
   helps you to pray if you use your voice in prayer--there is no
   necessity to speak, you can pray without the use of the lips--but it
   often helps your thoughts if you are able to express them aloud.

   2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the
   night, and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted. He could not
   sleep, so he took to prayer. Which is the greater mercy--prayer or
   sleep--I cannot say. In the Psalmist's case, I suppose that prayer,
   just then, was better than sleep. His trouble so pressed upon him that
   it gave him no respite whatever--so all through the night he continued
   to cry unto the Lord.

   3. I remembered God, and was troubled. God is the fountain of all
   comfort, yet there are times when even a godly man can find no comfort
   in God. Asaph, perhaps, remembered the dark side of God's attributes.
   Justice seemed to stand over him with a drawn sword. Holiness frowned
   upon him. Power threatened to crush him. Truth stood up to condemn him.
   He could not find any comfort, even in his God.

   3. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. He was covered
   right up, like a ship that has gone down in deep water. "I complained,
   and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah." Whenever you see this word,
   "Selah," it means lift up the notes, retune the strings of the harp,
   get the mind and heart ready for something in a rather different
   strain.

   4. You hold my eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak You
   thought that the Psalmist was going to say, "I cannot sleep." He has
   given up the attempt to do that, so now he tries to talk, but utterance
   fails him. Shallow brooks sound as they flow, but deep griefs are
   still, and a man may be so troubled in heart that he cannot speak--he
   can only explain his sorrow by groaning and tears.

   5. 6. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I
   call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart
   and my spirit makes diligent search. He looked back into the records of
   ancient history to see if God had ever forsaken a praying man. He
   thought upon his own experience and he remembered how, when it was
   night with him before, God made him to sing like a nightingale in the
   darkness. So he asks himself, "Has God changed? Will He give me no
   songs, now? Will He leave me to perish?" Thus have the best of men, in
   their sore troubles, had to put to themselves solemn questions, but
   they have not always been able to answer them.

   7-9. Will the Lord cast me off forever? And will He be favorable no
   more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Does His promise fail
   forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up
   His tender mercies? Selah. If you are a child of God, yet never had to
   ask these questions, you ought to be very grateful. But if you have to
   ask them, be very thankful that Asaph asked them before you! And
   believe that as he had a comfortable answer to them, so shall you. It
   is always a comfort when you can see the footprints of another man in
   the mire and the slough, for if that man passed through unharmed, so
   may you, for his God shall also be your Helper. But only think of this
   inspired Psalmist, this sweet singer of Israel, being so troubled and
   broken in spirit that he says, "Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has
   He in anger shut up His tender mercies?"

   10. And I said, This is my infirmity. "This is a trouble appointed to
   me, I must bear it." Or, "This is because of the weakness of my faith.
   God has not changed--it is I who has changed. 'This is my infirmity.'"

   10. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. '
   'I will remember what God has done with that right hand of His. I will
   remember when I used to sit at His right hand--

   "'What peaceful hours I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still!

   But now I find an aching void The world can never fill.'"

   It is a good thing to make a record of your experiences when they are
   sweet. You may need that record, one of these days. I do not believe in
   always keeping a diary, for one is apt to put down more than may be
   true, but there are times of special mercy when I would say, "Write
   that down for a memorial and keep it by you, for the day may come when
   that record will minister comfort to you."

   11, 12. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember
   Your wonders of old. I will meditate also on all Your work. "I will not
   have any more of my works--I will meditate on Your work. I will get to
   You, my God, and think of what You have done; especially of Your works
   of Grace, how brightly they shine! I will meditate also on all your
   work."

   12, 13. And talk of Your doings. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary.
   Or, "is in holiness." God's way is sometimes in the sea, but it is
   always a holy way. God never deals with His people, or with any of His
   creatures unjustly or unrighteously. "I cannot trace God," Luther once
   said, "but I can trust Him." And from that saying of his we have coined
   the phrase, "To trust Him when you cannot trace Him." When you are
   unable to see God's footprints because He rides upon the storm, yet
   still say, " Your way, O God, is in holiness."

   13, 14. Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God that does
   wonders: You have declared Your strength among the people. See how the
   Psalmist comforts himself with what God had done--and he went right
   back to the Red Sea for his illustration! Somehow, God's people in the
   olden times always liked to sing the Song of Moses. By a kind of
   instinct, they thought of the Red Sea, as if to remember the redemption
   that God worked out for His people when He destroyed Pharaoh and all
   his host. Let us go there, too, and think of the Red Sea of our
   Savior's blood where all our sins were drowned!

   15-17. You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob
   and Joseph. Selah. The waters saw You, O God, the waters saw You; they
   were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out
   water: the skies sent out a sound: Your arrows also went abroad. I
   suppose that there was a storm at the time of the passage of the Red
   Sea, so that the deep-mouthed thunder spoke to the quaking heart of
   Pharaoh, while the flashing lightning set the heavens on flame and made
   Egypt's chivalry tremble as the horse and his rider went down into the
   sea.

   18, 19. The voice of Your thunder was in the Heaven: the lightning
   lighted the world: the earth trembled and shook. Your way is in the
   sea. Where you cannot see His footprints, "in the sea," where there
   seems to be no way at all, there God makes a highway! Are you in such
   trouble, dear Friend, that you cannot see the possibility of escape?
   Remember this verse--" Your way is in the sea."

   19, 20. And Your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps are not
   known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
   There the Psalm stops, just when you thought there was more to be said.
   The Holy Spirit knows how to leave off--and He closes abruptly with a
   sublimity seldom equaled. God's people need to know no more than this,
   that God is leading them! Asaph does not say that Moses and Aaron led
   them-- "You led Yourpeople." Moses and Aaron were only the Lord's
   servants and under-shepherds--"You led Your people like a flock by the
   hand of Moses and Aaron." May He always be our Leader! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Waiting, Hoping, Watching

   (No. 2579)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 17, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
   22, 1883.

   "I wait for the LORRD, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope, My
   soul waits for the Lordmore than they who watch for the morning--yes,
   more than they who watch for the morning." Psalm 130:5, 6.

   As we read this Psalm, we noticed, from the opening verses of it, that
   David was in the depths. He is not the only one of God's people who has
   been there. If we imagine that the experience of true saints is always
   a happy, high level of peace, we make a great mistake. They have their
   rising and their falling, their days and their nights, their summers
   and their winters. Where there is life, there are pretty sure to be
   changes. The statues in St. Paul's Cathedral are, I suppose, always
   cold, but living men are sometimes ready to faint in the heat--and
   sometimes they are well-near frozen with the cold. If you are a living
   child of God, expect that you will have many variations in your
   experience and that sometimes you will be in the depths as others have
   been. Was not your Lord there? This Psalm is called, in the Latin
   version, De profundi's, and I am sure that our Lord, though He is now
   in excelsis--in the very heights--yet had on earth times when He could
   sing this De profundis Psalm--"Out of the depths have I cried unto You,
   O Lord." Then, how could we have fellowship with Him in His suffering
   if we were not, sometimes, in the depths, too? How could we know what
   He felt, how could we be made like unto our Lord if we were not also
   cast down?

   The best of godly men will be, occasionally or even often, in the
   depths of temporal trouble. David was hunted by Saul, hated by the
   Philistines, grieved by his son Absalom--he had many trials--and the
   best of God's people will have their trials, too. Though faith often
   lifts us up above them, yet there are times when the iron enters into
   our soul, when, "for a season, if necessary, we are in heaviness
   through manifold trials."

   God's people, too, are sometimes in the depths of spiritual sorrow.
   They do not always live upon the mountain with their transfigured
   Master. Sometimes they come into the valley where they are made to feel
   the power of inbred sin and to mourn over it exceedingly. When the
   light of God's Countenance is withdrawn, the dearest of His children
   has to cry, with his Lord on Calvary, "My God, my God, why have You
   forsaken me?" There are depths of soul-agony which some Christians have
   never known, but into which others have been plunged again and again.
   It has been as much as the saint could do to call his God his own, for
   his very faith seemed to tremble under the pressure of affliction and
   depression of spirit. This Psalm ought to comfort you who are in the
   depths, as you see that others have had to go there, too. But mind that
   you follow the example of the Psalmist and, whatever you are called to
   suffer, never leave off praying! Whatever else you do, never neglect
   this one prime means of deliverance. Then you may say with David, "Out
   of the depths have I cried unto You, O Lord."--

   "Long as they live should Christians pray, For only while they pray
   they live,"

   but especially when their soul seems, as it were, to have found a
   sepulcher--when, while yet alive, they appear to be sinking down into
   the depths. Then is the time when, with sevenfold earnestness, they
   must lift up their hearts and their voices and cry mightily unto the
   Lord.

   One of the designs of Satan, when he finds saints in the depths, is to
   keep them there, but the wise child of God will cry to his Lord when he
   gets there, for then Satan cannot keep him there for long. He who cries
   "out of the depths" will soon be out of the depths! That cry is the
   voice of life and God will not leave that soul in the depths, or suffer
   His redeemed one to see corruption there. Up you will rise if you can
   but cry! There is something marvelous about the power of prayer--when
   Jonah prayed out of the belly of the fish--he was soon brought up from
   the depths of the sea to stand on the dry land and to go on his
   Master's errand. Cry, then, if you are in the depths! If you never
   cried before, cry now. If you have been accustomed to pray, pull out
   all the stops of this wonderful organ of prayer and let the music
   ascend into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, even though it seems to
   you to be nothing but discord.

   But notice, also, that while David thus cried unto the Lord, he made
   confession of his sin. He felt he could not stand before God on the
   footing of his personal character. He could not hope to prevail with
   Jehovah by his own merits, so he pleaded, "There is forgiveness with
   You, that You may be feared." Come, child of God, if sin is a dark
   cloud that hides your Lord's face from you, come to Him with this great
   Truth of God on your tongue and in your heart, "there is forgiveness."
   When Luther was in great trouble of soul, he was comforted by one who
   said to him, "Do you not believe your Creed?" "Yes," replied Luther, "I
   believe the Creed." "Well, then," rejoined the other, "one article in
   it is, 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins.'" Luther's heart was
   lightened at once by the remembrance of the words in this Psalm, "there
   is forgiveness." It may be that you have sinned many times and
   grievously, but, "there is forgiveness." Though a child of God, you
   have gone far astray from Him--but, "there is forgiveness." You have
   backslidden sadly and horribly, but, "there is forgiveness." The devil
   comes and howls at you and tells you that your doom is sealed and your
   damnation is sure--but, "there is forgiveness." Oh, blessed sentence!
   "There is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."

   When David really felt in his soul that whatever the depths might be in
   which he was plunged, yet there was forgiveness for him--that however
   feeble his cries might be, there was forgiveness--then he rested in
   perfect peace and he said, in the language of the text, "I wait for the
   Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope. My soul waits for
   the Lord more than they who watch for the morning--yes, more than they
   who watch for the morning."

   There are three words on which I am going to speak. The first and the
   chief word is, waiting--"I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait." The
   next word, which helps the first one, is, hoping--"and in His Word do I
   hope." And then the third word grows out of the first, and that is,
   watching--"My soul waits for the Lord more than they who watch for the
   morning." May the Holy Spirit bless us both in speaking and hearing
   while we meditate upon these three words-- waiting, hoping, watching!

   I. The first word is, waiting. "I wait for the Lord, my soul does
   wait."

   Upon which I observe, first, that this is the constant posture of all
   the saints of God. Before our Lord Jesus Christ came, all the spiritual
   people among the 12 tribes were waiting for His appearing. They firmly
   believed that He would come, yet they died without the sight for which
   they were looking. Over the door of the great mausoleum of the Old
   Testament saints is inscribed this epitaph, "These all died in faith,
   not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off." They
   were waiters--waiting until the Rod should come forth out of the stem
   of Jesse--and the Branch should grow out of his roots. Some few of
   these waiters were found in the Temple when the Lord appeared. You
   remember the names of Simeon and Anna, who were "waiting for the
   consolation of Israel"? They had grown gray in waiting, but still they
   were among "them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." And, at
   last, Simeon could say, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace,
   according to Your Word, for my eyes have seen Your Salvation." This
   expression, waiting for the Lord, describes all the saints, from
   righteous Abel down to faithful old Simeon who took the Infant Jesus in
   his arms and blessed God for the appearing of the Messiah, the woman's
   promised Seed.

   But what about the saints since then? They also are, or should be,
   waiting for the Lord--"Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
   appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." Though too
   many forget it, He has said, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is
   with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." This is the
   Church's glorious hope in which, in some senses, both Jews and Gentiles
   are now united, for if the Jews are waiting for the coming of the
   Messiah, so are we, only they, in their unbelief, see not that He has
   once come. Let it not be said of us that we, in our unbelief, see not
   that He will come again, but, believing in His First Advent, let us,
   therefore, patiently wait and longingly look for the time when, "the
   Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of
   the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ
   shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
   together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
   shall we always be with the Lord." O glorious hope! We are still
   waiting for its blessed realization!

   Yes, and in this respect I may say with Dr. Watts, that--

   " The saints on earth, and all the dead, But one communion make"

   in this fellowship of waiting! Fancy not, Beloved, that in Heaven they
   have no emotion but that ofjoy! We know that all their emotions are
   joyous, but among them is this one--that they, too, are waiting until
   the Lord shall again manifest Himself, for, in the day of His
   appearing, those disembodied spirits shall put on their resurrection
   bodies, changed and made like Christ's glorious body! And in that day
   they shall be united with all the saints who remain upon the earth,
   for, without them, the glorified spirits above could not be made
   perfect. That is to say, the Church of God above cannot be perfected as
   to all its members till those who are still in the world of trial shall
   be brought Home to meet with them-- and so the whole Church shall be
   "forever with the Lord." Therefore, dear Friends, if any of you are
   troubled because you are waiting for the return of your Lord and He
   seems long in coming, I remind you that the whole Church of Christ is
   waiting--the whole 12 tribes of our spiritual Israel are "waiting for
   the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body," at the return of our
   Lord! The manifestation of the Head will also be the manifestation of
   all the members of His mystical body. Therefore, be content to be
   waiters, for all God's saints have been and still are such!

   Observe, too, that the children of God, on earth, are frequently in the
   posture of waiting as individuals. Not only as forming part of Christ's
   body do they wait together with the rest of His people, but each one
   has to wait individually. In the first dawning of Grace in the soul,
   when the heart is taught to believe in Jesus, it does not always happen
   that peace immediately follows upon faith. We meet with many about
   whose salvation we have no doubt, but they have, themselves, little or
   no hope as to their own eternal safety. We feel sure that they have
   really trusted in the Savior and, therefore, have been saved by Him,
   but, by reason of temptation, or bodily weakness, or a measure of
   darkness remaining upon them through ignorance, they do not yet know
   the glorious liberty and assurance of the children of God. I have no
   doubt that there are many in the fold of Jesus who do not feel
   themselves at rest--they are waiting until they shall possess full
   peace with God. They at times enjoy that peace--sweet gleams of
   sunlight come to them--but they are soon in darkness, again, and their
   unbelief struggles with their faith. They cannot get further than to
   cry with that poor man who said to Christ, "Lord, I believe; help You
   my unbelief."

   Well, beloved Brother or Sister, if you are in that condition, you are
   waiting that your faith may grow--waiting till the blessed Spirit shall
   be a Spirit of Consolation to you and shall take of the things of
   Christ and show them to you. You are sitting, as it were, in the porch
   of the King's house. There is safety in waiting at his doors, but you
   would be much happier and more at rest if you entered the King's palace
   and sat at His table! You do trust Him--may you never have any other
   trust! You are relying upon His righteousness, yet you do not feel that
   joy and peace which others of the children of God feel. Well, then, you
   are in this place of waiting and, for a while, perhaps, you will have
   to exercise that waiting spirit.

   Many of us have gone further than that, but we are still
   waiting--waiting, among other things, for victory over sin. You know
   that you are forgiven, dear Brothers and Sisters--you are quite sure
   that you are a child of God and, by God's Grace, you have driven out
   many sins--but still, when you are fiercely tempted, strongly provoked,
   or placed in certain trying circumstances, you discover your weakness
   very sadly. And then your cry is, "Lord, give me victory over sin!" And
   you will never be content till you have it. Well, go on crying for it
   out of the very depths! Go on hoping for it through the precious blood
   of the Lord Jesus Christ! But if it does not come to you and you have,
   day after day, and even year after year, to bitterly feel that the work
   of God is not perfected in you, still wait, for the Lord will not leave
   His work unfinished! He will have regard to the work of His own hands.
   He will go on with it till it is perfected! But, in the meantime, you
   will be waiting for the complete victory.

   And if you should get that, you will still have to be a waiter,
   oftentimes, in the matter of prayer. God answers His people's prayers
   when they ought to be answered. The prayers that are such as you and I,
   in our most spiritual moments, would wish to have answered, shall be
   answered. But perhaps not at once. It would be difficult to say how
   long a Christian may have to wait for answers to prayer. If I remember
   rightly, there is one godly man who has been praying every day for 36
   yearsfor one thing and recording his prayers in a book. And other
   Believers have joined with him, yet the answer has not come. But he as
   fully expects it as when he first began to pray! I need not mention the
   Brother's name, but I feel sure that he will be heard and answered,
   although at present he has not received the blessing he is seeking from
   the Lord. I have heard of wives praying for the conversion of their
   husbands through their whole lifetime and never living to see them
   saved--yet they were brought to the Lord after their partners had gone
   Home. I have heard of parents pleading for their children by the score
   of years, together, yet the prayer has not been answered at present.
   God is keeping them waiting and it is theirs to still wait at the posts
   of His doors hoping and expecting the blessing they have asked of the
   Lord.

   I will suppose that you have had your prayers answered and, therefore,
   you have not to wait for that mercy. Yet I am sure you know of
   something else to wait for. Sometimes we have to wait for conscious
   fellowship with God. We had it once, but we have lost it, so we cry to
   have it restored. When we enjoy it, again, we cry for more of it--and
   when we have more of it, we still cry for more! And when we have the
   most that we have ever had, then our cry is yet keener for still
   more--for this sweet love of God enlarges the heart into which it
   enters! It brings with it a hallowed hungering and thirsting--it kills
   all unholy craving, but it creates a sacred appetite which is greatly
   to be desired. O Lord, make my hunger for You to be insatiable! Let it
   never be satisfied. Enlarge my heart till it is as large as Heaven and
   then, since, "the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You," make my soul
   as large as seven heavens and then, since seven heavens could not
   contain You, go on to enlarge my spirit till I am filled with all the
   fullness of God! If this is the desire of your heart, you will always
   be waiting, asking and longing for more and more of fellowship with
   your Lord.

   "But," you say, "I thought that Christians sometimes reached a point
   beyond which they could go no further." Then you thought amiss, for
   that is not the teaching of Scripture. When the Apostle Paul, the most
   marvelous runner who ever ran the Christian race, had been running for
   many, many years, he said that he had not yet attained--he even forgot
   the things that were behind and still pressed forward toward that which
   was before, the prize of his high calling of God in Christ Jesus!
   Brothers and Sisters, there is an infinity of Grace and mercy beyond
   you! Whatever of blessings you have as yet received, you have but
   sipped from the ever-flowing stream of Eternal Love. You have but
   gathered a few shells washed up on the shore of the ocean of Boundless
   Grace. You have not yet received all! You cannot yet enjoy all-- you
   must wait, and wait, and wait, for--

   "Still there's more to follow."

   Yes, and if we were to get as much of personal blessings as ever we
   could hold, we should still be waiting! You ask, "What for?" Well, I,
   for one, am waiting for the Lord to bless my work of faith and labor of
   love in the preaching of the Gospel. And are not you waiting for the
   same thing? After every address you give, after every time you have the
   members of your class gathered together and talked to them about
   Christ, are you not waiting for more souls to be saved through your
   service? Do you not wait to be able to better serve God? Are not some
   of you waiting to have your tongues unloosed--waiting to have your
   hearts enlarged--waiting for better opportunities of doing God's work,
   or for more Divine Grace to use the opportunities you have--and waiting
   for the Divine Seal upon the efforts which you have put forth? I know
   that it is so and if we could all get that, we would still be
   waiting--waiting to see all our families saved-- waiting to see all our
   neighbors saved--waiting to see this great London saved--waiting to see
   all nations bowing at Immanuel's feet! We can never be satisfied until
   we have that. And if we had it, we would then be waiting, as some of my
   dear Brothers and Sisters in the Church are just now waiting--waiting
   to be taken up to their Home above--waiting till men shall say, "The
   pitcher is broken at the fountain and the wheel is broken at the
   cistern," because the Lord had said, "Rise up, My love, My fair one and
   come away." David said, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your
   likeness." And we, too, shall be satisfied when we see
   Christ--satisfied when, in our flesh, we shall see the God that died
   for us--satisfied when He shall reign upon the earth and we shall reign
   with Him--satisfied when we shall hear the eternal, "Hallelujah,
   hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" Yet I
   imagine that, even then, we shall be waiting, waiting, waiting,
   throughout eternity, for some fresh revelation of the unutterable,
   unreliable love of God in Christ Jesus.

   You see, dear Friends, how I have tried to set before you this waiting
   posture of the saints as a whole, and also of each one in particular.
   Now I want to show you that it is a very blessed posture, for waiting
   tries faith--and that is a good thing--because faith grows by trial!
   Waiting exercises patience and that is also a good thing, for patience
   is one of the choice gifts of God. Waiting endears every blessing when
   it comes--and thus we get two joys--the joy of waiting for the joy, as
   well as the joy of enjoying the joy when it comes! We get a better
   appetite for the banquet by waiting awhile before we sit down to it.
   Oh, the joy it will be to rest after toil! Oh, the delight of heavenly
   wealth after earthly poverty!

   Oh, the bliss of being perfectly rid of every tendency to sin after
   having struggled with it here for years! Thus, all these trials are
   preparations for a higher state ofjoy, by-and-by.

   While we are waiting, this posture becomes intense till, with the
   Psalmist, we can say twice over, "I wait for the Lord, my soul does
   wait. My soul waits for the Lord." That is really three times over. We
   throw our very soul into it-- "My soul does wait. My soul waits for the
   Lord." It is as if our whole being was craving after more of God!
   Notice how it is all summed up in the object for which we wait--"My
   soul waits for the Lord. I need HIM! My soul waits for the Lord; I need
   nothing else; I am not waiting for anything else." There is nothing
   else to wait for! As David said on another occasion, "Now, Lord, what
   do I wait for? My hope is in You." But oh, we are waiting intensely,
   insatiably, for God, the living God! When shall we come and appear
   before God? This, then, is the great longing and waiting of each one of
   the people of God. "I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait. My soul
   waits for the Lord."

   II. I have scarcely a minute in which to speak about the second word,
   HOPING--"and in His Word do I hope." Observe, first, that hope is the
   reason for waiting. ' 'For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen
   is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if
   we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for
   it." Then, next, hope is the strength of waiting. You do not wait for a
   thing about which you are absolutely hopeless. If you have no hope of
   obtaining it, you say, "Then I will go my way. It is useless to wait
   any longer." But inasmuch as you have some degree of hope in waiting
   for God, your spirit is sustained so that you can still continue to
   wait for Him.

   Further, this hope is the sweetener of waiting. Waiting is always sweet
   when there is a hope at the end of it. The trip may be very long, but
   you pursue your way with willing footsteps because you hope to reach
   the shelter at the end. But make sure that your hope is a good hope,
   that it is a well-founded hope, that it is a happy hope, that it is a
   hope that "makes not ashamed," that it is a hope that fixes itself on
   Christ, alone, for if you have not that hope, you will not wait. And if
   you do not wait, you will not receive. It is the waiting soul that gets
   the blessing! "It is good for me to draw near to God," said David. And
   he also said, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage and He shall
   strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." You cannot do this
   unless you have hope--therefore pray the Lord to give you a good hope,
   to brighten your hope and keep your eyes always looking for that which
   is yet to come, and which is laid up in the promise of God for all His
   people.

   III. Then the third word is WATCHING. He that waits and he that hopes
   learns to watch. First, notice the figure used here, and then observe
   that the figure is exceeded--"My soul waits for the Lord more than they
   who watch for the morning--yes, more than they who watch for the
   morning."

   First, what is the figure used here?I should not wonder if it is partly
   the Temple. There was the great Temple at Jerusalem and all the people
   went up to it to worship so many times a year. I will suppose that God
   has given warm hearts to you and me--and that we desire to be at the
   ancient Temple. We have made our last march in the middle of the night.
   We have reached the bottom of the hill and climbed up its steep sides
   and we have reached the very gate of the Temple. When we get there, it
   is still night, so we ask one of the guards, "We have come to appear
   before God. When will the service begin?" He replies, "Not till the day
   breaks." "And what will happen when the day breaks?" "Why, then, they
   will offer the morning lamb and they will burn the incense. The priest
   will trim the lamps and the day's service will begin." We are lifting
   up our hearts to God--we have come up to the Temple on purpose to
   worship the Lord--we want to have a good long day of service, so we
   turn our eyes towards the hills over yonder and we watch. We say,
   "Watchman, what of the night? Is the morning coming? When will the
   blessed day begin? We are longing to enjoy all the ordinances of the
   Lord's House." So the watchers stand there and look out for the first
   tokens of daybreak on the Eastern hills.

   Or, it may be that the figure is that of the guards upon the city
   walls. The sentinels have had to watch all night long. With steady and
   weary tramp, the watchman has gone from one tower to another, speaking
   to his brother sentinel as he has met him, keeping to his beat all
   through the dreary, cold, rainy, windy night. And he says to himself,
   "I wish it were morning." As he exchanges the watchword with his
   companion, he says, "I wish it were morning. My eyelids are heavy, my
   head begins to ache with this constant watching for the enemy. I wish
   it were morning." Have you never been in that posture, dear Friend?
   Have I? I hope I know what it is to watch for the morning--that I may
   meet with God in His holy Temple above and also to watch for the
   morning that this weary sentinel work may be done--and that I may be
   where there are no more enemies who can assault the sacred walls of
   Zion!

   Then, again, some of you know what it is to watch for the morning in
   another sense. There is a dear one sick. How he tosses to and fro! He
   has a high fever and you constantly give him a cooling drink--and you
   take care at the proper hour to administer the medicine. But there is
   many a groan and many a weary cry. And you are all alone with the
   patient-- everybody else in the house is sound asleep. Have you not
   sometimes gone to the venetian blind and turned it up just a little to
   see whether the sun has not risen? That clock's unwearied tick, tick,
   tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick--thousands of times--seems to go
   right into your brain and into your heart. And the poor sufferer says,
   "Would God it were morning!" You remember how, in the day, he said,
   "Would God it were evening!" That is the way with the sick and, at
   last, you get as weary as your patient is. The fact is, you are half
   afraid you did fall asleep--you do not know what mischief may come if
   you do not watch--and you begin to say with the sufferer, "Would God it
   were morning!" Have you ever watched thus in a spiritual sense over a
   poor sin-sick soul? Have you ever watched thus over your own sick soul,
   until you have said, "I watch for the morning"? If so, this watching
   has been to you a picture and emblem of what your state of heart is in
   reference to your God. You are waiting and you are watching, and you
   cry, "When will the day break, and the shadows flee away?"

   But, the figure is exceeded by the fact, for the text says, "My soul
   waits for the Lord more than they who watch for the morning." We have
   been watching longer than they who guard the Temple or the city towers!
   The sentinel has only a few hours' night-watch, but some of us have
   been watching for these 30 years! Some of you for these 50 years! Ah,
   some of you for 60 years! I do not wonder that you have a stronger
   desire for the morning than they have who have only watched for one
   night.

   Besides, you expect so much more than they do, for when the day comes,
   what does it bring to them? A little ease for the sentinel, a little
   rest for the nurse--but they will have to go back to the nursing or the
   watching as soon as the shades of night return. You and I are waiting
   for a daylight that will bring us endless rest and perfect joy! Well
   may we watch more than they who watch for the morning, for theirs is
   but the morning of a day, but ours is the morning of an eternity which
   shall know no end! They do but watch for the sun with its passing
   beams--we watch for the Sun of righteousness whose Glory makes Heaven
   itself! Well may we grow eager when we think of what is yet to be
   revealed in us. Well may our hunger increase as we think of the sweets
   that are reserved for us. You have heard of the Goths and Vandals? It
   is said that, somehow, they tasted of the grapes of Italy. I suppose
   that some bunches of fruit were carried across the Alps and when those
   poor Goths and Vandals tasted them, what did they say? "Let us go to
   the land where these clusters grow and eat them fresh from the vines."
   And it was not long before, in innumerable hordes, they swarmed over
   Italy! In a far higher sense, something like that has happened to us
   and, therefore, we sing--

   "My soul has tasted of the grapes,

   And now it longs to go

   Where my dear Lord, His vineyard keeps,

   And all the clusters grow."

   We wait for Him "more than they who watch for the morning; I say, more
   than they who watch for the morning." Never did bride expect her
   marriage day as the true saint expects his Lord! Never did woman in
   travail long to behold her child as they who watch for their Lord and
   long for His appearing! Never did prisoner, pining in the dungeon till
   the rust ate into his soul, pine for liberty as saints pine for their
   Lord! This is the right posture for the whole Church--and for each
   individual Christian--waiting, hoping, watching till He appears who is
   their Husband, Savior, Friend and All-in-All! God bless you, dear
   Friends, and keep you thus watching, for His name's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM130.

   I will first read the Psalm through and, afterwards, say a few words by
   way of exposition. Verses 1-8. Out of the depths have I cried unto You,
   O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let Your ears be attentive to the voice of
   my supplications. If You Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who
   shall stand? But there is forgiveness with

   You, that You may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
   and in His Word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than they
   who watch for the morning--yes, more than they who watch for the
   morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy,
   and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from
   all his iniquities. You notice that this is one of the Songs of
   Degrees, that is, Psalms ascending by steps, and it begins at the very
   bottom--"Out of the depths." But it gradually climbs up to the
   heights--"He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." May your
   experience and mine, Beloved, be like a ladder--upward, always upward,
   step by step, always rising and getting nearer to our God!

   The Psalm begins very low--"Out of the depths." The Psalmist is in the
   depths of sorrow and conscious sin, the depths of weakness, the depths
   of doubt and fear. Yet, though he is in those depths, he does not leave
   off praying--"Out of the depths have I cried." Some of the best prayers
   that were ever prayed have been offered in the depths. There are some
   men who never prayed at all until they came into the depths of
   sorrow--and those sorrows pressed their prayers out of them.

   The Psalmist's prayer was a cry. That is a child's prayer--it cries to
   its mother or its father--"Out of the depths have I cried." But it was
   not like a child's cries sometimes are--cries to itself, or cries to
   nobody--"Out of the depths have I cried unto YOU, O Jehovah." That is
   the right kind of prayer which is directed to God as an arrow is aimed
   at the target.

   In looking back over his past experience, the Psalmist tells the Lord
   that he has prayed. Sometimes, it is a good thing to pray over your
   prayers. "I have prayed, Lord; now I present one more petition, 'I pray
   You to remember that I have prayed. I pray You to hear me. Lord, hear
   my voice.'" What is the good of prayer if God does not hear it?
   Sometimes we ask God to answer our supplication. That is right, but, at
   the same time, remember that it may be a greater blessing for God to
   hearour prayers than to answer them, for if He were to make it an
   absolute rule that He would grant all our requests, it might be a curse
   rather than a blessing! At any rate, I should feel it a very dreadful
   responsibility to have cast upon me, for then, after all, I should have
   to depend upon my own prayers and, therefore, have to order my own way.
   But when I read that God will hear my prayer, that is much better, for
   He can do as He likes about answering it. And if I pray an improper
   prayer, what is better for me than for God to hear it and then to set
   it aside? And, often, mine are such poor feeble prayers that it is much
   better for me that He should hear them and then do for me exceeding
   abundantly above what I have asked or thought! I used to think that we
   ought to say that He is a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God,
   but I do not say that now. It is enough that He hears, enough that you
   have presented your petition and that God has heard it!

   "Lord, hear my voice: let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my
   supplications." That is, "Lord, consider my prayer; have respect unto
   it. Answer it according to Your wise consideration of it. 'Let Your
   ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.'" Our prayers must
   usually be supplications--that is the word for a beggar's pleading when
   he supplicates and asks for favors. That is what we do when we plead
   with God! And even if we do not speak, yet there is a voice in our
   supplications. In the sixth Psalm, David speaks of the voice of his
   weeping. And there is often a voice in that sorrow which cannot find a
   voice. God hears the grief that cannot itself speak to Him--"Let Your
   ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications."

   And now, having put up his petition, notice his confession--"If You,
   Jehovah, should mark iniquities, O Adonai, who shall stand?" So it
   should run. If God were to sit like a Judge taking notes of the
   evidence and putting down, against His people, all their errors, who
   would be able to stand in that court? We would all be condemned! Then,
   does not God mark iniquities? Yes, He does in one sense, but not in
   another. And, through His infinite love and mercy, He does not deal
   with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities. "If
   He did," David seems to say, "I could not stand." But he says more,
   "Who shall stand?" Whatever pretensions to perfection any persons may
   make, they are false! There is no man who can stand in God's sight when
   He comes to mark our iniquities. And if we are taught of God's Spirit,
   we shall know it to be so! In fact, the more holy a man becomes, the
   more conscious he is of unholiness.

   "But"--and what a blessed, "but," this is! One of the most blessed,
   "buts," in the Word of God! "But there is forgiveness with You." Or,
   "There is a propitiation with You." There is a readiness to deal with
   men, not according to their just deserts, but according to Free Grace
   and the infinite mercy of God. "There is forgiveness with You, that You
   may be feared." Is not that a very strange expression? One would have
   thought that it would have said, "There is judgmentwith You, that You
   may be feared." But no, Brothers and Sisters, if there were judgment
   with God and no forgiveness, then men would grow despairing and they
   would be hardened and rebellious! Or else all would be swept away in
   God's wrath and there would be nobody left to fear Him. It is mercy
   that softens the heart, it is the forgiveness of God that leads men to
   love Him and to fear Him. The true fear of God--the holy
   filialfear--never rises out ofjudgment, but springs out of forgiving
   love. I hope, Beloved, you feel that because you are forgiven, you fear
   to offend God. Because of so much love, you fear to grieve the blessed
   Spirit of God.

   "I wait for Jehovah, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope. My
   soul waits for Adonai"--the King, the Sovereign Lord--"more than they
   who watch for the morning, they who watch for the morning." Our
   translators put in the words, "I say more than"--I suppose, to make the
   sense more clear. But, by doing so, they spoiled the beautiful poetic
   simplicity of the original.

   "Let Israel hope in the Lord." Until this verse, the Psalmist has been
   talking about himself. Now he speaks about all the people of God. True
   religion is expansive! As your own heart gets warmed, you begin to call
   others in to share your happiness. "Let Israel hope in the Lord." Did
   not their father Jacob do so? When all night he wrestled at the brook
   Jab-bok, he hoped in the Lord, and so he gained his name, Israel, and
   went away triumphant because he hoped in Jehovah!

   "For with Jehovah there is mercy." Believe that, O seeking sinner!
   "With Jehovah there is mercy." Believe this, O backslider! "With
   Jehovah there is mercy." Believe this, downcast child of God! "And with
   Him is plenteous redemption." There is enough for you and there is
   enough for all who come to Him! There is not a slave of sin whom God
   cannot redeem, for "with Him is plenteous redemption."

   "And He shall redeem." There is the comfort of it--He not only has the
   redemption, but He will make use of it. "He shall redeem Israel"--the
   whole of His Israel, all His people--"He shall redeem Israel from all
   his iniquities." Oh, come to Him, then, with all your iniquities, and
   pray to be redeemed from them! And as surely as Jehovah lives, He will
   fulfill this promise and redeem you from all your iniquities!
     __________________________________________________________________

Partnership With Christ

   (No. 2580)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 24, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
   29, 1883.

   "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His
   Son Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9.

   PAUL is here arguing for the safety, the perseverance and the ultimate
   perfection of the saints to whom he is writing. He thanks God for what
   He has done for them and is assured that He will do yet more--that He
   will certainly confirm them unto the end--that they may be blameless in
   the day of Jesus Christ. The Apostle bases his argument upon this Truth
   of God--"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship
   of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." And, Brothers and Sisters, this is
   good argument--to reason as to the future from the present and the
   past!

   What God has done is a prophecy of what He will do, for God is
   unchangeable. He never takes up a purpose for a while and then drops
   it, but He carries it out to the end. He never speaks a word and then
   reverses it. "Has He said, and shall He not do it?" He never performs
   an action which is intended to produce a certain result without
   following it up until the result aimed at is fully accomplished. If you
   and I were dealing with a changeable God, it would indeed be bad for
   us, but He has said, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons
   of Jacob are not consumed." Thus, from the Immutability of God, we
   argue that if He has begun to bless us, He will continue to bless
   us--and if He has commenced a work of Grace in our souls, He will
   certainly carry it on till it is absolutely complete!

   We argue thus, partly from our own experience, because everything that
   is gracious within us has been, up to now, God's work. What have you
   and I done towards our own salvation? Put together all that we may even
   think we have done and what does it come to? "Without Me," said Christ
   to His disciples, "you can do nothing." And, truly, without Him we have
   done nothing. Therefore, all that has been done in us is to be ascribed
   to His working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. When the
   Lord has begun any work of Grace in us, do we not find that He has
   carried it on? Has He ever forsaken us? Has He, up to now, turned from
   His purpose? In the day of trouble, has He deserted us? When He has
   sent us upon a warfare, has He left us to fall through our own
   weakness? It has not been so, up to now, and we may sing, "His mercy
   endures forever." He has been a faithful God until now and it is,
   therefore, right for us to conclude that He will always be the same--

   "Determined to save, He watched over my path When, Satan's blind slave,
   I sported with death. And can He have taught me to trust in His name,
   And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?

   If He had meant to put us to shame, He has had ten thousand
   opportunities of doing so, but, until now, we have found the promise
   good--"Whoever believes in Him shall not be ashamed."

   And, dear Friends, if you will think this matter over, the argument
   will seem to be still more clear. The Lord called us when we were quite
   undeserving of His Grace. I am sure that I can remember nothing, before
   my conversion, that could be used as a reason why I should have been
   called by the Grace of God any more than other lads of my own age.
   True, I did not go into any gross sin, but then I had so much light,
   and so much tenderness of conscience, and I lived in such a godly
   atmosphere in my home, that every sin I did commit was worse than the
   sins of those who never had such advantages. And I have often looked
   upon myself as having been, under certain aspects, the very chief of
   sinners. And every child of God, when he is in his right mind, will
   look upon himself in the same way--

   "What was there in you that could merit esteem, Or give the Creator
   delight? "Twas even so, Father,'you must always sing, 'Because it
   seemed good in Your sight.'"

   Let us think of His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
   dead in trespasses and sins, and say, ' 'If His love freely flowed to
   us when we were in thatsad state, what is to hinder its continuing to
   flow to us? If the Lord loved us from no cause within ourselves, why
   should He not continue to love us?" And if it is said that we are now
   in an altered condition--and, blessed be God, it is so!--that very
   alteration is an argument that He will still love us. "For if, when we
   were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much
   more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." He that brought
   us out of our horrible state and condemned by nature, without any
   reason in us for doing it, but simply because of His own sweet
   love--how could He cast us away? We are, at our worst, but what we were
   then, even if it were possible for us to be still dead--and should not
   He that began the work still carry it on, since He began with us on the
   footing and ground of Grace alone?

   And think yet further, dear Friends, at that time we were not simply
   undeserving, but we were also unwilling! There is, in the natural heart
   of man, an unwillingness to yield unconditionally to God and Christ.
   The ways of Free Grace are not palatable to human pride! Even when we
   were religiously inclined, our religion consisted of our own prayers,
   our own repentance, or our own faith. You know how long we ran from one
   way to another, but it was always the same kind of way--we were to do
   something by which we were to get right with God, or to feel something,
   or to know something--everything was of self and for self! But the
   Grace of God, at last, weaned us from this folly and took us off the
   breasts of self-righteousness, which had always been empty. Then we
   were prepared to go to God and, as one whom his mother comforts, so did
   He comfort us. We found, in our Father God and in His well-beloved Son,
   all that we needed, even wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and
   redemption! Well, my Brothers and Sisters, if God brought us to Himself
   when we were stray sheep without any willingness to return, how much
   more will He continue to keep us, now that, at any rate, the will is
   present with us, though often how to perform that which is good we find
   not? He that loved the undeserving, He that loved the unwilling, will
   not forsake us now. "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the
   fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

   Imagine for a moment--it is only another form of the same
   argument--imagine what could be the motive of God for bringing us where
   we are if He meant, after all, to leave us. What shameful cruelty it
   would be for some prince or millionaire to take a poor man from his
   poverty and change his dress, alter his mode of living, put him among
   the princes, make him have luxurious tastes and elevated desires--and
   then send him back to the slum from where he came from and bid him live
   just as he formerly did in all his dirt and misery! Would not that be
   cruelty of the most refined kind? Surely, such treatment would cause
   the iron to enter into the man's soul, for he would say, "Why was I not
   left where I was? Why was I taught needs that I never had before? Why
   was I instructed in the use of luxuries which had never fallen to my
   lot before and which, therefore, I never missed? It would have been
   better for me never to have seen this pretended benefactor than that he
   should bring me back here and, after lifting me up so high, leave me to
   fall back to where I was before."

   It cannot be that my Lord has made me sick of this world and yet will
   not give me another! It cannot be that He has torn away the
   righteousness which was some sort of comfort to me, tore it off like
   filthy rags, and made me stand naked to my own shame, if He does not
   intend to clothe me with the righteousness of Christ! He cannot have
   taught me to trust in His name, made me to rejoice in Him and given me
   sips of sweetness that have made me understand something of what Heaven
   must be, if He does not intend to bring me, at the end, to see His
   face! I cannot--I will not--believe that He has done all that He has
   done and yet that He will not complete the work! No, "God is faithful,
   by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our
   Lord." Because He has done that, He means to keep us there--He will
   preserve us even unto the end!

   I fancy I hear someone say, "I do not quite see how that can be. To
   some extent our salvation must depend upon ourselves." Well, my Friend,
   if you think so, I will not quarrel with you. If you can get any
   sweetness out of that thought, it is such a dry old bone that I will
   willingly leave you to it. As for me, I should never be happy again if
   I thought that my eternal salvation hung upon myself, for that poor
   nail would soon come out of the wall! But I can hang my soul for time
   and for eternity on this Truth of God--"I know whom I have believed,
   and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
   unto Him against that day." I will not quarrel with you about this
   matter, for that which pleases you does not please me, so you may have
   your bone all to yourself, and much good may it do you! I am prepared
   to hang all my hopes upon the finished work of Jesus Christ my Lord!

   "But," asks one, "may you then do as you like?" My Friend, I wish I
   might do as I like, for if I could live as I liked, I would live
   entirely free from sin! I would live like Christ Himself! "Well," says
   one, "I do not understand it." The Lord teach you, then! I cannot. But
   if He ever brings you right away from all the bondage of the Law and
   the slavery of dependence upon yourself--to rest entirely upon His
   fixed, unchanging Grace--it will be a new era in your life! You will
   rise from being a slave to be a son! And from being under the lash of
   the bond slave, you will come to look up into your Father's face with
   unutterable joy, blessing and praising and magnifying His name as long
   as you live.

   But that is not the subject upon which I especially wish to speak at
   this time. I want to talk about the great blessing which is the basis
   of our argument. What is it that God has done for His people? "By whom
   you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
   Why did not the Apostle simply say, "called into the fellowship of His
   Son," or, at most, "of His Son Jesus"? We would have known who was
   meant, would we not? Ah, but this enhances the glory of it--to make us
   see how great He is unto whose fellowship we have come and,
   consequently, how grand an exaltation it is which God has given to us,
   even us--the Apostle says that we have been called by God "into the
   fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

   Among many things which the text teaches us--and I do not pretend to
   exhaust its meaning, but merely to give a hint or two concerning it--it
   means, first, that Believers are called by God into the society of His
   Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And, secondly, called into partnership with
   His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

   I. First then, Beloved, all who truly believe are CALLED INTO THE
   SOCIETY OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

   We enjoy that society when we draw near to God in prayer and, indeed,
   whenever we draw near to God at all! We dare not come to God without
   Jesus Christ--that dear name should begin and end all our prayers. He
   is the one Mediator between God and men. He is our Great High Priest
   and Intercessor. "No man comes unto the Father but by Me." "I am the
   door"--the way of access to God. He is the Mercy Seat, the Propitiatory
   where God meets with us and hears our prayers--so that we always pray
   in the society of Christ. There is no true praying without it.

   And, next, we always praise God in the society of Jesus Christ There is
   no hymn, or Psalm, or spiritual song that could be accepted of God
   unless our Lord Jesus Christ was with us when it was sung. Prayers and
   praises, alike, must ascend to God through the merit of His atoning
   Sacrifice.

   More than this, we have been called into the society of Christ in this
   high sense--that we are always regarded by God as being with Christ and
   in Christ. We stand before God in Christ I--I alone, dare not stand
   before God. No, my Brothers and Sisters, a sinner cannot stand
   there--he would be swept away! But Christ stands before God and we
   stand there in Christ, and so we are "accepted in the Beloved." That is
   a beautiful picture which the poet puts into words when he prays that
   God will look through Christ's wounds, as through a window--

   "Him, and then the sinner see-- Look through Jesus' wounds on me." We
   are accepted before God, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in
   Christ! In Christ's life made to live--in Christ's righteousness
   beautified--in Christ's blood cleansed--in Christ's perfection made
   perfect, for, "you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all
   principality and power." Is it not beautiful that we should thus be so
   associated with Christ that God always thinks of us in connection with
   His Son? God does not simply look at you and me, but at Christ covering
   you, me and all His people, and so His chosen ones are thought of as
   being in Him, their Covenant and Federal Head. They are so completely
   in Him that He, as it were, robes them before God. This is being
   brought into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, standing
   before God in Christ.

   But there is more than that in this expression. We are brought,
   Beloved, not only to have Christ with us in our approaches to God and
   to stand before God in Christ, but also to be in Christ by virtue of a
   living union with Him. The Spirit of God quickens our spirit and gives
   us life, but, more than that, Christ says, "I am the way, the truth,
   and the life." The life of the Believer is not in himself, but in his
   Lord. "He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God
   has not life." "I live," says the Apostle Paul, "yet not I, but Christ
   lives in me." And, writing to the Colossians, he says, "For you are
   dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Just as this finger of
   mine lives because of its union with the head, and with the heart, and
   with the rest of my being where life is to be found, so do you and I
   live because we have been joined unto Christ! If there were no life in
   the stem, there would be no life in the branch. If the branch is
   severed from the vine, it has no life in itself and you and I, dear
   Friends, are living branches because Christ lives and we live in Him
   and His life flows into us. Is not this a very wonderful thing?

   Do you see that man who once was in the habit of going in and out of
   the tavern? His speech, in those evil days, was foul, filthy,
   abominable. His poor wife was bruised and battered by his cruelty. His
   children were starved and shoeless. He is now with us in this House of
   Prayer and he is a member of Christ's mystical body! If I were to ask
   him to stand up and tell us about the great change that has been worked
   in him, we would all rejoice to hear him testify that the Lord has
   forgiven him, washed him, cleansed him and renewed his heart! Did that
   man, in his unregenerate state, ever think that the life of Christ
   would be in him quickening his mortal body and changing his whole
   nature? Such a thought never occurred to him! Is he not a wonder of
   Grace? Why, I do verily believe that if the devil were to be converted
   and become a holy angel, again, it would not be more amazing than the
   conversion of some who are now present! The Lord has done strange
   things, marvelous things for them, and our hearts are glad as we think
   of what He has done. With His mighty arm, He reaches even to the ends
   of the earth those who have gone far in sin--and He brings them to His
   heart, to His House, to His Throne and into fellowship with His Son
   Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, the wonders of God's Grace! Let us bless and
   praise Him now and forever!

   Then, dear Friends, there is also this wonderful fact, that we are so
   called into the society of Christ that if we live as we ought to live,
   the Lord Jesus Christ is the most familiar acquaintance we have in all
   the world. The most loving husband often has to go out to business
   during the day and he can only get back to his spouse in the evening.
   But the Bridegroom of our souls is with us all day long! Whether we are
   at home or out in the world, He is still with us. You have a dear
   friend, somewhere, and you love to be in his company. But you cannot
   always be with him, so you sometimes have the sorrow of parting with
   him. But your best Friend is never far away from you, day or night.
   "When I wake," says David, "I am still with You." Perhaps, one of these
   days, we may have to go out to the utmost ends of the earth, but our
   Friend will be with us in the vessel as we cross the sea. He will be
   with us when we land on the distant shore. He will be with us
   everywhere and at all times. He is the "Friend that sticks closer than
   a brother," whose company need never be lost. He never gets tired of
   His beloved ones! His delights are with the sons of men. If we would
   but walk by faith and carefully observe His Laws, we would find Him
   abiding with us and we would be abiding with Him. Spoke I not truly
   when I said that to His people, He is the most familiar Friend that
   they have? He dwells in them and they dwell in Him. "I in them, and You
   in Me," said Christ to His Father--a wonderful union! And our union
   with Christ ought to be, in its enjoyment, as perpetual as Christ's
   union with the Father, for He speaks of it in the same terms! "I in
   them, and You in Me." Yes, Beloved, we are, indeed, brought into
   fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord, seeing that we are permitted to
   have Him for our constant Companion and Friend!

   And now, we are so called into the society of Christ that if we are
   living as we ought to live, where we go, Christ goes. We are to
   represent Christ among men. Most of them do not know much about Christ,
   but what they do know of Him, they will very largely learn from us. I
   am grieved to say that Christ has sometimes had a bad name because of
   the conduct of those who have professed to be His friends. "Ah," men
   say, "so this is your Christianity, is it?" But the man who really is
   in the society of Christ lives in such a way that men take knowledge of
   him that he has been with Jesus and has learned of Him. We are Christ's
   representatives in the world and He trusts His honor and His cause in
   our hands. We are so much in His society that we compromise His dignity
   if we do wrong--but we adorn His Doctrine in all things if, by His
   Grace, we are enabled to do what is right. May you and I know to the
   fullest what it is to be in the society of Christ and walk worthy of
   the vocation wherewith we are called!

   II. Now I want to turn to my second point, which is this--WE ARE CALLED
   INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

   I do not know when I have felt so utterly unable to speak my thoughts
   as now that I have reached this part of my subject. If I could only
   make you enjoy a hundredth part of what I have enjoyed in looking into
   this subject, I would be perfectly satisfied! But I am afraid that I
   cannot. However, I will tell you as well as I can how thoroughly and
   how perfectly every true Christian is brought into partnership with
   Christ.

   For, first, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has given to every
   true Believer all that He possesses. That is a splendid partnership
   when He, who is Lord of All, unto whom the Father has committed all
   power in Heaven and on earth, has been pleased to give over to His poor
   partners full right and title to all that He has! If we are heirs of
   God, we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ--Christ is heir to nothing to
   which His people are not also heirs.

   He has given us His life. That is a wonderful partnership of which He
   says, "Because I live, you shall also live." He actually laid down His
   life for us! "Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." His very Self,
   His life, He brought into the partnership--it was the biggest asset in
   the whole concern, the costliest thing that could be contributed to
   this wonderful joint-stock company--Christ & Co. We without Christ
   would be poor worthless things, but Christ is ours, and Christ is All,
   so we have all. Oh, what a wonderful partnership is this in which He
   gave us His life!

   He has also given us His Father. Hear His message to His disciples
   after His resurrection--"I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and
   to My God, and your God." Christ has not a Father if I have not one!
   Christ has not a God if I have not one, for He says, "My Father, and
   your Father; My God, and your God." Oh, but what a wonderful Father
   Christ has! The Only-Begotten, who has always perfectly kept His
   Father's Commandments, who is eternally and essentially One with
   Him--what a Father He has! That Father is the Father of all the saints.
   What a God Christ has! Who can imagine the wealth of the Godhead? But
   all that Godhead's fullness and Glory belong to every soul that is in
   Christ! God has given Himself to Christ, that all fullness might dwell
   in Him. "And of His fullness have we all received, and Grace for
   Grace." So, He has given us His life and He has given us His Father.

   Notice, next, He has given us His Kingdom. This makes me almost stagger
   as I say it, yet here are His own words to His disciples, "I appoint
   unto you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed unto Me" If Christ is
   King, you are kings! If He reigns, you must reign, too! When men crown
   the king, they also crown the queen--and if she is crowned, she is
   queen. And when Christ is King, His Church is queen and she shall reign
   with Him forever and ever. Oh, that the great marriage-day were come
   and that the bride had made herself ready to glory and rejoice with her
   adorable Bridegroom!

   Notice, too, that Christ has given us His Throne. "To Him that
   overcomes will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne, even as I, also,
   overcame, and am set down with My Father on His Throne." It is the
   Throne of God and Christ occupies it with His Father, but not alone,
   for He shares it with all His people! What a wonderful partnership is
   this! Christ gives us His life, His Father, His Kingdom and His Throne,
   as part and parcel of the joint-stock company He shares with us. This
   is one meaning of our being brought into fellowship with our Lord Jesus
   Christ.

   But there is something more which is quite as amazing, namely, that,
   inasmuch as Christ gave us His all, He took our all. "Of course He
   did," you say. Ah, but what had we to bring into the partnership? All
   that we had to bring were rags, beggary, poverty, sins, curses, death,
   Hell--that was all we could contribute to the joint-stock.

   Yet Christ was willing to become a partner with us, for, first, He took
   our nature. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
   blood, He also, Himself, likewise took part of the same." He would not
   let His chosen ones be men without Himself being a Man, too! And if
   they were to be compassed with infirmities, He must be compassed with
   infirmities, too! And if they had to suffer hunger, cold and nakedness,
   He would suffer them, too, so that He could say, "Foxes have holes, and
   birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has not where to lay
   His head." This all came because He took upon Himself our nature.

   Then, still more wonderful, He took upon Himself our sin. Though in Him
   was no sin, yet the Lord made to meet upon Him the iniquity of us all.
   He was the Scapegoat upon whose head the sin of Israel was, by
   imputation, laid, and He carried our sin away into the wilderness where
   it could never be found. He willingly bore all the consequences of our
   sin and, therefore, He became a partaker of our curse. It does seem
   amazing that the Son of God should be, in any sense, cursed, yet so it
   was. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a
   curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a
   tree." And He did hang on the tree and bleed and die for us.

   Among other things which Christ took on our behalf, it always astounds
   me that He endured even a sense of His Father's deserting Him till He
   cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" God must turn away
   His eyes from sinners--and if Christ occupies the place of sinners, the
   Father leaves Him to die in the dark! Is not this an amazing
   partnership, that Christ should take upon Himself all that appertained
   to us, even to sorrow and broken-heartedness and, at last, death
   itself? That blessed body, though it saw no corruption, yet was as
   truly dead as that of anyone else who ever died! Christ took everything
   that belonged to us into that wonderful partnership!

   Now see the result of this union--thus Christ meets all our needs. For
   instance, I bring my sin, but against that He sets His Atonement. I
   bring my bondage, but against that He sets His Redemption. I bring Him
   death, but He brings His Resurrection. I bring Him my weakness and He
   meets it with His strength. I bring Him my wickedness and He is made of
   God unto me, righteousness. I bring Him my evil nature and He is made
   of God unto me, sanctification. Whatever there is of evil that I have
   to contribute to the partnership, He covers it all with a splendor of
   goodness that blots it out and makes my soul much richer than it was
   before. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be brought into the
   fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord!

   Now, Brothers and Sisters, if it is thus with us, we must make this
   fellowship real on our part We must yield to Christ all that we have if
   we are brought into this partnership with Him. What little we have, we
   must bring. He has already taken all the bad we have, and if we have
   any good thing, He has givenit to us, so let us bring it all to Him. I
   have a something inside here for which He has done much by His
   Grace--something which was black as night, but which He has washed and
   changed. Here it is, my Lord--my heart. You say, "My son, give Me your
   heart." I do deposit it with You, with all the love, all the ardor and
   all the zeal that I have, and place it entirely at Your disposal. Seal
   my heart against all intruders, that it may be wholly for Yourself.
   Will not you, also, my Brothers and Sisters, bring your hearts to Him
   who loved you and gave Himself for you?

   Well, what else do you have? Have you a tongue? Then give your tongue
   to Him and speak for Him as best you can. But perhaps you cannot say
   much. Have you a purse? Then give it to Him--all the substance that you
   have--use as His steward, for His Glory. Have you time? Spend some of
   that in caring for one of Christ's friends--I mean, yourself! And in
   caring for others of His friends--your wife, your children, your
   neighbors--for He bids you do that for Him. All the rest of your time
   is His--therefore waste none of it, but give it all to Him. It is only
   a few farthings you can ever put into the treasury by the side of His
   great masses of gold bullion, but do put in what you have, and feel a
   pleasure in saying, "Yes, I have contributed something to the
   partnership, little as it is." Have you any sort of ability? Have you
   prayers? Have you tears? Come, put them all in! Are you so poor and so
   obscure that this is all you have to bring? Then be much in prayer, for
   my Lord will accept your cries, tears, sighs and groans--and they shall
   all go into the joint-stock account, for He is so condescending that
   when He takes us into fellowship, He is willing to take our little
   share and put it with His!

   But, next, if we are partners with Christ, we must share with Him in
   all that He has. Are you willing? "Oh, yes," you say. Ah, but there is
   something which Christ carries which is ugly to some eyes and heavy to
   some shoulders. I mean, His Cross. And, you know, His Cross goes with
   His crown--there is no dividing them. As we say in the old proverb, "No
   sweat, no sweet," so, depend upon it, it is, "No cross, no crown." You
   were laughed at, yesterday, were you not, for Christ's sake? Brother,
   Sister, did you stick to your partnership? Did you say, "Thank you. I
   am glad to receive a share of what the world gives my Lord. I am
   thankful that I am counted worthy to share with Him even in that"? If
   you are reproached for Christ's sake, you should be happy! In that way
   you are proving the reality of your partnership. It must have been a
   glorious thing to the martyrs that they had the high privilege of dying
   for their Lord. He sustained and cheered them, but the grand thought
   that made them patient in the midst of agony--and triumphant in the
   hour of cruel death--was that they could say, "Now we are partakers of
   His sufferings! We are filling up that which is behind of the
   sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church." They
   were such thorough partners with Christ that they took all that
   came--and if we go in to be partners, we must be partners. We must take
   the rough as well as the smooth.

   If you marry a wife, it must be for better or worse. And if you enter
   into fellowship with Christ, there can be no "worse" to those who are
   one with Him! But if it seemsto be worse, you must cleave to Him all
   the more closely! There is no true fellowship with Christ if we are not
   willing to go with Him wherever He goes--into any measure of shame, or
   scorn, or loss, or suffering, or even to death by martyrdom, itself,
   for His dear sake.

   I told you that in this partnership, the Lord Jesus Christ supplies our
   needs. When we put the need down, He puts the supply down. Now, I want
   you who have been called into this fellowship to do the same with
   Christ, for we are to supply His need. What does He need? Well, He has
   gone away to Heaven. He is not here in bodily Presence, so Christ needs
   a voice with which to go and call in the other sheep that are not yet
   folded. Christ needs a voice in your house to speak to the children
   about their souls! Will you lend Christ your voice? There is
   somebody--a neighbor of yours--who never goes to any place of worship
   and Christ wants a voice to speak to that Sabbath-breaker. Will you
   lend Christ your voice?

   Perhaps, in the pew with you, there is somebody who only needs just a
   word and he or she would be decided for Christ. Will you lend--no, it
   is not a case of lending--will you give Christ your voice? Our tongues
   should be so consecrated to Christ that they are wholly His.

   There is a story which will be in the Magazine next month [The Sword
   and the Trowel, April, 1883--Visit
   http://www.pilgrimpublications.com/swtrowel.htm for copy availability]
   which you will read, I daresay, with pleasure. I was delighted with it
   when I read it. It was to the effect that some people's blunders seem
   to be more in the line of doing good than are other people's best
   efforts. A young girl, belonging to the Normal College in New York,
   went home and said, "Oh, Father, young Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. Spurgeon's
   son, addressed us today, and instead of trying to make us laugh, as
   most visitors do, or to give us the 'good advice' that we have heard a
   hundred times, he gave us something new! He spoke about Jesus and he
   invited us all to Christ, and did it so naturally, and simply, and
   affectionately, that all the girls seemed interested. Oh, how much good
   it did me, Father! I wish you had been there to hear him."

   Now, mark you, it was a great blunder on "Son Charlie's" part, because
   that Normal College is not only a non-sectarian institution, but many
   of the girls are daughters of Jews and infidels. And, according to the
   rules, he had no business to say anything about religion at all! And he
   blundered by firing the Gospel gun right into the middle of them. I
   rejoiced when I heard of it and I wish that you and I would always make
   such blunders as that, so that, if people got us to speak to
   them--somehow or other we will tell them of Jesus Christ because we
   cannot help it! What a man is full of, will come out of him. And if a
   man is full of Christ, he may make grand mistakes--but they will be to
   the glory of God! So I do not say, lendChrist your tongues, but give
   Him your voices which belong to Him.

   Many of you, I trust, will be ready enough to give Him your tongues,
   but does He not want anything else? Yes. Christ wants our personal
   service. He wants men and women who will be, among men, what He would
   be if He were here in bodily Presence. He wants some of you to take
   little children like lambs to His fold and teach them on the Sabbath.
   The Sunday schools need you. No, rather let me say that Christ needs
   you in the Sunday school. He needs men and women to live in the midst
   of this great London as He would have lived if He were multiplied ten
   thousand times and dwelt among our citizens.

   Sometimes, Jesus needs you to act as a foot-washer, to wash His feet.
   If you see a Brother going wrong, backsliding, and getting his feet
   dirty, your Lord does not want you to go and call out so that everybody
   can hear you, "Here is a Brother who has dirty feet." No, no! Go and
   fetch a basin of water and a towel, and wash the man all by himself,
   and set your fallen Brother right again. Then Christ has some very poor
   members of His family, perhaps in the workhouse--and He wants you to go
   and relieve them. There are some who are sick. He wants you to visit
   them. There are some of His loved ones, it may be, who are cast down
   and ready to sink in utter despair--He wants you to go and comfort
   them. Since it is a joint-stock concern in which you are a partner,
   look out for Christ's poor people, and say to yourself, "If I cannot
   give anything to Him, I will give it to them, for they are a part of
   Him and He will accept it as given to Himself." God help you to do
   so--you who love His dear name--and thus may we have fellowship with
   the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, to whom, with the
   ever-blessed Spirit, be glory forever and ever! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-9.

   Verse 1. Paul, called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
   of God, and Sosthenes our brother Paul could never have sustained the
   great weight of responsibility and tribulation which fell upon him if
   he had not felt that he was "called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ
   through the will of God." No man will ever be fit for the ministry of
   the Word unless he is called to it by God. This also will be your
   strength in every other station of life--if God has called you to your
   peculiar work and warfare, He will not send you at your own charges,
   but He will be at the back of you and support you even to the end. I
   think it is for this reason that Paul so constantly dwells upon his own
   calling when he is about to write to the Churches--that he may remind
   other Believers that they have similar privileges in their spheres of
   labor.

   2, 3. Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
   sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in
   everyplace call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and
   ours. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the
   Lord Jesus Christ A Church should be made up of sanctified persons,
   those who have been set apart in Christ from before the foundation of
   the world, those who have been called by the Spirit of God to holiness
   of life. We sometimes sing--

   "With them numbered may we be Now, and through eternity"--

   but if we are not holy, if we are not truly sanctified, how can we
   expect to be numbered with the Church of Christ? Where there is no true
   holiness, there is no work of the Spirit of God. For all the holy ones
   Paul desires Grace and peace, for they still need these blessings. The
   holiest of men still have spots about them and they need that Grace and
   peace should be given to them from day to day through Jesus Christ our
   Lord.

   4. I thank my God always on your behalf, for the Grace of God which is
   given you by Jesus Christ It is something to be thankful for God's
   goodness to yourself, but it is a higher virtue to be thankful for
   God's goodness to others. How grateful we might be all day long if we
   had quick eyes to see the Grace of God in our fellow Christians--and if
   we blessed God for it whenever we saw it! There are some whose eyes are
   much more quick to see imperfections than to see Graces-- it is a pity
   to have such jaundiced eyes as that--may we have good, sound, clear,
   gracious eyes which will see all the good there is in our fellow
   Believers. And may we then ascribe it all to God and bless and praise
   Him for it!

   5-8. That in everything you are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and
   in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
   so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord
   Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be
   blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was very wise of Paul
   to thus praise these Corinthians where they could be praised, for he
   was about to upbraid them and reprove them for many things which were
   not pleasing to God. If you have the unpleasant duty of rebuking those
   who deserve it, always take care that you begin by saying all that you
   can and all that ought to be said in their favor--it will prepare the
   way for what you have to say to them afterwards. The Corinthians were a
   highly-gifted Church. They probably had more knowledge and more of the
   gifts of utterance than any other Church of their day. But, alas, they
   fell into greater sin than did their sister Churches! Great gifts are
   not great Graces, but great gifts requiregreat Graces to go with them,
   or they become a temptation and a snare. Yet Paul felt quite sure that
   God would keep even these Corinthians with all their imperfections--and
   confirm them to the end. And that which was true of them is also true
   of all the Lord's people--God will preserve them to the very end.

   9. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His
   Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
     __________________________________________________________________

Perfection in Christ

   (No. 2581)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 31, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, IN THE
   YEAR 1856.

   "Perfect in Christ Jesus." Colossians 1:28.

   Perfection in Jesus Christ! What effect ought it to have upon our
   hearts if it really is ours? Perfection! What do we know of it from
   Scripture? We know that it is a word so large that while it takes us
   little time to say it, yet it comprehends all words within its meaning.
   There is no good word of any description which can be applied to any
   creature but this word, perfection, takes it in. And though it is easy
   to utter it with our lips, I question whether there is any mortal mind
   capable of grasping the idea of perfection any more than it can grasp
   the idea of eternity! When we begin to think of eternity--without
   beginning, without end--we are lost in trying to comprehend it because
   we are finite. And when we once endeavor to conceive
   perfection--without fault, without flaw--we are lost because we are
   imperfect! And therefore we cannot understand perfection any more than
   the finite can grasp the infinite! Perfection, indeed, seems to be the
   sole prerogative of God. He is perfect in everything. In all His
   attributes there is no lack. From whatever point of view we regard Him,
   He is without blot or blemish. And no man, speaking truthfully of God,
   can say that there is anything of imperfection in Him. If we speak of
   majesty, His Glory is unsurpassed. If we talk of power, His is
   Omnipotence and that, indeed, is infinite power! If we speak of wisdom,
   His is the wisdom of the Godhead--He knows all things, from the most
   minute to the most immense. He comprehends all secrets and grasps all
   knowledge in His mighty mind.

   It does seem, at first sight, as if perfection could belong only to the
   Creator. But we remember that the works of God are also perfect and so
   are all His ways. When He made the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars,
   He looked upon them and said, "They are very good." Written on the face
   of Nature, there was then this one word, Perfection! All God's works
   were perfect, without a flaw--the great Artificer completed all His
   workmanship and left nothing undone. There was no rough and crude
   matter which He had not formed--there was no substance He touched which
   He did not turn into the gold of perfectness. All things were good,
   yes, very good--all were perfect!

   There is one thing on earth, even now, which is perfect. Albeit that
   perfection was blasted by the Fall and ever since the Garden of Eden
   was devastated by the sin of man, perfection has gone, yet there is one
   thing on earth which we possess which is perfect. You all know what
   that is--it is the perfect will of God contained in the Sacred
   Scriptures. He who would be able to spell perfection in mortal language
   must read the Bible through, for he will find it perfect in all its
   parts--perfectly true, perfectly free from all error, perfect in
   everything that is necessary for man to know, perfect in all that can
   guide us to bliss, perfect in all that can warn us of dangers on the
   road. There is still something of perfection left here, but when we
   come to look within, where is perfection then, Beloved?

   I shall not stop to prove the depravity of mankind, I will not talk
   much about the fall of Adam, how it injured us and destroyed the
   perfection of our nature, but I would ask this simple question of
   you--Do you not feel in your own souls that perfection is not in you?
   Does not every day teach you that? And though there are times when you
   are striving to be like Christ and seeking to serve Him, yet in the
   very striving and seeking you forget that you must live wholly on
   Christ, that you must trust Him as well in your duties to sanctify them
   as in your sins to forgive them! And then you begin to set up a
   perfection of your own, although you have so often had a view of your
   own heart that you ought not, for a moment, dream of any perfection
   there! Without making it a doctrine, I simply state it as a fact which
   you will not deny--that in you, that is, in your flesh--there is not
   only imperfection--but there dwells no good thing. Honestly, from the
   depths of your soul, you must confess that whether Adam lost perfection
   or not, whether you ever had perfection when you were born or not--it
   is not to be found in you--not in your conduct, conversation, or life!
   You only wish it were there. Daily experience makes you bemoan the lack
   of it. Every tear that trickles from your eyes say, "Imperfection."
   Every sigh which comes from your heart says, "Imperfection." Every
   harsh word which proceeds from your lips says, "Imperfection." And
   every duty which is not done with the most holy, strict and rigid
   observance of God's Law cries out, "Imperfection!" You sit down, like
   the captive daughter of Zion, and confess that the crown of perfection
   is gone from your head and departed from your heart. Guilty you must
   lie before God, for perfection is not in you.

   But, then, while speaking of the Doctrine of Perfection, we must
   remember that, according to the sacred oracles, perfection is
   absolutely necessary for all who hope to enter Heaven! We may have lost
   perfection, but that does not alter God's demand for it. It may be
   impossible that we should ever be perfect in ourselves, but God demands
   that we should be perfect. The holy Law was given by God and if we wish
   to be saved by it, we must keep it perfectly--no man who is not perfect
   can ever hope to enter Heaven! Unless he can find perfection
   somewhere--in another, if not in himself--He must be irretrievably
   ruined and driven from God's Presence. No man under the sun can ever
   walk the starry plains of Heaven, or tread the golden streets of bliss
   until he gets perfection somehow or other! Let me tell you why.

   First of all, it would be unjust of God if He did not punish man if he
   is not perfect. God required of all men, originally, that they should
   keep His entire Law. Now, if a man is not perfect, it stands to reason
   that he must have broken God's Law, otherwise he would be perfect.
   Having broken it, God has said, "I will punish sin. 'The soul that
   sins, it shall die.'" And--with reverence to the Most High God, we say
   it--if He does not punish every sin, He is not a just God. If He does
   not exact the punishment for every transgression, there is a blot upon
   His escutcheon--the whiteness of His Throne is tinged with stains and
   He is no longer that awfully, severely just God we have considered Him
   to be! I tell you, Man, the very Nature of God demands that you should
   be punished if you are not perfect! If but one sin has been committed
   by you, you have broken the tablets of God's Commandments and you are
   guilty of breaking them all! Ah, but it is not merely one sin that you
   have committed, but ten thousand times ten thousand! You are far from
   perfection and unless you can get perfection somewhere--in Christ, or
   in yourself--you are lost beyond all hope of remedy, for perfection God
   must have, as a just God, or else He must punish you for your sin!

   Moreover, remember that we must be perfect or else we shall never be
   fit companions for those who are perfect in spirit and stand before the
   Throne of God. Are not the angels perfect? Has sin ever stained their
   purity? Once, it is true, "There was war in Heaven: Michael and his
   angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
   and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven."
   But now the spirits before God's Throne are spotless and pure even as
   God is. Has God any stain on Him? Will any dare to say there is
   imperfection in Him? No, God and the angels are perfect--and would men
   be fit companions for angels and God if they had imperfections? If men
   should have sin when they come to die, would they be fit to live with
   those spirits who know no sin and in whose breasts there has been no
   guile? Could I hold acquaintance and familiar converse with the man
   whose lips are always guilty of profane swearing? Could I live in peace
   with the man whose character is not akin to my own conduct? And,
   surely, there is not so much difference between me and my fellow
   creatures, here, as between the sinner and his God. No, my Friend,
   unless you get perfection somewhere--in Christ, or somewhere else--you
   cannot go to Heaven! You must have perfection, for God has declared
   that nothing that defiles shall in any way enter the gates of
   Paradise--

   "Those holy gates forever bar Pollution, sin and shame."

   None but those washed whiter than snow and as pure as the Almighty can
   hope to be companions of the Deity and co-heirs with the celestial
   spirits. You must have perfection if you would enter Heaven--this is
   evident not only from the Nature of God, but from the holiness of
   Heaven itself! Otherwise you would be unfit to enter and you would not
   be happy if you were there.

   "Where, then, is perfection to be found?" cries the poor sinner. We
   find a multitude of persons ready to tell us, "Here is perfection," or,
   "There is perfection." The ceremonialist says, "I will give you
   perfection! Here it is--you shall, in your infancy, have sacred drops
   fall upon your forehead and hallowed words shall be pronounced over
   you--and you shall be regenerated! In your later years, you shall kneel
   before the sacred table and the bishop's hands shall be solemnly laid
   upon your head, and you shall take the sacramental bread and wine. And
   when you come to die, the priest shall sit by your side and he shall
   give you, in your last expiring moment, some drops of goodly cheer
   called wine, and a piece of bread, and these shall be your passport to
   Heaven--and so you shall be perfect!" Ah, poor ceremonialist, you will
   find yourself mightily mistaken and much deceived! Like a dream when
   one awakes, God will scatter all the baseless fabric of your hands--all
   that you have done and all those pretty garments you have woven shall
   be torn sunder and cast into the fire--and you shall stand naked before
   Him!

   Then comes the speculative perfectionist He tells you that you must
   believe in Jesus Christ and then, by a rigid system of devotion and
   constantly observing religious duties, you will attain to three or four
   stages. You will get, in the first place, to justification, then to
   sanctification and go on, by degree, until you will be perfectly
   sanctified and come to the highest degree men can have in the body. I
   have met with some of these "perfectly sanctified" gentlemen, but I
   could have spoiled their perfection simply by treading on their
   corns--and I believe I have done so, for they have seemed to be
   immensely cross when I have denied their proud boast! I have heard of a
   particularly perfect man who came to John Betridge one morning. The
   quaint and honest minister treated him very rudely, whereupon the man
   turned round at once and began to speak all manner of evil words. John
   said to him, "Pretty perfection was yours, that I could spoil in so
   easy a manner!" You will always find those so-called "perfection"
   gentlemen far from perfect. I would not trust the man who called
   himself, "perfect," in anything whatever, for he that says he has no
   sin is a liar, and the Truth of God is not in him. He that says he is
   perfect, mistakes God's Word and knows not himself.

   Where, then, is perfection to be found? The text tells us that all
   Christians are perfect in Christ Jesus, that the sons and daughters of
   the Lord God Almighty are perfect in Christ Jesus. Let me try to
   explain the meaning of this perfection in Christ.

   I. First, consider HOW GOD'S PEOPLE ARE "IN CHRIST."

   I remark, first, they are, all of them, in Christ in the Covenant of
   Election. When God chose His people, He did not choose them one by one,
   separately, but He chose Christ and all His people were chosen in Him.
   Just as when I select an acorn, I select all the unborn forests
   slumbering in that acorn cup, so, when God chose Jesus, He chose all
   the people that were in Him, all whom Christ had taken to Himself by an
   eternal union and had made one with His own Person.

   Secondly, the chosen ones are also all in Christ by redemption. When
   Jesus died, each one of us who believe in Jesus died in Him. And when
   He suffered, we suffered in Christ. Our sins were laid on Christ's head
   and now, Christ's merits are laid on us. Christ made an atonement for
   the sins of all His elect through the shedding of His blood upon the
   Cross. We were in Him when He died. We were in Him when they laid Him
   in the grave. We were in Him when He rose and led captivity captive.
   And we are in Him now!

   Thirdly, we are in the Lord Jesus Christ actually, positively and, to
   our own knowledge, when we believe in Him. It is then, when faith comes
   by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, that we become consciouslyin
   Christ! We were in Christ before, but we did not know it. We were made
   secure in Jesus from before the foundation of the world, but we did not
   know it--we had no evidence of it whatever. We were like a man who is
   underage--the possessions of his father, or those which have been left
   to him when he turns twenty-one, are positively his, but he cannot
   touch them until he comes of age. So, all the possessions of the
   Covenant belong to the elect even before they believe, but they cannot
   touch them until the appointed time comes when, by Sovereign Grace,
   they believe. A man who has not attained his majority cannot get much
   comfort from what he is to have when he comes to full age. He cannot
   live on it. He cannot be supported by it. So, the Christian cannot feed
   on what he has not received. When we have faith, then we come into our
   inheritance! The moment we believe, we have attained full age--we are
   no longer under tutors, governors and schoolmasters, but we are brought
   to Christ--we are of perfect age and then we are said to be "in
   Christ." The moment a sinner believes, then he is "in Christ" and no
   man whatever has any right to make any pretense that he is in Christ
   until he believes--until he has surrendered himself to Christ, until he
   has given himself to Jesus to be saved by Him--to serve Him, to live
   for Him and, at last, to die in Him and live with Him forever!

   II. The doctrine of our text is THAT EVERY MAN WHO IS "IN CHRIST" IS
   PERFECT. Does not this startle us? The majesty of our text demands
   someone who could discourse with eloquence. Yes, it needs an angel to
   proclaim its glorious meaning! Believers are, in Christ, perfect--every
   one of them! He is a new-born child of God! It may be only ten minutes
   since he put his faith in Jesus Christ. Before that time he had been a
   drunk, a swearer, a blasphemer. But yet I tell you, if that man has
   really believed and is in Christ, he is perfect in Christ! There is
   another man who has been a backslider. Once he walked in God's ways,
   but he has been suffered to wander from the faith. Now God is bringing
   him back. He is laying hold on him and the man is weeping, repenting
   and crying out! His bones are broken through the fall, his soul is sore
   and sick, even unto death! Look at him as he stands with tears of
   penitence coursing down his cheeks! I tell you, that man, backslider
   though he may have been--though he has sinned even as David did--is
   perfect in the Person of Christ!

   There is another, a gray-headed old man. Long has he fought his
   Master's battles--he has received many a wound and scar--and the
   troubles and trials of this mortal life have greatly weakened him. If
   you ask him whether he is perfect, he tells you, "No, from the crown of
   my head to the soles of my feet, by nature I feel diseased. In me, that
   is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." He disclaims all righteousness
   of his own, all trust in himself, all hope out of Christ. I tell you,
   that old man is perfect in Christ! I care not what may be his
   frailties, what may be his weaknesses--he is perfect in Christ! And
   then, O Christian, what though your sins are many, what though
   infirmities beset you, though you have a hasty temper and, perhaps, the
   lusts of the flesh sometimes rise--and only preventing Grace saves you
   from going astray-- what though evil thoughts cross your mind and today
   you are bemoaning your sad case and crying out, "O wretched man that I
   am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"--I tell you,
   Christian, you are complete in Him, you are perfect in Christ Jesus!
   Having been washed in His blood, clothed with His righteousness, united
   to His Person, you are, this moment, perfect in Him!

   There is one passage in Solomon's Song which once flashed in my mind
   with great brilliancy when I was reading that blessed Canticle. It
   says, "You are all fair, My love; there is no spot in you." That is
   Jesus Christ talking to His Church. She says, "I am black, because the
   sun has looked upon me." She acknowledges her own imperfections and her
   lack of beauty, but Jesus Christ says, "You are all fair, My love;
   there is no spot in you." Looking at His Church from the crown of her
   head to the sole of her feet, He sees not a blemish because she is in
   Him! She does not stand in herself. Her divisions and the sins of her
   members and of her ministers are sore blemishes if you look at her with
   the eye of the world, or with the eyes of Christians--but if you look
   at her in Christ, all her blemishes are gone--she is covered with a
   robe that makes her shine like a queen! Though her old garments may
   have been those of beggary and ruin, she now has the garments of
   majesty and light. "You are complete in Him," yes, you are "perfect in
   Christ Jesus."

   I think it would be very hard to make some who are the Lord's people
   believe this. Some of you are drudging on in bondage because you do not
   completely understand Justification by Faith. And I believe that the
   great fault of the ministry of our day is that complete justification
   in the Person of Jesus Christ is not preached in all its length and
   breadth. Because there are some ministers who, while preaching it, say
   things which have a tendency to lead men to licentiousness, therefore
   we are forbidden to say anything at all about it. But, Beloved, I am
   sure that all I can say to you about our perfection in Christ will
   never lead a Christian to licentiousness, for, because he is "perfect
   in Christ," he will long to be more like Christ! And he will seek more
   and more, day by day, to have the sanctifying influence of the Holy
   Spirit exerted upon him to keep him from sin.

   Many go to Arminians and semi-Calvinists to hear this, that and the
   other. They have all kinds of divinity conglomerated into one--little
   bits of Pelagianism tacked on to small scraps of Arminianism, these
   hooked on to Calvinism and that, again, joined to Socinianism--all
   sorts of strange combinations mixed up into one curious medley for them
   to drink! Whereas they need, instead of that, the pure unadulterated
   milk of God's Word in the shape of the doctrinal preaching of
   Justification by Faith!

   How are we justified? That is the question for us to answer. Are we
   justified by works, or by Grace? Every true Christian says, "We are
   justified by faith. By Grace are we saved, through faith, and that not
   of ourselves, it is the gift of God." Well then, if we are saved by
   faith in Christ, can we be said to be saved by works? If I had no good
   works at this moment, and if I have faith, am I not as completely
   justified as though I had ten thousand good works? I know, if I am
   justified by faith, good works will always follow, but good works will
   never meritjustification. They are the handmaidens, not the mistress!
   Faith in Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone and top stone of
   justification. Good works are evidencesof justification--they have
   nothing to do with procuring it. The poor thief who died, having been
   hardly able to doa good work, went to Heaven just as surely as the man
   shall who lives 80 years in the service of his Master! It is not
   anything in myselfthat saves me--it is Christ alone. If I feel myself
   the most loathsome of all creatures, even though I hate and abhor
   myself, yet if I know I have faith in Christ--if I have cast myself on
   His atoning Sacrifice, He has not altered though I have--He is as
   perfect as ever, in Him there is no sin! And therefore I, standing in
   HIM, am perfect this moment notwithstanding all my corruptions and
   frailties!

   III. Now I come very briefly to consider THE INFLUENCE OF THIS DOCTRINE
   of Perfection in Christ when it is realized in the heart.

   I know that at the outset, some will say that this doctrine, stated so
   broadly, must necessarily lead persons to imagine that good works are
   of little service. I ask them, if they ever read any of Luther's
   writings, whether they have noticed how broadly he speaks concerning
   good works and the righteousness of the flesh? If they have read his
   writings, they will find that, as a Protestant and a follower of
   Luther, I have not overstepped the mark. And if they will turn to the
   Epistle to the Romans they will see how Paul declares, "And if by
   Grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise Grace is no more Grace.
   But if it is of works, then it is no more Grace: otherwise work is no
   more work." If they will read the other Epistles, they will see that I
   might have said even more upon this theme. I deny that this doctrine
   has any tendency to lead men to sin. I can speak for myself, so far as
   my own life is concerned, I always find myself most holy when I know
   myself to be most unholy. I can live most like Jesus when I live most
   on Jesus and most out of myself. When I say, "I must live on Christ
   alone, I must rest solely on Him for salvation and believe that,
   however unworthy, I am saved in Jesus," then there rises up, as a
   motive for gratitude, this thought, "Will I not live wholly to Christ?
   Will I not love Him and serve Him, seeing that I am saved by His
   merits?" That is the strongest tie to virtue and the greatest bond to a
   holy life.

   Then let me tell you the next effect of this doctrine. It gives a
   Christian the greatest calm, quiet, ease and peace. How often are the
   saints of God downcast and sad! They ought not to be so. I do not think
   they would be if they could always see their perfection in Christ. I
   know you have your, "corruption men," who always preach corruption and
   nothing else, telling you about the depravity of the heart and the
   innate evil of the soul. I like to read their works and to hear them--
   but I like to go a little further and to remember that I am "perfect in
   Christ Jesus." I do not wonder that those men who always dwell upon
   corruption should look so sad and seem so miserable. But I think, if a
   man could always see his perfection in Christ, he would be happy. What
   if distresses afflict me? I am perfect in Christ! Though Satan assaults
   me, I am perfect in Christ Jesus! Though there are many things to be
   done before I get to Heaven, those are done for me in the Covenant of
   Divine Grace! There is nothing needed--Christ has done it all."--

   "It is finished!' Hear the dying Savior cry." And if it isfinished,
   then am I complete in Him and can "rejoice with joy unspeakable and
   full of glory."

   Poor Christian, you are perfect in Christ! Tried Christian, you are
   perfect in Jesus! If the Holy Spirit does but apply this Truth of God
   to your soul, if you were in the very caverns of the ocean, it would be
   enough to carry you up to the stars for joy, to think that you are
   perfect in Christ! There are some who are conscious that they have no
   perfection, but are covered with sin from head to foot. There is a poor
   wretch who has crept into this Chapel, tonight, and has felt that he
   would crawl down a mouse hole or stay in any corner of the building if
   he might but hear the sermon. He felt it was too hallowed a place for
   him to sit down--he was almost ashamed to stand in the company of the
   saints, he believed himself to be such an unworthy sinner. I tell you,
   Friend, if you are a poor, stripped, law-condemned sinner, you shall
   yet be able to see yourself "perfect in Christ Jesus." Man, does not
   this make your ears tingle? Does not your heart leap for joy at the
   very thought of it? Black with sin as you are, you shall be white one
   day! Filthy as you are, you shall yet be cleansed! Evil as you are, you
   shall be made good! Yes, however enormous your transgressions, however
   black your crimes--you may even have been a murderer--Christ's blood
   can wash the blood off your hands! You may have been a thief, but Jesus
   Christ restored that which He took not away, and He will forgive even
   your sins. You may be the vilest one that ever disgraced this
   earth--you may be a walking nuisance in the very streets--yet I tell
   you, if you believe in Jesus Christ this night, you shall go away
   perfectly clean! Oh, it is marvelous, this salvation! Christ takes a
   worm and transforms it into an angel! Christ takes a filthy thing and
   makes it into a cherub! Christ takes a black and deformed thing and
   makes it clean and matchless in its glory, peerless in its beauty--and
   fit to be the companion of seraphs!

   O my Soul, stand and admire this blessed doctrine of Perfection in
   Christ Jesus! Though you should become more pure and pure every day,
   yet perfection would still be beyond you. The heights say perfection is
   not in them! The depths say, "Perfection is not here!" The caverns in
   the heart of the earth tell us, "Perfection is not in us." Perfection
   is in the

   Person of Jesus Christ, alone! O Christian, think of this! The robes of
   Jesus are put on you! The royal crown Christ Jesus wore is now, in
   God's eyes, on your head! The robe of azure which once He had upon His
   shoulders is now on yours! His silver sandals are yours! The golden
   zone, His belt of Glory, is yours! The matchless purity of His sinless
   life is yours! Everything that Christ has is yours--you are perfect in
   Him--there is nothing you can want which He cannot give you! If you go
   to His storehouse with a large list of your needs, saying, "I need
   this," or, "I need that," it is all there! And more than you will ever
   need is there. Do you want sanctification? It is there! Do you want
   redemption? It is there! Do you want strengthening Grace? It is there!
   Do you want preservation? It is there! Man, are you standing, tonight,
   poor, naked, blind, miserable, desponding? I say--Be not so foolish as
   to remain in all your poverty and wretchedness when you may be rich!
   Why, Christian, are you now poor, ragged, stripped? Do you see the hole
   in that wall? It has a mark upon it in the shape of a cross. I will
   lend you the key called, "Promise." Go, insert it in the keyhole, and
   when you open it, whatever you need you shall find. First, there is a
   bath of gold--in it you shall be washed and become white as snow!
   Further on there hangs a robe and though you are now naked, you shall
   put it on. There is a crown for you to wear and there is everything
   else you can want. If you need bread, you shall find it, for it is
   said, "Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure." If you need
   comfort, it is there, for Christ is "the consolation of Israel." If you
   need forgiveness, it is there. All things are wrapped up in Christ!

   This morning my eyes were dazzled when I saw the Queen's plate. I am
   not much of a believer in the Queen's plate, or anybody else's plate,
   but when I saw things of so much value--the precious jewels that
   sparkled here and there--I wondered at their amazing costliness and
   could not guess how much they would come to if they were all sold and
   the money given to the poor--which I rather felt inclined to wish they
   might be. But if I were once to get to see all the riches of Christ
   could I tell you how large His riches are--I would have to hold up my
   hands in astonishment and say, as I took up one mercy after another,
   "This is a golden mercy--how much is it worth?" I would be unable to
   tell you the value of any one of them! "Ah," the angels would say, "Do
   not try to estimate these precious things, for they had to be bought
   with Christ's blood. And until you know the price of Divine blood, you
   cannot tell the value of these mercies."

   Now, to wind up my discourse, let me enquire who of you can take to
   yourselves this blessed doctrine? How many of you are "perfect in
   Christ Jesus?" Some man says, "I think I am perfect in myself. I am as
   respectable a gentleman as anybody living and I am not going to be
   insulted by any of your nonsense! I am at least as good as other people
   and, perhaps, rather better. And I think if Heaven does not go by
   favor, I most certainly shall get in, for I feel myself to be very good
   and righteous." Then hear the voice of Jesus--"Woe unto you, scribes
   and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchers
   which, indeed, appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead
   men's bones and of all unclean-ness. Even so you, also, outwardly
   appear righteous unto men, but within, you are full of hypocrisy and
   iniquity." "Verily I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go
   into the Kingdom of God before you."

   Another says, "Perfect in Christ Jesus? No, Sir, that I am not. I know
   I have no interest in the blood of Christ and if I were to say I had,
   it would be a barefaced lie--and my conscience would cry out against
   me. There is something in my heart which would forbid my lips to say
   it." Then, pray, do not say it, dear Heart, for I would not have you
   speak what is not true. If you feel that you have not any interest in
   Christ, say so to your own souls. It is best for you to look the matter
   in the face. You say you do not know that Christ died for you. You say
   you are sure that you will sink into eternal torments if you die
   tonight. Well, take that thought home to your heart and, for
   half-an-hour think it over--"I am out of Christ. I am a condemned
   sinner and if I were to die, I feel I should sink into Hell." Do not be
   afraid of the thought. Do not be like the man who says, "I will not
   have that thought anymore," but be honest with yourselves. What is the
   good of cheating yourselves? Deal fairly with your own souls. It never
   does a man any hurt to examine his books and see if his accounts are
   all right. If he is a bankrupt, he will not lose anything by knowing
   it--if he is insolvent, he will get no richer by hiding it from
   himself. You may say, "It is true, I am a lost and condemned sinner."
   Well, the thought will bring you to your knees and you will cry, "O
   God, give me an interest in Jesus Christ!" And that mighty God who
   always hears prayer, will save you and you shall go on your way
   rejoicing and triumphing in Christ!

