1^

I
I

I

t

I

i
I

BX 6333 .S6 S4 v. 18
Spurgeon, C. H. 1834-1892
Sermons of the Rev. C.H.
Spurgeon of London

It^^fsi-

SERMONS

PUKArilKI) IN ISST

.MCVPS1938 .

^ Logical st^'

C. H. SPURGEON

OF LONDON

Vo//n/u^ A'J'///.

NEW YORK

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
LoNDox am; Tohonto

CONTENTS

Page

I. The Best Bread 7

II. Shaven and Shoiin, but not Beyond

Hope 30

III. The Breaker and the Flock .... 53

IV. Jesus Declining the Legions 75

V. On the Cross after Death 98

VI. The First Appearance of the Eisen

Lord to the Eleven 120

VII. God's Thoughts of peace, and our Ex-
pected End. . . . o 143

VIII. The Death op Moses. 166

IX. Loving Persuasion 189

X. The Blood Shed for Many 212

XI. A Bit of History for Old and Young . 235
XII. God's Nearness to Us 257

XIII. Trust 280

XIV. Folly of Unbelief 303

XV. The Suffering Saviour's Sympathy . . 327

XVL The Child of Light Walking in Dars:- 349

ness

XVII. Man, vthose Breath is in his Nostrils, G71

THE BEST BREAD.

January 16, 1887.
" I am that bread of life."— John vi. 48.

You will observe that our Lord here speaks concern-
ing himself. He speaks not of his words merely, nor
of his offices, nor of his work, but of himself. "I am
that bread of life." And herein he teaclies us all to
fix our eye mainly upon his blessed person, and to
think of himself first and foremost. He is the centre
and soul of all. There is a tendency about us all to
get away from Jesus, and to look rather to the
streams than to the Fountain-head. Why are Ave
more taken up with bits of glass that sparkle in the
lio-ht than wath tlie sun himself? That tree of life,
in the midst of the Paradise of God — we forget to eat
of that ; and w-e wander to the borders of the garden,
to pluck the fruit of the forbidden tree of the know,
ledge of good and evil. I wish that our ministry —
that mine especially — might be tied and tethered to
the cross. I would have no other subject to set before
yoTi but Jesus only. Moses and Elias are well
enough in their places ; but when they disappear,
and Jesus is the better seen, wo are gainers by their
loss. If I might dig for copper, silver, and gold, I
should think it no deprivation to be obliged to find
gold only. It is no loss to lose all but Jesus. You
may wander from Dan to Beersheba, and you may not

(7)

8 THE BEST BREAD.

sin, for It is all holy groimcl between the two places;
but he is wisest who does not ramble even there, but
keeps to Calvary, and is content to speak only of
Jesus crucified.

" God forbid," said one who was a great and a wise
man — " God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul would have
considered it a terrioie calamity if he had become
fascinated, or even influenced, by the speculations
of the cultured men of his period: he felt that the
atoning sacrifice deserved all his admiration, and he
had none to spare for anything else.

You know how he fell among certain wise people
who wore fond of philosophical disquisitions; and to
tiiem he said, " I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." lie
did not endeavor to please his audience by agreeing
with them, but the further they went in one direction,
the further he went in the other, the more surely to
counteract their error. Because they were so broad
he would narrow himself to the one theme of the
cross. In these times, when the world has run mad
upon its idols of human thought, it may be wise to be
more strict than ever, and to stand steadfast in Paul's
determination — " I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

It was lihnself, my brethren, that our Lord set
before his hearers as the bread of life; he did not
mention anything of doctrine, or of precept, or of
ordinance, but himself He says, " I am that bread of
life." Of him, therefore, let us think.

It is of the utmost importance to those of you who
have spiritual life that yon should feed upon the Lord
Jesus. It is well to know everything that is revealed,

THE BEST BREAD. Q

for every word of God is good, and has its uses, and
all Scripture is profitable; but the daily household
bread, the substantial meat on which we must be
nourished if we would grow strong for God and holi-
ness, is Christ himself. " I am that bread of life."
We do not get bread anywhere else save in Jesus our
Lord. We may find certain minor things apart from
him: flavorings, ornaments, and furniture of the
table we may get from some other hand; but the
bread, the real solid meat, the essence of the festival,
is Christ himself. So let us begin -udth him in our
disoourse, and continue with him till we close our
meditation.

But now, when I have to preach upon a subject like
this, I find it necessary to begin a little way from the
text. " I am that bread of life." Bread, brethren —
broad is for living men and women, but bread is of
no use in the tomb. Bread — shall we bring it to a
sepulchre ? Shall we roll away the stone? Shall we
draw out tJie bodies swathed in linen ? Shall we sot
them upright iu ghastly posture, and shall we put
bread upon the table before them ? To what purpose
would it be ? It would be a ghastly mockery. If
you leave the bread there, and visit again that loath-
some banqueting chamber in twelve months' time, the
bread will remain untouched; for until there is life,
there is no use for bread. And so, at the opening of my
discourse, some of you might say, " Bread is intended
for living persons; it is for men and women who are
quickened. How can we feed upon Christ, for we arc
dead in trespasses and sins ? " You speak most truly;
but yet I have a marvel to relate which meets the
case. Hearken ! That would be a strange kind of
bread, would it not, which being put into a dead

10 THE BEST BREAD.

mail's niouili, would make him live ? Yet such is tlie
bread that came down from heaven, whereof if a man
eat he shall live for ever.

The Lord Jesus Christ is living bread. Bread such as
we get from the baker is in itself dead; and if you put
it to dead lij^s, there are two dead things together, and
nothing can come of the contact. But our Lord Jesus
Christ is living bread; and when he touches the dead
lip of an unregenerate sinner, life comes into it. He
brings life even to those who are dead in sin. He says,
"Young man, arise," and he sits up upon the bier.
He takes a little girl by her hand, and says, "Talitha
cumi — Alaid, arise," and she sits up in her bed. He
calls to Lazarus, who by this time stinketh, and he
says, " Lazarus, come forth," and he comes forth,
wearing his grave-clothes. He has shuffled down
from the niche in the cave, and he has made his way
out of the damps of the cold sepulchre. Oh, what a
wonderful Christ this is, who is not only bread for the
living, but life for the dead 1 Pray, you who can
pray, that he would come here just now, and be life
to those who are in the darkness of the Valley of the
Shadow of Death, that they may live. When they
live, then how gladsome will my text be to them, for
life needs bread whereby it may be sustained! The
first thing that we want, if we have life, is something
for that life to feed upon ; and here comes in the text

" I am that bread of life." Your newly-discovered

necessities Jesus can meet. Your newly-begotten
wants Jesus can supply. Your hunger and your
thirst can all be met, not by fifty things, but by one
thing, by Jesus Christ himself, in whom there dwells
in fulness all that the spiritual life can possibly require.
L AVith that to start with, I now make the first

THE BEST BREAD. \\

observation upon the text itself, which is this — Jesus
Christ exactlf meets all the wants of the kew life.
When a man is born again to God, and gets a new
life, he has new wants, new desires, new pains, new
longings. He enters upon a novel condition, full of
new needs and cravings ; the Lord Jesus Christ ex-
actly meets the new case. As the key fits the wards
of the lock, so does Christ fit the new heart and the
right spirit. He knows how to touch the secrets of
our soul, and supply our most mysterious necessities.

According to the text, the Lord Jesus Christ is tU
ideal bread — the ideal supply of man's soul-hunger.
Grateful Israelites truthfully judged that there never
was such bread in all the world, as that which fell in
the wilderness in the form of manna. It was very
wonderful bread, was it not? Men did eat angels'
food, and found it good for them. They went out in
the morning and they gathered manna, and they
found it most marvellous meat to sustain them. It
■was the ideal meat for persons travelling through
the great and terrible wilderness. There are differ-
ent theories of what we ought to eat. One person
tells us that, if anybody suffers from rheumatism, he
must eat so many pounds of meat in a day. Other
doctors have vehemently said, " You must not touch
meat. It will heat you if you do. You must keep to
a strictly vegetable diet." I believe that these learned
persons know one as much as the other about it ; and
probably the whole of them put together know so lit-
tle that a very small round nought might encompass
all their certain knowledge as to health and disease.
But there is one thing we do know, that the bread
which the Israelites ate in the wilderness, the manna,
was the best sort of food. It was God's own inven-.

12 THE BEST BREAD.

tion ; and lie who created man best knew what nutri-
ment his life wouit^l require. It was not aerated breads
but it was celestial bread which had never been sour-
ed with earthly leaven, but had dropped immediately
from the sky : the best food that men could eat if
they would be healthy, active, and able to endure a
hard and toilsome life.

Well now, what that manna was to their bodies —
the ideal food of man, which had nothing in it injuri-
ous— that our Lord Jesus is to the soul. In him is
life for men, and no disease or death. In the manna
there was no adulteration, it was a i^erfedly 'pure food :
such food is the Lord Jesus Christ to the spiritual life-
He is the bread that came down from heaven, he is
the t-rue meat. If our souls live upon Christ, and
nothing else but Christ, he will breed no disease with-
in the heart ; he will not distort the judgment ; he
will not inflame the imagination ; he will not excite
the passions. He would be a perfect man who lived
on nothing but this perfect bread. Brethren, if you
aspire after holiness of the highest type and order,
remember that a man is made by that which he feeds
upon, and for the best manhood you need the best
food. As certain silk-worms have their silk colored
by the leaves on which they • feed, so if we were to
feed on Christ, and nothing else but Christ, we should
become pure, holy, lowly, meek, gentle, humble ; in
a word, we should be perfect even as he is. What
wonderful meat this must be! 0 my brethren, if you
have ever tried the flesh and blood of Jesus as your
souls' diet, you will know that I am not speaking
vain words! There is no such sustenance for faith,
love, patience, joy, as living daily upon Jesus, our
Saviour. You who have never tasted of tJiis heavenly

THE BEST BREAD. 13

bread, had better listen to the word, " 0 taste and
gee that the Lord is good ! "

The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the ideal bread,
but lie is in himself a sufficient bread. That manna which
the Israelites ate in the Avilderness was all that they
really wanted. They began a-lusting, and they cried
alter flesh, and they sighed for the leeks, and the garlic,
and the onions, which had charmed their degenerate
palates when they dwelt among the Egyptians.
"Wretched was their taste. They must have been of a
coarse mould to grow weary of the food of angels, and
sigh for something more rank, more tasty, more heavy.
Something injurious they wanted ; yet had they been
wise and right, they would have known that within
the manna there was everything that was sufficient
and suitable for them ; for the God that made man,
made manna, and he knew exactly what man wanted.
Out of. the ovens of lieaven he sent man down bread,
fresh and hot, each morning, that he might cat to the
full, and yet never be surfeited, nor filled with evil
humors. They called the manna "light bread";
but what should the food be for those who were
always on the march but light, and easy of digestion ?
Our Lord Jesus is simple in doctrine ; but what else
do we v/ish for, even we who are wayfaring men, and
all too apt to err ?

My brethren, if we do but get a hold of Jesus
Christ, and feed on him, he is sufficient for us — suffi-
cient for gigantic labors, sufficient for anguish, and
grief, and sorrow ; sufficient for the weakest of the
babes, for he is the unadulterated milk ; sufficient for
the full-grown men among us, for he is the strong
meat of the kingdom. His flesh is meat indeed.
For your spiritual manhood there is bone, gristle,

14 THE BEST BREAD.

muscle, brain, everything that you want, iu Christ,
ff you feed on bim, he will build you up, not in one
direction only, but in all ways ; for ye are complete
in liim — thoroughly furnished unto all necessities.
Christ Jesus meets all the wants of all his people with
a divine sufficiency.

And then there is in Christ what there is in manna
— a sioeeiness all its oivn. I cannot tell you exactly how
the manna tasted. Some of them said that it tasted
like wafers made with honey. The Jewish notion is
that it tasted according to every man's own taste ; so
that, if he preferred this flavor or that, the manna had
that flavor to him, and thus it was to each one a per-
sonal and peculiar delicacy. This I know — that there
is a sweetness about my Lord which is precisely that
which deligiits me. I cannot communicate it to you,
for you must each one taste for himself. I believe
that our Lord has a flavor to me different from that
which he could have to you, because our circumstan-
ces and desires somewhat differ. Though there is in
the great clmrch uf God, a sweet community of de-
light in the Lord, yet each believer has his own spec-
ial deligiit. All Israel could claim all Canaan, and
yet every Israelite had a little plot of land that was
his own ; and so all believers can claim all Christ, and
yet each believer has a special portion which is alto-
gether his own. Oh, the sweetness that there is in
the bread that came down from heaven ! Do you not
know it? T trust you do, and if so, you do not need
me to say more. If you love Jesus, you wish for
nothing new. JModern gospels are forthcoming on all
sides. You have heard about them, I dare say ; but the
preachers of them cannot have the delight in preach-
ing their new gospels that I have in preaching the

THE BEST BREAD. 15

old one. " Oh," I say to myself, " they may preach
better than I can ; they may be a world more clever ;
but they have not such a subject to preach of as I
have." When I get preaching up Christ, and his
precious blood, and eternal love, and covenant securi-
ties, there I beat them all. With such a theme I can
compete with the most renowned of the world's ora-
tors. When I speak on these themes, my lips drop
pearls and diamonds. Brethren, when we declare unto
you the Lord Jesus we sail upon a sea of sweetness.
The novelties of "modern thouglit" are a Dead Sea,
but our gospel is an ocean of living water. lie that
has Christ to preach has sucli a subject that angels
might envy him, and cry one to another, " Let us go
down below, and tell mankind of Jesus and his love."
Brethren, to me the pulpit is a throne, and when I am
in full swing, with the Lord Jesus Christ as my sub-
ject, I would not change places with the seraphim.
It is a celestial joy to tell our fellow-men of such a
Saviour as Jesus ; for all sorts of joys are wrapped up
in his thrice-blessed name. When Jesus said, " I am
that bread of life," he meant, " I am that choice bread,
that satisfying bread, that delicious bread, the like of
which was never found elsewhere."

Furthermore, it was bread suitable for the ivilderness.
When they were in the wilderness, it was much better
for the tribes to eat what they called " light bread "
than for them to be filled with the meat that they
had in Egypt, or even the old corn which they enjoy-
ed when they came into Canaan. Manna was suita-
ble food for the climate, and for their condition; and
the Lord knew it. So the most suitable meat for us
in this vale of tears is Christ Jesus. I believe that
there is no meat like it in heaven ; but for this world,

16 THE BEST BREAD.

with its work and its weeping, with its toils and ita
troubles, its cares and its changes, its wars and its
woes, its fears and its frets, there is nothing so suita-
ble as the Lord Jesus.

*' Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts!

Thou Fount of life ! Thou Light of men!
From the best bliss that earth imparts
We turn uufiU'd to thee again.

We taste thee, O thou living Bread,

And long to feast upon thee still I
We drink of thee, the Fountain-head,

And thirst our souls from thee to fill."

Jesus is all the bread tliat you need while you are on
your way to heaven and God.

What 1 have to say on this point further is—Try it,
dear friends. I would be very practical on this point'
and say earnestly, taste and test. If you wish to know
this bread that came down fi-om heaven, and how
satisfying, how suitable, how sweet it is— try it.

Let me hand you out a portion of it. The Lord
Jesus, the Everlasting Son of God, is also man— man,
like ourselves. "In all our affliction he was afflict-
ed." He his own self bare our infirmities, and he is
at this moment "a Brother born for adversity." Is
not this a loaf of nourishing bread for a soul to feed
on ? I am a man, tired, troubled, burdened, and so is
my Redeemer; so is he who sits upon the throne of
God. I have to bow in prayer, and agonize in suppli-
cation: so did he. I have to endure slander and
rebuke: so did he— " He endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself" Brothers, sisters, you
cannot be in any plight wherein he has never been;
you cannot suffer any want so severe, but he also suf-
fered the like. Even if you have not a home, or a

THE BEST BREAD. 17

lodR;ing, or a bed for the night-" The Son of man
had Bot ^vhere to Lay his head." He i. a partaker
with us of the bitter cnp of affliction. l>ow, is not
this choice nourishment?

« Why should I complain of want or distress,
Temptation or pain ? He told me no less ;
The heirs of salvation, I know from his Word I
Through much tribulation must follow their Lord.

" How bitter that cup no heart can conceive,
Which he drank quite up, that sinners might live !
His way was much rougher, and darker than mine ;
Did Christ, my Lord, sutler, and shaU I repine ?"

The sympathy of Jesus, our Brother, is living bread
for sorrowing men.

Now for another slice fi'om the same loat. ne
died- he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. It
was for sin and sinners that he died. " He his own
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." "The
chastisement of our peace was upon him." He has
put away our sin by making full atonement to divme
iustice. Sin has ceased to be so far as those are con-
cerned who believe in him, for he was punished m
our stead, and so ended our debt. God will not
punish those for whom Christ was punished. He
cannot exact the same debt twice, first of the Surety,
and then of the sinner. That cannot be. Substitu-
tionary sacrifice is the finest of the wheat. A real
atonement is the most satisfactory food for the souL
I know it is so of a truth.

Poor sinner, if you can eat this bread you will not
be liungry any more ! Feeding upon the glorious
doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ you will
find that his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is
drink indeed.

2

18 THE BEST BREAD.

\ might continue thus to set forth my Lord as
bread for you iu his resin'rcction, in his glorious
asceifsion, in his session at the right hand of God even
the Father, where he maketh intereession for trans-
gressors, and in the glory of his Second Advent; but
time would fail me. 1 might cut a slice from this
loaf, and speak to you upon our commiinion with him,
upon our acceptance iu the Beloved, upon the glory
which he wears as our Representative, a:nd wears for
iicS; but I will not: it is enough for me to introduce
the test, and let Jesus say for himself, " I am that
bread of life." Certainly there never was such a
fruitfid and satisfying subject as this of Jesus, our
Lord. Oh, that all ministers were shut up to this !
Why leave this bread of heaven for the unsatisfying
husks afforded by other topics ?

Very well : that is the first truth we are to remem-
ber, namely, that Jesus Christ fully meets all the
wants of the new lifo.

IL But, secondly, in oreeu that Jesus may meet all
OUR soul's wants we must receive niM. Bread cannot
possibly sustain the body unless it be eaten. You
know, dear friends, you might be hungry to-night,
and hear about bread, and then be doomed to wait
till to-morrow evening without having any of it to
eat : that would be a tantalizing business, would it
not? 1 might then preach again, and tell you about
bread, and you might go without all through Saturday,
and come here on Sunday, and hear two more sermons
about bread, and yet all the while have none of it to
eat. It would be trjing work. None wouUl like it,
unless it ^vere those people w^ho are attempting to
fast lor forty days, and are likely to die in the pro-
cess. What good would it do you to keep on hearing

THE BEST BREAD. 19

of the bread, and never eat of it ? I cannot see any
result. Unless it tended to increase your hunger, I
do not know \vhat would come of the wisest discourse
on bread if you did not eat. SujDpose that you
should go to a baker's window, and stand there for an
hour, and stare at the bread, I do not think that the
sight would fill 3'ou much. Xo, you must cat, or else
there might be tons of bread wi'^hin reach, and yet
you would die of famine. You might be buried in a
grave of bread, and it would be of no use to you.
Even manna would not nourish you unless you ate it.
You must receive food into yourself, or it is not food
to you. The Saviour himself, if you do not receive
liim by faith, will be no Saviour to you. Mark that.

Here is a brother who never eats bread, but instead
of eating, he studies the theory of nutrition, and he is
ready to discuss with any one the whole system of
digestion and assimilation. He has a theory that
bread should always be baked in a certain way, and
he feels bound to discuss, and discuss, and discuss, till
all is mouldy. Vlj dear friend, you may discuss if you
like, but I want to eat ; and I think that, if you in-
tend to live, and not drop down dead in your discuss-
ion, you had better eat a bit yourself, and not put dis-
cussion into the place of eating. Some of you have
been hearing the gospel for years, and you have
never fed upon Christ yet ; but you have a great liking
for religious controversy. Why, perhaps, this very
afternoon you have been discussing this "ism" and
that "ism." Wherefore all this chopping of logic ?
Why do you not eat, friend ? Why do you not eat?
What is the use of talking about bread, when your
fainting body pines for a sul)stantial meal ? You
are at this time ready to fight anybody about the

20 Tii^ BEST BREAD.

shape that' the portions of bread ought to take when
they are cut up for a feast. Xo, no, I am not going
to accept your challenge ! I am hungry, and want
food, and to me the form of it does not matter much.
Bread is nothing to anybody till he eats it ; and
even our Lord Jesus is nothing to any man until he
believes in him, until he receives him, until he takes
him into himself That is the one thing that is want-
ed ; and the Lord Jesus Christ silently hints as much
when he says, " I am the bread of life." When he
calls himself bread, he does in effect say, " Partake of
me ; eat me; feed upon me."

Here comes in the inquiry — How do we receive Christ
into us as we take bread into our bodies ?

First, by helieving everything that is revealed about him.
The Father's witness, and the Holy Ghost's witness,
and his own witness concerning himself — v;e have all
these in God's most Holy Word. Take the Book, and
read it. Augustine, after years of tossing to and fro,
found peace with God, by hearing a little child say,
" Take, and read." I suppose that the child was sing-
ing to itself, and hardly knew what it was saying, as
it repeated to itself the two words — "Telle, lege ;
tol^, lege ; telle, lege." " Take up, and read." That
voice struck the ear of the perplexed thinker as
though it were the voice of God, and he took the
Scripture, and read the Scripture, and no sooner had
he read it than he found Christ. I would entreat
each one of you to do this, in order that you may find
rest for your soul. Believe what is revealed in Holy
Scripture. Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye
tiiiuk ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of Christ ; but ye will do well if ye go to
Christ himself, and find life. To believe in !:i:n.

THE BEST BREAD. 21

think of him. As the look of faith which saves is to
Jesus, so is it from Jesus, By looking, v/e learn to
look. As we know of him, we believe in him. Be-
lieve what is spoken about Christ, and so feed on
him.

Then; next, trust 1dm for yourself. That is the point
— the hinge of the whole business. He is a Saviour.
I believe tliat : but I go further, and resolve — he
shall be my Saviour. Maj I say that ? Yes, for I am
permitted to do so, inasmuch as he says, "He that
Cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." Scripture
says that he is exalted on high to give repentance un-
to Israel, and remission of sins. Therefore, I look to
him to give me repentance and remi.Bsion of sins. I
trust to him in that respect, and he is mine. He has
said, " It is finished." The atonement is finished, and
I believe that it is finished for me. A prominent point
about the offering under the old law was that the
person wlio came with the sacrifice laid his hands
on it, and said, " This is mine." You must do the
same with Jesus. Lay your hands on him, and say,
" This is mine. This sacrificial death is for me."
" Oh, but," says one, " suppose he is not mine ?
What if I were to take him to myself without
warrant?"' Suppose such a thing for one moment;
yet he would be yours. If I was hungry, and I ate a
bit of bread, and after I had eaten it, somebody said,
"It is not yours," I should reply, "Perhaps not, but
how will you take it from me ? It has nourished me,
and refreshed me ; -it is mine, and none can deprive
me of it." There is the point, you see : if you take
Christ Jesus into yourself, the devil himself may say
you had no right to him, but he cannot take away
that which you have eaten. Jesus himself will not

22 THE BEST BREAD.

quarrel with you, nor blame you for taking him, for he
has said, " Him that cometh to me 1 will in no wise
cast out.'' You may summon a poor man before the
magistrate, and say, " He is a tliief, for he stole bread
from my counter." You may put him in prison for
the theft, though 1 hope you would not if hunger
drove him to the act ; but you c.annot get your bread
away from him if he has eaten it. So, if you come to
Christ, and take him into yourself, he is yours,
and you shall live by him. Jesus says, "He that
eateth me, even he shall live by me." Kor death, nor
hell, nor time, nor eternity, can take Jesus away when
once you have liim within you. " Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ?" Swallow, then, the
divine truth. Let it go down quickly, for fear any-
body should come before it has fully entered into your
soul. Once there, it is yours ! They say that possess-
ion is nine points of the law ; and I should think in
the case of eating that it istlie whole ten points, or any
other number of points, for there is no getting re-pos-
session of that which a man has actually eaten. Get
Christ, and Christ is yours — yours by a kind of pos-
session, which will never be disputed before the
courts of heaven.

This, then, is to feed upon Christ — to believe that
which is revealed about him, and then to appropriate
him to yourself by personal faith.

Furthermore, to feed upon Christ means to medi-
tate much upon him — to think much of liim. Broth-
ers, there are many sweet doctrines in the Bible which
I delight to make my own by reading, marking,
learning, and inwardly digesting them; for they are
parts of the great circle of truth which is revealed of
God. But I find that I am never so comforted.

THE BEST BREAD. 23

strengthened, and sustained, as by deliberately
considering Jesus Christ's precious death and atoning
sacrifice. His sacrifice is the centre of the circle, the
focus of the light. There is a charm, a divine fasci-
nation, about his wounds.

0 sacred head, once wonnded ! 0 dear eyes, so
red with weeping ! 0 cheeks, Vv'ith spittle all bestain-
ed ! I could forever gaze, admire, and adore! There
is no beanty in all the world like that which is seen
in the countenance " more marred than that of any
man." This one vision is enough for all eyes for all
time. There is no sustenance to the heart like the
sustenance that comes of his flesh and his blood,
given np in anguish and in death to work out our
redemption. Beloved, this is the bread of heaven.
"Take, eat," says he, "this is my body, which is
broken for you." "What food is this! What life
ought that to be which is nourished by such bread !

But time flies so quickly that I cannot dwell upon
these points as they deserve to be dwelt upon. Oh,
live near the cross 1 Build your house on Calvary I
Frequent Gethsemane ! Listen to the groans of your
pleading Lord ! Be much with a dying Christ ! Be
much with a risen Christ. Be much with a reigning
Christ. Be much in anticipation of a coming Christ.
For the more you are with him, the more will your
soul be filled with satisfaction, and influenced to sanc-
tification. He shall satiate your soid as with mai'row
and with fatness, and your mouth shall praise him
with joyful lips, for he can sa}', and none other, " I
am that bread of life.'' Eeceive him, then, and you
shall find it so.

HL Now thirdly — and this shall be but a word or
two — notice this solem.n fact: not to feed upon Christ

24 THE BEST BREAD.

IS THE SURE MARK OF DEATH. Terrible fact. The Lord
Jesus Christ has said it — "Except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you." A great preacher, but he does not feed on
Christ ! You have no life in you. A forward profes°
sor, but ho does not feed on Christ ! You have no
life iu you. A very knowing theologian, and a clever
controversialist ; but he does not feed upon the
incarnate God ! There is no life in you. A daring
speculator iu modern thought, but he does not care,
he says, for the blood of Christ; ho even sneers at
the mention of it! Yon have no life in you. Hard
words ! Hard words ! Hard words, if they 1)0 trne,
are better than soft words if they be false. But this
is the sure test : '• What think ye of Christ ? " If he
is not bread to your souls, you have no life in you.
If anybody were to say to me, " I have a man at home
who stands in my hall, and has stood there for years,
but he has never eaten a mouthful of bread all the time
nor cost me a penny for food," I should say to myself,
" Oh, yes, that is a bronze man, 1 know, or a plaster
cast of a naan. He has no life in him, I am sure ; for
if he had life in him, he would have needed bread."
If we could live without eating, it would be a cheap
method of existence, but I have never found out the
secret, and I do not mean to make experiments. If
vou are trying it, and have succeeded in it so far that
you can live without Christ, the bread of life, I fear
your life is not that of God's people, for they all
hunger and thirst after Jesus, the bread of heaven.
O my dear hearer, once a professor, once a church-
member, if you have given up Christ, and you
get on well without him, you have no life in you !
The dead can do without bread, but the living cannot.

THE BEST BREAD. 25

Jesus tells ns, "I am that bread of life," and if you are
doing without him you are doing without tlie bread of
life, and the reason is that you are without life itself.
IV. Next, and the fourth head, shall be "vvith equal
brevity — xnosB who feed upon Christ are supremely
BLESSED. They shall never hunger. They shall hun-
ger after more of Jesus, but not after anything else
besides Jesus. I was greatly pleased some time ago to
hear a gentleman say, Avho had tried to preaeh another
doctrine, that a certain neighborhood which he spoke
of was so impregnated wuth what was called " the
gospel'' that be could not succeed with his specula-
tions. He said that if men once drank this gospel
doctrine it made them so bigoted in their love for it
that the most clever person could not get them out
of it. I thought to myself, "This witness is true,"
An enemy declared it, and it was therefore all the
more striking. The subtlest deceivers may try as
long as they please, but when w^e have once fed upon
Christ they cannot get us off from him. They call us
away from him ; they proffer us all manner of novel-
ties; but in vain: "Try our thought! Try our
science ! Try our purgatory ! Try our larger hope ! '
But we hear the pails rattle, and we hear the swine
clamoring, and we are not anxious to taste the mixture,
or unite in the festival. We are not so selfish as to steal
this new wash from thos3 w^hom it delights. Let those
have it who can feed on it ; but as for ourselves, we
mean to feed on the bread of heaven. The gospel is
to us such satisfying bread that all the rest is draff.

" Should all the forms that men devise
Assault my soul with treacherous art ;
I'd call them vanity and lies,

And hind the gospel to my heart."

26 THE BEST BREAD.

Every true child of God is so far a bigot that he
prefers the bread of his Father's house to the husks of
the far country. He cauuot give up the gospel, and
he will not, for it satisfies his whole being. What
more does he want ? Why should he make a
change ?

Moreover, he has in Christ food that can never ex-
haust. He may feed, and feed, and yet he shall never
find that he lacks for meat. I have many an old book
in ray library in which there have been book-worms,
and I have sometimes amused myself with tracing a
worm. I do not know how he gets to the volume
originally, but being there he cats his way into it.
He bores a hole in a direct line, and sometimes I find
that he dies before he gets half-way through the tome.
Now and then a worm has eaten his way right through
from one wooden cover to another ; yes, and through
the cover also. This was a most successful book-worm.
Few of us can cat our way quite so far. I am one of
the book-worms that have not got half-way into my
Bible yet ; but I am eating my way as fast as I can-
This one thing I have proved to myself beyond all
question : 1 shall never, never exhaust this precious
Book; much less shall I exhaust the wondrous person
of my divinely-blessed Lord. He is that bread which
came down from heaven. He is utterly inexhausti-
ble.

Brethren, feeding upon Jesus we have an immortal
blessedness ; we shall never die. If we have fed on
Christ, we shall fall asleep, but it will be in Jesus.
Some whom we love have lately fallen asleep : they
will awake with him in the morning. But we shall
never die. We shall only pass into a higher stage of
life : for that food on which we feed shall be in us the

TliE BEST BREAD. 27

plcclge of an immortality equal to the immortality of
the Christ who has become our bread.

V. I had" much more to say to you, but the time
has gone. All that I will say further is this. If any of
you desire to have Christ, you may depend upon it that
you may have him, because broad is meant to be eat-
en : Jjsiia-ia_EEaw*E©-Tg;BCMsETvEr>. What is the use
of bread if it iKS never eaten ? If you go to the Orphan-
age, you will see a large batch of bread there kept
upon the shelves. It must not be eaten the first day,
you know, it would go too fast, and would not be
very wholesome for the youngsters. It must get
rather staler by being kept a little while. Now sup-
pose that I were to go down there, and say to the
baker, " Lock that door : I want to keep that bread.
I am going avv-ay to Mentone, and I shall take the
key with me, that I may save that bread." Suppose
1 were to do so, and come back in a couple of months'
time. Should I saj' to myself, " I have saved that
batch of broad ? " I am afraid that it would turn out
to be very bad economy. Let us go and look at the
loaves which we have kep.t from use ! Come away at
once ! The sight is not pleasant. Decay and corrup-
tion have fallen upon Avhat we have hoarded. It
would be a poor matter for the bread. Why, it is the
very end of bread, the object of bread, the portion of
bread, to be eaten. It is honored in being eaten : it
would be degraded b}' being left to grow stale and
mouldy. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is never so fa-
mous a Christ as when sinners come and feed upon him.
This precious bread must he eaten, or it has not an-
swered its design. What say you to a doctor who
has no patients ? What say you to a Saviour who
never saves anybody ? The honor of a physician lies

28 THE BEST BREAD.

in the persons that he heals ; and the honor of a Soa
viour lies in the persons that he sav^s. Christ has
become the bread of heaven on purpose for you vO
have him, and for me to have him. He came into
the world to save sinners, and if he does not save sin-
ners, he has come for nothing. It is his business to
save -sinners. Now, if a man sets up in business, and
never does any business, his undertaking is a failure.
"Poor man ! " you say, "he has made a great mis-
take."

I know a brother here who w^anted to take a certain
shop in a wide street, but his wiser friend said, " Do
not take that shop for a baker's. It is not a good
eating locality. You must open a shop in one of the
streets where there are plenty of poor people, who
Avill buy the bread every morning. Make it good and
cheap, and it wdll not stop long on the shelves." I
noticed in the newspaper that a certain drink-shop
was '* in a good drinking locality." I am sorry that
there are such localities. But, assuredly, a good eat-
ing locality must be the very place for vending bread.
I think that this Tabernaftle stands in a good eating
locality. Many are here now who are hungi-y after
Christ, and it is a blessed fact that they may have
him, and feed upon him without stint. And what is
the price ? The price ? The difficulty with all other
traders is to get you up to their price ; but my diffi-
culty is to get you down to mine — for the bread of
heaven is icitliout price. Even if you offer a farthing,
I cannot take your bid. You may have all for noth-
ing, and have it at once ; but not a penny can be
accepted from you. The gospel provides a full
Christ for empty sinners, pardon on earth and bliss in
heaven, and all for nothing. Take it as a free gift,

THE BEST BREAD. 29

and it is jours. What would you pay ? What could
you pay? Did Israel pay for tho manna ? It would
have been an insult to God to imagine it. Go your
way, and bless the name 9f the Lord, for this is tlie
gospel — " Re that believexn and is baptized shall be
saved,"

h

a,

SHAVEN AITD SIIOEX, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

January 9, 1887.

" Howbeit the liair of liis liead began to grow again after lie
■was sliaven." — Judges xvi. 22.

Let me introduce the text to you. Samson was set
apart from his birth to be the champion of Israel, to
break the power of the Philistines who lorded over
God's people. Everything in his bringing up had re-
ference to his peculiar calling as a hero of Israel, the
hammer of Philistia. He was to be a Nazarite Irom
his birth. Amongst other things which concerned the
Kazarite he never touched wine, nay, nor grapes, nor
husks of grapes, nor anything that came of the vine:
which goes to show that the greatest physical strength
is attainable without the use of wine or strong drink.
Whatever else overcame Samson, he was never over-
come with drunkenness ; and yet he greatly sinned,
which goes to show that total abstinence is not of itself
enough to form a character. A Nazarite, in addition
to abstinence from wine, also abstained from wearing
the common appearance of men. He was not to have
his hair at any time shaven, or cut away : so that
when Samson was grown up to manhood, he was
covered with a shaggy mass of hair. He must have
looked like the lion that he was. Those locks of his
were the token of his consecration to God, the outM'ard
marks of his being set apart to be the servant of the
(30)

SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE. 31

God of Israel. Can you not see him with the terrible
glory of his hair npon him?

Poor Samson was as weak morally as he was strong;;
physically, and he fell a prey first to one evil woman,
and then to another. Perhaps the extraordinary
strength of his physical frame placed him under strong-
er temptation than is common to man: at any rate, he
was peculiarly constituted, and seemed more like a
wanton boy than a judge in Israel. Through this pe-
culiar sin (if his, the Philistines found opportunity to
assail him. They tempted Delilah, whom he loved, to
extract from him the secret of his great strength. He
was so strong that he rent a lion as though it had been
a kid ; so strong that he carried away the gates of the
city in which they had shut him up ; so strong that he
smote an army of Philistines, " hip and thigh, with a
great slaughter." The mercenary woman, upon whom
he foolishly doted, by degrees extracted from him the
secret of his strength ; and while he lay asleep up-
on her lap, the Philistine lords caused a barber to
cut away the locks of his head. He awoke from his
sleep shaven. Then he went out, and thought to fight
the Philisthies as before: but to his surprise he found
that his strength was gone. The locks of his dedication
had been shorn ; he was no longer the acknowledged
servant of the Lord, and he was weak as other men.
Then the Phihstine lords took him captive, bored out
his eyes— for such is the expression in the margin of
our old Bibles— gouged out his eyes, bound him to the
mill, and made him work like a slave or an ass. In
that pitiable plight our text finds him : but it comes
with a key of deliverance to set free the captive.

My text runs thus— it is in the twenty-second verse
of tlie sixteenth chapter of Judges—" Howbeit the

32 SUA VEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

hair of his head began to grow again after he was
shaven."

Poor Samson! I roughly sketched his story as with
a crayon just now. I cannot stay to attempt a more
accurate portrait. Poor Samson, the champion of Is-
rael, now the scoif of his enemies ! Poor Samson, the
hero of so many fights, now at last conquered by his
own foolishness ! They have taken him, they have
bound him, they have gouged out his eyes, and there
he stands, sightless, in the midst of his adversaries, who
bind him to the mill, and lash him as he grinds for
them. To humiliate him they put him to do woman's
Avork, made hard so as to be the work of beasts. See
what sin will do. See how the man who had fought
God's battles suffers great loss, great pain, great disfig-
urement, great dishonor, and comes into a cruel and ab-
horred bondage through his sin. That shaven man
made a slave is the picture of very many who once
Avere the avowed servants of God, and were valiant for
the truth. They have given up their secrets, they
have told the world that which none should know but
themselves, they have lost the locks of their dedication,
and they are led captive|,by the de\^il-{3t^t his wiU.
They cannot see as they used to see, darkness shuts
out all joy: they do not work for God as they used to
work, for they are slaving for men, for poor, passing,
earthborn objects. They have come into an awful bond-
age, and they have, at the same time, brought great
dishonor and Aveakness upon the church to Avhich
they belong. How are the mighty fallen ! Children
of God, whatever God may do for you, take heed that
you always remember that you can never gain any-
thingby sin ! It is loss, and utter loss, in every sense,
to yield ourselves servants to sin. Again I cry : How

SUA VEX AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE. 33

are the miglity iallen ! How is the champion become
a slave at a mill ! In the midst of our churches how
often arc those who were excellent and nseful brought
to nought and made to be a derision ! How often do
our boldest warriors bring the cross of Christ into
contempt by their sin ! The Lord keep us IVom thus
i'alliug ! May we rather die than dishonor our Lord !
1 begin thus upon the mournful key, because I want
to speak of God's great goodness to backsliders, and
of how he restores theoi ; but I want to warn tliem,
at tlie very outset, that sin does not pay ; that what-
ever may come of it through God's mercy, yet it is an
evil thing and a bitter thing to wander from tlie Lord.
Tiiough Samson's hair grew again, and his strength
came back, and he died gloriously fighting against
the Philistines, yet he never recovered his eyes, or
his liberty, or his livin'g power in Israel! Short and
effective was his last stroke against the adversary, but
it cost him his life. He could not again rise to be the
man he had be:n before ; and though God did give
liim a great victory over the Philistine people, yet it
was but as the flicker of an expiring candle ; he was
never again a lamp of hope to Israel. Llis usefulness
was abated, and even brought to an end, through his
folly. Whatever the grace of God may do for us, it
cannot make sin a right thing, or a safe thing, or a
permissible thing. It is evil, only evil, and that con-
tinually. 0 children of God, be not enslaved by
fleshly lusts ! 0 Xazarites unto God, guard your
locks, lest they be cut away liy sin while you are
sleeping in the lap, of ])leasure ! O servants of Jeho-
vah, serve the Lord with heart and soul by his grace
even to the end, and keep yourselves unshorn by tlio
world !

34 SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

With that as a preface wo come again to the text :
" Tlowbeit the hair of his head began to grow again
after he wa;S shaven."

Inrst, let us see icliat tlds groioing cf the hair pictures ;
secondly, wliat it specijically symbolizes ; and thirdly,
lohat it prCphesics.

I. First, WHAT THIS GROWING OF THE HAIR PICTURES. I

think that this pictures the gradual restoration of
certain among us who have backslidden from God,
'\\\Q hair was there upon Samson's head, though it
had been cut short. Though the hair was shaved off,
yet tlie adversary could not take the roots away. It
was a living thing, and it would grow again. So is it
Avdth those who arc the people of God. The devil can
shave them very closely, and clip off their beauty,
their strength, and their consecration ; but a living
something is still there that will grow again. If
there has been a real regenerating work of God the
Holy Ghost upon their hearts, it will show itself
again. Though the fruit and holy outcome of this
living principle may for a while be removed — sadly
removed to their bitter loss and damage — yet I say
the living roots of grace are still in the soul, and ere
long we shall have to say, " llowbeit the hair of his
head began to grow again." Wells may for a while
be stopped, but the living water will break out, and
come to the surface again. The tree may lose every
leaf which once adorned it, but its substance is in it ;
and when the spring smiles again, it will once more
begin to bud. Eternal life may sleep, may faint ; but
it cannot utterly die; else how. were it eternal life?
The Hair, though closely shaved, will grow again.

1 will show you this hair, in the process of growing.
A man was once a member of a Christian church,

■SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE. 35

godly and gracious. Satan has shaved him of all that
was distinctive and religious. He has gone into the
world ; he has been put away by his brethren. His
conduct was too inconsistent to allow of a continuance
of his profession. But there had really been a change
of heart, there had been a radical work of grace in
liis soul ; and, therefore, after a Vvhile, he begins to
be very miserable and uneasy. It is impossible for
him to be happy among the Philistines, who have
captured him. His gay comrades, who flattered them-
selves that they had got him fast this time, cannot
make him out. He has fits of melancholy. Occa-
sionally, he falls into a deep despondency, and he ut-
ters strange words which they do not like to hear,
partly denunciations of himself, and partly prophecies
of evil to those around him. He is evidently terribly
uneasy in the ways of sin. Now he gets alone, and
jsighs —

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

There is something in his heart which troubles him
both by night and by day. His soul is saying, "I
will go and return to my first husband ; for then was
it better with me than now." Howbeit his hair be-
gins to grow again. It has been shaved very cleverly,
but the roots have not been extracted, and you can
see that he will soon be a hairy man again. He can-
not rest in his sin ; no true-born child of God ever
can. Giant Slay-good may pick up a pilgrim on the
road when he is. faint and weary, but he can nev-
er pick the bones of a true believer. He will come
out of the den of the giant somehow or other. What
a pity that he should ever go into it !

3G SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

Well, now notice that the man begins to drop in to
hear a sermon. It is a long time since he was famil-
iar with the house of prayer ; but he finds himself
here to-night after a long absence. He remembers
when he used to be always here, and he almost waters
the door with his tears as he thinks of the happy days
which he used to enjoy in the midst of God's people,
when he welcomed the light of the Sabbath moniing,
and the way was never too long for him to come up
to the place of his love. In those days the word of
the Lord was sweet to him. He has not been for
some time, but somehow he felt to-day that he must
ccjme again. How welcome he is ! How glad I am
to see him, tliough he looks so rough and grisly, and
half-shaved !

I have heard — I am not sure of it, but T think it is
very likely — that he has been reading his Bible again.
That poor Book has been left to be covered with dust,
but he has had it down, and he has looked at a psalm
that once used to charm his heart, and he has wept
over the passage which once revealed Christ to iiim.
He even groaned to tliink that he should have forgot-
ten the voice of the living God which used to speak
to him through that holy Book. He read a sermon
to-day, too. He has not often done that, lie took a
tract from some one in the street, and he L)oked at it
with eagerness : this also was a hopeful sign.

A little while ago, when he first forsook his Lord,
he could blasph-eme: he could say hard things against
Christ and his word ; but he does not do so now. It
would be impossible ibr him now to ridicule religion ;
he is too tender for that. He has a strong desire to
hear again the message of free gi'ace and dying love ;
ho longs to listen once more to the ringing of those

SHAVEN As\D SIJORX, BUT NOT BEYOND HOFE. 37

silver bells that once were iiTiisic to bis ears. I tliiuk
it must be true that the Lord is bringing him back.
Surely my text is being fulfilled — " Howbeit the hair
of his head began to grow again." The devil could
shave away those flowing locks which once adorned
him, but he could not cut out the roots, which are
deeper than he can reach. Do you not think that
our shorn Samson may yet be himself again ? Surely
his hair has begun to grow anew, and to-night I trust
that it will grow very quickly while be is in this
bouse of prayer hearing the glad tidings of free for-
giveness.

I am most of all encouraged Vv'ith the fact that he
begins to feel in his soul, an anguish, and a bitterness,
and an aching, and a craving, and a longing. I have
great hopes of him now tliat his old feelings are re-
turning. Methinks I hear him say, " I cannot live
like this." Pie sighs : " I have tried the way of trans-
gressors, and it is bard. 1 have tested the life of
sinful pleasr.re, and there is nothing in it. The cups
of the world are all froth. The devil's bread is ad
bran. It chokes me ; it poisons me. I cannot endure
it any longer. Oh, that I could get back to God !
Oh, that I couLl be truly coirverted, if I never was
converted! If I am indeed a child of God, oh, that
be would once more manifest his pardoning love to me,
and show my sins forgiven, for I cannot rest as I
am ! " 0 my dear brotiier, I was so sorry when you
went astray : your backsliding has caused me many a
pang of heart ; but I begin to rejoice now as I hear
yt)U talk in that way, for I think that the text is com-
ing true : " Howbeit the hair of bis head began to grow
again " !

xVnd now, stop till our uneasy friend gets home to-

38 SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

night. Nay, perhaps it will come to pass before he
quits this assembly. He begins to pray, " God be
merciful to me a simier ! " He does not say that
aloud, for he would be afraid that somebody would
hear him. He almost wonders now that he is not put
out of the place of worship, considering what kind
of sinner ho has been. He has sneaked in to-night,
but he is in, and he trembles to find it is so; he scarce-
ly dares to lift his eye upward. He hardly dares to
hope. His desire is to get back to God, and to be for-
given ; and so, with trembling hope and quivering
fear, he has begun to pray. You notice that Samson
began to pray when his hair began to grow ; and
when they took him into that temple, where they
wanted him to make sport for them, he breathed an
earnest prayer to God that he might be strengthened
but that once to do service to his people and his God.
How earnestly do I invite you that have gone back
from God and his w\ays to pray to-night that the Lord
will return to you in mercy, fill you to the full once
more with his Holy Spirit, and make the bones which he
has broken to rejoice ! If you begin to pray I shall
begin to praise: when you plead with tears, I begin to
bless the Lord with exaltation. For you it is coming
true — " Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow
again after he was shaven."

And if that prayer should go farther still, and you
should say, " I will break oft" every connection that
holds me to the paths of sin," this would be better
still. If you were to cry, "I know what drew me
aside, I will have no more to do with the evil which
drstroyed rae," it would be a hopeful sign indeed.
Oh, if to-night there shall be a severance of yourself
from the swine, and from all the husks that tliL^y

SHA V£N AND SHORN, BUT NOT BE YOND HOPE. 39

do eat, because you are determined to go to your
Father, it shall be well ^Nuth you. From our church-
fellowship we sometimes find one drawn aside by one
motive, and another by another: alas, the ways
downward areas plenteous as the gates of death .
How many are tempted with unholy loves! How
many are deduced by the fatal cup 1 Ah ! how many
^o aside through false doctrine, heresy, and the delu-
sions of the day! How many are foolishly tempted
by their own prosperity ! They grow rich, and cannot
afford to worship where once they did. On the other
hand how many are led aside by their poverty!
They' do not think that their clothes are good enough
to cmne in-a piece of pride from which I pray that we
may be dehvered. Or, because they have come down
in the world, and caunot spend as they once did, tliey
forsake their brethren and their Lord. For different
reasons men go aside from truth and holiness ; but it
is a happy circumstauce when they cry, "If I have
been led away from Christ by anythhig siulul, I will
^ive it up. I will part with my eye, or my arm,
or my foot, so that I may enter into the kmgdom ; tor
it were better for me to enter into life blind, or halt
or maimed, than that, keeping these dear things, I
should be cast into hell fire." When the Lord o
P-race leads men to this resolve we see the text ful-
filled again—" Howbeit the hair of his head began to

grow again." .,,

When the backslider comes to that pass, you will
soon see other signs. The man who went so far astray
now seeks the Lord afresh, and begms again to run
in his ways. When a Xazarite lost his consecration,
all the years of his consecration before did not count :
he had to begin again. So some of you must begin

40 -^'//'^ ^^-V AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

again. Beginning again is sweet ! Beginning again
is safe ! Even though I trust that 1 have not wander-
ed from God, either in act or in heart, yet I often
begin again. 1 delight to renew the love of my es-
pousals, and rehearse the vows of my youth before the
Lord my God. If the devil says to me, " Your relig-
ion is a pretence : your experience is a mistake ; " I
do not attempt to argue with him upon those lines,
but I reply, " I will not cavil about the past, but I
will begin again." I am a sinner ; I /know that, and
the devil himself has not the impudence to tell me that
I am not. Then, Jesus Christ died for sinners, and
therefore I return to the sinners' Saviour, and trust him
even as if I had never trusted him before. This I find
to be the direct road to peace. To breathe again one's
native air is a prescription most helpful to those who
would regain their health and strength. Can you
not return again to the starting-point, you that have
wandered? If so, we shall all thank God for you, and
look upon you as a Samson whose hair begins to grow
again, after he has been shaven.

If the matter goes on rightly, I know what will
happen: — the forlorn backslider will begin to en-
tertain a feeble hope. "0,'' he says, "I trust that I
may be restored ! I shall be a miracle of divine grace
if I am ; but I think that I shall be." Further on
he even cries, " I hope that I am restored, and once
more put among the children." He gets a bit of
bread from the children's table, and though he feels
that he is not much better than a dog, yet he makes
bold to enjoy it. " The dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their masters' table ;" and this poor man is
aware of that gracious fact, and dares to take full ad-
vantage of it. Sometimes, while he is eating a crumb

SHA I 'EN AND SHORN, B UT NO T BE YOND HOPE. 4 1

of promise, it tastes so sweet that he whispers to him-
self, " I do not think that 1 can be a dog after all. 1
think that I must be a child, for I have the taste that
a child has. This is children's meat, and I do 80 en-
joy it that, mayhap, I am, after all, a child of God."

Ah ! and let me tell you that sometimes, when it is
sunshine- wea,cher, this poor seeker feels greatly en-
couraged and cheered. Though he will go limping
to heaven by reason of his past sin, yet, on bright
days, he half forgets his lameness. He has played
tlie prodigal, and almost doubted his sonship, but
with his face toward the Father's house he now cries,
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath be-
stowed upon me, that I should be called a child of
God ! " In his happiest times he feels ready to burst
out with rapture, because he enjoys a sense of divine
love. He even makes bold to declare — "Yes, I am
forgiven. Jesus smiles, and loves me still.'' When
lie is quite alone, and nobody can hear it, he even
ventures to speak of himself as, after all, one of those
that the Father has loved with an everlasting love, that
Christ has redeemed with precious blood, that the
Spirit has renewed, and that the Lord will never cast
away. What a pleasure to see his ftdth thus coming
back to Inm ! "Howbeit the hair of his head began
to grow again.'' We shall have him back again, and
Ave shall see him and know him again to be the same
Samson that once we knew in his first days, before he
had played the fool, and brought himself into bondage.
Soon we shall say, " Come in, and welcome, dear
brother ; for the Lord has recovered you from the
disfigurement which your sin brought upon you !
You are again a Nazarite, and your head and beard
are covered with the tokens of your dedication.

42 SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

Come and take your place among those who are con-
secrated to the Lord." How much I desire that it
may be so with all who formerly turned away from
the right path, but are now casting a longing glance
towards it !

I think that is the picture which our text paints for
us.

II. Now I am going to turn a little way round,
still keeping the shorn champion well before us. In
the second place, we have to see in our text avhat it
SPECIFICALLY SYMBOLIZES, that is to Say, this text is a
distinct type of some one thing. You see that Sam-
son's strength lay in his consecration. Ilis hair Avas
the token of his dedication to God. When he lost
his locks, he did, as it were, lose his consecration ;
and when he lost his consecration, he lost his strength.
On the other hand, the only way by which he could
regain his strength was to reestablish his consecra-
tion ; and of this the growing again of his hair was
the type and token.

Well, now, I know some churches which performed
a great work a hundred years ago, or fifty years ago,
or less. Their forujer days were heroic. Their palmy
times were beautified with great prosperity. These
churches knew how to suffer and to serve, they were
faithful to the truth, and earnest in holy labor, and
the Lord made them to be exceedingly useful; but
now they have grown respectable, and useless. They
do nothing outrageous now. the question is — Are
they doing anything ? Their minister is an extreme-
ly learned man, and as polished as a looking-glass.
Of course he never addresses himself to the vidgar,
neither does he oppose the views of his cultured
hearers. The church itself is highly respectable;

SHAVEi\ AND SHORN, BU7 NOT BEYOND HOPE. 43

no one ever questions its high respectability, or speaks
of it \^itIiout due deference to its prominent position.
Yet it lias ceased to be a power for good: it has no
mfluetico over the mass of sinners around it. Of
course its usefulness is a secondary consideration, for
it must not be forgotten that it has a superior minis-
try, and a superior reputation: its deacons are
superior, and so are most of the members ! Besides,
they have a celebrated choir, and a most delightful
organ ! A great deal of money has been spent over
that organ; and if that will not save souls, and
glorify God, what will ? What are we to do with our
respectability if we do not proclaim it by buying the
most expensive organ in the market? But do not
forget tlie choir. I think they wear surplices; but
whether they do or not the singing is fine, the build-
ing is architectural, the pulpit is unique, and the whole
thing is done in a model manner. It is true that
nobody is saved; there are no additions to the
church; they have not used the baptistery for a lon<7
time, but then they are wonderfully respectable !
What would you have more ?

In the opinion of some persons Samson looked
much improved when his matted hair was gone. He
was more presentable; more fit for good society.
And so m the case of churches, the notion is that
they are all the better for getting rid of their peculiar-
ities. You who are in the secret know better, and
you will follow me while I sorrowfully seek a remedy
for the unhappy weakness which has fallen upon
many communities which once were strong in the
Lord. How is this church, all shaven and shorn,
this poor, enslaved, miserable concern, to be brought
back to its old state? llow is this Samson, that once

44 SUA VEX AND S/IOAW, KVT NOT BR YOND HOPE.

was strong, to get its strength back again ? AVliy,
only by letting its hair grow again. It must be con-
secrated to God again. This church must go back to
the okl gospel; it must say once more, " God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ."' It must agfiin become insatiable for
the conversion of men. Prayer must again become
the delight of the whole church, and its trust must
be in the Spirit of the Lord. The glory of God must
take possession of the church instead of its desire to be
fashionable and respectable ; and when its locks grow
again, its strength will come back. When it is conse-
cra,ted to God, it will resume its former force, bear its
testimony as in better days, and once again shake the
world with its power.

Now the same truth applies to every preacher.
There are some preachers who are splendid men, and
yet they are practical failures. You see in them wide
knowledge, eloquent language, and yet nothing.
They can speak so properly that a senate might sit
with ad.niration at their feet; but when they have
done, nobody is pricked in the heart, nobody is con-
vinced of sin, nobody is led to behold the beauties of
Christ. Yet in their youth these men were soul-win-
ners, and were looked upon as champions for Clirist.
O Samson, how are we to make thee strong again ?
That preacher must begin again to serve God with all
his heart. Lie must give up the idea of being a great
man, or a learned man, or an eloquent man. He must
give up the idea of charming the elite, and bringing
together the fashionable, and must give himself up to
glorify God by the winning of souls. When his hair
grows again in that respect, we shall see what Samson
can do. lie will yet lay hold on the jiillars of the

SHAl'EA' AND SNGAW, BUT ISIOT BEYOND HOPE. 45

Philistine temple, and bring tliem down about the
heads of" the lords. Give me a man perfectly conse-
crated, and I do not care much what he is. He may
be rou^h, unpolished, and even illiterate; but if he be
consecrated, the people will feel his power. He may
be educated so that he may understand all knowledge,
and he may speak as eloquently as Cicero; but if he
is a consecrated man, his power will be none the less,
but perhaps all the greater, because of his education.
But this one thing is essential — there must be conse-
cration to God, and downright earnestness m conse-
quence, or else he will be a shaven Samson. ^lay
God give full consecration to each one of us who
stand before the people to speak in his name, for in
that consecration lies the power of the Holy Spirit to
bless us ! He cannot and will not bless unconsecrat-
ed men. If we do not live to God's glory, God will
not use us.

This same is true of every Christian worker. I have
seen this demonstrated over and over again in dail}''
life. I have seen a Christian woman most useful in a
class, bringing to the Saviour many of the girls whom
she has taught ; but on a sudden a change has come,
there have been no conversions, and for years the
class has dwindled away, and nothing has come of it.
If enquiry were to be made, it would be found that
the consecration of the teacher had declined. She no
longer spoke with tearful eye and earnest heart, seek-
ing to lead those girls to Christ ; and because her
consecration was gone, her strength was gone. It is
just the same, whether you preach in the street, or
distribute tracts, or whatever you do: if you are
wholly consecrated to God, you will be strong. I do
not say that you will by sincere devotion alone gain

40 SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

all the talents, and all the mental forces you might
desire; but, believe me, force does not lie in these:
these are like sword and spear, but the strength with
which they are to be Avielded lies elsewhere. You do
not absolutely require great abilities; but you must
have perfect consecration. Be thankful if you have
javeliu and shield, but go on without them if you
have not been armed with them ; for, to a devoted
man, even a castaway bone will be a sufficient weapon.
Samson did not wait till he found a falchion worthy
of his heroic hand ; but he used such instruments as
he found on the spot. It is in consecration that your
strength will lie. Let but the arrow be winged by a
mighty pull of the bow, and it will go straight for-
ward in proportion to the force that has impelled it.
Let but God fit you to his bow, and send you forward
with divine energy : what need you more ? The im-
pulse that comes from on high is your strength, and
that impulse is found in your consecration to your
Lord.

Perhaps T am addressing some Christian person who
is not altogether a worker, but partly a sufferer. lie
is only a private Christian, bearing up as he may un-
der the trials of life. You have grown rather dull of
late, dear friend. You do not enjoy things as you
once did. You have not the vivacity and the enjoy-
ment which you once had in the things of God. See
to it. Has there not been a razor at work upon you
somewhere ? Oh, yes, I knew a brother who, when he
had a little money, rejoiced to have it, . because he
gave it to the cause of God abundantly ! I believe
that he is worth a hundred times as much as he was
then, and he gives a hundredth part of what he used
to when he was poorer. Li proportion as his pocket

SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE. 47

has grown golden liis heart has grown bronzy. He
has gone down in himself in proj^ortion as he has gone
np in his poverty, and now he does not enjoy things
as he used to do. He is a poor creature to what he
once was; even in his own esteem he is not the hap-
py man he once was ! How much I wish that this
good man's hair would grow so that he would again
be living for his Lord, whom I trust he still loves 1

I know Christian people who used to spend an hour
a day in prayer. The hour has dwindled into five
minutes. They used to be constant at w^eek-night
services. They very seldom gladden us with their
presence now ; and they are not as happy as they
once were. I can read this riddle. W a man Avere to
reduce his meals to eating once a week, we could not
warrant his health. I would not guarantee that, it
a man never ate except on Sundays, he wujuld grow
strong. So I do not think that people who neglect
the means of grace, and give up their consecration,
can expect to be lively, happy, or vigorous. When the
razor gets to work, and the hair of conscious, resolute
devotion to God begins to fall on the iBoor, lock after
lock, the strength is departing: and only as that hair
begins to grow again, and spiritual consecration re-
turns, can these people expect to be useful, influential,
and strong in the Lord.

I must say no more on this point ; but it is most
important, and I pray the Holy Spirit to stir up your
pure minds concerning it.

III. I wall close with this further consideration.
We are now to remember what is prophesied wdien
Samson's hair began to grow again. I wonder why
these Philistines did not take care to keep his hair
from growing to any length. If cutting his hair

48 SHAVEN AXD SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

once bad proved so effectual, 1 wonder that they did
not send in the barber every morning, to make sure
that not a hair grew upon his scalp or chin. But
wicked men are not in all matters wise men : indeed,
they so conspicuously fail in one point or another
that Scripture calls them fools. The devil himself is
a fool, after all. He thinks that he is wonderfully
cunning, but there is always a place where he breaks
down. These servants of Satan, these boastful Philis-
tines, said confidently, "We have done for him now,
once for all. We have put out his eyes, and what
can a blind man do ? ' They do not go on cutting off
his hair because they fancy that, once lost, the good
man's strength is lost for ever. Perhaps they said,
"iS'ow have we lashed him to the mill; the stronger
he gets the more he can grind ; therefore let his hair
grow, and so he will be the more useful to us."
Great was the foolishness of their wisdom : they were
losteiing their own destruction. Satan, also, is very
cunning in getting hold of backsliders, but he gener-
ally manages to let them slip by his over-confidence
in their wilfulness. Many a man have I seen come
l)ack to the dear Saviour on account of the oppression
which he has endured from his old master, the prince
of darkness 1 If he had been treated well, he might
never have returned to Christ any more ; but it is not
possible for the citizens of the far country to treat
prodigals well ; sooner or later they starve them and
oppress them, so that they mm away home.

When Samson's hair began to grow, what did it
prophesy ? Well, first it prophesied hope for Samson.
I will be bound to say that he put his band to bis
head, and felt that it was getting bristly, and then he
put liis band t(^ iii.^ board, and found it rough. Yes,

SHA VRN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND IIOFE. 49

yes, yes, it was coming, and be thought within him-
self, " It will be all riglit soon. 1 shall not get my
eye's back. Tkeij will not grow again. 1 am an awful
loser by my sin, but 1 shall get my strength back
again, for my hair is growing. I shall be able to
strike a blow for my people and for my God jet." So
ronnd the mill he went, grinding away, grindmg
awav, but every now and then putting his hand to his
head, and thinking, " My hair is growing ; oh, it is
growing again ! ]\Iy strength is returning to me. '
The mill went round merrily to the tune of hope, ibr
ho felt that he would get his old strength back again.
When thev loaded it, and tightened it to make the
work heavier, yet his hair was growing ; and so he
found the burden lighter than it had been before, and
his heart began to dance within him, in prospect of
being his former self again. Now, if any of you h^ve
signs of restoring grace in your hearts, and you are
cmnmg back to your God and Saviour, be glad, be
thankful. Do not'hesitate to let your renewed devotion
to God be seen by those round about you. Come along,
brother, come along; your brethren wait to receive
you! Come along, my wandering sister, come along;
all the people of God will welcome you ! If the grace
of God is moving you at all, be hopeful and quicken
your steps, and come to Jesus. Come to him just now
even as you came at first. Yea, and if you never did
come before, come now, and throw yourselves at the
cross-foot, and look up to those five precious wounds.
Look a!ul live ; for there is life in a look at the Cruci-
fied One. There is life at this moment even for the
chief of sinners.

What did this prophesy? Joy for Samson, but al-
so, lioiiefor Israel Oh, if any of the Israelites did get

50 SHA VEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BE YOND HOPE,

in to see him in prison, how they must have been
cheered by the sii2;ht of his returning hair ! Some an-
cient Israelite would say to his brotiier, " I have been to
see poor Samson. Yon remember him. We had to put
him out of the church, you know. Sad case. I have
been to see him ■ "How did he look?" "Well, 'he
would say, " there was much to grieve me, but some-
what also to comfort me. He does not look as he did
on the day when the Phihstines shaved him. He
looks quite hairy again." " Oh 1 " the other would say,
" then he will get strong again, and when he is strong,
he will use his mighty arms against the oppressors of
his people. I know he will fight for his country again.
When he gets strong again, he will lift that brawny
arm of his tliat smote the Philistines, and he will let
them know that lie is an Israelite yet. I know he will ;
for his heart will return to the love of God and his
chosen. Philistia shall not always triumph over us.
There is hope for us." So, my dear brothers and sis-
ters, when we see in you some little signs of grace,
and you are coming back, you do not know how cheer-
ily we talk to one another. Why, at the elders' meet-
ing, one of them said, "Our poor brother Jones was at
the Tabernacle the other night. You remember hinti."
"Yes, we do remember him, indeed." ''Well, he was
listening to our pastor ; I was so pleased to see' him.*'
Another brother also said, " I am glad to tell you that
Mrs. So-and-so, the sister that Avent so sadly astray,
Avas outside the chapel ; and wlien I pressed her to
come in, she wept, and said she wished she had nev-
er gone away. There is a good work going on there.'''
We rejoice together, and we say, " Thank God, they
are coming back again ! " Oh, you do not know the
loy that you backsliders will give to the hearts of God's

SHAVEN AND SHORN BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE. 51

people if you do but return ! There is joy not only
with the Great Shepherd, but with his friends and his
neighbors when the lost sheep is restored to the fold.
Do you not know that the Chief Shepherd calls his
brethren together, and says, " Rejoice with ine ; for I
have found my sheep which was lost ? '

Lastly, what did it prophesy ? Well, it prophesied
misclitef for the Philistines. They did not knovf it, but if
they could have read the writing in Samson's heart,
they would have understood that he meant to shave
their nation quite as closely as they had shaven liim.
There was a storm brewing for Philistia. He that rent
the lion as though it had been a kid was getting back
bis strength. He that seized the jaw-bone of an ass,
and said, " Heaps upon heaps, with the jaw-bone of
an ass have I slain a thousand men, ' will soon be scat-
tering death among the oppressors of his people. Woe
to you, lords of Philistia ! Woe to you, princes of
Gaza !

When a sinner who has gone astray is restored
again, it means mischief to the kingdom of Satan. Oh,
hov/ he will serve his God! How he will try to bring
back his fellow-sinners ! Having had much forgiven,
this man will love much, and will serve Jesus much.
He will be one of your earnest Christian men, depend
upon it. He will be much in prayer; he will be care-
ful in his walk; he will be holy in his speech; he will
contend earnestly for the doctrines of grace ; he will
be a leader amongst the host of God, even as he has
been a riisgleader in sin. He will invade the dark
places, and lead the chief of sinners captive to the
cross. Woe to thee, Philistia, wdien Samson's hair
grows again ! Woe to the hosts of evil, when the
blackslider is restored.

52 SHAVEN AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND HOPE.

There, I have put it all before you. I have tried to
put the matter interestingly; but all the while my
heart has been yearning over you that have gone aside.
1 am pining for the restoration of those who have
turned like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that
Avas washed to her wallowing in the mire. I long for
your restoration, or your true conversion. I want to
see a different nature in you, that you may neither be
dogs nor swine, but may become the real children of
our God and Father; and then you will not return to
your former ways. If you have defiled yourself, may
you at once be washed ! If you have wandered, may
you at once be restored to Jesus and his church, to the
praise and the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved 1 Amen,

III.

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

Ifarch 20, 1887.

" I will STirely assemble, 0 Jacob, all of thee ; I will surely gaxh-
er the reinuant of Israel ; I will put them together as the sheep of
Bozrah, as the flock m the midst of their fold ; they shall make
great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is
come up before them : they have broken up, and have passed
through the gate, and are gone out by it : and their king shall
pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." — Micah ii.
12, 13.

You will remember, dear friends, from our reading last
Sabbath morning, in the second chapter of the Book
of ^licah, that the prophet was delivering reproofs
and rebukes against a sinful people, a people who tried
to straiten the Spirit and silence the voice of prophecy,
and refused to listen to the messengers of God. He
threatened them with condign punishment from the
j\Iost High. To our surprise, in the very midst of the
threatening he delivers a prediction brimming with
mercy. Not only is not the Spirit of the Lord strait-
ened, but even the people of the Lord are not to be
straitened ; for one has come forth who will be to them
both liberator and leader. Judgment is God's strange
work, and he rejoices even in the midst of threatening
to turn aside and utter gracious words to obedient
souls. Surely the brightest and most silvery drops of
love that have ever di^itilled upon man have fallen in
close connection with storms of divine justice. The

(53)

54 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

acceptable year of the I^ord is hard by the day of
vengeance of our God. The blackness of the tempest
of his wrath acts as a foil to set forth more briglitly
the glory of his grace. In this case the thunder-bolts
stay their course in mid-volley : when the prophet is
hurling destruction upon sin and sinners he pauses to
interpose a passage of promise most rich and gracious
— a passage which I wish to open up to you at this
time, as the Spirit of God shall enable me.

Certain wilful persons were proudly confident that
no enemy could reach them behind the walls of their
cities, though the Lord declared that he would make
Samaria a heap, and would strip Jerusalem. They
coveted fields and took them by violence, and went on
with their oppressions as if there had been no Judge
of all t!ie earth. The Lord warned them again and
again, and assured them that they must not expect to
be preserved from chastisement because they were the
Lord's people. They boasted that God would protect
them, yea, they leaned upon the Lord, and said, " Is
not the Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us. '
He told them that Zion should be plowed as a fiehl,
and Jerusalem should become heaps. They were by
no means to escape the rod ; rather might they look
for grace after they had been severely chastened.
They would be carried away into captivity, but yet
there would come a day in which they should be ga-
thered out of the places wherein they had been scat-
tered, and brought back to their own land. The pro-
phet cried to the daughter of Zion, " Thou shalt go
even to Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered ; there
the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine
enemies."

Truly, the Lord forgets not to devise means to bring

THE BREAKER AAD 7 HE FLOCK. 55

aa'ain liis banished ones. The words of Micah in the
passage before us agree with many others which fell
from tlie lips of prophets; for it is the way of the Lord
to restore his chosen in the day of their repentance.
Did he not say by his servant Amos, " Lo, I will com-
mand, and I will sift the hoase of Israel among all
nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not
the least grain ftxU npon the eartli." He \vill preserve
the chosen race even in their scattering, and then in
his own appointed time he will seek them out, accord-
ing to his own word, " He that scattered Israel v»dll
gather him, and keep hitn, as a shepherd doth his
flock." Tiiese gathered ones were to be led back to
their land under the guidance of a great Shepherd,
whose business it should he to break down all obsta-
cles and clear the road for them, so that they might
safely reach their resting-place.

