m'' 
 
 >\ ']!^f^.^. ' 
 
BX 6333 .S6 S4 v. 19 
 Spurgeon, C. H. 1834-1892 
 Sermons of the Rev. C.H. 
 Spurgeon of London 
 
SERMONS 
 
 PUKACHKI) IN 1888 
 
 OF PR/f/^ 
 
 ^K'^^^^<^ 1938 
 
 OCIGAL 
 
 C. H. SPURGEON 
 
 OF LONDON 
 
 Volj4int' XIX, 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
 London and Tohonto 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Spurgeon and Reachixg the People .... 7 
 
 I. The Lord axd the Leper rlS'' 
 
 II. HoLDixG Fast the Faith 35 
 
 III. Abram's Call; or, Hale- way axd all 
 
 THE WAT 57 
 
 IV. NatHAXAELJ or, the READY BeLIEYER AXD 
 
 HIS REWARD 79 
 
 V. Cured at Last 2qI 
 
 VI. '' She was xot Hid " 123 
 
 VII. "Dayid's Spoil" I45 
 
 VIII. '^The Weddixg was Furxished with 
 
 Guests" 1(57 
 
 IX. What is the Weddixg Garmext? . . . 190 
 X. ^'Let Him Deliyer him Now" . . . . . 211 
 
 XI. The Charge oe the Axgel 233 
 
 XII. Plaix Directioxs to those who would 
 
 BE Sayed from Six 256 
 
 XIII. Peter's Eestoratiox 278 
 
 XIV. The Blood of the Lamb, the Coxquerixg 
 
 Weapox 300 
 
 XV. All at It 322 
 
 XVI. Xo Compromise 345 
 
 XVII. A Paradox 308 
 
 Ix'dices to the Nineteex Volumes, . . 391 
 
SPURGEON, AND REACHING 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D. D. 
 
 IM tliese days, God, by His providence, is teaching His churcli 
 how to reach the masses of the people. The colossal enterprise 
 now headed by Chas. H. Spurgeon, in London, is an example of 
 what may be accomplished in this direction by one man. About 
 thirty-five years ago this young man, then twenty years old, began 
 to preach, to a handful of people, in an ordinary modern church 
 building in that great city. His simple, earnest x^reachiug caused 
 the congregation to grow till the house was full. One evening, in 
 1854, he made a plea for enlargement, and remarked: ''By faith, 
 the walls of Jericho fell down, aud by faith, this wall at the back 
 shall come down, too." An aged and prudent church officer, in a 
 somewhat dictatorial tone, said to him at the close of the sermon : 
 -' Let us never hear of that again." " What do you mean ? " said 
 the preacher ; '*you will hear no more about it ivhen it is done, and 
 therefore the sooner you set about it the better." It was not long 
 before the work of enlargement began, and meanwhile worship 
 was carried oij at Exeter Hall, which was, of course, a very much 
 larger place. But during the three months of the use of that place 
 far preaching services the crowds continued, often actually block- 
 ing up the street. To return to the enlarged church on Park Street 
 was absurd, and yet there were those who thought it too bad a waste 
 of money and material to let such a church buildmgstand unoccupied, 
 m order that three times as many might hear a free gospel in a hall; and 
 so Exeter Hall was abandoned, and back they went to the remodel- 
 ed edifice. It was filled, but it was so evident to all that God had 
 attended services in the hall with a far greater measure of good, that 
 iu June, 1856, they determined to use the hall for half a day, and so 
 
 (7) 
 
8 SPURGEON. AND REACHING THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon preached in the morning at the church, and in the 
 evening at the liall. 
 
 All went well, under the new arrangement, hut no one could fail 
 to see that the evening service was working a far grander result, 
 in numhers and in the class of non-church-goers reached ; and so, 
 after a two months' trial of this method, a movement began, looking 
 to the bmldmg of a large tabernacle, fitted to hold the masses, and 
 with abundant room, first, for habitual attendants to find a church- 
 home and, secondly, for the common people at large to find free wel- 
 come. Of course, there were those who opposed this project ; the idea 
 of giving up a fine commodious church, recently enlarged and refitted, 
 and undertaking to put up a building to hold five thousand people, 
 was scouted as absurd. But the mass of the church felt that it was 
 far more important to reach the people than to hold fast to the old or- 
 der ; and so that building was abandoned. Unable to get control 
 longer of Exeter Hall, on October 19, 1856, this heroic pastor and his 
 peoj)le undertook a rofiwre o//rti//i. They hired the large Music 
 Hall in Surrey Gardens, just built for M. Jnllien's monster concerts, 
 and held there the first Sabbath evening service. About 7,000 per- 
 sons were assembled. Some evil-disposed persons created a panic, 
 and in the rush seven persons were crushed to death, and four times 
 as many were seriously injured. Mr. Spurgeon's nervous system 
 was so terribly shocked that he was perfectly prostrated, but two 
 weeks after was again able to preach. To avoid fear of further 
 panic, the service at Music Hall was transferred to the morning, 
 though the evening was regarded more favorable to large congrega- 
 tions. Yet for three years that immense hall was crowded by all 
 classes. Thousands hitherto unaccustomed to attend church found 
 their way to this free i)lace of worship, and hundreds found a Sa- 
 viour. Often ten thousand souls were gathered there to hear that 
 simple gospel preacher. And it was no worldly bait that drew 
 them. Even the singing was congregational, and led by a ])recen 
 tor — Mr. Spurgeon " lining out " every hymn in old-time style. 
 
 In May, 1861, regular work was begun on the New Tabernacle, 
 which was dedicated without debt, though it cost over $150,000 in 
 gold. It can hold, without excessive crowding, 6,000 persons, and is 
 always at least comfortably filled. During five Sabbaths in May, 1867, 
 while the repairs were in progress on the Tabernacle, the con- 
 gregation used Agricultural Hall, which was crowded every Sunday 
 morning by 20,000 persons. 
 
 The work of conversion goes on constantly ; the Lord adds to the 
 church dail}/ such as shall be saved. The average gross increase 
 yearly to the church-membership has been 390— clear increase, 204> 
 
SPURGEON, AND REACHING THE PEOPLE. 9 
 
 In twenty-one years the membership ran up from 313 to 4,813 ; and 
 probably fully as many converts have gone into other churches, 
 Aud yet, had the advice of a large and respectable inmoritj' been 
 followed, or had the jealousy of other congregations interfered to 
 prevent the new enterprise, that people would yet be holding ser- 
 vice in that old Park Street church, which, at its best, would hold 
 not more than from 1000 to 1,500 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's church-enteriirise does not stand alone as a proof 
 that the early success of the apostolic church may be repeated m 
 these latter times Mr Moody has gone through not a few cities in 
 this country and Britain, holding free services in immense tempo- 
 rary buildings capable of holding from 3,000 to 20,000 , and no length 
 of time has so far made the numbers less or the interest to flag. An 
 Episcopal Church in New York City — and it seemed to some a seri- 
 ous dei^arture from the stateliness of their traditional dignity !-- 
 put up a free gospel tent, and the amazing success of the plan, even 
 with a system having so little flexibility and adaptability as the 
 Episcopal, was supposed to have startled the whole of Christendom, 
 At one season more persons were confirmed m that one church than 
 were ever presented in any Episcopal church in this country, at one 
 time, Pere Hyacmthe preached every Sunday m the Amphitheatre 
 of the Chateau d'Eau, at Pans, to more than 4,000 people. 
 
 The most marked successes in reaching the peox^le seem to have 
 been attained in large halls, or so-called tabernacles. And there is a 
 reason. A building that is plain, large and free, built without regard 
 to display, and evidently intended for the multitudes, strangely at- 
 tracts the multitudes. Wesley and WTiitefield discovered this long 
 ago. And there are reasons why even size and capacity are essential 
 helps to draw the people 
 
 1. Power goes with a multitude ; there is a mysterious attraction 
 which draws us to go where we find a crowd. 
 
 2. Individuals are lost sight of m the mass. Many a man or wo- 
 man dreads to enter an ordinary church, from the feeling that all 
 eyes are turned toward the stranger, especially if such be very 
 plainly clad and not at home in a church ; but such slip in uncon- 
 sciously with the multitude, 
 
 3. In a large church there will be room enough for regular at- 
 tendants to have a regular place, without crowding strangers, or 
 making the distinction too apparent between themselves and the 
 habitual pew-holders. 
 
 And then we feel constrained to say that there is so much that is 
 called preaching in these days that is no more evangelical or fitted 
 to convert men than a political harangue or a secular lecture 
 
10 SPURGEON, AND REACHING THE PEOPLE. 
 
 or an historical essay, that there is the more reason why the 
 largest access to souls sliould be given to any man who in simplicity 
 and power does magnify Christ crucified. For one I rejoice when I see 
 the man who dares in this day to know only this grand theme, having 
 a place that will hold the people in great numbers, and hav 
 ing it full— if I cannot have access to the masses, or cannot hold 
 them, God send them to hear the man who can win and save tho 
 lost ! 
 
 To one {feature of this great church enterprise it behooves us to 
 pay special heed- This is only a centre from which radiate m every 
 direction evangelizing influences. This church is a mother of 
 churches, missions, Sunday Schools, preaching stations and every 
 conceivable form of outside gospel extension and benevolent work, 
 and this not because the church is so prosperous — this makes the 
 church prosperous. Every effort, self-sacrifice, onward movement, 
 looking toward the masses of the people living about m practical 
 heathenism, has a reacting influence on the chiirch centre. Men and 
 women go out to carry a blessing and come back to bring a 
 greater blessing than they bore away ; they come to tell of good 
 done, souls won, hungry fed, and the Spirit outpoured ; and so the 
 mother church is constantly warmed and fed and filled and in- 
 spired anew ! 
 
 This church is a little kingdom; it has a score of departments 
 within itself; there is the Pastor's college, now m a separate build- 
 ing, with over a hundred students, and an outlay of about $22,500, 
 raised by voluntary subscription. More than 700 of its students are 
 now preaching the gospel in A^arious parts of the kingdom, and several 
 hundred lay preachers have been furnished beside, drawn from the 
 plow or, for aught I know, from the scissors grinders on the streets. 
 It does not seek to maJce preachers so much as to aid and educate 
 those who show a capacity and a devotion for that work ; and dur- 
 ing the two years' course the aim is to help students to publish 
 " the plain gospel in a plain way " In the metropolis and suburbs, 
 about fifty chapels are supplied by these students or graduates of 
 this college. 
 
 A little further off is the group of Almshouses, m which scores of the 
 poorest, feeblest of the congregation are sheltered and fed, and this 
 again is maintained by voluntary offerings. In connection with 
 the almshouses is a boys' school, where 300 pupils are taught. There 
 IS beside a Colportage society, employing men who act as both 
 salesmen and evangelists. Still more, there is the Stock well 
 orphanage, founded in 1869 ; and it had a curious origin. Mr. 
 Spurgeon wrote an article for the Sword and Trowel, urging the 
 
SPURGEON, AND REACHING THE PEOPLE. 11 
 
 fonndinf; of an orphanaj::e, and accompanied by an illustration in- 
 tended to represent Arnold, the Swiss patriot, throwing himself in- 
 to the ranks of the Austrian army. The wood cut was so wretched 
 that not a few read the article m order to read the illustration ! A 
 benevolent lady wrote shortly, oHering to give 20,000 pounds 
 for a boys' orphanage. This was reserved for an endowment fund, 
 and a large enough sum raised by subscription both to build the or- 
 phan houses and to add 5,000 pounds to the endowment fund. It 
 is a faith work, and some 500 are now in the institution, the 
 buildings of which cover six acres. 
 
 Spurgeon himself is both a full and ready man, and his pen is al- 
 ways busy. He has a lecture on candles, provoked by a challenge 
 from a student, in reply to his remark that the most unpromising 
 of subjects might be made, in earnest hands, to yield good and in- 
 teresting matter, like the German novel knitting needles, and 
 Sterne's sermon on the text, *' Is there any taste in the white of an 
 
 It is no small testimony to the balance of his character that 
 neither extravagant praise nor censure caused Si^urgeon to fall from 
 his consistency or integrity, or to falter in his evangelical work. 
 Edward Irving, with still greater gifts, with a scholarship that was 
 only matched by his splendid imagination and marvellous eloquence, 
 lost his balance under the influence of similar temptations. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon's sermons are regularly reported by a short-hand 
 writer and given publication m cheap form ; their circulation va- 
 ries from 20,000 to nearly half a million. 
 
 This great church, once in a stagnant state, began, however, to 
 move, to move in the direction of extending its influence in the metro- 
 polis ; first one new station was manned, Sunday School and 
 preaching and prayer meeting began, God's blessing followed un- 
 selfish efiort, and the rewards of Christian work were so rich that 
 new endeavors were provoked and new self-denials attcmx)ted. We 
 ought not to rest content with our present church idleness. There is 
 many a church which has a possible future of both members and 
 power, and may shake our citres to their centre. New churches, 
 preaching stations, Sunday Schools, orphanages, all may grow up 
 around us, on one condition: Toliintartj self-sacrifice for Christ, No 
 alive minister of Christ can long remain where he cannot see the 
 church engaged in aggressive work. AVe care little what is done if 
 it be only done and done m the Lord's way. O, for consecration of 
 capital, not only of money, but of brains, and muscle, and affection 
 and service. 
 
 There are men by the score who could i)reach the gospel in these 
 
12 SPURGE ON, AND BEACHING THE PEOPLE. 
 
 y 
 
 cities -with imcommon power, and "they are heref^in our congregations, 
 and they rarely open their months. There are men here who are 
 burying capital m investments and lands and bonds and buildings, 
 who could give an impulse to new enterprises whose usefulness 
 would be ever increasing till Gabriel blows his trumpet and declares 
 that there shall be no longer delay ' O for a consecrated ambition 
 to push the chariot of the Lord forward till the Lord himself shall 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 February 12, 1888. 
 
 *'An(l there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling 
 down to him, and saying unto him. If thou wilt, thou canst make 
 me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand 
 and touched him, and saith unto him, I will ; be thou clean. And 
 as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from 
 him, and he was cleansed." — Mark i. 40, 41, 42. 
 
 Beloved, we saw in the reading that our Lord had 
 been engaged in special prayer. He had gone alone on 
 the mountain-side to have communion with Ged. Simon 
 and the rest search for him, and he comes away in the 
 early morning, with the burrs from the hill-side upon his 
 garments, the smell of the field upon him, even of a 
 field the Lord God had blessed ; he comes forth among 
 the people, charged with power which he had received in 
 communion with the Father ; and now we may expect to 
 see wonders. And we do sec them ; for devils fear and 
 fly when he speaks the word; and by-and-by there comes 
 to him one, an extraordinary being, condemned to live 
 apart from the rest of men, lest he should spread defile- 
 ment all around, A leper comes to him, and kneels be- 
 fore him, and expresses his confident faith in him, that 
 he can make him whole. Now is the Son of Man glorious 
 in his power to save. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ at this day has all power in 
 
 (13) 
 
14 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 heaven and in earth. He is charged with a divine ener- 
 gy to bless all who come to him for healing. Oh that 
 we may see to-day some great wonder of his power and 
 grace ! Oh for one of the days of the Son of Man here 
 and now ! To that end it is absolutely needfid that we 
 should find a case for his spiritual power to work upon. 
 Is there not one here in whom his grace may prove its 
 omnipotence % Not you, ye good, ye self-righteous ! 
 You yield him no space to work in. You that are whole 
 have no need of a physician : in you there is no opportu- 
 nity for him to display his miraculous force. But yonder 
 are the men we seek for. Forlorn, and lost, full of evil, 
 and self-condemned, you are the characters we seek. 
 You that feel as if you were possessed with evil spirits, 
 and you that are leprous with sin, you are the persons in 
 whom Jesus will find ample room and verge enough for 
 the display of nis holy skill. Of you I might say, as he 
 once said of the man born blind : you are here that the 
 works of God may be manifest in you. You, with your 
 guilt and your depravity, you furnish the empty vessels 
 into which his grace may be poured, the sick souls upon 
 wdiom he may display his matchless power to bless and 
 save. Be hopefid, then, ye sinful ones ! Look up this 
 morning for the Lord's approach, and expect that even 
 in you he will work great marvels. This leper shall be 
 a picture — yea, I hope a mirror — in whom you will see 
 youi'selves. I do pray that as I go over the details of 
 this miracle, many here may put themselves in the leper's 
 place, and do just as the leper did, and receive, just as 
 the leper received, cleansing from the hand of Christ. O 
 Spirit of the living God, the thousands of our Israel now 
 entreat thee to Avork, that Jesus, the Son of God, may be 
 glorified here and now ! 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 15 
 
 I. I will begin my rehearsal of the gospel narrative by 
 remarking, first, that this leper^s faith made him 
 EAGER TO BE HEALED. He was a leper ; I will not stay 
 just now to describe what horrors are compacted into that 
 single word ; but he believed that Jesus could cleanse 
 him, and his belief stirred him to an anxious desire to 
 be healed at once. 
 
 Alas ! we have to deal with spiritual lepers eaten up 
 with the foul disease of sin ; but some of them do not he- 
 licve that they ever can he healed, and the consequence is 
 that despair makes them sin most greedily. '^ I may as 
 well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb/' is the inward 
 impression of many a sinner when he fears that there is no 
 mercy and no help for him. Because there is no hope, 
 therefore, they plunge deeper and yet deeper into the 
 slough of iniquity. Oh that you might be delivered 
 from that false idea ! Mercy still rules the hour. There 
 is hope while Jesus sends his gospel to you, and bids you 
 repent. " I believe in the forgiveness of sins " : this is 
 a sweet sentence of a true creed. I believe also in the 
 renewal of men's hearts ; for the Lord can give new 
 hearts and right spirits to the evil and unthankful. I 
 would that you believed it ; for if you did, I trust it would 
 quicken you into seeking that your sins might be forgiven, 
 and your minds might be renewed. Do you believe it f 
 Then come to Jesus and receive the blessings of free 
 grace. 
 
 We have a number of lej)ers who come in among us 
 whose disease is white upon their brows, and visible to 
 all beholders, and yet they are indifferent : they do not 
 mourn their wickedness, nor wish to be cleansed from it. 
 They sit among God's people, and they listen to the 
 doctrine of a new birth^ and the news of pardon, and they 
 
16 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 hear the teaching as though it had nothing to do with 
 them. If now and then thej half wish that salvation 
 would come to them, it is too languid a wish to last. 
 They have not yet so perceived their disease and their 
 danger as to pray to be delivered from them. They 
 sleep on upon the bed of sloth, and care neither for heav 
 en nor hell. Indifference to spiritual things is the sin of 
 the age. Men are stolid of heart about eternal reahties. 
 An awful apathy is upon the multitude. The leper in 
 our text is not so foolish as this. He eagerly desired to 
 be delivered from his dreadfid malady : with heart and 
 soul he pined to be cleansed from its terrible defilement. 
 Oh that it were so with you! May the Lord make you 
 feel how depraved your heart is, and how diseased with 
 sin are all the faculties of your soul ! Alas, dear fnends, 
 there are some that even love their leprosy I Is it not a sad 
 thing to have to speak thus % Surely, madness is m 
 men's hearts. Men do not -wish to be saved from doing 
 evil. They love the ways and wages of iniquity^ They 
 would like to go to heaven, but they must have their 
 drunken frolics on the road ; they would very well like 
 to be saved from hell, but not from the sin which is the 
 cause of it. Their notion of salvation is not to be saved 
 from the love of evil, and to be made pure and clean ; 
 but that is God's meaning when he speaks of salvation. 
 How can they hope to be the slaves of sin, and yet at the 
 same time be free % Our first necessity is to be saved 
 from sinning. The very name of Jesus tells us that : he 
 is called Jesus because '' he shall save his people from 
 their sins." These persons do not care for a salvation 
 which would mean self-denial and the giving up of un- 
 godly lusts. wretched lepers, that count their leprosy 
 to be a beauty, and take pleasure m sin, which in the 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. yj 
 
 sight of God is far more loathsome than the worst disease 
 of the body ! Oh that Christ Jesus woidd come and 
 change their views of things imtil they were of the same 
 mmd as God towards sin; and you know he calls it ^^ that 
 abominable thing which I hate." Oh if men coidd see 
 their love to wrong things to be a disease more sickening 
 than leprosy, they would fain be saved, and saved at 
 once ! Holy Spirit, convince us of sin, that sinners may 
 be eager to be cleansed ! 
 
 Lepers were obliged to consort together : lepers asso- 
 ciated with lepers, and they must have made up a dread- 
 fid confraternity. How glad they would have been to es- 
 cape from it ! But I know spiritual lepers who love the com- 
 pany of their felloiv lepers. Yes, and the more leprous a 
 man becomes, the more do they admire him. A bold 
 sinner is often the idol of his comrades. Though foid in 
 his life, others cling to him for that very reason. Such 
 persons like to learn some new bit of wickedness, they 
 are eager to be initiated into a yet darker form of impure 
 pleasure. Oh how they long to hear that last lascivious 
 song, to read that last impure novel ! It seems to be 
 the desire of many to know as much evil as they can. 
 They flock together, and take a dreadfid pleasure in talk 
 and action which is the horror of all pure minds. Strange 
 lepers, that heap up leprosy as a treasure ! Even those 
 who do not go into gross, open sin, yet are pleased with 
 mfidel notions, and sceptical opinions, which are a wretch- 
 ed form of mental leprosy. horrible malady, which 
 makes men doubt the word of the living God ! 
 
 Lepers were not allowed to associate with healthy per- 
 sons except imder severe restrictions. Thus were they 
 separated from their nearest and dearest friends. What 
 a sorrow ! Alas ! I know persons thus separated, wh(? 
 
18 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 do not tvish to associate with the godly ; to them holy com- 
 pany is dull and wearisome 5 they do not feel free and 
 easy in such society^ and therefore they avoid it as much 
 as decency allows. How can they hope to live with 
 saints forever, when they shun them now as duU, and 
 moping acquaintances ? 
 
 my hearers, I have come hither this morning in the 
 hope that God would bless the word to some poor sinner 
 who feels he is a sinner, and would fain be cleansed : such 
 is the leper I am seeking with my whole heart. I pray 
 God to bless the word to those who wish to escape from 
 evil company, who would no longer sit in the assembly 
 of the mockers, nor run in the paths of the unholy. To 
 those who have groTvni weary of their sinful companions, 
 and would escape from them, lest they shoidd be bound 
 up in bundles with them to burn at the last great day — to 
 such I speak at this time with a loving desire for their 
 salvation. I hope my word will come with divine appli- 
 cation to some poor heart here that is crying, " I wish I 
 might be numbered with the people of God. I wish I 
 were fit to be a door-keeper in the house of the Lord. 
 Oh that my di-eadful sinfidness were conquered, so that 
 I could have fellowship with the godly, and be myself one 
 of them ! " I hope my Lord has brought to this place 
 just such lost oneS; that he may find them. I am look- 
 ing out for them with tearful eyes. But my feeble eyes 
 cannot read inward character ; and it is well that the 
 loving Saviour, who discerns the secrets of all hearts, and 
 reads all inward desires, is looking from the watch-towers 
 of heaven, that he may discover those who are coming to 
 him, even though as yet they are a great way off. Oh 
 that sinners may now beg and pray to be rescued from 
 their sins ! Mav those who have become habituated to 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 19 
 
 evil long to break off their evil habits ! Happy will the 
 preacher be if he finds himself surrounded with penitents 
 who hate their sins^ and guilty ones who cry to be for- 
 given, and to be so changed that they shall go and sin no 
 more, 
 
 II. In the second place, let us remark that this 
 leper's faith was strong enough to make him be- 
 lieve THAT he could BE HEALED OF HIS HIDEOUS 
 
 DISEASE. Leprosy ivas an imutterahly loathsome disease. 
 As it exists even now, it is described by those who have 
 seen it, in such a way that I will not harrow your feel- 
 ings by repeating all the sickening details. The follow- 
 ing quotation may be more than sufficient. Dr. Thomp- 
 son, in his famous work, " The Land and the Book," 
 speaks of lepers in the East, and says, ^^ The hair falls 
 from the head and eyebrows ; the nails loosen, decay 
 and drop off ; joint after joint of the fingers and toes 
 shrink up and slowly fall away. The gums are absorbed, 
 and the teeth disappear. The nose, the eyes, the tongue 
 and the palate are slowly consumed." This disease turns 
 a man into a mass of loathsomeness, a walking pile of 
 pests. Leprosy is nothing better than a horrible and 
 lingering death. The leper in the narrative before us 
 had sad personal experience of this, and yet he believed 
 that Jesus coidd cleanse him. Splendid faith ! Oh that 
 you who are afflicted with moral and spiritual leprosy 
 could believe in this fashion ! Jesus Christ of Nazareth 
 can heal even you. Over the horror of leprosy, faith 
 triumphed. Oh that in your case it would overcome the 
 terribleness of sin ! 
 
 Leprosy ivas hnoivn to he incurable. There was no case 
 of a man being cured of real leprosy by any medical or 
 surgical treatment. This made the cure of Naaman in 
 
20 THE LORD AND- THE LEPER. 
 
 former ages so notewortliy. Observe, moreover, that our 
 Saviour himself^ so far as I can see, had never healed a 
 leper up to the moment when this poor wretch appeared 
 upon the scene. He had cured fever, and had cast out 
 devils, but the cure of leprosy was in the Saviour's life 
 as yet an unexampled thing. Yet this man, putting this 
 and that together, and understanding something of the 
 nature and character of the Lord Jesus Christ, believed 
 that he could cure him of his incurable disease. He felt 
 that even if the great Lord had not yet healed leprosy, 
 he was assuredly capable of doing so great a deed, and 
 he determined to apply to him. Was not this grand 
 faith % Oh that such faith could be found among my 
 hearers at this hour ! Hear me, trembling sinner : if 
 thou be as full of sin this morning as an ^^^ is full of 
 meat, Jesus can remove it all. If thy propensities to sin 
 be as untamable as the wild boar of the wood, yet Jesus 
 Christ, the Lord of all, can subdue thine iniquities, and 
 make thee the obedient servant of his love. Jesus can 
 turn the lion into a lamb, and he can do it now. He can 
 transform thee where thou art sitting, saving thee in 
 yonder pew while I am speaking the word. All things 
 are possible to the Saviour God ; and all things are possi- 
 ble to him that believeth. I v\^ould thou hadst such a 
 faith as this leper had, although if it were even less it 
 might serve thy turn, since thou hast not all his difficid- 
 ties to contend Avith, since Jesus has already saved many 
 sinners like thyself, and changed many hearts as hard as 
 thine. If he shall regenerate thee, he will be doing for 
 thee no strange thing, but only one of the daily miracles 
 of his grace. He has now healed thousands of thy fellow 
 lepers: canst thou not believe that he can heal the leprosy 
 in thee % 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 21 
 
 This man liad a marvellous faith, thus to believe while 
 lie teas xjersonally the victim of tJiat mortal malady. It is 
 one thing to trust a doctor when you are well, but quite 
 another to confide in him when your body is rotting 
 away. For a real, conscious sinner to trust the Saviour 
 is no mean thing. When you hope that there is some 
 good thing in you, it is easy to be confident ; but to be 
 conscious of total ruin and yet to believe in the divine 
 remedy — this is real faith. To see in the sunshine is 
 mere natural vision ; but to see in the dark needs the 
 eye of faith ; to believe that Jesus has saved you when 
 you see the signs of it, is the result of reason ; but to 
 trust him to cleanse you while you are still defiled with 
 sin — this is the essence of saving faith. 
 
 The leprosy tvasjirmly seated and fully developed in this 
 man, Luke says that he was " fidl of leprosy ; " he had as 
 much of the poison in him as one poor body could contain, 
 it had come to its worst stage in him ; and yet he believed 
 that Jesus of Nazareth could make him clean. Glorious 
 confidence ! my hearer, if thou art full of sin, if thy 
 propensities and habits have become as bad as bad can 
 be, I pray the Holy Spirit to give thee faith enough to 
 believe that the Son of God can forgive thee and renew 
 thee, and do it at once. With one word of his mouth 
 Jesus can turn your death into life, your corruption into 
 comeliness. Changes which we cannot work in others^ 
 much less in ourselves, Jesus, by his invincible Spirit, 
 can work in the hearts of the ungodly. Of these stones, 
 he can raise up children unto Abraham, His moral and 
 spiritual miracles are often wrought upon cases which 
 seem beyond all hope, cases which pity itself endeavors 
 to forget because her efforts have been so long in vain. 
 
 I like best about this man's faith the fact that he did 
 
22 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 not merely believe that Jesus Christ coiild cleanse a 
 leper, but that he could cleanse him ! He said, " Lord, 
 if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.^' It is very easy 
 to believe for other people. There is really no faith in 
 such impersonal, proxy confidence. The true faith be- 
 lieves for itself first, and then for others. Oh, I know 
 some of you are saying, '^ I believe that Jesus can save 
 my brother, I believe that he can save the vilest of 
 tne vile. If I heard that he had saved the biggest 
 drunkard in Southwark I should not wonder." Canst 
 thou believe all this, and yet fear that he cannot save 
 thee ? This is strange inconsistency. If he heals another 
 man's leprosy, can he not heal thy leprosy ? If one 
 drunkard is saved, why not another ? If in one man a 
 passionate temper is subdued, why not in another ? If 
 lust, and covetousness, and lying, and pride have been 
 cured in many men, w^hy not in thee '? Even if thou art 
 a blasphemer, blasphemy has been cured ; why should 
 it not be so in thy case ? He can heal thee of that par- 
 ticular form of sin which possesses thee, however high a 
 degree its power may have reached ; for nothing is too 
 hard for the Lord. Jesus can change and cleanse thee now. 
 In a moment he can impart a new life and commence a 
 new character. Canst thou believe this ? This is the 
 faith which glorified Jesus, and brought healing to this 
 leper ; and it is the faith which will save you at once if 
 you now exercise it. O Spirit of the living God, work 
 this faith in the minds of my dear hearers, that they may 
 thus win their suit with the Lord Jesus, and go their way 
 healed of the plague of sin ! 
 
 III. Now, notice, thirdly, that this man's faith was 
 FIXED ON Jesus Christ aloxe. Let me read the man's 
 words again. He said unto Jesus, " If thou wilt, thou 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 23 
 
 canst make me clean. '^ Throw the emphasis upon the 
 pronouns. See him kneeling before the Lord Jesus, and 
 hear him say, " If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 
 He has no idea of looking to the disciples ; no, not to one 
 of them or to all of them. He had no notion of trusting 
 in a measure to the medicine which physicians would 
 prescribe for him. All that is gone. No dream of other 
 hope remains ; but with his eye fully fixed on the blessed 
 miracle-worker of Nazareth, he cries, "• If thou wilt, thou 
 canst make me clean." In himself he had no shade of 
 confidence ; every delusion of that kind had been ban- 
 ished by a fierce experience of his disease. He knew 
 that none on earth coidd deliver him, and that by no 
 innate power of constitution could he throw out the poi- 
 son ; but he confidently believed that the Son of God 
 could by himself eftect the cure. This was God-given 
 faith — the faith of God's elect, and Jesus was its sole 
 object. 
 
 How came this man to have such faith f I cannot tell 
 you the outward means, but I think we may guess with- 
 out presumption. Had he not heard our Lord preach f 
 ]\Iatthew puts this story immediately after the Sermon on 
 the Mount, and says, '' When he was come down from 
 the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, be 
 hold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying. 
 Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Had this 
 man managed to stand at the edge of the crowd and hear 
 Jesus speak, and did those wondrous words convince him 
 that the great Teacher was something more than man ? 
 As he noted the style, and manner, and matter of that 
 marvellous sermon, did he say within himself, ^^ Never 
 man spake like this man. Tridy he is the Son of God, 
 I believe in him. I trust him. He can cleanse me " I 
 
24 THE LORD AND THE LEPER, 
 
 May God bless the preaching of Christ crucified to you 
 who hear me this day ! Is not this used of the Lord, and 
 made to be the power of God unto salvation to every one 
 that belie veth % 
 
 Perhaps this man had seen our Lordh miracles, I feel 
 sure he had. He had seen the devils cast out, and had 
 heard of Peter's wife's mother, who had lain sick of 
 a fever, and had been instantaneously recovered. The 
 leper might very properly argue — To do this requires 
 omnipotence ; and once granted that omnipotence is at 
 work, then omnipotence can as well deal with leprosy as 
 with fever. Did he not reason well if he argued thus — 
 What the Lord has done, he can do again : if in one case 
 he has displayed almighty power, he can display that 
 same power in another case ? Thus would the acts of the 
 Lord corroborate his words, and furnish a sure founda- 
 tion for the leper's hope. My hearer, have you not seen 
 Jesus save others ? Have you not at least read of his 
 miracles of grace ? Believe him, then, for his works^ 
 sake, and say to him, "• Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst 
 make me clean.'^ 
 
 Besides, I think this man may have heard sometJimg of 
 the story of Christy and may have been familiar with the 
 Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. We 
 cannot tell but some disciple may have informed him of 
 John's witness concerning the Christ, and of the signs 
 and tokens which supported John's testimony. He may 
 thus have discerned in the Son of ]\Ian the Messiah of 
 God, the Incarnate Deity. At any rate, as knowledge 
 must come before faith, he had received knowledge enough 
 to feel that he could trust this glorious personage, and to 
 believe that, if he willed it, Jesus could make him clean, 
 my dear hearers, cannot you trust the Lord Jesus 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 25 
 
 Christ in this way % Do you not believe — I hope you do 
 — that he is the Son of God ; and if so, why not trust 
 hiui % He that was born of Mary at Bethlehem was God 
 over all, blessed forever ! Do you not believe this % 
 Why, then, do you not rely upon God in our nature % 
 You believe in his consecrated life, his suffering deatli, 
 his resurrection, his ascension, his sitting in power at the 
 right hand of the Father ; why do you not trust him % 
 God hath highly exalted him ; and caused all fulness to 
 dwell in him : he is able to save unto the uttermost, why 
 do you not come to him % Believe that he is able, and 
 then with all thy sins before thee, red like scarlet — and 
 with all thy sinful habits, and thy evil propensities before 
 thee, ingrained like the leopard's spots — believe that the 
 Saviour of men can at once make thee whiter than snow 
 as to past guilt, and free from the present and future 
 tyranny of evil. A divine Saviour must be able to cleanse 
 thee from all sin. Only Jesus can do it — but he can do it — 
 do it himself alone, do it now, do it in thee, do it with a word. 
 If Jesus wills to do it, it is all that is wanted ; for his will 
 is the will of the Almighty Lord. Say, '•^ Lord, if thou 
 wilt, thou canst make me clean." Faith must be fixed 
 alone on Jesus. None other name is given among men 
 whereby we must be saA^ed. I do pray the Lord to 
 give that faith to all my dear friends present this morn- 
 ing who as yet have not received cleansing at the Lord's 
 hands. Jesus is God's ultimatum of salvation: the unique 
 hope of guilty men both as to pardon and renewal. Ac- 
 cept him even now. 
 
 IV. Now let me go a step further: this man's faith 
 
 HAD RESPECT TO A REAL, MATTER-OF-FACT CURE. He 
 
 did not think of the Lord Jesus Christ as a priest who 
 "vould perform certain ceremonies over him, and formally 
 
26 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 say, ^^ Thou art clean ; " for that would not have been 
 true. He wanted really to be delivered from the lep- 
 rosy ; to have those dry scales, into which his skin kept 
 turning, taken all away, that his flesh might become as 
 the flesh of a little child ; he wanted that the rottenness 
 which Avas eating up his body should be stayed, and that 
 health should be actually restored. Friends, it is easy 
 enough to believe in a mere priestly absolution if you 
 have enough credulity ; but we need more than this. It 
 is very easy to believe in Baptismal Regeneration, but 
 what is the good of it ! What practical result does it 
 produce % A child remains the same after it has been 
 baptismally regenerated as it was before, and it grows up 
 to prove it. It is easy to believe in Sacramentarianism 
 if you are foolish enough ; but there is nothing in it when 
 you believe in it. No sanctifying power comes with out- 
 ward ceremonials in and of themselves. To believe that 
 the Lord Jesus Christ can make us love the good things 
 which once we despised, and shun those evil things in 
 which we once took pleasure — this is to believe in him 
 indeed and of a truth. Jesus can totally change the 
 nature, and make a sinner into a saint. This is faith of 
 a practical kind ; this is a faith worth having. 
 
 None of us would imagine that this leper meant that 
 the Lord Jesus could make him feel comfortable in re- 
 maining a leper. Some seem to fancy that Jesus came 
 to let us go on in our sins with a quiet conscience ; but 
 he did nothing of the kind. His salvation is cleansing 
 from sin, and if we love sin we are not saved from it. 
 We cannot have justification without sanctification. 
 There is no use in quibbling about it ; there must be a 
 change, a radical change, a change of heart, or else we 
 are not saved. I put it now to you, Do you desire a 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 27 
 
 moral and a spiritual change, a change of life, thought 
 and motive % This is what Jesus gives. Just as this 
 leper needed a thorough physical change, so do you need 
 an entire renewal of your spiritual nature, so as to be- 
 come a new creature in Jesus Christ. Oh that many 
 here would desire this, for it would be a cheering sign. 
 The man who desires to be pure is beginning to be pure ; 
 tlie man who sincerely longs to conquer sin has struck 
 the first blow already. The power of sin is shaken in 
 that man who looks to Jesus for deliverance from it. 
 The man who frets under the yoke of sin will not long 
 be a slave to it ; if he can believe that Jesus Christ is 
 able to set him free, he shall soon quit his bondage. 
 Some sins which have hardened down into habits, yet 
 disappear in a moment when Jesus Christ looks upon a 
 man in love. I have known many instances of persons 
 who, for many years, had never spoken without an oath, 
 or a filthy expression, who, being converted, have never 
 been known to use such language again, and have scarcely 
 ever been tempted in that direction. This is one of the 
 sins which seem to die at the first shot, and it is a very 
 wonderfid thing it should be so. Others I have known 
 so altered at once that the very propensity which was 
 strongest in them has been the last to annoy them after- 
 wards : they have had such a reversion of the mind^s 
 action that, while other sins have worried them for 
 years, and they have had to set a strict watch against 
 them, yet their favorite and dominant sin has never again 
 had the slightest influence over them, except to excite an 
 outburst of horror and deep repentance. Oh, that you 
 had faith in Jesus that he could thus cast down and cast 
 out your reigning sins ! Believe in the conquering arm 
 of the Lord Jesus, and he will do it. Conversion is the 
 
28 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 standing miracle of the cliiircli. Where it is genuine, it 
 is as clear a proof of divine power going with the gospel 
 as was the casting out of devils, or even the raising of the 
 dead in our Lord's day. We see these conversions still ; 
 and have proof that Jesus is able to work great moral 
 marvels still. my hearer, where art thou I Canst 
 thou not believe that Jesus is able to make a new man 
 of thee % brethren, who have been saved, I entreat 
 you to breathe a prayer at this time for those w^ho are 
 not yet cleansed from the foid disease of sin. Pray that 
 they may have grace to believe in the Lord Jesus for 
 purification of heart, pardon of sin, and the implantation 
 of eternal life. Then when faith is given, the Lord 
 Jesus will work their sanctification, and none shall effect- 
 ually hinder. Li silence let us pray for a moment. 
 (Here there was a pause, and silent prayer went up to 
 heaven.) 
 
 V. And now we will go another step : this man's faith 
 
 WAS ATTENDED WITH WHAT APPEARS TO BE A HESITANCY. 
 But, after thinking it over a good deal, I am hardly in- 
 clined to think it such a hesitancy as many have judged 
 it to be. He said, " If thou Vvdlt, thou canst make me 
 clean." There was an "if" in this speech, and that 
 "if" has aroused the suspicions of many preachers. 
 Some think it supposes that he doubted our Lord's will- 
 ingness. I hardly think that the language justly bears 
 so harsh a construction. What he meant may have been 
 this — " Lord, I do not know yet that thou art sent to heal 
 lepers ; I have not seen that thou hast ever done so ; but 
 still, if it be within the compass of thy commission, I be- 
 lieve thou wilt do it, and assuredly thou canst if thou 
 wilt. Thou canst heal not only some lepers, but me in 
 particidar ; thou canst make me clean." Kow, I think 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 29 
 
 tills was a legitimate thing for him to say, as he had not 
 seen a leper healed — "If it be within the compass of thy 
 comiiiission, I believe thou canst make me whole." 
 
 Moreover, I admire in this text the deference tvhich the 
 leper pays to the sovereignty of Chris fs will as to the he- 
 stowal of his gifts. " If thou wilt, thou canst make me 
 clean ; " — as much as to say, " I know thou hast a right 
 to distribute these great favors exactly as thou pleasest. 
 I have no claim upon thee ; I cannot say that thou art 
 bound to make me clean *, I appeal to thy pity and free 
 favor. The matter remains with thy will." The man 
 had never read the text which saith. ^' It is not of him 
 that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 showeth mercy," for it was not yet written ; but he had 
 in his mind the humble spirit suggested by that grand 
 truth. He owned that grace must come as a free gift of 
 God's good pleasure when he said, " Lord, if thou Avilt.'' 
 ^Beloved, we need never raise a question as to the Lord's 
 will to give grace when we have the will to receive it ; 
 but still, I would have every sinner feel that he has no 
 claim upon God for anything. sinner, if the Lord 
 should give thee up, as he did the heathen described in 
 the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, thou de- 
 servest it. If he should never look upon thee with an 
 eye of love, what couldst thou say against his righteous 
 sentence? Thou hast willfully sinned, and thou deservest 
 to be left in thy sin. Confessing all this, we still cling to 
 our firm belief in the power of grace, and cry, " Lord, 
 if thou wilt, thou canst." We appeal to our Saviour's 
 pitying love, relying upon his boundless power. 
 
 See, also, how the leper, to my mind, really spealcs 
 ivithoiit any hesitancy, if you understand him. He does 
 not say, " Lord, if thou puttest out thy hand, thou canst 
 
30 THE LORD AND THE LEPER 
 
 make me clean;" nor, ^' Lord, if thou speakest, then 
 canst make me clean ; " but only, ^^ Lord, if thou tvtity 
 thou canst make me clean : " thy mere will can do it. 
 Oh, splendid faith ! If you are inclined to spy a little 
 halting in it, I would have you admire it for running so 
 well with a lame foot. If there was a weakness any- 
 where in his faith, still it was so strong that the weakness 
 only manifests its strength. Sinner, it is so ; and I pray 
 God that thy heart may grasp it — if the Lord wdlls it he 
 can make thee clean. Believest thou this ? If so, carry 
 out practically what thy faith will suggest to thee — name- 
 ly, that thou come to Jesus and plead with him, and get 
 from him the cleansing which thou needest. To that end 
 I am hoping to lead thee, as the Holy Spirit shall enable 
 me. 
 
 VI. In the sixth place, notice that this man's faith 
 
 HAD EARNEST ACTION FLOWING OUT OF IT. Believing 
 
 that, if Jesus wiUed, he could make him clean, what did 
 the leper do ? At once he came to Jesus. I know not 
 from what distance, but he came as near to Jesus as he 
 could. Then we read that he besought him ; that is to 
 say, he pleaded, and pleaded, and pleaded again. He 
 cried, ^^ Lord, cleanse me ! Lord, heal my leprosy !'' 
 Nor was this all ; he feU on his knees and worshipped ; 
 for we read, " Kneeling down to him." He not only 
 knelt, but knelt to Jesus. He had no difficulty as to 
 paying him divine honor. He worshipped the Lord 
 Christ, paying him reverent homage. He then went on 
 to honor him by an open acknowledgment of his power, 
 his marvellous power, his infinite power, by saying, 
 ^^Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." I should 
 not wonder if some that stood by began to smile at what 
 they thought the poor man's fanatical credulity. They 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 3I 
 
 murmured, " What a poor fool this leper is, to think that 
 Jesus of Nazareth can cure him of his leprosy ! " Such 
 a confession of faith had seldom been heard. But what- 
 ever critics and sceptics might think, this brave man 
 boldly declared, '•' Lord, this is my confession of faith : I 
 believe that, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." 
 Now, poor soul, thou that art full of guilt, and hardened 
 in sin, and yet anxious to be healed, look straight away 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is here now. In the 
 preaching of the gospel he is with us alway. With the 
 eyes of thy mind behold him, for he beholdeth thee. 
 Thou knowest that he lives, even though thou seest him 
 not. Believe in this living Jesus ; believe for perfect 
 cleansing. Cry to him, worship him, adore him, trust 
 him. He is very God of very God; bow before him, 
 and cast thyself upon his mercy. Go home, and on thy 
 knees say, '•'' Lord, I believe that thou canst make me 
 clean." He will hear your cry, and will save you. 
 There will be no interval between your prayer and the 
 gracious reward of faith, of which I am now to speak. 
 
 YII. Lastly,, his faith had its eeward. Have 
 patience with me just a minute. The reward of this 
 man's faith was, first, that liis very ivords were treasured 
 tip, Matthew, Mark, Luke, all three of them record the 
 precise words which this man used : " Lord, if thou wilt, 
 thou canst make me clean." They evidently did not see 
 so much to find fault with in them as some have done ; on 
 the contrary, they thought them gems to be placed in the 
 setting of their gospels. Three times over are they re- 
 corded, because they are such a splendid confession of 
 faith for a poor diseased leper to have made. I believe 
 that God is as much glorified by that one sentence of the 
 leper as by the song of Cherubim and Seraphim, when 
 
32 THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 
 
 they continually do cry, ^^ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
 of Sabaoth.^^ A sinner's lips declaring his confident faith 
 in God's own Son can breathe sonnets unto God more 
 sweet than those of the angelic choirs. This man's first 
 faith-words are folded up in the fair linen of three evan- 
 gels, and laid up in the treasury of the house of the Lord. 
 God values the language of humble confidence. 
 
 His next reward was, that Jesus echoed his words. He 
 said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean;'' 
 and Jesus said, " I will ; be thou clean." As an echo 
 answers to the voice, so did Jesus to his supplicant. The 
 Lord Jesus was so pleased with this man's words that he 
 caught them as they leaped out of his mouth, and used 
 them himself, saying, " I will ; be thou clean." If you 
 can only get, then, as far as this leper's confession, I be- 
 lieve that our Lord Jesus from his throne above will an- 
 swer to your prayer. 
 
 So potent were the words of this leper that Oiey moved 
 our Lord very ivonderfidly. Read the forty-first verse : 
 " And Jesus, moved with compassion." The Greek word 
 here used, if I were to pronounce it in your hearing, 
 would half suggest its OT^^l meaning. It expresses a stir- 
 ring of the entire manhood, a commotion in all the in- 
 ward parts. The heart and all the vitals of the man are 
 in active movement. The Saviour was greatly moved. 
 You have seen a man moved, have you not f When a 
 strong man is unable any longer to restrain himself, and 
 is forced to give way to his feelings, you have seen him 
 tremble all over, and at last burst out into an evident 
 break-down. It was just so with the Saviour : his pity 
 moved him, his delight in the leper's faith mastered him 
 When he heard the man speak with snch confidence h 
 him, the Saviour was moved with a sacred passion, v;hich 
 
THE LORD AND THE LEPER. 33 
 
 as it was in sympathy with the leper, is called ^^ compas- 
 sion." Oh; to think that a poor leper should have such 
 power over the divine Son of God ! Yet, my hearer, in 
 all thy sin and misery, if thou canst believe in Jesus, thou 
 canst move the heart of thy blessed Saviour. Yea, even 
 now his bowels yearn towards thee. 
 
 No sooner was our Lord Jesus thus moved than out 
 tvent his hand, and he touched the man and healed him 
 immediately. It did not require a long time for the 
 working of the cure ; but the leper's blood was cooled and 
 cleansed in a single second. Our Lord could work this 
 miracle, and make all things new in the man ; for ^' all 
 things were made by him ; and without him was not any- 
 thing made that was made." He restored the poor, de- 
 caying, putrefying body of this man, and he was cleansed 
 at once. To make him quite sure that he was cleansed, 
 the Lord Jesus bade him go to the priest, and seek a 
 certificate of health. He was so clean that he might be 
 examined by the appointed sanitary authority, and come 
 off without suspicion. The cure which he had received 
 was a real and radical one, and therefore he might go 
 away at once, and get the certificate of it. If our con- 
 verts will not bear practical tests, they are worth nothing; 
 let even our enemies judge whether they are not better 
 men and women when Jesus has renewed them. If Jesus 
 saves a sinner, he does not mind all men testing the 
 change. Jesus does not seek display, but he seeks ex- 
 amination from those able to judge. Our converts will 
 bear the test. Come hither, angels ! Come hither, pure 
 intelligences, able to observe men in secret ! Here is a 
 wretch of a sinner Avho came hither this morning. He 
 seemed first cousin to the devil ; but the Lord Jesus 
 Christ has converted him and changed him. Now look 
 
34 THE LORD AND THE LEPER, 
 
 at him, ye angels ; look at him at home in his chamber ? 
 Watch him in private life. We can read your verdict. 
 ^' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
 one sinner that reponteth ; " and this proves what you 
 think. It is such a wonderful change, and angels are 
 so sure of it, that they give their certificates at once. 
 How do they give their certificates % Why, each one 
 manifests his joy as he sees the sinner turning from his 
 sinful ways. Oh, that the angels might have work of 
 this kind to do this morning ! Dear hearer, may you be 
 one over whom they rejoice ! If thou belie vest on Jesus 
 Christ, and if thou wilt trust him, as the sent One of God, 
 fully and entirely with thy soul, he will make thee cleauc 
 Behold him on the cross, and see sin put away. Behold 
 him risen from the dead, and see new life bestowed. Be- 
 hold him enthroned in power, and see evil conquered. I 
 am ready to be bound for my Lord, to be his surety, 
 that if thou, my hearer, wilt come to him, he will make 
 thee clean. Believe thy Saviour, and thy cure is 
 wrought. God help thee, for Jesus Christ's sake ! Ameno 
 
II. 
 
 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 Fehruary 5, 1888. 
 
 '' And to the angel of the church in Pcrgamos write : These things 
 saith he which hath the sliarj) sword with two edges; I know thy 
 works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and 
 thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith."— Reve- 
 lation 11. 12, 13. 
 
 Your attention will be principallj asked to these words 
 — ^^Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my 
 faith.'' 
 
 Specially note, dear friends, at the opening of this 
 morning's meditation, the character under which the 
 Lord Jesus Christ presents himself to the church at Per- 
 gamos. ^' These things saith he which hath the sharp 
 sword with two edges." Does the Lord Jesus come to 
 his church in that way ? Does he at the door of the 
 church bear a sword ? a sword unscabbarded f a sharp 
 sword ! a sharp sword with two edges ? Yes, even to 
 his visible church this is how our Lord Jesus Christ ap- 
 pears. To his own spiritual and faithful ones he is to 
 each one a husband, full of unutterable tenderness and 
 love ; but to the visible church, which at its best estate 
 is never altogether pure, he appears in severer form. To 
 a church he comes as Captain of the Lord's host, and he 
 wields a sharp sword with two edges. It is the parallel 
 of that passage where John the Baptist saith of him : 
 
 (35) 
 
36 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 " His fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his 
 floor, and he will gather his wheat into his garner ; but 
 he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." That 
 winnowing fan is never out of his hand, for it is always 
 needed. Even though our Lord is full of grace, he is 
 also full of truth. His love to his servants manifests it- 
 self in a burning jealousy which will not endure evil. 
 " He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver : and he 
 shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and 
 silver." We think of the coming of our Lord as a joy 
 and a blessing ; but, oh, remember that question, *^But 
 who may abide the day of his coming % and v/ho shall 
 stand when he appeareth f The Lord bears the sword, 
 and he beareth it not in vain. Time has not blunted its 
 edge, it is '^ sharp ; " and it hath two edges, as of old. 
 
 But what will he do with that sword in reference to a 
 church % We are not left in any doubt upon that point. 
 Having mentioned some whose doctrines and lives were 
 unclean, the Lord says, " Repent ; or else I will couie 
 unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the 
 sword of my mouth." He turns the sword against those 
 within the church who had no right to be there. It is no 
 trifling thing to be a church member. I could earnestly 
 wish that certain professors had never been m.embers of 
 a church at all ; for if they had been outside the church, 
 they might have been in far less peril than they are 
 within its bounds. Outside their conduct might have 
 been tolerated 5 but it is not consistent with an avowal 
 of discipleship towards Jesus. I say this with deep sor- 
 row. false professors, you may go down to heU readily 
 enough without increasing your damnation by coming in- 
 to Christ's church with a lie in your right hand, Alas 
 for those who are not Christians in heart, and yet profess 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 37 
 
 to Lc SO ! Such ouglit to be startled by the vision of the 
 Lord himself drawing near to a church with a sharp 
 sword in his hand. Surely, ^^ The sinners in Zion are 
 afraid ; fearfulncss hath surprised the hypocrites." 
 
 Yet is there comfort to the sincere in this glorious man 
 of war. lie will smite those who are the enemies of his 
 lioly cause, but he will also beat off those who attack his 
 people from without. His sword is for the defence of 
 the faithful. It is drawn from its sheath to protect the 
 timid and the trembling. Jesus is come as our Joshua^ 
 to chase the enemy before us, and lead us onward, con- 
 quering and to conquer. The sword w^ith two edges is 
 the defender of the least of those wdiose hearts are right 
 before the Lord. I introduce the subject as the Spirit 
 himself introduces it. I would make the sermon sweet 
 to the saints, but the preface must needs be sharp, lest 
 any seize upon comforts to which they have no right. 
 The Paschal Lamb is always to be eaten wdth bitter herbs: 
 those bitter herbs I have set upon the table. The name 
 of Jesus, which is the song of angels and the treasure of 
 saints, has terror in it to those who refuse him ; for he 
 w^ho bears that name shall judge the quick and dead, and 
 pronounce condemnation on the unrighteous. 
 
 Notice that this blessed Saviour watches his church 
 w^ith an observant eve. He looks at the church in Per- 
 gamos, and he says, '^ I know thy works, and where thou 
 dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." The Lord sees the 
 position and the peril of the church at Pergamos, ^' where 
 Satan dwelleth." Probably there Avere horrible idolatries, 
 with obscene orgies, in the city, or it may have been a 
 place of peculiar licentiousness, or of special persecution. 
 We cannot at this distance of time exactly tell what it 
 was ; but the Lord regarded it as the citadel of Satan. 
 
38 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 There are places In the world at this day where sin has 
 so much the upper hand, or where error and unbelief 
 reign so supreme, that the devil would seem to have there 
 taken up his residence, and to have made it his capital 
 city. This is a trying neighborhood for a church of 
 Christ, and yet it is the place where it is most wanted, 
 You, dear friend, may be living in society where the evil 
 one rules with undisputed sway. You are not favored to 
 dwell with your fellow Christians, but you go home to be 
 met with blasphemies at the door ; and all the week 
 sights and sounds assail your eyes and ears which make 
 you feel like Lot in Sodom. I am sorry for you *, but 
 let it comfort you that your Lord knows all about it, and 
 he can either remove you from the trying position, or 
 else he can still more glorify his grace by supporting you 
 in it, and enabling you to overcome the enemy. lie 
 knows that ^' Satan desires to have you, that he may sift 
 you as wheat 5 " and he prays for you that your faith fail 
 not. He knows your perils, and he considers your trials. 
 Right weU he perceives the way in which Satan woidd 
 first mislead you, and then accuse you. The subtlety of 
 the old serpent he understands. He sees your struggles, 
 your failures and your desperate endeavors to hold fast 
 the faith. He knows how at night you are grieved as 
 you make confession before him of your shortcomings ; 
 but he knows also the peculiar circumstances in which 
 you are placed, and he judges you in great mercy. If 
 you are holding fast his name and have not denied the 
 faith, even iliat may be to him a surer proof of your truth' 
 fiUness of heart than works of labor and patience might 
 be in other instances. You have borne fewer clusters 
 than another vine, but Jesus knows that you grow in a 
 very barren bit of ground, and he thinks well of j^our lit- 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 39 
 
 tie fruit. Your clay's. work docs not look mucli when 
 it is done, but when horses plough a rock so hard that it 
 breaks the ploughshare^ no husbandman expects so much 
 to be done as when a light loam has to be gently turned 
 over. The Lord Jesus takes all our surroundings into 
 consideration, and though he loves us too well to make 
 excuse for our sins, yet he himself mentions the circum- 
 stances which make our act to be rather failure than 
 fault, even as he did for the first disciples when he found 
 them asleep, and he said, ^' The spirit truly is Avilling, 
 but the flesh is weak." dear children of God, if you 
 are placed in positions of pecidiar trial and difficidty, and 
 if your hindrances are so many that you cannot accom- 
 plish one-tenth as much as you desire, then hear how 
 Jesus puts it : ''I know where thou dwellest, even Avhere 
 Satan's seat is." If you are faithful to your Lord, and 
 firm in his truth, he will commend you and say, " Yet 
 thou boldest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith." 
 I wonder whether this word of comfort is meant for some- 
 body here, or for some friend who will read the sermon. 
 I feel that it must be so. Many of our Lord's beloved ones 
 are, in God's sight, now doing much more, under dis- 
 tressing circumstances, than they used to do in happier 
 days. When they had ten pomuls entrusted to them, 
 they brought in two by way of interest ; and now that 
 they have only one pound, they bring in one pound of 
 interest : thus you see that they produce a far larger 
 percentage than they used to do ; and this is the Lord's 
 way of calculating, for it is according to righteousness. 
 When we have little strength, and are placed in positions 
 of great difficulty, then the Lord thinks all the more of 
 what we produce, and regards it as all the surer proof of 
 fidelity. In the text it is commendation enough for Per- 
 
40 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 gamos, under tlie circumstances that, dwelling so close to 
 Beelzebub's own capital, close under the shadow of the 
 throne of hell, that church could earn this praise : "Thou 
 boldest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith." 
 
 Let us give earnest attention to this commendation. 
 Oh, that we may earn it ourselves ; and if we have al- 
 ready earned it, may we be helped by the Holy Spirit to 
 hold it fast, so that no man take our crown ! 
 
 I. The first head will be, let us consider this fact. 
 I hope it is a fact with many here present as surely as it 
 was a fact with Pergamos. I trust it can be said of this 
 church and of its members — " Thou boldest fast my name, 
 and hast not denied my faith." 
 
 Notice, dear friends, that tlie name of Christ is here 
 made to he identical ivitli the faith of Christ. " Thou 
 boldest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith." 
 The faith of Scripture has Christ for its centre, Christ 
 for its circumference, and Christ for its substance. The 
 name — that is, the person, the character, the work, the 
 teaching of Christ — this is the faith of Christians. The 
 great doctrines of the gospel are all intimately connected 
 with the Lord Jesus Christ himself : they are the rays, 
 and he is the sun. We never hold the faith correctly 
 except as we see the Lord Jesus to be the centre of it. 
 From our election onward to our glorification, Christ is 
 all and in all. To the Jews the law was never in its 
 proper place until it was laid in the ark, and covered 
 wdth the mercy seat ; and I am sure believers never see 
 the law aright till they see it fulfilled in Christ Jesus. 
 If it be so with the law, how much more is it so with the 
 gospel ? The gospel is the gold ring, but Christ Jesus is 
 the diamond which is set in it. Jesus is the author and 
 finisher of our faith : he is the sum and substance, the top 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 41 
 
 and bottom of it. When we hold fast the name of our 
 Lord, then we have not denied the faith. 
 
 Hut how may the faith be denied f In several ways 
 this may be done. Let me say it very tenderly, but 
 very solemnly, some deny the faith, and let go the name 
 of Jesus by never confessing it, Kemember how the Lord 
 . puts this matter in the gospels : ^' Whosoever shall con- 
 fess me before men, him shall the Son of man also con- 
 fess before the angels of God ; but he that denieth me 
 before men shall be denied before the angels of God." 
 Here it is clear that to deny is the same thing as not con- 
 fessing, I know people who almost boast of their neutral- 
 ity. They say, " I hold my tongue. Though the con- 
 flict should lie between Christ and Belial, yet I would go 
 quietly on and never involve myself." Say you so ? 
 Then permit me to remind you of oui' Lord's own words. 
 " He that is not with me is against me ; and he that 
 gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Again he says, 
 ^^ Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, 
 cannot be my disciple." This text must bear hard upon 
 those who have tried not exactly to hold wdth the hare 
 and run with the hounds, but neither to hold with the hare 
 nor yet to run with the hounds. These have hoped to 
 find in their discretion the better part of valor ; but, be- 
 lieve me, it is a valor which wdll be rewarded wdth ever- 
 lasting contempt. This way you hope to lead an easy 
 life. An easy life of such a kind will end in a very un= 
 easy death. A life in which w^e have shmmed the cross 
 of Christ wdll lead to a state in which we shall miss the 
 crown of glory. 
 
 Christ is also denied by false doctrine. If we espouse 
 error as to his person, work, or doctrine, and believe 
 what Jesus did not teach, and refuse to believe w^hat 
 
42 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 Jesus did teach, then we have denied his name and his 
 faith. One of the main points of a Christian, without 
 which the rest of his life will not be acceptable Avith God, 
 is that Jesus shall be to him ^' the way, the truth, and 
 the life." The practical, the doctrinal, the experimental 
 must all be found by us in Jesus Christ our Lord, or else 
 we have not placed him in his right position ; and we 
 cannot be right anywhere unless the centre is right, and 
 unless Jesus is that centre. God grant that we may 
 never turn aside from the faith once for all delivered to 
 the saints ; but may we resist all false philosophies, 
 steadfast and immovable ! 
 
 But then it is very possible to deny the name and the 
 faith hj unlwhj living. Let none of us imagine that an 
 orthodox creed can be of any use to us if we lead 
 a heterodox life. No, Christ Jesus is to be obeyed as a 
 ]\Iaster, as well as to be believed as a Teacher. The 
 disciple is to be practically obedient, as well as attentively 
 teachable. *^ Without holiness no man shall see the 
 Lord." The apostle Paul somewhere says, ^^ He that 
 careth not for his own household hath denied the faith, 
 and is worse than an infidel (or unbeliever) ; " so that a 
 moral faidt may be a denial of the faith, and may make a 
 man worse than if he had never professed to believe at all, 
 God save us from an unholy life ! 
 
 Alas ! we can deny the faith hj aduaJly forsaJdng ifj 
 and quitting the people of God. Some do so deliberately, 
 and others because the charms of the world overcome 
 them. We are told of some who went away from our 
 Lord because of Avhat he had taught. They cried, ''This 
 is a hard saying ; who can hear it ? " My friends, if you 
 are not prepared to accept hard sayings, you need not 
 profess to be disciples of Jesus, " Horrible doctrine 1" 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 43 
 
 cried one tlie other day. Granted that it is horrible, 
 may it not also be true ? Many horrible things take place 
 around us, and yet none can deny the facts. You can- 
 not exclude from your knowledge many things whicli are 
 true by merely crying '' Horrible ! " It is not ours to 
 judge of our Lord's teaching by our sentiment, we are to 
 receive it by faith. He speaks terribly of the doom of 
 the wicked, and he is not capable of exaggeration. What 
 the Lord Jesus says is certain, for " he is the faithfid and 
 true witness," and therefore we will not turn from him, 
 whate-er his teaching may be. Oh for grace to per- 
 severe to the end ! Oh for fidelity and constancy, so 
 that neither gain nor loss, exaltation nor depression, may 
 mduce us to quit our Saviour ! Let us hold fast his 
 sacred name, and never deny the faith, come what may. 
 May the Holy Spirit hold us fast, that we may hold fast 
 the name of Jesus ! 
 
 1)1 what way may ive he said to holdfast the name of 
 Christ and the faith of Christ f I answer, hij the full con- 
 sent of our intellect^ yielding up our mind to consider and 
 accept the things which are assuredly believed among us. 
 We hold fast the form of sound words, and accept what- 
 soever God has revealed, because he has revealed it. 
 Our motto is, ^^ Let God be true, but every man a liar." 
 
 When Christ speaks, we assent with our minds and 
 consent with oui' hearts to all he declares. 
 
 If we hold fast the name of Jesus, we must hold the 
 faith in the love of it. We must store up in our aifections 
 all that our Lord teaches. His words are found, and we 
 do eat them, they are as honey to the taste. Let Jesus 
 speak, and I will reply, •" Yea, Lord, thou sayest it is so, 
 and I know it is so. I consent to thy teaching, and from 
 my soul I love thee, and accept all that thou dost reveal." 
 
44 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 For the doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture the true 
 believer would live or die. This love of the heart is that 
 which causes us to hold fast the name of Christ. 
 
 We also hold it fast hy holding it forth in the teeth of 
 all opposition. We must confess the faith at all proper 
 times and seasons, and we must never hide our colors. 
 There are times when we must dash to the front and 
 court the encounter, when we see that our Captain's hon- 
 or demands it. Let us never be either ashamed or afraid. 
 Our Lord Jesus deserves that we should yield ourselves 
 as willing sacrifices in defence of his faith. Ease, repu- 
 tation, life itself, must go for the name and faith of Jesus. 
 If in the heat of the battle our good name or our life must 
 be risked to win the victory, then let us say, ^' In this 
 battle some of us must fall ; why shoidd not I ? I will 
 take part and lot with my Master, and bear reproach for 
 his sake." Only brave soldiers are worthy of our great 
 Lord. Those who sneak into the rear, that they may be 
 comfortable, are not worthy of the kingdom. What will 
 our Captain say of cowards in that day v>dien he distrib- 
 utes rewards to his faithful ones ? Brethren, we must 
 be willing to bear ridicide for Christ's sake, even that 
 peculiarly envenomed ridicule which ^' the cidtured" are 
 so apt to pour upon us. We must be willing to be thought 
 great fools for Jesus' sake. Some of us have forgotten 
 more than many of our opponents ever knew, and yet 
 they style us ignorant ; we are bearing shame because 
 we have the courage of our convictions, and yet they call 
 us cowards. For my part, I am willing to be ten thous- 
 and fools in one for my dear Lord and Master, and count 
 it to be the highest honor that can be put upon me to be 
 stripped of every honor, and loaded with every censure 
 for the sake of the grand old truth which is written on my 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 45 
 
 very heart. Those ships which sail with Jesus as their 
 Lord High Admiral must look for tempests : for his 
 Larquc was filled with the waves, and began to sink. 
 Doth that man love his Lord who would be willing to see 
 Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, while for himself he 
 craves a chaplet of laurel % Shall Jesus ascend to his 
 throne by the cross, and do we expect to be carried there 
 on the shoulders of applauding crowds % Be not so vain 
 in your imagination. Count you the cost, and if you are 
 not willing to bear Christ's cross, go away to your farm 
 and to your merchandise, and make the most of them ; 
 only let me whisper this in your ear, ^' What shall it 
 profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 
 soul % '^ 
 
 II. In the second place, having considered the fact, 
 
 LET us FURTHER ENLARGE UPON IT. 
 
 What do we mean by holding fast the name of Christ % 
 I reply, first, we mean liolding fast the Deitij of that name. 
 We believe in our Lord's real Godhead. " His name 
 shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God." 
 One of the names by wdiich he is revealed to us is Im- 
 manuel. The word " El " is one of the great Oriental 
 names of God. You get in Hebrew Elohim, and in Ara- 
 bic ^^ Allah." Our Lord Jesus is Immanu-c/, that is, 
 God with us ; and we believe him to be so. He is as 
 truly man as any one among us ; born of a virgin w^ith- 
 out taint of original sin. But he is also most surely God 
 without the least diminution of the perfections and glories 
 of Godhead. We put our finger into the print of the 
 nails, but as we do so we cry, '' My Lord, and my God." 
 "• Let all the angels of God worship him." '^ At the 
 name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, 
 and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and 
 
40 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father.*^ We can never give up 
 our belief m the Godhead of our Lord Jesus, but we 
 must and will hold fast the faith of the Deity of Christ. 
 
 We also hold fast the name of Jesus, and the faith of 
 Jesus, as to the royalty of his name. He was born King 
 of the Jews, and he is also ^' King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords." That v/hich Pilate wrote over his cross is true 
 — "• Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews " j but 
 God also hath highly exalted him, and made him to have 
 dominion over all the works of his hands. The Father 
 hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He shall 
 put down all ride, and all authority, and power, for he 
 must reign till he hath put all enemies mider his feet. 
 *^ The Lord shall reign for ever and ever : Hallelujah " ! 
 When we bow the knee in prayer, and say, " Thy king- 
 dom come," we mean the kingdom of God, and we mean 
 also the kingdom of Christ Jesus. He it is that as a 
 Lamb is seen in the midst of the throne where samts and 
 angels pay adoring homage. Soon shall the seventh 
 angel sound his trumpet, and great voices shall be heard 
 in heaven, saying, '^ The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; 
 and he shall reign for ever and ever." Jesus, we 
 bow before thee ! " Just and true are thy ways, thou 
 King of saints." He reigns in our hearts over the triple 
 kingdom of our nature. He is King in our families ; 
 we desire to see him King in this city, King in this 
 nation, King over all the earth ; and we shall never be 
 satisfied till, with all the redeemed of our race, we crown 
 Mm Lord of all. We hold fast the royalty of the name 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Moreover, we believe in the grandeur of that name, as 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 47 
 
 being the first and the last. Open the New Testament, 
 and read the first verse of Matthew. How does it begin? 
 "' The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 David." The book of the New Covenant besrins with 
 Jesus. Now look at the last verse, see how the Testa- 
 ment ends : ^^ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
 with you all. Amen." Jesus Christ appears in the first 
 verse, and he appears in the last verse. Did he not say, 
 '-'- I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
 ending " % The first line of the covenant of grace is 
 Jesus Christ ; the last line of the covenant of grace is 
 Jesus Christ ; and all in between is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Begin with him as A, go right through to B, C, D, E, F, 
 and so on till you end with Z, and it is all Christ Jesus. He 
 is all ; yea he is all in all. Oh what blessings have come 
 to us through Jesus Christ ! Through his name we have 
 received remission of sins, in his name we are justified, 
 in his name we are sanctified, in his name we shall be 
 glorified, even as in him we were chosen from before the 
 foundation of the world. My tongue can never tell you 
 even the commencement of his greatness. Who shall 
 declare his generation ? The fringe, the hem of his in- 
 finite glories, who can touch % He is unspeakable. As 
 for his glory, I may say, '''• Lord our Lord, how excel- 
 lent is thy name in all the earth ! who hast set thy glory 
 above the heavens." All glory and honor be unto him in 
 whom are comprehended all the blessings whereby God 
 hath enriched his people in time and in eternity. 
 
 We hold fast the name of Christ as we believe in its 
 saving power. ^^ Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he 
 shall save his people from their sins." We hold fast the 
 belief that Jesus saves us from the guilt of sin by having 
 borne it in his own body on the tree. We are assured 
 
48 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 that he makes us just before God by that righteousness 
 of hisj which is ours, because we are one with him. He 
 saves us from the punishment of sin because " the chas- 
 tisement of our peace was upon him." He died as a vic- 
 tim in our stead. He saves us from the power of sin by 
 his Spirit, and by faith in his death : we overcome sin by 
 the blood of the Lamb. Salvation in every department, 
 salvation from its hopeful dawning to its glorious noontide 
 in perfection, is all of Christ Jesus. He is Saviour, and 
 he alone. ^' There is none other name under heaven 
 given among men, whereby we must be saved." He is 
 the unique Saviour, there is no other possible salvation 
 now or in the world to come. Believest thou in Christ ? 
 Then thou hast salvation. "• But he that believeth not 
 shall be damned." Pronoimce the word hard or soft as 
 thou wilt, it will come to the same thing in the end— thou 
 shalt be condemned, and condemned hopelessly, if thou 
 believest not in Jesus Christ, the one sole propitiation for 
 the sins of men. This we hold fast. I know you are 
 established in these truths, my beloved, and you mean to 
 hold them as long as you breathe, and not to deny the 
 faith which the Lord himself has delivered to you. 
 
 Once more, we hold fast this name in its immutability. 
 We are told to-day that this is an age of progress, and 
 therefore we must accept an improved gospel. Every 
 man is to be his own lawyer, and every man his own 
 saviour. We are getting on in the direction of every 
 man putting away his own sin, just as every chimney 
 should consume its own smoke. But, dear friends, we 
 do not believe these idle dreams. We want no new gos- 
 pel, no modern salvation. Our conviction is that Jesus 
 Christ is " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
 The way that Paul v\^ent to heaven is good enough for me. 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 49 
 
 "The way tlic holy prophets weut, 
 The road that lead from banishmeut," 
 
 is broad enough and safe enough for me. When I re- 
 member my dear brethren and sisters in Christ who 
 have fallen asleep, whom I saw die with triumph lighting 
 up their faces, I feel quite content with the salvation 
 which saved them, and I am not going to try experiments 
 or speculations. To talk of improving upon our perfect 
 Saviour is to insult him. He is God's propitiation ; what 
 would you more % My blood boils with indignation at 
 the idea of improving the gospel. There is but one Sa- 
 viour, and that one Savioar is the same for ever. His 
 doctrine is the same in every age, and is not yea and 
 nay. What a strange result we should obtain in the gen- 
 eral assembly of heaven if some were saved by the gos- 
 pel of the first century, and others by the gospel of the 
 second, and others by the gospel of the seventeenth, and 
 others by the gospel of the nineteenth century ! Vv"e 
 should need a different song of praise for the clients of 
 these various periods, and the mingled chorus would be 
 rather to the glory of man's culture than to the praise 
 of the one Lord. No such mottled heaven, and no 
 such discordant song, shall ever be produced. There is 
 one church and one Saviour. We believe in one Lord, 
 one faith, and one baptism. To eternal glory there is but 
 one way ; to walk therein we must hold fast one truth, 
 and be quickened by one life. We stand fast by the 
 unaltered, unalterable, eternal name of Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. This is what v/e mean by holding fast the n5:me 
 and the faith of Jesus. 
 
 IIL Thirdly, dear friends, to lead you a step further 
 in the same road, let me show the practical place 
 OF Tiii: i:ame and of the faith with us. 
 
50 HOLDING FAST THE FAI7H. 
 
 The practical place of it is this : first of all, it is our 
 personal comfort — 
 
 *' Jesus, the name that charms oiir fears, 
 That bids our sorrows cease ; 
 'Tis music in the sinner's ears, 
 'Tis life, and health, and peace." 
 
 The faith which we hold is our daily and hourly joy and 
 hope. The doctrines which I believe in connection with 
 the divine Person in whom I trust are the pillow of my 
 weariness, the anodyne of my care, the rest of my spirit. 
 Jesus gives me a look-out for years to come which is 
 celestial, and at the same time I can look back with 
 thankfulness on the years which are past. For all 
 time the Lord Jesus is our heart's content. Nothing can 
 separate us from his love, and therefore nothing can de- 
 prive us of our confident hope. Through this blessed 
 name and this blessed faith believers are themselves 
 made glad and strong. On the name of Jesus we feed, 
 and in that name we wrap ourselves. It is strength for 
 our weakness, yea, life for our death. 
 
 And then, dear friends, this name, this faith, these are 
 our message. Our only business here below is to cry, 
 " Behold the Lamb." Are any of you sent of God with 
 any other message ? It cannot be. The one message 
 which Grod has given to his people to proclaim is salva- 
 tion through the Lamb — salvation by the blood of Jesus. 
 It is by his blood that cleansing comes to the polluted. 
 He is the one great Propitiation. To tell of Jesus is our 
 occupation, we ha^e nothing to say which is not com- 
 prised in the revelation made to us by God in Christ 
 Jesus. He who is our one comfort is also our one 
 theme. 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 51 
 
 He also is our divine cmtliority for holy work. We 
 preach the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 If we preached it in any other name men would have a 
 right to reject it. If the spiritual sick are healed, it is 
 his name which makes them strong. If devils flee before 
 us, Ave cast them out in his name. Oh, that we did more 
 often remember that all our teaching and preaching must 
 be done in the name of Jesus ! In his name we gather 
 for worship, in his name we go forth to service. If we 
 go in our own name we go in vain ; but if we are ambas- 
 sadors for God, as though he did beseech men by us, 
 then we pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to 
 God, and we are hopeful that our labors will not be in 
 vain in the Lord. 
 
 This also is our poivcr in preaching; indeed, it is our 
 power, our only power in living before God. Brethren, 
 the devil will never be cast out by any other name — let 
 us hold it fast. If we conjure by eloquence, talent, 
 music, or what not, the evil one will say, ''' Jesus I know, 
 and Paul I know ; but who are ye ! " It is only his 
 name that makes the legions of hell quit the bosoms of 
 the possessed, and fly howling down into the deep. 
 This is the name high over all ; but there is none other 
 which hath such power in it. Spiritual diseases, yea, 
 death itself, will yield to this name. It is his name 
 that makes Lazarus come forth from the grave, and the 
 young man sit upright on the bier. Use this name, and 
 nothing can stand before you. 
 
 I said that it is our power in life, and so, indeed, it is. 
 When Ave draw near to God, what is our strength where- 
 with to prevail in prayer f Is it not that we ask in the 
 name of Jesus ? If you leave out the name of Jesus, 
 what are your prayers but a sounding brass and a tink- 
 
52 • HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 ling cymbal I Prayer mthout the name of Jesus lias no 
 wings with which to fly up to God. This is that golden 
 ladder whereby we climb up to the throne of God, and 
 take unspeakable precious things out of the hand of the 
 Eternal. That name prevaileth with God concerning 
 everything, and so enables us to prevail with man ; 
 wherefore, hold it fast, and deny not the faith ; for what 
 can you do if the truth and the name of Jesus be given 
 up? 
 
 This name is our one lioi^e of victory. As Constantine, 
 in his dream, saw the cross, and took it for his em- 
 blem, with the motto, ^^ By this sign I conquer," so to- 
 day our only hope of victory for the gospel is that the 
 cross of Christ displays it, and the name of Jesus is in it. 
 His name is named on us, and in his name we wiU cast 
 out devils, and do many mighty works, till his name 
 shall be known and honored wherever the sun pursues 
 his course, or the moon cheers the watches of the night. 
 . IV. Now, in closing, I will urge seasons for hold- 
 ing FAST THE NAME AND FAITH OF JESUS. I hope WO 
 hold it so fast that we can never give it up while reason 
 holds its throne. There is an old Christian legend con- 
 cerning Ignatius, that he never spoke without mentioning 
 the name of Jesus whom he loved. His speech seemed 
 saturated with love to his Lord, and when he died the 
 name of Jesus was found to be stamped on his heart. 
 It may not have been so literally, but no doubt it was 
 true spiritually. The name of Jesus is, I hope, written in 
 our hearts so as to be inseparable from our lives. What- 
 ever else may go, the name of Jesus can never depart 
 from our thoughts. Dying men have been knoT\Ti to 
 forget everything but this. The man has forgotten his 
 wife; his children^ his bosom friend, and has turned away 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 53 
 
 oblivious from tliem all, as if they wore strangers ; and 
 yet when the name of Jesus has been whispered in his 
 ear, his eyes have brightened, and his comitenance has 
 responded to that precious name. memory, leave no 
 other name than his recorded upon thy tablets ! Happy 
 forgetfulness which clears all else away, but leaves that 
 name in solitary glory ! 
 
 That it may be so I will put the question thus : Why 
 slioulcl iv3 give up the faith f I fail to see a reason. Why 
 should I change my belief, or cease to hold fast the 
 name of Christ Jesus my Lord ? It is an irrational sug- 
 gestion. " I am open to conviction," said a man who 
 knew his ground, " I am open to conviction, but I 
 should like to see the man that could convince me." I 
 am in very much the same condition mth regard to the 
 gospel of my Lord Jesus : I am open to conviction, but 
 I shall never see the man that can convince me out of 
 my experience, my conviction, my consciousness, my 
 hope, my all. Before I could quit my faith in the substi- 
 tutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and my confi- 
 dence in the everlasting covenant ordered in all things 
 and sure, I should have to be ground to powder, and 
 every separate atom transformed. 
 
 WJioJ; ivoiild they give us in exchange for the faith f 
 That is a question which it is easy to ask, but impossible 
 to answer. Suppose the doctrines of grace could be 
 obliterated, and our hope could be taken away, what 
 would they give us in the place of them, either for this 
 life or the next ? I have never seen anything proposed 
 in the place of the gospel that was worth considering for 
 a second. Have you ? Uncertainty, doubt, glitter, 
 mockery, darkness — all these ; but who wants them ? 
 They offer us either bubbles or filth, according to tho 
 
54 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 different shade of tlie speculator's character ; but we are 
 not enamored of either. We prefer gold to dross. 
 
 Yv' e must defend the faith ; for ivhat ivoidd have become 
 of us if our fathers had not maintained iff If confessors, 
 reformers, martyrs, and covenanters had been recreant 
 to the name and faith of Jesus, where would have 
 been the churches of to-day ? Must we not play the man 
 as they did ? If we do not, are we not censuring our 
 fathers f It is very pretty, is it not, to read of Luther 
 and his brave deeds ? Of course, everybody admires 
 Luther ! Yes, yes 5 but you do not want any one else to 
 do the same to-day. When you go to the Zoological 
 Gardens you aU admire the bear ; but how would you 
 like a bear at home, or a bear wandering loose about the 
 street f You teU me that it would be unbearable, and no 
 doubt you are right. So, we admire a man who was firm 
 in the faith, say four hundred years ago ; the past ages 
 are a sort of bear-pit or iron cage for him ; but such a 
 man to-day is a nuisance, and must be put do^vn. Call 
 him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if 
 you can think of one. Y^et imagine that in those ages 
 past, Luther, Zwingle, Calvin, and their compeers had 
 said, " The world is out of order ; but if we try to set it 
 right we shaU only make a great row, and get ourselves 
 into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our 
 night-caps, and sleep over the bad times', and perhaps 
 when we wake up things will have grown better." Such 
 conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a her- 
 itage of error. Age after age would have gone down in- 
 to the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error 
 would have swallowed aU. These men loved the faith 
 and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. 
 Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the 
 
HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 55 
 
 debt we owe our fathers. It Is to-day as it was in the 
 Eeformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the day 
 for the man, where is the man for the day I We who 
 have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare 
 not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, 
 who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of 
 it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of 
 my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they 
 left their native land to sojourn here ? Shall we cast 
 away the treasure which was handed to us through the 
 bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of 
 Smithfield ? Personally, when my bones have been tor- 
 tured with rheumatism, I have remembered Job Spur- 
 geon, doubtless of my own stock, who in Chelmsford Jail 
 was allowed a chair, because he could not Ke down by 
 reason of rheumatic pain. That Quaker's broad-brim 
 overshadows my broAV. Perhaps I inherit his rheuma- 
 tism ; but that I do not regret if I have his stubborn faith 
 which will not let me yield a syllable of the truth of God. 
 When I think of how others have suffered for the faith, 
 a little scorn or mikindness seems a mere trifle, not worthy 
 of mention. An ancestry of lovers of the faith ought to 
 be a great plea with us to abide by the Lord God of our 
 fathers, and the faith in which they lived. As for me, I 
 must hold the old gospel : I can do no other. God help- 
 ing me, I will endui'e the consequences of what men think 
 obstinacy. 
 
 Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord 
 does not speedily appear, there will come another genera- 
 tion, and another, and all these generations will be tainted 
 and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth 
 to-day. We have come to a turning-point in the road. 
 If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our 
 
56 HOLDING FAST THE FAITH. 
 
 cliildren's cliildren will go that way ; but if we turn to 
 the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for 
 having been unfaithful to God and to his Word. I charge 
 you, not only by youi' ancestry, but by your posterity, 
 that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, 
 that though you dwell where Satan's seat is, you yet hold 
 fast his name, and do not deny his faith. God grant us 
 faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us ! How 
 is the world to be saved if the church is false to her 
 Lord % How are we to lift the masses if oui' fulcrum is 
 removed f If our gospel is micertain, what remains but 
 increasing misery and despair % Stand fast, my beloved, 
 in the name of God ! I, your brother in Christ, entreat 
 you to abide in the tj"uth. Quit yourselves like men, be 
 strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus' sake. Amen. 
 
III. 
 
 ABRAM's call; or, half- WAT AND ALL THE WAT. 
 
 February 26, 1888. 
 
 '' And Terali took Abrain his son, and Lot tlie son of Haran liis 
 son's son, and Sarai his daughter-iu-haw, his son Abram's wife ; and 
 they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the 
 land of Canaan ; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." — 
 Genesis xi. 31. 
 
 "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and 
 all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they 
 liad gotten in Haran ; and they went forth to go into the land of 
 Canaan ; and into the land of Canaan they came." — Genesis xii. 5. 
 
 After the flood, when men began to multiply and in- 
 crease in the earth, it was not very long before they be- 
 gan to turn aside from the living and true God. At first 
 the sons of Noah walked in the light of divine knowledge, 
 though even among them was found an evil seed. When 
 scattered over the earth after the confusion of tongues at 
 Babel, the earth's hoar fathers carried with them a 
 measure of the knowledge of God which they had re- 
 ceived from their sires ; but after a while, the light grew 
 dim, men began to worship the sun and the moon, and 
 they adored fire as the mystic symbol of the mysterious 
 and spiritual Lord. They sought out many inventions ; 
 and having once begun to quit their allegiance to the one 
 God, they very rapidly travelled along the down-grade 
 tiU they worshipped strange gods. It was sad that al- 
 though the earth produced its mighty hunters, and men 
 built city after city, yet few among them sought after 
 God, or builded altars to his name. Well might the Lord 
 
 (57) 
 
58 AB RAM'S CALL. 
 
 God or J oiit^ ^^Hear, heavens, and give ear, earth: 
 I have nourished and brought up children, and thej have 
 rebelled against me.'^ 
 
 A long period passed without a voice from God. Man 
 seemed left to himself, and in danger of being given up to 
 idols. The nations wandered each a different wav, but 
 all the downward road. Yet grace had not ended its 
 reign ; and therefore, before the lamp of God had wholly 
 gone out, the Lord determined to reveal himself, and es- 
 tablish his worship in the world. He woidd select a 
 familv to be his peculiar servants ; he would manifest 
 himself to the father of that family, and woidd make with 
 him a covenant. He woidd reveal to him the great things 
 which he intended to do in the fuhiess of time, and he 
 would bid him hand down the revelation to his childi'en 
 from generation to generation. This family should grow 
 into a nation, and to that nation should be committed the 
 oracles of God. Out of that nation shoidd come prophets, 
 and priests, and heroes, who should believe in God and 
 maintain the true faith against all comers, even imtil the 
 Son of God himself shorJd come to manifest the glory of 
 God in a pre-eminent degree. In the midst of that nation 
 the Lord resolved to set up ordinances, and a settled 
 organization, by which truth shoidd be taught through 
 type and symbol, and by the hallowed speech of godly 
 men. This, in his wisdom, he judged to be best for the 
 future of the race. 
 
 In the -vvise sovereignty of his choice, the Lord chose 
 Abram and his house. He giveth no accoimt of his mat- 
 ters, and we cannot, therefore, tell why he took out of Ur 
 of the Chaldees those of whom Joshua says, ^^ Your fathers 
 dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even 
 Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Xachor: 
 
ABRAAPS CALL. 59 
 
 and they served other gods." The Lord called Abram 
 alone, and blessed him. lie set apart the patriarch and 
 his seed, and put thern in trust with the priceless treas- 
 ure of divine revelation : this they kept for themselves 
 and for the rest of mankind. 
 
 It was needful that the elect family should be led apart 
 and kept from the contamination of surrounding evil. 
 Abram must come out from Ur of the Chaldees, and all its 
 associations of idolatry, and he must even leave his kin- 
 dred and his father's house, and walk before the Lord in 
 separation unto prompt obedienca and complete consecra- 
 tion. Thu.s in his separation unto God would be fulfilled 
 the gracious purpose of the Most High. The Lord's end 
 and aim was to keep his truth alive in the world by 
 means of a people who should be set apart for that ser- 
 vice ; and it was therefore essential that the person chosen 
 to be the head of that family, the founder of that nation, 
 should come right away from aU connection with the 
 corrupt world, and walk apart with God. The chosen 
 nation was to dwell alone, and not to be numbered among 
 the peoples. Hence came that call which said to Abram, 
 '' Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, 
 and from thy father's house, imto a land that I will show 
 thee : and I will make of thee a great nation, and I wiU 
 bless thee, and make thy name great ; and thou shalt be 
 a blessing." 
 
 At this moment God is working in much the same 
 manner in the midst of the world by his church. A 
 church is an assembly called out. An ecclesia is not any 
 and every ^^ assembly ;" a mixed crowd of unauthorized 
 persons, having no special right to come together would 
 not be an ecclesia, or church. In a real ecclesia the 
 herald summoned the citizens and bui'gesses by trumpet 
 
60 ABRAM'S CALL. 
 
 or by name, and it consisted of certain persons called out 
 from among the common multitude. The true church 
 consists of men who are called, and faithfid, and chosen. 
 They are redeemed from among men, and called out from 
 among their fellows by effectual grace. God the Holy 
 Spirit continues to call out, and bring to the Lord Jesus, 
 those who are chosen of God according to the good pleas- 
 ure of his will. Practically, conversion is the result of 
 the call — '''• Get thee out from thy country.'^ It is a repe- 
 tition of that searching word, ^^ Come ye out from among 
 them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not 
 the unclean thing." The church is a repetition of the 
 camp of Abram in the midst of Canaan. It is the Lord's 
 portion among men, and it keeps his oracles. The church 
 of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth ; 
 and it is the design of God to find a home for his gospel 
 in his chiu-ch, till the dispensation of grace shall close, 
 and the Judge shall ascend the throne. 
 
 In gathering instruction from the caU and outcoming 
 of Abram, I shall handle the matter by making three re- 
 m.arks. First, this call is often only half obeyed. In our 
 first text we find the command of God very partially 
 carried out. Secondly, this call is of a very special char- 
 acter j and I shall endeavor to show the manner in which 
 it comes to us at this time. Thirdly, this call^ tvhen it is 
 really obeyed, puts the obedient upon a special footing : 
 they are henceforth peculiarly the Lord's. May the 
 Holy Spirit bless our meditation ! 
 
 I. In the first place, this call is often only half 
 OBEYED. It came to Abram when he dwelt in Ur of the 
 Chaldees ; but though he so far hearkened to it as to set 
 out for Canaan, yet we read that '' they came to Haran, 
 and dwelt there." 
 
AB RAM'S CALL. 61 
 
 We do not know lioiv the call came to Abram, whether 
 by a voice which he heard with his ears, or by a mysteri- 
 ous impulse upon his mind, or by a dream or vision ; but 
 Stephen tells us, in the seventh of Acts — " The God of 
 glory appeared imto our father Abraham." There may 
 have been given to Abram some such sight of the glory 
 of God as Job had when he cried, ^^ Now mine eye seeth 
 thee." The Lord appeared to Abram, and made him to 
 understand that he must emigrate from his country, and 
 quit his tribe. Somehow or other, it was laid home to 
 Abram's heart and conscience that he must go forth upon 
 a journey he knew not whither ; he must journey into 
 another land, and no more dwell in city, or town, or 
 village, but become a sojourner with his God, a tent- 
 dweller, a stranger in a strange land. 
 
 His first step would naturally be to tell his friends that 
 he must needs leave them, for the living God had called 
 him to go into the land of Canaan. At once his difficul- 
 ties began. His kindred could not bear to part with him. 
 If they had distinctly opposed him, and said, ^^ It is ab- 
 surd ; your talk is insanity ; yet if you must be gone, go 
 yoiu* way and welcome ; " then he would have gone in 
 sadness, but assuredly he would not have hesitated. A 
 man possessed of Abram's wondrous faith woidd have 
 torn himself away with great firmness, although with 
 deep regret at the sorrow vvdiich he caused. Had they 
 opposed him, his course would have been plain. 
 
 But he had to meet with a much more insidious evil. 
 His friends consented to his zeal. Whether they agreed 
 in his reverence for Jehovah or not, they felt that they 
 coidd not cut themselves off from Abram, and therefore 
 they resolved to go with him. The word to Abram was 
 express, " Get thee out from thy kindred, and from thy 
 
62 ABRAiWS CALL. 
 
 father's house " ; but how was this to be done when his 
 kindred and his father's house clung to him, and yielded 
 to him I Very naturally his loving spirit could see no 
 other way but to bid them all come with him, and yield 
 themselves to Gfod. Possibly Abram looked for great 
 things from this, and rejoiced in it. It would seem as 
 if his aged father Terah, with that wisdom which is a 
 near approach to subtlety, himself led the way in the 
 migration; for we read — "And Terah took Abram 
 his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and 
 Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife ; and 
 they vv^ent forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go 
 into the land of Canaan." The father of the clan leads 
 the way, and it is rather his migration than that of 
 Abram. What was Abram to do I Instead of meeting 
 opposition from his family, his own father is leading the 
 "way in the journey to Canaan. Did not this make his 
 obedience easier ? We shall see. Was not this happy 
 union of the household, this undivided assent to the 
 Lord's bidding, a great cause for rejoicing ? It certainly 
 appeared so j but all is not gold that glitters. Y/hat we 
 think will help may at length hinder. What looks like 
 a work of grace may turn out to be only the movements 
 of unrenewed nature. Like the mixed multitude which 
 came out of Egypt with Israel, we may have about 
 us professed friends who may become oui' worst foes, in 
 the secret of Grod's truth and grace. 
 
 In Abram's case the dreaded separation is spared : 
 they start together for Canaan. So far so good ; at least, 
 it looks so. The travelling is wearisome, and many are 
 the murmurings. The huge caravan has not gone very 
 far before the proposal is made that they should be satis- 
 fied with the move which they had made, and remain at 
 
• AB RAM'S CALL. 63 
 
 ITaran. True, it was not Canaan, but it might do as 
 ^Ycll. Did not the family reason, ^' We shall stay here. 
 We have yielded a great many points to Abram in com- 
 ing away from Ur. But we cannot yield to all his de- 
 mands. We have proved our love to him and our rever- 
 ence for the Lord, by coming thus far, and now we ask 
 for a fair compromise. Abram is very sincere, but he 
 must not be bigoted. Siurely he will not be so foolish as 
 to believe in verbal inspiration, and insist upon Canaan, 
 when Haran quite meets the spirit of the command. 
 There is no doubt Haran answers every purpose, and we 
 mean to stay here, and Abram must stay with us.'' His 
 father pleads that he is very old. To be moving contin- 
 ually is hard for aged people j and there is that broad 
 Euphrates, how can the old man cross that dreaded flood? 
 "Spare your venerable parent this last bitterness : I have 
 come thus far to please you; do not press me further." 
 I think I am not wildly imagining if I suppose that some 
 such pleas induced the patriarch to tarry with his kindred 
 at Haran. A loving and tender heart wrought against 
 prompt literal obedience, and for a while the man of faith 
 delayed, the heir of the promises hesitated. Do you 
 blame him ? It will bo wiser to look at home. Holy 
 Scripture describes his conduct, and appends no absolute 
 word of censure ; but it does what is quite as significant, 
 it keeps silence as to anything like a record of blessing, 
 or of commimion with God, while Abram was at the half- 
 way house at Haran. To a friend of God his silence is 
 quite enough rebuke. If my friend does not smile, I do 
 not require him to frown to let me know whereabouts I 
 am in his esteem. If my friend no longer speaks to me, 
 I do not need him to upbraid me, his silence is sadly elo- 
 quent to my heart. 
 
64 AB RAM'S CALL. 
 
 Abram and the rest settled down at Haran. He was 
 conquered, not by open foes, but by compromising friends. 
 My brethren, take ye good heed unto yourselves, that ye 
 suflfer not your feet to be entangled by the men of your 
 OAvn household. He that would follow the Lamb whither- 
 soever he goeth, must not know his own kindred when 
 he comes to the parting of the ways. Honest wolves 
 will not harm us one half so much as those who look like 
 sheep, but inwardly are not so. Our first father, Adam, 
 fell by the temptation of her whom he loved, and the old 
 serpent still knows how to seduce through our affections 
 and lead into ruin by the suggestion of friendship. O 
 man of God, beware ! Eead my parable with open eye, 
 and practise the lesson thereof. 
 