   Then there is one who, when I ask the question, "Are you perfect in
   Christ Jesus?" will reply, "Ah, I trust I am! By humble faith I lay my
   hand on the head of Jesus and I know that I stand perfect in Him."
   Then, my Brother, give me your heart, let us shake hearts tonight! Oh,
   it is a sweet brotherhood, the brotherhood of the perfect in Christ
   Jesus! You are perfect in Him--then, my Brothers and Sisters, wipe
   those tears away--you are perfect in Christ! Do you know what yon poor
   sinner says? He says, "O Lord, if I could say that, I would not care
   about health, I would not care whether I was in poverty, or whether I
   was rich." He thinks, if he only knew himself to be "perfect in
   Christ," he would never be miserable as long as he lived. Then why,
   Beloved, are you down in your spirits while you are "perfect in
   Christ?" Why do you lie on the ground? It is time for you to take your
   harp from the willows, if you are "perfect in Christ." I can see no
   room for sadness! Suppose that you are going to a poor house where you
   have not a bit of fire? Never mind, you can say, "I am perfect in
   Jesus." Perhaps you will scarcely know where the next meal will come
   from--let this thought cheer you, "Perfect in Jesus."

   Though the wind may come and blow between the rags that cover you, if
   you can say, ' 'I am perfect in Jesus," you can be content with
   poverty! Though you are in pain and tossing about in your bed, if you
   can say, "I am perfect in Jesus," it will be like medicine to soothe
   your spirits! And when grim Death appears, you only need look him in
   the face and say, "Perfect in Jesus," and in that moment Death will
   change into an angel, pain will be turned into bliss and sorrow into
   immortal Glory! God give all of us to realize that we are perfect in
   Jesus, in Jesus only, in Jesus forever! Bless His precious name!
   Hallelujah to His Person, glory to His Grace! Seraphs, sing out His
   praises! Cherubs, take up the note! You rocks, you hills, burst forth
   into song! All you Christians, sing praises to Him who loved us with an
   everlasting love and who will carry us safely home to Glory to be with
   Him forever and ever!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH55

   Verse 1. Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has
   no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without
   money and without price. Let no one ask whether he may come to Christ
   for salvation--he is bid to come! Whoever wills to come is welcome.
   "Ho!" says God, as men cry when they have goods to sell and would
   attract the passerby. And not merely to one does He speak, but to
   everyone--"Ho! Everyone who thirsts"--whatever is the age he lives in
   and to whatever age he may, himself, have attained "Ho! Everyone who
   thirsts." But is there anything to be had by those who come? There is
   in God exactly that which every soul needs! First, "waters" for the
   thirsty. There is even more than absolute necessities--"wine and milk,"
   God has an abundance of Grace, yes, a superabundance! He can give us
   all we need and even more than we desire. Oh, turn not away when God
   the Father cries, "Ho!"

   2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor
   for that which satisfies not? Listen diligently to Me and eat that
   which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Apart from
   God, there is nothing for us but destruction. We may spend our money
   and our labor, too, but happiness is not to be found by the creature
   apart from the Creator, or by a sinner apart from the Savior. God has
   so constituted the human mind that it cannot be perfect without Him.

   3. Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live.
   It seems a very little thing to do, does it not? Simply to hear--to
   incline the ear--yet that is the way of salvation. "Faith comes by
   hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Alas, nowadays the mass of
   men will not hear God's message of mercy--they pass it by as if it were
   an old worn-out tale of which they knew quite enough! Hear, then, what
   God says to His poor forgetful creature--"Hear, and your soul shall
   live."

   3. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
   mercies of David. Will God make a covenant with man? Can it be that He
   will strike hands with sinful man and enter into league and compact
   with him? Yes, so He says. If men will but incline their ear and come
   to Him, He will enter into covenant with them. "I will make an
   everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." "But
   David is dead," says someone. Yes, I know he is, but the David, here
   meant, always lives--it is Jesus, the Son of God!

   4. Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and
   commander to the people. Jesus Christ is the people's Witness and
   Leader. Born among them, living among them, dying for them, living
   still to save them--and God declares that He gives this Christ to such
   as hear Him, to such as incline their ear and come unto Him.

   5. Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not and nations that
   knew you not shall run unto you because of the Lord your God, and for
   the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you. Brothers and Sisters,
   our Lord Jesus Christ did not die in vain. He died to redeem His chosen
   people and those whom He redeemed, He will certainly have. Even though
   some reject Him, others will not. God has power over human hearts and
   where Christ's Gospel is faithfully preached and attended by the Holy
   Spirit's power, sinners must come to Christ! Their will shall sweetly
   yield to the supremacy of love. Even though they set themselves against
   Christ, yet they shall come when the Lord draws them! And Glory shall
   be gotten for His holy name by the salvation of those who never even
   thought of being saved!

   6. Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near
   "Seek the Lord while He may be found." That is, NOW. "Call upon Him
   while He is near." He is near now! Wherever Christ is lifted up and His
   Gospel is proclaimed, there He is according to His promise, "Lo, I am
   with you always, even unto the end of the world."

   7. 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. What a grand word
   that is! "He will abundantly pardon." However abundant sin may be,
   God's pardon is still more abundant! As Paul puts it, "Where sin
   abounded, Grace did much more abound." Sin may be like the great
   mountains, but the mercy of God is like Noah's flood that rose above
   the tops of the highest hills! "He will abundantly pardon."

   8. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My
   ways, says the LORD. Oh, what a mercy it is to be taught to think God's
   thoughts and to be led in God's ways! It is the entrance into a new
   life! It is something infinitely beyond the greatest elevation to which
   any ordinary life can ever reach by its own unaided power!

   9-12. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways
   higher than your ways, andMy thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
   rain comes down, and the snow from Heaven, andreturns not there, but
   waters the earth, and makes it bring forth good and bad, that it may
   give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My Word be
   that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but
   it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
   thing whereto I sent it For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth
   with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
   into singing andallthe trees of the field shall clap their hands. "For
   you"--that is, you who have heard God's Word and believed it--"you
   shall go out with joy." Happy hearts help to make a happy world! He who
   has found his Savior, received God's pardon and learned God's thoughts,
   shall find the whole world full of music to him, wherever he may be!

   13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
   brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a
   name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off Wherever God's
   Grace begins to work, it cuts up thorns and thistles--and plants in
   place of them fir trees and myrtle trees. Oh, that His Grace might
   renew each one of us! And, then, when that blessed work has been done,
   may we never cease to glorify that dear name by the power of which we
   have been changed!
     __________________________________________________________________

Alto and Bass

   (No. 2582)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 7, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
   1, 1883.

   "He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hats sent
   away empty." Luke 1:53.

   THIS song of Mary is full of sweet Gospel teaching. She was evidently a
   woman well instructed in Divine Truth and, though but young in years,
   she must have been deeply experienced in the things of God. Notice how
   she casts the Truth of God into the form of song--there is a wisdom in
   this, for we are to teach and admonish one another, "in Psalms, and
   hymns, and spiritual songs." Truth is never more likely to abide in the
   memory and to impress the heart than when it is delivered in verse.
   Both the ears of men and the minds of men delight in rhyme and
   rhythm--memory grasps and retains Truth more readily when it is put
   into poetic form than in any other. Therefore they do well who enrich
   the Church with "Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs." And you who
   cannot make songs will do equally well if you sing them! Let us set the
   Gospel to music! Let us especially do this in our daily life. I think
   that the Doctrines of Grace were never intended to be made into a
   dirge, but they make a most heavenly marriage song. The great Truths of
   the Gospel were never meant to be told with dolorous tones as if they
   were sad solemnities, but they are meant to fill us with delight--and
   if they thoroughly permeate our nature, they will turn our whole life
   into a hallelujah and make every breath a verse of a sonnet that shall
   know no end! Whenever you feel most glad in the things of God, be sure
   you do as Mary did--sing out your gladness and make the people of God
   know that the things of Christ are things of joy to you. Obey the
   poet's injunction--

   "Children of the heavenly King, As you journey, sweetly sing! Sing your
   Savior's worthy praise, Glorious in His works and ways!"

   I commend to you the song of Mary for another reason--not only because
   she turned the Truth of God into poetry and song, but because she sang
   of mercies which were not yet visible to her. She had, with gladness,
   beheld the King of Glory in her own heart, although the promised Child
   was not yet born, so with exulting faith she sings, "My soul does
   magnify the Lord." Brothers and Sisters, there are some of you who
   cannot even sing over a mercy when it is born, but here is a woman who
   sings over an unborn mercy. Oh, what a faith is this! If you have like
   precious faith, what a joy it will give to your lives! Is there nothing
   to sing about today? Then borrow a song from tomorrow! Sing of what is
   yet to be! Is this world dreary? Then think of the next! Is all around
   you dark? Then look upward, where they need no candle, neither light of
   the sun, for the Lord God gives them light! "Yet a little while"--and
   we know not how short that, "little while," will be--and, "He that
   shall come will come, and will not tarry." Then shall the children of
   the bride chamber rejoice with unspeakable joy, because the Bridegroom
   Himself has come and the day of His marriage has arrived! I beseech
   you, if you have been silent and hung your harps on the willows, take
   them down at once and sing and give praise to God for the glory which
   is yet to be revealed in us--the precious things that are laid up for
   them that love Him, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard--but the
   certainty of which He has revealed unto us by His Spirit. Sing unto the
   Lord concerning mercies yet unborn! Sing those sweet verses which I so
   often quote to you--

   "And a 'new song'is in my mouth, To long-loved music set.

   Glory to You for all the Grace

   I have not tasted yet!

   I have a heritage of joy

   That yet I must not see--

   The hand that bled to make it mine

   Is keeping it for me."

   There is something more than this in Mary's song, for it is made up
   entirely of what God has done. Let me read you a verse or two--"He has
   regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. He that is mighty has done
   to me great things. He has showed strength with His arm; He has
   scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down
   the mighty from their seats, He has filled the hungry with good things;
   and the rich He has sent away empty." It is all about HIM, you see--all
   concerning what the Lord had done.

   If I had to write a song about myself--humph!--well, that is all I
   could write! And if you had to write a song about yourself, it would be
   a wretched ditty if it spoke the truth--and I hope you would not want
   to sing it if it were not the truth! Some people's songs are all about
   themselves, and very poor things they are. I heard of a Brother, the
   other day, who made a speech, and someone said to me, "Would you like a
   full report of his speech?" I said, "Yes," for I was curious to hear
   what he would say. The friend said, "I was there and took a full report
   of his speech. Here it is." He passed it over to me and there was
   nothing but one great capital letter, "I." I have known some people who
   could both speak and sing that way, but that straight, stiff-backed
   letter, "I," makes a very poor song. The less we sing about it, the
   better. There is no such note in the whole gamut, so let us never
   attempt to sing it. But when we sing, let us sing unto the Lord and let
   our song be concerning what He has done.

   Where shall we begin, then? Let us begin with everlasting love. "I have
   loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have
   I drawn you." Where shall we end? Well, there can be no end to this
   song, for the Lord's mercies are new every morning--great is His
   faithfulness and His loving kindness to His people never knows a pause,
   much less a close! Therefore, when we begin to sing of what He is
   doing, let us go on to sing it again, and again, and again, and again!
   And never let us spoil the tune by coming down to sing of what we have
   done, or offering any praise or glory to the sons of men.

   Do you, then, children of God, see what an example Mary sets you? Turn
   the Truth of God into song--sing of unborn mercies--and sing of what
   the Lord has done and will do, world without end!

   Now we come to consider the stanza of Mary's song which forms our text.
   There are two parts to her music. "He has filled the hungry with good
   things"--that is the air, or perhaps we may say, the alto. ' 'And the
   rich He has sent away empty"--that is the base. As we mean to play the
   bass softly and to give the other part more emphasis, we will take the
   bass first, and then, afterwards, we will have the alto.

   I. First, then, here is THE BASS--"The rich He has sent away empty."

   Are there any such people in the world in a spiritual'sense? Yes. Every
   now and then we come across them. They are not truly rich--they are
   naked, poor and miserable--but they are rich in their own esteem and
   think they need nothing. They have kept the Law of God from their youth
   up, or, if they have not done that, they have done something quite as
   good. They are very full of grace and, sometimes, they wonder that they
   can hold so much! They are as good as ever they can be and they hardly
   know how to put up with the company of some Christians--especially
   those who are mourners in Zion and are lamenting their sins and their
   departure from God. They have no patience with these people! They stand
   by themselves, as did he who was called a Pharisee and who went up to
   the Temple to pray. And as they hear others making confession of sin,
   they proudly say, "Lord, we thank You that we are not as other men
   are." Very superior persons, indeed, are they--sometimes in education,
   sometimes in rank and station, sometimes in the weight of their
   moneybags-- but anyhow, very superior indeed! They consider themselves
   the "upper-crust" of society. They are spiritually and morally rich
   before God--so they think.

   What does the Lord do with such people? Mary says He sends them away
   empty. They verily thought that he would come out to them! They are so
   respectable that they are accustomed to be run after and they are
   greatly astonished that Jesus of Nazareth does not at once bow down to
   them and thank them for patronizing Him! But He sends them away empty.
   He wants nothing of them and while they are in such a condition, He has
   nothing for them. Off they must go with such a word as this in their
   ears, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance."
   So He sends them away.

   Does He not give them something as they go? No, He sends them away
   empty--giving them no comfort, no joy! He certainly does not flatter
   them, for His lips are lips of Truth--no encouragement--for His office
   is to pull down the mighty from their seats and to spoil the glory of
   all human boasting and make it bite the dust! He sends them away empty.
   Does this seem to you like hard treatment? Mary did not think so--she
   sangabout it, she was glad of it! And so am I. "Why?" you ask. Why?

   Well, first, how could Christ fill these people? They are already full!
   What can Christ do for a man who has no sin? He came on purpose to save
   His people from their sins--but if we haven't any, He has nothing to do
   with us. How shall Christ be bread to a man who is not hungry? How
   shall He be life to a man who has life in himself? How shall He be the
   Alpha and Omega of the salvation of a man who is the first and the last
   to himself and who begins and carries on his own salvation? No, a
   doctor does not go to heal the man who has no sickness--and Christ does
   not give His alms away to those who are not needy. When He makes a
   feast, it is for the poor and the hungry, for they cannot pay Him back
   except by giving Him their gratitude and their love. So it is
   right--since Christ cannot do anything for these rich people in their
   present condition--He sends them away empty.

   And, next, what glory would Christ have if He were to fill them? To
   fill the full is no great achievement! To heal the healthy is no great
   triumph! To save those who are already saved is surely a superfluity!
   To give righteousness to those who are already righteous is ridiculous!
   And to find eternal life for those who have all the life they need is
   an absurdity! It is well, then, that those who are so full should be
   sent away empty. They cannot be filled and if they could be, there
   would be no glory for Christ at all in filling them.

   Next, supposing that Christ were to do something for them, then His
   riches and theirs would have to mix together That would never do--human
   merits and Christ's merits to be placed side by side as of equal value?
   Who thinks of sewing on a royal robe a rag picked off a dunghill? Yet,
   what else are those men doing who think that they can add their own
   righteousness to the righteousness of Christ? No, Sir, if you are rich
   and increased in goods, you would only have to take Christ's goods into
   your store and lay them along with your own goods--and what a come-down
   that would be for the righteousness of Christ--to lie side by side with
   your own as though it were worth no more! You would need to put up over
   your door the name of your firm--"Self and Christ." And salvation would
   have to be the work of yourself and the Savior, too--and you would want
   to share the glory of it. No, no! That can never be! Send that man away
   empty who has the impertinence to think that he can add something of
   his own to the merits of Christ, the only Savior!

   Yet again, well may such people be sent away empty--and we may almost
   be glad of it and sing about it as we see what they do. If a man does
   not really want salvation and he reads the Bible or hears a sermon, he
   criticizes the style of it When some gentlemen go out to dinner, they
   are very busy examining the table and the ornaments with which it is
   adorned. They watch the waiters and criticize every dish that is
   served. Oh, how daintily they taste everything, for they are
   connoisseurs and everything must be most exquisite to please them! But
   when you and I come home from a day's work, we do not trouble about
   that kind of thing--we want something to eat and are grateful to have
   it. Those who have no appetite for Christ begin picking, first, at this
   and then at that, and even the Bible is not good enough for them--they
   want to have this amended and that altered! As for the poor sermons
   preached by mortal men--this does not suit them and the other does not
   suit them--nothing pleases them. There are some children who always
   pick over their food and their father says, "Ah, my boy, if you are
   sent to the workhouse for a week and get put on short commons, I'll
   guarantee that you will eat that good meat! You will find an appetite
   then! So Christ, when these people are at His table turning over every
   morsel of the heavenly meat, sends them packing! And it serves them
   right, for they spoil the banquet for those who would enjoy it.

   Beside that, they not only criticize, but they also quibble. Preach the
   Doctrines of Grace to a man who never had a sense of sin and he says,
   "I don't believe in Calvinism." Tell him of the Sovereignty of God,
   which is a sweet morsel to God's own people, and he says "I, I, I--I
   don't believe in that doctrine. I think there is some merit in the
   creature--some claim in fallen humanity to the goodness of God."
   Solomon said, "To the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet," but to
   this man, who is so full of conceit, there is nothing in the Gospel
   that is good enough--so he puffs at this and sneers at that, and
   "pshaws" at the other--and if you put the butter in a lordly dish, such
   as the children like to see, he will not have it! Therefore Christ will
   not have him--He sends him away empty.

   I do not know whether it is not the very best thing that could happen
   to some of those who think themselves rich that they should be sent
   away empty, for if they were once to feel their emptiness, they would
   then come to Christ in quite another style--and then would they join in
   singing Mary's song, "He has filled the hungry with good things." If
   any of you are satisfied with your own goodness--and perhaps there are
   some such people here--I would remind you of what the farmer said to
   Mr. Hervey. When Mr. Hervey had become the rector of the parish, he
   went round and spoke to his parishioners. And he asked a farmer, "What
   have we to overcome in order to get to Heaven?" "Well, Sir," he
   replied, "you are a clergyman and I think that you ought to tell me,
   and not ask me to tell you that." "Well," said Mr. Hervey, "I think
   that the most difficult thing to overcome is sinful self." "Excuse me,"
   said the farmer, "but I have found one thing harder than that." "What
   is that?" enquired Mr. Hervey. "To overcome righteous self," answered
   the man. And that, I believe, is a most solemn Truth of God! In the
   case of some of you, I am a deal more afraid of your self-righteousness
   than I am of your unrighteousness! One thing I know, Christ thinks more
   of our sins than He does of our righteousness, for He gave Himself for
   our sins--I never heard that He gave Himself for our righteousness. By
   His most precious blood, He has put away the sins of all who trust Him.
   But take care that your self-righteousness does not come in between you
   and the Savior, for if it does, you will be among the rich whom He will
   send away empty! Empty your pockets and make yourselves poor! I do not
   mean in money, but in spirit. Get down to spiritual poverty and
   beggary, for that is the onlyway to attain spiritual riches!

   So much for the bass--"The rich He has sent away empty."

   II. Now we come to THE ALTO of this song of Mary--"He has filled the
   hungry with good things." I have not many minutes left, so I will pack
   my thoughts closely.

   First, here is chosen company "He has filled thehungrywith good
   things." Who are the hungry? Well, they are men and women full of
   desires for spiritual blessings. They are always desiring good things.
   They do not say much about what they think, but they have great
   longings for many things that they do not yet possess. Are you, dear
   Friend, desiring to be saved? Are you desiring to be reconciled to God?
   Are you desiring to look unto Christ by faith? Are you desiring to be
   sanctified? Are you desiring to grow in Grace? Then you are among the
   hungry ones.

   But hunger is more than a desire--it is an appetite--it is a craving
   born of a stern necessity. A man must eat, or he must die. Therefore
   hunger is not a desire that he can lay aside. Have you come into such a
   condition of heart that you must have Christ or die? That you must have
   mercy or be lost? That you must be forgiven or be cast into Hell? And
   do you begin, now, to really hunger and thirst after the righteousness
   which is in Christ? If so, you are among the people whom He will fill
   with good things! The hungry man sometimes becomes a fainting man. He
   may tighten his belt to try to stop the gnawing of the inward wolf, but
   it cannot be stopped, and he gets to feel as if he had no strength and
   were ready to be dissolved. Do you feel like that? Do you need mercy so
   badly that you hardly know how to ask for it, you have become so weak,
   you have sunk down so low? Well, I am glad of it! You are among the
   very first of those whom Christ will fill with good things!

   The hungry man is often a despised man. They say of such a person, "Ah,
   he has a lean and hungry look!" People do not like to associate with
   men who are very hungry, so they say, "Ah, poor beggar! I do not want
   to be where he is." You have heard that said, have you not? And that is
   just what men say of those who are spiritually hungry. "Very poor
   company is that man. The other day, when he was sitting in the room
   where we were all making fun, he was sighing all the time. There is no
   merriment about him! He sits by himself in the corner, or he gets into
   his own room and he begins crying, and says that he is a lost man if
   God does not have mercy upon him." Ah, that is the man for me! I would
   sit up all night, seven nights running, I think, to meet with people of
   that kind! They are the sort for whom Christ died, they are the sort
   Christ loves to feed--"He has filled the hungry with good things."

   And you know that when a man gets to be very poor and hungry, not only
   do people think little of him, but he generally gets to think very
   little of himself. When the bread is out of a man, the spirit is out of
   him, too, and he goes groping up and down the streets to try to find a
   place where he may beg a bit of bread. He is "down at the heel," men
   say. Is there anyone here who is "down at the heel" spiritually,
   altogether done for? Poor creature, you are the one Christ came to
   save! You are the very sort for whom the banquet of love is spread!
   Your emptiness is that for which Christ is seeking--"He has filled the
   hungry with good things." He has been doing this ever since Mary sang
   of it--He has done it in the case of many who are now present and He is
   ready to do it for you. Only open your mouth wide that He may fill it!

   Put your trust in Him and you shall be filled with good things! That is
   the first part of this sweet song--the chosen company--"the hungry."

   Note, next, the choice meat' 'He has filled the hungry with good
   things." Mary might have said, "He has filled the hungry with the best
   of things." See what "good things" Christ puts into a hungry man's
   mouth. "Lord," he says, "I am a sinner. I need pardon." Christ answers,
   "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions and, as a
   cloud, your sins." Is not that good meat to put in the hungry man's
   mouth? "Lord," he says, "I need renewal, I need a change of heart." The
   Lord replies, "A new heart, also, will I give you, and a new spirit
   will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
   flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." Certainly that is a good
   thing with which to fill his mouth! "But, Lord, if I am saved, I am so
   weak that I do not know how I shall stand." "Your shoes shall be iron
   and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be." Is not that a
   good morsel with which to fill his mouth? "Ah, Lord!" he says, "I am
   prone to wander and I fear that I shall go astray again." "I will put
   My fear in your heart, that you shall not depart from Me." Oh, is not
   that a blessed morsel to fill his mouth? There is no need which a poor
   destitute sinner can have which is not provided for in Christ! Listen,
   poor hungry sinner! There is laid up in Christ all the food that you
   need between here and Heaven--the best of food--the very food that your
   sickly fainting spirit needs is all stored up in Him! How sweet is this
   song! "He has filled the hungry with good things."

   The third thing to be noted is this, the completeness of the supply.
   "He has flled'he hungry with good things." It is a good thing to give a
   hungry man a bit and a sup just to stay his stomach for a while, but
   that is not Christ's way of feeding the famishing--"He has flled'he
   hungry with good things." I appeal to those of you here present who
   were once hungry and who came to Christ--how did Christ treat you, my
   Brothers and Sisters? Did He give you just a little scrap of spiritual
   food, or has He filled you with good things? I think I hear you say,
   "Sir, now I have Christ to live upon, I need nothing else. There is
   nothing outside the great circle of Christ that I could possibly wish
   for--He is all I need, all I desire, all I can imagine, all for life
   and all for death, all for this world and all for the world that is to
   come." I ask you-- "Are you perfectly satisfied with Christ?" "Yes!"
   you say, "I need none but Christ. He is my All-in-All." Ah, my Brother,
   my Sister! I, also, can speak as you do. There is an intense enjoyment
   in the man who has received Christ. He has not only enough, but
   sometimes he so overflows with satisfaction that he does not know how
   to tell his tale to others and he longs for the time when he shall get
   to Heaven--when the strings of his tongue shall be loosed and he will
   stop the angels as they go down the golden streets and say, "Please,
   bright spirit, stay a while and let me tell you what Christ did for me,
   for He has filled me to the brim with His own dear Self and His own
   infinite love! He has fed me till I need no more." Is not that a
   blessed word? "He has flled'he hungry with good things."

   Now, lastly, this song tells us of the glorious Benefactor "HE has
   filled the hungry with good things." It is God that does it all! He
   provides the feast. He invites the guests. He brings them to the table.
   He gives them the appetite, He gives them the power to receive what He
   has prepared. It is He who fills the hungry with good things. I am so
   glad of that, for I know some poor hungry souls that cannot even feed
   themselves--but the Lord can fill them with good things. We have
   brought them to the table laden with spiritual dainties, yet their soul
   has abhorred all manner of meat and they have drawn near to the gates
   of death. But when no preacher can feed you, God can! And when your
   very soul seems to turn away, even from heavenly comforts, till you say
   with the Psalmist, "My soul refused to be comforted," the Lord, the
   Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can bring the Truth of God home to your
   heart till you say, "He has done it! He has done it! He has filled the
   hungry with good things."

   If I had the time and the power, I would like to take that word,
   He--HE--HE, and speak it as with a trumpet voice--"HE has filled the
   hungry with good things!" Who made the earth and the heavens and filled
   them with light and glory? The answer is, "He has done it." It was the
   Lord alone who redeemed His people from their sins, who paid the
   purchase price, who wrestled with their adversaries and trod them under
   His feet as grapes are trod in the winepress! "He has done it. HE has
   done it!" Unto His name be all the praise! Who began the good work in
   you, my Brother, my Sister in Christ? Who has carried it on up to now?
   Who will perfect it? Like thunder, I hear the answer from all the
   redeemed who are before the Throne of God--"HE, HE, HE has done it, and
   unto His name be honor and glory forever and ever!"

   Go to Him, thirsty ones! Go to Him by a simple, childlike faith, and
   you shall then come and join with us in the song, "He has filled the
   hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent away empty." The Lord
   bless you, for His dear Son's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 148; LUKE 1:5-35; 46-56.

   We will first read a short Psalm inciting all to praise the Lord and
   then we will read part of the first Chapter of Luke's Gospel,
   especially noticing Mary's song of praise. It is a blessed thing to
   indulge our holy gratitude and to let it have speech in sacred Psalm
   and song. Praise is the end of prayer and preaching. It is the ear of
   the wheat: it is God's harvest from all the seed of Grace that He has
   sown.

   Psalm 148:1. Praise you the LORD. Hallelujah!

   1. Praise you the LORD from the heavens. Begin the song, you holy
   angels before the Throne of God. Lead us in praise, O you glorified
   spirits above!

   1. Praise Him in the heights. Sing aloud, you that sit at God's right
   hand in the heavenly places! Let the highest praises be given to the
   Most High.

   2, 3. Praise Him, all His angels: praise Him all His hosts. Praise Him,
   sun and moon: praise Him, allyou stars of light Shine out His glory!
   You are but dim reflections of His brightness, yet praise Him.

   4. Praise Him, you Heaven of heavens, and you waters that are above the
   heavens. Stored up there for man's use and benefit. You clouds that
   look black to us and yet are big with blessings, praise the Lord. See,
   Beloved, how the song comes down from the praises of the angels nearest
   the Throne of God, to the glorified saints, then to the sun, moon,
   stars and the clouds that float in the firmament of Heaven!

   5, 6. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for He commanded, and they
   were created. He has also established them forever and ever: He has
   made a decree which shall not pass. Or, pass away. Now the Psalmist
   begins at the bottom and works up to the top.

   7. Praise the LORD from the earth, you dragons, and all deeps. Right
   down there, however low the caverns may be, let the strange creatures
   that inhabit the secret places in the very bottoms of the mountains and
   the depths of the seas-- let them send out the deep bass of their
   praise!

   8-10. Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; stormy wind fulfilling His word:
   mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: beasts, and
   all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl If you cannot praise God
   by soaring up like eagles. If you feel more like the creeping things of
   the earth, still praise Him! There is something very pleasant in the
   spiritual allusion that grows out of this verse. You who seem like poor
   worms of the dust, or insects of an hour, can yield your little need of
   praise to God!

   11-14. Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of
   the earth: both young men and maidens; old men and children: let them
   praise the name of the LORD: for His name, alone, is excellent; His
   glory is above the earth and Heaven. He also exalts the horn of His
   people, the praise of all His saints; even of the children of Israel, a
   people near unto Him. They ought to sing best and most sweetly, because
   they are nearest to His heart. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."
   If all other tongues are silent, let them praise the Lord.

   14. Praise the LORD. The Psalm ends, as it began, with Hallelujah!
   "Praise the Lord."

   Luke 1:5, 6. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a
   certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was
   of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were
   both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
   ordinances of the Lord, blameless. There have been some good people who
   have lived in very bad times. Never was there a worse reign than that
   of Herod--seldom or never a better man and woman than Zacharias and
   Elizabeth. Let no man excuse himself for sinning because of the times
   in which he lives. You may be rich in Divine Grace when others around
   you have none, even as Gideon's fleece was wet with dew when the whole
   floor was dry. God help us, in these evil days, to be "righteous before
   God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord,
   blameless"!

   7. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they
   both were now well advanced in years. We do not, at the present time,
   understand the anguish which filled the heart of an Eastern woman who
   had no child. It was considered to be a disgrace--and many suffered
   very bitterly on that account, as did Hannah, Rachel and others.

   8-12. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office
   before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the
   priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the
   temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying
   outside at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of
   the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when
   Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Zacharias
   must have been astonished as he saw that strange visitor--no wonder
   that "fear fell upon him."

   13-17. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for your
   prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you
   shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness; and many
   shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the
   Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be
   filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. Andmany of
   the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he
   shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
   hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the
   wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Happy
   is the father of such a child! Happy is that man whose office it is to
   be the herald of Christ! Brothers, many of us are called to that office
   in a certain sense as we come in our Master's name and preach
   concerning Him--

   "'Tis all my business here below To cry, 'Behold the Lamb.'" And in
   this way we may be partakers of John the Baptist's joy!

   18-20. AndZacharias said unto the angel, How shall I know this?For Iam
   an oldman, andmy wife welladvanced in years. And the angel answering
   said unto him, I am Gabriel that stands in the Presence of God; and am
   sent to speak unto you, and to show you these glad tidings. And,
   behold, you shall be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that
   these things--These glad tidings--

   20. Shall be performed, because you believe not my words, which shall
   be fulfilled in their season. Many a child of God is dumb because of
   unbelief. Mary believed and, therefore, she sang a holy, joyous song--a
   sweet canticle of delight--"My soul does magnify the Lord." But
   Zacharias, because of his unbelief, was unable to speak. I wonder
   whether there is a man here who might have spoken for his God with
   power, but whose mouth is closed because of his unbelief? If so, may
   the Lord hasten the time when his dumbness shall be ended!

   21, 22. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he
   tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak
   unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple:
   for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. By the signs he
   made, he impressed them with the fact that something extraordinary had
   happened.

   23-25. And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his
   ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after
   those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months,
   saying, Thus has the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked
   on me to take away my reproach among men. I do not wonder, that in her
   solemn joy, she shunned the gossips of the neighborhood and kept
   herself in seclusion. I believe that there is many a soul which, when
   it has found Christ, feels itself much too full of joy to speak and
   asks not for a crowded temple, but for a quiet chamber where the heart
   may pour itself out before God.

   26-35. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto
   a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose
   name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
   And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, you that are highly
   favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women. And when
   she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what
   manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear
   not, Mary: for you have found favor with God. And, behold, you shall
   conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name
   JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest:
   and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David:
   and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom
   there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this
   be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her,
   The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall
   overshadow you: therefore also that holy Thing which shall be born of
   you shall be called the Son of God. So was she thus visited, and thus
   she believed with a wonderful faith--much too wonderful for me to
   describe in this place. But now let us see what Mary said when she went
   to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.

   46, 47. And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has
   rejoiced in God my Savior. She needed a Savior, you see. Though about
   to become the mother of Jesus, Mary did not think herself without sin!
   Her eyes still looked to Him who should be her Savior from guilt and
   condemnation.

   48-55. For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: for,
   behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For He
   that is mighty has done to me great things and holy is His name. And
   His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He
   has showed strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the
   imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their
   seats, and exalted them of low degree. He has filled the hungry with
   good things; and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His
   servant, Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spoke to our
   fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever This is one of the
   sweetest songs that was ever sung and is equal to any of those which
   came from the Inspired lips of the Hebrew Prophets. Well might she sing
   who had been thus favored! Oh, if Christ Jesus should come to any of us
   by faith, what reason would we have for singing! And will not each one
   of us, who has been thus honored, cry with Mary, "My soul does magnify
   the Lord"?

   56. And Mary lived with her about three months, and returned to her own
   house. What wonderful interviews those two holy women had! The one well
   advanced in years, and the other youthful, yet both highly favored of
   God. I wonder what they said? Doubtless angels remember their charming
   conversation. May the day come when all that fear the Lord, both men
   and women, shall speak often, one to another, concerning their Redeemer
   and all that relates to His glorious cause! And then the Lord shall
   write another Book of Remembrance concerning their hallowed fellowship
   and communion!
     __________________________________________________________________

Rain and Grace--a Parallel

   (No. 2583)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 14, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL
   5, 1883.

   "Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the
   thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on the earth, where there is no one;
   on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and
   waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?"
   Job 38:25-27.

   JOB was an admirable man, but the Lord meant to make him still better.
   The best of men are but men at the best and though Job was, in a
   certain sense, perfect, yet he was not perfectly perfect--there was a
   further stage beyond that which he had reached, otherwise he would not
   have been tried as he was. But because the Lord knew that there was
   something better for Job than he had already attained, he had to be
   subjected to extraordinary trial. He was such a valuable diamond that
   there had to be more cutting for him than for a common stone. He was
   made of such good metal that he paid for being put into the
   furnace--there would come out something still more pleasing to the
   great Refiner if He cast that which was so precious into the most
   fervent heat. Hence it was that Job was so greatly tried. Yet, after
   all his trials, it seemed as if he would miss their blessed result, for
   his three friends--the miserable comforters--appeared to be the
   meddlers in the whole design. By their cruel, cutting, sarcastic
   observations, they irritated Job so that it looked as if he would be
   harder instead of softer because of the fires.

   Sometimes, when a man knows that he is being unjustly and unfairly
   treated, he stiffens his back, hardens himself and influences which, by
   themselves, might have worked great tenderness of spirit, are spoiled
   because something else is thrown in. Job was in this condition and he,
   therefore, seemed to rise in his own estimation rather than to sink, as
   was desired, until, at last, the Lord ended the dispute by manifesting
   Himself. Out of the whirlwind He spoke to Job and bade him gird up his
   loins and meet his Maker if he dared. Then it was that Job was brought
   to his right position and, at the end, he said, "I have heard of You by
   the hearing of the ear: but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor
   myself and repent in dust and ashes." Then Job realized the benefit of
   his affliction--but not till then. When the Lord revealed to Job His
   supremacy, His eternal Glory, and in that light compelled him to see
   his own imperfection and nothingness--then the Patriarch's trials
   became sanctified to him.

   Our text is a part of God's challenge to Job. The Lord seemed to say,
   "If Job is, indeed, half as great as he thinks he is, let him see
   whether he can do what his Creator does." He is challenged about so
   slight a matter, apparently, as the sending of the rain. Does Job know
   how it is done? Can he explain all the phenomena? Our modern scientists
   tell us how rain is produced and I suppose their explanation is the
   correct one, but they cannot tell us how it is that power is given to
   carry out what they call, "the laws of Nature." Neither can they make
   the rain, themselves, nor, if a drought were to continue till the
   nation was on the verge of famine, would they be able to cover the
   skies with blackness, or even to water a single acre of land! No, with
   all our explanations, it is still a great mystery--and it remains a
   secret with God how it is that He waters the earth with rain.

   I am not going into that matter at this time. I intend to use the rain
   as an emblem of the Grace of God, as it usually is in Scripture--a
   figure of that blessed overflowing of the river of God's Love which
   comes down to quench our thirst of sin, to refresh us, to enliven us,
   to feed us, to soften us and to cleanse us. This matchless water of
   life has all sorts of uses and God sends it, when He pleases, in
   abundant showers upon His own people according to that ancient Word of
   God, "You, O God, did send a plentiful rain whereby You did confirm
   Your inheritance, when it was weary." The Hebrew means, "You did pour
   out blessings," as from a cornucopia, and so, "You did confirm Your
   inheritance, when it was weary." There are many here who are
   weary--they need to be refreshed and they are praying to God to send a
   gracious shower, a copious distilling of His matchless Grace upon their
   hearts and lives. I am going to preach upon this passage with the
   desire that while I am speaking, such a blessing may come upon us, or
   that, at any rate, we may begin to pray for it.

   I. My first point is that, AS GOD ALONE GIVES RAIN, SO GOD ALONE GIVES
   GRACE.

   Jehovah asks of Job the question, "Who has divided a channel for the
   overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain
   on the earth?" It is God, and God only, who creates rain. We cannot
   make it, but He can and He does give it. And it is absolutely so with
   His Grace--The Lord must give it, or there will be none. If it had not
   been for His eternal plan whereby He purposed to give Grace to the
   guilty, the whole race of mankind would have been left, like the fallen
   angels, without hope and without mercy! The angels that kept not their
   first estate, but rebelled against God, were given over to punishment
   without any intimation whatever of redemption for them--or of any
   possibility of their restoration. God, who does as He wills with His
   Grace which is most sovereign and free, passed over the fallen angels
   and made His Grace to light on insignificant and guilty men. And it has
   been after the same fashion in all history--if God has withheld the
   blessings of His Grace from any of the nations, they have not been able
   to procure them for themselves.

   One lone light burned in Israel for hundreds of years while the rest of
   the inhabitants of the earth were left in darkness. And the world, with
   all its wisdom, could not and did not find God. Men, in their
   ignorance, set up idols almost as numerous as their worshippers--and in
   their blindness they went this way and that way, but always away from
   God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes
   down from he Father of Lights"--as certainly as the rain comes down
   from Heaven! There is but one source of supply for Grace and that
   source is God Himself. He gives Grace and, "He gives more Grace."
   otherwise there would be none whatever among the sons of men!

   And, moreover, it is God who finds the way by which His Grace can come
   to men. I will not enter into any elaborate explanations of my text. It
   indicates that God finds a way by which the rain comes down from the
   upper regions to water the thirsty fields. "Who has divided a channel
   for the overflowing water?" Only God Himself has made a channel for the
   rain--we could not have made it. So is it with His Grace, otherwise how
   could Grace have come to man? How was it possible for the thrice-holy
   God to deal leniently with sinners who had provoked Him to anger? How
   could it be that the Judge of all the earth, who must be just, should,
   nevertheless, pass by transgression, iniquity and sin? This is a
   problem which would have perplexed a Sanhedrim of seraphim! If all the
   mightiest intelligences that God has ever made had sat together in
   solemn conclave for a thousand years, they would not have been able to
   solve this problem--How can God be just and yet the Justifier of the
   ungodly? Infinite Wisdom devised that matchless way of substitution by
   which, through the death of the Son of God, men might be saved! There
   is the stamp of Divinity about that verse, "the chastisement of our
   peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."

   It is God who gives Grace and God who, in a Divinely gracious way, has
   given His only-begotten and well-beloved Son to be the channel through
   which Grace can come down to guilty men! Blessed be God for this and
   let His name be adored forever! Having thus resolved upon giving Grace
   to men and having made a channel in which His Grace might flow to men,
   let it never be forgotten that God now directs the pathway of all the
   Grace that comes into the world. Our parallel, in the natural world, is
   that, according to the original of our text, there is a sort of canal,
   or path, made for every drop of water as it descends from the heavens
   to the earth. There is not the most minute particle of rain that is
   left to fall according to its own fancy or will--each single drop of
   water that is blown aslant by the March wind, is as surely steered by
   God as are yonder glorious stars revolving in their orbits! There is a
   purpose of God concerning every solitary flake of snow and every single
   portion of hail that comes down from Heaven--all these are ordered
   according to His eternal counsel and will. God alone can arrange all
   this.

   It always seems to me to be a very wonderful way in which the world is
   watered. If all the rain were to pour upon us at once in a deluge, we
   should all be drowned--but it comes down gently, drop by drop, and thus
   it effects God's purpose much more surely than if it burst in one
   tremendous waterspout destroying everything. God, by the mysterious
   laws by which He governs inanimate matter, has so planned it that the
   rain shall come in drops exactly the right size, such drops as shall
   hang upon a tiny blade of grass and scarcely shall bend it. See how the
   bright drops, like so many diamonds, hang in myriads on the hedgerows
   just the right size to hang there--neither too large nor too little. So
   is it with the Grace of God--it is given sovereignly and wisely.

   I daresay some Christian people think that they would like to have, in
   their first five minutes after believing in Christ, all the Grace they
   will ever have--but it cannot be. I have often admired that expression
   of the Apostle Paul, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the
   forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace; wherein He
   has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence." God teaches us His
   will, but He does not teach us too much at a time. Have you ever seen
   children who have been in school, so hardly driven by their masters
   that they have been mentally crippled and have never made the advance
   they ought to have made because they were driven too hard at the first?
   I have met with this sort of thing, spiritually. In several cases I
   have known, men and women have learned so much of the things of God in
   a short time that their reason has been most seriously jeopardized. I
   often have to look at young converts and almost to pray that they might
   not learn too much at once, for the deep things of God are so amazing
   to a man who is just plucked out of the world that if the cases of
   insanity through religion were much more frequent than they are, I
   should not at all be astonished! I wonder how any of us can bear what
   God has taught us already. If you could give eyesight to a man born
   blind and then, in a moment, were to place him in the full blaze of the
   sun, it would be a serious danger to him. If he has been long in the
   darkness, he must see the light by degrees. In like manner, we ought to
   thank God that He does not deluge us all at once with all the Grace we
   shall ever have, but He gives it to us gently, as soft vernal showers
   which, in Infinite Wisdom, distil upon the thirsty earth.

   So we have seen that God gives Grace and God finds a way of giving
   Grace. And then God directs the way of His Grace and the measure and
   the manner of it. And He does it all in wisdom and prudence.

   See, then, my dear Friends--I hope you all do--our absolute dependence
   upon God for all spiritual blessings. A farmer may do all he likes with
   his ground, but he will never have a harvest if God withholds the rain.
   He may be the most skillful agriculturist who ever lived, but he can do
   nothing if the heavens above him are as brass. If he were to call in
   the most learned astronomer of the day, there is not one who, with his
   wand, could move the stars, or cause the clouds to open and pour down
   rain upon the earth. If there were sore trouble in the land because
   farming was failing for lack of rain, if both Houses of Parliament were
   to be called together and the Queen were to sit upon her throne of
   state--and they were unanimously to pass an act ordering the rain to
   fall--He that sits in the heavens would laugh! The Lord would have them
   in derision, for the key of the rain is in no hand but that of Jehovah.
   It is exactly so with the Grace of God. You and I cannot command it.
   The presence of the most holy men in our midst would not, of itself,
   bring it. The most earnest preaching, the most Scriptural doctrine, the
   most faithful obedience to ordinances would not make it necessary that
   we should receive Grace. God must give it--He is an absolute Sovereign
   and we are entirely dependent upon Him.

   To what does this fact drive us? It drives us to prayer. When we have
   done all that we can--and surely we can scarcely pray if we have
   neglected anything that we can do--when we have done all that lies
   within our power as earnest-hearted Christian workers, then we must
   come to the Lord, Himself, for strength, and unto the God of our
   salvation for all power. This has been said so many times that when I
   say it, again, someone may reply, "That is a mere platitude." Just
   so--and the mischief is that the Church is beginning to think it is
   only a platitude--but if we all felt that the most important thing for
   the Church of Christ to do, after she has borne her testimony to the
   world, is to pray, what a different state of things there would soon
   be! But now you know what they are doing in far too many places--they
   push the Prayer Meeting up into a corner and if there is anything to be
   put off, they give up the Prayer Meeting! In some of our places of
   worship, we might search a long time for the Prayer Meeting. It is
   somewhere in the back settlements, down in some small room which is too
   big for it even then! People plead that they cannot get out to the
   Prayer Meeting--they will go out to a lecture or to spend the evening
   for pleasure--but they do not care to go out when it is "only a Prayer
   Meeting."

   Just so and as long as that is the estimation in which professing
   Christians hold it, so long must we cease to expect showers of blessing
   from on high! The main thing is for the Church to pray! She knows that
   she is dependent upon her God--let her show it by crying day and night
   to Him that He would send a blessing. There is a big mill with all its
   spindles and all its workers. I think I see it as we speed along in the
   train through one of our Northern counties. It is all lit up, tonight,
   and many busy hands are at work. But where is the power that makes
   those spindles move? In that little shed outside, where there is a man
   with black hands, stirring the fire, and keeping up the pressure of
   steam. That is where the power is! And that is a picture of the Prayer
   Meeting. It is the source of the Church's energy and if public prayer
   is neglected, or if private prayer is slackened, or if family prayer is
   held back in any degree, we lose the power which brings the
   blessing--this will be acknowledged when we come to truly know that all
   the power is of God and that as we cannot command a drop of rain, but
   must leave it in the hands of God, so we cannot command an ounce of
   Grace--if Grace is to be so measured--it must come from God, and from
   God alone.

   II. Now, secondly, dear Friends, notice in my text that, AS GOD GIVES
   RAIN, SO RAIN FALLS IRRESPECTIVE OF MEN. "Who has divided a channel for
   the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt; to cause it to
   rain on the earth, where there is no one; on the wilderness, wherein
   there is no man?"

   I daresay you have often thought it strange that it should rain out at
   sea where it cannot water a single furrow, or apparently benefit any
   human being. Is it not still more strange that the water should fall so
   abundantly on vast tracts of sand and on plains that as yet have never
   been trod by the foot of man, and on those lofty peaks, those virgin
   hills where a human being has never yet been found? Men have a notion
   that nothing is good for anything if it is not good for them, but they
   are very foolish for thinking so. If what God does in Providence is
   good for nothing but for a rat, it is not unwise for Him to do it! He
   has other creatures to think of beside men and He thinks of them. The
   little fish in the sea and the birds of the air--and even the worms in
   the earth are remembered by the Most High and, sometimes, that weather
   which we say is so bad is only bad because it is bad for us--rebels
   against God. It may have been given especially for the birds and,
   perhaps, sometimes, God thinks that it is better to have weather that
   is good for birds than good for men, for He has to provide for us all
   and they, at least, have not sinned. And if He thinks of them, there is
   as much of mercy in the thought as when He thinks of us rebellious
   creatures. He makes it "to rain on the earth, where there is no one."

   Now the parallel in Grace is this--that God's Grace will come without
   any human observation. If the Grace of God comes to some of us,
   thousands will see it, for they will mark the working of His Grace in
   our life and conversation. But there sits a dear friend, over yonder,
   so obscure that possibly only two or three will ever know anything that
   she does. Perhaps, my Brother, only half-a-dozen are affected by your
   influence. Do you not rejoice that God, who makes the rain to fall
   where there is no one, will make His Grace to come to you, though
   nobody, or, at most, only two or three, may see it? I have delighted
   sometimes to wander into the middle of a forest and get far away from
   all sound of the voices of fallen men--and then to spy out some little
   flower growing right among the big trees. The sun gets at it, somehow,
   for a few hours in the day, and in its golden beams that little flower
   rejoices. And as I have looked at it and seen its beauty, I have
   remembered the words of the poet--

   "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen," but I have not at all
   agreed with him when he added--

   "And waste its sweetness on the desert air."

   It is God's flower! God made it grow that He might look at it, Himself,
   and, therefore, its sweetness was not wasted, for God was there to
   appreciate and accept it! The most beautiful places in the world are,
   doubtless, places where men have never been. The most lovely gardens
   are those that God, Himself, keeps, where no Adam has been placed to
   till the soil. His trees, untouched by the axe, and unpruned by the
   knife, grow gloriously--"The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The
   cedars of Lebanon which He has planted." My heart has rejoiced as I
   have thought of God walking among the great trees of the far-off
   West--those mighty monarchs of the forest that seem to touch the
   stars--walking among them when nobody was there but Himself, looking at
   the works of His own hands and admiring what He had made. Well, now, if
   you happen to be a solitary person, quite alone, one who will never
   make a noise in the world for all that God does for you, never mind
   about that--He causes it to rain on the earth where there is no
   one--and your obscurity shall not keep back the blessing!

   So, you see, rain comes without human observation. And it also comes
   without human co-operation, for it often rains "where there is no one."
   Therefore, no man helps God to send the rain. As to Grace, it, also,
   often comes where there is no man to bring it. When a person has not
   heard a sermon, when he has been on the sea, far away from all means of
   Grace, yet God has caused it to rain upon him. There is here, tonight,
   I think, a Brother who left this country unimpressed by the Gospel,
   who, nevertheless, when near the shores of Australia, sat down and read
   a sermon which his wife had put into his box--and God met with him
   there! The Lord has many ways of proving that His Grace descends upon
   men without any help from them--and that He can send it where He
   pleases by ways of His own. If the ordinary means should seem to fail,
   He can cause it to rain "where there is no one."

   Perhaps there is somebody here who is going right away from the usual
   means of Grace. Possibly, dear Friend, you are fretting to yourself as
   you think, "I shall never come to this place of worship again. Perhaps
   I may never hear the Gospel to my soul's comfort again." Suppose you
   are right away in the bush of Australia? God can send His Grace to you,
   there, just as easily as He can send it here! If you are going to the
   backwoods of America or Canada, do not be afraid--the Lord is at home
   there. If you have to settle down in a log hut and are miles from any
   meeting of Christian people--do not be dispirited or cast down, but, in
   your loneliness, sit and sing and let this be a part of your song, "He
   makes a way for the overflowing water, to cause it to rain on the
   earth, where there is no one; on the wilderness, wherein there is no
   man." Therefore be encouraged by this second thought.

   III. I had many other things to say to you upon this point, but time
   fails, so I must notice, thirdly, that BOTH RAIN AND GRACE FALL WHERE
   WE MIGHT LEAST HAVE EXPECTED THEM. "To satisfy the desolate and waste
   ground."

   Grace comes where there was no Grace before. Where all was desert and
   waste, there comes the rain. And where all was graceless and godless,
   there comes the Grace of God. Grace comes where there is the greatest
   need of it Here was a dreadful place--it was waste--it was a wilderness
   yet the rain came there. And where there are men who feel themselves to
   be just as dead and barren as a desert, Grace will come even there! The
   rain comes to wildernesses and Grace can come to you, poor guilty
   Sinners! If you have nothing with which to entertain the Grace, Grace
   will bring its own company with it. It will come into your empty heart
   and make you one of the "people prepared for the Lord." Grace waits not
   for men, neither tarries for the sins of men. We call it Prevenient
   Grace because it comes before it is sought--and God bestows it on a
   people who are utterly undeserving of it.

   Grace comes where, apparently, there is nothing to repay it for coming.
   When the rain falls on the wilderness, it seems as if no result could
   follow from its fall. What a mercy it is that when we have nothing to
   pay, God lavishes His mercy on us and, in due time, we repay Him in the
   way He expects. I do not suppose that many of you have ever seen the
   great steppes of Russia. I have been told that for thousands of miles
   they are like our London streets, without a single blade of anything
   green--a horrible desolation! Yet after the snow has gone and
   springtime comes in and summer, with its wonderful heat, that plain is
   covered with grass and with abundant flowers of the field. And the
   grass continues until it is cut for use--and then the land returns to
   that same barren appearance which it wore before. It is amazing, is it
   not, that showers of rain and the warmth of the sun should produce
   vegetation where, apparently, there seemed to be none whatever?

   Just so does the Grace of God come to a sinner's heart! It is all hard,
   dead, black, hopeless. But when the Grace comes, it brings life with it
   and suddenly there spring up in the man all manner of good works, holy
   words, gracious thoughts and everything that is sweet and pleasing in
   the sight of God! And what is best of all, it continues to produce a
   harvest that never dries up and the soil never returns to its former
   barrenness again! Therefore, Beloved, let us take heart concerning the
   Grace of God. If the rain comes where there seems to be no argument in
   favor of its coming, so may the Grace of God come to you who have no
   right to it--no expectation of it--no hope of it--no, are even filled
   with despair concerning it! While you are sitting here, the Lord can
   meet with you and save you! Be of good comfort--to you is the Gospel
   sent, saying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
   saved." Trust your guilty soul with Him and you, even you, shall
   receive the showers of love that come from God's right hand! There is
   nothing in the Covenant of Grace that shall be held back from you--even
   though you are the very worst and vilest one in this place--if you only
   trust the Savior. Though you may write yourself down as most surely
   lost and given up to barrenness, like the heath that is near unto
   burning, yet it shall not be so with you--God shall bless you and that
   right early.

   "Oh, if He does!" says one, "I will bless His name." Then that is one
   reason why He will do it, that you may bless His name. I have often
   told you of one who said, "If God saves me, He shall never hear the
   last of it." Well, that is the sort of people He likes to save--people
   who, with glad heart and voice, will proclaim and proclaim again, and
   proclaim to all eternity that the Lord saved them--even them! Remember
   the text of last Sunday night, for it is just in the same key as the
   text of tonight--"He has filled the hungry with good things; and the
   rich He has sent away empty." [See Sermon #2582, Volume 44--Alto and
   Bass] He has caused it

   "to rain on the earth where there is no one; on the wilderness, wherein
   there is no man; to satisfy the desolate and waste ground," for it is
   to these waste grounds, these desolate places, that God specially looks
   with favor. If you are great in your own esteem, He will make you
   little. But if you are little, He will make you great. If you live by
   your own power, you shall be slain. But if you are slain and dead
   beyond hope of recovery in yourself, you shall be made alive! You empty
   ones shall be filled and you filled ones shall be emptied. You that are
   up shall be down--and you that are down shall be lifted up, for God
   turns things upside down. And when He comes to work, He effects
   marvelous changes in the condition of the hearts of men.

   IV. Now I close by noticing, in the fourth place, that RAIN, WHEN IT
   COMES, IS MOST VALUED BY LIFE, for we read in our text, that it comes
   "to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth."

   You may water a dead post as long as you like, yet nothing will come of
   it. But the most tender, tiniest little herb that has a bud fast shut,
   knows when the rain comes and begins to develop its hidden power--and
   opens its bud to the rain and to the sun! That is why the Grace of God
   comes, "to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." I hope
   that there is a good deal of budding life here. The Lord has looked
   upon you and has made you feel uneasy--that is a bud. Oh, that the
   uneasiness might open into full repentance! The Lord has looked upon
   you and He has given you desires. Oh, that the Grace of God may
   increase those desires till they shall open into resolution and
   determination! The Lord has sent the dew from on high upon your soul,
   dear Friend, and you are beginning to hope that there is salvation
   somewhere and, perhaps, for you. Oh, that the hope may open, like a bud
   that has been shut up--open into faith in Jesus Christ, so that you
   shall say, "I will trust in Him." All the buds everywhere are just now
   trying to get out into the sunshine. They seem bound up in gummy
   envelopes, but they are beginning to open in the sunshine. I like to
   sit under the fir trees and hear the crack of the opening caused by the
   heat of the sun. You can almost see the trees rejoicing that summertime
   is coming! So may you see young converts open when the Grace of God is
   displayed abundantly--they grow before your very eyes till, sometimes,
   you are astonished at what the Grace of God does, with wise prudence,
   but yet with a sweet readiness, upon the hearts of the sons of men!

   How far have your buds developed? Have you begun to pray a little? Oh,
   that your prayer might be more intense! I hope that little bud of
   private prayer will grow till it comes to family prayer so that you can
   pray with your wife and children. You have been reading your Bible
   lately, have you? Oh, thank God for that! Now I hope that bud of Bible
   reading will open into the daily habit of feeding upon the Word of God.
   Go right through the Bible if you can. Pray to God to give you a solid
   knowledge of its contents that you may be rooted and grounded in what
   His Spirit teaches you there. Some of you have another sort of bud--you
   have been thinking of what you can do for Christ. You thought you were
   converted, but you have never done much for Christ. I do not use any
   whips, but sometimes I am tempted to take a good long one to some of
   those lazy folk who do nothing and yet hope to go to Heaven. One says,
   "I think, my dear Pastor, that I must try to do something for Christ."
   Well, that is a bud--may the Grace of God be so abundant that you will
   leave off trying and get actually to doing!

   "How am I to serve God?" said one to me the other day. I answered, "My
   dear Brother, get at it. 'Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with
   all your might.' Don't come and ask me, for where there is so much to
   be done, the man is idle who asks, 'What am I to do?' Do the first
   thing that comes to hand!" If a soldier in battle saw that the enemy
   was winning the day, he would not be hesitating and asking, "Captain,
   what can I do?" He would kill the first fellow that came near--and so
   must you, in a spiritual sense. Do something for Christ. Oh, that this
   Church might begin to open all its buds! May every little one become a
   thousand, and every small one a great multitude, to the praise of the
   glory of the Grace of God! O you little ones, you hidden ones, you
   timid ones, you trembling ones--the Grace of God is abundant! Open to
   receive it! See how the crocus, after having been long hidden beneath
   the soil, knows when the new year begins and, as soon as the sun smiles
   on the earth, it gently lifts up its golden cup--and is there anything
   more beautiful in all the world than the crocus cup when God fills that
   chalice with the light of Heaven? What a depth of wonderful brightness
   of color there is within it! All the crocus can do is to open
   itself--and that is all you can do--just stand and drink in God's
   light! Open yourself to the sweet influences of the Grace of God.

   The fair lilies of the garden toil not, neither do they spin; but yet
   they glorify God. How they seem to stand still and just show what God
   can do with them! They just drink in the light and heat and then pour
   it all out again in silent, quiet beauty. Now you do the same! Let the
   purity of your life, like the purity of the lily, glorify the God who
   created it in you. So may His blessing rest upon you all, dear Friends,
   for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Isaiah 4:8-20.

   Verse 8. But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the
   seed of Abraham, My friend. Let us, for the time being, forget the
   people to whom this message was addressed, and see whether it might not
   be spoken to ourselves. Come, my Friend, are you truly God's servant?
   Do you delight to do His will and to walk in His ways? If so, then you
   are God's chosen, for, wherever there is the true spirit of obedience
   to the Lord, it is the result of His Grace, and Grace never comes
   except from the wellhead of electing love! If you are God's servant,
   you are God's chosen. Then see to it that you walk and live as one of
   the seed of Abraham, whom God calls, "My friend."

   It was very touching, the other day, to notice how the Queen spoke of
   one who was her servant, but who had gained the friendship of his royal
   mistress. So the Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "Henceforth I
   call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his Lord does:
   but I have called you friends." May we so faithfully serve Him that it
   will be fitting for the Lord to speak of us in all three of these
   terms--"You, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed
   of Abraham My friend."

   9. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you
   from the chief men thereof, and said unto you, You are My servant; I
   have chosen you, and not cast you away. May the Lord now say that to
   each one of you who are His servants! Especially may He say the latter
   part of it, "I have not cast you away"! Many times He might have done
   so if He had dealt with us according to our deeds. "Dismiss me not from
   Your service, Lord," is a prayer we ought often to put up, for, in that
   service, we are far from perfect. I think I speak for all sane
   Christians--I do not undertake to speak for certain insane ones that
   abound at this time--but I believe that all sane servants of the Lord
   confess that they are such poor servants that their wonder is that they
   have not been dismissed from His service. Yet it is sweet to hear Him
   say, "I have chosen you, and not cast you away."

   10. Fear you not, for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your
   God. Oh, the riches of that word, "I am your God"! That is more than,
   "Your Friend, your Helper." "I am your God."

   10. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. First, "I will give
   you strength, and then I will use My own strength on your behalf: 'I
   will strengthen you; yes, I will help you.'"

   10. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. The
   poor child of God seems to cry, "Lord, You say, 'I will help you,' but
   I can hardly stand! I am such a babe, I have not yet learned to stand
   alone." "Well, then," says God, "I will uphold you with the right hand
   of My righteousness." Are any of you afraid that you will slip right
   off your feet? Are you put in very perplexing positions, so that you
   hardly know which way to turn? Then rest on this sweet promise, "Yes, I
   will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness."

   11. Behold, all they that were incensed against you shall be ashamed
   and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with you
   shall perish. The Lord Jesus Christ will put to rout all the enemies of
   His people! Their sins and their sorrows, their foes and their woes,
   shall alike be scattered to the wind!

   12. You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that
   contended with you: they that war against you shall be as nothing, and
   as a thing of nothing. You know how it happened to Pharaoh and all his
   hosts--the Israelites could not find them after the Lord had overthrown
   them in the Red Sea. The Psalmist sang, long afterwards, concerning the
   Egyptians who were drowned, "There was not one of them left." So shall
   it be with all those whom you now fear and dread--God shall appear and
   work such a deliverance for you that you shall wonder where your
   trouble is! It shall be drowned, utterly washed away, like the
   Egyptians whom the children of Israel saw no more.

   13. 14. For I the LORDyour God will hold your right hand, saying unto
   you, Fear not; I willhelp you. Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of
   Israel; I willhelp you, says the LORD, and your Redeemer, the Holy One
   of Israel You must not miss those charming words, dear Friends! Let me
   read them again. Some of you will want them, so do not miss them. There
   is some medicine here that you will need, maybe, before long--"Fear
   not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, says the
   Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

   15. Behold, I will make you as a new sharp threshing instrument having
   teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall
   make the hills as chaff You know the corn drag was made rough at the
   bottom, as though it had sharp teeth, and when it was drawn over the
   wheat after it was spread out on the threshing floor, the grain was
   separated from the chaff. So God tells His people, if they trust Him,
   that He will make them into a threshing instrument having teeth--and
   they shall thresh not ordinary harvests--but shall thresh the
   mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff! No task is
   too hard for God's people to accomplish when God is with them!
   Difficulties vanish and their fears are driven before the wind when God
   strengthens them.

   16. You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
   whirlwind shall scatter them: and you shall rejoice in the LORD, and
   shall glory in the Holy One of Israel Come, you that are drooping in
   spirit--here is God's promise to you that you shall overcome all your
   difficulties and then shall rejoice in God. "Oh," you say, "I could
   rejoice in God if He enabled me to do that!" Put the, "if," away, and
   believe that He is about to help you, and anticipate the victory He is
   going to give you by singing the song of faith!

   17. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their
   tongue fails for thirst. They have come to such a state that they
   cannot even tell their needs-- they do not know how to speak to others
   about their grief, or even to describe it to themselves. "Their tongue
   fails for thirst." What then?

   17. I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake
   them. ' 'But, Lord, they could not speak! Did You not say, 'Their
   tongue fails'? Yet You say, 'I the Lord will hear them.'" It shows,
   dear Friends, that a groan is a prayer, a sigh is a prayer, and that
   even if we cannot get as far as to sigh or groan, our very hunger and
   thirst make up a prayer before God! "I the Lord will hear them, I the
   God of Israel will not forsake them."

   18. I will open rivers in high places. That is an unusual place to find
   rivers, but God does strange things when He shows mercy to the poor and
   needy "I will open rivers in high places."

   18. And fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the
   wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. There
   shall be enough and to spare! There shall be an abundance of the water
   of which before they could not find a single drop! When God is gracious
   to a soul, He is gracious. When His mercy is made to enter a man's
   heart, then He pours floods upon him. No little Grace will God bestow,
   but endless Grace, and boundless Grace, "and crown that Grace with
   glory, too."

   19, 20. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the cypress tree, and
   the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set in the desert the fir tree,
   and the pine, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know,
   and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has
   done this, and the Holy One ofIsraelhas createdit. May these gracious
   promises be fulfilled in you and me, that we may praise our faithful
   Covenant-keeping God forever and ever! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Place for the Word

   (No. 2584)

   INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 21, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
   8, 1883.

   "My Word has no place in you." John 8:37.

   This was very plain speaking on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
   could not only read the thoughts of these Jews, but He could also tell
   the source of them. He not only knew their feelings towards Himself,
   even before they expressed them, but He also knew why they had such
   feelings. Our Lord is not here, now, in bodily Presence, but He is here
   by His Spirit. He knows those who have received His Word, and He looks
   with gracious approval upon them. If you have given it entrance into
   your heart, thank Him for it and take care that you retain it--and that
   you permit it to influence your whole life. Let His Word be in you as
   salt to preserve you and as light first shining into you--and then,
   streaming from you--let it make your life a blessing to all those who
   are around you! My Master is glad as He looks upon everyone here who
   has received His Word. Precious is that coffer which holds the
   priceless treasure of the Word of Christ. Your body is precious to Him,
   your soul is precious to Him when He can see that sacred deposit of His
   own Word abiding within you!

   But there are some here, I fear--no, in all honesty I must say that
   there are some here in whom the Word of God is not to be found. To them
   Christ says, "My Word has no place in you." Jesus knows your condition,
   my dear Hearer, if that is your case. He knows how often you have heard
   that Word and He knows what struggles it has cost you to keep that Word
   from entering your heart! He knows with what determination you have
   refused to receive that Truth of God which has come from God to you. I
   would like, if I could, to talk very simply and in a very friendly and
   homely manner to every person here who has not received God's Word. And
   I would wish to speak so that I should not be understood to be
   preaching to this great mass of people so much as to be talking to
   individuals, one by one, lovingly anxious that any here who have not
   Christ's Word in them may not go out of this building until it has a
   place in their hearts.

   I. I will begin by asking this question--WHAT PLACE OUGHT THE WORD OF
   GOD HAVE IN MEN'S HEARTS? Jesus said to these Jews, "My Word has no
   place in you." What place ought the Word of God have in our hearts?

   First, it ought to have an inside place. Many persons will give it an
   outside place. "The Word of God," says one-- "yes, of course I have it
   in my house. The Word of God--if you come home with me, you will find
   that I have a splendid copy of the Bible in my best room, well bound
   and capitally illustrated!" Another says, "I have a Bible in almost
   every room of my house. I think there is one in every room, I like to
   see it there." Yes, that is very proper and right, but still, the place
   for God's Word is not an outside place, but an inside place! It is
   infinitely better to have it hidden in your heart than it is to have
   many copies of it laid among the furniture of your house. It may be
   that your having the Word of God so plentifully at home may increase
   your damnation rather than lead to your salvation! You had the Lamp of
   Life, but you made a dark lantern of it--you shut in the light and
   never used it for any practical purpose. My dear Hearers, you who pay
   an outward reverence to that Word and say that it is undoubtedly
   Inspired, and praise and extol it--if, at the same time, believing it
   to be true, you do not yield yourself up to its power, may God have
   mercy upon you and lead you to repent of your sin! The proper place for
   the Word is inside, in your heart--have you got it hidden there?

   Next, it ought to have a place of high honor God's Word in a man ought
   to be in the best part of that man, not merely in the store room of his
   memory, but in the drawing room of his enjoyments, in the parlor where
   it will talk with him. If the human mind is compared to a palace, the
   proper place for Christ's Word is on the throne! All the writings of
   men put together cannot equal in value one single chapter of the Bible!
   Their words, at best, are but gold-leaf. But God's Word is bullion!
   Here you have pearls that are altogether priceless, such as can never
   be found elsewhere. If the Word of Christ dwells in you, let it dwell
   in you richly--let it be honored and reverenced beyond all the words of
   men--however excellent those words may be.

   Give the Word of Christ an inside place and a place of honor.

   Next, give it a place of trust. Let it cover you as the hen covers her
   chickens with her wings. Let it surround you as the ramparts surround
   the city and protect it from the invader. Give yourself up to God's
   Truth as one trusts himself in a lifeboat, hoping to be safely landed.
   Have no confidence but in the Word of the Master. If you stand partly
   on God's Word and partly on man's word, you will have one foot on a
   rock and the other foot upon quicksand--and that one foot upon the
   quicksand will be your ruin! "Trust you in the Lord forever," for His
   Word is faithful, true and steadfast. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
   but His Word shall never pass away! Give, then, to that Word, all your
   confidence! Repose upon it for it is Infallible and unchangeable.

   Further, if the Word of God is in you, give it a place of rule. Let it
   be the master of your thoughts, ruling your understanding--the master
   of your affections, curbing your passions and exciting holy desires in
   you. Let it be the master of your words. Let all sinful and even all
   idlewords be banished from your lips! Let your speech be seasoned with
   the salt of Revelation. Let the Word of the Lord be the master of your
   action. "Whatever He says to you, do it." If Christ forbids you to do
   anything, let it be avoided with all the energy of your spirit. Put the
   Scripture, the Inspired Word--put Christ, the Incarnate Word, Himself,
   upon the throne of your whole being and surrender yourself to Him,
   without attempting to make any terms or conditions!

   The Word of God ought also to have in us a place of love. ' 'O how love
   I Your Law," said David. God's Word is never truly known till it is
   loved. "I hate vain thoughts, but Your Law do I love," said David. He
   esteemed it more than gold, yes, than much fine gold. In religion, to
   love is to know--I wish it were always true that to know is to love.
   When we love the Word and it saturates our whole being so that we
   cannot relinquish it, but take an intense delight in it, and have a
   fervent affection for every part of it--then it is that we put the Word
   of God into the place it ought to occupy-- not in the attic of the
   brain, but in the parlor of the heart, and there let it take up its
   permanent abode!

   That last remark suggests that the Word of Christ ought to have a
   permanent place in us--it ought never to be forgotten. We should not be
   followers of Christ, today, and followers of somebody else, tomorrow.
   No! Let the Word that Christ has spoken have an eternal effect upon our
   immortal nature and a perpetual abiding place within our heart. God
   grant that it may be so intertwined with the very warp and woof of our
   being that it would be impossible to take it from us without destroying
   our very selves! May our life prove that the Living Word is within us,
   quickening us and causing us to live with the life of God!

   Now, dear Friends, it is for a special reason that I have insisted upon
   this point, that the Word of God should have its rightful place in us.
   I am no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet, yet I perceive that there is
   coming upon the world a time of most unusual trial. I believe that
   within the next few years we shall hear of all sorts of fanaticism and
   folly such as you have hardly imagined. There will probably arise false
   christs and false prophets of every kind--and you will be bid to
   believe in this, and to follow that, and to obey the other. I charge
   you, by the living God, have no master but Christ and have no book but
   the Bible to be your Infallible Guide! Now, soldiers, the watchword for
   today is, "Stand fast." You who are but babes must grow, or else you
   will be swept off your feet in the cyclones of excitement that have
   already begun! Be no longer children, leaping over the hedge to seek
   for every nest that silly birds may build. Keep to the King's Highway
   and follow Christ! And he that comes to you, though he seems a saint,
   transparent as crystal and bright as the sun, turn from him if he
   speaks to you any other thing than this Word of Christ, this permanent,
   perpetual Word which cannot be shaped or changed! Stand on this solid
   Rock and when the hurly-burly is over and when brains shall cease to
   swim, you will have cause to rejoice in your steadfastness! There are
   swift currents, now, that strain every ship and compel the mariner to
   put on all steam even to hold his own against them--and blessed shall
   he be who is not carried away by them. Blessed shall be the brave
   sentinel of Christ who stood still in his watchtower though the morning
   was long in coming, and who watched through the dreary night with
   steadfast expectation that it would come--and with this resolve that
   whether it did come or did not come--he would stand where His Master
   put him!

   As for me, I care not what men invent, or what they deny--the Truth
   which I have learned from the Scriptures, by the teaching of the Holy
   Spirit--is the Truth of God by which I shall stand so long as there is
   breath in my body! And with Luther I say I can do no other. To this I
   must stand! Let those who will do otherwise, follow after novelties
   till they weary of them.

   This much have I spoken concerning the place which God's Word ought to
   have in every man's heart.

   II. Now give me your heart, Friend. Let me have a good grip of it while
   I try to answer a second question--WHY HAS THAT WORD NO PLACE IN MANY
   HEARTS?

   "Oh!" says one, "I am so very busy that I cannot admit it. " My dear
   Friend, I hope you will alter that answer. I heard, some time ago, of
   one who, when anyone spoke to him about religion, always used to reply,
   "You see, I am so very busy that I cannot attend to it." It happened,
   one morning, that he saw in the paper that a fellow-tradesman had
   suddenly died and, as he read the paragraph, he said to his wife, "I
   don't know how old So-and-So found time to die! I have such a deal to
   do that I could not afford time to die." He staggered as he went out of
   the room and fell across the threshold dead within five minutes after
   having uttered that wicked speech! I have no doubt that the same thing
   has happened elsewhere. You may fancy that you are too busy to think of
   the affairs of your soul, yet you may be taken away, all of a sudden,
   from the midst of your occupations and then what will those gains
   benefit you? It may be printed in The Illustrated London News that you
   died worth so many thousands of pounds, but will it not be a great lie?
   When a rich man dies, what is he worth? He has, perhaps, a lead coffin,
   or the undertaker may use more expensive wood than for a poor man.
   Granted there might be a greater display at the funeral and, very
   often, there is more squabbling with his family over what he has left!

   I have often thought that the poor man's funeral has much more sorrow
   in it, much more that could be desired and spoken of with pleasure than
   the funeral of the man who seeks to be immensely rich. You know what
   happens when poor Hedge dies. His wife weeps, for he was the mainstay
   of the household, the bread-winner of the family. The poor woman
   wonders how he is to be buried. Well, there is his daughter, Mary--she
   is a domestic and she gets about 15 pounds a year for wages. She has
   not much to spare, but she makes up her mind that her father shall not
   be buried by the parish, so she finds a little of the money that is
   needed. There is the eldest son. He has eight children of his own and
   he has only the wages of an agricultural laborer--but he pinches so
   that he may subscribe his sovereign towards the expense. They all feel
   what they give--they are made to feel it--and they all sincerely mourn
   and lament. And though there is not a sixpence to divide between them,
   yet with what honor and with what love they lay their father in the
   silent tomb!

   On the other hand, you know how it often is with rich people--the best
   part of the funeral is when the will is read. And I have more than once
   heard some such remark as this--"That man was very much like a hog--no
   good to anybody while he lived, but he will make some fine sides of
   bacon when he is cut up." Is it worth while for a man to fling his soul
   away merely that he may get so much together that he cannot use, and
   which will very likely be misused by those who inherit it? I say that
   "the game is not worth the candle." My dear Friend, if this is the game
   you have been playing, give it up at once, and say, "I must have time.
   I will have time, come what may, to seek the salvation of my soul, for
   above all else I want to make sure of life eternal." You will not again
   say that you are too busy to receive Christ's Word, will you?

   Another says, "You ask me why the Word of Christ is not abiding in me?
   I think it is because--." No, you would not like to say it, so I will
   say it for you--it is because there is no particular novelty about it.
   You like a brand-new gospel, do you not? Well, there are plenty of
   people, nowadays, who supply that worthless article. We get a new sect
   about every month and some new-fashioned gospel invented almost every
   week! Away they go after something fresh. First, North, then, South.
   Then, East, then, West. "Hurrah! We have found the very thing! Sound
   the timbrels, beat the drums, blow the trumpets!" Just so, but "the
   Kingdom of God comes not with observation." Remember what was written
   concerning Christ hundreds of years before He came to earth? "He shall
   not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A
   bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not
   quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth." If the gospel that
   men teach is new, it is not true, for there is nothing that can be new
   and true! The Truth of God is old as the everlasting hills. Therefore,
   dear Friends, be not touched with that Athenian madness of always
   seeking after some new thing! Did you ever hear of new gold? To all
   intents and purposes, all gold that is worth having is old. Men can
   make what they call pearls, sapphires and diamonds--but they are paste
   gems and utterly valueless. It is just the same with the doctrines made
   by men--they are not according to the eternal Word of God and,
   therefore, they are not worth a penny a cartload! Do not be so foolish
   as to reject Christ's Word because it is ancient--that is the very
   reason why you should receive it and retain it in your memory and in
   your heart.

   Shall I suggest that there are some who do not receive Christ's Word
   because they are listening to man's word?'f you know anybody who is
   equal to my Master, hear him! If you know anybody who is superior to
   Christ, hear him! As for me, He is the one and the only Teacher of the
   Truth of God and at His feet I reverently and humbly sit. All other
   teachers whom I have ever heard of, or met with, so far as they speak
   as He does, are worthy of attention. But whenever their teaching
   differs from His, on that point they are worthy of no regard whatever!
   Did you say that such-and-such a thing is believed by you because you
   found it in Calvin's Institutes? I am a Calvinist and a lover of that
   grand man's memory and doctrine--but I believe nothing merely because
   Calvin taught it--but because I have found his teaching in the Word of
   God. "Oh, but the Prayer Book says such-and-such!" It may do so, but, I
   pray you, believe nothing because it is there unless it can also be
   found in Holy Scripture! "But such-and-such things were in the Minutes
   of Mr. Wesley's Conference." If they are according to Scripture, let
   them stand! But if they are not, who was Mr. Wesley that we should
   receive his teaching? "Oh, but the archbishops have said it!" And what
   are all the archbishops piled together from the days of the first
   archbishop until now, wherein they have differed from the Word of God?
   No, my Friend, do not fill your brain with other people's teaching--if
   you would be right, turn all else out and come and say--"The Word of
   Christ for me! The Word of Christ for me!" If I have any influence over
   you and if you are ever inclined to believe a thing simply because I
   say it, I charge you, throw away such superstition and test all that I
   say by the Word of God. The real weight of truth consists not in what
   one man says, or in what another man says--the weight, the power, the
   substance lies in what Christ has said--that, and that alone, is the
   Truth of God.

   I think I hear another say, "I have not received Christ's Word for it
   seems to me to be too spiritual, too holy." We can never deny that it
   is holy and spiritual, but, my Friend, think that matter over and
   withdraw those words you just uttered. Can anything be too spiritual to
   come from God, or too holy to bring us back to God? Let those
   characteristics of the Word of God charm you to Christ and not drive
   you away from Him!

   "Oh, but," someone says, "if I were to believe Christ's Word, it would
   be very cold comfort to me, and it would rob me of many of my present
   enjoyments." Yes, if those enjoyments would rob you of your soul, but
   not else. There is no pleasure denied to me, as a Christian, except
   such pleasure as would be no pleasure to me as a Christian! The moment
   a man's mind takes in Christ's Word and is saturated with Christ's
   Spirit, he finds a pleasure only in that which is good-- while that
   which is deluding, that which is degrading, that which is depraving,
   becomes a misery to him. Can anyone find comfort in Christ's Word? Ask
   the sick who can lie on their beds and sing! Is there comfort in
   Christ's Word? Ask the aged who, tottering on their staff in the midst
   of many infirmities, are taught a holy patience! Ask the dying who, as
   they gasp out their life, yet shout of victory, their faces beaming
   with the light of the Glory which is opening up before them! If you
   want real joy, find it in Christ's Word, and no longer say that it has
   no place in you!

   Let me give you a very special squeeze of the hand and whisper in your
   ear that I am afraid the reason why God's Word has no place in your
   heart is that you are not very much in earnest. You are only like a
   butterfly--you have not come to real living yet--you are sporting,
   playing, trifling. Oh, that you might soon find life in earnest and
   think in earnest about eternity! Then, but not till then, will you seek
   to lay hold on Christ.

   May I also whisper to you very softly and ask, "Is not the reason why
   you have not received Christ's Word because you have some favorite sin?
   I have known men who could not be Christians and they argued very
   plausibly about the matter, but the real hindrance was that they had
   another house besides their own. I have known some men who could not
   believe in Jesus Christ for one very sufficient reason--namely, that
   they believed too much in the bottle. You know that a man cannot be a
   Believer in the Savior when he is devotedly attached to the god
   Bacchus! And I have known some to get very much enraged against the
   Truth of God and the one who preached it when the reason has been that
   their mode of conducting business did not square with the Gospel. Their
   yard measure was short of 36 inches--and when they began to count up to
   a hundred, it was very difficult for them to get beyond eighty-five! A
   "dozen" did not mean twelve, and a gross--well, I do not know how
   grossly short their "gross" fell.

   There are all sorts of tricks of trade and a man who practices them
   says, "Well, you know, I am not strait-laced." No, Sir, nobody ever
   thought that you were. "Oh, but I am not going to be one of your
   precise people!" No, I know you are not. We really would not malign you
   so much as to suppose that you were going to be precise, like the
   Puritans, for instance. You, also, are among those who like a broad
   theology. Yes, I know, you sometimes are unable to get home at night
   because the pavement is so narrow. I understand you perfectly well. It
   is for this reason that many do not receive Christ's Word--because
   there is some pet sin of their own that they do not like to have
   interfered with and, therefore, Christ and His Word are shut out of
   their heart.

   Shall I tell you one thing more? Very possibly you do not receive
   Christ's Word because you need to be made a new man before you will do
   so. The carnal man receives not the things that are of God. There is a
   hard slab of rock in your heart and when the good Seed falls upon it,
   the birds soon take it away. What you need, Friends, is to have that
   rock broken up, dissolved, changed into pliable earth. Can I do that
   for you? I was going to say, I wish I could, but I cannot. Only the
   Eternal Spirit, who can quicken the dead, can renew you in the spirit
   of your mind. Cry unto God that this great miracle may be worked--you
   will never receive the Word until it is. This is the message for you,
   "You must be born again." Must, mark you. It is not may--"you must--you
   must be born again," for until you are born again, this living and
   incorruptible Seed of the Word of God will never get into your hearts.
   May the Holy Spirit speedily work the miracle of regeneration in your
   spirit!

   III. I have finished when I have tried to answer very briefly my third
   question--IF YOU HAVE NOT THE WORD OF CHRIST IN YOU, WHAT WILL COME OF
   IT?

   Something came to the Jews because they rejected Christ's Word. They
   sought to kill Christ because His Word had no place in them. I hope
   that will not happen to you, Friends, but I have witnessed it in
   others. I have seen the child of godly parents quench conscience and
   resist the Spirit. I have seen many a young man, full of fair promises,
   but refusing to be decided for Christ and, all of a sudden, I have
   found him a skeptic, seen him grow into an infidel and seen him develop
   into a blasphemer. I have known him to become a most violent antagonist
   to the Gospel. "Is your servant a dog," says one, "that he should do
   this thing?" No, it may be that you are not a dog, but there is enough
   of the dog spirit in you to do it. If you are dog enough to turn away
   from Christ, you will yet be dog enough to howl at His heels. Beware of
   resisting the Spirit of God and trifling with conscience, for there is
   nothing worse! A man may play on the edge of a precipice and he may do
   it safely for many a day, but one of these days he will make a fatal
   slip. Mind what you are doing, I pray you! Never let it be said of you,
   as Christ said to these Jews, "You seek to kill Me because My Word has
   no place in you."

   Or, if that shall not be the case with you, I will tell you what may
   happen. Christ may cease speaking to you. "I shall not leave off going
   to Chapel," says one. No, perhaps not, but the Gospel may no longer
   have any voice to you. Possibly it has already less power over you than
   it once had--you used to shiver in your shoes when you heard the Truth
   of God! You have gone out of this place trembling under the Word--but
   you do not do so now. I hope it is not because I do not preach as
   earnestly as I did, but if I do preach as earnestly and as faithfully
   as ever, then what is happening to you? Why, you are getting deaf ears
   and a callous, hardened heart--and these are the commencement of that
   most awful of all conditions into which men slide when God says to His
   messengers, "Go and tell this people, Hear you, indeed, but understand
   not; and see you, indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
   people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes lest they
   see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
   their heart, and convert, and be healed." It is a terrible thing when
   even the Gospel becomes the savor of death unto death to those who
   would not permit it to be the savor of life unto life to them! Before
   Christ packs up His wares and goes His way because you would not have
   His goods, ask Him to let you buy them of Him. His terms will not hurt
   you--He sells His precious things "without money and without price."
   Urgently require at His hands that before He turns His back on you, you
   may yield to Him and be saved!

   And, remember, once more, that if the Word of God has no place in us,
   it will exist somewhere. Down came the Word of God to a man, the other
   night, and it knocked very hard at his heart, but the door was shut.
   The Word knocked again, and again, and again. Still the door was shut
   and the Word went back to Him who sent it and it stayed there. How many
   times have you heard the Gospel, my Friend? Could you count up the
   number of faithful sermons that have been preached in your hearing? Do
   you know how many earnest entreaties from friends have been addressed
   to you in vain? You shut them out, but they all went back and there
   they are--at the Throne of God! And when you come there, at last, and
   your trial takes place, you will be surprised to find all those
   messages and messengers present at the last grand assize to bear
   witness against you! Oh, let it not be so, I pray you! Will you not
   believe in Jesus Christ even now? Will you not turn to Him and live
   this very hour? Will you not leave your sins and trust the Savior? Will
   you not go to Him and, with a broken heart, confess that you need Him?
   He may be found of those who seek Him! Then, will you not seek Him now?
   If not, remember this scene--these crowded galleries, this area, these
   thousands of eyes--I call upon all to witness against you, in that day,
   that this night I preached Christ to you and bade you live--and if you
   will not, if you prefer moral and eternal suicide--I call this
   building, every beam and every stone in it, and every person here to
   witness that I have told you of the way of salvation, and implored you
   to run in it! They shall be swift witnesses against you to condemn you
   if you will not repent! Turn you, turn you, why will you die? Trust the
   Savior! Trust Him, now, and live forever! God grant that it may be so,
   for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN8:28-59.

   Verse 28. Then said Jesus unto them.--That is, to the Jews who were
   questioning and opposing Him.

   28. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I
   am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me,
   I speak these things. Blessed be God, there were many, after the
   crucifixion of Christ, who did believe in Him! Yet, alas, in others,
   the blindness of heart continued and they would not see the Messiah in
   Him who was crucified. We, who believe in the uplifted Savior, can see
   the Father in the Son and, to us, faith has become a most blessed
   thing--and we know that He does nothing of Himself and, that as the
   Father has taught Him, so He speaks.

   29. And He that sent Me is with Me. I commend that short sentence to
   all my Master's servants, for there is great comfort in it. Your Lord
   could say this and so can you if you are truly employed in His
   service--"He that sent me is with me."

   29. The Father has not left Me alone. There is another precious motto
   for you. Jesus could truly say, "The Father has not left Me alone" and,
   as He did not leave His only-begotten and well-beloved Son, so He will
   not leave anyof His children.

   29. For I do always those things that please Him. Let us labor
   earnestly to be able to say that! If there is anything which would not
   please God, let us have nothing to do with it. If it would not please
   God, it ought not to please us. Blessed shall that servant of the Lord
   be who can sincerely say, "I do always those things that please Him."

   30-32. As He spoke these words, many believed on Him. Then said Jesus
   to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My word, then
   are you My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the
   truth shall make you free. There is such a thing as a temporary
   faith--beware of it, I beseech you. Men appear to believe in Christ for
   a little while, like that Seed which was sown upon the rock, which
   speedily sprang up and, just as quickly, withered away. God-given faith
   is not temporary, but permanent. "If you continue in My Word, then are
   you My disciples indeed." God gives us the faith which is able to
   endure the fire of persecution and which continues steadfast even when
   exposed to the evil example of an ungodly world. "He that endures to
   the end shall be saved." But temporary faith brings only delusion and
   ends in destruction.

   33, 34. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in
   bondage to any man: how say You, You shall be made free? Jesus answered
   them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever commits sin is the
   servant of sin. Depend upon it, acts of sin breed habits of sin, and
   habits are like the chains which slaves wear. How many there are who
   are bound to their lusts with many shackles and fetters! Once they
   seemed to enjoy the sin and to hold it in subjection, but now it has
   bound them and they cannot escape from it.

   35, 36. And the servant abides not in the house forever: but the Son
   abides always. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be
   free indeed. If He sets you free from sin, you will never go back to
   its slavery! There is no emancipation like that which Jesus brings, for
   it is eternal! When He snaps the fetter, He sets the Believer free
   forever.

   37, 38. 1 know that you are Abraham's seed; but you seek to kill Me
   because My word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
   with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father.
   It is a common characteristic of children to tell what they see. What
   they witness at home, they are sure to tell abroad. If you are a child
   of God, you will act and speak like your Father does. And if you are a
   child of the devil, you will act and speak like he. Our parentage may
   be discovered by our acts and our words--"I speak that which I have
   seen with My Father: and you do that which you have seen with your
   father."

   39. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said
   unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of
   Abraham. "That is, if you were the true spiritual children of faithful
   Abraham, you would act as he did."

   40-42. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man that has told you the truth,
   which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. You do the deeds of
   your father. Then said they to Him, We are not born of fornication; we
   have one Father, even God. 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. If any man has a right idea
   of God and really loves God, if he will study the Character of Christ,
   he will see that Christ is the very image of God in human flesh--and he
   will fall in love with Christ. That result is inevitable! Men form
   wrong ideas of God and then, when they read the life of Christ, they
   see no likeness between the Christ and their conception of God--nor is
   there any! But if they would take their idea of God from God's own
   Word, then they would see that in the Person of the Man of Nazareth,
   the Divine Character truly shines out, though it is toned down so as to
   meet the human eyes without the excessive glare that would blind them.
   But it is the same Light of Light, the same Love of Love, the Glory of
   God in the face of Jesus Christ, "for in Him dwells all the fullness of
   the Godhead bodily." He is the express Image of God and he who truly
   knows God will know that Christ is also God, for Father and Son are
   One.

   43-47. Why do you not understand My speech? Even because you cannot
   hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
   father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not
   in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie,
   he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it And
   because I tell you the truth, you believe Me not Which of you convicts
   Me of sin! And if say the truth, why do you not believe Me? He that is
   of God hears God's Words: you therefore hear them not, because you are
   not of God. What a wonderful Character was the Character of Christ! We
   get a strange light cast upon it as we read this dialog in which He
   endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. My Brothers and
   Sisters, in Christ there is all the tenderness of a woman, but do not
   think that He is effeminate, far from it! What masculine force, what
   vigor, what power there is in Him! There are some people who, if we
   speak plainly against error, tell us that we are uncharitable and that
   we have not the spirit of Christ. Is it so? Did there ever fall from
   any lips more burning words than those which we find here, when He is
   brought into conflict with His foes? The fact is, He is meek and lowly,
   but He is most courageous! He is genial and kind, but He is honest and
   true! He speaks with suavity and gentleness, but, at the same time,
   there is great force about every expression that He uses. He does not
   mince matters when He is dealing with sin! There is no velvet on His
   lips--He utters no honeyed phrases. Naked Truths of God flash like a
   scimitar from its scabbard when He has to deal with those who oppose
   it! "Because I tell you the truth, you believe Me not. Which of you
   convicts Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe Me?
   He that is of God hears God's Words: you, therefore, hear them not,
   because you are not of God."