1 have no doubt that the first fulfilment of this
prophecy was given when Cyrus conquered Babylon
and gave permission for Israel to return to their own
land. Cyrus may be regarded as "the Breaker;" for
the prophet Isaiah wrote concerning him : "Thus saith
the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand
I have holden, to subdue nations before him ; and I
will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the
tv.'o leaved gates; and tlie gates shall not be shut; I
Avill go before thee, and make the crooked places
straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and
cut in sunder the bars of iron." Then the willina'-
hearted of Israel gathered together to rebuild the
house of the Lord, and to this centre multitudes has-
ten:d, the Lord being with them and sending them
prosperity. It was of these favored ones that we find
a striking fulfilment of our text as to the noise made

50 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

by the concourse of men. Ezra tells ns that "the
people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was
heard afar off.'' Then was this promise in a measure
fulfdled.

But, brethren, the promises of the Lord are perennial
springs for ever overflowing with new fulhlmeuts. lu
the latter days, the God of Israel, in abundant grace,
•will remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and will gather together his ancient nation,
who are at this tiuie a people scattered and peeled.
These shall be converted to the Christ of God, and
then shall be accomplished the word of-the prophet:
"I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David
a prince among them." The Son of David, whom
their fathers slew, not knowing what they did, shall
be made known to them as the promised seed, and
then they shall look on him whom they have pierced,
and they shall mourn for him. May this day soon
come! Then shall the veil be taken av»'ay from their
hearts, and the cloud shall no longer hang over Lsrael's
head, but the Lord shall restore tiiem, and they shall
rejoice in him. The day cometh when the Breaker
shall go up before them, and the King at the head of
them, and they shall be brought again unto the inher-
itance of their fathers.

Even this will not exhaust the prophecy. I regard
this passage as setting forth a vision of spiritual
things in which Micah dimly saw the gathering to-
gether, and the heavenward march of the true Israel,
namely, tlie elect of God, whom he hath given to his
Son Jesus, and whom the Lord Jesus has undertaken
to save. "He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart." (Rom. ii. 29.) As
Paul, by the Spirit of God, interpreteth the whole

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK. 57

story of the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, it is clear that v.-e, brethren, the children of
tlie promise, are tiie true seed, even those who are
born by divine power and as believers are the spiritual
family of believing Abraham. If we have the faith of
Abraham, we are the children of Abraham, and with
us is the covenant made; for the seed of Abraham is
not reckoned according to descent bv the flesh, else
would the covenant blessing have fallen to Ishmael
and not to Isaac, to Esau and not to Jacob. The cov-
enant is to a spiritual seed, born according to divine
promise through divine power. The line in which the
Lord has determined that the covenant blessing should
run was ordered by divine sovereignty, " that the pur-
pose of God according to election might stand." The
Lord purposed that they which were born after the
spirit should be the true heirs, and not those that are
born after the flesh. We, therefore, believe that to us,
even to us who rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no
confidence in the flesh, appertain the promises and the
covenant. It shall come to pass that all the elect of
God shall yet be gathered together from the places
v/heretothey have wandered in their sin, and for them
a clear way shall be opened up to the land of their in-
heritance. The Breaker, who is also their King and
God, shall lead them through all opposition, and bring
them w^ithout fail to their quiet resting-place. Even
as at the first all Israel was brought out of Egypt and
safely led witli a high hand and an outstretclied arm
through sea and desert, so shall the Lord Jesus lead
the whole host of his redeemed to the place of his
glory. Hath not the Lord God declared it — " The re-
deemed of the Lord shall return, and come with sing-
ing unto Zion; and everlasting jo^^ shall be upon

58 THE BREj^KLR and THE FLOCK.

their head: thev shall obtain gladness and joj: and
sorrow and sighing- shall flee away" ?

An august spectacle is set befoie ns in our text.
iVIay our eyes be anointed of the Holy Spirit, that we
may behold its glories, so that our hearts shall leap for

joy •

First, in the text I see thejioclz cjatliered: " I will surely
assemble, 0 Jacob, all of thee ; 1 will surely gather
the remnant of Israel. I wdl put them together as
che slieep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their
fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the mul-
titude of men." Secondly, we behold ilie champion
Shepherd clearing the ivay of the fiock : " The breaker
is come up before them." He, with the arm of his
strength, breaks all opposers, and breaks up for tliera
a way from their captivity. Thirdly, behold the flock
advancing, with their great Shepherd at their head :
" They have broken up, and have passed through the
gate, and have gone out by it: and their king shall
pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them."
Jehovah leads the van, and the hosts of his redeemed
march triumphantly after him.

I. To begin then, brethren; here is the flock gath-
ered: "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of tiiee."

Who knows where God's chosen are ? Babylon was
far off from Jerusalem, but our places of wandering
are farther off from God than that. "All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way.'' In the cloudy and dark day we have
v^^andered to the uttermost ends of the earth. The
Lord's chosen ones lie wide of one another, and they
are far oif from God himself What a mercy it is that
in the text we have a promise that they shall be gath^
ered divinely I" I will surely assemble, 0 Jacob, all of

THE DREAk'ER A.\D THE FLOCK. 59

thee ; / will siirelj gather the remnant of Israel."
Who else could gather them but the Lord ? What
power less than divine could fetch such wanderers from
their haunts and hidings ? One is aloft yonder on the
hill side in his pride and self-conceit; another is down
low in the despondency of his disappointment. One
wanders in the pastures of worldliness, sporting him-
self in the plenty thereof, and hard to be brought back
for that reason ; another is entangled in the briars of
pxoverty, half-starved and ready to die, and hopeless of
ever seeing the face of God with joy. They are every-,
where, my brethren, — these lost sheep: they seem to
have chosen out, as if deliberately, the most danger-
ous places; they stumble on the dark mountains, they
are caught in the tangled thickets, they have fallen
into pits. 0 sin, what hast thou done ? rather, Vv'hat
hast thou not done ? for men seem to have gone to
the utmost extreme of rebellion against God, and to
have done evil with both hands earnestly. Therefore
doth God himself come to the rescue. He himself
shall assemble Jacob, and gatlier the remnant of Israel.
Driving with the terrors of his law, drawing Avith
the sweetness of his gospel, he shall surely bring
them in. By one instrumentality or by another, and
in some cases, apparently, without instrumentality at
all, he will bring them from all points of the compass
to the place where he will meet with them.

" There is a period kuown to God,
"When all his sheep, redeemed hy blood,
Shall leave the hateful ways of sin,
Turn to the fold, and enter in."

This is the result of the divine working, and of thai
alone. Our hope of the salvation of God's elect lies in
the fact that it is God himself who undertakes to

GO THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

gather thorn. Remember his word hj the prophet
Ezekie], "For thus saith the Lord God; Behokl, I,
even I, will both searcii my sheep, and seek them
out."

Following the text closely, we notice that this gath-
<?ring is to be performed surely. I dwell with great
pleasure upon that word " surely," because it is spoken
twice, "1 will surely assemble, 0 Jacob, all of thee;
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel." There are
no " ifs '' where there is a God: there are no "perad-
ventures" where divine predestination rules the day.
Let Jehovah speak, and it is done; let him command,
and it shall stand firm. Inasmuch as he saith " surely"
twice, it reminds me of Joseph's word to the Egyptian
king: "And for that the dream was doubled unto
Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established
by God." God will not change his purpose, nor turn
from his promise, nor forget his covenant: he will
surely gather together his chosen people wherever
they may be. 0 thou that art buffeted by oppo-
sition, and driven to sore distress in thy holy service,
be not thou dismayed, for the purpose of the Lord
shall stand. Thou mayest fail, but the eternal God
will not. Thy work may be washed away like the
work of little children in the sand of the sea shore,
but that which God doeth endureth for ever. God
shaketh the earth out of its place, but who can move
Mm? When God says snrehj, who shall cast doubt in
the way ? The Lord will without fiiil call out his re-
deemed from among men. As a worker and a soul-
winner I gi'asp at these words, "I will surely gather
the remnant of Israel," and I feel that I shall not
labor in vain, nor spend my strength for nought.
When the end cometh, and the whole business of sal-

TU2. JIREAKER AND THE FLOCK. 01

vation shall be complete, it shall be seen that the Lord
hath achieved his purpose. Jesus saith, " All that the
Father giveth mo shall come to me," . and it shall
surely be so. Wherefore let us be of good courage,
and seek out tlie lost ones in full confidence that they
must and shall be found.

This leads ns to notice that they shall be gathered
coinpletely. " I will surely assemble, 0 Jacob, all of
thee.'" Not some of the chosen, but all of them shall
be brought out from the world which lieth in the
Mdcked one, Not some of the redeemed, but each
one of them, shall be made to walk at liberty under
the leadership of their Shepherd-king. The Lord
will leave none of his sheep in their wanderings, and
surrender none to the lion or the bear. Dear friends,
sighing and crying afar off and thinking that God
will never gather you, have faith in hiiu. Helpless
as thou art, trust him to do his work as a Saviour. It
is written, " I will surely gather, 0 Jacob, all of
thee," and thou mayest not think that thou hast wan-
dered beyond the reach of the infinite arm. Is the
Spirit of the Lord straitened ? Thou must not dream
that thou hast sinned thyself beyond the power of
grace, for his mercy endureth for ever ! Only do tliou
look unto Christ, and let thy soul stay itself on him,
aud God will not overlook thee in the day when he
gathers his own. Though thou be lea.st in Israel, and
most unworthy of his regard, yet he has expressly
said, "I will seek that which was lost, and brins"
again that which Avas driven away, and will bind up
-that Vvhich was broken, and will strengthen that which
was sick." He will not forget thee, thou weakest of
all the flock. Thou art needful to the completeness of
the company. If thou be not there, how shall the

G2 '^IIE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

Lord keep bis word, " I will surely assemble, 0 Jacob,
all of thee " ?

Further, our text declares that the people shall be
gathered unitedly. There shall be a wonderful union
among them: " I will put them together as the sheep
of Bozrah.'' Oh that the Lord would in these days more
fully and evidently carry out his promise in the happy
unity of his visible church! Sinners hate each other
while they wander in their different ways; but Vi^hen
the Lord brings them together by his grace, then love
is born in their hearts. What enmities are cast out
by the pov^er of divine grace ! When lusts are cou-
quered, wars and fightings cease. God is not the au-
thor of confusion, but of peace. It is grace which
causes that Ephraim shall not euYy Judah, nor Judali
vex Ephraim. I notice that sinners, when they are
under conviction of sin, are not apt to quarrel with
one another; and saints, when they behold the Savioui'
and rejoice in pardoning love, come together in holy
luve. In that visible community which stands for the
Church of God — I naean the combined external organ-
ization of Christendom — there are many divisions and
fierce heart-burnings; but in the real Church of God,
that spiritual body which the Holy Spirit inhabits,
these evils are buried. The truly spiritual are really
one in heart. You may meet with a man from whom
you diifer in many respects, but if the life of God is in
him and in yourself also, you will feel a kinship -with him
of the nearest kind. Often have I read books which
have awakened in my soul a sense of true brotherhood
with their authors, although I have known them to be
of a church opposed to many of ray own views. If
they praise my divine Lord, if they speak of the inner
life, and touch iipon communion v/itli God, and if they

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK. 63

do this with that unction and living power which are
the tokens of the Holj Spirit, then my heart cleaves
to them, be tJiey who they may. Is it not so with
you ? When the Lord brings people to himself, he
brings tlicm to one another. Though depraved na-
ture divides, and pride and self set men apart, yet the
Lord overcomes these dividing elements by his renew-
ing grace, and his divine word is accomplished — " I
wdll put them together ! " When the Lord puts us
together, no man can put us asunder. What is want-
ed in the much-divided visible church of God is, that
we should all come under the divine hand more fully,
that we should all feel the touch of the divine life, and
yield ourselves more completely to the teacliing of the
divine truth. Schemes of union are of small value ; it
is the spirit of union which is wanted. Our Lord
Jesus prayed, " that they all may be one ; that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me ; " and his
prayer cannot fall to the ground. The church is one
in Christ, and none can rend the seamless vesture.
Yet more openly as the days pass on, the Lord vvdll
gather together in one the children of God that were
scattered abroad. (John xi. 52.)

This gathering together will be done happily : they
are to be gathered " as the flock in the midst of their
fold." God's gathering of his chosen is not to a place
of barrenness and misery, but to a place of security
and quietude, even to his appointed fold. The Lord
Jesus Cluist, tliat great Shepherd of the sheep,
maketh us to lie down in green pastures; he leadetli
us beside the still waters. He folds his flock, and
makes it to lie down in peace. He saith, " Fear not,
little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom." He gives us all things

64 TFIE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

richly to enjoy. 0 you that are wandering- afar from
God, there can be no rest for you until the Lord
gathers you to the fold of which Jesus is the centre
and the Shepherd. When you come to Jesus you
shall find rest unto your souls, but not till then.
" The peace of God that passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus,"
but by Christ Jesus only. Christians are not a nas-
erable company of restless spirits; they are not a
pack of dogs howling at one another, and smarting
under the keeper's lash; but they are a flock feeding
in happy communion, Avhile Jesus in their midst finds
for them a place where they may rest at noon. He so
loves his own, and so reveals himself to his own, that
they are a happy people, highly favored, and greatly
honored. God hath blessed them, and they sliall be
blessed, let the world say what it will concerning
them.

One more note must be made on this head: they
shall be gathered numerously: "They shall make
great noise by reason of the multitude of men." The
Lord's camp is very great. If you have taken into
your head the idea that the Lord has chosen for him-
self a very small company, and that in the end there
will be only a few saved, dismiss the notion. The
redeemed are a number that no man can number.
Now, a man can count to a very great extent; and if
the chosen are beyond the numbering of men, they
are a multitude indeed. The prophet represents
them as making a great noise by reason of their mul-
titude; he alludes to "the busy hum of men," the
buzz of the crowd as when the bees are swarming.
As in a city there is an indescribable sound by reason
of the multitude who are making traffic in it, so shall

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK. 65

there be a noise in the clnireli of a great concourse of
men. Conceive of the noise heard at Bozrah, in the
fihcep country of Edom, when all the tiocks of the
country were gathered together to be numbered for
the purpose of tribute. Hearken to the indescribable
uoise of the bleating myriads. What a suggestion
of the voices of the innumerable hosts of the redeem-
ed when they shall finally be brought together, and
shall all in fullest joy lift up their voices! If all the
gathered-out company were to pray together, what a
sound of supplication would go up by reason of the
multitude of men ! But when they all sing — what a
sound shall that be 1 Do you wonder that John said,
" I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many
waters, and as a voice of a great thunder " ? It
makes my eyes water to think of the incomparable
armies of the redeemed gathered together in one
place. Well might the prophet turn poet when he
began to picture that countless flock, and speak of
the "great noise by reason of the multitude of men '' !
I believe we sliall not any one of us restrain our
voices in that day when we shall meet together with
our Lord at our head. I saw one stand up at the
opening of this service to look around the Tabernacle,
to see the multitude: and well he might, for it is a
thing to do one's eyes good to behold this vast assem-
bly. But what shall be our joy when we shall stand
up in the midst of the great company of the redeem-
ed ? We shall look far and wide, and see no end of
the great -atliering. When they begin to sing, how
will our spirits bear the swell of that majestic psalm-
ody? I know I shall find my best voice that day,
when in the midst of the congregation of the faithful
I shall sing praise unto the Lord my God. The
5

06 THE BREAKER AXD THE FLOCK.

" great noise by reason of the multitude of men '' sets
fortii the euthusiastn of the praise, and the immense
number of the perfected ones who shall pour out their
hearts before the throne. Thus I have set before you
in a feeble way the gathering of tlie flock.

II. Follow me while, next, I speak of the champion
SHEPHERD clearing the way. "The breaker is come up
before them." In the tenth verse the Lord says to
his people, "Arise ye, und depart; for this is not your
rest: because it is polluted." But we say to ourselves
— How are they to depart from the place where they
now are, and press forward to the pastures on the
hill-tops of heaven ? They are as sheep. How can
they find their way? How can they face their foes?
How can they break down barriers? A flock is but
ill fitted to tramp over pathless deserts, infested by
ferocious wolves. How shall the church attain to the
abodes of the perfected? Long leagues of distance
must be traversed, hills of guilt must be crossed, and
nights of blackest darkness must be e^xperienced. Ah,
Lord God ! how. canst thou expect that this thy
church, which is like a flock of sheep, should find its
vv'ay through all difficulties and adversaries unto thy-
self ? The answer to our fears is before iis: "The
breaker is come up before them." That great Shep-
herd of the sheep, whose name is " The Through-
breaker ' or the "The Breaker-up," makes a way for
his people, yea, creates it by force of arms.

Between us and heaven once lay the tremendous
Alps of sin. Not one of all the flock of God could
climb those hills ; all must perish who attempt to
cross those awful barriers. The way to heaven was
effectually blocked by these heaven-defying moun-
tains, for no passes existed : even the eagle's eye

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK. 67

could not discover a way. One sin might keep a nian
out of heaven; but the multitudes of our iniquities,
the blackness, the aggravation, the repetition of our
offences made the case hopeless to all human power or
wisdom, I see those awful hills, and wonder how
the flock of God can hope to reach eternal bliss with
those in the way. Behold he comes, " The Breaker,"
before whom the mountains sink. " He his own self
bare our sms in his own body on the tree; and by
tliat bearing he put them all away.' He took upon
himself the whole load of his peoples iniquities; he
endured the entire weight of the crushing burden,
and by his atoning death he cast their iniquities into
the depths of the sea. The pass of the atonement is
our clear way to glory. In the sepulchre of Jesus all
our sins are buried. To as many as believe in Jesus
Christ no sin remaineth.

" This Breaker once made sin to be.
Broke from the curse his people free.
He broke the jiower of death and hell,
Aud cleared the road for Israel."

" In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found: fori will pardon them whom I
reserve." The glorious Breaker, with his pierced
hands, and nailed feet, and opened side, hath wrought
a miracle of miracles by putting away sin through
the sacrifice of himself Jesus saith, "1 am the
way"; and the way he is: the way which neither
past nor present sin can effectually close. But, my
brethren, if our sins were all forgiven us, there are
other difficulties in the way; for we are without
strength, and the depravity of our nature is not

68 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

readily to be orercome. Tliiuk of the hardness of our
hearts, the waywardness of our wills, the blindness
of our judgments, the readiness of our minds to yield
to temptation ! How can we force our way through
such obstacles ? Why, if the Lord would forgive me
all my sin, and give me heaven on condition that I
should find my way to it, mine would still be a hope-
less case. Even the regenerate find that they have a
hard struggle with the flesh; how can we win our
way in the teeth of our fallen nature ? Beloved, the
Breaker has gone np before ns. The Lord Jesus
Christ assumed our nature, and was "tempted in all
points like as we are"; he overcame the adversary at
every point of the coniiict, that through his victory
we might be more than conquerors. He sends forth
the Holy Spirit to renew us in the spirit of our minds;
he takes the stony heart out of our flesh ; he rules the
will, he governs the affections, he enlightens the
understanding, he sanctifies the soul ; and thus,
though weak in ourselves, we are made strong in
him; so strong that we shall not perish in the wilder-
ness, but shall pursue our pilgrimage till we cross the
Jordan, and stand in our lot at the end of the days.
Because the Breaker has gone up before us, we shall
break through the ramparts of sinfulness, and cut our
way to holiness and perfection.

Yet, even though this be so, that sin is forgiven and
our corrupt nature overcome, still there is another dif-
ficulty : the prince of darkness has set himself to ob-
struct the way : he defies us to advance, he stands
across the road, and swears that he will spill our souls.
By no means let us be afraid, for the Breaker is gone
up l^cfore us, and the enemy knows the force of his
strong right hand. \\\ the wilderness and in the gar-

THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK. (59

cleu our Lord vanquished this great adversary, and
therein gave iis full assurance that he will bruise
Satan under our feet shortly. We need not fear all
the devils in hell ; if by faith we have courage to re-
sist them they will flee from us. We shall reach the
haven of our rest, the heaven of our bliss. Our
glorious Breaker with the mace of the cross has brok-
en the head of leviathan, and made an open show of
his adversaries. Thus was it spoken of oar Lord at
the gates of Eden concerning the old serpent — "Thou
shalt bruise his heel": and now by his ascension to
heaven he has done the deed, leading captivity captive.

" Gone up to God's co-equal Sou,
Witb all his blood-stained garments on,
While seraphs sing his deathless fame,
And chant the Breaker's glorious name."

This brings us face to face with the last enemy.
Death blocks the way to eternal life. Be of good
courage, the Breaker has gone up before you in this
matter also. Jesus died : the Ever-blessed bowed liis
head and yielded up the ghost. Hearken yet again :
he has risen from the dead ; he slept a while in the
cold prison of the tomb, but he could not be holden
with the bands of death, and therefore in due time
he arose. He arose in newness of life, that all his
own might also rise in him. Come, be not afraid to
die, for you wall travel a well-beaten track. Be not
afraid to go down into the heart of the earth, for
tfiere your Emmanuel has slept. Nor will he suffer
you to go by this dark road alone. *' He hath said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." He will go
down into this Egypt with you, and he will surely
bring you up again. The Breaker goeth up before
you.

70 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

But can I liope I shall ever enter the gates of"
heaven? Those gates of pearl whose mild, yjure radi-
ance chides m}' perturbed and guilty heart — can I
hope to pass their portal ? Can I hope to stand where
ail is absolutely perfect ? I shrink in the presence of
such matchless purity. But, brethren, the Breaker
has gone up before us. He hath opened the kingdom
of hea.ven to all believers. It v/ill be safe for us to
enter where he has gone : yea, we must enter ; for
where he is, there also shall his servants be. He will
welcome each one of us with, " Come in, thou blessed
of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without?"
Adown those streets of pure gold like unto transpar-
ent glass we shall walk v»'ithout fear, and up to that
blazing throne of purest light we shall pass without
dismay ; for Jesus has gone up before us. Behold
him !

" He is at the Father's side,
The Man of Love, the Crucified."

The way into the holiest is now made manifest. The
Breaker has rent the veil from tlic top to the bottom,
and given us free access to heaven itself

But I must pause. Certainly my matter is not ex-
hausted : time alone restrains.

III. Lastly, I have to show you for a minute or two
THE FLOCK ADVANCING, their rojal Breaker leading the
way. As the Lord Jesus, in his death, resurrection,
and ascension, has gone up before us, so by his grace
we are led to follow him from grace to glory. "They
go from strength to strength." He saith to them,
" Follow me ": they know his voice, and as his sheep
they follow him.

Along the way which the great Champion clears
we find the whole of the flojk proceeding. " The

THE BREAKER AND THE ELCCK. 71

Breaker is come up before them," therefore they keep
to his footprints. "They have broken up, and have
passed through the gate, and are gone out of it."'
Behokl, my brethren, .tlie vision of visions : the whole
company of God's elect following their triumphant
Leader ! Do you see yonder the pillar of fire and
cloud leading the way through the desert ? Do you
see the host of Israel in glorious order marching to
their predestined inheritance ? Such is the Church
of God as it is seen by spiritual eyes. All dowai the
centuries, in every land, they are marching along
that appointed road which Jesus, the Breaker, has
cleared for them. You and I, I hope, are in that
goodly company : sometimes our following is lame
and halting-, but yet we are not turned out of the way.
fo wdiom else coiild we go if we w^ere to lose our
chosen Leader? Faint we may be, but pursuing we
will be. Oh, that we could keep closer to the Bieak-
er ! .Oh, that he would break our hearts with his
love ! Oh, that all our evil habits might be broken
by his grace. We would follow our King "whitherso-
ever he goeth. Yes, we are in that company, I trust;
and God grant we may never stray from it ! Ko other
road is prepared by a great Breaker as this road is
prepared. This is the King's highway, and we wall
keep to it all our days.

Observe, that in the text the people of God are de-
scribed as. imitating their King; for it is written,
"They have broken up." He is the Breaker) and
are they breakers too? Yes, they also have broken
up. Christ is the great warrior for his people ; but
not without conflict will any one of them be crowned.
It is so arranged in the wisdom of God, that every-
thing is so done for us as not to drive us into inaction,

72 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

but to draw ns into holy diligence. Clirist's warfare
is repeated in his saints in their measure. The crown
is of grace ; but we njust run for it. Christ has con-
quered sin, and we have to overcome through faith
in him. He has subdued the adversary, but we also
shall have to wrestle with spiritual wickednesses.
" They have broken up." Herein is condescending'
love. Christ might have saved us, and there might
have been nothing for us to do ; but to display his
grace, he intends to conform us to himself, in conflict
and in crown, in breaking up, and in going forth, and
in entering in He makes us know the fellowship of
his sufferings. Come, brethren and sisters, let us ask
God to fulfil in us the words of the text, '• They have
broken up.'' Let us be resolved to break down all sin.
Let us be determined to overcome through the blood
of the Lamb. This is the victory which overcometh
the world, even our faith. If we have it, let us use it
to good purpose tliis day.

Notice that as these people were led on by the Break-
er: they persevered in following him. "They have
broken up: they have passed through the gate, and
are gone out by it.*' They did a little at a time; they
advanced step by step; they stopped at nothing, but
went onward and upward. So do saints go from grace
to grace, from faith to greater faith. Note the senten-
ces: "they have broken up, they have passed through
the gate, and have gone out by it": this looks as if
they did it slowly but surely, gradually but grandly.
So, when the grace of God enters into the heart, and we,
the sheep of God, are made to follow him, we are at-
tentive to detail, and notice each part of our obedience.
You cannot in grace, any more than in anything else,
do a great deal at once, and do it effectually. I find

THE B RE. IKE A AND THE FLGCK. 73

that advanoe in grace, if it be supposititious, can be
rapid ; but if it be real it requires patience. Our Lord
give.i us line upon line, precept upon precept; here a
little, and there a little. Let us be sure, even if we be
slow.

But now I would have jou dwell upon the fact that
tliej are marching, under royal leadership: "Their
King shall pass before them." Christ is always at the
head of his own church. Why V because he loves it
so i hat he cannot be away from it. He is at the head
of his own flock because he has purchased it with his
own blood. He will not send an angel to lead his
chosen, but he himself will watch over the objects of
his everlasting love. He knows the necessities of his
church to be such as he, and only he, can meet: there-
fore as the King he always remains at their head.
Brethren, let us always reverence, honor, and obey him.
Our active, present King must be loyally and earnestly
served. As Breaker he did us service; as King we
must render him service. Remember how the Psalm-
ist put it to the chosen bride : " He is thy Lord,
and worship thou him." As a church, we know no
other head; as the people of his pasture, Ave know no
other leader. Let us follow him boldly and gladly.

Let us give him praise this day; yea, let us worship
and adore him, for he is Jehovah. He who is at our
head is Lord: in hiai dwelleth all the fuhiessoflhe
Godhead bodily. Is it not written, "The Lord shall
go before thee"? Let us rejoice because the Lord is
our King, and he will save us. Do you ever fear
that the cause of truth and righteousness Avill fail ?
Shake this dust from off thee. Banish such a thought.
If Jehovah leads the van, who shall stand against him ?
Tf Jesus Christ, once the man of sorrows, but now the

74 THE BREAKER AND THE FLOCK.

King of kings, is to the fore, lie will reckon with our
adversaries, and make short work of their boastings.
Wherefore, follow quietly and unquestioningly as sheep
follow the shepherd, and your way shall be prosper-
ous. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob
is our refnge: wherefore comfort one another with
these words.
y I cannot express the joy I feel in the belief that I
am one of the company wJiich is following the Break-
er's lead ; but ]ny sorrow is that some of you are not
of his flock. Oh, that 3'ou may belong to those of
whom he says, " Other sheep I have which are not of
this fold : them also ! must bring." Oh, tliat he may
bring yon in speedily ! Do you feel a desire towards
Christ this morning ? Have you any longings to be
reconciled to God by him? Then you may freely
come, with the confident assurance that him that
cometh to him he will in no wise cast out. He invites
you to his cross, yea, to himself Obey the gentle
impulse Avhich is now stirring your bosom. Jesus
has come on purpose to seek and to save the lost:
you are lost; therefore pray that he may save you.

Should the enemy of all good tell you that if you
should believe, yet you would never hold out to the
end, remind him that the Breaker has gone up before
his people, and their King at the head of them, and
therefore you are not afraid of meeting anything upon
the road which can beat you back from hope and
heaven. Join the army Avhich marches under our vic-
torious Joshua, and through sin, and hell, and death,
the Breaker will clear your way. To him be praise
for ever and ever ! Amea.

J

lY.

JESUS DECLIlSriNG THE LEGIONS.

March 27, 1887.

. "Tliinkest thou tliafc I cannot now pray to my Father, and lio
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? hut
how then shall the scriptures he fulfilled, that thus it must be."
—Matthew Ixvi. 53, 54.

It is the garden of Gethsemane. Here stands onr
Lord, and yonder is the betrayer. He is foremost of
tlie multitude. You know his. face, the face of that
son of perdition, even Judas Iscariot. He comes for-
■ward, leaving the men with the staves, and the
swords, and the torches, and lanterns, and he pro-
ceeds to kiss his ]\Iaster ; it is the token by which the
officers are to know their victim. You perceive at
once that the disciples are excited: one of them cries,
"Lord, shall we smite with the sword ?" Their love
to their ^Master has overcome their prudence. There
are but eleven of them, a small band to fight against
the cohort seut by the authorities to arrest their Mas-
ter; but love makes no reckoning of odds. Before an
answer can be given, Peter has struck the first blow,
and the servant of the high-priest has narrowly es-
caped having his head cleft in twain ; as it is, his ear
is cut oft".

One is not altogether sxn-prised at Peter's act; for, in
addition to his headlong zeal, he had most likely mis-
understood the saying of his Lord at supper — " He

(75)

7G yESC^S DECLINIXG THE LEGIONS.

that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and bn;v'
one." Tliere was not time for our Lord to exphiin,
and they were so accnstomed to his concrete style of
speech, that they should not have misunderstood him ;
but they did so. He had simply told them that the
days of peace, in which they could go in and out
among the people, and be joyfully received by them,
had now come to an end; for as he himself, who had
once been in favor with all the people, would now be
" reckoned among the transgressors," (see Luke xxii. 35
-38) — BO would they be counted among the oflfscouring
of all things. Now they could no longer reckon on the
hospitality of a friendly people, but must carry their
own purse and scrip; and instead of feeling safe, wher-
ever they went, they must understand that they were
in an enemy's country, and must travel through the
world like men eanned for self-defence. They were now
to use their own substance, and not to hope for cheer-
ful entertainment among a grateful people ; and they
would need to be on their guard against those who in
killing them would think that they were doing God
service. They took this language literally, and there-
fore replied, " Lord, behold, here two swords.'' Me-
thinks he must ha,ve smiled sadly at their blunder as
he answered, "It is enough." He could never have
thought of their fighting that he might not be deliver-
ed unto the Jews, since for that purpose two swords
were simply ridiculous. They had missed his mean-
ing, which was simply to warn them of the changed
circumstances of his cause: but they caught at the
words which he had used, and exhibited their two
swords. Possi1)ly, as some have supposed, these were
two long sacrificial knives with which they had killed
the Paschal lamb; but, indeed, the wearing of weap-

. y£SCS DECLIXIXG THE LEGIONS. 77

ons is much more general in tbe Ejiat than with us.
Our Lord's disciples were largely Galileans, and as the
Galileans were more of a fighting sort than other Jews,
the wearing of swords was probably very general
among them. However, two of the apostles had
swords; not that they were fighting men, but probably
because it was the fashion of their country, and they
had thought it needful to wear them when passing
through a dangerous district. At any rate, Peter had
a sword, and instantly used it. He smites the first
man he could reach. I wonder he had not smitten
Judas, one might have excused him if he had ; but it
is a servant of the high-priest who bears the blow and
loses his ear.

Then the Saviour comes forward in all his gentleness,
as self-possessed as when he was at supper, as calm as
if he had not already passed through an agony.
Quietly he says, " Suffer it to be so now"; he touches
the ear, and heals it, and in the lull which followed,
when even the men that came to seize him Avere spell-
bound by this wondrous miracle of mercy, he pro-
pounds the great truth, thai: they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword, and bids Peter put utd his
weapon. Then he utters these memorable words:
" Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve le-
gions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be ?" And he also said
what John alone appears to have heard — "The cup
which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?"
(John xviii. 11.)

The wound of Malchus served a gracious purpose;
for it enabled our Lord to work a new miracle, the like
of which he had never wrought before, namely, the

78 JESUS DECLh\L\G THE LEGIONS.

restoration of a member maimed or cut off by violence.
The blunder of the apostles was also overruled to
answer a very instructive purpose. You wonder that
the Lord should, even in appearance, encourage his
disciples to have swords, and then forbid them to use
them. Follow me in a thought which is clear to my
ow^n mind. For a man to abstain from using force
when he has none to use is no great virtue : it re-
minds one of the lines of Cowper's ballad : —

" Stoo})iug down, as needs he must
Who cannot sit upright."

But for a man to have force ready to his liand, and
then to abstain from using it, is a case of self-restraint
and possibly of self-sacrifice, of a far nobler kind.
Oar Saviour had his sword at his side that night,
though he did not use it. "What!" say you, "how
can that be true ? " Our Lord says, " Can I not now
pray to my Father, and he will give me twelve legions
of angels ? '" Our Lord had thus the means of self-
defence; something far more powerful than a sword
hung at his girdle; but he refused to employ the
power within his reach, llis servants could not bear
this test; they had no self-restraint, the hand of PeteiT
is on his sword at once. The failure of the servants
in this matter seems to me to illustrate the grand self"
possession of their Master. " Alas," he seems to say,
" you cannot be trusted even with swords, much less
could you be entrusted with greater forces. If you
had the angelic bands at your command, down they
would come streaming from the sky to execute works
of vengeance, and so mar my great life-work of love."
Brethren, we are better without swords and other
forms of force than with them ; for we have not yet

7A56'^- DECLlNhXG THE LEGIONS. 79

learned, like our Lord, io control ourselves. Admire
the glorious self-restraint of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who, aimed not with a sword but with the em battled
hosts of "helmed cherubim and sworded seraphim,"
vet refused even by a prayer to bring them down to
his relief. Peter's passionate use of the sword illus-
trates the happy self-control of his Lord, and this is
the use of the incident.

Let lis now proceed to learn from the words of the
Lord Jesus which we have selected as our text.

J. First, brethren, I would have you notice from
the text OUR ^T.^^rd's ora^^d resource. Thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my Father?" Our Lord is
surrounded by his adversaries, and there are none
abou: him powerful enough to defend him from their
malice; what can he do? He says, "I can pray to
my Father.'' This is our Lord's continual resource in
the time of danger; yea, even in that time of which
he said, "This is your hour and the power of dark-
ness." He can even now pray to his Father.

First, Jesus had no possessions on earth, but heliada
Father. I rejoice in his saying, " Thinkest thou that
I cannot now pray to my Father ? " He is a betrayed
man; he is given up into the hands of those who thirst
for his blood ; but he has a Father almighty and divine.
If our Lord had merely meant to say that God could
deliver him, he might have said, "Thinkest thou not,
that 1 can pray to Jehovah .?" or, "to God": but he
uses the sweet expression "my Father," both here and
in that text in John, where lie says, " The cup wiiich
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? "
0 brethren, remember that we have a Father in heaven.
When all is gone and spent, we can say, " Our Father."
Pieiatives are dead, but our P'ather lives. Supposed

80 JESi'S DECLINIXG THE LEGIONS.

friends have left us, even as the swallows quit our
wintry weather; but we are not alone, for the Father is
with us. Cling to that blessed text, " I will not leave
you orphans; I will come unto you." In every mo-
ment of distress, anxiety, perplexity, we have a Father
in whose wisdom, truth, and power, we can rely.
Your dear children do not trouble themselves much,
do they ? If they have a want, they go to father ; if
they are puzzled, they ask father; if they are ill-treat-
ed, they appeal to father. If but a thorn is in their
finger, they run to mother for relief. Be it little or
great, the child's sorrow is the parent's care. This
makes a child's life easy: it would make ours easy if
we would but act as children tov/ards God. Let us
imitate the Elder Brother, and when we, too, are in
our Gethsemanc, let us, as he did, continue to cry,
"My Father, My Father." This is a better defence
than shield or sword.

Our Lord's resource 2casto approach his Father icithpre-
vailincj prayer. " Can I not now pray to my Father ? "
Our Lord Jesus could use that marvellous weapon of
All-prayer, which is shield, and sword, and spear, and
helmet, and breast-plate, all in one. When you can do
nothing else you can pray. If you can do many things
besides, it will still bo your wisdom to say, "Lotus
pray!" But I think I hear you object, that our Lord
had been praying, and yet his griefs were not removed,
lie had prayed himself into a bloody sweat with prayer,
and yet he was left unprotected, to fall into his ene-
luies' hands. This is true, and yet it is not all the
truth; for he had been strengthened, and power for
deliverance was at his disposal. He had only to press
his suit to be rescued at once. The Greek word here
is not the same word which would set forth ordinary

JESUS DECLIXING THE LEGIONS. gl

prayer : the Revised Version puts it, " Thinkest thou
that I cannot heseech my Father?'' We make a great
mistake if we throw all prayer into one category, and
think that every form of true prayer is alike. AVe may
pray and plead, and even do this with extreme earnest-
ness, and yet we may not use that mode of beseechiug
which would surely bring the blessing. Hitherto our
Lord had prayed, and prayed intensely, too; but there
was yet a higher form of prayer to w^hich he might
have mounted if it had been proper so to do. He
could so have besought that the Father must have
answered; but he would not. 0 brethren, you have
prayed a great deal, perhaps, about your trouble, but
there is a reserved force of beseeching in you yet:
by the aid of the Spirit of God you may pray after a
higher and more prevailing rate. This is a far better
w'eapon than a sword. I was speaking to a brother
yesterday about a prayer which my Lord had remarka-
bly answered in my own case, and I could not help
saying to him, "But I cannot always pray in that
fashion. Not only can I not so pray, but I would not
dare to do so, even if I could." Moved by the Spirit
of God, w^e sometimes pray w'itli a power of faith which
can never fail at the mercy-seat ; but without such an
impulse we must not push our own wills to the iron!
There are many occasions upon which, if one had all
the faith which could move mountains, he w'ould most
wisely show it by saying nothing beyond, " Neverthe-
less, not as 1 will, but as thou wilt." Had our Lord
chosen to do so, he had still in reserve a prayer-power
which would have effectually saved him fronj his ene-
mies. He did not think it right so to use it; but he
could have done so had he pleased.

Notice, that our Lordj/cu Hat lie could even then pray.
6

G2 JESUS DECLINING THE LEGIONS.

ivia iters had not gone too lar for prayer. When can
they do so? The Vv'ord "now" practically occurs
twice in onr version, for we get it first as "now " and
then as " presently." It occurs only once in the orig-
inal ; but as its exact position in the verse cannot
easily be decided, our translators, with a singular wis-
dom, have placed it in both the former and the latter
part of the sentence. Our Saviour certainly meant —
"I am come now to extremities; the people are far
away whose favor formerly protected me from the
Pharisees; and I am about to be seized by armed men;
but even now 1 can pray to my Eather." Prayer is
an ever open door. There is no predicament in which
we cannot pray. If we follow the Lamb whitherso-
ever he goeth we can now pray effectually unto our
Father, even as he could have done. Do I hear you
say, " The fatal hour is near " ? You may now pray.
" But the danger is imminent! " You may new pray.
If, like Jonah, you are at the bottoin of the mountains,
and tlie weeds are wrapped about your head, you may
even now pray. Prayer is a weapon that is usable in
every position in the hour of conflict. The Greeks had
long spears, and these vv^ere of grand service to the pha-
lanx so long as the rank was not broken ; but the Ko-
mans used a short sword, and that Avas a far more effec-
tual weapon at close quarters. Prayer is both the long
spear and the short sword. Yes, brother, between
the jaws of the lion you may even now pray. We glory
in our blessed JMaster, that he knew in fulness of faith
that if he would bring forth his full power of prayer
he could set all heaven on the wing. As soon as his
beseeching prayer had reached the Father's ear, imme-
diately, like flames of fire, angels would flash death
upon his adversaries.

y/::SC/S DECLINING THE LEGIONS. 83

Our Lord's resort was not to the carnal weapon, but to
the mighty eugiiie of supplication. Behold, my breth-
ren, "where our grand resort must always be. Look
not to the arm of flesh, but to the Lord our God.
Church of God, look not piteously to the State, but fly
to the mercy-seat. Church of God, look not to the
ministry, but resort to the throne of grace. Church
of God, depend not upon learned or moneyed men,
but beseech God in suppHcating faith. Prayer is
the tower of David, builded ibr an armory. Prayer
is our battle-axe and weapons of war. We say to
our antagonist: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father." Let this suffice to display
our Saviour's grand ' resource in the night of his
direst distress.

II. Secondly, let me invite your attention to our
LoKu's uNDiMixisHED POWER IN HEAVEN at the time wTien
he seemed to have no power on earth. He says, when
about to be bound and taken away to Caiaphas, " I
can presently call down twelve legions of angels from
the skies." He had influence in heaven with the
Father, the great Lord of angels. He could have of
the Father, all that the Father possessed. Heaven
would be emptied if needful to satisfy the wish of
the Beloved Son. The man Chiist Jesus who is
about to be hung upon the cross has such power with
the Father that he has but to ask and to have. The Fa-
ther would answer him at once : " He iihaW presently send
me twelve legions of angels." There would be no de-
lay, no hesitation. The Father was ready to help him,
waiting to deliver him. All heaven was concerned
about him. All the angelic bands were waiting on the
wing, and Jesus had but to express the desire, and
instantaneously the garden of Gethsemane would have

84 JESUS DECLINING THE LEGIONS.

been as populous with sliining ones as the New Jeru-
salem itself.

Our Lord speaks of angels that his Father would
give him, or send him. AVe may interpret it that the
Father would at once put at Lis disposal the glorious
inhabitants of heaven. Think of seraphs at tlje dispo-
sal of the Man of Sorrows ! He is despised and reject-
ed of men, and yet angels that excel in strength
are at his beck and call. Swift of wing, and quick of
hand, and wase of thought, they are charmed to be
the messengers of the Son of Man, the servitors of
Jesus. Think of this, beloved, when you l)Ow before
the thorn-crowned liead, and when you gaze upon
the nailed hands and feet. Remember that angels
and principalities and powers, and all the ranks of
pure spirits, by whatsoever name they are named,
were all at the beck of Jesus when he was newly risen
from his agony, and Avas about to be led away bound,
to the Iligh-priest. He is om- Lord and God, even at
his lowest and weakest.

Jesus speaks of " twelve legions." I suppose he
nientions the number twelve as a legion for each one
of the eleven disciples and for himself. They were
only twelve, and yet the innumerable hosts of heaven
would make forced marches for their rescue. A legion
in the Roman army v/as six thousand men at the very
lowest. Twelve times six thousand angels would
come in answer to a wish from Jesus. Nay, he says
" more " than twelve legions. There can be no limit
to the available resources of the Christ of God.
Thousands of thousands would fill the air if Jesus
willed it. Tlie band that Judas led would be an in-
significant squad to be swallowed up at once if the
Saviour would but summon his allies. Behold, dear

JESUS DECLIXING THE LEGIONS. gS

brethren, the glory of our betrayed and arrested Lord.
If he Avas such then, what is he now, when all power
is given him of his Father! Bear in your minds the
clear idea that Jesus in his humiliation was neverthe-
less Lord of all things, and especially of the unseen
world, and of the armies which people it. The more
clearly you perceive this, the more you will admire
the all-conquering, all-abjuring love which took him
to the death of the cross.

Tarry here just a minute to recollect that the an-
gels also are, according to your measure and degree,
at your call. You have but to pray to God, and an-
gels shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash
your foot against a stone. We do not think enough
of these heavenly beings; yet are they all ministering
spirits sent Ibrth to minister to those that are heirs of
salvation. Like Elijah's servant, if your eyes Avere
opened you would see the mountain full of horses of
fire and chariots of fire round about the servants of
God. Let us learn from our Master to reckon upon
forces invisible. Let us not trust in that which is
seen of the eye, and heard of the ear ; but let us have
respect to spiritual agencies which evade the senses,
but are known to faith. Angels play a far greater
part in the affairs of providence than we Avot of. God
cnw raise up friends on earth, and if he does not do so
he can find us abler friends in heaven. There is no
need to pluck out the sword with which to cut-off
men's ears ; for infinitely better agencies wall Avork
for us. Have fliith in God, and all things shall Avork
for your good. The angels of God think it an honor
and a delight to protect the least of his childi en.

IIL But I cannot linger, although I feel a great
temptation to do so. My text is full of teaching, but

86 y^HSL'S DECLINING THE LEGIONS..

a main point is the third one — ouR_LoiiDLs,..EERFECTjriLL-
iNGXEss_jN SUFFERING. I hope I havc ah'ead}' brought
that before you. Our Lord would be betrayed into
the hands of sinners, but he would go with them will-
ingly. He had not shunned the garden though Judas
knew the place No j)art of our Lord's sufferings
came upon liim by the necessity of his nature. Neith-
er as God nor as sinless man was he bound to suffer.
There was no necessity that Christ should endure any
of the inflictions laid ujjon him, except the necessity
of his fulfilling the Scriptures, and performing the
work of mercy which he came to do. He must die
because he became the great sacrifice for sin ; but
apart from that, no necessity of death was on him.
They scourged hiui ; but tliey coidd not have lifted
the thong if he had not permitted it. He thirsted on
the cruel tree ; but all the springs of water in the
world he makes and fills, and therefore he needed not
to have thirsted if he had not chosen to submit
thereto. When he died, he did not die through the
failure of his natural strength ; he died because he
had surrendered himself to death as our great Propi-
tiation. Even in his expiring moment our Lord cried
with a loud voice, to show that his life was in him
still. He "gave up the'ghost," freely parting with a
life which he might have retained. He voluntarily
surrendered his spirit to God. It was not snatched
from him b}' a force superior to his oww will ; he will-
ingly bore our sins, and willingly died as our Substi-
tute. Let us love and bless the willing Sufferer,

Indeed, our Lord was not merely submissive to the
divine will, but, if I may use words in a paradoxical
manner, I would say that he was actively submissive.
A single prayer would have broug;ht our Lord deliv-

y£Si'S DECLINING THE LEGIONS. 87

erance from his enemies; but he exercised force upon
himself, and held in his natural impulse to beseech
the Father. He held in abeyance that noblest of
spiritual gifts, that choicest of all forms of power —
the power of prayer. One would have thought that a
good man might always exercise prayer to the full
of his bent, and yet Jesus laid his hand upon his
prayer-power as if it had been a sword, and he put
it back into its sheath. "He saved others, himself
he could not save." He prayed for others; but, in
this instance, for himself he vvould not pray, as he
might have done. He would do nothing, even though
it were to pra}'- a prayer which even in the slightest
degree would oppose the will of the Father. He was
so perfectly submissive, yea, so eager to accomplish
our salvation, that he Avould not pray to avoid the
cruelty of his enemies and the bitterness of death.
He sees it is the Father's will, and therefore he will
not have a wish in opposition to it. "The cup w^hich
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it .? "
Kemember, that he needed not to commit any wrong-
thing to prevent his being taken and slain : a good
thing, namely, a prayer, would do it; but he will not
pray; he has undertaken the w'ork of redemption,
and he must and will g;o through with it. He has
such a desire for your salvation and for mine, such a
thirst to honor and glorify his Father in the work
wdiich he liad engaged to do, that he will ]iot even
prevent his snfferings by a prayer.

Wonderful is that question, " How then shall the
scriptures be fulfilled?" It is as much as to say,
" Who else can drink that cup ? Who else can tread
the wine-press of Almighty W'lath ? No, I must do
it. I cannot lay this load upon any other shoulders."

88 JESUS DECLINIXG THE LEGIONS.

Therefore, for the joy that was set before him lie
endured the cross, despising the shame. He was
willing, ay, willing from beginning to end, to be our
suifering Saviour. He was willing to be born at
Bethlehem, to work at Nazareth, to be mocked at
Jerusalem, and at last to die at Calvary. At any
one point he could have drawn back. No constraint
was upon him but that of a love stronger than death.
I want you, dear hearers, to draw the inference
that Jesus is willing to save. A willing Sufferer
must be a willing Saviour. If he willingly died, he
nnist with equal willingness be ready to give to us the
fruit of his death. If any of you would have Jesus,
you may surely have him at once. He freely deliver-
ed himself up for us all. If he was so willing to
become a sacrifice, how willing must he be that the
glorious result of his sacrifice should be shared in by
you, and by all who come to God by him ! If there
be lui willingness anywhere, you are unwilling. He
rejoices to be gracious. I wish the charm of this
truth would affect your heart as it does mine. 1 love
him greatly, because I see that at any moment he
might have drawn back from redeeming me, and yet
he v/ould not. A single prayer would have set him
free; but he would not pray it, for he loved us so!

" This was compassion like a God,
That when the Saviour knew
The jirice of pardon was his blood
His pity ne'er withdrew."

Do not grieve him l)y thinking that he is unwilling
to forgive, that he is unwilling to receive a sinner
such as yon. Has lie not said, " Him that cometh to
me I will in no v/ise cast out"? You will delight
him if you come to him, whoever you may be. If

JESUS DECL/XnVG THE LEGIONS. 89

yo!i will [tilt draw near to liiin by simple trust, he will
see in you the purchase of his agony; and all the
merit of his death shall flc*w out freely to you. Come
and welcome, sinner, come.

JV. Now I must lead you, with great brevity, to
notice our Lord's great R£§£^3U£0R Holy Scripture.
He can have twelve legions of angels, but " how then
shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"

Notice, that our Lord believed in the divinity of
Scrij^tin^e. He says, " How then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled?" But if the Scriptures are only the
writings of men, there is no necessity that they
should be fulfilled. If they are njerely the fallible
utterances of good men, I see no particular necessity
that they should be fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus Christ
insisted upon it that the Scriptures must be fulfilled,
and the reason was, that they are not the word of
man, but the Word of God. The Scriptures were
evidently tlie Word of God to our Lord Jesus Christ.
He never trifles with them, nor differs from them, nor
predicts that they will vanish away. It is he that
saith, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled."

He believed in the divine origin of the Scriptures
and also in their infallihiJiti'. " How then shall the
Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" He
does not hint that the Scriptures might be a little
mistaken. He does not argue, " I will bring the
twelve legions of angels down to deliver myself, and
it is no matter to me that then the Scriptures will be
made void." Oh, no ! the Scriptures must be true,

90 JESL'S DECLINIXG THE LEGIONS.

and they must be fulfilled, and therefore he must be
betrayed into the hands of men. He settles it as a
matter of necessity that Scripture must infallibly be
verified, even to its jots and tittles.

See, brethren, tlic ^ricdess ivorth of Scripture in the
estimation of our Lord. In effect he says, " I will die
rather t!ian any Scripture shall be unfulfilled. I will
go to the cross rather than any one word of God
should not be carried out.'' The prophet Zechariah has
written, "Awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of
hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be
scattered abroad." The fulfilment of that prophecy
fell due that night, and the Son of God was prepared
to be smitten as the Shepherd of the sheep, rather
than the word of the Father should fall to the ground.
" Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life;" but Jesus would give his life for the
Scriptures. Brethren, it were worth while for the
whole church to die rather than any truth of Scrip-
ture should be given up. Let all our thousands be
consumed upon the altar as one great holocaust
sooner than the Scriptures should be dishonored.
The Word of the Lord must live and prevail, whether
we die or not. Our Lord teaches us to prize it
beyond liberty or life.

The force of our Lord's language goes further yet.
Let me repeat the words and then enlarge upon them.
" HoAv then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus
it mufct be ?" Holy Scripture is the transcript of the
secret decree of God. We do not believe in fate, a blind,
hard thing; but we believe in predestination, the set-
tled purpose of a wise and loving Father. The Book
of Fate is cruel reading, but the book of divine Fore-

JESUS DECLINING THE LEGIONS. 91

ordination is full of charming sentences, and those
lines out of it which are written in the Scriptures we
joyfully choose to have fulfilled. It is the will of our
Father wlio is in heaven which settles the things which
must be; and because of this we cheerfully yield our-
selves up to predestination. Once being assured that
God has appointed it, we have no struggles, nay, we
will not even breathe a wish to have the matter other-
wise. Let the will of the Father be the supreme law.
It ought to be so. AVe find a depth of comfort in say-
ing, " It is the Lord, let hira do what seemeth him
good." Kow, the prophecies of Scripture were to the
Lord Christ the revelation of the predesthiation of God
that so it must be, and he cheerfully, joyfully, even
without a prayer against it, gives himself up at once
to that which must be, because God has appointed it.
If any of you do not believe in the predestination of God,
you will, probably, in some hour of depression, ascribe
your sorrows to a cruel fate. The human mind, some-
how or other, is driven at last to this decision, that
some things are beyond the control of man and of his
will, and that these are fixed by necessity. How much
better to see that God has fixed them ! There is the
Avheel revolving surely and unalterably ; would it
not comfort you to believe that it is full of eyes, and
that it is moving according to the settled purpose of
the Lord ? That man who says, " It is my Father's
will," is the happy man. Predestination is as sure and
as certain as fate ; but there is at the back of it a liv-
ing and loving personality, ordering all things. To
this w^e cheerfully yield ourselves.

Beloved, let us value Scripture as much as Christ
did; I was going to say, let us value it even more; for
if our Lord valued unfulfilled Scripture — which was but

92 JESUS DECLINIAG THE LEGIONS.

a shell till he became its kernel — how much more
should we value it, to whom the Scriptures are fulfilled
in a large degree, because the Christ has suffered and
has done even as it was written of him by the proph-
ets of God !

Time flies so quickly that I must pass on. You per-
ceive that I have a pregnant text; it is full of living
instruction to those who desire to learn. God help us
to receive with joy all its holy teaching !

V. But I must come to the last point. We will
consider our Lord's lessons to each one of us in thi§J,e:st.

The first Tessbn'is this : Desire no OTher forces for
God's Avork than God himself ordains to use. Do not
desire that the Government should come to your res-
cue to support your church. Do not desire that the
charms of eloquence should be given to ministers, that
they may therewith command listening ears, and so
maintain the faith by the wisdom of words. Do not
ask that learning and rank and prestige may come
upon the side of Christianity, and so religion may be-
come respectable and influential. Means that God has
not chosen to use should not be looked upon by us with
covetous eyes. Has he not said, "Not by might, nor
by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts " ?
Jesus has all those squadrons of angels at his disposal;
do you not wish that he would use them ? What a
glorious vision is before us as we see their serried ranks
and mark their glittering splendor ! But Jesus bids
them stand still and see the salvation of God wrought
out without their interposition. To them he has not
put in subjection the new world. They must not med-
dle with the redemption of men. Ihe conflict for truth
is to be a spiritual battle between man and the serpent :
nothing but spiritual force is to be employed, and that

JESUS DECLINING THE LEGIONS. 93

not by angels, but bj men. Man must overcome sin by
spiritual means only. Put up the sword, Peter ! Jesus
does not want its keen edge. Keep your swords in your
sheaths, ye seraphim ! Jesus does not want even your
blades of celestial temper. His weakness has done
more than human or angelic strength. Ilis suffering
and death have done the deed which all the hierarchy
of angels could never have accomplished. The truth
is to win the fight. The Spirit is to subdue the powers
of evil. Brethren, do not ask anybody else to interfere.
Let us have this fight out on the ground which God has
chosen. Let us know that God is omnipotent in the
realm of mind, and by his truth and Spirit he will
overcome. He holds back all forces other than those
of argument, and suasion, and enlightenment by his
Spirit : do not let us even wish to put our hand to any
force other than he ordains to use.

And, next, take care that when other forces are
v;it!iin reach, you do not use them for the promotion
of the heavenly kingdom. When you are in argument
for t!ie truth, do not grow angry ; for this would be to
fight the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons. Do
not wish to oppress a person whose views are errone-
ous or even blasphemous. The use of bribes for the
propagation of opinions is mean, and the refusal of
charities to those v.dio differ from us in sentiment is
detestable. Lot no threat escape your lip, nor bribe
pollute your hand. It is not thus that the battles of
truth are to be fought. If you ever feel inclined to
shut a man's mouth by wishing him banishment, or
sickness, or any sort of ill, be grieved with yourself
that so unchristly a thought should have entered your
head. Desire only good for the most perverse of men.
Fighting for Christ would be wounding him sorely.

94 ;/ESrS DECLINING THE LEGIONS.

The French .king heard of the cruelties perpetrated
■upon our Lord, and he exclaimed, " Oh, if I had been
there with a troop of my guards, I should have cut the
villains in pieces F' Yes, but Jesus did not want the
King of France nor his guards: he came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save tlieni. The Lord Jesus de-
gires you, ray brethren, to tight for him in your faitli,
in^your holy lifcj^ by^_ji>ui-eonl«leij.ce.jn truth, by your
reliance upon the Spirit of God; bnt wheneveFyoiir
hand begins to itch for the sword-hilt, then you may
hear him say, " Put up thy sword into its sheath." He
w^ill conquer by love, and by love alone. If at this
present moment I could take this church and endow it
with all the wealth of the Establishment, and gather
into the midst all the wisdom and talent and eloquence
which now adorns society, and if I could do this by
one single prayer, I should long hesitate to offer the
petition. These might prove idols, and provoke the
living God to jealousy. Infinitely better for us to be
poor and weak and devoid of that which is highly es-
teemed among men, and then to be baptized into the
Holy Ghost, than to become strong and be left of our
God. We shall war this warfare with no unsanctified
weapons, with no instrument other than God appoints.
Speaking the truth in the power of the Spirit of God,
we are not afraid of the result. Surely this is what
Christ means : " I could pray to my Father and receive
at o]ice a body-guard of angels, but I will do nothing
of the kind, for by other means than these must mj
kingdom come."

And the next lesson is: Never attempt to escape
suffering at the expense of truth: " How then shall
the scriptures be fulfilled?" says Christ: "I can
escape being taken^ and bound, and made a felon ol ;

JESUS DECLIXING THE LEGIONS. 95

but tlieii how are the Scriptures to be fulfilled?"
AVoukl YOU like to bo throughout life screened from
all -affliction? I think I hear a great many say, "I
should." Would you ? Would you be always free
from sickness, poverty, care, bereavement, slander,
persecution? How, then, could that word be true,
'• I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction " !
What would that text mean, " What son is he whom
the Father chasteneth not"? Jesus said, "Except a
man take up his cross and follow me, he cannot be
my discijile." Are you to be an exception to the rule ?
Oh, do not kick against suffering, for in so doing you
may be fighting against God, When Peter drew hi<8
sword he was unconsciously fighting to prevent our
redemption. When we struggle against tribulation
or persecution we may be warring against untold
benefit. Do you desire to ride through the world like
princes? Do not desire such a dangerous fate; for
how then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that the
disciple is not above his Lord ? Bow your spirit
before the majesty of Scripture, and patiently endure
all things for the elect's sake.

A.gain, never tremble when force is on the wrong
side. You see they are coming, Pharisees and priests
and the p99.se comitatus sent by the authorities to
arrest the Saviour; but he is not afraid. Why should
he be ? He could command twelve legions of angels
to beat off" the foe. The man who knows he has a
reserve behind him may walk into an ambush without
fear. The multitude think that there stands before
them a mere man, a feeble man, strangely red as with
bloody sweat. Ah ! they know neither him nor his
Father. Let him give a whistle, and from behind the
olives of the grove, and from the walls of the garden,

OQ JESUS DECLINING THE LEGIONS.

and from every stone of the Mount of Olives would
sirring' up warriors mightier than tliose of Caesar,
valiant ones, before whom armies would be consumed.
One of these mighties of God slev/ of Sennacherib's
army one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in a
single night; another smote all the first-born of
Egypt. Think, then, what more than twelve legions
of them could accomplish ! Brethren, all these holy,
heavenly beings are on our side. " Oh, but there are
so many against us ! " Yes, I know there are ; but
more are they that are for us. All the myriads of
heaven are our allies. See ye not the legions waiting
for the summons ? Who wants to give the word of
command until our great Commander-in-chief decides
that the hour is come? Let us patiently wait till he
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and the trump of God; then
will the reserves pour forth Irora heaven's gate, and
all the holy angels shall swell the pomp of the great
appearing. Till that moment, wait! In your
patience possess ye your souls ! The Lord Jesus
waited; his angels waited; his Father waited. They
are all still waiting. Heaven's long-suffering still
runs like a silver thread through the centuries.
Jesus will come with his angels in all the glory of the
Father; but dream not that he must come to-morrow
or else be charged with being slack concerning his
promise. Desire that he may come in your lifetime,
and look out for him ; but if he tarrieth be not dis-
mayed. If he tarry for another century do not be
weary; if another thousand years should intervene
between us and the bright millennial day, yet stand
ye fast each man in his place, fearing nothing, but
setting up your banners in the name of the Lord.

ysso's DECLiyma the legions. 97

.•The Lovd of hosts is .^-itl, ns, the God of Jacob is
ourivLe." We have no lack of strength it is only
that God -wiUs that it be not put forth, and that our
ttknessfor the present should be the instrument of
X^L majestic conquests. Lord, we are content to
m,st in thee and wa« patiently for thee; but leave us
not, we beseech thee. Amen.

O^ THE CEOSS AFTER DEATH.

Jjml 3, 1887.

•'The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the
botiies should not remaiLi upon the cross on the Sabbath day (lor
that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then
came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other
which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus,
and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but
one cf the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
came there out blood and Avater. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye
might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture
should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again
another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierc-
ed."— John six. 31—37.

CRmmALS wlio were crucified by the Romans were
allowed to rot upon the crops. That cruel nation can
lardly be so severely condemned as our own people, wlio
up to a late period allowed the bodies of those con-
demned to die to hang in chains upon gibbets in con-
spicuous places. The Jiorrible practice is now aban-
doned, but it was retained to a time almost, if not
quite, within living mem.ory. I wonder whether any
aged person here remembers such a horrible spectacle.
Among the Romans it was usual, for there are classical
allusions to tliis horror, showing that the bodies of
persons crucified were usually left to be devoured by
ravenous birds. Probably out of deference to the cus«
(98)

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 99

toms of the Jews, the authorities in Palestine wonld
sooner or later allow of the interment of the crucified;
but they would by no means hasten it, since they
would not feel such a disgust at the sight as an
Israelite would. The Mosaic law, which you will find
in the Book of Deuteronomy, runs as follows : — " If
tliou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all
night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury
him that day" (Deuteronomy xxi. 22, 23). This alone
would lead the Jews to desire the burial of the execu-
ted ; but there was a further reason. Lest the land
should be defiled upon the lioly Sabbath of the pass-
over, the chief-priests were importunate that the bod-
ies of the crucified sliould be buried, and therefore
that their deaths should be hastened by the breaking
of their legs. Their consciences were not wounded by
tlie murder of Jesus, but they were greatly moved by
the fear of ceremonial pollution. Religious scruples
may live in a dead conscience. AUis ! this is not the
only proof of that fact: we could find many in our
own day.

The Jews hurried to Pilate, and sought as a boon
the merciless act of having the legs of the crucified
dashed to pieces Vv^ith an iron bar. That act ^vas some-
times-performed upon the condemned as an additional
punishment; but in this instance it was meant to be a
finishing stroke, hastening death, by the terrible pain
which it would cause, and the shock to the system
which it would occasion. Ferocious hate of our Lord
made his enemies forgetful of everything like human-
ity : doubtless the more of pain and shame which they
could cause him the better would they be pleased.
Not, however, out of cruelty, but out of regard to the
ceremonials of their religion, they "besought Pilate

100 O.V THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

that their legs might be broken, aiul that they might be
taken away." I have already told you that this break-
in s; of the bones of the crucified was a Roman cnston) :
and of this we have evidence, since there is a Latin
word crucifragiiim, to express this barbarons act. Pi-
late had no hesitation in granting the desire of the
Jews: what would he care about the dead body, since
he had already delivered up the living man ?

Soldiers go at once to peribrm the hideous operation,
and they comtnence with the two malefactors. It is a
striking fact that the penitent thief, although he was
to be in Paradise with his Lord that day, was not,
therefore, delivered from the excruciating agony oc-
casioned by the breaking of his legs. We are saved
from eternal misery, not from temporary pain. Our
Saviour, by our salvation, gives no pledge to us that
we shall be screened from suffering in this life. It is
true, as the proverb hath it, " All things come alike to
all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the
wicked ; to the clean, and to the unclean.' Accidents
and diseases afflict the godly as well as the ungodly.
Penitent or impenitent, we share the common lot of
men, and are born to troubles as the sparks fly up-
ward. You must not expect because you are pardon-
ed, even if you have the assurance of it from Christ's
own lips, that, therefore, you shall escape tribulation;
nay, but from his gracious mouth you have the forewarn-
ing assurance that trial shall befall you; for Jesus said,
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye
might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribu-
lation." Suffering is not averted, but it is turned into
a blessing. The penitent thief entered into Paradise
that very day, but it was not without suffering; say,
rather, that the terrible stroke was the actual mean?

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 101

of the prompt fulfilment of his Lord's promise to him.
By that blow he died that day; else might he have
lingered long. How much we may any of us receive
by the way of sufiering it were hard to guess: mayhap,
the promise that we shall be with our Lord in Paradise
will be fulfilled in that way.

At this point it seemed more than probable that our
blessed Lord must undergo the breaking of his bones;
but " he was dead already." It had pleased him, in
the infinite willinghood with which he went to his sac-
rifice, to yield up his liie, and his spirit liad therefore
departed. Yet one might have feared that the coarse
soldiers would have performed their orders to the let-
ter. See, they do not so ! Had they conceived a dread
of one around whom such prodigies had gathered ?
Were they, like their centurion, impressed \vdth awe
of this remarkable personage ? At any rate, perceiv-
ing that he was dead already, they did ]iot use their
hammer. Happy are we to see them cease from such
loathsome brutality. But we may not be too glad; for
another outrage will take its place: to make sure that
he was dead, one of the four soldiers with a spear
pierced his side, probably thrusting his lance quite
through the heart. Here we see how our gracious
God ordained in his providence that there should be
sure evidence that Jesus was dead, and that therefore
the sacrifice was slain. Paul declares this to be the
gospel, that the Lord Jesus died according to the Scrip-
tures. Strange to say, there have been heretics who
have ventured to assert that Jesus did not actually die.
They stand refuted by tliis spear-thrust. If our Lord
did not die, then no sacrifice has been presented, the
resurrection is not a fact, and there is no foundation
of hope for men. Our Lord assuredly died, and was

102 ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

buried: the Roman soldiers were keen judges in such
matters, and tliey saw that "he v/as dead ah'eady,"
and, moreover, their spears were not used in vain
when they meant to make death a certainty.

When the side of Christ was pierced, there flowed
thereout blood and water, upon which a great deal
has been said by those who think it proper to dilate
upon such tender themes. It was supposed by some
thai; by death the blood was divided, the clots parting
from the water in which they float, and that in a per-
fectly natural way. But it is not true that blood
woidd flow from a dead body if it were pierced.
Only under certain very special conditions would
blood gush forth. The flowing of this blood from
the side of our Lord cannot be considered as a common
occurrence : it was a fact entirely by itself We can-
not argue from any known fact in this case, for we
are here in a new region. Granted, that blood would
not flow from an ordinary dead body; yet remember,
that our Lord's body was iniique, since it saw no cor-
ruption. Whatever change might come over a body
liable to decay, we may not ascribe any such change
to his frame; and therefore there is no arguing from
facts about common bodies so as to conclude there-
from anvthins: concerning: our blessed Lord's bod v.
Whether, in his case, blood and water flowed natural-
ly from his holy and incorruptible body, or whether
it was a miracle, it was evidently a most notable and
remarkable thing, and John, as an eye-wdtness, was
evidently astonii^hed at it, and so astonished at it that
he recorded a solemn afiirmation, in order that we might
not doubt his testimony. He was certain of what he
saw, and he took care to report it with a special note,
in order that we might believe; asif he felt that if

ox THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 103

this fVct was truly believed, there was a certain con-
vincing power which would induce many to believe
on our Lord Jesus as the appointed Saviour. I could
enter into many details, but I prefer to cast a vail
over this tender mystery. It is scarcely reverent to
be discoursing of anatomy when the body of our ador-
able Lord is before us. Let us close our eyes in wor-
ship rather than open them with irreverent curiosity.

The great task before me this morning is to draw
truth out of tliis well of wonders. I shall ask you to
look at the events before us in three lights: first, let
lis see liere the fulfilment of Scripture; secondly, tU
identification of our Lord as the Messiah ; and tliirdly,
the instruction which he intends.