 Let me describe the consequences of tarrying at any 
 half-way house. To obey the Lord partially is to disobey 
 him. If the Lord bids Abram go to Canaan, he caimot 
 fulfil that command by going to Haran. Haran was not 
 mentioned in the call. You cannot keep God's command 
 by doing something else which pleases you better. The 
 essence of obedience lies in its exactness. Although 
 something else may seem to you to be quite as good as 
 the thing commanded, what has that to do with it. This 
 is what God bids you, and to refuse the thing commanded, 
 professing to substitute a better thing, is gross presump- 
 tion. You may not think it so, but so it is, that half 
 obedience is whole disobedience. We can only obey the 
 Lord's command as it stands ; to alter it is as great a 
 treason as to make erasures in a king's statute-book. It 
 is will- worship, and not God's worship, if I do what I 
 choose of the Lord's work, and leave a partmidone which 
 does not please me quite so well. 
 
 Moreover, half-way obedience increases our responsibility, 
 
AB RAM'S CALL. 65 
 
 because it is a plain confession that we know the Lord's 
 will, though we do it not. Abram had received the call, 
 and knew that he had done so, else why had he come to 
 Haran ? He admitted, by going as far as Haran, that 
 he ought to go the whole way to Canaan ; and so, by his 
 own action he left himself without excuse. And any of 
 you who are doing in a measure what is right because of 
 the fear of God, and yet are acting in other matters con- 
 trary to what you know to be the Lord^s will, you are 
 left without apology for such neglect. By the service 
 which you do render to God you admit that he has right 
 to your obedience ; why, then, do you not obey him in 
 all things ? You call Jesus your Lord, and do some of 
 the things which he says, but why not the rest % Is it 
 not clear that you know your Master's will and- do it not? 
 Thus, you see, there was failure in obedience, and in- 
 crease of responsibility. 
 
 The result of this to Abram was the absence of privilege. 
 God spoke not to his servant in Haran : neither dream, 
 nor vision, nor voice came to him in the place of hesi- 
 tancy. The Lord loved him, but hid his face from him, 
 and denied him the visits of his grace. If we walk con- 
 trary to the Lord, he will walk contrary to us. Abram 
 lived with his father Terah ; but he was not living near 
 his heavenly Father, and therefore he did not hear his 
 voice. How greatly the true heart dreads this ! How 
 earnestly it sighs, ^^ Lord, be not silent to me, lest, if 
 thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down 
 into the pit ! " my brothers, let us not, by wavering 
 and half-heartedness, lose our communion with the Lord 
 om- God. 
 
 MeauAvhile, Abram ivas rendering an affliction needful. 
 His father Terah must die that the cord which held 
 
6G AB RAM'S CALL. 
 
 Abram miglit be broken. If the called one will not come 
 out while the old man lives, death must do his work, and 
 remove the cause of disobedience. If Abram fears to 
 weep at parting with a living father, he must weep over 
 his grave. One way or another the Lord will cause his 
 chosen to obey him. Oh, that we would be tender of 
 heart, and not be as the horse or as the mule, which have 
 no understanding ! Whips and rods would seldom be 
 heard of if we were more promptly obedient. 
 
 While tarrying at liaran, Abram was creating cause 
 of future disquietude by his attachment to Lot. He was 
 told to come out from his kindred, but he clung to his 
 orphan nephew, and must needs accept his company. 
 Lot caused him a great deal of trouble. His herdsmen 
 created discontent and strife, and afterwards Lot, him- 
 self, was carried away captive, and peaceful Abram was 
 compelled to gird on the warrior's sword, and go forth to 
 battle, to rescue his nephew. Had Abram acted decided- 
 ly from the very first, he might have saved himself many 
 a disquietude. My brethren, learn well these lessons. 
 I merely hint them 5 will you not enlarge upon them ? 
 
 All this while Abram ivas delaying iJie great blessing 
 tvhich God tv as prepared to give him. He was keeping 
 out of the promised land, and away from the place where 
 Jehovah would manifest himself to him, and enter into 
 covenant with him. I fear that some true believers are 
 depriving themselves of the richest joy and the most 
 heavenly experience by their undecided conduct. Some 
 of you have come away from your old sins, but you have 
 not yet entered upon the new life in its fidness. You 
 have left Ur of the Chaldees — the place of open sin ; but 
 you have not come to Canaan the holy. You are tarry- 
 ing in the Haran of a partial obedience, which is neither 
 
ABRAM'S CALL. 67 
 
 here nor there— a soi-t of dcatli in life, rebellion in obedi- 
 ence, unbelief in faith. I know many professors who 
 have left their vicious habits, but they are not yet con- 
 secrated to the Lord Jesus : they are not absolutely in 
 the world, and yet they are not abiding in the Lord. 
 Their speech is half of Ashdod and half of the Jews' lan- 
 guage ; they dare not be Philistines, and yet they will 
 not be Israelites. They are willing to be saved by the 
 cross of Christ, but they are not willing to take up 
 Christ's cross, and come right out decidedly upon his side 
 at all times. This is a perilous state to be in. They 
 have enough religion to make them miserable, but I fear 
 not enough to fit them for joys eternal. They may id- 
 timately get into heaven by the skin of their teeth ; at 
 least, I hope so ; but they have no present joy, no im- 
 mediate peace, no conscious fellowship with God. Half- 
 way house godliness is wretched stuff: beware of it ! 
 Eemember what we read of the mongrels who dwelt in 
 Israel's land, who had been brought there by the Assyrian 
 conqueror. They feared the Lord, and served other 
 gods, and, therefore, Jehovah sent lions among them. 
 Let all who are of that race remember the lions ; for the 
 Lord will not suffer such double-minded ones to live in 
 peace before him. 
 
 Thus much, then, upon my first point : the divine call 
 is too often only half obeyed. 
 
 II. Secondly, this call, especially as it comes to 
 
 us, 13 OF a very peculiar CHARACTER. 
 
 To us, of course, it is wholly spiritual. We are not 
 called to-day to leave our country, and our kindred, 
 so far as our residence is concerned ; but it seems 
 to me that we are called to a much more difficult 
 position than that, namely, to stay on the old spot. 
 
68 AB RAM'S CALL. 
 
 aniong old friends, and yet to lead a wholly new life. 
 Of course, we are to quit all evil company ; but wc 
 are not to leave the society of our fellow-men, nor to go 
 out of the world. Even Abram was not called to be an 
 ascetic, nor to live in a cave, nor to retire into the 
 desert like a hermit. Within the borders of his own 
 encampment Abram was a man among men, and pursued 
 his daily calling as the keeper of great flocks of sheep, 
 and herds of oxen, and camels, and so forth. Towards 
 his neighbors he behaved himself with noble-minded 
 independence and integrity. He was a pattern of what 
 grace can make of a really noble man when he moves 
 among those who are strangers to his God. But yet, 
 beloved, Abram did, to a great extent, dwell in a fa- 
 vorable condition. He lived apart from the grosser sort ; 
 he was not wearied with the voices of a city, as Lot was : 
 his own tents, and the many tents of his servants, made 
 up quite a settlement, where God's name w^as reverenced 
 and the fear of the Lord was felt. That canvas town 
 had one over it of whom the Lord said, " I know him, 
 that he will command his children and his household 
 after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.'' 
 Some of us can almost seclude our families ; but many 
 ethers have a far harder task ; they have to live in the 
 city amid its sins, and yet not to be of it ; they have in 
 their earthly callings to come into daily contact wdth the 
 ungodly, and yet they have to be holy, harmless, un de- 
 filed and separate from sinners. As Abram was no 
 Canaanite, though he sojourned in Canaan, so are we to 
 prove ourselves to be of a totally distinct race. This is 
 a very difficult piece of business. How great a wonder 
 v/as asked by our Saviour's prayer — ^^ I pray not that 
 thou shoiddest take them out of the world, but that thou 
 
AB RAM'S CALL. 69 
 
 shouldest keep them from the evil " ! Not by difference 
 in brogue, nor by peculiarity in dress, are we to be 
 marked out as the servants of God j but our lives must 
 be so Christlike and pure, that men shall say of us, " Thou 
 also wast with Jesus of Nazareth, for thy life betray eth thee.' 
 This call, then, is of a deeply spiritual and peculiar char- 
 aL^ter. My brother, have you heard it? My sister, have 
 you heard it % Have you endeavored to obey it to the full? 
 It means just this — that we are to flee all sin, without excep- 
 tion, and follow everything that is pure and holy, with- 
 out exception. Others wallow in what they call the pleasures 
 of sin : abhor such things, and protest against them. Shun, 
 also, everything that is doubtful ; for, ^' whatsoever is not 
 of faith is sin." If you are not sure it is right, it is sin to 
 you. Avoid the appearance of evil. Separate yourself 
 from all that which Christ would have disapproved. Be 
 so decided, also, as to leave everything that is hesitating. 
 Be out-and-out for Jesus. While many will try to run 
 both with the hare and the hounds, make it your object 
 to abhor that which is evil and to cleave to that which 
 is good. Make a point of wearing your regimentals. 
 Be dead and buried to this present evil world with its 
 frivolities, philosophies, and grandeurs. Regard the 
 world as crucified to you, and be yourself crucified to it. 
 The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Go 
 v\ithout the camp bearing Christ's reproach. In matters 
 of religion follow the Lord fully, let the Word of God be 
 your sole and sure rule, and nothing else. That religion 
 Avhich is not according to God's Word is a false religion. 
 Accept neither doctrine nor ceremony for which there is 
 no scriptural warrant. Search thou the Word about it 
 all : " to the law and to the testimony : if they speak 
 not according to this word, it is because there is no light 
 
70 AB RAM'S CALL. 
 
 in them." Follow tlioii tliy conscience, as thy con- 
 science is enlightened by the Spirit of God concerning 
 his Word ; follow the Word even in its jots and tittles. 
 Make not too much of peculiarities in comparison with 
 vital and fundamental truths ; but, still, even with these 
 less weighty matters, take heed that thou do not trifle, 
 lest in neglecting the less thou learn to neglect the 
 greater, and so become guilty of the great transgression. 
 Avoid the world's religion ; for if there is one world 
 worse than another, it is the Christian world. Xo 
 enemies of Israel were so bitter as their brethren the 
 Edomites : brethren in name only become the fiercest of 
 foes. Be thou distinctly removed from the religion 
 which is based upon self-will, pride of intellect, and 
 worldly conformity. The world's religion is as evil as 
 the world's irreligion. Surrender to the plain teaching 
 of the Spirit of God, and resolve in all things to follow 
 thy Lord wherever he may lead thee. Stand thou alone, 
 if others will not obey. In thine house let there be an 
 altar for God, if there be not another in the land. Make 
 thou a covenant with God through the one great 
 Sacrifice, even if all others forget the Saviour. 
 
 See, dear friends, what the call is, and then remember 
 that it comes to the believer from God himself. The Lord 
 calls his servants unto the separated life, and because 
 of his authority they are bound to obey. He calls by his 
 W^ord, either preached or read : it comes to the individ- 
 ual by an application of the Spirit of God, so that the 
 man yields cheerfid assent thereto. He is drawn, and 
 therefore he runs. Such a person feels it a pleasure to 
 take Christ for his example, and to put his feet down 
 in the very tracks of the Lord Jesus. It is ours to follow 
 the Lord's precept and example with great care and sol- 
 
AB RAM'S CALL. 71 
 
 emn determination, turning neither to tlie riglit liand nor 
 to the left. It Avas so with Abrain : is it so with you ? 
 
 Because this call comes from God, it has for us a su- 
 preme authority. We follow our Lord even when dark- 
 ness is round about him : though we know not the Avay, 
 we know the Lord, and therefore we follow him 
 implicitly. To us the Word of God is more than the 
 decrees of emperors, or the statutes of senators. If 
 this thing were of men, if this thing were ordained by 
 a learned comicil, or a reverend bench, it would be of 
 small account in our eyes ; but wdien he that made us 
 and redeemed us speaks to us, we can only reply, '^ Help 
 thy servants to do thy will, for thy will is our delight.'' 
 
 My brethren, if we thus separate ourselves unto obe- 
 dience, ive must exx>ect violent opposition. Severe criticism 
 will not be spared us. Of course, some will say, '' The 
 man is mad " : others more gently will murmur, " He is 
 sadly misled." Many will accuse you of a liking to be sin- 
 gular, or a weakness for going to extremes, or a self- 
 righteous wish to excel others, or of having "a bee in 
 your bonnet." Accusers will hint that you are seeking 
 your own in some form or other ; and if they cannot quite 
 see a motive, they will imagine one. What is the use 
 of imagination if it will not help a man out when his 
 facts rim short ? Having once made up their mind that 
 you are foolish and contemptible, they will view all your 
 conduct through colored glasses, and condemn you up 
 and down. Be not dismayed, but endure hardness for 
 the love of Jesus. 
 
 To go forth and lead a separated life ivill need faith j 
 and to have faith you will need the grace of God. 
 Believe that God's command is right, and believe that he 
 will justify you in fulfilling it. Believe that God's prom- 
 
72 ABRAAPS CALL. 
 
 ise is true, and tliat lie will prove it so. Abram was 
 bidden to go, and lie went. Look at Abram's case, and 
 see how impossible it was for liim to obey apart from 
 faith in God. He was to go away from all that was 
 dear, from all that was comfortable and settled ; he Avas 
 to go he knew not whither, and he was to go to obtain an 
 inheritance for a son that was not born, and that was not 
 likely ever to be born ; for he was old, and Sarai was 
 well stricken in years. Only faith could enable him to 
 obey a call which looked so like a delusion. We need 
 faith in every step of a holy life. Oh for more looking 
 unto Jesus, more child-like dependence upon God ! If 
 thou believest, thou wilt do the Lord's will ; but if thou 
 dost not believe, thou vvdlt refuse to obey, and miss the 
 blessing. 
 
 Suppose we do obey the divine call, what then ? Will 
 our course be smooth ever afterwards % Far from it. 
 The walk of the separated believer involves trial. The 
 trial of Abram in leaving his country was but one out of 
 ten which are recorded. It is written, ^^ In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation." In the Lord's vineyard the 
 knife is used if nowhere else. The Lord tried Abram, 
 and he will try us • it is a part of the process of love by 
 which he prepares us for the eternal rest. The course 
 of true faith never does run smooth. If thou wilt obey 
 the divine call thou shalt be favored with more trials, thou 
 shalt be honored with still greater tests of thy fidelity ; 
 but then thou shalt be known as the friend of God, and 
 God shall make thee to be a blessing to others, even to 
 the end of time. Mark vrell what is proposed to you — 
 that God shall take you, and give you his light, and his 
 truth, and his salvation, that you may preserve it for all 
 the ages, until Christ shall come. Are you willing to 
 
AB?AArS CALL 73 
 
 accept so liigli an honor ? Will you count the cost, and 
 make your calling and election sure ? Will you cry with 
 Esaias, " Here am 1 ! Send me " '? As the Roman con- 
 sul devoted himself to death in battle for the sake of the 
 beloved city, will you devote yourself to God, and his 
 cause and truth ? In very deed such is my spirit. I 
 wish there were ten thousand who woidd say the same. 
 O my brother, blessed art thou among men, if thou art 
 sot apart for God and truth. Yea, my sister, blessed art 
 thou among women, if thou art following the Lord fully 
 in the way of his will. 
 
 III. This brings me to my third and last point. This 
 
 CALL, WHEN IT IS OBEYED, PUTS US ON SPECIAL GROUND. 
 
 For, first, God is hound to justify the course tvhich he 
 himself commands. When Abram w^ent to Canaan at the 
 Lord's bidding and remained there, the responsibility 
 was with the Lord. If any evil had come of his conduct 
 he could not have blamed himself. It was neither his 
 own wisdom nor his own folly Avhich led him ; God alone 
 was his director. It is mine to obey, it is God's to 
 prove that my obedience is wise. AVhat peace this 
 brings ! my hearer, if thou believest in Christ with 
 all thy heart, and if thou becomest a sincere ffjllov^er of 
 Jesus in all things, God will justify thee in so doing, for 
 thou doest it at his bidding. If there be any folly in 
 holiness, the folly is not with thco, but with him that 
 bade thee be holy. The servant is accountable for any 
 action he does of his own head, but not for that which 
 he does by the command of his principal. So you, in 
 keeping close to God's will, are not accoimtable for con- 
 sequences ; the consequences must lie with God. As 
 surely as wisdom is justified of her children, so is God 
 justified of all believers j aye, and he justifieth belie vcrS; 
 
74 ABTAM'S CALL. 
 
 and their faith is counted unto them for righteousness. 
 Therefore, beloved, we stand on the ground of justifica- 
 tioD when we obey the call of God. 
 
 We cease, also, from that moment to he of the tvorld. 
 God deals with the world one way, but with his separated 
 ones in another way. ^^ Them that are without, God 
 judgeth j" but those who are within are not under law, 
 but under grace. It is the joy of faith that there is no 
 condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There 
 is discipline now within the house of God ; but it is not 
 that of a court of justice, but of the abode of love. The 
 Lord chastens his children, that they may not be con- 
 demned with the world. The separated ones are not 
 numbered among the people of the earth. When you 
 read of the seven trumpets, and vials, and plagues, 
 fear not, for nothing shall by any means hurt you. 
 When the blood shall flow in the day of vengeance up 
 to the horses^ bridles, then shall not a hair of your 
 head perish, for the Lord secures those Avho are sealed 
 to him. Babylon must fall, that lieth hard by Ur of 
 the Chaldees, whence you came ; and all that bear 
 the mark of the beast shall die, even as Terali died in 
 Haran ; but as for you, " at destruction and famine thou 
 shalt laugh. '^ No evil shall touch you, for the Lord is 
 your keeper. If you are walking in the separated j)ath 
 with God, and are setting him always before you, you 
 shaU abide under the shadow of the Almighty. What a 
 condition to be in ! First justified, and then secured 
 from the doom which will sm^ely fall upon the guilty 
 world. 
 
 Now, as free grace has separated you imto God, yon 
 come into an honored fellowship ivith him. Abram, in his 
 tent, had God for his companion. He had near and clear 
 
ABRAM'^ CALL. 75 
 
 manifestations of God ; lie entertained angels unawares, 
 and Avith those angels was the Son of God himself. If 
 you quit the world to abide with God, God himself will 
 abide with you. If you come out from the unclean 
 world, the Lord has said, " I will dwell in them, and 
 Avalk in them. I will be a father unto them, and they 
 shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord God 
 Almighty." Oh, rest you in this sweet fact, that the 
 Triune God will manifest himself to his chosen as he doth 
 not to the world. You shall be one of the people near 
 unto him. 
 
 By coming out from the world, and following the Lord 
 closely, ive come under the divine care and protection. 
 How wonderfully Abram was screened from evil ! 
 Jehovah was his shield. He was a stranger in the midst 
 of enemies, but they did not molest him : an awe was 
 upon them, for Jehovah had said, '' Touch not mine 
 anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Wherever a 
 true saint goes, the Lord lays his commands on all the 
 powers of nature and all the angels of heaven to take 
 care of him. When Abram was at peace God blessed 
 him in all things; and if he went to war, God gave his 
 enemies as driven stubble to his bow. If we are with 
 God, God is with us. When God's will is our delight, 
 God's providence is our inheritance. It is not so with 
 you all : no, not even with all of you who profess to be 
 Christians ; but it is so with those of you who keep close 
 to God's Word, and follow in will, in spirit, in belief, and 
 in act, the example of his dear Son. beloved, let us 
 strive after this ! Let us aim at perfect conformity to 
 the will of God, for this will place us in quiet nearness to 
 God. 
 
 Henceforth Abram tvas for God^s use only, God 
 
76 ABRAM-:: call. 
 
 treated him as his confidant^ as the receiver of heavenly 
 revelations, and as the fomider of a race. God Trill also 
 use uSj if we will come where he can use iis. Vessels 
 set apart for the Master's use must not be used by the 
 servants. God is a great King ; and when he selects a 
 cup for his own table^ he will not have it used by others. 
 If other lips drink out of the chalice of thy life, the Lord 
 disdains thee. Thou must be for him only, or thou art 
 not his spouse. If thou be his from the crown of thy 
 head to the sole of thy foot by solemn consecration, he 
 will honor thee yet more and more ; yea, thou knowest 
 not to what high ends he has ordained thee, both in this 
 life and in the ages to come. But look thou well to this, 
 that thou be holiness unto the Lord. 
 
 One more thought presses itself upon my heart : the 
 man who for Christ's sake has cut all his moorings, and 
 separated himself from the world, to follow the Lamb, 
 has learned how to live, but he has also learned how to 
 die. Vf e die unto the world, and thereby learn to 
 die. When we cease to trust in riches, when we resign 
 our comforts, when we no longer lean on friends, when 
 all things visible become as shadows to us, then we make 
 a rehearsal of death. Unless the Lord himself shall soon 
 descend from heaven with a shout, we shall all die. Yes, 
 the hour of our departure hastens on. Then we shall 
 have to cut ourselves loose from our moorings, be they 
 what they may. Soon shall we hear this word from 
 heaven, ^^ Get thee out of thy country, and from thy 
 kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I 
 will show thee." This will be our summons to the better 
 Canaan, the land that floweth with milk and honey. We 
 shall depart out of this world to face an miknown eterni- 
 ty f but we shall by no means dread the migration. He 
 
AB RAM'S CALL. 77 
 
 that lias crossed tlio great river, the river Euphrates, 
 will not fear i\\Q Jordan. To give up the world will be 
 no new thing for you or for me : we have given it up 
 many ti.nes already. We have frequently given up 
 everything into the Lord's hands in real earnest, and v/e 
 can readily do it once more. AVe live here as strangers 
 and sojourners, and we find little to charm us in this 
 foreign land. Oiir treasure is above, and it will be a 
 joy for our souls .to rise to the place where our hearts 
 already dwell. We cannot be sorry to quit a dead world. 
 Who loves to sit in a charnel-house % If we tremble to 
 leave kindred and friends, yet let us remember that we 
 have already quitted them in spirit. Let us journey, as 
 Abram did, towards the south ; that is to say, let us get 
 still further away from the old abode. Let us make for 
 the heart of Immanuei's land. Let us press towards the 
 New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, and rest not till we 
 stand in our lot and behold him whom Abram saw with 
 gladness. 
 
 The one question I finish v»dth is : — Do you know any- 
 thing about this % Have you ever felt this divine call % 
 If so, make your calling and election sure. Carry out 
 the separating ordinance to the full. Some of us had to 
 take very decided steps at our first starting, but we be- 
 gan aright. We have been called since to equally pain- 
 ful courses, but we hope to keep right. Anything is 
 better than a wound in the conscience. If we keep close 
 to Christ, we shall find rest unto our souls. We look 
 back without regret to what we may have suffered by 
 decision ; counting it less than nothing for the joy that 
 was set before us. We wish that all our converts would 
 be out-and-out in their course of life. you who by 
 grace are beginners in the heavenly life, make a strong 
 
78 ABRAM'S CALL. 
 
 resolve — ^^ We will be the servants of God, and endeavor 
 in all tilings to obey liim.'^ Since God made you, and 
 by the blood of his dear Son redeemed you, it is yours 
 to be doubly the Lord's. There are the blood and right- 
 eousness of Jesus Christ ; are these yours % Make sure 
 on that point ; and if they are yours, yield yourself to 
 Jesus, and, from this day forward, do his bidding without 
 question or delay. Quit everything contrary to the 
 Lord's mind and will ; at all cost be true ; then shall the 
 Lord be your delight, and his service shall be your 
 heaven below. If you are now separated unto him, you 
 shall find your revv^ard in that day when he shall divide 
 the sheep from the goats, for then you shall be placed at 
 his right hand, to hear him say, ^' Come, ye blessed of my 
 Father." May you be the children of believing Abram^ 
 for Jesus' sake ! Amen. 
 
lY. 
 
 NATHANAEL; or, the EEADY believer and mS RE- 
 WARD. 
 
 April 29, 1888. 
 
 *' Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I 
 saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou ? thou shalt see greater 
 things than these." — John i. 50. 
 
 Nathan AEL was by nature a man free from cunning 
 and deceit. He was a specimen of that ^' honest and 
 good ground " of which our Saviour speaks in the para- 
 ble, upon which, when the seed fell, a hundredfold har- 
 vest was produced. We have some such men about us, 
 thank God, in this country : regular John Bkmts, as we 
 say, clear as crystal, true as the sun in the heavens. 
 Many men are well known to us, who are upright, down- 
 right, truthful, honest, candid, and open-hearted. You 
 might trust them anywhere ; yea, trust them to repeat a 
 conversation without misrepresenting it, and that is say- 
 ing a good deal in these times. Such people do not un- 
 derstand the clever arts of craft and cmming, for they do 
 not take to them naturally, and have never been trained 
 in the practice of policy. Sneech is not to them the 
 medium for concealing their thoughts. When th.ey have 
 a mind to speak, they speak their mind. You know 
 where they are. They may have a great many faults, 
 but they have not the faults of deception and dissimiUa- 
 tion. They arc Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile. 
 You know the kind of people : they may at times speak 
 
 (79) 
 
go NATHANAEL. 
 
 too harshly, and hurt your feelings ; they may put things 
 in an ugly shape, and tread on people's corns ; hut they 
 are as straight as a plumb-line, and you may be sure that 
 you know them when you have heard what they say. In 
 the end they cause far less pain to people's feelings than 
 those who have a great deal of finesse and policy, whose 
 ■words are softer than butter, but inwardly they are drawn 
 swords. Smooth and oily tongues, mth lying hearts at 
 the back of them, are fit instruments for Satan ; but 
 truth-speaking lips, Avhich are joined to an honest heart, 
 are precious things which the Lord himself delights to 
 use. 
 
 Now, when the good brethren who had joined the 
 Saviour came to tell Nathanael that they had fomid the 
 Christ, he blurted out his objection at once. They said, 
 ^^ We have found him, of whom jMoses in the law, and 
 the prophets, did write, Jesus of Xazareth ; " but he did 
 not take everything for gospel which his friends told him. 
 Nathanael had been born and bred in the midst of people 
 prejudiced against Nazareth, and he had sucked in their 
 prejudice, and felt sure that the Messiah could no more 
 come from Nazareth than a profound philosopher could 
 come from Gotham. He does not beat about the bush, 
 but he says at once, " Can there any good thing come 
 out of Nazareth f It is always a good thing, when a 
 man has a prejudice, if he will but state it, and ^' out" 
 with it. You can always deal with this kind of fellow. 
 If he A^^il say what is troubling him, and teU you what 
 keeps him back from faith, why, then you can put your 
 finger on his difficulty, and try to remove it. It is a 
 great miracle when a dumb devil is cast out ; if the evil 
 win but speak, and co declare itself, wo have a chance 
 of overcoming it. 
 
NATHANAEL. 81 
 
 NathanaeFs qucsti( n was met at once by his comrades, 
 who said to him, '' Come and see ; " and, like the honest 
 man that he was, he took up their challenge. He Avoiild 
 "come and see." How many there are who make objec- 
 tions, but they will not " come and see ! " They have 
 heard concerning a certain preacher, perhaps, such and 
 such absurd things ; but another says, "It is not £0. 
 Come and see." Not they. They do not want to come 
 and see : for they are unfair, and prefer to cherish a bad 
 opinion of the man. They have heard that Calvinistic 
 doctrine is cruel, harsh, and unjust. " Ah ! " says a 
 believer in free grace, " you have only seen a caricature 
 of it You should lead for yourself, and judge by Script- 
 ure." Oh, no : tliey do not want to read ! They have 
 made up their minds : not that they have much of a mind 
 to make up ; if they had more mind, it might take them 
 longer to make it up. But, having once m.ade up their 
 little mind, they have no mind to unmake it ; but they 
 prefer to ga blindly on, whether they are right or v/rong. 
 They know so much that they do not wish to learn any 
 more. Nathanael was not of that sort. "Come and see," 
 was an invitation which commended itself to his judg- 
 ment. " Oh, yes," said he, " by all means ! I am open 
 to conviction. I will come and see." I wish I coidd 
 prevail on each one of my hearers to search the Bible for 
 liimself to see what the true doctrine is, that he may have 
 a firm foundation to build upon, and not take his religion 
 at second-hand from another. 
 
 Nathanael is on his way to see for himself, when the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, turning to those round about him, 
 says, in a voice loud enough for him to hear, " Behold 
 an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ! " Here comes 
 a man witli no craft, no cunnir-g in him. Nathanael is 
 
82 NATHANAEL. 
 
 startled to find his real character so clearly read, and 
 somewhat bluntly asks, ^' Whence knowest thou me % " 
 I must do him the justice of believing that he said it re- 
 spectfully, yet, neverthelessj he curtly said, ^' Whence 
 knowest thou me % " As much as to say — '^ Thou hast 
 hit the nail on the head : but how earnest thou to know 
 this % " You see, the inquiry that was in his mind is 
 soon upon his tongue ; his words at once declare his 
 thought. It is a great mercy when men dare speak upon 
 that which troubles them. Instead of letting a doubt or 
 a difficulty fester in their souls, they bring it out, that the 
 light may play upon it, and it is soon gone- 
 
 '^ Jesus answered, and said to him, Before that Philip 
 called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw 
 thee." What Nathanael was doing mider the fig tree 
 I do not know. Some think that he was there in 
 meditation ; others say in prayer. Very possible, but 
 I do not know, and the wisest expositors do not know, 
 and you do not know. Nobody knew but Jesus and 
 Nathanael. He was doing something of which he 
 was not ashamed, but which he modestly did not wish 
 to have known, and so he had chosen a private place. 
 That transaction was a secret between himself and the 
 Lord his God, and he who knew that secret must have 
 come from God. Perhaps he was doing nothing there, 
 but sitting still before the Lord in anguish of spirit. 
 Possibly he there had looked towards the God of his 
 fathers with hope, or had enjoyed hallowed fellowship 
 with heaven. Anyhow, Jesus mentioned to him a some- 
 thing which he remembered, and thought much of, 
 though it was entirely between God and his own soul. 
 Between Jesus and Nathanael, ^' under the fig tree" 
 served as a pass-word. They were kno^NOi to one another 
 
NATHANAEL. §3 
 
 by that 5 and at once Nathanael cried, " Rabbi, thou art 
 the Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel." He is 
 fairly won, and by an open confession he commits him- 
 self at once to what he believes. He is not ashamed of 
 his convictions. He has enlisted beneath the banner of 
 the King of Israel once for all. Forth he comes without 
 a moment's reservation, with that blessed confession of 
 faith—" Rabbi, thou art the Son of God ; thou art the 
 King of Israel.'' Our Lord Jesus, charmed with the 
 grace which he had himself given, delighted with the 
 faith which he had himself created, answers, " Because I 
 said unto thee, I saw thee mider the fig tree, believest 
 thou ? thou shalt see greater things than these." This 
 ready convert, so speedily convinced, was very accepta- 
 ble to the Lord Jesus. 
 
 Now, we have to-night here, first, one who helieved 
 readily. I am going to speak of that. Secondly, here 
 is one tvho tvas highlij commended for it: " Thou shalt see 
 greater things than these." Thirdly, here is one tvJio 
 might possibly in after days he subject to a pecidiar tempta>. 
 tion on account of his very readiness to believe. And, last- 
 ly, here is one tvho, I doubt not, tvas peculiarly grateful ; 
 and if there is another here like him, he ought to be very 
 grateful too. 
 
 I. First, then, here IS ONE who I3ELIE\t^d eeadilt, 
 The first time he saw the Saviour he was converted to 
 the faith. The first sentences that were addressed to 
 him by the Lord Jesus Christ fairly won him to hearty 
 faith and loyal service. AMiy was that ? Why was he 
 so soon brought to discipleship ? 
 
 I think, perhaps, it was because he teas such a true 
 man himself that the element of suspicion was not in his 
 character. Persons who are remarkably suspicious and 
 
84 ^-'' THANAEL. 
 
 constantly incredulous, are seldom very truthful them- 
 selves. If you follow them home, you will discover that 
 they are suspicious of others because they are not true 
 themselves, and their difficulty in believing others arises 
 from the fact that they measure other people's corn with 
 their own bushel. They imagine that other people are 
 as big liars as they are themselves. I believe that this 
 IS the bottom of much of the mistrust and questioning 
 which seethes around us, Sometimes that suspiciousness 
 comes upon men'.s mmds through long dealing with de- 
 ceptive persons. But if you find that a man began life 
 with a general suspicion and doubt of others, you may 
 conclude that he was a born deceiver, radically false from 
 his birth. He judges human nature from his experiences 
 A^ithin his own heart. He has observed his own tricki- 
 ness, and he thinks that everybody else is going to trick 
 him :. and so he is full of suspicion. Nathanael had never 
 taken anybody m, nor tried to mislead any one in his life, 
 and therefore he did not expect to be deceived. I won- 
 der w^hether he was a sailor I should think that he 
 must have been, for sailors are generally as open as the 
 sea they sail over He never said anything with reserve. 
 Not he. He was accustomed to wear his heart on his 
 sleeve, even if daws did peck at it. He coidd not con- 
 ceal anything, nor think that others did so. He was just 
 as honest as the day } and so he came to the Saviour, 
 with a heart that was open to faith, ready to believe him, 
 I should think the very sight of the Saviour's blessed 
 face had half won him, and the tone of that truthful 
 voice had moved him ; but when it came to his laying 
 bare a secret in his life, which he was sure that nobody 
 knew but himself and God, then Nathanael yielded to 
 conviction at once, and became a believer straightway. 
 
NA IHANAEL. 85 
 
 Now, I do hope tliat there are some here whom the 
 Lord has given, from their very birth, a truthful, open- 
 hearted nature : now if you should believe in Jesus 
 Christ to-night straightAvay, even though it be the first 
 time you have ev.er heard of him, I shall bless the grace 
 of God which has led you to so speedy a closing in with 
 Christ. Oh that the Holy Ghost may complete the Avork 
 of which there is already so hopeful a beginning ! 
 
 But, further, this Nathanael, this rapid believer in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, had, I have no doubt, l)cen seek- 
 ing guidance beforehand, and that guidance lie had honestly 
 followed. I should think that he had for years been ex- 
 pecting the coming of the Messiah. The tone of his 
 language argues that. Therefore, when Philip came to 
 him, and told him that he had found the Messiah, and 
 indicated to him that he had better come and see for 
 himself, he was willing at once to come, and without 
 delay he came, with the view of seeing for himself whether 
 this Jesus of Nazareth was the promised one. He was 
 not only candid, but he was interested. He was con- 
 cerned about divine things, and in thorough earnest to 
 know the truth in reference to them. So that he came 
 to Jesus with solemn intent and eager desire. dear 
 friends, if you came to hear the gospel, meaning busi- 
 ness, we should expect to see more of you converted. 
 But people come into our great assemblies to see the 
 congregation, or to inspect the building, or to hear the 
 preacher j their motive is mere idle curiosity. Well, if 
 they get a blessing, we shall heartily thank God for it, 
 and admire the sovereignty of his grace; but when persons 
 come, as they often do, I thank God, even from a great 
 distance, with tlie desire to know what the gospel is, and 
 with a wish to find the Saviour for themselves, then we 
 
86 NATHANAEL. 
 
 have surer hope. These inquirers are the people that 
 are likely to be converted. When fish want to be 
 caught, it is good fishing. When they are anxious to 
 take the bait, then the fisherman has fine times. If, my 
 dear hearers, you would come here saying, " I ivill go 
 and see whether I can find salvation ; I will hear with 
 the intention that the hearing may be a means of grace 
 to my soul," none of you would come long in vain where 
 Christ Jesus is faithfully preached. If you come with a 
 desire of tmderstanding and knowing him, he will come 
 and reveal himself to you. This was one main reason 
 why Nathanael so speedily believed — that he came mean- 
 ing business, having sought guidance, and desiring really 
 to find the Messiah of whom Philip had spoken. 
 
 Observe that lie ivas satisfied ivith one piece of clear evi- 
 cJence. That one item of evidence convinced him. The 
 Lord Jesus said, ^' Before that Philip called thee, when 
 thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Nobody knew 
 that he had been imder the fig tree except the Lord, who 
 sees all things. No mortal living was aware of what 
 Nathanael had done, or thought, or purposed in that 
 shady retreat. When Jesus, therefore, wdth a peculiar 
 look, said ^^ I saw thee," Xathanael also saw him that 
 spake to him. ^' Godhead alone could speak thus," said 
 he : " there is the Spirit of God in that man. He knows 
 the secret things of my life. He has revealed me to my- 
 self." "Rabbi," said he, "thou art the Son of God j 
 thou art the King of Israel." The conclusion was a sound 
 one, but how speedily it was reached ! 
 
 One argument, if it is sound, is enough. If a matter 
 is in dispute, and if one man can solemnly declare that 
 he saw such and such a thing, and that one man is of 
 high repute, his evidence is sufiicient for a truthful man 
 
NA TJ/ANAEL. 87 
 
 to rest upon. Twenty may come and say that they think 
 it is so-and-so, but twenty weak links will not make a 
 strong chain ; and I would rather trust to one solid link 
 than I would trust to a chain of twenty worn and rusted 
 links, each one of which is ready to snap. If it is so, it 
 is so. If it IS not so, it is not so. If a man has proved 
 anything to me by one infallible proof, that is enough. 
 Hence, I believe that those who come to Christ on one 
 bit of evidence are justified in so doing. They afterwards 
 receive a host of confirming evidences, but one is quite 
 enough for them to begin with. Oh, that I might have 
 some to-night who shall hear in this sermon some one 
 thing which shall strike them as being of the Lord ! I 
 pray that some secret matter, which I do not personally 
 know, shall yet be uttered by me, so that my hearers will 
 say to themselves, " How came that to be spoken ? That 
 fits me exactly, yet the minister could not have known it. 
 God must have spoken to me. Only the Lord knew what 
 I did in the back kitchen. Only he knew what I was 
 thinking of this afternoon ; but, speaking through his 
 servant, he has touched a secret spring and opened a 
 drawer in my cabinet that nobody knew of save myself ! 
 This is the finger of God." God grant that some may thus 
 be led to Jesus Christ by one piece of evidence, and may 
 not tarry to feel fifty impressions on their hearts. Oh, 
 that you would not wait for whole weeks of invitations, 
 and months of pressure, and years of expostulation ; but 
 oh, that you would yield to-night ! Sometimes, in war- 
 fare, cities have been taken without a shot being fired. 
 The valiant men have come up to the gates, and they 
 have said, ^' Capitulate, and you shall be spared ; " and 
 the townsmen have opened wide their gates. I know 
 that many other cities have had to be battered till there 
 
88 NATHANAEL. 
 
 has been scarcefy a house without tokens of shot and 
 shell 5 but what has been their gain when they have been 
 captured after all? Do not let it be so with your souls, but 
 yield at once to the conquering Saviour, who comes forth 
 in the robes of his glorious grace, and bids you yield ; 
 and promises that, if you accept his sceptre, you shall see 
 the greatness of his grace. 
 
 Notice, however, that although Nathanael yielded at 
 once and believed on one bit of evidence, yet Ins faith 
 went a long ivay ! He did not merely say, " Rabbi, I 
 believe that thou art the Messiah," but he said, '^ Thou 
 art the Son of God." This was farther than anybody 
 else had gone at that time, so far as I remember. He 
 added, ^' Thou art the King of Israel ;" and this again 
 was a great declaration to make. He worshipped Jesus, 
 and he crowned him. He owned him as God, and he 
 magnified him as King. Do not suppose that the faith 
 which is quickly born is therefore weakly, Nay, but 
 that faith which comes suddenly and quickly is often the 
 very best and strongest faith in all the world ; and I trust 
 that some of you may prove it to be so to-night by flying 
 to Christ at once, as the doves fly to their windows, and 
 resting in him till you find fulness of peace. 
 
 Thus much concerning the Israelite indeed who be- 
 lieved readily. 
 
 II. In the second place, here is one who was highly 
 
 COMMEXDED. 
 
 Tlte Lord Jesus oivned Ms faith to he true faith. He 
 said, ^^ Believest thou ? " but he meant that he perceived 
 that he truly believed. He owned that, though his faith 
 was born then and there, it was the genuine article, 
 Christ owns, as true faith, that faith which is not long in 
 coming. Fear not; dear hearer, that if thou believest 
 
N I TIIANAEL. 89 
 
 off-hand at this very moment tlij faith will be any the 
 less sincere and effectual. 
 
 Jesus did more than own it to be faith. He commended 
 it as rarely excellent. He spoke as if he were astonished. 
 " Because 1 said, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest 
 thou f " — as much as to say, " Many see me work mir- 
 acles, and do not believe ; dost thou believe so soon ? 
 They see me heal lepers, and raise the dead, and yet 
 they will not believe ; but thou believest merely because 
 I said, 1 saw thee under the fig tree." He is charmed 
 witli him for his readiness to own the truth. Why, 
 tliere are some young people who come to Christ and be- 
 lieve in him by some one little word from their mother ; 
 and, on the other hand, there are men and women who 
 have been for fifty years hearers of the gospel, and yet 
 have not believed. Now, the Christ has an admiration 
 of those who readily, willingly, obediently, and cheerfidly 
 come, making no questions, raising no difficulties, but on 
 comparatively slender evidence, that evidence being quite 
 sufficient, yield their fidl trust to Jesus Christ their Lord. 
 
 And our blessed Lord was so pleased ivith this ready 
 faith, that he made a promise to NathanaeL Said he, 
 ^^ Thou shalt see greater things than these. If thou canst 
 see so much in my one saying, that I saw thee under the fig 
 tree, thou hast the kind of eyes that are fit to see great 
 sights." He that will see shall see, but he that closes 
 his eyes shall be blinded. Many are the people in this 
 world who, if you show them the greatest marvel, do not 
 wonder. They look at it, and see nothing. When you 
 meet with such an unobservant person, you say to your- 
 self, " I sliall not show that man anything more. It does 
 not pay to unveil rarities to him, he has no appreciation 
 of them." But here is another who, when you show him 
 
90 A'^ THANAEL. 
 
 some curio that you have in your house, is pleased with 
 it, and spies out at once the excellence and beauty of it- 
 You say, " I have something more which I will gladly 
 show you ! '^ When your visitor appreciates your choice 
 treasiu'e, you say to him, ^^ I will unlock all my cabinets. 
 I will take you into my private room, and every little 
 thing I have that can interest you, you shall see, because 
 1 perceive that you have eyes, and a mind which finds 
 gratification in rare curiosities," Oh, you that readily 
 believe in Christ, you are the men to whom Christ will 
 make known his secrets ! Those of you who are ^^ fools, 
 and slow of heart to believe " must mend your manners, 
 or the Holy Spirit will never lead you into the mysteries 
 of the kingdom. Did not Jesus say to one who came to 
 him by night, ^^If I have told you earthly things, and ye 
 believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
 things % " But, you Israelites indeed, you quick be- 
 lievers, to you will he reveal himself as the ladder that 
 father Jacob saw,' reaching from earth to heaven, upon 
 which the angels ascend and descend between God and 
 his chosen. You shall see the deep things of God. You 
 are the people out of whom he will make such men as 
 John, who, in Patmos, beheld a glorious Apocalypse. O 
 my beloved hearers, may it be so with. you ! Because 
 your faith so readily chimes in with what Christ reveals, 
 may you have visions of God, and may none of you be so 
 dull of heart that it shall be said, ^^ He coidd not show 
 them many mighty works because of their unbelief ! " 
 
 III. I have thus spoken, and I come, thirdly, to notice 
 that HERE IS A MAN WHO MIGHT POSSIBLY BE TROUBLED 
 
 WITH A PECULIAR TEMPTATION. People of this kind are 
 subject to a special trial, with which I will now deal. 
 In this church a considerable number of us, beginning 
 
NA THANAEL 91 
 
 with the pastor, came to Christ after an awful amount of 
 conviction and despondency. We are none tlie better 
 for this but we are at least free from one particular 
 temptation of the evil one. Oh, how I look back upon 
 those times in which I felt my bondage, but could not at- 
 tain to liberty — those days in which Christ Avas preached 
 to me, but I could not hear him, and I wandered up and 
 down everywhere before I found peace ! In this church, 
 and in the officers of the church among the deacons, there 
 is especially one dear brother who sometimes can hardly 
 understand me when I speak about the difficidties some 
 have in coming to Christ, for he never experienced them. 
 You all know him, one of the sweetest and best of men ; 
 but he came to Jesus Christ as a boy readily enough. 
 He heard the gospel, and he believed it, and without any 
 sort of terror he rejoiced in the Lord, and he continues 
 to do so to this day. He is none the worse saint for this, 
 but in some respects all the better. I know, however, 
 what is the peculiar temptation of those who come so 
 readily to Christ. The devil comes to them, and he says, 
 ^^ Now, look you. You have read Mr. Bunyan^s ^ Grace 
 Abounding/ have you not % " ^^ Yes," says the good 
 man. *' Well," says he, ^^ you never went through the 
 like battle and struggle.'^ "Xo, I never did." "Then," 
 says he, " You are no child of God. You see, you were 
 easily converted : there was no deep work in your soul, 
 You came to Jesus Christ one sunshiny day, and you 
 will go away from him one dark day. You are like the 
 stony-ground hearer, the seed sprang up in you on a sud- 
 den, because there was no depth of earth, and you will 
 soon die away when the sun is risen with fervent heat." 
 Now, the next time the devil comes to any of you with 
 that, I want you to talk to him, if he is worth it, for your 
 
92 ^'-i THANAEL. 
 
 own good. I want you to quench the fiery dart which he 
 will fling at you. It is true that many come to the Lord 
 Jesus under extreme difficulties, and are long before they 
 can rest in faith ; but you must not compare yourself 
 with others, nor expect that the work of God will take 
 precisely the same shape in every heart. Some, like 
 Nicodemus, say, '^ How can these things be ?" but others 
 believe in Jesus as readily as Kathanael did, and they 
 come just as truly, just as really, just as lastingly as 
 those who find it difficidt to come. 
 
 Let me help you with a few considerations. . Those you 
 have read of, who came to Christ under so much terror, 
 it may he that they had some other trouble at the same timCy 
 as well as the trouble of their conscience. Perhaps, in 
 addition to being convinced of sin, they were suffering 
 from poverty, or sickness, or dyspepsia, or remorse, or 
 some other vexation of spirit. Discern carefully between 
 spiritual trouble and temporal trouble. Temporal trouble 
 may help to aggravate the spiritual, but it is not a neces- 
 sary part of it, but very much the reverse. It may in- 
 crease the apparent depth of the work of repentance, but 
 it may detract from its real worth. 
 
 In the next pla/:»e, it may be, and probably is the fact, 
 that those who found so much difficulty in coming to 
 Christ ivere tvorried by Satan. Perhaps he injected into 
 their minds blasphemous thoughts, or he suggested doubts 
 concerning the Scriptures, or the truth of God. Because 
 they were just escaping from his power he worried them 
 most maliciously. Do you want to be worried in that 
 way ? Do you think that there is any advantage in 
 Satan's attacks ? If you can get to Christ without them, 
 ought you not to be thankful to escape them I How can 
 you desire an affliction so utterly undesirable ? How 
 
NATHA.WiEL. 93 
 
 Can yoii wish to feel that wliich those who suflPer from it 
 would give their eyes to be rid of? I beseech you, do 
 be reasonable. 
 
 In many persons their difficidties in coming to Christ 
 were caused very largely hy their melancholy temperament. 
 We are not all alike cheerful by natural constitution. 
 Why, here is one man who is bright-eyed by nature, and 
 when he is down he is higher up than others are when 
 they are up. He is always bright and hopeful. Yonder 
 is another brother who seems inevitably to take a dark 
 view of matters. He is an unhappily constituted person ; 
 a person with whom it is not easy to live, except m a very 
 large hotel, m which the dinner-table is many yards long. 
 You know and avoid the style of man. If there is a 
 melancholy disposition, it tends to darken the work of 
 the Spirit in the heart, and whereas the work of the 
 Spirit makes the man sorrowfid, his own melancholy 
 disposition, perhaps caused by mental disease, darkens 
 that sorrow into black despair. Few of us are per- 
 fectly sane. In fact, I do not think anybody is alto- 
 gether so, 1 see you smile, but I am not jesting : we 
 have each one a peculiarity which we could hardly de- 
 fend by the rules of strict reasoning. Have we not ? 
 We are all a little ^' touched '^ by that black hand which 
 sin stretched out Avhen it shook our universal manhood 
 in all its faculties. Some are touched with melancholy 
 from their birth, aad so a part of their great terror when 
 under conviction may arise from the fact that they are 
 not absolutely free to form a hopeful judgment. Why 
 should you wish to be like them ? What can there be 
 desirable about feelings which spring from a disease ? 
 
 Again, there is no doubt that many in coming to Christ 
 are greatly troubled because they are ignorant. They do 
 
94 ^^'^ THANAEL. 
 
 not know that which would comfort them if they did but 
 know it. They are vexed with fears which woukl not 
 exist if they were better acquainted with Scripture. If 
 they knew more of the doctrines of grace they would not 
 be vexed with the fears which their ignorance creates. 
 You who are taught in the Word are all the more likely 
 to find speedy peace. Now, dear friends, do you want 
 to be bothered with fears which only spring out of ignor- 
 ance % Must it not be much better for you, having a 
 clearer light and a brighter knowledge, to say, ^' Yes^ 
 that is it. I believe in Jesus Christ, and I am saved > 
 Blessed be his name ! I ask no questions. I believe, 
 and am saved at once % " 
 
 May it not also be that those who are so hard put to it 
 in- coming to Christ are ivithoid the lieljis that you have f 
 Perhaps they cannot read. Possibly they have nobody 
 to explain the Scriptures to them. They may be misled 
 by their religious guides, and have no one to keep them 
 out of the ditch. It may be that they are placed where 
 they are rather hindered than helped ; they have no 
 Sunday-school teacher, no Christian friend to sympathize 
 with them ; and so they have a hard fight of it. Many a 
 man who is wounded in battle is soon restored, because 
 the surgeon takes him up as soon as the bidlet lays him 
 low ; whereas the womid of another, who has to lie and 
 bleed for hours, will prove far more serious. Do you not 
 think that you ought to be very thankful that you have 
 so many things to help you, and that thus you the more 
 readily come to Christ I 
 
 Very possibly, too, many of those who had those terrors 
 and horrors in coming to Christ, as I had myself, must 
 lay them to the door of their unheiief Had they believed, 
 they might have had comfort long before ; but they went 
 
NA 7IIANAEL. 95 
 
 to the law for comfort, or tliey looked to feelings instead 
 of looking to Christ, and so they remained in darkness. 
 Now, if you have the privilege of believing at once, as I 
 pray you may have, should you not be glad of it, and, 
 instead of envying those others, should you not thank 
 God that you were brought to find Jesus Christ by so 
 smmy and speedy a route % 
 
 There is a story that I have told you before, but I 
 must tell it to you again, for I do not know anything 
 better. A young man in Edinburgh went out, and he 
 thought he would speak about Jesus to the first person 
 that he met with. He met a IMusselburgh fishwife carry- 
 ing a great load on her back. I cannot speak Scotch: I 
 have not that useful acquirement ; so I will put the con- 
 versation into English. He said to her, '•'' Here you are 
 with your burden." *^ Ay," said she. ^^ Well," he said, 
 '''- did you ever feel a spiritual burden ? " '^ kj^^ said 
 she, " that I did, long ago, long ago, and I soon got rid 
 of it ; for I did not go the same way to work that John 
 Bunyan's pilgrim did." ^^ Oh," thought the young man, 
 " I hoped that I had met with a Christian woman, but 
 she must be a great heretic to talk in that way." *'Now," 
 said she, '''• Bmiyan's Evangelist that he speaks of was 
 not half a gospel preacher. He was one of the usual 
 sort. He was not clear in the gospel ; for when he met 
 with the poor pilgrim, weary with his burden, he said to 
 him, ^ Do you see that wicket-gate % ' ^ No,' said the 
 man, ^ I do not see it.' ^ Do you see that light over the 
 gate?' ^Well,' he said, '\ think I do.' ^ Now,' he 
 said, S^ou run that way with your burden.' Why man," 
 said she, ^' that was not the way to do at all. What had 
 that man to do with the wicket-gate or with the light 
 over it % The gospel does not say rim to a gate or a 
 
96 NATHANAEL. 
 
 light. What he should have said was, ^ Do you see that 
 cross % Look at that, and your burden Ayill fall from 
 your shoulder.' I looked straight away to the cross, and 
 not to the wicket-gate j and at the cross I lost my burden. 
 Now," said she, ^' what did pilgrim get by going round to 
 the wicket-gate % lie tumbled mto the Slough of De- 
 spond, and was like to have lost his life there." '^ Ah !" 
 said the young man, '^ did you never go through the 
 Slough of Despond ? " '^Ah, yes!" she said, ^' I have 
 been through that slough many a time j but, let me tell 
 you, it is much better to go through it with your burden 
 off than it is with your burden on " And so it is I do not 
 want any of you to attempt to flounder through the Slough 
 of Despond with your burden on I want you to have done 
 w4th the Slough of Despond, and the wicket- gate, and all 
 that bother, and just look to Christ alone , for salvation 
 lies in a look at him, and there is salvation in none other 
 Peace comes to sinners by nothing else but faith in Jesus, 
 All else is vam, be it what it may Frames and feelingS; 
 sinkings and risings, doings and frettmgs — all these may 
 go for nothing Believe m Jesus Christ and thou shalt 
 be saved. This is God's short way to heaven, and 
 blessed is he who knows how to take it " 
 
 Listen yet once more. Thou say est, '' But I have 
 heard of some who endured a dreadfid law work within 
 their soids They were ploughed and cut up dreadfully, 
 and I never was" I will further tell thee tnat certain 
 persons need rougher handling than others The needle 
 in surgery will do for certain cases, whereas the lancet 
 is wanted for others. If the Lord can with a needle do 
 for thee all that is needed, why dost thou ask more? The 
 Lord required to take the knife to me, and art thou go- 
 ing to fret because thou hast never felt the deep gashes 
 
NATHANAEL. 97 
 
 which made me cry out in agony ? I pray thee, be not 
 such a fool : I cannot speak a softer word if thou hast a 
 craving after anguish. 
 
 Again, the Lord may deal roughly with some because 
 lie means to qualify them for comforting despairing souls. 
 lie puts his servants through the furnace when he 
 means them to work at pulling others out of the fire. He 
 chastens them every morning because he means to make 
 Barnabases of them, that they may be sons of consolation 
 to souls in distress. I have been through the thick dark- 
 ness at times for your sakes. If ever a soul was in a 
 horror of great darkness, I was one day when I preached 
 in this pulpit from " My God, my God, why hast thou 
 forsaken me ? " I coidd not understand why I felt in 
 such an awful state as I did, till that evening there came 
 into the vestry a man whose hair seemed to stand on end. 
 He looked at me, and said, " I have never found a 
 preacher that met my experience before." We sat down 
 and he told out his tale of woe. I rescued that man, by 
 seasonable comfort, from being sent to a lunatic asylum, 
 and perhaps from committing suicide ; and then I said to 
 the Lord my God, " Let me go through the fire again, if 
 it will help me to meet the case of thy poor afilicted 
 children. Let me feel the horror of great darkness, if so 
 I may thereby find light with which to cheer the victims 
 of despair." But you, my dear brother, my dear sister, 
 may not be called thus to cut your way through the for- 
 ests of sorrow as the pioneer of others. You are not sent 
 to be a guide to thousands, but quietly to pursue your 
 own lowly way ; and why do you want all this painful 
 experience "I You cannot make use of it ; be thankful 
 that you are spared the ordeal. Those who have to be 
 champions must be trained for war after a sterner sort 
 
98 A'^ TJIANAEL. 
 
 than those who only make up the rank and file of the 
 army. If thy Lord means to lead thee only as sheep at 
 his heel into the green pastures, by the still waters, thou 
 wilt see but little of the war, and little of the rough side 
 of the march ; and why shouldst thou be so stupid as to 
 desire distress, and condemn thyself because thou hast it 
 not ? Be a Nathanael, Take the happier and better 
 side, and believe thou thy God without a doubt or a quib- 
 ble ; and go thou to heaven following the Lamb whither- 
 soever he goeth, without doubt or fear. 
 
 I was going to have another head, but I think that 1 
 will not. I will venture no fui'ther, but close with a word 
 to sinners, although I have in truth been speaking to 
 them all through my discourse. 
 
 Hear me, thou that wouldst be saved. The way of 
 salvation is by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ ; that 
 is, by trusting him. There are tAvo things I have to say 
 to thee. First, God commands thee to believe in Jesus 
 Christ : and, secondly, nothing thou canst do will please 
 ••?od so much as for thee at once to believe in his only- 
 ^tegotten Son, whom he has set forth to be the propitia- 
 tion for sin. 
 
 These are two strong things to say, and so I will not 
 say them, of myself, but give you God's Word for them. 
 Please note these texts down, all of you. First Epistle 
 General of John, third chapter, twenty-third verse : — 
 '^ And this is his commandment, that we should believe 
 on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." Let me tell you 
 where it is again. First Epistle of John, third chapter, 
 twenty-third verse : — ^^ This is his commandment, that 
 we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." 
 If thou art commanded to do it, do it. If thou hast sal- 
 vation promised thee when thou dost believe on the name 
 
NA TllANAEL 99 
 
 of Jesus, wliy tlien believe, and have salvation. Believe 
 on the name of his Son Jesus Christ. That is the first 
 point. God commands thee : wilt thou disobey % 
 
 The second thing I said was that notliing thou canst 
 do will please God so much as for thee now to believe in 
 Jesus Christ. Look at the sixth chapter of John's gos- 
 pel, and the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth verses. 
 There you have it. ^' Then said they unto him. What 
 shall we do, that we might work the works of God f '^ 
 
 They meant, " What are the best works, the works 
 most pleasing to God ? '' ^^ Jesus answered and said 
 unto them. This is the work of God, that ye believe on 
 him whom he hath sent." If you could build a row of 
 alms-houses, or endow a church, or pay the salaries of a 
 hundred missionaries, it would not half so well please God 
 as for you to believe on his Son Jesus Christ. Trust 
 Christ, and thou hast worshipped God as acceptably as 
 cherubim and seraphim. Trust Christ, and thou hast 
 brouo-ht unto the Lord that which will charm him more 
 than the hallelujahs which, day without night, circle his 
 throne with praise. Thou poor guilty man, thou poor 
 guilty woman, humble, unknown, obscure, a nobody, God 
 bids thee trust his Son, and assiu'es thee that this will 
 please him more than all else thou canst do ! Wilt thou 
 not do it % Oh, end your ramblings ; end your strivings ; 
 end your seekings. Come and trust my Lord Jesus, 
 and thou shalt receive eternal life. Your frettings, and 
 your hopings, and your doubtings, your comings, and 
 your goings — end them all by simply trusting Jesus, and 
 it is finished : thou art saved from wrath, and the life of 
 holiness has begmi in thee. Now shalt thou live after a 
 nobler sort. Now shalt thou be filled with good works to 
 the praise of his glory, seeing thou art no more trusting 
 
100 ^^-i- THANAEL. 
 
 in them. I beseech thee trust in the Lord Jesus Christ 
 alone, and thou shalt receive power to become a child of 
 God. 
 
 May the Lord bless you, dear friends ! May we all 
 meet in heaven, the whole company of us, without excep- 
 tion, for Jesus Christ's sake ! Amen. 
 
CURED AT LAST. 
 
 April 8, 1888. 
 
 " And a wonican haring an issue of blood twelve years, -which 
 had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed 
 of any, came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: 
 and immediately her issue of blood stanched." — Luke viii. 43, 44. 
 
 Though I take Luke's statement as a text^ I sliall con- 
 stantly refer to the version of the same story which we 
 find in Mark v. 25 to 29. 
 
 Here we have one of the Lord's hidden ones : a case 
 not to be publicly described because of its secret sorrow. 
 We have here a woman of few words and much shame- 
 facedness. Her malady subjected her to grievous penal- 
 ties according to the ceremonial law. There is a terri- 
 ble chapter in the Book of Leviticus concerning such a 
 case as hers. She was unclean ; everything that she sat 
 upon, and all who touched it, shared in the defilement. 
 So that, in addition to her continual weakness, she was 
 made to feel herself an outcast, under the ban of the law. 
 This created, no doubt, great loneliness of spirit, and 
 made her wish to hide herself out of sight. Ln the narra- 
 tive before us she said not a word until the Saviour drew 
 it out of her, for her own lasting good. She acted very 
 practically and promptly, but she was a silent seeker : she 
 would have preferred to have remained in obscurity, if so 
 it could have been. Some here may belong to the great 
 company of the timid and trembling ones. If courage before 
 
 (101) 
 
102 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 others is needed to secure salvation, matters will go hard 
 with them, for they shrink from notice, and are ready to 
 die of shame because of their secret grief Cowper's 
 hymn describes their inward feelings, when it says of the 
 woman — 
 
 "Concealed amid the gathering throng, 
 She \Tonhl have shiinn'd thy view, 
 And if her faith was firm and strong, 
 Had strong misgivings too." 
 
 Such plants grow in the shade, and shrink from the light 
 of the sun. The nature of their sorrow forces them into 
 solitary self-communion. Oh^ that the Lord may heal 
 such at this hour ! 
 
 The immediate cure of this woman is the more remark- 
 able because it was a wayside miracle. The Saviour was 
 on the road to restore the daughter of Jairus ; this 
 woman's healing was an extra of grace, a sort of over- 
 splash of the great fountain of mercy. The cup of our 
 Lord's power was full — full to the brim — and he was 
 bearing it to the house of the ruler of the synagogue ; 
 this poor creature did but receive a drop which he spilt 
 on the way. We do well if, when going upon some 
 errand of love, we concentrate all our energy upon it, 
 and do it well in the end : but the Sa^dour coidd not 
 only perform one great marvel, but he could work another 
 as a sort of by-play incidentally — I had almost said, acci- 
 dentally, on the road. The episodes of the Lord Jesus 
 are as beautiful as the main rmi of his life's poem. Oh, 
 that this day, while my sermon may seem meant for one, 
 and distinctly directed to his salvation, it may also, by 
 the power of Jesus, save another not so clearly pointed 
 at ! While the word is aimed at one particular charac- 
 
CURED AT LAST. 103 
 
 ter, may the Lord cause the very wind of the gospel shot 
 to overcome another : or to change the figure for a bet- 
 ter one, while we spread the table for some bidden guest, 
 may another hungry soul have grace given him to take 
 his place at the banquet of grace ! May those who hide 
 away, and whom, therefore, we are not likely to discover, 
 come forth to Jesus, and touch him, and live ! 
 
 Let us at once speak of this much-afflicted woman, for 
 she is a typical character. While we describe her con- 
 duct and licr cure, I trust she may serve as a looking- 
 glass in Avhich many tremblers may see themselves. We 
 shall carefully note ivliat she had done, and then tvhat 
 came of it This will lead us on to see tvhat she did at 
 last, and tvhat ive also should do. May the Holy Spirit 
 make this a very practical discourse by causing you to 
 follow her till you gain the blessing as she did! The 
 preacher is very weak ; and may the Lord, for this very 
 reason, work by him to your salvation. 
 
 Consider, therefore, concerning this woman, what she 
 HAD DONE. She had been literally dying for twelve 
 years. What had she been doing ? Had she resigned 
 herself to her fate, or treated her malady as a small 
 matter ? Far from it. Her conduct is highly instruc- 
 tive. 
 
 First, she had resolved not to die if a cure could he had. 
 She was evidently a woman of great determination and 
 hopefulness. She knew that this disease of hers would 
 cause her life to ebb away, and bring her to the grave ; 
 but she said within herself, " I will have a struggle for 
 it. If there is a possibility of removing this plague it 
 shall be removed, let it cost me what it may of pain or 
 payment." Oh, what a blessing it woidd be if unsaved 
 ones here would say each one for himself; ^' I am a lost 
 
104 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 soiil ; but if a lost soul can be saved, I will be saved. I 
 am guilty ; but if guilt can be washed away, mine sliall be 
 washed away. I have a hard heart and I know it ; but if a 
 heart of stone can be turned into a heart of flesh, I long to 
 have it so, and I will never rest until this gracious work is 
 wrought in me ! " Alas, it is not so with many ! Indif- 
 ference is the rule ; indifference about their immortal 
 souls ! Many are sick with dire spiritual disease, but 
 they make no resolve to have it cured ; they trifle with 
 sin, and death, and heaven and hell. 
 
 Insensibility has seized upon many, and a proud con- 
 ceit : they are full of sin, and yet they talk of self- 
 righteousness. They are weak, and can do nothing ; yet 
 they boast of their ability. They are not conscious of 
 their true condition, and hence they have no mind to 
 seek a cure. How should they desire healing when they 
 do not believe that they are diseased % How sad that 
 beneath the ruddy cheek of morality there should lurk 
 the fatal consumption of enmity to God ! How horrible 
 to be fair without and leprous within ! Are there not 
 many who can talk freely about religion, and seem as if 
 they were right Avith God, and yet in the secret of their 
 hearts they arc the victims of an insincerity, and a want 
 of truth, which fatally undermine the life of their profes- 
 sion. They are not what they seem to be : a secret sin 
 drains away the life-blood of their religion. May the 
 Holy Spirit show every unregenerate person the fatal 
 nature of his soul's disease ; for this, I trust, would lead 
 to the making of a firm resolve to find salvation, if salva- 
 tion is to be had. 
 
 No doubt some are held back from such action by the 
 freezing power of despair. They have reached the con- 
 clusion that there is no hope for them. The promises of 
 
CURED AT LAST. 105 
 
 tlie gospel thoy regard as the voice of God to others, hut 
 as haying no cheering word for them. One might sup- 
 pose that they Lj.d searched the book of life, and had 
 made sure that their names were not written there ; they 
 act as if their death-warrant had been signed. They 
 cannot believe in the possibility of their becoming par- 
 takers of everlasting life. They are under a destroying 
 delusion, which leads them to abandon hope. None are 
 more presumptuous than the despairing. "When men 
 have no hope, they soon have no fear. Is not this a 
 dreadful thing f May the Lord save you from such a 
 condition ! Despair of God's mercy is an unreasonable 
 thing ; if you think you have grounds for it, the lying 
 spirit must have suggested them to you. Holy Scripture 
 contains no justification for hopelessness. No mortal hath 
 a just pretence to perish in despair. Neither the nature 
 of God, nor the gospel of Gpd, nor the Christ of God, 
 warrant despair. Multitudes of texts encourage hope ; 
 but no one Scripture, rightly understood, permits a doubt 
 of the mercy of God. ^^ All manner of sin and blasphemy 
 shall be forgiven unto men." Jesus, the great Healer, is 
 never baffled by any disease of human nature : he can 
 cast out a legion of devils, and raise the dead. Oh that 
 I could whisper hope into the didl ear of yonder mourner! 
 Oh that I could drop a rousing thought into the sullen 
 heart of the self-condemned ! How glad shoidd I be ! 
 My poor desponding friend, I would fain see thy chains 
 snapped, thy fetters broken off! Oh that the Spirit of 
 God would cause thee, like this woman, to resolve that 
 if there be healing for thy soul thou wilt have it ! 
 
 Alas ! many have never come to this gracious resolu- 
 tion, because they cherish a vain hope, and are misled 
 by an idle dream. They fancy that salvation will come 
 
106 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 to them without their seeking it. Certainly, they have 
 no right to expect such a thing. It is true that our Lord 
 is found of them that sought him notp-«.but that is an act 
 of his own sovereignty, and is not a ride for our 
 procedure. The plain directions of the gospel are, 
 ^^Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye 
 upon him while he is near." How dare they set these 
 gracious words aside % They fancy that they may wake 
 up, one of these fine days, and find themselves saved. 
 Alas ! it may more likely happen to them, as to the rich 
 man in the parable, ^^ In hell he lift up his eyes, being in 
 torments." God grant that none of you may trifle your 
 souls into such misery ! Some fancy that in the article 
 of death, they may cry, ^^ God be mercifid to me a sin- 
 ner," and so may leap into salvation. It seems to them 
 a very slight business to be reconciled to God. They 
 imagine that they can be converted just when they will, 
 and so they put it off from day to day, as if it were of no 
 more consequence than going to shop to buy a coat or a 
 gown. Believe me, the Word of God does not set forth 
 the matter in this way. It tells us that even the right- 
 eous scarcely are saved, and it rouses us to strive to en- 
 ter in at the strait gate. God save you from every false 
 confidence which would prevent your being in earnest 
 about the healing of your souls. Spiritually, your case 
 is as desperate as that of the poor woman now before us. 
 May the Lord sweetly constrain you to feel that you must 
 be healed, and that you cannot afford to put oft' the blessed 
 day ! If beneath the firmament of heaven there is heal- 
 ing for a sin-sick soul, seek it till you find it. When the 
 Lord brings you to this resolve by his good Spu'it, you 
 will not be far from the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Let us next note, that that this tvoman having made her 
 
CURED AT LAST. 107 
 
 resolvcj adopted the likeliest means she coidd thinJc of. 
 Physicians are men set apart on purpose to deal with 
 human maladies, therefore she went to the physicians. 
 What better could she do ? Though she failed, yet she 
 did what seemed most likely to succeed. Now, when a 
 soul is resolved to find salvation, it is most fit and proper' 
 that it should use every likely means for the finding of 
 salvation. Oh, that they were wise enough to hear the 
 gospel, and to come at once to Jesus ; but often they 
 make grave mistakes. This woman w^ent to gentlemen 
 who were supposed to understand the science of medicine. 
 Was it not natural that she should look for help to their 
 superior wisdam ? She cannot be blamed for looking to 
 the men of light and leading. Many, in these days, do 
 the same thing. They hear of the new discoveries of 
 professedly cultured men, and hear their talk about the 
 littleness of sin, and the larger hope, and the non-neces- 
 sity of the new birth. Poor deceived creatures ! they 
 find in the long run that nothing comes of it ; for the 
 wisdom of man is nothing but pretentious folly. The 
 world by wisdom knows neither God nor his salvation. 
 Many there are who know all the less of saving truth 
 because they know so much of what human fancy has 
 devised, and human search discovered. We cannot 
 blame the woman that, being a simple soul and anxious 
 for healing, she went to those first who were thought to 
 know most. Let us not, with Christ so near, go round- 
 about as she did, but let us touch our Lord at once. 
 
 No doubt the sufi'erer also tried men who had diplomas, 
 or were otherwise authorized to act as physicians. How 
 can you blame her for going to those wdio were in the 
 succession, and had the official stamp ? Many sin-sick 
 souls nowadays are, at firsts very hopeful that the or= 
 
108 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 dained clergy can benefit them by their duly performed 
 services and duly administered sacraments. At least, 
 good men, eminent in the church, may be looked to for aid; 
 surely these know how to deal with souls ! Alas ! it is 
 vain to look to men at all, and foolish to depend on official 
 dignity, or special repute. Some teachers do not know 
 much about their own souls, and therefore know less 
 about the souls of others. Vain is the help of man, be 
 the man who he may. Whatever his popularity, learning, 
 or eloquence, if you seek to him for his prayers, or his 
 teachings, as able to save you, you will certainly seek in 
 vain ; as this poor woman did. She is not to be blamed, 
 but to be commended, that she did what seemed best to 
 her, according to her light ; but you are warned ; go 
 not, therefore, to men. 
 
 No doubt she met with some who boasted that they 
 could heal her complaint at once. They began by say- 
 ing, '•'- You have tried So-and-so, but he is a mere quack ; 
 mine is a scientific remedy. You have used a medicine 
 which I could have told you would be worthless ; but I 
 have the secret. Put yourself absolutely into my hands, 
 and the thing is done. I have healed many that have 
 been given up by all the faculty. Follow my orders, 
 and you will be restored." Sick persons are so eager to 
 recover that they readily take the bait which is offered 
 them by brazen impudence. An oily tongue and a bland 
 manner, backed with unblushing assurance, are sure to 
 win their way with one who is anxious to gain that which 
 is offered. Ah, me ! ^^ All is not gold that glitters ; '^ 
 and all the professions which are made of helping sin- 
 sick souls are not true professions. Many pretenders to 
 new revelations are abroad, but they are physicians of no 
 value. There is no balm in Gilead ; there is no physi- 
 
CURED AT LAST. 109 
 
 cian there : if there had been, the hurt of the daughter 
 of my people had long ago been healed. There is no 
 medicine beneath the sky that can stay the palpitations of 
 a heart which dreads the judgment to come. No earthly 
 surgery can take away the load of sin from the con- 
 science. No hand of priest or presbyter, prophet, or 
 philosopher, can cleanse the leprosy of guilt. The finger 
 of God is wanted here. There is one Heal-all, one di- 
 vine Catliolicon, and only one. Happy is he that hath 
 received this infallible balm from Jehovah Rophi — the 
 Lord that healeth. Yet we marvel not that when souls 
 are pressed down with a sense of guilt, they try anything 
 and everything which oiFers even a faint hope of relief. 
 I could wish that all my hearers had an intense zeal to 
 find salvation : for even if it led them into passing mis- 
 takes, yet, under God's blessing, they woidd find their 
 way out of them, and end by glorifying the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, which never fails. 
 
 This ivoman, in the next place, having resolved not to 
 die, if cure could be had, and having adopted the likeli- 
 est means, persevered in the use of those means. No doubt 
 she tried many, and even opposite remedies. One doctor 
 said, ^' You had better go to the warm baths of the lake 
 of Tiberias ; such bathing will be comfortable and help- 
 ful." She grew w^orse at the warm bath, and went to 
 another physician, who said, ^' You were wrongly treat- 
 ed ; you need bracing up in the cold baths of the Jor- 
 dan." Thus she went from vanity to vanity, to find 
 both of them useless. An eminent practitioner assured 
 her that she needed an internal remedy, and he alone 
 coidd give her an infallible receipt. This, however, was 
 of no use to her ; and sho went to another, who said that 
 an external application should be tried; such as Isaiah's 
 
110 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 lump of figs. What perseverance tliat woman must have 
 had ! I am not going to say anything about our doctors 
 nowadays, no doubt they are the most learned and skilful 
 that can be : but in earlier times sm-gery was murderous, 
 and medicines were poisonous. Many of the prescrip- 
 tions of those days are sickening, and yet ridiculous. I 
 read yesterday a prescription, of our Saviour's time, war- 
 ranted to cure many diseases, which consisted of grass- 
 hopper's eggs. These were supposed to exercise a mar- 
 vellous influence, but they are no longer in the list of 
 medicines. The tooth of a fox was said to possess 
 special powers ; but I noticed that one of the chief drugs 
 of all, the most expensive, but the surest in its action, 
 was a nail from the finger of a man who had been hanged. 
 It was important that he shoidd have been hanged : 
 another finger-nail might have had no efficacy. Poor 
 creatures were made to sirffer most painfully by cruel 
 medicines, which were far worse than the disease. As 
 for surgical operations, if they had been designed to kill, 
 they were certainly admirably arranged for that purpose. 
 The wonder is that for twelve years poor human nature 
 could stand out, not against the disease, but against the 
 doctors. Brethren, the case is much the same spiritually. 
 How many mider their burden of sin go first to one, and 
 then to another ; practise this, and agonize after that, 
 and pine for the other, perseveringly, and still without 
 avail ! Travel as fast as you may in a wrong direction, 
 you will not reach the place you seek. Vain are all 
 things save Jesus our Lord. 
 
 Have you been to Doctor Ceremony ? He is, at this 
 time, the fashionable doctor. Has he told you that you 
 must attend to forms and rules % Has he prescribed you 
 so many prayers, and so many services % Ah ! many go 
 
CURED AT LAST. \l\ 
 
 to him, and tlicy persevere in a roimd of religious ob- 
 servances, but these 3/ield no lasting ease to the con- 
 science. Have you tried Doctor ^Morality % He has a 
 large practice, and is a fine old Jewish physician. ^^ Be 
 good in outward character," says he, ^^and it will work 
 inwardly, and cleanse the heart ! " A great many joer- 
 sons are supposed to have been cured by him and by his 
 assistant, Doctor Civility, who is nearly as clever as his 
 master : but I have it on good evidence that neither of 
 thein apart, nor even tlie two together, coidd ever deal 
 with an inward disease. Do what you may, your own 
 doings will not stanch the wounds of a bleeding heart. 
 Doctor Mortification has also a select practice ; but men 
 are not saved by denying themselves until they first deny 
 their self-righteousness. Doctor Excitement has many 
 patients, but his cures seldom outlive the set of sun. 
 Doctor Feeling is much sought after by tender spirits ; 
 these try to feel sorrow and remorse ; but, indeed, the 
 way of cure does not lie in that quarter. Let everything 
 be done that can be done apart from our blessed Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and the sick soul will be nothing bettered. 
 You may try human remedies for the space of a lifetime, 
 but sin will remain in power, guilt will cling to the con- 
 science, and the heart will abide as hard as ever. 
 
 But this woman not only thus tried the most likely 
 means and persevered in the use of them, but she also 
 spent all her substance over it. That was perhaps the 
 chief thing in ancient surgery ! — this golden ointment 
 which did good to the physician, whatever became of the 
 patient. The most important point was to pay the doctor. 
 This woman's living was wasting away as well as her 
 life. She continued to pay, and to pay, and to pay ; but 
 she received no benefit from it ail ; say, rather, that she 
 
112 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 suffered more than she woukl have done had she kept 
 her gold. Thus do men waste their thought, their care, 
 their prayer, their agony over that which is nothing - 
 they spend their money for that which is not bread. At 
 last she came to her last shekel. In the end there was 
 an end to her means ; but so long as the silver lasted, 
 she lavished it out of the bag. What would not a man 
 give to be saved ? I never wonder that dying men give 
 their estates to priests in the hope that they can save 
 their souls. If gold could purchase pardon, who would 
 withhold it % Health of body, if it could be purchased 
 with gold, would be cheap at any price ; but health of 
 soul, holiness of character, acceptance with God, assur- 
 ance of heaven — these would be cheap if we counted out 
 worlds as poor men pay down their pence for bread. 
 There are men so mean that they would not part with a 
 pound for a place in Paradise ; but if these once knew 
 their true condition, they woidd alter their minds. The 
 price of wisdom is above rubies. If we had mines of 
 gold, Ave might profitably barter them for the salvation 
 of our souls. 
 
 Beloved, you see where this woman was. She was in 
 downright, desperate earnest to have her mortal malady 
 healed, and so she spared neither her labor nor her liv- 
 ing. In this we may wisely imitate her. 
 
 II. We have seen what the woman had done ; now 
 let us think of WHAT HAD COME OF IT. We are told 
 that she had suifered many things of many physicians. 
 That was her sole reward for trusting and spending : she 
 had not been relieved, much less healed ; but she had suf- 
 fered. She had endured much additional suffering 
 through seeking a cure. That is the case with you who 
 have not come to Christ, but, being imder a sense of •sin, 
 
CURED AT LAST. II3 
 
 have sought relief apart from him. All that you do apart 
 from Jesus, in order to win salvation, will only cause you 
 increased suffering. You have tried to save yourself by 
 prayers : your prayers have turned your thoughts upon 
 your sin and its punishment, and thus you have become 
 more wretched than before. You have attended to cere- 
 monies, and if you have used them sincerely, they have 
 wrought in you a solemn sense of the hoHness of God, 
 and of your own distance from him ; and this, though 
 very proper, has only increased your sorrow. You 
 have been trying to feel good, and to do good, that so 
 you may be good ; but the very effort has made you feel 
 how far off you are from the goodness you so much desire. 
 Your self-denial has excited cravings after evil, and your 
 mortifications have given new life to your pride. Efforts 
 after salvation, made in your own strength, act like the 
 struggles of a drowning man, which sink the more surely. 
 As the fruit of your desperate efforts, you have suf- 
 fered all the more. In the end, I trust this may work 
 for your good, but up till now it has served no healing 
 purpose : you are now at death's door, and all your 
 praying, weeping, church-going, chapel-going, and sacra- 
 ment-taking, do not help you one bit. 
 
 There has been this peculiarly poignant pang about it 
 all, that you are nothing heUered. Cheerily did you hope, 
 but cruelly are you disappointed. You cried, '^ I have it 
 this time," but the bubble vanished as you grasped it. 
 The evil of your nature, when repressed in one place, 
 broke out in another. You dealt with the symptoms of 
 your disease, but you did not cut off the root of the mis- 
 chief : it only showed itself in another form, but it never 
 went away. You gave up one sin only to fall into 
 another i you v/atched at the front entrance, and the 
 
114 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 thief stole in at the back door. Up till now, O soul, thou 
 hast not come to Jesus, and after all thy goings else- 
 where, thou art nothing bettered ! 
 
 And now, perhaps, this morning you are saying, 
 '' What can I do % What shall I do ? ^^ I will tell you. 
 You can do nothing except vrhat this woman ultimately 
 did, of whicli I will speak by-and-by. You are now 
 brought to this extremity — that you are without strength, 
 without merit, without power, and you must look out of 
 yourself to another, who has strength and merit, and can 
 save you. God grant that you may look to that glorious 
 One before this service is over ! 
 
 We read of this woman, that though she suffered much, 
 she was nothing bettered, but rather grew ivorse. No 
 better after twelve years of medicine ? She went to the 
 Egyptian doctor and he promised her health in three 
 months. She was worse. She tried the Syrian doctor : 
 he was a man who had great knowledge of the occult 
 sciences, and was not ashamed to practice enchantments. 
 She was bitterly disappointed to find herself decidedly 
 weaker. Then she heard of a Greek practitioner, who 
 would cure her, heigh presto ! in a trice. She paid her 
 remaining money, but she still went backward. She 
 bought disappointment very dearly. Friend, is this your 
 condition ? You are anxious to be right, and therefore, 
 you are earnest in every effort to save yourself; but still 
 you are nothing bettered. You climb a treadmill, and 
 are no higher after all you climbing. You drift down 
 the river with one tide, and you float uj3 again when it 
 turns. Night after night you pull up in the same old 
 creek that you started from. Oh, pitiful condition ! 
 Getting grey, too : becoming quite the old gentleman ; 
 and yet no nearer eternal life than when, as a lad, you 
 
CURED AT LAST. 115 
 
 used to attend tlio house of God, and wish to become a 
 child of God. Nothing bettered % No ; she grew worse ! 
 Fresh mischief had developed : other diseases fed upon 
 her weakness ; she was more emaciated, more lifeless 
 than ever. Sad result of so much perseverance ! And 
 is not that the case with some of you who are in earnest, 
 but are not enlightened I You are working, and growing 
 poorer as you work. There is not about you so much as 
 there used to be of good feeling, or sincere desire, or 
 pray erf ulness, or love for the Bible, or care to hear the 
 gospel. You are becoming more careless, more dubious 
 than you once were. You have lost much of your former 
 sensitiveness. You are doing certain things now that 
 would have startled you years ago, and you are leaving 
 certain matters undone which once you would have 
 thought essential. Evidently you are caught in the cur- 
 rent, and are nearing the cataract. The Lord deliver 
 you ! 
 
 This is a sad, sad case ! As a climax of it all, the 
 heroine of our story had now sj)Q)it all that she had. She 
 could not go now to the Egyptian doctor, or to the Syrian 
 doctor, or to the Hebrew doctor, or to the Roman doc- 
 tor, or to the Greek doctor. No ; now she must do with- 
 out their flattering unction in the future. As for those 
 famous medicines which raised her hopes, she can buy 
 no more of such costly inventions. This was, perhaps, 
 her bitterest grief: but let me whisper it in your ear — - 
 this was the best thing that had yet happened to her ; 
 and I am praying that it may happen to some of you. 
 At the bottom of your purse I trust you will And wisdom. 
 When we come to the end of self we come to the begin- 
 ning of Christ. That last shekel binds us to the pretend- 
 ers, but absolute bankruptcy sets us free to go to* him 
 
116 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 v^^lio heals diseases without money and without prica 
 Glad enough am I when I meet with a man who is starved 
 out of self-sufficiency. Welcome, brother ! Now you 
 are ready for Jesus. When all your own virtue has gone 
 out of you, then shall you seek and find that virtue 
 which goeth out of him. 
 
 III. This brings to our notice, in the third place, what 
 THIS WOMAN DID AT LAST. Weaker and weaker had 
 she become, and her pui'se had become lighter and 
 lighter. She hears of Jesus of Nazareth, a man sent of 
 God who is healing sick folk of all sorts. She hears at- 
 tentively ; she puts the stories together that she hears ; 
 she believes them ; they have the likeness of truth about 
 them. '•'• Oh," says she, " there is yet another oppor- 
 tunity for me. I will get in the crowd, and if I can only 
 touch the bit of blue which he wears as the border of his 
 garment, I shall be made whole." Splendid faith ! It 
 was thought much of in her own day, and we may stiU 
 more highly prize it now that faith has grown so rare. 
 
 Note well she resolved to trust in Jesus in sheer despair 
 of doing anything else. My dear friend, I do not know 
 where you are sitting this morning in this great con- 
 gregation — I almost wish I did, that I might come up to 
 you and say to you personally, " Try Jesus Christ, trust 
 him, and see whether he will not save you. Every 
 other door is evidently shut : why not enter by Christ 
 the door f There is no other life-buoy j lay hold on 
 this ! Say with our versifier — 
 
 *' I can but jjerisli if I go ; 
 I am resolved to try ; 
 For if I stay away, I know 
 I must for ever die," 
 
 Exefcise the courage which is born of desperation. May 
 
CURED AT LAST. II7 
 
 God the Holy Spirit help you now to thrust forth your 
 finger, and get into touch with Jesus ! Say, '^ Yes, I 
 freely accept Christ. By God's grace, I will have him 
 to be my only hope. I will have him now." Be driven 
 to Jesus by force of circumstances. Since there is no 
 other port, weather-beaten barque, make for this one ! 
 Wanderer, here is a refuge ! Turn in hither, for there 
 is no other shelter. 
 
 After all, this was the simplest and easiest thing that she 
 could do. Touch Jesus. Put out thy finger, and touch 
 the hem of his garment. The prescriptions she had 
 purchased were long ; but this was short enough. The 
 operations performed upon her had been intricate ; but 
 this was simplicity itself. The suffering she had endured 
 had complicated her case ; but this was as plain as a 
 pikestaff. " Touch with your finger the hem of his gar- 
 ment ! that is all.'^ my hearer, yeu have tried many 
 things, great things, and hard things, and painful things; 
 why not try this simple matter of faith ? Believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt -be saved. Trust Jesus 
 to cleanse you, and he will do it. Put yourself into your 
 Saviour's hands once for all, and he will save you. 
 
 Not only was this the simplest and easiest thing for the 
 poor afilicted one, but certainly it tvas the freest and most 
 gracious. There was not a penny to pay. Nobody stood 
 at the door of the consulting-room to take her guinea ; 
 and the good physician did not even give a hint that he 
 expected a reward. The gifts of Jesus are free as the 
 air. He healed this believing woman in the open street, 
 in the midst of the crewd. She had felt that if she could 
 but get into the throng, she w^ould, by hook or by crook, 
 get near enough to reach the hem of liis garment, and 
 then she would be healed. It is so this morning, dear 
 
118 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 hearer. Come, and receive grace freely. Bring no good 
 works, no good words, no good feelings, no good resolves, 
 as the price of pardon ; come with an empty hand, and 
 touch the Lord by faith. The good things which you 
 desire, Jesus will ^w^ you as the residt of his cure ; but 
 they cannot be the cause or the price of it. Accept his 
 mercy as the gift of his love ! Come empty handed, and 
 receive ! Come undeserving, and be favored I Only 
 come into contact with Jesus, who is the fountain of life 
 and health, and you shall be saved. 
 
 This ivas the quietest thing for her to do. She said 
 nothing. She did not cry aloud like the blind men. 
 She did not ask friends to look on, and see her make her 
 venture. She kept her own counsel, and pushed into the 
 press. In absolute silence, she took a stolen touch of the 
 Lord's robe. my hearer, you can be saved in silence. 
 You have no need to speak to any person of your ac- 
 quaintance, not even to mother or father. At this mo- 
 ment, while in the pew, believe and live. Nobody will 
 know that you now are touching the Lord. Li after days 
 you will own your faith, but in the act itself you will be 
 alone and unseen. Believe on Jesus. Trust yourself 
 with him. Have done with all other confidences, and say, 
 ^^ He is all my salvation." Take Jesus at once, if not 
 with a hand's grasp, yet with a finger's touch. you 
 poor, timid, bashful creature, touch the Lord ! Trust in 
 his power to save. Do not let me tell you to do it in 
 vain, but do it at once. INIay God's Spirit cause you to 
 accept Jesus now ! 
 
 This is the only effectual thing. Touch Jesus, and sal- 
 vation is yours at once. Simple as faith is, it is never 
 failing. A touch of the fringe of the Saviour^s garment 
 sufficed : in a moment she felt in her body that she was 
 
CURED /iT LAST. 119 
 
 healed of that plague. ^' It is twelve years ago," she 
 said to herself, ^^ since I felt like a living woman. I 
 have been sinkiiig in a constant death all this while, but 
 now I feel my strength come back to me." Blessed be 
 the name of the great Healer ! She was exceeding glad. 
 Tremble she did, lest it shoidd turn out to be too good to 
 be true ; but she was most surely healed. O my dear 
 hearer, do trust my Lord, for he will surely do for you 
 that which none other can achieve. Leave feeling and 
 working, and try faith in Jesus. May the Holy Spirit 
 lead you to do so at once ! 
 
 IV. And now, poor convicted sinner ! here comes the 
 driving home of the nail. Do Tiiou AS this woman 
 DID. Ask nobody about it, but do it. She did not go to 
 Peter, James, and John, and say, '' Good sirs, advise 
 me." She did not beg from them an introduction to Jesus, 
 but she went of her own accord, and tried for herself 
 the virtue of a touch. You have had advising enough ; 
 now come to real work. There is too much tendency to 
 console ourselves by conversations with godly men : let 
 us get away from them, and speak to their Master. Talks 
 in the inquiry-room, and chats with Christian neighbors, 
 are all very well 5 but one touch of Jesus will be infinitely 
 better, I do not blame you for seeking religious advice: 
 this may be a half-way house to call at, but do not make 
 it the terminus. Press on till, by personal faith, you 
 have laid hold on Jesus. Do not tell anybody what you 
 are about to do ; wait till it is done. Another day you 
 vv'ill be happy to tell the minister and God's people of 
 what the Lord has done for you ; but for the present, 
 quietly believe in the Lamb of God which taketh away 
 the sin of the world. 
 
 Do not even ask yourself about it. If this poor woman 
 
120 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 had consulted witb herself, she might never have ven- 
 tured so near the holy one of God. So clearly shut out 
 from society by the law of her people and her God, if 
 she had given the matter a secoi-d thought, she might 
 have abandoned the idea. Blessed was the impetuosity 
 which thrust her into the crowd, and kept her head above 
 the throng, and her face towards the Lord in the centre 
 of the press. She did not so much reason as dare. Do 
 not ask yourself anything about it ; but do it. Believe, 
 and have done with it. Stop not to parley with your own 
 unbelief, nor answer your rising doubts and fears ; but 
 at once, upon the instant, put out your linger, touch the 
 hem of his garment, and see what will come of it. God 
 help you to do so while I am speaking ! 
 
 Yield to the sacred impidse which is just now operat- 
 ing upon you. Do not say, " To-morrow may be more 
 convenient.'^ In this woman's case, there was the Lord 
 before her; she longed to be healed at once, and so, come 
 what may, into the crowd she plunged. She was so en- 
 feebled, that one wonders how she managed to get near 
 him ; but possibly the crowd took her off her feet and 
 carried her onward, as often happens in a rush. How- 
 ever, there was her chance, and she seized it. There 
 was the fringe of the Lord's mantle ; out went her fin- 
 ger : it was all done. my friend, you have an oppor- 
 tmiity now, by God's great grace, for you are in his 
 house of prayer. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by at this 
 moment. He who speaks to you is not trying to say 
 pretty things, but he is pining to win your soid for Jesus. 
 Oh, how I wish I could lead you to that sa^ang touch ! 
 The Spirit of God can do it. May he now move you to 
 cry — '-'• I will believe in the appointed sacrifices, and 
 trust my soul with Jesus " ! Have you done so % You 
 
CURED AT LAST. 121 
 
 are saved " He that believeth in him hath everlasting 
 life." 
 
 " Oh, but I tremble so ! " So did she whom Jesus 
 healed. Her hand shook, but she touched him all the 
 same for that. I think I see her quivering finger. Poor 
 emaciated woman, with pale and bloodless cheeks ! 
 What a taper finger was that which she held out, and 
 how it quivered ! However much the finger of your faith 
 may tremble, if it does but touch the hem of the Lord's 
 garment, virtue will flow from him to you. The power 
 is not m the finger which touches, but in the divine 
 Saviour who is touched. So long as there is a contact 
 established between you and the almighty power of 
 Jesus, his power will travel along your trembling finger, 
 and bring healing to your heart. A telegraph wire may 
 shake with the wind, and yet convey the electric current, 
 and so may a trembling faith convey salvation from 
 Jesus. A strong faith, which rests anywhere but in 
 Jesus, is a delusion ; but a weak faith, which rests alone 
 on Jesus, brings sure salvation. Out with your finger ! 
 Dear soul, out with your finger ! Do not go away till 
 you have touched the Lord by a believing prayer or 
 hope. Holy Spirit, do not suffer any to quit the Taber- 
 nacle until, by a believing desire, or trust, or confidence 
 of some sort, they have established a contact between 
 themselves and Jesus, and have felt the virtue enter them 
 for their instant healing. Lord, save this people ! 
 Why do you come Sunday after Sunday, in such 
 crowds % and why must I stand here and bleed my heart 
 away in love to your souls % Is the sole result to be that 
 I help you to spend an hour-and-a-half in a sort of reli- 
 gious amusement % What a waste it is of my labor, and 
 of your time, unless some o;racious work is done! 
 
122 CURED AT LAST. 
 
 sirs, if you are not brought to Christ, my preaching 
 will prove a curse to you ! It appals me to think that 
 the preaching of the gospel will be a savour of death imto 
 you unless it brings you life. Put not the day of grace 
 from you. By the living God, I do implore you, trust the 
 living Redeemer. As I shall meet you all, face to face, 
 before the judgment-seat of Christ, I do implore and be- 
 seech you, put out the finger of faith, and trust the Lord 
 Jesus, who is so fully worthy to be trusted. The simple 
 trust of your heart will stay the death which now works 
 in you. Lord, give that trust, for Jesus' sake ! Amen. 
 
VI. 
 
 "she was not hid.'' 
 
 April 15, 1888. 
 
 " And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trem- 
 bling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all 
 the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was 
 healed immediately." — Luxe viii. 47. 
 
 Last Sabbath morning we spoke upon the woman who 
 was healed of her issue of blood. After having spent all 
 her living upon physicians, and being disappointed in 
 them all, she touched the Saviour's garment and was 
 healed immediately. She came behind him, for she did 
 not wish to be seen. She said not a word : she had not 
 the courage to ask for the blessing in an open manner. 
 AA^ien cured, she slunk away into the ci'owd : she was 
 anxious to be unobserved. Now, if the story had ended 
 here, you woidd not have been sui'prised. It was a case 
 of extreme delicacy, that might seem to require a special- 
 ly secret ending, by the woman's being permitted to go 
 her way home, happy and whole. 
 