   48. Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, Say we not well that You
   are a Samaritan, and have a devil? You know this form of answer. It is
   an old trick, when there is no case--abuse the plaintiff! So, when
   there is no answer to what Christ has said, call Him a Samaritan and
   say that He has a devil.

   49-51. Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honor My Father, and
   you dishonor Me. And I seek not My own glory: there is One that seeks
   and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keeps My saying,
   he shall never see death. What glorious Gospel brilliance Christ
   suddenly flashes upon these men! He promises even to them that if they
   will keep His saying, they shall live forever, they shall be partakers
   of an eternal, unquenchable life! It might have seemed to us to be like
   casting pearls before swine to proclaim that great Truth of God to such
   hearers--but our Master's infinite wisdom does not permit us to think
   so.

   52-56. Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know that You have a devil.
   Abraham is dead, and the Prophets; and You say, If a man keeps My
   saying, he shalnever taste of death. Are Yougreater than our father
   Abraham, who is dead? And the Prophets are dead: whom do You make
   Yourself out to be? Jesus answered, If I honor Myself, My honor is
   nothing: it is My Father that honors Me; of whom you say, that He is
   your God: yet you have not known Him, but I know Him: and if I should
   say, Iknow Him not, I should be a liar like you: but IknowHim, andkeep
   His saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and He saw it,
   and was glad. He will not answer their questions, for they do not ask
   that they may learn. They ask that they may quibble. So He multiplies
   His riddles. He lets the light blind them yet more!

   Now He speaks, not so much of the undying life of Believers, as of His
   own eternal Existence, long before the Prophets and Abraham of whom
   they had spoken.

   57, 58. Then said thee Jews unto Him, You are not yet fifty years old,
   andhave You seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
   unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am. Before there was any Abraham, there
   was this glorious Christ of ours existing as the Eternal I AM, in all
   the infinity of His Glory! Now comes a thoroughly characteristic Jewish
   answer.

   59. Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and
   went out of the temple, going through the midst of them and so passed
   by. They believed that He claimed to be God, as He certainly did, and,
   therefore, they tried to stone Him. And there is no foothold for those
   who say that Christ was a very good Man, but only a Man. If He was not
   the Son of God, He was not a good Man, for no good man would have left
   upon his followers, and upon his foes, too, the impression that he
   claimed to be God if he were not! And no good man could have claimed to
   be God if he were not really so. Rank Jesus Christ either among the
   grossest of impostors, or else as the Son of God--one or the other!
   There is no halting-piece between the two. Blessed be Your name, O Son
   of Mary, You are also the Son of the Highest and, as such, we worship
   and adore You!
     __________________________________________________________________

Spiritual Glean1ng

   (No. 2585)

   INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 28, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON AN AUTUMN EVENING, IN THE YEAR
   1856.

   "Let her gleam even among the sheaves, and reproach her not." Ruth
   2:15.

   OUR country cousins have been engaged recently in harvest occupations
   and most of them understand what is meant by gleaning. Perhaps they are
   not, all of them, so wise as to understand the heavenly art of
   spiritual'gleaning. That is the subject which I have chosen for our
   meditation on this occasion--my attention having been called to it
   while I have been riding along through the country and, as I like to
   improve the seasons of the year as they come and go, I shall give you a
   few homely remarks with regard to spiritual gleaning. In the first
   place, we shall observe that there is a great Husbandman. It was Boaz
   in this case. It is our Heavenly Father who is the Husbandman in the
   other case. Secondly, we shall notice a humble gleaner. It was Ruth in
   this instance. It is every Believer who is represented by her--at least
   we shall so consider the subject. And, in the third place, here is a
   very gracious permission given--"Let her glean even among the sheaves,
   and reproach her not."

   I. In the first place, then, we will consider something concerning THE
   GREAT HUSBANDMAN--GOD.

   The God of the whole earth is a great Husbandman. In fact, all farming
   operations are really dependent on Him. Man may plow the soil and he
   may sow the seed, but God alone gives the increase. It is He that sends
   the clouds and the sunshine, it is He that directs the winds and the
   rain and so, by various processes of Nature, He brings forth the food
   for man. All the farming, however, which God does, He does for the
   benefit of others and never for Himself. He has no need of any of those
   things which are so necessary for us. Remember how He spoke to Israel
   of old?--"I will take no bullock out of your house, no he goats out of
   your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine and the cattle upon a
   thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild
   beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you:
   for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof." All things are God's
   and all He does in Creation, all the works of His Providence, are not
   done for Himself, but for His creatures, out of the benevolence of His
   loving heart.

   And in spiritual matters, also, God is a great Husbandman. And there,
   too, all His works are done for His people, that they may be fed and
   satisfied, as with marrow and fatness. Permit me, then, to refer you to
   the great Gospel fields which our Heavenly Father farms for the good of
   His children. There is a great variety of them, but they are all on
   good soil, for the words of Moses are true of the spiritual
   Israel--"The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine;
   also his heavens shall drop down dew." God, as the great spiritual
   Husbandman, has many fields, and they are all fertile, and there is
   always an abundant harvest to be reaped in them.

   One field is called Doctrine field. Oh, what large sheaves of blessed
   corn are to be found there! He who does but glean in it will find very
   much spiritual nutriment. There is the great sheaf of Election, full,
   indeed, of heavy ears of corn like Pharaoh saw in his first dream, "fat
   and good." There is the great sheaf of Preservation, wherein it is
   promised to us that the work that God has begun He will assuredly
   complete. And if we have not faith enough to partake of either of these
   sheaves, there is the most blessed sheaf of all--yes, it is many
   sheaves in one--the sheaf of Redemption by the blood of Christ. Many a
   poor soul who could not feed on electing love, has found satisfaction
   in the blood of Jesus. He could sit down and rejoice that Redemption is
   finished and that for every penitent soul there is provided a great
   Atonement whereby He is reconciled to God.

   I cannot stop to tell you of all the sheaves in the Doctrine field.
   Some say there are only five. I believe the five great Doctrines of
   Calvinism are, in some degree, a summary of the rest--they are
   distinctive points wherein we differ from those who "have erred from
   the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." But there
   are many more Doctrines beside these five--and all are, alike, precious
   and all are, alike, valuable to the true Believer's soul--for he can
   feed upon them to his heart's content.

   I wonder why it is that some of our ministers are so particular about
   locking the gates of this Doctrine field? They do not like God's people
   to get in. I believe it is because they are afraid Jeshurun would wax
   fat and kick if he had too much food. At least that is what I must be
   charitable enough to suppose! I fear that many are like the huge corn
   monopolist-- they buy the Doctrine of Election, but keep it to
   themselves. They believe it is true, yet they never preach it! They say
   that all the distinguishing Doctrines of Grace are true, but they never
   proclaim them to others. There are Particular Baptists who are as sound
   in doctrine as any of us, but, unfortunately, they never make any sound
   about it--and though they are very sound when alone, they are very
   unsound when they come into their pulpits, for they never preach
   Doctrine there! I say, swing the gate wide open and come in, all you
   children of God! I am sure there are no poisonous weeds in my Master's
   field! If the Doctrine is a true one, it cannot hurt the child of God.
   And so, as it is the Truth of God, you may feast upon it till your soul
   is satisfied and no harm will come of it! The idea of reserve in
   preaching--keeping back some Doctrines because they are not fit to be
   preached--I will repeat what I have said before--it is a piece of most
   abominable impudence on the part of man to say that anything which God
   has revealed is unfit to be preached! If it is unfit to be preached, I
   am sure the Almighty would never have revealed it to us. No, like the
   old man described by Solomon, these preachers who do not proclaim good,
   sound Doctrine, are "afraid of that which is high." It is a mark of
   their senility that they fear to talk of these great things! God was
   not afraid to write them and we, therefore, ought not to be afraid to
   preach them! The Doctrine field is a glorious field, Beloved--go into
   it often and glean--you may find, there, many a bushel of the finest
   wheat every day!

   Then, next, God has a field called Promise field. On that I need not
   dwell, for many of you have often been there. But let us just take an
   ear or two out of one of the sheaves and show them to you, that you may
   be tempted to go into the field to glean more for yourselves. Here is
   one--"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, says the Lord that has mercy on you." There is a
   heavy ear for you! Now for another--"When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
   you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither
   shall the flame kindle upon you." Here is another--it has a short
   stalk, but there is a great deal of corn in it--"My Grace is sufficient
   for you." Here is another. "Fear you not, for I am with you." Here is
   another one. "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God,
   believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were
   not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if
   I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you
   unto Myself; that where I am, there you may also be." There is the
   promise of Christ's glorious Second Coming and is not that a heavy ear
   of wheat for the Lord's children to pick up? Yes, Beloved, we can say
   of the Promise field what cannot be said of any farmer's field in
   England, namely, that it is so rich a field it cannot be richer! And it
   has so many ears of corn in it that you could not put in another one.
   As the poet sings--

   "How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith
   in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He has said,
   You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?" Go and glean in that field,
   Christian! It is all your own, every ear of it! Pull great handfuls out
   of the sheaves, if you like, for you are truly welcome to all you can
   find!

   Then there is Ordinance field. A great deal of corn grows in that
   field. One part of it reminds us of the ordinance of Believers' Baptism
   and, verily, God's children are greatly profited even by the sight of
   the Baptism of others! It comforts and cheers them--and helps them to
   renew their own dedication vow to the Lord Most High. But I must not
   detain you long in this field, though it is, to many of us, a very
   hallowed spot. Some of my friends never go into this field at all, it
   is too damp a soil for them--and though the corn is very fine and very
   high, they are afraid to go there. Let us leave that part of the field
   and pass on to the place of Communion. Oh, it is sweet, Divinely sweet,
   to sit at the Table of our Lord, to eat the bread and drink the wine!
   What rich dainties are provided for us there! Has not Jesus often given
   us, there, "the kisses of His mouth," and have we not, there, tasted
   His love and proved it to be "better than wine"? Beloved, go into the
   Ordinance field! Walk in the ordinances of the Lord, blameless, and do
   not despise either of them. Keep His Commandments, for so will you find
   a great reward and so will He fill your souls with marrow and fatness!

   But God has one field on a hill which is as rich as any of the others!
   And, indeed, you cannot really and truly go into any of the other
   fields unless you go through this one, for the road to the other fields
   lies through this one, which is called the field of fellowship and
   communion with Christ Ah, that is the field to glean in! Some of you
   have only run through it, you have not stopped in it. But he who ]mows
   how to abide in it and to walk about it, never loses anything, but
   gains much. Beloved, it is only in proportion as we hold fellowship
   with Christ and commune with Him, that either ordinances, or Doctrines,
   or promises can profit us. All those other things are dry and barren
   unless we have entered into the love of Christ, unless we have realized
   our union with Him, unless we have a sympathy with His heart, unless we
   bear His likeness, unless we dwell continually with Him, feel His love
   and are ravished with His delights. I am sorry to say that few
   Christians think as much as they ought of this field--it is enough for
   them to be sound in doctrine and tolerably correct in practice--they do
   not think as much as they should about holding fellowship with Christ.
   I am sure, if they did, there would not be half so many evil tempers as
   there are, nor half so much pride and not a tenth so much sloth if our
   Brothers and Sisters went into that field more often! Oh, it is a
   blessed one! There is no field like that one! You may go into it and
   revel in delights, for it is full of everything good that the heart can
   wish, or the soul imagine, or the mind conceive! Blessed, blessed field
   is that! And God leaves the gates of that field wide open for every
   Believer!

   Children of God, go into all these fields. Do not despise any of them,
   but go and glean in them all, for there is the richest gleaning in all
   creation!

   II. Now, in the second place, we have to think and speak of A HUMBLE
   GLEANER. Ruth was a gleaner and she may serve as an illustration of
   what every Believer should be in the fields of God.

   He should be a gleaner, and he may take a whole sheaf home if he likes.
   He may be something more than a gleaner if he can be, but I use the
   figure of a gleaner because I believe that is the most a Christian ever
   is. Some may ask, "Why does not the Christian go and reap all the field
   and take all the corn home with him?" So he may, if he can. If he likes
   to take a whole sheaf on his back and go home with it, he may do so.
   And if he will bring a great wagon and carry away all there is in the
   field, he may have it all! But, generally, our faith is so small that
   we can only glean--we take away but a little of the blessing which God
   has prepared so abundantly. And though, sometimes faith does take and
   enjoy much, yet, when we compare it with what there is to be enjoyed, a
   gleaner is the true picture of faith--but more especially of little
   faith. All it can do is to glean--it cannot cart the wheat home, or
   carry a sheaf on its shoulders--it can only take it up, ear by ear.

   Again, I may remark, that the gleaner, in her business, has to endure
   much toil and fatigue. She rises early in the morning and trudges off
   to a field. If that is shut, she trudges to another. And if that one is
   closed, or the corn has all been gleaned, she goes to another. All day
   long, though the sun is shining on her, except when she sits down under
   a tree to rest and refresh herself a little, she still goes on stooping
   and gathering up her ears of corn. And she returns not home till
   nightfall, for she desires, if the field is good, to pick up all she
   can in the day, and she would not like to go back unless her arms were
   full of the rich corn she so much desires to find.

   Beloved, so let it be with every Believer! Let him not be afraid of a
   little weariness in his Master's service. If the gleaning is good, the
   spiritual gleaner will not mind fatigue in gathering it. One says, "I
   walk five miles every Sunday to Chapel." Another says, "I walk six or
   seven miles." Very well, if it is the Gospel, it is worth not only
   walking six or seven miles, but 60 or seventy, for it will pay you
   well! The gleaner must look for some toil and trouble. He must not
   expect that everything will come to him very easily. We must not think
   that it is always the field next to our house that is to be gleaned--it
   may be a field at the most distant end of the village! If so, let us go
   trudging off to it, that we may get our hands and arms full.

   But I remark, next, that the gleaner has to stoop for every ear she
   gets. Why is it that proud people do not profit under the Word of God?
   Why is it that your grand folk cannot get any good out of many Gospel
   ministers? Why, because they want the ministers to pick up the corn for
   them! And beside that, many of the ministers hold it so high above
   their heads that they can scarcely see it. They say, "Here is something
   wonderful," and they admire the cleverness of the man who holds it up!
   Now, I like to scatter the corn on the ground as much as I can. I do
   not mean to hold it up so high that you cannot reach it. One reason is
   that I cannot--I have not the talent to hold it up where you cannot see
   it--my ability will only allow me to just throw the corn on the ground,
   so that the people can pick it up. And if it is thrown on the ground,
   then all can get it. If we preach only to the rich, they can
   understand, but the poor cannot. But when we preach to the poor, the
   rich can understand it if they like. And if they do not like it, they
   can go somewhere else. I believe that the real gleaner, the ones who
   get any spiritual food, will have to stoop to pick it up--and I would
   gladly stoop to know and understand the Gospel! It is worth while going
   anywhere to hear the Gospel, but, nowadays, people must have fine
   steeples to their places of worship, fine gowns for their ministers and
   they must preach most eloquently. But that is not the way the Lord
   ordained--He intended that there should be plain, simple, faithful
   preaching. It is by the foolishness of such preaching that He will save
   them that believe. Beloved Friends, remember that gleaners who are to
   get anything must expect to stoop.

   Note, in the next place, that what a gleaner gathers, she gets ear by
   ear Sometimes, it is true, she gets a handful, but that is the
   exception, not the rule. In the case of Ruth, handfuls were let fall on
   purpose for her, but the usual way is to glean ear by ear. The gleaner
   stoops and picks up, first one ear, and then another, and then
   another--only one ear at a time. Now, Beloved, where there are handfuls
   to be had at once, that is the place to go and glean! But if you cannot
   get handfuls, go and get ear by ear. I have heard of certain people who
   have been in the habit of hearing a favorite minister in London,
   saying, when they go to the seaside," We cannot hear anybody after him.
   We shall not go to that Chapel any more." So they stay at home all day
   on Sunday, I suppose forgetting that passage, "not forsaking the
   assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." They
   cannot get a handful and, therefore, they will not pick up an ear. So
   the poor creatures are starved and they are glad enough to get back
   home! They should have gone, if they could get but one ear--and he is a
   sorry minister who cannot gave them that! And if they got only one ear,
   it would be worth having. If it is only six words of God, if we think
   of them, they will do us good. Let us be content, then, to glean ear by
   ear. Let us take away a whole sheaf with us if we can, but if we cannot
   do that, let us get the good corn an ear at a time.

   "Oh," says a friend, "I cannot hear some ministers at all! They preach
   such a mingle-mangle of the Truth of God and error." I know they do,
   but it will be a strange thing if you cannot get an ear or two of
   wheat, even from them! There is a great deal of straw--you are not
   required to take that away--but it will be remarkable if you cannot
   pick up an ear or two of good grain. You say, "The error that the man
   preaches distresses my mind." No doubt it does, but the best way is to
   leave the lies alone and pick out the sound Truth of God--and if there
   is no sound Truth in the sermon, a good plan is to read it all
   backwards--and then it will be sure to be sound. I heard a man of that
   kind, once, and when he said a thing was so-and-so, I said to myself
   that it was not. And when he said such-and-such a thing would happen, I
   said it would not--and I then enjoyed the sermon! He said that the
   people of God, through their sin, would perish. I had only to put a,
   "not," into his sentence, and what a sweet and comforting message it
   then was! That is the way, when you hear a bad sermon, to qualify what
   the preacher says. Then, after all, you can make his discourse suggest
   spiritual thoughts to you, and do you good! But you must be content,
   wherever you go to hear the Word, to pick up the corn ear by ear.

   Note, next, that what the gleaner picks up, she keeps in her hands. She
   does not pick it up and then drop it down, as some do in their
   spiritual gleaning. There is a good thought at the beginning of the
   sermon, but you are all eager to hear another--and you let the first
   go. Then, towards the end of the discourse, perhaps there is another
   flash and, in trying to catch that, you have forgotten all the rest!
   So, when the sermon is over, it is nearly all gone and you are about as
   wise as a gleaner who sets out in the morning and picks up one ear,
   then drop that and picks up another. She then drops that and pick up
   another. She would find, at night, that she had got--what? --that she
   had got nothing for all her trouble! It is just the same in hearing a
   sermon--some people pick up the ears and drop them as fast as they pick
   them up.

   But one says, "I have kept nearly the whole of the sermon." I am glad
   to hear it, my Friend, but just allow me to make a remark. Many a man,
   when he has nearly the whole sermon, loses it on the way home. Very
   much depends on our conduct on our way back from the House of God. I
   have heard of a Christian man who was seen hurrying home, one Sunday,
   with all his might. A friend asked him why he was in such haste. "Oh,"
   he said, "two or three Sundays ago, our minister gave us a most blessed
   discourse and I greatly enjoyed it. But as soon as I was outside the
   Chapel, there were two deacons and one pulled one way, and the other
   pulled the other way, till they tore the sermon all to pieces! And
   though it was a most blessed discourse, I did not remember a word of it
   when I got home--all the savor and unction had been taken out of it by
   those deacons--so I thought I would hurry home tonight and pray over
   the sermon without speaking to them at all." It is always the best way,
   Beloved, to go straight home from your places of worship--if you begin
   your chit-chat about this thing and the other, you lose all the savor
   and unction of the discourse! Therefore I would advise you to go home
   as quickly as you can after the service--you might possibly, then, get
   more good than you usually do from the sermon and from the worship
   altogether!

   Then, again, the gleaner takes the wheat home and threshes it It is a
   blessed thing to thresh a sermon when you have heard it. Many persons
   thrash the preacher--but that is not half so good as threshing the
   sermon! They begin finding this fault and the other with him, and they
   think that is doing good--but it is not. Take the sermon, Beloved, when
   you have listened to it, lay it down on the floor of meditation, and
   beat it with the flail of prayer so you will get the corn out of it.
   But the sermon is no good unless you thresh it. Why, that is as if a
   gleaner should stow away her corn in the room, and the mice should find
   it--in that case, it would be a nuisance to her rather than a benefit.
   So, some people hear a sermon, and carry it home, and then allow their
   sins to eat it all up and thus it becomes an injury to them, rather
   than a blessing. But He who knows how to flail a sermon well, to put it
   into the threshing machine and thresh it well, has learned a good art,
   from which he shall profit much.

   I have heard of an aged Scotchman, who, one Sunday morning, returned
   from "kirk" rather earlier than usual, and his wife, surprised to see
   him home so soon, said to him, "Donald, is the sermon all done?" '
   'No," he answered, "it is all said, but it is not all done by a long
   way." We ought to take the sermon home, to dowhat the preacher has
   said--that is what I mean by threshing it. And some of you are content
   if you carry the sermon home. You are willing enough, perhaps, to talk
   a little about it, but there is no thorough threshing of it by
   meditation and prayer.

   And then, once more, the good woman, after threshing the corn, no doubt
   afterwards winnowed it Ruth did this in the field, but you can scarcely
   do so with the sermons you hear--some of the winnowing must be done at
   home. Observe, too, that Ruth did not take the chaffhome. She left that
   behind her in the field. It is an important thing to winnow every
   sermon that you hear. My dear Friends, I would not wish you to be
   spongy hearers who suck up everything that is poured into their ears. I
   would have you all to be winnowers, to separate the precious from the
   vile! With all ministers there is a certain quantity of chaff mixed
   with the corn, but I have noticed in some hearers a sad predilection to
   take all the chaff and leave the corn behind. One exclaims, when he
   gets out of the building, or even before, "That was a curious story
   that the preacher told--won't it make a good anecdote for me at the
   next party I attend?" Another says, "Mr. Spurgeon used such-and-such an
   expression." If you hear a man talk in that way, do you know what you
   should say to him? You should say, "Stop, Friend! We all have our
   faults and perhaps you have as many as anybody else--can you not tell
   us something Mr. Spurgeon said that was good?" "Oh, I don't remember
   that. That is all gone!" Just so, people are ready to remember what is
   bad, but they soon forget anything that is good.

   Let me advise you to winnow the sermon, to meditate upon it, to pray
   over it, to separate the chaff from the wheat and to take care of that
   which is good. That is the true art of heavenly gleaning--may the Lord
   teach us it, that we may become "rich to all the intents of bliss,"
   that we may be filled and satisfied with the favor and goodness of the
   Lord!

   III. Now, in the last place, here is A GRACIOUS PERMISSION GIVEN. "Let
   her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not."

   Ruth had no right to go among the sheaves to glean, but Boaz gave her a
   right to go there by saying, "Let her do it." For her to be allowed to
   go among the sheaves, in that part of the field where the wheat was not
   already carted, was a special favor, but to go among the sheaves and to
   have handfuls of corn dropped on purpose for her, was a further proof
   of the kindness of Boaz.

   Shall I tell you the reasons that moved the heart of Boaz to let Ruth
   go and glean among the sheaves? One reason was, because he loved her.
   He would have her go there because he had conceived a great affection
   for her, which he afterwards displayed in due time. So the Lord lets
   His people come and glean among the sheaves because He loves them. Did
   you have a rich gleaning among the sheaves the other Sabbath? Did you
   carry home your sack, filled like the sacks of Benjamin's brothers when
   they went back from Egypt? Did you have an abundance of the good corn
   of the land? Were you satisfied with favor and filled with the blessing
   of the Lord? That was all owing to your Master's goodness! It was
   because He loved you that He dealt so bountifully with you. Look, I
   beseech you, on all your mercies as proofs of His love! Especially look
   on all your spiritual blessings as being tokens of His Grace. It will
   make your corn grind all the better and taste all the sweeter if you
   think that it is a proof of love that your sweet seasons, your high
   enjoyments, your blessed ravishments of spirit are so many proofs of
   your Lord's affection to you. Boaz allowed Ruth to go and glean among
   the sheaves because of his love to her, so, Beloved, it is God's Free
   Grace that lets us go among His sheaves and lets us lay hold of
   doctrinal blessings, promise blessings, or experience blessings. We
   have no right to be there of our-selves--it is all the Lord's Free and
   Sovereign Grace that lets us go there!

   There was another reason why Boaz let Ruth glean among the
   sheaves--because he was related to her. And that is why the Lord
   sometimes gives us such sweet mercies and takes us into His banqueting
   house, because He is related to us. He is our Brother, our Kinsman,
   allied to us by ties of blood. Yes, more than that, He is the Husband
   of His Church, and He may well let His wife go and glean among the
   sheaves, for all she gets is not lost to Him--it is only putting it out
   of one hand into the other since her interests and His are all one. So
   He may well say, "Beloved, take all you please. I am none the poorer,
   for you are Mine. You are My partner, you are My chosen one, you are My
   bride, so, take it, take it all, for it is still in the family and
   there is none the less, when you have taken all that you can."

   What more shall I say to you, my beloved Brothers and Sisters? Go
   glean, spiritually, as much as you can! Never lose an opportunity of
   getting a blessing! Glean at the Mercy Seat. Glean in the House of God.
   Glean in private meditation. Glean in reading pious books. Glean in
   associating with gracious men and women. Glean everywhere--wherever you
   go! And if you can pick up only an ear a day, you who are so much
   engaged in business and so much penned up by cares, if you can only
   spare five minutes, go glean a little--and if you cannot carry away a
   sheaf, get an ear. Or if you cannot get an ear, make sure of at least
   one grain. Take care to glean a little! If you cannot find much, get as
   much as you can.

   Just one other remark, and then I will close. O child of God, never be
   afraid to glean! All there is in all your Lord's fields is yours. Never
   think that your Master will be angry with you because you carry away so
   much of the good corn of the Kingdom. The only thing He is likely to be
   offended with you for is because you do not take enough! "There it is,"
   He says, "take it, take it, and eat it. Eat abundantly. Drink, yes,
   drink abundantly, O beloved!" If you find a sweet promise, suck all the
   honey out of the comb. And if you get hold of some blessed sheaf, do
   not be afraid to carry it away rejoicing. You have a right to it--let
   not Satan cheat you out of it! Sharpen up the sickle of your faith and
   go harvesting, for you may, if you will. And if you can, you may take a
   whole sheaf and carry it away for spiritual food. But if you cannot
   take a whole sheaf, the Lord teach you how to glean among the sheaves,
   even as Ruth did in the fields of Boaz. And may He, in the greatness of
   His Grace, let fall a few handfuls on purpose for you, for His dear
   Son's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: DEUTERONOMY 8.

   Verse 1. All the commandments which I command you this day shall you
   observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess
   the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. Observe, dear Friends,
   that the Lord demands of His people universal obedience to His
   commands--"All the commandments which I command you this day shall you
   observe to do." Christians, although they are not under the Law, are
   under the sweet constraints of love, and that love incites them to
   complete obedience--so that they desire to leave undone nothing which
   the Lord commands. And this obedience is to be careful as well as
   complete. "All the commandments which I command you this day shall you
   observe to do." Not only do them, but do them with care. When the
   commandment applies to a certain duty, obey it in full, both in the
   letter and in the spirit, for there are numerous and weighty blessings
   attached to obedience--not of merit, but of Grace. If we walk carefully
   in the fear of God, we shall find that in keeping His commandments
   there is great reward.

   2. And you shall remember all the ways which the LORD your God led you
   these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you,
   to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His
   commandments, or not It is well to have a good memory and that is the
   best memory which remembers what is best worth remembering. There are
   many things which we would gladly forget, yet we find it hard to forget
   them. They often rise up at most inappropriate times and we loathe
   ourselves to think that we should ever remember them at all. But,
   whatever we forget, we ought always to remember what God has done for
   us. This should excite our gratitude, create deep humility and foster
   our faith both for the present and the future. "You shall remember all
   the ways which Jehovah your God led you these forty years in the
   wilderness" If forty years of the Lord's leading should make some of us
   bless His holy name, what ought you to do, my Brothers and Sisters,
   who, perhaps, are getting near the four-score years? What praise and
   gratitude should be rendered by you to Him who has led you all your
   life long! Look what God intends to accomplish by our wilderness
   experience. It is, first, to "humble" us. Has it had that effect? Then
   it is to "prove" us. Ah, I am afraid it has had that result-- and has
   proved what poor wretched creatures we are! That has been proved in our
   experience, again and again. It is also that it may be known what is in
   our heart, whether we will keep God's commandments or not,

   3. And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with
   manna, which you knew not What a wonderful sequence there is in these
   short sentences! "He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger." One
   would think that the next sentence would be, "and allowed you to
   starve." No, it is, "and fed you with manna." They had the better
   appetite for the manna and were the more ready to see the hand of God
   in sending the manna because of that humbling and hunger which God had
   previously suffered them to endure! "Fed you with manna, which you knew
   not." The very name by which they called it was, "Manna," or, "What is
   this?" "for they knew not what it was." "And fed you with manna, which
   you knew not."

   3. Neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man
   does not live by bread only, but by every Word that proceeds out of the
   mouth of the LORD does man live. God can make us live on bread if it is
   sanctified by the Word of God and prayer. He does make our souls to
   live upon His Word. He could, if so it pleased Him, make our bodies
   live by that Word without any outward sustenance whatever.

   4. Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your feet swell,
   these forty years. What a wonderful experience the Israelites had in
   the wilderness! They were always fed, though in a waste howling
   wilderness, dry and barren. They always had water following them from
   that stream which flowed out of the flinty rock, from which you might
   sooner have expected to strike fire than to obtain water. And as for
   their garments, they did not wear out! They had no shops to go to and
   they were unable to make new clothes in the wilderness on account of
   their frequent moving to and fro. Yet they were always clad and, though
   they were a host of weary pilgrims, marching backwards and forwards for
   forty years, yet their feet did not swell. Oh, what a mercy that was!
   "He keeps the feet of His saints." Has it not been so with you, also,
   dear Friends? You have said, "What shall I do if I live so long and if
   I have to bear so many troubles, and make so many marches through the
   very Valley of the Shadow of Death?" What will you do? Why, you will do
   as you have done! Trust in God, and go on. You shall be fed and you
   shall be upheld even unto the end.

   5. You shall also consider in your heart. Note that we are not only to
   remember God's dealings with us, but we are to consider them, to ponder
   them, to weigh them. "Consider in your heart."

   5. That, as a man chastens his son, so the LORDyour God chastensyou. Do
   I speak to anyone who is just now under the rod? "Consider in your
   heart," then, that God is dealing with you as a father deals with his
   sons, "for what son is he whom the father chastens not?" How would you
   like to be dealt with? Would you rather be without the rod? Then
   remember that "if you are without chastisement, whereof all are
   partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons." Do you wish to be
   treated so? I am sure you do not! You wish to have the children's
   portion, so you say, "Deal with me, Lord, as You are desirous to do
   with those that fear Your name. We are willing to have the rod of the
   Covenant for the sake of the Covenant to which it belongs!

   6-8. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORDyour God, to
   walk in His ways, and to fear Him. For the LORD your God brings you
   into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths
   that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and
   vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey.
   This is also the experience of the child of God--in one sense, in
   Heaven--but in another and perhaps a truer sense, even here below! "We
   which have believed do enter into rest." By faith we take possession of
   the promised land! And when a Christian gets out of the wilderness
   experience of doubting and fearing--and comes into the Canaan
   experience of a simple faith and a fully-assured trust--then he comes
   "into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths
   that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and
   vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey,"
   for God gives to His people not only all they need, but something more.
   He gives them not only necessities, but also luxuries, delights and
   joys.

   9. A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not
   lack anything in it When you live in communion with God and He brings
   you into the full enjoyment of the Covenant blessings, then there is no
   scarceness with you, there is no lack of anything!

   9. A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig
   brass. Or, copper. Silver and gold they had none, but then the princes
   of Sheba and Seba were to offer them gifts and bring them their gold
   and their silver. But if they had nothing for show, they had plenty for
   use, for iron is a great deal more useful metal than gold. And the
   copper, which they hardened into brass, was of much more service to
   them than silver would have been. God will furnish you, dear Brothers
   and Sisters, with all the weapons you need for the Holy War. There may
   be no gold and silver ornaments for your pride, but there shall be iron
   instruments to help you in your conflict with your adversaries.

   10. When you have eaten andare full, then you shall bless the LORDyour
   God for the goodland which He hasgiven you. God permits His people to
   eat and to be full. But, when they are so, they must take care that
   they do not become proud--and that they do not begin to ascribe their
   profiting to themselves.

   11. Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping His
   commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you
   this day. Whenever we see the word, "Beware," in the Bible, we may be
   sure that there is something to beware of. The point here to note is
   that our times of prosperity are times of danger. I remember that Mr.
   Whitefield once asked the prayers of the congregation, "for a young
   gentleman in very dangerous circumstances," for he had just come into a
   fortune of 5,000 pounds. Then is the time when prayer is needed even
   more than in seasons of depression and loss!

   12-16. Lest when you have eaten andare full, andhave built goodly
   houses, and dwelt therein; and when your herds and your flocks
   multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you
   have is multiplied; then your heart is lifted up, andyou forget the
   LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land ofEgypt, from
   the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible
   wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,
   where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock
   of flint; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers
   knew not, that He might humble you, and that He might prove you, to do
   you good at your latter end. Why do we get these passages repeated?
   Surely it is because we have such slippery memories and the Lord has to
   tell His children the same thing over and over again--"precept upon
   precept: line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a
   little" because we so soon forget.

   17-20. Andyou say in your heart, My power and the might of my hands has
   gotten me this wealth. But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it
   is He that gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His
   covenant which He swore unto your fathers, as it is this day. Andit
   shall be, ifyou do at all forget the LORDyour God, and walk after other
   gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day
   that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroys
   before your face, so shall you perish.' 'If you sin as they do, you
   shall fare as they do."

   20. Because you would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORDyour
   God.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Far-reaching Promise

   (No. 2586)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
   15, 1883.

   "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
   afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:39.

   WE learn from the text a fact worth remembering, namely, that in the
   first stage of the Christian ministry, the thing to be aimed at is that
   men should be pricked in the heart. Then, in the second stage, the
   thing to be desired is that they should gladly receive the Word of God.
   Notice what is said in the 37th verse--"When they heard this, they were
   pricked in their heart." Then in the 41st verse--"Then they that gladly
   received his word were baptized." Hence, in the beginning, the
   preacher's business is not to convert men, but the very reverse! It is
   idle to attempt to heal those who are not wounded, to attempt to clothe
   those who have never been stripped and to make those rich who have
   never realized their poverty. As long as the world stands, we shall
   need the Holy Spirit, not only as the Comforter, but also as the
   Convincer, who will "reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
   and ofjudgment."

   I am inclined to think that the large number of backsliders who, after
   they have professed to be converted, turn back to the world, may be
   accounted for by the fact that they never seriously felt their guilt
   and were never brought low by the work of the Holy Spirit convicting
   them of sin. Give me the old-fashioned form of conversion in which our
   fathers rejoice. I have lived long enough to see people jump into what
   they call salvation, and jump out of it as men plunge into a cold bath
   when they get up in the morning! Here is a person with a diseased leg.
   The doctor has looked at the limb, but he has not used his knife, he
   has not cut out the proud flesh--but he has applied a liniment and an
   ointment--and he has made a wonderful cure! Marvelous are the healing
   powers of the clever man. According to common reports he is in high
   repute everywhere around. Yes, so he may be, but that limb will never
   be right again--the surgeon has done a permanent injury to it under the
   pretense of having rendered its owner a great service. I believe that
   some men who are said to have been converted many times need to be
   converted now--and that multitudes of those who are trumpeted forth as
   having found the Savior do not yet know why they need a Savior and have
   notreally found Him--but have exercised presumption in the place of
   faith and a belief in their own excited feelings instead of in the Lord
   Jesus Christ!

   It must be so, I am sure, because we constantly see, on all hands, men
   who have been washed into deeper stains and who are worse after their
   so-called conversion than they were before. There must be, dear
   Friends, a probing of men's hearts with the Law of God before we can
   rightly bring to them the healing of the Gospel. Old Robbie Flockhart's
   simile was a good one. He said, "You may take a piece of silk thread
   and try to sew with it as long as you like, but you will do nothing
   with it, alone--you need a sharp, piercing needle to go, first, and
   that will draw the silken thread after it. The needle of the Law of God
   prepares the way for the thread of the Gospel." There must be
   birth-pangs, or there will be no child born. The old-fashioned Grace of
   repentance is not to be dispensed with--there must be sorrow for
   sin--there must be "a broken and a contrite heart." This, God will not
   despise. But a "conversion" which does not produce this result, God
   will not accept as genuine.

   So we shall still continue to preach the Law of God. We shall thunder
   out the terrors of the Lord. We shall not be fashionable and popular,
   and prophesy smooth things lest our labor should be declared to have
   been in vain when the Lord shall come. I charge all Brothers who are
   anxious for the true conversion of sinners, to be sometimes a little
   backward in dealing out comfort to them. Wait till you see that it is
   really needed! Wait till you perceive that there is a wound before you
   apply the healing balm. Until people are willing to confess their sins,
   you have no ground upon which you can comfort them. It is the man who
   "confesses and forsakes them" who "shall have mercy." Christ is a
   sinner's Savior and if a man is not a sinner, Christ has no salvation
   for him. Until he will take the sinner's place and frankly acknowledge
   his guilt, what is the use of preaching to him? Remember Christ's own
   words--"They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are
   sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

   Now I am going to try to preach as wide, plain and open a Gospel as I
   can, but I have no hope of its being accepted by anybody unless, first
   of all, he has been pricked in the heart. I am persuaded that even the
   wondrous illimitable liberality of God is a thing which is despised by
   men until they have a sense of their need of His bounty. When that
   sense of need is worked within them by the Holy Spirit, then they leap
   at the very sound of the Gospel! But until then, their heart is gross,
   their ears are dull of hearing and they care not for the Free Grace of
   God.

   Now let us come to our text--"For the promise is unto you, and to your
   children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
   God shall call."

   I. First, notice that the promise which God has made to man in Christ
   Jesus is A PROMISE WHICH EXACTLY MEETS THE NEED OF MANKIND. What is
   that promise?

   First, it is the promise of the Holy Spirit The Apostle Peter quoted
   from the Prophet Joel the promise which God had made that in the latter
   days He would pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. That Holy Spirit
   is one of man's most urgent needs. We are fallen, Brothers and
   Sisters--fallen through the agency of the evil spirit--and we need the
   help of the good Spirit that we may be raised again. Our nature is
   polluted at its very center! The old serpent has poured poison into the
   innermost fountain of our being and, therefore, we need that the Holy
   Spirit should come and pour life into us, renewing us in the spirit of
   our mind. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate us, for we are both
   blind and in the dark. We need the Holy Spirit to instruct us, for, by
   nature, we are ignorance, itself, and it is His office to teach men. We
   need the Holy Spirit to soften our heart. Naturally, it is harder than
   the nether millstone, which is always the harder of the two, as it has
   to bear the grinding of the upper stone. We need the Holy Spirit to
   quicken us, for, by nature, we are dead in trespasses and sins, and to
   all good things callous and indifferent. Brothers and Sisters, we need
   the Holy Spirit that we should be regenerated, for it is written, "You
   must be born again," and we can only be born again, born from above,
   through the operation of the Spirit of God! When we are born again, we
   still need the Holy Spirit that He may sanctify us, that He may
   preserve us, that He may perfect us and make us qualified to be
   partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!

   Therefore, Sinner, if you say, "I feel myself to be powerless,
   incapable, like one that is dead," let not that stand in your way, for
   God gives the Holy Spirit on purpose to meet just such need as yours!
   Everything that is necessary to be done, which you cannot do, the
   Spirit of God will help you to do. And that which you can do, in a
   measure, but which you do very badly and inefficiently, the Spirit of
   God is given to help you to do, for He helps our infirmity. There is no
   strength needed in you, Sinner--He will be your strength! There is no
   good operation needed on your part--the Holy Spirit has come to work
   all your works in you. He works in us to will and to do according to
   His own good pleasure and then we, in consequence, thereof, work out
   our own salvation with fear and trembling! If you will but believe in
   Christ, you need not come to Him with a new heart--here is the Spirit
   of God to give you that new heart. You need not strive to make yourself
   tender and humble in spirit--here is the Spirit of God to make you
   tender and humble. There is nothing that you need endeavor to produce
   in yourself, for this Divine Being, who brooded over chaos and brought
   order out of primeval confusion, is ready to come and brood over
   you--over your dark, disordered, chaotic soul! He can spread His
   clove-like wings over it till you shall come to light, and love, and
   life, and liberty, and joy! Oh, is not this a mercy that inasmuch as we
   are so weak and helpless, the promise of God is that He will give the
   Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

   But this is not all that a man needs in order that he may be saved. He
   needs, secondly, the remission of his sin and there is a promise that
   God will give to the penitent the remission of their sins. Hence Peter
   said, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
   Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the
   Holy Spirit." Hearken, guilty One, there is remission of sin even for
   you! You who have lain soaking in sin till you are crimsoned with it,
   till your sin is ingrained into your very nature, there is power with
   God to make that crimson white as snow, for, "all manner of sin and
   blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." Whenever I repeat those gracious
   words of our

   Lord, I feel as if I had said something far more sweet than the
   choicest poetry, something infinitely more deserving to be written in
   letters of gold than all the sayings of the wisest philosophers of old!
   Tell the guilty man that God has mercy reserved for him and is prepared
   to forgive him--what better news can he ever hear? Tell him that it is
   not true, as some say, that everything we have ever done must
   necessarily remain upon us, to injure and to hurt us in this life and
   in the next, as long as we have any being--it is not so, there is a
   remedy provided by God for the disease of sin! Yes, God can remove the
   very scars which that disease has left behind when it is healed! Sin
   can be perfectly forgiven and forever put away. Remember the Lord's
   declaration: "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your
   transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins."

   Now, when a cloud is gone, the sky is none the darker, it is just as
   blue as it was before that cloud was formed. Another emblem of God's
   Grace is that when He has washed us, we shall be whiter than snow.
   Snow, when it first falls, bears no trace of ever having been stained,
   it is so perfectly white. And God can wash you, poor Sinner, though you
   are guiltiest of the guilty, till not a speck of sin remains. "You are
   clean every whit," said Christ to His disciples. Oh, what a word was
   that, and it is true of all who trust Jesus! Being cleansed in His
   blood, no trace of sin remains!

   Now put those two things together--the Holy Spirit working in us a
   change of heart and Jesus Christ working for us and preparing pardon
   for sin--and in those two things you have the supply of man's great
   need, which, put in a word, is salvation. In verse 21 you can see the
   promise about that matter--"Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord
   shall be saved." He shall be saved--that is, perfectly and completely
   saved both from the guilt of sin and from the power of sin! He shall
   not be half-saved, or saved in one particular form of salvation, but he
   shall be saved. Whoever, then, repenting, trusts in Christ and
   confesses his faith according to Christ's own rule, shall be saved! "He
   that believes and is baptized shall be saved." This is the glorious
   promise which, in its wide sweep, comprises all that a sinner
   needs--the Holy Spirit, the remission of sin and salvation!

   II. Now, secondly, let us enquire--TO WHOM IS THIS PROMISE MADE?
   According to my text, "the promise is unto you, and to your children,
   and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
   call."

   I never like to accuse my Brothers of being tricky, but have you ever
   heard this text quoted as far as this, "For the promise is unto you,
   and to your children"? And then a full stop is put in, to prove not
   that an infant ought to be baptized, but that an infant ought to be
   sprinkled? The argument used by many ministers is that the blessings of
   the Covenant are for Believers and their children--and some of you may
   sometimes have thought that the argument is rather difficult to answer.
   I do not like to think that there has been any dishonesty in such a
   matter, still, one cannot approve of a Brother chopping a text off in
   the middle like that and trying to make it say exactly the opposite of
   what it really says!

   Instead of this passage teaching that there is some special blessing
   for Christian people and their children, it teaches nothing of the
   sort! Peter declares that there is no limit of that kind to the range
   of this promise. Listen--"The promise is unto you, and to your
   children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our
   God shall call." Suppose that I were to try and argue thus--"The
   promise is unto you, and to your children, therefore your children
   ought to be baptized." Go on with the text--"and to all that are afar
   off," therefore all that are afar off ought to be baptized. That would
   be the same kind of reasoning, but it would be the drivel of an idiot,
   with no reasoning in it! But the passage, instead of speaking of
   anything being a privilege to certain people and their children,
   expressly declares that while it is their privilege, and their
   children's privilege, it is equally the privilege of all that are afar
   off--"as many as the Lord our God shall call." That is to say, that
   great Covenant promise, "Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord
   shall be saved," is meant for you, is meant for your children, is meant
   for Hottentots, is meant for Hindus, is meant for Greenlanders, is
   meant for everybody to whom the Lord's call is addressed!

   Our commission is, "Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to
   every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he
   that believes not shall be damned." There is not any person in this
   place who does not come within the sweep of my text! The promise is to
   you if you are a Jew! It is to you if you are the child of a Jew, or if
   you are the child of a godly man--but it is also to you if you are afar
   off! If any are afar off because of sin, having gone into the far
   country away from God, or if they are afar off, literally, living in
   distant foreign lands, to them is the word of this salvation sent! The
   promise is for all to whom the message comes and, in its innermost and
   special sense, it is for all whom God shall effectually call by His
   Spirit, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, bond or free! That is the
   very glory of the text and upon that I want to reflect while I pass on
   to the next point.

   III. That next point is this. Inasmuch as everything that a sinner
   needs for his salvation is made a matter of promise, and that promise
   is made to all that hear the Gospel, then, Brothers and Sisters, THIS
   IS A CAUSE FOR VERY GREAT

   ENCOURAGEMENT.

   I hope that I am addressing some who are pierced in the heart and who,
   therefore, want to find Christ. Well, see what a promise you have to
   come upon! And many have come to the Lord with far less encouragement
   When Jonah went to Nineveh, to utter his mournful and monotonous
   message, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," the king
   believed it and his people believed it--and they humbled themselves
   before God. Yet what had they to go upon? Only this, "Who can tell?"
   They said, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away
   from His fierce anger, that we perish not?" So they came to God with no
   other encouragement but, "Who can tell?" Take heed, you who hear the
   Gospel, that the men of Nineveh do not rise up in judgment against you
   to condemn you!

   Take another case. There was the prodigal who came back to his father.
   Had he any promise from his father that he would receive him? No,
   nothing of the sort. It was only the prodigal's belief in his father's
   goodness that brought him back and his father did receive him. Take
   another case, that of the importunate widow who went to the judge,
   crying, "Avenge me of my adversary." Had she a promise that the judge
   would relieve her? Not at all! He was one who feared not God, nor
   regarded man--yet she kept on pleading with him and, though he even
   told her, no, perhaps scores of times, yet she pressed on with her suit
   till, at last, her importunity won the case!

   Now see what vantage ground you stand upon compared with these people.
   You do not go to God with the question, "Who can tell?" You do not come
   to God merely with an inference drawn from the kindness of His Nature.
   You do not come to God merely persuaded that He will hear importunate
   prayer. But if you come to Him, you come with a promise, for, "the
   promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar
   off." And this is the promise--"Whoever shall call upon the name of the
   Lord shall be saved." Oh, I think you ought to come to God with joy on
   your face, for with such a sweet promise as this, you must, you shall
   prevail!

   The second encouragement is that God is always true. It would be a
   dreadful supposition to imagine that God could lie. In fact, that would
   be sheer blasphemy! If a man is a righteous man and he makes a promise,
   he will keep it if he can. A good man "swears to his own hurt and
   changes not." Much more is the good God faithful to every promise He
   has ever made. "Has He said, and shall He not do it?" Then, if God has
   promised that whoever believes in His Son shall be saved, you may be
   sure that he will be! And whoever you may be, if you believe in Christ,
   you must be saved. "Lord, I know that You cannot lie." You may plead in
   that fashion with Him. Take His promise in your hand and say to him,
   "Do as You have said."--

   "You have promised to forgive All who on Your Son believe."

   Plead that promise and you shall find it certainly fulfilled, for God
   did never yet draw back from a promise which He had made--and He never
   will! Oh, how that ought to encourage you in prayer! "But," says one,
   "may I grasp that promise, 'Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord
   shall be saved'?" Of course you may! And if the devil says that you
   must not claim that promise, tell him that Peter said, "The promise is
   unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off." And as
   you are one of those that are a long way off Jerusalem--and, certainly,
   the British islands must have been esteemed very far off in Peter's
   day--then you are one of those to whom that promise has come! Plead it
   and you shall find that it will be fulfilled to you.

   Further, take encouragement from the next point, which is that if God
   has made a promise, He certainly must be prepared to fulfill it I have
   known a great many very promising young men who never were performing
   young men. They promise to do this and that, and the other--but they
   never do anything of the sort. I heard of one, the other day, who owed
   a great deal of money. He got the bill for the debt renewed and after
   that was done, he said to a friend, "Now that is all settled. How
   comfortable a fellow feels when he has no debts to trouble him!" He had
   not paid anything, he had not anything with which he could pay, he had
   only renewed his promise to pay--yet he felt perfectly content! Some
   people are willing to enter into any kind of promise or bond, but it
   never seems to occur to them that they must fulfill the obligation into
   which they have entered. We put them down as bad men and we do not want
   to trade with them--or associate with them!

   But God never made a promise unless He was quite prepared to fulfill
   it. Men sometimes make promises because it is not convenient, or in
   their power to perform the promise at once, so they postpone its
   fulfillment. But when God makes a promise, He can fulfill it at once
   and He will always be ready to fulfill it whenever He is called upon to
   do so. Friends, if God has promised to give the Holy Spirit, He can do
   it! The Holy Spirit waits to descend into men's hearts. If God has
   promised to give the pardon of sin, He can do it. The ransom price is
   paid. The Atonement has been presented and accepted--

   "There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins."

   It has not to be filled. The sacrifice is not to be found, or to be
   offered when found. "It is finished." Everything that is required for
   your salvation is ready and I am sent to you to say, "Hungry souls that
   need a feast of mercy, the oxen and fatlings are killed! All things are
   ready, come to the supper." So that the Lord's promise ought to cheer
   you very much, since God is ready at once to fulfill it.

   Yet again, here is another word of good cheer to you. God has put
   salvation upon the footing of promise. Not on the footing of merit--not
   on the footing of purchase--not on the footing of anything you can do,
   but on the footing of, "He has promised it." That is how the Covenant
   of Grace runs--"I will" and, "you shall." It is not, "You are to do
   this, to feel that and to be the other." But it is, "A new heart, also,
   will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will
   take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
   heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to
   walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them." It
   is all promise, promise, promise, promise! When you call on a man for
   money and he says to you, "On what ground do you ask for this sum?" and
   you say, "Why, Sir, because you promised it," that is a good ground to
   go upon with one who is both able and willing to pay. If he said to
   you, "But I need to know whether you deserve this"--you are such an
   undeserving person that you would feel that you were out of court with
   him. But when your answer is simply this, "Whatever I may be, is not
   the question. I come because you promised"--that makes grand pleading!
   That is the way to be enriched with heavenly mercy, simply to say, "O
   Lord, You have promised Grace to all who trust Your Son, and here I am
   --empty, naked, poor and undeserving--but I plead Your promise! For
   Your truth's sake, and for Your mercy's sake, fulfill that promise unto
   me."

   Is not all this encouraging? I do not say to you, "The law is unto you,
   and to your children, and to all that are afar off." But I say, with
   Peter, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that
   are afar off." The word of promise is preached to you--"Believe on the
   Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." "He that believes on Him is
   not condemned." "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." Or,
   putting it in Peter's words: "Repent and be baptized every one of you,
   in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall
   receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

   Now observe, in conclusion, that no exception is possible in this case.
   Let me repeat that expression--no exception is possible in this case.
   Addressing all the Jews who were gathered around him, Peter said, "The
   promise is unto you!" Looking forward to all the future generations of
   Jews that were to be born, he added, "and to your children." And then,
   lifting up his eyes to the far-off Gentile world, looking in vision as
   far as "The Pillars of Hercules," and across "the silver streak" that
   separates these islands from the mainland--looking still further to
   Ireland as well and then to the great continent which Columbus
   afterwards discovered, he seemed to see red men, black men, white men
   and brown men--men of every race and clime and age! And he included
   them all by saying, "and to all that are afar off, even as many as the
   Lord our God shall call." Comprehending the vast population of the
   whole globe, throughout all time, Peter says, "This promise is to you
   all, 'Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"

   Therefore, that is a promise to me! Well do I recollect the time when I
   first laid hold of that Truth of God. I was in great sorrow of soul,
   for I thought that there was no Gospel for me. But I caught a ray of
   hope from that blessed word, "whoever"--oh, how I love that word,
   "whoever"--"whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
   And there was another cheering message. "Him that comes to Me I will in
   no wise cast out." I read what John Bunyan said about that text--"What,
   'him,' is this? Why, it is any 'him that comes.' Any him, in all the
   world, that comes unto Christ, He will in no wise cast out." Perhaps
   you know how the blessed dreamer goes on about the rest of that verse--
   "'He will in no wise cast out.' Lord, I am a big sinner! 'I will in no
   wise cast out.' Lord, I have been a blasphemer! 'I will in no wise cast
   out.' Lord, I am an old sinner--I am 80 years old! 'I will in no wise
   cast out.' Lord, I have been an adulterer. I have been a fornicator. I
   have been a thief. I have been a murderer! 'I will in no wise cast
   out.'" So he goes over, and over, and over, and over with it to show
   that whoever comes to Christ, He cannot possibly cast him out, for if
   He did, it would make Christ a liar and it would make a lie of hundreds
   of texts! "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out."

   Look, Sirs, look! It is not for God's honor to cast out a soul that
   comes to Him. Suppose that there should be cast out one soul that came
   to Christ? Suppose that one sinner who trusted in Christ should perish?
   I know what men would do. They would directly publish all round the
   world, "God has broken His Word! The Gospel has failed, for here is a
   soul lost that trusted in Christ!" You do not suppose God will allow
   that, do you? In imagination, I see that poor soul going down to Hell.
   He is no sooner there than the devil says to him, "Did you trust
   Christ?" "Yes, I did." "Did He refuse to save you?" "Yes, He did." "Do
   you mean to say that you fulfilled the Word of God, 'He that believes
   and is baptized'?" "Yes, I did." "And yet you are not saved!" Oh, what
   a roar of laughter would go all round the Pit! How every fallen spirit,
   rising from his dungeon, would begin with unhallowed glee to shout and
   yell! How through the deep compound of pandemonium, where evil reigns
   supreme, there would go up their hisses and their hoots against a
   defeated Savior--against a conquered Christ--against a lying
   God--against One that said, and did not do, and that spoke, and was not
   true. "Aha, aha, Emmanuel, Diabolus has defeated You! Aha, aha,
   Jehovah, Your Word is forfeited!" Shall such a thing ever be? You
   shudder as I picture it. It never shall be! Heaven and earth shall pass
   away and, as a moment's foam dissolves into the wave that bears it, and
   is lost forever, so shall the universe pass away, but never shall a
   sinner come and cast himself on Christ--and yet be allowed to perish!
   Try it, Sinner! Try it! Try it now! God help you to try it, and to
   prove that, still, Christ receives sinners and casts out none who trust
   Him! The Lord bless you, for His name's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ACTS2:1-42.

   We cannot too often read the story of that wondrous outpouring of the
   Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And let us never read it without
   asking the Lord to manifest in our midst the fullness of the Spirit's
   power. We may not have a repetition of the miraculous gifts which were
   then bestowed upon the Apostles and those who were with them, but we
   may have that gracious influence which shall convince and convert those
   who gather to hear the Word. Our success in preaching the Word is
   entirely dependent upon the Presence and working of the Holy Spirit.
   Therefore, let our prayer be--

   "Lord God, the Holy Spirit,

   In this accepted hour,

   As on the day of Pentecost,

   Descend in all Your power.

   The young, the old inspire

   With wisdom from above

   And give us hearts and tongues of fire,

   To pray, and praise, and love." Verses 1-13. And when the day of
   Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
   And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty
   wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
   appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each
   of them. And they were all filed with the Holy Spirit, and began to
   speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there
   were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under
   Heaven. Now when this was heard abroad, the multitude came together,
   and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own
   language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
   Behold, are not all these which speak, Galileans? And how hear we every
   man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and
   Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and
   Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and
   in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and
   proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues
   the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in
   doubt, saying one to another, What does this mean? Others mocking said,
   These men are full of new wine. The people who came together were
   greatly astonished to find the disciples of Christ speaking to them in
   their own tongues. Though all the speakers were Jews and naturally knew
   no tongue but their own, yet they were able to talk in divers
   languages. Therefore some of their hearers, mocking, said, "These men
   are fall of new wine."

   14-21. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and
   said unto them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem,
   be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: for these are not
   drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
   But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel--And it shall
   come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit
   upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
   your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
   and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days
   of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will show wonders in
   Heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and
   vapor of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon
   into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord comes: and it
   shall come to pass that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord
   shall be saved. I did not detain you to speak about the moon turned
   into blood, or the sun darkened into midnight--those matters are of
   small consequence to you and to me compared with this sentence:
   "Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." What a
   blessed door of hope is this! What a window, letting the light of
   Heaven shine into the darkest despondency! Whoever shall address
   himself to God by repentance, by faith, by prayer, shall be saved!

   22, 23. You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a Man
   approved of God among you by miracles and wonders andsigns, which God
   did by Him in the midst of you, asyou yourselves also know: Him, being
   delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
   taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. This was bold
   talking, for Peter was doubtless addressing many of the very people who
   had put the Lord to death--and he charges them with it! Observe how he
   declares that Christ's death was in accordance with "the determinate
   counsel and foreknowledge of God," yet he expressly says that, "by
   wicked hands" they had crucified and slain Him. It never occurred to
   Peter that the counsel of God deprived men of the responsibility and
   guilt of their actions. No, neither need it ever occur to you! If
   anyone shall ask you, "When anything is according to the foreknowledge
   and counsel of God, how can God blame the doer of it?" you may tell him
   that he has first to explain to you what he means; and if he says there
   is a difficulty in it, ask him to tell you what the difficulty is.
   Those who knew better than the objector, could see none. The inspired
   Apostle Peter could see none, but when he was most vehement in charging
   these men with guilt, yet, at the same time he said that it was by the
   determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God! Surely he was a bad
   pleader to introduce into his argument anything that could be readily
   construed into an excuse for those he was accusing! But there is no
   real excuse in it--the free agency of man is as true as the
   predestination of God--the two Truths stand fast forever! It is the
   folly of man to imagine that they disagree. If you do wrong, you are
   accountable for the wrong. And if there is a Providence which ordains
   everything--as certainly there is--yet that Providence takes not away
   from any man the full responsibility for anything that he does. So,
   truly did Peter say to these Jews concerning Christ, "Him, being
   delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
   taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."

   24-32. Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death:
   because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
   ForDavid'speaks concerning Him, I foresaw the Lordalways before my
   face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore
   did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh
   shall rest in hope: because You willnot leave my soul in Hades, neither
   will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to
   me the ways of life; You shall make me full of joy with Your
   countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
   Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is
   with us unto this day. Therefore being a Prophet, and knowing that God
   had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
   according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
   he seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His
   soul was not left in the abode of the dead, neither His flesh did see
   corruption. This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
   Here Peter appealed to the eleven, and to all the disciples then
   present who had seen Jesus after He had risen from the dead. It must
   have been a very impressive sight as they all stood up bearing witness
   that they had seen the Christ, who was crucified, alive after His
   death! It was a wonderful public attestation to that grandest of all
   facts--the raising again from the dead of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
   God!

   33. Therefore being by thee right hand of God exalted, and having
   received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed
   forth this, which you now see and hear. Was not that enough to convince
   them? They saw and they heard the proofs of the working of the Spirit
   among them--and Peter told them that "this" was the gift of Christ, who
   had ascended up on high. It must have been a very striking thing to
   have been there, and to have heard and seen these tokens of God setting
   His seal to the work of Jesus.

   34-36. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he says himself,
   The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit You on My right hand, until I make Your
   foes Your footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know
   assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified,
   both Lord and Christ. What a climax to Peter's sermon! How simple and
   yet how triumphant is the argument! We do not wonder that men were
   convinced by it.

   37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. There
   is a great distinction between being cut to the heart and being pricked
   in the heart. Those who were cut to the heart stoned the preacher, but
   they who are pricked in the heart yield a sweet obedience to the will
   of God! "They were pricked in their heart."

   37-40. And said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and
   brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be
   baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
   remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
   For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are
   afar of, even as many as the Lord our Godshall call. And with many
   other words didhe testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this
   untoward generation. Not, "save yourselves," but, "save yourselves from
   this untoward generation." Come out from among them! They are guilty of
   the death of Christ. You will be found guilty of it, too, unless you
   now disown the people who committed that awful crime! Come right out
   from among them and be altogether separated from them.

   41, 42. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the
   same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And
   they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and feelowship,
   and in breakkng of bread, and in prayers.
     __________________________________________________________________

"Much More"

   (No. 2587)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ONLORDS-DAYEVENING, MAY 13,
   1883.

   "Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans
   5:10.

   THE first great message of mercy to a sinner is put into four short
   words in the eighth verse of this chapter--"Christ died for us." A
   preacher can never be wrong in lifting up Christ Crucified! It is the
   glory of a congregation if it can be truly said, "Before your eyes
   Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you." Well
   did the Apostle make this his boast--"We preach Christ Crucified."
   Still, we must always remember that there is a great deal about Christ
   besides His Crucifixion and, however glorious His death may be--and we
   are not disposed to rank it second to anything else--yet there is
   another glory, another form of His excellency which is seen, not in His
   death, but in His life! It is of this that the Apostle speaks
   here--"Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

   Before we come to the consideration of that subject, dear Friends, let
   us think of what the death of Christ has done for some of us. The
   former part of the verse from which our text is taken says, "When we
   were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." What
   was that reconciliation? Of what did it consist? We will not talk so
   much doctrinally, as practically and experimentally. We were once
   enemies of God, but we are not enemies of God any longer. God was once
   angry with us, but God is not angry with us any more. If we have
   believed in Jesus Christ, a complete reconciliation has been effected
   between the offended God and the offending sinner. In this
   reconciliation, I see, first, that God, who is always Love, and has
   always loved His people, being just, was unable to deal with the guilty
   sinner except upon the footing of justice--and justice demanded that
   the sinning soul should die! But Christ has come that God, as the great
   moral Ruler, might be able, without violation of His holiness, to deal
   mercy with sinful men.

   Let there be no mistake about the objective and purpose of Christ's
   Sacrifice! John Kent's hymn rightly says--

   "'Twaas not to make Jehovah's love

   Towards the sinner flame,

   That Jesus, from His Throne above,

   A suffering Man became.

   'Twaas not the death which He endured,

   Nor all the pangs He bore,

   That God's eternal love procured,

   For God was Love before."

   He was always Love to His people, but, until Christ came to earth and
   died, the Just for the unjust, that love could not freely flow. There
   was a dam that blocked up the stream. There was a great rock in the
   channel and the rivers of love could not flow. But by the death of the
   Lord Jesus Christ, that impediment has been removed. God can now be
   "just and the Justifier of him which believes in Jesus." I have already
   said that in His heart of hearts, there was always love towards His
   people, but as the Judge upon the Judgment Seat, He could not display
   that love--He could only manifest His indignation against every soul of
   man that did evil.

   Now, this most righteous wrath of God was removed by the death of Jesus
   Christ and could not have been removed by any other manner. The sword
   must find its victim and Christ bared His breast to let infinite
   Justice spend its full force on Him. The debt had to be paid and Jesus
   paid it to the last penny with His own life which He poured out upon
   the Cross. The cup of wrath must be drained--there was no putting it
   aside--so Jesus took it and, after saying, "O My Father, if this cup
   may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Your will be done." He
   put it to His lips and never took it away till He had drained it to its
   last drop. There was a necessity for Christ's death, "it behooved
   Christ to suffer," and by His suffering He appeased the wrath of the
   great Judge of All, so that He could justly look upon guilty men with
   complacency. That wondrous change was worked by Christ's death and now
   the very justice of God demands our salvation. It is indeed marvelous
   that the righteousness of God, which was against us, should be made to
   be for us and that the Justice of God, which pronounced the sentence of
   death upon us, should be so transformed that Justice, itself, now
   decrees our eternal life! This is a wonderful part of the
   reconciliation.

   But the Apostle speaks of our being reconciled--our being reconciled.
   Well, that comes about in this way. We felt in our conscience that we
   had sinned against God. I am not speaking of all here present, but I am
   speaking of all those upon whom the Spirit of God has worked
   salvation--our conscience felt a secret sting, as though a burning
   poison had entered into the veins of our spirit. I remember when the
   thought that I had offended God seemed to drink up my very life. Of
   course I did not love Him and I could not, for it is according to the
   nature of our sinful heart that if we do anyone an injury, we are sure
   to hate him. We do not always hate the man who injures us, but if we
   injure him, our hatred is almost certain to follow. And inasmuch as we
   had broken all God's Laws and did not wish to admit it, we hated the
   Law itself. We kicked against it and tried to persuade ourselves that
   it was the root of the offense instead of our own willful hearts being
   the source of the evil. We knew God to be holy, but we did not love
   holiness--in fact, having no holiness of our own, we could not endure
   even to hear or read about it! We set up a counterfeit righteousness of
   our own and pretended that we were good, and all the while we were
   despising the true holiness and the perfect righteousness of God.

   But, Beloved, when we saw Christ dying in our place, "the Just for the
   unjust, that He might bring us to God," then conscience said, "God is
   satisfied and so am I." When we saw that God's anger was removed
   because Christ had died, then our pettish, proud anger was removed,
   too, and we said, "Now are we reconciled to God by the death of His
   dear Son." Oh, with what swift feet we fled to the Mercy Seat! With
   what confidence, though with a holy trembling, we pleaded the merits of
   the dear Redeemer! And what joy and peace filled our mind! Then we no
   longer hated God, or hated holiness, or hated the Law of God, but we
   submitted ourselves unconditionally. We said, "The Law is holy and God
   is gracious--blessed be His glorious name." Thus, the death of Christ
   worked reconciliation, the anger of God was removed and so was the
   trouble of our conscience. Then were our hearts won! Shall I speak for
   all God's people here? I think I shall if I speak for myself and say--

   "Law and terrors do but harden All the while they work alone, But a
   sense of blood-bought pardon Soon dissolves a heart of stone."

   Oh, how our hearts were dissolved when we found that Christ loved us
   and that He had given Himself for us! When we saw God to be reconciled,
   how we longed for Him! Our heart and our flesh cried out for God, for
   the living God, and we said, "When shall we come and appear before
   God?" And that longing is still upon us--we delight in fellowship with
   Him. We are longing to be like He and we are expecting to be with Him
   where He is! And this is all the Heaven that we desire. Oh, blessed be
   God, it is a bleeding Christ who has reconciled us even on earth! It is
   a bleeding Christ who has put out the fires of enmity! It is a bleeding
   Christ who has slain forever the warfare in our spirit against God. Now
   are we reconciled unto God by the death of His Son.

   Do not let me go a step further, dear Friends, until you can all get as
   far as this. If there is any man here who is not reconciled to God, let
   him remember what a terrible state he is in. He is God's enemy! How
   would any one of you like to have that title branded on your brow
   tonight, "God's enemy"? Remember that you will never be reconciled to
   God except through the bleeding Savior, so seek Him now! Before even a
   word is said about the ever-living Christ, come and put your finger
   into the print of the nails of the dead Christ! Come and wash in the
   fountain which He has filled from His own veins! Come and accept the
   great atoning Sacrifice now! God help you, by His Divine Spirit, to do
   so, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake!

   This brings us to the special subject mentioned in our text. "Much
   more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." The Apostle
   Paul here bids us remember that Christ is still alive and that although
   we are reconciled to God, we still need to be kept and preserved, or,
   as he calls it, "saved." And he tells us that as Christ's death has
   been effectual to reconcile us, we may be quite sure that His life will
   be effectual to save us. No, he says, "Much more." If the death of
   Christ has reconciled us, "much more, being reconciled, we shall be
   saved by His life."

   I want you, dear Friends, to do three things as you think of our text.
   First, consider what the life of Christ is to us. Secondly, consider
   why the words, "much more, "may be applied to it. And, thirdly,
   consider how we can use this life.

   I. First, then, briefly consider WHAT THE LIFE OF CHRIST IS TO US. If a
   man were to show me a picture of Christ on the Cross, I would say to
   him, "What is that?" If he were to answer, "A picture of my Lord," I
   would reply, "It is not a picture of my Savior as He now is. It may be
   a representation of Him as He once was, but not as He is now, enthroned
   in Glory." If a person were to carry about in his pocket the likeness
   of his mother taken after death, and were to draw it out, and say,
   "That is my mother," I would say, "I would prefer to remember her as
   she was at her best, not as she was in the agonies of death, or after
   death." So, I pray you, do not look upon any representation of Christ
   upon the Cross as the main representation of our Lord Jesus! He was
   dead but for a very little while. He was on the Cross only for a few
   hours. Our Savior lives, never more to die! The Christ of the Church of
   Rome, as I have often told you, is a dead Christ on the Cross, or else
   a baby Christ in Mary's arms--but the Christ of the Church of God is a
   living Christ! We say of the grave, as the angel said to the women, "He
   is not here: for He is risen, as He said." We say of the Cross, "He is
   not here. He has put an end to death in making an end of sin by His own
   death." The main thought concerning Christ, to those of us who really
   know Him, should be that He is the livingChrist--

   "He lives, the great Redeemer lives, What joy the blest assurance
   gives!"

   What has Christ's risen life to do with us? Well, first, Christ's
   resurrection from the dead is to us who believe in Him the pledge that
   He has saved us. When our Lord Jesus Christ died, He was, as it were,
   put in prison as a hostage for His people. And He was kept there till
   Divine Omniscience had searched His Sacrifice and searched His
   obedience to see whether they were complete. And when it was certified
   that Christ had finished all the work which His Father had given Him to
   do, then the sheriffs officer of Heaven, "the angel of the Lord," was
   sent down to roll away the stone and bid the Captive come out. And when
   Jesus Christ came out of the grave, all His people came out of prison
   with their great Representative! In His own release from the tomb there
   was a token given to Him from God that their sins were forgiven and
   that His righteousness was accepted on their behalf. "He died for our
   sins," says the Apostle, but He also "rose again for our
   justification." Therefore, wrap not your hearts in the grave clothes
   which He left behind, but clothe them in the golden apparel wherewith
   the rising Christ girded Himself, for you are justified because He has
   risen!

   Believing in the resurrection of Christ, we view Him as living and
   continuing to live--"Christ being raised from the dead dies no more;
   death has no more dominion over Him." What has that to do with us? Why,
   just what our Lord said to His disciples--"Because I live, you shall
   live also." Beloved, because Christ has risen from the dead, so all His
   people shall rise. And because, having once risen, Christ dies no more,
   so His rising saints shall be perfectly safe through all the
   future--they shall live forever because they are partakers of His
   eternal life. Is not that a subject for great rejoicing? I live because
   He died, for that death redeemed me from death. But yet more, I live
   because He lives. "For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ
   in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall you
   also appear with Him in Glory."

   Now follow with me this living Christ. We have seen that He is risen
   and living, what comes next? A few days after this living Christ rose
   from the grave, a little throng gathered about Him on "the mount called
   Olivet" and, to their surprise, He began to ascend. Scattering
   benedictions with both His hands, He confirmed to ascend till, at last,
   "a cloud received Him out of their sight." What has that ascension to
   do with us? Why, just this. He said to His disciples, "I go to prepare
   a place for you." He has gone up into Glory, as our Representative, to
   take possession of eternal joy for us. He has gone within the veil that
   He may represent us before His Father's face, that, by-and-by, we may
   join Him and be with Him where He is, to go no more out forever!
   Therefore, Beloved, let us rejoice. As the Lord our Savior has ascended
   into Heaven, so shall we, in His own good time. I always admire that
   line of Dr. Watts, where he says that our Lord, in His ascension to
   Heaven, has "taught our feet the way"--

   "Up to our Good our feet shall fly, On the great rising day."

   Earth cannot permanently hold us down now Christ has gone up into His
   Glory! The living Christ is a greater attraction than any other force.
   We who believe are one with Him and, as He has ascended, we also shall
   rise to Him and be forever with Him!

   After He had ascended, He took His seat at the right hand of God, even
   the Father, clothed with honor, majesty, power, dominion and might.
   Listen, Brothers and Sisters! What has this fact to do with us? Why,
   just this--you who believe cannot perish, for Christ lives! You must
   conquer, for Jesus reigns! All power is given unto Him in Heaven and in
   earth and, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
   unto God by Him, seeing He alwayslives to make intercession for them."
   A reigning Christ, an enthroned Christ--this is the Christ to depend
   upon! I can risk my whole soul upon His blood and know that there is no
   risk in the matter--I feel a deep and growing confidence in the life
   that He now lives upon the Throne of God.

   But what else? Well, our glorified Redeemer spends much of His time in
   intercession. Up there at the right hand of God, He continues to plead
   for His people. He can truly say in the fullest meaning of the words,
   "For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I
   will not rest until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness,
   and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns." Continually does He
   present the rich incense of His merit before the eternal Throne of God.
   And here is something more for us, for if Jesus pleads for us, we are
   forever safe. If He is pleading before the Throne, we may come to it
   with holy confidence. If Christ is there, the way is clear for you and
   for me to approach! We have only to get behind Him and to look through
   His wounds at God, as God will look through the wounds of Christ at
   us--and all will be well! Oh, what do we not owe to the living Christ!
   My theme expands as I try to handle it. How my heart rejoices in it! Do
   you not know, Beloved, how every part of that risen life of Jesus--His
   Second Coming, His final conquest of Satan and of the world, His
   eternal Glory--all has to do with us, for we are sharers in all that
   Christ has! We are joint-heirs with Him of all His glories and His
   triumphs!

   This, then, is just a brief summary of what the life of Christ has to
   do with us.

   II. Now, secondly, WHY DOES THE APOSTLE PUT A, "MUCH MORE," IN HERE?
   "Much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

   I think it is because we are so apt to put a, "much less," to it It is
   not often that we preach and talk as we ought about this living Savior
   of ours. Brothers and Sisters, the great Testator is dead. That makes
   His last will and testament valid. Listen once more--He who made the
   will is alive, again, so He is His own Executor to carry out His own
   will! Is not that a blessing for you and for me? He made the will valid
   by His death, but, by rising again, He has come to see that every jot
   and tittle of it shall be carried out! We have not to depend upon
   somebody else executing our dying Savior's will. He has risen from the
   dead, clothed with all power and might, to accomplish that upon which
   He has set His heart!

   Paul says, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
   the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by
   His life." How can it be much more? I answer, first, because when our
   Savior reconciled us by His death, it was the time of His weakness.
   Look, He is nailed to the Cross, the fever burns Him up, He cries, "I
   thirst." He says, "I am a worm, and no man." Weakness has come upon Him
   to the uttermost. He closes His eyes in the last dread sleep of death.
   They take down His poor body and wrap it in white linen, with sweet
   spices, and put it away in Joseph's tomb. There could not be greater
   weakness, could there, than in the Crucified Christ? Yet, even then, He
   reconciled us! But now He is clothed with power! He is Head over all
   things, Lord of angels, King of kings! All Heaven resounds with His
   praises. Do you not see the drift of my argument? If, when He was in
   His uttermost weakness, He redeemed us by His death, "much more," now
   that He is in all His power and Glory, He must be able to save His
   people by His life!

   Look at this expression again. When our Lord died, He was in the
   servant's place. He had, for our sake, laid aside His Glory. "He made
   Himself of no reputation." He emptied Himself. He had become like
   ourselves, feeble and weak. But, beside that, He was bound to do the
   Father's will and to suffer it even to the last extremity! As the
   Mediator between God and man, He had made Himself inferior to God. He
   had taken a subordinate place so that He could truly say, "My Father is
   greater than I." But remember, Brothers and Sisters--

   "The head that once was crowed with thorns,

   Is crowned with glory now!

   A royal diadem adorns

   The mighty Victor's brow!

   The highest place that Heaven affords Is His, is His by right, The King
   of kings and Lord of lords, And Heaven's eternal light"

   Now He wears again the Glory which He had with His Father before the
   earth was. Do you not see, then, that it is, "much more," that He can
   do for His people under such circumstances? If, when He took an
   inferior place and condescended for our sake to be a servant, so that--

   "With cries and tears He offered up

   His humble suit below"--

   if then He reconciled us--"much more" can He now save us when He has
   taken to Himself His great power and with authority pleads before His
   Father's face, "I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with
   Me where I am; that they may behold my Glory, which You have given Me:
   for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." If I can trust a
   dying Savior with my soul and feel perfectly safe in doing so, how easy
   it is to trust a living Savior and to roll myself upon His almighty
   love and feel eternally secure!

   Furthermore, dear Brothers and Sisters, when our Lord took upon Himself
   the work of saving us, He did, in a certain sense, come under the
   displeasure of God. Not that He ever could be really displeasing to
   God, for in Him was no sin, and the Father never had a greater delight
   in Christ than when He hid His face from Him. Still, according to the
   Word of God, Jehovah bruised Him--Jehovah hid His face from Him till
   Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He came under
   the curse, for, "cursed is every one that hangs on a tree." For your
   sakes and mine, He bore the scourging of Infinite Justice and the frown
   of the offended Majesty of Heaven! This was diving very low and if,
   even then, He was able to reconcile us to God, how, "much more," must
   He be able to save us now that the Father's well-beloved Son has come
   Home, again, and lives in the eternal sunlight of His dear Father's
   smile? "Much more" now that God delights in Him, all Heaven is lit up
   with the gleaming of the Father's joy, every angel bows before Him and,
   night and day, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" rises in perpetual
   waves of praise up to the Throne of Glory where He is adored and
   worshipped!

   Yet once again, when the Savior died, there was a certain aspect of
   defeat about His death He stood alone, that dreadful day, in deadly
   conflict with the powers of darkness. All the battalions of Hell were
   mustered and they made one tremendous attack upon the Prince of Life
   and Glory. Single-handed He fought them all and His own right hand and
   His holy arm gained Him the victory! But, for a while, it looked like
   defeat. He closed His eyes in death, saying, "It is finished," and He
   gave up the ghost. Those nail-prints, that gory side and that pallid
   Countenance looked as if Death had won the victory, though it was not
   really so. Yet, Beloved, He reconciled us even then! Oh, could we see
   Him now! I suppose we could not--our eyes are not yet formed for that
   Beatific Vision. But what a sight it would be if we could see Him with
   His eyes like a flame of fire and His feet like fine brass, as if they
   burned in a furnace! One said, "You cannot see Christ's face and live,"
   and another answered, "Well, be it so. Then let me see His face and
   die." And I have often felt that I could say the same and I have sung,
   with good Dr. Watts--

   "Oh, for a sight, a pleasing sight,

   Of our Almighty Father's Throne!

   There sits our Savior crowned with light,

   Clothed in a body like our own.

   Adoring saints around Him stand,

   And thrones and powers before Him fall!

   The God shines gracious through the Man,

   And sheds sweet glories on them all.

   Oh, what amazing joys they feel

   While with their golden harps they sing,

   And sit on every heavenly hill,

   And spread the triumphs of their King!

   When shall the day, dear Lord, appear,

   That I shall mount to dwell above,

   And stand and bow among them there,

   And view Your face, and sing, and love?"

   Well now, if, when He lay there, all blood-bespattered and dead,
   defeated as it seemed, He reconciled us to God, my Brothers and
   Sisters, what can He notdo, now that He is in all the splendor of His
   majesty, the delight of Heaven and of all holy beings? He must be able
   to save us! Well may we entrust our souls to Him and say, with the
   Apostle, "I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am
   persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him
   against that day."

   III. So now I close by asking you to CONSIDER HOW WE CAN USE THIS LIFE
   OF CHRIST.

   If Christ is still alive and if there is, in a certain sense, "much
   more" power to save in His life than there was of power to reconcile in
   His death, then, first, all fear of our being overcome ought to vanish
   He is victorious! Therefore we shall be victorious! Christ was
   assaulted by all the powers of death and Hell, and yet He conquered and
   He lives. We, too, shall conquer, for He is in us, He is with us, He is
   over us--and we shall live though we die--and we shall win though we
   are apparently overcome!

   How shall we use this life of Christ? Why, next, let us use it in
   prayer When you feel that you cannot pray--and there are such times
   with all of us--then say, "He can pray, for He lives to make
   intercession for us."--

   "Give Him, my Soul, your cause to plead, Nor doubt the Father's Grace."

   When it goes hard with you on your knees and you seem as if you could
   not prevail, then remember that Jesus is pleading, and He must prevail!
   Put your case into His hands and He will present His mighty pleas on
   your behalf--and then you cannot be baffled. Is not that a sweet
   thought?

   Another use to make of Christ's life is this. Are you lonely?In this
   modern Babylon of London, there are many persons who are quite alone,
   and there is no solitude so terrible as that which can be found in a
   great city. Perhaps you live in a street where there are hundreds of
   Christians, but you do not know one of them. I will tell you what to
   do--Jesus lives, get away to Him, for there is no company like His. If
   He comes into that little room of yours, it will be like a temple!
   Solomon's Temple, in all its glory, was never so bright as that upper
   room of yours will be when Christ comes there! I know how you have to
   stitch away all day long to earn a scanty living. I know, too, how
   sometimes you cannot sleep at night because of the severe pain you have
   to suffer. But if your Lord is there, it shall be sweet work, and sweet
   suffering, too, with that best of workers and sufferers to sit at your
   side! Jesus l ives! Jesus lives! You have not to go to Calvary to think
   about His Cross. You have not to go to the tomb and weep because He is
   dead. He lives and He is with His people always, even unto the end of
   the world. Therefore, in your prayers, and in your solitude, comfort
   yourselves.

   I suppose, too, that many of you are sorely tempted. Is there a
   Christian man or woman among us who is not tempted by the devil? Well,
   Jesus lives, and He was tempted in all points like as we are, though
   without sin! He is able to sympathize with you, for He, Himself, was
   compassed with infirmity. Get to your living High Priest! Tell Him what
   the devil is trying to do to you. It is a good thing to never dispute
   with the devil. I have heard that if a man brings a lawsuit against
   you, you had better never say anything to him, but transfer the whole
   affair to your lawyer. And if the man writes to you, say, "I have
   nothing to do with the matter. You must apply to my legal adviser, he
   will attend to it for me." "He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a
   client," says one of our proverbs. So, whenever the devil comes to you,
   remember that he knows a great deal more than you do, and if you try to
   answer him, he will soon trip you up. You had better say to him, "I
   will have nothing to do with you, Satan. I refer you to my Solicitor,
   my Advocate." Then the devil will ask His name, and when you give him
   the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will drop that suit, for he has
   suffered severe defeat many a time from that same Jesus Christ, ages
   and ages ago! He remembers the wilderness and how the Master soon sent
   him about his business. So, refer him to Christ. Do not be your own
   champion--let Christ be Champion for you and all will be well!

   In other words, dear Brothers and Sisters, since Christ lives, let us
   live with Him, let us make the Lord Jesus Christ our daily Companion. I
   know that there are some Christians who cannot understand this advice,
   or cannot believe that they may put it into practice. But you will
   never know the very juice and marrow of the Gospel until you do
   understand it and get to feel that Christ is not a mere historical
   Person who was upon the earth hundreds of years ago, but a living,
   personal Christ who is, even now, accessible, who can be spoken to and
   who can speak to us in reply--and with whom we may live even now! Oh,
   if you can get into personal contact with Jesus Christ, then you have
   learned how to live! Then is the dying Savior inexpressibly dear to you
   and then, also, the living Christ is, if possible, even more dear as
   you live through Him--with Him--for Him--and He lives in you!

   So may God make it to be, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMAANS5.

   Verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
   through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not let us simply read these words,
   but let us, each one, say in our hearts, "That is true. I have believed
   in Christ, therefore I am justified in the sight of God and, therefore,
   I have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." There is nothing
   in the world that is half as valuable as the two precious gems in this
   verse--justification and the peace which follows it.

   2. By whom also we have access by faith into this Grace wherein we
   stand, and rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. See what we owe to
   Christ--not only justification and peace, but we have access into the
   Grace in which we stand, for, when a man is at peace with God, then he
   longs to get to God and to speak with God. Christ is the Door, and
   Christ is the Way--we come to God by Jesus Christ. This is no small
   privilege. Oh, you who have ever felt what it is to be shut out from
   God, let your heart sing as you know that you now have access by faith
   into this Grace wherein you stand! Well may the Apostle add, "We
   rejoice in hope of the Glory of God." Or, if there is any man who may
   and must rejoice, it is the man who has peace with God and expects to
   dwell with God forever, having access to God by Jesus Christ!

   3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Paul is going
   upstairs, as it were--rising from one platform to another. There is
   enough of Glory in Christ to wrap up all our troubles--it makes the
   black, white, and the dark, bright.

   3. Knowing that tribulation works patience. A man who never suffers
   does not know what patience means. But trial works patience, yet not of
   itself. Trials work peevishness and murmuring and discontent--but Grace
   brings sweet out of bitter and--"tribulation works patience."

   4, 5. And patience, experience, and experience, hope: and hope makes
   not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
   the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. Do you know what this means,
   dear Friend, or is it all Greek to you? The Lord make it, indeed, plain
   everyday English to you! May you understand it, feel it, know it, prove
   it, taste it, enjoy it! If you do so, happy, indeed, are you.

   6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
   the ungodly. Not, "Christ died for saints, because the saints were such
   gracious people." No, no! But, "when we were yet without
   strength"--when we could lift neither hand nor foot to help
   ourselves--"in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

   7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. For a man who is
   perfectly just, there are few who would be willing to die for him.

   7. Yet, perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. For a
   generous, noble-hearted man, some might be willing to die. Yet there is
   a, "perhaps," even about that.

   8. But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet
   sinners, Christ died for us. When we were not righteous, when we
   certainly were not good, when the whole description of our character
   could be summed up in that one word, "sinners"--rebels offending
   against God--"while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

   9. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
   from wrath through Him. He died for us when we were unrighteous, so now
   that He has made us righteous in His own righteousness, He will never
   cast us away! That doctrine of Believers falling from Grace and
   perishing is clean contrary to Scripture! "Much more then, being now
   justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

   10. 11. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
   death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
   life. And not only so, but we also joy in God. See, the Apostle has
   gone up to another platform. The Gospel is a tale that we may be always
   telling, but it can never be fully told! It is a light that keeps on
   breaking upon us more and more--and even when we have come to what we
   suppose is the full noontide of it, there is still seven times as much
   Glory yet to be revealed! Yes, we go "from strength to strength." "And
   not only so, but we also joy in

   God."

   11-21. Through ourLordJesus Christ, by whom we have nowreceived the
   Atonement. Therefore, as by one man sin enteredinto the world, and
   death by sin, andso death passed upon allmen, for that allhave
   sinned--(for until the Law, sin was in the world: but sin is not
   imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
   Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of
   Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him who was to come. But not
   as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of
   one, many are dead, much more the Grace of God, and the gift by Grace,
   which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. And not as
   it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one
   to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto
   justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much
   more they which receive abundance of Grace and of the gift of
   righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ). Therefore as
   by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even
   so by the righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all men unto
   justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made
   sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
   Moreover the Law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin
   abounded Grace did much more abound: that as sin has reigned unto
   death, even so might Grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
   life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
     __________________________________________________________________

Perfect Restoration

   (No. 2588)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
   20, 1883.

   "They shall be as though I had not cast them aside." Zechariah 10:6.

   You all know how God did, for a time, cast off His ancient people. Both
   Israel and Judah, after long provocation of Jehovah, were carried away
   captive into the land of their enemies. God forsook His Temple and that
   glorious sanctuary was laid in ruins. The whole land was given up to be
   the prey of the cruel foe and the inhabitants, themselves, were carried
   into captivity beyond the rivers of Babylon. And they were sorely
   afflicted. They had greatly sinned and heavy was their punishment. But
   now, by the mouth of the Prophet Zechariah, God talks to them of mercy
   and, as a choice note in the message of mercy, He says that He will
   restore them to their old estate--and they shall be as though He had
   never cast them aside. It is a wonderful promise! I pray that it may
   sound like heavenly music in the ear of many a backslider.

   In commencing my sermon, I draw your attention to the preceding clause
   of the verse--"I will have mercy upon them." Learn from this that the
   only terms upon which God can deal with guilty men are terms of
   mercy--"I will have mercy upon them." Therefore, my Friend, if you
   would be saved, do not try to deal with God upon the footing ofjustice.
   If you do, you will first have to say that you have never sinned and
   that would be a lie. You will not be able to prove that assertion--your
   lips, your eyes, your heart, your hands, your whole conduct will all be
   witnesses against you! You must admit that you have sinned. It may be
   that you will then try to find some excuse for your sin. You say,
   perhaps, that you could not help it. But you might have helped it--you
   ought to have helped it. Or, possibly, you will try to make out that
   your sin is very little. But your conscience knows that it is not
   little. If any one sin has been little--and I do not think that is
   possible--you have added so many other evils to these grains of sin
   that you cannot count them, and your transgressions are multiplied upon
   you! No, you will never make out a good case if you appeal to God's
   justice, for Justice will try you, condemn you, and cast you aside. God
   will not deal with you on those terms. Confess that you are guilty! Ask
   Him, for His mercy's sake, to pass over your guilt. Plead with Him, for
   His dear Son's sake, to blot it out and He will yield to such pleading
   as that--and He will deal with you in the way of mercy.

   From the clause which follows my text I learn another lesson. The Lord
   says, "They shall be as though I had not cast them aside: for I am the
   Lord their God, and will hear them." From these words I gather that one
   of the surest tokens that mercy is about to be received is prayer--"I
   am the Lord their God, and will hear them." But God would not hear them
   if they did not pray, so, if you wish to know whether God is about to
   bless you, answer this question--Do you feel that you need to pray? Is
   your heart beginning to cry to God, even now? Then He will hear you
   and, hearing you, He will have mercy upon you! I care not what else
   there is about you that seems hopeful, if it cannot be said of you,
   "Behold, He prays," there is no solid ground for hope. But if, bowing
   your head in the pew at this moment, or even sitting still just as you
   are, you are saying in your heart, "Lord, have mercy upon me! Lord,
   save me!" this is a blessed token that the angel of mercy is close at
   hand! I trust, before this service is over, you will be saved, and have
   cause to praise and magnify the Lord for His great mercy toward you!