1. I ask you to notice the fulfilment of Soripttjsje.

Two things are predicted : not a bone of him must
be broken, and he must be pierced. These were the
Scriptures which now remained to be accomplished.
Last Lord's-day morning we were all of us delighted
as we saw the fulfilment of Scripture in the capture
of our Lord, and his refusal to deliver himself from his
enemies. The theme of the fulfilment of Scripture is
worth pursuing yet further in an age when Holy
Scripture is treated with so much slight, and is
spoken of as having no inspiration in it, or, at least,
no divine authority by which its infallibility is
secured. You and I favor no such error; on the
contrary, we conceive it to be to the last degree
miscliievous. "If the foundations be removed, what
can the righteous do?'" We are pleased to notice
how the Lord Jesus Christ and those who wrote
concerning liim treated the Holy Scriptures with an
intensely reverent regard. The prophecies that went
before of Christ must be fulfilled, and holy souls found

i04 OX THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

great delight in (hvelling upon the fact that they
were so

I v/ant you to notice concerning this case, that it
icas singularhj complicated. It was negative and posi-
tive: the Saviour's bones must not be broken, and he
must be pierced. In tlie type of tlie Passover lamb it
was expressly enacted that not a bone of it should be
broke;i; therefore not a bone of Jesus must be broken.
At the same time, according to Zechariah xii. 10, the
Lord must be pierced. He must not only be pierced
with the nails, and so fulfil the prophecy, " They
pierced my hands and my feet"; but he must be con-
spicuously pierced, so tliat he can be emphatically
regarded as a pierced one. How were these prophe-
cies, and a multitude more, to be accomplished ? Onl}"
God hiuiself could have brought to pass the fulfilment
of prophecies which were of all kinds, and appeared
to be confused, and even in contradiction to each
other. It would be an impossible task for the human
intellect to construct eo many prophecies, and types,
and foreshadowings, and then to imagine a person in
whom they should all be embodied. But what would
be impossilJe to men has been literally carried out in
the case of our Lord. There are prophecies about
him and about everything connected with him, from
liis hair to his garments, from his Lirth to his tomb,
and yet they have all been carried out to the letter.
That which lies immediately before us was a con:ipli-
cated case; for if reverence to the Saviour would
spare his bones, would it not also spare his flesh ? If
a coarse brutadity pieix'ed his side, M'hy did it not
break his legs ? How can men be kept from one act
of violence, and that an act authorized by authority,
and yet how shall they perpetrate another violence

ON THl£ CROSS AFTER DEATH. 105

which Jiad not been suggested to them ? But, let the
case be as complicated as it was possible for it to
have been, infinite wisdom knew how to work it out
in all points; and it did so. The Christ is the exact
substance of the foreshadowings of the Messianic
prophecies.

Next, we may say of the fulfihnent of these two
prophecies, that it was specially improhable. It did not
seem at all likely that when the order was given to
break the legs of the crucified, Eoman soldiers would
abstain from the deed. How could the body of Christ
be preserved after such an order had been issued ?
Those four soldiers are evidently determined to cany
out the governor's orders; they have commenced their
dreadful task, and they have broken the legs of two
of the executed three. The crosses were arranged so
that Jesus was hanging in the midst; he is the
second of the three. We naturally suppose that they
would proceed in order from the first cross to the
second ; but they seem to pass by the second cross,
and proceed from the first to the third. What was the
reason of this singular procedure ? The supposition
is, and 1 think a very likely one, that the centre cross
stood somewhat back, and that thus the two thieves
formed a sort of first rank. Jesus would thus be all
the more emphatically "in the midst." If he was
placed a little back, it would certainly have been easi-
er for the penitent thief to have read the inscription
over his head, and to have looked to our Lord, and
held conversatio]! with him. Had they been placed
exactly in a line this might not have been so natural;
but the suggested position seems to suit the circum-
stances. If it were so, I can understand how the
soldiers would be takin": the crosses in order when

106 0.^r TH.E CROSS AFTER DEATH.

they performed their horrible office upon the two
malefactors, and came last to Jesus, who was in the
midst. In any case, snch was the order which they
followed. The marvel is that they did not in due
couise proceed to deal the horrible blow in the case
of our Lord. Koman soldiers are apt to fulhl their
commissions very literally, and they are not often
moved with much desire to avoid barbarities. Can
you see them intent upon their errand ? Will they
not even now mangle that sacred body ? Commend
me for roughness to the ordinary Roman soldier: he
was so used to deeds of slaughter, so accustomed to
an empire which had been established with blood and
iron, that the idea of pity never crossed his soul,
excej)t to be scouted as a womanly feeling unworthy
of a brave man. Yet behold and wonder ! The order
is given to break their legs: two out of the three have
suffered, and yet no soldier may crush a bone of that
sacred body. They see that he is dead already, and
they break wot his legs.

As yet you have only seen one of the projDhecies ful-
filled. He must be pierced as well. And what was
that which came into that lioman soldier's mind
when, in a hasty moment, he resolved to make sure
that the apparent death of Jesus was a real one?
Why did he open that sacred side with his lance ?
He knew nothing of the propheCy; he had no dreams
of Eve being taken from the side of the man, and the
churcii from the side of Jesus. He had never heard
that ancient notion of the side of Jesus being like the
door of the ark, through which an entrance to safety
is opened. Why, then, does he fulfil the prediction
of the prophet? There was no accident or chance
here. Where are there such things ? The hand of

ON FHE CROSS AFTER DEAril. 107

the Lord is here, and we desire to praise and bless
that omniscient and omnipotent Providence which
thns fidfilled the word of revelation. God hath re-
spect unto his own word, and while he takes care
no bone of his Son shall be broken, he also secures
that no text of Holy Scripture shall be broken. That
our Lord's bones should remain unbroken, and jet
that he should be pierced, seemed a very unlikely
thing; but it was carried out. When next you meet
with an unlikely promise, believe it firmly. When
next you see things working contrary to the truth of
God, believ© God, and believe nothing else. Let God
be true and every man a liar. Though men and
devils should give God the lie, hold you on to what
God has spoken; for heaven and earth shall pass
away, bat not one jot or tittle of his word shall fall to
the ground.

Kote again, dear friends, concerning this fulfilment
of Scripture, that it was altogether hidisiDensaUe. If
they had broken Christ's bones, then that word of
John the Baptist, '' Behold the Lamb of God," had
seemed to have a slur cast upon it. Men would have
objected, " But the bones of the Lamb of God were
not broken." It was especially commanded twice
over, not only in the first ordaining of the Passover
in Egypt, but in the allowance of a second to those
who were defiled at the time of the first Passover. In
Numbers, as Avell as in Exodus, we read that not a
bone of the lamb nnist be broken. How, then, if our
Loril's bones had been broken, could we have said,
" Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," when there
would have been this fatal flaw ? Jesus must remain
intact upon the cross, and he must also be pierced;
for else that famous passage in Zechariah, which is

108 ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

here alluded to, " They shall loot on me whom they
have pierced," could not have been true of him. Both
prophecies must be carried out, and they were so in a
conspicuous manner. But why need I say that this
fulfilment was indispensable ? Beloved, the keeping
of every word of God is indispensable. Tt is indis-
pensable to the truth of God that he should be true
always: for if one word of his can fall to the ground,
then all may fall, and his veracity is gojie. If it ca:i
be demonstrated that one prophecy Avas a mistake,
then all the rest may be mistakes. If one part of the
Scripture is untrue, all may be untrue, and we have
no sure ground to go upon. Faith loves not slippery
places; faith seeks the sure word of prophecy, and
sets her foot firmly upon certainties. Unless all the
Word of God is sure, and pure " as silver tried in a
furnace of earth, purified seven times," then we have
nothing to go upon, and are virtually left without a
revelation from God. If I am to take the Bible and
say, " Some of this is true, and some of it is question-
able," I am no better off than if I had no Bible. A
man who is at sea with a chart which is only accurate
in certain places, is not much better ofi:' than if lie had
no chart at all. I see not how it can ever be safe to
be " converted and become as little children," if there
is no infallible teacher for us to follow. Beloved, it is
indispensable to the honor of God and to our confi-
dence in his Word, that every line of Holy Scripture
should be true. It was indispensable evidently in the
case now before us, and this is only one instance of a
rule which is without exception.

But now let me remind you that although the
problem was complicated, and its working out was
improbable, yet it loasfidfdhd in the most natural man-'

CN THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 109

wen Nothing can be less constrained than the action
of the soldiers; they have broken the legs of two, but
the other is dead, and they do not break his legs;
yet, to make sure that they will be safe in omitting the
blov/, they pierce his side. There was no compulsion
put upon tiiem; they did this of their own proper
thoup-ht. No ano-el came from heaven to stand Avith
his broad wings in the front of the cross, so as to pro-
tect the Saviour; no awful eegis of mystery was hung
over the sacred body of the Lord so that intruders
might be driven back with fear. No, the quaternion
of soldiers did whatever they wished to do. They
acted of their own free will, and yet at the same time
they fulfilled the eternal counsel of God. Shall we
never be able to drive into men's minds the truth that
predestination and free agency are both facts? ]\Ien
sin as freely as birds fly in the air, and they are al-
together responsible for their sin ; and yet everything
is ordained and foreseen of God. The fore-ordination
of God in no degree interferes with the responsibility
of man. I have often been asked by persons to recon-
cile the two truths. My only reply is — ^They need no
reconciliation, for they never fell out. Why should I
try to reconcile two friends ? Prove to me that the
two truths do not agree. In that request I have set
you a task as difficult as that which you propose to me.
These two facts are parallel lines; 1 cannot make
them unite, but you cannot njake them cross each
other. Permit me also to add that I have long ago
given up the idea of making all my beliefs into a
system. I believe, but 1 cannot explain. I fall before
the majesty of revelation, and adore the infinite Lord.
I do not understand all that God reveals, but I believe
it. How can I expect to understand all the mysteries

110 ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

of revelation, when even the arithmetic of Scripture
surpasses mj comprehension, since I am taught that
in the Godhead the Three are One, while in the undi-
vided One I see most manifestly Three ? Need I
measm-e the sea ? Is it not enough that I am upborne
by its waves? I thank God for waters deep enough
for ray faith to swim in ; understanding would compel
me to keep to the shallows, but faith takes me to the
main ocean. I think it more to my soul's benefit to
believe than to understand, for faith brings me nearer
to God than reason ever did. The faith which is lim-
ited by our narrow faculties is a faitii unworthy of a
child of God; for as a child of God he should begin to
deal with infinite sublimities, like those in which his
great Father is at home. These are only to be grasp-
ed by faith. To return to my subject: albeit the
matter must be as Scripture foreshadowed, yet no
constraint nor inducement was put forth; but, as free
agents, the soldiers performed the very things which
were written in the Prophets concerning Christ.

Dear friends, suffer one more observation upon this
fulfilment of Scripture : it was marveJIoushj complete.
Observe that in these transactions a seal Avas set upon
that joart of Scripture which has been most exposed to
sceptical derision: for the seal was set first of all upon
thetyjjes. Irreverent readers of Scripture have refused
to accept the types: they say, "How do you know
that the Passover was a type of Christ?" In other
cases, more serious persons object to detailed interpre-
tations, and decline to see a meaning in the smaller
particulars. Such persons would not attach spiritual
importance to the law, "Not a bone of it shall be brok-
en;" but would dismiss it as a petty regulation of an
obsolete religious rite. But observe, beloved, the Holy

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. Ill

Spirit does nothing of the kind ; for he fixes npon a
minor particular of the type, and declares that this
must be fulfilled. I\Ioreover, the providence of God
intervenes, so that it shall be carried out. Wherefore,
be not scared away from the study of the types by
the ridicule of the worldly-wise. There is a general
timidity coming over the minds of many about Holy
Scripture, a timidity to which, thank God, 1 am an ut-
ter stranger. It would be a happy circumstance if the
childlike reverence of the early fathers could be re-
stored to the church, and the present irreverent criti-
cism could be repented of and cast away. We may
delight ourselves in the types as in a very Paradise of
revelation. Here we see our best Beloved's beauties
mirrored in ten thousand delightful ways. Tiiere is a
w^orld of holy teaching in the books of the Old Testa-
ment, and in their types, and symbols. To give up
this patrimony of the saints, and to accept criticism
instead of it, would be like selling one's birthright for
a mess of pottage. I see in our Lord's unbroken bones
a setting of the seal of God upon the types of Scrip-
ture.

Let us go further. I see, next, the seal of God set
upon unfulfilled prophecy ; for the passage of Zechariah
is not yet completely fulfilled. It runs thus: "They
shall look upon me whom they have pierced." Jeho-
vah is the speaker, and he speaks of '^ the house of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." They are to
look on Jehovah whom they have pierced, and to
mourn for him. Although this prophecy is not yet
fulfilled on the largest scale, yet it is so far certified;
for Jesus is pierced: the rest of it, therefore, stands
good, and Israel shall one day mourn because of her
Lsulted King. The prophecy Avas fulfilled in part

112 ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

when Peter stood np and preached to the eleven, when
a great company of the priests believed, and when
mrdtitudes of the seed of Abraham became preachers
of Christ crucified. Still it awaits a larger fulfilment,
and v/e niay rest quite sure that the day shall come
when all Israel shall be saved. As the piercing of
their Lord is true, so shall the piercing of their hearts
be true, and they shall mourn and inwardly bleed
with bitter sorrow for him whom they despised and
abhorred. The point to mark here is, that a seal is set
in this case to a prophecy which yet awaits its largest
fulfiln^ent; wherefore, we may regard this as a pattern,
and may lay stress upon prophecy, and rejoice in it,
and receive it without doubt, come what may.

I have said this much upon the fulfilment of the
Word concerning our Lord; let us learn hence a les-
son of reverence and confidence in reference to Holy
Scripture.

]L But now, secondly, and briefly, the identifica-
TiON iLF OUR LojRi^. AS THE jMessiah was greatly sfrtngTli-
ened by that which befell his body after death. It
was needful that he should conclusively be proved to
be the Christ spoken of in the Old Testament. Cer-
tain marks and tokens arc given, and those marks and
tokens must be found in him : they were so found.

The first mark was this : GocVs Lamh must have a
vieasure of preservation. If Christ be what he j)i'ofess-
es to be, he is the Lamb of God. Now, God's lamb
could only be dealt with in God's way. Yes, there is
the lamb; kill it, sprinkle its blood, roast it with fire,
but break not its bones. It is God's lamb, and not
yours, therefore hitherto shalt thou come, but no fur-
ther. Not a bone of it shall be broken. Roast it, divide
it among yourselves, and eat it, but break no bone of it

C.V THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 113

The Lord claims it as bis own, and this is his reserve.
So, iu effect, the Lord says concerning the Lord Jesus:
"There is my Son; bind him, scourge him, spit on
him, crucify Lim ; but he is the Lamb of my Passover,
and you must not break a bone of iiim." The Lord's
right to him is declared by the reservation which is
made concerning his bones. Do you not see here liow
he is identified as being " the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world " ? It is a mark of
identity upon which faith fixes her eyes, and studies
that mark until she sees much more in it than we can
this morning speak about, for we have other things to
dwell upon.

The next mark of identity must be, tliat Jehovah our
Lord should he pierced by Israel. So Zachariah said and
so must it be fulfilled. Not merely must his hands and
feet be nailed, but most conspicuously must himself
be pierced. " They shall look upon me whom they
have pierced, and they shall mourn for him." Pierced
he must be. His wounds are the marks and tokens of
his being the real Christ. When they sliall see the
sign of the Son of man in the last days, then shall all
the tribes of the earth mourn; and is not that sign his
appearing as a Lamb that has been slain ? The vround
in his side was a sure mark of his identity to his own
disciples; for he said to Thomas, •' Ecach hither thy
hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless
but believing." It shall be the convincing token to all
Israel: "They shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one that
monrneth for his only son." To us the opened way
to his heart is in his flesh, the token that this is the in-
carnate God of love, whose heart can be reached by
all who seek Ids grace.

114 0:V THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

But I have not finished this identification; for
observe, that when that side was pierced, " forthwith
came tliereout blood and water." You that have youi
Bibles will have opened them already at Zechariah
xii. Will you kindly read on till you come to the
first verse of the thij'teentli chapter, which ouglit not
to have been divided from the twelfth chapter ?
AVhat do you find there? "In that day there shall
be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for unclnanness."
They pierced him, ai]d in that day they began to
mourn for him ; but more, in that day there was a
fountain opened. And what was that fountain but
this gush of water and of blood trom the riven side
of our redeeming Lord? The prophecies follow
quickly upon one another; they relate to the same
person, and to the same day; and we are pleased to
see that the facts also follow quickly upon one
another; for when the soldier with the spear pierced
the side of Jesus, '•'•jorilacith came there out blood
and water." Jehovah v>-as pierced, and men repent-
ed, and beheld the cleansing fountain within a brief
space. The men who saw the sacred fountain opened
rejoiced to see in it the attestation of the finished sac
rifice, and tlie token of its cleansing effect.

The identification is more complete if we add one
more remark. Take all the types of the Old Testa-
ment together, and you will gather this, that ilie 'puri-
fication of sin was typically set forth ly blood and icater.
Blood was conspicuous always, you have no remission
of sin without it : but water was exceedingly promi-
nent also. The priests before sacrificing must ^vash,
and the victim itself must be washed with water.
Impure things must be washed with running water.

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. II5

Beliolu bow our Lord Jesus came by water and by
blood, not by water only, but by water and blood.
John who saw the marvellous stream never forgot the
Kight; for though he wrote his Epistles, I suppose,
far on in life, the recollection of that wondrous scene
was fresh with him. Though I suppose he did not
Avrite his Gospel until he was a very old man, yet
when he came to this passage it impressed him as
ranch as ever, and he uttered affirmations which he
was not at all accustomed to use: "He that saw it
bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth
that he saith true." In solemn form he thus, after a
manner, gave his affidavit before God's people, that
he did really behold this extraordinary sight. In
Jesus we see one who has come to atone and to sanc-
tify. He is that High Priest who cleanses the leprosy
of sin by blood and water. This is one part of the
sure identification of the great Purifier of God's peo-
ple, that he came both by water and by blood, and
poured out both from his pierced side. I leave these
identifications to you. They are striking to my own
mind, but they are only part of the wonderful system
of marks and tokens by which it is seen that God
attests the man Christ Jesus as being in very deed the
true Messiah.

III. I must close by noticing, thirdly, _TBna.j[N^TRiJC-

TION INTENDED FOR X^S.m_alLtJij£Sejthil]gS.

The first instruction intended for us must be only
hinted at, like all the rest. S^eejvhalJjIuisJJstoik
He is the Pasclial Lamb, not a bone of v^^hich was
broken. You believe it. Come, then, and act upon
your belief by feeding upon Christ; keep the feast in
your own souls this day. That sprinkling blood of
his has brought you safety: the Destroying An-^eJ

IIG O.V THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

cannot touch yon or yonr house. The Lamb himself
has become your food; feed on him; remove your
spiritual hunger by receiving Jesus into your heart.
This is the food whereof if a man eat he shall live
for ever. Be filled with all the fulness of God, as you
now receive the Lord Jesus as God and man. Ye are
complete in him. Ye are "perfect in Jesus Christ."
Can you not say of him : " lie is all my salvation,
and all ray desire " ? " Christ is all and in all." Do
not merely learn this lesson as a doctrine, but enjoy
it as a personal privilege. Jesus our Passover is
slain, let him be eaten. Let us feast on him, and
then be ready to journey through the wilderness, in
the strength of this divine meat, until we come to the
promised rest.

What nest do we learn from this lesson but this ?
See man's jreatment. of. Christ. They have sjtit upon
him, t'Eey have cried, "Crucify him, crucify him,"
they have nailed him to the cross, they have mocked
his agonies, and he is dead; but man's malice is not
glutted yet. The la'st act of man to Christ must be to
pierce him through. That cruel wound was the con-
centration of man's ill-treatment of Jesus. His expe-
rience at the hands of our race is summoned up in the
fact that they pierced him to the heart. That is what
men have done to Christ: they have so despised and
rejected him that he dies, pierced to the heart. Oh,
the depravity of our nature ! Some doubt whether it
is iotal depravity. It deserves a worse adjective than
that. There is no word in human language which
can express the venom of the enmity of man to his
God and Saviour: he would wound him mortally if
he could. Do not expect that men will love either
Christ or you, if you are like him. Do not expect

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. \Yl

that Jesus will find room for himself in the inn, much
less that he will be set on the tlirone by guilty, unre-
newed men. Oh, no ! Even when he is dead they
must insult his corpse with a spear-thrust. One sol-
dier did it, but he expressed the sentiment of the age.
This is what the world of sinners did for him who
came into the world to save it.

Now, learn, in the next place, wliat^ Jesn^^dld for,
men. Beloved, that was a sweet expression in our
Eymn just now —

" Even after deatli liis heart
For ns its tribute poured."

In his life he had bled for us: drop by drop the
bloody sweat had fallen to the ground. Then the
cruel scourges drew from him purple streams : but as
a little store of life-blood was left near his heart, he
poured it all out belbre he went his w-ay. It is a
materialistic expression, but there is something more
in it than mere sentiment — that there remains among
the substance of this globe a sacred relic of the Lord
Jesus in the form of that bloo'd and water. As no
atom of matter ever perishes, that matter remains on
earth even now. His body has gone into glory, but
the blood and water are left behind. I see much
more in this fact than I will now attempt to tell. 0
world, the Christ has marked thee wdth his blood and
he means to have thee! Blood and water from the
heart of God's own Son have fallen down upon this
dark and defiled planet, and thus Jesus has sealed it
as his own, and as such it must be transformed into a
new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right-
. eousness. Our dear Lord, when he had given us all
he had, and even resigned his life on our behalf,
then parted with a priceless stream from the fountain

118 ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH.

of liis heart: " fortliwiili came there out blood and
^vater." Oh, the kindness of the heart of Christ, that
did not only for a blow return a kiss, but for a
spear-thrust returned streams of life and healing !

But I must hurry on. I can see in this passage
also the safety of i]ie taints. It is marvellous how full
of eyes the things of Jesus are ; for his unbroken
bones look backward to the Paschal lamb, but they
also look forward througJ)out all the history of the
church to tJiat day when he shall gather all his saints
in one body, and none shall be missing. Kot a bone
of his mystical body shall be broken. There is a
text in the Psalms which saith of the righteous man — .
and all righteous men are conformed unto the imago
of Christ — " He keepeth all his bones: not one of
them is broken." I do rejoice in the safety of Christ's
elect; he shall not permit a bone of his redeemed
body to be broken.

" For all tlie chosen seed

Shall meet arouud the throne,
Shall bless the conduct of his grace,
And make his glories known."

A perfect Christ there shall be in the day of his ap-
pearing, when all the members of his body shall be
joined to their glorious Head, who shall be crowned
for ever. Not one living member of Christ shall be
absent; "Not a bone of him shall be broken.'' There
shall be no lame, maimed Christ, no half-wrought
redemption; but the purpose that he came to accom-
plish shall be perfectly achieved to the glory of his
name.

I have not quite done, for I must add another les-
son. We see here the sali-ation cf sinners. Jesus Christ's
«'de is pierced to give to sinners the double cure of

ON THE CROSS AFTER DEATH. 119

sill, the taking away of its guilt and power; but, better
than this, sinners are to have tlieir hearts broken by a
sight of the Crucified. By this means also they are
to obtain faith. "They shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him."
Beloved, our Lord Jesus came not only to save sin-
ners, but to seek them: his death not only saves
those who have faith, but it creates faith in those
who have it not. The cross produces the fiaith and
repentance which it demands. If you cannot come
to Christ with faith and repentance, come to Christ /or
faith and repentance, for he can give them to you.
He is pierced on purpose that you may be pricked to
the heart. His blood, which freely flows, is shed for
many for the remission of sins. What you have to do
is just to look, and, as you look, those blessed feelings
which are the marks of conversion and regeneration
shall be wrought in you by a sight of him. Oh, bless-
ed lesson ! Put it into practice this morning. Oh,
that in this great house many may now have done
with self and look to the crucified Saviour, and find
life eternal in him ! For this is the main end of
John's writing this record, and this is the chief design
of our preaching upon it: we long that you may
believe. Come, ye guilty, come and trust the Son of
God who died for you. Come, ye foul and jDolluted,
come and wash in this sacred stream poured out for
you. There is life in a look at the Crucified One.
There is life at this moment for every one of you who
Avill look to him. God grant you may look and live,
for Jesus Christ's sake I Amen.

YI.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD TO
THE ELEVEN.

Ajn-il IC, 1887.

" And as they thus spake, Jesus liimself stood in tlie midst oi
them, and saith unto them, Peace he unto you. But they were
terrirted and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are ye trouhled ? and why do
thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself: handle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, ho
showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believ-
ed not for Joy, and wonder, he said unto them, Have ye here any
meat ? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an
honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he
said unto them. These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the jiroi^hets, and in the
psalms, concerning me." — Luke xxiv. Sf — 44.

This, beloved friends, is one of the most memoi'able
of our Lord's many visits to iiis disciples after lie had
risen from the dead. Each one of these appearances
had its own pecnliarity. I cannot at this time give
yon even an outline of the special colorings which
distinguish each of the many manifestations of our
risen Lord. The instance now before ns may be con-
sidered to be the fullest and most deliberate of all the
manifestations, abounding beyond every other iu "in-
fallible proofs." Eeraember, that it occurred on the
same day in which our Lord had risen from the dead,
and it was the close of a long day of gracious appear-
(120)

FIKS T APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 121

ings. It was the sumiuiug-up of a series of inter-
views, all of wliicii' were proofs of the Lord's resurrec-
tion. Tiiere was the empty tomb and the grave-
clothes left therein : the place where the Lord lay
v\ras accessible to all those who chose to inspect it —
for the great stoiae which had been sealed and guard-
ed was rolled away. This in itself was most impress-
ive evidence. Moreover, the holy women had been
there, and had seen a vision of angels, wdio said that
Jesus was alive. Magdalene had enjoyed a special
interview. Peter and John had been into the empty
tomb and had seen for themselves. The report was
current that " the Lord was risen indeed, and had
appeared unto Simon." It was a special thing that he
Bhould appear unto Simon : for the disciples painfully
knew^ how Simon had denied his Master, and his
appearance unto Simon seemed to have struck them
as peculiarly characteristic: it was so like the manner
of our Lord.

They met together in their bewilderment: the
eleven of them gathered, as I suppose, to a social
meal, for Mark tells us that the Lord appeared unto
them " as they sat at meat." It must have been very
late in the day, but they were loath to part, and so
kept together till midnight. While they were sitting
at meat tw^o brethren came in who, even after the sun
had set, had hastened back from Emmaus. These
new-comers related how one who seejned a stranger
had joined himself to them as they were walking from
Jerusalem, had talked with them in such a wMy that
their hearts had been made to burn, and had made
himself known unto them in the breaking of bread at
the journey's end. They declared that it was the
Lord who had thus appeared unto them, and, though

122 FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD.

they had intended to spend the night at Emmaus,
tliey iiad hurried back to toil the marvelluus news to
the eleven. Hence the witnesses accumulated with
great rapidity ; it became more and more clear that
Jesus had really risen from the dead. But as yet the
doubters were not convinced, for Mark says: " After
that he appeared in another form unto tv\^o of them,
as they walked, and w^ent into the country. And
they went and told it unto the residue: neither
believed they them."

Everything was w^orking up to one point: the
most unbelieving of them were being driven into a
corner. They must doubt the truthfulness of Magda-
lene and the other saintly won:>en; they must ques-
tion the veracity of Simon; they must reject the two
newly-arrived brethren, and charge them with telling
idle tales, or else they must believe that Jesus was
still alive, though they had seen him die upon the
cross. At that moment the chief confirmation of all
presented itself: " for Jesus himself stood in the midst
of them." The doors were shut; but, despite every
obstacle, their Lord Avas present in the centre of the
assembly. In the presence of one whose loving smile
warmed their hearts, their unbelief was destined to
thaw and disappear. Jesus revealed himself in all
the warmth of his vitality and love, and made them
understand that it was none other than his very self,
and tiiat the Scriptures had told them that it should
be so. They were slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets had spoken concerning him, but ho
brought them to it by his familiar communion with
them. Oh that in a like way he would put an end to
ail our doubts and fears!

Brethren, though ycu and I were not at that inter-

FIRST APrEARAyCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 123

view% yet ^Ye may derive miich profit from it while
we look at it in detail, anxiously desiring that we
may in spii-it see, and look upon, and handle the Word
bf Life manifested in the flesh. Oh to learn all that
Jesus w^ould teach us, as w^e now in spirit take our
places at that midnight meeting of the chosen ones !

In this wonderful manifestation of our Lord to his
apostles I notice three things worthy of our careful
observation this morning. This incident teaches us
tlie certainty of the resurrection of cur Lord; secolidly, it
shows us a little of the character of our risen blaster ;
and, thirdly, it gives us certain hints as to the nature
of our own resurrection, when it shall be granted us.
Oh that we may be accounted worthy to attain to the
resurrection from among the dead !

L First, then, let us see here the certainty of our
Lord's resurrection. We have often asserted, and we
affirm it yet again, that no fact in history is better at-
tested than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead. The common mass of facts accepted by all men
as historical are not one-tenth as certainly assured to us
as this fact is. It miist not be denied by any who
are willing to pay the slightest respect to the testi-
mony of their fellow-men, that Jesus, who died upon
the cross, and w^as buried in th3 tomb of Joseph of
ArimathfBa, did literally rise again from the dead.

Observe, that when this person appeared in the
room, the first token that it was Jesus was his speech:
they were to have the evidence of hearing : he used the
same speech. No sooner did he appear than he spoke.
He was never dumb, and it was natural that the great
Teacher and Friend should at once salute his follow-
ers, from whom he had been so painfully parted. His
first accents must have called to their minds those

124 FIRST APPEARANCE OF 7 VIE RISEN LORD.

clieeving notes with v\'liich he had closed his last ad-
dress. They must liave recognized that charming
Yoice. I suppose its tone and rhythm to have been
rich with a music most sweet and heavenly. A per-
fect voice would naturally be given to a perfect man.
The very sound of it would, through their ears, have
charmed conviction into their minds with a glow of
joy, had tliey not been frozen up in unbelief. " Never
man spake like this man:" they miglit have known
him by his speech alone. Tliere were tones of voice
as well as fornis of language which were peculiar to
Jesus of Nazareth.

What our Lord said was just like him; it was all of
a piece with his former discourse. Among the last
sounds which lingered in their ears was that word
"Peace I leave with you, my peace 1 give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you ;" and now it
must surely be the same person who introduces him-
self with the cheering salutation, " Peace be unto
you." About the Lord there were the air and style of
one who had peace himself, and loved to communi-
cate it to others. The tone in which he spake peace
tended to create it. lie was a peace-maker, and a
peace-giver, and by this sign they were driven to dis-
cern their Leader.

Do you not think that they were almost persuaded
to believe that it was Jesus when he proceeded to
chide them in a manner more tender than any other
chiding could have been? How gentle the accents
when he said, "Why are ye troubled? and why do
thoughts arise in your hearts ?" Our Lord's chidings
were comforts in disguise. His upbraidings were con-
solations in an unusual shape. Did not his upbraid-
ing on this occasion bring to their minds his question

FIRST ArPEAKANCE OE THE RISEN LORD. 125

upon the sea of Galilee when he said to them, " Vrhy
are ye fearful, 0 ye of little faitli?" Did tlu-y not also
rsinomber when he came to them walking on tlie
wa^er, and they wei'e afraid that he was a spirit, and
orisd out for fear; and he said to them, "It is I; be
not afraid " ? Surely they remembered enough of these
things to have made sure that it was their Lord, had
not their spirits been sunken in sorrow. Our Lord
had never been unwisely silent as to their faults. lie
had never passed over their errors with that false and
indulgent alFection which gratifies its own ease by
tolerating sin; but he had pointed out their faults
with the fidelity of true love; and now that he thus
admonished them, they ought to have perceived that
it was none other tlian he. Alas! unbelief is slow
to die.

When Jesus came at last to talk to them about
Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, he was np-
on a favorite topic. Then the eleven might have
nudged each other and whispered, " It is the Lord."
Jesus had, in his later hours, been continually point-
ing out the Scriptures which w^ere being fulfilled in
himself, and at this interview he repeated his former
teaching. This is assuredly none other than ho wlio
always spoke his Father's mind and will, and con-
stantly did honor to the Holy Ghost by whom the
sacred books were inspired. Thus in his tones and
topics our Lord gave clear indications that it was
himself who had suddenly appeared in that little as-
sembly.

I want you to notice that this evidence was all the
better, because they themselves evidently remained
the same men as they had been. "They were terri-
fied and afii'ighted, and supposed that they had seen

12G FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD,

a spirit"; aiid tkiis tliey did exactly what they had
doiie long before when he came to them walking on
the waters. In the interval between his death and
his apppearing, no change has come over them.
Nothing has happened to them to elevate them as
yet out of their littleness of mind. The Holy Spirit
was not yet given, and therefore all that they had
heard at the Last Supper, and seen in Gethsemane,
and at the cross had not yet exercised its full influ-
ence upon them: they were still childish and unbe-
lieving. The same men, then, are looking at the
same person, and they are in their ordinary condition;
tliis argues strongly for the correctness of their iden-
tification of their well-beloved Lord. They arc not
carried away by enthusiasm, nor wafted aloft by
fanaticism : they are not even as yet ujiborne by the
Lloly Spirit into an unusual stnte of mind, but they
are as slow of heart and as fearful as ever they were.
If tlicy are convinced that Jesus has risen from the
dead, depend npon it, it must be so. If they go forth
to tell the tidings of his resurrection, and to yield up
their lives for it, you may be sure that their witness
is true, for they are not the sort of men to be deceived.
In our day there has been a l)uzz about certain mira-
cles of faith, but the statements usually come from
persons whose impartiality is questionable — credulous
persons who saw what they evidently wished to see.
I know several good people who would not wilfully
deceive, \A\o nevertheless upon some points are ex-
ceedingly unreliable, because their enthusiasm is pre-
pared to be imposed upon. Any hawker of wonders
would expect them to be buyers, they have a taste
for the marvellous. As witnesses, the evidence of such
people has no value in it as compared with that of

FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. \Z~

these eleven men, who evidently were the reverse of
credulous or excitable. In the apostles' case the facts
were tested to the utmost, and the truth was not
admitted till it was forced upon them. 1 am not ex-
cusing- the unbelief of the disciples, but I claim that
tbeir vritness has all the more weight in it, because it
was the result of such cool investigation. These
apostles were in special manner to be witnesses of the
resurrection, and it makes assurance doubly sure to
us when we see them arrive at their conclusion vath
such deliberate steps. These were men like ourselves,
only perhaps a little less likely to be deceived : {\\o-^
needed to be convinced by overwhelming witness,
and they were so: ever afterwards they declared
boldly that their crucified Lord had indeed risen from
the dead.

Thus far in the narrative they have received the
evidence of their ears, and that is by no means weak
evidence; but now tliey are to have the evidence cf sicjld ;
for the Saviour says to them, " Behold my hands and
my feet, that it is I myself ;" " and when he had thus
spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet."
John says also "his side," which he specially noted,
because he had seen the piercing of that side, and the
outflo-v of blood and water. They were to see and
identify that blessed body which had suffered death.
The nail prints were visible, both in his hands which
were open before them, and also in his feet which their
condescending Lord deigned to expose to their delib-
erate gaze. There was the mark of the gash in his
side; and this tb.c Lord Josus graciously bared to
them, as afterw^ards he did more fully to Thomas,
when he said, "Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it
into my side." These were the marks of the Lord

128 FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD.

Jesus, by which his identity could be verified. Be-
yond this there was the general contour of his counte-
nance, and the fashion of the whole man by which
they could discern him. His body, tliough it w^as
now in a sense glorified, was so far veiled as to its
new condition that it retaijjed its former likeness:
they might perceive Ihat their Lord was no longer
subject to the pains and infirmities of our ordinary
mortality — else his wounds had not been healed so
soon; but yet there remained sure marks by which
they knew that it was Jesus, and no other. He
looked like a lamb tluit had been slain: the signs of
the Son of j\lan were in his hands and feet and side.
Their sight of the Lord was not a hasty glimpse, but
a steady inspection, lor John in his first epistle writes,
" Which we have seen and looked upon." This implies
a lengthened looking, and such the Lord Jesus in vit-.
ed his friends to take. They could not have been
mistaken when they were afforded such a view of
those' marks by which his identity was established.
The same Christ that died had risen from the dead,
the same Jesus that had hung upon tlie cross, now
stood in the midst of those who knew him best. It
was the same body, and they identified it, although a
great change had doubtless conje over it since it was
taken down from the tree.

Furthermore, that they might be quite sure, iM
Lord invited them to receive the evidence of touch or feel-
ing. He called them to a form of examination, from
Avhich, I doubt not, many of them shrank; he said,
" Handle me. Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath
not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.'-' Writers
have remarked upon the use of the word "bones,"
instead of blood, in this case; but I do not think th^*"*;

FIRST ArPEARANCE OF THE RISEX LORD. 12<J

any iuference can be safely drawn therefrom. It
would have been barely possible for the disciples to
have discovered by handling that the Lord had blood,
but they could by handling perceive tliat he had
bonnes; hence the expression is natural enough, with-
out our imputing to it a meaning which it may never
have been intended to convey. The Saviour had a rea-
son, no doubt, other than some have imagined, for the
use of the terms, "a spirit hath not flesh and hones as
ye see me have." The Saviour had not assumed a
phantom body: there was bone in it as well as flesh;
it was to the full as substantial as ever. He had not
put on an appearance, as angels do when they visit
the sons of men. No, his body was solid substance,
which could be handled. " Handle me, and see that
it is I myself." He bade them see that it was flesh
and bone, such as no spirit has. There were the sub-
stantial elements of a human frame in that body of
Christ which stood in the midst of the eleven. Jesus
cried, " Handle me, and see."

Thus our Lord was estaljlishing to the apostles, not
only his identity, but also his substantial corporeal
existence ; he would make them see that he was a
man of flesh and bones, and not a ghost, airy and
unsubstantial. This should correct a certain form of
teaching upon the resurrection which is all too com-
mon. I was present some years ago at a funeral of a
man of God for whom I had much respect. In the
chapel a certain excellent Doctor of Divinity gave us
an address before the interment in which he informed
us as to the condition of his departed friend. Pie
said that he was not in the coffin : indeed, there was
nothing of him there. This I was sorry to hear, for if so
I was ignorantly mourning over a body which had no
9 -

130 J^IRST AFPEARAACE CF THE RISEN LORD,

relation to my Inend. The preacher Vv'ent on to- de-
scribe the way in which the man of God had ascended
to heaven at the moment of death, his spirit fashion-
ing for itself a body as it passed through the air. I
believed in my friend's being in heaven, but not in
his being there in a body. I knew that my friend's
body was in the coffin, and 1 believed that it would be
laid in the tomb, and I expected that it w^oidd rise
again from the grave at the coming of the Lord. I
did not believe that my friend would weave for him-
self a filmy frame, making a second body, nor do I
believe it now, tliongh I heard it so affirmed. I
believe in the resurrection of the dead. I lock to see
the very body which was buried raised again. It is
true that as the seed develops into the flower, so the
buried body is merely the germ out of which will
come the spiritual body; yet still it will not be a
second body, but the same body, as to identity. I
shall enter into no dispute about the atoms of the
body, nor deny that the particles of our flesh, in the
process of their decay, may be taken up by plants
and absorbed into the bodies of animals, and all that;
I do not care one jot about identity of atoms, there
may not be a solitary ounce of the same matter, but
yet identity can be preserved; and it must be pre-
served if I read jny Bible aright. My body to-day is
the same as that which J inhabited twenty years ago,
and yet all its jmrticles are different : even so the
body put into the grave and the body that rises from
it are not two bodies, but one body. The saints are
not at the coming of their Lord to remain disem-
bodied spirits, nor to wear freshly created bodies, but
their entire manhood is to be restored, and to enjoy
ejidless bliss. Well said the patriarch of old, "in my

FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 1^1

flesh shall I see God." " He which raised np the Lord
Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus." I cannot see
how the doctrine of Christ goes beyond the- doctrine of
Plato and others if it be not a doctrine which respects
^his body. The immortality of the soul was accepted
and known as a truth before the faith of Chi-ist was
preached, for it is dimly discoverable by the light of
nature ; but the resurrection of the body is a revela-
tion peculiar to the Christian dispensation, at which
the wise men of the world very naturally mocked,
but which it ill becomes Christian men to spirit
away. The body which is buried shall rise again.
It is true it is sown a natural body and shall be raised
a spiritual body, but it will be truly a body, and the
same it which was sown shall be raised. It is true it
is sown in weakness and raised in power, but the same
it is thus raised. It is true that it is sown in weak-
ness to be raised in power, and sown a corruptible
body, to be raised in incorruption, but in each case it
is the same body, though so gloriously changed.

It will be'of a material substance also ; for our Sa-
viour's body was material, since he said, " Handle me,
and see that it is I myself; for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have."

Still farther to confirm the faith of his disciples,
and to show them that their Lord had a real body, and
not the mere form of one, lie gave tJiem evidence ivhicJi
ajJj^ealed to their common sense. He said, " Have ye any
meat ? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and
of an honeycomb. And he took it and did eat before
them." This was an exceedingly convincing proof of
his unquestionable resurrection. In very deed and
fact, and not in vision and phantoni, the man who
had died upon the cross stood among them.

132 FmST'AFFEARAA'CE OF THE RISEN LORD.

Let us just think of this and rejoice. This resurrection
of our Lord Jesus is a matter of certainty ; for, if you
spirit this way, you have done away with the gospel
altogether. If he is not risen from the dead, then is
our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain ; ye
are yet in your sins. Justification receives its seal
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; not
in his appearing as a phantom, but in his very self
being loosed from death, and raised to a glorious life.
This is God's mark of the acceptance of the word of
the great Substitute, and of the justification of all for
whom his atoning work was performed.

Note well that this is also our grand hope concern-
ing those that are asleep. You have buried them for-
ever if Christ was not raised from the dead. They
have passed out of your sight, and they shall never
again have fellowship with you, unless Jesus rose
again from the dead ; for the apostle makes the resur-
rection of all who are in Christ to hinge upon the
resurrection of Christ. I do not feel it necessary,
when I talk with the bereaved, to comfort them at all
concerning those that are asleep in Christ, as to their
souls: we know that they are forever with the Lord,
and are supremely blessed, and, therefore, we need no
further comfort. The only matter upon which we
need consolation is that poor body, which once we
loved so w^ell, but which nov/ we must leave in the
cold clay. The resurrection comes in as a final undo-
ing of all that death has done. "They shall come
again from the land of the enemy." Jesus saith,
"Thy dead men shall live, together with ray dead
body shall they arise.'' If we question the resurrection
of Christ, then is the v/hole of our faith questioned,
and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have per-

V

FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. I33

islied, and we are left just where others were, before
Christ brought this divine truth to light. Only as we
are sure of the resurrection of Jesus can we crj, " 0
death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy
victory ? "

s II. Secondly, will you follow me while I very brief-
ly set forth our Lord's character when risen from the

DEAD ?

What is he now that he hath -quitted death, and all
that belongs to it? What is he now that he shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more ? He is much
tJie same as he used to be; indeed he is altogether
what he was, for he is " the same yesterday, to-day
and for ever."

Notice, first, that in this appearance of Christ we
are taught that he is still anxious to create peace in the
hearts of his people. No sooner did he make himself
visible than he said, "Peace be unto you." Beloved,
your risen Lord wants you to be happy. When he
Mas here on earth he said, " Let not your hearts be
troubled" : he says just the same to you to-day. He
takes no delight in the distresses of his people. He
would have his joy to be in them, that their joy may
be fulL He bids you rejoice in him evermore. He
whispers to you this morning, as you sit in the pew,
" Peace be unto you." He has not lost his tender
care over the least of the flock ; he would have each
one led by the still waters, and made to lie doT\Ti in
green pastures.

Note again, that he has not lost his habit of chiding un-
helief and encouragincj faith / for as soon as he has risen,
and speaks with his disciples, he asks them, " Why
are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your
hearts?" He loves you to believe in him, and be at

134 FJRST APPEARANCE OF THE PISEJV LORD.

rest. Find if you can, beloved, one occasion in which
Jesus inculcated doubt, or bade men dwell in uncer-
tainty. ,Th© apostles of unbelief are everywhere to-
day, and they imagine that they are doing God service
by spreading what they call " honest doubt." This is
death to all joy ! Poison to all peace ! The Saviour
did not so. He would have them take extraordinary
measures to get rid of their doubt. " Handle me," he
says. It was going jJ long way to say that, but he
would sooner be handled than his people should doubt!
Ordinarily it might not be meet for them to touch
him. Had he not said to the women, " Touch me
not"? But what may not be allowable ordinarily be-
comes proper when necessity demands it. The remov-
al of their doubt as to our Lord's resurrection needed
that they should handle him, and therefore he bids
them do so. 0 beloved, you that are troubled and
vexed with thoughts, and therefore get no comfort
out of your religion because of your mistrust, your
Lord would have you come very near to him, and put
his gospel to any test which will satisfy you. He
cannot bear you to doubt. He appeals tenderly, say-
ing, " 0 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou
doubt?" He would at this moment still encourage
you to taste and see that the Lord is good. He would
have you believe in the substantial reality of his relig--
ion, and handle him and see : trust him largely and
simply, as a child trusts its mother and knows no
fear.

Notice, next, that when the Saviour had risen from
the dead, and a measure of his glory was upon him,
lie was still most condescendingly familiar luith his people.
He showed them his hands and his feet, and he said,
"Handle me, and see." When he was on earth, be-

FIUST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 135

fore liis passion, he was most free with his disciples:
no affectation of dignity kept him apart from them.
He was their Master and Lord, and yet he washed
their feet. He was the Son of the Highest, but he was
among them as one that serveth. He said, " Suffer
little children to come unto me." He is the same to-
^day.

"His sacred name a common word

On earth he loves to hear ;
There is no majesty in him

"Which love may not come near."

Though he reigns in the highest heavens, his delights
are still with the sons of men. Still he will permit
us to sit at his feet, or even to lean our head upon
his bosom. Jesus will hear us tell out our griefs ; he
will regard our cry w^hen we are not pleading about a
sword in our bones, but only concerning a thorn in
our flesh. Jesus is still the brother born for adversi-
ty ; he still manifests himself to us as he doth not
unto the world. Is not this clear, and also very pleas-
ant to see, as we study this interview ?

The next thing is that ilie risen Lord luas still icon-
derfdly 20cdient, even as he had always been. He bore
with their folly and infirmity; for "while they yet be-
lieved not for joy, and wondered," he did not chide
them. He discerned between one unbelief and an-
other, and he judged that the unbelief which grew
out of wonder was not so blamable as that former un-
belief which denied credible evidence. Instead of re-
buke he gives confirmation. He says, " Have ye here
any meat?" and he takes a piece of broiled fish, and
of a honeycomb, and eats it. Not that he needed
food. His body could receive food, but it did not re-
quire it. Eating was his own sweet way of showing

130 FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD.

tliera that if lie could he would solve all their ques-
tions. He would do anything in his great patience
that they might be cured of their mistrust. Just so
to-day, beloved, Jesus doth not chide you, but he in-
vites you to believe him : he invites you, therefore, to
sup ^vith him, and eat bread at his table. " He will
not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for
ever ;" but in his great mercy he will use another
tone, and encourage you to trust him. Can you hold
back ? Oh, do not so.

Observe that our Saviour, though he was risen from
the dead, and therefore in a measure in his glory, en-
tered into the fullest felloicsJdi') u'iih Ms own. Peter tells
us that they did eat and drink with him. I do not
notice in this narrative that he drank with them, but
he certainly ate of such food as they had, and this was
a clear token of his fellowship with them. In all ages
eating and drinking with one another has been the
most expressive token of communion, and so the Sa-
viour seems to say to us to-day, "I have eaten with
you, my people, since I have quitted the grave, I have
eaten with you through the eleven w^ho represented
you. I have eaten, and I will still eat with you, till
we sit down together at the marriage supper of the
Lamb. If any man open unto me, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he wdth me." Yes, the
Lord Jesus is wonderfully near to us still, and he
waits to grant us the highest forms of fellowship
which can be known on this side of the gate of pearL
In this let our spirits quietly rejoice.

Let me call your attention to the fact that when
Jesus had risen from the dead he vxis just as tende)' of
Scrijriure as he teas before his decease. I have dwelt for
two Sunday mornings upon the wonderful Avay m

FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 137

wliicli our Lord always magnified the Scriptures ; and
here, as if to crown ail, he told them that " all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Mo-
ses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms conceriiinc:
himself ; and he opened their understanding that thev
might understaiid the Scriptures, and said unto them.
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suf-
fer, and to rise from the dead." Find Jesus whera
.you may, he is the antagonist of those who would less-
en the authority of holy Scripture. " It is written "
is his weapon against Satan, his argument against
wicked men. The learned at this hour scoff at th^
Book, and accuse of Bibliolatry those of us who rever-
ence the divine word ; but in this they derive no aa
sistance from the teaching or example of Jesus. Not
a word derogatory of Scripture ever fell from the
lips of Jesus Christ ; but evermore he manifested the
most reverent regard for every jot and tittle of the in-
spired volume. Since our Saviour, not only before
his death, but after it, took care thus to commend the
Scriptures to us, let us avoid with all our hearts all
teaching in whicli holy Scripture is put into the back-
ground. Still the Bible, and the Bible alone, should
be and shall be the religion of Protestants, and we
will not budge an inch from that stand-point, God
lielping us.

Once again, our Saviour, after he had risen from
the dead, sJioived that he icas anxious for the salvation cf
men ; for it was at this inter^dew that he breathed upon
the apostles, and bade them i-eceive the Holy Ghost, to
fit them to go forth and preach the gospel- to every
creature. The missionary spirit is the spirit of Christ
— not only the spii-it of him that died to save, but the
spirit of him who has finished the work, and has goaa

138 FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN lORD.

into iiis rest. Let us cultivate tliat spirit, if we would
be iiKe the Jesus who has risen from the dead.

Hi. I can stay no longer, because I would draw
yo\ir attention, in the third place, to the lig-ht which
is turown by this incident upon the nature of our Qsm

RESURRECTION.

First, I gather from this text that our nature, our
whole humanity, will he perfected at tJie day of the appear-
ing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we that may
then be alive shall be changed. Jesus has redeemed
not only our souls, but our bodies. '' Know ye not
that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost ? "
When the Lord shall deliver his captive people out
ol the land of the enemy, he will not leave a bone of
one of them in the adversary's power. The dominion
of death shall be utterly broken. Our entire nature
shall be redeemed unto the living God in the day of
the resurrection. After death, until that day, we shall
be disembodied spirits ; but in the adoption, to wit,
the redemption, of the body, we shall attain our full
inheritance. We are looking forward to a complete
restoration. At this time the body is dead because of
sm, and hence it suffers pain, and tends to decay ;
but the spirit is life because of righteousness : in the
resurrection, however, the body shall be quickened
also, and the resurrection shall be to the body vvdiat
regeneration has been to the soul. Thus shall our
humanity be completely delivered from the conse-
quences of the falL Perfect manhood is that which
Jesus restores from sin and the grave ; and this shall
be ours in the day of his appearing.

I gather next that in the resurrection our nature will he
full of peace. Jesus Christ would not have said, " Peace

riRSl' AFPEARAXCE OF THE RISEX LORD. 1^9

be unto you," if thero had not been a deep peace with-
in himself. He was cahii and undisturbed. There
was much peace about his whole life ; but after the
resurrection his peace becomes very conspicuous.
There is no striving vcith scribes and Pharisees, there
is no battling with anybody after our Lord is risen.
A French author has written of oar Lord's Forty Days
on earth after the resurrection under the title of " The
J.ife of Jesus Christ in Glory." Thongh rather mis-
leading at first, the title is not so inaccurate as it ap-
pears ; for his work was done, and his warfare was
accomplished, and our Lord's life here was the begin-
ing of his glory. Such shall be our life, we shall be
flooded with eternal peace, and shall never again be
tossed about with trouble, and sorrow, and distress and
persecution. An infinite serenity shall keep our body,
soul, and spirit, throughout eternity.

When we rise again our nature icillfind its home amid
the communion of saints. When the Lord Jesus Christ
had risen again his first resort was the room where
his disciples were gathered. His first evening was
spent among the objects of his love. Even so, wher-
ever we are we shall seek and find communion with
the saints. I joyfully expect to meet many of you
in heaven, and to know you, and commune with you.
I should not like to float about in the future state
Avithout a personality in the midst of a company of
undefined and unknown beings. That would be no
heaven to me. No, brethren, we shall soon perceive
who our comrades are, and we shall rejoice in them,
and in our Lord. There could be no communion
among unknown entities. You cannot have fellow-
ship with people whom you do not recognize; and
therefore it seems to me most clear that we shall in

140 ^II?ST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD.

the future state have fellowship through recognition,
and oiu" heavenly bodies shall help the recognition
and share in the fellowship. As the risen Christ
wends his way to the upper room of the eleven, so
will you by force of holy gravitation find your way
to the [)lace where all the servants of God shall gather
at the last. Then shall we be truly at home, and go
no more out for ever.

Furthermore, I see that in that day our bodies will
admirably serve our spirits. For look at our Lord's
body. Now that he has risen from the dead he
desires to convince his disciples, and his body be-
comes at once the means of his argument, the evi-
dence of his statement. His flesh and bones were
text and sermon for him. " Handle me," says he,
"and sec." Ah, brethren ! whatever we may have to
do in eternity, we shall not be hindered by our bodies
as we now are. Flesh and blood hamper us, bi:t
"flesh and bones " shall help us. I want to speak
sometimes, and my head aches, or my throat is
choked, or my legs refuse to bear me up : but it is
not so in the resurrection from the dead. A thousand
infirmities in this earthly life compass us about; but
our risen body shall be helpful to our regenerated
nature. It is only a natural body now, fit for our
soul; but hereafter it shall be a spiritual body,
adapted to all the desires and wishes of the heaven-
born spirit; and no longer shall we have to cry out,
" The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
We shall find in the risen body a power such as the
spirit shall wish to employ for the noblest purposes.
Will not this be well ?

In that day, beloved, when we shall rise again from
the dead, ive shall reraemher the past. Do you not

JFIIiST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD. 141

notice Low tlie risen Saviour says, '' These are tlie
words which I spake unto you, wliile I was yet with
you." He had not forgotten his former state. I
think Dr. Watts is right when he says that we shall
'* with transporting joys recount the labors of our
feat." It is rather a small subject, and probably we
shall far more delight to dwell on the labors of our
Kedeemers hands and feet; but still we shall remem-
l^er all the way whereby the Lord our God led us, and
we shall talk to one another concerning it. In
heaven we shall remember our happy Sabbaths here
bslow, when our hearts burned within us while Jesus
himself drew near. Since Jesus speaks after he has
risen of the things tliat he said winle he was with
his disciples, we perceive that th.e river of death is
not like the fabled Lethe, which caused all who
drank thereof to forget their past. We shall arise
with a multitude of hallowed memories enriching our
minds. Death will not be oblivion to us, for it was
not so to Jesus. Kather shall we meditate on mercies
experienced, and by discoursing thereon we shall
make known to principalities and powers the manifold
wisdom of God.

Observe that our Lord, after he had risen from the
dead, toas stiUfuU of tlie spirit of service, and therefore
he called others out to go and preach the gospel, and
he gave them the Spirit of God to help them. When
you and I are risen from the dead, we shall rise full
of the spirit of service. What engagements we may
have throughout eternity we are not told, because we
have enough to do to fulfil our engagements now;
but assuredly we shall be honored with errands of
mercy and tasks of love fitted for our heavenly being;
and I doubt-not it shall be one of our greatest delights

142 I^'IRST APPEARANCE OF THE RISEN LORD.

wliile seeing llie Lord's face to serve him with all our
perfected powers. He Vvill use us in tlie grand econ-
omy of future manifestations of his divine glory.
Possibly vre may be to other dispensations what the
angels have been to this. Be that as it may, we shall
find a part of our bliss and joy in constantly serving
him who has raised us from the dead.
^/' There Ileave the subject, wishing that I could have
handled it much better. Think it over when you are
quiet at hojue, and add this thought to it, that you
have a share in all that is contained in the resurrection.
]May the Holy Ghost give you a personal grip of this
vital truth! You yourself shall rise from the dead;
therefore, be not afraid to die.

If any of my hearers have no share in our Lord's
resurrection, I am truly sorry for them. 0 my friend,
what you are losing ! If you have no share in the
living Lord, may God have mercy upon you ! If you
have no share in Chrisf s rising from the dead, then
you will not be raised up in the likeness of his glori-
fied body. If you do not attain to that resurrection
from among the dead, then you must abide in death,
with no prospect but that of a certain fearful looking-
for of judgment, and of fiery indignation. Oh, look
to Jesus, the Saviour ! Only as you look to him can
there be a happy future for you. God help you to do
BO at once, for his dear name's sake ! Amen.

vn.

god's thoughts of peace, and our expected

END.

May 29, 1887.

" For I know the tliouglits that I think to-irard you, saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected
end." — Jeremiah xxix. 11.

I HAVE already explained to yon, while expounding
the twenty-fourth and twenty-ninth chapters of this
prophet, that these words were written by Jeremiah
in a letter to the captives in Babylon. A considerable
part of tiie people of Israel were carried away by Nebu-
chadnezzar into a far country. They w'ere exhorted
by the prophet to build houses, form families, and to
abide peaceably there till the Lord should lead them
back at the end of seventy years. But at that time
there was a general uneasy feeling among the Jews
and other subjected nations, who did not rest cpn'etly
under the iron yoke of Babylon They were plotting
and planning continual rebellions, and certain false
prophets in Babylon worked with them, stirring up -
the spirit of revolt among the exiles. Jeremiah, on the
other hand, assured them that they had been sent of
God into the land of the Chaldeans for good, bade
them seek the peace of the city wherein they now
dwelt, and promised them that in due time the Lord
would again plant them in their own land.

A people in such a position as the Jews in Babylon

(143)

144 GOirS THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

were in danger in two ways : either to be buoyed up
with false hopes, and so to fall into foolish expecta-
tions ; or, to fall into despair, and have no hope at all,
and so become a sullen and degraded race, who would
be unfit for restoration, and unable to play the part
which God ordained for them in the history of man<.
kind. The prophet had the double duty of putting
down their false hopes, and sustaining their right ex-
pectations, lie, therefore, plainly warned them against
expecting more than God had promised, and he arous-
ed them to look for the fulfilment of what he had
promised. Sead the tenth verse, and note that pleas-
ant expression^'" and perform my good word unto
you." At the present time the Church has need of
both admonitions. 'Expectations which are not war-
ranted, are being raised in many quarters, and are
leading to serious delusions. We hear men crying,
" Lo here ! " and " Lo there ! " This wonder and that
marvel are cried up. It would seem that the age of
miracles has returned to certain hot heads. Take ye
no heed of all this. Go not beyond the record. On
the other hand, we need to be urged to believe our
Lord implicitly, and to hold on to his word with a
strong, hearty, realizing faith ; being assured tiiat
while God will not do what we propose to him, yet he
will do what ho has promised. False prophets will
be left in the lurch, but the word of the Lord will
stand.

This morning my desire shall be to comfort any of
God's people who are in a state of perplexity, and
thus are carried away captive. I would assure them
of the Lord's kindliness to them, and urge them to
trust and not be afraiVI. God's thoughts towards
them are good, though their trials may be gri(jvou8.

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. I45

The text puts me upon two tracks. First, let us
consider the Lord's thoughts toioards his people. "I know
the thoughts that I think towards yon, saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expect-
ed end." Secondly, let us consider tlie believer's j^^^ojjer
cdtitiide toward^ his Lord. What should we think of
our gracious God who thus unveils his heart to us ?
V I. First, then, dear friends, consider the lord's

THOUGHTS TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE.

It is noteworthy, first of all, that he does thinh of them,
and towards them. Observe that this Scripture saith
not, "• I know the thoughts that I have thought toward
you." That would be a happy remembrance ; for the
thoughts of God concerning his people are more an-
cient than the everlasting hills. There never was a
time when God did not think upon his people for
good. He saith, " 1 have loved thee vvith an ever-
lasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I
drawn thee." But the point here brought forward is,
that he stiU thinks of tlieyti It would be possible for you
to have thought out a plan of kindness toward a friend,
and you might have so arranged it that it would
henceforth be a natural fountain of good to him witli-
out your thinking any more about it; but that is not
after the method of God. His eye and his hand are
towards his people continually. It is true he did so
think of us that he has arranged everything about us,
and provided for every need, and against every dan-
ger ; hut yet he has not ceased to think of us. His
infinite mind, whose thoughts are as high above
our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth, con-
tinues to exercise itself about us. " I am poor and
needy," saith David, " yet the Lord thinketh upcm
me." We love to be thought of by cur frien.ls : in-
10

14:6 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

deed, thought enters into the essence of love. De-
light yourselves this morning, 0 ye who belieTS your
God, in this heavenly fact, that the Lord thinketli up-
on you at this moment. "The Lord hath been mind-
ful of us/' and he is still mindful of us. _

The Lord not only thinks of you, but toimrds you.
His thoughts are all drifting your way. This is the
way the south wind of his thoughts of peace is mov-
ing : it is towards you. The Lord never forgets his
cwn, for he has graven them upon the palms of his
hands. Never at any moment does Jehovah, turn
his thoughts from his beloved, even though he has
the w^hole universe to rule. He saith of his churcfa,
" I the Lord do keep it ; I w^U water it every mo-
ment: lest any hurt it, I wall keep it night and
day."^

This truth, although it is easily spoken, is not readi-
ly comprehended in the fulness of its joy ; nor is it
always believed as it should be. These people in cap-
tivity w^ere likely to fear that their God had forgotten
them: hence the Lord repeats his words in this place,
and speaks of thoughts and thinking three times.
His words are so repeated as to seem almost redun-
dant, out of a desire to make his people feel absolutely
sure that not only did he act towards them, but that
he still thought toAvards them. To the banished this
Vv^oidd be a grand consolation. The Lord thought of
them when they walked the strange streets of "the
golden city," and heard a language which they under-
stood not. He thought of them wlien they were
buffete(|^ as aliens by those who marched in the proud-
est pomp, and danced in cruel derision to the sound
of their viols. The Lord thought of his exiles when
their sole solace was solitude by the brink of the Baby

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 147

Ionian canals, "where among' the willows they remem-
bered Zion.

All that the Lord was doing towards them was done
thoughtfully. His thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
towards them, had suggested their captivity and the
continuance of it for seventy years. If any of you are
in trouble and sorrow to-day, do not doubt that this is
sent you according to the thoughtful purpose of the
Lord. It is in this fixed intent 'and thoughtfulness
that the real character of an action lies. A person
laay happen to do you a good turn ; but if you are
sure that he did it by accident, or with no more
thought than that wherewith a passing stranger
throws a penny to a beggar, you are not impressed
with gratitude. But when the action of your friend is
the result of earnest deliberation, and you see that he
acts in the tenderest regard to your welfare, you are
far more thankful ; traces of anxiety to do you good
are very pleasant. Have I not heard persons say, " It
was so kind and so thoughtful of him!" Do you not
notice that men value kindly thought, and set great
store by tender consideration ! Remember, then, that
there is never a thoughtless action on the part of God.
His mind goes with his hand: his heart is in his acts.
He thinks so much of his people, that the very hairs of
their heads are all numbered: he thinks not onKy of
the great thing, but of the little things which are in-
cidental to the great thing ; as the hairs are to the
head. Every affliction is timed and measm-ed, and
every comfort is sent with a loving thoughtfulness
which makes it precious in a sevenfold degree. 0 be-
liever, the great thoughtfulness of the divine mind is
exercised towards you, the chosen of the Lord. Never
has anything happened to you as the result of a re-

148 GOD'S THOUGHl^S OF PEACE.

morseless fate ; but all your circumstances have been
ordered in wisdom by a living, thoughtful, loving
Lord.

Brethren, if I said no more you might go on your
way rejoicing. Remember that the infinite God has
thoughts of peace towards you, and your own thoughts
will be thoughts of peace all the day.

To go a step further, let us next note that the tliouglds
of God arc only perfectly hioion to himself. It would be a
mere truism for God to say, " I know the thoughts that
I think toward yon." Even a man usually knows his
own thoughts; but the meaning is this: when you do
not know the thoughts that I have towards you, yet /
know them. Brethren, when we cannot * know the
thoughts of the Lord because the}^ are too high for our
conception, or too deep for our understanding, yet the
Lord knows them. Our heavenly Father knows what
he is doing; when his ways towards us appear to be
iiivolved and complicated, and we cannot disentangle
the threads of the skein, yet the Lord sees all things
clearly, and knows the thoughts that he thinks towards
us. He never misses his way and becomes embarrass-
ed. We dare not profess to understand the ways of
God to man: they are past finding out. Providence is
a great deep. Its breadth exceeds t!ie range of our
vision, and its depth bafiies our profoundest thought.
" Thy way, 0 Lord, is in the sea, and thy path in the
great waters, aiid thy footsteps are not known." When
we are overwhelmed with wonder at what we see, we
are humbled by the reminder, " Lo, these are parts of
his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him !"
" Truly the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God." God ah)ne understands himself and his
thoughts. We stand by a powerful machine, and we

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 149

see the wheels moving this way and that, but we do
not uuderstand its working. What does it matter ?
He who made the engine and controls it, perfectly un-
derstands it, and this is i^ractically the main concern;
for it does not matter whether ice understand the en-
gine or not, it will work its purpose if he who has the
control of it is at home with all its bands and wheels.
Despite our ignorance, nothing can go wrong while the
Lord in infinite knowledge ruleth over all. The child
playing on the deck does not understand the tremen-
dous engine whose beat is the throbbing heart of the
stately Atlantic liner, and yet all is safe; for the engi-
neer, the captain and the pilot are in their places, and
well know what is being done. Let not the child trou ble
itself about things too great for it. Leave you the dis-
covery of doubtful causes to him whose understanding
is infinite; and as for yourself, be you still, and know
that Jehovah is God. Unbehef misinterprets the ways
of God; hasty judgment jumps at wrong conclusions
about them ; but the Lord knows his own thoughts.
We are doubtful where we ought to be sure, and we
are sure where we have no ground for certainty: thus
we are always in the wrong. How should it be other-
wise with us, since vain man would be wise, and yet
he is born like a wild ass's colt ? We are hard to tame
and to teach; but as for the Lord, " his way is perfect."

'' His tliougbts are Mgh, bis love is wise,
His wounds a cure intend ;
And though he does not always smile,
He loves unto the end."

Let US go a step further still : tlie Lord would have us
know that his thoughts toioard us are settled and definite.
This is part of the intent of the words, " I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord."

150 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

Sometimes a man may hardly know his own thoughts,
because he has scarcely made up his mind. There are
several subjects now upon the public mind, concerning
which it is wise to say little or nothing, because it is
not easy to decide about them. Upon a certain matter
one asks you this question, and another asks you an-
other question ; and it is possible that you have so
carefully weighed and measured the arguments both
fro and con that you cannot come to a conclusion
either way. Your thoughts differ from day to day,
and therefore you do not yet know them. You need
not be ashamed of this: it shows that you have a just
sense of your own imperfect knowledge. A fool soon
makes up his mind, because there is so very little of it;
but a wise man waits and considers. The case is far
otherwise with the only wise God. The Lord is not a
man that he should need to hesitate; his infinite mind
is made up, and he knows his thoughts. With the Lord
there is neither question nor debate; " He is in one mind,
and none can turn him." His purpose is settled, and
he adheres to it. He is resolved to reward them that
diligently seek him, and to honor those that trust in
him. He is resolved to remember his covenant for
ever, and to keep his promises to those who believe
him. His thought is, that the people whom he has
formed for himself shall show forth his praise. The
Lord knoweth them that are his; he knows whom he
gave to his Son, and he knows that these shall be his
jewels for ever and ever. Beloved, when you do not
know your own mind, God knows Ms mind. Though
you believe not, he abideth faithful ; when you are in
the gloom, he is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Your way may be closed, but his way is open. God
knows all when you know nothing at all. When

GOD'S Til OUGHTS OF PEACE. ;51

Moses came out of Ej^ypt, he had no plan as to the
march of" Israeh He knew that he had to lead the
children of Israel to the promised land, but that was
all. He probably hoped to take them by the shortest
cut to Palestine at once. Their journey was far other-
wise, but it was all pre-arranged by the divine mind.
It was by no error that the tribes were told to turn and
encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the
^ea. The Lord knew that Pharaoh would say, " They
are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut
them in." There was no going back, for the Egypt-
ians were there, and no going forward, for the Red Sea
was there: but the Lord had the way mapped out in
his own mind. He was not taken by surprise when
the enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will
divide the spoil;" since for this purpose had he raised
him up, that he might show forth his power in him.
The passage of the Ked Sea was no hurried expedient:
Jehovah knew what he would do. Wiien our blessed
Lord was surrounded by the hungry crowd, he asked
his disciples, " How many loaves have ye ?" But "Jesus
knew what he would do." He had his thoughts, and he
knew them. " Known unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world." "Many, 0 Lord my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and
thy thoughts which are to usward." Thou hast said,
" My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleas-
ure ;" and it is even so. Brother, you do not know
what is to be done, but the Lord knows for you. 0
body of Christ, let thy head think for thee 1 0 ser-
vant of Christ, let thy Master think for thee. " I
know," saith God, " the thoughts that I think toward
you.''

Now we have advanced some distance into the

152 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

meaning of our text, and wo are prepared to go a
step further, namely, that Gods tlioughts toivards his
people are ahvaijs tlioughts of peace. He is at peace with
tliem through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. He
regards them in Christ with perfect complacency.
The Spirit of God speaks peace to their troubled con-
science, and works in them the spirit of adoption and
desires after holiness: thus the holy God is able to
commune with them, and have thoughts of peace
toward them. The Lord delights in them ; he seeks
their peace, he creates their peace, he sustains their
peace, and thus all his thoughts towards them are
peace. Note well the negative, which is expressly
inserted. It is very sweet to my own heart. It
might have appeared enough to say, " My thoughts
are tlioughts of peace." Yes, it would be quite suf-
ficient when all things are bright with us; bvit those
words, " and not of evil,'' are admirably adapted to
keep off the goblins of the night, the vampires, of
suspicion which fly in the darkness. When under
affliction we are sorely depressed, and when con-
science perceives that there are reasons why the Lord
should contend with us, then the enemy whispers,
'• The Lord has evil thoughts towards you, and will
cast you off for ever.'' No, beloved, his thoughts are
riOt of evil. Though the Lord hates thy sin, he does
not hate thee. Though he is the enemy of thy follies,
he is thine own firm fiiend; yea, he is all the truer
friend, because he fights against thy faults.