 But now, suppose that in the tenderness of our Sa- 
 viour's sympathy with this trembling woman, he had 
 permitted her to depart without making an open confes- 
 sion, Avhat v/ould have been the consequence f The Sa- 
 viour willed that the miracle should be recorded in three 
 of the four Gospels, and if it had ended where we left it 
 last Sabbath morning, then, such is our human nature, 
 we should have drawn from it the inference that sav- 
 
 (123) 
 
124 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 ing faith need not be confessed. Our natural love of 
 ease, and our desire to avoid the cross, would have made 
 us follow this vv^oman's example, and we should have tried 
 to touch the Lord for healing, and then rim away from 
 him without making any profession of discipleship. Many 
 would have quoted her case as a reason v»^hy they might 
 be allowed to escape the responsibilities, duties, and suf- 
 ferings which discipleship might involve. If the Saviour 
 had permitted this woman to retire in silence, many 
 cowardly believers would have said that the Saviour's 
 silence gave consent to her retiring without a word, and 
 that they might safely imitate her. I know the men and 
 their style of reasoning. This would have been fine nuts 
 for them. Think how this story would have been used 
 in times of martyrdom. The cowardly would have 
 argued, " We may have to go to prison or to the stake 
 if we confess Christ ; Avhy should we be so needlessly 
 daring % We can receive grace from Jesus quite un- 
 known to anybody, and having gained salvation we can 
 mingle with the crowd and avoid exposing ourselves to 
 danger." The Saviour would not allow us to find in this 
 case an apology for an evil course, and so he called out 
 the woman whom he had cured. The spirit of hiding, 
 thank God, was. not found in the church in martyr times; 
 for holy men and women came forvv^ard and confessed 
 their faith with more than common eagerness. 
 
 If the narrative had ended where we left it last Sun- 
 day, what a quietus it would have aff'orded to those good 
 peace-loving people who, in these days of blasphemy and 
 rebuke, will take no sides at all ; " Anything for a quiet 
 life." They are very comfortable, and mean to remain 
 so. What does it matter to them though the whole 
 church should be rotten with error I They hope to go 
 
SHE WAS XOT HID. 125 
 
 qmetlj to Leaven — indeed, they feel tliey are going there; 
 and, if they are not soldiers of the cross, yet they trust 
 they are followers of the Lamb ; if they do not contend 
 earnestly for tlie faith once delivered to the saints, yet 
 still they eat the fot, and drink the sweet, and enjoy the 
 privileges of a comfortable religion. That is the present 
 policy of many, and gladly enough would tliey have shel- 
 tered themselves behind this woman. She, however, 
 was not hid, nor may they be» We have enough apolo- 
 gies for selfishness and ease, and compromise, without the 
 Saviour's supplying us with one ; and so he took special 
 care in this instance that nothing so evil should be made 
 out of it. What might have been a defence for guilty 
 silence he turns into a grand argument for open confes- 
 sion. He will not allow concealment in this case, be- 
 cause he will not tolerate it in any case, but will have us 
 take up our cross and follow him. 
 
 That is the subject for this morning : may I be helped 
 of the Holy Spirit so to handle it, that any here who are 
 sincere in their love to Christ, but yet have never avowed 
 it, may be forced to come out at once, and before the 
 Lord Jesus Christ and his people declare that they have 
 touched him, and that they have been healed immedi- 
 ately. 
 
 Let me say to you, her liiding seemed very excusahle ; 
 but, secondly, her liiding ivas not permitted ; and, thirdly, 
 your hiding should not he excused nor permitted^ hut should 
 come to an end at once, 
 
 I. First, then, we say concerning this woman, that her 
 HIDING SEEMED VERY EXCUSABLE. I havc already said 
 that if, in any instance, a cure might have been con- 
 cealed, this was one ; and it was so for many reasons. 
 First, because of this tvoman^s natural timidity ^ and he- 
 
128 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 cause of the nature of her malady. It would appear that 
 if in any case the thing might have been clone in a cor- 
 ner, or if clone in a crowd, might have been passed over 
 without remark, this was an evident case in point. Yet 
 the Saviom-, tenderly considerate as he is, will not have 
 it so. And you, dear friend, may say, ^' I am naturally 
 so very timid and retiring *, pray excuse me." This 
 woman was not only bashful, but her sickness made her 
 rightly wish to remain in obscurity. '•' I should not like 
 my story to be known," says one. She might have 
 justly said the same : it must have been hard indeed for 
 her to confess what the Lord had done. Yet she had to 
 acknowledge his grace openly, and so must you. She is 
 sick and faint, and for twelve years has been growing 
 weaker and weaker, yet when she is healed she must 
 come forward and confess the cure. Does this seem hard 
 to you f Surely it is the least she can do, and she ought 
 to do it of her own accord. Y^et if silence might have 
 been allowed in any case, hers was so delicate a matter 
 that she might have had the doubtful privilege of receiv- 
 ing mercy without acknovvdedging it. 
 
 In addition to this, remember that the Saviour did not 
 court puJjlicity, He laid no injunction upon those whom 
 he healed that they should tell every one of the marvel. 
 He did not seek fame or observation : he did not strive 
 nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. 
 In several cases he bade the healed ones tell no man what 
 was done ; and in this case he had given the cure with- 
 out any open request for it. Might she not from this 
 conclude that her secret act of faith was approved, and 
 that it might continue secret, since it had gained the 
 boon ? You may reason in that way about yourself, and 
 say that Jesus does not need that you should testify for 
 
SHE WAS NOT HID. 127 
 
 him. Indeed, it is true that he does not need anything 
 of any of us ; but is this a fit way of treating your Lord % 
 You may say that quietude on your part would be ex- 
 cusable ; but as the Saviour did not think so in this 
 woman's case, I believe that he will not think so in your 
 case. I trust that in his mercy he will deal with you as 
 with her, and compel you to come out and oa\ii the won- 
 ders of his grace. 
 
 There was another reason why she might have thought 
 she need not make a public confession, and that was, that 
 the Saviour ivas at that time exceedingly occupied. The 
 multitude thronged him, and he was on the way to the 
 house of the ruler of the synagogue, to attend to his 
 child ; she would only be stopping him in his career of 
 love. Should the Saviour be detained for her ? Already 
 Jairus did not look upon her very cheerfidly when he 
 saw that Jesus stopped for her ; what would he do if she 
 caused a still longer delay % Besides, she might natu- 
 rally argue, " Why should such an insignificant person as 
 I am detain the prophet ? What am I that I shoidd take 
 up even a second of his time ? Jairus is before me ; let 
 him take his turn. I have the blessing, and there is no 
 need to detain the Lord." You know how ready we are 
 to make excuses when a duty is not pleasant : I suppose 
 you are very handy at it yourself. But now since this 
 excuse, if it ever occurred to the woman, was soon dis- 
 posed of, I would advise you also to cast away all subter- 
 fuges, and remember that it is written, " He that with 
 his heart believeth, and with his mouth maketh confession 
 of him, shall be saved," or quoting an equally plain Scrip- 
 ture, '' He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'' 
 The faith and the confession are put together by the Holy 
 
128 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 Spirit: what God hath joined together let no man put 
 asunder. 
 
 Excuse might also have been found for the healed 
 woman in the fact, that her cure ivould make itself hioivn 
 by its results. When she reached home everybody would 
 see that she was quite another person : and when they 
 asked how it came to pass, she could tell them all about 
 it. They would see in her life the best evidences of the 
 work of our Lord upon her. Is it not better to speak by 
 your life than by your lips ? Exactly so, and herein lies 
 the apparent force of this excuse for disobedience. It 
 needs some truth to keep a falsehood on its legs. Note 
 well that this woman was not permitted to withhold the 
 open avowal of her indebtedness to Christ, even though 
 it was certain that her health and her conduct woidd 
 witness to his power. I know what you say : " I need 
 not join a church : I can be a Christian at home. Bet- 
 ter live a Christian life than wear a Christian name.'^ 
 My friend, we never proposed to you that you should i^nit 
 the wearing of a Christian name in the place of a Chris- 
 tian life — Ave have solemnly spoken the reverse of such a 
 notion. We would earnestly remind you of our Saviour's 
 words, '' These things ought ye to have done, and not to 
 have left the other undone." Attention to one duty is 
 no justification for the neglect of another. I charge you, 
 disobey not in any point. Confess your Lord ; own 
 what he has done for you ; and be sure that the outcome 
 of your life supports your confession. Have the shaft of 
 godly living by all means, but crown it with the capital 
 of a brave confession. 
 
 Another pretext might have served this woman, if she 
 desired an excuse. She might truthfully have said, " It 
 is evident that an open confession is not essential to my 
 
SHE WAS XOT HID. J29 
 
 cure, for I am cured. She was licalccl immediatelj, and 
 it is added, that she felt in her body that she was healed 
 of that plague : so that she knew that she was healed, 
 and it was clear that an avowal of her faith was not 
 necessary to her receiving that great boon from the Lord. 
 Hence, many argue, " To confess Christ and join with 
 his people is not necessary to my salvation." Who said 
 it was ? Open confession is not necessary, nay, is not 
 permitted, till you are saved. How could this woman 
 have made any confession of a cure till she was cured ? 
 But being cured, it then became necessary that she should 
 confess it : not necessary to the cure, that is clear, but 
 necessary because of the cure. It is always necessary 
 for a disciple to do what his Lord bids him. It is essen- 
 tial for a soldier of the cross to follow his Captain's or- 
 ders. Jesus bids us let our light shine ; dare we hide it 
 away ? If we have received grace at his hands he would 
 have us confess that we have received it, and surelv our 
 sense of justice makes it needful for us to own our obliga- 
 tion. 
 
 Thus I have shown you that in her case many excuses 
 might have been made ; and jaij after all, it would not 
 have been a fitting thing if she had stolen away in the 
 crowd, and gone home cured without praising and blessing 
 her Lord. It would have been to her everlasting dis- 
 honor. I think she felt this when the Saviour fixed those 
 dear eyes of his upon her and said, '' Somebody hath 
 touched me." What a vision of loving-kindness and 
 peace it was to her ! In a moment she must have 
 thought, " How foolish I was to go behind him ! The 
 very look of his face is comfort, the glance of his eye is 
 joy. He would have granted my request with a smile." 
 When she saw what he was like, and perceived the right 
 
130 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 royal bearing of The Bountiful One, slie bluslied tliat 
 she had thought to steal a cure from one so ready to give 
 it. The sight of him was rebuke enough for her clan- 
 destine snatching at the blessing. As to going away then 
 without thanking him, why, methinks the moment she 
 saw his majestic mercy, the divine royalty of his good- 
 ness, she coidd not do otherwise than fall at his feet and 
 worship such a glorious Lord. AVithin herself she felt 
 that it was a marvellous cure which had come to her by a 
 touch of him, and she could not praise him enough. The 
 stones would have cried out against her is she had not 
 confessed his miracle of gracious power, and the earth 
 w^oidd have refused to bear up such a monster of ingrati- 
 tude. Instantly she fell doTvm before him, and told him 
 all the truth. The thoughts of her heart were revealed 
 by her Lord, and never was Jesus more truly adored 
 than by this poor creature, whose silence stood rebuked 
 by her Lord's love, and condemned by his immeasur- 
 able goodness. 
 
 IL Secondly, HEE HIDIXG WAS NOT PERMITTED BY 
 
 THE Saviour. I told 3^ou, in the opening of the dis- 
 course, that to have let her story finish without bringing 
 her out would have been an encouragement to that practi- 
 cal denial of Christ which consists in concealing our faith in 
 him. The unearthing of this woman from her hiding- 
 place was wrought by the Saviour himself, and therefore, 
 with all its apparent roughness, we may be sure that it 
 was the kindest thing that coidd have been done. Her 
 being brought out had the best of consequences. 
 
 For, first, an open confession on her part was needful 
 in reference to fJie Lord^s ghrf/. Beloved, the miracles of 
 Christ were the seals which God gave to his mission. 
 He was a man sent of God, and the wondrous things that 
 
SHE WAS NOT HID. 131 
 
 he did proved that God was with him. If the wonders 
 which he wrought were not made known, the seals of his 
 mission woukl have been concealed, and so would have 
 lost much of their effect. How would men kno\v^ that he 
 was tlie very Christ, if they never heard that the sick 
 were healed % If this woman concealed her cure others 
 might do the same ; and if they all did it, then Christ's 
 commission would have no visible endorsement from the 
 Lord God. I should like to impress this idea upon those 
 of you wlio do not confess your Lord: whatever is right 
 for you to do is right for other people to do. If it is 
 right for one Christian not to confess Christ, and join a 
 church, it must be allowable for other Christians to do the 
 same. Where would be churches, where would be the 
 continuance of gospel ordinances ; and for the matter of 
 that, who would be bound to be a preacher if no one is 
 even bound to make an open profession ? If you may go 
 to eaven by the back stairs so may I, and God's grand 
 entrance to the kingdom may be deserted. Who will 
 care to go to heaven by the open way, with all its respon- 
 sibility and opposition, if you can just as easily take the 
 snug road behind the hedges, and slink into glory with- 
 out observation \ It will not do, brethren, if we consider 
 what the Lord Jesus Christ deserves of us, and how our 
 open confession tends to certify his mission. The change 
 wrought in the spiritual and moral condition of the saved 
 is God's attestation of the gospel ; and if this is not to be 
 spoken of, how is the world to know that God has sent 
 the gospel at all % 
 
 Further, remember that our LonVs miracles tvere lUiis- 
 trative of his teachincf. Properly viewed, the miracles of 
 Christ are the pictures of a v.^lume of which his sermons 
 are the letterpress. You take The Illustrated London 
 
132 SHE IV AS NOT HID. 
 
 Neivs, and jou get tlie description of a public building, or 
 the account of a grand ceremony : you are glad of the 
 printed account, but you are much helped to form an idea 
 of the whole business by the engravings. You would 
 not like to lose the woodcut, which is the chief feature 
 of value in the paper. Now, in our Saviour's ministry 
 his words were the letterpress, and his miracles were the 
 engravings. If the engraving is to be torn away, or 
 pasted over, a great injury is done to the paper ; and 
 even so our Lord's teaching would be greatly marred if 
 its miracles were concealed. I showed you, last Lord's 
 morning, that the healing of this woman was a wonder- 
 fully instructive incident ; how could it remain unknown? 
 Must it be passed over to gratify her fear I Must Jesus 
 work this wonder, and nobody ever hear about it f As 
 God is seen in his works of creation, Jesus is seen in his 
 miracles of grace. Shall we rob him of his glory ? God 
 forbid that we should do him this serious dishonor. When 
 first I knew the Lord, if anybody had said to me, " You 
 will be ashamed to confess Christ, although he has saved 
 you. The day will come when you will blush to o^vn his 
 name," I shoidd have felt indignant at the suggestion. 
 Why, I wanted to tell everybody of the Saviour's love. 
 If there had been nobody else to hear me, I shoidd have 
 told the cat. I felt like Bunyan did when he said he 
 wanted to tell the crows on the ploughed land all about 
 it. I cannot understand how it is that you who know the 
 Saviour, or think you do, can imagine it to be right to 
 hide away, and cover up the glory of Christ. Oh, tell 
 it ! Tell it all the world over that he has healed us, for- 
 given us, and saved us. 
 
 But the confession had to be made /or tlie sake of others. 
 Do any of you wish to live imto yourselves f If you do, 
 
SUE IVAS NOT HID. 133 
 
 you need saving from selfishness. I liave seen it brought 
 as a charge against evangelical religion that we teach 
 men to look to their own salvation first, and that this is a 
 kind of spiritual selfishness. Ah, but if that salvation 
 means salvation from selfishness, where is the selfishness 
 of it ? It is a very material point in salvation to be saved 
 from hardness of heart and carelessness about others. 
 Do you want to go to heaven alone ? I fear you will 
 never go there. Have you no wish for others to be 
 saved ? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of 
 that. What is the most natural plan to use for the sal- 
 vation of others but to bear your own personal testimony ? 
 Our Lord healed this woman for the good of the whole 
 crowd. They must have all been astonished when they 
 heard her story. He did it especially for the good of 
 Jairus. Jairus' little daughter had been living twelve 
 years, and this poor woman had been dying twelve years 
 — ^note the exact time in each ease. Surely there was a 
 loud call to Jairus in this cure to exercise faith in Jesus, 
 and it must have greatly helped his faith, which was not 
 quite so strong as it seemed. 
 
 Do you not think that her public declaration was re- 
 quired for the good of our LorcVs disciples f When they 
 heard her story, did they not treasure it up, and speak 
 of it to one another in after days, and thereby strengthen 
 each other's faith ? The remembrance of these remark- 
 able* miracles, which they saw their Master work, would 
 serve them in good stead in times of persecution. Be- 
 loved, had not the Lord an eye even to you and to me, 
 who were to be born by his grace centuries later on ? 
 Do you not think that he fetched the healed one out 
 on purpose that this being but into the gospel might 
 bring out hidden ones throughout all generations ? Did 
 
134 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 not our Lord foresee that many would be encouraged to 
 touch the hem of his garment by faith through hearing 
 of her cure ? Thus, you see, the trembling woman must 
 own her Lord, that her Lord's household may be blest 
 thereby. 
 
 But especially she had to do this ybr lier own good. 
 The Saviour had designs of love in bringing this poor 
 trembler forward before all the people. By this he saved 
 her from a host of fears which would have haunted her. 
 Suppose she had gone home healed, and had never con- 
 fessed it; surely she Avould have felt uneasy? A sense of 
 having stolen the boon without leave or license would have 
 caused her uneasy dreams and sad apprehensions. She 
 would worry herself with the fear that the disease would 
 soon return again, or that she would die from a fearful 
 judgment. Besides, she would have said to herself, ^' I 
 was little better than a thief. I did not come in by the 
 door, but climbed over the wall. I am afraid it will go 
 hard Avith me at the day of judgment. Will a man rob 
 God? Have not I robbed the Saviour himself ? " All 
 such fears were rendered impossible by her open confes- 
 sion, and that which followed upon it. Jesus assured her 
 that he had taken no offence ; he wished her to have no 
 fears, for, said he, '^ Thy faith hath saved thee. G-o in 
 peace." 
 
 She had been a very timid and trembling woman, but 
 noAV she would shake off all improper timidity. I have 
 known many persons cured of timidity by coming forward 
 to confess Christ. I could mention cases of persons who 
 have been very retiring, and scarcely able to say a word 
 upon any subject, but when they joined the church and 
 were baptized, their open confession broke the ice, and 
 the waters of their life were set in motion. Our Lord 
 
SHE WAS XOT HID, 135 
 
 removes this infirmity by our obedience : ^^ in keeping 
 his commandments there is great reward." 
 
 Our Lord also gave her an increased blessing after her 
 confession. Perhaps the Lord is reserving some great 
 favor for some of you Avhen you avow his name. You 
 hide indoorSj and he allows you milk enough to live 
 upon ; but if you would come out and confess him, he 
 would feed you with the strong meat of the kingdom. 
 You would become a braver and more useful person if 
 you would take up your cross. You are now like Saul, 
 the son of Kish, hiding among the stuff : come out and 
 be a king. Confess what Christ has done for ycu. For 
 what did the Saviour give her % 
 
 He gave her clearly to know her relationship to him. 
 He said, ^' Daughter !" I do not know that the Saviour 
 ever called any other woman daughter, for he w^as 
 guarded in his speech to women ; but to this one woman 
 he said, ^^ Daughter." Oh, may the Lord give trembhng 
 ones to see and feel the near and dear relationship wdiich 
 exists between Christ and their souls ! May your son- 
 ship come up before your minds most vividly, as a re- 
 ward of obedience. May Jesus say to some of you, "Son, 
 be of good comfort;" or to another, "Daughter, be of 
 good cheer, thy faith hath saved thee." " What woidd 
 I give," says one, "if Jesus would call me ^ daughter!'" 
 Give him your whole self by believing in him, and con- 
 fession of him, and see if he does not reveal to you his 
 love. What choice revelations you lose through sinful 
 silence I cannot tell you ; but assuredly you miss many 
 a cheering word from your Lord's own lip. If you will 
 not own him, how can you expect him to give you the 
 spirit of adoption % If you receive instead the spirit of 
 bondage you cannot wonder. 
 
136 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 Next, note that our Lord gave her joyousness. He said, 
 '-'' Daughter, be of good couifort." Smooth those wrinkles 
 from thy brow, my daughter. 
 
 "Why sliould tlie cliildreii of a king 
 Go monruing all their days ? " 
 
 ^^ Be of good comfort." Ah, friends ! you hang your 
 heads. Perhaps if you had grace enough to OT\ai Jesus 
 more fully, you would hold your heads up, and the sun 
 would shine into your faces, and you woidd march joy- 
 fully all the rest of yoiu' lives. I advise you to try it. 
 One of the best medicine:s for low spirits will be found in 
 a courageous obedience to Jesus. Keep, close to the 
 Crucified and your own cross will grow light in fellow- 
 ship with him. 
 
 Next, notice that he gave a commendation to her faith: 
 ^^ Thy faith hath made thee whole." Why, it was not 
 her faith which made her whole, was it ! No, but Jesus 
 puts his own crown upon the head of faith. It is always 
 safe for Jesus to crown faith, because faith always crowns 
 Jesus. Her faith would answer, ^^ Lord, I did nothing, 
 thou didst it all," and, therefore, Jesus ascribes her heal- 
 ing to her faith. How much I desire that you, who are 
 now afraid of your own faith, would win your Lord's 
 praise by coming out and bearing witness to what he has 
 done for you ! Then will you not only believe, but also 
 know that you have believed, and end for ever your 
 present state of miserable doubt. 
 
 Then the Lord gave her a word of precious quieting. 
 He said, ^^ Go in peace." As much as to say : Do not 
 stop in this crowd, to be pushed about or stared at, but 
 go home in quiet. Go home to your house, and to your 
 friends, with a light heart. All is well. You enjoy my 
 favor. I have called you daughter, and I will never dis- 
 
SHE WAS NOT HID. I37 
 
 own you. I liavo blessed you, and you shall be blessed. 
 I give you peace on earth, and peace in heaven, you 
 that do love the Lord, and trust him, but yet have never 
 declared your faith according to his command, you say, 
 ^^ We do not know how it is, but while we hear of God's 
 people having great peace, we do not enjoy it." You 
 cannot expect to have peace, and yet be disobedient. If 
 you do not side with Jesus, do you expect him to be at 
 your side ? You shall have bread and water, so that 
 your soul shall be kept alive ; but you cannot taste the 
 wines on the lees, nor the fat things full of marrow, so 
 long as you do not confess your Lord. The dainties of 
 the cupboard are not for disobedient children. Are you 
 ashamed of Jesus % How, then, can you expect him to 
 give you the kisses of his mouth % That he shoidd save 
 you will be more than his promise ; but as he loves 
 you, he must and will discipline you miless you con- 
 fess his name and his work. Why do you lose present 
 comfort by neglect % All in the train of faith will go to 
 heaven ; but why do so many ride third-class, or even 
 get into cattle-trucks % Why not ride first-class ? To 
 be out-and-out for Christ is to ride first-class. Confess 
 your Lord. Determine never to hide your colors. Be 
 heart and soul a Christian. Live for Jesus, and be ready 
 to die for him : this is to go to heaven first-class ; and 
 why should you not? Why will you be fretting and 
 fuming, moaning and mourning, when you might as well 
 be singing and dancing and feasting in the presence of 
 your Lord and his household ? Do you hesitate to own 
 your Lord and Master ? Ah, me ! how shall I sufficiently 
 grieve over you ? Let not another day pass over your 
 head till you have left Cowards' Castle and come into the 
 ranks of the army of the Lord of hosts. 
 
138 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 III. Thus I have already reached my last point: YOUR 
 HIDING OUGHT TO BE ENDED. '^^ Whom are you speak- 
 ing to, sir ? " Well, not to you, dear friends, \yho are 
 always to the front, lifting the banner of the cross. 
 ^' Whom are you speaking to, sir % " To you, my friend, 
 if you are really a disciple, but secretly, for fear of the 
 Jews. If you keep yourself to yourself, it is to you that 
 I am speaking, and I desire to press upon you your 
 obligations. What oivest thou to my Lordf You are 
 washed from your uncleanness. You are clothed with 
 the robe of righteousness. You are accepted in the Be- 
 loved. You know that you have passed from death to 
 life. Unless fearfully mistaken, you know that you are 
 the Lord's. Well, then, OAvn it. Do not be ashamed to 
 take your place in the cross-bearing procession, and fol- 
 low the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. By your love to 
 Jesus, do not turn to the right, seeking your own ease ; 
 nor to the left, aiming at the peace of others, but go 
 straight on where duty and Jesus lead you. This is still 
 the way to honor and immortality. 
 
 Do you not think you owe something to the church of 
 God, which kept the gospel alive in the world for you to 
 hear ? Did not a band of godly men and women meet 
 together, and see that the gospel was preached ! Was 
 it not so that you were saved ? Should you not help to 
 keep that church going by whose means you were brought 
 to Jesus ? 
 
 May I be permitted also to say, I think you oive some- 
 thing to the minister tvho led you to Jesus f What a cheer 
 it is to us when we get a letter from one who has found 
 the Lord through our teaching ; and better still, when 
 face to face we meet one who has trusted the Saviour 
 through our poor instrumentality ! Those who are sowers 
 
SUE WAS NOT HID. "139 
 
 of the seed know what a joj it is to see it spring up. 
 Who are the people who cause us needless depression ? 
 Who are those who withhold needful encoura2:ement ? 
 Why, those who do not come out and tell what grace has 
 done for them. For the sake of those who labor amons: 
 you in word and doctrine^ I beseech you come forward. 
 Common gratitude should lead you to let us know that 
 our labor is not in vain in the Lord.. 
 
 Besides, yon owe it to yourselves. Are you going to be 
 mere bats, fluttering out when none will observe you, 
 and hiding from the light ? Arc you going to be like 
 mice, which only come out at night to nibble in the pan- 
 try ? Quit yourselves like men ! you that are hidden 
 in the clefts of the rocks, let the Saviour hear your voices, 
 and see your countenances ! 
 
 You owe it to your family. You slioidd tell your house- 
 hold what grace has done for you. Many a person won- 
 ders that his sons and daughters do not turn out well, 
 when he himself has never been openly on the Lord's 
 side. '' Oh," says one, " but then I am right in my 
 heart." But is the light within to be shut up in a dark 
 lantern ? Who is to read a closed book ? We want to 
 see in the shop-window of your life some of the goods 
 which are stored in the warehouse of your heart, or how 
 can you trade for your Lord? When a man boldly says, 
 ^'I believe in Jesus," and proves it by his actions, it has 
 a holy influence upon his children, his servants, his com- 
 panions : do you not desire to influence them aright ? 
 
 Do you not think you owe it to your neiylibors to shoiv 
 your colors f Why, there are whole streets in this city 
 where scarcely a single person goes to a place of public 
 worship. Should he slink there as if half ashamed of it ? 
 What is to become of us if the little salt loses its savor 1 
 
140 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 There are regions in this city in which dwell hundreds 
 of thousands of inhabitants in which attendance at public 
 worship is so scanty that the churches and chapels have 
 only a sprinkling of people. Should not you that love 
 the Lord be very earnest to let it be known that there is 
 still a God to be worshipped, a Savioiir to be trusted ? 
 In these evil days above all others — 
 
 '* Ye that are men now serve him, 
 Against unnumbered foes ; 
 Your courage rise with danger, 
 
 And strength to strength ojipose." 
 
 Many crowd around him when Christ is on the winning 
 hand. What is the worth of their hosannas % The style 
 of man that a crucified Christ delights in is he who fol- 
 lows his Lord in the day of blasphemy and reproach. A 
 true soldier of Jesus can stand up for his Lord alone. 
 He is as true to Jesus when he is the only one as he 
 would be if all the million went after him. Blessed is he 
 who is not offended with Jesus, nor ashamed of his cross. 
 O ye saved ones, run up your colors ; fly them at the 
 mast-head, nail them there ; and never let the enemy 
 take them down. Oh that God would move every one 
 here that has been a little shy or backward to go without 
 the camp and bear the Lord's reproach ! 
 
 Now let me hear some of your ohjcctions, and answer 
 them. I hope I have been answering them all through 
 my sermon. Here is one. ^' Well, you knov,^, Mr. Spur- 
 geon, I am such an insignificant person. It cannot make 
 any diff'erence what I do." Yes, and this woman was a 
 very insignificant person — only a woman ! When I 
 speak thus in English^ it is a very ungallant speech, but 
 if a Rabbi had said it in Christ's day, it would not have 
 seemed at all out of place^ for they taught that no holy 
 
SHE WAS NOT HID. 141 
 
 person ought, in the streets, to allow a woman's dress to 
 touch him, lest he should be defiled thereby. They 
 thought that if a scribe tried to teach a woman the law, 
 he dishonored the law by doing so. Religious men 
 lightly esteemed women in the Saviour's day. Our 
 divine Lord never gave the slightest sanction to such an 
 abominable spirit, and I am not going to lend any sanc- 
 tion to your saying ^^ I am only a poor feeble v/oman." 
 God thinks much of the lowly : you must not talk so. 
 Besides, many of you do not think so meanly of your- 
 selves as you pretend to do when you want to avoid your 
 duty. Do not excuse yourselves through pretended 
 humility. If the Lord bought you with his blood, you 
 are not so insignificant that you can be allowed to deny 
 him your service. 
 
 *^ But coming out and joining a church, and all that, is 
 such an ordeal." So it may be. In this woman's case, 
 it was a far greater ordeal than it can be to you. Pict- 
 ure her, with her delicacy of feeling, called into the 
 midst of all that crowd to confess her cure ! Ready to 
 sink into the earth ! An unclean person who had broken 
 the ceremonial law ! How she longed to hide herself 
 away ! Yet the tender Lord, for her own sake, would 
 have her stand forth, and what seemed an ordeal became 
 a joy. Jesus does not excuse one of his healed ones from 
 owning the work of his grace. A dear lady, who has 
 long since gone to glory, was once an honored member 
 of this church : it was Lady Burgoyne, and when she 
 wished to unite with us she said to me, " Dear sir, I can- 
 not go before the church. It is more than I can manage 
 to make a confession of Christ before the members." I 
 told her that we could make no exception for anybody, 
 and especially not for her, who was so well established in 
 
142 ^'"^^ ^^'^-^ ^'^^^' ^^^^ 
 
 the faith that she coiild surely answer a few questions 
 before those who were her brethren and sisters in the 
 Lord. She came bravely, and spoke most sweetly for 
 her Lord. Some of you may remember her, with her 
 sweet countenance, and venerable bearing. When she 
 had owned her Lord, she put both her hands on mine, 
 and said emphatically, '' With all my heart I thank you 
 for this ; I shall never be ashamed of Christ now. When 
 aristocratic friends call upon me I will speak to them of 
 my Lord." She did so constantly. You never found 
 her slow to introduce the gospel, whoever might be with 
 her. She frequently said to me, " Oh, VAdiat a training 
 that was for me ! I might have been a timid one all my 
 days if I had not made that confession before the church." 
 Now I say to you, if it be an ordeal, undergo it for 
 Christ's sake. But indeed, it should be a pleasure to 
 own your Lord among his own disciples. 
 
 " Alas !" says one, " I could not tell of what the Lord 
 has done for me, because mine is such a sorrowful story. 
 You know what I used to be, sir, sovereign grace has 
 made me to differ, but my former life silences me ! " 
 Was it not so Avith this woman ? How could she tell her 
 story ? But then it was to the glory of God, and so, 
 ^^she told him all the truth." Whatever you were before 
 you were converted, never boast of it ; but at the same 
 time do not deny it, but honor your Saviour. Remember 
 how often Paul tells us what he was before conversion. 
 If any rake up your, old sin, answer that it is sadly true, 
 but you have been washed, and much has been forgiven 
 you. Own that you were the chief of sinners, and that 
 even noAV you are less than the least of all saints, but the 
 Lord has brought you from death to life, to the glory of 
 his name. 
 
SUE WAS NOT HID. 143 
 
 ^^ I luave so little to tcll,'^ says one. That is a good 
 reason why you should tell it^ for it will be all the easier 
 for you to do so. He that has little to tell shoidd tell it 
 straight away. I will give you no other answer than 
 that. But still, if you can tell that the Lord Jesus has 
 washed you in his precious blood, I do not think it is a 
 little thing to tell. If you can say, '^ Whereas I was 
 blind, noAV I see," say it, and do not think it a little 
 thing. Once you thought it the greatest fact you 
 could possibly know : think so still. Don't garnish the 
 story, but state it just as it happened. 
 
 *^ But perhaps people may not believe me." Did I 
 tell you that you were to make them believe you % Is 
 that your business ? You are to do right, whatever the 
 consequences may be. But they will believe yeu, if you 
 deserve to be believed. When we meet together as be- 
 lievers, and hear the story of a sinner saved by grace, 
 we are none of us suspicious : sometimes we are a little 
 too quick to believe, and are apt to be deceived. Do not 
 fear that you will be distrusted. Confess your faith at 
 any rate, and God will bless your testimony. 
 
 '•'' Ah !" says one, " but suppose after I had confessed 
 Christ I should become as bad as ever." Suppose that 
 this woman had supposed such a sad thing, and had said, 
 ^^ Lord I cannot confess that thou hast healed me, for 
 I do not know how I may be in six months' time." She 
 was not so mistrustful. '^ But suppose the Lord should 
 leave me, and suffer me to leave him." Yes, and sup- 
 pose you were to leave off supposing anything of the sort, 
 and just take his promise as it stands. ^' He that be- 
 lieveth in him hath everlasting life." "He that belie veth 
 and is baptized shall be saved," Do you believe his 
 word % Then lay aside such suspicions. Jesus does not 
 
144 SHE WAS NOT HID. 
 
 give us a triimpeiy, temporary salvation ; lie does not 
 save us for a quarter of a year and then leave us. If 
 saved by him, you will be for ever saved ! He is the 
 Author of eternal salvation. If he gives you a new heart 
 it is a new heart, and will never become an old one. If 
 he puts the water of life within you^ he does not put it 
 there as you sprinkle the pavement before your shop in 
 the morning, which is soon dried up, but he says, '•'' The 
 water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of 
 water springing up into everlasting life." When I 
 trusted Christ, I did not trust him to save me for a year 
 or two, but for ever. When you go the heavenly journey, 
 take a ticket all the way through. Some of our friends take 
 a ticket to the next station, and rush out to get another, 
 Take your ticket for the New Jerusalem, and not for a 
 halfway-house. The train will never break down, and 
 the track will never be torn up. If you can trust Jesus 
 Christ to carry you through to glory, he wUl do it. Let 
 not that fear disturb you. 
 
 ^^ Ah ! '^ says one more, ^4t seems too good to be true. 
 I cannot think that such a one as I may dare to link my- 
 self with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is so great and so 
 glorious." Yet this is your only hope. You are only 
 saved through being in Christ. This may be too great, 
 too good for us to imagine, but then we need not imagine 
 it; it is clearly revealed in the infallible Word of God. 
 He that believeth in Jesus is one with him. Come, then, 
 and own that blessed oneness. 
 
 Be one with Christ to-day in his humiliation, and you 
 shall be one with him by-and-by in his glory. Ee 
 despised and ridiculed for his sake, and you shaU be 
 honored and glorified with him in the day when he ap- 
 peareth. God bless you for Christ's sake I Amen. 
 
VII. 
 
 ^^ David's spoil.'' 
 
 April 15, 1888. 
 "This is David's spoil." -1 Samuel xxx. 20. 
 
 We have aforetime gathered spoil for ourselves out of 
 David's behavior in the hour of his sorrow at Ziklag, 
 and we will now turn to the other side of this leaf in his 
 history, and receive instruction from the time of his vic- 
 tory. But we must not do this till we have refreshed 
 our memories with the story of his conduct under dis- 
 tress. When he came to the city he found it burned 
 with fire, the property of himself and comrades carried 
 away, and, what Avas worse, all their wives, and their 
 sons, and their daughters, gone into captivity. In the 
 madness of their grief the people turned upon their lead- 
 er, as if he had led them into this calamity. lie was the 
 only calm person among them, for he " encouraged him- 
 self in the Lord his God." With due deliberation he 
 waited upon the Lord, and consulted the oracle through 
 the appointed priest, and then, under divine guidance, he 
 pursued the banditti, took them at unawares, recovered 
 all his people's goods, and captured a large booty Avhicli 
 the Amalekites had collected elsewhere. David, who 
 had been the chief object of the people's mutiny, and the 
 leader of the successful pursuit of the robbers, most prop- 
 erly received a special portion of the spoil, and concern- 
 
 a45) 
 
146 *' DAVID'S SPOILS 
 
 ing it the words of our text were spoken, ^* This is 
 David's spoil." 
 
 We shall now look into this victorious act on the part 
 of David with the view of finding spiritual teaching in it. 
 David rnay be regarded as a very special type of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Among the personal types David 
 holds a leading place, for in so many points he is the 
 prophetic foreshadowing of the great and glorious Son of 
 David. Whenever David acts as the man after God's 
 own heart, he is the picture and emblem of the One who 
 is still more after God's own heart, even the Christ of God- 
 David, under divine guidance, pursued the Amalekites, 
 who had come as thieves to smite and to burn, and carry 
 away captive. The marauders were overtaken and 
 slaughtered, and a great spoil was the result. David re- 
 covered all that the Amalekites had taken. ''■ And there 
 was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, 
 neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything 
 that they had taken to them : David recovered all." 
 We are told several times over in the chapter that noth- 
 ing was lacking : " David recovered all." When our 
 Lord Jesus wrought out cur redemption, he recovered 
 all, and left nothing in the enemy's hand. All glory to 
 his name ! But over and above, David took great store 
 of cattle, and jewels, and gold, and silver, and so forth, 
 which belonged to the Amalekites, and out of this a 
 bountiful portion was taken which was set apart as David's 
 spoil. David's men, in the moment of their despair, had 
 spoken of stoning him *, but now, in the morning of their 
 victory, with general acclamations, they determine that 
 David shall have, as his portion of the spoil, all the 
 cattle which belong to the Amalekites themselves ; and 
 so, driving these in front, as they return to Ziklag, they 
 
"^ DAVID'S spoil:' 147 
 
 say, ^' This is David's spoil." I think I hear them, as 
 they drive the bullocks and the sheep before them, shout- 
 in (^ riglit lustily, ^^ This is David's spoil." 
 
 Now, using David as the type of Christ, I want, if I 
 can, to set all David's men — all Christ's men — shouting 
 with all their hearts, ^' This is Jesus' spoil ! " He it is 
 of whom Jehovah saith, '' I will divide him a portion with 
 the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.'^ 
 Pie has a grand reward as the result of the great battle 
 of his life and death. We will even now award to him the 
 spoil, and cry, " This is David's spoil ; " feeling, all the 
 while, as the Psalmist did, when he said, ^' Thou art 
 more glorious and excellent than the momitains of prey.'^ 
 
 I. We begin with the first observation that, practically, 
 all the spoil of that day was David^s spoil, and in truth 
 
 ALL THE GOOD THAT WE ENJOY COMES TO US THROUGH 
 
 OUR Lord Je^us. He has been given as a Leader and 
 a Commander to the people, and every victory they win 
 is due to him, and to him alone. Without him we can 
 do nothing, and without him we can ohtain nothing. All 
 that we once possessed by nature, and under the law, the 
 spoiler has taken away. By our own efforts we can 
 never regain what we have lost; only through our great 
 Leader can we be restored and made happy. We ascribe 
 unto Jesus all our gains, even as David's men honored 
 their captain. 
 
 For, first, David's men defeated the Amalekites, and 
 took their spoil, but it ivas for DavicVs sake that God gave 
 success to the hand. God's eye rested upon his chosen 
 servant, the Lord's anointed, and it was not for the war- 
 riors' own sakes, but for David's sake, that God guided 
 them to the hosts of Amalek^ and gave them like driven 
 stubble to their sword. How much more true it is to us 
 
148 ''DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 that Gv^ery blessing, every pardoning mercy, every de- 
 livering mercy, is given to us through him who is our 
 shield and God's anointed ! It is for the sake of Jesus 
 that we are pardoned, justified, accepted, preserved, 
 sanctified. Only through this channel does the mercy 
 of God come to us. The Lord God saith, ^^ Not for 
 your sakes do I this, O house of Israel ! Be ashamed 
 and confounded for your own ways ; '^ and we, in re- 
 sponse to that, can answer, ^^ Not imto us, not mito us, 
 but unto the name of the Well-beloved be praise, and 
 honor, and glory, for ever and ever ! " Since everything 
 comes to us because of Christ Jesus, we may say of every 
 covenant mercy, " This is David's spoil.'' On this bless- 
 ing, and on that favor, yea, on them all, we see the 
 mark of the cross. These are all fruits of our Eedeemer's 
 passion, the purchase of his blood. Again we say with 
 gratitude, '^ This is David's spoil." 
 
 Moreover, Z)az;i"(Z's me?^ gained tli) vidori/ over AmaJeJo 
 hecause of David's leadership. If he had not been there 
 to lead them to the fight, in the moment of their despair 
 they would have lost all heart, and would have remained 
 amidst the burning walls of Ziklag, a discomfited com- 
 pany. But David encouraged himself in the Lord, and 
 so encouraged all his desponding followers. Drawing 
 his SAVord, and marching in front, he put spirit into 
 them : they all followed with eager step because their 
 gallant leader so courageously led the way. This is exactly 
 our case, beloved, only we are even more indebted to our 
 L(jrd Jesus than these men were to David. The Lord 
 Jesus Christ has been here among us, and has fought 
 our battle for us, and recovered all that we had lost by 
 Adam's fall and by our own sin. It is written of him, 
 ^' He shall not fail nor be discouraored." You know how 
 
''DAVID'S SPOIW 149 
 
 he set his face like a flint, how stout-hearted he was to 
 accomplish the work of our redemption, and liow he 
 ceased not till he coidd cry victoriously, ^^ It is finished." 
 
 ''Our fflorions Leader elaims onr praise 
 For his own pattern given." 
 
 Following at his feet, we, too, fight with sin. Tread- 
 ing in his footsteps we, too, overcome the world, the flesh, 
 and the devil. Have you never heard him say, " Be of 
 good cheer, I have overcome the world " ? And you, 
 dear brothers and sisters, whatever victories you win, 
 whatever spoils you divide, A\'ill own that it is through 
 Jesus that you have conquered. They said of Waterloo 
 that it was a soldiers' battle, and the victory was due to 
 the men ; but ours is our Conniiander's battle, and every 
 victory won by us is due to the great Captain of our sal- 
 vation. Let the crown be set upon his head, even on 
 the battle-field, and let us say of every sin that we have 
 overcome, every evil habit that we have destroyed 
 "This is David's spoil." We had never won this victory 
 if Jesus had not led us : we have it for his sake. We 
 have it under his leadership. Without exception, all the 
 saints on earth and in heaven confess this to be true, 
 
 *' I ask them whence their victory came ? 
 They, with united breath, 
 Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, 
 Their triumph to his death. 
 
 They mark'd the footsteps that he trod, 
 
 His zeal inspired their breast. 
 And, following their incarnate God, 
 
 Possess the promised rest=" 
 
 I will not say more upon this point, but only ask you 
 to remember that by nature we had all lost everything. 
 
150 '^ DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 We lost the garden with all its Paradisiacal joys ; lost 
 this world^ the very earth bringing forth thorns and 
 thistles to us ; lost life^ lost hope, lost peace, lost the 
 favor of God. But Jesus has recovered all. All that the 
 first Adam lost, the second Adam has restored. David 
 recovered all, and Jesus has recovered all. We our- 
 selves were lost ; but Jesus has brought us back from 
 the hand of the enemy. He has given us ourselves, if I 
 may use such an expression, and now we who were 
 dead are alive again, the lost are found. Once, every 
 faculty of ours was being used for our oa^ti destruction, 
 but now, sanctified by the grace of God, all is being used 
 for God's glory, and for our OAvn ripening and perfecting. 
 Jesus has recovered us for ourselves and for our God : the 
 prey has been taken from the mighty, and the lawful 
 captive has been delivered. 
 
 Yes, and our Lord Jesus has recovered for us the 
 future as well as the past. Our outlook was grim and 
 dark indeed till Jesus came ; but oh, how bright it is 
 now that he has completed his glorious work ! Death is 
 no more the dreaded grave of all our hopes. Hell exists 
 no longer for believers. Heaven, whose gates were 
 closed, is now set wide open to every soul that believeth. 
 We have recovered life and immortal bliss. We are 
 snatched like brands from the burning, and are made to 
 shine like lamps of the palace of the great King. We 
 are set up to be for ever trophies of the conquering power 
 of Jesus, our glorious David. Look at all the saints in 
 heaven in their serried ranks, and say of them all, ^^ This 
 is David's spoil.'' Look at the blood-bought church of 
 God on earth — the ten thousands that are already washed 
 in his blood, and following at his feet — we may say of all 
 this ransomed flock, ''This is David's spoil." Each one 
 
'' DAVID'S SPOIL.'' 151 
 
 of US, looking at himsolf, and all his past, and all his 
 future, may say, ^' This, too, is David's spoil." Christ 
 has done it, and done it all, and unto his name let the 
 whole host shout the victory. 
 
 I feel as if I could stop the sermon, and ask you to 
 sing, but it will be better if I content myself with repeat- 
 ing, the hymn — 
 
 " Rejoice, ye shining worlds on liigh, 
 Behold the King of glory nigh! 
 He conies adorned Avith victory, 
 He made our foes before him flee. 
 
 *' Ye heavenly gates, yonr leaves display, 
 To make the Lord the Saviour way ! 
 Laden with spoils from earth and hell. 
 The Conqueror comes with God to dwelL 
 
 *' Raised from the dead, he goes before; 
 ,»He opens heaven's eternal door: 
 To give his saints a blest abode. 
 Near their Redeemer and their God." 
 
 II. But the most interesting part of our subject is 
 this : all the booty was practically David's spoil, but 
 there was a part of it which was not recovered, but was 
 a clear gain. They recovered all they had lost, and 
 over and above there was a surplus of spoil from the de- 
 feated foe. Now, in the great battle of Christ on our 
 behalf, he has not only given us back what we lost, but 
 h3 has given us what Adam in his perfection never had. 
 And I want you to dwell upon that, because this part of 
 it is peculiarly our Lord's spoil. Those good things 
 
 WHICH WE NOW POSSESS, OVER AND ABOVE WHAT WE 
 LOST BY SIN, COME TO US BY THE LORD JeSUS. Now 
 
 that the Son of God has come into the field, he is not 
 
152 ''DAVID'S SPOIL.'' 
 
 content with restoration, lie turns the loss into a gain^ the 
 fall into a greater rising. 
 
 And first, dear friends, think : In Christ Jesus human 
 nature is lifted up ivhere it never could have been before. 
 Man was made in his innocence to occupy a very lofty 
 place. ^' Thou madest him to have dominion over all 
 the works of thy hands j thou hast put all things under 
 his feet." Man would have enjoyed that dominion had 
 he never fallen, but he never could have obtained what 
 he has now gained, for ^^ we see Jesus, who was made a 
 little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, 
 crowned with glory and honor.'^ And we see in Jesus 
 human natm-e joined in mysterious imion Avith the God- 
 head. I never know how to speak about this miracle of 
 the divine incarnation. We are men and women, poor 
 creatures at our very best ; yet in Christ Jesus our dig- 
 nity is perfectly amazing. Angels excel in strength and 
 beauty, but no angel was ever joined to the Godhead as 
 manhood is now united to God. The nearest being to 
 God is man. The noblest existence — how shall I word 
 it? — the noblest of all beings is God, and the God-man 
 Christ Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
 head bodily, is with him upon his throne. It is a won- 
 drous honor this — that manhood should be taken into in- 
 timate connection, yea, absolute union with God ! For 
 listen : through Jesus Christ we are this day made the 
 sons of God, which angels never were. ^^ Unto which of 
 the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son ? " But 
 he has said this to us. Christ took not up angels, but he 
 took up the seed of Abraham, and he has made the be- 
 lieving seed of Abraham to be the sons of God. Listen 
 again : " And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God.'^ 
 God's heirs ! What a word is this ! How simple, but 
 
''DAVID'S SPOILS 153 
 
 liow suWime ! I know how to say it, but not how to ex- 
 pound it ! It docs not want explanation, and yet its 
 depths are fathomless. Every believer is God's heir — 
 the heir of God. Could this have been, had there been 
 no fall and no redemption I Children and heirs are more 
 than was ever spoken of in Eden. Ay, listen yet again. 
 Now we .are one with God in Christ Jesus 5 for it is writ- 
 ten concerning our Lord, "• We are members of his body, 
 of his flesh, and of his bones." Close as the marriage- 
 union is, yet Paul declared, when he spake of it, ^^ This 
 is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and 
 the church." Unfallen manhood was never declared to 
 be one with the Son of God, and yet through the cove- 
 Hcint of grace this is our position. We are joined by 
 vital, real, conjugal union to Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
 Highest, very God of very God ; and this is an elevation 
 so transcendent that I feel bowed down beneath the 
 weight of glory which is revealed in us. The most glori- 
 ous being next to God is man. A sinner most shameful 
 once, but now in Christ a child accepted and honored ! 
 What can I say of this but " This is David's spoil " ? 
 This is what Jesus brought us. It came to us by no 
 other way or method. Neither do we know in what way 
 or method it could have been given to us, but by the will 
 of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is given to us 
 through Jesus Christ, our elder Brother and our cove- 
 nant Head, and unto him let the glory of it be ascribed 
 world without end. 
 
 Another blessing which w^as not ours before the fall, 
 and therefore never was lost, but comes to us as a sur- 
 plusage, is the fact that tve are redeemed. You sang just 
 now that verse, 
 
154: -''DAVID'S SPOIL.'' 
 
 " Never did angels taste above 
 Redeeming grace and dying love." 
 
 It is clear tliat you could never have known free grace 
 and dying love if Jesus had not come to redeem you. 
 Unfallen intelligent spirits will say in eternity^ ^^ Do you 
 see those beings bowing nearest to the eternal throne I 
 Do you see those wxll-beloved creatures? Who are 
 they % " Spirits that have lived in other w^orlds will come 
 crowding up to the great metropolis, and will say one to 
 another, ^' Who are those courtiers — those that dwell 
 nearest to God f Who are they % " And one spirit wdil 
 say to another, '-'' They are beings whom God not only 
 made as he made us, but wdiom the eternal Son of God 
 redeemed by blood." And one shining one will say to 
 his fellow, ^' What is that ? Tell me that strange story.'' 
 Then will his companion delight to say, '^ They were 
 saved because the Son of God took their nature, and in 
 that nature died." "Wonderful! Wonderful!" his 
 friend will answer. "How could it be % Was there suf- 
 fering for them, and pain for them, and bloody sweat for 
 them, and death for. them on the part of the ever blessed 
 Son of God ? " The answer " It was even so," will be 
 new^s full of astonishment even to the best instructed 
 celestial mind. Spirits will look at us with wonder, and 
 say, " What strange beings are these % Others are the 
 work of God's hands, but these are the fruit of the travail 
 of his soul. On others we see the marks of divine skill 
 and power, but here we see the tokens of a divine sacri- 
 fice — a divine blood-shedding." Truly, we may say of 
 our redemption, " This is David's spoil." That you and 
 I should be such wonders as we must be in being re- 
 deemed beings, is indeed something given to us by Jesus 
 over and above what Adam lost ; and throughout eternity 
 
''DAVID'S SPOIL." 155 
 
 all the sacred brotherhood of the redeemed by blood will 
 be princes in the courts of God — the aristocracy of 
 heaven, for ^^ he hath made us kings and priests unto 
 God.'' 
 
 We shall he creatures ivlio have hioivn siUj and have been 
 recovered from its pollution. There will be no fear of our 
 being exalted with pride or drawn away by ambition as 
 the now-apostate angels were ; for we shall constantly 
 remember what sin did for us, and how grievous w^as our 
 fault. We shall for ever remember the price at Avhich 
 we were redeemed ; and we shall have ties upon us that 
 will bind us to an undeviating loyalty to him wdio exahed 
 us to so glorious a condition. It seems to me wonderful 
 beyond expression : the more I consider, the more I am 
 astonished. A spirit that has never fallen cannot be 
 trusted in the same way as one that has fallen and has 
 been delivered, and has been new-created, and blood- 
 washed, and has been gifted with an abiding and eter- 
 nal character. Such a being shall never fall, because 
 for ever held by cords of love eternal, and bonds of grati- 
 tude infinitely strong, which will never let it waver in 
 holy service. It is a work worthy of a God to create 
 such beings as we shall be, since we shall be securely 
 bound to voluntary holiness ; and our wdlls, though al- 
 ways free, shall be immutably loyal to our Lord. As the 
 twice-born, we shall be the noblest of God's works ; we 
 shall be the first-fruits of his creatures ; we shall be ac- 
 counted as the royal treasure of Jehovah. Then shall 
 we sit with Christ upon his throne, and reign w^ith him 
 for ever. '' This is David's spoil." 
 
 We receive hlessings unJcnown to beings ivho have never 
 fallen. I sometimes murmur to myself— and sweet music 
 it has been as I have quietly murmured it — we are the 
 
156 ''DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 elect of God. Election is a privilege most high and 
 precious, what can exceed it in delight I This also is 
 Uavid's spoil. We are also redeemed from among men : 
 the redemption of the soul is precious. ^' This is David's 
 spoil.'^ We are covenanted ones, with whom God has 
 entered into bonds of promise, swearing by an oath to 
 keep his word : this, too, is David's spoil. Where had 
 you ever heard of redemption, election, covenant, and 
 such-like words, if it had not been for the blessed Christ 
 of God, who hath redeemed us by his blood % Sing ye, 
 then, who have received back your lost inheritance ; and 
 sing more sweetly still, ye who have been blessed with 
 all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies according as the 
 Father hath chosen you in Christ Jesus. Sing ye aloud 
 imto his holy name ; and say of your special privileges, 
 " This is David's spoil." 
 
 Again, to my mind it is a very blessed fact that you 
 and I will partake of a privilege which woidd have been 
 certainly unnecessary to Adam, and could not by Adam 
 have been known, and that is, the privilege of resurrection. 
 We shall die unless the Lord should suddenly appear. I 
 would not have you, brothers and sisters, look upon 
 the prospect of death with any sort of dread. I know 
 that death is associated with pain ; but nothing can be 
 more absurd. There is no pain in death : pain belongs 
 to life ; death, even naturally, puts an end to pain. But 
 death to the believer is undressing as his Lord undressed 
 — putting off garments of which, I trow, we need not be 
 so very fond, for they do fit us ill ; and oftentimes, when 
 our spirit is willing, it is hampered by these garments of 
 clay, for the flesh is weak. Some look with intense de- 
 light to the prospect of the Saviour's coming, as a means 
 of escape from death. I confess I have but slender 
 
'^DAVID'S spoil:' 157 
 
 sympathy with tliem. If I miglit have my choice, I 
 wouhl prefer, of the two, to die. Let it be as the Lord 
 wills ; but there is a point of fellowship with Christ in 
 death which they will miss who shall not sleep ; and it 
 seems to me to have some sweetness in it to follow the 
 Lamb Avhithersoever he goeth, even though he descend 
 unto the sepulchre. " Where should the dying members 
 rest but with their dying Head ? " That grave of our 
 blessed Lord, if he had not meant us to enter it, would 
 have been left an empty tenement w^hen he came away ; 
 but when he came out of it, he left it furnished for those 
 that should come after him. See there the grave-clothes 
 folded up for us to use ? The bed is prepared for our 
 slumber. 
 
 The napkin is laid by itself, because it is not for the 
 sleeper, but for those who have lost his company. Those 
 who remain behind may dry their eyes with the napkin, 
 but the grave-clothes are reserved for others who will 
 occupy the royal bed-chamber. When great men re- 
 moved in the olden time, their servants took away the 
 arras or hangings of their chambers ; but if those hang- 
 ings remained, it was for the convenience of guests who 
 were invited to occupy my lord^s rooms. See, then, our 
 Lord expects us to lie in his royal bed-chamber, for he 
 has left the hangings behind him ! To the retiring-room 
 of the tomb we shall go in due time. And why should 
 we be grieved to go ? For we shall come forth again : 
 we shall rise from the dead. ^^Thy brother shall rise 
 again," was Mary's consolation from the Master's lips. 
 It is yours. We are not going to a prison, but to a bath, 
 wherein the body, like Esther, shall be purified to behold 
 the King. It is our joy to be sure that '' as the Lord 
 our Saviour rose, so all his followers must." We do not 
 
158 '^ DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 know much about the resurrection of thebodv, and there- 
 fore we will not attempt to describe it ; but surely it will 
 be a delightful thing to be able to dwell for ever in a 
 body that has been in the grave, and has had fulfilled in 
 it the sentence, ^^ Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
 return/' but which has been raised again by that same 
 power which raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. 
 We shall inhabit a body which shall no more see corrup- 
 tion, nor be subject to weakness, or pain, or decay, but 
 shall be like the glorified person of our Lord. Oh, there 
 is sweetness in the thought that we shall in this for ever 
 have fellowship with our risen Lord ! Children of the 
 resurrection, dread not death ! Your faces are turned to 
 the sun. Press forward to the light eternal, and fear not 
 to pass through the death-shadow : it is no more than a 
 shadow. If you cannot leap over the grave, you can 
 pass through it. It shall be your joy to rise when the 
 morning breaketh, and to be satisfied ; for you shall Avake 
 up in his likeness. As for the resurrection, ^^ this is 
 David's spoil," this is Christ's gift and boon. The 
 resurrection from the dead is the peculiar glory of 
 Christianity. The immortality of the soul had been 
 taught and known before, for it is a truth which even 
 reason itself teaches ; but the resurrection of the body 
 comes in as the last and crowning comfort of our spirits : 
 and ^^ this is David's spoil." 
 
 Let me not weary you. The topic might well interest 
 us on several occasions ; it is too large to be confined to 
 one discourse. Our singular relation to God, and yet to 
 materialismj is another rare gift of Jesus. Cod in- 
 tended, by the salvation of man, and the lifting up of 
 man into union with himself, to link together in one the 
 lowest and the highest — -his creation and himself. Shall 
 
'^ DAVID'S SPOIL.'' - 159 
 
 I make it very plain ? These poor substances — earth, 
 water, and the like — they seem far dov/n in the scale. 
 God makes a being that shall be, as an old Puritan used 
 to say, half soul and half soil ; even man, who is both 
 spirit and dust of the earth. We find in him Avatcr, salts, 
 acids, all sorts of substances combined to make up a body, 
 and married to this is a soul, which is brother to the 
 angels, and akin to Deity. Materialism is somewhat ex- 
 alted in being connected with spirit at all. When spirit 
 becomes connected with God, and refined materialism 
 becomes connected with a purified spirit, by the resur- 
 rection from the dead, then shall be brought to pass the up- 
 lifting of clay, and its junction with the celestial. Do 
 you not see how God, in the perfecting of his gracious 
 purpose through the resurrection of the dead, causes his 
 glory to be reflected even upon what we regard as poor 
 material substances, gross and mean ? 
 
 Try and get at my meaning again. Quakers, whom I 
 greatly respect, get rid of the two ordinances, by denying 
 that they are of perpetual obligation. They banish bap- 
 tism : they put away the Lord's supper. I have some- 
 times wished that I were able to agree with them, because 
 my whole spirit and tendency are towards the spiritual 
 rather than the ritual ; but if anything be plain to me in 
 Scripture, it is that Jesus Christ did command us to be 
 baptized in water in the Triune name, and that he bade 
 his disciples remember him in the breaking of bread and 
 in the drinking of the cup. The danger of men's making 
 too much of outward forms was encountered for some 
 wise purpose. It was, I think, because God would have 
 us know that even the material, though it can only enter 
 the outer court, is still to be sanctified unto himself. 
 Therefore, water, bread, and wine, all material substances, 
 
IGO ''DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 are used not only as symbols^ but as tokens that all created 
 tilings shall be ennobled and sanctified. Look ye, sirs, 
 ^^ Creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but 
 by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.'' 
 Through man's sin this outward world became blackened 
 darkened, and degraded j but God intends, through man, 
 to lift up the nethermost extremities of his creation into 
 a gTGater nearness to himself than they ever could have 
 reached by any other means. And this is how it comes 
 about. We are taking up with us, as it were, the earth 
 which makes a part of ourselves. We are drawing up 
 with om'selves the earth in those simple symbols with 
 which we worship God. We are ourselves lifted up as 
 spirits, and we are soon to be lifted up as, spirits enshrined 
 in purified bodies, and thus we bring the whole creation 
 of God into nearer contact with himself. Hence it is that 
 we are called '^Jiings and priests.'' What can the dead 
 earth do in Avorship till there comes one who worships 
 God as the world's priest ? What can the fields and 
 Avoods and hills say in the worship of God ? They are 
 dumb till a tongue attempts the holy task of uttering 
 their praise. You and I are made of such stuff as the 
 world aromid us, and yet we are the compeers of angels. 
 We are brothers to the worm ; and this body of ours is 
 but a child of mother earth on which it lives. See then 
 how mother earth Avorships God through us, and dull, 
 dead matter finds life and song. Behold the mists and 
 clouds become a steaming incense of praise to God through 
 men like ourselves, who, because Christ Avas slain, haA^e 
 been made kings and priests unto God. 
 
 I AAdsh you Avould, rather than listen to me, try and 
 muse upon the Avonderfid position which redeemed men 
 do now occupy, and will occupy for CA^er and CA^er. For 
 
'^DAIVD'S spoil:' 1(;2 
 
 my OAvn part, I would not change places with the angel 
 Gabriel, nay, not if he gave me his swift wing to boot, 
 for I believe that an infinitely greater honor belongs to 
 the least of God's children than to the very highest of 
 God's servants. To be a child of God — oh bliss ! — there 
 is no glory that can excel it. But all this is a special 
 gift to our humanity through our Lord Jesus. " This is 
 David's spoil." 
 
 Our manifestation of the full (jJory of God is another of 
 the choice gifts which the pierced hands of Jesus alone 
 bestow. Principalities and powers shall see in the mys- 
 tical body of Christ more of God than in all the universe 
 besides. They wiJ study in the saints the eternal pur- 
 poses of God, and see therein his love, his wisdom, his 
 power, his justice, his mercy blended in an amazing 
 way. They will admire for ever those whom God loves 
 and delights in, those wdiom he keeps as the apple of his 
 eye, those wdiom he rejoices over, and of whom he hath 
 said that he will rest in his love, and he will rejoice over 
 them with singing. Truly it hath not entered into the 
 heart of man to guess at the glory of God in the saints, 
 the exceeding glory of which shall be revealed in us 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. ^' This is David's spoil. '^ 
 Oh, come let us sing unto the Lord, let us magnify the 
 name of Jesus Christ ! 
 
 IIL I close with the most practical part of my ser- 
 mon : THAT WHICH WE WILLINGLY GIVE TO JeSUS MAY 
 BE CALLED HIS SPOIL. There is a spoil for Christ which 
 every true-hearted follower of his votes to him enthusias- 
 tically. We have already seen that all things which we 
 have are of Christ, and that there are certain special 
 gifts which are peculiarly of Christ ; and now, what shall 
 be Da^dd^s spoil from you and from me ? 
 
102 ''DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 First, our licarts are his alone for ever. 
 
 ''Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, 
 Seal it from thy courts ahoYe." 
 
 Of every believing heart it may be said, ^^ This is Da- 
 vid's spoil." You and I must give ourselves to-morrow 
 to earning our daily bread, and our thoughts must go, to a 
 large extent, after earthly things in the common pursuits 
 of every-day life. But our hearts, our hearts, are as 
 fountains sealed for our Well-beloved. O mammon, thou 
 shalt not have them! O pleasure, thou shalt not have 
 them ! These are David's spoil. Our hearts belong to 
 Jesus only. '^ My son, give me thine heart," is an Old 
 Testament command, but under the New Testament 
 manifestation of love we fulfil it j ^^ for the love of Christ 
 constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died 
 for all, then were all dead : and that he died for all, that 
 they which live shoidd not henceforth live unto them- 
 selves, bi?t unto him which died for them, and rose 
 again." Let it be so that our whole heart is the sole 
 possession of Jesus ! We will neither rend it, nor cast 
 lots whose it shall be, for ^^ this is David's spoil." 
 
 Now there is another property I should like King Je- 
 sus to have, and that is our special gifts. I know one, 
 who, before his conversion, was wont to sing, and he often 
 charmed the ears of men with the sweet music which he 
 poured forth ; but when he was converted he said, 
 ^^ Henceforth my tongue shall sing nothing but the praises 
 of God." He devoted himself to proclaiming the gospel 
 by his song, for he said, ^^ This is David's spoil." Have 
 you not some gift Qr other, dear friend, of which you 
 could say, '' Henceforth this shall be sacred to my bleed- 
 ing Lord " ? Some pecidiar facult}^ ! Some choice 
 
''DAVID'S spoil:' 103 
 
 piece of acquirement not generally possessed % Some- 
 thing in which you excel I I would that you had at 
 least some little garden of flowers or herbs which you 
 could so reserve that therein only Jesus should pluck the 
 fruits. Say of the best gift you possess, ^^ This is Da- 
 vid's spoil." Is it not well to consecrate some part of the 
 day, and say," This hour is Christ's? I have my work 
 to do, my business must be seen to ; all is Christ's. But 
 still I will reserve a special season, and wall it in, like a 
 private garden, in which, with prayer, and praise, and 
 meditation, I will commune with my Lord ; or else in 
 actual service I will honor his name." Say, " This is 
 David's spoil." Come, dear heart, what do you mean to 
 give him % Surely you have some natural faculty or 
 acquired skill which you can lay at his feet. 
 
 Moreover, while our whole selves must be yielded to 
 the Lord Jesus, there is one thing that must always be 
 Christ's, and that is our religious Jiomage as a church. 
 Somebody says that the Queen is head of the church. 
 God bless her ; but she is no head of the church of 
 Christ ! The idea is blasphemous : headship " is Da- 
 vid's spoil." Jesus Christ is Head over all things to his 
 church, and nobody else can take that position. Xo one 
 may dare to take the title of ^' head of the church " 
 without a usurpation of our* Lord's royal right. Cer- 
 tain teachers of the church claim authority over con- 
 sciences, and assert that they are infallible. I have 
 heard it said that they are supreme guides, but I do 
 not believe it, because " This is David's spoil." We 
 have one infallible Teacher, and that is Jesus Christ our 
 Saviour. We yield obedience to his every word, and 
 demand~that others should do the same. Whatsoever he 
 says to us by his Spirit in the Word of God is to us in- 
 
164 ''DAVID'S spoil:' 
 
 fallible truth, and we cease to dispute when Jesus speak^s, 
 but no man else shall dictate doctrine to us, for ^' This is 
 David^s spoil." He must be sole Eabbi in the midst of 
 his church. We call him Master and Lord, for so he is. 
 I would have you keep your conscience for Christ alone. 
 Take care that no book ever overlaps the Bible ; that no 
 creed ever contradicts the form of sound words contained 
 In God's own Word ; that no influence of minister or 
 writer supplants the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Your 
 soul's obedience and faith belong to Jesus only : ^^ This 
 is David's spoil." 
 
 Lastly, have you not something oiijour oivn proper sub- 
 stance that shall be David's spoil just now ? That was a 
 blessed act when the woman broke the most precious thing 
 she had — her box of alabaster, and let the perfumed nard 
 stream down the Saviour, anointing him for his buriaL 
 She felt that the precious perfume was '■^ David's spoil." 
 There was no waste ; in fact, no other gift ever went so 
 completely to its purpose without being taxed on the 
 road, for Jesus had it all. Kindly did he observe the 
 loving honor which she paid him. What if the ointment 
 were sold, and given to the poor ? Yet it coidd never be 
 so economically used as when it was all devoted to him. 
 I do think it so pleasant sometimes to give Jesus Christ 
 distinctly a gift from yourself of somewhat that you will 
 miss. It is good to give to the poor, but it has a daintier 
 sweetness in it to do somewhat distinctly for him, for the 
 spread of his own glory, and the making known of his 
 own fame. " The poor ye have always with you " : 
 abound towards them in your charity whenever you will j 
 but to your Lord at special seasons dedicate a choice gift, 
 and say, '^ This is David's spoil." There was a poor 
 woman once, whose little fortune could be carried be- 
 
^'DAViLvs spoil:' 165 
 
 tween her finger and her thumb, — her fortune, I said, for 
 it was all that she had. Two mites, I am told, was all it 
 came to. She took it, it was her all, and she put it in 
 the treasury ; for this was '^ David's spoil." It belonged 
 to the Lord her God, and she gave it cheerfully. I do 
 not know whether since the days of the apostles anybody 
 has ever given so much as that woman. I have not. 
 Have you % She gave all her living. Not all her sav- 
 ings, but all her living. She had nothing left when she 
 gave her farthing : she loved so much that she conse- 
 crated all her living. We sometimes sing — 
 
 *' Yet if I might make some reserve, 
 And duty did not call, 
 I love my God with zeal so great, 
 That I would give him all." 
 
 But do we mean it ? If not, why do we sing falsehoods % 
 There was a man who, in the providence of God, had 
 been enabled to lay by many thousands. He was a very 
 rich and respected man. I have heard it said that he 
 owned at least half a million ; and at one collection, when 
 he felt specially grateful and generous, he found a well- 
 worn sixpence for the plate, for that was David's spoil ! 
 That was David's spoil ! Out of aU tliat he possessed, 
 that sixpence was David's spoil ! This was the measure 
 of his gratitude ! Judge by this how much he owed, or, 
 at least, how much he desired to pay. Arc there not 
 many persons who, on that despicable scale, reward the 
 Saviour for the travail of his soid % I shall not upbraid 
 them. I shall not urge them to do more, lest I spoil the 
 voluntariness of the large gifts tliey mean to bring. Let 
 a hint suflBce. For us, who are deep in the Redeemer's 
 debt, who have had much forgiven, who every day are 
 
166 '' DAVID' ^ SPOILS 
 
 bankrupt debtors to the measureless mercy of infinite 
 love — for us, no paltriness will suffice. We must give 
 something which, if it be not worthy of him, shall, at 
 least, express the truth and warmth of the gratitude we 
 feel. Grod help us to be often setting aside this, and that, 
 and the other choice thing, and saying, ^^ This is David's 
 spoil, and it shall be a joy to my heart to give it ! " We 
 shall find much sweetness in buying our sweet- cane with 
 money, and filling our Lord with the fat of our sacrifices. 
 It is heaven for a true heart to give largely to Jesus. 
 
 God bless you, dear friends. May we come to the 
 table of communion, and meet with our glorious David 
 there, and feel his praises making music in our hearts ! 
 Amen. 
 
Vlll. 
 
 "the wedding was furnished with guests." 
 
 May 6, 1888. 
 " The wedding was furnished with guests." — Matthew xxii. 10. 
 
 Our discourse will follow the lines of the parable. A 
 king desired to honor his son right royally. He loved 
 his son well, for he deserved richly of him ; and there- 
 fore, as the most fitting time had come, he resolved to 
 honor him. His son was about to take to himself a 
 spouse ; should not his marriage, which is a great 
 event in life, be celebrated with honor 1 The father 
 determined to honor his son on the joyful occasion by in- 
 viting a large number of guests to a sumptuous banquet. 
 Not by the infliction of pain, or the pressure of taxation, 
 but by liberality and festivity, would the king honor the 
 crown prince. It should be an extraordinary feast. 
 Surely, it would be the simplest thing in tlie world to 
 gather together a grateful company of guests. One 
 would expect a competition for admission ; everybody 
 in the royal domain would eagerly ask for an invita- 
 tion. But it feU out otherwise ; there was a disloyal 
 feeling abroad, and it now expressed itself; those who 
 were bidden would not come, and means had to be used 
 to secure the result spoken of in the text, so that '^ the 
 wedding was furnished with guests.'^ 
 
 The parable is plain : the great Father delights to honor 
 Jesus, his Only-begotten Son. The Father loves the Son, 
 
 (ICT) 
 
108 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 with whom he is one. The Son has deserved well at the 
 Father's hands^ for he has been ^^ obedient luito death, 
 even the death of the cross." It is the Father's aim in the 
 •work of grace to glorify his Son, who, as God and man in 
 one nature, is the channel of grace to fallen men. He pro- 
 poses to do this now that the Lord Jesus takes his church 
 into marriage Tinion with himself. The incarnate God 
 calls a chosen company, the bride, the Lamb's Avife, and cel- 
 ebrates thus early in the day this happy union by a wed- 
 ding breakfast, to which he invites midtitudes to come. 
 It is a feast of mercy, grace, and peace ; a marriage 
 feast of delight and joy. The feast is for the glorifying 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very special manner. Can 
 any of us measure the glory which comes to our Lord 
 Jesus by his union with the church ? Angels, and prin- 
 cipalities, and powers, intelligences now existing, and all 
 intelligences yet to be created, will wonderingly gaze 
 upon the riches of his inheritance in the saints. What a 
 spectacle is this ! The Word made flesh that he might 
 dwell among us ! Immanuel, God with us, taking unto 
 himself a company of chosen men, to be one with liim for 
 ever. In the miion of Christ and his church all wisdom 
 centres, all grace shines forth. ^' The excellency of our 
 God" is to be seen in the salvation of the elect and the 
 joining of them mito the Christ. Our glorious Second 
 Adam v/as like the first Adam in the garden, for whom 
 no helpmeet was found. Neither cherubim nor seraphim, 
 angels nor spirits, could be fit companions for him. He 
 says, '^ ]\[y delights were with the sons of men.'^ He 
 willed that his chosen church shoidd stand to him in the 
 same relation as Eve stood to Adam, to be the solace of 
 his heart aud the rest of his love. He chose men to be 
 his companions, his friends, his joy, his crown. 
 
" IVEDDINJ FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' IC/j 
 
 One would have tlioiiglit tliat every man liearin"- tliat 
 manhood was thus to be honored by union with Godhead 
 would flock towards the marriage-i'east. It would have 
 seemed certain that all would desire to knovv^ this heav- 
 enly mystery, and as soon as they knew it would press 
 forward to be partakers in its bliss. Alas ! this is not 
 the case ; and this morning my business is to tell you 
 the story of how the purpose of divine love appeared in 
 peril, but how, in the end, it is accomplished; and, 
 according to the language of the text, " the Avedding was 
 furnished with guests.'^ 
 
 I. Our first point is, that IT seemed as if none 
 WOULD COME. The wedding-feast was prepared : oxen 
 and fatlings were killed, all things were ready ; but 
 where were the guests % 
 
 Tliose first invited^ and 7iaturcdhj expected, would not 
 come. Previous notice had been given them of the festi- 
 val, and afterwards a summons had been sent to say that 
 the hour was come ; but instead of joyfidly responding, 
 they would not come. 
 
 These were, first of all, the Jews, to whom the gospel 
 had been given by the law and the prophets long before- 
 hand. ^^ He came unto his oaati, but his own received 
 him not." Israel was not gathered : few out of the 
 chosen nation recognized the Messiah. He came with a 
 feast of mercy for them, but they would have none of it. 
 He called and they refused. 
 
 To-day this same class will be found among the chil- 
 dren of godly parents ; dedicated from their birth, prayed 
 for by loving piety, listening to the gospel from their 
 childhood, and yet unsaved. We look for these to come 
 to Jesus. We naturally hope that they will feast upon 
 the provisions of grace, and like their parents will rejoice 
 
170 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 
 
 in Christ Jesus ; but, alas ! how often it is the case they 
 will not come ! Some such are here this morning. We 
 greatly grieve over you. You do not choose your 
 father's God, nor accept your mother's Saviour. Ah me ! 
 if ?/o if will not come, who will? If you, who are taught 
 concerning salvation by grace, yet refuse it, how can we 
 wonder that the children of the godless and the profane 
 reject our message % Who will come if you will not % 
 
 Dear hearers, some of you are not privileged with 
 godly parents, but you have been for many years willing 
 listeners to the Word of life, and yet you do not accept 
 Christ Jesus as yours, nor accept the provisions of his 
 grace. You do not joy with him in his union with his 
 chosen, for you do not love him. How sad is this ! 
 Well may the dispirited preacher mourn, and fear in his 
 heart that the great festival of love will prove a failure ! 
 If such as you are wiU not come, how will the wedding 
 be furnished with guests ! 
 
 The outlook grew worse still when tlieij came not, though 
 they were reasoned tvith. When they would not come, 
 the king sent other servants to bring them to a better 
 mind ,• and this was the form of his reasoning : '^ Behold, 
 I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are 
 kiUed, and all things are ready : come unto the mar- 
 riage." No kinder argument could have been used : 
 there was an appeal to all that was noble in them, and 
 had they been worthy they would have come at once, I 
 can well understand that the servants would repeat their 
 lord's message with special eagerness, as they thought of 
 his waiting in the palace, and watching for the guests. 
 They would cry to those who hesitated, ^^You have 
 waited long enough, come at once. The m.arriage cannot 
 be delayed, why should you delay ? Tarry no longer. 
 
« WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 171 
 
 To-daj if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts." 
 Still they made light of it. When you have been invited 
 to Jesus many a time ; when tearful earnestness has 
 pleaded with you, and yet men of God have had to return 
 to their Master, saying "Who hath believed our report ?" 
 it becomes a sorrowfid business, and our anxious fears 
 cannot see how the wedding will be furnished with guests. 
 This would have been an overwhelming surprise to us if 
 Jesus had not declared of men in his own day, " Ye will 
 not come unto me that ye might have life." If they re- 
 fused his pleadings we cannot wonder that they reject our 
 sayings. Still it is a mournful fact, that "Many are 
 called, but few chosen." 
 
 The case looks darker still when we notice that, tliougli 
 reasoned ivitli hy new messengers^ they did not come. It is 
 said, " He sent forth other servants." T tell you from my 
 very soul that, if my Lord will only bring you to the ban- 
 quet of his grace, I mind not who shall be the successful 
 messenger. If you will not believe • in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ unto eternal life through what I have to say, 
 may the Lord remove me, and send some one else, to 
 whom he will give power by his grace to reach your 
 hearts. I shall be glad to remain in this pulpit for years 
 to come, but not at the cost of a single soid. If some- 
 body else can preach to you more efficiently, if some one 
 else can get at your hearts better than I have done, may 
 the Lord allow me to retire for your good ! Do you 
 v/ish it ? " He sent other servants." A preacher may 
 be too rhetorical : let a plain-speaking person be tried. 
 He may be too weighty : let another come with parable 
 and anecdote. Alas ! with some of you the thing wanted 
 is not a new voice, but a new heart. You woidd listen 
 no better to a new messenger than to the old one. After 
 
172 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 SO many good men and true have spoken j after Paul^ 
 and Apollos, and Cephas have all failed; how shall the 
 wedding be furnished wdth guests % 
 
 If you look at Vm various characters ivlw ivould not 
 comCj you will see more and more cause for sorrow. Of 
 some we simply read that '^ theij ivoidd not conic. ''^ They 
 made no excuses or apologies, but curtly said they 
 would not come. There was an end of the matter. 
 Many dismiss the gospel at once ; they are not to be rea- 
 soned with : they do not want it, and will not have it. 
 a large class of the community have heard of the way of 
 salvation, but they care nothing for it. It is not with 
 them want of information, but want of inclination. They 
 have neither mind nor will for heavenly things. 
 
 A second class made light of it. They were indifferent 
 to royal honors and duties. They were taken np with 
 the care of what they had in possession, and went their 
 way, each man to his farm, saying, ^' I have worked 
 hard to get my farm, and I cannot afford to let it lie idle.'^ 
 Another was taken up with the care of getting an estate, 
 and went to his merchandise, saying, ^^ I have nobody 
 to keep my shop. I must mind the main chance. If you 
 do not look alive, everybody will run over you. I must 
 attend to my buying and my selling.'^ The worldly-wise 
 make up a very numerous class. The rich man cannot 
 be religious, his position in society prevents 5 the poor 
 man cannot mind the things of God, he is worn out by 
 earning his daily bread. Thus they all make excuse. 
 Lord, when so many are unwilling, and so many more 
 are occupied with other things, how shall the wedding 
 be furnished with guests ? 
 
 A third class ivere violently opposed : they would not 
 be bothered, they had no patience with religious cant ; 
 
«' WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 173 
 
 tliey '^ took his servants, and entreated tliem spitefully, 
 and slew tliem.'^ These are not so numerous as the 
 others ; but yet they are found among us. Sceptics, 
 swearers, revilers of godliness, and " modern thought '^ 
 men : these revile the cross, and are ferocious against 
 the gospel. When avc see these raging and raving, Ave 
 are apt to ask very mournfully — How can the wedding- 
 be furnished with guests % 
 
 The most dreadfid thought of all remains : some of the 
 invited had already ])crished. The king in his wrath 
 sent his troops and slew the murderers of his messengers, 
 and burned their city. While I have been preaching, 
 many of my hearers have died. Where are tliey now ? 
 If they died without Christ they are now past hope. Ah 
 me ! they can never enter now, for the door is shut. If 
 they died in their sins, they are in the outer darkness, 
 where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When 
 you think of it, this is a dark prospect. Men are dying, 
 dying without hope ; and those who are yet alive are 
 resolved to perish in like manner, for they are earnestly 
 invited to the feast of love, but they refuse to come. 
 How can the wedding be furnished with guests ? 
 
 The king tells us the real reason why they would not 
 come : theij tvere not tvorthy. Those who were invited 
 specially, and about whom there was the greatest hope, 
 had nothing in them to encourage that hope : they were 
 not loyal, they were not kind-hearted, they were not 
 honest, they were not worthy, else they woidd have 
 come to do honor to the son of their king. Their not 
 coming revealed the enmity of their hearts. It was a 
 wretched way of showing their spite to the prince upon 
 his wedding-day. It is horrible that men refuse Christ 
 and heaven out of enmity to God. Rejectors of Christ 
 
174 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 are unworthy of pardoning grace, unworthy of a dy- 
 ing Saviour, unworthy of those marriage bonds into 
 which Jesus enters with believing hearts. They are not 
 worthy in the gospel sense of worthiness, and of course 
 they were far less worthy in a legal sense. 
 
 The most mournfid spectacle in the world is a heart 
 which refuses the mercy of God. Objection is sometimes 
 made to the doctrine of total depravity. I do not know 
 what adjective can be too strong to describe human de- 
 pravity when I perceive that it refuses Grod under his 
 loveliest aspect : Grod in the greatness of his love, God 
 sparing not his own Son. If men turn away from God 
 in anger I can understand it ; if men turn aside from 
 God in justice I can understand it ; but when they so 
 hate God that they will not even have his salvation, when 
 they refuse pardon through the precious blood of Christ, 
 when they will sooner be damned than reconciled to 
 God, this shows that their heart is desperately wicked. 
 The cross rejected is the clearest proof of the heart de- 
 praved. There I leave this mournful subject, and go a 
 step further. Certainly it did seem as if the wedding 
 would not be furnished with guests. 
 
 II. Secondly, it was a mournful prospect. Im- 
 agine that there had been no guests at the wedding 
 feast : what then? 
 
 First, it ivould liave been greatly to the hinges clislionor. 
 The crown prince is married, and nobody comes to the 
 wedding ! The feast is free, costly, plentiful, but nobody 
 will come to it. What an insult ? The bcinqueting-hall 
 is lighted, and the minstrels are in their place, but no 
 eyes or ears are channed. Oxen and fatlings make the 
 tables groan, but none are there to make the hall resoimd 
 with shout and song. AVhat a wretched spectacle ! 
 
,JVEDDIXG FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' I75 
 
 Empty halls, unfurnished benches, meat untasted carried 
 out to the dogs ! History does not record a more delib- 
 erate and unmistakable insult. Let me translate the par- 
 able. If no souls are saved, if the great plan of redemp- 
 tion does not save, what a farce the whole business will 
 be ! What a dishonor to the name of the great God ! 
 Look at the supposition, that you may see the impossi- 
 bility of it. Think for an instant of a defeated, disap- 
 pointed, dishonored Jehovah ! Can it be % And yet, if 
 the wedding had not been furnished with guests, the king 
 would have been disappointed and insulted in the ten- 
 derest point. If the chosen are not saved, if men are 
 not brouglit to Christ, then the glorious name of the God 
 of grace is dishonored. Do you think it can be so f 
 
 In the next place, suppose none had come to the wed- 
 ding feast ; then the hingh son tvould have been grieved. 
 His wedding, and nobody there ! If it were your own, 
 perhaps you could put up with it 5 for you do not stand in 
 so public a position as the king^s son, and you have not 
 provided so vast a banquet. But the king's son ! Only 
 imagine that it is his wedding-day, and the servants are 
 mustered in the hall, but not a single guest arrives. He 
 has no one to congratulate him upon the happy day, no 
 one to wish him well, no one to welcome the bride. Now, 
 the same is true of our Lord Jesus Christ : if he dies, and 
 men do not believe in him 5 if he rises again, and men 
 do not accept him ; if he enters heaven as a prince and a 
 Saviour, and yet no one receives repentance and remis- 
 sion, where is his honor ? Where is his glory ? Look at 
 the dreadful supposition, and think whether it can be. I 
 am sure, as you gaze upon it, you will say, ^^ Impossible! 
 A bleeding Saviour cannot die in vain. Our Christ 
 oould not in death have paid dov/n the ransom price for 
 
176 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 
 
 nothing. He could not have stood a substitute for men, 
 and yet see men lost after all ! '^ 
 
 If no guests had arrived, lioiv disappointed ivould the 
 hride have been ! She, too, would have had to share in 
 the failure of the day. Her bridal woidd not have been 
 remembered with pleasure. She would have been happy 
 in the bridegroom, but also unhappy because of the un- 
 kindness sho^vn to him. In vain her rich apparel, and 
 her costly ornaments, for there are no eyes to gaze upon 
 them. If souls are not saved the church misses her 
 greatest joy. When men believe in Jesus, how de- 
 lighted we are ! Our hearts leap for joy when men re- 
 pent. But if sinners are not saved, if the preaching of 
 the gospel is in vain, if they will not come to Christ, then 
 are saints fidl of heaviness, and the church cries out in 
 her anguish, "Hast thou forgotten to be gracious f 
 
 Had none come to the marriage feast, a store of provi- 
 sions ivould have been ivasted. The king says, " My 
 oxen and my failings are killed." See the bullocks 
 roasting whole ! See yonder fatted calf killed for the 
 feast ! Mark how the sheep are led to the slaughter ! 
 All this will remain untasted. Yonder dainty dishes, and 
 flowing bowls, and luscious fruits will have none to enjoy 
 them. It will be a wretched business indeed! I want 
 you to look at the dreadful picture till it vanishes out of 
 sight. Can it be that Jesus has made himself the heaven- 
 ly bread, and none Avill feed on him, or at the best a very 
 few ? Can it be that he has provided a robe of right- 
 eousness, and nobody will wear it f Is heaven prepared, 
 and will it remain half occupied *? I do but suppose it 
 for the moment, to make you see what a melancholy fact 
 a failure in the scheme of mercy would be. 
 
 Would it not have meant, also, the enemy's triumph f 
 
«« WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 177 
 
 The king's foes would have heard of it, and Laughed hi:n 
 to scorn. At a royal wedding he could not command 
 guests ! How they would scoff !lt his wasted provision ! 
 ^^ Ha, ha ! Ha, ha !^' The story would have been told 
 on every ale-bench. The sons of Belial would make rare 
 mirth of it. The king, the prince, the bride would all 
 have been ridiculed, because of a wedding in empty halls, 
 a feast with phantom guests ! I do not believe that God 
 intends to let Satan triumph in this way. I cannot im- 
 agine that he will allow the powers of darkness thus to 
 open their wicked mouths against him. If free-will refuses 
 the gift of God, free-grace will come in and win the day. 
 1 have shown you already how free-will threatens to empty 
 the banqueting-hall, and dishonor- the king, the son, and 
 the bride ; and if the business had been left to the free 
 will of man, this is the result which would have come of 
 it : a God dishonored, and men preferring to die rather 
 than accept life through Jesus Christ. Then it could 
 never have been said that '' tlie wedding was furnished 
 with guests." 
 
 ni. Let us go a step further and notice that in the 
 parable Tins catastrophe was graciously prevented. 
 '-'' The wedding was furnished Avith guests." 
 
 We are very much in the same case to-day as the ser- 
 vants were in when the invited ones would not come. We 
 preach and teach the gospel, but we have to complain 
 that so many will not come to the banquet of grace. God 
 gives us many soiJs, but not so many as we desire. We 
 are eager for many more, and we begin to be afraid lest, 
 after all; God should not be glorified as we wish that he 
 should be. In the parable an unfurnished banquet was 
 prevented, and so it will be in the reality. How was 
 the calamity averted ? 
 
178 " JVEDDIXG FURXISIIED WITH GUESTS.'' 
 
 It was preventecf, first^ by a fuller invitation. At first 
 the heralds only called those who had been previously 
 bidden, a sort of aristocracy of hopeful persons. As 
 these would not come, we read, ^^ Go ye therefore into 
 the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the 
 marriage." They went out, not to a select band, but to 
 all whom they might find. Brethren, it is a grand thing 
 when we get a clearer idea of what the gospel really is. 
 The more evangelical our notions become, so that we are 
 prepared to preach the gospel to every creature under 
 heaven and to say, '' He that belie veth and is baptized 
 shall be saved," the more we may hope for large success. 
 If, by my preaching, I lead a man to look at himself, to 
 see if there is anything in him which entitles him to 
 believe, I practically hide the gospel from him. If I 
 preach up character unduly, so that the man mainly 
 inquires whether he has that character, I fix his eye 
 upon himself; and this is not what I should aim at. If 
 I go forth and gather together as many as I find, both 
 good and bad, then their thoughts are on the banquet 
 rather than on themselves. We want men to look to 
 Jesus, and therefore we cry, " Whosoever will, let him 
 take the water of life freely." When we get upon clear 
 gospel lines, and keep there, we may expect to see the 
 arm of the Lord revealed, and the wedding furnished 
 with guests. 
 
 Again, the invitation teas now given more piiblicly. 
 They had simply gone to the houses of the invited 
 guests, and said, ^^ All things are ready : come." But 
 now the servants go to the chief places of concourse ; and 
 they cry aloud, and spare not among the crowds of men. 
 One has gone to the market-cross ; another is preaching 
 where four ways meet. Hark to the voice of one upon 
 
" WEDDINJ FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 179 
 
 the village green, and to the song of others as they 
 
 traverse the back shun ! You cannot now go along a 
 
 street without hearing the news of the great wedding 
 
 feast. Many will be brought in when many are eager 
 
 to bring them in. God is pleased to own the means 
 
 which he has himself ordained. The more constant and 
 
 public the proclamation of the gospel becomes, the more 
 
 numerously will men be saved through the Spirit of God. 
 
 Then is the set time to favor Zion come. We arc not 
 
 to hide our lamp under a bushel. He that knows the 
 
 gospel shouk^ speak it out as plainly as he can, and let 
 
 his voice be as the silver trumpets of jubilee, that every 
 
 ear may hear. It came to pass that the king's message 
 
 was more widely made kno^vn, and thus the wedding was 
 
 furnished with guests." 
 
 Another matter assisted : the servants ivere now tlior- 
 ouglihj aroused, I am sure I should have felt dreadfully 
 agitated to see all those provisions and none coming to 
 eat them. Think of the halls decorated, the cooks work- 
 ing day and night, the big fires burning, bidlocks roast- 
 ing, the wines on the lees set abroach, and yet no guests. 
 It would have worried me greatly, and you too. You 
 would have said, ^^ It cannot be, it must not be, we can- 
 not bear it. The king, how sadly he must feel ! The 
 good prince, how bitter it is for him ! The dear bride, 
 what must be her sadness when this great insult is put 
 upon her ! Here, I must fetch in some guests, or die 
 in the attempt." I am sure we should have travelled six 
 ways at once if we could ; we should have invited with a 
 thousand mouths if possible. Getting hold of one man's 
 coat, and of another man's sleeve, we should have com- 
 pelled them to come in. This, also, is the Lord's way 
 of blessing men. He arouses his own people, makes 
 
180 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 them sorrowful for the sins of the times, and then thej 
 grow earnest and troubled, and so they lay themselves 
 out to snatch men as brands from the bm^ning. " As 
 soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." 
 The want of travailing causes the absence of conversion. 
 When we begin to sigh, and cry, and mourn, because 
 the ways of God are forsaken, then our earnestness 
 moves the heart, both of God and man, and the guests 
 come to the wedding. 
 
 Again, the calamity of a wedding without guests was 
 prevented by a certain secret 'power ivliicli tvent ivitli the 
 msssengers. We read that they ^^ gathered together all 
 as many as they found, both bad and good." They did 
 not merely invite them, but they gathered them in. 
 Now, people are not to be gathered in in great numbers all 
 of a sudden, and led to a feast by mere words. Words 
 are but air. There is nothing in our words to make men 
 come to Jesus, unless the Lord works by them. Yet the 
 guests did come in shoals. An influence went with the 
 words of those servants which drew the people together ; 
 they could not wish to stay away ; they came gladly. 
 Their wills were sweetly inclined, and they thronged 
 the palace. Beloved, all the hope of our ministry lies 
 in the Spirit of God operating upon the spirits of men. 
 I Avant all the members of this church to feel this more 
 deeply and practically than ever. Do not put trust in 
 the preacher : if he happens to be away, do not think 
 that God is tied to him. Look for a blessing upon the 
 gospel itself whoever preaches it. If the Holy Ghost be 
 with us we shall see thousands flocking to Jesus. No 
 sinner will ever come to Christ apart from the quicken- 
 ing, enlightening, drawing, converting power of the Holy 
 Ghost, supernaturally exercised upon the conscience and 
 
'^Wf DOING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 181 
 
 heart. Let us believe this ; and, ncxtj let us be assured 
 that the Spirit of God is with us, and let us then go forth 
 with all boldness. To the street-corner, the cottage, the 
 lodging-house, the wayside, let us go forth and publish 
 abroad the invitation of the great King : " My oxen and 
 my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready : come 
 unto the marriage. '' 
 
 Thus you have seen the outward means by which the 
 Holy Spirit brings men to Jesus, and the wedding is fur- 
 nished with guests. 
 
 IV. I close by noticing, in the fourth place, that ix 
 
 THE END THE FEAST WAS A GLORIOUS SUCCESS. " The 
 
 wedding was furnished with guests." Guests are a part 
 of the furniture of a wedding feast. You may pile on 
 your gold and silver plate, hang up your banners, load 
 your tables, and sound your music ; but if you have no 
 guests the feast is a failure. It is our solemn conviction 
 that the Lord our God has never failed yet, and that he 
 never will fail. We believe that the Lord's eternal pur- 
 pose will stand, and that he will do all his pleasure. We 
 believe in no blind fate, but we trust in a predestination 
 which is full of eyes, which accomplishes its purpose to 
 the least jot and tittle. God's greatest work is redemp- 
 tion; will he fail in it ? Salvation is the focus of his 
 glory ; shall this be frustrated % If God were to fail in 
 connection with the cross, it would be a failure indeed ; 
 God would be dishonored, and his crown jewels cast into 
 the mire. But it shall not be. 
 
 Turn to the parable, and we find there tvere sufficient 
 guests : '' the wedding was furnished with guests.'^ 
 There were as many guests as were necessary to the 
 honor of the king, and his son, and his bride. Oh yes, 
 in the gathering up and consummation of all things, the 
 
182 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 wedding of the Lord Jesus will be amply furnished with 
 guests : " He shall, see of the travail of his soul, and shall 
 be satisfied." There will be no disappointment to Christ 
 at the last great day. Satan may whisper disaster and 
 disappoinliment to us at this hour, and for the moment it 
 may seem as if the forces of darkness triumphed ; but 
 the end is not yet. The will of God, so full of grace and 
 mercy, shall be accomplished, the preparations of grace 
 shall be used, and the purpose of love fulfilled. As the 
 wedding was furnished with guests so shall heaven be 
 filled with '^ a number which no man can number." 
 