   Now to come to the text itself, if we are dealing with God upon the
   footing of mercy, and if we have begun to pray, then this is what we
   may expect at His hands, for He has given the promise, "They shall be
   as though I had not cast them aside." I am going to take the text,
   first, in its general application to all repentant sinners. And then,
   secondly, in its special application to all backsliders. I have many
   things to say and, therefore, I must speak but briefly upon each point.

   I. First, then, applying the text, IN GENERAL, TO ALL REPENTANT
   SINNERS, I say to every unsaved man and woman in this great
   assembly--If you will come to God by prayer, with faith in Jesus
   Christ, God will receive you and you shall be as though you had never
   fallen through your sin, and had never been cast aside by God! At the
   present moment, as an unconverted sinner, you are far off from God by
   wicked works--and His Word declares that you are "condemned already."
   But He is prepared to restore you to all the dignity which manhood had
   before the Fall! He is prepared to give back that which He took not
   away and to make you even as unfallen man was and would have been! Yes,
   and to give you something even more noble and glorious than Adam ever
   possessed.

   For, first, He is prepared to make a clean sweep of all your sins. In
   virtue of the Sacrifice of Christ, God stands ready, right now, to take
   the pen and strike out the record of all your transgressions! If you
   believe in Jesus, you shall be as though you had never sinned! When the
   prodigal son came back and his father had kissed him, he was to his
   father as if he had never gone away, as if he had never wasted his
   substance in riotous living. His father had him once more at home and
   he loved him as much as he loved the elder brother, loved him as much
   as if he had never grieved him in all his life. What do you say to
   this? This privilege is proffered to you, also, in the Gospel of God.
   If you believe in Christ Jesus, your sins shall be as though they had
   never been committed and you shall be as dear to God as if you had
   always perfectly kept His Law!

   That is good news for guilty sinners, but there is more to follow, for
   God is both able and willing to renew yournature. He will make you as
   though He had not cast you aside. He will come and take away that heart
   of stone out of your flesh and then on that heart of flesh He will
   write His Law, and He will put His fear in your heart so that you shall
   eventually be as though He had never cast you aside. I mean that the
   blessed processes of regeneration and sanctification shall begin in
   your heart, if you believe in Christ, and the Holy Spirit shall go on
   working in your heart and you shall advance in the spiritual life from
   glory unto glory till, one of these days, you shall be as pure as an
   angel, as holy as God, Himself, and you shall open your eyes and see
   God--and in Heaven, itself, you shall understand the words of the Lord
   Jesus, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Sinner,
   you are lost and you are sinking down, down, down, through the
   defilement of your nature! But the Holy Spirit can come and change that
   nature so that you shall rise and rise, and rise, till, when Christ
   appears, you shall be like He, for you shall see Him as He is! Is not
   this a glorious Gospel that we have to preach to every soul that will
   repent of sin and believe in Christ? To penitent sinners, God gives the
   blotting out of their sin and the renewal of their nature!

   This is not enough, however, if we are to regain all we have lost. When
   Adam sinned, he lost Paradise; but God will give a better Paradise to
   sinners who repent Shall it be with you as though God had not cast you
   aside? Oh, yes, there is another Paradise into which Christ will
   introduce you in due time--and you shall have a foretaste of it, even
   while you are here, in the perfect peace and rest which He will give to
   your heart, for--

   "The men of Grace have found Glory begun below; Celestial fruits on
   earthly ground From faith and hope may grow." But, by-and-by, you shall
   be taken up, as was the penitent thief to whom Christ said, "Today
   shall you be with Me in Paradise." Only it shall be a better Paradise
   than that primitive Eden--it shall be a garden where flowers shall
   never wither and leaves shall never fall. There, dwelling with God in
   Glory, it shall be with you as though He had never cast you aside!

   Nor is this all, for, before Adam fell there was no curse upon the
   world, and no curse upon Adam. The earth did not bring forth thorns and
   thistles and with no sweat of his face was man compelled to eat his
   hard-earned bread. And can God ever make it so with us? Yes, Brothers
   and Sisters, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse. If we are
   believers in Jesus, we may have, for a little while, to bear with this
   world's griefs, groaning as the whole creation does in travail for a
   better birth, but, as surely as we have been born again, so the day
   will come when there shall be new heavens and a new earth, and God will
   strike out thorns and thistles from among the world's products!
   "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
   brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a
   name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." I expect to
   see this world, in the millennial age, restored to all the brightness
   with which God swathed it when first He sent it roiling from His great
   hands of power. It was a bright star, then, but sin has made it cloudy
   and imperfect. But Christ will take away all the mists and,
   "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" shall yet ascend from this poor
   planet, for then shall be realized the vision that John saw in the isle
   called Patmos--"Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will
   dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be
   with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from
   their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
   crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
   passed away." Now we are getting on-- are we not? --towards the
   complete coming back to God, so that we shall be as though He had never
   cast us aside!

   But even this is not all that the text means. Before Adam fell, He was
   engaged in God's service. He was head gardener in Paradise. God put him
   in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Well, Brothers and
   Sisters, however sinful you may have been, if you go to the Lord Jesus
   Christ, He will give you employment while you are here! He will set you
   in His vineyard to render Him some service. Perhaps He will choose you
   to look after the little children in the Sunday school. Maybe He will
   call you out to preach for Him, certainly He will want you to work for
   Him in some way or other. What a blessing it will be to be one of the
   servants of God! Will God ever employ us who once were so far from Him?
   Yes, it shall be with you as though He had never cast you aside.

   But, then, God not only employed Adam to work for Him, but He walked
   with Adam in the garden. The Lord God was accustomed, in the cool of
   the day, to have fellowship with unfallen man--but will He confer such
   a favor as that upon us? Oh, yes! If we come to Him in Christ Jesus,
   God will come and speak with us and commune with us from the Mercy Seat
   and even in this life He will be our constant Companion and our
   ever-present Friend. And when we have done communing with Him here, He
   will take us up to that blessed place of which it is written, "His
   servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name
   shall be on their foreheads." Ah, Beloved, when we once get to our God
   in Heaven, then shall we find these words literally true, "They shall
   be as though I had not cast them aside."

   Brothers and Sisters, if we will but believe in Jesus Christ, there
   awaits us an eternal destiny of unspeakable honor and delight. If we
   will but believe in Christ, we need hardly regret that we have fallen,
   for He will so effectually restore us that all trace of sin shall be
   forever removed! Sin has defaced the image of God, but the Grace of God
   will renew it. By our transgression, we have lost everything that was
   worth having, but if we will but believe in Him, Christ will bring back
   everything through His blood and righteousness. Oh, cast not away the
   blessed alternative that lies before you! Choose not to be ruined!
   Choose not to continue in spiritual death! You are immortal--make not
   your immortality the most tremendous of curses! Come and believe in
   Jesus, that your immortality may become an attribute that shall make
   you like God, immortal in Glory! I do think that this matter is so
   clear and simple, that, if men were not maddened by sin, they would not
   delay a minute, but they would give up everything else, and say, "The
   all-important thing is for me to get my eternal destiny secured. I must
   go and believe in Christ. I must get to my God. I must obtain
   forgiveness of my sins." Oh, that you might be allured to Christ by
   this sweet, sweet text, which is so musical to me that I wish to ring
   it again and again in every ear, "They shall be as though I had not
   cast them aside." I leave it with you--God bless it to every one of
   you!

   II. But now I have to speak, in PARTICULAR, TO PENITENT BACKSLIDERS.

   1 have no doubt that there are some such persons in this congregation,
   and I want to say to them, "The Lord addresses you--you wanderers--you
   turncoats, you who have been faithless, you who have turned aside--you
   who have started aside like a broken arrow or a deceitful bow--and He
   invites you to return to Him! He says of you, "They shall be as though
   I had not cast them aside." I know you and I pray you, now, to listen
   to me very earnestly. You have fallen into a sad state of heart and
   life. You used to be, perhaps, a member of this Church or of some
   other. But you are not fit to be a member of any Church just now, you
   know that you are not. You are living a very evil life and conscience
   tells you how wrong you are, and all the while you know better. You
   would not like me to tell your history since last you went to the House
   of God, or since you were numbered with God's people, would you? No,
   but at this moment the Lord says to you, "Return unto Me, and it shall
   be with you as though I had not cast you aside."

   Come to Him, for He is prepared to cast your sins behind His back, i
   nto the depths of the sea, and to make an end of your transgression
   forever. What do you say to this wondrous mercy on His part? Oh, Boy,
   if you had provoked your father and had gone away and left your dear
   old home, if he wrote you a loving letter, and said, "Jack, my Son,
   come back to me and I will freely forgive you. You have behaved very
   shamefully, but if you will come home, there shall be an end of it
   all." Oh, would you not make haste back? So I say to you, Backsliders,
   will you not come home when our Father in Heaven sends you such a
   message as this, "They shall be as though I had not cast them aside"?

   Perhaps you say, " 'Well, but, if I should ever become a Christian,
   again, as I hope I once was, yet I should never get my joy back. God
   might forgive me, but I never could forgive myself. Sir, you do not
   know to whom you are talking! You cannot imagine how far I have gone
   into sin. I was a woman who came to the Communion Table among the pure
   and godly, but, oh, now I am one of the cast-offs." Yes, I know. I
   know. But God says even to you, "Come back, come back, though you have
   unchastely left the Husband of your soul, yet is He prepared to receive
   you, again, and it shall be unto you as though He had not cast you
   aside." Yes, Brothers and Sisters, you may pray that prayer of penitent
   David, "Restore unto me the joy of your salvation. Make me to hear joy
   and gladness, that the bones which You have broken may rejoice." You
   professors know that you cannot go into sin without getting your bones
   broken if you are truly God's people! If you are not His chosen ones,
   you may go and live in sin, and riot in it--and He will leave you alone
   till the Great Judgment Day! But if you are His people, He will beat
   you till your very bones cry out. Yet, if you are prepared to come back
   to Him, just as you came at first, crying--

   "Nothing in my hands I bring,

   Simply to Your Cross I cling," He is ready to end it all and give you
   back your joy! Did not the father give joy to the returned prodigal?
   There was music and dancing and, "they began to be merry." And God will
   rejoice over a poor soul that has wandered far from Him, but at last
   returns--and the poor soul shall be happy, too. Yes, my dear Sister, my
   dear Brother, you can have back your early joy! You may yet sing with
   gladness of heart--

   "I will praise You every day!

   Now Your anger's turned away,

   Comfortable thoughts arise

   From the bleeding Sacrifice." "Ah," I hear one say, "I might have my
   sin pardoned and I might get back my joy, but can I ever have my purity
   restored? I have defiled myself--my very thoughts are impure. I have
   mixed with company that has depraved me. I feel that my garments may be
   washed, but they will always smell of the loathsome places where I have
   been. I am afraid that if the wounds that sin has made are all healed,
   the scars will always show. I have blackened myself so that I fear I
   can never be white again." Well, yours is an evil case, indeed. It is a
   hard task to get the stench of sin out of a garment spotted with the
   flesh. The Lord will have to pull you out of the fire, but yet, when He
   undertakes that task, He can strip you of that filthy garment and He
   can cause you to hate the sin that you have loved! He can make it so
   loathsome to you that the very thought of it shall make you sick. I
   have known the drunkard hate the very house where he used to get his
   drink and go to the other side of the street. I have known a swearer
   cured of his blasphemy in a minute. I have known the backslider who has
   indulged some lust of the flesh, chasten his soul after it, so that the
   very mention of it has brought the tears into his eyes. He could not
   bear, even, to think of it! Yes, the Holy Spirit can give you back more
   than your former purity! He can create in you a clean heart and renew a
   right spirit within you. Truly, I have to preach a blessed Gospel to
   you, poor Backslider! Are you behind the pillar there? If so, may the
   arrow glance right round it and find you out, and reach your soul!

   "Oh," says one, "but if I get back my purity, do you think that God
   will ever love me again, and dwell with me, and guide and bless me?"
   Well, He taught backsliding and repenting David to pray, "Take not your
   Holy Spirit from me," and when God put that prayer into David's mouth,
   it was because He meant to answer it! Yes, and He can come to you, even
   to you, and though it is now months since you had the light of God's
   Countenance and felt happy and restful in Christ, you shall have it all
   back again! Oh, have we not had joyous Sabbaths here, sometimes, when
   the Word of the Lord seems to ravish our very hearts with delight? And
   when we have gone downstairs to the Communion Table, I know that some
   of you have felt as though Heaven itself had come into your spirit!
   Well, you shall have those old Sabbaths over again, or rather, you
   shall have new communion with your Lord which shall be even more
   blessed! I know your private prayers used to be very precious--they
   shall be so again. You used to walk down a quiet street that you might
   talk with God, alone--you shall do it again. Poor Soul, you who have
   gone so far away from God, come back to Him! "Turn, O backsliding
   children, says the Lord; for I am married to you." Therefore, return to
   Him and you shall behold His face again and, in His Presence you shall,
   once more, bathe your soul with exceeding joy!

   "Ah," says one, "but I should like to get back again among God'speople.
   "Yes, that restored communion is a secondary matter in comparison with
   returning to the Lord, yet it is, in itself, a very valuable thing
   which ought to be highly prized. I am sure I can speak for all God's
   servants here--if this is the Church that you have dishonored, if this
   is the Church that you have grieved--none could be more willing to
   receive you back again than we are! I have felt a joy akin to that of
   Heaven, sometimes, when I have once more received into Church
   fellowship some who have sinned very grossly. I know that when they
   come back, they will love Christ better than ever, for they have had
   much forgiven! These are they who break the alabaster boxes and pour
   the precious ointment on their Savior's head. I know that Peters--who
   have denied their Lord--when they come back and weep bitterly over
   their sin, are the very men who will feed Christ's lambs and be
   shepherds to His sheep! I have sometimes heard of a bone, that has been
   broken, and has become stronger after the fracture than it was before.
   Indeed, I once saw such a bone that was taken out of a grave--it
   belonged to a leg that had been broken. How did we know that? Why,
   because it was thicker in that part than anywhere else! And, sometimes,
   it happens that Grace overrules the fall so that a man becomes stronger
   at that point where he fell and he is more watchful than he ever was
   before. Is not that a wonderful thing?

   I hardly like to say it, for fear that some hypocrite may go and turn
   it into mischief, for there is always some child of the devil who will
   be ready to say, "Let us sin that Grace may abound." If you do say so,
   your damnation will be just, and it will be most terrible! But, to the
   child of God, we say, in a whisper, that it has sometimes happened that
   the very falling into sin of the backslider has been blessed of God to
   make him more careful in the future, and he has been a better man
   afterwards. Come along, you who have turned aside, but are now truly
   penitent, the Church will gladly take you back! Why should we not,
   remembering how liable we, ourselves, are to be tempted as you were? I
   give a hearty and loving invitation to you, Backsliders--it comes out
   of my very heart. If Christ, who is perfect, will receive you, much
   more will we, who are ourselves so imperfect, receive you!

   "Oh, but," I hear one say, "that would not make me quite as I used to
   be. The text says, 'They shall be as though I had not cast them aside,'
   but I used to have a class in the Sunday school, I sometimes used to go
   out and preach." Brother, why should you not go out to preach again?
   Sister, why should you not again take a class in the Sunday school? Our
   dear Lord, when He pardons you, will give you something to do just as
   He did with Peter. I am sure that He will not say to you, "There, I
   have forgiven you, but you are of no further use to Me--go and sit in
   the back seat--for I shall never need your services again." Perhaps you
   may never be quite fit for what you were, before, and the Lord will not
   put you where you are not fit to be, but yet there will be some place
   where you will be more qualified to serve Him than you were before! For
   instance, in looking after backsliders. If a backslider says to you, "I
   cannot come back," you will be able to say to him, "Why not? I did, and
   so can you." Did not the Master say to Peter, "When you are converted,
   strengthen your brethren"? You will be able to do that kind of work
   even better than others could and whenever anybody is inclined to be
   hard and harsh upon the wanderers, you will say, "Oh, do not speak so!
   I know the heart of a wanderer, for I was one, myself. I know how, when
   they repent, they are very tender and sensitive and, often, a little
   touch may open their wounds and make them bleed again."

   You will speak so softly, and with the tears in your eyes, that the
   penitent souls will look to you as a kind of father-- and you will be a
   helper to many. I do hope it is so with you who have returned to the
   Lord. I am so sorry, Brother. I am so sorry, Sister, that you have so
   spoiled and marred your life, for it would have been an infinitely
   better thing to have held on your way and gone from strength to
   strength, glorifying God by a consistent life. But, as you have made
   this great and grievous error, I pray you, do not despair! Believe in
   the mercy of God! He has forgiven the sin of His backsliding people and
   He can forgive yours. There is not only a bath in which to wash the
   sinner, but there is a fountain opened for the house of David and for
   the inhabitants of Jerusalem--that is, for God's own people--that they
   may wash and be clean!

   The other Thursday night, when some of you were not here, I preached
   about the bronze serpent. [See Sermon #1722, Volume 29--The First
   Setting Up of the Bronze Serpent] You know how there came to be a
   bronze serpent--was it set up for outsiders? No, it was in consequence
   of the sin of God's own people, for they were "much discouraged because
   of the way," and they, "spoke against God, and against Moses." "Then
   the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, so that they were bitten, and
   many died." And when they repented, the bronze serpent was lifted up,
   that those who were bitten might look and live! They were not far from
   Canaan, yet they needed the bronze serpent. And you old Christians, you
   aged Believers, if you have been doing wrong, what a mercy it is for
   you that there is something better than a bronze serpent in the last
   day's march to Heaven and that, as you look to Him, you shall live! So,
   if you have been numbered among the people of God and yet have
   transgressed against Him, and have lost the joy of salvation--come back
   to Him, for the Savior's Sacrifice is available for you and God says
   concerning you, "They shall be as though I had not cast them aside."

   When I get home at night, I never feel satisfied with any sermon that I
   have preached--in fact I have long ago given up all idea of preaching
   according to my own ideal of how it ought to be done--and when I get
   home, I say to myself, "You did not speak lovingly enough, you were not
   tender enough, you were not earnest enough." And when I get to bed, I
   lie and toss about and wish that I could get up and preach again! I
   daresay I would do it worse the second time, but, oh, I do wish I knew
   how to get at backsliders, or, indeed, at the heart of anyman who has
   not yet come to the Savior. What better promise do you ever expect to
   have than this of my text? "They shall be as though I had not cast them
   aside." Could God say anything more gracious than that to you? If you
   do not accept His mercy, it will look as if you were desperately set on
   being God's enemy! Let him do what he likes, I, for my part, cannot see
   what more God can say!

   Now, supposing you refuse Him, then it shall be harder with you as you
   go on in sin. You are not very comfortable in your mind, even now. When
   you are obliged to be alone, you feel very miserable. When that dear
   child of yours was lately carried to the grave, you began to think--and
   you cannot bear to see yourself as you really are. You know that you
   have to hurry from one amusement to another and get into company so as
   to try to silence the voice of conscience. Now that you are not living
   near God and are not seeking Christ, you are unhappy. But you will be
   more unhappy, later, than you are at present! If you reject such terms
   as these, the guilt of your refusal will lie on your conscience and it
   will worry you more and more--and it ought to do so.

   And then, what is worse, it may happen to you that some future day,
   when you come to die, this service, and even my poor feeble attempt to
   bring my Master's message to you, will come up before your mind's eye
   and you will say, "I was fairly bid to come and grand stipulations were
   made that it should be unto me as though God had never cast me aside,
   yet I would not come." Oh, such a reflection as that will make your
   death-pillow very hard!

   And when you lift up your eyes, in the day of judgment, and find
   yourself about to be condemned by Christ, it will put a terrible sting
   into that just sentence as you think, "There was a time when mercy was
   within my reach. There was an hour when I stood on praying ground and
   pleading terms with God, and when the preacher, as best he could,
   pleaded with me, in God's name, and said that if I would repent, and
   return unto the Lord, it would be as though I had never been cast off
   because of my sin. Yet I would not have the mercy of God and I have
   perished by my own hands." Let it not be so, I implore you! There are
   those here whom I have looked for with eager heart. I have pleaded with
   them and I know that they are within an inch of decision--but that last
   inch is damning them! If they do not soon yield to Christ, they will
   perish. May God awaken them from their fatal slumber, even now, and
   unto His name shall be praise forever and ever! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM51

   A Psalm of David, after Nathan had rebuked him and he had been
   convinced of his great guilt in having sinned with Bathsheba. The music
   to which this Psalm can be sung must be composed of sighs, groans, sobs
   and cries. I believe that many of us here present have prayed this
   prayer of David many times--and he who has never prayed it has need to
   begin to do so at once! That is an old proverb, but a true one--"There
   is no road to Heaven except by Weeping Cross." He that has never
   repented will have to repent if he is ever to enter into life eternal.
   Hear, then, the prayer of David.

   Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God. ' 'Nothing but mercy will meet my
   case. Your justice frowns upon me. Your anger frightens me. 'Have mercy
   upon me'--great mercy, unmeasured mercy, undeserved mercy--'Have mercy
   upon me, O God.'"

   1. According to Your loving kindness: according unto the multitude of
   Your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. David cannot stand
   himself while he reads the black record, so he prays, "Lord, blot it
   out! Blot it out from the sight of my eyes; but, chiefly, blot it out
   from Your eyes. Let not the record stand against me in Your Book of
   Remembrance. I cannot blot it out--not even with my blood, much less
   with my tears--but You can blot it out with a Savior's blood. Lord,
   blot it out, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies."

   2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. You
   see, the Psalmist multiplies the expressions he uses because he sees
   the indelible character of sin apart from a miracle of mercy. "Wash me,
   O Lord! Water must be used, but if that will not cleanse me, then use
   fire! Use anything, only cleanse me. First, blot my sin out of Your
   book, and then blot it out of my nature. Take my sin away, O God! What
   can I do unless You wash me and cleanse me?"

   3. For I acknowledge my transgressions. That is the great point! There
   can be no cleansing, no washing, no blotting out of our guilt till
   there is a fair and square acknowledgment of it. If we confess our
   sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
   from all unrighteousness."

   3. And my sin is always before me. ' 'Wherever I go, I see it, as
   though it were painted on my very eyeballs! I cannot see anything
   without seeing my sin! It stares me in the face--it is alwaysbefore
   me."

   4. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your
   sight Oh, what an awful thing, to commit adultery in the sight of God!
   It is horrible, but what must it be to commit anysin in the sight of
   God? Will a rebel talk treason in the presence of his king? Most men
   court the darkness that they may not be seen to do evil, but it is the
   venom of our sin that we commit it when God is present and looking on.
   Ah, me!

   4. That You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You
   judge. Another judge has to decide by the evidence that is brought
   before him, but this Judge has seen the evil for Himself. It was done
   before His very eyes and, therefore, He is clear when He judges.

   5. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
   me. "If I had not been bad, I would not have acted so badly. The
   streams betray the fountain. If I had not been wicked at the core, I
   would not have acted so wickedly, but the evil tree has brought forth
   evil fruit." It is well when actual sin leads us to feel the depth of
   our original and natural sin.

   6. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
   You shall make me to know wisdom. The outward part is very important,
   but the inward part is much more so because the outward springs from
   the inward, and a man would not be outwardly guilty if he were not
   first inwardly evil. Hence, David cries for cleansing and truth and
   wisdom in the inward parts.

   7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. "Take the bunch of
   hyssop, dip it into the blood of the lamb, and then purge me with it,
   and I shall be clean." What a wonderful faith this is! "I who am so
   black, I who am black as Hell, yet, if You but purge me with the
   sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ, I shall be clean."

   7. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Again, I say, what grand
   faith this is! The faith which believes that another can be cleansed,
   is very easy. The faith which, in times of joy, believes that the soul
   can be cleansed, is very simple. But when guilt lies heavy on you and
   the hand of God seems to break you into pieces in His wrath, it is
   grand faith to be able to then say, "Wash me and I shall be whiter than
   snow." May God give every sinner here that blessed faith!

   8, 9. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have
   broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my
   iniquities. "Do not look at my sins, Lord. Forget them! Turn Your back
   upon them and blot out all my iniquities." David comes back to his
   first prayer. "End my sins, Lord; blot them out, as when an account
   stands against a debtor, and the creditor erases it from the book. Do
   so with my sin."

   10. Create in me a clean, heart, O God. Yes, we need our Creator to
   come and deal with us again. None but God can save us. The Omnipotence
   that made the heavens and the earth must be put forth to make us anew.

   10. And renew a right spirit within me. Are you praying this prayer,
   dear Friend? Is your heart praying it while we read it?

   11. Cast me not away from Your Presence. "Dismiss me not Your service,
   Lord." "Chase me not out of doors! Banish me not from where Your face
   may be seen--'Cast me not away from Your Presence.'"

   11. And take not Your Holy spirit from me. "For, if You do, I am
   utterly undone. I shall go from bad to worse. I shall never repent. I
   shall never believe. I am as good as damned already if You take Your
   Holy Spirit from me! Therefore, O Lord, take not Your Spirit away from
   me."

   12. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation. "I had it once,
   Lord--restore it to me--bring it back."

   12. And uphold me with Your free Spirit "That I shall not turn aside
   again. O lift me up, and keep me up, and help me to rise higher and
   higher!"

   13. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be
   converted unto You. Pardoned sinners make fine preachers. The man who
   has never felt the burden of sin is not fit to preach to burdened
   souls. Oh, but when that burden is taken off our backs and our hearts,
   we are ready to leap for joy! Then we cry--

   "Now will I tell to sinners round What a dear Savior I have found! I'll
   point to Your redeeming blood, And say, 'Behold the way to God.

   14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God. I t took David a long time
   to come to that point and to call his sin by its right name. He had
   really been the murderer of Uriah, but he tried to cover his guilt by
   saying, "The sword devours one as well as another." But now he tells
   the whole truth--"Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God."

   14, You are the God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of
   Your righteousness. "Once let me get rid of my great sin and I will
   give You great praise. Wash my blood-guiltiness away with the blood of
   Jesus, and then I will never leave off proclaiming the glory of Your
   Grace."

   15, 16. O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Your
   praise. For You desire not sacrifice; else would I give it "Bullocks,
   rams, lambs--You care not for these."

   16, 17. You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a
   broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You wiil not
   despise. Come, poor souls, you that are heavy with guilt! You that lie
   at death's dark door, condemned by reason of a whole life of sin, offer
   to God this Sacrifice that He will not despise! The Jews brought their
   bullocks--you come and bring your broken hearts and contrite spirits!
   They presented to God the fat of fed beasts--you come and bring your
   broken-hearted groans, for God will not despise them!

   18, 19. Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion: build You the walls of
   Jerusalem. Then shall You bepleased with the sacrifices of
   righteousness, with burnt offering, and whole burnt offering: then
   shall they offer bullocks upon Your altar. If sin is pardoned, we may
   offer to God anything that we can, and He will accept it. But first of
   all we must get pardon--pardon through Jesus Christ--or else our
   offerings are a vain oblation. God bless the reading of this Psalm to
   everyone beneath this dome, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

The Christian's Glorious Inventory

   (No. 2589)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY MORNING, IN THE
   YEAR 1856.

   "Therefore let no maun glory in men. For all things are yours; whether
   Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
   present, or things to come-- all are yours. And you are Christ's, and
   Christ is God's." 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.

   IT appears, from this Epistle, that the Christians at Corinth were very
   much divided on account of certain ministers who had, at different
   times, preached the Word of God among them. Some of them felt a deep
   attachment to Paul and they said, "We are of Paul." Others preferred
   Cephas and they cried, "We are of Cephas," while another portion
   followed after Apollos and declared, "We are of Apollos." So that the
   Church, which ought to have been one body, was sadly torn and divided
   by several parties who followed different leaders. Paul wrote this
   first Epistle to the Corinthians in order to remove their strifes and,
   if possible, to bind them, again, in the bonds of love and unity--to
   make of them one Church, serving one Master, striving together for the
   faith once delivered to the saints.

   Now, Beloved, the same thing that occurred in Corinth has happened in
   London and elsewhere many a time. It is but right that persons should
   feel an attachment to those who preach the Gospel to them. But when
   this grows to an overwhelming adoration--when it becomes almost a
   worship and persons are led to despise all other ministers and will
   hear none besides that one man whom they believe to be sent from
   God--then, indeed, they need a solemn reproof as did these
   Corinthians--and it is requisite to say to them, "Therefore, let no man
   glory in men. For all things are yours." To love the man by whose means
   we are brought to know the Truth of God, to have respect to him who
   speaks wondrous words, as God makes utterance by him is, indeed,
   nothing but natural and just. But if we at any time exalt that man
   above the level he ought to stand, or put him above all others, so that
   we despise them and say, "I am of Paul and will not hear Apollos," or,
   "I am of Apollos and, therefore, cannot hear Cephas"--then it becomes a
   sin and iniquity, a transgression against God, against His Church and
   against His ministers. And the Apostle's solemn reproof comes home with
   an emphasis--"Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are
   yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
   death, or things present, or things to come."

   Paul was a wise reprover and he did not reprove too sharply. After he
   had said, "Let no man glory in men," mark how he reproved them--"For
   all things are yours." He used no hard words. We have heard of
   ministers who are perpetually whipping and scolding their hearers. It
   is an old saying of those who understood horses as well as men, "The
   best way is to put the whip in the manger." Feed people well and they
   will work well. Give them plenty of sound Doctrine and it will make
   them practical It is not the way to make a practical people to be
   always talking about practice. Feed them with the manna that comes down
   from Heaven--and with some of the honey out of the rock--and they will
   always be willing to strive for their Master and to labor for His
   cause.

   Now, Christian, rise and walk through the length and breadth of the
   land, this morning, and view your possessions! Nothing will tend so
   much to lessen your undue reverence for men, or to check your glorying
   in them, as a vision of what you are, yourselves, worth! If you see
   your own property, your own possessions, you will not, then, be so much
   inclined to place too high a value upon one certain thing, though it
   may be, in itself, exceedingly precious.

   First of all, we have before us an inventory of the Christian's
   possessions. "All things are yours." Secondly, we have the title deed.
   "You are Christ's and Christ is God's." And, thirdly, we have the
   conduct expected from a man who is so exceedingly rich. "Let no man
   glory in men."

   I. First, I said, we have AN INVENTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S POSSESSIONS.
   The Apostle sets down at the top the total of the whole, and then he
   proceeds to mention the possessions one by one. The sum total is "all
   things," but as these two words are said very quickly and are very
   general in their meaning, he particularizes, and gives each of the
   things in its proper place. First he says, "all things," and then he
   gives us a list which includes "all things."

   And, first, he says that all ministers are yours. As a Christian, all
   kinds of ministers are yours, "whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas."
   All preachers are not Pauls. All are not like Apollos and all cannot
   speak like Cephas. But ministers of all kinds are yours--they are not
   their own, they belong to the Church at large. There is Paul. He has a
   clear, logical mind. He preaches good doctrine and proclaims it
   powerfully. He is yours, go and hear him! There is Apollos who preaches
   with eloquence. He is not so much a logician as an orator. He cannot
   reason, perhaps, but he puts his thoughts into beautiful shapes and
   delivers them well. Go and hear Apollos! There is rough Cephas, a
   plain, blunt, honest, outspoken man. He never minces matters. What he
   says, he says out of his heart, "con amore"--his whole soul goes with
   every word. Do not despise him. You may like Paul, better, and Apollos
   may be more to your taste, but Cephas has his work to do as well--and
   all are yours--their talents, their station, whatever they possess--all
   are yours!

   You sometimes speak of "my minister." Yes, you have a particular
   minister, but then all ministers are yours--not only that special one,
   but all who are called of God! Whatever may be their peculiar mode of
   preaching, they are yours to profit by, if, indeed, they are God's
   servants. There is Boanerges--he preaches in a thundering manner of the
   wrath to come. His sermons alarm you. He drags a harrow across your
   soul. He speaks as if he had just come from the top of Sinai where the
   thunders of God were pealing and the lightning flashing beneath his
   feet! He speaks like a man impressed with solemn awe, as if he had, for
   a while, traversed the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, and had descended
   into the abyss of Hell and seen the horrid pits where the wicked lie
   and bite their bonds. Hear him, he is yours.

   Here is another, a Barnabas who speaks words of gentle comfort. You
   seldom hear thunder from him. His preaching is like the soft evening
   breeze. He is like the sun that has healing beneath its wings, gently
   he speaks to the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. You love to
   hear him. He is quite as useful as Boanerges and Boanerges is as useful
   as Barnabas--and they are both yours. One is a loving John, sweet in
   his disposition. You can read love in his eyes. He has leaned his head
   on the bosom of Jesus and when he speaks, he says, "I beseech you, love
   one another." Another is like Peter. He speaks terribly of the last
   days wherein shall come scoffers--and of the fire which shall consume
   the ungodly. Both Peter and John have their special province--and they
   are both yours.

   When God has blessed a man, when there is an unction from the Holy One
   resting on him, when he can trace his descent from the Apostles by
   being a follower of the Apostles and preaching Apostolic Doctrine in an
   Apostolic manner, then, indeed, you may say he is yours, for, "all are
   yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas." "Then how little and
   narrow-minded I am," perhaps the Christian will say, "that I have not
   cared for this or that man because he was not exactly after my mode!" O
   dear Creatures, would you have the making of God's ministers? A sorry
   lot they would be if you had! God makes them as He pleases, and sends
   them into the world after His own fashion, each with his own work to do
   in his own manner--but they are all yours! There is a minister who
   preaches very sweetly. Well, he is yours, he is your servant, your
   waiting-man! He is not a lord and master over you, but your servant.
   "Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." Whoever he is, if he is a
   true minister of God, he will profess himself to be the servant of the
   Church, your positive property. Make all the use you can of him, then.
   Try and remember all the good things he may say--whatever choice
   utterances, whatever golden sentences and silver words come from his
   lips, treasure them up--for they are all yours, whether they are the
   words of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas. This is the first entry in the
   inventory.

   And, next, "the world"is ours. This great world, considered naturally,
   the home wherein we live, is all ours. Men have carved it out for
   themselves. Worldlings have said, "So much is mine, and so much is
   yours. Yonder fields belong to that rich man. And the houses there and
   that park belong to such another." They may call it theirs if they
   like, but the world is yours! It is yours as much as if you had a legal
   title to it here below. It is yours, not in imagination, or conception,
   but in reality. Do you ask me how it is? I tell you, the world only
   exists for you! If you and all your fellow Christians were gone out of
   it. If the righteous were departed, the world would at once be a
   desert. "You are the salt of the earth"--the conservers, the preservers
   of it--it abides for your sake! Take you away and the world would be
   turned into rottenness and perish! The world is but the scaffold of
   your soul's salvation--it is but the place where you prepare yourselves
   to enter into the world above. This world would have been consumed by
   fire long ago if it had not been for the righteous. God bids the flames
   tarry till He has taken all His children Home! He only keeps the world
   in existence for the sake of His elect! It is a debased world, the
   trail of the serpent is all over it. It is spoiled, its beauty is
   marred, it is a fair world but a false one, its glory is departed. God
   would utterly destroy it but that He intends His Church to be fostered
   in the wilderness and He will not sweep the wilderness away till He has
   carried His people through it. This world is yours-- there is not a
   speck of it which is not yours! The whole of it is yours, from the East
   to the West, and from the North to the South. The lands of virgin snows
   are yours. The wide, expansive ocean is yours. Yon blue sky with all
   its gems of stars is yours. "All things are yours." One man says of a
   certain part, "That is mine!" He knows not what he says--it is yours!
   It is let to him for a little while. He occupies it as a tenant. He is
   only the man who takes care of your house for you. It is your house,
   though he lives in it and enjoys the comfort of it. He stretches
   himself on the couch, but the house is yours-- and it shall be yours,
   by-and-by, when Jesus Christ shall come a second time, without sin unto
   salvation, and shall reign gloriously upon the earth with His ancients!
   Then shall you wear a crown and shall be made a king and a priest unto
   your God, and shall reign with Christ upon the earth for a thousand
   years!

   This world is yours now. "No, but," you say, "I am poor and have but
   little of it." It is yours, notwithstanding, only you are not yet come
   of age. The son, before he is of full age, is as truly the heir of all
   the property as he will be when he comes into full possession of it. He
   has enough for his necessities, but not more, but still, he says, "It
   is mine. And when the day shall come that I am twenty-one, I shall have
   it all." So, Christian, you are at present only a child, and it would
   not do to give you all your property at once. You are not come of age,
   but when you have passed through your time of probation, you shall say,
   "It is mine." But did I hear you say that you have not enough of this
   world's necessities? Hush, be silent, or else the promise is broken,
   "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." I know you have
   enough. Or, if you have not enough at present, yet it is coming to you.
   God will not leave you! If He brings you ever so low in poverty, still
   trust Him, for His promise is engaged to supply your needs. "The young
   lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not
   want any good thing." Try your Lord by faith. If you have no
   employment, no means of providing for yourself, yet ask Him and He will
   give you all you need. If you have no place to lay your head, God will
   provide it for you. However deep your distresses may be, He will never
   let you perish. His honor is engaged on your behalf and He will take
   care of you. Poor as you are, this world is yours! Draw, then, on your
   Heavenly Banker--go and ask your God for what you need--and as truly as
   He is God, He will hear the cry of the destitute and will not despise
   your prayer.

   And next, "life" is ours. Have you ever heard a person say, "Oh, if I
   might but die, and depart, and be with Jesus"? And you have heard him,
   sometimes, repeat the Psalmist's wish, "Oh, that I had wings like a
   dove!" Now, if he had wings like a dove, what would he do with them?
   Where would he put them? "Oh," he says, "that I had wings like a dove,
   for then would I fly away and be at rest." No, you would not be at
   rest, for if you were to fly away before your work was done, you could
   not rest even then! But when your work is done, then you will be at
   rest without needing the wings of a dove. Therefore do not make such a
   silly request any more, but be content to wait and tarry the Lord's
   time. Moreover, look not upon life as an evil thing--it is one of the
   good things we possess. It is a glorious life, after all, when a man
   knows how to enjoy it and how to improve it. What? Be ashamed to live
   here when you have such means of doing good and glorifying God, and
   such pleasant seasons of communion with Jesus, and such preparations
   for eternity? What? Count life nothing? It is one of the greatest
   blessings we possess! And to stay here till our portion of labor shall
   be done is a blessing--nor would we wish to have our lives shortened by
   a single hour, for God has predestinated the time for its end.

   I think that man who does not reckon life a blessing has morbid views.
   With all its trials and sorrows, it is still a precious gem--it may be
   set in a ring of iron--but it is still a gem! Life may be hidden in the
   depths, like a rare pearl, but he that, by faith, can act the part of a
   diver, will fetch the pearl up and see its value. I think an angel in
   Heaven might be glad to live on earth for the good he might do. If I
   may be the means of saving souls from Hell. If I can wipe away the
   mourner's tears. If God shall help me to bind up the broken in heart
   and to set free the prisoner. If my fellow man, by my means, can be led
   in the paths of righteousness. If souls can be snatched from Hell and
   heirs of earth be made heirs of

   Heaven by my staying here, then, O God, let me live! I think the life
   of Methuselah were well purchased, and that we might well tolerate even
   such a long delay from Heaven if we could serve God better by staying
   here. Do not look upon life as a curse, Christian! Count it a blessing
   and seek to make it so. It will be full of weeds and thistles to you if
   you do not plow it. But if you plow life with persevering industry and
   earnestness, you will make it like a garden of the Lord. You can make
   the wilderness blossom like Eden and the desert shall be a very Carmel
   for joy, so that the mountains and hills shall break forth before you
   into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands!
   Yes, Paul was right when he wrote of life as a blessing, for a blessing
   it certainly is.

   The next thing does not seem to be of any value at all--"or death."
   But, Beloved, what would life be worth if it were not for death? There
   are some books that have only plain black letters till you come to the,
   "Finis," which is illuminated. So it is often with life--it is printed
   in black letters till you come to the last leaf--but that page is lit
   up with glory, for that page is death! O Life, I would call you a curse
   if I could not see Death behind you! To live here always--who would
   wish it? To walk perpetually upon this earth and to dwell here absent
   from the Lord, and present in the body--that were, indeed, a curse! But
   life is a blessing because after life comes death. Yes, death, itself,
   is a blessing to the Christian! Usually, we look at death, not so much
   as what it is, as what it appears to be. Death is an angel, the fairest
   in creation! But Death sometimes dresses itself in terrible garments.
   It appears to be terrible, but it is not. Moreover, we think death to
   be dreadful because we do not see the whole of death. You know why
   Belshazzar trembled when he saw the handwriting on the wall--it was
   because he could see nothing but the hand--he could not see the body.
   That is why we are afraid of the hand of death, because we see nothing
   but the hand. If we could see the whole of death, we would count it a
   cherub! Death, indeed, is not a dreary thing to those who believe in
   Jesus--those who know how to commune with death from day to day will
   never be afraid of talking or thinking of it. It is the gate to endless
   joy--and do we dread to enter there? What is it? The grave is a bath
   where my body shall, like Esther, bathe itself in spices until its Lord
   shall say, "Awake!" And I shall rise from my grave, clothed in
   immortality and glory, to dwell with Him forever!

   Death, I have often trembled at you! In midnight hours I have thought
   it must be terrible to die, and I have shaken at your pale apparition.
   O Death, your ghastly appearance has sometimes frightened me! I have
   tried to run away from you, but you are now my slave and I will not
   tremble at you any more. Death, you are mine! I write you down among my
   goods and chattels, a part of my property. Take heed how you try to
   make your master tremble--you are not my master, Death--I am yours!
   Come here, give me your hand, O Death! Be it mine to talk with myself
   every day and to talk with you, too. It does us good to see the
   crossbones and skull and to note in the graveyard the remnants of
   mortality. It is beneficial to our spirits to look down and see that,
   however high our powers, our heads must be laid low. However lofty our
   appearance, we must bend down and our body must become a carnival for
   worms and must be scattered like the dust of the highway to the four
   winds of Heaven! It is good to think of that and then to think, with
   all its gloom, with all that is dismal about it--death is ours!

   Oh, it is pleasant to think well of death! I have heard of a good
   Christian who was asked if she was afraid to die. She replied, "I have
   dipped my foot in the river Jordan every morning before breakfast for
   these 40 years and I am not afraid of the current." It is good to die,
   at last, when we know what it is to die every day. Paul said, "I die
   daily." Well, if we die every day, it will not be hard to die in our
   last day. You will not be afraid of death if you love the Lord. If you
   knew death, Believer, you would not be afraid of it, but you would feel
   it to be a joyous thing. You are thinking of that lonely chamber where
   the friends stand by your side when you bid them all adieu--you are
   thinking of the pains and groans and strife--and the dread solemnity of
   that last hour. But think not of such things! Think, instead, that the
   Lord will come to meet you, for He will come and your soul will stretch
   its wings in haste and fly away to Heaven! Would you be afraid to die
   with Jesus? You would not be afraid if you stood where I sometimes
   stand, by the bedside of the dying saint. I have taken the hand of such
   an one and he has said to me, "Brother, this is the place to prove that
   the Lord is gracious. I am going to be with Jesus! My heart and
   strength fail me, but He is the strength of my life and my portion
   forever." And his eyes have flashed with the very fire of Glory! His
   lips have breathed sonnets, his looks spoke volumes, his heart seemed
   overflowing with the bliss of eternity--and his whole soul radiant with
   immortality! Oh, it is a cheering thing to stand by when a Christian
   dies, to see him stand on the precipice of life, clapping his wings
   before he takes his flight, not into a vast unknown, but into a sea of
   light and love in which he floats until he reaches the gates of
   Paradise! It is doubly sweet and blessed to witness such a spectacle
   ofjoy. Death is ours, then, so we will not fear it, for it is, indeed,
   a privilege to die one day!

   Then, next, "thingspresent" are ours. Come, Beloved, let us see what
   are our "things present" today. One says, "Prosperity is one of my
   things present. The Lord is blessing me in this world and I have many
   joys, many comforts, nothing to complain of, everything to be thankful
   for." Well, that is yours, but take care, my Brother, that you make it
   yours to profit by. Alas, prosperity has something of the same effect
   upon the soul which the holidays of Capua had upon the Roman
   soldiers--it weakens the soul and takes away its power. Do not let it
   be so with you! It need not be so, for if, by the working of God's
   Spirit, you are sanctified, prosperity may be of use to you, for it is
   one of the things present that is yours.

   "Ah," says another, "adversity is present with me. I am suffering
   excruciating pain in my body and my circumstances are not what I wish
   them to be. I am exceedingly pained and driven to and fro. I am like a
   poor seabird, lost in the wide ocean, tossed up and down from the base
   of the waves to the billows' crown." Adversity is yours. It will do you
   good, Brother--it will help to gird up your loins and brace your nerves
   and sinews--it will strengthen you for labor. God has put you in the
   furnace, "your dross to consume, and your gold to refine." Look on
   adversity as a blessing. In everything give God thanks, as much for
   your trials as for your joys, as much for your temptations as for your
   deliverances, as much for the bitters in your cup as for the sweets,
   for the same loving hand that put the one there, mingled the other! All
   "things present" are yours.

   Then there is Providence. That is always present and it is yours. "All
   things work together for good to them that love God." Then there is
   justification. That is a present mercy--"Therefore, being justified by
   faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." That is
   yours. Then here is the Bible, that is a present thing, and it is
   yours. There is not a precious promise in it, from Genesis to
   Revelation, but it is yours--there is not a single choice sentence in
   it, but it is yours. All "things present" belong to you. What else is
   there? Why, there is adoption, for you are now children of God. That is
   yours. There is final perseverance, which God promises even now. He
   will keep His children and preserve them to the end. That is yours, and
   whatever you can conceive that is glorious, which is present with you
   now, is yours!

   But now comes the climax-- "things to come."These are also yours! What?
   Are you trembling at the "things to come"? Are you saying, "I dread the
   future. My poor ship has borne so many storms, I fear to go forward"?
   Oh, tremble not, the future is yours and, if it should be a future of
   storms and hurricanes, and tempests and rocks, and quicksand and
   shoals, it is yours, but your Captain will steer you through! Let death
   be in the future, with its shade and gloom, it is yours. It is one of
   the "things to come." Then, after death, the lying in the grave for a
   time is yours. The resurrection, when you shall arise from the grave,
   is yours. The awful trumpet blast that shall startle the world, the
   books that are to be opened, the blazing lightning, the terrific
   thunders are yours. The trembling universe, with all the dread
   accompaniments of judgment, is yours. The Judge, Himself, is
   yours--your Brother, your Friend!

   And the great conflagration, the flying away of Heaven and of earth,
   the falling of the stars from Heaven like withered fig leaves from the
   tree--all these are yours, too. The rocking of creation, the tossing to
   and fro of matter, the earthquake, the trembling spheres, the shaking
   universe, the dissolving orbs--all these are yours--all that is
   terrible, majestic, sublime, terrific! All is yours. Let your
   imagination gather around it all the dread things which are to come.
   All these are yours. Your soul, enshrined in immortality, shall say,
   "It is all mine." The great dread drama which shall receive its
   terrible consummation after death is yours. If there is a Hell that is
   horrible to the wicked--as there most assuredly is--it is not for you!
   But if there is a Heaven, glorious and great as it is, it is for you!
   There is a harp in Heaven which is yours. A crown in Heaven which is
   yours. Think of the streets of gold, they are yours, for they are
   "things to come." Think of the Most High God, Himself--He is yours! And
   you shall feel Him to be so. O Christian! Heaven is yours! Try,
   Beloved, to picture Heaven to yourself. I think I hear you say, "Is
   this Heaven, and am I there? Have I a crown upon my head? Am I clad in
   white? O glorious world! I never conceived Heaven to be like this! I
   had pictures, I had dreams, I had imaginations, but this far outshines
   all that I ever conceived! O wondrous Heaven, how glorious you are! And
   there is my Christ!"

   I know not what you will say of Him--it were almost blasphemy to try to
   utter words about Him--but when you are with Him, lying on His breast
   forever, feeling His heart palpitating against yours and knowing that
   the God-Man has loved you with an everlasting love, and feeling that
   His heart is forever yours by the sweetest tie of blessed
   relationship--then you will find that "things to come" are yours, for
   Heaven has become your actual possession! This, then, is the
   Christian's glorious inventory! He is rich, indeed, who owns all these
   things and who can take up this language-- "all things are mine whether
   Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or life, or death, or things present, or
   things to come."

   II. Now, we come to THE TITLE DEEDS. They are drawn up in the name of
   Christ--"you are Christ's and Christ is God's."

   As I am, by nature, apart from Christ, none of those things are
   mine--they are all against me. Death would not be mine without
   Christ--it would be, indeed, a terrible doom! Life is not mine without
   Christ--that were dangerous, indeed, to live here without Him. All I
   have comes to me through Jesus. Come, then, let me look at the title
   deeds and see if I am interested in them. They consist of two parts.
   First, "you are Christ's," and secondly, "Christ is God's."

   "You are Christ's." Come, Christian, soliloquize thus with
   yourself--"My Soul, are you Christ's? Can you say that you are His in a
   threefold sense? Are you Christ's by the Father's donation of you to
   Christ? Are you Christ's by the purchase of His blood? And are you
   Christ's by your own consecration of yourself to Him? Am I Christ's by
   eternal donation because God the Father gave me to the Son? Can I look
   back and see my name written in life's fair book? Can I, with holy
   faith, look back and see the roll of destiny and read my name therein?
   Have I a humble, holy faith that I was given to the Lord long before
   the foundations of the earth were laid, or the pillars thereof were
   piled? Am I His? Can I say, "This Covenant, made of old, stands forever
   fast"? Can I say that I was given to Him? Do I rejoice in that
   sovereign electing love which gave me to the Savior for no reason
   whatever in me, but simply of His own Grace? If so, that is one proof
   that I am Christ's!

   "But again, my Soul, can you look back and see yourself to be Christ's
   by the purchase of His blood?When you go to Gethsemane, do those drops
   of gore fall upon the ground for you? When you go to Gabbatha, can you
   think that ignominy and plucking of the hair was for you? And at
   Calvary, can you feel that all its agonies and terrors were for you?

   Do you feel, dear Friends, that you are Christ's by the purchase of His
   blood? At a Primitive Methodist prayer meeting, a Brother was not able
   to pray and somebody else, further down in the meeting, according to
   their rather disorderly manner, called out, "Brother plead the blood,
   plead the blood! Then you will be able to pray!" The Brother understood
   well enough--he began pleading the blood of Jesus and then he could,
   indeed, pray! O my Soul, can you plead the blood? My hearer, can you
   plead the blood? My Brother, my Sister, can you say that the Sacrifice
   of Jesus was for you? Do you feel that He bought you and paid for you,
   that His Sacrifice was made for your guilt, that He died especially for
   your sins? Can you appropriate Jesus to yourself? If so, you can
   appropriate everything, since "you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

   But, further, we are Christ's by consecration. Beloved, are you thus
   Christ's? "Do know the place, the plot of ground, where you met Jesus?"
   Ah, some of us can look back and tell to an inch, the spot where we
   first gave our hearts to Jesus! Many of the Lord's people cannot do it
   and it is not necessary that they should, but yet they can, each one,
   say, "I am my Lord's and He is mine." Do you feel, this morning, that
   you have given yourself to the Lord Jesus. That you are not your own,
   but, being bought with a price, you have willingly given yourself to
   Him? Have you taken Christ for your All-in-All and have you given up
   all to Christ? If Christ were to walk up this aisle and come to each
   one of you, and say, "Sinner, do you love Me?" What answer would you
   give Him? If He were now to step from pew to pew and look at each of
   you, showing you His scarred hands with the print of the nails, and
   asking, "Will you give yourself to Me?" What would your answer be? Do
   you wish to give yourselves up wholly to Christ? Have you done so?
   Then, "all things are yours" because you are Christ's! By consecration
   you have given yourselves to Him.

   If you consecrate yourselves to Jesus, you will never find Him a hard
   Master. I have known Him some little while and He has been exceedingly
   kind to His unworthy servant. I have nothing in which to find fault
   with Him, but much with myself. He is a blessed Master. O youth, or
   maiden, if you would love Him, you would find Him worthy of your love
   in all respects! Why, I think His very name is enough to make you love
   Him! "My Master! How sweetly does 'my Master' sound! Yes, He is my
   Master and your Master if you have become His servant and have given
   yourselves to Him. But, if you are not Christ's, you have nothing--you
   are a poor miserable creature! How can you live if you are not
   Christ's? How will you face grim death? How will you stand before
   Christ when He shall sit on His Throne? Do you think that you shall be
   able to hear His thundering voice say, "Depart, you cursed"? Are your
   ribs of steel, and bones of brass? If they are, they will be broken
   when He speaks in His wrath! O then, Beloved, "Kiss the Son, lest He is
   angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a
   little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him."

   I must only hint at the other portion. In order to link us thoroughly
   with God, there is something else besides our being Christ's, and that
   is, "Christ is God's. "With one hand Christ links Himself to men, with
   the other He is joined to God. And thus God and men are united. Oh,
   think of this! There is a link between you and the Godhead! The God
   that you cannot conceive of--the hem of whose garments are dark with
   ineffable light, too splendid for man to view--that mighty God, filling
   immensity, the Infinite, the All Things in One, is linked with you!
   Christ gives you His hand--He is your Brother, flesh and blood like
   yourself--and He gives God His hand, for He is the equal of the
   Eternal, the infinite God, very God of very God, and yet, very Man of
   very Man! Oh, what a glorious thought, that my deed is stamped by the
   Father and by the Son! It has the seal of Them both! "You are Christ's
   and Christ is God's." And having Christ and being Christ's, I have all
   things in Him. "All things are yours. For you are Christ's and Christ
   is God's."

   Before I come to the third point, let me ask you, dear Friends, to put
   this question to your conscience. Are you Christ's?Oh, how many there
   are who attend God's House and never feel any personal application of
   the Truth of God! How many are there of you who sit Sunday after
   Sunday, and weekday after weekday hearing sermons and never getting any
   profit from them? O Sirs, preaching is not child's play! Some persons
   say, "I will go and hear Mr. So-and-So," and they go--just to amuse
   themselves! Do you think that a true minister will preach to amuse you?
   Is it his business to do so? Oh, believe me, it is solemn work to stand
   and speak for God and in His name! Did you ever think what it is to
   preach God's Word? Oh, if at the Last Great Day it shall be shown that
   we have not preached faithfully to you, if we have not declared the
   whole counsel of God, you, indeed, must perish, but your blood will be
   required at our hands!

   And then, do you know what solemn work it is to hear? Oh, if the damned
   spirits in Hell could come to earth, they would let you know what
   solemn work it is to hear the Gospel! Think not that you can hear the
   Gospel without having your salvation or damnation affected--there is
   not a Word of the Gospel that ever enters into man's ear for which he
   shall not be brought to account! I beseech you, as you believe in the
   Bible, as you believe that there is no salvation out of Christ, to lay
   these things to heart! They are not trifles, they are not imaginary
   things, they are not that which concerns your body--they concern your
   eternal existence! You are rich, or else you are poor. You are Christ's
   or the devil's! You are on the road to Heaven or to Hell--which is it?
   Oh, let the question ring through your ears--which is it, Heaven or
   Hell? Which is it?HEAVEN OR HELL? Oh, let not that question, if it is
   ever so harshly spoken, be rejected by you! Answer the question to your
   soul and if you are honestly obliged to say, "I fear I am on the road
   to Hell," then remember, if you feel that--if you confess your sin,
   Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners--"This is a
   faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
   into the world to save sinners." Not everybody, but, "sinners"--all
   those who will acknowledge and confess that title shall be saved by
   Divine Grace! If you are a sinner and you trust Him, He will most
   assuredly and certainly save you!

   III. Now, lastly, WHAT IS THE DUTY OF A MAN WHO HAS SUCH LARGE
   POSSESSIONS? "Let no man glory in men. For all things are yours."

   If a man has everything, he has no need to glory in some one little
   thing. If a man has only one gold ring, you will see him wearing it on
   his finger every day--and putting his hand in such a position that
   everybody may see it. But he who has far more, need not be particular
   about just one ring being seen! Does the Queen care that other people
   know what plate and jewels she has at Windsor? Everybody knows that she
   is rich, that she has an abundance and, therefore, it is not necessary
   that she should display a portion of it. Whenever you find a person
   glorying in some little thing, you may be sure he is acting contrary to
   what he should be. I cannot conceive how a Christian man, who has
   everything, can be proud because he has a little talent, or a little
   wealth, or position, or station! Do not be proud of that, but say,
   "That is one stone in my estate--it is one little pebble that lies in
   one of the brooks in my large domains. True, it is mine, but it is
   nothing to boast of." "Let no man glory in men. For all things are
   yours." Do not be boasting, then, about one thing when all things are
   yours! The little child, when it has a present, shows it to every
   person who comes into the house, but when the child becomes a man, he
   shows not everything that he has, yet he has more possessions than he
   had before. Thus the worldling may glory in his riches and boast of his
   strength, but, Christians, you are too far advanced for this--you are
   too wise, "for all things are yours"--and surely you will not attach
   undue importance to one.

   Now, what does this subject say practically to you? One of you has lost
   a friend. You are weeping and saying, "I have lost everything." No, you
   have not--"for all things are yours." He may have been a precious
   friend, a most loving one that you have lost. It may be a deep trial,
   but think what you have. You have God! Your sins are forgiven! You have
   the righteousness of Christ! You have not lost that. It is only some
   pennies which are gone--your gold is safe, your jewels are not taken
   away. "But I have lost my jewels," you say. Have you? Ah, then, you do
   not know Christ, for you would not venture to call anything a jewel
   except the precious Lord Jesus! Is it not wrong for you to bemoan and
   weep so perpetually when "all things are yours"? Another one is
   expecting such-and-such a relative to be taken away and is weeping over
   an expected loss. Now you have no promise to help you, for you weep
   before your trouble comes! God does not promise that He will help you
   who manufacture your own troubles. Remember, you cannot lose the title
   deeds of your possessions. If you have lost your copy, you can get
   another, for the old deed is up in the ark in Heaven!

   Now, by way of a practical hint, I might say, if "all things are
   yours," how willing you ought to be to give something to the cause of
   God! A man who is poor and has nothing is never expected to give. But a
   man who has "all things," should give like a prince! There are many
   princes in Israel who have all things in their possession and I am sure
   I may ask them to give something for the Lord's cause.

   But I again come back to this all-important question--we must not put
   it away. We must give an answer to it, either now, or at God's bar--Are
   we Christ's?Some of you, I fear, are not Christ's. You are none of His
   because your conversation is carnal, your actions are worldly, your
   behavior is inconsistent and your lives are reproachable. Then, you are
   not Christ's. Some of you are not Christ's because you are trusting in
   your own righteousness and not leaning on the blood and righteousness
   of Christ alone. But we hope that there are some of you who have
   stripped yourselves of everything and have taken Christ for your
   All-in-All. If, devoid of all goodness, you make Christ your
   goodness--if, devoid of everything, you take Christ for all, then He is
   yours. Hence, you may revel in delights and let your heart leap for
   joy! Let your melancholy be dissipated and your tears be all dried up!
   You may rejoice with unspeakable joy and full of glory, for this world
   is yours, the world to come is yours and Heaven shall be your happy
   home forever!

   The Lord grant that it may be so with all of you when He shall make up
   His jewels! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

Hearing, Seeking, Finding

   (No. 2590)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 2, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 24,
   1883.

   "Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the
   woods. We will go into His tabernacles: we will worship at His
   footstool." Psalm 132:6, 7.

   LONG before David's time, the Ark of the Lord had been almost forgotten
   by the children of Israel. It formed a most important part of the
   Ceremonial Law which God had ordained. I may almost call it the central
   portion of that pattern which was shown to Moses in the mountain. But
   the Ark had been carried into captivity by the Philistines and,
   afterwards, the terrible judgment worked upon the men of Beth-Shemesh
   may have made many afraid to go near it. So it remained a long time in
   Kirjath-Jearim and there David found it. And, after leaving it for a
   while at the house of Obed-Edom, brought it up to Jerusalem with great
   rejoicing. David's heart was so full of zeal for God that he desired
   that every part of the Lord's worship should be carried out with due
   order and proper solemnity. He wished to see a sanctuary built in which
   the Ark of the Lord should rest in its place and the worship of God
   should be carried out as He judged was meet and fit.

   The first thing, therefore, for David to do was to find the Ark, for,
   as I have already said, it was a central portion of the
   Divinely-ordained Ceremonial Law. The Ark was put away in the Most Holy
   Place and it was an express and notable symbol of the Presence of God
   among the people. It was there, from above the Mercy Seat, that God met
   with man and communed with him in the person of the High Priest. It was
   there that the Shekinah glory, denoting the special Presence of God,
   shone forth between the cherubim. It is clear, therefore, that if David
   meant to restore the worship of God to its due and proper order, his
   first business was to find the Ark. Yet, without forgetting that fact,
   I am not going to talk so much about David finding the Ark as to think
   of some who are in the condition in which I once was. When I desired to
   find God, I longed to meet with Him, in the Person of Christ, in His
   own appointed way, but I could not find Christ. My heart was dark, my
   eyes were blind and I looked everywhere but in the right place. I did
   not look where the true Light of God was shining. But, at last, I
   resolved that I must find Him and I did, by His Grace, find Him! I
   found Him where I little expected to find Him and now, having found
   Him, myself, I have it on my heart to come and speak to everyone who is
   saying, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" It may be that my
   message shall be like the voice that reached poor Hagar in the
   wilderness, when she and her son were ready to perish with thirst,
   though there was a well of water close at hand. As the Lord said to
   her, "What ails you, Hagar?" so would I ask, "What ails you, poor
   seeking Soul, when Christ is so near?" His people will breathe a prayer
   for you that you may find Him even while I speak to you.

   I. My first remark will be that, LIKE DAVID, WE WISH TO FIND THE ARK,
   THAT ARK BEING CHRIST.

   Dear Friends, most here present--and I should suppose, all--are well
   instructed as to where God will meet with us as our reconciled God. The
   symbol was the Ark of the Covenant. And the Mercy Seat, the reality, we
   know is Christ. We know this, I say, for most of us have been
   instructed in the Scriptures from our youth up. Oh, that we all knew it
   in our hearts!

   Now, concerning that Ark, the first point to be noted is that it was
   covered with a golden Mercy Seat which was the place of forgiveness
   when it was sprinkled with the sacrificial blood. Those who came to it,
   through the High Priest, knew that God had accepted them and forgiven
   their sins. You and I know that we can never meet with God except at
   the Mercy Seat which is Christ Jesus, the Lord! Christ made an
   Atonement, a Propitiation, for our sins--He "offered Himself without
   spot to God." Though in Him was no sin, yet He was made sin for us. For
   our sake He came under the curse of the broken Law of God and now, if
   we want to meet with God, it must be at the Mercy Seat, by the
   Propitiation which Christ has made. You say that you know this is the
   case--then never try to meet God anywhere else, for remember that He is
   a consuming fire! There is no safety in making any attempt to come to
   God except by Christ Jesus, the one Mediator between God and men. His
   pierced body, that torn veil, is the only means of access for a sinner
   to a holy God!

   In addition to this, the Ark was not only a Mercy Seat, but it was a
   Throne of Grace. God sat there, as it were, upon a throne of mercy and
   to us, today, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Throne of Grace. God in
   Christ Jesus is our reigning God, stretching out the silver scepter of
   His mercy and accepting all who come to Him. Do you want to pray, poor
   Soul, so that God will hear you? Then plead the blood of Christ! Do you
   wish to pour out your burdened spirit before the God of Grace? Then
   come with the name of Christ in your mouth and His blood trusted in
   your heart--and you shall not be refused! There is no meeting place
   with God, there is no place for prevailing prayer, but where you meet
   God in the Person of Jesus Christ the one great Sin-Offering!

   Then, further, the Ark was the place of God's Manifestation. As much as
   could be seen of the Glory of God was seen between the cherubim. It is
   said that a bright light alwaysrested there as a token of Jehovah's
   perpetual Presence--and if you would see the Glory of God, you must
   look into the face of Jesus Christ. "No man can see God's face and
   live." But we may see the face of Christ and live by seeing it! But
   only through the veil of Christ's Humanity can we see it. I have
   noticed that when men look at the sun, it has to be through smoked
   glass. And when we look at God, it must be through the Incarnation of
   Christ, who was found in fashion as a Man, though He thought it not a
   prize to be grasped to be equal with God.

   Furthermore, David knew, and you also know, that there were within the
   Ark three notable things--first, the tablets of stone which God had
   ordered to be placed there for preservation. There was, next, the
   golden pot with manna. And then there was also Aaron's rod that budded.
   Now, if you come to Christ, you will find in Him all that these things
   represented and all that you need.

   First, there is preserved the complete, vindicated and honored Law of
   God. You will never be able, in your own strength, to keep the Law of
   the Lord--you will break it as surely as you live. Yet you cannot be
   accepted without a perfect righteousness! Unless God sees you clothed
   in the garments of righteousness, He will never admit you to the
   wedding feast. So where are you to get that spotless robe? It is in
   Christ, for faith is imputed for righteousness to him who believes in
   the Son of God, even as Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to
   him for righteousness! But how is righteousness imputed to the guilty?
   Why, the Believer lays hold of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and it
   is reckoned as if it were his own! "For as by one man's disobedience
   many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made
   righteous." That "One" is the Lord, our Righteousness, and when we put
   on His robe of righteousness, we stand before God, "holy as the Holy
   One." If, then, you need a perfect Law, you will only find it in
   Christ. If any say that they have it in themselves, I believe that is
   only setting up another and a false Christ, for it is a derogation to
   the special Glory of Christ, of whom alone it can be said that He has
   magnified the Law and made it honorable by keeping it perfectly! I have
   no righteousness in and of myself, nor has any child of God any of his
   own--any that we once thought we had, we do count but dross and
   dung--that we may 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. Oh, how we need,
   then, to find the Ark, Christ Jesus, that we may see, there, the
   unbroken tablets of the Law of God!

   But every child of God also needs spiritual food. If the Lord has
   quickened you, He has given you hunger with your new life, for
   spiritual hunger always goes with spiritual life and you are saying,
   "Oh, that I might but eat of the crumbs that the little dogs get under
   their master's table--I must have some spiritual meat!" You will never
   have it till you get where the golden pot of manna is to be found.
   There is the food of the saints treasured up in Christ! There is no
   food for a soul even in Heaven except in Christ Jesus. He is the Manna,
   of which, if a man eats, he shall live forever! This shall satisfy his
   soul, strengthen him, build him up and develop him into a perfect man
   in Christ Jesus! But you must come to Christ for the food that was
   typified by the golden pot full of manna.

   I think that I hear someone say, "I remember that a third thing that
   was in the Ark was Aaron's rod that budded. And that reminds me that I
   need a power that can rule me, that can say to my rebellious passions,
   'Be still,' and that can make me walk in the way of God's commands,
   even bringing every wandering thought into captivity." Well, there is
   no rod that I know of that can rule our rebellious nature but the rod
   of Christ Jesus, the great High Priest of God! Once let that blessed
   rod be all-powerful over us, and with it shall come all manner of buds,
   blossoms and ripe fruit to our soul.

   Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and
   lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls." Only from
   that rod can come the perfect fruit-bearing that every true child of
   God desires to produce!

   II. This leads me to my second remark, which is that knowing what we do
   about Christ, the Ark, WE DESIRE TO

   FIND HIM.

   I hope that I am addressing some who could even use the language of
   David and say that they intensely desire to find Him. They cry to the
   mighty God of Jacob in their affliction and with their whole heart and
   soul they long to find Christ! David made a vow about it, for his heart
   was set upon finding the Ark. Dear Friend, is your heart set upon
   finding Christ, or are you merely trifling with Him? Have you been so
   thoroughly awakened by the Holy Spirit that within you there burns a
   strong desire, insatiable as death, itself, so that you feel that you
   must find Christ? If so, I am happy to be addressing you--and you are
   already a happy person to have this hungering and thirsting after
   Christ, for that holy craving shall be fully satisfied with Him.

   David thirsted to find this Ark immediately and so much in earnest was
   he that he said, "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my
   house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or
   slumber to me eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord." Oh, when
   it comes to this--that you must have Christ, then you shall have
   Christ! When with every breath you seem to say, "Give me Christ, or
   else I die," then you shall not die, but you shall have Christ and
   live! I have heard of some who have at last been driven to such a pitch
   of vehement determination that they have gone into their chamber and
   said, "By the Grace of God I will never leave this place until I have
   found my Lord." I knew one who said, "I dare not eat till I have found
   Christ, lest every morsel should choke me." And in the ardor of his
   spirit to roll himself upon his Savior and to be cleansed in His
   precious blood, he cast himself upon his knees and cried to his
   God--and the Lord revealed Himself to him! If you must have Christ, you
   shall have Him! But if you can be put off, you shall be put off.

   Next, David sought the Ark most reverently, for he recognized it as
   being a token of the Presence of "the mighty God of Jacob." And you and
   I must seek Christ reverently. I do not like to hear the irreverent
   appeals of those who speak of Christ as though He were to be seized by
   force and carried off against all law and justice. Truly, "the Kingdom
   of Heaven suffers violence," but it is the violence of humble men and
   women who dare to act with holy boldness because they are encouraged by
   their God. That I, a poor sinner, should ever speak with God in a sort
   of bullying tone, as I have heard some do, as though they said even to
   their God, "Stand and deliver," this will never do! Your mouth is in
   the best position when it is in the dust--and your heart is nearest to
   prevailing with God when it is bowed even to the ground. "Out of the
   depths have I cried to You, O Lord," should be the language with which
   we humbly approach His Throne of Grace.

   But while David thus sought very reverently, yet observe that it was
   with intense desire that he might receive this Ark when once he found
   it He wanted to find it, but his ultimate objective was to harbor it,
   to give hospitality to it, to find a resting place for it. And oh, dear
   Heart, if you want to find Christ, let it be with this desire, "Oh,
   that He may come and live in my soul, and be my own personal Christ! I
   do not want merely to hear aboutHim, to be taught about Him--I want to
   have Him--and if He is to be had, I willhave Him! If there is Grace
   beneath the sky for a poor sinner, then I, the chief of sinners, will
   not rest until I find rest in Him." If I am speaking to any here of
   that kind, I say again that I am thrice happy!

   III. Proceeding still further with our subject and coming directly to
   our text--first, knowing what this Ark is, and then desiring to find
   it--thirdly, WE HAVE HEARD WHERE IT IS--"Lo, we heard of it at
   Ephratah."

   "We heard of it." And is it not a blessed thing that we have heard
   about where Christ is?Where did you first hear of Him? I do not know
   whether, by Ephratah, David meant Bethlehem. Some think he did. That
   was the place where he was born and in his own father's house David had
   heard about the Ark. And there are some of us who can say with
   overflowing gratitude that we heard about Christ in our Ephratah, in
   our Bethlehem. His dear name was mingled with our mother's hush of
   lullaby. Among the earliest recollections I have are memories of hymns
   about the Lord Jesus Christ! The Word of God was our first school
   book--do we not remember, as little children, spelling out in Matthew,
   and Mark, and Luke, and John, something about that dear Lord? "We heard
   of it at Ephratah," in our earliest home--if that is the meaning of
   David's words.

   Oh, but, if you heard of Christ so soon, why have you not found Him
   yet? You who go to market know that there is nothing like the morning
   market--and there is nothing like seeking Christ early. They that seek
   Him early, shall find Him. If others do not, they shall--they shall
   find Him with an emphasis--find Him to a degree and in a measure in
   which some others do not. Oh, go to Christ in the morning market! Be
   the first there to buy the Truth of God and never sell it!

   But Ephratah means--well, I do not know what it means, nor do any of
   the critics--it probably means some town of Ephraim. And I do not know
   and some of you do not know, perhaps, where you did nothear about
   Christ. You went to Sunday school and you heard of Him there. You went
   home and you heard of Him there. In these days, there are agencies that
   surround men so that they are often hearing of Him. Some here present
   have long heard of Christ and you are always hearing about Him--is it
   not time that you should get further than merely knowing and
   hearing--and should intensely seek until you findHim? You have heard of
   Christ from ministers. They have told you, many a time, where Christ
   is. You have heard of Him from Christian men and women. I hope that you
   will hear of Him again tonight from some Brother or Sister who will
   buttonhole you before you get out of this place, for there are some
   here who are very quick at that blessed work! And they will be sharp
   after you, for their love to you is great and they cannot bear that a
   soul should ever come within these walls and then, at last, be lost. I
   do pray the Lord that none ever may!

   Oh, that your coming here might be the result of God's Grace working
   upon your soul, that you may be saved! I remember one friend coming to
   me and he said to me very earnestly, "I should like, Sir, to take a
   seat in the Tabernacle." I answered, "Well, do so, by all manner of
   means! I am very glad when people do so." "But," he said, "I may not
   come up to what you expect of me, for I have heard that if I take a
   sitting here, you will expect me to be converted--and I cannot
   guarantee that." "No," I replied, "I do not want you to guarantee it. I
   do not mean the word, expect, in that sense at all, but I do hope that
   it will be so." "Oh," he exclaimed, "and so do I! I am going to take a
   sitting with that very view." And it was so, of course it was so! When
   the man wished it to be so, God accepted the wish and heard the
   prayer--and he was brought to Christ and joined the Church! May
   everyone who comes here have to say, "Well, wherever we did nothear
   about Christ, we didhear of Him at the Tabernacle--that was our
   Ephratah. We were told where He was and we received plain and clear
   directions as to how we might find Him."

   IV. Now, fourthly, the next words are, "WE FOUND IT."

   You remember the learned Grecian who, when he had made a discovery
   while in the bath, leaped out of it and ran down the streets crying,
   "Eureka! Eureka! I have found it! I have found it!" Oh, those are the
   best words in my text! "We found it."

   Well, where did we find it? David said that he found it "in the fields
   of the woods," that is, where he did not expect to find it Have not
   many of us found Christ where we never thought we should find Him?
   "Oh," says one, "I shall never go to Heaven, I am sure, through the
   preaching of Mr. So-and-So! I cannot stand him. I am sure I would never
   get a blessing among such-and-such people." And, perhaps, dear Friend,
   the very man that you have thought could not be a blessing to you is to
   be made a blessing to you--and the very place where you did not expect
   to find Christ will be the exact spot where you shall meet with Him!

   In the case of David finding the Ark, it was not only where he could
   not have expected it, but it was in a place that was despised--a rustic
   place--"in the fields of the woods." Perhaps the Lord may lead you to
   some very plain minister, without any polish, or talent, or ability--a
   rustic speaker--a very Amos and, lo, there you will find the Ark of the
   Lord! If the Lord will guide you to Heaven through the word of a
   chimney-sweep, it would be far better than that you should go to Hell
   under the ministry of the most eloquent orator or the greatest bishop
   who ever lived. If you are brought to Jesus Christ by one who murders
   the Queen's English--it is a pity that he should do that but, still, it
   does not matter much, so long as he does not murder the Lord's Gospel,
   for the Gospel comes out straight and clear, despite his broken words.
   Then you will, as it were, find Christ "in the fields of the woods." I
   have known some who have found Christ in a very lowly place. They have
   gone away from all companions and up in their own little room they have
   sought and found Him. I knew one who found the Savior down a saw-pit
   and another who found Him in a hayloft. Some have walked the streets of
   London and have been more alone, there, than anywhere else and, as they
   have trudged along, men have seemed to them like trees walking--they
   have found Christ, figuratively, "in the fields of the woods." Get
   alone, dear Friends--it is horrible to live in a crowd! I do not know
   how a man's spiritual life is to be constantly maintained in a
   crowd--he must often be alone. "You, when you pray, enter into your
   closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is
   in secret."

   "We found it in the fields of the woods," may, perhaps, mean, Brothers
   and Sisters, that you will find Christ where you lose yourselves. You
   know that it is very easy to lose yourself in the woods. You get in
   among the trees and you do not know whether you should turn to the
   right or to the left. Or you are in "the fields of the woods" and you
   are quite lost, for you cannot tell which way to go. The nearest thing
   to being saved is knowing that one is lost! When a man is really lost
   in his own consciousness, the next thing is for him to be saved. The
   end of yourself is the beginning of Christ. May the Lord cause you to
   know that you are thoroughly lost, and then soon you shall sing, "We
   found Christ in the woods where we lost ourselves."

   It has struck me, too, in thinking over our text, that often we find
   Christ very near to us. Where did Adam go after he had disobeyed his
   Lord? He went and hid himself among the trees. And you and I found
   Christ where we were hiding--we did not know that He was among the
   trees of the woods--we thought that we were out of sight of God and far
   away from Heaven and Grace and mercy. Yet all the time, there was the
   mercy close at hand. Poor Sinner, you do not know how easy it is to be
   saved. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." You
   do not know how near that salvation is to you. "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 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."

   V. Fifthly, and very briefly, "WE WILL GO." "We will go into His
   tabernacles."

   Now that we have found where Christ is and we can go to Him, we will
   have Him. We will go to God in Christ--"we will go into His
   tabernacles." We will not delay a minute longer, but we will, even now,
   by faith, go to the great Father in His own appointed way. We will go
   to Him for all that He is prepared to give--"we will go into His
   tabernacles" to find the Mercy Seat, to bow before the Throne of Grace,
   to behold the Glory of God, to eat of the manna, to see the perfect Law
   of God and to come under the governance of the blessed rod that buds.
   "We will go into His tabernacles," first, into the outer court. Then,
   into the inner court and, last of all, into the Holy of Holies. It is a
   blessed thing to see a soul on the go towards God when Christ becomes
   the Way!

   "We will go into His tabernacles" and we will dwell there. We will
   dwell with God. We will get back to the Father's House where there is
   "bread enough and to spare," and there we will stay. We will go to
   learn of God. We will be the disciples of Christ. We will go and we
   will go at once. Oh, I wish that I could hear some saying, "We will go.
   We know about Christ, we have found Him near us--we will now go and
   simply trust and rest--and so dwell in the great Father's love." God
   grant that you may do so!

   VI. And then the last word is, WE WILL WORSHIP. "We will worship at His
   footstool."

   In lowly reverence we will bow ourselves down in the very dust, for we
   are but dust and ashes even when we are saved. "We will worship at His
   footstool." That is, with deepest solemnity, for even His Ark, His
   Temple, is but the footstool of the great King! Oh, what must He be!
   Heaven is His Throne, but the earth is His footstool. This world is a
   wonderful place. I have looked upon mountains, hills, valleys and
   mighty seas--yet the whole earth is nothing but the footstool of God!
   Let us go, then, and worship before Him in lowly reverence and with
   deepest solemnity.

   But let us worship there with great joy. His "saints shall shout aloud
   for joy" and, as they bow at His footstool, it shall not be as slaves,
   but as His chosen and accepted ones. Let us also bow there very
   gratefully, blessing God that He has brought us to His feet. Part of
   the preparation for Heaven is to worship at God's footstool on earth,
   but, by-and-by, we shall worship in His palace above! "We will go and
   worship" because we have found Christ and He is ours! May this be true
   of all of you, dear Friends, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM132.

   This Psalm is a prayer and pleading of the Covenant, such a prayer as
   might have been offered by Solomon at the opening of the Temple, or by
   any of the descendants of David, either in their times ofjoy or in
   their seasons of affliction. It divides itself into three parts. In the
   first seven verses, mention is made of David's zeal for the Ark and for
   the House of the Lord. Then, in three more verses, there follows the
   prayer at the moving of the Ark. And then the last verses mention the
   Covenant which God made with His servant, David, which is pleaded by
   David's descendants in later years. The Psalm begins thus--

   Verse 1. LORD, (or Jehovah), remember David, and all his afflictions.
   We cannot come before God in our own name; so what a mercy it is that
   we have a good name to plead! You and I do not approach the Lord in the
   name of any saint or holy man--we plead the name of "great David's
   greater Son" and with the utmost emphasis can we say, "Lord, remember
   Jesus, and all His afflictions--His griefs and sorrows on our behalf."
   This was a most proper prayer, however, as it stands, from those who
   belonged to David's race--they pleaded the name of him with whom God
   had entered into Covenant on the behalf of all his seed--"Lord,
   remember David, and all his trouble--his trouble which he took about
   Your house, and about Your Ark."

   2. Howhe swore unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob.
   Jacob was the great maker of vows and you will also remember that
   Jacob, on his dying bed, made mention of "the mighty God of Jacob."
   David, in this Psalm, imitated his forefathers--he made a solemn vow to
   the Lord that he would build a house for God, even as Jacob did when he
   said, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go,
   and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to put on, so that I come
   again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God. And
   this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house."

   3-5. Surely 1 willnot come into the tabernacle ofmy house, nor go up
   into my bed; I willnot give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids
   until I find a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of
   Jacob. He used strong words to signify that his house would be no house
   to him and that he would not regard his bed as a place of rest until he
   had discovered where God would dwell. It means that he would give
   himself wholly up to this project--it would be his life-work to find a
   suitable place for the worship of the Most High. I wish that this same
   zeal would take firm hold of all Christians. How many there are who
   dwell in their ceiled houses while the House of God lies in waste! They
   can provide abundantly for themselves, but for God's cause, for God's
   Gospel, for a place wherein the poor may meet for the preaching of the
   Word, they do not seem to care. May the Lord give us to feel something
   of this self-denial and devotion to God that moved the heart of David!

   6, 7. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the
   woods. We will go into His tabernacles: we will worship at His
   footstool This is what David did and you see what trouble he took in
   the matter. But you know that he was not permitted to build a house for
   God. Yet he had the same reward as if he had done so, for God built up
   his house and established his dynasty for many generations! God often
   takes the will for the deed with His servants. And when they wish to do
   a good work and there is some reason why they may not carry out their
   plans, the Lord looks upon them and gives them the same reward as if
   they had accomplished their design. After all, dear Friends, David
   wised to build a house for God and although it was very right and
   proper in itself, yet, in the sight of God, it was but a small matter!
   He took little account of Solomon's Temple, though it was "exceedingly
   magnificent!" You remember how Stephen said, just as a sort of passing
   remark of no great importance, "Solomon built Him an house. Howbeit,
   the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands." And it is a very
   curious fact in history that from the very day in which the great
   Temple was dedicated, spiritual religion began to decline in the land!
   God's worship was never more pure than when it was rendered in a tent
   in a humble way. But, as soon as the great gilded Temple was erected
   and priestly pomp began to display itself, it seemed as if men began to
   depart from the spiritual worship of Jehovah. How often it is that the
   more gorgeous the Ceremonial Law, the less hearty and the less
   spiritual the worship becomes! Our great and glorious God who fills
   Heaven and earth takes small account of noble architecture and earthly
   pomp and splendor, or of the sweetness of music, or the fumes of
   incense. He is far above all that is merely sensuous! He delights to
   dwell where there are broken hearts that He can bind and where genuine
   Believers worship Him in spirit and in truth.

   8-10. Arise, O LORD, into Your rest; You, and the Ark of Your strength.
   Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness; and let Your saints
   shout for joy. For Your servant David's sake turn not away the face of
   Your anointed. Turn back for a minute to the 8th verse. "Arise, O
   Jehovah, into Your rest." This exclamation was very similar to the
   language which Moses used whenever the Ark set forward--"Rise up,
   Jehovah, and let Your enemies be scattered; and let them that hate You
   flee before You." And when it rested, he said, "Return, O Jehovah, unto
   the many thousands of Israel." So David did well to use similar words
   when the Ark was, at lat, brought to its resting place. He calls it the
   Ark of God's Strength, for such it really was. It had done great
   wonders. It was when the Ark was borne by the priests into the midst of
   Jordan that the river was divided so that the people could pass over
   with dry feet. Even when the Ark was taken captive, it brought disaster
   to the Philistines. And when the men of Beth-Shemesh irreverently
   looked into it, great numbers of them were slain! It was truly the Ark
   of God's Strength--the great type of the power of God in Christ Jesus
   our Lord! In the 9th verse we read, "Let Your priests be clothed with
   righteousness." That is the best robe that he can wear who serves God!
   And you know that all of us who believe in Jesus have been made kings
   and priests unto God. Righteousness, therefore, should be the garment
   which we wear from head to foot. "And let Your saints shout for joy."
   God's holy ones should be happy ones! No man has so much right to be
   happy as he that is holy. We serve the happy God--we may well be happy
   ourselves--and we are not to keep our happiness hidden within our own
   hearts. "Let Your saints shout for joy." Let them exult, let them
   triumph, let them express their delight. The 10th verse is a prayer for
   the king and for the whole line of kings--the Psalmist pleads with the
   Lord to continue to look upon them for the sake of David with whom He
   had made His Covenant. Now the Psalm finishes with the Covenant made
   with David.

   11. The LORD has sworn in truth unto David; He willnot turn from it, I
   willset upon your throne the fruit ofyour body. That was literally
   fulfilled in a long line of kings, but it is more gloriously fulfilled
   in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. David the prophet-king is dead,
   but he, seeing before that God would raise up Christ, laid hold upon
   this precious promise, "I willset upon your throne the fruit ofyour
   body.." Our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews, but He is also
   King of kings and Lord of lords and, as God has set Him on the Throne,
   neither devils nor men can ever pull Him from it.

   12. If Your children will keep My Covenant and My Testimony that I
   shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon your throne
   forevermore. And so it would have been. The kingdom of Israel would
   never have been broken up, either by internal rebellion or external
   attack, if it had not been that the kings flagrantly turned aside from
   God. He bore with them very long, but they waxed worse and worse and,
   at last, God's Covenant had to be kept, through their default, by a
   deed of vengeance against them. Yet today, in spirit, this Covenant
   stands fast, for the Lord Jesus has kept it on His people's behalf and
   now He shall sit upon the throne of David forevermore, blessed be His
   holy name!

   13. For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation.
   Here are some of the sweetest words that were ever written! There are
   fathomless depths of sweetness in them, for here we have the Truth of
   God concerning the election of the Church of God. "The Lord has chosen
   Zion." Some men cannot endure to hear the Doctrine of Election-- I
   suppose they like to choose their own wives, but they are not willing
   that Christ should select His bride, the Church! Everybody is to have a
   free will except God! But let them know that God still exercises a
   Sovereign choice among the sons of men. Jesus said to His disciples,
   "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Blessed be His name,
   the Truth still stands! "The Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it
   for His habitation." We delight to dwell with those whom we love and
   God so loves His Church that He desires to always dwell in it--and He
   does dwell in it by His Spirit--and a day shall come when the perfected
   Church, the new Jerusalem, shall come down out of Heaven from God,
   having the Glory of the Lord, and the Lamb shall be the Light thereof.
   You know how the last chapters of the Book of Revelation describe the
   glorified Church and God dwelling in the midst of it. "The Lord has
   chosen Zion." That is the first thing--election. "He has desired it for
   His habitation. That is the next thing--the indwelling of the Spirit of
   God in the Church. And this is one of the greatest marvels of which we
   have ever heard!

   14. This is My resting place forever Is it not amazing that God,
   Jehovah, should say of His people, "This is My resting place forever"?
   Now, if He rests, I am sure that we may! It is very remarkable that
   when God was making the world, He never rested till He had fitted it up
   for His child, and everything was ready for Adam. God never stopped His
   work till there was everything that Adam could desire. And when it was
   all complete, then He rested the seventh day. So, when He has done
   everything for His Church, when His work for her is all completed, then
   Christ rests, but not till then! He says, by the mouth of Isaiah, "For
   Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will
   not rest until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and
   the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns." But that being once
   accomplished, He says, "This is My rest forever." God does not rest in
   the work of His hands as a Creator, He rests in the work of Christ as
   the Redeemer!

   14. Here will I dwell; for I have desired it God dwells in His Church
   and will dwell in it. He has desired to do so and His desire will
   certainly be realized--who can cause Him to be disappointed?

   15. I will abundantly bless her provisions. By which I understand that
   there will be provisions, that there will be abundant provisions and
   that there will be abundant blessings on those provisions. God grant
   that we may always find it so! Let us plead this precious, "I will." "I
   will abundantly bless her provisions."

   15. I will satisfy her poor with bread. Poor, and yet
   satisfied--satisfied with bread! Yes, but what kind of bread? The Bread
   that came down from Heaven, the Bread of God, which is Christ Jesus,
   whose flesh is meat, indeed, and whose blood is drink, indeed. "I will
   satisfy her poor with bread." The Lord does not say anything about her
   rich. No, but we read in another place, "The rich He has sent away
   empty." I wish to always remain among the poor of the Lord's flock--
   not to put my name down among those perfect people who are so rich in
   Grace that they are obliged to tell everybody about it! No, I would be
   poor in spirit--emptied more and more, lying lowly and humbly at my
   Lord's feet. I am the more ready to do this because I perceive that the
   Lord has prepared all His goodness for the poor in spirit. "I will
   satisfy her poor with bread."

   aloud for joy. The prayer in the 8' verse ith was, "Arise, O Lord, into
   Your rest." In the 14' verse, we read the answer, "This is My rest
   forever: here will I dwell."

   Then in the 9t verse was the petition, "Let Your priests be clothed
   with righteousness." Now the Lord gives the response, "I will also
   clothe her priests with salvation." Righteousness is only a part of
   salvation, but oh, what glorious raiment it is when a man once wears
   the silken dress of salvation! Talk of "cloth of gold"--there is
   nothing among royal array that can be compared to the vestments of the
   saints! I go in for vestments when they are those of which the Lord
   says, "I will also clothe her priests with salvation." They shall be
   covered over with it, from head to foot, so that there shall be nothing
   of His people to be seen but His own salvation! Notice the prayer in
   the 9th verse, "Let Your saints shout for joy." And the answer is here,
   "Her saints shall shout aloud for joy." God always gives more than we
   ask! Silver prayers get golden answers! "Open your mouth wide," He
   says, "and I will fill it." Yes, and then open it again and He will
   fill it yet again, for He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all
   that we ask or think."

   17. There will I make the horn of David to bud. As a stag's horn grows,
   putting out fresh buds and branches, so shall the power of David be
   increased and enlarged. We see that promise fulfilled spiritually in
   the growing Kingdom of Christ.

   17. I have ordained a lamp for My Anointed. His name shall never go out
   like an extinguished lamp. If it is blown out, once, as it were, in the
   death of Solomon or any other, king, yet from that lamp shall another
   be lighted. The Lord says, I have ordained a lamp," and Christ will
   always be a source of brightness in the world! He will always be "a
   light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel." As
   the holy lamp in the sanctuary was never to go out, so has God ordained
   that Christ shall always shine to the joy and delight of His people.