He would have thee pure and lioly, therefore doth
he bathe thee in the rivers, and baptize thee in the
fires. Not in anger doth he afflict thee, but in his dear
covenant love. The hardest blow that he ever laid
■upon his chikl was infiicted by the hand of love.

GOITS THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 153

Thou mayest rise from tliy bed in the morning to he
chastised, and ere thou dost fall asleep in the night
thou majest smart under the rod, and yet he none the
less, but all the more, the favorite of heaven; there-
fore, beloved, lay hold upon the negative, "not of
evil." God has no evil thought towards his chosen ;
he has no desire to grieve us, but to save us.

There shall not a hair of your head perish, but yet
that head may ache with weariness. It is for good,
and only for good, that God thinks of us, and deals
with us. Oh, that we could settle this in our hearts,
and have done with dark forebodings ! Though thy
way may now lie through dark ravines where the
crags rise so steep above thee as to shut out the light
of day, yet press thou onward, for the way is safe.
Follow the Lord, for where the road is rough, thou
wilt be less likely to slip than in more smooth and
slippery places. If the way be steep, thou wilt the
sooner ascend on high; or if thy way inclines dovvu-
ward, thou wilt the sooner feel the needful humilia-
tion, and the more readily cease from thyself, and
cast thyself upon thy Lord. Though I am not yet so
old and gray-lieaded as many here present, yet one
thing I know: that God hath done unto me good,
and not evil, all the days of my life ; and 1 bear my
public witness at this hour, that in very faithfulness
lie hath afflicted me, and not one good thing hath
failed of all that he hath, promised me.

No, his thoughts are "not of evil." The next time
the devil comes to you with a dark insinuation, tell
him that the Lord's thoughts are " not of evil." Drive
him away with that. When he hisses his foul sug-
gestions, say, " Not of evil." God cannot have an evil
thought towards his own elect. He that gave his

154 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

own Son to die for us cannot think anything but
good towards us.

Once more, and then we shall have fully compassed
this text. TliG Lords thoughts are oil working toicards
" ail expected end,''^ or, as the Revised Version has it,
" to give you hope in your latter end." Some read
it, "a future and a hope." The renderings are instruc-
tive. God is working with a motive. All things are
working together for one object: the good of those
v/ho love God. We see only the beginning; God
seeth the end from the beginning. We spell the
al[)habet out, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, but God reads all,
from Alpha to Osnega, at once. He knows every let-
ter of the Book of Providence; he sees not only what
he is doing, but what will come of what he is doing.
As to our present pain and grief, God seeth not these
things exclusively, but he seeth the future joy and
usefulness which will come of them. He regardeth
not only the tearing up of the soil with the plough,
but the clothing of that soil with the golden harvest.
He sees the after consequences of affliction, and he
accounts those painful incidents to be blessed Vv^hich
lead up to so much of happiness. Let us comfort our-
selves with this. God meant in Babylon to prepare a
people that should know him, of whom he could say,
" I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
At the end of seventy years, he would bring these
people back, to Jerusalem like a new race, who, what-
ever their faults might be, would never again fall
into idolatry. He knew Avhat he was driving at in
their captivity; and in our case the Lord is equally
clear as to his purpose. We do not ourselves know,
for "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." You
have never seen the Great Artist's masterpiece: you

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 155

have seen the rough marble, you have marked tlio
chippings that fall on the ground; you have felt the
Q<\^ii of his chisel, you know the weight of his ham-
mer, and you are full of the memory of these things ;
but oh, could you see thai glorious image as it will
be when he has put the finishing stroke to it, you
would then understand the chisel, and the hammer,
and the Worker better than you now do ! O brethren,
w« should not know ourselves, if we could see our-
selves as we are to be when the Lord's purpose is ac-
complished upon us 1 We know that we shall be like
him when we shall see him as he is ; but what is he
like " as he is " ? What is that glory of the Lord
which is to be ours ? We can picture him in liis hu-
miliation, but what is he like in his glory ? He is the
first-born, and we are to be conformed to him. God is
working, working, working always to that end, and
so all his thoughts tend towards this expected end.

Hero I pause to make a practical application. I
may be addressing some person here who is in great dis-
tress under conviction of sin. You despair because
the Lord is bringing your sin to remembrance, but
indeed, there is no cause ; the Lord is sending you
into captivity for a purpose. You are being shut up
by the law, that you may be set at liberty by Christ ;
you are being stripped in order that you may be
clothed, and you are being emptied that you may be
filled. If you could see the end from the beginning,
you would rejoice tha,t you are made to know the bur-
den of sin ; for so shall you be driven to the cross to
find rest from your load. This sorrow shall be the
death of your pride and self-righteousness. By this
way the Lord is working out for you " a future and
a hope." When clean divorced from self, you shall

15G GOD'S rn OUGHTS OF PEACE.

be wedded to Jesus, and dowried v/itli his salvation.

I am also probably addressing many a child of God
wlio is vexed iu daily conflict with his inward corrup-
tion. Alas ! we find the old man yet alive within us.
The old nature in the Christian is no better than the
old man in the sinner ; it is the same carnal mind
which is enmity against God, and is not reconciled,
neither indeed can be. The new nature has a hard
struggle to hold its own against this embodied death.
We are, as it were, chained to a rotting carcase, and
we cry, "0 wretched man that 1 am ! who shall deliv-
er me?" Now, do not despair because of this exper-
ience. It is bettor to moin-n over imperfection than
to be puffed up with the idle notion that there is no
sin in you to be watched and conquered. Certain of
the children of Israel remained with Zedekiah at Jeru-
salem, and boasted of their position, but they were none
the better for their pretensions. You have been car-
ried away into captivity, and you are sighing and
crying because of indv.^elling sin ; but the Lord's
thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace, and not
of evil, and he will "give you an expected end." You
will come to true holiness by this painful process,
and so shall you glorify God.

I may also be addressing some child of God in very
deep trouble. Everything goes wrong with you, at
home, in business, and perhaps in the churcii too.
Very well, you will never have to raise that question,
" How is it that I am not chastened ? " That will never
trouble you. Chastening for the present is not joyous;
nevertheless afterward it yieldcth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness in them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore gladly endure it. God's thoughts are to-
wards you, for he is refining you ; believe also that

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 157

his tiioughts are peaceable, and that he designs jour
highest good.

So far have I tried to justify the ways of God to
men. May his own spirit make you feel that the
thoughts of the Lord are peace !

II. In the second part of my discourse 1 would
ask you to consider the proper attitude of God's people

TOWARDS THEIR LoRD.

You will all agree with me when I say that our atti-
tude should he that of submission. If God, in all that he
does towards us, is acting with an object, and that ob-
ject a loving one, then let him do what seemeth him
good. Henceforth let us have no quarrel with the
God of Providence; but let us say, " Thy will be done."
Who would not yield to that which works his health,
his wealth, his boundless happiness? "]\Iy son, de-
spise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
w^hen thou art rebuked of him : for whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth."

Next, let our position be one of great hopefulness,
seeing the end of God, in all he does, is to give us
" a future and a hope." We are not driven into grow-
ing darkness, but led into increasing light. There is
always something to be hoped for in the Christian's
life. Let us not look toward the future nor regard
the present with any kind of dread There is nothing
for us to dread.

" If sin be pardon'd I'm secure*,
Death has no sting beside ;
The hiw gave sin its damning power
But Christ, my ransom, died,"

The death of Christ is the death of evil to the child of
God. Let us trust, and not be afraid. Let us not be

158 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

content with sullenly making up our minds to stoical
endurance. We must not only bear the will of the
Lord, but rejoice in it. It is a blessed thing when we
come to rejoice in tribulations, and to glory in infirjn-
ities. It is line music when we can sing, " Sweet af-
fliction."

" llai'd work," says one. Yes, but it is worth the
pains ; for it secures perfect peace. If thy will is
brought to thy circii instances ; and if, better still, thy
will is brought to delight in God's will, then the fangs
of the serpent are extracted. The sorrow is sucked
out of the sorrow by the lips of acquiescence. When
thou canst say, " Not my will, but thine be done,"
thou shalt have thy will. There is always something
" better on before" for those who believe in Jesus. Be
you sure of that.

" Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big witli mercy, and shall break
With blessings on your head."

Welcome clouds, if showers of mercy are to come of
them. God ibrbid we should always have sunshine,
for that would mean drought. Let the clouds coma
if they bring a blessed rain.

Our relation to God should, next, be one of continual
expectancy, especially expectancy of the fulfilment of
his promises. I call your attention again to the tenth
verse : " I will perform my good word toward you."
I do so love that expression; we must have it for a
text one of these days: "I will perform my good
word toward you." His promises are good words:
good indeed, and sweetly refreshing. When your
hearts are faint, then is the promise emphatically good^
Expect the Lord to be as good as his good word.

GOIXS THOUGHTS OF PEACE. ' 159

Brethren, do not Leap up to yourselves sorrow, as
some do in these days, by expecting that Avhich the
Lord has not promised. 1 earnestly warn you against
those who have been led by a fevered imagination to
expect, first, perfection in the flesh, and then perfec-
tion of the flesh, and then an actual immortality for
the flesh. God will fulfil his promise, but he will not
fulfil your misreading of it. I should not wonder if
there should arise a race of people who will believe
that they can live without eating, because it is said,
'' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall
man live." If healed without medicine, why not fed
without food? What absolute need of any visible
means when God can work without them? Those
who think it needful to lay aside all outward means
in order to a true faith in God, are on the way to any
absurdity. Truly, if God had bidden me to live with-
out eating, I would fast at his command and expect
to live; but as he has not done so, I shall not pre-
sume. Faith that is not warranted by the word of
God is not faith, but folly; and folly is not the faith
of God's elect. The Lord will perform his own word,
but he will not perform the delirious declarations of
madmen. If it needs a million miracles to fulfil God's
promise they shall be forthcoming; but we are not
anxious for miracles, because our larger faith believes
•that the Lord can overrule the ordinary ways of Prov-
idence to perform his good word, and bring us the
expected end.

Again, beloved, our position towards God should
be one of liappij hope as to Uessed ends being ansicered
even noio. In the twenty-fourth chapter we observe one
of the ends of the Lord's sending his people into exile.

100 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

I noticed in the fifth verse that the Lord saia, " So
will I acknowledge them that are carried away cap-
tive of Judah." Their sorrow would bring about ilie
Lord's achioicleclgment of tliem. Thus do we, brethren,
bear in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Afflic-
tion is the seal of the Lord's election. I remember a
story of Mr. ]\Iack, who was a Baptist minister in
Northamptonshire,. In his youth he was a soldier,
and calling on Robert Hall, when his regiment march-
ed through Leicester, that great man became inter-
ested in him, and procured his release from the ranks.
When he went to preach in Glasgow, he sought out
his aged mother, whom he had not seen for many
years.. He knew his mother the moment he saw her;
but the old lady did not recognize her son. It so
happened that when he was a child, his mother had
accidentally wounded his wrist with a knife. To com-
fort him she cried, " Never mind, my bonnie bairn,
your mither will ken you by that when ye are a man."
AVhen Mack's mother would not believe that a grave,
fine-looking minister could be her own child, he turned
■up his sleeve and cried, " Mither, mither, dinna ye ken
t^iat? " In a moment they were in each other's arms.
Ah, brethren, the Lord knows the spot of his children.
He acknowledges them by the mark of correction.
What God is doing to us in the way of trouble and trial
is but his acknowledgment of us as true heirs, and the
marks of his rod shall be our proof that we are not bas-
tards, but true sons. He knows the wounds he made
~when he was exercising his sacred surgery upon us.
By this also shall you yourself be made to know that
verily you are a. piece of gold, or else you would not
have been put into the furnace. This will be one "ex-o
pected end" of the Lord towards us; let us rejoice in it

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 101

God's dealings with us work out cur cjood in every
way. The Lord said (Jer. xxiv. 5), "1 have sent them
out of tliis pkice into the land of the Chaldeans for
their good." We know that "All things work to-
gether for good to them that love God.'' Thus from
day to day the Lord gives us " an expected end."

In the twelfth verse of the chapter from which we
have taken our text, we see that prayer is quickened
by ^the Lord's work towards them. "Then shall ye
call upon me." Our troubles drive us to our knees.
If it had not been for Esau, Jacob had never wrestled
at Jabbok. I hope we usually go to our closets of our
own accord; but ofttiraes we are whipped there.
Many of the most earnest prayers that ever rise to
heaven come from us when we are in bondage under
grief. Yes, yes, we must thank God that his trying
ways with us have produced in us a prayerful spirit,'
and a full conviction that we do not pray in vain.

The Lord's end with us is also cur sanctijicaiion.
"And I will give them an heart to know me that I
am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will
be their God: for they shall return unto me with
their whole heart." See the value of sanctified
afflictions! God grant that from day to day we may
feel the expected ends of his corrections ! 0 that we
may groiv in grace, and may our graces grow ! IMay we
increase in faith, and hope, and love, and patience,
and courage, and joy ! Surely our knowledge ought
to widen out, our consecration should be confirmed,
our insight should be clearer, our outlook steadier.
We ought by all our experience to become more
Christ-like, better reflectors of the heavenly light,
fitter temples of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore let us
be of good cheer, and rejoice that from day to day we
11

162 GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE.

receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls,
and thus the Lord's end is being answered.

But to close. We have kept the best v^ine until
now. The thoughts of God towards us are that he
will give us "an expected end." An end: there is
good cheer in that. We do not wish to remain here
for ever. We would be diligent in running the race,
but we long for the end of it. I should be satisfied to
preach here throughout all eternity if 1 might always
bring glory to God; but yet I am glad that there is
to be an end of preaching, and a season of pure praise.
You, ray brethren, love the Lord's work ; but still you
look forward to the time when you shall take your
wage, and have done. It is a comfort that there is
an end.

Blessed be God, it is an expected end. You ungodly
people can only look forward to a dreaded end ; an
end of your foolish mii'th, an end of your carelessness,
an end of your boasting. You fear your end. But
God will give his people an expected end. Suppose
that end should be the coming of Christ ! Oh, how we
long for it ! Oh that the Bridegroom would now ap-
pear ! Oh that he would descend from heaven with a
shout, and gather his chosen from the four winds of
heaven! " Even so, . come quickly!" This is onv cx-
Ijected end.

If our Lord does not come, and we must be taken
home by death, we feel no alarm in looking forward to
that expected end. One by one our dear friends go
home from this church. As T have often told you,
there is never a week without some of our number be-
ing taken up. Although I have visited a large num-
ber of dying believers, I have never yet visited a
member of this church who has expressed the least

GOnS THOUGHTS OF PEACE. I63

fear in bis dying moments, or the slightest dismay in
the hour of departure. It makes me feel happy to see
how the brethren and sisters die: they pass away as
if they were going to a wedding rather than to a tomb
—as if it were the most joyful thing that ever happen-
ed to them to have reached their expected end. Doubts
are all driven away wlien you see how believers die.
Grace is given them, so that they surmount the
weakness of the hour. The Lord Jesus in them tri-
umphs over pain and death. Our venerable brother
and eider, Mr. Court, Avho has just passed away at
a great age, looked forward to his departure with
peaceful hope. lie used to speak of it as a thing from
which he had no shrinking. There was no discontent
or murmuring about him ; no feverish eagerness to
quit the infirmities of this life; but, on the other hand,
a happy foresight of his end, and a joyful expectation
of it. Some of the Lord's saints have not yet received
dying grace ; but then they are not going to die yet.
Brethren, saints are prepared to go before they go.
Our Lord does not pluck his fruit unwisely. Foolish
people may tear the green apples from the tree with a
pull and a wrench, and bruise them as they throw
them into the basket ; but our Lord values his fruit,
and so he waits until it is quite ripe, and then he gath-
ers it tenderly. When he puts forth his hand, the
fruit bows down to it, and parts from the bough with-
out a strain. When the believer comes to die, it will
not be to an end which he feared, but to an end which
he expected.

Brethren, when death is past, then comes tliat ex-
pected end which shall never end. What will the first
five minutes hi heaven be ? There is a larger question :
what will thousands of years in heaven be ? What will

164 GOD'S TIIOLGHTS OF PEACE.

myriads of ages be ? My disembodied spirit will at the
first be perfectly happy in tiie embraces of myLord ; but
in due time the resurrection day will dawn, that this
body may rise again in fuii glory. Then there will
be a re-marriage of soul and body, and we shall be
perfected, even as our risen Lord. Oh, the glory of
that expected end !

What will it be when our completed manhood shall
be introduced to the society of angels, to the presence
of cherubim and seraphim? What will it be to see
him whom we have loved so long ? What to hear
him say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father"? What
joy to sit at his right hand ! Yesterday, my heart was
ravished with that text, " They cast their crowns be-
fore the throne." If ever I am privileged to have a
crown at all, how gladly will I lay it down at the feet
of ray Lord ! Is not this your mind ? How sweetly
will we sing, Non nohis, Domine! "Not unto us, O
Lord, but unto thy name give glory." Brethren, what
singing it will be when we shall be loosened from the
deadening influence of the flesh ! How will we praise
when we have done with these tongues of clay, which
hamper us so mnch! I would speak greatly to my
Lord's praise, but I fail. Strip me of this house of
clay, and I will sing as sweetly as any of the birds of
paradise that carol forever in the Tree of Life above.
Do you not feel a longing to be up and away? Lidulge
these longings, for thus you will be drawn nearer to
the understanding of the text, — " to give you an ex-
pected end." All that you are suflei-ing, all that you
are enjoying^, all that God sends you, has this one de-
sign, to make you meet to be partakers of the inheri-
tance of the saints in light.

Ending this discourse, I would ask you to plight

GOD'S THOUGHTS OF PEACE. 165

jour troth that jou will meet me where glory clwelleth,
iu_Etiiinauuers land. We shall soon be with the an-
gels. The Lord is thinking of ns, and lie is expecting
lis home. Our Lord Jesus is waiting for his wedding-
day, which is his expected end. " My soul, wait thou
only upon God, for my expectation is from him."

'£UE DEATH OF MOSES.

June 5, 1887.

" So Moses tlie servant of the Lord died there in the land of
Moab, according to the word of the Lord." — Deuteronom"X
xxxiv. 5.

What an honorable title ! Moses is distinguished as
" the servant of JeJiovah.''' He was this of choice, for
he willed to be the servant of God rather than to be
great in the land of the Pharaohs. SticIi he was most
perseveringly throughout the whole of his life. Such
he was most intensely, for he waited upon God for
his directions, as a servant waits upon his master;
and he endeavored to do all things according to the
pattern which was shown him in the holy mount.
Though he was king in Jeshurun, he never acted on
his own authority, but was the lowly instrument of
the divine will. ]\Ioses was faithful to God in all his
house, as a servant. You neither see him overstep-
ping his office nor neglecting it. His reverence for
the Lord's name was deep; his devotion to tlie Lord's
cause was complete, and nis confidence in the Lord's
word was constant. He was a true servant of God
from the time when he was appointed at the burning
bush until the hour when he surrendered his keys of
office to his successor, and climbed the appointed
mount to die. Oh that you and I may so live as to
approve ourselves servants of God ! Unto as many as
(166)

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 167

have received him onr Lord Jesais has given power to
become the sons of God, and this is our great joy;
but as sons we aspire to serve our Father, even as his
great First-born Son has done, who took upon himself
the form of a servant that he might accomplish his
Father's good pleasure for his church. Let us witii
good will do service unto our Father who is in
heaven, seeing it is but our reasonable service that we
should lay out ourselves for him who has made us
his sons and daughters. Redeemed from the slavery
of sin, let us, as the Lord's freemen, cry unto him
henceforth, " 0 Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am
thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou
hast loosed my bonds."

But servant of God as Moses was, lie must die. It is
the common lot of njen. Only two have passed out
of this world into the abodes of glory without fording
the stream of death. IMuses is not one of the two.
Even had he crossed the Jordan into Canaan, he
would in due course have died in the land. We
might have expected that he would live on till the
people were settled in Canaan: but it seemed right
unto the Lord God that on account of his one slip he
should die outside of the Promised Land, like the rest
of the people. Caleb and Joshua alone of all that gen-
eration who came out of Egypt were permitted to
possess the land towards which they had journeyed
for forty years. If that one offence lost him the priv-
ilege of entering the earthly Canaan, there may have
been still more powerful reasons "v\'hy he should not
enter the heavenly Canaan without experiencing the
change of death. He must not make a third with
Enoch and Elias, but he must die and be buried.
Such will probably be :?iir lot in due season. Breth-

108 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

ren, it may be that we shall not die, our Lord Jesus
may come before we lall asleep; but if he do not
come speedily, we shall find that it is appointed unto
all men once to die. We sliall pass from this world
unto tlie Father by that common road which is beaten
hard by the innumerable feet of mortal men. Since
we must die, it is well to meditate upon the solemn
future. Moses shall be our teacher in the art of
dying. We will consider his decease, in the hope
that so our fears may be removed, and our desires
may be excited. There is a Pisgah where we must
yield up the ghost, and be gathered to our lathers :
may we climb to it as willingly as did Moses, the ser-
vant of God !

The maimer of Hoses' death loas exceedingly nmorJm-
hle. T suppose that no subject presents a finer field
for oratory than the sublime decease of the prophet;
but we have nothing to do with oratory: our object
is spiritual and practical profit. Poets might well
expend their noblest powers in depicting this strange
scene of the man of God alone on the mountain's
brow, with a view of Canaan at his feet, and himself
in holy rapture passing away into the eternal state.
We are not poets, but simple believers, desiring to
learn some holy lesson from the death of one who,
though the greatest of men, knew no liigher honor
than to be the servant of the Lord. Oh that the
Spirit of grace and truth, who has come to us by
Christ Jesus, may help us to find instruction in the
death of him who brought the law from the mouth of
God to m en !

L We are told in the text that " IMoses ihe ser-
vant of the Lord diod there in the land of !Moab, ac
cording to the word of the Lord." This T shall read

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 169

first, as meaning; that Moses died on Pisgah, accord-
ing TO TUE WARNING OF THE LORD.

Kis death was Tdn^fforeseen. ]\Ioses knew some time
before that he must die without setting foot in
Canaan. Eead in the first chapter of Deuteronomy his
own account of the sin of the people at Meribah, and
the Lord's sentence then and there pronounced:
'' Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil
generation see that good land, which I sware to give
unto your fathers, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh ;
he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that
he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he
hath wholly followed the Lord." "Also," adds Mo-
ses, "the Lord was angry with me ibr your sakes,
saying. Thou also shalt not go in thither."

His deatii outside the Promised Land did not come
upon him at all as a surprise. He ha<l to see his
sister Miriam, first of the great trio, fall asleep ; and
next, he was called to go up to Mount Ilor and dis-
robe his brother Aaron of Ins priestly garm^ents which
he placed upon Eleazar-, ]iis son. Moses had also to
see the whole of the generation that came out of
Egypt with him buried in the wilderness. The nine-
tieth psalm is liis, and it is a sort of Dead March; fit
hymn for a nation whose track was marked by count-
less graves. Because of unbelief "their carcases fell
in the wilderness." Only Caleb and Josliua remain-
ed, the sole survivors of the great host which crossed
the Pted Sea. The Great Lavygiver had thus abun-
dant pledges of his own departure, and he must
have had in his brother's death a rehearsal ol his own.
Have not we also had many warnings? Are we
ready ?

Concerning his death in the land of Moab, it is nat-

170 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

iiral to remark that it ivas exceedmgbj disappointing. He
bad been for forty years engaged in leading the people
to tbe land of promise : must be die wben tbat coun-
try was witbin a day's marcb? It was bis life's work,
for wbicb be bad been prepared by forty years in
Egypt, wbere be became learned in all tbe wisdom of
tbe Egyptians ; and by anotber forty years in the sol-
itary wilderness, wbere be kept sbeep and beld bigh
fellowsbip with God. His third forty years bad been
spent in freeing Israel fi-om Egypt, training tbem to
become a nation, and conducting thejn to tbe land of
promise: must be now expire before tbe nation entered
in? What years his bad been ! What a life was tbat
of Moses ! How glorious was tbe man who bad con-
fronted Pbaraob, and broken tbe pride of Egypt !
How tried and troubled a man bad be been wbile call-
ed to carry all tbat nation in bis bosom, and care for
them as a sbepberd caretb for bis sbeep ! His was a
task tbat welUnigb broke bira down ; and had not
the man Moses been made very meek by tbe indwell-
ing Spirit of tbe Lord, and bad be not also been gra-
ciously sustained by fellow^sbip witb God, bis task bad
proved too heavy even for bim. Yet, after all tbat
toil in fashioning a nation, be must die before tbe
long-expected conquest. It was a bitter disappointment
when first the sentence pierced bis beart. He bad
known one great disappointment before ; for Stepben
tells us tbat wben be smote tbe Egyptian, " be sup-
posed his brethren would have understood bow tbat
God by bis band would deliver tbem: but they under-
stood not." Tben, when bis brethren bad refused Iiim,
be fled into the land of iMidian, a rejocted leader, a
patriot whose heroism bad only brought forth from
his countrymen tbe contemptuous question, "Who

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 171

made tliee a prince aud a judge over us ? " But this
denial of entrance into Canaan was a greater disappoint-
ment still. To have toiled so long, and to reap no
harvest ; to see the land, but not to enter it ; to bring
the tribes to the Jordan's brink, and then to die in Moab
after all: it was a grievous disappointment. Brethren,
are we ready to say as to our most cherished hope, "Thy
will be done " ! Are we holding our life's dearest pur-
pose with a loose hand? It will be our wisdom so to
do.

Apparently it teas a severe chastisement. His offence
was but one, and yet it excluded him from Canaan.
We have not time to describe in detail the sin of Moses.
It would appear to have been a sin of unbelief occa-
sioned by his feeling so intensely for and witli the
people. Moses was thoroughly knit to Israel. When
they sinned he interceded as for himself. When Je-
hovah made him the offer that he would make of him
a great nation, he declined it solely from his love to
Israel. He lived for the nation, and for the nation he
died. Kemember how once he Avent so far as to say,
" If not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which
thou hast written.'" In every way he was of the peo-
ple, bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh : Israel
was hidden in his heart ; and out of that master pas-
sion of sympathy with the people came the weakness
which at last made him speak unadvisedly with his
lips. They strove with God ; and though Moses nev-
er yielded a point to them in that wicked contest, yet
that unbelief so far influenced him that he spake in
anger, and said, " Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch
you water out of this rock? " Then, "the Lord spake
unto JNIoses and Aaron, Because ye believe me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, tliere-

172 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

fore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land
which I have given them " (Numb. xx. 12). Three
times in the Book of Deuteronomy Moses tells the
people, " The Lord was angry with me for yonr sakes."
It was not so much that which JMoses did personally
wliich involved him in judgment, but he suffered be-
cause of his being mixed up v/ith Israel. As the
Lord had spared the people aforetime for Moses' sake,
it became necessary that, when he in any measure
shared in their great sin of unbelief, he should be
chastened for their sake as well as his own. His faith
had saved them, and now liis unbelief, being backed
by theirs, secures for him the sentence of exclusion
from the land.

My brethren, when I thiidc of this severity of disci-
pline towards so faithful a servant as Moses, I do ex-
ceedingly fear and quake. Truly, " the Lord our God
is a jealous God." We are sure that he is never unjust,
we are sure that he is never unduly severe: we do not
for a moment impug-n the righteousness or even the
love of our God in this or any other act ; but he is
terrible out of his holy places. How true it is that he
will be sanctified in them that come near to him ! Be-
hold and wonder ! That highly-favored servant, Moses,
though accepted always, in the economy of grace, yet
must he come under the rule of the house, and feel
the chastising hand if he transgresses. Hence the
sentence of exclusion is passed. As he had once join-
ed that unbelieving generation by manifesting a
measure of hasty unbelief, he must now share their
doom, and die on Moab's side of Jordan. " Ilighteous
art thou, O Lord, and upiight are thy judgments." Oh
ibr grace to behave ourselves aright in thine house!
Lord, teach us thy statutes, and keep us in thy way.

THE DEATH OF MOSES. I73

Beloved, il seemed a great calamity that ]\Ioses must
die when he did. He was an aged man as to years,'
but not as to condition. It was true he was a hundred
and twenty years old, but his father and his grand-
father and his great grandfather had all lived beyond
that age, t\ro {)f them reaching a hundred and thirty-
seven, so that he might naturally have expected a long-
er lease of life. This truly grand old man had not failed
in any respect ; his eye was not dim, neither had his
natural force abated, and therefore he might have ex-
pected to live on. Besides, it seems a painful thing
for a man to die while he was capable of so much
work ; when, indeed, he was more mature, more gra-
cious, more wise than ever. The mental and spiritual
powers of Moses were greater in the latter days of liis
life than ever before. Notice Jiis wonderful sons: !
Observe his marvellous address to the people ! He
was in the prime ot his mental manhood. He had
been tutored by a long experience, chastened by a
marvellous discipline, and elevated by a sublime in-
tercourse with God ; and yet must he die. How
strange that, when a man seems most fit to live, it is
then that the mandate comes, " Get thee up into the
mountain and die " !

Naturally speaking, it seemed a sad loss for the peo-
ple of Israel. Who but Closes could rule tliem ? Even
he could scai'cely control them. They were a heavy
bnrden even to his meekness: who else could so suc-
cessfully act as king in Jeshurun ? Without Moses
to awe them, what will not these rebels do ? It was a
grave experiment to place a younger and an inferior
man in the seat of power, when the nation was enter-
ing upon its great campaign. It would need all the
faith and discretion of ]\Ioses to conduct the conquest

174 THE DEA Til OF MOSES.

of the couiitr}', and to divide their portions to the
tribes. Yet so it must be : precious as his life was, the
word went forth, "Get thee up into the top of Fisgah :
for thou shalt not go over this Jordan." Even thus to
the best and most useful must tlie summons come.
Who woukl wish to forbid the Lord to call home his
own when he wills ?

The sentence was not to he averted hy j^^'ciyer. jMoses
tells us that he besought the Lord at that time, " 0
Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy
greatness, and thy mighty hand: lor what God is there
in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy
works, and according to thy might ? I pray thee, let
me go over, and see the good land that is beyond
Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." This
Avas altogether a very proper prayer: he did not
plead his own services, but he urged the f(U'mer
mercies of the Lord. Surely tliis was good pleading,
and he might have hoped to prevail for himself, see-
ing he had formerly been heard for a whole nation.
But no. This boon must bo denied him. The Lord
said, "Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of
this matter." iMoses never again opened his lips upon
the suliject. He did not beseech the Lord thrice, as
Paul did, in his hour of trouble; but seeing that the
sentence was final he bowed his head in holy consent.

Brethren, he had often asked a greater thing than
this of the Lord his God. Once he had even dared to
say, '' I beseech thee, show me thy glory," and he was
heard even in that high request. The Lord placed
him in the cleft of the rock, and made all his goodness
pass before him. Yet now he begs for a compara-
tively small thing, and it is refused. What a mercy
that it is in the small things of this life that our re-

THE DEATH OF MOSES. I75

quests may be denied, but in things -which touch the
kingdom of the Lord our prayer never returns empty!
All heaven is open to our bended knee, though tor
wise ends and purposes a Canaan on eartli inay be
closed against us. All sufficient grace v^as given
though the thorn was not removed : Moses the servant
of the Lord died, but triumphed over death.

When I thought of the trial of Moses in being shut
out of the laud, I found myr^elf unable to read the
chapter which lay open before me, for I was blinded
by my tears. How shall any of us stand before a God
so holy ? Where Moses errs how shall we be fault-
less ? Never servant more favored of his Lord, and
yet even he must undergo a disappointment so great
as a rebuke for a single fault. The Hower of his life
is broken ofi" from the stalk for one act of unbelief.
To be exalted so near to God is to be involved in a
great responsibility. A fierce light beats about the
throne of God. He that is the king's chosen, admit-
ted to continual intercourse with him, must stand in
awe of him. Well is it written, " Serve the Lord with
fear, and rejoice with trembling." An offence which
might be passed over as a mere trifle in an ordinary
subject, would be very serious in a prince of the
blood, who had been favored with royal secrets, and
had been permitted to lean his head upon the bosom
of the king. If we live near to God we cannot sin
without incurring sharp rebukes. Even the common
run of the elect must remember that word, " You only
have I known of all the families of the earth, there-
fore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Much
more must the elect out of the elect hear such warn-
ing. God did, in effect, say to Moses, "Thou only
have I chosen of all mankind to speak with me face to

176 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

face, and, therefore, since thou hast failed in thy faith
after such intercourse with me, it behoves me, in very
faitlifuhiess and love towards thee, to mark thy failure
with an evident token of displeasure.'' The discipline
of saints is in this life. I doubt not but many a man's
life has come to an end when he wished it to be con-
tinued, and he has missed that which he has striven
for, because of an offence against the Lord in hiS
earlier years. We had need walk carefully before
our jealous God, who will not spare sin anywhere,
and least of all in his ov^n beloved. His love to
them never faileth, but his hatred of their sin burns
like coals of juniper. Foolish parents spare the rod,
but our wise Father acteth not so. Walk circimi-
spectly, 0 ye heirs of life eternal, for " even our God
is a consuming fire.'' Tlie Lord give us to feel the
sanctifying power of this passage in the story of the
great Lawgiver !

IL But now I have to conduct you to a second point
of view. Moses, the man of God, died in the land of
Moab, " according to the word of the Lord," that is,

ACgORDlXG TO TElIl. DIVINE APPOINTMENT.

All the details of the death of Afoses had been ordered of
the Lord. Time, place, and circumstances were ar-
ranged by God. So, brethren, it is appointed unto us
where we shall die, and when we shall die. We speak
of certain persons as having " died by accident," and
we sometimes bewail the deaths of Christian men as
premature ; but in the deepest sense it is not so. God
hath marked out for us the place where and the time
when we must resign our breath. Let this suffice us.
That which is of divine appointment should be to our
contentment. We do not believe in the Kismet of
blind fate ; but we believe in the predestination of infi-

THE DEATH OF MOSES. Yil

nite wisdom, and therefore we say, " It is the Lord, let
him do what seemeth him good.''

Moses died according to the divine appointment,
that is also according to an appointment loliich is very gen-
eral amongst GodUs people. He died without seeing the
full result of his life-work. If you look down the list
of the servants of God you will find that tlie most of
them die before the object which they had in view is
fully accomplished. It is true that we are inamortal
till our work is done; but then we usually think that
our work is something other than it is. It never was
the work of Moses to lead Israel into the promised
land. It was his wish, but not his work. His work
he saw; but his wish he saw^ not. Moses did really
finish his own proper work; but the desire of his heart
was to have seen the people settled in their land; and
this was not granted him. Thus David gathered to-
gether gold and silver wherewith to build the Tem23le,
but he v/as not to build it; Solomon, his son, under-
took the work. Even thus great reformers rise and
speak the truth, and cause colossal systems of error to
tremble; but they do not themselves utterly destroy
these evils. Their successors continue the work. Most
men have to sow that others may reap. The prayer
of Moses is fulfilled to others as w^ell as to himself:
"Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glo-
ry unto their children." We must not hope to engross
all things: let us be content to do our own part in lay-
ing the foundation upon which other men may build in
due course. It is according to the divine appointment
which links us to each other that one plants and an-
other waters, one brings out of Egypt, and another
leads into Cana,an.

And T may here notice that Moses thus " died accord-

12

178 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

ing to tlie word of the Lord," for a deep dispsnsafiona]
reason. It was not for Moses to give the people rest,
for the law gives no man rest, antl brings no man to
heaven. The law may bring ns to the borders of the
promise, but only Joshua or Jesus can bring us into
grace and truth. If Moses had given them Canaan,
the allegory would have seemed to teach us that rest
might 1)6 obtained by the law ; but as Moses must be
laid asleep, and buried by divine liands, so must the
law cease to rule that the covenant of grace may lead
us into the falness of peace.

"Moses may lead to Jordan's flood,
But there surrenders liis command;

Our Joshua must the waves divide,
And bring us to the promised hind.

Trained by the law, we learn our place,
But gain th' inheritance by grace."

Thus there was a mysterious reason why JMoses should
die in Moab according to the eternal purpose of God.
Not without sucii divine decree shall any other of the
servants of tlie Lord depart out of the camp of Israel.
We also shall in life and death answer some gracious
purpose of the Lord. Are we not glad to have it so ?
Yea, Lord, thy will be done.

III. I have conducted you a little out of the dark
now, and the sky is clearing around us. In the third
place, Moses died according to the loving wisdom of the
Lord. It was a meeT'thihg, "a" wise thing, and a kind
thing that Moses should not go over Jordan.

First, by so doing he preserved his identity ivith the
people forwhcm he had cared. For their sakes he had
forsaken a princedom in Egypt, and now for their
sakes he loses a home in Palestine. lie had suffered
with them, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater

rilE DEATH OF MOSES. 179

riches than all the treasures of Egypt " ; and he had
been with them in all that great and terrible wilder-
ness, afflicted in all their affliction, bearing and carry-
ing them in God's name all his days ; was it not meet
that he should at last die with them? lie had been
all along the mirror of self-denial : neither for himself,
nor his brother, nor his son had he sought honor :
he lived only for others, and never for himself, and his
death was agreeable with his whole life ; for he leads
others to the border of Canaan, but enters it not him-
self. He sleeps with tlie older nation ; he ends his
career on the hither side of Jordan, like all the gener-
ation which he had numbered when the}^ came out
from under the iron hand of the Egyptian tyrant. It
seemed fit that one so identified with the people should
'say, " Where thou diest I will die.'' Are not we satis-
fied to take our lot with the holy men and women
who already sleep in Jesus ?

JNIoreover, Moses might be well content to die there
and then, since he was thus released from allfurtlier
trial. Surely he had known enough of sorrow in con-
nection with that rebellious nation ! Forty years was
enough for a pastorate over a people so fickle and per-
verse. Surely he must have blessed the hand that re-
moved his shoulder from the burden ! His was no life
of luxury aud ease, but of stern self-denial, and j)crpet-
ual provocation. What trial he endured ! What sell-
restraint he exercised ! W^hat a lonely life he led !
Are you surprised to hear me say that? With whom
could he associate? Even Aaron, his brothei', was a
poor comrade for such a man. Remember how he
failed Moses, when that man of God was absent for
forty days upon the Mount with God. It was Aaron
that made the golden calf, and this clearly proved his

180 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

spiritual inferiority to Moses. The man of God had to
"watoh even his brotlier who stood next to him. With
whom could he take counsel ? Who would talk \\A\h.
him as a friend ? He dwelt apart, and shone as a lone
star. It is significant that he died alone, for so had he
lived. Aaron had tender attendants to disrobe him :
he who put the vestments on most fitly aided to take
them off ; but the crown which Moses wore, God him-
self had set upon his brow, and no human hand must
remove it. Surely this burdened watcher of Israel
must have been glad when liis watch was over ! Sure-
ly this lonely man, after one hundred and twenty years
of service, must have felt it a happy release to be ad-
mitted to the glorious society of heaven ! As Noah
was a preacher of righteousness for one hundred and
twenty years, and then entered into the ark, so Moses,
after one hundred and twenty years of service, enters
into his rest. Is it not well? Do you grieve that the
battle is fought, and the victory is won for ever? We
also in our deaths shall find the end of toil and labor,
and the rest will be glorious.

Remember, that by his so dying, in the next place he
was relieved from afresh strain upon Mm, which woTild
have been involved in the conquest of Canaan. lie
would have crossed the Jordan, not to enjoy the
country, but to fight for it: was he not well out of so
severe a struggle ? You think of the clusters of
Eshcol, but I am thinking of the sieges and the bat-
tles. Was it so very desirable to be there? Would
Moses really haye desired that dreadful fray ? Was
it not a gracious act on the part of the Commander-
in-chief to relieve from his command a veteran who
had already served through a forty years' war ? The
Lord would not put upon Moses a burden so little

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 181

agreeable to liis age and to his turn of mind as that
of executing the condemned Canaanites. Joshua was
naturally a man of war; let him use the sword, for
Moses was abler at the pen. Recollect that the peo-
ple of Israel were no better when they reached Canaan
than Avhen they were in the wilderness: tlicy suffered
defeat through unbelief, and they missed much of their
inheritance through self-indulgence. Moses had seen
enough of them on one side Jordan, without being
troubled with them on the other. The Lord therefore
graciously took his servant off the active list, and pro-
moted him to a higher sphere. Let us not be dis-
tressed by the fact that he will one day perform the
like kindness to us in oiu* turn.

' But, you will say, surely it might have been as well
if Moses had lived to have seen Joshua win the coun-
try. Would this have been desirable ? Do active
men find much delight in sitting still and seeing
others take the lead ? Moreover, had Moses lived,
he would before long have felt those infirmities from
which he had for one hundred and twenty years been
screened': is it so very desirable to survive one's
powers, and to be a tottering old man amidst constant
battles? Peace suits age: age agrees not with war's
alarms. Had Moses remained the leader of the people,
he might have injured the glory of his former days.
Have we not seen aged men survive their wisdom ?
Have not their friends wished that they had closed
their career long before? Have we not seen pastors,
once able and efficient, holding to their puljoits to the
injury of the churches they once edified ? Oh that men
would have wisdom enough not to undo in their age
what they have wrought in their youth ! Moses is re-
moved before this evil can happen to him, and it is well.

1-92 THE DEA Til OF MOSES.

" But," YOU say, " perhaps lie inight have been thero
to watch with joy the victories of Joshua." Is that
always an easy thing to one who has been in the front
rank himself? At least, it is not an nnmixed privi-
lege: there is a mixture of trial in the blessing. Mo-
ses did not '• lag superfluous on the stage." He did
not survive his work. Who wishes to do so? He
passed av/ay on the crest of the wave before any ebb
had set in, or any weakness had been discoverable.
He died so as to be missed. Israel wept for him, and
no man said that he' had lived too long. That prayer
of his, after all, was a mistake. What would have
been the particular joy of merely treading the soil of
Canaan ? The land looked far more beautiful from
Pisgah than itwoidd liave done had he stood by Jer-
icho; assuredly at the present day you and I, who
have never seen Palestine, have a much more delight-
ful idea of it than those who have endured its noon-
day heats and midnight frosts. i\loses had more joy
in gazing upon it from above than in actually war-
ring among its hills.

IV. I must hasten on to say that Avhile the death
of jNIoses thus exhibits the loving wisdom of God, the
V/ay in which he died abundantly displays^ the grace.
ofJGqjx.

After Moses had been well assured that he must die,
you never hear a complaint of iV, nor even a prayer
against it. Remember, that he himself wrote the story,
and it is charming to see how he recorded his
own fault, his prayer to be allowed entrance into
Caiiaan, and its denial : had he murmured he would
have recorded this also. He seems to me always to
write about Moses as if he were somebody he had
known : he is strictly impartial in his praise or blame

THE DEATH OF MOSES. Ig3

of himself. He calls himself " king in Jeshunin," he
says that the man Moses was very meek, and yet he
records his outbursts of anger. No man was ever
less self-conscious, or lived so little for himself, as Mo-
ses did : therefore, when once the Lord told him lie
must die, he acquiesced without a word.

Most fitly the old man immediately called forth all
his energies to finish his worl^. You will .find in the
thirty-first chapter of the Book of Numbers that he took
in hand a war: "And the Lord spake unto ]\Ioses say-
ing, Avenge the cliildren of Israel of the Midianites:
afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people"
(Num. xxxi. 1, 2). Ho would die warring with Isra-
el's adversaries, and obeying Israel's Lord. Certain
ordinances to be observed in war he delivered to El-
eazar, and he supervised the division of the spoils.
Fearing lest the tribes which had settled east of Jor-
dan might excuse themselves from future labors, he
stirred up Reuben and Gad, and gained from tliem a
promise to go,over armed with their brethren till the
whole land w^as conquered. Furthermore, he prepared
his manuscr:})ts, not for the press, but to be put away
in the ark and to be preserved. He would have his tes-
timony to future generations complete before his hand
was paralyzed by death. He knew that he was to
die,l3ut he did not sit down and weep, nor sulk, nor
give himself up to bitter forebodings of the hour of
departure. He served his God with increased vigor,
and w^as more than ever alive as life neared its close.
Then he j^reached his best sermon. What a wonder-
ful sermon it was ! IIow^ he poured out his heart in
pleading with the people ! The sermon over, he be-
gan to sing. The swan is fabled to sing but once, and
that just before it dies; so did Moses at the last give

184 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

ns that famous ninetieth Psalm, the song commenc-
ing, " Give ear, 0 ye heavens, and I will speak; and
hear, 0 earth, 1/ie words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as
the showers upon the grass. Because I will publish
the name of the Lord : ascribe ye greatness unto
our God." .Moses had no time for poetry while his
whole strength was needed in his government; but
now he is about to die, iiis frame of mind is ecstatic;
prose will not content him, he must weave his
thoughts into verse. In fine, all the laculties of his
manhood were drawn out to their utmost in a final ef-
fort to glorify the Lord his God. Brethren, is not this
a fine fruit of grace ? 0 that we may bear it !

Then he gathered the tribes together and blessed
them in prophetic words, pouring out his soul in bene-
dictions. Having already cried to God about his suc-
cessor, he laid his hands upon Joshua, and charged
him, and encouraged him, and bade tl^e people help
him in all his service.

He did all that remained to be done, and then went
willingly to Jus end.

" Sweet was the journey to the sky,
The wondrous prophet tried.
' Climb up the mount,' says God, ' and die ;'
The prophot climbed, and died.

Softly his fainting head he lay

Upon his Maker's breast ;
His Maker kissed his soul away,

And laid his flesh to rest."

We, my brethren, also expect to die. Let us not fear
it, but let us arouse ourselves to labor more abundant-
ly; let us preach more boldly, let us sing more sweet-

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 185

ly, let lis pray more ardently. As flowers before they
shed their leaves pour out all their perfumes, so let
us pour out our souls unto the Lord. Let us live while
we live, and dying, let us die unto the Lord. ]\Iay
our life-work close as sets the sun, looking greater
when he sinks into the west than when he shines at
full meridian height !

V. Now let us conclude by noticing, in the last place,
that JMoses died "according to the word of the Lord,"

that is, ACCORDING TO THE DiyiI>!E_FAVOR.

His death Leaves nothing to regret ; neither is any
desirable thing lacking. Failing to pass over Jordan
seems a mere pin's prick, in presence of the honors
which surrounded his departing hours. His death
w^as the climax of his Hfe. He now saw that he had
fulfilled his destiny, and was not as a pillar brolcen
short. He was ordered to lead the people through
the wilderness, and he had done so. There they
stood on the borders of their heritage, a people mould-
ed by his hand. By his instrumentality they were, so
to speak, a regenerated race, far more fitted than their
fathers to become a nation. The deg^rading results of
long bondage had been shaken off in the free air of the
desert. They were all young men, vigorous, hardy,
and ready for the fray. It is grand to pass away
while there is nothing of infirmity yet seen, nothing
left undone, and nothing allowed to fail throuo-h too
long persistence in office. We may say of Closes, that
he did

" His body witli liis cliarge lay doTvn,
And cease at once to work and live."

Moreover his successor was appointed, and was just
below in the plain. It was not his son, but it was his
servant who had become his son at leno-th. He did

186 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

not leave his floclc to be scattered, liis building to be
thrown down. Happy Moses, to see his Joshua ! Hap-
py Elijah, to see his Elisha ! No trembling, for the
ark of the Lord mars such a departure. The success-
ion of workers lies with the Master, not Avith the work-
ers. AVe are to traiir men " who can teach others
also " ; but our own especial Avork we must leave with
the Lord. Yet as Paul Avas glad of Timothy, so must
Moses have rejoiced over Joshua, and felt in his ap-
pointment, a release from care.

He died, moreoA'^er, in tlie best company possible.
Some men expire most htly in the presence of their
children ; their strength has laid in their domestic
duties and aiiections, and their cliihlren fitly close
their eyes : but for the inan Moses there Avas no true
kindred. You hear that he married an Ethioi)iau
Avomau ; but you know notliiiig about her. You
know that he Jiad sons, but you do not hear a word
about them except their names : their father was too
engrossed in honoring his God to craA^e office for them.
As we have seen, he lived as to men, idone, and as to
men he died alone. But God v>'as Avith him, and in
the peculiarly near and dear society of God he closed
his life on the lone peak. If he suffered any weakness
no mortal eye beheld it. So far as his people Avere
concerned, " he Avas not, for God took him." Pisgah
was to him the A^estibule of lieaA^en. God met him at
the gates of Paradise.

As he died, tlie sweetness of his last thought was in-
describable. Before his strengthened eye there lay the
goodly land and Lebanon. The Lord showed him all
the land of Gilead imto Dan. Yonder is Carmel, and
beyond it he sees the gleam, of the utmost sea. Through
breaks of the mountains h.e sees Bethlehem and Jebus,

THE DEATH OF MOSES. 187

which is Jerusalem. Then, like Abraham, he saw the
day of Christ, and by faith behold the track of the in-
carnate God. Thy land, 0 Immanuel, appeared before
him, and ho saw it in all its spiritual bearings. What
a vision ! Yet even tJiis melted into a nobler view.
As we liave seen in our childhood by the light of a
magic lantern one view dissolve into another, so did
the lower scene gradually melt away into another ;
and the servant of the Lord found himself removed
from the shadov/s Avhich his eye had seen into the real-
ities which eyes cannot behokl. He had gone from
Canaan below to Canaan above, and from the vision
of Jerusalem on earth to the joy of the City of Peace
in glory. The Babbis say that our text moans that
.Moses died at the mouth of God, and that his soul was
taken away by a kiss from the Lord's mouth. I do
not know, but I have no doubt that there was in ore
sweetness in the truth than even their legend could
set forth. As a mother takes her child and kisses it,
and then lays it down to sleep in its own bed ; so did
the Lord kiss the soul of JMoses away to be with him
for ever, and then he hid his body we know not where.

Whoever had such a burial as that of Moses ? An-
gels contended over it, but Satan has failed to use it
f(n- his purposes. That body was not lost, for in due
time it appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration,
talking with Jesus concerning the greatest event that
ever transpired. Oh that we also may pass away amid
the most joyful prospects ; heaven coming down to us
as we go up to heaven ! May we also attain unto the
resurrection from among the dead, and be with our
Lord in his glory !

Soon our turn shall come. Do we dread it? As
we are favored to serve our Lord we shall be favored

188 THE DEATH OF MOSES.

to be called home in due season. Let us be ever
ready ; yea, joyfully ready. When we are dying we
shall see not the land of iS'aphtali and Ephraim, but
the covenant ; and the infinite provisions of its prom-
ises will be outspread before our soul, as Canaan at the
feet of Moses. Wrapt in happy enjoyment of precious
promises, we shall with surprise find ourselves usher-
ed into the place where the promises are all fulfilled.

" There shall Tve see his face,
And never, never sin,
But from the rivers of his grace,
Drink endless pleasures in."

To the believer it is not death to die. Since Jesus has
died and risen again, the sting of death is gone ;
wherefore let us prepare ourselves to climb where Mo'
ses stood, and view the landscape o'er. Amen.

IX.

LOVING PEESTJASIOIir.

June 26, 1887.
''Persuading them Qoncerning Jesus."— Acts xxviii. 23.

\Vherever Paul is, he has but one errand ; and when-
ever Paul preaches, he has but one subject. Once at
Athens, when he addressed the Areopagus, he seemed
to wander a little from his main point, and no special
good followed, but this experience bound him all the
faster to the cross; for he afterwards said to the Corin-
thians, "I determined not to know anything among
you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." The cross
of Christ was his one theme. He henceforth hammer-
ed on the head of this one nail. Whatever faculty,
ability, and power he had, he turned its whole current
into this one channel, and cried, "God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by wdiom the world is crucufied unto me, and
I unto the workl." Brethren, we have not strength
enough for a dozen things, we have not even strength
enough for two. What little vigor we have, let us
use it all in one direction; let us say, "For me to live
is Christ." You could not have dropped into Paul's
lodging at any time during the two years that he was
at Piome before the emperor liberated him, Avithout
hearing him 'preach of the "things which concern
the Lord Jesus Christ." Every arrow in his quiver

(189)

190 LOVING PERSUASION.

was aimed at the one target; and he knew how to hit
the white of it each time. "This one thing I do,"
said he. His motto was — All for Jesus, and for Jesus
on ly.

The one topic the apostle brought forward in differ-
ent ways. When addressing the chief men of the
Jews in Rome, observe that he expounded, and testi-
fied, and persuaded. These three methods were
needful among the people of those days; and they are
the wisest that can be adopted to bring men to Christ
even now. We must expound, set forth, explain,
make clear the gospel. We must tell men what the
Word of God means, in the plainest possible language;
for they need to know what it is that the revelation
from heaven has really declared. The more of tnie
exposition the better. We must also fes^//}/. We must
bear witness to the effect which the go.spel has had
upon our heart and life. The telling out of our per-
sonal experience is a means of grace to our heaiers.
Paul was wont to describe his own conversion. He
told the story of how the Lord appeared unto him in
the way to Damascus; and he did this so often, tliat
Luke and others, who Avere his companions, must
have heard it several times. Indeed, it was a tale so
worth the tolling that none could weary of hearing
it. Paul knew that personal witness-bearing has a
great weight upon the minds of men; and, therefore,
he was not afraid of being accused of egotism, for he
knew that he did not preach himself, but Christ Jesus
the Lord; and the narrative of his conversion was not
intended at all to honor himself, but to glorify that
blessed Christ, who out of heaven had spoken to liini,
and called him to be a chosen vessel to bear his word
to the Gentiles. There is much force in such a per-

LCVIXG PERSUASION. 191

gonal testimony. Oh, that you and I, after having
explained the gospel, may always be able to tell out
something from our own experience which will prove
it! Mem love, when they hear of a medicine, to meet
with a case of cure; and in the same way, when they
hear of religion, they desire to hear from persons like
themselves what that religion has done for them.
Brethren, we should speak of Jesus in a happy, grate-
ful, earnest manner, and commend him as a Saviour
to our fellow-sinners. Yet this was not all; our apos-
tle was not satisfied simply to expound and testify;
his heart was full of love to his countrymen; and,
therefore, he persu^ided them. He entreated, he be-
sought, he implored his hearers to turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ.

As Paul was speaking to Jews, he fetched the
arguments of his persuasion from their own holy
books. I have no doubt that he had spread cut on
the table before him the books of Moses, and the vari-
ous rolls of the prophets: to these he continually
referred his Jewish friends. We cannot this morning
go into that argument, neither is there need; for you
are not Israelites, and you are already well acquainted
M'ith that mode of argument. Paul must have been a
master in that line of things. I think 1 hear him now
explaining to them concerning Jesus as he appeared
in jMelchisedec; here was a wide subject. Hear him
open up to them the justification of Abraham by faith ;
and then the allegory of Sarah and Plagar, and the
two covenants. I should have liked to liave heard him
speak of Isaac and Ishmael, and of Jacob and Esau,
and the electing love of God as seen in thof e memora-
ble instances. With what rapture would Paul speak
of the sacrifices, reminding them that " without

192 LOVING PERSUASION.

shedding of blood there is no remission," and pointing-
them to the blood of sprinkling, which spoaketh bet-
ter things than that of Abel ! How he would then
open up to them the meaning of the daily oiferings,
the mystery of the day of atonement, the sacred
teaching of the entering in of the high priesst withiji
the veil ! How earnestly would he remind his breth-
ren that the continual repetition of the sacrifices was
a sure evidence that they had not made the con-
sciences of the offerers clean from a sense of sin, or
they would have ceased to be offered ! How heartily
would he direct their minds to that one sacrifice
which Jesus presented once for all when he bowed
Jiis head in death ! I think I can hear him turning to
that memorable passage in Isaiah which so much en-
gaged the attention of the Ethiopian eunuch, and
opening up to his audience the person and suffering
of the Lord Jesus, who was led as a lamb to the
slaughter for our sakes, and for us was stricken, smit-
ten, and afflicted. With such arguments men who
believed those books to be inspired ought to have
been convinced. It is clear that Jesus of Nazareth is
the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. Had
not their hearts been so gross, their eyes so blind, and
their ears so dull, they must have believed in Jesus;
but as it was, many of the Jewish leaders went away
in a pet, quarrelling with those who believed, and
angry with Paul. None are such bitter enemies of
the cross as those who, by a firm resolve, determine to
be blind to its glory and dead to its pov/er.

Thus Paul, you see, in his pleading, adapted him-
self to his audience. He had acquired the knack of
being all things to all men, that he might save some.
In pleading with Israel, for whose salv^ation his heart's

LOIVNG PERSUASIOM. 193

desire and prayer ever rose to heaven, he followed the
Avisest and most hopeful course. He argued from
what they did believe : he urged the truth they al-
ready knew as a reason why they should admit an-
other truth; or, rather, let me say, he showed them that
the gospel of Jesus was involved and contained within
those truths which were assuredly accepted aiuong
them. He spent the whole day at this; but at this time
I shall not pursue his line of reasoning, because it is
not needed among yon, and you have need of per-
suasion of another sort. It would ill become me to
beat tlie air, or exhibit before you a mimic combat
with an absent adversary. No, my friends, 1 liave be-
fore me another sort of people, whose condition needs
another treatment. I long for your immediate conver-
sion. With earnest prayer have I come hither, seek-
ing with tears and entreaties to win men from destruc-
tion. Others have joined me in supplication, and
therefore I look to the Holy Spirit for his gracious
work, that my hearers may be convinced of sin and
led to Jesus.

J- Let me first describe those avhom we would per-
suade. I will so picture you that some of you will see
yourselves as in a looking-glass. I shall not talk to a
people far away, but to you who sit before me this
day.

I luould persuade tJiose persons who believe the truth no-
iiomlhj, and yet do not receive it in their hearts. It seems
a strange thing that men should believe, and yet not
believe. This peculiar form of unbelief is current
among us at this day. It is strange that men believe
the Bible, and even profess to believe it all, and yet
they act as if it were all a dream. If we preach the
deity of Christ, it is an easy task; for they never
13

]94 LOVING persuasion:

thought of questioning it. If we proclaim the need
of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, they are agreed;
for they never doubted it. Whatever doctrine it is
that we can prove by the Word of God, they bow be-
fore it. They are not guilty of scepticism. Ahis !
they hardly give the matter thought enough to
observe any difficulties. Avoiding the whirlpool of
questioning, tliey run upon the rock of indifference.
Their belief holds the truth as spices and linen pre-
serve a mummy. Tlie gospel is to them a dead mon-
arch, honorably interred in the sarcophagus of their
reverence. It has no more power over them than if
they disbelieved it. As a medicine retained upon the
druggist's shelf has no effect upon the body, so is the
gospel stowed away in the minds of many so as to
have no result in their lives. This must be a sad mis-
use of a divine revelation. It cannot have been sent
to us to be without effect. 0 my hearers, if you be-
lieve that fTesus is the Savioui', why is he not your
Saviour? If you beHeve that repentance and faith
bring salvation, why have you not repented and be-
lieved? If you believe that there is a God that hear-
cth praj^er, why do you not pray ? If you know
that you njust be born again, how is it you are
content without the new birth ? How is it that
with regard to the hearing of the word you come and
you go, not once nor twice, but year after year, and
yet you are unmoved and unchanged ? Age steals
over some of you, and finds you not an inch in ad-
vance of wliat you were in yor.r youth. If you did
not believe the Word of God, I could understand your
conduct; hut if you do believe it, why do you not re-
ceive it practically into your hearts? If you were
awakened by a cry of fire, and you were sure that your

LOVING PERSUASION, 195

own house was burning, I should expect to see you
hurrying from the fiiune. I could understand you
keeping to your bed if you were persuaded that the
cry was the mere idle uoisc of boys in the street ; but if
you believed it to be a real alarm, I should be perplex-
ed if I saw you seeking a little more sleep. If you were
told that you had a disease about you which would
soon bring you to your grave, and that a certain phy-
sician could work.a speedy cure ; if you did not believe
the report, I should expect that you would suffer in
the patience of despair; but if you did believe in the
repute of the physician, and in the cures which he had
wrought, I should not be able to understand you if you
did not go to him, and seek relief. 0 sirs, how is it
that you are willing to continue in sin when Jesus is
able to save unto the uttermost? Plow strangely you
act! Alas! Human nature has become monstrous:
it is false to its own instinct of self-preservation, and
acts in a suiciddl manner. Oh that you were wise !
If Jesus tells you the truth, why do you not believe
him ? If Jesus be himself the truth, why do you not
receive him ? Why do you need persuading to a course
so proper, so reasonable ?

Many need jjeysicadin'j, who intend soon to practice what
they have believed, but the time has not fully come. You
have a resolve in your heart that before long you will
turn to Christ; but the unhappy thing is, that you have
for many a day retained this resolve, and it has grown
mouldy Avithin your bosoms. When we met you as
a child you meant to love the Lord. When Ave con-
A^ersed with you as young men and women you were
very hopeful, and your parents felt that their prayers
would soon be heard. You seemed so thoughtful and
impressible, and you had such good intentions, that we

196 LOriXG rEKSUASION.

all reckoned upon your speedily being decided. You
are much older now, but you are not more advanced:
still with you it is all intentions and intentions. 1
"wish there could be a time fixed in your mind when it
should be either " yes," or " no." " How long halt ye
between two opinions?" How long shallJesus be put
off, and the world be served ? Some of you are not a
whit more hopeful than you were twenty years ago.
Let me recall the expression: you are a deal more
hopeless, for you are becoming gospel-hardened. Ap-
peals which once pierced your hearts do not even
wound you now. As water rolls down a marble slab
and leaves nothing behind, so it is now with what you
hear. The sword of the Spirit is as sharp as ever, but
your heart has hardened like steel in the annealing.
Oh, you tliat are for ever resolving and resolving,
and yet abide where you are — you are the people whom
at this time I would persuade to decision !

Some have gone further still: for they are earnestly
seeking salvation, hut they have chosen a ivrong method of
' search, which can only end in disappointment. I would
fain persuade them to leave off seeking the living
among the dead. Salvation is by immediate trust in
Jesus; but you want to feel up to a certain degree of
anguish, or you want to change yourselves up to a
certain point of excellence: in a word, you v/ant to
save yourselves first, and then come to Jesus. You
are trying to make the lantern shin^ before a candle
is put within it. You want to renew your own nature,
and then to come to Christ for a new heart: you are
not content to come to Jesus as sinners. All will be
done for you if you will but put your trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ; bat this you fail to do. If I knev/ how
to put the gospel more plainly than I do, God knows

LOVIXC rEKSUASIOh\ 197

I would not be slack to do so; but jet, with all the
plainness of or.r preaching, our hearers will persist in
going about after this and that hope of their own, in-
stead of at once accepting salvation by Jesus Christ.
Oh, that you were so persuaded of the things concern-
ing Jesus, as to lay hold of them at once ! You need
to be led to see that salvation is all finished, and that
you have but to take it as a free gift, " Christ hath
died," and in that expression lies your life. Believing
in Jesus, you have eternal life tlie moment you believe.
You need to be persuaded to accept this as the present
truth, the most precious truth you can ever hear. If
you will receive it, happy will it be with you ; but if
you continue running hither and thither after salva-
tion, and neglecting the Lord Jesus, you shall perish
in your sins. Why will you pursue the will-o'-the-wisp,
and shut your eyes to the day-star ? Why v/ill you
follow the mirage, and leave the lone well in the des-
ert whose sweet waters will for ever remove your
thirst? Oh, that you were rightly persuaded at this
very moment !

One other class I should like to deal with this morn-
ing: I would fain persuade fAose ?r7io Ziare ^n'ecZ a fo?2f/
ihne to do their best, and, having never succeeded, an
fallinj into a state of despcdr. Theirs is not a painful
despair; I wish it were so; but, alas ! they have fallen
into a lethargy, a paralysis of the mind vrith regard to
heavenly things. " It is no good," they say, "I cannot
get peace, I shall never find pardon. A^ child of God
I canjiot hope to be; I might as well expect to be a
peer of the realm ! " Therefore they sit down in sullen
hopelessness. They mutter that if it is to be it will
be, and it is of no use caring. They are rendered ii>
sensible by the frost-bite of their horrible idea of fate.

193 LOVING PERSUASION.

Oh, that they had been warmed by the sunlight of
belief in a gracious predestination ! ]\Ien die by insen-
sibility as surely as by passion. I fear that some of
3'ou will never awake until in hell you lift up your
eyes. I have had you laid on my heart, and the
thought of your danger presses me down into the dust
at this time. I feel but little joy, even in these jubilee-
times, when I think about those of you who are so near
to the kingdom, and yet are aliens from it. I must
persuade you with all my heart to come to Jesus, for
if you perish in the light, you will perish Avith a ven-
geance. If you go dov/n to destruction from the bor-
ders of salvation, it will be sevcnfohl destruction. If
yon die with Jesus weeping over you, as he did over
Jerusalem, you Avili die horribly. If you sink down
to hell with that word in your cars, " How often would
I have gathered you, as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not !" your sinking
will be like that of a millstone in the sea. If you per-
ish under a gospel ministry, it were better for you that
you had never been born.

These are the people I long to perpuade. 0 Divine
Spirit, work through me at this time, and let the eter-
nal purposes of love be fulfilled ! 0 my brethren in
Christ, I entreat you, by the love of Jesus, strive to-
gether with me in your prayers for this blessing !

II. Our second point shall be : LET_us_p^syj^,£Ejsgji.
But arc we right in trying to persuade men ? Are not
human hearts too hard to be broken by so feeble a
hammer as oiu* persuasion ? Yes, I most solemnly
believe they are : but that is not the question. "AVhat
is the use of persuading them, if you know that they
Avill not be won by your persuasion in and of itself? '
Well, brethren, I feel safe in doing what Paul die]

LOFJAG FEESUASWA. 199

I will not stop to solve difficulties, but Aerely say, Paul
per.sua>led, and so will I. "Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men." "Oh,'' says
one, " we may persuade awakened sinners, but not
dead sinners ! " But I reply that Paul persuaded these
chief men of the Jews, some of whom never believed
in Jesus, for their hearts were gross, and their eyes
were blinded. Paul persuaded them, thougli they were
jncljpially blinded. He knew that they were living
men, and that they were possessed of reason, even
though they had no grace ; and so he appealed to
what remained in them, and he persuaded theiu.
Again I say, I will do what Paul did. But I know, as
Paul also knew, that all the human persuasion in the
world will fall short of the mark without divine power.
I never dreamed that my persuasion was of the slight-
est avail without the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Spirit
will cause the persuasion to reach the inw^ard ear, then
it will prevail, and not else: if he will drive home the
persuasion, so that it touches the heart which is en-
cased in the fat of worldly pleasure, indifference, pre-
judice, and pride, then men will yield, and men will
be persuaded indeed. But the Holy Spirit will do
this! He has done it; he is doing it; he will doit;
and therefore we persuade. Brothers, why should we
not expect the Holy Spirit to display his power ? We
have sought it with fervent prayer. The preacher
comes on this platlbrm neither without his own pray-
ers, nor without your prayers ; and so we are persuaded
that we shall have divine help. Therefore, 0 sinners,
"as though God did beseech you hy us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God'' !

Once more, in the name of God, I return to the work
to which God has ordained me. I would persuade you

200 LOVING PERSUASION.

concerning Jesus. To loliat shall I persuade you ?
My clear hearers, I -vvould persuade some of you to
think of Christ, the Lord's anointed; to think of Jesus,
the Saviour. I would have you read about him, and
study his person, work, and character. Turn to the
four evangelists, and see what he was, and what he
did. Eead carefully and reverently the inspired lives
of Jesus. Faith often comes to men when they are
thinking about Christ. The cross not only claims
faith, but it creates it. To sit and see the Son of God
die on the cross is the way to get faith. Some of you,
perhaps, have been sitting still, and trying to believe.
That is a very absurd thing to do, for faith is not a
first effort of the mind, but it follows upon other states-
Know v/hat is to be believed, and v/hy you are to
believe it. Know who he is in v»diom you are to put .
your trust, and why he deserves to be trusted. Shut
yourselves up a bit: read the Bible carefully, and then
meditate, and meditate, and meditate. This is the
way in which faith grows up in the soul, even as plants
spiing from seed sown anxl watered. Faith cometh by
hearing o)- reading — the hearing or reading of the
Word of God. " Incline your ear," saith the Lord
God, "and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall
live." May I not persuade you to think seriously and
often about the way of salvation by Jesus Christ?

The next thing I would persuade you to is to trust in
him. Trust is the essence of saving faith. Faith is
not merely believing facts, but trusting to a person.
God has set forth Christ to be a propitiation for sin :
he becomes to me my propitiation when I trust him.
Can you not trust Jesus ? Is he not worth trusting ?
Where else can you trust ? The moment you trust in
him you are saved. You know that: why not prove it

LOVL\G PERSUASION. 201

true by personal faith ? To trust is the meaning of that
text, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth." There is life in a glance of trust. You are
living men when you look to Christ, or trust him.

" But," you say, " I do uot feel " Away with your

buts ! What have I said about your feelings ? " Be-
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved." " He that believeth on him hath everlasting
life." Salvation lies in the simple act of trusting
in you/ Saviour. Oh, tliat I could persuade you to
trust !