 The feast was more of a success than it would have 
 been had there been no opposition. The persons ivlio 
 came to the ivcdding tvere more grateful than the first in- 
 vited might have been if they had come. The richer 
 sort had a good dinner every day. Those farmers could 
 always kill a fat sheep ; and those merchants could 
 always buy a calf ^^ Thank you for nothing," they 
 would have said to the king if they had accepted his in- 
 vitation. But these poor beggars picked off the streets, 
 they had not tasted meat for months. Their half-starved 
 bodies welcomed the fatlings. How glad they were ! 
 One of them said to the other, ^' It's a long time since 
 you and I sat down to such a joint as this," and the other 
 answered, " I can hardly believe that I am really in a 
 palace dining with a king. Why, yesterday I begged 
 all the day, and only had twopence at night. Long live 
 the king, say I, and blessings on the prince and his 
 bride ! " I warrant, they were thankful for such a feast. 
 They said it was an ill wind that blew nobody any good : 
 because their betters had refused to come, there was now 
 room for them. When the Lord saves great sinners, 
 such as you and me, he wins warm hearts for himself. 
 
^^WEDDIXG FURNISHED WITH CUKSTSr 1S,3 
 
 When tlie Lord saves unlikely ones, he gets unusual 
 thankfulness. When he brings in the drunkard and 
 the profane, the unclean and the hardened, and makes 
 them pure and holy, and puts them among the children, 
 what gratitude he gets ! The Pharisee may ask Christ 
 to a cold dinner, but it is the woman that was a sinner 
 who will wash his feet with tears, and wipe them with 
 the hairs of her head. If some of you moralists get 
 saved — and God grant you may ! — you will never prize 
 the precious blood so much as those do who are washed 
 by it from the foulest stains. 
 
 The joy that day ivas much more expressed than it would 
 have been had others come. Those ladies and gentle- 
 men who were first invited, if they had come to the wed- 
 ding, would have seated themselves there in a very stiff 
 and proper manner. Dear me, what a fine thing pro- 
 priety is ! And yet, what a dead thing it is ! One said 
 to me the other day, " I have gone to my place of wor- 
 ship for many years, and nobody ever did speak to me 
 that I know of, and nobody ever will ; for we are all too 
 respectable to know one another." You know the digni- 
 fied style of self-satisfied people. Among such there is 
 no cordiality, no freshness, no sweet naturalness. Did 
 you ever attend a breakfast or a dinner of beggars ! 
 Did you ever see a company of very hungry people feed- 
 ing to their hearths content ? They make a merry clat- 
 ter ; they are not muzzled by propriety ; they are glad 
 at the sight of every dish. They look at the waiters as 
 angels ; and when the hurrahing comes to be done, you 
 admire the strength of their limgs. The didl monotony 
 of respectability knows no joy like that which comes to 
 poverty when it feasts to the fiUl at the table of bounty. 
 The crown prince was happier that day among his poor 
 
184 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS.'' 
 
 subjects than he would have been among the grandees 
 and the fashionables. Those paupers^ those laborers, 
 those tramps, those hedge-birds, those were the fellows 
 to make merry. To whom much is forgiven, the same 
 loveth much. Up in heaven they sing like the voice of 
 many waters and like great thunder, because they have 
 been cleansed from many sins and have partaken of 
 great grace. Let the Pharisee and the moralist refuse 
 the gospel ; there are those about who, in accepting it, 
 will do it greater honor than their dull souls coidd ever 
 render to it. Thus the wedding was furnished with 
 guests, who expressed their joy enthusiastically. 
 
 Hoiv the provisions ivere relished! It does one good to 
 see a hungry man eat his food. To him every bitter 
 thing is sweet. He does not turn over his food and 
 cut off every little bit of gristle, as some of you do be- 
 cause of your delicate appetites. The true gospel hearer 
 hearkens to the text— ^^ Eat ye that which is good, and let 
 your soul delight itself in fatness." He does not act the 
 critic, and cavil at this expression and that. He is too 
 sharp-set to be particular about the dishes and the carv- 
 ing. We marvel sometimes at the capacity of himgry 
 men ; there is no end to it ; and it is the same with 
 spiritual as with natural hunger. I think I can tell what 
 happened at that wedding : the bride nudged the bride- 
 groom and said, " See these poor people eat ! Is it not a 
 pleasure to give one's oxen and fatlings where they are 
 so much needed ? " The bridegroom was as happy as 
 he could be, for he was of a sympathizing heart, and he 
 greatly rejoiced in the joy of the poor people around 
 him. The king himself that day was gladdened as he 
 saw what a gallant companyof trenchermen they were, and 
 how there was no niggling, nor finding fault, but only un- 
 
" WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS^ 185 
 
 broken enjoyment and gratitude. The choicest kind of 
 guests had been collected, if the object was to give joy. 
 Ah dear friends ! if you have a deep sense of sin, you 
 will greatly love free grace and dying love. This is the 
 lack of certain gentlemen who are always finding fault 
 with the gospel : they never knew their own state by 
 nature and by practice, and therefore they do not prize 
 salvation. If they had felt a few lashes of the ten- 
 thonged whip of the law upon their bare consciences, 
 they would relish gospel forgiveness far more. He that 
 has been in the prison of conviction prizes blood-bought 
 freedom. He that has felt the chains of sin values the 
 liberty wherewith Christ makes him free. So I say, 
 that inasmuch as these poor creatures were brought in 
 from the streets, and their splendid appetites enjoyed the 
 feast, the wedding festival was no failure, but all the greater 
 success, because of the king's enemies. The wedding 
 was furnished with guests — guests who enjoyed the 
 abundance provided by the king. 
 
 Certainly, the occasion became more famous than it would 
 otherwise have been. If the feast had gone on as usual 
 it would have been only one among many such things ; 
 but now this royal banquet was the only one of its kind, 
 unique, unparalleled. To gather in poor men off the 
 streets, laboring men and idle men, bad men and good 
 men, to the wedding of the crown prince — this was a 
 new thing under the sun. Everybody talked of it. 
 There were songs made about it, and these were smig in 
 the king^s honor where none honored kings before. In 
 the kitchens, among the servants, this was a fine 
 story to tell by the fireside, while Mary and Jane wished 
 they had been there to see. In every lodging-house for 
 years to come this would be the fixvorite story — the talc 
 
186 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 
 
 of the poor man's pi^ince, and the needy man's queen. 
 On the exchange and in the market men talked of the brave 
 bride and bridegroom who had defied the customs of fash- 
 ion, and had done a deed so daring in its goodness. Was 
 there ever such a thing heard of before % Here was a feast 
 for men who never feasted before ! Sensible men said, 
 ^^ And nothing coidd be better : they Avere feeding those 
 that wanted feeding : they were giving good cheer to 
 those who have little enough of it,'' Among the poor 
 themselves the prince's name was very famous, while the 
 portrait of the princess was nailed up over the mantel- 
 piece. Children said to one another, " My father went 
 to the wedding of the imperial prince." To many it 
 seemed like a story out of the Arabian Nights. It did 
 not read like a piece of common history at all, but like 
 a fairy tale of the age of gold. Dear friends, when the 
 Lord saved some of us by his grace, it was no common 
 event. When he brought us great sinners to his feet, 
 and washed us, and clothed us, and fed us, and made us 
 his own, it was a wonder to be talked of for ever and 
 ever. We will never leave off praising his. name, 
 throughout eternity. That which looked as though it 
 would defame the king turned out to his honor, and 
 ^' the wedding was furnished with guests." 
 
 One thing more : ilie hincfs liheralitij teas all the better 
 seen. If those who were first bidden had put in an ap- 
 pearance, they would have come arrayed in their own 
 scarlet and fine linen. Some of the gentlemen would have 
 bought a new suit on purpose. You may depend upon 
 it, all the cunning women in the city would have been 
 employed to get their ladyships ready for the banquet, 
 that they might have honor in the court that day. Now 
 these fine clothes would have been more for the glory of 
 
" WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 187 
 
 tliose wIk) came in them, than for the honor of the king. 
 There was nothing of this among those who were gathered 
 from the Iiighways. They were in sorry gear. It was 
 difficult, perhaps, in some cases, to tell which was the 
 original stuff of their garments, so patched and mended 
 were they. Anyhow, they were a ragged regiment ; and 
 what was the consequence ? Why, then they must all 
 be dressed in the prince's own livery, and all the glory 
 of their apparel must be unto him. lie said to his ser- 
 vants, '^ Go to my wardrobe. Bring forth changes of 
 raiment." Every one that came in to the feast was in- 
 vited to put on the king's wedding garments. When he 
 came in to see the guests, it was a grand sight, for every- 
 body was royally arrayed. The king's wedding robes 
 were much better than his subjects' best suits. It was a 
 grand sight to see so many all in one royal livery ; every 
 guest Avcaring the uniform of mercy. So is it w^th us 
 poor sinners, saved by grace. If we had possessed any 
 true righteousness of our own we should have worn it ; 
 but now we count our own righteousness but dross and 
 dung that we may win Christ and be found in him. His 
 righteousness decorates all the saints : they could not be 
 better arrayed. Thus is the feast made more glorious 
 than it otherwise would have been, and the wedding is 
 furnished with guests. 
 
 How I wish that I could gather in many this morning, 
 both bad and good ! I mean by good, those who are 
 comparatively so as to their moral conduct. You are 
 bidden to come to the wedding-feast of love. But even 
 if you are bad, and obliged to own that you are so, I am 
 equally anxious to gather you in to the feast. Do you 
 ask me : What are we to do ? What were these per- 
 sons to do ? To come just as they were, and freely re- 
 
188 " WEDDING FURNISHED WITH GLESTS:' 
 
 ceive what the king had freely provided. Sometimes at 
 our treats for Smiday- school children every child is told 
 to bring his own mug and plate ; but it is not so with 
 our great King. His banquet is too royal for that. You 
 are to bring nothing. Still, everybody must go home 
 and wash, must he not % No, the washing and the cloth- 
 ing shall all be done for you at the King's palace. Come 
 as you are. ^^But what do you mean "by coming ?'^ We 
 mean trusting ; trust your soul with Jesus Christ, and he 
 will save it. Trust him, and you shall know that he 
 died in your room, place, and stead, so that, believing in 
 him, you shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 
 May the Holy Spirit lead you to believe in Jesus, that 
 is, trust him. 
 
 I have told you the gospel, and the whole of it. Trust 
 the crucified Saviour, and you shall live. Jesus says, 
 ^^ Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth." Do not look within to see what is there, but 
 look to Jesus hanging on the cross. A look at Christ 
 crucified will save you. Look, dear girls, young as you 
 are, look to Jesus now ! Look, ye gray-headed men and 
 v/omcn who have never looked before : look now ! Stran- 
 gers and foreigners, who have not heard this word be- 
 fore, there is life in a look at the Crucified One for you ! 
 Ye guiltiest of the guilty, and ye most amiable of the 
 amiable, turn away from anything there is in yourselves, 
 bad or good, and look to Jesus only. Receive from Jesus 
 all he brings you — pardon, righteousness, sanctification 
 redemption, himself. He that comes to a wedding feast 
 has nothing to do but to eat and to drink. Give your 
 mind up to this delightful exercise. Take the food which 
 God provides you. You shall do good works afterwards, 
 
«' WEDDLXG FURNISHED WITH GUESTS:' 189 
 
 for they will follow as a consequence of tlie strength 
 which comes of receiving heavenly food through faith ; 
 but just now eat, drink, and be merry, as becomes a 
 Prince's marriage. May the Father be pleased, his Son 
 be honored, and his church be comforted through you ! 
 Amen and Amen. 
 
IX. 
 
 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 Maij 20, 1888. 
 
 " And when tlie king came into see the guests, he saw there a 
 man which had not on a wedding garment : and he saith unto him, 
 Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? 
 And he was speechless. Then said tlie king to the servants, Bind 
 him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast liim into outer 
 darkness; tliere shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." — Mat- 
 thew xxii. 11-13. 
 
 Two Sabbath mornings ago I preached from this 
 parable, and I trust many were encouraged by it ; 
 but I noticed among inquirers who came to see me 
 afterwards, a desire to know about the wedding 
 garment ; for they feared lest, in coming to join the 
 church, they should come like the man of whom I 
 shall now speak. Many true hearts are extremely sensi- 
 tive to the impression of fear, and they seem to be on the 
 watch for reasons for anxiety. I do not condemn them ; 
 on the contrary, I wish there were more of such holy 
 tremblers. It is much better to be afraid of being wrong 
 than to be indifferent as to what you are. I perceive 
 among the very best of the saints a considerable number 
 who are deeply anxious as to their state before God. 
 Those who will one day be cast out of the wedding feast 
 are feeding themselves without fear, while those who 
 have the most right to enjoy the banquet are full of gra- 
 cious anxiety. Solomon says, " Happy is the man that 
 
 (190) 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 191 
 
 feareth alwaj " : he will cling closely to his God^ and 
 that will make him happy ; he will not rmi risks like the 
 presumptuous, and so he will be happy. Holy fear 
 spreads few banquets, but it takes care that when there 
 is a feast we go to it in a wedding garment. 
 
 My chief object this morning will be to allay the fears 
 of gracious ones. If they understand what the wedding 
 garment really is, they will probably discover that they 
 are wearing it ; and, if not, they will know in whose 
 wardrobe that garment of joy is to be found, and they 
 will gladly ask to be arrayed therein. May the Holy 
 Spirit, the Comforter, give a wedding joy this morning to 
 each wedding guest, by causing him to see for certain 
 that he is clothed in the wedding robe. 
 
 Immediately after our text, we find these solemn 
 w^ords : '•^ Many are called, but few are chosen." This 
 is a conclusion drawn from the whole parable, in which 
 we see processes at work which separate the chosen few 
 from the many wdio are called. A distinction was made 
 by the summoning of the invited guests. The simple 
 delivery of the invitation set a difference between the 
 loyal and the rebellious — a distinction most marked and 
 decisive. So it is in the preaching of the gospel : we 
 preach it to every creature within our reach. Lovingly, 
 tenderly, earnestly ; not so well as we would, but still 
 with all our heart we call men to the royal feast of grace ; 
 and straightway the very invitation begins to gather out 
 the precious from the vile. Pure gospel preaching is 
 very discriminating. You can tell Cain from Abel as 
 soon as the sacrifice is the subject. R;each_sdv:ajjiiii-by 
 grace, and you find that some will not have it at any 
 price, others postpone alFconsidcration of it, and a third 
 party raise questions without end. Still do men make 
 
192 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 light of it, and go their way to their farms and to the,ir 
 merchandise. Thus, dear friends, every Sabbath day, 
 without our attempting to sit in judgment on men, the 
 gospel is in itself a rehning fire. In the gospel the Son 
 of David has a throne of judgment as well as of mercy. 
 When men ^vill not have Christ and lis grace, the Word 
 preached by his humble servant drives them away, and 
 they go with the chaff. But the work of discrimination 
 is not finished after the gospel has been heard and men 
 have been brought into the church. Alas ! even in the 
 chui'ch division has to be made ; indeed, it is there that 
 this is most fully carried out. " His fan is in his handj, 
 and he will throughly purge his floor." If he uses a 
 scourge nowhere else, he will be sure to use it in his own 
 temple. Among the sheep there are goats ; among the 
 virgins there are foolish ones 5 and^among the guests at 
 the wedding feast there are those who^aye not on the 
 wedding garment. Until we come to heaven itself we 
 shall always discover necessity for the work of self-exam- 
 ination. Even in the apostolic college, Judas carried on 
 his knavery, as if to warn us that no rank in service, no 
 honor among brethren, no length of experience can screen 
 us from the necessity of saying, '^ Lord, is it I ? " when 
 his warning voice saith, "One of you shall betray me.'^ 
 In our text we see a man who has hearkened to the in- 
 vitation and has come into the feast, and thus has passed 
 the first test ; and yet he is imable to abide the second ; 
 he has been received by the servants, but he cannot de- 
 ceive their master. The king detects him as a spot in 
 the feast, and he is cast out from the palace of mercy 
 into the outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wail- 
 ing, and gnashing of teeth. May hoiie'df us^ be of this 
 sort. 
 
WHAT IS 77/ K WEDDING GARMENT? I93 
 
 I shall endeavor to answer four questions naturally- 
 arising out of the parable. First, Wliat is meant hij the 
 hinges coming in f — '' when the king came in to see the 
 guests " ; secondly, What is the tvedcling garment f 
 thirdly, Who is he that hath it not f and fourthly, Why 
 did he stand speechless when he was asked, '^ How earnest 
 thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? " 
 
 I. May^ the Holy Spirit help us while we consider, 
 
 first, WHAT IS MEANT BY THE KING^S COMING IN. 
 
 " The king came in to see the guests." They were 
 all reclining at the tables, for " the wedding was fur- 
 nished with guests." They gathered while the sun was 
 up, but darkness covered the world outside when " the 
 king came in to see the guests." They had feasted, and 
 now the king came to honor the assembly. 
 
 It ivas the crown and the culmination of the feast. No 
 matter how dainty the viands, nor how bright the hall, the 
 feast has not reached its height till his majesty appears in 
 gracious condescension. It is so with us, beloved, in re- 
 ference to our greater King. When we are gathered in 
 this house, which has often proved to us a palace of de- 
 lights, we never reach the height of our desire till the 
 Lord manifests himself to us. You delight to hear the 
 preacher, and to join in the song, and to say Amen to 
 the prayer, but these are not all. Your heart and your 
 flesh cry out for God, for the living God ; you look to 
 behold the King in his beauty. When the glorious 
 Father reveals himself in Christ Jesus, then the Sabbath 
 is a high day, for our pray^er is answered, " Make thy 
 face to shine upon thy servant." Our glorious King is 
 not always equally manifest in our solemn assemblies. 
 Doubtless because of our sins he hideth himself. In truth 
 he is always with us ; for the feast is his, and the hall is 
 
194 WHAT IS 7 'HE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 liis, and every guest is brought in by his grac<?, and 
 every dish on the table is placed there by his love ; but 
 yet there are times when he is specially seen among his 
 people. Then our communion with the Father, and with 
 his Son, Jesus Christ, is sweet indeed. 
 
 These are seasons of gracious visitation : times of re- 
 freshing from the presence of the Lord. When the King 
 comes into the assembly, the preaching of the word is in 
 demonstration of the Spirit, and in power. Then the 
 day of Pentecost has fidly come : the Spirit is abundantly 
 outpoured, souls are saved, saints are edified, and Christ 
 is glorified. The spiritual soon detect the divine pres- 
 ence, and the shout of a King is heard in the camp. 
 When I think of it, my heart cries out with Isaiah, ^^ Oh 
 that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest 
 come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy 
 presence ! " The presence of our God brings with it 
 heavenly happiness, solemn content, and overflowing joy. 
 Well does Dr. Watts sing : — 
 
 " The King himself comes near, 
 And feasts his saints to-day ; 
 Here we maj sit and see him here, 
 And love, and praise, and pray. 
 
 *' One day amidst the place 
 
 AVhere my dear God hath been 
 Is sweeter than ten thousand days 
 Of pleasurable sin." 
 
 Beloved friends, you know better than I can tell you 
 when the King is near, and you know sorrowfully when 
 he is not in the assembly. Alas, from how many con- 
 gregations is he absent, and that absence unmourned ! 
 When the Lord is gone we spread our sails, but there is 
 no wind: we bring the sacrifice, but there is no fire. The 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 195 
 
 wedding Avoiild have been a failure without guests ; but 
 what would the feast have been if the host had refused to 
 come in and see the guests ? But the King came in in 
 due time. Ay, came in among that crowd of wayfarers 
 gathered from the highways at a moment's notice, and 
 his presence crowned the festival with honor and rap- 
 ture. 
 
 This coming in to see the guests indicates a glorious 
 revelation of himself. When the King saw the guests, the 
 guests saw him ; but, inasmuch as his sight of them was 
 the more important sight of the two, the chief thing is 
 mentioned while the minor matter is implied. Do we 
 know what it is to see God ? This is the special privi- 
 lege of the pure in heart. When the Lord's way is in 
 the sanctuary, then his sanctified ones behold him. 
 Spiritual eyes have looked to Jesus by faith, and he 
 saith, ^^ He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.'^ 
 Have you never been like John in Patmos, ready to 
 swoon away because of the revelation of the Father in 
 Christ ? When Jesus has been set forth evidently cruci- 
 fied among us, we have in him beheld the face of the 
 great King, and our hearts have leaped for joy, so that 
 we have been ready to leap into heaven itself if the word 
 had been given. When Augustine read those words, 
 ^^ Thou canst not see my face and live," he was bold 
 enough to answer, ^^ Let me die to see thy face." 
 
 Blessed vision ! 
 
 ''Lord, let me see thy beanteons face! 
 It yields a heaven below ; 
 And angels round the throne will say, 
 'Tis all the heaven they know." 
 
 The King delights to see his guests, and his guests de- 
 
196 IVBAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 light to see him. Then is our worship full of bliss, and 
 no place out of heaven is so like to heaven as the place 
 of our assemblies. We read in the Gospel of John : 
 "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord j" 
 and well they might be. Then are we glad also when we 
 distinctly discern him as our Lord and our God. My own 
 soul knows this joy unspeakable, but because it is un- 
 speakable, I say no more. 
 
 For the King to come in and see the guests includes 
 a manifestation of special favor. He comes in, not to 
 judge the guests, but to look upon them. You that were 
 here last Thursday might will remember my text : "Look 
 thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to 
 do unto those that love thy name." The Lord is accus- 
 tomed to look with favor upon those who love his name, 
 for he is pleased with them. O brothers and sisters, 
 when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
 Holy Ghost ; when the Father lifts upon us the light of 
 his countenance, then our summer weather is come. Can 
 anything be compared with the favor of God! The 
 smiles of kings, the friendships of emperors — do not 
 mention them in the same day. Some of you know that 
 the Lord loves you ; yea, that he loved you from before 
 the foundation of the world, and he will love you when 
 the world has ceased to be. Oh that the King would 
 come here this morning in that sense, and look into all 
 your faces, and give you all the full assurance that you 
 are in his heart, and shall be there to all eternity ! Oh 
 that this whole church may be a living temple in which 
 the Lord shall delight to dwell ; may every stone of it be 
 brilliant with the reflected light of his favor ; may all 
 our testimonies and labors be acceptable unto him, and 
 may he be very gracious at the voice of our cry ! O 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 197 
 
 Jehovah, manifest thyself here as thou didst between 
 the cherubim % For thy sake we have borne reproach 5 
 Lord, be our glory ! We have held fast thy truth ; we 
 beseech thee, let the light of thy countenance encourage 
 us ! 
 
 But here is the solemn point to which I call your at- 
 tention : this visitation brings with it dJilM-^f discovery 
 and searching of heart When the king comes in to see 
 the guests, the light grows stronger^ and hidden things 
 are revealed ; for all things are naked and open to the 
 eyes of him with whom we have to do. When the Lord 
 visits his church, his fire is in Zion, and his furnace in 
 Jerusalem ; then the man without a wedding garment is 
 winked at no longer. You can go on sleeping as a 
 church when God is away, and no members will fall off j 
 for those who know not the Lord Avill come in and go out 
 among you as aforetime. The dead will remain quiet till 
 the Lord sounds the trumpet of resurrection : mere pro- 
 fessors will not know that they are making a false profes- 
 sion, but will remain at ease in our solemn feasts. But 
 when the King comes in all things are changed. '^ Who 
 may abide the day of his coming ? and who shall stand 
 when he appeareth ! for he is like a refiner's fire, and 
 like fuller's sope." You cannot receive abimdant spirit- 
 ual life into the church without the discernment of the 
 unworthy, and the expulsion of the spiritually dead. One 
 goes away because he is offended at the doctrine, another 
 is grieved at the heart-searching experience, and a third 
 feels himself too sternly rebuked as to his life. Thus the 
 Lord's visitation of grace becomes an assize of judgment, 
 and the finger of the Lord writes upon the wall,^/.^ Thou 
 art weighed in the balfmce,jmiilliJoun If 
 
 the Lord^ouF^od were to come into his church to-day 
 
198 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 there would be an awful shrinkage among the number of 
 his guests ; a panic would seize the assembly, and the 
 door would be blocked with men hastening to escape his 
 eye. 
 
 Look how the king's discernment is recorded in the 
 text. One man only had refused to put on a wedding 
 garment ; but the king at once fixed his eye upon him. 
 The Saviour, by a kind of heavenly charity, mentions 
 only one intruder, but I fear we must regard the one as 
 a type of many. If the King should come in at the time 
 of our commmiion, I am afraid he w^ould detect more 
 than one. Still, if there were but one, he would concen- 
 trate his gaze upon that one, and speak to him by him- 
 self. If you are the only person who has dared to enter 
 the church knowing that you are not converted, the King 
 will spy you out. If you make a profession of religion 
 out of bravado, and keep it up by sheer deceit, you may 
 hide yoiu'self away among your family connections, or 
 think that your respectability will screen you ; but you 
 are mistaken. You have to deal with one whose eyes 
 are as a flame of fire, and he will so unmask you that 
 you will not have a word to say in your own defence. 
 This is a solemn matter. It will not make the true- 
 hearted wish the King to stay away, but those who are 
 wilful deceivers may well tremble. The King does come 
 to this church. He is specially present in the midst of 
 this people, and the consequence is that his judgment is 
 strict with us. I have seen the rod of his discipline here 
 in a very striking manner. I have seen the fair profes- 
 sor wither in the heat of love, and the rootless Christian 
 dried up in the noontide of grace. He might have gone 
 on very well in any other church, but he has not been 
 able to abide the brandished sword of the Spirit, and its 
 
IVHAT IS 7 'HE WEDDING GARMENT? 199 
 
 dividing asunder soul and spirit, joints and marrow. He 
 has not been able to sit it out, but has been obliged to go 
 away and find an easier rest. Just in proportion as we 
 really have the King in the midst of us making glad the 
 saints, we shall have the King in the midst of us discern- 
 ing the false and casting them out, first into the outer 
 darkness of the world, which lieth in the wicked one, and 
 at last into the outer darkness of weeping, and wailing, 
 and gnashing of teeth. Still, be the result what it may, 
 our prayer this morning is, ^^ God be merciful unto us, 
 and bless us ; and cause his face to shine upon us." 
 
 II. Now I would answer the second question : what 
 IS THE WEDDING GARMENT % You are probably aware 
 that this has been a point greatly disputed among theolo- 
 gians. Is the wedding garment justification, or sanctifi- 
 cation, or what ? I am not going to be theological and 
 bring doctrinal matters to the text ; but I shall read the 
 parable as it stands, and interpret its details by its gen- 
 eral run. It is called a ^^«(;ef?f?m^ garment" — a garment 
 suitable for a marriage feast. Let us translate the 
 figure, rather than attempt to rivet a doctrine to it. 
 What does a wedding garment mean % What is that 
 which we must have in connection with our Lord's mar- 
 riage or be cast out for ever % 
 
 I think I may say plainly that it must signify a dls- 
 tinguishing marlc of grace. Everybody does not Avear a 
 wedding garment : her who wears it has put it on because 
 he is a wedding guest. You know the wedding guest at 
 once by his attire, fle dresses in a way which woidd be 
 considered singular if he were so arrayed every day. 
 Your steady citizen indidges in a white waistcoat on the 
 nuptial occasion, but he never dreams of going down to 
 his office in the city in such gear. True members of the 
 
200 WHAT IS t:iE wedding garment? 
 
 churcli of God wear a distinguisliing mark. If you are 
 not different from other people, you have no right in the 
 church of God. If a servant can live with you for years 
 and never discover y^our love to God, I should think there 
 is none to discover. If you are just the same as those 
 you lived with in your former days, if you have under- 
 gone no change, and are like the rest of men, you have 
 not the distinguishing mark which sets forth your right 
 to be in the church of God. There ought to be a some- 
 thing about us which sets us apart — a something which 
 can be seen and understood by common people, even as 
 a wedding garment could be seen, and its meaning at 
 once perceived. Your religion uiust not require a mi cro- 
 scope to perceive it, nor shoidd it be so indistinct that 
 few can discover any meaning in it. j It sh ould b e as vis- 
 ible as the white garment which was Avorn Jby^Easterns at 
 a marriage. Is it so ^^""^ 
 
 I may boldly add here that the wedding garment was 
 a distinguishing mark of grace ; for as these people were 
 fetched in from the highways they could noi: have pro- 
 vided themselves with wedding garments. It is the cus- 
 tom in the East for a king to provide robes for his 
 guests ; therefore this wedding garment was a mark of 
 grace, freely given and received. Is there, then, a 
 something about you which the Lord in love has given 
 you ? Do you differ from others, not in natural attain- 
 ments, but in spiritual grace ? Does the difference 
 mainly lie in what God himself has done for you % That 
 is the question involved in the symbol of the wedding 
 garment. Do you differ from what you used to be ? Do 
 you differ from what you were years ago % Do you 
 differ from those with whom you used to associate, so 
 that you seek other company and turn aside from those 
 
W//A T IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 201 
 
 who once were charming fellows to you % If so, you 
 have on the wedding garment. It is a distinguishing, 
 mark. I do not mean to put this in a way that would 
 grieve anybody here unle£:s they ought to be grieved ; 
 but if they ought to be grieved, then we would have them 
 cry to God for renewal by his grace. May the Lord 
 make you to wear his livery ! May he give you the spot 
 of his children, and cause you no longer to be of the 
 world ! A distinguishing mark is plainly the first mean- 
 ing of the wedding garment. 
 
 In the next place, it was a symbol of respect for the hing. 
 To be fit for his company, the dress must be special. 
 The absence of such a dress was, in the case before us, 
 the badge of irreverence and disloyalty. This man said 
 to himself: '^ I will feed at th3 feast without acknowledg- 
 ing its intent. Whoever stops me, I will push my way in, 
 and I shall sit there in my every-day garments, to let the 
 king know that I do not respect him intlie least, and 
 will not wear the robes he provides." It is as if you 
 had lost a son, and some wretched man should say, ^^ I 
 will attend the funeral in a wedding suit. I shall thus 
 wound the feelings of the mourners, and show my con- 
 tempt for tlie whole afi'air." What an insult it would be ! 
 To turn the picture. Suppose you were being married, 
 and somebody forced his way into the wedding dressed 
 in mourning, with crape upon his hat, and black kid 
 gloves upon his hands. What a wanton insult ! If such 
 impudence were met with a horse-whip, who would be 
 surprised ? Now, this man acted in that fashion : he 
 had no respect for the king : he showed his traitorous 
 nature in the worst possible manner, spiting the king in 
 his own halls upon a tender occasion. Dear friends, I 
 trust that you can truly say, '' I have on the wedding 
 
202 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 garment of reverence for the King. I do not despise the 
 Lord God ; but I bow before him in true worship. I 
 would come into his church, not to dishonor him, but to 
 give glory to his name." The wedding garment was a 
 token of respect to him who had provided the feast and 
 presided over it : judge you this day whether you have 
 on the wedding garment, by inquiring whether you 
 honor and reverence the Lord God, and labor to be obe- 
 dient to him in all things. 
 
 The wedding garment was, moreover, a tohen of Jionor 
 for the prince. Those who put on the wedding garment 
 did as good as say, '^ We join in the joy of the prince, 
 and come hither to-day to show our attachment to him, 
 and to wish him joy of his bride.'' My hearers, do 
 you feel a love to the Lord Jesus Christ ? Many do 
 not. I grieve to say we have a race of men sprmig up 
 nowadays who call themselves Christians, who pour con- 
 tempt upon his precious blood, and ridicule the substitu- 
 tionary sacrifice. Dreadful assertion ! but it is a mat- 
 ter of fact. The name of Jesus, why, it is to our lives 
 what the sun is to the sky, what the nvers are to the 
 plains. Nothing makes us so glad as thoughts of Jesus. 
 I am sure when I hear a sermon about Christ, my Mas- 
 ter, my very heart grows warm within me. Is it so with 
 you ? Well, then, you have on the wedding garment ; 
 that is to say, you do truly, though it be but in a simple 
 way, pay homage to the Prince of Peace j you love the 
 name and person of Jesus, and you come into his church 
 because you do so. 
 
 The wedding garment also signified a confession of 
 sympathy IV ith the great occasion. Every man who ate 
 of the fatlings, every man who drank of the wines, every 
 man who gave his presence, was a helper in the honors 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDLVG GARMENT? 203 
 
 of that wedding feast, save only this one intruder, who 
 would not even pretend to join iu the joy, for he refused 
 the simple aet of putting on a robe fit for the feast. 
 Dear friend, do you feel sympathy with the Lord's pur- 
 poses of grace ! Do you rejoice that Jesus finds a bride 
 among our race I Do you bless God for the covenant 
 of grace, which includes incarnation, redemption, and 
 sanctification ! Do you bless the name of the incarnate 
 God for taking into everlasting union with himself a 
 people prepared of the Lord f Well, then, you are in 
 sympathy with the marriage of the Lamb, and you have 
 a right to be present at the feast. You evidently wear 
 the wedding garment which denotes your joy in Christ, 
 your interest in his church, your part and lot in the joy- 
 ous work of his salvation. 
 
 The wedding garment means, in a word, conformity to 
 the requirements of the occasion. It was a wedding, and 
 the guests must put on a suitable dress. This man re- 
 fused to put it on. He was jproud^.andwoiild not wear 
 the gift _of_grace ; he was self-willed, and must needs be 
 singular, and show his independence of mind. The reg- 
 ulation was by no means irksome, and to the rest of the 
 guests the commandment was not grievous ; but this man 
 would have his own way in defiance of the lord of the 
 feast. What could come of such folly "? Xow, beloved, 
 one of the requirements of the feast is, that you with 
 your heart believe on the Lord Jesus, and that you take 
 his righteousness to be your righteousness. Do you re- 
 fuse this I If you will not accept the Lord Jesus as 
 your substitute, bearing your sins in his own body on the 
 tree, you have not the wedding garment. Another re- 
 quirement is that you should repent of sin and forsake it ; 
 and that you should follow after holiness, and endeavor 
 
204 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 to copy the example of the Lord Jesus. You are to 
 possess, as the work of divine grace, a godly and upright 
 character. Have you such a character % Even though 
 you are not perfect, yet, inasmuch as you follow after 
 righteousness, you have the wedding garment. You say 
 that you are a Christian ; do you live like a Christian ? 
 Are you in a position and condition which agree with the 
 gospel feast % If so, you have on the wedding garment. 
 
 Those v/ho came unto the feast were, when they came, 
 both bad and good ; so that the wedding garment does 
 not relate to their past character, but relates to something 
 with which they were invested when they came to the 
 banquet. The putting on of a wedding robe cannot refer 
 to an elaborate ceremony, or a feat of the intellect, or to 
 a deep experience of the heart ; and yet it involved join- 
 ing in the wedding, or not joining in it. It involved 
 reverence for the king, and homage to the prince, and 
 sympathy with the whole matter. Look well to your- 
 selves, and see whether you truly yield yourselves to the 
 Lord, and agree with him in the whole matter. 
 
 III. Thirdly, WHO IS THE MAN THAT HAS NOT ON 
 THE WEDDING GARMENT % 
 
 I should say, first, lie is the man tvlio rejects GocTs re- 
 vealed gosjoel that he may foUoiv his own thought and his 
 oivn ivisdom. He says that he is loyal to Christ, and he 
 expects all his fellow guests to be firm friends with him, 
 for is he not in the banquet as much as they are f But 
 he does not mean by loyalty what they mean by it. He 
 is among believers, but he is not truly of them. He 
 talks about atonement ; he does not mean substitution. 
 He talks about the divinity of Christ ; he does not mean 
 the Grodhead of Christ. He talks about justification by 
 faith 5 but he does not mean the old-fashioned doctrine. 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 205 
 
 He speaks of regeneration, but means evolution. He 
 girds liiuiself with the garniemt of philosophy, but he re- 
 fuses the robe of revelation, for the cut of it is too old- 
 fashioned for him. He is no more a wedding guest than 
 he is a merry-andrew ; perhaps, not so much so. He 
 wears raiment in which the robe of righteousness and the 
 garments of gladness are not to be seen. The looms of 
 free grace and dying love have never woven him a wed- 
 ding dress. His robe is not of God's provision ; it is from 
 his own wardrobe. He glories in his own culture, and 
 not in the revelation of God, nor yet in the work of divine 
 grace upon the heart. He is in the church, but he is not 
 in Christ. He has a name to live, but he is dead. 
 
 The next person who has not on the wedding garment 
 is the man lulio refuses the righteousness of God because he 
 has a righteousness of his own. He thinks his work-day 
 dress good enough for Christ's own wedding. What does 
 he want with imputed righteousness ? He scouts it as 
 immoral. He who is himself immoral ! What does he 
 want with the precious blood of Jesus ? He does not 
 need to be washed from crimson stains. He writes a 
 paper against the sensuousness of those persons who 
 
 ''There is a fountain filled witli blood 
 Drawn from Immamiers veius." 
 
 His own righteousness, though it be of the law, and such 
 as Paul rejected, he esteems so highly that he counts the 
 blood of the covenant an unholy i\\\n% ! Ah me, the in- 
 solence of self-righteousness ! Its pride is the very chief 
 of sins, for it slights the righteousness of God. Practi- 
 cally, the self-righteous man does not see any wedding in 
 the gospel system ; he does see anything in the gospel to 
 
206 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 make liim glad, nothing for him to sing about, nothing to 
 make him shout for joy of heart. He will not praise the 
 Prince. Not he ! He is under the law, and he is con- 
 tent to be a slave ; he is trying to save himself by his 
 own works, and law knows no holidays. He is not a 
 wedding guest, but a mere drudge. 
 
 Another sort of person has profession ivitliout feelwg. 
 If he were outside of the church his conscience might 
 trouble him : he has come inside of it, and now he says 
 to himself, "It is aU right.'^ He does not care to watch 
 his feelings ; he never had any : he would rather not have 
 any. To the power of the Word he is a stranger, though 
 he knows the letter of it. As to repentance, and the bur- 
 den of sin, he never knew them, and does not want to 
 know them. He thinks Mr. Bunyan must have been 
 superstitious or morbid when he wrote '' Grace Abound- 
 ing." Joy in the Lord is equally a thing unknown to 
 him, for he hates all excitement. He has no solemn de- 
 pressions and no raptures, for he has no spiritual life. 
 As he has no holy feeling, so he has no holy action : he 
 is a Christian, he says ; but having put up the sign- 
 board, he drives no trade. His religion operates far more 
 upon his boots and his hat than it does upon his heart ; 
 that is to say, he comes out respectably dressed on a Sun- 
 day, but his religion never affects his conduct. Nobody 
 can find much fault with him, except that he is as dead 
 as a door nail. He commits no gross sin, he certainly 
 performs no brilliant deeds of piety. Spiritually he is a 
 very well washed corpse — that is all. 
 
 We have others who are in the church, who thinh that 
 ivhatthey have done themselves^ or ivhat nature has done for 
 them, is quite enough. They do not seek anything super- 
 natiu'al. They do not want any wedding garment more 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENTl 207 
 
 tlian their every-day coats. They are quite reputable in 
 appearance even now, and with a little touching up they 
 will be good enough without the new birth, and without 
 the Holy Spirit. Alas, my hearers ! all that nature can 
 ever do for you will leave you on the wrong side of 
 heaven. You may cultivate nature to its utmost, it will 
 never bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. " Ye must be 
 born again." If you ha^^e not come into living contact 
 with a living Saviour by the work of the Holy Ghost you 
 may be in the Church, but you are not in Christ, and 
 have not on the wedding garment. 
 
 Why, some dare to come into the church who liave not 
 even common moraUfi/, It is shocking we should have to 
 say it, but nowadays, we meet with those who call them- 
 selves Christians who can drink upon the sly, who can 
 commit uncleanness with their bodies, who can be dis- 
 honest in their trading, who can be liars, who can hate 
 their own flesh and blood and be at enmity with their 
 brethren, and yet dare to come to the communion table. 
 In the highlands of Scotland it was at one time difficult 
 to get Christian people to come to the Lord's Table, for 
 they so trembled under a sense of their unworthiness. 
 We do not want to push this too far, but that is a great 
 deal better than that unholy daring, which is to be found 
 in the minds of so many who serve Christ and Belial. 
 God save his church from degradation ! Unholy pro- 
 fessors have not on a wedding garment : their outward 
 robes by no means befit the King's feast ; but they are a 
 dishonor to him. 
 
 I do not see how that man can be said to have on a 
 wedding garment tvJio taJces no interest in the worh of tlie 
 church. You see when a man put on the wedding gar- 
 ment, he did as good as say, ^' I am interested in the 
 
208 WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 wedding. I wish God's blessing to the bride and bride- 
 groom." But many come in now to the King's feast who 
 do not care a snap of the finger for the church of God, 
 nor for Christ either. They come in because a sort of 
 selfishness makes them anxious to be saved ; but as to 
 the bride, the Lamb's wife, they do not care whether she 
 starves or flourishes. Sad and wretched business this ! 
 If members of the church only can distribute tracts or at- 
 tend meetings for prayer — if they are doing this, and 
 show an interest thus in the wedding — they have on the 
 wedding garment. But if all they do is simply to hear, 
 either to criticise or to enjoy, but never work for Christ, 
 nor pray for Christ, they have no sympathy in the wedding 
 feast, and therefore they have not on a wedding garment. 
 
 IV. To close, WHY WAS this man^p^chless f We 
 do not often meet with people who have no excuse. Ex- 
 cuse-making is the easiest trade out. A man can make 
 an excuse out of nothing at all, or out of what is less 
 than nothing, out of a direct lie. But here was a man 
 who could not speak. Why was that ? 
 
 AVell, I think, first, the affront ivas too 'bare-faced, 
 " How camest thou in hither % " If he did not like the 
 king he could have kept outside. There was no need 
 why he should come in at all, and there display his mal- 
 ice. If any of you are resolved to be lost, you need not 
 add to your eternal ruin by making a profession of re- 
 ligion, for hypocrisy is a superfluity of naughtiness. But 
 this man wilfully refused the wedding garment. Now, 
 those dear soids I mentioned at the beginning of the ser- 
 mon do not wilfully refuse the Lord's grace : I am sure 
 they do not. Oh no, they are afraid they are not right, 
 but they do not wish to be wrong. Such are not among 
 those whom this parable condemns. 
 
WHAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 0Q9 
 
 Next, the affront was so audacious. ^^IIow earnest thou 
 in hither ? " said the king. He must have pushed by 
 the deacons at the door. The fellow would come in. 
 When the king said, ^^ Bind him hand and foot," I think 
 it was because he had used hand and foot to get in. He 
 would get in ; he said, " I will get in. I will defy the 
 king to his face, and sit in among his guests without a 
 wedding garment." You, dear friend, do not wish to do 
 that : I am sure it is the last thing you would do. Why 
 we have to persuade you to come in at all ; for you are 
 so tenderly jealous lest you should be mistaken. Do not 
 let this parable condemn you. 
 
 But why was this man speechless ? I answer once 
 more, because it was the hing himself tvlio spoke to him. 
 Ah ! if I speak to you, what am I but flesh and blood ? 
 You do not mind me ! But if the King himself were 
 here to-day, and he said to any one of you, ^^ Friend, 
 how camest thou in hither not having a wedding gar- 
 ment ? " the tone of his voice, the glory of his presence, 
 would flash in upon your hearts, you would be obliged to 
 feel it, and you could not invent an answer. If you do 
 not love him, if you have no reverence for him, no sym- 
 pathy with his Son, you will be speech] ess before his 
 bar. 
 
 Lastly, the reason why he was speechless was because, 
 even if he could have spoken and been free from terror, 
 tJiere ivas nothing to be said. He could not cry, ^' Lord, 
 I did not know it." He saw all the rest with wedding 
 garments on. He could not say, " Lord, I could not get 
 a wedding garment " : each one had received a garment 
 gratis, and he might have received the same. He could 
 not say, "Lord, I was pushed in here by somebody 
 else." No, he had willingly chosen to come, and to defy 
 
210 W/JAT IS THE WEDDING GARMENT? 
 
 the rule The guests had all looked at him : some had 
 edged a little waj off from him. Some had tenderly 
 said, ^^ Brother, will you not put on the wedding gar- 
 ment % " He answered, " No," ^' Will you not go out 
 before the king comes in ? " ^^ Why,'' he said, ^^ I came 
 on purpose to defy him. I mean to keep my place." I 
 do not wonder that the king said, ^^ Bind him hand and 
 foot, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be 
 weeping and gnashing of teeth." Our Lord Jesus Christ 
 says very strong things about the future of the wicked. 
 I have been accused of representing the state of the lost 
 in too horrible a manner. I have never gone beyond 
 the dreadful descriptions given by our Lord himself. 
 Do not risk your eternal future. Come to the church of 
 God and join it, but do not join it unless you love the 
 Lord. Do not come to the gospel feast unless you rev- 
 erence the King 5 unless you love the Prince ; unless you 
 are in sympathy with the great work of grace which is 
 pictured as a wedding feast. If you have sympathy with 
 the wedding, love to the bridegroom, and delight in the 
 bride, then come and welcome ; for you have the wed- 
 ding garment. I am thinking just now of all those 
 other hundreds of people at the wedding, all of them 
 clothed with the wedding garment. What joy they felt ! 
 Many had been bad, and all had been poor : but they all 
 had the wedding garment, and not one of them was cast 
 out. If you will but put your trust in Jesus, and so 
 honor the Son ; and rest in the love of the Father, and 
 so honor the King, it is written, ^^ Him that cometh to 
 me I will in no wise cast out." God bless you for Jesus 
 sake ! Amen. 
 
" LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW.'^ 
 
 Ju7W 17, 1888. 
 
 ''He trusted in God; let Mm deliver him now, if lie will have 
 him ; for he said, I am the Son of God." -Matthew xxvii. 43. 
 
 These words are a fulfilment of the prophecy contained 
 in the twenty-second Psalm. Read from the seventh 
 verse — ^^ All they that see me laugh me to scorn : they 
 shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted 
 on the Lord that he would deliver him : let him deliver 
 him, seeing he delighted in him." Thus to the letter 
 doth our Lord answer to the ancient prophecy. 
 
 It is very painful to the heart to picture our blessed 
 Master in his death-agonies, surrounded by a ribald mul- 
 titude, who watched him and mocked him, made sport of 
 his prayer and insulted his faith. Nothing was sacred 
 to them ; they invaded the Holy of holies of his confi- 
 dence in God, and taunted him concerning that faith in 
 Jehovah which they were compelled to admit. See, dear 
 friends, what an evil thing is sin, since the Sin-bearer 
 suff'ers so bitterly to make atonement for it ! See, also, 
 the shame of sin, since even the Prince of Glory, when 
 bearing the consequences of it, is covered with contempt ! 
 Behold, also, how he loved us ! For our sake he " en- 
 dured th^ cross, despising the shame." He loved us so 
 much that even scorn of the most cruel sort he deigned 
 211 
 
212 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 
 
 to bear, tliat he might take away our shame and enable 
 us to look up unto God. 
 
 Beloved, the treatment of our Lord Jesus Christ by 
 men is the clearest proof of total depravity which can 
 possibly be required or discovered. Those must be stony 
 hearts indeed which can laugh at a dying Saviour, and 
 mock even at his faith in God ! Compassion would seem 
 to have deserted humanity, while malice sat supreme on 
 the throne. Painfid as the picture is, it will do you good 
 to paint it. You will need neither canvas, nor brush, 
 nor palette, nor colors. Let your thoughts draw the out- 
 line, and your love fill in the detail ; I shall not complain 
 if imagination heightens the coloring. The Son of God, 
 whom angels adore with veiled faces, is pointed at with 
 scornful fingers by men who thrust out the tongue and 
 mockingly exclaim, ^^ He trusted on the Lord that he 
 would deliver him : let him deliver him, seeing he de- 
 lighted in him.'^ 
 
 While thus we see our Lord in his sorrow and his 
 shame as our substitute, we must not forget that he also 
 is there as our representative. That which appears in 
 many a psalm to relate to David is found in the Gospels 
 to refer to Jesus, our Lord. Often and often the student 
 of the psalms will say to himself, ^^ Of whom speaketh the 
 prophet this ? " He will have to disentangle the threads 
 sometimes, and mark off" that which belongs to David and 
 that which relates to the Son of God ; and frequently he 
 will not be able to disentangle the threads at all, because 
 they are one, and may relate both to David, and to 
 David's Lord. This is meant to show us that the life of 
 Christ is an epitome of the life of his people. He not 
 only suffers for us as our substitute, but he suflG^rs before 
 us as our pattern. In him we see what we have in our 
 
"Z^r IIIM DELIVER IIIM A'OIF." 213 
 
 measure to endure. " As he is^ so arc we also in this 
 world." AVe also must be crucified to the world, and we 
 may look for somewhat of those tests of faith and taunts 
 of derision which go with such a crucifixion. " Marvel 
 not if the world hate you." You, too, must suffer with- 
 out the gate. Not for the world's redemption, but for 
 the accomplishment of divine purposes in you, and 
 through you to the sons of men, you must be made to 
 know the cross and its shame. Christ is the mirror of 
 the church. What the head endured every member of 
 the body will also have to endure in its measure. Let us 
 read the text in this light, and come to it saying to our- 
 selves, ^^ Here we see what Jesus suffered in our stead, 
 and we learn hereby to love him with all our souls. Here 
 too, we see, as in a prophecy, how great things we are to 
 suffer for his sake at the hands of men." May the Holy 
 Spirit help us in our meditation, so that at the close of it 
 we may more ardently love our Lord, who suffered for 
 us, and may the more carefully arm ourselves with the 
 same mind which enabled him to endure such contra- 
 diction of sinners against himself. 
 
 Coming at once to the text, first, observe the achiowledg- 
 ment with which the text begins : " He trusted in God." 
 The enemies of Christ admitted his faith in God. Sec- 
 ondly, consider the test ivhich is the essence of the taunt : 
 " Let him deliver him, if he will have him." When we 
 have taken those two things into our minds, then let us 
 for a while consider the answer to that test and taunt : 
 God does assuredly deliver his people : those who trust 
 in him have no reason to be ashamed of their faith. 
 
 I. First, then, my beloved brethren, you who know 
 the Lord by faith and live by trusting in him, let me in- 
 vite you to OBSERVE THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT which these 
 
214 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW.'' 
 
 mockers made of our Lord's faith : "He trusted in God." 
 Yet the Saviour did not wear any peculiar garb or token 
 by which he let men know that he trusted in God. He 
 was not a recluse, neither did he join some little knot of 
 separatists, who boasted their peculiar trust in Jehovah. 
 Although our Saviour was separate from sinners, yet he 
 was eminently a man among men, and he went in and 
 out among the multitude as one of themselves. His one 
 peculiarity was that " he trusted in God." He was so 
 perfectly a man that, although he was undoubtedly a Jew, 
 there were no Jewish peculiarities about him. Any 
 nation might claim him ; but no nation could monopolize 
 him. The characteristics of our humanity are so palpa- 
 bly about him that he belongs to all mankind. I admire 
 the Welch sister who was of opinion that the Lord Jesus 
 must be Welch. When they asked her how she proved 
 it, she said that he always spoke to her heart in Welch. 
 Doubtless it was so, and I can, with equal warmth, de- 
 clare that he always speaks to me in English. Brethren 
 from Germany, France, Sweden, Italy — you all claim 
 that he speaks to you in your own tongue. This was the 
 one thing which distinguished him among men — " he 
 trusted in God," and he lived such a life as naturally 
 grows out of faith in the Eternal Lord. This peculiarity 
 had been visible even to that ungodly multitude who 
 least of all cared to perceive a spiritual point of charac- 
 ter. Was ever any other upon a cross thus saluted by 
 the mob who watched his execution? Had these scorners 
 ever mocked any one before for such a matter as this % I 
 trow not. Yet faith had been so manifest in our Lord's 
 daily life that the crowd cried out aloud, " He trusted in 
 God." 
 
 How did they know ? I suppose they could not help 
 
''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 215 
 
 seeing that he made much of God in his teaching, in his 
 life, and in his miracles. Whenever Je^s spoke it was 
 always godly talk ; and if it was not always distinctly 
 about God, it was always about things that related to 
 God, that came from God, that led to God, that magni- 
 fied God. A man may be fairly judged by that which 
 he makes most of. The ruling passion is a fair gauge 
 of the heart. What a soul-ruler faith is ! It sways the 
 man as the rudder guides the ship. When a man once 
 gets to live by faith in God, it tinctures his thoughts, it 
 masters his purposes, it flavors his words, it puts a tone 
 into his actions, and it comes out in everything by ways 
 and means most natural and unconstrained, till men per- 
 ceive that they have to do wdth a man who makes much 
 of God. The unbelieving world says outright that there 
 is no God, and the less impudent, who admit his exist- 
 ence, put him down at a very Ioav figure, so low that it 
 does not affect their calculations ; but to the true Chris- 
 tian, God is not only much, but all. To our Lord Jesus, 
 God was all in all ; and when you come to estimate God 
 as he did, then the most careless onlooker will soon begin 
 to say of you, ^^ He trusted in God." 
 
 In addition to observing that Jesus made much of 
 God, men came to note that he was a trusting man, and 
 not self-confident. Certain persons are very proud be- 
 cause they are self-made men. I will do them the credit 
 to admit that they heartily worship their maker. Self 
 made them, and they worship self. We have among us 
 individuals who are self-sufiicient, and almost all-suffi- 
 cient ; they sneer at those who do not succeed, for they 
 can succeed anywhere at anything. The world to them 
 is a football which they can kick where they like. If 
 they do not rise to the very highest eminence it is simply 
 
216 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW^ 
 
 out of pity to the rest of us, who ought to have a chance. 
 A vat of suffi^ncj ferments Avithin their ribs ! There 
 was nothing of that S(;rt of thing in oui' Lord. Those 
 who watched him did not say that he had great self- 
 reliance and a noble spirit of self-confidence. Ko, no ! 
 They said, "He trusted in God." Indeed it was so. 
 The words that he spake he spake not of lam self, and 
 the great deeds that he did he never boasted of, but said, 
 *^ the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." 
 He was a truster in God, not a boaster in self. Brethren 
 and sisters, I desire that you and I may be just of that 
 order. Self-confidence is the death of confidence in God ; 
 reliance upon talent, tact, experience, and things of that 
 kind, kills faith. Oh that we may know what faith 
 means, and so look out of ourselves and quit the evil 
 confidence which looks within ! 
 
 On the other hand, we may wisely remember that, 
 while our Lord Jesus was not self-reliant, he trusted j and 
 was by no means despondent : he was never discouraged. 
 He neither questioned his commission, nor despaired of 
 fulfilling it. He never said, " I must give it up : I can 
 never succeed." No ; " He trusted in God." And this 
 is a grand point in the working of faith, that while it 
 keeps us from self-conceit, it equally preserves us from 
 enfeebling fear. When our blessed Lord set his face 
 like a flint ; when, being baffled, he returned to the con- 
 flict ; when, being betrayed, he still persevered in his 
 love, then men could not help seeing that he trusted in 
 God. His faith was not mere repetition of a creed, or 
 profession of belief, but it was childlike reliance upon 
 the Most High. May ours be of the same order ! 
 
 It is evident that the Lord Jesus trusted in God cpenltf, 
 since even yonder gibing crowd proclaim it. Some good 
 
^^ LET IIIM DELIVER HIM now:' 217 
 
 people try to exercise faith on the sly : they practice it 
 ill snug corners, and in lonely hours, but they are afraid 
 to say much before others, for fear their faith should not 
 see the promised fulfilled. They dare not say, with 
 David, " My soul shall make her boast in the Lord : 
 the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." This 
 secrecy robs God of his honor. Brethren, we do not 
 glorify our God as he ought to be gloriiied. Let us trust 
 in him, and own it. Wherefore should we be ashamed % 
 Let us throw doAvn the gauge of battle to earth and hell. 
 God, the true and faithfid, deserves to be trusted with- 
 out limit. Trust your all with him, and be not ashamed 
 of having done so. Our Saviour was not ashamed of 
 trusting in his God. On the cross he cried, " Thou 
 didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's 
 breast." Jesus lived by faith. We are sure that he 
 did, for in the Epistle to the Hebrews he is quoted as 
 saying, ^' I will put my trust in him." If so glorious a 
 personage as the only -begotten Son of God lived here by 
 faith in God, how are you and I to live except by trust 
 in God % If we live unto God, this is the absolute neces- 
 sity of our spiritual life : ^^ the just shall live by faith." 
 Shall we be ashamed of that which brings life to us ? 
 The cruel ones Avho saw Jesus die did not say, " He now 
 and then trusted in God" ; nor " He trusted in the Lord 
 years ago " ; but they admitted that faith in God was 
 the constant tenor of his life : they could not deny it. 
 Even though, with malicious cruelty, they turned it into 
 a taunt, yet they did not cast a question upon the fact 
 that '•'' he trusted in God." Oh, I want you so to live 
 that those who dislike you most may, nevertheless, know 
 that you do trust in God. When you come to die, may 
 yoiu' dear children say of you, " Our dear mother did 
 
218 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 
 
 trust in the Lord " ! May that boy who has goiie furth« 
 est away from Christ, and grieved your heart the most, 
 nevertheless say in his heart, " There may be hypocrites 
 in the world, but my dear father does truly trust in 
 God ! " Oh, that our faith may be known unmistaka- 
 bly ! We do not wish it to be advertised to our own 
 honor. That be far from our minds. But yet we would 
 have it knoTvii, that others may be encouraged, and that 
 God may be glorified. If nobody else trusts in God, let 
 us do so ; and thus may we uplift a testimony to the 
 honor of his faithfulness. When we die, may this be 
 our epitaph — " He trusted in God." 
 
 David, in the twenty-second Psalm, represents the 
 enemies as saying of our Lord — '^ He trusted on the 
 Lord that he would deliver him." This practical faith is 
 £>ure to be known wherever it is in operation, because it 
 is exceedingly rare. Multitudes of people have a kind 
 of faith in God, but it does not come to the practical 
 point of trusting that God will deliver them. I see upon 
 the newspaper placards, ^^ Startling News ! People in 
 the Planets ! " Not a very practical discovery. For 
 many a day there has been a tendency to refer God's 
 promises and our faith to the planets, or somewhere be- 
 yond this present every-day life. We say to ourselves, 
 ^^ Oh yes, God delivers his people." We mean that he 
 did so in the days of Moses, and possibly he may be do- 
 ing so now in some obscure island of the sea. Ah me ! 
 The glory of faith lies in its being fit for every-day 
 wear. Can it be said of you, " He trusted in God, that 
 he woidd deliver him " ? Have you faith of the kind 
 which will make you lean upon the Lord in poverty, in 
 sickness, in bereavement, in persecution, in slander, in 
 contempt ? Have you a trust in God to bear you up in 
 
^^LET HIM DELIVER IIIM NOW:' 219 
 
 holy living at all costs, and in active service, even be- 
 yond your strength ? Can you trust in God definitely 
 about this and that % Can you trust about food, and 
 raiuient, and home % Can you trust God even about 
 your shoes, that they shall be iron and brass, and about 
 the hairs of your head that they are all numbered % 
 What we need is less theory and more actual trust in 
 
 God. 
 
 The faith of the text was personal : " that he would 
 deliver him:^ Blessed is that faith which can reach its 
 arm of compassion aroimd the world, but that faith must 
 begin at home. Of what use were the longest arm if it 
 were not fixed to the man himself at the shoulder ? If 
 you have no faith about yourself, what faith can you 
 have about others ? '' He trusted on the Lord that he 
 would deliver him." Come, beloved, have you such a 
 faith in the living God f Do you trust in God through 
 Christ Jesus that he will save you I Yes, you poor un- 
 worthy one, the Lord will deliver you if you trust him. 
 Yes, poor woman, or unknown man, the Lord can help 
 you in your present trouble, and in every other, and he 
 will do so if you trust him to that end. May the Holy 
 Spirit lead you to first trust the Lord Jesus for the par- 
 don of sin, and then to trust in God for all things. 
 
 Let us pause a minute. Let a man trust in God; 
 not in fiction, but in fact, and he will find that he has the 
 solid rock under his feet. Let him trust about his own 
 daily needs and trials, and rest assured that the Lord 
 will actually appear for him, and he will not be disap- 
 pointed. Such a trust in God is a very reasonable thing, 
 its absence is most unreasonable. If there be a God, he 
 knows all about my case. If he made my ear, he can 
 hear me ; if he made my eye he can see me ; and there- 
 
220 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 
 
 fore he perceives my condition. If he be my Father, as 
 he says he is, he Avill certainly care for me, and will help 
 me in my hour of need, if he can. We are sure that he 
 can, for he is omnipotent. Is there anything unreason- 
 able, then, in trusting in God that ho will deliver us % 
 I venture to say that if all the forces in the miiverse 
 were put together, and all the kindly intents of all who 
 are our friends were put together, and we were then to 
 rely upon those miited forces and intents, we should not 
 have a thousandth part so much justification for our con- 
 fidence as when we depend upon God, whose intents 
 and forces are infinitely greater than those of all the 
 world beside. ^^It is better to trust in the Lord than to 
 put confidence in man ; it is better to trust in the Lord 
 than to put confidence in princes.^' If you view things 
 in the white light of pure reason, it is infinitely more rea- 
 sonable to ti^ust in the living God than in all his creat- 
 ures put together. 
 
 Certainly, dear friends, it is extremely comfortable to 
 trust in God. I find it so, and therefore speak. To 
 roll your burden upon the Lord, since he will sustain 
 you, is a blessed way of being quit of care. We knov/ 
 him to be faithful, and as powerful as he is faithful j and 
 our dependence upon him is the solid foundation of a 
 profound peace. 
 
 While it is comfortable, it is also 'uplifting. If you 
 trust in men, the best of men, you are likely to be low- 
 ered by your trust. We are apt to cringe before those 
 who j)atronize us. If your prosperity depends upon a 
 person's smile, you are tempted to pay homage even 
 when it is undeserved. The old saying mentions a cer- 
 tain person as ^^ knowing on which side his bread is but- 
 tered." Thousands are practically degraded by their 
 
''LET HIM DELIVER IILM NOW.'' 221 
 
 trusting in men. But when our reliance is upon the 
 living God, we are raised by it, and elevated both mor- 
 ally and spiritually. You may bow in deepest reverence 
 before God, and yet there will be no fawning. You may 
 lie in the dust before the Majesty of heaven, and yet not 
 be dishonored by your humility ; in fact, it is our great- 
 ness to be nothing in the presence of the Most High. 
 
 This confidence in God makes men strong. I should 
 advise the enemy not to oppose the man who trusts in 
 God. In the long run he will be beaten, as Haman 
 found it with ]\Iordecai. He had been warned of this by 
 Zeresh, his wife, and his wise men, who said, '' If Mor- 
 decai be of the seed of the Jcavs, before whom thou hast 
 begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but 
 shalt surely fall before him.'^ Contend not with a man 
 who has God at his back. Years ago, the Mentonese 
 desired to break away from the dominion of the Prince 
 of Monaco. They therefore drove out his agent. The 
 prince came with his army, not a very great one, it is 
 true, but still formidable to the Mentonese. I know not 
 what the high and mighty princeling was not going to 
 do ; but news came that the King of Sardinia was com- 
 ing up in the rear to help the Mentonese, and therefore 
 his lordship of Monaco very prudently retired to his own 
 rock. When a believer stands out against evil he may 
 bo sure that the lord of hosts will not be far away. The 
 enemy shall hear the dash of his horse-hoof and the blast 
 of his trumpet, and shall flee before him. Wherefore be 
 of good courage, and compel the world to say of you, 
 " He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him." 
 
 II. Secondly, I want you to follow me briefly in con- 
 sidering THE TEST WHICH IS THE ESSENCE OF THE 
 TAUNT which was hurled by the mockers agamst our 
 
222 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOWy 
 
 Lord — '''' Let Lim deliver him now, if lie will have him." 
 Such a test will come to all believers. It may come as 
 a tamit from enemies ; it will certainly come as a trial 
 of your faith. The arch-enemy will assuredly hiss out 
 ^^ Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him." 
 
 This taunt has about it the appearance of being very log- ' 
 ical, and indeed in a measure so it is. If God has prom- 
 ised to deliver us, and we have openly professed to be- 
 lieve the promise, it is only natural that others should 
 say, " Let us see whether he does deliver him. This 
 man believes that the Lord will help him ; and he must 
 help him, or else the man's faith is a delusion." This is 
 the sort of test to which we ourselves would have put 
 others before our conversion, and we cannot object to be 
 proved in the same manner ourselves. Perhaps we in- 
 cline to run away from the ordeal, but this very shrinking 
 shoidd be a solemn call to us to question the genuineness 
 of that faith which we are afraid to test. ^^ He trusted 
 on the Lord," says the enemy, '^ that he would deliver 
 him : let him deliver him ; " and surely, however mali- 
 cious the design, there is no escaping from the logic of 
 the challenge. 
 
 It is peculiarly painful to have this stern inference 
 driven home to you in the hour of sorrow. Because one 
 cannot deny the fairness of the appeal, it is all the more 
 trying. In the time of depression of spirit it is hard to 
 have one's faith questioned, or the ground on which it 
 stands made a matter of dispute. Either to be mistaken 
 in one's belief, or to have no real faith, or to find the 
 ground of one's faith fail, is an exceedingly grievous 
 thing. Yet, as our Lord was not spared this painful or- 
 deal, we must not expect to be kept clear of it, and Satan 
 knows well how to work these questions, till the poison 
 
''LET IlIM DELIVER 11 IM NOW:' 223 
 
 of them sets tlic blood on fire. " fie trusted on the Lord 
 that he would deliver him ; let him deliver him ; " he 
 hurls this fierj dart into the soul, till the man is sorely 
 wounded, and can scarcely hold his ground. 
 
 The taunt is specially ^om^edf and personal. It is put 
 thus: ^^ He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver 
 him : let him deliver him ; " " Do not come to us with 
 your fiddle-faddle about God's helping all his chosen, 
 Here is a man who is one of his people, will he help 
 him f Do not tolk to us big things about Jehovah at the 
 Red Sea, or in the Desert of Sinai, or God helping his 
 people in ages past. Here is a living man before us who 
 trusted in God that he would deliver him : let him de- 
 liver him now." You know how Satan will pick out one 
 of the most afflicted, and pointing his fingers at him will 
 cry, ''' Let him deliver HIM.'^ Brethren, the test is fair. 
 God will be true to every believer. If any one child of 
 God could be lost, it would be quite enough to enable the 
 devil to spoil all the glory of God for ever. If one prom- 
 ise of God to one of his people should fail, that one fail- 
 ure would suffice to mar the veracity of the Lord to all 
 eternity; they would publish it in the ^'Diabolical Ga- 
 zette," and in every street of Tophet they woidd howl it 
 out, ^' God has failed. God has broken his promise. 
 God has ceased to be faithfid to his people." It would 
 then be a horrible reproach — '^ He trusted in God to de- 
 liver him, but he did not deliver him." 
 
 Much emphasis lies in its being in the present tense: 
 *^He trusted in God that he woidd deliver him : let him 
 deliver him now.^^ I see Thee, O Lord Jesus, thou art 
 not now in the wilderness, where the fiend is saying, ''If 
 thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be 
 made bread." Ko. Thou art nailed to the tree ; thine 
 
224 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 
 
 enemies have hemmed thee in. The legionaries of Rome 
 are at the foot of the cross, the Scribes and Pharisees and 
 raging Jews compass thee about. There is no escape 
 from death for thee! Hence their cry — ''Let him de- 
 liver him nowP Ah, brothers and sisters ! this is how 
 Satan assails us, using our present and pressing tribula- 
 tions as the barbs of his arrows. Yet here also there is 
 reason and logic in the challenge. 
 
 If God does not deliver his servants at one time as 
 well as another, he has not kept his promise. For a man 
 of truth is always true, and a promise once given always 
 stands. A promise cannot be broken now and then, and 
 yet the honor of the person giving it be maintained by 
 his keeping it at other times. The word of a true man 
 stands always good : it is good now. This is logic, bitter 
 logic, cold steel logic, logic which seems to cut right down 
 your backbone and cleave your chine. '' He trusted on 
 the Lord that he woidd deliver him : let him deliver him 
 now." Yet this hard logic can be turned to comfort. I 
 told you a story the other day of the brother in Guy's 
 Hospital to whom the doctors said he must undergo an 
 operation which was extremely dangerous. They gave 
 him a week to consider whether he would submit to it. 
 He was troubled for his young wife and children, and for 
 his work for the Lord. A friend left a bunch of flowers 
 for him, with this verse as its motto, ^' He trusted in 
 God ; let him deliver him now." " Yes," he thought 
 " nowP Li prayer he cast himself upon the Lord, and 
 felt in his heart, ''Come on, doctors, I am ready for you." 
 When the next morning came, he refused to take chloro- 
 form, for he desired to go to heaven in his senses. He 
 bore the operation manfully, and he is yet alive. ^' He 
 trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him " then and 
 
^'LFT HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 225 
 
 there, and the Lord did so. In this lies the brunt of the 
 battle. 
 
 A Christian man may be beaten in business, he may 
 fail to meet all demands, and then Satan yells, ^' Let him 
 deliver him noivJ^ Tlie poor man has been out of work 
 for two or three months, tramping the streets of London 
 until he has worn out his boots ; he has been brought to 
 his last penny. I think I hear the laugh of the Prince 
 of Darkness as he cries, ^^ Let him deliver him 720wJ^ 
 Or else the believer is very ill in body, and low in spirit, 
 and then Satan howls, ^^Let him deliver him notvJ^ 
 Some of us have been in very trying positions. We were 
 moved with indignation because of deadly error, and we 
 spoke plainly, but men refused to hear. Those we relied 
 upon deserted us ; good men sought their own ease and 
 would not march with us, and we had to bear testimony 
 for despised truth alone, until we were ourselves despised 
 Then the adversary shouted, "Let him deliver him ??o?/'." 
 Be it so ! We do not refuse the test. Our God whom 
 we serve will deliver us. We Avill not bow down to 
 modern thought nor worship the image which human 
 wisdom has set up. Our God is God both of hills and of 
 valleys. He will not fail his servants, albeit that for a 
 Avhile he forbears that he may try their faith. We dare 
 accept the test, and say, " Let him deliver us noiv.^^ 
 
 Beloved friends, we need not be afraid of this taunt if 
 it is brought by adversaries ; for, after all, the test will 
 come to us apart from any malice, for it is incviiahh. All 
 the faith you have Avill be tried. I can see you heaping 
 it up. How rich you are ! What a pile of faith ' 
 Friend, you are almost perfect ! Open the furnace door 
 and put the heap in. Do you shrink ? See how it 
 shrivels ! Is there anything l:f+ ? BrinT hither a ma;?- 
 
226 ''LEI HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 
 
 nifying glass. Is this all that is left % Yes, this is all 
 that remains of the heap. You say, ^^ I trusted in God." 
 Yes, but you had reason to cry, ^' Lord, help my mibe- 
 lief." Brethren, we have not a tithe of the faith we 
 think we have. But whether or not, all our faith must 
 be tested. God builds no ships but what he sends to 
 sea. In living, in losing, in working, in weeping, in 
 suiFering, or in striving, God will find a fitting crucible 
 for every single grain of the precious faith which he has 
 given us. Then he will come to us and say — You trust- 
 ed in God that he would deliver you, and you shall be 
 delivered now. How you will open your eyes as you see 
 the Lord's hand of deliverance ! What a man of won- 
 ders you will be when you tell in your riper years to the 
 younger people how the Lord delivered you ! Why, 
 there are some Christians I know of who, like the Ancient 
 Mariner, could detain even a wedding guest with their 
 stories of God's wonders on the deep. 
 
 Yes, the test will come again and again. May the 
 gibes of adversaries only make us ready for the sterner 
 ordeals of the judgment to come. my dear friends, 
 examine your religion. You have a great deal of it, 
 some of you ; but what of its quality % Can your reli- 
 gion stand the test of poverty, and scandal, and scorn % 
 Can it stand the test of scientific sarcasm and learned 
 contempt? Will your religion stand the test of long 
 sickness of body and depression of spirit caused by weak- 
 ness % What are you doing amid the common trials of 
 life? What will you do in the swellings of Jordan? 
 Examine well your faith, since all hangs there. Some 
 of us who have lain for weeks together, peering through 
 the thin veil vrhich parts us from the unseen, have been 
 made to feel that nothing will sufiice us but a promise 
 
''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW:' 227 
 
 which will answer the taunt, " Let him deliver us 
 nowP 
 
 III. I shall finish, in the third place, dear friends, by 
 noticing the answer to the test. God docs deliver 
 those who trust in him. God's interposition for the 
 faithfid is not a dream, but a substantial reality. " Many 
 are the afflictions of the righteous : but the Lord deliv- 
 ereth him out of them all." All history proves the fixith- 
 fulness of God. Those who trust God have been in all 
 sorts of troubles ; but they have always been delivered. 
 They have been bereaved. What a horrible bereave- 
 ment was that which fell to the lot of Aaron, when his 
 two sons were struck dead for their profanity in the 
 presence of God ! ^^ And Aaron held his peace " ! 
 What grace was there ! Thus will the Lord sustain you 
 also, shoidd he take away the desire of your eyes with a 
 stroke. Grave after grave has the good man visited, till 
 it seemed that his whole race was buried, and yet his 
 heart has not been broken ; but he has bowed his soul 
 before the will of the ever-blessed One. Thus has the 
 Lord delivered his afflicted one by sustaining him. In 
 other ways the bush has burned, and yet has not been 
 consumed. Eem ember the midtiplied and multiform 
 trials of Job. Yet God sustained him to the end, so that 
 he did not charge God foolishly, but held fast his faith in 
 the Most High. If ever you are called to the afflictions 
 of Job, you will also be called to the sustaining grace of 
 Job. Some of God's servants have been defeated in 
 tlieir testimony. They have borne faithfid witness for 
 God, but they have been rejected of men. It has been 
 their lot, like Cassandra, to prophesy the truth, but not 
 to be believed. Such was Jeremiah, who was born to a 
 heritage of scorn from those whose benefit he sought. 
 
228 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOW.'' 
 
 Yet he was delivered. He shrank not from being faith- 
 fid. His com-age could not be silenced. By integrity 
 he was delivered. 
 
 Godly men have been despised and misrepresented, 
 and yet have been delivered. Eemember David and h«is 
 envious brethren, David and the malignant Saul, David 
 when his men spake of stoning him. Yet he took off 
 the giant's head ; yet he came to the throne ; yet the 
 Lord built him a house. 
 
 Some of God's servants have been bitterly persecuted, 
 but God has delivered them. Daniel came forth from 
 the lions' den, and the three holy children from the midst 
 of the burning fiery furnace. These are only one or 
 two out of millions who trusted God and he delivered 
 them. Out of all manner of ill the Lord delivered them. 
 God brought this crowd of witnesses through all their 
 trials unto his throne, where they rest with Jesus, and 
 share the triumphs of their Master at this very day. O 
 my timid brother, nothing has happened to you but what 
 is common to men. Your battle is not different from the 
 warfare of the rest of the saints ; and as God has deliv- 
 ered them he will deliver you also, seeing you put your 
 trust in him. 
 
 But God^s tvays of deliverance are his oivn. He does 
 not deliver according to the translation put upon " deliv- 
 erance " by the ribald throng. He does not deliver ac- 
 cording to the interpretation put upon " deliverance " by 
 our shrinking flesh and blood. Pie delivers, but it is in 
 his o^vn way. Let me remark that, if God delivers you 
 and me in the same ivay as he delivered his oivn Son, ive 
 can have no cause of complaint. If the deliverance 
 which he vouchsafed to us is of the same kind as that 
 which he vouchsafed to the Only Begotten, we may well 
 
''LET HIM DELIVER IIIM NOWy 229 
 
 be content. Well, what kind of a deliverance was that? 
 Did the Father tear up the cross from the earth % Did 
 he proceed to draw out the nails from the sacred hands 
 and feet of his dear Son? Did he set him down upon that 
 ''green hill far away, beyond the city wall, '^ and place 
 in his hand a sword of fire with which to smite his adver- 
 saries ? Did he bid the earth open and swallow up 
 all his foes ? No ; nothing of the kind. Jehovah did 
 not interpose to spare his Son a single pang ; but he let 
 him die. He let him be taken as a dead man down from 
 the cross and laid in a tomb. Jesus went through with 
 his suffering to the bitter end. O, brothers and sisters, 
 this may be God's way of delivering us. We have 
 trusted in God that he would deliver us ; and his render- 
 ing of his promise is, that he will enable us to go through 
 with it; we shall suffer to the last, and triunipli in so 
 doing. 
 
 Yet God's way of delivering those who trust in him is 
 always the lest ivay. If the Father had taken his Son 
 down from the cross, what vrould have been the result ? 
 Redemption miaccomplished, salvation work midone, and 
 Jesus returning with his life-work unfinished. This 
 would not have been deliverance, but defeat. It was 
 much better for our Lord Jesus to die. Now he has' 
 paid the ransom for his elect, and having accomplished 
 the great purpose of atonement, he has slept a while in 
 the heart of the earth, and now has ascended to his 
 throne in the endless glories of he.wen. It was deliver- 
 ance of the fullest kind ; for from the pangs of his death 
 has come the joy of life to his redeemed. It is not God's 
 will that every mountain should be levelled, but that we 
 shoidd be the stronger for cliinbing the Hill Difficulty. 
 God will deliver ; he must deliver, but he will do it in 
 
230 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM JVOJV." 
 
 our caseSj as in the case of our Lord, in tlie best possible 
 manner. 
 
 Anyhow, he will deliver his chosen : the taunt of the 
 adversary shall not cause our God to forget or forego 
 his people. I know that the Lord will no more fail me than 
 any other of his servants. He will not leave a faithful 
 witness to his adversaries. ^' I know that my Avenger 
 liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
 earth j and though after my skin worms destroy this 
 body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see 
 for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another j 
 though my reins be consumed within me." Is this also 
 your confidence 1 Then do not sit down in sorrow, and 
 act as though you despaired. Quit yourselves like men. 
 Be strong, fear not. Cast yourselves on the love that 
 never changeth and never fainteth, and the Lord will 
 answer all the revilings of Rabshakeh, and the blusterings 
 of Sennacherib. 
 
 There are times when we may use this text to our 
 comfort. ^' Let him deliver him now," saith the text, 
 ^'if he will have him." You, dear friends, who have 
 never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ before, how I 
 wish you could try him now ! You feel this morning full 
 of sin, and lull of need. Come, then, and trust the Saviour 
 noiv. See whether he will not save you oiotv. Is there 
 one day in the year in which Jesus cannot save a sinner? 
 Come and see whether the 17th of June is that day. 
 Try whether he Avill not deliver you noiv from the guilt, 
 the penalty, the power of sin. Why not come ? You 
 have never, perhaps, been in the Tabernacle before, and 
 when coming here this morning 3"ou did not think of 
 finding the Saviour. Oh, that the Saviour may find 
 
''LET /JIM DELIVER HIM NOlVr 231 
 
 you ! Jesus Christ is a Saviour every day, all the year 
 round. Whoever comcth to him shall find eternal life 
 now, '''' Oh," you say, '^ I am in such an unfit state ; I 
 am in all the deshabille of my carelessness and godless- 
 ness." Come along, man, come along, just as you are. 
 Tarry not foi* improvement or arrangement, for both of 
 these Jesus will give you ; come and put your trust in the 
 great Sacrifice for sin, and he will deliver you — deliver 
 you now. Lord, save the sinner, noivl 
 
 Others of you are the children of God, but you are in 
 peculiar trouble. Well, what are you going to do ? 
 You have always trusted in God before ; are you going 
 to doubt him now? ^^ my dear sir, you do not know 
 m_y distress ; I am the most afilicted person in the Tab- 
 ernacle." Be it so; but you trusted in the Lord the past 
 twenty years, and I do not believe that you have seen 
 any just cause for denying him your confidence now. 
 Did you say that you have known him from your youth 
 up % What ! you seventy years of age? Then you are 
 too near home to begin distrusting yoiu' heavenly 
 Father. That will never do. You have been to sea, 
 and have weathered many a storm in mid-ocean, and are 
 you now going to be droAvned in a ditch % Think not 
 so. The Lord will deliver you even now. Do not let 
 us suppose that we have come where boundless love and 
 infinite Vv^isdom cannot reach us. Do not fancy that you 
 have leaped upon a ledge of rock so high as to be out of 
 reach of the everlasting arm. If you had done so I 
 would sttll cry — Throw yourself down into the arms of 
 God, and trust that he will not let you be destroyed. 
 
 It may be that some of us are in trouble about the 
 church and the faith. We have defended God's truth 
 as well as we could, and spoken out against deadly error ^ 
 
232 ''LET HIM DELIVER HIM NOWV 
 
 but craft and numbers have been against us, and at pre- 
 sent tilings seem to Lave gone wrong. The good 
 are timid, and the evil are false. They say, " He trust- 
 ed in God : let him deliver him now." Sirs, he will de- 
 liver us now. We Avill throw our soul once more into 
 this battle, and see if the Lord does not vindicate his 
 truth. If we have not spoken in God's name we are con- 
 tent to go back to the dust from whence we sprang ; but if 
 we have spoken God's truth we defy the whole confeder- 
 acy to prevail against it. 
 
 Peradventure I speak to some missionary, who is 
 mourning over a time of great trial in a mission which is 
 dear to his heart. Ah, dear friend ! Christ intended 
 that the gospel should repeat his own experience, and 
 then should triumph like himself. The gospel lives 
 by being killed and conquers by defeat. Cast it where 
 you will, it always falls upon its feet. You need not be 
 afraid of it under any trial. Just now, the wisdom of 
 man is its worst foe, but the Lord will deliver it noiv. 
 The gospel lives and reigns. Tell it out among the 
 heathen, that the Lord reigneth from the tree, and fi'om 
 that tree of the curse he issues his supreme commands. 
 The self-same day in which Jesus died, he took with 
 him into his kingdom and his inmost paradise a thief 
 who had hung at his side. He liveth and reigneth for 
 ever and ever, and calleth to himself whomsoever he 
 hath chosen. Let us drown the taunts of the adversary 
 with our shouts of Hallelujah ! The Lord shall reign for 
 ever and ever. Hallelujah. Amen ! 
 
XL 
 
 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 Jul>/ 8, 1888. 
 
 '' The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and 
 brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to 
 the people all the words of this life." — Acts v. 19, 20. 
 
 The second persecution of the church, in which all the 
 apostles were put into the common prison, was mainly 
 brought about by the sect of the Sadducees. These, as 
 you know, were the Broad School, the liberals, the ad- 
 vanced thinkers, the modern-thought people of the day. 
 If you want a bitter sneer, a biting sarcasm, or a cruel 
 action, I commend you to these large-minded gentlemen. 
 They are liberal to everybody, except to those who hold 
 the truth ; and for those they have a reserve of concen- 
 trated bitterness which far excels wormwood and gall. 
 They are so liberal to their brother errorists, that they 
 have no tolerance to spare for evangelicals. We are ex- 
 pressly told that ^^ the high priest, and all they that were 
 with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) were filled 
 with indignation." That which had been done deserved 
 their admiration, but received their indignation. Such 
 gentlemen as these can be warm at a very short notice, 
 when the doctrine of the cross is spreading, and God the 
 Holy Spirit is bearing witness with signs following. Let 
 them display their indignation, it is according to their 
 nature. 
 
 (233) 
 
234 THE CHARGE OF THE ^INGEL. 
 
 To tliem the only answer wliicli God gave was spoken 
 by his angel : " Go^ stand and speak in the temple to 
 the people all the words of this life." Argument will be 
 lost upon them • go on with your preaching. They have 
 lost the faculty of believing : go and speak to the people. 
 They are so given over to their doubts, that it is like 
 rolling the stone of Sisyphus to persuade them to faith. 
 They are so eaten up with objections, that to attempt to 
 answer all the questions they raise would be as vain as 
 the labor of filling a bottomless tub. Go on with your 
 preaching, you apostles ; but address yourselves mainly 
 to the people. Extend as widely as possible the range 
 of the truth, and thus answer the opposition of its adver- 
 saries. It is better to evangelize than to controvert. 
 The preaching of the word of life is the best antidote to 
 the doctrine of death. 
 
 Clearly enough, if they had known it, and had been 
 capable of seeing it, those blind Sadducees were answered 
 at every point when the apostles were brought out of 
 prison and bore witness to their Lord. Her® was the 
 creed of the Sadducees : they said that '^ there was no 
 resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit ; " but these apos- 
 tles stood up and witnessed to the resurrection of Jesus 
 Christ from the dead. What did they make of that ? 
 An angel had come from heaven and had brought these 
 apostles out of prison. Then there were angels. As 
 these apostles were set free while the sentries remained 
 standing before the doors, and those doors were after- 
 wards found fastened, if there were no spirit, assuredly 
 materialism had acted in a singular fashion. Every item 
 of their negative creed had been made to fall like Dagon 
 before the ark. The Lord ahvays arranges Red Seas for 
 Pharaohs. All that the apostles had to do was to go on 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 235 
 
 with their preaching, and this they did ; for " daily in 
 the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach 
 and preach Jesus Christ." 
 
 This morning may Ave be profited while we consider 
 our text and its surroundings. May he who spake by 
 his angel now speak to our hearts by his Spirit. 
 
 I. In reviewing the whole story which we read just 
 now, from the seventeenth verse to the end of the chapter, 
 my first thought is that THE AGENTS employed for 
 
 SPREADING THE GOSPEL ARE MEN, AND NOT ANGELS. 
 
 The angel of the Lord opened the prison door and set 
 free the preachers, but might not be a preacher himself. 
 He might give the ministers their charge, but he had no 
 charge to preach himself. Surely the angel who brought 
 them out of prison was quite able to have gone and pro- 
 claimed the gospel, and so he might have brought many 
 out of their prison spiritually. But no ; it must not be. 
 His commission permits him to say to the apostles, ^^ Go 
 and speak to the people," but it does not permit him to 
 join in their testimony. 
 
 I think that almost with reluctance the angel of the 
 Lord returned to his Master, and left the chosen men to 
 go upon their blessed errand. x\s our Lord took not on 
 him the, nature of angels for man's redemption, so neither 
 doth ho employ the agency of angels for man's conver- 
 sion. I feel glad that, in the preaching of the everlast- 
 ing gospel, angels are not our competitors, at this present 
 time at any rate. ^^ Unto the angels hath he not put in 
 subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." They 
 are ministering spirits, but they have not received the 
 Holy Spirit anointing them to the ministry of Christ. 
 
 This divine choice of human instrumentality ^;?«fs /io;2or 
 uigon manhood. Those redeemed by the blood of Christ 
 
23G THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 are men, and their redemption from sin by poAver is to be 
 instrumentally accomplished by men. The great fight 
 which began in the garden of Eden is to be waged by 
 men even to the end. The conquest of tlie revolted 
 world is to be achieved by men under the leadership of 
 the all-glorious Son of man. Ye see your calling, breth- 
 ren. I pray you, every one, to preach the gospel in your 
 vocation ; but specially woidd I plead for zeal with those 
 whose very vocation it is to preach the gospel. What a 
 vocation is ours ! What can be more honorable ? What 
 more responsible % To rule empires is a trifle compared 
 with speaking to the people all the words of this life. 
 ^^ Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him % and 
 the son of man, that thou visitest him ? " Thou makest 
 him higher than the angels in this respect, that out of 
 his mouth thou hast ordained strength because of thine 
 enemies. Such honor have all the saints, for they may 
 all cither teach or preach Jesus Christ. 
 
 My dear hearers, you may be yourselves grateful that 
 this ministry is committed to men, because it is a conde- 
 scension to Imman iveahiess. Imperfect as human minis- 
 ters are, we are better preachers to you than angels 
 coidd be. We cannot sing with their celestial melody, 
 nor charm you with their seraphic eloquence ;«but we 
 have a sympathy with you which they cannot feel, seeing 
 they are not compassed with infirmities, nor humbled by 
 imperfections. We know your sins, your sorrows, your 
 struggles. We know the roughness of the road you tra- 
 verse ; for we, too, came in at the wicket-gate, and have 
 floundered in the Slough of Despond, and scrambled up 
 the Ilill Difliculty. We can have compassion, and give 
 direction learned by experience. I suppose an angel 
 would command a very large congregation for a time ; 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 237 
 
 but, after a while, you would feel that there was some- 
 thing alien and distant about the manner of his teaching. 
 You vrould be awed rather than comforted. A being 
 altogether superior to yourselves would before long drive 
 you to cry for your old minister again, with lips of clay 
 and heart of love. You would prefer our feeble pleadings 
 to the more glorious, but less brotherly, address of an 
 angel from heaven. 
 
 God^s use of the ministry of men is honorable to men, 
 and it is condescending to men, and surely it is a hloiv at 
 Satanic pride. The Prince of the Power of the air might 
 have felt proud to contend with angels, finding in them 
 foemen worthy of his steel ; but when the arch-enemy 
 sees before him no combatant but a man sent of God, he 
 feels like Goliath when he saw David, a youth and 
 ruddy, approaching him with a sling and a stone. Dis- 
 daining such an adversary, I hear him cry, ^^ Am I a 
 dog, that thou comest to me Avith staves V^ Yes, Satan, 
 thou art no better than a dog, and we come against thee 
 in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies 
 of Israel, whom thou hast defied. By humble, truth- 
 speaking, earnest men the Lord turns the battle, and 
 routs the forces of error, that the old Serpent may still 
 feel the foot of the seed of the woman upon his head. 
 He thought he had made an easy prey of man ; but it 
 shall be by man that the enemy shall be driven back to 
 hi^ infernal den with defeat. By man came death, and 
 by man came also the resurrection of the dead ; which 
 glorious fact is proclaimed by man, to the eternal shame 
 of him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil. 
 
 To work by men must bring special ghry to God. The 
 weaker the instrument, the more honor to the worker. I 
 like to think, whatever I may feel di'iven to believe from 
 
238 TFIE CtfARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 Scripture, that the great fight between good and evil will 
 be so fought out that the Lord shall conquer by feeble 
 men even to the end. The omnipotence of God will be 
 glorified in the insignificance of the agents by whom he 
 will achieve the everlasting triumph. Those first apos- 
 tles brought all the more glory to God because they came 
 from the fishers' nets, and were called " unlearned and 
 ignorant men.'' The weakness which men despised com- 
 pelled them to confess that the power which they wield- 
 ed was divine. The Spirit of God who spoke by them 
 found in them no fancied wisdom to obstruct his im- 
 pulses. If the Lord will graciously use us poor ministers 
 to the end, it will wonderfully illustrate his wisdom and 
 power. Somebody once said that it proved the divinity 
 of our holy religion that it suiwived ministers ; and there 
 w^as a good deal of truth in the remark. How I have 
 wondered that this congregation have survived me ! and 
 I think we may wonder that as a whole the gospel sur- 
 vives its advocates. We are poor tools. I do not refer 
 to you, brethren, from America, but I mean all of us in 
 England, and especially myself. We are poor tools after 
 all ; and if God uses us to save sinners and sanctify 
 saints, he must certainly have all the glory of it. Breth- 
 ren, the Lord has used us, blessed be his name ! He has 
 used us ; we should give the lie to manifest facts if we 
 were to deny it. Brethren, the Lord means to use us. 
 He hath said, ''' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
 end of the world.'' 
 
 I cannot help adding that the employment of men as 
 soul-winners ^i?;e5 a fe?zf?er Jo^ to the heart of Jesus, It 
 pleases the Lord Jesus Christ that God should use men ; 
 for he himself is a man. God, as he is, blessed for 
 ever, yet is he most truly man, delighting in humanity, 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 239 
 
 and pleased to see men called to a work of so much glory 
 and honor. He loves to bless men and to see them made 
 a blessing. He delights to see the many brethren used 
 in their measure in the same way as himself, the First- 
 born. The Lord Jesus must take great pleasure in the 
 attempts of his servants to seek and to save souls ; for 
 they are learning to be shepherds like himself. AMien 
 our King, Edward III., heard that the Black Prince was 
 having a hard battle Avith the French-, he smiled to think 
 that his son was in a place where he could show his valor. 
 When he was entreated to send off reinforcements, he 
 refused ; for he wished his son to have the undivided 
 honors of the day. The Lord Jesus, the Captain of our 
 salvation, puts some of his chosen into places of great 
 peril, and he does not seem to send them all the help 
 they could desire, in order that they may prove their 
 faith and consecration, and thus earn their spurs. He 
 takes a brotherly pleasure in the courage and faith which 
 he himself has wrought in them. All the valor of 
 Christ's soldiers is given them by himself, and all that it 
 achieves is to be attributed to him ; yet he finds joy in 
 seeing them exercise their graces. Like as a father de- 
 lights to see his boy take prize after prize at the Univer- 
 sity, like as a friend delights to see his friend elected to 
 one honorable position after another, so does Jesus re- 
 joice in the honors earned by his servants in the field of 
 service. "When we save a soul from death, Jesus, the 
 Saviour, rejoices in the deed. When we thus cover a 
 multitude of sins, Jesus, the sin-bearer, sees of the tra- 
 vail of his soul. The father in the parable was glad 
 when his prodigal son was found ; but he would have 
 been gladder still had a brother found him. Our Lord 
 Jesus desires to make us happy with that which makes 
 
240 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 himself happy, and so he sends us out to win souls. 
 All these are good reasons why the Lord shoidd em- 
 ploy men and women to spread the gospel rather than 
 cherubim and seraphim. Dear friends, do you not think 
 that the angels must often wonder at us % When they 
 see men eager upon politics and negligent of soids, are 
 they not astonished % Do they never say, '•'' We wish 
 the great Lord would let us go and speak to perishing 
 souls. We would speak with all our hearts " I Do they 
 not sometimes say to one another, " What are these men 
 at? Do they disdain their high calling? God has 
 given to them the great privilege of preaching and teach- 
 ing his holy word, but they do not care to do it. They 
 speak as if they were half asleep. Where is their zeal 
 for God, their love to men, their earnestness for Christ ? ^' 
 Brethren, these holy spirits must feel ashamed of us ! 
 True, they are our servants, and bear us up in their 
 hands, lest we dash our feet against a stone ; but must 
 they not sometimes wish that we were stronger on our 
 feet, and were more eager to dash our hands against the 
 enemies of God ? We are carried as invalids, when we 
 ought to be fighting like champions. I charge you by 
 the angels of God, who are not permitted to touch this 
 holy work, preach the word, be instant in season, out of 
 season. Preach with a vigor worthy of the divine exer- 
 cise. Preach the word in some such style -as you would 
 expect from those who are bought with the precious 
 blood of Jesus. 
 
 So have I spoken to you who are men. As for thee, 
 O angel of God, thou hast opened the prison doors and 
 set free the men of God ; but thou must now go back to 
 him that sent thee. Bright spirit, I dare not offer thee 
 my pidpit. Feeble as I am, I must do the preaching. 
 
THE CHARGE OE THE ANGEL. 241 
 
 Oh, that thy Lord and luinc may help me, and enable me 
 to make full proof of my ministry ! Farewell, angel of 
 God, go thou thy way ! 
 
 II. Secondly, these men are to teach the peo- 
 ple. All the words of this life they are to speak. 
 
 The manner of their teaching is hinted at — They are to 
 do it promptly, yea, immediately. '' Go," says the 
 angel, '^ go. Do not linger here. Go at once." They 
 did go, so that they were in tlie temple courts early in 
 the morning. The first beams of the sun that w^ere re- 
 flected from the golden roof met their eyes. The first 
 w^orshippers in those hallowed courts heard the apostles 
 testifying of Jesus and his love. dear servants of 
 God, let us run with the glad tidings. '^ The King's 
 business requireth haste." The first moment w^e can get 
 man or woman to listen to us, let us speak the living 
 word which we have learned at the feet of Jesus. 
 