   18. His enemies will I clothe with shame. In this Psalm two sets of
   clothing are mentioned and you can have which you like. Here is one, "I
   will clothe her priests with salvation." And here is the other, "His
   enemies will I clothe with shame." Shame is a terrible thing! Many a
   man has thrown away his life to try to escape from the shame of a
   guilty conscience. But the ungodly will be forever clothed with shame
   and they will be eternally condemned. "His enemies," that is the
   description of the ungodly. It is of small account what your outward
   character appears to be--if you are an enemy of Christ, these are the
   garments in which you will die--and these are the garments in which you
   will continue to suffer forever. "His enemies will I clothe with
   shame."

   18. But upon Himself shall His crown flourish. Upon Christ the laurel
   wreath, or rather, the Crown of Glory, shall never wither. "He shall
   not fail nor be discouraged, till He has set judgment in the earth: and
   the isles shall wait for His law."
     __________________________________________________________________

Pride the Destroyer

   (No. 2591)

   A SERMON DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
   27, 1883.

   "Behold the proud, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him;
   but the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4.

   HABAKKUK had to prophesy to the people that God would eventually
   deliver them out of the hand of the Chaldeans and send them better
   times. But he warned them that although the vision would come and, as
   far as God was concerned, it would not really tarry, yet they would
   grow impatient under their suffering and they would say that the vision
   did tarry. And so, indeed, it would seem to do while they were
   suffering--and the Prophet here hints at the reason why God's merciful
   deliverances may sometimes be delayed. The Lord is willing to give
   mercy directly, for He delights not in judgment. If it were according
   to wisdom, we would have nothing from God's hand but that which is
   pleasant and sweet, for He would not cause any one of His creatures a
   needless pain--and He is full of gentleness and tenderness and mercy.

   The reason why the vision tarried in Habakkuk's day, and the mercy was
   slow in coming, was that the trials of the people might act as a test
   of their character. In order to separate the precious from the vile,
   God used the winnowing fan of affliction, that the chaff might be blown
   away and the pure wheat remain. Often, in national trials, the furnace
   is heated exceedingly hot and the fire is blown upon with a fierce
   blast in order that the gold may be divided from the dross. It is
   always God's purpose to put a division between Israel and Egypt,
   between him that fears the Lord and him that fears Him not. You and I
   cannot make that division. In this world it is very dangerous work to
   try to pull up the tares, for we are very apt to pull up the wheat,
   also. When, at last, we shall haul our big net to shore, then may we
   begin to separate the contents and put the good into vessels and cast
   the bad away.

   But now, if we were to try to sort the contents of the drag net, we
   would probably throw away as many of the good as of the bad, and save
   as many of the bad as of the good! We cannot do the separating work,
   but God is constantly doing it and often, in times of trouble, trial
   becomes a very searching test of men. Those who looked like true
   Believers while all was smooth and bright, have given up their
   confidence in God when trial has been fierce and long-protracted. This
   is the patience of the saints, but, alas, this is often the impatience
   of mere professors--and God thus makes men see what they really are!
   They perceive what is in their hearts when they are exposed to
   long-continued and severe affliction. See, then, one reason why
   troubles come upon both the righteous and the wicked--that men's true
   character may be discovered and that the secrets of their hearts may be
   revealed.

   It happened in this case, and it happens in a great many other
   instances, that the fierce heat of the furnace of trouble separates men
   into two classes. One class is composed of men who are high and lifted
   up in heart. Our text says, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not
   upright in him." Then there is another class, namely, the just. And of
   these the text says, "The just shall live by his faith." My dear
   Friends, when trial comes on us--as it surely will--may you and I be
   able to bear it! May we prove to be men and women who can endure it and
   if it is so, we shall live by faith! That will be our distinguishing
   mark. But if any of us are proud and have lofty ideas concerning
   ourselves, "the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the
   proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day
   that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts." Let us bear
   this great Truth of God in mind as we come to the direct consideration
   of our text.

   I. I shall speak first upon these words of the Lord to Habakkuk as
   REVEALING A GREAT SIN. "His soul which is lifted up is not upright in
   him." The great sin is the sin of pride, the lifting up of the soul in
   rebellion against the Lord.

   This sin of pride is often forgotten and many persons do not even think
   it is a sin at all. Here is a man who says that he is absolutely
   perfect. Does he know what the sin of pride really is? What prouder
   being can there be than one who talks like that? "Oh, but," he says, "I
   am humble." Is there any soul living that is so proud as he is who says
   he is humble? Is not that the acme and climax of pride? Another says,
   "I hate flattery." Did not one say to Julius Caesar that he hated
   flatterers, "being then," as the world's poet says, "most flattered"?
   Yes, assuredly, that soft silken voice that says, "You never give way
   to pride, you are of a lowly spirit, you are never lifted up. In fact,
   you hardly appreciate yourself highly enough and nobody else does
   because you are so humble!" Why, that is the worst kind of pride! It
   has only put on the sheepskin instead of coming out in its true wolfish
   garb!

   Pride, to begin with, I am afraid, may be set down as the sin of human
   nature. If there is a sin that is universal, it is this. Where is it
   notto be found? Hunt among the highest and loftiest in the world and
   you wall find it there. And then go and search among the poorest and
   the most miserable and you wall find it there. There may be as much
   pride inside a beggar's rags as in a prince's robes and a harlot may be
   as proud as a model of chastity. Pride is a strange creature--it never
   objects to its lodgings. It will live comfortably enough in a palace
   and it will live equally at its ease in a hovel. Is there any man in
   whose heart pride does not lurk? If anyone held up his hand and said,
   "I am one," I would answer, "That is Number One in the widest sweet of
   the whole city of Self-Conceit," for, when we fancy that we have clean
   escaped from pride, it is only because we have lost the sense of its
   weight through being surrounded with it! A man who bears a bowl of
   water feels its weight but if he goes right into the water, it will be
   all over him, and yet he will not notice the burden of it. He who lives
   in pride up to the neck--no, he who is over head and heels in pride is
   the most likely to imagine that he is not proud at all!

   Pride takes all manner of shapes. You and I, I daresay, have very
   different forms of pride. Perhaps my pride does not hold any
   relationship to your pride and your pride, of course, is a very right
   sort of pride. "It is what I call a proper pride," says one. Yes, that
   is your sort of pride. Mine, I admit, is a very improper one. I frankly
   make that confession, I cannot and dare not think that it has any
   propriety about it at all--it is a miserable, wretched affair! So is
   yours, I think, and you would agree with me if you could but see it as
   it really is. But pride takes all manner of shapes. Have you ever seen
   it in the man of property? He is a very important individual. It may be
   that his property is not very large but, still, considering the village
   in which he lives, he is quite a big man--and on the vestry--why, he is
   as big as an emperor! You and I do not, perhaps, think much of him, but
   that does not matter to him, for in his own estimation he is a very
   great man. Then there is a London merchant. If he has succeeded in
   life, what a great man he is--how proud, how exclusive! How he looks
   down upon his fellow men! How could you, being of an inferior grade,
   venture into his pew and sit side by side with him? He carries his
   pride even into the House of God! We have seen it there and mourned
   over it, but it is easy enough for a man to become proud of his
   possessions.

   Another man, with no possessions, is proud of his bodily strength. He
   is very strong. Let anybody wrestle with him and he shall see what a
   Samson he is! And, oh, how vain-glorious he grows, and how proud--proud
   of his strength of muscle and sinew and bone! Another man is proud of
   his talent. If he has not acquired any wealth by it, yet he ought to
   have done so. If the world has not yet recognized him as a genius, he
   has recognized himself most distinctly! He is a very first-class man in
   his own line of things. Listen to him as he boasts of what he has
   learned! We have known others boast of their character. When we have
   explained what "a sinner" means, they have been kind enough to say, in
   a complimentary sort of way, "Yes, we are all sinners." But they did
   not mean that they had really sinned at all. No, not they! They had a
   fine, splendid, unworn righteousness that was "without spot, or
   wrinkle, or any such thing." You know the good people I mean, always
   able to glory that they have kept the Law of God from their youth up,
   and have done what they ought to have done--that is a form that pride
   very frequently takes.

   Even in people who know the Lord, see what relics of pride there will
   often be! Remember what Mr. Bunyan said on one occasion--after he had
   done preaching, a Brother came to him and said, "You have preached an
   admirable sermon." "Ah," said Bunyan, "you are too late! The devil told
   me that before I got down the pulpit stairs." A good Brother prayed at
   the Prayer Meeting very sweetly, very devoutly. And when he had
   finished, there came a soft whisper in his ear, "You have quite
   recovered that Prayer Meeting from its dullness--what a wonderful man
   you are!" And when we have not ventured to do anything of the sort in
   public, if we get five minutes' communion with God in secret prayer,
   then up comes Satan, again, and says, "Oh, you are growing in Grace!
   You are a wonderful Christian." If you cannot realize your Lord's
   Presence and you are humbled and bowed to the dust because you have not
   that enjoyment of God which you used to have, then Satan comes, and
   says, "How tender of conscience you are! How jealous of yourself! How
   watchful you have been!" And up go your topsails and all your flags of
   pride are flying in the breeze as you think what a fine saint you are!
   So, you see, it is as I said, pride takes many shapes.

   Now, in all cases, pride is most unreasonable. There is never in a poor
   sinner any reason why he should be proud. Suppose a man is wealthy?
   Well, who gave that wealth to him? And having it, now, how much of it
   can he carry away with him? And is wealth always a testimonial to the
   character of its possessor? Is it not sometimes given to the very
   basest of mankind? And though it is, in some cases, the reward of
   honesty, of industry and of perseverance and self-denial, yet even then
   it does not always bring comfort to a man's heart--and we can ask him,
   "What have you that you have not received?" Of all forms of pride, this
   pride of wealth is one of the most wicked! Suppose a man boasts of his
   talent? For what has he to pride himself in that? Did he make his own
   talent? Suppose that his skull happens to be a little bigger than his
   neighbor's and that there are certain organs there more fully developed
   than in others--did he create his own brain? Did he give himself his
   own capacities? There is a great deal in our descent and in our birth
   gifts, but, being gifts, these are not things for us to pride ourselves
   upon--for them we must give all the glory to God, for certainly they
   come from Him! And what if a man has a spotless character? Yet he who
   is most honest to himself knows that there are, even within him, secret
   things opposed to his God--and things to be repented of.

   And what if we have Grace? O my Brothers and Sisters, the worst thing
   in the world would be to be proud of our Grace, or of our Graces,
   because these come to us as a bare act of charity! Shall the beggar be
   proud because he is a bigger beggar than others? Will a man who is very
   deeply in debt say, "I have reason to be more proud than you because I
   owe ten times as much as you do"? Yet that is just the condition of
   every man who has any Divine Grace--he owes it all to God--and he who
   has the most Grace is the most in debt to his Lord! I think that the
   more God's glories strike our eyes, the humbler we shall be. And the
   more Grace we receive, the more we shall be like Peter when his boat
   was full of fish and it began to sink--and he cried, under a sense of
   his own unworthiness--"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
   Yes, as we get weighed down with mercy, we shall begin to sink in our
   own esteem! There can never be any reasonableness in our dreaming that
   there is in us any cause for pride.

   And to close this part of my discourse, let me remind you that wherever
   pride is found, it is always hateful to God. Why, pride is even hateful
   to men! Men cannot bear a proud man and, therefore, a proud man who has
   any sense left often sees that it is so, and he tries to affect manners
   of modesty. He will seem to be humble when he really is not, if he has
   the suspicion that all about him will dislike him if they know him to
   be proud. But God cannot stand pride--it is a part of His daily
   business to put down the proud. When He lifts up His hands, it is
   either to bless the humble or else to abase the proud. "He has
   scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down
   the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has
   filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away
   empty." He intends that the pride of all human glory shall be stopped,
   so He lifts His great battle-ax and crashes through the shield of the
   mighty. He fits His arrow to the bow and finds out the joints of the
   harness of the proud--and they fall before Him. God cannot endure them,
   for pride is a stab at Deity--it is an attack upon the undivided Glory
   of God. "My Glory will I not give to another." He would as soon give it
   to graven images as to men! And He will not let either false gods or
   proud men have it! It is to Himself, and to Himself, alone, that all
   praise and honor and glory must come.

   Thus much, then, about the great sin revealed in our text. Let us pause
   a moment or two for silent prayer before we pass on to the next part of
   our subject.

   II. Now let us think how THIS GREAT SIN BETRAYS A SAD EVIL--"Behold the
   proud, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him."

   If he is a proud man, he is not an upright man. If he thinks highly of
   himself, there is something out of the perpendicular. If a man says, "I
   do not need to make confession of sin, I do not need to come to Christ
   as a guilty sinner," then, Friend, I must tell you that you do not know
   the truth If you knew certain things, truthfully, you would change your
   tune. For instance, a man who says, "I have kept the Law," does not
   know what the Law means. Perhaps he supposes that those ten great
   Commandments only refuse him certain outward things--but he does not
   know that they are all spiritual--that, for instance, if the
   Commandment says, "You shall not commit adultery," it is not merely the
   act of adultery that is forbidden, but every sin of the kind. Every
   tendency to lewdness--every unchaste word or thought--for so Christ
   explains it, "I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust
   after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." This
   makes the Law of God look very different from the mere casual reading
   of it that many give.

   If it says, "You shall not covet," any thought of a desire to gain that
   which is my neighbor's, by unlawful means, in discontent with God's
   Providence comes under that Law. So is it with all the
   Commandments--they are spiritual, they are far-reaching and when a man
   understands their true character, he cries--"O my God, I have, indeed,
   broken Your holy Law! How could I have kept it? From the first moment
   when I sinned, my fallen nature has incapacitated me from ever keeping
   this thrice-holy Law of Yours."

   If a man really knows the true character of the Law of God, it may be
   that he does not know the truth about himself--does not know that he is
   foolish--does not know that the very springs of his nature are
   corrupt--does not know that out of the polluted fountain of his
   unregenerate heart there can only come corrupt streams. When he really
   begins to know himself as he is in the sight of God, then he cries,
   "God be merciful to me a sinner." But not till then. Hence, our text
   says, "His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him." That is, it
   is not according to the Truth of God--he does not know the Truth, he
   does not judge according to the Truth--he judges according to a false
   standard.

   This expression may also mean that he does not seek the Light of God.
   You can often notice that if a man has a high opinion of himself, he is
   extremely good and excellent and does not need to be saved by Grace. He
   does not want to be told too much about himself. He likes to go to a
   place of worship where they prophesy very smooth things and if he ever
   strays in where there is very plain talk, he says that the preacher is
   too personal. The Hindu thinks it is wicked to kill an insect, or to
   take life of any kind--and that he will surely not enter into his happy
   paradise if he does. When the missionary showed a Hindu, by means of a
   microscope, how many living creatures there were in a single drop of
   the water which was in a glass on the table, in order to convince him
   of the impossibility of avoiding the destruction of life if he drank
   the water, what did the Hindu do? Why, he smashed up the microscope!
   That was his way of answering it! And so, sometimes, if the Truth of
   God is put very plainly so that men cannot escape from the force of it,
   not wishing to know the uncomfortable Truth, they turn upon their heels
   and find fault with the preacher and refuse to hear any more from him!

   Now, he that does not want to knew all the Truth of God is not upright,
   for, as our Lord said to Nicodemus, "Everyone that does evil hates the
   light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
   But he that is upright in heart courts the light! He invites the
   inspection, even, of God Himself, for he dreads above all things the
   possibility of being self-deceived. O dear Friends, this pride, if we
   have it, betrays its dire evil by a lack of uprightness in not desiring
   the Light of God!

   And, yet further, there is another form of this lack of uprightness. A
   man whose soul is lifted up with pride has his whole religion warped so
   that there is nothing upright about him. Have you ever heard him pray?
   "God, I thank you that I am not as other men are." This is the sum and
   substance of his prayer, for pride has warped it. If he praises God, it
   is not as a sinner saved by Grace--he sings something about what he has
   done and what he has become--and always the first point in his
   conversation is, "See what I am! See what I am!" Pride warps him
   everywhere, so that he cannot do a single action that is not affected
   by it. If he gives alms to the poor, he has his penny in one hand, but
   his other hand is holding to his mouth a trumpet so that he may blow it
   at the corner of the street so that everybody may know how generous he
   is! He spoils all that he does because his soul is lifted up with
   pride--which warps his whole life.

   I believe, dear Friends, that a heart of this kind will never stand the
   test of the coming days. Have you ever noticed that when Paul quotes
   this verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he makes a very significant
   addition to it? He says, "The just shall live by faith: but if any man
   draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." That is a kind of
   hint to us that when the heart of a man is lifted up with pride, in due
   time he will draw back. I will tell you, dear Friends, what I have seen
   many times. I have seen men, members of Christian Churches, undoubtedly
   very earnest, very generous, indeed, all that you could wish them to
   be. They have prospered in worldly affairs, but where are they now? One
   of the severest tests that can be applied to any man is to let him be
   made wealthy! Well might our Savior say, as the rich young man turned
   away from Him, "How with much difficulty shall they that have riches
   enter into the Kingdom of God." The true children of God can bear even
   this test, but there are many professors who cannot. Wealth is a
   refining pot that tests the sincerity of their profession. This is how
   it acts. The man has grown too respectable to worship where he used to
   meet with a few poor godly people--he must go to some place where there
   is a higher class of society. It is true that there is no Gospel
   preaching where he goes and that there is all the hypocrisy of
   semi-Romanism, but the elite of the neighborhood go there and so must
   he! If he happens to meet any of his old friends with whom he seemed to
   be so glad to have communion in years past, he scarcely recognizes
   them! He does not know them in the Lord. He has gone clean away from
   them. Is not that often the case? And why is it so? Because the
   gentleman always was a person of importance and now, having grown
   wealthy, he is still more important! So he goes away from those who
   would be his best friends. That is because his soul is not upright in
   him.

   I have also seen just the opposite of this man. I have seen persons
   grow very poor after being in circumstances of comparative comfort.
   Before they were poor, they seemed to be very earnest Christians, but,
   after a while, when poverty had overtaken them, they did not like to
   come among their old friends because their clothes were not quite as
   new and their house was not on quite as good a street--and they were
   going down in the world. Instead of clinging to Christ all the more.
   Instead of following after the Lord and making sure of a heavenly
   inheritance when the world was slipping away from them, they have
   turned back and have renounced whatever semblance of faith they ever
   possessed. And the reason is because their soul was lifted up with
   pride and was not upright. They never were truly brought low and
   humbled before God and so, when the testing time came, away they went!
   Now, dear Friends, such a test as this will be applied to all of you.
   You will either go up or go down. Or else, if you remain in the same
   station of life, the test in your case will be time. You will grow
   weary in the ways of God. You will want some fresh thing unless the
   Lord has truly humbled you and brought you to live by faith in Him. But
   if the Lord has worked effectually in you, by His Grace, then He may
   make you as rich as He likes, or as poor as He likes, or let you live
   as long as Methuselah if He likes, but you will stand fast to your
   profession because the root of the matter is in you. God grant that it
   may be so!

   III. Thirdly, and very briefly, PRIDE OF HEART DISCOVERS IN MEN A
   SERIOUS OPPOSITION. Let me read the whole of our text. "Behold the
   proud, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but--butthe
   just shall live by his faith." And the but, here, seems to imply that
   as long as a man's soul is lifted up with pride, he will never truly
   know anything about faith and never come to live by faith.

   For, first, the gentleman is too great to live by faith He will not
   even give himself time to consider what faith means! He is so busy in
   the City. He has to look after such a number of things. He is so
   important a person that he cannot trouble his head about faith. Teach a
   Sunday school child, teach a servant girl, teach an old woman, teach a
   laborer if you please, but as for himself--well, to tell the whole
   truth, he does not care about religion. He says that he cannot bring
   his mind down to such a thing as that! His notion is that he is
   altogether too great a man to give himself to the consideration of this
   matter. Now, these are the people that destroy their own souls because
   they will not be candid enough to enquire and learn what the way of
   salvation is--

   "Were I so tall to reach the pole, And grasp the ocean with a span," I
   would wish to know what God has to say to me. And if I could grow as
   holy as the archangel, I would still delight to sit at Jesus' feet and
   hear what He has to reveal to me. But there are some who are too big
   for that kind of thing--they will never believe in Christ, for they are
   too great, even, to consider what faith is!

   And, next, there are some who are too wise to ever believe. They read
   certain "high-class modern literature" and their minds have grown very
   expansive. They know how to sort out that which is philosophical and
   that which is not. They can judge their Creator--they are more
   infallible than the Holy Spirit--they sit in trial upon Prophets and
   Apostles--and upon the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself! They pick and choose
   what they will believe and what they will reject. Such people do not
   believe to the saving of the soul--of course they do not--for it is
   essential to faith that you become as a little child. And until you do
   so, you cannot have true faith in Christ.

   There are some who are not so much burdened with worldly wisdom, but
   they fancy that they are too good to be saved. I know that the notion
   with some people is that salvation is only for very wicked people--for
   those who have been to prison, those who have egregiously sinned
   against the rules of society. Do you not know, my dear Hearer, that
   there is the same way of salvation for you who have been amiable and
   excellent and moral, as there is for the drunk and the thief? Do you
   not know that there is only one gate to Heaven for the murderer, if he
   is saved, and for you who have kept the Commandments from your youth
   up? "You must be born again," is a necessity for the children of saints
   as well as for the children of sinners! "You must be washed in the
   precious blood," is as true for the very best of fallen humanity as for
   the very worst! By these stern Truths of God, the axe is laid to the
   very root of the tree of self-righteousness! Oh, that men did but think
   of this! But they are so good--so very good--that they cannot imagine
   that they are to be saved like the very chief of sinners! And so they
   reject the only way of salvation.

   And I have known some, too, who are now too "advanced" to continue to
   live by faith. They do not want to come to Christ just as they did at
   first--they are so now "advanced" that they stand on a different
   footing from what they did. Well, I can only say to such that I believe
   that this is nothing but pride of heart. As for myself, I will, by
   God's Grace, never go one inch beyond the position of Jack the
   Huckster--

   "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my
   All-in-All." This is the only ground upon which I dare set my feet!
   They always begin to slip and slide beneath me when I get beyond that.
   Christ for me, first and last, Alpha and Omega, the Beginner and
   Finisher of faith! I believe that every other ground of standing is a
   quicksand that will swallow a man up. "The just shall live by his
   faith" and if any are getting so proud that they are living by their
   feelings, or living on their old experiences, I think that we may stand
   in doubt of them and they have reason to stand in doubt of themselves!
   There was one who used to say that he was not half so much afraid of
   his sins as he was of what he conceived to be his good works, for his
   sins had humbled him full often, but what he thought were his good
   works had puffed him up and done him much more mischief. I am more
   afraid of a lofty pride of self than of anything else under Heaven. He
   that is down need fear no fall, but he that rises very high in his own
   esteem is not far from destruction! "Pride goes before destruction, and
   a haughty spirit before a fall."

   IV. I close my discourse with this last point. Our text, after having
   spoken against pride, DIRECTS US TO A VERY PLEASING CONTRAST--"The just
   shall live by his faith."

   There is a man with an upright heart, an honest tongue, a careful hand,
   an obedient walk. He is a really just man. Are there such? There are
   none that are perfectly just, but there are many who may be called just
   in the Scriptural sense of the term. They walk before God and are
   perfect, even as was said of Job, "That man was perfect and upright,
   and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Blessed be God, there are
   tens of thousands of His people that are just men and women whom He has
   taught to serve Him to do as they would be done by, seeking to do to
   others as they would have others do to them! There are plenty of such.
   It is a beautiful sight to see a really just man. May we live in such
   company! May we die in such company!

   Now, whenever you come to talk with these just men, you will find that
   they are truly humble. They do not live upon their works. The more holy
   a man is, generally the more he depreciates himself. You do not hear a
   just man saying, "I am living before God by my alms, by my prayers, by
   my repentance, by my fasting, by my Church attendance, by my Chapel
   attendance." You never hear anything of the sort--a just man disclaims
   his own righteousness, thinks nothing of it-- and wraps himself up in
   the righteousness of Christ, and says that he is "accepted in the
   Beloved."

   Our text says that this man "shall live by his faith." That is to say,
   when trial comes and the proud man dies, the just man lives on. Where
   is the man who had such a lofty idea of himself? Ah, where is he? He is
   gone, but this man of faith lives on. You know the story of the two
   martyrs. They had both witnessed a good confession and, at last, they
   were laid by the heels in prison to wait for a few days and then to be
   burnt. One of them said to his fellow, "I am so afraid lest, when I
   come to the stake, the sharp pain should make a coward of me and I
   should turn away, and deny my Savior." "Oh," replied the other, "I have
   no fears about that! My faith in God is so firm that I am sure He will
   help me through. I am confident in what I have believed. I shall die
   like a man. I am not at all afraid of the fire." "Ah," said the first,
   "I lie awake at night, for fire is a dreadful thing, and I wonder how I
   shall act when I begin to burn. I do love the Lord, I know. And I do
   trust Him. But if I turn aside, it will be an awful thing! I am so
   afraid, for my flesh is very weak." The other answered, "I cannot bear
   to hear you talk like that. Here I am, full of confidence and full of
   faith. I never have any such feelings as you have. You are very
   imperfect--I have gone far beyond you."

   When they came to the stake, our poor tempted friend burned splendidly,
   blessing and praising and magnifying the Lord! And the great,
   self-confident boaster recanted--and saved his wretched life! His soul,
   which was lifted up, was not upright in him. But the just man lived, in
   the very best sense, by his faith, and triumphed even amidst the
   flames! I shall not be amazed if many who have their topsails up, are
   blown out of the water and into the water--and wrecked when the great
   winds of temptation are out--while many who are creeping along, afraid
   of the tempest, with nothing but bare poles, will outlive the storm!

   It is not the man who is great in his own sight that is great in the
   sight of God. It is he that is broken and contrite, little and weak and
   trembling, and yet who believes in Jesus and casts himself upon the
   great love of God in Christ who shall live. Yes, and he shall so live
   that when he comes to die, heshiall die full of life and hie shall
   enter into eternal life. I know that I am addressing some who say that
   they are afraid to die and they think that they cannot be God's people
   because of that fear. Do not distress yourself in that way, my dear
   Friends! Perhaps you are not called to die just yet and you have,
   therefore, not yet had Dying Grace given to you--but you will have it
   when the time comes! A dear Friend of mine had been for many years in
   great bondage because he thought that he was afraid to die. God brought
   him out of that bondage in rather a singular manner. He happened to be
   in a London printing office, one day, and, next door, a wholesale
   chemist's took fire. There were a great many explosions and the place
   was burning furiously. He was upstairs and others began running down to
   make their escape.

   My old friend was as cool as possible--he walked downstairs, he was in
   no hurry and, though there was great danger and everybody thought that
   the whole place and all that were in it would be burnt, he was quite
   calm. He said that when he reached the street, he stood and looked at
   the fire and said to himself, "Now, when I seem to be in danger of
   death, I am perfectly calm and happy. So, when I really come to die,
   that is how I shall be--I am sure that I shall, for I have tested and
   proved it." And you timid, nervous people, have you not found out for
   yourselves that if ever you get into an accident, you are often the
   bravest people there? You feeble trembling ones seem strengthened up at
   the moment and so shall it be when you come to die if you are Believers
   in Jesus Christ! He that loved you will not leave you in your last
   minutes! Would you leave your wife, would you leave your child, would
   you leave your husband, if you saw any of these dear ones in the
   agonies of death? No, if you were a thousand miles away, you would come
   home to them to wipe the death sweat from their brows and moisten their
   parched lips! And do you think that our blessed God will be absent when
   we come to die? No. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
   His saints." He will be there and Jesus will be there and the Holy
   Spirit will be there--and so we who believe in Jesus shall die in
   peace.

   Remember how rapidly our lives are passing away. One after another,
   from this congregation, goes into eternity every week. Do not go into
   eternity without Christ, I beseech you! "When shall I go?" you ask. Ah,
   that I cannot tell. You know how, all through the year, our friends
   keep on going. There is not a week passes without it being said to me,
   "So-and-So is gone." I ask, "Did I know him? Whereabouts did he sit?" I
   look at the spot and I remember--"Yes, it was that gray-headed old man
   in that seat over yonder." Or, "that young man with a wife and three or
   four children." Yes, they are gone and if they were not saved, they are
   gone where hope can never reach them, where they are past all
   invitation, where they must forever wring their hands in anguish
   because they would not have Heaven and Christ on Free-Grace terms.

   "Well, dear Sir, we are going to think about these things." Are you?
   Will you tell me when you are going to think about them? I would rather
   that you stated a time, even if it were a year to come. It would be a
   dangerous thing to put it off so long, would it not? But, oh, if you
   keep your promise, I would rather that you said, "a year to come," than
   that you should keep on, year after year, postponing your decision!
   Remember that you who are unsaved need three things. First, you need
   the pardon of sin--and it is scarcely necessary for me to repeat in
   your ears that you can only get it by coming to Christ. You desire also
   to be heard in prayer, your very heart sighs after that favor and you
   know there is but one Throne of Grace and only one Being who can
   present your petitions so that they shall be granted. And you also long
   to have a sight of God, a comforting sight of Him as your reconciled
   Father--and you know that you can never have that except through Jesus
   Christ.

   These three things are to be found in Christ and they are not to be
   found anywhere else. If there is anyone here who wants Christ, I am so
   glad if he knows who Christ is and what are the treasures that are
   stored up in Him. It is a great thing to have this knowledge but, oh,
   it will be a terrible thing, bringing far greater responsibilities and
   involving sevenfold guilt, if you know where these things are and
   whatthey are--and yet do not seek to possess them yourselves. I leave
   with you the last words of my text, praying that they may describe
   you--"The just shall live by his faith."
     __________________________________________________________________

The Power of Christ's Name

   (No. 2592)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 16, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 7,
   1883.

   "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong,
   whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is by Him has given him
   this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." Acts 3:16.

   You see, dear Friends, that this notable miracle was worked by means of
   the name of Jesus. Twice it is mentioned. "His name, through faith in
   His name, has made this man strong." It will be well for us to look
   back to see what name it was which Peter had used in working this
   miracle of healing. Turn to the 6th verse. "Then Peter said. . .In the
   name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." He did not omit
   either of our Lord's names, nor did he flinch from telling the Jews
   that it was the same Jesus whom they had despised and called the
   Nazarene, or the Man of Nazareth. It is always well to adapt our speech
   to those who are about us. You remember how Cobbett said that he used
   the English language. "I speak," he said, "not only so that men can
   understand me if they will, but so that they cannot misunderstand me if
   they try to do so." And I believe that it is a very wise way of
   speaking when you wish to convince men concerning an important Truth of
   God which you desire to convey to their very heart. Peter here seems to
   say, "They shall not think that I am speaking of another Jesus, or of
   another Christ--it shall be, 'Jesus Christ.' Neither shall they imagine
   that there may be another anointed Jesus, but it shall be, 'Jesus
   Christ of Nazareth.'" And, afterwards, when he had used that name and
   the miracle had been worked, he went on still further to secure his
   purpose by making the most definite charges against his hearers,
   repeating them in detail, that they might know for sure that the Christ
   who had healed the lame man was the same Christ whom they had, with
   wicked hands, crucified and slain. It was important to convince them of
   this fact, that they might be brought to repentance concerning it, and
   then might be led to believe in that same Savior and find life and
   peace through Him!

   I desire to speak just as plainly now and always, that God the Holy
   Spirit, who would have all His servants use great plainness of speech,
   may be pleased to bless what is said. My first remarks upon the text
   will be concerning a name of power and you will know the run of my
   thought when I tell you that I shall next speak upon a case in proof of
   the power of that name. And, thirdly--and a very important point this
   will be--I shall mention a necessity in reference to the use of that
   name if we desire to see the power of it.

   I. First, then, here is A NAME OF POWER. We will meditate for a while
   upon that name and consider each particular part of it. It was by that
   name, whatever it was, that this lame man was made strong. It was by
   faith in that name that he received, "perfect soundness."

   The first name mentioned by Peter is, "Jesus." Of all the names of our
   blessed Lord, this is the most charming to our ears. Well might the
   Duke of Argyll say, when Rutherford began to speak upon the name,
   Jesus, "Ring that bell again." It has been so dear to Christians that
   they have tried to make something out of each syllable and even every
   letter of it-- fancifully so, perhaps, but, still, thus clearly proving
   that the name was, indeed, as honey in their mouths, and as sweetest
   music in their ears.

   Jesus signifies, Savior, and, for certain, He that was to save us had
   need of power. And we have cause to rejoice that our Jesus has all
   power in Heaven and in earth! If Joshua had power to bring the
   Israelites into the Promised Land and to drive out the Canaanites, much
   more power has our Lord Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who will
   surely bring into the Heavenly Canaan all the chosen seed, driving
   before Him every enemy! He that is our Redeemer was also the Creator of
   everything that exists. "All things were made by Him and without Him
   was not anything made that was made." And He is also the Sustainer of
   all things. "By Him all things consist." He is a Savior, and a great
   one! Long before His birth, Isaiah wrote, "His name shall be called
   Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The
   Prince of Peace." In that name, Jesus, slumbers Omnipotence! The same
   power that made all worlds lies hidden in that name! The power that
   will raise the dead and make new heavens and a new earth, is in that
   name, saving this poor fallen world from all its degradation, cleansing
   the planet of all the mists that now surround it, and bidding it shine
   forth like all its sister stars, to the glory of God who made it! There
   is none like Jesus among all the sons of men--who among the mighty is
   like unto him, a Standard-Bearer among ten thousand and Himself the
   Altogether Lovely? That name of Jesus has infinite power in it, but we
   must not dwell on that name, alone, for Peter made use of others.

   Next, consider the name which follows--"Christ." "The Messiah" was
   probably the term which Peter used in speaking to these people and it
   was the title which they would most readily recognize. "The Christ" is
   our name for Jesus. The Sent One, the believing Hebrews called Him--the
   Anointed One, we delight to call Him now. We see at once what wonderful
   power dwells in Jesus when we connect Him with His mission from God. He
   was no amateur Savior, but He was commissioned of the Father and He
   received of the Father all that was necessary for the accomplishment of
   the work He was sent to perform. In the waters of Baptism, the Holy
   Spirit descended upon Him, like a dove, and abode upon Him. And
   afterwards, the Father said once and yet again, "This is My Beloved
   Son, in whom I am well pleased."

   Jesus, being both sent and anointed of God, when we believe His Word,
   we know that He speaks as the Ambassador and Representative of God in
   Heaven. Yes, He is even more than that, for He is, Himself, "very God
   of very God." When we trust His work, we know that we are trusting to a
   work which the Father covenanted of old to accept and which is part of
   the eternal purpose of the Ever-Blessed. We are not resting our souls
   in the hand of one who promises to save, but has no Divine
   credentials--He is Christ, the Anointed, according to that verse of the
   Psalmist--"You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God,
   Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your
   fellows." That subject of the anointing of Christ is a very large one
   and a very blessed one. Think it over prayerfully and gratefully. But,
   just now, it is enough for my purpose to merely mention that a part of
   the power of our Savior's name lies, first, in His personal title and
   office--Jesus, the Savior--and next, in the Character which has been
   bestowed upon Him as God's Anointed Representative. He does all that He
   does with the authority of the Eternal Jehovah and speaks to men as the
   fully-qualified Messenger of the Most High--Jesus, the Christ--the
   Anointed Savior!

   But, oh, that other title, "Jesus Christ of Nazareth"--Peter did well
   to put it there, for though it doubtless provoked opposition, yet what
   would we have done? Where would the sweetness of the name of Jesus lie
   --if we could not connect it with all that is included in the mention
   of Nazareth? This term seems to bring the Savior--the Anointed
   One--into the most intimate connection with our poor fallen humanity!
   "Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Many thought that He was born there and
   though that was a mistake, yet it was there that He was brought up. And
   it was there that He spent those many years of His preparation. It was
   with that despised city and with a despised people, that the name,
   "Nazarene," still further connected Him. He was truly Man, "bone of our
   bone, and flesh of our flesh." He was not called "Jesus Christ of
   Heaven," but, "Jesus Christ of Nazareth." His name is not associated
   with the grandest city on the earth--He is not called, "Jesus Christ of
   Jerusalem," though there He went, early in life, that He might be about
   His Father's business. And since it was the city of the great King, it
   was His city and, one day, "the Lord GOD shall give unto Him the throne
   of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob
   forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." But for the
   present, we know Him as, "Jesus Christ of Nazareth"--Jesus Christ of a
   rustic people-- Jesus Christ of those whom they called boors--Jesus
   Christ of the poor and needy--Jesus Christ of the artisan class and the
   carpenter's shop!

   You know that at Nazareth, He was called the Carpenter's Son, so this
   name reminds us of Jesus Christ in His humiliation--Jesus Christ taking
   upon Himself the form of a Servant, and being made in the likeness of
   men, toiling and suffering. This is the name which, from its very
   weakness, is more full of strength than any other, for, inasmuch as
   Jesus descended into the deeps of our humanity, now has He ascended to
   the highest place in Glory! Though He came down and was lower than the
   angels for the suffering of death, yet, because of that very descent
   God has highly exalted Him and crowned Him with glory and honor!
   Blessed be the love that has raised so high Him who was known, here,
   as, "Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

   Now this name, as Peter pronounced it, gave strength to the feet and
   ankle bones of the poor man who was lame from birth--"and he, leaping
   up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking
   and leaping, and praising God." Before I speak to you specially about
   this miracle, I want, for a few minutes, to show you what power there
   is in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus made the devils tremble!
   When they heard His name, they began to cry out, saying, "Let us alone!
   What have we to do with You, You Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to
   destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God." At the very
   mention of His name they began to quiver. That strong one, armed, who
   often keeps his house and keeps his goods in a horrible and deadly
   peace, yet knows well that there is One stronger than he is and the
   very footfall of Jesus makes him turn pale with dread! These two met in
   the wilderness--three times they closed in single combat and the devil
   remembers to this day the grip of those strong hands which afterwards
   destroyed his empire on the tree of Calvary! And, therefore, he does
   not want to come into collision with Him again--and he trembles at the
   very sound of His almighty name!

   Remember also, dear Friends, that the name of "Jesus Christ of
   Nazareth" not only made devils tremble and cry out, but it cast them
   out of those whom they had tormented. Christ's disciples cast out
   devils in His name--the devils would not have gone because Peter, and
   James, and John, in their own names commanded them to depart. No, the
   devils would have laughed at them! And if the Apostles had argued or
   reasoned with them, they would not have stirred! But one hot shot,
   fired in the name of Jesus, made them quit the fortress instantly! They
   were great cowards whenever the name of Jesus was mentioned-- they away
   fled down to the deeps, as they did when He allowed them to enter into
   the swine at Gadara.

   A curious thing about that name of power is that it was able to cast
   out devils even when it was used by some who did not follow Christ. You
   remember that there was one who was a sort of freelance, who was not
   with our Lord's disciples--and that very orthodox Christian, the
   Apostle John, said, "Master, we saw one casting out devils in Your name
   and we forbid him because he follows not with us." Have not you and I
   also sometimes felt as if people had better not try to help in
   evangelizing the world because they do not work exactly in our way--our
   way, of course, being the most proper way possible? There are many
   people in the world who are very active in forbidding, but, "Jesus
   Christ of Nazareth" said to John, concerning this man who was casting
   out devils, "Forbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a miracle
   in My name, that can lightly speak evil of Me." What a power there must
   have been in the name of Jesus that even when it was mentioned by these
   irregular followers--these "unordained hedge-priests," as some would
   have called them. These people that had taken to preaching without
   having a bishop's hands laid on their heads in proper style--even when
   theymentioned the name of Jesus, away went the devils!

   And, what is still more marvelous, even when ungodly men mentioned that
   name, the devils had to depart because the force does not lie in the
   person using the name, but in the name itself. "Unto the wicked, God
   says, What have you to do to declare My statutes, or that you should
   take My Covenant in your mouth?" Yet, again and again, Christ has
   honored His name even when ungodly men have used it! In due time, He
   will let the ungodly know how evilly they dealt with His holy name, but
   for the honor of His name He has proved what it could accomplish even
   by them. You know how our Lord told His disciples that there will be
   many who, at the last, will say to Him, "Lord, Lord, have we not
   prophesied in Your name? And in Your name have cast out devils? And in
   Your name done many wonderful works?" But Christ's answer to them will
   be, "I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity." They
   were even working iniquity while they were mentioning Christ's name,
   for with them it was an iniquity that they should have presumed to do
   so! Yet the name, itself, was not robbed of its power. Albeit it was
   out of its element and, probably, might not exert all its force under
   such circumstances, yet if it came into contact with a devil, sooner
   than the devil should conquer Christ's name, God would acknowledge that
   name even when a worker of iniquity used it! So it was in Christ's day
   and so has it been since. What power there is, then, in that name!

   We know, besides, dear Friends, from Scripture, that as the name of
   Jesus had power with devils, so it also had power with men. All forms
   of sickness yielded to that name. There was great force in the argument
   implied in the Centurion's words when he sent to Christ, saying, "Lord,
   trouble not Yourself: for I am not worthy that You should enter under
   my roof: wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto You:
   but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man
   set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go,
   and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do
   this, and he does it." He recognized that Christ was commissioned of
   God and that, therefore, He had Divine authority at the back of Him.
   Jesus had but to speak and His Word was potent with leprosies, with
   fevers--yes, and with death, itself--and His servants also proved the
   power of His name in healing the sick. In the case of this lame man,
   "His name through faith in His name" had made the cripple strong and
   given Him "perfect soundness" in the presence of all the people.

   Once more, the name of Jesus is, indeed, mighty, for it has power with
   God Himself! Hence it is that we never pray without using that blessed
   name, that is to say, if we are wise. We love to feel all through our
   prayer and to say when it is ended, "In the name of Jesus Christ our
   Lord." The keys of Heaven are in the hands of that man who knows how to
   use aright the name of Jesus! In your deepest sorrow, this name, like a
   lifebelt, shall keep you afloat on the very crest of the billows if you
   can but plead it before God! When you appear to have no arguments in
   prayer and Heaven seems like brass above your head, use but the name of
   Jesus and your prayer shall enter into the ears of the Lord God of
   Sabaoth--and infinite blessing shall come streaming down to you! The
   name of Jesus is a mighty power in Heaven, in earth and in the deep
   places under the earth! There is no part of the universe where the
   King's name is without influence! The warrant from His Throne may be
   executed among angels, among devils and certainly shall not be
   powerless among the sons of men! "Where the word of a king is, there is
   power." And where the name of the King of Kings is on the proclamation,
   who shall be able to resist it? The name of "Jesus Christ of Nazareth"
   is full of power! Oh, that those who are Believers would more and more
   prove its power! And that those who are not Believers may soon feel its
   gracious influence! May this double result follow from our gathering
   here--and unto His name shall be praise and glory, world without end!

   II. But now, secondly, I have to call your attention to A CASE IN PROOF
   OF THE POWER OF CHRIST'S

   NAME.

   The case in proof is this. There was a man who, being born lame, was,
   all of a sudden, perfectly restored! Not by the use of any medicine or
   surgery, but simply by the Apostle Peter's utterance of these words,
   "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." The man
   had never walked, s o you must remember that when the power came into
   his feet and ankle bones, he did not know how to walk! You know that
   you have to teach your children to walk. As they gather strength, they
   acquire the art, for there is an art in it--and I should suppose that
   if a man had been lame from his birth and a surgeon could suddenly make
   his ankle bones strong, he would not be able to walk. He would not know
   what to do with his legs, having never used them. Certainly, he would
   be exceedingly awkward in his first movements.

   But this man went through his gymnastic lessons very rapidly when the
   miracle was worked on him, for he walked, he ran, he leaped to the
   glory of God--and that all of a sudden! "But," says one, "he was a
   beggar and, perhaps, he had shammed lameness." No, he had not, for he
   had been carried and laid daily at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple.
   And, as Dean Afford very properly remarks, this was a clear proof that
   he was really lame because no beggar would pay a man to carry him, and
   so have to divide the alms which he received. No, a man who was
   shamming lameness would get there as much unseen as possible, but he
   would not pay his bearers. And I suppose that they would not have
   carried him unless they had been paid. If we had to carry a heavy
   fellow every morning--and we had any suspicion that he could walk if he
   chose--we should drop him and, in a very short time, he would have to
   find out that he could not be carried about if he could walk! And I
   daresay that he would soon take to his legs. This is part of the proof
   that this was a real case of lifelong lameness.

   This man, in his sad state through congenital lameness, sat there
   begging. I do not say that all forms of beggary have the same influence
   upon all men, but, as far as my observation goes, begging is a very
   degrading business. I would suppose that persons have risen out of
   almost all ranks of society and have attained to eminence--and that out
   of every trade men of genius have come. But beggary, somehow, represses
   and quenches anything like a spark of genius within the spirit. Many of
   the mendicants whom one has seen give this impression--and in foreign
   travel one has sometimes been beset by scores and even hundreds of
   them! In some lands the police strike them and drive them away, as if
   they were so many dogs. And certainly the Neapolitan lazzaroniare by no
   means desirable companions. As I have looked into the faces of these
   people, they have seemed to me as if hardly anything could raise them
   from their degradation. It was probably much the same with this man who
   was not only lame in his feet, but had gradually become very lame in
   his soul. Yet, notwithstanding all that, the name of Jesus kindled his
   very heart--it entered his inmost soul and penetrated the very marrow
   of his being, so that he became capable of the same faith that was in
   the soul of Peter--and he was able to trust in Jesus, if not at once to
   the same degree, yet with the same truthfulness as John, who stood
   there and looked upon him! Our Lord Jesus gazes upon all of us,
   wherever we may be, with an eye of pity. And if there are any who are
   degraded, not merely by poverty, but also by sin--if any have sunk as
   low as human beings can sink--He is still able, by that mighty name of
   His, to bring them again from Bashan, yes, to bring up His people from
   the depths of the sea! Oh, the glory of that matchless name!

   The way that Peter and John went to work was very wise. The man could
   not walk, but he could look, s o they first of all called his attention
   to themselves by saying, "Look at us," in order that he might be ready
   to listen to their message and might know what they said, partly by
   seeing what they did, for, in hearing, though we cannot hear with our
   eyes, yet, somehow, the eye mightily helps when the preacher has any
   kind of action whatever. And Peter needed to have action in his sermon
   on this occasion.

   Having attracted the man's full attention, Peter commanded him to rise
   and walk He not merely told him what he was to do, but he said to him,
   in tones of authority, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise
   up and walk." Having given the command and perceiving that the man was
   ready to obey it, Peter helped him to obey it And, as he raised him up,
   the strength came into his ankle bones so fast that the man sprang up!
   And he was so thoroughly cured that he began at once to walk and to
   leap!

   What this man really did was to yield to the gentle pressure that Peter
   put upon him. After the word of command was given, he expected that
   power would come with that command and, yielding and expecting, he was
   incited to make the attempt to rise. He did make the attempt and up he
   stood, exerting the power as God was pleased to grant it to him! He
   stood! He walked! He leaped! And in it all he was "praising God."
   Surely there never came from any lips a song that was more true than
   his! I think I see him leap up and say, "Hallelujah!" And then leap up,
   again, and then again, showing to everybody how perfect was the cure,
   letting everyone see what perfect soundness he had received--and all
   the while saying, "Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!" There never was
   before their eyes a finer specimen of what the name of Christ could do!
   I am not going to dwell upon that point because it is clear enough, and
   every converted man is just as plainly a proof of Christ's power. He,
   too, hears the word of command. He, too, obeys and, when he obeys, the
   strength goes with the command! And, obeying, he, also, is made
   perfectly whole!

   III. I shall need you to think of that case in proof while I close my
   discourse with this point--A NECESSITY IN REFERENCE TO THE USE OF THAT
   NAME OF POWER if we would see blessed results following.

   Let me read the text to you again, that you may see how very remarkably
   the name of Christ and faith are mixed up. They both occur twice in the
   verse. What was it that worked the miracle? Was it the name of Christ,
   or was it faith in that name? Listen--"His name through faith in His
   name has made this man strong, whom you see and know." And then it is
   added, "Yes, the faith which is by Him has given him this perfect
   soundness in the presence of you all," as if to put the crown on the
   head of faith rather than on the name of Christ, for faith is sure
   never to steal that crown. Faith always crowns Christ and, therefore,
   Christ crowns faith. "Your faith has saved you," said Christ to the
   woman that was a sinner. "No," says someone, "it was Christ who saved
   her." That is also true, but Christ said that it was her faith that
   saved her, and He knew. So here, it was the name of Christ that worked
   the miracle, but it was worked through faith in that name.

   Whose faith was it? It would puzzle any of us to tell for certain
   except we say that it was the faith of all three. I believe that,
   first, it was the faith of Peter and John. I t was their faith that
   brought healing to this man, just as when, on another occasion, when
   the man was let down by his friends into Christ's Presence, He saw
   their faith and said to the sick of the palsy, "Son, your sins are
   forgiven you." In this case, it was beyond doubt the faith of Peter and
   John that made them use the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It was
   their faith that made them give the command, "Rise up and walk." It was
   their faith that made Peter stretch out his hand, expecting that by
   helping the man, he would be restored.

   Now, dear Friends, you and I go forth--the most of us--to preach and to
   teach. I am happy to be able to say the most of us, for there are very
   many here who, in one way or another, are busy in the Lord's service.
   When we go to speak to men, let us always go in the name of Christ. If
   we go in our own name--well, they may receive us or reject us as they
   please, without any sin, but if we go in the name of Christ, we can
   plead His own Words, "he that despises you, despises Me." We may speak
   very boldly and very positively when we speak in His name. If you have
   any doubt about what you are going to preach, do not preach till you
   have gotten rid of your doubts. If you have smoke in your room, do not
   ask your friend in--enjoy it yourself if you like it, but, until the
   chimney has been swept and the air has been purified--do not invite
   visitors. Doubts about this doctrine and that had better not be brought
   forward by us--we certainly cannot expect to do any good by what we,
   ourselves, do not believe! We must preach that which we are sure is
   true because we dare set the hand and seal of Christ to it as the very
   Truth of God which He has made us to know by the effectual working of
   His Holy Spirit.

   Then, next, we must command men to believe. I do not think that there
   is enough of this done by any of us. We ought to say to them, not
   merely as an entreaty, "Please, believe in Christ," but as a command,
   "Believe in Christ!" Oh, that we had faith enough, sometimes, to
   address people in that fashion! There are some who do not appear to
   have any faith at all, for they say, "It is no use telling dead sinners
   to believe." Probably it would be no use for them to do it. I heard one
   of them say, "You might as well shake a handkerchief over the dead in
   their graves, as bid sinners believe." So they might, because they have
   not faith. But preaching is an exercise of faith and when we address
   sinners, it ought to be as if we were about to work a miracle! We
   should never go to talk to a single sinner, or to a Sunday school
   class, or to a congregation as if we had any power whatever in
   ourselves to influence them. We must go in the name of Christ to be
   miracle-workers and say to the sinner, "Believe in Jesus. We command
   you, in Christ's name, to believe on Him." My dear Friends, here, who
   are unconverted, it is not a thing that you maydo, or may not do, just
   as you like. It is God's command that you believe on Jesus Christ whom
   He has sent--a command which He has sanctioned by a most solemn
   threat--"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
   believes not shall be damned." Nothing could be more solemn than that!

   Remember how Paul spoke to the Athenians on Mars' Hill? "The times of
   this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to
   repent." The Gospel is in the nature of a command of Christ! And what
   if they say, "There is no power in the creature"? That is quite true!
   Was there any power in Lazarus when Jesus said to him, "Lazarus, come
   forth"? No, but Lazarus came forth as Christ commanded him. And He
   still bids His servants say, "You deaf, hear the Word of the Lord. You
   dead, awake and arise." This is even as Ezekiel spoke in the Valley of
   Vision. "Thus says the Lord, you dry bones live." If we can speak like
   that, it will be by our faith that the man with no strength receives
   strength.

   After giving the command, we are still to believe and to put out our
   hand to help the man who is going to rise. That is the work of those
   who look after people when the sermon is done. Two or three Friends
   here (I wish there were more of them) always expect to see converts
   after every service. You will see them on the lookout in the aisles or
   at the doorways as soon as I have finished. And some of them, I
   daresay, have been on the watch at the back of the galleries even while
   I have been preaching. Perhaps they have brought you here, or else
   somebody else has brought you here and that somebody else has let them
   know, that they may be after you. They want to give you a hand, to help
   you up out of your lameness, that you may leap up and begin to praise
   the name of the Lord!

   Still, lest I should send you away with any mistake upon your mind, let
   me say that this man would not have been healed if it had not been for
   his own faith. There must be the personal faith of the saved one. And
   that this man had faith, I firmly believe, because he went into the
   Temple praising God. He did not receive the blessing and then have a
   dead, cold heart about it. He began at once to praise the Lord. What
   did this man do? When he was told to look at the Apostles, he did so.
   He attended to their words and when they told him to rise, he yielded
   to them. He did not say, "I cannot," but he made an attempt to rise and
   yielding, he believed that what they said could not be said in
   mockery--that if he was commanded to rise, he would be enabled to rise.
   I would that some poor sinner here would think after the same
   fashion--"I was not brought to the Tabernacle tonight for Mr. Spurgeon
   to tell me to believe in Jesus--and for me to wish to believe in Him,
   to desire to believe in Him, to attempt to believe in Him and yet for
   me not to find the strength to do it." The Gospel is never sent to mock
   any of you, depend upon that! God has set before you an open door--not
   a closed one. Or if it seems to be closed, He bids you knock and He
   will open it to you.

   Some will not knock, they will not believe. They get into a sullen
   state of desperate despair and they will not rise. But the poor soul
   whom God blesses, no sooner hears the command than he is on the alert
   to obey! And he no sooner feels the cheering touch of the friend who
   has come to help him up, than he responds to it. And though he has no
   strength of his own, the needed strength comes pouring in and he
   stands! Oh, how surprised he is to find that he can stand! What a treat
   it is to stand! I know what a pleasure it is to be able to walk across
   the room and downstairs, with the aid of a cane, after I have been
   unable to put my feet to the ground for weeks. But I cannot know a
   thousandth part of the pleasure of this man, who had never walked a
   step, when he followed the two Apostles who had spoken to him in the
   name of "Jesus Christ of Nazareth!" He not only walked, but he felt
   strength enough to leap! And then he cried, with all his might,
   "Hallelujah! Bless the Lord!" till all the people around took up the
   strain. Well, that may happen to you, also, dear Friend. "Believe on
   the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved"--saved at this very
   moment! God grant it, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ACTS3.1-21

   Verse 1. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the
   hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. Peter and John seem to have been
   linked in closest friendship. Peter had been brought back by John when
   he was almost despairing after having denied his Master. John lovingly
   found him and made him his associate. And now they "went up together
   into the temple at the hour of prayer." Observe, here, how very sweetly
   the Old Testament dispensation melts into the new. The Temple was no
   longer what it had been before. The type was of no further use, now
   that the great Antitype of the Temple had come. Yet these Apostles
   still went up to it at the hour of prayer. There are some men who are
   great at destroying. It will be time to destroy the old when the new is
   quite ready, and even then it may be very possible to let the darkness
   gradually melt away into a twilight, and so the day shall come with no
   great gap, no marked surprise. So Peter and John went up to the Temple
   at the same hour as others went. It is folly to be singular, except
   when to be singular is to be something more right than others.

   2, 3. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom
   they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to
   ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and
   John about to go into the temple asked for an alms. This seems to have
   been the custom about the Temple gates, as it is about the doors of
   many churches on the Continent. For instance, you could not approach
   the door of a certain church in Rome without being solicited, perhaps,
   by a score of beggars. I do not suppose that it was so in Judea in its
   prosperous days, but when religion does not prosper, beggars are sure
   to be multiplied. And now that the very spirit of godliness had gone,
   almsgiving was done in public, and hence the beggars appeared in
   public.

   4-7. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on
   us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from
   them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have,
   I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
   walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and
   immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. The man had
   never stood upon his feet in all his life and was so unable to move
   that he had to be carried to the Temple gates to beg. And yet, at the
   mention of the great and glorious name of Jesus, his feet and ankle
   bones immediately received strength!

   8-11. And he, leaping up, stood, and walked, and entered with them into
   the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people
   saw him walking and praising God: and they knew that it was he which
   sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled
   with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as
   the lame man which was healed, held Peter and John, all the people ran
   together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly
   wondering. You are not at all surprised that he held Peter and John--it
   was but natural that he should follow them wherever they went, for he
   owed so much to them and they were the best friends that he had ever
   had! He was filled with reverence for them because of what they had
   worked upon him and now, lest they should go away, he held them. And
   "all the people ran together unto them, greatly wondering." He who was
   healed by Christ's wonderful name was wondering, and the people who saw
   him healed were all wondering. I suppose that wonder mingles with all
   true worship. All wonder is not worship, but where there is adoration
   of God and a sense of His great goodness and of our unworthiness, there
   seems always to be a large amount of wonder. We shall even--

   "Sing with wonder and surprise, His loving kindness in the skies."

   12. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, You men of
   Israel, why marvel you at this? Or why look you so earnestly on us, as
   though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?Peter
   could well see that the people attributed to himself and John more than
   was right, so he thus had an opportunity of preaching the Gospel to
   them--and you may be certain that he did not miss it!

   13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
   fathers, has glorified His Son Jesus. Or, rather, as you have it in the
   Revised Version with more correctness, "has glorified His Servant
   Jesus," for His Son may be said to be already glorified. But Jesus had
   taken upon Himself the form of a Servant, and God had "glorified His
   Servant Jesus."

   13-15. Whom you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate,
   when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and
   the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the
   Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead; of which we are
   witnesses. I want you to note, here, how Peter will have it that the
   God of the Gospel is the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. I do
   not hesitate to say that the god of a large number of professors, now,
   is not the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. And the reason I say
   so is this--they often treat the Old Testament as if it were an
   altogether secondary volume and speak about the imperfect ideas of God
   which the Hebrews had, and the imperfect Revelation of God in the Old
   Testament. I believe that Jehovah--that very Jehovah who divided the
   Red Sea and drowned the Egyptians--the terrible God of the Old
   Testament--is the same God who is the God and Father of our Lord and
   Savior Jesus Christ. And we are to take the Godhead as it is revealed,
   not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament. There are
   some who would pick and choose that part of Scripture which they like
   best and construct a god for themselves out of those chosen texts.
   These are they who have other gods before Jehovah. And these are they
   who make unto themselves an image which, if it is not engraved upon
   stone, is yet made out of their own imaginations which they set up and
   worship in the place of the one living and true God. "The God of our
   fathers has glorified His Son Jesus; whom you delivered up and denied."
   See how plainspoken Peter is--how boldly he presses home upon the crowd
   around him the murder of Christ--the rejection of the Messiah? It took
   no small amount of courage and faith to speak like that and to speak so
   to persons who were full of admiration of him, before, and who would be
   pretty sure to be filled with indignation against him directly! A man
   can speak boldly against those who are his enemies, but, when people
   begin to flatter you and admire you, a softness steals over the bravest
   heart and he is inclined to be very gentle. I admire Peter that he puts
   it thus so plainly--"You denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired
   a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of Life, whom
   God has raised from the dead; of which we are witnesses."

   16. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong,
   whom you see and know. ' 'You see him, now, and you know what he used
   to be. There is no question about the identity of the man."

   16, 17. Yes, the faith which is by Him has given him this perfect
   soundness in the presence of you all And now, brethren, I know that
   through ignorance you did it How like his Master does Peter now speak!
   Instead of drawing his sword, as he did when he cut off the ear of
   Malchus, he puts the Truth of God thus mildly. "I know that through
   ignorance you did it."

   17-21. As did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had
   showed by the mouth of all His Prophets, that Christ should suffer, He
   has so fulfilled. Repent you, therefore, and be converted, that your
   sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from
   the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before
   was preached unto you: whom the Heaven must receive until the times of
   restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His
   holy Prophets since the world began.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Welcome for Jesus

   (No. 2593)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 23, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
   17, 1883.

   "And it came topass, that when Jesus was returned, the people gladly
   received Him, for they were all waiting for Him." Luke 8:40.

   THE Revised Version is, in some places, though not in many, better than
   the Authorized Version. Our text is one of the few instances in which
   there is an improvement--"And as Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed
   Him, for they were all waiting for Him."

   We have already noted, in our reading, that our Lord had gone where He
   was not welcomed. He went across the Sea of Galilee to the country of
   the Gadarenes and there He met with an ill reception and was even
   entreated by the people to depart out of their coasts. Yet, although
   Jesus knew beforehand the treatment He would receive there, He went. He
   did not stay there long, but He remained long enough to effect a grand
   purpose of Grace. Upon His landing on that inhospitable shore, a poor
   creature, held in captivity by a legion of demons, was set free and,
   that done, the Master yielded to the unwise, ungracious, unkind request
   of the Gadarenes and went His way back across the sea.

   The Lord Jesus Christ may still come to a family that does not want
   Him, does not wish to have Him. A man of God may pass that way and
   tarry for a night. The Gospel itself may be carried to people in a
   certain quarter and they may hear it, though they have no wish to do
   so. Well, if this is your feeling, my Hearers, do not be burdened with
   what you consider the great calamity of Christ coming near you! Do not
   be disturbed by the fear that you will be forced to be saved against
   your will! The Lord Jesus Christ will not stay where He is not wanted.
   As He bade His Apostles, when they were persecuted in one city, to flee
   to another, so He does Himself. If He is not received here, He will go
   elsewhere. Yet I trust that, at least, He will not leave your family,
   that He will not leave your ungodly neighborhood--until He has won from
   it some trophy of His Grace--until He has taken "one of a city, and two
   of a family," to "bring you to Zion."

   He still delights to gather to Himself unruly ones whom He will tame,
   unclothed ones whom He will robe in the garments of righteousness, and
   demon-possessed ones whom He will cause to sit at His feet, as the
   Gadara demoniac did when he was restored to his right mind. I have seen
   this happen again and again, and it has been a blessed thing for those
   whom Christ has thus rescued and saved. He has gone away, at the
   request of those who did not wish for Him, yet He has not gone till He
   has left behind Him a witness to His power who has continued, after His
   departure, to tell what the Lord has done for him! Thus a tree has been
   planted which Satan cannot pluck up and a light has been kindled which
   all the powers of darkness cannot blow out! Yet, alas, there are still
   some who do not want Christ and who treat Him so ill that He goes away
   from them, as He returned from the coasts of Gadara.

   But now look at the other side of the narrative and learn from it that
   while some will not receive Christ, there are others who are anxious
   that He should come to them. When Jesus took ship and crossed over to
   the other side of the sea, "the multitude welcomed Him, for they were
   all waiting for Him." Minister of Christ, servant of the Lord, if you
   are rejected in one place, you shall be received in another! If, today,
   you have to shake off the dust of your feet against impenitent hearers,
   it may be that, tomorrow, you shall find some whose hearts the Lord has
   opened, who will gladly receive your message, who will come to Christ
   and find salvation in Him. What a mercy it is that all ground is not
   stony ground! There is yet some "honest and good ground." It is not
   everywhere that the door is shut, so that God's servants cannot enter,
   but, in many places, an abundant entrance is made by the power of the
   Holy Spirit, and God's servants are able to step in. Wherever Christ is
   welcomed, there we may expect to see His power displayed.

   As we read the chapter, we saw that it was so in this instance. The
   people waited. The people welcomed and then Christ put forth His power
   until the people wondered. If we are, at this time, waiting for Christ,
   and if we now welcome Christ, we shall, by-and-by, become a wondering
   assembly, marveling at what the Grace of God has done among us!

   I am going to divide my subject in this way. First, here is a beautiful
   sight. "They were all waiting for Him." Secondly, here is a sure
   arrival. "Jesus returned." The people were all waiting for Him, so He
   came to them. And, thirdly, here is a hearty welcome. "The multitude
   welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him."

   I. First, then, here is A BEAUTIFUL SIGHT. "They were all waiting for
   Him." I shall try to show you this beautiful sight in four pictures.

   I think that it is a very beautiful sight, first, to see a waiting
   assembly when all the people have come together--not to hear fine
   music, or merely to listen to the voice of a man, but anxious to meet
   with God, desirous to feel the power of Jesus Christ! Happy preacher
   who has to address such an audience! Happy audience that has been
   brought into such a condition! "They were all waiting for Him." Just
   for a minute or two look at our ordinary congregations and see if our
   text is true concerning them. Alas, the people are not all waiting for
   Jesus, for they have not all assembled at the hour of worship! A few
   come on time and take their seats, but it is not so with others. I am
   not speaking of you, my Hearers, for I exempt you from this
   description. You would not get in if you came late, so you do not
   generally attempt it, but you know how it is in many places.

   Here they come--detachment of late-comers stamping up the aisle,
   interrupting the first prayer. Others come straggling in all through
   the reading of the Scriptures. God's Word seems so contemptible in
   their esteem that they tramp up the aisle as if it were some
   unimportant book that was being read. Then comes the singing and some
   join in it heartily. But others do not even know what hymn it is, for
   they have only just arrived. And I have known some friends, in certain
   places, come so late that the minister had almost finished his
   sermon--and they were just in time to go home with the congregation!
   This ought not to be the case anywhere and is not the case where all
   are waiting for Jesus. I like the thought of the good woman who said
   that she never went to a service late for it was part of her religion
   not to disturb the worship of other people. I wish many more agreed
   with her. Oh, how much loss of spirituality, how much loss of blessing
   has come by that straggling in, one by one, instead of all being
   assembled, waiting for the Savior with such due respect to His holy
   name that they would not think of being late!

   He who goes to see an earthlyking is surely punctual! He would sooner
   wait an hour in the anteroom than keep the monarch waiting a moment.
   But what shall I say of those who seem as if it were a painful
   operation to join in the worship of God and so postpone that operation
   to the last possible moment? That was a beautiful sight in the house of
   Cornelius the Centurion, when he had fetched in all his kinsmen and
   near friends before Peter arrived, so that he could say to the Apostle,
   "Now, therefore, we are all here present before God, to hear all things
   that are commanded you of God." They were all there, all ready, all
   waiting, all prepared to hear and all glad to hear! The more of such
   congregations there are, the more will the Spirit of God work, the more
   numerous will be the converts and the more will Christ's Kingdom spread
   among men!

   I say all this because I know that there are many people from other
   places who are worshipping with us and I know, also, from observation,
   how many there are who look upon the House of God as a place into which
   they may stray at any time they please. Let it not be so with you, dear
   Friends, wherever you worship--but let it be said of you whenever
   Christ comes to the congregation--"They are all waiting for Him."

   A second picture, more beautiful, still, is to see a Church waiting for
   the Lord Jesus Christ--a prayerful congregation met together to seek a
   revival of religion through the more manifest Presence of the Lord
   Jesus Christ in their midst. I wish that all the members of churches
   that are in a declining state would say to themselves, "This state of
   things will never do. We cannot endure this dullness and deadness." Or,
   if the whole church will not say it, it would be a great mercy if some
   dozen or score of faithful men and women would meet together and say,
   "We cannot bear to have these Sabbath services and weeknight meetings
   without any converts. Month after month passing and no additions to the
   Church, no apparent power with the Word." I would not wish them to meet
   together to censure, to criticize, or to pour out their common
   complaints, but I would have them gather distinctly to wait upon the
   Lord in prayer, pleading His promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even
   unto the end of the world."

   I think I see such an assembly as that, all earnestly pleading with the
   Lord, all surrounding the Mercy Seat, laying hold of strong arguments
   from the Word and pleading them before God. I watch them as they have
   separated and gone home--they are still praying and they will meet
   together, again, at the first opportunity. And with more tears and
   greater urgency, they will present the same earnest cry, "Return unto
   us, O Lord Jesus! Return, we beseech You, O God of Hosts! Look down
   from Heaven and behold, and visit this vine and the vineyard which Your
   right hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for
   Yourself! O Shepherd of Israel, the drought has been long, the pastures
   are dry, the very earth is parched--we entreat you to fill the clouds
   with rain and water us with Grace--and make our barrenness to depart
   and the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose." In imagination, I
   see these people coming together week after week--frequently pleading
   alone, and then pleading in company, making the Mercy Seat at the
   family altar to echo the same cry--and then, after they have prayed,
   they are all waiting, men and women and children, saying, "When will
   Jesus come?" They are hoping that there will be better preaching and
   that their fellow church members and especially that they, themselves,
   may be more spiritual. They are looking about the congregation to see
   whether there are any tokens of converts or anxious souls. They are all
   on the alert, expecting an answer to their prayers and, therefore,
   waiting for that answer and ready, as soon as God sends the fruit, to
   gather it from the tree and store it up!

   Ah, Brothers and Sisters, we shall see greater things than these if we
   once get into that blessed condition, so that it can be said of us,
   "They were all waiting for Him." If we have such Prayer Meetings as
   that tomorrow--which is our day of special prayer in connection with
   the College Conference--what a day of prayer it will be--all with one
   accord in one place crying for the blessing! We might expect to have
   another Pentecost to make our hearts leap within us with gratitude and
   praise to God. "They were all waiting for Him"--oh, what a lovely
   sight--lovely in the eyes of angels and of the angels' Master, to see
   His people all waiting for Him!

   Now for the third beautiful picture which is, a seeking sinner waiting
   for Christ in confession and prayer He is upstairs in the quiet of his
   own room. No one but God sees him, for he has taken care to shut the
   door. He is kneeling at his bedside. He says little, but he weeps much.
   He cannot utter many words, but his heart is breaking with his longing
   desire after Christ. He confesses his unworthiness. He knows that if
   Jesus of Nazareth passes by and lets him still remain in darkness, he
   deserves it. He bows his head low before the Lord and cries, "I have
   sinned." After a while, he begins to plead the promise, "You have said,
   'Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out.' Lord, I come to You!
   I am waiting for You! Come to me!" Mark his struggling faith. He says,
   "Lord, teach me how to believe, and let me know what it is to trust
   You! Gladly would I do so. I hope I do. 'Lord, I believe; help You mine
   unbelief!'" Still more fervently he cries, "Lord, give me rest! Lord,
   come and take away the burden of my sin! Lord, I beseech You, shine
   upon me! Now, for weeks, I have cried to You. When will You come to me?
   Lord, these many months have I bowed at the foot of Your Cross and I
   have tried to look up, but, as yet, I see no light. Possibly, it is my
   ignorance that hides You from my eyes. Maybe it is my unbelief. Perhaps
   it is some sin I am still harboring. If so, Lord--

   'The dearest idol I have known, Whatever that idol be, Help me to tear
   it from Your Throne, And worship only Thee.

   I said it was a beautiful sight that I was going to describe to
   you--and so it is. Yet there are, in such a scene, sighs and groans,
   and tears, and sobs--and men who love the pleasures of the world flee
   from it. But angels stand gazing with their finger on their lips and
   when, at last, they break the silence, the holy ones whisper, one to
   another, "Behold, he prays." And then their next word is, "Let us up
   and away to tell the bright spirits before the Throne of God, for this
   man that prays is not far from the Kingdom, and we must bid them
   rejoice with us over one sinner that repents." Oh, that there may be
   many such among us! These will be precious gems in the crown of King
   Jesus! While many a boastful professor shall be passed by, the humble
   seeker who is waiting for Christ shall have his name recorded on the
   tablets of the Redeemer's heart!

   Now one more picture, that of a departing saint, longing for Home--such
   a picture as you will make, I hope, dear Friend, by-and-by--such a
   picture as I hope to make when my turn shall come. The battle is fought
   and the victory is won forever! The man is propped up in his bed with
   pillows, for life is fast ebbing and strength is failing him. You can
   hear him say, in short broken sentences, "I have waited. I have waited.
   I have waited for Your salvation, O Lord! I wait for the Lord, my soul
   does wait and on His Word do I hope. Why are His chariots so long in
   coming?" His friends step very softly across the room. It is so quiet
   and still that you can hear the clock tick. He is waiting--waiting for
   his Lord, while in his inmost soul he is singing--

   "My heart is with Him on His throne, And ill can brook delay. Each
   moment listening for the voice, 'Rise up, and come away.'"

   He has closed his eyes. He is gone. It is all over in this world. He
   has entered into his rest. Thus Jesus comes to those that wait for Him.

   I would begin to wait for Him now, dear Brothers and Sisters, while yet
   in health and strength. Wait and watch for the glorious appearing of
   our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is the joy and hope of His
   whole Church! Wait and watch for the opened Heaven, for the descent on
   Olivet on that day when He, who was seen to go up into Heaven, shall so
   come in like manner as He went up! And if you fall asleep before that
   wish of yours shall be fulfilled, yet this shall be your joy--that you
   were among those who watched and waited for your Lord, and you shall
   enter into His joy!

   Thus have I set before you the picture in four panels which my mind's
   eye sees in the last words of our text--"They were all waiting for
   Him."

   II. Now let us turn to the second point, A SURE ARRIVAL--"Jesus
   returned." Men never wait in vain for Christ--if they are truly waiting
   for Him, He will come to them. How do we know this?

   Well, we infer it, first, from the fact that His Spirit is there
   already. Brethren, are you waiting for Christ? Who but the blessed
   Spirit of God made you wait? There was a time when you would have been
   like the Gadarenes and would have asked Him to depart from you. But now
   the longing, the pining, the fainting, the swooning are all proofs of
   His Spirit's work within you. Where His Spirit is, there Christ will
   surely be. Indeed, He is there by His Spirit. He never set a soul
   hungering without intending to feed it with the Bread of Life. He never
   made a spirit thirst without meaning to fill it with the Water of Life.
   You can be sure that if you are waiting for Him, He will come to you,
   for His Spirit is already with you.

   Next, we know that He will come because His heart is there. If ever
   there is a heart that wants Christ, Christ wants that heart! If you
   have only one grain of desire towards Christ, Christ has a mountain of
   desire towards you. There never was a sinner yet who had a head start
   on Christ--if there is one who is waiting for Christ, He is there
   already! I tell you, my waiting Brother or Sister, Christ looks upon
   you with the deepest sympathy. He knows all your desires. He even finds
   music in your groans! He bottles up your tears, for He sees beauty in
   every sorrowful drop that distils from your eyes. Be of good courage,
   for, if you desire Him, He also desires you--and where Christ's heart
   is, He Himself will be, before long! If His Spirit is working within
   you and His heart is already with you, He will surely come to you.

   I also know that He will come because His work is there. I expect to
   find you, tomorrow morning, dear Brother, where your work is. My
   Sisters, I expect to find you in the house where your work is. Where,
   then, is Christ's work but in longing, anxious, breaking hearts? What
   does Christ do? According to the Psalmist, beside all His other work,
   He does two things--"He counts the number of the stars; He calls them
   all by their names." And, wonder of wonders, at the same moment, "He
   heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds." Our Lord Jesus is
   just as much at home in binding up wounds as He is in guiding
   stars--these two works are equally pleasing to Him--no, the latter is
   the choicer work of the two. So then, if you are waiting for Him, He
   will surely come to you, for His business lies your way. He has work to
   do in you.

   This is not all. He has given us His promise that He will come.1 'They
   that seek Me early shall find Me." That is a promise which refers to
   the young, but it refers to the old, too. If they are seeking Him with
   such earnest longing that they seek Him early in the morning, or seek
   Him at once, they shall surely find Him. "for everyone that asks,
   receives, and He that seeks, finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be
   opened." These are our Lord's own words, so He will not let you wait
   for Him in vain, you may depend upon that! His promise tells you so.

   Besides that, there is an experience which many of us have had which we
   would like to tell you for your encouragement. It is Christ's custom to
   come to waiting souls. I can speak for many Brothers and Sisters here,
   as well as for myself, when I say that, "I sought the Lord and He heard
   me." "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him." I was so foolish
   when I was seeking the Savior that, for a long time, I said to myself,
   "The Lord Jesus will hear my brother. He will hear my sister. He will
   be gracious to my father and my mother, but not to me." The devil said,
   "Your name is not on the roll of Christ's redeemed ones." How did he
   know? He had never read it. How could I tell? I had never seen it. When
   any man says to me, "Suppose I am not elect," I usually answer,
   "Suppose you are. And suppose both you and I leave off supposing and go
   to work upon certainty instead of supposition. Is not that a wise thing
   to do? Now, Christ has said, 'Him that comes to Me I will in no wise
   cast out.' Will not the wisest thing for us to do be to go and see
   whether He will cast us out?" And, dear Friends, if He does cast any
   one of you out, I should like you to let me know of it, for I have gone
   up and down the land, these many years, telling everybody that Christ
   never did cast a sinner out and I do not wish to say what is not true.
   If He does cast out one who comes to Him, I shall have to amend my
   testimony--at least I shall have to stay at home and hold my tongue--if
   you can tell me, assuredly, that you went to Christ and He cast you
   out!

   Sirs, I tell you that there is not, even among the damned in Hell, a
   single one who dares to say that he sought the Lord, and the Lord would
   not be found of him! There never shall be one among lost spirits who
   shall dare to say, "I trusted in Christ and He did not save me. I
   sought Him, but He would not look upon me." It cannot be so! Come along
   with you, then, I pray you, and end all questions and supposing by
   humbly casting yourself down at Jesus' feet and trusting in Him! You
   shall not die, but shall live forever and ever!

   Thus have I spoken upon a sure arrival--Christ will come to those who
   wait for Him

   III. Now, lastly, those who have waited for Christ are sure to give Him
   A HEARTY WELCOME when He does come. I know that for certain because
   many things will lead them to do so.

   First, their fears. You know that at the time mentioned in our text,
   the people came down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and waited, and
   watched, and looked everywhere for Christ. He was gone. He who had fed
   them was gone. He who had healed their sick was gone. They said, one to
   another, "Which way did He go?" And the answer was, "He sailed across
   the sea and there was a storm that night--and He has not come back."
   They may have said, "Perhaps He never will come back." And some of the
   Galileans may have sadly added, "Alas, we did not treat Him well when
   He was here. We did not honor and reverence Him as we ought to have
   done and now, possibly, we shall never see Him again." Among them was
   that poor woman with the issue of blood--and she would say, "Ah, if He
   does not come back, then I cannot be healed. I have not a penny left to
   spend on another doctor! And if I had, I would probably only get worse
   instead of better." There was Jarius also, the ruler of the synagogue,
   and he was asking, "Where is the great Prophet? Do you think He will
   come back? My dear little girl, my only daughter, is getting worse and
   worse. I fear she is dying. Would God He were back, for He might heal
   her! If He does not return soon, she will be dead before He comes. And
   then what shall I do?"

   Then there was the poor paralyzed man who had four friends who promised
   that they would get him to Christ somehow or other, even if they had to
   pull the roof off the house. They meant to take Him to Jesus. As he lay
   there, he seemed to say, "Ah, me, I have my bearers willing to carry me
   into His Presence, but perhaps He will never come back! Perhaps He has
   gone away altogether." Now, whenever that fear comes into a man's mind,
   through long waiting for Jesus, till he says, "Perhaps He will not
   come! Perhaps He will never smile upon me. Perhaps He will never hear
   my prayer"--when Jesus does appear, how gladly He is welcomed! From
   many a heart and lips goes up the cry, "He comes! He comes! 'Ho-sanna!
   Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.'" Among the waiting
   ones who are sure to welcome Christ when He comes are those who have
   been troubled by fears concerning His absence.

   Then, besides, their hopes made them welcome Him when He did come. The
   poor woman with the issue of blood said, "If He does come, perhaps I
   may be healed, so I hope He will return." And Jarius cried, "Oh, if He
   will but come in time, my dear child may yet be spared!" And the poor
   paralytic said, "If He will but come--if I may but hear the music of
   His footfall and listen to the charm of that dear voice, and look into
   those loving eyes, I may yet be restored!" So, when Jesus did return,
   the hopes of those who had been waiting for Him caused their hearts to
   dance within them and made them give Him a hearty welcome! Ten thousand
   million welcomes are due to the Savior who breeds such bright hopes
   within our spirits! Oh, if He comes to you, my Friend, how welcome He
   will be! How gladly will you receive Him! If any of you have no fears
   and no hopes concerning Christ, God have mercy on you! But such as have
   the fears and the hopes of which I have been speaking will be sure to
   welcome the coming Christ.

   In addition to hopes and fears, there were many other things that made
   these people welcome Jesus. For instance, their prayers. When a man has
   long prayed for Christ, he will at last say, with the Psalmist, "My
   soul waits for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I
   say, more than they that watch for the morning." And this kind of
   prayer creates within the spirit such a thirst that when the fresh
   waters of Christ's Presence flow, then does the man welcome Him with
   unbounded joy!

   And their faith, too, helped them to welcome Christ when He returned.
   When a man is truly trusting Christ and yet has no sensible realization
   of His Presence--when a man is really reposing upon Christ and yet does
   not, at the time, feel the comfort of full assurance--when at last
   Christ comes to Him and fully reveals Himself in all His preciousness
   and beauty, how heartily does such a man welcome his Lord and Savior!

   And their love, also, helped these people to welcome Christ. And O, my
   Soul, what joy it is to you to get into Christ's company now that you
   have learned to love Him! My Brothers and Sisters, this is our Heaven
   below, is it not? In all the vehemence of our love which burns like
   coals of juniper, the Presence of Christ is most welcome to us. Oh, for
   but one glimpse of His eyes, for He has ravished our heart! Oh, but to
   hear the tinkling of the bells upon our High Priest's garments, though
   the sound is soft and low! Oh, to listen to but one Word of His! If He
   will but whisper, "You are Mine," it will lift our heart up almost to
   Heaven, itself, and fill it with a foretaste of the bliss of Glory! I
   know that it is so with you, Beloved. In proportion as you trust Him
   and love Him, will be the heartiness with which you will welcome Him
   when He comes to you!

   In closing my discourse, let me say that if we are prepared to thus
   welcome Christ, He is sure to come to us. There never was a man yet who
   stood waiting to welcome Jesus, but Jesus was already on the way to
   Him. Shall I tell you how you may sooner bring Him to you than by any
   other means in all the world? Expose your wounds and sores before Him!
   Unveil your poverty and wretchedness before Him and challenge His
   promise to heal and save just such sinners as you are! Never try, in
   order to attract Christ to you, to make yourself appear better than you
   are--that is poor policy and is sure to fail. If I were a wounded
   soldier on the battlefield, I think that I would try to appear quite as
   bad as I really was, so that the surgeon might attend to me at once.
   Certainly, it would be very foolish for a man who is sick, well-near
   unto death, to say to the doctor, "Leave me alone for a while; I can
   wait a little longer." No, rather let him cry, "O Sir, I must be
   attended to at once, or I fear that it may be too late! I am so ill
   that unless I am speedily cared for, death will claim me for its own."

   Well, now, act in this fashion with regard to Christ. Go to Him, poor
   Sinner! Tell Him how bad you have been-- you cannot aggravate or
   exaggerate your sin! Just lay it all open before Him and say, "My Lord,
   my sins are the mouths that shall plead with Your love. My misery is
   the eloquence that shall entreat Your mercy. I die if You do not, in
   pity, look upon me and forgive me. I have no other hope but in
   Yourself. I cast myself upon You. Lost or saved, I will trust in You.
   At the foot of the Cross I will perish, if I must perish anywhere."
   Ring the bells of Heaven, for that soul is saved! Glory to God in the
   highest! On earth there is peace between that soul and its Maker, for
   it is trusting in the Redeemer, and none ever perish who trust in Him!
   The Lord thus bless you, dear Friends, for Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE8:26-56.

   Verses 26, 27. And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which
   is opposite Galilee. And when He went forth to land, there met Him out
   of the city a certain man which had devils for a long time, and wore no
   clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. To what a
   frightful state of wretchedness this poor creature was reduced by
   Satanic power! Yet he is only a picture of the state of mind into which
   many are brought through sin. They seem as if they could not live with
   their fellow men. They have grown so mad through sin, so utterly beyond
   restraint, that they can scarcely be endured in ordinary society. Yet,
   as Christ healed this man, so He is equal to the cure of the worst case
   of spiritual and moral disease that may be brought before Him!

   28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him, and with
   a loud voice said, What have I to do with You, Jesus, you Son of God
   most high? I beseech you, torment me not See, the devil can make men
   pray against themselves, and this is what they do in common profane
   swearing when they imprecate all manner of curses upon their eyes and
   limbs. Ah, me! To what mischief and folly and misery can Satan drive
   his willing dupes!

   29. (For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
   For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and
   in fetters; and he broke the bonds, and was driven of the devil into
   the wilderness). Such cases have we often seen--young men who have been
   rescued from a course of vice and who have been, for a season, helped
   towards virtue--but they have broken loose again. There was no holding
   them in. They had not learned self-restraint and no one else could
   restrain them

   30, 31. And Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said,
   Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought
   Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep. So, you
   see, dear Friends, that devils can pray! "They besought Him that He
   would not command them to go out into the deep." That is, to their
   place of torment in Hell. They would sooner go to the bottom of the sea
   than go to their own dreadful home and, if we are half as wise as
   devils are, we shall dread beyond all things to be driven there. May
   God grant that no soul among us may ever lift up his eyes in torment
   and find himself in that awful deep!

   32, 33. And there was there an herd ofmanyswine feeding on the
   mountain: and they besought Him that He would allow them to enter into
   them. And He allowed them. Then went the devils out of the man and
   entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place
   into the lake, and were drowned. Our proverb says, "They run hard whom
   the devil drives." And when once he begins to drive men or swine, there
   is no end to their running till they are drowned in the deep! Woe unto
   that man, then, who yields himself up to the tyrant master! Oh, seek
   the Grace that will enable you to fling him off, to never to come under
   his dread sway again! Better still, pray the blessed Prince of Peace to
   cast out the black prince of Hell and Himself to rule over your spirit,
   soul and body!

   34. When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and
   told it in the city and in the country. Sometimes Christ worked cures
   which were scarcely mentioned. But here--and I only remember a second
   miracle at all like it--that of the withering of the barren fig
   tree--He worked a miracle of judgment and it caused a great stir and
   much talk. I have heard of bells at sea that only ring out in the
   roughest storms. Here is one that was heard when softer tones would not
   have been heeded--"They fled and went and told it in the city and in
   the country."

   35. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus, and
   found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the
   feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
   There was some clothing work done that day. I know not who provided the
   garments, but here was some real practical Christianity exhibited--not
   only by the Master in healing the demoniac--but by the friends who
   found clothing for this poor man. You do well, my Sisters, who set
   yourselves to help to clothe the poor. God grant that all of them may
   not only be clothed, but also be led to sit at the feet of Jesus!

   36. 37. They also which saw it, told them by what means he that was
   possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the
   country of the Gadarenes round about besought Him to depart from them.
   Surely, this legion of demons must have had the same effect on them as
   on the poor man when Christ first came to him! These foolish people
   took up the same cry as the poor demoniac! "The whole multitude
   besought Him to depart from them." Christ sometimes hears this kind of
   prayer. There is many a man who has entreated that his conscience might
   not be troubled any more and it never has been troubled again. But what
   an awful prayer for any people to pray! "The whole multitude of the
   country of the Gadarenes round about besought Him to depart from them."

   37-39. For they were taken with great fear: and He went up into the
   ship, and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils were
   departed besought Him that he might be with Him: but Jesus sent him
   away, saying, Return to your own house, and show what great things God
   has done unto you. And he went his way, and published throughout the
   whole city what great things Jesus had done unto him. Sometimes, it is
   better to be spreading the good news of the Gospel than to be sitting
   at Jesus' feet. It is best when we can do both, but, sometimes, the
   practical duty of serving our fellow men must take the first place.
   Happy are they who give themselves to this work, telling to others what
   God has done for them!

   40-46. And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people
   gladly received Him: for they were all waiting for Him. And, behold,
   there came a man named Jarius, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and
   he fell down at Jesus ' feet, and besought Him that He would come into
   his house: for he had only one daughter, about twelve years of age, and
   she lay dying. But as He went the people thronged Him. And a woman
   having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living
   upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind Him and
   touched the hem of His garment: and immediately her issue of blood
   stopped. And Jesus said, Who touched Me? When all denied, Peter and
   they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng You and
   press You, and You say, Who touched Me? And Jesus said, Somebody has
   touched Me; for I perceive that power is gone out of Me. Here are we,
   tonight, dear Friends, a great crowd. And what multitudes of professed
   worshippers of God there are in many places! They seem to throng the
   Savior, but, ah, how few do really touch Him so as to derive healing
   power from Him! This humble, simple touch of faith is something above
   and beyond all the pressure of professed zeal and ardor! This touch
   Christ recognizes at once, but all the pressing and the squeezing of
   the crowd goes for nothing.

   47. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling,
   and falling down before Him, she declared unto Him before all the
   people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed
   immediately. Here is a second confessor. First, there was a man healed.
   Now, here is a woman healed. Both sexes may now hear from them what
   Christ can do. If they will not believe, oh, then their unbelief is
   sad, indeed!

   48, 49. AndHe said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: your faith
   has made you whole; go inpeace. While He yet spoke, there came one from
   the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Your daughter is
   dead; trouble not the Master. As if such a suppliant really did trouble
   Him! Still, if you have been praying long and your case appears to be
   hopeless, Despair will whisper, "Trouble not the Master." But Christ is
   never troubled by our prayers! It is our lack of prayer that troubles
   Him. Even after the worst has come to the worst, we shall never trouble
   Him if we continue our prayers. But if, on any account, we cease from
   them, then, indeed, is His heart grieved.

   50. But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, Fear not: only
   believe, and she shall be made whole. "If she is actually dead, she
   shall be raised to life again."

   51. And when He came into the house, He suffered no man to go in, save
   Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the
   maiden. For Christ does not make a parade of His miracles! He loves to
   do His work quietly and they that make a great noise must mind that
   they do not get put out when Christ is about to work a cure.

   52-55. And all wept, and bewailed her: but He said, Weep not, she is
   not dead, but sleeps. And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing that she
   was dead. And He put them all out, and took her by the hand, and
   called, saying, Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose
   straightway: and He commanded to give her meat. Young saints need
   feeding as soon as they are converted. The conversion may be by
   miracle, but they will need to be fed by ordinary means. Be ready, dear
   people of God, with your milk for those who are but newly born! "He
   commanded to give her meat."

   56. And her parents were astonished. But He charged them that they
   should tell no man what was done. For Jesus did not wish, at least at
   that time, to have the story of His miracles blazed abroad. Of Him the
   Prophet had long before written, "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor
   cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not
   break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench."
     __________________________________________________________________

"The Offense of the Cross"

   (No. 2594)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 30, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING IN THE
   YEAR 1856.

   "And I, brethren, ifI still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer
   persecution? Then is the offense of the Cross ceased." Galatians 5:11.

   THE religion of Jesus is the most peaceful, mild and benevolent
   religion which was ever promulgated. When we compare it with any set of
   dogmas invented by men, there is not one of them that can stand the
   least comparison with it for gentleness, mildness and love. As for the
   religion of Mohamed, it is the religion of the vulture--but the
   religion of Jesus is that of the dove--all is mercy, all is mild. It
   is, like its Founder, an embodiment of pure benevolence, Grace and
   truth.