And when you have trusted him, I want to persuade
you concerning Jesus that you should avow that trust.
riie Lord puts it tlais : " He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved." Be baptized, therefore, in
obedience to his command. Come out boldly, and
say, " I am on the Lord's side." Do not attempt to go
Siieaking to heaven along some back lane ; come
into the king's highway ; take up your cross and fol-
low him. He that will not confess him before men,
Christ Vi'ill not confess before his Father who is in
heaven. What is there to be ashamed of in Jesus ?
H' Christ be your Saviour, the very least thing you
can do is to say, " I am his disciple," and openly to de-
clare yourself on his side. He puts it so — " He that
with his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh
confession of him, shall be saved." I would persuade
yon to an open confession ; may God the Holy Spirit
lead you at once to the doing of it !

And if I were happy enough to persuade you so far,
I would persuade you to obey Christ thronghout life.
"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Seek to lead
a holy, harmless, blameless life. Endeavor to avoid
all sin, endeavor to copy the Son of God throughout

202 LOVING PERSUASION.

your whole course, raakinf^ him your model and your
]\laster, your leader and your Lord. Some of you who
have openly confessed Him, still need to be persuad-
ed to a closer obedience. " Without holiness no man
shall see the Lord." The way of complete obedience
is the way of happiness ; and many professors njiss
the joy of their Lord — I am half afraid they will miss
his acceptance at the last, because they are not careful
to walk in his ways, and to glorify his holy name by a
holy life. I would persuade you then to think of
Christ, to trust in Christ, to confess Christ, and to obey
Christ.

What shall he my arguments? I can summon battab
ions of them/rom Jesus Idmsdf. lie is the Son of God :
therefore, trust him. He loves with a supreme love ;
shall we not love him who first loved us? He died!
Oh, by his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and
passion, 1 would persuade you to turn to him ! Every
drop of blood of the great Substitute, every sigh and
every cry of the Eedeemer, is an argument with men
that they should not neglect his salvation, but should
come and trust him. He is risen, and lives again: de-
spise not the risen Saviour ; come and bow before
him who is proved to be the Son of God with power
by his resurrection from the dead. He has gone up
into his glory. He sitteth at the right hand of God :
obey him, then, for all power is given to him in heaven
and in earth. He will shortly come, and you and I (in
how short a time !) will have to stand before his judg-
ment-seat. Believe not those who would bid you trifle
with a future state, and think little of the judgment to
come. 0 men and women, a short time will swallow
us all up in the grave, and we shall pass into anotiier
world ; in little more than the twinkling of an eye we

LOVING PERSUASION. 203

shall hear the last trumpet heralding the Judge !
Then shall "we hear the summons," Come to judgment !
Come to judgment ! Come away ! " Then 1 shall
have to give an account of this morning's sermon.
What a weight to have to preach to all of you, and to
have your blood laid at my door if I preach not faith-
fully to you ! 0 God .Most Mercifid, grant to all of us
that knov/ing that Christ will come, and come to judg-
ment, we may lay this fact to heart, and be persuaded
to put our trust in him, who will otlierwise pronounce
upon us the sentence of eternal perdition !

I may summon another battalion of arguments
from your oiun state and need. O sirs, you that are un-
converted are yet in your sins, encrusted with years of
gathered foulness ! Your sins hang about you now
like the white scales of leprosy : they are on your
brows, and in your hearts. There is but one that
can cleanse these defilements: it is Jesus. Why do
you not tly to him ? Moreover, remember the sinful-
ness-of your nature. You will go on to sin; your
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked; you v/ill not cease from sinning. . Jesus alone
can give you a new heart and a right spirit. He is
the one physician able to cure your fatal disease. Will
you not cry to him, "Jesus, Emmanuel, heal me with
a touch''? Will you refuse to be made whole? I
pray you do not sa

Even now you are conscious of a w^earisome rest-
lessness: you are not happy, you have forebodings of an
a^vful future. You know you are not at peace. From
all the gay and gallant sights you have seen this week
you have turned away sick at heart : you need some-
thing better, and more substantial. Be assured there
is no rest for you but in Christ : he saith unto you,

204 LOVING PERSUASION.

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give yon rest." Turn not away from the
one and only rest of your souls ; but this day accept
him ; take his yoke upon ^^ou, and learn of him, and
you shall find rest unto your souls. As you love your
■ souls, as you desire happiness here, as you desire
blessedness hereafter, I beseecli you to lay hold on
eternal life in Jesus.

If [ wanted more arguments there are many quarters
from which they would come at my bidding. I would
try to find them in your hopes and fears. I do not
know to whom 1 may be speaking now ; but, my
friend, there is a glorious future before you if Christ
becomes yours. Burdened sinner, there is a peace
which passeth .all understanding if you will look to
Jesus! 0 distracted, tempest-tossed soul, there is a
haven of rest for you if you steer to Christ ! 1
would fain persuade you now to come to him whose
gift is heaven below and then heaven above. I my-
self have tried him. Blessed was the day in which I
fell into liis arms. 0 happy hour in wliich I looked
to him and was lightened ! Truly, my face is not
ashamed, nor is my tongue ashamed of my Lord, nor
is my understanding ashamed to believe his gospev,
though all men should cast doubt upon it. I have no
other hope under heaven, no other joy in heaven, but
my Saviour and his infallible word. If you knew the
comfort which my soul finds in Jesus you could not
desire a better. 0 you young people, I would espec-
ially say to you — come early to Jesus, for they that
seek him early shall find him with supreme delight!
You will come to die soon ; here is the antidote of
death. The strongest and youngest will one day
have to go up-stairs and gather up his feet in the bed.

LOVING PERSUASION. 205

Oh, what a comfort atid joy it gives you in that hour
to have the presence of your Lord ! After death
comes the for ever and ever. What biiss to be "for
ever with the Lord " ! That endless fellowship with
Jesus means an immeasurable weight of glory. Surely
these arguments ought to prevail with you. They
will, if your reason is made reasonable.

Hoio ought I to plead wiili you when I have told you
these arguments ? I ought to plead with you in a
manner far superior to that which I have yet reached,
Alas ! I cannot persuade you as I would. I think
the preacher should feel a burning desire for his
hearers' conversion, and even an intense anguish of
heart for the immediate salvation of those to whom he
speaks. To this I have attained: I long for your
salvation most vehemently. I would say anything,
and say it anyhow, if I could but win yout« immedi-
ate faith in the Lord Jesus. The desire is so strong
upon me that should I not succeed on this occasion, I
v/ill try again; and if, unhappily, I should fail again,
] will continue at the work as long as you live and I
am able to reach you. 0 my hearers, I cannot endure
that you should die in yoiu- sins ! I will go before
God in secret, and lay your case before him, and beg
him to interpose. We cannot let you be damned, my
hearers. It is too dreadful. We cannot stand by and
see you lost. If you are so insane as to refuse the
Saviour, those who have sober judgments will still
continue to pray for you, and to weep in secret
places because of your sins. If we cannot prevail
v/ith you for God, we -will endeavor to prevail with
God for you. I would have every person in this place
act reasonably, righteously, truthfully, honestly to
his own soul; and if he does so, he will be persuaded

200 LOVIXG PERSUASION.

this day to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God,
and cast iumself at iiis pierced feet.

III. Now I have to speak a few words upon

another subject, with the same object. It is this — >

LET us LAMENT THE FACT* THAT OUR PERSUASIONS FAIL IN^CERr

TAIN CASES. Paul fouud it SO ; and where this chief of
apostles was baffled, can I wonder if I fail ? The
sower went forth to sow; he was a model sower; the
Master put him in his parable as a pattern: he could
not have sown better seed, nor have sown it better,
and yet some of his seed fell on stony places, some
fell by the wayside, and yet a third fell among thorns.
Only one portion of what he sowed appears to have
fallen upon good soil. Let me speak to those of you
who will, I fear, be our failures. I grieve to think
there should be any such. It is a sad business in the
present f«r' a man to be living without Christ. We
pity abject poverty; but this is worse than the worst
poverty. We are sorry for the friendless; but none
are so forlorn as those who have not Jesus for a
friend. No ignorance is so terribleas ignorance of the
Saviour; no blindness so deplorable as blindness
towards the Lord Jesus. To live without Christ is
not life, but a breathing death. You are in the hey-
day of your y^outh, perhaps, and think that you are
enjoying pleasure; but indeed it is not worth the
name. You are eating husks and missing the ker-
nels. Your mirth is as the crackling of thorns under
a pot : it flares, and blazes up, but there is no heat
in it; it dies down in a moment, and leaves nothing
but a few ashes. If I had to die like a dog I should
still wish to live the life of a Christian. Faith is good
for this life. There is more solid joy in five minutes'
fellowship with Christ than iu a thousand years of

LOVING PERSUASION. 207

revelling in the palaces of kings. You are a loser in a
thousaud ways by remaining an hour without Christ.
It is a Avretclied business to be God's enemy, to miss
rest of heart, and to be a stranger to the Holy Spirit.

It is a wretched business to be now neglecting the
great salvation; but this is not all: your present
liardness of heart reveals a good deal as to your past
life. If you will not be persuaded of the things con-
cerning Jesus, it shows that your heart and conscience
have been injured by years of wilful resistance to the
power of truth. You have been stopping up your
ears, and that is wdiy you are so deaf. You have been
sealing up your eyes, or you v/ould not be so utterly
blind. You have been hardening your heart against
gracious appeals, or else you w^ould not now be made
of such hardened steel. Remember those 3'ears of
broken Sabbaths, and see what they have done for
you; they have blinded and hardened you. Ilemem-
ber the neglected house of God, and see how callous
you have now become. Think of the times in which
you. have heard the gospel, and refused its tender
warr^ings, instructions, and invitations, and see what
has come of those refusals. You are now well nigh
insensible. Oh, that black, black past!

We are also fearful about you, because your past and
present foretell a future of continued and increasing
blindness, deafness, and insensibility. I fear for some
of you that you have been judicially hardened by the
withdrawal of the Holy Ghost, that you are also
hardened by the tei'rible influence of Satan, and that
vou have also allowed the suicidal influence of self-
w'ill to sear your conscience, as with a hot iron. You
are such a trifler that it is hard to get a serious
thought into your mind ; you arc so fickle that none

208 LUVIXG PERSUASION.

of our liopes concerning jou are ever realized ; you
are so superficial tliat it is diiiicult to make any deep
impression upon you. You crush beneath your feet
the eggs of better things : you stifle the good thoughts
wJiich sometimes are born within you. Holy teach-
ings fall upon your mind as sparks which drop into a
pool of water. You have almost come to a condition
of mind in which you are like a man covered with
armor, from which the sharpest arrows glance off.
0 God, let it not. be quite so, we beseech thee, with
any one here !

This is all the sadder because it suggests such tre-
mendous sin, and such overwhelming punishment. I
cannot tell you what must be the doom of Sodom and
Gomorrah, neither can you yourselves conceiAC its
full horror. They gave themselves up unto unmention-
able lusts, until at last God was so provoked that he
would bear it no longer, and he resolved to destroy
the f51tl:iy ones, and the place which they liad polluted.
He pulled up the sluices of his wrath, and cata-
racts of fire poured down from heaven lipon the
unclean ones. Heaven sent down fire and brimstone
instead of silver showers. Then were the sinners
burned up on a sudden, and not a wreck, either ol" the
Sodomites or of their city, was left. This was an
unparalleled instance of divine justice, for tiieir sin
had broken all bounds. What their doom must be in
the day of judgment I leave you to imagine; but
remember these words and weigh them well — " It
shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than for you." Dear l^oy
that you wx>re upon your mother's knee, fair girl that
you were in the Sunday-school class, speaking so
hopefully in your younger days, you will have to giA^e

LOVJNG PERSUASION. 209

an account for tlie deiays Avhich aro ruining jou.
Hearer as you were, and as you are this morning,
listening respectfully to God's ambassador — if you
refuse the monitions, of infinite love, what must be-
come of you ? Those were not my lips, rememher,
which first spoke those dagger-like words; but they
foil from the lips of the Prince of love who died for
men. It is Christ himself who said to those who
lizard his word and sa\v his mighty works, and yet
refused to repent, " Woe unto you, it shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for vou."

Yes, I have endeavored to persuade you, and if 1
must labor in vain, I shall turn away Avith great
reluctance, mourning that I may not be allowed to be
a blessing to you. I quit you wdth lingering foot-
step, and bow regretfully beftn-e the Lord, crying,
" Who hath believed my report; and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed ? " Why will you die ?
Why will you rush upon such a destruction ? Oh,
that you were wdse !

I\^ But now, to change my strain, that we may
not finish upon so sad a note, let me persevere in per-
suADixG OTHERS. Notice that the apostle w^as not
liindered in his work by sorrowing over those who
rejected his persuasion, biit he turned to others of
whom he had better hope. Having spoken a solemn
parting word, he said, "Be it known, therefore, unto
you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gen-
tiles, and that they will hear it." To these Gentiles
for two years Paul continued "preaching the kingdom
of God, and teaching those things which concern the
Lord" Jesus Christ." He kept to his work, but he
changed his audience. We also will preach the gos-
pel to those who have not enjoyed Christian privi-

210 LOVING rERSUASlON-.

leges. We preach Jesus to you who were not born
of godly parents, nor brought up under Christian
care. We preach free grace and dying love to you
who hitherto have not attended the house of prayer,
nor cared to hear the Avord of everlasting life. If the
moral refuse mercy, we declare it to the immoral.
The Jews had been religious in profession; but as
they refused Christ, our a()ostle preached him to the
C entile population in Rome, which in Paul's day was
worse than London, if worse can be. Rome was an
infamous den of every villany beneath the sky; but
Paul without hesitation preached Christ to all the
Romans thathecould reach; to soldiers, and to slaves,
to Csesar's household, and to runaways. He believed
in the adaptation of f lie gospel to the most degraded.
With no weapon but the cross, he attacked a city
sunk in idolatry and vice. So we also, when repulsed
by you who think yourselves exceedingly respectable,
turn with hope to those who have been drunkards,
swearers, thieves, harlots, and the like. To the chief
of sinners we present the great salvation. To you is
the word of this salvation sent. " Whosoever will, kt
him take of the vv^ater of life fi'eely." " Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners." " All manner
of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men."

Ye far-off ones, that dwell out of the reach of the
common means of grace, the arm of mercy is stretch-
ed out to you. You who are not a people shall be
made a people, and she that was not beloved shall be
called the beloved of the Lord. Paul said of the Gen-
tiles, "They will hear it"; and we have the same
confidence concerning many great transgressors. I
thank (jod that those who never heard the gospel
before have heard it in this great house, and have sc

LOVLXG I'ER SUASION. . 2H

heard it that they have at once yielded to its de-
mands, and accepted its provisions. i\Jany who have
been without hope, and without God, and without fear
of eternal things, have heard the doctrine of free, rich,
sovereign mercy, and have turned at once from their
siiis, and laid hold upon the hope set before them.

Oh that more woukl come! They will come;
" They Avill hear it." The divine purpose is that the
Lord M-ill pi'ovoke the outwardly religious by saving
those who made no pretence of godliness. Because
yon were invited to the feast, and would not come,
therefore the master of the house, being angry, issues
a wider invitation, and gives the grand command,
" Go out into the highways and hedges, and as many
as ye find compel them to come in." If you will not
have salvation, others will. Clirist shall not be disap-
pointed; he shall not die in vain; his Spirit shall not
strive wnthout success. "A seed shall serve him."
Jesus shall have a people saved by his precious blood.
1 hope that many such are brought here this morning
on purpose to be blessed. I hope they- will leap for-
ward to catch at the gracious message. Oh that
some of them would cry out, "I believe, I trust, I rest
in Jesus " ! If it be so, go your way, God has saved
you. If thou believest that Jesus is the Christ, thou
art bor!i of God. Thou hast been worldly, sinful,
abundantly wicked; yet, if thou wilt have Christ now,
have him, and welcome. If thou art now drawn
towards him, come at once, and linger not. " For
the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed." May his sweet love persuade you
in the things concerning Jesus ! Amen.

X.

THE BLOOD SHED FOE MAIJ'Y.

July 3, 1887.

" This is jny blood of the new testament, wliich is slied for macy
for tlie remissiou of sins." — Matthew xxvi. 28.

The L(n-d Jesus Christ was then alive, sitting at the
table; and yet, pointing to the cup filled with red wine,
he said, "This is my blood, Avhicli is shed for man}"."
Tliis proves that lie could not have intended that the
wine was literally his blood. Surely it is no longer
necessary to refute the gross and carnal dogma of
transubstantiation, which is obviously absurd. There
sat the living Lord at the supper, v>^ith his blood in
his veins, and therefore the wine could not literally be
his blood. Value the symbol, but to confound it with
the thing symbolized would draw into the idolatrous
"worship (.f a piece of bread.

Our Lord spoke of his blood as shed, when as yet
the noils had not pierced his hands and feet, and the
spear had not broached his side. Is not this to be ac-
counted for by the fact that our Lord was so taken
U]> with the thought of our redemption by his death
that he speaks of that as done which he was so resolv-
ed to do ? Enjoying loving intercourse with his chos-
en disciples, he spake freely ; his heart did not study
accuracy so much as feeling ; and so, in speech as in
feeling, he antedated his great work of atonement, and
spoke of it as done. To set forth the future intent of
(212)

THE BLOOD SUED FOR MANY. 213

the blessed ordinance of the Lord's Supper he must
of necessity treat his death as an accomplished fact ;
and his complete absorption in his work made it easy
and natural for him to do so. He ignores moods and
tenses ; " his work is before him."

By the nse of such lang;uage, our Lord also shows us
the abiding presence of the great sacrifice as a power
and an influence. He is the " Lamb slain from the
foundation of the World,'' and therefore he speaks of
his blood as shed. In a few hours it would be liter-
ally jDonred forth ; but long ages before, the Lord God
had regarded it as done. In full confidence in the
great Surety that he woukl never draw back from the
perfect fulfilment of his engagements, the Father
saved multitudes in virtue of the future sin-offering.
He communed with myriads of saints on the strength
of the purification which would in the fulness of time
be presented by the great High Priest. Could not the
Father trust his Son ? He did so, and by this act set
us a great example of faith. God himself is in very
deed the Father of the faithful, seeing that he himself
reposed the utmost confidence in Jesus, and because
of what he would yet do in the pouring out of his soul
unto death, lie "opened the kingdom of heaven to all
believers." What, my soul ! canst thou not trust the
sacrifice now that it has been presented ? If the fore-
sight of it was enough for God, is not the consumma-
tion of it enough for thee? "Behold the Lamb of
God," who even before he died was described as tak-
ing away the sin of the world. If this was so before
lie went to Calvary, how surely is it so now that he
has said in verity and truth, " It is finished'' !

Dear friends, I am going to preach to you again
upon the corner-stone of the gospel. How many times

214 THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

will this make, I wonder ? The doctrine of Christ
crucified is always witli me. As the Roman sentinel
in Pompeii stood at his post even when the city was
destrcn^ed, so do I stand to the trntli of the atonement
though the chnrch is being buried beneath tlie boiling
mud-show^ers of modern heresy. Everything else can
wait, but this one truth m.ust be proclaimed with a
voice of thunder. Others may preach as they will,
but as for this pulpit, it shall always resound with the
substitution of Christ. " God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Some may continually preach Christ as an example,
and others may perpetually discourse upon his com-
ing to glory : we also preach both of these, but main-
ly we preach Christ crwcj^'ec?, to the Jews, a stumbling-
block, and to the Greeks foolishness ; but to them
that are saved, Christ the power of God, and the wis-
dom of God.

You have before you a cup filled with wine, which
Jesus has just blessed, and presented to his disciples.
As you look into its rosy depths, hear him speak of
tlie cup as his blood ; for thus he would teach us a
solemn lesson.

I. Note, first, the bieortance of the precious blooi)
g^.ciiRiST. The vital importance of the great truth of
the death of Christ as a vicarious sacrifice, is set be-
fore us in this cup, which is the memorial of his blood
shed for many.

Blood represents sufiering ; but it goes further and
suggests suffering unto death. " The blood is the life
thereof," and when blood is too copiously shed death
is suggested. Remember that in the sacred supper
you have the bread as a separate emblem of the body,
and then the wine as a separate symbol of the blood ;

THE BLOOD SHED EOR MANY. 215

thus you have a clear picture of death, since the blood
is separated from the flesh. "As often as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death."
Both acts are essential.

Upon the death of Christ you are invited to fix your
attention, and upon that only. In the suffering of
our Lord unto death we see the boundless stretch of
his love. " Greater love hath no man than tliis, that he
lay down his life for his friends."' Jesus could not be
more loving to us than to yield himself unto death,
even the death of the cross. O my Lord, in thy bloody
sweat, and in the piercing of thy hands, and feet, and
side, I see the highest prt)of of thy love ! Here I see
that Jesus " loved me, and gave himself for me." Be-
loved, I beg yon to consider often and Jovingly the
sufferings of your Picdeemer, unto the pouring out of
his heart's blood. Go with him to Gethsemane, and
thence to the liouse of Cuiaphas and Annas, and then
to Pilate's hall, and Herod's place of mockery! Be-
hold your Lord beneath the cruel scourges, and in the
hands of the executioners upon the hill of sliame.
Forget not one of the sorrows which were mingled in
the bitter cup of his crucifixion— its pain, its mockery,
its shame. It was a death reserved for slaves and
felons. To make its deep abysses absolutely bottom-
less, he was forsaken even of his God. Let the dark-
ness of " Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani," bear down upon
your spirit, till, as you sink in awe, you also rise m
love. He loved you better than he loved himself !
The cup means love, even to the shedding of his
blood for you.

It means somethiiig more. We have called our
Lord, in our hymn, '• Giver of life for life." and that is
what this cup means. He gave up his life that we

21G THE BLCOD SHED FOR A/AAV.

might live. He siooJ in our place and stead in the
day of Jehovah's wrath, receiving into his bosom the
fierv sword which was unsheathed for our destruction.
The pouring out of his blood has made our peace with
God. Jehovah made the soul of his onlj-begotten an
offering for sin, that the guilty might be cleared,
" He hath made Iiim to be sin for us, who knew no sin ;
that we might be made the righteousness of God m
him." That is what the wine in the cup means: it
means the death of Jesus in our stead. It means the
blood poured out from the lieart of the incarnate God,
that we might have fellowship with God, the sin which
divided us being expiated by his death.

Our blessed Saviour woukl have us hold his death
in great reverence-, it is to be our chief memory. Both
the emblems of the Lord's Supper set forth the Sa-
viour's death. This peculiarly Christian ordinance
teaches nothing if it does not teach this. Christ's
death for men is the great doctrine of the church.
We profess ourselves partakers of the merit of his death
when we come to this table; our Lord's death is then
remembered, shown, declared, testified, and trusted in.
Evidently the Lord Jesus means us to treat the fact of
his death as a truth to be made pre-eminently promi-
nent: he would not have instituted an ordinance spe-
cially to remind us of the shedding of his blood, if he
had not regarded it as the forefront of his whole
earthly career.

The other ordinance of our holy faith also sets forth
our Lord's death. Are we not •' Buried vnth him l)y
baptism into death?" Ls not baptism an emblem of his
being immersed beneath the waves of sorrow and
death ? Baptism shows us that participation in Christ's
suffering by which we begin to live; the Lord's Sup-

THE BLOOD SJ-JEJJ FOR MANY. 217

per sllo^^s us that participatiou in Christ's suffering
l>j which that liie Is sustained. Both institutions
point to his death.

Besides, beloved, we know from Holy Scripture thr.t
this doctrine of the death of Christ is the very core of
Christianity. Leave out the cross, and you have kill-
ed the religion of Jesus. Atonement by the blood of
Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth ; it is the heart
of it. Even as the Lord said of the animal, " The blood
is the life thereof," so is it true of the gospel, the sacri-
ficial death of Jesus is the vital point of our profess-
ion. I know nothing of Christianity without th«
blood of Christ. No teaching is healthy which throws
the cross into the background. The other da}', wdien
I was inquiring about the welfare of a certain congie-
gation, my informant told me that there had been few
additions to the church, although the minister was a
man of ability and industry. Furthermore, he let me
see the reason of the failure, for he ailded, " I have at-
tended there for several years, and during all that time
I do not remember hearing a sermon upon tlie sacri-
fice of Christ. The atonement is not denied, but it is
left out." If this be so, what is to become of our
churches? If the light of the atonement is put under a
bushel, the darkness will be dense. In omitting the
cross you have cut the tendon Achilles of the church:
it cannot move, nor even stand, when this is gone.
Holy work falls to the ground: it faints and dies
when the blood of Jesus is taken away. The cross must
be put in the front more than ever by the faithful, be-
cause so many are unfaithful. Let us endeavor to
make amends for the dishonor done to our divine
blaster by those who deny or dishonor his vicarious
sacrifice.: let us abide steadfast in this laith while oth-

218 THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

crs waver, and preach Christ crucified if all else for-
bear. Grace, mercy, and peace be to all who exalt
Christ cr^^cified !

This remembrance of the death of Christ must be a
constant remembrance. The Lord's Supper was meant
to be a frequent feast of fellowship. It is a grievous
mistake of the church when the communion is held but
once in the year, or once in a quarter of a year; and I
cannot remember any Scripture which justifies once in
the month. I should not feel satisfied without breaking
bread on every Lord's-day. It has come to me even
oftener than once a week; for it has been my delight
to break bread with many a little corapan}^ of Christ-
ian friends. Whenever this Supper is celebrated, we
declare that " Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures.' We cannot think of that death too often.
Never was man blamed in heaven for preaching Christ
too much; nay, not even on earth to the sons of God
Av^as the cross ever too much spoken of. Outsiders may
say, "This man harps only upon one string.' Do
you v/cnder ? The carnal mind is enmity against God,
and it specially shows its hatred by railing at the cross.
Saintly ones find here, in the perpetual monotony of
the cross, a greater variety than all other doctrines
put together. Preach you Christ, and Christ, and
Christ, and nothing else but Christ, and opened ears
shall find in your ministry a wondrous harmony of
linked sweetnesses, a charming perfectness of all man-
ner of delicious voices. All good things lie within the
compass of the cross; its outstretched arms over-
shadow the whole world of thought ; from the east even
unto the west it sheds a hallowed influence; mean-
while, its foot is planted deep in the eternal myste-
ries, and its top pierces all earth-born clouds, and rises

THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY. 219

to the throne of the :\Iost High. Christ is lifted up
upon the cross, that he may draw all men unto him ;
and if we- desire to draw them, this must be our magnet.
Beloved, the precious blood of Christ should be had
by us in vivid rememhrance. There is something to me
most homely about that cup filled with the fruit of the
vine. The bread of the Supper is the bread of our
Common meal, and the wine is the usual attendant of
feasts. That same pure blood of the grape which is
set on our sacramental table I drink with my friend.
Look at those rvby, ruddy drops, suggesting your
Lord's own blood. 1 had not dared to invent the sym-
bol, nor might any man of mortal mould have ventur^
ed on such a thing, lest he should seem to bring that
august death down to our lowly level; but in infinite
condescension Jesus himself chooses the symbol, and
while by its materialism he sets forth the reality of the
sacrifice, by its commonness he shows how freely we
partake thereof. lie would not have us know him after
the flesh, and forget the spiritual nature of his griefs;
but yet he would have us know that he was in a real
body when he bled, and that he died a real death, and
be(;ame most truly fit for burial; and tiierefore he sym-
bolizes his blood, not by some airy fancy, or mystic
sign, but by common wine in the cup. Thus would
he reach us by our eye and by our taste, using two
gates of our nature which lead up to the castle of the
heart, but are not often the King's roadway thereto.
0 blessed Master, dost thou arrange to teach us so
forcibly ? Then let us be impressed with the reality
of the lesson, and never treat thy passion as a thing
of sentiment, nor make it a myth, nor view it as a
dream of poesy. Thou shalt be in death most real to
QS, even as is that cup whereof we drink.

220 '^'^^ BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

The dear memorials of our Lord's blood-shedding
are intended for a personal rememhrancc. There is no
Lord's Supper except as the wine touches the lip, and
is received into the communicant's own self. All must
partake. lie says, "drink ye all of it." You cannot
take the Lord's Supper by deputy or representative;
you must each of you approach the table, and person-
ally eat and drink. Beloved, we must come into per-
sonal contact with the death of Christ. This is essen-
tial. We must each one say, " He loved me, and g-avc
himself for me." In his blood you must be personally
washed; by his blood you must be personally recon-
ciled to God; through his blood you must personally
have access to God; and by his blood you must person-
ally overcome the enemy of your souls. As the Israel-
ite's own door must be smeared with the blood of the
Paschal lamb, so must you individually partake of the
true Sacrifice, and know each one for himself the power
of his redemption.

As it is personal, it is a charming fact that it is a
happij remembrance. Our remembrance of Christ is
chastened with repentance, but it is also perfumed
with faith. The Lord's Supper is no funeral meal, but
a festival ; most fitly do we begin it with the giving
of thanks, and close it with a liymn. It is by many
called the " Eucharist," or the giving of thanks: it is
not a fast, but a feast. ]\ly happiest moments are spent
with the King at his table, wiien his banner over me
is love. The death of Christ is a well-spring of solemn
joy. Before our great Sacrifice died, the best token
of his death was the blood of bulls and of goats. See
how the victims writhe in death ! The sacrificial knife
does terrible work at the foot of the altar; it is hard
to stand bv, and see the creatures bleed. After our

THE BLOOD SUED FOR MANY. 221

Lord's death was over, the blood of animals was not the
type, but the blood of the grape. That which was
terrible in x)rospect is joyous in remembrance. Ihat
which was blood in the shedding is wine in the re-
ceiving. It came from him wit h a wound, but it comes
to ns with a blessing. His blood is oiu- song in the
house of our pilgrimage, and it shall add the best mu-
Pic to our heavenly harmonies as we sing before the
throne: " Unto him that hath loved us, and washec/
us from our sins in his own blood ; to him be glory ibr
ever and ever." If our Lord Jesus has made the mem-
ory of his love to be more sweet than wine, let us never
turn from it as though it had become a distasteful
theme. Let us find our choicest pleasures at the

cross.

Once more, our Saviour meant us to maintam the
doctrine of his death, and the shedding of his blood
for the remission of sins, even to the end of time, for
he made it to be of perpetual remembrance. We drink
this cup " until he comes." If the Lord Jesus had fore-
seen Avith approbation the changes in religious thought
which would be brought about by growing "culture,"
he would surely have arranged a change of symbols
to suit the change of doctrines. Would he not have
warned us that, towards the end of the nineteenth
century, men would become so '-enlightened" that
the foith of Christendom must of necessity take a new
departure, and therefore he had appointed a change
of sacramental memorials? But he has not warned
us of the coming of those eminently great and wise
men wlio have changed all things, and abolished the
old-fashioned truths for which martyrs died. Brethren,
I do not believe in the wisdom of these men, and their
changes I abhor; but had there been any ground for

222 7'-^^ BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

snch chang'es, the Lord's Supper would not have been
made of perpetual obligation. The perpetuity of ordi-
nances indicates a pej'petuity of doctrine. But hear
the moderns talk — "The Apostles, the Fathers, the
Puritans, they were excellent men, no doubt, but then,
you see, they lived before the uprise of those wonder-
ful scientific men who have enlig-htened us so much."
Let me repeat what I have said. If we had come to a
new point as to believing, should we not have come
to a new point as to the ordinances in which those
beliefs are embodied ? I think so. The evident intent
of Christ in giving us settled ordinances, and espe-
cially in settling this one Avhich so clearly commemo-
rates his bloodshedding, was that wo might know that
the truth of his sacrifice is forever fixed and settled,
and nnist unchangeably remain the essence of his gos-
pel. Neither nineteen centuries, nor nineteen thous-
and ceuturies, can make the slightest difference in
this truth, nor in the relative proportion of this truth
to other truths, so long as this dispensption lasts.
Until he comes a second time without a sin-offering
unto salvation, the grand work of his first coming
must be kept first and foremost bi all our teaching,
trusting, and testifying. As in the southern hemi-
sphere the cross is the mariner's guide, so, under all
skies, is the death of our Redeemer the polestar of our
hope upon the sea of life. In life and in death we will
glory in the cross of Christ, and never be ashamed of
it, be we where we niay.

II. Sec(mdly, note well tiie connection op the blood
0^ Christ with the covenant. Read the text again :
"This is my blood of the new testament." The trans-
lation would be better, " This is my blood of the cov.
en ant."

THE BLGOD SHED FOR MANY. £23

What is this covenant ? The covenant is that which
I read to you just now in Jeremiah xxxi. 33: "This
"shall be the covenant that I will make Avith the house
of Israel; After those days, saitii the Lord, I will put
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people." See also Jeremiah xxxii. 40: "And I will
make an everlasting covenant with tliem, that I will
not turn away from them, to do them good; but [ wid
put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me." Turn also to Ezekiel xi. 19: "I will put
a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony
heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart
of flesh." Look i\\ tlie same prophecy at xxxvi. 26:
"A new heart also will J give you, and a new spirit
will I put "udthin you: and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh." What a Magna Charta is this ! The old cov-
enant saith, " Keep the law and live." The new cov-
enant is, "Thou shalt live, and I will lead thee to keep
my law, for I will write it on thine heart." Happy
men who know their standing under this covenant!

What has the blood of Jesus Christ to do with this
covenant ? It has everything to do with it, for the
covenant could never have been made apart from the
blood of Jesus. Atonement was taken for granted in
the establishment of the covenant. No one else could
have stood as our representative, to fulfil our side of
the covenant, exi^ept the Lord Jesus Christ; and
even he could only have performed that covenant by
shedding his blood. In that cup you see the emblem
of the blood which made the covenant possible.

Moreover, the blox)d of Jesus makes the covenant
sure. His death has fulfilled man's side of the cove-

224 THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

nant, and God's part standeth sure. The stipulation
of the covenant is fuluUed in Christ, and now the
tenor of it is pure promise. Note how the " shails "
and "wills'' follow each other in quick succession.
An arran^£jement of absolute grace on God's part
towards the undeserving sons of men is now in full
action through the sacrifice of Christ.

This covenant of grace, when rightly understood,
exerts a blessed influence over the minds of men con-
scious of sin. The chaplain of a jail, a dear friend of
mine, once tokl rae a surprising case of conversion in
which a knowledge of the covenant of grace was the
chief instrument of the Holy Spirit. My friend had
under his charge a man most cunning and brutal.
He was singularly repulsive, even in comparison
with other convicts. He had been renowned for his
daring, and for the utter absence of all feeling when
committing acts of violence, I think he had been
called " the king of the garotters," The chaplain
had spoken to him several times, but had not succeed-
ed even in getting an answer. The man was sullenly
set against all instruction. At last he expressed a
desire for a certain book, but as it was not in the
library the chaplain pointed to the Bible, which was
placed in his cell, and said, " Did you ever read that
Book? " He gave no answer, but looked at the good
man as if he would kill him. The question was kind-
ly repeated, with the assurance that he would find it
well worth reading. " Sir," said the convict, "you
would not ask me such a question if you knew who I
was. What have I to do with a Book of that sort ? "
He was told that his character was well known to the
chaplain, and that for this very reason he recommend-
ed the Bible as a Book which would suit his case.

THE BLOOD SH:iD FOR MANY. 225

" It woiikl do nie no good," he cried, " I am past all
feeling." Doubling up bis fist lio struck the iron
door of the cell, and said, " J\Iy heart is as hard as
that iron; there is nothing iil any book that will ever
touch me." " Well," said the chaplain, "von want a
new heart. Did you ever read the covenant of
grace?" To which the man answered sullenly by
inquiring what he meant l)y such talk. His friend
replied, " Listen to these words — 'A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you.' " The words struck the man with amazement,
as Vv'ell they might; he asked to have the passage
found for him in the Bible. He read the words again
and again; and when the chaplain came back to him
next day, the wild beast was tamed. " Oh, sir," he
said, " I never dreamed of such a promise ! I never
believed it possible that God would speak in such a
way as that to men. If he gives me a new heart it
will be a miracle of mercy; and yet I think," he said,
"he is going to work that miracle upon me, for the
very ho])0 of a new nature is beginning to touch me
as I never was touched before." That man became
gentle in manner, obedient to authority, and child-
like in spirit. Though my friend has nothing left of
the sanguine hopes he once entertained of converted
criminals, ho yet believes that in this case no observer
could have questioned the thorough nature of the work,
and yet the only means was the doctrine of the cove-
nant. ]\Iy rebellious heart is not affected by the fact
that God commands me to do this or that; but when he
declares free and full forgiveness, and goes on to prom-
ise love and favor, and renewal of nature, I feel broken
down. How can I rebel against one who does such
wonders in me, and designs such great things for me ?
15

220 THE BLOOD SUED EOR MANY.

'•' Dissolved by his goodness, I fall to tlie groiiiid,
Aud weep to the praise of the mercy I've found."

How dear and precious this make3 tlie blood of
Christ, since it is the blood of the everlasting cove-
nant! Coming nnder this blessed covenant, we
henceforth adore the fulness of that grace which, at
the cost of the most precious of all lives, has made
this arrangement for unworthy men.

You will perhaps say to mo, " Why did our transla-
tors use the word ' testament' in our Authorized Ver-
sion ?" They y^ere hardly so wise as usual in this
instance, for " covenant *' is the better word of the
two to set forth the original; but yet the idea of a
testament is there also. The original may signify
either or both. The word " settlement," which has
dropped out of use nowadays, was often employed by
our Calvinistic forefathers wiien they spoke of the
everlasting arrangement of grace. The word settle-
ment might take in both covenant and testament —
there is a covenant of grace, but the covenant stipula-
tion being fulfilled by our Lord Jesus, tha arrange-
ment becomes virtually a testament, through which,
by the will of God, countless blessings are secured to
the heirs of salvation. Tlie blood of Jesus is the seal
of the covenant, and transforms" its blessings into
bequests of love, entailed upon believers. The settle-
ment or arrangement, by which God can be just and
yet the Justifier of the ungodl}', and can deal with
believers, not on terms of law, but on terms of pure
grace, is established by the sacrifice of our Lord. 0
my brethren, as God's covenanted ones, drink ye of
the cup with joy, and renew your pledge with the
Lord your God !

IIL A third point comes up in the text very mani-

THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY. 227

festly : the blood has an intimate connection with re-
mission. The text says, "This is my blood of the new-
covenant, which is shed for maay for the remission of
sins." Jesus suffering, bleeding, dying, has procured
for sinners the Ibrgiveness of their sins.

Of ichat sins? Of dl sins of every sort and kind,
however heinous, aggravated, and multiplied. The
blood of the covenant takes every sin away, be it what
it may ; there was never a sin believingly confessed
and taken to Christ that ever baffled his power to
cleanse it. This fountain has never been tried in vain.
]\Iurderers, thieves, liars, adulterers, and what not,
have come to Jesus by penitence and faith, and
through the merit of his sacrifice, their sins have been
put away.

Of lohat nature is the remission ? It is pardon, freely
given, acting immediately, and abiding forever, ' so
that there is no fear of the guilt ever being again laid
to the charge of the forgiven one. Through the precious
blood our sins are blotted out, cast into the depths of the
sea, and renioved as far from us as the east is from the
west. Our sins cease to be; they are made an end of;
they cannot be found against us any more for ever.
Yes, hear it, hear it, 0 wide earth ! Let the glad news
startle thy darkest dens of infamy, there is absolute
remission of sins! The precious blood of Christ cleans-
eth from all sin : yes, turns the scarlet into a whiteness
which exceeds that of the newly-fallen snow — a white-
ness which never can be tarnished. Washed by Jesus,
the blackest of sinners shall appear before the judg-
ment-seat of the all-seeing Judge without a spot.

Hoio is it that the hlood of Jesus effects this ? The se-
cret lies in the vicarious or substitutionary character
of our Lord's suffering and death. Because he stood

228 THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY.

in our place the justice of God is vindicated, and the
threatening of the law is fulfilled. It is now just for
God to pardon sin. Christ bearing the penalty of hu-
man sin instead of men has made the moral govern-
ment of God perfect in justice, has laid a basis for
peace of conscience, and has rendered sin immeasure-
ablj hateful, though its punishinejit does not fall upon
the believer. This is the great secret, this is the
heavenly news, the gospel of salvation, that through
the blood of Jesus, sin is justly put away. Oh, how
my very soul loves this truth ! Therefore do I speak
it in unmistakable terms.

And for luliat end is tliis remission of sins secured ?
My brethren, if there were no other end for the remis-
sion of sins but its own self, it would be a noble pur-
pose, and it would be worth preaching every day of
our lives ; but it does not end here. We mistake if
we thitik that the pardon of sins is God's ultimatum.
No, no ; it is but a beginning, a means to a further
purpose. He forgives our sins with a design of curing
our sinfulness. We are pardoned that we may become
holy. God forgives the sin that he may purify the
sinner. If he had not aimed at thy holiness, there had
not been so imperative a necessity for an atonement ;
but to impress thee with the guilt of sin, to make
thee feel the evil which sin hath wrought, to let thee
know thine obligation to divine love, the Lord has
not forgiven thee withoiit a sacrifice. Ah, what a
sacrifice ! He aims at the death of thy sinfulness,
that thou mayest henceforth love him, and serve him,
and crucify the lusts which crucified thy Lord. The
Lord aims at working in thee the likeness of his dear
Son. Jesus hatli saved thee by his self-sacrificing
obedience to justice, that thou mayest yield thy whole

THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY. 220

soul to God, and be willing to die for the upholding
of the kingdom of love and truth. The death of
Christ for thee pledges thee to be dead to sin, that by
his resurrection from the dead thou mayest rise into
newness of life, and so become like thy Lord. Pardon
by blood aims at this. Dost thou catch the thonght ?
If thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's in-
tent is to make thee like the Firstborn among many
brethren, and to work in thee everything that is come-
ly and of good report. Even this is not all t he hath
a further design to bring thee into everlasting fellow-
ship with himself He is sanctifying thee, that thou
mayest behold his face, and that tliou mayest be fit to
be a comrade of his only-begotten Son throughout
eternity. Thou art to be the choice and dear compan-
ion of the Lord of love. He has a throne for thee, a man-
sion and a crown for thee, and an immortality of such
inconceivable glory and blessedness that, if thou didst
but form even a distant conception of it, no golden ap-
ple of earth would turn thee aside from pursuing the
prize of thy high calling. Oh, to be forever with
the Lord ! Forever to behold his face ! I fail to reach
the height of this great argument ! See, my brethren,
to what the blood of your Lord destines you. 0 my
soul, bless God for that one cup, which reminds thee
of the great sacrifice, and prophesies to thee thy glory
at the right hand of God forever !

IV. I cannot forget to notice, in closing, the con-
^^5^II!!^J^L.™^,„^L^o" ^^iTH MEN. We are told in the
teiuTTat this blood is shed ^\for many for the remission
of sins." In that large word " many " let us exceed-
ingly rejoice. Christ's blood was not shed for the
handful of apostles alone. There were but eleven of
them who really partook of the blood symbolized by

230 ^'^-/'^' ^LOOD SHED FOR MANY.

the cup. The Saviour does not sar, " This is my blood
which is shed for you, the favored eleven:" but " phed
for many." Jesus di«l not die for tlie clergy alone. 1
recollect in jMartin Luther's life that he sav^, in one
of the Komish churches, a picture of the Pope, and
the cardinals, and bishops, and priests, and monks,
and friars, all on board a ship. They were all sate,
every one of them. As for the laity, poor wretches,
they were struggling in the sea, and many of them
drowning. Only those were saved to whom the good
men in the ship were so kind as to hand out a rope or
a plank. That is not our Lord's teaclung: his blood is
shed "for many," and not for the few. He is not
the Christ of a caste, or a class, but the Christ of all
conditions of men. His blood is shed for many sin-
ners, that their sins may be remitted.

Those in the upper room were all Jews, but the
Lord Jesus Christ said to them, " This blood is shed
for many" to let them see that he did not die alone
for the seed of Abraham, but for all races of men that
dwell upon the face of the earth. " Shed for many."
His eye, I doubt not, glanced at these far-off islands,
and at the vast lands beyond the western sea. He
thought of Africa, and India, and the land of Sinim.
A multitude that no man can number gladdened the
far-seeing and fore-seeing eye of the Redeemer. Ho
spoke with joyful emphasis when he said. " shed for
many for the renjission of sins." Believe in the im-
measurable results ot redemption. Whenever w^e
are making arrangements for the preaching of this
precious bloo<l, let us make them on a large scale.
The mansion of love should be built for a large family
Let us not sing —

l^HE BLOOD SUED FOR MANY. 231

•' We are a gardeu walled around,
Pray keep the walls most tight and sound."

Let US expect to see large luiuibers brought within
the sacred enclosure. We must ^et break forth on
the right hand and on the left. The masses must be
compelled to come in. This blood is shed for many.
A group of half-a-dozen converts makes us very glad,
and so it should; but oh, to have half-a-dozen thous-
and at once I Why not ? This blood is shed " for
many." Let us cast the great net into the sea. You
young men, preach the gospel in the streets of this
crowded city, for it is meant for many ! You who go
from door to door, do not think you can be too hope-
ful, since your Saviour's blood is shed for many, and
Christ's " many '" is a very great many. It is shed
for all who ever shall believe in him — shed for thee,
sinner, if thou wilt now trust him. Only confess thy
sin, and trust Christ, and be assured that Jesus 'died
in thy place and stead. It is shed for many, so that
no man or woman born shall ever trust Christ in vain,
or find the atonement insufficient for him. Oh, for a
large-hearted faith, so that by holy effort we may
lengthen our cords, and strengthen our stakes,
expecting to see the household of our Lord become
exceedingly numerous! He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his righteousness
shall he justify many, for he shall bear their iniqui-
ties. Dwell on that word " many," and let it nerve
you for far-reaching labors.

V. Now note the coknectiox of the blood wiih our- ^
SELVES. Dear hearer, are you among the many ?
Why are you not ? ]\lay his grace bring you to trust
in him, and you may not doubt that you are among
the many. " Ah," say you, " that is what I am listen-

232 '^HE BLOOD SHED FOR MAN}.

ing for ! How can I partake in the efi'ect of this sac-
riiice ? " Seest thou that wine-cup which I set before
thee just now? How art thou to enjoy that wine
which fills the cup ? Its ruddy drops, how are they
to be thine ? The matter is very simple. 1 think I
see thee take the chalice in thine hand, and raise it to
thy mouth. Thou drinkest, and the deed is done.
This is no mystery. Bread aud wine are ours by eat-
ing and drinking; Christ is ours by our receiving
Jiim. The merit of his precious blood becomes ours
by that simple child-like faith which accepts Jesns to
be our all. We say, "Here it is; I believe in it; I
take it; I accept it as ray "own." It is yours. No
man can take from you that which you have eaten
and drunk. Christ is yours for ever if you receive
him into your heart.

If you have any question as to whether you have
drutik, I will tell yon how to solve it — drink again !
If you have been eating, and you have really forgotten
whether you have eaten or not — such things do occur
to busy men, who eat but, little; if, I say, you would
be sure that you have eaten, eat again ! If thou wilt
be assured that thou hast believed in Jesus, believe
again ! Whenever thou hast any doubt about whether
Christ is thine, take him over again. I like to begin
again. Often I find the best way of going forward is
to go back to my first faith in Jesus and as a sinner
renew my confidence in my Saviour. " Oh," says the
devil, " thou art a preacher of the gospel, but thou
dost not know it thyself." At one time I used to
argue with the accuser; but he is not worth it, and it
is by no means profitable to one's own heart. We
cannot convert or convince the devil; it is better to
refer him to our Lord. When he tells me I am not a

THE BLOOD SHED FOR MANY. 233

saint, T answer, ''Well, what am I, then?" "A sin-
ner," siy.s he. " Well, so are you ! " " Ah ! " saith he,
*' you will be lost." " No," say I, " that is why I shall
not be lost, since Jesus Christ came into the world to
sav^e sinners, and I therefore trust in him to save me.''
This is what Martin Luther calls cutting the devil's
head off with his own sword, and it is the best course
you can follow.

You say, " If I take Christ to myself as a man takes
a cup and drinks the contents, am I saved ? " Yes,
thou art. •* How am I to know it?' Know it be-
cause God says so. " lie that believeth in him hath
everlasting life." If I did not feel a pulse of that life
(as I did not at first), I nevertheless would believe
that I had it, simply on the strength of the divine
assurance. Since ray conversion, I have felt the
pulsings of a life more strong and forcible than the
life of the most vigorous youth that ever ran without
weariness; but there are times when it is not so.
Just now I feel the heavenly life joyously leaping
within me; but when I do not feel it, I fall back on
this : God has said, " He that believeth in him hath
everlasting life. ' God's words against all my feelings !
I may get into a fainting fit, and my circumstances
may operate upon my heart, as this hot weather oper-
ates upon ray body, and make me feel dull and sleepy;
but this cannot make the Vv'ord of God of none effect.
1 go back to the Book, and believe the bare Word of
the Lord, " lie that believeth in him haili everlasting
life." That is enough for me. I believe, and there-
fore I live. Our inward experience is fine corrobo-
rative evidence, but God's testimony is the best founda-
tion our confidence can have.

I recollect a story told of William Dawson, whora

234 THE BLOOD SHED EOR MANY.

our Weslejan friends used to call Billy Dawson, one of
the best preachers that ever entered a pulpit. He
once gave out as his text, "Through this raan is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." When
he had given 0)it his text he dropped down to the
bottom of the pulpit, so that nothing could be seen
of him, only there was a voice heard saying, "Not
the man in the pulpit, he is out of sight, but the Man
in the Book. The Man described in the Book is the
^lan through whom is preaclied untt) you the for-
giveness of sins." 1 put myself and you, and every-
body else out of sight, and I preach to you the remis-
sion of sins tlirough Jesus only. I wcmld sing with
the children, " Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Shut
your eyes to all things but the cross. Jesus died,
and rose again, and went to heaven, and all your
hope must go with him! Come, my hearer, take
Jesus by a distinct act of faith this morning ! May
God the Holy Ghost constryin thee to do so, and then
thou mayest go on thy way rejoicing ! So be it iu
the name of Jesus.

XI.

A BIT OF HISTORY FOE OLD AND YOUNG.

"And lie blessed Joseiih, and said, God, before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life
long nnto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil,
bless the lads.'' — Genesis xlviii. 15, 16.

Joseph was one by himself. In Jacob's family he was
like a swan in a duck's-nest; he seemed to be of a dif-
ferent race from the rest, even from his childhood.
He was the son of old age, the son of the elders, that
is, a child who was old when lie was young, in thought-
fulness and devotion. Ho reached an early ripeness, '
which did not end in early decay. In consequence of
this Joseph was one by himself in the peculiarity of
his trials. Through his brothers' hatred of him he was
made to suffer greatly, and at last was sold into slavery,
and underwent trials in Egypt of the severest kind.
"The archers have sorely grieved liira, and shot at
him, and hated him." But, brethren, see the recom-
pense; for he had blessings which were altogether his
own. " His bow abode in strength, and the arms of
his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
God of Jacob." He was as distinguished by the favor
of God as l)y the disfavor of his brethren. When
Jacob was old and about to die, Joseph gave him a bless-
ing all to himself, in addition to that which he received
with his brothers. In the forty-ninth chapter we read,
"Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of

(235)

236 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

Jacob: and hearken unto Israel your father"; and they
did so, and received as a family sucii blessings as their
father s projjhetic eye foresaw; but before this, "by
faith Jacob blessedthe two sons of Joseph" at a private
interview specially granted to them. Had not his
tribulations abounded, his consolations would not so
have abounded. Do you seem yourself, my friend, to
be marked out for peculiar sorrows? Do the arrows
of afiliction make your life their target, and are you
chastened above all other men ? Do not be regretful,
for the arrows are winged by a covenant love, which
designs by their wounds to prepare you for a special
work which will lead up to a special benediction from
your Father who is in heaven. The day will come
when you will be grateful for every smart you now en-
dure; yes, grateful for that bitter pang of unkindness
from your brethren, though now it tortures your heart.
The abundance of the revelation of God ia usually
joined with a thorn in the flesh either before or after it.
Notwithstanding your grief, there shall yet be born
to you as to Joseph, a Manasseh, for God shall make
you to forget all your toil, and an Ephraim, for God
shall make you fruitful in the land of your affliction.
You shall be blessed above all others. "Even by the
God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the
Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven
al:)0ve, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings
of the breasts, and of the womb: the blessings of thy
father have prevailed above the blessings of my pro-
genitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills :
thev shall be cm the head of Joseph, and on the crown
of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."
Surely it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in
his youth: his shoulders shall be the better able to

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AXD YOUNG. 237

bear the government when God shall lay itnpon them.
Instructed by affliction, the man shall become a father
to bis people, and a comforter to the afflicted.

Our text tells us that Jacob blessed Joseph, and we
perceive that Ae blessed him through blessing his children;
which leads us to the next remark, that no choicer
favor could fttb upon ourselves than to see our child-
ren favored of the Lord. Joseph is doubly blessed
by seeing- Ephraira and Manasseh blessed. Dear young
people, to whom 1 now speak, your fathers can say,
"We have no greater joy than this, that our children
walk in the truth." Ifanyof you who are unconverted
knew the deep searching of heart of your parents about
you, 1 think you w^ould not long be careless and indif-
ferent about divine things; and if you could conceive
the flashes of heavenly joy that would light up ycur
parents' hearts if they saw you saved in the Lord, it
would bean inducement to you to consider your ways,
and turn unto the Lord with full purpose of heart.
God himself, next to giving to his chosen the cove-
nant of grace, can do them no greater earthly kindness
than to call their children by his grace into the same
covenant. Will you not think of this ?

Those of us icho are parents are bound to do cur lest
that our children mcuj he jjartcd'ers icith us of tie divine
inheritance. As Joseph took Ephraim and Manat-seh to
see their aged grandfather, let us bring our children
where blessings may be expected. Let us be careful
of the company into which w^e take our ecns and
daughters. Let us never conduct them wdiere Ihey
may get harm rather than benefit. Carefully, lovingl}^,
wisely, using no imdue severity, let us guide them into
likely places for the divine benediction, and encourage
them to seek the blessing for themselves by the fact,

238 A CIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

that their parents are seeking it for them. The father
who will not seize every opportunity of getting a bless-
ing for his Ephraim and iManasseh is not likely to see
the lads seeking the blessing for themselves. Espe-
cially should this care be taken, by parents who are
growing rich, whose offspring will be tempted by this
very fact to seek grander society than the poor people
of God can afford them. I doubt not that these two
sons of Egypt's prime minister were exposed to exceed-
ingly great temptations: As the sons of a very wealthy
and distinguished parent, their tastes might lie in an
Egyptian direction. I believe that they vrere never-
theless greatly swayed to the right side, and led to
worship the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of
Jacob, by the zeal of the father, Joseph, and by the
recollection of the benediction of their dying grandsire.
There is no trace of their having inclined to the relig-
ion of the king and the nobles of Egypt, but they
adhered to the I'aith of their father. Oh that all the
descendants of Puritan lathers might be steadfast to
the pure truth of God in these evil days !

Furthermore, observe that, ij loe loant to bless young
people, one of the likeliest means of doing so will he our 2xr-
soncd testimony to the goodness of Gcd. Young men
and women usually feel great interest in their fathers'
life-story — if it be a worthy one — and what they hear
from them of their personal experience of the good-
ness of God will abide with them. We all read bio-
graphies, and we value the results of experience which
we find there, but the biographies of our own relatives
are peculiarly treasured ; and when these biographies
are not read but spoken, what wonderful force they
have! I recollect in my younger days hearing a minis-
ter, blind with age, speak at the communion table, and

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AXD YuUNG. 239

bear witness to us young people, who had just joined
the church, that it was well for us that we had come
to put our trust in a faithful God ; and as the good
man, with great feebleness and jet w^ith great earn-
estness, said to us, that he had never regretted that he
had given his heart to Christ as a boy, I felt my heart
leap within me with delight that I had such a God to
be my God. His testimony was such as a younger man
could not have borne : he might have spoken more
fluently, but the w^eight of those eighty years at the
back of it made the old man eloquent to my young
heart. We who are growing gray in our Master's
service ought not to be backward to speak well of his
name. Why, my brethren, you will not be able to do
so much good in heaven as you can on earth, for they
all know about it up there, but men here need our
witness to the God whom we have tried and proved.
Let us make occasions in which we may speak well of
the Lord, even the God who has fed us all our life
long, and redeemed us from all evil. This is one of
the best ways in which to bless the lads. The bene-
diction of Jacob was intertwisted with his biography ;
the blessing which he had himself enjoyed, he wished
for them, and as he invoked it he helped to secure it
by his personal testimony.

One thing further : I want you to note, that Jacob,
in desiring to hless his grandsons, introduced them to God.
He speaks of " God before whom my fathers did walk :
God who blessed me all my life long." This is the great
distinction between man and man : there are two
races, he that feareth God, and he that feareth liira
not. The religion of this present age, such as it is,
has a wrong direction in its course. It seeks after
what is called " the enthusiasm of humanity," but

240 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

what we want far more is enthusiasm for God. We
shall never go right iniless God is first, midst, and
last. I despair for benevolence when it is not based upon
devotion. We shall not long have love to man if we dd
not first and chiefly cultivate love to God. What
our boys need in starting in life is a God: if we have
nothing else to give them, they have enough if they
have God. What our girls want in quitting the nur-
ture of home, is God's love in their hearts, and
whether they have fortunes or not, is a small mat-
ter. In fellowship with God lies the essence of true
human life: life in God, life by the knowledge of the
Most High, life through the Redeeming Angel^this
is life indeed.

Jacob died as one who had been delivered from all
evil, aye, even the evil of old age. His eyes were dim ;
but that did not matter, for his faith was clear. I
love to think that we are going where our vision of
God will not be through the eye, but through the
spiritual perceptions. These were brighter in Jacob
in his old age than ever before ; his faith and love,
which are the earthly forms of those perceptions,
were apprehending God in a more forcible manner
than ever, and therefore it signified little that the eyes
which he would need no longer were failing him. We
Cannot say that he was in decay, after all; for he was
losing what he only needed in this world of shadows,
and was gaming fitness for the higher state. His
gracious faculties grew as his bodily faculties declined;
and, therefore, he felt that his life was ending in a
fulness of blessing such as he wished for the children
of his dearest son. How ardently do I wish the like
blessing for all the young people before me ! The Lord
God Almighty bless you ! When your earthborn fa-

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD Ai\D YOUIvG. 241

culties fail you, may heavenly graces more than sup-
ply their place!

All this is introduction ; so now we must come at
once and plunge into the discourse, and I will be brief
upon each point of it. Jacob's testimony wherewith
he blessed the sons of Joseph, has in it four points.

I. First, HE SPEAKS OF ANCESTRAL MERCIES; he begins
with that " God, before whom my fathers Abraham
and Isaac did walk." As with a pencil he sketches
the lives of Abraham and Isaac. He does not fill in
with coloring, but the outline is perfect : you see the
two men in their whole career in those few words —
"God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk."

Tliey lueremen loJio recog^iized God and icorsJiipped him,
beyond all others of their age. God was to them a
real existence; they spake with God, and God spake
with them ; they were friends of God, and enjoyed
familiar acquaintance with him. No agnosticism
blinded their understandings, and deadened their
hearts. They were worshippers of the one living and
true God Happy children who have such fathers!
happy children who are like such fathers !

They not only recognized God, but they owned 1dm in
daily life. I take the expression, " God, before whom
ray fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk" to mean that
he was their God in common life. They not only
knelt before God when they prayed, but they walked
before him in everything. When they went forth
from their tents, and when they returned from their
flocks, they walked before God. They were never
away from his service, or without his presence. He
was their dwelling-place. Whether they sojourned
under an oak or dwelt by a well, whether they enter-
ifi

242 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

tained strangers or walked in the field to meditate
they lived and moved in God. This is the kind of
Jife for you and me : whether we live in a great houee
or in a poor cottage, if we walk before God we ^hall
lead a happy and a noble life, whether that lite be
public or obscure. Oh that our young people would
firmly believe tliis !

They walked before God ; that is, t],ey clcyed lAs
commands. His call they heard, his bidding they fol-
lowed. Abraham quitted country and kindred to go
to an unknown land which God would show him;
yea, more, he took his son, whom he greatly loved,
and stood pi'epared to sacrifice him at God's com-
mand. Isaac also yielded himself up to be slain, if
so Jehovah willed. To them the will of the Lord
was paramount: he was law and life to them, for they
loved and feared him. They were prompt to hear
the behests of God, and rose up early to fulfil them.
They acted as in the immediate presence of the All-
seeing.

To the full they trusted him. In this sense they
always saw him. We sometimes talk about tracing hin\.
We cannot trace him, except as we trust him; and
because they trusted, they traced him. Notwith-
standing all the danger and difficulty of their pilgrim
state, they dwelt in perfect security in an enemy's
land, for the Lord had said, " Touch not my anoint-
ed, and do my prophets no harm." They were serene
and tranquil because they walked before God, know-
ing him to be their friend, and that he was their
shield and their exceeding great reward. For tem-
poral things they had no anxiety for they lived upon
the All-sufficient God. Therefore these two men,
Abraham and Isaac, though much tried, led peaceful

A BIT OF IIISrORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 243

lives: they conversed with heaven while they so-
journed on earth.

Theij enjoyed the favor of God^ for this also is intend-
ed by walking before him. His face was towards
them: they sunned themselves in his smile. God's
love was their true treasure. We read that God had
blessed Abraham in all things, and of Isaac we hear
even the PhiHsthies say, "We saw certainly that
the Lord was with thee." God was their wealth, their
strength, their exceeding joy. I say again, happy
sons who have such ancestors! happier still if they
ibllow in their track !

So Jacob spoke of Abraham and Isaac, and so can
some of us speak cf those who went before us. Those
of us who can look back upon godly ai^cestors now in
heaven must feel that many ties bind us to follow
the same course of life. Had they transgressed
against the Lord our duty would have called us to
quit the ways of the family, even as Abraham left his
kindred who dwelt on the other side of the flood;
but as their way was right, we are doubly called
to follow it, because it is the good old way, and the
way our godly fathers trod. There is a charm about
that luhich icas prized hy our fathers. Heirlooms are
treasured, and the best heirloom in a family is the
knowledge of God. When I spoke, the other day,
with a Christian brother, he seemed right happy to
tell me that he sprang of a family which came from
Holland during tlie persecution of the Duke of Alva,
and I felt a brotherhood with him in claiming a like
descent. I dare say our fathers were jioor weavers,
but I had far rather be descended from one who suf-
fered for the faith than bear the blood of all the em-
perors Avithin my veins. There should be a sacred-

244 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

ness to you young people in the faith for which your
ancestors suiferefl. Choose not the society of Egypt,
and its wealth and honoi's, but keep to the stock of
Israel, and claim the inheritance ot" Jacob as Ephraim
and Manasseh did. Let it not be said that as your
family increased in riches it departed from the living
God. Shall the goodness of God be perverted into a
reason for apostasy?

The way of holiness in which your fathers went is
a jilting way for you, and it is seemly that you main-
tain the godly traditions of your house. In the old
times they expected sons to follow the secular calling
of their fathers ; and although that may be regarded
as an old-world mistake, yet it is well when sons and
daughters receive the same spiritual call as their
parents. Grace is not tied to families, but yet the
Lord delights to bless to a thousand generations.
Very far are we from believing that the new birth
is of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of
man. The will of God reigns here supreme, and abso-
lute: but yet there is a sweet fitness in the passing
on of holy loyalty from grandsire to father, and from
father to son. I like to feel that 1 serve God " from
my fathers." I feel that it is right and comely that I
should be found preaching out of my whole soul the
same doctrine which my grandfather and my father
preached, and equally fit that my sons should be
found, as they are, preaching none other gospel than
that which we have received — "Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, and to-day, and forever" 1 say again, if
our fathers were WTong wo ought boldly to dissent
from them, and obey God rather than man ; but where
they are right we are bound to follow them. I stood
last Wednesday in a sort of dream as I gazed upon

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AXD YOUNG. 245

my much-beloved grandfather's place of sepulchre. I
was encouraged bj seehig the record of his fifty-four
■^ears of service in the midst of one church and peo-
ple, and I rejoiced that, coukl he rise from the dead, he
would find his grandson preaching that selfsame old-
fashioned and much-despised Calvinistic doctrine of
the grace of God which was his joy in life and his
comfort in death.

A godly ancestry casts responsibilitii upon young
people. These Ephraims and Manassehs perceive
that their fathers hnew the Lord, and the question
arises. Why should they not know him ? O my
beloved young friends, the God of your fathers
will be found of you and be 3'our God. The prayers
of your fathers have gone before you; let them
be followed by your own. Be hopeful of being
heard at that mercy-seat wdiere they found grace to
help in every time of need. They died in the hope
that you would fill their places; shall not their hopes
become facts? Do 1 speak to some who have godly
parents in heaven, and yet they are themselves pursu-
ing the ways of sin or of worldliness? Registered
upon that file are your mother's prayers. I trust they
will yet be heard. Even now they stand like a hedge
about you, making it hard work for you to go to hell.
Will you force your way to perdition over a father's
grave ? Will you, by a desperate eflbrt, push aside
your pleading mother's form, and pursue your dread-
ful road to ruin ? If so, you will involve yourselves
in tremendous guilt. I beseech you hear the tender
voice of love which now invites you to be blest.

A godly ancestry should invest a man's case with
great hopefulness. i\lay he not argue, "If God blessed
my ancestors, why should he not bless me ? If they

246 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

sought mercy, and found it, why should not I ? My
father and my mother were not perfect, any more
than J am ; but tliey had faith in God, and lie accept-
ed them and helped them. If I have faith in God he
will accept me, and be faithful to me. They were
saved as sinners trusting in the blood of Jesus, and
why should not 1 ? " I beseech you put this argument
to the test, and you will find it hold good.

11. Thus we have seen Jacob seeking to bless his
seed by bearing testim(my to the blessings which God
had bestowed upon his house. Now he conjes to
deal with personal mercies. The old man's voice fal-
tered as he said, " The God which fed me all ray life
long." The translation would be better if it ran,
" The God which shepherded me all my life long."

He spoke of the Lord as Ms Sheplterd. Jacob had been
a shepherd, and therefore he knew what shepherding
included : the figure is full of meaning. There had
been a good deal of Jacoi) about Jacob, and he had
tried to shepherd himself Poor sheep that he was,
while under his own guidance he had been caught in
many thorns, and had wandered in many wildernesses.
Because he would be so much a shepherd to himself,
he had been hard put to it. But over all, despite his
wilfulness, the shepherding of the covenant God had
been exercised towards him, and he acknowledged it.

0 dear saints of God, you to whom years are being
multiplied, give praise to your God for having been
your shepherd. You delight in the twenty- third
Psalm, sing it sometimes with variations by using the
past tense : " The Lord has been my shepherd ; and

1 have known no want. He hath made me to lie down
in green pastures ; he hath led me beside the still wa-
ters. Yea, though I have walked through the valley

A BIT OF HIRTORY FOR OLD AND YOUXG. 247

of the shadow of death in times of great darkness, yet
I have feared no evil : for he lias been with me, his
rod and his stafi' have comforted me." Bear your wit-
ness to the shepherding of God, for thi^ may lead others
to become the sheep of his pasture.

This shepherding had teen perfect . Our version right-
1}^ says that the Lord had/ec? Jacob all his life long.
Take that sense of it, and you wlio have a daily strug-
gle for subsistence will see much beauty in it. Jacob
had a large family, and yet they were fed. Some of
you say, '• It is all very well of you to talk of provi-
dence who have few to provide for." I answer, it is
better still to talk of providence where a large house-
hold requires large provision. Remember Jacob had
thirteen children, yet his God provided them bread to
eat and raiment to put on. None of that large com-
pany were left to starve. You think perhaps that Ja-
cob was a man of large estate. He was not so when
he began life. He was oidy a working-man, a shep-
herd. When he left his father's house he had no attend-
ants with camels and tents. I suppose he carried his
little bit of provision in a handkerchief, and when he
laid down that night to sleep, with a stone for his pil-
low, the hedges for curtains, the heavens for his cano-
py, and the earth for his bed, he had no fear of being
robbed. God was with him -; apart from this, he had
nothing to begin life with but his own hands. What-
ever he received from his father Isaac afterwards, he
had at first to fight his own way ; but he knew no lack
either at the beginning or at the end, for he could
speak of the great Elohim as " the God which fed me
all my life long." Hundreds of us can say the same.
I reinember one who came to be wealthy who used to
sho-y me with great pleasure the axle-tree of the truck

2iS A BIT OF IIIS7VKY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

in which he used to wheel his goods througli the
streets when he began in business : I Hked to see him
mindful of his origina]. Mind you do not go and say,
"See how I have got on by my own talents and indus-
try ! " Talk not so proudly, bnt say, " God hath fed
me." Mercies are all the sweeter when seen to come
from the hand of God.

But besides being fed Jacob had been led, even as
sheep are guided by the shepherd who goes before
them. His journeys, for that period, had been unusu-
ally long, perilous, and frequent. He had fled from
home to Padan-aram ; after long years he had come
back again to Canaan, and had met ins brother Esau ;
and after that, in his old age, ho had journeyed into
Egypt. To go to California or New Zealand in these
times is nothing at all compared to those journeys ii.
Jacob's day. But he says, " God has shepherded me
all my life long ; " and he means that the great
changes of his life had been wisely ordered. At home
and in exile, in Canaan and in Goshen, God had been
a shepherd to him. He sees the good hand cf God
upon him in all his wanderings, until he now finds
himself sitting up on his bed and blessing Joseph
through his sons. I am glad that he went into detail
with these young men, for they needed to be confirm-
ed in their fidelity to God. They were in a perilous
condition, for they had the entree of the rank and fash-
ion of Egypt, and were tem.pted to forsake the poor
family of the Hebrews. Some of you young fellows
begin where your fathers left off: and, having the
means of self-indulgence, you are apt to follow the
fashions and frivolities of the period. Oh that the
Holy Spirit may make you feel that you want God
with you with wealth as much as your fathers needed

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AXD YOUNG. 249

God without wealth I You may come to beggary yet,
with all your inheritance, if you cast ofi'the fear of the
Lord and fall into sin. You Avho began life with noth-
ing but your own brains and hands, trusting in your fa-
ther's God, shall yet have to sing as your fathers sang,
"the God which fed me all my life long." Young men
and young women beginning life, I charge you seek
first tiie kingdom of God and his righteousness. It is
not life to live without God : you miss the kernel, the
cream, the crown of life if you miss the presoice of
God. Life is but a bubble blown up of toil and trouble
without God. Life ends in blighted hapc if you have
not hope in God. But with God you are as a sheep
with a shepherd — cared for, guided, guarded, fed, and
led, and your end shall be peace without end.