 They were to make this their primary business. 
 '^ Go," said the angel, '^ before anything else : this be 
 your chief employ." I should have been tempted to 
 linger a little, just to find out how the angel released 
 the prisoners. He had opened the doors, so we are told, 
 but yet they Avere found closed and fastened when the 
 officers came, and the sentries had not left their posts. 
 Here is a mystery ; I should like to clear it up. Are 
 there not many such mysteries % But the command is 
 pressing and peremptory : " Go, speak to the people." 
 " Let me tarry ; one does not see angels every day. Let 
 me stay and take in a more complete idea of the heav- 
 enly stranger. Lidulge me with a little conversation 
 Avith one Avho has seen my Lord. There are a great 
 many questions wdiich I Avould fain have answered." 
 Dear fellow-worker, we perhaps are tempted to study 
 
242 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 very deeply into mysterious points wliicli do not minister 
 to profit 5 let us, then, hear the angel say, ^' Go, speak 
 to the people.'^ Let us keep our thoughts to that gospel 
 which we are sent to preach. ^' The words of this life " 
 will furnish ample scope for all our powers ; let us not 
 wander into endless debates, which are rather for curios- 
 ity than salvation, and tend rather to gratify our taste 
 than to accomplish our life-purpose. The first and chief 
 business of the man of God is, " Go, stand and speak to 
 the people.'^ However simple the speaking, it may be 
 rather talk than oratory, this is our one great business 
 here below. 
 
 It is clear from the text that they were to take a con- 
 spicuous place and speak boldly : " Go, stand in the 
 temple." Go where the Sanhedrim holds its sittings, 
 where the high priest and his Sadducean comrades are 
 on the watch. Let not the danger hinder you. Go 
 where all can see you ; stand up, and stand out. Where- 
 ever the people are, there let your voices be heard. Be 
 there perseveringly, taking your stand, and keeping it 
 till removed by force. The object was to make the 
 gospel known ; therefore, let them ..go to headquarters, 
 let them stand in the chief place of concourse, let them 
 be in the resort of the devout, let them challenge 
 the observation of pilgrims from every corner of the 
 land. Brethren, it is not ours to hide in holes and in 
 corners ; our gospel is like the smi, whose line has gone 
 out through all the earth. Let us not speak timidly, for 
 we have not received the spirit of fear, neither will we 
 hide our candle under a bushel. We are to publish the 
 tidings of that life from the dead which has brought life 
 for the dead. 
 
 The persons for ivliom this prcacliing is designed are 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 243 
 
 mentioned : " Speak unto the people." " Unto tlie peo- 
 ple/' that does not mean the poor to the exclusion of 
 the rich, nor the many to the exclusion of the few. The 
 expression is most comprehensive; and embraces Loth 
 the masses and the classes. If the men of the council 
 would hear them, let them speak to them. They did so, 
 alas ! with small result. This is a truly gospel word of 
 command ; for the gospel is glad tidings to all people, 
 and it is to be preached to every creature under heaven. 
 A restricted audience is an unevangelic idea. Go and 
 speak unto the people, then; to all sorts of people, to 
 everybody. Let not a soul escape if you can help it, for 
 your mission is to all mankind. O gospel fisherman, 
 spread the great seine net, which will encompass a great 
 multitude of fishes, and with diligence draw it to shore. 
 
 If we take the word ^' people " in its popular sense, it 
 has a lesson to all who teach the word. Some aim at the 
 intellectual, let us speak to the people all the words of 
 this life. A minister whose congregation numbers about 
 forty all told rejoiced in the smallness of it, because he 
 professed that a greater work could be done with a few 
 than with a larger number. In answer, a friend sug- 
 gested that he should infer from that statement that a 
 greater work could be done with no people at all. This 
 reduced the hypothesis to an absurdity. " I am sure," 
 said one, ^'that the better a man preaches the smaller 
 his congregation will become." This shows what a large 
 number of very excellent preachers we have in London. 
 But our business is to reach the people somehow. To 
 obey the text, we must "" Go and speak to the people." 
 They need it ; are they not perishing for lack of knowl- 
 edge f The gospel is adapted to their needs and capaci- 
 ties — it is simple, suitable, seasonable, saving. The 
 
244 THE CHARGE OE THE ANGEL. 
 
 people will receive it. If the poor have the gospel 
 peached to them^ thej will hear it. God inclines the 
 hearts of the multitude to hearken. We read of Jesus, 
 that " all the people were very attentive to hear him.'' 
 Moreover, the people retain the truth when they receive 
 it. Note this fact in history : the Reformation in Spain 
 was among the nobility, and it was the same in Italy, and 
 the work soon subsided. In England the common peo- 
 ple received the truth from WyclifFe, and it never died 
 out. If you wanted to burn a haystack, you would set 
 it alight at the bottom ; and if you want a whole nation 
 to feel the power of the gospel, it must first be received 
 by laborers and artisans. The martyrs of England were 
 largely taken from weavers and such like. The people 
 love the man ^^ chosen out of the people." The Bible is 
 their charter, the gospel is their estate, and when they 
 know it, they will retain it with heroic constancy. What 
 is more, they will spread it. Christ's first preachers 
 were of the people ; and in the streets of London to-day, 
 and in the Simday-schools of England to-day, you will 
 find that the people are to the front in holy work. We 
 are glad to see the noble, the great, the rich, the cultured 
 dedicated to our Lord ; but, after all, our chief hope lies 
 among the people. 
 
 The angel even mentioned the place to ivlikh tliey tvere 
 to go : ^' Go, stand in the temple.^' It was the most pub- 
 lic place in all Jerusalem ; therefore, ^^ Go, stand in the 
 temple " rather than in a private house. It was the 
 likeliest place to find attentive hearers : the noise of the 
 sheep-market and the bazaar would be absent. Those 
 who came early would probably be among the most de- 
 vout. " Go, stand in the temple." But when they were 
 bidden to stand in the temple it meant that they were to 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 245 
 
 stand in any place and every place where .an audience 
 could be gathered. So they understood it according to 
 the last verse of the chapter : " Daily in the temple, and 
 in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach 
 Jesus Christ." Fellow-workers, our business is to speak 
 to the people concerning eternal life ; and we must see 
 that we do it. If in this great house so many will gather 
 that the utmost capacity of my voice is used up, this is 
 the place for me to preach in ; but if the people will not 
 come here, T must go after them. We must take public 
 halls and assembly rooms ; v/e must even hire theatres 
 and music-halls, or stand in the streets : for we must 
 speak to the people. As men enlightened from on high 
 we must carry the light to the eyes of men. We must 
 carry bread to the hungry, and healing to the diseased. 
 If not by one style of speaking, yet by another, we must 
 so speak as to be heard : it is of no use to go on droning 
 to empty pews, or holding forth to bare walls. We must 
 get at the people. This is what the angel bids us do. 
 " Go," said he, '^ speak to the people all the words of 
 this life." 
 
 III. Thirdly, this message is described: ^^ Speak 
 to the people all the words of this life." Our teaching, 
 if we are true to Christ, will be not only a doctrine, but 
 a life. The high priest conceived that they preached 
 doctrine ; for he said, ^' Ye have filled Jerusalem with 
 your doctrine." Yet it may as truly be called life as 
 truth. The Christian religion is like Christ — way, truth, 
 and life. We have to preach " words of life ; " truth 
 which brings life, feeds life, and perfects life. We 
 are to preach all the great truths which concern eternal life. 
 
 What are the ^^ words of this life \ " If I had to give 
 a short list of them, I shoidd say, the first word of this 
 
246 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 life is ^^ Jesus Christ ; " for in the forty-second verse we 
 read^ ^^ They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus 
 Christ: " Jesus has the words of eternal life. We preach 
 his Deity, his manhood, his offices, his sacrificial death^ 
 his resurrection, and everything about him. We preach 
 Christ crucified, and if we did not, we should not speak 
 the words of life. 
 
 The next word to use woidd be ^^ atonement^ There 
 is no preaching ''the words of this life" except we preach 
 the sacrificial death of the Son of God. The apostles 
 boldly spoke of our Lord's death, for they said to the 
 council, " Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." They 
 had mentioned the precious blood ; for the high priest 
 said, '^ Ye intend to bring this man's blood upon us." 
 Leave out the satisfaction made by Christ for sin, leave 
 out the doctrine of a real and effective substitution, and 
 you have left out of the gospel ''the blood which is the 
 life thereof." " The words of this life '^ are not preached 
 to the people where the cross is put in the background. 
 
 The next word, to my mind, would be " resurrection.''^ 
 This they preached very fully, saying, " Him hath God 
 raised from the dead." Th e resurrection of Chirst secured 
 the justification of believers, and also guaranteed their 
 resurrection from the dead by virtue of their union with 
 him. If the resurrection were more fully preached at 
 this time, 1 am sanguine that it would be a powerful 
 means of conversion. 
 
 Nor could the apostles forget " regeneratior.J^ They 
 would echo their Lord's words, "Ye must be born again." 
 This new birth is possible to you, for " he that sat upon 
 the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." Leave 
 out the doctrine of the new birth, and you have left out 
 one of the cardinal "words of this life." 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 247 
 
 Then comes ^^faithP What a word is this ! ^' With- 
 out faith it is impossible to please God." '^ By grace ye 
 are saved through faith." He who does not preach 
 justification by faith has not begun to preach '^ the words 
 of this life." He that believeth in Christ hath everlast- 
 ing life J but without faith all is death. 
 
 The sixth out of seven words is ^' indwdVingP The 
 Holy Spirit comes into the heart, and abides there, work- 
 ing sanctification within, and producing holiness without. 
 ^^ Without holiness no man shall see the Lord ; " and if 
 hojiness be not preached as the efi'ect of the indwelling 
 Spirit of God, ^^ all the words of this life " are not spoken 
 to the people. 
 
 Then come the doctrines of tlie eternal life : that the 
 life given by the Holy Spirit never dies. ^' The water 
 that \. shali give him shall be in him a well of water 
 springing up into everlasting life." This eternal life is 
 seen here in the perseverance of the saints ; it is seen 
 hereafter in their immortality and endless glory. To 
 leave out this would l^e to leave out the grandest of "the 
 words of this life." 
 
 If you desire another outline of the gospel, I would re- 
 fer you to Peter's little address to the council. Read at 
 the twenty-ninth verse. Here is ilie princix)le of this life : 
 " We ought to obey God rather than men." He who 
 gets this life into him, will be imder law to God, and 
 when that law goes counter to the authority of man, man's 
 law will go to the wall. God is supreme to the man who 
 has this life : he lives as an obedient child of God. 
 
 The next great truth mentioned by Peter is the cause 
 of this life. He declared the death of Christ — "Whom 
 ye slew and hanged on a tree ; " that followed by his 
 resurrection — " The God of oui' fathers raised up Jesus j" 
 
248 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 that followed by liis ascension to glory — '"'• Him hath God 
 exalted with his right hand." These are historical facts 
 which contain vital doctrines. We must keep on ham- 
 mei'ing away at this : Jesus died, rose again, and rose to 
 heaven to make intercession for us ; because of all this 
 there is life for the sons of men. There is no teaching 
 '•'' all the words of this life " unless these three great facts 
 flame ouj like the stars of heaven, and are made to be 
 essential to our eternal life. 
 
 Then comes ilie manner 'by ivhicli tve receive this life, 
 namely, as a free gift. Jesus is exalted " to give repent- 
 ance." The gift of God is eternal life. Salvation is by 
 free grace, and free grace alone. ^' This life " is never 
 an evolution. Spiritual life does not lie dormant within 
 the dead heart of man ; it is an importation from heaven, 
 an implantation by the Spirit. We are quickened by the 
 miraculous working of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Here we have tJie beginning of this life, namely, repent- 
 ance, a sense of sin, a turning from it, an abhorrence of 
 it : this is the gift of Jesus, and the beginning of the new 
 life. 
 
 Then you have tlie privilege of this life — ^^ forgiveness 
 of sin." He that lives in Christ is set free from the guilt 
 of sin by the righteousness of Christ. 
 
 Then comes the evidence of this life — "whereof we are 
 witnesses." We speak to you of a life which we have 
 felt. We do not talk to you about an im.aginary thing : 
 we speak about a fact which we have observed, nay, a 
 fact which we have felt. A far greater witness is the 
 Holy Ghost, who, as he converts and sanctifies men, 
 bears the best possible testimony to the truth and life of 
 the gospel. 
 
 The fruit of this life must also be preached — "whom 
 
THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 249 
 
 God hath given to them that obey him." There is no 
 life in Christ apart from obedience to Christ. Obedience 
 is the sure residt of our being made to live by the Spirit 
 of Godj nor must this ever be forgotten. 
 
 Thus have I very roughly told you what you are to 
 preach. 
 
 IV. But now^ fourthly, the whole of the divine mes- 
 sage MUST BE DELIVERED. " Stand in the temple, and 
 speak mito the people all the words of this life." Dear breth- 
 ren, it is forbidden us to omit any part of the gospel. I am 
 very glad it is ; for if we were permitted, we shoidd some- 
 times shirk the unpopular parts of it. Yet surely it would 
 be very dangerous to omit any part of the gospel, would it 
 not ? It woidd be like a physician giving a prescription 
 to a dispenser, and the dispenser omitting one of the in- 
 gredients. He might kill the patient by the omission. 
 The worst results follow the keeping back of any doc- 
 trine : we may not see those results, but they will follow. 
 Possibly only the next generation will fully display the 
 mischief done by a truth concealed or denied. It would 
 be a dangerous experiment for any one of us to make. 
 
 And would it not hQ preswnptuous to leave out a word? 
 If we might take away from the testimony, who among 
 us is wise enough to know what to omit ? 
 
 It is a thousand mercies that we are not left to pick 
 and choose, for this would involve us in responsibilities 
 far too weighty to be borne. It is too responsible a busi- 
 ness for us to enter upon. 
 
 Would not the liberty he injurious to tis f Would it 
 not encourage pride? Should we not think ourselves 
 romebody if we were allowed to make a selection of the 
 best parts of the sacred message ? Surely, he that 
 judges is greater than that which is judged. We should 
 
250 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL. 
 
 soon imagine ourselves to be far more nearly infallible 
 tlian the Holy Script Lires. 
 
 Would not this greatly dlslionor God f Would it not 
 suggest that God's gospel is full of superfluities and ex- 
 crescenceSy and needs our wisdom to make it perfect ? 
 Should we not conclude that the Lord was not so wise as 
 ourselves if he needed our assistance to adapt his gospel 
 to the occasion I 
 
 Do you not think it woidd open a very easy way for 
 another gospel f If we might omit, we might also add ; 
 and I feel sure we should very soon add a great deal 
 which would neutralize and paralyze that of the gospel 
 wdiich remained. If we felt at liberty to leave out some- 
 thing, we should naturally omit that which is offensive, 
 and away would go the tooth and edge of the gospel. 
 That which is effensive in the gospel is just that wliicli is 
 effective. What men oppose is what God uses. If the 
 offence of the cross had ceased, the power of the cross 
 would have ceased also. It is not left to us to cut and 
 carve the doctrine of Christ : we are to preach " all the 
 words of this life." 
 
 Have we done so ? That is the question. Have we 
 knowingly concealed anything ? " Well," says one, '' I 
 have not preached all the words of this life to the people j 
 but I have preached them to a choice company." But 
 you are told to preach them all to the people. The doc- 
 trine of reserve must not be tolerated among Protestants. 
 We must not make that philosophical division which is 
 expressed in those two ugly words esoteric and exoteric. 
 This is abolished by the command to preach to the people 
 *' all the words of this life." We shall get into no end of 
 mischief and dishonesty if we incline to this Jesuitry. 
 We want an open Bible for every eye, and a plain min- 
 
THE CHARGE OE I'lIR AN'}EL. 251 
 
 istiy for every car. We are to prcacli ^^ the truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but tlic truth " in fair propor- 
 tions, and to preach this to the people openly. 
 
 At the present moment there is a great tendency to be 
 obscure upon the true and proper Deity of Christ. I en- 
 joyed the commencement of the prayer just offered by 
 our dear friend Dr. John Hall. I enjoyed the whole of 
 it, but I was greatly touched by his lowly adoration of 
 our divine Lord. The Broad men will say that Jesus is 
 divine, but they do not mean that he is God : they speak 
 of his divinity, but they reject his Godhead. This is 
 juggling with words. I hate deceptive phrases. We 
 believe in the Godhead of Jesus, and worship him as 
 God. Christ Jesus is either God or an impostor : there 
 is no halting-place between the two. He said that he 
 was God, he permitted his disciples to think that he was 
 God ; he has left words in Scripture which have made 
 millions believe him to be God 5 and he could not have 
 been a good man if, as a mere man, he had produced 
 such an impression, and had taken no pains to remove 
 it. 
 
 There is also a sad tendency to becloud the truth of 
 man's fall and depravity ; but if you do not preach man's 
 ruin, you cannot preach " all the Avords of this 
 life." 
 
 You must be clear ahout his spiritual death, or you 
 will never be right about his quickening into spiritual 
 life. Unless you preach the terrible doom of the wicked, 
 you will never see the greatness of the salvation which 
 comes to us by our Lord Jesus, who has " the words of 
 eternal life." 
 
 The work of the Holy Ghost is left too much in the 
 rear by many preachers. Have we not heard of late 
 
252 THE CHARGE OF THE ANGEL, 
 
 that certain cliildren do not need to be converted, that 
 the divine life is in them at their birth % Have they not 
 preached education rather than regeneration, evokition 
 rather than conversion? This is not speaking " all the 
 words of this life." It is telling out " old Avives' fables." 
 Brethren, have we not also a few about us who will 
 not bear ^^ all the words" ? for if you preach holiness as 
 the fruits of the new life, they say you are legal. Verily, 
 the results of this life are among the most important of 
 the words which must be spoken to the people, Grace 
 which does not make us hate sin is false grace. We 
 must preach repentance from dead works, and faith 
 which works by love, and the people must be told that 
 Christ has not come to save men m their sin but /row 
 their sin. On this we will be clear as the sun at 
 
 I;00n. 
 
 If there be any other point of truth which is kept 
 back, let us bring it the more forward. Let us insist 
 doubly upon that which others neglect. It needs that 
 the whole gospel be brought before the people, that they 
 may know it, and feel its power. It will involve you in 
 strife and struggle if you resolve on delivering an all- 
 round gospel; but fear not, the Lord will help tou, even 
 he who says to you by his angel, '•'' Go, stand and speak 
 in the temple to the people all the words of this 
 life." 
 
 I have done when I have asked what we are doing 
 about this % We who are God's people, what are we do- 
 ing in this matter % Some of us are preaching. Are we 
 preaching the whole gospel. Has any doctrine been 
 withheld? Let us bring forth things new and old, and 
 keep back nothing. Let us put every stone into the arch, 
 lest our building come to nothing. Have we also preached 
 
THE CHARGE OF 7I/E ANGEL. 253 
 
 those trutlis as words of life ? Have we felt the life in 
 tliein f Have wc expected life to come by them ? Our 
 preaching will be very much what we believe it will be ; 
 and if we do not believe that God is going to bless it, he is 
 not likely to bless it. If we do not expect to see life 
 created by the living word, we shall preach dead sermons 
 to dead ears. 
 
 Have we preached as witnesses ? Complaint is made 
 sometimes of a preacher that he says too much. about his 
 own experience. I do not believe he can do so, for our 
 experience is our witness-bearing. You can be egotis- 
 tical, and say that which is to your own credit, and this 
 is censurable : but you can also be happily egostistical, 
 and say that which is to God's glory, and that is com- 
 mendable. You may lawfully say, ^^ This is true. I 
 have proved it ! " This is one great reason why God 
 uses men instead of angels to speak the gospel, because 
 men can support their message by their experience, and 
 angels cannot. 
 
 But, beloved friends, are there not some of you who 
 nev^er tell any body " the words of this life " ? In such 
 a congregation ought it to be possible to put your finger 
 upon a single regenerated man or woman v/ho has never 
 for a whole lifetime spoken to another about the things 
 of God ? Are such persons regenerated ? T will not 
 come round and mark you ; but, alas ! some of you have 
 never even confessed your faith in Clirist. If you have 
 not obeyed that important command for yourselves, you 
 are not likely to have done much for the soids of others. 
 But having joined the church of God, are any of you 
 satisfied to be silent? Are you content to let those 
 around you sink to hell ? What ! never tell of Christ's 
 love ? What ! never speak of salvation to your own 
 
254 THE CHARGE OE THE AXGEL. 
 
 children and servants ? Can this be right ? In God's 
 name, wake up ! What are you left on this earth for % 
 If there is nothing for you to do, why are you in this 
 sinful world % You ought to be hurried off to heaven, 
 where you might praise God. No, no, I am afraid I am 
 mistaken. You could not praise God in heaven, you 
 have not learned the way. You coidd not join in the 
 song of the redeemed, for you have never had a rehear- 
 sal. Begin, begin, begin at once to praise Jusus in the 
 ears of some one. Tell of Jesus and his love to sinners 
 on earth, or how will you be able to make it known to 
 angels, and principalities, and powers % 
 
 Could not some of you do more than you are doing % 
 Are there not young men who might preach on a street- 
 corner or at a cottage-meeting ? Some of our evangelis- 
 tic societies flag for want of preachers. It ought not to 
 be the case. What are you at ? If you could not 
 preach to men and women, could you not teach the 
 children ? Very many Sunday-schools in this region 
 are straitened dreadfully for want of teachers. I could 
 tell you of ragged-schools on Sunday evenings where 
 multitudes of children are turned away because there 
 are no teachers. What are you at % You confess that 
 you are not your o\Mfi, but bought with a price by the 
 Lord Jesus : Vvdiy then do you not serve him % I have 
 succeeded to a large degree in routing some of you out : 
 I miss you on Sunday evenings, and a good miss too, 
 since I know where you are, and that you are out serv- 
 ing God. You take your meal in the morning, and then 
 you feed others in the after part of the day. The Lord 
 bless you in it. You were not created to sit in these 
 pews, and listen to me : there is something better for a 
 mortal man to do than to be a hearer only. 
 
THE CHARGE OF lliK AA'GBL. 255 
 
 I charge cverj Clirlstian man ar.rl woman here to lis- 
 ten to what I am about to saj. Though I am no angel, 
 I repeat in the name of the Lord Jesus the command of 
 the heavenly messenger : Go, stand out boldly, and 
 speak unto the people all tho words of this life j and 
 may God bless you. Amen. 
 
XII. 
 
 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO WOULD BE SAVED 
 FROM SIN. 
 
 July 15, 1888. 
 
 " Stand in a-vre, and sin not : commune AvitTi your own heart 
 upon your bed, and be still. Selali. Oifer tlie sacrifices of right- 
 eousness, and i)ut your trust iu the Lord. — Psalm iv. 4, 5. 
 
 David was surrounded with many wicked and cruel 
 enemies. Tliey touched him in a tender place when 
 they mocked his religion, and so turned his glory into 
 shame. They invented all kinds of lies against him ; 
 but the worst of all was that they said, ^' There is no 
 help for him in God." As much as to say, ^^ God hath 
 cast him off; therefore, let men cast him off. He that 
 is forsaken of the Lord is not fit to sit ujDon the throne 
 of Israel ; let us set up Absalom in his place." This 
 was malice indeed. 
 
 David first made his appeal to God in prayer. Herein 
 he showed his wisdom. You can drive a better business 
 at the mercy-seat than in the world^s jangling markets. 
 You will get more relief from the righteous Lord than 
 from ungodly men. To enter into debate is never so 
 profitable as to enter into devotion. Carry not your 
 complaint into the lower courts, but go at once to the 
 Court of King's Bench, where the- Judge of all presides. 
 Copy David and David's Lord, who in the days of his 
 ^56) 
 
DIRECTIONS TO BE SAVED FROM SIN. 257 
 
 flesli with strong crying and tCcars poured out liis soid 
 before the Father. 
 
 After David liad prayed, he expostulated with his 
 adversaries. The first showed his sonship towards God, 
 the second his brotherliness towards men. There is noth- 
 ing of bitterness in the words I have read to you : they 
 liave a kindly voice in them. If his foes had been at all 
 reasonable, they would have listened to his pleadings ; 
 but it is to be feared they were otherwise minded. He 
 urges them to cease from sin, and he teaches them the 
 way to do so. In four sentences he helps them to escape 
 from their evil ways, and to become better men. Had 
 God's Spirit applied David's words to their consciences, 
 they would have been pricked in their hearts, and there 
 would have been no need for them to be smitten on the 
 cheek-bone, that their cruel teeth might be broken. 
 
 Upon these four precepts I would speak this morning 
 as the Holy Spirit shall give me utterance, trusting, 
 hoping, believing that many who desire a better life may 
 find it while I speak. . May God begin with them, that 
 they may begin with God ! I have no confidence in my 
 own persuasions ; yet, being called to use them, I trust 
 in him that sent me to make them effectual. 
 
 David mentions four things as helpful towards ceasing 
 from sinning. The first is, feci reverent aive. " Stand 
 in awe, and sin not." The second is, use tJwugJiffid self- 
 examination: ^^ Commune with your own heart upon 
 your bed, and be stilL" The third advice is, make a 
 right approach to God — " Offer the sacrifice of righteous- 
 ness " : and the fourth is the greatest of them all : exer- 
 CISC faith — ^^Put your trust in the Lord.'^ Here are four 
 stepping-stones across the filthy slough of sin ; may you 
 mark them well, and step from one to the other by the 
 
258 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 help of God's Spirit, till jou reach the other shore, and 
 stand on safe and clean ground ! 
 
 I. First, FEEL REVERENT AWE: ^^ Stand in awe." 
 It might be translated, ^^ Tremble and sin not." Hard- 
 ened sinners sin, and tremble not ; penitent sinners 
 tremble, and sin not. Gracious work in the heart usu- 
 ally begins with trembling. I cannot believe a man has 
 been saved if he has never trembled before God because 
 of the evil of sin. The old house of depraved nature 
 shakes before it comes down. The returning prodigal 
 must feel, '^ I am not worthy to be called thy son," or he 
 will never be called a son. He seeks his father's face 
 with much trembling, because he has so grievously of- 
 fended. 
 
 Awe is not a common emotion nowadays. This is a 
 flippant age. Men are rather triflers than tremblers. 
 If there be any doctrine which has peculiar weight and 
 solemnity about it, they try to pare it down to less terri- 
 ble proportions. Sin is not exceeding sinful to them, 
 nor its punishment exceeding terrible. They would 
 not have us know the terrors of the Lord, though by 
 these very terrors we persuade men. But true religion 
 must have a savour of awe about it : ^^ My heart stand- 
 eth in awe of thy word," is the expression of one that 
 knows God, and is reconciled to him. Let me say, then, 
 to you who have been thoughtless and careless about 
 your souls until now — Ave earnestly desire you to consider 
 these words : ^^ Stand in awe." 
 
 Remember, iliere is a God : whatever you may desire 
 or others may declare, there is a God who made you, 
 and in whose hand your breath is. There is a God that 
 sitteth in heaven, who beholdeth all the sons of men ; 
 and hoAvever much you may dislike the thought, there he 
 
wouj.d be saved from sm. 259 
 
 is, and tlierc lio over will be, and you will have to deal 
 with him, and he with you, before long. 
 
 God is everywhere present^ at all times. He has seen 
 all your evil ways, and heard all your hard speeches. 
 No night is so dark as to hide from his eye ; no chamber 
 so retired as to shut him out. lie has even read your 
 thoughts and imaginations. He notes all, and forgets 
 nothing. All things are ever present to him; the days 
 of your youth, and the years of your manhood lie open 
 before him like a book. If men coidd but realize that 
 God is there, how could they dare to sin before his very 
 eyes ? If at this moment any one of my hearers who is 
 without Christ coidd only be filled with this one thought, 
 '' Thou God seest me," surely he would stand in awe, 
 and at least desire to sin no more. Well may the 
 preacher speak very solemnly when he feels that he is 
 surrounded with God, and that God is within him as 
 well as around him ! Well may his hearer tremble if 
 he feels that all his thoughts are at this moment read by 
 God ! Stand in awe, I pray you, of God, who is now 
 filling this house, and is in your own houses. Will you 
 sin in God's presence ? Can you blaspheme him to his 
 face ? Will you disobey him while his eyes are fixed 
 upon you ? I pray you stand in awe of the eternal God, 
 in whom you liv^e, and move, and have your being. 
 
 Remember that this God, who is everywhere, and 
 sees everything, is your Judge, He is pure and holy, 
 and cannot bear iniquity. He is angry with the wicked 
 every day, and will surely visit them for their transgres- 
 sions. Every sinful act shall have its recompense of re- 
 ward. Do not doubt it. The world is all in a tangle 
 now, but there will be a day when the Lord will draw 
 out a straight thread for each man. To-day the wicked 
 
260 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO TITOSE WHO 
 
 prosper^ but God v/iil turn their way upside down ; and 
 tliougli tlic righteous be often under a cloud, he will 
 bring forth their judgment as the noonday. Men respect 
 aa earthly judge ; therefore, I pray you, stand in awe 
 oMhe Judge of all the earth. 
 
 Do not forget also that your God is almiglity. He has 
 but^to will it, and the strongest of us would be crushed 
 more easily than a moth. There is no escaping from 
 the Lord ; neither the heights of Carmel nor the depths 
 of*l:he sea could afford shelter for a fugitive from the 
 Lord. Neither can any resist him, for none have any 
 power apart from him. You have heard his thunder, 
 and trembled at the bolts of his lightning ; behold how 
 dreadfid is God in arms ! How dare you sin against a 
 God so great ? Stand in awe. Even holy Job, when ho 
 came near to the Lord, exclaimed, "" I have heard of 
 thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth 
 thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
 ashes.'' How can you feel him near and not be filled 
 with awe f 
 
 Stand in awe of God because he is infinitely good. To 
 me personally, some little time ago, the Lord drew very 
 near in a most special and memorable providence. As I 
 saw the hand of the Lord stretched out so marvellously, 
 I felt my very flesh creep, not with alarm, but with a 
 joyful awe of One who could work so tenderly and con= 
 descendingly for his tried servant. I knew that he was 
 God by his marvellously gracious care over me, and 
 nearness to my soul in adversity. Verily Jehovah is 
 God, and a great King above all gods. He is to be had 
 in reverence of them that are round about him. I know 
 now why Jacob said at Bethel, " How dreadfid is this 
 place ! this is none other but the house of God, and this 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIiV. 261 
 
 is the gate of heaven." lie was filled with a holy dread 
 and solemn awe because God had been so near. I there- 
 fore say to you — stand in awe of God, because he is in- 
 finitely great and good. The illustration which I quoted 
 from my own personal experience, I could not withlMd, 
 because it is, even at this hour, one of the most vivid 
 recollections of my life. God has dealt with me very 
 graciously. Oh, his great goodness ! A sense of it is 
 overwhelming. We fear and tremble for all the good- 
 ness which the Lord makes to pass before us. ' Think 
 of sin forgiven, of righteousness imputed, of spiritual 
 life imparted, of that life preserved, supplied, nurtured. 
 Think of providence with all mindful foresight, and 
 abomiding supplies. The love of God should make us 
 reverent as angels, and humble as penitents. If the im- 
 pudence of pride might dare to insult justice, yet it 
 should scorn to injure love. There is forgiveness with 
 God, that he may be feared : his grace, if not his glory^ 
 should command the reverence of the most obdurate 
 hearts. I pray you stand in awe of God, and sin not. 
 If thoughts of this kind could but dwell in men's minds, 
 they woidd surely perceive that sin is a great wrong to 
 the Lord, and they would flee from it, crying like Jo- 
 seph, ^^ How can I do this great wickedness, and sin 
 against God ? " 
 
 My dear hearers, stand in awe in reference to a future 
 state. You do not doubt the truth which the Holy 
 Spirit has revealed, that when you die you will not 
 cease to be. There will be a resurrection of the dead, 
 both of the ji«?t and of the unjust : '^ for we must ail ap- 
 pear before the judgment-seat of Christ." Oh, that all 
 pei'sons would remember this wherever they go ! I have 
 heard of a soldier — I think he was employed in the siu'- 
 
262 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 vey of Palestine — wlio \Yas in tlie valley of Jehoshapliat, 
 outside Jerusalem, and some one remarked that it was re- 
 ported by some that this valley would be the scene of the 
 last judgment, and in that place the multitudes would be 
 gathered. The soldier, hearing this, said, ^^What a 
 crowd there will be ! I shall be there, and I will sit on 
 this stone.'^ He sat down to realize the scene, and his 
 imagination acted so powerfully that he seemed to him- 
 self to be among the throng, and to behold the great 
 white throne. He was seen to swoon, and fall to the 
 ground. Do you wonder % If any one of us could, in 
 our inmost souls, behold that scene, should we not be 
 overcome % I wish I could so speak this morning that 
 some of you would picture that last tremendous day, for 
 which all other days were made. Behold that dies hce.^ 
 that day of wrath, that day when justice will sit upon the 
 throne ! Behold it by anticipation, for it Avill soon be 
 upon you in very deed. As surely as you live, you will 
 live again : and for every act on earth you must give an 
 account in that last assize. Trifle not, for the Judge is 
 at the door. We may hear his trumpets before this ^\^j 
 is over. Let not this thought be driven from you ; rather 
 welcome it, and let it abide in youi' minds : if you were 
 to think of nothing else for a time you might be justified, 
 since it is of such overwhelming importance that you 
 prepare for your final state. Shall a man live and never 
 think of the end of life % Can a man think it wdse to oc- 
 cupy himself with frivolities thoughout the whole of his 
 earthly existence ? While he was shaping his eternal 
 condition, will he do nothing else but sport % Will he 
 never think of that day when his position shall be fixed 
 by the verdict of the great Judge % O my dear hearers, 
 do not forget that you have to live in a futiu'e state, and 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIiV. 2G3 
 
 that yon will see him who died upon the cross, seated on 
 the throne, in that day when all nations shall be gathered 
 before him, and he shall divide them, the one from the 
 other, as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats. 
 May the thought of the eternal reward also rest on your 
 minds ! Hear ye, even now, that word of the King to 
 the righteous — ^^ Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
 the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world." Hear, also, that dread sentence to those on his 
 left hand, ^^ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Oh, think 
 of these things, and '^ stand in awe, and sin not " ! This 
 awe is one of the strongest moral disinfectants : use it 
 largely. There is no fear of your having too much of it. 
 He that has no fear of God before his eyes sins with a 
 high hand, but awe of the Lord leads to purity of life. 
 
 II. In the second place, David admonished the 
 ungodly to practice thoughtful self-examination. 
 ^^ Commmie with your own heart upon your bed, and be 
 still." 
 
 I am not trying, my dear hearer, to preach a sermon 
 this morning, but I am longing to take you by the hand, 
 and to lead you in the right way. I pray the Holy 
 Spirit to make you willing to follow my gentle guidance. 
 My dear friend, you are now asked to thinh about your- 
 self — ^^ commune with your own heart." When once 
 men choose the way of evil, they run in it with their 
 eyes shut. They do not wish to consider ; it is easier to 
 go blindly on. They Avill think about their worldly con- 
 cerns, their profits and losses, their pleasures and amuse- 
 ments ; but they refuse seriously to consider their condi- 
 tion before God. O my friend, think of what you are, 
 and where you are, what you have done, what you are 
 
264 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 doing, what it will all lead to ! Are joii such a fool that 
 you will not consider % Then put on the cap and bells, 
 and wear motley, and take to your proper trade. And 
 yet, even if you were a merry-andrew, it would become 
 you sometimes to be wise as well as merry, and to take a 
 look into the future, lest you have to take a leap in the 
 dark at last. 
 
 Especially think of the state of your heart. This is the 
 vital point. Are you right with God ? Do you serve 
 your Maker ? Have you truly repented of former sin ? 
 Have you fled to Christ as your refuge ? Have you 
 been born again ? Are you the subject of sanctifying 
 grace ? " Commune with your own heart " upon these 
 essential points. He that would have his face clean 
 must look in the glass to see his spots 5 and he that 
 would have his heart clean must gaze into the looking- 
 glass of God's Word, that he may discover his secret 
 faults. Your heart may be diseased while your cheek 
 seems ruddy with health. Look within you, man, and 
 be not deceived as to the fountain of your being. Have 
 you really passed from death to life ?■ Does the Spirit 
 of God of a truth dwell in you ? Such questions as these 
 are all-important ; I pray you answer them as before the 
 Hving God, without partiality or negligence. 
 
 Thinh hy yourself alone, and in quiet. Oh, how I 
 wish I could induce you to spend an hour or two closeted 
 with yourself ! ^'Commune with your own heart upon 
 your bed," at that time when companions are out of the 
 way ; when the jest is silenced, and the common talk is 
 hushed. Get by yourself, when you think of yourself, 
 or it will be an impossible task. Choose the hour of 
 night, when all is still around you, and darkness lends 
 its solemnity. You can forego a little natural sleep, if 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIJV. 265 
 
 thereby you may be aroused from the sleep of spiritual 
 death. The bed and sleep are instructive emblems of 
 the grave and death : they may aid you in the serious 
 work of examining your hearts. Remember that, as you 
 put off your clothes and go to your bed, so you must put 
 off your body and quit the scene of life's activities : are 
 you ready for that undi-essing? Make your bed the 
 place of your contrition, even as David did when he 
 said, ^^ All the night make I my bed to swim." The 
 earth outside has its dews, let your heart have its tears. 
 
 Think by yourself, of yourself, and then thinJc for your- 
 self. You have been carried away by your companions ; 
 you have tried to think as they think. The general 
 opinion of the age may have influenced you towards in- 
 difference. With a family round about you, you have 
 looked at things too much in the light of business and 
 personal benefit ; but all this it will be wise to lay aside. 
 As you will have to die alone, and to put in a personal 
 appearance at the judgment-seat of Christ, it will be pru- 
 dent to divest yourself of your surroundings, and ^^ com- 
 mune with your own heart." I commend this text most 
 heartily to your immediate practice. If you are unsaved 
 — think rather than sleep. The tendency of most men 
 with regard to eternal things is to go to sleep, and let 
 matters drift : I pray you do not so. I dare not let you 
 take your rest while all is wrong with you. Sleep, if 
 you like, in a house that is on a blaze; sleep, if you like, 
 in a ship that is settling down, and rapidly sinking ; but 
 I charge you do not sleep while you are an unforgiven 
 man, and your soul is nearing the etenial woe : " Com- 
 mune with your own heart upon your bed " : use your 
 bed for seeking instead of sleeping. I remember the 
 time when I dared not go to sleej:), for fear I might wake 
 
266 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 up in hell. Many when under conviction of sin have at 
 length resolved not to sleep until they found* Christ. I 
 wish that some such feeling as that would steal over you 
 at this moment. 
 
 Keep on thinking tlU you come to he still. '^ Commune 
 with your own heart upon your bed, and he still,''^ Do 
 you know what that means ? There comes a time with 
 men whom God is saving when all grows quiet within 
 them. Their old pleasures and desires are hushed ; the 
 voice of the outside world is still, and they hear in the 
 silence of their souls ^^ the still small voice " of con- 
 science. Oh, that you were at this moment still enough 
 to hear that warning note ! Memory also commences 
 her rehearsals : it tells of the past, and brings forgotten 
 things before the soul. Oh, that all of you would re- 
 member and bethink yourselves that God requireth that 
 which is past. Best of all, God speaks in the soul. It 
 was at night, when yoimg Samuel was on his bed, that 
 the Lord said to him, ^^ Samuel, Samuel '' ; and it is when 
 the heart at last has grown still that God's voice of 
 mercy is heard calling to the man by name. Oh, that 
 in such a case you may have grace to answer, " Speak, 
 Lord, for thy servant heareth " ! 
 
 I beseech you, give yourselves space for thought, be- 
 fore thought becomes the worm of eternal misery to you. 
 Eemember, before you hear that voice from heaven 
 which spoke to the rich man in hell, and said to him, 
 ^'' Son, remember." Ye slaves of fashion and frivolity, 
 think, I pray you ! Ye serfs of daily money-grubbing, 
 rest a while, and hear what God the Lord shall speak to 
 you ! You can hardly hear the great bell of St. Paul's 
 when the traffic is thundering around, but it soimds sol- 
 emnly in the stillness of night. We who live in the 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM S/iV. 2G7 
 
 more remote suburbs hear Big Ben of Westminster at 
 niaiit, but we seldom note it amid tlie stir and noise of 
 the day. Do give an opportunity for the eternal voices 
 to pierce the clamors of the hour. Do, for God's sake, 
 and for your soul's sake, hear what wisdom teaches con- 
 cerning everlasting things ! O Lord, give grace to my 
 dear hearers, that they may consider their ways, and 
 turn unto thy statutes ! 
 
 III. Very briefly, let us note that David gives a third 
 piece of advice, which in essence means approach unto 
 God aright — " Offer the sacrifices of righteousneso." 
 
 Now, I do not quite know what David himself may 
 have intended by it, but this is how I interpret it. Come 
 to God ; come to God in his own way ; come as Israel 
 came to the Tabernacle in the wilderness, bringing their 
 sacrifices with them. 
 
 When they brought their sacrifices, the first thing 
 they did was to lay their hand on the victim, and maJce a 
 confession of sin. Come, then, w^ith broken and contrite 
 hearts unto the Lord. ^' The sacrifices of God are a 
 broken spirit." Own your shortcomings and transgres- 
 sions. Do not cloak or excuse your sins. Get to your 
 chamber, and tell the Lord what you have done. Pour 
 out your hearts before him : turn them upside dowm, as 
 it were, and let all flow out, even to the dregs. Confess 
 your pride and unbelief your Sabbath-breaking, your 
 dishonesty, your falsehood, your disobedience to parents, 
 your every breach of the divine law ; whatsoever you 
 have done amiss, confess it before him and thus go to 
 him in the only way in which ho can receive you, even 
 as sinners owning your guilt. 
 
 Go also to the Lord with gracious desires to be rid of 
 sin. Entreat reconciliation, saying, " I would no longer 
 
268 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 be what I have been. I throAv down the weapons of my 
 rebellion, I pluck out the plumes of m}^ pride ; Lord, 
 I stand before thee, guilty, and I pray thee forgive me, 
 and then rid me of the tyrant evils which now rule me so 
 terribly ! Oh, that I may sin no more ! If I have been 
 a drunkard, help me from this day to relinquish the in- 
 toxicating cup ; if I have been a swearer, wash out my 
 mouth ; may I, henceforth, speak nothing but that which 
 will be acceptable to thee ! If I have been unchaste, 
 cleanse my mind, that I may keep my body pure ! " In 
 this way come to God with contrite hearts. How much 
 do I long that you may draw nigh to God with true re- 
 pentance and hearty resolves to conquer sin ! 
 
 The main thing, however, is to bring unto the Lord 
 the offering tvhich he has divinely/ appointed and provided. 
 You know what that is. There is one sacrifice of right- 
 eousness with(;ut which you cannot be accepted. Come 
 to God by faith in Jesus Christ, plead the precious blood 
 of atonement, and say, ^^My Lord, for his dear sake who 
 died upon the tree, receive thy wanderer, and now be 
 pleased to grant me that repentance and remission of 
 sins which he is exalted to give.'' My hearers, am I 
 talking so as to reach your hearts ? If not, I do not 
 want to talk any longer. I had far rather be silent lest I 
 minister to your condemnation. Hearts that have forgot- 
 ten your Lord till now, oh, may his Spirit constrain you to 
 return to him this day through the sacrifice of Jesus ! 
 If you come through Christ, you will never be cast out. 
 The father will receive any sinner that pleads the name 
 of Jesus ; and Jesus is willing that you should plead his 
 name. He died on purpose to be the propitiation for 
 our sins : God grant that you may accept him as such ! 
 
 Come to your God : this is the great necessity of the 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM Sm. 269 
 
 lioiir. Say, " I will arise, and go to my father." If the 
 prodigal had said, '' I will arise, and go to my brother." 
 he would have made a great mistake, for the elder 
 brother would have shut the door in his face. Even if 
 his brother had been of a kinder sort, he could not have 
 forgiven the transgressor : his father alone could do that. 
 Come, then, to your God with earnest prayer ; for it pre- 
 vails with heaven. Come also with humble praise ; for 
 it is much that you are yet alive, and not yet cast into 
 the pit. Come to your God and Father, with the resolve 
 henceforth to render him your life's service, saying, " O 
 Lord oiir God, other lords beside thee have had dominion 
 over us : but by thee only will vre make mention of thy 
 name ! " 
 
 IV. I must now close with the fourth point, which is, 
 in some respects, the most important of all : exercise 
 FAITH. When holy avre and thoughtful self-communion 
 have led us to seek the Lord, then we are prepared for 
 the great precept which follows. It is the command of 
 the gospel in its Old Testament form : '' Put your trust 
 in the Lord." In whom should a man trust but in his 
 God ? It may seem reasonable to trust our fellow-creat- 
 ure ; but, alas ! man is a frail thing, and to lean upon 
 him ensures a fall ; it is, therefore, unreasonable to trust 
 in the creature, but to rely upon the Creator is the dic- 
 tate of pure reason. May God, the Holy Ghost, lead you 
 at once to a childlike faith in our faithful God ! 
 
 "Put your trust in the Lord." First, trust him as U'Ul- 
 ing to receive you, to forgive you, to accept you, and to 
 bless you. Are you despairing ? Do you say, " There 
 is no hope ? " " Put your trust in the Lord." Are you 
 saying, "I am without strength, and, therefere, cannot 
 be saved ? " Why not ? " Put your trust in the Lord." 
 
270 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 Does the evil one say that God will not receive yon ? 
 ^^ Put your trust in the Lord/' who is infinitely gracious, 
 and full of compassion. He saith, ^' As I live, saith the 
 Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; 
 but that the wicked turn from his way and live.'' 
 Surely, you may trust in him whose mercy endureth fcr 
 ever. 
 
 Especially trust in tlic Lord as he reveals himself in the 
 person of his Son Jesus Christ. In him you see love 
 written out in capital letters. "Put ycur trust in the 
 Lord" as having provided the one sacrifice for sin, 
 whereby he has put away for ever all the sins of those 
 who believe in him, God is just, and the justifier of him 
 that believeth. Believe that the precious blood can make 
 you whiter than snow, scarlet sinner as you are. Come 
 with that daring trust w^hich ventures all upon the bare 
 promise of a faithful God. Say, " I will go in unto the 
 King, and if I perish I perish." If you do not trust in 
 Christ, you must be lost ; therefore come and try the 
 divine way of salvation. The Lord Jesus is God's un- 
 speakable gift, freely bestowed on all wdio by faith re- 
 ceive him. Dare to grasp what God holds out to you as 
 the one hope of your spirit. Put your trust in the Lord, 
 I beseech you. By his agony and bloody sweat, by his 
 cross and passion, by his precious death and burial, by 
 his glorious resurrection and ascension, I entreat you to 
 trust the Son of God, who has once appeared to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
 
 Trust in the Lord, next, that hj the ivorh of his Holy 
 Spirit he can renew you. The glorious Lord, who made 
 the world out of nothing, can make something out of you 
 yet. If you are given to anger, the Holy Spirit can 
 "^ake you calm and loving. If you have been defiled 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIN. 271 
 
 with impurity, he can make you pure in heart. If you 
 have boon grovelling, he can elevate you. I may be ad- 
 dressing a forlorn man, \v^ho thinks that nothing can be 
 made of him. I tell you, you have no idea what God 
 can do with you. He can put heavenly treasure in 
 earthen vessels. lie can set you at last among the 
 heavenly choristers, that your voice, sweeter than that 
 of angels, may be heard amongst their everlasting sym- 
 phonies. He will even here put you among the children, 
 and set you with the princes of his people. Believe that 
 the Holy Ghost can create you anew, can raise you from 
 your dead condition, and can make you perfect in every 
 good work to do his will. Put your trust in the Lord for 
 this. 
 
 In fine, " Put your trust in the Lord ^^ for everijtliing. 
 Poor sinner, when you begin to trust God, you will look 
 to him mainly to put away your sin ; but when that 
 boon is received, you may go on to trust him about all 
 your affairs. You may look to him concerning your pov- 
 erty, your sickness, your bereavements, your children, 
 your business ; you may trust him for time, and 
 trust him for eternity ; trust him about little things, 
 trust him about great things. Once under the shadow of 
 his Avings you are covered altogether 5 nothing is left out 
 in the cold. To trust in God is to be your perpetual 
 business, ^^ For the just shall live by faith." 
 
 My closing theme is this — it has been asserted by cer- 
 tain of the modern school that we preach up salvation by 
 a simple intellectual operation — salvation by merely be- 
 lieving a certain doctrinal statement. This is their way 
 of stating, or mis-stating, justification by faith, which we 
 do assuredly preach, and preach most distinctly and con- 
 fidently. We are not responsible for their caricatures 
 
272 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 of our teaching, but we would be moved thereby to be 
 more and more explicit. As far as faith is an intellect- 
 ual operation, it is simple enough 5 but simple faith is no 
 trifle. Fire is a simple element, but it has a measureless 
 power. Connected with faith there are forces of the 
 mightiest kind for influencing character and purifying 
 life. Faith is the surest of all sin-killers : in fact, its 
 tendency is to extirpate sin. The moral and spirit- 
 ual change which accompanies faith, and grows out of it, 
 is of the most remarkable kind. Faith's work in the 
 sold is something to be wondered at, and to be admired 
 to all eternity. 
 
 For, mark, when a man believes in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, when he believes that Jesus so died for him that 
 he is effectually redeemed, when he believes that the Lord 
 Jesus has cleansed him, and that he is saved, the result 
 upon his heart and life cannot be commonplace. So 
 divine a persuasion operates upon his whole nature. He 
 is filed ivitli adoring gratitude, and that gratitude breeds 
 an intense lovej which fervent love sets itself to work for 
 the glory of God by the purification of the soul from sin. 
 '^ My Jesus died because of my sin," says the pardoned 
 sinner, ^^ therefore no sin shall abide in my heart. 
 Away, sin ! Away, for ever." Some favorite sin 
 cries, " Let me lodge within thee," but he cries, ^^ It 
 cannot be, for I love Jesus." Sin slew our Saviour ; 
 how can we be on friendly terms with it ? We hate it 
 with perfect hatred. Sin pleadeth, ^^ Is it not a little 
 one ? " But the grateful heart sees great evil in a little 
 sin, since the great Father abhors aU iniquity. If the 
 little sin was not the spear which pierced the Lord, it 
 helped to make the thorn-crown which tore his blessed 
 brow, and therefore away with it, away with it. 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIN. 273 
 
 *' JLe clearest idol I have known, 
 Whate'erthat idol be, 
 Help me to tear it from its throne, 
 And worship only thee." 
 
 Nothing creates more indignation and revenge against 
 sin than a gratefid sense of ^' free grace and dying love." 
 Surely this is no mean help towards moral purification. 
 
 Faith in God is effective for the noblest ends upon the 
 soul because it elevates the mind. The man who is hop- 
 ing^to be saved by his own works and eflforts begins on 
 earth and ends there ; but the habit of looking up to God 
 is in itself a blessing. It is something to have learned 
 to look beyond this dunghill of fallen humanity, in which 
 no one will ever find a pearl. It is something, I say, to 
 wait upon God, because your expectation is from him. 
 Trust in the sacred Trinity teaches us to be familiar with 
 higher and better things than we can find in ourselves, 
 or in this poor world. A hold of heaven is a help towards 
 drawing us there. I find that those who do not put their 
 trust in the Lord are by no means spiritual men, nor 
 men whose conversation is in heaven ; but the faith 
 which they despise puts our foot on the ladder the top 
 of which reaches up to God. 
 
 Faith in God brings neiv ideas of GocVs demands. 
 When we do not know God, we read his law, and judge 
 it to be harsh. " This is too strict ; this is too holy. 
 How can we obey this hard law ? " But when we have 
 faith in God, we correct our estimate, and judge that 
 these laws of our heavenly Father are all meant for our 
 good. He only forbids what would harm us, and he only 
 commands what is most truly for our benefit. By faith 
 we look upon the law as a loving directory — a chart of 
 life's voyage showing what channel to follow and what 
 
274 PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO 
 
 rock to avoid. ^^ His commandments are not grievous." 
 lie takes from us no real pleasure, and imposes no 
 crushing burden. To form so much better an estimate 
 of God's law is a great moral change, is it not % Must it 
 not greatly affect the man's behavior % 
 
 The man who puts his trust in the Lord sees the pleas- 
 ures of sin in a new liglit ; for he sees the evil which 
 follows on them, by noting the agonies which they 
 brought upon our Lord, when he bare our sins in his o^yJl 
 body on the tree. Without faith a man says to himself, 
 ^^ This sin is a very pleasant thing, why should I not en- 
 joy it ? Surely I may eat this fruit which looks so 
 charming, and is so much to be desired." The flesh sees 
 honey in the drink, but faith at once perceives that there 
 is poison in the cup. Faith spies the snake in the grass, 
 and gives warning of it. Faith remembers death, judg- 
 ment, the great reward, the just punishment, and that 
 dread word — eternity. Faith sees the end as well as the 
 beginning. Faith, vrhile the feast is going on, reminds 
 the revellers of the reckoning. Faith feels that she can- 
 not buy the transient joys of earth at the coimtless cost 
 of an immortal soul. " What shall it profit a man if he 
 gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? Or what 
 shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?" 
 
 Faith destroys the power of temptation. When Satan ■ 
 says, " You are in trouble, and here is an easy way of 
 escape : only do a little wrong, and you will get a great 
 good." ^' No," says faith, ^' it is God's business to get 
 me out of my trouble, and I will not go to the devil for 
 his aid." " Ah ! " says Satan, ^^ everybody else does 
 so ! " Faith answers, " I have to do with nobody but 
 God, and that which is right." Ah, brethren.! if Satan 
 should offer us all the kingdoms of this world if we would 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIN. 275 
 
 do his bidding, true faitli would baffle him by saying, 
 ^^ What canst thou offer me? I have all these things 
 already ; for all things are mine in Christ Jesus my 
 Lord." When faith is in its true place, covering the 
 believer, all the wicked suggestions of the evil one are 
 caught upon it and quenched by it, like fiery darts which 
 fall upon a shield. We are preserved from temptation 
 by the buckler of faith. 
 
 Moreover J faith is always attended ivith a neiv nature. 
 That is a point never to be forgotten. No man has faith 
 in God, of a true kind, unless he has been born again. 
 Faith in God is one of the first indications of regenera- 
 tion. Now, if you have a new and holy nature, you are 
 no longer moved towards sinful objects as you were be- 
 fore. The things that you once loved you now hate, 
 and, therefore, you will not rmi after them. You can 
 hardly understand it, but so it is, that your thoughts and 
 tastes are totally changed. You long for that very holi- 
 ness which once it was irksome to hear of, and you loathe 
 those very pursuits which were once yom' delight. 
 ^Vllen the Lord renews us it is not half done ; it is a 
 total and radical change. If there were no work of 
 the Holy Spirit connected with faith, and if faith were 
 nothing more than human assent to truth, we might be 
 blameworthy for preaching salvation through it ; but 
 since faith leads the van in the graces of the Spirit of 
 God, and turns the rudder of the soul, we are more 
 and more concerned to place faith where God places it, 
 and Ave say witliout hesitation, '^ Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Remember you 
 will thus be saved from the power of sin, and from the 
 practice of sin, by being saved from the love of sin. 0, 
 brothers and sisters, I am not afraid to preach to you 
 
27G PLAIN DIRECTIONS TO THOSE IVHO 
 
 justification by faith alone ! Look to Jesus and live \ 
 I would bid the sinner come to Jesus just as he is, and 
 take him to be his complete salvation. We do not 
 preach to you the hope of going to heaven, and yet keep- 
 ing your sins : indeed, till sin is quitted, there can be no 
 heaven. Our Lord Jesus has opened a hospital, and into 
 it he receives all manner of sick folk ; yet he does not 
 receive them that they may continue sick, but that he 
 may heal them, and make them whole. He receives the 
 sinful that he may make them holy. He saves men by 
 changing their natures, and infusing into them a heav- 
 enly life. Come, then, ye lej^rous in heart, come ye to 
 him Avhose touch can make you clean ! Come, ye with 
 withered limbs, incapable of holy exercise : he can, with 
 a word, restore you ! Come hither, ye blind, for he will 
 give you sight ! Yea, rise, ye dead, for he shall give 
 you life ! Repentance and remission are twin gifts 
 which he is exalted to bestow. Come ye now to him, 
 and receive out of his fulness ! 
 
 The thought of death is constantly forced upon me by 
 the largeness of this congregation, and the fact that there 
 seldom passes a week but that some one among you is 
 taken away. Soon your bodies will lie beneath the 
 greensward, and your soids will be in the eternal state. 
 In due time you will stand where your past will be re- 
 vived •, for the books shall be opened, and you will be 
 judged out of the things which are written in those 
 books. What a record you have written within the 
 Book of remembrance, to be read aloud in that day ! 
 Oh, ye ungodly ones, what will you then do % Christ- 
 rejecting sinner, how will you bear to hear those items 
 read before the assembled world ? If from this pulpit I 
 were to read out certain incidents of your past lives, 1 do 
 
WOULD BE SAVED FROM SIN. 211 
 
 not suppose you would get up to go out, for that Avould 
 convict you; but you would want to go very badly. 
 How, then, will you endure to have your sins laid bare 
 by the hand of God, while every eye bsholds them ? 
 How will you bear that shame and everlasting contempt 
 which will be the result of your true character being 
 blazoned abroad ? How infinitely good it will be if all 
 your past offences shall be blotted out ! How joyful to 
 be wholly absolved by the Lord of pardons ! If by be- 
 lieving in Christ Jesus you receive a change of nature, 
 and live a different life, and stand at the last day accept- 
 ed in the Beloved, what bliss it will be ! What joy will 
 be yours when Jesus comes, when his smile shall light up 
 the universe, and when he shall acknowledge you before 
 the angels of God ! You were with him in his humilia- 
 tion, you shall be with him in his exaltation, you loved 
 him and served hi-m here beloAV, you shall sit upon his 
 throne, and reign with him for ever and ever. Ah! 
 then, whatever little you may have suffered for his sake, 
 will be as nothing in comparison with the exceeding 
 weight of glory. Whatever struggling of heart and pain 
 of soul you felt in escaping from the sin which enthralled 
 you will be your joy when the result is seen in your 
 eternal perfection. The bliss of beholding the face of 
 our Beloved will be heaven enough for us. Even now I 
 feel eager to quit this feeble body at the bare thought of 
 being with the Bridegroom of my soid. 
 
 «' Mine eyes shall see liini in that clay, 
 The (Jod th.'it died for me ; 
 And all my risin.!;- bones shall say, 
 Lord, who is like to thee ?" 
 
 May you and I behold our Redeemer when he shall stand 
 in the latter day upon the earth ! Amen. 
 
Xlll. 
 
 July 22, 1888. 
 
 "And immediately, wliile he yet spake, the cock crew. And the 
 Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the 
 word of the Lord, how he had said uuto him, Before the cock crow, 
 thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitter- 
 ly."— Luke sxii. 60-62, 
 
 Peter had terribly fallen. He had denied his Master, 
 denied him repeatedly, denied him with oaths, denied 
 him in his presence, while his Master was being smitten 
 and falsely charged ] denied him, though he was an apos- 
 tle J denied him, though he had declared that should all 
 men forsake him, yet would he never be offended. It 
 was a sad, sad sin. Remember what led up to it. It 
 was, first, Peter's presumption and self-confidence. He 
 reckoned that he could never stumble, and for that very 
 reason he speedily fell. A haughty spirit goes before a 
 fall. Oh, that we might look to the roots of bitter 
 flowers, and destroy them ! If presumption is flourishing 
 in the soil of our hearts to-day, we shall soon see the evil 
 fruit which will come of it. Reliance upon our firmness 
 of character, depth of experience, clearness of insight, or 
 matureness in grace, will, in the end, land us in dis- 
 graceful failure. We must either deny ourselves, or we 
 shall deny our Lord : if we cleave to self-confidence^ we 
 shall not cleave to him. 
 
 Immediately, Peter's denial was OTvdng to cowardice. 
 (278) 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 270 
 
 The bra^e Peter in the presence of a maid T^as ashamed; 
 he could not bear to be pointed out as a follower of the 
 Galilean. He did not know what might follow upon it ; 
 but he saw his Loi'd without a friend^ and felt that it was 
 a lost cause, and he did not care to avow it. Only to 
 think that Peter, under temporary discouragement, shoidd 
 play the coward ! Yet cowardice treads upon the heels 
 of boasting ; he that thinks he can light the world will 
 be the first man to run away. 
 
 His sin also arose from his want of watchfulness. His 
 Master had said to him, ''■ What, could ye not watch with 
 me one hour ? " and no doubt there was more meaning in 
 the words than appeared on the siu'face. The Lord 
 several times said to him, ^^ Pra-y, that ye enter not into 
 temptation." The words were repeated with deep im- 
 pressiveness, for they were greatly needed. But Peter 
 had not watched : he had been warming his hands. He 
 did not pray : he felt too strong in himself to be driven 
 to special prayer. Therefore, when the gusts of tempta- 
 tion came, they fomid Peter's boat unprepared for the 
 storm, and they drove it upon a rock. 
 
 When Peter first denied his Master a cock crew. 
 Peter must have heard that crowing, or he would not 
 have communicated the fact to the evangelists who re- 
 corded it. But though he heard it, he was an example 
 of those who have ears but hear not. One woidd have 
 thought that the warning woidd have touched his con- 
 science ; but it did not ; and when the cock croAved a 
 second time, after he had committed three denials, it 
 might not have awakened him from his dreadful sleep if 
 a higher instrumentality had not been used, namely, a 
 look from the Lord Jesus. 
 
 God keep us free from this spirit of slumber, for it is 
 
280 PETER'S RESTOKATION 
 
 to the last degree dangerous ! Peter was under the dire- 
 ful influence of Satan, for it was a nigkt wherein the 
 powers of darkness were specially active. ^^ This is your 
 hour," said Jesus, " and the power of darkness." That 
 same influence which assailed the Saviour imsuccessfully 
 — for, said he, '^ the prince of this world cometh, and 
 hath nothing in me "—assailed Peter with sad result 5 for 
 the evil one had something in Peter, and he soon found 
 it out. The sparks from Satan's flint and steel fell upon 
 oui' Lord as upon water 5 but Peter's heart was like a 
 tinder-box ; and when the sparks fell, they fomid fuel 
 there. Oh, that we may be kept from the assaults of 
 Satan ! ^' Lead us not into temptation " is a necessary 
 prayer ; but the next petition is specially noteworthy — 
 *^but deliver us from the evil one." A man never gets 
 anything out of the devil, even if he conquers him. You 
 will find in combat with him that, even if you win the 
 victory, you come off with gashes and wounds of which 
 you will carry the scars to your grave. "All the while," 
 says ^Ir. Bunyan, while Christian was fighting with 
 Apollyon, " I did note that he did not so much as give 
 one smile. '^ Oh no ! there is nothing to smile abo^it when 
 the arch-enemy is upon us. He is such a master of the 
 cruel art of soul-wounding that every stroke tells. He 
 knows our weak places in the present, he brings to re- 
 membrance our errors in the past, and he paints in black- 
 est colors the miseries of the future, and so seeks to de- 
 stroy our faith. All his darts are fiery ones. It takes 
 all a man's strength, and a great deal more, to ward oiF 
 his cunning and cruel cuts. The worst of it is that, as 
 in Peter's case, he casts a spell over men, so that they do 
 not fight at all, but yield themselves an easy prey. Our 
 Saviour said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan 
 
rETEK'S RESTORATION. 281 
 
 hath dcsh'cd to have you, that he may snt you as 
 wheat : but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail 
 not." Peter was as much under the power of Satan as 
 corn is in the hand of the man who winnows it. lie 
 went up and do^\^l in that sieve like a helpless thing, and 
 so passed from simple falsehood to plain denials of his 
 Master with oaths and cursings. 
 
 I desire in this discourse to speak chiefly of Peter's res- 
 toration. Peter was down ; but he was soon up again. 
 One writer says the story should rather be called Peter's 
 restoration than Peter's fall. His fall was soon over : he 
 was like a little child learning to walk, scarcely down 
 before his mother has him up again. It was not a con- 
 tinuance in sin, like that of David, who remained for 
 months without repentance ; but it was the quick speech 
 of a man carried away by sudden temptation, and it was 
 followed by a speedy repentance. Upon his restoration 
 we are going to meditate. 
 
 It was brought about by two outward means. I like 
 to think of the singular combination : tlie crowing of the 
 cock, and a look from the Lord. When I come to 
 preach to you, it almost makes me smile to think that 
 God shoidd save a soul through me. I may find a fit 
 image of myself in the poor cock. Mine is poor crov\^- 
 ing. But as the Master's look went with the cock's 
 crowing, so, I trust, it will go with my feeble preaching. 
 The next time you also go out to try and win a soul for 
 Jesus, say to yourself, " I cannot do it : I cannot melt a 
 hard, rebellious heart ; but yet the Lord may use me ; 
 and if there come a happy conjunction of my feeble 
 words with my Lord's potent look, then the heart will 
 dissolve in streams of repentance." Crow away, poor 
 bird : if Jesus looks whilst thou art crowing, thou wilt 
 
282 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 not crow in vain, but Peter's heart will break. The two 
 things are joined together, and let no man put them 
 asunder — the commonplace instrumentality and the 
 divine Worker. Christ has all the glory, and all the 
 more glory because he works by humble means. I trust 
 that there will be this morning a conjunction of the 
 weakness of the preacher with the strength of the Holy 
 Spirit ; so that stony hearts may be broken and God 
 glorified. 
 
 This morning, first, lat us holi at tJie Lord ivlioloolced ^ 
 and secondly, let us look into the hole which the Lord 
 looked ; and then, thirdly, let us look at Feter, upon ivhom 
 the Lord looked. We will be all the while looking : may 
 our Lord look upon us. JMay his Holy Spirit work with 
 his holy word ! 
 
 I. First, LET us LOOK AT THE LOED WHO LOOKED 
 
 UPON Peter. 
 
 Can you picture him up there in the hall, up yonder 
 steps, before the high priest and the council ? Peter is 
 do^vn below in the area of the house warming his hands 
 at the fire. Can you see the Lord Jesus turning romid 
 and fixing his eyes intently upon his erring disciple ? 
 What see you in that look ? 
 
 I see in that look, first, that which makes me exclaim : 
 What thoughtful love ! Jesus is bound, he is accused, 
 he has just been smitten on the face, but his thought is 
 of wandering Peter. You want all your wits about you 
 when you are before cruel judges, and are called upon to 
 answer false charges ; you are the more tried when there 
 is no man to stand by you, or bear witness on your be- 
 half: it is natural, at such an hour, that all your 
 thoughts should be engaged with your own cares and 
 sorrows. It would have been no reproach had the 
 
PETER'S RESTORAl ION. 283 
 
 tliouglits of our Lord been concentrated on his personal 
 sufferings ; and all the less so because these were for 
 tlu; sake of others. But our blessed Master is thinking 
 of Peter, and his heart is going out toward his unworthy 
 disciple. That same influence which made his heart drive 
 out its store of blood through every pore of his body in the 
 bloody sweat, now acted upon his soid, and drove his 
 thoughts outward towards that member of his mystical 
 body which was most in danger. Peter was thought of 
 when the Redeemer was standing to be mocked and re- 
 viled. Blessed be his dear name, Jesus always has an 
 eye for his people, whether he be in his shame or in his 
 glory. Jesus always has an eye for those for whom he 
 shed his blood. Though now he reigns in glory, he still 
 looks steadily upon his own : his delight is in them, and 
 his care is over them. There was not a particle of self- 
 ishness about our Saviour. ^^ lie saved others ; himself 
 he could not save." He looked to others, but he never 
 looked to himself I see, then, in our Lord's looking 
 upon Peter, a wondrously thoughtful love. 
 
 I exclaim, next. What a boundless condescension ! If 
 our Lord's eye had wandered that day upon ^' that other 
 disciple " that was known to the high priest, or if he had 
 even looked upon some of the servants of the house, we 
 should not have been so astonished ; but when Jesus 
 turns, it is to look upon Peter, the man from whom we 
 should naturally have turned away our faces, after his 
 wretched conduct. lie had acted most shamefully and 
 cruelly, and yet the Master's eye sought him out in 
 boundless pity ! If there is a man here who feels him- 
 self to be near akin to the devil, I pray the Lord to look 
 first at him. If you feel as if you had sinned yourself 
 out of the pale of humanity, by having cast off all good 
 
284 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 things, and by having denied the Lord that bought you^ 
 yet still consider the amazing mercy of the Lord. If 
 you are one of his, his pitying eye will find you out ; for 
 even now it follows you as it did Hagar, when she cried, 
 " Thou God seest me." But oh, the compassion of that 
 look! When first I understood that the Lord looked on 
 me with love in the midst of my sin, it did seem so won- 
 derfid ! He whom the heavens adore, before whose sight 
 the whole universe is stretched out as on a map, yet 
 passes by all the glories of heaven that he may fix his 
 tender gaze upon a wandering sheep, and may in great 
 mercy bring it back again to the fold. For the Lord of 
 glory to look upon a disciple who denies him is boundless 
 condescension ! 
 
 But then, again, ivliat tender ivisdom do I see here ! 
 '^ The Lord turned and looked upon Peter." He' knew 
 best what to do : he did not speak to him, but looked 
 upon him. He had spoken to Peter before, and that 
 voice had called him to be a fisher of men : he had given 
 Peter his hand before, and saved him from a watery 
 grave when he was beginning to sink. But this time he 
 gives him neither his voice nor his hand, but that which 
 was equally effectual, and intensely suitable, he lent him 
 his eye : '^ The Lord looked upon Peter." How wisely 
 does Christ always choose the way of expressing his af- 
 fection, and working our good ! If he had spoken to 
 Peter then, the mob would have assailed him, or at least 
 the ribald crowd would have remarked upon the sorrow 
 of the Master, and the treachery of the discij)le : our 
 gracious Lord will never needlessly expose the faults of 
 his chosen. Possibly no words could have expressed all 
 that was tlirown into that look of compassion. Why, 
 brethren, a volume as big as the Bible is contained with- 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 285 
 
 in that look of Jesus. I defy all the tongues and all the 
 pens in the woi'kl to tell us all that our divine Lord 
 meant by that look. Our Saviour employed the most 
 prudent, the most comprehensive, the most useftd method 
 of speaking to the heart of his erring follower. He 
 looked volumes into him. His glance was a divine hier- 
 oglyphic full of unutterable meanings, which it conveyed 
 in a more clear and vivid way than vrords could have 
 done. 
 
 As I think of that look again, I am compelled to cry 
 out: What divine 2)0tver is here! Why, dear friends, 
 this look worked wonders. I sometimes preach with all my 
 sold to Peter, and, alas ! he likes my sermon and forgets 
 it. I have kno^^^l Peter read a good book full of most 
 powerful pleading, and when he has read it through, he 
 has shut it up and gone to sleep. I remember my Peter 
 when he lost his wife, and one would have thought it 
 would have touched him, and it did, with some natural 
 feeling ; yet he did not return to the Lord, whom he had 
 forsaken, but continued in his backsliding. See, then, 
 how our Lord can do with a look what we cannot do with 
 a sermon, what the most powerful writer cannot do with 
 hundreds of pages, and what affliction cannot do with 
 even its heaviest stroke. The Lord looked, and Peter 
 wept bitterly. I cannot help thinking with Isaac Wil- 
 liams that there is a majestic simplicity in the expression 
 here used — ^^ The Lord turned and looked upon Peter. 
 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly." The passage 
 reminds us of that first of Genesis : " And God said. 
 Let there be light : and there was light.'- As the Lord 
 looked unto the host of the Egyptians, and troubled the 
 Egyptians, so did he now look into Peter's heart, and his 
 thoughts troubled him. Oh, the power of the Lord 
 
286 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 Christ ! If there was this power about him when he was 
 bound before his accusers, what is his power now that he 
 is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto 
 God, by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession 
 for them % In that look there was divinity. The Son 
 of God looked upon Peter : the text does not use the 
 name Jesus, but it expressly says, " The Lord turned 
 and looked upon Peter.'^ That divine look did the 
 deed. 
 
 Let me beg you to note ivhat sacred teaching is here. 
 The teaching is of practical value, and should be at once 
 carried out by the followers of Jesus. You, dear friend, 
 are a Christian man or a Christian woman ; you have 
 been kept, by divine grace, from anything like disgrace- 
 fid sin. Thank God it is so. I dare say, if you look 
 within, you will find mu.ch to be ashamed of; but yet 
 you have been kept from presumptuous and open sins ! 
 Alas ! one who was once a friend of yours has disgraced 
 himself: he was a little while ago a member of the 
 church, but he has shamefully turned aside. You cannot 
 excuse his sin ; on the contrary, you are forced to feel 
 great indignation against his folly, his untruthfulness, his 
 wickedness. He has caused the enemies of the Lord to 
 blaspheme, and has done awful mischief to the cause of 
 righteousness. Now I know what will be suggested to 
 you. You will be inclined to cut his acquaintance, to 
 disown him altogether, and scarcely to look at him if you 
 meet him in the street. This is the manner of men, but 
 not the manner of Jesus. I charge you, act not in so un- 
 Christlike a manner. The Lord tui-ned, and looked on 
 Peter ; will not his servants look on him 1 You are not 
 perfect like your Lord ; you are only a poor sinful crea- 
 ture like your fallen brother. What ! are you too proud 
 
PETER'S RESTORATIOy. 287 
 
 to look at the fallen one % Will you not give liim a 
 helping hand \ Will you not try to bring him back % The 
 worst thing you can do with a backslider is to let him keep 
 on sliding back. Your duty should be your pleasure, 
 and your duty is to '' restore such a one in the spirit of 
 meekness, remembering thyself also, lest thou also be 
 tciiipted." brothers and sisters, it is a very little 
 thing that has kept some of us from turning aside unto 
 folly. One grain more and the scale would have turned 
 in favor of a great fall. Our steps have well-nigh slipped. 
 When we are proud of our sure standing, the Lord may 
 well be angry with us for our vanity, and he may justly 
 say, ^' How can I endure this pride % I have taken 
 great care of this man, and watched over him to keep 
 him out of sin, and now he takes the credit of it all, and 
 plays the great man, and fancies that he will be defiled 
 if he associates with my poor wandering children.'' 
 Which, think you, is worse in God's sight, the sudden 
 fall into sin, or the long-continued pride, which boasts 
 itself in the presence of the Lord, and looks contemp- 
 tuously upon erring ones ? It is not my office to become 
 a measurer of sins ; but I would earnestly enforce this 
 plain duty : since our own Lord and Master looked on 
 backsliding Peter, let us seek out our wandering breth- 
 ren. 
 
 One more lesson : observe xcliat heavenly comfort is 
 here : " The Lord turned and looked upon Peter " ; yes 
 Jesus looks upon sinners still. The doctrine of God's 
 omniscience is far oftener set forth in a hard way than in 
 a cheering way. Have you never heard a sermon from \ 
 ^' Thou God seest me,'' of which the pith was — Therefore 
 tremble, and be afraid ? That is hardly fair to the text ; 
 tor when Hagar cried, '^ Thou God seest me," it was 
 
288 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 because the Lord had interposed to help her, when she 
 had fled from her mistress. It was comfort to her that 
 there she also had looked after him that had looked upon 
 her. There is a dark side to '^ Thou God seest me " ; 
 but it is not half so dark as it would be if God did not 
 see us. It is true, sinner, that God has seen your sin, 
 and all the aggravations of it ; but it is also true that as 
 he sees your ruin, your misery, your sadness, he has 
 compassion on you. He sees your sin that he may remove 
 it, and make you clean in his sight. As the Lord looked 
 upon Peter, so he looks upon you. He has not turned 
 his back on you; he has not averted the gaze of his pity. 
 He sees to the bottom of your heart, and reads all your 
 thoughts. You have not to go about to find out God — he 
 is looking upon you. '^ He is not far from every one of 
 us " ; he is within eyesight. You are to look to him ; 
 and if you do, your eyes will meet his eyes, for already " 
 he looks upon you, 
 
 I think we have gathered much from this brief look 
 at the Lord who looked upon Peter. I doubt not that 
 had we more time and more insight, we should see 
 greater things tha,n these. 
 
 n. Now let us go on to the second point, and see 
 whether we cannot gather still more instruction. Let us 
 
 LOOK IXTO THE LOOK WHICH THE LORD GAVE TO PeTER. 
 Help us again, most gracious Spirit ! 
 
 That look was, first of all, a marvellous refresliment to 
 Feter'^s memory, '^ The Lord turned, and looked upon 
 Peter." What a sight it must have been for Peter ! 
 Our dear Master's face Avas that night all red from the 
 bloody sweat. He must have appeared emaciated in 
 body : his eyes weary vrith want of sleep, and his Avhole 
 countenance the vision of grief. If ever a picture of the 
 
PETER'S RES'rOKATIOJ^r. 289 
 
 Man of Sorrows could have been drawn, it should have 
 been taken at that moment when the Lord turned and 
 looked upon Peter. By torchlight and the flickering 
 flame of tlie fire in the court of the hall of Caiaphas Peter 
 saw a vision which would never fade from his mind. He 
 saw the man whom he loved as he had never seen him 
 before. This was he who called him, when he was fish- 
 ing, to become a fisher of men ; this was he who bade 
 him spread the net, and caused him to take an incredible 
 quantity of fishes, insomuch that the boat began to sink, 
 and he cried out, '•'' Depart from me ; for I am a sinful 
 man, Lord ; " this was he who had made him walk on 
 the water, and at other times had rebuked the winds, and 
 raised the dead. This was he with whom Peter had been 
 upon the mount of transfiguration ! Truly there was a 
 wonderful change from the glistening whiteness of the 
 mount to the ghastliness of that sad hoiu' ! Though the 
 lineaments of that reverend face were distained with 
 blood, yet Peter could tell that it was the selfsame Lord 
 with whom he had enjoyed three years of intimate inter- 
 course and tender unveiling. All this must in a moment 
 have flashed upon poor Peter's mind ; and I do not wonder 
 that in the recollection of it all he went out and wept bit- 
 terly. He did love his Lord ; his denial v\^as not of the 
 heart, but of the tongue; and therefore as all the grounds 
 of his faith came before his mind anew, his heart was 
 brokon into a thousand pieces with grief that he should 
 have been false to such a friend. Yes, that look awoke 
 a thousand slumbering memories, and all these called 
 upon the sincere heart of Peter to repent of its ungener- 
 ous weakness. 
 
 Next, that turning of the Master was a sprclal reminder 
 of his wan I in J ivords, Jesus did not say it in words, but 
 
290 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 he did more than say it by his look. " Ah, Peter ! did 
 not I tell you it would be so ? You said, '• Though all 
 men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be 
 offended.' Did I not tell thee that before cock-crowing 
 thou wouldst deny me thrice % " Ko rebuke was uttered ; 
 and yet the tender eye of the Lord had revealed to Peter 
 his own extreme folly, and his Master's superior wisdom. 
 Now he saw his own character, and perceived his Lord's 
 discernment. It was a prophecy, and, like all other 
 prophecies, it was miderstood after it was fulfilled. We 
 read that '' Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how 
 he said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny 
 me thrice." It is clear, then, that our Lord's look was a 
 special reminder of his former words : it stirred up 
 Peter's mind by way of remembrance, and made him 
 see hov/ foolish he had been, and hovv^ inexcusable was 
 his fault. 
 
 Surely it was^ also, a moving appeal to Pde/s heart, I 
 bade you notice just now, in the reading of the chapter, 
 that this story of Peter is singularly interwoven into the 
 narrative of our Saviour's passion : it is so interwoven 
 because it constitutes an essential part of that passion. 
 We must not regard it as an accidental incident, it was 
 part and parcel of that grief which he had to bear when 
 he stood in our place and stead. It was written of old, 
 '^ Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered;" 
 and this scattering of the sheep, of which Peter was a 
 notable instance, was one of the bitter ingredients of our 
 Redeemer's mental anguish. " Lover and friend 'hast 
 thou put far from me " is his complaint in the Psalm. 
 When the Saviour showed himself to Peter with aU those 
 lines of grief upon his face, he seemed to say to him, 
 " Canst thou deny me now ? I am bound for thee, and 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 291 
 
 dost tliou deny me! I stand here to be adjudged to 
 death for thee, and dost thou deny me % Now is the hour 
 of mine agony, and dost thou deny me % " The Lord 
 could not have looked at Peter without creating strong 
 emotion in the breast of the weak disciple who now found 
 himself in so sad a plight. That look touched very ten- 
 der chords. There was no need for a single word of ap- 
 peal : that look sufficed to stir the deeps of Peter's 
 nature. 
 
 What do you think that look chiefly said % My thought 
 about it, as I turned it over, was this : when the Lord 
 looked upon Peter, though he did refresh his memory, 
 and make an appeal to his conscience, yet there was still 
 more evidently a glorious manifestation of love. If I may 
 be permitted humbly and reverently to read what was 
 written on my Master's face, I think it was this : '^ And 
 yet I love thee, Peter, I love thee still! Thou hast 
 denied me, but I look upon thee still as mine. I cannot 
 give thee up. I have loved thee with an everlasting 
 love, and, notwithstanding all thine ill-conduct towards 
 me, I am looking for thee, and expecting to receive thee. 
 I have not turned my back on thee. Behold, I look 
 towards thee with tender regard, foreseeing that thou wilt 
 yet serve me, and prove the truth of thy devotion to me. 
 Despair not, Peter, for I will receive thee again, and 
 thou shalt glorify me." Judging v/hat would break my 
 heart the soonest if I had thus denied my Master, it seems 
 to mo that I should be most affected by his saying to me, 
 ^^ And yet, despite thy sin, I love thee still.'' Love is the 
 great heart-breaker. Immutable love is that divine ham- 
 mer which breaks the rock in pieces. Though a man 
 should have sinned himself into great hardness of heart, 
 yet almighty love can soften him. Who can resist the 
 
292 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 charms of grace unchangeable ? Sharper than a sword 
 is a look of love : more fierce than- coals of juniper are 
 the flames of love. One said, the other day, sj)eaking 
 of a person who has gone awfully astray after having 
 been a preacher of the Word, ^' If I did not believe in 
 the doctrine of unchanging love I do not think I dare 
 pray for him ; but since I believe that God will bring 
 him back again, I pray with humble confidence that he 
 v/ill be restored." That which is an encouragement to 
 prayer for others will be a help towards our retm-n if we 
 have gone astray. I love to believe that my Lord will 
 bring his wanderers back. ye who are anxious to re- 
 turn to him, let this cheer you — " Yet doth he devise 
 means that his banished be not expelled from him." 
 This doctrine wins men back. There are wicked men 
 who turn it into an argument for continuing in sin ; but 
 their damnation is just. True men will see, in the meas- 
 ureless and unchanging love of Christ, a reason which 
 will put wings to their feet when they hasten back to him 
 from whom they have gone astray. 
 
 Again : this look penetrated Feterh inmost lieart. It is 
 not every look that we receive that goes very deep. I 
 look with eyes of deep afi*ection at men from this pulpit, 
 and I perceive that they know my meaning ; but they 
 soon shake it ofi". But our Saviour has an eye to which 
 the joints and marrow are visible. He looks into the 
 secret chambers of the soul; for his look is a sunbeam, 
 and bears its own light with it, lighting up the dark 
 places of our nature by its own radiance. Peter could 
 not help feeling, for he was pricked in the heart by the 
 arrow of Christ's glance. IIow many persons are aff'ected 
 by religion only in the head ! It docs not afi'ect their 
 heart and life. I am grieved when I hear of some of you, 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 293 
 
 who are regular hearers, and take pleasure In my preach- 
 ing, and yet, after many years, you are not a bit better. 
 You have had spasms of improvement, but they have 
 ended in nothing. You go back to the mire after you 
 have been washed. You are a hearer of the gospel, and 
 yet a drunkard. Your voice is heard in a psalm, but 
 it may also be heard in an oath. It is a shocking 
 thing ; but I have done my best. I can preach to your 
 ears, but I cannot look into your hearts. Oh, that my 
 Lord would give such a glance at you this morning as 
 should dart light into you, and cause you to see your- 
 self, and to see him, and then the tears would fill your 
 eyes ! 
 
 One fact may not escape our notice: our Lord's look 
 ,^ at Peter was a revival of all Feter^s looking unto Jcsiis, 
 The Lord's look upon Peter took effect because Peter 
 was looking to the Lord. Do you catch it ? If the 
 Lord had turned and looked on Peter, and Peter's back 
 had been turned on the Lord, that look would not have 
 reached Peter, nor affected him. The eyes met to pro- 
 duce the desired result. Notwithstanding all Peter's v/an- 
 derings, he was anxious about his Lord, and therefore 
 looked to see what was done with him. Even while he 
 warmed his hands at the fire, he kept looking into the 
 inner hall. His eyes were constantly looking in the di- 
 rection of the Lord Jesus. While he wandered about 
 among the maids and serving- men, and got talking to 
 them, fool that he was ; yet still he would perpetually 
 steal a glance that way to see how it fared with the man 
 he loved. He had not given up the habit of looking to 
 his Lord. If he had not still, in a measure, looked 
 to his Master, how would the look of Jesus have been 
 observed by him ? His eye must look through your eye 
 
294 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 to get to your heart. Tlie remainders of faith are the 
 sparks among the ashes of piety, and the Lord blows on 
 these to raise a fire. If there is a poor soid here that, 
 despite his backsliding, can yet feel, ^^ I am trusting in 
 Jesus, and if I perish, I will perish there,'' there is hope 
 for that soul. If you have given up the outward forms 
 of religion it is a grievous fault : but if you still inward- 
 ly look to the Crucified, there is something in you to 
 work upon ; there is an eye which can receive the look 
 of Jesus. It is through the eye that looks to Jesus that 
 Jesus looks^ and lets fresh light and hope into the soid. 
 Oh that you who have this lingering faith in the Lord 
 may now receive a look from him which shall work in 
 you a bitter, salutary, saving repentance, without which 
 you can never be restored % 
 
 This hole tvas altogether hcttveen the Lord and Fetcr. 
 Nobody knew that the Lord looked on Peter, except 
 Peter and his Lord. That grace which saves a soul is 
 not a noisy thing ; neither is it visible to any but the 
 receiver. This morning, if the grace of God comes to 
 any one of you in power, it wiU be unperceived by 
 those who sit on either side of you in the pew : they 
 will hear the same words, but of the divine operation 
 which accompanies them they will know nothing : the 
 eye of the Lord will not speak to them as it is speaking 
 to the awakened one. Do you know anything of the 
 secret love-look of the Lord Jesus ? 
 
 The whole process may not have occupied more than 
 a second of time. " The Lord turned, and looked on 
 Peter." It took less time to do than it takes to tell. 
 Yet in that instant an endless work was done. How 
 soon can Jesus change the heart ! ^^ He spake and it 
 was done :" I venture to alter that verse, and say, "He 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 295 
 
 looked, and it was done." Lord, look on sinful Peter 
 now ! Work a miracle with thine eje ! Even here, let 
 some sinner look to thee because thou hast looked on 
 him. 
 
 III. Now I must go to my third point : let US LOOK 
 
 AT PETER AFTER THE LORD HAD LOOKED AT HIM. What 
 
 is Peter doing % When the Lord looked on Peter tlie 
 first thing Feter did tvas to feel aivaJcened. Peter's mind 
 had been sleeping. The charcoal fire had not done him 
 much good, the fumes of it are evil. The dust of Satan's 
 sieve had got into his ejes. He was confused with very 
 sorrow for his dear Master, whom he truly loved. Peter 
 was hardly Peter that night. I think I had better say, 
 Peter was too much Peter, and his mind had more of 
 Peter's stone in it, than of Christ's flesh. He had for- 
 gotten that he was an apostle ; he had forgotten that 
 which he had declared when the Lord said to him, 
 '^ Blessed art tliou, Simon Barjona : for flesh and blood 
 hath not revealed this unto thee." Again I remind you 
 how significantly it is written, ^^ The Lord tm'ned, and 
 looked upon Peter " ; for it hints that Peter now saw his 
 Lard's Deity through the veil of his humiliation and 
 anguish. He had forgotten his Lord's Deity, and thus 
 he had, in thought, denied his Lord. He was off the 
 lines, and was in a sleepy state. He was what Paul 
 calls " bewitched " and under the influence of a spiritual 
 soporific, administered by Satan. The Lord's look brought 
 him to his batter self, and aroused all the spiritual life 
 which had been dormant in him : " Peter remembered," 
 and by this remembrance he was restored. 
 
 The next effect was, it tooJc away all Peter^s foolhardi- 
 ness from him, Peter had made his way into the high 
 priest's hall, but now he made his way out of it. He 
 
296 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 had not felt in any clanger tliougli in tlie worst of com- 
 pany. What did he care for the girl that kept the door % 
 Surely he was too much of a man to mind her remarks. 
 What did he care for the men that were round the fire % 
 They were rough fellows, but he had been a fisherman, 
 and quite able to cope with the priest's bailiifs. But 
 now the brag is gone out of him. No sooner had Jesus 
 looked upon him than Peter declined all further risks. 
 
 Now he shows the better part of valor, and with 
 great discretion quits the dangerous society of the high 
 priest's j)alace. Revival of grace in the heart is the 
 death of presumption. The man who runs risks wdth his 
 soul is not in a right state of mind. Perhaps the Saviour's 
 glance conveyed a hint to Peter that he had no business 
 where he was. It may have seemed to say to him, 
 ^^ You had better be gone from these surroundings." 
 At any rate, that was the effect it produced. That pal- 
 ace in which the Lord fared so badly could not be a 
 fit place for a disciple. To be warming himself at the 
 fire was quite inconsistent for Peter while Jesus was 
 being mocked of his enemies. A sight of the Lord 
 Jesus makes many things seem incongruous which else 
 might appear right enough. All Peter's daring vanish- 
 ed 5 he turned his back on maids and men, and went 
 out into the darkness of the night. We do not hear of 
 his coming near the cross ; in fact, we hear no more of 
 him till the resurrection morning, for Peter was sensi- 
 ble enough to feel that he could not trust himself any 
 more. He placed himself in the background, till his 
 Lord summoned him to the front. I wish that some re- 
 ligious professors whose lives have been questionable 
 had grace enough to do the same. When I see a man 
 who has sinned grievously pushing himself speedily to 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION. 297 
 
 the front, I cannot believe that he has a due sense of the 
 evil he has wrought, or of his own unfitness to be in the 
 place of peril. 
 
 Above all, shun the place where you have fallen. Do 
 not linger in it for a moment. Go out, even though you 
 leave a comfortable fire behind you. Better be in the 
 cold than stay where your soul is in danger. Till Peter 
 had received from the Lord's own mouth abundant assur- 
 ance of his restoration to his office by the threefold charge 
 to feed the sheep and lambs, we do not find him again in 
 the forefront. 
 
 That look of Christ severed Feter from the crowd. He 
 was no longer among the fellows around the fire. He 
 had not another word to say to them : he quitted their com- 
 pany in ha^te. It is well for believers to feel that they 
 are not of the world ! They should flee out of Sodom. 
 The Lord has severed us from the multitude by his divine 
 choice, and the separation should be our choice. 
 
 Oh, that the arrows of the great Lord would this 
 morning pierce some soul even as a huntsman wounds a 
 stag ! Oh, that the vfounded soul, like Peter, would seeh 
 soUtuch ! The sta2i: seeks the thicket to bleed and die 
 alone ; but the Lord will come in secret to tlie wounded 
 heart, and draw out the arrow. Alone is the place for a 
 penitent. Out in the darkness is far better for you than 
 around the fire, where coarse jokes are bandied while 
 Christ is mocked. There must be confession and weep- 
 ing alone. If Christ has looked upon you, you must get 
 away from the men of the world, and indeed from all 
 others ; the solitude of your chamber will suit you best. 
 
 That look of Christ also opened tJie sluices of Peter^s 
 heart : he went out, and wept bitterly. There was gall 
 in the tears he wept, for they were the washings of his 
 
298 PETER'S RESTORATION. 
 
 bitter sorrow. Dear friends, if we have sinned with 
 Peter, God grant us grace to weep witli Peter. Manj 
 will think of Peter's wandering who forget Peter's weep- 
 ing. Sin, even though it be forgiven, is a bitter thing ; 
 even though Christ may look away your despair he will 
 not look away your penitence. " He went out, and wept 
 bitterly." Oh, how he chided himself ! " How could I 
 have acted so ! " How he smote on his breast, and 
 sighed, *^How can I ever look up? Yet is he very 
 precious. That look forgave me ; but I can never for- 
 give myself." He remembered it all his life, and could 
 never hear a cock crow without feeling the water in his 
 eyes. 
 
 Yet I want you to notice that that look of Christ gave 
 him relief. It is a good thing to be able to weep. Those 
 who cannot weep are the people who suffer most. A 
 pent-up sorrow is a terrible sorrow. The Lord touched 
 a secret spring, and made Peter's grief flow out in floods, 
 and that must have greatly eased him. I have frequent- 
 ly heard people say, '^ I had a good cry, and after that 
 I was able to bear it." People die of bursting hearts 
 when no tears relieve them. I thank God for Peter that 
 he could weep bitterly, for thus the Holy Spirit came to 
 him with comfort. Master, look on some poor dry 
 heart here — some poor heart that cannot feel its sinful- 
 ness, but would if it could — and give it feeling ! Look 
 on the heart which cannot repent, that is crying " I 
 would, but cannot feel contrition." Lord, thou didsl 
 make the rock yield water at the smiting of the rod, 
 use thy poor stick of a servant this morning to smite the 
 rocky heart, and let the waters of repentance flow out. 
 
 And now, to conclude, it made Peter, as long as he 
 lived, ashamed to he ashamed, Peter was never ashamed 
 
PETER'S RESTORATION, 299 
 
 after this. "Who was it that stood up at Pentecost and 
 preached % Was it not Peter? Was he not always fore- 
 most in testifying to his Lord and Master ? 1 trust that 
 if any of us have been falling back, and especially if we 
 have wandered into sin, we may get such a restoration 
 from the Lord himself, that we may become better 
 Christians ever afterwards. I do not want you to break 
 a bone, I pray God you never may ; but if you ever do, 
 may the heavenly Surgeon so set it that it may become 
 thicker and stronger than before. Courage was the bone 
 in Peter which snapped ; but when it was set, it became 
 the strongest bone in his nature, and never broke again. 
 When the Lord sets the bones of his people, they never 
 break any more — he does his work so effectually. The 
 man who has erred by anger becomes meek and gentle. 
 The man who has erred by drink, quits the deadly cup, 
 and loathes it. The man who has sinned by shame be- 
 comes the bravest of the company. 
 
 O, Lord Jesus, I have tried to preach thee this morn- 
 ing, but I cannot look with thine eye. Thou must look 
 on erring ones thyself. Look, Saviour ! Look, sinner ! 
 '"'' There is life in a look at the crucified One," beaause 
 there is life in a look /ro/>i the crucified One. May Jesus 
 look; and the sinner look ! Amen. 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, THE CONQUESING WEAPON, 
 
 Septemler 9, 1888. 
 
 " Aud they overcame Iiim by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 
 word of their testimony; aud they loved not their lives unto the 
 death."— Eevelation xii. 11. 
 
 Wherever evil appears, it is to be fought with by the 
 children of God in the name of Jesus, and in the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. When evil appeared in an angel, 
 straightway there Avas war in heaven. Evil in mortal 
 men is to be striven against by all regenerate men. If 
 sin comes to us in the form of an angel of light we must 
 still war with it. If it comes with all manner of deceiv- 
 ableness of mirighteousness, we must not parley for a 
 single moment, but begin the battle forthwith, if indeed 
 we belong to armies of the Lord. Evil is at its very 
 worst in Satan himself : with him we fight. He is no 
 mean adversary. The evil spirits which are under his 
 control are, any one of them, terrible foes ; but when 
 Satan himself personally attacks a Christian, any one of 
 us will be hard put to it. 
 