   And yet, strange to say, gentle as the Gospel is, and inoffensive as
   its professors have always proved themselves to be, when they have
   acted rightly--not resisting evil, but submitting to it, whatever it
   might be--yet there has never been anything which has caused more
   disturbance in the world than the Christian religion! It is not a sword
   and yet it has brought war into the world. It is not a fire and yet it
   has consumed many old institutions--and has burned much that men
   thought would last forever. It is the Gospel of peace and yet it has
   parted the dearest friends and caused terrible feuds and confusions
   everywhere! Though in itself it is all gentleness, yet it seems as if
   the standard of the dove were the standard of battle and as if raising
   up the peaceful Cross had been the signal for war, like the blood-red
   fiery Cross which of old they passed through Scotland to summon the
   clans to battle! Strange, yet strangely true it is, that the Cross of
   Christ has always been an offense and that it has provoked the fiercest
   battles and the sternest strifes which men have ever had with their
   fellow men.

   In considering our text I shall, first, speak to you a little
   concerning what "the offense of the Cross"is. Secondly, as to how men
   show their offense against the Cross. Thirdly, I shall have a little to
   say to those who are offended at the Cross, to show them their folly.
   And, lastly, I shall conclude by an inference or two, for the special
   benefit of Christian ministers and the Church at large.

   I. Let us enquire, first, WHEREIN DOES "THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS"
   CONSIST?

   Our limits forbid any attempt to be elaborate and we commence by saying
   that "the offense of the Cross" lies, first, in the way in which it
   deals with all human wisdom. The philosopher puts his glasses to his
   eyes, looks at the Cross and then says, "I cannot see anything so very
   wonderful in it--even with these splendid glasses of mine, which can
   see more than that poor, humble peasant! I do not care about such a
   system of religion as that--any simpleton can understand the Cross." So
   he passes by and merely sneers at it.

   The man who loves controversy comes to the Gospel and finds that there
   is in it pure dogmatism. Such things are said to be true and sinners
   must believe them--or else be damned. "I shall not do so" he says. "I
   shall not yield implicit faith to the Gospel. I like disputing upon
   points of doctrine. I like to argue against them. I shall not listen to
   your preacher who says, 'This is the Truth of God, the whole Truth of
   God and nothing else but the Truth.' I will not hear the man who speaks
   thus authoritatively! I like men who will give me margin enough to
   doubt, who let me believe what I like and no more. I prefer to use my
   reason and common sense." When you come to talk with him about the
   religion which says, "Believe that or else be lost. Believe that or
   else be shut out of the pale of salvation," he turns on his heels and
   says,

   "I will not believe any such thing!" And when he asks what it is he is
   to believe, he professes himself to be wiser than the Word of God!
   "What?" he says, "believe in the Atonement? I can't--it is contrary to
   my common sense. Believe the Doctrine of Election? Why, it shocks my
   humanity! Believe in the total depravity of human nature and the
   impossibility of being saved without being born again? Why, I cannot
   receive such teaching for a single moment! It is contrary to all that
   the scholars have ever taught and different from what any philosopher
   ever would have invented! So I shall not receive it."

   And he turns away with an anathema against the Cross. He cannot bear it
   because of its great simplicity! If he could describe it as being so
   amazing that he could by no means make the common people comprehend
   it--and that it was only because of his gigantic intellect that he was
   able to understand it, himself--he would not mind accepting it! But as
   it is so plain and simple, he turns away from it in disgust. He cannot
   bear the Gospel of the Cross--it has not worldly wisdom enough in it
   for him--and he either does not know or he forgets that the knowledge
   of Christ Crucified is the most excellent of all the sciences, and that
   never is reason so glorified as when it humbly sits down under the
   shadow of the Cross!

   But there is something in the Cross of Christ which hurts men's pride
   even more than this! And that is, it is opposed to all their notions of
   human ability. The man who is relying for salvation on his own strength
   does not like the Doctrine of the Cross. If anyone preaches a gospel
   which tells the sinner that he has power to save himself--if he
   preaches a gospel which says that Christ, having died to put all men in
   a salvable condition, they have only to exercise the power they have
   and they will be able to deliver themselves--if a man thus preaches
   something which exalts the skill and strength of the creature--he will
   never offend his unregenerate hearers! But if he once begins to cast
   the sinner down in the dust and to teach what Christ Himself
   taught--"No man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw
   him"--and that, in the Scriptures, all men are declared to be "dead in
   trespasses and sins," then the proud sinner will turn away and say, "I
   am not going to be so insulted, to have all my powers leveled to the
   ground! Am I to be made into a mere machine, or into a piece of clay
   and to lie passive in the Potter's hands? I will not submit to such an
   indignity!" If the minister will give him a little to do, himself, and
   let him sacrifice a little to his own idol, he will drink down the
   false doctrine as the ox drinks down water! But since we tell him he is
   powerless, like the poor bleeding man when the Samaritan met him, he
   says, "I will have nothing to do with you!"

   And the Cross offends men, yet again, because it goes clean contrary to
   their ideas of human merit There is not a soul in all the world that,
   by nature, loves to be stripped of all merit. No, the last thing a man
   likes to part with is his righteousness. I have known poor sinners
   stand on Sinai's top until their knees knocked together, yet they have
   clung to their self-righteousness even there! I have known men stand
   where God's earthquakes were shaking the ground under their feet and
   the thunder and lightning were playing above their heads, yet they
   stillheld fast to their self-righteousness! It is a hard thing to get
   that away from men. You know how Bunyan says that when Great-Heart slew
   Giant Despair, the giant "had, as they say, as many lives as a cat."
   And I am sure that self-righteousness has many more lives than that--it
   is the hardest thing in the world to kill! You may cut the evil weed,
   self-righteousness, up, but when you think you have got to the last
   root of it, it will be shooting up again before you can sharpen your
   knife to cut it up once more! This evil thing is bred in man's nature.
   When you preach against it, see how men will roar at you--they cannot
   bear that teaching!

   I sometimes receive letters from persons who say, "We would not be
   surprised if all your congregation were to live in sin because you are
   always preaching against man's righteousness and inviting poor sinners
   to come to Christ by simple faith--and to be saved by Grace, alone." I
   daresay they would not be surprised if such a thing were to happen, but
   I would be surprised if my people, as a whole, lived in sin! I bless
   God that I have no cause to wonder about that matter, for a holier
   people you will not find this side of Heaven than those who receive
   into their hearts the Doctrine of Christ's Imputed Righteousness. This
   I will say of them, that Grace has worked good fruits in them, that
   they walk in the fear of the Lord, in love to one another and in the
   practice of uprightness and godliness. But men of the world cannot
   stand this teaching because it makes nothing of the merits of which
   they think so much! Tell men that they are a very good sort of
   folk--they love to hear that! Give people a good compliment of
   themselves and they will like to listen to you--but that self-conceit
   is the ruin of tens of thousands! I am sure it is only when we begin to
   say--

   "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my
   All-in-All"

   --that we are saved. But as long as we are content with ourselves in
   our natural sinful condition, there is not the slightest hope for us.
   So, you see, this is "the offense of the Cross," that we do not let men
   trust in their own merits!

   But there is another offense which is a very grievous one and the world
   has never forgiven the Cross that "offense" yet--it will not recognize
   any distinctions between mankind. The Cross makes moral and immoral
   persons go to Heaven by the same road! The Cross makes rich and poor
   enter Heaven by the same door! The Cross makes the philosopher and
   peasant walk on the same highway of holiness! The Cross procures the
   same crown for the poor creature with one talent that the man with 10
   talents shall receive. Therefore, the wise man says, "What? Am I to be
   saved by the same Cross which saves a man who does not know his
   letters?" Your fine lady asks, "Am I to be saved in the same fashion as
   my servant girl?" The gentleman says, "Am I to be saved the same way as
   that chimney-sweep?" And he who boasts of his self-righteousness cries,
   "What? Am I to jostle against a harlot, to elbow a drunk on the road to
   Heaven? Then, I will not go to Heaven at all." Then, Sir, you will be
   lost! There are no two roads to Heaven--it is the same road for
   everyone who goes there--and therefore, the Cross has always been
   offensive to men of mark and might. Few kings and queens have ever bent
   humbly before it. Men have covered up the Cross with some fine
   decorations and they have said that they loved it--but it was not the
   Cross they cared for--it was the gaudy ornaments! If it had been the
   simple Cross, they would have dragged it through the streets, as
   Mohamed's people did with the cross at Jerusalem.

   II. This brings me now to tell you, in the second place, HOW PERSONS
   SHOW THEIR OFFENSE AGAINST THE CROSS OF CHRIST.

   In olden times they did it by burning, torturing and tormenting
   Christians, making them suffer all kinds of indescribable agonies. But
   that method did not work, so the devil now adopts other measures. He
   found that the more he oppressed them, like Israel in Egypt, the more
   they multiplied--so now he acts in another fashion. How does he do it?
   Not exactly by open persecution, but "the offense of the Cross" shows
   itself, sometimes, by private persecution. You do not, all of you, hear
   of the persecution that is going on with regard to the Lord's people.
   Every now and then things of this sort come to my notice, though you
   may not know of them. How many drunk husbands there are who persecute
   their wives almost incessantly because they cleave fast to God? How
   many a young man, how many a young woman is there who is called to
   suffer persecution from father and mother and sister and brother, for
   Christ's sake? Persecution is not over--it works slyly and comes not
   out openly before the world. It comes not out into Smithfield, as it
   did of old, though there may be many a house in the neighborhood of
   Smithfield that reeks with it. It comes not out in an honest garb, but
   watches for its prey in a covert way. It is not the lion, but the
   prowling jackal, though it is as wild and as ravenous as ever.

   And when persecution does not display itself in positive acts, it
   operates by means of jeers and scoffs--by the shrug of the shoulder
   and, let me say, more men have been ruined by this practice than by the
   worse slanders! Men who shrug their shoulders generally do a deal of
   mischief, though they may not know it. When, sitting at table, I have
   mentioned a person's name and someone has shrugged his shoulders and
   said, "Oh"--the man's character was half gone! If the person had
   anything to say against the other, why could he not say it right out
   and not leave us in the dark to surmise all manner of iniquities?
   Another man will say, "I don't wish to persecute you. You can go to
   Chapel as often as you like." Yet there is, on his face, the cold sneer
   and on his lips, the cruel jest or slander! Every idle rumor is
   circulated and everything that can be invented against the minister of
   the Gospel and against Christian people--all still showing that there
   is now--as there was in the days of the Apostles, an "offense of the
   Cross."

   But I will tell you what is the favorite plan, nowadays. It is not to
   oppose the Cross, but to wind round the Cross and try to get the Cross
   to alter its shape a little. Men who hate the Doctrines of the Cross,
   say, "We, too, preach the Gospel." They alter it. They misshape it.
   They make it "another gospel, which is not another." Let others say, if
   they will, that yes and no can meet together, that fire and water can
   kiss each other, that Christ and Belial can be twins--the true minister
   of Jesus Christ cannot do that! Truth is Truth and whatever is the
   opposite of it cannot be truth. The Truth of God is one and that which
   opposes it must certainly be error and falsehood. But it is the fashion
   to try to blend the two things together. Look at very many of the
   churches--they say that they hold to the Truth of God. Look at their
   articles--they have all the five points of Calvinism. And if you ask
   the ministers whether they believe the Doctrine of
   Election--"Certainly," they reply. If you ask them whether they believe
   all the great cardinal Truths of the Gospel, they say, "Oh, yes,
   certainly we believe them! But we do not think they ought to be
   preached to the common people."

   Ah, Sirs! You have a fine notion of yourselves if you do not think that
   "the common people" are as good as you are and that they can receive
   the Doctrines of Grace as well as you can! "Oh, but those doctrines are
   dangerous! They drive the people to Antinomianism" They say this, but
   when we write to them, they reply, "Oh, we are as sound as you are!"
   Yes, but it is one thing to be sound, and another thing to preach sound
   Truth! I will never believe a man to be better than what he preaches.
   If a man does not proclaim "the Truth of God, the whole Truth of God,
   and nothing but the Truth," we like him none the better, but 10 times
   worse because he says that he believes it! We would rather he did not
   believe it at all than that he should conceal his real sentiments. Such
   men, who hide the Truth of God, prove that they are as much offended
   with the Cross as if they openly tried to refute its doctrines! God
   send us the day when the pure, unadulterated Doctrines of the Grace of
   God, which is in Christ Jesus, shall be proclaimed in every church and
   heard in every street and received by every professed Christian!

   III. Now I come, in the third place, TO SAY SOMETHING TO THOSE WHO ARE
   OFFENDED

   AT THE CROSS.

   First, let me say that it is very foolish of a man who does not believe
   the Gospel to oppose those who do. If a man does not, himself, love the
   Gospel, he should leave alone other people who do. You have often heard
   the old fable of the dog in the manger, but here is something
   worse--here is the dog outof the manger--he does not even lie on the
   hay, and yet he barks at those that come to feed upon it! He does not
   love the Gospel and because others do, he hates them! Why, surely, what
   you do not want yourselves, you might let other people have in
   quietness! You need not oppose them for carrying away what you count
   worthless rubbish! Why should you be so offended and endeavor to make a
   stand against the Truth of God, since you cannot, in your present
   condition, get anything out of it and may burn your fingers for your
   pains?

   Then, next, how foolish it is to be offended at the Cross, seeing that
   you cannot stop its progress! He who should place himself before
   Juggernaut's car to be crushed would be as wise as you who are opposing
   the Gospel. If it is true, remember, "The Truth of God is mighty and
   must prevail." Who are you to attempt to stand against it? You will be
   crushed, but let me tell you that when the car goes over you, the wheel
   will not be raised even an inch by your size! For what are you? A tiny
   gnat, a creeping worm which that wheel will crush to less than nothing
   and not leave you even a name as having been an opponent of the Gospel!
   There have been men who have stood up and said, "We will stop the
   chariot of Christ." Thousands have looked at them and have been afraid.
   Their trumpets have blown loud and long and some poor Christians have
   said, "Stand aside! Here comes a man who will stop the chariot of the
   Lord Jesus."

   At one time, it was Tom Paine. Then it was Robert Owen. But what became
   of them? Did the chariot stop for them? No, it went on just as if there
   had never been a Tom Paine or a Robert Owen on the earth! Let all the
   infidels in the world assuredly know that the Gospel will win its way,
   whatever they may do. Poor creatures! Their efforts to oppose it are
   not worthy of our notice and we need not fear that they can stop the
   Truth of God! As well might a gnat think to quench the sun! Go, tiny
   insect, and do it, if you can! You will only burn your wings and die.
   As well might a fly think it could drink the ocean dry. Drink the
   ocean, if you can--more likely you will sink in it and so it will drink
   you! You who despise and oppose the Gospel, what can you do? It comes
   on "conquering and to conquer." I always think that the more enemies
   the Gospel has, the more it will advance. As the old warrior said, "The
   more enemies there are, the more there are to be killed, the more there
   are to be taken prisoners and the more there are to run away." Double
   your hosts, you opposers! Come on against us with a still mightier
   power! Rage yet more loudly! Slander us yet more foully! Do what you
   can, victory is ours, for it is predestinated! The massive column of
   Divine Predestination stands firm and on its top there are the eagle
   wings betokening victory for every Believer and for the whole Church of
   Christ! God's Truth must and shall conquer, therefore, do you, foolish
   creature, hope to oppose the Gospel because it offends you? The Stone
   cut out without hands cannot be broken by you--but if it fall upon you,
   it will grind you to powder!

   But another thought, and I have done with this part of my subject. O
   man, if you hate the Gospel, let me solemnly say to you how doubly
   foolish you are to be offended with Christ, who is the only One who can
   save you! As well might the drowning man be offended with the rope
   which is cast to him and which is the only means of his escape! As well
   might the dying patient be offended with the cup of medicine which is
   put to his lips and which, alone, can save his body from death! As well
   might the man whose house is burning be offended with the fireman who
   roughly puts the fire escape ladder against his window--as that you
   should be offended with Christ! Offended with Him who would snatch you
   as "a brand from the burning"? Offended with Him who, alone, can quench
   for you the fire of Hell? Offended with Him whose blood, alone, can
   wash you white and give you a place with Him in Glory everlasting?
   Offended with Him? Then you are mad, indeed! Not Bedlam, itself, can
   produce a maniac more foolish than you are!

   Ah, you despisers, you shall wonder and perish! You are offended with
   the Gospel because it says that you have not any merit, but you have
   not any--then why are you offended? You are offended at the Gospel
   because it does not ask anything of you in order that you may be saved,
   yet if it did demand anything of you as a condition of your salvation,
   you would be lost! It is just the Gospel for you--it is made on
   purpose--it fits your condition! It is adapted to your case and yet you
   are offended with it? Oh, how can you be so foolish? Did you ever hear
   of a man who was offended with a coach that was carrying him because it
   had wheels? Why should you be offended with the Gospel chariot because
   it could not advance except on the wheels of Free Grace? What? You are
   offended with the Gospel because it lays you low? Don't you know that
   it is the very best place for you? The devil would have you very high
   if he could, but that would be only that he might ruin you!

   My dear Friends, I beseech you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
   Himself, think about why you are offended with the Gospel! I know it
   goes against your prejudices. When you first hear it, you do not love
   it, but, remember, it is your only hope of salvation. Are you offended
   with that which alone can save you? Offended with that which can put a
   crown on your head, a palm branch in your hand and give you bliss
   forever? Then, I think when you sink to Hell, you will look up to
   Heaven and say, "Ah, Christ! I was offended with You, but now I see
   that You are the only Savior. I hated Your name, of which it is
   written, 'At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.' I hated that
   Savior who was the only Savior to redeem sinners from sin."

   IV. Lastly, I am TO DRAW ONE OR TWO INFERENCES.

   The first is this, If the Cross of Christ is an offense and always was
   an offense, what is the reason why so many professed Christians go on
   so easily from January to December and never have any trouble about it?
   Old John Berridge said, "If you do not preach the Gospel, you may sleep
   soundly enough. But if you preach it faithfully, you will hardly have a
   sound place in your skin, for you will soon have enemies enough
   assailing you." How is it that we never hear of any slander against a
   great many ministers? Everything goes easily and comfortably with them.
   Nobody is ever offended with their preaching. People go out of their
   chapel doors and say, "What a nice sermon! It was just the thing for
   everybody, and nobody could be offended." They do not fully preach the
   Gospel, or they would be sure to offend some people! Suppose that
   somebody says to me, "Do you know that Mrs. So-and-So was fearfully
   offended with your last sermon?" That is no trouble to me if I know
   that I have preached the Truth of God! A celebrated preacher was once
   told that he had pleased all his hearers. "Ah," he said, "there is
   another sermon lost."

   The most effective sermons are those which make opposers of the Gospel
   bite their lips and gnash their teeth. "That preaching is worth
   little," Rowland Hill used to say, "that cannot make the devil roar. He
   preaches but very little of the Truth of God who does not set the old
   lion roaring against him." Depend upon it, Satan does not like the
   Gospel any better than he did--and the world does not like the Gospel
   any better than it did--and if there is not, nowadays, so much
   persecution and hatred as there used to be, it is because men do not
   proclaim the plain, simple Truth of God as their forefathers did!
   People go to hear nice velvet-tongued preachers. They like the minister
   to prophesy smooth things to them! "I won't go to hear Mr. So-and-So,"
   says one, "for he will be sure to offend me."

   Now what is the reason for this? It is because he preaches the whole
   Gospel, the pure Truth of God! But do men imagine that we wantto offend
   them? No, God knows the hard things we often say cause us more pain
   than they cause to our hearers. But it is a good thing when we care
   little for the opinion of men and when we have learned to live above
   the world. Once let ministers faithfully proclaim the plain, simple
   Gospel, and we shall soon hear the laughter, scorn and jeers. It was an
   ill day when the sons of God made affinity with the daughters of men.
   And it will be an ill day for the Church of Christ when the world
   speaks well of it and everybody commends it. The denomination that is
   most spoken against is usually the one where Christ most dwells! But
   the denomination that is flowing in plenty and dandled on the knees of
   honor is usually the most corrupt! Preach the Gospel boldly,
   steadfastly, steadily, strongly, out-and-out--and you will not be long
   without hearing something about "the offense of the Cross."

   My last remark is this. O my Brothers and Sisters, how many reasons we
   have to bless and extol our gracious God if the Cross of Christ is not
   an offense to us!I hope many here can unite with me in saying that
   there is nothing in the Bible that offends us and there is nothing in
   the Gospel that now offends us. If there is anything you do not
   understand, you do not hate it--if it seems dark and mysterious, you do
   not reject it, but you are willing to learn all you can about it. Ah,
   my God, if all I have ever preached is false, I stand prepared to
   disown it when You shall teach me better! If all I have ever learned is
   a mistake and I have not learned it from You, I will not be ashamed to
   recant it in that hour when You shall, Yourself, teach me and show me
   my error. We are not ashamed to bring ourselves wholly into the mold of
   Scripture, to take it just as it stands, to believe it and to receive
   it. And if you are in that state, mark you, you are saved, for no man
   can say that he accepts the Gospel wholly, loves it all, and receives
   it in his heart--and can yet be a stranger to it!

   I have heard preachers ignorantly talk about "natural" love to the
   Gospel--there cannot be such a thing! I heard someone say that there
   was a "natural" love to Christ--it is all rubbish! Nature cannot beget
   a love to Christ, nor love to anygood thing--that must come of God, for
   all love is from Him! There is nothing good in us by nature. Every
   conviction must, in some way or other, come from the Holy Spirit. Even
   if it is a temporary one, it must be traced to Him if it is good. Oh,
   let us adore, exalt and magnify the mighty Grace that has made us love
   the Gospel! For I am sure, with some of us, there was a time when we
   hated it as much as any people in all the world ever did. Old John
   Newton used to say, "You who are called Calvinists--though you are not
   merely Calvinists, but the old, legitimate successors of Christ--you
   ought, above all men, to be very gentle with your opponents, for,
   remember, according to your own principles, they cannot learn the Truth
   of God unless they are taught of God. And if you have been taught of
   God, you ought to bless His name--and if they have not, you should not
   be angry with them, but pray to God to give them a better education."
   Do not let us make any extra "offense of the Cross" by our own ill
   humor, but let us show our love to the Cross by loving and trying to
   bless those who have been offended with it.

   Ah, poor Sinner, what do you say? Are you offended with the Cross? No,
   you are not, for it is there that you wish to lose your sins. Do you
   desire this moment to come to Christ? You say, "I have no offense
   against Christ. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! I would come,
   even, to His seat." Well, if you want Christ, Christ wants you; if you
   desire Christ, Christ desires you! Yes, more! If you have one spark of
   desire after Christ, Christ has a whole burning mountain of desire
   after you. He loves you more than you can ever love Him! Rest assured
   that you are not first with God. If you are seeking Jesus, He has first
   sought you. Come, then, you destitute, weary, lost, helpless, ruined,
   chief of sinners! Come, put your trust in His blood and His perfect
   righteousness, and you will go on your way rejoicing in Christ, set
   free from sin, delivered from iniquity, rendered as safe, though not as
   happy, as the very angels that now sing high hosannas before the Throne
   of the Most High!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: GALATIANS1.

   Verse 1. Paul, an Apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
   Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead). Paul begins
   this Epistle by stating his commission as an Apostle. In Galatia he had
   been subjected to the great sorrow of having his Apostleship called in
   question. Does he, therefore, give up his claim to the office and
   retire from the work? No, not for a moment! He begins his letter to the
   Galatians by declaring himself to be "an Apostle, not of men, neither
   by man, but by Jesus Christ." His enemies had said, "Paul was never one
   of the Savior's 12 Apostles. He is not like those who were trained and
   educated by Christ, Himself. No doubt he has borrowed his doctrine from
   them and he is only a retailer of other men's goods." "No, no," says
   Paul, "I am an Apostle as truly as any other of the twelve! 'Not of
   men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who
   raised Him from the dead.'"

   2. And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of
   Galatia. Paul always loved to associate others with him in his
   Christian service. He was not one who wanted to ride the high horse and
   to keep himself aloof from his Brethren in Christ. He frequently
   mentions the true-hearted men who were with him, even though they were
   far inferior to him in talent and also in Grace. He often joins with
   himself such men as Timothy and Silvanus, and here he puts in, "all the
   brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia."

   3. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord
   Jesus Christ It is the genius of the Gospel to wish well to others.
   Hence Paul begins the actual Epistle with a benediction--"Grace be to
   you and peace." Dear Friends, may you all have a fullness of these two
   good things! Grace rightly comes first and peace afterwards. Peace
   before Grace would be perilous--no, more, it would be ruinous! But may
   you always have enough of Grace to lead you on to a deep and joyful
   peace! The two things go together very delightfully--Grace and
   peace--and it is the best of Grace, and the best of peace, since they
   come "from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ."

   4. Who gave Himself for our sins. There is the Doctrine of the
   Atonement which Paul always brings into his preaching and writing as
   soon as he can--"Who gave Himself for our sins." Well does Luther say,
   "Christ never gave Himself for our righteousness, but he gave Himself
   for our sins because there was no other way of saving us except by a
   Sacrifice for sin." The substitutionary Character of Christ's death is
   always to be noticed. "Who gave himself for our sins."

   4, 5. That He might deliver us from this present evil world, according
   to the will off God and our Father: to whom be glory forever and ever.
   Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself puts away our sin in order that we
   may rise out of it and may become a pure and holy people, delivered
   from this present evil world and brought into obedience to the will of
   God. Now we come to quite another topic.

   6. I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into
   the Grace off Christ, unto another Gospel. The Galatians were a very
   fickle people. Some have said that they were a colony from
   Gaul--Galatians--and that they partook somewhat of the fickleness which
   is attributed to the character of the Gaul. I know not how true that
   may be, but, certainly, they seem very soon to have left the Gospel--to
   have adulterated it and to have fallen into Ritualism-- into
   Sacramentarianism, into salvation by works, and all the errors into
   which people usually fall when they go away from the Gospel.

   7. Which is not another But there are some that trouble you, and would
   pervert the Gospel off Christ ' 'Another Gospel, which is not another,"
   for there are not two gospels, any more than there are two gods. There
   is one only message from God, of good news to men, and if you turn away
   from that, you turn away to a lie, to that which will bring you
   trouble, to that which will pervert you and lead you astray!

   8. But though we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other Gospel unto
   you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
   Paul is no fanatic, no raving enthusiast, yet he cannot endure the
   notion of a false Gospel! In his solemn anathema, he includes himself
   and all the Brothers with him, yes, and the very angels of God if they
   "preach any other Gospel." Let him be accursed, he says, and so he is.

   9. As we said before, so say I now again, Iff any man preach any other
   Gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. The
   modern style of speaking is, "Let us fraternize with him. He is a man
   of original thought. Surely, you would not bind all men down to one
   mode of speech. Perhaps if he has made mistakes, you will bring him
   round to your way of thinking by receiving him kindly into your
   fellowship." "No, no," says Paul, "As we said before, so say I now
   again, If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that you have
   received, let him be accursed."

   10. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
   iff I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant off Christ He would
   not be the servant of Christ if he pleased men. Those whom we try to
   please are our masters! If a man tries to please the populace, or to
   please the refined few, those are his masters and he will be their
   slave. But if he tries to please his God, then is he a free man,
   indeed!

   11. 12. But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which waspreached
   offme is not affterman. For I neither received it off man, neither was
   I taught it, but by the revelation off Jesus Christ Paul foresaw what
   would be said about him later and truly, to this day, the fiercest
   attack upon Christianity is always made upon the teaching of the
   Apostle Paul. The men who creep in unawares among us talk glibly about
   having great reverence for Christ, but none for Paul. Yet Paul is
   Christ's Apostle! Paul speaks only what was personally revealed to Him
   by the Lord, Himself, and he is, in everything, to be accepted as
   speaking by Divine Revelation.

   13, 14. For you have heard off my conversation in time past in the
   Jews' religion, how that beyond measure, I persecuted the Church off
   God, and wasted it: and profited in the Jews' religion above many my
   equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the
   traditions of my fathers. He was an out-and-out Jew. He never took up
   anything without going through with it thoroughly. So, while he
   believed in Judaism, he really did believe it. He was no hypocrite, no
   pretender--he fought for it tooth and nail! This was the man who
   afterwards preached the Christianity he had received from Christ!
   Evidently he did not borrow it from his parents, for they had taught
   him quite differently. His religion was not the product of his
   training, but it came to him from God--to him who seemed to be the most
   unlikely person in the whole land to ever receive it!

   15, 16. But when itpleased God, who separatedme from mymother's womb,
   and calledme by His Grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
   Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and
   blood. He felt Divinely called to preach the Gospel. Christ revealed
   Himself to him on the way to Damascus. As soon as he was converted, he
   did not wait for anybody to ordain him, or to teach him further, but he
   says, "I conferred not with flesh and blood."

   17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before
   me, but went into Arabia. What he did there, we do not know, but
   probably he had a time of quiet meditation and prayer, all alone. "I
   went into Arabia." The best thing we can do, sometimes, is to get away
   from the voices of men and listen only to the voice of God. "I went
   into Arabia."

   17. And returned again unto Damascus. To bear witness for Christ in the
   very city where he had gone to persecute the saints!

   18. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and
   abode with him fifteen days. That is, "after three years," which showed
   that he did not go there to receive any commission from Peter. He had
   been, for three years, working for his Lord and Master before he ever
   saw the face of an Apostle!

   19. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's
   brother. He had an interview with the Apostle James. James was probably
   the chief minister of the Church at Jerusalem, so Paul went and had a
   conversation with him.

   20. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie
   not ' 'I did not derive my knowledge of Christ from any one of these
   holy men, therefore I am not an imitator of any other Apostle. I was
   sent out by Christ, Himself, and instructed by Him by Revelation, so I
   am an Apostle of Christ as much as any of them."

   21. 22. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was
   unknown by face unto the Churches of Judea which were in Christ They
   did not know him. It is evident that he had not been there to be taught
   by them, or else they would have recognized their illustrious pupil.

   23, 24. But they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times
   past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified
   God in me. Brothers and Sisters, may you and I so live that Christian
   people may glorify God in us! May they often wonder at the mighty Grace
   which has worked such a change in us! And as they see us zealous and
   fervent, may they marvel at the amazing Grace of God which has brought
   us to be so consecrated to Christ!
     __________________________________________________________________

What the Lord's Supper Sees and Says

   (No. 2595)

   A SERMON

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
   1, 1883.

   "For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show
   the Lord's death till He comes." 1 Corinthians 11:26.

   THERE is something very tender about the Supper which Christ has
   instituted, for it very specially concerns Himself. Other things set
   forth the Truths of God which He taught, or the blessings which He
   purchased, or the duties which He enjoined, but this Supper has mainly
   to do with our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. True, as we think and speak
   of it, we shall learn precious doctrine and we shall be incited to
   gracious practice, but the central thought at this Table is concerning
   our Lord, Himself, and that part of Himself which it is most easy for
   us to realize--His flesh, with which He touches us so tenderly, making
   Himself bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. His blood, which makes
   Him so near akin to us--

   "In ties of blood with sinners one."

   It is very blessed not only to be reminded of Christ, but of that part
   of Christ to which we can most readily come. His Godhead is beyond us,
   but His Manhood is near to us, and I think that the tenderness of this
   Supper is greatly increased by the fact that it celebrates our Lord's
   death. If anything concerning our departed friends specially touches
   our heart, it is their death. How lovingly we remember their last
   moments! Their final utterance sounds to us like the language of
   Prophets--words that were commonplace, before, become golden when
   spoken to us by loved ones as they leave us. The tears come readily
   enough to the eyes and the heart beats faster than usual when we begin
   to remember our well-beloved friends--and to remember them in the
   solemn moment of their death. At this Supper we shall not forget that
   our blessed Master is exalted and sits at the right hand of God. And we
   shall also, there, be forcibly reminded that He is coming a second time
   in the clouds of Heaven with all the pomp and glory of His Father's
   court! Yet, the main intent of our gathering around this Table is to
   show forth His death. That is the principal point and, therefore,
   Beloved, collect all your thoughts into one thought, all your
   contemplations into one contemplation and lay the whole at the foot of
   the Cross as you "eat this bread, and drink this cup."

   To me, it is an exceedingly tender recollection that you and I should
   be called upon to keep up this memorial as if our Lord gave us this
   Supper with the commission that each one of us should see to it that
   His memory was always green--I was about to say, to keep His grave in
   order. But it is not so, He is not here, for He is risen! But, at least
   we are to keep the letters upon this monument always deeply carved and
   legible, showing forth His death that everyone who passes by-- that
   everyone who rambles into the cemetery where men have slept and pauses
   at this open tomb, and asks who once slept here--may know from us that
   it was Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and the Son of Man, our dear
   and ever-to-be-adored Savior, who died, was buried and rose again the
   third day, according to the Scriptures!

   You see, then, that this Supper concerns our Lord Jesus and it
   especially concerns His death. And you have to attend to this ordinance
   and so to freshen up the memorials of the departed One. Do you not
   think that it will help you to do it if you remember that He has not
   gone far away? Before I rose to speak to you, I thought within myself
   that I could hear His footsteps upon this platform--and I opened my
   eyes after my Brother's prayer almost expecting to see the Master here!
   He is not here in that sense, though, if I said that He is here, who
   would dare to contradict me? He has so gone away as to be still present
   and He is still present so as to be absent! Make what you can of that
   riddle--many of you understand the blessed paradox! We have not lost
   our Lord's spiritual Presence, but we are looking for His bodily
   Presence and, I think, He is already so near that if He were suddenly
   to appear in our midst, it would be no surprise to us and we would all
   clap our hands, and say, "Welcome, You long-expected One! We knew that
   You would come and we felt the influence of Your Presence--the coming
   event had cast its brightness upon us! We knew that You were on the
   way, for our hearts burned within us and we felt You coming nearer and
   the days of Your Glory dawning!"

   Very well, then, bearing all this in mind, we have now to consider what
   the Apostle said about this Supper and, first, I shall ask you to think
   of the backward look of this ordinance--"You do show the Lord's death."
   Secondly, I shall ask you to listen to the present voice of this
   ordinance, to try to hear what it now whispers in our ears. And then,
   thirdly, I shall speak of the prophetic glance of this ordinance, s
   ince the text tells us that in it we "do show the Lord's death till He
   comes." So there is, in the ordinance, a glimpse at Christ's coming
   Glory, a gleam of that long-expected light!

   I. First, then, let us think of THE BACKWARD LOOK OF THIS ORDINANCE.

   It was intended to be the memorial of the great event of Christ's
   life--and I think you will all agree with me that it is a most
   effectual memorial. I t has been said, by men well competent to judge,
   that there is no better memorial of an event than the celebration of
   some such festival as this. If you write the record of it in a book,
   the book may be placed upon a shelf and, perhaps, remain unread. Or it
   may be completely destroyed so that not a copy of it remains. If you
   set up a stone or bronze pillar and engrave upon it some words by way
   of memorial, that pillar may be turned to some other use and the
   original intention of its erection may be wholly forgotten. I have seen
   marble columns, recording Roman triumphs, built into the houses of
   Italian peasants--and you may have seen the same. Painted windows are
   broken and even solid brass wears away. How can you keep a thing upon
   the tablets of man's memory? Here is a nine days' wonder--will it last
   for nine centuries even in old worm-eaten books, or engrossed on
   parchment? Will not the Record Office be invaded by rats? Has it not
   often happened so and the best preserved documents have perished? But
   institute a Supper like this, so that wherever the followers of Christ
   meet together, a piece of bread and a little wine may suffice them to
   show forth Christ's death and you have instituted a memorial which will
   outlast your granite and laugh to scorn memorials of brass! Speak of
   imperishable marble? Here you have something far more enduring and now,
   for nearly 19 centuries has the Church of God kept alive the memory of
   Christ's death by this sacred feast. In the wisdom of Christ it was
   given to us--let us not grow so wise , or rather so foolish --as to
   neglect it!

   In looking back from this ordinance, we see it to be not only a most
   effectual memorial, but also a most instructive symbol. Of what does
   this Supper consist? Simply of bread and wine. The bread must be broken
   and what better emblem of suffering can you have than that? The bread,
   itself, if rightly viewed, appears to be a mass of suffering. The seed
   is cast into the ground which has been cut up by the sharp plow. It
   lies buried for a while in the cold soil. When it rises, it has to
   endure, first, the frost and all the trials of the wintry weather, and
   then the heat of summer. And when it ripens, it is cut down with a
   sharp sickle. The sheaves press upon one another--they are thrown upon
   the barn floor and the precious grain is threshed out by severe
   beating. Next, it must be taken to the mill, to be crushed between
   great stones. And when it is utterly bruised into fine flour, it must
   be kneaded and made into dough. Then it must be baked in the oven and
   it has not finished its long process of suffering till, at last, it is
   laid upon the table and broken in pieces, and then further broken with
   the teeth in order to enter into men and become their nourishment. So
   you see that the broken bread is an admirable emblem of that precious
   body of our Lord Jesus Christ into which all sorts of griefs were
   condensed till the "Man of Sorrows" was utterly consumed by them.

   And look, too, at the wine in the cup. Does not that also indicate pain
   and suffering? Have you ever seen the vine-- especially in the
   wine-producing countries--how it is cut down, till, in the winter, it
   seems to be nothing but an old dead stump? How sharply do they prune it
   and cut it back if it is a good vine! And when, at last, it bears its
   clusters, the grapes are gathered and thrown into the winepress and
   crushed beneath the trampling feet of the laborers. And the
   freely-flowing juice of the grape is the picture of Christ's
   Sacrifice--the yielding up of His life--the pouring out of the precious
   blood of Jesus!

   Now take the two emblems separately. You cannot make the Lord's Supper
   with the two joined together. You must have them both, but you must
   have them apart, for, when the blood is separated from the flesh, then
   death ensues. So, on the Table, you have not only two tokens of intense
   suffering, but you have in the two, separate from each other, a most
   marked and instructive symbol of death. This is just what the Lord
   intended that it should be. And when we come here, we can hardly keep
   from remembering His death, for it is so clearly set forth before us! I
   do not know what the Roman "mass" sets forth, with all its mummery and
   mockery--what that can have to do with Christ, I cannot tell! But here
   you have, as Christ instituted the ordinance, a fair token and symbol
   of His broken body and of His shed blood and, therefore, of His death.

   You also have, in this Supper, something more than this, and that is, a
   most pleasing and happy exhibition of the result of that death. Our
   Divine Master died. "Woe, woe," we cry, "that Heaven's Darling should
   lie dead in the tomb!" Yes, but look what comes out of His death! Men
   are now called to feast with God! Our Lord Jesus, by His death, has
   provided this sacred viand upon which hungry souls may feed to the
   fullest and they are invited to come and take of that which is
   provided--the good cheer of Heaven, the bread that strengthens man's
   heart and that wine which safely makes glad his spirit. Yes, man is no
   longer an outcast. No longer does he wish for the swine's husks to fill
   his belly, even if they cannot satisfy it, but he sits at the Table and
   a feast of fat things is prepared for him--necessities and
   dainties--bread and wine provided for him in Christ! And that is
   plainly set forth to all who care to see it in this Supper. Nor is this
   all.

   There is, in this supper, a personal and yet united confession and
   testimony to Christ. It might have seemed difficult to blend these two,
   for religion is a personal matter. If Christ is to save me, I must
   personally feed upon Him, and yet, religion is also a social matter. If
   Christ is to save me, it must be in connection with the whole of His
   Church which He has redeemed with His most precious blood. Now here, at
   the Table, eating is an individual act--no man can eat or drink for his
   fellow men and thus, each man sets forth that he does, from his own
   heart, of his own accord, by his own faith, receive Christ to be his
   Savior. Yet inasmuch as no one man, alone, can celebrate the Lord's
   Supper, but there must be two or three at the least, so the great fact
   is set forth that we are not saved alone, but saved as members of one
   body-- the Church of God which He has redeemed at so great a cost!

   See, then, how the unit is lost in the mass. No, not lost--it is still
   there and yet it is no longer separate--and this Supper sets forth all
   that. Come, therefore, Beloved, to this ordinance which has such
   richness of meaning in it that the few words I have spoken do but touch
   the surface of the subject! Come, I say, and think of your Beloved. He
   has died-- He has died for you! That dear body of His, black and blue
   with the cruel stripes, and crimson with its own blood--that life
   poured forth, though it was for all His people, yet was especially for
   you, my Brother--for you, my Sister! You did not see Christ die, but if
   your faith is in a right condition, you may see Him die, as it were,
   emblematically. You may see His death vividly set forth, after a
   striking fashion, in those emblems on the Table. God give you Grace to
   see it and, in response, to love Him more who died on Calvary for you!
   Oh, if you had seen Him die, the horror of that scene would have
   overcome you and, instead of sweet thoughts of devotion, as you fancy
   might be the case, you would probably have been overwhelmed with
   terror!

   But now, as through a glass, in the emblems of the body and the blood
   of Christ, you may see Him under a softer light. The horror may not
   oppress you, but you may sit in that pew and see Him who died for
   you--see Him with a holy joy that He could have loved you and given
   Himself for you! It is you who are to think of Him. It is you who are
   to discern the Lord's body. It is you who are to eat and drink
   worthily, with all your heart, setting forth Christ's death. It is you
   who are to represent Him--you, with all your Brothers and Sisters, but
   you, none the less, as truly as if you were alone. "As often as you eat
   this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death"

   That is the backward look of this ordinance--may God's Spirit enable
   you to give that look at this moment!

   II. And now, dear Friends, secondly and briefly, bow your ear a little
   and listen to THE PRESENT VOICE OF THIS ORDINANCE TO YOU. What does it
   say at this hour?

   It says to me--and my heart shall hear it--that Christ's death must
   still be kept to the front. I am to "show the Lord's death till He
   comes." Whatever I forget, I am to remember that. And this Supper is
   instituted on purpose that I may do so. O my Heart, you must keep a
   dying Christ always before you! Christ to the front for myself! Christ
   to the front in my teaching! Christ to the front in all my prayers!
   Christ to the front everywhere! O Memory, leave no other name but His
   recorded on my heart! Whatever else may come or may go, my Heart, you
   are told that you must still remember His death and keep it right in
   the forefront of everything!

   But over the table I hear a whisper come, "You still need this
   memorial. " We are not only to remember Christ, we are to, "do this,"
   in remembrance of Him. This ordinance is intended to help our memory.
   Is it possible that we can forget our Lord's death? Ah, if it had not
   been possible and probable, that we should forget it, there would have
   been no need of this Supper! It is ordained because we are naturally
   forgetful, we are ungracious enough to let even the best things slip.
   We forget not our earthly beloved ones who have been taken from us--the
   dear infant child has its name inscribed on the tablets of its mother's
   heart, the husband has not forgotten his wife--but yet we grow
   unmindful of our Lord, and hence He left us this sweet forget-me-not.
   He says to us, as it were, "No, My beloved, I will not let you forget
   Me. I will give you something that shall frequently remind you of Me.
   Come often to My Table and there constantly think of Me afresh and
   anew."

   What else does this ordinance say? It says, "In this Supper I have
   fellowship with the centuries that have gone before and with those
   which will follow." When our Lord said to His first disciples, "This do
   in remembrance of Me," He really gave that command to each one of us
   who believe in Him. But He also gave it to all the saints who have gone
   before us and to all who will come after us. Does it not charm you to
   think that you are eating as Paul did, and as James and John did--that
   you are in the fellowship of the martyrs and confessors, the Fathers
   and the Reformers, and that we, in this ordinance, enter into the great
   cloud of witnesses and take our part with them? I look upon this
   Supper--which some seem to regard as an unimportant ceremony--as a
   thing most august and sacred, seeing how many hands have combined to
   break this bread and how many lips have partaken of this cup. So will
   it be in the future when you and I sleep with our fathers. If Christ
   shall not come for a long, long while, this ordinance will still be
   observed by the faithful. If His coming should be delayed for 10,000
   years--which God forbid! --yet still this Supper table would be spread
   and loving hearts would gather around it to keep this memorial alive on
   the earth "till He comes." Do you see what this communion really is? It
   is a bridge of diamonds! It springs from our Lord's death with one
   grand arch and it spans the intervening space "till He comes." Blessed
   are they that are treading that glorious bridge and marching on, washed
   in the blood of His death, till they shall wear the white robes of His
   victory in the day of His appearing!

   I think I hear another voice coming out of the depth of the cup. It
   says, "He will come. He will come. " And, oh, blessed assurance, He
   must keep His promise! This Supper is His pledge and it would be a
   cruel mockery of us if He never came. He must come! My Brothers and
   Sisters, it is nearly 19 centuries since Jesus said to His disciples,
   "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
   have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
   a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that
   where I am, there you may be also." And He will come! Do not grow weary
   or, if you do faint with the long watching and waiting, do not grow
   doubtful. He will come! Your fathers thought that He would come in
   their time. Some of them fancied themselves very wise and tried to
   interpret the prophecies which never will be explained until they are
   fulfilled--and they lost themselves in endless mazes of conjecture. Do
   not so, but, still, do not fling away your faith because you cast aside
   your speculation! Believe and hope, and patiently wait, and look, each
   day, for the returning Christ, for He may come before tomorrow's clock
   strikes at noon! He may come before the midnight hour shall fall upon
   the hush of this great city. Before the word I am speaking shall leave
   these lips and reach your ears, He may appear, for, "of that day and
   that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in Heaven." But it
   is ours to stand watching, waiting and hoping, for this Supper tells us
   that He will surely come again!

   One more message comes to me from this broken bread and that is, that
   it is His first coming that makes us ready for the second. Is it not
   so? "You do show the Lord's death till He comes." You keep before your
   mind's eye the fact that He came once to die in order that you may feel
   joy in the fact that He is coming again, not to die, but to reign
   forever and ever! I think I hear the countless trumpets and see the
   dead rising, and behold the King attended by ten thousand times ten
   thousand kings! Kings, did I call them? They seem to me like stars! No,
   like suns, for "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
   Kingdom of their Father." Their Lord has come and His saints are
   gathered around Him. Caught up into the clouds, the living ones are
   with Him and the dead have risen and joined them! Oh, the splendor of
   that tremendous day! Though we know not when that day shall be, we know
   that He will come--the angels gave the promise to the men of
   Galilee--and it shall be fulfilled. "This same Jesus, which is taken up
   from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him
   go into Heaven." In the clouds of Heaven, with great pomp, will He
   appear and, as we come to this Communion Table, we must think of that
   glorious appearing of our Lord!

   III. Now, lastly, I have to speak about THE PROPHETIC GLANCE OF THIS
   ORDINANCE. I have partly referred to that, already, for one thought in
   our text blends with another.

   The prophetic glance reveals to us the fact that Christ will come
   again. We are to celebrate this Supper "till He comes." Then, He
   wilcome! Fall not asleep, you virgins, for at midnight the cry shall be
   heard, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes." O you who serve Him, begin not
   to mistreat your fellow servants and to be drunk, for He will come and

   He may soon be here! By this Supper are we assured that He will come.
   "But," perhaps you say, "His saints have waited for Him nearly 2,000
   years." What is that? Two thousand years? Think of those who waited
   4,000 years before Christ came here to die! Now, I reckon that to wait
   2,000 years for our Lord's Second Advent is a trifle compared with
   waiting 4,000 years for His First Advent, for, you see, on that first
   coming depended the salvation of all His people! The ancients might
   well ask, "Will He come to die?" O my Brothers and Sisters, if Abraham
   and the Patriarchs and the Prophets had been dubious about His coming
   to bleed and die, I should not so much have wondered! Four thousand
   years passed and yet He had not come--might not each man have put his
   hands upon his loins for fear that he would not come--that there would
   be no redemption--no pouring out of the great price by which men should
   be set free? Four thousand years to wait for that! Why, now, if we have
   to wait 40,000 years for His Second Advent, it need not be such an
   anxious time of waiting because we may expect Him to come in His
   Glory--we may expect Him to come to be admired in all them that
   believe! We may expect Him to come to reign forever and ever! We may be
   sure that He who slew the dragon will come to divide the spoil! He that
   routed Death and Hell will come to lead captivity captive and to reign
   forever and ever, King of kings and Lord of lords! You are not waiting
   in the night, for the Day-Star has risen. You are not waiting in the
   thick darkness--the Dawn has broken upon you. Christ has appeared once!
   You are redeemed by His blood, you are children of the living God!
   Patiently wait, then, for He will most surely come, and every hour
   brings Him nearer.

   What does this ordinance further say to me? Why, surely, that Christ's
   coming will be better than ordinances. If, when He comes, there will be
   no more Lord's Suppers as we observe them now, and if it is, as it
   certainly is, a rule of the Kingdom to always go from good to
   better--and from better to best, as God never brings forth the best
   wine, first, and afterwards that which is worse, but it is always
   something better, and better, and better--then what must Christ's
   coming be? Brothers and Sisters, communion with Christ in the
   ordinances is very, very sweet! Oh, sometimes, we have had such
   pleasure, such delight, such rapture at the Table of our Lord, that we
   could hardly have endured any more!

   At such times I have sympathized, a little, with Peter when he wished
   to build three tabernacles and to remain on the Mount of
   Transfiguration! It is very easy to get up to a great height, but,
   alas, we soon get down again. I wish that we could always do, in
   spiritual things, what I have done, today, by God's Grace, in temporal
   things. I am so lame and it was so great a pain for me to get up here,
   this morning, that I said, "God willing, if I once get up to my
   platform and preach, I will not go down, again, till I have preached
   the evening sermon." So I have remained upstairs all day. When I was
   once up, I stayed up! Now mind you, do that in spiritual things! You
   know, if you go down, you lame folk, you may not be able to get up,
   again, so stay up when you are up, and try to continue enjoying the
   Presence of your Lord and Master.

   But, if Lord's Suppers and communion with Christ in outward ordinances
   are so sweet and we are to go on to something even better when the
   Lord, Himself, comes, then what excessive delight it will be! Oh, to
   catch a glimpse of Him! If the feet of His servants upon the mountains
   are beautiful, what must His own dear face be when He shall be down in
   the valleys among us? Oh, if the sound of His Gospel is as silver
   bells, what shall be the utterances of His own dear lips when His words
   shall be as lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh? Ah, me, there is
   something coming for you, Believer, of which you know but little as
   yet! Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into your
   heart to know them--yet God has revealed them to you by His Spirit. You
   know them, to some extent, but not wholly as yet, for here we see in
   part and understand only in part, but there we shall know even as we
   are known. Be of good comfort, Brothers and Sisters--get all the
   sweetness you can out of this Supper while it lasts, but do not forget
   that there is something better than this yet to be revealed. This
   ordinance is only like a candle, or a little star--when Christ comes,
   you will not need it, for He is the Sun!

   Further, does not this Supper, as it looks into the future, tell us
   that the time is coming when we shall be rid of all infirmities? What
   is the need of this Supper, but that we have such weak, frail memories?
   When it shall be taken away, it will be a token that we have good
   memories--memories that will miss nothing, but will hold by that which
   is good and blessed forever and forever! When this Communion is no
   longer to be observed, it will be a happy sign that we have come to our
   perfection!

   Here I will close, but I seem, in closing, as if I said to you, "This
   is a kind of preface." In my old Puritan books, I often find a preface
   written by some other hand to introduce the author's writing. Well,
   this is my preface to introduce you to this marvelous book--the
   Communion, the Feast of Love, the Lord's Supper. There is no teaching
   anywhere like it! I have been in the habit of coming to the Lord's
   Table every first day of the week now for many years--I have never
   omitted it except when I have been too ill to move. Has it lost its
   freshness? Oh, dear, no! It is always a standing sermon containing more
   teaching than volumes of men's sermons. I do not know how they get on
   who have the communion only once a quarter or once a year. Paul said,
   "As often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup." He should have
   said, "as seldom as you drink it," according to the habit of some!
   There is no law about the frequency of its observance, except the sweet
   Law of Love which seems to say, "If this is a window where Christ looks
   out, then let me often approach it. If this is a door through which He
   comes to my heart, then let me stand often at this door."
   "Often"--frequently--I think that at least once in the week it is well
   for us to come to the Table of our Lord.

   But there are some of you who have never come to this Table. If you are
   not God's people, do not come--it would do you no good--it would rather
   do you harm to partake of these emblems. If you are not believers in
   the Lord Jesus Christ, do not come to His Table--you would be
   hypocrites or intruders. But if you are sincere believers in Christ,
   how can you stay away? "This do," He says, "in remembrance of Me."
   Suppose your Lord were to come and you had never done as He bade you?
   What would you say to Him? "It is such a simple matter," you say. Yes,
   in some senses it is. Therefore, attend to it! If it were a matter in
   which your soul was concerned, so that you could not be saved without
   it, you say that you would attend to it. Would you? What wretched
   selfishness that would be! Is this all that you are to live for-- that
   you may be saved? Are you really worth saving, such a miserable
   creature as you are? You seem to me to be too poor a thing to be worth
   redeeming. If you are what you should be, you are believing in Christ
   and you are saved--and now you say, "What can I do to show my gratitude
   to Him who has redeemed me?" Your heart expands, your spirit is
   enlarged and if there is anything, little or great, which Christ
   commands as a proof of love to Him, you are delighted to do it! Do you
   not sometimes wish that He would give you something very difficult to
   do--some difficult enterprise? Have you never envied the men that died,
   burning at the stake, for Him? Oh, it must have been grand to have thus
   proved one's love to Him! But He says, "If you love Me, keep My
   Commandments"--and this is one of His Commandments, "This do in
   remembrance of Me."

   Now come, dear Friends, to this Communion Table, seeking your Lord and
   Master, and may you find Him and your hearts be made glad! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW26:17-30; 1 CORINTHIANS11:20-34.

   Matthew 26:17-19. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread
   the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where will You that we
   prepare for You to eat the Passover? And He said, Go into the city to
   such a man, and say unto him, The Master says, My time is at hand; I
   will keep the Passover at your house with My discip1es. And the
   disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the
   Passover Note their prompt obedience--"the disciples did as Jesus had
   appointed them." In this respect, they set an example we shall do well
   to follow.

   20. Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. This was
   the memorable night when the Jewish Passover was to melt into the
   Lord's Supper, just as the stars of the morning dissolve into the
   daylight.

   21. And as they did eat, He said, Verily Isay unto you, that one ofyou
   shall betray Me. This saying of our Lord must have startled His
   disciples! They had all made great professions of affection for Him
   and, for the most part, those professions were true. But this sentence
   must have fallen like a bombshell among them! "One of you shall betray
   Me."

   22. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and began, every one of them,
   to say unto Him, Lord, is it? They did not doubt their Lord's
   declaration. They knew it must be true--and it produced in them deep
   emotion--"They were exceedingly sorrowful." It also worked in them
   earnest self-examination. They did not, any one of them, say, "Lord, is
   it Judas? " Perhaps there was not one of them who could have thought so
   badly of Judas as to suppose that he would betray his Lord. They had
   such esteem for him that they had made him their treasurer. It is
   always wise for us to turn the glass of critical examination upon
   ourselves--we cannot do any good by suspecting our brethren. Suspicion
   stings like an adder, but we may do ourselves great service by
   suspecting and examining ourselves. Self-suspicion is near akin to
   humility and truthfulness--it was so with all but one of these
   disciples who began to say to Christ, "Lord, is it I?"

   23, 24. And He answered and said, He that dips his hand with Me in the
   dish, the same shall betray Me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of
   Him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had
   been good for that man if he had not been born. So, you see, dear
   Friends, that a man may get very near to Christ--yes, he may even dip
   his morsel in the same dish with his Lord, and yet he may betray Him,
   even as Judas did. We may be very high in office. We may apparently be
   very useful--I have no doubt that Judas was exceedingly useful to the
   12 and to the Master--and yet, for all that, we may betray Him! God
   grant that we never may! Far better that we perished at our birth than
   that we should live to be traitors to our Lord!

   25. Then Judas, which betrayed Him, answered and said, Master, is it I?
   He said unto him, You have said. And if he had not been a hopeless
   reprobate, this unmasking of Judas ought to have driven him to
   repentance. A man may secretly indulge in his heart a wretched design
   and, when discovered, he may loathe it. But, alas, there was nothing in
   Judas which could respond to the Grace of God.

   26-28. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and
   broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My
   body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them,
   saying, Drink you all of it; for this is My blood of the new testament,
   which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Go into any Romish
   church and watch the priest's performance at the altar, and see whether
   there is the least likeness between that mummery and this
   Divinely-appointed ordinance! I can hardly imagine two things which are
   so widely apart! How did the Lord's Supper ever grow into the "mass"?
   It must have taken long years of moss and ivy and lichen and all kinds
   of clinging things to overgrow the original, natural column which the
   Savior set up and to turn it into that mingle-mangle of which the
   Romanists and Ritualists think so much! The only safe rule is to keep
   close to Scripture in everything, for, if you add a little, somebody
   will add more--and if you alter one thing, the next person will alter
   another and, by-and-by, you will not know what the original was! I have
   seen a peasant, in Italy, wearing a coat of which I believe neither man
   nor angel could tell which was the material of which it was originally
   made, for it had been patched so often. And, in like manner, if we did
   not know what was the original of the "mass," it would be impossible
   for us, now, to tell, for it has been so patched and mended that it is
   not at all like the original! Let us, Beloved, keep strictly to the
   letter of God's Word and also to the spirit of it, lest we err from the
   Truth of God as so many others have done.

   29, 30. But I say unto you, 1 will not drink henceforth of this fruit
   of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's
   Kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of
   Olives. Was it not brave of our dear Lord to join in singing a hymn at
   such a time as that and under such circumstances? He knew that He was
   very soon to die--He was going out to His last dread conflict--yet He
   went to it singing a Psalm! It was to His Passion that He was going--to
   Gethsemane's agony and bloody sweat. Yet He led the way there with a
   sacred song upon His lips. "And when they had sung a hymn, they went
   out into the Mount of Olives." Now let us turn to Paul's first Epistle
   to the Corinthians, at the 11th Chapter. We shall there see how this
   Supper of the Lord had been changed, even in the few years since the
   death of the Master.

   1 Corinthians 11:20, 21. When you come together therefore into one
   place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper For in eating, everyone
   takes before others his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is
   drunk. They seem to have brought their own provisions to the assembly
   and to have made a feast, thereof, and they even thought that was an
   observance of the Lord's Supper! They differed in social position and,
   consequently, one had little and another much, and some even went to
   excess so that they were actually "drunk." Paul might well rebuke such
   unseemly conduct!

   22. What? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in! Or despise you
   the Church of God? "Do you think that, as a nominally Christian
   assembly, you are constituted merely that you may eat and drink? 'What?
   Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise you the Church
   of God?'"

   22. And shame them that have not? ' 'Making the poor who come to the
   gathering feel their poverty by observing the superiority of your
   provisions to their own."

   22, 23. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise
   you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
   unto you. "And therefore you ought not to have gone astray. I told you
   how to observe this ordinance, so you have willfully erred. This is
   what I delivered unto you."

   23-27. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed,
   took bread: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take,
   eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance
   of Me. After the same manner also He took thee cup, when He had supped,
   saying, This cup is the ne w testament in My blood: this do you, as oft
   as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this
   bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He comes.
   Therefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord,
   unworthily. That is, from wrong motives, without sincere faith and
   devotion to God.

   27-29. Shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man
   examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that
   cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks
   condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. You notice
   that I introduced the word, "condemnation," instead of, "damnation."
   That word does not correctly give the meaning of the original--it is
   not damnation, but condemnation, or judgment, as is clear from that
   which follows.

   30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
   There is no doubt that God visited upon the Corinthians, in the way of
   chastisement, their lack of reverence at His Table. Many were weak and
   sickly among them, and many died. They were not lost if they were
   believers in Christ, but the Church at Corinth sustained a great loss
   through their departure, and I have no doubt that God still exercises a
   singular discipline over His own people. They that are outside are, to
   a large extent, left to sin as they please. Their punishment will fall
   upon them hereafter--but the child of God cannot be allowed to do so
   and he shall be chastened for his sin. The Lord still says to His
   spiritual Israel, "You only have I known of all the families of the
   earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." A father
   may let another man's child alone, but his own boy shall not transgress
   without smarting for it! Such conduct as is here described does not
   bring damnation, for there is no damnation to them that are in Christ
   Jesus--but it does bring the chastening with which God visits His
   children when they walk contrary to Him.

   31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when
   a Church has lost its conscience and gets into such a state as this
   Corinthian Church fell into, then, as it does not judge itself, God
   judges it and chastens it severely.

   32. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
   should not be condemned with the world. Perhaps somebody thought, just
   now, "I do not want to be in the Church of Christ if it gets special
   chastening." That is one among many reasons why I do want to be in the
   Church of Christ, for, "we are chastened of the Lord, that we should
   not be condemned with the world."

   33. 34. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry
   one for another. And if any man hungers, let him eat at home; that you
   come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will 1set in order
   when I come.
     __________________________________________________________________

Where Is the God of Elijah?

   (No. 2596)

   A SERMON

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
   24, 1883.

   "And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the
   water and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? And when he also had
   struck the water, it was divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed
   over." 2 Kings 2:14.

   THE great objective for our souls is to seek after our God. We love His
   House, the place where prayer is apt to be made is very dear to us. But
   the courts of the Lord's House are dull and dreary if the Lord,
   Himself, is not there! Our question is not so much, "Where are His
   courts?" as, "Where is Jehovah, Himself?" Brothers and Sisters, we love
   beyond expression the ministry of God's Word--it has been unspeakably
   precious to our spirits! By it we were called into spiritual life and
   by it our life is fed and nourished. But still, if God, Himself, is not
   in the Word and with the Word, what does it avail us? Our spirits must
   be sustained by the Holy Spirit or else they faint and die.

   In reading a gracious book, or in engaging in private devotion, or in
   coming into the great assemblies of God's House, our chief question is,
   "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"--for if we do not find God in all
   these things, what have we found? Nothing. Or we have mere husks,
   whereas the precious, priceless kernel is lost to us! Oh, I wish that
   we always felt in prayer that we would never leave off praying till we
   found the God of prayer! I wish that, in our singing, we would always
   feel that we had not truly praised God at all unless our song had found
   Him, and every note in it had had some one of His attributes to sing.
   Oh, what an effort it is, sometimes, to really get at God! We are ready
   to cry with the poet--

   "I will approach You--I will force My way through obstacles to You."

   "I will break through gates of brass, I will leap over the highest
   wall, but I must get to my God, the living God! Oh, when shall I come
   and appear before God?" I wish that we were always in this state of
   mind, that our continual cry might be, "The Lord God of Elijah--we must
   have Him! We cannot live without Him, we cannot be strong without Him,
   we cannot rejoice without Him. We would not wish even to be in Heaven
   without Him--it would be no Heaven to us if the Lord were gone from it!
   "Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I
   desire beside You."

   Now, this great Truth of God, that our first and last objective should
   be to seek our God, is peculiarly true when we are called upon to
   undertake some new office or work unknown to us. Elisha, for instance,
   has poured water upon the hands of Elijah and been his personal
   attendant. But Elijah has been taken away by a whirlwind into Heaven
   and, now, Elisha has to be the Prophet of Israel in Elijah's place. A
   great weight of responsibility has fallen upon him. He has to do what
   scarcely any other man of woman born had ever done before--he has to
   follow one who seems well-nigh inimitable! He has to be successor of
   the Prophet of Fire--the man of God, Elijah. "Well," you say, "he has
   Elijah's mantle." Yes, he has his mantle and there is something in
   that. If ever I could feel any great reverence for relics, I would like
   to have Elijah's mantle. Elisha had it, but what was the use of having
   the mantle of Elijah unless he could also have his God? Though he is
   called to take the mantle and with it to strike the waters, yet he
   knows where his strength must lie, and his prayer, his cry, is, "Here
   is the Prophet's mantle; but where is Jehovah, God of Elijah?" If he
   can get Elijah's God, then the mantle will mean something! But, if not,
   it may even be like a garment of fire to him when he puts it on--and he
   will not be able to wear it becomingly. Men will see that he has
   Elijah's mantle, but they will ask, "Where is Elijah's power?"

   Now, dear Brother, you are about to succeed a man of God. You have his
   mantle. The people have chosen you, so you are entering in by the door.
   You have not intruded into the office uncalled. You are a fit man, no
   doubt, to be a successor of the one who has fallen asleep, but do not
   be satisfied with your succession to the office. Whatever it is that
   has been bequeathed to you by your predecessor, be not satisfied with
   that, alone! Above everything else, you need his God. If you have his
   God, you will do very well, even if you do not have his mantle. If you
   should turn out to be a very different man from him who went before
   you--as different as Elisha was from Elijah--you will do very well if
   your confidence is where your holy predecessor placed his confidence.
   And you, good Sister, have undertaken the charge of a class, or some
   special work for Christ, and the dear Sister who went before you was a
   woman of renown. Her death has made a great gap in the Church and you
   do not feel fit to fill it. Well, never mind about that--if you can get
   her God, if you can rest in Him with a simple faith--you may go on
   without the slightest fear! If you have the same God as she had and
   have the same faith in Him, even if you do not work exactly in the same
   way, yet you shall bring glory to God and you shall be a blessing to
   those round about you! I exhort all young people who are entering upon
   an untried path to say to themselves, "Where is my father's God? The
   dear old man has fallen asleep and I am apt to cry, 'My father, my
   father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,' but I have now
   to follow him. Oh, that I may have the same Spirit resting upon me! The
   same God to come to my succor! Then I shall do well enough." You see,
   then, dear Friends, this question of Elisha is an important one, but
   most of all, when you are entering upon some untried work--"Where is
   the Lord God of Elijah?"

   This question also comes in most appropriately when some great
   difficulty lies in your way. Before Elisha, the Jordan is flowing, a
   deep and rapid stream--how is he to cross it? He takes the mantle which
   those waters knew before, when Elijah passed that way, and striking
   them with it, he cries, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" And the
   waters at once divide and the Prophet walks through! Have you come to a
   great difficulty, my dear Friend? Can you not get over it? Are you in
   trouble about it? Now, if this is a difficulty that ought to be
   removed, the shortest way to have it removed is to go to God about it!
   If it is one that ought not to be removed, then you also have done
   rightly in going to God, for He who will notremove it will at least
   give you Grace to glorify Him in some other way! The best thing we can
   do, in all times of trouble and trial, is to lay the matter before the
   Lord.

   Here is a Church in difficulty. It does not know what to do, or which
   way to look. This is the question for its members to ask, "Where is the
   Lord God of Elijah?" Here is a Christian man in great difficulties. He
   has not brought himself into them, but the pressure of the times has
   brought him into a very sad condition--what is he to do? Why, look to
   his God and see what God will do! Let him also cry, "Where is the Lord
   God of Elijah?" I do not think that we shall ever find that any man who
   truly trusted in God was yet confounded. No difficulty which was ever
   propounded to the Most High and left in His hands ever remained very
   long a difficulty. He has the solution of all our problems, the answer
   to all our riddles. He can work out to a blessed result all our
   difficulties. There is nothing which can possibly be beyond the power
   of Him whose name is Jehovah, the I AM, God All-Sufficient!

   So, then, we learn from Elisha's question that we must ask after God
   when we are beginning any new work, or when there is some great
   difficulty in our way.

   Thus have I introduced the text. Now there are two things I wish to
   speak upon. The first is, this question turned into a prayer. ' 'Where
   is the Lord God of Elijah?" Though it reads like an enquiry, yet there
   is no doubt that, properly construed, it is a prayer, an invocation.
   "Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?" Secondly, if we have time, we
   will have a few words together upon this question answered. "Where is
   the Lord God of Elijah?"

   I. First, then, let us think of THIS QUESTION TURNED INTO A PRAYER and
   let us, ourselves, pray it as we meditate upon it--"Where is the Lord
   God of Elijah?"

   That means, first, the Lord that kept Elijah faithful when all the rest
   of the nation turned aside. Elijah could say, with some little
   exaggeration, "I, only, am left, and they seek my life to take it
   away." Jezebel, that imperious Sidonian queen, held Ahab entirely under
   her power, and she had set up the worship of the goddess Ashtaroth,
   which had straightway become popular all over the land, though it was
   accompanied by foul and filthy rites. And side by side with that was
   the worship of Baal. The worship of the Most High God was carried on by
   the faithful few, but they generally consisted of the very poorest of
   the land. And they were molested, persecuted and hunted to the death by
   the cruel and idolatrous zeal of Jezebel. But there was one man, at
   least, whom Ahab and Jezebel could not touch--one man who was Ahab's
   master, who spoke out for Jehovah even to the king's face, and who
   stood alone, and cried, "The God that answers by fire, let Him be God."
   When the fire-answer had come, he cried to the people, "Take the
   prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape." That man, when all the
   waters raged around him, stood like a rock, unmoved and unmovable! For
   the most part of his life he was steadfast and firm.

   This is the kind of men that we need today. Look how the whole world
   seems to be rocking and reeling, and men are continually asking for one
   novelty after another! This cry for something fresh has led to the
   casting off of the worship of God. "No!" you say. "Yes!" I say. They
   worship, today, many gods and many lords--gods newly come up, which our
   fathers knew not! But Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of
   Jacob, is scarcely known among us! Men, so far as they could, have
   dethroned Him. They have set up an effeminate being whom they call
   their god--a god without justice, a god whose name has no terror in it,
   as the name Jehovah has--as we read the story of it in the Old
   Testament. We need, nowadays, to have men who will say, "We worship no
   new god. The God of the Old Testament, who is also the God of the
   New--this God is our God forever and ever! He shall be our Guide even
   unto death." You know how they cry down Jehovah. They will not have
   Him! At least they will not have Him on His throne. His sovereignty is
   a thing that is scoffed at and made a by-word almost everywhere. And
   yet, Beloved, Jehovah reigns! He sits upon the floods. He rules as King
   forever and ever and unto His blessed name we will give praise,
   whatever others may do!

   In these days, too, we need men who can stand steadfast for all kinds
   of truth--not only as doctrines, but in practice. We need you, young
   men, to be upright and honest in your trade, when so many tradesmen all
   around you do all sorts of evil things in order to get gain. We need
   you, young men, to confess Christ in the workshop and to stand up for
   Him amidst the mass of your associates who keep not the Sabbath,
   neither regard the worship of God at all! Do you ask, "How can we be
   kept steadfast?" The answer is, "Where is Jehovah, the God of
   Elijah?"--for He that held him up can hold us up! I would that we had
   ten thousand men like John Knox was in Scotland--men that could not be
   turned aside from the Truth of God--men that knew the power of it in
   their hearts and that knew the practice of it by being sanctified of
   the Spirit of God and who, therefore, were "steadfast, unmovable,
   always abounding in the work of the Lord." We shall never have such men
   unless they find the Lord God of Elijah! So let us all seek for Him.

   Next, this question," Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" reminds me of
   Elijah's mighty power in prayer A man of like passions with ourselves
   was this Elijah, yet God gave to him the key of prayer and he locked up
   Heaven with a turn of his hand! And when the time came, he went up to
   the top of Mount Carmel and put his head between his knees--and there
   cried to the Lord until, once again, the heavens were covered with
   clouds and down came a deluge of rain! This was the man who, in his
   chamber, prayed back the spirit of a child. This was he who could have
   anything of God that he wished, like Luther of old! Do not some of you
   say, "Would God I had his power in prayer! How am I to get it?" Why,
   where he got it--from his God! The Lord God of Elijah can help you to
   pray prayers like his--and if He does, He will give you answers like
   his! It may be that you will have nothing to do with bringing or
   withholding rain, but you may have something to do with things quite as
   important that shall touch the inward lives of men and shall bring them
   food from Heaven, and the benediction and bedewing of the Holy Spirit.
   Get to your God! Lay hold upon Him by a brave and daring faith! Fall
   flat upon the promises and then pray straight up to the God who gave
   them! And so shall you get the blessing that you desire. You and I are
   going about after this and after that till we compass sea and land, and
   miss the blessing! Straightforward makes the best running. Let us go
   straight to God in prayer, with simple confidence in Him, and we shall
   not have long to ask, "Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?" for we
   shall prove that He still answers prayer even as He did in the
   Prophet's day.

   The third rendering of the text is this--As God provided for Elijah at
   the brook Cherith and at Zarephath, so can He provide for us. I think I
   hear you say, "My store of meal is running very short. My flask of oil
   is almost empty. 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?'" Why, He is still
   with His Elijah and He is still with such widows as the widow of
   Zarephath. Do you think that He is dead? Has it crossed your mind that
   Divine Providence is a failure and that God will no more provide for
   His own? Oh, think not so! If you do, your unbelief will prove a
   scourge to you--it will break that meal barrel, it will dash in pieces
   that oil flask! You will get nothing of the Lord if you waver! But if
   you keep strong in faith, you shall find that Jehovah Jireh is still
   His name--"The Lord Will Provide." "No good thing will He withhold from
   them that walk uprightly." God can help us to put such confidence in
   Him that we shall find the Lord God of Elijah supplying our daily needs
   and feeding us until we need no more! Sing this song, O you tried ones!
   Sing it at this moment--

   "The Lord my Shepherd is! I shall be well supplied Since He is mine,
   and I am His, What can Ineet beside?"

   I see also in this great text, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" that
   the God that raised the dead by Elijah is the God I need. Oh, I have
   had to try to raise the dead in this place many a time and it has been
   done, too! Man has spoken God's mandate and as the command has been
   uttered, "Lazarus, come forth," full many a Lazarus has left his tomb
   and you, my Brothers and Sisters, by your gentle, kindly teaching, have
   loosed them and let them go about their daily occupation, or upon holy
   service, as those who have been raised from the dead! But there are
   still some dead ones for whom I have prayed full often and others, too,
   who love them, have pleaded for them. We never cease to make them the
   subject of our earnest supplication, but they are still as dead as they
   were several years ago. Shall they remain so? Shall they lie there
   till, at last, they become utterly corrupt? Shall it ever be said of
   them, "Bury the dead out of My sight"? God will say that concerning all
   dead souls, for He will have no dead ones in Heaven. They must be put
   out of sight! They must be driven from the Presence of Christ and from
   the glory of His power--far from His glorious abode of peace and love!
   O Brothers and Sisters, pray mightily for these dead ones, for still,
   the Lord God of Elijah can raise them! Never despair of anybody and
   remember how, even when Lazarus had been so long dead that his body
   stank, he was nevertheless made to live! And if men go so far into evil
   that their sins turn to corruption and their lives become foul and
   loathsome, yet even then the quickening Spirit can make them live! Oh,
   let us be importunate for these dead souls! Let us still plead for
   them! Let us urge our suit with earnestness and perseverance--and let
   us never cease crying unto God for them until the dead in sin become
   the living in Zion! Here is the great hope for them, and here
   alone--that the God who raises the dead is still in the midst of His
   Church!

   Further, we still need "the Lord God of Elijah" as "the God that
   answers by fire." Today, in this country, we are undergoing very much
   the same sort of ordeal as Elijah had to endure. The priests of the
   modern Baal and of the groves swarm on every side. The "mass" and all
   the other idols of Rome are set up again in this land--they may be seen
   as objects of adoration even in our parish churches! The candle that
   Latimer lit, which never can be quite put out, seems as if it burns but
   very dimly in this land--and the old and glorious Gospel of the blessed
   God, which was preached by Luther and by Calvin, and by our Lord and
   His Apostles, has come to be regarded as an old worn-out thing, to be
   thrown away and cast aside. Oh, for the God of Elijah once again to
   answer by fire! We need a Baptism of the Holy Spirit for all such as
   are spiritually alive, and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon such
   as know not the Lord and obey not His Truth. Oh, that we could see the
   Lord making bare His arm, again, in the midst of the land! When I think
   of how God visited Pharaoh and magnified His might by smiting that
   stout-hearted rebel by plague after plague, my soul cries, "O Lord,
   will You not split the heavens and come down, even if it is with a rod
   of iron, to dash in pieces, like a potter's vessel, those who have so
   long resisted Your Grace? Your longsuffering seems to have been
   displayed long enough and men grow bolder and yet bolder in their
   iniquity."

   I can understand the spirit of Jonah--though I do not wish to fall into
   it--when he seemed to feel that Nineveh ought to be slaughtered for its
   enormous sin. At this day the world still lies in the Wicked One--and
   Christ Crucified is disowned and derided. Perhaps London is more
   heathenish than ever it was since first the feet of savages walked
   among its woods--the people grow worse and worse in many respects--and
   there is less and less of vital godliness and of seeking after the Most
   High. O Lord, how long? "Pluck Your right hand out of Your bosom" and,
   once again, as on Carmel the fire descended, so let the sacred flame
   fall upon Your true Church, that we may no longer need to ask, "Where
   is the Lord God of Elijah?" We need Him, we need HIM beyond everything
   in these dead days!

   Now look yet again at our text--"Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" I
   should like to meet Him and to know Him as the God who gave Elijah such
   wondrous food. In the strength of that meat, he went for forty days! I
   should like to feed on that kind of fare! One grain of meal to a gallon
   of water is the sort of food served out by some preachers, nowadays--
   there is nothing in it to satisfy or to sustain the soul. But God gave
   Elijah forty days' meat at one meal! Do you, dear Friends, ever get
   meals such as that? I do, when I read certain books--not modern thought
   books--they give me no such meat as that, but let me have one of the
   good solid Puritan volumes that are so little prized, nowadays, and my
   soul can feed upon that! You do the same and see whether you do not
   find food that will last not merely for forty days, but that will make
   you strong to walk before the Lord, even unto the Mount of God, there
   to bless and adore Him forever and ever! But, oh, the milk-and-water
   diet that is too often given in these times! Well may we cry, "Where is
   the Lord God of Elijah?" Oh, to be fed once more upon the doctrines of
   discriminating Grace! Oh, to be told continually of the love without a
   beginning, love without a change, love without an end! Oh, to hear of
   an atonement that is an atonement, and that does, indeed, put away
   sin--not the kind of atonement of which many talk today, which is all
   mist and cloud, and which accomplishes something or nothing according
   as men are pleased to let it!

   We need, again, to have meat unto life eternal, to know the great Truth
   of union to Christ, of being in Him, and so safe before the Lord, and
   made well-pleasing unto the Most High! God send us back this food!
   Brothers and Sisters, do not be satisfied until you get it! Turn from
   all other tables and say, "'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' Where is
   that flesh that is meat, indeed, and that blood which is drink,
   indeed?" Be content with none but Christ! Have no Gospel but Jesus
   Christ and Him Crucified. May God so satisfy the souls of His saints
   that they shall be able either to serve well or to suffer well! We are
   only strong either in patience or in zeal as the Lord God of Elijah
   feeds us with the Bread which came down from Heaven, the Bread of Life,
   Christ Jesus, Himself! "Lord, evermore give us this Bread!"

   Once more, we need the God who took Elijah away in a chariot of fire. I
   shall close with that. I daresay many of you do not expect to go to
   Heaven in that way. If I had my choice between that form of translation
   and death, I think I would prefer to die. I never could sympathize with
   the great delight which some Brethren have in expecting that they shall
   never die. Why not? You will be a loser throughout eternity if you do
   not, for you will not have fellowship with Christ in His death so fully
   as those who fall asleep and so have fellowship with Him in the grave.
   It will be a great joy to meet with Christ whatever we may miss in any
   other way. To behold Him and to be with Him is the utmost hope of our
   spirits. But, still, I would not wish to miss fellowship with Him in
   death. What is there to be afraid of in death? "The pain," says one.
   What pain? "The pain in dying." There is no pain in dying! There can be
   none--the only pain is in living! Death is the great quietus. There
   shall be no sorrow or sighing when death has passed upon the Believer.

   What, then, are you afraid of? Of death? But has not Christ told you
   that you shall never die? You shall depart out of this world unto the
   Father and, very likely you will not know when you are going. I have
   personally known several friends who were always afraid of dying, but I
   am morally certain that they never knew anything about death, for they
   went to bed, one night, apparently in good health, and when they were
   called in the morning, it was discovered that the Lord had called
   them--and they had gone up to be "forever with the Lord." The placid
   countenance showed that there had not been any struggle, probably not
   even a sigh or a gasp! They shut their eyes and dreamed of Heaven--and
   when they awoke, they found that they were there! They had passed
   through no iron gates, nor struggled through any cold stream--and they
   were in Heaven!

   "Oh," says someone, "but I am still afraid to die!" Let me tell you of
   one who said the same. Some years ago I was away in the South of
   France. I had been very ill, there, and was sitting in my room alone,
   for my friends had all gone down to the midday meal. All at once it
   struck me that I had something to do out of doors. I did not know what
   it was, but I walked out and sat down on a seat. There came and sat on
   the seat next to me a poor, pale, emaciated woman in the last stage of
   consumption. And looking at me, she said, "O Mr. Spurgeon, I have read
   your sermons for years and I have learned to trust the Savior! I know I
   cannot live long, but I am very sad as I think of it, for I am so
   afraid to die." Then I knew why I had gone out there and I began to try
   to cheer her. I found that it was very difficult work. After a little
   conversation, I said to her, "Then you would like to go to Heaven, but
   not to die? "Yes, just so," she answered. "Well, how do you wish to go
   there? Would you like to ascend in a chariot of fire?" That method had
   not occurred to her, but she answered, "Yes, oh, yes!" "Well," I said,
   "suppose there should be, just round this corner, homes all on fire,
   and a blazing chariot waiting there to take you up to Heaven--do you
   feel ready to step into such a chariot?"

   She looked at me, and she said, "No, I would be afraid to do that."
   "Ah," I said, "and so would I. I would tremble a great deal more at
   getting into a chariot of fire than I would at dying! I am not fond of
   being behind fiery homes, I would rather be excused from taking such a
   ride as that." Then I said to her, "Let me tell you what will probably
   happen to you. You will most likely go to bed some night and you will
   wake up in Heaven." That is just what did happen to her not long after.
   Her husband wrote to tell me that after our conversation she had never
   had any more trouble about dying-- she felt that it was the easiest way
   into Heaven, after all--and far better than going there in a whirlwind
   with horses of fire and chariots of fire! And by His Grace she gave
   herself up for her Heavenly Father to take her home in His own way. And
   so she passed away, as I expected, in her sleep.

   Now I want you, dear Friends, to feel that your great need in dying is
   to have "the Lord God of Elijah" with you. If you have Him, then you
   may cry, "Come, horses of fire, and chariots of fire, we are not afraid
   to ride behind these fiery steeds if 'the Lord God of Elijah' is with
   us!" Oh, no! Or it may be, "Come, silent chamber. Come, bed made hard
   with weary weeks of pain. Come, at last, the message that the wheel is
   broken at the cistern and that we must depart. Come Death and come
   celestial band, to bear my soul away." Thus you will have such a sweet
   realization of the Presence of "the Lord God of Elijah" with you that
   you will not be at all afraid! You timid ones are sure to "play the
   man" when you come to die. Often, the most trembling saints are the
   boldest at the last. I have known some who dared hardly call their
   souls their own, they were so full of doubts and fears, but when they
   have come to the river, they have been the bravest of the brave! You
   remember how Mr. Bunyan says of poor Miss Much-Afraid, Mr.
   Despondency's daughter, that she went through the river singing! Some
   of God's Great-Hearts, when they have died, have found the water up to
   their chin and it is a glorious thing for them to be able to stand
   there--to feel the bottom beneath their feet and to know that it is
   good to let Death do his worst and, all the while to be shouting,
   "Victory, victory, victory, I am more than conqueror through Him that
   loved me!" But if you are weak, feeble and timid, you will very likely
   die in a different way--you will probably have a sweet, calm, happy,
   blessed passage. "The Lord God of Elijah" will be with you and you
   shall triumph at the last, even as He did!

   You see, dear Friends, that the time has gone, though I have only been
   able to speak upon the first part of my subject. So you must come
   another time for the second part, if the Lord wills.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 KINGS 17.

   Verse 1. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead,
   said unto Ahab, As the Load God of Israel lives, before whom I stand,
   there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
   How abruptly this man breaks in upon the scene! He leaps like a lion
   from the thicket. There is no previous announcement of his coming, but
   here he stands, God's own man ordained to bear witness in evil
   times--to stand like a bronze pillar when everything around him seems
   to be moving from its place! Ahab had not been accustomed to be spoken
   to in this fashion. Mark how personal is Elijah's message. He does not
   begin even by saying, as the Prophets usually did, "Thus says the
   Lord." There is something that at first seems almost audacious about
   his expression--"There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but
   according to my word." A man may sometimes seem sell-assertive when,
   really, he has so completely lost himself in God that he does not care
   what people think about him, whether they regard him as an egotist or
   not. Some men appear to be modest because they are proud, while others
   seem to be proud because they have sunk themselves and only speak so
   boldly because they have their Master's authority at the back of their
   words. Bravely did Elijah say, "There shall not be dew nor rain these
   years, but according to my word."

   2, 3. And the Word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get you hence,
   and turn you eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is
   before Jordan. Of course the Prophet would have had to share in the
   general need unless God had provided for him and, therefore, the Lord
   took care that His servant should be hidden away where a brook would
   continue to run after the moisture had departed from other places.

   4. And it shall be that you shall drink of the brook; and I have
   commanded the ravens to feed you there. Perhaps someone says, "Ravens
   were more likely to rob the Prophet than to feed him!" And so they
   were. Some have objected that these ravens were unclean. What if they
   were? Things are not made unclean because they are carried by unclean
   creatures. Did not Abigail bring to David food upon animals which were
   unclean? There is no sense in that objection! "Oh, but," somebody else
   asks, "how should ravens bring food?" How should they not, if God
   commanded them? All creatures are under His control. Granted a God--and
   a miracle is simple enough. If God does not feed His people by any
   other means, He will command ravenous beasts and unclean birds to feed
   them!

   5. So he went and did according to the word of the LORD: for he went
   and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. It is the glory
   of Elijah that he does whatever God bids him, asking no questions. He
   simply, like a child, goes to the brook just as, like a hero, he had
   previously stood before the king.

   6. 7. And the ravens brought him bread andflesh in the morning, and
   bread and flesh in the evening; andhe drank of the brook And it came to
   pass, after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no
   rain in the land. Brooks will dry up, even if godly men are being
   sustained by them. Is there anyone here whose brook is drying up? Has
   it quite dried up? Still trust in God, for, if the ravens are put out
   of commission, God will employ some other agency.

   8, 9. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get you to
   Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have
   commanded a widow woman there to sustain you. It was a time of famine,
   yet God sent him to a widow woman! She is sure to need sustaining,
   herself. Yes, and she shall get it, too, through sustaining the
   Prophet! He that could command the ravens to feed His servant, could
   command a widow woman to do the same thing--and He did. This woman does
   not appear to have been originally a worshipper of Jehovah. She lived
   in a heathen country and probably was, herself, a heathen, but she
   reverenced the servant of Jehovah and she did his bidding and, no
   doubt, became a true follower of the living God.

   10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. There is the same unreasoning
   faith--"So he arose"--just as, in the 5th verse, it is written, "So he
   went," that is, with all alacrity, as a matter of course, he did his
   Lord's bidding without any question.

   10. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman
   was there. There she was, the woman who was to sustain him! She had
   come, no doubt, with a carriage and pair, to take him home, to her
   mansion. Oh, no! "The widow woman was there."

   10. Gathering sticks. She was a poor woman to sustain him, but there
   she was, "gathering sticks."

   10. Andhe called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water
   in a vessel, that I may drink Water was scarce then--every drop was
   very precious--it was, therefore, a large request that Elijah made of
   her.

   11. And as she was going to fetch it For she saw, by his garment, and
   by his majestic bearing, that he was a messenger of God. "As she was
   going to fetch it"--

   11, 12. He called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of
   bread in your hand. And she said, As the LORD your God lives, I have
   not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a
   cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that Imaygo in and dress
   it for me andmy son, that we may eat it, and die. It was such a little
   quantity, that two sticks would be quite enough. Yet this is the woman
   who is to sustain Elijah! Poor creature, she needs someone to sustain
   her and her son! How often does God use very strange means for the
   accomplishment of His blessed purposes!

   13. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as you have said: but
   make me thereof a little cake, first, and bring it unto me, and
   afterwards make for you and for your son. What a trial for her faith!
   This stranger must have the first portion of her last meal--yet she had
   faith enough to obey his word.

   14, 15. For thus says the LORD God ofIsrael, The barrel of meal shall
   not waste, neither shall the cruse ofoil fail, until the day that the
   LORD sends rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the
   saying of Elijah. Faith is blessedly contagious! God, by His Spirit,
   can make the faith of one to beget faith in others. This woman learns,
   from the very boldness of Elijah, from the very strength of his
   countenance, to believe in God! And she does as he tells her.

   15-18. And she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the
   barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse ofoil fail, according
   to the Word of the LORD, which He spoke by Elijah. And it came to pass
   after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the
   house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no
   breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with
   you, O you man of God? Have you come unto me to call my sin to
   remembrance, and to slay my son?Poor creature, having lost her husband,
   her heart was wrapped up in her son! Under this sharp trial, she
   condemned herself and she also began to have hard thoughts of the man
   of God. We, none of us, know what we may say when we are overwhelmed
   with a great trouble. It is easy to find fault with the utterance of a
   poor distracted spirit and to say, "That is improper language." Have
   you never spoken so in the hour of your grief? Blessed is that man from
   whose lips there has never escaped a wrong word in the time of his
   anguish! This widow woman was a mother with a dead child in the
   house--do not find fault with her, but tenderly pity her--and all who
   are in a like case.

   19, 20. Andhe said unto her, Give me your son. Andhe took him out of
   her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him
   upon his own bed. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God,
   have You also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by
   slaying her son? The words of the woman had touched his heart and,
   perhaps, he also spoke unadvisedly. But who are we that we should
   judge? He seemed to feel that wherever he went, he was bringing trouble
   upon people. All Israel was afflicted with drought because of his
   prophecy and now this poor woman had lost her darling child. Yet even
   in this desperate case he did not give up hope, and prayer, and effort.

   21. And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto
   the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child's soul
   come into him, again. This was splendid faith on the part of the
   Prophet. Nobody had ever prayed, before, for the restoration of one who
   was dead. No one had ever attempted to work such a miracle as this, but
   Elijah's faith was strung up to a wonderful pitch! Here was faith ready
   to receive the blessing, so the blessing would surely come. Here was
   the faith that could move mountains and stir the very gates of death!
   Elijah treads an unaccustomed road and asks for what had never been
   given before.

   22, 23. And the LORD heard the voice ofElijah; and the soul ofthe child
   came into him, again, andhe revived. And Elijah took the child and
   brought him down out ofthe chamber into the house, and delivered him
   unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, your son lives. Elijah was never
   a man of many words. He was a Prophet mighty in deeds. He said little,
   but what he did, spoke loudly.