Ill Thirdly, bear with me while I follow Jacob in
his word upon redeeming mercies, " The Angel which
redeemed me from all evil." There was to Joseph a
mysterious Personage who was God, and yet the An-
gel or messenger of God. He puts this Angel in appo-
sition with the Elohim : for this Angel was God. Yet
was he his Eedeemer. He saw him doing the office of
the next-of-kin : though God he w^as his god ; and as his
kinsman, effected redemption for him, Jacob's faith
enabled him, like Job, to know that his Redeemer liv-
eth. He saw that this covenant messenger had re-
deemed him from all evil, and he magnified the name
of the Lord wdio revealed himself in this Angel.
When he was in his sorest straits, this Redeeming An-
gel always interposed. Ho fell into an evil state
through the influence of his mother, and he did Esau
serious wrong. He fled for his life, and at that time
there was a great gulf between him and God. Then
that Angel came in, and bridged the gulf with a lad-

250 ^ ^IT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

der by which he might rise to God. The kinsman,
God, came in, and showed liim liow the abyss might
be crossed, so that lie might return to his God, When
lie was away in Padan-aram he began to sink very
low, while chaffering with churlish Laban. Then
again the Angel came and said, "Get thee out from
this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred,"
The Eedeeming Angel held back wrathful Laban, and
when Esau came to meet him in hot anger the Angel
specially appeared to Jacob. The Angel wrestled, as
a Man, with Jacob to get Jacob out of Jacob, and raise
him into Israel. How marvellous was the redemption
which was wrought for him that night at Jabbok !
Jacob came forth from the conflict halting, but he
walked before the Lord far better than before. That
same mysterious person had bidden him go down in-
to Egypt with the promise that he would go down
with him. It was the Angel of God's presence %vlio
held his shield over Jacob, and preserved him from all
evil.

Brothers and sisters, let us also tell of the redeeming
mercies of the Lord Jesus towards us. lie redeemed
us on the bloody tree ; but he has also redeemed us
from our death in sin. Do you remend)er the place
and time when Jesus first met with you ? Perhaps
not. But blessed be the Redeeming Angel that quick-
ened me into spiritual life! I recall the place and
time with pleasure. He redeemed us also from de-
spair : when, under a sense of sin, we could not dare
to hope, he came to us and showed us our healing in
his wounds, and our life in his death. Afterwards,
when our corruptions began to arise, and we had a
hard battle to believe that such sinners were indeed
saved, the Redeeming Ange] confirmed our faith, and

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 251

gave us inward strength. Do we not well remember
when he said unto us, " I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have
I drawn thee " ? I want you to look back and
remember the times when you were sick, and this
Redeeming Angel so sweetly visited you that you
were half afraid to get well, for fear you should
lose his presence: your bed had become a throne to
you.

You remember, too, when that pinch came in busi-
ness, so that you could not see how to provide things
honest in the sight of ail men ; then Jesus revealed
his love and bade you think of the lilies and the ravens,
which neither spin nor sow, and yet are clothed ma-
jestically and fare sumptuously. Many a time has the
Lord delivered you because he delighted in you.
When you w^ere likely to fall into sin, when you did
get very wrong in spinft^ he beheld you in pity, and
restored your soul. Though you were so lukewarm
that he was ready to spue you out of his mouth, yet
he knocked at your door, and when you admitted him
he came in and supped with you, and your soul was
soon on fire with love to him. He restored your soul,
and the love of your espousals came back to you. Bless-
ed Redeemer, how graciously dost thou deliver ! Ch,
that we oftener thought of the interpositions of the
loving Christ ! He did not only redeem us when he
died, but he redeems us still by his living power.
This is the sum of our life : the angel of the covenant
has delivered us day by day, is delivering us, and will
deliver us to the end. Do you wonder that we com-
mend him to our offspring, and desire to commit them
to his loving care ? Young friends who know not the
Saviour, I would fain lead you to this Guardian Angel,

252 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

this Gocl-iike Man, who will save you from all evil from
this clay forth and lor evermore.

IV. Now comes the last point — I do not know if
any one has gone to sleep in this close atmosphere, bnt
it so, let him kindly wake up, for I have somewhat to
say which will interest him. Jacob has spoken of an-
cestral mercies, personal mercies and redeeming mer-
cies, and now he deals with future mercies, as he cries,
" Bless the lads." He began with blessing Joseph, and
he finishes with blessing his lads. O dear friends, if
God has blessed you, I know you will want him to
bless others. There is the stream of mercy, deep,
broad, and clear : you have drunk of it, and are re-
freshed, but it is as full as ever. It will flow on, will
it not ? You do not suppose that you and I have dam-
med up the stream so as to keep it to ourselves. No,
it is too strong, too full a stream for that. It will flow
on from age to age. God will bless others as he has
blessed us. Unbelief whispers that the true church
will die out. Do not believe it. Christ will live, and
iiis church wnll live with him till the heavens be no
more. Hath he not said, "Because I live, ye shall live
also?" " Oh," you say, "but we shall not see such
holy men in the next generation as in past ages."
Why not ? I hope the next age wall see far better
men than any of those who are with us at this time.
Fray that it may be so. Instead of the fathers, may
there be the children, and may these be princes before
the Lord !

The stream of divine grace will flow on. Oh, that
it may take our sons and daughters in its course!
" Bless the lads.'^ Sunday-school teachers, is not that a
good prayer for you? Pray the Lord to bless the lads
and the lassies, because he has blessed you. There is

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 253

the stream, it must flow somewhere ; pray, " Lord,
make it flow to my i'amily, and to my class." For thy
mercy's sake, gracious Lord, " bless the lads."

We need not say in what precise form or way the
blessing shall come : let ns leave it in all its breadth of
inconceivable benediction. ]\Iay the Lord bless our
vouth as only he can do it ; and if he causes them to
fear and trust him, he will be blessing all ot us, and
blessing ages to come. Upon these Ephraims and
iManassehs will depend the work of the Lord in the
years to come. Therefore, with emphasis we pray,
" Bless the lads." As tor us, we are content to work
on, saying, " Let thy work appear unto thy servants;"
but our anxious desire is that our children may reap
the result of our labors, and therefore we add, " and
thy glory unto their children."

In closing, I wish to bear a personal testimony oy
narrating an incident in my own life. I have been
preaching in Essex this week, and I took the oppor-
tunity to visit the place where my grandfather preach-
ed so long, and where I spent my earliest days. Last
Wednesday was to me a day in which I walked like a
man in a dream. Everybody seemed bound to recall
some event or other of my childhood. What a story
of divine love and mercy did it bring before my mind !
Among other things, I sat down in a place that must
ever be sacred to me. There stood in my grandfather's
manse garden two arbors made of yew trees, cut into
sugar-loaf fashion. Though the old manse has given
way to a new one, and the old chapel has gone also,
yet the yew trees flourish as aforetime. I sat down in
the right hand arbor and bethought me of what had
happened there many years ago. When I was a young
child staying with my grandfather, there came to

254 A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.

preach in the village Mr. Kuill, who had been a mis-
sionary at St. Petersburg, and a mighty preacher of"
the gospel. He came to preach for the London Mis-
sionary Society, and arrived on the Saturday at the
manse. He was a great soui-wdnner, and he soon spied
out the boy. He said to me, " Where do you sleep ?
for I want to call you up in the morning." I showed him
my little room. At six o'clock he called me np, and
we went into that arbor. There, in the sweetest way,
he told me of the love of Jesus, and of the blessedness
of trusting in him and loving him in our cljildhood.
With many a story he preached Christ to me, and told
me liow good God had been to him, and then he praj'-
ed that I might know the Lord and serve him. He
knelt down in that arbor and prayed for me with his
arms about my neck. He did not seem content unless
I kept with him in the interval between the services,
and he heard my childish talk with patient love. On
Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, and again
on Tuesday. Three times he taught me and prayed
with me, and before he had to leave, my grandfather
had come back from the place where he had gone to
preach, and all the family were gathered to morning
prayer. Then, in the presence of them all, Mr. Knili
took me on his knee, and said, "This child will one
day preach the gospel, and ho will preach it to great
multitudes. I am persuaded that he will preach in the
chapel of Rowland Hill, where (I think he said) I am
now the minister^" He spoke very solemnly, and call-
ed upon all present to witness what he said. Then he
gave me sixpence as a reward if I would learn the
hymn,

** God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform."

A BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AND YOUXG. 255

i was made to pronnae that when I preached ia Row-
Jand Hill's Chapel tliat hymn should be sung-. Think
of that as a promise from a child! Would it ever be
other than an idle dream? \"ears flew by. After I
had begun for some little time to preach in London,
Dr. Alexander Fletcher liad to give the annual sermon
to children in Surrey Chapel, but as he was taken ill,
I was asked in a hurry to preach to the children.
"Yes," I said, " I will, if the children will sing, ' God
moves in a mysterious way.' I haA^e made a promise
long ago that so that should be sung." And so it was ;
I preached in Rowland Hill's Chapel, and the hymn
was sung. My emotions on that occasion I cannot de-
scribe. Still that was not the chapel which Mr. Knill
intended. All unsought by me, the minister at Wot-
ton-under-Edge, which was Mr. Hill's summer resi-
dence, invited me to preach there. I went on the con-
dition that the congregation should sing, " God moves
in a mysterious way" — which was also done. After
that I went to preach for ]\Ir. Richard Knill himself,
who was then at Chester. What a meeting we had !
Mark this ! he was preaching in a theatre ! His preach-
ing in a theatre took away from me all fear about
preaching in secular buildings, and'set me free for the
campaigns in Exeter Hall and the Surrey Music Hall.
How much this had to do with other theatre services
you know.

"God moves in a mysterious way
His wouders to perform."

After more than forty years of the Lord's loving-kind-
ness, I sat again in that arbor! No doubt it is a
mere trifle for outsiders to hear, but to me it was an
overwhelming moment. The present minister of Stam-
bourn meeting-house, and the members of his family,

256 ^ BIT OF HISTORY FOR OLD AiVD YOUNG.

including his son and liis grandchildren, were in the
garden, and I could not help calling them together
around that arbor, while I praised the Lord for his
goodness. One irresistible impulse was upon me : it
was to pray God to bless those lads that stood around
me. Do you not see how the memory begat the
prayer ? 1 wanted them to remember when they grew
up ray testimony of God's goodness to me ; and for
that same reason I tell it to you young people who are
around me this morning. God has blessed me all my
life long, and redeemed me from all evil, and I pray
that he ma}' be your God. You that have godly pa-
rents, I would specially address. I beseech you to fol-
lov/ in their footsteps, that you may one day speak of
the Lord as they were able to do in their day. Re-
member that special promise, " I love them that love
me ; and those that seek me early shall find me." May
the Holy Spirit lead you to seek him this day ; and
you shall live to praise his name as Jacob did.

xn.

god's neaeness to us.

July 17, 1887.

** Though he he not far from every one of us." — Acta xvii. 27.

When man disobeyed his God he died spirituallr, and
that death consisted in the separation of his soul from
God. From that moment man began to think that
God was far away, and this has since been his religion
in all ages. Either he has said, "There is no God" ;
or he has believed the visible creation to be God,
which is much the same as having no God ; or else he
has thought God to be some fai^-away, mysterious Be-
ing, who takes no note of man. Even after obtaining
a better conception of God, he has thought him hard
to find and hard to be entreated of. Because his owa
heart is far from God, he imagines that God's heart is
far from him. But it is not so. The living God is not
far from any one of us ; for " In him we live, and move,
and have our being."

The nearness of God to man is a teaching of reveia-
ticm. Look back to the record of the Garden of Eden,
and see an early evidence there of God's nearness to
man. Adam, having transgressed, hid himself among
the trees of the garden ; but in his hiding-place God
sought him, and the voice of the Lord God was heard,
walking among the trees of the garden, and saying,
"Adam, where art thou?" Man will not seek God,

17 (9STi

258 COD'S NEARNESS TO US.

but God seeks man. Though man's voice is not,
"Where is my God?'' yet God's voice is, "Adam,
where art thou ? " All through history God has been
familiar with man. He has spoken to him in divers
ways, but principally through chosen men. One after
another he has raised up prophets, and by their warn-
ing voices ho has pleaded with men, and invited them
to seek his face. His own voice might have caused
dismay and distance, and so he has nsed human voices,
that he might come nearer to the b.eart. All the his-
tory of the chosen nation, as we read it in the Old Tes-
tament, reveals the nearness of Jeliovah ; whatever
we road upon the page, we know that within, above,
or behind it, the Lord is near, even when he appears
to have hidden himself Jn these latter days, the
Lord has come nearer to us still, for ho has spoken to
us by his Son. Tiie Son of God became the Friend of
sinners: could he come nearer than that? The Word
was marie flesh, and dwelt among men, and men be-
held his glory. Bone of our bone, and flesh of onr
flesh is the Christ, and yet he is very God of very God.
In him God is next-of-kin to man, and manhood is
brought near to the eternal throne. Christ Jesiis is
God and man in one person, and thus the closest union
is formed between God and man. Verily, verily, the
Lord God is not far from each one of us in his own
dear Son.

To-day, though Jesus has gone up on high, the
Spirit of God abides in the midst of the church, and
thus again the Lord is near. The Comforter is at
work still ; the Convincer still presses upon man's con-
science sin, righteousness, and judgment to come.
Still does the Holy Ghost work with the Word of God,
directing his ministers so to speak that their hearers

GOD'S XEARNESS TO US. 259

shall perceive a personality and pointeJness in the
word delivered. Oh, yon that hear the gospel, be ye
sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh
unto you in a very special sense ! I may say of you
with an emphasis, " He is not far from any of you, and
you are not far from the kingdom."

That God is near by his omnipresence and by his
gracious dealings with men, is the clear teaching of
the inspired volume. To the enlightened mind, God
is evidently seen to be near in the works of nature.
Whose voice was it that we heard last night thunder-
ing overhead ? Wiio fashioned the drops of rain that
refreshed the fields ? Who breathed the gentle bi-eeze
which cooled and cheered the drooping flowers ? Wiio
has sent us this day so clear, so calm, so bright, " the
bridal of the earth and sky " ? WTio is creating for
us our harvests, and preparing food for man and beast ?
It is God that doetli this, doing it in ways beyond our
comprehension, yet doing it before our eyes. There
is no other force in the universe save that which is
derived from God. There i:-5 no other life except the
life which has leaped from the eternal self-existence.
God is in all. Above us in the stars he shines ; but
he works also in the grass beneath our feet. Each
dew-drop glea,ms his glory, and every grain of dust
bears his impress. He is within us, keeping our hearts
in motion ; and around us, giving to the air we breathe
its power to sustain life.

So also is the Lord very near in providence. Albeit
that this godless age seeks to banish God, yet is he
present in the transactions of every day. All things
come of him, both the little and the great. He ordains,
and rules, or over-rules. Pestilence and famine, earth-
quake and hurricane, are his heavier treads ; and days

260 GOD'S NEARNF.SS TO US.

and uiglits, harvests and springtides, are liis gentler
footsteps. The events of history, wliether on a large
or suiali scale, betray an evident design and arrange-
ment. AD things work together, with singular accu-
racy and punctuality, to accomplish a lofty purpose.
It is the fashion nowadays to say that these are coin'
ddences. It is a pretty word for boys to play with.
Some of us observe God's providences, and we are nev-
er without a providence to observe. We see the hand
of God in daily life, and we are glad to do so, though
we are laughed at as poor fools. Those who can see
may well be content to bear the jests of the blind. In
my own personal experience I have met with numbers
of singular and special tokens of God's working in
providence, some of which I would scarce dare to tell,
because they miglit seem incredible. I remember
preaching at Halifax, in a htige timber building which
was erected for the purpose. Daring the previous day
the snow fell heavily, and it lay deep upon the ground.
Nevertheless, the people came in their thousands, and
thronged the enormous edifice ; and gratefully do I
remember how they went away to their homes in
safety. They had no sooner cleared the building to
the last man, than it fell in one gigantic ruin. Why
had it not fallen when the crowds were there ? In my
joy that no one was harmed I thought that God vv'as
there, and I praised his holy name. Was that a piece
of superstition ?

Take another instance. I was one day in great per-
plexity upon a certain matter of great importance to
the cause of God. I laid it before God in prayer, but
still I did not see my way : I could get no direction
or guidance. Having to preach in North London, a
friend kindly drove me to the spot, and afterwards I

GOD'S NEARNESS TO US, 261

asked him to take me to the house of one of our peo-
ple whom 1 wished to see. I scarcely noticed my way,
till at last I found myself in a street unknown to mc.
I then said, ''You are surely going wrong." " Xo,"
he said, " I am right enough." He was making for
the private house of the person I had named, but I
knew that he would at that time he at his office in the
city, and I had intended to go there after him. We
were on the wu'ong track, and so the horse's head was
turned down a side-street unknown to me, and as we
passed along it, T saw the only man in all the world
vcho could assist me out of my difficulty. How he
came to be there I could not tell ; how I came to be
there I have already told you. Strangely had the
Lord guided me, and the information guided the affair
to a happy issue. God was near me. Mere coincidences,
they tell me 1 Mere coincidences ! Let me tell a true
story. The other day I met with a series of similar
"mere coincidences." I set out by railway to a cer-
tain town, and the train went on till we came to a
junction, and I was bidden to change. By a strange
coincidence another train had drawn up, and was go-
ing in the direction I desired. I had only time to
cross a platform and take my place, and off it went.
A few^ miles further again I heard a voice, saying,
" Change here ! " I changed a second time, and by
another coincidence a train Avasjust starting for my
destination. When I reached the end of my railway
journey another coincidence was in store for me, for a
well-known friend was waiting with his carriao^e, and
he took me to his house, where by another coincidence,
a dinner was ready. At the dinner there happened to
be a dish upon the table intended for a person w^ho
did not eat flesh meat. Was not this a special coinci-

262 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

dence for me ? I went to the chapel to preach, and I
found it crowded with people anxious to hear : anoth-
er coincidence, of course ! Somebody cries, " You talk
nonsense ; it was all arranged." I confess I thought
so. I am glad that you own the arranging hand ; but,
pardon me, 1 saw an arranging hand in the other
cases also, and I think it was as clear in the other
cases as in this. To the storj^ of my journey you hnd
a clue in a previous arrangement, and in the history
of nations, and in the story of each human life, I also
find a clue in the presence of a Divine mind which
arranges all things. When human arrangement ex-
plains a series of events you admit it without cpiestion ;
why not admit Divine arrangement, since it equally
well explains the great occurrences of history ? Do
you demur ? I fear it is that you resolve not to believe
in tlie one case, while in the other, having no theoiy
to maintain, you follow your natural common-sense.

God is so near us that he hears the prayers of his
people, and orders events in correspondence to those
prayers. Do you doubt this? Do you tell me tliat
the many answers to prayer which we jojd'uily narrate
are mere coincidences ? I have hardly patience to an-
swer you. Yet let me tell you of some strange inci-
dents which happened to me yesterday. In the morn-
ing, when I came into my study, I needed to break
my fast. I had scarcely wished it, before my break-
fast was on the table. During the day 1 wished for
a glass of water. In a few moments it stood by my
side. I required some one to take a telegram to the
post-ofBce for me. Heigh ! Presto ! A suitable mes-
senger appeared. Was this magic ? The evening
can^e on and I desired to have the lamps lighted and
the curtains drawn. In a few seconds my desire was

GOD'S NEAKSESS TO US. 263

accomplished. Were these matters " mere coinci-
deuces " 'i " No," cries oue, " you rang the hell."
>>ow 1 come to thiuk of it, some one did pull at a
handle ; but 1 saw no bell. Yet you assure me that
the ringing of a bell accounts for it all, I will not
argue tlie point with you. Only when 1 yield to you,
1 want you also to yield to me when I tell you that
we pray to the Lord our God, and that we receive an-
swers to our prayers. Our daily experience is that
prayer is answered by the Lord our God, for he is near
to fulfil his promises, and to grant the petitions of
them that put their trust in him. You believe in the
power of the bell, and we believe in the power of
prayer. Our speaking to the living God is as much a
fact and a reality to us as the ringing of a bell to you;
why, then, do you heap scorn upon us ? Why do you
snuflT us out with your big talk about ccincukrMS ?
Scoff away ! We shall not pray any the less so long
as in our experience we find the Lord so swift to hear,
so bountiful to bless. The fool hath said in his heart,
" There is no God " ; but even he is not so mnch a
fool as he who, believing that there is a God, will not
allow that he is near enough to hear and answer prayer.
Oh, that my hearers wdio doubt the nearness of God
would cry to him, and see if he would not be found of
them !

Beloved, the fact is, that God is everywhere. He is
so present in all places that he is specially near to each
person. His circumference is nowhere, but his centre
is evervwhere. God is as much with you as if there
were no other person in the world. His being near to
vou does not make him far off from another. This
truth is high, and we cannot attain to it, but it is none
the less sure. God is near each one of us, observing

264 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

US witli exactness, perceiving the secret intents of our
hearts. He is near us, feeHng for us, and thinidng of
us. lie is near us in active energy, ready to inter-
pose and help us. He is near us in all places, and at
all times. By night and by day he surrounds us. At
this moment, "surely God is in this place." Know it,
and be filled v/ith awe. I pray that, ere the service is
over, you may know it by feeling the powder of his
grace. In answer to prayer may the Lord's presence
and power be with the v/ords which I shall try to
speak to you, though I speak in great feebleness.

First, I am going to address myself for a little to
those ivho only feel after him, but as yet have not per-
ceived him ; and then I shall speak to those ivho have
found him, and who know by a sweet experience how
near he is to his chosen.

I. To THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FEELING AFTER GoD I

speak in deepest earnestness. Like blind men who
grope for the wall, you stretch out your liands to feel
after him. Rejoice, for ho is not far from you !

What then? How impious is sin when seen in this
light! You have transgressed the commands of the
great King in the King's presence. When you blas-
phemed him, you thought little of him ; but you
spoke into his ear. When you ridiculed his ways and
his people, you did it to his face. You insulted your
Creator while his eyes were fixed on you. Did you
dream that you were in the outskirts of liis dominion,
far off from his throne ? and did you, thei-efore, take
liberty to offend ? 0 sir, you were mistaken ; you
rebelled in his courts ! He heard your evil words ; he
noted down your unrighteous acts. Think of this,
you that have never sought mercy at his hands; from
your childhood \intil now you have lived under his

COD'S XEARNESS TO US. 205

close inspection. You liave, perhaps, seen those liives
which ptTiuit you, through a glas.s, to see all that the
bees are doing. You have watched them busy in
their cells. All the world is but a hive of this sort to tiie
mind of God. You could not read the designs and
intents of the bees, but the Lord has read your
thoughts and imaginations. Would some of you
have sinned as you have done if you had realized the
Divine presence ? Would you have dared to go to such
lengths as yoii have gone, if you had seen him as he
has seen you ? " Hush," they say, when they are
speaking evil of any person, "here he comes." Why
did you not "hush," since God was there? Servants
who have wasted their master's time will hurry up
when they see that he is near: how is it that you have
not only loitered, but done mischief while your iNIaster
has been looking over yoiu' shoulder ? How impious
is that sin which is done despite the presence and
observation of God !

Next, note liow profane is indifference ! To be
indifferent to God when God is near in the glory of
his majesty and the riches of his L)ve, is a sign of
great hardness of heart. God is near, supplying you
with breath, keeping you in life, and yet you care
not! Holy men luve trembled with awe in his pres-
ence, and you have trifled ! How is this ? If he had
gone on a journey, and you had forgotten him, there
might be some little excuse; but with the Lord close
to you, how could you ignore him ? Can I call this
less than sheer profanity ? If an angel in the presence
of the Most Highest refused to adore ; if a spirit before
his burning throne maintained a sullen silence, we
should count it unmistakable sedition : what is it in
your case ? What shall I say to those who here, in

266 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

the presence of God, have lived ten, twenty, thirty,
forty, or fifty years, and yet have never given their
Lord a serious thought ? Do you so hghtly esteem
your Maker ? Is he not worth a thought ? Will you
neither bow your knee in homage, nor lift up your
A'oice in thankfulness ? 0 men and women, why do
you act so UDJustly, so ungratefully ? What has God
done that you should slight him ? How can you ex-
cuse yourselves, that you live and n:iove in hiui, and
yet have no more care for l]im than if there were no
such being?

Furthermore, if God be so near, this shows tlie evi-
dent im'possilility of deceiving Mm, God is not mocked,
Thinkest thou that if thou wilt go to God's house that
will avail thee, though thou goest not to God ? Dost
thou imagine that to repeat certain gracious words
will suffice, though thy heart be wandering on the
mountains of vanity ? Hast thou thought that to
make a religious profession will be enough? and that
God will be so duped, as to think tliee his servant and
his child, if thou takest upon thee the names which
belong to such relationships ? Dost thou think that
he can be deceived when he is near thee, around thee,
and within thee ? Thy heart is as open to him as tliy
book is open before thee, and he reads thee as thou read-
est the plainest print. How, then, canst thou deceive
him ? Beware, I beseech you, of having any dealings
with God but those wdiich are in downright honesty.
We must be true to the core before the All-seeing One.
A lie to our fellow-men is meanness, but a lie to God
is madness. What meanest thou, thou pretender to
godliness, if thy heart be not right wath God ? Dorst
thou think to play tricks with the only wise God ?
Canst thou cheat the eyes before which all things ar?

COD'S NEARNESS TO US. 267

naked and open? He besets thee behind and before,
and lays his hand upon thee : he possesses thy reins
and searches thy heart : be plain and sincere with
hira, lest he smite thee as he smote Ananias and Sap-
phira. Oh, that the words ol' Hagar in the wilderness
would rise from every heart — " Thon God seest nie'M
That God is as near to us as we are to ourselves
should make us greatly ashamed, if in any way what-
ever, we seemed to be what, in the depths of our
being, we are not.

But, hark ! this shows us hoio vain is all hope of es-
cape from God ! Wliat if a man says there is no God !
God is all the same. What if a man forgets God, and
therefore ceases to tremble ! There is as much cause
for trembling as ever, and somewhat more. Wiiat if
a man is able throughout life to shut his eye to his
lost estate, and at last dies without bands in his
death — what of that ? He cannot escape the judgment,
he cannot flee from the far-reaching arms of justice.
The Lord's impartial sentence will find him out,
though he plunge into depths of darkness, or make
his bed in hell. It was said once of the whole world
that it was nothing better than a prison for the man
that had offended Caesar ; and I may say of the great
universe, however wide it be, that it is but a narrow
cell for the man who has offended God. Where canst'
thou fij', mj hearer ? Where canst thou hide ? Xei-
ther mountains nor abysses,can conceal thee from those
eyes of fire ! If thou hadst but half a grain of wit
thou wouldst fall at the feet of thy pursuer, and in-
voke his mercy ! Confess thy wickedness, and beg
for pardon. Quit thy sin, and be reconciled to thy
Judge through the death of his Son : then those eyes

268 GGD'S NEARN11.SS TO US

shall be suns of light to thee, whereas now they are
as flauies of fire.

TiiiH is the solemn i?ide of the matter, and I confess
it is dark as the pillar of cloud when it turnexi its
blackness on the Eg-yptians. Oh, this God ! this God
who is not far from us ! What shall we do ? We
have provoked hira! He is angry with the wicked
every day. His great longsuffering holds back the
strokes of his justice ; but they must come one day,
for he will by no means spare tlie guilty. Oh, my
ungodly hearer, thou hast sinned, and thou art sin-
ning in the presence of thy God ; 1 beseech thee,
think of this! Thou hast been indifferent, and thou
art still indifferent, in the presence of One, who with
a thought can wither thee, and with a word can send
thee where hope can never come. Be warned, I pray
thee. May God bless this solemn warning to thy
soul's arousing !

There is a bright side to this great truth of the Di-
vine nearness. If God is not far from each one of us,
then hoio hopeful is our seeking ef Mm ! If 1 seek God,
and he is not far from me, I shall surely find him. I
have not to climb to heaven nor to dive into the abyss,
for he is near ! Oh, for i'aith to perceive him ! Where
I sit, or stand, I may come to him. If I seek him he
is seeking me iox certain, or else I shoald never have
sought him. When the sinner seeks God and God
seeks the sinner, they will soon meet. Is it not writ-
ten, 'If thou seek him, he will l)e found of thee"?
'•Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near." Omnipresence yields
good cheer to those who are panting for their God.

Hoio pereeptihle must repentance he ! If God be near
you, he sees that tear which just now scalded your

GOD'S NEARNESS TO US. 269

cheek. He marks that sigh ; he sees that heaving of
the breast ; that trouble of the soul he knows ; that
restlessness he sees. When I stand by a person who
labors under emotion, I am not long before I symiia-
thize wdth him ; I cannot help it ; God is much more
tender-hearted than we are, and, like as a father
pitieth his children, so he pitieth them that fear him.
If thine heart is breaking, thy God perceives it. If
thou art bev/ailing thy sin, he hears it, and cries,
" How can T give thee up?" ' The sight of thy tears
hath melted hiui, the hearing of thy sighs hath moved
his compassion. Doubt not this ; thou canst not
have him near and yet have him callou.«, for his name
is Love. He heard thee, and he pitied thee, when yes-
terday in thy chamber thou wast in an agony of
shame and fear. He sees thee at this moment in thy
loneliness and dire distress. A fugitive and a vaga-
bond thou mayest be, but yet the Lord is near.

Since the Lord is near to us, hoio quick luiJl le be to
perceive our faith! If you, this morning, glance an
eye to the cross, the Lord wdll see your eye looking
that way. He sees the feeble as well as the strong ;
if thou hast but a grain of mustard seed of faith he
■will at once discern it. When the messenger of the
church cannot perceive it, and before the minister
can detect it, God hath seen faith. Believest thou
that Jesus is the Christ? Dost thou trust thyself
vith him ? God hath accepted thy faith and he hath
said, " There is therefore now no condemnation." If
he were far ofl'thy faith might be unnoticed, but being
close at hand he sees the first glimmer of light within
thy mind. Though thy trust be of the feeblest kind
he accepts it and protects it.

If God be so near thee, poor soul, Jiow readily lie can

270 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

reveal himself to thee! I know ho^v sadly you are
urged to despair, and yet ere that clock hath finished
the half lionr yonr despair may vanish. There is
nothing between thee and thy Saviour but thine un-
belief. Let unbelief go, and thou slifdt see Jesus, to
thy heart's joy. A prisoner was taken out to die, and
as he rode along In tlie death cart his heart was heavy
at the thought of death, and none could cheer him of
all the throng. The gallows-tree Avas in sight, and
this blotted out the sun for him. But lo, his prince
came riding up in hot haste, bearing a free pardon.
Then the man opened his eyes, and, as though he had
risen from the dead, he returned to happy conscious-
ness. The sight of his prince had chased all gloom
av\-ay. He declared that he had never seen a fairer
countenance in all his days : and when he read his
pardon he vowed that no poetry should ever be dear-
er to his heart than those few lines of sovereign
grace. Friends, I remember Avell when I was in that
death-cart, and Jesus came to me with pardon.
Death and hell were before me ; but I rejoiced
exceedingly when I taw the nailprints in his hands
and feet, and the wound in his side. When lie said,
"Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee," I
thought I never saw such loveliness before, and never
heard such music in all my days. Nay, it was not
mere thought, I am sure my judgment was right.
Eternity itself sliall never disclose anything to me
more sweet. My pardoning Lord hath no peer nor
rival. Oh, what a Christ is he who appeared to me,
a guilty, condemned sinner, on the way to hell '
Blessed be his name, he bore on the tree my curse,
and shame, and death, and 1 am free. This is the
manifestation which I desire for each of you ; and,

GOD'S NEARNESS TO US. . '21 \

since Jesus is near, how readily can he grant you the

Doon

If the Lord be near, there is no reason why he
should not grant pardon now to all of you who see it
Ere the words I speak have reached your ear, God, in
the person of his Son, may manifest himseli to you
and make your heart to leap for joy. Do it, 0 Lord
Jesus I Grant a vision of thyself, good Lord : grant
it now, and thou shalt have the praise. God often re-
veals himself by men to men : why should he not
speak to you through this sermon of mine ? God
often reveals himself to men by the Scriptures. A
precious text laid home to an aching heart will soon
give it peace. Wherefcn-e, be of good cheer, my hear-
er ; God is near you, and therefore hope is near you.
Believe in Jesus and he will give you rest. He wait-
eth to be gracious ; he looks out for objects of mercy.
Be of good cheer, for Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
Even at this hour he is near.

II. The time is too short, therefore I must turn at
once to God's people, and speak to those of you who
HAVE FOUND THE LoRD. Brothers, you need not that I
seek out choice words when I speak to you. You are
soldiers, and you only want short sentences, such as
captains give 'to the "'ranks. I say to you, redeemed
by precious blood, and made sensitive to the all-sur-
rounding God, note how strictly Gud observes us ! Let
us walk in his sight, let us live in his presence.^ I
charge you, remember that the Lord your God is a
jealous God.' Under such weighty obligations to him,
and bound to him by such marvellous ties of love, live
_hve obediently, live intensely, Hve with concentra-
tion of heart, and mind, and strength ; live wholly
unto him. Being ever in his sight, set him always

272 GOD'S iVEARN^SS TO US.

before you. Be your life such as life sliould bo in the
fierce light that beats about the tiiroue of Deitj. Oh,
our poor lives! Our empty lives! God fill them
and elevate them ! May he help us to rise out of our
dead selves by a sense of his living presence. If God's
nearness does not make us cry to him to njake men of
us, what v.ili ? 0 thou who art so divinely near, draw
our lives into thy Mia !

If God be not far from us, let us see lioio readily he
hears our 'prayers ! I am sometimes startled at the
power of a feeble prayer to win a speedy answer.
" Startled," you will say ; why am 1 startled ? for it is
written, " Before they call, I will answer : and while
they are yet speaking, I will hear." Yes, it is so
written, but we do not alwa^ys apprehend the fact.
When the promise comes speedily to pass, have you
never felt your iicsh cieep with a solemn awe in the
presence of God, who has so remarkably drawn near
at the voice of prayer ? You turn aside from your
business but a minute and pray, and you come back
calm and composed. Tiiis is the finger of God. You
do not leave the counter, but simply dart a glance
heavenward, and the thing you sought for is bestow-
ed u|)on you. Is it not often so, my beloved ? Y^ou
know it is. Is it not easily accounted for by the fact
that God is at your riglit hand, ready to be gracious ?
There is no need in every case to break the continuity
of business, and to get away from the concerns of this
life, for the Lord is in the shop, and in the barn, as
well as in the closet. You are in the midst of a
throng of wicked men, but God is there too, if his
providence has called you into such company. The
pressure of incessant occupation racks your mind, but

GOD'S NEARNESS TO US. 273

it woTiIfl be less if you felt tliat God is there to
help and guide.

How simple is comimmion nitli the Lord iclien ice Jcnow
ihat he is near us! When you seek quietude for medi-
tation, do you think it wonderful that you enter
speedily into communion with God ? Is he not wait-
ing for you? If yon go into the field witli Isaac, God
is there. Kesort, therefore, to communion with God
without doubt of obtaining it. Speak, for he hears :
listen, for he speaks. Pray without ceasing, because
God is near without ceasing. Pour out your heart be-
fore him, for he is ever near to mark your heart's out-
pourings. It makes life a blessed thing when we
remember that we spend it ^\dth God. We dwell in
him. It is not as if we were visitors, and. had to
make calls on God now and then ; but he is our dwell-
ing-place. We have not to seek him as though he had
hidden himself away, for he is the sun whose presence
fills our life with strength and comfort. He is in us,
and therefore with us. Wherefore let us pray, and
praise, and hold sweet communion with him.

Further, dear brethren, if God be so near us, how
scurely are loe defended ! A Christian lady not long
ago dreamed a dream whic^h was not a dream, but
fict. She saw herself as surrounded with God ; encir-
cled above, beneath, and all around, as with a blaze
of light. Brilliance inconceivable made a pavilion for
her ; and while she stood la the midst of the glory she
saw all her cares and her troul^les, and her temptations,
and her sins, wandering about tlie outside'ofthe wall of
light, unal)le to reach her. Unless that light itself
should open r.:.d make a way for them she was serene-
ly secure, although she could see the perils which
else would destroy her. Is not the Lord a wall of fire
18

274 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

roiTTid about us, and the glory in the midst ? Is it
not written, "He that dweileth in tlie secret place of
the Most Highest shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty" ? Evil shall not come near to him who is
near to God. Go where we may, a more than royal
guard surrounds us ; for the Lord of Hosts is with
us. Blind eyes, blind eyes, ye see not the Infinite
Protector! If our eyes were anointed, we should
eee the mountain full of horses of lire and chariots of
fire round about us ; nay, better than horses, though
they be of fire, we should see the omnipotent God to
be our shield and buckler. I want you, dear people
of God, to feel that you are never in real danger, because
never far from God. Hov/ can he be in peril whom
the Lord keepeth l)oth night and day ?

To the living God we look for life when threatened
by the powers of death. You have a little fish in
your hand : it will soon die if it renjains there. It is
newly taken from the stream ; make haste to restore it
to its element, and it will speedily recover. In the
river it will find all it needs ; even so, in God we have
all we want. In God we dwell in all-sufficiency and in
perfect peace. As the dove in the dover>ote, and the
coney on the rock, and the chick beneath the hen ; so
do we dwell in God. Who is ho that can harm us,
since God is near ?

If the Lord be thus near us, liow speedily lie can reneio
our graces ! Alas ! our soxds too often need restoring ;
but, blessed be his name, he is at hand to renew our
life. I confess with shame that I have felt dull and
dead and heavy, and I thought it was the weather, or
my bodily weakness, or some other matter: but what-
ever was the cause, I have found only one cure. As
in a moment, quicker than the twinkling of an eye, I

GOD'S XEARKESS TO US. 275

have been lifted into life, and love, and light, and en-
ergy : I have awakened in the night with all the bells
of nij soul ringing ont peals of praise. I have said to
myself, *' What a strange creatiu-e I am ! Now I can
rejoice in my God ; now 1 can pray with holy preva-
lence ; now 1 can leap as a hart." Then 1 have wash-
ed to rush into the pulpit and preach straight away.
1 was all death before, and the Lord made me all
life. Is not this to bo expected, since God is near to
hear our bemoanings ? He speaks, and it is done.
'' Fiis word runneth very swiftly." By the exercise
of faith the Lord enables us to overcome the body.
Plato used to say that by thought the soul could get
out of the body. I am iiot philosopher enough to
know whether this is true or not ; indeed, I never
tried to quit my body, for I am afraid I might not
find my way back again : but this I know, that by
the spii'itual life the spirit can rise above the bod}'.
Some grievous ache, some bitter pain has made you
feel as if you did not care to live, and yet a flash of
sacred joy has gone through you, and you have laughed
at the pain, and have even been quickened by it. Pain
is a rough bare-backed steed which throws every
common rider ; but when he comes who is taught by
the Spirit, he leaps upon it, rides it, and outstrips the
wind. How many a grand thought has been the child
of pain. Nov/, if God be with us we see how such a
thing can be. Never despair while the living God
is near. Believe in the living One, and, touching the
hem of his garment, the virtue of his life shall stream
into your dying heart : " He that believeth in me,
though he w^ere dead, yet shall ho live."

I hear people sometimes talk about " the liigher
life." Happy is that man who obtained the highest

276 GOD'S NEARNESS TO US.

life when lie first believed in Jesus Christ. The di-
vine life is neither lower nor higher, bat there are
increasing degrees of its strength. These are all
reachable, for God is near to iielp us. If God be near
us, brothers, infinite resources are near us. We need
not be unl)elieving ; w^e need not be sorrowful ; Ave
need not be afraid. We need not be the captives of
sin ; we are able to overcome it by the Divine help.
We can master ourselves, for God is near us to give
us the victory.

I do not think that any one of you should go away
to-day, saying, " I feel so dull, so stupid, so unspirit-
ual." God is not far from any one of us, and his pres-
ence should remov^e these complaints. What doth
Jesus say? "I am the resurrection, and the life."
You looked for a miracle. Behold your Lord ! He is
the miracle. Receive him, and you have the resur-
rection and the life. What though you be in the grave,
sheeted and bound: if Jesus is "at the mouth of the
sepulchre, at his bidding you shall quit the abode of
death. Have hope, 0 Lazarus ! for though you be dead
and stinking, yet the Christ who calls you gives you
life. Never, child of God, never think that _you cannot
be filled with life and power. That cry of "O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me?" is heard by
your present God, and he gives you the victory through
Jesus Christ.

Let me say once more, if God be so near us, there is
no reason tvhy we should not speedily enjoy a manifestation
of his glory. Moses keeps the flock of Jethro. Poor
comrades, those woolly sheep! He has led them to
the back-side of the desert. Poor region, it scarcely
yields a blade of grass for sheep, and nothing for man.
What can one expect in a howling wilderness? Stop:

GOD'S NEARNESS TO US. 277

yonder is a bush ! But what of that ? No grapes or
figs cau be gathered there. A bird may rest in a hu^Ii,
but not a man. Turn thou aside, 0 Moses, for God
can make that bash to be the throne of Deity ! The
commonplace can be made celestial, the despicable,
divine. Though to-day, dear heart, in all thy trouble
and deadness of heart thou wilt go to a home which is
no home, yet since God is there he can appear to thee
in anything and everything. He can make the bush
of thy trouble to become the embodiment of his glory.
He can manifest himself to thee as he does not to the
world. Time was, they say, when God could be found
under a tree, and by the brook, and near the town
wall, and even in a furnace, and a lion's den; but men
do not see him now even in temples. Whose fault is
this? It is the fault of our dull eye, and duller hearts.
God is as near as ever. I see him in this house of
prayer. I pray that you may see him, and then the
spot whereon you now are will become holy ground
to you throughout the rest of your life. In your quiet
room this afternoon, there is no reason why a door
should not be opened in heaven, "Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God," He shows his
glory to the meek and lowly. The recognized presence
of God will make a garret as glorious as the ]\Iount of
Transfiguration. When Jesus is to us Emanuel, God
with us, we see him in his glory, for this is to see him
as he is.

This truth of the presence of God makes me feel
happy with regard to this my much beloved church.
I often fear lest we should not have conversions, I
have feared lest coldness of heart should take hold of
myself and you; and then this has been mv comfort—
the Lord is not far from any of us, and therefore he

278 GGD'S NEARNESS TO US.

can use us, and work conversions in our midst. Breth-
ren, he can incline the outsiders to come and hear the
word, and when they hear it he can bless thenj, for he
is not far from them. I read in tiie Life of John Wes-
ley a story of Methodists meeting in a barn, and how
certain of the villagers, who were afraid to break
through the door, resolved to place one inside who
would open the door to them during the service, that
they might disturb the congregation. This person
went in before service began, and concealed himself
in a sack in a corner of the barn. When the Metho-
dists began to sing, he liked tlie tune so well that he
would not get out of the sack till he had heard it
through. Then followed a prayer, and during that
prayer, God worked on the man in the sack, so that
he began to cry for mercy. The good people looked
around, and were astonished to find a sinner in a sack
seeking his Saviour. The door was not opened to the
mob after all; for he who intended to do so was con-
verted. It does not matter v.-hy the people come to
hear the gospel; God can bless them in any case.
If Christ is preached, men will be saved, even if they
come to disturb. "Sir," said one to me, "1 had been
to bargain about a pair of ducks on Sunday morning,
and I passed by the door, and T thought I would just
look in. There and then the Lord met with me, and
those ducks were forgotten, for I found a Saviour."
Tie is not far froiii Jiny; and in answer to believing
prayer he can deal with men and tarn their hearts to
himself Wherefore, work on ! Go round with your
tracts this afternoon. God is not far away from those
houses. Stand in the street corner and preach: God
is not far away from those who pass by. Go to your
Sunday-school class, for God is not far from any one

COD'S XEARNESS TG VS. 279

of the children. Work witli cheerful hope, for the
Lord is near you.

This presence of God which cheers in life, also sus-
tains in death. Pie is not far from any one of us when
all the world flies far away. Tins morning the end
came suddenly to our friend Mr. Murphy. He hoped
to preach this morning-, but he is doing better work.
His congregation is gathered expecting their pastor;
may they find the Master with them, though the ser-
vant is gone ! If God be always near, what matters
whether we die or live ? We would like to have our
friends gathered about our bed to bid them flxrewell ;
but, perhaps, it will not be so. It is of small m.oment
after all. since our God will be near. Our best Friend
will be there; our Father will be there; for our God
will be there. Go your way and make no bargain as
to whether you live or die; only plead that promise,
" Certainly I will be with thee." God is with us now,
and soon we shall be with him. Until the day break
and the shadows flee away, abide with us, 6 Lord,
Amen, and amen.

XIII.

TRUST.

August 21, 1887.

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation."— Epiiesiaxs i. 12, 13.

It appears from the preceding verse that the predes-
tinating purpose of God deals not only with salvation
as a whole, but with the details of it: it includes faith
as well as salvation, which comes of faith. " Being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of hie glory, who first
trusted in Christ." The trust is appointed as well as the
justification : the means as well as the end. Wo are not
ordained to be saved apart from faith, but those who
are predestinated to eternal life are ordained to receive
it through faith in Christ -Jesus. What God hath
joined together let no man put asunder.

Beloved friends, I would have you notice in this
verse the remarkable object which is set before us as
the grand design of predestinating grace. Observe
the singular expression of the aposrle — " That we
should be to the praise of his glory.'' Observe that he
does not say, that we should sing to the praise of our
glorious God, though we will do that; nor that we
should stiffer to his praise, though we would not re-
fuse to do that; nor that we should ivork to his praise,
(280)

TRUST. 28i

tliougli by grace we will do that; but "that we should
h? to the praise of his glory." The very being of a be-
liever is to the praise and glory of God. It is written,
" Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all
to the glory of God;" but this is still more compre-
hensive, you are to he to his glory, your v^vy existence
^9, io ■praise him. Your being, which is now turned
into well-being, is to glorify the God of grace. When
in the quiet of the garden I have looked upon the lilies
standing erect in their marvellous beauty, and I have
realized our Master's words, that Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these, tiien I have
said to myself, " What do these to the glory of God ?"
Quickly my heart has answered, " They exist to show
forth the glory of their Creator:" by merely standing
where they are, they yield praise to the Lord: their
very being is worship. Even those flowers which are
born to blush unseen of men do not bloom in vain,
they do not waste their sweetness, though they pour
it on the desert air, for God is in the lone places, and
beholds with joy his own handiwork. God is glori-
fied by the being of that which he makes, and espec-
ially by the being of that which he has a second time
created by the power of his grace, according to his
purpose tlirough faith. Is it not enough result of be-
ing if we are to his praise ?

Beloved, see the importance of that trust which is
BO constant an item in the purpose of God when he
causes us to be to the praise of his glory. Unless we
have trusted in Christ we are not living to the praise
of God ; but when we hav^e come by faith into the
place wherein we ought to stand, then is our very
being unto the praise of his glory. In Christ our very
existence glorifies God, and it is faith which con-

282 TRUST.

sciously places ns in Christ. Concerning that trust,
or if you will — for the original bears that transjatiou
— tliat hope, which is so essential to the fuifiiment of
the purpose of God-^— concerning that trust I am about
to speak this morning. May the praise of his glory
be promoted by wliat 1 am enabled to say !

I. Our first point will be that trust in Christ ls

THE CONSTANT MARK OF THE SAVED. " That We sllOuld be

to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ,
in whom ye also trusted." 1 care not whether you
read it "trusted" or " hoped," the idea will still be
the same. Trust in Christ, or hope in Christ, is the
distinguishing token of God's people.

It icas the mark of the ai:oitles. It was necessary to an
apostle that he should have seen the Lord, for he was
to bear personal v»'itness to that which he had seen with
his eyes, and looked upon and handled; but this alone
was not sufficient, for many saw the Lord and remain-
ed in unbelief, enemies of the cross of Christ. These
could not have been apostles, since they did not trust
in Jesus. The apostles were those who, with an inner
as well as an outer eye, had seen the Lord, and had
trusted themselves wholly to him as their Leader,
Master, Teacher, and Saviour. There were no apostles
Avorthy to be called apostles who did not trust in
Christ. Truly Judas bore the name, but his Lord s-aid
of him, " One of you is a devil." He who is sent of
Christ as his witness first trusts in Christ.

This was also the mark of the first converts, the
chosen from among the Jews. These had the honor to
be the elder born — these who first trusted in Christ.
Some of them had the adA-antage of having trusted in
hini before his actual advent, for they were looking lor
the hope of Israel, and earnestly expecting the coming

TRUST. ggo

of the Messiah, Before our Lord appeared at the
waters of Jordan, and was pointed out by John the
Baptist as " the Lamb of God, which takoth away the
siu of the world," there were hearts that believed i^j
him, and eyes that looked for him. Still, whethei- tli?y
were Jewisli believers, looking for his advent, or not

this Avas the mark of their being truly saved tliat

they trusted in Jesus, when he was revealed as the
Anointed of the Lord. The best instructed Jew could
not find eternal salvation apart froin his puttino- i^jg
trust in Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Now, dear friends, This ivas the mark of those who
tcerc first saved hy tJte great Redeemei', and I want vou
to notice how the Holy Spirit sets them in a class" b-y
themselves, lie makes a distinction between those
who first trusted, and those who trusted afterwards,
because it is a noteworthy honor to have been amona
the first that trust Christ. It is a privilege to be led
by Jesus, to trust him first in order of time bv begin-
ning in your ecfrliest youth. Happy are those who enter
the Lord's vineyard amid the dews of the mornino-
for these redeem years of time from the bitter servi-
tude of sin, and turn them to blessed account, in the
delightful service of the Lord Jesus. Such are usu-
ally distinguished in the church: early piety makes
eminent piety, early consecration often leads to abound-
ing usefulness. The Lord evidently delights to l)e
found in a Ingh degree of those wlio seek him earlv.
They come to him first, and he remembers the kind-
ness of their youth, and the prompatude with which
they obeyed his call. It is also a great privilege to
be called first out of a family or a neighborhood. Per-
adventure some of you live where there are none who
believe in Christ; may the Lord grant you this high fa-

28i 2^ RUST.

vor to be the leader of your household and jour district
as a believer ! Aiaj the shower of grace fall first on
you, and then bless all those who are round about you !
Possibly in your family you do not know of one who
has passed from death to life — may you be the first-
fruits out of spiritual death ! I have often observed
that where God begins with a family he goes on with
a family. He makes one or two to be the firstfruits,
and then he considers the lump as also holy, and goes
on to bless the rest of the household. Even in nations
I scarcely remember a nation or people that has ever
received Christ which has been quite left without his
blessing throughout after centuries: the fire which
the first live coals had kindled has never absolutely
been quenched. Therefore, 1 admire the gray fathers
of the past, the pioneers of the army of the Lord. Paul
mentions with respect those who were in Christ be-"
fore him, and so should we honor those who led the
way for us Hay first trusting in Christ. I greatly es-
teem in my own mind those first believers who were
not borne in by the throng of others, but w^ent forward
alone. I compare them to the first navigators upon
an untried sea; the men who first sailed out of sight
of shore, greatly venturing. To be first in per-
ceiving that Jesus of Nazareth was the Anointed of
the Lord was no mean thing, for none of the princes
of this world had any idea of that great fact. These
w^ere in truth the " men of light and leading," the
foremost minds of their age, peasants and fishermen
though they were. These were the first swallows
heralding a glorious summer-tide. These were the
first song-birds waking the morning to behold the
newly risen sun. It is a patent of nobility to be num-
bered with these. I would put a holy ambition into

TRUST. 285

the hearts of those who arc young, and others who
belong to ungodly families, suggesting to them that
they should be among their households tliose " who
first trust in Christ." In the history of your tribe you
will have an honored place as the first who brought
salvation to your house. But, whether you are first or
last, if you are saved at all it will be through trust in
Christ. Come young, come old, you will still be saved
alone by trust in Christ. Come as the leader of your
family, or come as the last left out in the cold, you
will still have to come by a simple trust and reliance
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one sole
way of salvation.

Now, as this was the mark of the elder born, the
text goes on to tell us that it tvas the mark of the young-
er horn: in "whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." The
Ephesians did not see the Christ, they never listened
to the melodious tones of his voice, nor looked hito
his beloved countenance; but they were converted by
hearing the report of him. They were brought into
salvation afterwards; but still it came to the same
thing: they received like jjrecious faith with those
who in former days had obtained eternal life. Those
to whom I now speak trusted in Christ after they had
heard the word of truth. Note the expression. It is the
word o^t]te truth — the most important and vital of aU
truths. Nothing but truth can truly renew the heart.
Falsehood works to evil: only truth works towards
righteousness. We heard the word of the God of
truth, and it came to us as the word of God: it came
with the force of truth, carrying conviction with it,
and it came as the w^ord of God, exercising a divine
power over our nature, and hence it w^as that we came

286 TRUST.

to trust in Christ. My unconverted hearer, if jon
desire to have faith in Christ, listen to the truth, and
to the truth only. Shut your ears to error, and hold
yourselves only ready to hear the glorious gospel of
the blessed God. " Faith cometh by hearing," but
that hearing must be the hearing of the word of God.
It is by the hearing of the Avord of truth that men
come to trust in Christ, but trust in Christ they must,
or they will perish. He is the sole Rock on which we
must rest: the one Foundation laid for us to build upon.
The apostle also says to these Ephesians, " Ye heard
the gospel of your salvation." O delightful word !
The gospel, the glad tidings! The glad tidings of
salvation ! Yea, more, the glad tidings of ycur sal-
vation ! The gospel brings to us a personal deliver-
ance. We heard Christ preached, and w^e saw that he
had salvation for us. Another man's Sa\iour brings
lis little joy, but salvation for ourselves is good news
indeed. Joyful was the day when my heart said,
"Blessed be God, I need salvation, audit is joyful
tidings to me that there is an atoning sacrifice by
which my sin is put away! I can be reconciled to
God throngh the death of his Son, and in Christ Jesus
I can be accepted and beloved of the L-ord." By
such reflections we w^ere led to a simple and hearty
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That trust is the broad
arrow of the King, set upon all his royal poFsessiong.
Where that trust is found, that soul is God's posses-
sion; where it is wanting, that soul still lies in the
arms of the wicked one. This trust, of which some
make so little, is, nevertheless, the distinguishing and
the discriminating mark by which we must discern
between him that feareth God and him that feareth
him not.

TRUST. 287

Note, before I leave this portion of the subject, that
trmt ill Christ is of the same nature in all believers. It is
not the same in degree, nor in constancy, nor in ejier-
g}'; but yet it is the same faith. "Ye received like
precious faith," said Peter. Paul's faith and your
faith are the same faitli if your faith be true faith.
The taith of Abraham and the faith of a little child
who has newly believed in Jesus are the same faith,
A diamond is a diamond, whatever its size may be,
and so little faith and great faith are of the same es-
sence. Whether it be a grain of mustard-seed or a
mountain-moving faith, it is still faith of the opera-
tion of God, f.dth in the same object, and faith work-
ing to the same end. Hence John, speaking to his
converts, prays, " That you may have fellowship with
us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ." If thou art a believer,
thou hast a right to the same fellowship with God as
the apostle had, thou hast the same perfect cleansing
by the precious blood, thou hast the same adoption,
the same regeneration, thou standest in the same place
of love and acceptance, thou shalt be blessed with the
same blessings on earth, and thou shalt enter into the
same joy at the right hand of God. See, then, dear
friends, that trust in Christ is the invariable and the
infallible mark of the saved ones.

II. Secondly, this trust is no empty xotiox. The
trust in Christ which saves the soul is no iJla senti-
ment, but a strong, vital, active principle, having a liv-
ing and conquering power within it. It is of the opera-
tion of the Spirit of God, and hence it is a living and
incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Tru3 trust in Ckrid is an entire reliance upon Jam.
This day, if you trust Christ, you rest the whole weight

288 TRUST.

and stress of your soul's affairs upon him. Looking at
your sin and your sinfulness, looking at the past, tlie
present, and the future, looking at death and at judg-
ment, you deliberately believe that Christ is equal to
every emergency, and you just cast yourself entirely
and without reserve upon him to save you, and to
keep you saved for ever. No other trust is worth a
pin except this. It must be an absolute severance
from all reliance upon your past merit, or upon your
present resolutions, or upon your future expectations
of what you shall be or shall do. You must iuive done
with all other trust if Christ is your confidence. Your
motto must b^ "Jesus only." In this life-boat you
must swim to glory, but all other you must cast away.
Another reliance would be as a weight about your
loins to sink you in the sea of /lespair. 0 my hearer,
hast thou such a simple, unadulterated trust as
this ?

A saving trust leads us to accept Christ in all Ids offices.
He is to us not only Priest to put away our sin, but
Prophet to remove our ignorance, and King to subdue
our rebellions. If as Priest he purges the conscience,
as Prophet ho must direct the intellect, and as King
he must rule the life. We nnist yield our will to Christ's
will, that henceforth every thought may be brought
into captivity to his holy sway. There is no whole-
hearted trust in Christ unless Christ is taken as a Avhole.
You cannot have half a Christ and be saved, for half
Christ is no Christ. You must take him as he is re-
vealed in Scripture, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the
Saviour of men, veiy God of very God, the faithful and
true Witness, your Guide, your Lord, your Husband,
your everything. Do you trust him so? If not, you
have not trusted him at all. This is the trust which

TRUST. 289

brings salvation with it — an entire reliance upon an
entire Saviour so far as jou know him.

This trust includes obedience to him : we have not
trusted him at all unless we- are prepared to accepting
commands as the rule of our lives. The siiip is on
lire; the bales of cotton are pouring forth a black, hor-
rible smoke; passengers and crew arc in extreme dan-
ger, but a capable captain is in command, and he says
to those around him, •' Jf you will behave yourselves,
I think I shall be able to effect the escape of you all."
iSow, if they trust in the captain they will do precisely
as he orders. No sailor or engineer will refuse to
work the pumps, or to prepare the boats, neither will
any passenger disobey rule. In proportion to their
confidence in their leader will be the alacrity with
whicli they obey him at once. They believe his orders
to be wise, and so they keep to them. Neither their
fear, nor their rashness, will lead them to rush to and
fro contrary to his bidding if they have a firm trust in
him. When the boats are lowered, and are brought
one by one to the ship's side, those who are to fill them
wait till their turns come, in firm reliance upon the
captain's impartiality and prudence. They will get
into tlie boats or they will wait on board, for they
consider that his orders are dictated by a better judg-
njent than their own. So far as each man and each
woman firmly believes in the superior officer, discipline
will be maintained. Do you not see this ?

Obedience is the necessary outcome of true and real
faith, and there is no trust where there is no obedi-
ence. Some of you fancy that you are to trust Christ,
and then do what you like. You believe a lie, for
such is not the teaching of God's word. The faith
which saves is a faith which obeys. Learn this from
19

290 TRUST.

the sermon of last Sabbath morning. Jesus becomes
the Physician of the blind man, and puts clay upon
liis eyes; and then he bids hiui go and wash in the
pool of Siloam, and he shall see. If he had refused to
go and wash, he would not have received sigiit. Do
not tell me you have trusted for sight; you cannot
have done so, unless you go and wash in the appoint-
ed pool. We must follow Christ's directions, if we
would receive Christ's promises. Trust in Christ im-
plies a yielding up of all that we have and all that we
are into Christ's hands. We must be to him as the
wax to the seal, or the clay to the potter. There must
bo an unreserved submission to his supremacy. 0
thou seeking sinner, wilt thou submit to this? Art
thou full of self-will and pride? Then these m.ust
be taken from thee. If thou dost heartily accept the
Lord Jesus as thy Lord and King, thou hast the faith
which saves; but if not, what faith hast thou that is
worth the having ?

Tru3t in Christ leads to an open folloiving of liim.
Trust is not lame, but it v^alks in the footsteps of him
it relies upon. It the Lord's way be the way of the
cross, thou v/ilt nevertheless follow it, because thou
wilt know it to be the right way, since he leads there-
in. He that is ashamed to confess Christ has good
reason to fear that he Is not trusting him. How can
I be trusting him of whom I am ashamed? If I am
not on his side in the great battle of life, how can I
s;iy that he is my confidence ? He declares that he
that is not with him is against him. How can I trust
him. and yet be against him ? If I refuse to have my
name recorded on the muster-roll of his army below,
how dare I hof)e that it is written in the Lamb's book
of life above ? If I refuse to accept Jesus as my cap=

TRUST. 291

tain, liow can I claim him as my Saviour ? A hearty
trust in Christ involves an honest confession of him.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
"He that with his heart believeth. and with his mouth
maketh confession of him, shall be saved." Thus the
matter is put in Scripture. Wilt thou come out, then ?
Wilt thou come out on his side ? If thou wilt, then
thou hast saving trust. If thou wilt truly, nnd fully,
and wholly decide for Christ, and live for Christ, then
thou hast the trust which is the mark of his elect.

This trust will lead a man to labor or to suffer for Christ
as need occurs. The true truster considers it to be real
gain to lose for Jesus. He reckons that toil unreward-
ed of men is the best rewarded form of labor when it
is accepted of the Lord. It is enough wage to be per-
mitted to serve the Lord Christ. This is faith : this
which counts all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, this which hath respect
imto a future recompense when the Lord shall come
in his kingdom, but looks not for honor among men or
any other form of reward here below. True trust
cleaves to Chi'ist when the many turn aside, for it
knows that he has the living word, and none upon
earth beside. My hearer, if thou hast a real trust in
Christ, thou wilt follow his teachings though all the
world should run madly after new opinions; thou wilt
stand by his truth though thou be called a fool for thy
steadfastness; and thou wilt not be ashamed though
no one should keep thee in countenance. If thou be
trusting in Christ, thou wilt spend thy life for him,
and reckon it to be the best way of using thine exist-
ence. God grant us to have more and more of this
trust !

That trust which lives on men's lips and never

292 TRUST.

affects their hearts is a deadly delusion. He that
saith " I believe," and then never lives according to
that belief, is a deceiver, and will find himself deceiv-
ed if he looks for salvation in such a faith. Tiiat pre-
sumptuous trust which indulges in sin and boasts of
forgiveness in Christ, is in itself an aggravation of a
sinful life and will involve its possessor in increased
condemnation. Hang up on the gibbet of infamy that
evil confidence which is in league with iin holiness.
The conceit of safety while we love sin is a mockery
of God's salvation, the base counterfeit of the coin of
lieaven. God alone gives the faith which works by
love and pui-ifies the soul, all other faith is spurious
and ruinous.

Truz trust rejoices in the hops which Christ inspires. It
looks for his coming and his glory, his reign and his
heaven. It is full of hope; that living, lively, life-
giving hope which sustains the heart. This trust hath
a window of hope through which light coines into the
heart in the darkest hours. It lives and triumphs in
the future, through trusting the promise of Christ
Jesus.

If we have such trust as this we shall constantly
meet with something whereon to exercise it. God
never leaves true trust without work to do. It is not
a presentation sword to be worn only on high days
and holidays, neither is it like the old armor in the
Towei of London, hung up to be looked at; no, true
trust is for every-day wear and use, and between here
and heaven it will be tested in every conceivable way.
That sword will si'.ap if it be not a true Jerusalem
blade, and that armor will be pierced if it be not of
proof, able to endure the battle-axe of fierce tempta-
tion. In a thousand fields our trust will be tried ere

■j-ac^-j: 293

we shall be able to sheathe the sword and enjoy the
triumph. It is in this way that trust tn Christ is
made by our God to work to the praise of tlie g'lory
of his grace. Trust in Christ brings to God greater
glory than anything else we can produce. " What
sliall we dp," said one^ " that we may work tlie work
of God ?" meaning thereby a god-like work, a work
so great as to bear a heavenly name. Jesus answered,
" This is the work of God, that ye believe on Jesus
Christ whom he hath sent.'' Dear friend over yonder,
you cannot build a row of almshouses to the glory of
God; but you can trust Christ with all your lieart to
the glory of God. You cannot stand u]) and deliver
an eloquent oration to God's praise, but you can by
divine grace pursue a life of faith, and thus praise
him. You cannot be a hero in fight, and turn to
flight the armies of the alien, but by trust in Jesus,
exercised in prevailing prayer, you can win great victo-
ries to the praise of his glory. Walk humbly with your
God, in patience possess your souls, and with an un-
staggering faith embrace the promises, and you shall
be found in that cloud of witnesses who are ennobled
of God Most High. The Lord grant us, then, to have
this trust, which is more than mere notion or senti-
ment— a divine principle created by the Holy b'pirit.

III. Thirdly, this trust in Christ is his due. There
came to me the other day a young man who wished
to speak with me about his soul troubles, and he
began thus, " Dear sir, I cannot trust Christ," To
which I answered, " Have you found out something
fresh in his character ? Has he ceased to be trust-
worthy? Pray let me know all about it, for it is a
serious matter to me; I have trusted him Avith every-
thing I have for time and for eternity, and if he is not

294 IKUST.

fit to be trusted I am in a terrible case." He looked at
me, and lie ^aid, " I will not say that again, sir; 1 see
I have made a mistake. Truly the Lord Jesus is in
everyway trustworthy." " Well, the^i," I said, "Why
cannot you trust him ?" I left him with that un-
answerable question. A man is certairdy able to
trust one whom he regards as trustworthy. My
young friend saw that at once, and asked me further:
" But may I trust Christ to save me ? Am I permit-
ted to trust ray soul with him ? " I said to him, " Is
not this the command of the gospel: Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou slialt be saved? And are
you not warned that if you do not believe in him you
will be damned ? How can we doubt that we are
permitted to do that which is commanded us of the
Lord ? I am to preach the gospel to every creature,
and this is the gospel: — "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved!" He said, "So,
then, if I trust Christ, he will save me?" and Ire-
plied, "Certainly he will; he is the Saviour of all
them that put their trust in him. He says, ' Him
that Cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.' It is
w'ritten, ' He that believeth on him hath everlasting
life;' he that trusts in Jesus is saved." He thanked
me, and saying that he had found out the secret, he
went on his u'ay rejoicing. I told him the gospel; he
received it; and he entered into rest. I hope 1 may
be equally successful with my hearers at this time.
J\lay the Holy Spirit work with me in this case also !
I have been talking about faith, and I trust 1 have
not darkened counsel by words without knowledge.
It is simplicity itself, but we are exceedingly apt to
becloud it. To trust Christ is to find salvation. He
that sincerely relies upon Jesus is saved. Now,

TRUST. 295

concerning this trust, I say that this is onr Lord's due.

Observe, first, that we are bound to trust him from
Ids very name. His name is " Chrifst," that is, the
"Auohited."' God has sent him, God has commis-
sioned liim, God has equijDped him, he is the anointed
of God: dare I distrust him? An ambassador from
heaven, with the divine warrant at his back, known
to speak in the name of the Lord God, how dare I say
I have no confidence in him ? By the glorious name
of Christ I claim for him that you who seek salvation
should trust him implicitly, and trust him at once.

Remember, next, Ms gloricus person. He who is set
forth as the object of saving trust is none other than
the Son of God. In his Godhead and in his humanity,
yea, in his undivided person, he claims your trust.
Canst thou not trust him that made heaven and earth,
without whom was not anything made that was made ?
Can his power fail thee ? Can his wisdom mislead
thee ? Can his mind change toward thee ? Can he
be unfaithful ? The Son of the Highest, canst thou
not trust him ? Away with the impertinence of mis-
trust! Canst thou doubt the Holy and the True?
Darest thou doubt the Lamb of God ? Be not so fool-
hardy as thus to defy the incarnate Son of God, and
treat him as though he could deceive thee.

Next, trust him, because of his matcUe^ character.
Hast thou ever heard of such another as the Christ of
God ? Among the sons, no one is like to him.

" All hail, Emmanuel, all flivine,
In thee thy Father's glories shine
Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest one
That eyes have seen or angels known."

He is all goodness, the fulness of love, and the pat=
tern of tenderness. He is always true, and always

2DG TRUST.

faithful. By that blessed character which he bears,
which I am sure you would not for a moment question
— a character which even infidels have been forced to
admire — I pray you trust him ! Let it not be a ques-
tion with you : " HoMf can I trust him ? " Say rather :
" How can I distrust him ? " "What reason can you
have for doubt ? What excuse for mistrust ?

Eemember next, Ms ivorh, and especialh/ Ms deatJi.
Plere is immovable ground for my claim that you
should trust him. Jesus loved men so as to die for
them, how can we doubt his love? I do not know
how it is with you, but I lose the power to doubt when
I realize Christ crucified. That crown of thorns hedges
my mind around, and shuts out mistrust. His five
wounds kill my suspicions and my fears. A crucified
Saviour is the life of faith, and the death of unbelief
Canst tliou stand and view the flowing of the Saviour's
precious blood upon the tree of doom, and not trust
Him ? What more can he do to prove his sincerity
than to die for us ? His life is the mirror of love, but in
his death the sun shineth on it with ablaze of glory, so
that we cannot steadily look into its brightness. Be-
Jiohl how he loved us ! Oh, believe thou in the cruci-
fied Christ, for this is no more than his right and due !