 When this dragon blocks our road, we shall need 
 heavenly aid to force our passage. A pitched battle 
 with Apollyon may not often occur 5 but when it does, 
 you will knov\^ it painfully : you will record it in your 
 diary as one of the darkest days you have ever lived ; and 
 you will eternally praise your God, when you overcome 
 (300) 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 301 
 
 him. But even if Satan were ten times stronger and 
 more crafty than he is, we are bomid to wrestle with 
 him : we cannot for a moment hesitate, or offer him 
 terms. Evil in its highest, strongest, and proudest form 
 is to Le assailed by the soldier of the cross, and nothing 
 must end the war but complete victory. Satan is the 
 enemy, the enemy of enemies. That prayer of our 
 Lord's, which we usually render, " Deliver us from evil,'^ 
 has the special significance of " Deliver us from the evil 
 one " ; because he is the chief embodiment of evil, and 
 in him evil is intensified, and has come to its highest 
 strength. That man had need have Omnipotence with 
 him who hopes to overcome the enemy of God and man. 
 He would destroy all godly ones if he could ; and though 
 he cannot, such is his inveterate hate, that he worries 
 those whom he cannot devour with a malicious eagerness. 
 
 In this chapter the devil is called the ^^ great red dra- 
 gon." He is great in capacity, intelligence, energy, and 
 experience. Whether or not he was the chief of all an- 
 gels before he fell I do not know. Some have thought 
 that he was such, and that when he heard that a man 
 was to sit upon the throne of God, out of very jealousy, 
 he rebelled against the Most High. This also is conjec- 
 ture. But we do know that he was and is an exceeding- 
 ly great spirit as compared with us. He is a being 
 great in evil : the prince of darkness, having the power 
 of death. He shows his malice against the saints by ac- 
 cusing the brethren day and night before God. In the 
 prophets Ave have the record of Satan standing to accuse 
 Joshua the servant of God. Satan also accused Job of 
 serving God from mercenary motives : ^^ Hast not thou 
 made an hedge about him, and all that he hath f '^ 
 
 This ever active enemy desires to tempt as well as ac- 
 
302 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 cuse : he would have us, and sift us as wheat. In calling 
 him the dragon, the Holy Spirit seems to hint at his 
 mysterious power and character. To us a spirit such as 
 he is must ever be a mystery in his being and working, 
 Satan is a mysterious personage, though he is not a 
 mythical one. We can never doubt his existence if we 
 have once come into conflict with him ; yet he is to us 
 all the more real because so mysterious. If he were 
 flesh and blood it would be far easier to contend with 
 him ; but to fight with this spiritual wickedness in high 
 places is a terrible task. As a dragon he is fidl of cun- 
 ning and ferocity. In him force is allied with craft ; and 
 if he cannot achieve his purpose at once by power he 
 waits his time. He deludes, he deceives ; in fact, he is 
 said to deceive the whole world. What a power of de- 
 ception must reside in him, when mider his influence the 
 third part of the stars of heaven are made to fall, and 
 myriads of men in all ages have worshipped demons and 
 idols ! He has steeped the minds of men in delusion, so that 
 they cannot see that they should worship none but God, 
 their Maker. He is styled " the old serpent '^ ; and this 
 reminds us how practised he is in every evil art. He 
 was a liar from the beginning, and the father of lies. 
 After thousands of years of constant practice in deception 
 he is much too cunning for us. If we think that we can 
 match him by craft we are grievous fools, for he knows 
 vastly more than the wisest of mortals ; and if it once 
 comes to a game of policies, he will certainly clear the 
 board, and sweep our tricks into the bag. To this cun- 
 ning he adds great speed, so that he is quick to assail at 
 any moment, darting down upon us like a hawk upon a 
 poor chick. He is not everywhere present j but it is 
 hard to say where he is not. He cannot be omnipresent 5 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 303 
 
 but yet, by tliat majestic craft of his, lie so manages his 
 armies of fallen ones that, like a great general, he super- 
 intends the whole field of battle, and seems present at 
 every point. No door can shut him out, no height of 
 piety can rise beyond his reach. He meets us in all 
 our weaknesses, and assails us from every point of the 
 compass. He comes upon us unaware, and gives us 
 wounds which are not easily healed. 
 
 But yet, dear friends, powerful as this infernal spirit 
 certainly must be, his power is defeated when we are 
 resolved never to be at peace with him. We must never 
 dream of terms or truce with evil. To suppose that we 
 can let him alone, and all will be well, is a deadly error. 
 We must fight or perish : evil will slay us if we do not 
 slay it. Our only safety will lie in a determined, vigor- 
 ous opposition to sin, whatever shape it assumes, what- 
 ever it may threaten, whatever it may promise. The 
 Holy Ghost alone can maintain in us this enmity to sin. 
 
 According to the text it is said of the saints, ^^ They 
 overcame him." We are never to rest until it is said 
 of us also, ^^ They overcame him." He is a foeman 
 worthy of your steel. Do you refuse the conflict ? Do 
 you think of turning back % You have no armor for 
 your back. To cease to fight is to be overcome. You 
 have your choice between the two, either to gird up the 
 loins of your minds for a life-long resistance, or else to 
 be Satan's slaves forever. I pray God that you may 
 awake, arise, and give battle to the foe. Resolve once 
 for all that by the grace of God you vrill be numbered 
 with those who overcome the arch-enemy. 
 
 Our text brings before us a very important subject 
 for consideration: — Wlmt is the conquering tveaponf 
 With what sword did they fight who have overcome the 
 
304 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 great red dragon ? Listen ! ^^ They overcame liim by 
 the blood of the Lamb/^ Secondly, how do we use that 
 tveaj3on f We do as they did who overcame " by the 
 word of their testimony j and they loved not their lives 
 unto the death." 
 
 I. First, WHAT IS THIS CONQUERING WEAPON? They 
 
 overcame him by "the blood of the Lamb." 
 
 The blood of the Lamb signifies, first, the death of the 
 Son of God. The sufi'ering of Jesus Christ might be set 
 forth by some other figure, but his death on the cross 
 requires the mention of blood. Our Lord was not only 
 bruised and smitten, but he was put to death. His 
 heart's blood was made to flow. He of whom we speak 
 was God over all, blessed for ever ; but he condescended 
 to take our manhood into union with his Godhead in a 
 mysterious manner. He was born at Bethlehem a babe, 
 he grew as a child, he ripened into manhood, and lived 
 here among us, eating and drinking, sufi'ering and re- 
 joicing, sleeping and laboring as men do. He died in 
 very deed and of a truth, and was buried in the tomb 
 of Joseph of Arimathsea. That death Avas the grand fact 
 which is set forth by the words " the blood of the Lamb.'' 
 We are to view Jesus as the Lamb of God's passover : 
 not merely separated from others, dedicated to be Israel's 
 memorial, and consecrated to divine service, but as the 
 Lamb5?rt/;?. Remember, that Christ viewed as living, and 
 not as having died, is not a saving Christ. He himself 
 saith, " I am he that liveth and teas deadJ^ The mod- 
 erns cry, "Why not preach more about his life, and less 
 about his death f " I reply. Preach his life as much as 
 you will, but never apart from his death ; for it is by 
 his blood that we are redeemed. " We preach Christ." 
 Complete the sentence. " We preach Christ crucified^'' 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 305 
 
 says the apostle. Ah, yes ! there is the pomt. It is the 
 death of the Son of God which is the conquering weapon. 
 Had he not poured forth his soul unto death, even to the 
 death of the cross — had he not been numbered with the 
 transgressors, and put to a death of shame — YvO should 
 have had no weapon with which to overcome the dragon 
 prince. By ^^ the blood of the Lamb '^ we understand the 
 dccvth of the Son of God. Hear it, men ! Because you 
 have sinned, Jesus dies that you may be cleared from your 
 sin. ^^ He his own self bare cur sins in his own body on 
 the tree," and died that he might redeem us from all un- 
 righteousness. The point is his death, and, paradoxical- 
 ly, this death is the vital point of the gospel. The 
 death of Christ is the death of sin and the defeat of 
 Satan, and hence it is the life of our hope and the assur- 
 ance of his victory. Because he poured out his soul un- 
 to the death, he divides the spoil with the strong. 
 
 Next, by ^' the blood of the Lamb ''we understand cz/r 
 LorcVs death as a substitutionary sacrifice. Let us be 
 very clear here. It is not said that they overcame the 
 arch-enemy by the blood of Jesus, or the blood of Christ, 
 but by the blood of the Lamb ; and the words are ex- 
 pressly chosen because, under the figure of a lamb, we 
 have set before us a sacrifice. The blood of Jesus 
 Christ, shed because of his courage for the truth, or out 
 of pure philanthropy, or out of self-denial, conveys no 
 special gospel to men, and has no pecidiar power about 
 it. Truly it is an example worthy to beget martyrs ; 
 but it is not the vray of salvation for guilty men. If you 
 proclaim the death of the Son of God, but do not show that 
 he died the just for the unjust to bring us to God, you 
 have not preached the blood of the Lamb. You must 
 laake it known that ^^ the chastisement of our peace was 
 
306 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 upon him/' and that " the Lord hath Laid on him the in- 
 iquity of us all/' or you have not declared the meaning 
 of the blood of the Lamb. There is no overcomins: sin 
 without a substitutionary sacrifice. The lamb under the 
 old law was brought by the offender to make atonement 
 for his offence, and in his j)lace it was slain : this was 
 the type of Christ taking the sinner's place, bearing the 
 sinner's sin, and suffering in the sinner's stead, and thus 
 vindicating the justice of God, and making it possible for 
 Lim to be just and the justifier of him that belie veth. I 
 understand this to be the conquering weapon — the death 
 of the Son of God set forth as the propitiation for sin. 
 Sin must be punished : it is punished in Christ's death* 
 Here is the hope of men. 
 
 Futhermore, I understand by the expression, " The 
 blood of the Lamb," that our Lord's death was effected for 
 the taJdng away of sin. When John the Baptist first 
 pointed to Jesus, he said, ^^ Behold the Lamb of God 
 which taketh aAvay the sin of the world." Our Lord 
 Jesus has actually taken away sin by his death. 
 Beloved, we are sure that he had offered an acceptable, 
 and effectual propitiation when he said, " It is finished." 
 Either he did put away sin, or he did not. If he did not, 
 how will it ever be put away ? If he did, then are 
 believers clear. Altogether apart from anything that 
 we do or are, our glorious Substitute took away our 
 sin, as in the type the scape-goat carried thesin of 
 Israel into the wilderness. In the case of all those 
 for whom our Lord offered himself as a substitutionary 
 sacrifice, the justice of God finds no hindrance to its full- 
 est flow : it is consistent with justice that God shoida 
 bless the redeemed. Near nineteen hundred years ago 
 Jesus paid the dreadful debt of all his elect, anc 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 307 
 
 made a full atonement for the whole mass of the iniqui- 
 ties of them that shall believe in him, thereby removing 
 the whole tremendous load, and casting it bv one lift of 
 his pierced hand into the depths of the sea. When Jesus 
 died, an atonement was offered by him and accepted by 
 the Lord God, so that before the high court of heaven 
 there was a distinct removal of sin from the whole body 
 of whicli Christ is the head. In the fidness of time each 
 redeemed one individually accepts for himself the great 
 atonement by an act of personal faith, but the atonement 
 itself was made long before. I believe this to be one of 
 the edges of the conquering weapon. We are to preach 
 that the Son of God has come in the flesh and died for 
 human sin, and that in dying he did not only make it pos- 
 sible for God to forgive, but he secured forgiveness for all 
 who are in him. He did not die to make men savable, 
 but to safe them. He came not that sin might be put aside 
 at some future tiuie, but to put it away there and then 
 by the sacrifice of himself; for by his death he ^^ finished 
 transgressions, made an end of sin, and brought in ever- 
 lasting righteousness." Believers may knoAV that when 
 Jesus died they v/ere delivered from the claims of law, 
 and when he rose again their justification was secured. 
 The blood of the Lamb is a real price, which did effec- 
 tually ransom. The blood of the Lamb is a real cleans- 
 ing, which did really purge away sin. This we believe 
 and declare ; and by this sign we conquer. Christ cru- 
 cified, Christ the sacrifice for sin, Christ the effectual re- 
 deemer of men, we will proclaim everywhere, and thus 
 put to rout the poAvers of darkness. 
 
 IL I have shown you the sword ; I now come, in the 
 second place, to speak to the question, How do we use 
 IT ! '' They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.'^ 
 
308 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 When a man gets a sword, joii cannot be quite cer- 
 tain how he will use it. A gentleman has purchased a 
 very expensive SAvord with a golden hilt and an elaborate 
 scabbard : he hangs it up in his hall, and exhibits it to 
 his friends. Occasionally he draws it out from the 
 sheath, and he says, " Feel how keen is the edge ! " 
 The precious blood of Jesus is not meant for us merely 
 to admire and exhibit. We must not be content to talk 
 about it, and extol it, and do nothing with it ; but we 
 are to use it in the great crusade against unholiness and 
 unrighteousness, till it is said of us, " They overcame 
 him by the blood of the Lamb." This precious blood is 
 to be used for overcoming, and consequently for holy 
 warfare. We dishonor it if we do not use it to that end. 
 Some, I fear, use the precious blood of Christ only as a 
 quietus to their consciences. They say to themselves, 
 ** He made atonement for sin, therefore let me take my 
 rest." This is doing a 'grievous wrong to the great sac- 
 rifice. I grant you that the blood of Jesus does speak 
 better things than that of Abel, and that it sweetly cries, 
 ^^ Peace ! Peace ! " within the troubled conscience ; but 
 that is not all that it does. A man who wants the blood 
 of Jesus for nothing but the mean and selfish reason 
 that after having been forgiven through it he may say, 
 '''' Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry : hear 
 sermons, enjoy the hope of eternal felicity, and do noth- 
 ing " — such a man blasphemes the precious blood, and 
 makes it an unholy thing. We are to use the glorious 
 mystery of atoning blood as our chief means of overcom- 
 ing sin and Satan : its power is for holiness. See how 
 the text puts it : ^^They overcame him by the blood of 
 the Lamb " : these saints use the doctrine of atonement 
 not as a pillow to rest their weariness, but as a weapon 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 309 
 
 to subdue tlieir sin. nij brothers, to some of us atone- 
 ment by blood is our battle-axe and weapon of war, by 
 wliicli we conquer in our struggle for purity and godli- 
 ness — a struggle in wliicli we have continued now these 
 many years. By the atoning blood we withstand cor- 
 ruption within and temptation without. This is that 
 weapon which nothing can resist. 
 
 Let me show you your battle-field. Our first place of 
 conflict is in the heavenlies, and the second is down be- 
 low on earth. 
 
 First, then, you, my brothers and sisters who believe 
 in the blood of Jesus, have to do battle Avith Satan in the 
 liravenlies ; and there you must overcome him ^^by the 
 blood of the Lamb." '^ How ? " say you. I will lead 
 you into this subject. First, you are to regard Satan 
 this day as being already literally and truly overcome 
 tJirongJi the death of the Lord Jesus. Satan is already a 
 vanquished enemy. By faith grasp your Lord's victory 
 as your own, since he triumphed in your nature and on 
 your behalf The Lord Jesus Christ went up to Calva- 
 ry, and there fought with the prince of darkness, utterly 
 defeated him, and destroyed his power. He led captivity 
 captive. He bruised the serpent's head. The victory 
 v\^as the victory of all who are in Christ. He is the rep- 
 resentative seed of the woman, and you who are of that 
 seed and are in Christ actually and experimentally, you 
 then and there overcame the devil by the blood of the 
 Lamb. Can you get a hold of this truth ! Do you riot 
 know that yoa were circumcised in his circumcision, 
 crucified on his cross, buried with him in baptism, and 
 therein also risen with him in his resurrection ? He is 
 your federal head, and you being members of his body 
 did in him what he did. Come, my soul, thou has con- 
 
310 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 qnered Satan by thy Lord's victory. Wilt thou not be 
 brave enough to fight a vanquished foe^ and trample 
 doAvn the enemy Avhom thy Lord hast already thrust 
 down % Thou needest not be afraid, but say, '•'' Thanks 
 be to God which giveth us the victory through 
 our liOrd Jesus Christ." We have overcome sin, death 
 and hell in the person and work of our great Lord ; and 
 we should be greatly encouraged by that which has 
 been already wrought in our name. Already we are 
 more than conquerors through him that hath loved us. 
 If Jesus had not overcome the enemy, certainly we 
 never should have done so ; but his personal triumph 
 has secured ours. By faith we rise into the conquering 
 place this day. In the heavenlies we triumph, also 
 in every place. We rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 the Michael of the angels, the Redeemer of men ; for by 
 him we seen Satan cast out, and all the powers of evil 
 hurled from their places of power and eminence. 
 
 This day I would have you overcome Satan in the 
 heavenlies in another sense : you must overcome Mm as 
 the accuser. At times you hear in your heart a voice 
 arousing memory and startling conscience ; a voice which 
 seems in heaven to be a remembrance of your guilt. 
 Hark to that deep croaking voice, boding evil ! Satan 
 is urging before the throne of justice all your former 
 sins. Can you hear him ! He begins Avith your childish 
 faults and your youthfid foUies. Truly a black memory. 
 He does not let one of your wickednesses drop out. 
 Things which you had forgotten he cunningly revives. 
 He knows your secret sins, for he had a hand in most of 
 them. He knows the resistance which you offered to 
 the gospel, and the way in which you stifled conscience. 
 He knows the sins of darkness, the sins of the bedchamber, 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 31] 
 
 the crimes of the inner cliambers of imagery. Since you 
 have been a Christian he has marked your wickedness, 
 and asked, in fierce, sarcastic tones, " Is this a chikl of 
 God % Is this an heir of heaven % " He hopes to con- 
 vict us of hypocrisy or of apostasy. 
 
 The foul fiend tells out the wanderings of our hearts, 
 the deadness of our desires in prayer, the filthy thoughts 
 that dropped into our minds when we have been at wor- 
 ship. Alas ! we have to confess that we have even tol- 
 erated doubts as to eternal verities, and suspicions of the 
 love and faithfulness of God. When the accuser is 
 about his evil business, he does not have to look far for 
 matter of accusation, nor for facts to support it. Do 
 these accusations stagger you % Do you cry, ^^ My God, 
 how can I face thee % for all this is true, and the iniqui- 
 ties now brought to my remembrance are such as I can- 
 not deny. I have violated thy law in a thousand ways, 
 and I cannot justify myself." Now is your opportunity 
 for overcoming through the blood of the Lamb. When 
 the accuser has said his say, and aggravated all your 
 transgressions, be not ashamed to step forward and say, 
 '^ But I have an advocate as v\^ell as an accuser. 
 Jesus, my Saviour, speak for me ! " When he speaks, 
 what does he plead but his own blood ? ^^ For all these 
 sins I have made atonement," says he, ^^ all these iniqui- 
 ties were laid on me in the day of the Lord's anger, and 
 I have taken them away." Brethren, the blood of Jesus 
 Christ, God's dear Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Jesus 
 has borne the penalty due to us : he has discharged for 
 us upon the cross all our liabilities to the justice of God, 
 and we are free for ever, because our surety suffered in 
 our place. Where is the accuser now % That dragon 
 voice is silenced by the blood of the Lamb. Nothing else 
 
312 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 can ever silence the accuser's cruel voice but the voice 
 of the blood which tells of the infinite God accepting, in 
 our behalf, the sacrifice which he himself supplied. 
 Justice decrees that the sinfid shall be clear, because the 
 accepted substitute has borne his sin in his own body on 
 the tree. Come, brother or sister, the next time thou 
 hast to do with Satan as an accuser in the heavenly 
 places, take care that thou defend thyself with no 
 weapon but the atonement. All comfort draAvn from 
 inward feelings or outward works will fall short ; but the 
 bleeding w^ounds of Jesus will plead with full and over- 
 whelming argument, and answer all. *^ Who shall lay 
 anything to the charge of God's elect % It is God that 
 jiistifieth. Who is he that condemn eth ! It is Christ 
 that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at 
 the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 for us." Who, then, shall accuse the child of God % 
 Every accuser shall be overcome by the invincible argu- 
 ment of the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 Still further, the believer will have need to overcome 
 the enemy in the heavenly places in reference to access to 
 God. It may happen that when we are most intent upon 
 commmimg with God, the adversary hinders us. Our 
 heart and our flesh cry out for God, the living God ; 
 but from one cause or another we are unable to draw 
 nigh unto the throne. The heart is heavy, sin is ram- 
 pant, care is harassing, and Satanic insinuation is busy. 
 You seem shut out from God, and the enemy triumphs 
 over you. You feel very near the world, and very near 
 the flesh, and very near the devil : but you mourn your 
 miserable distance from God. You are like a child who 
 cannot reach his father's door because a black dog barks 
 at him from the door. What is the way of access "? If 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 313 
 
 the foiil fiend will not move out of the way, can we force 
 our passage % By what weapon can we drive away the 
 adversary so as to come to God ? Is it not written that 
 we are made nigh by the blood % Is there not a new 
 and living way consecrated for us % Have we not bold- 
 ness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ? We 
 are sure of God^s love when v/e see that Christ died for 
 us ; we are sure of God's favor when Ave see how that 
 atonement has removed our transgressions far from us. 
 We perceive our liberty to come to the Father, and 
 therefore we each one say~ 
 
 " I will approacli tliee —I will force 
 My way tliroagli obstacles to thee ; 
 To thee for strength will have recourse, 
 To thee for consolation fiee ! " 
 
 Pleading the propitiation made by the blood of the Lamb, 
 we dare draw nigh to God. Behold, the evil spirit 
 makes way before us. The sacred name of Jesus is 
 one before which he flees. This will drive away his 
 blasphemous suggestions and foul insinuations better 
 than anything that you can invent. The dog of hell 
 knows the dread name which makes him lie down : we 
 must confront him with the authority, and specially with 
 the atonement of the Lamb of God. He will rage and 
 rave all the more if we send Moses to him ; for he de- 
 rives his power from our breaches of the law, and we 
 cannot silence him unless we bring to him the great 
 Lord who has kept the law, and made it honorable. 
 
 We next must overcome the enemy in prayer. Alas ! 
 we cannot always pray as we woidd. Do you never feel 
 when you are in prayer as if something choked your 
 utterance — and, what is worse, deadened your heart ? 
 
314 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 Instead of having wings as of an eagle to mount to hea- 
 ven, a secret evil clips your wings, and you cannot rise. 
 You say within yourself, '''• I have no faith, and I cannot 
 expect to succeed with God without faith. I seem to 
 have no lov^e ; or, if I have any, my heart lies asleep, 
 and I cannot stir myself to plead with God. Oh, that I 
 coidd come out of my closet saying, ^ Vici ! Vici ! ' — ' 1 have 
 evercome, I have overcome ; ' but, alas ! instead thereof 
 I groan in vain, and come away unrelieved. I have 
 been half dead, cold, and stolid, and I cannot hope that 
 I have prevailed with God in prayer.'^ Whenever you 
 are in this condition, fly to the blood of the Lamb as your 
 chief remedy. When you plead this master argument 
 you will arouse yourself, and you will prevail with God. 
 You will feel rest in pleading it, and a sweet assurance 
 of success at the mercy-seat. Try the method at once. 
 This is the way in which you should use this plea. Say, 
 '^ My God, I am utterly unworthy, and I own it ; but, I 
 beseech thee, hear me for the honor of thy dear Son. By 
 his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by 
 his precious death and burial, I beseech thee hear me ! O 
 Lord, let the blood of thine Only-begotten prevail with 
 thee ! Canst thou put aside his groans, his tears, his 
 death, when they speak on my behalf? " If you can 
 thus come to pleading terms with God upon this ground, 
 you must and will prevail. Jesus must be heard in 
 heaven. The voice of his blood is eloquent with God. 
 If you plead the atoning sacrifice, you must overcome 
 through the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 Thus have I spoken of overcoming in the heavenlies ; 
 but I shall have to show you how you must contend 
 against the evil one in a lower sphere, even on this 
 earth. You must first overcome in the heavenly places 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 315 
 
 before tlie throne 5 and when you have been thus tri- 
 umphant with God in prayer, you will have grace to go 
 forth to service and to defeat evil among your fellow- 
 men. How often have I personally found that the bat- 
 tle must first be fought above ! We must ove/come in 
 order to service. Many a score of times of late I should 
 not have ventured into this pidpit had it not been for 
 power at the mercy-seat. Those wdio know the burden 
 of the Lord are often bowed down, and woidd not be 
 able to bear up at all were it not for having in secret 
 battled with their enemy and won the day. I have 
 been bowed down before the Lord, and in his presence 
 I have pleaded the precious blood as the reason for ob- 
 taining help, and the help has been given. Faith, hav- 
 ing once made sure that Jesus is hers, helps herself out 
 of the treasury of God to all that she needs. Satan 
 would deny her, but in the power of the blood she takes 
 possession of covenant blessings. You say to yourself, 
 " I am weak, but in the Lord, my God, there is power : 
 I take it to myself. I am hard and cold, but here is 
 tenderness and warmth, and I appropriate it. It pleas- 
 ed the Father that in Jesus should all fulness dwell, and 
 by virtue of his precious blood, I take out of that fulness 
 what I need, and then with help thus obtained I meet 
 the enemy and overcome him." Satan would hinder 
 our getting supplies of grace wherewith to overcome 
 him ; but with the blood-mark on our foot we can go 
 anywhere ; with the blood-mark on our hand we dare 
 take anything. Having access with confidence, we also 
 take with freedom whatsoever we need, and thus w^e are 
 provided against all necessities, and armed against all 
 assaults through the atoning sacrifice. This is the foun- 
 tain of supply, and the shield of security : this, indeed. 
 
310 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 is the channel through which we receive strength for 
 victory. 
 
 We overcome the great enemy by laying liold upon 
 the cdl-sufficiency of God, when we really feel the power 
 of the precious blood of Christ. Thus being victorious 
 in the heavenlieSj we come cIo^\ti to the pulpit or to the 
 Sunday-school class made strong in the Lord and in the 
 power of his might. Having overcome Satan at the 
 throne of grace, we see him like lightning fall from heav- 
 en, even before our feeble instrumentality. We speak, 
 and God speaks with us ; we long for souls, and God's 
 great heart is yearning with us. We importune men 
 to come, and the Lord also pleads with them to come, so 
 that they no longer resist. Spiritual power of a holy 
 kind rests upon us to overcome the spiritual power of an 
 evil kind which is exerted by Satan, the world, and the 
 flesh. The Lord scatters the pov\'er of the enemy, and 
 breaks the spell which holds men captive. Through the 
 blood of the Lamb we become masters of the situation, 
 and the weakest among us is able to work great won- 
 ders. Coming forth to the service of God in the power 
 of our victory in heaven, gained by ]3leading the blood of 
 the Lamb, we march on conquering and to conquer, and 
 no power of the enemy is able to stand against us. 
 
 It is time that I now showed you how this same fight 
 is carried on on earth. Amongst men in these lower 
 places of conflict saints overcome through the blood of 
 the Lamb hy their testimony to that Mood. Every believ- 
 er is to bear witness to the atoning sacrifice and its pow- 
 er to save. He is to tell out the doctrine ; he is to em- 
 phasize it by earnest faith in it ; and he is to support it 
 and prove it by his experience of the efl'ect of it. You 
 cannot aU speak from the pulpit, but you can aU sjoeak 
 
TIJE CONQUERING WEAPON. 317 
 
 for Jesus as opportimitv is ^'ivcn you. Our main bus- 
 iness is to bear witness with the blood in the power of 
 the Spirit. To this point we can all testify. You can 
 not go into all manner of deep doctrines or curious 
 points, but you can tell to all those round about you 
 that " There is life in a look at the Crucified One." 
 You can bear witness to the power of the blood of Jesus 
 in your own soul. If you do this, you will overcome men 
 in many ways. First, you will arouse them out of apathy. 
 This age is more indifferent to true religion than almost 
 any other. It is alive enough to error, but to the old 
 faith it turns a deaf ear. Yet I have noticed persons 
 captivated by the truth of substitution who would not 
 listen to anything else. If any discourse can hold men, 
 as the Ancient Mariner detained the wedding guest, it is 
 the story of divine love, incarnate in the person of Jesus, 
 bleeding and dying for guilty men. Try that story 
 when attention flags. It has a fascination about it. 
 The marvellous history of the Son of God, who loved 
 his enemies, and died for them — this will arrest them. 
 The history of the Holy One who stood in the sinners' 
 place, and was in consequence put to shame, and agony, 
 and death — this will touch them. The sight of the 
 bleeding Saviour overcomes obduracy and careless- 
 ness. 
 
 The doctrine of the blood of the Lamb prevents or 
 scatters error, I do not think that by reasoning we 
 often confute error to any practical purpose ; we may 
 confute it rhetorically and doctrinally, but men still 
 stick to it. But the doctrine of the precious blood, 
 when it once gets into the heart, drives error out of it, 
 and sets up the throne of truth. You cannot be cling- 
 ing to an atoning sacrifice, and still delight in modern 
 
318 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 heresies. Those who deny inspiration are sure to get 
 ricl of the vicarious atonement^ because it will not allow 
 their errors. Let us go on proclaiming the doctrine of 
 the great sacrifice^ and this will kill the vipers of heresy. 
 Let us uplift the cross, and never mind what other peo- 
 ple say. Perhaps we have taken too much notice of 
 them already. Let the dogs bark, it is their nature to. 
 Go on preaching Christ crucified. God forbid that I 
 should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ ! 
 
 We also overcome men in this way, by softening rc- 
 heUioits hearts. Men stand out against the law of God, 
 and defy the vengeance of God ; but the love of God in 
 Christ Jesus disarms them. The Holy Spirit causes 
 men to yield through the softening influence of the cross. 
 A bleeding Saviour makes men throw down their weap- 
 ons of rebellion. ^' If he loves me so," they say, ^^ I can- 
 not do other than love him in return." We overcome 
 men's obduracy by the blood, shed for many for the re- 
 mission of sins. 
 
 How wonderfully this same blood of the Lamb over- 
 comes despair. Have you never seen a man shut up in 
 the iron cage ? It has been my painfid duty to talk 
 with several of such prisoners. I have seen the captive 
 shake the iron bars, but he could not break them, or 
 break from them. He has implored us to set him free 
 by some means ; but we have been powerless. Glory 
 be to God, the blood is a universal solvent, and it has 
 dissolved the iron bars of despair, until the poor captive 
 conscience has been able to escape. How sweet for the 
 desponding to sing — 
 
 "I do believe, T will believe, 
 That Jesus died for me I " 
 
THE COXQUEIUXG IVEAFON. 319 
 
 Believing tliat^ all doubts, and fears, and despairs fly 
 away, and the man is at ease. 
 
 There is nothing, indeed, dear friends, which the 
 blood of the Lamb will not overcome ; for see how it over- 
 comes vicey and every form of sin. The world is foid Avith 
 evil, like a stable which has long been the hiir of 
 filthy creatures. Y/hat can cleanse it ? What but this 
 matchless stream ? Satan makes sin seem pleasurable, 
 but the cross reveals its bitterness. If Jesus died 
 because of sin, men begin to see that sin must be a mur- 
 derous thing. Even when sin was but imputed to the 
 Saviour, it made him pour out his soul unto death ; it 
 must, then, be a hideous evil to those who are actually 
 and personally guilty of it. If God's rod made Christ 
 sweat great drops of blood, what will his axe do when he 
 executes the capital sentence upon impenitent men ! 
 Yes, we overcome the deadly sweetness and destructive 
 pleasurableness of sin by the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 This blood overcomes tJie natural lethargij of men 
 toivard obedience; it stimuJates them to holiness. If any- 
 thing can make a man holy it is a firm faith in the aton- 
 ino- sacrifice. "When a man knows that Jesus died for 
 
 o 
 
 him, he feels that he is not his own, but bought with a 
 price, and therefore he must live unto him that died for 
 him and rose again. In the atonement I see a motive 
 equal to the greatest heroism ; yes, a motive which will 
 stimulate to perfect holiness. What manner of persons 
 ought we to be for whom such a sacrifice has been pre- 
 sented ! Xow are we quickened into intensity of zeal 
 and devotion. See, dear brothers, how to use the blood 
 of the Lamb in this lower sphere while contending with 
 evil among men. But I must close with this. It is not 
 merely by testimony that we use this potent truth. We 
 
320 THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, 
 
 must support that testimony hy our zeal and energy, AVe 
 need concentrated^ consecrated energy; for it is written, 
 ^' They loved not their lives unto the death." We shall 
 not overcome Satan if we are fine gentlemen, fond oi 
 ease and honor. As long as Christian people must needs 
 enjoy the world, the devil will suffer little at their hands. 
 They that overcame the world in the old days were hum- 
 Lie men and women, generally poor, always despised, who 
 were never ashamed of Christ, who only lived to tell of 
 his love, and died by tens of thousands rather than cease 
 to bear testimony to the blood of the Lamb. They over- 
 came by their heroism ; their intense devotion to the 
 cause secured the victory. Their lives to them were as 
 nothing when compared with the honor of their Lord. 
 
 Brethren, if we are to Avin great victories we must 
 have greater courage. Some of you hardly dare speak 
 about the blood of Christ in any but the most godly 
 company ; and scarcely there. You are very retiring. 
 You love yourselves too much to get into trouble through 
 your religion. Surely you cannot be of that nobie 
 band that love not their own lives imto the death ! 
 Many dare not hold the old doctrine nowadays because 
 they would be thought narrow and bigoted, and this 
 would be too galling. They call us old fools. It is very 
 likely we are ; but Ave are not ashamed to be fools for 
 Christ's sake, and the truth's sake. We believe in the 
 blood of the Lamb, despite the discoveries of science. 
 We shall never give up the doctrine of atoning sacrifice 
 to please modern culture. What little reputation avb 
 have is as dear to us as another man's character is to 
 him ; but we will cheerfully let it go in this struggle for 
 the central truth of revelation. It aaqII be sweet to be 
 forgotten and lost sight of, or to be vilified and abused, 
 
THE CONQUERING WEAPON. 321 
 
 /f the old faith in the substitutionary sacrifice can be 
 kept alive. This much we are resolved on, we will be 
 true to our convictions concerning the sacrifice of our 
 Lord Jesus ; for if we give up this, what is there left ? 
 God will not do anything by us if we are false to the 
 cross. He uses the men who spare not their reputations 
 when these are called for in defence of truth. Oh to be 
 at a white heat ! Oh to flame with zeal for Jesus ! O 
 my brethren, hold you to the old faith, and say, 
 ^' As for the respect of men, I can readily forfeit it ; but 
 as for the truth of God, that I can never give up." This 
 is the day for men to be men ; for, alas ! the most are 
 soft, molluscous creatures. Now we need backbones as 
 well as heads. To believe the truth concerning the 
 Lamb of God, and truly to believe it, this is the essential 
 of an overcoming life. Oh for courage, constancy, fix- 
 edness, self-denial, willingness to be made nothing of for 
 Christ ! God give us to be faithful witnesses to the 
 blood of the Lamb in the midst of this ungodly world ! 
 
 As for those of you who are not saved, does not this 
 subject give you a hint ! Your hope lies in the blood 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 '* Come, guilty souls, and flee awaji 
 Like doves, to Jesus' wounds." 
 
 The atoning sacrifice, which is our glory, is your sal- 
 vation. Trust in him whom God has set forth to be the 
 propitiation for sin. Begin with this, and you are saved. 
 Everv D;ood and holy thing which goes with salvation 
 will follow after ; but now, this morning, I pray you ac- 
 cept a present salvation through the blood of the Lamb. 
 " He that believeth in him hath everlasting life," 
 
XT. 
 
 ALL AT IT. 
 
 Septemher 16, 1888. 
 
 " Tliercfore they tliat were scattered abroad went everywliere 
 preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, 
 and preached Christ nnto them," — Acts viii. 4, 5. 
 
 " Theu Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, 
 and i^reached unto him Jesus." — Acts viii. 35. 
 
 '^ They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
 preaching the word." God mtended that his church 
 shoukl be scattered over the workh There was a ten- 
 dency in our humanity at first to remain together ; hence 
 the first grey fathers endeavored to build a central tower, 
 around v/hich the race should rally. God confounded 
 their language, and scattered them from Babel, that they 
 might people all the world. Jerusalem was at first the 
 central point of Christianity. The church there was 
 highly favored with its twelve apostles and a multitude 
 of minor lights ; and the tendency would have been to 
 keep the centre strong. I have often heard the argu- 
 ment, ^^ Do not have too many out stations, keep up a 
 strong central force." But God's plan was that the holy 
 force should be distributed : the holy seed must be sown. 
 To do this the Lord made use of the rough hand of per- 
 secution. The disciples coidd not stay in Jerusalem : 
 Saul made them run for their lives, or, if they did not, 
 he shut them up in prison ; and prisons in those days 
 (322) 
 
ALL AT IT, 323 
 
 were so foul and noisome as to be the vestibules of the 
 grave. One went this way, and one went the other 
 way ; and the faithful were scattered. 
 
 In every church where there is really the power of 
 the Spirit of God, the Lord will cause it to be spread 
 abroad, more or less. He never means that a church 
 should be like a nut shut up in a shell ; nor like oint- 
 ment enclosed in a box. The precious perfume of the 
 gospel must be poured forth to sweeten the air. Just 
 now we have little of that form of persecution which 
 drives men from home. But godly people are scattered 
 through the necessity of earning a livelihood. Some- 
 times we regret that certain young men should have to go 
 to a distance ; but should we regret it? We lament that 
 certain families must migrate to the colonies. Does not 
 the Lord by this moans sow the good seed widely % It 
 is very pleasant to be comfortably settled under an edi- 
 fying ministry, but the Lord has need of some of his ser- 
 vants in places where there is no light. In many ways the 
 great Head of the church scatters his servants abroad ; 
 but they ought of themselves to scatter voluntarily. Every 
 Christian shoidd say, " Where can I do the most goodf 
 and if he can do more good anywhere beneath the sun 
 than in the land of his birth, he is bound to go there, if 
 he can. God will have us scattered f and if we will not 
 go afield willingly, he may use providential necessity 
 as the forcible means of our dispersion. 
 
 The Lord's design is not the scattering in itself, but 
 scattering for a purpose. He intended that, being scat- 
 tered, the saints of Jerusalem shoidd go everywhere 
 ])rcaching the word. Upon this I am going to speak at 
 this time. 
 
 I would call your attention to the translation in the 
 
324 ALL AT IT, 
 
 Ee vised Version, where Philip is said to have ^^ prO' 
 claimed " the word. The word proclaim is not quite so 
 subject to the modern sense which has spoiled the word 
 "preach." "Preach" has come to be a sort of official 
 term for delivering a set discoui'se ; whereas gospel 
 preaching is talking, discoursing, and telling out the gos- 
 pel in any way. We are to make known the word of 
 the Lord. 
 
 I. In handling my subject, I shall call your attention, 
 
 first, to THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE WORK OF EVANGEL- 
 IZING — of coui'se I mean its universality among believers. 
 " They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
 preaching the word." They ; that is, all the scattered. 
 There does not appear to have been any exception. You 
 thought it would have read, "Then the apostles went 
 everywhere preaching the word." They were just the 
 people who did not go at all ; for the twelve remained at 
 headquarters as yet ; but the rest went everywhere 
 preaching the word. Generals may have to stand still 
 in the centre of the battle to direct the forces ; but in 
 this battle all the common soldiers marched to the fight. 
 This was to be a soldiers' battle ; and of that sort all the 
 battles of the cross ought to be. 
 
 Observe then, first, that in this there ivere no profes- 
 sional distinctions. It is not said that the ministers, being 
 scattered abroad, went everywhere proclaiming the 
 word 5 but the whole of the scattered. Scarcely any- 
 thing has been more injurious to the kingdom of Christ 
 than the distinction between clergy and laity. No such 
 distinction was ever laid down by the Spirit of God. 
 " Ye are God's Meros " : all God's saints are God's in- 
 heritance; and we should regard ourselves as such. 
 " Ye are a royal priesthood." " He hath made us unto 
 
ALL AT IT. 325 
 
 our God kings and priests." As in heaven there is no 
 temple because it is all temple, so in the church of God 
 there is no priesthood because it is all priesthood. 
 
 We have among ourselves a distinction between min- 
 isters and others. But you are all to minister. There 
 are many ministries of one form and another 5 and 
 though God gives to his church apostles, teachers, pas- 
 tors, evangelists, and the like, yet not by way of setting 
 up a professional caste of men, who are to do the work 
 for God while others sit still. I have aforetime used the 
 following parable : — In olden times a certain host had con- 
 quered wherever they went forward in one mass. But it 
 came to pass that they thought themselves so exceeding 
 strong that they said, ^^Let not every man go to war. Let 
 us choose a few, and make this few into a select standing 
 army." They picked out their champions, and sent them 
 to the war. These continued the conflict with difficulty ; 
 many of them fell in the fight. No provinces were added 
 to the kingdom, and things were at a standstill. They 
 had followed a fatal policy. The true method was for the 
 whole of them to march to battle. This is the true and 
 only policy of Christianity — all Christian soldiers of the 
 cross, and all on active service. Every converted man is 
 to teach what he knows; all those who have drunk of the 
 living water are to become fountains out of which shall 
 flow rivers of living water. We shall never get back to 
 the grand old times of conquest until we get back to the 
 old method of ^^ all at it." In proportion as we come in 
 any one church, to individual service ; nobody dreaming 
 of doing his work by deputy, but each one serving God 
 for himself; in that proportion, under the blessing of 
 God, we shall come back to the old success. 
 
 Observe, next, that there ivere no professional exceptions. 
 
326 ALL AT IT. 
 
 Philip is mentioned as going down to Samaria to preach ; 
 but Philip was originally set apart to attend to the distribu- 
 tion of the alms of the church. It is good for every 
 man to attend to his own special office ; but where that 
 office ceases to be needful^ let him get to that work 
 which is common and constant. The time has come 
 w^hen there was no need for the deacon to sit in the ves- 
 try, for the poor people were all scattered. What does 
 the deacon do ? As the work to which he was appointed 
 has come to an end, he keeps to the work for which 
 every Christian is appointed, and he proclaims the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. No one of us, then, can be 
 exempted from the work of spreading the gospel because 
 we are engaged in some other work. Good as it is, 
 though it may be very intimately connected with the 
 kingdom of Christ, yet it does not exonerate us from the 
 work of endeavoring to bring sinners to Christ in some 
 way or other. Stephen, the deacon, began first to bear 
 testimony ; and when he died, Philip, the next on the 
 roll, stepped into his place. One soldier falls, and an- 
 other steps forward. All are to proclaim the word, and 
 no one is exempted by another form of service. Oh, 
 that the Lord's people everywhere would note this ! 
 
 Observe that there were no educational or literary ex- 
 ceptions. It is thought nowadays that a man must not 
 try to proclaim the gospel, unless he has had a good 
 education. To try and preach Christ, and yet to com- 
 mit grammatical blunders, is looked upon as a grave of- 
 fence. People are mightily offended at the idea of the 
 gospel being properly preached by an uneducated man. 
 This I believe to be a very injurious mistake. There is 
 nothing whatsoever in the whole compass of Scripture to 
 excuse any mouth from speaking for Jesus when the 
 
ALL AT IT. 327 
 
 iieart iS really acquainted with his salvation. We are 
 not all called to " preach/' in the new sense of the term, 
 but we are all called to make Jesus known if we know 
 him. Has the gospel ever been spread to any extent by 
 men of high literary power % Look through the whole 
 line of history, and see if it is so. Have the men of 
 splendid eloquence been remarkable for winning souls % 
 I could quote names that stand first in the roll of oratory, 
 which are Ioav down in the roll of soul winners. Those 
 whom God has most honored have been men who, what- 
 ever their gifts, have consecrated them to God; and 
 have earnestly declared the great truths of God's Word. 
 Men who have been terribly in earnest, and have faith- 
 fully described man's ruin by sin, and God's remedy of 
 grace — men who have warned sinners to escape from the 
 wrath to come by believing in the Lord Jesus — these 
 have been useful. If they had great gifts, they were no 
 detriment to them ; if they had few talents, this did not 
 disqualify them. It has pleased God to use the base 
 things of this world, and things that are despised, for the 
 accomplishment of his great purposes of love. Paul de- 
 clared that he proclaimed the gospel, ^^ not with w' isdom 
 of words." Pie feared what m.ight happen if he used 
 worldly rhetoric, and therefore he refused the wisdom of 
 words. We have need to do so now with emphasis. 
 Let us trust in the divine energy of the Holy Ghost, and 
 speak the truth in reliance upon his might, whether we 
 can speak fluently with Apollos, or are slow of speech, 
 like Moses. I say, then, to you, my dear friend, who 
 unhappily may be lacking in education, do not therefore 
 stay your testimony to our Lord. Kescue the perishing. 
 What if you are not a great theologian ! If you under- 
 stand the plan of salvation you are sufficiently instructed 
 
328 ALL AT IT. 
 
 to be a good witness for your Lord. Oh, that the Holy 
 Spirit may make you such ! A smith can shoe a horse, 
 though he has never studied astronomy. He might be 
 none the worse smith if he were familiar with the stars j 
 but I fail to see that he would be much the better as a 
 smith. Warn men to escape from the wrath to come, 
 and believe in Jesus ; and you can do thi& just as well 
 though no science has puzzled you. 
 
 As there were no exceptions on account of educational 
 defects, so were there no exclusions on account of sex. 
 Men and women were to spread abroad the knowledge 
 of Jesus. We read that, '^ As for Saul, he made havoc 
 of the church, entering into every house, and haling men 
 and tvomen committed them to prison. Therefore they 
 that were scattered abroad " (and these must have been 
 men and ivomen) '' went everywhere preaching the 
 word." 
 
 There are many ways in which women can fit- 
 tingly proclaim the word of the Lord, and in some of 
 these they can proclaim it more efficiently than men. 
 There are minds that will be attracted by the ten- 
 der, plaintive, winning manner in which the sister in 
 Christ expresses hexself. A Christian mother ! What 
 a minister is she to her family ! A Christian woman in 
 single life — in the family circle, or even in domestic ser- 
 vice — ^what may she not accomplish, if her heart be 
 warm with love to her Saviour ! We cannot say to the 
 women, ^' Go home, there is nothing for you to do in the 
 service of the Lord.'' Far from it, we entreat Martha and 
 Mary, Lydia and Dorcas, and all the elect sisterhood, 
 young and old, rich and poor, to instruct others as God 
 instructs them. Young men and maidens, old men and 
 matrons, yes, and boys and girls who love the Lord, 
 
ALL AT LT. 329 
 
 should speak well of Jesus, and make known his salva- 
 tion- from day to day. 
 
 You see, dear friends, how the Lord gave to all his peo- 
 ple the holy work of making Jesus known to men. 
 How well they carried it out ! Within a hundred years 
 after the death of our Lord, his name had been made 
 known to all the known world. But I do not know how 
 many years it will take to make Christ known at the 
 rate of our present movement. A few men are set apart 
 for missionaries, and directed with complicated machinery, 
 and good people feel easy about the heathen. I find no 
 fault with what is done ; but my faidt is that we are not 
 doing a hundred times as much in ways more spontane- 
 ous. If the church of God should once wake up, it will 
 be as the sea when it returns to its strength after a long 
 ebb. The Lord send it — send it now ! But he will only 
 bless the world in his own way ; and one of his conditions 
 is that the whole church should move. We must come 
 back to the primitive custom : every Christian must be a 
 herald of the cross. 
 
 II. Secondly, having asked you to notice the universal- 
 ity of the work, will you please to notice the natural- 
 ness OF IT. That word " therefore," at the commence- 
 ment of the fourth verse, says a great deal to me. 
 ^' Therefore they that were scattered abroad went ever^^- 
 wlier.e preaching the word" — as if it followed as a sort of 
 natural consequence, that being scattered they went 
 everywhere preaching the word. Does not this show us 
 that they could not thinJc of folloiving any other course f 
 They that were scattered might have said, ^^ Clearly our 
 duty is to hold our tongues ; we have got into great 
 trouble at Jerusalem because we preached Christ. We 
 must now look to our own safetv, and the comfort of our 
 
330 ALL AT IT. 
 
 families ; and in these foreign countries we had bettei 
 live godly lives, and go to heaven on the sly, but we need 
 not again expose oui'selves to the dangers of persecu- 
 tion.'^ They did not thus argue. It is not said, 
 "' Therefore they that were scattered abroad slunk away, 
 and held their tongues." No, they never thought of 
 that. 
 
 We do not find that they even said, ^^ This gospel of 
 ours is evidently not in accord with the spirit of the age. 
 The Scribes and Pharisees all differ from us, and we 
 must endeavor to win them by altering our tone." They 
 did not dream of cutting off the angles of truth, nor of 
 inserting pleasant fragments of popular thought to please 
 the powers that be; but they set forth ^^ the word "in 
 its pure simplicity, and the cross of Christ, which is an 
 offence to so many. They never said, " The old gospel 
 did very well when Jesus was here \ but you see he has 
 gone J and circumstances alter cases, and alter gospels, 
 and we had better adapt our teaching to the period." 
 They did not so because of the fear of the Lord. They 
 did not endeavor to mend the gospel, but they went every- 
 where proclaiming it. They preached the word as they 
 received it ; they set forth the kingdom as their King 
 had revealed it. All, dear friends ! if you are true to 
 the Lord Jesus Christ you have to spread the gospel 
 somehow, and it must be the old, old gospel. You must 
 not dare to think of denying the light to those aromid 
 you. Would you leave men to perish for lack of knovvd- 
 edge % Dare you have their blood on your skirts % 
 
 These persecuted ones '^ went everywhere j)i'eaching 
 the word." Why was it so natural to them to do it ? 
 Their obligations pressed upon them. They each one of 
 them said, ^^ I have been saved, and I must see othera 
 
ALL AT IT. 331 
 
 saved. I am bound to tell of the blood of Jesus, and its 
 poAver toAvash away sin. The curses of the ages will fall 
 upon me, and the wails of lost souls will come up into 
 my ears as long as I exist, if 1 do not make known the 
 gospel.'^ Brethren, God's way of saving the unconvert- 
 ed is through his church ; and if the church neglects its 
 work, who is to do it % Our Lord means to bring in tho 
 rest of his chosen through those who are already called ; 
 but if these start aside and are untrue to their calling, 
 how is the work to be done ! I know the work is of 
 God alone ; still he uses instruments. If you do not tei] 
 the gospel, you are leaving your fellow-men to perish. 
 Yonder is the wreck, and you are not sending out the 
 life-boat ! Yonder are souls starving, and you give 
 them no bread ! Weil, if you are resolved to be thus in^ 
 human, at least know what you are doing. You that 
 are taking no share in this great work of spreading the 
 gospel are wilfully allowing men to go down to hell, and 
 their blood will be required at your hands. These first 
 believers dared not incur such guilt, and therefore away 
 they went preaching the word. 
 
 I think, too, that iheir tvonderment compelled them. 
 They had seen the man Christ Jesus, and they had com- 
 muned with him. They had beheld his Godhead in his 
 miracles, and they had adored. They had seen him nailod 
 to the cross ; they had many of them beheld him alive 
 after he was risen from the dead, and they coidd not 
 help telling out so great a marvel. Here was God come 
 down among men. Here was the Redeemer of men suf- 
 fering to the death to rescue men from eternal ruin ; and 
 they could not help telling abroad this miracle of love. 
 They were like children, who, when they hear a bit of 
 startling news, must tell it. Good men that they v/ere, 
 
332 ALL AT LT. 
 
 their wonderment and their joy were equal, and they could 
 not hold their peace. When ancient believers were shut 
 up in prison, they began to sing the gospel until the pris- 
 oners heard them. They had something to sing about, 
 and they must sing it. If they took them out of the 
 temple by force^behold, the moment the prison doors 
 were opened, they were fomid standing in the same 
 place, telling the same story. If you and I felt that 
 blessed amazement which we ought to feel when we think 
 of free grace and dying love, silence would be impos- 
 sible. 
 
 The principal reason for their constant proclamation 
 of Jesus was, that tliey were in a fine state of spiritual 
 health, 'They went everywhere preaching the word 
 when scattered abroad, because they had told it out 
 when at home. You will never make a missionary of 
 the person who does no good at home. If you do not 
 seek souls in your own street, you will not do so in Ilin- 
 dostan. If you are of no use in Whitechapel, you will 
 be of no use on the Congo. He that will not serve the 
 Lord in the Sunday-school at home, will not win children 
 to Christ in China. Distance lends no real enchantment 
 to Christian service. You who do nothing now, are not 
 fit for the war, for you are in sad health. The Lord 
 give you spiritual health and vigor, and then you v»dll 
 want no pressing, but you will cry at once, ^' Here am 
 I; send me ! " my friends, go at once to your families, 
 to your workshops, and declare the name of Jesus ! Oh, 
 for more spiritual life ! This is the root of the matter. 
 If we were living more fully in the power of the Holy 
 Spirit, our witness would be borne without constraint : 
 it woidd be as natural to us to spread the gospel as to 
 breathe. We should be under holy impulses whicb 
 
ALL AT IT. 333 
 
 would demand our Avitness-bcaring ; for if we could not 
 speak the word of the Lord, it would be as fire in our 
 bones; Ave should become weary with withholding. Lord, 
 give us this spiritual life more and more ! 
 
 Surely also the times must have urged them omvardy to 
 go with hurried steps as messengers for Christ ; for Je- 
 tt'usalem was soon to be destroyed. This made them 
 quick in their movements, that the last warning might 
 come to all their countrymen. You know what the 
 times are now ! I am no prophet ; but as we read, 
 week by week, the appalling crimes that are chronicled 
 by the press, if ever Christian men should be in earnest, 
 they should be in earnest noAV. All the signs of the times 
 arouse us to look for the coming of our Lord. No token 
 tend^ to quiet us, but all to aAvaken us. Yv^e must work 
 at double quick rate ; and if any one among us has done 
 nothing at all, it is time for him, as a good servant, to 
 gird up his loins, to work and to Avatch, ^^ for in such an 
 hour as he thinks not the Son of man cometh." I liaA^e 
 been praying all the AAdiile that I liaA^e been speaking this 
 morning ; yes, praying more than preaching, that God 
 may distinctly lay his hand on every brother and sister 
 in this place, and constrain you to proclaim this gospel 
 of Jesus in every place to Avhicli you can go. 
 
 III. Thirdly, carefully notice THE JOYFULXESS OF 
 THIS AVOKK. ^' They were scattered abroad " ; but as 
 ^^ they went CA^eryAAdiere preaching the word,'' the ca- 
 lamity became a blessing. Their work took the sting 
 out of their banishment. The houscAvife had to leaA^e her 
 comfortable little home, and tramp to a strange country : 
 the man of business had to sell his stock, and quit 
 his position. Those Avere very hard times beyond 
 question. Fancy that happening to us ! What distress 
 
334 ALL AT IT, 
 
 would spread over tliis congregation if you had to run 
 for your lives I But then they said to themselves, " It 
 is aU right ; for as we live to spread abroad the knowl- 
 edge of JesuS; we shall do this wherever we go. Our 
 flight shall be a mission." This changed the aspect of 
 affairs. By the persecution they received express march- 
 ing orders to quit home and take to foreign servicCo 
 Was not this a comfort % For myself, I always like to 
 know the Lord's will clearly. Suspense kills me. K I 
 have any question about what my course should be, I. 
 am worried more than I can tell. Even distress is a re- 
 lief vv^hen it shuts you up to one course. Persecution 
 became both a direction as to their course and an occa- 
 sion for getting to work. As they must go elsewhere, 
 they would talk of salvation by faith in Jesus to the peo- 
 ple among whom they might be called to sojourn, and so 
 tell out the st.ory of redemption to people who were totally 
 ignorant thereof. This made them feel it was a good 
 thing after all that they were scattered abroad. Dear 
 friends, if your heart is set on a purpose, and there comes 
 a crash which spoils your comfort, you hardly lament it 
 if it subserves your chief design in life. If you are pos- 
 sessed \vith the idea that you, as a Christian, must live 
 only to serve Christ, and to win souls, then anything 
 which happens, however painful, will be Avelcomed if it 
 places you in a better position for your holy life-work. 
 That is the better place in which you can serve the 
 Lord better. So that the tried people of God at Jeru- 
 salem must have felt devoutly comforted as they saw 
 that God was helping them to answer the great purpose 
 of their lives, and was pushing them forward by pushing 
 them out. 
 
 Their exile would be a help in gaining attention j for 
 
ALL AT IT. 335 
 
 when tlicy came to a place, the people would inquire, 
 ^^ Why arc these Jews coining here % " And the answer 
 would be, that they had been forced from home because 
 tliey believed in one Jesus, who was called Christ, who had 
 died for men, so that by faith in him they might be 
 saved. For love of this Saviour they had been driven 
 from their native land. The people may not have 
 thought them wise, but doubtless they would 1 e inter- 
 ested in their story, and thus made aware of their faith. 
 Curiosity would ask of yonder Jewess, '' How came you 
 to be here, Naomi," And Naomi would tell the story of 
 the crucified Saviour. ^' And you, Benjamin, what 
 drove you from Palestine ? " He, too, would have to 
 narrate the life and death of the Nazarene, and so Jesus 
 woidd be made known. Persecution thus opened men's 
 minds to inquire, and served the purpose of advertising 
 tlie gospel. Thus the Lord set up pulpits for his ser- 
 vants wherever they went, and provided congregations 
 for them. What Satan intended for evil the Lord turned 
 for good. What better could have happened than for all 
 these holy men and women to be driven abroad to dis- 
 seminate the ever blessed word I This, as they thought 
 of it, made them bear their exile without repining. An 
 all-absorbing purpose turned sorrow into joy. I cannot 
 conceive of anything so calculated to reconcile them to 
 their banishment as the prospect of glorifying God the 
 more. The martyr spirit is just the spirit of witness- 
 bearing overcoming all love of self and even care for 
 life. 
 
 Moreover, as they told the story, and it made their 
 own hearts gloAV with holy tiro, their spirits were refreshed 
 and their souls made glad. Jesus seems still to be near 
 them : yes, he was with them. They found the surest 
 
336 ^LL AT IT, 
 
 remedy for their grief in his sacred fellowship : nay, the 
 grief itself became gladness. If you want to get rid of 
 low spirits, preach the gospel. To take Christ's yoke is 
 to find rest unto your soids. If you are in the very dust 
 go and teU a weary one of salvation by Jesus : you will 
 thus raise yourself, even if your message be rejected. 
 Here is a balm, which, , while it heals the wound to 
 which it is applied, also perfumes the hand which applies 
 it. The exiles were made to feel at home when they 
 saw God working with them in Greece and Rome, even 
 as he had done in Jerusalem. 
 
 I may add that, if they were led to see that they were 
 now made like their Lord in suffering they would 
 have comfort in that fact> If they now remembered 
 what he said concerning the grain of wheat, which must 
 be cast into the ground and die, or it could not bring 
 forth fruit, they would now feel that they were having 
 fellowship with him in his sufferings. This was enough 
 to make them a happy body of men and women. They 
 were scattered, but not saddened. Theirs was not the 
 scattering of a retreat, but of an advance all along the 
 line ; and so it yielded them joy, and not distress. I 
 entreat you, try active service as a solan ce for sorrow. 
 
 ly. Notice, fourthly, the supee3IACY of this work. 
 ^^ They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
 preaching the word." I suppose they did something for 
 a living. I do not know what their handicrafts might 
 be ; but each one had a calling, and followed it indus- 
 triously. We are not told what they did. It is inci- 
 dentally mentioned, further on in history, that the apos- 
 tle Paul made tents : but you never read anywhere in 
 the Bible that Paul went everywhere tent making. He 
 did make tents, but that was not his vocation ; his busi- 
 
ALL AT IT. 337 
 
 ncss was to save souls. He made tents, in order tliat he 
 miglit not be chargeable to the people ; but winnmg 
 souls was Paul's business. The scattered did not go 
 abroad for the purpose of trade. They did not say, 
 ^' We will go to such a place, because there we can 
 make the best profits " ; but they chose their way with 
 the one purpose of spreading the gospel. To preach 
 Christ was their one vocation which, like Aaron's rod, 
 swallowed up all the other rods. Proclaiming Christ was 
 their one pui'pose, passion, and profession : all else might 
 go. I wonder how many Christian people here could 
 have their biographies condensed into this line, " He 
 lived to make Christ known." Might it not be said of 
 one, he lived to open a shop, and then to open a second? 
 or of another, he lived to save a good deal of money, and 
 take shares in limited liability companies % or of a third, 
 he lived to paint a great picture I or of a fourth, he was 
 best known for his genial hospitality % Of many a min- 
 ister it might be said — he lived to preach splendid ser- 
 mons, and to gain credit for fine oratory. What of all 
 these % If it can be said of a man, '^ He lived to glorify 
 Christ,'^ then his life is a life. Every Christian man 
 ought so to live. Oh that my memorial might be: " He 
 preached Christ crucified '' ! You fall short of your de- 
 sign in life if Jesus is not as much your object as he is 
 your confidence. Make your tents, sell you goods, paint 
 your pictures if you will; but do all this in order that you 
 may fulfil your higher and truer life, for which you were 
 bought with blood, and quickened by the Spirit of God. 
 We note the supremacy of this work, not only because 
 it swallowed up all their trades, but because it ohliterated 
 all trace of caste. See Philip. He is a Jew, but he goes 
 to Samaria. ^^ Philip, what made you go to Samaria? 
 
338 ALL AT IT. 
 
 Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Brethren, 
 when it comes to preaching Christ, we have dealings 
 with everybody — Jews, Turks, infidels, cannibals. The 
 Jew goes to Samaria for Christ, and the Samaritans ac- 
 cept the Messiah of the Jews. Anon Philip is called 
 down south to journey along a desert way, and there he 
 meets an Ethiopian, probably a black man. Ah well ! 
 white men were not particularly anxious for the company 
 of Ethiopians, but Philip gets up into- his chariot, and 
 rides with him. Black and white make a fine mixture 
 when the book of the prophet Isaiah lies between 
 them. 
 
 What a beai\tifid picture this would make ! Philip 
 and the -eunuch riding together reading of the Lord 
 Jesus in the Hebrew prophets. All the paltry difi'er- 
 ences of sect, politics, nationalities and races go to the 
 winds as soon as we are possessed with a desire to win 
 souls. " Oh, but they are so dirty ! " Let us show 
 them how they can be cleansed. ^^ But the slum is so 
 foul ! " Yet for the love of Jesus we will enter it to 
 carry his saving health among the people. 
 
 What is more, we shall not only be willing to work for 
 the poor and fallen, but we shall ivorlz ivitli tJiem. You, 
 a person of taste and culture, will join hands with the 
 illiterate worker, and while you are half amused at his 
 blunders, you will be charmed by his zeal. Y^ou will 
 not despise him, but you may even feel humbled as you 
 see how, with less knoAvledge than yourself, he often 
 shows more spiritual wisdom and energy. You will take 
 a brotherly pride in such a man. Caste is gone when 
 Christ is come. Oh, that we might feel the supremacy 
 of our holy service more and more ! Christ must be 
 made known 5 sinners must be saved; heaven must be 
 
ALL AT IT. 
 
 339 
 
 filled ; and before these necessities everything else must 
 be as nothing. Are you not of this mind ? 
 
 See, also, the supremacy of their purpose, in the fact 
 that tlicy ivere willing to be at the hccJc and call of the Holy 
 Spirit, and to go anywhere. Pliilip was getting on 
 splendidly at Samaria, and the church grew under his 
 care. Surely he ought to stop there, he is evidently the 
 man for the place ! But he does not stop there. Philip 
 has a call, not to a larger church, but to the road 
 througli the desert, and away he goes to talk to one per- 
 son. The genuine soul-winner has his inward directions, 
 and he follows the guidance of the Spirit cf God. Here, 
 there, anywhere, everywhere he goes, where the hope of 
 conversions tempts him. When a sportsman goes out 
 after game, he does not know which way he will go, 
 neither does he bind himself in that matter. If he is 
 deer-stalking, he may have to go up the mountain side, 
 or down the glen, across the burn, or away among the 
 heather. Where his sport leads him, he follows ; and 
 so it is with the genuine soul- winner ; he leaves himself 
 free to follow his one object. He does not know where 
 he is going, but he does know what he is going after. 
 He lays himself out for the winning of souls for Jesus. 
 On the railway he speaks to any one who happens to be 
 put in the same carriage ; or in the shop he looks out 
 f u- opportunities to impress a customer. He sows beside 
 all waters, and in all soils. He carries his gun at half- 
 cock, ready to take aim at once. That is the man whom 
 God is likely to bless. 
 
 Note yet one thing more : the supremacy of this work 
 was seen in the fact that these good people tvere quite ivill- 
 ing to subside , Philip has done a great work at Samaria, 
 but he sends for the apostles Peter and John to come 
 
340 ALL A T IT. 
 
 doAYii from Jerusalem. Some few earnest workers Lave 
 been impatient of discipline, but the best of tliem are the 
 most orderly people in the world. Some brethren are 
 just as ready to obey church authority as if they were 
 the least of all saints, instead of being the most success- 
 ful of the brotherhood. It is not well when our Philips 
 are too big to work in connection with the mother-church. 
 I have never found them so. The idle are troublesome ; 
 the laborious are loving. Philip turns into nobody just 
 as readily as before he had been everybody. Peter and 
 John come upon the scene, and seem, as it were, to run 
 away with his laurels ; but Philip makes no complaint, 
 for in fact there were no laurels for any of them ; all the 
 glory was given to Jesus. Whether it were Philip, or 
 Peter, or John, the Lord alone was magnified. Blessed 
 is that man who knows how to subside. Oh, that there 
 were thousands of workers of this kind Avilling to come 
 to the front, and lead the way, and just as willing to step 
 aside, if thereby the cause might advance ! 
 
 V. Thus have I brought this matter before you, and 
 I shall now beg you to observe the speciality of this 
 WORK. I have shown you its universality, its natural- 
 ness, its joyfidness, and its supremacy ; and now we 
 will dwell upon its speciality. Philip is set before us as 
 a specimen of those who were scattered abroad. A 
 sample shows the whole. What did Philip make prom- 
 inent % " Philip went down to the city of Samaria, 
 and preached Christ unto them." That is all he had to 
 preach, he preached the Messiah, the Anointed One, 
 the Christ. But when Philip had to instruct an educated 
 nobleman, did he dwell on the same subject as that which 
 he brought before common Samaritans 1 Eead the 
 thirty-fifth verse. ^' Then Philip opened his mouth and 
 
ALL AT IT. 341 
 
 began at the same scripture, and preached unto him 
 JesiisJ^ liere we have the same subject as before : to the 
 Samaritans Christ, to the Ethiopian Jesus. See, then, 
 what we have to do. We have to tell over and over 
 again what we know so well, that God was in Christ re- 
 conciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- 
 passes unto them. The Saviour lived here a life of holy 
 obedience, and then died, ^^ the just for the unjust, to 
 bring us to God." We preach that this Jesus made 
 atonement for sin, so that whosoever belie veth in him 
 hath eternal life, and shall never come into condemna- 
 tion. We declare that Jesus rose again, and that this 
 new life he bestows on those who trust him ; that he has 
 gone into heaven to take possession of the inheritance 
 for his people, and to plead for them before the throne ; 
 and that those who are in him shall one day be with him 
 and behold his glory. In a word, we preach Jesns 
 as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world. 
 
 This is the old, old story. It is a very simple story, 
 but the telling of it will save the people. Keep to that 
 gospel. Many have lost faith in it. It is hoped that 
 people will now be saved by new socialistic arrange- 
 ments, by moral precepts, by amusements, by societies, 
 and what not. Let the church of God be glad when 
 anytliing is done which helps temperance, purity, free- 
 dom, and so forth ; but her one business is to preach 
 Christ. Stick to this, my brethren. If all the shoe- 
 makers in London were to take to making bracelets for 
 the Queen, she would be badly decorated ; but where 
 should we be ? Let the cobblers stick to their lasts. 
 You that are sent to preach Christ, if you take to doing 
 something else, and become philosophical, socialistic, 
 
342 ALL A T IT. 
 
 philanthropic, and all that, what is to become of the spir- 
 itual nature of men % Keep you to your work. Go and 
 preach Christ to the people. I have not lost faith in the 
 old gospel. No ; my confidence in it grows as I see the 
 speedy failure of all the quackeries of succeeding years. 
 The methods of the modern school are a bottle of smoke. 
 Christ crucified is the only remedy for sin. Keep to the 
 gospel of ^^ believe and live." ^^ Whosoever belie veth in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ hath everlasting life." If this 
 gospel does not uplift the race, nothing will. This is 
 the only medicine which the great Physician has given 
 to us to administer to sin-sick souls. Keep to it. 
 ^^ There is none other name under heaven given among 
 men whereby we must be saved." We want no ad- 
 vance, we dream of no improvement upon the gospel. 
 
 In closing, I would call your attention to two little 
 words in the fifth verse. "• Philip went down to the 
 city of Samaria, and preached Christ," allow me to put 
 the next two words in capitals — '•'' unto them." Read 
 the thirty-fifth verse. ^^ Philip opened his mouth, and 
 began at the same scripture, and preached unto him 
 Jesus." 
 
 Somebody said to Mr. Moody — '•'• How are we 
 to get at the masses ? " He replied, '^ Go for them." 
 The expression is forcible, ^^ Go for them." Go for them 
 in the name of Christ. Go right at them. Do not only 
 preach Christ, but preach Christ %mto tliem. Preach 
 Jesus to the individual man. It is the work of the 
 church of God, as much as lieth in us to bring Christ 
 home to the people's knowledge, thought, belief, con- 
 science and heart. Preach it unto them. If I stand here 
 and preach before you, wdiat is the good of it ? but if I 
 preach unto you, there is practical use in it. When you 
 
ALL AT IT. 343 
 
 go out of this place, I pray you to look out your man or 
 your woman, and speak unto him or unto her Jesus the 
 Christ. Come to close dealings. I fear that some of 
 you fathers have not yet prayed with your boys, and 
 some of you mothers have not yet taken your girls apart 
 and talked with them about eternal things. Have you ? 
 You say, ^^ I am so retiring.'^ Then retire and pray ; 
 but love your children enough to speak to them of Jesus. 
 You sisters, have you spoken to your brothers about 
 Jesus ? Have some of you wives yet spoken to your 
 ungodly husbands about tlie Christ % This is the point. 
 If we wid each one speak for our Lord, we shall see 
 results that will perfectly astound us. If, during the 
 next few months, this church woidd fully wake up, and 
 if every member would feel, ^^ I have something to do, 
 and I must do it," we should then see a glorious harvest. 
 When my brethren Fullerton and Smith hold special 
 services in this place, as they will do in the beginning of 
 Kovember, yo i will help to get in the people and to 
 crowd the place ; and when they preach, you will pray 
 and watch, and look up the inquirers, and we shall have 
 great times. If you will go after people at their houses, 
 and give them your own personal testimony in loving 
 earnestness, the Holy Spirit will bless you. Oh, may 
 God arouse us to this! I say again, I have not preached 
 this morning half so much as I have prayed. For every 
 word that I have spoken I have prayed two words 
 silently to God. Oh, that the Lord would hear me, and 
 bless us in an unusual degree ! If the Lord will fill you 
 with his Spirit, the opening of yonder front doors and 
 your going out will be like the bursting of a bomb-shell 
 in London. If you are all in earnest, your existence will 
 1)0 like the shining of the sun in the heavens. Oh, how 
 
314 ^^^- ^'^ ^^• 
 
 I long that God may be glorified ! For his truth's sake 
 I have been ^^ abundantly filled with reproach"; but I 
 would gladly accept a sevenfold baptism of it so that his 
 kingdom would come. May the Lord make bare his 
 holy arm in the eyes of all the people ! Amen^ and 
 Amen, 
 
XVI. 
 
 NO COMPEOMISEo 
 
 October 7, 1888. 
 
 "And tlie servant said unto him, Peradventure tLe woman will 
 not 1)0 willing to follow me unto this laud : must I needs bring tLy 
 sou agaiu unto tlie land from whence thou camest ? And Abraham 
 said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither 
 again. The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's 
 house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, 
 and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this 
 land ; he shall see and his angel before thee, and thou shalt take 
 a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be 
 willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath : 
 only bring not my sou thither again."— Genesis xsiv. 5 — 8. 
 
 Genesis is botli the book of beginnings and tlie book of 
 dispensations. You know what use Paul makes of Sarah 
 and Hagar, of Esau and Jacob, and the like. Genesis 
 is, all through, a book instructing the reader in the dis- 
 pensations of God towards man. Paul saith, in a cer- 
 tain place, '' which things are an allegory,'' by which he 
 did not mean that they were not literal facts, but that, 
 being literal facts, they might also be used instructively 
 as an allegory. So may I say of this chapter. It re- 
 cords what actually was said and done f but at the same 
 time, it bears within it allegorical instruction w^itli re- 
 gard to heavenly things. The true minister of Christ 
 is like this Eleazar of Damascus ; he is sent to find a 
 wife for his Master's Son. His great desire is, that 
 
 (345) 
 
346 NO COMPROMISE. 
 
 many shall be presented unto Christ in the day of his 
 appearing^ as the bride, the Lamb's wife. 
 
 The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started, 
 communed with his master ; and this is a lesson to us, 
 who go on our Lord's errands. Let us, before we en- 
 gage in actual service, see the Master's face, talk with 
 him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to our 
 minds. Before we get to work, let us know what we 
 are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from 
 our Lord's own moutti what he expects us to do, and 
 how far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you, 
 my fellow-servants, never to go forth to plead with men 
 for God until you have first pleaded with God for men. 
 Do not attempt to deliver a message which you have 
 not first of all yourself received by his Holy Spirit. 
 Come out of the chamber of fellowship with God into the 
 pulpit of ministry among men, and there will be a fresh- 
 ness and a power about you which none shall be able to 
 resist. Abraham's servant spoke and acted as one who 
 felt bound to do exactly what his master bade him, and 
 to say what his master told him ; hence his one anxiety 
 was to kiiow the essence and measure of his commission. 
 During his converse with his master he mentioned one 
 little point about which there might be a hitch ; and his 
 master soon removed the difficulty from his mind. It 
 is about that hitch, which has occurred lately on a very 
 large scale, and has upset a good many of my Master's 
 servants, that I am going to speak this morning : may 
 God grant that it may be to the benefit of his church at 
 large ! 
 
 I. Beginning our sermon, we will ask you, first, to 
 
 THINK OF THE SERVANT'S JOYFUL BUT WEIGHTY ERRAND. 
 
 It was a joyful errand : the bells of marriage were ring- 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 347 
 
 ing around him. The marriage of the heir should be a 
 joyful event. It was an lionorable thing for the servant 
 to be entrusted with the finding of a wife for his master's 
 son. Yet it was every way a most responsible business, 
 by no means easy of accouiplishment. Bhmders might 
 very readily occur before he was aware of it ; and he 
 needed to have all his wits about him, and something 
 more than his wits, too, for so delicate a matter. He 
 had to journey far, over lands without track or road ; he 
 had to seek out a family which he did not know, and to' 
 find out of that family a woman whom he did not know, 
 who nevertheless should be the right person to be the 
 wife of his master's son : all this was a great service. 
 
 The work this man undertook was a business tipon 
 tvJiich his masfcr^s heart ivas set. Isaac was now forty 
 years old, and had shown no sign of marrying. He was 
 of a quiet, gentle spirit, and needed a more active spirit 
 to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him 
 of the solace of his life, which he had found in his 
 mother, and had, no doubt, made him desire tender 
 companionship. Abraham himself was old, and well 
 stricken in years ; and he very naturally wished to see 
 the promise beginning to be fulfilled, that in Isaac should 
 his seed be called. Therefore with great anxiety, which 
 is indicated by his making his servant swear an oath of 
 a most solemn kind, he gave him the commission to go 
 to the old family abode in Mesopotamia, and seek for 
 Isaac a bride from thence. Although that family was 
 not all that could be desired, yet it was the best he knew 
 of; and as some heavenly light lingered there, he hoped 
 to find in that place the best wife for his son. The bus- 
 iness was, however, a serious one which he committed to 
 his servant. My brethren, this is nothing compared 
 
348 ^O COMPROMISE. 
 
 with the weight which hangs on the true minister of Christ. 
 All the Great Father's heart is set on giving to Christ a 
 a church which shall be his beloved for ever. Jesus 
 must not be alone : his church must be his dear com- 
 panion. The Father would find a bride for the great 
 Bridegroom, a recompense for the Eedeemer, a solace 
 for the Saviour : therefore he lays it upon all whom he 
 calls to tell out the gospel, that we should seek souls 
 for Jesus, and never rest till hearts are wedded to the 
 Son of God. Oh, for grace to carry out this commis- 
 sion ! 
 
 This message tvas the more iveighfy heccnise of the per- 
 son/or ivhom the spouse tvas sought. Isaac was an extra- 
 ordinary personage ; indeed, to the servant he was 
 unique. He was a man born according to promise, not 
 after the flesh, but by the power of God ; and you know 
 how in Christ, and in all that are one with Christ, the 
 life comes by the promise and the power of God, and 
 springeth not of man. Isaac was himself the fulfillment 
 of promise, and the heir of the promise. Infinitely 
 glorious is our Lord Jesus as the Son of man ! Who 
 shall declare his generation ? Where shall be found a 
 helpmeet for him ? a soul fit to be espoused unto him ? 
 Isaac had been sacrificed ; he had been laid upon the 
 altar, and although he did not actually die, his father's 
 hand had unsheathed the knife wherewith to slay him. 
 Abraham in spirit had ofi"ered up his son ; and you know 
 who he is of whom we preach, and for whom we preach, 
 even Jesus, who has laid down his life a sacrifice for sin- 
 ners. He has been presented as a whole bm-nt-offering 
 unto God. Oh ! by the wounds, and by the bloody 
 sweat, I ask you where shall we find a heart fit to be 
 wedded to him % How shall we find men and women 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 349 
 
 who can wcrtliily recompense love so amazing, so divine^ 
 as that of him who died the death of the cross % Isaac 
 had also been, in a figure, raised from the dead. To his 
 father he was " as good as dead," as said the apostle *, 
 and he was given back to him from the dead. But our 
 blessed Lord has actually risen from an actual death, and 
 stands before us this day as the Conqueror of death, and 
 the Spoiler of the grave. Who shall be joined to this 
 Conqueror '\ Who is fit to dwell in glory with this 
 glorious One ? One would have thought that every 
 heart would aspire to such happiness, and leap in pros- 
 pect of such peerless honor, and that none would shrink 
 back except through a sense of great unworthiness. 
 Alas ! it is noi so, though so it ought to be. 
 
 What a weighty errand have we to fulfil to find those 
 who shall be linked for ever in holy union with the Heir 
 of the promise, even the sacrificed and risen One ! 
 Isaac was everything to Abraham. Abraham would have 
 said to Isaac, ^^ All that I have is thine." So is it true 
 of our blessed Lord, whom he hath made heir of all 
 things ; by whom also he made the worlds, that " it 
 pleased the Father that in him should all fuhiess dwell." 
 What a dignity will be put upon any of you who are 
 married to Christ ! To what a height of eminence will 
 you be uplifted by becoming one with Jesus ! O preacher, 
 what a work hast thou to do to-day, to find out those to 
 whom thou shalt give the bracelet, and upon whose face 
 thou shalt hang the jewel ! To whom shall I say, '* Wilt 
 thou give thy heart to my Lord ! Wilt thou have Jesus 
 to be thy confidence, thy salvation, thine all in all % Art 
 thou willing to become his that he may be thine % " 
 
 Said I not truly that it was a joyful but a weighty 
 errand, when you think ivliat she must he to tvhom his 
 
350 A^<^ COMPROMISE. 
 
 master's son should he esj^oused f She must, at least, be 
 willing and beautiful. In the day of God's power hearts 
 are made willing. There can be no marriage to Jesus 
 without a heart of love. Where shall we find this will- 
 ing heart ? Only where the grace of God has wrought 
 it. Ah, then, I see how I laay find beauty, too, among 
 the sons of men ! Marred as our nature is by sin, only 
 the Holy Spirit can impart that beauty of holiness which 
 will enable the Lord Jesus to see comeliness in his chosen, 
 Alas ! in our hearts there is an aversion to Christ, and 
 an unwillingness to accept of him, and at the same time 
 a terrible unfitness and unworthiness ! The Spirit of 
 God implants a love which is of lieavenly origin, and re- 
 news the heart by a regeneration from above ; and then 
 we seek to be one with Jesus, but not till then. See, 
 then, how our errand calls for the help of God himself. 
 
 Think what she will become who is to be married to 
 Isaac ? She is to be his delight ; his loving friend and 
 companion. She is to be partner of all his wealth ; and 
 specially is she to be a partaker in the great covenant 
 promise, which was peculiarly entailed upon Abraham 
 and his family. When a sinner comes to Christ, what 
 does Christ make of him 1 His delight is in him : he 
 communes with him ; he hears his prayer, he accepts his 
 praise ; he works in him and with him, and glorifies him- 
 self in him. He makes the believing man joint-heir with 
 himself of all that he has, and introduces him into the 
 covenant treasure-house, wherein the riches and glory 
 of God are stored up for his chosen. Ah, dear friends ! 
 it is a very small business in the esteem of some to preach 
 the gospel ; and yet, if God is with us, ours is more than 
 angels' service. In a humble way you are telling of 
 Jesus to your boys and girls in your classes 5 and some 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 351 
 
 will despise you as " only Simday-scliool teachers ; " but 
 your work lias a spiritual weight about it unkuown to 
 couclaves of senators^ and absent from the counsels of 
 emperors. Upon what you say, death, and hell, and 
 worlds unknown are hanging. You are working out the 
 destinies of immortal spirits, turning souls from ruin to 
 glory, from sin to holiness. 
 
 "'Tis not a ^vork of small import 
 Your loving care demands ; 
 But what might fill an augel's heart, 
 And filled the Saviour's hands." 
 
 In carrying out his commission, tlds servant must spare 
 no exertion. It would be required of him to journey to a 
 great distance, having a general indication of direction^ 
 but not knowing the way. He must have divine guid- 
 ance and protection. When he reached the place, he 
 must exercise great common-sense, and at the same time 
 a trustful dependence upon the goodness and wisdom of 
 God. It would be a wonder of wonders if he ever met 
 the chosen woman, and only the Lord could bring it to 
 pass. He had all the care and the faith required. We 
 have read the story of how he journeyed, and prayed, 
 and pleaded. We should have cried, " Who is sufficient 
 for these things ? " but we see that the Lord Jehovah 
 made him sufficient, and his mission was happily carried 
 out. How can we put ourselves into the right position 
 to get at sinners, and win them for Jesus ! How can we 
 learn to speak the right words ? How shall we suit our 
 teaching to the condition of their hearts ? How shall we 
 adapt ourselves to their feelings, their prejudices, their 
 sorrows, and their temptations ? Brethren, we who 
 preach the gospel continually may well cry, '' If thy 
 
352 ^O COMPROMISE. 
 
 presence go not witii me, cany us not up lience." To 
 seek for pearls at the bottom of the sea is child's play 
 compared with seeking for souls in this wicked London. 
 If God be not with us, we may look our eyes out, and 
 wear our tongues away in vain. Only as the Almighty 
 God shall lead, and guide, and influence, and inspire, 
 can we perform our solemn trust ; only by divine help 
 shall we joyfully come back, bringing witli us the chosen 
 of the Lord. We are the Bridegroom's friends, and Ave 
 rejoice greatly in his joy, but we sigh and cry till we 
 have found the chosen hearts in whom he will delight, 
 whom he shall raise to sit with him upon his throne. 
 
 IL Secondly, 1 would have you consider the eea- 
 SONABLE FEAR WHICH IS MENTIOXED. Abraham's ser- 
 vant said, ^^ Peradventui-e the woman will not be willing 
 to follow me unto this land." This is a very serious, 
 grave, and common difficulty. If the woman be not will- 
 ing, nothing can bo done 5 force and fraud are out of the 
 question ; there must be a true will, or there can be no 
 marriage in this instance. Here was the difficulty : here 
 was a will to be dealt with. Ah, my brethren ! this is 
 our difficidty still. Let me describe this difficulty in de- 
 tail as it appeared to the servant, and appears to us. 
 
 She may not helieve my report or he impressed by it. 
 When I come to her, and tell her that I am sent by 
 Abraham, she may look me in the face and say, " There 
 be many deceivers nowadays." If I tell her that my 
 master's son is surpassingly beautiful and rich, and that 
 he would fain take her to himself, she may answer, 
 ^^ Strange tales and romances are common in these days; 
 but the prudent do not quit their homes." Brethren, in 
 our case this is a sad fact. The great evangelical pro- 
 phet cried of old, ^^ Who hath believed oiu^ report ? '^ 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 353 
 
 We also cry in the same words. Men care not for the 
 report of God's great love to the rebellious sons of men. 
 They do not believe that the infinitely glorious Lord is 
 seeking the love of poor^ insignificant man, and to win it 
 has laid down his life. Calvary, with its wealth of 
 mercy, grief, love, and merit, is disregarded. Indeed, 
 we tell a wonderful story, and it may well seem too good 
 to be true ; but it is sad indeed that the multitude of 
 men go their ways after trifles, and count these grand 
 realities to be but dreams. I am bowed down with dis- 
 may that my Lord's great love, which led him even to 
 die for men, should hardly be thought worthy of your 
 hearing, much less of your believing. Here is a heav- 
 enly marriage, and right royal nuptials placed within 
 your reach j but with a sneer you turn aside, and prefer 
 the witcheries of sin. 
 
 There was another difficulty : she was expected to feel 
 a love to one she had never seen. She had only newly 
 heard that there was such a person as Isaac, but yet she 
 must love him enough to leave her kindred, and go to a 
 distant land. This could only be because she recognized 
 the will of Jehovah in the matter. Ah, my dear hearers, 
 all that v/e tell you is concerning things not seen as yet ; 
 and here is our difficulty. You have eyes, and you 
 want to see everything ; you have hands, and you want 
 to handle everything ; but there is one whom you can- 
 not see as yet, who has won our love because of what 
 believe concerning him. We can truly say of him, 
 ' Whom having not seen, we love : in whom, though 
 now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory." I know that you answer 
 our request thus : ^' You demand too much of us when 
 you ask us to love a ChHst we have never seen." I can 
 
 we 
 
354 NO COMPROMISE. 
 
 only answer, "It is even so : we do ask more of you 
 than we expect to receive." Unless God the Holy 
 Ghost shall work a miracle of grace upon your hearts, 
 you will not be persuaded by us to quit yom* old associa- 
 tions, and join yourselves to our beloved Lord. And yet 
 if you did come to hira and love him, he would more than 
 content you j for you woidd find in him rest unto your 
 souls, and a peace which passeth all understanding. 
 
 Abraham's servant may have thought : She may refuse 
 to make so great a change as to quit Mesopotamia for 
 Canaan. She had been born and bred away there in a 
 settled cotmtry, and all her associations were with her 
 father's house ; and to marry Isaac she must tear her- 
 self away. So, too, you cannot have Jesus, and have the 
 world too : you must break with sin to be joined to Jesus. 
 You must come away from the licentious world, the fash- 
 ionable world, the scientific world, and from the (so-called) 
 religious world. If you become a Christian, you must quit 
 old habits, old motives, old ambitions, old pleasui'es, old 
 boasts, old modes of thought. All things must become 
 new. You must leave the things you have loved, and 
 seek many of those things which you have hitherto de- 
 spised. There must come to you as great a change as 
 if you had died, and were made over again. You 
 answer, " Must I endure all this for One whom I have 
 never seen, and for an inheritance on which I have nevei' 
 set my foot 1 " It is even so. Although I am grieved 
 .that you turn away, I am not in the lesa^t surprised, for 
 it is not given to many to see him who is invisible, or to 
 choose the strait and narrow way which leadeth unto 
 life. The man or woman who will foUow God's messen- 
 ger to be married to so strange a Bridegroom is a rare 
 bird. 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 355 
 
 Moreover, it miglit be a great difficulty to Rebekah,*if 
 elie had had any difficulties at all, to think that slic must 
 henceforth lead a pilgrim life. She would quit house and 
 form for tent and gipsy life. Abraham and Isaac foimd 
 no city to dwell in, bat wandered from place to place, 
 dwelling alone, sojourners with God. Their outward 
 mode of life was typical of the way of faith, by which 
 men live in the world, and are not of it. To all intents 
 and purposes Abraham and Isaac were out of the world, 
 and lived on its surface without lasting connection with 
 it. They were the Lord's men, and the Lord was their 
 possession. He set himself apart for them, and they 
 were set apart for him. Eebekah might well have said, 
 ^^ That will never do for me. I cannot outlaw myself. 
 I cannot quit the comforts of a settled abode to ramble 
 over the fields wherever the flocks may require me to 
 roam." It does not strike the most of mankind that it 
 would be a good thing to be in the world, and yet not to 
 be of it. They are no strangers in the world, they long 
 to be admitted more fully into its '' society." They are 
 not aliens here with their treasures in heaven, they long 
 to have a good round sum on earth, and find their heaven 
 in enjoying it themselves, and enriching their families. 
 Earthworms as they are, the earth contents them. If 
 any man becomes unworldly, and makes spiritual things 
 his one object, they despise him as a dreamy enthusiast. 
 Many men think that the things of religion are merely 
 meant to be read of, and to be preached about ; but that 
 to live for them would be to spend a dreamy, unpracti- 
 cal existence. Yet the spiritual is, after all, the only 
 real : the material is in deepest truth the visionary and 
 unsubstantial. Still, when people turn away because of 
 the hardness of holy warfare, and the spirituality of the 
 
356 ^0 COMPROMISE. 
 
 believing life, we are not astonished, for we hardly hoped 
 it conld be otherwise. Unless the Lord renews the 
 heart, men will always prefer the bird-in-the-hand of this 
 life to the bird-in-the-bush of the life to come. 
 
 Moreover, it might be that the woman m'lglit not care 
 for the covenant of xwomise. If she had no regard for 
 Jehovah and his revealed will, she was not likely to go 
 with the man, and enter upon marriage with Isaac. He 
 was the heir of the promises, the inheritor of the cove- 
 nant privileges which the Lord by oath had promised. 
 His chosen would become the mother of that chosen seed 
 in whom God had ordained to bless the world throughout 
 all the ages, even the Messiah, the seed of the woman 
 who should bruise the serpent's head. 
 
 Peradventure the woman might not see the value of 
 the covenant, nor appreciate the glory of the promise. 
 The things we have to preach of, such as life everlasting, 
 union with Christ, resurrection from the dead, reigning 
 with him for ever and ever, seem to the dull hearts of 
 men to be as idle tales. Tell them of a high interest for 
 their money, of large estates to be had for a venture, or 
 of honors to be readily gained, and inventions to be found 
 out, they open all their eyes and their ears, for here is 
 something worth knowing ; but the things of God, eter- 
 nal, immortal, boundless — these are of no importance to 
 them. They could not be induced to go from Ur to 
 Canaan for such trifles as eternal life, and heaven, and 
 God. 
 
 So you see our difficulty. IVIany disbelieve altogether, 
 and others cavil and object. A greater number will not 
 even listen to our story ; and of those who do listen, most 
 are careless, and others dally with it, and postpone the 
 serious consideration. Alas ! avc speak to umvilling ears. 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 357 
 
 III. In the third pLace, I would ENLARGE UPON IIIS 
 VERY NATURAL SUGGESTION. This prudent steward said, 
 ^^ Feradvcnture the woman will not be willing to follow 
 me mito this land: Must I needs hring thtj son again unto 
 the hind from tvhcnce thou earnest f " If she will not come 
 to Isaac, shall Isaac go down to her ? This is the sug- 
 gestion of the present hour : if the world will not come 
 to Jesus, shall Jesus tone down his teachings to the 
 world ? In other words, if the world Avill not rise to the 
 church, shall not the church go do^vn to the world ? In- 
 stead of bidding men to be converted, and come out from 
 among sinners, and be separate from them, let us join 
 with the ungodly world, enter into union with it, and so 
 pervade it with our influence by allowing it to influence 
 us. Let us have a Christian world. 
 
 To this end let us revise our doctrines. Some are old- 
 fashioned, grim, severe, unpopular; let us drop them 
 out. Use the old phrases, so as to please the obstinately 
 orthodox, but give them new meanings, so as to win phil^ 
 osophical infidels, who are prowling around. Pare off 
 the edges of unpleasant truths, and moderate the dog^ 
 matic tone of infallible revelation : say that Abraham and 
 ]\Ioses made mistakes, and that the books which have 
 been so long had in reverence are full of errors. Under^ 
 mine the old faith, and bring in the new doubt ; for the 
 times are altered, and the spirit of the age suggests the 
 abandonment of everything that is too severely righteous, 
 and too surely of G od. 
 
 The deceitful adulteration of doctrine is attended by a 
 falsification of experience. Men are now told that they 
 were born good, or were made so by their infant bap- 
 tism, and so that great sentence, " Ye must be born 
 again,'' is deprived of its force. Repentance is ignored, 
 
358 ^0 COMPROMISE. 
 
 faith is a drug in tlie market as compared with ^^ honest 
 doubt/^ and mourning for sin and communion with God 
 are dispensed with, to make way for entertainments, and 
 socialism, and politics of varying shades. A new crea- 
 ture in Christ Jesus is looked upon as a sour invention 
 of bigoted Puritans. It is true, with the same breath 
 tliey extol Oliver CromAvell ; but then 1888 is not 1648. 
 What was good and great three hundred years ago is 
 mere cant to-day. That is what ^^ modern thought " is 
 telling us ; and under its guidance all religion is being 
 toned down. Spiritual religion is despised, and a fash- 
 ionable morality is set up in its place. Do yourself up 
 tidily on Sunday ; behave yourself ; and above all, be- 
 lieve everything except what you read in the Bible, and 
 you will be all right. Be fashionable, and think with 
 those who profess to be scientilic — this is the first and 
 great commandment of the modern school ; and the sec- 
 ond is like unto it — do not be singular, but be as worldly 
 as your neighbors. Thus is Isaac going doA\m into Padan- 
 aram : thus is the church going down to the world. 
 
 Men seem to say^ — It is of no use going on in the old 
 way, fetching out one here and another there from the 
 great mass. We want a quicker way. To wait till peo- 
 ple are born again, and become followers of Christ, is a 
 long process ; let us abolish the separation between the 
 regenerate and unregenerate. Come into the church, ail 
 of you, converted or miconverted. You have good 
 wishes and good resolutions ; that will do : don't trouble 
 about more. It is true you do not believe the gospel, 
 but neither do we. You believe something or other. 
 Come along ; if you do not believe anything, no matter ; 
 your " honest doubt " is better by far than faith, 
 ^^But," say you, '^nobody talks so." Possibly they do 
 
lYO COMrROMIS!:. 35g 
 
 not use the same words, but this is the real meaning- of 
 the present-day religion j this the drift of the times. I 
 can justify the broadest statement I have made by the 
 action or by the speech of certain ministers, who are 
 treacherously betraying our holy religion under pretence 
 of adapting it to this progressive age. The new plan is to 
 assimilate the church to the world, and so include a larger 
 area within its bounds. By semi-dramatic performances 
 they make houses of prayer to approximate to the thea- 
 tre ; they turn their services' into musical displays, and 
 their sermons into political harangues or philosophical 
 essays— in fact, they exchange the temple for the theatre, 
 and turn the ministers of God into actors, whose business 
 it is to amuse men. Is it not so, that the Lord^s-day is 
 becoming more and more a day of recreation or of idle- 
 ness, and the Lord's house either a joss-house fidl of 
 idols, or a political club, where there is more enthusiasm 
 for a party than zeal for God ? Ah me ! the hedges are 
 broken down, the walls are levelled, and to many there is, 
 henceforth, no church except as a portion of the world, 
 no God except as an unknowable force by which the laws 
 of nature work. 
 