   24. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this Iknow that you are a man
   of God, and that the Word ofthe LORD in your mouth is truth. Did she
   not know this before? Yes, or else she would not have given him the
   first portion of her meal. She must have known it, for she had been
   living for a long time upon the meal and the oil which he had
   multiplied. But now she said that she knew it, as if she had never
   known it before. God has a way of bringing His Truth home to the heart
   with such vividness that, though we have been perfectly acquainted with
   it for years, yet we are compelled to cry, "Now I know it! Now I have
   it as I never had it before! Now I grasp it and embrace it with my very
   soul!" May we all know the Truth of God in this grand fashion! Amen.
     __________________________________________________________________

A Prayer for Everybody

   (No. 2597)

   A SERMON DELIVERED BY

   C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT CHRIST CHURCH, WESTMINSTER BRIDGE ROAD, (during the renovation of
   the Tabernacle), ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1883.

   "Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me!" Matthew
   15:25.

   OUR text tells us of a case of real distress and it shows us how a
   woman prayed when in agony. It is a good thing, when young people begin
   to write, especially if they think of writing for the press, if they
   will, before they send away their manuscript, take their pen and strike
   out every superfluous word. Even as a general rule, for conversation or
   for correspondence, every word that we can do without is better
   omitted. As it is difficult to travel if we are encumbered with a great
   quantity of luggage, so is it difficult to make our meaning clear when
   it is crushed beneath the weight of too many words. Take your pen,
   then, young author. Sit down quickly and strike out all the merely
   ornamental words that you have written. And when you have got rid of
   them, you will probably have some respectable sentences left.

   This woman had no need to omit any of her words, for she was not in a
   state of mind to utter a sentence that could be pruned of a single
   word. She was in such a condition that every word that came out of her
   mouth was like hot shot poured out of her heart. I had almost said that
   every letter, as well as every syllable and every word she uttered, was
   coined in blood. She speaks, at any rate, burning language, at blood
   heat, and the words, as they drop into my ears, come with a kind of
   overpowering force, so great is their intensity. "Lord, help me!" There
   is not a syllable to spare! The words are all short, simple, living,
   burning--from the first one to the last.

   I like this kind of pleading and I commend it to you who are accustomed
   to pain and sufferings, or who have to do with this rough world, as
   many of you have. You find that in your time of distress, you have to
   throw away a great many merely ornamental things and you only keep what
   is real, solid, and substantial. Here is a woman who must deal in
   realities, for she has at home a real daughter, really tormented by a
   real devil. But she believes that before her there is a real Savior and
   she intends not to let Him slip away through any lack of intensity on
   her part! She follows Him with clamorous cries! If she is repulsed, she
   still pursues Him, and when, at last, He gives her what looks like a
   wry word, she will not believe it! But she adores Him, she worships Him
   and she cries out of the depths of her soul, "Lord, help me!" I want to
   speak especially about her prayer. We have begun with it and we will
   end with it. But before I get to the prayer, there are two or three
   other things I need to hold up for your admiration.

   I. First, let us ADMIRE THIS WOMAN'S IMPORTUNITY.

   I do not hesitate to say, although I am speaking in a large assembly,
   that there is not one person here who ever did experience such rebuffs
   or meet with such difficulties as this woman did. There may be some who
   would have a right to stand up, and say, "Ah, Sir, you do not know my
   experience--my coming to Christ was very difficult." I do not know your
   experience, my dear Friend, but I feel sure of this--your experience
   cannotbe compared with hers, for, in her coming to Christ, she had to
   surmount greater difficulties than you ever knew--and greater
   difficulties than any of you are realizing now, even though you should
   be almost driven to despair by the obstacles in your pathway. This poor
   woman had three special difficulties.

   The first was, that the Lord Jesus Christ did not answer her cries. '
   'He answered her not a word." He was, Himself, the Word, and yet He did
   not give her the word she needed! Jesus is the blessed Spokesman of the
   Eternal, by whom God breaks the infinite silences and speaks to man.
   Yet, "He answered her not a word." He was in the habit of answering
   prayer, yet He gave her not a single word of response to her petition.
   He had never been known to turn away a sincere suppliant without a kind
   reply, yet He gave her not one word! But even then, though she had not
   a word from Christ to hang her hopes upon--not a promise, not a single
   word of invitation or encouragement-- she still clung to Christ and
   would not let Him go until He blessed her.

   There is not one of you, dear Friends, who can say that our Lord Jesus
   Christ has not spoken to you, for here is a Book full of His words--a
   Book, mark you, not a line of which this poor woman had ever seen! She
   lived in a region where the Old Testament was altogether unknown and
   the New Testament was not then written. But you have the Words of
   Christ in your homes! They lie upon the pew-ledge in front of you. You
   can carry them in your pockets where yet you go. A two-penny Testament
   can be had by everybody, so it cannot be said that Jesus Christ has not
   given you a Word. Then how often have you had good Words from Christ
   through the preacher of the Gospel! How often has He let fall handfuls
   on purpose for you, poor troubled Soul! You have had sweet Words,
   gracious Words--

   "Wonderful Words of Life"--

   and plenty of them, too. Therefore I say that there is one point in
   which this woman's difficulties far exceeded yours! And as she pressed
   on until she gained the desire of her heart, will not you do likewise?
   Do you not remember how the men of Nineveh hung on to nothing but
   this--"Who can tell?" It was a very poor little nail that they clung
   to--"Who can tell?" Yet they did cling to it and they found mercy!

   There have been some who have found comfort in what God has notsaid--"I
   said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you Me in vain." So will you not
   find comfort in what He has said? Especially may you be cheered and
   blessed by such words as these--"Come now, and let us reason together,
   says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white
   as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." "I
   will pardon them whom I reserve." "This is a faithful saying, and
   worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
   save sinners." Now, between "not a Word," and all these Words, what a
   difference there is, and so, what a difference there is between you and
   this poor woman! How much you have to help you! Come, then, to Jesus,
   come even now, pleading the promise, and you shall not go away without
   the blessing!

   Next, this woman had another great difficulty, and that was that all
   the disciples were against her. They said to Jesus, "Send her away, for
   she cries after us. She disturbs us; we cannot hear Your exposition. We
   cannot be heard, ourselves, which is also very important. 'Send her
   away, send her away.' She has such a harsh voice. She does not speak
   our language. She talks in the tongue of Tyre or Sidon, and we do not
   like it. She is so troublesome! She is first bawling out after John and
   next she is calling after Peter--there is no keeping her quiet! 'Send
   her away, send her away.'" Now, although this must have been a very
   secondary thing compared with Christ's silence, yet it may have bred in
   her heart great discouragement and she may have felt in her spirit that
   she could not long hold out. Yet she did hold out until the blessing
   came!

   Now, I venture to say that there is no one here who is seeking the
   Savior who has had Christ's disciples against Him.

   dear Heart, there are many in this house tonight who are not against
   you! They would do anything they could for you, to cheer you and bring
   you to the Savior! I know some who, when this service is over, will
   very likely waylay you in the aisles! They are always looking out to
   find persons who may be under concern of soul, to see whether they can
   utter a word of encouragement to them. They will not say, "Send her
   away!" They will want you to stay a little while and will talk to you
   very earnestly about your soul--and try to point out to you the way
   into life and peace. I am sure that you have not the difficulty that
   this poor woman had. If you had, I would still exhort you to imitate
   her importunity, but, as you have not, let her importunity shame you if
   you are in the least degree backward! And come you at once boldly to
   the Savior and say, "I must now find the mercy that I need! I cannot go
   away until I find it." God grant that many of you may make that good
   resolution!

   There was, however, a third discouragement which must have been greater
   than the other two, and that was that when the Savior did speak, He
   said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel"I t
   was as much as saying, "I am not sent to this woman of Tyre and Sidon.
   I can do nothing for her within the bounds of My commission." And yet,
   when the woman heard that sentence, instead of being daunted by it, she
   came to Christ and worshipped Him, and said, "Lord, help me!" I may be
   addressing someone who has been thinking over the Doctrine of
   Election--a doctrine which ought not to give trouble to anybody, but it
   often does. It may be that you have said in your heart, "What if

   1 should not be elect? What if the blessed things of the Covenant of
   Grace should not be for me?" I beseech you, do not be persuaded by
   Satan to stop there, but go to Jesus just as this woman did! She seemed
   to say to herself, "Whether this Christ of God is sent to a Tyre and
   Sidon woman or not, I shall go and worship Him, and cry, 'Lord, help
   me!'" She heard that Christ was not sent to that country, but she
   seemed to say, "If You are not sent, Lord, yet I am still here. If You
   are not sent to me, perhaps I am sent to You. She felt that there must
   be some way of getting over the difficulty. She believed that, by some
   kind of ingenuity, even if she could not tell how, the difficulty could
   be removed! This glorious, loving Savior, into whose radiant face she
   looked, could not repulse her--she felt that He could not!

   And, dear Friends, I can no more believe that Christ will repulse a
   sinner than I can look up to the sun and believe that it will ever
   freeze me! It cannot be--it is too bright, too full of warmth to turn
   me into ice--and I cannot look into the Savior's face and believe that
   He will ever cast away a poor soul that comes to Him! So, somehow or
   other, this poor woman seemed to feel, "I cannot get over the
   difficulty, but I will go round it." That is always a wise method. For
   my own part, I have often learned what a joy it is to cast anchor under
   the lee of a great impassable thing that I cannot understand. I like,
   if I am traveling, to see the river open up and to find my boat gliding
   gently along between the surrounding hills. But if, all of a sudden, I
   find that the channel is entirely blocked up, I am just as comfortable
   if the sailor lets down the anchor and we spend the night under the lee
   of some big, towering rock! Why not? It is very well to understand
   things, but I do not know that we are much the better for understanding
   anything! Understanding sometimes puffs us up, but we are always
   benefited by believing. So, my Friend, when you come hard and fast
   against something which you cannot get over, do not try to get over it,
   but just pull up, right there, and say, "If it is so, let it be so,
   but, anyway, God is gracious, Christ is merciful and I am going to cast
   myself at the crucified Savior's feet and trust in Him."

   Now this woman, notwithstanding this terrible discouragement, after
   actually hearing the Savior say, "I am not sent to you," yet
   nevertheless persevered with her appeal. None of you have ever heard
   Him say that you are not among the elect. Why should you not be elect
   as well as anybody else? None of you have ever climbed to Heaven and
   found that your names were not written in the roll of God's chosen--and
   you never will climb there to read it at all! All such things are
   hidden from your sight. Your business is to cling to Christ's dear feet
   and never let Him go until He grants you the desire of your heart. That
   is my first remark--admire this woman's importunity.

   II. Now for a few minutes I invite you, dear Friends, to ADMIRE HER
   RESORT TO THE LORD HIMSELF. "Then came she and worshipped Him, saying,
   Lord, help me!"

   She is to be admired, first, because she turned away from the
   disciples. I could not help smiling as I read, just now, what the
   disciples said, "Send her away, for she cries after us." Poor soul, she
   never cried after them--she knew better than to do that! It was their
   own self-importance that made them think so. If she had begun to cry
   after them, their black looks would soon have stopped her from doing
   so. But she did not make such a mistake as that. "Oh, no," she seemed
   to say, "it is not after you that I am crying. Neither Peter, nor
   James, nor John can give me the help I need." So is it with us--we are
   not crying after the saints, as some poor souls are doing, hoping that
   saints, long since dead and buried, who have done with this mortal
   life, may make intercession for them before the Throne of God! No, we
   are not crying after them. If any of you are, I pray you cease that
   folly and cry to the Master! And let this be your cry, "Lord, help me!"
   Not, "Peter, help me," nor, "Mary, help me," but, "Jesus, help me!"
   "Lord, help me!" He can do it, but the saints cannot. They were poor
   sinners who had to be saved by Grace like the rest of us--and they are
   now singing to the praise of the God of Grace, but they have no Grace
   to give to us! Mind, dear Friends, that you never think of going to
   them, but go straight to the Master, as this poor woman did! "Then came
   she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me!"

   She went away, also, from all prescribed paths. The Savior seemed to
   say to her that there was no way for her to come. He did but seem to
   tell her that the road at present was intended especially for the house
   of Israel and He had come to bless them beyond all others. But the
   woman seems to say, "If there is not a road open, I must make one. I
   will go over hedge and ditch, but I must find my Savior." Her heart was
   so strongly resolved upon coming to Christ that whether she came in the
   orthodox way or not, she must come! Oh, how I wish that some poor
   sinner here might be so stirred up with the same desire that he would
   say, "I must somehow find the Lord Jesus. If I have heard one minister
   and God has not blessed him to me, I will hear another. And if hearing
   the Gospel is not blessed to me, I will sit up at night and read the
   Scriptures. And if the Bible is not blessed to me, I will go on my
   knees and cry to God for mercy and I will never cease crying to Him
   till the mercy comes. For, somehow or somewhere, I must get it! I must
   find God in Christ Jesus, that I may obtain the salvation of my soul."

   Yet once more, dear Friends, I admire this woman, and I hold her up as
   a model for your imitation, because she resorted to Christ. Away from
   the disciples and from all prescribed paths, she went to HIM. Yes, that
   is the beauty of it! "Then came she and worshipped HIM." She fell at
   His feet and her prayer was, "Lord, help me!" She did not prescribe how
   she should be helped, for she believed in His wisdom. She did not
   dictate to Him what He should do, for she believed in His judgment and
   prudence. All she said was, "Lord, help me!" She did not think that her
   case was beyond His power, for she believed in His almightiness, so she
   prayed, "Lord, help me!" She did not think her case could be beyond His
   pity, so she pleaded, "Lord, help me. True, I am only a Gentile dog
   but, Lord, help me. I am a Syrophenician woman but, Lord, help me. I
   have a poor daughter possessed of a devil but, Lord, help me." She
   pleads thus with Christ and it is amazing what such pleading can
   accomplish! Do not come here and merely repeat certain prayers! Do not
   go home to your closet simply to say prayers as if to nobody or to
   everybody, but get absolutely at the feet of Jesus and plead with Him,
   saying, "Lord, I will not let You go until You bless me," for that is
   the kind of prayer that opens the gates of Heaven, the prayer to which
   nothing can be denied!

   III. Before I come to the closing portion of my discourse, I ask you to
   ADMIRE THIS WOMAN'S APPROPRIATION OF HER DAUGHTER'S CASE TO HERSELF.

   I urge you who seek the conversion of others to follow her example.
   Notice, she did not pray, "Lord, help my daughter," but, "Lord, help
   me!" At first, she pleaded for her daughter and mentioned the
   circumstances of her case, but as she grew more intense and fervent in
   her supplication, there seemed to be no division between the mother and
   the daughter! The mother had absorbed the daughter--the great heart of
   the pleading one seemed to contain the one pleaded for with all her
   agony--"Lord, help me!" Do you catch the idea? When you are pleading
   with God for your Sunday school class, it is not simply, Mary, and
   Jane, and Sarah that you pray for, but you have incorporated all those
   girls into yourselfand, therefore, you plead, "Lord, help me!" And you,
   my Brother, need to get to this point if you are really to prevail for
   your scholars, that you will not be asking for John, and Thomas, and
   William, alone, but you have so identified yourself with them, that if
   they are lost, it almost seems as if you are lost! And if they are
   saved, it will be another Heaven to you for each one of them to be in
   Heaven!

   You know that when Elisha restored the Shunammite's dead son, "he went
   up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his
   eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched
   himself upon the child." Then, as it were, they became one, and then it
   was that the new life came through the Prophet into the dead child. And
   this is the way to pray for our scholars and our hearers. I am sure
   that if a minister wants conversions, he must identify himself with his
   people! There are people, nowadays, who make a difficulty about Moses
   praying for Israel, "If You will forgive their sin--and if not, blot
   me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written." And they
   raise questions about Paul being willing to be separated from Christ
   for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh. Oh, but there is
   no difficulty in the matter if you once get to feel such an intense
   love for the souls of men that you would, as it were, pawn your own
   salvation and count it little if you might but bring the people to the
   Savior's feet!

   A man who has never felt that willingness does not yet know the true
   throb of a pastor's heart--he has not been ordained to be a shepherd if
   he would not lay down his life for the flock, if it were necessary.
   When you get to that point, then the blessing will come. "Lord, help
   me--me,for, in my own proper self, I am one with these people for whom
   my prayer is put up."

   IV. Now, lastly--yet it is the chief part of the subject--I want YOU TO
   ADMIRE THIS WOMAN'S PRAYER, ITSELF.

   I began my discourse by pointing out to you its sententiousness, its
   freedom from superfluities. Now, again I bid you admire it for the same
   reason. Notice that it asks everything in one little phrase--"Lord,
   help me!" It seems to me to be a very comprehensive prayer, for
   although it uses but one very small verb, that verb means a great deal
   more than, at first sight, it appears to mean. When the woman said,
   "Lord, help me," she did not mean what we generally mean by help. That
   is, "Lord, do something for me and I will do the rest." She could not
   do anythingtowards the casting out of the devil from her child so, by
   that word, "help," she meant, "Lord, do it all," for that is the kind
   of help Christ gives! Have you ever heard of the poor half-witted being
   who, nevertheless, had sense enough to understand the Gospel? Someone
   said to him, "Well, Johnny, how were you saved?" "Oh," he answered,
   "Jesus Christ did His part, and I did all the rest." "And pray tell,
   Johnny, what did you do?" "Well," he said, "Jesus Christ saved me and I
   did all I could to prevent it."

   And that is about all "the rest" that any of us ever do! We do not
   really help in the matter of our salvation, for we can-not--it is
   Christ's work from first to last--and Divine Grace must have all the
   praise for it. Blessed be that Sovereign Grace of God!

   But that word, "help," meant just this--"Lord, will You do all that is
   needed? I am in a dreadful fix. I cannot cure my poor child and I
   cannot pray aright about her. You have almost shut my mouth by that
   last word, 'I am not sent,' yet, 'Lord, help me!' Teach me what to ask
   for! Teach me how to ask for it! Teach me what to think of next! Teach
   me what to do next. Never was a poor creature in such a plight as I am,
   Lord. Get me out of it! Save my poor daughter." It was asking
   everything in a phrase which did not, at first sight, seem to mean
   much--"Lord, help me!"

   And, if you notice, the prayer was one which brought Christ and the
   poor woman together--"Lord" and "me." And here is the link--"Lord, help
   me!" Some of you poor creatures want to get to Christ by doing
   something for Him! You have undertaken a very heavy task--you will
   never get to Him that way. The only way is for Him to stoop down and do
   something for you--then you shall go into partnership and have
   fellowship with one another. And if you agree to this arrangement, He
   will find everything that is needed and you shall have it all given to
   you, gratis! Those must be the terms--that He, from first to last, must
   do all, and be all, and have all the glory! If you will agree to that
   condition, the company may be started at once--and what a blessed
   company it shall be! The Lord and yourself linked together by that
   little word, "help"--"Lord, help me!" If you are to succeed as this
   woman did, you must imitate her perseverance even in spite of Christ's
   apparent refusal to help her.

   This is a lesson which is taught us in many other parts of the Word of
   God. She that wins her suit with the unjust judge is the importunate
   widow who will not be refused. He that gets the loaves at midnight is
   the man who continues knocking till his friend awakens himselfand gives
   him all he asks. O Beloved, plead thus with God! Plead earnestly, plead
   for your salvation as you would for your life! Lift up the cry--

   "Gracious Lord, incline Your ear, My requests vouchsafe to hear! Hear
   my never-ceasing cry, Give me Christ, or else I die! Wealth and honor I
   disdain, Earthly comforts all are vain. These can never satisfy, Give
   me Christ, or else I die!" And you shall surely have Christ, for He
   never finally refuses to listen to such pleading as that.

   Lastly, dear Friends, I commend this prayer to you because it such a
   handy prayer. You can use it when you are in a hurry, you can use it
   when you are frightened, you can use it when you have not time to bow
   your knees. You can use it in the pulpit if you are going to preach,
   you can use it when you are opening your shop, you can use it when you
   are rising in the morning. It is such a handy prayer that I hardly know
   any position in which you could not pray it--"Lord, help me!" Often,
   when you are brought to some great emergency, you may use it and feel
   as if it were the best prayer that was ever composed. Do you suffer
   much? Do you sometimes fall back upon the pillows feeling that you
   cannot bear any more? Does it not seem natural, then, for you to pray,
   "Lord, help me"? Do you often lie awake at night? Have you counted the
   clock round in your seasons of suffering? Oh, then, I know that you
   will feel that this is a good prayer to offer in the middle of the
   night--"Lord, help me!" Do you wake up in the morning just as weary as
   when you went to bed? Are you gradually losing strength? Are you slowly
   wasting away? Do they tell you that you will soon be gone? Oh, then, as
   the clock ticks, I think it may remind you of this prayer, "Lord, help
   me! Lord, help me! Lord, help me!" It is a sick woman's prayer--a sick
   child's prayer--a sick man's prayer. It will suit any of you at such
   times.

   Or are some of you losing a great deal of money just now? Is business
   very bad? Are you out of a job? Have you walked up and down the streets
   and worn your shoes out, and yet found nothing to do? I think this
   prayer will suit you at this moment and all day tomorrow, "Lord, help
   me! Lord, help me!"--for He can, you know. The keys of Providence are
   not taken out of His hand yet. He knows how to deliver the righteous
   out of all their troubles. Go to Him with this prayer, "Lord, help me!"

   Are any of you very much tempted from without by surroundings that are
   peculiarly dangerous? Are you tempted by Satan? Are any of you exposed,
   just now, to some very special trial? Have your feet almost gone? Have
   your steps well-near slipped? Now here is a prayer that will hold you
   up and keep you from falling--"Lord, help me! Lord, help me!"

   "No," says someone, "you have not touched my case yet" Perhaps you are
   going to a new job, or you are just undertaking fresh duties and you
   wonder how you will be able to fill the sphere which was occupied so
   well by the one who went before you? Well, do not enter upon that new
   sphere without this prayer, "Lord, help me!" If you pray that prayer
   from your heart, you will be encouraged--you shall play the man and do
   well for God and for His Truth. Possibly you are already in a situation
   where you are under great strain. Where, perhaps, your physical
   strength is overtaxed and your mind is depressed by the wear and tear
   of a cruel servitude. Well, if you cannot get out of it, pray the Lord
   to help you in it, and let this be your constant cry, "Lord, help me!
   Lord, help me!" It is wonderful how He can aid and direct His people!

   And you, young Brother against the door, you came just inside, hoping
   to get a message that will guide you in your present difficulty. Here
   is that message! Go home and pray about it. Cry to God about it and you
   shall have direction. And let this be your cry, "Lord, help me! Lord,
   help me!" And He will help you. Is there a dear little girl here who
   wants to find Christ? I give her this short prayer to pray tonight,
   "Lord, help me!" Is there a gray-headed man here, leaning upon his
   staff, who has not yet found the Savior? Then, as you sit in that
   aisle, cry, "Son of David, Jesus Christ the Lord, do help and save me!"
   And He will! This prayer will do to live with. This prayer will do to
   die with! It is a prayer for those who usually worship in this place.
   It is a prayer for the people in the streets all around. It is a prayer
   for everybody and a prayer for every place wherever you may be--"Lord,
   help me!"

   Blessed be His name, the Lord will answer this prayer! He has helped
   His people! He is still Israel's Helper! He will be their Helper even
   to the end! Therefore put your trust in Him and go forward with
   confidence into the future. And may His gracious Presence be with you
   forevermore! Amen.

   EXPOSITION: MATTHEW 15:10-31.

   Verses 10, 11. And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear,
   and understand: not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man, but
   that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. True religion
   does not consist in meats and drinks, in feasting or in fasting. It is
   not that which goes into us, but that which comes out of us which is
   the main matter.

   12. Then came His disciples, andsaid unto Him, Know You that the
   Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? They thought a
   very great deal of the opinion of the Pharisees and they were greatly
   concerned because their Master had offended them. These Pharisees set
   themselves up as the judges of everything that was correct and proper
   in religion! Yet Christ offended them by His plain speaking.

   13. But He answered and said, Every plant which My heavenly Father has
   not planted, shall be rooted up. The Truth of God is often intended to
   root up. I have no doubt that our Lord said many things which had no
   other intention than the discovery of these deceitful men to themselves
   and others, that their baneful influence might be destroyed. Our Savior
   was a true iconoclast, a great image-smasher, and these men, who were
   the chief icons or images of the day, had to be broken down. He
   therefore put the Truth of God in the very form that would offend them!

   14. Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the
   blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Our Lord did not
   soften or tone down His previous language, but He revealed the true
   character of the false guides by whom so many were deluded.

   15. Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Explain unto us this
   parable. "We do not understand it. What is its meaning?"

   16. 17. And Jesus said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do not
   you yet understand that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the
   belly, and is eliminated? And so there is an end of it.

   18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
   heart and they defile the man. The main matter to be considered is the
   heart, not the mouth and other parts of the body. Note how our Lord, by
   this great Truth, puts the axe to much that looks very fair and good,
   and cuts it down as worthless! If we serve God with the heart, there is
   the core of true religion! But if not, we may have as many ceremonial
   washings as there are hours in the day and days in the year, and we may
   be careful to avoid this article of diet and to feed on that, to wear
   this garment and not to wear that, and to observe this day and not
   that--but all this outward religion will be of no use whatever--if our
   heartis not savingly affected by the Grace of God.

   19-21. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
   fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things
   which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man.
   Then Jesus went from there and departed into the coasts of Tyre and
   Sidon. He did not like the Pharisees well enough to stay among them.
   His own word concerning them was, "Let them alone," and He did very
   severely let them alone--"Jesus went from there and departed into the
   coasts of Tyre and Sidon." He must not go into Tyre and Sidon, for His
   commission for the present was confined to Palestine, the chosen land.
   Do not regret this, dear Friends. To have extended our Savior's work
   over a greater area would not have been, really, to increase it. And it
   was very important that during the very short active lifetime of our
   Savior--a little more than three years--He should confine His
   operations to a comparatively small district, so as to produce a
   permanent result, there, which would afterwards radiate over the whole
   world. So our Savior, who knew what was best for men, confined Himself
   within a very narrow sphere.

   And, my Brothers and Sisters, I am not sure that we are always wise
   when we desire a great sphere. I have myself sometimes envied the man
   with about five hundred people to watch over, who could see them all,
   know them all, and enter into sympathy with them all--and so could do
   his work well. But, with so large a number as I have under my charge,
   what can one man do? And you, my Brothers, may increase the quantity of
   your acreage, and yet grow no larger crops. You may think that you will
   succeed better on a wider scale, but if you do not do so well in the
   greater field, it might have been wiser to narrow your boundaries
   rather than to widen them. However, if our Lord might not go into Tyre
   and Sidon, He went as near to them as He could--"Jesus departed into
   the coasts of Tyre and Sidon." And if you, dear Friends, think there is
   a limit to your sphere of usefulness, always go as near as you can to
   the limit--go up to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon!

   22. And, behold. For it is a great wonder that such a person should
   have come to Jesus. "And, behold"--

   22. 23. A woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto
   Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, You Son ofDavid; my daughter is
   grievously vexed with a devil. But He answered her not a word. This was
   another mar-vel--a silent Savior--silent when it would have been so
   natural for Him to speak a kind and gracious word. "He answered her not
   a word."

   23. AndHis disciples came andsought Him, saying, Sendher away, for she
   cries after us. "'She cries after us,' and it is very important that we
   should not be troubled." We disciples are apt to think so, especially
   if we get a little lifted up, and come to be Apostles. "Send her away,
   for she cries after us." She knew better than to cry after the
   disciples! It was the Master whose help she needed. Some sinners are a
   great nuisance, they make so much noise in seeking Christ, and what a
   mercy it is that they do so! Oh, to have such troublesome people about
   us all day long and all night long, too! It would be worth while to be
   vexed in this style. But the disciples said to Jesus, "Send her away
   for she cries after us."

   24. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of
   the house of Israel.' 'Therefore, I cannot attend to her."

   25. 26. Then she came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me! But He
   answered and said, It is not meet-- ' 'It is not comely, it is not
   fit."

   26. To take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. The original
   means, "the little dogs that play with the children; they lie under the
   table, and pick up the crumbs that their masters' (the children's
   masters) let fall." The woman caught at that expression at once.

   27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
   fall from their masters' table.' 'I may be only a dog, and these Jews
   round about You are Your children, but I have gotten in among them and
   I am looking for a crumb or two as it falls from their table." This was
   grand faith on her part and it was speedily rewarded!

   28-31. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is your
   faith: be it unto you even as you will. And her daughter was made whole
   from that very hour. And Jesus departed from there and came near unto
   the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
   And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those that were
   lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus
   'feet; and He healed them: insomuch that the multitude wondered, when
   they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk,
   and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. The Savior
   appears to have gone on this journey on purpose to bless this woman and
   her daughter and, having worked the miracle, He went where great
   multitudes came to Him, bringing their sick folk to be healed. And the
   result was, "They glorified the God of Israel." There may be some poor
   soul here in as great distress as this woman was. If so, may that one
   get a blessing and then may the blessing spread through all the
   neighborhood till multitudes are saved!
     __________________________________________________________________

Spiritual Revival--the Need of the Church

   (No. 2598)

   A SERMON

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT WHITEFIELD'S TABERNACLE, TOTTENHAM
   COURT ROAD,

   AT THE CENTENARY COMMEMORATION, ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 11,
   1856.

   "OLORD, revive Your work." Habakkuk 3:2.

   ALL true religion is pre-eminently the work of God. If He should select
   out of His works that which He esteems most of all, He would select
   true religion. He regards the works of Grace as being even more
   glorious than the works of nature and He is, therefore, especially
   careful that this fact shall always be known, so that, if any dare to
   deny it, they shall do so in the teeth of repeated testimonies that God
   is, indeed, the Author of salvation in the world and in the hearts of
   men, and that religion is the effect of Grace and is the work of God. I
   believe the Eternal might sooner forgive the sin of ascribing the
   creation of the heavens and the earth to an idol, than that of
   ascribing the works of Grace to the efforts of the flesh, or to anyone
   but Himself. It is a sin of the greatest magnitude to suppose that
   there is anything in the heart which can be acceptable to God except
   that which He, Himself, has first created there. When I deny God's work
   in creating the sun, I deny one Truth of God, but when I deny that He
   works Grace in the heart, I deny a hundred Truths in one, for, in the
   denial of that one Truth that God is the Author of good in the souls of
   men, I have denied all the Doctrines which make up the great articles
   of faith--and I have run in direct opposition to the whole testimony of
   Sacred Scripture!

   I trust, Beloved, that many of us have been taught that if there is
   anything in our souls which can carry us to Heaven, it is God's work
   and, moreover, that if there is anything that is good and excellent
   found in His Church, it is entirely God's work from first to last! We
   firmly believe that it is God who quickens the soul which was dead,
   positively "dead in trespasses and sins." That it is God who maintains
   the life of that soul and God who consummates and perfects that life in
   the home of the blessed, in the land of the hereafter. We ascribe
   nothing to man, but all to God! We dare not, for a moment, think that
   the conversion of the soul is effected either by its own efforts or by
   the efforts of others. We know that there are means and agencies
   employed by God, but we also hold most firmly that the work is, from
   its alpha to its omega, wholly the Lord's. We believe, therefore, that
   we are right in applying our text to the work of Divine Grace, both in
   the heart of man and in the Church at large. And we think that we can
   have no subject more appropriate for our consideration than the prayer
   of the text--"O Lord, revive Your work."

   Trusting that the Spirit of God will help me, I shall endeavor to apply
   the text, first, to our own souls personally. And, then to the state of
   the Church at large, for it greatly needs that the Lord should revive
   His work in its midst.

   I. First, then, I will apply the text TO OUR OWN SOULS PERSONALLY.

   In this matter, we should begin at home. We too often flog the Church
   when the whip should be laid on our own shoulders. We drag the Church,
   like a colossal culprit, to the altar. We bind her hands fast and try
   to execute her at once, or, at least, we find fault with her where
   there is none and magnify her little errors, while we too often forget
   our own imperfections. Let us, therefore, commence with ourselves,
   remembering that we are a part of the Church and that our own need of
   revival is, in some measure, the cause of that need in the Church at
   large. I directly charge the great majority of professing Christians in
   these days--and I also take the charge to myself--with a need of
   revival of piety. I shall lay the charge very peremptorily, because I
   think I have abundant grounds to prove it. I believe that the mass of
   nominal Christians in this age need a revival! And my reasons are
   these.

   In the first place, look at the conduct of too many who profess to be
   the children of God. It ill becomes any man who occupies the pulpit to
   flatter his hearers and I shall not attempt to do so. The evil lies
   with those who unite themselves with Christian Churches and then
   practically protest against their own profession. It has become very
   common, nowadays, to join a church--go where you may, you find
   professing Christians who sit down at some Lord's Table or other, but
   are there fewer cheats than there used to be? Are there less frauds
   committed? Do we find morality more prevalent? Do we find vice entirely
   at an end? No, we do not! The age is as immoral as any that preceded
   it. There is still as much sin, although it is more cloaked and hidden.
   The outside of the sepulcher may be whiter, but within, the bones are
   just as rotten as before--society is not improved one whit! Those men
   who, in our popular magazines, give us a true picture of the state of
   London life, are to be believed and credited, for they do not stretch
   the truth--they have no motive for so doing--and the picture which they
   give of the immorality of this great city is positively appalling! It
   is a huge criminal, full of sin, and I fearlessly assert that if all
   the profession in London were true profession, it would not be nearly
   such a wicked place as it is! It could not be, by any manner of means.

   My Brothers and Sisters, it is well known--and who dares deny it who is
   not too partial, and who will not speak willful lies--it is well known
   that it is not in these days a sufficient guarantee even of a man's
   honesty that he is a member of a church! It is a hard thing for a
   Christian minister to say, but I must say it. Someone must say it and
   if friends do not say it, enemies will--and it is better that the truth
   should be spoken in our own midst, that men may see that we are ashamed
   of it, than that they should hear us impudently deny what we must know
   to be true! O Sirs, the lives of too many members of Christian Churches
   give us grave cause to suspect that there is none of the life of
   godliness in them at all! Why that reaching after money, why that
   covetousness, why that following of the crafts and devices of a wicked
   world, why that clutching here and grasping there, that grinding of the
   faces of the poor, that treading down of the workman and such like
   things, if men are truly what they profess to be? God in Heaven knows
   that what I speak is true--and too many here know it themselves! If
   they are Christians, at least they desire revival! If there is any
   spiritual life in them, it is but a spark that is covered up with heaps
   of ashes! It needs to be fanned, yes, and it needs to be stirred, also,
   that hopefully some of the ashes may be removed and the spark may have
   a place to live!

   The Church as a whole needs revival in the persons of its members. The
   members of Christian Churches are not what they once were. It is now
   fashionable to be religious--persecution is taken away and, ah, I had
   almost said that the gates of the Church were taken away with it! The
   Church has, with few exceptions, no gates now--persons come in and go
   out of it just as they would march through St. Paul's Cathedral and
   make it a very place of traffic, instead of regarding it as a select
   and sacred spot, to be apportioned to the holy of the Lord, and to the
   excellent of the earth--in whom is God's delight. If this is not true,
   you know how to treat it. You need not confess to sin you have not
   committed. But if it is true, and true in your case, oh, humble
   yourselves under the mighty hand of God! Ask Him to search and try you,
   that if you are not His child, you may be helped to renounce your
   profession lest it should be to you but the gaudy pageantry of
   death--and mere tinsel and gewgaw in which to go to Hell! If you are
   His, ask that He may give you more Grace, that you may abandon these
   faults and follies and turn to Him with full purpose of heart, as the
   effect of a revived godliness in your soul.

   Again, where the conduct of professing Christians is consistent, let me
   ask the question, does not the conversation of many a professor lead us
   either to doubt the genuineness of his piety, or else to pray that his
   piety may be revived? Have you noticed the conversation of many who
   think themselves Christians? You might live with them from the first of
   January to the end of December and you would never be tired of their
   religion by what you would hear of it. They scarcely mention the name
   of Jesus Christ at all! On Sabbath afternoon, all the ministers are
   talked over--faults are found with this one and the other--and
   conversation takes place which they call religious because it is
   concerning religious places and Christian people. But do they ever--

   "Talk of all He did, and said,

   And suffered for us here below.

   The path He marked for us to tread,

   And what He's doing for us now"? Do you often hear the question
   addressed to you by your Christian Brother, "Friend, how does your soul
   prosper?" When we step into each other's houses, do we begin to talk
   concerning the cause and Truth of God? Do you think that God would now
   stoop from Heaven to listen to the conversation of His Church, as once
   He did, when it was said, "The Lord hearkened and heard it, and a Book
   of Remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord,
   and that thought upon His name"? I solemnly declare, as the result of
   thorough and, I trust, impartial observation, that the conversation of
   Christians, while it cannot be condemned on the score of morality, must
   often be condemned on the score of Christianity! We talk too little
   about our Lord and Master!

   That ugly word, "sectarianism," has crept into our midst and we must
   say nothing about Christ because we are afraid of being called
   sectarians! Well, Brothers and Sisters, I am a sectarian and hope to be
   so till I die and to glory in it, for I cannot see, nowadays, that a
   man can be a Christian, thoroughly in earnest, without winning for
   himself that title! Why, we must not talk of this doctrine because,
   perhaps, such an one disbelieves it! We must not mention such-and-such
   a Truth in Scripture because such-and-such a friend doubts or denies
   it! And so we drop all the great and grand topics which used to be the
   staple commodities of godly talk and begin to speak of anything else
   because we feel that we can agree better on worldly things than we can
   on spiritual! Is not that the truth? And is it not so common a sin with
   some of us that we have need to pray unto God, "O Lord, revive Your
   work in my soul, that my conversation may be more Christ-like, more
   seasoned with salt and more pleasing to the Holy Spirit"?

   My third remark is that there are some whose conduct is all that we
   could wish, whose conversation is for the most part as becomes the
   Gospel of Christ and savory of truth--but even they will confess to a
   third charge, which I must now sorrowfully bring against them and
   against myself, namely, that there is too little real communion with
   Jesus Christ. If, thanks to Divine Grace, we are enabled to keep our
   conduct tolerably consistent and our lives unblemished, yet how much
   have we to cry out against ourselves because of our lack of that holy
   fellowship with Jesus which is the mark of the true child of God!
   Brothers and Sisters, let me ask you how long it is since you have had
   a love-visit from Jesus Christ? How long since you could say, "My
   Beloved is mine, and I am His; He feeds among the lilies"? How long is
   it since He brought you into His banqueting house and His banner over
   you was love? Perhaps some of you will be able to say, "It was but this
   morning that I saw Him. I beheld His face with joy and was ravished
   with His Countenance." But I fear the most of you will have to say,
   "Ah, Sir, for months I have been without the shining of His
   Countenance!" What have you been doing, then, and what has been your
   way of life? Have you been groaning every day? Have you been weeping
   every minute? "No." Then you ought to have been! I cannot understand
   how your piety can be of any very brilliant order if you can live
   without the sunlight of Christ and yet are happy.

   Christians will sometimes lose the realization of Jesus. The connection
   between themselves and Christ will be, at times, severed as to their
   own conscious enjoyment of it, but they will always groan and cry when
   they lose that Presence. What? Is Christ your Brother and does He live
   in your house and yet you have not spoken to Him for a month? I fear
   there is little love between you and your Brother if you have had no
   conversation with Him for so long. What? Is Christ the Husband of His
   Church and has she had no fellowship with Him for all this time?
   Brothers and Sisters, let me not condemn you, let me not even judge
   you, but let your own conscience speak! Mine shall and so shall yours.
   Have we not too much forgotten Christ? Have we not lived too much
   without Him? Have we not been content with the world instead of
   desiring Christ? Have all of us been like that little ewe lamb that
   drank out of its master's cup and fed from his table and lie in his
   bosom? Have we not rather been content to stray upon the mountains,
   feeding anywhere but at home? I fear that many of the troubles of our
   heart spring from lack of communion with Jesus. Not many of us are the
   kind of men who, living with Jesus, learn His secrets. Oh, no, we live
   too much without the light of His Countenance and are too content when
   He is gone from us! Let us, then, each of us--for I am sure we have,
   each of us, need in some measure--put up the prayer, "O Lord, revive
   Your work."

   Ah, I think I hear one professor saying, "Sir, I need no revival in
   myheart. I am everything I wish to be." Down on your knees, my Brothers
   and Sisters, down on your knees and plead for that poor soul! He is the
   man who most needs to be prayed for! He says that he needs no revival
   in his soul, but he needs a revival of humility, at any rate! If he
   supposes that he is all that he ought to be and if he knows that he is
   all he wishes to be, he has very mean notions of what a Christian is,
   or of what a Christian should be--and very untrue ideas concerning
   himself! Those are in the most hopeful condition who, while they know
   they need reviving, yet groan under their present sad state and pray to
   the Lord to revive them.

   Now I think I have in some degree substantiated my charge--I fear with
   too-strong arguments--so now let us notice that the text has something
   in it which I trust that each of us has. There is not only an evil
   implied in these words, "O Lord, revive Your work," but there is an
   evil evidently felt. You see, Habakkuk knew how to groan about it. "O
   Lord," he said, "revive Your work." Ah, we, many of us, need reviving,
   but few of us feel that we need it. It is a blessed sign of life within
   when we know how to groan over our departure from the living God. It is
   easy to find hundreds who have thus departed, but you must count by
   ones and twos those who know how to groan over their departure! The
   true Believer, however, when he discovers that he needs revival, will
   not be happy. He will begin at once that incessant and continuous
   strain of cries and groans which will, at last, prevail with God and
   bring down the blessing of revival! He will, days and nights in
   succession, cry, "O Lord, revive Your work."

   Let me mention some groaning times which will always occur to the
   Christian who needs revival. I am sure he will always groan when he
   looks upon what the Lord did for him of old. When he recollects the
   Mizars and the Hermons, and those places where the Lord appeared of old
   to him, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love," I know he
   will never look back to them without tears. If he is what he should be
   as a Christian, or if he thinks he is not in a right condition, he will
   always weep when he remembers God's loving kindnesses of old. Whenever
   the soul has lost fellowship with Jesus, it cannot bear to think of
   "the chariots of Amminadib." It cannot endure to remember the King's
   banqueting house, for it has not been there for so long! Or when it
   does think of them, it says--

   "Where is the blessedness I knew

   When first I saw the Lord?

   Where is the soul-refreshing view

   Of Jesus and His Word?

   What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!

   How sweet their memory still!

   But now I find an aching void

   The world can never fill."

   When one who is in this state hears a sermon which relates the glorious
   experience of the Believer who is in a healthy condition, he puts his
   hand upon his heart and says, "Ah, such was my experience once, but
   those happy days are gone. My sun has set and those stars which once
   lit up my darkness are all quenched. Oh, that I might again behold my
   Lord! Oh, that I might once more see His face! Oh, for those sweet
   visits from on high! Oh, for the grapes of Eshcol once more!" If this
   is your condition, my Friend, you will sit down and weep by the rivers
   of Babylon, you will mourn when you remember your goings up to Zion
   when the Lord was precious to you, when He laid bare His heart and was
   pleased, also, to fill your heart with the fullness of His love. Such
   times will be groaning times, when you, "remember the years of the
   right hand of the Most High."

   Again, to a Christian who needs revival, ordinances will also be
   groaning times. He will go up to the House of God, but he will say to
   himself when he comes away, "Ah, how changed it all is! When I once
   went with the multitude that kept holy day, every word was precious.
   When the song ascended, my soul had wings and up it flew to its nest
   above the stars! When the prayer was offered, I could devoutly say,
   "Amen." The preacher now preaches as he did before, and my Brothers and
   Sisters are as profited as they used to be, but the sermon is dry and
   dull to me. I find no fault with the preacher. I know the fault is in
   myself. The song is just the same--as sweet the melody, as pure the
   harmony--but ah, my heart is heavy, my harp strings are broken and I
   cannot sing." So the Christian will return from those blessed means of
   Grace, sighing and sobbing because he knows he needs revival.

   More especially at the Lord's Supper he will think, when he sits at the
   Table, "Oh, what seasons of communion I once had here! In breaking the
   bread and drinking the wine, my Master was most blessedly present." He
   will remind himself how his soul was lifted even to the seventh Heaven
   and the building became to him "the House of God, and the gate of
   Heaven." "But now," he says, "It is only bread, and dry bread, to me.
   It is simply wine and tasteless wine, with none of the sweets of
   Paradise in it. I drink, but it is all in vain, for I have no precious
   thoughts of Christ. My heart is so heavy that it will not rise. My soul
   cannot heave a thought even half way to Him!" And then the Christian
   will begin to groan again, "O Lord, revive Your work."

   Those of you who know that you are in Christ, but who feel that you are
   not in a healthy spiritual condition because you do not love Him
   enough, and have not that faith in Him which you desire to have, I
   would just ask you this--Do you groan over it? Are you groaning over it
   now? When you feel that your heart is empty, is it, "an aching void?"
   When you see that your garments are stained, are you ready to wash
   those garments with tears if that would do any good? When you realize
   that your Lord is gone, do you hang out the black flag of sorrow and
   cry, "O my Jesus, my precious

   Jesus, are You gone forever?" If you can, then I bid you do it, and may
   God be pleased to give you Grace to continue to do it until a happier
   era shall dawn in the reviving of your soul!

   I remark, in the last place upon this point, that the soul, when it is
   really brought to feel its own sad state because of its declension and
   departure from God, is never content without turning its groaning into
   prayer and without addressing the prayer to the right quarter--"O Lord,
   revive Your work." Some of you, perhaps, will say, "Sir, I feel my need
   of revival. I intend to set to work this very afternoon, as soon as I
   shall retire from this place, to revive my soul." Do not say it and,
   above all things, do not try to do it, for you will never do it! Make
   no resolutions as to what youwill do--your resolutions will as
   certainly be broken as they are made--and your broken resolutions will
   but increase the number of your sins! I exhort you, instead of trying
   to revive yourself, to offer prayer to God. Say not, "I will revive
   myself," but cry, "O Lord, revive Your work." And let me solemnly tell
   you, you have not yet felt what it is to decline, you do not yet know
   how sad is your state, otherwise you would not talk of reviving
   yourself! If you knew your own position, you would as soon expect to
   see the wounded soldier on the battlefield heal himself without
   medicine, or convey himself to the hospital when his limbs are shot
   away, as you would expect to revive yourself without the help of God! I
   bid you not do anything, nor seek to do anything until, first of all,
   you have addressed Jehovah, Himself, by mighty prayer and have cried
   out, "O Lord, revive Your work." Remember, He that first made you, must
   keep you alive. And He that has kept you alive can alone impart more
   life to you! He that has preserved you from going down to the Pit when
   your feet have been sliding, can alone set you again upon the Rock and
   establish your goings. Begin, then, by humbling yourself-- giving up
   all hope of reviving yourself as a Christian! But also begin at once
   with earnest supplication to God, saying, "O Lord, what I cannot do,
   You do! O Lord, revive Your work!"

   Christian Brothers and Sisters, I leave these matters with you. Give
   them the attention they deserve. If I have erred, and in anything
   judged you too harshly, God shall forgive me, for I have meant it
   honestly. But if I have spoken truly, lay it to your hearts and turn
   your houses into a Bochim. Weep as in the olden time--men apart, and
   women apart, husbands apart, and wives apart. Weep, weep, my Brothers
   and Sisters, for it is a sad thing to depart from the living God! Weep,
   and may He bring you back to Zion, that you may one day return like
   Israel, not with weeping, but with songs of everlasting joy!

   II. And now I come to the second part of the subject, upon which I must
   be more brief. In THE CHURCH ITSELF, taken as a body, this prayer ought
   to be one incessant and solemn liturgy--"O Lord, revive Your work."

   In the present era there is a sad decline of the vitality of godliness.
   This age has become too much the age of form, instead of the age of
   life. I date the hour of life from this day one hundred years ago, when
   there was laid the first stone of this building in which we now worship
   God. Then was the day of life Divine and of power sent down from on
   high! God had clothed Whitefield with power. He was preaching with a
   majesty and a might of which one could scarcely think mortal could ever
   be capable! Not because he was anything in himself, but because his
   Master girded him with strength. After Whitefield, there was a
   succession of great and holy men. But now, Sirs, we have fallen upon
   the dregs of time. Men are the rarest things in all this world--we have
   hardly any men in the government to conduct our politics--and we have
   scarcely any men in religion. We have the things that perform their
   duties, as they are called. We have the good and, perhaps, the honest
   things who, in the regular routine, go on like pack horses with their
   bells in the old style. But men who dare to be singular, because to be
   singular is generally to be right in a wicked world, are not very many
   in this age. Compared even with the Puritan times, where are our
   divines? Could we marshal together our Howes and our Charnocks? Could
   we gather together such names as I might mention about 50 at a time? I
   think not. Nor could we bring together such a galaxy of Grace and
   talent as that which immediately followed Whitefield. Think of Rowland
   Hill, Newton, To-plady and numbers of others whom time would fail me to
   mention! They are gone. Their venerated dust rests in the grave. Where
   are their successors? Ask where and echo shall reply, "Where?" God has
   not yet raised them up, or, if He has done so, we have not yet found
   out where they are.

   There is, nowadays, much preaching, but how is it often done? The
   preacher says, "O Lord, help Your servant to preach and teach him by
   Your Spirit what to say!" Then out comes the manuscript and he reads
   it! We have other preaching of this order--it is speaking very
   beautifully and very finely, possibly eloquently, in a sense--but where
   is there, now, such preaching as Whitefield's? Have you ever read one
   of his sermons? You will not think him eloquent--you cannot think so.
   His expressions were rough and frequently unconnected--there was very
   much declamation about him, it was a great part, indeed, of his
   speech--but wherein lay his eloquence? Not in the words he uttered, but
   in the tones in which he delivered them! In the earnestness with which
   he spoke them, in the tears which ran down his cheeks and in the
   pouring out of his very soul! The reason why he was eloquent was just
   what the word means--he was eloquent because he spoke right out from
   his heart--he caused the Truth of God to flow out of the innermost
   depths of his soul. When he spoke, you could see that he meant what he
   said. He did not speak like a mere machine, but he preached what he
   felt to be the Truth of God and what he could not help preaching! If
   you had heard him preach, you could not but help feeling that he was a
   man who would die if he could not preach--and that with all his might
   he called to men, "Come to Jesus Christ, and believe on Him."

   That kind of preaching is just the lack of these times! Where is
   earnestness now? It is neither in the pulpit nor yet in the pew in such
   a measure as we desire it. And it is a sad, sad age when earnestness is
   scoffed at, and when that very zeal which ought to be the prominent
   characteristic of the pulpit is regarded as enthusiasm and fanaticism!
   I pray God to make us all such fanatics as most men laugh at, such
   enthusiasts as many despise. To my mind, it is the greatest fanaticism
   in the world to go to Hell--and the worst folly upon earth to love sin
   better than righteousness! And I think that they are anything but
   fanatics who seek to obey God rather than man, and to follow Christ in
   all His ways. To me, one sad proof that the Church needs revival is the
   absence of that solemn earnestness which was once seen in Christian
   pulpits.

   The absences of sound doctrine is another proof of our need of revival.
   We can turn back to the records of our Puritan forefathers, to the
   Articles of the Church of England and to the preaching of Whitefield,
   and we can say of their doctrine, it is the very thing we love! And the
   doctrines which were then uttered are--and we dare to say it
   everywhere--the very same doctrines that we proclaim now! But because
   we proclaim them, we are thought singular and strange! And the reason
   is because sound doctrine has, to a great degree, been abandoned! It
   began in this way. First of all, the Truths of God were fully believed,
   but the angles of them were taken off a little. The minister believed
   in election, but he did not use the word for fear it should, in some
   degree, disturb the equanimity of the deacon in the green pew in the
   corner. He believed that all were, by nature, depraved, but he did not
   say so positively, because if he did, there was a lady who had
   subscribed so much to the Chapel who would not come again! So, while he
   surely did believe it and did preach it in some sense, he rounded it
   off a little.

   Afterwards, it came to this--ministers said, "We believe these
   doctrines, but we do not think them profitable to preach to the people.
   They are quite true. Free Grace is true. The great Doctrines of Grace
   that were preached by Christ, by Paul, by Augustine, by Calvin and down
   to this age by their successors, are true--but they had better be kept
   back-- they must be very cautiously dealt with. They are very high and
   dreadful doctrines and they must not be preached! We believe them, but
   we dare not speak them out." After that, it came to something worse.
   They said within themselves, "Well, if these doctrines will not do for
   us to preach, perhaps they are not true, after all." And going one step
   further, they did not actually say so, perhaps, but they began to hint
   that they were not true--and then they went on to preach something
   which they said was the truth. And now, if they could, they would cast
   us out of the synagogue, as if they were the rightful owners of it and
   we were the intruders! So they have gone from bad to worse. And if you
   read the standard divinity of this age and the standard divinity of
   Whitefield's day, you will find that the two cannot, by any
   possibility, be made to agree together! We have, nowadays, what is
   called a "new theology." New theology? Why, it is anything buta
   Theology--it is an ology which has cast out God and enthroned man! It
   is the doctrine of man--not the doctrine of the everlasting God.
   Therefore, we need a revival of sound doctrine once more in the midst
   of the land.

   And the Church at large also needs a revival of downright earnestness
   in its members. You are not the men to fight the Lord's battles--you
   have not the earnestness, the zeal which the children of God once had!
   Your forefathers were oak men, but you are willow men. Our people, what
   are they, many of them? Strong in doctrine when they are with strong
   doctrine men, but they waver when they got with others--and they alter
   as often as they change their company! They are sometimes one thing and
   sometimes another. They are not the men to go to the stake and die for
   the Truth of God! They are not the men who know how to die daily and so
   are ready for death whenever it comes.

   Look at our Prayer Meetings, with only here and there a bright
   exception. There are, possibly, six old women present--scarcely ever do
   enough male members come to pray four times. Prayer Meetings they are
   called--spare meetings they ought to be called, for sparely enough are
   they attended! And very few there are who go to our Fellowship
   Meetings, or to any other meetings that we have to help one another in
   the fear of the Lord. Are they attended at all as they should be? I
   would like to see a newspaper printed, somewhere, containing a list of
   all the persons who went to those meetings during the week in any of
   our Chapels. Ah, my Friends, if they should comprise all the Christians
   in London, you might find that a very few Chapels would hold them all!
   We have not earnestness, we have not life as we once had! If we had, we
   would be called worse names than we are now--we would have viler
   epithets thrown at us if we were more true to our Master! We should not
   have all things quite so comfortable if we served God better. We are
   getting the Church to be an institution of our land--an honorable
   institution. Some think it a grand thing when the Church becomes an
   honorable institution, but it shows that the Church has swerved from
   the right course when she begins to be very honorable in the eyes of
   the world! She must still be cast out, she must still be called evil
   and still be despised until that day when her Lord shall honor her
   because she has honored Him--when He shall honor her, even in this
   world, in the day of His appearing!

   Beloved, do you think it is true that the Church needs reviving? Yes,
   or no? "No," you say, "at least not to the extent that you suppose. We
   think the Church is in a good condition. We are not among those who
   cry, 'The former days were better than these.'" Perhaps you are not.
   You may be far wiser than we are and, therefore, you are able to see
   those various signs of goodness which are, to us, so small that we are
   not able to discover them. You may suppose that the Church is in a good
   condition. If so, of course you cannot sympathize with me in preaching
   from such a text and urging you to use such a prayer as this, "O Lord,
   revive Your work." But there are others of you who frequently cry, "The
   Church needs reviving." Let me bid you, instead of grumbling at your
   minister, instead of finding fault with the different parts of the
   Church, to cry, " O Lord, revive Your work." "Oh," says one, "that we
   had another minister! Oh, that we had another kind of worship! Oh, that
   we had a different sort of preaching!" Just as if that were all--but my
   prayer is, "Oh, that the Lord would come into the hearts of the men you
   have! Oh, that He would make the plans you use to be full of power!"
   You do not need fresh ways or new machinery--you need life in those
   that you have!

   There is an engine on the railway, but the train will not move. "Bring
   another engine," says one, "and another, and another." The engines are
   brought, but the train does not stir. Light the fire and get up steam,
   that is what you need-- not fresh engines! We do not need fresh
   ministers, or fresh plans, or fresh ways, though many might be invented
   to make the Church better--we only need life and fire in those we have!
   With the very man who has emptied your Chapel, the same person that
   brought your Prayer Meeting low, God can yet make the Chapel to be
   crowded to the doors and give thousands of souls to that very man! It
   is not a new man that is needed--it is the life of God in him! Do not
   be crying out for something new--it will no more succeed, of itself,
   than what you have! Cry, "O Lord, revive Your work!"

   I have noticed, in different churches, that the minister has thought
   first of this contrivance, then of that. He tried one plan and thought
   that would succeed. Then he tried another, but that was no good. Keep
   to the old plan, my Friend, but seek to get life into it! We do not
   need anything new--"the old is better"--let us keep to it, but we need
   life in the old. "Oh," men cry, "we have nothing but the shell." And
   they are going to give us a new shell. No, Sirs, we will keep the old
   one, but we will have the life in the shell! We will have the old
   plans, but we must, or else we will throw the old away, have the life
   in the old! Oh, that God would give us life! The Church needs fresh
   revivals. Oh, for the days of Cambuslang again, when God's Word was
   preached with power! Oh, for the days when, in this place, hundreds
   were converted under Whitefield's sermons! It has been known that 2,000
   credible cases of conversion have happened under one solitary sermon!
   Oh, for the age when eyes would be strained and ears would be ready to
   receive the Truth of God and when men would drink in the Word of Life,
   as it is, indeed, the very Water of Life which God gives to dying
   souls! Oh, for the age of deep feeling--the age of thorough-going
   earnestness!

   Let us ask God for it! Let us plead with Him for it! Perhaps He has the
   man or the men somewhere who will yet shake the world! Perhaps even now
   He is about to pour forth a mighty influence upon man which shall make
   the Church as wonderful in this age as it ever was in any age that has
   passed. God grant it, for Christ's sake! Amen,
     __________________________________________________________________

A Visit From the Lord

   (No. 2599)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 4, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT CHRIST CHURCH, WESTMINSTER BRIDGE ROAD, (during the renovation of
   the Tabernacle), ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1883.

   "O visit me with Your salvation." Psalm 106:4.

   THIS is the prayer of a man who understood the art of praise. He begins
   this Psalm with a Hallelujah. "Praise you the Lord. O give thanks unto
   the Lord, for He is good." Now, mark, there is no prayer that is purer,
   more spiritual, more heavenly than the prayer which comes out of a
   heart full of praise! How often have I said that prayer is the
   breathing in of the air of Heaven and praise is the breathing of it out
   again? Prayer and praise make up the best life of the Christian and he
   is not yet thoroughly in spiritual health who is all for prayer and not
   at all for praise--but he is the really healthy Christian who has these
   two things rightly balanced. Such a man one moment cries, "O give
   thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endures forever."
   And then, directly afterwards, prays, "Remember me, O Lord, with the
   favor that You bear unto Your people." Is it not possible, my dear
   Brothers and Sisters, that you have lost some of your power in prayer
   because you have somewhat neglected praise? If we do not bless God for
   the mercies we have received, how can we go and ask Him for more? If we
   have already been heard in our prayers and yet have failed to
   acknowledge our obligation to the Giver, do we not come to prayer with
   a very bad attitude? Might not God say to us, "You did not thank Me the
   last time I granted your request. Why should I answer you this time?"
   Let us, therefore, each one, take care that our prayer is the petition
   of one who can and who does praise the Lord.

   Next, observe that this prayer was offered by one who knew the
   blessedness of the saints. In the third verse he says, "Blessed are
   they that keep justice and he that does righteousness at all times." I
   introduce this remark because, to a large extent, the prayer of the
   text is the prayer of a sinner--the prayer of one who felt that he did
   not bear the character of a saint as fully as he ought to have done.
   And, Beloved, if we were more saintly, we would have much more power in
   prayer and we should be much more happy. If we walked with God more
   closely, and kept justice, and did righteousness at all times, we would
   be saved from many of those trials and afflictions and disappointments
   which now fall to our lot. The Psalmist tells us about what troubles
   the children of Israel had in the wilderness, but those troubles
   resulted from their sin. They need not have had to endure half what
   they suffered if they had only been right with God. And so, in the
   later days of their history, they would never have been captives to
   their enemies if they had not first been captives to their sins. If
   they had walked as God would have had them walk, their peace would have
   been like a river--one of them would have chased a thousand--and two
   would have put ten thousand to flight! There will be, practically,
   hardly any limit to the blessedness which a child of God may enjoy even
   in this life if he will but walk carefully with his God.

   So, dear Friends, if you and I feel that we have wandered and if our
   prayer has to be presented "out of the depths," yet I trust that we
   have not forgotten that there is a peace, a rest, a joy which God
   bestows upon those who walk uprightly, those who live more carefully
   than we have done and keep nearer to Him than some of His erring
   children do.

   Now, coming to the text, I want you to notice the prayer itself. I have
   nothing new to say, but I shall try to utter some very simple Truths of
   God suggested by the Psalmist's prayer, "O visit me with Your
   salvation."

   I. The first thought is, that the Psalmist here prays for SALVATION.

   What a wonderful word that word, "salvation," is! Well might Dr. Watts
   say--

   "Salvation! Let the echo fly The spacious earth around,"

   for there is something in it to be heard by all who dwell on this
   spacious earth. Salvation is the one thing which all men need, and when
   it is given to them, it conveys to them innumerable mercies for time
   and for eternity. Indeed, everything good is wrapped up in that word,
   salvation. As we read this Psalm, you probably noticed how the Psalmist
   sings concerning salvation in it. He says, first, that God saved the
   people out of Egypt There they were, a nation of captives and bond
   slaves--and He began to work with a high hand and an outstretched arm
   to bring them out of their captivity! And though they did not
   understand His wonders, yet, nevertheless, He saved them. That is a
   salvation in which you and I also delight--salvation by the sprinkled
   blood--salvation by the Paschal Lamb--salvation by the right hand of
   God and His out-stretched arm--a salvation which reveals His
   faithfulness, His mercy and His power. Let us bless God if we
   experimentally know what this salvation means! And if we do not, let
   this be the prayer of each one of us, "O visit me with Your salvation."

   One of the worst results of the Fall is that men who are spiritually
   dead do not pray for life. But if there is one here who is sufficiently
   under the influence of the Holy Spirit to know that he needs spiritual
   life, he may begin at once to pray, "O visit me with Your salvation."
   If you have not yet felt the burden of sin. If you do not yet savingly
   know the Sin-Bearer. If you are still a bond slave to your sin, you
   have, indeed, need to pray this prayer. If you know that you are not
   what you ought to be and that, living and dying as you now are, you
   will perish everlastingly, then with all your heart and with as much
   desire as there may be in you, do breathe the prayer to God, "O visit
   me with Your salvation."

   O poor Heart, as soon as you begin to pray, you begin to live! You may
   have very little power in prayer. In fact, your prayer may be no better
   than the first feeble cry of a newborn child, but it is a sign of life
   and the Lord hears even a groan! And the tears that fall without a
   sound are liquid music to Jehovah, for He knows what they mean. May I
   not hope that somebody here, if he cannot pray spiritually, will yet
   pray as do the young ravens who, in their nests, when they are hungry,
   cry, and the Lord hears them and relieves their hunger? If you think
   that your prayer is no better than the cry of a poor bird, or the
   roaring of a wild beast, yet still cry, still pray! One trick of the
   devil is to try to stop you from praying--he will tell you that you
   will not be heard. But I can assure you that the cry of misery, the sob
   of inward grief is certain to be heard by the tender and gracious God
   whom we worship. Somewhere in this building, I think, there must be
   some heart that has been, up to now, giddy, thoughtless, careless--that
   will now begin to pray--"O visit me with Your salvation."

   Further on in the Psalm, the writer sings of a second salvation when
   the people were delivered at the Red Sea. Its waves rolled before them
   and they could not tell how they were to escape from Pharaoh who was
   close behind with all the chariots and horsemen of Egypt pursuing them.
   Ah, poor timid Israelites! They could almost hear the whips of their
   taskmasters and they probably feared that something worse would come
   upon them and that they would feel their oppressors' swords and that
   their blood would soon be shed! They were in a state of great anxiety
   and trouble, yet we read just now, "Nevertheless He saved them for His
   name's sake. He rebuked the Red Sea, also, and it was dried up--and He
   saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from
   the hand of the enemy."

   Perhaps I am addressing some who are so fully conscious of their sin
   that they are driven almost to despair by it. Instead of believing that
   this awakened conscience of theirs is an evidence of God's Grace, they
   are afraid that it is a sign of condemnation. The weight of their sin
   crushes them--they hardly dare hope that there may be a way of escape
   for them, but, poor Soul, if this is your sad state, I trust that you
   will be able to pray, "'O visit me with Your salvation.' O God, the Red
   Sea rolls in front of me, the rocks frown upon me on either hand and my
   sins pursue me, and seek to slay me. 'O visit me with Your salvation.'
   Come, and dry up this Red Sea of iniquity! Come and destroy these
   adversaries of mine and let me sing with the Psalmist, 'And the waters
   covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.' 'O visit me
   with Your salvation.'"

   You know how it was with Israel--I always delight to dwell upon it--how
   the Lord brought again the waters of the Red Sea and Pharaoh and all
   his hosts were swallowed up. And then Miriam took her timbrel and all
   the women went forth after her and sang unto the Lord who had triumphed
   gloriously, and thrown the horses and their riders into the sea! And
   this was one of the most jubilant notes of their song, "The depths have
   covered them; there is not one of them left." So it was, Beloved, when
   you and I, having cried to God for mercy, at last found it through
   Jesus Christ our Savior! Then we saw our sins cast into the depths of
   the sea and we were ready to dance for joy as we said, "The depths have
   covered them! There is not one of them left." Our experience ought to
   be an encouragement to others. Come, despairing Soul, you that are like
   a mouse in a hole and hardly dare to pop your head out to look! Never
   mind about coming out! Stay where you are and there breathe the prayer,
   "O visit me with Your salvation," and you shall yet come out into light
   and liberty, and you shall joy and rejoice in God!

   It may be that you and I, dear Friends, have gone further on than this.
   We have been saved from our natural ruin and saved from the power of
   despair worked in us by conviction--and now we are fighting with our
   uprising corruptions. Our inbred sin is like the deep that lies under
   and, perhaps, lately, the fountains of the great deep have been broken
   up within us. We cannot sin without being grieved and troubled by it.
   It is a vexation even to hear the report of it. Oh, that we could live
   without sinning at all! Well, now, Beloved, if you are struggling
   against it, let this be your prayer to the Most High, "O visit me with
   Your salvation." The Lord is able at once to come into your heart and
   to put an end to your temptation whatever it may be. Is it unbelief? He
   can strengthen your faith. Is it covetousness? He can deliver you from
   that abomination and give you a contented spirit. Is it anger? Oh, how
   sweetly can He come and fill you with love! Whatever may be the evil
   against which you are fighting, He can help you overthrow it and you
   shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved you! I earnestly
   commend this prayer to every struggling Believer, to everyone who feels
   the two natures within him striving for the mastery and who is,
   sometimes, in doubt whether the house of David or the house of Saul
   will get the victory! Doubt not, my Brothers and Sisters, the Lord is
   with the true seed. He that quickened you will keep the new life in
   you--it cannot die, for it is born of God and you shall yet overcome
   sin and death and Hell! Only forget not to breathe the cry from your
   very soul, "O visit me with Your salvation," and you shall prove what a
   salvation it is to be saved from the power of sin.

   Our text may also be used in another sense, for salvation means
   deliverance from grievous affliction, ]ust as, in this Psalm, when the
   children of Israel were brought into great distress by their enemies,
   God came and saved them from their foes. So, at this time, dear Friend,
   you may be in great distress. It may be temporal distress, or mental
   distress, or spiritual distress. Whether you are suffering in body, or
   in mind, or in heart, God knows how to deliver you. "Many are the
   afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them
   all." "He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord
   belong the issues from death." If you should ever get so low in spirit
   that you can only compare yourself with Jonah when the whale went down
   to the very bottom of the sea and he felt that the earth with her bars
   was about him forever and he was at the very foundations of the
   everlasting hills--yet even then the God who brought up Jonah from the
   depths can bring you up! See how the wheel turns--that spoke which was
   lowest just now has become the highest! Mark how the stars which shall,
   tonight, descend, and shall not be seen all day long, shall yet, when
   night comes round again, climb once more to their zenith and occupy
   their appointed places! You are not doomed to be down forever! You
   shall yet mount up again and you may say to the adversary, "Rejoice not
   against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall arise." "The Lord said, I
   will bring again from Bashan, I will bring My people again from the
   depths of the sea."

   To every tried and troubled one, then, I suggest the prayer of our
   text, "O visit me with Your salvation," for it points out the way of
   deliverance for them, whatever their trouble may be, and it specially
   concerns the all-important matter of salvation!

   II. Now let us think for a few minutes upon the second thing which is
   very manifest in the text, and that is, VISITA-TION--"O visit me with
   Your salvation."

   You have read in the newspapers of men having "died in the visitation
   of God." Sometimes, that has been the verdict of the jury at the close
   of an inquest. But here is a man who livedby the visitation of God!
   And, truly, it is a most blessed thing to know that the very best and
   truest way of living is to live by being visited by God--visited by His
   salvation! I admire the wording of this prayer. It does not say, "O
   save me." That would be a very proper petition. It does not say, "O
   send me salvation." That, under some aspects, would be proper enough.
   But the petition is, "Lord, come Yourself and bring the salvation that
   I need, by Yourself coming to me. 'O visit me with Your salvation.'"
   What a blessed prayer this is! "O visit me! Lord, visit me!" It takes
   some faith to pray it, for humility prompts us to say, "Lord, I am not
   worthy that you should come under my roof." Yet faith, and a childlike
   spirit teach us to pray, "Lord, visit me. I hear that You visit Your
   people. Lord, visit me. I have heard one of them say that you came
   under his roof and stayed with him all through the night and make him
   unspeakably glad. 'Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that You bear
   unto Your people: O visit me'--yes, even me--'with Your salvation.'
   Though the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You, for You are so great,
   yet I know that You dwell in every humble and contrite heart. Lord,
   come and visit me, and dwell within me." I think this is indeed a
   blessed prayer.

   Mark the condescension which the Psalmist feels that the Lord will thus
   manifest. "'O visit me with Your salvation.' Lord, I cannot be saved
   unless You will visit me. Visit me not as a saved one, but, 'visit me
   with Your salvation.' I am lost until You come to me. O come, Lord, and
   visit me as a Savior! Come and visit me as a Physician, for I am sick!
   Pay me a visit of mercy, a visit of Grace and tenderness. O You great
   and glorious Lord, I beseech You, come and visit me! By the remembrance
   of Bethlehem's manger, the horned oxen, the straw and the stable, so
   ill fitted for Your reception, come and visit me! And, as the angels
   sang when You thus descended to the lowliest of lowliness, so shall my
   heart sing yet more sweetly if You will visit me--even me! It will be
   great condescension on Your part, but, 'O visit me with Your
   salvation.'"

   And it will be compassion, too. "'O visit me.' I am a prisoner, yet
   come, Lord, and visit me. I am lame and very weak. Lord, I have not a
   leg to carry me to Your House, so, come to my house, Lord. 'O visit
   me!' My heart is heavy and sorely burdened. My very wishes lag, my
   prayers limp, my desires halt. O come and visit me! If I cannot come to
   You, yet come You to me, my God." It seems to me that this is a sweet,
   sweet prayer for one who is under a sense of inability and whose
   strength is utterly gone. "O visit me with Your salvation." In it I see
   condescension and compassion.

   But there is more in it even than that, there is also communion--"O
   visit me with Your salvation." This means more than a complimentary
   call such as ladies and gentlemen make when they spend half a day in
   going around to their friends distributing little bits of cardboard. I
   believe it is a wonderful token of friendship to do that, but you and I
   do not move in that artificial region. When we visit anyone, we mean
   it, and we do not make calls of mere ceremony or custom, but a visit
   from a beloved friend--oh, what a joy it is! Occasionally I have the
   opportunity of meeting dear friends who have been asking me to pay them
   a visit and I can see, by the very way that they receive me, that they
   are almost as happy as the black men were when Mungo Park went to them!
   They said that they began to date their existence from the day when the
   white man came that way. Most of you must have some friends who love
   you so much that when they see you at their house, they do not need to
   know when you are going, but, if they could, they would make you always
   stay there. Dr. Watts went to see Sir Thomas Abney, at Abney Park, to
   spend a week--but that week lasted through all the rest of his life,
   for he never went away from there--and he lies buried in Abney Park.
   And Sir Thomas is buried there, also, so that even in death, the
   friends are not separated from one another! They never meant to part
   after they once came together. That is the kind of visit we need from
   the Lord, so let us breathe this prayer now, "O Lord, come and visit
   me, but do not merely pay me a brief visit, but come to stay with me."

   "That is a bold request," says one, "to ask God to come and abide with
   us." Listen, listen, listen! There was a certain Church--you know the
   name of it--Laodicea, of which Christ said that it made Him sick. But
   what did He say next? "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
   man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will
   sup with him, and he with Me." That passage is not a call from Christ
   to sinners, as it is often used--it may, perhaps, be so used by way of
   illustration. But that is not its first meaning. It is this. Here are
   some people of God who have fallen so low in Grace that they are
   neither cold nor hot and Christ prescribes this remedy for their
   lukewarmness--that He should come and sup with them--that He should
   come and pay them a visit. Now, if our blessed Lord was willing to
   visit the Laodiceans who were neither cold nor hot, I am sure that He
   will come to us who are cold! And He will come to us who are hot--He
   would rather come to such than to the lukewarm! Let us, then, each one,
   breathe the prayer, "Come, Lord, and tarry not. Come now and visit me
   with Your salvation." And when He does come, Brothers and Sisters, let
   us do as Sir Thomas Abney did with Dr. Watts--let us get Him to
   protract His visit! He will act as though He would go further, as He
   did when at Emmaus, but our wisdom will be to say, as the two disciples
   did, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far
   spent." And when He says, "No, I must go," we must not take His, "No,"
   for an answer, but we must do as they did--"They constrained Him." He
   will go, if you let Him, but you must not let Him! Perhaps He will say,
   "Let Me go, for the day breaks," but you must follow Jacob's example
   and say, "I will not let You go," and you need not add, "except You
   bless me," but you may say, "I will not let you go at all! I mean to
   hold to You on and on and on, by day and night--You shall not leave
   me." You will be blessed, indeed, if you can pray the prayer of our
   text in this sense, "O visit me with Your salvation."

   III. Now, with great brevity, I turn to a third thing in my text and
   that is, PERSONALITY--"O visit me with Your salvation." We ought to
   pray for one another. We must pray for the peace and prosperity of the
   whole Church of Christ, but there are times when it will be well that
   all our desire should run in this direction and that we should cry to
   the Lord, "O visit me with Your salvation."

   This petition of the Psalmist shows great necessity. It is as if he had
   said, "Lord, I need You more than any others do, therefore, visit me.
   Unless you come to me, I shall be a wretch undone forever. 'O visit me
   with Your salvation.'" It is always unwise to make your necessity
   appear little. It is so great that you never can exaggerate it--take
   care that you do not set it in a diminished form! When you come before
   God, do not try to make yourself out to be a little sinner. You are not
   likely to make yourself appear more guilty than you are, but your
   highest wisdom is to state your case to the Lord in all its blackness
   and its badness--and then to cry to Him, "O visit me with Your
   salvation."

   It seems to me that this personality of the prayer also betokens great
   unworthiness, as if the Psalmist felt that the Lord might go and visit
   others and, perhaps, find some reason for so doing, but, as for him, he
   must cry, and cry mightily, too, or else he would be passed by, for he
   felt himself so unworthy. "O Lord, visit me; visit me to save me! If
   ever a soul needed saving, I am that one. If ever there was a sinner
   near despair, I am that sinner! Lord, come and visit me with Your
   salvation!"

   The prayer also reveals great concentration of desire. "O visit me with
   Your salvation." It seems to me as if the Psalmist put all his
   thoughts, all his desires, yes, and his very life into that prayer. Let
   us imitate him in this earnestness and concentration. Where are you, my
   dear Friend? --for I feel certain that there is somebody present who
   can pray this prayer. "O visit me." If you are growing old, well may
   you say, "O visit me." If you are feeling ill--if the doctor tells you
   that there is something amiss with that heart of yours--you may well
   pray, "O visit me." Or do you feel yourself very weak and feeble in
   spirit? Well, then, do not hesitate to make your prayer, tonight, a
   personal one--there is nothing selfish in crying with the publican,
   "God be merciful to me a sinner!" If anybody says that it is selfish to
   pray for yourself so much, just ask him what he would do if he were
   drowning? Does anybody say that it is selfish for him to strike out and
   try to swim, or selfish to seize the lifebuoy that is thrown to him? If
   you were in a fire and likely to be burned to death, would anybody call
   you selfish because you looked for the fire escape and climbed on it as
   soon as it touched your window?

   And when your very soul is in danger, it is a hallowed selfishness to
   seek, first, its salvation! If your own soul is lost, what can you do
   for the salvation of other people? If you perish, what benefit can you
   be to your fellow men? Truly, this is a holy charity which ought to
   begin at home and I do not believe that any man really cares for the
   souls of others who does not first and foremost care about his own
   soul! If you do not pray, "O visit me with Your salvation," I am sure
   that you do not pray, "O visit my wife with Your salvation. O visit my
   children with Your salvation." Therefore, keep to this personal prayer
   till it is answered! And when it is, then pray for all others as
   earnestly as you have prayed for yourself!

   IV. And now to finish. Notice one thing more in this text and that is,
   A SPECIALTY--"O visit me with Your salva-tion"--the kind of salvation
   he has been describing in this Psalm--the salvation worked by
   Omnipotent Grace, the salvation of enduring love!

   Dear Friends, I have heard of a good many so-called salvations in my
   time. I heard, some time ago, of a woman who said that she had been
   saved already six times and it had not done her much good. She had been
   to different revival meetings and joined various societies that make a
   great row--and call it salvation--and in that way she had been "saved"
   six times and she did not know that she was any better. No, and you may
   be "saved" in such a fashion as that six thousand times and be none the
   better, for that is not God's salvation!

   The Psalmist prayed, "O visit me with Your salvation," and by that he
   meant real salvation, a radical change, a thorough work of Grace. God's
   salvation includes a perfect cleansing in the precious blood of Jesus,
   a supernatural work in renewing the heart, a resurrection work in
   raising the dead and giving a new life. So, when you pray, "O visit me
   with Your salvation," you ask the Lord to give you real salvation, not
   a sham.

   This salvation is also compete salvation. It saves the man from the
   love of sin. It not merely saves him from getting drunk, from lying,
   from thieving and from uncleanness, but it saves him within as well as
   without. It is a thorough renewal--a work of Grace that takes effect
   upon every part of his nature. God grant that you and I may never be
   content with a salvation which is not the work of Divine Grace! You
   remember that it is said of Mr. Rowland Hill that he was met, somewhere
   about the New Cut, by a drunk who reeled up to him and said, "Well, Mr.
   Hill, I am glad to see you, Sir. I am one of your converts." "Yes,"
   replied the good minister, "you may be one of my converts. If you had
   been one of the Lord's converts, you would not be drunk." There are too
   many of our converts about--we may find them everywhere except in
   Heaven! But woe unto the man who is content with being the convert of
   his fellow man! What we need is a visitation from God, Himself, and
   therefore, we pray with the Psalmist, "O visit me with Your salvation."

   Lastly, and chiefly, God's salvation is eternal salvation. We hear, in
   various quarters, from time to time, about a salvation that is only
   temporary. I have been told, again and again, of men who are said to
   have been children of God one day, and children of the devil the next.
   Now, I believe that a temporary salvation is a trumpery salvation and
   that it is neither worth preaching nor receiving. But God's salvation
   is both worth preaching and receiving because it is everlasting
   salvation. A good old divine was once asked whether he believed in the
   final perseverance of the saints. "Well," said he, "I do not know much
   about that matter, but I firmly believe in the final perseverance of
   God, that where He has begun a good work He will carry it on until it
   is complete." To my mind, that Truth of God includes the final
   perseverance of the saints--they persevere in the way of salvation
   because God keeps them in it. Does the Holy Spirit renew the heart of a
   man and then is His work, after all, undone, so that the man goes back
   to his unregenerate state? What is to become of him then?

   "Oh!" says someone, "he may be born again." What? A man to be born
   again, and again, and again? Is there anything in the Bible to warrant
   such teaching as that? I believe not! If the Holy Spirit's work in
   renewing the heart could ever be undone, then this text would come in,
   "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
   tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy
   Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the
   world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto
   repentance"--for God's greatest work has been already worked upon them
   and if it could fail, nothing more could be done for them. "But,
   Beloved," says the Apostle, after making this solemn declaration, "we
   are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany
   salvation, though we thus speak." So, dear Friends, if the Lord saves
   you, you are saved forever! If He has worked within you a work of
   Grace, it will assuredly end in Glory--

   "All necessary Grace will God bestow,

   And crown that Grace with Glory, too!

   He gives us all things and withholds

   No real good from upright souls." "Lord, visit me with Your salvation."
   Others may have their own salvation of any sort or kind that they
   please, but do visit me with Your salvation! Take my case in Your
   hands, then the work will be done, well done, and done forever." Pray
   thus, dear Friend, for yourself. "O visit me with Your salvation," and
   He will do so. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
   saved." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
   believes not shall be damned." God lead you all to accept His great
   salvation even now, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM106.

   This Psalm relates the story of God's mercy to Israel, of the people's
   provocation of Jehovah, and of His great patience with them, It
   commences with an exhortation to praise the Lord.

   Verse 1. Praise you Jehovah. Or, "Hallelujah." I cannot help remarking,
   here, that this is one of the most sacred words in the whole Bible and
   it ought always to be pronounced with the utmost reverence. I sometimes
   feel my blood chill when I hear of "hallelujah lasses" and, "hallelujah
   bonnets." If those who use such expressions rightly understood the
   meaning of the word, they would not thus take the name of the Lord in
   vain!

   1. O give thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good: for His mercy endures
   forever As long as you and I are sinners, this will be one of the
   sweetest notes in our song of thanksgiving unto Jehovah--"His mercy
   endures forever."

   2. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can show forth all
   His praise? Neither the angels nor the perfect spirits who day without
   night circle His throne rejoicing can show forth all Jehovah's praise.

   3. Blessed are they that keep justice, and he that does righteousness
   at all times. There is great comfort in walking near to God. The way of
   peace, the way of blessing is the way of righteousness, but, alas, my
   Brothers and Sisters, we do not always keep in that way as we should.
   The Psalmist himself felt that he did not, therefore he prayed--

   4. Remember me, O LORD, with the favor that You bear unto Your people:
   O visit me with Your salvation. He felt that he needed God's Grace in
   all its saving power.

   5. That I may see the good of Your chosen, that I may rejoice in the
   gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance. He
   longs to get in among the people of God. He wants to share the favor
   which God bestows upon them--the Free Grace which He manifests to them.
   He wants to be included in their election, to rejoice in their gladness
   and to glory in their inheritance.

   6. 7. We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we
   have dose wickedly. Our fathers understood not Your wonders in Egypt
   Very great wonders were worked there when God's time came to set His
   people free from their cruel bondage. There was a marvelous display of
   power on God's part, yet the Psalmist had to say, "Our fathers
   understood not Your wonders in Egypt."

   7. They remembered not the multitude of Your mercies; but provoked Him
   at the sea, even at the Red Sea. They had hardly started out of Egypt
   before they provoked Jehovah. They had only just caught sight of the
   rolling waters of the Red Sea when they began to murmur against God and
   against His servant, Moses.

   8. Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake. Oh, is not that a
   grand word? Well might Jehovah say, "Not for Your sakes do I this, O
   house of Israel." He saved them for His own sake.

   8. That He might make His mighty power to be known. Free Grace finds in
   itself, not in us, its own motive, and discovers its own reason for
   acting on our behalf. God's reason for mercy is found in His mercy.

   9-13. He rebuked the Red Sea, also, and it was dried up: so He led them
   through the depths, as through the wilderness. And He saved them from
   the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the
   enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them
   left Then believed they His words; they sang His praise. They soon
   forgot His works; they waited not for His counsel Ah, me! Even the
   divided sea is soon forgotten! Enemies walled up by water speedily pass
   from remembrance. "They soon forgot His works; they waited not for His
   counsel."

   14, 15. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in
   the desert And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their
   soul I do not know of anything more dreadful than that--to be fattened
   outside and to be starved within--to have everything that heart could
   wish for and yet not to have the best thing that the heart ought to
   wish for! May God save us from that appearance of prosperity which is
   only a veiled desolation!

   16. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the
   LORD. These two men had done everything for the children of Israel.
   They had been the instruments in the hand of God of innumerable
   blessings to them, yet they envied Moses and Aaron.

   17, 18. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the
   company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame
   burned up the wicked. Jehovah's mercy did not melt the people's hard
   hearts, so perhaps the fear of His judgment would. God tried both
   methods with them, as He has done with us, for sometimes He has been
   very gracious to us and at other times He has chastened us very sorely.
   He has tried the kiss and He has tried the blow. Yet what happened in
   the case of Israel?

   19-22. They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus
   they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eats grass.
   They forgot God their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt;
   wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea.
   What was to become of such a people, provoking Him again and again?

   23. Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses, His
   chosen, stood before Him in the breach to turn away His wrath, lest He
   should destroy them. How often has our blessed Mediator, who is far
   greater than Moses, stood before the Lord in the breach! How often has
   the great Husbandman said, concerning the fruitless tree, "Cut it down;
   why cumbers it the ground?" And then that Divine Dresser of the
   vineyard has pleaded, "Let it alone this year, also, till I shall dig
   about it." And here we are, still spared and still blessed through the
   intercession of God's chosen Mediator.

   24. Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They said that the Canaan
   towards which they were traveling was not worth the trouble of getting
   to it--"They despised the pleasant land."

   24-28. They believednot His Word: but murmured in their tents, and
   hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD. Therefore He lifted up His
   hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: to overthrow
   their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
   They joined themselves also unto Baal-Peor, and ate the sacrifices of
   the dead. They began to study necromancy and spiritualism and to join
   in the abominations of the worship of Baal.

   29. Thus they provoked Him to anger with their inventions: and the
   plague broke in upon them. Now notice how something always happened to
   spare them from the destruction which they deserved.

   30, 31. Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment: and so the plague
   was stayed. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all
   generations forevermore. Yet they still went on sinning against the
   Most High.

   32, 33. They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went
   ill with Moses for their sakes: because they provoked his spirit, so
   that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. Does it not seem remarkable
   that Moses, the true servant of God, was not spared from punishment
   when it was but a word that He spoke unadvisedly, yet still the mercy
   of God was continued to that provoking generation? Ah, that is always
   the way with our jealous God--those whom He loves best will be sure to
   feel His chastising rod, whatever happens to others. At last the
   Israelites reached Canaan--they entered into the land that flowed with
   milk and honey! Did that change their character? No, not in the least.

   34-38. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD
   commanded them: but were mingled among the heathen and learned their
   works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yes,
   they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed
   innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
   whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was
   polluted with blood. Just think how low they had sunk! God's own people
   had come down to this--that they actually offered their own children in
   sacrifice to Moloch!

   39-43. Thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring
   with their own inventions. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled
   against Hispeople, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance. And
   He gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them
   ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were
   brought into subjection under their hand. Many times did He deliver
   them. You would not have expected to find such a sentence as that,
   here, yet there it stands! Notwithstanding all that these people did,
   "many times did He deliver them."

   43-45. But they provoked Him with their counsel, and were brought low
   for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction when He
   heard their cry: and He remembered His Covenant with them and repented
   according to the multitude of His mercies. Was there ever so strange a
   story as this--a story of provocation continued almost beyond belief,
   and yet of mercy which would not be overcome--of persevering love that
   would not turn aside?

   46-48. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them
   captives. Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the
   heathen, to give thanks unto Your holy name, and to triumph in Your
   praise. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to
   everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise you the LORD. So
   the Psalm ends upon its keynote--"Hallelujah"--"Praise You Jehovah."
     __________________________________________________________________

A Strange Yet Gracious Choice

   (No. 2600)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 11, 1898.

   BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, (on its re-opening after
   repairs), ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1883.

   "For the LORD has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His
   peculiar treasure." Psalm 135:4.

   This is a Psalm of praise all through. It is to be sung to the
   high-sounding cymbals. There is not a low note anywhere--it is all
   robust, exhilarating, joyful! It is "Hallelujah!" from beginning to end
   and it did not seem possible to the Psalmist that he could omit from it
   the high jubilant note of election, for if there is anything that makes
   Believers' hearts sing unto the Lord, it is the recollection that He
   has chosen them and fixed His love upon them! "You have not chosen Me,
   but I have chosen you," is one of the best reasons in the world why we
   should adore the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and
   strength! If the Lord has made us to be His people, we will, indeed,
   with joy and gladness declare Him to be our God! If He has blessed us
   with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, we will make such return
   to Him as we can, and bless Him with our loudest and sweetest music.
   Blessed be the Lord because He "has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and
   Israel for His peculiar treasure."

   It may be said that this verse relates to the seed of Abraham. So it
   does, but please remember that everything which belonged to the seed of
   Abraham after the flesh belongs yet more to those who are the seed of
   Abraham according to the spirit! Indeed, there always was a peculiar
   blessing which never came to those who were only born according to the
   flesh, for Ishmael received it not, neither did Esau enter into it. The
   line of inheritance is the line of promise, the line of the Divine
   choice, and if you and I have believed in Jesus Christ, we are in that
   spiritual line! The mark of that line is faith-- they that believe are
   of the seed of believing Abraham. His very name is "the father of the
   faithful" and those that are full of faith--the faithful--are the true
   seed of Abraham. The Covenant in its highest and best meaning is
   theirs--it was made with Abraham on their account. Therefore we shall
   take all there is in this verse to ourselves if we are, indeed, God's
   covenanted ones! If He has brought us into the bond of the Covenant by
   a work of Grace upon our hearts, and we are now one with that glorious
   promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is true of us and of all
   who are like us in this respect--"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto
   Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure."

   I. The first thing which lies upon the very surface of our text is THE
   CHOICE--"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."

   This choice is a Divine one. It is the Lord that has chosen Jacob, that
   very Lord who made the heavens and the earth! Jehovah, in whose hands
   are all things. He has made the choice and it is a very wonderful
   thing, though we speak of it as if it were a commonplace Truth of God.
   Yet, if we dive into its depths, we shall see that it is truly
   marvelous that God should ever have chosen any of the fallen race of
   mankind! He once regretted that He had made men upon the face of the
   earth, so sinful had they become, yet, knowing beforehand all about
   their wickedness, the Lord was pleased to make a choice of men. He
   might have chosen angels, but let it always stand as a wonderful
   instance of His mysterious Sovereignty that He did not choose the
   fallen angels--no, not even one of them! Our Lord Jesus Christ "took
   not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
   Abraham."