Besides, he lives, and he has gone up into the glory with
the same purpose of grace upon his Mart. When men
change their places, they often change their minds ;
but he that loved us when he was despised and re-
jected, loves us now that he is highly exalted. He is
not like the chief butler, who forgot in the palace the
promise which he made in the prison. The love of
Calvary is with the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
On earth he bleeds, in heaven he pleads. Ye sinners,
come and trust the ever-living Christ, for he makes

TRUST 297

intercession for transgressors ! I stand here this
morning, and I say to all of you in this house that 1
claim your confidence in the Lord Jesus. I do not
hund)ly ask for it as a beggar asks an ahns: I demand
for the Christ of God that you put your tiust in him.
God has sent him forth to be a propitiation for sin, that
through faith in his blood every one that believeth in
him shoukl be saved. I demand your trust in the
name of God. Christ deserves it at your hands, and
you cannot refuse it viithout doing him a gross injus-
tice. I beseech you do not make God a liar ; yet, ac-
cording to the apostle John, " He that believeth not
hath made him a liar, because he believeth not in the
Son of God." If Christ were here this morning, stand-
ing on this platform, and you saw his pierced hands,
and the wound in his side, you would be ready to fall
down and worship him : you can Avorship him better
still by trusting him in his absence. " Blessed are
they which have not seen, and yet have believed.'
Trust is among the sublimest forms of adoration. A
childlike, tearful, broken-hearted, sincere trust in
Christ is a hallelujah unto his name. If thou wouldst
crown him, thou needst not go far for a coronet : thy
trust is the best diadem thou canst bring him. Trust
thou him, then, at this moment, and thus bow at his
feet with cherubim and seraphim. But again I say,
do not insult him by saying that thou canst not trust
him. T should think it hard if any one of my acquain-
tance said to me, " Sir, I cannot trust you." It would
be a cruel cut. I should inquire of him, " What have
I done to merit this ? When have I been untrue ? ''
It would be too unkind a stab if it came from one whom
I had aimed to benefit. Do not crucify the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame

298 TEUS7,

O my hearers, I have chosen an old theme this
morning, and 1 have been stadiouslj simple in my
style, for my heart lougs to bring you to trust in
Jesus ! I have no desire to be thought a fine preacher.
I want to save your souls. This trust is the vital
point ; do not slight it. Oh that you would believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ ! If you believe in your
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you
shall be saved. This is the way of salvation, and it is
very plain, God help you to run in it ! Lay aside
pride and self-confidence, and trust wholly in Jesus :
and this -will be better than all tears, and despairs,
and resolves, and efforts. Fall back into the arms of
redeeming love. Lean your whole weight on Jesus.
Take your soul to Christ as you take your money to
your banker, and leave it in his hands. lie will keep
it until that day when, at his appearing, you shall ap-
pear with him in glory.

IV. I close by noticing, in the fourth place, what I
have already insisted upon, that this trust is in every

CASE THE INSTRUMENT OF SALVATION.

Trust is selected by God as the instrument of salva-
tion, and it is not selected arbitrarily, but with great
wisdom and prudence. When a man trusts Christ, hy
his trust lie is hrouglit into mental and spiritual contact
with Christ ; and there is a more hopeful influence
about that contact than in anything which a man will
resolve to do or even perform in his own strength. It
is a grand thing for a man to be elevated above self-
confidence, and brought to rely upon such an one as
the Son of God. Thus he is made to feel that he must
look to some one greater and better than himself ;
and /he is brought to own that he is a feeble and de-
pendent creature. I think I see in this consideration

TRU^T. 299

an adaptation in faith to be the means chosen of God
in the matter of salvation,

Moreover, faith is no doubt selected by God to be
the means of salvation, because it never rohs God of
Ms glory. If you audi are to be saved, we shall be
saved by God and by his grace alone. Now if the ap-
pointed way of salvation leaves something for ns to do
in order that we may be saved by God, we shall in all
probability attribute our salvation to that something,
and forget the Lord. If we are bidden to trust, there
will be no temptation in that direction ; for we can-
not rely upon our trust, since its very essence lies in
depending upon Christ alone. Trust ascribes salva-
tion to him who saves. Faith never seeks honor for
herself : she is a self-denying grace. Christ saith,
" Tiiy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace ; " and by
this saying he crowns faith, and he does so because
faith crowns him.

Trust, again, is selected as the instrument of salva-
tion because it has ivondsrful power over the heart of
God. Marvellous is the influence of trust, I have
aforetime illustrated this to you by the power which
faith has over us, mortal men, I will venture to tell
you an old story, which you have heard from me be-
fore. I cannot recollect anything better, and you
must bear with a repetition, I- once lived where my
neighbor's garden was only divided from me by a
very imperfect hedge. He kept a dog, and his dog
was a shockingly bad gardener, and did not improve
my beds. So one evening, while I walked alone, I
saw this dog doing mischief, and being a long way off,
I threw a stick at him, with some earnest advice as
to his going home. This dog, instead of going home,
picked up my stick and came to me with it in his

300 TRUST.

mouth, wagging bis tail. He dropped the stick at
my feet, and looked np to me most kindly. Wluit
could I do but pat him and call bim a good dog, aiul
regret that I bad ever spoken rougbly to hiin ? Wby,
it brings tears into my eyes as I talk about it ! Thi.'
dog mastered me by his trust in me. Tbe illustration
is to the point. If thou wilt trust God as that dog
trusted me, thou wilt overcome. God will be held by
':hy trust in such a way that he could not smite thee,
but must accept thee for Jesus' sake. If thou dost
trust him, thou bast the key of bis heart, tbe key of
bis bouse, the key of bis heaven. If thou canst trust
thy God in Jesus Christ, tbou bast become a son of
God. I see a philosophy in the choice of faith: do not
you ?

But then faith operates also to salvation by ilie effect
it has on the, clian^ader. When I doubt God, then I fol-
low my own judgment and do what I please; but
when I trust bim wholly, and know bim to be my
Father and ray Friend, then I yield my will to him
naturally, not as a matter of constraint, but with great
joy. And is it not a wonderful thing, that this simjjle
trust turns the whole current of our life, and changes
the entire color and complexion of our thought?
Wisely is it ordained to be the instrument of sal-
vation, since it touches the main-spring of our being,
and makes that which was erratic and rebellious
become orderly and obedient ?

Moreover, brethren, trust saves us, because it grasps
the promises of God and pleads them. It says to God,
"Thou hast promised this; therefore I-pray thee do
as thou bast said." The God of truth cannot lie; and,
therefore, he must keep bis woi:d. Trust pleads the
sacrifice of Jesus, and says — "Lord, tbe blood of thy

TKUS'I. 301

Son was shed for the remission of sins, therefore, T
pray thee let my sins be remitted Thon hast said
that thou hast laid on him the iniquity of us all. I
pray thee let me be unburdened of my load, because
thou hast laid it on him." Trust must save, for it
has all the promises of the coven; .nt at its back, and
the Christ of the covenant at its side, exhibiting his
own precious blood. How can trust but save the
soul Avhen God declares it shall do so ?

In our most honest hours ice are driven to faith for our
comfort. If in our prosperity our eyes wander to
other confidences, in our distress they come back to
Christ and his cross. AYhen the head is aching, and
the heart is throbbing, and the death-sweat lies on
the brow, none of us dare look to works, or feelings,
or sacraments, but we cr}^ —

" Hold tliou thy cross before my failing eyes."

The wounds of Jesus are the ultimate hope of the
forlorn. Wiien the soul is about to quit the body,
the most eminent preacher, the most earnest worker,
the most devout thinker asks that he may see Jesus,
and be washed in his blood and covered with his
righteousness. I dare not trust all the heaped-up
merits of all the saints, but I dare trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. Shmer as I am, I am assured of salvation
through the sinner's Saviour. If I had as many souls
in this one body as there are souls in this house of
prayer, I dare trust them all with Christ. If all the
sins ever committed by all the men that ever lived
Bince time began were all heaped upon my one guilty
head T dare trust Jesus Christ to cleanse me from them
all. 0 come, dear heaiis, and trust my Lord ! lie can-
not fail youo According to your faith be it unto you.

302 TRUST.

You shall be able to live graciously, and to die calmly,
if your trust settles itself upon Jesus, the Christ, the
anointed of the Lord. Ere yet the harvest is past
and the summer is ended, trust Christ, and live. O
Holy Spirit, by thy secret workings upon the heart,
lead all these thousands to trust in the Lord Jesus J
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

xiy.

FOLLY OF UlN'EELIEF.

August 2S, 1887.

" Then lie said iinto thcin, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken."— Luke xxiv. 25.

The two disciples who walked to Emmaiis and con-
versed together, and were sad, were true believers.
We may not judge men by their occasional feelings.
The possession of gladness is no clear evidence of
grace ; and the existence of depression is no sure sign
of insincerity. The brightest eyes that look' for
heaven have sometimes been holden so that they
could not see their heart's true joy. Be not cast'
down, my brethren and sisters, if occasionally the
tears of sadness bathe your cheeks. Jesus may be
drawing near to you, and yet you may be troubled by
mysteries of grief.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to the two disciples,
and took a walk of some seven miles with them to
remove their sadness; for it is not the will of our
Lord that his people should be cast down. The
Saviour does himself that which he commanded the
ancient prophet to do. "Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem." Thus he spake and thus he acts. He
was pleased when he went away to send us another
Comforter, because he wishes us to abound in com-
fort; but that promise proves that he was, and is, him-

304 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

self a Comforter. Do not dream, when in sadness,
that your Lord has deserted you; rather reckon that
for tliis very reason he will come to you. As her
babe's cry quickens the mother's footsteps to come to
it more speedily, so shall your griefs hasten the visits
of your Lord. Lie hears your groanings; he sees
your tears — are they not in his bottle? He will come
to you as the God of all consolation.

Observe that, when the Saviour did come to these
mourning ones, he acted very wisely towards them.
He did not at once begin by saying, " I know why
you are sad." No; he waited for them to speak, and
in his patience drew forth from them the items and
particulars of their trouble. You that deal with
mourners, learn hence the w^ay of wisdom. Do not
talk too much yourselves. Let the swelling heart
relieve itself. Jeremiah derives a measure of help
from his own lamentations: even Job feels a little
the • better from pouring ont his complaint. Those
griefs which are silent run very deep, and drown the
soul in misery. It is good to let sorrow have a tongue
where sympathy hath an ear. Allow those who are
seeking the Lord to tell you their difficulties: do not
discourse much with them till they have done so.
You will be the better able to deal wath them, and
they will be the better prepared to receive your words
of cheer. Often, b}-- facing the disease of sorrow the
cure is half effected ; for many doubts and fears van-
ish when described. Mystery gives a tooth to misery,
and when that mystery is extracted by a.clcar descrip-
tion, the sharpness of the woe is over. Learn, then,
ye who would be comforters, to let mourners hold
forth their wound before you pour in the oil and
wine.

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 305

Learn also a sacred lesson, O je mourners ! It is
well for you, wlieu you are pouring out your griefs,
that you do so before the Lord. These two troubled
wayfarers, though they k)iew it not, were telling
their sorrow to him who best of all could help them
to bear it. You may tell your friends, if you will,
and it will be some relief to you; but if you seek the
throne of grace, and make the Eedeemer your chief
confidant, your relief will be sure. Get you alone;
shut to the door ; bow there apart from the disciples,
and say, "Jesus, Master, I would tell thee that which
saddens me ! Thou great High Priest, who wast com-
passed with infirmities, thou wilt understand me bet-
ter than my nearest friend, and I would place myself
beneath thy care ! " How great the privilege that we
have access with boldness to the ear and heart of
Jesus our Lord !

Again, learn another point of wisdom. When our
Lord had heard their statement of distress he might
immediately have comforted them: a word w^ould
have done it. Did he not say, " Mary,"' and did she
not at once turn and say, " Rabboni " wdth ecstatic
delight? He went m.ore wisely to work than to ad-
minister hurried consolation : he rather rebuked than
encouraged them. He began by saying, " 0 foolish
men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the
prophets have spoken ! " Observe that I quote the
Kevised Version, for the Authorized is too harsh.
Our Lord did not call them ybofe, but foolish persons.
The diiFeren(;e is rather in the manner than in the
sense. He cliided them ; gently, but still wisely.
He let them know that tlieir unbelief was blame-
w^orthy, and ho called them foolish for indulging it.
0 beloved brother, if thy ^Master chide thee^ do not

306 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

doubt Ms love ! If, when tliou goest to liini in grief,
lie answers thee roughly, it is his love scarcely dis-
guised, which thus seeks thy truest wellare. If thou
believe in thy Lord, thou wilt reply, " Master, say oii."
If he call thee foolish, thou wilt wonder that he does
liot say something worse of thee; and in any case
thou wilt trust him after the manner of Job when he
said, " Though he slay me, yet will 1 trust in him.''

Especially observe that our Saviour's rebuke was
aimed at their unbelief. Unbelief, which w^e so often
excuse, and for which we almost claim pity, is not
treated by our Lord as a trifle. It is for this that he
calls them foolish ; it is about this that he chides the
slowness of their hearts. Do not let us readily excuse
oiQ'selves for mistrust of God. If we ever doubt our
gracious Lord, let us feel ourselves to be verily
guilty. Regard unbelief as a fault rather than a
weakness. Brace yourselves to seek a braver and
more constant faith than you have reached as yet.
IVhy should we go on blundering, and misjudging,
and therefore fretting, when a little consideration
will set us right, and at the same time cause us to
honor our Lord, and to be ourselves filled with joy
and peace through believing?

I am going to handle -this rel^ike as God the Holy
Spirit shall help me; first addressing it to tlie true be-
liever, and secondly, to the seeJcer. I shall have to bring
forth some bitter things which will act as a tonic, but
by giving tone to your system, they will, in the end,
remove your fears better than sweeter matters would
have done. Hear then our Lord say, " 0 foolish men,
and slow of heart to Ijclieve in all that the jorophets
have spoken ! "

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 307

In speaking to believers, I would have them observe
that our Lord rebuked their unbelief under two heads:
first, as hdnrj foUy^ and secondly, as arising from sloiv-
ness of keqrt.

First, then, unbelief is folly. Not to believe all
that the prophets have spoken, and not to draw com-
fort out of it, is great folly. Folly ! Note the word.
" O fools ! 0 foolish men ! " It is folly such as makes
the tender Jesus cry out.

It is folly because it arises from want of thought and con-
sideration. Not to think is folly. To give way to sad-
ness, when a little thought would prevent it, is fool-
ishness. Is it not ? If these two disciples had sat
down and said, "Now the prophets have said concern-
ing the iMessiah that he shall be led as a lamb to the
slaughter, and thus was it with our Master," they
would have been conjQrmed in their confidence that
Jesus was the Messiah. If they had said, " The proph-
et David wrote, 'They pierced my hands and my
feet,' they would have recognized in this their crucified
Lord. And if then they had turned to the other pass-
ages of the prophets in which they speak of ]\Iessiah's
future glory, they would have been refreshed with hope.
In the Scriptures they would have found types, and
figures, and plain words, in which the death and the
rising again, and the shame and the glory of Christ
are linked together, and his cross is made the road to
his throne. Had they compared the testimony of the
holy women with the prophesies of the Old Testament,
they would have obtained ground of hope. The
women reported that the body was no longer in the
tomb, and that they had scon a vision of angels, who
8?id that he was alive ; two apostles went to the sep-
ulchre, and gave in a like report; and this tallied

308 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

witli the Lord's own v/ords, in whicli he made Jonah
his type, becaase he came xip from the deep on the
third day. But they forgot the Scriptures ; they did
not think of that great source of hope. Their eyes
were dimmed Vv^th tears, so that they did not see what
Avas phiin before them. How many a precious text
have you and I read again and again without perceiv-
ing its joyful meaning, because our (ninds have been
clouded with despondency ! We take the telescope,
and try to look into heavenly things, and we breathe
upon the glass with the hot breath of our anxiety, till
we cannot see anything; and then we conclude that
there is nothing to be seen. Do you not think, belov-
ed, you that are distressed and sorrowing to-day, that
if you thought more of the promises revealed in God's
Word, you would soon see things differently, and
would rise out of your downcapt condition ? Yon put
your Bibles away, and read nothing but the roll of
your troubles. There are no handkerchiefs for the tears
of saints like those which are fulded up within the
golden box of God's Word. He who inspired this
volume is the " The Comforter " ; will you not apply
to him in your dark hours ? 0 you, whose melancholy
arises from forgetfulness of the words of your heaven-
ly Father, of the tender Savioui', and of the divine
Spirit, I beseech you be more considerate ' Think of
God's providence, his unchanging love, his power,
his faithfuhiess, his mercy. Think of the promises,
and as you handle them by thought, they will exhale
a sweet perfume which will delight you. Holy
thought will charm you out of your griefs. But what
folly is it that, for Avant of thought, we should bow
our heads like the bulrush^ when, like the sunflower,

i

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 309

we might look at the light till we became little suns
ourselves !

Unbelief is folly because it is inconsistent ivith our oicn
professions. The two disciples professed that they be-
lieved in the prophets; and I have no doubt that they
did do so. They were devout Jews who accepted the
Holy Books as divinely inspired, and therefore infalli-
ble ; and yet now they were acting as if they did not
believe in the prophets at all. Are we not often found
guilty of like inconsistency ? O brethren, it is one
thing to say, " I believe the Bible," but it is quite an-
Dther thing to act upon that belief! We have more
of seeming faith than of real faith. That Book is true,
and every promise in it is true, and I know and be-
lieve that it is so ; and yet, when I come to the test,
how much of faith evaporates, and hotv sadly my
fluttering heart proves that my belief was more in
fancy than in fact ! There is more infidelity in the
best believer than he dreams of. We think we believe
in the gross; and yet, when it comes to the detail, and
we have to deal with this promise and with that as a
matter of fact in every-day life, we have to light a can-
dle, and sweep the house, to find our faith. What folly
this is ! If the Word of the Lord be true, it is true,
and we ought to act upon it; if it be not true, why do
we profess to believe it ? That which is unquestionably
true, will bear all the strain and pressure which life
and its trials may pat upon it, and it is for us to act
upon this belief. Brethren, it ill becomes us to play
at believing; let us have our wits about us, and make
serious business of that which is not sent to delude us,
but soundly to instruct us. The Word of the Lord is
in harmony with his providence; and as we believe
him as to the one, we must trust him as to the other.

310 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF,

Wc may sateiy rest the weight of our body and soul,
our present and future, upon the sure promise of a
faithful God; and we are bound by our profession to
do so. It is folly to call ourselves believers in the
Bible, and then to doubt and distrust.

Folly, again, is clearly seen in unbelieving sadness,
because tlie evidence ivldch should cheer us is so clear. In
the case of the brethren going to Emmaus they had
solid ground for hope. They spake, to my mind, a
little cavalierly of the holy women as " certain women."
Yet there were no better disciples in the world than
those women. They were surely the best of the chosen
company — Alary and the Magdalene. Even the testi-
monies of Peter and John, the very chief of the apos-
tles, are not sufficiently valued, for they speak of " cer-
tain of them which were with us.'' I say not they speak
disrespectfully; but there is a slurring of their witness
by casting a doubt upon it. Concerning these godly
women they leave an impression on my mind as if
they had said, " ^Yomen will talk, and these women
said that they had seen a vision of angels, which said
that ho was alive." It is rehearsed as hearsay of a hear-
say; they said that they had seen those who had said.
If they had been pushed to the point, the two disciples
would not have allowed that the Magdalene and the
other women, or Peter, or John, were unAvorthy of
credence; and yet they were by their sadness, acting
as if the witnesses were mistaken. If those who were
at the empty sepulchre were to be believed, why did
they doubt? The evidence which they themselves
detail, though we have it only in brief in -this place,
was conclusive evidence that Christ had left the tomb;
and yet they doubted it. Now, dear friends, you and
I h.ave had superabundant evidence of the faithfulness

FolLV Cf iWBELJEF. 3U

of God, aiul if we are nnbelieving, we are unreason-
able and foolisli. At least, I stand here to confess, that
whenever I doubt my God it is on my part a superflu-
ity of naughtiness. I have never had any reason to
disti'ust him. These many years that I have trusted
in hira he has never failed me once. Experienced
Christians, liow can you waver in your confidence ?
If we disbelieve, is it not folly ? If the Saviour does
"not call us fools, we are forced to call ourselves so.

We could not suppose that the promise, covenant,
and oath of God could fail. The supposition cannot
be tolerated for an instant. Thousands of souls are
resting everything upon the faithfulness of God, and
desire no other security ; but if God be unfaithful,
■what will become of them ? If the foundations be re-
moved, what can the righteous do ? Then they that
have fallen asleep in Christ have perished ; or, even
if they be in heaven, what security have they there,
if God can change ? I feel quite safe on board tho
ship of the covenant, for all the saints are floating in
this one vessel. If God fails, then we all fail together,
and there is an end of faith, and hope, and all things.
Wherefore, let us not be so foolish as to sin against
the light of clear truth. Let us believe what we have
known, and tasted, and handled. Let past experience
anchor us firmly as to future circumstances.

Unbelief is folly, because it very often arises out of our
being in such a hurry. They said, " Beside all this, this
is the third day." I know that they had expected great
things on that third day, and were justified in expect-
ing them ; but still, the day was not yet over, and they
were in as great a fever as if it vras past a month ago.
Although the Saviour had said that he would rise on
the third day, he had not said that he would appear

312 fOI.LY OF UNBELIEF.

to them ail oti the third day. He told them to go into
Galilee and there they should see him ; but that meet-
ing had not yet come. " He that believeth shall not
make haste ; " but they that do not belieTe are ahvays
restless. Well is it writen, " Ye have need of patience."
God's promises will be kept to the moment, but (hey
will not all be fulfilled to-day. Divine promises are
some of them bills which are payable so many days
after sight; and because they are not paid at sight
we doubt whether they are good bills. Is this rea-
sonable ? Are we not foolish to doubt the sure hand-
writing of a God that cannot lie? Because the Lord
iias not carried out your interpretation of his promise
in the way of your own dictation, therefore you ques-
tion his truthfulness ! If the vision tarry, wilt thou
not wait for it? It will come in its own appointed
time; wouldst thou have it hurried on for thee?
What next? Shall the sun and moon be quickened
in their pace to suit thy rashness? Must God himself
alter his purposes at thy bidding? Truly, things
have come to a pretty pass ! Art thou man or God ?
If thou be a man, wait God's time, and in thy patience
possess thy soul. If thou do not, but, like a fretful
child, must have everything now, or else cry and
fight, thou deservest the rod, and well may the Lord
say to thee, " 0 foolish one !"

Yet, again, I think we may well be accused of folly
whenever we doul)t, because v:e malie ourselves siffcr
needlesshf. There are enough bitter wells in this wil-
derness without our digging more. There are enough
real causes of sorrow without our inventing imaginary
ones. I believe that the sharpest griefs in the world
are those that men make for themselves. No asp
ever stung Cleopatra so terribly as that which she

FOLLY OF UXBELlIiF. 313

held to her breast herself. Ceitain of our friends
spend all their days in stitching away to make them-
selves garments of sacladoth. 1 have seen the cobbler
with his lapstone cobbling np a trouble, and he has
done his work so well that the shoe has pinched his
foot for many a day. It seems a pity, does it not ?
Yet, brethren and sisters, we have those about us
who are great adepts at self- worrying. When you
were boys, I do not suppose you ever went into the
woods to find a stick for your father to beat you with ;
but you have done so again and again since you have
been men; and the more is the pity that you should
be so foolish. If these two travellers had considered
and believed, they would have known that Christ was
risen from tlie dead; and as they walked along to
Emmaus, if indeed they had ever taken that walk at
all, their faces would have brightened at the prospect
of soon seeing him they loved so well.

I want you to notice yet farther that it was folly,
but it teas nothing more. I feel so thankful to our
Lord for using that word. Though we ought to con-
demn our own unbelief with all our hearts, yet^ our
Saviour is fall of tenderness, and so freely forgives,
that he looks upon our fliult as folly, and not as wilful
wickedness. He does not take our doubt as an affront,
bat he calls it folly. lie knows that it is true of his
children, as it is of "^ours, that folly is bound up in the
heart of a child. He puts that down to childish folly
which he might have called by a harsher name. I am
sure that any dear, obedient child will feel thankful
if his father 'calls his fault by the lighter name of
folly, because it will prove that he loves him, and will
endeavor to teach him better. It was not wicked
rebellion, tkeie was no enmity in it. They loved

314 FOLLY OF LX BELIEF.

their Lord, thongh they feared he ha*! dol risen from
the dead. I do not want you to draw iviidue comfort
from this gentle v.^ord, but yet I would have you lose
none of the cheer it is meant to convey. You that
are vexed at your own doubts are not to come to the
conclusion that the Lord utterly rejects you. He
discriminates between the folly of a child and the
wickedness of a rebel: he knows what is in your
heart, and knows that you are his. You are like a
ship that is well anchored, and though the tide is
rushing in, and makes your vessel roll from side to
side, so that you yourself stagger, yet the vessel is
not loosed from its moorings, neitLor are you in any
danger, \oy\x faith is fixed en Christ, and this
anchor holds you ; though you are tossed about a
little, you will suffer no shipwreck because of sin, but
much sea-sickness because of folly. So much con-
cerning unbelieving sadness as folly.

In the second place, our Lord rebuked them for

KLOWNESS OP HEART TO BELIEVE.

This is an evil greatly to be fought against, but it is
by no means a rare sin among the people of God. Let
me try and bring home the charge made by our Lord
against the two disciples, since I fear it applies to us
as much as to them. Our hearts are full often sluggish
in believing; at least, mine is so, and I suppose we
are much alike.

First, we are slow in heart to believe our God, for
we are much more ready to believe others than to bdieve
Mm. I am often amazed with the credulity of good
people whom I had credited with more sense. Cre-
dulity towards man and incredulity towards God are
singular things to find in the same person. We can-
not help seeing m. the daily papers how easily people

FOLLY OF UNBFLIhF. 315

are duped. Got up a prospectus, and a list of uames
as directors, including a titled pauper, and you can
bring in money by wagon-loads. The confidence
trick can still be successfully performed. One impos-
tor lived for months by calling at the door of guileless
old people in almshouses, and telling them that a
consin in America had died, and left them a fortune,
bnt it was essential that fees should be paid at the
government offices, and then the legacy would at once
be handed over. Times and times the money has been
scraped together, the rogue has gone his way, and no
more has been heard of the consin in America. There
are so many simpletons about that rogues reap har-
vests all the months of the year. And yet the God of
truth is doubted ! Yet the incorruptible Word is mis-
trusted ! This makes our slowness of heart in believ-
ing God all the more sad a sign of our inward deprav-
ity of nature. We ccin believe, for we believe in mar..
In the course of our lives we are fools enough to be-
lieve in men to our cost; in fact, it is not easy to rise
out of this snare: and yet we are slow at heart to be-
lieve our God. Oh, my brethren, can we excuse our-
selves? The Lord forgive and cleanse us ! Let us
henceforth accept every syllable of God's Word as
infallible, while we turn our unbelief towards man and
his philosophies and infidelities !

Is it not clear that we are slow of heart to believe,
since loejulge this of others when they are mistrust/id?
When we see our brethren in trial desponding and
distrusting, we are very apt to think them needlessly
dull, and sinfully slov/ to grasp the promise: and yet,
if we come into the like case, we are by no means bet-
ter than they. That which we censure -we commit.
The beam is in our own eye as well as the mote in our

HiQ FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

brother's eye. You have come homo from visiting a
friend wlio was distressed at heart, and you have said,
" I cannot make her out, I iiave put the promises be-
fore her, but slie is so foolisli that she refuses to be
comforted." Yes, and from this learn what you may
be ! Within a month's time, you may be sinking in
the same mire. An evil heart of unbelief is to be
found in many a breast Avhere its existence is least sus-
pected. But if we see the folly of others, will we not
confess our own? Dare we commit what w-e con-
demn ? Did you ever say of Job, " It was a pity tliat
after all his patience, he spoke so bitterly, and cursed
the day of his birth"? I wonder how many of us
would have been any better than Job ? 1 dare not
hope that I should hav^e been worthy to unloose the
latchetsof his shoes. If I had been bereaved as he was,
and tortured with like burning boils, and, worst of all,
irritated by critics with their cruel candor and malig-
nant sympathy, I could not have behaved so grandly
as he did. Let us not severely judge others. They
ought to believe, of course; they ought to be more
cheerful; they ought not to let their burdens crush
them so completely: but when we also are tempted
shall we be so very much superior ? I fear not. Let
us see ourselves in the weakness of our brethren, and
confess that; the Saviour's words are true: we are
"slow of heart to believe."

There is another point in wdiich we are very slow
of heart to believe, namely, that tre do lelieve, and yet
do not believe. We must be very slow of heart when
we say "Yes, I believe that promise," and yet we do
not expect it to be fulfilled. We are quick of mind
to believe mentally, but we are slow of heart to be-
lieve practically. The very heart of our believing is

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 317

slow. Our clear friend, Mr. George M iiller, whom may
God long preserve, says that one of his objects iii
jouraeving about, at his advanced age, from church
to church, is to try and lead God's people to real faith
in the promises of God. He says, " As for fifty-seven
years I have seen how very little real trust in the liv-
ing God there is (generally speaking), even amongst
true Christians, 1 have sought, in these my missionary
tours particularly, to strengthen their faith ; because,
in the coui'seof my pastoral labors, the blessed results
of real confidence in God on the one hand have come
to my knowledge, and the misery of distrusting him on
the other." Mr. Muller's object is a very desirable one :
but what fools we must be that this should be neces-
ary! There are plenty of people w^ho believe God
after a superfine kind of fashion up" there on the Q(\^^
of the moon, or "at the back of the north whid"; but
they do not believe the Lord in their shops, and on
their beds, and in their kitchens: they cannot believe
as to bread, and cheese, and house-rent, and raiment.
They talk about believing in the Lord for eternity,
but for this day and next week they are full of fear.
True faith is every-day faith. The faith of the patri-
archs was a faith which dwelt in tents, and fed sheep.
We want a faith which v/ill endure the wear and tear
of life— a practical, realizing faith, which trusts in
God from hour to hour. Oh, to i^e delivered from
shams, and wand bags, and to believe God as a woman
believes her husband, or a child believes its father!
I hear of writers of "the reahstic school": we want
believers of the realistic order. We need faith in
which there are backbone and grit. We are sham be-
lie vers, and so we lead sham lives. The promises of
God speak to us as Jesus spake to his disciples when

818 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

he rose from the dead: each one cries "Handle me,
and see." God's words are not chaff, but wheat; not
wind, but bread. We are slow of heart because, while
we think we are believing all that God saith to us, it
often turns out that our believing is all a puff.

These two disciples must have been slow of heart to
believe, again, because tlmj lad enjoyed £0 mucli excel-
lent teachimj, and they ought to have been solid be-
lievers. They had been for years with Jesus Christ
himself as a tutor, aud .yet they had not learned the
elements of simple faith. "Oh," say you, "they were
very slow!" Are not you the same? How many
years have you been with Jesus ? Perhaps for even
thirty years. He has himself taught you, has he not?
Let me remind some of you of the remarkable events
of your lives. What wonderful providences you have
seen ! What singular deliverances you have experi-
enced ! What divine upholdings you have enjoyed !
What heavenly consolations you have received ! If
you doubt the Saviour, jon may well be called " slow
of heart to believe." After what you have experi-
enced, my brother, the shadow of a doubt should
never fall upon you ! Have you not said many times,
in the flush of your gratitude for some signal favor,
"There, I can never doubt my Lord again"? You
were foolish when you made that boastful observa-
tion ; but you are more foolish still for running back
from it. You laave passed through the Eed Sea, and
with your, timbrel in your hand you have sung unto
tlie Lord; and yet, perhaps, after a short march, you
have tasted the bitter waters of j\Iarah, and opened
your mouth in murmuring. God only is wise, and
we are fools. He alone hath understanding, and we
are " slow of heart."

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 3I9

Once more, these two disciples were very slow of
heart to believe, because there is so mitcli in the Word
ivhich oujht to have convinced them. See how the Sa-
\'iour puts it — " Slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken." What a mighty "all" that
is! Brethren, are you half aware of the treasure hid-
den in the field of Scripture.? Are you as familiar
with your Bibles as you should be ? If so, you will
join with me in speaking of Scripture as having almost
a redundance of confirmatory testimony. There is
rock enough here for us to build upon. We have here,
not only precept upon precept, but promise upon
promise, and all these confirmed by pledge, and oath,
and covenant of the Lord God Almighty. The teach-
ing of Scripture is so full, so varied, so convincing, that
we are, indeed, slow of heart if our faith is not firm
and immovable. Brethren, a want of familiarity with
the Word of God is very often the seed-plot of our
doubts ! Half our fears arise from neglect of the
Bible. Our spirits sink for want of the heavenly
food stored up in the inspired Volume. God forbid
that you should fly to light literature to give your
mind a fillip! Go to the solid literature of the prom-
ises, and be established with food more suitable for an
immortal soul. Like Luther, sav, " Come, let us sin<r
a psalm, and drive away the devil." There is no en-
chantment for the casting out of evil spirits like a re-
sort to the divine Word. When you see more of what
God has revealed, you will rise out of your doubts and
fears, and your slowness of heart to believe will de-
part from you.

Before I leave this point, I beg you to notice that
the Saviour does not say that they were "hard of
heart," but slow of heart. I like to notice that. When

320 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

he is most severe, he is still tenderly discriminating.
" Slow of heart" we are, biit there is no enmity in onr
heart towards him. It is slowness, and that is bad
enough, but our Lord graciously helps our pace. Our
face is in the right direction, and our feet are going
the right v/ay ; but Ave are slow in heart, and lame in
faith. As David spared oMephibosheth, and admitted
him to his table, though -'lame in both his feet, so the
Lord loves us, and communes with us, slow of heart
though we are. It is bad to have a slow heart, very
bad ; but it would be much worse to have an unre-
newed heart. With all our doubts and fears, we
have no longer a heart of stone, but we have a heart
of flesh, which mourns because of its sinful unbelief.
The Lord knows the difference between the sin of
hating the truth and the folly of doubting it. Strive
against this slowness of heart, but still let not Satan
come as an accuser, and condemn you as though you
were not a child of God at all.

So there I leave it. There is the Master's gentle
rebuke, not meant to discourage you, but to encour-
age you. He calls you foolish in order that you may
be so no longer. Believe, and this shall be your wis-
dom.

Will the Lord's people kindly pray for me while I
now speak to the unconverted ? Ask that I may have
God-speed while I try and speak to those who are
seeking the Lord, and have not yet believed in him.
1 want to say to them just this: " 0 foolish men, and
slow of heart to believe ! " Some of you are really
seeking the Lord, but you say that you cannot believe,
though you long to believe. You are not like the
spider, whose motto is, " I get everything out of my-

FGLLY OF UNBELIEF. 321

self." You do not hope to spin salvation out of youi
own bowels, but you own that salvation must be,
through faith in Christ. So far so good: but how ia
it that you do not at once believe ? You say you can-
not. How is it that you cannot believe in Jesus ? Ho
commands you to believe in him, and promises thai
voii shall be saved. Trust him, and you shall live as
surely as his Yford is true.

Listen 1 This unbelief proves you to be foolish, and

slow of heart, for tliere are other parts of Us Word.

which yoii easily lelieve. If there is a threatening or a

condemnation, you believe it. If there is a text that

speaks of judgment to. come, you believe it. Yon

have a quick eye for anything which reads hard ancj

looks dismal. Have I not seen you reading tho

Word, and stopping at a passage, and saying, "Alas',

this makes my case hopeless. I have sinned the siij

that is unto death " ? You believe in more than God

has saiil, for you read your own thoughts into God'rf

Word, and make it say more than it means. You aie

ready enough to take in the hard things, but the gra.

cious promises of the loving Christ you will no';

beheve. How can you justify this? How foolish

you are ! The promises are in the same Book as the

threatenings, and if you believe the one, believe thy

other. Certainly, the cheering words come from the

same inspiration as the depressing ones: if you beheve

that which looks dark, believe that which looks

bright.

Next, you are very foolish, because ijour objections
against heUeving are altogether poor and puerile. I should
think I have heard hundreds of them in my time,
but out of all the objections raised by troubled souls
against believing in Jesus, there is not one worthy of
21

322 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

serious discussion. One man cannot believe in Jesus
because he does not feel humble enough; as if that
affected Christ's power to save. If he felt more hum-
bled, then he could believe in Jesus. Woidd not that
be just believing in himself, and trusting in his own
humility instead of trusting in Christ ? One man
cannot believe in Christ because he is not like a cer-
tain great saint. Does he expect that he is to be like
a great saint when he first comes to Christ ? Has
not Christ come to save sinners ? Another says he
cannot believe because he has not felt the terrors of
the law and the dread of hell. Does he think that
his terrors are to save him ? Would his dreads and
horrors help Christ to save him ? Would he not be
trusting his terrors, and not Christ ? The Lord Jesus
says, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth." The gospel is to be preached to every
creature, and every creature that believes it shall be
saved: but these people back out of it, and begin
hammering out reasons for their own destruction. A
sadly suicidal business is tliis ! Let the devil invent
reasons for my not being saved: it is not a business
which can bring me any form of good. Nothing can
stand against the promise of God: he commands me
to believe on his Son Jesus, and I do believe, and I
am saved, and shall be saved, despite all the objec-
tions which may be raised by carnal reason.

Though you find it so hard to believe Christ, you
have found it very easy to helieve in yourself. Not long
ago you were everybody, and now you cannot believe
that Christ is everybody. You thought you were
very good ; you were wonderfully easy in your own
mind when you ought to have been afraid. Wiiat !
Was it easy to believe your poor self, and can you not

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. 323

believe the faithful word of a good and gracious Saviour
wlio says that if you trust him you shall be saved?

Moreover, you are ijivy apt now to believe Satan if he
comes and says that the Bible is not true, or that
Jesus will not accept you, or that you have sinned
beyond hope, or that the grace of God cannot save you.
Of course, you beKeve the father of lies, and you go
mourning and moping, when you might at once go
singing and dancing if you would believe jowv Sa-
viour. Jesus bids you trust and live, and Satan says
it is of no use your trusting; you believe Satan, and
treat your Lord as if he had intended to deceive you.
" 0 fools, and slow of heart ! "

Then you know how ready you are, you seel-ers, to
stop short of Christ. If you hear a sermon and get
a little melted, and go home and pray a bit, you get
quite easy and say, " Now I am on the road." Why,
your meltings and your prayings are not the road to
heaven : Jesus says, "1 am the way." You are not
on the way till you get to him. You have been in
gracious company, and singing holy hymns; you feel
quite good; and are highly pleased with yourselves.
What right have you to be restful even for a moment ?
How dare you linger till you have reached the city of
refuge, which is Jesus Christ? Till you believe in
Christ, you have no right to a single moment's peace,
or hope, or joy; and yet you do get a sort of peace and
a kind of hope, which are only sparks of your own
kindling which will die out in blackness. Because
you are content to trust in something short of Christ,
I say to you — Why not rest in Jesns ? 0 fools, and
slow of heart ! Refuges of lies you fly to, but the true
refuge of the finished work of Jesus Christ you do not
accept ! Why is this ?

324 FOLLY OF UNBELIEF.

And then some of you are foolish and slow of heart
because ijou mahe such foolish demands iipon God. You
would believe if you could hear a voice, if you could
dreani a dream, if some strange thing were to happen
in your family. What ! Is God to be tied to your
fancies, that you will not believe him unless he does
this and that extravagant thing?' If he chooses to
bring some to himself by extraordinary means, must
he do the Same with you, or else you prefer to be cast
into hell ? Surely you are mad. Who are 3'ou that
you are to dictate to the Lord, and say he shall do
this, or that, or else you will refuse to believe him ?
And so you will trample on the blood of Jesus, and
turn your back upon the kingdom of heaven, unless an
angel is sent to you, or you hear a voice from heaven I
O fools, and slow of heart to make these irrational de-
mands upon the ever-blessed God !

You are foolish and slow of heart because, to a great
extent, tjou ignore the icord of God and its siitalility to
your case. If a soul in distress will take down the Bi-
ble, and turn it over, he need not look long before he
will light upon a passage which describes himself as
the object of mercy. "The v.diole need not a physi-
cian, but those that are sick; I am not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Does not
that fit you ? " Seek ye the Lord while he may be
found, call ye upon him while he is'near : 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 abun.
dantly pardon." Does not that fit you ? " Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and T v\ ill
give you rest." Does not that apjoly to you? Why,

FOLLY OF UNBELIEF. ^Ty

if jou will but look through the Word, you shall find
passages so pertinent to your condition that, as a key
fits a lock, they will seem made for you ! Those two
disciples did not, for a while, see how the prophets
met the case of a crucified and risen Christ ; but as they
did see it, their hearts burned within them. As you
also see how God has provided for your condition in
his Word, in his covenant, in his Son, your sadness will
flee away.

I close with this one word of warning to those of
you who are distressed in heart, and are falling into
the habit of looking for reasons why you should not
believe in Christ; I do pray you to leave off this silly
practice. Before this evil becomes chronic with you,
quit it as a deadly thing. People can reason them-
selves down, but they cannot reason themKselves up
again. If thou seest a door open, in God's name hast-
en in, for one of these days thou mayest be so blind as
never to see an open door again.. Seize this opportu-
nity, and while Christ stands and says, " Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden," cgme along
with you. If you sit down to argue against Christ, he
may allow your conclusions to stand to your own de-
struction. Those who are so foolish as to find twenty
unhallowed reasons to-day will be foolish enough to
find two hundred such reasons next year. A man
may act the cripple till he grows hopelessly lame.
Mind what you are at. You may lock a door, and
open it again for many a year; but one of these days
you may so hamper the lock that it will not open
again. Oh, that you may at once believe in Jesus
Christ unto eternal life !

I have come to this pass myself — if I perish I will

326 FOLLY OF UNBELLEF.

perish believing in Jesus. If I must be lost, I will be
lost clinging to bis cross. Can any man be lost there ?
No, "fools and slow of heart" though we may be, we
know that none shall perish who come to Christ, for
that would greatly dishonor the Saviour's name. God
bless you ! Amen.

XV.

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUK's SYMPATHY.

" For in that lie Mmself liatli suffered being tempted, lie is able
to succor them that are tempted."— Hebrews ii. 18.

We are told bj the apostle in the fifth chapter that
one special requisite in a high priest was that he
conld have compassion upon men. •' For every high
priest taken from among men is ordained for men in
things pertaining to God, that he may offer I'oth gifts
and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on
the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for
that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." Yon
see God did not choose angels to be made high priests;
becatise, however benevolent they migl\t be in their
wishes, they could not be sympathetic. They could
not understand the peculiar wants and trials of the
men with whom they had to deal. Ministers who of
God are made to be a flame of fire could scarce com-
mune familiarly with those who confess themselves
to be as dust and ashes. But the high priest was one
of themselves. However dignified his office, he was
still a man. He was one of whom we read that he
could lose his wife, that he could lose his sons. He
had to eat and to drink, to be sick and to suffer, just
as the rest of the people did. And all tins was neces-
sary that he might be able to enter into their feelings
and represent those feelings before God, and that he
might, svhen speaking to them for God. not speak as

(327)

328 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

a superior, looking down upon them, but as one who
sat by their side, " a brother born for adversity," bone
of their bone, and flesh of their flesh.

Now this is peculiarly so in the case of our Lord
Jesus Christ, He is sympathetic above all. There is
none so tender as he. He has learnt it l)y his suffer-
ings; but he proves it by his continual condescension
towards his suffering people. My brethren, we that
teach the gospel, you that teach it in the Sabbath-
school — you will always find yonr greatest power to
lie in love. There is nK)re eloquence in love than in
all the words that the most clever rhetorician can
ever put together. We win upon men not so much
by poetry and by artistic wording of sentences, as by
the pouring out of a heart's love that niakes them feel
that we would save them, that we would bless them,
that we would, because we belong to them, regard
them as brethren, and play a brother's part, and lay
ourselves out to benefit them. Now, as it should be
in the under-shepherds, so is it in that Great Shepherd
of the sheep. He abounds in tenderness, and though
he lias every other quality to make up a perfect high
priest, though he is complete, and in nothing lacking,
yet if I must mention one thing in which he far out-
shines us all, but in which w^e should all try to imi-
tate him, it would be in his tender sympathy to those
who are ignorant and out of the way, and to all those
who are suffering and sorely distressed.

It is in the spirit of brotherly sympathy that I
would endeavor to preach on this occasion as the
Good Spirit shall help me. May I ask my brethren
whose hearts are full of joy at this hour to be pray-
ing for others who have not that joy, and to be help-
ing me in my endeavor now to speak words of conso-

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 329

latlon to them ? May the Holy Spirit, in answer to
your prayers, make every sentence to be as wine and
oil to the wounds of those who are left half dead in
the King's liighway ! We have not to look far for
" them tliat arj tempted," for they are all around us,
and deserve the thoughtful regard of each one of us.
Do not overlook them, my more happy brother, '• con-
sidering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

In my text I think I see two things very clear-
ly. Jesus suffering : " He himself hath suffered being
tempted." Jesus succoring. " He is able to succor
them that are tempted." And then I think I see
a third thing most certainly there, namely, Jesus
soujht after : because in the word which is translated
" succor " there is a latent meaning of crying. He
is able to hear the cry of them that are tempted. It
is a word that signifes a mother's quickness to
answer her child's cry. and Jesus is able to answer
to our cry, therefore,w^e ought to lift up that cry when
our soul is in distress. It shall be the best thing seen
in this Tabernacle to-night if the third thing be seen,
namely, Jesus sought after by every weary, heavy-
laden spirit. Why should it not be ? Come, Holy
Spirit, and create in each mourner the spirit of prayer
and the grace of supplication !

I. First, then, and to begin, here is Jesus suffer-
ing.

I call your attention, first, to thefeeJing that is here
expressed: "in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted." ]\Iany persons are tempted, but do not
suffer in being tempted. When ungodly men are
tempted, the bait is to their taste, and they swallow
it greedily. Tem.ptation is a pleasure to them; indeed,
they sometimes tempt the devil to tem-pt them. They

330 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

are drawn aside of their own lusts and enticed; so
tli;it temptation, instead of being- suifering to them,
becomes a horiible source of pleasure. But good men
suffer when they are tempted, and the better they are
the more they suffer. I know some children of God
to whom temptation is their constant misery day and
night. If it took the form of external affliction, they
would bravely bear it ; but it takes the shape of evil
suggestions and profane insinuations, which leap into
their minds without their will, and though they hate
them with tlieir whole heart. These suggestions
continue to annoy some dear saints whom I know,
not only daily, but nightly, and that month after
month. These thoughts beset them as a man may be
surrounded by swarms of midges or flies, from which
he cannot get aw^ay. Such brethren are tempted, and
they suffer being tempted. Our Lord Jesus Christ
enters into this trying experience very fully; because
his suffering through being tempted must have been
much greater than any suffering that the purest-heart-
ed believer can knov/, seeing that he is more pure
than any one of us.

It was a trying thing to the Blessed Christ even to
dwell here among men. llo behaved himself with
most condescending familiarity, bvit he must have
been greatly sickened and saddened by what he saw
in this world of sinners. They were no fit company
for him, for their views of things and his were as dif-
ferent as possible, and they had no points of agreement
in character with him. They were as much company
for him as a patient may be to a surgeon; nay, not so
much as an imbecile may be to his teacher, or as a
madman to his keeper: they could not come much
closer until Iiis grace changed and renewed them. Our

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 33I

Lord and Master bad such a delicate sensitiveness of
soul with regard to holiness, that the sight of sin must
have torn liitu as a naked man would be torn by thorns,
and thistles, and briers. There was no callousness
about his nature. He had not made himself familiar
with sin by the practice of it, as many have done;
neither had he so associated with those who indulge
in evil as to become himself lenient towards it. We
inherit the customs of our ancestors, and do not raise
questions about that which has been commonly clone:
we begin at an evil point, and start from a wrong
point in morals; but it was not so with our Lord; he
had no original, or inherited, or birth sin; neither did
he learn evil in his bringing up. We also conmiit sin
through a comparative ignorance of its evil, but he
knew the horror of it: he felt within his soul the shame,
the wrong, the inherent baseness of sin against a holy
law and a loving God. His infinite knowledge helped
him to understand and measure the heinousness and
hell-desert of it; and hence, to be in contact with it
must have been a perpetual sorrow to him. He suf-
fered in being placed where he could be tempted.

When sin actually assailed him, and he was bidden to
prove hisSonship by working a miracle to feed himself,
thus anticipating his Father's providence by a hasty
act of self-seeking, how he mast have loathed the sug-
gestion ! When Satan bade him presumptuously cast
himself down from the temple's pinnacle, how he must
have smarted at the horril)le proposal! When the
tempter hissed into his ear that abominable ofter, "All
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down
and worship me," it must have grieved the holy heart
of Jesus most intensely. He could not yield to temp-
tation, but he did suffer from it. He did not suffer

332 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

from it morally, be was too ]3iire for that; but he did
safier from it mentally, because of his purity. His
mind was grieved, and vexed, and troubled by the
temptation he had to bear. We specially see this
when we find him in the garden. There he showed
his grief when he sweat as it were great drops of blood
falhng to the ground. In many other ways he endur-
ed such contradiction of sinners against himself, such
multiplied temptations, that it is said, and truly said,
by the fioly (jliost in this verse, that he " suffered" be-
ing tempted.

Now, then, you poor creatures who can scarcely lift
your heads because of shame as you tremble at the
memory of j'-our own thoughts, come hither, and meet
with One who suffered being tempted ! He know^s
how you are haunted by hell-dogs, go where you may:
he knows that you cannot escape the presence, of the
tempter, and from his own experience he enters into
your feelings to the full. He gives you a flood of sym-
pathy in these deep distresses of your spirit, as you
fight against Apollyon and agonize against temptation,
for hs suffered being tempted.

" Exposed to wounds most deep and sore,
Tlie great Redeemer stood,
While Satan's fiery darts lie bore.
And did resist to blood."

Let US meditate for a wiiilo upon the fact that our
Lord was tempted, and tempted up to a suffering
point. I must not orait to mention the particular use
here made by the Spirit of that word himself. It is not
only in that he suffered being tempted, but you see that
he himself hath suffered being tempted. That word is
sometimes used to make passages emphatic. '• Y/ho

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 333

his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.''
We read again and again of Jesus Christ Idmself, as
if to show that the matters referred to were really,
truly, personally, actually his. He Idmself hath suf-
fered. All that there was in him, that made up him-
self, ouftered being tempted. Survey this fact care-
fully. Our Lord was tempted by his circumstances,
just as you are; yea, more tlian many of you are; for
lie felt the woes of poverty, and poverty at iimes car-
ried to the extreme. " Foxes have holes, and the birds
of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not
where to lay his head." You are sometimes tempted
with the thought that you will be out of house and
home before long. Where will you find a nightly
shelter? Jesus can sympathize with you. He also
was weary with incessant labors. " Being wearied, he
sat thus on the well." Weariness has its temptations.
He that is weary is hardly in the condition to judge
rightly of things. When we are weary, we are apt to
be impatient, complaining, hasty. If you are weary
and can scarcely keep your eyelids from dropping
down, remember before you quite yield to fatigue that
your Lord was weary too. Once "they took him
even as he was into the ship " ; and I think it must
mean that he was too weary to go i"^ito the ship him-
self, so that they took him in his absolute exhaustion,
and gently laid him down, in the hinder part of the
ship, placing his head upon a pillow. Do not blame
yourself for feeling tired in the house of prayer, if
after long watching or hard working you feel more
fit for a sleep than for a sermon. I shall not blame
you, certainly, for I remember how little my Lord
blamed the disciples when they fell asleep dui'ing his
agony. He said, " The spirit indeed is willing, but

334 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.-

the flesh is weak " ; and he never would have thought
of so tender an excuse for their untender slumbers if
his own flesh had not also been weak when he, too,
was weary. So you see that the Lord knows from his
own circumstances what are the temptations of pov-
erty and of weariness. He himself was an hungered.
He himself said, " I thirst." Everything round about
him contributed to fulfil the tale of his trials. He
himself was, above all, " a Man of sorrows, and ac-
quainted with grief."

And then he himself suffered from temptations arising
from men. He endured sadly much from good men.
It would seem that even his beloved mother tried him.
His mother was with his brethren when we read that
they were without, desiring to speak with him. Was
it not at that time that they desired to take him, for
they said, "He is beside himself"? The men of his
own kindred thought that surely he was a man dis-
traught, who ought to be put under restraint. " Nei-
ther did his brethren believe in him."

His disciples, though he loved them so intensely, yet
each one tried him. Even John, the dearest of them
all, must needs ask for places at the right and the left
hand of his throne for himself and his brother James.
Even Peter " took him and rebuked him." All the
disciples were much of Peter's mind when he described
himself as about to be crucified and slain. Their
spirit was often so worldly, so selfish, so foolish, as
greatly to grieve their Lord and Leader. While he
was the Servant of all, they were seeking who should
have the pre-eminence. While he was seeking the
lost, they were for calling fire from heaven upon
rebels. They spake unadvisedly with their lips, and
committed their Master by their words. And you

THE SUFFERIXG SAVIOUR'S SYMFAFJIY. 335

know how, worst of all, he had to complain in utmost
bitterness of spirit, " He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me." So that from the
circle of his own favored ones he gathered more thorns
than roses.. He received wounds in the house of his
friends, even as you may have done. Herein you see
his power to exhibit sympathy with us. He suffered
just as we do. He "suffered being tempted" even by
the failure of those whom he loved.

'' If wonudetl love my l)osom swell,
Deceived by those I prized so well,
He shall his jiitying aid bestow,
Who felt on earth severer woe ;
At once betrayed, denied, or fled
By those who shared his daily bread."

As for his enemies, need I speak about them ? Did
they not all tempt him ? Herodians and Sadducees —
the openly sceptical; Pharisees and Scribes— the pro-
fessedly religious, were equally his fierce foes. Those
to whom he was a benefactor took up stones again to
stone him; and Jerusalem, over which he had wept,
cried, " Crucify him, crucify him," and would not rest
till he was slain. Ah, Lord ! we have none of us such
foes as thou hadst. However cruel our adversaries,
they are not so numerous or so fiei'cc as thine. Be-
sides, they have some cause to hate us: but of thine
enemies it is true that they hated thee without a
cause. They could bring no true charge against him,
and therefore they forged the cruellest of falsehoods,
until their reproaclies broke his heart. So you see
how ho was tempted, and how he suffered.

Moreover, it is a very wonderful fact — one could
scarcely have imagined it — but the record is most
clear — he w^as tempted of the devil : he was tempted

336 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

of the devil. He in whom all evil is personified dared
to stand foot to foot in sing'le duel with liim in whom
all goodness is concentrated. The fiend infernal dared
to face tlie God incarnate. God in onr mortal flesh
encounted the devil in the wilderness of temptation.
How could the fiend have ventured to assail our
Lord ? Truly Lucifer was lifted up to the extreme
of pride when he dared thus to confront his Lord.
But Christ was tempted of the devil early in his pub-
lic career, and again near its close he exclaimed,
"This is your hour, and the power of darkness." He
seemed to hear the dragon's wings as they beat the
midnight air; and he cried, "The prince of this
world Cometh." Calmly he added, "And hath nothing
in me"; yet his heart grew chill in the hideous pres-
ence of the great adversary. It was nothing less than
an agony in Gethsenuine — a painful wrestling between
Jesus and the powers of darkness. You that are
tempted of the devil ; you that are troubled by mys-
terious whisperings in your ear; you that, when you
sing or pray, have a blasphemy suggested to you; you
that even in your dreams start with horror at the
thoughts tl at cross your minds, be comforted, for your
Lord knows all about temptation.

Some of you do not understand this, and I hope you
never may; but I am speaking wdth a purpose to
otliers, to whom this is a life's gloom. To you, I say,
you can enter into fellowship with your Lord in his
being tempted of the devil: that wdiich is incompre-
hensible to others is plain enough to you. Be of good
cheer, for in this respect your Lord himself has suffer-
ed being tempted.

' ' If aiigbt should tempt my soul to stray
From heavenly wisdom's narrow way,

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 337

To fly the good T -would pursue,

Or do the siu I would not do,

Still he, wLo felt tem2)tatior!'s power,

Shall guard me iu that daugerous hour."

Once again: our Lord knew those temptations
which arise out of being deserted by God, There
come times to certain of us when our soul is cast down
within us, when faith becomes feeble, and joy lan-
guishes, because the light of the divine countenance
is withdrawn. We cannot find our God. We enter
into the language of Job, '-Oh that I knew where I
might find him ! that I might come even to his seat."
We cry with David, '' iAIy soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God : when shall I come and appear before
God ? ^ly tears have been my meat day and night,
while they continnally say unto me. Where is thy
God?" Nothing chills the marrow like an eclipse of
the great Sun, whose presence makes our day. If the
Lord withdraws from us, then the strong helpers
faint.

" He frowns, and darkness veils the moon:

The fainting sun grows dim at noon ;

The pillars of heaven's starry roof

Tremble and start at his reproof."

In this great temptation our Lord has suffered hia
full share. He cried, " Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani."
There was condensed into that dyhig cry an infinity
of anguish such as we cannot conceive of Some of
us know what the surface of this Black Sea is like, but
we have nc ^er descended into its utmost depths as he
did; and, if we Imve done so, this is our comfort —
that He has been there. He has been to the very bot-
tom of it. He has suffered being tempted even by
that heaviest of all the trials wliich ever fall upon the
sons of God. There is the fact.
22

338 I^HE Sl'FI-ERmj SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

I desire to go a step farther, to comfort you upon
the fruit of all this; for though our Lord thus suffered
being tempted, he suffered not in vain; for he was
made perfect througli iiis sufi'etings, and fitted for his
solemn office of High Priest to his people. From
that fact I v:ant you to gatlier fruit, because our
heavenly Father means to bless you also. We can-
not comfort others if we have never been comforted
ourselves. ■ 1 have heard — and I am sure that it is so
— that there is no comforter for a widow like one who
has lost her husband. Those who have had no child-
ren, and have never lost a child, may talk very kindly,
but they cannot enter into a mother's broken heart as
she bows over yonder little coffin. If you have never
known what temptations n^^ean, you make poor work
when attempting to succor the tempted. Our Lord
obtained a blessing from suffering temptation; and
you may do the same. Brother, the Lord means to
make of you a man that shall be used like Barnabas
to be a " son of consolation." He means to make a
mother in Israel of you, my dear sister, that when you
meet with others who are sorely cast down, you may
know how to drop in a sweet word by which they
shall be comforted. I think you will one day say, "It
was worth while to go through that sorrow to be en-
abled to administer relief to that wounded heart."
Will you not comfort others when you are delivered ?
I am sure you will. You will be ready and expert in
the sacred surgery of consolation. Wherefore be con-
tent to suffer being tempted, and look for the comfort-
able fruit which all this shall produce in you.

So yon have seen the feeling, and the fact, and the
fruit. Now, what are tlie inferences to be drawn fmm
this part of the subject ? I must be short with them.

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 339

I want you that are tempted to draw the following
inferences from the suffering and temptation of the
Lord Jesus : —

First, that temptat{o7i to sin is no sin. It is no sin to
be tempted; for in him was no sin, and yet he was
tempted. " He suffered being tempted," but there
was no sin in that, because there was no sin in him-
self. You may be horribly tempted, and yet no blame
"wdiatever may attach to you, for it is no fault of yours
that you are tempted. Yoii need not repent of that
which has no sin in it. If-you yield to the temptation,
therein is sin ; but the mere fact that you are tempted,
however horrible the temptation, is no sin of yours.

And, in the next place, femp'aiion does not show any
displeasure on God's part. He permitted his Only-
begotten Son to be temj)ted : he was always the Son
of his love, and yet he was tried. " This is my belov-
ed Son," said he at his baptism; and yet the next hour
that Son was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil. It does not even show dis-
pleasure on God's part that he permits you to be
tempted; on the contrary, it may be consistent with
the clearest manifestations of divine favor.

And again, temptation really implies no doubt of your
heinrj a son of God : for the Son of God was tempted,
even the unquestioned Son of the Highest. The
prime model and paragon of sonship, Christ himself,
was tempted. Then why not you ? Temptation is a
mark of sonship rather than unj reflection thereupon.

Note, next, that temptation need not lead to any evil
consequences in any case. It did not in your Lord's case
lead up to sin. The Lord Jesus was as innocent in
temptation and after temptation as before it, and so
may we be through his grace. It is written by the

340 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

beloved John concerning the man that is born of
God, that, " He keepeth himself, and that wicked one
toncheth him not."

Moreover, do not make it any cause of complaint that
you are tempted. If your Lord v^as tempted, shall the
disciple be above his Master, or the servant above his
Lord ? If the Perfect One must endure temptation,
why not you? Accept it, therefore, at the Lord's
hands, and do not think it to be a disgrace or a dis-
honor. It did not disgrace or dishonor your Lord,
and temptation will not disgrace or dishonor you.
The Lord, who sends it, sends also with it a w^ay of
escape, and it will be to your honor and profit to
escape by that way.

Far from your hearts he the idea that any temp)tation
should lead you to despair. Jesus did not despair.
Jesus triumphed, and so shall you; and therefore h&
cries, " In the world ye shall have tribulation ; biit be
of good cheer; I have overcome the world." You arc
a member of his body; and when the Head wins the.
victory, the wiiole body shares the triumph. " Because
I live," said he, "ye shall live also "; and so you shall:
even in the poisonous atmosphere of temptation yoi,
shall be in health. They of old overcame through the
blood of the Lamb, and you shall do the like. Where-
fore comfort one another with these words, " He himr
self hath suffered being tempted": for you who have
his life in you shall first suffer with him, and then
reign with him.

That is the first part of our discourse; and it is rich
with comfort, if the Spirit of God shall but apply it to
the tempted heart. I feel such a poor bungler : 1 have
ointment here, and soft linen wheresvith to l)ind on
the healing ointment; but perhaps I have put it on

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 34 1

too tio'htly, or toolooselv, and if so, I mav fail. O di-
vine Comforter, undertake the work ! It needs tlie
pierced hand fitlj' to apply the sacred liniment.

II. But now I come, secondly and briefly, to notice
Jesds succoring. Jesus sutFering, is preparatory to
Jesus succoring. Observe, then, " He is able to suc-
cor them that are tempted." In this we note Ids
pi^?/, that he should give himself up to this business
of succoring them that are tempted." Have you a
tempted friend living in your house ? If so, you have
a daily cross to carry; for when we try to comfort
mourners we often become cast down ourselves; and
the temptation is for us to get rid of them, or keep
out of their way. Has it never occurred to any friend
here to say, " That good brother, who sits in the pew
near me, is rather a burden to me. I have spoken to
him several times, but he is so unhappy that he drags
me down. I go out of another door now to get out
of his way " ? So might your Lord have done to the
unhappy, and to you, if he had not been your Lord;
but he is such a pitiful One that he seeks out those
that are cast down; he healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds. He lays himself out to
succor them that are tempted, and therefore he does
not hide himself from them, nor pass them by on the
other side. What an example is this for us ! He
devotes himself to this divine business of comforting
all such as mourn. He is Lord of all, yet makes him-
self the servant of the weakest. Whatever he mav
do with the strongest, he succors "them that aro
tempted." He does not throw up the business in dis-
gust: he does not grow cross or angry with them be-
cause they are so foolish as to give way to idle fears.
He does not tell them that it is all their nerves, and

342 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

that the J are stupid and silly, and ought to shake
themselves out of such nonsense. I have oiten heard
people talk in that fashion, and 1 have half wished
that they had felt a little twinge of depression them-
selves, just to put them into a more tender humor.
The Lord Jesus never overdrives a lame sheep, but he
sets the bone, and carries the sheep on his shoulders,
so tenderly compassionate is he. Here is his pity.

The text, however, treats of liis fitness also. He is
just the very person to succor them that are tempted.
I have been showing you this already. He has the rights
acquired by his suffering, to enter in among sufferers,
and deal with them. He is free of the company of
mourners.

" When onr heads are bowed with woe,
"When our bitter tears o'erflow ;
Wiien we mourn tlie lost, the dear,
Then the Sou of Man is near.

"Thou our throbbing flesh hnst worn,
Tliou our uiortal griefs hast borne ;
Tliou hast shed the human tear,
Sou of Man, to mourners dear."

He has the right to succor them that are tempted,
for they are his own, since he has bought them with
his blood. The feeble, the weak, the trembling, the
desponding ai'e his care, committed to him by God.
He said, ''Fear not, little flock"; which phows that
his flock is little and timid. He says, " Fear not, little
flock,'' because they have great tendency to fear, and
liocause he does not like to see them thus troubled.
?Ie has bought them, and so he has the right to succor
them, and preserve them to the end.

He has also the disposition to succor them. He ob-
tained that tender temper through suffering, by being

THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 343

himself tempted. The man that has seen affliction,
when he is blessed of God, has the disposition to cheer
those that are afflicted. 1 have heard speak of a lady
who was oat in the snow one night, and was so very
cold that she cried out, " Oh, those poor people that
have such a little money, how little firing they
have, and how pinched they must be ! I will send a
hundredweight of coals to twenty families, at the
least." Bat I have heard say that, when she reached
her own parlor, there was a fine fire burning, and she
sat there with her feet on the fender, and enjoyed an
excellen tea, and she said to herself, " Well, it is not
very cokl, after all. I do not think that I shall send
those coals; at any rate, not for the jjresent." The
sufi'erer thinks of the sufterer, even as the poor help
the poor. The divine wonder is that this Lord of ours,
" though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became
poor," and now tnkes a delight in succoring the poor.
Having been tempted, he helps the tempted: his own
trials make him desire to bless those who are tried.

And then he has the special ahility. " He is able to
succor thejn that are tempted." I know certain good
brethren whom I am very pleased to see, and I am
very ha})py in their company, when I am perfectly
well; but I do not enjoy their presence when I am ill.
Thank you: no, 1 would rather not have their visits
multiplied when I am unwell. They walk heavily
across the room; they have a way of leaving doors
open, or banging them; and when they talk they talk
RO loudly and roughly that the poor head aches, and
the sick man is worried. The things they say, though
they are meant to be kind are the sort of remarks that
pour vinegar into your wounds. They do not under-
stand the condition of a sufferer, and so they say all

344 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

their words the wrong way upwards. If Christians
are to l)e comforters, thej must leaiii the art of com-
forting, by being themselves tried. They cannot learn
it else. Our Blessed Master, having lived a life of
suffering, understands the condition of a sufferer so
Avell that he knows how to make a bed for him.
" What a strange thing to say !'' cries one of my au-
dience. Not at all, David says, "thou ^vilt make
all his bed in his sickness." He would not have said
that, if the Lord did not know how to make a bed.
There is a dainty wa}^ of beating up a pillow, and a
peculiar art in shaking up a bed when the sick man is
lifted out of it; ay, and there is a way of putting on
every piece of covering, so as to make it a comfort.
By this figure we are taught that the Lord Jesus
Christ knows how to deal with us in the weakness
and pain of our affliction. He has become so good a
Nui'se, so divine a Physician, so tender a Sympathizer,
because he has passed through our sorrows, "hi all
our affliction he was afflicted." " Himself took our
infirmities, and bare our sicknesses."

"He kuows Avliat sore temi»tation.s mean,
For he Las felt the same."

He has a fitness for dealing with tempted ones.

Let me spend a minute or two in telling you liis
mefhods of succoring them that are tempted. He does
it in many ways, and perhaps there may be many
here who know more about those ways than I da

Usually he succors the tempted by giving them a
sense of his sympathy. They say, " Yes, my Lord is
here. He feels for me." That is in itself a succor of
no mean order.

Sometimes he succors them by suggesting to them

THE SUFFERL\G SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY. 345

precious tratlis wliicli are the sweet antidote for the
poison ot" sorrow. There is in the Bible a remed}^ ex-
actly fitted for YOiu' grief if yon could only find it.
Sometimes you lose the key of a drawer, and you must
have it opened, and therefore you send for the white-
smith, and he comes in with a great bunch of keys.
Somewhere among them he has a key that will open
your drawer. The Bible contains keys that will open
the iron gates of your trouble, and give you freedom
from your sorrow. The point is to find out the right
promise ; and the Spirit of God often helps us in that
matter by bringing the words of the Lord Jesus to
our remembrance. We liad never known the richness
of the Word of God if it had not been that in our
varied distresses the Lord has shown us how he fore-
saw all, and provided for all in the covenant of prom-
ise.

Sometimes the Lord succors his people by inwardly
strengthening them. " Oh," one has said, " I am
under a heavy trouble, but I do not know how it is, I
can bear it much better than I thought I should."
Yes, through gi'ace, a secret divine energy is poured
into the soul. We are treated, as Mr. Bunyan puts
it, by secret supplies of grace imparted in a hidden
manner. We are like yonder fire. One is throwing
water on it, and yet it burns on. Behind the wall
another is secretly pouring oil on the fire, so that it
still keeps burning.

1 have known the Lord bless his people by making
them very weak. The next best thing to being strong
in the Lord is to be extremely weak in yourself Tiiey
go together, but sometimes they are divided in expe-
rience. It is grand to feel, "I Avill not struggle any
more. I will give all up, and lie passive in the Lord's

34G THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

haud." 01], it is the sweetest feeling, I think, outside
heaven ! You may think it strange for me to sa}^ so,
but 1 believe that, as in the centre of a cyclone the-re
is a little spot where there is perfect calm, and as it is
said that in the centre of the greatest fire that ever
burned there is a spot where no fire is raging, so
there is in a deep sense of yielding up to God, in the
very centre of your pain, and your grief, and your
misery, and your depression, a place of perfect repose
when you have once yielded yourself fully up unto
God. I know this to be true, even though I may not
he understood.

In these ways he that was tempted himself succors
those who are tempted.