 This, then, is the proposal. In order to win the world, 
 the Lord Jesus must conform himself, his people, and his 
 Word to the world. I will not dwell any longer on so 
 loathsome a proposal. 
 
 IV. In the fourth place, NOTICE HIS master's out- 
 spoken, BELIEvIXG REPUDIATION OF THE PROPOSAL. 
 
 He says, shortly and sharply, " Beware thou that thou 
 bring not my son thither again:' The Lord Jesus Christ 
 heads that grand emigration party which has come right 
 out from the world. Addressing his disciples, he says, 
 '<• Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." 
 
360 ^(^ COMPROMISE. 
 
 We are not of tlie world bj birth, not of the world in 
 life, not of the world in object, not of the world in spirit, 
 not of the world in any respect whatever. Jesus, and those 
 who are in him, constitute a new race. The proposal to 
 go back to the world is abhorrent to our best instincts ; 
 yea, deadly to our noblest life. A voice from heaven 
 cries, ^^ Bring not my son thither again.'' Let not the 
 people whom the Lord brought up out of Egypt return 
 to the house of bondage ; but let their children come out, 
 and be separate, and the Lord Jehovah will be a Father 
 unto them. 
 
 Notice how Abraham states the question. Li eflfect, 
 he argues it thus : this ivould he to forego the divine 
 order. ^^For," says Abraham, ^^the Lord God of heaven 
 took me from my father's house, and from the land of 
 my kindred." What, then, if he brought Abraham out, 
 is Isaac to return ? This cannot be. Hitherto the way 
 of God with his chm'ch has been to sever a people from 
 the world to be his elect — a people formed for himself, 
 who shall show forth his praise. Beloved, God's plan is 
 not altered. He will still go on calling those whom he 
 did predestinate. Do not let us fly in the teeth of that 
 fact, and suppose that we can save men on a more whole- 
 sale scale by ignoring the distinction between the dead 
 in sin and the living in Zion. If God had meant to 
 bless the family at Padan-aram by letting his chosen 
 ones dwell among them, why did he call Abraham out at 
 all ? If Isaac may do good by dwelling there, why did 
 Araham leave % If there is no need of a separate church 
 now, what have we been at throughout all these ages ? 
 Has the martyr's blood been shed out of mere folly ? 
 Have confessors and reformers been mad when contend- 
 ing for doctrines which, it would seem, are of no great 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 3G1 
 
 account ? Brethren, there are two seeds — the seed of 
 the woman and the seed of tlie serpent — and the differ- 
 ence will be maintained even to the end ; neither must 
 Av e ignore the distniction to please men. 
 
 For Isaac to go down to Nahor's house for a wife 
 ivould he placing God second to a ivife, Abraham begins 
 at once with a reference to Jehovah, ^^the God of 
 heaven/' for Jehovah was everything to him, and to 
 Isaac also. Isaac would never renounce his walk with tho 
 living God that he might find a wife. Yet this apostasy 
 is common enough nowadays. ]\Ien and women who 
 profess godliness will quit what they profess to believe 
 m order to get richer wives or husbands for themselves 
 or their children. This mercenary conduct is without 
 excuse. '' Better society " is the cry — meaning more 
 wealth and fashion. To the true man God is first — -yea, 
 all in all ; but God is placed at the fag-end, and every- 
 thing else is put before him by the base professor. In 
 the name of God I call upon you who are faithful to God 
 and to his truth, to stand fast, whatever you lose, and 
 turn not aside, whatever you might gain. Comit the 
 reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures 
 of Egypt. ^Ye want Abraham's spirit within us, and w^e 
 shall have that when we have Abraham's faith. 
 
 Abraham felt that this would be to renounce tlie covc^ 
 nant promise. See how he puts it : "■ The God that took 
 me from my father's house sware unto me, saying. Unto 
 thy seed will I give this land." Are they, then, to leave 
 the land, and go back to the place from which the Lord 
 liad called them ? Brethren, we also are heirs of the 
 [)romise of tilings not seen as yet. For the sake of this 
 we walk l)y faith, and hence we become separate from 
 those around us. We dwell among men as Abraham 
 
3G2 NO COA'IFKOMISE. 
 
 dwelt among tlie Canaanites ; but we are of a distinct 
 race : we are born with a new birth, live under different 
 laAvs, and act from different motives. If we go back to 
 the ways of worldlings, and are numbered with them, we 
 have renounced the covenant of our God, the promise is 
 no longer oui's, and the eternal heritage is in other hands. 
 Do you not know this % The moment the church says, 
 " I'will be as the world,'^ she has doomed herself with 
 the world. When the sons of God saw the daughters of 
 men that they were fair, and took them wives of all 
 which they chose, then the flood came, and swept them 
 all away. So will it again happen should the world take 
 the churoh into its arms : then shall come some over- 
 whelming judgment, and, it may be, a deluge of devour- 
 ing fire. The covenant promise and the covenant heri- 
 tage are no longer ours if we go doAvn to the world and 
 quit our sojourning with the Lord. 
 
 Besides, dear friends, no good can come of trying to 
 conform to tJie ivorlcL Suppose the servant's policy could 
 have been ad^opted, and Isaac had gone down to Nahor's 
 house, what would have been the motive ? To spare 
 Eebekah the pain of separating from her friends, and 
 the trouble of travelling. If those things could have 
 kept her back, what would she have been worth to Isaac ? 
 The test of separation was wholesome, and by no means 
 ought to be omitted. She is a poor wife who would 
 not take a journey to reach her husband. And all the 
 converts that the church will ever make by softening 
 down its doctrine, and by becoming worldly, will not be 
 worth one bad farthing a gross. When we get them, the 
 next question will be, " How can we get rid of them ? '' 
 They would be no earthly use to us. It swelled the 
 number of Israelites when thoy came out of Egypt that a 
 
.\'<:; COMPROMISE. 303 
 
 great number of tlie lower order of Egyptians came out 
 ■Nvitli them. Yes, but that mixed multitude became the 
 plague of Israel in the wilderness, and we read that " the 
 mixed midtitude fell a lusting." The Israelites Avere bad 
 cnoughj but it was the mixed midtitude that always led 
 the way in murmuring. Why is there such spiritual 
 death to-day ? Why is false doctrine so rampant in the 
 churches ? It is because we have ungodly people in the 
 church and in the ministry. Eagerness for numbers, 
 and especially eagerness to include respectable people, 
 has adidterated many churches, and made them lax in 
 doctrine and practice, and fond of silly amusements. 
 These are the people who despise a prayer-meeting, but 
 rush to see " living waxworks " in their schoolrooms. 
 God save us from converts who are made by lowering 
 the standard, and tarnishing the spiritual glory of the 
 church ! No, no ; if Isaac is to have a wife v/orthy of 
 him, she will come away from Laban and the rest, and she 
 wall not mind a journey on camel-back. True converts 
 are never daunted by truth or holiness — these, in fact, 
 are the things which charm them. 
 
 Besides, Abraham felt that there could he no reason for 
 talzing Isaac down tliere, for the Lord would assuredly 
 find him a wife. Abraham said, " He shall send his 
 angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my 
 son from thence." Are you afraid that preaching the 
 gospel mil not wdn souls ? Are you despondent as to 
 success in God's way ? Is this why you pine for clever 
 oratory ? Is this why you must have music, and archi- 
 tecture, and flowers, and millinery ? After all, is it by 
 might and by power, and not by the Spirit of God I It 
 is even so in the opinion of many. 
 
 Brethren beloved, there are many things which I 
 
364 NO COMPROMISE. 
 
 might allow to other vrorshippers which I have denied 
 myself in conducting the worship of this congregation. 
 I long worked out before your very eyes the experiment 
 of the unaided attractiveness of the gospel of Jesus. 
 Our service is severely plain. Ko man ever comes 
 hither to gratify his eye with art, or his ear with music. 
 I have set before you, these many years, nothing but 
 Christ crucified, and the simplicity of the gospel; yet 
 where will you find such a crowd as this gathered 
 together this morning ? Where will you find such a 
 multitude as this meeting, Sabbath after Sabbath, for 
 five -and -thirty years % I have shown you nothing but the 
 cross, the cross without the flowers of oratory, the cross 
 vrithout the blue lights of superstition or excitement, the 
 cross without diamonds of ecclesiastical rank, the cross 
 without the buttresses of a boastfid science. It is abmi- 
 dantly sufficient to attract men first to itself, and after- 
 wards to eternal life ! 
 
 In this house we have proved successfidly, these 
 many years, this great truth, that the gospel plainly 
 preached will gain an audience, convert sinners, and 
 build up and sustain a church. We beseech the 
 people of God to mark that there is no need to try 
 doubtful expedients and questionable methods. God 
 will save by the gospel still : only let it be the gospel 
 in its purity. This grand old sword will cleave a 
 man's chine, and split a rock in halves. How is it 
 that it does so little of its old conquering work ? I 
 will tell you. Do you see this scabbard of artistic work, 
 so wonderfully elaborated \ Full many keep the sword 
 in this scabbard, and therefore its edge never gets to its 
 work. Pull off that scabbard. Fling that fine sheath to 
 Hades, and then see how; in the Lord's hands, that glo- 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 305 
 
 rious tTvo-liandctI sword. Avill mow down fields of men as 
 mowers level tlie grass witli their seytlies. There is no 
 need to go down to Egypt for help. To mvite the devil 
 to help Christ is shameful. Please God, we shall see 
 prosperity yet, when the church of God is resolved never 
 to seek it except in God's own way. 
 
 y. And now, fifthly, observe IIIS EIGHTEOUS ABSOLU- 
 TION OF HIS SERVANT. ^^ If the woman will not be will- 
 ing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my 
 oath : only bring not my son thither again." 
 
 When we lie a-dying, if we have faithfully preached 
 the gospel, our conscience will not accuse us for having 
 kept closely to it : we shall not mourn that we did not 
 play the fool or the politician in order to increase our 
 congregation. Oh, no ! our Master w^ill give us full 
 absolution, even if few be gathered in, so long as we 
 have been true to him. ^^ If the woman will not be will- 
 ing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my 
 oath ; only bring not my son thither again." Do not 
 try the dodges which debase religion. Keep to the sim- 
 ple gospel ; and if the people are not converted by it, you 
 will be clear. 
 
 My dear hearers, how much I long to see you 
 saved ! But I would not belie my Lord, even to 
 win your souls, if they could be so won. The true ser- 
 vant of God is responsible for diligence and faithfulness, 
 but he is not responsible for success or non-success. 
 Results are in God's hands. If that dear child in your 
 class is not converted, yet if you have set before him the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ with loving, prayerful earnestness 
 you shall not be without your reward. If I preach from 
 my very soul the grand truth that faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ will save my hearers, and if I persuade and 
 
3GG ^^^ COMPROMISE. 
 
 entreat tliern to believe in Jesus unto eternal life 5 if they 
 •will not do so, tlieir blood Avill lie upon their own heads. 
 AYhen I go back to my Master, if I have faithfidly told 
 out his message of free grace and dying love, I shall be 
 clear. I have often prayed that I might be able to say 
 at the last what George Fox could so truly say : ^' I am 
 clear, I am clear ! " 
 
 It is my highest ambition to be clear of the blood 
 of all men. I have preached God's truth, so far as 
 I know it, and I have not been ashamed of its pecu- 
 liarities. That I might not stultify my testimony I 
 have cut myself clear of those who err from the 
 faith, and even from those w^ho associate with 
 them. 
 
 What more can I do to be honest with you % If, after 
 all, men will not have Christ, and his gospel, and his 
 rule, it is their own concern. If Rebekah had not come 
 to Isaac, she w^ould have lost her place in the holy line. 
 My beloved hearer, will you have Jesus Christ or not % 
 He has come into the world to save sinners, and he casts 
 out none. Will you accept him f Will you trust him I 
 ^^ He that beiieveth and is baptized shall be saved." 
 WiU you believe him ? Will you be baptized into his 
 name ? If so, salvation is yours ; but if not, he himself 
 hath said it, " He that beiieveth not shall be damned.'' 
 Oh, do not expose yourselves to that damnation ! Or, 
 if you are set upon it ; then, when the great white 
 throne shall be seen in yonder skies, and the day of 
 wrath has come, do me the justice to acknowledge that 
 I bade you flee to Jesus, and that I did not amuse 
 you with novel theories. I have brought neither flute, 
 harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, nor any other kind of 
 music to please youi^ ears, but I have set Christ crucified 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 307 
 
 before you, and bidden you hclieve and live. If you re- 
 fuse to accept the substitution of Christ, you have refused 
 your own mercies. Clear nie in that day of all com- 
 plicity with the novel inventions of deluded men. As 
 for my Lord, I pray of him grace to be faithful to the 
 end, both to his truth, and to your souls. Amen. 
 
XVIL 
 
 A PAKADOX. 
 
 November A, 1888. 
 " When I am Tveak, then am I strong." — 2 Corixthiaxs xii. 10. 
 
 The expression is paradoxical, and seems somewhat 
 singular 5 yet it was the experience of the apostle Paul, a 
 man of calm spirit, bj no means fanciful, a wise man, 
 and far removed from a fanatic. It was the experience 
 of one who was led of the Spirit of God, and therefore it 
 was a gracious experience : the experience of one who 
 was a father in Israel, who could safely bid us to be im- 
 itators of him, even as he imitated the Lord Jesus Christ; 
 and therefore it was a safe experience. If we are weak, 
 so was Paul ; and if, like him, we are strong in our weak- 
 ness, we shall be in the best of company. If the same 
 things be seen in us which were wrought in the apostle 
 of the Grentiles, we may join with him in glorying in in- 
 iirmities, because the power of Christ doth rest upon us, 
 and we may coimt ourselves happy that with such a 
 saint we can cry, ^^ When I am weak, then am I 
 strong.^' 
 
 I. Perhaps I can expound the text best if I first 
 TURN IT THE OTHER WAY UP, and use it as a warning. 
 
 When I am strong, then am I iveal\ Perhaps, while 
 thinking of the text thus turned inside out, we shall be 
 getting light upon it to be used when we view it with the 
 
A PARADOX. 3G'J 
 
 right side outwards, and see that when we are ivealij then 
 ive are strong. 
 
 I am quite sure that some people think themselves 
 very strong, and are not so. Their proud consciousness of 
 fiincied strength is the indication of a terrible weakness. 
 We have among us certain persons ivho think that they 
 can do all that is needful for their oivn salvation whenever 
 they please to do so. They can perform all sorts of good 
 works, or at least quite enough to carry them to heaveno 
 Their first idea is that they are to be saved by their 
 own doings ; and they really expect to be so saved. 
 They may admit that they have a few faidts and flaws 
 in their character ; but these are so trifling as to be 
 hardly worth mentioning, and God Almighty is too mer- 
 ciful to be very particular. Their lives have been ex- 
 cellent, their tempers amiable, their manners courteous, 
 their spirit generous, and they quite believe that by 
 keeping on at the same pace they Avill win the prize : 
 if they do not, Avho will! The ship of their character is 
 in fine condition ; they have no leaks which the pumps 
 cannot keep down ; their sails are not rent, and they 
 hope to sail into the haven of peace with a glorious cargo 
 of merit, having an abmidant entrance, and hearing a 
 loud ^' Well done ! '' Ah, my friend ! that conscious- 
 ness of legal strength is a mere delusion, and it will have 
 to be taken out of you. There is no going to heaven 
 that way — by self and the works of self. Your error is 
 a common one, but it is fatal. I have seen many epi- 
 taphs of persons, placed by the mistaken kindness of 
 friends upon their tombstones, which I felt sure would 
 have been sufficient to shut them out of heaven if they 
 had been true. These departed worthies do not appear 
 to have been sinners at all : their virtues were superla- 
 
370 ^ PARADOX. 
 
 tive, tlieir faults non-existent. Such wonderful people 
 would appear from tlieir epitaphs to have flown up to 
 the gates of heaven upon the wings of their own virtues, 
 and to have entered there without a passport of mercj, 
 as burgesses by their own right of the New Jerusalem. 
 I wonder how they would behave themselves in heaven, 
 if they were really admitted there ! All the rest are 
 singing, "• We have washed our robes, and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb " ; but these needed no 
 washing, and so they would be likely to strike up a little 
 song by themselves, and sing, " Our robes never needed 
 washing ; we kept them white as snow." What a dis- 
 cord that would create in the music of the skies ! What 
 a division of character and feeling would be found among 
 celestials ! I cannot see how there could be any har- 
 mony of sentiment amongst sinners saved by grace and 
 righteous ones who owed nothing to mercy, nothing to 
 the atoning sacrifice. 
 
 No, my strong and virtuous hearer, you are under a 
 grave delusion. There is a great similarity between 
 yoiu' talk and the talk of that religious individual who 
 went up to the temple in our Saviour's days, and, stand- 
 ing before the thrice-holy God, dared to say, " Grod, I 
 thank thee that I am not as other men are." He was 
 not justified that day, nor will you be. A poor tax- 
 gatherer, despised by himself, and an off-cast from his 
 own people, stood in the temple at the same time, and aD 
 that he dared to say was, ^' God be mercifid to me a sin- 
 ner." This miworthy sinner went to his house justified, 
 while the other worthy person was not accepted. If you 
 think yourselves strong enough to procure heaven by 
 your own efforts, you are ignorantly insulting the cross 
 of Christ, for you seem to insinuate that your virtues 
 
A PARADOX. 371 
 
 can avail you witliout Jesus. If you really mean this, 
 there is more venom of rebellion against God in your 
 self-righteousness than in the outward vice of those who 
 make no pretence to godliness. For you to put your 
 works in the place of Jesus is a blasphemy against the 
 Saviour's blood and righteousness. Why needed Christ 
 to die if men could save themselves ? Why need he 
 bleed upon the cross if your merits will suffice to gain 
 you a place among the blessed ? There is a fatal weak- 
 ness in the claim of that man who thinks himself strong 
 enough to force his own passage to the throne of God; 
 that weakness lies in the pride which insults the Crucified, 
 the disloyalty which prefers itself to the royal Saviour. 
 
 *' Perisli tlie virtue, as it onglit— abhorred, 
 And the fool with it who insnlts his Lord." 
 
 Listen to me a moment, and quit your fancied strength : 
 you, my hearer, cannot keep the law of God, for you 
 have already broken it. How can you preserve a crys- 
 tal vase entire when you have already dashed it to 
 atoms ? You must now be saved by the merits and the 
 strength of another, or not at all ; for your own merit is 
 out of the question, through past failure. That strength 
 of yom-s, upon which you dote so much, is perfect weak- 
 ness. May the Lord show you this, and make you faint 
 at heart on that account ; for then you shall be strong, 
 with real and saving strength ! Kow your imaginary 
 strength is making you really weak, and that boasted 
 merit of yours is shutting you out from true righteous- 
 ness. He that is strong in the notion of merit is weak 
 even to utter folly before the God of truth. 
 
 " Yes,'' we hear you reply, ^^ there is a gospel way of 
 
372 A PARADOX. 
 
 salvation. We know that there is, for you preach it 
 continually. You tell us that men must repent, and 
 believe the gospel 5 that they must be renewed in the 
 spirit of their minds, and must both overcome sin, and 
 follow after holiness.'^ Yes, I do say all that ; but what 
 do you say to it I Is it really so that you find here a 
 ground for your own strength? Do you say, '' I feel 
 that I can repent tvJienever I please, and believe in Jesus 
 ivlten I choose f " Ah ! then I must assure you that when 
 you are strong in that way, you are weak. I never yet 
 knew anybody repent who gloried in his power to repent ; 
 1 never yet knew a man heart-broken for sin who boasted 
 that he could break his own heart when and where he 
 pleased. "• What ! " cries one, .^^ surely I can believe in 
 Jesus Christ when I please ! " I have not denied that 
 statement, have I ? But I tell you that your notion of 
 power to believe is your weakness ; and I would rather 
 by half hear you cry, with deep solemnity, " Oh, that 
 God would give me faith ! Lord, help my unbelief ! " 
 Your sense of inability to believe in Christ would be a 
 far better token for good, in my judgment, than your 
 present flippant talk about believing when you like. 
 Men who are in earnest talk not so : whatever their 
 strength may be, they find it little enough in the hour of 
 need. I beg to assure you that I have never known a 
 man believe in Jesus who trusted that he could so be- 
 lieve ; for his trust in his own believing kept him from 
 trusting to Jesus ; but I have known many a poor, strug- 
 gling soul lie at the cross-foot, and say, '^ Lord, help me 
 to look to Jesus, and live 5 '^ and Grod has helped him to' 
 give that look in which there is eternal life. While he 
 has been praying, his prayer, yes, his weeping prayer, 
 has had in it that very look to Jesus for v/hich he was 
 
A PARADOX. 3:73 
 
 pleading. His sense of inability to believe lias made 
 him look to Jesus for believing^ and lie has found it in 
 him. 
 
 You say that you can turn your heart towards God 
 whenever you please. I am not going into any dispute 
 with you about your assertion, nor the doctrine, which is 
 su])posed to support you in your profession of strength ; 
 but I will say this, that your idea of having personal 
 strength, with which to purify and renew your own 
 heart — your idea that you can create in yourself a right 
 spirit — your idea that you can raise yourself from your 
 death in sin — is to me a prophecy of much evil for your- 
 self. Where self is conspicuous, I see an omen of mis- 
 chief, I see no good in this fine opinion of yourself; but 
 if I heard you cry, ^^ Create in me a clean heart, O 
 God " — if I heard you say, ^^ Lord, quicken me out of 
 my death in sin " — if I saw you lying down before the 
 Most High, and praying, '-'- Turn me, and I shall be 
 tm-ned " — I should have a far brighter hope of you. In 
 your weakness you would become strong ; but in your 
 present strength, I am sure I see a great weakness, which 
 is likely to be your ruin. dear hearts, your best 
 friend does not lie within your own doors. Your hope 
 for better things shines yonder at the right hand of God, 
 where the living Saviour has all power given to him in 
 heaven and in earth. Sinner, if you grow no sweeter 
 Rowers than the dunghill of your own nature can nourish, 
 you will die amid poisonous weeds. If you never drink 
 of better water than the filthy well of your own heart 
 will yield, you wiU perish of thirst, or of a deadly draught. 
 Another, and a better helper than one born in your house, 
 must come this way. Help must be laid upon one that is 
 mighty, exalted of the Lord out of the people, and en- 
 
374 ^ PARADOX. 
 
 dowed with divine power and Godhead, for only such a 
 Saviour, infinitely good and great, can save a soul so lost 
 as yours. When you get dovvai, down, down, into utter 
 weakness, then you will be strong, because then you will 
 rest upon the Lord's salvation ; but as you are strong in 
 your thoughts of yourself, you are kept from Jesus, and 
 are weakness itself. 
 
 So far I have spoken by way of warning to uncon- 
 verted people. 
 
 I desire now to say a word to those who profess to be 
 Christians, and, let us hope, are so ; but they are, in a 
 measure, erring in the same way as those to whom I 
 have spoken. They are remarkably strong : at least, 
 in their own esteem they are very Samsons, although 
 others fear that the Philistines will capture them. By 
 this token may they know their own weakness — even by 
 this, that they think themselves strong. 
 
 First, many are tvonderfuTly strong as to hiotvledge. 
 They know almost everything. K in any department 
 they are a little short, they make up for it by knowing 
 so much more in another direction. If they are too nar- 
 row here, they overlap there. They are knowing men, 
 and need no man to tell them so. They are instructed 
 in the faith from pole to pole : they know both that which 
 is afar off, and that which is nigh. An argument is a 
 pleasure to them. They go into company where the 
 eternal verities are denied, and feel a delight in taking 
 sides. They will sit where the vital simplicities of God's 
 word are set up like marks for boys to throw, at ; and 
 they like the amusement, for it exercises their knowing 
 faculty, and gives them a chance of showing their mental 
 power. They are not children, but quite able to think 
 for themselves. They are not credulous, but amazingly 
 
A PARADOX. 375 
 
 clear-headed and cultured. I have noticed these fine 
 gentlemen have been the first to deny the faith, and to 
 fall into all manner of heresies. Do you wonder ? 
 Those who are so very sure are always the most uncer- 
 tain. I could instance some that had such confidence in 
 themselves that they would have argued with the very 
 fiend of hell on any question, for they felt that not even 
 Satanic craft could conquer them ; but at this present 
 moment the prince of darkness holds them in his power. 
 They hold no controversy with the devil now, for they 
 are very largely agreed with him in assailing the gospel 
 of God's grace. They have gone entirely over to the 
 denial of everything that is gracious and holy and script- 
 ural, and the main cause cf their apostasy is their own 
 invmcible self-confidence. They were so strong that 
 they became weaker than others. brethren, when we 
 are very wise in our own esteem, we are bordering upon 
 fools, even if we have not already entered into that com- 
 pany. When we tremblingly sit at Jesus' feet, to learn 
 everything fresh, and fresh from him 5 when we shudder 
 at anything that questions his Deity, or lowers his sacri- 
 fice ; when we shut up a book and cast it from us, be- 
 cause we feel that it pollutes us with mibelief — then are 
 we wise and strong. When the Word of the Lord is 
 enough, then are we in the way of wisdom and strength. 
 The man of one book is proverbially a terrible mon ; but 
 the man of ten thousand books, who can baffle all adver- 
 saries and foil all foes, shall soon lie wounded on the plain, 
 if he be not slain outright. Let us take heed unto our- 
 selves, that we fall not through being headstrong, or 
 strong in the head, which is much the same thing. 
 
 Again, I have noticed some professedly Christian peo- 
 ple tvonderfidJy strong tliroujli experience. Their expcri- 
 
370 A PARADOX. 
 
 ence has been very extensive, and the knowledge it has 
 brought them they consider to be specially profound, 
 and, consequently, they are not afraid of temptation, for 
 they feel that they are too wise to be entrapped. They 
 are so expeiienced now, that things which young people 
 ought not to think of, they can do with impunity — so 
 they foolishly dream. They can go just so far, and then 
 stop, for they are fitted with the patent brakes of pru- 
 dence. They are such good mountain climbers that they 
 can stand on the edge of a precipice, and look over, and 
 even hang over, without fear of their ever being giddy 
 and falling over. Of course they would not advise other 
 people to go quite so far as they may safely go ; but 
 then, what is temptation to other men is no temptation to 
 them. Their vessel is so tight and trim, and they un- 
 derstand navigation so perfectly, that they rather like a 
 tempest than not, just to show how avcU their vessel can 
 behave in a storm. Ah me ! When you next read the 
 list of wrecks, you may expect to see the name of their 
 ship among the castaways. Old birds may not be caught 
 with chaff, but they can be shot with a gun. No one is 
 out of danger, and no one is more in danger than the 
 man who is carnally secure. Those who feel that their 
 experience, be it what it may, only teaches them that the 
 farther they can keep from temptation the better, these 
 are in a better state. When experience drives us to 
 pray wdth emphasis the prayer ^^ Lead us not into temp- 
 tation," then it is working aright. In the idea of 
 strength and wisdom lurks an awfully perilous weakness; 
 but in a sense of personal weakness dwells a real 
 strength. If you are extremely jealous, conscientious, 
 and w^atchfiil, many will tell you how weak you are ; but 
 you are, in reality, a strong man, because of your fear to 
 
A PARADOX. 377 
 
 encounter evil influences : in that fear lies one essential 
 element of holy strength. While he that rather braves 
 temptation, because he feels so strong, shall find, it may 
 be to his everlasting sorrow, how great his v/eakness is 5 
 he that shuns the appearance of evil, because of conscious 
 weakness, shall find therein his security and strength. 
 Oh, let none of us, because we are getting gray, suppose 
 that we are invulnerable to sin ! Let us not dream that 
 because we have been church-members so many years, 
 or even because we have sustained a long and useful 
 ministry, we are therefore beyond gun-shot of the ene- 
 my, or without necessity to seek daily strength for daily 
 duty. My brethren, we cannot perform the smallest 
 duty aright apart from the help of God ; neither can we 
 be secure against even the grossest sin, apart from the 
 perpetual guard of him that keepeth Israel. If we, in 
 our self-conceit, write ourselves down among the mighti- 
 est, and forget our entire dependence upon heavenly 
 grace, we may be left to prove, by unhappy experience, 
 that pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit 
 before a fall. 
 
 Let us note another point. I have known certain 
 Christian people who thought themselves singularlj/ 
 strong in the matter oftvisdom and prudence. They have 
 been gifted with clear insight and a measure of shrewd- 
 ness, and have, therefore, felt that their judgment on 
 most subjects was that of an umpire. Have you ever 
 noticed that the raw material of a very grossly foolish 
 person is a cautious individual ? The cunning are the 
 readiest dupes when craft is busy in taking its prey. 
 So, too, a wise man is needed if there is to be exhibited 
 the worst form of folly. If we were called upon to 
 select a man who, as to his life as a whole, perpetrated 
 
378 A PARADOX. 
 
 the greatest folly, we should mention Solomon. Yet he 
 was the wisest of men. Yes, the cream of wisdom, when 
 curdled, makes the worst of folly. Was ever man so in- 
 sanely enthusiastic in vain pursuits as this master of all 
 knowledge ? Then, brethren, whenever we feel sure of 
 our own superior intelligence, let us suspect ourselves of 
 weakness. Let the same fear come upon us when we 
 feel sure about our way, so sure that we think we need 
 not pray about it, or in any manner wait for divine direc- 
 tion. Beware of those matters in which you think 
 you cannot err. Men who have been wise in great 
 difficulties have blundered fearfully where all was sim- 
 ple. The Israelites thought that the men who came to 
 them begging for a league of brotherhood coidd not de- 
 ceiv^e them. It must be safe to be on good terms with 
 these interesting strangers. Why, look, their shoes are 
 well-nigh worn from their feet, and patched and clouted 
 to the last degree ! Their clothes, which we doubt not 
 were new when they left their distant homes, are now 
 threadbare, and their biscuit, which they took fresh from 
 the oven, is stale with age. It is evident, upon the face 
 of it, that they must have come from a very remote part 
 of the world, and therefore a treaty with them will not 
 interfere with the divine command. There can be no 
 need to pray about a case so clear. Thus the Gibeonites 
 overreached them, as we also shall be overreached when 
 we are so exceedingly sure of our course. Brethren, let 
 us not be so wise as to dispense with our heavenly Coun- 
 sellor and Guide. Would not that be the height of mad- 
 ness ? It is a salutary thing to feel that your case re- 
 quires you to trust the helm of your ship with the divine 
 Pilot. It is even a blessed thing to feel that you are 
 shut up to faith, and must by absolute trust in God throw 
 
A PARADOX. 370 
 
 the responsibility of your action upon liim. I will give 
 you an instance. Abraham, the father of the faithful, is 
 placed in a peculiar position. God has commanded him 
 to take his son Isaac, and offer him for a sacrifice. Here 
 is a terrible puzzle. Here was enough to stagger any 
 human mind. Surely it coidd not be right for a father 
 to slay his son ! How coidd it be wise to kill the son in 
 whom all the promises of God were vested ? The more 
 you think of the case from a father's standpoint, the 
 more it will perplex you. Abraham could not make any 
 thing out of it by his judgment, but he met it all by 
 faith. All that he could say to Isaac was, " My son, God 
 will provide himself a Lamb." He was thus saying to 
 himself, ^^ The Lord will get me out of this difficulty.'^ 
 He had no wisdom with which to conjecture how the 
 affair woidd end : he had to cease from guessing, and 
 just trust in his God. Abraham made no mistake in 
 this. Oh that we could do the same ! Observe that 
 same Abraham when he goes down to Egypt. His wife 
 is exceedingly beautiful, and he fears that the king of 
 Egypt will kill him in order to obtain his wife ; what 
 will he do ? I can see a great many ways in which he 
 might have warded off that evil. He was not called 
 upon to go to Egypt at all, if he thereby risked his wife's 
 honor ; or, if he must go, he should have gone boldly, 
 acknowledging his wife, and trusting both her and him- 
 self with the Lord. Instead of that, the patriarch begins 
 by inducing Sarah to join with him in equivocation. 
 '' Say thou art my sister." She was in some sense his 
 sister ; but it was using a word in a double sense for a 
 deceitful purpose, and it was a pitiful thing for Abraham 
 to do. Nor was it a prudent scheme after all : in fact 
 it was the cause of the very trouble which it sought to 
 
380 A PARADOX. 
 
 prevent. Sarah would not have been taken away from 
 Abraham at all if Pharaoh had known that she was his 
 wife 5 so that the wise was snared bj his own craftiness. 
 The Lord graciously delivered him, but in that very act 
 left a root of bitterness behind to be his future plague. 
 Pharaoh gave to him women-servants, and I doubt not 
 among the rest was Hagar, who became the object of 
 sin, and the source of sorrow to the household. In 
 the fancied strength of Abraham, by which he emulated 
 the craft of other Orientals, he displayed his weakness ; 
 but in the other case, where no wit or wisdom could 
 assist him, he cast himself upon the Lord, and in his 
 weakness he behaved like the grand man that he really 
 was. Brothers, let us confess ourselves fools, that we 
 may be wise ; for otherwise we shall fall into that other 
 condition, of professing ourselves wise, and becoming 
 fools. Let us ignore our wisdom., even if we have any. 
 God alone is wise : he that trusteth either his own heart 
 or head is a fool. Lean not to thine own understanding, 
 but lean wholly upon the Lord ; so shalt thou be estab- 
 lished. 
 
 Further, dear friends, ive shall often find that our 
 strength will lie in patience — in extreme weakness which 
 yields itself up to the v»'ill of God without the power or 
 will to murmur. We sang in our hymn just now — 
 
 " And when it seems no chance nor change 
 From grief can set me free, 
 Hope finds its strength in heli)lessness, 
 And, patient, waits on thee." 
 
 I am sure that in reference to power, either to do or to 
 suifer rightly, we are not strong when we compliment 
 ourselves upon our ability ; and we are strong when, 
 
A PARADOX. 3gX 
 
 under a sense of absolute inability, we depend wholly 
 upon God. That sermon preached in the glory of our 
 oratory turned out to be mere husks for swine ; while 
 that discourse which we delivered in weakness, with a 
 humble hope that God would use it, proved to be rovai 
 meat for the Lord's chosen. That work which you per- 
 formed in the vigor of your unquestioned talent came to 
 nothing, while that quiet act which you washed with 
 your tears, and perfumed with your prayers, will live 
 and yield you sheaves. Creature strength brings forth 
 nothing which has life in it: only, the seed which the 
 Creator puts into the hand of our weakness will produce 
 a harvest. It is well to be nothing : it is better still to 
 be " less than nothing." We ought to dread a sense of 
 capacity, for it will render us incapable ; but a sense of 
 utter incapacity apart from God is a fit preparation for 
 being used by the Lord. '^ Unto them that have no 
 mi^fht he incrcaseth streno-th/' 
 
 So it is in bearing as well as acting. If we say con- 
 cerning sickness, '' I shall never be impatient. I can 
 bear it like a stoic." What of that ? You will then 
 have done no more than many have done before you, 
 with no great gain to themselves or to others. But if, 
 bowing your head before the Lord, you wait his sov- 
 ereign wiir, and say, ^' Lord help me. If thy left hand 
 shall smite me, let thy right hand sustain me. I am will- 
 ing to drink this bitter cup, saying, ^ Xot as I will, but 
 as thou wilt.' Lord, help me ! " — you shall bear up tri- 
 umphantly, and come out of the furnace refined, to the 
 praise and the glory of your God. When you fancy that 
 you are strong to suffer, you will fail ; but in conscious 
 weakness you will be enabled to play the man. 
 
 I have now done with the text, as I have turned it 
 
382 A PARADOX. 
 
 upside down. May God bless it to any here vvdio feel higli 
 and mighty, by causing it to put them in their proper 
 place. 
 
 II. Now, let us take our text the eight way up» 
 WARDS. ^^When I am weak, then am I strong." 
 " When " and " then " are the two pivots of the text — 
 the hinges upon which it turns. 
 
 ^^ When 1 am weak.'' What does that mean 1 It 
 means when the believer is consciously weaJc^ when he 
 painfully feels, and distinctly recognizes that he is weak, 
 then he is strong. In truth, we are always weak, 
 whether we know it or not ; but when we not only be- 
 lieve this to be the fact, but see it to be the fact — then it 
 is that we are strong. When it is forced home upon us, 
 that we are less than nothing and vanity — when our 
 very soul echoes and re-echoes that word, " Without me 
 ye can do nothing " — then it is that we are strong. 
 
 When he is groivingli) tveaJc. Yes, for he sees his own 
 weakness more and more clearly as he advances : as he 
 grows stronger in faith he is much more conscious of the 
 weakness of the flesh. I talked about my weakness from 
 this platform five-and-twenty years ago ; but I stand 
 here and tremble under it now to a far greater degree 
 than I did in my younger and more vigorous time. I 
 knew it three-and-thirty years ago, when I first spoke to 
 you, but I did not know it as I know it now. I was then 
 weak, and I owned it : but I am now weak, and groan 
 about it almost involuntarily. Yes, and I sometimes 
 sing because of my weakness, learning to glory in my 
 infirmities because the power of Christ doth rest upon 
 me. When we are grov>dngly weak, when we become 
 weaker and weaker, when we seem to faint into a deeper 
 swoon than ever as to our own strength, till death is 
 
A PARADOX. 383 
 
 written upon every power that we once thought we liad, 
 and we feel that we can do absolutely nothing apart from 
 the Holy Spirit, then we are strong indeed. 
 
 We are strong, too, when we feel painfully iveaJc, It 
 is well when we mourn because we are so weak, and cry 
 out to ourselves, " My weakness, my weakness, woe unto 
 
 m( 
 
 When I would do good, evil is present with me. 
 When I woidd rise to heaven, the body of this death de- 
 tains me. I would do great things for God, but I have 
 no might. Alas for my weakness ! " At such a time we 
 are really rising, and are bringing most glory to God. 
 These are growing pains — agonies such as none know 
 but the truly and growingly spiritual. A painful weak- 
 ness is strength. It may seem a paradox, but it is true. 
 We are strong when we are contritely tveaJc. When we 
 confess that much of our weakness is our fault — a weak- 
 ness which we ought to have overcome — even then we 
 have in that weakness a real strength. The sort of weak- 
 ness that makes a man say, *^ I cannot be any stronger, 
 I am doing my best," is not strength, but folly ; but that 
 weakness which makes you lament your failures and de- 
 plore your shortcomings, has in it a holy stimidus and 
 force. That weakness which makes you dissatisfied with 
 all you are and all you do, is goading you on to better 
 and stronger things. If you feel that even when most 
 earnest you have not prayed as you could wish, there is 
 evidently strength in your desires, and your desires are 
 prayers. If after any service you pour forth showers of 
 penitential tears because the service was imperfect, there 
 is evidently a strong soul of obedience within you. When 
 you can neither repent, nor believe, nor love as you wish 
 to do, you are repenting, believing, and loving with a 
 strength which is more true than apparent. It is the 
 
384 'i PARADOX. 
 
 will with Trhicli we act which is the strength of the 
 action j and when the will is so powerful that it makes 
 us mourn because we cannot lind how to perform its bid- 
 ding, then are we strong according to the divine meas- 
 urement of strength. Contrite weakness is spiritual 
 strength. 
 
 When a man is tliorougliJif tveaJc — not only partially, 
 but altogether weak — then is he strong. When apart 
 from the Lord Jesus Christ, he is utter weakness, and 
 nothing more — ^then it is that he is strong. Let me per- 
 suade you to make a full confession of weakness to the 
 Lord. Say, " Lord, I cannot do what I ought to do : I 
 cannot do vv^hat I want to do : I cannot do what I used to 
 do : I cannot do what other people do : I cannot do what 
 I mean to do : I cannot do what I am sure I shall do : I 
 cannot do what I feel impelled to do ; and over this sin- 
 ful weakness I mourn." Then add, ^^ Lord, I long to 
 serve thee perfectly, yet I cannot do it. Unless thou 
 help me I can do nothing aright. There Vv^iil be no good 
 in my actions, my words, my feelings, or my desires, un- 
 less thou continue to fill me with thine own holy energy. 
 Lord, help me ! Lord, help me ! Brother, you are 
 strong while you plead in that fashion. You can do ail 
 things through Christ who strengtheneth you 5 and he 
 Aviil strengthen you, now that you are emptied of self. 
 How true it is, '^ When I am weak, then am I strong ! " 
 
 I have brought out the '' when." Now lend me your 
 ears and hearts just for a minute, Avhile I bring out the 
 ^^ then." " Then am I strong." When is that ? 
 
 Why, a man is strong when he is consciously weak, 
 because noiv he has reached the truth. He really is 
 weak ; and if he does not know that he is so, he is under 
 the influence of a falsehood. Now a lie is a thing of 
 
A PARADOX. 385 
 
 weakness. Lying strength is all fluff and foam : a mere 
 appearance, a mockery, a delusion. Nothing hinders 
 from getting the reality like contentment Avith a mere 
 appearance. The true heart is heartily sick of shows 
 and shams, and it cries, '^ Lord, help me to get rid of 
 these shadows ! Help me to come at the truth ! Help 
 me to deal with realities ! " When you are made to feel 
 your utter weakness you are on sure ground of truth — 
 unpleasant truth, no doubt, yet sure truth. You are now 
 on safe ground touching fundamentals, and making sure 
 work. What you now do will be soundly done. All the 
 while that we keep building on a sandy made-up founda- 
 tion, we are piling up that which will, in all probability, 
 come doAvn even faster than we put it up. While the 
 rotten rubbish remains on the spot, you cannot do any- 
 thing worth doing ; but if that accumulation can be carted 
 away, there will seem to be a great hole, but you will get 
 down to the real bottom, and get a foundation ; and then 
 what you build will be worth putting up, because it will 
 stand. Therefore, a man becomes strong when he is 
 consciously weak, because he is on the truth, and is not 
 being flattered by false hopes. 
 
 Next, he will be strong because he will only go with a 
 commission to support him. He vrill not be eager to run 
 without being sent. He says within himself, when he 
 proposes a service to himself, " No, I am too weak to 
 undertake anything of my own head.'' He will wait for 
 a call. This is not the kind of man that Avill climb up 
 into a pulpit, and from a dizzy brain pour out nonsense. 
 He will not crave to lead, for he feels that he needs much 
 help even to follow. He feels himself too weak to set up 
 for a master in Israel. This is not the kind of man that 
 will venture into argument with sceptics for the fim cr 
 
386 ^ PARADOX. 
 
 for the glory of the thing. Ch, no ; he is too weak for 
 that. He says, " If I am called to defend the faith, I 
 will do it in God's strength, hoping that it vfill be given 
 me in the same hour what I shall speak. If I am called 
 to preach I will preach, and nobody skall stop me ; for 
 the Lord will be with my mouth. But, you see, until 
 the man is conscious of his own weakness, he will run 
 without being sent ; and there is nobody so weak as that 
 man. No one so weak as the man who has no commis- 
 sion from God, and no promise of help from him. Such 
 a man will be thinking of this, and thinking of that, and 
 running for this, that, and the other, because he has a 
 lot of waste energy which he wants to use somewhere or 
 somehow. Could we once see him consciously weak we 
 should hear him say, ^^ Here am I, send me ! " in answer 
 to the question, "Whom shall I send?'' Then he would 
 not go a warfare at his own charges, but he would draw 
 upon the all-sufficiency of God, and find himself equal to 
 every emergency. 
 
 The man who is consciously weak is strong, next, be- 
 cause of the holy caution that he ivill he sure to use. He 
 will be on his guard, because he does not feel able to cope 
 with adversaries. He will ask for a convoy for his lit- 
 tle barque, for he is aware of pirates. If this weak man 
 has to pass through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, 
 depend upon it he will carry in his hand the weapon of 
 All-prayer, like a drawn sword. The man that has 
 strength goes hurrying on over hedge and ditch, and 
 soon comes into mischief; but the consciously weak pil- 
 grim keeps to the high-road, and travels carefully ; and 
 hence he is strong. Fear is a notably good housekeeper : 
 she may not keep a luxurious table, but she always locks 
 the doors at night, and takes care of all under her charge. 
 
A PARADOX. 387 
 
 Hclv caution begets prudence; and prudence, by fos- 
 tering vigor, and crying for heavenly aid, becomes 
 strength. 
 
 Moreover, when a man is weak, then is he strong, 
 because lie is sure to pray, and prayer is power. The 
 man who laments his weakness is sure to cry to the 
 strong for strcHgth. The more his weakness presses on 
 him, the more will he pray. While he can do without 
 his God he will do without his God j but when his own 
 weakness becomes utter and entire, and he is ready to 
 perish, then he turns unto his Lord, and is made strong. 
 The utterly weak cry out mito God as nobody else does. 
 He is too weak to play at praying : he groans, he sighs, 
 he weeps. In his abject weakness he prevails, as Jacob 
 did. He wrestled all night ; but now at last the angel 
 has touched the hollow of his thigh, and made his sinew 
 shrink, and he cannot wrestle any longer. What will he 
 do now ? He falls ; and as he falls he grasps his antag- 
 onist, and holds him fast, crying, ^^ I will not let thee go 
 except thou bless me." As much as to say, " I cannot 
 wrestle with thee, I cannot try another fall ; but I can 
 and will hold thee fast. The dead weight of my 
 weakness makes me hold thee as an anchor holds a 
 ship. I will not let thee go except thou bless 
 me." 
 
 The weaker a man is in himself the stronger he is in 
 prayer, if he makes use of his weakness as an appealing 
 argument — " Lord, if I were strong, thou mightest leave 
 me. Do not leave me, for I am weakness itself. I am 
 the feeblest child in all thy family, leave me not, neither 
 forsake me. If thou leavest any, leave not thy poor dy- 
 ing infant, that can hardly wail out its griefs." Weak- 
 
3«8 ^ PARADOX. 
 
 ness, as a plea witli God in prayer, becomes a source of 
 strengtli. 
 
 When we are weak we are strong, again, because then 
 ive are driven aivay from self to God, All strengtli is in 
 God, and it is well to come to the one solitary store- 
 house and source of might. There is no power apart 
 from God. As long as you and I look to the creature, 
 we are looking to a cracked, broken cistern, that holds 
 no water ; but when we know that it is broken, and that 
 there is not a drop of water in it, then we hasten to the 
 great foimtain and well-head. While we rest in any 
 measure upon self, or the creature, we are standing with 
 one foot on the sand ; but when we get right away from 
 human nature because we are too weak to have the least 
 reliance upon self whatever, then we have both feet on 
 the rock, and this is safe standing. If thou believest in 
 the living God, and if all thine own existence is by be- 
 lieving, thou livest at a mighty rate. But if thou be- 
 lievest in God in a measure, and if, at the same time, 
 thou trustest thyself in a measure, thou art living at a 
 dying rate, and half the joy which is possible to thee is 
 lost. Thou art taking in bread with one hand, and poi- 
 son with the other : thou art feeding thy soul with sub- 
 stance and with shadow, and that makes a sorry mixt- 
 ure. When the shadow is clean taken away, and thou 
 hast nothing but the substance, then art thou a strong 
 man, fed upon substantial meat. 
 
 Last of all, dear friends, I believe that, when a man 
 is weak, he becomes strong to a large extent, because 
 Ms weakness compels him to concentrate all Ms fac- 
 ulties, 
 
 A sense of weakness brings out all the forces of a res- 
 olute spirit, and leads him to call in all the energy within 
 
A PARADOX. 389 
 
 Lis reach. When I have preached to you in extreme 
 weakness, as I have often done, when I have afterwards 
 read the sermon, I have been much more satisfied with 
 it than I have been with others in which I felt more 
 pleasure at the time. 
 
 God helps us most when we most need his help ; and, 
 besides that, the man himself is, by his weakness, forc- 
 ed to use himself right up. When a man feels himself 
 to be rather a large vessel, he puts in the tap somewhere 
 near the top, and only a small supply flows out to the 
 people ; but when he is, in his own feelings, like a poor 
 little cask with only a small supply in it, he puts 
 the tap right down at the bottom, and permits all 
 that is in the barrel to flow forth. Many a poor, 
 weak brother, who says all the little that he knows, gives 
 forth more instruction than the learned divine who only 
 favors his people with a small portion of his vast stores. 
 When a man, in serving God, spends himself to the last 
 farthing, he will often far more enrich his hearers than 
 the man of ten talents who uses his resources with 
 a prudent parsimony. Dear brother, it will often be a 
 good thing for you to feel, ^^ Now, God helping me, I 
 must do my very utmost this time. I have so little 
 ability that every faculty within me must be wide 
 awake, and serve God at its best." Thus your weakness 
 will arouse you, and set you on fire, and, by the 
 blessing of God, it will be the means of gaining you 
 strength. 
 
 Very well, then, let us pick up our tools and go to our 
 work rejoicing, feeling— Well, I may be weaker, or I 
 may be stronger in myself, but my strength is in my 
 God. If I should ever become stronger, then I must 
 pray for a deeper sense of weakness, lest I become weak 
 
390 ^ PARADOX. 
 
 througli my strength. And if I should ever become 
 weaker than I am, then I must hope and believe that I 
 am really becoming stronger in the Lord. Whether I 
 am weak or strong, what matters it ? He who never 
 fails and never changes will perfect his strength in my 
 weakness, and this is glory to me. Amen, 
 
f 
 
 INDICES 
 
 VOLS. I. TO XIX. 
 
 Memorial Library 
 
 OF 
 
 SPURGEON 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 (VOLUMES 1 TO 19.) 
 
 Volume 
 Abram called, a type of the 
 
 C'liurcli 19 
 
 Abram, Half-way obedience. of 19 
 
 Al).«oliUic)u 8 
 
 Abfioliuioii 5 
 
 Abs;oliition of the believer 17 
 
 Acceptance in Christ eternal.. 1:^2 
 
 Accepted in the Beloved 14 
 
 Accepting Christ immediately. 13 
 Account of Jud<?ment, Personal 4 
 
 Achan 3 
 
 Achievements of God, Unnoted 17 
 
 Action follows faith 19 
 
 Action the true end of t,hou^ht 13 
 Acts, The acceptance of a 
 
 (..'hristian's 
 
 "Added to the Church,'" what 
 
 it implies 10 
 
 Adoption, The Spirit of 5 
 
 Advocate, The Holy Spirit an. 1 
 
 ^neas of Lidda 10 
 
 Affection, Inordinate 4 
 
 Alfection, Undivided 9 
 
 Affliction, Oman's threshing- 
 floor a type of 15 
 
 A^e, Time of peculiar.. _. 2 
 
 Aged need salvation. The 12 
 
 Aged, Conversion of the 13 
 
 Aged, The God of the.. 2 
 
 Alarum, The 9 
 
 Altar ve7's us pulpit 3 
 
 Ambition, God humbles human 13 
 Ambassadors of God welcomed 12 
 Angels, Men warned by fallen. 16 
 
 Angel, The 5 
 
 Angels at the Bethel, The 10 
 
 Angels and Providence, The._ 2 
 Angels, The judgment of tlie. ' (j 
 Angels, ministers of comfort.. 5 
 Anglo Saxon race and the Gos- 
 pel 15 
 
 Anointed Saviour, Jesus the.. 10 
 Anxiety to keep God's Laws.. 13 
 Anxious believer, Martha an.. Id 
 
 Apostasy, Temptation to 15 
 
 Apostasy, Arguments urged for 15 
 
 Apostasy, How to combat 15 
 
 Apostolic work. Style of 1 
 
 Appeal to the sinner. Solemn. _ 13 
 
 Arab, Anecdote of street 6 
 
 Argument for becoming a 
 
 Christian 17 
 
 Argumentum adhominem. The 10 
 
 Ark, Animals in the 4 
 
 Ark, Size of the 4 
 
 Ark, the.. 5 
 
 Ark, The Parable of the. 4 
 
 Arnold 9 
 
 Page 
 
 57 
 
 60 
 
 69 
 
 158 
 
 291 
 
 200 
 
 295 
 
 117 
 
 13T 
 
 249 
 
 184 
 
 30 
 
 110 
 
 6 198 
 
 56 
 107 
 
 70 
 379 
 338 
 332 
 
 346 
 365 
 
 17 
 357 
 361 
 342 
 157 
 372 
 127 
 
 56 
 
 40 
 290 
 192 
 
 51 
 199 
 
 73 
 
 384 
 
 3:31 
 
 183 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 392 
 
 122 
 
 58 
 
 232 
 
 370 
 
 14 
 
 3 
 
 367 
 
 1 
 
 63 
 
 Volume 
 
 Asa, The error of King 10 
 
 Ascension, Lessons of the 17 
 
 Ashamed of Jesus 12 
 
 Asj)iration urged 15 
 
 Assurance 4 
 
 Assurances 5 
 
 Atonement antedates ein 12 
 
 Atonement, The blood of 2 
 
 Atonement, The day of 2 
 
 Atonement, The limit of 4 
 
 Attention to Christ 13 
 
 Attending Church 12 
 
 Attributes of God, The. 7 
 
 Avarice 5 
 
 Awake, How to keep 9 
 
 "Awake." How to keep. 1 
 
 A wheel, Providence like 2 
 
 Babel, Building 
 
 Backsliders, The 
 
 Backsliders, Mercy for 
 
 Ba'-ksliders returning 
 
 Bakers, The 
 
 Balaam 
 
 Balaam 
 
 Balaam 
 
 Banquet, Satan's 
 
 Baptism and remission of sin. 
 Baptism a refreshment of faith 
 
 Baptism not Regeneration 
 
 Baptism of children not admin- 
 istered by the disciples... 
 Baptism the avowal of faith.. 
 
 Baptism, The effects of 
 
 Baptism in the Prayer Book.. 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration 
 
 Baptismal Service in the Prayer 
 
 Book 
 
 Baptists, The old confession 
 
 of faith of _ 
 
 "• Base Things," The 
 
 Battle, Thoughts on the last- 
 Begging, How to go a 
 
 Beggar, The blind. 
 
 Belief and Baptism.. _ 
 
 Belief in Christ, Motives to.__ 
 
 Belief, The Christian's _. 
 
 Believer a saved man. The 
 
 Believer's cliallenge. The 
 
 Believer's confidence, The 
 
 Believer, Illustration of anx- 
 ious 
 
 Believer, Marks of the true... 
 Believer stands when angels 
 
 fall 
 
 Believer's testimony 
 
 Page 
 73 
 
 381 
 
 328 
 
 89 
 
 81 
 
 144 
 
 199 
 
 113 
 
 1U4 
 
 220 
 
 225 
 
 77 
 
 67 
 
 280 
 
 352 
 
 3.9 
 
 190 
 
 307 
 204 
 15G 
 
 34 
 123 
 
 75 
 244 
 265 
 270 
 124 
 
 33 
 
 24 
 
 31 
 151 
 
 70 
 309 
 274 
 394 
 399 
 151 
 311 
 346 
 232 
 156 
 
 183 
 40 
 
394 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume 
 Believers only to be added to 
 
 theChurch... — 10 
 
 Benediction, A New Year's 7 
 
 Bereavements 2 
 
 Bereavements _ 8 
 
 Bereavements, Sudden 7 
 
 Bereft, The cry of the ._. 11 
 
 Bethel, The God of 10 
 
 Bible, Authority of the 1 
 
 Bible, God's message 12 
 
 Bible, God the author of the.. 1 
 
 Bible, how treated 1 
 
 Bible, The 1 
 
 Bitter waters sweetened 9 
 
 Blessedness of pardon 12 
 
 Blessedness of those receiving 
 
 Christ 18 
 
 Blessings are all from God 17 
 
 Blessings common to all 17 
 
 B!e^sings, Gnvenant 6 
 
 Blessings, Future, argued from 
 
 the past 17 
 
 Blessings of the past confessed 17 
 Blessings. Special and personal 17 
 
 Blood of Abel 5 
 
 Blood of Christ. Price of the.. 5 
 
 Blood of the Lamb 19 
 
 Blood of Lamb. Efflcacv of the 5 
 
 Blood, Shedding the... 3 
 
 Jilood-sprinkled safe, The 10 
 
 Blood, The Avenger of 3 
 
 Blood, The Sprinkled 10 
 
 Boastins: excluded by faith 7 
 
 Boasting, Sin and fol'lvof 13 
 
 Boasting. Sin of, illustrated... 13 
 Bodies. Heavenly. Proof as to. 14 
 Body, Earthly, to be dissolved. 14 
 
 Body, h'esurrection of the 18 
 
 Body, The members of the 10 
 
 Body to be glorified 14 
 
 •• Born again " 7 
 
 " Bread enough and to spare " 9 
 
 Bread, The children's 10 
 
 Brethren, The accuser of the.. 7 
 
 Brewer J 5 
 
 Bride of Christ prepared by 
 
 the Holy Spirit... 19 
 
 Broad wall, The 9 
 
 Broken bones 4 
 
 Broken hearts 2 
 
 Brotherhood of Christians 5 
 
 Brotherly kindness 6 
 
 Bruised reed 2 
 
 Building, Spiritual 14 
 
 Buildinor, Wrong methods of 
 
 spiritual 14 
 
 Bun van, John 6 
 
 Bunvan's preaching 4 
 
 Burial Service of Church of 
 
 England, The 8 
 
 Business and holiness 15 
 
 Bus'-iess man's need of salva- 
 tion 12 
 
 Business, Mind your own 7 
 
 Page 
 
 55 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 122 
 
 331 
 
 80 
 
 282 
 
 29 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 38.i 
 226 
 
 25 
 
 37 
 
 34 
 
 230 
 
 40 
 
 31 
 
 35 
 
 66 
 
 65 
 
 304 
 
 305 
 
 283 
 
 248 
 
 108 
 
 244 
 
 289 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 
 151 
 
 142 
 
 127 
 
 14 
 
 190 
 
 163 
 
 284 
 
 373 
 
 98 
 
 125 
 
 348 
 
 98 
 
 124 
 
 19 
 
 104 
 
 331 
 
 247 
 
 42 
 
 34 
 
 70 
 
 15 
 105 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Business stagnation 17 47 
 
 Builder, The. 51 126 
 
 Butcher 5 124 
 
 Buying God's blessings 14 263 
 
 "By-path Meadow" rougher 
 
 than King's Highway 10 85 
 
 Caesar's money 10 111 
 
 Called 1 100 
 
 Called out of the world 19 73 
 
 Calling and election 3 345 
 
 Calmness and evidence of faith 15 295 
 
 Calumny, Malicious 1 199 
 
 Calvary, A visit to 2 328 
 
 Calvinism. 2 69 
 
 Calvinism 5 90 
 
 Calvinism condensed 17 264 
 
 Captiousness. Warning against 16 82 
 
 Cares. Old, tempt to apostasy. 15 14 
 
 Carnal mind. Serenity of the.. 1 233 
 
 Carnal mind subdued 13 380 
 
 Carried by four 9 456 
 
 Ceremony dispensed with 9 464 
 
 Chaflf driven away. The 7 293 
 
 Chanseableness in common 
 
 affairs 13 287 
 
 Changeableness in spiritual 
 
 affairs 13 298 
 
 Chapters, Bible clumsily di- 
 vided into 17 274 
 
 Chastening, Comfort under.. _ 4 344 
 Chastisement not punishment. 7 73 
 Chastisement of saints illus- 
 trated 18 125 
 
 Children, Blessings upon, illus- 
 trated 18 252 
 
 Children brought to Christ not 
 
 to the font 8 36 
 
 Children converted 8 48 
 
 Children, Examples of con- 
 verted 2 348 
 
 Children may be Christians 2 346 
 
 Children need salvation 12 12 
 
 Children not baptized by dis- 
 ciples 8 38 
 
 Children not brought to Christ 
 
 for baptism 8 38 
 
 Children of Godly parents 11 222 
 
 Children, Salvation of. 7 158 
 
 Children, Teaching 2 345 
 
 Choice, God's strange _ 8 297 
 
 Christ, a curse for us. 2 290 
 
 Christ a friend, why? 3 15 
 
 Christ, Achievements of 11 114 
 
 Christ, a gate to a feast 13 313 
 
 Christ, a gate to home 13 312 
 
 Christ, All, all through 19 147 
 
 Christ a man, the power of God 3 383 
 Christ a man, the wisdom of 
 
 God 3 383 
 
 Christ, An acquired fulness in. 12 253 
 
 Christ and Christian union 11 165 
 
 Christ an indispensable Medi- 
 ator 12 123 
 
IXDEX OF 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Christ, anointed Leader 11 271 
 
 Christ, appointed of God 12 115 
 
 Christ, a ransom 12 CiO 
 
 \^Christ, a sacrifice for sin 4 217 
 
 Christ as a friend 9 261 
 
 Christ as agate .._ 13 311 
 
 Christ, Ascension of 17 3G8 
 
 Christ, a substitute.. 12 43 
 
 Christ, a \viilin<? sufferer 18 8G 
 
 Christ breaking the way into 
 
 Heaven .18 66 
 
 Christ brings no clouds 11 68 
 
 Christ, chief target for evil 11 168 
 
 Christ, Condescension of 4 364 
 
 Christ, Conformity to 9 453 
 
 Christ conquering death 11 184 
 
 Christ conquering Satan 11 188 
 
 Christ, Constancy of 11 13 
 
 Christ crucified.. 1 85 
 
 Christ, Decreed death of 4 211 
 
 Christ defeating sin 11 180 
 
 Christ despised but successful. 11 276 
 
 Christ died for sinners 2 416 
 
 Christ died once for all 5 308 
 
 Christ displeased... 8 42 
 
 Christ dying for sin 14 86 
 
 Christ ever" faithful 6 293 
 
 Christ, Exaltation of 2 13G 
 
 Christ, Exaltation of 17 362 
 
 Christ exalted by God 2 146 
 
 Christ, Fulness of perfection in 12 257 
 Christ, Fulness of prerogative 
 
 in 12 255 
 
 Christ given to believers 11 174 
 
 Christ glorified 4 377 
 
 Christ glorious 9 248 
 
 Christ glorious. Preach 8 181 
 
 Christ, Glory of 11 11 
 
 Christ God's covering for sin. 12 197 
 
 Christ gone into Heaven 17 368 
 
 Christ, Guidance of 11 16 
 
 Christ, His nature a mystery.. 44 163 
 
 Christ, His power in Heaven.. 18 83 
 
 Christ, His resurrection 18 i;i3 
 
 \ Christ, How to find 3 101 
 
 "^Christ, Humiliation of 17 345 
 
 Christ, Immutability of 4 178 
 
 Christ, Influence of. 11 15 
 
 Christ in Gethsemane 18 75 
 
 Christ in vou... 14 174 
 
 Christ is a feast 13 313 
 
 Christ is all 9 429 
 
 Christ looking on Peter 19 282 
 
 Christ made a spoil of 7 112 
 
 Christ meat and drink. 6 152 
 
 Christ, Merits of _ 7 25 
 
 Christ must be received 18 18 
 
 Christ, mystical, the second 
 
 rock 2 321 
 
 Christ, No limit to power of.. 15 200 
 
 Christ now our representative. 17 374 
 
 Christ only... 19 340 
 
 Christ only the hope of sinners 14 167 
 
 Christ on the Cross 7 118 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Christ, Opposition to, vain 6 73 
 
 Christ our banner 11 164 
 
 Christ olr guide in battle 11 167 
 
 Chrititiiiir high-priest... 17 343 
 
 Christ^r king... 12 96 
 
 Christ our Iving 14 90 
 
 Christ our lamb 18 115 
 
 Christ our rej)resentative 19 212 
 
 Christ our substitute 19 211 
 
 Christ, personal, The first rock 
 
 was 2 313 
 
 Christ possesses all things 12 118 
 
 Christ precious „ 6 3."0 
 
 Christ precious to believers 8 261 
 
 Christ, Purpose of 6 93 
 
 Christ rejected of men 11 273 
 
 Christ rich.... 4 365 
 
 Christ, Rough character of 
 
 hearers of 15 227 
 
 Christ soul meat 9 149 
 
 Christ subject for the gratitude 
 
 of the aires 12 247 
 
 Christ, Suffering for... 7 CO 
 
 Christ supi)lies all needs 18 11 
 
 Christ symbolized by a star 11 7 
 
 Christ symbolized by morning 
 
 light 11 63 
 
 Christ, the centre of faith 19 40 
 
 Christ, the Christian's copy_._ 14 230 
 
 Christ the Comforter 11 171 
 
 Christ, The condescension of_ 4 364 
 
 Christ, The death of 4 209 
 
 Christ, the emblem of Chris- 
 tian's victorv 11 172 
 
 Christ, the faithful promiscr.. 4 101 
 Christ, The fulness of God in. 12 251 
 Christ, The fulness of human- 
 ity in 12 252 
 
 Christ the gate of Paradise 13 315 
 
 Christ the gate of the City of 
 
 Refuge 13 311 
 
 Christ the gift of the Father.. 11 173 
 Christ the greatest of prophets 
 
 and teachers 4 98 
 
 Christ 1 he herald of glory 11 19 
 
 Christ the hope of glory 14 179 
 
 Christ the life-giving bread... 18 9 
 
 Christ the life of His people.. 15 196 
 
 Christ the Mediator 12 95 
 
 Christ the most eloquent of 
 
 preachers 4 99 
 
 Christ the object of faith 19 22 
 
 Christ the power and wisdom 
 
 of God 3 375 
 
 Christ the property of the be- 
 liever 2 390 
 
 Christ the rock 2 214 
 
 Christ the ton of the Father.. 17 355 
 Christ the substituting sacri- 
 fice 9 129 
 
 Christ the tree of life 11 134 
 
 Christ the wooer 4 103 
 
 Christ, This rock was 2 312 
 
 Christ to be used by all. 18 27 
 
396 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Christ triumphant 7 113 
 
 Christ, Unsearchable riches of. 9 254 
 
 Christ, Variety in 6 255 
 
 Christ wasrich 4 368 
 
 Christ, What think ye of 10 107 
 
 Christ, Witness of, contirmed. 2 217 
 
 Christ, Wonder of.. 11 17 
 
 Christ wonderful in past 5 17 
 
 Christ wonderful in present. ._ 5 24 
 
 Christ, Wrath of 12 104 
 
 Christ's authority. Nature of__ 11 8 
 
 Christ's blood, sole drink 9 150 
 
 Christ's cause safe 17 381 
 
 Christ's death. Intention of... 6 99 
 
 Christ's death. Object of 6 105 
 
 Christ's death the act of God.. 4 214 
 Christ's death tlie core of 
 
 Christianity 18 217 
 
 Christ's death the Father's will 4 212 
 
 Christ's ritness as a leader 11 272 
 
 Christ's flesh me:it indeed 9 144 
 
 Christ's fulness received by 
 
 saints 12 260 
 
 Chirst's invitation, to whom ex- 
 tended 14 256 
 
 Christ's qualifications as priest 17 345 
 Christ's sonship acknowledged 
 
 by the Father 14 275 
 
 Christ's sufferings an appeal to 
 
 sinners '. 13 126 
 
 Christ's sufferings unique 13 133 
 
 Christ's sufferings vicarious 13 136 
 
 Christ's Avork for the lost pre- 
 cedes that of the Christian 16 18 
 
 Christ's youth, The dew of 6 . 249 
 
 Christian army, The 5 388 
 
 Christian a brand out of fire... 13 352 
 
 Christian, Achievements of the 11 125 
 
 Christian, A fallen 5 250 
 
 Christian, a man "in Christ 
 
 Jesus" 17 282 
 
 Christian a soldier 11 93 
 
 Christian intercourse 14 126 
 
 Christian, Manner of origin of 16 159 
 
 Christian, Marks of the true.. 15 32 
 
 Christian, Object of creation of 16 164 
 
 Christian, Privileges of 11 50 
 
 Christian, Sad state of unfruit- 
 ful 11 160 
 
 Christian, Satan's devices 
 
 against 13 390 
 
 Christian, The humble 13 384 
 
 Christian, The, is Christ's 
 
 workmanship 16 150 
 
 Christian's attitude toward God 18 157 
 
 Christian's enjoyments 11 37 
 
 Christian's exaltation 15 84 
 
 Christian's • experience con- 
 formed to Christ's 11 113 
 
 Christian's need of the Holy 
 
 Spirit 11 256 
 
 Christian's origin in God 16 157 
 
 Christian's pleasures.- 11 24 
 
 Christian's power in Heaven.. 18 85 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Christian's prayer, The 5 157 
 
 Christian's progress. The 10 215 
 
 Christian's safety 11 32 
 
 Christians are children.of God. 16 224 
 Christians disti nguishable from 
 
 others il 26 
 
 Christians,God's preparation of 16 167 
 
 Christians in Christ 14' 282 
 
 Christians like Christ 1 253 
 
 Christians not responsible for 
 
 sinners' rejection of Christ 19 365 
 
 Christians, Weak 7 17 
 
 Christians, when liable to sleep 1 355 
 
 Christians without comfort... 5 204 
 Christians separated from the 
 
 worid 11 23 
 
 Christianity, Practical 14 228 
 
 Christmas sermon 5 389 
 
 Chrvsostom 7 204 
 
 Church a blessing. The 1 136 
 
 Church a building, The 6 444 
 
 Church, Additions to the 10 48 
 
 Church, Admission into, does 
 
 not save 11 45 
 
 Church, a glorious temple. 
 
 The 6 450 
 
 Church a habitation, The 6 445 
 
 Church, A Holy Ghost 10 60 
 
 Church and ritualism, The 
 
 eariy 10 51 
 
 Church and State, The 10 109 
 
 Church, Christ's care of 17 320 
 
 Church, Christ sees faults of.. 17 323 
 Church. Christ prescribing for 
 
 faults of the 17 331 
 
 Church described by God 15 373 
 
 Church, Destructive power of 14 88 
 
 Church dwelling in srardens... 14 119 
 
 Churches. Apostolic 1 337 
 
 Church enterprise. Enlarging. 13 43 
 
 Church, How to enter the 11 42 
 
 Church. Joining the. urged... 15 378 
 Church needs to repent. The.. 17 333 
 Church not entered by birth- 
 right 11 43 
 
 Church of Ciirist. The 1 134 
 
 Church of Englandism 8 26 
 
 Church tempted to compro- 
 mise 19 357 
 
 Church, The conspicuous 6 219 
 
 Church, The, following Christ 18 70 
 
 Church, The prayer of the 6 26 
 
 Church, The, unhurt by scoffs. 14 372 
 
 Church. The willing 6 227 
 
 Church. The wonderful future 
 
 of the 5 28 
 
 Church to be a blessing. The.. 1 147 
 
 Church. Trials of the 8 138 
 
 Church, Union with the 7 167 
 
 Church venerable, The 6 220 
 
 Circumstances an excuse for 
 
 rejecting Christ 12 c05 
 
 Come and welcome 7 344 
 
 Comforter, The 1 66 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 397 
 
 Volume 
 Comfort from Christ's con- 
 quests 11 
 
 Comfort, Heavenly, promised. 12 
 
 Comfort, Means of.. ._ 5 
 
 Comfort proclaimed 5 
 
 Comfort, Wise methods of 18 
 
 Coming of Christ a motive to 
 
 holiness 17 
 
 Comini,' to Jesus 12 
 
 Comin<^ to Jesus..,. 18 
 
 Commandment, The first and 
 
 great 4 
 
 Commandments, Ten, broken. 9 
 Commandments broken, The. 10 
 
 Communiou with God 9 
 
 Companions bind to sin 16 
 
 Companions, Evil 12 
 
 Concealment, A gracious 2 
 
 Concentration, Necessity for.. 19 
 
 Condemnation 12 
 
 Condemnation, The believer 
 
 free from 17 
 
 Condescension of God 14 
 
 Conduct, A man's, comes 
 
 home 10 
 
 Conduct shows faith 15 
 
 Confessing Christ 12 
 
 Confessing Christ 13 
 
 Confessing Christ always 11 
 
 Confessing Christ encouraged. 15 
 
 Confession and absolution 5 
 
 Confession of faith a duty 15 
 
 Confession of faith, Public 19 
 
 Confession of Joseph of Ari- 
 
 mathea 15 
 
 Confession of sin 5 
 
 Confession of sin... 15 
 
 Confidence in God illustrated. 14 
 
 Confidence, Paul's 7 
 
 Confidence toward God 16 
 
 Confidence urged 15 
 
 Confirmation unauthorized... 8 
 
 Conformity to the world. 19 
 
 Conscience 4 
 
 Conscience a barrier against 
 
 sin 5 
 
 Conscience, an approving 16 
 
 Con^^cience not God's vicege- 
 rent 10 
 
 Conscience not the supreme 
 
 court 16 
 
 Conscience should be respected 13 
 Conscience, The trial in the... 16 
 Consecrated man, Danger of 
 
 the 5 
 
 Consecrated man. Strength of. 5 
 
 Consecrating all to God 13 
 
 Consecration and spiritual 
 
 power 18 
 
 Consecration, Early and entire 13 
 Consecration, God's grace a 
 
 motive to 16 
 
 Consecration, how broken 5 
 
 Consecration, The privilege of. 5 
 
 Page 
 
 190 
 148 
 209 
 197 
 303 
 
 280 
 108 
 346 
 
 301 
 162 
 129 
 140 
 
 87 
 301 
 
 212 
 
 277 
 
 203 
 
 298 
 219 
 60 
 176 
 126 
 147 
 297 
 140 
 
 135 
 
 149 
 
 349 
 
 347 
 
 91 
 
 238 
 
 92 
 
 68 
 
 359 
 
 200 
 
 189 
 2;i3 
 
 128 
 
 232 
 
 402 
 224 
 
 240 
 
 239 
 
 65 
 
 42 
 395 
 
 77 
 248 
 243 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Consolation of Israel 4 104 
 
 Continuance with Je&us pos- 
 sible 9 54 
 
 Consulting God illustrated 16 316 
 
 Contempt for Chri!^t 12 204 
 
 Conversation, Influence of 12 86 
 
 Conversion.. 19 26 
 
 Conversion, An old-fashioned. 10 147 
 
 Conversion, Instantaneous 7 231 
 
 Conversion, Instantaneous 9 240 
 
 Conversion, Mr. Spurgeons.. 10 393 
 Conversion, The modus oper- 
 andi always the same 10 152 
 
 Conversions, Extraordinary... 7 236 
 Converfs fight with the "old 
 
 man" 16 135 
 
 Convicted sinner's alternative. 13 103 
 Conviction of sin and repen- 
 tance 15 348 
 
 Conviction precedes covering 
 
 of sin : 12 196 
 
 Counselor 4 106 
 
 "Counselor," The 5 31 
 
 Counselor to us 5 45 
 
 Counselor with God, A 5 32 
 
 Covenant, Christ is the 2 3j5 
 
 Covenant, God mindful of 6 238 
 
 Covenant of Grace, its power. 18 224 
 
 Covenant, The 9 17'2 
 
 Covenant, The blood of the... 7 212 
 
 Covenant, The eternal surety of 4 97 
 
 Covenant, The everlasting 7 220 
 
 Covenant, The scope of the... 6 243 
 Covenant, Those interested in 
 
 the 9 174 
 
 "Covet, Thou Shalt not" 10 138 
 
 Covetousness 6 127 
 
 Crimean soldiers 2 18 
 
 Cripple at Lystra, The 8 241 
 
 Criticism, Independence of... 11 282 
 
 Crosses no curses 8 115 
 
 Cross, Life at the foot of the.. 16 192 
 
 Cross, Taking up one's 13 66 
 
 Cross, The, meeting-place of 
 
 Christ and the sinner 15 351 
 
 Cup, The, symbol of Christ's 
 
 death 18 214 
 
 Curse removed. The. 3 280 
 
 Darkness at Calvary, Symbol- 
 ism of 17 105 
 
 Darkness at Calvary, what it 
 
 concealed 17 100 
 
 Darkness at noon... 17 92 
 
 Darkness, Times of 9 177 
 
 David fighting Goliath a tvpe 
 
 of Christ. -"-.. 11 247 
 
 David an example fur Chris- 
 tians.. 11 258 
 
 Dead, Living must carry on 
 
 work of." 16 3C5 
 
 Dead Khali live when Jesus 
 
 cornea 15 192 
 
398 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume 
 Dead, The, are alive with the 
 
 Lord.... 15 
 
 Death 9 
 
 Death, Advantage of consider- 
 ing 15 
 
 Death appointed according to 
 
 God"8 purpose 18 
 
 Death a rea) blessing 18 
 
 Death, A sudden 15 
 
 Death as viewed by believer 
 
 and unbeliever.. _ 15 
 
 Death-bed repentance 13 
 
 Death certain without Christ.. 18 
 Death comes to all impartially. 15 
 
 Death comes to the godly 16 
 
 Death common to all.. _ 18 
 
 Death conquered by Christ 11 
 
 Death explained by unity of 
 
 God's family _ 17 
 
 Death, Fear of _. 7 
 
 Death God's message 12 
 
 Death, God gives victory over_ 13 
 Death instructive, The thought 
 
 of.. 17 
 
 Death neither dreaded nor 
 
 sought.. 17 
 
 Death never occurs unknown 
 
 to God-. 17 
 
 Death of Jesus 18 
 
 Death of Jesus, Lesson from 
 
 the 18 
 
 Death of the Son of God 17 
 
 Death of the unbeliever 13 
 
 Death, Personal knowledge as 
 
 to 17 
 
 Death, (^uiet expectation of.._ 17 
 
 Death, Remember 7 
 
 Death shall not come to all the 
 
 race 15 
 
 Death, Sudden... 7 
 
 Death the beginning of life 15 
 
 Death, The results of _ 7 
 
 Death, The second 7 
 
 Death, The terrors of.. _ 7 
 
 Death, The warninss of. _ 7 
 
 Death, Thinking about 17 
 
 Death to be thought of by the 
 
 young 17 
 
 Death, Why it comes to useful 
 
 men 17 
 
 Deception abhorred of God 8 
 
 Deceptively submissive, The._ 9 
 Dedication to God all-impor- 
 tant 13 
 
 Defection from Christ, Causes 
 
 of „ 12 
 
 Deliverance proclaimed 4 
 
 Deliverance will come 19 
 
 Delusion of falsely thinking 
 
 oneself in Christ 13 
 
 Denying the faith 19 
 
 Deserting Christ, its conse- 
 quences 12 
 
 Desertion 2 
 
 Page 
 
 194 
 
 265 
 
 54 
 
 176 
 181 
 51 
 
 70 
 323 
 23 
 52 
 345 
 166 
 184 
 
 31 
 416 
 
 315 
 
 115 
 
 97 
 
 87 
 
 302 
 310 
 126 
 
 193 
 334 
 69 
 132 
 369 
 131 
 133 
 297 
 
 301 
 
 72 
 
 185 
 200 
 
 60 
 
 293 
 236 
 227 
 
 321 
 41 
 
 311 
 
 20 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Desiring salvation 14 261 
 
 Despair, The repentance of-__ 3 250 
 
 Despising God's mercy 14 107 
 
 Despondency to be abandoned 12 76 
 Destitution, Extremity of hu- 
 man 10 97 
 
 Destroyers of souls themselves 
 
 destroyed 13 417 
 
 Determined seeking for salva- 
 tion 19 103 
 
 Deterioration, Tendency of all 
 
 things toward 15 359 
 
 Devil's defeat, The 2 308 
 
 Devotion, Ardent 9 336 
 
 Difficulties of Christian life... 11 211 
 
 Diffidence, The wisdom of 13 219 
 
 Diligence in spiritual things.. 12 23 
 Diligence makes a life attrac- 
 tive 15 10 
 
 Disappointment 2 22 
 
 Discipline desirable in a Chris- 
 tian 11 284 
 
 Discontent 17 31 
 
 Discoverers of Christ 17 194 
 
 Discovery of Christ, how made 17 197 
 
 Diseases, God sends 10 81 
 
 Disgrace, The Christian's 5 249 
 
 Disobedient, The avowedly 9 189 
 
 Distrust of self illustrated 12 315 
 
 Divine interposition for salva- 
 tion 14 365 
 
 Doctrine, Absence of sound-. - 3 85 
 Doctrine of Christ displeases 
 
 many 12 294 
 
 Doctrines of the gospel 8 245 
 
 Doctrme, Unsound, leads to 
 
 desertion of Christ 12 307 
 
 Doing floes not precede faith.. 12 22 
 
 Dogs, The little _ 10 360 
 
 Door in art 4 11 
 
 Door, The closed 14 208 
 
 Double-minded man, The 3 244 
 
 Doubter. The, comforted 11 231 
 
 Doubts and fears 7 37 
 
 Drawings of the Lord 17 262 
 
 Drelincourt on death 7 127 
 
 Duties 17 138 
 
 Duty, Faithful to the post of.. 17 250 
 
 Duty in the midst of darkness. 18 358 
 
 Dwelling place 2 8 
 
 Dwelling place, Heavenly 14 148 
 
 Dying hour, The 17 167 
 
 Early converts and church 
 members 10 
 
 Earth not everlasting, The 17 
 
 Effectual grace 9 
 
 Egypt and Israel 7 
 
 Election 2 
 
 Election 8 
 
 Election, Absolute 2 
 
 Election as an obstacle 2 
 
 Election a source of comfort.. 8 
 
 52 
 
 50 
 
 216 
 
 304 
 76 
 
 298 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 399 
 
 iolume Page 
 
 Election a ponrce of joy 1 52 
 
 Ek'ctioii a ^trip[)ing doctrine— 2 83 
 
 Election, Elcinal 2 78 
 
 Election in ttie case of Onesi- 
 
 nms 10 304 
 
 Eleciion no discouragement. __ 8 222 
 
 Election, Particular 3 343 
 
 Election, Personal 2 7'J 
 
 Election, Prayer a proof of 1 184 
 
 Elijah only 9 426 
 
 Emer^^ency men, God's 15 118 
 
 Emotions and the cross 2 335 
 
 Empty, All stand go before 
 
 Christ, illustration 12 259 
 
 End, Endure to the 8 150 
 
 Enemies of the soul 13 205 
 
 Enmity against God 1 2>50 
 
 }< nvy an arciier 1 190 
 
 Ephesus, The Church of 5 164 
 
 Errinji saints, A rebuke for.._ 8 59 
 Established church, a spiritual 
 
 tyranny. An 10 110 
 
 Estate, Sin against one's 2 243 
 
 Esther, why made Queen 5 249 
 
 Eternity, Projecting oneself 
 
 into 17 318 
 
 Eternity, We are hastening to. 15 60 
 
 Evans, Rev. Christmas 5 347 
 
 Evening of life clouded, The__ 10 82 
 
 Evening time of Christ 4 276 
 
 Everlasting, Love of God is... 12 279 
 
 Everybody's sermon 5 112 
 
 Evidences of God's drawing.. 12 282 
 
 Evidence sufficient 19 86 
 
 Evil and its remedies. The 5 222 
 
 Exaltation of Christ 17 363 
 
 Exaltation of Christ a comfort, 
 
 The 2 138 
 
 Excitement, Religious 7 16 
 
 Excuses, Frivolous.. 4 247 
 
 Excuses of sinners. The 4 227 
 
 Excuse, Without 19 208 
 
 Exhortation to sinners.. 12 139 
 
 Expectation of salvation, Ex- 
 hortation to 17 238 
 
 Experience a master doctor... 10 44 
 
 Experience, Christian 6 172 
 
 Experience, Personal 3 392 
 
 Experience sometimes a snare. 19 375 
 
 Experience, Testifying from.. 16 199 
 
 Expiation... 8 96 
 
 External evidence of religious 
 
 truth 14 270 
 
 Extremity, God provides in 
 
 time of 15 319 
 
 Eyes, Using one's IGj 103 
 
 Facts of the gospel, The 8 244 
 
 Faith 3 256 
 
 Faith 6 328 
 
 Faith alwavs successful 11 218 
 
 Faith, Analysis of Luther's... 14 348 
 
 Faith and pleasing God 1 304 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Faith and prayer 7 145 
 
 Faith, An illustration of 3 104 
 
 Faith confirmed by the seasons 17 65 
 Faith, Christ acknowledges 
 
 little.. ... 16 259 
 
 Faith, Deliverance of litMe 16 262 
 
 Faith, Ellects of exercising... 19 272 
 Faith, Endeavor after growth 
 
 in 16 283 
 
 Faith. Estimate of little 10 249 
 
 Faith, Growth in 16 277 
 
 Faith, How to exercise 19 269 
 
 Faith, How to hold fast 19 43 
 
 Faith illustrated 7 79 
 
 Faith illustrated 11 145 
 
 Faith illustrated 13 176 
 
 Faith illustrated 13 177 
 
 Faith, its grandeur 7 81 
 
 Faith, Justified by 7 279 
 
 Faith, Little 16 246 
 
 Faith. Little 7 36 
 
 Faith, Luther's 14 348 
 
 Faith made inanifest in the life 
 
 of Jesus 19 213 
 
 Faith more than belief 14 336 
 
 Faith never disputes with God 10 367 
 Faith not understood by the 
 
 world 15 301 
 
 Faith not works 1 374 
 
 Faith, No luiion with Christ 
 
 without 1 376 
 
 Faith of the Fathers, The 7 150 
 
 Faith. Practical 19 218 
 
 Faith, Rahab's 3 269 
 
 Faith, Rebuke of little 16 265 
 
 Faith's reward 19 31 
 
 Faith, Saving 8 248 
 
 Faith speaks as a prophet 15 316 
 
 Faith the centre of the Chris- 
 tian graces 16 290 
 
 Faith. The Conflagration of.._ 16 387 
 
 Faith, The diseases of 7 152 
 
 Faith, The flame of 16 382 
 
 Faith, The ground of 7 266 
 
 Faith, The growing fire of 16 379 
 
 Faith, The justification of 7 87 
 
 Faith, The leisure of 16 385 
 
 Faith, The leper's 19 19 
 
 Faith, The marks of 7 141 
 
 Faith, The obedience of_ 7 156 
 
 Faith, The object of 7 261 
 
 Faith the onlv channel of life.. 15 198 
 
 Faith, The reason of 7 264 
 
 Faith, The result of 7 273 
 
 Faith the secret of success 11 127 
 
 Faith, Tlie spark of 16 371 
 
 Faith, The stages of 7 142 
 
 Faith the stooping grace 1 373 
 
 Faith, The victorv of 1 289 
 
 Faith, The warrant of 7 269 
 
 Faith the way of salvation 14 339 
 
 Faith, Union with Christ by.. 3 266 
 
 Faith, what it is 7 31 
 
 Faith will be finally justified.. 15 311 
 
400 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Yohnne Page 
 
 Faith will be mocked at 15 306 
 
 Faith wins her suit 10 376 
 
 Faith working through love— 14 342 
 
 Fabehood 8 821 
 
 Falsehoods of Satan 2 302 
 
 Familv, Happiness of a Chris- 
 tian .-_ 16 390 
 
 Farmer, The 5 123 
 
 Fatherhood of God and death 
 
 of the saints 17 72 
 
 Fatherhood of God and prayer, 
 
 The 5 108 
 
 Fatherhood of God, The 5 96 
 
 Father's liout^e. The 9 287 
 
 Faults cured by more of Jesus_ 15 189 
 
 Fear as a motive used by God_ 17 251 
 
 Fear dishonors God 4 361 
 
 Fear excluded 7 290 
 
 Fear not-_. 4 350 
 
 Fear of man 18 387 
 
 Fear of man, Warning against 15 121 
 
 Fear of sin 13 330 
 
 Feast of the Lord, The — 5 289 
 
 Fed by Christ 15 222 
 
 Feelings a false ground of sal- 
 vation 12 213 
 
 Felix trembling 4 199 
 
 Fellowship with Christ 12 222 
 
 Fellowship with Christ invited 14 131 
 
 Fenelon 9 63 
 
 Fickleness of man 18 381 
 
 Fight evil, Incentive to. 11 192 
 
 Fire, The barley field on. 8 112 
 
 '•First love" 5 166 
 
 First love, Declension from... 5 164 
 
 First love restored.. 5 175 
 
 Fletcher quoted.. 9 152 
 
 Following Christ 13 68 
 
 Food, Demand and supply of 
 
 spiritual 17 117 
 
 Food, Spiritual, to be sought.. 17 131 
 Food, Whv spiritual food satis- 
 fies,.: 17 125 
 
 Forbearance of God 14 103 
 
 Forbidden possessions exclude 
 
 from Christ 13 319 
 
 Foreknowledge of sin, God's__ 13 29 
 
 Forethought in labor for souls 9 462 
 Foundation, Why build aright 
 
 the 14 47 
 
 Forgiveness craved 13 143 
 
 Forgiveness, The privileges of 7 75 
 Forgiveness, why a state of 
 
 blessedness 12 239 
 
 Form and spirit of rel igion , The 5 353 
 Form of religion important, 
 
 The 5 355 
 
 Fox, George 3 34 
 
 Free agency and God's fore- 
 knowledge 13 30 
 
 Free grace 3 393 
 
 Freeness of gospel, The 10 87 
 
 Free salvation, God's offer of. 14 264 
 
 Friend, A Faithful 3 11 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Friends of Jesus, Special 16 10 
 
 Friend, The sinner's 8 206 
 
 Fruitfuluess a source of com- 
 fort 12 152 
 
 Frait bearing 7 299 
 
 Fruits meet for repentance 7 41 
 
 Fulness of Christ for all saints 12 230 
 Future, Christian's, assured by 
 
 the past 11 130 
 
 Future heavenly estate. Faith 
 
 in 11 209 
 
 Future, Man's ignorance of 
 
 the 15 55 
 
 " Gadding about," The sin of.. 9 
 Gains through Christ exceed 
 
 losses through 19 
 
 Gate, Outside the 13 
 
 Gently or not gently 4 
 
 Gethsemane 18 
 
 Giant-killer, The 10 
 
 Gifts to Christ 19 
 
 Glorified in heaven, The state 
 
 of the 8 
 
 Glory, A view of God's 2 
 
 Glory of the saints, what it is. 14 
 Glorv reserved for ( Jod's people 14 
 
 Glory, Saints called to 14 
 
 God alone tits men for Heaven, 
 
 illustration 12 
 
 God cannot do. What 8 
 
 God's claim 4 
 
 God's eye upon the sinner 9 
 
 God, Far from 4 
 
 God gathering His people 18 
 
 God glorified 9 
 
 God greater than man 18 
 
 God great in power 3 
 
 God, Greatness of 12 
 
 God, how we can exalt Him... 16 
 
 God in Christ 14 
 
 God independent of man 15 
 
 God is repose to the godly 16 
 
 God is security to the godly... 16 
 God is the resort of the godly. 16 
 
 God is with us 8 
 
 Godly, Felicity of the... 15 
 
 Godlv, Relationship to God of 
 
 the 16 
 
 Godly, Security of the 15 
 
 Godly, The, are those whom 
 
 He hears 16 
 
 Godly, The, need to be prayed 
 
 for 17 
 
 Godly, Those who do not pro- 
 fess to be 9 
 
 God, Meditation on ._ 4 
 
 God, Messages from 12 
 
 God, Misrepresenting charac- 
 ter of 15 
 
 God, My 10 
 
 God, My 16 
 
 God, Proving 4 
 
 51 
 316 
 225 
 
 92 
 262 
 162 
 
 2S5 
 204 
 192 
 179 
 185 
 
 370 
 316 
 310 
 213 
 147 
 
 58 
 472 
 389 
 317 
 129 
 415 
 
 67 
 
 305 
 305 
 355 
 47 
 
 349 
 40 
 
 53 
 
 193 
 39 
 
 161 
 343 
 33 
 21 
 
IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 401 
 
 Volume Page 
 God, Sad estate of those with- 
 out 11 206 
 
 God slow to ani,'er 3 3)1 
 
 God, Sovoieigntyof 11 225 
 
 God takes no pleat>ure in death 
 
 of wicked 15 169 
 
 God the all-seciii<r One 4 161 
 
 God, the ChuiTh'i^ leadt-r 14 83 
 
 God, the comforter of His peo- 
 ple 12 151 
 
 " God," The meaning of the 
 
 word 10 3o5 
 
 God. The perfection of 7 253 
 
 God the source of love 14 56 
 
 God the source of strengtli 14 84 
 
 God visiting Ilis church 12 1G2 
 
 God, Will a man rob 10 76 
 
 God will do without the wicked 15 81 
 
 God worthy of martyrs 13 407 
 
 God worthy of our love and life 13 408 
 
 God's ability ro deliver 13 410 
 
 God's children walking in dark- 
 ness 18 351 
 
 God's existence an argument 
 
 for His hearing His people 16 41 
 
 God's future achievements 16 409 
 
 God's goodness designed to 
 
 lead to repentance 14 112 
 
 God's goodness to the impeni- 
 tent 14 99 
 
 God's instruments insignificant 6 20 
 God's invitation «ppreciated.. 19 181 
 God's jealous care for His peo- 
 ple 14 371 
 
 God's longing for the salvation 
 
 of sinners 15 165 
 
 God's love for sinners 14 62 
 
 God's love manifested in death 
 
 of Christ 14 65 
 
 God's nearness in daily occur- 
 rences illu.-trated 18 257 
 
 God's nearness to His people.. 15 145 
 
 God's nearness to His peopie.. 18 271 
 God's nt-arnees to those who 
 
 feel after Him 18 264 
 
 God's pleasure when the sinner 
 
 turns 15 176 
 
 God's presence. How to secure 14 92 
 God's presence necessary to 
 
 His church 14 81 
 
 God's presence removed 15 141 
 
 God's presence will be more 
 
 fully revealed 15 156 
 
 God's presence, The dark side 
 
 of 15 158 
 
 God's presence wisely revealed 15 149 
 God's presence with the up- 
 right 15 140 
 
 God's thoughts toward His 
 
 people 18 145 
 
 God's thoughts unchangeable. 18 148 
 God's sovereignty, man's free 
 
 agency 18 109 
 
 Good man, who he is 10 219 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Good news 6 75 
 
 Good Shepherd, The provision 
 
 of the 4 86 
 
 Gospel a power. The 1 104 
 
 Gospel a mystery 14 161 
 
 Gospel difhcult to understand. 
 