   Why was it that all the hosts of spiritual beings that fell with
   Lucifer are left in their fallen state without any hope of salvation,
   while God's eternal election has fallen upon the sons of men? Why,
   indeed! We can never understand it and can give no answer but this,
   "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." The choice,
   however, was Divine, and let us not get away from that glorious Truth
   of God. It will give you, Believer, the highest joy to know that the
   Lord has chosen you--and that knowledge will be to you a source of
   great strength. It will also be one of the best rebukes to the devil.
   You remember how, when Joshua, the High Priest, was standing before the
   angel of the Lord, and Satan was standing at his right hand to resist
   him, the Lord said to the accuser, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan; even
   the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" There is no slap in the
   face for the devil that is so painful to him as that declaration, "The
   Lord has chosen Jerusalem; He has elected His people and you, O Satan,
   may do what you will, but you cannot change the choice of God! If He
   has chosen anyone, that man is of the conquering Seed before whom you
   have begun to fall, as Haman fell before Mordecai. But you shall fall
   yet lower, for the Lord has promised to the godly that He will bruise
   Satan under their feet shortly." God has chosen them! It is He that
   says it and, therefore, let the full force of the blessed Truth of God
   come to each believing heart, "I have loved you with an everlasting
   love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you." There is an
   infinite sweetness in that thought!

   The choice, being Divine, is also sovereign. About this point, we are
   not left to speculation, for Paul has told us that "the children being
   not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
   God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that
   calls," it was said to their mother Rebecca, "The elder shall serve the
   younger." The Divine purpose was made in that case irrespective of
   character, for no character had been developed! If anyone says that it
   was made on account of character foreseen, I reply that there was no
   good character to foresee, but as far as Jacob is concerned, although
   Grace did make him into a true Patriarch and heir of the promise, yet
   by nature he was a very poor stick. As I read what he does, when his
   human nature is uppermost, I feel that there is nothing in him why any
   mortal man should choose him, and certainly there is no reason why God
   should do so! There is nothing foreseen about him except that God
   foresees that He will makehim gracious--but that is not the reasonwhy
   He makes him gracious!

   There is, at the back of it all, the reason that the Lord gave to
   Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
   compassion on whom I will have compassion." I find such a stuttering
   and stammering about this great Truth of God in these days that I mean
   to be all the more emphatic in preaching it, for I believe that this
   doctrine largely helps in producing that state of spirit into which God
   would have sinners brought so as to make them feel that they have no
   claim upon Him--no right to His mercy and that, if He gives it, He
   gives it simply because He chooses to give it! The choice was made by
   that great King who has a right to do as He wills and who exercises
   that right and, therefore, the declaration stands in our text, "Jehovah
   has chosen Jacob unto Himself."

   So we have seen that the choice is Divine and sovereign.

   And, Beloved, it is a most gracious choice. As I have already said, the
   more we look at the character of Jacob, the more we must discard all
   idea that he was chosen for what he was by nature. From his birth, he
   bore the name of a sup-planter and his brother, Esau, bitterly said,
   "Is not he rightly named Jacob (that is, a supplanter)? For he has
   supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright and, behold,
   now he has taken away my blessing." The expression really is in the
   original, "Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he has Jacobed me these
   two times." He had supplanted his brother--put him out of his proper
   place. He was truly the father of all the Jews and, though I will say
   nothing to their disparagement, yet at driving a bargain are they not
   the masters of us all? And such was Jacob from the very beginning! So,
   as God chose him, assuredly He chose him of His Grace and for no other
   reason than because He would do it. Election was not of works,
   certainly, in Jacob's case, but of Grace and of Grace alone!

   And, putting all things together, was it not a very wonderful thing
   that the Lord should choose Jacob? There were other men upon the face
   of the earth of whom God might have made a nation and from whom He
   might have formed the chosen Seed. I do not suppose that even after
   Abraham and Isaac had come to know the Lord, they were the only people
   in the world who knew Him. Doubtless, there were some scattered up and
   down, like Job, who, I should think, is but a sample of many others. It
   seems to me that if we had been about to choose a man who should found
   a race, we should have said, "There, Job is the man! 'Perfect and
   upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.'" He was a right
   princely man--I sometimes think that he was the grandest of all men,
   when I see him sitting on a dunghill, transforming it into a throne and
   reigning there right royally, while he says--"The Lord gave and the
   Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." It was a noble
   saying of the man who cannot be said to be less than the very greatest
   of mankind!

   "You have heard of the patience of Job," and all the world shall hear
   of it again and again while there are ears to hear and tongues to
   speak! And yet, though Job is chosen unto salvation, he is not the
   founder of a great race--it is not in his line that the promised
   Messiah is to be found, but--"the Lord has chosen Jacob."

   Ah, me, why did He do it? When you have told me why He chose Jacob, I
   shall then try to find out why He chose me! And if I should find that
   out, probably you will, at the same time, discover why He chose you. It
   is all a great mystery of Grace and must be left with Him who does as
   He wills--not without reasons, mark you--but without reasons that are
   revealed to us. God never acts unreasonably, yet He does not find His
   reasons for acting in men, but within Himself, in the heart of His
   compassion, in the eternal counsels of His own will. Do not think that
   we are talking of God as we speak of men. A man, who has a strong will,
   and who carries it out as he pleases, is a very dangerous person. A
   despot, let him be ever so gentle, is a terrible being! But God--the
   infinitely Holy, the perfectly Just, the supremely Good--we may well
   leave everything with Him. It is not merely that we must do so, but it
   is the best and wisest course for us! Even if we could "snatch from His
   hands the balance and the rod," into what other hands could we put
   them? No, they must remain with Him, and we are glad it is so. To me
   the unlimited dominion of God is glorious. I want to have no
   constitutional monarchy upon the Throne of Heaven. No, let Jehovah do
   absolutely as He wills, for His will must be perfect justice, perfect
   goodness, perfect righteousness!

   So we leave this first point, the choice--"The Lord has chosen Jacob."

   II. The second part of our subject is full of practical teaching, for
   it concerns THE REASON OR RESULT OF GOD'S CHOICE.

   There are many persons who like to hear about God having chosen Jacob,
   but listen, dear Friends, to the next words in our text. "The Lord has
   chosen Jacob unto Himself" It does not say, "unto Heaven"--"unto
   certain privileges"-- "unto certain favors." All that is quite true,
   but it does not say so here. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself"
   Oh, what a blessed choice is this--to be chosen unto God! Then Jacob is
   not his own, for God has chosen him, "unto Himself." Then Jacob does
   not belong to any man, for the Lord has chosen him, "unto Himself." Now
   Jacob must have no motives except such as he finds in God. He must have
   no aims for which he is to live but that he may glorify his God, for
   "the Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself." So, my Brothers and Sisters,
   if you are chosen by the Lord, you are chosen to be God's child, picked
   out from the rest of mankind to be, from henceforth, no longer your
   own, or the world's, or the devil's, but to be God's--and God's alone!

   "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself," first, that Jacob might know
   Him. While others knew not God, but paid reverence unto those that were
   not gods, Jacob was chosen that he might, while he slept at Bethel, see
   the mystic ladder by which he might climb to his God--and down which
   God might send the angels to him. Jacob must be taught about God and
   Jacob's seed must have committed unto them the oracles of God. The
   world lies in darkness, but there is a lamp in the house of Jacob. It
   is black midnight over Assyria, Babylon and Egypt, but a star shines in
   the heavens for Jacob and his seed! O dear Hearts, do you understand
   the great mysteries of which I am speaking? Do you know the Lord--the
   Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit? Have you been taught of God? Are you
   among those to whom your neighbor need not say, "Know the Lord,"
   because you belong to the people of God who all know Him from the least
   even to the greatest? If so, happy, indeed, are you!

   And, next, the Lord chose Jacob and his seed that they might keep His
   Truth afire in the world--that God's Revelation of Himself might be
   preserved by them against all comers. It is just so with Christians
   now--the Lord has put us in trust with the Gospel. He has committed to
   His servants that wonderful treasure which we have "in earthen vessels,
   that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Still
   are we bound to earnestly "contend for the faith which was once
   delivered unto the saints." And it is as much the duty of God's people
   this day to guard His Truth as it was the duty of the seed of Israel to
   preserve, in the midst of heathen darkness, what was known of the one
   living and true God. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself" that he
   may preserve His Truth among the sons of men.

   It was also committed to Jacob's descendants to keep up the worship of
   God. They must offer the morning and the evening lamb. They must bring
   the bullocks and goats and birds for sacrifice. They must set up the
   Tabernacle in the wilderness. They must build the Temple and there the
   praises of Jehovah must be sung by sweet songsters day and night.
   Nowhere else was God to be publicly worshipped with rites ordained by
   Himself except upon Mount Zion. And now, today, the pure worship of
   Jehovah is entrusted to His saints--nobody else can worship Him in
   spirit and in truth but those who have been quickened and made true by
   the Holy Spirit. There is no true worship of God under Heaven except
   that which is rendered by His own people. Men may make their ceremonies
   as gorgeous as they please, with splendor of architecture and great
   show of millinery, with the sound of flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
   dulcimer and all kinds of music--but, after all, there is no true
   worship except that which comes from hearts in which the Spirit of God
   dwells! So you see, dear Friends, that the maintenance of God's worship
   in the world is still entrusted to His chosen.

   And the Lord has chosen His people unto Himself that He may manifest
   His Grace in them.1 '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." And it is in the midst of God's own people that His Grace
   is still revealed. There He breaks the arrows of sin and there He
   scatters all the battalions of evil. "Out of Zion, the perfection of
   beauty, God has shined" and still, out of the hearts of His chosen
   people, out of the congregation of His faithful ones, does He shine
   forth, for the Lord is always with those who are on His side, even with
   the humble hearts in which He deigns to dwell. But He is not with the
   ungodly, for they are far from Him by wicked works. Remember then, you
   who are chosen, that God has chosen you "unto Himself" that He may
   manifest His Grace in you.

   And, especially God has chosen His people that He may commune with
   them, that He may manifest Himself to them as He does not unto the
   world--that they may come near unto Him in Christ Jesus and that He may
   lay bare the very secret of His heart to them. Here is a text to prove
   my assertion--"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and
   He will show them His Covenant." He makes His glory to pass before them
   and to them He reveals His choicest secrets. Happy and blessed are the
   people of whom this sentence is true, "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto
   Himself."

   Now, dear Friends, let the question go round among you--Am I one of the
   chosen seed? You can tell whether you are chosen of God by this
   test--Have you been chosen unto God? Can you say with Paul, "I bear in
   my body the marks of the Lord Jesus"? Are you the branded slaves of
   Jesus Christ and yet His free men rejoicing in the liberty wherewith He
   makes His people free? Do you feel as if you were shut up to one course
   in life, so that you can say with Paul, "This one thing I do,
   forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
   things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
   high calling of God in Christ Jesus"? Are you torn away from all former
   ambitions? Have you a single eye unto God's Glory? Does your heart beat
   for this one objective--that you may live because Christ lives in you?
   Then the text describes you! "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."
   Oh, what a thrill of delight these words may cause to pass through
   many, even of those who think they have known the Lord for years!

   Come, my Heart, it is all very well for your lips to have sung about
   God's everlasting love, but have you been brought into communion and
   fellowship with Him? Do you feel and know that you are, indeed, the
   Lord's? I fear that there are some who profess and call themselves
   Christians who live unto God in a very unsatisfactory, secondary sort
   of way. Like a man I have heard of who had a large farm and then took
   another, which he called his "off-hand farm." And there are some
   professors who have their business farm, or their pleasure farm, which
   is the chief matter with them--and their religion is a kind of an
   off-hand farm and, sometimes, they think they will get a minister or a
   "priest" to be the bailiff, and see to it. My Friend, I give you due
   notice that I will be no bailiff of such a farm! And I also warn you
   that you will never get anything worth having unless it is your home
   farm and you make it the main concern of your life! God will never be
   put in second place--He must be everything or He will be nothing! "The
   Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."

   O my dear Friend, is it so with you? Or are you still living as if
   there were no God, or as if God did not demand your heart's full
   allegiance?

   III. Now I will pass on to notice, very briefly, in the third place,
   THE SEPARATION WHICH GROWS OUT OF

   THIS CHOICE. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for
   His peculiar treasure."

   Then, He separates His people from the rest of mankind. Though this is
   not expressed in the words of the text, it is the true sense of it. And
   the Lord has done so. He did so with Jacob--with Israel. He made a
   Covenant with them and a Covenant with God always means separation from
   men. What a wonderful condition for a soul to be in--to be in Covenant
   with God and that Covenant to run on these lines--"I will never leave
   you nor forsake you." "A new heart also will I give you, and a now
   spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out
   of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My
   Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall
   keep My judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I
   gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your
   God." That Covenant makes a clear division between the two seeds--the
   seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent--it is one of the
   grandest distinctions between man and man. If you are in the Covenant,
   Beloved, you are on the right side of that happy and blessed line of
   demarcation!

   Then, after the Covenant with Jacob and Israel, came the Covenant
   heritage which made another division, for the Lord gave the land of
   Canaan to the seed of Abraham and to the seed of Israel by a Covenant
   of salt. And God has given to His spiritual Israel a Covenant
   heritage--we are to possess all things in Christ, "who of God is made
   unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
   redemption"--everything we can desire, for all things are ours if we
   are Christ's. Ours is a glorious inheritance! We have everything that
   is necessary for this life and also for the life to come. Even Canaan
   had its drawbacks, but we go to a land which in very deed flows with
   milk and honey, where the sun goes no more down, where there is no
   death, neither sorrow, nor sighing, a sweet land beyond the flood, the
   heavenly Canaan which stands forever dressed in living green! Blessed
   are the eyes that can look from the top of Pisgah and "view the
   landscape over." But what a difference it makes between man and man
   that this one has a Covenant heritage and the other has none, for he
   sold it for a mess of pottage, and has nothing more to do with it!

   Then came the broad distinction which all could see, namely, that of
   redemption, for the seed of Jacob had to be redeemed. They had come
   into bondage in Egypt, but with a high hand and an outstretched arm did
   the Lord bring them from there. Then the difference began to be
   visible. That night when the blood-mark was on the lintel and down the
   two side posts, Israel was distinct from Egypt. The blood had made the
   difference, for the Lord had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass
   over you." O dear Hearers, have you had the blood-mark put upon you?
   Has the atoning Sacrifice of Christ been laid home to your heart and
   conscience? This is the great distinction between man and man--the
   blood that makes atonement for the soul! The Lord has, indeed,
   manifested His choice of us when we have entered into the fullness of
   His great redemption!

   Then came the going out of Egypt which may be likened to conversion.
   The passage through the Red Sea, which sets forth regeneration. The
   dwelling in the wilderness which is a type of the life and experience
   of many Believers. The passing of the Jordan and the entering into
   Canaan which should be a picture of the joy of all who believe in
   Jesus, for "we which have believed do enter into rest" and come into
   the land of promise. These things, which I have only mentioned in
   passing, made very grave distinctions between the people of Jehovah and
   all other nations who looked upon them as a strange race dwelling alone
   and not numbered among the ordinary nations of the earth.

   This brings me again to the critical question--Has the Lord made any
   difference between you and the rest of mankind, dear Hearers? Have you
   received any pledge of the Covenant of Grace? Do you know what
   redeeming love means? Have you been separated from the world? Have you
   heard the voice of God crying to you, "Come out from among them, and be
   you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I
   will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My
   sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"? Is the world a wilderness
   to you? Have you looked to the bronze serpent and lived by the sight?
   Does the water from the Rock follow you--that Rock which is Christ? Do
   you feed on heavenly manna? Is the Lord in the midst of your camp? Is
   His Glory manifested there? Do you delight to be led by His fiery
   cloudy pillar from day to day? All this will be the manifestation of
   the eternal separation which God made in His predestinating
   purpose--"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself." He led Israel out
   into the wilderness that there He might speak to their hearts. He drew
   them away from men. He made them live solitary and alone, like eagles
   on the rock, that they might dwell there with Him and have no strange
   god among them. Blessed are the people who enjoy this separation! But
   unhappy are the men and women who talk about election and yet have
   never known the separation which stamps their election as being a
   matter of fact.

   IV. Now I close with one more characteristic of the people of God, and
   that is, THEIR ELEVATION. This is clearly in the text, "The Lord has
   chosen Jacob unto Himself." But He elevates Jacob in a moment, for He
   adds, "and Israel for His peculiar treasure."

   The "supplanter" has grown into a prevailing prince. He took his
   brother by the heel but now he has accomplished a grander feat than
   that--he has grasped the Angel and he has said, "I will not let You go,
   except You bless me." He supplanted Esau, but now, as a prince, he has
   prevailed with God and seen Him face to face--and yet he has lived! And
   though he goes limping away from the wrestling, yet is he more than
   conqueror through Him that loved him! Yes, Beloved, God's choice
   wonderfully elevates a man! He may have been Jacob, before, but he
   becomes Israel afterwards! Has such an elevation as that taken place in
   you, my Friend?

   Then see, next, that God elevated His choice in value, for He compares
   Jacob to a "peculiar treasure." "Since you were precious in My sight"--
   oh, that is a wonderful word!--"precious in My sight," to be used by
   the God who says, "The silver and the gold are Mine, and the cattle
   upon a thousand hills." "Since you were precious in My sight, you have
   been honorable, and I have loved you." They are put to an honorable
   use, for the choicest treasures of kings, that make up their regalia,
   are meant to be brought out on coronation days and on other grand
   occasions when they bedeck themselves with all their pearls and
   diamonds and stars and crowns. And such are the Lord's people, precious
   in His sight, "His peculiar treasure." And they are put to this use--to
   adorn His doctrine in all things--to be as the jewels of His crown--to
   be as the signet ring upon His finger--to be as precious stones upon
   His breastplate! God's people are everything to Him! There is nothing
   that you have, that you account rich or rare, that is anything to you
   in value in comparison with what God's people are to Him! His delight
   is in them--the pleasure which God has in His people is truly
   wonderful. He made the heavens and the earth, the stars and all things
   that are--and then He touched the world with His wondrous finger and
   molded it into the thing of beauty which it is today! And it took Him
   six days to do it and when He had done it, what happened? "The morning
   stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

   But did God sing? No, He simply said, in plain prose, that it was very
   good. That is all He had to say about it. Ah, but when the time comes
   for the newcreation, when He makes a true Believer, when He forms His
   Church, the bride, the Lamb's wife, we read, "He will rejoice over you
   with joy. He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing."
   Think of God, the Everlasting Father, the Ever-Blessed Son, and the
   Divine Spirit bursting out into singing! What a song must that be! I
   would like to hear the singing of the angels and of all the host
   redeemed with blood that stand in their white robes before the Throne
   of the Most High. It must be such a song as mortal ears as yet have
   never heard. But, oh, to hear Godsing--the great Father, Himself with
   His holy hymn--the glorious Son with His sweet Psalms--the Holy Spirit
   with His blessed song! We can scarcely imagine what it must be, but the
   expression shows how precious the Church must be to the Lord when He is
   said to rejoice over her with singing!

   As the love of a husband to his bride, such is the love of Christ to
   His people. Otherwise the Song of Solomon means nothing at all and is
   an idle book. As the love of a tender mother--and what can excel
   that?--such is the love of God to His people! Like as a mother comforts
   her children, even so shall the Lord God comfort you. So, then, you
   see, dear Friends, that the choice of God has lifted His people right
   up from all their former degradation and made them precious in His
   sight, so that He, Himself, takes delight in them.

   Go home, then, and take delight in God. If He can and delight in you,
   much more may you delight in Him! And, as the Psalm from which our text
   is taken begins with, "Praise you the Lord," so now, you who know that
   you are chosen by Him, praise Him! And as the Psalm ends with, "Praise
   you the Lord," you who love Him, you who have been loved by Him,
   continue to praise Him even till your last breath--gasp out a
   "Hallelujah!" as you pass into eternity!

   The Lord be with you, Beloved, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM135.

   Verse 1. Praise you the LORD. Or, "Hallelujah." "Hallelujah" is the
   keynote of it. So this is one of the Hallelujah Psalms, for so it
   begins. And if you look at the end, you will see that so it closes.
   There is, "Hallelujah," again. The whole Psalm is shut in at the
   beginning and at the end with this which is both our duty and our
   delight! "Praise you the Lord."

   1. Praise you the name of the LORD. The Character, the work, all that
   is revealed of God is a subject for praise. And especially that
   wonderful and incommunicable name, Jehovah--never mention it without
   praise! "Praise you the name of the Lord."

   1. Praise Him, Oyou servants of the LORD. Make it a part of your
   service. Praise Him because you are His servants. Praise Him because He
   accepts your service. You ought to be first in sounding His praises,
   therefore, "Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord."

   2. You that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house
   of our God. You are permitted to dwell near Him. You have a standing
   and an abode, an office and a work in the courts of the Lord's house.
   Therefore take care that you begin the strain. Should not the King's
   courtiers praise Him? Praise Him, then, "you that stand in the courts
   of the house of our God."

   3. Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good. There is one excellent reason
   for praising Him and you can never praise Him too much. He is so good
   that you can never extol Him to an exaggeration.

   3. Sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant. That is, singing
   God's praises is pleasant--it is a pleasant duty and the Lord's name is
   pleasant, or lovely. The very thought of God brings the sweetest
   emotions to every renewed heart. There is no pleasure in the world that
   exceeds that of devotion. As we sing praises unto the Lord, we shake
   off the cares of the world, we rise above its smoke and mists and we
   get, then, the clearer atmosphere of communion with Him.

   4. For the LORD has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His
   peculiar treasure. There is something for you who are the Lord's chosen
   to sing about--

   "In songs of sublime adoration and praise,

   You pilgrims to Zion who press,

   Break forth and extol the great

   Ancient of Days, His rich and distinguishing Grace."

   5. For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all
   gods. "I know it," says the writer of the Psalm. "I know it by
   experience. I know it by observation. I am sure of it. There is no god
   like our God. He is a great Creator, a great Preserver, a great
   Redeemer, a great Friend, a great Helper. 'I know that Jehovah is
   great, and that our Adonai is above all gods.'"

   6. Whatever the LORD pleased, that He did in Heaven and in earth, in
   the seas, and all deep places. The heathen divided out the universe
   into provinces--they had Jupiter to rule Heaven and earth, and Neptune
   for the sea, and even today many sing, but, oh, how inaccurately,
   "Britannia rules the waves." It is Jehovah and no one else that rules
   the waves! And the people on either land or sea! He is Lord everywhere
   and whatever He pleases to do is done! He is no lackey to wait upon the
   free will of His creatures--"Whatever Jehovah pleased, that He did."

   7. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. That is a
   very wonderful work! What millions of tons of water are every day
   turned into vapor and caused to ascend from different regions of the
   earth to fall, again, in cheerful, refreshing rain! What would we do if
   this process were suspended? It is the very life-blood of the world.

   7. He makes lightning for the rain. It is said that the Bible was
   written to teach us religion, not science. That is very true, but the
   Bible never makes a mistake in its science--and I would rather agree
   with the old writers who held that the Bible contained all science than
   go with those who blasphemously pretend to correct the Holy Spirit and
   to set Him right upon geology and I know not what besides. In the long
   run, it shall be proven that the old Book beats all the scientists! And
   when they have made some wonderful discovery, it will turn out that it
   was all recorded here long before. "He makes lightning for the rain."
   There is an intimate connection between electricity and the formation
   of rain--in the East this is very clear, for we are constantly reading
   in books of travel of heavy downpours of rain almost always accompanied
   by thunderstorms.

   7. He brings the wind out of His treasuries. The wind never comes
   puffing around us according to some freak of its own, but, "He brings
   the wind out of His treasuries," counting and spending it as men do
   their money, not suffering more wind to blow than is needed for the
   high purposes of His wise government. Let praise for this be given to
   the God of Nature who is ruling over all and always doing as He wills!
   The Psalmist goes on to show that the God of Nature is also the God of
   His people.

   8. Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast It was God's
   own hand that did it. The firstborn of man and beast could not have
   died by accident all over the land of Egypt at the same hour of the
   night! Jehovah thus punished the guilty nation. Had they not oppressed
   His firstborn? Had they not cruelly trampled on His people and refused
   to listen to His Word? And when the time came for this last and
   heaviest blow, the Lord did but act in justice to them, and in mercy to
   His people.

   9. Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst ofyou, O Egypt, upon
   Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. "Tokens and wonders"--not only
   prodigies which astounded the people, but, "tokens," which taught them,
   for the plagues were directed against their deities--and large books
   might be written to show how every plague exposed the impotence of some
   one or other of the false gods which the Egyptians worshipped! Pharaoh
   and his servants were all involved in the sin, so they were all
   included in the punishment. How much better was it to be a servant of
   Jehovah than to be a servant of Pharaoh!

   10. Who smote great nations and slew mighty kings. Two of them are
   mentioned, perhaps because they were two of the most powerful kings who
   blocked the road of Israel.

   11-13. Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king ofBashan, and all the
   kingdoms of Canaan: and gave their land for an heritage, an heritage
   unto Israel His people. Your name, O LORD, endures forever. He is the
   same Jehovah now as He ever was. Multitudes of people, nowadays, have
   made unto themselves new gods--they have imagined a new character for
   Jehovah altogether, and the God of the Old Testament is ignored and
   slandered. But not by His chosen people--they still cling to Him! The
   God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is not the God of the dead, but
   of the living! And that is true spiritually as well as naturally. Those
   who are spiritually dead refuse to acknowledge Him and set up gods that
   they have imagined--but those who are quickened by His Grace delight in
   Him and glorify His name. Let this, Beloved, be our joyful song, "Your
   name, O Lord, endures forever!"

   13, 14. And Your memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. For the
   LORD will judge His people, and He will repent Himself concerning His
   servants. For they have their dark times and are often in trouble
   through their sin. Then the Lord sends chastisement upon them, but when
   it has answered His purpose, He gladly enough withdraws it. How
   different are the idols of the heathen from our God!

   15. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's
   hands. They can do no works, for they are themselves the result of the
   work of men! Their handiwork can be nothing, for they are the work of
   men's hands.

   16-18. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they
   see not; they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath
   in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is everyone
   that trusts in them. The original conveys the idea that those who make
   such gods grow to be like them--they are continually getting to be more
   and more like them. They become dumb, blind, deaf, dead as they worship
   such idols as these.

   19, 20. Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, Ohouse of
   Aaron: bless the LORD, Ohouse of Levi: you that fear the LORD, bless
   the LORD. All of you, whether you are of the house of Aaron or of the
   tribe of Levi, to whatever house or tribe you belong, bless the Lord!
   And if you are Gentiles, even though Abraham acknowledges you not, yet,
   "you that fear the Lord, bless the Lord."

   21. Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwells at Jerusalem. Our
   inmost hearts would bless Him. We cannot make Him more blessed than He
   is! We cannot add to His Glory, but, oh, we do wish that everything we
   can do, everything that can be done to His honor, may be done!

   21. Praise you the LORD. That is, once again, "Hallelujah!" Oh, for the
   spirit of Divine Grace to set us praising God from the heart--and to
   keep us at that holy exercise all our days!
     __________________________________________________________________

Small Things Not to Be Despised

   (No. 2601)

   A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 18, 1898.

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
   SEPTEMBER 16, 1883.

   "For who has despised the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10.

   IT is a very great folly to despise "the day of small things," for it
   is usually God's way to begin His great works with small things. We see
   it every day, for the first dawn of light is but feeble and yet,
   by-and-by, it grows into the full noontide heat and glory. We know how
   the early spring comes with its buds of promise, but it takes some time
   before we get to the beauties of summer or the wealth of autumn. How
   tiny is the seed that is sown in the garden, yet out of it there comes
   the lovely flower! How small is the acorn, but how great is the oak
   that grows up from it! The stream commences with but a gentle rivulet,
   but it flows on till it becomes a brook, and then a river--perhaps a
   mighty Amazon--before its course is run!

   God begins with men in "the day of small things"--He began so with us.
   How little and how feeble were we when first we came upon the scene of
   action! He that is now a giant was once so feeble that he could not
   move from place to place except as he was carried in his mother's arms.
   Let us, then, not despise "the day of small things," as we see that God
   begins with little things in Nature and among the sons and daughters of
   men. And I am sure that He does so in the great work of His Church.
   Long ago He began to build a spiritual temple for His own habitation,
   but, at first, the stones of the foundation were hidden from the great
   mass of mankind. How little was known in the world at large concerning
   Abraham and his seed! How very, very slowly did the walls of that great
   temple rise! Even in the time of Zechariah, it was still "the day of
   small things" with the people of the Lord.

   Comparatively speaking, it is still so, for what is the Christian
   Church compared with the great mass of the heathen world and of those
   who reject the Savior? Our Lord's method of spreading His Truth among
   men was to begin with a handful of disciples in an upper room at
   Jerusalem, to fill them with His Spirit and then to let them be
   scattered over the whole known world. This is usually God's plan of
   working in His Church and also in individual Believers. Of course there
   are various degrees of ability and Grace even among the Lord's own
   people. One of the old Puritans said that some men are born with beards
   and, certainly, there are some Believers who, almost as soon as they
   are converted, seem to take great strides and to make speedy advances
   so that they soon become very useful and are even able to teach things
   which others only learn after long years of experience. But, generally
   speaking, this is the order of the growth of Grace in the heart, "First
   the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear."

   First, the Truth of God is heard and felt, and the heart bleeds under
   conviction of guilt. By-and-by another Truth is discovered and the
   wounded heart is bound up by faith in Christ. This faith grows to full
   assurance--there is a gradual conformity to the image of Christ--and
   that image becomes more and more clear till the man reaches the measure
   of the stature of the fullness of Christ Jesus. But first there is the
   beginning which is small and afterwards there is the latter end which
   shows a great increase. It is within our souls as it is in the
   world--the day begins with the dawn, but the shining light "shines more
   and more unto the perfect day."

   Woe unto that man who despises "the day of small things" in the Church
   of Christ, or who despises "the day of smart things" in any individual
   Believer, for it is God's day--it is a day out of which great things
   will yet come and, therefore, he that despises it really despises his
   Maker's work and despises the great and glorious things which are to
   come out of the small things which are at present apparent! I know some
   professing Christians who, I am afraid, despise "the day of small
   things" in little Churches. There is gathered a small community of
   godly people. Perhaps they are poor and many of them illiterate. And
   some of you rich folk who think yourselves wonderfully
   intelligent--though I am not always sure that you are--if you happen to
   settle down in that village, you say that you would like to attend the
   little Chapel or mission room, but the minister puts his h's in the
   wrong place and his speech is ungrammatical and, of course, that is
   very painful to your refined taste! Then the people are very poor and
   you hardly think that the Church is advancing at all, so to help it,
   you leave it alone! "God forbid," you say, "that we should despise the
   day of small things!" But you are very sorry that everything is on such
   a small scale! You say that you pity the poor people, but, instead of
   helping them, you lie quietly by, or you go off to a more fashionable
   place where you meet with some of your own class and feel more at home.
   There, the h's are put in properly, though the Gospel is left out of
   the preaching! But the people who attend are such a "respectable" sort
   of folk that you feel it is quite the correct thing to worship with
   them. If any of you have any respect for yourselves while acting in
   such a way as that, I hope you will soon discover that there is really
   nothing "respectable" in that kind of respectability! I mean that there
   is nothing that should make a man respected when he gives up his
   convictions and leaves his own true Brothers and Sisters for the sake
   of getting into a better class of society and seeming to be of a
   superior order to the godly poor people to whom he might be of real
   service.

   To me, it seems that it should be your glory to join the poorest and
   weakest churches of your denomination and wherever you go, to say,
   "This little cause is not as strong as I should like it to be, but, by
   the Grace of God, I will make it more influential. At any rate, I wil1
   throw in my weight to strengthen the weak things of Zion and certainly
   I will not despise the day of small things" Where would have been our
   flourishing Churches of today if our forefathers had disdained to
   sustain them while they were yet in their infancy? I thank God for the
   men who did not mind going down into back yards and up into haylofts
   that they might worship God according to the dictates of their
   conscience. I always delight in those who were willing to stand on the
   village green with the people sitting down on felled trees or logs to
   listen to them--and who were not afraid of being called fanatics and of
   bearing all manner of reproach and scorn for Christ's sake! But if you
   and I grow to be such great and grand people as some we have known, we
   must mind that the Lord does not take us down a notch or two, and that,
   perhaps, by a very painful process. He asks, as if in indignation, "Who
   has despised the day of small things?" and I believe that He is grieved
   with any of His servants when they fall into such a state of mind as
   that--and begin to despise His Church because she is despised by the
   world, and look down on His people as the high peaks of Bashan seemed
   to regard with contempt the lowly hill of Zion--and, therefore, the
   Psalmist said to them, "Why leap you, you high hills? This is the hill
   which God desires to dwell in; yes, the Lord will dwell in it forever."

   My special objective at this time is to reprove those who despise the
   earlier and weaker works of Grace in the soul. True, it is "the day of
   small things," but it is a subject for rejoicing and is not to be
   despised. First, I shall speak to proud professors who despise "the day
   of small things" in young beginners. Then I shall have a little talk
   with young beginners who despise "the day of small things"in
   themselves. And thirdly, I shall speak of those who do not despise "the
   day of small things." When this question is put to them, "Who has
   despised the day of small things?" they can answer, "Lord, you know
   that we have not done so; we have rejoiced in the small signs of Grace
   in young beginners and we hope to see great things grow out of them."

   I. First of all, THERE ARE SOME PROFESSING CHRISTIANS WHO DESPISE "THE
   DAY OF SMALL THINGS" IN OTHERS.

   I am sure I do not know exactly at what point the day of Grace begins
   in some people. There are some who, even before they fully receive the
   Gospel, have some good thing in them. "Oh, no," you say, "that cannot
   be." Well, just think a moment. Before the sower went forth to sow,
   there was a certain part of the farm which was described as "honest and
   good ground." There was another part that was like the highway and
   another part covered with thorns or stones. But there was something
   which distinguished the "honest and good ground" from all the rest of
   the land. I do not say that it was, then, bringing forth any fruit to
   God's Glory, but I do say that God. had, from a very early period--I do
   not know when--made that ground ready and fit to receive the Seed. So I
   can believe that before a man even hears the Gospel at all, there may
   be an antecedent work of what I may almost call secondary Grace--not
   savingGrace, but a making ready of the heart for the reception of the
   saving Grace of God.

   In my own experience, I never quite know where I am to put my finger
   upon the beginning of God's work in my soul. I can tell the very day
   and hour when I was converted, but I had many stirrings of conscience
   before that. I know that I was very effectually convinced of sin, but
   when the gracious work began, I cannot say. One of the first things
   that I recollect is lying awake at night because I had done something
   wrong to my mother. I do not know whether that was not the Grace of God
   working in my heart even then--I think that it was. I am sure that it
   was, in some measure, the Lord graciously working within me and making
   me ready for the more manifest work of His Spirit.

   Now, dear Friends, do not despise those little things, those
   preparation works, but whenever you see them in children, or in adults,
   be thankful for them. Frequently, when I have been receiving members
   into the Church, I have asked of a good woman, "Is your husband a
   Christian?" and the answer has often been, "Well, Sir, he is a very
   good husband, but I am afraid that he is not a Christian." Then I have
   enquired, "What does he do with himself on Sundays?" "Oh, Sir, he is
   always at the Tabernacle! He has been attending the services for years
   and he is very fond of you, Sir. He will run home and hurry over his
   tea so as to get to the Prayer Meeting on Monday, and on Thursday
   nights, he is never absent." I have said, "My good woman, does your
   husband show such love to the Lord's House and to the minister, and yet
   he is not converted?" "Yes," she answers, "he is not converted, for
   sometimes he does what he knows is not right. Still, his attendance
   upon the means of Grace is a great check upon him. He is a dear good
   husband, much better than he used to be, but I am afraid he is not a
   Christian and that he does not truly pray for pardon." "Ah," I say,
   "let us have a little prayer together about him and let us firmly
   believe that we shall have him yet. If a man continues to come where we
   are constantly firing the Gospel gun, one of the stray shots will hit
   him yet! Be sure that you encourage him to keep on coming and mind that
   you are very kind to him and help him all you can in finding the
   Savior--and we will yet rejoice together over him." When moths fly very
   near the candle, sooner or later they will singe their wings--there is
   a great Gospel candle burning here and I do not doubt that some of
   these human moths will dash into the flame, by-and-by! So I hope you
   will encourage them to come here, again and again, until they are
   blessedly caught so that they can never fly away. Such people as I have
   been describing have very curious whims and fancies--they will take
   offense at almost anything at all, so we must tread very softly and
   tenderly--and not grieve any with whom it is, in this sense, "the day
   of small things."

   I have known some come to Christ at last and trust Him, but it was with
   such a very little faith that I hardly know whether, in their case, it
   was faith born or unbelief dying. You remember the poor man who said to
   Christ, "Lord, I believe," and then he felt as if he had gone a little
   too far with his declaration, for he drew back and said, "Help You my
   unbelief." And these poor halting souls are just in that state--I hope
   they do believe, but I am sure that they are very unbelieving. They
   begin to pray, but, oh, what strange prayer it is! Some of them repeat
   a form of prayer they learned a long while ago which is quite
   inapplicable to their present case, but still they do mean to pray
   somehow. They want to pray and though it can scarcely be called prayer,
   yet I expect that God accepts it as prayer and graciously answers it.
   They have begun to repent--they have not a very clear view of what sin
   is, but they know that it is something they would like to get rid of.
   They are like Paul when he was at Melita--I am not sure that he
   understood much about snakes and their bites--but when a viper fastened
   itself onto his hand, he shook it off into the fire. So, these people
   could not define sin, theologically, but they wish that they were clear
   of it, they long to be pardoned. It is "the day of small things" with
   them and it is not to be despised.

   Ah, dear Friends, when a man tries to get away alone, that he may read
   his Bible, do not despise him! When a tear falls during a sermon and he
   brushes it away and wants to make you believe that there was something
   the matter with his nose, do not despise him, even for that! I have
   seen that sort of thing happen many a time and I have been pleased to
   notice it. We ought to delight in anything and everything that looks in
   the right direction--and never think of despising it.

   Now I want to come to the most important point--Why ought we not to
   despise these small things--these feeble beginnings? Especially when
   there is a little Grace in any people, why must we not despise them?

   Well, first, because in the Church of Christ, there always were and
   there always will be babes as well as men. Do not despise the
   babes--where are the men to come from if there are no babes? If it
   happens in God's family as it does in most families, you will soon find
   that it will not do to despise the babes. How very grieved all loving
   parents are when their infants are despised! You may ignore the big son
   if you like, but do not despise the babes. So, with regard to Christ's
   family, be sure to honor the little ones--take care of them, never
   stand in their way. When they want to come to Christ, allow them to
   come. It does not say, "draw them," for they are wanting to come, but
   get out of their way and do not hinder them from coming. And whenever
   you meet with one who has lately been born of God and who is tender of
   heart, do not despise him. As long as the family of Christ is to
   increase, there always must be babes, and babes must never be despised.

   Again, dear Friends, do not speak harshly to those who are newly born
   to God, for you were once a babe. Yes, yes, though you do not like to
   be reminded of it, you, great giant that you now are, were once an
   infant! And you with your deep experience and your profound knowledge,
   you who think you can set everybody else right, why, once you hardly
   knew that twice two made four! You had to begin at the very beginning
   just like others have had to do! So remember what you used to be, look
   back to the hole of the pit from where you were dug and do not begin to
   despise others who are in the same condition in which you once were!

   Remember, again, that the greatest saints in this world, or who ever
   were in this world, were babes in Grace once. Whether it was Paul, or
   Apollos, or Cephas, they all began with little Grace and weak spiritual
   life at the first. Yes, there is not a bright spirit before the Throne
   of God who has washed his robes and made them white in the blood of the
   Lamb, but once was only an infant in spiritual things! And if the
   greatest were once so little, that is a good reason why we should never
   despise "the day of small things."

   Besides, dear Friends, it should always check every tendency in this
   direction when we remember that God made and God loves the very least
   Believer You know, a silver sixpence is as really silver as a
   half-crown. And the Queen's image on the one is as genuine as on the
   other. They are current coin of the realm and I am sure you will not
   treat with scorn the little pieces of money. Then why should we despise
   the small coins in Christ's treasury? When our dear young Brothers and
   Sisters are made of the same metal and stamped with the same image as
   we are, why should we despise them, though we happen to be, or thinkwe
   are, of somewhat more weight and value in the Church of God than they
   are? Oh, do not despise the lowly violet that hides its head among the
   leaves! It is quite as much a flower of God's making as the finest
   tulip that airs its beauty aloft, or the most brilliant standard rose
   that is before your eyes! God made the little things and God loves them
   and, as parents have a special love for their weak and little children,
   so has God a special favor towards the lambs of His flock, and He takes
   special care of the seedlings in His garden which have not yet come to
   the fullness of growth. Therefore, do not despise them.

   If you do, there is one sentence I would utter that ought to rebuke you
   very effectually. Your Master would not despise them if He were here.
   Christ has a quick eye to see little Graces in His people and when He
   sees them, He delights in them. A diamond is a diamond if it is ever so
   small. And Christ's people are Christ's people let them have ever so
   little Grace. Oh, if the Lord Jesus Christ would have carried that lamb
   in His bosom, why do you refuse to carry it? Why do you neglect it? Why
   should there be so often heard stinging words and keen, cutting,
   sarcastic remarks about the feebleness of knowledge or the defects of
   practice, when, if there is but Grace in the heart, you and I ought to
   rejoice to see it? I have often quoted to you the words of Jerome when
   he said that he loved Christ in Augustine and he loved Augustine in
   Christ. So ought we to love the weakest Believers--to love Christ in
   them, and to love them in Christ. May the Holy Spirit teach us to be
   like our Master in this respect as well as in all others!

   I have finished this word of gentle rebuke when I add that if you and I
   do despise "the day of small things," the probability is that we shall
   have to smart for it You remember that passage in Ezekiel where the
   Lord speaks of the fat cattle pushing the weak cattle with their horns
   and their shoulders? They were big bulls of Bashan and they were always
   goring one and pushing against another because they happened to be weak
   and sickly--and the Lord said that He would judge between cattle and
   cattle and those that had been so headstrong, so proud and so cruel
   would have to smart for it. The day shall come, my proud Brother, when
   you will be glad to sit at the feet of that young Christian you now
   despise! I have noticed that sort of thing many a time. It is a part of
   my pastoral observation that when persons who were genuine Christians
   have been proudly lifted up, they have been made to go down very low
   till they have envied those they once despised, and said, "If we felt
   as sure of salvation as that dear young man that we judged so harshly,
   we would willingly enough change places with him and take what we
   called his inexperience and his lack of knowledge, if we could be just
   as simple in our confidence in Christ as he is." Therefore, Beloved, if
   you do not want to bring the rod upon your own back, despise not "the
   day of small things," but be ready to cherish and comfort all in whom
   the work of Grace has apparently begun even to the lightest extent!

   II. Now, secondly, THERE ARE SOME WHO DESPISE "THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS
   " IN THEMSELVES. They think that it is very humble to do so. I am not
   sure that it is--I think it is very foolish to do so.

   There are some who despise "the day of small things" in themselves in
   this way--they pass by the small things. Suppose that a young man is
   impressed, under a sermon, with a sense of sin. A wise thing for him to
   do is to get home as quickly as he can and cry, "Lord, I do not know
   whether this is true repentance, but, if it is not, make it so! Lord, I
   am half afraid that I am only a stony-ground hearer and that this good
   Seed will spring up for a little while and then will wither. Lord,
   break my stony heart and do it effectually." Be very thankful, dear
   Friends, if you have the faintest spiritual impressions. I know some
   men who would almost give their eyes if they could but feel anything,
   but they say that they sit and hear, and the only result is what Cowper
   said--

   "If anything is felt, 'tis only pain To find I cannot feel."

   So, if you have any spiritual feeling at all, do not despise it, but go
   to God with it and pray that the work which seems to be begun in you
   may be carried on until it is complete--and that if it is not begun, it
   may begin at once. When you feel, sometimes, in the assemblies of God's
   House, a softening influence stealing over your spirit, or when
   possibly, in the middle of your work--you do not know why--you suddenly
   feel very tender in heart--or, perhaps, walking down into the City
   early in the morning, before many people are astir, you feel a
   solemnity quite unusual to you--do not despise it! These little things
   may lead on to a blessed saving work--I pray the Lord that you may take
   care of these dewdrops of Grace. It there are but a few tiny drops and
   if they are but cared for and valued, the Lord will yet look still more
   graciously upon you and send you a copious shower of blessing. Do not
   despise anything that looks like Grace in your heart. God help you to
   take it as a gardener at this time of the year takes the little slips
   and cuttings and puts them in silver sand to make them grow, that he
   may have the flowering plants, by-and-by. Use your cuttings--the little
   things that seem as if they could not have any life in them. God would
   have you plant them in favorable circumstances, that they may grow to
   His praise and glory.

   Some despise "the day of small things" in themselves because they do
   not think that any good can come of them. When I was preaching this
   morning, [Sermon #1739, Volume 29--"Bankrupt Debtors Discharged"] I
   thought that, perhaps, some poor soul would take comfort to himself,
   and I said to a Brother when I went outside, "I do like, sometimes, to
   have a subject which comes rolling up like a sea of Grace" because
   there are so many people who are like oysters in the riverbeds waiting
   for the tide to return. I did hope, this morning, that it was a flood
   tide, and that some of you would open your shells and that the blessed
   Word of God would come into your very souls! If you do that, it will
   come in. The oyster cannot make the sea roll up, but whenever he feels
   it rolling over him, he says, "Now is the time for me to open my
   shell," and when you feel, "Now is the time for me to seek the Lord,
   now is the day of salvation, now is the high tide of Grace," you shall
   have the blessing! It is all around you, or else you would not have
   opened your shell. It is the very flood tide of Grace that has made you
   feel what you feel. Therefore be glad and do not despise it. It may
   seem a little thing to feel tender and solemn, but it is not so--it is
   often the beginning of a blessed work of Grace--therefore value it
   highly.

   I have known some to despise the blessing by resolutely resisting its
   entrance into their hearts. I can never forget some instances of this
   resistance that I have known. I was preaching once, in a certain city,
   and a gentleman who had been very kind to me was in the congregation,
   but I saw him get up in the middle of the sermon and go out of the
   building. The Brother who was with me slipped out after him and said to
   him, "My dear Sir, why did you come out?" He answered, "Mr. Spurgeon
   has got me in his hands. I am like an India rubber doll and he can
   twist me into any shape that he likes. I am afraid that if I had
   listened to him for another ten minutes, I would have been converted."
   So off he went, deliberately stamping out, as far as he could, the
   spark of the Truth of God as it came toward him. He would not let the
   good Seed grow--he invited the birds of the air to come and steal it
   away. Do not forget that although the Lord graciously changes man's
   will and He has absolute power over the human will and makes men
   willing in the day of His power, yet He never saves anybody against his
   will and, while the will stands out against God and is unrenewed and
   unchanged, the man is still unsaved. It seems to me a dreadful thing
   that people can come to the House of God without any desire to get a
   blessing and there cover themselves up in armor of mail to keep every
   arrow from getting anywhere near their hearts. That is one method of
   despising "the day of small things."

   I know some others who despise "the day of small things" because if
   they get a little good in their hearts, they do not try to get more. If
   we did not expect a little child to ever grow, we would really be
   despising it, putting it down as a dwarf or a monstrosity. So, if the
   Grace of God has come into your heart, you will do all in your power to
   make it to grow and increase and thus prove that you do not despise it.
   I think I have said enough to show that if any here have the slightest
   sign of the beginnings of Grace, any glimmerings of the Divine Light,
   any first outlines of the image of Christ upon their heart, they must
   not despise them, but they should pray God to bless them and bring them
   to maturity. If they do so, I will tell you what God will do--it is
   hinted at in the verse from which our text is taken--"For they shall
   rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel." They had
   begun to build, but it was such a poor paltry piece of work and the
   wall was still so low, that they despised it. But when they saw the
   prince standing there, with the plummet in his hand and saw stone after
   stone brought and laid in its place--and their great leader officiating
   as the chief architect, they said to one another--"Look, the prince is
   there with the plummet in his hand! He is a man who never undertakes a
   task unless he goes through with it, so, depend upon it, the work will
   be completed."

   In like manner I can see that, although it may be very little Grace
   that is in your heart, yet Christ has come with that Grace! Christ is
   building in your heart, Christ is laying the foundation stone, the
   Prince of the kings of the earth, Christ Jesus, is there with His
   plummet and He that has begun the good work in you will carry it on
   till it is perfected in Glory! Oh, what a blessing it is to look to
   Christ with the plummet in His hand and say, "Great Master-Builder, I
   will not despise these foundations because, as yet, they are scarcely
   seen above the soil, for I know that You, who have begun the good work,
   will carry it on and perfectly perform all that You have promised. The
   Temple will yet appear to Your praise where now there seems to be but a
   tiny heap of stones."

   That is the way to cure you of despising "the day of small things" in
   yourselves.

   III. Now, my last point is this. THERE ARE SOME WHO NEVER DESPISE "THE
   DAY OF SMALL THINGS." I have time for only a few words on this part of
   my subject, but I wish them to be very tender words.

   First, true pastors never despise "the day of small things." Speaking
   for myself, I can say that I love to see in those of you who are
   unconverted any sign of serious thought, any intimation of a coming
   change, any token that you are turning unto the Lord. My heart is
   gladdened whenever I perceive it. Does anyone think that I despise it?
   Why, I pray to God continually to bring it to pass! Despise it? I look
   for it as the reward of my toil! If I did but know that I had awakened
   thought in any one of you, I would go home happy! If I did but hear
   that the Lord was bringing a score or two to Himself, I would gladly
   lie awake at night to bless His name for such a mercy as that! I do not
   care for the vastness of this congregation, but I do care for the
   individual souls in it and I rejoice most of all over those who are
   saved out of it. What good is it simply to bring you here and to have
   you sitting quietly while I talk to you? It is a waste of time and
   labor unless it brings you to Christ! But if I know that any of you are
   brought to penitence and faith, I am sure that I do not despise it, for
   I value such blessings above the choicest gold!

   And let me also tell you that your dear parents, your Christian wife
   and your godly daughter who persuaded you to come to this service do
   not despise "the day of small things." I have known some of our members
   do really extraordinary things in order to get people to come here in
   the hope that they might be converted. There was one who, after many
   attempts, at last induced a man to promise that he would come with him
   one day, so he went round to fetch him. "Oh, I cannot come!" said the
   man, "I am making a rabbit hutch." "Well," said the other, "I have one
   ready made that I will give you." "But," said the man, "I cannot come,
   I promised to go and see a man who has a pair of pigeons to sell." My
   friend answered, "I have a pair of pigeons I will give to you if you
   will come with me." It was all in vain. He might offer the man what he
   would, he could not get him. I hope that he has brought him by this
   time, but if not, I know that he will stick to him till he does see him
   here! And I know another thing, that he will bring the friend to his
   own seat and he will, if necessary, stand in the aisle and pray for him
   all through the service! Well, now, if he gets his friend to hear the
   Word and sees that he is impressed by it, you do not suppose that he
   will despise "the day of small things," do you? On the contrary, he
   will be glad even for the slightest sign of the working of God's Spirit
   in his friend's heart!

   Your godly mother, when she hears that you have been to the Tabernacle,
   will say, "Bless God for that!" If she finds that you have begun to
   pray, her heart will leap within her! A dear father, a minister of the
   Gospel, writes to me, and says, "My son had never decided for God till
   he went to hear you at Exeter Hall. During the evening sermon he bowed
   his head and gave himself up to the Lord. And now he is proposed as a
   member of my Church. God bless you, Sir!" It is always so with true
   Christians--they do not despise "the day of small things," but they are
   glad when their children are brought to Christ! And it is just the same
   with all soul-winners and I hope that many here are of that class. If
   they can spy anything like the tiniest egg of Grace, they feel so glad!
   And they watch you and they say to one another, "Is that light that I
   can see there in the East?" And the other says, "I do not know. I am
   afraid it is not." "Oh," says the first friend, "but I think it is.
   Does it not look a little gray just over there?" "No," replies the
   other, "I am afraid that it is not morning light yet." That is how some
   of us talk about you--we are often talking and praying about you, dear
   Hearers, and we say to one another, "When will So-and-So come to the
   Savior?" There is a good man here whom I pray for nearly every day and
   I know that his wife does the same. He loves to come here, yet he is
   still an unsaved man. But, by the Grace of God, he cannot remain where
   he is if prayer can stir him! We will pray him out of it and bring him
   to the Savior--may the Lord grant that it may speedily be so!

   There is one other Person who never despises "the day of small things,"
   and with Him I finish. And that is, our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus
   Christ He is so eager to see of the travail of His soul that if He
   spies in you even a desire after Him, He is pleased with it. Believe
   me, if you have but a spark of desire after Christ, He has a whole
   furnace of desire after you! Oh, that you would have Him as your
   Savior! He is free to every soul of you who will have Him! Is it not
   put just so in His last invitation? "Whoever will, let him take the
   water of life freely." Do not think that He excludes you-- you may
   exclude yourself, but if there is in your heart any wish, any shadow of
   a wish, anything like a desire for Christ, you may come, and welcome!
   Mercy's gate is wide open. Christ invites you to His house and to His
   heart. Oh, come to Him and come now! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
   and you shall be saved." May His Divine Spirit lead you to believe on
   Him at this moment! To believe on Him is to trust Him. Throw yourself
   on Him, sink or swim. Take Christ to be yours! Have you done it? Then
   you are saved, for, "he that believes on the Son has everlasting life."
   His believing is the evidence that he is already a saved man! So, go
   your ways and the Lord be with you, but I charge every one of you, meet
   me in Heaven! Amen.

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH 54:1-10.

   Verse 1. Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into
   singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more
   are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,
   says the LORD. In this Western clime we do not know all the misery
   which was felt by Eastern women who were childless. They were looked
   down upon and despised. Yet here God bids them sing! And, dear Friends,
   if you and I feel as if our hearts have become barren so that we cannot
   think of God or raise our thoughts towards Him as we would desire. If
   we feel that we have become useless and for that reason our spirit is
   greatly depressed, let us give heed to this sweet, this charming
   exhortation of Je-hovah--"Sing, O barren soul; break forth into
   singing, and cry aloud," for God can turn our barrenness into
   fruitful-ness and make us to rejoice exceedingly before Him. If we are
   now sighing and crying because we are not what we ought to be, or what
   we want to be, God can, in the richness of His Grace, make us all that
   we desire! Therefore let us begin to be joyful even before the miracle
   of mercy is worked! Let us have unbounded faith in God and expect Him
   to bless us even while we are in our lowest state.

   2, 3. Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch forth the
   curtains of your habitations: spare not, lengthen your cords, and
   strengthen your stakes; for you shall break forth on the right hand and
   on the left; and your seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the
   desolate cities to be inhabited. This was good news for the poor
   Gentiles who were so long spiritually barren, but whose seed was to
   spread all over the earth! This prophecy has been already fulfilled in
   a great measure and the very wording of it is a direction to us if we
   desire to see the Church of God increased. Make ready for God's
   blessing, you who are pining and groaning for greater things than
   these--God is about to bless you! Enlarge your tents! Lengthen the
   cords and strengthen the stakes! Prepare for the coming blessing, for
   you are to have better and brighter days than you have ever known!
   Therefore be no more sad, but look forward with joyful anticipation to
   the good things in store for you.

   4. Fear not; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be you confounded;
   for you shall not be put to shame: for you shall forget the shame of
   your youth and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any
   more. I am not going to interpret the passage in its strict connection,
   but to use it for our comfort and instruction. O you that are cast
   down, you poor trembling ones that would gladly be at one with God, but
   feel as if you cannot find Him, believe in the Lord your God and trust
   in His Son, Jesus Christ, for there are glad times coming for you! All
   your former days of sadness shall be forgotten and you shall have such
   joy and delight as you can hardly imagine at present.

   5. For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of Hosts is His name; and
   your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth shall
   He be called. Oh, what a blessing that is! This is a wide-spread
   mercy--"The God of the whole earth shall He be called." My Soul, come
   and hide beneath the shadow of these earth-covering wings, for there is
   room for you beneath their welcome shelter and, once there, you shall
   not be banished from that sacred spot, for it is written, "Him that
   comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." "Your Maker is your husband,"
   united to you in eternal wedlock! Therefore, be of good comfort.

   6. For the LORD has calledyou as a woman forsaken andgrievedin spirit,
   and a wife ofyouth, when you were refused, says your God. Poor rejected
   one, has the world cast you off? Do its sinful pleasures pall upon you?
   Listen, "The Lord has called you." You are divorced from the world that
   you may be forever united to Him!

   7. 8. For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies
   will I gather you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a
   moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says
   the LORD your Redeemer. What words of comfort lie here to those of the
   Lord's people who have fallen into spiritual darkness and come upon
   evil days! God still remembers you! His wrath is but for a moment and
   will swiftly pass away--but His age-enduring kindness which sweeps
   across the boundless eternity shall be with you forever!

   9, 10. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn
   that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I
   sworn that 1 would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For 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,
   says the LORD that has mercy on you. Oh, for Grace, oh, for the help of
   the Holy Spirit to lay hold upon these precious promises, and to feed
   on them!
     __________________________________________________________________

Good News for the Aged

   (No. 2602)

   A SERMON

   DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

   AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, DECEMBER
   30, 1855.

   "And about the eleventh home he went out and found others standing
   idle." Matthew 20:6.

   WE have come to the end of another year. Better is the end of a year
   than the beginning thereof. A year is begun with fear and trembling--it
   closes with joy and thankfulness. In the beginning of the year, we are
   like the sailor when he leaves port, hoists his sails and goes out on
   the broad sea toward a distant country. At the end of the year, we are
   sometimes like that mariner when he casts his anchor overboard and lies
   still in the haven. We have come into harbor, now, at the end of the
   year and here we rest and gratefully review our voyage.

   But, in coming to the end of another year, we have some solemn things
   to talk about, as well as some on which to congratulate ourselves. This
   is to be our subject and may God make it both solemn and profitable for
   the winding-up of the old year. "And about the eleventh hour he went
   out and found others standing idle." These words are taken from the
   parable of the householder who went out early and hired laborers into
   his vineyard. And who went out again at the third hour, and the sixth
   hour, and the ninth hour and, at last, went out at the eleventh hour
   and did the same. And when the laborers came to be paid, he gave to
   those who were hired at the eleventh hour the same pay as to those whom
   he had hired at the beginning of the day. We shall note, in our text,
   first, the Sovereignty of Divine Grace. Secondly, the mercy of God. And
   afterwards we will endeavor to make a solemn application of the passage
   to both old and young.

   I. First, in our text, we have DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY VERY PROMINENT.

   When we say Divine Sovereignty, we mean that God has the same rights
   which an absolute monarch has, that, just as a sovereign, under the old
   Jewish laws, or under the Medes and Persians, had a right to do
   entirely as he willed with his subjects, and there were none that could
   stop his hand, or say, "What are you doing?" even so, God, only in an
   infinitely higher and much more righteous sense, is absolute Monarch in
   this world and has undoubted right to do with everyone of us just
   whatever He pleases. The Apostle Paul wisely asked, "Has not the potter
   power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor,
   and another unto dishonor?" That Doctrine of Divine Sovereignty--alas,
   too much dis-carded--must be proclaimed, however men may bite their
   lips, and however angry they may be to hear themselves humbled in the
   dust and Jehovah God exalted as their Master!

   This parable shows the Sovereignty of God with regard to the calling of
   certain persons. The householder went out early in the morning and
   called so many. He went out at the third hour and called more. He went
   out at the sixth, the ninth and the eleventh hours and still he found
   more persons unemployed. Did he find them expecting or seeking work?
   No. He found them "standing idle in the marketplace." They were not
   working, nor doing anything. He found them standing idle and so, just
   as he pleased, he said to some of them, "Go and work in my vineyard."
   There is such a thing as Divine Sovereignty with regard to the choice
   of persons who are to be saved. If one man is saved and not another,
   God has made the difference and God has the rightto make the
   difference. If my brother shall enter Heaven and I shall be sent to
   Hell, God has a right to save my brother and He would be righteous in
   my damnation, for I deserve it. And if my brother does not deserve to
   be saved--as he does not--yet God has a right to give salvation to him
   and to withhold it from me, if so it pleases Him. My soul falls down in
   abject submission at His feet! I have no rights when I come before the
   Almighty. I have no claims on Him. I have so sinned and so erred that
   if He had sent my soul to Hell, I should have richly deserved it. God
   has a right to do as He wills with His creatures and He exhibits this
   right in His choice of those whom He calls to work in His vineyard.

   But, again, Divine Sovereignty is exhibited in the time when the
   householder called his people. Some were called early in the morning.
   Some at the third hour, some at the sixth, some at the ninth, some at
   the eleventh. The man who was called at the eleventh hour did not
   grumble and say, "Why did you not call me in the morning?" The man who
   was called in the morning, though it is said that he afterwards
   murmured because he did not have more pay than the last who were hired,
   yet, if he had been in his right mind, would have been thankful to the
   householder that he had given him the honor of working in his vineyard
   and had called him so early into it. It is a mercy to be effectually
   called by Grace at any time and we must not dictate to God when He
   shall give us His Grace. God exercises His Sovereignty in calling and
   converting sinners when He pleases. We have some in our churches who
   have been Christians ever since they were four or five years of age.
   And we have others who were not converted until they were 60 or
   seventy. God calls His people out of the world and from the service of
   sin and Satan at all periods of life--and thus He exhibits His Divine
   Sovereignty in saving men when He pleases.

   How often have I heard legal preachers assert that if a man is not
   saved before he is thirty, it is not likely that he will be saved at
   all! And that if a man has attended the House of God for 30 years and
   is not saved, there is just a possibility, but hardly a probability,
   that He ever will be saved. That is all nonsense, or something worse,
   because God is God--He saves whom He wills and He saves them when He
   wills! Our Lord said to Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it wills, and
   you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell from where it comes, and to
   here it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." God is just
   as able to convert a man with gray hairs on his head as He is to
   convert a man of thirty--there is no difference. We all stand before
   Him as sinners and if He pleases to save a gray-headed man, He can do
   so. Men talk in the way I mentioned just now in order to stir up the
   young to seek Christ, but they little know that while such language has
   little or no effect upon the young, on the other hand it often
   depresses the spirits of the old and makes them think, "Surely, then,
   our hour of mercy is passed and we cannot be saved." And yet these same
   preachers quote Dr. Watts and say--

   "Life is the time to serve the Lord,

   The time to insure the great reward!

   And while the lamp holds out to burn,

   The vilest sinner may return.

   Life is the hour that God has given

   To escape from Hell and fly to Heaven!

   The day of Grace, and mortals may

   Secure the blessings of the day." Yes, Beloved, as long as a man is
   living in this world, and I also am living, I will preach the Gospel to
   him! And if I could find "the wandering Jew"--if such a being ever
   existed--and he were nearly 2,000 years of age, I would still preach
   the Gospel even to him--and if he trusted Christ as his Savior, he
   would find mercy and salvation!

   So Divine Sovereignty shows itself, first, in the calling of certain
   persons, and, next, in the time when those persons are called.

   And, once again, there will be Divine Sovereignty in the ultimate
   reward of those who are called. The householder gave to every man a
   penny. The one who was hired at the eleventh hour came in fresh to his
   work and did just a little hoeing, or digging, or pruning, or something
   of that sort--and there was a penny for him. In comes another man, who
   wipes the sweat from his brow, and says, "Ah, I have been hard at work
   these 12 hours"--and there was a penny for him! Neither more nor less
   for one or the other--a penny for each one who came to work in the
   vineyard. Thus God shows His Sovereignty in His distribution of
   rewards. When some of the laborers murmured against the good man of the
   house, he answered one of them, and said, "Friend, I do you no wrong.
   Did you not agree with me for a penny? Take what is yours and go your
   way. I will give unto this last, even as unto you. Is it not lawful for
   me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good?
   So the last shall be first, and the first last, for many are called,
   but few chosen." Those who came last received just as much as those who
   came first.

   I am not quite sure whether that doctrine is true, which is called the
   Doctrine of Degrees of Glory. I have heard it preached very frequently,
   but I never yet saw any Scripture warrant to back it up. The text that
   the advocates of this doctrine usually bring forward is the passage,
   "One star differs from another star in glory." But anyone who can read
   English and who turns to that passage, will see that the Apostle is not
   speaking of degrees of glory in Heaven, but of different kinds of
   glories in the stellar heavens. And besides, stars may differ without
   varying in degree of glory, for one may be red, another green, a third
   yellow and yet all may be alike bright. Even so, though all the saints
   will differ in some respects, I do not see why there should necessarily
   be degrees of glory. There may be degrees of glory, but, so far as I
   can judge by reading the Scripture, I cannot see the slightest evidence
   to prove the doctrine to be true.

   What is the glory of a saint? Is it not Christ's righteousness? And
   shall I, the least of all saints, have less of Christ's righteousness
   than the greatest? Is not the glory of the saint the love of his
   Master? And will my Master love a poor old woman who lived up three
   pairs of stairs and died without ever having been heard of, less than
   He loves the most popular minister? Ah, Beloved, there are degrees of
   Grace, here, but we know not that there will be any degrees of glory!
   Why should a poor creature, lying on a sick bed, who for years has
   trusted in her Savior, have less glory than another who has been
   allowed to toil in His service? Why, it is an honor for us to be busy
   in good works here--we do not need to be honored for honor and, because
   God has given us a little more honor, here, to have an eternal
   difference made between us and others of His people. No, Beloved, every
   man who worked in the vineyard had a penny, and every saint will, in
   God's own time, be in Heaven! He will be with Christ and like Christ.
   How can he be more one with Christ than another is? All Believers are
   blood-washed, all are equally justified, all shall be equally
   sanctified! And as their persons shall be all pure, so do we believe
   that their Heaven will be equal, or, if not, Scripture certainly gives
   no countenance to the idea of degrees of glory.

   In this matter of eternal rewards, God will display His Sovereignty.
   There shall be some old man who has lived to be ninety and who was
   saved only in the last year of his life--and when he enters Heaven, he
   will sit as much beside Christ as one like Timothy, who was called in
   his early youth, preached the Gospel during a long course of
   usefulness, and died with honors on his head! There shall be a poor
   wretched sinner, like the thief who was saved when he hung upon a
   cross, and he will sing as sweet, and as loud, and as strong as the
   Apostle Paul, or the Apostle Peter, "for there is no difference between
   the Jew and the Greek"--between one man and another--"for the same Lord
   over all is rich unto all that call upon Him." Thus He displays His
   Sovereignty in choosing the persons who shall be saved, in selecting
   the time when they shall be saved and in their ultimate reward.

   II. This brings us to consider THE GREAT MERCY OF GOD EXHIBITED IN HIS
   SOVEREIGNTY.

   This householder went out to hire men for his vineyard because he
   needed them, didn't he? Yes, but God does not go to hire men and bring
   them into His vineyard because He needs them. There is not a man in
   this world that God could not do without. "Oh," you hear persons say,
   sometimes, "suppose Mr. So-and-So were to die? What would the Church
   do?" Why, do as it did before--live on its God! For--

   "When all created streams are dry, His fullness is the same."

   And when He calls any of His servants away, He can work out His eternal
   purposes quite as well without us as He does with us! The householder
   in the parable needed men, but God is altogether independent of them
   and herein is the mercy of God manifested--that He goes out to find men
   to come into His vineyard when He positively can do without them! Does
   He need any of us? What? He who guides the stars and keeps them
   revolving in their orbits by the motions of His fingers--does He need
   an insignificant atom like one of ourselves to serve Him? What? He whom
   all the hosts of angels worship and before whose Throne the cherubim do
   veil their faces with their wings--does He need a tiny creature like
   man to give Him homage and reverence? If He did need men, He could soon
   create as many mighty kings and princes as He pleased to wait upon
   Him--and He could have crowned heads to bow before His footstool and
   emperors to conduct Him through the world in triumph.

   But He needs not men. He can do without them if He pleases. O you
   stars! You are bright, but you are not the lamps which light the way of
   God--He needs you not. O sun! You are bright, but your heat warms not
   Jehovah. O earth! You are beautiful, but your beauty is not needed to
   gladden His heart! God is glad enough without you. O lightning! Though
   you write His name in fire upon the midnight darkness, He needs not
   your brightness! And wild ocean! You are mighty, but though you sing
   His deep praise in your solemn chorus, your storms do not add to His
   Glory. Winds! Though you attend the march of God across the pathless
   ocean. Thunders, though you utter God's voice in terrible majesty and
   track the onward progress of the God of armies, He needs you not! He is
   great without you--great beyond you, great above you and, as He needs
   you not, He needs us not!

   Then look at the mercy of God, to come after any of us. To come after
   me, to come after you, my Sister, my Brother. Admire His Grace. Look at
   the householder in this parable. He comes early in the morning. He
   comes late in the evening and he comes many times between. In like
   manner, God is untiring in His mercy. The householder rose up early to
   go out and find some men to work in his vineyard. So does God. How
   early He goes to some! Blessed be His dear name, there were some of us
   who were lit to our slumbers while we were young, by the lamps of the
   sanctuary. We can recollect when, in our midnight watches, like young
   Samuel of old, the Lord called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and we answered.
   "Here am I, Lord." Oh, we can remember when our grandmother Lois, and
   our mother Eunice taught us out of the Scriptures! When we were dandled
   on the lap of piety, when the breath of sacred song was breathed by us
   and an atmosphere laden with the perfume of Heaven was always around
   us! We inhaled it even from our infancy. Ah, hear this, you sons of
   Grace, God came to some of you very early, but, Beloved, He does not
   get tired. He came for some early in the morning and they would not go.
   He came after them in the preaching of the Gospel and they spurned all
   that the minister said. But when God is determined to save, He does not
   tire, but continues seeking even to the eleventh hour!

   And now, O you gray-headed men, God has come after some of you! All
   your coming to God's sanctuary from your earliest days have been of
   little or no use up to now. Yet now, I beseech you, consider that He
   comes to you even at this eleventh hour, for the Lord's mercy is
   untiring, His Grace is immutable! Having set His heart upon a man, if
   He does not come at the first hour, He shall come, some time or other.
   Divine Mercy will sweetly dispose Him to come. Blessed be the name of
   our God, there have been some who have come into our churches who would
   not have been taken into any army in the whole world, for they were
   made, by old age, too feeble to fight. Their eyes had begun to be dim.
   Father Time had written his name on their brows, their hair had become
   whitened and they came leaning on their staff to tell us what they knew
   of the Lord's redeeming love. Some of the sweetest tales I have ever
   heard have been told me by gray-headed sinners, saved in their last
   days, just when they were trembling on the borders of the grave! Do you
   think you see such a scene? The poor old sinner is tottering
   along--another minute he will be in Hell! Hear the voice of God,
   "Gabriel, stop that man! One more step and he will be in the Pit!" Down
   flies Gabriel, catches him in his arms and stops him for a moment,
   while the Holy Spirit whispers to him, "Flee from the wrath to come!"
   And, starting backward, he looks at the Pit wherein he had almost
   fallen and he hears hollow Time sinking down into eternity--yet he is
   saved!

   Surely, there will not be any man in Heaven who will bless God more
   than the gray-headed man who is called at the eleventh hour! Blessed be
   the name of God that such sinners are brought in--poor decrepit old
   creatures past labor and good for nothing--yet they are saved. Yes,
   even those who have worn themselves out in the service of Satan, God is
   willing to receive! The devil's hacks, Christ will not cast away! They
   who have nothing left that is of any use in the world, Jesus Christ
   graciously receives at the eleventh hour! He says to them, as the
   householder said to the men in the marketplace, "Why stand you here all
   the day, idle?"

   Do you not, Beloved, admire the stupendous, amazing, astonishing Grace
   of God which thus reclaims men at the eleventh hour? There is a young
   man in a very poor position in life. You come to him and say, "Come to
   my house and be my son. I will wash you clean, I will give you warm
   clothes, I will make you rich." But he turns away and does despite to
   your invitations. He insults you to your face, mocks at your friends,
   breaks your holy days and thoroughly despises you. When you look at
   him, again, he is beginning to enter middle age. You go to him and say,
   "Will you come to me, now, and be my son?" "No," he says, "I will not."
   Do you not think that by the time he was 40 or 50 years old, you would
   be quite tired of him? And suppose it possible that, when he was 70 or
   80 years of age, he should come and knock at your door and ask to be
   adopted as your son--would you not go to him and say, "What? You have
   the impudence to come now, while these forty, fifty, sixty years you
   have refused to accept my invitation! You vile ingrate, I will have
   nothing to do with you! Do you think I am going to have you, now, when
   there is nothing left of you that is worth having? Go back to where you
   have been all these years! Those you served when you were young, you
   may serve now that you are old! You had the pleasures of sin when you
   were young, go and have it now! It is a fine thing to make an almshouse
   of your religion, coming to me to take care of you when you are so old
   that you cannot take care of yourself! Be off with you!"

   You and I might act like that, but the Lord does not. He not only does
   not turn a gray-headed old sinner away, but He goes after him, Himself,
   or else he would not come! Though He has sent His servants, and the man
   has rejected them time after time, He says, "He will not come unless I
   go after him Myself." So He goes to the poor palsied man, who can be of
   no service to Him, and says, "Come unto Me! Even you have I loved with
   an everlasting love, and I will save even you!

   You shall be delivered from going down to the Pit, your eyes shall be
   saved from tears and your feet from falling." There is Divine
   Sovereignty! There is unparalleled mercy!

   III. Now may God help us while we ENDEAVOR TO MAKE A SOLEMN APPLICATION
   OF THIS SUBJECT, first, TO THE OLD!

   It would be presumption in a young man to speak to the aged if he spoke
   to them simply as a young man. But, as a preacher, I am God's
   ambassador, and if God has sent me, no man may despise my youth, nor is
   it to be considered in the least degree, nor do I consider it, myself.
   I speak with the same authority that the most aged minister can
   command, for I have the same commission that he has and he has no
   better message than mine. [This sermon was preached in Brother
   Spurgeon's first full calendar year as a preacher in London. He was 21
   years of age.--EOD.] Old man, come here and let me give you a solemn
   address, to warn you of the wrath to come!

   Gray-headed man, I beseech you, first of all, remember how many years
   you have wasted. Look back upon your misspent life and count your years
   over and over again. What do you say of your sixty, seventy, perhaps
   eighty years? Your harvest is past, your summer is ended and you are
   not saved! In your youth, oh, how much you might have done, then! In
   your middle age, oh, how your vigor might have been spent in doing good
   to your fellows! Even some of your old age, how has it been misspent
   and misused! Weep, I beseech you, weep bitterly! Let your cheeks,
   furrowed with the ravages of time, feel, for a moment, the solemn
   scalding tears of regret, because you have wasted all those years!

   Remember, also, that you can never get them back again. Long as you may
   live, you can never get one of them back! They have winged their way
   behind you, they are with the years beyond the flood and though you
   toil now, you can never recover the time you have lost--it is gone
   beyond the hope of rescue. Could you count out at once the price of a
   kingly ransom, you could not have back again even an hour! Consider
   then, my aged Friend, how much of your time has already run to waste
   and how many years have rolled away and you are still unsaved.

   Consider, next, suppose you are saved now, what a very little you can
   do for God! At the most, you can have but a few short years in which to
   serve the Lord. Death is at your gates--those gates are tottering
   beneath the battering-ram of age. Death is already besieging you! The
   walls of your town of Mansoul are shaking beneath the devastating
   engines of decay. In all probability you have not more than a few years
   to live and, perhaps, not more than a few months, or weeks, or even
   days--and then you must be gone the way of all flesh.

   Consider, too, O aged man, if you are put into the vineyard at this
   eleventh hour, how little you can do for others! You cannot preach the
   Gospel now--your eyes are, perhaps, too dim even to read God's Word to
   others. Your voice has lost melody. The windows out of which lust once
   looked have become darkened and you cannot hope that the fire of life
   shall light them up again. Consider how little you can do, even if you
   are saved, now--how much less, if your salvation is still postponed and
   you are not delivered from sin for years to come! Consider what is
   gone, you hoary heads, and turn unto the Lord even now!

   O aged Sinner, consider how much trouble has been lost upon you! The
   vinedresser said of the barren fig tree, "I will dig about it and
   fertilize it." How have you been dug about and fed! Another 104 sermons
   you have heard during the past year and yet you are unsaved! For 50
   years, for 60 years you have attended the sanctuary every Sabbath, yet,
   as oil from a slab of marble, the Word has run off you! Thousands of
   sermons have left you as dead as ever and myriads of warnings have all
   sunk, as it were, into the sea like a pebble hurled into it, which is
   lost and gone. In all your Sabbaths, you have secured no merchandise
   for Heaven! You have toiled hard enough for this world and now where is
   all that you have gained? You have put your treasures into a bag full
   of holes! You have, "sown the wind," and you shall, "reap the
   whirlwind," unless you speedily repent and seek the Lord.

   Consider, once more, old man, how long and how much you have provoked
   your God. Call to remembrance the sins of your youth. How often has
   that hand of yours which now is quivering with death's touch, grasped
   the wineglass of the drunk in your youth! Look back upon your
   manhood--has it not been devoted to Satan and blackened with enormities
   of guilt? And now, up to this time, you have still provoked your God to
   smite you! His long-suffering arm has not crushed you and His mercy has
   kept back the sword of Justice, but can you expect such gracious
   treatment as that much longer? Will God be merciful forever? Will He be
   kind throughout eternity? And if His mercy should fail, will not His
   justice make short work with your soul?

   And yet, if that thought does not stir you up to repentance, consider,
   once more, if you should be unsaved, how horrible is the place
   appointed for you!How fearful must be the doom which you shall receive!
   You are not a young sinner-- he would be damned. You are an old
   sinner--how increasingly awful must be your doom! You are not one who
   has sinned because of mere youthful passion, but you have sinned when
   passion has died away and when prudence has taken possession of your
   soul. You have sinned when the heat and passion of youth have died. You
   have sinned, therefore, worse than a young man can have done! O old
   man, may a child warn you? I am sure I love you with all my heart and
   even now my young eyes weep for you. Have you never seen an old man led
   by a little child when he was blind? It may be that, though you are
   blind, a little child shall lead you to the Savior. It is a child who
   now speaks to you. O gray-headed man! Would it not be to you an eternal
   source of misery if I, a youth, were saved and you, who are aged, wert
   lost? Oh, when you see a young Christian, do not the tears run down
   your cheeks? When you see a child in Grace, does the penitential sigh
   never start from your bosom? I think if I were old like you and saw
   some young child saved, I would wring my hands in misery, and say, "O
   Lord, is such a child a Christian and yet I am unsaved, I am
   unforgiven, I am still unpardoned?" Quake, quake, quake, O aged sinner!
   Be afraid, be afraid, be afraid, O unregenerate old man! Let your knees
   knock together, let your blood curdle in your veins, let your heart
   quiver, let your flesh be ready to creep at the thought that you will
   be lost and that, as the Lord God lives, there is but a step between
   you and death--between you and Hell!

   But there are THE YOUNG and they are, perhaps, smiling, and saying,
   "Ah, all that is good advice for old age! It is quite right that old
   people should be religious, but why should we think about such things?
   We have not come to our 11th hour." What did you say, young man? "I
   said, I had not come to my 11th hour yet." What did you say? Will you
   repeat that sentence?No, you dare not, for you do not know when your
   11th hour may be. Does any man know which will be his 11th hour? Do any
   of you know how many more days you may have to live? I do not and nor
   do you. Do any of my friends conceive that the time of his death is a
   long way off? No, Beloved, there is such a thing as death in the Chapel
   pew! The angel of death may be, this moment, coming in at that door and
   flapping his black wings across this place to find someone who is
   marked for destruction--and before you shall have entered your house,
   your soul may have departed and you may have gone from this stage of
   existence!

   Consider then, I say, for you are all, if you are uncalled by Grace,
   like the man in the 11th hour, standing idle in the marketplace.
   Consider, if you are ever so young, have you not already given too much
   time to Satan and the world? I do not like the devil well enough to
   think that he ought to have the first 20 years of a man's life.
   Consider, young man--has not Satan had more than enough service from
   you? Will not the time past of your life suffice you to have worked the
   will of the Gentiles in serving divers lusts and passions? Do you think
   it will give you any comfort, on your deathbed, to reflect that you
   were, for many years, living in sin and not saved early? And do you not
   know that religion is so sweet that we might well seek it, even for its
   sweetness, if it were not necessary for our souls security? Ah, you men
   of the 11th hour, for such you all are--may our Master come to you even
   at this moment! And if He finds you idle, may He say, "Go you, also,
   and work in My vineyard"!

   I will conclude with just a few words of encouragement to the eldest
   man and the oldest woman among us. Think not that you are beyond the
   pale of hope because you are aged. Do not believe Satan when he says to
   you, "Oh, you are too old a sinner to be saved." Tell him that he is a
   liar and that he does not know anything about it, for there are none
   too old to be saved! God will have mercy on all those that come to Him.
   He takes no objection to youth. He takes no objection to old age. Hear
   this, you aged sinners! If you are now under a sense of sin, if you are
   desirous of being saved, there is mercy in the Lord Jesus even for you!
   And O beloved Friends, one and all of you, are you this night crying
   out for mercy? Are you desirous of pardon? Do you feel that life is
   short and death is sure? Do you know that, in a few short days, or
   months, or years, a few narrow boards shall hold your body and your
   soul shall have gone from it into eternity? Do you wish for a Guide
   across the trackless desert which leads to Heaven or to Hell? Do you
   desire a Conductor to lead you into Paradise? Do you desire angelic
   wings to lift you up to the Celestial City? Do you seek for Christ's
   blood to cleanse you, for God's Grace to sanctify you? Then there is
   mercy for you! There is mercy for all who feel their need of it and ask
   the Lord for it! The viler the wretch, the more welcome he is! The
   worse the character, the more reason he should go to the Lord Jesus! It
   is Free Grace that we preach--and the vilest, most guilty, oldest,
   youngest sinner--anybody who feels his need of a Savior is welcome to
   that Savior now! The Lord give you Grace to seek Him! Remember that the
   least prayer will be heard, the weakest desire, the feeblest groan will
   be acknowledged in Heaven--and little as you may think that you shall
   ever find mercy, you most assuredly shall if you seek it through
   Christ!

   Farewell! Adieu, old man! I know not who you are, but it was laid on my
   heart to seek you, and I have sought you. O poor old man, you are like
   one who once lost himself in a pine forest! The snow fell thickly
   around him. It was dark, damp, cold. The howling of the wolf could be
   heard by him in the distance and he feared that during the darkness of
   the night, he would be consumed. There remained but one protection for
   him and that was that he should light a fire, by which he might warm
   himself and frighten away the wild beasts. He gathered together the
   pinewood and the dry, sere leaves, wherever he could find them, and he
   took out his matchbox. He tried to strike one match, but it was good
   for nothing. He tried another, and another, and another! Once he
   thought he had a light and carefully held it in his fingers, seeking to
   bring it to the little kindling he had laid beneath his pile of
   wood--but it died out, to his bitter disappointment. For some time he
   kept on striking his matches. He did so carelessly at first, but, as
   the number diminished, he struck each one more carefully, till he came
   to the last two.

   He struck the first of the two--he put it under his pinewood--it flamed
   a moment and then a gust of wind blew it out. And now he came to his
   last match. The wolf was howling, the wild wind was whistling, the snow
   was falling, the night was darkening! He feared that he must be there
   all night without a fire! Already his stiff joints began to freeze. His
   fingers were well-nigh frozen! You may guess how that man cowered on
   the earth, to strike, within the circle his frame might make, his last
   match. You may imagine how earnestly he put up his prayer to God that
   he might succeed the last time. "O Lord, let this last match succeed,"
   he cried! And anxiously did he look at it time after time, lest it,
   too, might fail.

   So, there is the gray-headed old man--he has his last match in the box.
   He has struck 69 of them all to no effect and now he has got to the
   seventieth. O God, if You do not strike the 70th for him, he is lost
   forever! If You do not give him the light from Heaven, fire from above,
   he must perish forever!

   He strikes that match. On it depends his life--it is his last one--yet
   he strikes it. Ah, glorious! The flame has caught! It blazes! He sits
   down and cheers himself. He is saved! He is saved! God grant that that
   last match may succeed with you, too, O old man!

   God bless you, dear Friends! A happy new year to everyone of you! Many
   of them to those of you who are bound for Heaven--and a new year in
   Heaven to those whom God may take away before another year comes round!
   Adieu!

   EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 20:1-7.

   (This Exposition is reprinted from Mr. Spurgeon's last literary work,
   The Gospel of the Kingdom. The Sermon and Exposition combined show the
   harmony between almost his earliest and his very latest proclamation of
   the Gospel).

   Verses 1, 2. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an
   householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into
   his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a
   day, he sent them into his vineyard. The Kingdom of Heaven is all of
   Grace and so is the service connected with it. Let this be remembered
   in the exposition of this parable. The call to work, the ability and
   the reward--are all on the principle of Grace and not upon that of
   merit. This was no common man that is an householder--and his going out
   to hire laborers into his vineyard was not after the usual manner of
   men--for they will have a full day's work for a full day's wage. This
   householder considered the laborers rather than himself. He was up
   before the dew was gone from the grass and found laborers and sent them
   into the vineyard. It was a choice privilege to be allowed to begin
   holy service so early in the morning. They agreed with the householder
   and went to work on his terms. They might well be content, since they
   were promised a full day's hire and were sure to get it. A penny a day
   represented the usual and accepted wage. The householder and the
   laborers agreed upon the amount--this is the point which has to be
   noted further on. Young Believers have a blessed pros-pect--they may
   well be happy to do good work, in a good place, for a good Master, and
   on good terms.

   3, 4. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
   idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go you, also, into the
   vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their
   way. Hating indolence, and grieving that he saw others standing idle in
   the marketplace, he hired more workers about the third hour. They would
   work only three-quarters of a day, but it was for their good to cease
   from loafing at the street corner. These are like persons whose
   childhood is past, but who are not yet old. They are favored to have a
   good part of their day of life available for hallowed service. To
   these, the good householder said, "Go you, also, into the vineyard, and
   whatever is right I will give you." He pointed to those already in the
   field and said, "Go you, also," and he promised them not a definite
   sum, as he did those whom he first hired, but he said, "Whatever is
   right I will give you." They went their way to their labor, for they
   did not wish to remain idlers and, as right-minded men, they could not
   quarrel with the householder's agreement to give them whatever was
   right. Oh, that those around us, who are in their rising manhood, would
   at once take up their tools and begin to serve the great Lord!

   5. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
   Had it been altogether and alone a business transaction, the
   householder would have waited to begin a new day and would not have
   given a whole day's wage for a fraction of a day's work. The entire
   matter was alone of Divine Grace and, therefore, when half the day was
   gone, about the sixth hour, he called in laborers. Men of forty and
   fifty are bid to enter the vineyard. Yes, and about the ninth hour, men
   were engaged. At sixty, the Lord calls a number by His Grace! It is
   wrong to assert that men are not saved after forty--we know to the
   contrary and could mention instances. God, in the greatness of His
   love, calls into His service men from whom the exuberance of useful
   vigor has departed--He accepts the waning hours of their day. He has
   work for the weak as well as for the strong. He allows none to labor
   for Him without the reward of Grace, even though they have spent their
   best days in sin. This is no encouragement to procrastination, but it
   should induce old sinners to seek the Lord at once.

   6, 7. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing
   idle, andsaid unto them, Why stand you here all the day idle? They said
   unto him, Because no man has hired us. He said unto them, Go you, also,
   into the vineyard and whatever is right, that shall you receive. The
   day was nearly over--only a single hour remained--yet about the 11th
   hour he went out. The generous householder was willing to take on more
   workmen and give them hire, though the sun was going down. He found a
   group lingering at the loafers' corner--standing idle. He wished to
   clear the whole town of sluggards, so he said to them, "Why stand you
   here all the day idle?" His question to them may be read by making each
   word in its turn emphatic--then it yields a fullness of meaning. Why
   are you idle? What is the good of it? Why stand you here i dle where
   all are busy? Why all the day i dle? Will not a shorter space suffice?
   Why are you idle? You have need to work, you are able to do it and you
   should set about it at once. Why is any one of us remaining idle
   towards God? Has nothing yet had power to engage us in sacred service?
   Can we dare to say, "No man has hired us"? Nearly 70 years of age and
   yet unsaved? Let us bestir ourselves. It is time that we went, without
   delay, to till the weeds, prune the vines--do somethingfor our Lord in
   His vineyard! What but rich Grace could lead Him to take on the eleven
   o'clock lingerers? Yet He invites them as earnestly as those who came
   in the morning and He will as surely give them their reward!
     __________________________________________________________________

                                    Indexes
     __________________________________________________________________

Index of Scripture Commentary

   Deuteronomy

   [1]8:3   [2]32:47

   Ruth

   [3]2:15

   2 Kings

   [4]2:14

   2 Chronicles

   [5]28:23

   Job

   [6]27:2   [7]35:10   [8]38:25-27

   Psalms

   [9]22:1   [10]69:5   [11]77:2   [12]102:13-14   [13]106:4
   [14]127:1-2   [15]129   [16]130:5-6   [17]132:6-7   [18]135:4

   Isaiah

   [19]44:22   [20]63:3

   Jeremiah

   [21]50:5

   Hosea

   [22]2:14   [23]2:15   [24]2:16-17

   Nahum

   [25]1:7

   Habakkuk

   [26]2:4   [27]3:2

   Zechariah

   [28]4:10   [29]10:6

   Matthew

   [30]15:25   [31]20:6

   Luke

   [32]1:53   [33]8:40

   John

   [34]4:6   [35]5:9   [36]8:37   [37]8:38   [38]11:43-44   [39]20:17

   Acts

   [40]2:39   [41]3:16

   Romans

   [42]5:10   [43]5:11

   1 Corinthians

   [44]1:9   [45]3:21-23   [46]10:16   [47]11:26

   Galatians

   [48]5:11

   Philippians

   [49]3:18-19

   Colossians

   [50]1:28

   Hebrews

   [51]3:12

   1 Peter

   [52]3:18

   1 John

   [53]3:14
     __________________________________________________________________

            This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal
               Library at Calvin College, http://www.ccel.org,
                   generated on demand from ThML source.

References

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