III. I will close by thinking of Jesus soucnT after.
Let us seek him. Come, ye weary, heavy-laden, come
to him who is able to succor yon. Do not stay away
until you are a little comforted, but come in your de-
spair. Do not wait until you h*3,ve a little more faith,
but come just as you are, and say to him, " Dear Lord,
thou hast felt all this, and I lie down at thy dear
feet ! Do help me, I beseech thee ! " Let these few
thoughts help to bring you now in prayer, and trust,
and hope, to the feet of this Great High Priest.

First, icliere else can you go? Who can help a soul
like you? Conie to him, then. ]\len are nothing:
miserable comforters are they all. The cisterns are
all broken: Come to tlje fountain. Come to my Lord.
Every other door is shut, but yet you may not de-
spair, for he says, " Behold I set before you an open
door."

Where better can you go ? Do you want to find a
friend able to help you ? Do you really want a com-
rade that can be a brother to vou ? To whom should

THE SUFFERIXG SAVIOUR'S SYMFATHY. 347

you go bnt unto your own Lord, the sympathizing
Son of Man ? To Avhoni better can you go ? Do you
say that you are downcast ? Do you tell rae you are
afraid you are no child of God ? Never mind about
that. Come as a sinner if you cannot come as a saint.
Do you mourn that you have no good thoughts ?
Come and confess your bad ones. Do you lament that
you are not broken-hearted for sin, as you ought to
be ? Come, then, to be broken-hearted. Do you
mourn that you are unspeakably bad ? Then, come
at your worst. It is never a good thing if you want a
surgeon, to say, "^ly bone is broken, but I shall not
have it set until it begins to mend." Poor foolish
thing ! go while it is broken. 0 perishing sinner cry
to the Saviour. Ask him now to save you. Are you
of all men the worst ? Then go to him who is the
best. Remember he never did cast any one out. Never
yet ! Never one ! I have declared this everywhere,
and 1 have said, " If Jesus Christ casts any one of you
out when you come to him, pray let me know; for I
do not want to go up and dow^n the country telling
lies." Again I give the challenge. If my Lord does
cast out one poor soul that comes to him, let me know
it, and I will give up preaching. 1 should not have
the face to come forward and preach Christ after that;
for he himself has said it, " Him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out ; " and he would be a false
Christ if he acted contrary to his word. He cannot
cast rjou out; why should he? "Oli, but then I am
so bad." So much the less likely is he to refuse you,
for there is the more room for his grace.

"lam lost,'^ said Vix. Whitefield's brother to the
Countess of Huntingdon. " I am delighted to hear
it," said the Countess. " Oh," cried he, " what a dread-

348 THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.

fill thing to say ! " " Nay,'" said she, " ' for the Son of
man is couie to seek and to save that which was lost;'
therefore I know lie is come to save your 0 sinner, it
would be unreasonable to despair. The more broken
thou art, the more ruined thou art, the more vile thou
art in thine own esteem, so much the more room is
there for the display of infinite mercy and power.

Come, then, just as you are, saint or sinner, who-
ever you may be. Have done with yourself, your
good self, and your bad self too, and say, " If I perish
I will trust in Jesus.*' Trust in Jesus, and you can-
not perish. If you perish believing in Jesus, I must
perisii with yon. I am in the same boat with you.
You may be a very sea-sick passenger, and I may be
an able-bodied seaman; but if you are drowned, I
shall be, for I cannot swim any more than you can. I
depentl upon the sea-worthiness of this vessel of free
grace in which we are embarked, and we tnust either
reach the Fair Havens together, or sink together. You
and I, poor broken-down one, oh, will we not sing
when we get safe to land? Will we not sing?
If we once get to heaven, will we not sing aloud,
and clash the high-sounding cymbals with all our
niight ? I will contend with you as to which shall
praise God most. You say that you will. I say that
I shall. Will we not vie with each other, and with
all the blood-redeemed ones, to sing Hallelujah to God
and the Lamb ? If ever such sinners as you and I
get inside the gates of heaven, we will give forth
such outcries of holy joy and gladness as never came
from angels' throats, but can only come from the lips
of sinners bought with blood.

The Lord, who succoreth the tempted, himself blesa
and comfort vou ! Amen.

XVI.

THE CHILD Oi'" LIGHT WALKING IN DAEKNESS.

Sein. 25, 1887.

" Wb.0 is among you that fearetli the Lord, that obcyeth the
voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light ?
let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay ux^on his God." —
Isaiah 1. 10.

See how the Lord inquires for his people. In every
congregation lie asks this question : "Who is among
you that feareth the Lord?" These are the wheat
upon the threshing-floor. As to the thoughtless,
" What is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the Lord."
The Lord's heai-t is towards the hearts that fear him,
and ho makes enquiry concerning them, because he
loves them, and cares for them, and helps them in
their day of trouble.

Observe how clearly the Lord describes his own
people. The description is brief, but remarkably full:
" Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obey-
eth the voice of his servant ? " Holy reverence with-
in the heart, and careful obedience manifested in the
life, these are the two infallible marks of the true man
of God, He fears his God, and therefore he obeys that
heavenly messenger whom God has sent. No servant
of God has such authority over us that we are bound
to obey him in all things, except One, that Servus
servorum, that Servant of servants, who was also JRex
regum, the King of kings. It is the mark of the child

(349)

350 THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKLNG IN DARKx\ESS.

of God tliat he hath a holy awe of the Father, and
that he pays gracious obedience to the Son of God.
The Lord knovveth them that are his, and from that
perfect knowledge he draws this short but sufficient
outline of the character of his own. May holy fear
and constant obedience be in us and abound !

Note that the Lord not only makes an enquiry for
these people, but he takes note of their condition. He
is not indifferent to their state. When they walk in
darkness he is with them, and when they have no
light he still beholds them. The Lord is very sensi-
tive to the sorrows of his chosen, and very quick to
help them. AVhen he finds them walking in darkness
he graciously counsels and advises them, that so he
may most effectually help them. Thus saith the gra-
cious Lord to the benighted one : " Let him trust in
the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." That
same God who saith of his vineyard, "I the Lord do
keep it; I will water it eveiy moment: lest any hurt
it, I vvill keep it night and day," also spies out his
children in the dark; and, looking upon them with
an eye of tender love, he directs their course. This is
the word of wisdom by which he directs each one of
them through the darkness: "Let him trust in the
name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."

To come at once to the text without further preface,
I shall notice, first, what is tins condition in which some
of God's people are found ? They walk in darkness,
and have no light. Secondly, tohat is there to trust to
ivhen a man is in such a condition ? All is dark, and
there is no light, and he is then bidden to trust.
What is there to trust to ? Thirdly, lohy should lue
thus trust ? What is the warrant for trusting at such a
time ? And fourthly, ivhat will come of such a trust ? If

THE CHILE OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.. 35 ^

a man really exhibits confidence in God when he has
no light, what will be the end of his confidence ?

I. First, then, what is this condition into which a
CHILD OF God may come ? The person described is one
that fears the Lord, and obeys the voice of his ser-
vant, yet " walketh in darkness and hath no lif>ht."

To many who know nothing of Christian experience
tlds condition might seem to he a surpising one. Shall the
child of light w^alk in darkness ? The normal condi^
tion of a child of God is to walk in the light, as God is in
the light, and to have fellowship with him: how comes
he, then, to have no light ? lie that believes in the
Lord Jesus Christ has passed from darkness to light,
and he shall never come into condemnation ; how^, then,
does he come into darkness? In the darkness of sin
and Ignorance we no longer walk; but with the dark-
ness of trouble and perplexity we are sometimes sur-
rounded. The Lord is our light and our salvation, and
therefore we do not walk in that darkness wherein the
prince of darkness rules supreme; but yet at times we
are in the gloom of sadness, and we see no light of
consolation. It is not always so. Many Christian
people go on year after year in uninterrupted sun-
shine; and I do not see why we should not all Jock
upon continued joy in the Lord as possible to ourselves.
Why should not our peace flow on like an ever- widen-
ing river ? Those of you who are always bright need
not be afraid of your gladness. U Lord ! we are
now and then in the dark, but we do not wish others
to be so. Spiritual darkness of any sort is to be avoid-
ed, and not desired ; and yet, surprising as it may seem
to be, it is a fact that some of the best of Gotl's peo-
ple frequently walk in darkness; ay, some of them are
wrapt in a sevenfold gloom at times, and to them nei-

352 THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

ther Sim, nor moon, nor stars appear. As the pastor of
a large church, I have to observe a great variety of ex-
periences, and I note that some whom I greatly love
and esteem, who are, in my judgment, among the
very choicest of God's people, nevertheless, travel most
of the way to heaven by night. They do not rejoice in
the light of God's countenance, thougli they trust in
the shadow of his wings. They are on the way to eter-
nal light, and yet they walk in darkness. Heirs of a
measureless estate of bliss, they are now without the
small change and spending money of comfort which
would make their present existence delightful. It is
idle to attempt to judge a man's real character before
God by his present state of feeling. You may be fidl
of mirth, and yet it may be the crackling of thorns un-
der a pot, which is noisy for the time, but is soon over.
On the other hand, you may be bowed down with sor-
row, and yet it may only be that " light affliction
which is but for a moment," which worketh out for
you "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory." We should have thought, judging after the
manner of men, that the good were always happy, as
one of our children's songs so positively declares.
When first brought home to the great Father, we
thought that henceforth it would be all music and
dancing and fatted calf, world without end. But it is
not so: we have heard the elder brother's ungenerous
voice since then, and we have found out many things
which we wish we could forget. We dreamed that the
year would be summer throughout all its months: the
time of the singing of birds was come, and we reckon-
ed that it was to continue through the yeai*. Alas!
the birds have ceased tlieir songs, and the swallows
are pluming their wings to depart, and in a few days

THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS. 353

we fehall be walking among the falling leaves, and
preparing our winter garments wherewith to meet the
biting frosts. We have not fonnd perfect bliss beneatii
the moon. If instead of judging by the sight of our
eyes we had turned to the records of the family of
God, we should long ago have been disabused of our
ideal heaven below. It is written, "Whom the Lord
loveth he cliasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth." Between the head of the way and the
Celestial City, the road is rough and the nights are
long. They that go on pilgrimage tell us of the Delect-
able Mountains, and they dilate upon the glittering
hill-tops of glory which they have seen from afar when
gazing from Mount Clear; but they also warn us of
the Hill Difficulty, and especially of the A\alley of the
ShadoAv of Death, through which all those must force
their way who are resolved to go on pilgrimage to the
City of God. Be not, therefore, surprised as though
some strange thing had happened unto you, if you
find yourself in darkness; for this text warns you of
what you may expect. We may fear God and carefullji
obey his servant, and yet we may be out after dark
and find the streets of daily life as foggy and obscure
for us as for others.

This condition is a severe test 0/ grace. Now we shall
see how far the man's courage is of the right sort.
Darkness is an evil that our soul does not love, and
by it all our faculties are tried. If you are in your
own house in the dark it does not matter, though
children do not like to be put to bed in the dark even
in their own little room : but if you are on a journey
and you come to a wild moor, or a vast wood, or to
t(>rrible mountains, it appals you to find that tlie sun
is setting, and that you will be abroad in the dark.
23

354 ^//^ CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

Darkness has a terrible power of causing fear: its mys-
tery is an influence creating dread. It is not what we
see that we di-ead, so much as that which we do not
see, and therefore exaggerate. When darkness lowers
down upon the believer's ndnd it is a great trial to
his heart. He cries, "Where am I? and how came I
here? If I be a child of God, why am I thus? Did
I really repent and obtain light so as to escape the
darkness of sin ? If so, why am I conscious of this
thick gloom? Did I really joy in Christ and think I
had received the atonement ? Why then has the sun of
my joy gone down so hopelessly ? Wliere are now the
iovingkindnesses of the Lord?" The good man be-
gins to question himself as to every point of his pro-
fession; for in the dark he cannot even judge his own
self Wliatis worse, he sometimes questions the truth
which he has aforetime received, and doubts the very
ground on which his foot is resting. Satan will come
in with vile insinuations questioning everything, even
as he questioned God's Word when he ruined our race
in the garden. It is possible at such times even to
question the existence of the God we love, though
we still cling to him with desperate resolve. We un-
dergo a life and death struggle while we hold on to
the divine verities. We are at times sorely put to it,
and scarce know what to do. Like the mariners with
whom Paul sailed, we cast four anchors out of the
stern, and look for the day. Oh, that we could be
certain that we are the Lord's! Oh, that we could
apprehend the sure promises of the Lord, aud our por-
tion in them ! For a while the darkness is all around
us, and we perceive no candle of the Lord, or spark
of experimental light with which to break the gloom.
This darkness is very trying to faith, trying to love,

. THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IX DARKNESS. 355

trying to hope, trying to patience, trying to every
grace of the spiritual man. Blessed is the man who
can endure this test-
While it is tlius trying, it is also veri/ sorroivful. It is
a pleasant thing lor tlie eyes to behold the sun, and a
painful thing to be without it. ^ye are in heaviness
at such times. The darkness wliicli is spoken of in the
text includes providential trial of many sorts. At the
present moment many of God's people are in the dark
in reference to their temporal circumstances. Business
used to prosper, and things went well with them, but
everything runs the other way at this season. They
were not ambitious to accumulate great riches, they
were perfectly satisfied if they had bread to eat, and
raiment to put on: but now even this seems to be
denied them. They are out of situation, or business
is gradually dying out, and their means of support 'will
soon disappear. This is a new trial for those who have
hitherto had abundance, and naturally it makes them
Vv'alk in darkness. Oli, you that have a superfluity of
this world's goods, you little know the darkness 'u-hich
comes over the hearts of God's servants when they are
not able to provide things honest in the sight of all
men, and are afraid that the Lord's name will be evil
spoken of because they cannot meet their engagements.
AVheu parents look at their dear children, and wonder
where the next meal of bread will come from, times
are dark indeed. Still, mark you, this is not tliC dark-
ness— the darkness which might be felt. Many of
God's people, by reason of a strong faith, are happier in
their adversity than they were in their prosperity. I
have known them to ride on the crest of the wave
which threatened to wreck them. They have rejoiced

35G THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

iQ tribulations also, finding that in them the Lord
blesses them with special favor.

The real darkness has come when our evidences of
j^race are no longer visible, and conscience pronounces
an adverse verdict. As the Psalmist says, " AVe see
not our signs." The marks of grace are hidden.
ISelf-exaniination fails to reveal to the conscience the
infallible marks of the Holy Spirit's work within the
soul, and then tlie child of God feels that he' is in an
evil case. While I know I am the son of God I am
undismayed; but when my sonship is in doubt I am
distressed indeed. If a clear sense of God's love is al-
so withdrawn from the soul, darkness follows. He that
used to rejoice in that love which passeth knowledge
n*ow feels his heart to be as hard as a stone, witliout
tender emotion, and almost without living desire. To
be dull, and dead, and stupid, and unfeeling, is sad
hideed to one who aforetime could dance for joy. To
have the life and energy of grace decline is a grievous
matter; better to see the Hock cut off from the fold
than grace from the heart. At such times the Holy
Ghost seems to suspend his comforting and quickening
operations; and in that case the outward means are
of small avail. We read the Bible, and we are not
cheered by the promises; we attend public services,
and the silver bells of the sanctuary seem to have lost
their music. The rain does not fill the pools; and
when the cisterns are empty, what is the good of them ?
The Holy Spirit is leaving us for a while, that we may
know what poor things we are apart from him, and
how useless are ordinances, witliout his divine pres-
ence in them. At such times Satan is sure, coward
as he is, to avail himself of his opportunity. When lie
finds us in the dark lane, he falls upon us like a cut-

THE CHILD OF LIGHT IVALKIXG IX DARKNESS. 357

throat. When the Lord is manifestly with t,s, he
skulks off; but when he sees that darkness is round
about us, Jie seeks to drive us from our fhith " This
IS .your hour," said Christ, "and the power of dark-
iiess ; and we have Jiad to sav the same. Satan makes
earnest use of his hour, and it is no fault of his that we
do not die in the dark, and utterly perish from the
Avaj. Let It be clearly known that some of us who
can thLs day speak with fully assured confidence, have
m clays gone by, been sorely shaken, and have cried
unto the Lord out of the low dungeon. Every particle
of the faith which I have this day in the Lord mv God
has passed through fire, and through water. This ffam-
mg torch of confidence which burns before you this da v
^vas lighted for me when I was in darkness. Thcug-h
we joy before the Lord as with the joy of harvest, yet
wo look back upon the time when we went forfh weep-
ing, bearing precious seed. All are not equally made'
to sorrow; but many of us are familiar with the wine
of as onishment. Surely, at some time or other, all
the children of God walk in darkness.

Perhaps the worst feature of this darkness is, that
^t issoheivadering. You have to walk, and vet your
way IS hidden from your eyes. This is hai-d work.
God will help his children, will he not ? Av, f hat he
will, but we cannot see how ! We look upward and
see no twinkling star; downward, and do not 'even
nnd a glow-worm. Surely, we shall see a candle in
some window ! But no ! we are lost in a dark wood
Have we not somewhere about us a match that we
could strike? We fumble for it; we find it, it is
damp, we have no light. The question that now chills
the heart IS— How can God deliver me? We do not
see how he can make a way of escape. What simple-

358 ^^^' CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

tons we are to fancy that if ive do not see a way of
deliverance God does not see one either! If you liave
ever steamed up the llhine, you have looked before
you, and it has looked as if you could go no further;
the river seemed to be a lake; great mountains and
vast rocks blocked up all further advance. Suddenly
there has been a turn in the stream, and at once a
broad highway has been before you, inviting you to
enter the heart of the country. Perhaps in Providence
you are in one of those parts of the river of life where
no progress appears possible. You are quite blocked
up, and this causes you darkness of mind. Cease from
this unbelieving bewilderment. Pest in the Lord
and wait patiently for him, and he shall give thee thy
heart's desire.

Worse still is tlnit bewilderment wliich comes upon
us in the darkness as to what we ourselves ought to do.
]\Ien of God know, as a broad principle, that they are
to do right; but the question is, what is right? Which
of many courses should I take? We beg the Lord to
make our path straight, but we cannot discover the
road. We look for a sign-post which we had seen
long ago, and it is gone: we hasten to a friend, but
he is as much perplexed as we are. This suspense is
the hardest part of the ordeal. Not to see our way,
nay, not to see foothold for the next step, is a specially
trj-ing position. Ifwe know what to do, or what to
prepare for, we would gird our loins for the occasion;
but knowing nothing, we are shut up, and cannot
come forth.

Yet you notice in the text that tliis does not absolve
U3 from daily duty. The text saith, "If he ivalk in
darkness, and see no light." The walk has to be con-
tinued, though the light has departed. When it is

7HE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IX DARKNESS. 359

quite dark, it is safe to sit clown till the day dav.us.
If I cannot sleep, at any rate I can quietly rest till the
sun is np. He that believeth shall not make haste,
and in the dark it is best to tarry till the day da^vn and
the shadows flee away. That was a grand word which
the Lord gave to Moses, ''Stand still, and t-ee the
salvation of the Lord." But what if you cannot stand
still? What if you may not remain where you are ?
Something has to be done, and done at once; and
thus you are compelled to walk on, though you can-
not see an inch before you. What but a divine faith
can do this? Here lies the stress of the difficulty:
inaction might be simple, but activity in the dark,
this must be the Lord's doing, and we must cry to
him to work this work in us.

But enough of this. I have given you a picture
wdiich some of you will recognize as a portrait of your-
selves. Personally I have often passed through this
dark valley: there is a bog on the right hand, and a
deep gulf on the left; and all along the murky w^ay
the howling of the dogs of hell, and the liissing of evil
spirits, are Jiever out of one's ears; and, A\orst of all,
whisperings of the fiend make you think his vile sug-
gestions to be your own thoughts. The sword in the
hand becomes useless, for in the dark you do not know
Wiiere to strike, and no weapon remains except that
of All-prayer. To walk on all through the night, and
not to see a step before you, is anxious work, and yet
thousands of God's pilgrims who are now yonder
among the shining ones, praising and blessing his
holy name, have traversed this dreadful road. Lord,
help us when we also penetrate its blackness !

IL But now, secondly, I am going to turn to a
practical part of this matter — what is there to trust

3G0 THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.
ro WHEN YOU ARE IN SUCH A CONDITION AS THAT ? What IS

there to trust to ? Well, says the text, " Let him
trust ill the name of the Lord." or, as it should bo
read, " in the name of Jehovah.''

What is there to trust in tlienam^ of Jehovah? It is
" I Am," and signifies his self-existetice. This is a
fine foundation for trust. Your friend is dead, but
Jehovah is still living as the " I Am." Those who could
have succored you have forsaken yon, but he says, " 1
am with thee." Trust tliou in him, for he is, and ever
will be. He says to thee, " Be still, and know that I
am God."

The name of the Lord contains within it immutabil-
ity. The Lord calls himself, " I am that I am " — the
unchanging God ! Eemember how he said, " I am
the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob
are not consumed." When you cannot see an inch be-
fore you, trust in liim that is, that was, and is to come.
He is our dwelling-place in all generations. He is the
" same yesterday, to day, and forever," and hence our
confidence in him should not abate. Here is a rock
under your feet. If you trust in an unchanging God,
whose love, and faithfulness, and power cannot be di-
minished, however dark your way may be, then you
have a glorious object for your fliith to rest upon.

But we understand by the name the revealed character
of God. When thou canst not see thy way, then open
this Book and try to find out what sort of God it is in
whom thou dost trust. See what he did in the ages
past ; see what he has promised to do in all time pres-
ent. Behold his infinite love in the gift of his dear
Son. Think of all the immeasurable blessings which
ho hath prepared for them that love him, which he
hath laid up for the golden age. As thou remeinber-

THE CHILD OF LIGHT V/ALKING IN DARKNESS. 361

est Vnat tho Lord is, and how he deals with his peo-
ple, thou wilt find light springing up in the midst of
the thick darkness. What a joy it must liave been to
]\Ioses when God proclaimed before him the name of
the Lord ! Moses had asked to see God's glory, and'
we read, "The Lord passed by before him : and pro-
claimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gra-
cious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin." As you study the glori-
ous character of the Lord God, whose mercy endureth
for ever, I think you will find your spirit rising above
the floods of your trouble, and floating joyously upon
the waters even as the ark of Noah in the day of the
deluge. The name of the Lord is a strong tower.
'They that knov/ thy name will put their trust in
thee."

By " the name of the Lord " is also meant Ids dear
/S'o«, for it is in Jesus Christ that Jehovah has pro-
claimed his name. Jesus says, " He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father." When it is dark around
thee and within thee, then get to thy Saviour, and
think of liim, and all his sorrow and his victory.
Picture him before thine eye bleeding his life away
upon the cross for thee, oftering himself up a glorious
Sacrifice to put away thy sin ; and as thou hearest his
cries, and perceivest the flowing of his l.lood, thou
wilt gain comfort and joy such as will turn thy dark-
ness into day.

It is also good, dear friends, when you are thinking
of the name of the Lord, to remember that to you it
signifies ichat you have seen of Gcd in your own experi-
ence. This is his memorial or name to you. A grand
tiling it is, when at present you have no consolation,

302 THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKIXG IN DARKNESS.

to recollect the consolation you enjoyed in years gone
by. Oh the days when he did help us ! when his arm
was made bare on our behalf! I recollect that morn-
ing, you recollect it too, when the Lord brought you
up out of the horrible pit. You said, "Blessed be his
glorious name ! What a deliverance I have had ! I
shall never doubt him again!" O poor stupid, you
are doubting him now ! But why ? Do you not think
that if you would revive those songs of the Red Sea,
when you sang, " Sing unto the Lord, for he. hath tri-
umphed gloriously," you would be ashamed to doubt
the Lord to-day ? Did not Israel pass through the sea
on foot, even iix. the darkness of the night, when Pha-
raoh could not see his way ? Tlie Lord God himself
in the pillar of fire was the light of his people, but
apart from that they had no other light; and it is so
with you, all other light is gone, but Jehovah is with
you, wherefore be not afraid.

" His love iu time past forbids lis to think
He'll leave us at last in trouble to sink ;
Each sweet Ebeiiezer we have iu review
Confirms his good pleasure to help us quite through."

" Let him trust in the name of the Lord."
Bui, furthermore, the text says, " Let him stay upon
his God." Let him lean upon his God ; make God his
stay, his prop, his rest. This is a variation from the
former sentence. He was to trust in the name of Je-
hovah, but now he is to lean iipon " ids God" You
have taken God to be your God, have you not ? If so,
he has also taken you to be his own. There is a cov-
enant between you : lean on that covenant. Treat it
as a valid covenant in full force. Surely thou art not
dealing with a liar. That covenant of the Lord which

THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKIXG /A DARKXESS. 303

was sealed and ratified by an oath — surely thou dost
not think little of it? ^Yell, now, lean wholly and
fully upon him who is thy covenant God. Brethren,
1 am often brought to this pass, that I say to myself
— Lord, if these Scriptures be not indeed a revelation
of God, and inspired, then it is all over with me, for I
have no other hope. But if this Book be a faithful
record of what God has said to me — and I am sure it
is — then I cannot too confidently rest in what he has
here recorded. 1 will prove the truth of his gospel.
I will lean upon his promise with all my might. I
have never yet hung a w^eight upon God's promise too
heavy for it to bear. I have never trusted God in
pra^^er with a confidence beyond what I have known
him to justify. Hitherto we have used tests innumer-
able and proofs superabundant, and Ave find the old
Book to be true. As silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times, so have we found the promises
and the covenant of God. Vv^'herefore I say to you, in
the language of tbe text, if you walk in darkness, and
have no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay
yourself upon your God.

III. Thirdly, and with great brevity, why snouLD
WE TRUST Gou AT SUCH TIMES ? If the Lord has taken
away the light, and is trying us so severely, why
should we trust him now ? I answer, if you do not trust
liim noio, you ivill have cause to suspect luhether you ever
did trust 1dm at all. When }-our children were about
■you, and you were healthy, honored, and prospering,
you said, " I have faith in God. Was it faith if it de-
parts from you now that your children are buried, and
your home is desolate, and you yourself are sick, and
old, and poor ? Was it faith in God at all ? Was it
not a cheerfulness which arose out of your surround-

3Gi THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

ings ? If you cannot bear to be stripped as Job was,
have yon like precious faith with that man of God?
Fair weather ftiith is a poor imitation of the real grace.
I entreat you to play the man, and say, " Though he
slay me, yet will I trust in liitn " ; for if you cannot
do so, your strength is small, and your faith is ques-
tionabU^.

Thou art bound to trust in the Lord now in the time
of darkness, because liis promises ivere made for dark
tbn's. When a shipvv'right builds a vessel, doe^ he
build it to keep it upon the stocks ? Nay, he l)uilds
it for the sea and the storm. When he was making
it he thought of tempests and hurricanes : if he did
not, he was a poor shipbuilder. When God made thee
a believer he meant to try thee ; and when he gave
thee the promises, and bade thee trust tliom, he gave
such promises as are suitable for tim.es of tempest and
tossing. Dost thou think God makes sliams like some
that have made belts for swimming, which were good
to exhibit in a shop, but of no use in the sea ? We
have all heard of swords which were useless in war ;
and even of shoes which were made to sell, but were
never meant to walk in. God's shoes are of iron and
brass, and you can walk to heaven in tliem without
their ever wearing out : and his life-belts, you may
swim a thousand AtUmtics upon them, and there will
bo no fear of your sinking. His word of promise is
meant to be tried and proved. 0 man, I beseech you
do not treat God's promises as if they were curiosities
for a museum, l)ut use them as every day sources of
comfort. Trust the Lord whenever your time of need
comes on.

Besides, notice that here ajjermit is especially issued
for you, to allow you to trust in God in darhness. Thus

THE CHILD OF L/GHT IVALA'LVG IX DARKNESS. 365

saith the Lord, " Let him ft\(sf." Satan says he shall
not trust, bat the Lord says, " Let him trust ; " and
if the Lord gives us permission to trust we will not
suffer the world, the flesh, or the devil to keep us
back from our privilege. " Let him trust " is our di-
vine warrant for reposing on the liOrd ; and we mean
to use it. This is the pass-word which lets us through
the gates of the promise into the royal chamber of rest.
More than this, I understand this verse to be a com-
mand to trust in the name of the Lord. It is an order to
trust in our God up to the hilt, for it bids us stay our-
selves upon our God. We are not fitfully to trust, and
then to fear ; but to come to a stay in God, even as
ships enter a haven, cast their anchors, and then stay
there till the tempest is over-past. Let us say, "This
is my last dependence ; this is my stay ; and here will I
remain for ever." 0 brot tiers and sisters, we often
act very foolishly, for we tr}^ to get a stay within our-
selves. Did you ever hear of a cayjtain of a vessel
driven about by rough winds who wanted anchorage
and tried to find it on board his vessel ? He desires
to [)lacehis anchor somewhere on board the ship where
it will prove a hold- fast. lie hangs it at the prow, but
still the ship drives: he exhibits the anchor upon deck,
but that does not hold the vessel; at last he pTits it
down into the hold ; but with no better success. Why,
man alive, anchors do not hold as long as they are
on board a chip. They must be thrown into the deep,
and then they will get a grip of the sea-bottom, and
hold the vessel against wind and tide. As long as
ever you have confidence in yourselves, you are like
a man Avho keeps his anchor on board his boat, and
you will never come to a resting-place. Over with
your faith into the great deeps of eternal love and

3GG ^■^^^' CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

power, and trust in the infinitely faithful One. Then
shall you be glad because your heart is quiet. Stay
yourself upon your God, because he comnumds you so
to do. Do not dare to hesitate.

Look, sirs ! if you do not stay upon God in the dark,
it loould seem as if, after all, you did not trust God, hut
were trusting to the light, or were relying on your own
eyesight. Too often we think we believe, and all the
while we are miles off believing. Unless we trust in
God alone, and in God wholly, we do not trust him
at all. Faith is the opposite of sight. When a man
seeth he hath no need of faith. Blessed is he to whom
God himself is all the light he needs.

Do remember one thing more, that you and I, in
times of darkness, may well trust in God that he will
not fail us, for our blessed Lord and Master icas not
spared the blackest midnight that ever fell on human mind.
He, too, cried out, " What shall I say ? " Distraction
seized upon his mind also, and he was exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. Dost thou expect that
thou shalt be treated better than the Head of the
house, the " firstborn among many brethren " ? If he
trusted in God and was delivered, do thou the same,
and thou shalt follow in his footsteps into the bright-
ness of the light, even as thou hast followed those foot-
steps into the blackness and the darkness.

IV. So I finish with this last point : avhat will gome

OF IT IP WE DO TRUST IN GoD IN THE DARK ? NoW, whether

you are saint or sinner, I want you to lend me your
ears for a minute or two while 1 try to show w-hat wall
come of trusting in God when you have nothing else
to trust to.

In the first place, such a faith will glorify God. It
does not glorify God to trust him when you have a

THE CHILD OF LIGHT IVALKIXG IN DARKNESS. 307

tlioiisiind other props and assistances. No, we glorify
him wlien we trust his bare arm. It honors God when
in darkness, despondency, and despair we can bravely
say, " Still I believe him. I take hold upon his strength
in the midst of mj feebleness. If I perish, I perish ;
but I know he will not let me perish trusting in hiai."
The cherubim and seraphim glorify God with their
endless songs, but not more than a poor downcast
soul can do when in its distress it casts itself on God
alone. See what thou canst do ! Will not this argu-
ment move thee to trust, to trust even now, when all
things seem to go awry? Some of you can sincerely
say, " We would gladly do or suffer anything to glori-
fy*^ God." Well, do this : believe in the Lord, and in
Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.

In the next place, it is true that very likely through
this darkness of yours you tdll he humbled. Walking
in darkness and seeing no light, you will form a very
low idea of yourself, and this will be a choice blessing.
We undervalue hunnlity, but it is one of the most
golden of the graces. Perhaps some of us need hum-
bling more than any other operation of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that those who despond and despair are all the
happier when humility hath had her perfect work
upon them. We are so great ! So big ! That letter

" 1" there seems to be a kind of sarcasm in the form

of it : it is such a straight, unbending letter, it never
bows its knee or its back ! Peradventure our dark-
ness is sent to us to make our pride stoop tow%ards the
ground, while it gropes its way. Deliverance from
pride will be a lasting gain to us. 0 my friend, thou
art getting good by the painful process which reveals
to thee thy littleness. Do not fret because thou now

308 TIIE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS.

seest thy folly, thy helplessness, thine emptiness : all
this will be a mine of wealtli to thee.

Next to that, if thou canst trust God in thy trial,
tliou icilt prove and enjoi/ the potvcr of prayer. The man
that has never needed to pray cannot tell Avhether
tliere is anything in prayer or not. You that have
alwa^'S had your bread every morning, scarcely know
the value of that request, " Give us this day our daily
bread" : but there are poor people here at this liour to
whom that petition is peculiarly sweet. lie that has
prayed for his breakfast values the providence which
sent it. If thou wast never in thy life in any sort of
trial, what knowest thou about prayer ? Why, then,
dost thou speak lightly of that which thou understand-
est not ? He that has carried his need to the Lord —
a s:reat and ura-ent need which could not have been
supplied by all the world besides — he, I say, who has
gone with that need to his heavenly Father, and plead-
ed the promise, and obtained a heavenly reply, he is
the man who cau witness that verily there is a God
that heareth prayer. Those philosophers that sneer
at prayer, what do they know about it? They are
strangers to prayer, and therefore unable to judge of its
power. Suppose a dozen of them should swear that
they have prayed, and that God has not heard their
prayers, we should believe it ; and we should also
come to the conclusion that prayers from men of their
order ought not to be heard. Surely he that cometli
to God must believe that he is; and these gentlemen
will not even accept that point as certain. But when
we pray, and the Lord hears us, can any form of ar-
gument disprove a fact? A fact will stand against
all reasoning: it is an unyielding rock, ngainst which
the waves of scepticism hurl themselves in vain.

THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALKIXG IN DARKNESS. 369

Bretliren, it is the prayer in the dark wliicli brings
us most light when we perceive that it is surely heard.
How coiildst thou pray, 0 man, if thou hadst all thy
desire fuliilled without making request unto God ?
If thou Jiadst nothing to pray for, how couldst thou
prove the efficacy of prayer ? If thou art so wise, and
good, and great that thou canst do without God, go
and do without hiui if thou darest. But the poor and
needy will still be glad to cry unto him. May God
empty thee, and drive thee in agony to thy knees,
then shalt thou be able to test whether he is a God
that heareth prayer or not !

If in your darkness you will go to God and trust
him, you lo'ill become an csfaUished Christian. Yours
will not be tliat timid bulrush faith which bows before
every wind : you will be rooted and grounded in as-
surance of fidth. These trials of yours will help to
root you fast in the good soil of confidence in ^Jod. In
d;>ys to come you will bless God for the clouds aud the
darkness, since through them your tried faith grew
into strong faith, and your strong faith ripened in-
to full assurance. Doubtless faith will make our nights
the fruitful mothei's of brighter days.

And let me clos(^ by saying, that by-and-by — and per-
haps much sooner than we think — ive shall come out into
greater lir/ht than we have as yet hoped for. Perhaps
half-a-mile ahead you will find light springing up,
even light which has so long ago been sown for the
righteous. Your weeping is nearly over : joy cometh
in the morning. You shall sit down and say, "I did
not think the day would break so soon ; l)ut now the
sun is up, I perceive that even in the night I have
been preserved from a thousand dangers, and I have
24

370 THE CHILD OF LIGHT WALL<LXG ILi DARLCNESS.

passed safely where none but the Lord himself could
have held me up."

Brethren, let us even now sing unto the Lord a new
song, for he hath done marvellous things. He has led
the blind by a way that tliey knew not. He has given
us treasures of darkness. He has turned our mourn-
ing into dancing. He has made us glad in his name.
Praise to him for ever, }'ea, praise for evermore.

How loudly some of us will sing when once we get
to heaven ! When we leap ashore upon the golden
strand how we will magnify that omnipotent love
which kept us from ten thousand devouring waves !
Surely in the heavenly choirs certain voices reach to
higher notes than all others, for they have known the
heights and depths of love divine. There will be a
fulness, roundness, and sv>?eetness of tone about cer-
tain voices which shall make them notable among the
celestials, evenasHeraan, and Asaph, and Ethan were
notable amongst the sweet singers of Lsrael in tha
temple below. Who are these, and whence came they ?
Surely the one answer will be, " These are they that
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Wherefore be of good cheer, O ye people of God who
walk in darkness; for you shall have a full reward.

And you, poor troubled ones, who have as yet no
hope, and are afraid that God has cast you away for
ever, come and rest in Jesus Christ this morning.
Trust in Jesus, and defy the darkness and the devil
who rules over it. So soon as you dare to trust in
Christ Jesus our Lord your salvation is secured. Do
but trust, and your Saviour is bound to answer to
your trust, and make it good by saving you. The
Lord bless you, for Jesus' sake ! Amen.

XVII

MAIi, WHOSE BEEATH IS IN HIS IfOSTRrLS.

" Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils : for where-
in is he to be accounted of? " — Isaiah ii. 22.

Man, especially since the fall, is a very unspiritual
creature. His animus is animal. He is made up, as
the old writers used to say, of soul and soil. Alas, the
soil terribly soils his soul! "My sovA cleaveth to the
dust,'' might be the confession of every man in one
sense or another. We bear the image ot tlie first
Adam, who vv^as of the earth earthy: earthy enough
are we.

One consequence of the prevailing materialism of
our corrupt nature is oar craving for something tangi-
ble, audible, visible, as the object ol our confidence.
We want something which can be touched, tieard, seen,
or felt: we cannot be content with that which appeals
only to the soul or the spirit. It seems as if man is
so unspiritual that he cannot believe m a spiritual
God ; and yet any other than a spiritual God is an ab-
surdity. Man cannot see God; therefore he will not
trust in him. He cannot hear his voice; therefore he
will not attend to the movement of the Holy Spirit
upon his soul. Humanity is carnal, sold under sin,
infected with idolatry; and this fact remains true in a
measure even of the regenerate. Their old nature is
not other than it \tas, save that it is held in check by
the nevv nature. So long as sin remaineth in us — and

{•371)

372 MAN, WHOSE BREA Til IS IN HIS NOSTRILS.

this will be so long as ^ve are in tliis body — our ten-
dency will be to be weary of God, who is a Spirit,
and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. We
Reek after something to worship, something to love,
something to rely upon, which is so near akin to the
coarser part of our nature that we may commune with
it through the senses. It is sad that it should be so,
but it has ever been so throughout the history of man,
and sad traces of it are to be seen even in the history
ot God's own church.

]Man is by nature an idolater. Under the most fa-
voral)le circumstances he flies to his idols, even as the
dog seeks after carrion, or the vulture hastens to its
pre}^ The Lord's people, Israel, were delivered out
of Egypt with a high hand and with an outstretched
arm, and by many signs and tokens God's presence
among them was abundantly certified. This was a no-
ble beginning. The circumstances which afterwards
surrounded them were specially hopeful. They were
placed in the wilderness, where, if they lived at all,
they must live through the special protection and pro-
vision of God; for they reaped no harvests, and they
gathered into no barns: the bread tliey ate fell from
heaven, the water tliey drank came from a rock which
ha;l been smitten by command of God through the rod
of Moses. All day long they were sheltered from the
burning sun by a canopy of cloud, and at night the
canvas city was made bright by that same canopy
turned into a flame of fire. They were in the wilder-
ness alone, and apart; shut out from the rest of tlie
world, surrounded as it were by the Lord himself, who
was a wall of fire round about them, and a glory in
their midst. Nothing could have been more favorable
for faith in God. Yet they must needs have a god that

MAA; whose breath is in his nostrils. 37J5

they can see. " IMake iis gods to go before ns," cried
they with such furious clamor that Aaron yielded to
their evil desires, and made them the image of an ox.
Behold the people of God, whom he had bronght out of
Egypt, bowang before the image of an ox that eateth
grass — an image which Moses in sarcasm styled a calf.
They turned the glory of the invisible God into that
of a brute beast, and said— -"These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the laud of Egypt."
Then they degraded themselyes, and laid their man-
hood prostrate on the ground in adoration of the
image of a bull. How is hnmanitj' fallen !

For century after century this was always the ten-
dency of Israel, the most spiritual race of men upon
the face of the earth. This race, educated by miracle
and instructed by revelation, continually w^ent aside
after the gods of the heathen. Abraham among his
own descendants after the flesh had -few who were like
him in his high spiritual faith. The world of spiritual
realities seems to be too bright, too holy for the best
of such gross and carnal beings as we are.

Tlie people of Isaiah's day were like the rest of their
race: they showed their unspiritualness and their in-
ability to walk in the light of the Lord by making
their own ivecdth their cldef confidence. We read at
verse 7 — " Their land also is full of silver and gold,
neither is there any end of their treasures"; and then
it is added, "their land also is full of idols." Alas!
this idolatry of wealth is common among God's people
even at this day. " Giye us tliis day our daily bread "
is a prayer which falls far short of the general desires
even of Christian people. Our demands are for luxu-
ries, and plenty of them. I\rany would be coming
down in the world very terribly if they had to receive

374 MAN, WHOSE BREA TH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS.

after that frora-hanrl-to-month fashion — day by day
their daily bread. Yet the Lord Jesus has put these
wort-ls into our mouth. The provideuee of God is to
some professing Christians a mere dream: they can-
not rest till they have something more substantial
to rely upon than the care of heaven. You think I am
sarcastic ; is it not true ? See how your 2:)rofessed be-
lies^ers hunger to make sure of the main chance: as
eagerly as the merest worldlings they scrape and they
hoartl. I have not a word to say against that Scriptu-
ral prudence which bids us, like the ant, lay by in store
for wintry times; but I speak of the hunger to be rich,
and of the selfish expenditure which forgets entirely
that our substance is to be used for the glory of God,
and that v/e are only stewards. I ask again, do not
mauy slave, and hoard, and grasp as if there were no
promise in the Scriptures of temporal provision from
God's own right hand, and no exhortation to lay up
our treasures in heaven? Are v/e liars? Do we say
that all that we are and have is the Lord's, and do we
after this live for ourselves, as if there were no redemp-
tion and no hereafter ? That there should be need for
the preacher to raise such questions is an indication that
there is a common tendency to worship wealth, or at
least to regard it as a substantial support.

Nations also, like the Israelitish people, are apt to
idolize j9o?yer / yes, even power in the form of brute
force. We read — "Their land also is full of horses,
neither is there any end of their chariots." Cavalry
and war-chariots were as much in repute in that age
on land as ironclads are at this day upon the sea; and
Israel trusted to these. Jehovah was the guardian
of his people, the Lord of hosts is his name. He alone
was a match for Egypt and Babylon ; but the kings

MAX, WHOSE BREA Til IS IX HIS NOSTRILS. 375

of Israel and Judah thought not so. They could not
feel secure without great armies; they must needs
multipJy their horses and their chariots. They forgot
that " a horse is a vain thing for safety " ; they knew
not that in the Lord alone is the salvation of iiis peo-
ple. The like feeling crops up among God's people
at this day. We pine for visible power, it may be
physical or mental, as the case requires; but we thirst
to have it available, embodied in some human form.
We cannot rest upon God alone and feel that when we
are weak we are strong. The Lord taketh not pleas-
ure in the strength of the horse nor in the legs of a
man, but his people often do. Eh:)quence, cleverness,
intellect — these are still the idols which the church
dotes upon: she has not yet iniderstood the words,
" Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saitli
the Lord," Still we make too much of the instrument
and too little of the Divine Worker; still is there more
expected from nnisic, arcliitectiire, and oratory, than
from the simple gospel and the attendant working of
the Holy Ghost. How hardly can men be brought to
trust in the invisible God ! Alas V it is still true,
" Their land also is full of idols: the mean man bov/etli
down, and the great man humbleth himself." 0 Clinrch
of God, how long will it be ere tliou believest thy
God ?

These people, in tlie heat of their idolatry, set up
mwnj idols. They made anything into a God. lie
that was so im.poverished that he could not make a
God of silver would make an idol out of a tree which
would not rot; and having carved and gilded it, he
prostrated himself before it. To Avhat a height of
folly has a man c^ome when he can do this ! Yoi; tell
me that this idolatry is confined to heathen countries.

370 ^^^-^^^^ WHOSE BREATH IS /A HIS NOSTRILS.

Alas! it is not so; idolatiy is common even here.
" Little diildren, keep yourselves from idols," is a text
that needs still to be preached from — ay, to be
preached in Christian congregations; for idols "will
intrude themselves into the sanctuary of the Lord.
The forms and shapes of modern idols are many and
crafty. We see no elephant-headed deity such as is
the fear of the Hindoos, and no absurd fetish such as
the African dreads ; but more dangerous, because more
subtle and secret, forms of idolatry are allowed to re-
main in our midst. Oh that the Lord would in his
people fulfil the word, '" The idols he shall utterly abol-
ish " !

May we not easily make idols <:)l onrsdves? Almost
before we are aware of it, we may be thus debased.
What more degrading than for a man to worship him-
self ! We read of some whoss god is their belly : this
is the grosser part of self What heathen ever wor-
shipped his own belly ? Yet we all too much trust in
ourselves at times — what is this but idolatry? Do
we not seek ourselves in a measure — is not tliis idola-
try? Do we not reverence our own achievements and
attainments — in what does this differ from idolatry?
Gods many and lords many have men made unto
themselves. Like a child that must have a toy, man
must have a visible trust and confidence. For this
purpose, "he hath sought ont many inventions." He
will even worship reptiles of the river, and plants of
the garden, rather than be without a visible deity.
Alas, poor fooHsh creature !

I need not enlarge upon this. You all know how
true it is that, one way or another, man gets away
from the spiritual life which would make God every-
thing to him, and he wanders into the sensual region,

Ji/AX WHOSE BREATH IS H\ HIS NOSTR/LS. 377

Avhere he either finds another god, or else allows some
symbol or priest to stand between him and God, So
sadly tlirongh sin is onr nature twisted amd biassed,
that we seem to be under the witchery of idolatry.

As I liave already said, there is nothijig more ab-
surd in the history of human nature than the fact that
man is apt to trust in man. To worship soinething
superior to myself is bad enough if it be not God; but
to begin to put my dependence upon a man like my-
self or upon myself, and so to allow man, who at the
best is a sorry creatin-e, t() take the place of God. is
indeed a wantonness of evil. Do you Avonder that
God has pronounced a curse upon this provoking folly,
this insult to his divine majesty ? Hear ye the words
of this anathema: " Cursed be the man that trusteth in
man, and maketh flesh his arm." The sin is none the
less accursed because of its commonness. That which
God blesses is blest indeed, and that which he curses
is cursed with an emphasis. Concerning that sin so
common and so accursed I have to speak at this time.
May the Lord bless the word that we may be kept
from the transgression! Here is the text: "Cease
ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for where-
in is he to be accounted of? "

We will handle the text thus— First, What is man ?
Answer: "His breath is in his nostrils." Secondly,
What is to he our relation to man ? " Cease ye from
man." And, thirdly, WJnj should we cease from him ?
It is answered by another question, Wherein is he to
be accounted of? This puts the question, What is there
in him or about him that renders him a proper object of
reverence or confidence ? May the Holy Spirit send
us a profitable meditation !

Our first enquiry is, what is man ? This question is

378 MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS LY HIS NOSTRILS.

asked many times in Scripture, and it has been fre-
quently answered with a copiousness of instruction.
David even asks of heaven, '• Lord, what is man ? "
I will not, however, go over all that wide expanse of
thought which the Bible puts before us, but simply
answer the enquiry from the point of view of our
text.

What is man ? M', is assuredly a veryfeeUe creature,
H3 rnust be weak, for '■ his breath is in his nostrils."
We measure the strength of a chain by its weakest
link. If other links are strong, yet if one is ready to
snap, we judge that the whole chain is far from strong,
and is not to be depended upon. See, then, how
weak man is, for he is weakness itself in a vital point.
He has bones that may be hard anil durable, and he
has many a strong sinew, tough and wiry, as we some-
times say; but there is a weak point about him which
is found in a matter on which his life depends, namely,
liis breath. And what is our breath ? A vapor which
we scarcely see ourselves — a thing so unsubstantial
th it when we have it we scarce see it, and yet when
we lose it life is gone from us. Our earthly existence
dapends upon our breath, and that breath is mere
wind. How feeble must that creature be whose vital-
ity rests on a foundation so airy and unsubstantial as
mere breath 1 A vapor is not more fleeting. We talk
of strong men. Is any man strong? We speak of the
strength of our constitutions: how is that strong which
depends upon a puff of air? It is a marvel that so
frail a life is not sooner ended. That we live is mira-
culous ; that we die is but natural. Eeadily enough
may that house fall which is built, not on sand, but on
air. Dr. Watts has well said —

MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS. 379

" Our life coutains a thousand springs,
And fails if cue be gone ;
Strange that a harp of thousand strings
Should keep in tune so long ! "

Dust we are, and that dust hastens to dissolve, and so
to return to the kindred dust of the earth. Under
our feet are our graves, and above us are the stars
which will soon look down upon our silent tombs.
The trees cast their leaves, but they grow green
again: we shed our life's glories once, and they
return no more. Thus the trees outlive us, and
beneath their shade wo are reminded that man is far
more frail than the tree whioh he fells with the axe.
Yea, the very grass which he nov/ mows outlives the
mower. Man is a mero shadow: we have scarce time
to say that be is before he is not. Are we not foolish
if we place our reliance upon sucli a feeble creature,
so weak that his breath, his unsubstantial breath, is
essential to his life? Who art thou, O man, that
trusteth in man ? If thou hast half a grain of wisdom
left, how canst thou quit the ever-living God and put
thy reliance upon a poor creature who is as the grass,
that to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven?
Go, rest on a reed, or ride upon a moth, or build on a
bubble; but rely not upon a man.

i^Joreover, man is a fmil creature ; for his strength
must be measured by his fleeting breath, and tliat
breath is in his nostrils. It seems as though his life
in his breath stood at the gates, ready to be gone,
since it is in his nostrils. The text says not that his
breath is in his lungs, deep, hidden below, but in his
nostrils — at the door, in the most exposed part of the
face, at two open portals which can never be shut;
as if it meant to secure an easy exit at any moment.

330 ^^A^\ WHOSE BREATH IS LV HIS XOSTRILS.

Bretliren, there are ten thousand gates to death. One
man is choked by a grape-stone, another dies through
sleeping in a newly whitewashed room ; one receiving
death as he passes by a reeking sewer, another finds
it in the best kept hoase, or by a chill taken in a
walk. Those who study neither to eat nor to drink
anything unwholesome, nor go into quarters where
the arrows of deatli are flying, yet pass away on a
sudden, falling fi-om their couch into a coffin, from
their seat into the sepulchre. The other day one of
our own brethren sat down in his chair to sleep a
moment; but it was his last sleep. Another stuui-
bled in his own room never again to rise; these were
apparently iu health. Life is never sure for an in-
stant. How can we place our trust in a creature
which is so soon gone. Shall we make the insect of
an hour the object of our fond affection and our chief
dependence ? How can we be so foolish as to trust
our treasure in a purse made of such a spider's web !?
The casket should be fit for the treasure ; do you mean
to trust your soul's confideace to a man that shall die
— that may die in an hour? 1 asked, " What is
man ?" But before the question is answered I have to
ask, " Where is he ? " He is gone like a watch in the
night. How can we make a dyiug man the object of
a living trust ? " Cease ye from man, whose breath
is iu his nostrils."

Man is a weak and frail creature ; he is also a dying
crea'tiri. Need I further eidarge upon this? To our
sorrow, manv of us know that it is so. Some of you
had flithers of your flesh, but they passed away and
you were fatherless before you could earn your bread.
Had not God preseiwed the orphan, you had been
miserable indeed. Some of you once leaned upou a

MAA\ WHOSE BREATH IS IX HIS NOSTRILS. 381

manlv arm and looked up into the smiling face of a
husband; but the dear one has been laid in a grave
wet with floods of tears: it is well for you that yoTir
Maker dies not. There are those here who once enjoy-
ed dear friendsinps: these seemed essential to your
lives, but ruthless death has torn Jonathan away from
David. It has come closer, and stolen the child from
its mother, and the wnfe from the husband. Man is
ever dying while he lives. Oh, set not all thy love,
or much of thy confidence, or any of thy worship
upon a creature that will soon be worm's n^eat.

Contemplate the dead ! What think you now of
your idol ? You who could sit down by the hour togeth-
er and revel in the sight and company of your beloved
object, what think you now of that which you doted
on? If you could see it uncovered after a few da^-s
you would say, " Deliver me from this noisome smell,
this horrible corruption, this dreadful mass of decav ! "
Wherefore, could you ever be so vain and foolish and
bereft of reason as to make a thing that comes to this
your trust and confidence ? The prophet says, " Who
art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that
shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made
as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker, that
hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the founda-
tions of the earth." In this he rebukes our fears, but
equally rebukes our carnal trusts.

But I think that the text also reminds us that man is
a very ficlde creature. His breath is in his '-nostrils."
That is where he wears his life, and this hints to u.s
that he is sadly changeable. As his breath is afiect-
ed by his health, so is he changed. To-day he loves,
and to-morrow he hates; he promises fair, but he for-
gets his words. He swears that he will be faithful

382 MAN, WHOSE BREA TH IS h\ HIS XOSTRILS.

unto death, and anon he betrays the confidence
reposed in him. No dependence can be wisely placed
in him. 0 man ! 0 woman ! Change is written on
thy brow. The lapse of years alters thee, yea, the
flight of days and lionrs suffices to transform theel
We may better trust the winds and waves than thee!
David said in his haste, " All men are liars." That
ma}^ not be qaite true, and may bear the mark of
hasty judgment; but it is a rough-hewn truth, which
is far more accurate than flattering compliments.
David might have deliberated, and then have said
vjry much the same thing with great certainty. In
so:ne senses the broad verdict is correct as it stands;
for if we make an arm of flesh our trust, to whomso-
ever that arm belongs, we shall find that we have
rested on a broken reed. In the time of our calamity,
when we most need help, we shall find that mortal
assistance is either gone through falsehood, or is in-
competent through feebleness. Then shall we know
the curse of trusting in man, whose breath is in his
nostrils. Who will stand by us when we are slander-
ed ? Does not that winter make all the swallows take
to their wings? Who can help us when the soul is in
despair ? 0 my brothers ! who can help us when our
spirit is wounded, when the arrows of grief pierce the
heart? Who can help us when we come to die?
When the mysteries of eternity darken around us, and
we quit the light of day, what friend or fond one can
be at our side as wo enter the unknown land ? There
are certain points of life in which every man must
tread a lonely pathway. We then need God, and if
we have made a god of any man, v/hat shall we do?
Ah me ! what reason we have to look to him who is
ever the same! Kemember how he savs, "I am the

MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS IN HIS NOSTRHS. 383

Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed."

If you read the chapter through, you will also find
that man is a tremUing creature, a cowardly creature, a
creature indeed who, if he were not cowardly, yet has
abundant reason to fear. Read from the nineteenth
verse: " They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and
into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and
for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth 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 of the rocks, and into
the tops' of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord,
and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to
shake terribly the earth." Think of the days of divine
wrath, and especially of the last dread day of Judg-
ment, and of the dismay which will then seize upon
many of the proud and the great. Are you going to
make these your confidants ? Are you going to give
up Christ for the sake of the smile of these who will
wail in terror when he comes ? Is it so, that for the
sake of some young man or woman who loves not
God, and one day must quail before the coming Judge,
you \xi\\ let your Lord and Saviour go ? It is concern-
ing such a temptation as this that the text thunders at
you: " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nos-
trils," who will fear and tiy and lose his breath in very
dread at the appearing of the Lord. Cease to regard
these as the fond objects of your love and trust, lest
the cm-se of God should lie upon your soul throughout
eternity. 0 my hearers, hearken to this !

So much concerning what man is, according to our

384 ^^-4.\; WHOSE BREA TH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS.

test. Is it not a powerful argument against placing
man where God alone should be ?

II. Secondly, what is to be our relation to man, or
what does the text mean when it says, " Cease ye from

It implies, does it not, that we very probably have too
much to do with this poor creature man already ? We
cannot" cease" from that with which we have nothing
to do. The text implies that in all probability we
have entered into connections with man which will
need changing. We may even require to reverse our
present conduct, break up unions, cancel alliances, and
alter the whole tenor of our conduct.

" Cease ye from man " means, first, cease to idolize
him in your love. Do any of you idolize any living
person ? Answer honestly. It is very common to
idolize children. A mother who had lost her babe
fretted and rebelled about it. She happened to be in
a meeting of the Society of Friends, and there was
nothing spoken that morning except this word by
one female Friend, who was moved, I doubt not, by the
Spirit of God, to say, " A^erily, I perceive that children
are idols." She did not know the condition of that
mourner s mind, but it was the right word, and she to
whom God applied it knew how true it was. She sub-
mitted her rebellious will, and at once was comforted.
Cease ye from these little men and women ; for,
though you prize them so, they are of the race from
which you are to cease. Cease ye from them, for their
breath is in their nostrils, and indeed it is but feel)ly
there in childhood. A proper and right love of child-
ren should be cultivated; but to carry this beyond its
due measure is to grieve the Spirit of God. Ifj'ou
make idols of children you have done the worst you

MA.V, WHOSE BREA TH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS. 385

can for tliein, whether they live or die. Cease from
such folly.

I will not go into the raany instances in which men
have been idolized politically, or idolized by a blind
following of their teaching. You can idolize a minis-
ter, you can idolize a poet, you can idolize a patron ;
but in so doing you break the first and greatest of the
commandments, and you anger the Most High. He
declares himself to be a jealous God, and he will not
yield his throne to another. Upon any who are thus
erring, let me press the text home: "Cease ye from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he
to be accounted of? "

Next, "Cease ye from man": cease to idolize Mm in
your titist There is a measure of confidence that we
may place in good and gracious men, for they are
worthy of it; but a blind confidence in any noan is
altogether evil. I care not who he may be, you
cannot read his heart; and some of the greatest de-
ceptions that have ever been wrought in this Avorld
have been accomplished by persons who seemed to be
self-evidently honest and sincere. I remember con-
versing with a person, who was concerned in one of
the great speculations which brought loss and ruin to
many, and as 1 looked into his honest face and heard his
open-hearted talk, I said to myself, '• This is not a man
wlio is capable of robbery. He is a plain, blunt, farmer-
like sort of a man, who might even be the victim of the
confidence trick." I afterward learned that this is the
usual style of a man who pug's a company, or betrays
a trust. Of course if a man looks like a thief, you but-
ton up your pockets, and smile if he invites you to
take shares; but you are off your guard when the man
appears to be the embodiment of simple honesty.
25

380 MAN, WHOSE BREA TH IS IX HIS NOSTRILS.

The woman in the omiiibiis who picks your pocket
looks like the last person to be capable of such a thing,
and this is why she is able to do it. Transfer this
knowledge to other matters, and it may save you
sorrow. If you get trusting anybody with a blind
confidence beyond what you ought to give, and espec-
ially if you trust your soul with any priest or preacher,
whoever he may be, you are a fool, and your folly may
turn out to be an everlasting mischief, which can nev-
er be undone. Hear you this, and learn what God
would teach you. " Cease ye from man, whose breath
is in his nostrils : for wherein is he to be accounted
of?" Do not idolize man by laying yourself at his
feet, or following him in the dark; for it will not oidy
bo in itself a folly, but it will bring you under the
curse of my text.

Cease to idolize any man hy giving Mm undue honor.
There is au honor to be paid to all, for the apostle
says, "Honor all men." A measure of courtesy and
respect is to be paid to every person, and particularly
to those whose offices demand it; therefore is it writ-
ten, " Honor the king." Some also, by their character,
deserve much respect from their fellow-men, and I
trust we shall never refuse " honor to whom honor is
due"; but there is a limit to this, or we shall become
sycophants and slaves, and, what is worse, idolaters.
It grieves one to see how certain persons dare not even
think, much less speak, till they have asked how other
people think. In some congregations there are weak
people who do not know whether they have liked the
sermon till they have asked a certain venerable critic
to whom they act as echoes. The bulk of people are
like a flock of sheep : there is a gap, and if one sheep
goes through, all will follow. If the ringleader should

MJ.V, WHOSE BREATH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS. 387

happen to be an infidel or a new-theology man, so
much the worse ; if he should happen to be orthodox,
it is much better in some ways; but then it is a pity
that people should follow the truth in so thoughtless a
manner. Public opinion is a poor substitute for con-
science, and is no substitute at all for righteousness
and truth. Because the general opinion bids you bow
down before this man or that, will you do so ? Will
you forget God, and conscience, and right, and truth,
and ask another man to tell you when you may
breathe ? God's people should scorn such grovelling.
If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.
Jesus loves that the soldiers in his host should own
his supremacy; but once owning him as Lord, he
would have them- feel that no man or set of men shall
draw them away from his word, either in doctrine or
in precept. Worship is for God only: render it to
him, and " Cease from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils."

Equally does the text bid us cease from tliefear of
man. Oh, how many are kept from doing right through
some man or some woman, wealthy relative, or influ-
ential friend! Are there not men in workshops who
join with others in their ribaldry because they are
afraid to speak out lest they should be laughed at and
marked as hypocrites ? Are there not persons in well-
to-do circles who must attend a certain place of wor-
ship because all the respectable people go there ? No
matter which way conscience would take them, they
are bound to follow the fashion: the fear of men is
upon them. They do not want to be despised and re-
marked upon. But, my dear friends, if any of you are
doing wrong under fear of men, do not excuse your-
selves, but at once obey the word which says, "Cease

388 ^^^-i-^", WHOSE BREATH IS m HIS NOSTRILS.

ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils." Who
are you that you sliould set man before God ? Is not
this a grievous presumption ? The fear of God ought
so to be before your eyes that the fear of man will not
weigh ^Yith you in the least. " I fear man," said one,
'' but I fear God inlinitely more ": this was near the
mark. Our Lord said, " Fear not liim that can kill
the bo^'y, but afterwards hath no more that he can
do; but fear him wlio can can cast both body and soul
into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Dismiss the
craven fear which would make you false to jonr con-
victions in any degree, and thus " cease from man."

Once more, cease/rom being worried about men. We
ought to do all we can for our fellow-men to set them
right and keep them riglit, both by teaching and by
example; but certain folks think that everything must
go according to their wishes, and if we cannot see eye
to eye with them, they worry themselves and us.
This is not right, and that is not right, and indeed
nothing is right but what is hammered on their anvil.
Let us please our neighbor for his good, for edification,
but let us not become men-pleasers, nor grieve inor-
dinately because unreasonable persons are not satisfied
with us. To our own Master we stand or fall, and in-
terfering brethren must be so good as to remember
that we are not their servants, but we serve the Lord
Christ.

Moreover, brethren, let us not be unduly cast down
if we cannot set everybody right. Truly, the body
politic, common society, and especially the church,
may cause us great anxiety; but still the Lord reign-
eth, and we are not to let ourselves die of grief. After
all, our Lord does not expect us to rectify everything,
for he only requires of us what he enables ne to do.

MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS LV HIS NOSTRILS. 389

We are not magistrates, nor dictators, and when we
have done our best and kept our own garments clean,
and given earnest warning, and cried unto God by
reason of the evil of the times, then this Avord comes
in, " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nos-
trils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?"

" Bui tliey say." What do they say ? Let them say.
It will not hurt you if you can only gird up the loins
of your mind, and cease from man. "Oh, but they
have accused me of this and that." Is it true ? " No,
sir, it is not true, and that is why it grieves me." That
is why it should not grieve you. If it were true it
ought to trouble you ; but if it is not true let it alone.
If an enemy has said anything against your character
it will not always be worth while to answer him.
Silence has both dignity and argument in it. Nine
times out often if a boy makes a blot in his copy-book
and borrows a knife to take it out, he makes the mess
ten times worse; and as in your case there is no blot
after all, you need not make one by attempting to re-
move what is not there. All the dirt that falls upon a
good man will brush off when it is dry: but let him
wait till it is dry, and not dirty his hands with wet
mud. " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils."

Brethren in Christ, let us think more of God and
less of man. Come, let the Lord our God fill the
whole horizon of our thoughts. Let our love go forth
to him; let us delight ourselves in him. Let us trust
in him that liveth for ever, in him whose promise
never faileth, in hiju who will be with us in life, and
in death, and through eternity. Oh that we lived
more in the society of Jesus, more in the sight of
God ! Let man go behind our back, and Satan too.

S90 MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS IN HIS NOSTRILS.

We cannot spend our lives in seeking the smiles of
men, for pleasing God is the one object we pursue.
Oar hand.^, ami our heads, and our hearts, and all that
we have and are, find full occupation for the Lord, and
therefore we must "Cease from man."

Cease ye from man because you have come to know
the best of men, vv^lio is more than man, even the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he has so fully become the beloved
of your souls, that none can compare with him. Rest
in Christ as to your sins, and cease from priests. Rest,
also, in the great Father as to your providential cares;
why rest in men when he careth for you ? Rest in the
H0I3' Spirit as to your spiritual needs; why need to
depend on man ? Yea, throw yourself wholly and en-
tirely upon the God all-sufficient, El Shaddai, as
Scripture calls him. Some read it, " the many- breasted
God," who is able to supply from himself all the needs
of his creatures. He will do for us exceedingly abun-
dantly above all that we ask or even think. " 0 rest
in the Lord, and wait patiently for him," and cease ye
from man. That was a wise and tender word of our
Saviour to the woman who had washed his feet. He
said to her, " Thy sins be forgiven thee; " and then, as
they began to cavil at her, and talk about the expense
and the waste of the ointment, he added to her, " Thy
faith hath saved thee ; go in peace " : as much as to say,
" They are going to have a discussion about you, but
do you go out of earshot of it. They are going to
criticise what you have done, do not tarry to hear
them, but go home. 1 have accepted you, let that be
enough for you; never mind them. Do not want to
know their opinions." Oftentimes to a child of God
it is the best advise that can be given — "Go in peace,"
Certain doubters are about to argue; let them argue

MAN, WHOSE BREATH IS lA HIS NOSTRILS. 391

to themselves, but do you go in peace. Why do you
want to kuow the last new doubt ? Would you like
to taste the last new poison ? " Prove all things," but
when it has been proved to be evil have done with it.
Do not want to hear that which can only tend to
stagger your faith and defile your conscience. You
have heard enough of that stuff already; go in peace.
When men begin to cavil at Christ and the doctrines
of grace, cease from them. Steal away to Jesus in
private prayer. Five minutes' communion with your
Lord will be worth five years of this idle talk. Go m
peace, and " Cease from man, whose breath is in his
nostrils." Do you hear that one professor declares
that there is no God, and another that there is no
providence, and another that there is no atoning sacri-
fice, and another that there is no hereafter ? Now
that we know that a mad dog is about, let us keep out
of his way. It does not matter who he is ; we have
nothing-^ to do with him. When a thief meets me, I
need not stay even to say, " Good night " to him.
Cease ye from such a man, for the very breath, of bis
nostrils breathes death to that which is good.

III. We finish with that last question : Why are
WE TO CEASE FROM MAN? The auswcr is, lecause he is
nothing to he accounted cf. Begin, dear brethren, by ceas-
ing from yourselves. Every man must cease from him-
self first, and then he must cease from all men, as his
hope and his trust, because neither ourselves nor others
are worthy of such confidence. " Wherein is he to be
accounted of?" If his breath is in his nostrils, see
how short his life is, wherein is he to be accounted of?
If his breath is in'his nostrils, see how weak he is,
wherein is he to be accounted of? If his breath is in

392 MA A; WHOSE BREA Til IS IN HIS NOSTRILS.

his nostrils, see how fickle he is, wherein is he to be
accounted of?

What figure shall I put down for man ? Some men
would wish to have themselves written down at a very-
high figure, but a cipher is quite sufficient. Write
man is nothing, and you are somewhat abov^e the
mark. Wherein is he to be accounted of? Compared
with God man is less than nothing and vanity. ' Reck-
on him so, and act upon the reckoning. If there were
no men on the face of the earth, how would you live?
If God alone filled all your thought and all your heart,
how would you live ? Live just S(X Then if there be a
thousand million men upon the face of the globe — and
there are more — they will not sway you. If the city
teems with them, and if the forum is disturbed with
their noise, and if they ride up to the capitol in tri-
umph, what is that ? We have ceased from them, and
we shall never have cause to regret it, for they will be
no loss to us. If we try to reckon up what the loss
might be if we lost their aid, it comes to nothing; for
wherein are they to be accounted of. Cease from
them and go straight on in the path of faith and duty,
resting in God and believing in him. Care nothing
for the vanity of vanities, but trust in the Verity of
verities, even God himself.

This is a special subject, and some one will say, "Can
such a text as this be useful for the ungodly ? " Yes,
it hits the nail on the head. Som.e of you have been
trying to save yourselves. " Cease ye from man."
You have been looking to your feelings: you have
been looking to your works ; you have been looking to
this and that of your own; cease ye altogether from
that evil man — yourself. Wherein are you to be ac-
counted of? Some of you have kept back from Christ

MAX, WHOSE BREATH IS lA^ HIS NOSTRILS. 393

because you have made much of this poor nobody that
is crushed before the moth, this worm of the earth,
this mere vapor. Now, rise above your dead selves
and think more of God. Believe that he is, end that
heis therewarder ofthem that diligently seek him, and
may his Holy Spirit help you now to come and commit
your souls into the hands of the risen Redeemer, even
unto him who is able to save you and keep you to the
end God so help you for Jesus Christ's sake ! Ameiio

['mS',?." /"/"Mlogrcal Sen

rniiifi""' '-'""'»

^ ^012 01090 4664

f 20 "Jc

Date Due

r > >-^ '4'

■^

""**

-•%^:^

M 18 *i