 The f reeness of the 10 91 
 
 Gospel hardened, Conversion 
 
 of the 13 358 
 
 Gospel message. How to treat. 12 44 
 Gospel message proclaims a 
 
 life, The__"_ 19 245 
 
 Gospel ministry definite 12 49 
 
 Gospel, Obedience to the 12 79 
 
 Gospe],Preacher's treatment of 12 44 
 Gospel principles combated by 
 
 the Christian 16 135 
 
 Gospel rejected. The 1 89 
 
 Gospel, The, a message of 
 
 peace 12 133 
 
 Gospel, The, applied to oneself 12 42 
 
 Gospel, The, God's message... 12 35 
 
 Gospel, The, pasturage 11 57 
 
 Gospel, The sin of rejecting 
 
 the 5 425 
 
 Gospelthewisdomof God, The 3 378 
 Gospel to be delivered in en- 
 tirety. The 19 249 
 
 Grace always to be expected, 
 
 More 17 246 
 
 Grace, Distinguishing 6 78 
 
 Grace, Dying 7 39 
 
 Grace, Feelings no measure of 6 324 
 
 Grace for grace 12 263 
 
 Grace, Growth in 6 319 
 
 Grace in Christ produces grace 
 
 in us, illustration 12 268 
 
 Grace of God in case of Onesi- 
 
 mus, The 10 304 
 
 Grace of Jesus, The kind 4 1)4 
 
 Grace, Plenitude of 4 •i2 
 
 Grace, Proportionate 5 58 
 
 Grace, The treasures of 7 62 
 
 Grace, Superabundance of 16 119 
 
 Grace toward men rather than 
 
 angels 16 71 
 
 Gratitude. Wondering 10 34 
 
 Greek, Specimens of 1 91 
 
 "Grit" 7 57 
 
 Guyon, Madame 9 63 
 
 Ground, The enchanted 1 344 
 
 Growth in knowledge 6 326 
 
 Guidance 9 111 
 
 Habitation, The glorious 2 2 
 
 Habits, Bondage of evil 16 89 
 
 Harvestmen wanted 10 167 
 
 Harvests of joy. The three 2 232 
 
 Harvests of sorrow. The three. 2 234 
 
 Harvest time 2 232 
 
 ••Healer." Christ the 10 386 
 
 Healing for the wounded 2 18 
 
 Hear Christ, How to 13 246 
 
402 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 " Hear Him " 14 285 
 
 Heard of God 14 285 
 
 Hearer in trouble. The 8 83 
 
 Hearer, The occasional 8 81 
 
 Hearing, Faith comes by 8 243 
 
 Hearing the gospel aright 12 41 
 
 Hear. Those who will not 14 31 
 
 Heart, Hardness of 7 33 
 
 Heart's devices 4 172 
 
 Hearts, Searching of 4 170 
 
 Hearts of Christians prepared 
 
 by God 15 265 
 
 Heart, The human 4 167 
 
 Heart, The new 5 81 
 
 Heart turned upside down 5 415 
 
 Heart, Wickedness of human. 13 38 
 
 Heathen, The trial of the 9 309 
 
 Heaven and hell 1 293 
 
 Heaven a place of rest 3 146 
 
 Heaven a place of service 3 142 
 
 Heaven a state of acceptance 
 
 with God 3 144 
 
 Heaven, Fitness for 5 299 
 
 Heaven in disguise, A 8 79 
 
 Heaven, Longing for 11 214 
 
 Heaven on earth 15 207 
 
 Heaven, Preparation f or,ncces- 
 
 sarv 12 360 
 
 Heaven, Right way to 11 217 
 
 Heaven, Prospect of, a comfort 
 
 in trial 14 156 
 
 Heaven's provision perfect 15 208 
 
 Heaven, The attractions of 9 222 
 
 Heaven. The communion of 3 147 
 
 Heaven, The home atmosphere 
 
 of 17 86 
 
 Heaven, The manifestation of. 3 145 
 
 Heaven, The rest of 1 298 
 
 Heaviness and rejoicing 5 2U 
 
 Heir of salvation, Mark of 10 258 
 
 Hell 1 313 
 
 Hell and destruction 4 166 
 
 Hell pictured 13 95 
 
 Help, God will give the Chris- 
 tian 13 215 
 
 Helpless Christian must look to 
 
 Christ 16 110 
 
 Herbert, A song of, George 10 127 
 
 Heritage and watchword. The 
 
 saints' 2 15-2 
 
 Hesitating Christian aroused.. 15 130 
 
 High priest, A spoi less 2 107 
 
 Hill. Mr. Rowland 7 157 
 
 Hindrances ^. 17 202 
 
 Hindrance, Give up vour 13 65 
 
 Holy Ghost, The ind\velling of 1 58 
 
 Holy Ghost, Personality of the 1 45 
 
 Holv Ghost, The power of 1 112 
 
 Holy Spirit 9 291 
 
 Holy Spirit and apostolic times 1 339 
 Holy Spirit helps Christian sol- 
 dier 13 218 
 
 Holy Spirit, The, seals Chris- 
 tian for heaven 13 374 
 
 Volu7ne 
 Holv Spirit, The inward power 
 of 1 
 
 Holy Spirit's method, The 6 
 
 Holv Spirit, The outpouring of 
 the 6 
 
 Holy Spirit, The power of 6 
 
 Holy Spirit quickeneth the 
 Word 6 
 
 Holy Spirit, The withering 
 
 work of the 9 
 
 Holy Spirit, The work of the.. 10 
 
 Holy Spirit's work. The 6 
 
 Home 2 
 
 Home circle first to be saved.. 16 
 
 Home-going 3 
 
 Home,~Proper site for a 16 
 
 Honor involved in salvation, 
 
 God's 2 
 
 Hope always n 
 
 Hope, Confidence of the Chris- 
 tian's 17 
 
 Hope for the vilest 5 
 
 Hope of salvation is God's gift, 
 
 The . 11 
 
 Hope, No 11 
 
 Hope of salvation, false and 
 
 true 11 
 
 Hope, Result of the Chris- 
 tian's 17 
 
 Hospitalities of the God of 
 
 grace 8 
 
 House of feasting. The 2 
 
 House of mourning, The 2 
 
 Houses consecrated to God 10 
 
 Houses, Religion in 1 
 
 How long ? 3 
 
 Human nature, The tendency 
 
 of 9 
 
 Human means of salvation a 
 
 costly failure 19 
 
 Human nature exalted in Christ 19 
 Humanity perfected at the re- 
 surrection 18 
 
 Humble, The, exalted 13 
 
 Humiliation of Christ 17 
 
 Humility before God 14 
 
 Humility favorable to growth. 13 
 
 Humility iuaffiiction.J. 14 
 
 Humility in church life 14 
 
 Humility in seeking forgive- 
 ness . 14 
 
 Humility supplies arguments 
 
 for prayer 15 
 
 Humility taught by mortality. 17 
 Humilitv the strength of prayer 15 
 
 Humility, True 10 
 
 Hunger and Christ 9 
 
 Hypocrisy 6 
 
 Hypocrites in the church 15 
 
 Hypocrite, Silliness of tlie 11 
 
 Hypocrites to be laughed at... 9 
 
 Hypocrite, The " Honest " 7 
 
 Idols, Children made 18 
 
 Idols, Must give up your 13 
 
 Page 
 
 123 
 34 
 
 31 
 
 28 
 
 290 
 
 362 
 229 
 186 
 
 n 
 
 11 
 
 258 
 245 
 
 210 
 93 
 
 103 
 109 
 
 104 
 225 
 
 264 
 
 182 
 
 112 
 152 
 
 138 
 378 
 345 
 324 
 343 
 320 
 316 
 
 110 
 316 
 103 
 
 30 
 146 
 334 
 
 30 
 158 
 193 
 101 
 384 
 
 64 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 403 
 
 Volume Page 
 Ignorant professor of religion, 
 
 illustrated 11 15-2 
 
 Imitation of Christ 14 226 
 
 Imitation of Christ, Advantages 
 
 of 14 228 
 
 Imitation of Christ, Encourage- 
 ments to 14 241 
 
 Imitators of Him 1 252 
 
 Impenitent, Final awful doom 
 
 of 13 24 
 
 Increase of church by crowds. 10 49 
 
 Increase of church gradual 10 49 
 
 Incredulity 4 185 
 
 Incurable, An 10 3S2 
 
 Indecision, Absurdity of 3 185 
 
 Indecision, The ruin wrought 
 
 by — 13 264 
 
 Independence an aid to holiness 13 341 
 Infidelity, Steadfastness in face 
 
 of 11 212 
 
 Infidels, Great sinfulness of„_ 10 210 
 
 Influence 9 111 
 
 Iniquity. The sight of 6 423 
 
 Inquirer, The anxious 3 90 
 
 Instantaneous conversion, il- 
 lustrated 9 241 
 
 Insincere man. The 3 247 
 
 Intercessor, A lesson to every_ 10 378 
 
 Intercessor, The 4 105 
 
 Interests of the individual 
 
 harmed by selfishness 15 78 
 
 Invitation. An earnest 6 109 
 
 Invitation of God spurned 19 169 
 
 Isaac and Ishmael 2 129 
 
 Israel in Egvpt 3 419 
 
 Itineracy, The 1 336 
 
 Jacob's character estimated.. _ 15 95 
 
 Jacob, The star of 9 104 
 
 Jansenius 9 63 
 
 Jairus, The daughter of 3 227 
 
 Jerusalem, Safety of 9 97 
 
 Jesus as a Saviour 17 359 
 
 Jesus a substitutionary sacrifice 12 55 
 
 Jesus a wonder 9 113 
 
 Jesus and the promises 4 293 
 
 Jesus a power 9 432 
 
 Jesus as master 9 431 
 
 Jesus at Bethesda 9 225 
 
 Jesus, Beauty of glorifying... 16 17t» 
 
 Jesus' death "a ransom 12 57 
 
 Jesus' death penal 11 139 
 
 Jesus, Glory and usefulness of 11 141 
 
 Jesus, His coming voluntary.. 12 52 
 
 Jesus, His service of men 12 53 
 
 Jesus, Homage to, satisfying.. 12 101 
 
 Jesus, Looking to 5 253 
 
 Jesus, Looking to the ascen- 
 sion of ■_ 5 264 
 
 Jesus, Looking to the death of 5 257 
 Jesus, Looking to the life of__ 5 254 
 Jesus, Looking to the resurrec- 
 tion of 5 262 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Jesus, Mighty works of 11 181 
 
 Jesus, None but 7 2.59 
 
 Jesus, None but 7 276 
 
 Jesus no phantom 9 476 
 
 Jesus only 9 419 
 
 Jesus' painful and shameful 
 
 death 11 137 
 
 Jesus succoring the tempted __ 18 341 
 
 Jesus suffering 18 329 
 
 Jesus, Sufferings of 11 136 
 
 Jesus, The gracious lips of 4 92 
 
 Jesus the herald of glory 9 114 
 
 Jesus the helper of the Chris- 
 tian soldier 13 217 
 
 Jesus, The power of 9 469 
 
 Jesus the Son of Man 12 50 
 
 Jesus very man 10 15 
 
 Jews, Ingathering of 12 67 
 
 Jews, Return of, under Cyrus. 18 55 
 
 Jews, Specimens of 1 93 
 
 Job 3 252 
 
 Job's refuire in trouble 11 78 
 
 John the Baptist 9 -364 
 
 Joseph 1 192 
 
 Joseph of Arimathea, the se- 
 cret disciple 15 117 
 
 Joy, a large part of a Christian 
 
 life 14 19 
 
 Joy comes out of conflict 14 21 
 
 Joy, Duty of communicating.. 14 25 
 
 Joy in sorrow 5 217 
 
 Joj'^lessness 7 39 
 
 Joy, Object of Christian's 17 152 
 
 Joyful Christian an encourage- 
 ment to his brethren. 17 157 
 
 Jovs, Old, entice Christians 
 
 - from Christ 15 13 
 
 Judas 3 250 
 
 Judge, Christ the 4 1U7 
 
 "Judge not" 13 46 
 
 Judgment, Christians spared at 13 20 
 Judgment day means woe to 
 
 unbehevers 13 92 
 
 Judgment, The account at 4 139 
 
 Judements of God fathomless, 
 
 The 9 131 
 
 Judson, Dr. Adoniram 5 305 
 
 Just, The resurrection of the.. 2 265 
 
 Justiceof God 18 171 
 
 Justification, The blessedness 
 
 of_ 4 67 
 
 Justification by grace 3 2f'5 
 
 Justification, Characteristics of 3 303 
 Justification, Other blessings 
 
 go with 4 65 
 
 Justification, The manner of 
 
 giving 3 305 
 
 Justifications, Instantaneous.. 4 63 
 
 Justification irreversible 4 63 
 
 Justice 3 359 
 
 King Asa. A lesson from the 
 life of 10 
 
404 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volmne Page 
 
 King's highway opened, The.. 7 28 
 
 Knocking 14 211 
 
 Knowledge, Danger of 19 374 
 
 Knowledge of Christ, A partial 10 3S3 
 
 Knowledge. Thirst for 13 147 
 
 Knowledge without faith 1 869 
 
 Labor and revival 7 232 
 
 Labor for Christ 4 355 
 
 Labor in vain 8 335 
 
 Lack of the one thing reedfuL 13 59 
 Lainb of God the provider for 
 
 saints 15 217 
 
 Lamb, The spotless 5 306 
 
 Lamb the light, The _ 8 278 
 
 Latter-day glories, A vision of. 6 216 
 
 Law satisfied by Christ, The.. 1 290 
 Law, Sin not encouraged by 
 
 the.... 13 72 
 
 Law, The curse of 2 821 
 
 Law, The demands of the 1 287 
 
 Lazarus 3 228 
 
 Laziness leads to desertion of 
 
 Christ 12 309 
 
 Leaves, Nothing but 8 168 
 
 Led by Christ 15 224 
 
 Leper, The cleansing of the... 7 311 
 Levity leads to desertion of 
 
 Christ 12 299 
 
 Liberalitv taught by clouds... 11 236 
 
 Liberator, The great 8 187 
 
 Liberty, False 8 196 
 
 Liberty forever 8 203 
 
 Liberty of self-righteousness. 
 
 The 8 198 
 
 Liberty, Professional 8 197 
 
 Libertv within grasp 8 202 
 
 Lie, God cannot 8 316 
 
 Life, A review of 4 '^58 
 
 Life, Foretaste of heavenly... 3 138 
 
 Life in the wilderness 2 3 
 
 Life is a battle 13 802 
 
 Life like a ferry-boat 13 20 
 
 Life like a vapor 15 Gl 
 
 Life of gaiety, A 7 129 
 
 Life of the Christian is ever- 
 lasting 15 202 
 
 Life of the godly everlasting.. 16 354 
 Life of the Christian is Christ, 
 
 The 15 196 
 
 Life of the godly in the future 16 360 
 
 Life's brevity and fruitiulness. 15 66 
 
 Life's frailty 15 63 
 
 Life's uncertainty should lead 
 
 to decision 15 65 
 
 Life through faith in Christ... 15 198 
 
 Life, Uncertainty and frailty of 15 58 
 
 Light at evening time 4 275 
 
 Light out of darkness 16 32 
 
 Lion-slaver, The 10 262 
 
 "Little Faith" 5 129 
 
 Little ones. Salvation of the... 2 259 
 
 Living for self 5 248 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 " Loaves and fishes," The 9 143 
 
 " Look " for salvation 1 13 
 
 Look of Christ, The 19 2^8 
 
 " Lord of all " 9 414 
 
 Lord's dealings. Memory of the 10 265 
 
 Lord's Supper, Comfort at the. 11 193 
 Lord s Supper, Frequency of 
 
 the 18 218 
 
 Lord, Thus saith the 8 55 
 
 Losses 8 121 
 
 "Lost" 6 101 
 
 Lost estate of sinners partly 
 
 realized 13 161 
 
 Lost found. The 4 123 
 
 Lost sheep. Time of finding... 4 111 
 Lost sinner the burden of 
 
 Christ s love 15 240 
 
 Lost soul's proneness to seek 
 
 wrong saviours 13 165 
 
 Lost, The, the sole object of 
 
 Christ seeking 15 236 
 
 Lost, The, the subject of 
 
 Christ's thoughts 15 230 
 
 Lot an example of lingering... 13 2c0 
 
 Love 5 319 
 
 Love for Christ. Beauty of 16 182 
 
 Love in Christ's look upon 
 
 Peter 19 291 
 
 Love, its infinite spring 14 56 
 
 Lovely, Altogether .' 7 323 
 
 Love, Obedient 10 41 
 
 Love of David, The 10 39 
 
 Love of gain 12 295 
 
 Love of God for His people... 12 272 
 
 Love of God is everlasting 12 279 
 
 Love of God, Meditations on 
 
 the 17 269 
 
 Love, Remembering first 17 331 
 
 Love, Perfecting ^" 9 319 
 
 Love's commendation 2 410 
 
 Love's logic 9 304 
 
 Love the Christian's mark 14 53 
 
 Love the magnet of tlie gospel 17 252 
 
 "Lovest thou me?" 10 322 
 
 Love, The parentage of true. __ 5 321 
 
 Love, The measure of our 4 308 
 
 Love the motive to service 12 285 
 
 Love, The revival of 9 316 
 
 Love, The root of 9 307 
 
 Love, The Saviour resting in his 6 297 
 
 Love to Christ indispensable.. 10 333 
 
 Love-token, The sacred 10 243 
 
 Love to the brethren 14 69 
 
 Love, The walk of 5 320 
 
 Loving kindness of the Lord.. 17 265 
 
 Luther 14 334 
 
 '• Made whole," A man 10 391 
 
 Magdalene, The manifestation 
 
 to 6 412 
 
 Man an idolator 18 372 
 
 Man at enmity with God 12 125 
 
 Manasseh 3 311 
 
 Manasseh an unbeliever 3 818 
 
 Manasseh as a convert 3 32^ 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 405 
 
 Volume Page 
 Manifestation of God's person- 
 al love 12 281 
 
 Man made an idol of 18 385 
 
 Man's sin, The barriers against 5 181 
 
 Man's weakness 18 378 
 
 Manih 9 383 
 
 Marriage a blessing of Eden._ 10 17 
 
 Marrow and fatness 10 28 
 
 Master. Men think God a hard 10 90 
 
 Matchless mystery, The 10 9 
 
 Material man linked to God... 19 158 
 
 Means, Persevering nse of 19 109 
 
 Meditation a proiitable exer- 
 cise ._ 4 40 
 
 Meditation, Importance of 9 328 
 
 Meditation sweet 4 52 
 
 Meek and lowly One, The 6 307 
 
 Meeting with God 15 337 
 
 Memorj' of Gods dealings with 
 
 us 10 2G4 
 
 Men, Apostolic 1 323 
 
 ;Men but men at the best 10 71 
 
 Men called to be Christ's min- 
 isters 19 235 
 
 Men in all time alike 10 148 
 
 Men of might come to Christ. 11 284 
 
 Mental trouble, Refuge in 11 80 
 
 Mercies, Kcdeeming 18 249 
 
 Mercy 3 359 
 
 Mercy of God humbling, The. 10 33 
 
 Mercj% Sovereign 1 1 148 
 
 ]\Iercy seat, The 12 81 
 
 Merit a teaching of all human 
 
 religions 10 93 
 
 Message, The 19 245 
 
 Message, The minister's 8 57 
 
 Messengers, God's 12 33 
 
 :Mightv acts. Story of the 6 13 
 
 Misrhty God, The name of the. 6 142 
 
 " Mighty to save," proven 3 409 
 
 "Mighty to save,"' what then. 3 416 
 
 Millennial period. The 8 280 
 
 Mind, Christian must guard his 11 96 
 
 Ministering angels 5 200 
 
 Minister's authority. The 8 58 
 
 Ministers entitled to mainte- 
 nance 13 201 
 
 Ministers, God's messengers.. 12 34 
 
 Ministers, Thorns to 6 295 
 
 Ministers to be praved for 10 179 
 
 Ministry, A Holy Ghost 10 58 
 
 Miracle, A double 9 471 
 
 Miracles 17 94 
 
 Miracles of Jesus 19 131 
 
 IVIiracles, The necessity of 6 186 
 
 Missions, Gospel 1 321 
 
 Mockings, Cruel 15 292 
 
 Modesty in telling experience. 14 27 
 
 Monster dragsjed to light. The. 10 127 
 
 Moral heroism of Daniel 13 391 
 
 Moralityasan enemy of the eoul 13 169 
 
 Moral man addressed by gospel 13 51 
 
 Moral man's case described. ._ 13 52 
 
 Moses, Death of 18 166 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Moses, Story of his death 18 185 
 
 Moses, The grave of 4 163 
 
 Moses only 9 42;i 
 
 Alo.'^es, The prayer of 2 2()6 
 
 Moses, The song of 3 425 
 
 Moses, The triumph of 3 422 
 
 Mothers, A lesson to 10 378 
 
 Mothers, God's messengers 12 33 
 
 Mouth of faith cannot be closed. 
 
 The 10 362 
 
 Multitudes destitute of gospel. 10 170 
 
 Myrrh. A bundle of 8 2:)9 
 
 Murmuring 9 389 
 
 Name of Jesus, The 19 45 
 
 Name of Jesus, The practical 
 
 use of 19 49 
 
 Name of Jesus, Why hold 
 
 fast to 19 52 
 
 Name of the Lord Jesus 14 218 
 
 Name, The eternal 1 154 
 
 Nathanael 19 79 
 
 Nature's sympathy with Christ 17 109 
 
 Navarre, The King of 9 179 
 
 Nearness to God, how^ attained 15 353 
 
 Negative, A fearful 7 296 
 
 Neglect of Christ 12 209 
 
 New Year, The 7 11 
 
 News. Bad 8 91 
 
 Nothingness of man 18 391 
 
 ^'Now" 4 31 
 
 Now, the Christian's 10 350 
 
 Number " one thousand " 9 284 
 
 Obedience an evidence of faith 11 46 
 Obedience, Half-way, to God's 
 
 call 19 64 
 
 Obedience of the £?ospel 12 79 
 
 Obedience to Christ essential.. 14 375 
 
 Observation, Want of 7 154 
 
 Official position saves not 16 63 
 
 Old age, Comfort for 4 287 
 
 Old Testament biographies 11 180 
 
 Omnipotence 3 359 
 
 Omniscience 2 380 
 
 Omniscience and prayer 2 389 
 
 Onesimus an instance of grace 10 304 
 
 Open-air preaching 9 466 
 
 Opinion of society no rule for 
 
 Christian 16 176 
 
 Opinion without faith 8 171 
 
 Opportunity comes to every 
 
 eoul 15 75 
 
 Opportunity, Every church has 
 
 its 15 74 
 
 Opportunity provided for every 
 
 believer 11 259 
 
 Ordinances a check to sin 5 189 
 
 Orphans, A message to 11 223 
 
 Orthodoxy described and esti- 
 mated 13 54 
 
 Out of Christ 14 295 
 
40G 
 
 IJ^DEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume Page 
 Outward forms, Superstitious. 5 360 
 Outward Providences, Table of 5 28i 
 Outsiders, A lesson for all 10 377 
 
 Paralysis, Spiritual 9 468 
 
 Pardon a blessing 12 242 
 
 Pardon and justitication 4 58 
 
 Pardon, Blessedness of, may be 
 
 enjoyed 12 232 
 
 Pardon, Chief blessings of in 
 
 future 12 243 
 
 Parents leading their children 
 
 to God 18 235 
 
 Partaking of Christ's death... 18 231 
 
 Pascal 9 63 
 
 Paschal supper, The 9 148 
 
 Past, Interest of the 16 55 
 
 Past goodness of God argument 
 
 for the future 15 249 
 
 Peace at the cross 15 352 
 
 Peace, False 7 176 
 
 Peace in God's thoughts toward 
 
 His i)eople 18 152 
 
 Peace, Means of 9 308 
 
 Peace, Negotiations for 9 402 
 
 Peace, Terms of 9 411 
 
 Penitence. The tear of 13 366 
 
 Penitent, The doubtful 3 249 
 
 Pentecost, Personal 17 205 
 
 Penury 2 21 
 
 People of God, Safety of the__ 5 303 
 Perfection not realized by 
 
 Christians in this life 16 127 
 
 Perfection, Faith in 5 437 
 
 Perfection, Prayer for 7 12 
 
 Perpetuity of God's ordinances 18 221 
 
 Persecuted, God delivers the__ 13 414 
 
 Pesecution 12 287 
 
 Persecutors, Sin of 16 202 
 
 Perseverance 8 156 
 
 Perseverance in working and 
 
 fighting ; 11 266 
 
 Persevering piety springs from 
 
 youthful piety ._ 15 281 
 
 Personal Christ, Attachment to 10 323 
 
 Persistent praver 14 219 
 
 Persuade, Whom to 18 193 
 
 Persuading sinners, Christ 17 336 
 
 Persuasion, Methods of 18 189 
 
 Persuasion to what end _ 18 198 
 
 Peter restored 19 295 
 
 Peter the blunderer 16 126 
 
 Pharaoh 3 242' 
 
 Phvsician, The great 9 234 
 
 Piety, Early 15 2^4 
 
 Place, Nothing essentially holy 
 
 in 15 339 
 
 Poison drawn from healthy 
 
 flowers 10 143 
 
 Pool, The stagnant 9 446 
 
 Poor, Much in the Bible about 
 
 the 17 182 
 
 Poor, Preaching for the 3 149 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Pope's anathemas harmless... 11 47 
 
 Portraits of sinners 7 180 
 
 Power, Inexhaustible, of God. 16 116 
 Power, No limit to Christ's... 15 200 
 Power of body in the resurrec- 
 tion 7 202 
 
 Power of Christ's death 19 316 
 
 Poverty's appeal to God 11 81 
 
 Practice to be amended 2 340 
 
 Praise for free grace 10 42 
 
 Prayer 14 204 
 
 Prayer accepted 16 340 
 
 Prayer a false ground of salva- 
 tion 12 214 
 
 Prayer, Agonizing 17 14 
 
 Prayer, A lesson to the re- 
 pulsed in 10 378 
 
 Prayer always available 6 268 
 
 Prayer always opportune 13 181 
 
 Prayer, a mark of the converted 16 320 
 
 Prayer a means to holiness 13 332 
 
 Prayer, a model 15 96 
 
 Prayer an argument 1 181 
 
 Prayer and the fixity of law... 17 19 
 
 Prayer answered 7 21 
 
 Prayer answered proves it will 
 
 be answered 15 251 
 
 Praver a wonder after prayer- 
 
 lessness 16 332 
 
 Prayer, Details are subjects of 17 21 
 
 Prayer, Elements of true 16 325 
 
 Praj'er, Exaltation in 13 69 
 
 Praver for laborers, the great 
 
 prayer 10 182 
 
 Prayer from prepared hearts 
 
 must be heanl 15 268 
 
 Prayer, Need of general 17 11 
 
 Prayer helping to Christ, illus- 
 trated 11 146 
 
 Prayer, Humility the fit atti- 
 tude of 15 98 
 
 Prayer, Importance of 13 220 
 
 Prayerless man, The 16 323 
 
 Prayer must be in faith 13 335 
 
 Prayer, Need of 19 3S7 
 
 Prayers of Paul after conver- 
 sion 16 337 
 
 Prayer overcoming Satan 19 313 
 
 Prayer, Paul's first 1 170 
 
 Prayer, This age especially 
 
 needs 17 28 
 
 Prayer to the Father a never- 
 
 'failing resource 18 79 
 
 Prayer, The heart the main 
 
 matter in 15 262 
 
 Prayer, The lowliest, heard 
 
 quickly 15 258 
 
 Prayer, The lowliest, is accept- 
 
 h\)\q j5 252 
 
 Prayer w'ith'the Hofy^pirit.II 6 292 
 
 Prayers, Answers to 2 227 
 
 Praise a part of God's plan 16 394 
 
 Praise, The one subject of 16 408 
 
 Praise, The time for 16 396 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 407 
 
 Volufue 
 
 Praising others 16 
 
 Preachint,', Apostolic 9 
 
 Preaching Christ a source of 
 
 joy 19 
 
 Preaching Christ, Supreme im- 
 portance of 19 
 
 Preaching Christ the duty of 
 
 every Christian 19 
 
 Preaching Christ the natural 
 
 result of knowing Hira 19 
 
 Preaclnntr, Directions for 19 
 
 Preaching, Perfection of 12 
 
 Preaching to the individual 14 
 
 Precious from the vile, 'J'he 7 
 
 Prejudices to be given up Vi 
 
 Presence of Christ the highest 
 
 joy 19 
 
 Presence of God among His 
 
 people - 14 
 
 Presence of God, how known, 15 
 Presence of God, illustrated... 18 
 Presumptuous sins deliberate.. 3 
 Priceless, Without price be- 
 cause ._ 10 
 
 Pride... 5 
 
 Pride 5 
 
 Pride 14 
 
 Pride of life detaining from 
 
 Christ 13 
 
 Priest dispensed with. The 10 
 
 Priests are made. How 8 
 
 Priest, Qualifications of a 17 
 
 Probation, No future 13 
 
 Procrastination Satan's best 
 
 ally 1'. 
 
 Procrastination, Sin of ]3 
 
 Procrastination to be aban- 
 doned 13 
 
 Procrastinator aroused b}' 
 
 death 13 
 
 Procrastinator aroused by 
 
 testimony 13 
 
 Procrastinator aroused by 
 
 thought 13 
 
 Procrastinator's defense. 13 
 
 Procrastinator's emergency... 1.3 
 
 Prodigal, Return of 1_. _ 4 
 
 Profession, A fruitless 3 
 
 i'rofession does not make a 
 
 Christian 11 
 
 Profession of faith a duty 12 
 
 Profession toward God, Chris- 
 tian's '— 15 
 
 Professor, False, like silly dove 11 
 Professors of religion, Chilli- 
 ness of 9 
 
 Professors. False 7 
 
 Prolligate, The 5 
 
 Project, A daring but unavoid- 
 able 16 
 
 Promise, A glorious 1 
 
 Promi-ses made unreal, The.. _ 15 
 
 Promises of Bethel, 'i'he 10 
 
 ProiniBes of God 14 
 
 Page 
 276 
 25:a 
 
 333 
 
 336 
 
 324 
 
 330 
 
 241 
 
 36 
 
 96 
 
 it;o 
 
 68 
 193 
 
 363 
 277 
 436 
 
 86 
 246 
 312 
 
 318 
 223 
 71 
 342 
 327 
 
 252 
 253 
 
 260 
 
 266 
 
 265 
 257 
 256 
 145 
 61 
 
 44 
 
 81 
 
 360 
 148 
 
 63 
 175 
 272 
 
 105 
 297 
 
 187 
 294 
 217 
 
 Volu??ie 
 Promises precious only to the 
 
 consciously needy 14 
 
 Promises wrongly made re- 
 mote 15 
 
 Promise, The great 5 
 
 Promptness in view of death.. 17 
 Prophecy, Messianic, fulfilled. 18 
 
 Prophecy, The awful 7 
 
 Prophets sent one after another 9 
 
 Propitiation necessary 12 
 
 Providence 5 
 
 Providence, Amazing 2 
 
 Providence and the angels 2 
 
 I'rovideiice and Bethel 10 
 
 Providence cares for necessi- 
 ties 15 
 
 Providence cares for Chris- 
 tians 13 
 
 Providence, God the interpre- 
 ter of 17 
 
 Providence, God's 2 
 
 Providence, Intricate 2 
 
 Providence is always correct.. 2 
 Providence is God's sermon.. 5 
 
 Providence is spontaneous 15 
 
 Providence likened to a sea... 2 
 
 Providence, Minuteness of 5 
 
 Providence of God effective... 15 
 Providence, Preparations of... 5 
 
 Providence, Punctuality of 5 
 
 Providences, God's message 12 
 
 Providence, Sp'^cial 13 
 
 Providence taught 15 
 
 Providence, The devil's 10 
 
 Providence uniform 2 
 
 Providential care. Kindness of 5 
 Provision mnde for men by God 15 
 Provision for sinners. The glo- 
 rious 15 
 
 Provision for the soul, Abun- 
 dant 13 
 
 Provision for all, God's 15 
 
 Proxies in baptism 8 
 
 Prudence mistaken for piety __ 13 
 Public confession specially 
 
 blessed 19 
 
 Public confession for others' 
 
 sake 19 
 
 Punishment, Fear of, leads to 
 
 thouirhtfulness 13 
 
 Punishment, God's power to 
 
 administer 11 
 
 Punishment of sin, Freedom 
 
 from 7 
 
 Punishment, Warning against. 16 
 
 Puritan divines. The old 7 
 
 Purpose, Singleness of 12 
 
 Quarles (quoted) 9 
 
 Queen and the church. The 8 
 
 Question for all, A 10 
 
 Questions of the day. The 10 
 
 Quibbling, The evil of 12 
 
 Page 
 356 
 
 186 
 56 
 317 
 113 
 305 
 293 
 fiO 
 370 
 200 
 191 
 203 
 
 210 
 
 253 
 
 188 
 198 
 199 
 113 
 
 82 
 196 
 b73 
 329 
 r-i97 
 315 
 
 29 
 
 18 
 314 
 
 78 
 194 
 380 
 325 
 
 142 
 
 331 
 
 60 
 
 401 
 
 124 
 
 132 
 
 330 
 
 83 
 
 283 
 
 ()7 
 
 187 
 
 9 
 
 141 
 71 
 
 10.' 
 
408 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume Pag^ 
 
 Ransom, Christ a _ 13 60 
 
 Eansom, The effect of the 3 301 
 
 Eeady belief commended 19 88 
 
 Reasonableness of religion 17 232 
 
 Reasonings, David's 10 272 
 
 Rebukes, Why God 4 342 
 
 Reconciliation in Christ. 18 97 
 
 Redemption, General and par- 
 ticular 6 94 
 
 Redemption of Christ 12 63 
 
 Refuge, A safe 4 290 
 
 Refuire, Cities of 3 107 
 
 Refuge, The sinner's 3 106 
 
 Regeneration 3 210 
 
 Regeneration, Baptismal 8 12 
 
 Regeneration, Consciousness 
 
 of .12 19 
 
 Regrets without repentance... 8 173 
 
 Reign of Christ perpetual 8 132 
 
 Reign, The millennial 7 371 
 
 Rejoice, Sin not to 17 145 
 
 Rejoicing a duty _ 17 138 
 
 Rejoicing, Quality of true 17 146 
 
 Religion, Comfortable 15 289 
 
 Religion, Mere respect for 13 53 
 
 Relit;ion, Neglectersof 9 186 
 
 Religion, Nominal professors 
 
 of 9 201 
 
 Religion, No taste for 16 85 
 
 Religion of Christ, True 17 380 
 
 Religion reasonable. 17 232 
 
 Religion, Valuation of outward 13 53 
 
 Remedy, Prayer a 9 392 
 
 Remembrance, A Psalm of 6 171 
 
 Remission of sin 9 119 
 
 Remission through the blood. 18 227 
 
 Repent, Ciiristians are to 17 333 
 
 Repentance, Argument for 14 112 
 
 Repentance, God's argument 
 
 for 15 179 
 
 Repentance, Means of 2 439 
 
 Repentance, What necessary to 2 428 
 Reproach, Endured, with 
 
 Christ 11 270 
 
 Reproach, Enduring 13 67 
 
 Reservoir, The great 4 381 
 
 Resolution a means to holiness 13 336 
 Resolution needed by a Chris- 
 tian 11 287 
 
 Resolving, A sinner's 4 173 
 
 Responsibility. Human 5 420 
 
 Responsibility of church in- 
 creased by additions, The. 10 64 
 
 Rest 9 437 
 
 Rest through learning 9 449 
 
 Restraint fought against 10 139 
 
 Resurrection 1 19 156 
 
 Resurrection, Christ's, a power 16 193 
 
 Resurrection, Christ's, proved 18 123 
 Resurrection, Christ's presence 
 
 means 15 190 
 
 Resurrection, Doctrine of 1 228 
 
 Resurrection of Christ, a 
 
 pledge 2 270 
 
 Volume 
 Resurrection of Christ. Po^ver 
 
 of-.- 1 
 
 Resurrection of the dead, The. 2 
 Resurrection, Personality in 
 
 the _. 7 
 
 Resurrection, Priority of the.. 7 
 
 Resurrection, The 7 
 
 Resurrection, The body in the 7 
 
 Resurrection, The first 7 
 
 Resurrection, The general 1 
 
 Resurrection, The spiritual ... 3 
 Returning to God all-impor- 
 tant _ 15 
 
 Reverence 19 
 
 Revival sermon, A 7 
 
 Revivals, Sudden 6 
 
 Revival, The great 5 
 
 Revival, The promise of 7 
 
 Revival, The spiritual 3 
 
 Revival work, A stimulus to.. 7 
 
 Rewards, The Christian's 13 
 
 Riches of Christ, The unsearch- 
 able 9 
 
 Riches of the promises, The 4 
 
 Righteous desired, The end of 
 
 the 9 
 
 Righteousness of Christ re- 
 jected 19 
 
 Righteousness, What is your._ 2 
 
 Ripou answered. Dean of 8 
 
 Risca, The wailing of. .._ 7 
 
 Risen Christ, The forty days 
 
 of the- 17 
 
 Ritualism in popery 10 
 
 Rock smitten. The 2 
 
 Rock, The high 6 
 
 Rutherford, Samuel (quoted)__ 9 
 Rutherford, Samuel 8 
 
 Sabbath-sehool, The 1 
 
 Sabbath-schools 2 
 
 Sabbath-school, Responsibility 
 
 to the 4 
 
 Sacrifice, Vicarious 8 
 
 Saducees _ 19 
 
 Safe sa'ling 9 
 
 Safety in God's presence 14 
 
 Safety of the church 17 
 
 Safety of those in Christ 10 
 
 Saints are in Christ's compan- 
 ionship 17 
 
 Saints, Comfort for feeble 2 
 
 Saint, Prayer of a 3 
 
 Saints. Remains of the dust of 
 
 the 4 
 
 Saint, The repentance of 3 
 
 Salvation. Assurance of de- 
 sired 13 
 
 Salvation free 13 
 
 Salvation from wrath .._ _ 9 
 
 Salvation given away 10 
 
 Salvation, Immediate 10 
 
 Salvation like a helmet 11 
 
 Page 
 
 117 
 262 
 
 206 
 364 
 194 
 196 
 361 
 130 
 225 
 
 22 
 258 
 
 229 
 374 
 239 
 118 
 
 245 
 
 375 
 
 265 
 
 204 
 164 
 63 
 
 225 
 315 
 266 
 141 
 265 
 
 144 
 350 
 
 137 
 349 
 233 
 135 
 
 85 
 381 
 
 23 
 
 82 
 246 
 
 444 
 
 164 
 
 146 
 151 
 
 93 
 
INDEX OP SUBJECTS. 
 
 409 
 
 Volume Page 
 Salvation not Becured by hap- 
 
 piness 
 
 16 
 
 Salvation, Obstacles removed 
 
 thtou<ijh 3 
 
 Salvation'of the Lord 3 
 
 Salvation open to all, always.. 14 
 Salvation possible to sinners.. 14 
 balvation, Tlie divine side of 
 
 tlie work of 10 
 
 Salvation tlie great question. 
 
 Personal 10 
 
 Salvation, The linman side of. 10 
 
 Salvation, The means of 18 
 
 Salvation the one thing need- 
 ful . 12 
 
 Salvation, The only means of. 10 
 
 Salvation, The reason of 3 
 
 Salvation, The way of 13 
 
 Salvation the will of God 10 
 
 Salvation, Whose matter is ... 9 
 
 Salvation wrongly sought 13 
 
 Salvation, Youi' own 3 
 
 Samson 18 
 
 Samson, a oeacon _. .— 11 
 
 Samson, a type of Christ 11 
 
 Samson, a type of Christ 14 
 
 Samson, a type of the Chris- 
 
 tian 14 
 
 Samson conquered .- J 
 
 Sanctiticatiou longed for 13 
 
 Satan conquered by Christ 11 
 
 Satan, Power of 19 
 
 Satan s gospel refuted 17 
 
 Satan's power detied 13 
 
 Satan, The sinner's conflict 
 
 with 
 
 Sarah and Hagar, The Alle- 
 gories of 
 
 Sarcasm, The jeer of 
 
 Saul, King 
 
 !Saul on his way to Damascus.. 
 
 339 
 
 1U4 
 
 213 
 
 118 
 196 
 
 Saul, The conversion of 6 
 
 Saved, Who shall be 5 
 
 Saved, Why men are 3 
 
 Saviour, A glorious 3 
 
 Saviour, A mighty 3 
 
 Saviour's death. Effects of 
 
 the - 4 
 
 Saviour, The willing . lo 
 
 Scripture, Christ's belief in 18 
 
 Scripture fulfllled in Christ's 
 
 death 18 
 
 Scripture, Gloss in the IT 
 
 Scripture quoted by God 14 
 
 Searching of hearts by Christ. 19 
 Seasons, Continuance of the.. IT 
 Seasons iu the spiritual world. IT 
 
 Seasons, The, a wonder IT 
 
 Secret discipleship discouraged 15 
 
 Secret faith disapproved 19 
 
 Secret purposes, and the open 
 
 promises of God, The 10 
 
 Secret sin. The great guilt of.. 3- 
 Seeking Christ — la 
 
 11 
 
 118 
 337 
 173 
 187 
 
 41 
 163 
 
 34 
 
 30 
 178 
 181 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 237 
 145 
 la8 
 300 
 277 
 36? 
 
 2 296 
 
 2 120 
 7 45 
 
 3 247 
 i:i8 
 
 61 
 3T 
 32S 
 330 
 404 
 
 10 
 
 Volume 
 Seeking to enter, but unable.. 13 
 
 Seeking too late 13 
 
 .Selt'-cleception, The fear of 8 
 
 Self-examination 2 
 
 Self-examination 19 
 
 Self-reliant, The, warned 13 
 
 Self-righteous 7 
 
 Self-righteous 5 
 
 Self-righteous, Conversion of 
 
 the 13 
 
 Self-righteousness, Defects of. 1* 
 Self -righteousness to be aban- 
 doned 12 
 
 Self-sacrifice, Beauty of _ 16 
 
 Self-suffering 5 
 
 Self-sufficiency a mistake 19 
 
 Self-weakness — 5 
 
 Sensual enjoyments 12 
 
 Sensualitv leads to apostasy... 12 
 Sentenceof the guilty. The — 4 
 Separation, Christians called 
 
 to 19 
 
 Separation of Christians from 
 
 world 11 
 
 Sermon, An appropriate 4 
 
 Sermon before Felix, Paul's... 4 
 Service of Christ commanded. 12 
 
 Shedding of blood. The 9 
 
 "Sheep, The bleating of" 9 
 
 Sheep. The characterizing of 
 
 the 4 
 
 Shepherd, The good 4 
 
 Shepherd, The Lord our 18 
 
 Sick, God gives triumph to 
 
 the — 13 
 
 Sick healed, The 4 
 
 Sickness, a means of conver- 
 
 221 
 88 
 89 
 
 103 
 
 28T 
 
 274 
 
 19T 
 
 54 
 
 61 
 
 5T 
 
 120 
 
 125 
 
 200 
 ITl 
 
 4T 
 
 31T 
 322 
 251 
 11 
 203 
 219 
 255 
 276 
 
 363 
 171 
 
 184 
 247 
 368 
 50 
 303 
 300 
 230 
 
 67 
 
 2T8 
 195 
 193 
 83 
 117 
 453 
 
 246 
 
 414 
 
 125 
 
 10 159 
 
 Sickness God's message 12 
 
 Sick, The lament of the 11 
 
 Sifting required 13 
 
 Sign, Desiringa .-- 12 
 
 Sign without substance 8 
 
 Significance of the blood of 
 
 Christ, The 10 
 
 Signs and wonders T 
 
 Siiuilitudes, God speaks by 5 
 
 Simplicitv of Gospel methods. 14 
 Sin after promises of holiness. 13 
 
 Sin against light 16 
 
 Sin aggravated by circum- 
 stances 13 
 
 Sin a loss 5 
 
 Sin analogous to leprosy 19 
 
 Sin and death 1 
 
 Sin antagonistic to sinner's in- 
 terests 13 
 
 Sin, Arguments for abandon- 
 ing 16 
 
 Sin, 13. 6ettinir,to be conquered 11 
 
 Sin conquered by Christ 11 
 
 Sin, Constant sorrow for 13 
 
 Sin, Deceitfulness of 16 
 
 Siu, Exceeding binfuluess of.. 13 
 
 79 
 346 
 175 
 170 
 
 253 
 153 
 
 114 
 215 
 ly3 
 207 
 
 186 
 
 187 
 
 19 
 
 276 
 
 77 
 
 95 
 192 
 186 
 47 
 56 
 73 
 
410 
 
 IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Volume 
 Sin, Greatness of a plea for 
 
 pardon of 13 
 
 Sin, Harnessed to wagon of_._ 16 
 Sin, Heinousness of conscious. 13 
 
 Sin, Heinousness of our 13 
 
 Sin immeasurable 7 
 
 Sin is rebellion against just 
 
 laws 13 
 
 Sin is rebellion against God... 13 
 
 Sin is without provocation 13 
 
 Sin, like fire 13 
 
 Sin loved by the sinner 19 
 
 Sin may be forgiven 12 
 
 Sin must be turned from 15 
 
 Sin not blotted out by tears... 12 
 Sin not covered by impugning 
 
 God's law I 12 
 
 Sin not covered by secrecy 12 
 
 Sin not hidden by falsehood.. 12 
 
 Sin not hidden by time 12 
 
 Siu overruled 10 
 
 Sin possible, Freedom from... 8 
 Siu requires radical treatment 13 
 
 Sins. Coarse 16 
 
 Sins, Forgiveness of 7 
 
 Sins, Forgiveness of.. 10 
 
 Sins, Little 6 
 
 Sin sickness 14 
 
 Sin slain by Christ 11 
 
 Sin slain with its own weapon 11 
 
 Sin, Sorrow for... 2 
 
 Sins past, removed 7 
 
 Sins pre-eminent 13 
 
 Sins, Presumptuous 3 
 
 Sins, Secret 3 
 
 Sins, The danger of sercet 3 
 
 Sins, The nursery of secret 3 
 
 Sin, The confession of 3 
 
 Sin, The nature of 9 
 
 Sin, The law the strength of.. 1 
 
 Sin, The remedy of 5 
 
 Sin, The ruin wrought by 13 
 
 Sin. The terrible deeds of 10 
 
 Siu to be abandoned 12 
 
 Sin unpardoned 9 
 
 Sin upsetting the order of the 
 
 universe... 13 
 
 Sin, Value of apologies for 13 
 
 Sin, Woe of remaining in 16 
 
 Sincerity described and esti- 
 mated 13 
 
 Sinceritv, Praver a proof of 1 
 
 Singing; The dumb 3 
 
 Singing, The true tone of 16 
 
 Sinner a sick man, The 9 
 
 Sinner bemoaning himself. 
 
 The... 9 
 
 Sinner. Folly and siu of 13 
 
 Sinner in a small way 16 
 
 Sinner, like a brand in the lire. 13 
 
 Siuuer powerless. The 10 
 
 Sinner, Saved, a wonder. 13 
 
 Sinner, Saved, the source of 
 
 Christ's joy 15 
 
 Page 
 
 195 
 81 
 189 
 1S2 
 245 
 
 74 
 187 
 351 
 
 15 
 
 2x'8 
 
 i;3 
 
 194 
 
 185 
 
 187 
 
 190 
 
 192 
 
 309 
 
 191 
 
 344 
 
 205 
 
 72 
 
 13 
 
 202 
 
 357 
 
 256 
 
 256 
 
 25 
 
 31 
 
 82 
 
 432 
 
 164 
 
 173 
 
 168 
 
 241 
 
 218 
 
 286 
 
 229 
 
 80 
 
 134 
 
 71 
 
 192 
 91 
 
 55 
 183 
 119 
 403 
 
 227 
 
 206 
 85 
 64 
 351 
 145 
 355 
 
 242 
 
 j Volume Page 
 
 Sinner, The hardened 3 242 
 
 Sinners as lost. 4 113 
 
 j Sinners, Conversion of gror-s_. 13 360 
 Sinners, Conversion of belf- 
 
 abandoned 13 362 
 
 Sinners driven away 4 120 
 
 Sinners, Fears of 4 157 
 
 Sinners hardened by God's 
 
 dealing 10 142 
 
 Sinners in Zion, afraid 8 64 
 
 Sinners left to themselves 13 24 
 
 Sinner's present condition one 
 
 of death 13 107 
 
 Sinners, Testimony of saved.. 16 216 
 
 Sinners, The chief 16 201 
 
 Sinners, Why salvation comes 
 
 togreat 16 211 
 
 Slave, A story of a runaway 10 302 
 
 Sleep of beloved. The 2 234 
 
 ISleep of Christians, The 1 aSS 
 
 Sleeping Christians, awake 1 351 
 
 Sloth 4 341 
 
 Slowness of heart to believe 18 314 
 
 Smoking flax, The 2 248 
 
 Snares 3 42 
 
 Snares, Deliverance from 3 51 
 
 Son, Freedom through the 8 2u0 
 
 Son of man, The mission of the 6 92 
 
 SouiTS in the niiiht 2 167 
 
 Sonship of Christian inviolate. 
 
 The _ 5 lot 
 
 Sonship of the Christians 5 98 
 
 Sorrow, Christian, followed by 
 
 joy 11 
 
 Sorrow, Godless 11 
 
 Souls like unto desert-* 12 
 
 Soul winners among men make 
 
 Christ rejoice 19 
 
 Soul winning. Difficulties of.. 19 
 Soul winning, its weighty re- 
 sponsibility 19 
 
 Sovereignty and salvation 1 
 
 Sovereignty, Divine 7 
 
 Sovereignty of God 11 
 
 Sovereignty of God in salva- 
 tion 10 
 
 Spared — why God has spared 
 
 men 13 
 
 Speaking for Christ 14 
 
 Speaking for God 12 
 
 Spiritual darkness, a test of 
 
 faith 18 
 
 Spiritual pauper, The 14 
 
 Spiritual world. Changes in 
 
 the 
 
 Si)irit, Walking after the 17 
 
 Spoil divided. The 7 
 
 Spurgeon's method of preach- 
 ing 17 
 
 Stability, Motives to spiritual. 13 
 
 Statute. An unalterable 9 
 
 Steadfastness illustrated 13 
 
 Stories in the Ark 4 
 
 Story, Tell the 3 
 
 70 
 76 
 159 
 
 238 
 352 
 
 346 
 
 I 
 
 237 
 
 225 
 
 199 
 
 14 
 137 
 
 318 
 
 353 
 250 
 
 114 
 
 274 
 304 
 117 
 403 
 12 
 401 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 411 
 
 Volmne 
 
 Strength for the day 5 
 
 StR'iiiiUi, Ciod the Christian's. 1(5 
 !Sti(.'nv,'th, Human, intsuliicient IH 
 
 Siic'iiiitii ill God's preBcuce 14 
 
 fSlrc'iiLilh, Socivt of 1 
 
 !Stifiit;th, Secret of 5 
 
 Suite with yatan necessary. __ 19 
 
 Substitute, Jesus the 8 
 
 '• Substitution " — The gospel 
 
 in one word 3 
 
 Substitute, The j,'reat 2 
 
 ijubstitution 10 
 
 Substitution, illustrated 3 
 
 Substitution, The complete... 8 
 
 Success through faith 11 
 
 iSulfering 4 
 
 Sulleriugs of Christ, Eeason 
 
 of 4 
 
 Sufferings of Christ, The 6 
 
 Sunday-school, Children be- 
 long to 2 
 
 Sunday-school lessons, Five.. 2 
 
 Surrender, Entire 2 
 
 Surrender to Christ necessary. 13 
 
 Sword, Christ's two-edged 19 
 
 Sympathy 18 
 
 Sympathy of Christ 18 
 
 Sympathy of Nature with 
 Christ... ir 
 
 Tabernacle of Most High 6 
 
 Tables, Fencing the lU 
 
 Talents, The tive 4 
 
 Talents, The two 4 
 
 Talk without feeling 8 
 
 Taunts of Sata-i 19 
 
 Teacher, The Sabbath-school _ 9 
 
 Teaching, Children want 2 
 
 Teaching for (jod 2 
 
 Temptation 1 
 
 Temptation 7 
 
 Temptation, Comfort in 18 
 
 Temptation of Christ 18 
 
 Temptations pecaliar to those 
 
 who readily believe 19 
 
 Temptation resisted— illustra- 
 tion 12 
 
 Temptation, Sin of toying 
 
 with 13 
 
 Temptation warded oil' by re- 
 joicing.. 17 
 
 Temperance in all things 17 
 
 Tempters, Wickedness of 16 
 
 Testifying for Christ, Duty 
 
 of 14 
 
 Testimony amonii; ungodly 12 
 
 Testimony essential to all be- 
 lievers 12 
 
 Testimony is commanded by 
 
 Christ 12 
 
 Testimony of Christ confirmed 
 
 in Cnristians 2 
 
 Testimony ui Jesus 2 
 
 Page 
 
 49 
 
 409 
 
 59 
 
 84 
 
 204 
 
 245 
 
 307 
 
 103 
 
 99 
 289 
 247 
 413 
 107 
 218 
 354 
 
 216 
 
 353 
 
 356 
 
 141 
 
 59 
 
 35 
 
 327 
 
 16 
 
 109 
 
 34 
 10 
 130 
 129 
 172 
 222 
 460 
 352 
 351 
 198 
 169 
 a39 
 331 
 
 90 
 
 106 
 
 40 
 
 156 
 243 
 209 
 
 376 
 322 
 
 326 
 
 331 
 
 225 
 
 2iy 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Testimony, Reasons for _ 12 332 
 
 Testimony, Stepping-stones of 2 221 
 
 Testimony, Suggestions as to. 12 3:36 
 
 Thirst of the believer 13 140 
 
 Thoughtfulness, Nature of 13 56 
 
 Thoughtlessness 12 91 
 
 Thoughts and their fruit 9 157 
 
 Thoughts, Bad 9 161 
 
 Thoughts, Blasphemous 7 40 
 
 Thoughts, Good 9 168 
 
 Thoughts, Sinful 7 97 
 
 Thoughts, Sinful 9 166 
 
 Thoughts, The importance 
 
 of 10 122 
 
 Thousandth sermon, Mr. Spur- 
 
 geon. The 9 284 
 
 Timid, Comfort for the 11 226 
 
 Token, " The blood" a distin- 
 guishing 10 250 
 
 Tomb of Jesus, The 1 211 
 
 "Too late!" 13 325 
 
 Touching Jesus 19 116 
 
 Touch of Jesus 14 228 
 
 Transubstantiation 6 288 
 
 Travail for souls hindered 9 28 
 
 Travail for souls, The result 
 
 of 9 24 
 
 Travailing for souls 9 13 
 
 Treasures, Great 9 137 
 
 Treat vour selves, How to 7 106 
 
 Tree, The lea.iess 3 37 
 
 'J'ree, The forbidden 10 139 
 
 Tree, The healing 9 400 
 
 Trees, Barren 8 184 
 
 Trials, Domestic 7 48 
 
 Trials, Kefuge in, illustrated.. 11 132 
 
 Triliing, Warning against 16 81 
 
 Trinity and salvation. The 17 209 
 
 Trinity, Tnited agency of the. 1 55 
 Trouble, Christian is not free 
 
 from 11 91 
 
 Troubled, Plea of the, power- 
 ful 11 84 
 
 Troubled, Successful plea of 
 
 the 11 87 
 
 Troubled, The, seek full suc- 
 cor 11 90 
 
 Trouble, God the true refuge 
 
 in 11 86 
 
 Trouble leads to Jesus 16 369 
 
 Troubles in future to be ex- 
 pected 11 199 
 
 Troubles present. Deliverance 
 
 from 11 202 
 
 Trust in Christ 12. -£3 
 
 Trust in Christ a duty 18 293 
 
 Trust in Christ, its elTecls 18 288 
 
 Trusting in the midst of dark- 
 ness 18 380 
 
 Trust the mark of all believ- 
 ers 18 280 
 
 Trust the method of salvation, 18 298 
 Truthful natures quick to be- 
 lieve 19 83 
 
412 
 
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 Vohwie Page 
 
 " Turn or burn " 2 426 
 
 Two worlds, The sympathy of 
 
 the 6 46 
 
 T3^pes, their use and abuse 11 248 
 
 Unbelief _ 4 186 
 
 Unbelief 12 215 
 
 Unbelief , a parent sin 2 54 
 
 Unbelief inexcusable 16 249 
 
 Unbelief, its chastisement 12 1T8 
 
 Unbelief of Christians 12 167 
 
 Unbelief of Christians is folly; 
 
 why? 18 307 
 
 Unbelief of sinners ia folly; 
 
 why? 18 321 
 
 Unbelief, bin of 2 50 
 
 Unbeliever earnestly expostu- 
 lated with 13 125 
 
 Unbeliever gees no good from 
 
 the means of grace 13 278 
 
 Unbeliever is without hope_._ 13 273 
 
 UnbelK .er is without light 13 271 
 
 Unbeliever is without peace.. _ 13 272 
 
 Unbeliever is without safety... 13 272 
 Unbeliever, Misery of estate of 
 
 the 13 270 
 
 Unbeliever's religious acts vain 13 273 
 
 Unbeliever shall perish 13 279 
 
 Unbeliever, The, is without a 
 
 Saviour 13 274 
 
 Unconverted, A call to the 4 223 
 
 Unconverted to be prayed for. 17 159 
 
 Unction 17 228 
 
 Undecided, Appeal to the 3 179 
 
 Understanding spiritual things 12 341 
 Understanding, Theoretical, in- 
 sufficient 12 352 
 
 Ungodly shall perish. The 4 252 
 
 Union between Christians and 
 
 Christ, The 11 165 
 
 Union between Christ and the 
 
 believer. Vital 10 21 
 
 Union with Christ 14 302 
 
 Unity in the cause of Christ. __ 2 139 
 
 Vail, The entrance within 
 
 the 2 117 
 
 Vanguard of the church. The. 5 387 
 
 Victory 2 259 
 
 Victory over evil. Cost of 13 212 
 
 Victory won by the Holy 
 
 Spirit 14 17 
 
 Vine, The fruitless. 3 58 
 
 Voice of Jesus 14 286 
 
 V oices calling to apostasy 15 12 
 
 Waiting changed for believ- 
 ing 9 225 
 
 Wakefulness, The importance 
 
 of 9 348 
 
 Wants of the soul provided 
 
 for 13 143 
 
 Volume 
 
 Warning, The neglected 4 
 
 Warning, Words of _ 7 
 
 Watchfulness not to be re- 
 laxed 10 
 
 Way of salvation. 19 
 
 Weakness, Advantage of know- 
 ing our .' 11 
 
 Weakness recognized, the be- 
 ginning of strength 19 
 
 Wealth a danger to piety 9 
 
 Weapons, Christ's, not carnal. 11 
 
 Weapons, Tried, the besr 11 
 
 Weary and heavy laden 9 
 
 Weak hands and feeble knees. 6 
 
 Wedding garment. The 19 
 
 Wesley, John 7 
 
 Where man may meet God 15 
 
 Whitefield 7 
 
 Whosoever, or, salvation free_ 15 
 
 Wicked driven away, 'i he 7 
 
 Wickedness of iieart unreal- 
 ized 13 
 
 Wicked, Resurrection of the.. 2 
 Wicked, Why God spares the. 13 
 
 Wife's place, Tne 9 
 
 Willfulness impairs usefulness 16 
 
 Willingness to be good 13 
 
 Will of Christ gives heaven- 
 ward impetus to Christians 17 
 
 Will, The Father's 10 
 
 Window in ark. Signification 
 
 of the . 4 
 
 Wine,Tiie best 5 
 
 Wisdom, Exhortation to 12 
 
 Wisdom, Human, frequent 
 
 falsitv of 19 
 
 Wishing, The vanity of 9 
 
 Witnesses, God never with- 
 out 15 
 
 Witnessing to God's good- 
 ness .1 14 
 
 Witness of Christ for Himself, 
 
 The 2 
 
 Witness, The minister's. 6 
 
 Woes, God's 16 
 
 " Wonderful," The 5 
 
 Word of God depreciated 15 
 
 Word of Jesus 14 
 
 Work 14 
 
 Work, Beauty of unostenta- 
 tious 16 
 
 Work, Death's approach a 
 
 stimulus to 17 
 
 Workers, Bands of, needed... 9 
 Work for Christ, Perseverance 
 
 in 11 
 
 Work lOr Christ, Prepared 16 
 
 Work for God, The unhappy 
 
 can not 5 
 
 Work for the Master, Why 16 
 
 Work incomplete 18 
 
 Work of God immutable 4 
 
 Works as a ground for salva- 
 tion 12 
 
 240 
 242 
 
 84 
 
 82 
 
 56 
 254 
 262 
 437 
 383 
 204 
 
 53 
 337 
 
 53 
 199 
 
 32 
 273 
 
 16 
 
 72 
 146 
 
 57 
 
 75 
 
 186 
 
 8 
 291 
 87 
 
 279 
 
 272 
 
 28 
 
 222 
 60 
 79 
 15 
 184 
 291 
 122 
 
 190 
 
 316 
 459 
 
 266 
 186 
 
 207 
 27 
 177 
 184 
 
 213 
 
IXDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 413 
 
 Volume Page 
 
 Works as a Sa\nonr a failure.. 13 lfj7 
 
 Work? of God, Sudden 6 18 
 
 Work, When to 11 243 
 
 World a harvest, The 10 168 
 
 World, Date of end of, un- 
 known. 17 52 
 
 World, Separation from the.._ 11 30 
 Worhl, The, discovering God's 
 
 works 17 188 
 
 World turned upside down, 
 
 The.. 5 402 
 
 Worldiiness 5 279 
 
 Worldliness... 6 128 
 
 Women need and have salva- 
 tion 11 220 
 
 Wounded by the Lord 14 362 
 
 Yoke of Christ, The 9 444 
 
 Volume Page 
 Younj? manhood the time to be- 
 
 gin life's tight 13 204 
 
 Young men warned _ 13 210 
 
 Young people as God's wit- 
 nesses 15 273 
 
 Youthful piety leads to later 
 
 piety 15 281 
 
 Zachariah, lessons from his 
 
 character 12 108 
 
 Zeal 6 329 
 
 Zeal commended 17 162 
 
 Zeal in religion, true and false 13 56 
 Zealot, defects and dangers 
 
 of 17 166 
 
 Zealots, what they will not 
 
 do 17 176 
 
 Zealous, but wrong 17 160 
 
 
INDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS. 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 vii. 15.- 4 1 
 
 viii. 22 17 #> 
 
 xii. 5.- _19.. 57 
 
 xvi. 13 2 880 
 
 xix. 16 13 250 
 
 xix. -10 G 203 
 
 xxii. 14 15 3!4 
 
 xxiv. 5-8 19 345 
 
 xxxi. 13 10 282 
 
 xxxii. 10 15 95 
 
 xlviii. 15, 10. ...18 2.^5 
 
 xlix. 23,24 1. 192 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 ix.27 3 242 
 
 xi.7 7 160 
 
 xii. 18 -. 5...- 303 
 
 xii. 13 10 243 
 
 xiY. 19, 20 15 139 
 
 XV. 1, 2 16 .- 393 
 
 XV. 23,24,25... 9 382 
 
 xxxiii. 18 2 204 
 
 xxxiii. 19 8 222 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 xlii. 12, 13 7 311 
 
 xvi. 34. 2 104 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 xxii. 34 3 244 
 
 xxiii. 10.. 9.--. 265 
 
 xxiii. 21 14 75 
 
 xxiv. 17.. 11 7 
 
 xxiv. 17... 9 104 
 
 xxvii.5-.. 11 209 
 
 xxxv.ll 3 106 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 i. 25 3 138 
 
 xxxii. 29 7.-.. 126 
 
 xxxiii. 25 5 49 
 
 xxxiv. 5 18 166 
 
 JOSHUA. 
 
 CJmp. Volume Page 
 
 vii 20 3. 249 
 
 xvii. 14... -17 31 
 
 JUDGES. 
 
 iii.20 12... 26 
 
 xiv. 8, 9 14 9 
 
 XV. 18 11 -- 194 
 
 xvi. 3 11 179 
 
 xvi. 20, 21 5 236 
 
 xvi. 22 18 30 
 
 I SAMUEL. 
 
 iv.3 - 5-- 353 
 
 xii. 17 2 --- 232 
 
 XV. 24 3 247 
 
 xvii. 36. 37 10.-- --_ 262 
 
 xvii. 50 11 247 
 
 XXX. 20 19.- 145 
 
 II SAMUEL. 
 
 vi. 20-22 7. 45 
 
 vii. 18-22 10 28 
 
 xvi.29-31 8 112 
 
 xvii. 23 9 496 
 
 xxiii. 4 11 61 
 
 I KINGS. 
 
 xvi. 6 8.. 79 
 
 xviii. 12 15 270 
 
 xviii. 21 - 3 179 
 
 II KINGS. 
 
 vii. 3-7 17 183 
 
 vii. 4 13 101 
 
 vii. 19 2..- -.. 50 
 
 viii. 12, 13 .13.. 29 
 
 I CHRONICLES. 
 
 xii. 5-15 11 270 
 
 xxi. 18 15 336 
 
 xxii. 1 15 336 
 
416 
 
 INDEX TO SCRIPTUEE TEXTS. 
 
 II CHROJflCLES. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 xvi. 9 ..10.. 68 
 
 xxviii. 10 7. 94 
 
 xxxiii. 13 3 311 
 
 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 iii.S 11 22 
 
 lii.8 9 89 
 
 ESTHER. 
 
 iv.l3, 14 .15- 73 
 
 JOB. 
 
 vii. 20. 3. 252 
 
 xiii. 25 .11.. 78 
 
 xxiii. 3 3. 90 
 
 XXX.23 ..-.17 297 
 
 xxxiii. 29, 30.--10 147 
 
 XXXV. 10 2 167 
 
 xxxvi. 2. .-12 318 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 i. 4 - 7 293 
 
 ii. 12_. 6 109 
 
 ii. 12... .12 86 
 
 iv. 4, 5.. -19 256 
 
 vii. 12 -- 2 426 
 
 X. 17 15 249 
 
 xviii. 29. .11 112 
 
 xix. 12 7 245 
 
 xix. 12 3.... 164 
 
 xix. 18 3. 432 
 
 xxii. 8 15 292 
 
 xxiii. 1 4 75 
 
 XXV. 11 13 179 
 
 xxxii. 1.. 4 58 
 
 xxxii. 1 12 226 
 
 xxxiv. 5.. 5 253 
 
 xxxiv. 11 2 345 
 
 xxxvi. 6 9-. 131 
 
 xliv. 1 6 13 
 
 xlv. 2 4.. 92 
 
 Ivii. 8 9 342 
 
 lx.4 11... 164 
 
 Ixi. 2 6... 267 
 
 Ixxi. 3 16 295 
 
 Ixxii. 17 1 154 
 
 Ixxxv. 2 12 184 
 
 xc. 1 2 1 
 
 PSALMS. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 xci.2. .10 841 
 
 xci.3. 3.. 42 
 
 civ.34- .4 39 
 
 cvi. 8- -... 3.. 328 
 
 ex. 3 6.. 249 
 
 cxi.5.... 6.. 280 
 
 cxix. 145, 146. .-13 330 
 
 cxxvii.2.. 2 34 
 
 cxxxviii. 8 5 437 
 
 cxliii.3 .2 18 
 
 PROVERBS. 
 
 iv.23 4... 381 
 
 xiv. 14 10 203 
 
 XV. 11 4 161 
 
 xviii. 24.. 3 11 
 
 xxvii.8 13 287 
 
 ECCLESIASTES. 
 
 vii. 2 2. 88 
 
 xi.3 11 225 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 vi. 13 15 7 
 
 viii.l3 14 118 
 
 CANTICLES. 
 
 i. 13. 8.... 259 
 
 V. 16 9. 323 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 ii. 22... .18 371 
 
 V. 18 16... 79 
 
 vi.l8 3 27 
 
 ix.6 5 31 
 
 ix.6 6 142 
 
 xi.l 5... 197 
 
 XXX.3 6 382 
 
 XXXV. 5,6 3 119 
 
 xxxiii. 15, 16. ...15 29 
 
 xli. 14 4 290 
 
 xli. 14 4.. 350 
 
 xliii. 6... -.12 67 
 
 xlv. 22... - 1-. 1 
 
 xlvi.6..' 2.. 361 
 
 xlix.8 2 395 
 
 1. 10 18 349 
 
IN'DEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS. 
 
 417 
 
 ISAIAH. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 li. 3 ...12 147 
 
 lii.lO. 5.. .- 336 
 
 lii.l2. .-.- 5. 387 
 
 lii. 12 15... 139 
 
 liii. 3--.. 12 203 
 
 liii. 10 4 209 
 
 liii. 10. 8 96 
 
 liv. 17 2.. 152 
 
 Iv. 1 13 141 
 
 Iv. 1 14.. 248 
 
 Iv.l 10 87 
 
 Iviii. 8 15 139 
 
 Ixiii.l 3 .- 404 
 
 lxvi.8 9 13 
 
 JEREMIAH. 
 
 ii. 36 9-. 70 
 
 iv.20 7 328 
 
 V. 22, 23 5 180 
 
 vi. 14 7 177 
 
 vi.l9 9 157 
 
 viii. 6 4 258 
 
 xxix. 11 18 143 
 
 XXX. 17 ..14..-- --- 356 
 
 xxxi. 3 12 271 
 
 xxxi. 3 17 251 
 
 xxxi. 18. 9.-. 206 
 
 LAMENTATIONS, 
 i.l2 ...13 124 
 
 EZEKIEL. 
 
 i. 15-19 2. 188 
 
 ix. 8 13 11 
 
 xi.5 8 55 
 
 XV. 1,2 3 58 
 
 xvi. 54-. 6 125 
 
 xviii. 23 15.. 161 
 
 xviii. 32 ...15 161 
 
 xxxiii.5 4... --- 240 
 
 xxxiii. 11 15 161 
 
 xxxiv. 16 4 Ill 
 
 xxxiv. 26 1.. 134 
 
 xxxiv. 30, 31... -15.. 358 
 
 xxxvi.26 5.. 81 
 
 xxxvi.27. 6 186 
 
 xcii. 24 13 370 
 
 DANIEL. 
 
 Vi. 20 13 388 
 
 HOSEA. 
 
 Chap. Volume lat^ 
 V. 13 13 15u 
 
 vii. 11..-. 11 148 
 
 xii. 10 5 112 
 
 AMOS. 
 ix.l3 7 227 
 
 JONAH. 
 
 i.12,13.. 8 335 
 
 ii. 9 3 194 
 
 MICAH. 
 
 ii. 12, 13 18 53 
 
 iv. 1 6.- 216 
 
 V. 4.-.. 8 131 
 
 vii. 7. ...16. 31 
 
 NAHUM. 
 
 1. 3 3 359 
 
 HABAKKUK. 
 
 i.3-.. 6. 422 
 
 iii.2 3 74 
 
 ZEPHANIAH. 
 
 iii.l7 6... 297 
 
 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 iii.2 ...13 350 
 
 xiv. 7.. 4.. 275 
 
 MALACHI. 
 
 iii. 10 4 21 
 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 vi.9.. ..5 96 
 
 vii. 12 ..14.. 204 
 
 viii. 11,12 1 296 
 
 viii. 14, 15 16 7 
 
 ix, 37, 38 10 167 
 
418 
 
 IXDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS. 
 
 MATTHEW. 
 
 
 CJiap. Volume 
 
 Page 
 
 ix. 37,38. .10.. 
 
 .- 167 
 
 X. 22 8 
 
 .. 150 
 
 X. 30 5 
 
 .. 370 
 
 xi. 5... 3-. 
 
 .- 149 , 
 
 xi. 19 8 
 
 .. 206 
 
 xi. 27,28 12 
 
 .- 108 
 
 xi. 28-30 9 
 
 -. 437 
 
 xi. 28-30 6 
 
 .. 366 
 
 xii. 20 2 
 
 .. 246 
 
 xiii. 51 12 
 
 .- 341 ; 
 
 xiv. 26 9 
 
 .. 476 
 
 >iv.31.. ..16 
 
 .. ^46 j 
 
 xiv. 16 9 
 
 .. 54 ' 
 
 XV. 26,27 10 
 
 -. 360 , 
 
 xvii. 5 13.. 
 
 .. 224 
 
 xvii. 5, 6, 7 14 
 
 .. 270 ' 
 
 xvii. 8 9 
 
 .- 419 s 
 
 xix. 19 4 .... 
 
 .. 428 1 
 
 XX. 28 12 
 
 -. 49 
 
 xxi. 28-32 9 
 
 -. 186 , 
 
 x.xii.lO 19 
 
 .. 167 
 
 xxii. 11-13 19.. 
 
 .. 190 
 
 xxii.42 10 
 
 -. 107 
 
 XXV. 22,23 4 
 
 .. 129 1 
 
 xxvi. 28 18 
 
 .. 212 ! 
 
 xxvi. 5-^, 54 18 
 
 .. 75 1 
 
 xxvii. 4 3 
 
 -. 250 j 
 
 xxvii.45 17 
 
 .. 91 1 
 
 xxvii. 43.. 19 
 
 .. 211 
 
 xxviii. 6 1 
 
 .- 211 
 
 MARK. 
 
 i. 40, 41,42 19 13 : 
 
 V. 19 3 380 ; 
 
 vii. 27, 28 10 BCO ! 
 
 viii. 19-21 16 1(J2 i 
 
 X. 13-16 8 36 I 
 
 X. 21 13 51 I 
 
 X. 46-52 6 399 i 
 
 xi. 18 8 168 i 
 
 xii. 30 4 301 
 
 xiv. 6 16 174 
 
 XV. 43-46 15 117 
 
 xvi. 15, 16. 8-. 11 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 1. 20 12 
 
 V. 16-26 9 
 
 vi. 46-49 14 
 
 viii. 43, 44 19 
 
 viii. 47 19 
 
 167 
 456 
 31 
 101 
 123 
 
 LUKE. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 ix. 42 2 296 
 
 X. 42 12 9 
 
 xii. 1 6 334 
 
 >iil. 24... 13 310 
 
 XV. 4-7 15 227 
 
 XV. 10 6 47 
 
 XV. 17 9 204 
 
 XV. 18. - 3 252 
 
 XV. 20 4 145 
 
 xviii. 13 5 147 
 
 xix. 10__ 6 92 
 
 XX. 37, 38 16 344 
 
 XAii. 60-62 19 278 
 
 xxiv. 25 18 303 
 
 xxiv. 36-44 18 120 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 i. 16 12. 247 
 
 i. 50 19 79 
 
 ii. 9, 10 5 270 
 
 ii. 9, 10 5 289 
 
 iii.2 3.. 210 
 
 iii.l8 7 259 
 
 iii.18 7 277 
 
 iv. 31-38 17 114 
 
 iv. 46-53 16 368 
 
 iv.48 7 141 
 
 V. 1-9 9 225 
 
 vi.39,40 10 186 
 
 vi.48 18 7 
 
 vi.55 9 143 
 
 vi 63 6 283 
 
 vi. 67 12 291 
 
 viii. 36 8 187 
 
 ix. 25 12 9 
 
 X. 9 11 :.- 41 
 
 xi.24-26 15 183 
 
 xiv. 16, 17 1 45 
 
 xiv. 26 1 66 
 
 XV. 22 5 420 
 
 xvii. 24 17 68 
 
 xix. 5 2 328 
 
 xi.x. 31-37 18 98 
 
 XX. 17 .... 6 413 
 
 xxi. 16 10 322 
 
 ACTS. 
 
 ii. 47 10.. 48 
 
 V. 19, 20-. .19 233 
 
 iv. 13 1 252 
 
INDEX TO SCRIPTURE TEXTS. 
 
 419 
 
 ACTS. 
 
 Chap. Volume Paqe 
 
 viii. 35 19 322 
 
 ix.ll 1 170 
 
 ix. 11 -.16 320 
 
 X. 14 16 126 
 
 X. 36 9 402 
 
 X. 44 6 31 
 
 xiii. 40 1.- 321 
 
 xiv. 9, 10 8 241 
 
 xvi. 31 7 28 
 
 xvii. 6 _. 5 402 
 
 xvii. 27-. -18 257 
 
 xxiv. 15- 2 262 
 
 xxiv. 25 4 193 
 
 xxvi. 14 6 61 
 
 xxviii. 23 IS 189 
 
 ii. 4 14 96 
 
 iii.24 3 295 
 
 V. 5.... ..-17 ---. 205 
 
 V. 8 2 410 
 
 Yii. 13 13 72 
 
 vii. 13 10 127 
 
 viii. 1 17 274 
 
 viii. 7 1 230 
 
 viii. 31 8 354 
 
 viii. 34 6 156 
 
 X. 1,2,3.. .17- 159 
 
 XV. 13 1 112 
 
 XV. 30-33 17 7 
 
 I CORINTHIANS. 
 
 1.6 2 217 
 
 i. 23, 2A 1 85 
 
 i.ai 3 375 
 
 i. 26-29 8 297 
 
 iv. 7 6.. 78 
 
 ix. 7 13 201 
 
 X. 4 2 312 
 
 XV. 35-38 7 194 
 
 XV. 56,57 1 274 
 
 II comxTniAxs. 
 
 V. 1 14 139 
 
 V. 5.. ---12 358 
 
 V. 20 12 125 
 
 viii. 9 4 364 
 
 xii. 10. 19 368 
 
 G-\L.^TIANS. 
 
 Chap. Volume Page 
 
 iii. 10 4 223 
 
 iii.l3 2 2<S0 
 
 iv. 24 2 120 
 
 V. 6.... .14 3^4 
 
 EPIIESIANS. 
 
 i. 6. a -. 292 
 
 i. 7--.. 7 62 
 
 i. 12,13 18 . 280 
 
 ii. 10 16 150 
 
 ii. 12 13 270 
 
 ii. 22 6-... 437 
 
 iii.8. 9 245 
 
 V. 1- 14 226 
 
 V. 30 10 9 
 
 PniLIPPIAXS. 
 
 ii. 9-11 2 136 
 
 ii. 12 9 34 
 
 iii. 13 12 9 
 
 iv. 7 4 397 
 
 COLOSSIANS. 
 
 i. 27 14 161 
 
 ii. 15 7 110 
 
 I THESSALOXIANS. 
 
 V. 6 4 316 
 
 V. 6 .1 344 
 
 V. 8 11 93 
 
 V. 16 17 137 
 
 II TIIESS.\LOXIANS. 
 
 i. 3 5 129 
 
 i. 3 10 270 
 
 ii. 13, 14 2 66 
 
 I TIMOTHY. 
 
 i. 15-17 16 19S 
 
 II TIMOTHY. 
 
 \. 12 7 79 
 
420 
 
 lis'DEX TO SCllIPTURE TEXTS. 
 
 TITUS. 
 
 Chap. Volume Pai/e 
 
 12. 8.. 316 
 
 PHILEMON. 
 
 verse 15 10 303 
 
 IIEBKEWS. 
 
 ii. 18 18 827 
 
 V. 7-10 17 342 
 
 vi.6 1 364 
 
 viii. 10 9 172 
 
 ix. 22 9 117 
 
 ix. 22 3 288 
 
 xi. 6 8 256 
 
 xi. 31 3 269 
 
 xii. 24 5 65 
 
 xiii. 8 4 178 
 
 xiii. 12 6 309 
 
 xiii. 20 7-. 212 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 iv. 14 15 51 
 
 I PETER. 
 
 1.6. 5 211 
 
 i. 13.. .17 228 
 
 i. 23-25.. 9 863 
 
 il. 7. 6 350 
 
 ill. 22 17 363 
 
 V. 6 14 312 
 
 I PETER. 
 
 Chap. Volume Paqe 
 
 v.lO... 7 11 
 
 V. 10 14 183 
 
 II PETER, 
 
 1. 10, 11 3 343 
 
 ii. 4 16 55 
 
 iii.18 6 319 
 
 I JOHN. 
 
 i. 7 5 222 
 
 ill. 21 16 222 
 
 iv. 10, 11 14 53 
 
 iv. 16 6 171 
 
 iv. 19 5 319 
 
 iv. 19 9 304 
 
 V. 10 10 233 
 
 RE^'ELATION. 
 
 ii.4.. 5... 164 
 
 ii. 4, 5 17 320 
 
 ii. 12, 13 19 35 
 
 iii.l9 4 383 
 
 vii. 16, 17 15 204 
 
 ix.l2-... ..18 86 
 
 xii. 11 19 300 
 
 XV. 3 3 419 
 
 XX. 12 7 361 
 
 xxi. 23 8 278 
 
 xxii.2 11 134 
 
TITLES OF SERMONS CONTAINED IN 
 THE NINETEEN VOLUMES. 
 
 I. 
 
 Sovereiiiuty aucl Salvation. 
 
 The Bible. 
 
 The Personality of the Holy 
 
 Ghost. 
 The Comforter. 
 Christ Crucitied. 
 The Power of the Holy Ghost. 
 The Church of Christ. 
 The Eternal Name. 
 Paul's First Prayer. 
 Joseph Attacked by the Archers. 
 The Tomb of Jesus, 
 The Carnal Mind. 
 Enmity Against God. 
 Christ's People Imitators of Him. 
 Thoughts on the Last Battle. 
 Heaven and Hell. 
 Gospel Missions. 
 The Enchanted Ground. 
 Faith. 
 
 II. 
 
 The Glorious Habitation. 
 
 Healing for the Wounded. 
 
 The Peculiar of the Beloved. 
 
 The Sin of Unbelief. 
 
 Election. 
 
 The House of ]\Iourning and the 
 
 House of Feasting. 
 The Day of Atonement. 
 The Allegories of Sarah and 
 
 Hagar. 
 The Exaltation of Christ. 
 The Saints' Heritage and tlic 
 
 Watchword. 
 Sou^■s in tho Night. 
 
 God's Providence. 
 
 A View of God's Glory. 
 
 Confirming the Witness of 
 
 Christ. 
 Harvest Time. 
 
 Sweet Comfort for Feeble Saints. 
 The Resurrection of the Dead. 
 The Curse Removed. 
 The Comer's Conflict with Satan. 
 Christ the Rock. 
 A Visit to Calvary. 
 Teaching Children. 
 The God of the Aged. 
 Omniscience. 
 Christ in the Covenant. 
 Love's Commendation. 
 Turn or Burn. 
 
 III. 
 
 A Faithful Friend. 
 
 The Leafless Tree. 
 
 The Snare of the Fowler. 
 
 The Fruitless Vine. 
 
 Spiritual Revival the Want of 
 
 the Church. 
 The xVuxious Inquirer, 
 The Sinner's Refuge. 
 The Dumb Singing. 
 Foretastes of the Heavenly Life. 
 Preaching for the Poor. 
 Secret Sins. 
 Elijah's Appeal to the L'nde- 
 
 cided. 
 Salvation of the Lord. 
 Regeneration 
 Spiritual Resurrection 
 Confession of Sin 
 Faith 
 
422 
 
 TITLES OF SERMOis'S. 
 
 Rahab's Faith. 
 
 The Blood-Shedding. 
 
 Justili cation by Grace. 
 
 Mauasseh. 
 
 Why Are Men Saved. 
 
 Particular Election. 
 
 Mercy, Omnipotence, and Jus- 
 tice. 
 
 Christ : the Power and Wisdom' 
 of God. 
 
 Going Home, A Christmas Ser- 
 mon. 
 
 A ]\Iighty Saviour. 
 
 Israel in Egypt. 
 
 Presumptuous Sins. 
 
 lY. 
 
 The Parable of the Ark. 
 
 Proving God. 
 
 IMeditation on God. 
 
 Pardon and Justification. 
 
 The Good Shepherd. 
 
 The Gracious Lips of Jesus. 
 
 A Time of Finding for Lost 
 Sheep. 
 
 The Two Talents. 
 
 The Prodigal's Return, 
 
 God, the All Seeing One. 
 
 The Immutability of Christ. 
 
 Paul's Sermon before Felix. 
 
 The Death of Christ. 
 
 A Call to the Unconverted. 
 
 The Warning Neglected. 
 
 What Have I Done ? 
 
 Light at Evening Time. 
 
 Thy Redeemer. 
 
 The First and Great Command- 
 ment. 
 
 Awake ! Awake ! 
 
 The Loved Ones Chastened. 
 
 Fear Not. 
 
 The Condescension of Christ. 
 
 The Great Reservoir. 
 
 How to Keep the Heart. 
 
 Human Inability. 
 
 Love Thy Neighbor. 
 
 His Name; Wonderful. 
 
 His Name : The Counselor. 
 "As Thy Days, so Shall Thy 
 
 Strength be." 
 The 'Voice of the Blood of Christ. 
 The New Heart. 
 The Fatherhood of God. 
 Everybody's Sermon. 
 A Lecture for Little-Faith. 
 Confession and Absolution. 
 Declension from First Love. 
 God's Barriers Asrainst Man's 
 
 Sin. 
 Comfort Proclaimed. 
 The Christian's Heaviness and 
 
 Rejoicing. 
 Evil and Its Remedy. 
 Samson Conquered. 
 Looking unto Jesus. 
 Satan's Banquet. 
 The Feast of the Lord. 
 The Blood. 
 Love. 
 
 The Great Revival. 
 The Form and Spirit oi Religion. 
 Providence. 
 The Vanguard and Rereward of 
 
 the Church. 
 The World Turned Upside 
 
 Down. 
 Human Responsibility. 
 Faith in Perfection. 
 
 VL 
 
 The Story of God's Mighty Acts. 
 
 The Outpouring of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 The Sympathy of the Two 
 Worlds. 
 
 The Conversion of Saul of Tar- 
 sus. 
 
 ^Distinguishing Grace. 
 
 The Mission of the Son of Man. 
 
 An Earnest Invitation. 
 
 How Saints may help the Devil. 
 
 His Name : the Mighty God. 
 
 The Believer's Challenge. 
 
 A Psalm of Remembrance. 
 
 The Necessity of the Spirit's 
 Work. 
 
TITLES OF SERMONS. 
 
 423 
 
 Little Sins. 
 
 A Vision of the Latter-Day 
 
 Glories. 
 Covenant Blcssin.cjs. 
 The Dew of Christ's Yoiitli. 
 The High Rock. 
 Spiritual Religion. 
 The Saviour resting in his love. 
 SulTering without the Camp. 
 Growth in Grace. 
 Ilyiwcrisy, 
 
 Christ precious to Believers. 
 The Meek and Lowly One. 
 Weak Hands and Feeble Knees. 
 The Blind Beggar. 
 Christ's Manifestation to Mary 
 
 IMagdalene. 
 The Sight of Iniquity. 
 Tabernacle of the Most High. 
 
 VIL 
 
 A New Year's Benediction. 
 
 The King's Highway Opened. 
 
 Piety Reproved andVustified. 
 
 The^Treasures of Grace. 
 
 Faith Illustrated. 
 
 A Home Question. 
 
 Christ Triumphant. 
 
 Remember Death. 
 
 Marks of Faith 
 
 The Precious from the Vile. 
 
 A Blast Against False Peace. 
 
 The Resurrection. 
 
 The Blood of the Covenant. 
 
 A Revival Sermon. 
 
 Sin Immeasurable. 
 
 None but Jesus. 
 
 None but Jesus, Part 11. 
 
 The Chaff Driven Away. 
 
 Cleansing the Leper. 
 
 The Wailing of Risca. 
 
 Come and Welcome. 
 
 The First Resurrection. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration. 
 Children Brought to (Jhrist, Not 
 
 to the Font. 
 " Thus Saith the Lord." 
 
 A Hearer in Disguise. 
 
 Expiation. 
 
 The Barley-Field on Fire. 
 
 Christ is Glorious : Let Us Make 
 
 Him Known. 
 Enduring to the End. 
 Nothing but Leaves. 
 The Great Liberator. 
 The Sinner's Friend. 
 Election no Discouragement to 
 
 Seeking Souls. 
 The Cripple at Lystra. 
 A Bundle of IMyrrh. 
 The Lamb: The Light. 
 God's Strange Choice. 
 What God Cannot Do. 
 Labor in Vain. 
 God is with Us. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Travailing for Souls. 
 
 " Your Own Salvation." 
 
 Continuance with Jesus Possible. 
 
 The Sin of Gadding About. 
 
 The Broad Wall. 
 
 The Star of Jacob. 
 
 An Unalterable Statute. 
 
 Fathomless. 
 
 Meat Indeed and Drink Indeed. 
 
 Thoughts and their Fruit. 
 
 The Covenant. 
 
 A Sermon to Open Neglecters 
 and Nominal Followers of Re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Epln-aim Bemoaning Himself. 
 
 Jesus at Bethesda; or, Waiting 
 Changed to Believing. 
 
 The L'usearchable Riches of 
 Christ. 
 
 The End of the Righteous De- 
 sired. 
 
 Number One Thousand ; or, 
 Bread Enough and to Spare. 
 
 Love's Logic. 
 
 Altogether Lovely. 
 
 The "Alarum 
 
 The Withering Work of the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
 Marah; or, The Bitter Waters 
 Sweetened. 
 
424 
 
 TITLES OF SERMONS. 
 
 Kegotiations for Peace. 
 Jesus Only, 
 Rest, Kest. 
 Carried by Four, 
 Jesus no Phantom, 
 Very Singular, 
 
 X. 
 
 The Matchless Mystery. 
 
 Marrow and Fatness. 
 
 Additions to the Church. 
 
 A Lesson from the Life of King 
 Asa. 
 
 Without Money and '\Vithout 
 Price, 
 
 Questions of the Day and the 
 Question of the Day. 
 
 The Monster Dragged to Light. 
 
 An Old-fashioned Conversion, 
 
 Harvest Men Wanted, 
 
 The Father's Will, 
 
 How a Man's Conduct Comes 
 Home to Him. 
 
 The Priest Dispensed With, 
 
 The Sacred Love-token. 
 
 The Lion-slayer, The Giant- 
 killer. 
 
 The God of Bethel, 
 
 The Story of a Runaway Slave, 
 
 "Lovest Thou Me?" 
 
 My God. 
 
 The Little Dogs, 
 
 -(Eneas. 
 
 XL 
 
 The Star of Jacob, 
 The Broad Wall, 
 The Only Door, 
 
 Royal Emblems for Lojal Sub- 
 jects. 
 A Frail Leaf, 
 The Helmet. 
 
 One Trophv for Two Exploits, 
 Christ the tree of Life, 
 A Silly Dove, 
 Our Banner. 
 Our Cham]iion. 
 The Fainlinii Hero. 
 
 Woman's Rights; a parable. 
 Black Clouds and Bright Bless- 
 
 h!gs. 
 David's First Victory. 
 David and His Volunteers. 
 
 xn. 
 
 A Many-sided Motto. 
 A Distinct Message. 
 A Divine Mission, 
 A Double Challenge, 
 A Timely Remonstrance. 
 A Special Invitation. 
 A Merciful Embassy. 
 A Cheerful Prospect, 
 A Pitiful Chastisement. 
 A Serious Contrast. 
 A Sad Confession. 
 A Present Pardon, 
 A Precious Plentitude. 
 A IMagnetic Force. 
 A Mournful Defection. 
 A Solemn Resolution. 
 A Clear Understanding. 
 Preparation for Heaven. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Spared. 
 
 Startling, 
 
 Lovely, but Lacking, 
 
 A Grave Charge, 
 
 Woes to Come. 
 
 The Sinner's Only Alternative. 
 
 A Jeremiad. 
 
 Ho! Ho! 
 
 A Caution for Sin-sick Souls, 
 
 Contrition, 
 
 The Battle of Life. 
 
 Attention ! 
 
 Perilous Procrastination. 
 
 A Soul-stirring Meditation, 
 
 The Wandering Bird, 
 
 The Strait Gate, 
 
 Cries of Distress. 
 
 A Firebrand, 
 
 To the Rescue. 
 
 The Lions' Den. 
 
TITLES OF SERMONS. 
 
 425 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Hands full of Honey. 
 
 On Laying Foundations. 
 
 Plei-ein is Love. 
 
 The best War-cry. 
 
 Earnest Expostulation. 
 
 The Bridegroom's Parting AVord. 
 
 Tlie Tent Dissolved and the 
 jMansion Entered. 
 
 Christ in You. 
 
 Glory. 
 
 Knock. 
 
 Lnitators of God. 
 
 Buying without Money. 
 
 The Voice from the Cloud, and 
 the Voice of the Beloved. 
 
 Accepted of the Great Father. 
 
 On Humliling Ourselves Before 
 God. 
 
 The Luther Sermon at Exeter 
 Hall. 
 
 Blessed Promises for Dying Out- 
 casts. 
 
 XV. 
 
 "Peturn, Return, O Shulamite, 
 Return, Return! " 
 
 Tlie Rocky Fortress and Its In- 
 habitant. 
 
 What is Your Life? 
 
 Esther's Exaltation ; or, Who 
 Knoweth ? 
 
 Humility the Friend of Prayer. 
 
 Joseph of Arimatlue. 
 
 The (rlory in the Rear. 
 
 Pleading and Encouragement. 
 
 "Though he were Dead." 
 
 Heaven Below. 
 
 The Parable of the Lost Sheep. 
 
 Thought-Reading Extraordi- 
 nary. 
 
 Obadiah ; or, Early Piety Emi- 
 nent Piety. 
 
 Faith among Mockers. 
 
 Jehovah-Jireh. 
 
 The Threshing-Floor of Oman. 
 
 A Call to the Lord's Own Flock, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 First Healing and Then Service. 
 
 A Sweet Silver Bell Ringing in 
 Each Believer's Heart. 
 
 Fallen Angels a Lesson to Fallen 
 I\ren. 
 
 Cords and Cart-Ropes. 
 
 Certain Curious Calculations 
 about Loaves and Fishes. 
 
 Peter's Blunder: a Lesson to 
 Ourselves. 
 
 The Singular Origin of a Chris- 
 tian ]\Ian. 
 
 To Lovers of Jesus: an Exam- 
 ple. 
 
 A Great Gospel for Great Sin- 
 ners. 
 
 What is the Verdict ? 
 
 The History of Little-Faith. 
 
 The Necessity of Growing Faith. 
 
 God our Continual Resort. 
 
 "Behold, He Prayeth." 
 
 Departed Saints Yet Living. 
 
 The Nobleman's Faith. 
 
 Jubilate. 
 
 XVIL 
 
 Pleading for Prayer. 
 
 Retrospect: "The Lord Hath 
 Blessed." 
 
 The Sermon of the Seasons. 
 
 Why They Leave Us. 
 
 The Three Hours of Darkness. 
 
 Mysterious ]\Ieat. 
 
 Rejoice Evermore. 
 
 Zealous, but Wrong. 
 
 Who Found it Out ? 
 
 The Personal Pentecost and the 
 Glorious Hope. 
 
 A Seasonable Salutation. 
 
 Secret Drawings Graciously Ex- 
 plained. 
 
 In Christ no Condemnation. 
 
 Concerning Death. 
 
 Love's Comj^laining. 
 
 Our Sym]ialhi/.iiig High Priest. 
 
 Our Ascended Lord. 
 
426 
 
 TITLES OF SERMOXS. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The Best Bread. 
 
 Shaven and Shorn, but not Be- 
 yond Hope. 
 
 The Breaker and the Flock. 
 
 Jesus Declining the Legions. 
 
 On the Cross after Death. 
 
 The First Appearance of the 
 Risen Lord to the Eleven. 
 
 God's Thoughts of Peace, and 
 our Expected End. 
 
 The Death of Moses. 
 
 Lovins: Persuasion. 
 
 The Blood Shed for Many. 
 
 A Bit of History for Old and 
 Young. 
 
 God's Nearness to Us. 
 
 Truth. 
 
 Folly of Unbelief. 
 
 The Suffering Saviour's Sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 The Child of Light Walking in 
 Darkness. 
 
 IVIan, Whose Breath is in his 
 Nostrils. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The Lord and the Leper. 
 
 Holding Fast the Faith. 
 
 Abram's Call ; or. Half-way and 
 All the Way. 
 
 Nathanael : or, the Ready Be- 
 liever and His Reward. 
 
 Cured at Last. 
 
 " She Was not Hid." 
 
 "David's Spoil." 
 
 " The Wedding Was Furnished 
 with Guests." 
 
 What Is the Wedding Gar- 
 ment ? 
 
 Let Him Deliver Him Xow." 
 
 The Charge of the Angel. 
 
 Plain Directions to Those 
 Who Would Be Saved from 
 Sin. 
 
 Peter's Restoration. 
 
 The Blood of the Lamb, the 
 Conquering Weapon. 
 
 All at It. 
 
 No Compromise. 
 
 A Paradox. 
 
 V 
 
 /" 
 
 \\ 
 
Illi ''iriiri'i'llHT'."''^-^''"*'' Library 
 
 1 1012 01092 9471 
 
 DATE DUE j 
 
 S«?^^8-e-^ 
 
 
 
 
 , _.. _...^ 
 
 
 
 
 PiJUMNIIiMIIMn 
 
 0fi/^^r^f^n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAYLORO 
 
 
 
 PRINTED INU.S.A. 
 
m 
 
 km 
 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 :•';:•; ■■:i( 
 
 2uo 
 
 t^t<>V'V;n